On completion of half a century of its existence CMA celebrated its Golden Jubilee with immense price and deep sense of responsibility at Hayaat Regency, Chandigarh.  To mark the occasion CMA honoured its all the past presidents and Local management Associations from Punjab and Haryana.  Mr. Pradeep Singh, CEO & Deputy Dean, Indian School of Business was the guest of honour on the occasion.  Dr. Aneet Bedi, President CMA presided over the function.  The occasion was an important milestone in the life of an Association dedicated to the cause of spreading management throughout the northern region.  50 years is a good span of life to look back on the previous performance and introspect on the contributions made in strengthening the cause of management, entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. Since its inception, CMA has been maintaining the high standards of professionalism and decorum in conduct – be it training programmes for the micro, small and medium enterprises of the region or awareness camps for citizens, investors, consumers, service providers.

Large number of CMA members, people from industry and academia attended the event.

Chandigarh Management Association and Association of Sr. Audit Officers/Audit Officers O/o the Principal Accountant General (Audit) Punjab organised a session on “The Art of Stress Management for health and Happiness” in Auditorium of Museum & Art Gallery, Sector 10 Chandigarh on 9 April 2017.  Colonel Gursewak Singh, The Stress Management Guru of world fame shared his deep knowledge and enlightened the audience to remain happy, healthy and wealthy.  The session was full of enthusiasm and valuable knowledge. The elite audience felt benefitted with the therapy on stress control.  Shri Deepak Dhingra, Secretary General of CMA and Executive Member of the Officers Association organised and very well compered the session.

A large number of officers and members of CMA attended the session and applauded the techniques of stress management.

CMA organized an expert talk on Asset Allocation on 25 March 2017 at the Hotel Taj, Chandigarh. The talk was given by Mr. Prabhdeep S. Manocha, Senior Vice President and Regional Director, HSBC, Global Asset Management. Mr. Manocha explained that Asset allocation is an investment strategy that aims to balance risk and reward by apportioning a portfolio’s assets according to an individual’s goals, risk tolerance and investment horizon. The three main asset classes – equities, fixed-income, and cash and equivalents – have different levels of risk and return, so each will behave differently over time.

Congratulations CMA Fraternity for becoming an ISO:9001 certified association because of the earnest efforts of Mr. Rohit Aggarwal.

CMA organized a special induction program at The Hotel Taj, Chandigarh for its new members.  As many as 50 new members were inducted in the CMA’s induction program which was allotted membership number and given their membership certificates along with CMA’s souvenir – Tie Pins and Cufflinks.

On the occasion International Women’s Day Dr. Aneet Bedi, President, CMA was invited by APS Group as a panellist for the panel discussion on the theme of IWD 2017-Be Bold for Change. The event was organized in Chandigarh Press Club and attended by prominent media personalities of the tricity. Mrs. Harjinder Kaur, Former Mayor, Chandigarh; Mrs. Kamal Rekhi, President, Ireo and DLF; Ms. Opinder Gill, Councillor, Municipal Corporation, Mohali and Dr. Mangla Dogra renowned gynaecologist of the tri-city were also present on the occasion.   The event was very well moderated and lots of success stories were shared by the panellists to encourage the women entrepreneurs.

To bring out the talent of young budding managers CMA organized a Young Managers Contest in the tri-city. Over 2500 students from 12 colleges participated in the event which was carried out in two phases- Intra College and Inter College.  Young Managers Contest was brain child of Mr. Hirdesh Madan, CEO, Bulls Eye.  He was instrumental in conceptualising, spearheading  and successfully executing this mega event. To choose the top three, a Written Test for Aptitude, Reasoning and General Knowledge followed by a rapid fire round to check the presence of mind were conducted. In addition to this, the aspirants also had to undergo a personality test.

The panel discussion on Demonetisation was held on 28 January 2017 at UIAMs, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Mr. Gurmeet Chawla, Managing Director, Master Portfolio Services Limited, Dr. R K Gupta, Vice Chanceller, Maharaja Aggersen University, Baddi were the penalists, who detailed that when 86% of the currency constituting 12.2% of its GDP is squeezed out of the market and sought to be replaced by a new currency there would obviously be significant consequences. Mr. Chawala  explained the relation among Demonetisation, Liquidity and Inflation very well. Dr. Gupta opined strongly that the black economy being run parallel would definitely collapse.

In order to equip the professional members with the latest Industry trends and best manufacturing practices, Chandigarh Management Association (CMA) organized its first ever industrial visit to Dabur India Ltd, Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. During the visit members got the opportunity to see the manufacturing processes of Hajmola, Toothpaste, Honey and Chyawanprash.  The industrial visit served its purpose well as members got to see the processes in action and lots of queries related to management functions were addressed by the Senior Officials. The visit ended with a sumptuous lunch at the Dabur unit Café and Honey and Chyanwanprash to savour.

CMA organized a session on “Identification of risks in project management” at GJIMT, Mohali on 15th December 2016 for the visiting delegation from The College of Defence Management (CMD), Secunderabad.

Mr. Deepak K Dhingra, Secretary General, CMA was the key speaker.  He briefed  the essentials of Project Management before the identification of risks in Project Management could be discussed. The process of identification of risks associated with projects, their expert analysis and the best control processes were discussed in detail with examples.  Mr. Dhingra stressed that when it is not possible for the management to control all the risks arising to the project, it should essentially be mitigated for minimising the risk, which may necessitate modification in the project to adopt or absorb the risk.

CMA organized a workshop on ‘HAPPINESS- A Curator for Work Life Balance at Chandigarh Club on 12th November 2016. Dr. Sohan Chandel, Renowned Psychologist, Corporate Trainer and Founder- Nimit Matr Experiential Trainings was the Key Note Speaker on the occasion.  Dr. Chandel decoded the word ‘Happy’ in a very simple way and emphasized a happy employee and a happy employer always bring results. It is important for each one of us to know our own inner happiness so that we can manage personal and professional life and maintain balance between both.

Conference on Make in India- Opportunities in Food Processing Sector was attended by CMA delegates.  We had an opportunity to meet Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice President, CII and Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises Ltd.

Make in India” conference aimed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development and to create a world class manufacturing infrastructure in India. The conference will focus on newer innovations and technologies in both the agriculture sector and food & beverage industry.

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in participation with CMA organized a mega function at Hotel J W Marriot on 25th October 2016. Director General STPI, Secretary IT Punjab, Software world and CMA members graced the function. Shri Ravi Shankar Prashad, Union Cabinet Minister for Law, Justice and I T, Government of India was the Chief Guest. Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, Mr. Vijay Sampla, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr P S Kairon, Minister I T, Government of Punjab and Mr Balbir Singh Sidhu, MLA, Mohali were guests of honour.

CMA, in collaboration with ASSOCHAM hosted “Leadership Summit & Awards’16 – Redefining leadership for 21st Century” on 15th October 2016 at Hotel Lalit, Chandigarh.  The summit very well achieved its objective of bringing together India’s most innovative minds at one platform. This mega event was inaugurated by Governor of Punjab and Administrator of UT Chandigarh, Shri V P Singh Badnore. It was a great platform to know the intricacies that if taken care of, may become a turning point in achieving greater heights.

CMA organized a panel discussion on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 23rd September 2016 in the auditorium of University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh.  The panellists were Col. (Dr.) P K Vasudeva, Dr. Sanjeev Chadha, Professor Management Development Centre of MGSIPA, Punjab and Mr. U K Mehta, renowned Chartered Accountant. GST was all set to replace all indirect taxes on goods and services and to bring in much needed transparency and higher investments in the coming years. About 50 participants from all walks of life, such as professionals, academicians, industrialists and students of UBS, in addition to CMA members attended the programme.

AIMA organized 43rd National Management Convention (NMC) with the theme on “India in the Asian Century – Cleaner, Smarter, Faster”, which was held at Hotel Le- Meridian during 21-22 September 2016. Dr. Aneet, President, Mr. Deepak K Dhingra, Secretary General, Dr. S K Sharma, Joint Secretary, Mr. Ashok Verma, EC member and Mr. Lalit Bajaj, Special Invitee attended the convention.  AIMA also convened its 58th Annual General Meeting on 21st September under the chairmanship of President (designate) Mr. S K Munjal.  The two days long NMC went-off in shining colours with a lot of learning from the deliberations.

Mr. Sanjay Grover, Director-AIMA, paid his official visit to Chandigarh Management Association on 26th August 2016 at Hotel Shivalik View, which was attended by the Executive Committee members.

The report on the events organized by CMA was presented before Director-AIMA, which was appreciated by him.  He provided inputs to increase the visibility and quality of programmes and also shared the upcoming events of AIMA for enthusiastic participation of CMA.  It was indeed a learning experience.

CMA organized, first of its kind programme on “Health First- The Wellness Program” at the most preferred place for morning walkers – the Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh on 14th of August 2016.   Dr. Sandeep Jassal explained the importance of exercise, controlled diet and healthy life style and the threat to humanity is not from any infectious or communicable disease, but diseases emanating from life style.  Dr. Pallavi Jassal emphasized in her brief address to august gathering about the role of regulated diet in combating and warding off several lifestyle diseases.