23rd March

Readers of my blog may find the title interesting. I would be happy if the curiosity level of my readers goes up. Now the question is - “What is the significance of 23^rd March”?

The 23^rd March is the last day of some great revolutionaries in Indian history. On 23^rd March, 1931 British rulers executed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukdev by hanging them until death. On 23^rd March, 2010 Kanu Sanyal, the famous Naxalite leader, committed suicide by hanging himself until death in his thatched house near Siliguri, West Bengal.

Not just the day of death but there are a few more similarities between Saheed Bhagat Singh and Comrade Kanu Sanyal. Bhagat Singh fought against the British imperialism and Kanu Sanyal fought against economic imperialism which favours capitalists. Both of them were heavily influenced by Marxism.

Comrade Kanu Sanyal is the person who declared the birth of CPI(M-L) on 22^nd April,1969, birth anniversary of the great V.I. Lenin, on Saheed Minar Ground in Kolkata. Charu Majumdar & Kanu Sanyal were two main leaders of the newly formed CPI(M-L). The members of CPI(M-L) were tagged as Naxalites because their movement got started in Naxalbari, West Bengal. Their armed struggle strategy for liberation of people made them isolated from CPI(M). Naxalite movement gave birth to Left extremism. Today, when the CPI(Maoist), tagged as the biggest internal security threat by Home Minister, with its class struggle strategy blow ups railway tracks, we become fearful about Left extremism. Comrade Kanu Sanyal was deeply demoralized by the activities of CPI(Maoist) and the gradual weakening of Communist movement in India. He used to condemn both CPI(M) and CPI(Maoist) for this. He used to mourn for the lack of unity in Communist forces of India. Communists in our country are scattered due to differences in opinion. This is the reason why the Communist movement is getting affected day-by-day and opportunistic rightist forces are uprising.Whatever be the future of Communist movement in India, leaders like Kanu Sanyal will always be remembered for his courage and rebellious mind-set. Red Salute to Comrade Kanu Sanyal.

It may be a co-incidence that Mother India witnessed the unnatural death of her great sons on the same day. But one thing is for sure that these revolutionaries will remain inspiration for Indians to fight against injustice, exploitation and imperialism. 

-Arnab Mandal

  Durgapur 

The CATastrophe

Finally the much awaited CAT (Common Admission Test for IIMs) results are out. Certainly it should bring sigh of relief to more than 2.4 lac students who appeared for CAT. But it has failed to do so. Most of the candidates are unhappy due to results. CAT results are faulty and full of technical glitches.

For the first time IIMs conducted online CAT. Initially it was supposed to be conducted from 28^th November, 2009 to 7^th December, 2009 with two slots in each day. But due to huge malfunction and loopholes the examination process was finally over on 31^st January, 2010. Meanwhile a techie in Bangalore filed a PIL at High Court against CAT committee. Here are some allegations below:

• Questions were repeated from previous CAT papers
• Hell & heaven difference in difficulty level of CAT papers across slots
• Huge technical fault to conduct the computerized test
• Questions leakage on internet,etc

All these things made CAT-2009 a management case study. The IIM teach solution to various management cases to its students. But this time the best B-Schools in the country have established a great example of mismanagement. 

The entire CAT-2009 episode starting from examination to results is nothing but a big joke. As far as CAT results are concerned following points are very crucial:

• There was no proper date of announcement of results. It was postponed several times. Perhaps IIMs knew that they had screwed it up.
• The marking pattern was not disclosed.
• Psychometric evaluation cannot standardize so many factors as stated above.
• Scores were given out of 450 with 150 as full marks for each sections. Everybody has scored in round figures. There are numerous cases where the marks obtained is a mystery.

It is a matter of shame not only for the IIMs but for the entire country. The best management institutes cannot even properly conduct an online entrance examination. 

-Arnab Mandal

  Durgapur

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