XL London Get-Together Pics - thanks too!!

well, well... what a day/evening it was!!

thanks to Reena and Arun (please dont miss their pics - 1st and the last one:)... and to Garima, Saurabh, Sharky, Bpaditya... and to all who could make it to the get-together.

For those who missed (and also for those who were there), I have uploaded the pics (about 100+ of them - the "trigger-happy" me :) at:

http://xlers.blogspot.com/2009/03/xl-get-together-london-march-28th-09.html

or

http://xlers.blogspot.com/

pretty heady experience, really - came back quite rejuvenated... (ya, tired too! ;)

ciao

madhukar

Making a difference in Orissa

Dear Friends and Family:

The recent communal violence in Orissa has been particularly bloody.

Three thousand people are still too insecure to return to their burnt out villages and are still residing in camps..

Many of us know Fr Mc Grath and the band of Jesuits there personally.Outlined below is their peace initiative--for all communities--with no strings attached.

Contributions to them are tax exempt and Fr Tony will make sure you get your receipt.Their accounts are transparent and most of your money will reach the intended recipient.

Your DD's,or cheques/money orders, should be in the name of "CENDERET- XIM Bhubaneshwar", payable at Bhubaneshwar.

Peace ,

David
76BMD

Dear David,

Peace!

We, the Jesuits operate under a secular banner "Orissa Citizens' Initiative. We have initiated community-based peace building process in Mundigodo gram panchayat in Tumudibandha block. In this GP three villages were affected in the recent violence and two people were murdered. Though the quantum of damage, while comparing with other blocks like Raikia, G Udayagiri, Tikabali, Phiringia is less, - Tumudibandha being close to Jalespata, where the ashram of Swami Laxmanananda located - there is constant fear among the people in this block. In fact we had to make a choice between whether to get into a high tension area, which is still not possible, or start from less tense area where some peace building could be initiated.

We have done the assessment of 13 revenue villages in Mundigodo panchayat and the assessment is being processed. Already we have initiated medical camps and non-competitive games in four schools. Soon after the elections, due for 16 April, we will be getting involved in a systematic manner in these villages. Our aim is to build mutual trust and confidence among the Adivasis and the Dalits across religions and slowly build peace in the communities. To start with, we will be taking up medical interventions mainly to control communicable diseases like malaria and water-borne diseases, and school-based activities. Slowly we would take up village development works by accessing available government schemes by formation of women and men's groups and introducing income generation programmes.

Soon we also plan to enter into the adjacent Kotagarh panchayat where more than 7 villages were affected. The works are carried out from Tumudibandha proper. There is a Jesuit involved full time and he works in collaboration with a local NGO.

In this summer, we will be training 40 boys in driving, and 60 girls (12^th std appeared or pass) in computer and spoken english training for a month. We have plans to offer 6-month skill training for both boys and girls.

Where could your support and solidatity come in as of now? The following are the possibilities:

1. In providing uniform to 650 boys and girls in 13 revenue villages in Mundigodo GP (from 1^st standard to 8^th standard) on an average of Rs 200 per child.
2. To buy books for the same 650 children in the coming academic year on an average of Rs 200 per child.
3. Once we expand the works in Kotagorah Block, we expect and will fulfil similar needs.
4. You could support boys who will be taking up driving, or girls who will undergo spoken english and computer education. (driving per boy Rs 3,000 per month, and computer and spoken english Rs 4,000 per girl per month. This includes board & lodge and course expenses too)
5. To support deserving families for income generation programmes. This will be carried out through a revolving fund scheme.

We will constantly update you with the field report, as to how the people are benefiting by your support and by our interventions.

Gratefully,

--
S. Tony Raj, SJ

Coordinator
Orissa Citizens' Initiative
58 Forest Park
Bhubaneswar - 751 009

28 Mar : Bangalore observes Earth Hour

2,712 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.

8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009

You may have heard about Earth Hour or seen an advertisement or hoarding in Bangalore city. Some of my friends in Bangalore have been actively promoting Earth Hour - a huge global campaign to spread awareness about global warming and climate change.

If you want to be a part of this campaign, all you need to do is switch off your lights this Sat (Mar 28) from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM.

Some huge organizations in India are joining this campaign, the RBI, AIR (yes, govt bodies!), ING Vysya Bank, HSBC Bank, HP, Wipro, Intel, Infosys, Google, and TPI.

Even better, get your friends and families to switch off their lights too. There’s a whole bunch of activities and resources that you can get on this from www.frogg.in.

If you would like to take it a step further, you can join the candle campaign at Forum mall at 8:30pm on Saturday. Thanks to the efforts of passionate individuals like Kuruvilla Kurian and Sonalee Panda, even Brigade Road Association and Forum Mall have agreed to observe Earth Hour and turn lights out for a whole hour on Saturday. They have also signed up Anil Kumble to help them promote the cause in Bangalore. (

More details on Earth Hour, can be seen on :

http://www.earthhour.org/home/
http://www.earthhour.in/
http://www.frogg.in/

Join the Fan Group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59682824420

Show your commitment to the environment. Save our planet!

XLRI achieves 100% placement

From Business Standard

XLRI School of Business & Human Resources, Jamshedpur (XLRI Jamshedpur), has completed its final placement procedure with all its 180 students getting placed.

The highest salary offered this year was Rs 22 lakh, while the highest international offer this year was $110,000. Around 76 companies visited the campus this year and made 193 offers to a batch of 180 students. The average domestic salary package offered this year was Rs 12.12 lakh per annum.

This year companies were conservative in terms of pre-placement offers (PPOs), with 30 PPOs being offered. Around eight students ventured with their own niche business plans.

Last year, 57 companies came to campus and made 298 offers to a batch of 180 students. The average domestic offer last year was Rs 14.75 lakh and the highest domestic offer was Rs 28 lakh. Around 12 international offers were made with an average of $90,000, while the highest was $100,000.

Despite news about job cuts, recruitments in human resources continued in the consulting, FMCG and finance sector for international banks and group companies alike. Various specialised roles were offered, such as the one by global pharmaceuticals major, Novartis, offering its HR leadership role at Basel, Switzerland, exclusively to XLRI, making the highest international offer of $110,000.

XLRI’s commitment to promoting and fostering entrepreneurship received a boost this year. With the introduction of deferred placements for students starting out on their own, XLRI established a new legacy in promoting nation builders. This year saw the launch of three startups. Also, one student signed out with deferred placements.

XLRI recently raised close to Rs 14 lakh from its alumni network and other donations towards its XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust. The Singapore chapter has also generated close to SGD 5,000. This would go towards the seed fund reserved for student entrepreneurs.

Notwithstanding the financial crisis, XLRI maintained its stand as a premier finance destination with 30 per cent of the total offers coming from the financial sector. Offers were received in investment banking, treasury, corporate finance, commercial banking and insurance. The domestic investment banks were led by Centrum and SBI Capital. Banks such as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda offered roles in their treasury and foreign exchange desks as well as their corporate and retail banking functions.

The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recruited from XLRI for the first time, while roles in trading were offered by Futures First. The insurance sector recruited in their product development and distribution functions. Firms such as Bharti AXA, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard and ICICI Prudential offered product structuring roles to students. Corporate finance roles were offered by the likes of Pepsi, L&T, Tata Steel, among others.

XLRI Alumni (98) Ministhy vs. Mulayam

Ministhy Dileep (XLRI 98 batch) the current District Magistrate and Returning Officer of Mainpuri, UP has been publicly threatend by SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav for cancelling SP workers’ illegal gun licences.

We support Ministhy for her conscientious and brave effort to enforce the law and ensure free and fair elections.

Join the Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=63935026827

Read the Reports on :
CNN IBN
GG's Blog
Express India

XL Get-Together in London (March 28th, 2009)

Hello Folks!

some of "us" - actually about 30 of us (list below)- are meeting in London on 28th March evening for an XL get-together.

So if you are around - or know someone any XLer, who is around - please ask him/her to connect with - and join in! :

Reena Dayal (93PMIR)

and/or

Garima Garg (01PMIR)

ciao

madhukar

ps: "us" means that I am also gate-crashing :0))

Confirmed List:

Mrs and Mr Ashok Aranha (1972 BM)
Vikas Garg and Ria George
Gaurav Singh 1991 BM
Prateep Sen 1992 BM
Sumeet (1993 PM) and Shefali Salwan (1993 PM)
Reena (1993 PM) and Arun
Sameer Devgan (1995 BM)
Dhritman Mukherjee (1996 BM)
Badri (1997 PM), Prerana (1997 PM), Madhav and Sharanya
Amit Banthiya (1997 BM)
Suraj (1997 BM) and Menka (1997 PM)
Bappaditya Basu (1997 PM)
Ganesh Iyer (1998)
Rhia Mukherjee (2001 BM)
Garima (2001 PM), Nikhil and Arhan
Akita (2001 BM) and Shashi Lakhotia
Shariq (2001 BM)
Abhijit (2002 BM) and Shashwati Deb
Smriti Sinha (2002 BM)
Maryann (2002 PM) and Shailesh (2002 PM)
Gaurav Gooptu (2003 BM)
Nidhi Kajaria (2003 PM)
Debasri Ghosh (2003 BM)
Divya (2005 PM) and Aditya
Dinesh Daddala (2005 BM)
Abhishek Pandey (2007 GMP)

XLRI Aims for Global Accreditation

From The Telegraph

B-school aims for global tag

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jamshedpur, March 18: In a quest to match global standards, XLRI is inching towards an international accreditation. The B-school has applied to the Association of Management Development Institutes in South Asia for getting the South Asian Quality Assurance System (SAQS) accreditation. A four-member team from the association visited the B-school campus today to carry out an assessment. SAQS is the South Asian system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration. SAQS is the quality assurance scheme as a service to management education worldwide. Its fundamental objective is to raise the quality and standard of management education. A four-member peer review team, comprising A.H. Kalro, the former director of IIM, Kozhikode, and executive director of AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad; Abdul Mannam, a professor of School of Business Administration, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh; C.S. Venkataratnam, the director of International Management Institute, New Delhi; and C.D. Kamath, the managing director of Tata Refractories Ltd, visited the campus from March 16-18. The team will submit their report to the association and results are expected in April. This is the first international accreditation that XLRI has applied for. With more tie-ups with international business schools across the world, international accreditation will help the B-school. A global accreditation can help B-schools notch up global placements, get potential international recruiters, add to its student exchange programmes and recruit internationally-qualified faculty. The tag will also help the B-school to apply for further international accreditation like European Quality Improvement System and the Association of Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business.