Vijay Kowshik 75batch on NDTV

The story on glass artist Vijay Kowshik (75batch) will be on air tonight at 11.30 p.m on NDTV metronation.
Its part of a show called time out Delhi.
It repeats on Saturday at 11.30 a.m and at midnight.
It also plays on Sunday at 11 a.m, 3 p.m and 12.30 a.m and on Monday at 10a.m and 11.30 p.m. Do try to catch it.

from Prof. Shukla

Teacher Exchange Program at XLRI

From The Telegraph

XLRI looks at French connection - B-school to start a teacher exchange programme with foreign institute

Associate professor of the French institute Birgit Kleymann at XLRI. Jamshedpur, Aug. 28: Students can wait — teachers will now be heading to foreign shore for an exchange programme. XLRI School of Business and Human Resources will tie-up with Institute of Scientific Economy and Management of Lille (IESEG), France, for a teacher exchange programme to conduct research work. The MoU between the two institutes was signed last year and the teachers would leave for France later this year. Associate professor of management and organisation of IESEG Birgit Kleymann, who is also the co-ordinator of the programme, visited the institute to study the country and find out the subjects on which research can be conducted. “I am here to understand the Indian market. We want to study the market, as every multinational company wants to invest here. We believe in the best therefore we tied up with XLRI. I am the industries, the work they do for thr people at large so that we can chalk out an area of interest. This will help us to chose a common subjects to work on,” said Kleymann. IESEG, which belongs to Lille Catholic University, would take up corporate bigwigs of the steel city as their research subjects. “I feel that Tata Steel can be a subject of research in terms of corporate citizenship, operations and processing. They conduct various responsibility events in the area. There are many aspects of the company that makes it interesting for research apart from it being a global player,” said Kleymann. The professors of XLRI would study the finance, industrial relations and the luxury and fashion market. Jeetu Singh, the professor of general management and human resource, said: “The programme would help us in gaining international exposure. This will help us as well as the students. Our experience would help the students in gaining an insight of industry and relations in the industrial sector. But we have not decided on the topics as yet.” Professors from XLRI would stay in France for six months for the programme. The business institutes are also contemplating students exchange programme. If the talks regarding the event is finalised then four students of the two institutes would get a chance to study in the other institute. Plans are also on to conduct a teaching exchange programme. But talks regarding these are in the nascent stage. “We zeroed in on India as it is easier to understand the country because of the Indo-European history. We want to spread our wings in India and thinking of a similar programme with IIM, Bangalore,” added the associate professor.

Distinguished XL Alumni Awards @ Alumni Homecoming (Nov 15-16, '08)

Folks!

2nd Reminder for the Alumni Homecoming @ XLRI (Nov 15-16, 2008) ...hope you have started packing the bags ;0)

I am also happy to announce and solicit nominations for

The Distinguished XLRI Alumni Award(s)

The Award - which has been instituted by the Class of '75 and the Family of their batchmate Late Chitra & Ramachandran Kumar. - aims to recognise and felicitate upto-two XLers from any batch every year for their distinct contributions in any field - business, teaching, creative field, any non-traditional area of activity, etc.... any achievement which will make other alumni feel proud that s/he is from the same alma mater...

Nominations are invited through a write-up of about 300 words, describing the achievement (also giving the contact details of the person).

The Award(s) will be decided by a panel consisiting of the Director, President Alumni Association, one alumnus from '75batch, and two other alumni, and will be will be given during the Alumni Homecoming. The recepient needs to be personally present to receive the Award.

To Nominate:

1. Please send a 300-words write-up (in .doc format) describing achievements/ contributions of the alumnus

2. Last Date of Nominations if Sept 10th, 2008

3. Please send your nomination to alumni @ xlri.ac.in

So look forward to your nominations and participation in the Alumni Homecoming

ciao

madhukar

XL Alum 2000: Tiyash in India Today

From India Today

Online Moms

Chitra Subramanyam

It’s a new country and a brand-new culture. Even as the learning begins, you’re battling an unforeseen crisis where your child is adopting the ways of the new country.

That’s what Tiyash Bandopadhyay, 32, a management consultant in the USA faced with a young son, trying to balance two cultures. It was an issue she and her friend Priya Nair, 31, realised most mothers faced. And so was born bloggermoms.com, a website where women like them could interact.

The site, says Bandopadhyay, is “an umbrella for parents navigating lives in multicultural mayhem.” For Nair, mother of two, the challenge lay in “maintaining Malayali traditions while enjoying American ones”.

The response to the website has been immense, whether it is India, the USA, UK or Africa, even though its PR is word-of-mouth, an intentional move. Budget was one consideration.

The other, Bandopadhyay says, was because “we thought that if we could get a group of writers and find topics of interest, the community would grow on its own.” So whether it is multicultural issues or even doctor’s advice, this website gives you a different side to motherhood.

You can visit the website at http://bloggermoms.com/

A Bank with a Difference @ XLRI

In follow up to the Clothes Bank post a couple of days ago, this just came out on Sify News

It is a bank with a difference as it does not deal with money but with clothes one of the basic human needs after food and shelter.

"The main objective of Goonj, the 'clothes bank' was to provide clothes to millions of poor and needy people facing great hardship, indignity besides health risk due to lack of proper clothing in far flung areas of the country," said Anshu K Gupta, founder Director of the decade old Goonj, while addressing the CEO Forum at XLRI here.

"Countless people suffer across the world due to lack of warm clothing. Even in some parts of India, women face indignity as they don't have clothes to wear while others cannot even take bath as they nothing to change into," Gupta said.

"Why is clothing not an issue, a subject to work on?," Gupta asked while regretting that the websites of the most prestigious development organisations, funding agencies, corporates listed a range of issues right from domestic violence to global warning but there was no mention of clothing.

"Even though when we talk about the three basic needs roti, kapda aur makaan (food, shelter and cloth), we list only food and shelter and not cloth," he said.

Gupta said clothing was not just an issue at the time of natural disaster but a basic need, which needed to be addressed for the betterment of poor and needy.

Gupta said Goonj, which had won several awards including the "Indian NGO of the year", has launched a nation-wide movement called "Vastradaan", a unique resource mobilisation initiative providing clothes and other basic amenities to millions of people in the far-flung areas just by turning one's wastage into a resource for another.

Vastradaan channelises vital resources including clothes lying in excess in urban households to rural India, he said claiming that Goonj had successfully implemented 'cloth for work' programme into a development resource in rural belts in many states including Bihar, Assam, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

"We are even setting up new schools without any monetary transaction but just by using old clothes as resource," Gupta said adding that people work for the development of their villages and in return get clothes, not as charity but as a development resource.

Referring to the concept of clothes bank, he said this will help us to fulfill the needs of the rural masses round the year instead of waiting for any natural disaster to bring the relief materials including food and clothes in huge quantity.

He said Goonj has developed over 30 different products including sanitary Napkin and school bags from waste clothes and papers.

Launching Goonj in Jharkhand, Gupta appreciated the Social Initiative Group for Managerial Action (SIGMA), a student society of XlRI, for taking the initiative in launching the clothes bank in the state.

Gupta cautioned his new partner that collection of old clothes was not a problem but we have to ensure that the material must reach in the right hands as per their needs.

Prof Madhukar Shukla of XLRI said initially, SIGMA will rope in some reputed NGOs to implement it in and around Jamshedpur.

SIGMA would set up old clothes collection centres in clubs, cafes, community centres, he said adding that SIGMA had already collected huge quantity of clothes in the XLRI campus during the last couple of days.

Prof EM Rao's book on "Industrial Jurisprudence"

Prof E.M. Rao published his new book "Industrial Jurisprudence A Critical Commentary" (Lexis Nexis Butterworth, 2008).

This book is the first work of its kind in the world on the principles of jurisprudence and interpretation of labour statutes, and exhaustively covers the principles of industrial adjudication and their evolution in India, UK, USA and Australia. The author analyses the legislative and judicial trends against the backdrop of the principles of jurisprudence, such as rights, powers, duties, liabilities, immunities, etc, and also from the standpoint of the canons of statutory construction.

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Posted By Madhukar to XLRI Jamshedpur - News and Latest Updates at 8/07/2008 05:29:00 PM __._,_.___

Aquil Busrai and Sajid Shamim (BMD 96) in Mint article

From the Mint

Companies heed the online message

Indian companies are increasingly using online social platforms to connect a dispersed workforce as well as to reach out to elusive customers in multiple markets. While information technology (IT) firms are in the lead, mainly to foster internal communications, consumer product makers are discovering the potential of social networking sites as brand promotion tools. . .

. . . “What were once thought to be Internet fads are now commanding the attention of people and businesses around the world,” says Aquil Busrai, executive director, HR, IBM India and South Asia. . .

. . .

There’s so much activity, it is all real data for any marketer

SAJID SHAMIM

Executive director, marketing, Reebok India Co

Photograph: Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint

How many hours do you spend on the Internet in a day/week?

I spend 13-14 hours a week on the Internet.

What social networking/social media sites do you visit?

I am a member of the Orkut, Facebook and LinkedIn communities, and spend a total of around 30 minutes on these sites a week.

Have you derived any insights from these websites?

The reason I signed up with these websites is for the marketing insights they provide. People are really into social networking—my friends are constantly updating their profiles, sending photos and sharing information. I see so much of activity and engagement happening, and this is all real data for any marketer.

Have you ever identified a trend by visiting social media sites and then included it in your company’s digital marketing strategy?

It was after I became active on these websites that we strengthened the presence of Reebok on social media sites. We have allocated much of our online budget to social media. We are currently planning an engagement tool in this space—it is currently a work-in-progress, so I can’t share too much on it yet.

Is it important for marketing heads, and marketing departments in general, to be active on digital platforms to keep track of current trends in this space?

Absolutely. Social networking is growing at double the rate of digital advertising, and the number of hours consumers spend on these websites is exceptionally high. These websites give brands a captive consumer base, so it is necessary for marketing departments to know what is happening here to target their communication better. If marketing personnel are not active on digital platforms, they will be left out in the long run.

(Priyanka Mehra) . . .

For the Entire Article Read here.

Jacob Verghese (79 BMD) Awarded

XLer's Photo Expo @ Singapore

Mahesh Nair (86batch) is putting up an exhibition of his photographs

"Let There Be Light"

at

2902 Gallery Mt Sophia Old School Campus

(Aug 4-21)

http://www.lettherebelight.sg/

Having gone through his book (by the same name), I must say his Photographs are a treat....

Have a Decko ;)

ciao

madhukar

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