Corporate Governance and Communications Strategies

MSRIT Attracts 200 Debaters from India and Abroad for the Largest Tournament in India

Pulling talent from all over South Asia, including Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, 64 teams are expected to participate in the 7th annual edition of Dr. M S Ramaiah Memorial Parliamentary Debate tournament (MSRMPD) beginning in Bengaluru fromtomorrow. The three-day tournament is being hosted by M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), Bengaluru.

It is one of the oldest and largest tournaments in India and attracts teams from all over the country and abroad.  This year MSRMPD is set to host one of the most competitive tournaments with over 200 debaters discussing ideas ranging from feminism to international relations and politics.

This gargantuan operation is organized by the college’s Literary and Debating Society under the aegis of Department of Extracurricular Activities, MSRIT. 

The British Parliamentary debating style has been very popular on university campuses for quite a while. It pits four teams of two speakers each against each other in a battle of ideas. Five rounds of intense and rigorous debating experience make sure only the most enduring debaters make it out of the preliminary rounds and into the knock-outs. 

Holding this tournament has become an annual practice at MSRIT. It is held in August around the same time as colleges start their new academic year as students would be eager to take part in the first tournament of the academic year. With each edition the tournament has only grown bigger and better. With Debaters battling it out to be crowned as this year's champion and have the coveted title of MSRMPD champions, the weekend promises to a competitive and exciting one.

HAL Inaugurates Wind Energy Power Plant at Harapanahalli (Karnataka)

In a significant move to harness wind power and promote renewable energy source, Mr. T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL inaugurated  6.3MW wind energy power plant at Harapanahalli near Davangere about 335  km from Bengaluru on July 2, 2016. The power generated from this plant would be used for captive energy consumption in the IT City. 

“We are glad that through this green initiative, HAL would reduce its carbon footprint by around 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions per annum. This project would cater to about 15% energy consumption at Bangalore-based divisions”, said Mr. Raju.

The plant comprising of three wind turbines installed in collaboration with Suzlon Energy Limited has the potential to generate 150lLakh units per annum with an estimated annual savings of approximately rupees nine crore to the Company, he added. This is the first ever megawatt scale renewable energy project that HAL has set up at a cost of about Rs 44 crore. More such avenues would be explored in future.

The windmill is a hybrid type design and has a lattice portion and a tubular section. The rotor diameter is 97 meters and the length of each blade is 47.5 meters. The swept area of the blades is 7,390 square meters. The turbine is designed for 20 years of operation.

Mr. V.M Chamola, Director HR (HAL), Mr. Sanjay Nigam, Senior General Manager, Suzlon Energy Limited and other senior officials from HAL and Suzlon were present on the occasion.

HAL Clarification in The Hindu

Sometimes as Corporate Communications Professional, one has to issue rejoinders and clarifications. The Hindu, thanks to its editor, published the following HAL clarification on February 11, 2016. 

This refers to your reports “HAL’s import, assemble, supply ‘model’” (Feb.5) and “Defence PSUs profiting on advances” (Feb.4). Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is not privy to the reports but feels that some of the figures in the table are not factual and the assessments by The Hindu do not reflect the truth. Figures alone sometimes do not present the holistic picture.

For instance, you have written about HAL’s negligible contribution to indigenisation and research. It is important to know that HAL has 15 indigenous designs to its credit. In licence-build programmes, technology is transferred through SKD, CKD and raw material phases. Currently HAL manufactures both aircraft and helicopters under the indigenous and licence category. These include the Sukhoi 30, Hawk, LCA, HJT-36, Do 228, ALH, LCH, LUH, etc. All these platforms are being made from the raw material phase.

 On the indigenisation front, HAL with its 10 research and development (R&D) centres and a base of 2,000-plus designers, has so far designed 15 types of aircraft and 700-plus types of aircraft accessories. In the aerospace ecosystem, HAL now has a vendor base of 2,500 Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers with a pan-India presence. The writer has completely ignored these facts.

 Today, 80 per cent of the IAF platforms are supported by HAL. India is the only country where 60-year-old platforms fly, thanks to HAL. India is among six nations that have the capability to design and manufacture helicopters, thanks to HAL. Even as your reporter was piecing together his findings based on old reports, just days ago, HAL rolled out the first prototype of the HTT-40.

The writer should have highlighted the total value of production (VOP) calculations which include cost towards procurement of raw material (both imported and indigenous) and value-addition. For 2012-13, the VOP was Rs.14,201 crore, out of which material cost was Rs.8,008 crore (Rs.6,828 crore imported plus Rs.1,180 crore indigenous) and the value addition was Rs.6,193 crore. For 2014-15, the VOP was Rs.15,890 crore, of which Rs.7,773 crore included imported raw material and Rs.8,117 crore was indigenous content.

Regarding Defence Public Sector Units profiting on advances, it needs to be understood that the pricing mechanism (for aerospace products supplied by HAL) considers the benefit of improved cash flows through milestone payments. HAL follows transparent and well-established financial procedures laid down by the Government of India.

 Gopal Sutar, Chief of Media Communications, HAL, Bengaluru

 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/hal-clarifies/article8219740.ece

A chance for Asia to pull out the big guns: India is showing the way by building a fighter jet and taking on Western domination

Much to the delight of the aerospace fraternity in India, the country’s own fighter aircraft — the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas — flew at the three-day Bahrain International Air Show. Perhaps buoyed by its performance and favourable reaction, India’s Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar said on the same day that full-scale production would begin by next year and that other countries have shown interest in the fighter plane.

As far as the Bahrain show is concerned, according to Chairman and Manging Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), T. Suvarna Raju, two Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft took part. The performance covered aerobatic manoeuvres in what is called 8-g pull, vertical loop, slow fly past, and barrel roll in defence parlance. He also pointed out that HAL, which is associated with the design, development and production of Tejas, has set-up a state-of-the-art, environmentally-controlled division in Bengaluru for the production of LCAs and expected to roll-out soon.

However, what is of significance is, participation of this kind brings less-known names to the attention of international customers and media. There is no doubt that for countries facing huge defence manufacturing challenges, it is important that their products — helicopters, trainers, transport and fighter aircraft, and drones of various kinds — must be demonstrated at international air shows to impress upon those who are in need of these products.

The defence sector is completely dominated by Western powers, thanks to their robust manufacturing, research and technology set-ups. Aerospace is a complex area with zero tolerance for the smallest error. While Western countries remain in the forefront, Asia at best could be described as a laggard as it was unable to overcome the investment and technological challenges peculiar to the aerospace sector.

It takes years, even decades, for one product to get accepted in an unforgiving market. Today, although things have improved, these countries are aware that there is still some distance to go to match the skill-sets and R&D set-ups that exist in defence manufacturing in the US or France.

LCA (Tejas) in the skies

According to one estimate, 54 per cent of India’s population is under 30 years and the ratio of the population in the working age group of 15-59 years is likely to be 64 per cent by 2021. India will thus approximately have 25 per cent of the world’s total workforce by 2025.

One needs to exploit this by creating the right opportunities in different sectors — aerospace is one of them.

It is true that for most of developing countries, it is daunting to aggregate the skill requirements of the industry, address the sub-sectors and regional requirements keeping line with international trends and best practices. But whatever the challenges Asia faces, it is welcome sign that countries like India have debuted in a critical segment such as fighter aircraft.

Tejas is a single-engined, lightweight, highly agile, multi-role supersonic fighter. It is a 4.5 generation aircraft with supersonic capability at all altitudes. It is fly-by-wire and has an open architecture computer for avionics and better weapon and combat capability. With advanced avionics, the pilot load is also reduced.

Already, the Sarang helicopter display team of the Indian Air Force — that flies four HAL-produced Dhruv helicopters — has enthralled visitors at different places including Bahrain. HAL Dhruv is suitable for increased payload at higher altitudes and has been developed for the Indian defence Forces. More than 200 helicopters have been produced so far, cumulatively clocking around 142,000 hours of flying.

In future, one hopes there will be more opportunities to showcase new variants of ‘Make in India’ copters.

Considering that for any Asian country, buying a plane or a helicopter from the West comes at a very heavy price, cost-effective fighters and helicopters manufactured in Asia are bound to impress the potential customers. It also means enormous pressure on those involved in the process ... but then that is the nature of the defence business.

The future course would depend on how the aerospace manufacturing ecosphere evolves in Asia and India in particular. One hopes the Bahrain show paves the way for an Asian emergence, at least on a small scale at the international level.

The writer is Chief of Media Communications at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The views expressed are his own.

Published in The Gulf News, January 28, 2016.

http://gulfnews.com/business/analysis/a-chance-for-asia-to-pull-out-the-big-guns-1.1660354

HAL MUSEUM UPGRADED, GETS A NEW LOOK

The newly upgraded HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum, where people can get a feel of flying on both normal planes and fighter jets with motion simulators, is set to be inaugurated on Saturday by Rao Inderjit Singh, the minister of state for defence.

The centre, with 15 types of flying machines on static display, was established on August 30, 2001, in a 10-acre site. The museum houses rare photos from the 1940s and aircraft models that take the visitor on a journey through the heritage of aerospace and aviation industry in India. One can also see a dozen aircraft models and satellite launch vehicles (GSLV, PSLV) giving a glimpse of forays made by the country in space technology.

Visitors will come across facts like HAL produced buses and train coaches in early 50s, and that the black-box of an airplane is actually orange. 


"We have done some fine modifications in view of HAL's platinum jubilee celebrations. These include refurbishing of metal art, murals, water cascade walls, renovation of cafeteria and fish pond", said T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL. The museum houses a library on aerospace and traces the development of the industry since 1940. 

The additions include an orchidarium, a herbal garden, a children's play area and sustainability development park. The park has mock-up models of solar power systems, bio-gas plants and hybrid windmill.

Although HAL airport does not operate commercial aircraft anymore, a panoramic view of the landing and take-off of various aircraft and helicopters could still be experienced as chartered and test flights take off and land regularly. The entire stretch of runway could be seen from the dummy air-tower.
There is no weekly holiday for the museum, and it operates from 9 am to 5 pm with an entry fee of Rs 30 per person.


http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/others/HAL-museum-upgraded-gets-a-new-look/articleshow/50143725.cms

Cricket Stadiums in India Must Take Care of Spectators

The day two of the second test match between India and South Africa which was called off due to rain on November 15, 2015, exposed how badly cricket stadiums are run in India and how the gullible spectators are taken for granted. The so called covered stands were leaking all over at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore and to make the matters worse the umbrellas were not allowed. The ‘international standard ground’ was covered in patches leaving out the out-field at rain god’s mercy.  The out-field was muddy and slippery. What happened to the modern methods of covering and soaking? Just tireless manual work does not yield results although in this case play would not have been possible as rain was continuous. There were no announcements on the poor public address system and the only screen placed on one corner of the ground had the line ‘the match delayed due to rain’.  As if no one knew about it.  What people look is out-come of periodical inspections made by umpires.

Patchy covers at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on November 15, 2015

The occasional voice that came up called upon the spectators to sing nursery rhyme “rain-rain go away”. The stadium in general appeared poorly maintained. Quite a few seats were either dirty or broken.  I do not understand why drinking-water or umbrellas were not allowed inside just because water bottle throwing incidents happened on a rare occasion in the past. Umbrellas are needed whether it is sunny or rainy day while the quality of drinking water provided within the stadium is always a suspect. 

Many spectators, women in particular had to leave their umbrellas, purses, back-packs, cameras outside for which the stadium security refused to take any responsibility. There was no token system to mark the personal belongings – thrown reckless in some corner at the entry points.  The authorities must know that people come from far flung areas, unaware of all kinds of restrictions. This stadium hosts many matches in a year and I am sure must be making a lot of money through ticket sales, advertisements, coaching sessions and so on. I hope, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which     is one of richest sporting organizations in the world, takes notice of the poor treatment meted out to the cricket loving spectators. If this is the case in Bangalore, situation must be worse elsewhere at other centres in India.