Date:06/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010658810300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Crossing ‘Lakshmana Rekha’

Electronic media in India should learn from their counter parts in other countries like the US and France, says president of APUWJ D. Somasundar. “In the 9/11 attack on WTC, we saw only two or three clippings and no gory visuals were telecast by the US media though there were no sanctions against media there. Similarly, in France, about 300 cities were burning for the past six months. But the France media ensured they were within limits lest it should flare up communal violence. On the other hand, our electronic media in India failed to learn from them while telecasting the attack on Mumbai and crossed the Lakshmana Rekha,” he observes, calling for a self-regulation on the part of media.

Strange behaviour

Politics, they say, make strange bedfellows. Political alliances stump everyone. Today’s enemies hug each other and bury the hatchet. Enemy’s enemy becomes a friend. When TDP and Congress corporators almost came to blows at the GVMC’s budget meeting on Monday, tempers ran high. The TDP members walked out. After CPI(M) and CPI members also walked out, for sometime it looked like a one horse race. But when the TDP members returned to the meeting after a while, the Congress members were all smiles mocking them. It hardly looked like they lunged at one another a short while ago. The bitterness in the voice was gone. All was hunky dory and they were getting along like a house on fire before another comment by the TDP floor leader brought them to their feet again!

Real difference

For human resources experts, it does not matter how many people one engages to get a work done. As numbers do not matter, finally the output that they get with minimal investment and pricing makes the real difference.

To drive home this point while launching his company’s facility at Achtyutapuram Special Economic Zone, Uniparts India Limited CEO Herbert Coenen said: “Key is not how many horses are used. The key is how many are pulling.”

Nice way to explain a point!

(Prabhakkar Sharma, G.V. Prasada Sarma and Santosh Patnaik)