Join Media protest - Mid-Day Journo 'Akela' 's unjust arrest under OSA Act 4 exposg RPF lapses

MiD DAY reporter jailed for exposing Railway lapses

By: MiDDAY

Date: 2011-05-19

 (Case Text from Mid-Day's published article)
IN what can be construed as an assault on the freedom of the press, MiD DAY reporter Tarakant Dwivedi, better known as Akela, has been put behind bars by the CST Government Railway Police (GRP) for exposing the poor condition in which hi-tech weapons procured after the 26/11 attack were being kept by the railway security forces.

The article published in Mumbai Mirror ('Leaks in CST armoury put new anti-terror arms under threat', June 28, 2010), where Akela used to work before joining MiD DAY, stated that all the new arms and ammunition were stored in a dank, decrepit room, where water was dripping from the roof and damaging them.

Akela, a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience under his belt, had reported on the issue in public interest and the article had shaken the railway security forces out of their slumber and had even resulted in the transfers of a few senior officials.

Clearly, however, this article, and others before it, rubbed some officials in high places the wrong way, for one Pradeep Sontalia tried to file a complaint against Akela, a policeman and one more person with the CST GRP for trespassing into the Arms Koth (armoury) of the Cash Guard Section in connection with the article in September that year.

When they refused to take his complaint, Sontalia went to the Railway Court, which directed the GRP to inquire into the case and an FIR was finally registered against the three people under Section 447 (trespassing) of the IPC.

Later Sontalia went to the GRP again, asking for the trio to be booked under the draconian Official Secrets Act as they had got into a government armoury.

But, since he was told that only government officials could file a case under this act, he went to the Railway Police Force (RPF) and got one of its officers to file a case on his behalf. Later, the court asked the police to investigate the case under the Official Secrets Act although it was not mentioned in the first FIR.

Arrest
On Tuesday evening, GRP officials came to the MiD DAY office in Parel to inquire about Akela. They took him to the GRP police station saying they wanted to take his statement, but, later that night, arrested him claiming he was accused of trespassing and of violating the provisions of the Official Secrets Act.

No papers
Akela was supposed to be produced in the Railway Court early last morning but constables kept telling MiD DAY that the papers they needed to submit before the honourable judge were not ready. When we went to the investigating officer, however, he said that he had already sent the papers. We even spotted a constable standing with the papers near the court but not producing them before the judge, leading us to conclude that the process was deliberately being delayed.

ACP in lock-up?
Assistant Commissioner of Police Anil Mahabole, who has no jurisdiction under the railways as he is associated with the city police, allegedly walked into the lock-up before the hearing had started.

He met Akela and said, "I wanted to see you here." He made some more comments and then instructed a constable to keep a tab on the people visiting Akela and to note down their details.

Akela has been remanded in police custody till May 21.

Readers, if you have reached the bottom of this story, and would like to support the protest regarding his unjust arrest, under an inappropriate Offical Secrets Act.  Kindly leave a comment, share this on ur fb account, retweet this link and follow this space to be informed by mail of any on-ground events that are planned to protest this hideous act bu the Railways Police Force. 

Peace & love, 

Love Baronia.

A win-for-all solution on the Ayodhya Dispute for the SC Judges

A simple solution to the Ayodhya Angst

Since eternity, politicians have looked for pegs to invoke common emotional brouhahas to integrate commoners and use them for their vested interests in the space. Even on Ayodhya, the politicos have instilled the  fear of another ensuing communal catastrophe, to keep us civil Indians nervous and away from the fantacism.

However, technology has transformed democracy, no longer is it constrained to be a cumbersome process to choose ur country's fate every 5 years.  We, the literate, urban, rationalist Indians have not just been empowered by RTI, PIL, we now have convenience in participating without disrupting our lives through blogs, facebook, Twitter.  Anna Hazare's campaign gained traction online and on cell phones more than the TV channels.

So, let us view the Ayodhya dispute as an opportunity to end our third-world vulnerability to cower under the almost obsolete religion distinction, let us put our money where our "humanity first" mouths have been.   

Centuries-old documents hazing the clarity on the case, no decision would be 100%, so we recommend a Korean auto brand's line,  "When we can't change the rules, we change the game".

The Solution even God would have wanted....
On the disputed plot of land, we recommend  a state-of-the-art hospital or school be built which would be free for the poor and needy from all religions and races. Asking all religious associations, groups and parties to donate for the same, would make for the making of a truly secular modern India monument for the world to see and follow as an example of productive thinking and harmonious living in commune.

A win-win solution for all

Being a religion-proof solution, with all earning credit in the wholesomeness of the cause, and even fundamentalist parties have now resolved to secular as the popular stance, we expect all to amicably agree to the SC suggestion/directive.

If u read this far, and support the idea, pl leave a comment as this space, will be presented as a cumulative legal opinion of modern India on the dispute, for the Judges of the Supreme Court to appraise and analyse before reaching a decision.  Your support can end this century-old debacle, once and for all!

As a rationalist thinking responsible citizen, do at least ur li'l bit of the following.  


Leave a comment, tweet it, post this link on ur fb acccount, whatever u can do, to give the endorsement of the civil literate fair side of India a voice, with a simple yet sweet solution. Help make this a movement, creating a precedent for the world to follow from India.

Praying for support,

May Humanity Prevail over Distinction,
Common sense over communal catastrophe,
Peace & love, 

Love Baronia

Dell and their myopia

Dell and their myopia in their Indian vision

Word-of-mouth makes Dell the perception leader, and gratification achiever amongst all PC users in India. However, the brand has been doing li'l to join the dots and make a large canvas out of it. I am not going to assume teh cliche of complacency, they clearly are too busy upgrading their products to keep the gratification of buyers high with evolution.

Since, it is considered the best product technically, and quality-wise in India, it is already poised the premium "Intel Inside" stable. And the premium labelling need not be seen as a price push pointer, I am probably referring to the "Bata" kind of attributes, where quality met fair pricing, which is what I find in Dell's products. So, it can be perceived as premium with fair pricing.

Sometimes, the glory and compliments need to be pronounced to create the halo of tertiary ovation, which Dell is completely oblivious about, for some reason. Here are some ideas -

Scholarships which offer 60% discount to the university's Top 100 every year in every genre of education.

Dell Scholarships that assist meritorious graduates in attaining admissions in the right B-schools or coveted engg institutions.

Dell reserve quota in premier educational institutions for meritorious students.

Launch of Dell's self-owned premier scholarships/Institutes on design, development and animation.

Dell creative cafes, very premium kiosks for most Dell users to sit and work, as the entrepreunial spirit grows.

A Testimonial contest amongst existing owners on what makes Dell their choice and the best.

A testimonial campaign among technocrat celebrity users of Dell products, to endorse Dell not just as a popular choice, but the intelligent conscious choice.

A Dell achiever of the year promotion, which commemorates the achievements of entreprenuers, professionals or students in any space who are also Dell users.

These are just some of the Ideas, that can be rendered thru ATL procured or editorial media to append the pixie dust and integrate user pride in the brand.

Wake up Dell and get a pair of our lenses, to see all the opportunities sitting right under our noses.

Is "Narrow Casting" the nextgen solution for media?

Hi,

After decades of looking for spillage-safe solutions in Media to optimize the mileage of the marketing Rupee, the rigidity in the media space has maintained the polarization of popular generic products, or B2B products, which still elude the consumer. There are few products that have garnered a healthy bunch of enthusiasts, who are happy reading developments in the space of their interest.

If brands are able to decipher which are the products or services being used by their potential consumers, why aren't they reaching out to them through media vehicles designed only for those pointed audiences, which clearly have the need, the resources, interest and inclination in their product.

A lot of brand crafters will say, we do, we DM them!

But isn't DM an entirely different story again, the thorn-laden route of the "unsolicited material", not to mention that the sudden conversion of the middle class into lusty consumers of most things money can buy, has increased the volumes of each such niche segment. Not just geographic scatter, the sheer volumes don't make DM an effective medium anymore.

The future of media marketing, according to me shall be narrow casting to interested users, through media vehicles which take the pain to understand the psyche, needs, delights and pains of that audience, so that they can male a connect with those readers, and expect to sustain the periodic communication.

Only then can you start thinking on monetizing the vehicle, that reaches a very focussed and typical audience with common characteristics, buying needs and behaviour.

With DM losing it's cost-efficiency and it's appeal value, the future is narrow casting of specialised products for audiences with specific needs.

The distinctions need to also be revamped from the new-third-world perspective, the regular distinguishers need to give away to newer more incisive and accurate grade-breakers, which will functionally categorize the groups and cater to them.

Finally, an example, about fifteen auto magazines are in the marketplace, and all are difficult to distinguish from each other, unless the dateline of the page reads you the name, they are creating and publishing to be eligible in their peers. All have common sections, different names and packaging, common information, rendered in slightly different styling.

I have one simple question, "If you love automobiles, is it not understood that the road tripping will be a never-ending fantasy, and so is the need to be updated on motorsport." However, most Indian Auto products are generic with sections devoted to motorsport and a travelogue thrown in once every other month.

There are enough clubs mushrooming in various parts of India on road tripping, and the manufacturers themselves are initiating various social products for their customers from different segments (The C, D segments).

We see a future of products which will be focussed at magazines for each specific segment of buyers, woven into the ethos of their lifestyles and priorities, which also decide the periphery of their fantasies.

Without finding a niche, the auto space will also go the way other sectors have gone, multiplicity is good, but just how much multiplicity is the question before, niches are found and established.

The auto space like any other nascent media segment has a lot to offer to all products on and offline, only if they do not crowd a common space, cannabilising into a small promiscious space of readers, when there is room for all to find secure niches with more specific and loyal patronage.

This is where narrow casting becomes a mantra again, when catering to niches, publishers need to be more efficient and accurate, as low volumes do not allow a large margin for error, and thus profiling the ethos, lifestyles and buying behaviour of not just media products, but all else, wil help publishers understand the universe of advertisers they can tote along with their products much more definitively.

So the way to go in most eco-spaces today is "narrow".

Pl add value to this forum and let us take this to a more tangible space.

Thanks & Cheers,

Love Baronia.

9819015077

ideas27@gmail.com

Open Letter to US President Obama from India on simple solutions and policy reforms to revive and balance the US Economy.

To,

Mr. President, (Barrack Hussain Obama)

The White House,

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,

Washington DC 20500

This is the open letter sent to President Obama from us in India on simple solutions and policy reforms to revive and balance the US Economy.

 Dear Mr. President (OBAMA),

 At the outset, congratulations on taking on "The world’s biggest Challenge" for the next five years.  Like the whole world, which  sees you as a fresh breath of air for the US eco-system, I also hope that you too believe that most problems and the challenges they pose are soluble using simple common sense invoked solutions.  I am no economist, but common sense and logic helped me see a simple solution to solve multiple yet salient problems in the US of A using  the clinical third-persons’ perspective.

 To start with, the proposed idea not only solves the problems listed below, it will also auto-solve the by-problems that are created:

• Economic slowdown
• Growing Unemployment
• Continuing Recession
• Growing crime and drug abuse problems

 Since the solution lies in the problem itself, it is important to see the problem from another perspective and analyze the root causes of the US Economic Crises.

 Dependency on Import from other countries:

USA's new-found socio-economic vulnerability is due to it's dependence on other countries for both products and services.  The US consumers' dollars have gradually converted many poverty-stricken economies into large consumer markets, earlier non-existent in the Global consumer pie.  Growing globalization has crystallized the rest-of-the-world into a gigantic market, larger than the US which was originally the biggest consumer market in the world, weakening the USD, the erstwhile universal trade currency denominator. 

 The Price-sensitive myopia -

To commercially survive in the heavily taxed and excessively competitive US Marketplace, US enterprises had no option but to offshore jobs and production to maintain profitability thus, further weakening the US economy.  Consequently, as any weak economic space, US markets also became price-centric, propagating import of low-quality low-priced products from Asian markets, especially China.  Chinese import also increased US’s indirect contribution to the global carbon footprint. (US is aanyways teh largest poluuting nation in the world, and not due to it's size or industry, due to it's negligence to green issues) 

 Paradoxic Laws and Lack of Vision in Economic Reforms -

While rigid and stringent regulations and taxes choked domestic entrepreneurs, au contraire, the laws of the land did not apply to import of sub-standard products from countries using non-ecological and polluting processes, exploiting labour, even child labour.  This paradox in the legislations and the core values worked counter-productively on domestic entrepreneurs, discouraging new and existing entrepreneurs and impacting enterprise performance and employment.

 Drowning in their own credit -

In the Good old days, USA was a super-power with the largest bullion reserves. Today despite (as hearsay claims) the fact that, the ex-chequer does not print currency in proportion to the Gold deposits in the Federal Reserve Bank, and that they print as often, as much as they desire, the crisis is till imminent. It is the obsessive hunger for rapid growth which  intensely promoted the credit-based economy, so wide-spread, that the Super-Power of the world has reduced to mortgage packets that would occupy half of New York City.  The once cash-rich country has undone itself, due to it’s own impatience with growth pace.

 The full-circle theory applies to economy as well, albeit slowly, and as credit-laden consumers keep jobs only for pay-backs, there is little cash or security left  in their lives, this has made their decisions extremely  price-centric for all their consumable purchases.  Inferior foreign (read Asian) goods of  inferior quality became popular, making nations such as China richer.

 Offshoring to Survive -

The lack of adequate and visionary reforms in economic laws left entrepreneurs with no option, but to outsource jobs to cheaper labour nations like India, Indonesia and Africa.

 The key differentiators that have driven this migration of jobs and production are the most ironic, and thus Dollars out of the country to the third-world are low capital costs, low cost English speaking skilled/unskilled manpower.

 Irony of Language, Labour and Unemployment -

Uncannily, this was a problem created by US themselves, by their rigid labour laws and thus costs and high capital costs. There has never been a dearth of English speaking population in the United States. Just like the Government promotes recruitment in the army for young Americans, they could train students on Computer programming which is not astro-science really, and stop the exodus of jobs to Asia.  And most importantly, even when we outsource jobs to native Africans, the government failed to wake up even then and see that there were enough African Americans which could be made eligible if trained and employed in a special reformed economic environment.

 I call it ironic because, the entire world including us, focused on learning the language English because, US, being the Global super-power English was now the “Universal Business Language”.  And third-world countries learnt English to be able to conduct commerce with the large consumer market of the US.  It is ironic that the same US, needs to outsource jobs which require “English Speaking Skills” to the same third-world countries, despite a majority of Americans being fluent in the language, and a large chunk of them reeling under debt due to unemployment.

Solutions:

Pointed Reforms to solve Wide Problems -

US even today has abundant resource of unused horizontal space in the up-country areas and in the southern states where barren rocky landscape is wide-spread.  With this abundant space, if the legislation were to activate Special Economic Zones to promote enterprises to start producing goods and services under special taxation regulations earmarked for these SEZ’s, the same toys and ITeS would be home-grown, and would start revitalizing the domestic economy through the large volumes.  And just like we have seen the third-world transform into the developing world while producing Goods and services for American consumers, the SEZ enterprises would also create more jobs, more allied enterprises there from, thus compensating the SEZ’s loss of taxes and reliefs from the voluminous tax revenue generated by the newly employed and new enterprises.  The taxes individually may be rebated, but the volumes will compensate.  All this, while also becoming lesser dependent on foreign states for their own goods and services.

Stub mediocre imports and prepare for Carbon Credit Economy era -

With relaxed labour norms and tax rates, more enterprises would become viable, and the US could start competing with Asian prices, albeit with better Quality Control.  Also, considering that the Carbon Credits would again become the global currency in the world, consuming nations will have far lesser control over regulating their Carbon credits, and it would be the manufacturing nations which have state-of-the art ecological means and methods that would assume the dominant positions in the world, as they would be able to incentivize and contribute to larger deposits of Carbon credits.  Also, lead the global campaign on banning of goods made in non-green plants or using exploited labour, to curb the propagation and sale of sub-standard products in the world.

Enough Growth, now consolidate, Bring back the reality of Cash –

Only when you pay in cash, do you pay really sensibly and shop responsibly.  Americans are in the rut, that they got themselves into because of the trend of predating purchases, that could not be able to afford for years to come.  They spend the rest of their lives repaying and re-borrowing to repay, and thus there is no security, the moment they lose their income, making the economy brittle and vulnerable.  This vulnerability has made the once-confident Americansinto nervous wrecks who act only out of insecurity as the third-world used to till the recent past.  Mass job losses spell doom more in America than anywhere else in the world.  With cashing out culture, returning, America would hae gone the full circle of being a cash-rich and independent super-power.

 Show the power of colour – Black and brown with white collars

Finally, the African American and Asian population has always constituted the larger chunk of unemployed Americans sect, and that is explained due to their limited education leading to lesser white collar jobs.  Mr. President, if you viewed the African American and lesser income groups of America as the third world nation and formulated Training SEZ’s, which allowed them to learn specific skills for their vocational objectives, such as Computer Programming, Craftsmanship etc., you have the single largest potential workforce waiting to be converted in your own country.  And needless to mention, crime rates and drug running would substantially reduce.  This would also take care of both the other large problems concerning the US, underlying racism and terrorism.  With more Asians being moderated by education and employment, little room remains for radical fervour, which is nothing but idle unspent energy bottled up, which when spiked with religious or racist instincts unleashes the fury of doom being witnessed across the globe.

 If Indian, Indonesians and Chinese who barely speak English, are able to perform at ITeS jobs, and Call Center Jobs, so can the African Americans.  As Such, all the resources lie right here in your land, what keeps you from them is the maze of laws, regulations which have not evolved to the current proportions of have’s and have-not’s, making these laws quite obsolete and quite like anchors dragging the feet of development and Growth of Unites States of America.

 “Lead from the Front, Mr. Obama”, Bring US to the full circle -

Lastly, Mr. President, as it is said in all motivational communication, “Lead from the Front!” eradicate racism, regionalism, terrorism, recession, unemployment, and crime with the powers vested in you by the people of America and media from across the world.  Reform laws to employ the unemployed and motivate new enterprise, train, educate and employ the colours weaving them to into the social fabric of the US, promote realistic and patient lifestyles to make the country cash-rich and a super-power again. Give to the Americans the liberty the lady of the constitution promised them, and bring America to a full circle.  I wish you all the very Best.  

This letter has been mailed to the White House as well, and we await feedback.

Meanwhile, I invite your comments, even if knee-jerk on the above problems and solutions from all those who read this post. Comments help us write better.  Thank You for reading.  I would start believing in the blogspot medium the most, if I were to see a post from the White House.

 Love Baronia.

(Not an Economist)

The new seamless sphere in Management

Love Baronia.

Hi and welcome,
As global economies down-shift gears, enterprises and brands already spread thin by fierce competition will now be forced to stretch the mileage of the marketing dollar further. The fast-evolving markets demand equally quicker analyses and vision to stay ahead and get the beginner's advantage.

We will try to discuss one such large concept that subsists in the new-age marketing and management space, albeit is still evolving and is yet to crystallize into an icon. We use the term coming a full circle very often, whilst discussing evolution. The full circle statement is what holds the key of management for tomorrow. Because, it is the nature of the circle itself, which is the way forward for all of us, and that is seamless management, just as the circle, which will cease to be, if not seamless.

Current real-life examples of the evolution of seamless management are evident in most mature businesses today. Publishing for example, editorial and marketing heads work together to target and aim before any of them shoot. While marketers provide input on the potential advertising opportunities which may arise from adapting certain specific content ideas. The same works vice-a-versa, when a preview of the editorial content decides the marketers' pitch. Art departments spend almost half their time, designing prototypes or dummies for the ad-man to sample with advertisers. The breaking barriers between departments at the core level is what we are referring to as seamless management.

The seamless factor is not just limited to departments within an organization, even rigid black and white definitions of many trades have changed. For instance, using the same publishing example, the editorial space earlier believed to be sacred, legitimately creates opportunities for advertisers to find their way in, often using the contextual alibi. Advertorials of yester-years have now been adapted to editorial content sponsored by a contextual brand. In-film advertising is one of the most common examples to showcase this trend of diminishing lines, or do I say seams both internally as well as externally.

Competitors too come together in the seamless age, the under-sea cables is the biggest example. If infrastructure of capital limits enterprises to tap on a cognisable market, they do not even mind coming together.

Rising customer interaction from research to trial to after-sales feedback, shows how the line between the enterprise and the end-user is also fast disappearing. Multi-level-Marketing programs are the best example on how users are now also partners.

Finally, the lines between owners, management and employees are also fast diminishing with stock options, sweat equity, etc. becoming commonplace. Democratic ideas and feedback sharing systems exist in almost enterprises today, showing how every component of the enterprise is fusing into a whole.

We can go on deciphering new-age environment and it's evolving seamlessness, however, the idea behind mooting this futuristic ideology was to then using this universal tool of Seamless Management, ideate on sectors, projects and brands that could do better, if they used the seamless perspective in their corporate vision and marketing strategies therefrom.

I will leave this post with one such suggestion. From the word go, brand management differentiation. I propose to reverse that very same fundamental theory. While, we have fragmented the market for our own convenience, the fusing of some of the volume segments, and now positioning brands and products as universal and thus suitable for a wider straddle of audiences using the identification route. Even before you discard this theory, here's a thought if this theory worked for insurance and cement companies, why not for pens, apparel, footwear.
The new-age fragmented markets themselves indicate the same, the reducing gap between socio-economic classes, and the slow-down will drive many brands to down-shift and focus on new products and brands positioning to appeal to the more obese segments by introducing products that appeal to a wider spectrum of buyers, the days of the niche are numbered.

Market fragmentation is just pre-cursor to fusing the seams into a whole. We recommend subscribers and challengers of this seamless concept, mention their perspectives or applications of their theories using specific brands or market segments to make it both interesting and beneficial to all visitors here.

Love Baronia.