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 This seems to be an outdated short cut now to make illegal wealth without getting noticed by law agencies.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

 

"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

 

 

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.

Source: www.worldbank.org & www.olympic.org

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

 

Triclour Image sourece: http://hadhhogayi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/india-london-2012-olympics-600x450.jpg

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



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.)

Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVOGNi-4t9nWv1WkntcTQNrgpzCkud9C-x2uFm_Szps_D7r_jr09MnhtGdJITK8NkXyiwG52EykxOL2ZCwLvqJneAmQK37zeH7HDa1SsiY0xYGJS40YwKKSD171391jjJ4bpnBMG89aN1M/s1600/0511-0906-2212-2315_Black_and_White_Cartoon_of_a_Boy_Cramming_for_a_Test_clipart_image.jpg

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

A tactical move by NCP

It surprised many when Congress – NCP differences appeared in media few days back. This time, even the media was clueless and was found to be struggling for the feed (masala). The indications appeared when NCP ministers skipped meetings last week. The rumours were doing the rounds that Mr. Pawar is unhappy with the way congress is treating NCP. Some functionaries of NCP got a chance to appear on the TV, but they seem to be as clueless as others.
Mr. Pawar is a shrewd politician. There seems to be more to the story than meets the eye. There are various factors, which would have forced Maratha stalwart and ICC’s chief to take this move.

Anna Assault

It is no secret that Anna and his associates have been targeting Mr. Pawar since long. He had to withdraw from various cabinet committees including that of Lokpal. It has been an embarrassment for NCP to be targeted by Anna team frequently, especially when elections are less than two years away. There is already a list of tainted union ministers published by Anna team including NCP ministers. To pressurize government against tainted ministers (and corruption/Lokpal), there is an agitation planned by Anna and others this week. All this does not work in favour of NCP leader and party, in general.
To add salt to the wound, government has been holding secret parleys with Mr. Anna Hazare. Anna has been vociferous about Maratha leader’s benami properties. The secret parleys were held without the knowledge of Mr. Pawar and it was enough to infuriate NCP.
But, can Mr. Pawar not manage Anna assault more effectively by being part of the government? Not really. By not being part of government, Mr. Pawar would rule himself out as part of any bargain by the government with Anna team and off course, negative publicity.

CBI factor

One would argue as to why NCP is claiming that they are ally of UPA and would continue to remain so, though they are threatening to resign from the government. It is very clear that these are pressure tactics to make sure that government does not sacrifice NCP on corruption. They do not want to be a scapegoat. Though it is important to keep the government under check but without burning the bridges. Government is known to (mis)use CBI to achieve its political objectives. It would not be very difficult to revive/initiate enquiries against “not so clean” NCP leaders. Remember, how did Mayawati’s  wealth escape CBI wrath just before president’s election? Similarly, Lalu has been keeping CBI at an arm’s length by voting by the side of government. NCP will not make the mistake of leaving UPA at this juncture.

Local factors

NCP is a regional party. It can sacrifice national ambitions and that’s why it has been quick to sacrifice Mr. Sangma. But, NCP can not ignore aspirations of regional leaders and its strained relationship with congress CM at Maharashtra is no secret. Some enquiries ordered by CM Mr. Chavan have been a triggering point.

Congress performance

The indications are clear that Congress party and the government have lost confidence of the aam aadmi. The loss in recent state elections, continuous spat with ally like Trinamool Congress, economic mismanagement and lack of inspiring leadership have been haunting not only congress (Mr. Khurshid have been honest enough to admit but this seems to be general feeling inside congress) but its allies as well. Therefore it suits the politics to keep a safe distance with government and take a stand (being outside government) that identifies more with the aam aadmi. However, keeping ties with Congress alive will be helpful if there is a turnaround in the fate of congress and also NCP keeps the tag of being faithful partner. But if Congress popularity keeps dipping, NCP would not mind to severe ties with the party in the election year.
And, NCP may well succeed in the bargain and government may bend backwards. And, if not, Mr. Pawar has done his calculations. It is all win-win situation for NCP to up its ante for political reasons as well as personal ambitions of its leader.

Re-discovery of India-Part II: 2012 - A year of “short term“ turbulence or “long term” turnaround?

There have been many queries on my previous blog titled “ Re-discovery of India”. The questions vary from long term implications of this trend to the branch wise distribution of closing ranks. There were specific queries on whether any specific branch was being preferred or not.

I tried to dig more into IIT JEE data from previous years to get these answers. The current analysis is specific to IIT JEE only.

I found that the year 2012 has been the most disruptive year, as far as choices of branches are concerned. It is not clear if this disruption will transform into a turnaround for years to come or will only be a local turbulence for this year.

The following table lists down closing ranks for major branches from IITs for the last four years.

(Closing ranks for a particular branch have been averaged across identified IITs for that year. There could be loss of some micro level local factors but trends, in general remain same)

 Following observations can be deduced from the table:

·         Computer science has gained a lot this year and is clearly racing ahead.

·     Mechanical and EE+ are holding onto the positive trend.

·         Civil and Engg. Physics have been affected marginally. It would be interesting to watch their trend in coming years.

·         There is a dip in demand this year for Metallurgy+, Aerospace, Biotech+ and Naval Architecture.

·         Civil engineering had been moving up slowly but steadily till last year, but this year it has been swayed away by a upswing in the demand of Computer Science. The same has been the case with Chemical and Metallurgy.

What does this mean?

It appears that candidates are turning away from branches which have less employability and have less growth opportunities in India.  They prefer to go for employable branches in BITS, NITs, IIIT and other institutions. This also shows lack of interest by candidates into higher studies in India. The change is very disturbing this year and this widens the gap between the different branches in IIT. I do believe that this trend would be there in other engineering institutions but with a different magnitude. IITs would need to take a note of it, before it is too late.

Are the IITs doing anything wrong?

Not really. IITs are imparting quality education on various engineering disciplines needed for the growth of the country. Government and Industry have not kept pace to provide ample opportunities in India for all round industrial growth. This has resulted in skewed growth heavily dependent on IT sector. The industrial growth in other sectors have been sluggish. The essential ingredients of all-round Industrial growth like good governance, industrial climate, infrastructure, law and order etc. have been lacking in most parts of the country.

A number of students used to take admission in IITs to get brand value for higher education and employment abroad. The actual undergraduate branch did not matter much. Recent trends suggest that number of applicants for student visas abroad have been slowing down from India. This is mostly related to return on investment through foreign study, which has come down due to growth of IT sector in India. But this in turn has affected “Non-IT” branches, that have always been more closely linked with R & D/higher studies abroad. Students now do not prefer these branches in IITs, it appears.

What can the IITs do?

The flexibilities in course choice/change have worked well to lower the entry barrier for admissions. Students would hesitate to lock their choices for discipline of lower preferences, but if institutes offer flexibilities and provide opportunities for wider choice later, it might work well.

IITians  have been the most sought-after creatures by the industries. Industries have been vying for campus interviews and IITs are not required to do much to attract industries. This has not worked well for branches which have lower in-take by Financial and IT companies. Even if there are good “Non –IT sector” MNCs coming to IITs, the students are more keen on lucrative Bank & IT sector jobs due to higher ROI (Return on investment).

Besides having closer industry relationship, IITs should also be more actively involved in entrepreneurship opportunities for their students in Indian industries. Indian industries have been growing mostly on off-shoring of IT jobs, while new product designs/innovations have been low. This area is a strength of IITs and they could lead the industry.

But, why should IIT care about drop in closing ranks?

Very valid point. How does it matter if closing ranks are dropping down? IITs have already supposedly taken care that all its seats are filled, through multiple rounds of counseling and also by announcing a larger list of qualifying candidates (more than double of what it can accommodate). This means that most of its seats should have been occupied and this gives opportunities to lower ranked, but genuinely interested, students to get admission into IITs. Though, it is not established if these measures have helped to reduce number of vacant seats in IITs, which stood at a whopping 8% couple of years back.  But if it has, drop in closing ranks can well be justified.

On the contrary, if it is not the case,  there are couple of points to ponder over

·         Large number of vacant seats are not only criminal waste but it deprives deserving candidates their due. There have been many ways these seats can be filled more judiciously. Please refer  to the blog for more details - http://dsanghi.blogspot.in/2011/06/high-court-directs-jee-to-find-ways-to.html

·         IITs have gained reputation primarily due to the fact that top brains join the institute and this gives IITs a solid edge over others. It is known by quality of its students, though other factors such as faculty, infrastructure, placements etc. cannot be ignored. Therefore, any dilution on this front could have long term impact.

The merging of competitive examinations, without proper analysis, will further complicate it and pose greater challenge for IITs.

Re-discovery of India: Through engineering entrance exams 2012

Most of the counsellings are approaching final phase. IIT counselling is over, while AIEEE, BITS and IIIT-Hyderabad have completed 2 to 3 rounds. These national level entrance exams and admission processes are about two to three months of rigorous exercise for engineering aspirants across the country. The career paths of the candidates are debated and decided by teachers, parents and many others. Few thousands (if not lakhs) of brilliant young Indians not only decide their future but take a step forward towards building of the nation.
In this blog, I have highlighted a few trends emanating from the data collected from few national level admission processes (read counselling). Please note that these processes are not yet complete but signals/trends emerging are significant.
IIT JEE 2012
Let me cover few salient points from IIT JEE 2012 counselling, which just got completed:

• IITs remains the most sought after institutions of the country for engineering aspirants. Only handful of candidates decide to leave the IIT dream from the top half.
• Overall average change in closing ranks through IIT JEE 2012, as compared to IIT JEE 2011, have been noticeable. The closing ranks have dropped by about an average of 200 ranks per course this year. (This means that each course in IITs have, on the average dropped by 200 ranks as compared to last year).
• The drop in closing ranks have been pretty uniform across all the IITs/ISM, except Hyderabad and Ropar. Either Hyderabad or Ropar have been doing something distinctively different, or it is the result of their proximity to two major IIT coaching centers (Hyderabad and Kota). The chances of former are remote.
• IIT Indore and IIT-BHU have been able to maintain their closing ranks to previous year’s level with marginal drop.
• The trends in terms of regional affiliation of the IIT aspirants can be observed from the data below. All the IITs/ISM have been grouped into four regions and average closing ranks drop as compared to previous year have been tabulated :

Table 1:

IIT Region	AVG Change in Closing ranks (-means drop)
North	-109
West	-172
East	-237
South	-309

Note: 1. Varanasi has not been included to avoid bias due to its re-christening. Hyderabad has been covered separately.
Note: 2.Only general category ranks have been considered for comparison.

• Despite uniform decline in the closing ranks, there are two distinct groups. North and West regions have shown less decline while South and East have been more affected. The charm of IIT continues to attract more candidates from the north and west.
• This data can be directly corroborated from the available information on number of candidates selected for IIT JEE 2012 from each state (upto 18k rank). If one consolidates this data region wise, the following picture emerges.

Table 2:

Region (number of states)	Selected in IIT	Unit
North (8)	31.7	%
West (4)	31.9	%
East (6)	12.8	%
South (3)	5.0	%
Andhra Pradesh	17.7	%
Source:jee.sdslabs.co

• Andhra Pradesh/Hyderabad stands out and defies the trend in other southern states. Therefore it has been tabulated separately.
• It is evident that location based preferences dominate in terms of choosing the IIT. This is in line with my previous blog http://alwaysaheadblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/iit-jee-2012-counselling-a-snapshot/

AIEEE 2012
AIEEE 2012 counseling is currently midway and three rounds of counseling have been completed. Though, any analysis cannot be final unless all rounds have been completed, inferences can be drawn through trends emerging so far. If one does apple to apple comparison of AIEEE 2012 (3^rd round) against AIEEE 2011 (3^rd round), there are some visible differences in terms of closing ranks.
For the sake of simplicity, I have taken representative sets of NITs from all the regions uniformly. At least 2 to 3 NITs have been taken randomly from each region and only general category All India Ranks (other than home state) have been considered in the analysis.
There are few observations:

• There is an overall improvement of closing ranks of this representative sets of NITs from across the country. On average, there is an increase of 212 ranks per course, when compared to last year at the end of round 3.
• The same information, when categorized region wise, throws up following table:

Table 3:

Region	AVG change in closing ranks (- means drop)
North	-74
West	-1111
East	388
South	268
Northeast	1150

• This table is in direct contrast with Table 1 (for IITs); the southern and eastern states are more tuned to regional engineering colleges.
• Southern states (except AP) show preference to local engineering colleges. Few possible reasons:
  • The growth of IT sector has opened up enormous employment opportunities for budding engineers from local colleges (both government and private) in the South.
  • There are reputed engineering colleges in South with good infrastructure and great placement records.

The additional stretch and hard work required for IIT preparation is, therefore avoided in this region, or so it appears.

• The North and West continue to show more passion for IIT JEE and drop in closing ranks in AIEEE can possibly be attributed to the fact that candidates from these regions prefer to re-appear in IIT JEE.
• A note on Northeast: From the data it appears that there is more inclination towards engineering from this region than previous years. The other reason could be that candidates from across the country do not hesitate to take admissions here. Both these trends, if true, are very encouraging.

Private Engineering colleges:
I have been following trends in few private engineering institutions as well. BITSAT 2012, IIIT-Hyderabad and DTU(DCE) are few of them, which I have followed. All of these have shown improvement in closing ranks as compared to previous years. BITSAT 2012 (2^nd round) closing marks are significantly higher than previous years closing marks at the end of second round. The same is the case with IIIT-Hyderabad. IIIT-H is possibly one of the very few institutions which admits few more candidates (overbook) than sanctioned seats, in anticipation that few of the candidates will leave. This avoids the pains of multiple rounds of counseling, waitlist etc. IIIT-H claims to have overbooked most of its courses in first few rounds itself and there is significant improvement in closing ranks (which is based on AIEEE ranks) this year.
What would happen in 2013?
Government is contemplating merging AIEEE and IIT JEE examination from next year. This combined exam would have a debatable process to screen candidates and select candidates for IIT and AIEEE along with few other government institutions.
It is true that IIT JEE has its own format and tests candidates on their academic excellence in great depth – both at conceptual level and application level. It can be certainly debated if this format needs any change or not, but IITs have been conducting the tests, have been successful in attracting top talent and have been imparting quality education. On the other hand, AIEEE is the exam with largest number of candidates appearing for reputed institutions (NITs/IIITs etc.) all across the country.
The manner in which these two examination are being clubbed and proposed for year 2013, AIEEE would end up as a second cousin of IIT JEE. If one observes the data above, AIEEE has its own place and can not be treated as secondary to IIT JEE in large part of the country. In fact, it is the big brother.
On the whole, it can be noted that:

1. IITs continue to lead as the most preferred place for engineering aspirants. However, There are many other good institutions which continue to attract the best talent from across the country and improvement in their closing ranks, in general only go on to show their increasing influence.
2. A number of lower rank IIT qualified candidates do prefer to leave IITs for their other preferences, e.g. location, course etc. Career consciousness is bound to affect these decisions in this world of information technology. Employability vs. Brand plays a role in this process.
3. Hyderabad (AP) is emerging (if not already) as one of the major knowledge hubs of the country. It has attracted the best of institutions (IIT, BITS, IIIT…) and best from the IT industry (Microsoft, Oracle, IBM etc.) to its fold.
4. Social, regional and economic preferences play a role in terms of preparation, participation and choice of national engineering examination/institutions. These preferences do not suit “One nation, one exam” theory.

In my opinion, “having multiple entrance examinations” is similar to the multi-party system in Indian democracy. If one wants to impose a two party system (like in USA), it may not work well for this country. National parties and regional parties both, play a role in the development of the country as well as in meeting the aspirations of its citizens. It is not a matter of convenience, but what is best for the sake of imparting quality education –which I think is more important.
- Sandeep
14th July 2012

Sources: jee.iitd.ac.in; jee.sdslabs.co; ccb.nic.in; www.bitsadmission.com; www.iiit.ac.in; dtuadmissions.nic.in

IIT JEE 2012 Counselling: A Snapshot

As mentioned in my previous blog, number of “new seats allotted” after first round has gone down by 33% this year. This time, I have analysed trends emerging from the first two rounds of IIT JEE 2012 counselling.
What are the main factors which enable change in allotments or new allotments of courses in every round? Firstly, few candidates do not participate in counselling or withdraw after they get admissions to foreign universities. This phenomenon has gained momentum due to rapid globalization and Indians are now able to afford studies abroad at undergraduate level, albeit this constitutes a small number. The other category belongs to those candidates, who do not get the allotment of their choice. They, either have other options available or want to try JEE next year.
These factors result in changes in allotment of courses in each round and few candidates are allotted new seats. It may be very difficult to make a guess if the course allotted to you will get upgraded in next round or not. Similarly, it is equally difficult to predict if you would be the lucky one in the next allotment. Normally, one has to go by the closing ranks at the end of every round and compare with available data from previous years.
I have attempted to arrive at some data points based on the available information to make a more “statistically” accurate guess on one’s chances of getting fresh allotment or upgrade from the current course.
It is important to understand the main factors which impact the preferences given by candidates. Two factors are very obvious- Location of the Institute and Discipline of choice (referred to as branch)
Let me share some of the statistics I derived, when I compared closing ranks at the end of second round.
1. Average drop in closing rank- location wise: This number denotes average drop in closing ranks after second round as compared to first round on each branch offered in that location. It is averaged as -Total drop in closing ranks for all branches in a particular location/number of branches

Location	Avg. Number of Closing ranks dropped
Bombay	11
Delhi	26
Madras (MAS)	32
Kanpur (KNP)	47
Guwahati (GUW)	73
Kharagpur (KGP)	75
Hyderabad (HYD)	76
Roorkee	98
Varanasi	110
Dhanbad	248

*Locations, which have fewer courses to offer, have not been covered.
Please refer to Fig 1 below. A close of the table/graph will reveal that Bombay is well ahead of other locations, while Dhanbad is at bottom of table far behind others. Cluster of Delhi, Madras and Kanpur is the next group after Bombay, with a drop of <50 ranks. Based on closing ranks, it is obvious that location preference in very distinct and might play a role in choice of preferred courses.

2. Average drop in closing rank- branch wise: This number denotes average drop in closing ranks after second round as compared to first round for a particular branch across all the locations. This is averaged as- Total drop in closing rank for a particular branch in all locations/number of locations.

Branch	Avg. Number of Closing ranks dropped
Comp Sc/Comp Eng.	19
CIVIL Engg.	39
EC/EE/EEE	40
AERO.	41
MECH.	43
CH ENG/CH Sc.	45
Metallurgy/Mat. Sc.	54
ENGG PHY	68
BIOTECH/Bio Sc.	138

*Only major courses covered. ISM-Dhanbad courses are not included.
Please also refer to Fig 2. A closer look will reveal that there is very little distinction in terms of avg. drop in closing ranks for most of the major branches except Biotech./Bio Sc. From the table, it appears that Computer Science leads the pack, while others (except Biotech.) are spread apart within 30 ranks. With this information, it is difficult to draw any inference on role of branch, in subsequent rounds of counselling. However, it is very evident that location preference plays a greater role in filling the choice by candidates, if one goes by the closing ranks.
Hence, it may be safe to say that location preference primarily drives the choice of courses by most candidates, while choice of branch may play a secondary or tertiary role.
Next round may see more drastic changes in closing ranks depending on how candidates react to settling of the row on the format of IIT JEE 2013. Whether they prefer to withdraw to appear next time, or withdraw in favour of other institutes outside JEE or decide to hang on, only time will tell.
This is my interpretation of the publicly available data. This is mere reflection of the facts through data and there is nothing right or wrong. It is not possible to capture human behaviour through tables and graphs but it is still better to make an attempt to understand it rationally.
-SK
(Originally posted on alwaysaheadblog.wordpress.com on 30^th June, 2012)

IIT JEE 2012: Trends in course allotment

After giving your best in IIT JEE, most of you must be anxiously waiting for the final round of course allotment. I come across lot of questions “ My IIT JEE 2012 AIR is XXXX, will I get YYY branch in ZZZ location?”, “My course allotment has not changed in second round. Why?”, “I have got XXX branch, will I get another branch in same location?”,” I have got a branch of my choice, can I freeze it?”, “ Are closing rank going to improve this year?”.
Though you may not get all the answers here, but I am sure you will be better informed and prepared to face the subsequent rounds.
Some of the significant trends in IIT JEE 2012 allotment at end of second round as compared to previous year (IIT JEE 2011):

1. Last year (IIT JEE 2011), more than 600 candidates, who did not get any seat at the end of first round, managed to get seats in second round. This year, this number stands at little more than 400. There is about 33% decline. This trend can be attributed to couple of factors, in my opinion. First, IIT JEE 2012 allows candidates to withdraw their seat by July 3^rd, 2012. This will make them eligible for IIT JEE 2013 and they will get registration fees refund (after minor deduction). This is a change from previous year and seems to have played a role. Second, there have been confusion about the format of IIT JEE 2013. Candidates want to play safe and want to hold on. It could be combination of both and/or some other factors. If first factor is predominant one, one should see more new seat allotments in third round. (Last year, more than 300 candidates, who did not get any seat in first two rounds, got a seat at the end of third round).
2. Closing ranks: Location wise: There is an interesting observation on this front, though it is too early to compare closing ranks as final round is not yet over. If we classify IITs into two buckets: Major IITs -(Bombay, Delhi, Roorkee, Kanpur, KGP, Madras, GUW, Varanasi) and New IITs (Rest except ISM), the trends are more distinct. Closing ranks have declined across most of the major IITs except IIT-BHU. IIT BHU has been a major gainer (due to obvious reasons), while Roorkee and GUW have held on the previous year (might decline after final round). However, decline of closing ranks across most major IITs have been observed. There appears to be a trend that most of new IITs are gaining acceptance and have “marginally” improved their closing ranks at this point. Ropar and Indore stand out from others.
3. Closing ranks: Branch wise: At the end of second round, pure science disciplines (Math, Physics, Chemistry) have shown improvement in their closing ranks showing greater acceptability. Apparently, introduction of B.S. courses (in place of M.Sc. Int.) in some of IITs have started to pay off. Engineering streams seems to show decline in closing ranks in general. Metallurgy, Aeronautics, Chemical Engg., Biotech and Naval Architecture have shown downward trend in term of popularity if one goes by closing ranks. Computer Science, as always is popular and shown improvement this year as well. Surprisingly, Architecture seems to be bouncing back.
4. Location wise preference seems to be more distinctly evident from the data of IIT JEE 2012. Therefore, branch wise changes in closing ranks may be modulated by location preferences and one should be careful in analyzing it with only single dimension. Overall, there could be decline in closing ranks at the end of final round as compared to previous year and it would be best to analyse more after final round is over.
5. I have not included ISM, Dhanbad in this analysis. There is no intended bias but the changes in trends of ISM are very volatile in first two rounds and it is expected to continue. Therefore, it would be best to wait for the final round.

This analysis is based on publicly available data and all attempts have been made to be accurate and unbiased. However, any inadvertent error or unintended bias can not be ruled out. Therefore you are advised to plan your career/take your decisions based on your discretion and convenience.
I plan to compare first two rounds of IIT JEE 2012 course allotment next time. Stay tuned- stay ahead, always…
-Sandeep
(Originally published in alwaysaheadblog.wordpress.com in June 2012.)