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“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

For most people that journey begins with education. From a very tender age, students are taught principles of idealism, about how to become lawful citizens of the nation and how to always stand against crime- however small or big, because any act of indiscipline or injustice is immoral and deserves punishment. Such character-building lessons are imbibed by children from the educational institutes. The Alma matter has a big role to play when it comes to shaping an individual. The experiences gained therein are etched in the memory forever. Hence the million-dollar question: What if the preparatory grounds of the nation’s torch-bearers are corrupt? For when the roots are maligned, how can the tree grow up to become fruit-full?

The Indian education system that started as the highly disciplined, principled and idealistic Gurukul ideology has evolved through many phases as the “Golden Bird” was caged and ruled and later freed sans the wings or anything close to “golden”. Enter 21st Century; Pick up any news letter and you will be informed that education sector makes up for the maximum share of self-employment and several organizations reap in whopping rewards just by enrolling a few students in their limited courses. And why so you may ask? The answer is simple, the name and fame of an educational institute is directly proportional to the amount of success its student will achieve in his/her life. Hence, it also becomes directly proportional to the amount of money the parents are ready to shell out to get their kids admitted to the handful of prestigious institutes.

 

The race begins right from pre-school. When a 3-year old leaves the safe shelter of home for the first time and has a rather rough time doing so, it’s hard to understand why the parents had almost sacrificed their sleep deciding over the best school for their toddler and later about how to pay the hefty pay? The admission procedure for gaining entry into the most sought after nursery schools begins at least three months before the starting of the session. Not only there is a written test for 4-year olds but also an interview with the Principal. What’s more, even the parents are interviewed and asked about the details of their personal lives, including their educational background and Alma matter. This situation definitely raises a question: In case the parents aren’t well-educated or haven’t studied from the best institutes in the country, do their children too lose the right of wholesome education?

The fee structure of these primary schools scales up to 2 lacs per annum. The basis for this abominably high amount is rather random. These institutes place lofty demands and the parents give in just because of the tag of a prestigious institute. Come to secondary education, there is cut-throat competition in the so-called coaching classes. These are the institutes that promise your selection into the top-notch higher education institutes in the country and boast of well-qualified and highly experienced faculty. Needless to say, these coaching centers are always in competition for getting paid better than its peers, which leads them to fake their selections also! The competition isn’t limited to schools. The scenario takes an ugly turn when it comes to higher education. As soon as you enter the gates of the examination center for some competitive examination, you will find several middle-aged men handing out pamphlets reading- “Contact this Agent for management quota admissions. Specialist in top-level institutes” Talk to one of these agents and you will realize the confidence with which they ask you to name any college in India and they guarantee your admission in to it. The only condition, however, is that along with heavy names comes a heavy price. The better the college is, heavier is the agent commission.

 

This outlook is undoubtedly heart-breaking but what’s completely terrible is the revelation that such “agents” exist for the past two decades and have gained tremendous confidence only because it is people like us who pay them. It’s easy to ask questions like-:  Aren’t such agents illegal? Why isn’t the government taking any action against them? Before we hold others responsible let’s ask ourselves how honest are we? The moral fabric of an ordinary citizen is so corrupt today that people are ready to do anything under the pretence that they are gaining an edge over competitors. What we miss out in this rat race is the fact that the seat that we illegally acquired in the country’s best medical college today rightfully belonged to a financially weak student who burned the midnight oil to get there. Imagine the trauma that any deserving child has to go through just because some careless brat used the jack to get a place he wanted but never deserved!

Let’s ask ourselves: if this is the road that we are taking where are we actually headed to? What legacy are we leaving behind?

- Shivangi Singh, IT, GBTU  Noida

8 year old Sudhakar lives in the poverty-stricken squatter-town of Seemapuri in old Delhi. The oldest son in a family of nine, he proudly takes up small jobs to keep the daily expenses of the family running. He sits on a muddy road applying cheap glue on the back side of a poster. When he is finished after devoting all his energy with rapt attention to the task, he sticks the poster on a wall and beams at the fruit of his labor. A close inspection of the poster reveals that it has been put upside down. It has a message written in bold English alphabets, a social message that Sudhakar can neither read nor understand: “Stop Child Labor”. What can this situation possibly be labeled as – Irony at its best, or worst?

More than 1 lakh children under the age of 16 are currently employed in some form of child labor in the country today. The situation is worst in the less-developed states of the country like, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, etc, where nearly every shop small or big has at least one child working under them. Even in the most affluent cities like Delhi and Mumbai child labor is rampant as the nuclear families employ kids as domestic help. Needless to say these children are treated worse than a grown-up servant. They are exploited primarily because due to lack of education, they aren’t aware of their rights. They are forced to work at odd hours for extended durations in factories under environments which are hazardous, even fatally to their health. None of them are provided proper education. In severe cases, they are beaten up and not even provided with proper meals.

 

The trend is shocking in the so-called upper middle class families which employ a child under the pre-text of doing a favor to the under-privileged parents of these unfortunate labors only to behave improperly, abuse, beat-up, lock-up and refuse basic requirements like clean clothes or adequate diet to them. Recently, a family of two affluent doctors in Delhi made their way to newspaper headlines when they locked up their 11-year old domestic help in a room with only three days of food supply and left with their 6-year old daughter for a 10-day vacation to Singapore. The neighbors heard the poor locked-up girl’s cry for help and informed the police. On inspection it was found out that the girl was beaten up almost regularly for no reason and never given meals twice in a day. The family has been fleeing ever since.

 

The horror tale of child labor turns more horrific when these unfortunate innocent lives become pivotal to larger crime circles like those of human trafficking, organ stealth, child prostitution and pornography. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the names involved with these crime racquets are the most powerful, rich or well-educated people having a significant amount of respect in the society. Even though laws are made, they are never enforced nor enacted in India. They are devised as a clever election strategy by conceited ministers only to remain enclosed in a book and never see the light of the day. If only they could look into the eyes of these poor souls and read the important message hidden therein: “If you ignore me today when I am an impressionable, exploited child then you have no right to complain tomorrow when I return with vengeance as a powerful criminal mastermind”!

:- Shivangi Singh

By now everyone knows that the word “Kolaveri” stands for ‘Rage’- a word closely associated with the dominating personality of “Didi”, the present CM of West Bengal, Mamata Bannerjee.  A born dramatic or a showbiz-wannabe –whatever you call her Didi makes sure she is in the news for all the right reasons.

 

The ex-Railway Minister made to the headlines because of her tantrums earlier this year when she refused to accept the hike in railway fares. She expressed anger and rested only when Dinesh Trivedi was replaced by Mukul Roy. It didn’t affect the railway budget or the public much but Mamata Bannerjee was satisfied by having things her way.

 

Latest we hear, didi is outraged by her cartoons and has taken legal action against Prof Ambikesh Mahapatra. In a one of its kind case of it happens only in India, an innocent civilian was forced to spend a night in jail for expressing a humorous thought. All parties have slammed didi’s action, including people in her very own TMC. Even the senior officers of police were not happy about this.

 

Mamata Bannerjee truly personifies taking it to the heart and then putting one’s foot down. One lesson she needs to learn is how to take a joke positively. Being famous comes with its share of cons; being constantly offended is one amongst them. History has it; all the famous people have been targeted by these creative artists who tickle your funny bone. The cartoons based on our country’s political situation make up for the most read sections. After being bogged down constantly by the sad tune of events, everyone enjoys a little joke to lighten up the mood…Everyone except the CM of West Bengal.

 

What the country wonders is why does Mamata Bannerjee take herself so seriously? Its great to have self-respect but her actions are well crossing over the lines of ego. In another one of its kind art event, there was a gallery dedicated to jokes on Mamata Bannerjee. Cartoonists from all over the country had put together this event to fight for Freedom of Expression as an after-effect of Ambikesh arrest. One particularly humorous cartoon displayed a TMC party worker asking Mamata- “Didi, this(the symbol of TMC) looks like a cartoon. Shall we ban it?”

 

Mamata Bannerjee seems to be a firm believer of the adage “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. First Dinesh Trivedi and now Ambikesh Mahapatra, it seems Didi wants to be known as the Superwoman of WB. However the arrest doesn’t seem to have any effect on Ambikesh for immediately after he became a mini-celebrity for getting arrested, he issued the press statement that this has only motivated him to create more impressionable cartoons dedicated to didi in future. The question is what will didi do now when half a dozen cartoonists plan to open a website on jokes based on her?

 

Maybe Mamata should take lessons on how to take your cartoons in the right spirit from the original champion, Lalu Prasad Yadav- the hero who would laugh at jokes on him cracked in his very presence. When Hallmark decided to print New Year greeting cards with a Lalu joke at its cover, he smiled and gifted his fans those cards. Now, that’s true sportsmanship for you! On a more serious note, if the politicians seriously want these jokes to stop, they should behave in the manner in which a true leader is supposed to.  They make the largest democracy in the world a joke then what right do they really have to arrest someone if they create jokes on them? Haven’t they heard of an eye for an eye?

-Shivangi Singh, IT, GBTU Noida

 

The Right to Education act mandates a B.Ed. degree and a good score in the NET aptitude test for all elementary school teachers. The candidates with the best NET score get to teach in the government schools at remote or rural places. When the government laid down this rule the idea was definitely to provide the least affluent students in the country the opportunity to learn with the most accomplished teachers. Unfortunately, accomplishment as teacher doesn’t necessarily make one a great human being.

 

Almost every teacher who gets the opportunity to teach in the rural parts of India and serve the greater purpose celebrates it as an occasion of unquestionable rest for years to come. Teaching in the government schools is nothing to worry about as it is perceived that you never even have to show up for classes! Under the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan” a huge number of schools were developed with proper facilities at remote places. Five years down the line, these schools lacked basic amenities like benches, blackboards, books and notebooks which were to be distributed free of cost amongst the students, clean drinking water and above all else, teachers. A survey shows that in 2009 the rate of teacher absenteeism in India was 11% which increased to 14% in 2011. These are mere facts and figures and the real picture is even more horrendous.

 

The government schools in India face shortage of teachers by large. RTE norms mention that the teacher-student ratio must never exceed 1:40, indicating India needs to hire 6 lakh new teachers. Hence, every teacher has a lot on his/her platter. They have to teach subjects they have no knowledge about and take up many classes simultaneously. Most of the teachers who belong to big cities and have to teach in rural parts have to travel an awful lot in order to reach the schools. With their comfortable salaries these teachers lead a luxurious life with facilities like air conditioning at their disposal and when they have to teach in a classroom full of 60 students without even a table fan in the harsh heat of June, the easy way out for them is to refrain from fulfilling their duty as a teacher.

 

Irrespective of the reason, fact remains that it is the duty of a teacher to ensure that the students are getting a better tomorrow. The role of a Guru was of prime importance in all ancient Indian civilizations. It is truly heart-breaking to see how careless the so-called most talented educators in India are towards their profession and when the same teachers join a private school, they work extremely hard to keep up with the high code of conduct for teachers in those schools. A teacher is supposed to be the shining beacon of hope that these less privileged students can look up to. They are meant to be their guiding lights and guardian angels. Instead, these teachers are pushing the innocent young minds further down into poverty by discouraging them from academics. They are responsible for coloring their childhood black by introducing them to anarchy by erasing the word ‘Discipline’ from their dictionaries and showing them that money is the only God known to man today and that all actions of the educated adults are governed by the lure of luxury. No wonder then that the illiteracy rates are showing an uptrend and the average age of serious criminals is constantly decreasing in rural India. It’s high time we all take a firm stand and question our principles!

-Shivangi Singh, IT, GBTU Noida

 

“Agar firdaus bar rou zaminast,  Haminasto, Haminasto, Haminast”.

The words of an Urdu poet meaning ‘if there is a heaven on Earth, it is here’ beautifully describe the beauty of Kashmir. During the golden era of bollywood, almost all movies were shot in this paradise. Lush green landscapes, breath-taking view of snow-capped Himalayas, delicious fruit orchards, there was romance in the essence of India’s crowning glory. Times changed, governments changed and the attitude of our neighbors altered significantly for the worst and as the smell of gunpowder over took the valley, the picture of Kashmir as heaven on Earth was reduced to a beautiful fairy tale. Over the years many failed attempts have been made to set things right in light of horrific wars over the India-Pak borders. The truth is even after 69 years, nothing concrete has been done.

In a recent attempt to facilitate Indo-Pak peace, Pakistan president Zardari visited India earlier this week along with his son. The visit was a short one, Ajmer being the only place they visited apart from PM’s residence where they were gathered for the general meetings or peace talks.  While there were talks related to economics and how policies can be made to aid financial progress for both the countries by mutual sharing, terrorism related topics were totally neglected. Pakistan president had earlier said in a press meet prior to holding talks with PM that the issue of the Pakistani terror king who was also the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks will not be entertained. Moreover, Pakistan was also unwilling to compromise on the age-old Kashmir issue.

Talking about peace and then going on raging wars against India is not a new thing for Pakistan. For a country that serves as the training ground for major terrorist groups it must be tough sweet-talking their way to diplomacy. Perhaps that’s why Kargil war was announced as soon as Musharraf’s private jet landed in Islamabad after a session of “successful peace talks” with India. The difference between Pakistan’s words and actions towards not only India but also USA and the rest of the world is alarming. No stone has been left unturned by the Pakistani political leaders, army, and the rest of the terror monarchs to corrupt the reputation of a country having citizens as honest and innocent as that of any other nation.

The recent talks seem to be just another example of a failed attempt at resolving issues that cripple the facilitation of peace in real terms between two neighboring countries. The Pakistan government refuses to talk about Pak-occupied-Kashmir, the terror Pakistan’s army inflicts on innocent Indians in J&K and the terrorists it shelters who go ahead and attack India and instead of making these the compulsory and urgent topics of the meetings, Indian government decides to turn a blind eye towards this criminal attitude and resumes the unyielding and fruitless peace talks and for what- so that these topics remain as burning as ever and become a political agenda for elections to come generation after generation, threatening the future of not just J&K but the entire country. If crucial questions aren’t raised during peace talks then when will the problems ever be solved? If the PM of a country of 10 billion chickens out on confronting a troublesome neighbor then what example is being set for the citizens? Isn’t it high time the paradise on Earth is restored to its former, peaceful glory? The nation wonders…
-By Shivangi Singh
G.B.T.U, Noida

 

Recently we had Amit Grover, founder of Nurture Talent in the premises of Sharda University for Entrepreneurship Workshop. We had a personal interview with him. Here’s the excerpt:

Hello Sir, How are you? We are glad to have you here.

“Yeah I am fine. Thanks for the invite!”

• How do you define entrepreneurship? From your view, what is it?

In my view, somebody starts something keeping in mind a problem and solves it for certain type and number of people; that is entrepreneurship and ultimately it is to try to make a difference in life of a few customers. That’s it.

• And of course if I am to open a venture I may perhaps face a few probable challenges. Isn’t it?

See, there are various challenges. Some of the biggest challenges are to overcome the internal fears like what will happen if I start, the uncertainties, there is no-one to start with me, lack of financial resources or something like that. Other challenges could be somewhat like society does not support the idea or the educational system does not support it and there are certain business challenges which are true for any business, for example, getting customers, doing marketing, developing products, getting teams. Those are the business challenges which any one has to go through in the process of their entrepreneurial journey.

• Then, you must have also confronted a number of problems while starting NT as an entrepreneur. What were they?

So as I said, I had a couple of problems I had to face once. One was about the challenge of marketing. Okay so, entrepreneurship training and development is a nascent area of business. Hence, there was a lot of spirit among people but will they pay, how they will pay, how much will they pay… how can you reach and market to them. So those were the initial challenges which I faced but I heard lot of support coming from investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, organizations and eventually overcame these difficulties.

• After working with Infosys, Asian Paints and Onida, how and when did you decide to start NT?

It happened about a span of three years, I would say. While I was in Onida, I was meeting entrepreneurs every day and as a part of process of investment, decision making, business analysis; at the end of the day I used to discuss what entrepreneurship is. If you meet Shahrukh Khan every day, then you want to become Shahrukh Khan. That is what has happened to me as well.  So, I said one day I have had enough discussions and delegations and debates on entrepreneurship that led me an entrepreneur and tried to help them, train them, mentor them, work with them and starting with their challenges.

• What served as your motivation to keep moving when the times were hard?

I always had these objectives that we had to have entrepreneurs coming out of NT and through it, had to generate 20000 jobs. We were working on these ideas and even if there is only one person in the workshop, we would never have postponed the workshop. So, it kept us moving. Recently we achieved the milestone of 100+ workshops across 30 cities with 3000+ entrepreneurs trained who hopefully land in the world of business.

• Why is entrepreneurship training important?

I believe it’s some kind of polishing your ideas up before starting. It saves your time and the cost of starting a business. It gives a form of belief in your business ideas. Training is a very important thing. It may be for a short duration to understand the things which can go wrong and have plans accordingly to overcome those challenges. You will know the difficulties that might halt your way and be ready one day before. Anybody else who has not gone for these programs will not understand from an entrepreneurs’ prospective, investors’ prospective, from customers’ prospective. Form my angle, it’s a good business but getting you a thing from customers’ angle is what is required. And this is exactly what we are trying to do in these training programs.

Over the past few months of interaction with college students, including engineers and MBAs, I have faced a question so many times that I was inspired to write a full-blown article for it – should I do an MBA or start my business, how does MBA help me in starting a venture etc. Let us look at how we can evaluate the options.
Future
Many of our young college going students join a degree without knowing where it will lead them in the future. Advises range from ‘If you are a topper in college, join IIT’, ‘Oh, you got 99%, join Stephens or Hindu’, ‘if you want a good job, do science’ – there is rarely any consideration given to an individual’s future plans. Lots of decisions are taken based on choices of parents, society or peer pressure – and by the time a student graduates from the first degree, it is either the next degree or job that awaits them!
Awareness
What we need is awareness and respect for individuals’ capabilities. If an undergraduate degree did not satisfy you or get you a job, then doing MBA will not help. If you wish to start something, start exploring when you are young, and ensure that you create something and learnt o sell it – that is entrepreneurship. Why spend 2 years and 15 lakhs so someone can teach you how to work 8 hours for a salary on 1st day of the month?
Choice or compulsion
When your friends do something, you feel like joining them – but if you have the entrepreneurial instincts in you, you will learn to be different from the crowd. Companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple and Facebook were started by people with passion, not with fancy degrees. MBA helps you organize few things which are already established, but starting up phase of a company is all about uncertainty and you need to think on your feet. Ultimately, it is your choice which pill to take!
Benefits
Few of my friends who have been both (MBA and entrepreneurs, including myself) state that the benefits of an MBA in starting a venture are different from what is actually taught – it is about the attitude! The ability to work with teams, network and build relationships with your batch-mates, delivering on client projects on time, understanding worth of time and money – these are the positive points people can bring about in themselves if they want to be real entrepreneurs rather than take up job after MBA. Hence, it boils down to choosing the right course.
Till then, keep learning and keep working for your own self. ‘I work for Mckinsey’ is a cool statement, but ‘I have my own company’ is hot!