Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

A Border Settled

Vol - L No. 19, May 09, 2015 

• Editorials

A non-disputed border will help open the political gates for freer movement of people and goods.

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Bringing Women on Board

Vol - L No. 19, May 09, 2015 

• Editorials

Corporate India is wrong to drag its feet on appointment of women directors.

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Editorials Journalism or Voyeurism The Indian media must ask itself whether it is still in the business of journalism. Read more	H T Parekh Finance Column Global Banking in Retreat? T T Ram Mohan HSBC, which operates in more than 80 countries, is in the midst of a signifi cant retreat from various markets, including retail banking in Brazil and Turkey. Last year, Citibank, another global player, cut its exposure to global consumer banking... Read more
Commentary Net Neutrality Is Basically Internet Egalitarianism Parminder Jeet Singh Net neutrality is neither a technical principle nor something necessary to uphold free markets. It is an egalitarian principle as applied to a key building block of the new social system of the internet. But it is equally important to check the... Read more	Commentary Decentring the Fiscal Deficit Target Numbers Sashi Sivramkrishna Nations, unlike households, do not face budget constraints. Fiscal defi cit targets therefore cannot be the objective of macroeconomic policy. Instead, budget discussions must focus on governance, supply-side bottlenecks and on policies to raise... Read more
Commentary Wages of Tea Plantation Workers Sharit K Bhowmik After prolonged tripartite wage negotiations, tea plantation workers of West Bengal fi nally reached a wage agreement last February. However, the wages in the new agreement continue to be below statutory minimum levels and are almost half the... Read more	Commentary Death of Small-Farmer Dairies amidst India's Dairy Boom Sagari R Ramdas Amul has begun to do to the informal dairy sector what the European Union threatened to do to the Indian dairy sector: dump milk and milk products, capture the market and then drive down procurement prices as well. India's dairy sector... Read more
Commentary The American Hemisphere North–South Divide Deepak Bhojwani Having lost political and economic ground in Central and South America over the years because of its policies of political interference, the United States is now trying to change tack. The end of the embargo of Cuba is one example of the new... Read more	Book Review The City Extended Mustansir Dalvi House, But No Garden: Apartment Living in Bombay's Suburbs, 1898-1964 by Nikhil Rao, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012; pp 312, Rs 2,283. Read more
Book Review Israel–Palestine Conflict and India’s Role Daoud Kuttab From India to Palestine: Essays in Solidarity edited by Githa Hariharan; New Delhi: Left Word Publications, pp 210, Rs 350. Read more	Book Review Celebrating Hybridity Veenapani Chawla’s Theatre Anjum Katyal The Theatre of Veenapani Chawla: Theory, Practice, Performance edited by Shanta Gokhale, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2014; pp xxii + 330, Rs 895. Read more
Perspectives Can the Chinese Connection Speed India's Development? Ravi Bhoothalingam China and India are the world's second largest and third largest economies, respectively. Yet, the engagement between their economies remains modest at best and people-to-people contact is minuscule. Will the various Silk Roads proposed by... Read more	Special Articles Congress in the Times of the post-Congress Era Surviving sans Politics Suhas Palshikar Behind the dramatic demise of the Congress in 2014 is a long history dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. The Congress has often chosen to ignore those deeper reasons for its recent decline. Similarly, the failure of the Congress as also its... Read more
Special Articles Globalisation and Democracy Deepak Nayyar The gathering momentum of globalisation in the world economy has coincided with the spread of political democracy across countries. Economies have become global. But politics remains national. This essay explores the relationship between... Read more	Special Articles Contingent Convertibles and Bankers' Pay The Missing Link in India’s Financial Regulation Mandar Kagade, Aadhaar Verma The compensation practices at large financial institutions are often held as one of the important factors which contributed to the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. Regulators around the world, including India, have therefore moved to enact... Read more
Notes Jharkhand Assembly Election BJP Wins with Some Help from Opponents Sanjay Kumar, Shreyas Sardesai The Jharkhand assembly election saw the Bharatiya Janata Party and its poll partner, the All Jharkhand Students Union Party, secure an absolute majority by winning 42 seats. The absence of a united opposition; a lukewarm Congress; the Jharkhand... Read more	Notes Interpreting the Mandate in Jammu and Kashmir Sanjay Kumar, Suhas Palshikar, Shreyas Sardesai, Pranav Gupta Read more
Notes BJP's Unprecedented Victory in Jammu Rekha Chowdhary A detailed look at the Bharatiya Janata Party's electoral sweep of the Jammu region unpacks the victory and provides clues to understanding its political roots. Read more	Notes Saffronising 'Jatland' Mapping Shifts in the Electoral Landscape in Haryana Radhika Kumar The sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 assembly elections in Haryana raises important questions about the changing nature of identity politics. This article traces the historical contours of identity formation in Haryana... Read more
Discussion As Green Delhi Turns Grey Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, Kasturi Das ... Read more	Web Exclusives Decoding “New Education Policy” Misguided Policies for Improving Higher Education Kumkum Roy An MHRD document titled “New Education Policy”, inviting comments from various stakeholders, seems to propagate the same old technocratic orientation towards improvement in higher education. That it would neither empower... Read more
Reports From the States / Web Exclusives Kinnaur’s Curse? Environmental Threat from Hydroelectric Projects Manshi Asher Kinnaur, one of Himachal Pradesh’s most ecologically fragile places, is under threat from widespread construction activity in hydroelectric power projects. Landslides have become a common occurrence threatening apple orchards as well as... Read more	Web Exclusives Bat Hunts and Disease Outbreaks Traditional Bat Hunting in Nagaland Pilot Dovih Natural hosts of some of the most deadly emerging viruses such as Ebola, bats are harvested in an annual ritual by a Naga Tribe in Nagaland. This practice, endangering both public health and biodiversity, can lead to the emergence of novel...

Varsities should set up students counselling system: UGC - 

 University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all central universities and higher education institutions to put a ‘counselling system’ in place to help students deal with problems of stress, anxiety and homesickness. UGC has said that higher education institutions should mandatorily put in place a broad-based ‘Students Counselling System’ for the effective management of problems and challenges faced by students.

This directive is part of  “Guidelines on Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions”, which have been shared with all varsities by UGC, asking them to amend their ordinances and other relevant statutory provisions to ensure the directions are implemented in the best interests of students.

The UGC guidelines further say that it should be a unique, interactive and target-oriented system, involving students, teachers and parents, resolved to address common student concerns ranging from anxiety, stress, fear of change and failure to homesickness and a slew of academic worries.

Recently, UGC had asked universities will soon have their own police stations for quick handling of crisis and preventing untoward incidents on campus. In a set of guidelines framed for enhancing students’ safety and security on campuses, University Grants Commission (UGC) has said university police station can go a long way in “instilling” a sense of security amongst students and scare amongst “nuisance makers and petty criminals”.

Hindi language course at US University

Students in University of Montana, US, are being offering a chance to learn Hindi language during the next academic year. Gaurav Mishra, a Fulbright instructor, will teach the language under the University of Montana’s South & Southeast Asian Studies programme during the 2015-16 academic year. Mishra, from Uttar Pradesh, will arrive mid-August at the university to teach a two-course sequence of elementary Hindi, beginning in fall semester and finishing in the spring.

The university will also try to make Hindi language a regular academic subject.

This development comes in a background where Hindi is the fourth most common language in the world today. Around 260 million people use it as their mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese (848 million), Spanish (406 million) and English (335 million).

Marks are not everything

Look beyond your low scores to explore a world of opportunities and develop your true potential.

It was a joyous day for Asha when she received a doctorate for her study on mythology and classical dance. At a celebration dinner held that night, all her close family, friends and her many disciples gathered to shower her with flowers, praise and gifts. It was a moment of triumph for her, but her thoughts flew back in time, briefly, to dwell on her school days, when she got her Class XII mark sheet. She had been devastated — her total marks were dipping a bit, just low enough to ensure that it would be very difficult to get the B.Com. seat in a popular college that she had set her heart upon. At that moment, it had seemed like the end of the road for Asha who could only imagine a career in commerce and business. It would have been a terrible time for her, if only her teacher Alison had not noticed her crying in a corner and started talking to her.

New horizons

As she talked to Alison, Asha’s fears subsided. From being convinced that she was good for nothing, she came to see that she had many talents and capabilities, and even if she did not get a B.Com. seat, there would be a million possibilities available to her, if only she would open her mind’s eye and see them. As she received yet another bouquet of flowers, Asha’s mind jerked back to the present, but not before dwelling on the numerous bharatanatyam shows she had done, her huge network of rasikas, her dance school which had about 150 students and her latest achievement, a doctorate. In every sense, she had found success all because of her teacher’s guidance to seek new horizons, and because she had seen beyond the boundaries imposed by scoring low marks in one subject.

Asha’s story is far from unique. There would be a million examples of people who had done badly in their school exams and yet shone like stars in later life. Famous examples abound, from Srinivasa Ramanujan to Steve Jobs.

Know yourself

“Long ago, exams were devised to give the teacher a measure of how effective the teaching has been, but now it has evolved to a stage when everyone — students, parents, teachers and the managements — just use it to judge the capability of the student,” says Dr. T. S. Natarajan, professor in IIT Madras. While the obsession with marks is to be condemned, teachers and parents should rather understand what the student is good at and help him or her develop in that direction instead of pushing them towards their weak areas. Thus it is important to “know yourself” — not in the sense of knowing how much you are capable of scoring in an exam, but in knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.

Consulting elders

One of the things that hurts most about getting low marks in a subject is that it could upset the plans a student has made about which course to choose. If this happens, rather than trying to face the situation alone, it is good to talk to knowledgeable elders about it. Teachers often have ample information on options open to study further as well as train for jobs. Says one mathematics teacher who does not want to be named, “Nearly 20 per cent of the students from my school have opted for a diploma after Class XII, even though the necessary qualification is only Class X pass. Companies like TVS invite students to undergo a certificate training programme followed by a job in the company. Even some chartered accountant firms come forward to take up intelligent apprentices whom they train in accountancy and encourage to do B.Com. by correspondence.”

So there are options galore for one who has the mindset to look for them. A simple chat with an informed adult can remove the feeling that one is at a dead end.

Not everyone can do everything. For example, a student who does well in mathematics may be poor in chemistry. Another, who has brilliant language, may be lost when it comes to history, which may be someone else’s forte. Fortunately, at present, there are opportunities for doing well and gaining a good career in many fields. You just need to look around and find what suits you the best.

Class XII marks are very important, of course. If a student scores enough to gain admission in the course and college of his or her choice, there is nothing like it. But this almost serendipitous state of affairs is not something one can guarantee.

If this happy coincidence does not occur, instead of being resigned to what one perceives as a failure, one has to look beyond. Students must see that many years later, this will appear minute and insignificant to them, after they have gone about their own achievements.

Why opt for MBA?

MBA is meant for anyone from any field who wants to enhance their skill level, feels Prof. S. Bhargava.

A majority of those who pursue MBA in India are engineers. But a Master’s in Business Administration is meant for any one from any field who wants to enhance their skill level, feels Prof. S. Bhargava, Head, Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT-Bombay.

Education Plus caught up with him to understand the need for an MBA and preparing for the global business environment.

Why should one opt for an MBA degree?

Whether you are a fine arts, commerce, media or science graduate, as long as you meet the basic criteria, you can pursue MBA. But don’t join it for the sake of getting an MBA degree. I will not get into a debate on whether a non-graduate should pursue MBA or not. But if you are a graduate in a particular discipline, then you would be mature enough to know the market, have experience and understand your strengths and weakness.

MBA is all about the value addition you get while pursuing the course such as developing skills like thinking, cognition, perception, attitudinal and behavioural change and dealing with people.

Should one pursue MBA right after graduation or after gaining some work experience?

Being a graduate has its advantages – you are young, innovative and creative, because of which the solutions you come up with for cases will also be different. But these are likely to be devoid of insight about the real world problems. People with work experience, on the other hand, will never agree with the youngsters’ point of view, and may think they think are only dreaming and aspiring.

In the U.S. business schools, it is mandatory to have some work experience because it enables you to look at a case or a problem from the point of view of your experience and what you have seen in reality.

Personally, I feel it is better if you complete graduation, get some work experience and then join MBA.

There are several kinds of MBAs available — residential, part-time, weekend, online, and so on. How can one decide which course to pursue?

Given a choice, go for the residential MBA programme because it will give you the opportunity to learn from your peers who will bring in their varied educational and work experience into the classroom. But it may not be possible for many due to practical constraints. In such cases, weekend, part-time or online courses are options. Any course or study undertaken systematically will surely benefit you.

Over the years, the number of people pursuing MBA has been significantly on the rise. What is the one thing that students should focus on to set them apart from other MBA graduates? What is it that employers look for?

Employers always look to employ the person who can deliver the best. There could be bias towards graduates from A, B or C business schools. But ultimately, once you join, your next promotion will depend on your performance which is the result of where you did your schooling, how you did your projects and additional skills. Placements also depend on your knowledge, talent, networking, PR ability, communication skills and how much importance you give to each of these.A few us from different B-schools undertook a study for the Government of India. We interviewed alumni who graduated two years, six years and ten years ago. From the study we found that when you join a company, the skills that are required to discharge you responsibilities are soft skills (those that deal with people). But when you do your MBA, the focus is on hard courses like finance and decision sciences. This is why business schools are now introducing more soft skill courses like value, ethics and culture sensitivity.

What is the difference between preparing for the Indian business environment and preparing for the global business environment?

In most business schools, students are prepared for both Indian and global business environments. In some case studies, the context may be local, but the focus is also on universal concepts like strategy and human relations.

You cannot differentiate between either of the business environments because there are both internal and external factors involved. It’s like an iceberg. There is more to what you see. Bureaucracy is everywhere. Government regulations are just guidelines for businesses to be run in a particular way. Indian or foreign, you should adapt to the system you are going to work in. It all comes down to adjusting and adaptability.

Keywords: MBA