The state(s) of fallacies

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Bushwhacked! Gore’s not giving up yet....

Armchair critics might be sniffing for another whiff of thick smog from the environmentally conscientious former Vice President of the States, or at least that’s the impression one gets, considering how far all the bushwhacking has taken Al Gore on the road to revival. Anyway, Gore’s ‘An Assault on Reason,’ in a sort of metaphor that mars the American landscape today, promises a structured and intelligently designed – and at times passionately raw – series of arguments impelling one to sit up and notice innumerable questionable and atrocious policy decisions that’s become so very dubiously Dubya’s.

The book is not an invasion. It’s ‘Bushvasion’, but with valid beliefs that are apparently apolitical. And for that, credit is due to Al Gore. In today’s day and age where ignorance needn’t be bliss, Gore presents a rather gory picture of the affaires quotidiennes of American politics and how reality television has been used as a tool against the common citizenry. “What has happened to our country? People are trying to figure out what has gone wrong in our democracy, and how we can fi x it.” Perhaps propagandist to conspired ears, but it is this theme that more or less forms the basis of Gore’s lengthy salutation to democracy, its functions, and its founders. And much like his blunt and piercing ‘Oscar-venture’ documentary on the climatic challenges that lie ahead, Al Gore talks about the dangers of a society without a conscience. A bunch that allows absurd reasons to bypass a war that killed 3,000 of their very own, and ravaged an already miserable nation. A society where newspapers have lost relevance and public opinions imposed by fashionably suited multimillionaire Congressmen who win elections sponsoring 30 seconds spots on TV but without much reason and without any debate. Amidst such ‘typically American trends’, Al Gore professes gloom.

It’s been seven long years since the fateful 2000 elections, following which Al Gore appeared to have pretty much resigned from public life. But that veiled existence was short term. Hanging up Democrat responsibilities, Mr. Gore jumped into the war zone criticising the White House of imposing a ‘spectator’ war on the television-obsessed country. In The Assault... he talks of how the American junta was misled into believing Saddam’s connections with 9/11. “The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of massive and well-understood evidence to the contrary, seems to many Americans to have reached levels that were previously unimaginable,” quotes Al Gore from Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the longest serving Senator in the American Congress.

As much as can be held against the beleaguered Bush, Mr. Gore has summed it all up. From the absurdity of his policies to the ills of ‘secret strategies’ that hover around the White House, he stuck his neck out with facts that scream for global attention. Be the administration’s sudden collapse in times of calamity, as during Hurricane Katrina or the sudden revised medicare benefits, Al Gore warns of a state being run while suppressing reason – the most basic idea behind democracy.

His, however, is not an argument with a lost cause. Perhaps a trifle over-ambitious, Gore pins his hopes on the Internet. His belief in the world coming closer through constant deliberations over blogs and communities does seem a bit farfetched considering Americans spending close to 100 million hours collectively, with each passing week, watching mind numbing reality TV re-runs.

However, in Mr. Gore lies a man with true conviction. For in The Assault on Reason, he comes across as a writer frustrated with a regime that has consistently treated the rest of the world with dangerously dismissive arrogance. And eventually all he asks for is reason…

Edit bureau: Shashank Shekhar

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Concrete Harmony!

... to put your house in order!

A pleasantly fragrant whiff of air even as you stroll through the lobby; large glass panels, sun rays penetrating through them; beautified walls coupled with light music soothing the senses… Not exactly the setting for a hospital, but if that’s what hospitals were like, healing would become a lot easier & perhaps faster too. Shaking your head in disagreement, are you? Well, it may sound uncanny but the architecture, colours, textures & even shapes affect human behaviour to an extent, that if used effectively, can foster therapeutic healing. . . Healing architecture, in simple terms, can be explained as designing the structure of the building such, that it causes a general feel good mood. And this concept of healing is increasingly gaining prominence the world over, which “till now was ignored while designing a building”, opines Dr. Dharmendra Nagar, MD, Paras Hospitals. While ‘beauty’ forms an indispensable part of such therapy, the structure must functionally be in tune with nature to get that perfect healing touch. “Allowing natural light into the buildings, especially ICUs, helps patients be less prone to depression & reduces the risk of a common problem, ‘ICU psychosis’, where patients lose all bearings regarding time & space. . . & therefore quicker recovery,” says Dr. Nagar. A case study at the South Downs Health NHS Trust in the UK revealed that when original architecture of lodgings from a Victorian, brick institution with unusually high ceilings (accommodating 15 patients in one large room) was changed to single wards & its name changed to a more pleasing Mill View Hospital Hove, there was a significant improvement in patients’ recovery, who also seemed extremely satisfied with the treatment as well! Similarly, many places like St. Vincent’s Hospital, Indianapolis & Kosair Children’s Hospital, Louisville, apart from others are redesigning wards to give a personal space for patients, fostering their recovery & instilling in them a sense of inner tranquillity that affected them in ways that’ll perhaps never be known to the staunch believers in medicine & technology!
Edit bureau: Pooja Priyadarshini

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The energy gamble

Anil’s presence rests on his energy empire’s future potential

Power corrupts, and absolute power can be a mirage that can faze even the hardened veterans. Reliance Energy is all about power. Not the power that the Ambanis are famed to have exercised over the last few decades. It is about generating and distributing electricity. So far, Anil Ambani has displayed the ‘Ambani’ brand of grand proportions while announcing power projects.

Power generation would be the ticket that could propel Anil into the stratosphere of corporate stardom that is now monopolized by Mukesh. If the plans do pan out eventually, Reliance Energy can become the behemoth that Reliance Industries is today. After all, the Tenth Five Year Plan has projected that India needs to add 1,00,000 MW of capacity by 2012 if power cuts are to become a memory. Even if Anil manages to grab 20% of that, the business would be worth Rs.500 billion every year. Add transmission and distribution, where Reliance Energy already plays a role in Mumbai, Delhi and Orissa, and you get a glimpse of the power house that Anil can create.

Like all fairy tale stories in real life, this one too has a few blemishes. For one, the power projects are dependent on gas that will be supplied by the parent Reliance. Till the brothers were together, Mukesh and Anil could indulge in creative internal transfer pricing to kill any birds with one stone. Now, Anil will need to buy gas from Mukesh at market prices.

More importantly, Anil might find his power ambitions thwarted by politics. Th e eternal hunt for votes has forced major political parties to stall the Electricity Act of 2003. With the reform process in the dog house, bankrupt state electricity boards and massive transmission and distribution losses will mean no serious player will dare to enter the power sector.

The Ambanis are known to pull off miracles. If one particular Rajya Sabha member from U.P. concurs, Anil Ambani can persuade fellow politicians to allow power sector reforms; and then he might just snatch the ‘powerful’ tag from elder brother Mukesh.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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One of the social initiatives undertaken by JSW – a rural BPO

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Furthermore, Har Ravindra Lal, AVP - HR, JSW adds, “We have pro-active approach and issues are addressed without much ado. If there’s no union it’s because the management acts as proxy union for them. This ultimately results into high involvement of people in all areas.” The company also undertakes various social& welfare initiatives which serve the company well.

Well, all of this was the real truth which we can marvel at – so much of it, yet so little! We could see the smoke coming out of the plant, as we bid farewell to the grand furnace at Vijayanagar and all that flashed across our minds was that we were witnessing a chronicle of one more global steel behemoth like Arcelor-Mittal, Nippon, Posco et al in the making.

‘Let’s make JSW world class, second to none – Sajjan Jindal’ (as a billboard proclaims). Sure enough, given the pattern in which JSW is painting success, it’s surely a mega-multi-billion dollar global steel corporation in the making! And the only question that now remains to be asked is – how long...?!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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