How does one be a successful entrepreneur?

aditi saxena





Just 1 Question for NARAYAN MURTHY, co-founder, Infosys

“Entrepreneurship is about converting the power of an idea into jobs, into wealth for oneself, into wealth for oth ers and prosperity for the country.Therefore, an entrepreneur must be able to express his or her idea in a sim ple sentence.Second, that sentence must convey the differentiated value proposition of that idea t h at me a ns how that idea is better than a l l t he exist ing products a nd ser vices. Third, an entrepreneur must validate the thought of that idea by some kind of test marketing.Otherwise, he or she will spend a lot of time and money and will realise that this idea is not going to work.Fourth, an entrepreneur must bring together ate am that has a am that has a complementary skillset ­ for in stance, some people should k now tech nology, some people should know finance, some should know sales and marketing and some should know HR, etc.“.

the speaking tree - In Search of Happiness

ANUP TANEJA





Happiness constantly eludes one who is dominated by base instincts and, in the process, suppressing the inner voice of conscience. Most people have tried to attain happiness by ignoring their conscience that keeps reviewing all their good and bad actions on a constant basis. To gain true happiness, it is imperative that we do not violate the laws that constitute the very core of our existence.So long as we continue to indulge in negative practices, for example, to earn money through unlawful means, so long as our aspiration is to amass wealth by any means, we can never attain to true happiness, because we have deviated from the path of righteousness.
We tend to make happiness too complicated an affair. Most people are governed by the understanding that happiness can be derived by doing something on a grand scale; from making a big fortune; and from ostentatious display of wealth with the purpose of showing off one's affluence and high status in society .
But happiness can be attained from the simplest and most unpretentious things. Pleasure can never be forced; it must come in a natural way , from uncomplicated living. One often hears the statement, “He has the money , but can't enjoy it.“
Helping others without expecting anything in return; acts of kindness towards animals; conducting oneself with humility; performing one's duties with sincerity; protecting the gifts of nature; living in a spirit of togetherness with fellow beings -all these are what constitute true happiness.

83% of Muslim women want family law codified, says survey





Should unilateral triple talaq be banned? An overwhelming number of Muslim women in the country think so.In a first of its kind study, the women have unequivocally voiced their dissent against the discriminatory practice of triple talaq with 92.1% seeking its ban. Oral talaq delivered through new media platforms like Skype, text messages, email and WhatsApp have become an increasing cause of worry for the community .
A study conducted across 10 states by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) -working for reforms in Muslim personal law -found that a majority of the women were economically and socially disadvantaged, over half had been married before the age of 18 and had faced domestic violence.
The study , which interviewed 4,710 women between July and December 2013, reveals that 91.7% of the respondents opposed a second marriage by their husbands. About 73% of Muslim women surveyed by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) were from families that earned less than Rs 50,000 annually and 55% were married before they turned 18. An overwhelming 82% had no property in their name and 78% were homemakers, indicating absence of income. Over 53% reported having faced domestic violence in their lives while a majority was poorly educated.
Despite these disadvantages, the women clearly spoke against unilateral, oral triple talaq and polygamy . “In 2014, of the 235 cases that came to women sharia adalats that we run, 80% were of oral talaq,“ author of the study , Za kia Soman said, adding that women were forced to bear the brunt of the practice.
Most women (93%) were in favour of an arbitration process before divorce and 83.3% believed that codification of Muslim family law would help get justice. Codification of Muslim personal law has been resisted by the community citing religious interference. Responding to this, Soman said, “Government has mollycoddled and appeased those groups which have taken upon themselves to speak for the community . It is our constitutional right. For groups that cite religious freedom as an argument, it is at the expense of women's rights.“
Co-author Noorjehan Safia Niaz said, “An overwhelming number of women demand reforms in Muslim personal law.They want an elaborate codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce procedures, polygamy , maintenance and custody of children.“
BMMA plans to take up the issue with the government, Law Commission and the National Commission for Women.

Aug 21 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

92% of Muslim women in India want oral triple talaq to go: Study

Himanshi Dhawan

New Delhi:





Should unilateral triple talaq be banned? An overwhelming number of Muslim women in the country think so.In a first of its kind study, the women have unequivocally voiced their dissent against the discriminatory practice of triple talaq with 92.1% seeking its ban. Oral talaq delivered through new media platforms like Skype, text messages, email and WhatsApp have become an increasing cause of worry for the community .
A study conducted across 10 states by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) -working for reforms in Muslim personal law -found that a majority of the women were economically and socially disadvantaged, over half had been married before the age of 18 and had faced domestic violence.
The study , which interviewed 4,710 women between July and December 2013, reveals that 91.7% of the respondents opposed a second marriage by their husbands. About 73% of Muslim women surveyed by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) were from families that earned less than Rs 50,000 annually and 55% were married before they turned 18. An overwhelming 82% had no property in their name and 78% were homemakers, indicating absence of income. Over 53% reported having faced domestic violence in their lives while a majority was poorly educated.
Despite these disadvantages, the women clearly spoke against unilateral, oral triple talaq and polygamy . “In 2014, of the 235 cases that came to women sharia adalats that we run, 80% were of oral talaq,“ author of the study , Za kia Soman said, adding that women were forced to bear the brunt of the practice.
Most women (93%) were in favour of an arbitration process before divorce and 83.3% believed that codification of Muslim family law would help get justice. Codification of Muslim personal law has been resisted by the community citing religious interference. Responding to this, Soman said, “Government has mollycoddled and appeased those groups which have taken upon themselves to speak for the community . It is our constitutional right. For groups that cite religious freedom as an argument, it is at the expense of women's rights.“
Co-author Noorjehan Safia Niaz said, “An overwhelming number of women demand reforms in Muslim personal law.They want an elaborate codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce procedures, polygamy , maintenance and custody of children.“
BMMA plans to take up the issue with the government, Law Commission and the National Commission for Women.

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

The Yogi as a Pugilist

Psychotherapy-cum-Martial Exercise in the Indian Armed Forces

Vol - L No. 33, August 15, 2015 | Sumanta Banerjee 

• Commentary

The way in which the secular practice of yoga is being saffronised by a government that has made it compulsory for the armed and paramilitary forces looks like yet another attempt to supplement colonial model-based recruitment on the basis of caste and region, by psychologically indoctrinating jawans in the values and norms of Hindutva.

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Lines Drawn upon Water

Vol - L No. 33, August 15, 2015 | Neha Sinha 

• Book Reviews

Nature without Borders edited by Mahesh Rangarajan, M D Madhusudan and Ghazala Shahabuddin, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2014; pp 270, Rs 535, hardcover.

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Special Articles Culture and Life of Government Elementary Schools A R Vasavi Government elementary schools are layered institutions that are affected by a bureaucratic administration, the specificities of local societies, and the agency of teachers. Although promoted as an agency and institution of democracy, modernity... Read more	Web Exclusives In Search of a Professional Identity A Schoolteacher Speaks Sonika Chauhan This essay examines the recent focus on reforms in school education—increased use of scripted ready-made materials and standardisation of educational experiences—that are sidelining the multiple social and cultural locations of the... Read more
Notes J F Duff and the University Education Commission of India, 1948-49 Rakesh Ankit It has been a difficult period for university education in India, with the controversy around the four-year undergraduate programme joining the old complaints about lack of autonomy, political interference, financial ill-health, and deteriorating... Read more	Perspectives Understanding Vyapam Krishna Kumar The Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh is not the familiar story of exam cheating. It is about the mutation of exam cheating into a service industry facilitated by the State. Understanding it requires a look at the political economy of a hollowed-out... Read more
Editorials The Reserve Bank and the Government Is there a larger design in the disrespect this government is showing towards institutions? Read more	Editorials Politics of Immunisation The health ministry's move on HPV vaccine feasibility is ill-advised. Read more
Editorials Secrecy and Control Stay tuned for the continuing broadcast of Newspeak from the Ministry of Truth. Read more	Commentary Recent Trends in India's Merchandise Trade Warning Signs for the Economy Surajit Mazumdar The contraction of India's merchandise trade, both exports and imports, from December 2014 is a worrying development, even if it has led to a temporary improvement in trade balance. The substantial decline in international oil prices, and its... Read more
Commentary Falling Sick, Paying the Price NSS 71st Round on Morbidity and Costs of Healthcare T Sundararaman, V R Muraleedharan The decennial National Sample Survey on health and education provides useful information on the health and education of the population. The summary report on health from the 71st round conducted in 2014 allows us to make an initial assessment of... Read more	Commentary Swaminathan MSP Solution to Agrarian Crisis and Farmers’ Distress? Ranjit Singh Ghuman Farmers' unions and political parties have been demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan minimum support price (cost plus 50%) to address agrarian crisis and farmers' distress. But they have not raised demands for the... Read more
Commentary India and Russia in a Changing World Archana Upadhyay This article analyses the 15th Annual India-Russia Summit of December 2014. It situates the traditionally strong Indo-Russian strategic ties in a post-Cold War world in which multiple new power centres are set to emerge. Read more	Book Reviews The Machine and Its Limits Iftekhar Iqbal Technology and Rural Change in Eastern India 1830-1980 by Smritikumar Sarkar; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014; pp 355, Rs 895. Read more
Special Articles Birth, Life and Death of Development Finance Institutions in India Deepak Nayyar This essay traces the evolution of development finance institutions in India from conception and birth, soon after independence, through infancy to adulthood and maturity, followed by a winding down at the turn of the century and closure in the... Read more	Special Articles Safe Abortion as a Women’s Right Perceptions of Law Enforcement Professionals Suchitra Dalvie, Alka Barua, Hemant Apte A study conducted among law enforcement officials in seven countries across Asia by the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership to measure the level of knowledge, attitude and awareness of women’s rights as well as safe and legal abortion shows lack... Read more
Discussion Intersectionality Rejection or Critical Dialogue? Mary E John Two responses to Nivedita Menon's "Is Feminism about 'Women'? A Critical View on Intersectionality from India" (EPW, 25 April 2015) appreciate the article's attempt to initiate a debate on "intersectionality."... Read more	Discussion Struggles around Gender Some Clarifications Meena Gopal This is a brief critique of some of the positions put forth in Nivedita Menon’s article “Is Feminism about ‘Women’? A Critical View on Intersectionality from India” (25 April 2015). The paper covered diverse and... Read more
Economic Notes Gross Value Added Why Not the Double Deflation Method for Estimation? J Dennis Rajakumar, S L Shetty To estimate gross value added for the manufacturing sector, the 2011-12 National Accounts Statistics series follows the "single deflation" instead of the "double deflation" method. In this note, it is argued that the double... Read more	Postscript Yakub’s Tragedy Jyoti Punwani The hanging of Yakub Memon betrays the trust of the Indian state in his return of the wealth of information he had provided against the perpetrators of the Bombay bomb blasts of 1993. Read more
Postscript Believing Is Seeing Nada Faris Our biological propensity to fictionalise the world makes reality a shared belief, not a fact or a mere aggregation of experiences. Read more	Postscript Lab-Coat Glamour Neha Sinha The stereotypical image of women—including those in science—as sentimental beings with strong notions of sacrifice and duty is unquestionably heteropatriarchal.

Zia Haider Rahman’s debut novel wins James Tait Black prize 2015

Bangladesh novelist Zia Haider Rahman has won James Tait Black award 2015, UK’s oldest literary prize for his first novel, In the Light of What We Know. His debut novel’s story is based on an investment banker in a lead role who receives a visit from an old friend and addresses a whole range of issues including Afghanistan war, the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and global banking crisis. He received this prize at the 2015 Edinburgh international book festival along with Richard Benson who had won this award for his novel The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Yorkshire Family in the biography category. Rahman was born in the Sylhet region of rural Bangladesh. Later he had migrated to United Kingdom. Prior to shifting to writing career, he had worked as an investment banker and a human rights lawyer. About James Tait Black award It is annual literary award bestowed on person for literature written in the English language in UK and is oldest literary award in the country. Establish: It was instituted in 1919 in memory James Tait Black. It is given in three categories viz. Fiction, Biography and Drama (introduced in 2012) by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The award carries monetary prize of 10000 British pounds.

Conviction rates up, but not for rape

Despite an increase in the number of cognisable crimes in India during 2014, the rate of conviction rose as well.

There were over 9.4 lakh cases under the IPC pending investigation at the end of 2013 (over a third from Assam, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu alone), to which 28 lakh cases registered during 2014 were added.

Cause for concern

While theft accounted for the largest number of pending cases, rash driving added the most new cases in 2014. In over one lakh cases, the final police report found the complaints false; these included over 2,500 rape cases and nearly 10,000 abduction cases.

However, the largest number of cases deemed false were of cheating. At the end of 2014, the number of cases pending investigation had grown to over 10 lakh.

In all, the police filed charge sheets in nearly 80 per cent of all IPC cases deemed true. Charge-sheeting rates were high for rape (95.6 per cent) and low for theft (35.6 per cent). Among the States, the rates were the highest in Kerala (96.7 per cent), Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, and the lowest in Manipur (9.9 per cent), Assam and Meghalaya. They were also high for special laws, but particularly low in the cases of the Electricity Act and the Railways Act.

At the level of courts, nearly 80 lakh cases under the IPC were pending at the end of 2013, to which 20 lakh cases were added and sent to trial during 2014. Trials were completed in over 13 lakh of these cases during 2014.

The conviction rates for the cases under the IPC rose to 45.1 % in 2014 from 40.2 % the previous year. They tend to be the highest for rash and negligent driving, and low for cruelty by husband and his relatives; attempt to rape and rape, too, have low conviction rates, which have not risen since 2013.

“You have to examine the type of cases that come before us,” an additional sessions judge in a Delhi court told The Hindu. “There may be some biased judges, but the majority would not be able to convict for the rape cases that come before us. Even in the higher courts, the acquittal is upheld,” the judge said.

Mizoram and Kerala have high conviction rates, while Bihar and West Bengal have the lowest conviction rates, at just over 10 per cent.

Even as the number of registered crimes against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes rose by nearly 20 per cent, the rate of conviction under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act remained low, at under 16 per cent.