XLRI getting big heads together for `Conclave'

From The Hindu Business Line, Tuesday, October 26, 2004

`The idea is to bring together a wide range of interests, each represented by persons who are stalwarts in their chosen fields.'

Jamshedpur, Oct. 25: 'REUNITING India with Bharat' has been chosen as the theme for XLRI's latest initiative on connecting people, pithily called `Conclave' and billed as the first attempt of its kind by the Jamshedpur-based business school.

Opinion leaders of various hues, cutting across social and economic lines, have been invited to put their minds together with a view to creating what Fr Casimir Raj, Director of XLRI, thinks will emerge as `thinking planks' for policy-makers.

The target group includes such well-known personalities as Mr Anna Hazare, Mr M.S. Swaminathan, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Mr Deepak Parekh, Ms Amrita Patel and even the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram. Many others, including a few who are big names internationally, have been written to as well.

But why choose such a theme as a starting point? Why is there at all a need to fuse India with Bharat? The XLRI authorities respond to the question by simply referring to the divide that exists between the rich and the poor, the literate and the illiterate, urbanites and rural folks.

"We wanted to focus on a theme that is all-pervading, one that affects each of us in some way or other. India and Bharat are concepts that often divide some of us from the rest of our countrymen," indicates Fr Raj, who has recently taken over as the director. XLRI has even thought of involving overseas organisations such as UNIDO in the Conclave, he added.
The idea is to bring together a wide range of interests, each represented by persons who are stalwarts in their chosen fields. While there had been efforts at bonding with diverse interests earlier, the canvas is larger this time.

The immediate plan, however, is the publication of something akin to a position paper. XLRI hopes to host a Conclave every year at its sprawling campus, building each around a distinct theme. Read This Story On The Business Line Site.

Heavyweights to Converge at XLRI for IT Convention

• Kiran Karnik to deliver keynote address

• Major Industry giants like Microsoft, E&Y, Verizon and TATA to attend

• Confluence of end users and service providers

• Face-Off concept to solve the issues


XLRI Jamshedpur is holding the 6th Annual Convention on Information Technology called the National IT Seminar 2004 on 6-7 November this year. Organized by SOCRATES, the Systems Society of XLRI, the theme of convention, is "IT in Industry Verticals". Through this, NITS aims to bring forward the latest developments in information technology, their implications for business and the ways in which businesses can leverage these technologies to achieve competitiveness. The verticals which will be addressed include Banking and Financial Services, Organized Retail, Telecommunications, Manufacturing and Human Resources Horizontal.

The two day long event shall witness the presence of Mr. Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, who shall preside over the inaugural ceremony of the conference. Industry technical heads, users and consultants from Microsoft Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, ICICI Bank, Wipro, E&Y, Infosys, Verizon, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Patni Computer Systems, Hindustan Petroleum, Tata Steel, Cummins India and TRAI will also be part of the conference.

According to Gaurav Bhatnagar, Secretary, SOCRATES, The USP of this year is the Unique Face-Off concept. In a problem-solution format, speakers from both IT End Users and IT Solution Providers will collaborate to make a seamless presentation. One presents the problem that existed in her company or industry, the other presents a possible solution to this problem, leveraging IT. Speaker may also present both the problem faced (by a client) and the IT solution deployed. This will bring differing perspectives together, making each presentation relevant to every member present.

The convention will also bring together delegates from the industry, the academia and students from the premier B-schools and best of undergraduate colleges in the country to interact with each other during the two day long event. More details on participation and sponsorship can be obtained from Gaurav Bhatnagar at 9835367701 or from the NITS SITE

XLRI’s Flagship Annual 3-day Inter - B School Extravaganza, Ensemble begins on Oct 15

* Ensemble of over 20 events to be kicked off by Xquizzite To feature top bands, Zero and Pentagram

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XLRI Jamshedpur’s annual Inter B-School Extravaganza, Ensemble, is to be held from October 15 to 17. As usual, students from the finest Business Schools will come to be part of one of India’s biggest annual B-School extravaganzas. The festival has a series of events organized by various Committees on campus to test budding managers on various metrics.

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Ensemble will kick off with Xquizzite, the Quiz Show by popular quiz master, Santanu Chakrabarti. The event that has earlier been hosted by stalwarts including Siddhartha Basu and Parnab Mukherjee has traditionally gone for innovative formats and styles.

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The flagship event this year is Assembly Xtreme. A multi stage game, it is designed in a unique format that would test all skills that would be required of a general manager: functional skills such as Marketing, Finance, HR and Strategy; and soft skills including leadership and team work; the game expects one to be a leader and a team player simultaneously. The initial elimination stage of the game is already over and finalists have been decided: One team each have been selected from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, XLRI, NITIE Mumbai, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, MDI Gurgaon and IIT Kanpur.

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FINAX, XLRI’s Finance Club is conducting an online finance quiz PrashnaFin, which has already started as a precursor to Ensemble. FINAX also has Poonji– the unique Stock Market Game and Market Mayhem, a floor-trading game.

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The Strategy Association of XLRI, ASTERIX is organising B-Volve – the B-Plan Contest, while the Research Committee on Campus, BRIDGES is organizing L E K H – the biggest B-school paper writing contest in India. SAPPHIRE, the HR Society, will host a Live HR Case Study Contest, Xigency and Xactitude, a multi-stage game comprising changing scenarios and simulations.

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Fire@x (Forum for Industrial Relations at XLRI) is hosting India’s most prestigious IR case study, Xtracts. Xtreme Biz, a simulation game that combines the “edge-of-the-seat excitement of Finance with the nail-biting suspense of strategy and marketing” will be organized in toto by the Marketing Association, MAXI and FINAX.

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The DRAmatics and CULtural Association (DRACULA) of XLRI has lined up the high-decibel Amperage, the Rock Show. They promise to shake up Jamshedpur by bringing down two most popular rock bands in India, Zero and Pentagram.

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“The core idea behind Ensemble is to be forum for the convergence of the best minds in management from the academic and the corporate worlds. The entire series of events are designed with this single point agenda – to test the synergistic combination of multi-functional exposure and soft skills of participants. Ensemble is bigger than ever before this year in terms of events and prizes, and has evolved over the years to create a distinct identity of its own in the world of B-School events,” says B. Chandrakanth Pai, Coordinator, Ensemble and Student General Secretary of XLRI.

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The Hindu Business Line is the official Media Partner for Ensemble.

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Read Ensemble Unleashed, The Economic Times, Learning Curve, October 11, 2004

Visit the Ensemble Website

The Winners of Xpress

We are overwhelmed by the tremendous response to Xpress 2004 from Undergraduate Colleges across the Country. Thank you.

In spite of the technical glitches, the entries only kept getting better in terms of both quality and quantity. We appreciate your enthusiasm and effort in taking part and making this contest a grand success.

Do look forward to the Contest around September next year too. Mail exlink@xlri.ac.in around that time for more details. The Contest would be announced on the XLRI, Ensemble websites and this Web Log.

There were over 1200 teams in all.

The Winners (in no particular order) are,

Team 1:
Crescent Engineering College, Chennai
Vinodh Kumar V
Vijayaraghavan V
Pradeep Kumar M

Team 2:
Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Ranchi
Ashish Ranjan
Anshul Mohta
Santanu

Team 3:
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela
Anurag Mohanty
Preetpal Singh Sokhi

Team 4:
Syed Hashim College of Science and Technology, Hyderabad
Mohammed Aleemuddin
Mustaq
Niyati Rao

Team 5:
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Prem Raj Suman
Amit Rohatgi
Sourabh Kothari

WAITLISTED TEAMS
Complete details of Winners and Waitlisted Teams

The winners are requested to confirm their participation in Ensemble 2004 by E-Mail latest by Monday, October 11. A detailed E-mail is being sent to you.

Team Xpress also thanks the Media, which played a huge role in the success of the event. Our special thanks are due to our Media Partners, The Hindu Education Plus.

Do mail us your suggestions and comments on the Contest. They will help us in the game design next year. We thank you for your participation.

Team Xpress

XLRI beats shell-shocked IIM Calcutta in 33rd Annual Clash of two "traditions"

BACK TO NEWS... WHILE "XPRESS" CONTINUES IN FULL SWING

* The Only Sporting event of its kind in Indian B-School Circuit Concludes with Comprehensive win for XLRI by 13 - 8 margin

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* Congratulatory messages continue to stream in from Alumni across the Corporate world

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"This was supposed to be a cakewalk. What happened?" The IIM Calcutta Contingent was left shell-shocked after the two day battle for the coveted Tata Tinplate 33rd Annual XLRI - IIM Calcutta Trophy drew to a close. XLRI convincingly claimed the trophy by beating the IIMCians 13-8.

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"We knew we could win the trophy the moment we won the cricket match against all odds. In true India-Pakistan style, the match had a nail biting finish with XLRI having to score 3 runs in the final 2 balls, which attitude-wielding batsman, G. Harikrishnan wound up with a stylish 4 off the last ball," said a visibly charged Pradeep Mamak, Executive Member, Sports Committee. "The defining moment was winning the badminton match against them, which had Vijay Lancy, a player who represented India in the international arena."

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The campus was charged right from the moment the IIMCians landed at XLRI.

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It's 33 years. So, what are the plans for the future? Navinder Singh Dullat, Secretary, Sports Committee of XLRI elaborates: "Lots of spectator sports like swimming, water polo, long jump, high jump, etc. could be included but for the lack of training facilities. We lost out on those events like volleyball and tennis which we do not have facilities to practice regularly. XLRI stamped its authority on the meet by beating IIM C over the whole range of events, from intellectual sports like chess and bridge, to traditional physical sports like football, basketball and cricket. And this in spite of having a much smaller batch size and far fewer sports facilities than IIM C, thus proving that quality beats quantity."

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In true traditional style later that night, the two rivals put up a Rock Show and the Prize distribution ceremony was held with XLRI taking home trophy. The guests bid adieu to XLRI in the wee hours, extending invitations for the meet which is to happen next year at Kolkata, and promising to avenge the heavy defeat suffered this year. Awards were also given to the best sportsperson from both teams (Atul Mehta of IIMC and Vikram Dani of XLRI), based on their contribution throughout the meet.

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FROM ALUMNI
Once news of the comprehensive win spread among XLRI Alumni through the numerous Yahoo groups on Monday morning, there was widespread jubilation across corporate offices. Congratulatory messages continue to come in for the feat; in fact, alumni have also written demanding commemorative T Shirts as special souvenirs. Suffice to say how closely they identify with the meet. Read Full Story