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.

London Pubs: 'Hic' and happening

Can drinking be considered a cultural activity? You will have a better picture of what drinking means if you happen to be in London. Although my visit there was for a short duration, it seemed to me that life in London revolves around its famed pubs that offer frothy drinks and excellent food, fish-and-chips in particular.

Here, in this city of nearly eight million people speaking 300 different languages, I realised that weekend is considered a good time for the working class and their friends to ‘meet up’ at these joints and enjoy themselves. London pubs (most of them) are open on all days till 11.30 pm. “It is not just about weekends; people here enjoy all the time and in all seasons. You can’t be in London and refuse to be a part of its pub culture,” says my friend Babul Mukherjee, who has been a part of this culture for over 10 years now.

What is the most attractive aspect of a typical pub in London? It is classy and boasts of calm surroundings. There are no noisy streets around. And, one thing that is common to all of them is the premium they place on quiet surroundings. Looks and architecture are important to them and therefore every pub strives to look beautiful in its own way, with open spaces, wooden tables and classy furniture. 

You find people — minimum age to purchase alcohol is 18 — enjoying their beer with banger and mash (sausages with potatoes or meat) or with some other dish. Notwithstanding rare fist fights, people here talk about and debate any subject under the sun. 

In fact, most of the adults are said to be regulars who spend a considerable amount of time in the pubs. It is little wonder that families and friends can be seen immersed in conversations inside, while their children play outside.

It is clear that to understand more about English culture, you need to spend more time in a pub. You can even strike a conversation with a total stranger inside any pub and come out with an enriching experience.

There is more to a typical English pub besides being a place that offers thirst-quenching pint, chilled wine and food, especially in summers.

When it comes to service, overseas visitors must know that there is no ‘waiter service’ in these pubs. You buy your ‘stuff’ at the counter. “Perhaps the no-waiter system has been put in place by earlier generations to encourage sociability as the English are generally reserved people. This way, one gets an opportunity to strike conversation when people gather at the counter to place their orders. Pubs must be the only place where a queue is not followed in England and yet people are friendly in allowing others to have their order first,” says a journalist friend Isaac Hamza.

One needs to be calm, and a rushing attitude is not appreciated. “It is actually a home away from home. These pubs offer a cosy and pleasant atmosphere,” feels Mukherjee.

There is no compulsion to tip in these pubs, and most pints cost anything between three and four pounds, and come with instructions to ‘enjoy sensibly’. A pint contains four per cent alcohol. The UK Chief of Medicals recommends everyday limit of three to four units for men and two to three for women.

Although most of the pubs have menus, some pubs display their offers on chalkboards. One can always take the help from the counter to understand what the food varieties mean and contain, and how they taste. You need to be sure, even careful, before ordering dishes such as ‘Toad in the Hole’ or ‘Shepherd Pie’.

The article appears on this Deccan Herald link as well:

 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/509353/hic-happening.html

Am I JEWEL of PR in PSU’s?

This article of mine appeared on the news website. Hope readers do not take it too seriously. 

JEWEL of PR in PSU’s “GOPAL SUTAR” exclusive series of thenewsmanofindia.com

Oct 29th, 2015 | By newsmanindia | Category: Governance News

Gopal Sutar is another big name in PR world who is presently serving as Chief of Media Communications, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) an Aviation & Aerospace sector PSU based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, It is governed under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence. The government-owned corporation is primarily involved in the operations of the aerospace industry. These include manufacturing and assembly of aircraft, navigation and related communication equipment and airports operation.

Sutar has been an all time performer in the field of PR. He is considered as GEM of PR in PSU world, Sutar heads entire media communication and branding for HAL, he is on job with dedication all through. Previously he associated with ITI Ltd., Saudi Basic Industries Corporation(SABIC), and Reliance-IPCL.

The companies Sutar served include the Corporate Communications Groups of the world’s leading petrochemical company: Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC, for seven years in Saudi Arabia), Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL-Reliance for nearly 10 years in India), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL, a blue chip public sector in India for four years), ITI Ltd (India’s first Public Sector Enterprise). I joined India’s is India’s blue chip PSE in aerospace industry, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), as Chief of Media Communications on May 29, 2012.

Interestingly Sutar has also worked for a brief period (two semesters) as Associate Professor (Communications) at Manipal Institute of Communications, Manipal (India); and as a journalist in reputed English newspapers (example: The Times of India).

for feedback on this story write to us at newsmanofindia@gmail.com

http://www.thenewsmanofindia.com/?p=824

Bangalore Beacons Pharma Companies and Job Seekers

Bangalore, the silicon valley of India is known for its talent in Information Technology (IT). The burgeoning city is hub for countless IT and computer professionals. No other profession can match the IT job market in the city and hence the sectors such as Pharma which dominate the Western part of India rarely generate the interest in the city although there are quite a few well-known pharma names that thrive in the Megapolis. These include Biocon, Strides, Arcolab, Micro Labs, Cipla, AstraZeneca India Private Limited, Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceutics Ltd, Himalaya Drug Company and so on.

Like IT power-horse, can Bangalore turn into Pharma powerhouse? Honestly, it appears to be a distant dream but not the impossible dream. It appears difficult because the pharma industry housed in and around Bangalore have some way to go. There is dearth of talent and opportunity. As if to taste these impressions, a Mega Pharma Job Fair was held on September 30, 2015 on the outskirts of the city which to the surprise of some drew an excellent response, thanks largely to Mr. H R Kiran, Secretary, R R Institutions, Bangalore and Prof. Raveendra. R., Head of the Department and Placement Officer at R R College of Pharmacy, Bangalore.

New hopes for Pharma industry in Bangalore?

The success could be gauged from the fact that though it was slightly off-season event, nearly 1000 job aspirants with graduate, master’s, and doctorate qualifications registered at the event. They came from Karnataka, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and other far off places like Goa, Kerala and Maharastra. According to Prof Raveendra, nearly 400 youngsters received positive response though it would take some time to process the cases. None other than Government departments supported the cause with Mr. D H Shankara Murthy, Chairman, Legislative Council (Karnataka) lighting the lamp. The event was sponsored by PKMET, KAPL, Micro Labs Group Pharma and Remidex pharma. About 30 pharma companies from South of India attended the job fair.

With skilled knowledge base and rising aspirations of pharma companies, young pharma professionals it seems better days are ahead for pharma industry in Bangalore.  Any takers? 

RBI Rate Cut, Will Indians Spend Their Festive Bonuses?

The most of the Indian newspapers went gaga on September 30, 2015 over India’s Central Bank –Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cutting the benchmark repurchase rate by 50 basis point to four and half year low of 6.75 per cent?  The Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks. The Times of India, India’s largest circulated daily came out James-Bond style headline quoting the RBI Governor “MY NAME IS RAGHURAM RAJAN AND I DO WHAT I DO”.  Compare this with a business daily which said “Raghuram Rajan Does” while another screamed “Rajan goes for big-bang cut”.  Many others tried to be as dramatic as possible.

So what is the significance of these positive jibes to people at large?   Why so much is made out of RBI’s decision to cut the benchmark repurchase rate? Has the best time (Ache Din) really arrived for India and the country is all poised to leap-frog? Is India going to over-take China not on population but on the business and economy fronts? Is 21 century going to be India’s as made out to be although 15 precious years are already lost?

But all experts seem to send the common message. The year-end  bonus or the corporate gift which most of the Indians are looking forward to in the coming festive season  must now be spent (in case they get one)  on overpriced white goods (even if prices get reduced as a token of gesture to Mr Rajan), new two-wheelers, cars and what not. Better still if they can invest in one of the highly priced mediocre apartments since the borrowing cost has reduced “substantially”.  Never mind if some of these apartments are costlier than in Singapore or in Dubai or quality is the last thing the buyers get.  The customers must take in stride the over-promises the builders make on amenities like water, roads, electricity and connectivity.

The message is be sympathetic to the real estate players who have shown remarkable resilience by "holding on" though inventories piled up in last two or three years.  Indian builders and real estate agents are lucky that RBI has now come to their rescue. As a consequence,  the general people must now be prepared to get smses, emails and social media messages that would urge them to spend their life-time savings for a better life (of builders).  It is really now up to all aspiring citizens, the home seekers in particular, to bail-out industrialists, travel agents, builders and others struggling to sell their products despite all the marketing gimmicks!

All said and done, there is little doubt that the rate-cut is welcome but can help the economy only to an extent and the rest depends on many other factors including the global situation. The real challenge for the common man is not to fall prey to all these exaggerated predictions of boom times ahead.  But will he or she see through the maddening headlines?

Views expressed are personal. 

Also see:

http://www.arabnews.com/economy/news/814181

Jeff Bezos (Amazon V/S New York Times)

It is nice to know that Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, has swiftly sought to reject claims that the company he founded is a "bruising workplace”. He has written an Email to the employees, pacifying them and even rebutting the New York Times article which rudely describes Amazon as inhuman place to work. I have been dealing with media for the last 25 years and can understand his anguish when such reports get published. At times, I too feel in democratic countries such as USA and India some writers or journalists tend to be highly irresponsible. In India, they can get away easily simply because companies and individuals find it difficult go through the legal system which takes its own time. It takes years to get the judgement in cases such as defamation, slander or contempt of court. But I believe, the US legal system is robust and Amazon has an option to evaluate legal course of action if it really feels hurt. It is up to Jeff Bezos on how to take it further or call it off with his letter to employees.

It is my feeling that the big companies such as Amazon which provide fantastic careers to people across the world must be much better place than the one described in the article. I can’t directly comment on the article which describes the Amazon “I don’t know from inside” and say that everything written is wrong.  However, I appreciate the gesture of encouraging the employees to read and share their feeling directly with the Chief Executive.

Nice way to go Jeff!

 NYT Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html 

The umpire’s call

My favourite umpire is a dead one, said a veteran sportsman when asked to name the best umpire of his time. At times, fans too vent their anger at umpires when decisions go against their team. Often people think that only players have the central role in the game, forgetting that it is the umpire who controls the proceedings “It is a hot-seat. It is challenging and one must have passion for the role,” says Nandan, a Bengaluru-based umpire, who recently officiated in English county cricket.

“It is not just about raising the dreaded index finger, umpiring means shouldering huge responsibility towards players, the cricket boards and all those who watch the game. Above all, the umpires have the responsibility of ensuring that the game is played in the right spirit,” he contends.

Nandan, who works as Senior Manager with HAL’s Aircraft Division in Bengaluru, is an engineer from the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE). With excellent academic grooming – he stood ninth in Karnataka at the 10th Board exams – family and friends expected him to flourish in studies. However, his obsession with cricket changed his life when he got selected to represent Karnataka at the age of 19 as a wicket-keeper and opening batsman.

He got his chances and played the semi-final against Delhi in a short cricketing career. He was in the famous Karnataka squad captained by Brijesh Patel that defeated the mighty Bombay in the 1983 Ranji final. He accepts that it was never easy to play under the shadow of flamboyant players such as Sadanand Vishwanath who was the main keeper and the opening batsman for the State. “I had limited opportunities but that’s how the game and the luck goes”, he feels.

Nandan also captained Bangalore University and South zone universities and played for the HAL cricket team for 14 years after joining HAL in 1986 as a sportsman. He took up to cricket umpiring in 1995 and qualified for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) panel in 1997 and further made it to the All India panel of umpires in 2005-06. “When it comes to umpiring, the decision making is important. One has to be mentally strong and be prepared to deal with conflicting situations.” he says.

Nandan officiated in the One-day women’s international match between New Zealand and India in 2004. He has been officiating in IPL editions . In February 2015, he stood in first class games in South Africa. He was a TV umpire at the 2014 Asia Cup held in Bangladesh. “We are proud that he is the only Ranji Trophy BCCI panel umpire from HAL,” says T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL.

Is it important to have cricket experience to be a good umpire? “Not really. Having played the game it does help. But umpiring gives different perspective. It is about understanding the laws of the game and technique of umpiring. As an umpire one has to keep oneself up-to-date with changing laws and playing conditions. You have only a split second to decide and you must be correct all the time,” he contends.

Talking about age, Nandan says: “I am 51 now and usually we can carry on till 60 provided we keep ourselves fit and have excellent eye sight.”

(Above: Nandan seen with Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena)

Can he make it to the top league of international umpires? “I keep my fingers crossed because there is so much competition. Whatever happens, I would always be happy to accept this unique challenge of managing the game of cricket,” he says.

The BCCI also made good use of Nandan’s excellent engineering background by asking him to serve the Indian cricket team as a computer analyst to support John Wright during his tenure as India coach.

“I had to be on my toes as Wright would demand all kinds of data and the numbers on the performance of the players immediately after the match. It could be number of good length balls bowled by a particular bowler or balls left alone by the batsman. I am thankful to Wright that he acknowledges my contribution in his book,” says Nandan.

Article was also published in The Hindu, August 10, 2015.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/the-umpires-call/article7516390.ece

Let Us Welcome CBSE’s Moderate Stance

Let Us Welcome CBSE’s Moderate Stance

  

It is a welcome step that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has promised to "protect interests of the students" who had suffered due to the unusual difficulty level of the Class XII mathematics that concluded recently. Although there is no official confirmation yet, already some newspapers have quoted CBSE sources that there would be moderation in evaluation besides considering marks wherever the printing errors happened. The maths question paper was regarded as toughest by many experts and scores of students and teachers had complained to the CBSE.  The issue even came up for discussion in Parliament and the human resource development ministry had asked CBSE to address the grievances.

All this should be seen against the background that in India the 12^th Board examination is regarded as “the mother of all examinations”. It seems this year it struck a fear in millions of students and the parents from India, Saudi Arabia (it has largest Indian school in the world), the rest of the Gulf and Singapore where expat population has access to CBSE education. Some of the students were so shocked mentally that they were not willing to take their next examination.  For instance at the Examination Centre in Indira Nagar, Bangalore which I visited the common outburst was “Our dream is shattered”.

Questions were completely different from the past CBSE papers. What is worse the schools and students were not sounded about all this in advance.  The mathematics nightmare came just days after the tough physics paper. The students in general were wondering about their future prospect since the admissions to professional course largely depend on the marks they score in physics and mathematics.   

So what went wrong? Apparently the CBSE wanted a big change by stressing on application and skill based evaluation. Most of the questions were not from the books or the syllabus although they could be linked to the syllabus “somehow” to justify the high handedness. The over-zealous paper setters propped up questions which were way over the normal intelligence level. Some students even compared it to the standards of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) which general students could not have handled. IIT preparation and coaching is different ball-game and not all students can afford or have the capacity.  The application based questions make it harder for the students to score although this seems ideal for testing one’s calibre.  But again the same standards are not applied across various Boards in India as a result of which a section of student loses out. One must also keep in mind that the students need to spend more time on application based question papers. But if the question papers are lengthy the students would miss out on some questions and this is what happened in case of CBSE question papers of physics and mathematics (2015).

  

Does this mean the institutes like CBSE do not have a review team to assess the question papers - the difficulty levels - before the exams?  In case they do have, the team in question seems to have done a poor job this year. CBSE must understand that they assess general students and not just the brilliant ones. The Board cannot set up IIT level question paper and expect students to do well.  It does not have the right to spoil careers of young people.  Some did claim that everything was within syllabus. The worst part was there were too many sub-questions and alleged symbol errors.

If some in CBSE wanted to create great scholars and scientists overnight they are right in setting such question papers. However in trying this, they ended up demoralising the young kids. The irony is with all this kind of thinking, India does not rank high in terms of quality of education at global level simply because standards are not uniform across the country. The standard 12^th should be difficult but same across the country. 

Let us thank HRD ministry for being practical and taking the right step by asking CBSE to look into the matter holistically and not bask in the glory of setting the record breaking toughest questions for the students!

Gopal Sutar

Views expressed are personal. 

CBSE Makes Mockery of Mother of All Exams

CBSE Makes Mockery of Mother of All Exams

  

In India the 12^th Board examination is regarded as “the mother of all examinations”. It seems this year it has struck a fear in millions of students and the parents from India, Saudi Arabia (it has largest Indian school in the world), UAE and the rest of the Gulf. Parents of thousands of children have sought re-test or relaxed evaluation of just concluded mathematics and physics examination of class XII conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education  (CBSE).   Some of the students are so shocked mentally that they are not willing to take their next examination. “Our dream is already shattered” seemed the common outburst at the Examination Centre in Indira Nagar, Bangalore.

Questions were completely different from the past CBSE papers. What is worse the schools and students were not sounded about all this in advance.  The mathematics nightmare came just days after the tough physics paper.  Now these children are wondering about their future prospect since the admissions to professional course largely depend on the marks they score in physics and mathematics.   

So what went wrong? Apparently the CBSE wanted a big change by stressing on application and skill based evaluation. Most of the questions were not from the books or the syllabus although they could be linked to the syllabus “somehow” to justify the high handedness. The over-zealous paper setters propped up questions which were way over the normal intelligence level. Some students even compared it to the standards of Indian Institute of Technology  (IIT) which general students could not have handled. IIT preparation and coaching is different ball-game and not all students can afford or have the capacity.  The application based questions make it harder for the students to score although this seems ideal for testing one’s caliber.  But again the same standards are not applied across various Boards in India as a result of which a section of student loses out. One must also keep in mind that the students need to spend more time on application based question papers. But if the question papers are lengthy the students would miss out on some questions and this is what happened in case of physics and mathematics 2015.

  

Does this mean the institutes like CBSE do not have a review team to assess the question papers - the difficulty levels - before the exams?  In case they do have, the team in question seems to have done a poor job this year. CBSE must understand that they assess general students and not just the brilliant ones. The Board cannot set up IIT level question paper and expect students to do well.  It does not have the right to spoil the careers of young people. Now they will explain saying everything was within syllabus. The fact is even experts have given statements that mathematics and physics were too difficult, too lengthy this year. The worst part was there were too many sub-questions and alleged symbol errors. What does CBSE intend? Create great scholars and scientists overnight? In fact they have demoralized the young kids. The irony is with all this kind of thinking, India does not rank high in terms of quality of education at global level simply because standards are not uniform across the country. The standard 12^th should be difficult or same across the country.  The HRD Minister, Ms Smriti Irani must take CBSE to task for this lop-sided approach in setting the crucial standard 12 papers for 2015. 

Gopal Sutar

Views expressed are personal.