Madhav Gadgil Report - Is it the ideal way ?

To start with, the Madhav Gadgil Committee was formed during the tenure of the UPA government. The committee was primarily formed for providing recommendations on protecting the ecological balance of the Western Ghats. During the latter half of the UPA government, another committee on similar lines, namely the K Kasturirangan panel was set up.

According to the Gadgil committee, 94-97% area of the Western Ghats should be considered as eco-sensitive. Hence, any developmental activity should be given green signal on the grounds that it would not disturb the lifestyle and ecology of the region. There was some mismatch with the recommendations of the other committee that stated that only about 34-37% area of the Western Ghats is eco-sensitive. It should be noted that the Gadgil committee is headed by Madhav Gadgil who is an ecologist himself and hence knows better about environment conservation than other government officials.

In line with its findings, the Gadgil committee had also stated that the union government should seek the opinion of the local villagers and other people residing in the Western Ghats and take their consensus on the likely ecological impact of any project that would be undertaken there.

Despite the fact that Modi Government had defined development as a people’s movement, such a process of gathering consensus would require sensitizing the village people of the potential threats and implications thereof of any project and hence can cause sufficient delay in implementation of a project. It is also a matter of concern that the village people might be misguided and misled by local politicians who speak their language. Hence there needs to be a proper mechanism in place to sensitize and seek opinions.

Even though the Gadgil committee recommendations are ideal for the environment perspective, yet there is a certain question mark over the efficacy of the process of seeking consensus .

Promotion of education through proliferation of IIT/IIM or encouraging primary education

The recent announcement by the HRD ministry to set up a new IIM and IIT in every state from the current year onwards has been a moot point of debate among the educated intelligentsia, economists and purists. The decision has drawn a lot flak from many quarters including the students and professors of various IITs and IIMs.

Before we delve deep into this debate and try to derive the essence of and impact thereby on various socio-economic factors, let us first take a re-look into the present condition of higher and primary education, in India.

Higher Education

India currently has 16 IITs, 13 IIMs and 30 NITs. Since their inception, securing a seat in an IIT or IIM has been a long drawn dream for many middle class families waiting to move up the societal status ladder and become the next Noveau Riche. But not only did these institutes help families to reach the upper echelons of society but they also greatly contributed to the economic growth and progress of the country, be it through technological innovation or business strategy. Prior to the opening of many new IITs and IIMs post 2005, many people felt that for a country like India with such population and talent, a mere 6000 seats in IIT’s and 2000 in IIMs is not a proportionate quantity. Owing to this disparity many argued that the talented youth of the country was missing out on a platform to perform big and do justice to their talent. Also, in the era of globalization, many of the IIT and IIM graduates were seeking foreign destinations post their studies as their preferred choice of workplace and living, hence fewer number of graduates were left behind for India. All these factors accumulated and added indirect pressure on the human resources to make higher education accessible to a wider range of people. Thus we saw a proliferation of a plethora of private engineering institutes and management schools churning out engineers and MBAs in lakhs. But are they really considered worthy by corporate organizations and the Industry as a whole?

The answer is NO. As a result what has increased over the last few years is unemployment among the educated youth consisting of both engineers and MBAs. Some of the institutes of repute do not have the basic infrastructure expected from a nationally recognised institute like IIT/IIM. Many do not have the decent number of faculty and the faculty to student ratio is also very poor. Of all the six new IIMs that have been opened up, the sum total of the number of students that they currently possess is less than 1000. Some argue that the IIMs and IITs that were set up between 2008 and 2012 should be given some time to build their infrastructure and develop an alumni base, which would be spread across the industry. If one does accept this predictive analysis, the latest decision by the HRD ministry to open up an IIT and IIM in every state from the current year onwards is really surprising. Given that the condition of the newly built IITs and IIMs are not up to the accepted standards and that they would require sufficient Government funding, how will the Government finance the new ones coming up? Most importantly, the question that is being asked by many faculty members of the IIMs is that, will this proliferation not lead to a substantial brand dilution of IITs and IIMs in general? This is one question which many among the current student fraternity studying in the older IITs and IIMs is also bothered about.

Primary Education

We have thus far been talking about the higher education institutes vis-à-vis IITs and IIMs. At the outset, it might appear that we as a country are extremely well-off in our basic primary education infrastructure, and hence we now want to focus more on higher education. A fact: The current drop-out rate by class 10 is 50%. Shocking? It is even more shocking to note that India is one of those rare countries which spends only 4% of HDP on education sector against the globally accepted norm of central and state Government spending of 6% of GDP. A point essential, for understanding the high drop-out rate. To add to it, last year, according to a report published by World Bank, an average Indian spends just 5.1 years in school, even below that of Bangladesh (5.8 years) and Pakistan (5.6 years). The drop-out rate for the primary level was 28.7% .which meant that out of every 100 that enrolled in a school only 71 could make it to secondary level. There has been a decline in the proportion of schools with at least one classroom per teacher, from 76.2% in 2010 to 73.8% in 2013, a survey said. There are obviously many factors which are responsible for such abysmal primary education condition like low quality teachers, lack of infrastructure of schools, low teacher to student ratio, ignorance among the lower strata of the society and a host of other factors, even though there have been schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan programme and the mid-day meal programme to promote primary education.

Rural Scenario:

As per the ASER report of 2013, there are a few positive signs as far as rural education scenario goes. Enrolment in the 6-14 age group has increased to 96% and there has been a slight increase in the private school enrolment as well. But the darker side is, according to the report there has been no significant improvement in children’s ability to read. Children are still struggling with basic arithmetic. Though teacher attendance has been steady, student attendance has dropped. The infrastructure facilities of primary education in rural India declined in 2013 as compared to 2012. Basic amenities like toilet facilities, drinking water, building, and library facilities have indicated a declining trend in 2013 as compared to previous years. The pupil to teacher ratio also has not increased and remains below the 50% mark according to the findings.

Hence there exists a paradox. Shall we focus on increasing higher education institutes to supplant our growing population and talent pool or shall we focus more on developing the infrastructure of the existing ones? On the other hand, shall we rather focus our Government spending more on building our primary education edifice? These are some of the questions that need to be addressed.

Before answering these questions, like all economic theories, we need to look at the budgetary allocation our Government is planning for the education sector for the current year. The total expenditure on education has increased from 2.9% of GDP in 2009 to 3.3% in 2013. This year, the education sector received an allocation of Rs.68728 crores for 2014-15, up from a revised budget estimate of Rs.61857 crores in 2012-14. Out of this year’s total allocation, the school sector got Rs.51828 crores. Clearly, there is an urgency on the part of the Government to focus more on primary schooling and skill development.

Conclusion:

Our analysis of the primary education condition in India where infrastructure facilities have seen stymied growth or even declined in the recent years suggest that there is immediate need to revamp our primary education sector. Improvement in infrastructure like building, library, etc. is going to lower the drop-out rate and increase school enrolment further. On the other hand, the opinion regarding setting up new IIMs and IITs have remained divided. While many IIT faculty believe that expansion is a good idea, faculty of IIMs are not in favour of the expansion strategy. This division is due to the fact that that most of the new IIMs including IIM Shillong which was set up in 2007 have not been able to shift to a new campus and their total students have remained at 120 on an average, against the 400 odd in older IIMs. The average shortage of faculty in these IIMs stands at 40%. By comparison, even though some of the new IITs are also struggling, but in the race to be world class institutions, they are forging ahead of the IITs. They have also been able to shift their campuses. Their share of success in attracting new faculty and new directors have also been more than the IIMs. Hence it is only prudent that we take this step of expansion very carefully and do not spend our budget on a expansion strategy that would only result in degrading the brand equity of IIMs. As the case stands now, expanding the IITs, in every state, can be considered to be a step in the right direction. But decision to expand IIMs needs careful review and re-consideration. In the end, we are looking to shape the future of our country, by producing quality engineers and managers, not merely by increasing their numbers. Given the budget constraints, our Government needs to match the progress of primary education sector with higher education, and carry out any expansion strategy they have in their mind in a phased out manner. We need an inclusive growth strategy for promoting education in India and not a skewed one.

References :

http://www.asercentre.org/Keywords/p/205.html

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-06-19/news/50711008_1_new-iits-sudhir-jain-engineering

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/union-budget-2014-15-developments-in-the-education-sector/1/370623.html

HR - One of the most undervalued functions. Really ??

Little flashback….

 Back in the 1950's in the post  independence era, the manufacturing sector predominated the business environment in India. Out of the many problems faced by the factories at that time, one that caused numerous disruptions was due to the labor laws and the frequent conflicts between the management and the labor class. These incidences forced the management to think about creating a different function in the industries which would look after the interests of the labor force and help them to resolve conflicts with the higher management. The function then was named as Industrial Relations.

Throughout the 1970's till 1990's, India's GDP grew and so did the service sector. The bourgeois population increased too. From merely earning money in order to pay bills and buy food, the newly formed middle class, started aspiring for satisfaction from the work that they did. Working, then served two functions. One was to obviously sustain a living. The second was to earn a reputation from the  job which one was doing. In other words people wanted work satisfaction, as we commonly say today. This led the management to also alter their so called industrial relations function. The function was no longer about resolving labor conflicts. The function gradually became more about whom to take and whom not to. Organizations started formulating strategies which could help their employees feel satisfied at their workplace. Slowly the term industrial relations was replaced with the term human resource management.

Fast forward another 15 years. Since the last decade or so, people have started viewing their organization as their identity. People today believe that the organization where they work in, is a reflection of their personality. India now is a leader in the service sector front in Asia. Competitions in the sector has increased so much that people don’t think much before deciding to quit their current lucrative jobs and switching to another. Hence, India's attrition rate in the organized sector in the year 2012 was around 26%, which meant that one out of every four Indians decided to change their job in that year. Thus has begun the challenge for organizations to hire and simultaneously retain the talent pool they develop.

The picture as it stands today…

A survey was conducted by IBM in 2012. The survey included only CEO's of companies across different organizations throughout the world. Around 1700 were interview across 63 countries and asked what are the 3 most important parameters which are going to be the primary focus of most organizations in the near future. The result: More than 71% CEO's rated utilization of their human capital as the most important factor for achieving sustainable growth and maintaining their competitiveness in the long run, ahead of product innovation and customer relationship management.

The survey very much gives us a hint towards the growing importance of leveraging human capital in organizations. And why not? Every organization today formulates strategies keeping the future in mind. But in order to understand and implement those strategies in the future every organization would need the right set of people. The survey conducted by IBM, has given us every reason to believe that in order to achieve sustainable growth and maintain competitiveness, it is very important to choose first the right set of people. In the face of growing attrition rate across companies it is a challenge for the HR managers to develop ways of retention. Then comes development of the workforce and engagement. Finally, opening up the scope for innovation is as important as selection, retention and engagement.

From my short stint in the IT sector, I have observed that most of us do not feel ourselves aligned with the visions of the organizations where we work in. The organization believes in a set of values and sees for itself a vision which is sometimes altogether different from the employees' ambition and vision. Thus, there is this problem of inclusion which is ubiquitous in many organizations. To avoid this, HR managers should try to understand the ambition, expectations and attitude of a prospective employee and not only look at their grades and/or their prior experience before hiring. In the near future it might be all about getting the right set of people to do the right set of things and not just allow anyone to come through the door. It is therefore important for the HR managers to have constant talks with the employees starting from the base level. HR managers should always try to understand the goals and aspirations of the employees and align that with those of the organization. Only then, would there be a happy and content workplace. This would also be the first step towards retention.

It is imperative that the HR managers understand that they are the bridge between the top management and the base level employees. As such HR managers should have the capability to communicate up and down the line of hierarchy and not only with their bosses. Employees who are powerless in the system should feel free to go upto their HR managers and speak openly about any issues , personal or career. For this to happen, HR managers should have the credibility so that people are not afraid to approach them. If they don't, then retention would always be a problem. If there is high attrition, naturally development and engagement is difficult to create.

My second observation was that I saw employees around me sticking to their directed roles and responsibilities only, even though there was scope of learning by voluntarily helping peers and/or asking for different roles within the project/organization. This according to me a serious impediment towards innovation and development. The HR managers should reach out to every employee and make sure that innovation within the organization is always encouraged. Employees should be encouraged to move out of their comfort zone and work in different roles so as to gain maximum out of the organization.

Lastly, in the era of IT revolution, HR managers and strategists can make use of information technology to harness the right potential. Question is, can information technology play any role in increasing productivity of the human capital? The answer is, yes. Information in the form of unstructured data is omnipresent among social media, journals, emails, etc. Workforce Analytics will help in getting valuable information about people which can help HR managers in finding the right set of people and train them.

Finally I wish to end saying, human capital is the most invaluable resource which an organization has today. The HR managers and the strategists have to develop ways for finding the right people first, and then ensure ways of retention, development, engagement and innovation. All these would then help to create a culture within the organization. That culture in turn would promote the capabilities of the people working in the organization. Only with an increase in capability would productivity increase.

Yours truly,

Koustav

An Excerpt of my 'CAT' experience

Finally it's over.[though the words of one our faculty that the game is not over till the last ball is played, still linger in my mind].The much awaited day, the mother of all competitive exams, 'The Cat', has finally ended.Nothing can change now.No matter how much I pray, how much I think about it, deep inside only I know that my fate is sealed. Only thing which can perhaps with God almighty's grace change is me and my family's fortunes. 


          I am not going to write an essay on my experiences of perhaps what might turn out to be the most happening day of my life. No. But I have to tell you, my heart was beating at a rate like never before!!.


          As the check-in procedure continued so did my adrenalin!. 'Tense' would not be germane to describe my mental state. To the contrary,I was somehow extremely charged and excited. I remember trying my best not to let the momentous occassion weigh upon me.The air-conditioned atmosphere, the biometric-testing, the strictness of the prometric and other administrative guys and finally the hour long wait before the computer screen did not perturb me.May be because for the first time before an exam of such magnitude I did'nt feel the pressure of expectation, the pressure of performing and delivering the best. May be because for the first time I had thoroughly enjoyed my preparation and was really not so bothered about its outcome.


         Amazing what pressure does. I had faced similar situations back in class 12, during those dreaded IIT, AIEEE, and JEE days.Looking at those anxious ever-expecting  faces of my parents then, I wished, if only I could bring an ever-lasting smile on their faces. This time though it was different. Mom was calm and relaxed as she could possibly never be!!.She didnt enchant those blessings with anxiety anymore. Believe me, this was the most relaxing factor of all. Yet, this also made me realise the somewhat ugly truth that I have grown up, that my parents are not going to always egg me on to study and make a name for myself, that I was on my own from now..........




Yours truly,
Koustav.

For Guys who feel shy to propose.......

Of late I have been much intrigued by the changes in the behavioural patterns of girls and boys of my age. No, I wont be getting into the 'girls of today Vs boys of today' debate, neither will I engage myself into the polemic of 'the changing face of women shrouded in a male dominated society'. No. This article isn't about that. As I pen down this article (which has intrigued me a lot for months now) I already take into assumption that girls have changed, and the change has been towards the good. From the girls of yester years who had been subjugated for eons,till today,girls have come a long way in changing their role in the development of the modern world.I have felt this change vicariously. On the other hand, what I have also felt is the radical change in the nature of boys. I say this(and with authority) that no longer are boys dreaming of dominating girls. But unfortunately, people don't care to ruminate upon this.What they only talk is about how women have broken their bondage and set themselves free, etc. But one thing is for sure.Women do owe their freedom partly to men. If it had not been for men sharing that extra space with women, it would not have been possible for women to enjoy the liberty they are enjoying today.(no,this is not a male chauvinistic comment)

But, in the face of all these changes one thing has remained unchanged.Girls still prefer to keep mum when it comes to expressing her feelings first... I fail to understand this, but whenever talks of love and romanticism creeps into a relationship the modernity of girls seem to fade into oblivion.They suddenly become shrouded in a cloud of shyness. They are then ready to wait for the boy to take the initiative...Why should it be so always?

I understand some of the inhibiting factors responsible for a girl's introvertism in expressing her feelings.A number of inconceivable flirts and dallys are but a big reason behind this.This is more so in the so called BIG CITIES.A certain category of guys do not seem to pause and think even for a moment before expressing their amorous sentiments vocally.Moreover, they do so to any good looking girl they find at every bend of their life.Consideration of factors like suitability, bonding in the long run, nature & habits simply do not seem to contribute anything to the rationale behind a proposal.Some simply love to compare this 'proposing game' to a mathematical "HIT & TRIAL" method. This HIT & TRIAL even if successful, tantamounts to meretricious relationships eventually leading to break-ups. Notingly, these category of people simply move in and out of relationships without any glitches.All this has created nothing but a confusion, in the minds of girls. As a result most have stopped taking proposals seriously.

Agreed. Everything said and done one thing that vexes me most is why do girls treat every guy as if they belong to the same league of the dallys. Forming a biased opinion based on what a few rich spoiled brats do, is totally wrong. I mean there are boys who still feel shy to express their sentiments to a girl.It is the fear of being rejected that haunts them.My question is why should it always be the guys who have to carry that bit of fear.

In this age of equality, its my clarion call to all the girls please do not hesitate to take the initiative. Otherwise you may end up waiting a bit too long.

Sorry et al.....

Upon requests here I am back again.I was recently asked, why do I post so less frequently.[My last post being in february]. Well, there are two reasons basically. First, the past few months were very hectic to be honest. From on-campus interviews to what not. Second, I  felt a dearth of issues which would really goad me too write.Yes, may be there was some urge to write after the world cup. But then again it didnt quite evoke much sentiments. 

Now that I have finished with the campus interviews(and thankfully placed somewhere!!) there's CAT 2011 to cosset. I know this year's already a lost battle but still I sincerely hope to put in some effort once the pujas are over. But unfortunately, the sad part is after the cat on the 4th of november there will be those dreaded awful engineering semesters to deal with.But I assure you I shall be a regular from december, happily posting some more controversial issues for you to ruminate upon. Till then, wish you all a very happy PUJA, enjoy this puja to the fullest, coz you never know 'kal ho na ho'.......


Love,
Koustav

ILLNESS is in the MIND (Part 1)

'Our brain composed of both the Conscious as well as the Subconscious mind controls all our actions. The Conscious part being responsible for all our voluntary actions, and the Subconscious, all our involuntary actions'  - I read this way back in 2003 I guess when I was in standard \/||| in one of my school textbooks. Little did I understand then though as to what is actually meant by subconscious mind ,etc.(yet I did manage to get 90% in that subject..I guess a very simple formula existed then, where your perception fails, cramming begins!) The text went on to describe each scientific term citing examples from our daily life. Though I was'nt  clueless  at the end of the chapter yet my so called thinking self constantly nagged me asking, 'you have completed the chapter but, do you really know what is meant by the term Subconscious mind?' Answer from me - NO.

       

       Fast forward to 2010...I have crossed my teenage and my once frayed teenaged nerves are now non-chalant. During this leap of 7 years I have met people of varied ages. I have had the liberty to experience not only my own experiences but also many vicarious ones. Now, it would be fair to say that  I have been successfully able to delve into the subliminal truth of that text to a large extent. I guess almost all of you are sure of what is meant by 'conscious mind' and voluntary actions. Its the term 'subconscious' that is a bit recondite and esoteric. So let me share my perception (blog soubriquet truly justified, I hope.) of the Subconscious mind.

          [P.S- Neither am I Sigmund Freud, nor do I possess his bloody veins running in my body. If you are an ardent follower of him, then I request you to stop reading at once, and get back to those moronic social networking sites.]

       The subconscious mind actually acts as a stack of all our experiences gained at different junctures of our daily life. It acts just like a lexicon. Though biologically there is no material substance filling this part of our brain, yet it does exist and keeps a track of all our experiences and orders instructions accordingly and sub-consciously, which is why it is so named. This ordering of instructions subconsciously is of prime importance to us.The Subconscious mind pops out a particular experience from the stack, draws an assumption relating to the actual scanario at hand, derives a relation between the present and the experience, and orders instructions accordingly.  All too arcane??  Let me give you an example.

         We generally pay very careful attention while locking our doors when leaving our house. Right from selecting the proper key to bolting the door carefully and then placing the lock at the appropriate place, our conscious mind plays an important role. But it often happens,(atleast it has happened with me on several occasions) that after locking the door when we have already left our house suddenly an alarm bell rings in our conscious mind, asking us and subsequently puzzling us with questions like, 'did we lock the door properly? or did we lock it at all?'. Without any ado we rush back to check, only to find everything's fine.

       Now let's analyze. First and foremost the very obvious fact is while we were locking the door our conscious mind had been dozing, because if we were conscious while locking and since the task requires some amount of precision this whole scenario wouldnt have arised. Now the question is if our conscious mind didnt instruct our hands and fingers to act accordingly, then who did? The answer is its the Subconscious mind that did. The next question which arises is HOW? The answer is pretty simple. Our Subconscious mind had  added the experience of locking a door(taking into account all the minutiae of details), gained sometime back, into its stack. Now when it realizes that the conscious mind is unconscious, it pops out the experience of locking, relates it to the present situation and automatically instructs our hands and fingers to act, all sub- consciously, that too with near 100% accuracy. What's the conclusion to be drawn here? Its the Subconscious mind that takes control of our actions when our conscious mind actually becomes unconscious temporarily. But that in no way implies that our subconscious mind becomes active only when our conscious mind becomes unconscious. Actually our Subconscious self remains active all the time. Whatever we feel, think, see everything counts as experience and gets stacked into our subconscious self.

To be continued.......