beyond barriers oct 2012

Volume IV. Issue III. october 2012

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Dear junctionites,

The festive season is upon us and I believe that the social aspect and importance of such festivals far outstrip their religious aspect. Under a common aegis of “good over evil”, people mingle in free abandon, putting behind them all rigours of daily life. The festivals are a celebration of life, a life which is otherwise strewn with daily hardships, a life which is otherwise marked by ever-increasing prices of essential items, a life which is otherwise a daily mishmash of commuting, power cuts and waterlogging. The festivals somehow transport us into a make-believe world.

However, there is no option but to return to reality. And the reality is always harsh. I want to address an issue this time which affects each and every one of us, and one which I feel strongly about.

A Global Subsidies Initiative report in August this year said that the government of India spent

a whopping $9 billion in subsidising fuel products – diesel, kerosene, LPG and to a lesser extent even gasoline – in 2011-12. The government’s total subsidy expenditure, which includes food and fertilisers, increased by nearly 27% during the financial year, significantly contributing to the deterioration of India’s fiscal balance, the report pointed out.

Established in 2005 by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Global Subsidies Initiative is dedicated to analysing subsidies and how they support or undermine efforts to achieve sustainable development.

The figures are mind-boggling, to say the least. And I feel it is high time we looked beyond the idea that such huge subsidies benefit the poor. We have been conditioned into believing all these years that food, diesel and LPG subsidy is for the poor and building infrastructure is for the rich. However, I believe that is not true. As a matter of fact, infrastructure development will lead to higher GDP growth rates which will result in eradication of poverty in a sustainable fashion instead of sops which is eating into the coffers of the country. The government needs to, and I say this quite confidently, eliminate fuel subsidies and employ the savings directly to development programmes.

In order to do that, we need to concentrate on yet another neglected area of finding sustainable and clean alternatives to fossil fuels. However, not just in India, but globally, work on this has been rather dismal. In fact, a recent report said that since 2009, global subsidies for fossil fuels have almost tripled to an estimated $775 billion this year. On the other hand, the report pegged official worldwide support for clean energy at a measly $50 billion. Needless to say, the Indian scene is not much different. While work is being done, it is too insignificant to make a major difference for the time being.

That brings us back again to fuel subsidies

which have to be phased out for equitable development. The government has made a beginning by increasing diesel prices and limiting subsidised LPG. However, development of alternate fuels should also receive immediate attention without which eliminating subsidies will become a non-starter in the road to development.

As citizens of the country, we can use our resources judiciously and I urge every junctionite to do the same.

In a significant development in the field of alternative energy, new extraction techniques in the US have opened reserves of shale gas that some estimate will last for 100 years, and liquid rich shales have enabled the US significantly to cut its dependence on crude imports. Oil and gas producers believe that shale gas could bring abundant low-cost power. While India has only 1.1% of the world’s estimated shale gas reserves, it has already benefited from the US ramping up their production and will benefit further as China and the other shale gas rich countries start commercial production. US mining companies are currently seeking new markets for their coal as home demand is hurt by falling shale gas prices. And India can benefit from that.

I am sure many of you are aware, but I would still like to tell you that at mjunction, we have finalised a deal with a US mine in Kentucky and one of our foreign clients based in the Indian sub-continent, where we have taken advantage of the prevailing situation and arranged to get US coal into India.

I believe we live in a global village and whatever affects the world affects India and obviously in turn affects our workplaces. So I want every junctionite to be aware of these facts and contribute in whatever way possible.

I wish all of us together can make this world a better and healthier place to live in.Regards,Viresh Oberoi

october 2012Volume IV Issue III

WHAT’S INSIDE

Safety, Health & Ergonomics@mj 2Fire drill 2

Mj wins corporate quiz 3Getting to know the mj brand 3ejunction convocation 3Annual conferences 4

Coal meet dwells on demand-supply issues 5Days and nights in the forest 6Letters to the MD 7

Some other voices 8Featured junctionites 9MD’s Dialogue 10Ethics counsellors &Workplace Ethics 11New faces at mjunction 12

Mixed Bag 13Employee engagement initiatives 14A musical evening 15Photo contest &Quiz Corner 16

BEYONDBARRIERS

From the MD


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Safety, Health & Ergonomics

@mj

FROM THEEDITOR’SDESK

DesignDebal Ray, Sobhan Jas

For suggestions, feedback and queries, please write to [email protected]

Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior permission of mjunction services limited. Please inform us if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed.

Disclaimer: This document is for information purpose only. Certain information herein has been acquired from various external sources believed to be reliable. While we have taken reasonable care to compile this report, we in no way assume any responsibility for any error or discrepancy in regards to information contained herein. Readers are requested to make appropriate judgement without any prejudice or compulsion.

Visit our Corporate website at www.mjunction.inVisit our Corporate blog at www.awwb.blogspot.com

Dear Readers,

Every quarter we bring a slice of our lives at mjunction to you. We tell you how we work and we tell you how we play. Our managing director often brings up topics of general awareness and interest. The idea is to have a wholesome work life where safety and general well-being are as important as the quality of work we deliver. I hope we serve our purpose and I request each one of our readers to send us their suggestions, feedback and comments.

A recent article in a leading English daily caught my eye the other day. It spoke of camera sales zooming as what they called “shutterbug mania” has gripped the city of Kolkata. They attributed it to the social networking rage where photographs of all events and all moods are uploaded. No vacation, no alumni meet and no lunch and dinner is complete without their pictures having been uploaded on the most popular social networking site. Therefore at Kolkata’s biggest festival time, no wonder that more camera lenses paid obeisance to the deity than human eyes!

mjunction has not escaped the clutches of this mania and we do have some amazing photographers in our midst. Beyond Barriers thus thought of conducting a photography contest which as expected received overwhelming response. I hope this generates the kind of interest we expected. Also there is something to tickle your grey cells this time – a column on quiz.

Based on your feedback and suggestions, we decided to make this magazine a little smaller, just so that it is compact and easier to carry. But I assure you this will not have any impact on the content which will continue to inform as it did before.

For the first time, we have also got for you all accolades that we receive from our customers. They are all very valuable and precious and above all, inspiring for us.

Regards,

Madhuchanda DasguptaEditor

A surprise fire drill was held at mjunction’s Godrej Waterside office on September 10 and complete evacuation happened in a time span of 120 seconds. Fire extinction demonstration activities were held after

the evacuation.

Safety, Health & Ergonomics

@mj

Tata Steel Corporate Safety has been supporting for the last one and half years an initiative to improve safety systems and

processes in all TIS companies. As part of this initiative, it has embarked on a Safety Excellence Journey (SEJ) in 13 associated companies (TIS Group) namely JUSCO, TMIL, TSPDL ISWP, DPCL, among others, and the South East Asia operations that is NatSteel and Tata Steel Thailand.

It is now assisting mjunction on the road to this SEJ. As a part of this programme post the safety audit, and as per Tata Steel

Corporate Safety’s recommendation, mjunction has formed a Safety, Health & Ergonomics (SHE) committee for systematic review and improvement with regard to office safety standards. The SHE committee of mj consists of the following members:

Fire Alarm

• Suvajit Chakraborty• Sanchita Bandopadhyay• Surya Bhusan• Nilanjan Nandan• Debal Ray

• Suvadeep Banerjee• Rama Shankar• Samrat Moulik• Dipankar Sen• All Branch Managers


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mj wins corporate quizDebashish Mukherjee of Corporate Accounts and

Abhishek Kar of MD Office made mjunction proud when they won the Tata track at the Tata

Crucible corporate quiz which was held on September 29 at Kala Mandir, Kolkata.

This is the fifth time in a row that mjunction has won this high profile quiz.

The runner up position of the Tata track was taken by TCS.

The quiz was hosted by renowned quizmaster Giri Balasubramaniam of Greycaps.

In Q2 of 2012-13, there were as many as 147 ejunction trainees and 104 junctionites who volunteered to be trainers. Among the trainees, 50 were from Kolkata (18 in Godrej Waterside and 32 in Hemchandra Library), and the remaining from Jamshedpur, Durgapur and Chennai. Twelve students were sent up for placement interviews and four students were placed.

The convocation of the 36th batch of ejunction was held at the Godrej Waterside premise in August. Mr Rajarshi Chattopadhyay, Mr Manish Mathur and Mr Suvajit Charaborty awarded certificates to 13 successful students.

Getting to know the mj brand

The preliminaries of the mj Brand Quiz in progress at the HO.


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AnnuAl meetsmetaljunction, buyjunction 1 and buyjunction 2 held their annual conferences in the month of August. The managing director Mr Viresh Oberoi

addressed the conferences and the business unit heads and seniors presented their plans and achievements. Post-conference, junctionites unwinded over good music and sumptuous meals.


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The euphoria generated about two years ago regarding India’s rising coal demand appears to be slowing down on the back of severe financial crisis faced by state distribution companies who

are quite often unable to draw power from the generators due to lack of funds.

This was an observation made by industry leaders at the 6th Indian Coal Markets Conference organised by mjunction services ltd and HIS McCloskey Group from September 24 to 26 in New Delhi.

Besides the demand-supply scenario, a host of interesting topics like the country’s logistics infrastructure, tariff situation, global economic scenario, stagnation in China’s coal demand, excess world coal availability scenario amongst others were also discussed in detail.

The conference attracted a select gathering from both India and abroad who dwelt on issues regarding the betterment of the coal industry in the country over the two days.

The conference also provided an impressive networking opportunity to Indian as well as overseas delegates.

Speaking on the occasion, MD & CEO of mjunction services limited, Viresh Oberoi, said: “I believe that we as a nation have failed to take suitable advantage of the mineral wealth our country is endowed with. The policies that we have framed since our Independence have either led to the inequitable distribution of this wealth whereby the eco-system that today lives on top of and squarely in the middle of some of the coal reserves have benefited the least – which has in turn led to what is termed as the “Maoist problem”, and not what it should actually be called – “poor policies”.

Unfortunately the poor policy formulation continued over the years and today we are paying the price by having to import coal to run our power plants. We have power plants newly built which may soon become NPAs on the books of many banks. All this while, we have a power shortage of 124,995 MW, which will grow to 199,540 MW in 2016-17 and to 283,470 MW by 2021-22, as per the draft 18th Electric Power Survey of India,” he added.

Amidst presence of eminent speakers like the former chairmen of Coal India Ltd (CIL) – P.S. Bhattacharyya and N.C. Jha (currently CEO Mining Business, Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited) – besides former power secretary R.V. Shahi (currently chairman Energy Infratech Limited), the participants at the conference tried to arrive at a consensus on what could possibly be India’s coal requirement in the coming years.

The tone of the conference was set by I.A. Khan, adviser (energy), Planning Commission who in his brief address highlighted the initiatives undertaken by the government to address country’s growing power and coal demand.

P.S. Bhattacharyya spoke on the obstacles to increasing domestic production whereas Shahi raised the topic of interrupted fuel supply and its impact on power project development in India.

BNP Paribas Securities’ analyst Girish Nayar felt that country needs a more flexible tariff structure and improvement in access to loans and other ways to help the commercial for power generators and distribution companies.

NTPC’s executive director (fuel security) talked about the problems being faced by the utilities in India in getting fuel supply whereas Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) chairman and managing director D.C. Garg highlighted various initiatives taken by Coal India Ltd (CIL) to meet the country’s growing coal demand.

Dr R. Srikanth, chief executive, Thiess India, highlighted the unique challenges of contract miners in India whereas Karam Chand Thapar & Bros. (coal sales) president Virendra K. Arora raised the issues of coal consumers in the countries and suggested ways to improve the situation.

Gurudas Mustafi, CEO, MBE CMT India Pvt Ltd (a global leader in coal and mineral beneficiation) dealt on the status of the coal and mineral beneficiation industry in India and highlighted the issues hampering growth of this vital segment. He also pointed out the substantial benefits that washed coal could bring to the users and the coal supply chain.

Dr Neil J. Bristow, managing director, H&W Worldwide Consulting, provided an overview of coking coal and coal availability in the world while Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)’s director (technical) S. S. Mohanty spoke on steel demand and changing raw material requirements.

Tapan Prakash Dash of Tata Sponge Iron highlighted the prospects of sponge iron industry whereas Tata Steel Ltd’s chief procurement officer Amitava Baksi talked about challenges in procurement.

M.K. Palanivel, president, All India Bulk and Car Carrier Services, Samsara Group, felt that India needs a regulatory body for ports also to improve the performance. According to Palanivel, India has enough bulk cargo handling capacity, but the outcome is not that encouraging because of inherent problems that need to be addressed.

Coal meet dwells on demand-supply issues

SECL wins coal producerof the year award

The South E a s t e r n Coalfields Ltd

(SECL) emerged as the top coal producer of the year at the 3rd Indian Coal Markets Award 2012 on September 25 in New Delhi held by mjunction services ltd and IHS-McCloskey Group.

Adani Enterprises Ltd emerged as the best International Coal Trader

Importer of the year whereas Geo-Chem Laboratories Private Ltd was

adjudged the topper in the Coal Inspection Agency category.

Best coal port performer award went to Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd and

Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGENCO) was

declared Thermal Power Plant of the year award.There were four other nominees – Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL),

Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC), Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL),

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL) – in coal producer category and SECL

pipped them all to emerge at the top.In coal trader importer category, there were three other nominees –

Agarwal Coal Corporation Private Ltd, MMTC Ltd and Coastal Energy

Private Ltd, but Adani Enterprises beat them all in practically all parameters,

including the quantity handled.In coal inspection agency, D&B had nominated only three companies

– Inspectorate Griffith India Private Ltd, Therapeutics Chemical Research

Corporation (TCRC) and Geo-Chem Laboratories Private Ltd.

The nominees in coal port performer category were Adani Ports and

Special Economic Zone, Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd and Krishnapatnam Port

Company Ltd (KPCL), while in thermal power plant category the nominees

were Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd, NTPC Ltd, The

Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (MALCO), The Tata Power Company

Ltd, JSW Energy Ltd and Jindal Power Ltd. (JPL).ACC Limited and Tata Steel Limited were adjudged the winners of

Energy Efficiency in Cement sector and Iron & Steel sector respectively.

The process of receiving nominations for the various award categories

and shortlisting of nominated companies on various set parameters was

handled by Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt Ltd, this year.


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The call of the wild came suddenly, the long weekend with Eid ul Fitr on a Monday provided a perfect opportunity for a quick getaway from the routine realities. Fortunately I have like-minded friends and

their families, a group of 10, who prefer to abandon their comfort zones at the earliest opportunity to fuel the restlessness inside.

The destination was Suntalekhola, in Dooars. We left for New Mal junction on August 17, a Friday, to board the Kanchankanya Express from Sealdah. The train reached New Mal junction at 11 a.m. the next morning, and from there it was a beautiful drive from New Mal to Suntalekhola , through Chalsa, a small town dotted with tea plantations from where the uphill climb for Samsing valley began. Samsing , a small picturesque village with an old world charm of its own, is itself a tourist destination with dense tea plantations, winding roads and numerous tea planter bungalows . As we stood there unwinding our camera gears taking in the fragrance of moist tea leaves, we realised that we were “off the grid” with no voice and data coverage on our handsets, a liberating feeling for most of us. This was a real holiday!

Suntalekhola is located in the south eastern edge of the Neora Valley National Park at an altitude of 750 metres. The place gets its name from a small stream Suntaley Khola which is Nepali for ‘the orange stream’. We had booked the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation cottages on the other side of this stream connected by a small hanging bridge with the mainland.

As we settled down absorbing in the beauty of the place surrounded by forest cover, the incessant rain started. We had gone there ignoring the general Internet advisory on not to travel during the monsoon but as I stood there by the window, I realised that the pleasure of spending a rainy afternoon in the forest with your favourite author

and a cup of coffee is the reward for being a non-conformist.We took a walk across the perimeter in the evening, chatting up with the

locals about the trek route over steaming momos and Wai Wai. The nostalgia of a STD booth to call back home, the flickering lights of the distant Bhutan border, a Nepali song playing on the radio at the roadside café added to the charm of the place.

We started early next morning for the trek to Mouchaki. Mouchaki is a steep trek 7km from Suntalekhola through the dense forest. The otherwise short trek took us more time as we halted to get the leeches off at regular intervals. The mist and the drizzle added to the aura of the forest cover. As we reached Mouchaki the visibility increased and we got a splendid view of the

Himalayas on one side and the plains of Dooars on the other. Mouchuki had an abandoned forest bungalow and we heard interesting tales of haunting spirits from the locals.

The rain had added a chill in the air; we spent our last evening by the stream at Suntalekhola listening to the rhythm

of flowing water, sharing our silences.

In what was to be the last day at Suntalekhola we explored the local village in search of frames, through the narrow lanes befriending the local people to share their domesticity for the camera.

On our journey back from Suntalekhola , gradually

descending through the now familiar tea gardens, someone’s handheld beeped with a message tone as if to break the spell that was cast on us for the days and nights in the forest. As someone has rightly said that Life is in the design and all great designs of Life transform with you like the seasons. A journey is not so much about changing landscapes as about seeing them with new eyes.

Subhajyoti Roychowdhury, Corporate Marketing & Communications

Days and nights in the forest

Days and nights in the forest


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Client Speak

“Customer delight” has been mjunction’s guiding light ever since its inception. And it has been lucky to have some really satisfied and loyal customers. Beyond

Barriers brings to you the voice of mj customers. They are priceless and we value each one of them equally.

The following are testimonials from some of our esteemed customers as conveyed to the managing director Mr VireshOberoi.

It has been a great joy for me to watch the evolution and progress of mjunction over the last 11 years, since its inception in 2001-02. It has filled me with great pride to see such rapid strides under your able leadership and with

a team of bright, young and talented youngsters.

B. Muthuraman,Vice-chairman, Tata Steel

ASP’s business partnership with mjunction has always remained fruitful and effective. I am sure under your dynamic leadership, the initiatives planned for 2012-13 will be taken up in right earnest to see a win-win situation

for both the organisations in the days ahead.P. K. Mishra,

Executive Director, SAIL ASP

I am writing this letter as a personal appraisal for mjunction’s team work on the recent annual auction… Prashant Jha deserves out-of-turn promotion for doing such a commendable job and this will encourage the entire fraternity of mjunction working in steel sales. Once again, I thank you and your team for doing such an excellent job and wish

that they continue to keep up this excellent standard of work in future.S. R. Rai,

Executive director (MM), SAIL BSP

Needless to say that under your leadership mjunction has been a trailblazer company in Tata Steel group and you have set a blistering pace of growth which very few would dare to match.

Harsh K. Jha,Managing Director, Tata Metaliks

buyjunction has significantly helped the India Business projects vertical of Suzlon to transform its procurement operations. It has reduced cycle time from order to delivery which is the lifeline of any projects division. We have benefited from buyjunction’s expertise on online price discovery resulting in streamlining of procurement process

by making it more transparent and enabling better documentation. buyjunction has also helped in widening the vendor base with increased competition amongst vendors, fetching cost savings on major material procurements. We look forward to further strengthening this mutually beneficial relationship.

Ashok Rajput,Head-SCM, Suzlon-India Business, Suzlon Energy


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The bidders meet organised by mjunction in Rourkela was very interactive and informative where the mjunction executives listened to the bidder’s suggestions very patiently. It was a very good forum to bring forward the problems/suggestions related to e-auction. It was overall a very enriching and fruitful session.

Manoj Jindal, Manager - Coal Management, Vedanta Aluminium Limited

The performance of Coaljunction has been extraordinary and every effort was made to improve the bid price, in conducting the spot e-auctions during FY'11-12, which has enhanced the overall revenue gain of SCCL.

Mr Suresh, CGM (Marketing), SCCL

The executives from coaljunction took a very vibrant session on ‘e-auction, the online channel of coal marketing of CIL’ in a marketing programme conducted at HRD office, CCL on May 9, 2012, and evoked lots of queries and interaction to have a comprehensive appraisal of e-auction with its historical perspective as well as the process involved with the different interplaying agents, to the satisfaction of all our participants.

Partha Mishra, Sr Mgr, HRD, Central Coalfields Ltd.

The e-tendering and reverse bidding services being provided by mjunction has been found to be smooth and satisfactory. mjunction’s e-tender platform is tailormade as per the procedures and norms of tendering prevalent in the company and is compliant to the IT Act 2000 and the guidelines issued by CVC with respect to transparency and security.

A. Ray, General Manager (Contract Management Cell), Central Coalfields Ltd.

The Customer Meet, the first of its kind organised by mjunction services limited, was an event organised with great endeavour. There has been a revolution created since the arrival of e-auction process in the history of Coal India Ltd and a customer meet was very necessary to discuss the difficulties of the customers, the service providers and what steps can be taken to overcome the problems. We would like to congratulate the entire team of coaljunction for their efforts and hope that this type of effort is made regularly by them in future.

Dilpreet Singh Chhabra, Director, Arjan Minerals Pvt. Ltd.

We are highly satisfied with the spot e-auction services of mjunction as well as all the other relevant services like New Registration, EMD refund, EMD deposit and account renewal. Your customer support is more than just up to the mark.

Md Saffad Alam, Director, Royal Coke

We are delighted by the customer friendly support received from your desk. Allow us to take this as an opportunity to thank you for taking out precious time from your schedule for troubleshooting our query regarding online payment at coaljunction.in. Thank you for all your support and time, we value your sincerity and hardwork

Sushil Chaudhary, Unichem India

Thank you for all the help and cooperation from time to time for participating in MCL forward auctions. I, especially, appreciate the information and advice you have provided. Your assistance has been invaluable to me during this process. I greatly appreciate your generosity.

Manoj Kumar Ganguly, Sandoz Impex Ltd.

Some Other Voices

Some Other Voices

We had deposited EMD for NEC e-auction with HDFC Bank, Ludhiana, but due to riots the bank was unable to process the EMD's, but coaljunction went out of its way to enable us to participate.

Munish Jindal, Goldy Traders

We appreciate the waiver of HDFC bank charges towards online EMD deposition through Internet banking, which means that no further bank charges will be debited from our account. The online EMD deposition process is very fast and hassle free.

Pradeep Agarwal, Onward Commerce Pvt.Ltd.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your prompt help to let me login for EMD refund applications. You kept yourself engaged over telephone as well as online to help us which is really commendable.

Prachi Verma, Royal Bricks and Piyush Bricks

Coaljunction is an excellent service provider and we get all the information at one glance. EMD transactions are extremely transparent.

Mohan Lal Agarwal, Agarwal Marketing & Services

With coaljunction, there is never any technical difficulty. People are always available to solve our problems. They have back up teams that are very efficient. The refund process is streamlined and fast. coaljunction takes customer feedback seriously and refines its processes, where necessary, almost immediately.

V.S. Mishra, Head of Procurement, Birla Corporation

coaljunction’s e-marketing report is excellent.

Satyendra Tiwary, Manager (Sales), CCL

The Coal Spot Price Index developed by coaljunction is a very significant step in the development of the price benchmark in the Indian coal sector.

Dr A.K. Sarkar, Director (Marketing), Coal India

This is to thank you for the services provided by your team for sale of secondary products from Tata Steel in FY12 as it enabled us to achieve record performance. We look forward improved service levels in FY13 to help us reach our next level of performance.

P. S. Reddy, Former EIC, By-product sales, Tata Steel


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The down-to-earth and affable Kaushik Kumar Mitra has been around for more than eight years

but by his own admission, time has really flown and it really does not seem that long. Kaushik began his professional stint with mjunction – this is his first job – and perhaps that is why it holds a special place in his heart. He joined as a management trainee in July 2004 and though his roles and responsibilities have undergone numerous changes over the years, his attachment with the company remains as strong as it was on the first day.

Son of a doctor father and a psychologist mother, Kaushik lives in Beliaghata in east Kolkata. His wife and his two-year-old daughter complete his family.

After completing his schooling from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Salt Lake, Kaushik did his B. Tech in Information Technology from Netaji Subhash Engineering College in Garia in 2002. That was the time the twin tower attacks in the USA had played havoc with India’s job market. Kaushik thus decided to do his MBA and joined the Institute of Engineering & Management (IEM) in Salt Lake Sector V and it is from the campus recruitment there that Kaushik got his job offer from mjunction as a management trainee.

Kaushik recalls his initial days in the company with great fondness. Things were a little chaotic with the ongoing renovations at Tata Centre and the new trainees were sent off to official tours to Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Bhilai, New Delhi, Kanpur and Durgapur, among others. These trips Kaushik feels were a great learning experience.

After he successfully completed his training period, Kaushik was confirmed and absorbed in the new business unit of coaljunction in April 2005. Kaushik started working in the operations department and Mihir Gandhi was his first reporting boss. At that time, coaljunction consisted of seven people – apart from Kaushik there were Vinaya Varma, Indranil Choudhury, Mihir Gandhi, Maulesh Desai, Arindam Chakraborty and Suchandra Ghosh.

coaljunction got off to a start with only one client, the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), for whom it conducted e-auctions on a regular basis. Kaushik recollects that gradually coaljunction started working with other subsidiaries of Coal India Limited and in 2007 acquired its first non-CIL client – the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). He remembers that it was in 2007 itself that he was given charge of auctions and one of the key challenges in his work was to battle technical failures which resulted in interruptions in coal auctions. That was the time Kaushik picked up his fire-fighting skills which has always stood him in good stead. Handling operations at coaljunction needed specific problem solving tactics and Kaushik says that is what he learnt from Mihir Gandhi.

Kaushik has come a long way since then in mjunction and today he holds a larger responsibility – he is in charge of the entire operations section, bidding customer engagement section and customer complaint sections. He is also currently entrusted with the roles of SPOCs for both Business Excellence and Technology with respect to coaljunction and apart from that he is also a Lead Auditor, 5S coordinator and ERT team member.

Kaushik wants to take this opportunity to thank all his team members in supporting him in carrying out his various roles. In fact, he feels that he would not be able to achieve what he has without the unhindered support of all his colleagues.

Kaushik says mjunction keeps him busy from Monday till Saturday first half and when he is not working, he prefers to spend his time with his family and friends. He also loves to watch movies and cricket and play computer games…

Monalisa Biswal’s journey with mjunction began in May 2008 as an auction

controller and after multiple role shifts, since February this year she has been working as a buyer in the refractory category.

Brought up at her paternal family’s ancestral village at Cuttack district of Angul in Orissa, Monalisa completed her education in Orissa before she embarked on her professional life. Now that she lives amid the humdrum of metropolitan life, she misses the natural tranquillity of her native place nestled among hills, rivers, canals, farming land and Monalisa insists, the mango trees. In fact, picking ripe and ready-to-eat mangoes straight from the trees remains an abiding image from her childhood days as do getting fresh flowers and vegetables directly from the gardens. Even the varied festivals hold a special place in her heart which range from Ganesh Chaturthi to a local festival called Raja, and of course not to miss the famed Rathyatra of Orissa.

In 1999, Monalisa moved away from the family for the first time for her graduation and she believes her life in the hostel taught her to live with strangers who became family and she will always cherish the love, affection and caring that she received from her roommates and friends. She remembers her college parties, the picnics on hill stations, the college election campaigns and Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations very, very fondly.

Monalisa’s stint with the professional world began in 2002 and she worked in several other organisations before she joined mjunction. Among them she especially remembers her stint in the NGO sector where she was associated with many social upliftment and development training programmes, seminars and conferences in New Delhi, Kolkata and Patna. She believes she benefited immensely from the interactions and knowledge sharing sessions with different people from different communities, religions and states.

Monalisa believes her stint at mjunction has been extremely rewarding from the point of view of the support and encouragement she has received from her peers and seniors alike. She especially mentions Sweta Jaiswal, Rinku Ghosh, Sudeshna Majumdar, Sanchita Bandopadhyay, Kaushik Sarkar and Tapas Chakraborty who have helped her in her work life. In fact, very recently she underwent a critical surgery of her left knee ligament which had her bedridden for three months. She is grateful to all her colleagues and seniors who helped her overcome that challenge and helped her to get her office work done. She feels mjunction’s strength lies in its friendly and uninhibited atmosphere..

Monalisa believes that difficulties will come in life but it is important to have the will power and strength of mind to face the challenges and overcome them. It is perhaps possible to achieve success without the help of friends and family but the happiness of achievement remains incomplete without them. She feels her success and achievement would not be possible and their happiness incomplete without the blessings of her parents and the prayers of her mother, her uncle and her grandfather.

On October 29 Monalisa got married, embarking on yet another phase of life. She hopes this union will bring her joy and happiness.

In her spare time, Monalisa likes to watch movies and cookery shows on television. That helps her unwind and get ready to face yet another day.

FEATURED JUNCTIONITES

KAushiK KumAr mitrA

Philosophy of life: Never rely on tomorrow – do it today

Source of inspiration: My wife, the Indian Army, the Indian cricket team & my seniors at mjunction

Strengths: Hardworking, dedicated & never-say-no attitude

Weaknesses: Short-tempered

Likes: Honesty

Dislikes: Shirking work

Hobbies: Playing computer games

Favourite Movie: Independence Day, Sholay

Favourite Filmstar: Tom Cruise, Aamir Khan, Uttam Kumar

Favourite Music: Pop, rock & instrumental

Dream Travel Destination: Kerala backwaters, Las Vegas & Miami

Favourite food: Biriyani

Favourite singer: Michael Jackson, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar

Vision for yourself: Live & let live

Favourite Quote: Fight till the end

Comment about mjunction: Very nice company to work with

monAlisA BiswAl

Philosophy of life: A person is known through his work not through his cast and creed.

Source of inspiration: My grandfather Late Lalit Mohan Mookerjee

Strengths: Blessings of my parents

Weaknesses: Too emotional at times

Likes: Truth and Honesty

Dislikes: Indiscipline and dishonesty

Hobbies: Listening to music and cooking

Favourite movie: Veer Zara and Pushpak

Favourite filmstar: Shah Rukh Khan and Kamal Hasan

Favourite music: Classical

Dream travel destination: Niagara waterfalls, Rome and Paris.

Favourite food: Home cooked food

Favourite singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Md Rafi, Hemant Kumar

Vision for yourself: To be an entrepreneur in the next 10 years

Favourite quote: Never say quit

My comments about mjunction: I am proud to be a junctionite where the company’s name itself signifies that it is “my junction” and where every junctionite is free to discuss his work related or other problems with the seniors.


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mjunction’s Guiding Force

On August 24, the MD’s Dialogue began with the managing director Mr Viresh Oberoi addressing

all junctionites. He said the moment we know “why” we are doing a certain job, we automatically know “what to do” and “how to do it.”

For that, we cannot lose sight of our focus, goal or purpose at any time. He said “simplifying” a job is perhaps the key to doing that.

Mr Oberoi then went on to present the company’s performance for Q1 of FY13. Performances of individual business units were also presented. The heads of functional units – Administration, Human Resources, Procurement, Technology, Business Excellence, Corporate Marketing & Communications – presented their achievements of Q1 of FY13 as well as their plans for Q2 and H1 of the financial year.

The evening ended with an open house and high tea.

MD’s Dialogue

Individual above allOne of the attractions of the evening was a captivating discourse by the esteemed guest speaker Dr A.K. Sinha, a professor of Economics at IIM Calcutta since 1991, which held the audience spellbound.

Dr Sinha said that in the context of ethics, there is nothing that is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. In such situations, it is the individual who ultimately matters the most, as it is finally the individual who takes the final call.

However, in a team, an existing set of codes forms the basic level of values. It sets the foundation of values amongst the team members and thus plays a critical role in this context, as it sets the first benchmark. But it should always be remembered that ultimately, it is each individual team member who matters the most. They are the ones who need to know when one should stop, what are the permissible limits and thus take the final call as far as ethics are concerned.

Dr Sinha was educated at Presidency College Calcutta, University of Rochester and University of Southern California, from where he received his Ph.D. He has taught at Presidency College, University of Calcutta, Indian Statistical Institute, and held visiting appointments at University of Southern California, Washington University in St. Louis, and Curtin University of Technology at Perth.

He is actively engaged in training and consulting for a number of organisations in the public and private sector, as well as for international agencies.

Mr Oberoi added that ethics plays a vital role in the Tata Group. One sometimes needs to take a stand and have the guts to say “no”. In case of mjunction, the values are “etched on stone” and are not to be compromised with, at any cost, he said.


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mjunction has always stood on a strong value system and all its employees and clients are bound by a set of rules that is its own Code of Conduct. Beyond Barriers wishes to reaffirm mj’s set of

values and also ask its Ethics Coordinators what “workplace ethics” means to them.

Whether you are our customer, our vendor or our client please feel free to raise all ethical concerns to [email protected].

Workplace ethics

Code of Conduct –The framework for building trust1. Committed to National Interest.

2. General Standards of conduct: - ensuring safety & health; - drug & alcohol free workplace; - equal opportunity employment; - free of discrimination; - prohibition of physical, sexual or verbal

harassment; and - dress as per dress code.

3. Protecting Company’s Assets: - physical access control; - proper utilisation of company funds; - no misuse electronic communication

resources; - use of licensed software only; and - protecting intellectual property.

4. Non Conflict of self Interest that adversely affects the common good of the company.

5. Fair & accurate Financial Reporting and maintaining records as per company’s accounting standards.

6. No Third Party Representation by non junctionites.

7. Compliance to Regulatory norms.

8. Non-Concurrent Employment.

9. Civic or political activities that do not adversely affect the business or interests of the Company.

10. Co-operation with other Associate Companies.

11. Adhering to Gifts and Donations policy.

12. Selection of Suppliers ethically and lawfully.

13. Encourage competition and strive for the establishment and support of a competitive open market economy.

14. Building relationship based on TRUST with our Stakeholders.

15. Political non-alignment & alignment to Democratic Constitution.

16. Ethical conduct by every junctionite.

Ethics at Workplace is the key which guarantees the rights and interests of all stakeholders.

Abul Kalam AzadEthics Coordinator, Burnpur branch

Ethics at Workplace is all about making the correct choices. In todays' busy and time-consuming corporate world we spend most of our time in our workplaces where we have to encounter a lot of challenges. Our performance is measured in terms of the results we achieve. Every time we may not have control over

result we achieve but we do have choice of our action which is morally and ethically correct.

Avik RayEthics Coordinator, Mumbai branch

Ethics at Work place is a discipline which propels the individual work practices to a high level and sets a high standard. Ethical conduct helps to maintain a high level of respect not just for people but for the profession with which we are involved.

Ashok Roy,Ethics Coordinator, Bokaro branch

Ethics at Workplace refers to choosing the option that is determined to be the moral or legal "right" choice, even if the other alternative is very attractive. Maintaining ethical standards in the workplace involves setting expectations, providing guidance along the way and consistently choosing to do the right thing. Key

components to ethics at workplace are integrity, teamwork, respect, accountability and commitment.

Raminder Pal SinghEthics Coordinator, Delhi branch

Ethics at Workplace is an attitude to respect the right to work for the self as well as for others. It is a discipline guided by the conscience to separate the right from the wrong. It is a tolerance shown to people and environment which is conducive to a healthy spirit of working

Suvajit ChakrabortyEthics Coordinator, Corporate Area, HO-Kolkata

Ethics at Workplace is all about a disciplined culture that enriches both the employee and the organisation.

Saranathan SrinivasanEthics Coordinator, Chennai branch

Ethical behaviour of employees at the workplace translates to an honest relationship between employees, customers of the organisation that an employee interacts with during a day to day operation as well as business partners of the organisation he is working in. It is about doing the right thing consistently through maintaining high ethical standards as an individual as per the rules of the company.

Suman MallikEthics Coordinator, buyjunction, HO-Kolkata

Ethics at Workplace is about making the correct choice. It is not any theory that can be learnt in a classroom, it is a practice ingrained in a person. It is every employee's responsibility to make the right choice. It is about stepping into the other person's shoes and realising how ones decision would affect him/her.

Atanu SarkarEthics Coordinator, Durgapur branch

Workplace ethics is about choosing the option that is determined to be the moral or legal “right” choice, even if the other alternative is very attractive and even if one can “get away with” the less ethical choice.

Damayanti GangulyEthics Coordinator, BPO Section, HO-Kolkata


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nEw FACEs At mJunCtion

Aarthi Dheerajbuyjunction 2

Arpita Mitrabuyjunction 1

Biplab Biswasincubation cell

Animesh Dharbuyjunction 1

Arpan Sarkarbuyjunction 1

Chaitali MukherjeeTechnology

Govinda Pramanickincubation cell

Kankan PaulMD office

Chandan Guptabuyjunction 1

Dibakar Duttabuyjunction 1

Madhusudhan Reddybuyjunction 2

Rahul Duttabuyjunction 2

Rangan Mitraincubation cell

Paromita Mondalincubation cell

Raghunath Banerjeeincubation cell

Sadhan Biswasincubation cell

Sanjay Mondalincubation cell

Sourabh Biswasbuyjunction 1

Samiran Deb Barmanincubation cell

Sandipan Nandyincubation cell

Tushar Janabuyjunction 1

Vivek Tandonbuyjunction 1

Suchitra Chatterjeebuyjunction 1

Sudip Ranjan Giribuyjunction 1

Sujoy Dasstraightline

Suman Senincubation cell

Tapan Ghosalincubation cell

HEARTIEST WELCOME

TO ALL


13

MIXED BAG

Prasenjit Bose of buyjunction enters into wedded bliss with Sejuti

Monalisa Biswal of buyjunction ties the knot with Subhasish

Wedding bells for Abhishek Sen of coaljunction and Soma

Arijit Paul of coaljunction was blessed with baby Ankit

Anirban Mondal, marketing B2C

Underwater Hues by Jishnu Gupta, son of Subhankar Gupta of Techonology

A DreamThere is a strange smell in the air.Its origin is not clear.Everyday is different from the previous day.The smell is getting stronger and keepingOur five senses at bay.Is it a smell of hatred? If so, what is the reason?Probably no one knows.The global village is turning into a prison.Foul smell of blood and hatred is spreading very fast.We don’t know for how long it is going to last.It is a very sad atmosphere indeed.Humanity is being eaten up by lust and greed.What is the remedy?Only people’s activities invite punishments or rewards.Let us pledge to become good people and move towardsCreating an active and animated world.If we can paint the world with humane dyesSweet aroma will engulf the world even if a life dies.

Mukul Sarkar, autojunction

wedding bellswedding bells

Kaleidoscope


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mj seeks to attract the best talent

mjunction has always sought to attract the best

talent and recruitment of executive trainees is a part of that effort. The objective is also to build talent pipelines to take up leadership positions in the future.

mj held campus interviews in some of the top engineering and business schools and in most of them, they got Day 0 or Day 1 slots which gave them access to the best talent pool.

The selected candidates for the interview were first asked to study the case study on mjunction which has been researched and documented by eminent IIM-C scholars. After that mj held written tests, group discussions and interviews and has been offering on-the-spot placements to the selected candidates who will join from the first quarter of the next financial year.

Some of the top engineering colleges that the mj team visited were NIT Durgapur, Jadavpur University and BE College Shibpur. The business schools that they visited were the Army Institute of Management, Globsyn Business School, IISWBM, Praxis Business School and XISS Ranchi.

mjunction is also taking steps to rope in IIM students for summer internships.

The business and functional units worked along with the People team to make the venture a success. Some of the junctionites who were part of the collaborative process are Amit Kumar Khan, Rajarshi Chattopadhyay, Indranil Chaudhuri, Atin Banerjee,

Surya Bhushan, Deepyaman Chatterjee, Puja Chakraborty, Sudipa Das, Partha Pratim Saha and Saikat Barman.

mj undertakes employee engagement initiatives

Employee engagement and satisfaction have always formed the cornerstone of mjunction’s policies and in recent times certain initiatives have been taken with this objective in mind.

Topping the list is Velocity, the online performance management portal, which seeks to increase the efficiency of the performance management system in terms of introducing system controlled timelines as well as bringing about transparency and objectivity.All junctionites have been covered under this initiative and it has helped in achieving agility both in terms of goal setting and appraisals.

The other very important initiative was the “My Voice is heard” initiative, which in other words are skip-level meetings. It helps in employee connect with the leadership team and encourages two-way communication to provide a channel for employees to address their grievances if any, share inputs on their work and ways to improve the same. From the leadership team it was an opportunity to share with people the corporate level initiatives and goals of the organisation. It achieved its objective of creating a sense of harmony and satisfaction among junctionites. All of them were covered under this initiative.


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On October 18 as Kolkata dressed up to usher in the festivities, mjunction set the mood by organising a TIE Antakshari event.

There were six teams – two each from Transparency, Efficiency and Innovation – and each team had four members. Aatrayee Sanyal Ghosh played the perfect MC, and efficiently conducted five rounds of the musical game. Some of the rounds were called the Cue Round, Prelude Round, Music Round and Classics Round.

Aditi Paul kept the scores and Abhishek Kar played the role of an audio jockey very efficiently.

Team Efficiency B consisting of Poonam Rana, Debmalya Dey, Debipriya Sengupta and Susmita Panda emerged the winners and Innovation B consisting of Doel

Chakraborty, Priyanka Acharya, Shivani Diwedi and Nandita Mitra were the runners up.

A special attraction of the event was the audience round which

received tremendous response.The teams accepted their trophies from the managing director, Mr

Viresh Oberoi, on November 1, during the monthly cake-cutting ceremony.

As part of an employee recognition initiative, mjunction introduced “Spot Awards” in order to recognise individuals on a real time basis for their special effort and for teams for a team achievement award.

Spot awards are being given for any exemplary effort of a junctionite towards any of the following:• Customer delight;• Driving efficiency;• Innovation;

• Recognising a small individual task well done or extraordinary work; and• Safety.

Also, as part of the Fun@Work initiative, mjunction has been organising the mj Brand Quiz, the finals of which will happen on November 16. Also it has been organising TBEM quizzes for general awareness and has already held Antakshari and table tennis tournaments. A carrom contest is coming up soon.


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In an attempt to stoke the creative side of its readers, Beyond Barriers announced a photography contest among junctionites. The response was overwhelming, and we

are pleased to announce that Mayurakshi Dey of straightline has been adjudged the winner of the contest by our esteemed judges. Beyond Barriers congratulates Mayurakshi and thanks all the participants.

Apart from the prize-winning entry we are also including a few “notable entries” which have been picked by our judges.

Candid Shots

QUIZ CORNERAt Beyond Barriers, we thought it would be a good idea to stimulate your grey cells once every quarter. So those of you who are quiz enthusiasts and those of you who are not, please put on your thinking caps.

There will be one lucky winner every quarter who will be awarded 150 points from straightline, the reliable online shopping website from mjunction. The decision of the quizmaster regarding the winner will be binding and final.

Please mail your answers to [email protected] � The name of this sweet is derived from the Persian word for Ice. It

was supposed to be served cold. Why is this sweet very much in the news in India now?

� Ossur is an Icelandic company which makes prosthetics. Why was Ossur in the news during the London Olympics 2012?

� X was born on November 26, 1921 at Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala) into a Syrian Christian family. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then obtained his Bachelors in mechanical engineering from the

University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined SNTI, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He went on a study tour to New Zealand which changed his life. Identify X.

� He served on the board of directors of several companies, including Marathon Oil, Learjet, Cinergy (Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company), Taft Broadcasting, United Airlines, Eaton Corporation, AIL Systems and Thiokol. He retired as chairman of the board of EDO Corporation in 2002.He is however remembered by us for a different reason.

� Who owns Sunlust pictures? � Which webmail service has been launched by Microsoft to replace

hotmail.com? � If Group B in the 2012 European cup for football was called the

group of death. What was Group C called? � This word in Japanese means ‘heightened anticipation and excited

heart thumping’. What is this word? � Whose tagline is “aao kare Milavat se Jung”? � Which film was financed by over five lakh rural farmers in Gujarat

who contributed Rs 2 each to the film’s budget?

Compiled by Debashish Mukherjee of Corporate Accounts

The winning click

Sunset Hues by Mayurakshi Dey

Flying Beyond by Mayurakshi Dey

Twilight Saga by Sudipta Biswas

Learning to Fly by Subhajyoti Roychowdhury

Sleepy & Pale by Sudipta Biswas