SO... Here comes the last phase for many !!!!!!

I do not know exactly why I am being driven or motivated to write this small post. Perhaps one reason can be the expectations of people of our country from IITians. For some people, IITians are the role models, while for others they are just a bunch of "Intelligent people" who fall prey to the lure of huge package and forget their the so called "Social Responsibility". I do not know which way to go !!!!!  Hence it is an small effort form my side to put forth my views and hope to find the answer regarding the validity of the views of different sections of people. 

The placement for the year 2012 is on its way. Many many congratulations and good wishes to them from my side. Its only 2-3 days and some students got placed in companies like FB, GS, DB, Schluberger, Mitsubishi and many more on the list. If we look at the average package of these (above mentioned) companies, the average package is around 20 lpa  (Caution:This is not the final average package for IIT).  As the placement session ends, perhaps all gets placed in some company or the other. I do not know the exact percentage of students placed in their respective core companies, however, it will not be wrong to say that the % is quite less because of the not-so-handsome package that these companies offer. 

Lets come to main point directly i.e the topic under consideration. To defend this aspect, I would very promptly say that IIT was established to produce leaders in different fields (not necessarily engineering) so that with the skill they developed in the IIT Curriculum, they make an impact not only at the national but at the international level too. It is through their hard labour that they have come to this stage. Thus by entering in any multinational companies (MNCs), they are proving their mettle and will contribute in the growth of a company. Also it must be borne in mind that these people have to undergo several tests, interviews to finally get selected. So, at every stage, IITians are proving their capability and leadership too. At 21 or so, being a part of a MNC and contributing in its day to day affairs speaks a lot on itself. So, no doubt on leadership too..!!!!! HENCE the aim of producing these IIT ians gets fulfilled... Right!!!! 

Contrary to it there are other views too floating in the educational market. It says the IITs are just a manufacturer of "items or products" for these MNCs. What's the use of having such people in the country or their leadership who are serving only their purpose and hardly care for those who have contributed to their "Subsidised" education. According to Harish Hande, a Ramon Magsaysay Award Winner and an IIT Khargpur alumni, IITians are a "Product of Subsidy" of the tax payers which consists of 70% of the poor people in India.  He believes they got a chance to come to IIT just because 600 million Indians did not have the opportunity to prove themselves. In other words, the other part of India are too unprivileged to even participate in the day to day affairs of our country. So isn't it the responsibility of these IIT ians to use their "high level intelligence" to solve the problems of rural India so that they can also play in the frontfoot? If these IITians will not solve the problems of India. no one else will probably. US and Europe are already too developed and they do not need us the extent to which India needs them. So, a small conclusion can be drawn from here: There is a fight between personal gain and country's well being. We the people of India have become so concerned about our personal well being that we at most of the time forget our Social Responsibility whether it is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or any other. A lady reader once said "These corporates exploit the poor men for their personal growth in the day time and at night they draw their curtains to avoid those poor on the road sleeping under the streetlight". Hence, we really need a transformed India where even a small worker who works on daily wage to have the minimum requirements of life.  We desperately need an ecosystem so that India can retain its manpower specially these IITians so that they contribute in providing a feasible solution to the problems of India. 

Solving a critical book question is good but the need of the hour is to solve the real problems we are facing. 

I will pen down my writing with my last statement. A social enterpreneur once said humourously " IITians generally move away from our country or work in other areas just because they are afraid of solving the real life problems and make themselves comfortable with the corporate world which pays them handsomely".

Note: Constructive views are welcomed and appreciated.

Cable TV Digitization

Digitization : The way ahead for India Television
	Time to switch to Videocon d2h, “The purple digital revolution”
	Govt. of India has passed an ordinance mandating the digitization of Cable Services? What does this mean?
	A ordinance has been passed by the Govt. of India on the mandatory digitization of the Cable Services. According to this amendment made in the section 9 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Ordinance, 1995, the I&B ministry will make Digital Addressable System mandatory. This measure will empower consumers to an increased number of channels and high quality viewing. The concept of a prime band will be passé after introduction of digitization. Viewers will be able to access digital services only through a set top box (STB). Eventually, you will be facing a black out of analog signals in major metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai post October 31st 2012, in cities with more than one million populations like Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore by March 31, 2013, the deadline for complete digitization in urban areas is September 30, 2014 while the entire country is expected to achieve digitization by December 31, 2014.
	Every Household in India must have a Digital Set Top Box post these deadlines to be able to watch Satellite TV.
	The process of Digitization will definitely benefit the television viewers in India. Digitization will lead TV viewers to more qualitative viewing with access to digital picture and High Definition Digital (HDD) Sound Quality. The real advantage for TV viewers will be when they opt for a DTH Service provider like Videocon d2h.
	TV viewing services in India is currently provided mainly by three mediums Analogue Cable Services, Digital Cable Services and Digital DTH Services. Analogue cable services have been existing in India for more than two decades in India, however, analogue cable services have limited number of channels and do not have extra features and value added services. Digital DTH services in India have been started less than a decade back and are gaining popularity and acceptance in India mainly because of their superior picture and sound quality.
	Everything you need to know about Digitization
	Do you still watch your television programs on cable?
	The cable operators transmit the channels in analog signal mode which is very hazy. The common problems associated with the analog transmission include ghosting of images or even hazy and noisy signal. You will notice that after a particular number, the quality of channels become very poor.
	In high end televisions, cable is more distorted and one will not be able to watch the programs clearly. You need to switch over to the Digital signals provided by a DTH service provider to reap the full benefits of a high end television and its superior features.
	What is a Digital Signal? How are they superior then Analog signal?
	In a digital signal, the receptivity is much clearer and all the channels have the same reception quality. As both the signals are received at the same time, there are no issues with the synchronization of sound with video.
	Are Cable Operator ready to beam digital signals?
	Cable operators are currently providing analog signals. There is a huge cost involved in digitization of cable signals and many cable operators are shying away from this kind of investment, barring few organized and large scale cable operators.
	Why do you need to switch to DTH today?
	DTH means, Direct to Home Service. Through this service, the recipient will receive the signals directly from the satellite on his Set Top Box. The viewer gets a wider range of channels to choose from which can be activated through packages. The picture quality is much superior and the sound is crystal clear. The viewers are also able to watch High Definition content which is set to make television viewing even more superlative. HD Channels is one of the major advantages for a DTH Service subscriber along with other features mentioned below. One can now watch his favorite sports action or travel & adventure series in high definition; he can now also see all the movie action with higher clarity. There is upto 5 times picture quality over normal or standard definition picture quality and the images carry 16: 9 aspect ratios. Note: I have not written it myself. I have taken it from a source. However, the information will be beneficial to all. Thank you.

Tamil Nadu VS Sri Lanka + Foreign Relations with Neighbors

Sri lankan tamils perhaps have become an ethnic group in the South Asian island of Sri Lanka. According to Anthropological evidences and Archaeological evidences, Sri Lankan Tamils have been living on the island since 2nd Century BCE (Ref: wiki), but, there has been a constant tension between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. Sinhalese are the majority population of SL and constitute around 74.5% of Sri Lankan population. 
In the present situation when "INTERNATIONAL RELATION" plays a key role for a country in terms of economy, political stability, border issues etc., we are trying to worsen our relation and that too with a neighboring nation. 
Very recently, Jayalalithaa, the incumbent CM of Tamil Nadu in her letter to the PM expressed her anger for training the Sri Lankan Army officers in Wellington (Tamil Nadu). Not many days later, in another case, she suspended the officer for allowing the Sri Lankan football players to play a friendly match with a custom department team. It clearly reflects the lack of co-ordination between the central and the state government. When the matter is related to any foreign country, it becomes a national issue and should be a prerogative of the Central Government and not only the state government. The decision should be made either by a consensus of both or by the central government. Sole decision/Hard decision of the state government will only bitter-up the relation and may not be in the favour of India. 
Talking about our foreign policy- India was always a believer of maintaining a fine diplomatic relation specially with our neighbors. India played a key role in the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1988, India helped preserve the integrity of Maldives by assisting it from the take over by armed mercenaries. In fact, India won International Appreciation for its initiatives for strengthening ties with neighbors. These initiatives are based on five principles. 
1. With neighbors like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India does not ask for reciprocity but gives all that it can in good faith and trust. 
2. No south Asian countries should allow its territories to be used against the interest of another country of the region. 
3. No country will interfere in the internal affairs of the other.
4. All South Asian countries must respect each other's territorial integrity and Sovereignty. 
5. They should settle all disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations. 
India has taken several further steps which gained her respect from other countries and also positioned it among the powerful countries not only in Asia but in the world too. India is considered as the leader of the developing nations and having the potential to be a developed nation somewhere down the line. 
India is a key member of SAARC. In the recent years SAARC played a crucial role in the accelerating pace of economic growth. The South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) became operational in 1995. At the 9th SAARC summit in Male in 1997, chaired by India, a historical decision was taken to strive for a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) BY THE YEAR 2001. At present India is implementing a "LOOK EAST" policy. Some significant steps in the pursuance of this policy has been taken with the admission of India as a full dialogue partner of Association of South east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a member of ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996. 

Reference: Embassy of INDIA, Beijing

The MULAYAM'S game plan

Ms. Mamta Banerjee's  act of leaving the UPA political ground was thought to be catastrophic by many. But, to the dismay of Ms. Banerjee and other oppositions, a third hand was ready to help out the government from the "No-Trust Motion" to be passed in the parliament. The third hand was none other than the game changer Mulayam Singh Yadav.
It was not the first time that UPA was supported by him, but we had seen it earlier in the Presidential Election too when Mulayam changed his plan overnight from Mr. APJ Kalam to  Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. During that situation too, Ms. Banerjee was on the loosing side.
So far so good...
The question which is not exactly clear is: why Mulayam is extending to support to the government even though it is a true fact that "The sooner the election , better the opportunity for SP to increase their seats in Delhi".  The answer cannot be anywhere near Ms. Banerjee because SP is not going to be affected anyway by the TMC. Thinking that the BJP should not form the party from SP'S point of view is not justifiable because we cannot ignore the fact that BJP in no circumstances is going to win elections (if it happens now). BJP is not strong enough to form party at this moment because of their lack of leadership and the internal mis-understandings among the party members. The relation between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar are well known to all and their race for the post of PM.
The SP's answer to it that they do not want to give chance to any non-secular party to comew to the centre seems to somewhat bizarre looking at the present situation. Then lets look at the exact reasons.
 Certainly SP has the required no.'s to save the government. Hence, it can get benefits and make the work done by putting pressure on the government and at the same time supporting it from outside. It seems to be double plan of Mulayam.
Also, if Mulayam withdraws support and the government somehow fails to topple, it will be a crucial loss to SP as well as UP. This is because of the financial problem of UP. The SP in that case may lose the Central assistance which will be fatal for the cash-strapped Akhilesh Government.
SP on the other hand, by putting pressure and carrying out rallies can earn the favour of other Third Front parties and also the people.
Hence, it is better for him to extend his support to the government for whatever time they can and wait for the right time to come.
The extra time may also provide SP an opportunity to make its base strong enough so that it can make itself fully prepared for the 2014 elections. Even it does not make too much impact, it might remain a part of the UPA govt. (it hardly matters they win or lose). If the UPA wins the elections, it will be even better for the SP to bargain for some cabinet positions (I am expecting that if the UPA wins, it will be in coalition with the SP).
Lets wait and watch each and every step very carefully particularly of the SP. 2014 election is not too far away.
There will be more to watch the new party of Arvind Kejriwal who will announce its party's name on 26th November. More and more competition. Hope that 2014 election might be an important election for INDIA and many changes can be expected.
Reference: The Hindu 26th sep. 

REALITY OF DIESEL SUBSIDY

In the current scenario, the fiscal deficit of India is ruling at 5.9% in 2012. The economic burden seems to be increasing  on the government. Reasons are being cited for it as less-efficient government spending, lower tax etc. However, the "curse" of diesel subsidy needs to be paid attention. There has been situations when the economic changes were observed like hike in petrol prices, lowering of petrol prices etc but no attention was given to the diesel prices. According to C Rangarajan (Chief Economic Adviser of PMEAC), Diesel price should be increased in phase because any such step directly effect common man the most.
Why we need a revision of Diesel Prices?
1. Subsidy means that the extra burden has to be borne by the government which directly affects the fiscal deficit.
2. The inefficient use of subsidized goods just because it is sold at a cheaper rate. Hence the profit base of companies (Specially the Public sector ones) gets affected. ( One must keep in mind that our PSUs are far behind as compared the private markets).
3. Adulteration is a burning issue in Indian Market (The reason is absolutely clear).
In this fiscal year, due to "drought" in as many as 6 states of India, Diesel sales have gone up exponentially. In july itself, the sales have increased by 13%. For every litre , the under-recovery for a company is Rs 14 and hence they have been constantly pushing the government for reducing the subsidies. In the first quarter itself, the under-recovery touched Rs 47,811 crore which is surely a concern for their profitability in the long rum and the capital expenditure. The increase is sales have been also due to the power shortage in many parts of India (Around 21 states got affected).
It is equally true that these steps will invite protests from many corners of India ( May be even by the opposition parties and the state governments), but future development must be well understood. Importantly, we should not forget the economic policy of 1990 (THE FAMOUS LPG CONCEPT), which transformed India into a global Economy. Had the economic review policy of 1990 not been adopted, our economy would have remained a closed one, Government based, no role for private parties, we could not have been able to compete with the global economy.
It is the right time to bring some regulation in economic policy as far as diesel is concerned for sustaining a comparable growth in future.  

POLITICONOMICS

At present India is undergoing a downfall phase be it Political or economic scenario. Recently concluded civil society movements led by Anna Hazare, Ramdev and supporters even challenged to throw out the government in the next election of 2014. However, it is the “Time” which will decide the fate of the government or the country. But, it is the general public or the so called “Aam junta”, are the real victims in such situations. The political instability leads to the slowdown of economy because investors prefer to invest in those countries having solid political platform. Perhaps, it is the main reason (no doubt there are other reasons also) for having less foreign investment in India for this fiscal year. Since we are in a phase of globalisation, the “negative mood” of investors have serious impact on the economy of our country. The fiscal deficit increases and may get out of control at some point of time. The very recent “power crisis” in 21 states affecting nearly 60 crore people across the country is the result of political failure. The 2G scam, the coalgate issue, Adarsh Housing Scam etc. have added to the sufferings of the people of our country. The negative impact of consistent increase in price (inflation) of very basic commodities on the middle class goes without saying.The ongoing issue of North-Eastern people in which around 4 lakhs became homeless, 77 had lost their lives (as on 8th august), have just added to the list of miseries for the people of our nation.

What about the economy?

In the last fiscal, the GDP was 6.5%. But, the present scenario and the predictions of economists suggest that in the fiscal year 2012-2013, the expected GDP will be around 6%. The “Credit Rating Agency” namely Fitch, Standard & Poor even threatened to downgrade the India's sovereign credit rating to ‘speculative' from the lowest notch of ‘investment' grade. It even predicted the growth of India in the next fiscal to be 5.5%. However, being positive, the Chairman of Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) C Rangarajan projected it to be 6.7%, which was also believed by our PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Price rise at the time of lower growth adds to the woes of the nation. RBI Governor Dr. D Subbarao believed that inflation is the key at the present situation and hence he is not in the favour of reducing rates such as CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio). He believed liquidity is not the barrier for the growth at present but it is the investors’ negative sentiment, infrastructure inadequacy etc. which comes under the purview of government policy. So, the responsibility lies with the government to tackle the situation to bring back the growth chain on the track.

What needs to be done?

The situation cannot be tackled just by increasing foreign investment or reducing bank rates, but it should be a long-term plan. Infrastructure improvement like roads, railways, ports, airports etc. needs to be looked upon and we need many Golden Quadrilaterals (60,000 cr) type project to connect the entire nation. Electricity, power are some other requirements. Manufacturing growth is the crucial tool. India's GDP is mainly based on service sector, but, in the long run, we need manufacturing sector to play more important role. But, for it to have sound growth, we need power connections everywhere. Many small and medium scale industries cannot afford to have “automatic power plant” which can supply power to them in case of power cut because of huge investment. It goes without saying that corruption is also a factor for the instability of the economy. According to a reader, Corruption is like a “Tax” which goes to the private players instead of the government and in the way increases the price of goods. But, saying is much easier than doing. Before criticizing the government, we should also look upon our responsibilities as a citizen. We are also responsible for wastage of power, water and other resources of our nation. Hence, at all levels, the whole country has to work together, the citizens has to work in co-ordination with the government (Don’t forget we have the voting rights, hence we are responsible for selecting our representatives) to see a better morning for the coming years, generations to come.

Issues

Hi Everyone...

I am new to the world of Blogging... I found it very interesting to put forth our view in a nutshell. I would like to let you all know that I will be mainly writing on the recent national issues which includes economic, social, security issues. I hope my journey of blogging will be an interesting and successful one. With this positive note, I wait for my first-hand experience of writing on an issue having national importance.