From Chidamabaram to Cambridge

Just finished reading this article on Nobel Laureate Venkataraman Ramakrishnan in "The Hindu". Venkataraman has joined the not very formidable line-up of people with Indian origins who have been conferred with this highest honor in science.

http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article391164.ece

With respect to Indians, even though we have quite a handful of Nobel laureates in various fields, only Sir CV Raman and Chandrasekhar have managed to receive this honor in a scientific field (Both in Physics). And now the list is extended by the first person of Indian origins to receive a Nobel prize in Chemistry in the more than 100 long years of the award's history.

Getting to know about the early years of some of the great people is always interesting. It gives an understanding of how very simple people were transformed into following something with a passion and establishing themselves in their respective fields. And in that way Mr. Venkataraman’s story was more closer to home and very relatable.

From being born in Chidambaram and having early education in Tamil Nadu, to being a confused graduate not sure which field to choose from the story of his life is very simple and relatable.

Anyhow this was an interesting read.

Maoist Menace

In a country that is already bleeding due to terrorist attacks from across the border, the recent attacks by Maoists on the CRPF troops in Dantewada forest region, emphasizes that equal importance should be given to acts of violence from within the country.

Dantewada is another macabre manifestation of the heinous crimes that are committed against innocent civilians and government servants by the Maoists. While it is a ghastly act that needs to be condemned by all the responsible citizens, it is also time to take notice of how to tackle the menace of Maoists which is spreading like a lethal virus across the country.

Time and again the Government of India has tried to engage the Maoists in discussions in understanding their ideological issues, but the time has come to realize that such forces should be tackled with bullets and not through discussions.

The Government should immediately act in bringing not only the perpetrators of Dantewada to justice but should focus on the other elements that are supporting the Maoists across the country. The source of funds for the Maoists should be tracked down along with cutting off their political patronage if any.

It should be ensured that these atrocious criminals are not called once again to any round table but were brought to justice as soon as possible.

Right to Education

Wherein his predecessors were more concerned with higher education reforms concentrating on the IIM’s, Kapil Sibal have taken a much welcome shift concentrating on Education at the grassroots level. The Right to Education is a landmark act in the history of India addressing one of the plaguing issues of the Indian Society.

As mentioned by Mr. Sibal, “The bill provides a framework for quality education and access to it” providing the right direction for primary education in India. The keyword to note is Quality and ensuring access to Quality Education across the cross section of society. However this will depend on the multiple stakeholders and their interests, right from parents, teachers, educational institutions and the society as a whole.

The commendable part of the bill is the delineation of Literacy from Education, whereas literacy is defined as the ability of a person above the age of 7 to read and write, education is much more than literacy enabling comprehension. So it is time to do a reality check as to what are the gaps that needs to be filled in order to achieve the ambition of 100% access to primary education.

In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mentioned that only 47 out of 100 children enrolled in class I were able to reach class VIII. This puts the dropout ratio at 52.79%.
19% of the total primary schools in India are single teacher schools. 42 million students in the age group of 6-14 do not attend school due to various reasons like accessibility, poverty, inadequate quality of education etc. 16.64 % of the country’s villages do not have any primary schooling facilities. Teacher absenteeism ranges from 15% in Maharashtra to as high as 42% in Jharkand. The teacher-student ratio in India is 1:42, whereas in Bihar alone it is 1:83. (Sourcehttp://www.unicef.org/india/education_1551.htm)

The reality seems bad enough as the data points out the jarring gap in infrastructure and the ambitious goal of achieving quality education for all children. So the first step will be to set appropriate incentives for each of the above-mentioned stakeholders. (The mid-day meal scheme was one such incentive prompting the child to attend school).

Similarly in order to get Quality education, Quality Teachers are a necessity which unfortunately India lacks due to the miniscule pay scale set for the teaching community. A performance based incentive for the teaching community which is at par with any other industry should be set. The performance of a teacher can be measured as the pass percentage of his/her students based on which incentives can be set.

The bill targets compulsory education till 14 years of age or till Class VIII only. Whereas the syllabus is set in such a way that real education starts only after the age of 14 for a child. While primary education will concentrate on ensuring literacy, Education will begin only after the age of 14. But with the kind of startling statistics with respect to education in India achieving 100% literacy in the first place will prove to be a herculean task for the policymakers.

The bill is only a signboard which points to destination miles away and not the destination itself.

Rin Vs Tide

Yesterday i saw this ad from Rin which was a direct dig on the competitor detergent brand Tide. Don't know how long this campaign has been on or the history behind it, as weekends are the only time i am getting nowadays to watch TV. But rather than directly classifying this ad as illegal or uncompetitive, just thought or trying to think from the point of view of HUL, as to what might be the strategy behind such a ad campaign that can lead to a possible lawsuit from P&G's Tide.

Will it be actually true that RIN can provide more 'safedi' to clothes rather than Tide. Is there any scientific proof that RIN is superior to Tide, which HUL is taking to its advantage of to educate the consumer. Is HUL trying to prove a fact by making a statement, which could possibly be true, and in that way trying to help the confused consumer who is entangled and bored with the run of the mill ad campaigns which are hitting them from multiple directions. Is HUL trying to provide direct facts to the consumer, and in that way enabling him to compare two different products, in a objective and direct way. Is this giving raise to a new paradigm in ad making which seems to be more objective at the outset. This is one way of looking into the advertisement.

But the question remains that if HUL is so concerned about providing objective data to the consumer, why not do a comparison between RIN and Surf, both of which are the products of HUL. It is a very well known fact that Surf Excel is positioned and priced as a high end product when compared to RIN which is more of a lower end product in comparison. But leaving the comparison in terms of positioning and pricing why not provide a comparison of the first P, the product, between Surf and RIN. Or even for that matter of fact between Wheel and Rin.

The conclusion is clear as light, no organization actually cares about educating the consumer or even showing a concern towards the end user. All a brand wants is to spread, and even if it requires to kill the other brands with their vitriolic campaigning in the name of providing facts. Should wait and see what will be the response from P&G with respect to this...