Achyuta Samanta: Tackling Naxalism at its roots

INITIATIVE

tribal schools education

Achyuta Samanta: Tackling
Naxalism at its roots

It is an amazing story. It is a story of how one man's, Achyuta Samanta, extraordinary courage, vision and determination to do something to better the lot of tribals, in particular tribal children, has made a difference to thousands of families. Achyuta Samanta, 47 years, founder and Chancellor of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneshwar, is hopeful of giving Odisha a new identity other than that what people normally identify it with - poverty and Maoists. This, he wishes to achieve through the best weapon possible – quality education. Read more..

EI gives competitive edge

INITIATIVE

curriculum dalip singh

EI gives competitive edge

The UPSC has included the subject ‘‘Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance’’ in its curriculum

WHAT do anger, love, happiness, sadness, fear, affection, hate, shame, disgust, surprise and elation have in common? These are emotions that directly affect your day-to-day life. For long, it has been believed that success at the workplace depends on your level of academic intelligence or intelligence quotient (IQ) as reflected in your academic achievements, exams passed, marks obtained and so on. But how smart are you outside the classroom, faced with life’s difficult moments? Here, you need a different kind of intelligence. You need, what is called, emotional intelligence (EI). Read more..

Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar

INITIATIVE

education award

Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar

A private award is now
Punjab State award

by Arvind Tiwari

Gurpreet Singh gets the first Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar from Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. Also seen are State
Education Minister Sikandar S Maluka (left), BJP leader L K Advani (second from right) and philanthropist Manoj Syngle (right).

ARE you inviting Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, to any function. Just be careful, if he likes the idea and thinks Punjab can implement it for the betterment of its citizens, he will take over the idea then and there, and announce the function as an of- facial function from the next year.This is what Badal did when he took part in one memorable and remarkable award function of Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar at Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi recently. Read more..

Let us free the State parrots as well!

MY CORNER

rule of law amitabh thakur

Let us free the
State parrots as well!

The executive may control the investigating agencies but should not interfere in the course of the investigation, whether it is at the Centre or in the states

THE moment the Supreme Court of India stated these words- ‘It’s a sordid saga that there are many masters and one parrot’ as regards the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation – while hearing the Manohar Lal Sharma vs Union of India, more popularly known as Coalgate scam case, it became a muchdiscussed phrase all over the country. The Supreme Court stated its wish to free this premier investigative agency from the shackles of any bureaucratic control, which was welcomed by a majority of the people. Read more..

If Modi truly wishes to win!

SILLY POINT

humour mk kaw

If Modi truly
wishes to win!

WHENEVER an election takes place, there is endless discussion as to why a particular party has lost or won. Psephologists come up with interesting theories like the anti-incumbency vote and the TINA factor. Yet many of these theories fall to the ground and are unable to predict the results correctly. At best, the opinion surveys score when these are based on exit polls, by which time the electorate has already expressed its will and delivered its mandate. Read more..

Realising a dream

BOOK REVIEW

kailash mansarovar travelogue

Realising a dream

By Himanshu Joshi

A pilgrimage to Mansarovar Lake and Mt Kailash is a dream for every devout Hindu. The fact that this holy place – considered to be the axis of the world – is in an extremely unforgiving terrain of the Tibetan plateau, makes this pilgrimage even tougher and difficult to complete. No wonder, those who manage to reach the shores of the Mansarovar Lake and then, to top it all, complete the high altitude parikrama of Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, it is a life changing experience for them. Veteran journalist Hemant Sharma is one of those lucky persons. Read more..

Tread cautiously

STOCK DOCTOR

dr gs sood

Tread cautiously

ALL asset classes, except the dollar, witnessed a steep fall across the globe on fears that the Federal Reserve may begin winding down its stimulus measures. The decline actually started from the second half of May when the Fed for the first time indicated that it would scale back $85 billion in monthly bond purchases if the recovery in the US continued. This strengthened the dollar pushing up US bond yields making foreign investors pull out funds from emerging markets’ equity and debt. However, the high allocation by fund managers may work as a limiting factor as they are already severely underweight on emerging markets. Read more..

'We become what we want to become'

PERSPECTIVE

learning sadhguru

'We become what
we want to become'

JULY 22 is Guru Poornima – an occasion considered until a few decades ago to be one of the most important events in this culture. What makes this day so significant? It is important to understand this has nothing to do with religion. Before the idea of religion entered the human mind, this happened.Guru Poornima is important because it was on this day that the seed of liberation was planted in human consciousness. Over 15,000 years ago, in the upper regions of the Himalayas, a yogi appeared. Nobody knew who he was, where he came from, what his origins were. Because no one knew who he was, they called him Adiyogi, the first yogi. People gathered in huge numbers around him because his presence was quite extraordinary. Read more..

Albert Pinto ka gussa

Bric-a-brac

Pains & Gains

Albert Pinto ka gussa

enigmatic anand sharma

COMMERCE Minister Anand Sharma is known for his paroxysms. Even senior Congress Party leaders and Ministers admit that Sharma sometimes exceeds the limit. His officials are also scared and do not know when the Minister will vent his anger on them. Recently, Anand Sharma travelled with a business delegation to Japan. As usual, a wonderful party was organised in his honour, with top Japanese diplomats and bureaucrats present along with Indian businessmen. As the party reached its peak, an Indian businessman, connected with the steel industry, sought to break the ice with Sharma and asked him when had he joined politics. Read more..

JP worries about health

Bric-a-brac

Pains & Gains

JP worries about health

Sorry to politicians

EVERYBODY desires to be healthy and look smart. And, if you are a politician, it is the demand of the times that one should be presentable. Jai Prakash Aggarwal MP and President of Delhi Congress is no exception. He is already a walk freak and tries to keep himself fit. His leader Rahul Gandhi is also a health freak and goes to the gym whenever he gets the time. He and his brother-in-law Robert Vadra can be seen exercising in Aman Hotel at Lodhi Road. Taking a cue from them, Aggarwal was looking for a gym and spa; he enquired and pinned down Amatrra Spa, a lessee of Ashoka Hotel, managed by Ajit Sud of the Mayar Group. Read more..

Pains of waste

Bric-a-brac

Pains & Gains

Pains of waste

The woes of Jairam Ramesh

IF Rahul Gandhi had only five Ministers like Jairam Ramesh, he would win the race against all odds. Jairam is very meticulous in his work. Officers in the Rural Development ministry are scared of his sharp mind and inquisitive nature. The first thing he does is to remove the wooden doors and put glass sliding doors, which close and open with sensors, in whichever Ministry he is given charge of. One can see from the corridors what Jairam is doing in his room. He is busy most of the time with his computer, making notes and writing, planning his work, and he dislikes sycophants. He carries his luggage at the airports. Read more..

The halo behind the face

Bric-a-brac

Pains & Gains

The halo behind the face

Ambika Soni makes the right moves

THE re-entry of Ambika Soni as General Secretary of All India Congress Committee has surprised many in party circles, as nobody knows which strings she is pulling. Kumkum Chadha wrote about her in the Hindustan Times on December 11, 2009, in her column – ‘An affair to remember’. After reading the column, one can understand from where Soni was drawing her strength from to survive in politics. Kumkum had then written, ‘It was an affair that started in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s native country: Italy. And it is one that has matured into a life-long relationship. Read more..

Seniority Prevails

...by the way

Seniority Prevails

One can’t imagine how important the post of Foreign Secretary in India is. A fierce battle was on in South Block for the past two months among the concerned stakeholders. A debate was also on over whether the seniority formula would be followed or ignored, as it had been done in the case of Shivshankar Menon in 2006. Menon had then superseded several officers and had triggered a revolt within the Foreign Ministry. It was almost certain that Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar, who was NSA Shivshankar Menon’s choice, would supersede Sujata Singh and other contenders like envoy to London, J Bhagwati, belonging to the 1976 batch. Read more..

Seniority Prevails

...by the way

Seniority Prevails

An IAS officer, who is Personal Secretary to a very powerful Union Minister, is today a sad and perturbed man. And, unlike in most cases, it is not because he is overloaded with work or that the Minister is annoyed with him. The reason is his wife: coming from a very good family, she has the very peculiar habit of having lights on in her house all the time. If it was just the whole night, it perhaps would have been understandable, but for her all the time means even in the day. So the officer’s house is probably the only one in the city that is today lit up 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Read more...

Transfer phobia in MP

...by the way

Transfer phobia in MP

On a visit to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, another dark horse for the Prime Ministerial post, was asked how he administered his State. The soft-spoken Chauhan replied “Our most important tool is the district administration and we are constantly in touch with Collectors and Superintendents of Police.” While this is true for a majority of the State, the commercial district of Indore remains an exception. Read more..

...by the way

Transfer phobia in MP

One should learn the art of how to make notations on files from Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Senior officers in the Ministry say that he is very meticulous in reading and making notes on the files. When he sits in office, the whole Ministry is on its toes. In his previous stint as the Finance Minister, a file had been put up to him for the appointment of a Joint Secretary. The Department of Personnel had sent a panel of three names as is the norm. To all it
was clear that the officer who was number one on the panel was expecting his posting. The said officer had experience of finance and was considered to be a competent bureaucrat. Read more..