UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG EDUCATED YOUTHS

                                                              -By MILAN K SINHA

It is an irony that Indian economy grew at about 9% per annum during the period 2004-09, the first term of UPA Govt. at the centre, but it could generate only one million jobs, whereas during the preceding five years, the rate of GDP growth was although relatively lower, yet it generated 58 million jobs.

The report card of UPA–II Govt. so far in regard to job creation is not perceptibly better either. That’s one of the major reasons why social scientists call these nine years of UPA rule at the centre a period of jobless growth.

It's a common knowledge that unemployment, both full time and part time creates multidimensional social problems that has the potential to erupt into a serious national problem.

With mushrooming number of Management and Engineering colleges - MBA seats in India alone grew almost four-fold from 95,000 in 2006-07 to 3.6 lakh in 2011-12. As a result, the number of MBA and B.Tech degree holders has gone up many folds in the meantime. Unfortunately, however, job opportunities for these job seekers have grown grossly inadequately in the same period.

Earlier this year, Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) came out with a paper on the status of B-schools and Engineering colleges vis-à-vis job opportunities and employability issues which also revealed following startling facts:

1. Since 2009, the recruitments at the campus have gone down by 40%. Consequently, the B-schools and engineering colleges are not able to attract students, more than 180 B-schools have already closed down in 2012 in the major cities Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Dehradun etc. Another 160 are struggling for their survivals.

2. The quality of higher education in India across disciplines is poor and does not meet the needs of the corporate world.

3. There is no quality control, the placements are not commensurate with fees being charged, the faculty is not good enough and there is no infrastructure.

4. The business schools promote their brands only on placement and by boasting about high salaries. They offer theoretical courses which lacks practical skills required by the corporate sector today.

5. The need to update and re-train faculty in emerging global business perspectives is practically absent in many B-schools, often making the course content redundant.

To put it precisely, all the surveys and studies conducted during last few months about the status of Degree Delivery vis-a-vis Job Delivery to the ever growing educated youth population of this largest democracy of the world point out clearly that there is a definite and serious flaw in the whole system which neither the ministry nor the UGC (University Grants Commission) and AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) could appreciate, if at all, they know well about the malady at the first place, and then address it suitably.

In fact, there has been serious disconnects between the policy decisions being taken at the apex level and the actual ground realities. As far as increasing the seats in technical colleges is concerned, either it is effected by according sanction for opening new colleges without proper need assessment or by allowing existing colleges to have additional seats to bolster their revenue without reviewing their present academic performance and their adherence status of basic promises made to run such colleges.

It is interesting to note here that there were one million seats in engineering colleges of the country in the year 2008 which rose to 2.5 million by 2012 but during the same period even the major job provider, the IT sector, offered lesser jobs - it offered 3.40 lakh jobs in the year 2008 whereas it was 2.35 lakh in 2012. The figure of job offerings by other sectors of economy was not encouraging as well due to general slowdown in growth.

Isn't it very unfortunate for majority of students who pursued their management and/or engineering education by availing large amount of loans which as per the agreement is to be repaid in accordance with the repayment schedule after the completion of said course whether the student gets the job or not? The parents of such degree holders do suffer a lot both because of their sons or daughters not getting employed in time and also due to pressure from banks for timely repayment of the loan amount. The possibility of such loans becoming NPA in banks’ books is another dimension of this issue which deserves pointed discussion separately.

All these aspects and some more give credence to the allegation that the authorities in HRD ministry, UGC, AICTE etc. failed to monitor the quality of education being imparted by majority of these institutions throughout the country. Can't it be termed as another well thought off racket by education mafias to play with the future of millions of students so blatantly? As such, this calls for an in-depth investigation by an independent expert committee without further delay. 

Hope the HRD ministers/authorities at the centre and states are listening.

As always, I am keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, request you to post Comments to share your views and experiences.

                  

          Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com dated 24.09.2013

# Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

PURSUE YOUR PASSION PASSIONATELY

                                                                                                    - MILAN K SINHA 

"One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.”- E. M. Forster

Vadim Kotelnikov writes, "Steve Jobs was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation. His success story is legendary. Put up for adoption at an early age, dropped out of college after 6 months, slept on friends’ floors, returned coke bottles for 5 cent deposits to buy food, then went on to start Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios."

Steve jobs went through vagaries of life of all sorts from his early childhood till his death due to cancer on 5th October, 2011, at the age of 56. But, Steve was Steve - an icon of passion who loved himself thoroughly all through and tried to do what he used to profess, ''Do what you love to do. Find your true passion... The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

Absolutely correct! Anthony Robbins, speaker and author says it this way, "There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson. In fact, passion is the genesis of genius."

Take the example of one of the greatest sons of soil who lived on this earth only for 39 years, but his contribution has been unparalleled and unmatched. He is the man widely known all over the world as Swami Vivekananda. He was full of passion to know himself, his motherland and the rest of the world with a view to serve the humanity at large in his own inimitable manner.

As a young man of 25, he started his Bharat Darshan and travelled through length and breadth of the country like a wandering monk for five years. Swami Vivekananda's speech at the World Parliament of Religion in Chicago in September 1893 when he was aged only 30 has been the true testimony of his great passion for making this country and in turn the world a better place for every human being, irrespective of religion, region, class, color or country.

One of the world's greatest military leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte who said that there was no word like 'Impossible' in his dictionary, was extremely passionate about his mission in life. He built one of the strongest army in Europe with five lakh trained soldiers that used modern tactics and strategies to win the battles even in the most difficult situations. Napoleon used to motivate his forces and people as a passionate leader. On one occasion he said, "I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it... All men are equal before God. Wisdom, talent, and virtue make the only difference between them.”

We find such inspiring examples in different fields of activity ranging from literature, singing, dancing, cooking, mountaineering to administration, agriculture, space science, film making and whatnot who made us extremely proud by their creed and deed to be imbibed and emulated.

Very interestingly, pursuing one's passion is replete with moments of suspense and pleasure worth experiencing and enjoying. The American children's writer, T. Alan Armstrong puts it nicely in these words, "If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you."

As always, I am keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, request you to post Comments to share your views and experiences.

                   Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com on 17th Sept.2013

# Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

DO YOU HAVE A REAL HERO AROUND?

                                                                - MILAN K SINHA

In 1933, the legendary hockey player Dhyan Chand was playing a match in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan. The match was between Dhyan Chand's team '14 Punjab Regiment Team' and 'Sappers & Miners Team'. From the beginning, Dhyan Chand mesmerized the spectators by his splendid game which however, was not liked by the opponent team's Centre half and out of sheer desperation; he played foul and injured Dhyan Chand. Everybody was surprised and angry. The game was stopped for a while.

Dhyan Chand was given the first aid and he returned on the field with bandage on his nose. He went to the Pakistani Centre half and told him with a smiling face to play well not to injure him (Dhyan Chand) again. Interestingly, Dhyan Chand then scored six goals in a row against the Pakistani team thereby proving his real calibre in a most dignified and positive manner even under a difficult and trying situation. Undoubtedly, the true hero of the match was none other than Dhyan Chand.

Before moving on to next real life story, I have this small poem for you:

Let others cheer the winning man,

There is one I hold worthwhile:

This is he, who does the best he can,

Then, loses with a Smile.

Beaten he is, but not to stay,

Down with the rank and file:

That man will win some other day,

Who loses with a Smile.

Have you heard of Lawrence Lemieux, the Canadian sailor? He was one of the very few Olympic Stars who was awarded a medal, although he finished 22nd in his game in 1988 Seoul Olympics. The reason was: During the event, when Lawrence was near the halfway point and was in 2nd place in a seven race event, he noticed that the boat of fellow competitors from Singapore, Joseph Chan and Siew Shaw Her had capsized and were thrown into rough water with injuries. Without thinking of winning the Olympic medal, Lawrence took a turn to rescue Joseph and Shaw at his own personal risk and did the needful to finally hand them over safely to the official rescue team.

Lawrence Lemieux finished 22nd in the game but the International Yacht Racing Union unanimously decided to award Lawrence Lemieux 2nd place, his position when he left for rescuing the Singaporean pair. He was also awarded one of the most prestigious Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship, sacrifice and courage in the best spirit of Olympic Ideals.

Lawrence might not have expected in his wildest imagination to get the medal after formally not qualified for it. But, he must be full of contentment and real joy for having done the right thing he could do at that moment.

There are always a few such examples in and around us who remain engaged in doing something exceptionally worthwhile without expecting any medal or commendation. They just listen to their own call of duty and feel the unbounded pleasure of accomplishing that job. Don’t they actually qualify to be the Real Hero?

As always, I am keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, request you to post Comments to share your views and experiences.

         Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com dated 09.09.2013

# Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

CELEBRATING TEACHERS' DAY

                                                                                  -By Milan K Sinha

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge - Albert Einstein, the Great Scientist and Nobel Prize Winner.

It is truly so. Teacher plays the most crucial and definitive role in making and shaping the life of every child. Whenever and wherever we find a society and finally a country developing in a qualitative manner, it is primarily because of thousands of teachers assiduously involved in teaching and guiding children with the sole goal of producing millions of good citizens. 

Swami Vivekananda writes, "The real Guru (Teacher) is the one through whom we have our spiritual descent. He is the channel through which the spiritual current flows to us, the link which joins us to the spiritual world..."

In his famous book, "Wings of Fire” our former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam narrates beautifully his experiences about his early formative day teacher. He writes, “Once I settled down at the Schwartz High School, Ramanathapuram, the enthusiastic fifteen-year-old within me re-emerged. My teacher, Iyadurai Soloman, was an ideal guide for an eager young mind that was yet uncertain of the possibilities and alternatives that lay before it. He made his students feel very comfortable in class with his warm and open minded attitude... During my stay at Ramanathapuram, my relationship with him grew beyond that of teacher and pupil. In his company, I learnt that one could exercise enormous influence over the events of one’s own life… He (Solomon) instilled in all the children a sense of their own worth. Solomon raised my self- esteem to a high point and convinced me, the son of parents who had not had the benefits of education that I too could aspire to become whatever I wished... By the time I completed my education at Schwartz, I was a self-confident boy determined to succeed…"

The important place of a teacher in everyone's life was emphasised nicely and forcefully by the great mystic poet, philosopher and saint, 'Kabir' in the following lines:

गुरु  गोविन्द   दोउ  खड़े  काको  लागूँ  पाँव

बलिहारी गुरु आपने जो गोविन्द दियो बताय.

Now, a very inspiring real life short story of Alexander the Great and his renowned teacher, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and polymath:

In the course of a journey both Alexander and Aristotle found a river to be crossed to reach the other side, but none of them had the idea how deep was the river. As such, there was risk in crossing it. Aristotle marched forward to cross the river first, but Alexander stopped him and insisted instead to let him cross first with his extremely touching and inspiring argument. He (Alexander) said, “You are my teacher and I am your student. Even though I die, you can produce hundreds of Alexanders, but if you die, I can't produce another Aristotle.”

It filled Aristotle with unbounded pride and made him speechless. That was the level of respect for the teacher. May be that was the reason Alexander the Great asserted his feeling in these words, "I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well."

Today is the birth anniversary of a great teacher, philosopher and statesman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President of India and the second President of the Indian Union.

We celebrate his birthday as Teacher's Day (5th September) in our country. Whatever little has been discussed on this occasion will prove worthwhile only if we heartily salute such good teachers and bless all such promising students who are still in large numbers in our society. This day also provides us with an opportunity to introspect, ponder and act to make our country illiteracy-free and wisdom-rich by doing the needful individually and collectively, either as a teacher or a student or a common citizen thereby fulfilling the dream of Dr. Radhakrishnan as he used to say, "The end-product of education should be a free creative man, who can battle against historical circumstances and adversities of nature."

                     Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published on Patna Daily.com 

# Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

THE RIDDLE OF FREQUENT OIL PRICE HIKE

                                                          - MILAN K SINHA

Latest media reports suggest that the government is contemplating to increase over Rs 3-5/- per litre the market price of petrol and diesel after the end of monsoon session of parliament – together it constitute more than 75% of total petroleum consumption in the country.

It is very difficult, if not impossible for even experts tracking and analysing the pattern of changes in oil prices in retail market to say for sure as to when and how much the prices of petrol, diesel etc. will be hiked by the concerned authorities, as it is, what these oil company officials and the Govt. assert, market driven.

But as a common consumer, if we see the prices of not only petrol but also diesel and cooking gas in the market, we don't find the rational of either increasing the price or reducing the price in the name of varying crude oil prices in international market now and then.

It is interesting to know that India ranks among the top six largest oil-consuming countries in the world and is also one of the top ten largest crude oil importers – it imports about 80% of its total oil consumption. The importance of oil to our economy is immense owing to its significant forward integration with many other economic activities in different sectors. Obviously, the demand of oil has been increasing very fast.

Talking here specifically about India’s vehicular population, the reports say that it has increased many fold in recent past – presently, there are more than 40 million passenger vehicles alone to consume oil in a big way. In total, the country manufactures 11 million plus vehicles every year. And as domestic oil production is unlikely to keep pace with the demand, it is but natural to have a huge supply deficit. Now, to take care of the rising demand by ever increasing imports, the GDP growth and Current Account Deficit (CAD) would be very adversely impacted. This is one side of the story.

The other side goes like this. It's now a common knowledge that more than 40% of the ruling market price of petrol is due to central excise duty and sales tax of respective state governments. Due to fiscal mismanagement both at central and state level, no government talks of cutting its tax rate on petrol and hence find the most convenient route of passing the burden solely on the consumer. But one state is found to be an exception in this regard. Yes, the state of Goa slashed sales tax drastically in recent months; a few months ago, it cut nearly its entire tax on petrol, making the fuel cheaper by Rs. 11 per litre. If that be the case, why other states under the leadership of the so-called progressive Chief Ministers could neither follow Goa’s example nor embark on something even better?

We know that the foreign exchange outgo of the country is huge on account of oil import bill - a barrel of crude oil, which was costing us Rs 5,500 in April this year, now costs 27% more to over Rs 7,000 per barrel in August’13 – a whopping increase due to two major factors - 7% rise in international crude oil prices and 19% depreciation in value of the Indian currency against the US dollar (Rupee closes at all-time low of 66.24 vis-à-vis US Dollar on 27th Aug’13).

Notwithstanding these hard realities, the policy makers and power that-be are doing almost nothing worthwhile (except playing beautifully the infamous “Blame Game” to befool the countrymen) to reduce the growing dependence on import of crude oil by initiating many known measures in order to cut oil consumption in the country.

Even one simple initiative can make a big difference. Yes, the Centre and the States can very well stop use of official vehicles for personal purposes by all its officials forthwith. This will not only stop blatant misuse of official vehicle and thereby stop avoidable oil consumption to a great extent but also send a strong positive message across the country for judicious use of petrol and diesel for conveyance and transportation. There are many other measures which can be initiated to address this serious issue on priority.

                Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com on 28.08.2013

# Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

COMPETING WITH ONESELF - SURE WAY TO SUCCEED IN LIFE

                                                            - MILAN K SINHA
You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that. - Michael Jordan

Competition has been the buzz word wherever you go. Day in and day out, we are engaged rather in a rivalry race trying to outsmart others to achieve success in life, maybe, at times without knowing what that success really means to us in terms of a sense of fulfillment or a feeling of happiness. Many a times, the competition is so cut throat that we find it very difficult to cope up with the situation.

In our eagerness and compulsion to succeed by hook or by crook, we fail to understand that each individual has his own weaknesses and strengths, potential and capacity to perform. When no two persons are biologically similar, how can they be same and similar in delivering the same results, when subjected to undergo some test or the other in day to day life? Please enjoy and emulate what this famous proverb conveys: “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”

Though we know, yet forget to appreciate in practice that every individual is a unique entity having diverse levels of knowledge and skills. As such, the competition always is fundamentally with ‘self’ to become better and to enjoy the fruits of improved productivity by getting the grammar of life right.

There are thousands of examples of great and successful personalities, past and present both, from different fields of activities, who proved by their own making that self- improvement is a sure way to achieve both success and happiness in life.

Nobody can deny or dispute the fact that every improvement starts with 'I' and to ensure that to happen, the first step to embark upon is to undertake an objective self - ‘SWOT’ analysis. Here, as you might know, 'S' stands for Strength, 'W' for Weakness, 'O' for Opportunity and 'T' for Threat. You must jot down on a piece of paper your present status in respect of all the four parameters. Then, make reasonable assessment of your capacity to perform to the optimum level for consolidating and then improving the positives and for diminishing the negatives with a well-formulated strategy and action plan to move towards your own goal of life. In Gautam Buddha's golden words, "Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back and choose the path that leads to wisdom."

Learning and acting for improving one's own performance should be a continuous process, that is to say, competing on regular basis with your own old self for definite value addition. So, as Howard Cosell rightly says, “The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.”

                                                  Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com

                                       

* Do visit my site : milanksinha.com

HOW LONG BEFORE REAL INDEPENDENCE?

                                                                                        - MILAN K SINHA

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of. - Confucius

India is celebrating its 66th anniversary of independence with all fanfare and lots of activities right in the national capital as well as in remotest village schools in the country. The Prime Minister of the country will unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on 15th August followed by a speech enumerating the achievements of the central government during the year passed by and making lots of promises for the year ahead. Similar exercise will be performed by the Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors in respective states and union territories on this occasion. Obviously, hundreds of millions of public money will be spent as always.

But the nagging questions related to real independence of the largest democratic country of the world will still remain to be answered by political masters, planners, policymakers... and the questions are about three most basic needs of every Indian: Food, Clothing and Shelter. If few other basic necessities of life are also added such as Health, Education and Employment, it would be fair enough to analyse the outcome of the 66 year long journey of Independent Democratic Sovereign India. All kinds of statistics/data on these basic needs of people of India are readily available for each one to know, ponder and ask the following questions once again:

• Is every Indian getting even two meals a day to eat?
• Is every Indian clothed like a normal human being?
• Is every Indian family residing in a dwelling unit/pucca house?
• Is every Indian getting minimum basic health facility?
• Is every Indian getting even primary education worth the name?
• Is every Indian gainfully employed even for 180 days in a year?

The answer to all these basic questions is in negative. Notwithstanding, the ruling class - be it political leaders, planners, policymakers/lawmakers and bureaucrats, would argue, many of them loudly and shamelessly, that the country has achieved a lot on these counts during the last 66 years, but they find it very difficult to justify the adequacy and urgency of fulfilling these basic needs of people. It is shameful and really hard to believe that a country with GDP size of more than two trillion dollar is still struggling hard to provide toilet and sanitation facility to a majority of households in the country, thereby earning the infamous title of world capital of open defecation.

Our former President and renowned scientist, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam writes in his famous book, 'Ignited Minds' - we have all the resources we need, whether it be people, talent, natural bounty or other assets. India is truly blessed with real, though latent, abundance. Scarcity is not the cause of our problems. Our problems originate in our approach towards them. We are spreading our resources too wide and too thin. With our resources and the money we spend, we could easily accomplish three times what we do, in half the time we normally take, if we were to operate in mission mode with a vision for the nation. The vision generates the best in every field."

Everyone would agree, by any yardstick, 66 years is pretty long a period for a country full of natural resources and human assets to have real cheers and happiness for celebrating the Independence Day in an inclusive and genuinely festive manner.

Isn't it an opportune time to ask ourselves and question our powerful representatives as to why the country failed to perform even on most basic issues of wellness of our own countrymen? Who is responsible and accountable for this sordid state of 66% population earning far less than what needs to have at least two meals a day, ironically for whom, after 66 years of independence, central government now proposes to get the food security bill passed in the parliament? And how long it will take to make India independent in real sense of the term?

# Published in Patna Daily.com on 15.08.2013

                                  Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

* Do visit my site:http://www.milanksinha.com/