Saaf Niti, Sahi Vikas

Many experts in politics expected a hung parliament in 2019. However, the people of India judged the Prime Minister on his government’s five years performance from 2014-19.

“The left kept telling us about the social problems; they kept talking but did nothing. We are the ones who delivered”, said Narendra Modi in his thanking speech at the BJP headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road in Delhi on 23^rd May 2019.

In the last five years, Modi government not only revised passed growth to show a better GDP performance but also kept control on deficits, subsidies, debt, inflation and prices. No matter what the journalists talk about, but the reality at ground has seen a change. Some of the top schemes which the Narendra Modi’s government implemented has helped them connect with masses. 

Let’s have a look how Narendra Modi’s report card read in the last 5 years through some of the schemes that he launched

1. Ayushman Bharat: The health insurance scheme launched on September 23, 2018, has already benefited 10 lakh poor patients and was one of the key game-changer on 2019 Lok Sabha elections. More than 500 million Indians who could not afford medical treatment for non-communicable illnesses like cancer and heart disease now have access to free healthcare.
   
2. Rural electrification: The Modi government’s push to provide last-mile connectivity to hard-to-access rural clusters has been fairly successful. However, several villages cited as connected to the electrical grid still have households without power. Part of the problem is that some villages lie in areas controlled by Naxalites in states such as Chattisgarh and Jharkhand while in others the terrain makes access difficult.
   
3. Free LPG cylinders: Under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, women in villages now have access to cooking gas. This has both health and economic benefits. Over 60 million free LPG connections have been given with nearly 50 per cent going to SC/ST households.
   
4. Sanitation: The Swachh Bharat Mission has built toilets at an unprecedented pace. Since October 2014, over 92 million toilets have been constructed, covering nearly 500 million households in one of the world’s largest operations of its kind. Cultural habits, however, mean that open-air defecation remains endemic. Many newly-built toilets lack sewage facilities; others are being used as storage rooms. Nonetheless, a beginning has been made.
   
5. Digital transfer of subsidies: This has cut out most (though not all) middlemen who routinely siphoned off large chunks of benefits due to the poor. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, had famously said in December 1985, while addressing the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Congress, that only 15 paise out of every rupee in subsidies reaches the poor. With digitised transfers that figure has probably risen to 75 paise. However, lack of Internet connectivity in rural areas, combined with limited digital literacy among farmers and labourers, often leave them at the mercy of local officials to access their money electronically.
   
6. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code: The legislation, enacted in December 2016, is the silver bullet to tackle India’s chronic problem of non-performing assets. Banks have begun to recover debts that had seemingly turned irretrievably bad.
   
7. Infrastructure development: There has been a steep rise in building roads, highways and metro networks as well as housing for the poor. These are long-term initiatives but the benefits are already visible. According to fact-checking sites, 12km of highways were constructed in 2013-14. This pace more than doubled to 27km per day in 2017-18.

The current prime minister has achieved more than any of his predecessor in the history of India. First time the young generation in India looked up at the political leadership with respect and felt a nationalist fervor. This has not happened for decades. The image of a politician up till now was that of a goon with loads of black money who is able to secure a seat and out to loot the people. But the current government has been able to change that impression.

Will DEMOCRACY survive in India?

Ever since India got its independence in 1947, several statesmen wrote obituary for Indian Democracy. There were common apprehensions that India would ever be able to survive as a country.  

Winston Churchill, for example, predicted that after the British left the subcontinent, "India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages". J. E. Welldon, the Bishop of Calcutta in 1915 quoted, “As soon as the last British Soldier sailed from Bombay or Karachi, India would soon become a battlefield for antagonist racial and religious forces .The peaceful and progressive civilisation setup by Great Britain  would shrivel up in a night”.

Seventy One years after independence, India somehow survives but it remains an unnatural nation and for few people, an unlikely democracy.  We opted for democracy as our political system. But many people keep wondering – how democratic is Indian polity?

Democratic theory mentions that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarchical social structure are inhospitable conditions for the functioning of democracy. Yet except for those 18 months in 1975-77, India has maintained its democratic institutions ever since it became independent. When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended democracy in June 1975 and declared a state of emergency, it seemed that India was finally starting down the path that most of the world's poorer democracies had already traveled. Yet democracy returned 18 months later, and emergency rule proved to be an abnormality rather than an emerging structural trend.  

Last year, I was travelling from Bangalore to Pavagada in Karnataka, a 3 hours long journey. Early on, my car was held up by a level crossing. A goods train passed by leisurely, and I read the signs on the wagons - SR, NR, SCR, SER, WR - the ‘R’ standing for ‘Railway’, the other letters for the different regional branches of India's greatest and most genuinely public-service organization. In the course of their wanderings over the years, the wagons had got all mixed up, so that one which rightfully belonged to the Northern Railway was placed next to one that was the property of the South Central Railway, and so on. It was typical that the wagons belonging to different regional branches of Indian Railways had got so messed up; but that there was an Indian Railways to which all those branches owed allegiance signalled a unity amidst the diversity.

I feel there are 4 critical reason (in no particular order) for democracy for India to survive. The first is the game of cricket - an Indian sport accidentally invented by the west which keeps the people united. The second is the bollywood industry, another great popular passion that unites Indians of different languages, faiths and social classes together. Third, there are some vital unifying legacies of the Britishers, such as Civil Services, Defense Services (Army, Air force and Navy) and the English language, which allow goods and people to move more or less peaceably across India, and to traffic with one another. The fourth, and in my view most crucial, reason why a united and democratic India survives is the constitution.

That unity and pluralism are inseparable in India and in wonderfully expressed in the Indian currency graphically, which has a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on one side of all banknotes, with the denomination of the note printed in bold in Hindi and English and, in smaller type, in 15 other scripts.

A decade back, it was difficult to find solution to the common man’s problems. If a government teacher did not teach properly, could the parents do anything about it? Or if a doctor in a government hospital did not treat properly or did not give medicines? What could a poor person do if the ration shop keeper openly sold off the ration somewhere else? Or what could any one of us do if the policeman refused to register any FIR?

Today, the situation the different. Social Media has played a critical role in reliving the democracy. Who would have imagined that a person travelling on a train would tweet to a railway minister and seek help to arrange milk for his child and railway minister would get it arranged for this person who tweeted. 

Right to Information was also another concrete step towards making our polity democratic. The system will become more democratic when a common person will have more direct involvement in government decision making and when government would start co-creating policies 

Digitalization and HR

Its been a while now that we have been hearing the buzz words like Big Data, Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. These are terms which relates to Digitalization process that we are experiences in our day to day transactions whether at office or at a market place. As per KPMG’s Digital Transformation Report 2017, 79% of organizations worldwide believed that ‘advance technologies’ are a must have within the next 5 years.  

After the fall of Kodak and Nokia, all organizations are focusing on how to adopt to changing technologies and practices in order to remain relevant and sustainable. This is the reason why many organizations are looking at digitalizing their systems, their products or simply ensuring that they have the right skills for the future or how can the organizations develop more agile ways of working.

As per Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trend Report 2017, in the digital age there will be a dual challenging role for HR – One is to transform HR Operations and second is to transform the workforce and the way work is done.

HR’s impact in the digital world will be critical and will be in three spaces:

·       Digital Workforce – Designing talent practices, hiring digitally savvy employees and creating a culture of innovation.

·       Digital Workplace - Enabling productivity through modern communication tools and softwares.

·       Digital HR – Developing and implementing digital tools and apps to deliver HR solutions and innovations.

It will be imperative to have special (customized) human resources software that will help us effectively manage talent as well as optimize our plans and strategies based on data.

There are four pillars for digital transformation:

• Mindset – The willingness and enthusiasm to adopt digitalization
• People – The skills and competencies among the workforce to adopt digitalization
• Processes – The strategies for communicating and effective change
• Technology – The actual software tools

The weightage of Technology impacting the digital transformation will not be more than 10%. It’s the people, mindset and processes that will account for rest 90% where HR will have a value to add.

A major set of employees in the organizations (specially in India and developing countries) have a fear that machines or softwares will take away their jobs. HR would have a critical role in counselling these set of employees through soft skills and skill enhancement which would enable them to make them better and look at all growth possibilities lying ahead of them. It will be important for HR professionals to have an integration plan, starting with transparency and communicating the advantages of the transformation to the employees.

In most countries like India where the legal compliance is so complex and ever-changing that employee administration still accounts for most of the HR function’s daily work. Hence, HR processes should be among the first to be digitized and outsourced. In North America and Western Europe today, at least 30% of companies already outsource their payroll management and the trend is growing. In Belgium outsourcing reaches 90%.

Hence, it will not be incorrect in saying that HR will be one of the key buttons to activate in the digital transformation process.

How I Plan To Make You Happy Every Day Of Your Life

Dear My (Future) Wife,

The first time I thought I would fall in love and get married was when I was 8 years old. I envisioned a life where I would meet you by the time I turn 27.

The reason I am writing this today is because I can’t stop thinking about you and I can’t stop myself from imagining how happy we will be in the days to come with our togetherness. Let this letter be a promise to you that I will do my best to be the man I want to be for you:

• I promise to make your smile my priority
• I promise I will always look at you with the same adoration as I did the moment I realized I loved you.
• I promise to try to ignite the same sparkle in your eyes I see when you’re surprised, inspired, motivated
• I promise to hold your hand when we’re 80 years old with the same liveliness that I did when I crossed that line to hold yours for the first time.
• I promise to do my best always to interest you.
• I promise to keep reinventing myself, gaining new hobbies, new knowledge and new interests to keep you and myself - Entertained.
• I promise to have new stories to share with you, and maybe I’ll retell the best ones again if you insist.
• I promise to keep our friendship growing over the years
• Even in grief and darkness, I promise to show you the different shades of the dark, and to help you find the tiny rays of light that are always there if you seek them.
• I promise to play the games you like to play.
• I promise to love your family as you love them and to be by their side as much as I am by yours.
• I promise to always listen to you when you simply just want to be heard; when you want someone to vent to about something or when you want advice regarding the new dress that you would order on Amazon or Flipkart.
• I promise to cook and clean for us (sometimes).
• I promise to create family traditions and to make sure that your legacy lives forever through our child.
• I have pictured my life with the person I am committed to – YOU.

Sincerely, 

Your (Future) Husband

RED

As a child, I loved Red Cherries, Red Balloons, Red ketchup with hot samosa’s, Red Toys. Red was the colour of my mother’s bindi. Red – the cross on doctor’s car. Red Mehendi, Red Frocks, Red Roses, Red Candy Bars, Red Crayons. Red was beauty, was love, was passion, was energy, was dreams...  

And then I grew up... And something changed. Goodness of Red escaped from a crack and it became the colour of shame and the colour of pain. I was around 12 years old when I saw a red river flowing between my thighs. I was frightened, I was confused. I thought I had blood cancer.

I never imagined that this blood would become my life-long adversary. That Red would become my vengeance.   My life would be full of ‘DON’Ts’.  Don’t walk like that. Don’t talk to boys. Don’t dress like that. Don’t think like that. Ssshhhh... Don’t speak about those things. Don’t go out late. Don’t go to the kitchen. STOP..!! Don’t Pray.

Five long days – the days of impurity. Living life like an untouchable. [PS: We got independence in 1947 but we still make the female in our society untouchable every 5 days a month]. Living life like I didn’t exist. Five long days that I had to bear of my own. Uncertain, Uncomfortable, Painful, Ignored. Five long days that even God wiped me off his list. Can you imagine the horror of a 12 year old child? 

She suddenly discovers that she has become a woman? It’s nothing beautiful? Isn’t she beautiful anymore? She feels tainted, she feels ashamed. And I was not the only one. There were and there are many like me who step into puberty not knowing that their bodies are the most beautiful vessels. Vessels with the power to bring forth human-beings.  

Surrounded by myth and burdened by a taboo, they consider themselves a curse. They learn no hygiene. Rags, Ashes, Leaves - they use any means to remove all traces of shame. The drop out of schools. They withdraw into themselves. They wonder why their body limits them? Who clipped their wings? For humanity to live, they bleed.  

They have thousands of questions but yet they are scared to raise a voice. Too ashamed to think. But they need to be told that they are children like any other. Womanhood is not witch. Puberty means life. Menstruation is not a disease. With care, understanding and knowledge, give her the strength to untangle the chains to break the societal taboo. Talk to her, discuss it. Tell her that she has a magic within her. Tell her that the RED blood which comes from her will one day help another heart, beat.

Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.

The state of our environment is critical to human health and survival. Human beings depend on the environment for food, clean air, and water. Our diet includes plants and animals whose survival and safety depend on the state of the environment. Environmental pollution destroys ecosystems that are important to human health and part of our food chain. In additional, the environment is the source of natural resources that nations require for economic growth. Nations create wealth by trading their natural resources and products of such resources with other nations.

The Theme for World Environment Day for 2012 was ‘Think, Eat and Save’.  Think, Eat and Save was an anti-food waste and food loss campaign which was launched to encourage everybody to reduce their food print. The impact of food waste is not just financial. Environmentally, food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides; more fuel used for transportation; and more rotting  food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change.

Retailers’ strict cosmetic standards result in rejection of food items not perfect in shape or appearance. Consumers’ waste food through excess purchase and careless eating behaviors’. If food is wasted; it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost.

A recent study by the Indian Institute of Public Administration on the wastage of food during social gatherings in national capital region Delhi, shows that rising economic prosperity makes people indulge in extravagance and ostentatious behavior during social events and people do not mind throwing away food, but the menu has to be extensive as any shortage would affect their so-called honor and respect in society. Also, celebrations of plethora of festivals in Indian societies waste food on such occasions as it is prepared on a large scale.

Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, it is expected out of us to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices that we all make and empowers all of us to make informed decisions. The objective rallies us to take action from our homes and then witness the power of collective decisions which we and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient.

Although governments bear the responsibility of protecting the environment, all citizens have a role to play in keeping the environment clean and safe.

I would urge you to look for wastages happening around in your vicinity, in canteens, at office get together, at guest houses, in your own house or when you go out to eat in a restaurant. Think of innovative ways to reduce food wastages and you would be doing your bit to save the world

Towards a Digital India

Date: 19^th April 2016

To,
Shri Narendra Modi,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,

New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Greetings.

I hope that this letter finds you in best of health and spirit.

First of all, a hearty congratulations to you and your entire team for doing a wonderful work for the country. I follow each of your agenda and I feel proud in sharing that your actions and efforts inspire me every day.

I am writing this email to share a suggestion with you. I am highly ambitious about the fact that you have shown us a dream of ‘Digital India’. With the action plans and strategies which you have planned, I am certain that in future, Digitization will become an integral part of our lives. The drive for automation and other advancements such as artificial intelligence in each sector will transform the country and at the same time drive our economy to a greater level.

I would like to bring to your notice that Companies Act 2013 and SEBI regulations state that any Company shall maintain all records as per the Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Regulations for not less than 8 (Eight) Years and all these documents to be preserved at the Registered Office of the Organization. While in the age of Digitization, I believe that preserving these documents in physical form should not be a mandatory clause as per the Companies Act and SEBI guidelines. I would request you and your team to propose an amendment in the Companies Act 2013 and SEBI Guidelines by passing an amendment in the upcoming session of Parliament or through Cabinet approval that these documents can be acceptable in digital form (soft copy stored on company server/cloud) as well.

Sir, you will agree with me that as a digitized country, it will be very heartening to see that no matter which whichever branch or office of any company that you visit, you will be able to access these documents and audit as per government guidelines if we store those documents in soft form rather than maintaining it at physical form. 

I hope my suggestion will be looked upon and implemented.

Jai Hind..!

Cc:       

1. Mr. Ravishankar Prasad, Hon'ble Minister Department of Telecom

2. Mr. Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Minister of Corporate Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting

3. Mr. Jayant Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance

4. Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry

Regards,

Varinder Singh

A proud citizen of India

Mumbai

Book Review: Beyond the Last Blue Mountain by R.M.Lala

Russi M. Lala, the author of the book – Beyond the last blue mountain who was also known for his books on the house of Tata also happened to be a good friend of an aviator, an entrepreneur, an industrialist, a visionary, a reformer, a leader and a patriot – Shri J R D Tata. Beyond the Last Blue Mountain is a biography of J R D which is divided into 4 sections,. The first section of the book talks about J R D's family heritage and the circumstances of his birth and his childhood days along with his growth as the assistant to one of the directors at Tata Steel as well as his courtship with Thelma Vicaji.  J R D was born at Paris on 29th July 1904.

The second section shares the stories of rise of Tata Airlines as J R D’s brainchild and then, its nationalization into Air India and subsequently to Air India International. The book also mentions that J R D was the first Indian to have flown from Karachi to Bombay, when he founded the Tata Airlines in 1932, the forerunner of Air India which is today the national airliner. The book also showcases a copy of his driving license which has the No. 1 printed on it.

The third section talks about the how J R D has made a conglomerate grow, which takes a credit of providing the services and products to the world ranging from salt to software. Under his chairmanship, ‘M’ was replaced by ‘B’ (The Tata Group grew from 100 Million dollar company to 5Billion dollar company). J R D started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on July 26, 1988, when he left, Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had controlling interest.

The final section of the book throws light on J R D as a loving patriarch, a bobel citizen and an inspiring leader of men. The book also proves that one need not be a politician or activist or civil servant to serve the nation. J R D lived a life full of inspiring stories for the world and proved to this world as how a business man can serve the nation for which the Government of India conferred him with the highest award of the country – The Bharat Ratna in 1992. The book has also been successful in bringing on the table the details about the industrial, social and political history of 20th century India.

Ever since, he landed at India, he kept on adding new dimensions to this nation. Creating employments for lakhs of people in the world and working with a motive which aimed only at nation development, talks about the magnanimity and the generosity of the spirit named ‘Jehangir Ratanji DadabhoyTata.’ The Indian Air Force conferred the rank of Air Commodore on J R D Tata and later promoted him to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. 

The book inspires me and makes me feel proud to be a part of his legacy and I pledge to sustain this legacy.           

Letter to Minister of Human Resource Development – Govt. of India,

To,

Ms. Smriti Zubin Irani,
Hon’ble Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha &
Minister of Human Resource Development – Govt. of India,
New Delhi
India

Subject: Feedback - All India College Rankings

Honourable Madam,

I hope that this letter finds you in best of health and spirit. Please accept my compliments and appreciation for the efforts being put by you and your team to arrive at All India Rankings for Colleges in Engineering, Medical and Pharmacy Category and also the All India University Rankings. More than anybody else, the parents of the kids seeking admission for their children will get benefited and relaxed to decide upon the future of their wards. As a citizen of India, I am very proud of the way the present government is taking up steps to bring ‘Ache din.’ It is a fact that development cannot happen in a day or two but it is essential that any step which is taken should be aimed at it. Your ministry like many other colleagues of your party are not leaving any stone unturned. Whether it’s Railways, External Affairs, Finance or Defence for that matter, each of the team members of Team NaMo are consistently raising the bar to redefine their own performance. I wish each one of your luck and best wishes for the tough challenges ahead. You will continue to receive brickbats from the opposition but as a citizen of India, I have accepted this Government with open arms. These days, the opposition team doesn’t even bother us because we know that the government is working for this country’s development.

Madam, I would like to share few suggestions which I think may help you and your team in the next All India College Rankings. I am certain that rankings will certainly close the shop of some sold media houses which have shown few colleges (after charging them lakhs of rupees) as the best in the country which didn’t even exist 10 year ago or nor do this exist today. I would also like to share that while your team has evaluated all the colleges in the country but there are some good one’s which got missed out in the list. Some of them include: TISS – Mumbai, IIFT – Delhi, FMS – Delhi, XIM – Bhubaneswar, IRMA – Gujarat, NMIMS – Mumbai to name a few. There could be several reasons that these colleges doesn’t feature in your list. The list published by you also contains few names which do not deserve to be there at this point of time. May be they will require some more years to reach there. May be, you would be interested in personally examining these in the rankings next year. Also, while the rankings have been considered, I would also request you to consider NAAC Certification and NBA Ratings in the evaluation criteria.

I am certain that you will not settle at anything less than bringing at least 25 Indian Universities or Colleges in the top 500 colleges of the world. I am also sure that the day is not far when we will achieve this milestone and then whole Indian Political History would remember you for your efforts.

Once again, my compliments and appreciation to you and your entire team for starting such an initiative from the Government side which could have been done by previous governments much earlier.

Jai Hind..!

Regards,
Varinder Singh         
A Proud Citizen of India           

    

    

Misconceptions regarding Alumni's of IIM A

Being a alumni of IIM A has great perks. But, just like Peter Parker's Uncle Ben would say, with great perks - come even greater misconceptions.

• You get access to an enormous number of opportunities around the world - so people think that everyone on your campus gets a 1.2 Cr job
• You get a lot of respect from people just because you're from IIM A - so people think you should have an answer to every business question
• You can be with your girlfriend all through the day (and the night) - so people think all you do is what those two did in 2 States
• You have access to a fantastic alumni base - so people think you've hung out with and are surely going to be Raghuram Rajan
• You know a lot about IIM A and the CAT - so people think you know the answer to every question which goes like "I have X% in 10th, Y% in 12th and Z% in UG, will I get into IIM A?"
• You have fantastic internet access - so people think that it's your obligation to download movies and get it for them
• You have lot of Guest Lectures being organized in the campus - so people that you would have met all the big celebrities in the world and would soon going to be the next Ajay Banga of Master Card

Hope we all will clear these misconceptions soon.

Why we can never have FRIENDSHIP with Pakistan

• 28^th May, 1999: IAF MI-17 shot down by Pakistan; four air crew dead, leading to Kargil War
• 26^th November 2008: 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic militant organisation based in Pakistan, carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai.
• 2^nd January 2016: In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to belong to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at an Air Force base in Pathankot in Punjab, leading to a fierce gunbattle

All the above attacks were started by Pakistan but ended by India. The irony is that on 20^th February 1999, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India – Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, accompanied by 22 eminent Indians, visited Pakistan with a message of friendship through the Wagah Border and in the same year, Pakistan attacked India which led to Kargil War. This didn’t stop here. The same message was further carried by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India – Shri Narendra Modi while he was returning from Kabul visited Lahore on the Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s invitation on 25^th December 2015 to wish him (Nawaz Sharif) on his birthday. Pakistan accepted the visit but backstabbed by attacking at Pathankot at pre-dawn time on 2^nd January 2016.

Such heinous incidents lead to a situation where people are forced to believe that Pakistan has become a habitual backstabber. Every time there are talks and Pakistan agrees that terrorist attacks will be stopped from their side but what India sees is every time there is a breach of trust from their end. It was sad to know that in October 2010, former Pakistan President and former head of the Pakistan Army, Pervez Musharraf revealed that Pakistani armed forces trained militant groups to fight Indian forces in Kashmir. He confessed that the government ‘turned a blind eye’ because it wanted to force India to enter negotiations besides raising the issue internationally.

The facts are even more astonishing. The US Secretary of State included Pakistan on the 1993 list of countries which repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism. It would not be incorrect in saying that that Pakistan has been playing both sides in the fight against terror, on the one hand, pretending to help curtail terrorist activities while on the other, stoking it.

We have given many chances to our neighbour but now their intentions are loud and clear. Enough has been said on friendship, peace and trust. These words do not feature anywhere in their dictionary. The country has lost many sons and daughters who became a victim to their heinous crimes – some were the innocent lives while others got martyred while defending the country. It’s time to arise, awake and stop not, to understand and send them a message that India is not ready for any FRIENSHIP. First mistake from their side can be forgiven, second mistake can be ignored but if they repeat mistakes, they need to be punished.

Jai Hind..!

 

The CSR Journey

With an intent to uplift the society and the community at large, Tata Power has always been instrumental in driving activities which impacts the community and other stake holders and help them develop themselves. As a part of my ACE development progress, I got an opportunity to contribute in this field in the form of CSR Projects at Jojobera and Kalinganagar.

The journey of CSR started with Jojobera where the target was to complete 2 Projects – To revisit the Community Engagement Index (CEI) and test it by implementing it on one of the intiative; and to implement the ‘Swachh Bharat – The Tata Power Way’ initiative at Jojobera. After the CEI was finalized in consultation with Prof. Madhukar Shukra, Professor – XLRI, Jamshedpur, the task was to test the Index on one of the initiative. Under one of the thrust areas of CR – VIDYA which aims at augmenting rural primary education system with emphasis on girl child education, the CR Team at Jojobera have undertaken several initiatives to improve the quality of life of people through education. The CEI was calculated on the basis of 3 factors – the feedback from the community, the feedback from the volunteers of Tata Power and the Outcome of the initiative. The CEI score obtained at the end of the initiative was 90.2%. The second part of the project was on implementing the Swachh Bharat initiative at Jojobera. A competition was rolled out among all the departments of Jojobera where each department nominated one ‘Swachhta Sutradhar’ from their department for whom a training was conducted on ‘5S’ by Mr. Supratik Mukherjee. Each department engaged themselves for a period of 3 days to clean their workstations in line with 5S principle. A jury comprising of external and internal members audited each of the department and Safety Department was crowned as ‘The Most Swachh Department’ of Jojobera.

After completing these two projects at Jojobera, the destination shifted to Kalinganagar to complete the third and the final project of CR Stint. This time the project was on ‘Community Need Assessment’ for IEL – Kalinganagar. There are 12 villages identified as the scope of the community at Kalinganagar which comprises of approximately 2,918 households and 11,273 people. The objective was to meet these people and study their current situation and understand their immediate and long term needs and also prioritize the needs of the community and recommend the key initiatives to be undertaken to improve the overall scenario. After conducting a detailed community need exercise some of the key needs which emerged were to ensure clean drinking water for the community members as the water at Kalinganagar has very high iron content; to sensitize people to develop Rural Toilets at their homes which will help in making the community Open Defecation Free; To sensitizing the Parents on Importance of Education (primary as well as higher education) and at the same time improve Functional Literacy of Parents and improving involvement of students through Summer Camps, Competitions, etc.; Training the youth on Skill Development and Re-starting the SHG’s and arranging work for them such as Papad making, mushroom cultivation, Agarbatti, etc and Integrating the services in IEL Premises for Market Linkage

The overall experience has been full of learning and the exposure of having spending time with the community members has made an important impact on my approach to look at any situation in life. I feel each and every employee must undergo a CSR stint in their life. This would help each one of us to become a complete professional.   

Letter to the Chief Minister of Delhi

Dear Chief Minister Ji,

I hope that this email finds you in best of health.

I am writing this email to congratulate you on nearing the completion of 6 months in office by your government. The last 160 days of journey has been through thick and thin. Many commoners (including me) believed that your government has taken some crucial steps which have helped the people of Delhi. However, then there are also people (who admire you) who have said that the Government of Delhi could have lived up to their expectation in a far better way.

Almost, all of us have gone through the TV Ad's, Newspaper Ad's, Hoardings in the city and other forms of advertisement made by your government. While the advertisement is informative on the actions and steps taken by your government in the last 160 days, but I believe that it at the same time a costly affair. With the increase in frequency of ad's it has started ringing bells in my mind that is it still the 'Aam Aadmi Ki Sarkar' which the people voted for. I am certain that the amount spend on these TV ad's could have been better utilized (May be in paying the amount due to the 3 Discoms in Delhi; or May be to install some roof top solar panels on Government Building; or May be in deputing some female commandos in Delhi as a step towards security). I have always believed that Success of any Government is measured by which people living under the government say and not what the TV Ad's or the News paper Ad's say.

I am not writing this mail to highlight to you your short-comings. I also intend to share with you some of the suggestions (mentioned below) which I feel that the government would like to act up on to make Delhi a harmonious place to stay:

1. The Government plans to launch Wi-Fi in all Rural Areas. There is an interesting data which I would like to share with you: 56% Children living in Slums and un-authorized colonies defecate in the open due to lack of Community Toilets (Source: Hindustan Times). In my opinion, these Rural Areas need Toilets more than Wi-Fi.
   
2. The launch of E-District Service deserves a round of applause. At Home Ministry of Delhi level, the data coming out of it should be analyzed atleast on a half-yearly level. May be the trend analysis can help us predict and catch-hold of the corrupt to prevent corruption at a faster rate
   
3. The government plans to give subsidy to the owners of newly purchased Battery operated 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers vehicle: I think the government should rather invest in the Automobile Labs of Engineering Colleges in Delhi and let students make and design Battery Run Vehicles which can be used to commute within the offices in Delhi. All the vehicles which the students will make will be procured by Govt. of Delhi.

I feel a good government is one which measures the progress in terms of target achievement rather than monitoring the money spend on any initiative. Going forward, while announcing our Annual Budget for Delhi, if we can also share the target for each line-item, I am certain that the people of Delhi will like you more for that.

With a hope that some of my suggestions and feedback will be acted upon. 

With Best Wishes,

Varinder Singh

Delhi

A big Hi-5 to KIIT Hostel

Is it the 2:00am Maggie? Or the never ending late night parties? Or the hurry to copy the assignment from the ‘Chatur Ramalingham’ of the class? Ask the students staying in the KIIT Hostels and they will say that it includes all of them. They would also say that its little more than this – the walks around the corridors of the hustling bustling building to notice the ‘recently fallen’ love-birds talking whole night over the phone. The four years of my hostel life at KIIT helped me derive a mathematical formula which says that the intensity of the love affair in which a boy is, depends upon the mode of tele-communication he is using while talking to a girl. If someone uses Rs. 399/- Reliance to Reliance free phone, it means the proposal has been accepted and if he is found smiling while reading the text messages which keeps on pinging whole night, it’s an indication that he is trying to get into one. [PS: For the students who are currently staying at Hostel, the formula has been upgraded. SMS has changed to Whats App and Reliance has lost the race while Vodafone is leading it].

Each moment that one spends in the King’s Palace unfolds an interesting story. King’s Place gave the students something which we all are striving for at this age – Independence. It not only provided a space to the KIITians but at the same time filled the rooms of happiness, fun, joy and excitement. Going to bed at 10 at night was a signal that a boarder was sick. One of the moment which helps me recollect a memory was the one I lived during ‘Karmanya’ – The hostel fest of Kings Palace – 5 in the year 2009. I still remember those words of a learned man which are still safe in my memory and conscience. I shall not distort the words otherwise it will take the spirit of the man away. He mentioned, “If a person hasn’t stayed in Hostel in his life, his life is 50% incomplete. And while staying at Hostel, if he hasn’t made a Girl-friend, his life is 100% incomplete.” Today, when I look back to those instants, I feel the words were not false.

The life at KIIT Hostel guaranteed Crazy Incidents and Wild Experiences. The actual fun happened at 12:00am at night when it would be your friend’s birthday and your run fast to ensure that you do not miss out giving him birthday bumps. But the actual pains of these moments were felt while it was your turn to be there on the receiving end. It was never unwise to hit people on 364 days in a year and receive all of it together on that one day.

You would always come across a bunch of students who will knock your door at 1:30 at night to ask, “Bhai kuch khaane ko hai kya? Bahut Bhook Lagi hai..!” and your reply would be, “Kuch hai to nahi par agar kahi se mile to bulana jarur.” Unfortunately you would end up having Kissan jam, Dabur Honey or Jaljeera because it was difficult to hunt food in a jungle where all of them were hungry for years. As the time passes by and you grow from 2^nd to 3^rd year and from 3^rd to 4^th year, the wants get upgraded from ’Khana’ to ‘Cigarette’. If the Reading Room of your hostel falls on the way to the mess, god save them who go there every day to study.

Among all these, there was a desire to share and live, a wish to help others, an aspiration to fuel the friendship with which each one of them lived their life. Hostel Life teaches you not only to live life independently but also to become a human being – something which we all want to be today in the race of life. The entire staff members and wardens at the Hostel may sound rude to you sometimes but they are the actual guardians who are there to water you to grow from a seed to a tree and at the same time hold your hands when you fall.

Today, its been more than 3 and ½ year that I have left back the KIIT Hostel but the memories which I could make them is still alive and green in my brain and shall always be. I wish I could a be student again to live there and this time for a even longer period.