Embrace the Moment of Calm

Practising forgiveness is not only the right way to live -- it is also the healthy way to live. Medical experts tell us that anger accelerates the ageing process. Anger is indeed a very natural human reaction – and it is a mature emotion when we don’t allow it to last very long.

Anger held in the heart gnaws us from the inside, wears us down, operating like toxic waste that has seeped into our system. This leads us to a state of permanent stress. When we are nursing a grudge constantly, we get into the ‘fight or flight’ situation. We are in a continuous state that prompts us to either attack – give vent to our anger – or escape from an unbearable situation. Our physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual energies are so stressed, that we slip into overall lethargy. This accelerates the ageing process. In this sense anger is the extreme opposite of what was called the fountain of youth. One therapist calls it "The Tub of Ageing"

Holding on to anger also taxes our immune system – the complex system of immunity responds to stimuli from within and without. Even a relatively minor ailment like a cold can challenge the system and put it on high alert. External events like a traffic holdup, a child’s stubborn behaviour, the harsh temper of a superior, or a quarrel with your spouse, can have adverse impact on your immune system. Stress causes insomnia – and so can bitterness.

We still can’t explain or even understand how the body-mind-soul connection works. Our emotional turmoil is manifested in our body. We wage war with ourselves. Doctors have a peculiar word, somaticise, which means taking an emotional issue and unconsciously displacing it on to our own body. The result can be anything from a perforated ulcer to a cancerous growth.

Resentment, unforgiveness, hostility, guilt, anger, and enmity cause diseases related to heart, lungs, chest, stomach, intestines, ear, nose, and throat. These researches show that repressed resentment, anger and being unforgiving lead to definite problems in the organs of digestion, as well as in the head, eyes and ears. These negative emotions are “bottled up” inside us, and we keep “swallowing” their toxic contents, until they affect our health adversely.

Forgiveness sets us free. It allows us to be freed from the grievances, penalties, and shackles of past mistakes. It heals the one who forgives – and the one who is forgiven.

Indian Management System

Is the management education system in India equipped to handle the new set of challenges? Are we producing leaders who can look beyond best practices and trigger change?

Some time back, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google Inc., shot off a letter to the Washington Post with a warning, “the US has an Innovation Deficit”. Can India afford to ignore the warning? More specifically, can our management education system ignore it?

While it is not always easy to disentangle the causes and effects of globalisation, one thing has stood out over the last one decade as we move towards a world of more open and more interconnected economies: That we need more dynamic leaders, more responsible corporations and therefore an education system that is developed for the creation and use of knowledge, and for converting challenges into opportunities.

Indeed, the pressure to perform is relentless and all-pervasive. Is the management education system in India equipped to handle the new set of challenges? Are we producing leaders who can look beyond best practices and trigger change? It is easy to be ambitious but difficult to keep the momentum and act. Is there a will to identify competitive advantages through strategies that foster employee motivation and build capacity for organisational improvement?

The answer is yes and no. The biggest asset for India is its demography — a young workforce, which is fluent in English and raring to go. The spread of information technology has also opened up newer possibilities — and spurred innovation in many spheres. That is where the management schools of India can step in — create an education system that will spur economic growth, produce thought leaders who can stimulate the whole process of innovation.

With an eye to meet the new challenges, India’s top business schools are renewing their focus on curriculum design, faculty development, and the cultivation of strategic partnerships. It will not be an exaggeration to say business schools in India are at the threshold of unprecedented change in their bid to offer state-of-the-art learning and personality development facilities that are mission-appropriate and meaningful to the stakeholders. A new focus on ethics, stress on environmental sustainability and introduction of new off-campus learning initiatives are new things that B-schools have added to their MBA curricula this year.

These are just a few examples; the real change will come when India’s corporations become true partners in building the management education programs. Besides supplying ideas and knowledge, they can make valuable inputs in terms of financial investment and on-site experience for students, making them future ready and equipped to cope with real-world situations.

Child Labour... A "kalank"

"The child is father of the man" or he is the future of tomorrow. But no more. With the growing exploitation and the way we are depriving him of his basic rights, the future seems dark and grim. Child labour is one of the worst forms of exploitation. It has been going on since long without being noticed. Asia has 61% of the world's child labourers. Despite the help offered by few organizations, it's largely taken for granted and no substantial effort has been put in this direction to overcome it and give the children of this world a better chance.

Exploitation of children in commercial sex trade remains the worst form of child labour in Asia. UNICEF estimates that 1 million children are lured into sex trade in Asia every year wherein 40% were sold by parents, 15% by their relatives. Traffickers of both children and adults feed largely on the desire of poor families and many young people for economic and personal advancement through migration for work.  Thailand is the base for children trafficked from Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China. The children work as prostitutes, household helpers, in factories, farms, fishing vessels, drug trafficking.

Bonded child labour is extensively rooted in socio-cultural and political structures in parts of South Asia. Bonded children are delivered in repayment of a loan who then work like slaves in agriculture, domestic work, brick kilns, glass industries, tanneries, gem polishing and many other manufacturing and marketing industries. Child abuse in name of domestic work is rampant in Asia. The young are exposed to hazards while doing heavy household work and are usual victims of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and is most difficult to see as they are restrained within the privacy of our homes.

The rise in the incidences of internal armed conflicts in several Asian countries has resulted in even more exposure of children to armed groups as soldiers, spies, porters and helpers in camps, subjected to abusive treatments in Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Nepal.

Ordinary people can also help fight for the cause by learning about the issue, help organizations that are raising awareness, providing direct help to individual children. It can be decreased by increased family incomes; education- impart skills to help them earn a living, family control-so that families are not burdened by children.

The ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) has explored many programs to help child laborers. Strong advocates of this approach are Boyden, Myers and Ling; Concerned for Working Children in Karnataka, India; many children's "unions" and "movements" and the Save the Children family of NGO. Helped in this effort by setting up credit schemes, supported education schemes, got appropriate legislation on child labour implemented.

Let us also contribute in this direction so that no more children work on the streets. Let us all pledge to give them their childhood back, their lost innocence and smile. Let us give them education to light their hearts and this world to make it a better place to live in.

I - My Friend

Friendship means to share, friendship means to care. It never gives you the slightest of rights to hurt or blurt at your will. Come what may, whatever be the limitless friendship you endorse, the thing to ponder and grasp is that all relationships do come to a station beyond which you just find the halting point and not a junction.

Dosti mein dooriyaan to aati-jaati hain
Phir bhi dosti dilon ko milati hai
Wo dost hi kya jo khafa na ho
Par sachhi dosti doston ko manati rehti hai

Airtel may say "Jo tera hai, wo mera hai; jo mera, wo tera". Looks fabulous on a billboard, a pamphlet, but believe you me, the practical scenario and application of it has no existence. This is not the cry of a broken heart, as you dont suffer crumbled, crushed cardiac issues in friendship, nor do deceit and hopes suffer a jolt, as this is a relationship which survives on companionship and camaraderie, without expectations, without hopes and without the want of a return of favour.

Grown Up!! Is this what I claim for my self!! I am deeply, miserably mistaken. Why do I keep hurting people, people I presume to be a significant part of my life, the "chosen good friends". Its better to stay with the only "best friend" you can ever have in your life "You": no hopes, no questions asked, would never leave your side, always with you in thick and thin...

"Long Live Friendship"

Women Liberation

I am all for Women's liberty - be it clothing, vices, lifestyle, social position, education - they have absolute and unequivocal rights, just like men, to lead and pursue their life as they deem appropriate. But why is it that the society takes equality to be a parallel for favouritism or bias? Why is it that we need reservation for seats in public transport - a 20 something suave IT lady gets a reserved seat against a 55 year old banker who stands to glory during his journey? Why is it that a working man has to pay alimony for divorce, but the working woman need not? Why is it, that in some years (heard of Women's reservation bill), a Renuka Chaudhary would be assured of contesting the polls from a parliamentary seat every poll, but a certain Anand Sharma, far more efficient can't contest once in every three polls. If this is not "man" handling, what is? Again I re-iterate - Why is equality taken to be a synonym for discriminative policies?

In fact, the whole idea of the so-called women’s liberation is more against the feminine nature than anything. It is a desperate attempt, because when you try to become like a man, when you try to do things like him, somewhere you are admitting that masculine is superior to feminine. This whole idea of what is superior and what is inferior is a very masculine idea. If you look at life, everything has a role to play. Because you have made one aspect of life too important, it looks like one kind of people are more important than the other kind.

Meanwhile, a new wave of (radical) feminism is also just around the corner. This movement shall have glories of its own - intergenerational and international. All kinds of things have happened in the past. Reacting to that is not the solution. Which way would a woman really be happy in society? We have to look at that without taking what happened yesterday as the basis of what we want to happen tomorrow. The way tomorrow should be, should be different. It should not be in reaction to yesterday. If it happens in reaction, at the most you may reverse the situation, but once again you will suffer because the same things will happen in a different way.

Indian Education System

Two parallel developments in the world economy are worth noting, especially for their influence on provisioning of education: the growth of the Internet and consequently, e-education and second, the expanding role of World Trade Organization (WTO) in determining the trends in world economics. Fundamental to understanding the future role of WTO in education is the question: is education a marketable commodity like an FMCG product, a commercial service or a public good? The prevailing argument in the WTO is that education is akin to ‘private consumption’ directly benefiting the consumer by way of income.

India has seen a consistently high rate of economic growth in the recent years. It has now become a major player in the global knowledge economy. Skill-based activities have made significant contribution to this growth. Such activities depend on the large pool of qualified manpower that is fed by its large education system. India has been a major seat of learning for thousands of years. While some of the country's universities (BITS, IITs, NITs, IISc, TIFR, ISI, IIMs and AIIMS) are among the world's well-renowned, it is also dealing with challenges in its primary education and strives to reach 100% literacy. Universal Compulsory Primary Education, with its challenges of keeping poor children in school and maintaining quality of education in rural areas, has been difficult to achieve (Kerala is the only Indian state to reach this goal so far). All levels of education, from primary to higher education, are overseen by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Higher Education (India) and Department of School Education and Literacy), and heavily subsidized by the Indian government, though there is a move to make higher education partially self-financing. Indian Government is considering allowing 100% foreign direct investment in Higher Education.

There are broadly four stages of school education in India, namely primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary (or high school).  The government is committed to ensuring universal elementary education (primary and upper primary) education for all children aged 6-14 years of age. Primary school includes children of ages six to eleven, organized into classes one through five. Upper Primary and Secondary school pupils aged eleven through fifteen are organized into classes six through ten, and higher secondary school students ages sixteen through seventeen are enrolled in classes eleven through twelve. In some places there is a concept called Middle/Upper Primary schools for students who belong to six to eight standard and classes nine to twelve are classified under high school category. Higher Education in India provides an opportunity to specialize in a field and includes technical schools (such as the Indian Institutes of Technology), colleges, and universities.

The days when higher education was a matter of national policy and government regulation are rapidly fading. Higher Education provisioning is now globalised and in many ways, a commercialized affair. India has to open the education sector as part of its international commitment on the General agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Indian government is now contemplating on the idea of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in education sector of India. Indian government has been carrying out a lot of reform activities for the economy to attract more FDI in the country. So, why not have FDI in education too?

This carries with it, their own set of advantages and drawbacks. On one hand - 

• There are limited seats in Indian colleges and universities. So, allowing FDI would increase more opportunities to study for Indian students. 
• Many students are going abroad to pursue higher education. FDI in education sector will attract some of the best universities in the world to come to India, and as a result, some of these students will definitely stay back and study here. It will also ensure world class research facilities for Indian students. 
• Indian economy is incurring an expense of more than $4 billion every year because of the fact that thousands of Indian students are going to the US and Europe for higher education.
• If foreign schools and universities open their branches in India then many students from neighbouring countries will come to study in those universities in India and India will turn into a regional hub on education.

Meanwhile - 

• It will hurt the nation's culture and character
• The institutions that come, may come with the sole vision of a new market opportunity, and not to work in the interest of the Indian students.
• The syllabi would not reflect Indian culture and ideas, merely an alien one, which in more sense than none is already infiltrated in the ethos.

The five most important issues facing higher education in India;

ü  access and equity

ü  relevance

ü  quality and excellence

ü  governance and management

ü  funding

According to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, 172nd Report on University and Higher Education submitted on May 22, 2006, entry of accredited U.S. educational institutions has the potential to partially respond to all of these needs.

There is a necessity of linking growth with human development, as mere economic growth is not sufficient for achieving sustained social development. The growth also has to address the larger question of establishing socio-economic equality in order to realise a meaningful political democracy, and should be prioritised in terms of policies and strategies. Though penetration of foreign universities in India has many constraints, the prospects stands up making constraints neutral. Hence in my view the penetration of foreign universities is must into India.

Cut it, Snip it.... Print it!!

With the rising levels of inflation and with evolving impediments to the progressive economy of a future “super-power” – India, the food prices, prices of commodities, cost of access to basic amenities and facilities have taken a hit. The improvement in the lifestyle, need for bargains, access of internet and ease of information search online is the buzzword for the old and young, professionals and students. In the face of these, the coupon sites - web sites that offer money-saving discounts have seen resurgence in the current economy.

Although the number of new users to coupon sites may not be growing faster than the larger Internet audience, existing coupon site users are certainly becoming more active. User engagements by deal-seekers are ramping up. As a general rule, something like online coupon site activity increases as a result of macroeconomic trends. Fueling the traffic growth on these sites are rapid increases in food prices and signs of economic slowdown that are damping consumer sentiment and prompting consumers to hunt for bargains.

These shopping services help consumers actually make decisions when there are numerous evaluative criteria and the decision is relatively complex. It allows consumers to rate the importance of each evaluative criterion and then provides recommendations that are ranked on the basis of this input. The alternatives deemed best fit for consumer preferences mimics the trade-offs that consumers would naturally make given the importance they place on various criteria and help consumers make choices that are more closely matched to their preferences rather than simply telling consumers what’s available.

In recognition of the rising demand for bargains and in hopes of luring cash-strapped consumers, the retailers are as well making coupons more readily available online. Coupons move products off the shelf. Retailers are also relying on wireless technology to capitalize on consumers' bargain-hunting tendencies. Consumer pain is turning out to be the coupon sites' gain. Retailers are incentivised with coupon-marketing and coupon-serving technology. The more consumers printing and using their coupons, the more retailers are likely to work with the site. The net effect is that people are trying to get the most of their shopping through coupons. 

Coupon websites are looking at bright futures as consumers tighten their belts and increasingly turn to coupons for savings. The future of the coupons is filled with fast paced, tech-type platforms for distribution, unlike its ancestral Sunday newspaper inserts, although online coupon hunts have not entirely replaced traditional ways of looking for deals like direct mail and coupons from newspapers and magazines. 

A really steep growth of online coupon has been witnessed and has been projected to grow almost two-fold between 2014 and 2017, as online coupons may outperform print ones in categories such as attention, emotional engagement, memory retention and effectiveness. With the projected growth in demand for online coupons, there is still room for new affiliate players to enter the market. While the coupon niche is already quite crowded, there is still room for new and innovative affiliates to come in a grab their share of the pie.