Saturday, December 15, 2012

Doomsday Phobia - Whether world will end on 21st Dec 2012 as per Mayan Calendar?

PodUniversal Edition 158

World over rumours are getting spread through mainline and social media about the 'Doomsday'.   The news is getting spread that as per Mayan Calendar, the world will end on 21st December 2012.

Reports are also coming that many people in developed countries have donated their properties for  charities, to get ready for the 'Doomsday'.

Mr D K Hari, Founder of Bharath Gyan has recently authored a book  '2012 - The Real Story'.  In this book, Mr D K Hari has dealt about this phobia.  Mr Hari is a researcher in the ancient wisdom.

According to Mr Hari, Mayan Calendar has the joint origin of India and Central America.  In an exclusive and very interesting interview to PodUniversal, Mr Hari has brought out the scientific facts behind the Mayan Calendar.  He says that as per this calendar, the one era (yuga) ends on 21st December 2012 and the new era starts on the next day.  Unfortunately, few people are spreading the panic among the entire world as if the world is going to end on that day.

In this interview, he has also brought out how Maya clans had the origin from India and how they were engaging themselves in building huge cities, ships, bridges, etc. According to Mr Hari, Srilanka City, Ram Setu, Pyramnids were built by them.  

Please listen to his very interesting interview (9 minutes)

This interview may also be watched from

Monday, December 10, 2012

Communication Research needed for Employee Engagement

PodUniversal Edition 157

I had the opportunity of going through the book 'Employee Engagement and Communication Research' authored by Ms Susan Walker ABC, from London.  This book was  published last month  by Kogan Page Limited at London and US.

Generally all the companies make huge noise about the employee motivation and employee satisfaction.  But in reality, they remain more in paper.  A serious research or study is not made by any company to understand the ground reality of the employee perceptions.  Whatever the surveys done in the name of 'employee satisfaction survey' serve the ISO audit purposes only.

In this book, Susan deals with the various aspects of communication research, development questionnaire,  measurement, interpretation of  data, strategies and action to be adopted.  She also explains as to how such communication research can help the companies in the employee engagement.

The author has divided the 20 chapters into three sections, viz. (a) Measurement, (b) Strategy and (c) implementation.  Even the complicated technical details have been presented in a simple manner.  She has also shared interesting and relevant case studies in these chapters.

This book will serve as a good handbook for the Communication Managers, HR Managers and Research organisations.  This book is available in UK, USA and in India.

The author Susan’s career began in the internal communications field before joining Market and Opinion Research International (MORI), the major UK research agency where she headed the employee research practice. She is now running her own engagement and communication evaluation research business.

Susan is  a Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communication and an  Accredited  Business 
Communicator (IABC). She has held various posts within IABC UK Chapter in the past and presented 
at events worldwide including IABC conferences in New York, Los Angeles and Brussels. 


The author can be contacted through mail at commevaluation@hotmail.com.

I interviewed Susan  over mobile.  Please listen to the interesting conversation.  The transcript of this conversation is also given below the YouTube flash player.  This podcast can also be listened from http://youtu.be/uIj12P8p4qQ (6 minutes)


Transcript of this conversation:

What prompted you to write this book?

I was inspired to write the book because I had looked at the market and there were books about research, and engagement and communication but there were really no books that tied all three together and looked at employee research from that point of view - that is what stimulated me to write the book.

What is employee engagement?

Well, there are all sorts of definitions of employee engagement and I think a lot if it is down to an employee who is interested in the company, understands its purpose, who feels part of it – and that feeling that they with the organization and want to help it.

Many companies conduct  conduct employee satisfaction surveys for ISO purposes. can it be considered as communication research?

Yes, I  think so, it concerns satisfaction which is really I suppose another work for engagement and especially if there are communications quests as well, I think It would be considered as engagement and communication research.

What are the areas covered by you in the book?

Three main areas: first of all measurement. This covers basis tools such as objective questionnaire design, statistical reliability, sampling. Then the second section about strategy which is engaging senior management, looking at benefits of research and linking with the business. Then the third section about action planning, defining what needs to be done from the survey results. And also a number of case studies and also interviews with leading professionals around the world: an important part of the book to have that global perspective.

What is the trend of communication research globally?

Interesting talking to people from all over the world Brazil, Russia ,China and of course India and although circumstances and cultures vary it seems that many of the challenges we face are the same The prime one being engaging senior management and convincing senior management that it is worthwhile measuring their employee engagement and communications. Also making sure that action happens as a result. So although we may come from different places, we all seem to share the same challenges.

Somewhere in your book, you have mentioned about 'Arthasastra'.  How you got impressed with Arthasastra?

What impressed me, it was written many thousands of years ago and people think things written a long time ago have nothing to teach us. In fact this is said to be the very first management book that was ever written. But what impressed me was that it did not just look at aspects like the military and the economy but it also looked at welfare. And a lot of the advice which was then said to be for the King could be said nowadays to be about the CEO of the organsiation – like the King of the organization. And I felt that a lot of what was written there was just as applicable today as it was then.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Recent controversy over Sec 66A of IT Act - Panel discussion


PodUniversal Edition 156

Recent arrests of some of the social media users in West Bengal, Puducherry and Maharashtra under Sec 66A of the IT Act has triggered a serious controversy across the nation.  Even the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India has expressed concern over the knee-jerk reaction of the Police.  Many of the social media activists have started demanding repeal of 66A itself.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 was amended in 2008. The amended Act which received the assent of the President on February 5, 2009, contains section 66A.

What does this section say?

66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.  Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,— (a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or  (b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine. 

Explanation.— For the purpose of this section, terms “electronic mail” and “electronic mail message” means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, images, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message.

To discuss about this, PodUniversal recorded  a panel discussion over mobile tecon on 4th Dec 2012.  Mr V Rajendran (Cyber law advocate and Senior Vice President of Cyber Society of India) and Mr S Balu (recently retired Addl. Superintendent of Police) were the panelists.  Prime Point Srinivasan anchored the discussion.

Please watch and listen to this interesting panel discussion. (10 minutes)


This panel discussion may also be directly listened from the following link.

How to get rid of jet-lag in air travel

PodUniversal Edition 155

Frequent air-travellers suffer from jet-lag causing dislocation to their regular schedule.  Prof. Muralidharan of Australia gives few tips to get rid of the jet lage.  Please listen to his interview.


This interview can also be listened directly from the following link.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Unidentifiable enemy wages 'cyber war' - Mr Talwant Singh,

PodUniversal Edition 154

Cyber Society of India organised a one-day workshop at Madras University on 5th October 2012 on the theme "Cyber War: Has it begun?".  Mr Talwant Singh, CBI Special Judge, Patiala Courts, Delhi delivered the key note address.  Mr Talwant Singh is one of the leading experts in India on cyber law and he has authored many articles on the various legal aspects of Information Technology Act and cyber offenses.  

During his speech, Mr Talwant Singh pointed out that Facebook had crossed 1 billion registered users and if it were to be a country, it would be the third largest country in the world, next to China and India.  He also mentioned that distinction between physical world and virtual world was diminishing.

Like 'dynamite', Internet was also invented for good use only.  Later, criminals started using for bad purposes.  Committing an offense in the virtual world was less riskier than committing an offense in the physical world, he said.  

Mr Talwant Singh also said that in the physical world, when a war was fought, the people knew who the enemy was and they could retaliate.  But in the virtual world, an unidentifiable and invisible enemy was waging cyber war.  Till date, none of the countries in the world had recognised the 'cyber war' and signed any treaties, he added.

Mr Talwant Singh suggested that NGOs like Cyber Society of India should create more awareness about the cyber risks and educate the people.  He also prescribed three point formula viz.  (a) creating awareness, (b) getting prepared for such eventuality and (c) retaliating, if needed, to protect the nation and the society to manage the attacks.

Finally, he also said that Government had already advised all the Government Departments to use only the mail ids provided by National Informatics Centre (NIC) with domain extension @nic.in.  He strongly advised all the Government Departments to use only NIC based emails for Government communication instead of web based popular mails, to avoid any data theft.

Please watch and listen to the interesting speech. (19 minutes).


This video may also be watched /listened from the following link:

Thursday, August 23, 2012

International Accreditation for communication and marketing professionals

PodUniversal Edition 153

In the globalised competitive  era, the individuals and the companies have now started bench marking their knowledge, proficiency and quality to globally accepted standards.  Companies world over subject themselves to ISO or BS Standards, which are globally recognised. Unless the companies get ISO certification, they may not be able to participate in the tenders internally and globally.

In the same way, IT professionals have now started benching their individual talents through Microsoft Certification and ISACA certification.  These certifications enable the IT professionals to compete globally and succeed professionally.

In the same way, communication and marketing professionals also need to get themselves certified to the global standards, if they want to succeed in their career in future.  I have been impressing upon the need for such global accreditation for the past eight  years.  None of the professional bodies in India are able to come up with any globally accepted certification or accreditation process. We need to prepare our younger generation communication and marketing professionals to compete at global levels.  

Just like we have accepted globally recognised certification process in other areas, the communication and marketing industry also can adopt the globally recognised and accepted certification process to develop their career in future.

US, UK, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and few other countries have already started accrediting their communicaiton and marketing professionals.  The employers give priority only to such accredited professionals in the internal promotions.  Professionals can get accredited in their chosen field, only after few years of experience.

APR Accreditation by Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and FCIPR Accreditation by Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), London are highly popular in US and Europe.

International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is one of the respected International bodies operating in more than 100 countries.  They offer ABC Accreditation (Accredited Business Communicator). All the professionals who are connected with Business Communicaiton field like Public Relations, Corporate Communication, Marketing Communication, Journalism, etc are eligible for Accreditation process. Only working professionals can apply for Accreditation.

Accreditation process involves 3 stages.  (1) Application, (2) Submission of two Portfolios (work samples), based on the applicant's own experience and (3) written and oral examination.  Senior Accredited professionals will mentor and guide the candidates.

Recently, I recorded an interview with Mr Bish Mukherjee, President of IABC's India South Chapter.  Mr Bish was earlier the Accreditation Director for Asian countries and now the Asian coordinator for the prestigious Quill Awards of IABC.  He has mentored many professionals.

I have also recorded an interview with  Dr Rajiv Kumar. He is one of the top management officials in the Tata Group handling Corporate Communication.  He is presently the Director in the Accreditation Committee of IABC.  He supervises the Accreditation process of Asia Pacific, Europe, South America and Africa.

Please watch this interesting and informative podcast (12 minutes). If anybody wants to get more information and guidance, they can send mail to Mr Bish Mukherjee at bmiabc@hotmail.com.



This podcast can also be watched in YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHYSgH0jZEk

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Space Race between Soviet Union and United States during cold war

PodUniversal 152

During the period between 1957 and 1975, erstwhile Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in Space Race to excel each other on the Space Technology.  They spent billions of amount in space education and research.  This space race ultimately benefited the mankind.

In the July 2012 edition of Social ezine PreSense, we have featured this in details.  Our written feature is also produced in the form of a Podcast.

The ezine may be downloaded from the following link.

Please watch this interesting podcast (11 minutes) with rare pictures and video clips.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

How Parliament Questions trigger development - An interview with Mr Anandrao Adsul MP

K. Srinivasan presenting the Sansad Ratna Award to
Mr Anandrao Adsul MP at Mumbai
Four MPs were presented with 'Sansad Ratna Award 2012' on behalf of Prime Point Foundation, at IIT, Madras on 14th April 2012.  Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal presented the Awards.

Mr Anandrao Adsul, Hon'ble Member of Parliament from Amravati, Maharashtra constituency is one of the Sansad Ratna Award Winners, for his outstanding performance in overall tally and also for being No 1 in asking 'Questions' in the current 15th Lok Sabha.  He was also No 1 in asking 'Questions' in the earlier 14th Lok Sabha.  Till 30th March 2012, he has asked 754 Questions.

Since Mr Adsul could not attend the Award function at Chennai on 14th April 2012 due to his ill health, K. Srinivasan, Chairman of the Prime Point Foundation personally handed over the Award to Mr Adsul at Mumbai on 19th April 2012.


After handing over the Award, he also recorded his Lok Sabha experience and as to how, he could get the benefit for his constituency through raising questions.  Mr Adsul  quoted some examples of his success story.  At the same time, he also expressed his concern over the growing scams.  He was quoting, "India is a rich country with poor people", meaning that our scams are in lakhs of crores.    However, he appealed to the new generation to enter into political system and improve the system for betterment.


PodUniversal Edition 151

Please listen to his interesting interview.  (11 minutes).


This video can also be seen from the following link.

Monday, April 16, 2012

"Slandering Parliament amounts to slandering ourselves" - Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal
Prime Point Foundation, presented the Sansad Ratna Awards 2012 at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Saturday the 14th April 2012 to top performing 4 MPs.  Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal and the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji presented the Awards.

After presenting the Awards. he gave an inspiring and poetic speech for nearly 18 minutes.  During his speech, he stressed that the people should not slander Parliament and it amounted to slandering ourselves.  He also quoted the example of the Acts of Parliament abolishing dowry and untouchability, which still remained unabolished from the society.  He said, the Parliament was a great Institution and it could find solution for many things.  He also appealed the Parliamentarians to find solutions for eradicating black money and corruption.  


PodUniversal Edition 150

Please listen to the inspiring speech of Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi.  The text of his speech may be downloaded from

This video may also be watched from

Full text of his speech:

Esteemed Shri Era Sezhiyan,  Award-winning Hon’ble MPs on the dais, esteemed Director of the IIT, Sri Srinivasan, Sri Sudarshan, ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honour to share the dias with Sri Era Sezhiyan.

Sri Somnath Chatterjee has said Sri Sezhiyan hs been untouched by the distortions and aberrations of our Parliamentary system. He is absolutely right.
Rajaji once said it is easy to fast sitting at home on Ekadasi but very difficult to fast sitting in the middle of Modern Café at meal time. Sri Sezhiyan has performed that miracle

Chance has to be the best designer.

Who or what but pure coincidence could have conjured four names of parliamentarians with the perfect blend of legislative credit and with all four belonging to  different parties,  different regions, different languages ?

One defect in design has however been left by that architect of concurrent incidence. I refer to the fact that all  winners are men. A  reservation – by utter chance –  for women in the play of the hand that devises these awards would be felicitous.
I salute chance.

But I do so without detracting from the inherent merit of the MPs  who have been conferred the Sansad Ratna-s. They have not achieved what they have achieved by chance, or by a fluke. They have earned their distinction.

I applaud the winners, I celebrate their achievement, I commend their example to their peers.

And yet I cannot but express a contrary opinion today. And that is : Not just these MPs, and their award winning predecessors but every MP should been found  to have done as well or as well as these three. Some have to excel. They have to stand out. Even in the Defence Forces, where every man or woman in uniform has the same valour, the same discipline, the same courage, some do get Vir Chakra-s, some Param Vir Chakra-s. But Vir they all are.

Is the case the same with our legislators ? Some may shine, some may sparkle, and some may stun by their calibre, but  are they all Ratna-s ?
Membership of the Houses of Parliament requires a level field of performance in what may be termed the basics of parliamentarianism. Has that  been happening ?  Some are regular in their attendance, others are frequent visitors. Some put a good number of questions, others keep their queries  themselves. Some make a tidy number of speeches. Others opt for silence.

Excellence is optional. Should pass-mark performance be optional too ?
It has been said speech should improve upon silence.
But silence cannot improve on silence, except in a Rishi.

And shouting cannot take the place of speech, except in a public meeting and that too only when the amplification-system has failed.

Attendance, interpellations and speeches in legislatures  are of course optional. And Hon’ble Members are entitled to opt for those forms of conservative conduct. But walk-outs too are optional,  as is raising one’s voice beyond the requirements of audition, stepping into the well of the House, tearing documents, hurling objects. That option is frequently exercised.

But, on a larger plane,  is parliamentary accountability optional ?

Is legislative duty a matter of choice ?

Is giving one’s worth as one elected to one’s electors subject to the whimsies of volition ?

Today is a magnetic anniversary, Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Let us ask his memory that question. I feel like saying to him ‘Sir, you will be glad to know  Parliament has a Committee on Ethics’. I can hr him rejoin with  ‘ I did not know ethics can be achieved by a committee…Do they decide on what is ethical by consensus, by majority vote or by the casting vote of its chair ?’

And I do not have the answer to that.

If that were possible, how much good, how much welfare, how much progress  we could achieve by ‘committee’ !

Alas, reality is ever a teaser.

There are grades of performance in Parliament as there are elsewhere. And one may not expect uniformity in standards of dedication. In fact one may definitely expect the opposite. One may expect variations, wide and oceanic variations in individual records.

Parliament represents the essences of India.

Parliament is in fact, ‘Essential India’.

Therefore it is important, I think, that not just individuals but Parliament as a whole passes tests, rigorous, exemplary tests. What is important is that the integrated will of the people as reflected in that body of the essences of India, be of the first rank, of the first water.

And there, let us note the fact that in all its successive avatars, the Parliament of India has shown itself to be an extraordinary institution.

Even as forum for debating, let us acknowledge the fact that we have some extraordinary spealers there. The recent debate on the Lokpal Bill saw some exceptional speeches, of which  must mention those of Sri Pranab Mukherjee, Smt Sushma Swaraj, Sri Arun Jaitley, Sri Sitaram Yechury, Sri Sandeep Dikshit, Sri Abhishek Singhvi, Smt Shobhana Bhartia, Sri D Raja. There are others who spoke effectively and persuasively as well, but these names com readily to my mind.

As a citizen, as a voter, I felt proud hearing them. Dr Ambedkar would have felt proud hearing them. I felt the people of India were speaking through them.

I do not and never shall subscribe to the cynical diminishing of our Parliament that some attempt. I do not and shall not join in any chorus of abuse hurled at that institution. For to call Parliament by any synonym of slander is to slander ourselves. Not that we as a people do not deserve to hear bitter truths about ourselves ; we do. But then we are of elements so mixed, of virtues and vices so fluxed, of highs and lows so contradictorily constituted, that we should know better than to judge too harshly or in haste an institution that is made in nothing save our own image.

Just as we as individuals, as house-holders, as institution-makers have moments when we rise above our own average, when we overcome our limitations and seek to raise ourselves to a degree of elevation above that which is natural to our state, just as we have, shall I say, moments of high reflection or deep introspection, and just as we, with all our mortal weaknesses, can sometimes rise above ourselves to an act of courage, or of candour, of credit and of commitment, so also the Parliament of India can rise and has risen, time and again, to give to its people, to those that have brought it into being, in other words, to us, the gift of its innate greatness, the fruit of its inherent wisdom, and indeed, the dower of its ripened instincts.

So high are our expectations of Parliament, so pressing our needs for its attention, and so steep our sense of its obligations to us, that our dismay and our disappointment, our sadness and often our shock at its failure to meet our aspirations blinds us to what it has done.

If that ugly stain on our society – dowry – has been outlawed in our country, it is by an act of Parliament. If dowry is still asked for without shame and given without demur, that is by our acts.
If domestic violence has been made a crime in our country, it is by an act of Parliament. If women and infants are still beaten by despicable brutes in male form, it is by acts of society.

If untouchability has been abolished in our country, let us acknowledge the fact that it has so been abolished  by the wisdom of the founding parents of our Constitution and our Parliament. If that ugly stain on our society – dowry – has been outlawed in our country, it is by an act of Parliament. Likewise, land reforms were brought in by Parliament, police reforms, prison reforms, labour law reforms, and an enactment, perhaps the first of its kind in the world,  for the prevention of cruelty to animals. All these are the gifts to the country of Parliament. And the same Parliament has bent to heed popular opinion , most notably, in the amendment to the States Reorganisation Bill which had in a rather wooden manner proposed a composite state of Bombay, to divide it far more realistically , into Maharashtra and Gujarat.

One might say all that ‘happened’ in the golden days of Jawaharlal Nehru.

And so it did. But then the record has continued.The landmark reservation of seats for women in our local bodies happened long after and , in our ‘own’ times, if domestic violence has been made a crime in our country, it is by an act of Parliament, if the NREGA is a fact of life today, giving employment and wages and nourishment to millions, it is because of Parliament, if the RTI is a household name today, utilised across the length and breadth of India, and the RTE Act promises education to India’s children, it is because of Parliament. If States have Lok Ayuktas and the Centre may – inshallah – soon have a Lok Pal it is again because our legislatures have responded according to its own lights to public opinion, to public campaigns.

We need to salute Anna Hazare for his campaign. But just imagine for a moment a country where there was no parliament, no democracy, who would Anna Hazare  have addressed ? Who would have taken his demand for steps against corruption and black money forward ?

I could go on and give more examples, but do not need to. Not in Chennai, which has sent some of the finest Parliamentarians of the world to the apex legislature of India.

Let us not judge Parliament by its low tides. Let us not measure its bench marks by the lines left on its side by receding foam-lines of sediment and dross. They do not represent the golden mean. At the other end of the spectrum, let us not see it by the leaps of its great shooting stars either, for they too are exceptional.

Let us rather judge that institution, which is nothing else than our own integrated political intelligence at work, by its averages. There we shall see a balanced picture.

Having said this, let me say the following and close:
Parliament  is by definition a vessel of dignity. Let those who row it row with knowledge. It will empower them.

Parliament is like a planetarium where the convex sky must glitter with the glow and sparkle of the entire spangled firmament, not by the episodic spark of meteors, comets and shooting stars. Those can add to the wonderment of Parliament , but not compensate for the sullen starlessness of its average sky.

Parliament cannot be held by its makers in anything but confidence, faith. Parliament hs to be the home of visvasam.

Preoccupation with the monetary, travel or status perquisites of  legislative membership when proportionate to preoccupation with serious work will never be begrudged by the people of India. We are a generous people. But when that preoccupation is out of balance, it can jar. We are an intelligent people.
Finally, it is time Parliament gave India solutions to three important problems that beset us:

  1. A solution to the ogre of black money.
  2. A solution to the related demon of corrupt practices, including the use of intimidation, physical and psychological, in elections.
  3. A solution to what Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan called “widespread inefficiency and gross mismanagement of resources”.
There is a fourth contribution that requires to be made as well. We are facing certain risks, national risks. There is the distinct prospect flowing from climate change of a water shock and a food shock. We have of course the ever-present prospect of an energy shock, fuel shock.  And we have the seemingly increase frequency of natural disasters like earthquakes. We were all shaken up on 11 April by the 8.6 that lay epicentred in Indonesia. Now, earthquakes today are no different from earthquakes millennia ago. They may be more frequent, but in their intrinsic nature they are the same as always. Yet they kill more viciously now, not because the earthquake per se has become more vicious but because the congestion of buildings and of populations has become so dense that the impact is that much worse.

What does all this have to do with Parliament?
It has everything to do with Parliament because Parliament is our essence and we must be told by it of the risks that we face, the dangers we must prepare ourselves for. Parliament must be both th harbinger of good news and initiator of great steps but it must also be the messenger of the bitter herbs of much-needed medicament in terms of honest truths told. It must give us confidence and also take us into confidence.

Let us be proud of our Parliament  and all our Legislative Assemblies, but let us strive to make them what  they are meant to be.

"Inspiring action will make legislatures as role-models" - Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Dr Abdul Kalam's message being screened
3rd Annual Awards function was held by Prime Point Foundation at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Saturday the 14th April 2012 to honour four top performing Lok Sabha MPs with 'Sansad Ratna Award 2012'. Please click for more details.

On 10th April 2012, K. Srinivasan, Founder of Prime Point Foundation met Dr Abdul Kalam, Former President of India and briefed him about this event.  After conveying his greetings, he also gave a short message to be screened on that day.

In his exclusive message, he has suggested the legislatures to perform 'inspiring action', which can motivate youth to enter into politics and governance.

He also suggested three important actions  in their constituency viz. (1) restoring water bodies, (2) improving the literacy ration and (3) providing skill development centres.  Dr Abdul Kalam said that undertaking such inspiring action, will make them as 'role-models'.

The message was screened at the start of the Award function, which was well received by the audience and by the award winning MPs.  As suggested by Dr Abdul Kalam, they also announced openly to take up specific activities in their constituency as 'inspiring action' to become role-models.


PodUniversal Edition 149

Please watch this video (3 minutes)

You can watch this video from here also.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Accentuate the positive image and eliminate the negative image globally - Tony Good tells India

"The news coming out of India to countries outside tend to have more of negative aspects.  Hence, India should accentuate the positive image and  eliminate the negative impage through proper PR strategies", Mr Anthony B M Good, popularly known as Tony Good, a global PR legend said in an exclusive interview with PodUniversal.  


He also suggested that Indian youth should look for positive aspect in every setback and grasp the opportunity, available everywhere.  


Mr Tony Good, when he was  young,  joined a leading Airline company   as a Public Relations and marketing  Executive.  He lost his job from  the  Company, for no fault of him.  That triggered a 'fire' in him to start an independent Public Relations Company  to prove his capability.


This  independent PR Agency, which he started 50 years back was 'Good Relations'.  This is the first PR Agency anywhere in the world to get listed in the stock exchange at London.  


From 1970 onwards, he got associated with India through his association with many companies as a member of the Board.  He is presently the International Chairman of  Cox and Kings, one of the top travel agencies of 250 year old.  


In 1986, he  started the Indian arm of Good Relations as an Indian company.  Again, this is the first independent PR and Communication agency in India.


Mr Tony Good  in his  late 70s,  is a great visionary and is considered as a 'legend' in the communication field.


Public Relations Council of India honoured him on 13th Feb 2012 at Mumbai with the coveted 'Life Time Achivement Award' in the presence of a galaxy of eminent communication, media and corporate professionals.  
Tony Good (third from left) receiving the award
from M B Jayaram, Chairman Emeritus, PRCI
(second from left) 
On the next day, Mr Tony Good was at Chennai for few hours.  Since he was hard pressed for time, I travelled along with him to Airport in his car and recorded an exclusive interview with him on various issues.


In the interesting conversation, he touched about the strength and  weakness of Indian Corporates, his ivews about Indian media, India's image outside, his suggestions to Indian youth and Non Resident Indians.  


PodUniversal  Edition 148


Please listen to his inspiring interview (9 minutes).  This interview can also be watched from the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U06nsWB9jJk

While watching / listening to this interview, you can also go through the transcipt of his conversation.  (Transcript courtesy by Ms Esther Emil, GRI, Chennai).

Transcript of the interview with Mr Tony Good

Mr.Tony Good, Welcome to PodUniversal show
Very kind, Thank you


Let me congratulate you for receiving the coveted Life time achievement award from Public Relations Council of India 


I feel extremely honored by it. It will be something that I will aspire to, possibly live upto if I can 


Sir, you are associated with India and the Indian corporates almost from 1970 that is nearly 40 years?


Absolutely


You know about the Indian corporates and European corporates. What according to you  are the strong points of Indian corporates? 


I think there is still very much a family tradition in most of the major corporates and I think that is a strength. I think that they’ve moved with the times in the second and third generation increasingly tending to be educated on an international stage rather than a national one so I think you get the best of both worlds. You get the cohesion that comes from a close knit family business but also though the younger members have gained experience and knowledge abroad which they are bringing to bear in their businesses here. 


What according to you are the weak points among the Indian corporates that prevent them to meet the global standards?


Well, I think increasingly they are achieving global standards. I mean if for example you had told me in 1970 when I first came to India that, for example Tata would own not only Tetley Tea and what was British deal Land Rover Jaguar, I think very few people would ever have believed that. And I’ve seen the incursion of Indian corporates to the international stage in the most impressive way. 


Do you think the Indian Corporates are building their image properly?


I think, one of the problems that India has is that as a country it is not doing its PR as well as it could and should. Now, you might expect me to say that, but all too often the headlines about India are about their corruption and inefficiency. Now every country has its corruption and sadly my own has been proved recently to be no exception. I think that India has to recognize the need for PR as a country and Indian corporates also need to recognize that they have to promote themselves on the international stage as well as on their local, domestic stage. 


Do you mean to say that India is being projected negatively outside?


I think too much of the news that comes out of India tends to have a rather negative aspect to it, yes. 


What is the solution?


The solution is to promote the positive, what was the famous song “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative” and I think that in terms of eliminating the negative there is a big job for the Indian government to do in being seen to the grasp the nettle of the corruption that undoubtedly exists but it also exists in many many other parts of the world. 


Now that takes me to another broader question about media. You are seeing the European and the Indian media, What do you think about the Indian Media? Are they more sensitive or more sensational? 


I don’t think they are more sensational, no. I think that most of the well established Indian newspapers do a very good job of news coverage. I think if you have followed the phone hacking stories, that I know have been covered here as well as in the UK there is no doubt that some of the practices that have caught on in Britain and I suspect in other European and  International countries I think, Indian Media have a lot to be extremely proud of. Of course they are not perfect, no media are perfect but I’ve seen them come a long way in a comparatively short time.


What is the suggestion that you are giving to the Indian youth because you are a serial entrepreneur, and  you have built institutions.


Well, you are very kind.


I think Indians have a strong streak of entrepreneurialism in them. It would be presumptuous of me to suggest that I can teach the most entrepreneurial nation in the world about how to be good at it. I think what I would say is identifying the opportunity and seizing it, looking at the positive. 


I mean the most unfair thing that ever happened to me which caused me to lose a job; a marketing and Public Relations job in an airline turned out to be an opportunity to create a business which if you told me it would end up being listed on the London Stock Exchange, and at that time we floated we were the only Public Relations company with a stock exchange listing anywhere in the world, I would have been amazed. So I think my message to young Indian Entrepreneurs would be 


(1) Identify the opportunity
(2) Opportunities are everywhere 
(3) Have the courage to grasp it and
(4) Look for the positives in setbacks 


What are your suggestions for Indians who are working abroad? 


Indian who are working abroad, well I think I would say two things, one is that, and I think they are increasingly learning this, to be infact assimilated into the country as a whole. There was a tendency I think in the past for Indians working abroad to basically gather in small groups, stick together. Now we’ve seen Indians, my good friend Gulam Noon, who has progressed from an MBE, to a knighthood to a position in the House of Lords. Is, I think a very good example of an Indian entrepreneur who has become absorbed into the environment and has become infact a part of it. And I know of many other successful Indian entrepreneurs who have done exactly that.


Thank you very much for joining Pod Universal Show


You are most kind. Thank you for inviting me. 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

e-Banking Security needs to be stepped up to protect customers

Presently, almost all the banks have introduced core banking facilities and are providing various online transactions.  In the past two or three years, the usage of technology in banks have gone many fold.  

As at the end of 2011, approximately 1.8 crores of credit cards are in circulation and they contribute around 8000 crores of transactions every month.  In the same way, around 26 crores of debit cards are in circulation, creating around 3000 crores of transaction.  Besides, the banks have activated around 6.5 crores of online accounts.  The banks in India, put together transact around 2 lakh crores of rupees every month towards NEFT, ECS, credit and debit card transactions electronically.  

Anticipating such enormous growth, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up a Working Group in 2010 under the Chairmanship of Mr G Gopalakrishna, Executive Director of RBI to look into the Information security in banks and suggest measures.  Accordingly, the Working Group submitted its draft report to RBI in Jan 2011.  RBI sought suggestions from the civil society on the report.  After the suggestions were received, the final report was accepted by RBI and they circulated to all the Banks on 29th April 2011, directing the banks to implement the recommendations in a time bound manner.

The Working Group has given 265 recommendations.  Before the end of October 2011, the Banks should have completed the formation of various committees for implementation and for drafting IS Policy.  They should have also completed the gap analysis.

With this background, Cyber Society of India (CySI) jointly with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) organised a one-day National Seminar on "Banking on e-Security: RBI's Gopalakrishna Working Group" on Friday the 27th Jan 2012 at Chennai.

This is the first time, such a seminar is being organised   anywhere in India, after the publication of report.  A mention has to be made about Mr M Narendra, CMD of IOB, who took the pro-active efforts and arranged to get Mr Gopalakrishna himself to address the participants from different banks and IT industry.

When Cyber Society of India wrote to all the banks about the seminar and requested their participation, excepting few banks like Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Maharashtra Bank, UCO Bank, TNSC Bank, SBI, others did not bother even to acknowledge or enquire about this.  Those banks also did not even respond to phone calls. 

Even when CySI wrote personally to few Chairmen, requesting them to participate in the inaugural session, they did not even respond, even after several reminders and phone calls.  

While, organising this event, CySI was able to realise that bankers were not well equipped to address the seminar confidently.  Their knowledge level on this report was also very less. When CySI, requested one of the Bankers to depute their Senior Executive, who is considered an authority on IS Audit, their GMs immediately deputed him to Chennai from Kolkatta.  After the concerned Official boarded the flight, the CMD of the Bank ordered him not to go and speak.  This is the type of 'attitude' of the top management in many banks.  Probably, for every knowledge seeking exercise, they need some 'directions' from the Government or from Regulators.  Only very few Chairmen are pro-active.  


Cyber Society of India has suggested two measures to RBI for consideration.


1.  Presently, banks offer mobile alerts to their customers for their credit card, debit card and online transactions only on request.   Due to lack of awareness, many customers have not availed this facility.  This leads to lot of cyber crimes, causing pressure to police authorities also.  Hence, CySI suggested that mobile alerts should be by 'default' and only if the customers do not want such alert, they should request the bank.


2.  Secondly, IS Audit in the banks are not done effectively. Either they do it themselves or get it done through their own known people.  Since the banks are not insisting on 'digital signatures' for the transactions, they are exposing the customers to greater risk and privacy issues.  Hence, CySI has requested RBI to empanel, qualified IS Auditors and allot the auditors at random directly to the banks.  Such independent reports are to be monitored by RBI.


Mr Gopalakrishna said that he would take up with the appropriate authorities at RBI level for consideration.

While addressing the participants, Mr Gopalakrishna also accepted that the implementation in the first six months was not satisfactory.  Subsequently, when the media persons asked him, he responded that RBI would take it seriously, if the recommendations are not implemented before October 2012.  

The full text of the speech by Mr G Gopalakrishna may be downloaded from the following link:


PodUniversal Edition 146

You may listen to the complete speech of Mr Gopalakrishna (35 minutes).  He covers the important aspects of the report and also the road ahead.

This podcast may also be listened from the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hquNCDSe_A

PodUniversal Edition 147


Please listen to the inaugural speech of Mr M Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Overseas Bank. (30 minutes).
This podcast may also be listened from the following link.

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