Observation of National Science Day - 2013

What is the greatest invention of all times? The answer may vary from the 'Wheel' to the 'Space Shuttle' or from the 'Printing technology' to the 'Internet' or from 'Penicillin' to 'Human Genome Projects'. 

The development and progress of humanity, at all times, is based on scientific discoveries and inventions. From the basic inventions of tools, fire, shelter, boat etc. to the unending list of inventions in various fields of Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Life sciences, Medicine, Agriculture, Engineering, Manufacturing, Information and Communication Technology, and so on.. led the humankind to this present progress.  

The observance of National Science Day on 28th February provided the students of JICM  an opportunity to have a glimpse of the body of scientific knowledge. The Day is celebrated in India to commemorate the discovery of Raman Effect by the great indian Physicist Sir. C. V. Raman. The National Council for Science and Technology Communication aims to spread the message of importance of science and its application through this observation. 

The JICM event included video presentation on scientific inventions, movie clips generating scientific curiosity and a talk on the importance of Science, and the Day by Ms. Shanthi Mathai. 

The programme threw light on us about the scientific inventions in the past and boosted our interest in science and general knowledge on science and scientists. We understood how important is science in our lives. Science and its applications made our daily lives easy through the various facilities of transportation, communication, achievements in the field of medical treatment, and advancements in the field of business. 

It was an enriching experience to be part of this observation of National Science Day - 2013. 

[Contributors:  Ajai Gupta, Deepansh Aswathi, Dhruv Singh, Raj Gulani, Trishala Sisodia, Udgosh Pandey (B Com II & B Com IV)]

Heritage Walk

2-Day Sports Event Begins

Sports aficionados of  JICM   have a reason to rejoice as our annual sports meet, Junoon begins. The two-day sports extravaganza promises to provide a platform for  players to benchmark themselves against other stalwart teams, and enhance sportsman spirit among students. This year, the main events in the offering for boys and girls are Basketball, Volleyball, Kho-Kho, Kabadi, Cricket, Marathon, Relay and Tug of war.

Though Junoon is intended to be a sports meet, there has been an attempt to broaden the appeal and make it more like a fest.

Field Trip

The students of PGDM-C Trimester Vtook a field trip to Vishal Mega Mart, Kolar Road, Bhopal to gain insights and practical knowledge of management in the retail industry.

The class trip was organized by Mr. Amit Kumar as part of the Retail Management module.

During their visit the students got an opportunity to meet and interact with Mr. Aseem Saxena, Store Manager of Visal Mega Mart .During their interactions with the employees, the students asked a lot of questions covering the following areas in retail management:

• Developing brand / store equity
• Location planning
• Consumer behavior in retail
• Marketing research
• Customer relationship management
•  Customer service, satisfaction and loyalty / loyalty programs
• Competition
• Margins
• Promotions / marketing communication
• Role of POP
• Merchandise planning
• Visual merchandising
• Inventory planning
•  Store design / layouts
• Space planning
• Outsourcing
•  Sourcing and supplier selection
• Private labels and their contribution
• Category management
• Pricing
• Supply chain management and logistics
• HRM in retail
• Role of IT in retail operations

While exploring many new areas in retail management , the students got practical tips and insights on how the day-to-day operations are conducted in a retail store, what are the challenges and opportunities and how to make a career in retail industry.Overall, the class trip was very fruitful and resulted in value addition for the students.

Learning without borders

With Inputs from Aditi Agrawal , Ankita Garve and Priyanshi Patel
 
It gives us immense pleasure to take you through the interesting journey of one our most interesting add-on certificate course that is open to participation for students of any discipline, It is called THE CCBC Project- An acronym of Cross Cultural Business Communication. 

Funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme, an initiative of the European Commission, this programme funds innovative practical projects and many different types of activities, enabling organizations in the vocational education sector to work with partners from across Europe and other continents.

From Bhopal , JICM and BSSS college participated in the program this year. Other participants included colleges from Delhi, Chandigarh Estonia, Slovenia and Hungary.

To begin the project, we formed a virtual company called “Blocks and Threads Pvt.Ltd” and did business with other national and international virtual companies namely:

• K.C.ELECTRONICS[ESTONIA]
• BITTERSWEET[HUNGARY]
• SMART GLASSES[BUDAPEST-HUNGARY]
• MANGALAM WEDDING WISHES[CHANDIGARH].

Our company dealt with fabrics like Chanderi ,Maheshwari, Dabu and prints like Bagh and Batik from MadhyaPradesh. “BITTERSWEET” was dealing with yummy cakes, pastries, lollypops, and candies, “K.C.ELECTRONICS” dealt with all electronic items like CCTVs etc .“MANGALAM WEDDING WISHES” was a wedding planning company while “SMART GLASSES” was dealing in spectacles.

During the entire course of this project we maintained our portfolio’s and recorded our daily progress and activities. We also had informative role- plays based on intercultural customs and habits. For example, we were divided into three teams and each team had to present a conversation including different customs and habits and greetings of various cultures. One of the teams presented a conversation based on a party which was organized on the 50th birthday of one of our team member’s wife! It was all fictitious but enjoyable.

To get a business like feel we also organized a Skype business conference with the “extremely shy boys” from the Tallinn University in Estonia and the “chubuli Punjabi kudiyan” from the government girls college in Chandigarh!!

Through this three month long exercise we came to know how a business runs and what all hindrances occur when we communicate with each other and with different countries. It helped us enhance our communication skills , knowledge of corporate work culture and familiarized us with the business etiquettes in different countries. It also gave us an invaluable opportunity to practic English in life like situations.

We had a great learning experience and we would like to thank our CCBC Coordinator Mrs. Rolii Khare for giving us practical exposure and supporting us through the thick and thin . It has indeed been a rewarding project, one which will be cherished forever!

Media Visit

The tremendous growth of Media and Communication Industry is one of the peculiarities of 21st Century.

Mass Media such as Print, Radio, Television, Internet and the like with their technological advancements and diversity of content are attracting the attention of audiences as well as marketers. This provides young people with huge opportunities to be part of 'Managing the Media'. Visits to the mass media organisations provide chances to observe and understand in detail the efforts, activities and technologies involved in bringing the written, audio and audio-visual news and other programmes to the 'people' or audience.
 
The media visits of PGDM(C) Trimester II students of JICM were initiatives to gain practical knowledge of their in-class learning on different managerial aspects of the mass media industry. This time, the batch of students got exposure to the worlds of Radio industry and Newspaper

 The Station Head Mr. Joby David, who himself is the Sales and Marketing Department Head and Mr. Nevekar, the Programming Head explained to the students about these two vertical departments and the functions of different working departments under these two. The students also got opportunities to interact with the personnel managing the activities of different departments of the Radio Station including Mr. Nervekar, who is a famous RJ.


Students were able to grasp more information related to Account handling & Client Servicing, Revenue generation through Advertising, Audience mind mapping to evaluate the prgrammes, Ad Production etc. The demonstrations of Ad Recording and Editing, details of the software used for these, functioning of Studio, the Programming and Scheduling procedure before they go on air etc.provided there added additional knowledge to the students.

During  their visit  to Danik Jagran , Bhopal, the students were well guided with explanations and illustrations in every department. Learning from the visit included how each department functions and how the newspaper is produced, circulated, how ad spaces are sold, how the printing press works etc.

On the printing floor at Danik Jagran

 On the whole the visits to the Media were very interesting and productive. To place on record their visits and learning, the students prepared reports of their visits also.

Dispelling Cancer Myths

By: Parul Parihar

“Cancer is a death sentence”. “Cancer is a disease of the wealthy, elderly and developed countries.” “Cancer is just a health issue”. These are some of the myths most of us have in our minds.

Photo by: Rohan Mehta

To clear out the misconceptions about the disease and to create awareness for the same, we at JICM came up with a small event on 4^th February which is marked as the “World Cancer Day”. To honor the cancer survivors and to remember those who left us too soon as a result of the disease, all the students and teachers were clad in purple with purple ribbons neatly pinned up.

“The Bucket List”, an American dramedy film was screened on the class projectors. The movie revolves around two men suffering from lung cancer and the events that follow up in their lives from the time the disease is diagnosed till their deaths. The two terminally ill men go on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they die. The two of them go sky-diving together, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, fly over the North Pole, attend a lion safari in Africa, visit Tajmahal etc and attempt all the things they wished to do throughout their lives. The last days of their lives turn out to be the best ones. The movie left the message of “live life to the fullest” and would be an inspiration to all the cranky people out there who spend their entire lives getting caught up in the race for money and success.

Students during the film screeing.                                                                                                              Photo by: Rohan Mehta

 The audience was also addressed by Anup Swaroop Sir (Vice- Chancellor, Jagran Lake City University) about the causes of cancer and the measures to be taken to prevent it. He also talked about the prevalent myths about the disease and explained the facts behind each of them.

After the event, I was certain of  two things: We as young adults are as vulnerable to cancer as the elderly and that it should not be perceived as a death sentence since not all cancers are malignant and there are proven ways to prevent and cure them.  

Parul is a B.com 1V sem student at JICM

JICM Observes World Cancer Day

Coping with cancer can be traumatic but one needs to realize that it is not the end of the world. Capturing this emotion, the students of  JICM marked the occasion by screening of a movie “ Bucket List”. The film explores the story of two men Carter Chambers and Edward Cole who meet and embark on a journey together to fulfill their bucket list after having been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Following the movie, Vice Chancellor Dr. Anoop Swarup addressed the gathered students on the causes and effects of cancer. “There are many things you can do to prevent cancer from happening to you like exercise regularly  fight obesity, reduce alcohol intake and lead a healthy lifestyle”, said Dr. Swarup. He also advised students to take a pledge to quit smoking and tobacco chewing which is the most common cause of lung  and mouth cancer in India.

Quoting Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi  he urged the students to engage in social service and help those in need for the betterment of the society. “The Theme of World Cancer Day this year is dispelling the myths and misconceptions about the disease and together we can and we must raise cancer awareness for a brighter tomorrow”, added Dr. Swarup.

Dressed in different shades of purple with purple badges the students of JICM made this day a success.

Remembering Mahatma

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated 65 years ago. The picture below, of young kids dressed as him in Chennai this week, is an example of how much awareness there is of the man all these years later. Whether Indians still hear his message is another story.