De-Monetisation of Indian Rupee Notes

De-Monetisation of Indian Rupee Notes – Thoughts of a common man !

According to Rahul Gandhi, only six per cent of the entire black money is held in cash while 94 per cent is in real estate, gold or is parked outside country” 

Rahul Gandhi is hardly the kind of political leader one takes seriously. However, some noted economists have also sounded similar thoughts. Prof. Suman Ghosh, a professor of economics in Florida Atlantic University seem to agree with the figure. 

I personally think the amount would be much more, given the fact that most of the real estate dealings involve a 30 – 40 % black money element in it. However for the sake of argument, let us assume that only 6% of black money is held in the form of cash in India and the rest in the form of other movable and immovable assets. A substantial amount would be stashed in offshore accounts in tax havens like Switzerland and Mauritius, which eventually makes a "round trip" through tax havens and come back into the economy as FDI.

The question is, is 6% black money not substantial enough to go after and counter..? Should Modi government have accepted the existence of black money just as all other governments have done in the past and turned a blind eye to it...?

De-Monetisation is aimed at reducing black money. No one has ever believed it will eliminate black money altogether. According to a Dr. Friedrich Schneider, Professor of Economics, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, shadow economy in India is estimated to be around 25% of the economy.

Indian Economy is about 150 Lakh Crore and if 25% of that is black money, 37.5 Lakh crore should be the size of our shadow economy. If 6 - 10% of that is in cash, as the experts say, the total black money in cash should be around 3 Lakh crore !!! or roughly about 15% of the total currency in 500 and 1000 notes.

If De-Monetisation can curb this 25 % of shadow economy, the move will

1. Expand the tax base from the current 2.5%, increasing government income in a more sustainable manner.
2. Reduce about 3 lakh crore of black money held in cash !!!

Before demonetisation, and during Income Declaration Scheme which ran till 30^th September, 65,250 Crore of Black Money was declared, out of which the government collected 29,362 crore in tax. The remaining 35,888 crore of the original black money is now converted to white money. Bottom line is that once you pay tax on your black money it becomes white money.

Demonetisation is nothing short of war and as all wars go, it has been a painful experience for many people. Unfortunately, some of the sufferers, as it commonly happens in war, are common men who have nothing to do with the war itself. As evidenced by numerous reports on main stream media, this is true in the case of demonetisation also.

As of the 10^th of December, about 12 Lakh Crores worth of demonetized 500 and 1000 rupee notes out of the 15.6 Lakh Crore that RBI has on its books have already been collected by banks and destroyed.

We will have to wait for 2 more weeks to understand the visible benefits, if any, of demonetisation and about one year to realise the impact it will have on economy in general.

It will also take about 6 months to re-calibrate all the ATM machines and to print enough notes to get circulation back to previous levels.

Along with de-monetisation, Government is also encouraging citizens to move to a less-cash economy. Less-Cash economy does not mean total elimination of cash but it is the reduction of cash transactions and migration to digital transactions where ever possible as in most developed countries.

The Cash-to-GDP ratio in India is 12.42 whereas it is 9.47 % in China, 7.46 % in US, 4% in Brazil, and 3.39% in UK.

Printing and maintaining such huge amount of cash is also an expensive affair and is estimated to cost RBI about 20,000 Crores every year. India will be able to save about 10,000 Crores if Cash-to-GDP ratio can be reduced to 6 %, much more than Brazil and UK.

Three things can happen after 31st of December.

(1) Banks will get a deposit below 15 L Crores
(2) Banks will get all the 15 L crore
(3) Banks will collect more than 15 L crore

All deposits into bank accounts before 31st December will have a combination of 4 types of cash.

(1) White money which is already taxed and legitimate that people have had with them for emergency use.
(2) Black money which was earned by illegitimate means and on which tax was not paid earlier. (This will attract 50% tax, and 25% long term interest free deposit after reconciliation)
(3) Counterfeit currency that people didn't know they were carrying and
(4) Counterfeit currency that crooks want to convert to real currency.

Scenario 1 - Banks will get a deposit less than 15.6 L Crore in circulation.

If banks get a deposit of say 14 lakh crore, about 1 lakh crore of black money will be flushed from the system straight away.

Assuming only 30% of this 14 Lakh crore is taxable, government will collect close to 2 Lakh crore as tax !!!

Scenario 2 - Banks will get all the 15.6 L crore

Now let us assume banks get a deposit of 15.6 L Crore. This doesn’t mean that there was no black money ! It only means that all black money hoarders decided to deposit it in their account and come out clean!

In this case, and based on the same assumption as above, government will get about 2.35 lakh crore in tax.

Scenario 3 - Banks will collect more than 15.6 L crore

This will mean that either 
(1) RBI has printed more cash than what is shown in their books, or
(2) A lot of counterfeit notes indistinguishable from original notes have entered the banking system.

Either way, this is an opportunity to come out clean, and this “Spring Cleaning” itself would be worth the pain. 

.. And, based on the same assumption as above, government will get more than 2.5 lakh crore as tax.

Economic Fallout.

Whichever way it goes, government will collect in excess of 2 lakh core rupees in tax and fines, which will get spent on projects like Roads, Railways, smart cities etc.. etc, providing direct employment to millions of people and boosting the infrastructure of the nation.

As for economy, People's needs will not shrink, despite reduced physical cash in the system. People will defer their buying decisions until situation become stable. They will not discard their needs. Economic activity will pick up because of delayed / deferred consumption, and life will get back to "business as usual" for most normal and honest people.

People will upgrade / move to e-transactions where ever possible simply because it is convenient, and almost all the nay-sayers will join the new mainstream....as they will realise the advantages of going with the trend.

With the push towards digital economy gain momentum, and more transactions will take place through banks and on digital medium, transparency will increase, leading to better collection of tax, putting more money with government for development projects in the future.

With more money with banks, lending rates and cost of capital will fall.

Black economy will reduce and consequently real estate prices and other prices will experience a price correction. You might even witness a deflation in price and consequently an increase in demand and consumption. Eventually, as demand – supply equalise, markets will become normal again.

Price correction and reduction in interest rates will make homes more affordable for first time buyers. This will also push up more economic activity in construction industry.

The silver lining for all Modi haters..

Like Churchill who led Britain to victory in world war 2 but failed to get re-elected, and like Naidu who brought unprecedented developments to Hyderabad did not get re-elected,  Modi may also not get re-elected, unless, the economic fallout are unmistakably evident for the public and BJP is able to sell it effectively.

If indeed Modi has caused unforgivable pain to people, let people not elect him in 2019.

But I am glad he did what he did.

Future

Currency, as it can change hands without leaving any trail, is the main cause of most evils in the world today from human trafficking, prostitution, drug, terrorism, extortion etc etc…

Demonetisation of high denomination currency notes must be undertaken by all major economies like US and Europe on a war footing.

Stockpiles of billions of dollars in 100 USD bills stashed by terrorist outfits will become worthless immediately which will reduce most terror operations around the world.

People with academic interest should download the article by Peter Sands “Making it Harder for the BadGuys:  The Case for Eliminating HighDenomination Notes” and published by Harvard Kennery School of Business and Government” in Feb 2016.

Moving forward, once the pangs of current de-monetisation drive end, and digital  transactions become more of a norm, all the recommendations of ArthaKranti Sanstha should be adopted by the next Indian Government – if it cannot be done by the current government.

This should include complete withdrawal of 1000 and 500 note, as well as abolition / standardisation of various taxes.

Abolition of taxes will make it non-attractive for people to hoard black money, while digital transactions will make economy more transparent and traceable.

I am very optimistic about future of India.

We should all become enablers in the move to become digital

Indian Engineers

Indian Engineers ( www.IndianEngineers.com ), a professional networking and discussion for Science, Engineering & Technology professionals of Indian origin was launched recently.

Why Indian Engineers..?

According to University Grands Commission of India, India has 700 universities and more than 35,000 affiliated colleges enrolling more than 20 million students. Of this 3.97 million are enrolled in science subjects and another 3.2 million for Engineering and Technology. That is a whopping 7.17 million of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) students.
Add to this the large number of practicing professionals, academicians and institutions & companies that employ such professionals both in India and abroad. This makes India’s Scientific Community Eco-System the largest in the world with an estimated 50 million members!
 
Yet, we do not have an effective medium to collect, collate, mobilize and make use of the knowledge and experience that these members of our scientific community have gained from their years of experience in the field.

IndianEngineers.com aims to provide a platform for our seasoned Science, Technology & Engineering professionals to share information and the knowledge that they have gained in the course of their career with the rest of us.

There is a wealth of information out there among our Engineers, Technologists and Academicians. We believe this can be used for the benefit of young STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) students and professionals alike.

The site was launched a month back on 15th September, the Birth Anniversary of Sir Visvesvaraya and celebrated as Engineers' Day in India.

Dubai on the rebound. Smart money taking advantage.

Dubai was one of the places most hit by meltdown that started in US. Dubai bashing was even in fashion for almost a year since the reported exodus of expatriates from Dubai, leaving behind hundreds of luxury cars parked in the airport car parks.

Real Estate price in Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on earth, fell from AED 28,000 (6000 USD) per square foot to about AED 2800 !

Other parts of the freehold properties also dropped in price by 50 % and more. But no where was this drop so pronounced as in Burj Khalifa.

The free fall had stopped by mid 2011. In 2012, there is an upswing in the real estate price, with a reported 20% increase in the 1st half of the year.

This is still a buyer's market and Smart money is taking advantage.

Astrological Chart

I am not superstitious. Yet, the first thing I read when I get a newspaper or a magazine is the horoscope. I like the way astrologers say things...very fluid...very blurred....very loose...its a form of art. But many readers take astrology seriously. Far too seriously than they should. There are far too many logical men and women out there who are gazing to the stars for deliverance of their luck.

On my flight back from China – and it’s a long flight – I read the astrological chart word by word. It was very different from anything I have read in the past.

Pisces:
“At school, they teach us all to write, to add numbers together, and to behave ourselves. They give NO classes in how to develop intuition, or how to build deeper, more meaningful relationships with our fellow humans or even relax and enjoy life without feeling constantly pressured. No wonder our world is in such a state. We are all urged to value achievement more than empathy and money more than love. Yet life now offers you a real chance to unlearn all that. You can take your highest ideals and pursue them with pride and confidence. Here comes a wonderful chance to fill your life with more love”

Aquarius:
“Why would you look for a logical explanation to a mystery now…? This is planet earth at the peak of an era that some call the darkest age in our history. You seek common sense ? What planet are you one..? There may come a day when things in this crazy world begin to make proper sense once more. We may even be starting to see small glimmer of light in the darkness. But, meanwhile, if you seek wisdom, compassion, sensitivity, hope, optimism and inspiration, you will have to generate it through faith. And the good news is your astrological outlook now puts you in a perfect position to do this.”

While astrologer Jonathan Cainer urges Pisceans to pursue their ideals and fill their life with love; he urges Aquarians – those hopeless dreamers – not to seek logical explanation for the idiosyncrasies that fill the world and to generate hope, optimism and inspiration through faith.

Message is very clear, extremely powerful and universal. Generate optimism and inspiration through faith: Pursue your ideals and fill your life with love. These are not limited to just Aquarians and Pisceans - but they are meant for everyone of us irrespective of our (sun / moon) sign, gender, cast, creed, colour and faith.

World Peace Day

Jane Plunkett from 7days.ae called me couple of days ago. Jane wanted some public views about peace for a feature she was writing on world peace to publish on peace day which falls on 21st September.

I wasn't even aware that there was a world peace day! Jane asked me if I thought world peace was plausible… very interesting question and thought provoking.

Aristotle famously said “we make war that we may live in peace”…. And therein lies the biggest contradiction about peace and the means we employ to achieve it.

No lasting peace can ever be achieved by war. So long as there are some losers, true peace will remain an illusion like a mirage which treads further as you keep trying to reach it…

8000 years of human history is littered with “glorious” wars.

Isn’t it a contradiction, that most of the world “heroes” are kings and generals who have waged huge wars and won them! We actually revere and glorify killers…

What is most tragic is that even major world religions ( except perhaps Budhism ) legitimize wars and killings if done for the sake of "protecting" God. What a tragedy that man has to protect God!

More interestingly, peace does not make business sense. Huge nations make their living by selling arms and ammunition, and they need perpetual war to keep this machinery going.

I am inclined to think that world economy will shrink by half if we ever achieve world peace.

That would be dreadful thought for most nations.

Racial Meltdown

Some years ago, I was watching Deep Impact where Morgan Freeman played the part of American President and I remarked “not in a hundred years”.

Hollywood is more farsighted than most mortals. With time, the difference between fiction and reality has narrowed – and many a fiction has become reality.

And with Obama’s victory one more fiction has turned into reality. I guess I must have been a morbid pessimist.

Although Obama has won - when it comes to the question of racial discrimination and social equality – I still reserve the same pessimism, although less morbid now.

As long as blacks have voted for Obama because he is black and whites have voted against Obama because he is not white – which I am certain have happened in plenty - the racial divide is still as large as it was.

If anything, as pessimistic as I am at this moment, I tend to think that racial difference will be more pronounced because of Obama’s victory. For instance, post Obama victory, CNN continuously ran clips of black Americans celebrating the victory more than caucasians to a 10:1 ratio.

For sure, there is far more to the victory of Obama than the dilution of racial difference.

1. Obama is a charismatic leader with exceptional oratory capability – No Doubt.
2. McCain chose a beautiful running mate. (the popular stereotype of beauty and brains not mixing got validated)
3. McCain’s republican predecessor is terribly unpopular.
4. Economic Meltdown accelerated to the point where the biggest financial institutions met the fate of “unsinkable” titanic.

In my (pessimistic) view, as far as true Racial Meltdown is concerned, we still hover in the realm of fiction as does Time Travel!!!

I wish I am wrong.

Political Prostitution

Politics and Prostitution have more in common than meets the eye… although Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession, I tend to believe that politics does not trail far behind.

Political Prostitution is rampant; but in Indian politics, this is unabashedly open.

When leftists agreed to go to bed with Congress and form the government in Delhi, puritans in politics – the endangered species globally – gasped in disbelief.

Whilst they slept together in Delhi, interestingly, both parties parlayed on opposite sides of the fence and continued the battle in Kerala and Bengal.

Now, the ideological (?) haggling well past containment threshold, Leftists have pulled their support from Congress bringing India into a small political storm.

This no doubt will benefit a lot of smaller parties. Many crores of rupees will trade hands behind the scene for their support, when congress will be put to acid test on 22nd.

In all this, the casualty still remains the common man who is burdened with high inflation of 11.6%.

God Bless India.

Mangaliam

Profile of an Aspiring Wife

I guess love, and the search for it, does strange things to us. I have come across some very interesting portrayal of those looking for their partners on India's biggest matrimonial sites. Most are uncomfortable when it comes to writing about themselves, but for some, it is a literary pursuit.

Here is a very beautiful self description of a, I am sure beautiful, aspiring wife.

It is honest, deep, thought provoking and profound. I hope she gets an equally nice man.

"Hi, I am quiet, rather shy, independent, usually patient, gentle, light hearted, kind spirited, and generally optimistic. I vacillate between craving the safety of my four walls and being terrified by them. I love being busy, but sometimes tire more quickly than I anticipate. I am always striving to be better tomorrow, but am never unhappy with who I am today. I try to make smart and informed decisions, but I tend to learn best from my mistakes. I am constantly wondering about the people around me and reminding myself that the world does not, in fact, revolve around me. I believe it is good to keep a perspective.

I somehow manage to be simultaneously cynical and optimistic. I would say I'm a realist with positive tendencies. I am attracted to others that take care of themselves and their responsibilities. I'm really very mellow, so if you're out dancing every night. I'd really rather not. Which isn't to say you can't...

I'm looking for someone unafraid to feel. With love, the possibilities are endless, and I want to experience it all. I am a firm believer in equality and balance. I will be your rock, but will require your stability at times too. Actions are more powerful than words... tell me what you feel, but more importantly.. show me."

LCD or PLASMA..?

With two powerful giants fighting out in the open – Sony stands for LCD and Panasonic openly vouching for Plasma – the general public, like me, is all too confused when it comes to buying a TV Panel now. Which one should I buy – LCD or PLASMA…?

After struggling for couple of weeks and talking to numerous sales men – each one vouching for a different product depending on which company has paid him the bigger baksish – I finally settled down for a 42” LCD from LG for AED 7000 (USD 1900).

These days, you can get 42” LG with a built in 80 GB Hard Drive for instant recoding for less than AED 6500 (USD 1770) – a far cry from what they were two years ago, when the prices were in the range of 25,000 Dirhams for models with much lower configuration.

So if you are one of those struggling to make a decision like I was 6 months ago, may be this will help.

LCD and PLASMA - PROS and CONS

Size

Both Plasma and LCD produce panels in varying sizes.

Plasma Screens are available from 32 inches and LCD screens are available from 13inches up.

Panasonic has launched a 103” plasma screen while LG has come out with 100 inch LCD screen. Both are prohibitively expensive for general consumers.

If you are looking for small space viewing – LCD is most definitely the only choice.

Life Span

Lifespan, the number of viewing hours a television provides before dimming to half brightness, used to be one of the biggest advantages LCD has over plasma.

On earlier models of Plasma the lifespan used to 20,000 – 30,000 hours while LCD gives a guaranteed 60,000 hours.

However, the newer versions of Plasma – although the numbers vary among the different brands - generally last up to around 60,000 hours.

At an average rate of 5 hours of viewing a day – 20,000 hours translates to 10 years of use. At the pace technology is developing, in 10 years we would be ready for holographic televisions (Televisions capable of displaying 3D pictures)

Burn -In

One of plasma technology's known issues is something called burn-in. It happens when your television shows a still image or an icon for so long that its "ghost" remains on the screen. For example, if a logo of the television channel sticks on the top side of your display, that area will be burned into your set.

Many newer versions of Plasmas have built in technology to overcome this inherent problem with Plasma screens.

LCD screens do not suffer from burn-in. They are also best suited if you live in mountainous regions.

Plasma’s are not particularly suitable for viewing in low pressure areas as the pressure difference between the tiny gas tubes that are packed into the screen and the atmospheric pressure create problems.

Picture Quality

When it comes to picture sharpness, Plasma screens have a slight edge over LCDs. This is because plasma screens can display blacks more accurately than LCDs can, which means better contrast and detail in dark-coloured television or movie scenes.

With LCD technology, on the other hand, where a backlight shines through the LCD layer, it is hard to achieve true blacks because there's always some light leakage through the layers. This is steadily improving with every new generation of LCD.

LCD screens have a tendency to blur images, particularly during fast moving scenes in movies or in sports. However, newer models have improved significantly and have as good a refresh-rate as Plasmas.

LCD screens tend to have higher native resolution than plasmas of similar size, which means more pixels on a screen. This means, that in your living room, the LCD may look much better than Plasma.

Power Consumption

LCDs also tend to consume less power than plasma screens with some estimates indicting a saving of up to 30 per cent less than plasma. LCDs are also generally lighter and thinner than similar sized plasmas.

Price

The biggest advantage plasmas have now over LCD is price. Plasmas are a good 30% cheaper than LCD, particularly in the large screen end of the market.
Computers & Game Consoles

Most plasma and LCD TVs can double as computer monitors. They'll also hook up to a game console without any problems. From a performance standpoint, it's hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma's burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming.

So...which is better value for me right now: Plasma or LCD?

If you are looking for a big screen television - 42-inches and above - then plasma is a safe bet economically. You get more for your money with Plasma screens. While LCDs can give you better resolution, the price difference is currently too wide.

However, if money's not an issue and you want the sharpest image in town, then I recommend that you go for a large LCD. If you are looking for screens between15" to 36", LCD is the only way to go if you want something slim and tasteful. And the best thing is that LCDs are getting cheaper all the time.

The question is how long you are prepared to wait.

Dear White Fella ....

I came across this "poem" while surfing the net - truly hilarious...


Dear white fella
Couple things you should know

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black.

You white fella
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey.

And you have the cheek to call me coloured?

(Anonymous)

A Shaadi Profile with a difference : Interesting & Honest

A few months back, I attended a seminar for e-commerce enthusiasts and novices.

When the presenter asked a question about the most visited site in India, someone said “shaadi.com”. The crowd giggled, the majority of them being from the subcontinent.

It is true; for the married and yet to be married, the site offers some sort of curious entertainment.

I visited the site for the system study for developing my new site: mangaliam.com.

I guess the seminar was successful in turning some “web novices” like me into “web-entrepreneur aspirants”.

I presume, the biggest aspiration and fixation of an Indian being matrimony, and close to 300 million people of marriageable age out there in the subcontinent, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to start one more site; although scores have already achieved the critical mass.

Most of the ads read and sound the same…but I came across this particular one which struck me as completely different and sounds damn honest besides being incredibly witty.

I wish this aspirant all the luck in her search for her perfect partner…I do hope she will find her Mr.Right very soon. No body deserves to be lonely!


“My Personality, Long-Term Goals, Partner Expectations, etc
Everyone on this site seems to be caring and sensitive. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone shows a quirky / exotic / intriguing / adventurous / combination side in their interests. It’s intimidating – where do I begin? I’m opinionated, independent and pigheaded. In spite of that, I’m easygoing 75 per cent of the time, and only bad-tempered for 25. I am not really a domestic goddess and the magic “woman’s touch” part is unreliable. I enjoy most things that fall under the broad umbrella of “the good life”. I’ve been happily single for the greater part of 32 years, but have been getting lonely lately. Perhaps it has something to do with being surrounded by married friends with lives full of interactions, involvements, plans, friction, stimulation, life, basically. I know it’s not all music and roses, but from where I’m standing it’s attractive, like when you see into other people’s living room windows at night. Or perhaps it’s just that I feel the need for someone – just like a friend, but a little more – to share the small stuff. Whatever it is, the last bastion that held out vehemently against shaadi.com has fallen. As for the way I look, I clean up good. I don’t mind sending a photograph if I like the response, but I’m new at this and not comfortable yet with posting pictures on public sites!

My Family
One younger brother, happily married
One pair of parents, also happily married, retired and living in Bangalore (this, incidentally, is also where I grew up)
One large dog (my father's, the latest in a long line of them)
A very large, boisterous and affectionate extended family, spread around the world”

We celebrated our 58th Republic Day yesterday.

My Son was participating in a drill at his school. We got up early to be at the school ground on time; even with the heavy head - thanks to the couple of drinks on the previous night. If it was any other Friday, I would have slept on for a couple of hours more.

This was important to my son....and therefore, very important for us.

The unfurling of the tri-colour flag is very emotional moment for me. Patriotism is a strong drug.

Jai Hind.

Racism ? : Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother

Racism…? I am afraid this hue and cry against the “apparent” racist remarks by Big Brother inmates against Shilpa Shetty – the bollywood siren – is diluting the larger issues of racism and discrimination that exist all over the world.

In being overly politically correct, we are also in the danger of diluting one of the most fundamental rights - the right to freedom of speech and expression.

What is happening in Big Brother is NOT racism. This is a bunch of self centred silly girls being just stupid & silly. Shilpa is a gorgeous woman with a drop dead figure. The reaction of Jade Goody and others is just a jealous reaction to the great looking Shilpa.

What has surprised me is the reaction of Indian politicians and public back home.

In India, where Shilpa’s numerous fans have taken to street and burnt effigies of Jade Goody etal, cast system still divide communities and people.

Indians should be the last to make an issue of discrimination given the fact that the problem is still at large and acute in their own country.

More than 160 million low cast hindu “untouchables” known as “dalits” face rampant human rights abuse on a daily basis.

“Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman paraded half-naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits" are some of the common headlines in the mainstream national newspapers in India.

Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste or drink from the same cups in tea stalls.

Shilpa Shetty famously asks her tormentor Jade Goody “Am I not human ? What about me is so different ?”

I ask Indian public and the politicians who are crying foul the same question……Are they not human..? What about them is so different..?

Please guys, put your house in order!!!

Water Lilies

I love this picture (courtesy : keralatourism.org)

It reminds me of my own childhood when I used to go plucking water lilies from ponds and paddy fields in the neighbourhood.

When I was in my late teens, I made a small pond in our garden to grow water lilies. We gathered white, violet and red lilies and planted them in my pond. The water lilies flourished and the pond eventually looked like a Monet canvas.

Work brought me to the United Arab Emirates. When I return to Kerala...I will build a bigger pond and grow lots of water lilies... (smile)

Happy New Year

Okay….2007 is now two days old.

Sat here in Dubai - the most prosperous and open society in Middle East, although somewhat insulated – you still can not escape from the feeling of despair permeate you – the feeling of despair that is now a part of life in Middle East.

Let me not sound harshly sceptical…but nothing is tipped to change in 2007…No real hopes for lasting peace…No real hope for eradication of poverty…

But let us all hope, as we always do, and wish each other a Happy New Year.

Retaliation or Mercy

I just watched the execution of Saddam Hussain that was telecast on BBC. You could not have missed it…it was all over the television.

A man was being killed before your eyes: Execution brought to your living rooms!!!

This was no entertainment gentlemen, this was real. Saddam is now a hero – for the quiet and brave fashion in which he accepted his fate.

Fortunately for those of us with some humanity and compassion left in us, these “very considerate” news channels blocked off the final fall.

I condemn all forms of violence…and Death Penalty is the ultimate form of violence.

I have no particular love for Saddam. But I condemn his execution.

Retributive justice has no place in modern times such as these…we should inculcate the system of restorative justice.

If we were to enforce lex talionis (an eye for an eye) the whole world would turn blind.

India Faces Shortage Of Designers

Y2K problem and what it could do to computer data was the most common subject for discussion among techies and pretenders in the mid 90’s. It is at this point that the West first started to look at the Indian software engineers – both cheap and efficient - to fill up the enormous number of human hours required to correct this problem.

The Indians have come a long way since this unexpected windfall, carving a niche for themselves in the world software industry.

Success filled the Indian techies with a new confidence and an all important “can do attitude”.

Indian economy in general resonated this confidence and attitude, evident in the consistent growth rate and the new spate of acquisitions of companies outside India by Indian Industries.

Unfortunately, India is now falling victim to its own success.

Lack of infrastructure required to support the booming economy is a well documented fact.

And now, the competitive advantage India had with the high number of technically educated workforce will also fade out in the coming years if they fail to plan and act urgently.

According to a report in Business Standard New Delhi Edition Mr Darlie Koshy, executive director, National Institute of Design (NID), has warned that India faces an acute shortage of 8,000-10,000 designers every year in over 200 industry segments. While there are 17,973 institutes in the country there are only a dozen-odd institutes that produce over 500 designers per annum, whereas the demand is for 8,000-10,000 designers. As the country is evolving from a knowledge-based economy to a creative economy, design, creativity and innovation is one of the pillars of the economy just like science and technology is. While there are 800,000 technologists in the country today there are hardly 1,000-1,200 designers in the country.

Say Cheese !!!

Wonderful Logos And The Logic Behind Them

I recently received the following via email from my very dear friend Aji...I take the liberty to post this.

Thank you Aji for sending this very interesting insight...

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I am not sure how many of you have noticed a hidden symbol in the Federal Express logo:



Yeah, I am talking about the 'arrow' that you can see between the E and the x in this logo. The arrow was introduced to underscore speed and precision, which are part of the positioning of the company.
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The SUN Microsystems logo is a wonderful example of symmetry and order. It was a brilliant observation that the letters u and n while arranged adjacent to each other look a lot like the letter S in a perpendicular direction. Spectacular.
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The above logo is for an editing studio. I like the way the logo attempts to convey what they do.
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The above are two magazines from the Readers Digest stable. Again, the attempt to communicate what it is about quite figuratively through the logo catches my attention.
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I liked this logo of a hair stylist for the cheeky humour it brings to the (dressing) table.
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This was a logo created for a puzzle game called Cluenatic. This game involves unravelling four clues. The logo has the letters C, L, U and E arranged as a maze. and from a distance, the logo looks like a key.
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This logo is too good. For the name Eight, they have used a font in which each letter is a minor adaptation of the number 8.

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Eighty-20 is a small consulting company which does sophisticated financial modeling, as well as some solid database work. All their work is highly quantitative and relies on some serious computational power, and the logo is meant to convey it.

People first guess that 20% of the squares are darkened, but that turns out to be false after counting them. The trick is to view the dark squares as 1's and the light squares as 0's. Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary.

Kinda like the surreal green screen of The Matrix, they want us to read stuff in binary
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This was a logo designed in-house for some internal event at IBM. I like that they are quite relaxed about the logo, unlike certain other companies who do not like the logo to be tampered with in any way even for internal promotions.
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You might think the arrow does nothing here. But it says that amazon.com has everything from a to z and it also represents the smile brought to the customer's face. Wow, that is quite deep.