Rebecca West to Allen w. Dulles

IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman

English journalist, novelist, and critic, perhaps best-known for her reports on the Nuremberg trials, Rebecca West started her career as a columnist for the suffragist weekly the Freewoman in the 1910s. Kenneth Tynan described her in 1954 as "the best journalist alive". The following letter was written to Allen W. Dulles, an American diplomat and author of several books on foreign affairs. He was an early head of the Central Intelligence Agency (1953'1961). West's mixed review of his 'bland' book The Craft of Intelligence is being discussed here.

February 22, 1964

My dear Allen

My review has now gone to the Sunday Telegraph and I hope it won't displease you. I enjoyed the book very much, though I was puzzled by the way that you don't seem to have been posted on English cases with perfect accuracy. Houghton`2` did not attract the attention of any security organisation by his extravagance and his investments in real estate or anything else. He is said to have been detected in the course of a dragnet investigation into the possible writers of an anti-Semitic anonymous letter; an alternative version being that a defector drew attention to the presence of a spy in his area on his level. Vassall's extravagance was not noticed, and a good part of the Tribunal was taken up by frenzied attempts of our Attorney-General (a moron of the first water)`3` to prove that our security organizations should not and did not notice it.

I have a strong suspicion that you have read the Vassall Report and not the volume of evidence etc published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. The two don't jibe too well. Radcliffe`4` is an over-rated talent and he fell down over this, and the Law Officers of the Crown were pitiable. I think someone had a hope that if they slapped down the press over the Vassall affair it would be muzzled over the Profumo case. It wasn't, and the whole thing just goes to show that one can't be too clever.

I have the oddest recollection, and an unpleasant one, of Mildred Harnack Fish.`5` She turned up with an introduction from an English writer now dead, at my flat in Orchard Court, and gravely told me that Hitler adored my books. She was empowered to tell me so, and bore the message gladly, because she and her husband were trying to civilise the Nazi state by working for it in the cultural sphere. She went on to say that every book I had written would be published in a beautiful German translation if I would only sign a declaration that I had no Jewish blood in me. At which I asked her to go. She went on, telling me the advantages I would secure if I did this little, little thing, even telling me that if I didn't people might think I had Jewish blood. I explained that I certainly hadn't, but that I would rather die than do such a thing as sign a declaration to curry favour with Hitler, and I threw her out of the front door, and as I did so, I made the uncharitable remark, 'I hope Hitler does to you the worst thing he ever did to a Jew.'

In 1949 I was in Hamburg with Henry and Dorothy Thompson and someone brought a book of anti-Nazi martyrs to the hotel, and I opened it at a page where there was the blond and vague face of Mildred Harnack Fish beside text which showed that Hitler had done that very thing. I felt considerable remorse, until an ex-Communist said to me, 'Let me suggest to you, dear Rebecca, that she was not merely disguising her real convictions when she came to England on this mission. She was also engaged in a typical Communist attempt to tie bricks round the necks of all conspicuous anti-Communists.'

Not a nice story, but this is not a nice age.

All good wishes, and may we Meet some time soon,

Yours ever,
RW

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Six years gone & STF men who killed Veerappan get nothing

When the elusive forest brigand Veerappan was shot dead by the joint Special Task Forces (STFs) of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on October 18, 2004, the then government had promised to reward the cops involved in this operation.

Dharam Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Karnataka at that time, had announced various incentives, including cash rewards and promotions to all the 754 Karnataka STF personnel involved in the operation. Also, he had promised to gift residential plots to brave officers at their respective district headquarters.

Now, almost six years after that incident it looks that the operation has been forgotten. The STF has been renamed Anti-Naxal Squad (ANS) and redeployed in the dense jungles of Western Ghatts. Different governments came and went, but nobody made an effort to fulfil the promise despite repeated reminders and pleas by potential beneficiaries.

Upset with the attitude of the government, some personnel resorted to legal battle. B.Venkappa Rai and D.R.Jayaswamy of Mysore, N. Jagannathan, B.K. Bhaskar and Ningappa of Bangalore filed a case in the court against the state government. Finally, the court ordered the state to sanction the plots to the petitioners. But the government didn't act. And when it continued to ignore the court order, the petitioners filed Contempt of Court petition against the state government. This time, the government acted and sanctioned residential plots to all the above petitioners. But the government can get into trouble if the rest of the personnel also approach the court. In such a situation, the government might find it difficult to provide the plots to all of them.

Therefore, it immediately swung into action and issued an order on May 17, 2010, (HD92 POP 2010). It stated that instead of giving plots to the personnel the government would give them money that is cost of the plots (Rs 510 per square-foot). Some officials said Rs 20 crore is going to be allotted for this purpose. They said the government reneged on its early promise because there is shortage of plots in urban centres across the state.

According to the promise, the personnel holding post of inspector and lower level were supposed to get 30/40 plots and those above the inspector level 60/40 plots. Some activists said the recent offer was nothing but an eyewash, for none could get a plot with the price the government has fixed as the land value has risen in the urban centres, particularly in metropolises like Bangalore. The government is trying to wash its hand off the whole issue.

Moreover, even if one goes by the price per-square-foot fixed by the government, the total amount needed is around Rs 46 crore. But, as per the order, only Rs 20 crore is going to be allocated. Is it another eyewash?

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RAAJNEETI: Plot politics

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TSI Five-O: A gripping political ensemble tale
Every time you catch Samar Pratap (Ranbir Kapoor) with his smart phone in 'Raajneeti', he is seen playing chess on it. It's a most apt image that Prakash Jha weaves into his epic political saga because all the twist and turns appear like a well planned chess move ' some you'll anticipate and some will catch you blind-sided. It is not, as pre-release speculation would have you believe, a film based on the first family in Indian politics. But it is the story of a political family and the turmoil it goes through when a power struggle ensues as the party leader suffers a stroke. He appoints his younger brother at the party helm but there are Gen-Next kids ' the son (Arjun Rampal), the nephew (Manoj Bajpai) and the daughter-in-law (Katrina Kaif) ' who are also staking their claim to power. There's the outsider as well (Ajay Devgn) and pulling all the strings merrily in the background is the schemer, (Nana Patekar) trying to keep everything from falling brutally apart.

Shades of Mahabharata and 'The Godfather' converge to create a hue of a saga of succession battles and the twists they spawn. The performances are all top notch. Ranbir defies his age to deliver a top class performance, Manoj Bajpai shines as the desperate son who sees his position fade away, and Nana Patekar is understated as you have never seen him before. This combined with a good background score and well-planned sprawling shots lay the canvas wide for Jha to showcase his brand of filmmaking. Some of the plot points are a bit of stretch (politicians settling feuds themselves in a shootout, 'Wild Wild West' style? I don't think so) but 'Raajneeti', with some sharp dialogues and a well-laid-out storyline is a satisfying watch.

It does not answer any questions about politicians and their ilk but as a chronicle of the murky visage that is politics and how the hunger for power transforms seemingly ordinary people into doing extraordinary things, 'Raajneeti' has got to be on your watchlist.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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She is involved in training and development activities of the institute and heads a large team compromising both men and women.

Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri Dean - Center for Enterprise Management

Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri syas, "During the past few years I have trained thousands of senior executives and have consulted companies in India and abroad; one thing that has been universal is that employees expect a woman boss to play a more nurturing role. They may take a rough and tumble from a male boss but with a woman boss the issue of an ego clash shows up more frequently. It may take some more time before the surveys show up more encouraging trends but the reality is that today it's easier to be a woman boss as the roles are getting very transparent. I have incorporated many things from my personal experience. When I became a mom I wanted to work but had no time. So in my office I introduced flexi hours for new moms. I also felt that dads should share the responsibility of kids too. So every fortnight, dads get an off to spend time with their family. I also realised that women have better self esteem when they look and feel beautiful. So we conduct regular workshops in our office on dressing and make-up. This is an offbeat trend but being a woman boss you tend to bring these little nuances into the workplace there were doubts that I being a wife to a famous person (Rajita is married to Professor Arindam Chaudhuri) has made things easy for me. But with time all these notions were dispelled. I maintain a very goal oriented yet approachable stand for all my employees. There are moments of ego clashes in the office but I always try to keep a cool head and think of it as a generic problem and not a gender based issue.”

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