Management Musings

In continuation to my previous post on the Italian marine saga, it turns out that since then, the marines have returned to India where they will now face trial in Delhi at the Supreme Court, if my memory serves me right. It turns out that diplomacy won the day eventually. One can only wonder about the kind of communication that would have taken place between the Indian and Italian governments to have them return the marines to India to face trial. It does appear that the Italians extracted their pound of flesh in the bargain given that the marines will be tried in a different court, they having been set for trial in the Kerala High Court earlier. Ini the aftermath of the return of the marines, the Italian Foreign Minister has resigned and the Italian Prime Minister has commented on the likelihood of Italy being "stranded diplomatically" by all other nations. That sounds like the right thing to have happened. It is understandable in tales such as Aesop's fables or in th...

  The ongoing saga with the Italian marines and their stalled return to India reeks of immaturity and a very child like attitude from the people concerned. Some time during the previous year, 2 Italian marines shot at and killed 2 fishermen from Kerala in the Bay of Bengal, mistaking them for pirates. This was unprovoked firing and rightly, the marines were arrested by the Indian authorities and produced in court in Kerala where they remained in judicial custody for much of last year. Towards the end of the year, during Christmas, based on a request from the Italian envoy representing the Italian government, the High Court of Kerala gave them leave to be with their families for Christmas. This was  against the surety of INR 6 crores and a guarantee of the Italian envoy who was personally responsible for returning the marines once Christmas was past. Sure enough, the marines returned to India then.   This recent episode was triggered on the grounds of the Italian electi...