IIPM ON ORKUT:

Orkut is a large community of Indians, with many based both in India as well as the US. Incidentally Gaurav, Rashmi and Varna are members of it. Thousands of other young Indians are members. I realized that Orkut also might be a good forum for debates regarding IIPM. After noting that there is no group on Orkut created to do this, I have created a group called 'Bloggers against IIPM', for debates and updates about the institute. This should take the issue to people who are still unaware of it and who don't blog.

Here is the group description and a snip from the topic of discussion:

"In October 2005, Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) sent a legal summons (by email) to a blogger, who had done nothing more than post an article criticizing IIPM's overselling of credentials and facilities that they had published in newspaper advertisements. This article was based on another blogger's article that questioned the institute's credentials after doing a survey. When the blogsphere united against this attack on freedom of speech, people claiming to be affiliated with IIPM posted slanderous comments and vacuous replies on blogs, without presenting objective evidence of the above credentials. They then proceeded to threaten the company which one of the bloggers was working for, an event that led to the blogger quitting his job of his own accord, to protect his right to freedom of speech. IIPM has responded in a very unprofessional and undemocratic manner. They have infringed upon our basic right to voice our opinions. This is a general group for updates and debates about IIPM."

"To kick off the topic, let me say first and foremost that the title of this group, 'Bloggers against IIPM', does not reflect anything personal per se against IIPM officials, students or alumni. This group is really about guarding freedom of speech, which IIPM has infringed upon, irrespective of the claims of their credentials. It is not an attempt, at least on purpose, to debunk any of IIPM's claims. Mainly, it is only a group for criticizing the bullying that IIPM indulged in. However, there are now blogs which ARE seriously questioning their credentials, and so even if this group is about the violation of freedom, anybody is free to discuss anything about IIPM that he/she chances upon. In fact, this group can also be seen as a platform for informing erstwhile IIPM students to consider their decision to join the institute from a critical and questioning perspective, and to try to make sure that they make an informed decision about an important career choice of their life.
Let me add that every opinion on this group will be a personal opinion, that is emphatically NOT an act of defamation against the institute or its officials. This group is for voicing individual opinions based on common knowledge and thought. That's where it stands. Anyone is free to voice any opinion here. However, let us make sure that we engage in civilized and non-abusive discussion, whether it is pitted on the same side or opposite sides of a debate.

For starters, for those who are unaware of the controversy, visit Gaurav's blog, and Rashmi's blog
Desipundit has a summary and exhaustive updates about the unfolding of the event, as does India Uncut

The only downside? A server which even now sometimes really sucks! (Although it has improved somewhat by now, and they say they are working on it, as always)