Global PR, Communication & Media events

CySI institutes an award for internet banking

2011-12-04T19:43:00.000+05:30

A joint programme by Cyber Society of India,
Centre for comparability EU studies and IIT Madras

Computer Security Day is observed worldwide on Nov 30th. This year Cyber Society of India (Cysi) marked the day with a Workshop on Cyber Security at Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences IIT, Madras on 02-Dec-2011, thanks to the sponsorship and patronage received from the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Dept of IIT and Centre for Comparitive European Union Studies.

The meeting commenced with a Welcome Address by Shri K Srinivasan, President of CySI. In his address, he dwelt briefly on the activities of CySI especially on its commitment to create awareness on the threats and vulnerabilities of an e-transaction and the use of ATMs and Internet Banking. He announced institution of an award for the best bank with the most secure and user-friendly Internet Banking features. Selection criteria, the committee of jury and other related procedural issues are being addressed, he said.

Shri V Rajendran, Senior Vice President announced the purpose of the Meeting and introduced the distinguished panel of speakers describing their individual capabilities and talents.

Dr C Pandurangan a senior Professor of IIT Madras and Head Indian Statistical Institute, setting the tone for the workshop emphasized the importance of PIN and the password in ATM and Internet Banking transaction. He added that security is not the responsibility nor the domain of a single person or one entity but the collective task of the regulators, users and the service providers.

Inaugurating the workshop, Smt Sonal V Misra, I.P.S. Supdt of Police, CB-CID Chennai spoke on the global scenario on cyber crimes, especially on the dangerous trend of some economies which mainly thrive on fraudulent money. She said the public needed safety and justice from the state, which mainly consists of the police, the prosecution and the judiciary adding that what is needed is certainty of punishment and without much delay, admitting that it is a long way to go in India to ensure speedier justice, a tech-savvy administration, a deterrent punishment system and above all, a computer-literate net-savvy users at the grass-roots level.

Key note address was delivered by Shri M Ramkumar General Manager Canara Bank He spoke about the responsibilities of banks and public sector banks in particular to ensure customer focused and customer-centric service and use IT as an enabler in all electronic delivery channels . He added that more initiatives like introduction of a 2-factor authentication in the form of One Time Password for Internet Banking transaction, more secure ATMs with CCTV enabled are all being considered.

After the Tea Break, there were three thematic sessions, the first one on Network Security by Dr. B. Muthukumaran, Country Head, Secure IQ. He spoke about bots and compromised networks and the threats posed by them. Shri S.N. Ravichandran, CEO Nilagiri Chemicals, Coimbatore spoke about the ills of social networking sites like Facebook and cautioned against posting personal information in it. Shri S. Balu, Addl Supdt of Police (Retd) T.N Police presented the legal provisions highlighting the strength of I.T. Act 2000 and ITAA 2008.

There was a very lively and extremely interactive session with participants posing questions on a variety of topics like the strength of ISO 27001 standards, the level of security in a Card transactions, the legal position in the event of loss in an ATM or other card transaction etc, all of which were aptly answered by the panelists on the dais.

The meeting concluded with vote of thanks by Shri V Kapaleeswaran, Life Member of CySI followed by lunch.

(Report by V Rajendran and Kapaleeswaran)
please also watch a report by NDTV Hindu on this event.

Workshop on 'Business and Competitive Intelligence' at IIT

2011-10-30T22:25:00.000+05:30

One group working on competitive strategies in the 'War Game'.
Prof. Prakash Sai (IIT) and Prof. Murali Dharan (MGSM) looking on

Department of Management Studies (Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai) jointly with Madras Management Association and Macquarie Graduate School of Management (Macquarie University, Sydeny) organised a two-day workshop for the senior corporate executives on 'Business and Corporate Intelligence" on 28th and 29th October 2011.

In the highly competitive world, all the companies are required to compete globally to fight for their space. Before preparing for the competition, the companies need to spend enough time to know about their competitors also. This is known as 'competitive intelligence'. It should be done in a legal and ethical way. It is reported that many of the Indian Corporates do not take the 'competitive intelligence' seriously and hence they lose many good projects. China is one of the good examples of using competitive intelligence and hence, they are dominating in the world as a powerful nation.

Probably for the first time in India (since no data is available), IIT has organised this workshop to create an awareness about 'competitive intelligence among the Indian Corporates. .

As part of the workshop, they also organised a 'War Game'. They divided the participants into four groups. Each group represented one major existing company viz. Infosys, TCS, Accenture and IBM. The groups were given before hand the real profile of each company and they were also advised to collect more details about their company and their competitors through various other sources.

An Imaginary Government e-Health project worth of 10 billion dollars, spread over 10 years was given as the project for 'bidding'. The groups have to prepare their competitive strategies based on their strength and the competitors' strength.

Finally, all the groups were made to present their strategies for evaluation. The concept of 'War Game' can also be used in the training workshops. It is reported that some of the major MNCs use this 'War Game' concept within themselves, to understand more about their competitors. Some of their own employees will be made to represent their competitors in their 'in-house war game'.

At this stage, I am reminded of a Thirukkural, by Saint Thiruvalluvar who wrote this following couplet 2000 years back. This Thirukkural summarises how modern day corporates can manage the competition.

வினை வலியும் தன் வலியும் மாற்றான் வலியும்
துணை வலியும் தூக்கிச்செயல் - Thirukkural 471

(Before undertaking any task, weigh judiciously (1) the nature of the task on hand, (2) your own strength, (3) Competitor's strength and (4) the strength of your support team, allies and partners.)

PodUniversal Edition 142

This Thirukkural shows, how important is the 'Competitive intelligence' before undertaking any task. Please watch 8 minutes interview on this workshop.

This video may also be watched from http://youtu.be/6eouWvA7IlM

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) Platinum Jubilee Commemorative Oration - "Corporate Governance"

2011-10-24T18:01:00.018+05:30

Live Blogging from Taj Coromandel, Chennai - 24th October 2011 - 5.55 pm

Live Blogging Team : Mr D. Murugesan, A.R. Sridhar, Prasanna,(all from IOB) under the guidance of Mr Prime Point Srinivasan and Mr V. Rajendran of Cyber Society of India

The live blogging team welcomes you to the grand event of the Oration of Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Corporate Affairs.

Please keep refreshing your browser for continuous updates.

Many eminent personalities of Chennai were present in the hall. Prayer song was rendered by IOB's Amrithavarshini team.

Bank's CMD Mr M. Narendra presented a shawl and a bouquet of flowers to the Chief Guest.

Welcome by CMD of IOB

Mr M. Narendra CMD welcomed the gathering and the Chief Guest. He explained the development of Bank since its foundation in 1937. He stated that the total business as of Sep 2011 had crossed Rs 2,91,000 crores. The Bank had opened its 2,250th branch in the holy town of Sringeri.

Corporate Governance has become an important aspect in Banking Industry. Dr. Veerappa Moily is a very competent person to talk about the Corporate Governance. Dr. Moily's tenure as CM of Karnataka is hailed as one of the best. He has contributed a lot in the education field. Dr Moily Was Chairman of several commissions.

Dr. Moily is an eminent lawyer. His books prove his literary skills.

After Mr Narendra's welcome speech, Dr Veerappa Moily made his presentation on 'Corporate Governance'.

Dr Veerappa Moily speech

Dr Moily appreciated the growth of IOB in the recent years and also appreciated the good work done by Mr Narendra, CMD. He was confident that IOB would move from the present 7th position to 2nd or 3rd position in an year or two.

He goes on to say what Corporate Governance is and what an important role it plays. India should occupy 2nd or 3rd in terms of governance.

Corporate Governance has to be value based. Senior leadership should have strong values. A good governance is not just compliance but performance. Business should be principle-based.

Though many circulars are issued, they are not practised effectively to bring in an ideal governance.

Cadbury Report in UK brought about many reviews in India. Best Practices Code have been introduced. Corporate Governance is an ethical attitude issue.

Indian banking has undergone many transformations. Performance and credibility and sustainability of the Indian banking system is the best. But, despite this, we should not feel complacent. Best practices have to be formulated. Good governance is the most important characteristic of the banking system.

Denationalisation was professed by some. But nationalisation of the banks in India is a good thing which has happened and because of this only banks have stood the test of time. Even in the nationalised stage, banks have shown their competitive spirit.

3 reasons for the need for good corporate governance in banks

1. For retail depositors

2. For loans and advances - opaque

3. Contagion effect - if one bank fails in corporate governance it might affect the system.

By stipulating standards, regulators ensure corporate governance.

Objectives of Basel II are also in sync with the objectives of good corporate governance. RBI has also come up with many standards. European Commission has come out with good corporate governance standards.

Each individual has a role to play in corporate governance. The collective performance of the individuals make the corporate governance.

"Occupy Wall Street" is an example of the effect for ineffective corporate governance. Banks and FIs should ensure good corporate governance because they are the pillars of an economy.

Some economists say that competition will ensure good corporate governance. Banking industry may be exposed to less competition. Hence, Banks have to take more efforts to ensure corporate governance.

Liberalisation policy has to be gradual. Reforms needed to rebuild economic movement. Success of the Indian economy depends upon the expansion. India's economic reforms have contributed to the growth rate.

Present crisis in Europe is the most serious crisis in banking system in Europe since 1930.

In India, there is a need for infra spending. Biggest challenge is to ensure that the current concerns regarding the present crony capitalism do not lead to do any damage to liberal capitalism. we use to tie you with red tape. now you are welcomed with red carpet.

Country can march forward if economic and political freedom are ensured. Banking sector should become the models for setting the standards of corporate governance.

IOB has been a pioneer in setting high standards and wish that the Bank gets the award for the best governance.

Minister ended his speech with thanks to IOB.

Mr Narendra and Mr Bansal, Executive Director presented a memento to Dr. Moily.

Mr Bansal, Executive Director, proposed the vote of thanks.

Disclosure of IT risks should be made mandatory for all Indian companies - Cyber experts

2011-10-15T20:09:00.003+05:30

Dr Santhosh Babu IAS, IT Secretary of Tamilnadu Government
inagurating the Media Workshop

"Disclosure of duly audited IT risks should be made mandatory by SEBI for all Indian companies for the information of investors, as it is being done in US" said cyber experts at the Media Workshop held at Chennai Press Club on Saturday the 15th October 2011.

Cyber Society of India (CySI), one of the pioneer bodies in India established in 2004 to create cyber awareness among the public, conducted a Media workshop on Saturday the 15th October 2011 at Chennai Press Club. Dr Santhosh Babu IAS, IT Secretary to Government of Tamilnadu inaugurated the workshop. Mr Bharathi Thamizhan, Joint Secretary, Chennai Press Club delivered the key note address. Around 30 media professionals participated in this workshop.

While welcoming the participants. K. Srinivasan, President of CySI emphasised the need for introducing cyber related lessons at the school level itself, so that the students are prepared to understand the cyber challenges and the consequences of cyber law.

Dr Santhosh Babu IAS explained how Tamilnadu Government is implementing e0Governance in the state. He also said that the Government is planning to recruit officers as 'Information Security Officers' to manage the information security.

Mr Bharathi Thamizhan, Joint Secrretary of Chennai Press Club explained how online media has grown compared to the print media. He also explained the how the new gadgets like IPad have changed the style of communication.

The inaugural session was followed with a panel discussion.

Mr V Rajendran, Vice President of CySI and Cyber Advocate explained some of the important features of Cyber Law and the penalties involved.

Mr S N Ravichandran, Joint Secretary of CySI and Cyber crime investigator explained the risks involved in social media networks and how cyber crimes were committed using various internet media. He also explained how the investigators are able to book the culprits, wherever they are.

Mr M L Srinivasan, a well known cyber security expert emphasized the need for transparent disclosures of IT risks by all corporates in India, as it is being done in US at the direction of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Annually, the Auditors include the financial risks in the Annual Reports for the information of invesotors. Same way, he insisted SEBI also should issue guidelines making the disclosure of IT risks as mandatory in the Annual Reports for the information of investors.

Dr Muthukumaran, an academician turned cyber security expert discussed on increased security for net-Banking transactions by way of advanced 2-Factor Authentication methods. He also stressed the need for Indian companies getting ISO 15489 certification for preservation of records. Due to the technological changes, the data stored in the servers, become unreadable over a period of time and banks and other organizations find it difficult to provide digital data for more than 10 years. Government need to store citizen data for several decades under e-Governance model. Hence, the data should be stored in neutral digital data format, so that they could be presented even after several years. Dr Muthukumaran said that ISO 15489 certification guides an organization on maintenance of archived digital data in the proper format. Unfortunately, in India, so far, only one company had gone for such certification and all other companies, including banks should go for such certification immediately, he said.

Mr Nurullah, a senior Tamil Journalist anchored the programme in an interesting manner. Mr Shanker Kumar, Secretary, CySI proposed vote of thanks.

Please see the photo stream of this event.

National Media Conference 2011 - Valedictory - 180911

2011-09-18T18:09:00.011+05:30

Live reporting from Mount Abu

Please see the earlier postings of this Conference.

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-

2011-welcome.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-first.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/media-and-conferance-exhibition-2011.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-second.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-second.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-second-day.html

Live Blogging start at 6.30pm by team K Srinivasan, Satish Surve,Aniruddha Kulkarni, Harshad Wadadekar.

S S Tripathy
(National President,All India small news papers association,Lacknow.)
Mr. S S tripathy has started their speech by saying, media has supreme power to build and destruct the government, people should unit and help media in social development.

B K Om Prakash
(Chairperson,Media wings, Indore.)
Om prakash is happy as the basic thought of organising seminar is achieved because of the participation of experts from traditional media,social media,PR media and other professionals from different part of country.media is very important and can play major role in changing society.
He read out seven line resolution and urged traditional media, media professionals to adopt ethics and moral values for healthy peaceful developing society.

Mrs. D K Aruna
(Hon'ble minister for information and PR, Govt. of A.P.,Hyderabad.)
She expressed her concern about the unholy alliance of media leading to media being misused for commercial gains. She was hopeful that a day will come that media would follow ethics and values.

Dr Dadi Janaki, Chief of Brahmakumaris

Dadi Jankiji the chief Bramhakumari shared their experience and ended up, her appeal to the traditional media to follow the values of benefited society, with blessings to all.

The two-days conference ended up with B K sarla Anand,President of Global Forum for Public Relation, proposing vote of thanks.

National Media Conference - Second day - Panel discussion - 180911

2011-09-18T14:54:00.018+05:30

Live reporting from Mount Abu

Please see the earlier postings of this Conference.

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-

2011-welcome.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-first.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/media-and-conferance-exhibition-2011.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-second.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-second.html

Live Blogging will start at 3pm by team K Srinivasan, Satish Surve,Aniruddha Kulkarni, Harshad Wadadekar.

K C Mouli
(Sr. Faculty, PR & Advertising, MLCN University of journalism, Bhopal)
Mr.K C Mouli Start Their speech with question that what is proactive media?
saying media highlights news of VVIPs before it happens known as proactive media. Media plays important role in these case like kagil war, women selling, child marriage,bribes, politicians and in anna hajare campaign media played proactive role.Growth of media has assumed better significance with rise in technology.
informer, educator, communicator & also an activist.
participation of media in proactive way is good message for dvelopment of india.

Mr. Rajeev Khosla
(Addl Director,I & PR, Govt. of Hariyana, Chandighar.)
Media can be social, its not only commercial, media mates mass aware & touches life of masses haryana sex ratio has been highlighted with help of media. Media can be great force in social development.

Dr. Devendra Sharma
(Sr. Cartoonist,Indore.)
He Said about media role in society, how it looks towards society & how society looks towards media.

B K Niranjana
(coordinator,media wings,Baroda(Alkapuri)Subzone)
Its not only responsibility of media but also everyone to change for society. i assume you these three days would be helpful for you knowing proactive media. people should change their mentality on their own to remove corruption, One has to understand self which is spirituality.meditation is the biggest answer to increase self power.

Irfan Khan
(Ex-Director,corporate communication, Hindustan lever,Mumbai)
Media Played important role in india against corruption campaign. Media itself is a undergoing transformation, people are moving up, print media is suffering a loss since last five years are social for theme. we need to move for better technology, better media & better world for new generation.

Arun Arora
(Sr.vice-president,corporate communication,Jindal steel,delhi)
Short term punishment work long term reward is best option motivation works as effectively as reward and punishment.If one focuses on strength the weaknesses will disappear. Media person can stop reporting on negative reporting and should report positively.Change the mind set, that normal news also be a good news why not talk about good news, change containt by using simple language while talking about spirituality.we should forget the past and concentrate on, now what we can do.

Ashish Gupta
(Regional Mnager,Sadhna News,Indore.)
Its wrong always blaming media, its not bad, the way it has been taken. we should stop adding masala to the news and give the exact message. Media is bridge between society and government, it should awaking both sides.media is not at fault, media is giving whatever is demand of audience. people knows how to criticize but not how to fight against it. common man has to change first then only the society will change.

Dipendra shrestha
(Station director,radio annapurna, pokhra, Nepal.)
Information is power and media is power to change society. Today a big question arises, is it a business or service. we can not do everything we have planed, due to religious problems.Media has started collecting money for campaigns. contains, quantity and quality are three things where we need to concentrate.To change the society we have to change media insight.

National Media Conference 2011 - Second Day - Plenary Session 180911

2011-09-18T10:58:00.008+05:30

Live reporting from Mount Abu

Please see the earlier postings of this Conference.http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-
2011-welcome.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-first.html

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/media-and-conferance-exhibition-2011.html

Live Blogging By Satish Surve(Media Trainee)
The second day session started at 10.30am with plannery session on the theme Challenges and Opportunities before Modern Mass Media

Mr. B K Sushant (Natinal Co-ordinator Media Wings Delhi) felt the soft skills need to improve among the media persons.he is saying there are some good and bad things in media but we have to select what will be benefited for us.
there are people who things that to be in media there is nessesity of English
language and every language has its own power.

Dr.C V Narasimha

(Former Director,Information and PR,Govt Of A.P.,Hydderabad)

During independence media role was vital,now media becomes business,false occupations they manipulate news for business,political interference is much more Dr.Narasimha Reddy was saying about there dream where they saw golden triangle which having three pillars. humanity is depending upon three pillars govt.,media and god,when this three pillars will work properly india will be punyabhumi.there will be love, peace and value.

Prof.Ujjwal K. Choudhary
(Dean, Whistling Woods School of Communication,Mumbai.)

He quoted its good to includes spiritual things in media but we have to concentrate on main stream media. He also said how media is engaged in cricket, crime, celebrity and cinema. lets look insight people changing their view toward media the good eg. is Anna Hajre campaign. After 15-20 years media become now multidimensional called an user generated media,we have to find good things in today's media.

Mr. Ravindra Bastola
(Editor,Pakhra Awaj Daily,Pokhra,Nepal)
He urged for freedom of press. He discussed about terrorist issues saying people should unite and fight against challenges. Media should play the role shaping the society.

Session ended with Guided Meditation by B K Vimla.

live blogging team,
K.Srinivasan, Satish Surve, Aniruddha Kulkarni, Harshad Wadadekar.

Media conferance & Exhibition 2011 - Dialogue sessions - 170911

2011-09-17T14:44:00.012+05:30

Harshad from Whistling Woods reporting live from Mount Abu with help of Aniruddha and Satish

Please see the earlier postings of this Conference.
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-welcome.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-media-conference-2011-first.html

Dialogue 1 -Restortion of moral & social values

Rajaesh Rajore [Resident Editor,Dainik Dshonnati,Khamgaon]

He in his addressal said morals come from society we live,art of being happy is to live in good society giving example of Anna Hazare's Campain he also said its duty of media to provide the right information

Dialogue -2

A catalyst for positive change

B.K Girish [Sr Journalist & Faculty,Value Education,Gyan Sarovar,Mt Abu]

Speaking to the audience he said,there should be positive changes in media,it should play major role against corruption.Media should play role of catalyst.We the people from society have whole right to raise our voice against corruption and we should always be on right path.

Jaikrishna Gour[Editor,Charaibeti & Nano Darshan Magazine,Indore]

He briefly discussed how media is distributed in multimedia.Increase in Technology helped media spread evrywhere,post 82 media started developing,he also said during his time people use to trust what ever written in newspapers but now-a-days its getting dificult to trust the newspapers too.

Dialogue 3

Electronic Media,its Scope & Challenges

Sanjeev Chouhan [Crime Editor News Express Channel,Noida]

Focusing on TRP's he briefly discussed how masala is added to news before telecast.Also he mentioned Freedom of Press and maintaining accuracy is huge task for Press upcoming years.

Ashima Singh Gureja [Ast Prof Dept of media studies Vivekananda Institute,Delhi]

She discussed about scope and challenges in media,talking about electronic media she said electronic media is not only concise its above that,its not only news its beyond that.one has to be focused and concentrate on ideas.Less creativity and media being mirror of stories,whatever media thinks is always not possible are limitations she mentioned.

Satish Kapoor[President Brotherhood Film Festival,New Delhi]

He gave an idea about how difficult it was organising film festival in earlier days due to lack of research and creativity,now due to development in technology we can conduct research, creativity has increased too,so division of work helps makes the work simpler is what he quoted.

Dialogue 4

New media scope and challenges

K.Srinivasan[CEO,Prime point]

He explained the various challenges post by the technology media like social media networks and mobiles and internet sites,he said the time had come that the school teachers and parents realise the importance and create proper awareness among the children on proper use of the new media

B.K.Yashwant[Coordinator,IT & Communication Dept,Bramhakumaris Mt abu]

He explained how Bramhakumari's are using internet media,mobiles and broadcast media successfully for conveying positive messages

Dialogue 5 [Group 1]

Developing PR Code of Conduct

Narsimha Reddi [Former Director,I.T & PR govt of Andhra Pradesh]

He discussed in brief about Code of Conduct for Public Relations

Proffessionalism,Ethics & Personal Ethics.Combination of three make code of conduct.He also said spirituality is more important in PR,love is an external quality of code.

Prof Ujjwal Kumar Choudhary [Dean Whistling Woods International,Mumbai]

He gave an idea of need for ethical presentation of content based information,He quoted "Any bad news is Good news" your intention should be good,then he gave an idea how social networking plays an important role and ended saying Good actions speak about values of your organisation.

Dialogue 5 [Group 2]

New Media and PR

Arun Arora [Senior Vice President,Corporate Communication,Jindal Steel]

He explained with examples how western countries make use of the social networking sites for effective customer relations

Arpita Prashant[Asst prof M.O.P Vaishnav college for women,chennai]

She explained her study on how people perceive media negatively

Madhavan Varadarajan [PR consultant,Chennai]

He emphasised imortance of traditional Public Relations, not withstanding the growth of social media

K.Srinivasan [CEO,Prime Point,Chennai]

He explained with examples how social media is driving the main-line media.He quoted recent example of Anna Hazare's anti corruption movement which was initially promoted by social media and mobile media and later picked up by regional media

National Media Conference 2011 - First day - Inauguration

2011-09-17T11:02:00.007+05:30

K. Srinivasan, Prime Point reporting live from Mount Abu. I am being assited by Harshad, Aniruddha and satish students of Whistling Woods Mumbai, MBA batch.
Pl read the earlier postings at
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/09/Anational-media-conference-2011-welcome.html

The first day of the Conference started at 7 AM with a session on Meditation by Sr. B K Usha. She was giving the techniques of meditation. She also emphasised on the need for removing negative thoughts from the mind and to fill with the positive thoughts. Such positive thoughts would help to reduce the stress, she added.

The inaugural session started at 10 AM with invocation. Raja Yogi B K Karuna, Vice Chairman, Media Wing of Brahmakumaris welcomed the augidence. During his speech, he quoted President Pratibha Patil, who launched the Platinum Jubilee of Brahmakumaris yesterday at Delhi.

Now Harshad from Whistling Woods reporting live from Mount Abu

Prof Kamal Dixit[National Co-ordinator Society of Media Initiative for values] gave brief introduction about the seminar and mentioned successful campaign of Anna Hazare.Later Ganesh Vndana by Raju Bhai and Group,then

B.K.Omprakash[Chairperson,Media Wing Indore] explained the objective of the conference,to understand oneself and mentioned Dadi Jankiji as source of inspiration to all.

B.K.NIRWAIR [Secretary General,Bramhakumaris] shared nice thaughts in his Adressal he mentioned article in Speeking Tree,Times of India how they have explained exact difference between Spirituality and Politics.And also said Spirituality brings peace and lack of sprituality brings corruption

Irffan Khan [Formar Director Corp Comm HUL,Mumbai] in his addressal he said if we want to save India from everything one has to be strong enough to handle any circumstances.

Rajeev Ranjan Nag [Editor India News] He explained how channels have changed chasing the TRP ratings.He quoted recent example of Indian Prime Minister addressing the media on 2G scam,he said at the same time wellknown actress Rakhi Sawant was addressing the media,some of the channels in order to gain mileage of TRP ratings shifted from PM's press conference to Rakhi Sawant show.

Rajyogini Dr. B.K.Dadi Janakiji
95 year old Dadi Janakiji in her innaugeral address expressed the concern of increase in corruption in all segments.She also expressed the concern that Small things are made big and Big things are made Small by media,now media has to play a positive role in the development of society.Inaugural session ended with B.K Chandrakala proposing vote of thanks.

National Media Conference 2011 - Welcome Session

2011-09-16T20:11:00.003+05:30

Live report from Mount Abu - 16th Sep 2011 8.00 PM

Report by K. Srinivasan, V Madhavan and Ms Arpita Prashanth

Brahmakumaris, one of the leading spiritual organisations is organising a National Media Conference and Exhibition at Mount Abu, Rajasthan from 17th Sep to 19th Sep 2011. This Conference coincides with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Brahmakumaris and Silvee Celebrations of their Media Wing.

Around 1500 Media and PR professionals across the country are expected to participate in this Conference. As we are writing this live blogging' many delegates are arriving at the venue from various places.

They have organised a 'welcome session' today evening at 6 PM to brief the participants about the programme.

The theme of this conference is "Value based Media - Need of the hour". An Exhibition is also organised to showcase the latest developments in the media industry. Pl see the photographs of the welcome session and the exhibition.

Do not become slave and addict of social media; Keep at arm's distance

2011-08-27T18:43:00.000+05:30

K. Srinivasan, Founder, Prime Point Foundation addressed the members of Social Media Club at Chennai on Saturday the 27th August 2011. He was speaking on "Public Relations (PR) through Social Media". During his speech, he explained the growth of internet and social media in the recent years. He also explained how corporates and individuals could use social media effectively for promoting their products or services. He also explained how HR departments were looking at the social media links of the candidates and judge them. Hence, he suggested all youngsters to use the social media properly.

Srinivasan also quoted various examples of his own podcasts which were used by mainline media. He also cautioned the audience about the security aspects of various social media. He concluded his speech with a caution that social media, though to be used at appropriate time, should be kept at arm's distance. He advised the audience not to become addict to social media. He suggested wherever possible use 'face to face' or one-one-voice communication, instead of social media, to bring 'human touch'.

As the speech was going on, some of the members were live tweeting the bullet points.

The Photos taken during the event is streamed below:

The presentation is also given below.

Pr through social media 270811

View more presentations from Prime Point Foundation, Chennai.

Even the so called 'transparent' companies need to conduct image audit

2011-08-12T17:35:00.000+05:30

K. Srinivasan addressing the Rotary Club of Temple City.
Rtn M S Srinivasan (President) and
Rtn. Hemachandran (Secretary) on the stage.

K. Srinivasan, Chairman of Prime Point Foundation was invited to talk on "Image Audit" at the Rotary Club of Madras Temple City on Thursday the 11th August 2011. During his talk, he emphasised the need for studying the 'hidden perception' of the stake holders, to understand the real internal and external image of the organisation.

He explained that the perception was being formed by every individual on any organisation based on the (a) performance of the organisation (b) personal experience with that organisation, (c) what he hears from others and (d) the rumours floating around about the organisation He also quoted the example of current elections and political parties to prove how across the state, people perceived uniformly.

He added that the net effect of individual perception created the image about the organisation. He also said that same logic applied to commercial and non commercial organisations, political parties, NGOs, educational institutions and even individuals.

Srinivasan, quoted the examples of how the perception had played greater role in making or ruining the organisations. Hence, he insisted that all the organisations study the 'hidden perception' of their stake holders, more specifically their own employees to plan the future strategies.

During the "Q &A' session, members posed lot of interesting and brilliant questions. One of the members asked whether the companies who were following 'transparent' practices need to study such hidden perception. For this, Srinivasan responded by saying that though the persons regularly performing exercises and yoga, with clean habits, need to possess good health theoretically, it never happened in reality. Hence, they also undergo health check up.

"Transparency is a relative term. What is transparent according to the management, need not be the same in the perception of employees. Hence, even the so called 'transparent' companies need to audit the perception of their employees regularly, to understand and strategise their plans", he added.

This Rotary Club is one of the oldest clubs in Chennai City with many VIP members. President of this Club Rtn M S Srinivasan and Secretary Rtn. Hemachandran organised this event. Please see the photo stream.

Era of Mr Era Sezhiyan, a legendary Parliamentarian with impeccable character

2011-07-10T20:56:00.000+05:30

The book 'Parliament of the People' being released by
Justice Natarajan (Second from right). Mr Era Seshiayan (left extreme) looks on.
Thuglak Editor Cho Ramaswamy receives the book
Photo courtesy: The Hindu

Mr Era Sezhiyan (88), an octogenarian Parliamentarian is one of the most revered political leaders of India. He has served Indian Parliament for more than 22 years and is considered today as one of the authorities of Indian Parliament system. Even now, the Speakers of Parliament and other politcal leaders used to consult him on various procedures of Parliament. He belongs to the generation of leaders like Morarji Desai, Jayaprakash Narayan, Vajpayee, Somnath Chatterjee and many others.

We can feel proud to live in an era, when Mr Era Sezhiyan is also living. Since many of his friends could not spell the name 'Sezhiyan', he is popularly known as 'Era' among the Parliament members and Government officials. I am greatly fortunate to interact with him several times on various national issues and to invite him for the Prime Point Foundation's events.

A few months back, he compiled and released a book on Shah Commission Report about Emergency exceesess. We had also at that time, recorded his exclusive interview and published in our PodUniversal.

In the span of more than 22 years in Parliament, he has made several speeches, which drew the attention of then Government and which are also relevant today. Institute of Social Sciences has compiled some of the important speeches and published a book titled 'Parliment for the People". This book was released by Justice Natarajan, one of the former well known Supreme Court Judges on 9th July 2011 at Chennai.

Many leading personalities admired the services of this legendary person. Mr Era Sezhiyan, though not a member of Parliament, is quite active in public life, sharing his views through media.

Please see the photo stream of the function. The report of The Hindu is given below.

Please read the Hindu report dated 10th July 2011

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2215867.ece

"Era Sezhiyan, a person of impeccable character"

A host of speakers, led by S. Natarajan, former Supreme Court Judge, on Saturday hailed Era Sezhiyan, veteran parliamentarian, for his services to Parliament and steadfast commitment to the protection of constitutional institutions, advocacy of decentralisation and the importance of propriety and probity in public life.

Launching “Parliament for The People,” a publication of Mr Sezhiyan’s speeches in Parliament, at a function here, Mr Natarajan described the parliamentarian as a person of impeccable character and integrity, a man of erudition and a constitutional expert.

He recalled that after Mr Sezhiyan’s defeat in the 1977 Lok Sabha election, several national leaders including the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai and External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted him to enter the Parliament again through Rajya Sabha by getting elected from any of the northern States where the Janata Party was strong. But, Mr Sezhiyan had turned down their offer. The issue was resolved in 1978 when the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, on the advice of Mr Desai, had agreed to extend his party’s support to Mr Sezhiyan’s election from Tamil Nadu to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Natarajan, Editor-in-Chief of THE HINDU N. Ram and industrialist R. Veeramani recounted that in August 1989, in response to Mr Sezhiyan’s appeal, then Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and Vice-President S.D. Sharma had expunged disparaging remarks made by members in the House against the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the light of the Bofors scandal.

The former Supreme Court Judge said this episode had demonstrated how much respect was given to Mr Sezhiyan, who was no longer a member of the Upper House then. He added that the book brought out effectively how legislative business could be carried on with dignity and decorum in spite of serious differences of opinion among members of the legislature.

The function was organised by the VIT University, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi and the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs, Chennai.

Mr Ram, who received the first copy, said interactions with Mr Sezhiyan on a host of issues over the years were educative, enriching and productive. He was never a high-profile parliamentarian but extremely active from the start.

Referring to Mr Sezhiyan’s defence of the CAG on the Bofors deal controversy, Mr Ram said this had a contemporary relevance. The CAG, a relatively low-profile institution, had made a valuable contribution on the 2G spectrum allocation scandal. Mr Ram said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was otherwise soft spoken, had done a wrong thing by criticising the CAG.

George Matthew, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, which had published the book, explained how Mr Sezhiyan, through an indepth study, had highlighted the constitutional impropriety inherent in the functioning of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.

Describing Mr Sezhiyan as a wonderful activist too, Dr. Mathew said he observed Mr Sezhiyan’s organising skills during the visit of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh to Tamil Nadu in 1990 after the National Front government was unseated from power.

G. Viswanathan, VIT University Chancellor, who presided over the function, recalled the moments that he and Mr Sezhiyan spent together as Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) during 1967-1977. During those years, members rarely rushed to the well of the House or displayed unruly behaviour.

He described Mr Sezhiyan as a deep thinker and a person who expressed his views in a forthright manner.

Cho S. Ramaswamy, Editor of ‘Thuglak,’ said when Mr Sezhiyan spoke in Parliament, he was heard with rapt attention. He was respected by all members including former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. B.S. Raghavan, former civil servant, commended the Parliamentarian for raising the level of political discourse.

Mr Sezhiyan said he was trained by leaders such as C.N. Annadurai and Jayaprakash Narayan. (EOM)

Blog writing will improve the writing skills - Seminar at Vivekananda Vidyalaya

2011-07-10T19:21:00.001+05:30

Smt Durgadevi choudhary Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Kolathu, Chennai has a 'Journalism Academy', started in 2009. The students from 6th Standard to 10th Standard are the members of this Academy. This academy provides opportunity to the students to improve their writing skills and also shape them as a future journalist. Frequently, the School is inviting senior journalists to interact and share the views.

Students interacting with K. Srinivasan on journalism

On 2nd July 2011, I was also invited to share the views with the students. Mr P A Narrendiran, another PR and Communication professional also joined me. Around 150 students participated in this seminar.

When I asked the students, as to how many of them were having e mail account, almost 90 percent of them raised their hands. When I asked them, as to how many of them were using Facebook or twitter, more than 60 percent of them raised their hands. Finally, when I asked the students, as to how many of them were writing blogs, nobody raised their hands, excepting one girl.

This is a general trend among the school. and college going students. Present day students prefer facebook or twitter because of the sms lingos. On the other hand, one has to spend time for writing blogs, that too in a formal language.

Though facebook, twitter and other social media networks are good social media tools for connectivity, they are spoiling the writing habits of these students. In these social media, the students use sms lingos and abbreviated languages without proper spelling and grammar. Finally, when they are writing formal letters, they find it extremely difficult to write even a 100 word communication. I explained to the students the 'challenges' while using social media tools and how 'blog writing' can improve their writing skills.

Since the new generation students are highly techno savvy, I suggested them to create new blog and start writing once or twice a week. I asked them to write about any topic of their interest, including the sports, games, music, etc. I told them such blogs will improve their writing skils in long term and also their self confidence. Some of the students assured me that they would start a blog on the same night and report to me. I am awaiting their response. Mr Thanukrishnan, Principal and other teachers also offered to help the students by reviewing their blog and guiding them to improve the writing skills.
Another important aspect that I need to mention here is the perception of the students on the current media (Television and Print). Many of them rate the credibility of the media at less than 50 percent. Though, the students are very young, they seem to assess on what they see and hear. From the pictures given below, the readers can see the amount of interaction, the students had with me on the various aspects of media and journalism.

Please see the photo show:

Media management workshop for Police Officers

2011-06-15T15:46:00.000+05:30

Participants of the workshop with Mr S. Dorairaj, SP

Tamilnadu Police Academy, Chennai organised an one-day workshop on 14th June 2011 to 25 senior Police Officers drawn from various districts of Tamilnadu. Officers in the rank of Inspectors, Deputy SPs and Addl. SPs participated in the workshop.

There is a general perception among the people that even an insignificant event gets 'sensationalised' by the media and some time, taken to national media level. It is also perceived that during sensitive investigations, the plans and movement of the police team is also projected through media, causing inconvenience for the investigation process. On the other hand, media professionals also accuse police officers not being transparent and not sharing the information in the public interest.

This one-day workshop provided an opportunity to the participating police officers, to understand the changing trends in media and the importance of maintaining a good relationship with media professionals, for mutual advantage.

K. Srinivasan (Chairman, Prime Point Foundation) and John Arokiaswamy (COO, Good Relations India Ltd) handled the sessions providing various situations leading to sensationalisation of news. They also offered tips to handle such situations more professionally. They screened various news shows, that were sensationalised with various case studies. Mr P A Narrendran, another senior corporate communication professional also joined them to provide expert views.

Various senior professionals like Bhagwan Singh (Consulting Editor, Deccan Chronicle), Nurullah (Senior Tamil journalist), Prem Shankar (ET Now) and Narendra (Fomrer Media Advisor to Prime Minister) were called over phone from the class room for interaction session.

Mr S, Dorairaj, Superintendent of Police, Police Academy handled the session on 'Image Management' for the Police. Prateep Philip, IG of Police, Police Academy gave valedictory address.

This is a good initiative by the Police Academy. We have also suggested them to arrange for similar workshops for senior level police officers, so that they could also understand the nuances of professional media management.

Please see the photo stream:

TN Police Academy conducts one-day workshop on communication for Police officers

2011-06-08T16:08:00.002+05:30

Tamilnadu Police Academy

Tamilnadu Police Academy, Chennai was set up by the Government of Tamilnadu to provide highest standard of training to senior police officers. The Academy built over 130 acres of land, has excellent infrastructural facilities to offer the best training to even the top level Police Officers.

On 7th June 2011, the Academy organised an one-day workshop for the officers at Sub Inspector and Inspector level working at the field level. The focus of the workshop was to provide or enhance their communication skills, so that they could be more effective in discharging their duties and handling the general public. Around 25 participants across Tamilnadu participated.

K. Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation was requested to handle two sessions (a) Listening skills and (b) Assertive Communication.

The sessions included games and role-plays to effectively communicate the techniques of communication and listening habits. Mr John Arokiaswamy, Chief Operating Officer, Good Relations India Ltd and a communication expert also joined with K. Srinivasan and provided expert views during games and role plays.

Mr S. Dorairaj, Superintendent of Police and Mr Panneerselvam, Addl Supdt. of Police of TN Police Academy joined at the end of the session and delivered valedictory address.

Police Officers at the field level are connecting the common man with the administration. At the same time, they have the greatest responsibility of maintaining law and order. More often, due to pressure of work and pressure from various quarters, their health is affected. Developing good communication skill will help them to handle their profession more efficiently and to avoid health problems.
I appreciate TN Police Academy for taking such pro-active initiative to provide communication skills to their field level officers. My suggestion is to extend such workshops even to senior level officers from Superintendent of Police, so that they could also get the benefit of enhancing their communication skills. Good communication skills will reduce their mental pressure.

Please see the photo show"

NTPC organizes PR Workshop in Pachmarhi

2011-05-27T18:25:00.000+05:30

Participants of the PR workshop

Report sent by Mr K. Ravindran, Senior Manager (PR), Western Region, Mumbai of NTPC.

The Western Region-I Headquarters of NTPC organized a two day Public Relations workshop for its senior management employees from the western region on 22-23^rd May 2011 at Pachmarhi. The program began with the inaugural address by Shri S C Pandey, Regional Executive Director of NTPC. In his address, Shri Pandey spoke about the way the media and challenges of dealing with the press are challenging organisations across the board with the transformation of the world into an economic and social global village were any news has the potential of becoming national or international news within a fraction of a second.

This was followed by the session on corporate public relations by Shri M Gopalakrishna, IAS former chairman of Rural Electrification Corporation of India who gave broad view of corporate public relations. The other speakers who spoke on various aspects of Public Relations included Shri Joe Scaria of Economic Times, Shri B N Kumar, CEO of Concept Public Relations and Ms Susan Koshy of Konfluenz, Chennai.

The aim of the workshop was to make the senior executives of the company aware of the nuances of dealing with media and their role as spokespersons of the company in future. The two day workshop also included practical knowledge of the public relations with the simulation of a mock press conference for the executives to learn from and adapt to.

There were over 20 participants who took advantage of the workshop and gained knowledge on corporate communications and the success of the organization in building lasting relationships with the media.

Earlier, Shri K Ravindran, Sr Manager (PR), Western Region, Mumbai welcomed the participants and Shri A K Bhatnagar, GM, Corporate Communications & HR, NTPC Ltd gave overview of the workshop. Subjects such as CSR, branding were also discussed during the interactive sessions which was appreciated by all the participants.

Image Audit helps to improve the employee management

2011-05-17T22:24:00.002+05:30

L to R: K. Srinivasan, Rtn Latha Rajan (President),
Rtn. R. Narayanan (Secretary Elect)

K. Srinivasan, Chairman, Prime Point Foundation delivered a talk on "Image Audit and measuring techniques of image" at Rotary Club of Adyar on 17th May 2011. During the course of his talk, he explained as to how perception is being formed based on (a) performance, (b) ones own experience, (c) what others say and (d) rumours.

He also said that such perception formed by stakeholders create positive or negative image. Generally, employees have 'hidden perception' on the management and normally, they do not reveal to the management, for various reasons.

He regretted that many corporates, particularly CEO managed, organisations do not prefer to conduct Image Audit on the employees, for fear of their administration being reviewed frankly by their employees. Image Audit is like a 'master health check up' for any person and even if the employees give negative perception, it would help to streamline the administration. On the other hand, the organisations managed by 'owners' at the top level, prefer to conduct image audit.

K. Srinivasan addressing

Srinivasan said, through Image Audit techniques, we can bring out the hidden perception of employees and other stakeholders. This would help the management to undertake mid-course corrections and also to avoid any possible future crisis.
He also explained with example as to how 'perception' formed by the voters has played a greater role during the recent assembly elections.

For more details on Image Audit, he requested the audience to visit www.imageaudit.com.

Rtn. Latha Rajan, President of the Rotary Club of Adyar presided over the meeting. The meeting was attended by members of the club, who represented various industries and profession.

The slide show of the power point file is appended below.

View more presentations from Prime Point Foundation, Chennai.

Dr Abdul Kalam honours cartoonists at Cartoon Festival 2011

2011-05-12T16:20:00.000+05:30

Dr Abdul Kalam

Cartoon Watch, the only cartoon magazine in India organises Cartoon Festival every year and honours the senior cartoonists since 2003. Cartoon Watch is being published from Raipur. Cartoon Festival 2011 was held this year at New Delhi on 29th April 2011. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Former President of India launched the Cartoon Festival by drawing a symbolic cartoon and honoured senior cartoonists Mr Ajit Ninan, Mr Kaak, MrMr Hussain Zamin, Mr B V Panduranga Rao, Mr Jagjeet Rana and Mr Sudheer Nath for their lifetime achievement in the field of cartoon.

Mr Triambak Sharma, Editor, Cartoon Watch organised this event. Mr Triambak Sharma is also the cartoon Editor of our ezine PreSense and the cartoon character PRince created by him was also launched by Dr Kalam three years back at Chennai. Dr Kalam also made a reference about the cartoon characters like common man and PRince in his speech.

During his speech, he also advised the cartoonists to set their mission. Dr Abdul Kalam is one of the admirers of cartoons and wherever he goes, he always encourages the media to use more of cartoons, to convey the message to the people in an effective manner.

Full text of Dr Kalam's speech is available in the official site of Dr Abdul Kalam and may be read by clicking this link.

Mr Ashish Agarwal, cartoonist has given the full account of the event in his blog. Please read this blog in the following link.

http://ashishagarwal.net/cartoon_festival.html

Please watch the photo stream of the event.

Lok Sabha Heroes and UnSung Heroes honoured

2011-05-08T21:03:00.003+05:30

Prime Point Foundation, Chennai and Corporate ezine PreSense honour the top performing MPs of Lok Sabha since 2009. Top 5 MPs of 14th Lok Sabha were featured in the ezine PreSense.

Mr Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Mr Anandrao Adsul, Mr S S Ramasubbu, award winning MPs with Mr N Vittal, Mr Sthanunathan, Mr Era Sezhian and K. Srinivasan

In 2010, the Foundation instituted Annual Awards for the top performing MPs (calculated till the end of 31st March of every year based on the data provided by Lok Sabha Secretariat and compiled by PRS India. Mr Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (BJP MP from Chandrapur, Maharashtra) and Mr S S Ramasubbu (Cong MP from Tirunelveli) were honoured for their top performance in the 15th Lok Sabha till the end of March 2010. Mr Ramasubbu, stood first in debates, private bills and questions in Tamilnadu.

For the year 2011, a simple and impressive function was organised at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya on 7th May 2011. Mr Era Sezhian (well known veteran octogenarian Parliamentarian), Mr N Vittal (Former Central Vigilance Commissioner of India) and Mr Sthanunathan (Secretary of Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya and a Gandhian) were the chief guests.

During this function, Mr Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (BJP MP from Chandrapur, Maharashtra), Mr Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena MP from Amravati, Maharastra) and Mr S S Ramasubbu (Cong MP from Tirnelveli, Tamilnadu) were honoured for their top performance in the Lok Sabha till the end of Budget Session 2011.

Mr Hansraj stood first for overall tally and also in introducing Private Member Bills. Mr Adsul stood second in the overall tally and also first in raising questions. It may be noted, Mr Adsul stood first in raising questions even in 14th Lok Sabha.

Mr Ramasubbu, stood fourth in the overall tally at national level and first among Tamilnadu MPs.

A round table discussion was held on the theme "Social leadership and development politics". There was a huge particpation of youth in this programme.

Besides the award winning MPs, Dr Jayaprakash Narayan MLA of AP (President of Lok Satta Party), Mr Vivek Pandit Independent MLA from Maharashtra, Ms Jothi Mani, General Secretary of Youth Congress also participated and shared their views.

At the request of K. Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation, the award winning 3 MPs agreed to take student interns to train them in parliamentary proceedings and procedures. Department of Humanities and Social Science of IIT, Chennai has agreed to nominate students to these top performing MPs. Based on the experience, this concept will be extended to other willing MPs. This is the first of its kind in India.
Besides the three top performing MPs, the Foundation has also honoured Manam Malarattum, Build Future India, the NGOs and serial inventor Mr Arvind Thyagarajan (30) who holds 40 patents in his name.

Mr Sudhangan, a well known TV anchor, moderated the discussion.
Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Good Relations, Karnataka Power Corporation sponsored this event. Cyber Society of India, India Vision online group and Action 2020 Team supported this initiative.

Please watch the photo stream:

Image audit helps to foresee and manage crisis

2011-04-16T10:05:00.000+05:30

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1699725.ece

Mr K. Srinivasan, Chairman, Prime Point Foundation, and Chief Strategist, Image Audit, addressing management students of the Sri Manakula Vinayakar Institute of Technology, Pudhucherry, at a Business Line Club lecture at the institution.

CHENNAI, APRIL 15:

While a company undertakes annual audits of its finances, stock, costs, and the health of its employees, it does not audit the ‘hidden perceptions' of its internal and external stakeholders.

Studying hidden perceptions could unearth lot of information, and could help it foresee even impending crisis, said Mr K. Srinivasan, Chairman, Prime Point Foundation, and Chief Strategist, Image Audit.

He was addressing management students of the Sri Manakula Vinayakar Institute of Technology, Pudhucherry at a Business Line Club lecture presented by Tata Photon.

STAKEHOLDERS' PERCEPTIONS

Internal and external stakeholders form their own ‘perceptions' based on various factors such as performance, their personal experience, hearsay and rumours.

Normally, they do not reveal such hidden perceptions to the management for different reasons. Such ‘hidden perceptions' affect the image of the organisation, he added.

CRISIS AVOIDANCE

“A regular audit of their image by companies can help them avoid crisis by making mid-course corrections.

This will also help companies understand the mindset of the employees of target companies during the M&A process,” Mr Srinivasan added.

During the interactive session, Mr Srinivasan also shared some of the live case studies where Image Audit had helped organisations overcome challenges in time

Indian Overseas Bank's (IOB) PR Workshop launched by M. Narendra Chairman

2011-03-07T19:17:00.001+05:30

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is now celebrating the Platinum Jubilee Year and they have coined the slogan ''Touching Hearts - Spreading Smiles''. In the platinum jubilee year IOB is planning to 'reach the unreached' and develop an effective relationship with all the customers. As part of their strategy IOB has organised a three-day workshop at their staff training college Chennai from 7th to 9th March 2011. K. Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation is the workshop leader.

Mr. M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank inaugurated the workshop. He said the bank would cross Rs. 5 lacs crores business in next three years and their staff members were being prepared and motivated to achieve this milestone. In order to reach the committed goal the bank will aggressively use PR strategies. Mr. Chandrasekharan and Ms. Geetha Shetti, General Managers were also present.

Participants with CMD and GMs

Twenty eight senior officials drawn from various regional offices across the nation are participating in this workshop. Experts from media, Television, PR agencies are sharing the views in the workshop. Some of the experts like Mr Irfan Khan, Mr T N Ashok, Mr S Narendra will be sharing their views through tele-conference from the classroom.
Please see the photo stream of the first day.
(Report prepared by Vishal Joshi, IOB, Mumbai)

Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi speaks on 'electoral and political reforms'

2011-02-17T17:01:00.000+05:30

National Election Watch conducted their 7th National Conference on Electoral and Political Reforms at Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai on 12th and 13th Feb 2011. The current Chief Election Commissioner of India and Former Chief Election Commissioners, political leaders, NGOs participated to discuss the theme.

Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal and the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji inaugurated the Conference. In his speech, he traced the history and quoted how in the past, great national leaders were giving importance to electoral and political integrity.

His inspiring speech may be downloaded in the pdf format (80k) from the following link:

http://www.prpoint.com/gopalkrishnagandhi-speech-120211.pdf

Please watch and listen to excerpts from the speech of Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi (10 minutes).

The video may also be watched from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRfdZiwQjYs

National Election Watch - Political party reforms -13th Feb 2011

2011-02-13T07:41:00.031+05:30

The Second day session of the 7th National Conference of National Election Watch was held on Sunday the 13th Feb 2011 at IIT, Chennai. The proceedings (recorded through live blogging) is given below:

The earlier 4 proceedings of the first day sessions are available in the following links.

Inaugural Session

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-7th-national.html

Discussion on Electoral Integrity

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-discussion-on.html

Discussion on Election bound states

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-election-bound.html

Media and Elections

http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-media-and.html

Photo stream of the second day sessions:

Live report of Second day proceedings from Central Lecture Theatre, IIT Madras. (Reported by Arun Sudarsan, Binny Alexander and Chandni Chandran)

(Live reporting starts at 9.30 am)

POLITICAL PARTY REFORMS (Inner Party Reforms and Financial Accountability)

Chair: Prof. Jagdeep Chokkar

Panelists: Mr. T K S Elangovan (DMK), Mr. Gnana Desikan (INC), Mr. Madhavan Kutti (CPI-M), Dr. Maithreyan (AIADMK), D Raja (CPI)

Chair: The Election Watch and ADR have been working in the scene for many years. The aim is to bring about transparency into the system. Two major issues that stick out are internal party democracy and financial accountability.

Dr. Maithreyan (MP, AIADMK): Happy to represent my party here in the Conference. The present system of first-past-post system has not allowed the party system to crystallise and stabilise. There is a large number of criminals getting elected to the representative bodies. There are large instances of cash for votes scam. Does this imply that a large section of the electorate is forced to be corrupt? In a recent study, it has been estimated that in the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections, each candidate will spend approximately 5-10 crores. For years, ECI had remained a passive institution. But with the coming of T N Seshan, the scene changed. Of late, ECI has been more successful in curbing money and muscle power during elections. Though I may be digressing from the topic of discussion, I feel the main issue is to make elections free and fair. Talking about inner party democracy may be futile since dynastic rule is the order of the day though it is a very important issue to be tackled.

Mr. Desikan (MP, INC): Good morning everyone. Reform must start from the political system itself. INC has a constitution which provides for election rules for each of the PCCs in the country. INC has made a parallel election authority at the centre and state level which has been quite successful in more than half the states in India. In a democracy, dissent is a right. One is entitled to voice his opinions. But a party member may not be allowed to air his views outside his party. The dissent has to stay within the party system to maintain the political system of India. INC allows it members in legislature to voice their opinions during Question Hour, discussions on Private bills etc.

Mr Madhavan Kutty (CPM): One of the things I will be talking about is the RTI act. It is an important tool for developing a democratic ethos in our country. A public interest broadcasting system which challenges the biased mainstream media will also do much to improve the state of democracy in the nation.Decentralisation of power will also lead to less corrupt parties. Despite the increase of financial capital, our democracy teeters dangerously on the brink of collapsel. Our rural voters are voting in larger numbers than ever before - this should not make us forget the plight of the agrarian system and of farmers. Political reforms should be organic. Corporate tycoons get elected in our country with surprising regularlity. It is immature to talk of innert party democracy at this stage.We should try to influence the political environment to ensure that political parties act democratically. If we are not to succumb to a 'media'ted election, a public broadcasting system is a must.

Mr. CA S B Zaware (ICAI): I am here to present the views of the study group of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of India. These views after being divulged to the public, and their opinions/ reactions being factored in, will be presented to the Election Commission. Under the Income Tax act of 1961, every political party is required to submit annual returns to claim the exemption from tax. For this , accounts need to be regularly and accurately audited by chartered accountants. The party should maintain books of accounting on accrual basis. According to me, the annual earnings is a public document and as such, should be freely available to the common man. Further, we hold that financial documents should be submitted within 6 months after March 31st. Right now, these financial documents are prepared and audited, but not submitted or exposed for public review. This should be changed. It should also be published in English in the national newspaper and in the local languages in the regional newspapers. Source of income of political parties is sale of coupons. We are unable to track this money. Therefore, it is said that there should be a system of checks and balances. Political parties should follow accounting standards - related party disclosures are part of this. The auditee appoints the auditor now - that is, the political party. We suggest the auditor be chosen for the political party and be rotated on a regular basis to ensure independence and forestall corruption.

Mr. T.K.S Elangovan (DMK): As organisation secretary of the DMK, I will speak of inner-party democracy. In the DMK, democracy is followed in the truest sense. Office bearers will not be changed before their alloted term of 5 years runs out, except in cases of wrongdoing. Party accounts are audited by internal auditors and then handed over to external auditors- everything is transparent. A point about dynastic rule - the party itself is a family affair. However, one particular family does not dominate. The entire DMK is a family. However, that does not make us compromise on inner-party democracy.

D. Raja (CPI): The country is passing through a moral crisis today. Credibility crises exist in all spheres- judiciary, bureaucracy, defense included. In such a situation, national conferences like these are very important. What is a political party? What is my party? We are a party of the working-class. Our hierarchy is not personality-centric. We are going to enter a life of contradictions. Ambedkar said : In politics we will have equality while in social and economic life we will have inequality. But in our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny equality. This places our democracy in peril. If this continues for long, those who suffer will blow up our democracy.
We do not recruit criminals in our ranks and when there is no question of recruiting criminals there is no question of electing criminals to our ranks.

Mr. R. Velu (PMK),Former Railway Minister : Our party policy advocates against liquor and tobacco. Campaigning on this platform lost us the election. If we ever come to power, the first measure will be to eradicate drinking. No other political party can make this claim. Women are the ones most affected by the curse of alcohol.
We feel that greater funds should be allocated in the budget for education and health.Focus on rural youth.
We maintain proper accounts and submit returns on time. Financial transparency and inner party democracy are assured with the PMK.

We now have a question and answer session with the panelists.Here are a few questions posed by the audience:

Why are you not getting pre-approval from the Election Commision for the sale of donation coupons?
Why do we not have open book-keeping for the party's finances?
Why is service tax not imposed on proceeds from the sale of donation coupons?
Do members get receipts for donating money?(posed to the CPI)

The panel answers:

Service tax is applicable only when services are rendered or received, therefore it is said that sale of coupons is beyond the purview of service tax.

Mr. Gnana Desikan(INC): In the future, political parties will discipline themselves. I am willing to entertain any discussion/debate on inner party democracy and auditing.Political leadership is built on psychophancy and I stand by it. Praising a leader is something I am free to do, without license or permission. We also support the amendment made by Manish Tiwari allowing MPS to disagree with their political party.

Mr. Elangovan(DMK): Educated people who are critical of government should enter politics . The only power available to many people in India is the power to vote. To exercise this power, they take money. So power does corrupt. My party's government in TN has provided employment for 5.5 lakh people in government in the past 5 years. Political parties are essential and inseparable from the system of democracy.

Mr. Madhavan Kutty(Leftist): A political cycnism damages the political system. Politics plays an important rule even at the grassroots level. There is a kind of hypocrisy in the middle-class cynicism.Cynicism is not the answer. The Election Commission is toothless and so cannot monitor party elections.

Mr. D.Raja(CPI): Our accounts are properly audited. All donations to our party are transparent and accounted for.We have electoral tactical lines which decide our alliances. Black money debases value and undermines our electoral system. Try to understand while bashing politicians, that not all politicans are bad. Be objective in your criticism and your statements. In a democracy, it is political parties that form our government. Respect that fact - politician-bashing is futile and pointless. A politician's life is always under scrutiny. Our lives are difficult. At the end of the day, we try to serve the nation and its people.

Mr. R.Velu(PMK): No other party in the country has provided for the general secretary to be a Dalit. Ours is not a communal party. The ruling party wants to suppress opposition parties and it will adopt any tactic to achieve this end. Our party has enlightened leadership.

Moderator's closing remarks: Democracy is in peril because of the contradictions inherent in providing both social and political equality. We as citizens expect more and better governance and cannot be faulted for this.

National Election Watch - Media and Elections

2011-02-12T16:54:00.043+05:30

Live report from Central Lecture Theatre, IIT Madras. (Reported by Arun Sudarsan, Binny Alexander and Chandni Chandran)

Please read our earlier posts
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-7th-national.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-discussion-on.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-election-bound.html

MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
Chair: Srinivasa Jain, NDTV
Panelists: Bhagwan Singh (Deccan Herald), Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, V Eshwar Anand (The Tribune), K B Kothari (Rajasthan Patrika), Mr. Anil Sharma (Amar Ujala)

Mr. Jain: The entire nature of political journalism has changed in the past few years. Media has become a part of the political oligarchy. Media needs to question itself in the light of 'paid news' controversy.

Mr. Paranjoy (Freelancer, Senior Journalist, did a recent story on the mining controversy on Karnataka, Member of press council of India): Certain members of the Fourth Estate have moved to real estate. Media itself has been seen as a very lucrative business. Corruption in media has got institutionalised. The 'so called' leaders in the Media have led the media into the corrupt practices. It all started with the Page 3 phenomenon. Private treaties being signed between media companies and advertising companies. In the run up to the election there is a demand for news. The reader is duped into believing the news which was paid for. Media has lost credibility. Ordinary people believed that journalists could bring changes. Now that confidence is eroding. The corruption in media can be seen as old as hills, reference to the movie Citizen Kane and the subsequent reaction of the American media. But one must not paint the entire Media in black. There are journalists who wrote about the 2G scam and Radia tapes for years. The cleanest to come out of the Radiia tapes was in fact Ms.Radiia herself because she was paid to lobby for Mr. Ratan Tata and the like while the role of journalists have come under the scanner. There are good guys and not-so good guys in media. Regulatory mechanisms of the media not effective. PCI is a toothless tiger which cannot even whimper. We need to punish the black sheep in the media.

Mr. Jain: The National Broadcasting Authority was set-up after the Mumbai attacks 2008 which acts as a self-regulatory body. It has not get into punishing the 'black-sheep'. The NBA is headed by Justice J S Verma.

Mr. Anil Sharma (Amar Ujala): Good evening. (speaking in Hindi. rough translation given below). Apart from money and muscle power, in Bundelkhand, dacoits influenced the elections. I would like to start with an anecdote. During the panchayat elections, there has been an expenditure of 3-9 lacs for a single candidate when the ceiling for a MLA candidate is 10 lacs. Seats being bought is a regular affair in the area since politics has become a big business. BSP tickets were bought for 60 lacs. What is the source of this money? There is also a sudden increase in the candidate's wealth in most of the cases. There should be a close watch on the candidates from the moment they file their affidavits, to the end of their tenure. There are programmes for endangered species, but not for the extinction of dencent and sincere people.

Mr. K B Kothari (Rajastan Patrika): Long term projects and campaigns. 3 month long voter awareness campaign conducted. engaging the elected members of panchayat and assembly after the elections. a pre-election dialogue with the public. Rajastan Patrika playing an effective role in the area of elections in the state. The campaigns, though, is not welcomed by all. They feel that this programme has been over-structured. Now using RTI to get information regarding the MLALAD and MPLAD funds from 32 districts. The political parties doesn't particularly like this activism.

Mr. Jain: The paper Rajastan Patrika deserves credit for taking up this pain staking campaign.

Mr. Eshwar Anand (The Tribune): We are passing through difficult times including all pillars of a democracy. The disruption the Parliament is condemnable. The executive is also equally pathetic in functioning. The recent controversy regarding the appointment of Mr. P J Thomas as the CVC is disappointing. Judiciary is also not devoid of problems. The last resort of the people, the media, is also losing its credibility. The Paid news controversy highlights that the Editor is gradually losing control over the matter being published in the newspaper, since paid news are being handled by the Advertisements and Marketing department of a newspaper. Electronic media is also corruptible. There is a need for stronger regulation. NBA and PCI are like courts of ethics and not courts of law. Self regulation is not enough. A break less, unregulated media is a danger to the society. I commend the CEC Mr. Quraishi for setting up and Election Expenses monitoring committee which had unearthed a few paid news menaces in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections. Stringent measures will only help the press to redeem itself.

Mr. Jain (to Mr. Kothari): Kothari Sab, what is the impact of the campaign initiated by the Rajastan Patrika?

Mr. Kothari: Varied response. Most of the MLAs signed the letter of commitment. We published a rank list of performance of MLAs in the assembly which made Congress unhappy. Yet, the campaign is quite successfull.

Mr. Paranjoy:Rajastan Patrika is a glowing example of a popular newspaper rejecting the paid news.

Mr. Jain: Now we are opening the session for questions.

Question: What is the opinion on the channels owned by political parties?

Eshwar Anand: People are wise enough to understand affiliations/ownership of particular channels.

Mr. Jain: The scenario in Tamil Nadu is quite disturbing since there are no independent channels in the state. The thumb rule is that the viewer/consumer of news knows that who has what affiliations.

Question: What is your take on journalists being nominated to Rajya Sabha?

Mr. Paranjoy: In a democracy, anyone can be nominated to the Rajya Sabha. There is nothing wrong in getting nominated to the Council of states.

Question: Advertisments have already been coming in channels and papers even before the elections are announced. What can be done to curb this?

N. Gopalaswamy: The authority of ECI begins only on the day of announcing the elections. There is no ceiling on the political parties' expenses.

Question: The number of scams being exposed these days, doesn't it trivialise the entire corruption being exposed?

Mr. Paranjoy: There cannot be any scam fatigue.

Mr. Jain: The session ends here. Thank you for listening.

DAY 1 ENDS

National Election Watch - Election bound states - discussion

2011-02-12T14:49:00.033+05:30

Post Lunch session was devoted for debating the problems in election bound states. The Session was chaired by Mr N Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu. Dr Sudarsan, Convenor of Tamilnadu Election Watch introduced the theme.

Please read our ealier posts
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-7th-national.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-discussion-on.html

Mr. Maity, Panelist from West Bengal
Stresses on some of the pressing issues in the West Bengal election scene enhancing the involvement of civil society especially the youth. Information dissemination is the key area that is being stressed by the authorities.

Mr. Victor, Panelist from Puducherry
Created a peple's manifesto. How the people visualise Puducherry in the next 2-3 years. Suggestions from the people: Politicians should educate their children in government schools and get treatment only in Government Hospitals.

Mr. Satish Babu, Panelist from Kerala
Elections to be held in April-May 2011. Party based calculations doesn't make any sense in Kerala due to the coalition politics existing in the state. Some of the main issues plaguing the Kerala elections are that pages are missing from the affidivts filed by candidates, candidates with similar names contesting in the same consitutency to mislead voters, assets of few candidates listed in multiple international currencies. There is a centralised software to feed information regarding the Kerala electoral scene. Last compilation was made during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Anil Bairwal, Paneslist from Bihar
Nitish Kumar's assurance that MLAs with criminal charges would not be made ministers fell flat and the Civil society protested.The multiple phases in the recent Bihar elections made it easy for the civil society to concentrate on each region quite efficiently.The political parties, ideologically opposed to giving tickets to criminals in elections, continued to do the same even after sustained protest from the people.

N Gopalaswamy comes in with a suggestion to list out the constituencies and the polling booths within the constituencies having the least polling percentages and further suggesting the NGOs to work on Voter Awareness in those areas.

A Member of the audience suggests that the candidates submit their biodata four months prior to the election so that the people get enough time to select the best possible candidate.

STATE ELECTION WATCH REPORTS
Chair - Dr. Ajit Ranade

Mr. Bamang Tago, Arunachal Pradesh
Disseminating information regarding the candidates'affidivits to the voting public.

Mr. Uma Prakash Ojha, Chattisgarh
Red corridor. Maoist insurgency making it dangerous for the electoral officers to perform their duties. Special care needed.

Mr. Sudhir Pal, Jharkhand
Pre-election voter awareness campaign conducted. Setting up of 100 panchayats as model-panchayats. Strengthening Gramsabhas.Training modules in partnership with GoI and UNDP.

Mr. Sridhar, Karnataka
Not peaceful times politically in the state. Multiple issues of obtaining and processing the affidivits. Reached out to grass root level organisations. Effective information dissemination. Triple checking of facts before putting in the public domain.

Mr. Rakesh Rajan, Madhya Pradesh
Man Andolan. People do not trust the representatives that they themselves had elected.

Mr. Laikynmaw Buam, Meghalaya
Local cheifs and village heads more powerful than the bureaucrats. Election watch tries to involve them in the aim of ensuring free and fair elections. Youth being mobilised despite a few of their dissatisfaction with all the candidates standing for the elections. No criminal records on any of the candidates who stood for elections though investigations suggest that at the grass roots level there is a link between the candidates and militant groups, to rig the election process. Politicians control the media.

Mr. Ranjan Mohanty, Orissa
Media, senior retired bureaucrats part of the Election Watch. District level work being carried out by the Election watch. People with more than 2 children cannot contest in Panchayat Eleciton. ECI should appoint Independent auditors to audit political parties. There is a lack of inner party democracy in the Political parties in the state.

Mr. Biswendu Bhattacharjee, Tripura
Highest voter turnout in the country ranging between 87% to 93%. Highly cadre based state. The state politics is dominated by a single party. Civil society and NGOs largely under the control of politicians.

End of Session.
Next session - Media Session chaired by Srinivasa Jain (NDTV)

National Election Watch - Discussion on Electoral integrity

2011-02-12T11:55:00.044+05:30

Please read the earlier post on Inauguration
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/national-election-watch-7th-national.html

Second session was held to discuss the Électoral Integrity - A shared responsbility'. The session was chaired by Dr S Y Quraishi (Chief Election Commissioner of India) and co-chaired by Mr N Gopalaswamy (Former Chief Election Commissioner of India)

Reported by T P Kurian, Arun Sudarsan, Binny Alexander

Mr N Gopalaswamy made opening remarks

Media exposes. It also indulges in paid news. Less than 10 percent of illegal cash transactions in elections are exposed. Elections are a mammoth affair. We hope these six presentations cover the issue adequately and give us enough to ponder upon.

The first panelist is NL Rajah, Senior Advocate. He will be speaking on Constitutional and Legal Imperatives.

This government has begun the process of consultation and dialogue which will hopefully lead to reform. The rules of the game need to be changed so that the players change. The word 'act' as a noun is easy to achieve in India. As a verb, it is near impossible.
26 proposals sent by the ECI have not been acted upon by the government for more than a decade.
6 major issues that plague the electoral system. Some of these are:

- Decriminalisation of the electoral process: six committees already constituted to look into the matter. various civil society organisations also have gotten in the act. However, reform is slow.
Conviction of accused criminals takes years. In a country where everyone is guilty until proven innocent, criminals spend years at large in politics while waiting for the slow wheels of justice to turn. People in jail for being accused on criminal charges should be allowed to vote. If one is innocent until proven guilty this is implicit, and a failure to allow unconvicted prisioners the right to vote is a gross violation of our right to be considered innocent until proven guilty

- Negative or neutral vote. People demanding the introduction of negative or neutral vot. Ganesh Goswami report of 1990 concludes that the negative and neutral vote serves no purpose. However it is time to re-open this issue and reconsider the efficacy of such a measure. A case ispending in the Supreme court on this issue. Parties will search for the right/good candidate if the negative vote is introduced.

- Rule making power of the ECI. It is recommended that power should be given to the ECI to make rules regarding the election procedure. Do not refuse to confer to the CEC the power to make rules regarding election. Let him be empowered to expediently make rules regarding his domain.

The second panelist is P.K.Dash, DG,EC. He speaks on Election Commission measures to combat money-power.

We are in an era of coloured money. Black money, gray money.Money power is the oxygen of multi-party democracy. It is not without its cons, though.

"However deep and dense the darkness, the lamp has never accepted defeat." With this attitude one hopes to contest the insidious power of money in the forthcoming elections.
Risks of money power- uneven playing field, political exclusion, campaign debt, tainted governance.
One can be imprisoned for a year for distributing liquor and cash with a view to influence voters.
Candidates must keep true and accurate records of election expenses. Failing this, the candidate is liable to be disqualified from contesting for three years.
There exists a ceiling on expenditure for contesting candidates, but not for the political party.
Mechanisms for monitoring money in elections:
-Income tax dept. authorised to keep watch on airports, pawn brokers
- All expenses to be made through cheque. This is merely an appeal, not law.
- Call centre and complaint monitoring mechanism for each district.
-Flying squads under each police station to act immediately upon complaints.
-Static surveillance teams deployed on the roads.
- Expenditure Observers for each district
- Video surveillance teams in each constituency to record all public events and expenses related to these.
- Shadow Observation Register to record accounts
-Paid news is a disease. Media certifying teams to go through media advertising.
-Banks will be asked to report suspicious withdrawal of cash.

Individuals who require any of the information relating to the financial dealings which have been documented will be allowed to access the information.

Naresh Gupta, Former Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu now speaks on An Effective State Election Machinery

Mr. Gupta describes the processes and details that go into the making of a fair and successful election. To strengthen the process, deploy micro-observers under the observers of the ECI. They have to be trained properly under the ECI observers. All the officers should work under the control and superintendence of the ECI. Year-round updating of Electoral processes. Electoral roll verification can be carried out in Public-Private-Parternship model.

The moderator adds that NGOs could be used as micro- observers.

Sam Rajappa, Senior Journalist chimes in with what he considers the role of media is in ensuring fair elections.

It is unrealistic to expect the media to be free of corruption. The independence of the press is violated by paid news and biased reports that seem to have infiltrated the formal structure of certain large media companies. Advertisements masquerading as news have flooded the media in recent times. The Andhra Pradesh union of journalists have estimated the market for paid news at between 300 and 400 crores.

A report on the issue was submitted to the press council and is under review. The primary victim of this fraud is the lay person who is unable to distinguish paid news from unbiased reportage. Some media houses even boast of their revenue from this spurious source with no shame. One media house has set up a media net which gives you the rates for stories, articles etc. and pass off these doctored articles as genuine news.

Positive views of voters, glossed over negative commentary, positive editorials and the like consitute the majority of this paid news. Paid news is not the only aberration in the media. Here are a couple of personal experiences. In the 1982 election in AP, there was a great deal of interest at the national level in the election. A senior official was sent to cover the election. He was offered a car, a guide and a hotel. The tab for all this was covered by the political party. Such a system compromises journalistic integrity. Reports produced under such circumstances tend to be at variance with unbiased reportage on the same issue.
Journalists are also courted by companies with offers of free liquor, coupons and the like. In such a climate, the truth becomes hazy and hard to discern.

Mr Madhav Rao, Former Chief Secretary tales about the Role of Government Servants

Free and fair elections depend on a good voter's list, the role of money and muscle power and a good election mechanism.
The voters list should be linked up with the UID and the postal office.
Money power is yet to be tackled. Government servants are literally 'government servants' as opposed to public servants.

Professor Trilochan speaks on 'Youth and Civil Society'

Ask not what the Election Machinery can do, but what we as the Civil Society can do. On a lighter note, he points to the 'young' members of the panel. The need to use technology. People have begun to understand the influence of money during elections. The link between misuse of money and bad governance should be clearly understood by the voting population. Our task as the civil society organisations is to work with the great people of India to curb the money power.

Questions from the audience - Answered by the Panelists

S Y Quraishi: ECI has recommended to the GoI to include the 'none-of-the-above' button in the EVM. Please concentrate energy on positive campaigning. As for the legal position stands, the candidate with the most number of votes will win irrespective of the number of votes being polled in the 'none-of-the-above' button. Hence, he is sceptical of the effectiveness of the recommendation.

Political parties are public authorities. Therefore they should come under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI).

The reality of India is that 2-party system might not work in India because the regional parties are very strong in India. Coalition government has become the order of the day.

On a question of reserving seats for farmers, the CEC feels it is powerless to make such law though it is a relevant issue.

Biometric identification is a good idea. Linking it with the EVMs will reduce frauds.

The EVMs are stand-alone machine without Operating System which makes it un-hackable. EVM has one-time-programmeable chip which cannot be tampered with. ECI is not afraid of any debate on the issue.

Paper trail, in the form of receipts cannot be given to the voters as it will violate the secrecy of the process. This can even endager their lives.

Digital machines which has low probability of damages are more reliable than mechanical device.

On compulsory voting - It is not desirable, not possible, because compulsion and democracy don't go together. The answer here is voter education.

Youth Unite for Voter Awareness (YUVA): The Voter Awareness wing of ECI. Will be consolidated further.

Qualification for candidates? Illiterate can be wise. Debatable issue. ECI will remain neutral.

A hostelite can choose to vote either in the consituency where he is staying or his native constituency.

'Marriage parties' without the groom or bride conducted during election time.

Introducing ceiling on the expenses made by political parties being considered.

ECI looking for legal basis to prosecute candidates using paid news as an election campaign strategy since it includes an element of deceit.

End of Floor Interaction.

National Election Watch - 7th National Conference at IIT Chennai - Inauguration

2011-02-12T09:38:00.017+05:30

12th Feb 2011

Inaugural Session

Live reproting from Central Lecture Theatre, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

Reporting by K. Srinivasan, T P Kurian, Jerin Jacob Matthew, Binny Alexander

The Conference started with Tamil Anthem and National Anthem.

Mr Trilolchan Sastry, Co-Founder of this movement and Dean of IIM, Bangalore welcomed the audience.

Mr G Devasahaytam, Convenor of Forum for Election Integrity is making the opening reforms and presenting the theme of this two-day conference.

Dr S Y Qurashi, Chief Election Commissioner of India
India has the largest population of voters in the world. Our model code of conduct is the 'best' in the world.
Though we blame the bureaucracy, the same bureaucracy is conducting the elctions properly.
Media is supplementing the election works. They send the cameras to the field and bring out the election violations. Civil society has shown the maturity by analysing the works of politicians.

Some reform proposals are pending for nearly 18 to 20 years. Election Commission has been taking up with the Government. I also talked to Mr Veerappa Moily, the Law Minister and we decided to organise regional and national symposiums to discuss about the electoral reforms. We have already started the symposiums at various centres. Prime Minister will be participating int he National Symposium. Then, the final conclusion will be brought to the Parliament.

First item of the agenda is to bar criminals from contesting elections.Political parties are opposing this. They fear this will be a short-cut for the opposing parties to frame charges and to bar the politicians from contesting elections. We are trying to get a via-media solutions. Only rapes, murder will be taken into consideration.

Political parties need to be more transparent in their source of income. '"Elections are becoming the biggest source of corruption". People are asking what Election is doing. Increasing the expenditure is not a solution.
If a party puts up a criminal candidate, other parties are hesitant to put up another good candidate. Same way is for money also. Level playing is the mantra of election commission.

Many people are suggesting 'state funding'. I am sceptical about this.
We are seeking ban of advertisments six months in advance of the elections. We also suggest advertisements and door to door campaign should be banned in the last 48 hours before the election. That is the time, where money changes. "48 hours should be allowed to the voters to decide, after two weeks of hectic campaign".

Opinion polls interfere with free and fair poll. Paid news is another main challenge. They need to be banned.

Mr Gopalakrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal (He is the grand son of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji)

In the pre-independent India, elections were held with more integrity.

Rajaji wrote 25 years before the freedom, predicted that injustice and efficiency of governance after independence, may make the people to think that earlier regime was better. This has become true now.

In 1937, When Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Sastri went for election campaign, they had to take tea in a railway platform and they did not have enourgh money. This has been written by Lal Bahadur Sastry.

Now, black money with white money made the whole system 'grey'. Corporate funding has made independent candidates suffer.

Çurrencies coming to election scene in trucks and vehicles is causing serious concern.

In 1957, Tata Steel wanted to make contributions to political parties. Even the Courts held at that time, íntegrity of voters are more important. Voters should refuse to accept any consideration for their votes.

Organisations and NGOs who are watching elections, should maintain the highest probity and they should not accept foreign donations. Media needs soul searching.

NGOs should reward and award the candidates, whether they win or lose, for their electoral conduct. Election Commission should also ensure that the environment pollution is not made by the candidates during the election campaign.

Measuring of internal and external image - Image Audit

2011-01-31T20:49:00.004+05:30

Hindu Business Line organises 'Business Line Club' in various colleges and arranges interaction session with industry experts on all topics. K. Srinivasan, Founder of Prime Point Foundation was invited by Hindu Business LIne Club to give a talk on "Measuring internal and external image - Image Audit" to the Management students of Manakula Vinayakar Institute of Technology, Puducherry on 31st Jan 2011.

In the talk, K. Srinivasan explained how perception was getting formed and the importance of understanding the 'hidden perception' of stake holders. He also explained how perception leads to image. He explained the techniques of studying the 'hidden perception' known as 'Image Audit'. He advised the students to visit www.imageaudit.com to know more about this concept and to look at some of the sample reports.
Srinivasan answered various questions posed by the students on the concept of image and perception.

Please see the photo stream:

Business Communication Course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan sets the trend

2011-01-12T11:36:00.000+05:30

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai launched an unique skill based Business Communication Course for the working professionals in July 2010. This is a week-end course spread over 120 hours (20 week ends - 40 days x 3 hours each) focussing only on skill development. 15 experts and 10 CEOs/achievers handled the sessions. The course was launched by Dr Abdul Kalam in July 2010 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

L to R: K. Srinivasan, N Ravi, M Narendra,
T S Krishna Murthy. K N Ramaswamy and Vaidyanathan

The convocation to distribute the certificates was held on Sunday the 2nd Jan 2011 at Bhavan. Mr T S Krishna Murthy (Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and now the Chairman of Bhavan's Chennai Kendra), Mr N Ravi (Vice Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Editor of The Hindu), Mr M Narendra (Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank) participated and shared their valuable thoughts on communication trends.

The photo stream of the event:

Mr K. Srinivasan, Chairman of Prime Point Foundation and the Course Director presented a brief report on the course.

Mr T S Krishna Murthy, Chairman of the Chennai Kendra delivered his special address. In his address, Mr Krishna Murthy stressed the growing importance of business communication in the competitive environment.

Mr N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu presided over the function and delivered his address. Mr Ravi emphasised the need for maintaining long form of communication, which is now distorted due to SMS, Email, etc. Mr Ravi will be the Chairman of the 'Board of Studies' for the Second batch, which will start in February, 2011.

Mr M Narendra, Chairman of Indian Overseas Bank was the Chief Guest and delivered his address focussing on the need of internal communication in organisations. He said that only internal communication leads to external communication.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai will be launching the second batch of the Business Communication Course in February 2011. Interested may contact through email bizbvb@gmail.com

Prasar Bharati to introduce new HR Policy to suit global standards

2011-01-08T16:25:00.001+05:30

Prasar Bharati Board has set up a committee headed by Mr V Shivakumar, Member (Personnel) to draft a new HR Policy, including recruitment and service conditions, to suit the changing needs.

V Shivakumar

While disclosing this in a Seminar on "Public Service Broadcasting" organised by Programme Staff Association of AIR and DD, here today, Mr Shivakumar said that the policy would be drawn up to meet the global standards. He also said, that the draft policy would be submitted to the Prasar Bharati Board in 3 months, who would forward to the Government of India for approval.

The Seminar was organised to get the feedback from the persons of different walks of life. Mr K. Srinivasan, Chairman, Prime Point Foundation urged the Prasar Bharati to change its mindset to manage the competition from the private operators and adopt new techniques.

Mr R Bhagwan Singh, Consulting Editor, Deccan Chronicle said that if they could not improve the Prasar Bharati, they could close down the organisation.

Dr G Ravindran, HOD, Department of Journalism of University of Madras said that Government of India was the third largest advertiser for the private channels, while they did not support Prasar Bharati for improvement.

Mr G Jayalal, Deputy Director General of AIR, New Delhi said that both DD and AIR had great competencies for handling any situations. Even during natural calamities, only the public service broadcasters were providing information to the public. He also said, nearly 70 percent of the programmes broadcast by them were not commercial and were only in public interest.

Mr R Srinivasan, General Secretary of Programme Staff Association, Mr Sanjay Kumar, President and Mr A Rajavelu, State Secretary also spoke.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan completes the first batch of Business Communication course

2011-01-04T22:35:00.000+05:30

PodUniversal Edition 123

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra launched a skill based business communication course in July 2010. This is an unique course in India, probably, the only of its kind with 120 hours of teaching and working sessions (40 days x 3 hours). This course contents were designed after an extensive research and understanding of the needs of working professionals and industry. This course was formally launched by Former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on 10th July 2010.

N Ravi, Editor, The Hindu

The course was completed in December 2010. A function was organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai to award certificates to the participants who completed the course. Mr M Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank and Mr N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu, one of the leading Indian National dailies delivered inspiring speeches.

In this edition, we publish an extract from the speech of Mr N Ravi, Editor, The Hindu on the importance of business communication. During his speech, he focussed on the following points:

1. Presently, though youngsters possess excellent domain knowledge, they do not have adequate business communication skills.

2. Even educational institutions do not give importance to develop communication skills of their students. They remain satisfied with the text book knowledge. On the other hand, developed nations like US provide enough importance on developing communication skills at schools and college level.

3. The youngsters should get trained in business communication skills through such courses, to fill the gap in their communication skills.

4. SMS / Emails have brought a new culture of short form communication. Though such short form of communication is done for quick communication, only long form communication is accepted in the formal communication. Youngsters should focus on the long form communication more.

Please listen to his speech by clicking 'play' button. (7 minutes). We will separately publish the speech of Mr M Narendra.

This video may also be listened from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYjs9qEGZUQ

Convergence of print and web media - A discussion

2010-12-11T13:54:00.000+05:30

Adiya Sinha, Sudarshan, K. Srinivasan

All India Radio, Chennai broadcast a discussion programme on 9th December 2010 on the topic "Print and Web". Mr Aditya Sinha, Editor in Chief of New Indian Express and K. Srinivasan, Chairman of Prime Point Foundation participated in the discussion.

In this programme, both discussed about the convergence of print and web media.

The programme was produced by Mr Sudarshan of All India Radio.

Please listen to the audio (13 minutes) by clicking the 'play' button. The streaming of the audio will be comfortable in broadband connections. If streaming is not smooth, you may also download the audio (12 mb) by right clicking this link and saving the file in mp3 format to your desktop.

This audio may also be listened from the following link.

http://www.podbazaar.com/permalink/144115188075857533

All India Radio trains their producers to attract youth

2010-12-04T11:53:00.000+05:30

K. Srinivasan addressing
the participants

Staff Training Institute of Prasar Bharathi, Bhubaneshwar organised a five-day workshop for the producers of All India Radio (AIR), drawn from various states. The workshop was held at the studios of All India Radio, Chennai. The focus of the workshop was to discuss the strategies of packaging programmes for youth, to attract more youth towards AIR. The course was designed and conducted by Ms Rashmi Pradhan, Deputy Director of the Institute.

While, all the private broadcasters focus mostly on entertainment and sensationalism, AIR has been silently producing and broadcasting many useful and innovative programmes for the benefit of all sections of the society. Presently, we talk about tele-conferencing in the broadcast media. I know personally well, way back in 1978 or 1979, All India Radio, Chennai organised an innovative live discussion programme simultaneously with the people on ship, plane and ground, using the then available technology. At that time, all the media appreciated the efforts of AIR and Dr Sridhar, then young producer of AIR for this innovative programme.
As public broadcaster, they have large infrastructure, skills, technology, etc. But very unfortunately, due to various reasons, they are not able to compete with the private broadcasters and have lost leadership over the decade. They need to re-package their excellent programmes, to reach the young audience.
With this background, the five-day workshop organised by Prasar Bharathi is significant to train their producers to re-orient themselves and to compete with the new generation broadcasters.
I was invited to talk on 3rd December 2010, on the theme, "internet radio and podcasting". In my talk, i was focussing on the current trend in the internet growth and how AIR can make use of the internet through streaming and also through archiving their programmes.
If All India Radio management changes their century old mindset and adopt the policy of using the modern technologies properly, they can give a run for the private broadcasters. With more than 80 years of broadcasting experience, AIR can do wonders.

Please watch the photo stream.

Communicating with the past employees - Corporation Bank way

2010-11-07T16:52:00.004+05:30

Retired officers of
Corporation Bank @Chennai

If any organisation feels proud about their current status, it is mainly because of the hundreds of faceless past employees. Unlike the new-generation companies, the employees in public sector serve the organisations for long years and they retire after serving a minimum of 25 to 30 years. Rarely, the managements of public sector organisations, including public sector banks realise the contriutions made by thousands of such faceless people, who were responsible for taking their organisation to the present level.

I am an ex-senior official of Corporation Bank. After serving nearly 25 years, I took voluntary retirement in 1998, to start my own on communication agency and media venture. Last week, i was pleasantly surprised to receive a nicely worded letter from Mr Basti Narayan Shenoy, General Manager of Corporation Bank, Zonal Office at Chennai inviting me for a Diwali get-together on 6th November 2010 evening in the bank premises. I also understood, he had invited other retired officials for this get-together.

The letter from Mr Shenoy said, "Every time we do well and our bank dons another feather in its cap, our thoughts veer around to you all, who have toiled so tirelessly and relentlessly to build a strong foundation and edifice of our bank. Whatever the bank is now is in no small measure due to your contribution. ........"

When I received this letter, though I was rejoicing over the nice gesture shown by the Zonal Manager and his team, i could not resist going back in my memory lane to the bitter experiences, I suffered, when I left the bank in 1998.

Normally, Corporation Bank used to be in the habit of harassing the officials, when they put up their papers in the middle of their service. Though, I had contributed substantially for the image building of the bank, I decided to quit the bank under normal scheme of VRS, for starting my own communication and media outfit. Then only, I could see the real ugly face of their HR. After suffering harassment, i had to leave the institution, which I served nearly 25 years, with heavy heart. (I will write about the harassment story separately in the next posting). Though Corporation Bank used to be No 1 in the business, with the support of their staff members, they never used to connect with their past employees.

When I was talking over phone with Mr T R Bhat, former Chairman of Corporation Bank Officers Organisation, he also recalled an incident when a retired General Manger of the Bank (retired after 40 years of service) wanted to meet the then Chairman Mr J M Garg, to invite him for the Foundation Day of the retired Officers Association, the Chairman of the bank did not even give him the appointment.

Such 'unfriendly and indifferent' attitude of the top management always sends a strong feeling among the present employees that they are being used as 'business tools', rather than 'human being'.

When the Bank was celebrating the 100th year, sadly, none of the past employees were invited for the grand celebrations held by the bank at different centres, though they had the complete database. The Bank had spent huge amount for providing 'gold coins' to their current employees. In a Bank with nearly 13,000 employees, the retired and past surviving employees with dedicated services of more than 25 or 30 years would be hardly 500 persons across the country.
When they spend crores of rupees on the lavish celebrations to project themselves, an invitation costing Rs.10/- would have enormously and emotionally increased the conectivity and goodwill of the past employees and their family members with the bank. Even a small parker pen with inscription of the great moment in the history of the bank, would have been a life long memory and recognition for those, who built the organisation stone by stone and brick by brick.

For the past 12 years, I was suffering in silence about the poor and ugly HR face of Corporation Bank Management. The get-together on 6th November, gave me mental comfort for my 12 year old hurt feelings.

As a Communication professional, I feel that past employees can still support the organistion through their wisdom and experience, without much expectations. What they need is only 'emotional connectivity'.
Normally, good things flow from 'top to bottom'. In this case, Chennai Zone has made a good beginning. Hope this will escalate from 'bottom to top'. Head Office of the Bank and other Zones will start the 'emotional connectivity' with past employees.

Hope Mr Ramnath Pradeep, the new Chairman, will give new dimension to the HR policies of the Bank and connect with the past employees, for betterment of the bank. This will send a strong message both internally and externally.

Please see the photo show.

Podcasting - an alternate media: A session by a journalist group 'Sigaram'

2010-10-25T10:45:00.000+05:30

K. Srinivasan making
presentation on Podcasting

Around 50 journalists from print and broadcast media have joined together at Chennai (India) to form an informal group 'Sigaram' (meaning 'Peak' in English). Through Sigaram, they want to create awareness about the positive development journalism and also to update the skills of journalists to suit the modern requirements. Sigaram was formed three months back. Mr Jana (Jaya TV), Mr Anantha Padmanabhan (Kalaignar TV), Mr Veda Sridhar (Freelancer) and few others have taken initiative to create this forum. Every month, they invite one expert to share the views and to enhance their skills.

The organisers invited me to address their members on 24th October 2010 on "Podcasting - An alternate media". In the session spanning over two hours, I focussed on the following:

1. Though freedom of press and expression is being talked i high pitch, in reality, freedom of expression in main line media is more market driven and for fear of losing advertisement and market, mainline media owners do not allow their journalists full freedom. I also quoted some examples of some instances, which were not reported by any mainline media, but got circulated only in social media. This phenomenon has created more importance to social media and citizen journalism.

2. I also focussed on the emergence of podcast as a powerful supplementary and alternate media to mainline media. I also quoted and screened some of the podcasts, which were picked by mainline media.

3. I also explained how a podcast could be created and uploaded using simple tools, without any expenditure.

The programme was held in Jayagopal Garodia Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Anna Nagar.

Around 30 Senior journalists attended the programme.
Mr Jana, President of Siigaram can be contacted at nellaijana@gmail.com. Please see the pictures.

India's global leadership in nuclear energy discussed in PSPR Forum

2010-10-14T12:24:00.001+05:30

Dr M R Srinivasan, Former Chairman,
Atomic Energy Commission

Public Sector Public Relations Forum (PSPR Forum) organised a programme on 8th October 2010 at the newly inaugurated Anna Centenary Library at Chennai. Former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr M R Srinivasan spoke on the India's leadership in nuclear energy sector and the importance of nuclear energy in the development of the nation. Dr Srinivasan is also presently the member of Atomic Energy Commission.

The programme was held in the newly built Anna Centenary Library, which was inaugurated last month. This new-gen library houses more than 12 lakhs books and is the seocnd largest hi-tech library in Asia, next to Singapore.

Public Sector PR Forum was launched in 1995, to bring together all the Communication professionals of the Public Sector organisations operating in Tamilnadu. Over a period of 15 years, the Forum has contributed significantly to create communication awareness among the Public Sector organistions.

The contributions made by the Advisor Mr Hariprasad (Chennai Port Trust), President Mr S Ansar Shah (Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd) and the Secretary Mr Vaidyanathan (UCO Bank) in the growth of this Forum is highly significant. Now that, both President and Secretary have retired from their services, the batons have now been handed over to a new team headed by Mr Vaidynathan (Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd). Mr Daniel Chellappa (Atomic Energy Commission) will be the new Secretary and Mr Ravi (Tamilnadu Tourism Corporation) will be the Joint Secrertary. We wish the new team a great success.

Please watch the photographs of the event and the new-gen library.

National Media Conference 2010 - Valedictory Session

2010-09-19T19:19:00.002+05:30

K.Srinivasan and Susan Koshy reporting live from Mt.Abu.

The Valedictory function commenced with a welcome dance by a young girl, Akankshya Mishra of Orissa.

The Valedictory Session on the topic "Media Action Plan for a New Social Order" has the following panelists on the dais to talk on it:

Guests of Honour -
S.S.Tripathy, President, All India Small Newspapers Association, Lucknow
Prof.Ujjwal K.Choudhary,Executive Director, School of Communication, Institute of Business and Media, Pune
Prof.Mufti Mohd Haroon Nadvi ji, President, Zamiat - Ulama Hind (Dist.Jalgaon), Jalgaon.

Presentation of Action Plan - B.K.Atam Prakash, National Coordinator, Media Wing, Mt.Abu

Coordinator - B.K.Dr.Savita, Sr.Rajyoga Teacher, Mt.Abu.

The panelists deliberated on the topic and the following media resolution and action plan is proposed:
- restore pre-independence India's media ethics and values in present day journalistic practice and profession.
- enhance media freedom by reverting to its pristine role of guiding and showing right path to human society.
- not treat media as reflector of ills of society
- strengthen and spread culture of development communication.
- discourage sensationalism in mass communication.
- extend media's support to social organisations which aim at integrity.
- support wider usage of cyber media for holistic development of the nation.
- live up to the expectations of Indian democracy, as fourth estate.

The event ends with a vote of thanks by B.K.Gangadhar, Jt.Editor, Om Shanti Media, Mt.Abu.

National Media Conference 2010 - Podcast Workshop : 190910

2010-09-19T18:48:00.003+05:30

Susan Koshy reporting from Mt.Abu.

K.Srinivasan, Editor, PodUniversal, Chennai (www.poduniversal.com) held a workshop on the intricacies of podcasting.

B.K.Shikha coordinated the event.

After a theoretical session about podcasting, Srinivasan demonstrated a live podcasting. B.K.Binny, Manager, Public Relations & Mass Media, Global Hospital, Mt.Abu was invited to give an interview on Stress-free Living. Dr.Sanddhya of Pune was invited from the audience to interview Binny Ji. The interview was recorded in an MP3 recorder.

Kunal Panchal of Mumbai, from the audience did the editing of the recording under the guidance of Srinivasan, for uploading on youtube website.

National Media Conference 2010 - Panel Discussion : 190910

2010-09-19T12:42:00.001+05:30

K.Srinivasan reporting live from Mt.Abu.

A Panel Discussion on the topic "Is Mass Media in Mess".

Panelists:
B.K.Sushant, National Coordinator, Media Wing, Delhi
Madhukar Dwivedi, Editor, Mahamedha Daily, Bhopal
Dr.Manoj Lodha, HOD, Dept of Journalism and Mass Communication, North Gujarat University, Patan
Susan Koshy, Former General Manager, IDBI, & Trainer, Corporate Communications, Chennai
Anjana Yatnoor, Station Director-Incharge, All India Radio, Gulbarga
Chairperson - Prof Kamal Dixit, National Coordinator, Society of Media Initiative for Values, Bhopal
Coordinator - B.K.Komal, Executive Member, Media Wing, Mt.Abu

The panelists were of the opinion that media was not in a mess, although one of them opined in jest that the media instead created the mess.

There was a question and answer session before the conclusion of the discussions.

National Media Conference 2010 - Plenary Session II : 190910

2010-09-19T10:16:00.006+05:30

Good morning. K.Srinivasan and Susan Koshy reporting live from Mount Abu.

PLENARY SESSION II
The day's events has started with the second plenary session on the topic "Good Governance & Mass Media".

Panelists are:

Keynote Speech - Prof. K.C.Mouli, Faculty, PRr& Advertising, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National Univ of Journalism, Bhopal
Guest of Honour -K.D.Chandola, member, Central Press Accredition Committee (PIB) New Delhi
Guided Meditation -Rajyogini B.K.Ranjan, Zonal Coordinator, Media Wing (Gujarat), Valsad
Coordinator - B.K.Nandini, Jt.Zonal Coordinator, Media Wing (Gujarat), Ahmedabad
Chairperson -Rajyogini Dadi Ratan Mohini Ji

Dr. Bhanawat emphasised the role of the media in changing the society through its communication.

Prof Mouli covered the impact of politicisation of public services, tarnishing the good governance model of these services. Media enjoys the status of fourth estate, the fourth pillar of democracy and therefore plays a responsible role in exposing any flaw in any governance. It enjoys the power of freedom of speech that the other three estates do not really enjoy. Instead it has in some way relegated its role to the background.
Media is also guilty of mercenary writing and paid news. Media has to revisit its values, role and responsibility in ensuring good governance in the country.

K.D.Chandola dwelled on the various points of good governance that one should adhere to while executing one's duties.

Rajyogini B.K.Ranjan has taken the stand for a guided meditation session with the delegates.

Please keep checking by periodical refreshing of the page...

National Media Conference - Dialogues Sessions - 180910

2010-09-18T19:17:00.005+05:30

K.Srinivasan and Susan Koshy reporting live from Mount Abu.

DIALOGUE SESSIONS
A series of Dialogue Sessions were held in the afternoon. There were five sessions held concurrently in the campus of the centre of the Brahmakumaris, Shanthivan. Each of the five sessions were handled by a panel of professional experts, deliberating on the topic, "Media Values & Strategies for Positive Change", each with a focus on the print, electronic and cyber media, and PR professionals respectively.

A synopsis of the discussions was presented later in the evening.

National Media Conference 2010 - Plenary Session - 180910

2010-09-18T12:55:00.006+05:30

Professor U.K.Choudhary, Executive Director, International School of Business and Media, Pune continues the live blogging.

Prof Kamal Dixit earlier with Makhanlal Journalism University denounced the reflection of blatant violence in media in the name of mirroring the society. However, the decay of the civil society and the fall of the state are responsible for series of bad news.

Quoting Alvin Toeffler he espoused the role and impact of media. He urged the media not to be a blind mirror. The reflection has to be socially responsible. He lamented that the vision of pre and post independence years has gone down in media today.

Human values in civil society and politics need to be re-championed to make the right reflection in media. Further, media by itself can take a lead in changing these values. Corporatization and profit-maximization of media cannot do this job, cannot fulfill this expectation of a change in the civil society.

Gandhi, Tilak and Makhanlal Chaturvedi were writers and editors of courage, they truly represented the civil society. Their internal strength impacted on their journalism.

Prof Dixit ended by noting that he is optimistic about the future role and impact of a positive media in India. He quoted Dushyant noting that creating social unrest is not his goal, but social change is my goal, and wherever the fire of transformation burns, my our your heart, let it continue burning.
Yogesh Joshi, heading Association of Business Communicators of India, and GM Corporate Communications, Tata Group, Bombay House, Mumbai.

Speaking in the second session of the first day of the National Media Conference in Shantivan, he noted that there has been a phenomenal rise of the middle class, and today around 30 percent of the people are below poverty line as against 50 percent during independence. But the rise of middle class has also marked the decline in social morals and personal spiritualism in the society, leading to virtually a state of social disorder. Mandal to Kamandal, no politics of the middle class has given any new social vision.

Chairman of the second plenary session: Dr C V Narasimha Reddy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy edited Sambandh Kaumudi and used this publication to raise opinion against satee pratha. We need new visionary media persons like that today.

Even the leading magazine today notes that the leading defects of Indian society are corruption, unproductive bureaucracy, and vision less politics. Should not the media go full hog on to expose these and put forth alternatives.

Four issues for change of society: Vision of Satya Yug, Golden Age. Even the Constitution of India gives a futuristic vision. The vision here is being put into practice through 18 departments. Let media understand the implement this vision,.

National Media Conference 2010 - Inauguration: Sep 18, 2010

2010-09-18T10:23:00.028+05:30

K.Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation, Chennai, and Susan Koshy, Vice-President, GFPR, Southern Zone, Chennai reporting live from Mount Abu.

The Conference Room is fast filling up with the delegates as the inaugural session starts with an invocation song. B.K.Shashi, National Coordinator, Sports Wing, Mt. Abu welcomes the delegation. The official delegates of Brahmakumaris are assembled on the dais to welcome Justicoe G.N.Ray, Chairman, Press Council of India as the Chief Guest.

Rajyogini B.K.Dadi JankiJi, Chief of Brahmakumaris, Mt.Abu, has now taken her place on the dais.

WELCOME DANCE
The welcome ceremony is being graced by a classical dance recital.

On the dais are Rajyogini B.K.Dadi JankiJi, Chief of Brahmakumaris, Mt.Abu, Justice G.N.Ray, Chairman, Press Council of India, B.K. Om Prakash, Chairperson, Media Wing, Indore, Rajyogi B.K.Nirwair, Secy Genl, Bhahmakumaris, Mt.Abu and Rajyogi B.K.Karuna, Director, PR, IT & Communication, Mount Abu.

WELCOME ADDRESS
B.K.Om Prakash is delivering his welcome address.

He is speaking on the significance of vision in life. The highlight of the current world is corruption and negativity. The media has an important role in influencing the change needed in the current world. Presently, the media gives prominence in their coverage of the 4 Cs, viz, crime, cinema, cricket and celebrities with their sensations not necessarily of the positive nature. The media need to input information and education. To effect this change in the society, we need to change our mindset first.

We need to empower our souls through Rajyoga, enabling us to be empowered from above. The media should be able to give the products positively productive in the society.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE
B.K.Karuna is invited to the podium to deliver the objectives of the Conference.

He speaks of the 24/7 role of the media, where news is on real time basis. Thus the media is high activity and stress profession. Therefore, the delegates are invited to the Conference to share 'no news'. They are invited to refresh and be energised for a more efficient execution of work once back to office. Dadiji's slogan "Give happiness and get happiness". Peace is also news... better news. Therefore, seminars, panel discussions and dialogues have been arranged with this objective in mind. In conclusion, he requests the delegates to take advantage of this opportunity.

GREETINGS
B.K.Nirwair, who is a senior brother in the Brahmakumaris, is invited to share his wisdom in his greetings.

Expressing a very warm welcome, he reminds that the Media Conference is conducted annually, and the event is becoming more significant every time. He congratulated those delegates who are attending more than the first time.

B.K.Nirwair touches on the New Society.The New Society is one with the Supreme God. However, the newspapers including the one he holds in his hand, contains derogatory information about prominent personalities of the country. There needs to be a realisation for good news.

CANDLE LIGHTING
The function continued with the lighting of candles by the principal guests on the dais.

CHIEF GUEST ADDRESS
Justice Ray is now delivering his address to the delegates. He recalls his visit to the Brahmakumaris' (BK) centres in India and abroad. He lauds the role of the BKs in bringing about a new society that is positive and energised.

He observes that while the media is churning out news on a real time basis, what is the type of news and its impact on the people of the country? He reminiscences on the history of the media, especially the print medium. Today, media has become corporatised and influenced by the market forces. Media has become insensitive. Large scale abrasions have taken place in the media especially in the big media houses. The media as the watchdog of the nation and the conscience of the society, has now changed. Media has now trivialised news for the sake of sensation.

The media has a responsibility its reporting. This is generally not being observed due to the deterioration of values at work. He appears to the media to adhere to values in work. Profit will follow. As the fourth estate and the conscience keeper of the society, vision is primary. Values is primary. He appeals to the delegates to take a look at the state of affairs of the media. He expresses shock at the abrasion of the values by the media houses who resorted to paid reporting in the previous year's elections.

He feels communications is tainted in India. He appeals for serious introspection in media, before the society decides 'this much and no more' in tolerance of the media's tainted image. It is the solemn duty of
the media to adhere to values and ethics.

Rajyogini B.K.Dadi Janki Ji is being invited to share her words of wisdom and her blessings. She is a tireless, 94-year old active and energised person who still travels round the world, meeting spiritual delegates.

BLESSINGS OF DADIJI
Dadiji said she says 'Om Shanthi' thrice - one to say 'What am I', second is 'Who am I' and third 'Why am I'.

She talks of the teachings of the Supreme Father. She says in spite of reading the many scriptures since 5 years old, she felt ignorant. Today, touching on the compliment that she is of stable mind in spite of her age, she says her focus in life is clear. Be not deceived and do not deceive. We must 'realise' ie. look internally at ourselves. We may be aware about others. We must instead be looking internally and be honest with ourselves. We must transform to be transparent and be truthful. This leads to happiness and removes depression. When we transform and improve, the world will transform and improve. What we need to do, we need to do today and not postpone. Baba used to say, 'if not now, then never'.

We need peace and love. Where there is peace, there is power. We need courage and patience too. With the power to lead the life, we need to lead others to peace. Let us recognise ourselves as children of God.

She concluded with a three-minute silence and meditation with the delegates.

The function concluded.

National Media Conference 2010 - Live Blogging - 17 Sep 2010

2010-09-17T19:15:00.012+05:30

K. Srinivasan, Prime Point (Chennai) and Susan Koshy (Vice President, Southern Zone of Global Forum for Public Relations GFPR) reporting live from Mount Abu, Rajasthan.

It is past six o'clock in a shower-blessed evening at the Brahmakumaris' Centre, Shanthivan when the delegates from the media are given a warm reception. We find the attendance of several hundreds of them at the venue.

PRAYER SONG & DANCE
A prayer song has just been delivered followed by a colourful and animated dance recital.

WELCOME ADDRESS
B.K.Atam Prakash, National Coordinator, Media Wing, Mount Abu in his welcome address said that there has been various revolutionary changes that has taken place in India. However, the most important revolutionary change for our betterment is the imbibing of values in our lives.

BLESSING ON THE OCCASION
Rajyogini Dr.B.K.Nirmala, Director, Gyan Sarovar Academy, Mount Abu, has given an inspirational talk as a blessing on the occasion.

ABOUT BRAHMAKUMARIS AND THEIR VALUES
B.K.Mrutujaya, Vice Chairperson, Education Wing, Brahmakumaris has now taken over at the podium, briefing the audience about the history, purpose and value beliefs of the Brahmakumaris. He is emphasising the role of the Brahmakumaris in bringing about a value-based education to the current generation of students.

He emphasises the importance of positive thinking and moral values while imparting education.

He heralds the role of the media as the medium in bringing the kind of news that influences people in their thinking, opinion and approach. The media therefore are moral guides. In the current world, deceit and corruption are being tolerated.

A proactive role by the media can influence in a big way in bringing back good life values. If we become source of spiritual light to eradicate the moral pollution, we can bring India back to its original spiritual glory, and also a new social world, clean from spiritual contamination. Thus B.K.Mrutujaya concluded his talk on a motivational note.

GREETINGS
Rajyogini B.K.Usha, Sr.Rajyoga Teacher & Management Trainer, Brahmakumaris, in her greetings to the delegates, emphasises the importance of vision in our living. She says that a clear vision in our life would enable us to lead a purposeful life. The media has a crucial role in creating an awareness among the people about this. The media has a great responsibility in influencing the people positively with messages of peace and prosperity in order to establish a new society. There was a purpose in the delegates being in the profession of media broadcasting. This unique capability and responsibility has been recognised by God. The delegates need to recognise their responsibility.

People these days are wanting to experiment and do new things and new ventures. The media people can guide these people in their mission by guiding them through value based reporting and creating of proper awareness among them.

While conveying her good wishes to the delegates, she implores them to develop good attitudes and powerful thinking through meditation, which helps in this direction.

Rajyogi B.K.Munni, Programme Director, Brahmakumaris, Mount Abu says the place the delegates have arrived to is a pilgrimage centre, where one leaves something and also takes something from it. She asks them to leave behind any burden that they might have in life and might have carried along with them. And she implores them to take good from their experience during their stay here. Rajyogi Munni says she has been lucky to be associated with Gandhiji during his time and also with the Dadi Prakash Mani of the Brahmakumaris. She was glad to say that the Brahmakumaris has grown to be present in 8500 centres in over 130 countries with over 22000 dedicated brahmakumaris serving.

B.K.Karamchand, Zonal Coordinator, Chandigarh is presenting his vote of thanks. He says all the media should have an inculcation of positive approach, and play a role in uniting India, remove hypocricy in the society and influence it towards value-based existence. For this, the media should have a value-based working.

There will be panel discussions and dialogues during the two-day media conference. There will be dialogues for the print and electronic media, IT and PR. He is requesting the delegates to attend the morning sessions from 7am. The centre houses the world's largest solar energy plant, as well as its 25000-capacity auditorium. He concluded with a request to the delegates for active participation during the conference.

National Media Conference 2010 - Live Blogging Begins

2010-09-16T23:22:00.000+05:30

K.Srinivasan reporting from Mount Abu - September 16, 2010.

Mount Abu is getting ready for hosting the National Media Conference 2010. About 2000 media, PR and communication professionals are expected to participate in the three-day conference. A grand reception is being planned for the delegates on September 17th evening. On September 18th morning, Janki Dadi (94 years), Chief of Brahmakumaris, will be inaugurating the sessions. On September 17th and 18th, they have planned various panel discussions, workshops, dialogues and cultural sessions.

We will be reporting live from the venue on the proceedings.

We have taken a podcast interview from Br.B.K.Karuna, Director, PR, IT and Communications, who is the livewire of this event, on the upcoming events. Please watch his interview

Communication skills needed for career growth

2010-08-29T21:12:00.000+05:30

Society for Technical Communication, India organised their Chennai Regional Conference on Saturday the 28th August 2010. I was also invited to be one of the speakers. I made a presentation on "Communication Skills needed for career growth". I was quickly covering the various aspects of communication skills needed for the present day youth. Please see the pictures.

This is the presentation made by me.

Communication skills needed for career growth

View more presentations from Prime Point Foundation, Chennai.

Spare two hours a week, to achieve Vision 2020

2010-08-17T16:51:00.002+05:30

ECE Department of VelTech Dr RR & Dr SR Technical University, Chennai organised a National Technical Symposium known as OMZOIC 10, on 14th August 2010, inviting students from different engineering colleges. More than 600 students participated in the event. I was invited by them to be the Guest of Honour during the inauguration. Dr Rangarajan, Chancellor and Founder of the University was also present.

K. Srinivasan addressing
OMZOIC 10

The event was organised in a professional manner. The multimedia presentation (short film) made by the ECE students was highly professional. Since, it was held on the eve of Independence Day, they had requested me to talk on the role of youth in achieving Vision 2020.

In my short speech of 7 minutes, I reminded the students of the struggle made by our freedom fighters and the role of youngsters in achieving the dream of our elders. Among other things, I appealed to the students to spare two hours a week for the society, so that we could achieve our Vision 2020 easily. Please listen to my speech by clicking 'play' button.

This can also be watched from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMw6cRHPFY0

Inaugural session of Business Communication Course at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan

2010-07-11T23:18:00.004+05:30

After the formal launch by Dr Dr Abdul Kalam and inspiring welcome speech by Mr T S Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India and Chairman of Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan on 10th July 2010, the regular sessions started on Sunday the 11th July 2010. Inaugural talk by Mr P K Doraiswamy IAS (Retd), Former Chief Secretary to Government of AP and the Chairman of Board of Studies of the Bhavan was an eye opener for the participants. His inspiring speech covered four pillars of communication namely 1) Technique , 2) Content , 3) Morale and 4) Context. The other members of Board of Studies also shared their views briefly during this opening session.

Mr. V N Gopalan , Former Director General of Defence accounts and presently the Director of Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai expressed the importance of communication covering 1) Choice of words 2) Tone 3) Body Language and shared his experience with Political leaders.

Prof V. Chandrasekar, covered many areas stressing upon importance of communication through ABC technique. 1) Accuracy 2) Brevity 3) Clarity. His interpretation of “Medium is Message” as “ Medium is Massage” and “Medium is Mass Age” was quite revealing. He suggested the participants to read good quality news papers and watch good channels to improve the communication skills.

Prof K. Prabakar expressed his views about the importance of communication in his own style focussing on positive thinking.

Mr.Srikanth, Managing Director, Diana Shutters Limited stressed the importance of brief and effective communication.

Ms.Meera Raghavendra Rao, a well known columnist expressed the critical importance of communication quoting her real time experience from the Journalist perspective.

Program Director Mr K.Srinivasan and Academic coorinator Prof. S. Krishnamurthy managed the entire program for the day and fine tuned the course schedule, timings, Topics, and Attendance etc. in consultation with the participants to suit their requirement.

I, on behalf of all the participants, thank all the organizers of this wonderful programme for their dedication to make this courese very successful one. Great effort from everyone. I am sure this is going to be the best course we have ever attended in our life.

Pl see the photo stream of the first day session of the course.

(contributed by Narayanan Sundararajan, a participant)

View all

Get your own

Dr Abdul Kalam launches Business Communication Course at Chennai

2010-07-10T22:30:00.000+05:30

Dr Abdul Kalam, former President of India formally launched the skill based diploma course on Business Communication on 10th July 2010 evening at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra. This course is designed for the working professionals to enhance their communication skills and to equip themselves for the competitive environment.

The course commences on 11th July 2010. This course is of 120 hours duration. Classes are held on Saturdays and Sundays (3 hours each) for 20 week ends. Many experts from academic and industry are lined up to interact with the participants (Bhavan has avoided the word students). More details are available at www.bizbvb.co.cc.

On 10th July, Dr Abdul Kalam formally handed over two kits to two participants. Capt. Bavicca Bharathi (youngest commercial pilot and commander in India) and Mr Kamalakanth, an IT professional received the kit from Dr Kalam. (photo below)

Please watch the photo stream.

Use social media tools for building customer relations and marketing

2010-06-10T11:48:00.006+05:30

http://www.blonnet.com/2010/06/10/stories/2010061052492100.htm

Photo and story courtesy: The Hindu Businessline
Our Bureau Chennai, June 9
The effective use of social media tools can help to improve customer relations and marketing, according to Mr K. Srinivasan, Editor of ezine, PReSense, and Podcast magazine, PodUniversal.

While delivering a lecture on ‘Presentation skills' at a BL Club event held at the Priyadarshini College of Engineering, Nellore, he said corporate professionals needed to develop good presentation skills that would be needed both internally and externally. The idea was to convey the message to the audience in as brief a manner and with as much clarity as is possible, he said in his address to the MBA students of the institution.

As a social media evangelist, Mr Srinivasan added that the emergence of social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, ezines and podcasts had changed the style and method of communication globally. A message that was earlier communicated in 1,000 words was now presented in 100 words. These social media tools provided companies a number of opportunities to present their products and services to a larger audience quickly.

“If professionals learn the techniques of these tools and use them for their presentations effectively, they can reach a wider audience and improve their business. The effective use of key words would also help the search engines. In fact, these tools are a great boon for marketing professionals. Unfortunately such tools are not properly used for marketing purposes in India due to a lack of knowledge,” he said.

Public Relations Council of India (PRCI): 4th Global Meet and Chanakya Awards

2010-04-06T18:09:00.004+05:30

The Fourth global meet of Public Relation Council of India was held at Delhi on 3rd April 2010. Many eminent personalities like Dr. Kiran Bedi, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer (former Union Minister), Mr. Bishma Narain Singh ( Former Union Minister and Governor) and Mr. Joginder Singh (Former Director, CBI) have participated and shared their experiences.

PRCI's Chanakya Awards and collateral awards were also presented to the winners. Some of the notable personalities like Dr Kiran Bedi, Ms Burkha Dutt (NDTV), Dr C V Naraismha Reddy (PR Voice), Mr A G Agarwal (PR Communication Age), Rajayogi B K Karunaji (Brahmakumaris, Mount Abu) were also the recipients of Chanakya Awards 2010.

Mr Anil Nayak (PRCI Bangalore Chapter), Mr B K Sahu (Zonal Chairman of PRCI, East Zone), Mr Krishna B Mariyanka (Executive Committee member of PRCI) and Hyderabad Chapter of PRCI were honoured for their best performance within PRCI. Pune Chapter was honoured as the best promising chapter of PRCI.

We congratulate the Award winners and Mr M B Jayaram and his team for their sustained efforts in promoting PR and Communciation through various Awards.
Mr M B Jayaram may be contacted at jayrammb@gmail.com

ETHOS10 - An exciting Management event at Anna University

2010-03-28T22:44:00.002+05:30

Ethos’10 provided an excellent platform for the budding managers of the future. The students proved their mettle through the various events lined up. This year, the DOMS (Department of Media Studies) included guest lectures by eminent personalities of corporate arena, to enlighten the students on various issues pertaining to career choices, entrepreneurial suggestions, etc. The events were designed in such a manner to extract the best out of the students and test their managerial, communication, analytical and decision making skills which are vital for an MBA graduate. Thus students from different B-Schools participated in the event, Ethos’10 provided a chance for the students to find out where they stand and show them what needs to be done to improvise themselves.

Ethos’10 had a plethora of events.

The Negotium is the business quiz which tested the student’s intellect and their knowledge of the current affairs.

Board Room – the paper presentation brought out the original thoughts and ideas of students to the fore.

For those political manic the Mock Parliament drilled out their governing skills. Mr. T.K.S. Elangovan, Honorable Member of Parliament presided over this highly charged event.

Chanakya – The Best Manager picked up the best budding manager out of the participants from various institutions.

Virtual Stocks and Shares was meant for thosefascinated by the stock market. Infinitas – the marketing event aimed to test the creativity and the marketing skills of the students. New Inc was an event for the promising entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to come out with an ‘out of the box’ business plan.

Big Fight was an event which gave the students an opportunity to share the stage and debate with dignitaries from the corporate world.

Eight events, prizes worth one lakh all at one place that’s ETHOS’10.This event was an intriguing challenge to the MBA grads at DOMS, Anna University.

For further details, contact the Ethos team at ethos2010.doms@gmail.com or the websitewww.ethos10.com. You can also contact Dr. Fatima Jacob, Ethos Coordinator @ 9840523938.

(Report by Divya, I Year MBA, DOMS, Anna University)

Lectures on "Presentation Skills" for MBA students

2010-03-21T14:42:00.000+05:30

Hindu Businessline Club organises lectures by experts on various management topics at various Colleges, to enable the students to interact with industry people. I was invited by HBL Club to deliver a talk on "Presentation Skills" to the MBA students of Priyadarshini College of Engineering and Technology (Neloore) and Narayana College of Engineering (Gudur) on 19th March 2010.

In both the colleges, I addressed the first and second year MBA students and the faculty members. Please see some of the snap shots.

Prime Point Foundation, the non profit public trust provides one day workshop for all the corporates (traditional and new generation companies) on 'Presentation Skills in 5 steps'. The Brochure may be downloaded form the following link:

http://www.prpoint.com/presentation-skils-in-5-steps.pdf

"Presentation skills in 5 steps" workshop @ Laser soft (A Polaris group company)

2010-02-21T13:10:00.000+05:30

Prime Point Foundation has already announced a special module on 'Presentation Skills in 5 step" for Techies and Non Techies. Laser Soft Infosystems Limited, Chennai (A Polaris Group Company) organised a one-day workshop on 20th Feb 2010. Around 20 Senior level Project Managers and few marketing officials participated in the workshop.

K. Srinivasan, Chairman and Founder of Prime Point Foundation was the workshop leader. The module included various steps in preparing a presentation and then the tips for making effective impact of presentation.

This was followed by the participants making a live presentation on a subject of their choice ranging from films to high end technical products. The presentations by the participants were recorded in a digcam and then replayed on screen for review by all. This exercise gave them the required confidence and ability to organise the presentation systematically.

The programme was inaugurated by Mr B Suresh Kamath, Founder and Managing Director of Laser Soft Infosystems Limited and valediction was given by Mr S S Rao, Vice President (HR). This indicated the importance of this theme to the participants and also how the company was taking up this theme seriously.

Prime Point Foundation, a non profit public trust promoting communication awareness has seriously taken up the task of creating presentation awareness among the small and medium companies. Further details may be obtained from the brochure, which can be downloaded from

http://www.prpoint.com/presentation-skill-brochure.pdf

Enquires may be sent to training@ppoint.com

The above video may also be watched from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6xNwIumKHw

http://blip.tv/file/3246205

Launch of special module on "Presentation Skills for Techies in 5 steps"

2010-02-12T21:14:00.001+05:30

Prime Point Foundation has today launched a special module for one-day workshop on "Presentation Skills for Techies in 5 Steps". During the month of Feb 2010, the corporate ezine PR-e-Sense conducted an on-line survey to understand the requirement of Techies of next generation companies. The survey revealed lack of Presentation skills and Business Communication skills among Technical persons, though, they had sufficient knowledge in their domain.

This prompted the Foundation to launch a 'special one day module' for the techies to quickly train them on presentation skills and to unearth their hidden communication skills. The speciality of this module is that all the participants would be asked to make a live presentation, which would be video recorded and played back for review and suggestions for improvement.

For time being, this module is available only as an In-Company programme. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation with the motto 'communicate the communication'. In view of this, the Foundation will be charging only a nominal and reasonable fee to the companies, to spread the awareness and to reach maximum number of young professionals.

Interested may contact email id training@prpoint.com or mobile 91 91766 50273.

The Brochure in pdf format may be downloaded from the following link (90 k)

http://www.prpoint.com/presentation-skill-brochure.pdf

Please see the preview of the brochure:

Workshop on Presentation Skills at TNSC Bank

2010-02-04T18:27:00.000+05:30

In the last October, 2009, I wrote about the Staff Training College of Tamilnadu State Apex Cop. Bank, who are training the officials of all District and State level Cooperative Banks. Unlike the 'robotic' approach of all training institutes of so called 'professional' Corporate Houses, TNSC Bank Training centre thought 'out of the box' and planed to train their officials on 'Presentation Skills'. I was invited again on 3rd Feb 2010 to conduct half-day session on Presentation Skills.

After one hour of introductory presentation by myself aboit the concept, the participants were asked to make a presentation for 5 minutes each about anything ranging from their own products to the latest movie. Ultimately, the participants should market with the audience about the product or movie. The presentations were videographed and immediately played back for review by audience.

The main hurdle for any person to attempt a presentation is only an ' assumed fear'. When I asked the participants, to volunteer for presentation and video-graphing at the beginning, there was a reluctance on their part, due to fear. Two persons were forced to make presentation. Then, after 10 minutes, nobody wanted to leave the chance. Everybody started coming up to the stage for testing their ability.

Almost all of them had the capability to make a good presentation. Unfortunately, lack of self confidence and fear prevent them from making public presentation. At the end of the day, every one realised their 'hidden' potential.

Though, we all assume that cooperative bodies are unprofessional, i personally feel they are more professional than the so called professional institutions. Three cheers to Mr Manohar, Principal and his team!

Make Business Communication part of curriculum

2010-01-30T18:01:00.004+05:30

Photo and report courtesy : Hindu Businessline
http://www.blonnet.com/2010/01/30/stories/2010013054872700.htm
Make Business Communication part of curriculum
Our Bureau
Chennai, Jan. 29

Business communication should be made a part of the curriculum for all students at the college level irrespective of their subject of study. This was essential to prepare the students for global competition, said Mr K. Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer, Prime Point Public Relations Pvt Ltd, Chennai.

Addressing participants of a BL Club event held at the Mar Gregorios College of Arts and Science here recently, he said currently only MBA students were given an exposure to Business Communications as a subject. Students of other streams of study did not have the opportunity to learn the subject at the college level.

Today all youngsters, irrespective of their domain expertise, were exposed to global competition unlike in the past. Hence, he stressed the need for developing business communication skills among all students. He was addressing the students on ‘the development of presentation skills'.

“Nowadays, youngsters soon after taking up employment, have to make presentations at their workplaces. More than 80 per cent of them lack good presentation skills in spite of their domain expertise. That is due mainly to the fact that educational institutions do not provide them sufficient opportunities to develop their business communication skills,” he said.

He added that sticking to the time limit during presentations, paying attention to the relevance of content to the audience and providing only the required information to the audience without overloading them, were some of the important aspects that young professionals should keep in mind while making their presentations.

Mr Amurdam, Principal, Mar Gregorios College, and Mr Balachander, Head of the Commerce Department, were present at the event presented by Karur Vysya Bank.

Presentation on 'Emergence of Social Media' at NITTTR, Chennai

2009-12-02T21:00:00.004+05:30

National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chennai provides training to all the Engineering College Teachers in South India to update and improve their teaching skills. This is one of the autonomous Institutions under HR Ministry of the Government of India.

The Institute is located in a 27 acre sprawling green campus. They had invited me to address their faculty members and research scholars on the 'Emergence of Social Meida' on 2nd December 2009. Dr. S Mohan, Director and other Senior Faculty members were present. Some of the pictures taken during the occassion:

This is the presentation, I made on that day.

The meeting was professionally well coordinated by Ms Malliga Padmanabhan, Sr. Systems Analyst of NITTR. This is one of the four Institutions set up by the Central Government to train the Engineering College teachers. More details about them can be had at http://www.nitttrc.ac.in/

Telugu Journalists' Association (TEJOUS) event on Media 2.0

2009-11-22T16:02:00.002+05:30

Telugu Journalists' Association (TEJOUS) on 21st November 2009 organised a presentation session at Chennai by K. Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation on the latest trends in technology media, which is otherwise known as Media 2.0. Mr R Bhagwan Singh, Founder President of TEJOUS and presently Consulting Editor of Deccan Chronicle delivered the key note address and introduced the subject. Gist of the talk is given below the photographs.

K. Srinivasan in his presentation broadly explained the following:

1. Bird's eye view of the growth of internet at global level and specific reference to India.

2. How the traditional mainline media like print and television use the internet

3. Comparison between English papers and Regional language papers (net editions) in their traffic ranking and unique visitors per day.

4. Impact of important events like YSR Reddy accident on the net editions

5. Various types of social media and their emergence in the past one decade

6. How journalists can make use of the social media for their professional needs

We will also publish the power point presentation along with audio shortly as PodMagazine in our PodUniversal site.

Combating cyber crimes - A workshop by Cyber Society

2009-10-24T12:45:00.003+05:30

Cyber Society of India held an one-day workshop at Chennai on 23rd October 2009 on "Combating Cyber Crimes in financial transactions and the role of Standards". The workshop was inaugurated by Mr T S Krishnamoorthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India. Please read the proceedings below and watch the photographs.

Report by V Rajendran, Secretary, CySI

Proceedings of the CySI Workshop on "Combating Cyber Crimes in financial transactions and the role of Standards" - on 23-10-09, at Hotel Savera .

Inauguration

The meeting started with a welcome address by Chairman Shri R. Ramamurthy. He gave an introduction of CySI’s activities and a brief account of CySI’s commitment in spreading awareness on Cyber Crimes and related areas. Talking from his past experience of participating in international conferences on Cyber Crimes, he narrated the various crime-prone areas and the tasks ahead for citizens, investigators, governments and finally the NGOs.

The Chief Guest of the workshop Shri T.S. Krishnamurthy was introduced by Shri K. Srinivsan, CEO Prime Point Foundation and a founder-life member of CySI. While introducing, he narrated the tremendous contribution of Shri TSK in his role as Chief Election Commissioner, when for the first time, the country went on a 100% EVM-based elections.

Mr T S Krishnamoorthy

Shri T. S. Krishnamurthy former Chief Election Commissioner, inaugurated the workshop. In his inaugural address, he briefly discussed the cyber crime scenario in the country. He narrated the various vulnerable areas in computers and stressed the need for increasing awareness on the use of computers, its fraud-prone areas. He wondered how even educated people fall an innocent prey to computer crimes falling victims to greed for money. He presented the modus operandi in Nigerian Crimes, credit card frauds etc. and finally lauded the efforts of CySI and assured to be closely associated with the activities of CySI in all its socio-academic activities in future.

Mr C L Ramakrishnan

Shri A Vijayakumar Life Member of CySI introduced Shri C.L. Ramakrishnan, former DGP adding that as a former DGP and a former DVAC, he has rendered memorable service in the police force, which is worthy of emulation for any police official. He added that Shri CLR enrolled for and completed his Ph.D. in Vedanta after his retirement.

Shri C.L. Ramakrishnan, delivering the key-note address stressed the relevance of I.T. Act, the circumstances under which the Act was passed and its use in investigation. Drawing from his experience as a top police official of the State, he said the basic urge to commit any fraud is greed and lust for some thing that do not belong to the individual. He said that only the modes of committing the crime vary in a cyber crime and it is basically an electronic variant of normal crime only. He jocularly added that in a cyber crime, it is sometimes easy to commit and difficult to detect, whereas a normal and physical crime is difficult to commit and easy to detect. He highlighted the efforts of the police in nabbing a cyber criminal and the special tasks that it normally involves.

Mr V Rajendran

After the tea break, Shri V Rajendran Secretary of Cyber Society of India and a practicing Cyber Law Advocate and Consultant presented the various cyber crimes reported and the role and relevance of I.T. Act 2000 and the amendment Act 2008. He presented some of the most important sections of the Act and compared it with the significant provisions of I.P.C. which bear relevance in the I,T. scenario. He presented how effective the Act has been, over the past years and the significance of the 2008 amendments.

Mr N R Krishnakumar

Shri N.R. Krishnamukar Regional Director of DNV, the main sponsors of the event gave a very rich presentation. He described the best practices in the industry to combat cyber crime and the usefulness of ISO 27001 standards and 27002 standards. He discussed the requirements of such standards and highlighted the importance of putting these into practice and going for the appropriate certification adding that expenditure on adherence to best practices and standards is like expenditure spent on a life-jacket or a fire-extinguisher and that the return on such expenditure should never be calculated in simple terms.

Dr B Muthukumaran

After the lunch break, Dr B. Muthukumaran Chief Security Consultant of Gemini Communications Ltd presented the security aspects in a typically networked environment stressing upon the need for having sound systems like anti-virus, fire-wall with intrusion prevention and intrusion detection. He gave a demo in the form of video clipping of a typical scenario describing the features of good security practices in a corporate organization. He urged upon the corporates and security heads present to understand the requirements of a sound security policy in the organisation.

Mr S N Ravichandran

Shri S.N. Ravichandran, from CySI Coimbatore gave a simple interesting and user-friendly talk on the various cyber crime cases being reported to the police every day. He explained the practical difficulties in investigating a cyber crime. He stressed the importance of parental care and monitoring when the children browse the net. He also explained how many vital cases go un-reported and how many ISPs and Banks handle such issues without proper care that they deserve, like opening an account without address verification in a Bank, giving a mobile with an id proof etc.

Mr M L Srinivasan

Shri M.L. Srinivasan started his rich presentation commenting about the meaning of the words, threats, vulnerabilities and risks. He described the practical implications of risks in an enterprise and described what is popularly called a bot and botnet. He gave pictorial representations of how a computer system gets affected by a bot and how it acts as a zombie invariably without the knowledge of the rightful owner of the PC. He gave useful tips on how to guard against such threats for a home user as well as for a corporate user.

Interaction session

Participants gave a wonderful feed-back introducing one after another. Participants from banks commented that more sessions could have been included on topics concerning cyber crime areas in financial transactions especially in banking. Almost everyone praised the way the workshop was conducted sticking to the time schedule and giving a good coverage of all the areas planned for.

There was a very good interactive session with participants posing questions on the various areas covered by the speakers right from mobile frauds, credit card frauds, phising, guarding against id theft etc

Sum-up

Shri U.P. Prakasham Treasurer of CySI summed up the entire proceedings of the day in a very brief and crisp manner narrating the highlights of every session. He proposed vote of thanks thanking everyone for the successful conduct of the programme and every participant for the valuable contribution in the interactive and other sessions.

Public Sector PR forum event at Chennai

2009-10-21T08:04:00.006+05:30

Public Sector Public Relations Forum, Tamilnadu organised a meeting on 20th October 2009 at Chennai. Dr T V Somanathan IAS (Secretary to Government of Tamilnadu and Managing Director of Chennai Metro Rail Limited) made a wonderful presentation on the proposed Chennai Metro Rail project.

Dr Somanathan, holds a Ph.D in Economics. He is a qualified Chartered Accoutant, Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary. He is a student of Harvard Business School. 1987 batch IAS officer, Dr Somanathan stood second at all india level in the IAS and also won the Gold Medal as the best probationer of his batch.

Dr Somanathan explained the details of Chennai Metro Rail project. The cost of project is estimated at Rs.14,600 crores, besides the cost of acquisition of lands which is etimated at around Rs.1,900 croroes. 45 KM metro line, when completed in 2014 or 2015 will be the fourth largest metro rail project in the world. This project will be completed in two phases.

Presently, Chennai has around 28 lakhs of vehicle population (1.4 laksh in 1984) and is growing at 14% annually. Chennai city is one of the oldest cities of the country with narrow roads. Due to the economic growth, the traffic is increassing in large number. Presently, the electric suburb trains transport around 8 lakhs of passengers every day, while MRTS transport nearly 90,000 passengers. The city buses transport around 48 lakhs of passengers. When Metro Rail project is completed, it may likely to transport around 8 lakhs of passengers every day.

Dr Somanathan explained various challenges that this project may face, like land acquisition, traffic management, shifting of existing utility services and also co-ordination with other projects, etc. He was also explaining as to how they propose to meet the challenges to minimise the inconvenience to the general public and to complete the projects in time.

Dr Somanathan said that when the Metro Rail projects gets completed, it would help the chennai citizens greatly. However, he appealed to the people to bear with the inconvenience caused to them during the project works. For nearly one to two years, the Chennai citizens may suffer inconvenience in the traffic, as if 35 fly-overs are being constructed simultaneously. However, they are working out so meticulously, to minimise the inconvenience to the people.

Let us all pray Almighty for save and successful implementation of the Metro Rail project at Chennai. On behalf of the citizens, we should also extend maximum cooperation and understanding with the project officials for smooth and safe implementation.

Presentation and Public speaking skills - Workshop

2009-10-06T19:38:00.007+05:30

Normally, whenever, we think of Co-operative Banks, we assume to be old dilapidated buildings with improper maintenance. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Agricultural Co-operative Staff Training Institute (ACSTI) at Madhavaram, in the outskirts of Chennai. I had the opportunity of visiting the Institute on 6th October 2009 to conduct half-a-day workshop on "Presentation and Public speaking skills" for their trainees.

This Institute is managed and run by Tamilnadu State Apex Co-operative Bank Limited. The Institute situated in 5 acre natural green environment provides a conducive atmosphere for training. The dining hall, hostel rooms, class rooms and conference halls fitted with modern gadgets, library, etc. give the look of corporate training centre. They provide all types of training from freshers to senior level management executives on banking. Very unfortunately, they are not known outside.

I wondered when I was invited by Mr Manohar, Principal of the Institute to conduct a half-a-day workshop on 'Presentation and Public speaking skills' for their trainees. Probably this is the first time, this Institute had thought of inclusion of this workshop in the regular training schedule. Even when the Nationalised Public Sector Banks and Corporate giants have not thought of exposing heir employees for the much needed presentation skills, this Institute had pro-actively planned to prepare their trainees to face the competition from the public and private sector banks.

Around 50 trainees participated in this workshop. The purpose of this workshop was to create confidence amongst the trainees for presentation skills. After 45 minutes of introductory session, I asked a few participants to talk on theme of their choice for 5 minutes. Some people were asked to speak extempore. All the speeches of the participants were recorded in video and later played and reviewed. Surprisingly, many of the trainees, who had expressed 'stage fear', 'lack of fluency'. 'lack of confidence', etc. have all done well, belying their own apprehensions. Ultimately, this exercise has proved that people had only false fear or apprehension about themselves without any base and when they were given an opportunity they performed better.

Public Sector and Private Sector organisations should take cue from this little known 'Co-operative Training Institute' to train their own employees.

National Media Conference,09, Day 2, session 3

2009-09-13T15:18:00.012+05:30

Noopur Bapna, Divyaraj Brahmbhatt and Manjiree Gohad, students of Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, reporting live from Mount Abu.

For more information on the conference see-
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference09-day-2.html http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference-09-day-2.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference09-day-1.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference09-inaugural.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference09-mr-ashok.html
http://prpoint.blogspot.com/2009/09/national-media-conference09day-1.html

Dialogue-1 Print Media, Positive and Proactive Media for Better Society

Participants:
Dr. Sanjeev Bhanawat, HOD, Journalism& Mass Comm, Rajasthan University
Shashidhar Bhandari, President, Association of Progressive Journalists of Nepal, KTM
Y.S, Sharma, Freelance Journalist, Karimnagar
Somnath Patil, Jt. Editor, Parivartanaachi Bhumika, Mumbai
Chirantan Brahmachari, Freelance Writer & Columnist, Divya Bhaskar, Ahmedabad.

Chirantan Brahmachari says,

Today media wants to give news that will entertain people and add spice. However, it is not media's fault alone, the audience receives such news with interest. Also media is a part of us, there is no person called the media, thus, till we change media cannot change, and we can change with the help of spirituality.

Y.S.Sharma says,

It is extremely unfortunate, but the media has lost all its ethics today. To regain them, every media aspirant must must be given a code of conduct. They must be taught to follow it, not because it is imposed, but because it will create a positive impact on his work. As far as proactivity is considered, the media today is fast to react, but they are not alert enough to tap a wrongdoing before it occurs. Thus, proactivity needs to be developed.

Shashidhar Bhandari says,

Nepal does not have freedom of press like India does. However, Indian media is also seen working under political influence. The U.S.A is trying to create conflict in Asia by dividing China and India, the two upcoming economic powers of Asia. Shouldn't the media raise a voice against such tactics? Proactive media should not remain a mere concept, it should be brought about in reality as well.

Proactive media requires media professionals who will not bend under pressure and remain faithful to the profession, for this evolution of the mind has to take place and that can happen only with the help of spiritual development.

Dr. Sanjeev Bhanawat, HOD, Journalism & Mass Comm., Rajasthan Univeristy
According to him the way we present News is very important. Any scenes or writings which provoke violence or disharmony should be prohibited. Media should realize its positive power and work on promoting acts like RTI. Positive efforts should be encouraged with the help of Media.

Dialogue II ( IT)

Mr. K. Srinivasan, CEO, Primepoint, Chennai spoke on using Media to our advantage. With the live example of National Media Conference uploaded on web via notes and pictures he emphasized on spreading the word around. Divyaraj and Noopur spoke on their experience of live blogging.

All other eminent speakers emphasized the use of technology to bring about the desired change.

National Round table Conference on the Golden Triangle of PR

Dr. C. V. Narasimha Reddi, Editor, PR Voice, Hyderabad
Spoke on Golden Triangle of PR and Media Ethics that Indian Companies need to follow stating the examples of Enron and Satyam.

Prof Ananya Mehta, Prof Symbiosis Intitute of Media and Communication Pune was of the view that its the ultimate responsibility of the PR professionals to upgrade their standars from being mere agents and become become the true guaridians of the ethics that the stakeholders of an organization expect from the PR professionals.

Mr K.C.Mauli,shared his views and experiences from his personal life and left the audience thinking. His true life experiences shared were a case study to ponder over for all PR professionals.

Day long events were planned to define the role of Media for the betterment of the society and Nation at large. All the dignitaries present emphasized on the power of Media.