Monday 6 August 2012

Report on
Interactive Session with Col. MB Ravindranath on the ‘Battle of Tololing’ to mark Kargil Vijay Divas
(26th July 2012, 2:30 pm, Room No. 911, Central Block)

To commemorate the 13th anniversary of India’s victory in the Kargil War, the Department of Political Science had organized an Interactive Session with Col. MB Ravindranath, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Rajputana Rifles at the time of the Battle of Tololing in 1999. Also present were the present Commanding Officer of the unit, Col. Narender Singh, and some of the men who had fought the war alongside Col. Ravindranath. The 2nd Battalion Rajputana Rifles enjoys the distinction of having received several decorations for bravery and national service, including 1 Param Vir Chakra, 1 Ashok Chakra, 10 Maha Vir Chakras, 8 Kirti Chakras, 41 Vir Chakras, 25 Shaurya Chakras, 112 Sena Medals, 36 Vishisht Seva Medals, 2 Yudh Seva Medals, 85 Mention-in-Dispatches and 55 Arjun Awards. Col. Ravindranath himself has been a recipient of the Vir Chakra.
Col. MB Ravindranath, at the outset of his address on the significance of the Battle of Tololing, provided students with a brief introduction to the structure of the Indian Army and the role of the Infantry therein. He then outlined the political conditions prevailing between India and Pakistan before the War, and then narrowed his focus to the method and objective of the Pakistani offense in Kargil. With useful maps, charts and videos displayed via powerpoint, he explained the tactics and line of attack adopted by Pakistan towards cordoning off National Highway 1D, Leh to Srinagar, to cut off and isolate Kashmir. It was in this context that 2nd Battalion Rajputana Rifles was brought in to repel the enemy attack.
Col. Ravindranath explained the difficulties and challenges that the Indian Army faced in the task of foiling the enemy attack. The greatest tactical disadvantage that our men faced was that whereas the enemy soldiers had stationed themselves at higher mountain altitudes, Indian soldiers had to attack from below, in a terrain devoid of any natural cover. Hence, the Indian army could move and attack only at night, when visibility was severely limited. Added to this was the fact that his unit was undermanned and underequipped at the time of the sudden summons to battle. Also, his men had to rapidly move from the plains to an altitude of 6000 feet with no time to acclimatize. The unit also lacked senior officers at the time; however this was compensated by the competence of the Jawans.

The first great challenge was for 200 men to carry 17 tonnes of ammunition to the higher altitude within 6 nights. This was imperative because in mountainous terrain, artillery can provide only peripheral support and the air force is rendered ineffective. Col. Ravindranath shared the story of Uttam Singh, a carpenter, who insisted on helping the men carry ammunition to the top despite suffering from night blindness; his example inspired and lifted the spirits of the entire battalion.

Col. Ravindranath then took the audience through each motion of strategy execution while they listened with rapt attention. He concluded by praising his soldiers whose indomitable spirit helped the under supplied battalion to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. During the vibrant audience interaction, he made an insightful remark when questioned about why India didn’t neutralize all enemy soldiers at Kargil: Quoting Sun Tzu he said, “An enemy must always be provided an escape route which serves as a distraction from his primary objective of combat. If the enemy knows that he can escape, only half his heart will be in the battle whereas the other half will be in the escape. If that escape route is denied to him, his entire focus will be drawn to the battle.” Hence, a battle is won not only physically, but also psychologically.


The session ended with concluding remarks by Col. Narender Singh, the present Commanding Officer of the Battalion. He stated that he was honoured to be holding the office previously commanded by Col. Ravindranath.  He then introduced to the audience each of his men who had fought at Kargil alongside Col. Ravindranath. The men were greeted by the audience with a standing ovation.

In response to a special request, the unit also kindly conceded to exhibit pictures that they had taken of the ground situation during the war, as well as the captured body-kit of an enemy soldier, including uniform, accessories, tools, arms and ammunition.


By Dept. of Political Science

Friday 3 August 2012

CUIM - Management Development Programme

Christ University Institute of Management hosted a Management Development Programme for the Executives of M/s Buhler India Pvt. Ltd., from 9thJuly-14th July 2012 at Kengeri Campus.


 
The topics covered for the MDP is as mentioned below:


Allotment of Topics


Sl. No.
Subject
Topics
No. of Sessions
Faculty Names
1
Basic Accounting
Journal Entries
1
Dr. Anirban Ghatak


Profit & Loss A/c
1
Prof. Shrikanth Rao


Balance Sheet
1
Prof. Shrikanth Rao
2
Marketing
Orientation towards General Marketing
1
Dr. S. Jeevananda


Sales & Distribution Management
1
Prof. Rahul Gupta


Consumer Behaviour & Branding
1
Prof. Bharathi S. Gopal
3
Organizational Behaviour
Managing Individual Differences, Perception & Personality
1
Prof. Anand Christopher


Attitude, Learning & Motivation
1
Prof. Anand Christopher
4
Business Communication
Importance of Oral & written communication
3
Prof. Rachana Mukherjee


Presentations of skills
Prof. Rachana Mukherjee
5
Operations Management
Operation Strategy & Competitiveness, Plan & Strategic use of resources
1
Prof. Sudhindra S.


Lean Operations, Seven Wastes & 5S
1
Prof. Sudhindra S.


Supply Chain Management, Total Quality Management & Logistics
1
Prof. Divakar G.M.
6
Systems
E-Business & MIS
1
Prof. Sirish V.


ERP & Knowledge Management
1
Prof. Sudhindra S. & Prof. Divakar G M
7
Leadership Simulation
Simulation game from Harvard Business Review (Mt. Everest)
2
Prof. Rahul Gupta
8
Managerial Economics
Relevance of Economic Indicators
1
Dr. Hemalatha
9
Case Method of Learning
Case methodology and art of understanding and solving the cases
2
Prof. Bharathi S. Gopal
10
Emotional Intelligence
Basics of EI. Importance and effectivesness in industry
1
Prof. Villas B. Annigeri
The sessions were held from 9 am to 4.30 pm on all the days. All the executives were given daily assignments and activities. The executives were provided with Boarding & Lodging within the campus.

National Conference on Case Studies - Kengeri Campus


Christ University’s first National Conference on Case Studies was held on July 27, 2012 at the Kengeri campus. The focus of the initiative was to inspire business school fraternity and business practitioners to develop teaching case studies. There are various types of case studies, amongst which teaching case studies focus on mapping the case study to the curriculum and emphasizing on the underlying concepts through the case study.

With these clear objectives, the process of inviting abstracts began early during the year. There were more than 30 abstracts received, out of which 22 abstracts were approved. Twenty full case studies were received and fourteen were selected for the presentation in the conference by the review panel.

Dr. Dinesh Uday Kumar Lighting the Lamp and Inaugurating the Event.
Most of the case authors who presented their case studies were first-time authors. The case studies presented were based on consulting work and real experiences. There were also case studies based on primary and secondary data. The case studies presented covered various topics under the broad areas of Human Resources, Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing, Information Technology and E-business and Entrepreneurship. 

All the case studies were assessed in two rounds. The first round focused on the technicalities of a case study along with key areas like theme and logical flow of presentation. The second round was the presentation round that focused in-depth on the theme, logical flow, data sufficiency and mapping the case to the curriculum. A different panel of judges was chosen for the final presentation. On July 27, the conference was inaugurated by Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Chairperson –Research and Publications and CDOCTA, IIM, Bangalore. Dr. Dinesh’s key note address very clearly emphasized on the takeaways for faculty in developing case studies. 

Prof. Bharathi S Gopal, Event Co-ordinator along with the Chief Guest.
Dr. Jeevananda S, Campus Co-ordinator a
t the Valedictory Function.
Dr. Harish & Mr. S G Rajashekaran 
Judging the Ev
The first prize was won by AbhaSadhana and SimranSadhana, IILM, Delhi for their case study, ‘Lama-A caravan of success’, while the second prize was bagged by Dr. Harold Patrick and Deepak Sharma for their case study, ‘Managing aspirations: Challenges and Strategies’. 

All the participants gave an encouraging feedback that the entire process of developing case study was a great learning. The feedback was also positive with regards to hospitality, food and other aspects. The participants look forward to a continuing association with CUIM in their journey to develop good case studies.

Bharathi S. Gopal,
Event Coordinator, CUIM

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