Super 30, and the Indian dream

There is no denying that education is an important and un-avoidable part of modern, human society. It is a human right, and access to education is essential for emancipation.

I recently came across a series of video documentaries on Super- 30, and education movement spearheaded by a certain Anand Kumar, who has helped thousands of Indian students change their lives. In order to do this, he has set his sights on the IITs, the highest institutions offering engineering education in India, and runs coaching centres to coach high school students to 'game' the IIT test system. Students who are able to 'crack' these tests get to join India's premium engineering colleges, paving their way to a well-paid job, and successful lives afterwards. Instead of being overambitious and enrolling as many students as he can, Anand had decided on training 30, and only 30 students any given year. These would be the smartest, brightest and most hardworking students from those who apply for his unique course. Hence the term: Super 30.

The first of the documentaries was filmed 10 years ago and uploaded in 2008. Al Jazeera, tracked and followed the daily lives of around 5 of the super-30 students, and vigorously documented the lives of everyone involved. Not only the students and their teacher, but also friends and family of the students, and even the local police officers. The life of the students and their teacher is clearly shown to be in ruins, Anand gives his daily maths class in something that looks like a remnant of a workshop, and the 30 lucky chosen are given special coaching in a similar, separate enclosure. The parents are farmers, daily wage labourers, or stay at home housewives. Their surroundings may be dim, but there is optimism in the air. There have been no engineers or doctors in their families so far, and everyone has placed their hopes on the one child who has been chosen into the Super-30.

The students give the test, the results are announced. 29 of the 30 clear the entrance to IITs across India.

Fast forward 10 years now. The second documentary tracks three of the students who were documented earlier, to try and chart their success and live afterwards. It is mind-blowing.

Not only are they all living better lives, they only have a faint resemblance to their former selves. They are healthier, wealthier , and wise.

One of them, Raju, the son of a farmer, is now a software engineer living and working in the tech city of India, Bengaluru. Working for the offices of an American automobile company at the time of the documentary, he now speaks English fluently (all the boys spoke only hindi in the earlier videos), and travels abroad for work. He himself seems surprised on how the education he received changed his fortunes.

Alok, son of a labourer, is now working as an electrical engineer in the nation's powergrid. He could not get into IIT, but wisely picked up a course from NIT. He had to move out of his hometown , as local goons began extorting money from his family, as the son had become and engineer.

Jyotish, another one of the students, is doing well, but in a different direction. He dropped out of IIT, and found his calling in Economics, where he has a PhD. He now teaches , and is happy and content to be contributing to his people and country.

But no one changed their lives around as much as Pranav Prince, who now works full time abroad as a; wait for it..; management consultant ! In the first videos 10 years ago, Pranav was the brightest of the 30, and had scored highest. He said his dream was to become a scientist, and open a research centre in India, on par with NASA. That could have been the naïve child in him talking, because he has now thrown research out of the window, having discovered the perennial money spinner that is blue-chip management. He had caused quite a scandal to Anand 10 years ago, when he attributed his success to the coaching of a rival institute, and almost shutdown the super-30 program.

Access to the nation's highest engineering program changed these lives. Hundreds of thousands of youngsters have a similar story to tell, and many more are still being written. It is an empowering story of how sheer determination, and perseverance can positively affect one's future. My own story is similar, though I never even tried to get into IIT.

The IITs of India today produce the world's top engineers, who then go on to work of multinational companies around the world, though that was not why the IITs were setup in the first place. They were created to produce engineers for the nation, who would help develop India' future. A lofty ,well intended goal. It’s a shame that most students who get enrolled there do not share that vision.

Nevertheless, this story proves that education is possibly the only path to better futures, and permanent emancipation. And that is the Indian dream.

Virus - 2019 Malayalam movie

Working in healthcare is not easy. Healthcare profesisonals have always surprised me, and some of those moments have been the closest I have been to real 'miracle workers'. These folks, the work they do, actually saves lives. Working in healthcare is to dedicate one's life to a lifetime of service to others. And there will be days that service could be a personal sacrifice to the caregiver. There have been numerous stories , movies and tales of the heroism shown by doctors , nurses and paramedical officers.

Malayalam movie too finally got a movie which told a story of heroism. The movie is called Virus (2019), and it describes the events of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, India. Although the event itself got wide media coverage in India and abroad, a detailed telling of the actual events has been missing till date. Here, one can finally get to see a near-reality replay of the events.

First of all, a fantastic cast. One of those rare Malayalam movies which has starpower, but no overbearing superstar syndrome. Spot on casting, every actor is apt for their characters. Every characther in the movie is based on on or more real life persons. Second, there is a hollywood like treatment to everything; the story, the cinematography, music, and dialogues. Edge of the seat tension grips the full movie, with a little bit of humour and hope sprinkled all over. The overall feeling is of optimism, and a call to come and work together in times of need.

The story picks up half way through the outbreak, and employs numerous flashbacks to connect the stories of all the characters involved. A fantastic approach, but I felt some flashbacks were not obvious; there were not enough pointers to convey the actual time of that story unfolding. Could have been a little more efficient. But the highlight is when the healthworkers come together to build the full chain of events , linking all of the victims together, starting from patient 0, to everyone affected during the outbreak. They do this by interviewing all the survivors, bystanders , hospital staff and random villagers. They also go through hours of CCTV footage, and even look at their social media and phone usage !

It is good to see malayalam movies again exploring the genre of real-life events, and telling real stories, of real people, instead of fantasy. Expecting more to come, but it should not take a virus outbreak to inspire movie makers.

Virus is streaming on Amazon prime now. Go watch it, before it incubates.

Forrest Fenn's treasure

Its surprising what one can find online, when one has the time. I was ill for a day, and started going through youtube for things to keep my brain active. One thing lead to another, and I came across a video about Forrest Fenn's memoir and the treasure he has supposedly hidden in the rocky mountains of America. Also about the more than 350,000 people who have searched for the treasure so far, unsuccessfully.

I was hooked.

Now there is no way I could go up to those mountains in the US to look for the treasure, valued anywhere between 1 and 5 million USD. This story is remarkable in more than one way.

Forrest Fenn himself has an enviable career and past. He grew up near the mountains, and spent much of his childhood there, wandering the forests. He served in the air force, and travelled abroad on missions. Probably picked up some history while he was there. Retired, and became a collector, of all things, and setup an art gallery. How does one go from the airforce into art ? He earned his riches selling his art to Hollywood and the rich. There were cases registered against him for stolen art. He fought off cancer.

And he says his motive of hiding the treasure was to give people hope. And to get them outdoors, looking for the treasure.

Well, that definitely worked. Today, there are dozens of online groups and communities were enthusiasts meet and share information and their interpretation of the poem. What poem, you ask? Fenn left a poem in his memoir, which has 9 clues which leads to the exact spot the treasure is buried. The problem is, that poem itself can be interpreted in hundreds of ways, leading to thousands of spots across four states in the US. It all depends on one's local knowledge.

In the decade that followed his memoir, fans and treasure hunters have pestered and question him for more clues, a request he has till date denied. But he has maintained that all that one needs is the poem, a map, and a sandwich! Still, people go to great lengths to try and decipher the poem to some place off the beaten track.

Some people have already died.

While Fenn himself has accepted that a few have got to 200 feet of the treasure.

Its fun to see people using new gen technology, like google maps and google earth to chart hidden pathways. Then using weather and elevation maps to cross reference points. Everyone is disappointed when their predictions fail, but they return with renewed energy. Some have even spent tens of thousands of their own money to find the treasure. But they still persist.

It’s a story of sheer determination, of being outdoors, of trekking in the wild. Treasure hunting ! Without a map. Solving clues, deciphering maps. The stuff of kids movies.

The hunt is still on.

Dry Chennai

The trending news in my part of the news cycle is the utter shortage of water in Chennai city. People are struggling without potable water, private companies have asked employees to 'work from home', and clashes have erupted. The government does what it always does; it has gone into denial mode, asking people not to spread fake news, and asking temples to arrange for special prayers for rain.

Typical Chennai.

I should know, because I have lived in that hell hole for 3 years. Even 10 years ago, the sight of bright , colorful, plastic pots arranged in a line in front of public water taps was common sight. It rained only for a few weeks in a year, and people and places are not used to rains. The slightest rain would cause roads to flood up. But a few soon drying rivers supplied the city with much needed water. The apartments we lived in , on the east coast of the city, was too close to the beaches, so the ground water was brine. Undrinkable. Unfit for cooking, but maybe usable for some cleaning and washing. Fresh water

Uncontrolled population growth, and lack of planning has led to the water tables in the state further depleting. But this never stopped the uncontrolled 'development' in the city. Finally , after decades of negligance,  the city is now dry. Harsh reality.

In the past, the city used to fight for rubbishness like jallikuttu, and 'superstars' of movies, and even language.

But it is now a dry city.

India Isn't the Next China

 

 

Jet goes down

The trending news right now is: Jet Airways goes down. Its been on the news for a few months now, but no-one took it that seriously, I guess. Specially not the lenders. Now with billions disappeared, and thousands of jobs gone, neither the lenders nor the government has an idea of what to do next. And suddenly, everyone on the internet and on the ground is an expert. Doling out experiences and advice on how these billions can be recovered.

It reminds me of this article from years ago, when it was celebrated that Jet Airways had amassed half a million fans on Facebook. Alas, likes and fans couln't save the airline. Sort of how it is new when Indian movie trailers get millions of views and likes on youtube, and then the actual movie comes out and..tanks .

The only silver lining in all of this is that unlike Mallya, who absconded to the UK, Jet Airways founder Goyal did not just..fly away. He is still in the country and fighting it with the lenders.

This is just one more example of bad management. Companies go out of buisness all the time. Millions have and many more millions will. Employees and investors have to simply, move on.

So let's move on from this man-made disaster, and focus on more iimportant things.

Like the royal baby.

India in 2019, summarized

Over the years, I have seen all kinds of experts trying to summarize the political situation in India into a few minutes. And failed. This is a big year for India. And trying to explain it to an outsider is a futile attempt. Until I saw this.

33 Degrees at 6 AM

 

If there is still anyone asking for proof of global warming, they only need to wakeup, and wakeup here in Australia. It was 33 degrees today, at 6AM. Enough for most people to start sweating. And it only gets worse from here. The forecast maximum temperature is 42 degrees today. Yesterday Adelaide hit a max of 46 degrees,toppling a heat record from 1939 ! That's almost half boiling point.

In a way, this is expected. After all, it is summer here in this part of the equator. But these are also record temperatures, and signs of times to come. Experts warn these could be average, everyday temperatures in the next few decades. Time for climate change deniers to wake up and smell the smoke.

But despite the cloud and the heat, the air is still clean here. Nice , crystal clean pure oxygen. Mother nature is still alive and working hard here. Not many countries can say that.

So fellow Aussies, stay in ,stay covered. Drink lots of water, and go back home soon.

 

Telecom and Aviation in the limbo

 

Been reading a lot of news about how many telecom and aviation companies in India are all burning cash, and slowly heading towards ultimate shutdown.

The newly formed Vodafone-Idea is running out of Ideas to stay afloat, there are plans to disconnect numbers who do not recharge enough a month, and there are speculations, only speculations at this point, to charge customers for incoming calls ! Gives me the 90s vibe. During the late nineties and early 2000s, companies used to charge about 7 Rs/- a minute for incoming calls. It was Reliance who changed the game by launching their first telecom services , undercharging for services, and eventually forced the practise out of the industry.

And aviation, it seems is the other industry in a nosedive. A newly inaugurated and much hyped airport was promptly shutdown after two weeks, because the sole operator refused to ply. Companies are now charging more for online services. Some others are cancelling entire flights reportedly due to not having sufficient pilots. Owing to rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, the depreciating rupee and competitive ticket pricing, not a single airline in India is earning more than it is spending. The losses run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some frequent flyers are posting reasons online as to why they will stay with the failing company. It is not just Jet, Air India’s losses are mounting, market leader IndiGo has announced a loss for the first time since it took off in August 2006, SpiceJet is said to be looking for fresh investments to stay airborne. Some new airlines like Air Odisha (of Jharsuguda fame), Air Deccan and TruJet are not flying aircraft on several shorter routes as not operating is a more viable option than flying. In fact, had it not been for the recent fall in fuel prices and the rupee’s recovery, at least two airlines would have come to a grinding halt. They did not have enough cash to sustain themselves beyond a month.

Its surprising that despite all the opportunities in the market, these companies are always burning cash. Customers are simply not willing to pay. They can turn their fates around if they simply start charging more for their services, but then, in the world of social media, they also have to limit the memes coming their way.

 

 

India is truly shining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes from the past

 

Pictures from an exhibition arranged at VJT Hall in Trivandrum to mark the 82nd anniversary celebrations of the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936, which abolished the ban on 'lower castes' or avarnas from entering Hindu temples in Travancore.

There are accounts highlighting the extent of untouchability, caste discrimination, and restrictions on women a century ago. A few exhibits explain the specific distances which the members of various castes had to maintain between them. The brutal treatment meted out to workers from ‘lower castes’ and the ‘Villuvandi yatra’ of social reformer Ayyankali in claiming the right of way by defying conventions that applied to the ‘untouchables’ are explained. Besides explaining the circumstances that led to the proclamation, the expo also highlights Mahatma Gandhi’s last visit to Kerala to participate in the celebrations held at the present University College grounds in 1937 to mark the declaration.

 

Misrabhojanam (Panthibhojanam), held on May 30, 1917 by social reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan. Misrabhojanam was the first inter caste feast of Kerala. Prior to this, each caste had their stricter caste codes in food consumption and hence food was seen as a symbol of caste.

A school in Oorutambalam, Travancore was burned down in 1911 by Upper caste Hindus. Reason : School was polluted by the admission of a Dalit Child named Panchami.

 

In 1806, a group of 200 Avarna youth organized themselves to enter Vaikom Temple. The Travancore cavalry led by Kunju Kutti Pilla ruthlessly killed the 200 men & their bodies were thrown into the Kulam (pond) on the north eastern side of the temple compound.

Kallumala Samaram (Stone Necklace Protest) On December 21st 1915 at Kollam, women belonging to Pulaya (Dalit) community threw away the Kallumala (ornaments made out of stone & woods) and proclaimed that they will only use gold or metal ornaments under the leadership of Ayyankali.

Abolition of Thalayara (poll tax) and Valayara (net tax).

Mookkuthi Samaram Ezhava women were also disallowed from wearing the mookkuthi or nose-stud. In 1859, an Ezhava woman in Pandalam marked her protest by wearing a mookkuthi and she was beaten up. Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker supported the Ezhava women.

 

"What is your caste?" Kerala Kaumudi - Jan 1925. An Ezhava man was punished for entering a tea shop of an upper caste.

Here is the proclamation of 1865 banning slavery.

 

During Guruvayoor Satyagraha in September 1931, P Krishna Pillai became the first non-Brahmin to ring the sacred bell at the Guruvayoor temple ignoring the Guards of Zamorin. Guruvayoor Temple was closed for many days.

 

A temple that didn’t allow women Like Sabarimala, the Thiruvalla Shreevallaba temple did not allow women to enter the naalambalam. In 1841, when a woman entered the temple, rituals were conducted to “purify” it. It was in 1960 that women began coming to the naalambalam.

The Namboothiri Mana which denied Gandhiji and others entry as they were "impure of darshan of lowly people" is now a toddy workers'union office under the CITU.

 

 

From a Lunatic Asylum to Gods own country, Kerala's ride has been a tough one, where every section of the society has played a vital role.

100 years to the War

 

Today, November 11th 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice, of the great war. Of course, it was not called the ‘First’ World war, because the world never expected more of such a violent war.  Although fought by European powers, the war ended up changing the geo-political map of the whole world.

Even India had to send forces. Read about how Indian soldiers had to fight for a country that was not their own.

Vast numbers of Indians lost their lives in World War I, a war fought at an industrial scale of brutish intensity.

Letters written by Indian soldiers—some of which have fortunately survived in censor reports and have been admirably edited by the historian David Omissi—suggest that several motivations were at work. The material benefits of military service understandably played an important role. Joining the Indian army meant partaking of a well-established system of pay, perquisites and patronage. As former soldier Lehna Ram reminded his son Heta Ram, who was serving in France, “I served the state for 21 years and now receive a pension of `40 from the sirkar. I live in peace and comfort.” And the war effort led to an expansion of this system. “The sirkar has increased the rates both of pay and pension,” wrote Kala Khan to a kinsman in Punjab, “and at the same time has granted free rations.”

 

Above all, their encounters with Europe drove home to Indian sepoys the abject conditions prevailing in India. As one soldier wrote, “When one considers this country [Britain] and these people in comparison with our country and our own people, one cannot but be depressed. Our country is very poor and feeble and its lot is very depressed.” Another observed, in similar vein, “The Creator has shown the perfection of his beneficence in Europe, and we people [Indians] have been created only for the purpose of completing the totality of the world.”

After coming here I learnt of how Australia too was called to fight for the British side.  The first time I read about the world wars were in school, during the much hated ‘history’ classes. I failed to grasp the many reasons mentioned in our textbooks which led to the war, and I still don’t quite understand them. There is no justification for the deaths of millions who perished in the war. But yes, we can remember them. And learn from out mistakes.

 

What was India’s role in the Great War? As the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War approaches, we look at significant role played by British India. pic.twitter.com/o4IlhZO93r

— Asian Network on BBC Sounds (@bbcasiannetwork) November 6, 2018

 

 

Two is enough for this planet. Lets hope we don’t see a third.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world’s fastest growing economy has the world’s most toxic air

 

Not surprised.

 

 

What Young India wants: ‘Sarkari Naukri’

 

In one of the largest such exercises ever conducted in the world, millions of applicants are appearing this month for an online recruitment test conducted by the Indian Railways.

The Railways Recruitment Board (RRB) has received more than 24 million applications for roughly 120,000 vacancies in the organization. Most recruitment drives by government departments across the country generate similar enthusiasm among job seekers and it is quite common to find thousands of applicants, including PhDs and postgraduates, for low-end government job vacancies.

 

 

Data from the successive rounds of nationally representative youth surveys conducted by the Lokniti research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) shows that the attraction of a sarkari naukri(government job) has not shown any signs of declining over the past decade. In fact, the share of youth who prefer a government job has grown slightly to 65% in 2016.

The share of youth who prefer a private job has nearly halved to 7% between the two rounds of the survey conducted in 2007 and 2016. The share of those wanting to start their own enterprises has risen marginally to 19% over the same period.

The 2007 and 2016 surveys covered 5,513 and 6,122 individuals, respectively. We compare the responses of individuals in the age group of 15-34 years.

Rural and urban youth hardly differ when it comes to job preferences. But the share of youth in big cities who prefer a government job shows a sharp increase between 2007 and 2016.

The rising preference for government jobs in big cities could be driven by a search for stability as well as the declining income differential between the private and public sector, especially in entry-level jobs.

Big cities here include the 10 most populous cities of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat and Pune) spread across eight states and the most populous cities of 11 other states surveyed. Other cities have been classified as small cities in the analysis.

Among all groups, preference for government jobs is highest among the college-educated rural youth (82%). It is this segment that has also been at the forefront of recent agitations for extending reservation benefits to new groups. Urban youth who have studied beyond high school were relatively more likely to look beyond the public sector as compared with their rural counterparts.

Interestingly, there are no substantial differences in opinion based on economic class or social groups. For instance, 63% of respondents from poor households said they prefer government jobs while 65% from the upper middle class said so.

In the latest survey, respondents were also asked to choose between a permanent job with a relatively low salary, a job with like-minded co-workers, a well-earning job, or a job with high job satisfaction. A plurality of respondents (33%) chose job stability while high job satisfaction was the second most popular option. This explains why public sector employment remains so sought after among the youth. Almost half of the respondents who preferred governments also prioritized stability.

On the other hand, youngsters who preferred private sector jobs and self-employment mostly prioritized either job satisfaction or good income.

The sentiment on job creation has been the Achilles’ heel of the Narendra Modi government and it continues to remain tepid. In the successive rounds of the Mood of the Nation surveys conducted by Lokniti-CSDS over the past year, it has consistently emerged as one of the most important issues for the public.

Providing permanent government jobs is an even bigger challenge given that public employment has been shrinking in post-liberalization India.

The pre-liberalization wish of liberalization’s children will not be easy to fulfil.

 

India's health-cover problem

 

The Indian government has just launched its much anticipated heathcare scheme :Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). Maybe they got the idea from the US, where the debate around a government funded/susbsidized public healthcare system has been going on for decades, leading up the current right-wing government cancelling the Affordable Care Act. One of the reasons why half of the US, thats the republicans, was against it was because there was no clear mention of how such a large program would be funded. They were clearly against the idea of funding the programme from taxes of the rich, inorder to pay for the health of the poor. The US remains the only OECD country which does not have universal healthcare, while even developing countries like Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka have UHC.

 

And so the idea of the world's largest democracy too achieving this goal of UHC is being beaten out of proportion. This is going to be the incumbent government's flagship contribution, if one slyly omits the demonitization fiasco. But the fact remains, not everyone is going to benefit from it. And no-one is questioning how such a programme will be funded.

The governmen says 50 crore individuals will benefit from it. Ok. As of now, the total population of India is 1,354,051,854. Thats 135 crore. 50 crore  of that rounds down to 37% of the population. Just about a third of the burgeoning population. And if one looks at the eligibility criteria, that is only the poorest of the poor of the society stands to be eligible. For the urban areas, they actually mention eligible occupations as rag pickers and beggars among others ! So clearyly, this is not a 'universal' program, and instead aims to provide a minimum for the section of the society that needs healthcare the most.

But the even more murky area is regarding how they plan to fund this. Healthcare in India is not cheap. Even with all the copy-cat medications and unlicensed drugs and doctors, quality healthcare still works out to be expensive. Combined with malnutrition, India is facing direct threats on two fronts – infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, H1N1 and drug-resistant TB and the emergence of non-communicable ‘lifestyle’ diseases like heart ailments, diabetes and cancer.This has put the country’s arbitrarily distributed healthcare sector under pressure. It’s exacerbated by the fact that out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare drove 55 million people in poverty in 2017. 

It may be recalled that PMJAY is one of the two components of Ayushman Bharat, the Modi government’s flagship health initiative. The other component is the creation of 1,50,000 “health and wellness centres”. The finance minister allocated Rs 1,200 crore for these centres in 2018-19. That comes to Rs 80,000 per centre. Essentially, it is just a new coat of paint for the old primary health centres, which are being renamed for the occasion.

At the moment, the fund allocated is 2000 crore, to cover 50 crore Indians. That works down to 40 rupees per  person for the whole year. According to recent media reports, NITI Aayog experts anticipate the annual PMJAY budget to rise to Rs 10,000 crore or so in the next few years, or something in that range. But Rs 10,000 crore (more than five times the current PMJAY budget) is still chickenfeed for the purpose of providing health insurance to 10 crore families. It comes to Rs 1,000 per family, or Rs 200 per person. For the whole year.

How would you feel if you were told you that your budget for health care this year is Rs 200? An illusion has been created that putting this money in an insurance premium has some sort of multiplier effect. This is not the case at all. Insurance can help to redistribute health expenditure towards those who need it most, but it cannot turn Rs 200 into more. If the government spends only Rs 200 per person on health insurance, that’s the amount of health care an average person gets.

True Universal Healthcare in India is still a long time away. Maybe this election gimmick is one step in that long-term direction.

India’s middle class has no spare money to spend

I love reading the economist, when I get the time, that is. Too bad they don’t cover India very often. But when they do publish something, they offer a new perspective to look at things. An outsider’s prespective. So I was a little surprised when they published not one, but two different articles about the Indian economy in January this year. Revealing and thought provoking, the articles where like migthy sucker punches. What was even more hilarious was the war-of-dumb-words going on in the comments section of both those articles. Patriotic Indians debating both sides by offering proof citing other media articles. I resisted the temptation to join the cockfight. Pretty hard to do when the articles were spot on.Before we proceed, please read these articles on how the magazine works internationally, and why their writers are anonymous.The two new articles about India basically say that the Indian middle class has no spare money to spend on world-class luxuries, as they are getting poorer and poorer. And the whole idea that India is the fastest growing economy and the next place for international brands to set shop is a sham. Something I had long suspected. Most international brands like Apple , Amazon and Google have already learnt this truth, and others are catching on. The articles then go to explain as to how this happened and why the trend still continues.
Why is the middle class of the economy important ? These would be the people whose income is increasing and are more likely to purchase more products and services, specially from new gen companies , probably international markets. The upper class can be considered saturated, they might have already purchased luxuries. And the lower class, well, they can’t be sold.Go over to wikipedia’s article and sort the list of countries according to income classes. India has the lowest percentage of middle and upper class.Other points which stood out.
Ouch !The truth can be distilled out easily, even after becoming the world’s fastest growing economy, Indians do not have the purchasing power that their counterparts in other developing or developed countries have. Indians are spending, but they only buy the cheapest options in every category. Not because they are saving the rest, but because that is all that they can afford. Indian customers buy the cheapest chines manufactured phones and tvs, instead of those fancy western brands. They buy made in India apparel and eat at low cost restuarants, instead of shopping from international brands and eating at international fast food chains. If a middle class family’s bread earner gets a promotion or comes to any extra wealth, they would rather invest that money in better healthcare or save it in a long term account , instead of purchasing non-essentials for the family. They see every expenditure as a liability, and every opportunity to save as a chance to grow. This is not the kind of market which would upgrade their smartphones every few months, or would eat at a five star restuarant to celebrate occasions.But we have known this for years. This is the very defnition of the Indian middle class. Spend only on needs, not on greeds.Some other eye openers: Apple made 0.7% of its global revenues in India in the year to March 2017.Facebook, though it has 241m users in India, probably the most in the world in one country, registered revenues of just $51m in the same period.Google is growing more slowly in India than in the rest of the world.Despite two decades of investment McDonald’s has hardly any more joints in India than in Poland or Taiwan.Starbucks says it has big plans for India but has opened about one new coffee shop a month over the past two years, bringing its total to around 100—on a par with Utah or the United Arab Emirates. A new Starbucks opens in China every 15 hours, adding to 3,000 already operating.Inditex, Zara’s parent firm, has 46 clothes shops in India, fewer than in Ireland, Lithuania or Kazakhstan.Hindustan Unilever, which purveys sachets of shampoo for just a few rupees, has seen virtually no sales growth in dollar terms since 2012.Even after years of enticing customers with heavily discounted wares, perhaps 50m online shoppers are active in India—roughly, the richest 5-10% of the population.India is now the fourth largest auto market, having overtaken Germany, but 80% of those sales was to Indian company Maruthi, which makes the cheapest, or most affordable vehicles in the country. So in terms of money, this is still among the cheapest markets.  International brands have not succeeded in India.Even for someone in the top 10% of Indian earners, an annual Netflix subscription can cost over a week’s income.Apple ads may plaster Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, but for only one in ten Indians would the latest iPhone represent less than half a year’s salary.On and on..The reason for this downward spiral are many. First is the bureacracy. Or should I say bureacrazy.Another is the informal industry. 93% of Indians work in the informal sector, earning less than 10 dollars a day.Then there is the education, or lack of.
So, whats the takeaway. The illusion is wearing off. Soon international brands will realize that the only way they can cater to this dissiappearing market is to offer localized, cheaper and affordable options. They may get the market in term of units sold.But not for value earned.x
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Nature’s fury continues

 

 

 

 

 

Whats outrageous is that idiots at the MET department still insist on calling these ‘pre-monsoon’ showers !

People vs Facebook

 

First there was fake news on facebook. Now there is bad news. The fact that the tirade agains facebook has been trending for weeks now is sheer irony. Educated, literate, smart, intelligent facebook users just woke up theo the fact that everything they shared on the social media site was shared with countless companies without their ‘consent’ or knowledge. Bah, humbug !

Look at all the articles popping up on and around this topic. Each word in this last sentence points to a new, trending article.

All of these people blaming facebook still do not realize that the ultimate fault lies with they themselves. How can these people be so naive ? Facebook was always sharing user data, this was known for at least a decade now. That was their business model all the way. That one sentence on their banner “It's free and always will be.”, should have looked creepy, but people embraced it. The thought of a free for life service to manage your social life was too good to be true.

And so the revolt against one of the big-tech continues now, spilling over to India’s already  complicated political battlefield.

I have never been on facebook. Everytime I move jobs, or make new friends, one of the first questions people ask me is ‘what is your facebook id ?’. And everytime I say I am NOT on the network, I get this puzzled look. At work, in any social gathering, once even on a train. They find it uneasy that can stay away from this ponzi scheme of data.

I have always been wary of sharing personal information on the internet. Because I spend so much of my time building internet and integration applications, I know how unsecure the whole system is. I am also wary that I am sharing a tonne of information on google, but I am already dependent on them. The least I could do is to stay away from other networks. Everytime I have thought of getting on facebook, I read another article about a privacy breakdown, or data leak. Not being on the network meant sometimes I missed out on some friends and events, mostly in personal life. The upside was that I could sleep peacefully knowing that nobody knows my first pet’s name, or the name of my first school. (Back in 2005, a celebrity’s account was hacked because she shared too much information the wrong way.)

 

So, what next ? The problem with leaving facebook is that people still like facebook. And so people will still stay. We also have a short attention span, so everything will be forgotten. Facebook will get back its billions, and will also get a billion more users. And all will be fine …until the next bad news.

Poor Chidu’s airport coffee

 

Woke up to this absurd trending news on Indian media. This is what happened.

 

It seems former finance minister P Chidambaram was ‘horrified’ when asked to pay 135 rs for a cup of tea-bag tea. The irony here is the fact that this guy was finance minister for more than 10 years, and he never once questioned or was aware of the over-inflation at Indian airports. Clearly, he has never paid for something like this from his own pocket the entire time he was in government.

This begs the question, if the finance minister was not aware of this, what else was the government sleeping on ? Everything is expensive on the air side of Indian airports. I have seen even foreigners refusing to pay the exhorbitant price and walking away. I have also seen business travellers asking for a receipt for the meal, obvioulsy to claim it back from their employers.

Its a different story outside India. Here in Australia, there is a range of restuarants and snack counters on the airside of the airport, and nothing is priced more than what they charge on the streets. It is simply cheaper to eat at the airport, than to buy food on the plane.

Anyway, he asked for twitter’s response. He got more than he asked for.

This is Weird

 

Good show

 

Good show, India. Nice going at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Our school children will have no problems if these questions are asked to them.

By the way, do you know who was the first Indian at the Winter Olympics ? It was Jeremy Bujakowski.