Thursday, June 21, 2007

Let the mango tango begin!


IIPM PUBLICATION

Mango diplomacy has won its day! The first dispatch (in 18 years!) of Alphonso and Kesari mangoes finally arrived in New York, much to the delight of the very many Indians, who live in the Big Apple, and are quite sick of eating apples! Giving them company are, of course, the Americans who have also been looking forward to Indian mangoes coming all the way to US shores. Mango distributors in America are now hoping that, after Alphonso and Kesari, Langra, Chausa, Mallika and Dussheri will follow in right earnest. These distributors are already holding talks with American chains to hawk the fruits; some food chains have evoked interest in mangoes too; they want to sell mango shakes, according to reports. Here’s the history of mango diplomacy briefly. Around 18 years ago, the US had stopped the import of mangoes from India (globally, India is the largest producer of mangoes: it produces more than 50% of the total global output) because, back then, Uncle Sam felt that there were too many pesticides used in the harvest process. Many rounds of negotiations and checks later, the Indian mango has won over the hearts of the Americans again!

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Corporate India is venturing into uncharted territories of public domain. Will the political class be gracious enough to make way?


Renowned Management Guru

Well, let’s not give in to over-exuberance, at least not just yet. Relations between high-fliers of India Inc. and the tenacious policy makers are still not of the ‘made for each other’ kind. Undeniably though, President Kalam’s recommendation of Infosys Chairman N. R. Narayana Murthy as his successor shows a positive undercurrent of change emerging. B&E discusses the implications...

It’s oft en said that cinema is a mirror of society of that day and age. And not without reason. That’s precisely why Big B, the Bollywood superstar of the 1980s, won widespread adulation for movies, where his image was of the ‘angry young man’, revolting against the ills of society, in particular, corrupt politicians and the overtly greedy capitalist class. Veritably, in the Nehruvian era and much beyond, capitalism and bureaucracy were perceived as the most perilous evils crippling Indian society. And what about India in the dawn of the 21st century? Bureaucracy & politicians are still not faring any better in their public image, except that they are now all considered equally bad (that explains coalitions)! But businessmen?

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007

An
IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

(INCR)EDIBLE N TASTY!


Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Dean of IIPM)

It would be no wonder to find a restaurant menu somewhere in the future littered with cloned, engineered, enhanced, advanced, morphed and modified food with ambrosial nutritional values, customised to even the minutest cell and onymous that puts to test man’s elementary scientific know-how every single time he decides to feed himself. Also surprisingly, it would be equally mundane to find news of people dying out of hunger. This unbridled dichotomy would continue to be associated with technology’s role in food for many years to come. While the world is breaking through at a breakneck speed, it has failed outright in breaking the shackles of food insecurity; and the ultimate challenge staring at the face of technology seems to be ensuring that hunger is bombed out of the Horn of Africa and other developing economies.

So how far has the world travelled till now? In 2006, land usage for growing biotech crops increased by a stupendous 13% to a staggering 252 million acres over the preceding year. A humongous 10.3 million farmers are into biotech farming. The recent usage (commercialised) of biotechnology goes to the extent of ensuring resistance in plants to some debilitating doses of insecticides and also making them insect and virus tolerant.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007