Jack Welch & the GE Way

Recently, I finished reading this book and it is the most interesting book on Management Insights and Leadership secrets of the Legendary CEO Jack Welch. Robert Slater has contributed so well and it is his second book on Jack Welch. GE is the most valuable company in the world and Jack Welch, GE’s CEO is the most acclaimed CEO of the world. This book tells in details the Welch Strategies and Management Secrets. Under his leadership, GE became the first company in the world to apply six-sigma strategy in their work.

This book also offers a rare look into the mind of Jack Welch illuminating his vision and prescriptions for the future of business. Slater has highlighted the GE revolution of achieving double-digit growth in a boundary less organization and feature over 30 of Jack Welch’s leadership secrets. Jack Welch does not believe in sitting still. His innovative, breakthrough leadership strategies as CEO have transformed GE into a highly productive and labor efficient powerhouse. One of the good quotes in this novel is “Act like a leader not a manager.”

One of the Welch strategies that I like in this book is – “Welch was open to take feedback from every employee of his organization, starting from a labor employee to a General Manager.” Companies will do well to with this advice on how to foster an open ended, informal work atmosphere that will encourage employees to speak out, breaking down the walls of hostility between managers and subordinates.

His commitment towards the organization motivates his employees. Welch commitment and dedication for the company came when he said, “GE will be the top most production company in the sector, otherwise GE will stop producing products.” This statement and vision of Jack Welch drives GE into the top Fortune 500 companies. In 1997, GE led Business week list of all companies worldwide in market value for the second consecutive year and achieved near top ranking of the most profitable companies in the U.S.

This book gives an overview of Welch philosophy on how to manage and how not to manage and covers topics such as building a market-leading company, forging the boundary less organization, harnessing people for competitive advantage, pushing service, and globalization for double-digit growth. 

Indian E-commerce Train

Indian e-commerce is projected to explode from $10 Billion to $43 Billion in the next five years. There are eleven categories and within them 42 players that are poised to shape this blazing path. Let us look at e-commerce industries in different categories, their investors, and funding raised by them.

The first in the category of e-commerce is Market Place. This multi category segment is on fire this year. The largest pie of the line retail ecosystem is drawing the maximum risk capitals and eyeballs. The top three players – Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon are expected to do $4 Billion in sales this fiscal. All multi category players are on the Inventory less market place model. They are all investing heavily in warehouses and delivery. They are making acquisitions. Their focus is now on growth and less on profitability. Investors in Flipkart are Accel and Tiger Global. Investors in ShopClues are Nexus Venture and Helion Ventures. Snapdeal investors are Kalaari, Nexus Venture, Intel Capital, Bessemer, eBay, and Premji Invest.

The second category in the list is Travel. If multi product players have the eyeballs then travel portals have the wallet. At around $8 Billion, online travel accounted for 70% of the overall Indian e-commerce market in 2013. Three shifts are underway, one with air tickets becoming a staple, travel portals are turning their focus to hotel bookings and travel packages. There is a growing emphasis on smartphone traffic and applications. Big players are Cleartrip, Expedia, Ibibo, IRCTC, Makemytrip, RedBus, and Yatra. Investors in Cleartrip are Concur Technologies and Reliance Ventures. Investors in Makemytrip are SAIF partners, Tiger Global. Investors in RedBus are Naspers. Yatra investors are Capital 18, Norwest, Intel Capital, IDG Ventures, Vertex, and Valiant Capital.

The other category in Indian e-commerce is Fashion. After electronics, fashion and lifestyle is the largest industry in online retail with a 25% share. Myntra and Jabong are the leaders competing fiercely with discounts and for exclusive brand partnerships. Myntra is launching private labels including Roadster and Dressberry. With external brands give up to 35% and in house labels go up to 60%. Jabong is in partnerships with international brands and designers. Other players are Yepme, Fab Alley, and Zovi. Investors in Jabong are Rocket Internet. Investors in Myntra are Kalaari, Accel, Tiger Global, IDG Ventures, and Premji Invest. Investors in Yepme are Helion Ventures. Investors in Zovi are SAIF Partners and Tiger Global.

Furniture is the third largest segment in e-commerce. The value of goods sold by leading players is on course to increase 3-4 times this fiscal. Pepperfry and Urban Ladders are the leaders. Among market places, Snapdeal has launched and Flipkart, Amazon are exploring. In this industry, players need to build a specialized supply chain and help in building the manufacturer ecosystem. Pepperfry is working with manufactures to build furniture that can be assembled on delivery. Other players are FabFurnish and Zansaar. Investors in FabFurnish are Rocket Internet. Investors in Pepperfry are Norwest and Bertelsmann. Investors in Urban Ladder are Steadview, SAIF Partners, and Kalaari Capital. Investors in Zansaar are Accel and Tiger Global.

With an estimated market of $350-400 Billion, the grocery segment is larger than anything else is. It is also challenging. One needs to build Hyper-local sourcing, warehouses, and supply chain. Expansions across regions are staggered. The exception is BigBasket, which is in three cities. Other players are Ekstop, LocalBanya, IndiaMart, Homogennie, and Zopnow. Investors in BigBasket are Ascent Capital and K Ganesh. Investor in Ekstop is Unilazer. Investor in LocalBanya is Karmvir Avant Group. Zopnow investors are Accel Partners, Qualcomm, and Times Group.

Hyper-local market is the other growing category in India. Even if big players enter into market then also small shops and establishments will make a large percentage of sales. Platforms like Just Dial, Findable, PriceBaba, and Zopper are looking to bring them online in multiple ways. BookMyShow is doing the same with ticket bookings in arts and entertainment. Just dial the largest local search player with revenues of Rs. 561 crore in 2013-14 extended into transactions this January, enabling services like doctor appointments and flower deliveries. Zopper and PriceBaba are also expanding quickly. With smartphones and data connections, their numbers are expected to increase. Investors in Just Dial are Tiger Global, SAIF Partners, and Sequioa. Investors in Zopper are Tiger Global, Nirvana Ventures, and Blume.

Some e-commerce websites are differentiating by targeting niche customer profiles. GreenDust sells factory second and refurbished consumer electronic products at a 10% - 76% discount to market price. Limeroad is a social shopping platform focused on women that also offers users tools to curate and share collections offline. Onemi sells products only on equated monthly installment even to customers who do not have a credit card. Overcart is also a new startup. Investors in GreenDust are Lightbox Ventures, Vertex, and Reliance. Investors in Limeroad are Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and Lightspeed. Investor in Onemi is VenturEast. Investor in Overcart is K Ganesh, and GSF Superangels.

Other than these, there are some smaller specialists in different categories. First is the Babycare category. Babycare and kids wear products categories are emerging. The leader is Pune based FirstCry. FirstCry is flanking its online presence with stores – 70 running and 30 more coming this year. It is collaborating International brands to provide free hospital kits to parents of newborns in about 6,000 hospitals in top 18 cities. Other players are Babyoye and Hopscotch. Investors in Babyoye are Tiger Global, Accel, and Helion Ventures. Investors in FirstCry are SIAF Partners, IDG Ventures, and Unilazer. Investors in Hopscotch are Lion Rock Capital, and Nisaba Godrej.

Healthcare is one segment where niche portals have managed to build strong franchises. While focus of Healthkart is protein supplements and personal care, that of Lenskart is eye care. It expects post revenue of Rs. 100 crore this fiscal. Other startups in this segment are Healthadda, Helathgenie, and Saralhealth. Investors in Healthkart are Intel Capital, Sequoia, and Kae Capital. Investors in Lenskart are Unilazer Ventures and IDG ventures.

Stores in general, have failed to offer Indian women a wide choice of products or a comfortable shopping experience. Online players are stepping in, offering wide variety of products, new categories like shapewear and the privacy to shop without human contact. China largest category in e retailing is apparel. Online players are PrettySecrets, Koovs, and Zivame. Large players like Flipkart, Myntra could acquire them to make these brands anchor tenants on their website. Investors in PrettySecrets are Rehan Yar Khan. Investors in Zivame are Unilazer Ventures, IDG Ventures, and Kalaari Capital.

India’s appetite for jewellery is growing every year. Players are entering into online platforms and Bluestone, Caratlane are some established players. Investors in Bluestone are Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, and K Ganesh. Investors in Caratlane are Tiger Global. Online business is also growing in Food Chains sector. Platforms like Zomato and TastyKhana are offering in wide categories. While Zomato is into restaurants chains and it is Google of Food, TastyKhana delivers your food in quick span of time. Medical shops are also entering into online selling and delivering of medicines. Apollo Pharmacy, 98.4, and local keepers are entering. In flower delivery service, Ferns & Petals, and other players are emerging. Taxi and Ride booking is also emerging at a rapid pace. Electronic stores, customize printing business, fruits and vegetables,  are some other categories where business is growing. It is expected that after five years everything in India will be available online.

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.

Wealthiest women in Technology Industry

It is not secret that men dominate Silicon Valley. The technical community has finally realized it has a diversity problem. However, women have been in the technology industry for some time now. Many of them are on the top most positions and are among the richest women in the world. Women Entrepreneurship is on a big roll these days. Starting from Oprah Winfrey in US to Ekta Kapoor in India, women’s are doing best in business. In addition, not in Business Industry there are women in Technology Industry who have risen up to lucrative leadership positions.

After a long research, I found some of the wealthiest women in Technology industry. Meg Whitman, she made her fortune at eBay before becoming CEO of HP in 2011. She is the only female tech executive to crack Forbes list of 400 richest Americans. She is reportedly worth $1.9 Billion. Sheryl Sandberg, she made her mark as Facebook Chief Operating Officer. She is also famous for her bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work, and The will to lead. Her net worth hovers $1 Billion. Marissa Mayer, she was the 20^th employee at Google and sits on Wal-Mart’s Board of directors. She became CEO of Yahoo in July 2012. Her net worth estimated at $300 Million.

Ginni Rommety, she became CEO of IBM two years ago. It is very tricky to estimate her net worth. She is worth less than $1 Billion. In 2012, her total compensation was $16.1 Million. Safra Catz, she became an Oracle executive in 1999 and has since then worked her way up and is now the President and CFO. She reports to founder and CEO, Larry Ellison. In 2013, she earned over $44 Million in stock and options. Ursula Burns, she became the first African-American woman in July 2009 to lead a Fortune 500 Company as Xerox CEO and Chairwoman. She started out as an Intern in 1980. Her compensation in 2013 was over $7.5 Million. Susan Wojcicki, she became YouTube CEO after becoming SVP of advertising at Google. Founder Sergey Brin and Larry Page rented her garage as Google’s first Office. Her position at YouTube guarantees her a fortune upwards of $10 Million.

Renee James, she became the president at Intel in 2013 and instantly becoming the most powerful woman in Business and Technology. Before becoming president her total compensation in 2012 was over $15 Million. Amy Hood, she became Microsoft CFO last May and reports to CEO Satya Nadella. Before Transitioning to CFO, Hood led Microsoft’s business team in acquiring big names like Skype and Yammer. Her total compensation neared $7.5 Million. Angela Ahrendts, she became CEO of Burberry and this year joined Apple as Head of Retail and Online Stores. She is the first woman to join CEO Tim Cook’s executive team. She has been awarded $76 Million in stock. Lucy Peng, she is the founder of Alibaba, became the CEO in June after successfully growing its small lending and microfinance operations. The e-commerce company recently announced an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, claiming a value of around $120 Billion. Her fortunes will skyrocket when the company completes its IPO.

These days industries are looking for motivating woman to become Entrepreneurs or hiring women’s for top positions in their companies. To solve diversity problem in Industries, these steps are must to take and not only men’s are good managers; women’s too are good managers. The only difference is their way of working is different.

Pyramid Productions

Entertainment is the part of life. Everywhere around, everyone needs entertainment in some form. It has become the necessity of every individual, in such a hectic work schedule of offices and business. Modes of entertainment are also changing these days. Some are limited to televisions, radio, and at last Internet. A sport is also an entertainment for people in India. However, in present scenario people tend to travel a lot with families to enjoy. Therefore, as a whole travel and entertainment is must in these days. In corporate, Companies take care of entertainment of their employees in order to boost their energy and revive their performance. Award ceremonies, parties, festivals, sports events, and adventurous trips are part of their engagement.

To fulfill this part of companies and colleges, companies are managing events in corporate. I came to know about one such company named “Pyramid Productions.” Young Entrepreneur Ankur Kakkar is the founder of this organization. It is an initiative of expert Event and Travel management, which provide services such as Event Management Services, Creative Communication Services, Corporate Meetings, and Incentive. Pyramid Productions has a dedicated experienced team for specialized services to handle large events. Their team has event management expertise in terms of strong planning, and conceptualizing.

Some of their challenging work highlights are MetLife Family Day 2013, Hotelier Awards 2013, CPA Global Meet 2013, Agilis Family Day 2013, and many more. Other than these, company also handles sports events, promotional events, streets events, awareness programs, and college fests events. Pyramid Production is a regular partner of many companies like MetLife, Agilent Technologies, and Agilis International etc. Recently, concert of Pankaj Udas was organised by Pyramid Production in Delhi.

Organizing an event is not an easy task. It requires a lot of effort to complete a task. From planning to execution, there are ample numbers of works to be completed. Arrangements of goods, completing work within deadline with productivity and most important is planning budget. Pyramid Production has achieved success in many of their projects as named above. They are one of the emerging and top most travel and event management company. Many more events and projects are coming under them and Pyramid Production with Innovative Ideas, Production and Quality will achieve success.

Value of Sports in Life

Past few weeks I have seen many sports being played all around the world. In my opinion, a sport is an organized, competitive, entertaining, and skillful activity requiring commitment and fair play. We learn about sportsmanship, teamwork, and work ethic. Sports play an important role in everyone’s life. It requires lot of effort and practice to be a good sportsman. I believe that participating in sports activities can teach value and life lessons that one can use in life. Behind every sportsman, coaches and parents play an important part. Their guidance and reinforcement will build character instead of creating character.

Leaders are not born they are made and they are made just like anything else, through hard work.

Value of sports is very important. Sports teach us lot of things in life. First is Discipline. Sports can teach a child discipline in a practical way, to learn the skills and maximize performance. It teaches us to do hard work and reach our potential. It also teaches us Sacrifice. There can be instances that one needs to give up in order that someone else will contribute better for the team.

The difference between impossible and possible lies in a man’s determination.

Sports teach us importance of our role in team and life. Single talent in a team cannot lead to victory and it is important in life to work with other’s talent too. It also makes us learn how to build and work in a team. Sports kept political difference aside. It makes us self-reliance and Motivated. It makes us prepare how to achieve goals. It makes us learn what planning to do before competing. Sports also teach us to become good coaches and mentor in one’s life. This is possible by the role of a father, coach, and friend.

Do not measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished by your ability.

Sports makes us know how to prepare and practice. Winning is not important always and sports teach us how to deal with success and failure. One can win only if he knows the taste of lose. This makes him striving for goals and result. Sports also teach us how to overcome adversity and temporary failures through situations faced during competition and in preparing for competition. Each one of us must play a single sport with complete dedication. This will create a better person inside us. It will keep us physically and mentally fit. Before doing any work in life, one must think of Never Giving Up.

Never Give Up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeed.

Earthship

Earthship is a type of passive solar house made up of natural and recycled materials. It is an organization, where people work as volunteer to build 100% sustainable homes that are both cheap and awesome to live in. Mike Reynolds who is the founder of Earthship Biotecture, a company that specializes in designing and building Earthships, started it in 1970. Mike wanted to create a home that would do three things; first, it should be sustainable architecture, using waste material to entire planet as well as recycled materials wherever possible. Second, the home should rely on natural energy sources, free from electrical, and water lines. Finally, it should be economically feasible for the average person with no specialized construction skills to be able to create.

Mainly the walls of Earthship homes are designed by Tires and waste Bottles. These homes are successfully built in UK, Argentina, and Africa. This organization works with unskilled labor and mainly people volunteer to make such homes. They completely work on one aim i.e. Sustainability. There are many reasons that these homes are successful. When people hear about Sustainability, they usually picture primitive homes divorced from comforts of 21^st century. Earthships, offer all of the comforts of modern homes and more. Each home is outfitted with one or two greenhouses that grow crops year round, no matter the climate. One can feed himself with vegetables and fruits inside his home. Earthship home have water-recycling systems inside. Waste and Toilet water is again recycled for other use. Most brilliant piece of Engineering is their ability to sustain comfortable temperatures inside homes. Even in cold or blistering hot, Earthships constantly hover around 22 degree Celsius.

Solar panels on the roof and optional wind turbines provide the Earthship with all power it needs. One will never be short of power until one greedily chews electricity. It also provides complete freedom. With no bills and all basic needs provided in the home, one does not have to work a job just to survive. It is easy to build and Earthships are cheap too. The most basic cost is $7000 i.e. in maximum 5 Lakhs one can build a home with all facilities and with no bills for life time. In India, one home is already made in Rishikesh with name “Yogashram.” One can apply and work with this organization by clicking on this link “http://earthshipnetwork.com/.”

Earthships homes are made of waste and recycled materials. The structure is built with tires filled with dirt. The walls are created by placing plastic and glass bottles in concrete. There is a documentary movie, which tells how these homes are built, and what is the concept behind. The movie name is Garbage Warrior. This movie tells how Mike Reynolds struggle the law. The most powerful thing Earthship do is force people to think differently about how we live. If housing can be this awesome, and be beneficial to the environment, then what else can we change? What else can become simpler, cheaper, and better at the same time?

It is time for us to re-think of what we must consider normal.

Life is a Journey

Life is a journey filled with learning’s, fun, excitement, lessons, celebrations, and special moments, which will lead to our destination, our purpose in life. Road to our destination will never be smooth and one has to face many challenges in between. Some of these challenges will test our courage, faith, strengths, and weaknesses. We may stumble in between but to take right path one has to overcome obstacles. One needs to stay positive and overcome his fear to reach his goal.

When things are not in our favor we can do two things, one we sit back and let life pass by or another is we can take out the best from that situation and find lessons to learn. Time stops for no one, and if we focus on negative things then we may miss out many opportunities in life. We cannot go back in past and change situations. We can take out lessons from the situations and can make best out of it.

In our journey, we meet many people. Those people are destined to meet. Everybody comes in our life for some reason whether it is a friend, teacher, mentor, or any other person. We do not know their purpose in our life until it is too late. They play some kind of role in our life. Some people remains forever in our life and some stay for a short while. However, people who stay for a short period in our life can sometimes makes lasting impression in our life. We may not realize at that time but it will make a change in our life.

I meet many people in my life. Some of them remain for a short time and some become close friends. There is a bitter truth in life we enjoy companies of those people, who we may think has a purpose in our life. As a human we should thank each person we meet in our life because every aspect in life teach a lesson and that is how our life is a journey.

Memories are priceless treasures that we can cherish in our heart. They also enable us to continue in our journey. Throughout your journey in life, people will give advice, share things with you, hurt you, love you, and it is the way to reach destination. There are people in our life that will make us to learn to overcome fear and give respect. At that time, one could not realize that lesson but its effects will come later on in our life and then we will say thank you to those people in our heart. There is one of my favorite dialogues from a Bollywood movie- “kahin par pahuchne k lei kahin se nikalna both jaruri hota h.” To reach a destination it is important to get out from a situation and we should do it on time. That is how life goes on and completes a journey.

Think before you act

Before you accuse or abuse

    Ascertain the truth

Before you blame or betray

              Built the character

Before you criticize or condemn

              Clarify the doubt

Before you dispute or dissociate

               Discuss the issue

Before you enforce or eradicate

                Exchange the thought

Before you find the fault or fight

                Foresee the result

Before you gossip or grumble

                Gather the evidence

Before you hate or harass

                Harmonize the relation

Before you instigate or insult

                Improve the attitude

Before you joke or jeer

                Justify the comment

Before you kick or knock

                Know the circumstances

Before you linger or litigate

                Listen the opponent

Before you muck or misbehave

                Modify the approach

Before you negate or neglect

                Normalize the condition

Before you Xerox or X-ray

                Examine the original

Before you Yap or yell

                Earn the peace

Before you zigzag

             Zoom for the external bliss 

Kalyanasundaram – Man of Millennium

Money is not everything in life. For some people, happiness and serving society is the only concern. No one around us can donate his entire life earning to a NGO or for some other social cause but one man, Palam Kalyanasundaram did it.

Born at Melakarivelamkulam in Thirunelveli district of Tamilnadu, Kalyanasundaram lost his father at an early age and after that it was his mother who inspired him to serve poor people. One can serve poor people by donating money in charity programs or by helping poor people but no one can donate his entire life earnings. This needs a lot of courage and strength.

Palam Kalyanasundaram is a bachelor and a gold medalist in the library science. He also holds a masters degree in literature and history. During his 35-year long career at Kumarkurupara Arts College at Srivaikuntam, he diligently and willingly donated his salary month after month towards charity and did odd jobs to meet his daily needs. Even after retirement, he works as a waiter in a hotel in exchange of two meals a day and a salary so that he could continue to donate to orphanages and to children’s educational fund.

He was awarded for his service to humanity. The union government honored him as the best librarian in India. The International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, has honored him as one of the ‘noblest of the world’ and the United Nations adjudged him as one of the most outstanding people of the 20^th century. He also received Man of the Millennium award and LifeTime of Service Award from Rotary Club of India in 2011.

For him life is not just about earning money, it is serving people and help children so that they can get proper education. He always says that, there are three ways of earnings. First is through earnings, second are through parents earnings and third is through donating money for charity. He also received many awards and donated 30 crore of prize money he got for these honors. Many superstars and businessperson in India do same kind of social work. South Indian actor Rajnikanth also does social work, but he is also inspired by Kalyanasundaram Life works and adopted him as his father.

He lives a very simple life in Chennai, works in office at Adyar regularly, and does whatever he can for the uplift of the unprivileged people. His life story is very motivating and inspiring. Friends we do not know that such people exist around us but such people are there in India who wants to do something for society and country. One must learn from his story that money is not everything in life if one has decided that he will do something for his country then he can do it, no power or situation will stop him to do.

Make Less Waste and Save Environment

“Our land is our mother” – it is a very old quote. Land gives us whatever we need. It gives us food, fruits, survival, money, and shelter. However, are we giving anything good to land except waste and dirt? Based on statistics, around 8000 metric tonne waste is produce on a regular basis and it is dump outside cities. People living in outside skirts areas are the most affected. For poor people it is a medium of earning money. Daily rag pickers search for materials to earning money.

Last week while travelling, I was shocked to see Delhi landfills near the by-pass area. It was like a huge mountain and poor people were searching and filling rags. It was very difficult to breathe in that area. It not only affects environment but also the health of peoples living in that area. Every people living on this planet produce this waste. The day is not far when we will see negative impacts of this waste on our planet. Increase in global warming is the common example of this. One cannot burn this waste because the gases, which will be there after burning, will kill million of people. The impacts of this waste are on surface water contamination. Water bodies are being polluted and this affects all ecosystems existing in water. Another impact is increase in pollution and Delhi is termed as most polluted city in year 2014. Hazardous chemicals that get into soil harm plants and trees. Animals are also affected by this waste produced by us because they also feed themselves in the waste.

Waste and dust also have an economic impact. Everyone wants to visit clean, healthy environment places but because of increase in waste, there are no such places around us. A city with poor sanitation, smelly and with waste matter all over the place does not attract good people, investors, and tourists. Such cities tend to have poor living standards.

The only solution of this problem is to make less waste and utilize more of the waste material. This is possible only when each one of us joins hands and takes regular measures to make less waste. This, not only will save our environment but also will have healthy living standard. Another solution is recycling of this waste. Government need to invest in recycling and proper waste control. This will also increase job opportunities for people and we can live in a healthy environment. Adopting sustainability is also an important measure to save environment.

There is a famous quote said by Mahatma Gandhi – “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

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.”

PERSONALITY

The word “Personality” comes from a Greek word “Persona” which means, “mask.” “Persona” was used in play by Greek Stage Players to present them, as they wanted to be. Hence, here we come to know that whatever is presented by us is only our personality.

According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English your personality is the type of person you are, which is shown by the way you behaved, feed, and think.

“Personality,” according to the Longman Dictionary of contemporary English, is the whole nature or character of a person.

How a person behaves, feels, and thinks, how he conducts himself in a given set of circumstances is largely determined by the state of his mind. When we sit for a few minutes trying to pray or think of a divine name or form, our mind start wondering, thinking about some past event or some plans.

Swami Vivekananda once said: Free! We who cannot for a moment govern our own mind, cannot hold our minds on a subject, and focus it on a point to the exclusion of everything else for a moment! Yet we call over selves free. According to the Bhagawad Gita, the indiscipline mind acts as our enemy, whereas a trained main acts as our friend too. Therefore, we need to have a clear idea of the mechanism of our mind, as it will contribute to the under-development our personality.

The following famous quotation of Swami Vivekananda can be our mantra for Personality development. “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest his divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal” and “Strengthening of will power is the essence of Personality development.” Faith in oneself, positive thoughts, attributes towards failure and mistakes, self-reliance, Ruination, and service are some essential qualities for Personality development. Therefore, if want to develop our Personality. We must furnish our behaviour first and should have above-mentioned qualities.

A Poor Man Labour of Love

Dashrath Manjhi, a poor man from Bihar (India) made history when he chisels down a mountain in two decades. He uses his tools to create path for his community members. He is also known as Mountain Man. Everyday villagers from his town had to travel to other village to earn money, which was 70 kms away. One day his wife died due to an accident on mountain and he could not reach hospital because it was 70 kms away in the other town. This loss made the ambitious man to focus on his task.

If you are looking for an inspirational and motivational story then do not go far. Being an illiterate there was no option for him except to work in fields but the spark in him set out to carve a 1mk-long path through a rocky hillside, in order to make easier for his fellow villagers to access schools, markets, hospitals, and neighboring villages. People started taunting him in the beginning and called him mad for such a task but it was not possible for anyone to stop him. Now people in Bihar had nothing to say except “Mountain Man”.

With his chisel, hammer, and shovel this legendary man turned what was once a precarious one-foot wide passage into a 360 ft-long, 30 ft-wide road accessible by bicycles. Children had to walk eight kilometers to reach schools but that this brave man reduced distance to three kilometers.

Friends we always say “akela insaan kya pahad tod dega.” However, here is the answer of this old saying. Out of 1.2 billion population of our country, no one would dare to do such a task in today’s time but the man did it for his villagers and wife. This is such a motivational and inspirational story that no one would ever forget. He never received any compliments from Indian government except the path was named as “Dashrath Manjhi Road” in Gaya, Bihar.

In July 2010, director Manish Jha announced a film, Manjhi, based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been cast in the lead role in the film Mountain Man. Dashrath Manjhi story was also shown in Aamir Khan’s show Satyamev Jayate Season 1. I was so inspired by this story that it made me feel what am I doing for my country? One should take inspiration from this movie that if a person can carve out mountain alone then one can do anything in his life.

Source: Satyamev Jayate. 

Mother's Love

She was suffering the most painful torment,

Her cries were the beginning of happiness.

At last it came to an end

And brought joy which she could not express.

TEARS OF HAPPINESS….

Now a new cry would be heard, a delightful music for her.

It’s a baby boy everybody said,

The baby’s beauty was eternal.

TEARS OF HAPPINESS….

She adored the baby sapling

Daily showered drops love on him.

She provided him with warmth feeling.

And her love never grew dim.

TEARS OF HAPPINESS….

She supported the tiny foot’s walking.

She changed baby’s stammering to speak.

She gave him the joy of playing.

Tears rolled as he started his schooling.

TEARS OF HAPPINESS….

She made him sincere and dedicated,

“You have to become a great man”

Was what she always repeated.

Dreams turned true when he became businessman.

TEARS OF HAPPINESS….

But this tuned to be a nightmare,

He gave the pain she could not bare.

Earning money became his only aim,

For that he was not playing fair game.

NOW TEARS OF PAIN….

She began to lose her health,

But son was busy earning wealth.

He could give the best doctor’s aid,

But forgot he was his mother’s only sustain.

TEARS OF PAIN….

Her eyes starved to see her son,

But heart tried to support his run,

Finally, her breaths stopped taking ache,

Of searching a son in a magnate.

TEARS OF PAIN….

Bit’s of memories was what she had,

Which brought smile in her last moment.

Did she mean this when she said

“You have to become a great man”.

Happy Mother's Day..