Bihar: The road-map to prosperity

For the past few weeks, I have been going through various panel discussions, books, blogs & news articles, both national and international that had some relevance or relation to Bihar. Through this blog dedicated to Bihar, my focus will be on laying out a roadmap for a prosperous Bihar. I will include the findings from the above exercises as well as inputs from discussions that I had with my Bihari as well as non-Bihari friends. Let us now start our expedition.

The Decoupling Theory

One term that has been doing the round nowadays on the web, on biz news channels or newspapers is “Decoupling”. The decoupling theory holds that Emerging economies have broadened and deepened to the point that they no longer depend on the United States or Europe for growth. Emerging markets (EMs) are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. So let’s start our exploration of the decoupling theory (DT) now.

Decoupling as we all know is separating or detaching. But what’s the reason that we hear so much about DT? The two likely reasons are shaky recovery of the developed economies with V shaped likely to make way for a U or even worse W shaped recovery and the robust performances of the emerging economies like China & India.  So what does DT entail for the world economy? One, it signifies the growing strength of the developing countries as well as weaning strength of the countries like US & UK. Add to that it also tells that emerging countries are gaining self sufficiency i.e. consuming what they are producing within themselves.

Public Offers made Public - III

After introducing Public Offers in the first part and discussing some regulatory changes in primary markets in the second post, the third post will focus on the pros and cons of the recently proposed 25% listing norms.

On 4^th June 2010, the Ministry of Finance amended the Securities and Contract (Regulation) Rules, 1957 to set a limit of a minimum 25% public shareholding for initial public offers (listings) by companies on Indian stock exchanges as well as for continued listing.

The Theory of Relativity

Friends, just like most of us, even I am not fascinated by the complexity of Science. So you can be rest assured that this post is not about scientific applications of the theory of relativity. But the essence is derived from it. That’s why this theory assumes so much importance as it touches us every day. Let’s explore how?

Einstein's theory of time and space, special relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock depends on the motion of the observer of that clock; likewise for the length of a "yardstick.” So if you haven’t guessed yet, this post is about Relative Grading. A much used term in academic set up especially in the past few decades. As the common saying goes, “Nothing is absolute, everything is relative.”

This is how IITK introduces Relative Grading, “Many ideas and things were shipped from Washington DC to Kanpur. When a packet from one of these shipments was opened, a brilliant proposal of adopting "relative grading" emerged. And IIT Kanpur was amongst the first, in the country to adopt this relative method of evaluating performance.” Their inputs have been used in the following paras to shed more light on this topic.

Rebranding in Real Life

After discussing a few social issues, college experiences and even movies, this time we’ll discuss marketing in real life i.e. not limiting ourselves to consumer products. The topic for this discussion will be 'Rebranding'. First let me define it. Rebranding is the attempt or an exercise, usually by an established brand (which could be a company, a person etc.), to develop a new position in the minds of stakeholders which could include customers, competitors, fans etc. It’s mainly an attempt to keep oneself relevant with changing times.

One day of Entrepreneurship

This blog is an outcome of the fun we had fulfilling a course requirement. Yes, you heard it right. The course was or should I say is “Managing new Ventures” and the assignment was to come up with a venture with an investment of Rs. 1000. The activity could include selling food items, providing printing services, consultancy etc. We were divided into teams of six each and given a week’s time to show and present our learnings. It was an exciting task given the opportunity to become an entrepreneur for a day.

Now I will share my learnings that we had about entrepreneurship after the task and class discussion. I know it would be premature on my part to come to a conclusion after a very short stint in a predictable environment but nevertheless a few generic but exciting things did come to the fore.

A peep into "Peepli-Live"

"सरकार मरने का पैसा देती है!” This line pretty much forms the basis of the storyline of Aamir Khan produced film: Peepli Live. In other words, "a farmer in need of money would prefer to commit suicide if the government gives him muaawzaa (compensation)". You all might be wondering if I am trying to do a movie-review in this blog. Well my answer would be a Yes as well as a No. Yes because I will discuss the different realms touched by this movie and a No because this blog is not a commentary on the quality of filmmaking or acting or for that matter the music of this movie.

The Anonymous Whistle-blowers

During our college days, we all have either experienced or heard about ragging. But occasionally some of us have been rescued by the timely intervention of anti ragging squad. No, I am not going to discuss ragging in this blog as I am still not sure what is the exact definition of ragging? Rather I will discuss something that has really put me in moral dilemma. I would like to share it with you to see if we can find a solution. Going back to the earlier example, the anti-ragging squad is usually tipped off by one of the juniors i.e. the sufferers. In order to avoid the wrath of the seniors, that junior informs the administration more often than not anonymously. He does this to avoid being ostracized by seniors or sometimes even by some juniors (some consider it as fun). Juniors undergoing ragging do shower silent praises on such a person. After all he is nothing less than a savior for them. He does what most wanted to do but didn’t have the courage to do so.

The Campus Placement Process

Scene 1: The setting, early 1980s. Rakesh has done his father proud. He has made it to the coveted government engineering college. He is the first engineer from his locality. Well-wishers have made a beeline to his home. They have garlanded him and the sweets are being distributed to one and all. The boy, who was better known by his nickname “Raju”, has a new name now; “engineer sahib”. There is glint in his eyes. This glint symbolizes excitement. He knows that the road ahead is not easy. He will have to fight it out for the few available government jobs when he passes out after four years. But he is least worried rather he is excited about joining the engineering college. He has heard great things about it. It’s a temple of learning to him. He is keen to learn under the guidance of a few well known professors as well as eager to quench his thirst of knowledge at the institute’s library and laboratory, two things he sorely missed at the district schools and colleges.

Out Of Home but not Out Of Sight

Don’t worry I am not going to share stalking techniques through this post. Rather through this blog, I will try to break the monotony of topics based on finance and social issues. I will try to share my learnings from one of the projects I did with an FMCG major. It came under the ambit of Sales and Distribution.

Some if not all of us must have noticed that right from the time we wake up and till we finally go to bed, consumer products especially FMCG ones touch us on various occasions be it while bathing, eating, shaving etc. But the plethora of options available to you at the nearby retail stores would have given you a fair indication that there is a lot of competition in this sector. So firms are looking at different ways through which they can reach out to their customers at different places and at different times. This is where the concept of OOH or “Out of Home” comes to play. The appeal of this topic lies in its innovativeness as it adds a “service” dimension to what used to be a purely “sales” product.

Is regulation the only way to create sustainable cities?

There has been too much emphasis off late on regulations being the only way to create sustainable cities. Through this blog, I would like to express my opinion on the above mentioned topic. 

I think we can play with the question a bit i.e. we can aim at creating self-sustaining cities rather a sustaining one. This is because one of the prerequisites for sustenance is the participation of the stakeholders and in this case it is residents of the city. For it to thrive, the actions of the dwellers will have to be in sync with the requirements of sustainability i.e. taking care of the environmental concerns, politically acceptable and economically beneficial. I know this balance is hard to achieve but so is the concept of “sustainable cities”.

Base Rate System : A change for the real ?

(My heartfelt thanks to Mr. G. C. Nath, Senior V.P., CCIL for his invaluable insights on this topic)

There hardly is an adult nowadays who hasn't felt the need or has gone ahead to avail a loan. You can blame it on the increasing consumerism or the inflationary forces. Anyways, I am not going to discuss the rate of inflation or conspicuous consumption rather I will focus on the rate of interest on these loans. These rates were affected by a major change that took place on the 1st of July, 2010. This happening was; "coming into effect of Base Rate System".This blog is on Base Rate System and its likely impacts. 

Family creates value

The idea of writing this blog came to my mind when I was in Ahmadabad for my summer internship.Apart from the Gujarati splendor what I witnessed was a quite different type of business lingo. The bosses and the sirs were replaced by bhaiyaa, bhai or even pappa. Even though the firm that I worked for happened to be a B-School but things were no different over there either. In fact this lingo was more common when the discussion was among the higher-ups in the firm.So what was so different about the businesses in Ahmadabad or rather the Gujarati style of functioning? It was the style or type of ownership. They were the Family owned businesses (FoB).

Too Big To Fail

I have always wondered, why things are so hard to change even when we are at a consensus that they must. Take the case of corruption, inefficient bureaucracy, casteism, communalism... the list is endless. The reason is that they have become "too big to fail (TBTF)". Take the case of government office saddled with corruption. Though a lot of people are at a receiving end due this menace but they are mostly the external stakeholders of this system. On the other hand, those benefiting from it, the peon, the kirani babu and the bada saheb can directly affect this system and most importantly, they are a sizable lot characterized by greed. In order to satiate their insatiable desire, they go out of their way to guard their territory.

ICT based distance learning programme - IV

In this fourth and last blog of this series, I will share the framework that I have developed for a model distance learning institute. 

The learner centric model for a Distance Learning institute

Note: C&A:Curriculum & Assessment, LR:Learning Resources, Infra:Infrastructure (Technical and Physical)

ICT based distance learning programme - III

In the third part of this series,I will present the consolidated findings of some of the breakthrough research done in this field.Please refer the First part for Introduction and Second part for the Importance of ICT.

ICT based distance learning programme - II

After introducing ICTs and some common terms associated with it in my last blog, in this part I will enumerate, why ICTs are assuming greater importance in the field of education.

ICTs are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, both formal and non-formal, to previously underserved constituencies—scattered and rural populations, groups traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus. With advancement in technology, not only the robustness has increased but so has the cost involved in its deployment.

ICT based distance learning programme - I

(This is the first of the series of posts that I am devoting towards creating awareness about the distance learning programmes which,if implemented effectively,could play a crucial role in democratizing education. The Second Post will be on the importance of ICT in distance education and the Third will be on the findings of breakthrough researches in this field. In the fourth and the last one, we'll develop a framework for a Distance learning programme.  Looking forward to your comments.)

Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy, technology, and instructional system designs that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site" in a traditional classroom or campus. It has been described as "a process to create and provide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both." The University of London was the first university to offer distance-learning degree in 1858. Almost all the countries have at least a distance teaching university and many countries such as UK, Australia, Canada,USA and India even offer DE programmes within on-campus universities.

Rail Budget 2010

(This article was originally written for the CNN-IBN blog)

So, the first Railway Budget of the new decade is now out of the bag. It won’t be wrong to say that it is on expected lines considering the track record of the incumbent Railway Minister, Ms Mamta Banerjee i.e. High on populism.

The good news for the commuters is that the train fares have not been raised. Seven years without any increase in fare, must be some sort of a record in an inflation ridden world. The transportation of essential commodities like food grains, kerosene and fertilisers will attract lower freight rates. Commendable effort provided the benefits are passed onto the consumers.

Deregulation of Oil Prices in India

Raghu is a clerk by profession who lives with his wife and two daughters. He uses the city bus services to commute daily to his office. Though not highly educated, he loves going through the newspapers to keep him abreast of the latest happenings. He is especially fascinated by the news related to the ‘aam aadmi’ (a typical middle class person; the new rage amongst the TV channels and politicians). He was happy that the government was making special efforts to keep oil prices in check so that people like him could benefit. The efforts of the central government had helped him keep his household expense viz. LPG cylinder, bus tickets etc in check. 

But he was surprised how his neighbour Rajesh, a businessman, could afford the latest gas guzzling cars when the government was finding it so tough to keep the fuel prices in check. In order to satisfy this curiosity, he asked this question to Rajesh. Rajesh replied, “In the existing scenario when the international price of crude oil is constantly threatening the 100$ (per barrel) mark and in India you could still afford it for Rs 50 per litre, why not make the most of it?” After replying, Rajesh sped past him in his latest SUV. Raghu was puzzled. Was the government step really pro-aam aadmi or was it bad policy? For the past few days the news related to a panel headed by a gentleman named Kirit Parikh has caught his attention as it is related to “deregulation” of oil prices in India. He wonders what this topic is all about and how does it affect an average Indian? Let’s try to answer his question.