In the final post on this series I present the interactive round between audience, host and the speaker of this talk show that I participated in. For the full context you might want to read part I and part II of this series.
The audience and the host were surprisingly connected to the topic and they seemed to have heard everything that was said by us. The interaction went into hours of engaging stuff sometimes emotional, sometimes heated but never on a tangent. I am trying to present it in a Question Answer mode - for want of a better format.
{I refer myself as me, The editor as s2, The director of the engineering college as s3, and the industrialist as s4}
The Quality Angle
Host: Aks Sir (thats me), you supported more number of engineering colleges - what do you have to say about the quality then? Isn't it important that quality of education improves.
me: Sure, quality is important. However, in a competitive scenario quality takes care of itself. When there will be more engineering colleges they will compete for students and hence will have to work for better quality education. Moreover an institute takes at least a decade to build - its not an overnight job. You will see quality improving over the years. IITs would remain important because of their quality.
Host to S4 : Sir, you have been opposed to the idea of more engineering colleges? How would you respond to this?
S4 : While he provided very good statistics but where is the infrastructure to train all these engineers. There is an absolute lack of teachers. How will that be handled? Someone who is unable to secure jobs after engineering becomes teachers in the same colleges. People with even negative marks in the PET gets admission. Under such circumstaces how can one expect good quality of engineers. What happens when bridges built by these engineers fall? (lots of claps)
Me : May I answer this? I wish to humbly say that these are not strong arguments to keep the number of colleges less.
We do not have good teachers - thats correct. But this is not because of high number of colleges. Thats because, as a society we have not treated teachers well. The salaries that they get are pathetic. The profession carries a demaning position in the eyes of people. Eight years ago, when I decided to forgo my job from the IIM to start an educational institute people used to comment "what? you will become a master taking tutions?" This is going to change now because good teachers are in demand. The increasing demand will result in teachers being paid well and will be treated with far more respect then they currently get. Hence more people will start loking at this as a lucrative as well as fulfilling profession. The transition may have already started.
S4 : But where will these teachers come from? There are not many teachers available. Whatever good teachers are available are getting distributed among increasingly large number of colleges.
me : Let me suggest a way. The term is called poaching. Look at what is happening to aviation industry. Suddenly there are many airlines but not enough people to manage. So what is the industry doing? They are not just attracting professionals from each other but also from other industries. This has turned aviation related jobs into a lucrative careers. Thats the way to go for education also. This is just one of the ways - I am sure there are more solutions possible.
S3: As I pointed out earlier, the question of this discussion is incomplete. The quality of engineering colleges is poor because the management is poor. Now most of the new colleges are not government engineering colleges but are private ones. One of the additional 11 collges slated to come to Indore this year is that of reliance. The college in its brochure says "AICTE approval not required". However students queue up to take admission in this college becuase it is considered good quality. The quality is good becuase the management is good.
S4 : But why not first create good number of teachers and then open so many colleges?
me : This is not practical. This is like saying don't allow Indians to vote till the time they learn how to vote in a matured fashion. That way we will not have democracy. (claps for me this time)
S3: I wish to point out another thing. Which are the best engineering colleges in our state. They are either autonomus or private. Take examples of three colleges in Indore SGSITS is autonomus, IET functions autonomus to the university that it is affiliated to. SVITS is a college affiliated to a well known trust. On the other side lets take government colleges, with due regards, in Ujjain, Jabalpur, Raipur etc. They were never known for their quality.
Me : Great point. I think the message to take from what sir is saying is that we need to actually let these institutes work, independent of controls from monitoring or controlling bodies and from Government. That will improve quality.
S4 : So at least we agree that we need visioaries to create great colleges
me: Sure, In fact thats true of even private businesses. We can not create a Reliance, Infosys or a TATA motors without great vision. However the only difference of opinion is that visionaries cannot be created in a controlled, programmed systematic manner.
More Crossfire
Host to me: You have been noting down a lot of points when other speakers were presenting their points. Would you want to respond to what they said.
Me : Sure. Here I go.
First to the issues raised by s2,
I agree with him that our dream of being the source of human capital cannot be fulfilled if performance is not there. However, our performance can only improve by having more colleges, not less. Secondly lets not get emotional when some of our products are shown the pink slip because they were unable to perform. Thats good. That will bring increased sensitisation in our institutes to become worthy of their fee. In fact the people whom he referred to were top rankers in the best of colleges in our country. For God's sake the solution to this is not to resrict the entry of new colleges. (to be fair s2 was not present to answer this)
Secondly people becoming engineers to get fat dowry - I think the solution is again more engineering colleges. Make them irrelevant by making them available every where.
I have largely answered what I wanted to on issues raised by s4.
Core Engineering Branches in for growth
With S3 I cannot agree more. However I want to share some more data with him on one of the issues that he raised.
He said that core engineering branches are suffering at the hands of IT, Comp Science etc. So I wish to bring to everybody's notice that
In the year 2006 alone - spending on infrastructure is expected to be a whooping 100,000 crores, in automobile sector Rs. 25,000 crores remember FM suggested that India can become a small car hub for the world. The textile and the Garment sector after removal of quotas under WTO is exepected to be 5000 crores in this year alone.
Remember what infrastructure means - it means power, water, electricity, roads. This will require more mechanical, civil, electrical engineers. When I was doing engineering we used to consider computers as a poor branch to engineering from. Those who were compelled to take up Computer sciece in those days are today in the best growing careers.
I call upon young budding engineers here to look at the future and opt for mechanical, electrical, civil, textiles, biotech etc. If you do today - in 10 years time you will come back to me to touch my feet. (another round of claps for me)
Interactive
At this point of time the host opens the show to audience as well to put in their comment and questions to the speakers - I wish to put a few remarkables in this post before closing
Audi-1 : This young guy directed the question to me. He said "You referred to the fact that an institute cannot be created in a year and so we are in a transition process. But till then why should we students suffer. You were talking about demand & supply as if we are commodities. "Kya Ham Bakre hai jo har bhi hame hi kata Jayega (Are we goats. Why are we sacrificed all the time.)" Sir, I do not mean that you personally said something wrong; but think of us who are doing engineering from these colleges and we have to hear that we might not be good quality.
I was a little taken aback by the way his body language transformed during the question. He started in a cool composed manner but by the time he finished his voice and eyes were angry with pain.
S3 (came to my rescue): See don't mind my saying this but tell me if you would not do engineering what else can you do? Please understand that you might not be going through the best education but it is better than what you otherwise will get. At least this education can get you a job where if you perform you can grow.
me (by now recovering from that shock): Because you pointed the question to me - let me answer it. (He was nodding). Agar tum Bakre manego to katoge to sahi. (If you become a goat you will be sacrificed). I did not refer to you as a commodity - in fact in this particular context you are the consumer. So you have to do your bit to protect yourself. Find out which college are you going to? Is it worth going to. Reject it if isn't.
The problem is, if you do not get a good rank in the PET you take admission to any college which offers you admission. Moreover, your parents will push you into it for either of the two reasons : first, they don't want to see you disappointed; second, they are also eyeing that fat dowry that s2 was refrring to.
Unless you become sensitive yourself as a consumer - someone will always make a fool of you.
Audi 2: Sir, isn't it necessary to first ensure that our institutes that we have are good quality and then we increase more institutes?
Me: When Mr. Manmohan singh as Finance Minister started the liberalisation process - at that time also people used to give the same logic. However, remember we have given 50 years to our instututes - if they failed to become world standard, how much more time can they be given. In fact when more engineering colleges come the competition will help our current colleges also to sit up and take notice and hence respond by improving their standards.
Audi 3: But what happens to students like us and who come from small towns and do not understand all this discussion on quality. We are trapped in these colleges and have no where to go.
Me: (Diplomatic quiet)
S4: And they come to know of the fraud only four years later.
Me (finally taking the bait): Please realise this is bitter truth but it is part of our maturing up. Even in a marriage we come to know only in a few years whether you have chosen the right partner.
S4: Thats different - you can seperate and look for another partner as far as marriage is concerned. But it is very difficult for a career.
Me: Its equally difficult in a marriage. (sinister silence for a few seconds, with smiles)
Audi 4: Sir, I have understood that there will be good colleges and bad colleges but there should be some one like the Governement to protect us from this mess.
me: (a little exasparated) I will tell you one thing, the government cannot protect you from frauds. No one, AICTE, UGC or Govt. can not help you. We have witnessed this for decades now. You have to be aware - thats the only solution. In fact government proection works the other way round.
Do you know why competition will bring better colleges. Because tomorrow if I start a new college and do not deliver quality I will be washed out. I will have to deliver quality or otherwise you (my customers) will desert me. This is not true of Government colleges. They cannot die. The solution lies in letting them die.
And Finally
At this point of time the host of the show deftly turned it to the last round - conclusions
S4: We do not need more engineering colleges, we need more quality engineering colleges. We need to look for visionaries to do so.
S3: I completely agree with S4.
S2: Left long ago
me: I also agree with S4 completely however my difference of opinion lies with the process. This cannot be achieved by controls or any controlling body. It can happen in a free, competitive environment. (S3 nods in agreement)
Claps......
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Calling all liberals....
Interesting piece of news
The intentions could be good but personally I believe the idea of issuing fatwa by religious clerics is just ridiculous. No person should have the authority to direct communities to what they think is the interpretation of religion, law or morality. Terrorists justify their actions in the same way.
This is the time when liberals should speak out and oppose even this one. Othewise there is no moral authority to oppose a fatwa agaist sania's dress or Rushdie's writings. There will also be increasing inclination to issue them for frivilous reasons to get famous.
Are liberals awake and listening.
The intentions could be good but personally I believe the idea of issuing fatwa by religious clerics is just ridiculous. No person should have the authority to direct communities to what they think is the interpretation of religion, law or morality. Terrorists justify their actions in the same way.
This is the time when liberals should speak out and oppose even this one. Othewise there is no moral authority to oppose a fatwa agaist sania's dress or Rushdie's writings. There will also be increasing inclination to issue them for frivilous reasons to get famous.
Are liberals awake and listening.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Do we need so many Engineering Colleges? part - II
This is continuation of last post which you can read here. This post presents the other side's view on the topic "Do we really need so many engineering colleges". Do wait for the third and final post on this which compiles the interactive audience rounds of the talk show.
Next speaker in the talk show - resident editor of a leading hindi news paper started with a clear statement - "I am extremely opposed to the idea of having so many engineering colleges".
Quality of Engineers
His argument was that more number of colleges has two impacts. First the quality of education and hence that of the engineers reduces. Second people lose the craze for such careers when they are available in such huge numbers.
The quality angle: Large number of colleges means increasingly colleges produce output who are unable to translate learning into action. Thus one might be generating large number of engineers but they do not meet industry standards.
Further, quality faculty are not available to feed such large number of engineering colleges. This leads to further loss in quality of education.
He referred to incidents when he was in the USA in 1998 some people who were recruited from Indian universities including the the IITs and the IIMs were shown the pink slips because they were unable to perform. So referring to my point of India becoming the source of human capital for the world he said "Serving the world is connected to performance & low quality education cannot bring performances. Thus the intention of becoming the source for human capital remains a far dream"
In fact I meet so many people who get their children to do engieering for a curious reason. So that they can get a good match for their child and also a fat dowry.
Engineers or MBAs
Further he was pained at the trend of engineers increasingly queuing up to become MBAs. According to him the government invests in an engineer and when they get into MBAs it is wasted. India still falls short of needed technical talent. Thus he feels that more engineers just means more managers and thats useless.
Lastly the increased focus on jobs has brought about increased career pressure on the students. There have been cases of suicides in IITs and even an IIM because of this stress. He pointed to the need for parallel development in education.
The last speaker himself an erudite engineer - has taught in all reputed engineering colleges of Indore purely out of passion. Because as a profession he is an industrialst who deals in, guess what, engineering equipments of course. His company Printronics Ltd. supplies indigenously designed electronic gadgetery useful in defence and some sports. Here is what he has to say
Dropping Quality
Already engineering colleges are burgeoning and quality is dropping. Students with less than 50% marks in PET are offered admissions. The quality of today's engineers being churned out is highly doubtful. Thus Engineers often take the job of technicians in the industry. The basic concept of an engineer was that he would design but today's engineers typically get into implementation or supervision jobs. We are no more creating engineers, rather we are printing engineers - "Hum Engineers Chaap Rahe hai"
Lack of Good Teachers
The increased numbers of colleges has created a big vaccum of good teachers. Today fresh engineers who fail to secure a job get recruited as teachers in these engineering colleges. The problem thus is compounded as the students who are taught by these teachers are obviously lacking in their technical understanding. He said that he takes a few engineers in his industry every year for some technical training; However out of 11 colleges in Indore he allows engineers from only three (SGSITS, IET and SVITS) for such training. "I simply cannot trust the quality of others."
Making such teachers teach in colleges is like blunting the creative talents in our youth. That is the reason why India is years behind in technology and it has no research and development base to talk of. Both Japan and India started nation building at approximately the same time however Japan has marched all over us through technical superiority.
Whatever good faculty we had in earlier colleges are now deans in one of those colleges and hence even established colleges do not have enough good teachers. He is himself an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and he pointed out that the IIT had to close down a couple of PG courses as the faculty in that area left.
The need is to have lesser colleges which are closely watched and controlled for ensuring quality delivery of education.
Next speaker in the talk show - resident editor of a leading hindi news paper started with a clear statement - "I am extremely opposed to the idea of having so many engineering colleges".
Quality of Engineers
His argument was that more number of colleges has two impacts. First the quality of education and hence that of the engineers reduces. Second people lose the craze for such careers when they are available in such huge numbers.
The quality angle: Large number of colleges means increasingly colleges produce output who are unable to translate learning into action. Thus one might be generating large number of engineers but they do not meet industry standards.
Further, quality faculty are not available to feed such large number of engineering colleges. This leads to further loss in quality of education.
He referred to incidents when he was in the USA in 1998 some people who were recruited from Indian universities including the the IITs and the IIMs were shown the pink slips because they were unable to perform. So referring to my point of India becoming the source of human capital for the world he said "Serving the world is connected to performance & low quality education cannot bring performances. Thus the intention of becoming the source for human capital remains a far dream"
In fact I meet so many people who get their children to do engieering for a curious reason. So that they can get a good match for their child and also a fat dowry.
Engineers or MBAs
Further he was pained at the trend of engineers increasingly queuing up to become MBAs. According to him the government invests in an engineer and when they get into MBAs it is wasted. India still falls short of needed technical talent. Thus he feels that more engineers just means more managers and thats useless.
Lastly the increased focus on jobs has brought about increased career pressure on the students. There have been cases of suicides in IITs and even an IIM because of this stress. He pointed to the need for parallel development in education.
The last speaker himself an erudite engineer - has taught in all reputed engineering colleges of Indore purely out of passion. Because as a profession he is an industrialst who deals in, guess what, engineering equipments of course. His company Printronics Ltd. supplies indigenously designed electronic gadgetery useful in defence and some sports. Here is what he has to say
Dropping Quality
Already engineering colleges are burgeoning and quality is dropping. Students with less than 50% marks in PET are offered admissions. The quality of today's engineers being churned out is highly doubtful. Thus Engineers often take the job of technicians in the industry. The basic concept of an engineer was that he would design but today's engineers typically get into implementation or supervision jobs. We are no more creating engineers, rather we are printing engineers - "Hum Engineers Chaap Rahe hai"
Lack of Good Teachers
The increased numbers of colleges has created a big vaccum of good teachers. Today fresh engineers who fail to secure a job get recruited as teachers in these engineering colleges. The problem thus is compounded as the students who are taught by these teachers are obviously lacking in their technical understanding. He said that he takes a few engineers in his industry every year for some technical training; However out of 11 colleges in Indore he allows engineers from only three (SGSITS, IET and SVITS) for such training. "I simply cannot trust the quality of others."
Making such teachers teach in colleges is like blunting the creative talents in our youth. That is the reason why India is years behind in technology and it has no research and development base to talk of. Both Japan and India started nation building at approximately the same time however Japan has marched all over us through technical superiority.
Whatever good faculty we had in earlier colleges are now deans in one of those colleges and hence even established colleges do not have enough good teachers. He is himself an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and he pointed out that the IIT had to close down a couple of PG courses as the faculty in that area left.
The need is to have lesser colleges which are closely watched and controlled for ensuring quality delivery of education.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Do we need so many engineering colleges? Part I
I was a participant in a live talk show on this topic last week. This event was held as a part of a college festival and I was one of the four speakers. The format was loosely a copy of the big fight - NDTV. It was great fun and it actually turned out to be more interesting and enlightening then I initially expected. I wish to collatet the thoughts from the show in three parts. Part one & two presents the two sides of the opinion. The third compiles the interactive discussions of speakers, host and the audience. Here goes the part one.
This is what I started with
Indore currently has 15 engineering colleges, 61 is the number all over MP. Just Indore accounts for addition of more than 4500 engineers every year. Under such circumstances its timely to ask whether we need more of such colleges.
Demographic Shift
World is under going a demographic shift that has a tremendous opportunity for India.
Average age of India currently is 23 years while that of the rest of the world is 35+years (data from a seminar by noted economist Amanullah Khan) - after some extrapolation and factoring in life expectancy figures and improved medical facilities, by the year 2050 average age of India would be 38 while that of Europe and the USA will be 55+ years.
Now an age of 25 to 55 is considered working age. This means that majority of the population of India in the coming decades would be in the working age while there will be increasingly a shortage of people in the working age in the currently developed world. Here lies a great potential for India to become the source of human capital for the rest of the wold. Even China does not compete with us on this score as it will also be an old country like the rest of the world.
Underemplyment
However the picture is not all that rosy. India suffers from huge underemployment (not unemployment). Picture this - service sector accounts for 52% of Indian GDP while it employs only 26% of our work force. Industry (manufacturing) accounts for 21% of our GDP while it employs 18% of our work force. The worry therefore is that our farm sector (agriculture) which contributes to the extent of 27% of the GDP employs a whooping 56% of our work force. This means that a large numbers of them are under employed (because there are five people in a family of farmers - all of them work on the same farm - although the work requires only two-three. Thus technically they are employed but are doing and hence earning less per person).
More Colleges would help
Thats why, despite so many people in our country, companies find it hard to get trained skilled manpower. The need of the hour thus is to train this vast unskilled manpower. Not just engineering colleges, we need as many colleges as possible in all disciplines. However we definitely need more engineering colleges because thats where we are generating maximum employment in the organised sector.
Some more data : India has 40 million registered unemployed - obviously they are not engineers. Of a total of 400 million workforce a miniscule 27 million only are in the organised sector.
Other Thoughts
There were three other speakers two of them disagreed with me and one agreed. Let me start with the speaker who agreed with me; An eminent academician director of a leading engineering college in my city
Poor Management
He made a simple & interesting point. According to him the question "do we need so many engineering colleges?" is incomplete. On this question he was firmly of the belief that yes more are needed. He however added that what we need are better managements in these colleges.
In his view the argument that large quantity of colleges result into poor quality education misses the point that the quality of education is poor because of poor management. Adding to my statistics he points out that 11 more engineering colleges are about to open in Indore. One of them could be Dhiru Bhai Ambani institute of technology. He comments that going by their reputation they will be a good engineering college, and thats because there is very little to argue against the fact that college will have a far superior management.
Anyways he feels that even with a poor management we are better off with more engineering colleges. He raises a blunt question - if not engineering what will they do? Are they better off doing a B. Com. which would get them a career? In his view at least engineering education develops one's ability to analyse. This comes in very handy later even in a non-engineering career.
Core Engineering Branches Suffering
He lamented one thing however. The larger number has resulted into dilution of the work profile of an engineer. He says that Engineers are not doing an engineer's job anymore. Most of these engineers are getting selectd in call centers which does not require core technical engineering knowledge. Also the boom of jobs are largely from the IT, BPO related industries while core engineering streams (read civil, mechanical, electrical) are suffering.
This is what I started with
Indore currently has 15 engineering colleges, 61 is the number all over MP. Just Indore accounts for addition of more than 4500 engineers every year. Under such circumstances its timely to ask whether we need more of such colleges.
Demographic Shift
World is under going a demographic shift that has a tremendous opportunity for India.
Average age of India currently is 23 years while that of the rest of the world is 35+years (data from a seminar by noted economist Amanullah Khan) - after some extrapolation and factoring in life expectancy figures and improved medical facilities, by the year 2050 average age of India would be 38 while that of Europe and the USA will be 55+ years.
Now an age of 25 to 55 is considered working age. This means that majority of the population of India in the coming decades would be in the working age while there will be increasingly a shortage of people in the working age in the currently developed world. Here lies a great potential for India to become the source of human capital for the rest of the wold. Even China does not compete with us on this score as it will also be an old country like the rest of the world.
Underemplyment
However the picture is not all that rosy. India suffers from huge underemployment (not unemployment). Picture this - service sector accounts for 52% of Indian GDP while it employs only 26% of our work force. Industry (manufacturing) accounts for 21% of our GDP while it employs 18% of our work force. The worry therefore is that our farm sector (agriculture) which contributes to the extent of 27% of the GDP employs a whooping 56% of our work force. This means that a large numbers of them are under employed (because there are five people in a family of farmers - all of them work on the same farm - although the work requires only two-three. Thus technically they are employed but are doing and hence earning less per person).
More Colleges would help
Thats why, despite so many people in our country, companies find it hard to get trained skilled manpower. The need of the hour thus is to train this vast unskilled manpower. Not just engineering colleges, we need as many colleges as possible in all disciplines. However we definitely need more engineering colleges because thats where we are generating maximum employment in the organised sector.
Some more data : India has 40 million registered unemployed - obviously they are not engineers. Of a total of 400 million workforce a miniscule 27 million only are in the organised sector.
Other Thoughts
There were three other speakers two of them disagreed with me and one agreed. Let me start with the speaker who agreed with me; An eminent academician director of a leading engineering college in my city
Poor Management
He made a simple & interesting point. According to him the question "do we need so many engineering colleges?" is incomplete. On this question he was firmly of the belief that yes more are needed. He however added that what we need are better managements in these colleges.
In his view the argument that large quantity of colleges result into poor quality education misses the point that the quality of education is poor because of poor management. Adding to my statistics he points out that 11 more engineering colleges are about to open in Indore. One of them could be Dhiru Bhai Ambani institute of technology. He comments that going by their reputation they will be a good engineering college, and thats because there is very little to argue against the fact that college will have a far superior management.
Anyways he feels that even with a poor management we are better off with more engineering colleges. He raises a blunt question - if not engineering what will they do? Are they better off doing a B. Com. which would get them a career? In his view at least engineering education develops one's ability to analyse. This comes in very handy later even in a non-engineering career.
Core Engineering Branches Suffering
He lamented one thing however. The larger number has resulted into dilution of the work profile of an engineer. He says that Engineers are not doing an engineer's job anymore. Most of these engineers are getting selectd in call centers which does not require core technical engineering knowledge. Also the boom of jobs are largely from the IT, BPO related industries while core engineering streams (read civil, mechanical, electrical) are suffering.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
What happened to collective wisdom ?
In times of crisis the nation should talk one language. Remember when the Parliament was attacked by some dastardly terrorists - the entire polity came out and condemned it. No body thought of taking political mileage out of the situation.
Contrast this with the response to the varanasi blasts and one understands the desperation that BJP as a party and Advani in particular feels.
What else can one say when the president of the party says that the blasts are a result of policy of Indain Government - and the leader of the opposition in the parliament announces that he will go on a yatra across the country in protest to the blasts.
BJP appears dry of ideas and more significantly it appears distanced from people's feelings too. Is the nation in the mood to accept yet another yatra? It might very well fail as his last one did. Economically and even politically most initiatives have been ceased by the Manmohan/Sonia combination (read this post for more on this). Gauarv has this interesting post on the confusion within the BJP.
More disappointing is the response of the Congress on this. In the same article the congress spokesperson is quoted as saying
Describing the Leader of Opposition as ‘Jinnah Krishna Advani’, Congress spokesman Rajeev Shukla said BJP plans were condemnable as the yatras, which he dubbed as danda yatras (procession that would trigger riots), would only divide the society and affect communal amity. “You have exploited Lord Ram fully. Now at least leave alone Lord Hanuman,” he quipped rejecting the saffron party charge that Congress was practicing vote bank politics and said that the cap fits BJP.
Now, think for a moment . This was another opportunity to paint the BJP in the red by responding in a dignified manner. But by becoming the party to the mud slinging they are hardly doing anything good to themselves.
One wonders what happened to our collective wisdom which always worked in times of crisis? Our politicians need to be responsible. They worsen the situation. At least an Advani needs to rise above these petty political considerations - even at the cost of the fact he may never become the PM of this country.
Contrast this with the response to the varanasi blasts and one understands the desperation that BJP as a party and Advani in particular feels.
What else can one say when the president of the party says that the blasts are a result of policy of Indain Government - and the leader of the opposition in the parliament announces that he will go on a yatra across the country in protest to the blasts.
BJP appears dry of ideas and more significantly it appears distanced from people's feelings too. Is the nation in the mood to accept yet another yatra? It might very well fail as his last one did. Economically and even politically most initiatives have been ceased by the Manmohan/Sonia combination (read this post for more on this). Gauarv has this interesting post on the confusion within the BJP.
More disappointing is the response of the Congress on this. In the same article the congress spokesperson is quoted as saying
Describing the Leader of Opposition as ‘Jinnah Krishna Advani’, Congress spokesman Rajeev Shukla said BJP plans were condemnable as the yatras, which he dubbed as danda yatras (procession that would trigger riots), would only divide the society and affect communal amity. “You have exploited Lord Ram fully. Now at least leave alone Lord Hanuman,” he quipped rejecting the saffron party charge that Congress was practicing vote bank politics and said that the cap fits BJP.
Now, think for a moment . This was another opportunity to paint the BJP in the red by responding in a dignified manner. But by becoming the party to the mud slinging they are hardly doing anything good to themselves.
One wonders what happened to our collective wisdom which always worked in times of crisis? Our politicians need to be responsible. They worsen the situation. At least an Advani needs to rise above these petty political considerations - even at the cost of the fact he may never become the PM of this country.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Manmohanics
Here is the BJP's official response to the Nuclear deal that PM Manmohan singh finalised with the USA during the visit of the US president George Bush. One immediately realises that he is unable to find any thing to criticise about the deal. He digs in deep and leverages his skill with the language to come up with criticisms which mean nothing.
Mr. Jaswant singh says that the Govt. surrendered to the US on two specific counts - one of which is
"The separation plan , reportedly drawn up by the government, will result in two-thirds of the nuclear power plants being placed under IAEA safeguards. Clearly, this will result in a gap on the fissile material available for weapons purposes"
According to him the government also 'surrendered' to the US by agreeing for 'perpetual safeguards' on civil nuclear reactors, a condition he claimed did not apply to nuclear-weapons states.
Jaswant saab you are no more a foriegn minister so can you simplify that language and tell us lesser mortals what those sentences mean in concrete terms.
On the other hand in the same breath you claim "BJP welcomed the advance in India's strategic ties with the US and said it was the NDA government that had initiated the process of a strategic cooperation with the world's only superpower"
Let us for once rise up to the occassion cutting above narrow political interests and party lines and applaud our prime minister for what he has been able to achieve. Times are changing and so must parties - I am sure that there are people out there in your country who would love to vote for your party because you had the courage to give the credit where it is due.
At least the world seems to be recognising this fact quite fast that Manmohan singh in his typically low profile non-invasive style is achieving a rare place in History which lot of others only dream of - take a look at these headlines and you know what I mean.
India makes headlines in US media
Blair hails Indo-US nuclear deal
Japan upbeat on the Nuclear Deal
France hails the Indo-US deal
China reacts cautiously
Australia Continues to ban transfer of Nuclear fuel
In fact in recent times Manmohan singh and team seems to have punctured all opposition within and outside party, government and nation. First Laloo comes up with a Railway budget that surprises everybody, pinches nobody and still seem to move ahead and generates more revenues.
Then came the Union budget. In another post here I wrote how P chidambaram disarmed everyone who was ready to target him & his government by presenting a great budget that creates a balance between the demand of the moment and good economic sense.
And now comes the bush visit when the USA suddenly looks like an old time buddy of India and the warmth between Mr. George Bush and Manmohan Singh brought about the nuclear deal on the dotted line. In all these the media management was impeccable. Manmohanics - manmohan at his best.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Budget 2006 - Marvellous for a different reason
Background to Budget 2006-07GDP growth 8.1%,
Manufacturing sector at 9.4%
Agricultural growth bounced back to 2.3%
Inflation, as on February 11, 2006 4.02%.
Most critics say of P chidambaram that he missed on an opportunity to present another path breaking dream budget when all things were going right for the economy. J Mulraj in DNA money writes
"When the economy is firing on all cylinders, and when there is no significant political danger, he ought to have delivered a speedboat budget, charging ahead on reforms with visionary fervour. Instead, he chose to cruise along with a paddle, on a gondola, serenading taxpayers and investors with soft words."
True - this analysis. We all did expect another dream budget from him given the charged up state that India seems to be in, however the budget is a marvellous one for an entirely different reason. It does not do anything wrong - no wrong signals. If at all any signals they are the right ones although less impactful. Even the social spending that he has increased is either well targetted or more a result of better packaging of existing schemes. There aren't any NEW money guzzling schemes being offered as sops to win elections.
But why such a placid budget?? The answer is clear to everybody - political compulsions. His dream budgets has made him a hero for corporate companies, financial wizards, economists and what have you. But do remember he is a finance minister of a government who won election against a "shining India" campaign. And how did they counter that campaign? With an "aam Aadmi" campaign. Whether he liked by the aam aadmi (the common man) in the same way is a million dollar question to this government.
Now don't get me wrong. His policies, dream budgets, great growth, is surely benefitting the common man. The question is that percieved so by the common man. Our Finance minister faced a situation where the left was eagerly waiting to spew anger and leverage it politically if he takes a few bold steps. Internally within the congress there is discomfort about allowing the initiative for the "aam aadmi" to be ceased by the left. So what does a FM do in such a situation? The best he can do is let a performing economy keep performing on its own by ensuring that he does not derail the process in any way. He has done just that.
Former finance minister yeshwant sinha says in the Times of India 1st March 2006
"The economy is already on autopilot. But the FM has certainly missed a golden opportunity to make a paradigm shift from 8 to 10% annual growth rate. Alas, he has proved to be a God of small things. There is no big piture in this Budget."
So you see there is nothing that opposition has to bang on the Government's head. Suddenly the left has been left speechless. They cannot claim much that they brought to the people through demands in the budget because actually there is nothing that the FM does through this budget. He has just disarmed everybody. He did not give in to any demand that results in any reversing the economic reforms. And he keeps everyone happy by focussing better on Agriculture, Indstry and social infrastructure - exepenses which no one will disagree.
J Mulraj however says in the same piece
"Part of this is because we, the people, are tolerant and accept the excuse of inability to act due to ‘political expediency’. By doing so, we only give politicians more wiggle room for inaction................The government, by cowing to Left pressure, is doing the nation a disservice. We, the people, by accepting the excuse of political compulsion and by not protesting loudly enough, are doing our children a disservice..."
This is passionate and comes from a person whose heart is in the right place - but then let me ask a question wouldn't all of us want the current dream team to govern us for more than this term? Wouldn't it be appropriate that they sold themselves to electorate too? If they do that without hurting the economic process - what more can one ask for?
Lets not make this sound as if a very big opportunity has been lost - its been delayed by a year. We can wait - the economy can sustain & even grow on its own for some time - if its not messed up with. Thats what the FM seems to have done.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Hate Mail or Unpopular Opinion
A few danish Cartoons have generated a grave controversy across the world strengthening the divide between Muslims & Non-Muslims. There has been violent backlashes resulting into ceased trades with "culprit" nation, or attacking their embassies in various countries so on and so forth. The Denmark government took a stand that the paper is well within its rights of freedom of expression guaranteed by the nation. Jyllands-Posten however apologised for the publishing of cartoons. A few newspapers in Norway and France also published the cartoons in question. In nutshell the issue has sparked the debate on the gray areas surrounding freedom of experssion, religious sentiment and need for sensitivity in communicating differences of opinions. Some interesting perspectives
Rajeev Dhavan in Times of India (Feb 16th 2006, Mumbi City Edition) writes
“There is a difference between ‘unpopular speech’ and ‘hate speech’. Only the former must be protected. Hate speech consists of deliberate and intentional attempt to insult and wound sensitivities of a group and community with intent of inciting strong reaction or knowing that disorder may foreseeably follow. Many legal systems treat racist, communal and sexist speech as impermissible hate speech. India is no exception.”
Sounds right isn’t it? Sample this
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar writes (The Sunday Times, 12th Feb 2006) in a delightfully candid manner
“I congratulate the Danish government for standing firm, insisting that its media have freedom, and refusing to apologise. Somebody has to stand up for basic freedom. The protesters reject the sanctity of free speech. Amazingly, traditional guardians of civil liberties have remained muted or silent: they seem to think that a hard line will simply spark more violence. This is not just spineless, it is an insult to my religion of liberal atheism.”
In the larger debate the issue has taken the shape of a debate between protection of Right to freedom of expression and unacceptability of hate speech specially against a religion or community.
Writes Rajeev Dhawan
"Many legal systems treat racist, communal and sexist speech as impermissible hate speech. India is no exception. Communal hate speech is criminalised by the Indian Penal Code (Sections 153A and 294A) and liable to be banned (Section 95 of the Cr PC) and subject to customs bans. "
Now read what Rajeev Dhavan Says
"there is a vast difference between opposing bans and supporting contents of all and any free speech. Voltaire's famous aphorism defends the right to free speech but does not prevent civil society from denigrating its contents. We may defend the right to publish unpopular, even provocative, speech while condemning certain statements of free speech as disgusting. In doing so, we would simply be confronting free speech with free speech."
Specific to the cartoon controversy Rajeev's article comments
"In the cartoon controversy, it would not have been contradictory for the Danish prime minister to extol freedom of press but condemn the cartoons themselves. Jyllands-Posten was right in apologising for the cartoons. Their re-republication by other newspapers was necessarily provocative in the worst traditions of free press. Diplomatic protests and cessation of trade ties may fall within the scope of symbolic retaliatory free speech. But violent protests are beyond permissibility."
This line of argument tend to suggest that freedom of expression can't be a license to insult religious communities. Swaminathan disagrees quite bluntly
"The fact is that every religion is an insult to somebody. The Hindu scriptures and dharma shastras unquestionably insult lower castes, women, and foreigners (who are called mlechhas, on par with untouchables). The Bible is an insult to Jews, who from the start were appalled by Christ’s claim to be a Messiah. Mohammed’s claim to be a prophet is similarly insulting to Christians. Hindus are called heathen and kaffirs respectively by Christians and Muslims, and both are insulting terms. Can the answer be for people from all religions and castes to attack and maim one another? Liberal atheists like me hold freedom of expression to be sacred, and tolerance of opposing views to be a fundamental duty. Our religion says that we can and do insult one another all the time in various ways. You can and should object when you feel insulted, I certainly do so. But the duty of tolerance means you cannot use violence or revenge as a means of protests: you should find other ways."
Rajeev Dhawan has a fine line of distinction on the issue. He concludes
"While espousing the case for an individualist right of free speech, we are not entirely liberated from the responsibility of collective governance in a fair and just manner. This is not an invitation to extreme forms of censorship. But, it does mean that the collective conscience does not have to be silent. Censor minimally, but condemn forcefully. It is part of free speech to meet irresponsible free speech with responsible condemnation."
Rajeev Dhavan in Times of India (Feb 16th 2006, Mumbi City Edition) writes
“There is a difference between ‘unpopular speech’ and ‘hate speech’. Only the former must be protected. Hate speech consists of deliberate and intentional attempt to insult and wound sensitivities of a group and community with intent of inciting strong reaction or knowing that disorder may foreseeably follow. Many legal systems treat racist, communal and sexist speech as impermissible hate speech. India is no exception.”
Sounds right isn’t it? Sample this
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar writes (The Sunday Times, 12th Feb 2006) in a delightfully candid manner
“I congratulate the Danish government for standing firm, insisting that its media have freedom, and refusing to apologise. Somebody has to stand up for basic freedom. The protesters reject the sanctity of free speech. Amazingly, traditional guardians of civil liberties have remained muted or silent: they seem to think that a hard line will simply spark more violence. This is not just spineless, it is an insult to my religion of liberal atheism.”
In the larger debate the issue has taken the shape of a debate between protection of Right to freedom of expression and unacceptability of hate speech specially against a religion or community.
Writes Rajeev Dhawan
"Many legal systems treat racist, communal and sexist speech as impermissible hate speech. India is no exception. Communal hate speech is criminalised by the Indian Penal Code (Sections 153A and 294A) and liable to be banned (Section 95 of the Cr PC) and subject to customs bans. "
Isn't it amazing!! while I was aware that this is true in the indian context but I never thought that this can be a matter of debate or even a difference of opinion. And then Ravi Kiran Rao wrote this thought provoking post on his blog. He concludes "I’ve heard it said that the right to free speech cannot be absolute, that the government should have the power to make exceptions to this right on a case by case basis, on pragmatic grounds. But it seems to me that the right to free speech in the US works only because it is absolute. If we make an exception for one case, people cite it and ask for an exception for themselves too. If the government can restrict free speech by passing laws, politicians will get elected by promising their constituents that they will expand the restriction to cover their concerns too. Free speech survives only because it is an absolute right. "
Come to think of it thats a great point - if there are ifs & buts to the right to express one self freely then will it remain "free speech".Now read what Rajeev Dhavan Says
"there is a vast difference between opposing bans and supporting contents of all and any free speech. Voltaire's famous aphorism defends the right to free speech but does not prevent civil society from denigrating its contents. We may defend the right to publish unpopular, even provocative, speech while condemning certain statements of free speech as disgusting. In doing so, we would simply be confronting free speech with free speech."
Specific to the cartoon controversy Rajeev's article comments
"In the cartoon controversy, it would not have been contradictory for the Danish prime minister to extol freedom of press but condemn the cartoons themselves. Jyllands-Posten was right in apologising for the cartoons. Their re-republication by other newspapers was necessarily provocative in the worst traditions of free press. Diplomatic protests and cessation of trade ties may fall within the scope of symbolic retaliatory free speech. But violent protests are beyond permissibility."
This line of argument tend to suggest that freedom of expression can't be a license to insult religious communities. Swaminathan disagrees quite bluntly
"The fact is that every religion is an insult to somebody. The Hindu scriptures and dharma shastras unquestionably insult lower castes, women, and foreigners (who are called mlechhas, on par with untouchables). The Bible is an insult to Jews, who from the start were appalled by Christ’s claim to be a Messiah. Mohammed’s claim to be a prophet is similarly insulting to Christians. Hindus are called heathen and kaffirs respectively by Christians and Muslims, and both are insulting terms. Can the answer be for people from all religions and castes to attack and maim one another? Liberal atheists like me hold freedom of expression to be sacred, and tolerance of opposing views to be a fundamental duty. Our religion says that we can and do insult one another all the time in various ways. You can and should object when you feel insulted, I certainly do so. But the duty of tolerance means you cannot use violence or revenge as a means of protests: you should find other ways."
Rajeev Dhawan has a fine line of distinction on the issue. He concludes
"While espousing the case for an individualist right of free speech, we are not entirely liberated from the responsibility of collective governance in a fair and just manner. This is not an invitation to extreme forms of censorship. But, it does mean that the collective conscience does not have to be silent. Censor minimally, but condemn forcefully. It is part of free speech to meet irresponsible free speech with responsible condemnation."
Another interesting point of view from SHIV VISVANATHAN is on the thinking of the "two sides" of this debate. He comments in the Times of India"The cartoon controversy reminds one of a schizmogeretic situation........ The debate has been deluged with editorials. We have essays on freedom of press, on profundity of faith, on why secular citizenship can’t yield to ethnic pressure. Analysis of this kind operates within fixed frames. Firstly, it is read consciously as a clash of religions particularly of Islam and Christianity. Secondly, it is seen as irrational faith confronting liberal secularism. ........There is an implication that Islam is Third World and ethnic and suffering from a touch of inferiority or defeat. Alternatively, the liberal West is projected as mature, superior and content within the rule of law. The opposition becomes one of identity politics Vs citizenship, law Vs vigilantism and reason Vs obscurantism."
It doesn’t take a Chomsky to realise that the western press can be hypocritical ...... But it takes wisdom to see that freedom and hypocrisy go together. The cartoons reflect Orientalism at its worst. But freedom of press is part of a large vision of democracy and the current situation will benefit neither side. If France, England and Germany want to survive as democracies, they must rework their liberalism to understand that they are not homogeneous societies but multiethnic, multireligious and multicultural societies which have to go beyond tolerance as disengagement to plurality as engagement. Islamic groups must also realise that freedom and faith will feed on each other and Europe might produce a new and creative variant of Islam like India and Indonesia did."
Some observations
There is a consensus (atleast among the intelligensia) that the violent reactions to the cartoons (allegedly from the muslims) is unacceptable in a civilian society
However - the world seems to be divided on the question of what constitutes free speech and how much of it should be allowed. Should it be absolute or moderate sensorship is actually needed? Should free speech be redefined at least in a context where sensibilities of larger masses is involved?
In this context can pornography (specially the explicit and some times psychic ones), hate speeches and writings and also targetted maligning campaigns be considered exercising of free speech. An example is the suicide by a student of IIM-Lucknow who died trying out a variety of method of hanging that he read about on a website. Could such incidences be handled better by a minimal censoring.
It is OK to talk of freedom to express as an absolute right in the world of journalism and that of bloggers, however the real world is different - however much we reject this theory. No right is actually absolute. One can talk of rights being absolute only in the world where people understand and live by their duties. In this sense itself ANY right cannot remain absolute. The day I decide not to care about my duties and just assert my rights as absolute I become a problem (for the society and for those who espouse this philosophy). That is what is wrong with freedom of expression as an absolute right.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Coloured Ways of Life
Came across this absolutely great piece through chain mails that circulate in few groups of which I am a member. I do not know the name of the author.
According to the mail "This poem was nominated poem of 2005 for the best poem, written by an African.........amazing thought!!!"
When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black..
And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..
And you calling me Colored ?????????
The greatness of the stuff lies in the simplicity with which it makes a severe impact on once thoughts. There is a sort of innocence in the way its written - like its written by a hurt child. The hurt is so plainly put that it disarms. I am sure poets don't write such stuff - its natural.
According to the mail "This poem was nominated poem of 2005 for the best poem, written by an African.........amazing thought!!!"
When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black..
And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..
And you calling me Colored ?????????
The greatness of the stuff lies in the simplicity with which it makes a severe impact on once thoughts. There is a sort of innocence in the way its written - like its written by a hurt child. The hurt is so plainly put that it disarms. I am sure poets don't write such stuff - its natural.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Media War : Naidunia v/s Dainik Bhaskar
Recently, I witnessed a launch function of a new business daily in Indore. The English business newspaper DNAMoney is a publication of the Dainik Bhaskar group. Dainik Bhaskar started from Indore approximately two decades ago and today they enjoy the largest circulation in India for their flagship publication Dainik Bhaskar - a hindi daily newspaper which claims to have a readership which more than that of the times of India.
It is interesting to see the way the media scene is hotting up in MP - specially in Indore. Indore alone must be home to at least a score of news papers - a few eveningers - some of them with impressive circualtions and readership. However the two big name reamins Nai Dunia and Dainik Bhaskar. The ND & DB story is a case study in management.
Naidunia is a paper with a rich history & it still remains (in the minds of people) as a scholarly paper with its comparatively puerile approach to langaugae (hindi), only moderate instincts to sensationalise and one must add, a very high quality of printing.
While Dainik Bhaskar has remained a more bol-chal ki bhasha wala (layman language) paper. So it uses english words written in Hindi with absolutely no compunction. Naidunia used to mock at this style of journalism (although now ND follows this style as well). This helped DB reach out to larger base of people reading it. So here it is - market driven v/s academic orientation. In the free economy that India is now - Dainik Bhaskar - who most admit - is not necessarily a better paper grew leaps & bound because it was a better marketer, quite like the Times of India.
Localisation
The Dainik Bhaskar group has to its credit some great innovations that made it widely read. The amount of localisation of news it has done is amazing. It currently prints 14 editions of Dainik Bhaskar (3 in MP, 2 in Chattisgarh, 7 in Rajasthan, one each in Chandigarh & Haryana) - not to talk of a local page in almost every small town like Mandasaur, Neemuch, Ujjain, Jabalpur etc. etc. Ofcourse it has a National version of paper that circulates in the metro cities & towns. Add to this Divya Bhaskar - The Gujarati version of the paper circulated in Gujarat which has four editions. This is what makes this group bigger - & fastest growing. Its very similar to what a mc-donalds does to its menu in every region - cater to the taste of people their. Naidunia on the other hand did whatever regionalisation driven by market compulsions - when DB seemed to have edged it out in competition. So now you have the Gwalior edition of Naidunia which seemed to have done rather well.
Distribution
Talk to anybody in the business of media & they will confirm that managing your distribution channels is the key. Make it available everywhere - & fast. DB started doing that right from the start. DB started selling at every nook & corner of the city, at bus stands, in trains using hawkers and not necessarily just on the book shops. It was pushed with invitation pricing in many areas to get a quick foothold. The group went out of its way to keep their distributors happy. Hawkers in Indore recall the days when Naidunia was the only paper that sold. They had to line up to beg, borrow, steal to get their needed number of copies.
Managing Advertising Revenues
DB recognised this very early. It aggressively pursued advertisers. Even today if their is an ad that appears in Naidunia - which does not have a presence in Dainik Bhaskar - one is sure to get a call from a Dainik Bhaskar executive asking why they chose ND over them. Ofcourse he will sell furtively the reach and response one is expected to get from Dainik Bhaskar. He will then ask when will he get the same ad. This alacrity with which they pursue their advertisers has kept them very high in the minds of advertisers - you can love them or hate them but cannot ignore them.
More importantly - Dainik Bhaskar maintained sound relationship with the most important link - the advertising agencies. One of my senior frinds in the business of advertising at Indore comments "serves Naidunia right" recalling how in the days of monopoly they were treated by the Naidunia management indifferently. "You will be invited once a year to a gathering of all advertising agencies where Abhayji (the chief editor and owner of Naidunia) will deliver a lecture & you will be served Samosa with Wafers and tea. No interaction at all"
The royal treatment received by advertising agencies at the hands of Dainik Bhaskar thus ensured that they became the preferred target for referrals by the agencies.
Events Marketing
Dainik Bhaskar also started the trend of creating marketing events regularly to bring about brand excitement among readers. They followed twin model of conducting some major events of their own and then in most cases offering major media partnership to event managment companies and conducting the event under their flag.
Innovations abound here : heavy discounting schemes, great prizes schemes, events - like bollywood stars shows (Madhuri/sharukh), career fairs etc. etc.
Why Naidunia then
You might be wondering if everything above is true why is Naidunia still its competitor. Well may reasons - first Newspaper unlike other products takes long to build into the psyche of the reader and also they change their tastes gradually. For long Dainik Bhaskar remained a news paper with good circulation because of the marketing aggression but not good resership. Readers are the people Dainik Bhaskar targeted the last. It is only now focussing on better content and highly readable material and print. These were always the seeling prepositions of Naidunia.
The same can be said of Naidunia - they have started to learn management from their competitors & now focuses more than ever before on direct marketing and every other thing that got DB the celebrated success. It also took Naidunia lot of time and market share to give up on its attitude of being the suerior paper.
Random Thought
Marketing warfare has turned the media into business and hence journalism is lost its core value as profession. Newspapers (& channels) have today become a Fast Moving Consumer Good. One remembers a widely circulated thought that chairman of Bennet & Coleman gave about The Times of India - we are not a great newspaper - we are just great marketers.
It is interesting to see the way the media scene is hotting up in MP - specially in Indore. Indore alone must be home to at least a score of news papers - a few eveningers - some of them with impressive circualtions and readership. However the two big name reamins Nai Dunia and Dainik Bhaskar. The ND & DB story is a case study in management.
Naidunia is a paper with a rich history & it still remains (in the minds of people) as a scholarly paper with its comparatively puerile approach to langaugae (hindi), only moderate instincts to sensationalise and one must add, a very high quality of printing.
While Dainik Bhaskar has remained a more bol-chal ki bhasha wala (layman language) paper. So it uses english words written in Hindi with absolutely no compunction. Naidunia used to mock at this style of journalism (although now ND follows this style as well). This helped DB reach out to larger base of people reading it. So here it is - market driven v/s academic orientation. In the free economy that India is now - Dainik Bhaskar - who most admit - is not necessarily a better paper grew leaps & bound because it was a better marketer, quite like the Times of India.
Localisation
The Dainik Bhaskar group has to its credit some great innovations that made it widely read. The amount of localisation of news it has done is amazing. It currently prints 14 editions of Dainik Bhaskar (3 in MP, 2 in Chattisgarh, 7 in Rajasthan, one each in Chandigarh & Haryana) - not to talk of a local page in almost every small town like Mandasaur, Neemuch, Ujjain, Jabalpur etc. etc. Ofcourse it has a National version of paper that circulates in the metro cities & towns. Add to this Divya Bhaskar - The Gujarati version of the paper circulated in Gujarat which has four editions. This is what makes this group bigger - & fastest growing. Its very similar to what a mc-donalds does to its menu in every region - cater to the taste of people their. Naidunia on the other hand did whatever regionalisation driven by market compulsions - when DB seemed to have edged it out in competition. So now you have the Gwalior edition of Naidunia which seemed to have done rather well.
Distribution
Talk to anybody in the business of media & they will confirm that managing your distribution channels is the key. Make it available everywhere - & fast. DB started doing that right from the start. DB started selling at every nook & corner of the city, at bus stands, in trains using hawkers and not necessarily just on the book shops. It was pushed with invitation pricing in many areas to get a quick foothold. The group went out of its way to keep their distributors happy. Hawkers in Indore recall the days when Naidunia was the only paper that sold. They had to line up to beg, borrow, steal to get their needed number of copies.
Managing Advertising Revenues
DB recognised this very early. It aggressively pursued advertisers. Even today if their is an ad that appears in Naidunia - which does not have a presence in Dainik Bhaskar - one is sure to get a call from a Dainik Bhaskar executive asking why they chose ND over them. Ofcourse he will sell furtively the reach and response one is expected to get from Dainik Bhaskar. He will then ask when will he get the same ad. This alacrity with which they pursue their advertisers has kept them very high in the minds of advertisers - you can love them or hate them but cannot ignore them.
More importantly - Dainik Bhaskar maintained sound relationship with the most important link - the advertising agencies. One of my senior frinds in the business of advertising at Indore comments "serves Naidunia right" recalling how in the days of monopoly they were treated by the Naidunia management indifferently. "You will be invited once a year to a gathering of all advertising agencies where Abhayji (the chief editor and owner of Naidunia) will deliver a lecture & you will be served Samosa with Wafers and tea. No interaction at all"
The royal treatment received by advertising agencies at the hands of Dainik Bhaskar thus ensured that they became the preferred target for referrals by the agencies.
Events Marketing
Dainik Bhaskar also started the trend of creating marketing events regularly to bring about brand excitement among readers. They followed twin model of conducting some major events of their own and then in most cases offering major media partnership to event managment companies and conducting the event under their flag.
Innovations abound here : heavy discounting schemes, great prizes schemes, events - like bollywood stars shows (Madhuri/sharukh), career fairs etc. etc.
Why Naidunia then
You might be wondering if everything above is true why is Naidunia still its competitor. Well may reasons - first Newspaper unlike other products takes long to build into the psyche of the reader and also they change their tastes gradually. For long Dainik Bhaskar remained a news paper with good circulation because of the marketing aggression but not good resership. Readers are the people Dainik Bhaskar targeted the last. It is only now focussing on better content and highly readable material and print. These were always the seeling prepositions of Naidunia.
The same can be said of Naidunia - they have started to learn management from their competitors & now focuses more than ever before on direct marketing and every other thing that got DB the celebrated success. It also took Naidunia lot of time and market share to give up on its attitude of being the suerior paper.
Random Thought
Marketing warfare has turned the media into business and hence journalism is lost its core value as profession. Newspapers (& channels) have today become a Fast Moving Consumer Good. One remembers a widely circulated thought that chairman of Bennet & Coleman gave about The Times of India - we are not a great newspaper - we are just great marketers.
Competition for a change seems to have left the consumer with average products.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Wiered Nature - Shocking Reaction
In a wiered incident at Khargone a mother died of shock after she was shown her newly born baby. The baby took birth with terrible deformities. She had no legs, an out of proprtion & large head and palm, scaringly big eyes and abnormal body shape. It pained the mother so much that she fell unconscious after seeing her & then never came back.
Thats not all, the family members considered her under influence of a bad spirit & hence burried the child alive.
Some random thoughts -
It is possible that the child with such major deformities might herself not survive on her own for long - but burrying somebody alive - sends shivers down my spine. On the other hand one wonders had the child survived - what would life be like to her, her parents and those around her. I guess that would have been worse than death.
Another scary thought - can this happen more often when technologies like cloning, stem cell research, genetic engineering misfires and delivers deformed babies?
Thats not all, the family members considered her under influence of a bad spirit & hence burried the child alive.
Some random thoughts -
It is possible that the child with such major deformities might herself not survive on her own for long - but burrying somebody alive - sends shivers down my spine. On the other hand one wonders had the child survived - what would life be like to her, her parents and those around her. I guess that would have been worse than death.
Another scary thought - can this happen more often when technologies like cloning, stem cell research, genetic engineering misfires and delivers deformed babies?
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
"Blind" Justice
Came across this curious news - that a 76 year blind, almost deaf person who has been a heart patient and used a wheel chair to move was delivered the death penalty soon after he completed his 76 years on this tuesday - 17th of Jan 2006. Here is the confirmation that the death sentence has been executed.
I write curious because after reading of the details of the case - I don't carry any doubt that he deserves to be severely punished. Apprantly our men killed his son's girlfriend to prevent her to report to police a shop theft that he was involved in. After he was jailed for the case he planned for murder of eight witnesses to the crime and actually got three of them murdered. If the facts of the case are what they are - these were cold blooded, planned murders. What does the society do to such people?
However the guy spent 23 years in jail before he was finally delivered the penalty, he met a heart attack during his incarceration, and went almost deaf and grew too weak even to walk. One does think - was the death sentence serving any need at all? Is this case & the conviction going to serve as a deterrant to future criminals? One wonders!!!
Did humanity deliver justice in this case or was it revenge? The age old question rings yet again.
I write curious because after reading of the details of the case - I don't carry any doubt that he deserves to be severely punished. Apprantly our men killed his son's girlfriend to prevent her to report to police a shop theft that he was involved in. After he was jailed for the case he planned for murder of eight witnesses to the crime and actually got three of them murdered. If the facts of the case are what they are - these were cold blooded, planned murders. What does the society do to such people?
However the guy spent 23 years in jail before he was finally delivered the penalty, he met a heart attack during his incarceration, and went almost deaf and grew too weak even to walk. One does think - was the death sentence serving any need at all? Is this case & the conviction going to serve as a deterrant to future criminals? One wonders!!!
Did humanity deliver justice in this case or was it revenge? The age old question rings yet again.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Analysing CAT - GD/PI calls
As someone who graduated out of an IIM (and one who cruised through those two years with a lot of jest), one feels nostalgic with every CAT result and one follows it with a lot of personal interest. And dare I say, CAT results do follow interesting trend, that is if they follow a trend.
It has grown tougher
May be I am saying the obvious. CAT has grown tougher. No, I don't mean it comprises tougher questions - that ofcourse it does. I am referring to the fact that getting a good rank in CAT has become tougher. And this is NOT because the toughness of questions have grown. Let me explain.
CAT has reduced from being a 240 question test (mid 1990s) to 90 question test (CAT 2005). However it has remained a test that a normal human being will not be able to complete in 120 minutes - thus the question content has grown tougher & thats no big deal.
However, this year CAT was taken by more than 1,75,000 people. The average score in the test was expected to be around 50 marks. This would mean on every 1/3 of mark their could be on an average more than 300 students. Thus a difference of 1 mark between two aspirants could mean a rank difference of more than a thousand. This means that every second (& I mean every second) lost becomes fatal to one's chances of making it to the list.
Multiple attempts
A surprisingly large number of students who are getting GD/PI calls are second, third even fourth time takers of CAT. Gone are the days when you would meet sharp students suggesting I worked my ass up for about three months & whoosh I had a call in hand. No more, even the sharpest of the lot generally do not get a call if they do not groom themselves up for the two hours.
The explanation though is simpler. People - in their first attempts often do not understand the depth or extent of application & focus that CAT now a days demands. Secondly, most are not able to strike a balance between either their graduation studies or their jobs and their CAT preparations. Last, a very large number of CAT aspirants who are doing well during their preparations - are often unable to take the pressure of the D-day - those 120 minutes of real test time.
These people after doing relatively poorer understand that theyr were quite close to success & have missed it narrowly. Their focus as a result increases & their determination to crack the test multiplies. Thats when they get into a now or never mode.
Work Experience
Again this might be repeating the obvious. But, increasingly the B-Schools seem to be toeing the line that MBA is better done after a few years in the industry. The call patterns - with more than 50% calls to people with work experience - seem to be consolidating that line of thought.
Increasingly - people with work experience are getting calls at relatively low percentile.
The individual matters
Increasingly - coaching classes and the strategies they seem to build seem to be getting irrelevant. The CAT has followed such erratic movements in its character that year on year these strategies actually harm the student more than they help. The coaching classes have become, at best, a tool to provide an aspirant a regularity in their work and a group/environment to prepare for. What has mattered the most in the people who finally received a call is their self drive to make it and also the fact they have learnt from their experiences.
However, everyone is invited
A word of caution here - all type of people are recieving calls, fresh under graduates, people who have taken drop to prepare, people with work ex, people with diverse backgrounds, people with hindi medium education. One is only trying to look at the larger trends in a structured manner. The above criteria does not necessarily bring success. One is in touch with people who did not make it after working for many years or after many trials.
The trend is that the percentage of people in the overall call getters seem to be growing in the above directions.
It has grown tougher
May be I am saying the obvious. CAT has grown tougher. No, I don't mean it comprises tougher questions - that ofcourse it does. I am referring to the fact that getting a good rank in CAT has become tougher. And this is NOT because the toughness of questions have grown. Let me explain.
CAT has reduced from being a 240 question test (mid 1990s) to 90 question test (CAT 2005). However it has remained a test that a normal human being will not be able to complete in 120 minutes - thus the question content has grown tougher & thats no big deal.
However, this year CAT was taken by more than 1,75,000 people. The average score in the test was expected to be around 50 marks. This would mean on every 1/3 of mark their could be on an average more than 300 students. Thus a difference of 1 mark between two aspirants could mean a rank difference of more than a thousand. This means that every second (& I mean every second) lost becomes fatal to one's chances of making it to the list.
Multiple attempts
A surprisingly large number of students who are getting GD/PI calls are second, third even fourth time takers of CAT. Gone are the days when you would meet sharp students suggesting I worked my ass up for about three months & whoosh I had a call in hand. No more, even the sharpest of the lot generally do not get a call if they do not groom themselves up for the two hours.
The explanation though is simpler. People - in their first attempts often do not understand the depth or extent of application & focus that CAT now a days demands. Secondly, most are not able to strike a balance between either their graduation studies or their jobs and their CAT preparations. Last, a very large number of CAT aspirants who are doing well during their preparations - are often unable to take the pressure of the D-day - those 120 minutes of real test time.
These people after doing relatively poorer understand that theyr were quite close to success & have missed it narrowly. Their focus as a result increases & their determination to crack the test multiplies. Thats when they get into a now or never mode.
Work Experience
Again this might be repeating the obvious. But, increasingly the B-Schools seem to be toeing the line that MBA is better done after a few years in the industry. The call patterns - with more than 50% calls to people with work experience - seem to be consolidating that line of thought.
Increasingly - people with work experience are getting calls at relatively low percentile.
The individual matters
Increasingly - coaching classes and the strategies they seem to build seem to be getting irrelevant. The CAT has followed such erratic movements in its character that year on year these strategies actually harm the student more than they help. The coaching classes have become, at best, a tool to provide an aspirant a regularity in their work and a group/environment to prepare for. What has mattered the most in the people who finally received a call is their self drive to make it and also the fact they have learnt from their experiences.
However, everyone is invited
A word of caution here - all type of people are recieving calls, fresh under graduates, people who have taken drop to prepare, people with work ex, people with diverse backgrounds, people with hindi medium education. One is only trying to look at the larger trends in a structured manner. The above criteria does not necessarily bring success. One is in touch with people who did not make it after working for many years or after many trials.
The trend is that the percentage of people in the overall call getters seem to be growing in the above directions.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Education !! at what cost??
I attended a concert by the flute mastero Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, this sunday. Now, thats no news. The news is he was in Indore for a launch of a new school & the concert was a part of the launch function of the school at one of the best known hotels of the city.
Yes ! Panditji was roped in, to rope in a crowd that would then be roped in to admit their wards in the said school.
Getting a guru of the stature of panditji means a use of substantial amount of personal clout (influence) and also money - specially because getting a minimum audience for such a function itself could be dicey (sure enough there were less than 100 odd people in a hall prepared to accomodate more than five times that number).
Money
Education (& I am talking about education of kids) is big business now a days. In Indore alone - not yet a metro city - there are seven schools charging a fee of more than 25000 Rs. a year. (with half of them charging more than 30000). The figures do not in general include transportation - that adds another 6000 a year. In some cases this is even exclusive of lunch/snacks served to children. Most of these schools have sprung up in the last three years.
There are about five prep schools (pre primary) that charge in the range of Rs. 20000+ a year for keepping children involved in educational & developmental activities for three hours a day. They also promise to train (?) these two plus years old kids for admissions to the coveted schools.
Ofcourse these figures sounds like peanuts when compared to some schools based in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. However they are astronomical if one looks at the economy of the city - and living standards of the people. The developments are a function of the increasing metro like population that is resident of this city now.
Infrastructure
One of the reasons for the high fee is the infrastructure that modern day schools are offering. It beats some of the best hotels/clubs in the city. You can easily get seperate cricket, football fields in all schools. Now count - an international standard swimming pool with another for younger kids thrown in, skating ring, well equipped gymnesium, Basket ball, volleyball, badminton &/or tennis courts, open air labs in physics & mathematics, huge and very well equipped mess, full blown auditoriums, outdoor trips almost every month, seminars for parents on parenting & associated issues.
One of the schools offered special lab for kids with learning disabilities, another offers after class support for problem solving, yet another promises no tution needed programme. Kids have never had so good ever.
They are proliferating
The high fee has not prevented people from admitting their children to these schools on the contrary it is difficult to get admission in a few of them - primarily because of two reasons.
One, its a status symbol to get one's children educated in one such school. How else can one prove that they are doing their best for their children. Its a mob effect - one family in a locality gets their ward admitted & then talks about it - others soon follow.
Two, early results seem to be very promising. The kids from these schools apparantly are more confident, develope a wider vocbulary faster, have a greater general knowledge, is more communicative & assertive, developes motor & recognition skills faster and is also, in general, a happier child when compared to similar kids getting educated at the conventional missionary school which is cheaper. This is largely because these schools use interactive fun to learn tools for development of child instead of the conventional classroom classwork - homework routine.
The Challenge
This is not just an interesting trend but also one that needs to be analysed for its impact. The challenge for these schools is to show that despite the variety stuff that provide in educating children they can deliver to serve the traditional model as well. At the end of the day - given the way our system is the child has to do well in exams. As the child eneters high school - the percentages in his marksheet becomes rather important. It is here that most experimentative schools have finally failed to deliver.
There is a challenge for parents too. They need to plan investments rather well if they hope to support the study of their children rather well. A simple comparison says that the amount I paid for my son's prep school in one year was double the amount that I paid to my engineering college - my hostel stay included. Higher education is becoming increasingly expensive and during high school the tution cost of a child is almost equal to, if not more, than the school fee.
Yes ! Panditji was roped in, to rope in a crowd that would then be roped in to admit their wards in the said school.
Getting a guru of the stature of panditji means a use of substantial amount of personal clout (influence) and also money - specially because getting a minimum audience for such a function itself could be dicey (sure enough there were less than 100 odd people in a hall prepared to accomodate more than five times that number).
Money
Education (& I am talking about education of kids) is big business now a days. In Indore alone - not yet a metro city - there are seven schools charging a fee of more than 25000 Rs. a year. (with half of them charging more than 30000). The figures do not in general include transportation - that adds another 6000 a year. In some cases this is even exclusive of lunch/snacks served to children. Most of these schools have sprung up in the last three years.
There are about five prep schools (pre primary) that charge in the range of Rs. 20000+ a year for keepping children involved in educational & developmental activities for three hours a day. They also promise to train (?) these two plus years old kids for admissions to the coveted schools.
Ofcourse these figures sounds like peanuts when compared to some schools based in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. However they are astronomical if one looks at the economy of the city - and living standards of the people. The developments are a function of the increasing metro like population that is resident of this city now.
Infrastructure
One of the reasons for the high fee is the infrastructure that modern day schools are offering. It beats some of the best hotels/clubs in the city. You can easily get seperate cricket, football fields in all schools. Now count - an international standard swimming pool with another for younger kids thrown in, skating ring, well equipped gymnesium, Basket ball, volleyball, badminton &/or tennis courts, open air labs in physics & mathematics, huge and very well equipped mess, full blown auditoriums, outdoor trips almost every month, seminars for parents on parenting & associated issues.
One of the schools offered special lab for kids with learning disabilities, another offers after class support for problem solving, yet another promises no tution needed programme. Kids have never had so good ever.
They are proliferating
The high fee has not prevented people from admitting their children to these schools on the contrary it is difficult to get admission in a few of them - primarily because of two reasons.
One, its a status symbol to get one's children educated in one such school. How else can one prove that they are doing their best for their children. Its a mob effect - one family in a locality gets their ward admitted & then talks about it - others soon follow.
Two, early results seem to be very promising. The kids from these schools apparantly are more confident, develope a wider vocbulary faster, have a greater general knowledge, is more communicative & assertive, developes motor & recognition skills faster and is also, in general, a happier child when compared to similar kids getting educated at the conventional missionary school which is cheaper. This is largely because these schools use interactive fun to learn tools for development of child instead of the conventional classroom classwork - homework routine.
The Challenge
This is not just an interesting trend but also one that needs to be analysed for its impact. The challenge for these schools is to show that despite the variety stuff that provide in educating children they can deliver to serve the traditional model as well. At the end of the day - given the way our system is the child has to do well in exams. As the child eneters high school - the percentages in his marksheet becomes rather important. It is here that most experimentative schools have finally failed to deliver.
There is a challenge for parents too. They need to plan investments rather well if they hope to support the study of their children rather well. A simple comparison says that the amount I paid for my son's prep school in one year was double the amount that I paid to my engineering college - my hostel stay included. Higher education is becoming increasingly expensive and during high school the tution cost of a child is almost equal to, if not more, than the school fee.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
New Year Observation
On a new year day, it is customary to write about past year's glory and disapoointments and is fashionable to make new resolves . So, I had decided not to write yet another of those new year articles.
As luck would have it - On the 31st Evening, I travelled from Indore to Mandsaur on a meter gauage train(yes, you read that right - in this part of MP - one still finds those lazy meter gauage trains, which will take 7 hours to travel a distance of just 250 km). This patience testing 7 hours that too with eight other passengers in a cramped compartment, made me write my first post in the new year.
Four fellow passengers - two males; educated, muslims, mid-40s and their wives so obviously illiterate (or at best primary schools dropouts) discussed a host of topics which dominates typical middle class muslim households in this part of the country.
Some snippets
** Marriage is a business {they said its true of all communities not just ours(muslims)}. A female born in a family would mean planning for a few lakhs of rupees for her "dahej"(dowry) while a male child means a cheque to be encashed in 18-20 years. They referred to cases where the parents of grooms look for "eklauti aulad" (only daughter) as a match for their sons.
** Some sure signs of changes in the muslim mindsets
They shared that we(muslims) now have "parichay Sammelan" (a confrence where prospective grooms & bridegrooms are paraded for possible nupital tie ups) once every year & the trend is catching on. There were initial resistence - people claimed it to be wrong, against their religion - however economics finally won over.
It was simple & almost inexpensive for parents - just for Rs. 1000 (may vary upto 3000) they meet so many prospective candidates and sometimes "nikah" (marriage) happens on the spot. For Rs. 10, a book carrying the phone numbers of candidates is available for later conatacts. Lunch is made available by the organisors & even "Kazi Saheb" (religious guru who formalises the marriage) is made available by the organisors.
Ofcourse - the change comes with restrictions - female & male candidates in seperate halls - only "valdayien" (mothers) allowed in the female candidates' hall.
** There was a surprising trend visible in their discussions . There are cases galore where the boy wants to marry a girl who is at best "dasvi pass" (studied till tenth class only) while he himself might be a graduate or more and comes from a generally educated family. Egs. were sons of the two families I referred to. While one can discuss the root cause but a more important fact is that these boys are finding it difficult to get a match. Yes because generally the girls "BA ho jati hai" (they generally complete BA). The mother added "hamne samjhaya ki BA ki hui ladki bhi rotiya banati hai - magar manta hi nahi hai" (I explained that even girls with BA degree will cook but he fails to budge). Could this be true - female education seems to be catching on faster than male among muslims.
** In fact the parents seem to approve of a "padi likhi Ladki" more as she comes in handy in a lot of places - writing/reading for the largely uneducated older female population
It was amusing, the straightfordness with which they discussed it all - I sat wodering how much more will every new year surprise me.
As luck would have it - On the 31st Evening, I travelled from Indore to Mandsaur on a meter gauage train(yes, you read that right - in this part of MP - one still finds those lazy meter gauage trains, which will take 7 hours to travel a distance of just 250 km). This patience testing 7 hours that too with eight other passengers in a cramped compartment, made me write my first post in the new year.
Four fellow passengers - two males; educated, muslims, mid-40s and their wives so obviously illiterate (or at best primary schools dropouts) discussed a host of topics which dominates typical middle class muslim households in this part of the country.
Some snippets
** Marriage is a business {they said its true of all communities not just ours(muslims)}. A female born in a family would mean planning for a few lakhs of rupees for her "dahej"(dowry) while a male child means a cheque to be encashed in 18-20 years. They referred to cases where the parents of grooms look for "eklauti aulad" (only daughter) as a match for their sons.
** Some sure signs of changes in the muslim mindsets
They shared that we(muslims) now have "parichay Sammelan" (a confrence where prospective grooms & bridegrooms are paraded for possible nupital tie ups) once every year & the trend is catching on. There were initial resistence - people claimed it to be wrong, against their religion - however economics finally won over.
It was simple & almost inexpensive for parents - just for Rs. 1000 (may vary upto 3000) they meet so many prospective candidates and sometimes "nikah" (marriage) happens on the spot. For Rs. 10, a book carrying the phone numbers of candidates is available for later conatacts. Lunch is made available by the organisors & even "Kazi Saheb" (religious guru who formalises the marriage) is made available by the organisors.
Ofcourse - the change comes with restrictions - female & male candidates in seperate halls - only "valdayien" (mothers) allowed in the female candidates' hall.
** There was a surprising trend visible in their discussions . There are cases galore where the boy wants to marry a girl who is at best "dasvi pass" (studied till tenth class only) while he himself might be a graduate or more and comes from a generally educated family. Egs. were sons of the two families I referred to. While one can discuss the root cause but a more important fact is that these boys are finding it difficult to get a match. Yes because generally the girls "BA ho jati hai" (they generally complete BA). The mother added "hamne samjhaya ki BA ki hui ladki bhi rotiya banati hai - magar manta hi nahi hai" (I explained that even girls with BA degree will cook but he fails to budge). Could this be true - female education seems to be catching on faster than male among muslims.
** In fact the parents seem to approve of a "padi likhi Ladki" more as she comes in handy in a lot of places - writing/reading for the largely uneducated older female population
It was amusing, the straightfordness with which they discussed it all - I sat wodering how much more will every new year surprise me.
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