Village Exposure

As a part of my MBA studies I got a chance to visit a village in Eastern Orissa. Unlike many friends it was not the first village exposure for me. I have always enjoyed a bath in a river, the tall coconut trees, and the ghost stories of the villages. This new village trip was going to be different as I would get a better chance to interact with villagers.

As expected, the trip turned out bit different. I made it a point to talk to people and extract pertinent information about their life.

The village had no electricity. But people had mobile phones. I was bit surprised. How do they charge it? They go to other villagers to get it charged. Some have friends and relatives and other get it charged with a small price. It gives an impression that power sector has failed miserably to cope up the rapid pace of communication technology. The sector has to go a long way to cater to the needs its existing and potential computers.

The cricket match played by the village boys was similar to what I used to play in the state capital. Modification of rules, mutual understanding between teams on various issues- everything was same. I loved it.

The most interesting part of the trip was the discussion with the village head. He was inclined to chat with we people. I wanted to know why the village name is BetaBellary. I thought he may not be knowing, still I asked. He knew it. This is the story he narrated:

The village used to come under the Kinghood of Kujang. In the 1940s the King stopped paying taxes to the British government. The government arrested the king and sent him to jail. The kingdom was auctioned. The King of Burdhaman, West Bengal won the bid. He shifted some of the small villages of his kingdom to shift to Kujang. The village BetaBellary was the first village with Bengali inhabitants. The place was full of Beta (A shrub used to make sticks). So the place was named as BetaBellary.

It was unfortunate that some of my educated friends enjoyed displaying their wealth in the villages. One of the village lad discussed with me about the disparity of income. I was bit uncomfortable. So changed the topic to disparity in educational facilitates. I was amazed by the views and the understanding of the village lad on the education system and causes in inequality.

At the time of return I thought about the disparity again. We say India is a talent hub and we are happy for that. But at the same time a huge talent pull is not getting a chance to leverage upon the resources due to lack of the basic amenities. People say corporate social responsibility will help Government to solve these issues. It is yet to be verified how much of the CRS fund is actually used for the benefit of the deprived and how much gets soaked by the system. I see a better solution in Personal Social Responsibility (PSR).

We need to wake up as such difference (one side people have luxury and on the other people don't have access to basic necessities) will lead to social unrest. It is important that the people leaving in modern township to glance beyond their cocoon. Leaving in a small world of our own will demean ourselves as responsible matured human beings.

Back in the state capital I was pained to know that some of my friends called it as their return from the "Darkness". If life of around 80% of India is "darkness" probably we ourselves need to come out of the pseudo brightness. Just wait: the marketing professor has a better news .....The rural market has exceeded the urban market. Will you still call it the darkness, or the light you failed to see.

A thought on higer education in India

Strengthening Higher Education in India: A way towards knowledge society
Improving the quality and access to higher education is India is imperative to drive India towards a knowledge society. When it comes to higher education there is unanimous view that improvement in higher education will yield socio-economic benefits. However, it is crucial to provide all the deserving students access to higher education without compromising with the quality.
If India wants to see itself as a nation that encourages higher education it has to provide better access and affordability to the inhabitants. Second, it should also improve the infrastructure and quality to attract students of different states as this will encourage cross-cultural amalgamation.
The students who opt for higher education are products of the undergraduate colleges and schools. Unfortunately the conditions of these institutes are not very encouraging. National Knowledge Commission has also suggested improvement of the school education and undergraduate institutes to improve higher education. Higher education must not be seen as a separate entity.
Unfortunately education sector has failed to attract the best brains of the society. In India improving scope of research, improving infrastructure for research will definitely attract sharp brains to choose teaching as a career. The increasing cost of education could distract bright student from higher studies. There is a dire need to promote the financial/loan facilities available for needy students for pursuing higher education. Lack of awareness on govt. loans and schemes also may distract students for higher education. Creating awareness about existing govt. support is essential. Government could explore the possibilities of assigning small projects/assignment to student on regular basis and the students could be paid as per their work. Removing gender inequality and economic disparity are basic necessities to expand the availability of higher education for all. This will also help to achieve inclusive growth. No doubt, there are many alternative affirmative actions other than reservations still unexplored.
When it comes to quality and infrastructure development, it is a challenge to maintain quality while expanding the horizons of higher educations. It is good that the private players are coming up with institute with good infrastructure. But at the same time government needs to ensure that the state institutes matches with them in quality. Competition among institutes will help to improve quality on a continuous basis. The performance of institute (both govt and private) could be monitored by an independent board. The entry barrier to higher education could be lowered for private players to encourage them to set up institute and spend on education. At the same time intense commercialization is to be discouraged. This is possible by emphasizing on quality of education during audit. Once the focus moves on quality, sheer commercialization will get marginalized.
Peer evaluation of faculties, evaluation of faculties by students, promoting teaching-cum-research etc. will be instrumental to build a vibrant educational system.

Free Will & Diversity in B Schools

Free will is something that we all claim to possess. There is a believe that we take our own decisions and we shape our own future.

I always doubt the concept. When people discuss on free will it reminds me Prof Cheriar's class in my IIT days. He used to say MERI MERGI is a non-existent concept.

On a panel discussion on diversity Rashmi Bansal said something on similar lines. She convyed her humble disagreeness on the thought that BSchools have lots of diversity. She was correct in saying a typical B School student is an engineer who wants to work for a reknowned company with a high pay package. So diveristy is missing in BSchools when it comes to diveristy in goal and career path.

I personally agree with Ms Bansal. B School mania is a trend. There is no free will in selecting MBA as degree. Most of the students select MBA because their friends select MBA, their parents suggests. Because MBA offers a huge pay package, a status. Then where is the freewill in selecting the career. Still most MBA students will justify that this is what they are fit for. Because....all kinds of common reasons. If there is no free-will there can't be diversity. In absence of freewill decision is taken in a programmed way. And if the decision is a programmed decision it will lack diversity. I feel the aim and aspirations of a B School student for a job in reputed company with a very high pay package is programmed and thus can't diverse. After all uniqueness of an individual mind is nowhere in picture in such programmed decisions.

When interviewers of B Schools students are asked what they look for while selecteing a batch of MBA, many say they look for diversity. Do students entering B Schools have diversity in them? Probably they have it in some extent. However, the need to payback the loan for their studies, the craze for a high salaried job among students, the outer view of a colourful corporate world forces them to think otherwise. The aura mesmerizes them.

Do they come out of this? I guess yes. They comeout of this sooner or later in their life. They dont have options to not to come out. The basic element of diversity is uniqueness. And every human being is unique. So are B School graduates. They have to be unique and thus diverse.

I am sure there are many BSchool graduate who realize that the big company or the rosy salary have failed to satisfy them. They dont want to do what they are doing. Result- they have come out of their jobs to do assignments that will satisfy their uniqueness. Some have become entreprenuer, some cricket commenters, some writers, some politicians and so on. And at the end of the day the graduates who leave B Schools as a herd lacking diversity end their careers as a beautiful mosaic of diversity.

Goverment-Citizen Relationship in Developing Nations

At present it is belived that democracy is perhaps the best method of governance. It provides an oppurtunity to people to empower themselves. Let's look into various aspects of this belief.

In our normal day-to-day life we have many times realised that we don't know the best. And if we don't know the best we can't select the best. For example, a common man hadly had any idea on the demerits of non-biodegradable products. Some companies came forward to educate and aware the common man and promised them better products. If this is the case with common products, what about things like GDP, international affairs, defence etc. Do you expect common man to know the intricacies of these complicated issues and vote. It is irony that we believe that these issues are important for any nation and the party with a better vision of these issues should come to power, at the same time we know that while selecting ther leaders of the nation the common man ignores these issues due to lack of information.

Is it appropriate to leave the future of a nation in the hands of people who fail to recognise what's best for the nation. The good thing about democracy that most of the people vote for the government that can address their local needs. Things like inflection, unemployment play a major role in decision making while voting.

With the growing population of educated mass it is expected that in future democracy will turn into a more matured and developed system. The governments will start viewing public as their customers. Customer who can have brand loyalty (many people have it when it comes to vote for political parties) and who is empowered to switch brand in case the brand fails to meet their expectations. A stage will come in a multi-democratic situation to achieve competitive advantage some political parties will start educating the public, creating awareness and sense of belonging. As a result the customers will become more and more powerful. The political parties will have to rely on constant improvement and innovations to meet the demands of the educated mass.