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.