Robin Hood Army

They take from the rich for the poor – but unlike the legendary outlaw Robin Hood, they are not after money, and it’s all above board. A band of merry men and women called the Robin Hood Army (RHA) has been seeking to feed the poor by distributing surplus food from restaurants and weddings to the hungry in the subcontinent.

Its volunteers, mostly students and young working professionals, call themselves Robins. Dressed in green, they go out in the dark, pick up food and distribute it among the homeless and others. When India and Pakistan celebrated 70 years of Independence, the RHA from the two nations joined hands to fight against a common enemy – hunger – and fed over 1.32 million people across 48 cities.

The group was started in August 2014 with six Robins in Delhi who served about 150 people on their first night of food distribution. In three years, it now consist of 12,350 volunteers who have served over 34,36,531 people. The RHA has some 50 chapters in as many cities in the Indian subcontinent. It started in Pakistan in February 2015 with its first distribution in Karachi. It also has volunteers in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries.

Ghose thought of starting RHA when they heard about an organization in Portugal called ‘Refood’ – which picked up and distributed restaurant surplus. He talked about the initiative with its founder Hunter Halder, and then decided to launch a similar programme in India with partner Anand Sinha, who works for an e-commerce site. The third partner, Aarushi Batra, is in Business.

A particular city chapter gets in touch with restaurants and wedding caterers in an area. Robins keep in touch with those who are ready to donate food and collect it at the end of the day or the time of distribution. The food is packed into meals and then distributed among the homeless and others who need food in or around that particular area. There are some very helpful restaurants that don’t just package and give away excess food, but also donate freshly cooked food.

All expenses, such as transportation costs, are met by the volunteers. With the help of Social Media, a large number of people have joined the army in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, apart from India and Pakistan. There are six chapters in Pakistan – four in Karachi, one in Lahore and one in Islamabad.

Though food is still its main area of concern, RHA takes up other initiatives and projects from time to time. It is now looking at ways to distribute clothes and help poor students. RHA Chennai is crowd sourcing school bags from city schools for sending to a school in a remote village in Odisha, where a Robin is a teacher. In Surat, classrooms are being built under a bridge from waste material for underprivileged children with the help of other organizations. In Hyderabad, they are building new toilets and renovating old one in schools.

When northern Gujarat was hit by floods, two Robins travelled 1,100 kms after collecting 10,000 kgs of food grains and 2,000 kgs of clothes to help 39,000 people. The team bars anybody from collecting money in the name of the organization. RHA has also started a Robin Hood Academy in 19 cities, where they teach slum children to help then join schools. Anyone can help RHA or join RHA community.

Book Review – The Ocean of Churn

History is the art of researching facts well and building compelling narratives based on the said facts. Few modern scholars do this better than Sanjeev Sanyal. Asian histories have been rendered in a biased manner since time immemorial. As a famous saying that goes, until an animal has its own history, the history of the hunting will always glorify the hunter. If we take any history curriculum in Indian Education system, we can read leaps and bounds of Mughal Empire, the British regime, the Sultanates and such similar accounts.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to read the histories of Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas in greater detail and their glories have been limited to few pages here and there. This book, one of a kind in its genre, breaks that stupor and gives us a riveting account of how the Indian Ocean has shaped the human history. Indian Ocean is itself a big mystery. It holds many unresolved or undiscovered history that is hidden deep into its core. Author Sanjeev Sanyal tried to uncover this in this vast researched and well-articulated book and succeeded in satiating his readers.

The book opens up by a fascinating tale of how the Pallava dynasty has traced an heir to their kingdom when the erstwhile King, Parameshwara Verman II died in 731 CE. A delegation of Brahmin scholars, which travelled across the Indian Ocean to the far ends of Cambodia and got back an heir that traced his roots to the Pallava dynasty from five long generations ago and reign of Nandi Verman II has started.

The Ocean of Churn begins its journey even before the formation of the Indian Ocean. It talks about the super continent called Gondwana that existed more than 270 Million years ago and the mighty Saraswati River and how it dried up due to the tectonic plate shifts, how the Himalaya has been formed, and how the races have been migrated from India to outside world. This book traces the history through the Ocean way. How people set up its civilization, how their trade hub got established, what was their commercial aspects, how they dealt with various traders inside and outside their territory and so on.

From Harappan times, Indians have been trading with the world in many ways. Maritime trading is the major aspect during those times when land routes were hardly discovered. The powerful Chola king, Rajendra Chola made a naval attack on the Sri Vijaya Kingdom of Sumatra by 1025 is one such example. Chola Empire was one of the powerful empires in the entire South Asia region during that time. There were a major geo-political-economic alliances or rivalries between Indians, Chinese and the Sri Vijaya Kingdom.

Kerala being the hub of the maritime trade have witnessed a vast amount of geo-political-economic tradeoffs. As a testimony to those, even today in Kerala, we have the world’s second Mosque and India’s first mosque (Cheraman Perumal Mosque) built by the king Cheraman Perumal by the orders of Mohammed the prophet himself in 629 AD. We also get to see the memorial of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas fame), a disciple of Jesus, who visited Kerala via sea route.

Overall, this book is a well-researched one. It starts right from the origin of India Ocean due to the tectonic plate shifts and ends right at the transformation of Bombay to Mumbai with the reclamation of land over the Ocean. This book is full of rich details of all kingdoms that throve around the Indian Ocean, Indian Coastline and several islands of the Indian Ocean that also had cultural trade ties with India and its kingdoms.

World in the next 5 years

These are uncertain times whether it’s the anti-globalization backlash in the US, or the probable break-up of the European Union (EU) or closer home, the increase in terrorist activity in Pakistan, we’re badly in need of a crystal ball that will tell us how these disturbing trends pan out.

Global economic growth will slow, making life difficult for governments, who will come under increased pressure to deliver jobs and welfare. Governance will become more difficult. Real wages have been stagnant in the West, and this will lead to increased populism and dissatisfaction with globalization. Both the US and Europe will turn inward. Stresses in societies will increase as they fragment along religious and cultural lines, aided and abetted by the echo chambers of social media.

Geopolitical risks will rise, as ambitious new powers such as China and Russia seek to expand their presence. Non-traditional forms of warfare, such as cyber-warfare and terrorism, will gain prominence. Environmental stress will increase. One of the reasons for the doom and gloom, from the American viewpoint, is the demise of Pax Americana and the emergence of assertive new power centres which are not enamored of democracy.

India will be the world’s fastest growing economy in the next five years. However, “internal tensions over inequality and religion will complicate its expansion”. Violent extremism, terrorism and instability will continue to hangover Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the region’s fragile communal relations. Populism and sectarianism will intensify if Bangladesh, Pakistan and India fail to provide employment and education for growing urban populations and officials continue to govern principally through identity politics.

It quotes an estimate that India alone will need to create as many as 10 Million jobs per year in the coming decades to accommodate people of working age in the labour force. Increasing urbanization will mean that providing services for burgeoning city populations will be a huge challenge for resource strapped governments in South Asia, and that may ‘create new social, political, environmental, and health vulnerabilities’.

Message is that the world is now a more uncertain and dangerous place, which makes pursuing the right policies all the more important. For India, the lesson is that the leadership’s focus must be on providing jobs for the masses and improving the delivery of services to them, while at the same time doing all it can to ensure peace, including communal peace, in the region.

Learning from Womenonmics

Japan Prime Minister is best known for his economic revival strategy consisting of three arrows, collectively called Abenomics. His three arrows consisted of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies (the first two arrows) and structural and economic reforms (the third). This third arrow consisted of deregulation, trade liberalization, tax reform and industrial restructuring.

An important component of the third arrow was “Womenonmics”, getting more women into the workforce and in positions of leadership. Japanese women are highly educated on average, and indeed have a higher college enrollment than men. Japanese female participation rate has risen to 73% - slightly ahead of the US, it is still far below Sweden’s 88.3%. A recent government survey showed 63% of women quit their jobs disappointed by their career prospects. 70% of the women are not able to return to the workforce after the birth of their first child. The reasons include non-availability of quality childcare centres.

Female participation is crucial for Japan, since its population is declining and also ageing rapidly. The elderly will make up 40% of the total population by 2060, and the ratio of working to retired persons will be 1:1 by 2050. Unless women participate in much greater numbers to expand the workforce, the pension and tax burden will be crushing and will affect economic growth. Realizing this, Abe put in place numerical targets and tangible metrics in his “Womenonmics” strategy. He initially aimed to have 30% of leadership positions for women in government and business.

The “Womenonmics” plan also contains reforms like removing the tax penalty for working mothers, and introducing new training subsidies to help them return to the workplace. Even though India is not in the OECD peer group, there are lessons from Japan “Womenonmics”. The Indian parliament recently passed a landmark maternity benefits bill, which will benefit women returning to the workforce.

Beyond education, skilling, pay parity and board positions, India’s agenda also includes providing women leadership positions in political life. The recent violation experience in Nagaland, wherein the local community refused to let women enjoy 33% reservation in local government shows how far we have to go. This resistance to even constitutional mandates shows that there is as much a cultural hurdle as an economic policy hurdle to achieving progress for women.

Rio Olympics 2016: Best and Worst Performances

Olympics were a high wire games, full of challenges and contrasts, abrupt shifts in mood and momentum. It was no doubt quite a mess backstage and yet quite a spectacle at the front of house.

Best Performances on Land

Bolt. Bolt. It was always Usain Bolt and he went three for three again in the gold medal department, holding off the fading threats (Justin Gatlin) and the rising star (Andre De Grasse) without looking as if he were quite giving it his full attention. Bolt times in major championships have been increasing for years now.

For the novelty factor and the wow factor, there was no surpassing American Simone Biles. Even if she was a three time all round world Champion, she was an Olympic rookie and her explosive and exuberant brand of gymnastics leapt off any screen in any culture.

Worst Performances on Land

There were no shortages of candidates, including the loose lipped American goalkeeper Hope Solo but only one genuine contender Ryan Lochte should definitely have stayed in the pool.

Best Performance in Water

Phelps. Phelps. It’s always about Michael Phelps and he won five more gold medals, this time at age 31. The Americans also got individual gold medals from five other swimmers, including members of the new wave Ryan Murphy and old guard Anthony Ervin. Americans stormed back to win 33 swimming medals in Rio more than three times what any other nation could master.

Worst Performance in Water

It took another collective performance to secure this prize, and it deserves to be shared by all those still unidentified individuals who contributed to turning the water in the Olympic diving pool from transparent blue to opaque green. Hydrogen peroxide? Inactive chlorine? Whatever the latest excuse, this was not the body of water that the world was worried about Rio keeping clean.

Best Performance on Water

Blair Tuke and Peter Burling were utterly dominant in the 49er class. Danuta Kozak of Hungary won three more gold medals in women’s Kayak, bringing her career total to five. The women’s eight from the US rowed to yet gold of their own. The oldest sailor in the Olympic fleet at age 54, Lange learned he had lung cancer but the Argentine still made it to starting line for South America’s first Olympics.

Worst Performance on Water

Rio’s scenic Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon was comparatively calm when Kazakhstan’s Vladislav Yakovlev managed just 10 strokes before capsizing in his single scull. Based on water quality studies of the lagoon before the Olympics, this was definitely not the place to get wet.

Best Performance in Midair

Bahamian sprinter Shaunae Miller desperate face first lunge across the line to beat Allyson Felix of the US in the women’s 400 meters is clearly on the shortlist. Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva. Coming into the games, his personal best in the pole vault had been 5.93 meters (19 feet 6 inches). But when he and the host nation needed it most, he cleared 6.03 meters to set an Olympic record and upset world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France.

Worst Performance in Midair

Russia’s Nadezhda Bazhina is no tourist athlete. She is a former European champion in the 3-meter springboard. But she made a splash for another reason in Rio: mistiming her takeoff during the preliminaries and leaving the board at a suboptimal angle.

Best Performance Per Capita

The Caribbean still rules. Tiny Grenada, with slightly more than 100,000 inhabitants, topped the standings on medalspercapita.com. But Grenada won only one medal, silver by sprinter Kirani James and the defending Olympic champion in the 400. This year, James was thoroughly overshadowed (outside Grenada) by South African Wayde van Niekerk’s gold medal and world record in Lane 8.

For planetary impact per capita, it remains best to go with Jamaica, which might have won only one medal for every 247,000 inhabitants but still has the world’s fastest man (Bolt) and fastest woman (newcomer Elaine Thompson).

Worst Performance Per Capita

Only two medals and no gold’s for India, well on its way to supplanting China as the world’s most populous nation. Time to retire the trophy? Certainly not, but perhaps time to get cricket into the Olympics (everything else seems to be included).

Book Review: Land of seven Rivers

India spawns ideas as vigorously as it spawns diverse populations. This is the impression conveyed by the Land of Seven Rivers, a book that good-naturedly examines a huge range of India related topics, from mitochondrial DNA to modernist architecture. Writer Sanjeev Sanyal certainly begins with the shifts of Tectonic Plates that over millions of years nudged the subcontinent up against the Asian Mainland, goes on to examine the evidence for the origin of India’s populations, and so proceeds to the partition of 1947 and the subsequent absorbing of French and Portuguese enclaves.

He also covers the drying up of the once Legendary Saraswati River, the writing of the Kamasutra, the extraordinary rule of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, the anti-British revolt of 1857, and much more. He highlights particular locations, sometimes visiting them and reporting on their current condition. It is very easy to lose interest in a book based on facts and numbers. However, this did not happen while I was reading this book, maybe also because I took my time with this one. I had to let the history and geography of our land sink in and that helped me savor the book – page by page. This book is a fantastic attempt to talk to us simply about our heritage and of the times gone by.

It is an affiliate book that meanders, rather like the rivers it describes, through the familiar landscape of the history of the Indian sub-continent. One will pass through most of the landmarks such as the Harappans, the Vedas, Ashoka, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the various cities of Delhi, Mughals, the British and their Mapmakers, partition as well as the rise of a new India exemplified by the rapid growth of Gurgaon, a centre for the call-centre industry south of Delhi and characterized by gleaming office towers, metro stations, malls, luxury hotels and millions of jobs.  

This book is strong on unusual facts. I was astonished to read, for example, that the UK barrister, who mapped out the line of partition between India and Pakistan in 1947, in Delhi but without having time to inspect the situation on the ground, actually returned his fee of 2000 UK Pounds following the mass migration and killings that followed his work. Also of great interest is India’s estimated proportion of World GDP – a possible 33 percent in the first century AD, compared to 4 percent at Independence. The Roman Empire is estimated having 21 percent. The book positions itself very nicely between being a research based account and a leisurely stroll through Indian history.

India’s top Tech Billionaires

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji leads the pack of Indian Tech Billionaires followed by HCL cofounder Shiv Nadar and Infosys chairman emeritus NR Narayana Murthy, according to Forbes 2016 list of World’s billionaires.

Azim Premji, his net worth is $15 Billion and global rank is 55. He is the founder and chairman of Wipro, India’s third largest software exporter. His family office Premji Invest has invested in companies like Snapdeal, Myntra, PolicyBazaar and Cyanogen among others. Shiv Nadar, net worth $11.1 Billion and global rank is 88. He is the founder and chairman of HCL, India’s fourth largest software services exporter. He is also a philanthropist with Shiv Nadar foundation.

NR Narayana Murthy, net worth $1.9 Billion and global rank is 959. He is cofounder of Infosys, India’s second largest software services exporter. He was the Infosys CEO from 1981 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. His private investment firm Catamaran Ventures has invested in Yebhi, Hector Beverages, Coverfox, and also has a joint venture with Amazon called Cloudtail which is the largest seller on Amazon India.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, net worth is $1.6 Billion and global rank is 1121. He is cofounder of Infosys and its chief executive from 2007 to 2011. He contributed 225 crore to setup the Centre for Brain Research at the IISc in Bengaluru and also backed a stem cell centered multidisciplinary programme on mental diseases and blood disorders.

Nandan Nilekani, net worth is $1.6 Billion. He is cofounder of Infosys and its chief executive from 2002 to 2007. He was the chairman of UIAI until March 2014 and is currently chairman of EkStep. He has backed companies like Team Indus, Fortigo, Mubble, LetsVenture, Power2SME and Systemantics.

Binny Bansal, net worth is $1.2 Billion and global rank is 1476. He is cofounder of India’s largest ecommerce platform Flipkart and took over as its chief executive in January 2016. He is currently responsible for operationally driving the company and overlooks all its business areas. Sachin Bansal, net worth is $1.2 Billion. He is cofounder of Flipkart and was its chief executive until January 2016, post which he assumed the role of executive chairman. Along with Binny Bansal, he has backed startups like Ather Energy, InShorts, Tracxn, and Tinystep.

K Dinesh, net worth is $1.2 Billion. He is co-founder of Infosys and was the board member from 1981 to 2011. He is retired as the Head of Quality, Information Systems and the Communication Design Group in 2011. SD Shibulal, net worth is $1.1 Billion and global rank is 1577. He is cofounder of Infosys and was its chief executive from 2011 to 2014. He setup a startup incubator Axilor Ventures with Kris Gopalakrishnan.

What’s Ailing Women Football?

FIFA estimates that more than 750 Million television viewers watched at least 60 seconds of action during the 2015 Women World Cup in Canada. The final between the US and Japan was the most watched soccer match in US Television history with 25.4 Million tuning in. The tournament also broke television viewing records in Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, China, South Korea and Norway for Women Football.

Women Football is heavily reliant on the spectacle of international tournaments to widen its popularity. The struggle has been to sustain that interest and make it bleed into Women Club Football. Women World Cup fall in the “in between” years, when there is no men’s World Cup or European Championship, which makes it ripe for strong television viewing and attendance figures.

In the US, soccer is more readily accepted as women’s sport. The sport history is not shrouded in the same patriarchal cultural baggage as it is in much of Europe. In recent years, other nations have risen to challenge the US dominance such as Japan and Germany. Lately, teams such as France and England have developed pleasingly while the Brazilian national side is no longer just 10 girls and Marta. The international picture is panning out to be more competitive, which will only serve to generate more interest.

One must be careful not to compare women’s football with top level men’s football. Women’s Football is played in a different style, for a start. But the concept of women’s football is still in its infancy. In England, women were banned from organizing themselves professionally in football until the 1970s. Women Football is bridging a gap of around 100 years of development compared to the men’s game. The tectonic plates of the domestic game in women’s football continue to collide. With the suffocating coverage of men’s football and the rolling soap opera of La Liga, the Premier League and the Champions League the women leagues struggle to be noticed.

India women national side holds a higher FIFA ranking than their male counterparts. It remains a mystery that such a populous country with a consuming passion for football continues to have such an uninspiring participative legacy. The Indian Super League was founded in 2013 with the ultimate aim of creating a flourishing domestic football scene. The women’s game in this sprawling nation requires a similar notion to put itself on the emerging map of women’s football.

My First International Olympic Duathlon

7^th February 2016, I participated in my first Olympic Duathlon and started practicing for it. It’s a competition that is composed of running and biking. The format for a Duathlon is run-bike-run. It was 5 km run, 40 km cycling and 10 km run. I nailed it in 3 hrs. 15 min (approx.) I was very excited for this event. After long days of practice and strict Diet, I completed Olympic Duathlon within a committed time to myself. 

My favorite quote in life is – “The moment you stop accepting challenges, is the moment you stop moving forward. Keep Moving”. This is what keeps me moving in life. It was the motivation for me throughout this event. Getting up early in the morning for pedaling & running few miles, and then focus on work wasn’t easy as I thought would be. But after this event I got to know few things about me. I need to practice running and exercise regularly especially before an event like Duathlon/Triathlon.

The event started with Run: 5 Km. One loop outside of stadium went well. I started with good pace and finished a loop inside the stadium. Cycle: 40 Km. Four loops outside of stadium and finished in about 1 hour 20 minutes on my Mountain Bike. Run: 10 Km. After fast ride and run, I was bit tired, my throat dried up and I felt hungry. I wasted lot of time at first pit stop but at last I finished 10km run in a good time and last one loop inside the stadium. It was a well spent day with fellow athletes.

A big credit goes to organizer and volunteers who helped and motivated me during the event to complete it & Delhi Police to ensure that the traffic was moved off our lanes when we were there. At last, the moment of the day was receiving medal from Mrs. Deepa Malik, an Indian Athlete. She is a paraplegic. Whether it is swimming against the strong Yamuna current, or riding a special bike or even taking a shot at the Paralympic Games, she has done it all. She has won bronze medal in Women Javelin throw. She has got nominated in Limca book of records for her swimming records. She is an inspiration for me.

I want to try more events in my life and keep going because the day I stopped accepting challenges in my life is the day I stop moving forward. Thank you to event organizer Chiro Mitra, Sangeeta Saikia and team for organizing this event in a well-structured way and looking forward to you for more events. 

Resetting Green Revolution

India’s agriculture became moribund decades ago, and shows no sign of uplift for the long haul needed. Indeed, the rain gods have played havoc with Indian farmers. But not just the gods, Indian states have done precious little to tackle the problem head-on. The government solution is to give financial sops to farmers to buy peace from time to time. It is equally unfortunate that farmers just accept the sops and go away, only to return when hard times hit them again.

India’s agricultural growth rate has hovered around 2-3% annually, when in fact it should be at least 5%. Former Prime Minister said Indian agriculture must grow at least at 4% without which there will be no real rural poverty alleviation and no relief to distressed farmers. India’s green revolution is fatigued and needs a scientific and technological boost.

Indian agriculture is sick and it needs a strong dose of bitter medicine Market based solutions are the only way forward. India investment in agricultural science and technology and rural infrastructure must be upped by 25% and Indian council of Agricultural research must be turned into a private research corporation headed by a business minded CEO and private equity participation must be brought into India’s agricultural R&D.

Secondary agriculture must drive rural economic development. Small-scale farmers and subsistence farming must be gradually phased out as its size is not economically viable in 21^st century. No amount of shoring up economically unviable agriculture can help. Stubbornly persisting on flogging a dead horse is not going to improve the farmer’s plight. The NDA government has given no evidence of its intent to set a future looking agenda so far. That is not good for the nation neither for the NDA electoral fortunes in the years to come. It needs to act fast.

Rural Connect is boon for Indian MNCs

Seven countries in Asia (India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Philippines) and three in Africa (Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia) collectively include about 2.2 Billion rural consumers out of more than 3.4 Billion rural consumers in the world and 3 Billion rural consumers in Asia and Africa. In India, more than 800 Million consumers live in rural markets and more than 150 Million rural migrants living in urban centres maintain links with their families, visiting them during festivals, weekends, and other occasions.

Rural Migrants living outside India are connected with their families through Skype and mobile phones. In BRIC countries Brazil and Russia are most urbanized with less than 15% and 26% of their population living in rural areas. Brazil is more urbanized than USA. USA urban population size is more than 80%. India and China are far away from USA. Now, it becomes very difficult for a company to grow in these markets. In India, progressive company grows by having an inclusive strategy that focuses on both on Urban and Rural consumers. It is in their DNA.

Consider HUL, although it is a European MNC but its DNA in India is rural along with Pakistan and Bangladesh. HUL caters need of more than 1 Billion rural consumers. Reaching Rural Consumer by “Missed Call” is the new thing adapted by companies in India. Even the Indian TV Industry is using Rural or semi-rural settings and stories to create successful TV serials. Many NGOs are helping rural people to connect them with urban areas and inclined them towards technology.

In my Opinion, the rural DNA of Indian MNCs is their biggest strategic asset that will be hard for any other country to match. They understand how to appeal to the aspirations of rural consumers amidst lack of infrastructure, economic and language diversity, and unorganized retail markets. Technology will drive Indian MNCs and rural consumers to connect with each other and make India a better country in the world.

New Government vision of 100 smart cities will turn out to be positive factor and Indian MNCs will grow more. Their strategy of connecting with people will shift more towards consumer aspirations and service, not to build awareness. To make a better future and country Round Robin work has to be done, and then only we will be counted as citizen of developed nation.

Internet can make India Billion Digital Economy

Internet users in India are growing with rapid pace. It took 10 years for India to get her first 10 million users and another decade to hit the first 100 Million. Then the pace quickened. The next 100 Million came in three years between 2010 and 2013, and the third 100 million took only 18 months. Internet users crossed 300 Million in December 2013. By 2018-19, Internet users will reach to 500 Million. A digital population of 500 Million can transform India’s economy, business landscape, governance, and society beyond recognition.

Internet users could spawn an economy worth $200 Million from interrelated activities. This is a four-fold increase from where we are today and growth will come in three years. By 2018, every second Indian will have access to Internet. The biggest growth will come in E-commerce, which will expand five-fold, while education and healthcare via mobile internet will expand Internet use. Digital Marketing will be the key method to reach out your business to people via search and display advertisement.

Internet could also catalyze entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Global investors are already chasing Indian startups. With 500 Million internet users it will be equal to the size of Europe. There are challenges like low bandwidth, but that won’t prevent the upcoming Internet Tsunami. In each of next five years, India can see a startup of worth $1 Billion. Internet growth will also lead to massive job creation. About 4 lakh people now find direct employment because of Internet. This will expand to 20 Lakh by 2020.

Internet will also improve governance. According to etaal.gov.in, which tracks internet transactions, E-governance transactions increased from 0.5 Billion to 1.7 Billion between 2013 and 2014. However, there are many challenges too. Internet costs can harm Indian population. It may become very expensive in future. 90% of India’s population use pre-paid connection with average monthly recharge of Rs 50 to Rs 70 and 3G recharge of Rs 150. It will be very difficult to sell big data plans and in a huge cost.

More people are going online via free Wi-Fi or paid access. About 45 Million access Internet in Public areas and time spent online has gone up from 10 Minutes per day to 45 Minutes now. Government is also planning to make certain places in Metro cities free Wi-Fi enabled. So far Internet penetration in India has been in English while for new users demand for local languages will increase. According to reports, 10% rise in Internet penetration increases economy by 1.08%. If Internet were a sector then its weight in GDP would be greater than that agriculture and utilities. 

A Documentary of Thoughts

For all I can say, the BBC4 Documentary by Leslee Udwin was completely over the top, completely left me cold and flat. But the choice to watch or not was mine. The comments or problems occurred such as, “tourism is affected”, “a situation of tension and fear among women in society is created”, and then documentary was banned by the government. Banning the documentary was not the solution. It was like covering mindsets and crime again.

Despite tougher laws, there is a 69% increase over the past decade in crimes against women including molestation, rape, and domestic violence. We need to ask how and why 44% college students in modern India responded to a recent survey by agreeing that women have ‘no choice’ but to accept a certain degree of violence. We need to understand why our sex ratio in the 0-6 year old age group is the lowest in six decades. These are facts that shame any civilized society. But how do we even begin to start dismantling these horrific statistics unless we first try and understand the culture that allows them to thrive?

Protests on streets, signature campaigns, and changing the law, that was the easy part. But as anyone who grapples with patriarchy knows, changing the mindsets is far, far harder. To change the mindset it is important to know the mindset. That is why one needs to watch Udwin’s film. The one-hour long film reportedly includes a nine-minute interview with one of the rapists and interviews with two defence lawyers. This is a documentary of thoughts of a criminal, two government officials who were fighting the case and some people.

There were equally reprehensible statements made by lawyers and criminals. In the days following the December protests we’ve heard some astounding comments from a variety of politicians, university heads, religious cult figures, police chiefs, and other people. Each statement brings with it a torrent of protest on social media and elsewhere. And the statements made in the documentary fit part of that pattern.

There are interesting and valid questions being raised in the debate on Udwin’s film. But none of these should detract from the main crux of the debate, which is tackling misogyny and ending a culture of rape. The main crux is that there is a certain mindset that allows violence against women to flourish with impunity. Those whose national pride is wounded by the fact of a foreigner claiming to make a documentary that exposes an ugly truth might want to consider that the fight against patriarchy is a global fight that knows no borders.

Violence against women is the conversation across the world from North Kivu to Washington DC. In June last year, 1,700 delegates from 123 countries met to discuss how to end sexual violence in conflict in the US; the government is cracking down on an apparent epidemic of campus sexual assault. Everywhere, women and men like us are saying ‘Enough’. We lit a fire in December 2012. We started a conversation. Every bit that adds to that conversation, every scrap that leads us to think, every effort to end violence should be welcomed, not banned.

Planet of the Apps

India has the third largest mobile user’s country in the world. With data showing Indian users, spend an average 198 minutes each day on their smartphones. It is believed that mobile phones are the future of an economy. Soon laptops may become obsolete and everything in the world will be operated through smartphones and tablets. Many companies are trying to make this happen.

Smartphones are used on a large scale because of 1.3 Million Android apps and 1.2 Million Apple app available to use. With introduction of mobile apps, most businesses in the world are turning their focuses towards mobile apps. Especially in the Internet based business. For E-commerce, business mobile app is the future. Mobile apps began appearing in 2008 and are operated by Operating system of a mobile. Mobile app is a short version of a website and a handy layout to operate.

Every social networking, news, business, entertainment, and sports have their apps. This not only will increase the usability and business for app developers, but will also increase the use of smartphones. In India, number of toiletries is less than the number of smartphones people have. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are the most dominating companies in mobile apps. I remember the first app I used was the Shazam in my Nokia Symbian phone six years back.

After that Whatsapp, the most used chat app in the world. As the time passes by, now I use plenty of apps in my Android Smartphone. It has become easy for me to collect any information in an instant of time from mobile apps. There is no doubt that mobile app developers and companies will grow more. However, there will be time when everything will be available on the app. Most e-commerce business they use mobile apps because 70% of orders are placed from mobile apps.

The benefit of companies from mobile apps is that they collect user information and can sell that information to other companies in millions. Now talking about, E-tail companies give more discounts on ordering from mobile apps. In India, E-tail companies offer vouchers for other businesses too. Amazon was the first company in India to launch app sale, although Flipkart did planning first. However, there is an increase in growth of mobile apps and a majority of this growth is coming from outside of metro cities.

If internet reach is more in rural India then increase in number of users for mobile apps will also increase. However, new government “Digital India” initiative can make this possible. This will not only add value to reach people but will also contribute to Indian Economy. More companies will emerge out and people from Rural India can bring their businesses online.

Chef and Food Truck in India

Over the past five years, the food truck sensation has spread across America serving consumers everything from Japanese Pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches with truffle oil and too many other versions of comfort with a gourmet twist to count. Few days back, I came to know the about the same thing in India. It is India’s first Mexican Food truck introduced by five-star Lalit Hotel Chain ‘The Lalit Food truck Company’.

I saw Lalit Food truck at my college fest serving delicious, cheap, and diverse food. I could not stop myself without ordering and interacted with the chefs preparing food. When I read about the Food truck in India, I was so excited and suddenly it reminds me of a movie named ‘Chef’. It is a comedy genre movie released in 2014, where the man does the same type of business. It is the story of a chef Carl Casper who quits his job at a restaurant and launches a food truck business.

The same movie story I shared with the Lalit Food truck chefs. The reason because in the movie ‘Chef’, Carl Casper son, make use of Twitter to go viral in United States. His son was a young teenage kid who knows how to operate Twitter. He clicked photographs of people eating food, make trend on Twitter, and tweet regularly whenever they sell food. This helps his father Food truck business to go viral and increase his business sales. Customers were tweeting back to him, asking him to visit their area, gave him feedback on tweets.

This is a good movie, which tells about the use of Twitter for a Business. I shared the same story with the Chef of Lalit Food truck and told them that they can also go viral by social media. Social Media will help them to increase their business awareness and go viral in the country. In a country like India where people are food savvy, they will surely read and go for it. The best thing about the Food was it was ready in two minutes and it was affordable too. Food was so delicious that now I had an option of eating irrespective of outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and other places.  

I found five items on their menu i.e. Crispy Veggie Taco, Falafel, Vegetable Tortilla Wrap, Vegetarian Burger, Churros, and French Fries. Next time, I am going to order again and this time I will order and taste something new from last time.

Importance of Sports for Economy

Today sport emerges as an important component of Socio-economic development of a country. The active participation in sports improves community health and productivity, reduces medical expenses, imbibes discipline in character, generates great leaders, and enhances social cohesion. The execution of a mega sporting event helps in developing infrastructure, generates employment, secure inflow of foreign capital, generates players and athletes, and thus contributes significantly to the economic development of a country. Therefore, it can be said that the impact of sports on economy and society is multi-dimensional.

There are many sports played in India but cricket is most famous game in India. Since a decade, Indian sports ministry is well focused on increasing the sports facility in India. India has hosted several international sporting events after Independence including 1982 Asian Games to ICC Cricket world Cup in 2011. India is rich in giving great athletes to the world. In sports such as Cricket, Hockey, Wrestling, Shooting, Chess, Badminton, Football, Golf, Kabaddi, Races, Billiards, Baseball, Boxing, Tennis, Formula 1, Polo, and Rock Climbing. Still, India needs to work more on infrastructure and other facilities. In the 11^th Five Year plan, government allocated INR 46,360 Million for development of sports in country. Since then India had hosted Formula 1 Races, Hockey World Cup, Common Wealth Games, and Cricket World Cup.

Businesspersons and celebrities in India also worked with government to promote and develop different sports in India. IPL in Cricket, IBL in Badminton, PKL in Kabaddi, ISL in Football, IHL in Hockey, and IPTL in Tennis, all these leagues in India worked in creating sports hype in the country. Social Media had also played a very important role. Whenever any major sport event occurs in a country then it gives benefit to different sectors. People spend more on tickets, purchase sports brand products, visit restaurants and clubs, watch TV, and many more. Travel Company, Beverages Company also makes huge profits at the time of events.

However, there are certain incidents where government ended up in making loss. Terrorists attacks in Pakistan in 2008, forced ICC to ban cricket matches in Pakistan because of which economy shrinks of that country. Recently in India, West Indies left the tour in between leaving behind loss for sponsors, state sports authorities, BCCI, and other major partners. This forced BCCI to impose a fine of $42 Million to WICB. This may also let BCCI to ban West Indies players play in IPL. Sports contribution in England reached to 1.9% of their total GDP in 2010. FIFA world cup 2014 in Brazil raised business for local players by double.

Hence, it can be seen that sports play an important role in shaping up an economy and government to promote sports in country. This will increase the business for local players who make sports equipments; it will also provide business to airlines and other transport business, media, brokers, and a medium of creating platform for young generation. Adventurous sports like Mountain Biking, Rafting, Cycling, Kayaking, are also positioning in India now. This all will led to increase in employment and will increase money in the economy. 

Indian government will have to make more efforts to promote every sport in India. For this first, the allocation of funds, such as the percentage of budget, should increase to broad base sports. Secondly, sports should be made as an integral part of education system. Third, effectiveness of developmental projects should evaluate periodically. Fourth, Uniformity should be maintained in sports activities of various states of India to provide equal participation opportunity to its citizens. Finally, a structure of good government should incorporate to make the system transparent and accountable. Government should revisit the sporting framework of India. Otherwise, the immense potential of country in sports can never be realized. 

World in September

In the history of the world, September seems to be an important month. From developing nations to developed nations, most of the changes in the past and present occurred in the month of September. In 2014, many events took place in the emerging countries of the world. India, Europe, and USA all three countries saw major changes. Let us look in the past events and changes in this year.

It was September 2001, when Islamic Terrorist group attacked upon the United States in New York and Washington. Two towers of World Trade Centers were attacked and US Pentagon was attacked. Many people died in the attacks. Few years later, on September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was filed under Bankruptcy. As the fourth largest investment bank of US, this crime led to 2007-08 financial crises in the world. Last year in 2013, India GDP fell down to a lower rate and currency exchange rate touched the highest point-making rupee weakest in history.

Year 2014 brought out many other changes in Indian History. After completing 100 days in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Japan for five days. Both the countries build Special Strategic Global Partnerships. Modi statement of “No red tape, but red carpet” was signs of investment from foreign countries. After that, Australian Prime Minister visits India for Nuclear deal. In mid of the month, Chinese President visit India for trade relations between both countries. MoU was signed for building Smart cities, SEZs, Chinese Development Bank, and manufacturing goods in India. Soon after some days, PM launches “Make in India” campaign to attract businesses from around the world to invest and manufacture in India.

In the end of the month, PM visit US to attend UN General Assembly council, to address Indians in USA, and to meet US President Barack Obama. Modi speech in Madison Square made him most searched person on Google and Tweets on Twitter. Both countries agreed to help each other in Defence and India to import technology from USA. These were some changes in India in September, which will drive India’s growth largely.  

On 24 September 2014, India became the first country in the world to reach the Mars orbit in its first attempt. The Mars Orbiter Mission was launched by ISRO. The total cost of the mission was approximately $70 Million and it is the cheapest inter-planetary mission ever to be undertaken since Martian exploration began. In corporate world, Alibaba IPO breaks the record of becoming the largest company in e-commerce sector by market share. Its value reaches $230 Billion after IPO in month of September.

After some peace talks between Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, tensions start between UK and Scotland. Scottish Independence referendum on Scottish Independence in September was another important day in history. The decision of Scotland to remain in Great Britain not only saved UK but some other countries like Tibet, India, China, and Pakistan. If the results turned out to be opposite then there might be chances of voting in for Kashmir and Tibet.

In September 2014, ISIS members began attacks on journalists from different countries, forcing US and EU forces to launch air strikes. These strikes are still in process. The 2014 Hong Kong protests also known as Umbrella movement, began in the same month. The cause behind the protest is that Chinese Central government decision on electoral reform regarding future Hong Kong chief executive and Legislative Council elections. The protests are still going and there are no negotiations between the protestors and the government. In Business news, all light was on Apple new iPhone and watch. However, there may be more things going around or took place in between years in same month but these are some, which remains in light and make it a big month in the history of the world.

 

Breakout Nations

Ruchir Sharma is a head of Emerging Markets and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He generally spends one week per month in a developing country. He has been a contributing editor with Newsweek and has penned essays for publications such as Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and Economic Times. He is the writer of Best International Economic Book “Breakout Nations.” Recently, I finished reading this book and it is the most interesting book on economic landscape.

The book takes on a life of its own as it delves in depth into each country and its economic drivers. China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Europe, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, USA etc all find a mention and an analysis. This book tells the in depth economic conditions of every country. It also covers past crisis of Asia, USA, Europe, and ASEAN countries. This book is also a revelation as well as treasure trove of information and ideas. In this book, Country Specific notions, are challenged and disproved such as in the section of consumer demand in China. Country specific problems that can hold it back are analysed in short and power pack sections like welfare, investments of Indian Businesses abroad in a time when the home country is in urgent need of capital.

It also contains graphs and numerical which tells comparisons and analytic view of each country. Each nation’s problems as well as enablers find adequate mentions giving a nice balance and flow to the analysis, as well depth and convincing power. Economic, political, crimes, as well as other problems find adequate coverage. Some problems like crony capitalism in India, welfare state in Brazil, political situation in Russia, olipolistic nature of Mexico, and rising inflationary trends in India are covered in depth. Each factor that can affects growth are looked at.

The objective of this book is to identify Breakout Nations- the nations most likely to succeed. Both conventional factors and unconventional factors approach in this book is right. For example, the analysis of number of Billionaires in a nation is a revelation. Overall, this book first, teaches one how to properly analyse a market or a nation. Second, it is a handbook of emerging markets. It gives a perspective of entire emerging market in a short.

A word on writing style, it is simple and easy to understand. One does not need to be a professional economist to understand the book. This is perhaps the most powerful plus point of this book. It makes the entire pitch in very simple, easy to understand and comprehend prose. It avoids needless details and voluminous analysis. The analysis is short and up to the point. This makes for a fast read and it makes for easy absorption of the material presented in the book.

As the Breakout Nations identified, be prepared for a surprise. Read the book to learn more, and open your mind to new ideas and thoughts.

Child Labour

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as five years of age were forced to work in production factories with dangerous and fatal conditions. The same understanding of children working as labour is now considered as Child Labour.

In India, According to census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crore working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to the total population of 25.2 crore. However, there are 12 lac children working in hazardous conditions. This problem of child labour continues to be a woe for Indian Government. Government has taken various pro-active measures to tackle this problem but it seems that the efforts of government have borne the desired fruits and it requires much more effort.

Poverty and lack of education are the main cause of Child Labour in India. Parents force their child to work in factories, hotels, restaurants to earn money. Most of the children start working just after they know how to walk which affects their whole life. This has become a tradition for poor people. They feel that this is their work and only medium of earning money.

I was travelling to Dehradun and suddenly I looked at a ‘dhaba’ where around 15 children between 5-15 years of age were working as a waiter. Few of them were washing glasses and plates and the others cleaning tables and serving food. Owner of that restaurant was proudly seated on counter and charging money from the people. Then I thought what could be the reason for these kids to work here? May be the owner find it a very cheap and dedicated labour or there might be the family conditions of these kids. However, whatever was the reason this issue is what makes a child life hell.

Many of us visit restaurants or barber shop, saying loudly ‘Oe chotu idhar aa’ and giving them work as they are not human beings. No, friends this is not humanity. We should join hands together to stop this problem in our country. One should not depend on government measures or actions. ‘We the citizens of this country’ have every right to stop this. Many government committees in India like Gurupadswamy Committee is working on the issue of Child Labour and suggesting measures to tackle it.

It is not about other kids, it is about a nation and future of millions. One should not think, why should I care about others I am happy in my life. Friends there is a famous saying ‘One man can change the entire nation’. Now a day’s every man is saying only one man name i.e. Narendra Modi and once a time in his life he was a tea vendor and now the PM of a country. So one should not underestimate a child and let them force to work before they know what life is all about.

There is a famous slogan – “Children are surprise gift from given by god, open, and bring them forward for all good things.”