Ache Din – A distant dream for people of Banaras

The holy city of Banaras is probably older than the history and this evidently reflects from the ethnicity and culture of the people living there. The tehzeeb and nazakat of Banaras makes it apple of every tourist’s eye, who wishes to visit India. However all this is put to shame when you look deeper into the current public administration system of the city. The reason I am making this statement is because of what I experienced while discussing the schedule of ‘Banega Swach India’, a Campaign of NDTV in association with Dettol and PVCHR, to be held at Assi Ghat in Banaras on 14^th of December, with Shirin Shabana Khan and Anup Shrivastava in the PVCHR’s office. Amidst the conversation, I heard a shaky voice requesting to enter the office. She was an old lady from a marginalized community from a remote village in the Varanasi district. Ms. Shruti Nagvanshi, co-founder PVCHR requested her to take a seat and called for a cup of hot tea for the old lady. After a couple of minutes of silence the lady broke into tears and narrated her story. She was being harassed by her neighbour for no fault of hers or her family. She said that she tried reaching the local police administration but her requests fell on to the deaf ears because the person who troubled her and her family, had strong influence in the local police station. Ms. Shruti Nagvanshi patiently listened to her grief and immediately tried reaching the Senior Superintendent Police office. The SSP office was quick to respond to Ms. Nagvanshi’s request and assured of fair justice and protection to the old lady and her family. The point that I am trying to highlight here is that, the basic needs of a citizens like security is jeopardized in our biased administrative system. People like Ms. Nagvanshi are making strong difference in the society but for how long will this tyranny of ill managed administration continue.

The weaver community is still struggling to meet their basic necessities, cleanliness and hygiene is gone for a toss from the banks of river Ganga, traffic and road transport system is adding to the woes of the residents and many big and small notorious activities take place in the district of Varanasi in broad daylight. This shows that not much has changed in past 6 months in the city since Prime Minister Narendra Modiji has been elected as Member of Parliament from the same constituency. At the end of the day it is left for the citizens of Banaras and organizations like PVCHR to stand tall for their rights and advocate for fair and transparent administrative and legal system. The entire country is living in hope of Ache Din, which to me appears to be a distant dream atleast for another 3-4 years for the citizens of Banaras.

Banaras – The Pluralism capital of India

Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legends, and looks twice as old as them put together!! – Mark Twain

The holiest and the oldest city 
in India stands as an epitome of cultural heritage for centuries now.

Varanasi erstwhile Banaras – happens to be my native city and has been the apple of every tourist’s eye who desires to visit India. The city wakes with chants of Ganga Aarti at Dashashvamedh ghat and Azaan at Gyanvyapi Mosque, while the rest of our nation is still in slumber. This cultural and religious confluence of Banaras deepens with the presence of Sarnath, where Lord Gautam Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and the city is equally close to heart of Jains as 3 Jain Tirthankars were born in this Holy city. Banaras has been an archetype of pluralism across the globe.

Known for its various centres of religious and cultural importance like Kashi Vishwanath Mandir and Ghats at Ganges river basin, Banaras holds a distinguished place in the world for people of all the religions.

Banaras has also been a knowledge hub since centuries with various Kings and their princes attaining primary wisdom on the banks of Ganges, Banaras also hails Banaras Hindu University established by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1916 A.D which is also the largest residential university (even bigger than any of the IIMs and IITs) in India. 


Apart from boasting the religious and educational excellence Banaras is also home to 4 Bharat Ratna recipients (highest civilian award in India), most by any city across the country.

No wonder during Indian General Elections of 2014, BJP’s then Prime Ministerial candidate and India’s current Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi chose Banaras as his constituency.

Banaras today is at the centre of Indian politics, but the fact is that safeguarding its religious sanctity along with the pluralism and sociocultural inclusiveness should be a matter of high priority to all the Indians. Inspite of living almost 1500 kilometers away from the city it is just not possible for me to get over the bond that connects me to this cultural hub of India. With over 50 lakh tourists visiting the city annually, Banaras today has become the face of Indian cultural diversity.

The thought of Banaras and its importance to our nation frequently lingers in my mind and I recently read about a few intellectuals who have identified the need to preserve the Banaras' Culture and come up with a solution through a summit called the Banaras Convention. This summit seems intriguing and the agenda put forth by the organizers is engaging and I wish them the very best in their noble initiative.

Words aren’t enough to describe how divine my Banaras is, it is for us as individuals to visit the city once and experience the euphoria and for the administration and civilians to maintain the pluralism and inclusiveness of Banaras for eternity.

#UnionBudget2014

The Union Budget 2014 was presented by the current Finance Minister of India Shri. Arun Jaitley. The budget as expected was high voltage affair as any other event is in era of Modi Sarkar. All the eyes were on the Finance Minister's brief case, as to know the road map of Ache Din and this what the finance minister had to offer.

10 things that will work in interest of Aam Admi and his Ache Din!!

1) Say Cheese - A moment of cheer

-> Income tax slab raised from 2 lac p.a. to 2.5 lakhs per annum

i.e. if you are earning ₹ 20,833.33 a month  then you are not liable to pay any  income tax.

2) The entrepreneurial boost

-> Corpus of ₹ 10,000 Crore through venture capital funding and soft loans for young and budding entrepreneur.

3) Smart bann raha hai India

-> Allocation of ₹ 7,060 Crores for developing 100 smart cities in India.

4) Coz ExPORTs and ImPORTs are incomplete without PORTs

-> Building of 16 new ports across the coastline of India.

5) Cigarette smoking and Gutkha Chewing is now also injurious to wealth

 -> Hike in Excise Duty Of Cigarettes By 11% - 72% and Gutkha form 60% to 70%.

6) Giving wings to Insurance    

-> Increase of FDI in Insurance from 26% to 49%, inturn helping the 70 Billion USD insurance industry to penetrate deeper in our country.

    

7) Turning Delhi into Dubai and Banglore into Bejing

-> ₹ 50000 Crore worth urban infra projects.

8) Padhega India, tabhi toh badhega India

-> ₹ 28635 Crore to be funded for Sarva Shikasha Abhiyaan.

   

9) Fair-e-tail

-> E-commerce sales in retail allowed without any additional approval.

10) Har ghar kuch kehta hai
-> ₹ 4000 crores for National Housing Bank with a view to provide cheaper credit for affordable housing to Urban Poor and Low Income Group.

4 things that do not work for Aam Admi!!

1)  FM, why you no Meherbaan on our Kisaan ??
-> Not much help in agriculture sector with only ₹ 5000 Crore for irrigation and infrastructure and ₹ 500 Crore for Price stabilization


2)  No Power to generate Power


-> Failure in taking decisive measures in strengthening the power sector in India, except some relief in Coal import duty.

3)  Healthcare Mis-Management
-> No strong reforms for supplementing better health care facilities in Bharat; 4 AIIMS with a budget of only ₹ 500 Crores.

4)  Women Security – Not a priority !!       


-> Allocation of ₹ 150 Crore fund for security of over 20 Crore of women in large cities. i.e. ₹ 7.5 / woman, really!!??



I would personally rate this #UnionBudget2014 as 6.5 on 10, however it is left for the government to execute the plans in the right spirit and best of interest of the pupil of India.

Ache Din Kab Ayenge??

It has been around 50 days since the newly formed government has been in action. With promises of better governance, rein in prices, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, reduced corruption, bringing back of black money, so on and so forth, the BJP led government stormed to power. Many believed that it was the charisma of Shri. Narendra Modi which helped the BJP realize its long awaited dream. However the outcome at the end of one month is not as pleasing as the citizens of the largest democracy in the world, who empowered a single party with a clear mandate to govern the nation, anticipated to be.

With increase in passenger fares and freight rates in Indian railways and recent hike in the petrol and diesel prices, things are gradually appearing to be going from bad to worse.

                        

Rome was not built overnight and similarly India can’t change within the blink of an eye, as some say “The mess of ten years cannot be cleaned in a month”. However NaMo’s extremely advanced strategic management and marketing team failed to mention the bitter pill that would complement the dessert of Ache Din that BJP offered during their election campaign. This has surely left the masses aghast.

Although the government has had a little to cheer about INS Vikramaditya and commercial success of PSLV C 23, it is obvious that such milestone projects did not take place in a span of 30 days and were the brain child of ISRO during the times of former NDA and UPA governments and not that of the current government.

I might appear cynical about the approach of our present government, but all I’m worried about is people’s changing perception of the slogan ‘Ache din aane wale hain’.

                              

The existing council of ministers are so engrossed in discussions of Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code, they seem to have forgotten that as per their own manifesto released during elections, curtailment of corruption, employment generation and containment of inflation remains their top most priority.

With meteorological department predictions of below average rainfall which eventually may lead to inflation, it will be interesting to see the policies and reforms of the existing government to revive the Indian economy at the earliest.

Even though a span of 30 days is too little to judge any government, too much delay in showing signs of development could metaphorically reflect an old saying "Curiosity Killed the Cat" with assembly elections in the states of Maharashtra and Haryana delivering unfavourable results for the BJP. 

All eyes are now set on our visionary prime minister to make things right and keep the ball rolling in the arena of progress and development. My best wishes are with him and all my fellow Indians. May India scale up the pinnacles of success in years to come.

In my next blog we shall discuss the 'Hits and Misses' of the recent Finance Budget of Modi Sarkar.

Here is the link for the next blog that discusses Hits & Misses of Union Budget 2014:

http://aniketnsingh.blogspot.in/2014/07/budget2014.html

New Poster Boys of India, Bansals of Flipkart

'If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it' - Ward, Williams

Since the inception of mankind, human being have evolved; right from Stone Age till date (we can also term this age as a Digital Age).Today the world has become more like a cluster of digitally connected networks than anything else.Since Y2K the Computer Age has taken over the world by storm,especially the emerging economies like India.Some individuals and firms have been able to reap most out of it while others have just wondered about how the world around them has changed within the blink of an eye.

Two such individuals envisioned the Digital Age approaching India well in advance, they realised the need to establish a strong E-Commerce platform that can serve as many as 45.3 Million active Internet Users in India (Figures suggested by an IMRB International Survey Report, Sep 2008.Although the figure today is considerably higher than it was in 2008 with almost 164.81 million active internet users by March,2013) 

These two gentlemen were pass-outs from one the most prestigious institute in India, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.They worked with one of the leading e-commerce company, Amazon and then ventured into the world of e-commerce with a website named 'www.FLIPKART.com' which initially focused only on selling of books.Later they diversified their business by venturing into sales of consumer durables like Electronic goods, Apparel for men & women, Home and Kitchen Appliances etc. and helped the company to become India's most preferred online shopping destination.

Their names are Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (not related by blood though).

Flipkart Online Services Private Limited was formally incorporated in October 2008, the time when most of the countries in the world were suffering from Economic slowdown.'Where others saw risk, they saw opportunity',an opportunity to grow, to expand, to use the potential of an emerging economy, to empower hundreds and thousands with a robust e-commerce platform to shop.

There is an old saying that 'The road to Success never runs Straight', this holds true in the case of Flipkart as well,remember this was the era when so called Mall Culture peaked in the minds of Indian consumers.Yes India was an emerging economy, yes there was a sharp increase in the number of Internet users across the country, yes the owners were IITians (assumed to be the sharpest of the whole lot) and had a past experience of working in a company with more or less similar Business Model but what they didn't have was adequate funds to purchase inventory and run their business without many financial hurdle.There was a stiff challenge to convert this huge number of active internet users into customers(may be not all but most of them), to make an Indian customer imbibe the online shopping model, to replace the Brick and Mortar structure with Click and Order and most importantly to make the customer believe in online purchase. 

All these problems were addressed one after the other.Accel India and Tiger Global - the venture capitalist firms invested heavily in Flipkart in its early years and ensured financial stability. Now with finances in place the next task was to make the people of India believe that online purchases can be trusted.Due to the absence of the actual physical appearance of the product before purchase, the customers are highly sceptical about the products moreover the payment of their purchase was another big question mark for the customers as till date, there are a considerable number of credit and debit card users who refrain from using their details for an online purchase.These problems were resolved by bringing about the Cash On Delivery model.Though this kind of mode of payment had its own challenges, Flipkart somehow has been able to find their way through it by innovating their business.

Now comes yet another important aspect of Flipkart's success,their Marketing Mix.The Virtual to Real connect that Flipkart was able to establish was noteworthy.The advertisements and the promotional activities of Flipkart not only amused the customers but they also conveyed the relevant messages with tag lines and phrases like 'Shopping ka naya address' (which in english translates to,'The new address of your shopping Destination').These advertisements and promotions helped Flipkart to establish trust amongst its existing and potential audiences. Flipkart have also ensured that their prices remain as low as possible in comparison to most of their competitors across various segments so as to attract more number of customers.Also, being a website it is available to all individuals 24x7, thus ensuring maximum possible reach and availability.

With timely and strategically important acquisitions Flipkart continued to expand its business in best possible manner.With acquisition of Letsbuy.com in 2012 Flipkart also established strong roots in the Electronic Goods section.

Today Flipkart is a giant in Indian e-commerce industry with sales of over  1 Billion U.S Dollars.But back in 2007-2008 it was only an idea, a thought, a vision foreseen by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. The rise and glory of Flipkart teaches numerous lessons of management and life.The Bansals of Flipkart have now become role models for hundreds of budding Entrepreneurs with their success story and with Economic Times (a popular Business Daily) bestowing Sachin Bansal as 'The Entrepreneur of the Year', 2012-13 has set the bench mark  for all the aspiring entrepreneurs.

References:
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/india-is-now-worlds-third-largest-internet-user-after-us-china/article5053115.ece

http://www.imrbint.com/old/media/45..pdf

http://www.iamwire.com/2011/07/sachin-bansal-flipkart-ceo-interview/
http://m.economictimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/retail/flipkart-hits-1-billion-in-sales-a-year-ahead-of-schedule/articleshow/31549992.cms

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-26/news/42426999_1_business-model-tiger-global-accel-partners

First Instagram, now Whatsapp; Facebook's dominance in Social Networking knows no bound...

' If you can't beat them in their core competencies then simply buy them ', has been mantra for Facebook in their quest to dominate the social media, across the globe. Facebook, by far the best ever social networking venture the world has ever seen, has been bullish in their approach to capitalize on everything that is trending in the world of social media.



Facebook initially started as a portal to share pictures and posts and was available only for students of Harvard University to begin with and then went onto become the most popular social networking destination and has grown by leaps and bounds since it's inception i.e 4th of February 2004. It has been the most popular website for several years now, only after Google and there is no doubt in their success as they have precisely bridged the gap in the society by linking people over the virtual network.

Facebook has made as many as 45 mergers and acquisitions since 2005, with Whatsapp - the instant messaging app for smart cell phones being the latest entrant in the list, this is a clear evidence of Facebook's hunger and appetite to dominate the world of social network. Currently with almost 2 billion active users of FB, Instagram and Whatsapp put together, the company and its products are the most used or talked about across the world. 



The most interesting part of Facebook's journey has been their strategic acquisitions with the course of time. Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman & CEO of Facebook INC. and his team have been very particular about each and every 
M & A that they have inked as every deal
 of their's has not only added a value to
 Facebook's business model but has also 
been a fruitful venture in terms of 
monetary benefits that it has added to 
the company's bottom line. Especially 
the apps like Face.com made by an Israeli company that helps Facebook users to recognize people by their face and tag them have been some landmark achievement by Facebook in terms of mapping the real world with virtual world .Now with Instagram - the picture sharing app being named as the most trending and frequently downloaded app on Google's Play Store for Android phones and Whatsapp  out smarting the BBM as the most used messaging app on smart phones, Facebook couldn't have asked for anything better to be in their kitty.

From getting themselves listed in NASDAQ and releasing the largest IPO ever in the history of the world to buying of  most unheard start up from a metropolitan city of India, Facebook INC. has always taken Big - Bold decisions and has been effectively able to write off the speculations of reaching the saturation point and has timely sent out a strong message that they are here for a Marathon run. 

As an MBA in making, what interests me more is not just the journey that Facebook has embarked so far but analysing the next move that they make in terms of expanding their business. As the buzz of Whatsapp merger sinks in the minds of people I wouldn't really be surprised if Facebook comes out with yet another giant leap by acquiring Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest or Snapcha or by enabling these features in their website to further strengthen their dominance in the world of Social Networking.



Reference Links:

http://static1.businessinsider.com/

http://www.alexa.com/topsites

http://newsroom.fb.com/news

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/9269601/The-biggest-IPOs-in-US-history-in-pictures.html