Whose IDEA is it?

The Absolut Vodka commercial was released earlier, from which the Apollo Munich commercial has borrowed heavily. Below are the two commercials.

Indeed a brilliant idea for the promotion of both the brands. Even their commercials are named the same "Anthem". And yet both the products are at the either ends of spectrum. Each helping the consumers /customers to go to the other...

Absolut tvc a true brilliance for creativity.



Apollo Munich has gone forward for brand upgrade from Apollo DKV. They wanted to remake their image, focussing over the "Uncomplicated" policies with less of "Jargons". The Absolut tvc was utilised to the fullest for this purpose.

Good use of plastic. Kudos!!

A Swedish entrepreneur is planning to mass produce Peepoo, a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet, which may help millions of urban slum dwellers in developing countries like India

The bag, which is currently undergoing field trials in India and Kenya, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm. Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertiliser, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.

"Not only is it sanitary, they can reuse this to grow crops," Wilhelmson was quoted as saying by The New York Times. According to Wilhelmson, he has drawn inspiration to design the biodegradable toilet from Kenyan slum dwellers, who collect their excrement in a plastic bag and dispose of it by flinging it, calling it a "flyaway toilet" or a "helicopter toilet".

"People will say, it's valuable to me, but well priced," said the Swedish entrepreneur who has patented the bag and is confident that the bag will turn a profit. He plans to sell the bag for about 2 or 3 cents -- comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag. According to United Nations figures, an estimated 2.6 billion people in the developing world, or about 40 percent of the earth's population, do not have access to a toilet.

It also estimated that 1.5 million children worldwide die from diarrhea every year due to of poor sanitation and hygiene, which is largely because of open defecation of waste that contaminates drinking water.            

One of the UN Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000, is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation, but so far progress has been minimal. With that in mind, Swedish Peepoople created the Peepoo bag to serve as a personal, portable and low-cost latrine for all the many people who don’t have one. Designed for use sitting, squatting or standing, the single-use, biodegradable plastic bag measures 14 by 38 cm and is lined with a urea-coated gauze layer that disinfects all waste. Used bags are odour-free for at least 24 hours and are safe for burial underground. Within two to four weeks after use, however, their contents get converted to high-quality fertiliser—something that’s also rare in many areas and so could become a source of income and further enrichment for an individual or village. Following field tests last year in Kenya and India, the Peepoo bag is scheduled to begin production this summer.

Sourced from here and here

Image contribution here

Indian Missile Claims

Beijing's dismissal of the DRDO's claims that its missile technology is superior to that of China might provoke knee-jerk patriotism in Delhi. But no one in the world disputes that China is way ahead of India in missilery and military uses of space.

By transferring missiles and their production technology, China has also put Pakistan ahead of India. Instead of acknowledging the reality and redoubling the effort to catch up, the DRDO is making extravagant claims. Take, for example, its head V.K. Saraswat's claim that the Agni-III, with its 3000 km range, is ready for "induction" by the services.

A weapons system inducted after just four tests including one failure? This is the kind of sanctimonious self-congratulation that the DRDO has doled out for decades. Because they wrap themselves in the flag, we are not supposed to ask questions, only clap. Saraswat has claimed that "there is no need to produce and store missiles in today's world". Really? China has more than 1000 missiles pointed at Taiwan; and is producing and deploying missiles in scores every year.

This could be ignored but for the fact that it has begun to create diplomatic problems for India. Take the claim that India is developing anti-satellite weapons. Here he is talking about a weapon system that does not exist; and the Chinese have conducted ASAT weapon tests in 2007 and 2010 without making any claims in advance. Did he have the political clearance to say this?

Did he consult the foreign office which is campaigning in Geneva against an "arms race" in outer space? Even bolder is talk of targets for Agni-III in China and Pakistan. Since when has it become the DRDO's responsibility to decide on nuclear targeting? One had assumed that was the job of the nuclear command authority under the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the ministry of defence appears to have no oversight of the DRDO and the minister, A.K. Antony, seems out of the loop. Speaking at a conference in Delhi last week, Antony thundered against the "militarisation of space". Has anyone informed the poor minister that space has been "militarised" for decades? The international debate today is about deploying weapons in space.

While the minister of defence makes banal statements, his scientific adviser is boasting about space weapons. Why Delhi, which claims to be a responsible nuclear power, allows this dangerous drift at the MOD and DRDO is one of those known unknowns in Delhi.

Source: The Indian Express

The political ploy over Bt Brinjal

If a public debate ended in a near-ban on Bt brinjal, the next review could well end up the other way, says A K Bhattacharya.

Non-governmental organisations have been celebrating ever since Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh  announced a moratorium on the commercial use of Bt brinjal in India .

Bt brinjal, a genetically modified vegetable, had been developed to make it resistant to attacks by the most common variety of pests, thereby raising prospects of its increased output without any associated costs usually incurred on pesticides.

While most government scientists endorsed the genetically modified variety of the vegetable and even the Genetic Engineering and Appraisal Committee (GEAC), a government body, approved its use, several NGOs had voiced their concern over safety.

In a remarkable display of strength and well-orchestrated campaigns, NGOs staged protest rallies across the country and made their views known to Ramesh at the many public hearings the minister held to review, the GEAC decision to allow commercial use of Bt brinjal.

Views of most scientists from the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Agriculture Research were set aside. Also ignored were the views of the agriculture minister, the science and technology minister and the human resources development minister.

Not surprisingly, therefore, NGOs are celebrating their victory in their battle against Bt brinjal. Ramesh's decision to place a moratorium on commercialisation of Bt brinjal, they point out, is nothing but a step away from a ban on its use.

That is significant. Mind you, the moratorium is only a step away from a ban. It is not yet a ban. NGOs may not have fully realised the implications of what Ramesh has achieved in the last six weeks of public hearings and consultation with a host of civil society groups, activists, scientists and NGO representatives.

This is what a democratic government ought to do! A government body had cleared the use of Bt brinjal. If a minister had to reject that finding, he was required to hold public consultation and use his conclusions from those public hearings to put the use of that technology on hold. This is exactly what Ramesh did.

If NGOs are celebrating today, they should recognise that Ramesh can use the same instrument of public consultation to take another decision a few months later that may not necessarily agree with their viewpoint on Bt brinjal.

If Ramesh is now a paragon of correct behaviour and NGOs are complimenting him for his transparent and democratic style of functioning, they should not sulk when Ramesh revises his and the government's stance on Bt brinjal after subjecting the technology to another review.

Indeed, the minister has stated that there would be further tests in more reliable laboratories and the regulatory system would be strengthened. Moreover, there are indications that the Bt brinjal issue might be discussed either in Parliament or at a meeting of the National Development Council. Who knows, the government's final stand on Bt brinjal may undergo a change after this exercise.

NGOs should note that subscribing to the idea of a democratic decision-making process can be a double-edged sword. Participants in the debate should be prepared to welcome whatever be the final decision. It is like taking part in an election. If you win, celebrations are in order. But if you lose, accept the verdict and cannot cry foul.

This is precisely how the United Progressive Alliance  (UPA) government under Manmohan Singh  has been trying to tackle knotty policy issues. Bt brinjal is one such example.

The other example is the question of removing subsidies on petroleum products. Last year, the UPA leadership had asked Kirit Parikh, who was then a member of the Planning Commission, to recommend what measures needed to be taken to relieve the government of its subsidies burden on account of the oil sector.

About a fortnight ago, the Parikh Committee submitted its recommendations on how the government could link its petroleum product prices to the market. If the government were to accept these recommendations, prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas would go up by varying margins.

Petroleum product prices have always been a political issue in India. Even as the Union Cabinet examined the recommendations of the Parikh Committee, opposition political parties, including the Left, decided to oppose any move to raise prices.

Even the Trinamool Congress , a partner of the UPA, threatened the government with protest rallies against any move to increase petroleum product prices.

Last Sunday, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora was closeted with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee  and examined the implications of the Parikh Committee's recommendations.

The administrative issues with regard to the proposal for an increase in petroleum product prices have been resolved by now. What remains to be tackled now is to bring round the political leadership both within the UPA and outside.

Opposition political parties and even UPA partners may feel good that their voices are being heard. But this is a classic case of political management of a tricky issue of raising prices.

By involving different stakeholders in the decision- making process and prolonging the discussion with political parties on the imperatives of an increase in petroleum product prices, the UPA government is only ensuring a safe and secure implementation of its decision.

Like in the Bt brinjal case, there may be a moratorium on a petroleum product price hike for a few days or a few weeks. But at the end of reviews and consultation, the government will take a decision that it wants to take.

Sourced from http://www.business-standard.com/

Why we need Bt Brinjal (Baingan Tadka)

“One step for man; one giant leap for mankind”.

Great quote which creatively resonates with the expansion of human adventures. We are great explorers thanks to our never ending quest for exploration – craving for unknown.

Starting from being the chimps who wanted to explore their surroundings, we have come to the extent of being present on every inch of this lovely planet. We have explored the outer universe and still trying to figure out what lies beneath us. We just know the depth we need to explore, but not its extent. We are even exploring the avenues and the methods to bring into us the qualities of living beings surrounding us. First we experimented with “Life After Death” for our beloved sheep – Dolly was the new name. Next we thought to get into experimenting bringing cross cultivation, by mixing genes of two different species. The only hindrance to this was the objection by governments against human trials. But now we have taken the detour to do this with plants. We are slowly progressing in imbibing qualities of other living organisms into us. We are bringing ONENESS to its truth.

All the living beings require staying together for mutual benefit. Now we have started exploring this option. We wanted to bring in the “Bacillus thuringiensis”, so we developed the Bt Brinjal. Actually the word Bt stands for “Bacillus thuringiensis”, which is a soil bacteria, and hence the BT Brinjal is actually the normal Brinjal, with an additional gene from the Bt bacteria, which produces Bt protein. This new Brinjal was researched on by Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) and is promoted by University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, and Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore. Now the genes of this little bacterium can freely integrate with our body. Totally unrestricted and unaffected by our immune system. This is true bio-diversity integration.

We can definitely neglect the reports of soil infertility due to using Bt Cotton, animals dying by eating the Bt crops, fauna extinction. We the Indians are the super powers of the next generation. We need to prove to the whole world that we can be the best “guinea pigs” available on earth. Why go anywhere else, Indian soil and its inhabitants are the best test objects. We have the out of the world immunity power which can thwart off any bacterial or viral attack from inside our body.

Why stop at “Bacillus thuringiensis”, check the mutation with the hepatitis virus, or AIDS virus, with these viruses as part of our body, we will enhance our capabilities against these diseases. Then India will be the only AIDS free nation in the world. Even tough the western companies initially will conduct extensive trials with their proven medications and procedures; they won’t succeed in selling those drugs in Indian markets as we will be the AIDS resistant human species. All their money will be lost at treating the guinea pigs of India.

On the future developments front, we have very bright prospects for the Indian companies. We should stop at nothing and start integrating the genes which will build up our antennae like cockroaches, create highly sensitive nose like dog, eating machine like pigs which can survive on any shit.

HAIL, INDIA!!!

HAIL, OUR POLITICIANS!!!

You can read the following articles to get the latest update

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/not-so-scientific-bt-brinjal-report-full-of-errors/109519-11.html

One more news, we can have genetically modified forests too. And this time USA doesn’t want to stay behind, so they will experiment with forests.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eucalyptus-genetically-modified-pine-tree-southwest-forest

Innovation the Japanese way!

We do need simple solutions but they've got to be ingenious too. The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste of stale fish.   To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.            So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem?  Here's what they did:  The Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they added a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are active and challenged. Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired & dull, so we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake and moving? Basically in our lives Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and taste better...            Sometimes it could be your BOSS!            The more intelligent, persistent and competent you are, the more you enjoy a challenge .