POPULATION, DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT

On 20^th April 2010 the world witnessed one of the worst environmental disasters, when Deep water Horizon platform, located in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire and plunged into the ocean. The spill causing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil to contaminate the Gulf of Mexico each day causing extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats, fishing and tourism industries, and human health problems that have continued through 2013. The total discharge is estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m³)!

We have had our share of such instances over time, with the occasional oil spill from merchant vessels, pollution due to industrial wastes, the Chernobyl disaster, and closer home, the Bhopal gas tragedy. These disasters impact not only on the life of the ecological system but also on the livelihood of man for it puts an end to his basic necessities of food, clean air and water.

Humanity in 21^st century is posed with serious challenges of rapid population growth fast depletion of resources severe environmental pollution and damage to fragile ecosystem through which life on earth survives. Increased level of industrial activities to meet the ever increasing demand of humankind has caused irreversible damage to the pristine ecosystem that earth once had.

So can the complex inter-relationship among population, need for growth and environment sustainability sustain?

Currently, we are facing a problem of population boom. Just India and China account for nearly half of the world’s population. With India poised to overtake China by 2030, there is immense pressure on our agricultural fields to produce food to feed our massive population of 1.2 billion people. To sustain such a huge population, rapid increase in the economic and industrial activities must also take place. These factors further tend to put immense pressure on our ecosystem.

As we all know there is a constant increase in the population of the world and there is limited availability of land. Thus it has led to a number of conflicts like conflicts between the citizens/ civil society organizations and industries for land, as in case of POSCO plant at Paradip,  between industries and government for environmental laws, as in case of the VEDANTA ALUMINIUM PLANT at Niyamgiri. Not only in our country but all over the world such struggles can be seen.

Let’s imagine a situation where there is an industry levitating 10 feet above the ground. Drawing all its resources from space but showering all the monetary benefits on us!

Yes, this is impossible but it seems one of the best solutions for humans who have been struggling to prioritize between population parameter, development and environment.

Shifting our focusing to international arena USA, which has comparatively very less population than India and China, alone has contributed most towards the destruction of the ecological balance.

According to a study done by TATA Institute of Social Science, USA has used up, in 150 years nearly three times its carbon emission entitlement of over 200 years. And not only USA, EU and RUSSIA are also on the same side.

By now everybody must be thinking that I am only rambling about the problems but where are the solutions to these.

I want to remind everybody about a famous saying “Nature has everything to satisfy a man’s need but not his greed.”

We can’t just keep exploiting the nature to meet our aspirations and justifying our acts by saying that nature is very resilient!

Population, development and environment can have a synergistic relation if populations grow and developments are done keeping in mind the limitations of our Mother Nature. Its high time governments all over world shift their focus towards incorporating building environmental as an integral part of nation building. Devote a considerable part of their GDP towards developing technologies that will address various impediments towards environmental sustainability.

 From ages we are calling our environment as “Mother Nature” but it’s high time we start treating her like one.

Thank You 

Prateek Jena

First Year

IMI-Bhubaneswar

The Wonder Kid

Adnan Januzaj has become the most talked about players in the world football after taking Manchester united to their victory against Sunderland. The Belgian showed on Saturday why everybody wants him. Januzaj has been regarded as a special talent by United for some time, making the bench for Sir Alex Ferguson's final game in charge of the club last season and was named as their reserve team player of the year. In Manchester United’s starting lineup for the first time, he did what no other player neither Wayne Rooney, nor Robin van Persie could manage to do at Sunderland. With United a goal down, Januzaj scored an equalizer and then scored for the second time with a magnificent volleyed goal to win the game, 2-1. The debut that many players dream of and which will live with him throughout his life. With this there was no doubt why Croatia manager showed tremendous interest in the youngster after which Croatia joined Belgium, Albania, Turkey, Serbia and even Kosovo as nations for which Januzaj is eligible to play international football but his father emphasized that he should first be a regular choice in playing eleven and then select that his loyalty lies with which country. The footballing world is now very much aware of Januzaj's potential, as confirmed by Croatia's interest. And England is already planning that if no other nation has crowned Januzaj by the time he completes five years’ residency in Britain in February 2018, he could become a full international player for the country that is looking for its first World Cup since 1966. All these expectations are not based on one performance, the evidence of his talent has grown ever since he was raw in the academy of Anderlecht, the Belgian club that United plucked him from when he was first eligible to sign at age 16. David Moyes, the new manager, was responsible for giving Wayne Rooney his first-team debut at Everton when Rooney was just 16, and Moyes also groomed Ross Barkley, the teenager who now is shining for Everton and is on the verge of joining the England side. In the words of Ferguson, Januzaj is “still growing into his body”, yet he clearly has command on his movement, and a very distinct awareness of how to use the talent he was born with. Right now with Moyes interested in change in team management there is uncertainty about his future but Manchester United will try to secure him beyond the remaining year on his contract, but others, including Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester City, might make him a better offer. One possible reason that United will succeed in his signing is that Januzaj adores Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra and enjoys playing along with his idols. Januzaj is one of the 13 Belgians playing in the Premier League and can also play in the Brazil World Cup 2014 if he wishes to.

Siddhant Kapoor
IMI-B 

Internship Experience at Exide Industries Ltd.

From the beginning of MBA journey, I was always fascinated by the stream of marketing and wanted to work in that domain only. I got the opportunity to fulfill my dream, when I got an offer from a company which has dominated the automobile battery market in India- “EXIDE Industries Ltd”.

Prior to B-School, I had worked in a Steel company in construction domain. Going back to the same type of role could have been easier, but it could have prevented me from taking the once in a lifetime occasion of stepping out of my comfort zone and exploring new avenues. With this thought I started my journey of Summer Internship. The summer internship period was close to two month and the experience was quite adventurous and full of exciting tasks.

April 1, 2013 was my first day at the regional marketing office of Exide at Kolkata. I was told to report the Regional Sales Manager at 9.30AM. I was too excited to start the wonderful journey of two month and reached there by 9.00 AM. When I reached there, the office was almost empty with the presence of two security guards. I was told by the security guards to wait till my guide come to office. Meanwhile some more interns came and they are from some Top B schools In India. I waited there almost three hour, before I called by my mentor (RSM) to his chamber. I was asked about my area of interest and some questions about academics, hobbies etc. The Regional sales manager informed me to come after two days to meet the Area manager who will be my industry guide for the period of two months.

After two days, I met my guide and I found him very co-operative and knowledgeable about the battery industry. I have been told to analyze the competitor’s market position including distribution channel and Sales promotion. The first week passed by spending time on service department looking out for information about the battery and its function. In the second week I searched Internet and asked local garage owners about the dealers and retailers of Competitor Company. So basically, I started my actual work in the third week of my Internship.

In the first phase I tried to cover the region of Kolkata. The travelling in summer in Kolkata is really tough, that too in the crowded city buses where you will be literally trapped inside .But I had to do my work irrespective of any condition. I had to visit the distributors and retailers to collect the information about the competitor company and this was not an easy task! I found this job to be quite challenging because most of the time the distributor and the retailers will not to give you any information. You have to snatch some information indirectly. I did exactly the same to collect the data.

In the second phase I visited Bankura , Purulia , Medinpore , Berhempore , Krishnagar etc.  My visits to different places were very enriching. I was travelling to all the places for the first time in my life. The travelling was quite adventurous. I traveled by Bus, Rickshaw and even took lift to visit the interior part of the area. I visited a lot of garages and met many mechanics to know their mode of working. I remember one incident where a mechanic was constantly explaining me how terrible the condition of people in west Bengal and how political parties are playing dirty games but gave a little information which I could have used in my project. Eventually I completed my entire ground work and covered most part of west Bengal.  One Good thing was that, my company had given me the freedom to work according to my plan. My guide had never pushed me to do something of his choice. I was given a complete freedom to execute the entire work.

As the final phase of my SIP came closer, I compiled all the data and prepared a complete report and presented it before my mentor. I was able to satisfy him with the effort and the information which I had collected in the period of two months. The last day of my summer internship was quite eventful with my mentor inviting me for lunch. I was informed by the corporate office to collect my certificate and the stipend. I enjoyed my work and learned many things which will definitely help me to be a successful manager. The journey ended with an experience of a life time. 

Jillam Parida

PGDM II, Marketing

IMI-Bhubaneswar

My Internship at Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd.

After a year of theoretical training, MBA program gives us a chance to embark on internships in different companies. These internships are very imperative in nature. Especially for students like me, with no corporate experience, it gives us a very good opportunity to implement our classroom knowledge on the field.

I wanted my first taste of the corporate world to be challenging and there could be no better company than HCCBPL to provide that for me. Coke, as it is popularly known, is one of the biggest FMCG companies in the world. Getting to work for this company for two months was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It started off well. I received an innovative project for market development. My work was to open a new channel for distribution for HCCBPL. The new channel was the distribution on tricycles, just like the channel used by ice cream vendors.

It sounded rather easy in my mind. Understand the ice cream model, make the model compatible for Coke, get a distributor to work for the company and start the test run. Well, within a few days into the project I realized how wrong I was.

Understanding the model was easy. I surveyed 30-35 cycle walas along with 10 odd distributors to know how they go about their work. Their margins, how they procure the product, how they maintain the stocks, average sales et cetera.

But now was the tough part. I realized that there are numerous bottlenecks to get this done. The margins were the biggest, the availability of distributors, the weather, stock outs were other issues.

Coca cola in itself is an institution of learning. Their success lies in their ‘constructive arrogance’. They don’t compromise and while negotiating, one will never find them bowing down. They will however, go out of the way to take care of their partners i.e. the distributors as they are their most important ‘customers’. They will make sure the stakeholders are happy but on the back of their minds, they never forget the points that differentiate them from their nearest competitors.

I learned immensely from my industry mentor there. He gave me full power to negotiate and make offers to the distributors on behalf of Coke. I was lucky enough to be present at meetings and learned a lot about distribution networks, hidden costs and most importantly, how to make business partners.

At the end, the test run was successful and hopefully, my project will come into implementation soon.

At last and by no way least, I would like to thank International Management Institute, Bhubaneswar to provide me with such an opportunity. I could not have asked for a better start to my corporate life.