A note on the IIPM controversy
Once in a while a really blog-pinging event comes about. And the blogs are alive with the sound of punches and gasps! It all began when the well-meaning and smart folks at JAM started to think about the huge advertisements that this institute keeps inserting into newspapers about how wonderful they are, and how their students get to go to the sun and moon for final placements.
Credibility is an important thing. And on this issue, one of the driving forces behind JAM - Rashmi Bansal is a credible force. Her blog is one of the most well-written and focused ones I have come across. Some time back Rashmi pointed to the article JAM had written about IIPM. The article answered a lot of questions. But it all boils down to one person whose background/ credentials are extremely suspect. Ponytail, or AC as he is known wrote one very vague book, got famous and was covered in all the Page 3 events. While the initial controversy was only about IIPM, AC dragged himself into it. Well, everybody wants to defend their baby. The Main Stream Media ignored the issue completely. Nobody bites the hand that buys adspace.
I do not favour mediocrity. (In fact, I despise it!) But people have a right to be mediocre. IIPM has the right to be a mediocre institute, and AC has the right (or the fate as it maybe) to be a mediocre (dull etc.) thinker. However, the right to lie and cheat students isn't on any list of inalienable rights. And that is what IIPM and AC are being accused of.
The issue however goes beyond that. Any self-respecting institute/ individual - especially the ones who live and thrive in the PR driven world know that going on the offensive does not stand well for reputation. And so, IIPM begins to threaten blogs. They sent a HILARIOUS email of a legal notice to Gaurav Sabnis, and began spamming Rashmi's blog like crazy. At this point it is difficult to distinguish between the students (I do feel very sorry for them - They have been cheated out of their money and ambitions.) and the institute. There are people pretending to be ex-IIPM students, and their language drives me up the wall. *shudder*
My full support to these bloggers. May Main Stream Media bite its ad-paid tongue in good time.
Update - Gaurav Sabnis has an update on his blog.
Update 2 - A post at Global Voices on the Freedom of Speech.
Update 3 - Whoever thought that IIPM could quietly bury this was pretty wrong. Here's a screenshot of what people are searching for. Pay attention to the fifth most search term!
Update 4 - Wow! IIPM ranks2nd 1st on the Technorati Search list! This tickles me no end!
Update 5 - This is a list of blogs that have posts on the issue. DesiPundit and Sambhar Mafia are following the issue with great enthu (Thanks to Kaps for the links that have been shamelessly lifted). Others include
Sepia Mutiny, Harini Calamur, Press Talk, Varun's Thoughtful Chaos, India Uncut, Srini, The Arbit Council, Anshul, Charu, Patrix, Muthuvel, Thalassa Mikra, Jagan, Vijay Krishna, Vatsan, Mridula, Jo, Varna, Amrit Hallan, Ash, Shivam Vij
Swaroop, Jujitsu Mode, Uma, Abi, Toufeeq Hussain, Shub, Ranj, Shivam, Abhishek, Rajan, Havoc, Kaushik, Chandru, Alpha-Q, Mandar, Kaushal, Chenthil, Tony, Bonatellis, Apurv Pandit, Scudie, Press Talk - K, Sriyansa, Miss J
TablePost.Com, Chitthacharcha (Hindi), Sujatha, Hitchiker, Sowmya, Saket, Varun (Part 2), Press Talk (Part 2), Vijay Krishna (Part 2), Dhananjay, Sriram, The Comic Project, Curious Gawker, Jai Arjun Singh, km, Secular Right India
Jaya Jha, Navin, Sudhish Kamath, Ravikiran, Vinaya, Niket, George Thomas, Ajay Bhat, Jinal, Om Malik, Kitabkhana, Jagan (Part 2), Ranjan Kant, BigBlogLog, Kamesh, Transmogrifier, Chernoff, Varun (Part 3), Hitanshu, Srikar, Rajkumar, Freegeek, Pradyot, Kaushik and Bidisha, Locana and counting.
Update 6 - Can a Wikipedia article be far behind? *Muahahahaha*
Update 7 - Varna gets an email claiming to be a notice as well.
I have another post on this issue here.
Credibility is an important thing. And on this issue, one of the driving forces behind JAM - Rashmi Bansal is a credible force. Her blog is one of the most well-written and focused ones I have come across. Some time back Rashmi pointed to the article JAM had written about IIPM. The article answered a lot of questions. But it all boils down to one person whose background/ credentials are extremely suspect. Ponytail, or AC as he is known wrote one very vague book, got famous and was covered in all the Page 3 events. While the initial controversy was only about IIPM, AC dragged himself into it. Well, everybody wants to defend their baby. The Main Stream Media ignored the issue completely. Nobody bites the hand that buys adspace.
I do not favour mediocrity. (In fact, I despise it!) But people have a right to be mediocre. IIPM has the right to be a mediocre institute, and AC has the right (or the fate as it maybe) to be a mediocre (dull etc.) thinker. However, the right to lie and cheat students isn't on any list of inalienable rights. And that is what IIPM and AC are being accused of.
The issue however goes beyond that. Any self-respecting institute/ individual - especially the ones who live and thrive in the PR driven world know that going on the offensive does not stand well for reputation. And so, IIPM begins to threaten blogs. They sent a HILARIOUS email of a legal notice to Gaurav Sabnis, and began spamming Rashmi's blog like crazy. At this point it is difficult to distinguish between the students (I do feel very sorry for them - They have been cheated out of their money and ambitions.) and the institute. There are people pretending to be ex-IIPM students, and their language drives me up the wall. *shudder*
My full support to these bloggers. May Main Stream Media bite its ad-paid tongue in good time.
Update - Gaurav Sabnis has an update on his blog.
Update 2 - A post at Global Voices on the Freedom of Speech.
Update 3 - Whoever thought that IIPM could quietly bury this was pretty wrong. Here's a screenshot of what people are searching for. Pay attention to the fifth most search term!
Update 4 - Wow! IIPM ranks
Update 5 - This is a list of blogs that have posts on the issue. DesiPundit and Sambhar Mafia are following the issue with great enthu (Thanks to Kaps for the links that have been shamelessly lifted). Others include
Sepia Mutiny, Harini Calamur, Press Talk, Varun's Thoughtful Chaos, India Uncut, Srini, The Arbit Council, Anshul, Charu, Patrix, Muthuvel, Thalassa Mikra, Jagan, Vijay Krishna, Vatsan, Mridula, Jo, Varna, Amrit Hallan, Ash, Shivam Vij
Swaroop, Jujitsu Mode, Uma, Abi, Toufeeq Hussain, Shub, Ranj, Shivam, Abhishek, Rajan, Havoc, Kaushik, Chandru, Alpha-Q, Mandar, Kaushal, Chenthil, Tony, Bonatellis, Apurv Pandit, Scudie, Press Talk - K, Sriyansa, Miss J
TablePost.Com, Chitthacharcha (Hindi), Sujatha, Hitchiker, Sowmya, Saket, Varun (Part 2), Press Talk (Part 2), Vijay Krishna (Part 2), Dhananjay, Sriram, The Comic Project, Curious Gawker, Jai Arjun Singh, km, Secular Right India
Jaya Jha, Navin, Sudhish Kamath, Ravikiran, Vinaya, Niket, George Thomas, Ajay Bhat, Jinal, Om Malik, Kitabkhana, Jagan (Part 2), Ranjan Kant, BigBlogLog, Kamesh, Transmogrifier, Chernoff, Varun (Part 3), Hitanshu, Srikar, Rajkumar, Freegeek, Pradyot, Kaushik and Bidisha, Locana and counting.
Update 6 - Can a Wikipedia article be far behind? *Muahahahaha*
Update 7 - Varna gets an email claiming to be a notice as well.
I have another post on this issue here.
posted by neha vish at 12:43
14 Comments:
Neha,
Gaurav Sabnis lost his job at IBM today because of the legal proceedings against his blog.
Hilarious?
Think again.
As for mediocrity, do me a favor - when you're in Central London next, take the tube to CHancery Lane station, and when you climb up to the street, you'll see The Flagship - a 100 year old building with Gothic elements. IIPM has acquired that property, and will use its IMI brand to start it MBA course there this summer.
Times of India and The Hindu are carrying this story.
That building, and IIPM's plans to enter markets in London and NY, are not medicore.
Instead of trying to shoot down a succesful Indian education enterprise (non-profit), you should be proud of the entrepreneurial skills IIPM is imparting to hundreds of deserving young people in India. Just because they don't pass the CAT in the 99th percentile, doesn't mean India does not need (desperately!) many more business graduates than the IIM's provide.
And if you think IIPM kids are being cheated, well there are 3000 of us right now - we can take careof ourselves. ANd anyone, like you, or Gaurav, who tries to hurt IIPM or its students reputation will be dealt with with the same lack of dignity and respect that you have chosen to speak of us.
IIPM is a great institution, and you are misinformed. I urge you to contact the folks at the institute to learn more.
www.iipm.edu
Best wishes
non-profit?? My ass!!
You suck 7 lac hard-earned rupees to give a 50k worth of laptop... then you want us to believe that rest of the money goes into infrastructure maintenance, faculty payroll, etc. and not into pockets of that Professor Chaudhri of yours? What an idiot you take public for? Actually average IQ level of general public is higher than collective IQ of all you imposters… so just back off instead of making more false claims of being non-profit.
Neha,
Do you think we can't find out more about you. If we can force IBM to get Gaurav Sabnis to resign, we can do anything.
You need education. Maybe you should try going to IIPM yourself.
You idiotic IIPM guy
Can't you read english ? Gaurav was nt fired. he had quit on his own.
So stop threatening others moron
Very well written Neha. I think its a great effort that all the bloggers and standing together on this issue and Desi Pundit have done an excellant job.
I have started the Goggle bombing process...maybe you can join along.
This is my first time to your blog...and found your posts very impressive.
Blogrolling ya.
Gaurav 'lost' his job?? He quit on his own!! and why is your "great instution's" website's latest news loaded with 'Free laptops' news?? Dont you have anything else??
People, I urge you not to bring this controversy into Wikipedia. At least, there is no reason to delve into the finer details of the issue, like Gaurav quitting his job. IMHO, such things should be outside the purview of an encyclopedia.
We all have done our best till now to show our solidarity, and now must be careful not to do too much. Let better sense prevail. Fight for free speech. Spare Wikipedia.
Yo, N, how dare you write on such topics?
Now if you will excuse me, I will take your leave to burn down my house, my laptop, my desktop, my laser printer, my car, my guitar, my CDs...DAMN YOU, BLOGGERS!!!!
This is the freakin' funniest-saddest story I've ever seen unfold in front of my eyes. Got a post up on my blog today.
And I couldn't agree more with Vijay Krishna about leaving this tale of unmitigated idiocy out of our beloved Wiki.
Krishna
Chancery Lane? Care to give out the address with the postcode please? I can't seem to find 'The Flagship' anywhere. And if it is as old and gothic (Err!) as you say it is Anon1 - Then it should be featured somewhere. Dang-it-all! Did the Brits forget about mentioning the building??
Vijay Krishna: I do love Wikipedia. I found the article by sheer chance as I searched for it. But the beauty of Wikipedia is crowd control. I do believe that the article will retain an impartial attitude. Given that IIPM seems to have dedicated bloggers to post slander and indulge in self-flattery, I am pretty sure that some or the other IIPM student will jump into the Edit section and do the honours.
Neha, whatever the reasons, I find tampering with Wikipedia unacceptable. Come on, we cannot treat an encyclopedia as an extension of a blog.
Also I find no reason why we should do this as a pre-emptive measure. Given the intelligence levels displayed by those IIPM-sponsored sploggers, we can conclude that Wikipedia would never have been on their radar. So, by trying to pre-empt them, we are only giving them ideas. We should (have) act(ed) only if they tamper(ed) with Wikipedia.
I'm contesting the article in question on Wiki.
Use 'their IMI brand' to start. Which means that IMI is an institute that IIPM owns IMI, which means that IMI isn't a huge great management institute that AC claims it is...
Sigh, poor poor AC.
Neha,
I think we should all stop taking IIPM seriously. Anyone with an ounce of commonsense knows that IIPM is infested with beings with IQ smaller than your shoe size. Also,as far as education goes it is always Caveat Emptor. If someone is dumb enough to get conned by IIPM ads, then they deseve to be parted with their money.
And dear IIPM student, stop threatening people. We will leave you to your own devices. Live long and prosper.
Its clear that only confirmed morons have joined IIPM in the past and there will be many confirmed morons who will join IIPM in the future. No amount of blogging can save any moron from joining IIPM. So IIPM management have actually proved that (a) they are morons when they sued and protested. (b) they don't know that they are morons and need bloggers to tell them that. (c) they don't know that their students are morons and need bloggers to tell them that.
http://indianinstituteofponytailmanagement.blogspot.com
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