ENVIRONMENTALISM; Positive and Normative perceptions

                      

In today’s world issues of global climate change and environmental degradation have become a topic of serious public discussion. Newspapers and magazines publish various articles exposing the dangers of global warming and ecological destruction. Corporations and governments around the world are initiating various ‘green movements’. So the question comes, how much of these stories are real? If our planet is in a state of crisis what kind of policies are effective? This paper examines some of the environmental crises in the recent past. Environmentalists are not always right when they predict, but they sometimes points out potential environmental crises. Similarly most policies suggested by them to handle the crises are too radical and not viable. Liberal policies which use the market mechanisms to solve the crises are the most effective ones.

Modern environmentalism can trace its roots back to the Marxist ideologies in 1960s. (Murray I., 2008). The movement gained popularity after the release of Rachel Carson’s book The Silent Spring, addressing concerns about population. In 1972 Club of Rome, a global think tank published the book The Limits of Growth which sold 12 million copies in 30 languages, reinforcing the environmentalist’s claims. The Limits of Growth took five factors that determine and limit the growth; population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production and pollution. The report predicted the Malthusian catastrophe, which is rise in the population would increase the pressure on food and non renewable resources. But time proved all these predictions wrong. According to Lomborg, the main drawback of this report was that the authors assumed all the factors to grow exponentially. But as the technology developed, conserving resources became easier and also more deposits were discovered. Similarly population growth also decelerated due to changes in policies and improvement in educational levels (Lomborg B., 2012). This is a fine example where environmentalists got it spectacularly wrong.

But we cannot ignore the fact that environmentalists showed us some of the relevant and serious problems as well such as global climate change. Though skeptics say that the global climate change is a myth, there is enough scientific evidence to prove otherwise. The green house effect theory states that changes in the levels of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and aerosol particles in the atmosphere can alter the atmospheric temperature (Arrhenius, 1896). The average global air temperature over the past century has risen over 0.7 degree Celsius (Palutikof, J. 2002). There are many natural factors for the rise in air temperature such as aerosol emission from volcanoes and solar irradiance. But they account only 0.2 degree Celsius. Environmentalists also pointed out matters such as the depletion in ozone layer and ecological destruction, both having relevant evidence for support.

Even though environmentalists identify the problems humanity is facing, the policy alternatives suggested by them are too radical and can affect our current way of life. This might be because environmentalism originated from the Marxist ideology. It is against liberty and economic development (Kuhner, 2009).  Iain Murray (2008) in The Really Inconvenient Truths identifies some of the best examples of these environmental cobra effects. Murray with considerable evidence proves that ethanol produces more carbon dioxide when it’s grown, processed and distributed than it saves. In a world where millions of people die every year due to starvation, growing bio-fuels would reduce the available crop land, hence raising the food prices. Another case is that of DDT. Although DDT is bad for human beings when exposed in large quantity, its usage helped in a great deal to reduce the spread of malaria in Africa. After DDT was banned the once defeated malaria started spreading in dangerous rates in Africa. These are just two examples of failed environmental policies.

Radical policies are only viable if it can sustain the economic growth and human progress. One of the best examples is the implementation of Montreal protocol which banned the usage of CFC. Since we had alternative substances for CFCs, the ban was effective and did not hurt the economic growth. As a result the ozone layer started recovering (UN, 2012). But usually the best way to formulate environmental policies is through market based environmental policy Instruments. One of the best examples of such policies is the international carbon emission trading adopted in the Kyoto Protocol. It was highly effective in bringing down the net emissions in the adopted countries (UNFCC, 2011). Similarly many such market mechanisms have been successfully implemented for Lead, SO2, and CFCs. In recent years a whole new branch of economics called the environmental economics came into existence. Another instrument governments can adopt is the use of subsidies for promoting eco-friendly products such as hybrid cars. The government can also impose taxes on polluting industries and products and simultaneously offer incentives for ‘green practices’.

We cannot deny the fact the environmental degradation is happening. But the scale of this crisis is sometimes exaggerated or miscalculated by environmentalists like in the case of The Limits of Growth. But on the other hand, many issues raised by environmentalist need serious attention. There is enough evidence to show that the man made global warming and its effect on the planet. But addressing these issues needs careful and prudential planning. Environmentalists are mostly scientists and the movement itself has Marxist background. The policies suggested by the environmental groups may not be the best one to solve the situation. Some of them have produced results contrary to their objective. Markets and Liberal Economics can provide effective mechanisms to solve the issues with sustainable growth rate. So in a nutshell, environmentalists are good at analyzing the situation and giving the actual picture, but they exaggerate when they provide us with normative statements. The recent collaboration of economics and environmentalism would help us by giving effective solutions.

(958 words)

                            *-----------------------*-----------------------*

  

References:-

Arrhenius, Svante (1896). On the influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground. Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. April 1986, series 5, volume 41 pages 237-76

Kuhner, S Jeffery T. (2009). A convenient lie. Washington Times, The (DC), 1.

Lomborg, Bjorn (2012), Environmental Alarmism, Then and Now. Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug 2012, Vol. 91 Issue 4, p24-40, 17p

Palutikof, J (2002), “Global Temperature Records”, Climate Research Unit, University of East Angila,

Murray, Iain (2008). The Really Inconvenient Truths. Regnery Publishing, 2008

United Nations (2012), ‘Ozone layer on track to recover over next five decades, Ban says on International Day’ United Nations Home Page, accessed online December 26^th 2012, <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42902&Cr=ozone&Cr1=#.UNqLzeTPc2u>

 

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2011)’ Compilation and Synthesis of fifth national communications’ UNFCC Home Page accessed online December 26^th 2012 <http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2011/sbi/eng/inf01.pdf>

3 Imperative Reforms for High Schools in India.

Recently I was invited to an environmental awareness and training program for high school teachers in my district, organised by OISCA south India. After a brief talk with the delegates of OISCA, I was asked to talk for a few minutes about the differences that I found in Japanese high schools and Indian high schools. Since its an impromptu and brief speech I decided to speak only about reforms we need here.The current school system in India is archaic and dates back to the colonial period. Three significant differences struck my mind. I am not arguing these three attributes are peculiar to Japan. In fact most developed countries already implemented these.

1. Extra-Curricular Activities
2. Curriculum and Career Guidance
3. Admission to Universities and Colleges.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Like always 2012 Olympics also didn't bring many medals to India. Ever wondered whats the basic problem with our sports? The most significant argument is that it has never been encouraged at the school level, with the rare exception of some expensive private schools. Of course there are national sports meets conducted for every sport. But over the years it has become just a custom. In this highly competitive system of ours, every parent wants their child to score more than their peers. A number of tuition and coaching centers have flourished in the cities and small towns of our country, where most students would attend coaching classes after the school.

In contrast most of the Japanese high school students would be spending a couple of hours after the school in their assigned 'club'. High school clubs, are student based school organisations,functioning with myriads of tasks, varying on specific purpose of each respective club. Each club focuses on an activity like Music, Dance, Football, Tennis, Badminton, Athletics etc and practice it everyday. Since the child gets an opportunity to develop a particular talent from a very young age he may excel in it when he reaches his adulthood. The school also allocates a substantial amount of its expenditure in providing good facilities for these clubs to function.

I think India should do the same. Because of the competition no one cares about these extra-curricular activities. And it also requires huge investments. So the government should provide the incentives and the capital to set up 'clubs' in every school.

Curriculum and Career Guidance

Currently India produces over 700,000 engineers a year, nearly 10 times that of US. And not surprisingly only 30% are employable. Even graduates from A graded college are finding it difficult to find job. The Average salary of a B.tech graduate in my state(Kerala) is equal to that of a manual laborer(at the initial stage) because of too much supply of B.tech graduates. So what really lead to this inundation of engineers.

20 years ago before the NEP reforms, when India was still growing in the so called 'Hindu rate of growth', the upper class families consisted of mostly engineers and doctors. people often looked up on engineers and doctors and IAS or IPS officers with veneration. So most middle class parents aspired their children becoming an engineer or doctor or a civil servant, hoping that all their difficulty will end. and in the early 90s the IT revolution started in India. IT Companies started hiring in large numbers and everyone wanted to be an engineer, if not a software engineer. The demand for engineering seats kept on rising even as the demand for engineers in the economy consolidated. Hundreds of engineering colleges,mostly private, sprang up across the country. Most of them with poor quality, producing unemployable graduates.

If you look into the situation more carefully, the underlying cause of this phenomenon was the lack of information or guidance about various job opportunities for the students. Things have changed a lot in the last two decades in India. There are a lot of highly paid employment opportunities in the horizon. In fact as there was an over supply of engineers, presently India has a shortage of quality graduates in many other fields. 

I think schools should educate its students about the different career options available for them. Moreover curriculum should be more flexible at high school. At the moment a student can choose only a set of science, commerce or humanities subjects. They should have the freedom to choose subjects from any of these streams, and construct their own set of subjects. 

Admission to Universities and Colleges

IIT Bombay Campus

Last year more than half a million students took the highly competitive IIT-JEE(Joint Entrance Exam) pursuing their dreams of studying in an IIT(Indian Institute of Technology). Only less than 2% could make it. Where as MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) accepted around 10% of the 18,000 applications it received. Indian Institute of Technology was a vision conceived by Jawaharlal Nehru after his visit of MIT. He wanted world class engineers and scientists to build a strong nation. Over the years many of its alumni have turned out to be reputed personalities in various spheres. 

IIT currently conducts an entrance exam(IIT-JEE) with maths, chemistry and physics questions. Due to the magnitude of competition most IIT aspirants spend their time going to tuition classes, after and before school and even on holidays. The only relevant criteria for admission to country's premier technological institution is your IIT-JEE score. So students aspiring 'big' would not have any incentives to develop skills other than academics, like communication skills, sports and cultural talents, language development and general knowledge. This would result in students turning 'machines' who can solve complex scientific and mathematics question but lack practical and professional skills.

This distortion is not confined to just IITs. Colleges of Delhi University are the premier centers for Science, Arts and Commerce courses. Every year these colleges announce a cut-off list. For example St. Stephen's college, one of the prestigious colleges in the country announced a cut off of 96.75% for its Economics (Hons.) course and 95.66 for Physics(Hons.) course, meaning only students who obtained the respective score or above in their 12th grade public exam would be considered for admission. Here also, the college lays emphasis only on the marks. They do not consider any other talent or achievement of the applicant. So naturally students will dedicate their entire time in scoring high in exams and neglect other things.

I think its a need of the hour to change this outdated system of admission. The universities should consider all the attributes of the applicant and not just his scores. Only this way the high school students of our nation will have the incentives for all round development.  

City of Dil ; Delhi

Recently I was in Delhi to attempt an examination. This was my second visit to Delhi. The first being only for changing flights. This time I wanted to experience at least a little of what this vast, ancient, metropolis had to offer. So I went 3 days prior to the examination to explore the city. Anyway this article is not a travelogue of Delhi, Its just my impression of Delhi and its people.

Even though it was 10.30 PM when I stepped out of the Airbus 320 aircraft the heat was unbearable. June is the hottest time of the year in Delhi; perhaps not an ideal time to visit. My high school friend Ashutosh received me from the world class IGI airport. It was difficult to find an auto that late and the pre-paid taxi service was too expensive. Finally we managed to find an auto. But soon an argument broke out between Ashustosh's father and the auto-driver over the rate he was going to charge. After a couple of minutes they agreed on a rate and we got in. The atmosphere in the auto was still enraged as there were still petty arguments going on about the route the driver was going to take. As we were waiting for the green light in a traffic junction an accident took place across the road. Two young men stepped out from the driving seats of their respective cars and any one passing by would say that an entertaining fight is about to start. But unfortunately our auto didn't wait for the fight as the light turned green. As my journey in the cramped CNG fueled auto continued the spontaneity of this place flummoxed me. The first 10 mins in our nation's capital taught me one thing ' You better be careful here boy, you can get into trouble here with out even you knowing.Its a very cheeky place.'

Ashutosh soaked his hand kerchief  in cold water and tied it to his head
to battle the heat. A pic from the Red Fort .

 Now one thing I noticed about the CNG fueled autos in Delhi is that from the sound of acceleration you would feel that the we are at our maximum speed and the auto is racing ahead. But actually when we look outside one would realize that auto is moving like city tram, at a constant slow pace.

So after the long 15 mins in auto we reached Ashutosh's home where I was about stay for they next 4 days. As  I got off the Auto Ashutosh's dad and the auto driver, who were like snake ad mongoose all the way, were talking like companions. Ashutosh's dad was insisting that driver should have at least a glass of water from his home. After all it was a really hot night and he did a good work. I was baffled by the turn of events. How easily two complete strangers were annoyed by each other, and how easily those two 'enemies' turned brothers.

The next morning I and Ashutosh decided to explore the majestic Red Fort the 17th century heritage complex which was the heart of the Mughal Empire. It took about 1hr to reach our destination by the DTC bus service. The sun was blazing above our head by the time we reached Red Fort. The Red Fort complex has a small souvenir market at the entrance and half a dozen of important buildings. Since I am not writing a travelogue i am not going into the details. Anyway the scorching heat didn't allow me to experience the beauty of the premise. After spending 2hrs strolling the 254 acres complex, taking photographs and viewing the exhibits in the museums, I was so tired that I lost the desire of sight seeing. The next hour passed as we had a North Indian thali as our lunch. The 43C heat started to kill me again when we got out of the A/C restaurant. Ashutosh started to inquire about the bus we should be taking back home to a roadside 'water vendor.'

A Typical 'water vendor' in Delhi

That's right. In almost every bus stop and other public places along the broad streets of Delhi you can see 'water vendors' who sell water for at a rate of 1Rupee per glass. I guess that would make a good business in these summer months.

Although the 'water vendor' looked like a delinquent in his stained clothes, Ashutosh didn't hesitate even once to inquire. Ashutosh spoke in a refined polite Hindi, then came the reply in a plain Hindi. But the man sounded very innocent and polite in his voice, even though literally his words were plain. A tall man with a good physique who was drinking water from there interrupted the conversation. He said that he was also going to the same direction and he could drop us in his car. Although we were complete strangers he talked like we were close friends. Ashutosh gave me a confused look. After all getting into his car was not a good idea in a city of infamous kidnappings. I assessed the situation. There was only one man. The streets are busy and you can see through the window glasses of the car. I nodded and said lets go. Its always better to travel in an A/C car rather walking in the scorching heat and changing buses.


As our blue Alto car started to move through the undisciplined traffic the man introduced himself as a crime branch officer in Delhi police. We also introduced our selves. And thus he began his chatter; about how he used to make car races with his friends; the rendezvouses he had with his girlfriend at Red Fort; his college days; how he got into police department; his family.. anything and everything. He was quite friendly and talkative. He was glad that he found us because other wise driving would have been boring, now he has somebody to talk with. He dropped us near Ashutosh's home adding 'If you get into any trouble just come to crime branch office.' 

Next two days I spent visiting India Gate and Qutab Minar. On my 4 hr flight back home I was recollecting the everlasting memories that Delhi had gifted me. I think people of Delhi are quite amiable. When you talk to a stranger in the streets of Delhi, they may not be talking in the most refined of words, but they talk straight from heart. Delhi is called 'Dilli' in hindi and 'Dil' in Hindi means heart. Ashutosh's father told me one night 'Dilli' is the city where you will find people with good hearts. I found people from all parts of India in Delhi contributing to its cosmopolitan culture. But they all possessed this 'Dilli-Dil'. It could be only a matter of minutes before two complete strangers turn into friends in Delhi.

Pranab's Dilemma

It is often said that good politics and good economics cannot go hand in hand.  Pranab Mukherjee, the veteran Bengali politician who is burdened with the post of the Finance Minister of India has found himself in a hard position. Now its time for him to make tough decisions, to choose national interest over his Party's votes.

protesters burning PM Dr. Manmohan Singh's photo

The recent hike in the price of petrol (gasoline) created big turmoil all over the country. It was the biggest hike ever recorded in the history.  For the common man, who is already crippled with high inflation the decision was like adding oil to the fire. If you ask me the hike was inevitable.Forcing the oil companies to sell the petrol under priced  lead to an accumulation of 130,000 crore Rupees debt by the oil companies. After all how long could they go on borrowing to do a loss making business. And when recently the Rupee depreciated drastically against Dollar the government was forced to hike prices. The government is trying hard to reduce the fiscal deficit. So they cannot spend a big sum subsidizing petrol. Soon after the petrol hike the Finance Minister justified: 'Petrol is a deregulated commodity.'

I am not saying that the government is innocent. Under the current situation the government can't do anything but to hike prices. But the reason why we reached at this position is because of the inability of the government. We should not blame blame the government for the rice in petrol prices but for a weak Rupee. India is Importing more than she is exporting. And 70% of our import bill is crude oil. So a weak Rupee means we need to pay more on basic commodities and that means higher inflation.

Depreciating Rupee

So what really made the Rupee to depreciate so drastically. The source of the problem began last year when we had two digit inflation and the government was struggling to contain it. Because of the high inflation the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was forced raise the key interest rates. But when credit became expensive and there was no liquidity, the nation's industrial growth started to slow down. This coupled with policy paralysis  at the center, rising fiscal deficit and retrospective tax amendments lead to lack of investor confidence in India. And above all, in spite of the GDP growth slipping to 6.9% last quarter,the government failed to arrest the inflation. Under these circumstances we were expecting an innovative budget from the FM in march. But after all he was a politician and he had to please his voters and allies. As the situation deteriorated credit rating agencies started going negative on India. And as a result Foreign Institutional Investments(FIIs) started to pull their money off Indian stocks and bonds in a frenzy. and the Rupee was down almost 10% in 2 weeks.

So What Now?

The immediate options that the government has to bring back Rupee are limited. The RBI has almost 300 billion $ as Forex reserve. They could sell off some of those dollars in the market to bring Rupee up. But RBI already tried this out a couple of times and the effect fizzled out in a matter of hours. So intervening the market is only a temporary option. The core problem which is creating this fall is the current account deficit. For India a country which is having trade deficit the best way to bring down current account deficit is to bring in more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). unlike FIIs which gets invested in stocks and bonds. Investors can't pull their money out of the country so quickly. It creates real growth and employment.And moreover some big MNCs are impatient to get into the rapidly growing Indian market. Last year when the government pushed for 100% FDI in multi-branded retail the opposition, and even its own allies opposed the move strongly. The government was forced to withdraw the bill. The government can't wait much longer. They should consider this crisis as an opportunity and bite the bullet. The government should immediately clear the 100% FDI in multi branded retail and 49% FDI in aviation  sector. This would result in

1. Appreciation of Rupee because of foreign inflows.
2.  Easing Inflation because of improved supply chain in retail.
3.  Farmers benefiting because of  good price for their products. 
4. Much needed investments in Aviation could save the the imploding companies like Kingfisher and AirIndia.
5. Most importantly the GDP growth would accelerate another 2% to 8-9%.

So its time that our beloved FM Pranab Mukherjee stops pondering over his dilemma and bite the bullet to push for the second wave of reforms for the economy. This may result in a failure of Congress Party in the next elections. But After a decade he will be remembered for the bold decisions he had taken .

India: a blend of west and the orient

   Many westerners imagine Asia as an exotic place, with strange traditions and customs. They called it the orient. Its true that the orient had its own features and way of thinking.For example historians say most of the Asian cultures were agrarian and lived in sophisticated populous society. So the east tends to give family, elders and society much more importance than of the west. however with in the Asian cultures there are sticking difference between them, which the west often fails to recognize.

 The Indian way of thinking is a mixture of the far eastern and western way of thinking. Because it has elements from both east and west. Let me explain this with two examples.

As I have said earlier Asian civilizations where more populous and they lived in a agrarian society. From the very old days, they had to cooperate with each other,whether its sharing of rainwater for irrigation or labor for harvesting the crop. They practiced agriculture collectively and a sophisticated society and social structure evolved from from the early days. But in the ancient Greece the population was much small and they practiced agriculture individually. Researchers say this is the reason why Asians give much more importance to family and society. Just like the other eastern countries, Indians practiced sophisticated agriculture from the ancient time. So in India, people regard family and society very important.

Now let me tell you what makes India different from East and more similar to West. In the East people are more contended with the present or they are just happy with what they have. They do not take risk in life. This is probably because of the influence of Confucianism. But in India generations grew up hearing the stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana, of heroes and their heroism. In the west it was Homer's Iliad and Odyssey that inspired the people. Moreover there are many other similarities between the ancient Indian and Greek Civilization. So just like the West Indians are more likely to take risk in life and attempt heroic or adventurous acts. The number of entrepreneurs in India exemplifies this.


Hope this was a new knowledge for you guys. I would be happy to hear your opinion about this. Please leave a comment.

Higher Education in Modern World

                              Education is enlightenment. Because only through education can an individual realize her true potential.  Martin Luther King Jr once famously quoted ‘Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education.’  The Education of the people determines the fate of the nation. Thus it also forms  an important part of Human Resource Development. But educational system and its ideals have evolved with history as the civilizations evolved. It always reflects the ideologies of the society.  The society teaches through schools and colleges those knowledge and ideologies which they want to pass on to the next generation. The societies differed from one part of the world to another because long they have been isolated. So the educational systems were also different. But now the world is becoming more global and these societies are becoming more connected which results in the flow of ideas. So in the contemporary world the ideals and goals of education are almost same. But as a matter of fact not all the Nations and regions of the world succeeded in implementing them, partly because of the lack of good governance and investments. However the education system and its goals must evolve as the world is evolving. Given the condition of the world now there is a major need to rethink the goals of higher education, its ideologies and implementation, both in developed and developing nations to tackle its own problems, and for the collective good of the globe. Let’s see how can we empower an individual with intelligence and character what other wider goals should we pursue with the higher education in the contemporary world.

                                 Certainly the goals of higher education may vary with the socio-economic conditions of the region. But there are also certain objectives which are universal.  An individual should be empowered not just for his own good but also for the collective good of the nation and the world. Let me reaffirm the words of King Jr. that education should aim for intelligence or skill which makes the person productive, and also for the morals so that she may use her ability in a right manner.  A university or institute qualifies a student to get job by making her equipped with the appropriate knowledge or skill. But they should equally focus on shaping good character, so that later in her life she can make right decisions and actions as a global citizen. Character is important so do the intelligence. Let’s see how higher education could adapt with this century. The world is more globalized than ever. Nations are signing comprehensive partnerships in various fields and the world economy is dominated by Multi-National Corporations. More and more people will have to work with people from different cultures. So there is an immense necessity for the new generation to cope with the changing world. They should be more exposed to the international community and should understand their counterparts and learn to work with them. Universities and other forms of tertiary education should encourage students to acquire this skill. This can be easily achieved through promotion of comprehensive partnerships among universities from different parts of the world.

                                   

                              The quality, character and availability of higher education vary greatly from rich to poor countries. So do the roles of higher education and reforms needed. Though Africa has no tale to tell about economic prosperity it has rich resources and great potential. The ‘time’ for Africa is not today or tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow. So African nations should start investing, and create good Universities to prepare their youth for the good days. If it is inadequate facilities for most of developing countries, developed countries like United States, U K and Germany have very few highly skilled post graduate degree holders, compared to the size of their economy.  This causes huge income disparities between the highly educated and those who have only an undergraduate degree or a high school diploma. There are also nations using higher education as means of propaganda.  The universities themselves should play a major role in promoting active political participation by the young generation by inculcating political habits and aptitude in its students.

                           

                        Let me discuss some of the problems of higher education faced by developing countries through India. The tangled Higher education in my mother country, India has many problems; some are unique problems of its own. This needs to be reformed urgently, lest it will have catastrophic consequences. India has witnessed very high growth since the economic liberalization of 1991. All statistics shows that she is going to dominate the World Economy along with China and United States. It’s a vibrant and well balanced economy. But most importantly it has the youngest population in the world with almost 600 million people under the age of 25. By 2025 70% of its population will be under working age. But this asset can easily be its greatest liability unless we convert it into human capital. The current Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for Higher education is just 13%.  Moreover there is a wide gap between the GERs of low income families and the financially well offs. The government has set its goal for attaining a GER of 30% by 2020. Unless this happens ‘the India story’ is likely to end soon. In India, companies and government agencies are struggling to find employees while many other graduates can’t find jobs. One of the reasons is that many of the graduates are unemployable, because they are not trained enough to work in the real world. Our Universities should be a little more employment centric rather than just loading the student with academic knowledge. Indian undergraduate students learn a lot more than students elsewhere, but they lack skills to work in the real world. Many of the giant Corporations like the Infosys have started their own Academies to train their fresh recruitments to prepare for the real job. Yet another problem is that social and academic environment is oriented toward three professional careers; Engineering, medicine and Management.  In fact the country is flooded with engineers that lot of them cannot even find jobs. On the other hand employers cannot find graduates in many areas such as statistics, research, sports, defense and teaching.  The source of the problem lies with the high school system which deals only with marks and provides little ideas about the choices they have in life. For correcting this, government should overhaul the high school system and identify unique skills, talents and aspirations of students and develop it. The country currently has only a handful of top rated universities and that too mostly of engineering, medicine and management. So it is indispensable that we need world class universities for all fields of studies. Universities should encourage students to pursue new knowledge, rather than just concentrating on knowledge of the past. Researches should be promoted  and funded for a society of thinkers.

                                  

                            

                                   The need of the hour is reforms, from the very basics. Huge investments are required for building quality universities for all fields of studies throughout the country. We have very little time in our hand; the nation will face an inescapable situation with high rate of unemployment and slow growth within the next 2 decades unless we act today. The higher education in India is highly regulated. It is very difficult for individuals to start new universities or foreign universities to start campus. Though the government increased allotment for higher education in 2011 budget by 40% to 4.5 billion dollars, it is inadequate. So obviously government should encourage more universities to be established by private bodies with government aid and supervision.  Moreover within the universities new approach should be adopted to make the curriculum compatible with employment. A special commission should be set up to monitor and suggest policies. Though there is no sign of any major initiatives from the government’s side there is every possibility of a people’s movement to bring these changes. So this demonstrates how crucial higher education is in India, especially for this decade. The 1.2 billion Indians have a big dream that one day their nation will prosper, so will their lives.  This hope gives them the strength to overcome difficult times. For making this dream a reality, higher education has a decisive role to play.

                                           So in a nutshell, every nation needs to identify the flaws in their higher education and rectify it. Only by having an arrangement which is capable of delivering efficiently we could expect the higher education to deliver its goals; that is to enhance the student’s intelligence, shape his character and aptitude, to make him productive by equipping him with skills for employment, and making him a global citizen for the tomorrow’s world. But most importantly by doing so, create a world of peace, prosperity and brotherhood.

A Good Time to Invest

I am not an expert in stock markets. So this article is not for the professional traders.This is for those who are confused about investing in equities(stocks). Now, if you have any doubts regarding anything i am about to explain, please leave a comment, I will be happy to help you.

You may be hearing the news that the sensex (Bombay Stock Exchange) has crashed and the investors have lost crores of rupees.This basically means everybody is selling out the stocks they have and nobody wants to buy it. So the stocks are quite cheap now. Whys is that nobody wanting the stocks? And why am I still insisting you to invest in Indian equities? For you to understand both, let me first explain the reason why the Indian stock markets are currently looking so gloomy. And then why would the stocks would rally up soon.

What made the sensex go down. here are the reasons;

1. The Euro zone crisis : last year credit rating agencies downgraded the the credit ratings of the peripheral European nations or the PIGS( Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain). This means that the probability of a default of the sovereign debts of these nations are higher. If that happens many major banks of Europe would fail and the the entire financial system of Europe and world would be shattered. The European Union will seize to exist and Europe will slip into a long recession. So naturally If you were an investor in stock market, you would have thought of taking your money off before the disaster happens.

             If the Europe slips into a recession the euro will loose its value. So everyone started trading their savings in euros to dollars. So the demand for dollar increased and the dollar appreciated.

While within India higher inflation made the rupee weak. This coupled with dollars appreciation caused the rupee to fall around 20% against the dollar. that is 1 dollar was 44.5Rs in December 2010 and at the same period in 2011,a dollar was near 54 rupees. This will have a negative effect on companies which have borrowed in dollars or companies associated with internationally trading  commodities like oil,steal,etc

Inflation in India and RBI`s rate hikes: I think last year we people in India heavily criticized the government for high inflation, especially the food. Since its the duty of the government to bring down inflation and save the common man from the burden, the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) responded by increasing the lending rates 13 times consecutively. This means that now its difficult for companies and individuals to borrow capital, and this will reduce the amount of money in circulation and would bring down inflation considerably. But the problem with this method is that the economy will slowdown. Since its difficult for companies to borrow money for new projects the growth slows down. The GDP growth for the last quarter was down to 6.9 percent. Now this would hurt the sentiments of the over optimistic Indian investors. so the investors started panicking and pulling their money.

Now there were also other significant factors like the withdrawal of FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investments) which is too long to explain.

Why should we invest now?
I think now you got a sense of the state of our economy and the markets. A best time to accumulate any kind of asset is when its cheap. Most of the stocks in India`s  stock markets are currently undervalued. Why would the stock price of a company go down when the company its self is growing 20% annually. Because of the happenings I have mentioned above the sudden panic of investors lead to the markets we are seeing now. If you want to invest for a long term in stock markets, its the best time to do that. In the long term, there is no doubt that the value of Indian markets would go up, because of the strong fundamentals of Indian Economy. We have a huge and fast growing domestic market. Despite consuming a lot we have a savings rate of 35% of GDP. Although we are not dependent on exports our exports are also growing. We are already recovering from the problems addressed above apart from the European sovereign debt crisis. The latest data shows that inflation has come down significantly. The means that the RBI is going to ease the interest rates soon, probably in January. So the economy will pick up its lost pace as soon as the capital becomes cheap. Talking about the Euro zone crisis, if the inevitable happens, that is a default by any of these nations, the world economy will be hurt especially the developed world. Although India's economy would slow down, in comparison with the rest of the world it would be still growing in a good rate. India would would not be directly hit by the crisis because India is not an export oriented economy. The stock market may crash at that period, but it will soon pick up because there is no other place left in the world which offers a good growth. So looking for investing in stock markets? this is the best time. If you have any doubts leave a comment or send me an email.