Edunology - Saumya Aggarwal

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Decade back, there were not enough private institutions and quality education was forte of government run institutions. Now the scenario is fast changing with tons of big groups entering into private education as billion strong Indian population needs to get "Educated".

This is my first post since shifting to Singapore. Well almost settled here, I feel there is stark difference in education in Singapore and India. I came across an article in Times of India today (website) which boosts of private colleges being hub of industry interaction and placements.
The article seems to be inspired from these so called TOP education institutions making false image in front of vast reader base. Money seems to be pouring into these institutions and they are not shy to influence media with money power.

Article says "Galgotias University was also ranked as the No.1 Private University for Engineering Education in Northern India by the DataQuest Top T-Schools Survey 2014. Galgotias University is also top-ranked among India's top 20 engineering institutions - ahead of several leading NITs."
Though it is great to see new private university making it to top but it certainly raises questions on credibility of these ranking companies. I asked 2 students who are known to good friend of mine and it gave me completely different perspective.
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Student 1: "I read the article shared by you. It makes me think that if I am among top ranked student in lets say North India and could not crack IITs, will I take admission in Galgotias? Answer is no, no top students want to go to Galgotias."

Me: I was shocked to see his reaction as it is stated to top in North India. I decided to probe further.

Students 1: He said all these rankings are fake. Thapar University is known to be great and pretty old for this reputation, how come Galgotias, which take heavy capitation and actual placement records are nowhere close to advertised one, made it to the top?


Me: Ok, may be this student is biased. Lets head to second one.

Student 2: This article is crap. My girlfriend studies in Amity and her best friend in Galgotias. Both claim to be best and in certain inspired rankings both come number 1. We need to understand why they do it - to take more money from prospective students claiming to be best as they do not make much money through normal meritocratic route. Placements figures are fudged and sometimes companies are paid to come to institutions to pick students. The entire industry is running on IT boom where even sweepers need to be engineers.
---Article in contention is http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/How-do-premium-private-universities-achieve-near-complete-placements/articleshow/46039404.cms

Please do not pay heed to such articles and make an informed decision by what I call 2 way approach (CP Approach):

1. C: Current Student: Talk to current students to take complete stock of the institute situation and its practices. It is very easy

2.  P: Past Student: Check out LinkedIn for past students in terms of profile and work organizations. Also check if anyone became a genuine entrepreneur (not joining his dad's company).

Don's get me wrong, I do believe that private education can or rather have made an impact but boastful marketing is not in benefit of society. 
Everyone has seen full pagers ads stating better than IITs, IIMs on consistent basis. I think media should play constructive role in educating masses about quality of education and where to find one. Capitation is one of by product of privatization and state government should take over admission process to ensure quality is accessed on meritocracy and black money is not involved.

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Well, these days the level of Indian cinema seems to be going down and public is believed to be dump to come to theatres spending thousands of rupees for the torture. One such recent example came from Shah Rukh Khan's ridiculous movie "Happy New Year". He just doesn't seem to get his act together after making people watch Om Shanti Om and even Chennai Express.

I feel that SRK is a big name but script, direction do not seem to do justification to such big names and earn a shame for entire Hindi Cinema. Here are few reasons why I feel that Happy New Year should be banned:

1. WDC = Worst Dance Competition

Movie is about WDC (World Dance Competition) along with diamonds robbery (well every other movie is robbery - Bang Bang, Kick), however the Team India eventually made it to finals through a hacker (why he can hack anything & everything without fail) and some emotional drama that only Farah Khan or her brother can think of.

2. Password? Charlie

Any sensible person and more so a reputed security agency will change passwords and ramp up security. But HNY is not the obvious. So even after a million years, the password continues to be Charlie. Why we can not find a good script writer???

3. Cheap Comedy
Team India seemed to crack jokes on which nobody literally nobody will laugh. Script again fail to cheer.

I thought of reasons of why such things are happening.

1. Indian film makers are half prepared and think big banners cant go wrong. They are too complacent. They are right in a way that they can get crores of rupees (30 crores INR was made by advertising like Nokia, Duster) in HNY.

2. They seem to be half minded. Overdose of cinema has gone into the film makers and they have lost creativity.

3. Good dancers, choreographers and music directors are hard to find. Well this looks to be one of the reason behind HYN. If smaller movies like Ashiqui 2 can produce blockbuster songs why cant movies of Salman, SRK whose producers have deep pockets.

4. Marketing is too easy - With platforms like Comedy Nights with Kapil Tarek Mehta ka Oltah Chasma, Online Media, Brand Endorsements becoming too easy to connect with prospective audience, film makers are getting easy money, why they shouldn't then?

I strongly feel a need of an independent review mechanism to judge a film and then audience should make a call of whether they wish to watch or not. Time has come for such movies/film makers to be shown the door.

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The Unu Ultrapak has a quick charging functionality that is designed to soak up enough electricity to charge a smartphone in just 15 minutes. The external charge ideal for road warriors that make only make short stops between their destinations or those that sometimes forget to charge their phones or battery packs before going out for the day.

The Ultrapak battery pack, is an external charger made by Unu Electronics. The company says that the Ultrapak sucks up power about eight times faster than any other battery pack. It is so fast that in just 15 minutes of charging, the pack gets enough charge to power your smartphone once.
The Ultrapak is available in two sizes: The Ultrapak Go and Ultrapak Tour. The Ultrapak Go is priced at just $60.

Recently StoreDot, an Israel based startup claims to have developed a new battery-technology that charges your smartphone's battery in just 30 seconds. The startup unveiled the battery prototype at Microsoft's 'Think Next Conference' in Tel Aviv. The company says that it will take an year to make a functional prototype embedded inside mobile devices and it expects to have the charger ready for production by 2016. The charger is expected to cost approx $60.

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Not long after Amazon and Flipkart both rolled out their next-day delivery services for India late in 2013, New Dehli-based online marketplace startup Snapdeal has come up with a similar same-day delivery option for its customers – only it won’t charge extra fees for it.

In order to use the new service, consumers need to place orders by 1 PM so they can be processed on the same day as the product ships. Like Amazon and Flipkart, Snapdeal is only offering its same-day delivery in select cities. Customers in Dehli-NCR (National Capital Region) can access it right now, and it will soon make its way to Bangalore and Mumbai.

While Snapdeal currently offers the service for free, it’s not unreasonable to expect the company might apply fees on it in the future.
With the increasing competition in e-commerce space, delivery has become an essential factor after price. While same or next-day delivery service looks great from the consumer’s perspective, in the long run, the true test for these online marketplaces will be whether they can sustain themselves in terms of profit margins.

Smart Indian Buyers -

With Indian buyers always looking for good deals, they have become extra smart to take on venture capilatist money. They go to brick & mortar stores to check physcial items, select them but order online as they get discounts easily. I went to Shoppers Stop recently to purchase a watch of Kenneth Cole worth INR 11795/- without any discount. When I ordered the same on Snapdeal it came at around INR 6300/- which is roughly 50% discount.

It would be interestingly to see how these ecommerce companies sustain and importantly how brands respond to such challenges in price war era between online and offline mode.

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Nano-SIM seems to be talk of the hour. Apple shifted to the Nano-SIM standard with the iPhone 5. Android phones till now, had remained on the micro-SIM standard, irrespective of the brand, the device or the price band it played in. Except for the Moto X, but that hasn’t made a splash in India, as yet. But, with the Nexus 5 apparently shifting to the even smaller SIM card standard, surely the next line of Android flagships (and beyond), will also make the shift.

What is Nano-Sim?

The current Nano-SIM cards that we are using in the newer iPhones and now with the Moto X as well, are also known as the Fourth Form Factor (4FF). This SIM measures a mere 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm x 0.67 mm, which is 15% thinner than the micro-SIM cards that most Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 phones deploy, with dimensions at 15mm x 12mm x 0.76mm.

Why the shift to the even smaller SIM standard? 

The basic idea behind the even smaller SIM card standard is that the Nano SIM (4FF) reduces the size of the SIM effectively to just the golden coloured contact area. The area around the contact area is just about enough to prevent any electrical shorts that may occur within the socket. Essentially, the socket (also known as SIM-card slot) design remains the same, only that it is now smaller in dimension because the area around the contact area is greatly reduced.

Why the shift to the even smaller SIM standard?

Albeit belatedly, Android phones are also moving to this standard, because this allows smartphone makers those critical extra millimeters to play around with, with the immediate demands of a faster processor, the cooling need that comes with it as well as the bigger batteries to make the phone last longer than they do these days, on a single charge. There is no performance or cost advantage, but just the technological and internal design aspects. This is confusing! The regular SIM, the micro-SIM and a Nano-SIM, this is all becoming a little too much to manage. The confusion is one thing, but the lack of flexibility is a major problem. If you have one phone which uses a micro-SIM, and one of the iPhones with the Nano-SIM, the two SIMs cannot be swapped. And while it is manageable most of the time, can become a headache if you want to change phones, which trust me, a lot of us do!

Is your Nano SIM card ready? 

Well, it isn’t as simple as “I have a SIM card and can I convert this to a Nano-SIM”. Certain things you need to keep in mind.

Getting Nano-Ready: How to get the SIM down to size

There are micro-SIM and Nano-SIM cutters available in stores, which will chop down the regular SIM into the new size. Both cutters are separate, and should not be confused. Buy the cutter, and carefully follow the instructions on the box, and pray. Always keep the cutter on a hard surface, after placing the SIM in the slot as required, and press down hard on it. Do not, even though the design may suggest, try to use it the way you would use a stapler. If you aren’t able to put the requisite pressure, the SIM may be permanently damaged. Alternatively, you could ask your mobile service provider to change your SIM card into the Nano-SIM variety. Since the iPhone 5 has been around for long, they are all well versed with this kind of SIM card! Though, unlike chopping it down yourself, you will probably have to pay for this switch.

What to watch out for if you are already using a Micro-SIM 

There are certain aspects that you need to take care of first. One is, what is the existing size of the SIM card? If you're already using a micro-SIM, you ideally shouldn’t make the effort of chopping it further into a Nano-SIM. There is the massive risk of cracking the contact area. We would recommend going to your mobile service provider and getting a replacement SIM anyway.

Alternatively, if you have a family member or a friend’s Nano-SIM card at hand for reference, you can get hold of some sandpaper and with some patience, then you can pretty much do the work yourself. Do not, for one second, consider using a knife or a scissor to do this job, because the contact area has fairly low tolerance levels for any kind of abuse.

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Economic Times released “India’s best companies to work for (2013)” earlier this week and declared following as top 10.

1. Google
2. Intel  Technology
3. American Express
4. NIIT
5. Forbes Marshall
6. NTPC
7. Ujjivan Financial Services
8. MakeMyTrip
9. Marriott Hotels
10. Blue Dart Express

Interesting to note names like NTPC which is public sector organization and not so well known names like Forbes Marshall, Ujjvan Financial Services. Recently I remember lot of friends signing "Bloody Monday tu mera khoon chus le (Bloody Monday, you can sucking my blood)", however in these companies employees love coming to work. Few standout examples from the survey which really make these organizations a great place to work.

Google has amazing 20% time program where employees have flexibility to work for 20% on projects that are completely unrelated to their regular work. Flat organization structure, collaborative decision taking, merit based promotion and genuine employee care are few learnings from this best organization.

In Intel, managers ensure that personal life of subordinates is not affected and there is bond among colleagues beyond typical manager-subordinate relation.

“Chairman’s Quality Club” in NIIT identifies top talent to be further developed under the chairman of the company.

Marriott, right from Junior associates are encouraged to stay for one night with families on occassions such as birthdays. Blue dart prides itself in growing in house talent with whopping 96% of senior management growing with in the company.

Key highlights that can be learned from such examples:
1. Scope of something new in job
2. Humans are treated like humans with love and bonding
3. Recognition by top management
4. Perks/society recognition to motivate employees at root level also
5. Merit based promotion with preference to in house talent

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Post attending TedxGateway Mumbai last December, see post here, wish to dig deeper into issues brought by Mittal Patel (speaker at Tedx).

Mittal Patel, has been working for Nomadic tribes of Gujarat, which has now taken a shape of Vicharata Samudaay Samarthan Manch (VSSM). VSSM focuses on education, livelihood housing, works in several districts of Gujarat which is always in limelight due to good works by currently best available Chief Minister in India Mr. Narendra Modi. Her video can be seen here.

Various de-notified tribes are spread across India waiting for recognizition from Government agencies. These tribes are spread across India and follow different religion, customs, beliefs, languages and occupations. One such tribe is nomadic, spread across Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is believed that in Gujarat alone nomadic tribes number cross whopping 4 million which approximates to population of Singapore. Nomadic tribes are not recognized even by local village authorities. They are forced to reside outside main village boundaries without basic ammenties like road, electricity, water, school, hospital and proper shelter. Women are forced to prostitution here y default to earn bread. Community can't even obtain voter id cards (necessary for voting in democratic India) and ration cards (necessary for subsidized government food scheme). In all, they are non existent on this earth. Due to this, they are unable to participate in government rural guarantee work schemes like NREGA.

Mittal Patel, popularly known as Mittal Ben in Gujarat has been successful in garning Government attention for nomadic tribe's issues. VSSM has been conducting field surveys and already submitted details of thousands of people to state election officer. Survey is one part, verification and stamp of local village authorities makes the process complicated. However, more than 10,000 people got voter id card getting recognizition for the first time in history due to her efforts. Gujarat government passed a resolution to give nomadic tribes land rights and allocated over 500 plots bringing much cheer to these people.

Well, work is far from done. It requires human hands and finances to take it to scale. Request readers to contribute to such social causes, I personally believe that they need our voice and time than only money. Let us come togther to make this earth an equal & better place to live in.

This post is influenced by Franklin Templeton "The Idea Caravan" to create awareness on social issues. Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.