Monday 29 July 2013


A MAHABHARATA SANS KRISHNA
 
The election bugle has been sounded and its reverberation are visible in Indian politics. The Mahabharata is at the horizon and there is chaos all over the place. War ethics are being thrown wildly all around, Dhritrashtra the King, is looking the other way, while bad governance, corruption and communalism continue to plague the nation. Dr. Manmohan Singh is not able to protect the interests of constitutional bodies. The Pandavas of the country’s democracy continue to suffer helplessly- be it the Supreme Court, Election Commission, CVC, CAG or CIC. Corruption appears to be Duryodhana, hard to conquer. Bad governance seems synonymous to Dusshashan. Shakunis of this age continue to keep the hatred alive, either by suspecting the sacrifices of Police force in Batala House or by camouflaging the acts of terrorism with that of legitimate dissent. Bhishma has become irrelevant to the political scene much before the onset of the election. Tall leaders like Vajpayee are no more in the contention, though many warring factions would have liked to align with him.  Sonia is in dilemma, how to protect Karna from war and bring him in peace with Pandavas. Rahul is trying to become relevant to the big battle, but he seems to have donated his armours, if he had any, and is ill equipped to jump into the fray. A ray of hope to save Pandavas did appear in form of Anna Hazare, but alas! he seems to have lost out to the Chakravyuh of Indian Politics.  The Advanis have been sidelined through conspiracy by the bogey of Ashwatthama. The dog with Pandavas would have reached heaven in that age, but now its descendants continue to be mauled by speeding cars of Ashwatthamas. The Pandavas are confused, they appear to be looking to Dr. Manmohan Singh on one hand, and to Vidura, the Constitutional Head of the Country on the other hand. The President cannot deviate from his allegiance to the Dhritrashtra, despite having his own reservations.  Shikhandis of this age are shielding the  corrupt and inept ministers/politicians- Have you not heard of CBI exonerating “bribe taking” ministers & scam tainted politicians, even before the investigation started?

In all this, the country seems to be getting disrobed of its social fibre, like Draupadi and Krishna is yet to emerge…
 
- Sandeep
 
 

Saturday 3 November 2012

A Tale of Two Manohars


There have been explosive disclosures made by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal in last few weeks. Some of the allegations, if correct, makes one wonder if comments made by Mr. Robert Vadra describing India as Banana republic were indeed not utterly absurd.  

One such allegation drew my attention last week. This relates to an allegation about a driver, Manohar of a powerful politician, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, being the director of many allegedly “bogus” companies. It did not surprise me. It has been common for powerful officials and politicians to have “benami” properties in the name of their relatives, friends and other confidants. This seems to be an outdated short cut now to make illegal wealth without getting noticed by law agencies. With the growth of Indian economy, at least two things have changed in this “unscrupulous” model. Law agencies now include tracking of the relatives and friends of suspects. As a result, drivers and other “less educated” and unsuspecting characters have been given this responsibility now. The other change signifies growth of corporate culture in the country. The “benamis” are not only “Real estate”, “Cash” or ”Jewellery”, but also ownership of “benami” companies. These private companies then may act as cover for illegal money transfers.

There are other added advantages of having less educated and poor assistants or servants to own ones’ “benami” properties. Due to change (or decline) in social and family values in our country, it is no longer safe to trust your close relatives. These relatives are well aware of the nature of the property and once they become hostile, there is not much one can do to snatch it back. Political compulsions may also not allow to use force in such cases. On the other hand, poor servants and assistants like drivers normally are not very well educated. They may not even know/understand if they own something valuable as only their names are being used in most cases. These poor people will also remain loyal for their proximity to powerful masters and it gives them job security as well. They are content with the regular salary, facilities and occasional gratitude showered by their masters from time to time. The social status of being close to a powerful man comes as a bonus. They are normally not visible to law enforcing agencies and can be easily disposed of, if situation so demands. In case they dare to turn hostile, there are ways to deal with them using muscle power without being suspected. Overall apparently win-win situation for both powerful masters and poor servants.

But…..this cannot be a true picture of a growing economy. The whole world is watching the tremendous progress India has made in terms of economic growth. How one can explain such a “retro” and “derogatory” view about Indian society and polity? Indeed, there are glorious stories of Indian lower and middle class outperforming and giving thrust to Indian economy. I cannot resist but mention the story of another driver Manohar (name changed), who retired as a millionaire from Infosys. The then Infosys Chairman gifted few shares and offered ESOPs (Employee Stock Options) to his driver, Manohar along with other drivers, office assistants and secretaries  in early nineties.  With tremendous IT growth, low and middle class employees went on to become millionaires. The idea of sharing wealth with all sections of Indian society was thus achieved in true sense by progressive and democratic corporate culture. Indian corporates showed a way to others the true potential of Indians. It is rather shameful that some sections have chosen to ignore it. The “Infosys” Manohar will be able to provide better education and values to his children. He will be able to choose his career independently. He will earn higher social status. He will live with self-respect and dignity. The “Benami” Manohar may continue to live in poverty and will be dependent on his masters to provide education to his children. His children will take inspiration from him and will probably continue to carry the burden of their parents’ loyalty to powerful masters. Realising that their identity is solely dependent on their association with powerful masters, there will be little option to look for other career opportunities independently. Even if they try, no one would probably dare to employ them fearing the wrath of powers that be.

The tale of two Manohars can not be completed fairly without mention of some progressive steps taken by Indian politicians. It is the power of RTI (Right to Information) act which enabled these disclosures. Not sure how history will remember Dr. Manmohan Singh, but he will be surely remembered for the RTI act, which was introduced and passed under his leadership- He only needs to resist the pressure from some quarters to dilute this act.

Having said that, it is not going to take very long that these unscrupulous elements will realise the futility of making money illegally in vibrant, progressive and awakened India, where there are ample opportunities to make money honestly.

 - Sandeep

 

Friday 2 November 2012

"Young Indian" Company: Will it prove another "Bofors" for Congress?

 
Dr. Subramanian Swamy made another startling revelation, many did not know. Is the information shared by Dr. Swamy on Gandhis owning a company named "Young Indian" a confidential information? Not really- Ministry of Company affairs shares information about all the registered companies and their directors/signatories publicly. This website does have  the information about the existence of this company and Gandhis being a part of the board of directors.
 
This company "Young Indian" is registered with RoC and has CIN / LLPIN no. U74999DL2010NPL210686. Both Sonia and Rahul are directors and other directors are close to Gandhis.
 
 
What remains to be seen if the allegations levelled by Dr. Swamy are correct or not? Is there anything wrong with this company and its sources of money? Was this information needed to be shared with Election Commission, while filing nominations by Gandhis?
 
Time will only have the answers to these allegations. But Dr. Swamy has again proved that he is no push over and he has amazing ability of keeping himself in the news.
 
 
- Sandeep
 
 





Sunday 19 August 2012

Olympics and India: Half Glass Full or....


Indian contingent returned with six medals in recently concluded London Olympics. It has generated mixed reactions in India. There have been celebrations for best ever medal haul in Olympics, while there have been criticism for a handful of medals from a country of 1.2 Billion people.  Several reasons have been attributed for low performance in Olympics –lack of killer instinct or competitive spirit, pre-occupation with Cricket, social and economic reasons. These reasons have played considerable role in lack of Olympic medals in India’s show case, but off late India has been undergoing significant social and economic reforms. Economic factors, worldwide seem to have played significant impact upon a country’s performance  in Olympics.
Goldman Sachs (GS) “ The Olympics and Economics 2012” has been in the news recently. It predicted the medal haul by each country based on predominantly economic factors. It predicted 5 medals including 2 Gold medals for India. Its prediction has been even more accurate for host country Great Britain- a total of 65 medals. The list of predicted and actual medals for few top sporting countries in London Olympics is listed here. The prediction of overall medals for countries with double digit medals have been impressive. It is not my point to debate the accuracy of prediction here, but the correlation with economic health of the country seems to play a significant role in success in Olympics. Though money does not affect all sports equally but country’s capability to promote sports and its infrastructure does matter. Political stability, Democracy and country specific strengths & skills are other factors impacting success in sports, in general.
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Economics, Commodities and Strategy Research- The Olympics and Economics 2012, Dated July 2012

Goldman Sachs’ The Olympics and Economics 2012 discusses economical and other related factors in details. The case of few developing countries does show a good correlation with the economical factors. I have tabulated three developing countries and compared their performance in Olympics- India, Brazil and China.


The population of the country does not seem to play a major role, while economic parameters (such as GDP per capita) seem to relate with the medal haul more closely. Therefore, the two most populous countries, China and India, started to win medals in Olympics only after their economies looked northwards. Brazil won only 3 medals in 1992 and went on to win 15 medals the very next Olympics, though it had earlier won 6 medals in 1988 but the increase in medal tally is as phenomenal as its economic growth. In China, sports reforms and good administration propelled its success in Olympics, but it seems to have been ably supported  by its economic prowess.
 

India’s participation, performance and success in Olympics are summarised in below graph. India’s performance have been improving gradually synonymous to its economic growth. Since number of medals have been low over the years, one need to consider the potential medal winners at each Olympics. The “Among top 10 performance” column shows the number of participants who featured amongst the top 10 in finals (for sports like athletics) or qualified for at least quarterfinals in other events. The swelling of medal worthy performances in various disciplines/sports gives a glimmer of hope.


Any article on India at Olympics would be incomplete without mention of Hockey.  India’s traditional stronghold seems to have slipped away badly, reaching its nadir this Olympics with 12th and last position in the table. Hockey continues to defy economic growth and it is appropriate to mention that it is not only economics which can help you win medals. This is one of the sports where it takes time to build skills, and economy plays a little role. Also India have been on receiving end due to changes in the rules and regulations of Hockey, which went against its traditional skills and slow pace, which India had mastered. Even otherwise, the participation and performance of team sports by India, in general and Olympics, in particular have been traditionally poor except Hockey. Even in Hockey, there has been no medals for the last 40 years (except in 1980, when many top Hockey playing nations did not participate).
Despite political interference, poor & corrupt sports administration, skewed economic growth and more academically inclined mindset, India has been able to come out of its slumber and produced at least one medal consecutively in last five Olympics. More remarkable is its consistency in all round performance over multiple sports and also other sporting events such as Commonwealth Games and Asian games. Needless to mention- hard work, practise, skills and more importantly- hunger to win seem be paying off now.
Finally, India seems to have arrived at Olympics and the next Olympics at Rio could mark a watershed for the growing economic power.

- Sandeep
 

Friday 10 August 2012

Book Preview: "101 Myths & Realities @ the Office"

A very good hand book for a successful professional career

There has been a significant growth of service sector in last few decades. It is difficult to imagine the vast differences in work culture, employees' mindset and employers' expectations from earlier days. The all-round growth of technology has altered the social, economic and industrial landscape. In this fast changing environment, one has to adapt oneself to the environment quickly and keep pace with the growth. The personal growth, these days, is no longer controlled by traditional and hierarchical parameters. Therefore, it has not been easy to transform your personal ambitions and goals into a successful career, just going by the practices of previous generation. In this fast pace professional world, opportunities knock at every turn and it is for individuals to grab them.

"101 Myths & Realities @ the Office by Utkarsh Rai" is one such book, which helps you to keep one step ahead in professional environment. I had a chance to preview this book and I recommend it to every professional. It helps to successfully carve out your career and to ensure that your personal goals are aligned with that of the organization through "101" practical, day to days situations. This is a wonderful reference book for both managers and employees. One thing I like about this book the most is the way it suggests the way-forward to both managers and employees on each such situation. This is a condensation of vast global experience of the author. This book has been aptly fore-worded by Nandan Nilekani with comments from Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Som Mittal.

To book your own copy, please follow the link below. The book is available from August 15th but can be pre-booked now :

http://www.infibeam.com/Books/101-myths-realities-office-utkarsh-rai/9780143418627.html?utm_term=Utkarsh_1_5

http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/101-myths-realities-office-by-utkarsh-rai-books-9780143418627-22524113/

- Sandeep



Thursday 2 August 2012

My Journey, My Story: Pankhuri

Engineering Entrance Examination:A student's perspective on Making It Happen successfully
Well, every year thousands of lakhs of students appear for various competitive exams across the country; IIT, BITS and AIEEE being the main ones out of these. So, what exactly can a student do, to make sure they come out with flying colours? Well, this article highlights my journey; read it, learn from it, adapt it, but do not follow it blindly, for I have made my own share of mistakes!
So, there I was, fresh from my tenth grade board exams. Not really sure of how I was going to face the next two years. IIT, BITS or NIT-K was the goal, in that order of preference, but the journey was unknown. I started off by joining, rather continuing, coaching in FIITJEE. Here, however, I made a small, yet costly, mistake. I went off for a vacation, and missed the beginning month of classes in April. To put it simply, I have never understood Mechanics properly since then.
I took 11th grade lightly, not really studying that much for the competitive exams. Going to school and going to coaching. I studied for school, but not for coaching, unless tests were close by. This helped me in AIEEE, but was not so great for my IIT. The 11th grade portions are very important, in all three subjects, and often the trickiest questions of any competitive paper are set from these chapters. So it really helps to be thorough with them. Writing from experience, I’d like to say, PLEASE do not neglect your 11th grade topics in 11th grade. We often think that there will be enough time in the two years to catch up, but that really does not happen. Take it from someone who’s been there.
Now, 12th grade ends up being more of a chaos. There are forms to be filled, boards to be written, records to be completed, graduation to be attended, not to mention the pre-boards. In the midst of all this, one has to focus on their studies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that bad also, but at the end of a week, you are tired.  12th is the one year when you have study. That’s it, study. And since almost everyone is studying around you, it won’t seem that bad a task actually! So yeah, studying should be the mantra for the year.
On another note, one should also look into reference books and use them for studying/practice. Many students have the tendencies to look at many books, however, I did not find this very helpful. I spoke to my teachers and classmates, and bought only two or maybe three references per subject, the ones that were most helpful. Exceptions, however, can be made if a particular book is better for a specific topic. This way, you have a better grasp on topics, because you maintain continuity. Of course, it also helps to have friends in your class, who might bring in problems from other books, which then helps you adapt your thinking to different types of question.
Solving previous years’ papers and guess papers is also a good idea. Though the IITJEE is known for not repeating questions, they do have some noticeable patterns, like how many questions shall appear from a particular topic, and having this knowledge is always helpful, even during the paper. Being part of a coaching class ensures that you have enough questions to solve and papers to do, but if you are studying on your own, many institutes do sell guess papers. That is sufficient practice for anyone.
Even appearing for Olympiads is a good idea. Competing at an all-India level gives you an idea of where you stand and it helps in knowing your weaknesses and strengths. However, writing these papers without any sort of preparation could work the other way around. Your performance could go down, maybe making you anxious and worried. Here comes another very important aspect of studying, strategizing and self-review.
One also needs to follow the idea of planning the calendar in advance. Giving due priorities to the Board and competitive exams is necessary. Decide before hand on what exams to appear for. Nowadays, many papers are held online and over a period of time. You need to plan your calendar appropriately so that you have enough time to change gears from one exam to other, concentrate and re-charge yourself. This also helps mentally, because you know how far apart your papers are. Since the calendar for online examination opens later, it is better to apply for as many exams as possible initially, and keep most options open. However, one can decide to skip few examinations later if examination schedule become too taxing or hectic. I, for one, applied for about ten admission tests, but ended up giving only six of them.
One more thing, and we may find this funny being the internet generation, but it is important to practice online tests. Though it seems simple, getting used to solving papers without having the questions next to your work-space is a different experience. Objective tests also give the choice to attempt questions sequentially or in preference of topics; this is one thing that needs to be practiced, as we tend to go with the order of the paper. These small things do matter and should be practised before-hand to maximise the performance. One, hence, needs to make a strategy as to how to approach the paper and practice accordingly. However, do not alter your strategy a few days before the final examination.
Another very important thing to do is get your body clock adjusted to the timing of your exams. I had many friends who were having problems writing papers in the afternoon because they used to get sleepy! It would be a shame to perform badly in a test only because one was sleepy. This usually happens because we tend to take papers at our convenience, and also take small breaks between three-hour papers. Ideally, one should start writing papers in their allotted timing at least two weeks before the actual one.
There is one more issue I would like to address in this article, as it will probably be the only one I shall write on this topic, and that concerns motivation. There might be papers that go bad, and you will start doubting your capabilities. The following days might seem like bad ones, there might be arguments at home and you might plan re-thinking your goals. All I would like to say is that everyone goes through these moments. Almost everyone feels low at some point in these two years, and I believe it is quite natural. In these moments, it is better to take a break for a day, maybe two; refresh yourself by doing something you like. You could listen to music, dance, read a book or, my personal favourite, watch a movie. You might find it contradictory to take a break when your performance is down, but trust me; the break will only help you cool down and mentally arm yourself for the next bout of drudgery.
Finally, I would say that even though there can be no substitute for studying and hard work, planning your studies and strategizing how you approach your paper does play an important role in your performance in competitive exams.

~Hopes up, always! Nothing does wonders to your performance better than the confidence of cracking the paper.
by Pankhuri

(This article has been written by Pankhuri Kumar as a guest author. Pankhuri has had first-hand experience of going through this journey herself. She passed her standard XII in 2012 and also qualified for IIT JEE 2012, BITSAT 2012, AIEEE 2012, K CET 2012 and  few other national engineering entrance examinations with good ranks. She is pursuing her studies at BITS-Pilani, Pilani Campus. Apart from studies, she is an astute writer, avid reader and prolific dancer.)

Saturday 28 July 2012

Making It Happen

"How to prepare for engineering competitive examinations?"

This is a very common question. XII standard is a very crucial year for most of the students as their career takes a decisive turn this year. There would be pressure to do well. Though candidates themselves have to decide their interest and future, many students look for guidance in this process. Role of parents become very important as they need to carefully guide the child in either case.

Is the role of parents really so important? Yes, If one goes by the data of JEE2010 and JEE2011. It can be noted that wards of parents, who are in government services or teachers, appeared in these examinations in high numbers. The number of qualified candidates, from these categories, is also amongst the top three. The surprising part is that engineers do not seem to encourage their children to be engineers. It is likely that some of the percentage under government services category may fall under engineering service but so far as the available data is concerned, engineers do not seem to prod their children to follow their footsteps.

There is a lot that parents can do to help their children. It is important to add that every child is different and has different inherent abilities. Therefore, it would be best if the child and parents could judiciously decide the long term career goal based on interest, abilities and preferences. The decision would be easier if child has interest and inclination for a particular career. The interest can transform into motivation to perform even better for the dream career.

Choice of career after PUC level is getting broader these days. There are a number of courses offered at this level now, which are either integrated with post-graduation level (like Dual Degree) or which have become now available at undergraduate level (Law etc.). This makes career decision more important than it used to be in earlier days. That means a wrong choice would take even more time to correct, provided it is possible.

It is important to realize the capability of the child and strategize to get optimum out of his capability. There are many ways to gauge their capabilities – through teachers, performance in Olympiads, performance in class etc. The role of teachers is very crucial and parents need to interact regularly with teachers. An experienced teacher’s assessment would normally be the most significant as the child spends a lot of time in school and teachers gets the best opportunity to watch the child’s performance as compared to his peers. I would recommend participating in Olympiads to gauge one’s standing at State and National level. However, there is a word of caution- one should not blindly appear in all the Olympiads. You should be selective and choose it based on your interest and preparation level. Low scores in Olympiads may dampen your spirits, so be careful.

There is no need to worry if you have a starting trouble. If one plans and strategizes one’s study well in advance, one can attempt to recover. It is very good if one can identify one’s strengths and weakness. It would be great if you can work on your weaknesses and self-correct yourself. If there is any particular chapter/area, where you are not able to improve (despite spending enough time and attention), I would suggest focusing on your strengths instead and try to ensure good performance there. All the examinations have balanced distribution and coverage of different chapters. In competitive examinations, it is not necessary to attempt everything but it is more important that you attempt correctly, whatever you know. One needs to keep the expectations at an appropriate level. If you aim too high, you may get demotivated if you do not attain it, and if you aim low, you will end up being an under-achiever.

Parents can play a constructive role to support the child. There will be many ups and downs in this journey and it is very essential that parents make sure that the child is doing his best. Not only should they motivate him when the chips are down, they should also make sure that the child is having regular breaks. On the other hand, if the child is getting too casual with studies, they should not hesitate to give a piece of their mind to him.

It is important to prepare yourself psychologically before any examination. Please make sure that you harden yourself through mock tests thoroughly against pressure, nervousness and anxiety during the final exams. Most of the good coaching classes do a good job in preparing yourself for examination through practice tests. It is your job to take it with all seriousness and you will gain in the end. With every mock test, you should demand certain takeaways from yourself. You may want to make sure if – say, you are able to at least go through and attempt all the questions, you are able to have less than x% of unforced errors (silly mistakes), you are able to attempt chapters of your strength with at least yy% score etc. These takeaways will largely depend upon your own self-assessment, nature of mock test etc. I would want to caution that there should be proper checks and balances between the time you spend on study and on mock tests. Initially, you should focus on completing the syllabus with fewer tests. Subsequently, you need to change the gears. You should regularly check on what kind of study vs. mock test bandwidth, you need to arrive at.

Coaching institute do give better results than self-study for JEE exam as per JEE data. For other examinations, your board syllabus should be sufficient. There are certain advantages and disadvantages and one needs to evaluate one’s preferences before making a decision to join or not to join a good coaching institute. Coaching institute demands time and you might get less time for self-study and other routine work. Even school study may get compromised, which may prove costly as the new format of AIEEE/JEE have stricter minimum std. XII qualifying marks threshold from this year (BTW, BITS-Pilani have relaxed its std. XII qualifying marks threshold last year).  Please keep in mind, coaching institute cannot significantly improve your inherent abilities but can provide you proper direction. A good coaching institute provide a more competitive environment, with an advantage of interacting with your colleagues from other schools giving your broader perspective. They help you overcome your examination jinx, if any. In short, they make sure that deserving candidates do not miss out (and to some extent improve their chances of success) but they do not significantly enhance your chances of success.

This year, the exams conducted by Government funded technical institutes may get combined, but private institutes will continue to take their examinations separately. Therefore, there may not be a significant reduction in number of exams. It has been observed that government tests are more inclined towards the CBSE board syllabus. It is always better to check the syllabus of each examination and figure out the differences in syllabus and pattern early on.

In short, proper choice of career, hard work with proper planning & strategy and mental preparedness play a key role in success. This article is primarily from parents' perspective- the next article will cover the story from a student's perpective, who has been there and done that.

Stay tuned- Study hard and study smart. All the best.
- Sandeep