‘Evolving Development Perspectives in the context of globalization’

The word ‘Recession’  is in limelight today. It has being affecting almost all the countries to some extent. During this period, how globalization deals with recession and what effects it has on other sectors of the society has to be known. S. K. Somaiya college of Arts, Science and Commerce had arranged an International Symposium on ‘Evolving Development Perspectives in the context of globalization’ on Jan 12 and 13 in Management College in Somaiya campus. This two day symposium focused on different issues in globalization.

A white ambassador rolled in, with K. Venkataramani, former principle of S. K. Somaiya College and Prof Yoginder K. Alagh, a renowned economist and a policy maker. Somaiya NCC cadets escorted them to the auditorium. The event started with the traditional touch of Somaiya campus prayer and lighting of the lamp of Shri K.J.Somaiya and Saker Ben Somaiya, the founders of the college. The rituals of reciting a campus prayer and Sanskrit ovation were also conducted. The chief guest of inaugural session was Ven. Mynak R. Tulku, prof. Emerites, Home and Cultural Affairs Ministry, Royal Government of Bhutan. Both the guests were greeted with a bouquet, a shawl, coconut and a gift. Mynak Tulku started his speech with a prayer to Lord Buddha and said, “It is a great honour to be here. According to me, Globalization is based on Buddhist philosophy.  In a globalized country, it is not necessary that democracy is demanded by people but by kings. They found it to be successful to uplift the education in the society with other areas of development.”

Yoginder K Alagh said, “Globalization is a pursuit of happiness. We have two issues in front of us, Meltdown and India. Now the question is, are we suffering? We know how recession is hitting us. But with the fear of recession, we can neither stop growing nor can we withdraw ourselves from globalization at this stage. We are a big country and we can fight it. This century belongs to you and me.” Inaugural session was followed by the presidential address by Dr. Shantilal Somaiya.

Plenary session was carried forward by Dr. S. Kevin, former Vice Chancellor, university of Kerala and prof Dr. J. F. Patil, former head, department of Economics, Shivaji university, Kolhapur. This session dealt with advantages and disadvantages of financial globalization and economic growth. The ultimate answer to the problem of globalization and recession was, we need to survive through it. This session was followed by a formal lunch.

The technical session gave the chance to many professors to present their views on different issues of globalization in front of the head of economics department from various metro cities. The participation was on international basis mainly from Thailand, Myanmar, Assam, Srilanka, Iran, Mumbai to name few. The first day was called off with some cultural events which reflected India’s cultural diversity through different dance forms.

With the dawn, the second day of International Symposium started. The panel discussion was conducted by Prof. Dr. Abhay Pethe, Director, department of economics, University of Mumbai; Dr. B. Venkatesh Kumar, Director incharge, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Contemporary Studies, university of Mumbai; Dr. T. satyanarayana, Hon. Secretary and managing Editor, Indian Society of Agricultural Marketing, Nagpur and Shri brian Lobo, Social Activist, Kashtakari Sangathana, Thane. Highly discussed issues were on happiness and globalization. There were various issues covered by the paper presenters. At the end of this International Symposium, Mynak R. Tulku said, “I really had great experience coming to this symposium. The warm welcome and the heating discussions made this symposium interesting.” Shri M. S. Deshmukh gave vote of thanks and wrapped up the International Symposium.

TRAI works on spectrum management

TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendations held in an open house session clearly explored the gaps between the major telecom players in India. TRAI, a telecom regulatory authority decided to work on the telecom services and came up with a thought. Planning mounted as they decided to submit recommendations on the provisions of overall spectrum management and review of license terms. As the discussions went on, the representatives of various telecoms service providers were entangled in a heated discussion. The day saw a thin line between the GSM and CDMA players.

Again as a supporter of CDMA players, Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) mentioned that all the operators in the country should be given equal amount of spectrum followed by surrendering the spectrums that exceed more than 6.2 Mhz. the main point of concern was on whether the allocated spectrum should be technology neutral or only specific technology should be allowed to operate in a particular band. It was also urged that after expiry of license of operators in this band, the spectrum available with them should be auctioned and the incumbent operators should also be given chance to bid for it. This means Airtel and Vodafone favour delinking while Reliance, Tata opposed it.

Bharti Airtel said that the UAS licensees in the future should go to the market even for start-up spectrum. However, Reliance Communications says the contractual spectrum in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands cannot be delinked from the existing UAS license. Tata Teleservices said spectrum should not be delinked from the UASL and the licensee should be upfront allocated the contracted amount of the spectrum-- 2x5 MHz for CDMA technology and 2x6.2 MHz for GSM technology, by paying the cost.

  

Trai includes new regulations that will allow mobile phone firms to buy each other out and trade in spectrum. Thus the war begins.

The Ultimate Destination!....

It all started with a talk show. We all were excited to be a part of a debate that focused on changing face of India. It was about IPC Section 377, Homosexuality being decriminalize on 9^th June 2009. Hence, every one of us wanted to express ourselves at this that platform. So we all friends decided to be the part of the show. It was heavy downpour on that day but it did not demoralize me or my friends to reach the location of the crispy talk show at Lower Parel. The show started with a debate which was the best part of the show and soon it turned into a hot discussion over the issue. This made everyone aware of the issue and the change it will bring to India, where homosexuality is still considered to be taboo. We say we are modernized, but are we really modernized in our thoughts?

After the show, we left for Curry Road station nearby, but we were amazed to see the rail tracks wholly submerged in rain water. It was shocking for us, because it made us rewind our memory and go back to July 26’05. The rain that lashed Mumbai incessantly for about 14 hours, submerged large parts of the city and brought the financial capital of the country to a standstill. And this day also seemed to be a replica of 26/11. No mode of transportation was available, we all about ten friends decided to search for a transport that could take us to our destination that was our “home sweet home.” We approached many cabs but the attempt was in vain .Soon we realized we were not the only one; many other commuters were amidst the flooded streets as their vehicles succumbed to the rain water. It had been raining heavily since the morning. There was heavy traffic jam on the bridge.

 No transportation forced our tired feet to walk few miles more to probe our luck. We walked all the way from Curry Road station to Sion Circle. On reaching Sion every one of us were very tired and were left with no energy to walk further, so we decided to stay at one of our friend’s aunt’s place. Before going there, we bought something to hog and headed straight to their place. We all got a warm welcome by the family. After relaxing and filling our hungry stomach we gained our lost energy back, and started discussing about the condition of the Mumbai drainage system as its on way of development like making giant projects like Bandra- Worli Sea Link, which undoubtedly is one of the best projects we have seen in yester years. It was needed as we suffered from traffic problems. However, we also need a full planned drainage system that will make Mumbai “flood free.”
You must have ever seen Local trains that crippled as railroads and stations in a number of areas were flooded and made Mumbai to bring it on a standstill. The whole night we played games and enjoyed the stay. The next day we thanked the family for their hospitality and lead ourselves to our respective homes. We all can never forget this adventurous night that made us to peep into the insights of our own roots and helped us explore Mumbai city at it best!.......

A giant step for India’s children

Free & quality education till Class 8 for children between the ages of 6 to 14 is now a basic right in India, and anyone seeking to come in the way of a child seeking to claim this right will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000. Primary school] enrolment for children up to the age of 10 years has been a rising trend in the country since the 1970s, and yet the enormity of what has transpired will perhaps take some time to sink in. With the Lok Sabha passing the Right to Free & Compulsory Education Bill earlier this week, India joins the club of developing nations that have made their intention plan to mount a massive assault on illiteracy arising from the condition of poverty. Human resources development minister Kapil Sibal showed modesty when he referred to the attainment as ‘historic’, for the term is used much too lightly nowadays. Indeed, if we are able to translate words into action, we would have crossed a crucial barrier that separates the developed country or society from the still trying to get there. So important is education as a determinant of advancement, indeed of power, that former US President Bill Clinton had once described it as a matter relating to national security. A member of a society without basic reading & writing skills can never hope to achieve full citizen hood in the sense that such a person cannot give full expression to his or her potential & aspirations both for the individual in question as well as for the community.

  The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, of course. While 11^th Five Year Plan’s allocation for health & education is higher than ever before, the government may be required to pump in more resources for primary & elementary education if it is to signal to the authorities at all levels that it is sincere about implementing the recent law that gives teeth to the Constitution Amendment Bill on free & compulsory education passed seven years ago. We have to keep in view the stark fact that India has the largest number of children out of school. Although the enrolment numbers are rising trend (and India is well placed to meet the target of universal primary education set out in the Millennium Development Goals of the UN), we are well behind another great developing country, China, in this respect. Currently about 21 million children are out of school, or 50 percent of that category for South Asia as a whole. While the current national primary enrolment percentage stands at a healthy 83 percent, and the absolute numbers are also higher, it is been noted that the figures for the school going of the poorest 20 percent households in the country actually fell in 2006 as compared to 6 years earlier, from 9.8 million to 9.4 million. If we want reality to be expressed through policy, such data needs to be correlated with the data for children in the labour force. Official statistics places this at 13 million, or 17 percent of the total work force (for working children who are below 15 years of age). The unofficial are much more dauting. On average, three-fourths of primary school children- and therefore probably also elementary school children, the subject matter of the bill just passed- are rural, and most of them are girls. Therefore, striking a blow for education must be accorded a higher priority in the villages. This must be reflected through appropriate financial allocations and vetting for quality for teachers & course content. But the day is not far when the demand will be raised to create an environment in which young people with basic literacy/education can be enabled to find work, if the country is to move forward with the growth plan.

Rubina Ali Pens Autobiography

 “Slumdog Dreaming,” a story of poverty and broken dreams. Rubina Ali, who played a young Latika in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire,” is only nine years old but that is not good enough of a reason not to release her life story. The case of Rubina and of the other children appearing in the highly acclaimed movie who continued to live in the slums even after the film went on to make many millions at the international box-office has never ceased to grab headlines. The same goes for the alleged attempt of the girl’s father to sell her to rid himself of poverty for good, an allegation he firmly denied time and time again. Presumably, all of this has been included in the book.

In “Slumdog Dreaming,” Ali tells her story, from “playing marbles with her friends beside the sewers of Garib Nagar in Mumbai, to dancing along to the Bollywood films she and her family watch on their old television set.” publisher Transworld said in a press release made public just some day ago. The idea is for the book to show how the little girl grew up in the slums, reached international fame and literally became a household name and, ironically enough, continued to live in the most atrocious conditions ever.

If only for this reason alone, her story should be heartbreaking at the very least, it is being said in the media. The autobiography for one guarantees fans will see a side of fame they never even knew existed. “Rubina brings alive a world of wastelands and rat-infested shanty dwellings, and shows us her home, a wooden shack with a tarpaulin roof, where she grew up with her beloved father and siblings.”

As noted above, although still very young, Rubina has had her share of headlines, mostly for things that she had no control over. One such case was her father’s alleged attempts to sell her, as revealed by an undercover investigation by British tabloid News of the World, which offered the man £200,000 for Rubina, an offer he reportedly accepted on the spot.

So the book is full of stories that everyone wanted to know and the controversies around the slumdog girl. The language is simple, just as a nine year old girl is interacting with the reader. So my suggestion is that you must read the book and it just cost you around RS 195.00. It simple yet complicated.

Be an Estro!...

Festivals are the time to come together and celebrate. But festivals are not restricted to Diwali, Holi, Dasera to name few. We also have Film Festivals celebrated by the Bachelors of Mass Media students every year. BMM Film Festival is organized in order to explore the talents of the mass media students. This year also S. K. Somaiya college of Arts, Science and Commerce, Vidya-Vihar celebrated its film festival called, “ESTRO” which means a winner.

It started with two minute silence for the terror attacks victims followed by National Anthem. This festival was celebrated with pomp and reverence. There were list of different events and end number of colleges participating in it. There were some prominent personalities from film industry to judge the events and reward the participants with their views on different short films, documentaries, ad films, movie trailers, music videos and other events.

Writer-Director Robin Bhatt, Writer-Director Sanjay Chel, cinematographer Ram Dalten with Vikas, Creative Director, Pixion, Sanjot Sonalkar and Hazel of Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar fame were the guest of honour of the two day festival at K. J. Somaiya auditorium. BMM Co-ordinator Dr Sangeeta Kohli and Sub Co-ordinator RichaChaudhary, Prof Raina honoured the guest with bouquets.

Hazel and Sajay Sonalkar lighted the lamp of Shri K. J. Somaiya and Saker Ben Somaiya. The atmosphere was enthusiastic. There were games, dance performances, singing and few media related conversations. There was also a fashion show with a theme of black which was a tribute to those who lost their lives in recent terror attacks. And a performance which reflected how innocent lives were dragged to their death by the terrorists and how still Indians believe in being proud to be an Indian and hoist our flag.

Estro gave an opportunity to the students to showcase their talent in front of the film personalities and be an eye-candy being out of box in their ideas and concepts. Robin Bhatt said, “I am here because my experience in Estro last year was very good. I learnt a lot from the students and wish to get more creative ideas today. It is a great honour to be a part of such a festival.”

Sanjot Sonalkar followed up with the prize distribution on the second day and said, “It was really a great experience to be here and see some fresh young talent.” The event cuddled up with a Dj and a short movie dedicated to the Ty BMM students who are counting the last days of their college.