Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bird's eye view of 10th APPR CONFERENCE

10th ANDHRA PRADESH PUBLIC RELATIONS CONFERENCE – AN OVERVIEW
Dr. C.G.K. Murthy, IIS (Retd.)
The one-day tenth edition of the Andhra Pradesh Public Relations Conference and All India Competition of Video Productions/Websites/House Journals and Exhibition of House Journals had a flying start on 15th February 2009 morning at Hotel Green Park, Hyderabad. The theme of the Conference was “Impact of Global Financial Meltdown on India – Public Relations Perspectives”. Former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Former Member of National Human Rights Commission Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao inaugurated the conference. Justice Shri Bhaskar Rao said on the occasion “The Government of India through its diplomatic channels must impress the foreign countries particularly USA where Indians having H1-B visa are losing jobs because of the global financial meltdown so as to enable them to have alternative jobs under Human Rights. Their survival in foreign countries is more important to us as they are losing jobs not for their fault but because of financial crisis.” Justice Shri Rao underlined the need for highlighting the consequences of the financial crisis that was affecting the Indian economy on the one side and the common man at the grassroots level on the other. Referring to the financial meltdown in USA Justice Shri Rao pointed out that people’s participation, transparency, responsiveness, accountability and free flow of information from organizations to the public are the key objectives of a good corporate governance that must be followed and this would undoubtedly help in avoiding scams and financial losses like the recent Rs. 7100 crore Satyam Computer services scam. Presiding over the inaugural session Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi, former Director, Information and Public Relations, Govt. of A.P said that keeping in view the present financial meltdown, CEOs were looking for three skills from PR professionals; they should be business savvy communicators who have detailed knowledge and understanding of the company’s business, its markets and its finances. Such PR professionals alone will be in a position to project the company to outside world, he added. Earlier Dr. C.G.K. Murthy, former Director of PIB and seminar director explained the objectives of the conference as to study the impact of meltdown on Industrial and financial sectors and reputation management in crisis situation. Earlier Shri N.L. Narasimha Rao, Conference Chairman welcomed the gathering and Shri K.R.K. Chary, Chapter Chairman extended invitation to the guests. Shri D.V. Subba Rao, Chapter Secretary proposed a vote of thanks at the end of the inaugural session. Messages were received from H.E. the Governor of Andhra Pradesh (A.P), Shri N.D. Tiwari; Chief Minister of A.P. Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy; the Minister for Information & Public Relations, Govt of AP, Shri Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and the President of PRSI National Council, Dr. Ajit Pathak wishing all success for the Conference. Before the inaugural session the Chief Guest, Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao inaugurated an Exhibition of House Journals organized in this connection and was all praise for so many number of such journals taking part in the exhibition and in the competition of House Journals.
The first technical session was chaired by Shri Kurup, DGM(Corporate Communication). LANCO Infratech Ltd. Shri Krishna Baji, past National Vice President, PRSI was the Convener of the session. Introducing the theme of the session “Impact of Financial Meltdown on the Indian Economy” said that PR is the face of an organization and what is to be told and what is not to be told in the public domain is always a dilemma in the PR world”. Prof. M. Venkata Ramana, Dean, School of Management, University of Hyderabad making a presentation on the theme said that during the last two years no economist or financial expert could predict about the impending crisis in spite of globalization and free flow of information and knowledge. He predicted that the impact of meltdown on India could be slow down of economic growth and fall in outsourcing, which may result in fall in salaries. He felt that India over depended on the IT sector and neglected the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors and the time has come to reschedule priorities in our policies. He felt that unlike India our neighbor China has got a robust manufacturing sector and has an industrious workforce. He therefore, suggested that India should inculcate work ethics of hard work and sincerity among its work force to tide over the crisis. Another keynote speaker Shri M. Somasekhar, Chief of Bureau, “Business Line” tracing the origins of meltdown said that indiscriminate sanction of loans, boosted valuation of houses have all led to the crisis in the US. He said the average US household debt skyrocketed to 25 to 30 times their paying capacity resulting in bankruptcy of major banks like the JP Morgan, Citi Bank, etc. Then the malaise spread to auto industry and spread like wildfire in to all sectors of the US economy, he added. He felt the Indian Banking sector is conservative and our banks lend money on EMI basis unlike in America and defaults are not so high as in the US. Referring to the Real Estate sector he said there was a realty boom and a massive exercise of convincing people to go for high cost houses was launched induce NRIs and IT pros to invest in high cost houses resulting in unrealistic growth in land costs. He said even in villages housewives read stock market that pushed the sensex to 20000 in just four years and all went down like a pack of cards when the bubble was pricked. He felt in a uni-polar world unless US economy recovers Indian economy will not progress at the fast pace registered during the last four years. Shri C. Ramakanta Sharma, Pas Chairman, PRSI, Tirupati Chapter and Shri Philip Joshua of Hyderabad Chapter were the discussants for the session. Shri V. Madhusudan, Vice-Chairman of the Chapter was co-convener.
The second technical session was chaired by Dr. K. Tirupataiah, Spl. Commissioner, Rural Development Commissionerate, Govt. of A.P. Initiating the discussion Shri Y. Babji, Past Chairman, PRSI, Hyderabad Chapter who convened the session said that PR being the face of an organisation, it is always difficult to face certain situations and inspite of dilemma before the PR functionary as to what is to be told and what not in the public domain, the only ethical option would be to tell truth. Chairing the session Dr. Tirupataiah said that the meltdown has impact on various sectors of the economy except the Public Relations, as they are being very much in demand being the fire fighters of corporate reputation in the current situation. Dr. Padmaja Shah, Head, Department of Communication, Osmania University in her first keynote address of the session said as a consequences of new economic policies privatization and phenomenal growth in media industries has taken place along with advertising and PR. She said large scale unregulated media was available for publicity that helped in large scale ‘management’ of media for better corporate image. She wanted to examine whether PR practitioners and PR agencies be licensed and subjected to a strict and imposable code of conduct. She also wanted to examine whether independent audit of corporate communication initiatives and media interventions like independent audits. She felt there is unsavory collusion and nexus between media and corporate communication, which was never mentioned, in polite company. She felt the unsavory collusion is causing serious damage to both PR and journalism professions undermining democracy and public interest. Another keynote speaker Shri S. Abhirama Krishna, Global Business Director, Satyam School of Leadership presented a case study of “Role of Corporate PR Communication during crisis” pertaining to the Satyam Communications the eye of the recent IT scam that shook the country. He said that since January 2009 there was a breakdown of trust and a massive effort was undertaken to rebuild the corporate trust and restore the confidence of the employees. He said a training programme was put in place in 53 locations to restore the confidence of the employees. Besides a number of initiatives with the motto ‘Communicate, Communicate, Communicate’ that included News today to scotch rumors afloat about Satyam, a face-to-face counseling called ‘minds of Satyam’, responses to employees queries including response about whether they get their salaries for the month by the first of the day, new board members speaking to the employees, etc. were set in motion. He called the entire effort CREED (Rebranding Satyam – What it stands for), SEED (Employees to people at large), NEED (Communication), RESTORE (Rebuilding trust), DEED (Leveraging technology, planet Satyam 24x6, Health, motivation, communication, trust, leadership talk, news today, etc.) and INDEED (Retention centered). The third keynote speaker Shri Mathew Joseph, Dy. General Manager of Andhra Bank said the Indian economy is on a sound footing and the current it more a psychological problem. However he was of the opinion that the crisis was the result of greed, avarice and excessive circulation of money. He advised the PR Communicators to better utilize the present situation, get equipped and trained for a better tomorrow. He felt the present time calls for transparency in corporate management. Dr. R.A. Padmanabha Rao, former Dy. DDG of Doordarshan and Shri Ibrahim Khan, Joint Director of Dept. Employment and Training were the discussants of the session. Smt. Mumtaz Fatima and Shri M.M. Ali were the co-conveners of the session.
The valedictory session of the Conference was held in the evening. Shri Potturi Venkateswar Rao, Former Chairman, Press Academy of A.P. was the Chief Guest of the function. In his address Shri Rao questioned whether PR only has taken the corporate image to the peak and then why it plummeted all of a sudden. He felt the Satyam Communication scam is more than an earthquake and the nation is unable to absorb the shock. He advised the PR Communicators to tell the facts to the people and felt if only the stakeholders were educated about the happenings; the Satyam scam would not have taken place. He questioned whether in the process of protecting the interests of the people what are the early warning signals and can PR do that job? In his address the Guest of Honor Shri M.G. Gopal, Secretary to the Governor of A.P. wanted the PR professionals to understand the implications of creating hype when there is no substance in what is being done by any organization. Such hype gets reflected in increasing the market capitalization and hence increase the size of balance sheets and artificial hike in share values thereby adversely affecting the gullible investors. He wanted the PR functionaries to transform themselves into cutting edge level functionaries who have an interface with consumers. in Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi felt that in the current situation the PR communicator should be better equipped with professional skills to build the corporate image. Dr. C.G.K Murthy, Seminar Director presented an overview of the conference. Shri N.L. Narasimha Rao, Chairman Organizing Committee explained about the All India Competition of Video Productions, Websites and House Journals. Earlier Shri K.R.K. Chary, Chapter Chairman welcomed the gathering and in the end Shri V. Madhusudan, Vice Chairman of the Chapter proposed a vote of thanks. Shri P.B. Raghavendra Rao was the master of ceremonies both for the inaugural and valedictory sessions. Shri Potturi Venkateswar Rao and Shri M.G. Gopal presented all India awards. “Elixir” of Dr. Reddy’s Lab, “RGIA film” of M/s GMR International Airport, www.drreddys.com bagged the best entries in House Journals, Corporate Video Productions and Websites respectively. A detailed list is given in this commemoration volume and also the inaugural address of Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao.

Friday, February 13, 2009

AWARDS


10th Andhra Pradesh

Public Relations Conference -AWARDS

House Journal :
1st Prize
ELIXIR
Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Hyderabad

2nd Prize
SHREYAS
Canara Bank, Bangalore

3rd Prize
SAMASHTI
Nagarjuna Construction Company, Ltd., Hydera
bad

Special Jury Awards:
1
Taarangan
Bank of India, H.O. Mumbai
2
Sahakara Saradhi
AP State Cooperative Bank, Hyderabad

Category awards
1
Best Message of Chief Executive
SHREYAS
Canara Bank, Bangalore
2
Best House Journal with coverage for Women.
STHANIKA PALANA
AP Academy of Rural Development, Govt. of AP
3
Best Newsletter
Singareniyula Samacharam
Singareni Collieries, Hyderabad
4
Best Journal devoted to Welfare of Employees
UKKUVANI
Vizag, Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam
5
Best Cover Design
HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM
M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Mumbai
6
Best Layout and Design
NMDC PATRIKA
M/s NMDC, Hyderabad
7
Best Photography
ELIXIR
Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Hyderabad
8
Environment
NIRJHARNI
NTPC Ltd., Bilaspur

Corporate Video Production:
1st Prize
RGIA FILM
M/s. GMR International Airport, Hyderabad

2nd Prize
Glimpses of AP, Tourism
M/s. Sajjala Creations, Hyderabad

3rd Prize
PUSHPAGIRI VYBHAVAM
M/s. Sri Pushpagiri Maha Samsthanam, Hyderabad

Special Jury Award:
JALAYAGNAM
M/s. Sujana Creations, Hyderabad
CATEGORIES
Corporate Social Responsibility
SIPAT SUMAN
M/s. NTPC, Bilaspur
2
Best CD focusing on Status of Women
SMART CARD
Commissioner, Rural Development, A.P. Hyderabad
3
Development Feature
ENERGISING VILLAGES
M/s. NTPC, New Delhi
4
Technical Content
NREGA-1
A.P. Academy of Rural Development Hyderabad
5
Overall Treatment
INTEGRATION OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING – LEARNING PROCESS,
The Jain International School. Hyderabad



Websites :
1st Prize
http://www.drreddys.com
Dr. Reddy’s, Hyderabad

2nd Prize
http://www.rd.ap.gov.in
Commissioner, Rural Development

Special Jury Award:

http://www.apard.gov.in
AP Academy of Rural Development, Govt. of AP
http://www.nmdc-india.com
M/s. NMDC, Hyderabad


(D.V. Subba Rao)
Secretary, Hyd. Chapter