“Ideas for Indore!” is an essay competition open to all residents of Indore, from the age of 15 years onwards. We encourage students, youngsters and citizens of Indore to actively participate in this Competition and share their ideas and proposals on development of Indore with others.

There are almost 20 prizes on offer. This includes a first prize of Rs 25,000/-

Participants are free to choose any specific issue related to governance, civic matters, security etc. that they wish to elaborate through their essay. Indicative topics include:

• Indore BRTS & improvements
• Water solutions for the city
• Police & citizen involvement
• Security & women safety
• Education & Employment

The competition will be conducted in 2 age groups: 15-19 years and 20 years+ 

Entries will be accepted in Hindi and English (with separate prizes in each category and age group).

The winning entry would be given a chance to present their idea at the awards distribution ceremony, planned for 31st August ’13.  The winner will be mentored by members of इंदौर-PAC for this presentation.  Please send your entries to IdeasForIndore@Indore-PAC.in or by post at our address mentioned here. There is a total prize money of Rs 1 lakh on offer!

And don’t forget the last date – 31st July 2013.  Please share this with your friends, family and acquaintances in Indore! Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

Related Post: इंदौर-PAC: The Next Step in “Reclaiming India – One Step at a Tme”

P.S. Here is a link to a write-up in today’s Dainik Bhaskar DB Star by Amitabh on Indore-PAC!

A: Because there aren’t any.

Sample these statistics:

• Each 1% in GDP growth creates 1.5m direct jobs  & 3 times as many indirect jobs. A 1% drop therefore leads to about 6m (direct & indirect) jobs disappearing. A 4% GDP drop (of the kind we are witnessing) will shrink job opportunities for approximately 24million people, affecting almost 120m Indians
• “The phenomenal growth India..achieved during the last five years was jobless growth”. Actually, not just the last five years, but almost the entire last decade has been widely recognised as a decade of jobless growth
• Worse may be yet to come. A recent FICCI survey said that the current economic slowdown may force the economy into “jobless de-growth”
• The job “jobs scene” in India is among weakest globally & the worst in 8 years

Why does this matter?  It matters because “We have about 550 million youths under 25 years of age..” for whom we “need to create 15 million jobs annually”. So says Sam Pitroda.

But it gets worse. The “dis-aggregated data of employment in terms of educational attainment” shows that “unemployment is highest among educated urban youth”. Read that again: “Educated Urban Youth”. This is the “Young India”. The India that checks facebook before it reads the newspaper. This is the India that carries a smartphone in its pocket. These are aspirational young Indians with dreams in their eyes but very little by way of skills.

I meet such youngsters almost every month during one of my frequent outreach events across colleges and cities in India. You can find them in Thiruvananthapuram, in Bhubaneswar, in Mumbai, Indore, Bengaluru, Chandigarh.. in fact, in every metro town, Tier II and Tier city in India.  Dr SK Sasikumar, National Labour Institute says that“..of the youth between the age group of 15-29 years, 26.9% neither working, nor studying and not even looking for a job”. There is a neat acronym that describes this group. It is called NEET – “Not in Education, Employment or Training”.

Where do you think this is heading? Social strains? Societal instability? or worse, massive unrest?

And yet, no one is talking about this.  In a country with the world’s largest young population, fundamental issues that concern these youngsters get little attention from our leaders – or media. When I think about this, I wonder whether India’s young population a time-bomb waiting to explode?

Just how bad is it? On a relatively calm day last week, I noticed something interesting on twitter. Among the trending topics on that particular day was “Job Description”. Now I know Twitter Trends are fickle and can change in the most unpredictable ways but still I thought it was interesting.

According to a NASSCOM report, each year over 3 million graduates and post-graduates are added to the Indian workforce. Of these, only 25 percent of technical graduates and 10-15 percent of regular graduates are considered employable by the industry. A recent report from Indore mentioned how of the 20,000 Engineers that pass out from the 60+ Engineering Colleges in the city, less than 2000 get “placements”. A vast majority of such graduates remain under-employed, clocking time in low-skilled jobs, hoping for a better future. A lot of them remain vague about what they want to do in life; quite a few have no interest or passion in the subject in which they have graduated. Many struggle with “soft skills” – in particular communication and social graces. This email is symptomatic of such “youth” (it was sent in all caps)

Dear sir
I dont know how to express my thoughts about ur articles… They are always “eye openers”. Sir actually b’coz of our hilarious education system. I’m not able to express my thoughts in English or Hindi properly. Its a kind of hybrid language hinglish. I would lyk to know ur opinion wid dis. Its a major issue. We r just hanging between hindi and english.

Sir i need ur help wid another matter. M engineering final year student. I want to work for business related firm. Engineering was really a wrong decision . I dont hav any idea about dis business kinda thing. I dont know “ki mujhe kya karna chahiye “. U hav a gr8 experince wid both of these engineering as well as business related things. Plzz suggest me !
I’ll be v.thankfull to you .

This not a laughing matter. It is truly unfortunate. But where are the jobs?

Sample some more statistics: In the UK, SMEs contribute 50% of the country’s GDP and provide ~ 60% of total jobs. In the US, the sector contributes 50% to the country’s GDP. In Japan SME contribution is even higher – 56.8% of GDP. In contrast, Indian SMEs contribute less than 20% of the total GDP of India and 40% of jobs. Clearly technology, productivity and poor investment has something to do with this.

Unfortunately in India, SMEs are no one’s favourites. Too small to “contribute” to election funds, they remain at the fringes of policy making. For most, business means managing to stay afloat in the swamp of rules and regulations, high interest rates and cash crunch.

In fact, the smaller you are, the worse it is. For example, a fruit vendor shells out Rs 50/- every day as “Mamool” in Bengaluru. Even a head-load worker is not spared. He needs to pay Rs 5/- just for the privilege of sleeping on the pavement!

Fact is it is bl**** hard to start and run a profitable business in the stifling environment of rules & regulations in India. What else is wrong?

What else? How about fixing “Education”? And I don’t mean tinkering with things like “RTE”. I mean really “fixing” it. Re-building it from scratch, revamping the curriculum, getting accountability in the system and getting government out of it. In the end it is really about making the right choices. Choices such as:

• Keep them busy digging holes vs. impart some useful skills
• Helping entrepreneurs vs. guaranteeing employment
• Creating vs. Distributing
• Sense of Entitlement vs. Spirit of Enterprise

And focusing a bit less on those who “need help” and a bit more on those who can “offer help”. Making these choices & taking  tough decisions is crucial so that India’s 500 million youngsters grow up with skills and knowledge better prepared for the world they face. Otherwise be prepared for a situation in which it may be better to get a robot than to hire Indian labour. That would not be nice. Would it? Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

Related Posts: Why Politic Matters – even to Entrepreneurs and The Coming Jobs War and my own tiny effort..

Before I tell you what happened, let me ask a simple question: “How many of you have tried to meet the Collector or Commissioner of a District in India?  How many of you have tried to do it without pulling some strings?”

Long before the days of internet and mobile phones, the District Administration and its officers in India were a formidable “black box” to most people. Such was the veil of secrecy and mystery surrounding these offices, that even the Collector’s direct phone number was something of a state secret. The web changed all that. Thanks to efficient search engines, it is actually possible today to get the mobile number (or at least one of the many mobile numbers) of a top district official with relative ease.

A few days back, armed with a couple of these numbers, I decided to call a few officials to ask if they could meet me. The purpose of the meeting was not “personal”. I wanted their time to discuss some ideas around improving the governance of our towns and cities.

I wanted a 30-minute slot. I had enough flexibility & I was willing to meet them at a time of their choosing. Not an onerous request, you would think. So I thought too.

The first conversations were invariably pleasant. And they usually ended with a promise to get back – either with a date/time for meeting or to confirm the date/time we had tentatively agreed.

I was blissfully unaware though of the norms I had already broken. The first of this is to never dial someone direct. The “protocol” is to call the Collector’s PS, explain why you wish to speak to him/her and then wait patiently for a call back by the PS before he/she connects to you to “Sir” or “Madam”.

15 years of being outside the system, working in fast-moving & informal environments had left me out of touch with this reality.  I had already broken the “protocol” by calling these folks direct – that too on their mobile numbers, with no one to “screen” the call!

I waited patiently for a call back. 2 days passed by, then 3. Then a week.  Somewhat exasperated, I decided to send an SMS by way of gentle reminder. No response. 2 days, no response still. 3 days, nothing.

That is when I decided to call again – and ran smack into the stonewall of a ringing phone  & the reality of a “system” that does not have time for “unrecognized” numbers!

I was reminded of these words in fellow activist (and ex-IAS) Sanjeev Sabhlok’s recent post:

Such is India’s fate – to be “ruled” by either totally corrupt or totally arrogant “senior” bureaucrats who are never accountable for anything they do in their life and are ruining India through their TOTAL ARROGANCE.

This was my brush with “Total Arrogance”.  That the bureaucracy is unresponsive, heartless, arrogant and unaccountable is hardly news to most people. And yet it is sobering to confront this reality first-hand.

Just over 2 years back, Eric Ellis wrote this in the context of Commonwealth Games that had just concluded in New Delhi:

The Delhi games showed the world just what can be done when its (India’s) daunting civil service takes control – and the result wasn’t pretty. Corruption, waste, inefficiency, obfuscation and a cancerous lack of accountability in officialdom – and all of it on an Olympian scale. ...Some economists have calculated that India’s bureaucratic inefficiency costs the country 1 to 2 points in annual growth.

Eric went on to point out how

Part of the problem is its size and power. India employs about 4 million civil servants, with another 7 to 8 million in its 35 states and territories. It is the world’s biggest civil service, bigger even than China’s, which has about 15 per cent more people to administer than India. And India’s numbers don’t include the armies of non-paper shufflers; the personal staff of senior bureaucrats who manage the household and perks.”

I guess it would not surprise most to read that,

American economist Lant Pritchett of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government .. described the Indian bureaucracy as ”one of the world’s top 10 biggest problems”, up there with AIDS and climate change.”

What makes this system so formidable is the complete lack of accountability. It is virtually impossible to fire a “Class I Gazetted Officer”. Even the most egregious misdemeanors usually end with a “suspension” that is quietly revoked once the wrong has faded from public memory.

Not only are there no consequences, there is no “incentive” to do good either. Whether you are one of the best or humdrum run-of-the-mill, promotions for the first several years in these services are lock-step with the entire “batch” – regardless of ability, performance or indeed non-performance.  Unsurprisingly this system manages to corrode even the best and the brightest over the course of their careers.

“Omission” is not a sin. So the default is “no action”. There is no penalty for indecisiveness and no reward for taking a decision. The result: A system that moves at glacial speed completely oblivious, impervous to the sweeping changes happening around it. Of all the reasons why the “steel frame” needs to be dismantled, one sums it all. The frame is rusted. It no longer supports but obstructs. It is not a support but a barrier.

I realise I am probably lumping a  lot of fair, upright, decisive and conscientious officers in this sweeping generalisation. But if they are true to themselves, they will, I suspect, agree with me that the rot within is deep and is beyond the point where it can be stemmed.

As Sanjeev mentioned in another post more than 2 years back,

That COLONIAL system of bureaucracy is so badly antiquated and ineffective that it amazes me why we have not replaced it with a functional bureaucracy.

Until such a revamp happens, no amount of change at the top will sustain.  And without such an overhaul, the bureaucracy will be marked by arrogance, lack of responsiveness & insensitivity. Next time you come across this stonewall of indiffwerence, console yourself with the thought that you are not alone. And pray for a day when we can get rid of this colonial hangover. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

Somewhat Related: Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan

Image screenshot: Babus of India; Cross-posted over at ToI blogs

UPDATE: Just to clarify: I did not want to meet these officials to discuss anything “personal” or get any work done.  The purpose was to discuss ways and means in which we can work together to improve Indore (pl see http://indore-pac.in/ in case you are curious). Thanks

Mathematics in India – From Vedic Period to Modern Times – A Course Coordinated by IIT Bombay

COURSE OUTLINE: The Course would cover the development of mathematical ideas and techniques , starting from the Vedic period to modern times. While the treatment would be historical, we would be focusing mainly on the mathematical contents of various texts. We would be covering topics such as –the discussion of numbers in the Vedas, details of construction of geometrical figures and altars as given in Sulvasutras, discovery of zero and the place value system, and also details of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and combinatorics, as discussed in the works of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Mahavira, Bhaskaracharya and Narayana Pandita.

Development of ideas and techniques of calculus and spherical trigonometry as found in the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics will also be discussed.

Detailed proofs of mathematical results as contained in the famous workYuktibhasa will be presented.

At the end of the course, we briefly sketch the development of mathematics in modern India , especially highlighting the workof Srinivasa Ramanujan which seems to be in continuation both in methods and philosophy, with several aspects of the older tradition of mathematics in India.

Read full details here: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/syllabus/syllabus.php?subjectId=111101080 and here and get in touch with “Prof. M. S. Sriram at sriram.physics@gmail.com” to find out more.

Related: A Presentation on Hindu Contribution to Maths & Science – Archna Sahni, Does no one remember the Hindu contribution to Mathematics? and Does no one remember Indian Contribution to Mathematics – Part 2

Somewhat related: Mathematics, History and worms eating manuscripts… Thanks to Dr S. Kalyanaraman for alerting us to this.

Essentially, the science “proves” what we know to be true from the actual experience of meditating…In a very real way, you literally are changing your brain for the better when you meditate.

In the end, this means that you are able to see yourself and everyone around you from a clearer perspective, while simultaneously being more present, compassionate and empathetic with people no matter the situation. With time and practice, people do truly become calmer, have a greater capacity for empathy and find they tend to respond in a more balanced way to things, people or events in their lives.

However, to maintain your gains, you have to keep meditating. Why? Because the brain can very easily revert back to its old ways if you are not vigilant (I’m referencing the idea of neuroplasticity here). This means you have to keep meditating to ensure that the new neural pathways you worked so hard to form stay strong.

To me, this amazing brain science and the very real rewards gained from meditation combine to form a compelling argument for developing and/or maintaining a daily practice. It definitely motivates me on those days I don’t “feel” like sitting. So, try to remind yourself that meditating every day, even if it’s only 15 minutes, will keep those newly formed connections strong and those unhelpful ones of the past at bay.