RBI Rate Cut, Will Indians Spend Their Festive Bonuses?

The most of the Indian newspapers went gaga on September 30, 2015 over India’s Central Bank –Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cutting the benchmark repurchase rate by 50 basis point to four and half year low of 6.75 per cent?  The Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks. The Times of India, India’s largest circulated daily came out James-Bond style headline quoting the RBI Governor “MY NAME IS RAGHURAM RAJAN AND I DO WHAT I DO”.  Compare this with a business daily which said “Raghuram Rajan Does” while another screamed “Rajan goes for big-bang cut”.  Many others tried to be as dramatic as possible.

So what is the significance of these positive jibes to people at large?   Why so much is made out of RBI’s decision to cut the benchmark repurchase rate? Has the best time (Ache Din) really arrived for India and the country is all poised to leap-frog? Is India going to over-take China not on population but on the business and economy fronts? Is 21 century going to be India’s as made out to be although 15 precious years are already lost?

But all experts seem to send the common message. The year-end  bonus or the corporate gift which most of the Indians are looking forward to in the coming festive season  must now be spent (in case they get one)  on overpriced white goods (even if prices get reduced as a token of gesture to Mr Rajan), new two-wheelers, cars and what not. Better still if they can invest in one of the highly priced mediocre apartments since the borrowing cost has reduced “substantially”.  Never mind if some of these apartments are costlier than in Singapore or in Dubai or quality is the last thing the buyers get.  The customers must take in stride the over-promises the builders make on amenities like water, roads, electricity and connectivity.

The message is be sympathetic to the real estate players who have shown remarkable resilience by "holding on" though inventories piled up in last two or three years.  Indian builders and real estate agents are lucky that RBI has now come to their rescue. As a consequence,  the general people must now be prepared to get smses, emails and social media messages that would urge them to spend their life-time savings for a better life (of builders).  It is really now up to all aspiring citizens, the home seekers in particular, to bail-out industrialists, travel agents, builders and others struggling to sell their products despite all the marketing gimmicks!

All said and done, there is little doubt that the rate-cut is welcome but can help the economy only to an extent and the rest depends on many other factors including the global situation. The real challenge for the common man is not to fall prey to all these exaggerated predictions of boom times ahead.  But will he or she see through the maddening headlines?

Views expressed are personal. 

Also see:

http://www.arabnews.com/economy/news/814181

Jeff Bezos (Amazon V/S New York Times)

It is nice to know that Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, has swiftly sought to reject claims that the company he founded is a "bruising workplace”. He has written an Email to the employees, pacifying them and even rebutting the New York Times article which rudely describes Amazon as inhuman place to work. I have been dealing with media for the last 25 years and can understand his anguish when such reports get published. At times, I too feel in democratic countries such as USA and India some writers or journalists tend to be highly irresponsible. In India, they can get away easily simply because companies and individuals find it difficult go through the legal system which takes its own time. It takes years to get the judgement in cases such as defamation, slander or contempt of court. But I believe, the US legal system is robust and Amazon has an option to evaluate legal course of action if it really feels hurt. It is up to Jeff Bezos on how to take it further or call it off with his letter to employees.

It is my feeling that the big companies such as Amazon which provide fantastic careers to people across the world must be much better place than the one described in the article. I can’t directly comment on the article which describes the Amazon “I don’t know from inside” and say that everything written is wrong.  However, I appreciate the gesture of encouraging the employees to read and share their feeling directly with the Chief Executive.

Nice way to go Jeff!

 NYT Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html 

The umpire’s call

My favourite umpire is a dead one, said a veteran sportsman when asked to name the best umpire of his time. At times, fans too vent their anger at umpires when decisions go against their team. Often people think that only players have the central role in the game, forgetting that it is the umpire who controls the proceedings “It is a hot-seat. It is challenging and one must have passion for the role,” says Nandan, a Bengaluru-based umpire, who recently officiated in English county cricket.

“It is not just about raising the dreaded index finger, umpiring means shouldering huge responsibility towards players, the cricket boards and all those who watch the game. Above all, the umpires have the responsibility of ensuring that the game is played in the right spirit,” he contends.

Nandan, who works as Senior Manager with HAL’s Aircraft Division in Bengaluru, is an engineer from the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE). With excellent academic grooming – he stood ninth in Karnataka at the 10th Board exams – family and friends expected him to flourish in studies. However, his obsession with cricket changed his life when he got selected to represent Karnataka at the age of 19 as a wicket-keeper and opening batsman.

He got his chances and played the semi-final against Delhi in a short cricketing career. He was in the famous Karnataka squad captained by Brijesh Patel that defeated the mighty Bombay in the 1983 Ranji final. He accepts that it was never easy to play under the shadow of flamboyant players such as Sadanand Vishwanath who was the main keeper and the opening batsman for the State. “I had limited opportunities but that’s how the game and the luck goes”, he feels.

Nandan also captained Bangalore University and South zone universities and played for the HAL cricket team for 14 years after joining HAL in 1986 as a sportsman. He took up to cricket umpiring in 1995 and qualified for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) panel in 1997 and further made it to the All India panel of umpires in 2005-06. “When it comes to umpiring, the decision making is important. One has to be mentally strong and be prepared to deal with conflicting situations.” he says.

Nandan officiated in the One-day women’s international match between New Zealand and India in 2004. He has been officiating in IPL editions . In February 2015, he stood in first class games in South Africa. He was a TV umpire at the 2014 Asia Cup held in Bangladesh. “We are proud that he is the only Ranji Trophy BCCI panel umpire from HAL,” says T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL.

Is it important to have cricket experience to be a good umpire? “Not really. Having played the game it does help. But umpiring gives different perspective. It is about understanding the laws of the game and technique of umpiring. As an umpire one has to keep oneself up-to-date with changing laws and playing conditions. You have only a split second to decide and you must be correct all the time,” he contends.

Talking about age, Nandan says: “I am 51 now and usually we can carry on till 60 provided we keep ourselves fit and have excellent eye sight.”

(Above: Nandan seen with Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena)

Can he make it to the top league of international umpires? “I keep my fingers crossed because there is so much competition. Whatever happens, I would always be happy to accept this unique challenge of managing the game of cricket,” he says.

The BCCI also made good use of Nandan’s excellent engineering background by asking him to serve the Indian cricket team as a computer analyst to support John Wright during his tenure as India coach.

“I had to be on my toes as Wright would demand all kinds of data and the numbers on the performance of the players immediately after the match. It could be number of good length balls bowled by a particular bowler or balls left alone by the batsman. I am thankful to Wright that he acknowledges my contribution in his book,” says Nandan.

Article was also published in The Hindu, August 10, 2015.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/the-umpires-call/article7516390.ece

Let Us Welcome CBSE’s Moderate Stance

Let Us Welcome CBSE’s Moderate Stance

  

It is a welcome step that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has promised to "protect interests of the students" who had suffered due to the unusual difficulty level of the Class XII mathematics that concluded recently. Although there is no official confirmation yet, already some newspapers have quoted CBSE sources that there would be moderation in evaluation besides considering marks wherever the printing errors happened. The maths question paper was regarded as toughest by many experts and scores of students and teachers had complained to the CBSE.  The issue even came up for discussion in Parliament and the human resource development ministry had asked CBSE to address the grievances.

All this should be seen against the background that in India the 12^th Board examination is regarded as “the mother of all examinations”. It seems this year it struck a fear in millions of students and the parents from India, Saudi Arabia (it has largest Indian school in the world), the rest of the Gulf and Singapore where expat population has access to CBSE education. Some of the students were so shocked mentally that they were not willing to take their next examination.  For instance at the Examination Centre in Indira Nagar, Bangalore which I visited the common outburst was “Our dream is shattered”.

Questions were completely different from the past CBSE papers. What is worse the schools and students were not sounded about all this in advance.  The mathematics nightmare came just days after the tough physics paper. The students in general were wondering about their future prospect since the admissions to professional course largely depend on the marks they score in physics and mathematics.   

So what went wrong? Apparently the CBSE wanted a big change by stressing on application and skill based evaluation. Most of the questions were not from the books or the syllabus although they could be linked to the syllabus “somehow” to justify the high handedness. The over-zealous paper setters propped up questions which were way over the normal intelligence level. Some students even compared it to the standards of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) which general students could not have handled. IIT preparation and coaching is different ball-game and not all students can afford or have the capacity.  The application based questions make it harder for the students to score although this seems ideal for testing one’s calibre.  But again the same standards are not applied across various Boards in India as a result of which a section of student loses out. One must also keep in mind that the students need to spend more time on application based question papers. But if the question papers are lengthy the students would miss out on some questions and this is what happened in case of CBSE question papers of physics and mathematics (2015).

  

Does this mean the institutes like CBSE do not have a review team to assess the question papers - the difficulty levels - before the exams?  In case they do have, the team in question seems to have done a poor job this year. CBSE must understand that they assess general students and not just the brilliant ones. The Board cannot set up IIT level question paper and expect students to do well.  It does not have the right to spoil careers of young people.  Some did claim that everything was within syllabus. The worst part was there were too many sub-questions and alleged symbol errors.

If some in CBSE wanted to create great scholars and scientists overnight they are right in setting such question papers. However in trying this, they ended up demoralising the young kids. The irony is with all this kind of thinking, India does not rank high in terms of quality of education at global level simply because standards are not uniform across the country. The standard 12^th should be difficult but same across the country. 

Let us thank HRD ministry for being practical and taking the right step by asking CBSE to look into the matter holistically and not bask in the glory of setting the record breaking toughest questions for the students!

Gopal Sutar

Views expressed are personal. 

CBSE Makes Mockery of Mother of All Exams

CBSE Makes Mockery of Mother of All Exams

  

In India the 12^th Board examination is regarded as “the mother of all examinations”. It seems this year it has struck a fear in millions of students and the parents from India, Saudi Arabia (it has largest Indian school in the world), UAE and the rest of the Gulf. Parents of thousands of children have sought re-test or relaxed evaluation of just concluded mathematics and physics examination of class XII conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education  (CBSE).   Some of the students are so shocked mentally that they are not willing to take their next examination. “Our dream is already shattered” seemed the common outburst at the Examination Centre in Indira Nagar, Bangalore.

Questions were completely different from the past CBSE papers. What is worse the schools and students were not sounded about all this in advance.  The mathematics nightmare came just days after the tough physics paper.  Now these children are wondering about their future prospect since the admissions to professional course largely depend on the marks they score in physics and mathematics.   

So what went wrong? Apparently the CBSE wanted a big change by stressing on application and skill based evaluation. Most of the questions were not from the books or the syllabus although they could be linked to the syllabus “somehow” to justify the high handedness. The over-zealous paper setters propped up questions which were way over the normal intelligence level. Some students even compared it to the standards of Indian Institute of Technology  (IIT) which general students could not have handled. IIT preparation and coaching is different ball-game and not all students can afford or have the capacity.  The application based questions make it harder for the students to score although this seems ideal for testing one’s caliber.  But again the same standards are not applied across various Boards in India as a result of which a section of student loses out. One must also keep in mind that the students need to spend more time on application based question papers. But if the question papers are lengthy the students would miss out on some questions and this is what happened in case of physics and mathematics 2015.

  

Does this mean the institutes like CBSE do not have a review team to assess the question papers - the difficulty levels - before the exams?  In case they do have, the team in question seems to have done a poor job this year. CBSE must understand that they assess general students and not just the brilliant ones. The Board cannot set up IIT level question paper and expect students to do well.  It does not have the right to spoil the careers of young people. Now they will explain saying everything was within syllabus. The fact is even experts have given statements that mathematics and physics were too difficult, too lengthy this year. The worst part was there were too many sub-questions and alleged symbol errors. What does CBSE intend? Create great scholars and scientists overnight? In fact they have demoralized the young kids. The irony is with all this kind of thinking, India does not rank high in terms of quality of education at global level simply because standards are not uniform across the country. The standard 12^th should be difficult or same across the country.  The HRD Minister, Ms Smriti Irani must take CBSE to task for this lop-sided approach in setting the crucial standard 12 papers for 2015. 

Gopal Sutar

Views expressed are personal. 

HAL’s Aerospace Museum: Experience Thrill of Flying Without Fear

Want to fly an aircraft without a license and experience the thrill without fear? Did you know HAL produced buses and train coaches in early 50s? Want to see the black-box of an airplane which is actually orange? Or just want to be amid old trees and green surroundings where real planes and helicopters are on display? Please head to HAL

Heritage Centre & Aerospace Museum, the first of its kind set up in India at HAL Airport Road, about 10 km from Bangalore city railway station.

Established by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on August 30, 2001, the aviation museum is spread over 10 acres of lush green land. “It is indeed a rare tourist attraction in the city.   You can see a dozen aircraft models, Satellite Launch vehicles (GSLV, PSLV) and fly the aircraft on simulators”, says Dr. R.K. Tyagi, Chairman, HAL.  “We have done some modifications in last few months so that the history and the achievements of the country in aeronautics are displayed in eye-catching ways”, he adds.  “Bangalore is not just the IT capital of India but aerospace hub as well. One should not miss this museum, the experience of which is as good as that of being at Lalbaug or any other tourist place in the city”, says a visitor, an engineering student from Pune. 

In fact, it is completely different experience to be at this place when one goes through the rare photographs, audio visual shows and sees magnificent planes on static display. Although HAL airport does not operate commercial aircraft anymore, panoramic view of the landing and take-off of various aircraft and helicopters could still be experienced as chartered and test flights take-off and land regularly. The entire stretch of runway could be seen from this dummy air-tower. 

The museum is a repertoire of knowledge for more studious and academically minded as it houses a library on aerospace and traces the development of the industry’s exciting phases since 1940. “With so much happening in aerospace industry, it is important not to lose sight of the past. Our aim is to preserve the history of aeronautics and we are happy that museum elucidates so much interest and has become part of tourist attraction in Bangalore”, adds Dr. Tyagi. 

There are two major halls, one displaying photographs that chart the growth of aviation in each decade from 1940 till date.  The second hall displays motorized cross section models of aero engines, highlighting various functions of the engines. Some real engines such as Garrett (used on Dornier), Adour (powers Jaguar) and Orpheus (used on Kiran) could be seen in operation.  Very few people know that HAL produced buses for the erstwhile Mysore kingdom and there is a mural depicting this scene dated January 29, 1955!  Besides displaying aircraft and aviation models, this hall also demonstrates air traffic control model and PC based flight simulation. 

According to Mr. Nagarajan M., the architect who works with HAL’s Facilities Management Division, the museum has got the prize possession of 15 types of flying machines on static display. Efforts are made to place more aircraft on display including the much talked about fighter aircraft, Su-30 MkI. “People get curious when they see all this”, he adds.  

Curious or not, visitors seem to get excited when they see actual line parachute along-side a plane.  There is also ATC radar perched with L-band surveillance radar having a range of 200 nautical miles which rotates at a speed of 3-4 RPM, with the frequency of 1250-1350 Mhz.  In addition, PSLV model and PSLV heat shield are displayed to give a glimpse of forays made by the country in the space technology. 

“We would like to upgrade the museum on continuous basis and therefore thinking of introducing latest flight simulators, interactive display kiosks, and uplift the audio-video room with the latest facilities”, says Dr. Tyagi.  “We would like to go for motion simulator to accentuate the user experience by giving a very realistic feel of flying fighter jet and commercial aircraft”, he adds.

On the other hand, kiosks would provide information to the visitors by interactively engaging them in the process.  “We will try to have these kiosks with right layouts and interface system”, says Mr. S.N. Ramnathpur, Chief Manager, Civil.  One suggestion is to customize the content of each kiosk to the specific area of the museum, he adds.  According to him, the museum received the much needed face-lift recently with new paints, colors and signage. 

Some of the future plans include establishment of orchidarium and herbal garden to add beauty to the existing landscape.  The challenge would be to create and maintain extremely hot and cold conditions for orchidarium for flowers and plants to grow and sustain. An area of 200 sq meter area has been suggested to begin this experiment and may take some time to conceive and implement. Apart from this, children’s play area and a sustainability development park may also come up in the campus. The sustainability park will aim to educate visitors and students by displaying mock-up models of solar systems, bio-gas plants and hybrid wind mill. 

The museum is it not just a place for fun, frolic and education, rather it is instrumental in chronicling the achievements of India in the aerospace sector by showcasing the growth of the Indian aviation industry and HAL for nearly eight decades.  The entry fee is low at Rs. 30 per person (whatever the age) and the museum is kept open to public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all days.  “There is no holiday for us”, says the caretaker P.K. Jayarajan. He points out that there is cafeteria, rose garden, aquarium and fountain display to keep the visitors’ interest alive in case they get tired after going around a large area. These visitors can also buy airplane models, t-shirts, caps and have their pictures embossed on cups as memorabilia at the souvenir shop in the museum campus, all at a reasonable price!

Hindustan Times Hot 50 Brand (Bangalore) Award for HAL

HAL was the only PSU recognized to the surprise of the rest of the 49 awardees at a function held to honour Bangalore’s best 50 brands. The program “Namma Bengaluru’s Best Brands”, presented by The Hindustan Times and recognized by Paul Writer was held in the city on June 13, 2014.  The awardees represented a range of industries that included food, hotel, real estate, transport, travel, IT, banking and consumer goods companies. 

Paul Writer is India’s first community of marketers and the program was first of its kind recognizing the Bangalore brands.  The award winners were selected by a jury of elite marketers.  The popularity of companies was gauged through the voting  on  websites http://www.paulwriter.com

Mr. Gopal Sutar, Chief of Media Communications, HAL received the award on behalf of the Company.