Wednesday, August 24, 2011
SWADESHI FACTORY-a short story
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Monday, August 22, 2011
New Articles posted on Mrunal's Civil Services Exam Blog
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| [Polity Q] Duration of President's rule: 1 year or 3 years?
plz let me knw tht under article 356 presidents rule once approved it continues for 6 mnths.bt in one of the other books it shows as 1 year.actly acc to 44th amen act it continues for 1yr.and at the same time do it can be extended for a max perd of 3 years or 1yr.in laxm it is 3 yrs and wen i serchd on net its 1yr. In normal circumstances, it can be extended only upto 1 year. However parliament can also extend it upto three years provided that 1.National emergency under 352 is also running simultaneously. 2.Election Commission certifies that it is difficult to hold general state legislative assembly elections at the moment.   | |||
| [Economy Q] If people don't take loan what will banks do?
Question via email We've learnt that the main source of income for banks is loans which they give out to borrowers, where the interest rate for the loans is set at a higher rate than the savings bank rate which they provide us with. Let us suppose a situation where, we have our savings deposits intact in our banks, and no people needs to take loans from the bank. How will the bank function at that time?A Bank's life depends on circulating the money from one hand to another and pocketing the difference of the interest rates between them. If people stop taking loans then Bank will invest in sharemarket, fund real estate projects, mutual funds, oil bonds etc. or start giving loans to people of other nation or finance projects abroad. If bank doesn't see much profit even in that scenario then they will have to close down the operation.   | |||
| [Economy Q] List of all articles- scattered around
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| [Q] Worried about the medical checkup in Civil service exam
1. What time does they take the medical fitness test ?Those who clear the mains exam, will be called for interviews @Delhi during around April 2012 and med. checkup will be done at that time. 2. What if I don't clear the test, will I be offered my next preference or will it be end of the road for me and I will have to start off afresh for next year exam ? If you don't clear the medical test, depending on your merit number, they'll send you to another service e.g. You gave preference in your mains form: IAS>IPS>IFS Suppose Your merit number is 31, and there are only 30 seats in IAS. So you should be going to IPS, but if you dont pass the medical test, they'll send you to IFS. 3. Is there any provision of +/- 1% relaxation in medical fitness ?If you don't pass the med.test for the first time, there is a provision that you can appal for another re-checkup. Besides, The med.standards of civil services are not that stringent as they're in Army,Navy and Airforce. You can read about them at http://mrunal-exam.blogspot.com/2010/05/faq-physical-standards-eye-sight-for_11.html#_Toc261341898   |
Impeachment and its procedure
In India, two judges were removed from their respected office by the impeachment process by parliament of India. Before moving further we have to know about the meaning of impeachment and its procedure.
Meaning of impeachment : The word "impeachment" was derived from the Latin word which mean caught or entrapped and has analogues in the modern French verb impeacher(to prevent) and the modern English impede.
Impeachment is the formal process which is levied on the officials who had done the unlawful activities and the outcome of which affect the depending countries and by this that person had removed from the office and other punishment also given to the
According to article 124(4) of the Indian constitution: A member of higher judiciary which is the chief justice of India and the state high courts can be removed from the service through the process of impeachment on the ground of proven misbehaviour .In India, there is no other process by a judge can be removed from the office before his or her term comes to an end.
PROCEDUER OF IMPEACHMENT : As per the judge's inquiry act 1986, the impeachment of judges can be done on grounds of "proven Misbehaviour" and "incapacity", if the judge of India is to be Impeached than the recommendation have to be made by the chief Justice of India to the president of India. If it is accepted than the Proposal of impeachment must be introduced by 100 mps in Lok Sabha or 50 mps in Rajya Sabha. The copy of the proposal is given to the Concerned judge before the proceeding starts in the parliament of India. The motion is passed by the two-third majority members present and Voting must be done separately in the each house of the parliament. Than an inquiry committee of three members are made out of which two are judges – one from supreme court and second one are the chief justice of high court and if the complaint are against the high court judge than the two judges are form supreme court. If the motion is passed than the formal announcement is done by the president of India.
HISTORY OF IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS IN INDIA : The impeachment proceeding is done only in extreme cases, in India the Impeachment proceedings were done on two judges while in united States the house has initiated impeachment proceeding for 64times since 1789.
Two judges are:
(1) Justice V. Ramaswami: He was the Punjab and Haryana high court chief justice of in the year 1993 when he was impeached by the Lok Sabha by 196 votes because of his incapacity to do work; the supreme court had charged Justice V. Ramaswami as failed "TO DO COMPLETE JUSTICE".
(2) Justice Soumitra Sen: He was the Calcutta high court chief justice, the chief justice of India K.G Balakrishnam had recommended him for impeachment to the parliament because he had misappropriating Rs. 22.83 lakh .than on 2009 a three members commitee was set up and investigation was started and he was found guilty and finally on 17 August 2011 he was impeached by Rajya Sabha.
CONCLUSION: The impeachment process is levied on the official who is unable to do his or her work properly or who had done the unconstitutional work which harms the country.The impeachment is the process to stop the corruption in the higher level officials and to remove them from their offices because as we had studied we were came to know that by impeachment only the higher level officer is removed from the office.
By : lavika gupta
Seminar on "American Debt Crisis - Lessons for the World"
Social Cause
(A Registered Society with No. 614 of 2003)
in association with
Pragna Bharati
&
The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI)
Cordially invites you and your friends to a Seminar on
American Debt Crisis – Lessons for the World
Principal Speaker:
Sri M.R. Venkatesh*
Economist, Columnist & Author, Chennai
Speaker:
Sri S. Thirumalai**
Management Consultant & Economist
Date & Time:
27th August, 2011 (Saturday) at 5.30 p.m.
Venue:
Surana Udyog Auditorium, FAPCCI, Red Hills, Near Lakdi Ka Pul, Hyderabad
(Route Map: www.fapcci.in/contactus.html )
All are welcome.
Dr. Somaraju Suseela
President, Social Cause
Dr. T. Hanuman Chowdary
Chairman, Pragna Bharati
V.S. Raju
President, FAPCCI
*Sri M.R. Venkatesh passed Chartered Accountancy in 1992 with an all India Ranking and has been in active practice since 1993 as partner of GSV Associates, Chartered Accountants, Chennai. He is well known for addressing the Business concerns relating to Economic Policies, International trade and Business strategies. He has authored several books including "Sense, Sensex and Sentiments" in 2010, "Global Imbalances and the impending Dollar crisis" in 2007 and "A Handbook on Anti-dumping" in 2001. He is a commentator on International Trade and Economic Affairs and a regular contributor to various prestigious publications in India. You can have a glimpse of his articles and lectures on his website http://mrv.net.in/
**Sri S. Thirumalai has over three decades of professional experience in general management and tax consulting. He has assisted numerous domestic and multinational companies in planning and structuring for business issues. He has presented several papers at National and International Conferences and is on the guest faculty for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in the area of indirect taxation and visiting faculty for several Management Institutions. He was the President of the FAPCCI. He is a professional graduate in Law and a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and also a Certificated Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He is an alumni of the Harvard Business School, Boston., MA (USA).
May we solicit the favour of circulating this invitation to your friends in Hyderabad?
If you are on Facebook, you may kindly confirm your participation at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136597769768453
You are also welcome to 'LIKE'' Social Cause page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Cause/148051890543
and be in touch with Social Cause
Visit us at: www.socialcause.org
For further details:
Email: SocialCause.India@gmail.com
Mob: 9885908804
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill
The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill inter-alia seeks to provide a statutory mechanism for enquiring into complaints, including from individuals, against judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court, enabling declaration of assets and liabilities by the Judges and laying down judicial standards to be followed by Judges. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister for Law & Justice, however, said that the Government has not made any provision to fix the time limit to pronounce Judgement after the final hearing of the case in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill
Social Audit - Concept
"For the people, of the people, by the people"
Our country being a democratic nation and a Welfare State revolves around people. Government takes any decision keeping the common people in mind. Government formulates many programme/policies for the welfare of the State.
Though planning is perfect with all valid assumptions considering the immediate need of the people, there were few Programs in which 'WE', the people, find a huge gap between expected outcome and actual outcome. It is evident that there is some sort of deviation from the proper course of implementation and follow up. So there needs to be a Check!
Social responsibility and accountability are the need of the hour. Governments are facing an ever growing demand to be more accountable and socially responsible and the people are becoming more conscious about their rights to be informed and to influence Government decision making processes.
Definition
"Social Audit is a process in which people work with the Government to monitor the planning and implementation of the policies/programme which are intended for the beneficiaries (people)".
It is also defined as an in-depth scrutiny and analysis of the working of any public utility vis-à-vis (in relation to) its social relevance.
The underlying ideas of a Social Audit are directly linked to the concepts of democracy and participation. In Social Audit, it examines the impact of specific Governmental activities on certain sections of the society which are in contact with Government agencies. It is an important tool in the Management of National affairs.
Objectives of Social Audit:
Ø Accurate identification of requirements
ØPrioritization of developmental activities as per requirements
ØProper utilization of funds
ØConformity of the developmental activity with stated goals
Ø Quality of Service
Need for Social Audit
"Is it true ?
- India is a Democracy
- People are Masters
- Government exists to serve the people!
If it is TRUE,
- Social Audit of all Development programmes need be welcome"
Major decisions about these welfare programmes were made by the politicians. People's money should not be played into the hands of few corrupted politicians hence there is a need for the social audit to check any discrepancies relating to the project/welfare activities.
Social Audit is community driven tool for transparency and accountability. It unearths misappropriations, corruptions and identifies the perpetrators of such deeds and exposes them and makes accountable in the Public forum.
Scope of Audit
Social audit is also conducted on Policies and Laws in addition to the schemes or programmes. The task of auditing is relevant right from the stage when an issue is identified through planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Audits are done on not just of 'decisions taken' or the actions done (or not done) but also of the 'processes followed'.
Social Audit compared with other audits:
(a) Government Audit or Institutional audit:
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) who is the head of the Supreme Audit Institution of India, conducts Government Audit and it is also responsible for ensuring an uniform accounting policy and audit in Government sector as a whole.
Government Audit does not significantly involve the affected persons (ultimate beneficiaries). These audits concludes at assessing outputs rather than OUTCOMES and are also not able to assess whether the decision making processes had the inputs and support of all the critical stakeholders (Government Personal, affected peoples and other interested parties).
(b) Public audit:
Public audit do not have those problems which being discussed above since it is audited only by the affected persons/stated beneficiaries. However the findings of discrepancy by this public audit cannot be easily taken to the table of the Government since, as the implementing institutions and Government does not involve intrinsically in the process of audit.
Social audit is a blend of two (Institutional audit and Public audit). It assesses the performance and unpacks decision. 'Social audit' targets whether the spent amount for the Social activity has made a difference whereas 'Financial audit' target whether the amount spent correctly for the specified activities. So Social Audit complements well with Financial Audit.
Social audit is conducted in addition to Government/Institutional audits in some sample activities which involve distributing of disaggregated benefits at grass root level/activity which involves huge investment like; Public Distribution System (PDS), National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The findings of such audit are publicly compared to those of the Government/Institutional audits and the corrective/rectifying measures would be initiated.
When Social Audit conducted?
Social audit can be conducted at any point of time of the Social activity. It might be of the grass root planning stage/implementing stage or after work being done.
Example:
It is broken down below taking NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) specifically to give clarity as to what is being done in a Social Audit.
Planning Stage: To ensure that the Gram Panchayat plan is need based covering productive/investments and drawn up in consultation with community serving the poor and the disadvantaged.
Preparation Stage: To ensure that estimates are proper and are in tune with the approved quantum of work.
Implementation Stage: To ensure that wages are paid rightly, properly and to right people
After completion of work: To ensure that quality of work is in tune with quantity and estimated cost.
Benefits of Social Audit:
ØCurb on corruption
ØIncreased effectiveness of a Program / Project
ØA sense of belonging (Personal touch with People, since people participate in the audit)
ØAwareness to Common people their rights and entitlements
ØSocial Accounting and Reporting
ØPromotes integrity and a sense of community among people.
ØGood Local Governance
ØGrievance redressal and follow up of corrective actions
Different stages of Social Audit:
| Step I | Step II |
| Preparatory | Implementation |
| Plan preparation | Introduction |
| Selection of Audit Committee | Chart Display |
| Information gathering | Discussion |
| Verification | Public Meeting |
| Social Audit Public Meeting | Step III Follow up |
RTI and Social Audit:
To conduct Social Audit it needs all relevant information and decision making processes that are totally transparent. Section 4(1) (b) of the RTI Acts (Right to Information) lists the information that Public authorities need to make public suo moto. It should publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affects the public. Thereby RTI Acts helps to conduct audit in a smooth manner.
Control Over Social Audit
Ø No official/ political pressure should be brought on to social audit process
All records pertaining to works that are to be audited must be available with the social audit team before Audit process begin
The role and responsibilities of Government/Administration and the Social audit team should be clearly explained
The purity of the Social audit must be maintained at all circumstances. It should not be politicized.
A Social auditor shall not bring his/her personal or organizational 's agenda into the social audit process
All the aspects of the scheme must be closely examined during the social audit process
There should not be any place for discrimination in Social audit process based on caste, race, religion or profession.
A social auditor must be an impartial observer of facts
Lok Pal Bill and Social Audit:
Well, it is possible to relate social audit with newly proposed Jan LokPal Bill. If social audit, implemented with all stringent laws and punitive punishments given for the mishandling (or) by other means of scam, the planning and implementation will be smooth and it ensures good Governance. When Social audit ensures transparency and accountability giving no scope for fraud/corruption, it makes less corrupt 'cases' to be investigated by initiating the proposed Lok Pal bill.
Recent happenings:
Of recent dated 24/04/2011 Environmentalist Mr. Baba Balbir Singh from Jalandhar has advocated Social Audit for the project relating to cleaning the rivers in Punjab. Two key reasons for conducting social audit for this project is to keep a hawk eyes on spending of the Central funds to prevent siphoning of funds by corrupt officials and to ensure the targets were achieved.
Apart from that, Social audit was conducted under NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005) which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household adult member.
Conclusion
Social Audit can be described as checking and verification of a programme/scheme implementation and it results by the community with the active involvement of the primary stakeholders.
This concept brings a different dimension viewing 'People' as Auditors who works with Government and assesses the performance of the Social activity. It measures the Social outcomes and makes a Social difference.
by-Ruban kumar
Civil Services (Prelim) Exam, 2011 Result Announced
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the result of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2011 held on 12.06.2011.
The candidature of the qualified candidates is provisional. In accordance with the Rules of the Examination, all these candidates have to apply again in the Detailed Application Form (DAF), which is available on the website of the Union Public Service Commission www.upsc.gov.in. All the qualified candidates are advised to fill up the DAF and submit the same ONLINE for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2011 to be held from 29.10.2011. The DAF will be available on the website of the Commission till 11.59 PM on 1.9.2011. Important instructions regarding filling up of the DAF and submitting the same ONLINE to the Commission are also available on the website. The candidates who have been declared successful have to first get themselves registered on the relevant page of the website before filling up the ONLINE Detailed Application Form. The qualified candidates are further advised to refer to the Rules of the Civil Services Examination, 2011 published in the gazette of India (Extraordinary) vide Department of Personnel and Training notification F. No.13018/3/2011-AIS(I), dated 19.2.2011, which is also available on the website of the Commission.
After submitting the DAF duly filled in ONLINE, the candidates are required to take out a print out of the finally submitted DAF separately and will have to send the printed copy of the DAF duly signed by the candidates alongwith all relevant documents including the prescribed fees, wherever applicable as enclosures addressed to the Under Secretary [CS(M)], Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069, so as to reach the Commission's Office latest by 09.09.2011. The envelope containing the print out of the DAF submitted ONLINE should be superscribed "Application for Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2011". It can also be delivered at Union Public Service Commission counter by hand till 09.09.2011 (5.00 P.M). It may be noted that mere submission of application form does not, ipso facto, confer on any right for admission to the Main Examination. The admission certificate alongwith the time table of the Main Examination will be issued to the eligible candidates 2-3 weeks before the commencement of the examination. Changes, if any, in the postal address after submission of the DAF may be communicated to the Commission at once.
The Union Public Service Commission have a Facilitation Counter near the Examination Hall Building in its Campus. Candidates may obtain any information/clarification regarding their result of the above mentioned examination on all working days between 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM, in person or on Tel. No. 011-23385271, 011-23098543 or 011-23381125 from this Facilitation Counter. Candidates can also obtain information regarding their result by accessing Union Public Service Commission Website www.upsc.gov.in. The result of Roll Nos.000797, 000957, 003533, 004994, 052161, 062662, 110670, 233449 & 257379 has been withheld.
Result is available on PIB website i.e www.pib.nic.in and also on the U.P.S.C. website i.e. www.upsc.gov.in.
click here to see result
Email basics to safeguard our friends
We will always want to share interesting Emails with our friends. We successfully complete this mission by just clicking the forward button in our E-mail interface and filling up email addresses of our friends in the "To" address box or "CC" address box.
This method would serve the purpose. But is it a safe way for forwarding emails?
For any novice internet user this method may be sounding good. But basically it is a not safe way of forwarding mails.
Significance of TO, CC and BCC:
The "To" address box is of course the text field where you have to enter the email address to which you want the mail to be sent. Multiple email addresses can be entered in this field for one to many delivery.
CC:
The "CC" stands for the term Carbon Copy. This is similar to writing a letter to somebody and mark a copy of the same to others.
When to use CC:
We have to note here that the recipients who are the owners of email addresses you entered in the TO address box as well as "CC" address will come to know about the other recipients to whom the email was sent. So you have to use "CC" address box prudently in the cases where you should ensure that all recipients should know the email details of other recipients to whom the mail is sent. To put is simply, the email message received by the recipients whose email addresses are entered in the "CC" address box will contain the email address of the sender as well as the email addresses of other recipients.
BCC:
The "BCC" stands for Blind Carbon Copy. If you enter the email address of the recipient/recipients here, they will not come know about other recipients to whom this mail was sent, the ultimate email message would contain only the sender's email and other contents of the email. The email addresses of other recipients will not be figuring in the mail.
When to use BCC:
While you are in compulsion that the recipients should know the email addresses of the other recipients you have to use CC. In all other situations it is better to use BCC because it's safe way of handling email harvesters
What is email harvesting:
It refers to manual or automated way of collecting email addresses by bulk email senders for sending spam (unwanted/unsolicited emails to advertise/propagate something-especially illicit products, obscene contents etc), virus programs to harm the computers.
Email harvesters normally tend to make automated programs to harvest mail addresses from the web.
But for an email harvester, receipt of mails that are sent using CC address boxes will be like giving bank locker keys to a robber.
A typical email received by a recipient whose email address was entered by sender in the CC address box:
From: abc@gmail.com
To: bcd@gmail.com
CC: 123@yahoo.co.in, 234@gmail.com, 456@yahoo.com, 765@yahoo.com, xyz@rediff.com
I find this mail very interesting and thought of forwarding this to you……….
It will be a cake walk as he will add more email addresses to his kitty without any difficulty so that he can send spam to more persons and harm more computers.
But when BCC address box used the recipient will receive only the sender's email address apart from the content.
A typical email received by BCC recipient:
From: abc@gmail.com
To: bcd@gmail.com
I find this mail very interesting and thought of forwarding this to you……….
So, if we use TO CC and BCC address boxes prudently by understanding the functional difference between them, it will be great help that we do to our friends and their friends by safeguarding them from spam, virus threat etc.
Competition Commission of India
The Competition Commission of India has been constituted under Section 7 of the Competition Act, 2002 as amended in 2007.
The Competition Commission of India consists of a Chairperson and not less than two and not more than six other Members. Under Section 18 of the Competition Act, the functions of the Commission inter-alia are to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants, in markets in India.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Shri R.P.N. Singh today in the Lok Sabha in reply to a written question whether the Government has constituted the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the composition and functions of the said Commission.
Subscribers Registered under the New Pension System (NPS)
PFRDA recently published a detailed report regarding the number of subscribers registered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS). It says that the total number of Central Government employees registered under NPS is nearby eight lakhs till date.
Subscribers Registered under the New Pension System (NPS)
| Subscriber Registered under NPS | |
|---|---|
| Status Report as on Aug 13 2011 | |
| Ministries / Sector | Number of Subscribers |
| Central Government | 7,92,656 |
| Central Government Autonomous Bodies | 41,920 |
| State Governments | 7,86,066 |
| Unorganized Sector* | 53,954 |
| Corporate Sector | 9,042 |
| NPS Lite | 7,43,864 |
| Total | 24,27,502 |
| *Till date 6298 Tier II accounts has been activated | |
Have Breakfast… or…Be Breakfast!*
Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?
Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. The answer is: None of the
above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business in India is not
cameras but cellphones.
The reason is that cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling standalone
cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera
outright? Nothing at all.
Try this. Who runs the biggest music business in India? The answer is
Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel earns more
than music companies do by selling albums.
Airtel is not in the music business. It is the mobile service provider with
the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of a competitor is difficult
to detect and even more difficult to beat. By the time you have identified
him, he has already gone past you. But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti
(Airtel's parent) are breathing easy, you couldn't be further from the
truth.
Nokia has reportedly acknowledged that it missed the smart-phone bus. It
admits that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android can make life difficult for
it in the future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did
you? If these illustrations mean anything, it is that there is a bigger game
unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails.
The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) in this context is: "What is
tomorrow's personal digital device?" And, a related question: "Who is my
competitor?"
In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways for
international flights in India? Singapore Airlines? Indian Airlines? Maybe,
but there is a more interesting answer: The videoconferencing services of
Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.
Senior information technology executives in India and abroad were compelled
by their headquarters to use videoconferencing to keep travel costs in
check. Of course, there could be a rebound in travel. But to think that the
airlines will be back to their previous business post-recession is something
I would not bet on. In the short term, yes. In the long term, it is a
resounding no.
Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable
besides physics it is in electronic hardware, where prices consistently
fall. Between 1977 and 1991, prices of the now-dead VCR crashed to one third
of their original levels in India. PC prices also dropped. If this trend
repeats itself, then videoconferencing prices will also crash. Imagine the
fate of airlines then.
India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly
different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The
film gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan etc). That was when
cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50-over cricket.
Then came the Indian Premier League and the two markets collapsed into one.
IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs, reducing the game to the length of a
three-hour movie. Cricket became a competitor to film. Desperate multiplex
owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to
hang on to the audience. If the IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket,
films would have to sequence their releases so as to not clash with IPL
matches. As far as the audience is concerned, both are a three-hour
"tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the
market.
Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did
you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen?
When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I
don't remember!"
One final illustration. Some 20 years ago, what were Indians using to wake
them up in the morning? An alarm clock, that monster of mechanical springs.
It had to be physically wound up every day. It made so much noise that it
woke you -- and the rest of the colony. What do we use today? Cellphones. An
entire category of clocks practically disappeared without warning.
The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal
called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums
it up rather neatly.
—Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore. He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a
post graduate in management from IIM
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