When the Indian premier Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Japan to meet George Bush and other G-8 leaders to chalk out a plan for the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, what did the GMPians do ? They visited UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Limited). If anyone thought this to be a coincidence, then they are wrong. A visit to UCIL was planned long before the honorable Prime Minister decided to join the G-8 summit at Japan.
As a part of industry-institute interaction, students of the one year General Management Program at XLRI had a planned visit to the Uranium mines of UCIL at Narwapahar, some 28 km from Jamshedpur on 11 July 2008. The session started with a brief introduction about UCIL, how the organization is at the forefront of Indian Nuclear program and how the safety of the miners is given a top priority. It was followed by a half an hour video on how Narwapahar mines are at the forefront of technology. It is one of the most modern trackless mine's in the country with a decline (7 degrees) to underground and ramp accesses to the slopes. The use of large diesel powered underground equipment results in high productivity, eliminating fatigue of workmen and provides good working environment. Respirators, ear-muffs, safety goggles are used by workers as protection against harmful exposures. Rubber aprons, gloves, helmets and gumboots are used by persons handling toxic materials and final product. Noise levels of different machinery are reduced by many engineering control measures. The presence of students who had significant work experience (greater than 5 years) at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited made the discussion livelier. It was however sad to note that India is not blessed with sufficient Uranium and that the percentage of Uranium in the ore is only 0.065% approximately compared to close to 16% in mines of France and Canada.
This video session was followed by a visit to the Uranium mines. The visitors were given adequate protective gears which included knee-high rubber shoes, helmets and battery operated torches. They were led by an instructor who was very keen to answer the numerous questions raised by the enthusiastic crowd. After descending down with the help of a cage, the first destination was at 295 m below the surface of the earth. The students were fascinated to see the tunnels and the illumination and the safety features present in the mines. There were heavy vehicles carrying ores and debris from one part of the mine to another. The instructor explained how the ore is transported for refinement from one point to another.
The next point was at 350 m below the surface. At this point, there were unmanned conveyor belts collecting the ore and transporting it to the crushing unit. After three stages of crushing, the ore undergoes two stages of wet grinding. The slurry thus obtained in then leached for dissolution of Uranium. The leached slurry is filtered to obtain liquid Uranium. The liquid is then precipitated from the concentrated liquor to form Magnesium Di-Uranate or “Yellow Cake”. This is the final product of Narwapahar mines. The students were awestruck by the fact that most of the operations were automated and that all these run smoothly many meters below the surface of the earth.
The questions still followed. They ranged from Supply Chain Management, process control, maintaining high morale among the miners, Corporate Social Responsibility, safety of miners and the people who live in the nearby villages from radioactivity and so on. The students left the UCIL campus with a feeling that India would become a self reliant Nuclear power some day.
Contributed By: Prijit
7.16.2008
7.11.2008
XLRI GMPians meet social entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurship is not the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about MBA grads, more so when they are pursuing a 1-year MBA. But the General Management Program at XLRI once again lived up to its promise of holistic learning and gave the students an opportunity to interact with Mr. Pradeep Ghosh.
An Ashoka Fellowship holder, Mr. Ghosh, is a social innovator, who is involved with a unique "social credit system" initiative for the villages of Maharashtra.
Last week, the students of the GMP Program at XLRI, got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Ghosh. In an hour long discussion, Mr. Ghosh explained how a social credit system can act as a social security system in villages in India. In any developed nation, social security system is based on the income of people. Mr. Ghosh's idea is unique on the context that his social security system (piloted by the Governments of MP and Maharashtra) is based not on people's income but on people's expenditure.
Mr. Ghosh, during the discussion, kept the audience enthralled with the nuances of the social credit system and how it has been functioning smoothly in the villages of MP.
Among the other topics discussed, was that of a 'Museum School'. This unique initiative involves the use of “museums” to teach the slum kids.
-------------------
About Mr. Pradeep Ghosh:
Pradeep is an Ashoka Fellow, and the founder of Bhopal-based OASiS
http://www.ashoka.org/node/2581
His main work has been in the area of Micro-Insurance, and has developed a consumption-based model for micro-insurance, which is being piloted by Govts of MP and Maharashtra
An IT professional who switched to social entrepreneurship, he is essentially a social innovator, and there are many other initiatives, e.g.,
"Museum School" for slum kids, "social credit system" etc., which he has initiated. Some articles on his work can be accessed here:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/17spend.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/14insure.htm
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&autono=317915
Contributed By: Prijit
An Ashoka Fellowship holder, Mr. Ghosh, is a social innovator, who is involved with a unique "social credit system" initiative for the villages of Maharashtra.
Last week, the students of the GMP Program at XLRI, got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Ghosh. In an hour long discussion, Mr. Ghosh explained how a social credit system can act as a social security system in villages in India. In any developed nation, social security system is based on the income of people. Mr. Ghosh's idea is unique on the context that his social security system (piloted by the Governments of MP and Maharashtra) is based not on people's income but on people's expenditure.
Mr. Ghosh, during the discussion, kept the audience enthralled with the nuances of the social credit system and how it has been functioning smoothly in the villages of MP.
Among the other topics discussed, was that of a 'Museum School'. This unique initiative involves the use of “museums” to teach the slum kids.
-------------------
About Mr. Pradeep Ghosh:
Pradeep is an Ashoka Fellow, and the founder of Bhopal-based OASiS
http://www.ashoka.org/node/2581
His main work has been in the area of Micro-Insurance, and has developed a consumption-based model for micro-insurance, which is being piloted by Govts of MP and Maharashtra
An IT professional who switched to social entrepreneurship, he is essentially a social innovator, and there are many other initiatives, e.g.,
"Museum School" for slum kids, "social credit system" etc., which he has initiated. Some articles on his work can be accessed here:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/17spend.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/14insure.htm
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&autono=317915
Contributed By: Prijit
6.28.2008
GMPians rubbing shoulders with Defence Professionals
We are just 2 weeks into the course and all were already looking up for the welcome break. This in itself speaks volumes about how quickly a one year course can get onto your nerves. However I guess all of us are seasoned players and have seen worst days in our lives and have fought our own battles before coming to this place. This is what makes this group so special. We had a cocktail party with the graduates of Executive Management Programme for defense officer. It was nice to see all the gentlemen and the ladies dressed in their best attires especially not under any compulsion (phun intended!!). The evening started with clanking of the glasses and popping of the cork, with each one indulging into their choicest kind of drinks available on the house. It was nice to see the liveliness in the batch and the group dynamism already working at its best. Everyone busy networking and making friend. All had found their own clicks, some were busy rubbing shoulders with the strong and elite class of professional from the Indian Defense Forces while others chose to interact with faculty members and get more insights into the vision of XLRI and then their were some who chose to just drink !!! The icing on the cake came when someone broke the news that one particular lecture for tomorrow has been cancelled. For obvious reasons the drinks counter experienced a sudden rush post that moment. The evening ended on a high note with everyone looking relaxed and happy.
Contributed By : Varun
6.23.2008
The beginning...
Light symbolizes wisdom, dispelling the darkness of ignorance. As the lamp was lit in the prayer service for the beginning of the academic year 2008 at XLRI, Jamshedpur; I could sense that Light permeating through each and every Student present in the TATA auditorium, and giving each individual the inner strength and motivation to achieve his/her goals.
As the words and the music of the bhajans seeped into us, every one of us was disposed to listen to the words of wisdom:
As the choir sang:
Sharanam Sharanam (4) Preethi Swarupane sharanam,
Divya Jothiye Sharanam; Karuna murthiye Sharanam,
Jeeva Dathane Sharanam; Divya Tejane Sharanam
Shanti Datane Sharanam
Which translates to:
You are our refuge, you who are love personified,
you who are divine light;You who are mercy itself,
You who are life; You who are holy light,
You who are peace itself,
You are our refuge
A particular reading taken from the Rig Veda was very profound and held the audience spellbound by the sheer amount of learning, humility and God's wonderful creativity, that one can comprehend from each of the stanzas:
There then was neither Aught nor Nought,
No air nor sky beyond.
What Covered all? Where rested all?
In watery gulf profound?
Nor death was there nor deathlessness,
Nor change of Night and day.
That one breathed calmly, self sustained:
Nor else beyond it lay.
Within it first arose desire,
The primal germ of mind,
Which nothing with existence links,
As sages searching find.
Who Knows, whoe'er hath told, from whence
This vast creation arose?
Whence sprang this world, and whether framed
By hand divine or no, its lord in heaven alone can tell!
As I was pulled deep into the complex quagmires of intellectual thoughts, I just sat there absorbing each and every word that was uttered, and trying to put things in context, It was not that difficult to comprehend after all. After a few minutes of silent reflection, the choir began to sing one of Tagore's Gems: A Hymn called 'Silent Steps': It Goes Like this:
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
Many a song have I sung, in many a mood of mind,
But all their notes have always proclaimed,
"He comes, comes, ever comes"!
In the fragrant days of Sunny april, through the forest path,
He comes , comes ever comes !
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
The gist of the prayers delivered by the choir made one thing crystal clear: Each GMP student is here so that he may obtain true wisdom that leads to happiness, that he may have good health to earnestly pursue his goals, that he may trust in the guidance of the teachers, that his words come out from the depth of truth, that he may tirelessly strive and stretch his arms towards excellence, that his mind may be led forward into ever widening Knowledge and Integrity.
With such a divine and stimulating start to our educational career, I'm sure each XLRI GMP'ian 2008-09 is destined to reach for the stars and beyond....
May the God of all Knowledge and Love Who brought us all here walk with all of us during our stay at XLRI.
As the words and the music of the bhajans seeped into us, every one of us was disposed to listen to the words of wisdom:
As the choir sang:
Sharanam Sharanam (4) Preethi Swarupane sharanam,
Divya Jothiye Sharanam; Karuna murthiye Sharanam,
Jeeva Dathane Sharanam; Divya Tejane Sharanam
Shanti Datane Sharanam
Which translates to:
You are our refuge, you who are love personified,
you who are divine light;You who are mercy itself,
You who are life; You who are holy light,
You who are peace itself,
You are our refuge
A particular reading taken from the Rig Veda was very profound and held the audience spellbound by the sheer amount of learning, humility and God's wonderful creativity, that one can comprehend from each of the stanzas:
There then was neither Aught nor Nought,
No air nor sky beyond.
What Covered all? Where rested all?
In watery gulf profound?
Nor death was there nor deathlessness,
Nor change of Night and day.
That one breathed calmly, self sustained:
Nor else beyond it lay.
Within it first arose desire,
The primal germ of mind,
Which nothing with existence links,
As sages searching find.
Who Knows, whoe'er hath told, from whence
This vast creation arose?
Whence sprang this world, and whether framed
By hand divine or no, its lord in heaven alone can tell!
As I was pulled deep into the complex quagmires of intellectual thoughts, I just sat there absorbing each and every word that was uttered, and trying to put things in context, It was not that difficult to comprehend after all. After a few minutes of silent reflection, the choir began to sing one of Tagore's Gems: A Hymn called 'Silent Steps': It Goes Like this:
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
Many a song have I sung, in many a mood of mind,
But all their notes have always proclaimed,
"He comes, comes, ever comes"!
In the fragrant days of Sunny april, through the forest path,
He comes , comes ever comes !
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
The gist of the prayers delivered by the choir made one thing crystal clear: Each GMP student is here so that he may obtain true wisdom that leads to happiness, that he may have good health to earnestly pursue his goals, that he may trust in the guidance of the teachers, that his words come out from the depth of truth, that he may tirelessly strive and stretch his arms towards excellence, that his mind may be led forward into ever widening Knowledge and Integrity.
With such a divine and stimulating start to our educational career, I'm sure each XLRI GMP'ian 2008-09 is destined to reach for the stars and beyond....
May the God of all Knowledge and Love Who brought us all here walk with all of us during our stay at XLRI.
Contributed By: Sairam
6.18.2008
GMP 2008-09 : Batch Profile
Now that we are almost into the middle of the first week of the session, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you all the profile of our batch.
XLRI has always attracted bright students and this year has been no different. The strength of the batch was raised to 100 taking into consideration the demand of the industry. It is a no brainer that the in Management programs, any institute gives a lot of attention to batch diversity. This is all the more important for an one year program where P2P (peer-to-peer) learning is as important as learnings in the class. XLRI's GMP 2008-09 batch has not disappointed in this aspect. Since the minimum experience is 5 years and there are a lot of candidates with 9-10 years of work experience, there is a lot of experience and learning brought to the table. This year the selectivity for the GMP programme about 2.5% which places this program as among the most selective in the world - the average GMAT score is close to 700 which again makes the program very competetive - international work experience of the batch at 2.5 years and last but not the least, the average work experience of the batch is about 7.5 years !!!!
I cannot but emphasize on the importance of P2P learning here at XLRI. This is very much prevalent here inasmuch that the first 'case' given to the batch was from a real-life experience of a gentleman on duty in a cargo ship. What's more, the exercise was given on the second day of the session!!
Let us now come to the batch profile. As is so prevalent in most of the B-Schools in India, the IT guys rule the roost. Yours Truly also happens to be one of them. But the monotony ends there. There are students from sectors like Banking , Shipping, Textiles, Fashion, Education, Power , Energy, Aeronautics, Telecom, Finance, Retail and so on. There is also a good mix of people coming from the PSUs. It is also heartening to note that we also have an ex-Army man and an ex-lecturer in zoology amongst us.
I hope we will learn from each other both inside and outside the class.
NB: This is an unofficial post. The official batch profile will be released by the institute shortly.
XLRI has always attracted bright students and this year has been no different. The strength of the batch was raised to 100 taking into consideration the demand of the industry. It is a no brainer that the in Management programs, any institute gives a lot of attention to batch diversity. This is all the more important for an one year program where P2P (peer-to-peer) learning is as important as learnings in the class. XLRI's GMP 2008-09 batch has not disappointed in this aspect. Since the minimum experience is 5 years and there are a lot of candidates with 9-10 years of work experience, there is a lot of experience and learning brought to the table. This year the selectivity for the GMP programme about 2.5% which places this program as among the most selective in the world - the average GMAT score is close to 700 which again makes the program very competetive - international work experience of the batch at 2.5 years and last but not the least, the average work experience of the batch is about 7.5 years !!!!
I cannot but emphasize on the importance of P2P learning here at XLRI. This is very much prevalent here inasmuch that the first 'case' given to the batch was from a real-life experience of a gentleman on duty in a cargo ship. What's more, the exercise was given on the second day of the session!!
Let us now come to the batch profile. As is so prevalent in most of the B-Schools in India, the IT guys rule the roost. Yours Truly also happens to be one of them. But the monotony ends there. There are students from sectors like Banking , Shipping, Textiles, Fashion, Education, Power , Energy, Aeronautics, Telecom, Finance, Retail and so on. There is also a good mix of people coming from the PSUs. It is also heartening to note that we also have an ex-Army man and an ex-lecturer in zoology amongst us.
I hope we will learn from each other both inside and outside the class.
NB: This is an unofficial post. The official batch profile will be released by the institute shortly.
6.17.2008
Of XL and Finetune!!!!
I am having an amazing experience here and am sure that the same feeling will be shared with all my GMP batchmates - the first few days in XL have been eye-opening for most of us - The professors here are some of the most passionate and excellent teachers I have ever come across. It really is most important to not compromise on the quality of one's education - its worth waiting a while than going for some other option - I always believed in this and now I can see the wisdom of my own words!!!!!
On Another unrelated note , I listen to online radio stations over the internet a lot - however discovered that pandora has been blocked in India due to licensing issues - stumbled upon finetune.com and it seems to be an even better site for playing online music. You can create a playlist of upto 45 songs in a playlist and save it for future listening!!!! Amazing to say the least....... My XL days are taken care of - with the best education, a great peer learning experience and great music to go alongwith it !!!
-Abhishek
On Another unrelated note , I listen to online radio stations over the internet a lot - however discovered that pandora has been blocked in India due to licensing issues - stumbled upon finetune.com and it seems to be an even better site for playing online music. You can create a playlist of upto 45 songs in a playlist and save it for future listening!!!! Amazing to say the least....... My XL days are taken care of - with the best education, a great peer learning experience and great music to go alongwith it !!!
-Abhishek
4.09.2008
XLRI GMP Placements 2008
XLRI General Management Program (GMP), one year full time management program, has concluded a successful season of placements for its 2008 batch. The batch has been offered plum roles - like AVP-Finance, Director, Associate Director, AGM Operations,
Chief Manager, Managing Consultant, Strategic Account Manager, Client Solutions Manager, etc. - clearly highlighting the potential of the participants to don middle and senior management roles. Also placements helped 30% of the batch change sectors where students had prior work experience. One participant opted out of the process to start his own entrepreneurial venture.
The process attracted 54 companies, as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary of individual offers stood at INR 17.8 Lakhs (an increase of close to 20% from previous year), while the highest domestic offer was INR 33.8 Lakhs and the average of international offers was USD 130,000 (an increase of 30%). Sponsored candidates have also got elevated roles and middle/senior management responsibilities from their parent companies.
The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as Banking, Energy, IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Steel, Real Estate and Telecom. Arcelor Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters of the batch. Few of the consulting companies that participated are Mckinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitment. IT/ITES majors like HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware, and Genpact participated.
"With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.
The placement season was held during 2nd week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur. The process was aimed at offering flexibility to the students and recruiters to find the right fit, as the participants were potential middle and senior management candidates with experience ranging from 5.5 to 15 years, with the average pegged at 7.5 years. Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion introduced in the curriculum from this year. From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to include various options for students, with the tie-ups that XLRI has with major universities across the globe. XLRI has plans to increase the student intake from the next batch, due to high response from industry.
Chief Manager, Managing Consultant, Strategic Account Manager, Client Solutions Manager, etc. - clearly highlighting the potential of the participants to don middle and senior management roles. Also placements helped 30% of the batch change sectors where students had prior work experience. One participant opted out of the process to start his own entrepreneurial venture.
The process attracted 54 companies, as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary of individual offers stood at INR 17.8 Lakhs (an increase of close to 20% from previous year), while the highest domestic offer was INR 33.8 Lakhs and the average of international offers was USD 130,000 (an increase of 30%). Sponsored candidates have also got elevated roles and middle/senior management responsibilities from their parent companies.
The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as Banking, Energy, IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Steel, Real Estate and Telecom. Arcelor Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters of the batch. Few of the consulting companies that participated are Mckinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitment. IT/ITES majors like HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware, and Genpact participated.
"With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.
The placement season was held during 2nd week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur. The process was aimed at offering flexibility to the students and recruiters to find the right fit, as the participants were potential middle and senior management candidates with experience ranging from 5.5 to 15 years, with the average pegged at 7.5 years. Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion introduced in the curriculum from this year. From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to include various options for students, with the tie-ups that XLRI has with major universities across the globe. XLRI has plans to increase the student intake from the next batch, due to high response from industry.
3.30.2008
Journey @ XLRI-GMP.
Welcome to XLRI-GMP collaborative blog. This blog links to other bloggers from the class of 08-09 as well to the alumni. Provides a snapshot of the GMP "X"perience.
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