Dear Practitioners,

High caliber events, strategic partnerships, and increased reach of PMI chapters marked the past two months. These significant developments in the beginning of 2011 have set the tone for the rest of the year. I’m confident PMI India will bring more value to the practitioners’ community in the months ahead.

On 18 February, Dr. Devesh Das, minister in charge, Department of IT, West Bengal, launched PMI India’s eighth chapter, PMI West Bengal Chapter, and its logo in Kolkata at INFOCOM 2011. INFOCOM is India’s largest gathering of ICT professionals, buyers-sellers, corporate leaders, academicians, visionaries, and policymakers. The timing of the launch is crucial as it coincides with renewed focus on infrastructure development in the state.

Our chapters have been organizing some exciting events that have attracted a lot of practitioners. We are pursuing our student outreach initiatives as well. Recently, in association with Mumbai Chapter and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies’ Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, we conducted the first ever on-field project management competition for students.

 

On 3 February 2011, PMI Pearl City (PMIPCC) Chapter celebrated ‘International Student Leadership Day’ with a mammoth gathering of India’s future stakeholders in Hyderabad. The 2,000 participants comprised over 1,700 students, teachers, academicians, parents, corporate leaders, and PMIPCC volunteers. Among the other chapter activities was a workshop on soft skills for project managers organized by Chennai Chapter. Also, we had the second edition of Project Management in Cloud computing event which was held in Chennai and co-organized by Trivandrum Chapter and Chennai Chapter. Both these events were well attended.

 

We entered into a strategic understanding with the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Delhi, to advance project management skills within petroleum, energy, and infrastructure sectors in India. The memorandum of understanding provides us scope to share knowledge, set benchmarks within the industry, develop global standards, and support research initiatives.

 

PMI India is today a partner with industry for knowledge on mega and troubled projects. I was part of a conference in Mumbai on a related subject—Executing Mega and Troubled Projects; leaders from industry and government deliberated on ways to manage large projects in India at the conference. Such forums show the growing interest in India to plan and execute projects efficiently.

 

In partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, we have so far successfully executed nine project management workshops in tier 2 cities in south India and have received an overwhelming response.

 

In this issue of Manage India, we are featuring a unique project—the Kumbh Mela that took place in Haridwar last year. We have all grown up hearing about the Kumbh, but not many of us have wondered what it takes to organize the largest congregation of Hindus in the world. I encourage you to go through our cover feature and understand the project management that goes behind the Kumbh Mela.

 

I am delighted to announce that we have the first winner of our Article of the Month contest. The contest has received a tremendous response and I hope practitioners continue to take part in it in the months ahead.

 

Best Regards,

Raj Kalady
Managing Director, PMI India