Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani
On my recent visit to India my fiancée gifted me a thick book by Nandan Nilekani, an accidental entrepreneur as it is said in the book by the author himself. The book is about India and the title of the book is itself self explanatory ‘Imagining India’.
It’s quite surprising having a book on India from an ex-CEO of Infosys, one of the best IT companies in the world. He has taken up very interesting points in this book about growing India, role of youth and expectations. I am still reading this book and recommend you to go and grab your copy soon.
Few lines which I liked from the introductory chapter are as follows:
The immense challenges India faces more than two decades after reform trigger a range of emotions in me, as they do among many of my fellow citizens-puzzlement and frustration at the modest pace at which we are bringing about change, and sadness at the persistent inequity that is visible across India. There is a growing sense that these problems are now coming to a head-that our inequalities are making people angry and also limiting our ability to take advantage of the huge opportunity India has today.
Twitter a new PR tool?
The future is not ahead of us. It has already happened. Unfortunately, it is unequally distributed among companies, industries and nations.
Public Relations (PR) involves a variety of programs designed to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products.
They perform the following five functions:
- Press relations
- Product publicity
- Corporate communication
- Lobbying
- Counselling
Internet is one of the best medium for PR activities these days and Twitter is proving to be an easy accessible tool for Marketing Public Relations (MPR). Basically, in simple terms, to promote or “hype” a product, service, idea, place, person, or organization and beyond.
Twitter as a PR tool by Corinne Weisgerber
History repeats itself……
Around 40% to 50% of Indian Population comes under “depressed class”, “deprived community” or Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST). Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the 8th Prime Minister of the Republic of India implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged so-called Other BackwardClasses. This decision led to widespread protests among the youth in urban areas in North India. 
This was way back in 1990, couple of years after Babri Masjid was demolished by 150,000 activists, comprising of various organizations, during a planned ceremony on December 6, 1992 despite a commitment to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. This incident was followed by riots all over India and Bombay Bomb Blasts in which several thousands innocents lost their life. Communal riots were not new to India, it used to happen in Mughal and British era too, but blasts were something new at that time.
44 years before this incident, another great tragedy occurred when the champion of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi, was shot three times at close range with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol, he died on the spot at the age of 78. Next year he had plans to travel to Pakistan which was divided from India a year ago at the time of Independence from British Empire. Pakistan’s founder Mohd. Ali Jinnah walked away with his piece of cake creating a whole new chapter of variance in the Indian Sub-Continent. In undivided India, Muslim strength laid about 100 million. Partition split up the Muslim people, confining them to the three isolated regions. After Partition, Muslims numbered 25 million in Western Pakistan (Pakistan), 35 million to 40 million in India, and the rest in Eastern Pakistan (Bangladesh). A single undivided community has been broken into three fragments, each faced with its own problems. Aftermaths of partition are well known; more than 10 million people were displaced in this pre-independence dispute between Indian National Congress and Muslim League or in a larger term the Hindu-Muslim conflict.
The conflict can be traced back to more than 1000 years ago when 17-year-old Arab chieftain named Muhammad bin Qasim in his third expedition defeated Raja Dahir, the last Hindu ruler of Sindh and parts of Punjab in modern day Pakistan. The conquest of Sindh and Punjab began the Islamic era in South Asia and today Muslim population is more in this region in comparison to Arab states. This was the part of Muslim conquests (632–732) also referred to as the Islamic conquests, Jihad, or Arab conquests, began after the death of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power well beyond the Arabian Peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Empire with an area of influence that stretched from northwest India, across central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees. This was followed by Crusades and hundreds of years of rivalry between Muslims, Jews and Christians, which continues till date.
The modern era saw the rise of three powerful Muslim empires: the Ottoman Empire of the Middle East and Europe, the Safavid Empire of Persia and Central Asia, and the Mughal Empire of India; along with their contest and fall to the rise of the colonial powers of Europe. The Mughal Empire declined in 1707 after the death of Aurangzeb and was officially abolished by the British after the First war of Indian Independence in 1857. The Safavid Empire ended with the death of its last ruler Ismail III in 1760. The last surviving Muslim empire, the Ottoman Empire, collapsed in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. On March 3, 1924, the institution of the Caliphate was constitutionally abolished by the then Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as part of his reforms.
The fate of Muslim domination of more than 1000 years was somehow similar to the Roman Empire at the time of rise of the Church. Like Greek Empire, established by Alexander the Great, vanished in 300 years, which was conquered by him in just 13 years. Akin to British Empire, at its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. At the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire” because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
If we want to fight for what went wrong in history then there will be no end to the conflict. We have to remember it was a ‘Jungle Law’ at that time, who uses to win, wrote the history. Now, we are living in a much free and civilized world. We cannot afford to get accustomed to historical errors; we have to learn lessons from previous mistakes.
In Lebanon, a Christian Orthodox goes to a doctor of his own cast, a Sunni Muslim searches for a lawyer from his community, a Shia Muslim votes for a candidate of his sect. Women in Saudi Arabia cannot participate in sports activities, drive car and go for shopping alone. Before, entering in Iran every woman has to wear a head scarf. Israel forgets Holocaust when they massacre Palestinians, Taliban is showing its cruelty on Muslims and other minorities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Russians slaughtered Chechens, China is tormenting Tibetans and considers Nobel Prize winner Dalai Lama a national threat. In Zimbabwe, Black majority is hostile towards their white countrymen, Western Nations are banning the use of veil by Muslim women and turban for Sikhs, America and Britain are making stringent laws as they don’t want any more immigrants, Indian Students are facing racial problems in Australia.
Why an American or a British citizen gets a Visa on arrival in Middle East and other nationalities have to apply for a visa? Why only Asians are frisked at European and American Airports? Why a Muslim boy cannot keep beard and a Muslim girl cannot wear a veil in school? How long we’ll follow the policy of discrimination against weaker section of the society?
Coming back to India, one of the greatest Emperors, Ashoka the Great (304 BC – 232 BC) converted to Buddhism after the scene of carnage he witnessed in Kalinga war and gave the message of peace and harmony in Central Asia. As a King, he was a pioneer of propagating Ahimsa – the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy of revering all life and refraining from harm to any living thing. The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha (563 BC to 483 BC) himself a born Hindu Brahmin, questioned caste system and containment of spiritual knowledge to upper caste only. This revolutionary thought took more than 2500 years before equal opportunity was given to all in the form of democracy to Indians.
The country cannot be appreciated only on economic growth; social development is part of the overall development. Indian society is part of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jews, etc. India is a secular democracy with a promise of religious freedom in our constitution and we cannot impose identity of the majority section of the society on others. If we take out veil of a Muslim girl today then tomorrow they will ask for a Sikh’s turban, a Jain’s beliefs, a Nun’s veil, a Parsi’s wish for Tower of Silence, a Hindu’s rituals, a Man’s Moustache, a girl’s Dupatta, a brother’s Rakhi, a worshiper’s faith and an honest man’s honesty. We don’t want India to be like China, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Russia, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Australia, etc. and make anyone deprived of their social and religious rights.
India is a land of peace, harmony, freedom, knowledge and spirituality. Collectively, we have to work together for social development of the deprived classes. Our main enemy is poverty, corruption, terrorism, illiteracy, unemployment, child labour, dowry, etc. We should not forget that still half of our population is below the poverty line.
As they say that History repeats itself. Do we really want History to repeat itself once again?
“Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.” – Bhagwad Gita
Source:
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
The Wonder That was India – Volume II by S.A.A. Rizvi
Memorandum submitted by Muslim leaders of India to UN Representative: 14 August 1951
Sachar Committee report
SC/ST Population
Article in Time Magazine – Today’s Nun Has A Veil–And A Blog
The Greek Empire
CIA – The World Fact Book
World Population Estimate
Wikipedia: Reservation in India, Gautama Buddha, Ashoka the Great, British Empire, Muslim conquests, Crusades, Muhammad bin Qasim, Raja Dahir, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Babri Mosque and Tower of Silence.
India celebrates 62 years of freedom
“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!” – Mark Twain.
Heartiest wishes on 62nd Indian Independence Day to all the citizens of a free nation. Long live independence! 
India got its independence at the dawn of 15th August 1947 from the British Empire and became a republic on 26th January 1950 by adopting its own constitution.
Yes, the cost of this independence is a lot more, which cannot be estimated in monetary terms. Our independence came after millions were martyred, heritage and culture was wrecked, country was divided and hatred was implanted. Collectively, more than 10 million people crossed the borders, from a newly born Pakistan (including Bangladesh, at that time it was East Pakistan) to India and vice versa. British played their last card of dividing a great nation forever and putting a whole region into a never ending conflict. Their plans were similar to what French did to Lebanon, Russians did to Afghanistan, Japan did to Korea and Spain did to South American nations.
We are still facing problems which I don’t want to discuss today and would like to focus more on the achievement part. Fortunately, our somehow regulated financial system is still trying to save us from the claws of the ongoing economic crisis. We are still expecting a positive growth rate of 6% and aiming towards a revival of 9% growth rate. We are a full fledge nuclear nation and a Super Power in our own right, although we still have a huge chunk of population struggling to earn their daily bread. Oops!
We have right to education act, women’s bill, guaranteed employment scheme, huge infrastructure plans, new airports, we are focused on energy saving, IT is our strength, we are going to host Common Wealth Games next year, IPL was hosted in South Africa this year, Metro is expanding in Gurgaon and Nodia, our children are getting pure milk, we hardly have H1N1, inflation is in control, Sensex is showing a V shaped recovery, we have an Indian Formula 1 team (only drivers are foreigners), our new cricket coach was a great batsman, Sania got engaged, SRK came back from South Africa during IPL to cast his vote, Reality TV is a new trend, Lalu Prasad is quite these days, corruption is a matter of give and take, Abhishek had a hair cut (his ads are doing better than his movies), sting operations are taken seriously and finally we can see some Tata Nanos on road.
Let’s not forget the sacrifice of our freedom fighters and work together towards the growth and prosperity of this great nation.
Jai Hind!
Image: Mahatma Gandhi as ‘Man of the year’ on the covers of Time Magazine. Year 1931
Indian Budget 2009-10 – an outline
Milestones set by Congress led Indian Government for 2009-10 are to lead economy to GDP growth rate of 9 per cent per annum, to deepen and broaden the agenda for inclusive development, to improve delivery mechanisms of the government.
The actual growth rate of GDP dipped from 9 per cent to 6.7 per cent during 2008-09; whole sale price rose to nearly 13 per cent last year and had an equally sharp fall to zero per cent in March, 2009. The structure of India’s economy changed over the last ten years with contribution of services sector to GDP at well over 50 per cent.
To revive the Indian economy, Government is injecting fiscal stimulus packages in the forms of tax relaxation, monetary easing and liquidity enhancing measures. Major emphasis is on infrastructure and agriculture with National Highways and Debt Relief for farmers respectively. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is continued and allocation is increased by 144 per cent, in the first stage 115 pilot districts selected for convergence with schemes relating to agriculture, forests, water resources, land resources, rural roads initiated.
I wonder how under National Food Security Act our Government will distribute rice or wheat for Rs. 3 per kilo to every family living below poverty line. The National Rural Livelihood Mission aims on eradicating poverty from India by 2014 – 2015 and to provide interest subsidy to poor households for loans up to Rs. 1 lakh from banks.
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), led by ex- Infosys mentor Mr. Nandan Nilekani to provide enrolment and verification services across country. Rs. 500 crore has been allocated for rehabilitation of displaced persons and reconstruction of the northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka.
Exemption limit in personal income tax for senior citizens is up to Rs. 2.40 lakh per annum, Rs. 1.90 lakh for women tax payers and Rs. 1.60 lakh for all categories. Fringe Benefit Tax on the value of certain fringe benefits provided by employers to their employees to be abolished. Tax holiday in commercial production or refining of mineral oil is to be extended to natural gas. Set Top Box, LCD TV, Mobile phones will be cheaper due to exemption of 5 – 10 percent custom duty while it will be increased on Gold bars. Full exemption of custom duty on still luxury sports for Indians like rafting, skiing, surfing and other water sports equipments.
Some calculations:
Total Expenditure Rs. 10,20,838 crore
Subsidies Rs. 1,11,276 crore
Defence Budget Rs. 1,41,703 crore
This budget promises a lot for poor, under privilege, women and children but we’ll see with the course of time the true face of democracy where promises are made during elections and easily forgotten later.
That is it….
Suddenly we realize again that we all are mortals by witnessing this sudden demise of “King of Pop” Michael Jackson at the age of 50 (1958 – 2009).
Most of us have grown up to his tunes and he was an icon of “M TV” culture throughout the music world. His breakthrough music videos with out of the box ideas, giving a positive message to the underdogs, feeling of freedom, hope, integrity and a can do attitude.
Everyone has a dark side in life and so does he; but he’ll be always remembered for his music, songs, performance and off course that famous “moon walk”.
Goodbye to one of the greatest performers of our times.
Beat it!
Facts & Figures
JUst after Bing’s launch with attractive looks and making search more user friendly, there is another new player
offering ‘zara hatke’ or a different from others product. The new term tossed is ‘computational knowledge engine’, which is not at all similar to our traditional search engine or latest decision engine.
“Wolfram Alpha is a long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone. Enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer.” Wow!!
THis is an extraordinary project and it’ll definitely change the way we search for authentic data involving facts & figures. As claimed by the developers this project still has a long way to go and one can also contribute knowledge in various ways. Hope we’ll overcome from the not at all reliable information available at Wikipedia.
DO watch the introduction video to know how it works and you can also follow it on twitter, facebook and its own blog. Let me know how you find this, as I am also getting use to this new avatar of searching on our very own world wide web.
HAppy searching.
not allowed
not allowed, originally uploaded by crazytabish.
Yesterday I clicked some interesting photographs near Doha’s corniche area. This sign says no cycling, no swimming and below these were no fishing and no cooking signs.
You can vote for this photograph @ http://wdyl.jafar.com/ and also see some more interesting snaps @ my photo blog http://www.flickr.com/photos/murtazahusaini/
Enterprise Resource Planning by Azeem Qaiser
This post is part of the series of Career Guidance.
One industry which always looks for innovation, challenges, out of the box ideas and fresh talent is IT industry. It’s a vast industry with specialist for each and every aspect related to IT. One of the most essential and popular forms of IT is an ERP system, which has a service-oriented architecture with modular hardware and software units or “services” that communicate on a local area network. The modular design allows a business to add or reconfigure modules (perhaps from different vendors) while preserving data integrity in one shared database that may be centralized or distributed.
Our contributor today has a truly global IT experience and currently he is working with Emirates Group in Dubai, UAE. Let’s hear what Azeem has to share with us from his own experience.
Name: Azeem Qaiser
Qualification: MCA
Years of Experience: 4+
Current Organization: Emirates Group IT
Previous Organizations: NetEdge Computing Solutions
Your email id:qaiser.azeem@gmail.com
Location: Dubai,UAE
Industry:
Technical Consulting – ERP (Enterprise resource planning) Broadly IT
How to get in?
Passion to learn is required to get into this industry. ERP is one of the vast areas of IT consulting.
I really don’t know if you have any degree to get into this. I have seen people with simple ERP certification from Oracle, SAP and IBM working in this field and people like me who have spent 6 years studying to master computers. But yes what is important to get into this industry to learn more about domains than technology. Even for the technical people in this industry learning about the domain is important although the point is debatable.
Opportunities in India and abroad
If you are in technical consulting then the world is your market. The opportunities are good in India and Abroad. Keep in mind that you have to travel in this field.
Pros
It’s a very good area of IT to work in.
Good remunerations. (Depends on the company but mostly good)
Good growth prospects.
If you are someone who can communicate and handle customers then you can move into functional consulting (More Money). It’s a better place to be into (functional consulting), for some of the technical consultants.
Cons
A lot of travelling is required, especially if you are in the core implementation team.
5 Years – 10 Years down the line
In a long run, yes it’s safe to jump in. ERP is required by almost every company and size doesn’t matter. Some manage it manually and then move to ERP solutions and some start with small ERP solutions and move to big ones. So it’s a safe bet if you are looking at ERP as your career.
Precautions in current scenario (Financial meltdown): Stick to the basics.
Best Companies to work with: Oracle, SAP, IBM and GE
Myths
Fewer IT staff if ERP is implemented. Not True.
Data Security is compromised. Not true, as it increases with ERP implementation. Can’t explain here. Why? :)
Marketing and Communications by Maha
This post is part of the series of Career Guidance.
MarCom – a career with an image by Maha (Part II)
WHY MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS?
Definition
Marketing communications (or MarCom) are messages and related media used to communicate with a market.
Background
Marcom professionals are great money spenders. Without a budget, there is no Marcom. Tradeshows, productions, advertising, PR… everything costs money. However, a good Marcom professional will find the most efficient way to spend this money. Applying experience and industry knowledge, s/he will put together the right mix of communication tools – the mix that makes the most of the available budget, and that continues to work even when budgets get tighter.
Marcom Steps towards Marketing Goals:
- Set your marketing goals for the coming year.
- While keeping the marketing goals in the back of your mind, prepare your Marcom budget and yearly work plan with estimated detailed expenditures. Build several alternatives for your work plan and budget and hold an internal discussion to get input from stakeholders, along with their general buyoff.
- Set measurable factors to check if you have met your goals for each part of your Marcom campaign. For example: 50 new sales leads at the trade show you organize, 100 customers attending your social event, etc.
- Once the budget and work plan are approved, prepare a one-page spreadsheet with the action items on the plan (shows, corporate image, website, product launch, etc.) mapped out by quarters. This is a helpful tool for reviewing the year’s tasks in a single glance.
- Make sure you implement a quarterly review of both the action plan and the planned vs. expended budget.
- After each major item is completed, be sure to check if you have lived up to the success measures that you set.
Importance of MarCom
Marcom professional helps get your product messages across.
Marcom is far more than writing a brochure or organizing a trade show. It is the communicative and visual implementation of the four Ps of marketing: product, place, positioning, and price.
Product – Marcom is the art of translating the promise of technologies and products into clear and compelling marketing messages.
Place – Marcom means using the most suitable communication channels to reach the key local and/or international customers for each market segment.
Positioning and Price – These must be reflected in the look and feel of your Marcom mix. Marketing materials for a high-end product for a sophisticated industry must be produced with sophisticated design and high-quality professional photos. This is true for every element, from a simple information sheet to a major tradeshow.
Marcom organizes things in a timely manner.
A well-organized Marcom professional is able to give full attention to all Marcom items, ensuring all deadlines are met – without last-minute surprises. I often wonder at the surprise with which industry events are met. While tradeshow and conference dates are usually published at least one year ahead of time, companies often only remember several weeks in advance that a show is taking place. Expensive last minute shipments, late orders of equipment and show facilities and equipment supplies, and around-the-clock, high-adrenalin activity cause unnecessary expenses and pressure, and they make your company look unprofessional. In addition, there are irreversible deadlines, such as abstract and paper submissions for technical conferences: if those are missed, you’ll have to wait for the next event. Paying full attention to all the details will make all the difference.
The Key to Successful Marketing Communications:
Public Relations
Public Relations is of utmost importance in the technology sector; for a company with a product and “real” news it is a very effective way to spread the word. Your Marcom professional needs to establish and maintain relationships with the technical editors of the relevant trade magazines, and deliver all materials within the deadlines and in the correct formats. Magazine editors have to meet deadlines and pressures just like anyone else. Following are some examples for effectively getting industry coverage of your technology and products.
To get effective industry coverage:
Write a press release containing real news targeted to a very focused list of editors in the relevant trade press and/or widely distributed through a newswire agency. This is a low-budget and effective means of disseminating product and company news.
Have your R&D staff write technical articles on industry problems and your technical approach to solving them. These articles are not meant to advertise your products, but to discuss real needs in your industry and the approach that you offer as a solution. The acceptance and publication of such a paper by one of the high-standard trade publications in your industry might require a big effort in time on the part of your R&D staff, but it pays off for all parties – the industry (your customers), the trade magazine, and your sales/marketing team.
Consider advertising as part of the PR mix. There are two reasons for this: in addition to enabling you to get your message across via the actual advertisements, thus increasing your visibility, advertising supports the magazines. After all, trade magazines live from advertising, so your advertising investment enables them to stay in existence, providing an important source of information in your industry. Careful planning of an advertising plan within the overall Marcom budget and the creation of an effective advertising message are an integral part of effective Marcom management.
Publish papers at technical conferences. . A well-written discussion of technology and your problem solving approach for the industry provides a valuable sales and marketing tool.
An effective way of marketing is to communicate to the right people, through the right channel and at the right moment.
Hope you liked the information I shared with you. Do write in your comments.
Regards,
Maha
The author has a rich experience in marketing and communications of Middle East Region and currently she is based in Doha, Qatar; she can be contacted at maha@arcadesqatar.com.
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