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VOLUME 17 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2018
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MAGAZINE
Seasonal www.seasonalmagazine.com
Where are the revolutionary innovations?
Managing Editor Jason D Pavorattikaran Editor John Antony Director (Finance) Ceena Associate Editor Carl Jaison Senior Editorial Coordinator Jacob Deva Senior Correspondent Bina Menon Creative Visualizer Bijohns Varghese Photographer Anish Aloysious Office Assistant Alby CG Correspondents Bombay: Rashmi Prakash Delhi: Anurag Dixit Director (Technical) John Antony Publisher Jason D Pavorattikaran
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it,” said Albert Einstein. The annual report on Human Development Index (HDI) growth of each country by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has recently come out, and it once again reminds India of this wisdom from one of human history’s most renowned scientists ever. Over the last year, India has made only modest progress. The country’s HDI inched up from 0.636 in 2016 to just 0.640 in 2017, rising marginally by 0.004 points. To put this in a more readily understandable number, India’s position among world’s 189 countries improved by just one rank – from 131 last year to 130 now.
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Why is HDI important? Or better put, why is HDI growth much more important than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth that politicians love to brag about? One reason is that HDI includes GDP as a component, but goes much beyond it by measuring how much GDP performance is actually improving human lives at the grassroots level. As its name denotes, the Human Development Index is the composite measure of every country’s attainment in three basic dimensions: standard of living measured by the gross national income (GNI) per capita, health measured by the life expectancy at birth, and education levels calculated by mean years of education among the adult population and the expected years of schooling for children.
We need not look any further than that old bracket of BRICS in which we have always been included by international as well as Indian economists. All of them - Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa fare much better than us when it comes to HDI.
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It is worthwhile to have a look at the 59 countries that fare even poorer than India in HDI – the list is dominated by the poorest African nations and a few war torn ones like Syria.
While GDP can be improved by most rightist or pro free-market governments, HDI can rarely be improved by governments that are not intensely focused and hardworking in uplifting the poorest of its citizens. And needless to say, often these two objectives are contradictory, though a few countries have shown that it need not be so.
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EDITORIAL
The list is led by Russia at 0.816, then comes Brazil at 0.759, then China at 0.752 and even the politically volatile and challenged South Africa has clocked an HDI of 0.699, well ahead of India. Russia is reeling under Western sanctions, Brazil’s economy is facing troubling times, China is managing a population that is even bigger than India, and still they all surpass India when it comes to ensuring that the benefits of growth reach their poorest people. It should really be a humbling and educational piece of information for all Indians. But this is not to mean that things have always been like this in India. The
country made rapid progress in its first few decades after Independence, driven by a socialist ethos and programs like Green Revolution for self-sufficiency in agriculture and Operation Flood or White Revolution for milk production. However, India’s performance in HDI is most remarkable starting from the 1990s, when it increased its HDI by 50% during the next 25 years. There were reasons too. In the 90s, then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and his Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh unleashed the economic liberalization program. Well performing subsequent governments like that led by AB Vajpayee and Dr. Singh led UPA-1 continued this policy, to attain this spectacular growth period, which saw millions being lifted off from poverty. What this means is that rapid improvements in HDI is never an accident. It calls for innovation at the scale of a revolution. But post the 2009 Global Economic Crisis, which affected India badly, the challenges like the NPA crisis have quadrupled and the solutions have simply not kept pace. And if you thought our 130th world rank in HDI is the big issue, wait till you hear about our performance in something called IHDI, which is Inequality Adjusted HDI. It measures HDI after negating or compensating for rising inequalities between the rich and the poor sections of the society. If India’s HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640, an almost 50% increase, between 1990 to 2017, this HDI value declines by more than a fourth when adjusted for inequality. The value of India’s Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) falls to 0.468, which is a 26.8% decrease, far
worse than the global average decrease in the global IHDI value at 20%. What this means is that even the 90’s revolution of economic liberalization has not been enough for India. And we still have governments and ministers and bureaucrats still doing that same economic liberalization policy with some tweaks here and there. It is quite clear that India needs to grow its GDP much more momentously and it is equally clear that the country needs to focus more on equitable distribution of the resultant gains for uplifting its poor. Sadly, innovation is lacking on both fronts. Which is India’s most innovative company that the world admires? Which is that compelling made-in-India product that the world longs for? Which are the technology patents coming from India and envied by other nations? Which is India’s most admired global brand? Most Indians can’t answer these questions as there are no real answers to these questions or to hundreds of such questions that exposes the vulnerability of the economic engine that is driving India. Coming to the challenge of equitable distribution of prosperity, what are the innovative steps that we have taken to ensure job creation? Do we incentivize investments or do we incentivize job creation like in China? Do we prioritize the welfare of workers like in China or do we prioritize the needs of investing companies? These are all real questions that governments, companies and even the public should be asking if we ever hope to satisfy even the basic needs of all in this great nation of ours. John Antony SEASONAL MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
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INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER KJ ALPHONS
LEADING INDIA TOURISM’S MARCH INTO THE $100 BILLION CLUB As one of the country’s most celebrated doers, and not mere talkers, India’s Minister of State for Tourism and exIAS officer, KJ Alphons knows that it would take great innovation to reach the $100 billion revenue mark from inbound tourists within 5 years. Towards this, he has been pushing many initiatives including targeting the 144 million strong Chinese outbound tourists, lobbying for GST waiver on cruise tourism, rollback of e-Visa hikes and many more. Seasonal Magazine interviews KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of India.
SPANDANA SPHOORTY FINANCIAL
WHERE A CRISIS HAS RISK PROOFED THE OPERATIONS
Padmaja Reddy has steered Spandana Sphoorty Financial through the worst crisis imaginable for a microfinance firm, has exited CDR and is now back on an admirable growth track, paving the way for its IPO.
FOR WINNING, IGNORE WINNING & EMBRACE PROCESS Why winners focus on bettering their own performance and not on relative outcomes with peers.
READY FOR THIS? SUICIDE DETECTOR VERSION 1.0 Scientists write a complex artificial intelligence based software that can take common medical and other inputs from a person and predict with 84% accuracy whether they will attempt suicide very soon.
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WHY GVK GROUP HOLDS PROMISE Mega projects need mega funds and mega time. And nothing that GVK attempts can be regarded as not larger-than-life. But thanks to such unique strategies, its listed firm GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is parent to enviable assets like 1600 MW of operational power projects, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Australian Coal Mines in Queensland, 900 lane km of expressways in India, 7 luxury hotels with Taj, and a cutting-edge pharma company. GVK's most lucrative airports vertical had bagged the contract for the new mega airport planned for Navi Mumbai at a cost of Rs.16,000 crores and the project has recently achieved financial closure from lenders led by SBI. GVK Power &..
DO PLANTS AND TREES GET HURT? Scientists now say yes, after discovering an amazing reaction happening when a plant gets hurt, making them more similar to humans and animals.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS, POOR GROUND REALITIES A reality check is called for about the vast gulf between what Shastri and Kohli want and what they get from the team's performance. It seems as if the coach and captain are being blinded by a ‘what-if’ scenario rather than actually looking at ‘what-is’.
LOST SLEEP ON WEEKDAYS? MAKE UP ON WEEKENDS Sleeping in on weekends could have a surprising benefit, so that you should definitely do it.
EMBARRASSING GOOGLE VIDEO SHOWS ANTI TRUMP LEANING IN COMPANY
NASA WANTS TO VISIT MOON AGAIN For several decades after the first and subsequent moon missions ended, NASA went slow on moon missions due to the prohibitive cost of landing there again with a larger payload necessary for extending the stay of the astronauts for any meaningful work. But with its ongoing Orion program, it is devising a way to doing that cheaply, by using a complex system of mammoth parachutes for a safe return trip.
In leaked video, Google bosses including Brin, Page and Pichai are seen consoling employees after Trump won the Presidential election.
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CONTENTS
HOW TRUE IS BJP TO VAJPAYEE'S LEGACY, TODAY? Vajpayee’s legacy has been lost in BJP's current dispensation where the space for the liberal Hindu is shrinking fast.
SYMBIOSIS SKILLS & OPEN UNIVERSITY
MAHARASHTRA’S FIRST SKILLS UNIVERSITY IS BREAKING NEW GROUND IN EMPLOYABILITY Symbiosis International is one of the oldest deemed universities in the private sector, with its roots travelling back to decades. Last year, Symbiosis scion Dr. Swati Mujumdar established the new Symbiosis Skills & Open University (SSOU) at Pune. Educated and experienced in USA, Dr. Swati is breaking new ground in employability of its students by..
WHO DRILLED THE HOLE ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? The ISS crews are ferried to and from the space station in Russian Soyuz spacecraft, docked to ISS. The hole was drilled in a section of a Soyuz.
WHAT INDIA'S CONTEMPORARY GURUS SAID ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY, EARLIER What Ramdev, Jaggi Vasudev and Ravi Shankar have said about homosexuality in the past are worth pondering.
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WILL AN APPLE ON YOUR WRIST, KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY? The new Apple Watch Series 4 will have a better grip on your health, thanks to the addition of ECG in the features.
GROWING BY SERVING THE COMMON MAN Around 1 lakh common Indians - men and women - walk into their 3600 branches across the country every day. They come for meeting their diverse financial needs from a simple gold loan to a two-wheeler loan. But across all these branches they get the same friendly treatment - the 'One Muthoot Experience'. Muthoot Pappachan Group's financial services companies are all breaking new ground on a simple premise - address the lifecycle needs of the common man and the unbanked. While unlisted Muthoot..
CONGRESS AND BJP ARE WOOING ALL, MISSING MOST As 2019 polls loom, Congress is wooing back upper castes and dalits, while BJP walks a tightrope to keep its core base happy.
CHINA WANTS TO DRIVE A TRAIN TO INDIA China has mooted a High Speed Train between Kolkata and Kunming via Bangladesh and Myanmar.
ELECTRIC DRIVES WILL BE IN PERMIT-LESS RAJ Nitin Gadkari promises that electric and alternative fuel-powered vehicles won’t require permits to run..
TOP ANDROIDS UNDER 10K Here are some noteworthy Android smartphones that are priced under Rs 10,000, but still manage to offer you some of the best features that you could ask for.
KERALA & USA NOW SHARE CRISES OF FLOOD & FAITH Former senior Indian diplomat, TP Sreenivasan, hailing from Kerala and now visiting New York, eerily finds that his home state and USA now share crises of flood and faith.
FRANCE HONOURS ILLEGAL MIGRANT FOR SAVING 4YEAR OLD BOY 'Spiderman' migrant hero who saved 4-YearOld boy becomes French Citizen. Mamoudou Gassama from Mali was granted French nationality after the daring rescue in May.
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OPINION
KERALA & USA NOW SHARE CRISES OF FLOOD & FAITH FORMER SENIOR INDIAN DIPLOMAT, TP SREENIVASAN, HAILING FROM KERALA AND NOW VISITING NEW YORK, EERILY FINDS THAT HIS HOME STATE AND USA NOW SHARE CRISES OF FLOOD AND FAITH. DURING HIS CHEQUERED CAREER, HE HAS BEEN INDIAN AMBASSADOR IN AUSTRIA AND SLOVENIA, AS WELL AS PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS AT NEW YORK, AND THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AT VIENNA. ollowing the media in Kerala and New York simultaneously, I get an uncanny sense of some similarities between the two situations. The coverage of hurricane Florence here is as intensive as in Kerala and, as in our state, political controversies relating to disasters are also raging even as the state is battling the hurricane.The President’s expected role at times of disasters is to consult emergency officials, express concern for the victims and to assure the public that the Government is ready for any emergency. This is exactly what the Chief Minister of Kerala did at the time of the worst flood of the century in the state.
much in crisis as in Kerala, with unending revelations of clerical sexual abuse demanding radical change in the system. The serious charges against Archbishop Franco Mulakkal appears minor compared to a report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania detailing seven decades of sexual abuse of thousands of children by more than 300 Catholic priests. Pope Francis has summoned senior bishops from around the world to address the issue. Kerala representatives, if any, may also have much to answer at the meeting. Preceding the Pope’s initiative, the law enforcing authorities have begun investigations about the cases in the US. If Kerala continues to obfuscate legal action, the Catholic Church and the state might face severe criticism.
The unpredictable President Trump has also been awarding himself high marks for handling the recent hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and accusing the media and the opposition for exaggerating the death toll “to make me look as bad as possible.” He has denied the general assessment that Maria took 3000 lives and placed the figure of deaths at a ridiculous figure of less than 20. Not even the most totalitarian leader would have made such a claim to establish his infallibility. He has only exposed himself to ridicule once again. “Democrats don’t need to lift a little finger to make the President look bad. He is managing that all on his own,” said the New York Times.
The situation unfolding in the media in the US with regard to Hurricane Florence is in contrast with the chaotic images that emerged on the television during the floods. In addition to the floods and the landslides like in Kerala, the severe storm raging in two states add an additional hazard. While the rescue operations in Kerala were triggered by volunteers like fishermen and the youth, here the officials are visible everywhere in identifiable uniforms, assuring safety and support. The movement of the hurricane is predicted repeatedly and evacuation is enforced without any leeway for erratic behaviour. The television anchor persons are themselves reporting from rain drenched areas without sitting in the comfort and security of their studios.The
The Catholic Church in the US is as
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involvement of the authorities and credible media persons give comfort to the citizens even in extreme adversity. Those who refuse to move from danger zones are clearly told that they would stay at their own peril. America stands for freedom, but not freedom to commit suicide. Unlike in Kerala, the state authorities have no issues with the Federal Government either about allocation of resources or about acceptance of foreign assistance. In the normal course, there is no ban on receiving foreign assistance, but the matter of resources is in the hands of the Federal authorities. Perhaps, the model that Prime Minister Modi has in his mind is the American one. But a real Super Power is more confident than an aspiring one. The US had no qualms in receiving cash assistance from India and bottled water from France during hurricane Katrina. It is not a matter of the country being unable to cope with
the crisis, but its willingness to believe in international cooperation. Florence is different from its predecessors as it is slow in its movement and it is causing more damage because it settles in a particular area for long. This is the first time in the US that a hurricane causes landslides, one of the reasons for many deaths in Kerala. But the tracing of the likely movement of the hurricane takes the surprise element of its fury. Stranded victims are spotted and they are rescued immediately and taken to well organised and well equipped relief camps. The kind of chaos we saw throughout the crisis in Kerala is not
in sight here. The frequency of hurricanes, the experience gained over the years and the relative affluence of the victims ease the impact of natural disasters. A disturbing report from South Carolina is that the authorities, while insisting that everyone in the projected path of the hurricane should be evacuated, chose to leave thousands of prisoners in high security prisons and they were never given a chance to evacuate. The reason given for a such an inhumane decision is the risk involved in transporting them in the present situation. Authorities say that many may escape and cause panic in
the society. But the policy has been severely criticised by human rights activists. Many prisons are in the evacuated zones and if some drown in the flood waters the Government would be held guilty of cold blooded murder. The prisoners are said to be bracing themselves for the flood, which has reached some of the prisons. Such a decision could not have been taken in Kerala. The prisoners in Kerala were involved in preparing food for the flood victims and nobody was discriminated against in the matter of evacuation. As on September 16, Florence is far from over, though it has been downgraded. It has moved from South Carolina to North Carolina and it may continue to cause damage till September 18. More rains are expected, but the worst seems to be over. There have been seven deaths, a low figure, considering the gravity of the storm and the floods. The low casualty rate is on account of early predictions of the movement of the hurricane and the quick rescue operations. In the Carolinas, the victims and the rescuers won the race against time while in Kerala, we succumbed to it for want of appropriate warnings and inadequate preparedness. But the challenges of the floods and faith in the US seem similar to those in Kerala. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
COVER STORY
INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER KJ ALPHONS
LEADING INDIA TOURISM’S MARCH INTO THE $100 BILLION CLUB A
s one of the country’s most celebrated doers, and not mere talkers, India’s Minister of State for Tourism and ex-IAS officer, KJ Alphons knows that it would take great innovation to reach the $100 billion revenue mark from inbound tourists within 5 years. Towards this, he has been pushing many initiatives including targeting the 144 million strong Chinese outbound tourists, lobbying for GST waiver on cruise tourism, rollback of e-Visa hikes and many more. Seasonal Magazine interviews KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of India.
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Global tourism is on a roll. During last year, the tourism industry recorded its largest growth, as measured by international tourist arrivals, since the 2009 world economic crisis shattered this vital sector like it had never happened before. International tourist arrivals grew by 6.8% last year. According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), during last year tourism industry earned $1.3 trillion in receipts which was an annual increase of 5%. Total exports from international tourism stood at $1.6 trillion. Today, tourism is the world’s third largest export sector and accounts for 7% of the world’s total exports of goods and services. While most regions across the world witnessed sustained growth, the overall good performance was driven by revival in outbound tourism from major markets like Brazil and Russian Federation. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
On the inbound side, South Asia was a strongly performing region, growing from 25.17 million international tourist arrivals to 26.57 million. Obviously, India being the largest player in the region was responsible for this good performance, by growing its Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) from 14.57 million to 15.54 million. But on the realization front, India fared much better, with international tourism receipts growing from $22.42 billion dollars to $27.36 billion dollars. One reason for this is that India has fared well in attracting tourists from developed economies. For instance, tourist footfalls from the US to India has increased by 6% last year, when we count all modes of arrival like air and sea, as well as indirect travellers. The quantity and quality of growth have been favourable for India, and it augurs well with a slew of initiatives India’s Tourism Ministry
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had unleashed under the guidance of its Minister of State with Independent Charge, KJ Alphons. The new pitch of India’s tourism marketing revolves around marketing India as a major destination. Within the next three years, the aim is to grow Foreign Tourist Arrivals from 15.54 million to 20 million per annum. With the support of Tourism Ministry and several states and union territories, India recently hosted its first ever India Tourism Mart (ITM 2018). It was organized by Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), and saw the active participation of 225 international buyers from across the world including North America, West Europe, East Asia, Latin America and CIS countries. With buyers coming from over 60 countries, the event provided an opportunity for them to see the world-class tourism facilities
available in India such as airports, hotels, tourist destinations, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) facilities, adventure tourism and other niche products. Minister KJ Alphons’ plan is to grow FTA revenues to $30 billion dollars within the next two years, and to make it touch the coveted $100 billion dollar mark by the next five years. Entering the $100 billion club in tourism is certainly ambitious but not an unachievable target, provided room capacity is grown significantly, internal connectivity issues are sorted out and new major tourist sources are tapped effectively. On the connectivity front, the latest round of the UDAN regional connectivity scheme has awarded 325 routes to airlines as well as helicopter operators for enhancing air connectivity to 73 new airports and helipads in tier 2 and tier 3
cities, many of which are reasonable tourist draws. India has also awakened to the reality that it is missing some of the major tourism sources completely. For example, Tourism Minister KJ Alphons has rightly identified neighbouring China as a major strategic focus. Of the 15.54 million foreign tourists who arrived in India last year, only 2,40,000 were Chinese SEASONAL MAGAZINE
tourists. Contrast this with the total number of Chinese outbound tourists which stands at 144 million per year, making it the largest contingent of outbound tourists. Even if India is successful in bringing just 1% of the Chinese outbound tourists, that is 14 million Chinese tourists, our Foreign Tourist Arrivals would nearly double! Minister Alphons had recently visited China and put forth a full strategy for India there with Tourism Ministry’s own office and by hiring a PR firm, which was a rare step for India. Minister Alphons is confident on the Chinese front also as India is building four-lane and six-lane roads interconnecting India’s Buddhist circuit, which is a network of temples that are attracting tourists from China. The major among them is the Sarnath temple in Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha taught a key philosophy of the religion, will be ready to handle up to one million visitors annually in six months' time. India’s e-visa facility continues to witness exponential growth since its launch. India has already extended e-visa facilities for tourists coming from more than 160 countries. Thanks to this move, evisa has recorded a 57% growth over the last year, with 1.69 million foreign tourists availing this electronic visa facility. Though there was some concern from Tourism Ministry when India’s Home Ministry which is in charge of issuing e-visas hiked its charges by 60%, and Tourism SEASONAL MAGAZINE
Minister requested for a rollback, things have since then settled as Home Ministry has clarified that India is fixing these charges on a reciprocal basis with all the countries, which should be fair enough. The e-tourist visa fee was earlier in four slabs of Zero (Nil), USD 25, USD 48, and USD 60. It has been fixed in three slabs now - Zero (Nil), USD 80 and USD 100, plus a bank fee of 2.5 per cent of the visa fee. For a few countries like the US and the UK, the e-tourist visa fee is USD 100 as they also charge high visa fees from Indians. E-visa for tourists or e-tourist visa has been a game-changer in the international tourism business. This is because this facility encourages people to travel to e-visa countries with short-term planning, take via routes through such countries
while travelling to other countries and also bring family members while on business visits. India issues e-tourist visa to citizens of 160 countries who can enter the country through 25 airports and five seaports. The e-tourist visa enables the prospective visitors to apply for an Indian visa from their home country online without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Once approved, the applicants receive email authorising them to travel to India and they can travel with a print out of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitors has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country. This facility is available to foreigners whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, short duration medical treatment, casual business visit etc. The e-tourist visa is issued for a double entry for a validity for up to 60 days from the date of arrival. The Tourism Ministry is also bullish about growing domestic tourism significantly. Towards this it recently conducted the second edition of ‘Paryatan Parv’, across the country to promote tourist sites, especially among domestic travellers. The event is being organised with the objective of drawing focus on the benefits of tourism, showcasing the cultural diversity of the country and reinforcing the principle of “tourism for all”.
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Thirty-two states and Union territories, along with different departments of the government, collaborated with the Tourism Ministry to organise 3,150 activities across India as part of the programme. Since beaches continue to be big draws for overseas tourists, Tourism Ministry is also making way for developing 17 coastal destinations around the country in a bid to make use of the country’s bountiful coastline and make them among the top beach destinations in the world. India has a coastline of 7517 km which it now intends to turn as tourist-friendly. Projected to cost a total of Rs. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
2,000 crore for these 17 coastal destinations, one of them is already ready, which is the beachfront at Kakinada which has been completed. The beach now features a musical fountain, modern landscaping, a glass pedestrian bridge, an art gallery and a food court. There are also arrangements for daily laser shows at Kakinada, with the harbour and sea in the backdrop. By pushing such initiatives, Tourism Minister Alphons is confident of growing India Tourism’s contribution to the country’s GDP from the current 7% to 10%.
Seasonal Magazine in conversation
with Minister of State for Tourism, KJ Alphons: Recently, India had hiked the eVisa charges for tourists arriving from various countries by up to 60%. Will this affect tourist inflow from abroad? Are our rates comparable to China? Since the time it was implemented by India, demand for e-Visa has been very strong. Our Home Ministry, which is in charge of administering e-Visa had recently hiked the charges for this arrangement for tourists coming from select countries. At Tourism Ministry, we feel that it may have an effect on tourist arrivals, and hence, as Tourism Minister, I have
revenue, and within the next five years to reach the $100 billion mark. What are the tourism ministry’s major initiatives to reach these ambitious targets? Ministry is working with all stakeholders in India to promote addition of capacity. Secondly, we have become much more active on the overseas marketing front. We are now participating in all major events and utilizing all channels for growth including all major international media. Our tourism website has been receiving 10 million pageviews which shows that the new marketing initiatives are generating response, and it will translate to growth in FTA and revenues in the upcoming quarters and years. Thirdly, by pushing initiatives like e-Visa, we are making it much easier to visit India. Is India trying to woo tourists from more countries? Definitely. If you take China, it has 144 million outbound tourists every year, but only a tiny portion of them are visiting India. This should change as it is so easy to visit most Indian cities from most Chinese cities. We are definitely working on it. On the policy front, what all have been your recent initiatives? made a submission to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to rollback or reduce the recent hike. I don’t know how our rates compare with China, but we have robust demand for e-Visa even now. Are you satisfied with the growth of inbound tourism to India?
Yes, and all our policies and initiatives are designed to drive much higher growth in the foreign tourist arrivals (FTA), as well as in the revenue from this segment. Within two years, our objective is to reach somewhere between $25 billion to $30 billion in FTA
The ministry is trying to get a GST waiver for cruise tourism as this sector has underperformed during the last year and we think a waiver from the 18% GST in this sector would give a boost to this sector which is booming worldwide. We are also promoting tribal and ecotourism circuits across India, which SEASONAL MAGAZINE
is a major draw for foreign tourists. You have recently remarked that incidents of mob lynching and rapes are bad for India’s image. How do you assess the impact of these on the tourism arrivals? There has been no impact on tourism arrivals due to these incidents, which are largely isolated in nature. However, the government is against all mob lynching, gang rapes and all such atrocities. It can affect the image of India overseas, even though it may not affect the tourist inflows. You recently had a first-hand experience of floods in your home state of Kerala, and the relief works. How do you assess the impact? Yes, I had spent time in relief camps. The Kerala youth should be appreciated for the unity and courage they displayed to save thousands of people, as well as to serve them. The relief work was good in Kerala, as well as the subsequent cleaning up of homes. But the lasting impact of this flood will be huge as livelihoods of people have been affected or even destroyed. This is not something that state government or central government can address on its own. However, central government would provide full assistance, as you can see from the directive our Honourable PM has given to insurance companies to come to the aid of Keralites. But with insurance cover not very popular in Kerala, do you think it would have an impact other than in vehicles? Kerala is definitely under-insured when it comes to non-life covers SEASONAL MAGAZINE
like for homes and household items. I now stay in a government house in Delhi, still I have taken insurance. I think after this natural calamity, people across India would be more prudent in taking various general insurance covers. Do you think a new scheme for general as well as health insurance can be implemented in India, much like Karnataka’s Yeshaswini project, by contributions from people, state governments and central government? Extending the insurance coverage to people, especially of health insurance, has been a top priority for this government. I think this is an area where much headway has already been made, and more will be achieved here in the near future. You had made a submission to PM for allowing a one-time waiver for Kerala to accept foreign funds. Are you hopeful of a favourable outcome? India had taken a policy decision after the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami
that the country won’t be accepting any more foreign aid for relief works. It was taken under then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. And since 2004, the economic situation of India has only improved, and India can address any demand for relief work on its own. This remains the government’s stand and mine too. Regarding the so-called UAE proposal to help Kerala, they had since then clarified that it was not the case. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLING
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GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
AIMING TO BE A TOP-10 SCHOOL OF THE WORLD DR. PC THOMAS, FOUNDER OF GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF OOTY HAS ALREADY MADE IT TO A TOP-10 INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF INDIA. BUT THIS PIONEERING EDUPRENEUR’S VISION IS TO MAKE GSIS TO BE ASIA’S TOP RANKED SCHOOL AND ONE AMONG THE WORLD’S TOP-10 SCHOOLS. WITH THE KIND OF INITIATIVES SEEN AT GSIS THIS MAY BECOME A REALITY WITHIN YEARS. EVERY YEAR, 50 GSIS STUDENTS GET TO VISIT NASA IN USA. THE SCHOOL WAS ALSO THE FIRST IN INDIA TO INSTALL A STATE-OF-THE-ART 3D PRINTER FOR ENABLING NEXT-GENERATION STUDENT PROJECTS. THE TWIN CAMPUSES AT OOTY ARE SPREAD OVER 180 ACRES, AND HAVE EXTENSIVE SPORTING FACILITIES, BUT STUDENTS ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO VISIT SLUMS AND TEACH ENGLISH TO ECONOMICALLY WEAKER STUDENTS.
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sk any 14 year old what he or she wants to land and build a campus. One day in those days he came become, and the answer would be an across an advertisement by the erstwhile King of Baroda inventor, a scientist, an engineer, a doctor, a to sell off the famous Baroda Palace at Ooty. Thomas had researcher and those kinds of aspirational roles in our no hope of getting the property as many buyers were there society. Only a very few would tell about to buy the prestigious property at sky high an ambition to be a teacher, as at 14 years, prices. Yet, he met the Maharajah and most would be fed up with studies, GSIS WAS THE FIRST conveyed to him his need for a ready teachers and schools. In any case, almost SCHOOL IN INDIA TO campus and building to create a noble none would answer the question like this INSTALL A STATE-OFinstitution in education. Much to his – “I want to run a great school.” Yet, this surprise, the King agreed and conveyed to THE-ART 3D PRINTER, all other bidders his decision to hand over is what a 14 year old Keralite boy answered to this question, decades back. WHICH IS EVEN NOW the land and palace to PC Thomas at a much Almost all his friends laughed at his lesser rate than the prevailing market rate. RARE IN INDIA’S ambition. But young PC Thomas, hailing LEADING ENGINEERING Today, this is known as the Baroda Palace from Ettumanoor in Kerala, was Campus of the Good Shepherd International COLLEGES. determined enough to see his dream School. 42 long years have passed since through. He started his career as a teacher then. GSIS has grown from strength to at Loyola Public School of Trivandrum, then shifted to strength, branching out from the original ICSE syllabus to a Sainik School at Bijapur, Karnataka, and later became the more international IGCSE and IB curricula. A fully the Principal of a 150 year old international school in residential school, the integrated nature of GSIS would the hill station of Ooty, in Kerala’s neighbouring state stun anyone as the campus is fully self-sufficient with its of Tamil Nadu. While serving there, young Thomas own organic farm for sourcing unpolluted vegetables for decided to act on his ambition to start a fine school of students, a cattle farm of 450 cows for the milk needed his own. But he didn’t have enough money to buy by students and a poultry farm with 50,000 birds for the
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eggs and meat! GSIS is also renowned for having the most admit day scholars or to get into related fields like higher extensive sporting facilities including equestrian with 30 education. Unlike most of his peers, he is a firm believer thoroughbred horses, golf course, heated swimming pools, of quality over quantity. Says, Dr. Thomas, “My grounds for all popular outdoor sports including a cricket professional ambition was to build just one fine school in ground, which is the highest cricket ground, all respects, not to be the largest or fastest not just in India, but in the whole world! Now, growing school chain. Schools are not GSIS IS ONE OF under the visionary guidance of Dr. PC saloons or parlours to be replicated fast.” He THE OLDEST Thomas, GSIS is expanding its bigger Palada derives his satisfaction from the fact that some campus significantly, with new construction of the finest surgeons, engineers and INTERNATIONAL for housing new world-class cubicle based entrepreneurs in USA, India and elsewhere SCHOOLS IN INDIA hostels and a new Indoor Sports Complex are GSIS alumni. GSIS was the first school in WITH 42 YEARS OF where all students can use these facilities India to install a state-of-the-art 3D Printer and simultaneously! Dr. Thomas is a visionary OPERATION, OFFERING a Design Technology Lab which give its edupreneur who dreams and executes largerstudents a head start in designing, innovating IB, IGCSE AND ICSE than-life visions like how he sends 50 of his and inventing. With such initiatives it is no CURRICULA. students each year to NASA for a unique study wonder that over 35 renowned universities tour. Yet, Dr. Thomas is particular that his from across the world come to GSIS every students have their feet planted firmly in the ground realities year to invite students to their institutions for higher studies. of India, and inspires them to do a lot of charitable and Dr. Thomas next aim is to make GSIS the very best in Asia relief works for the afflicted and the downtrodden segments and one of the Top-10 schools in the world. His wife of the society. A firm disciplinarian, Thomas has brushed Elsamma Thomas has been a pillar of strength for him and aside all temptations to diversify the Good Shepherd brand the school and has been in charge of the renowned Good to start international schools in India’s metro cities or to Shepherd Finishing School for long.
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Seasonal Magazine in conversation with Dr. PC Thomas, Founder, Good Shepherd International School, Ooty.
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ou have a vision for making GSIS one of the Top-10 schools in the world, and Asia’s best. What have been your initiatives in this regard, and how far do you think GSIS has progressed in this direction? As you know, excellence in schooling is driven by mainly two factors, one is the infrastructure or facilities, and the other is the quality of teaching as well as learning. For long, Good Shepherd International School has been running on two campuses – the Baroda Palace campus for the lower grades and the newer Palada campus for the higher classes. Now, we think we need better integration and therefore planning to shift all the activities to the Palada campus. We already have enough classrooms at Palada for this integration, but I want more supporting facilities to be built. Towards this, we are constructing significant additional space at Palada. This will enable GSIS to have additional facilities for students, main of which is that each student will have his or her own cubicle rather than a dormitory to study and sleep in privacy. Research also shows that students learn better when they play better. So, the additional construction also houses a new Indoor Sports Complex catering to most sports. GSIS is already a leader in sporting facilities, but this one is so huge that all students can play indoors even if there is unexpected rain or adverse weather. We are also building a new hospital, in addition to the one we already have. So, altogether, the campus is being upgraded to a world-class facility. Some of these buildings are already ready, but we will wait for the full construction to be completed by 2020 before shifting the classes at Baroda Palace campus to the expanded Palada campus. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
You mentioned the quality of the teaching and learning processes. How is GSIS implementing this? The very best schools in the world have only 15 students per class. This ensures that each student gets individual attention from the teacher and ensures better teaching/learning outcomes. At GSIS, we are very close to this golden standard, with less than 20 students per class. Very few schools in India have such a facility. Secondly, many schools can’t afford the kind of highly educated, specialist teachers for advanced subjects. But we employ such teachers too for the benefit of our students. Is Good Shepherd International School, a fully residential campus? Absolutely. Even if a student is a resident of Ooty, we will not allow him
or her as a day scholar. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even my grandchildren studying here are boarders. This is because, in my own long experience, mixing day scholars and boarders in one school is the worst thing we can do to destroy the discipline in a campus. Many international schools in the metro cities have learned this the hard way. Instead, we strive to be a true home away from home for all our students. This is a fully integrated campus with all facilities. We are also very holistic and selfsufficient in sourcing the highest quality food. Towards this, we run our own organic farm which supplies all the fresh vegetables we need. We have 450 cows for sourcing pure milk for our students. Our poultry farm has 50,000 birds for the best quality eggs and meat.
GSIS is a full residential school with students from over 40 countries and, having exemplary discipline.
You have been following innovative programs like sending 50 of your students every year to NASA for a visit. What led to this, and can you explain the relevance and positive outcomes from this long-running program? I have been a leader at Rotary for long, in various capacities, and used to visit USA. On one such visit, some Rotary friends there took me to Huntsville in Alabama which is a major center for NASA. We visited the US Space & Rocket Center (USSRC), which is a sprawling museum, set up by the state of Alabama with the support of NASA and US Army Missile Command. USSRC is the world’s largest spaceflight museum and carries original and uniquely valued exhibits like the
hardware used for the first moon landing. When the authorities there came to know that I run a school, they offered to welcome our students for annual visits. USSRC has been running the renowned Space Camp programs with advanced simulators, for students, and that is how these study trips of GSIS to USA started. Every year we send around 50 students, and in one year we sent 62 of our kids. Usually we send students from grades 6 to 11, since grades 10 and 12 will be busy with their board exams. There are four programs at Space Camp suitable for different age groups and a few of our students have even attended all the four programs. This has been a life changing experience for the participating students as they get to experience the most challenging real world
applications of the science and maths they study. Inspired from these tours, some of these students have went on to study subjects like aeronautics, space research etc. We have been sending our students to this US facility for more than 10 years now, and I have also been appointed as an ambassador for the program who can recommend students from other schools for the program. While in America, we also take our students to other renowned landmarks like Universal Studios etc. For around Rs. 4 lakhs cost per student, which is all inclusive, this has been a real inspiration for the participating students. You have been a pioneer in the finishing school activity. How has the GSIS finishing school evolved during the last 5 years to meet the changing college and workplace requirements? We were pioneers in this concept, and this is the 14th year of operation for our finishing school. Our courses are quite unlike what passes off as finishing school courses these days in the metros, which are purely oriented towards winning IT and BPO jobs. Our finishing school on the other hand focuses on all round grooming, personality development and skill development in fields like business English, accounting, fashion designing and French. The finest international or national bodies in these fields like the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) come and administer the relevant professional tests here. We also have different tenures like two month summer courses to nine-month programs. This is not for our regular students, but for students who have studied in other schools. Girls enrol here after plus-two, graduation or even post-graduation. All our finishing school courses are also fully residential. Going beyond smaller objectives like winning a job, our finishing school equips ladies to start their own firms like boutiques etc. My wife and partner, Elsamma is in charge of the finishing school.
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Some time back, GSIS became the first school in India to procure a 3D Printer. How has it helped the aspiring students with their projects, and what all have been you more recent procurements or initiatives to make your students abreast with the latest technologies? GSIS has design classes from grade 7 onward. We have a good Design Technology Lab in which this 3D Printer is the main attraction. We got it imported from abroad at a high cost and it has been working excellently, proving to be of much use to our students who are interested in design. We were the first school in India to install this, and even now most premium schools and even renowned engineering colleges don’t have it. Apart from the high cost, it also requires highly qualified faculty like the teachers we have employed in our lab. The Design Technology Lab and the 3D Printer are great aids to those students who have the flair for design, architecture, engineering, modelling, graphic design, biomedical engineering and several such buzzing fields. The 3D Printer enables the students to build and test rapid prototypes. Since the equipment is still very rare, we also get student visitors from other schools and colleges. Being an international school, which
Brig. Suresh Kumar, VSM (Retd) Sr. Vice Principal (Admin)
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EVERY YEAR, OVER 35 RENOWNED UNIVERSITIES FROM USA AND ELSEWHERE VISIT GSIS CAMPUS TO SELECT STUDENTS FOR HIGHER STUDIES. are the world bodies that accredit your courses, or with whom you are affiliated? We have several affiliations and accreditations, among which I will mention just two here. GSIS is accredited with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), which is a United States based accreditation association providing educational accreditation for all levels of education, from prekindergarten to the doctoral level. NEASC serves over 2,000 public and independent schools, technical/career institutions, colleges and universities in the six New England states, plus International Schools in more than 65 nations worldwide. Founded in 1885, NEASC is perhaps the oldest and most prestigious accreditation bodies based in USA. GSIS is also affiliated to Council of International Schools (CIS) which includes more than 1300 premium institutions comprising of 738
schools and 583 colleges and universities across 116 countries. Lately in 2017, we have become the first school in India and one among the five schools in the world to get the CIS International School Certification. With the advent of nuclear families and further with parents working thousands of miles away from each other, there has been an increasing trend to send even pre-schoolers to boarding schools. What are GSIS initiatives to ensure a home away from home for such tiny tots? Yes, there is such a trend which is driven by a real social need. We see these doctor couples, often working in different cities, in overnight shifts etc and these situations happen both in India as well as abroad. We too used to have LKG and UKG classes. But being a fully residential school, we have realized that this is not the way to go. Without doubt, young children need to be with their parents. That is much needed for their proper development. Keeping this in mind, we have already stopped KG classes, and gradually we are phasing out even grades 1 to 3. By 2020, we will have only grades 4 to 12 at GSIS. GSIS has been famous for its sporting facilities including equestrian and golf. What all have
been your latest initiatives in this regard? Yes, we already have one of the largest sports facilities among all schools in India. And as I told you a while back, we are now constructing a huge indoor sports complex. A new synthetic track is also being made. Our last completed project was a full-sized cricket ground, which happens to be the highest cricket ground in the world. As such it is also useful for high altitude training activities for sportsmen. While GSIS and its locale of Ooty have been greatly synergistic so far, considering the new scale of activities and growth in India’s biggest metros, do you have plans to start campuses in such cities? We won’t do that ever. We are running an excellent school and that is enough for me. Education is not a business like saloons or parlours which can be replicated fast. In fact, due to our success and the brand image, we have many offers to start GSIS institutions at various big cities. Many people are coming with franchise arrangements too. But we are not open to any such arrangements. At the end of the day, we should have professional satisfaction. For that, the way to go is run this one school with full dedication and excellence.
GSIS MAINTAINS AN ALUMNI NETWORK, WITH ACTIVE PARTICIPATION FROM ALUMNI WHO HAVE GONE ON TO BECOME SOME OF THE TOP SURGEONS, SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN USA AND OTHER COUNTRIES. Does GSIS promote an alumni network, and can you share the achievements of some of your greatest performers in the corporate and social entrepreneurship sector? Absolutely. We have a great alumni network, that too across the world. You will be surprised to know that many major US cities have a GSIS alumni group. At least 50 of our students would be there. They keep in touch with each other and meet together occasionally. Our students have gone on to become some of the best surgeons in USA as well as best engineers in companies like Microsoft etc. We, on our part, run
a website for alumni to register and network with each other, as well as hold a mega annual event for alumni in April of every year. Dates are fixed one year in advance and invitations sent early, so that our former students can come from places as far as North America, Europe, Australia etc. All get inspired by the warm stories that get shared in these annual events. Start-ups have been changing the face of business across the world and even in India. What are GSIS’ initiatives in facilitating start-up activities in the campus?
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GSIS, as well as all our teachers, provide all support to promote student start-ups. In fact, our Design Technology Lab with its 3D Printer is great at fostering inventions and innovations. We also see a lot of our alumni working in prestigious MNCs for a while, and then starting out on their own ventures, and some of them have become very successful. It goes on to reveal the kind of courage and independence we have fostered in them from the young age. For many years now, GSIS has been having the three curricula of IB, IGCSE and ICSE. How far have these syllabi evolved during recent years, and what would be the approximate students strengths under each syllabus? We started off with ICSE, 42 years back,
and for many years of our existence we were only an ICSE school. Then I personally visited Cambridge in UK for discussions regarding IGCSE and that is how this second curriculum came into being here. Growth wise, in recent years, the number of ICSE students have been dropping and the number of IGCSE students have been steadily increasing with students from the major metros especially Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai etc preferring it. Demand for ICSE still continues to be strong from students hailing from West Bengal, Bihar and neighbouring states. Now, ICSE students are around 20% of our strength. Regarding IB, its adoption came about after I personally visited Geneva to meet with the IB authorities. We never employ agents or agencies to do these kind of work. IB is perhaps the best syllabus
especially for those who have already made up their mind to attend colleges or universities in USA and UK. We offer IB only in grades 11 and 12, so they form only around 120 students. So, the majority of our students are now IGCSE students. How well does GSIS perform in overseas academic placement of your students? You will be surprised to know that admission teams of around 35 universities from USA and across the world visit GSIS campus every year. This is because, our previous generations of students have made their mark in higher studies at these and other universities like Harvard, other Ivy League universities etc. For the benefit of our students, for them to interact directly and properly with the
A view of the additional construction comprising of a new cubicle based hostel, a hospital and a mega Indoor Sports Complex.
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university authorities, we also conduct an annual exhibition of universities in our campus, and teams from these institutions participate enthusiastically. Our students also get generous scholarships from almost all of these universities. What do you think is the most neglected dimension today in India when it comes to providing highest quality education to our students? Our education sector is performing, but there is no doubt that a lot more can be done. The biggest deficiency is the poor teachers training. Except for in medical education perhaps, the brightest minds are not considering teaching as an option at all. Teaching is often regarded as the last resort job. This is the case in schools as well as colleges, and the plight that
Elsamma Thomas, Principal Good Shepherd Finishing School for Girls
Julie Pradeesh, Vice President & Vice Principal
Sheila Alexander, Senior Vice Principal (Academics)
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engineering colleges face today with lakhs of vacant seats is also due to this extremely deficient quality of teachers. We have an HRD Ministry that oversees these affairs, and I would put the affairs of this ministry as much larger than the Indian Ocean itself. It tries to do everything from kindergarten to doctoral level, and ends up being unable to do much in any of these domains. This should change, with schools having a separate ministry, colleges having another, professional colleges having yet another etc. We recently celebrated 71 years since Independence, and we have had several Education Commissions, and all their reports are simply gathering dust in some offices. As a veteran, I have read most of these commission reports and they were all outstanding. But none of their recommendations got implemented. The most famous of these, the Kothari Commission, had this poignant warning too, “that the destiny of India will be determined in its classrooms.� But, unfortunately, that SEASONAL MAGAZINE
GSIS Founder Dr. PC Thomas has enabled 50 of his students to attend NASA’s renowned Space Camp program every year. report too got no attention from the successive policy makers. Your students have attracted attention for visiting slums and teaching English to poorer students. What prompts you to lead in such activities? You see, as a premium school, we get to teach children from affluent homes. And it is so easy for them not to understand the real plight of the downtrodden in this country. That is why you see so many rich young people dress like mad, drive racing cars
and get into all kinds of trouble. But you will never find a GSIS student with such insensitive behaviour. Because, I have always personally believed that it is extremely important to look after the downtrodden and help them in all ways possible. I have inculcated these values into each generation of our students and they go all out to help the poor around the school. They visit the slums, teach their kids English, give provisions to them, and even gift them larger items like cots etc. I have given them a free hand to take whatever food items as needed from our stores to give to the poor, even if what they want is 1000 packs of biscuits. Once a poor old lady was crying and blessing our students when they gifted her a cot. We also do a lot of relief work when disasters like Indian ocean tsunami, Chennai floods etc struck. Now, we are also doing the same for those suffering from the Kerala floods. This kind of social participation is much needed if we want our students to grow up as top contributors to our society.
Do Plants and Trees Get Hurt? SCIENTISTS NOW SAY YES, AFTER DISCOVERING AN AMAZING REACTION HAPPENING WHEN A PLANT GETS HURT, MAKING THEM MORE SIMILAR TO HUMANS AND ANIMALS. hen plants are under attack - say, for instance, by an insect making a tasty leaf meal - their defence systems are raised in other parts. How do they know to do that? According to new research, plants use the same signalling molecules that animals use in their nervous system. Our green friends don't have nerves, exactly - but they certainly have something surprisingly similar. The research involved using fluorescent proteins to mark and watch the signals as they travel in waves through plants in response to a stressor. And yes, there's a glorious video these researchers have published so that you can see it in action for yourself. "We know there's this systemic signalling system, and if you wound in one place the rest of the plant triggers its defence responses. But we didn't know what was behind this system," explained botanist Simon Gilroy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. What they did know is that if a plant gets wounded, an electrical charge fires, propagating across the plant. The unknown part was what triggered that charge and helped propagate it - but that's not even what the researchers were trying to study. What they were originally looking at was how plants respond to gravity by studying increases in calcium. So botanist Masatsugu Toyota genetically engineered a mustard plant that would let the researchers observe changes in calcium concentration in real-time. He introduced a protein that only fluoresces in the presence of calcium. And then the researchers cut a leaf to see if they could detect calcium changes.
In animals, an excited nerve cell releases an amino acid called glutamate, which triggers a wave of electrically charged calcium ions that propagate to cells farther and farther away from the site. As you can see from the videos, what happened to the plants is nothing short of incredible. Waves of light flow out from the source of the wound, spreading through the plant at the speed of about a millimetre per second. It's a lot slower than animal nerve signals, which can travel up to 120 metres per second (268 mph), but for plants this is super speedy communication. The researchers discovered that once the wave hits, defensive hormones rise in that region of the plant. This tells the plant to mount its defences, such as an increase in noxious chemicals that will make the plant unpalatable to munching insects, or - as is known in
THE RESEARCHERS DISCOVERED THAT ONCE THE WAVE HITS, DEFENSIVE HORMONES RISE IN THAT REGION OF THE PLANT.
the case of grass - the release of smelly volatiles that signal parasitic wasps to come and lay their eggs in insects that might be eating it. But what was triggering the calcium waves? Just like in animals, the researchers believed it might be glutamate, which is also found in plants. And previous research published in 2013 revealed that plants missing glutamate receptors also did not have an electrical threat response. So the research team wounded plants without glutamate receptors to see if there was an effect on calcium flow. "Lo and behold, the mutants that knock out the electrical signalling completely knock out the calcium signalling as well," Gilroy said. This research puts together various pieces to solve the puzzle of how plants cells communicate. The wound spills glutamate, which is taken up by receptors that trigger calcium ion propagation, which in turn switches on the plant's defence system to try and protect against further damage. And they do it all without actual nerves. Pretty cool, huh? Looks like our green brethren are a lot more complex and dynamic than they seem. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
POLICY
EUROPE PUNISHES INTERNET GIANTS, BUT MAKES INTERNET WORSE In punishing tech giants like Google, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, the EU has made the internet worse for everyone.
he world is in the middle of a global debate on how to curb the power of the tech giants, prevent the exploitation of the world’s information ecosystem by Russia and other bad actors, and make the internet work for all of us. Given that situation, it may seem that two motions passed by the European parliament this week are positive ones – at the last moment, they were inserted into legislation, having previously been rebuffed. Both motions are unwelcome to the tech giants, and will serve to regulate the internet – but both are wrongheaded and counterproductive, and will make the internet worse. One is an extension of copyright law, which has been dubbed the “link tax”, a measure designed to allow publishers to require large sites to pay them a fee in order to link to them – essentially extending copyright to include the link text and snippet used by Google and similar sites that give searchers a preview of what they’re looking for. This can be as short as two words – although the details are not fleshed out particularly well in the text – but means it will become harder to navigate the internet, and harder to create rivals to SEASONAL MAGAZINE
existing search engines. The rules have attempted to make exemptions for sites such as Wikipedia – following strong opposition from the site and its founder, Jimmy Wales – although activists have expressed concerns that these won’t work. The second law is, if anything, worse. This one has been referred to as a “meme ban”, but is more accurately referred to as an upload filter – a requirement for major sites and social networks to create a database of copyrighted content, against which any new upload of text, images, audio or video would be checked. EU copyright law already has weaker exemptions for fair use and parody than its US counterpart, and so the extension of these filters – simpler versions of which already exist on YouTube – will serve to restrict lots of content on the internet, potentially including gifs and memes. The filter will also lead to many more invalid copyright claims succeeding – just this week, the noted British pianist James Rhodes battled a totally invalid automated copyright takedown from Sony Music Entertainment, which stated (falsely) that it owned copyright to a
recording Rhodes uploaded of himself playing Bach, which is out of copyright. Rhodes appealed against the ruling, only to be rejected, eventually securing a reversal only thanks to his considerable public profile. Such incorrect rulings could become an even more common occurrence – especially as the new system contains no penalties for making false or incorrect claims. This could allow for widespread exploitation of the system as a new strain of denial-ofservice attacks by online mobs, to get content people dislike taken down with a barrage of fake claims. Additionally, building these pre-filters will be time-consuming and expensive – meaning that they will serve to entrench existing social networks in their positions of power and make it harder for new competitors – perhaps with better business models not based on data harvesting – to appear. The new rules will create many losers but few winners; there will be very little real benefit to most people working in creative industries. The drive to introduce them has come primarily from EU publishers – most notably Axel Springer – which have long been determined to get more money out of Google and other tech giants. Publishers need to get over this fixation. Newspapers and news publishers have lost huge amounts of their revenue – but they need to accept that they’ve lost a lot of this fairly. Once, a newspaper was the best place to look for a new job, new properties in the area, or even a date. That’s no longer the case: bespoke job search, property search and online dating sites are quite simply better than what came before. It’s not unfair that people don’t place those adverts in papers any more. We need a conversation about how we fund quality journalism, and how we make sure tech giants take proper responsibility for their actions, and pay the right contribution to the societies they function within. Tinkering with copyright law is not the way to get that done.
(Credit: James Ball for Guardian)
CELEBRITY
A LEADING INNOVATOR TAKES A BREAK TO CORRECT HIS RUDE BEHAVIOR LINUS TORVALDS, THE CREATOR OF LINUX, IS TAKING A BREAK TO WORK ON HIS "UNPROFESSIONAL” BEHAVIOUR.
n a surprising move, Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux who still plays a huge part in the community, has announced that he is taking a break from his work as a maintainer to work on what he calls his “unprofessional” behaviour. The shock declaration came as part of the release announcement for Linux 4.19 release candidate 4. These announcements are usually relatively straightforward affairs that keeps the community updated with how work on the Linux kernel (which forms the basis of Linux-based operating systems and distributions such as Ubuntu and Android) is going. Written by Torvalds, these announcements would often be brutally honest about the trials and tribulations involved with organising the developers (and their code) who are working on the kernel. However, recent delays to the schedule, and Torvald’s response, have caused frustration within the community. As Torvalds admits: “I am not an emotionally empathetic kind of person and that probably doesn't come as a big surprise to anybody. Least of all me. The SEASONAL MAGAZINE
fact that I then misread people and don't realize (for years) how badly I've judged a situation and contributed to an unprofessional environment is not good.” According to Torvalds, members of the Linux community confronted him about his “lifetime of not understanding emotions. My flippant attacks in emails have been both unprofessional and uncalled for. Especially at times when I made it personal. In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me. I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry.” Torvalds has long been regarded as an eccentric and outspoken innovator, and while many of us have seen his previous outbursts as part of who he is, it’s clearly not acceptable when dealing with people – especially people who are giving their free time to help develop and maintain Linux for free. So, it’s good that Torvalds has identified HOWEVER, RECENT DELAYS TO THE SCHEDULE, AND TORVALD’S RESPONSE, HAVE CAUSED FRUSTRATION WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.
that this type of behaviour has been a problem, and is taking time off to work on bettering himself personally and professionally. Other rogue entrepreneurs whose erratic behaviour has been affecting their companies and employees (we’re looking at you, Elon Musk) might be wise to follow Torvald’s lead. Greg Kroah-Hartman, a leading kernel developer, will take over Torvalds's responsibilities temporarily, and he leaves Linux in good health. It’s not as popular on desktop and laptop machines as Windows or macOS, but Linux powers a huge range of PCs and devices throughout the world, as well as providing the base for Android, the world’s most widely-used operating system. As for Torvalds, he promises he won’t be gone for long. “This is not some kind of 'I'm burnt out, I need to just go away' break. I'm not feeling like I don't want to continue maintaining Linux. Quite the reverse. I very much *do* want to continue to do this project that I've been working on for almost three decades.” Let’s hope Torvalds comes back happier and healthier soon.
NEWS-IN-BRIEF TIME MAGAZINE SOLD TO SALESFORCE CO-FOUNDER FOR $190 MILLION The iconic TIME magazine is being sold by Meredith Corporation to Salesforce.com's Co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff for $190 million (?1,378 crore). In a statement, Meredith said the Benioffs "will not be involved in the day-today operations or journalistic decisions". TIME magazine publisher Time Inc was sold to Meredith for $1.8 billion in January this year.
I TAKE IT BACK: MINISTER ON 'BEGGING BOWL' REMARK TO SCHOOLS Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had said at a school function in Pune that educational institutes should not come to the government with a "begging bowl" and should instead utilise alumni contributions. Javadekar later issued an apology, saying, "I also realise that the use of the term, 'begging bowl' was wrong, and so I take it back."
COULDN'T HAVE BEEN HAPPIER: SUMEET ON GETTING MARRIED TO EKTA Actor Sumeet Vyas took to social media to share a picture with his wife Ekta Kaul from their wedding. "Couldn't have been happier," he wrote in the caption. Ekta also shared pictures from the wedding and wrote, "Mr and Mrs Vyas.. #happilyeverafter @sumeetvyas you are my happy place." The couple got married on Saturday in Jammu.
KISS YOUR WEALTH GOODBYE: TRUMP ON VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS Hailing his country's achievements under the Republican leadership, US President Donald Trump tweeted that people can "kiss" their "newfound wealth goodbye" if the Democrats come to power. Trump's remarks came while urging people against voting for the Democratic Party in the upcoming congressional elections. Trump has made several claims of the economic gains in the US since he assumed office.
MOS VK SINGH CALLS PAK PM IMRAN KHAN 'MAN PROPPED UP BY ARMY' Talking about continued infiltration even after Imran Khan's election as Pakistan PM, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh has said, "Did you expect any change from a man propped up by Army?" Singh added, "Let us wait and watch how things move, whether a person remains under Army's control or does not."
HDFC SENDS SUMMONS VIA WHATSAPP, E-MAIL IN CHEQUE BOUNCE CASES In order to settle cases faster, the HDFC Bank has sent nearly 250 summons to customers through WhatsApp and e-mail in cheque bounce related cases. A majority of these have been sent on e-mail. The move is aimed at dealing with customers who deny having received any summons at all if sent through post.
MAY YOUR CRITICS CONTINUE TO HAVE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS: ANUPAM TO PM Wishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 68th birthday on Monday, actor Anupam Kher took to Twitter and wrote, "May your critics continue to have sleepless nights. Wishing you a long and healthy life." "May you continue to lead our country for years with your hard work, honesty and great vision...Happy birthday PM Narendra Modi ji," the actor further tweeted. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
CONTROVERSY
EMBARRASSING GOOGLE VIDEO SHOWS ANTI TRUMP LEANING IN COMPANY In leaked video, Google bosses including Brin, Page and Pichai are seen consoling employees after Trump won the Presidential election.
leaked video of Google executives trying to console employees who were upset after the election of President Donald Trump has infuriated conservatives, who say the remarks illustrate the search giant's political bias and should prompt regulators to take a close look at the company. The new controversy stems from a roughly hour-long recording published Wednesday by Breitbart. It shows executives such as Sergey Brin, the president of Google parent Alphabet, and Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, addressing staff at a private meeting days after the 2016 election, the outcome of which Pichai said caused "a lot of fear within Google." As they expressed their dismay, Google executives sought to assuage employees, especially immigrants, given the incoming president's pledge before Election Day to toughen security at the border. In doing so, Google's leaders encouraged their workers to be understanding of "all sides of the political spectrum," said Eileen Naughton, the company's vice president for people operations. But conservatives quickly seized on the leaked video Wednesday as evidence that Google is trying to undermine Trump and silence his supporters - and some White House allies even suggested investigating the company as a result. "They control 91% of all search and they get to decide what everyone sees. If this isn't a Monopoly I don't know what is," SEASONAL MAGAZINE
tweeted Donald Trump Jr. Brad Parscale, the president's campaign manager, said the company "needs to explain why this isn't a threat to the Republic," adding in his own tweet: "Congressional hearings! Investigate." In response, Riva Sciuto, a spokeswoman for Google, defended the search giant's meeting. "For over 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to freely express their opinions at these meetings," she said in a statement. "Nothing was said at that meeting, or any other meeting, to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate our products." Still, the video's publication - on Breitbart, a right-leaning news site once led by Stephen Bannon, the president's former top strategist - could prove problematic for Google in the nation's capital. Like Facebook, Twitter and its other tech peers, Google for months has weathered allegations that it stifles conservative news and views. Trump accused Google in August of having "rigged" search results to display negative stories about him - a charge that Google strongly denied. And this week, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., even threatened to drag Google to Capitol Hill to answer for its political leanings. "An invite will be on its way," McCarthy tweeted. The GOP lawmaker similarly helped orchestrate an entire congressional hearing focused on allegations of conservative bias at Twitter, raising the specter that one of Google's executives could soon be forced to appear in front of their Republican critics. The video unearthed by Breitbart provides
a glimpse into how executives and employees in Silicon Valley - a liberalleaning part of California that overwhelmingly backed Trump's Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton - thought about the company's changing role in the immediate fallout from the 2016 election. Trump's surprise victory sparked soulsearching in the technology industry over echo chambers, fake news and coastal elitism. Employees, meanwhile, pushed their leaders to fight Trump's agenda particularly on immigration, given that the tech industry employs large numbers of high-skilled foreign workers. Some tech companies did not immediately take responsibility for playing a role in shaping the election. Days after the election, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the idea that fake news spread on Facebook influenced the outcome of the U.S. election was "crazy." Zuckerberg later said he regretted his "dismissive" comments. The executives at Google, however, directly addressed these concerns in the meeting. When asked about misinformation and how its personalization algorithms shape peoples' opinions, Pichai said in the video that YouTube plays a big role in the discussions about social media. He also acknowledged there "seems to be a selection bias" around how people are able to access information. To Breitbart, however, the recording reflected "a determinism to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe." The site seized on comments from executives like Kent Walker, who now oversees Google's policy operations around the world. Walker spoke broadly about the rise of populist movements globally, fueled by forces like fear and "xenophobia." Yet the article omitted the full context of some of the exchanges between executives and their employees. For one example, a Google employee asked Google's leaders if they see "anything positive from this election result." Breitbart noted they burst out laughing, and that Brin said, "Boy, that's a really tough one right now." But it did not detail a moment when Pichai and Page highlighted potential benefits: That Trump could improve U.S. infrastructure or that it could be the end of congressional gridlock. Brin then said that no one knew what to expect from a Trump presidency. "Maybe he'll do something great, who knows?" Brin said. "It will take a little bit of wishful thinking."
MARKETING
Xiaomi Counters iPhone Launch with Deep Value Bundle Packs XIAOMI OFFERS A SMARTPHONE, LAPTOP, MI BAND 3, AND MI BLUETOOTH HEADSET FOR THE SAME PRICE OF A NEW IPHONE. CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN CHINA, WILL THIS COME TO INDIA SOON? ollowing the recent launch of the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and the iPhone Xr, Xiaomi has decided to have a bit of fun with the announced pricing of these three new iPhones. The iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and iPhone Xr have starting prices of RMB 8699 (~$1266), RMB 9599 (~$1397) and RMB 6499 (~$945) respectively. In case anybody in China may feel compelled to pick up the latest iPhone at those prices, Xiaomi is making an enticing counter offer. You can pick up a new smartphone (Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi 8 SE, or Mi Mix 2S), a new laptop (Mi Notebook Air or Mi Notebook Pro), a Mi Band 3, and a Mi Bluetooth Headset directly from the company in three new bundles. They aren’t really trying to hide the fact they’re making fun of Apple, either. If that doesn’t sound good enough, there are other options too. The XS Max bundle from Xiaomi costs the starting price of a new iPhone Xs Max. The Xr bundle from Xiaomi costs the starting price of a new iPhone Xr and comes with a Xiaomi Mi 8 SE. Not only is each set priced in accordance with the latest iPhones, but they’re even named after them too. There’s no denying that all of these are a pretty sweet deal in their own right,
The Xs set for RMB 8699 Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Mi Band 3 Mi Notebook Air Mi Bluetooth Headset The Xs Max set for RMB 9599 Xiaomi Mi 8 6GB RAM 128GB storage Mi Band 3 Mi Notebook Pro Mi Bluetooth Headset
but sadly you won’t be able to get it outside of China. It’s a great marketing technique to be able to provide a phone and a new laptop and a wearable and a Bluetooth headset for the price of one iPhone. Even if you are a fan of Apple, it’s hard to argue that picking up a new iPhone will give you more value for money. Whether this deal will come to other countries is unknown, but it would be a great way to break into some new European territories in the coming months. You can view a breakdown of what exactly you get for each price down below.
The Xr set for RMB 6499 Xiaomi Mi 8 SE 6GB RAM 128GB storage Mi Band 3 Mi Notebook Air Mi Bluetooth Headset SEASONAL MAGAZINE
NEWS-IN-BRIEF SHIVINDER DROPS CASE AGAINST MALVINDER AS MOTHER INTERVENES
GOOGLE DENIES LEFT-WING BIAS AFTER LEAKED US ELECTION VIDEO
I COULD BEAT TRUMP IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: JPMORGAN CEO
Shivinder Singh has withdrawn the case he filed against his elder brother Malvinder Singh in NCLT after their mother intervened. Shivinder sued Malvinder and long-time family associate Sunil Godhwani for "oppression and mismanagement" of group companies – RHC Holding, Religare Enterprises, and Fortis Healthcare. The brothers have agreed to enter into mediation "out of respect for their mother".
Google has released a statement denying allegations of bias against conservatives after website Breitbart leaked a video of a Google meeting following Donald Trump's win in the 2016 US presidential election. The video features Google co-founder Sergey Brin comparing Trump voters to extremists and CFO Ruth Porat breaking down while saying "we are gonna lose".
TERROR ORIGINATING FROM PAK OUR SHARED CONCERN WITH INDIA: US
SC APPOINTS NBCC TO CONSTRUCT STALLED PROJECTS OF AMRAPALI
ANDERSON PAYS TRIBUTE TO COOK WEARING 'ALLY ALLY COOK' T-SHIRT
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed state-run NBCC to develop the unfinished projects of beleaguered real estate company Amrapali Group. It has also directed Debt Recovery Tribunal to sell the unencumbered commercial properties of Amrapali to raise funds for the construction. NBCC had given a proposal for the completion of 15 residential projects of Amrapali having over 46,500 flats.
England pacer James Anderson took to social media to pay a tribute to Alastair Cook, who retired from international cricket recently. The 36-year-old shared a picture of himself and Cook wearing commemorative 'Ally Ally Cook' tshirts in the dressing room. "I'll miss this guy....humble, down to earth, grounded! Such a special bloke. Proud to call him a friend," Anderson wrote.
The US shares a concern with India over the continued ability of terrorist proxies to operate on Pakistani soil, US' Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice Wells, has said. She added the US was "looking for actions" from Pakistan. Wells further said that India and the US have been coordinating on wanted terrorists and terror outfits.
Volkswagen to stop making its iconic Beetle cars in 2019
Volkswagen is ending worldwide production of its iconic Beetle, with the last car to be made in Mexico in July 2019. Designed in 1930s, the model's popularity prompted the German automaker to build its first factory in North America in the 1960s. On being asked about plans for a next-generation version, Volkswagen US CEO Hinrich Woebcken said, "Never say never". SEASONAL MAGAZINE
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said he thinks he could beat US President Donald Trump in a presidential election. "I'm as tough as he is, I'm smarter than he is. He could punch me all he wants. It wouldn't work with me. I'd fight right back," Dimon added. However, he said his wife won't let him run for office.
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IPO
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SPANDANA SPHOORTY FINANCIAL
WHERE A CRISIS HAS RISK PROOFED THE
OPERATIONS
PADMAJA REDDY HAS STEERED SPANDANA SPHOORTY FINANCIAL THROUGH THE WORST CRISIS IMAGINABLE FOR A MICROFINANCE FIRM, HAS EXITED CDR AND IS NOW BACK ON AN ADMIRABLE GROWTH TRACK, PAVING THE WAY FOR ITS IPO.
M
ost retail investors and even many institutional investors have seen this scenario happening in their once favourite companies, one after another. During the height of growth, companies go for their IPOs, or in the case of already listed companies, a period of high growth is followed by peak investor interest.
company has survived such a huge crisis against all odds, has come back to a growth trajectory, and is now planning to offer its shares for the first time? Any analyst worth that label would take a closer look at such a company and the entrepreneur behind. Because that would be a company that would have learned invaluable lessons and adapted incredibly.
Stocks would be soaring, valuations would be sky high, but even many institutional investors would turn blind thinking that the company could take no wrong step. But companies are companies, they are often captive to the sectoral dynamics as well as changing sectoral regulations by governments.
That is the story of Hyderabad based Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd, which was one of the largest Andhra based MFIs before disaster struck in 2010. The brainchild of G Padmaja Reddy, a pioneer in India’s microfinance sector who has embraced continuing education in the latest trends in microfinance from USA and UK. She founded Spandana Sphoorty way back in 1998, and grew it admirably by 2010 to one of the largest MFIs in India with 14,500 employees, Rs. 4500 crore in loan book and 1800 branches, with a majority of all these from Andhra.
Investors have seen this happening across sectors in stocks like DLF, Just Dial and even recently in Interglobe Aviation (Indigo Airlines). But nowhere else is this phenomenon of fortunes turning grim overnight more visible than in the financial services sector, where populist moves by Central or State Governments like loan waivers, demonetisation and stricter regulations on loan recoveries can play havoc. One of the largest such sectoral crises happened in 2010 in Andhra Pradesh, when that cradle state of microfinance in India, put up regulations that literally choked microfinance firms. Stock market too felt the heat, as SKS Microfinance stock dived down, burning huge and permanent holes in investor pockets. Thankfully, SKS was the only major listed microfinance stock back then. However, hundreds of Andhra based MFIs had to shut shop, and some who survived are still battling their demons. But there is a flipside too to such crises. What if a
But the 2010 crisis – which lasted for 2 years – left the company as a skeleton of its former self. Even worse, the company had to opt for Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR). But under Padmaja Reddy’s admirable leadership, it weathered the storm by geographical diversification into Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and by 2014 started generating profits again. Today, Spandana has 11 lakh customers – all of them women - across 14 states, but their exposure to crisis prone states like Andhra and UP is now negligible. The company has recently filed its DRHP for an IPO that got shelved back in 2010. Seasonal Magazine brings eight strategies that Padmaja Reddy has employed in rebuilding Spandana to its former glory. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
8 STRATEGIES THAT ARE REBUILDING SPANDANA
Limiting State Level Business For any Indian company, temptation runs high to maximize business from their home state. For more reasons than one, home state offers maximum number of low hanging fruits which are easier to pluck. Same had happened with Spandana Sphoorty Financial during its first decade of operation. For Hyderabad headquartered Spandana, It was easier to grow faster in its home state of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh than elsewhere in India. By March 2010, 56% of this microfinance institution’s loan book or Assets Under Management was from Andhra Pradesh. Expertise in Andhra market, considered a cradle state for microcredit, enabled Spandana to grow faster than its peers back then. But when disaster struck suddenly in the form of a new
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regulatory ordinance in October of 2010, it was in Andhra and only in this large southern state. Most national level MFIs with AP exposure was affected, but those with predominant Andhra exposure like Spandana were hit severely. It has been a lesson that Spandana Founder Padmaja Gangireddy has never forgotten. When she started rebuilding Spandana in 2011-12, she was fully determined that never ever will Spandana have an AUM exposure of more than 25% from any one state. Going even beyond, Padmaja Reddy is ensuring that even the highest AUM exposure from a state won’t go above the company’s networth. This has made the new Spandana Sphoorty Financial a much more robust operation risk-proofed against state level crises.
Addressing Microcredit’s Hyperlocal Risks The 2010 Andhra-MFI crisis was undoubtedly the largest crisis Spandana had faced in its history. However, it has been only one of the several crises MFIs like Spandana has faced. And most of such crises have been local or even hyper local. These include the 2006 Krishna crisis and the 2009 Kolar crisis. In a way, this should be of no surprise as microfinance in itself is a very local business. What usually happens is that some districts or towns take to microfinance more easily due to local reasons, and companies too often promote business from such centres. Later, when such districts develop problems due to excessive and competitive selling or local populist politics, the concerned companies
would be hit hard as such districts would have sizeable exposure to the AUM. To strictly avoid this trend, Padmaja Reddy has been following a strict policy of limiting district level exposure to 2% of the overall AUM. And to curb excessive or unhealthy selling at the branch level, Spandana also limits branch level exposure to 0.35% of the overall AUM. Microfinance continues to be a high growth sector with increasing number of players, and crises are almost sure to happen again, and more often than not they will be local to a district or town. But with these policies in place, Spandana is sure to weather such local storms.
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Getting the Rural & Urban Mix Right People who haven’t used microfinance even once tend to think that it is a mainly rural business. But all microfinance institutions would readily agree that customers for microcredit are more abundantly available in urban areas like cities and towns. This is simply because urban areas tend to have more people like fruit vendors, fish vendors, tailoring shops, grocery stores etc. However, MFIs have also found out that the repayments of rural and urban customers have significant differences. Rural customers are more risk averse and would avail only reasonable loans and would be more diligent with the repayments. Urban customers on the other hand are less risk averse and would not only take up unreasonably large loans, but would be less diligent with the repayments. In good times, urban customers bring much value as they bring in much needed growth. But in difficult times some urban microcredit customers would default on payments or even abscond altogether. Having seen many a microfinance crisis, Padmaja Reddy recognized it early on. But it was difficult to fight this trend, as at Spandana itself rural/urban mix was at 50:50 during 2005-06 period. But post the 2010 Andhra crisis, the Spandana Founder went in for significant limiting of urban business, while rural business was actively promoted. Today, thanks to this strategy, 86% of Spandana Sphoorty’s AUM is from rural areas, which is ensuring that the company enjoys better NPA rates than almost all its peers.
Never Letting Go of Leadership Position Getting started informally as early as 1998, Padmaja Reddy had the head-start of a pioneer. Spandana was also one of the first MFIs to be formally incorporated as an NBFC in 2004. At one point of time, precisely in fiscal 2005-06, Spandana was the largest MFI in terms of portfolio size. Even in the years that followed where the market saw competition intensifying by deep pocketed MFIs and their deeper pocketed institutional investors, Spandana held its ground and was the second-largest MFI player, both by AUM and client outreach. And by FY’10, Spandana had clocked a blistering growth pace of 100% CAGR for the last three years. Spandana’s trait of building upon its early mover advantage comes directly from Padmaja Reddy who disregards relative rankings in the industry but it very particular that Spandana should be a Top-10 player and growing healthily, always. Soon after this fast growth phase came the AP-MFI crisis, and Spandana being an AP focused MFI back then was hit hard. But with Padmaja’s steadfast focus on being a leader always, it goes to Spandana’s credit that even during this worst of times, it was never out of the Top-10 club of MFIs in India. Today, after it has bounced back from the crisis too Spandana has rapidly scaled back to being India’s 4th largest NBFC-MFI. What is even more important is that Spandana is growing much faster than the average of the other Top-5 members. For instance, Spandana’s AUM has grown at 144%, compared to an average of 46% for the rest of the players in Top-5 NBFC-MFIs. Similarly, its disbursement has grown at 87%, compared to an average of 45% for the rest of the players in the Top-5 NBFC-MFIs. This has enabled Spandana to more than double its market share from 1.2% to 2.5% during the last fiscal. Among NBFCMFIs, its market share has grown from 4% last year to 6.6% now. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
8 STRATEGIES THAT ARE REBUILDING SPANDANA
Ensuring Highest Quality of Growth When it comes to comparing growth rates of companies, what many retail investors and even media stories miss is the quality of growth. Not all similar growth rates are equal. There is growth that won’t add much value to shareholders, and there is even growth that will be detrimental to the interests of investors. But, Spandana has been a company that has always come across in flying colours when it comes to all the core metrics that assess the quality or healthiness of headline growth numbers. While such superior metrics attract equity investors, Spandana is not doing this just a couple of years before its IPO. Things have always been like this at Spandana, as for Padmaja Reddy it has always been one of the most important criteria, starting from day one. In fact, the rapid growth at Spandana before the AP-MFI crisis was powered by such superior metrics, which meant that institutional investors as well as securitizing banks were always ready to fund the company’s growth requirements. And though in the midst of the crisis, Spandana obviously could not keep these metrics, as soon as it came back into green, this MFI has been pushing itself for ensuring the best growth metrics. For instance, now Spandana’score return ratio of Return on Equity has been best in class at 22.6%, compared to anaverage of 12.4% for rest of the Top-5 MFIs. In another core metric that reveals operational excellence, the Opex Ratio, which is the ratio of operating expense to average AUM, Spandana fares better than the industry as a whole, during the last fiscal. Focus on this particular metric has protected Spandana during the height of the AP-MFI crisis, as Padmaja Reddy could contain the expenses effectively, which enabled the company to bounce back into posting operating profits within just two years of the 2010 crisis, which subsequently paved the way for posting net profit within the next two years, and for successfully coming out of the CDR mechanism two years back. Spandana focuses on process efficiencies for better quality services to their customers and better performance enablement for their staff. Superior process design and execution helps achieve superior cost economics with low operating expense ratios and that in turn leads to better profitability. That is how, even during the CDR mechanism, the company reported profits consistently from 2014 onwards. Looking forward, these superior metrics ensure that Spandana stock would be favoured by discerning investors when it eventually comes to the market through its IPO. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
8 STRATEGIES THAT ARE REBUILDING SPANDANA
Safety Comes First While it is true that crises as profound as the AP-MFI crisis can take any NBFC or Bank by storm, it is equally true that the most seriously and lastingly affected by the storm was those lenders who put asset quality at risk, during the good times. Again, Spandana has been an exception to this trend, and this constant focus on asset quality or limiting the NPAs enabled this MFI to weather the huge crisis starting in 2010. While Spandana’s AP business was invariably affected by the crisis, its non-AP business had good asset quality that enabled Padmaja Reddy to rapidly scale up such operations. Diligent focus on the asset quality and the out-of-the-box thinking by Padmaja Reddy has helped Spandana report collections from AP overdues which were almost 4 times better than peer MFIs operating in the state. This shows that standing the ground in adverse situations does yield results - but it need a leader who has persistence and perseverance. Post the crisis too, other challenges kept coming in the sector like the controversial demonetisation move. India’s rural sector was a pure cash-only economy which was shattered overnight when the two larger denominations of currencies were abruptly suspended. If one sector took the maximum hit from demonetisation, it was
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microfinance. Thousands of tiny rural businesses went bankrupt. Loan repayments to banks as well as MFIs became a problem overnight. But more pain was to follow. When the brunt on rural population became unbearable, some large states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka resorted to the populist move of farm loan waivers. Though MFIs were not part of the loan waivers, they took a significant sentimental hit as customers stopped repayments on the hope that it would be extended to MFIs. And while banks were sure to be compensated, MFIs had no such promise as they were officially not part of the scheme! No wonder then that soon even the best performing MFIs of all kinds began reporting huge fall in asset quality with NPAs getting doubled or tripled. But it is to Spandana’s steadfast focus on asset quality that it was during the two tumultuous years since then that it came back to net profit and successfully exited the CDR mechanism. Even today, a core NPA metric of Spandana stands at 2.2% compared to 7.4% reported as an average for the leading MFIs and Small Finance Banks (SFBs), revealing that the safety first strategy is keeping the company far ahead than its peers in asset quality.
Staying True to Microfinance Spandana has been a lender sharply focused on microfinance, and microfinance only during its whole existence, unlike many of its peers. During the first growth phase of microcredit in India, which started in 2005, there were just 5 MFIs including Spandana with an AUM of at least Rs. 100 crore. Today there are nearly 40 companies with that kind of critical mass. Such has been the growth of microfinance in India. However, with that kind of growth has come diluted interest in microfinance business. These have come in many ways like by banks buying out MFIs, banks and MFIs getting merged and by MFIs getting converted into small finance banks or universal banks. Today, microfinance business in India is carried out by dedicated NBFC-MFIs like Spandana, small finance banks, new universal banks and regular banks directly doing microfinance as an additional business. While all these segments are reporting growth, dedicated
NBFC-MFIs like Spandana are reporting faster growth than even the government led program of PSU banks getting linked to Self Help Groups (SHGs). Giving further boost to companies like Spandana that are staying true to microfinance, RBI has also come out with regulations that are specific for NBFC-MFIs which gives greater clarity on regulations especially when the business is fast growing. India’s microfinance potential remains huge and while different kinds of lenders are tapping into it, it is the NBFC-MFI that has the edge over here for now. And the hands-on leadership of Padmaja Reddy makes Spandana one of the rare large NBFC-MFIs which still have a promoter leading it from the front and standing steadfast despite all market changes and adapting the company to meet the challenges successfully. The technology savvy nature of Padmaja Reddy has been an important factor in such rapid adaptations.
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8 STRATEGIES THAT ARE REBUILDING SPANDANA
Focusing on Customer Needs Padmaja Reddy came into microfinance by accident, but it was also due to her sharp observation powers and her helpful nature to the downtrodden in the society. Back in 1997, she had a chance encounter with a woman rag-picker who was using a rented cart worth just Rs.2000 but for which she had already paid the lender a cumulative rent of Rs. 60,000 over the years. Still, she couldn’t hope of owning the cart as she never had Rs. 2000 of savings to buy a cart of her own! Padmaja lent her enough money to buy a cart, and she made prompt repayments in the coming months. And this woman spread the word to her friends that there is this lady here who would lend you money to start your small business which can be repaid as easy instalments. Soon Padmaja set up an NGO which eventually became an MFI and later an NBFC. Years have passed since, but this focus on customer needs ranks high as a priority for Padmaja Reddy and her venture Spandana Sphoorty Financial. While all her financial and operational strategies were crucial for the miraculous turnaround of Spandana, it is also a fact that without her kind of customer friendliness she couldn’t have pulled it off ever. But she also doesn’t claim that what Spandana is
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doing is poverty alleviation. She is quick to clarify that Spandana is a lender, but that the inherent nature of MFI business is that poverty alleviation is a pleasant side effect of it. With such clarity of vision, Spandana has served more than 1.6 million borrowers across 15 states and 222 districts of India. The last two newly added states are Bihar and West Bengal, while it has re-started operations in Rajasthan. Spandana’s branch count has grown to 694 and the team size has increased by 32% to 4,045 employees. The company has also rapidly adopted technological advancements and has been availing the maturing services of Credit Bureaus which have developed ability to handle the complex data of MFI customers. With such customer focused approach Spandana could grow its customer base by 50% during the last fiscal. This has translated to a loan book (AUM) growth of 144%. Today the company is standing on solid financial grounds, with a Networth of Rs.980 crore and has done a few rounds of fresh capital infusion. For FY’18, Spandana has reported a Profit After Tax of Rs. 170.4 crores on an AUM of Rs. 3166 crores with an RoE of 22.6%, a performance that would surely be attractive during its upcoming public offering.
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GADGET
TOP ANDROIDS UNDER 10K HERE ARE SOME NOTEWORTHY ANDROID SMARTPHONES THAT ARE PRICED UNDER RS 10,000, BUT STILL MANAGE TO OFFER YOU SOME OF THE BEST FEATURES THAT YOU COULD ASK FOR. rom Xiaomi to Honor to Realme, smartphone manufacturers are aggressively pushing their budget smartphones to the Indian market. Here we compile a list of smartphones that are easy on the pocket and still manage to offer you some of the best features that you could ask for.
aperture and a secondary 2-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture. For the front, there is an 8-megapixel shooter with f/ 2.2 aperture. The smartphone features AI Beautification 2.0, real-time AR Stickers, front camera HDR and bokeh mode. Connectivity options on the dualSIM phone include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/GLONASS support, OTG support, FM radio, a microUSB 2.0 port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Honor 7S: Huawei sub-brand Honor has launched its latest budget smartphone Honor 7S in India today. The Honor 7S price in India is set at Rs. 6,999 for the lone 2GB RAM/ 16GB inbuilt storage variant. Honor 7S features a 5.45-inch HD+ (720x1440 pixels) TFT FullView display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and pixel density of 295ppi. The smartphone is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6739 SoC, coupled with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. Storage is expandable via a dedicated microSD card slot (up to 256GB). In terms of optics, it features single 13megapixel rear camera with phase detection auto-focus and LED flash. At the front, there is a 5-megapixel selfie camera with dedicated LED flash. The
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Xiaomi Redmi Y2: smartphone also supports face unlock via its front-facing camera. Honor 7S runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with EMUI 8.1 skin laid on top and houses 3020mAh battery. The device also supports dual SIM dual standby but lacks dual VoLTE support. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, and MicroUSB 2.0 port.
Realme 2: Realme 2 prices start from Rs 8,990, and its talking points are the stylish design and trendy features. The Realme 2 features a 6.2-inch HD+ display that runs at a resolution of 720x1520pixels and a pixel density of 271ppi. The display also comes with a notch on top, giving it an aspect ratio of 19:9. The handset is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC, coupled with an Adreno 506 GPU, 3GB/ 4GB RAM, and 32GB/ 64GB of onboard storage which can be expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB). Realme 2 runs ColorOS 5.1 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box and comes with 4230mAh battery. In terms of optics, the Realme 2 houses dual rear cameras that come with a combination of 13megapixel primary lens with f/2.2
Redmi Y2 with 3GB RAM and 32 GB storage option is priced at Rs 9,999 while the model with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage costs Rs 12,999. The specifications include a 5.99-inch HD+ display and 18:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone comes with a Snapdragon 625 processor and has a 3,080 mAh battery. The device comes with a dual rear camera setup with a 12-megapixel primary sensor along with a 5-megapixel secondary sensor. Besides this, the Redmi Y2 has a 16-megapixel sensor on the front with AI packed features such as AI Portrait Mode and AI Smart Beauty.
MEANWHILE, SLEEP EXPERTS UPHOLD THAT THE MORE YOU SLEEP, THE BETTER, SINCE YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO PRACTICE HEALTHY HABITS, LIKE EXERCISING AND MAKING SMART FOOD CHOICES, WHEN YOU'RE WELL-RESTED.
WELLNESS
LOST SLEEP ON WEEKDAYS? MAKE UP ON WEEKENDS Sleeping in on weekends could have a surprising benefit, so that you should definitely do it.
merging research recently published in the journal Sleep suggests that sleeping in on weekends could actually have some benefits. For the study, researchers based in South Korea compared the sleep habits of 2,156 adults to their body mass indexes (BMI), which is a tool medical experts use to access a person's weight relative to their height, and to identify potential health risks linked to obesity, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, researchers found, those who slept too little throughout the week and caught up on sleep on the weekends had slightly lower BMIs (22.8) than those who slept too little and did not compensate on weekends. Their BMIs averaged 23.1, which is statistically significant, since every extra hour of weekend sleep equated to 0.12 lower BMI. This could have something to do with the fact that people who catch up on sleep on weekends clock more total
hours of shut-eye, and getting too little of it can disrupt your hormones and metabolism in a way that sets the stage for potential side effects, including obesity, according to the study authors. Meanwhile, sleep experts uphold that the more you sleep, the better, since you're more likely to practice healthy habits, like exercising and making smart
ON AVERAGE, RESEARCHERS FOUND, THOSE WHO SLEPT TOO LITTLE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK AND CAUGHT UP ON SLEEP ON THE WEEKENDS HAD SLIGHTLY LOWER BMIS (22.8) THAN THOSE WHO SLEPT TOO LITTLE AND DID NOT COMPENSATE ON WEEKENDS.
food choices, when you're well-rested. Because adjusting your sleep schedule to accommodate your social life or social media life can throw off your body's natural circadian rhythm, resulting in worse health, moodiness, and fatigue, it's still preferable to hit the sack and wake up around the same times regardless of the day, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which recommends clocking at least seven hours of sleep a night with regularity. If you can't get sufficient sleep on weeknights, catching up on weekends could be your next best bet — at least when it comes to keeping your BMI in check. "Weekend sleep extension may have biological protective effects in preventing sleep-restriction induced or related obesity," the authors conclude in their study. Although their findings prove correlation, not causation, and more research is needed, the results are ever more reason not to worry about hitting the snooze button on those lazy weekend mornings. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
CRICKET
GREAT EXPECTATIONS, POOR GROUND A REALITY CHECK IS CALLED FOR ABOUT THE VAST GULF BETWEEN WHAT SHASTRI AND KOHLI WANT AND WHAT THEY GET FROM THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE. IT SEEMS AS IF THE COACH AND CAPTAIN ARE BEING BLINDED BY A ‘WHATIF’ SCENARIO RATHER THAN ACTUALLY LOOKING AT ‘WHAT-IS’.
hen he became the captain of India, Virat Kohli had a dream — one in which he often saw himself winning an overseas series. He has since repeated himself at every given opportunity. So much so that we are certain that he would like nothing more than to make his dream a reality. It would, coach Ravi Shastri believes, define the team. But then again, if winning abroad was as easy as talking, India would have won more away from home… much more. As the record shows, India have won a SEASONAL MAGAZINE
series in England just three times (3 out of 17 series). In South Africa, we have never won a series. In Australia, we have never won a series. Given that context, England almost seems like a happy hunting ground. Kohli, of course, knew it would be difficult which is why he had a plan too. He knew exactly what he wanted from his players and from himself if they wanted to win away from home. But you don’t always get what you want and time and again, India has been failed by its great and perhaps, unreal expectations. Before the series, Shastri said he wanted
his openers to bat out 20-25 overs. The overs he concurred were crucial and to anyone who had toured England, it was sound logic. But what the team got was anything but that. The technique of the openers has been called in question and each time, it has failed the Test. Murali Vijay looked lost, Shikhar Dhawan is like a one-trick pony and KL Rahul, the new hope, has come up short time and again. Dhawan has scored the most runs – 158 at a middling average (by series standards) of 26.33 in 3 Tests. KL Rahul, the only opener to have played all four
INDIA'S OPENING GAMBIT
REALITIES
1st Test: 1st innings 1st Test: 2nd innings 2nd Test: 1st innings 2nd Test: 2nd innings 3rd Test: 1st innings (India won) 3rd Test: 2nd innings (India won) 4th Test: 1st innings 4th Test: 2nd innings
3-59 3-46 4-49 3-35 2-65 2-111 2-50 3-22
can he win matches on his own... can anyone?
15.5 overs 14.5 overs 21.4 overs 18.6 overs 20.6 overs 23.2 overs 17.5 overs 8.3 overs
There has been the odd innings of substance but for most part, Rahane and Pujara have not been upto the mark when the opportunity has presented itself. By this point of their career, for all the early promise, they should have been undroppable.
To win a match away from home, a side would need to score in excess of at least 300 runs. On two away tours, India have crossed the 300-run mark just thrice. Once during the second Test against SA at Centurion and twice during With the form Kohli is in, he needs Nottingham Test (which someone to stand with India went on to win). THE TECHNIQUE OF THE him. Pujara and Rahane While Kohli has been haven’t been able to do OPENERS HAS BEEN that regularly enough in a exceptional in both these CALLED IN QUESTION side that plays just five series’, the support has been anything but. AND EACH TIME, IT HAS proper batsmen.
Tests, has scored just 113 runs at an average of 14.12. Murali Vijay, perhaps the most disappointing of the lot, scored just 43 runs in 2 Tests at an average of 6.50. A look at the stats (in the table above) shows that India were never comfortable. The two times they were, they went on to win the Test. They have almost never managed to play 20-25 overs – the concept of playing out the new ball seems lost on them. In the batting department, who are India’s match winners apart from Kohli? The Indian skipper is in great form but
Cheteshwar Pujara’s 132* FAILED THE TEST. It might be fair to say that in the first innings of the 4th MURALI VIJAY LOOKED India’s strategy of playing Test was an exceptional five bowlers, revolves LOST, SHIKHAR innings but very rarely has entirely around Hardik he looked capable of DHAWAN IS LIKE A ONE- Pandya. He is picked as an winning matches for India TRICK PONY AND KL all-rounder but rarely, if away from home. The same RAHUL, THE NEW HOPE, ever, is he used as one. is also true of Ajinkya here nor there. As HAS COME UP SHORT Neither Rahane. When the struggle a bowler, he often seems TIME AND AGAIN. is all about trying to keep to be the last throw of the one’s place in the playing dice. As a batsman, he is XI, the confidence never shines through unsure of the approach he wants to take. and that is becoming increasingly Kapil Dev was thrown into the deep end evident about these two players. They but he figured out his method. But too should be India’s match-winners along often, Kohli seems intent on protecting with Kohli but they have never quite Pandya. Right now, Pandya seems to be made it. If anything, they seem to have more like Robin Singh and less like a regressed under Kohli’s captaincy.
PUJARA AND RAHANE IN SA AND ENG India in SA and Eng
Cheteshwar Pujara
Ajinkya Rahane
1st Test (Cape Town)
26,4
DNP
2nd Test (Centurion)
0,19
DNP
3rd Test (Jo'burg)
50,1
9,48
1st Test (Birmingham)
DNP
15,2
2nd Test (Lord's)
1,17
18,13
3rd Test (Nottingham)
14,72
81,29
4th Test (Southampton)
132*,5
11,51 SEASONAL MAGAZINE
genuine all-rounder and seems apparent in the way Kohli uses him. But if the India skipper feels that Pandya isn’t ready for international Test cricket, then maybe the ‘all-rounder’ needs to hone his skills at a different level.
India in SA and Eng
Pandya's batting
Pandya's bowling (wkts, overs)
1st Test (Cape Town)
93,11 (12 overs),
2 (6 overs)
2nd Test (Centurion)
15,60 (16 overs),
0 (9 overs)
0,40 (2 overs),
0 (6 overs)
On an average, Pandya is bowling around 9 overs in each innings on the tours of South Africa and England where conditions suit pace bowling. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly used to bowl more.
1st Test (Birmingham)
22,31
0 (10 overs), DNB
2nd Test (Lord's)
11,26
3 (17.1 overs),
18,52*
5 (6 overs), 1 (14 overs)
4,0
1 (8 overs), 0 (9 overs)
3rd Test (Jo'burg)
3rd Test (Nottingham) 4th Test (Southampton)
Pandya’s batting has been anything but consistent and Kohli has been persisting with his five-bowler strategy mainly due to the balance the player from Baroda is supposed to provide the team. Given how India’s batting has struggled, logic would have dictated that India pick another batsman. Instead, we have Pandya, who is neither a batsman, nor a bowler. Batting seems to be his stronger suit but then wouldn’t a proper batsman have a better chance of succeeding?
England’s lower order isn’t an ordinary one. They have three all-rounders who are all very capable bats too. But still, given the form India’s bowlers are in, one could have argued that they needed to do better.
As good as India’s pacemen were, there were simply unable to finish the job they started in most of the matches in England. A lot is being made of the fact that India finally has an attack that can take 20 wickets. And that is great. But given the poor state of the Indian batting, they need to do all the heavy lifting. Giving India a boost by taking early wicket isn’t enough, they need to run through sides.
So while Shastri calls this India’s best ever attack, to be fair, they still have a way to go. They haven’t been able to run through sides.
The South Africa and England sides are not the best we have seen over the past two decades but the current India side has come up short even against them. When India’s home season had ended last year at Dharamshala, Kohli had spoken with great reserve in the press conference: “It’s a classic case of understanding that this is not the end of anything. No need to get over-excited with whatever we have done. We are very happy with number one ranking in the world but our main challenge begins now. If we can conquer the overseas season, that’s when you will see a broader smile on my face when I sit down for the press conference.”
Still, at the core of India’s problems, lie the unreal expectations that Shastri and Kohli have from this side. It is almost as if they are being blinded by a ‘what-if’ scenario rather than actually looking at ‘what-is’.
But despite knowing the challenge, India have come up short. It will hurt Kohli and Shastri no doubt but perhaps it is also a sign to the both of them; a sign that they need to realign their goals with reality.
Just take the fourth Test into account. England were 86-6 in the first innings but managed to make 246. India were 181-4 and they collapsed to 273. In the second innings, England were 122-5 and ended up with 271. India were 123-3 and finished with just 184.
SERIES IN THE NUTSHELL Avg contribution by top-5 wickets Eng 27.68
Ind 29.22
Avg contribution by last-5 wickets Eng 27.78
17.35
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As Sehwag said, “The best travelling teams are made by performances on the ground and not by sitting in the dressing room and talking about it.”
(By Ashish Magotra for Scroll)
OPINION
WHAT INDIA'S CONTEMPORARY GURUS SAID ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY, EARLIER Wha amde v, J aggi Vasude v and R avi Shankar ha ve said hatt R Ramde amdev Ja asudev Ra hav about homose xuality in the past ar ew or th pondering homosexuality are wor orth pondering.. he Supreme Court decriminalised homosexual activity between consenting adults in a recent judgement. The road to this judgement has been a bumpy one, intellectually and spiritually challenged by several influential public figures airing traditional views of Indian culture. Here are three of them.
Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev When asked what he thought about Section 377 and homosexuality in 2017, he said the law needed to be “debated” and not protested against on the streets. In another interview he called homosexuals “a product of the social situation rather than if any kind of physiological or inner need.”
Baba Ramdev The yoga teacher and entrepreneur has voiced his views against homosexuality repeatedly, not only calling it a mental illness, but also claiming that it can be cured through yoga.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar While he was addressing a gathering at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2017, a student asked The Art of Living founder how he should deal with ill-treatment by his loved ones over his sexual orientation. Ravi Shankar seemed to model his answer around the phrase “this too shall pass,” and called homosexuality a “tendency” which is not “permanent.”
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NBFC
MUTHOOT PAPPACHAN GROUP
GROWING BY SERVING THE COMMON MAN
Around 1 lakh common Indians - men and women - walk into their 3600 branches across the country every day. They come for meeting their diverse financial needs from a simple gold loan to a two-wheeler loan. But across all these branches they get the same friendly treatment - the 'One Muthoot Experience'. Muthoot Pappachan Group's financial services companies are all breaking new ground on a simple premise - address the lifecycle needs of the common man and the unbanked.While unlisted Muthoot FinCorp, the flagship of the group is a leader in gold loans, the listed two-wheeler loans provider Muthoot Capital Services Ltd has been on a blistering growth track, and now Muthoot Microfin, MPG's microfinance arm is all set to replicate its success through an IPO.
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It will soon be 15 years since Wharton School published the landmark study and book, ‘The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ by late US based business management guru of Indian origin Prof. CK Prahalad and business sustainability expert Prof. Stuart L Hart. In one sense, what the renowned professors cum consultants were espousing was not something new, but as the case studies (mostly from India) themselves showed, it was a business philosophy that had existed for decades, and in some companies like Muthoot Pappachan Group (which was not covered in the book), for more than a century. But for most readers as well as businessmen, this idea was something totally new. Because, conventional business wisdom taught that more affluent the target customers, pricier can be the product
AROUND 1 LAKH COMMON INDIANS - MEN AND WOMEN - WALK INTO THEIR 3600 BRANCHES ACROSS THE COUNTRY EVERY DAY. THEY COME FOR MEETING THEIR DIVERSE FINANCIAL NEEDS FROM A SIMPLE GOLD LOAN TO A TWO-WHEELER LOAN TO AN MSME LOAN. BUT ACROSS ALL THESE BRANCHES THEY GET THE SAME FRIENDLY TREATMENT – WHAT MPG CALLS THE 'ONE MUTHOOT EXPERIENCE'. and therefore higher the profit margins possible. The words of Microsoft founder and one of the richest guys in the planet, Bill Gates, about this book summed it up quite nicely – “it offers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability." While everything from cheap smartphones to two-minute noodles have been projected as examples of the fortunes at the bottom of the pyramid, this revolutionary model of
doing business shows its maximum potential when it comes to delivering what the people at the bottom of the pyramid lacks the most – that is, money. In other words, the world of financial services. The wider world came to know about it only in 2006 when Bangladeshi academician Prof. Muhammad Yunus and his brainchild Grameen Bank landed the Nobel Peace Prize. Through the microfinance revolution he
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unleashed, the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid literally went through the roof surpassing the expectations of any theorists. Muthoot Pappachan Group too has a significant microfinance arm, but their focus on the bottom of the pyramid goes much, muchback, precisely to 131 years back. The year was 1887, an eventful year throughout the world. In Germany, Gottlieb Daimler unveiled his first automobile, in what would evolve into Daimler AG the holding company of Mercedes-Benz. In France, construction of Eiffel Tower began. In Britain, Arthur Conan Doyle introduced his legendary detective character, Sherlock Holmes. In USA, the renowned National Institutes of Health was founded. And in India, young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was just months away from leaving for London for higher studies, while in Kerala, Sree Narayana Guru was just months away from consecrating the first ever temple for the so-called untouchable castes. It was in this same year that Muthoot Ninan Mathai started his modest wholesale and retail business of grains. Muthoot was his family
name, which was a traditional Orthodox Christian family based in Kozhencherry. His customers were mainly the large British owned estates in the vicinity and their workers. Anyone else would have continued with that same business line or diversified into just supplying more such goods. But Muthoot Ninan Mathai had an eye for discovering unmet needs of these workers. The same eye that appeared in Prof. Muhammad Yunus nearly hundred years later and in
THE LEADERSHIP OF ITS COMPANIES LIKE MUTHOOT FINCORP IN ITS SECTOR OF GOLD LOANS, AND THE BLISTERING GROWTH TRACK OF ITS AUTO LOAN PROVIDER MUTHOOT CAPITAL SERVICES LTD WILL HELP THE GROUP BE ON A SOUND FOOTING WHEN MUTHOOT MICROFIN, MPG'S MICROFINANCE ARM, GOES FOR ITS IPO SOON.
chroniclers of the phenomenon like Professors CK Prahalad and Stuart L Hart yet two more decades later. This eye was not just a business eye but a philanthropic eye. Like Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Muthoot Ninan Mathai was moved by the lack of savings in these poor workers. During those times banks were rare and also catered mainly to rich customers. So he pioneered a chits fund business to inculcate the savings culture in these workers. If it were just profitable eyes, rest assured these models would have failed eventually in sustainability, be it chit funds or microfinance. When Muthoot Ninan Mathai’s chit funds became a success inside the estates, he floated it for customers outside the estates and the business started growing steadily. By the 1950s it became clear to the now mature entrepreneur that yet another unmet need existed in his community of customers – lack of availability of easy credit, as banks were not serving these customers at all. Thus was born Muthoot Ninan Mathai’s second core diversification into gold loans. Soon he became the largest player in both chits and gold loans, and customers from across Kerala would come to Kozhencherry for availing these services. Muthoot Pappachan (Mathew M Thomas) was one of the four sons of the Patron Founder Muthoot Ninan Mathai. In 1979, the partition of this business family happened, 92 years after it was founded, and Muthoot Pappachan became the Founder of Muthoot Pappachan Group. Like his illustrious father, Muthoot Pappachan too had an eye for meeting the unmet needs of his customers. That is how the Group’s flagship financial services business grew from strength to strength, encompassing almost all financial services required by the unbanked customers.
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MPG’S ONLY STOCK-MARKET LISTED COMPANY, MUTHOOT CAPITAL SERVICES HAS PUT UP A BLISTERING PERFORMANCE IN RECENT QUARTERS, RIDING THE RESURGENCE IN TWO-WHEELER SALES POST THE DEMONETISATION AND GST CRISES. THE STOCK HAS MORE THAN DOUBLED DURING THE PAST 12 MONTHS, AND GROWN 8 TIMES DURING THE LAST 24 MONTHS. Under the more professional leadership of late Muthoot Pappachan’s three sons, the group went on to diversify more into the financial inclusion business including microfinance and affordable home financing. Today this three member apex team – of Thomas John Muthoot (Chairman & Managing Director), Thomas George Muthoot (Director) and Thomas Muthoot (Executive Director) – lead the 20,000 employees of the sprawling Muthoot Pappachan Group (MPG). During the last few decades, MPG also made its mark in several non-financial sectors especially automotive dealerships, hospitality and real estate development. Today, MPG is a leading sales and service partner for world renowned car brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford and Honda in various cities of Kerala, and for leading twowheeler brands including Honda, Yamaha and Vespa in the state. In hospitality, MPG owns renowned properties like Villa Maya which is a lovingly restored 18th century Dutch Manor in Trivandrum; Vivanta by Taj Green Cove at Kovalam, Trivandrum; Hilton Garden Inn in Trivandrum; and the Muthoot SkyChef, the Group’s inflight catering division of international standards. MPG’s realty division has brands like Muthoot Commerz which owns Muthoot Technopolis, a 3,55,000 sq ft, state-of-theart IT Park designed by Jurong of Singapore; Commerz Capital at Trivandrum which is a 48,000 sq ft office and commercial space; and Muthoot Commerz owns the 14th floor spanning 40,350 sq ft of the World Trade Centre at Bangalore which is now leased out to Amazon Development Centre. MPG realty division’s other brand Muthoot SEASONAL MAGAZINE
Homez has completed, ongoing and upcoming residential projects in Trivandrum’s buzzing suburbs like Sasthamangalam, Akkulam, Kowdiar and an upcoming project in the neighbouring city of Kollam. The residential division has already made a name for itself by upping the design and construction standards to new levels, rarely seen in Kerala. However, the Group’s flagship and mainstay continues to be in financial services, especially services crafted for the common man. Here it runs five companies – the largest company and gold loan major Muthoot FinCorp, the listed twowheeler loan provider Muthoot Capital Services, affordable home loan provider Muthoot Housing Finance, noted microfinance player Muthoot MicroFin and its insurance arm Muthoot Risk Insurance & Broking Services. Between them, these five companies provide a wide variety of financial services including gold loans, small business loans, chits, home loans, micro finance, two-wheeler loans, life insurance, health insurance,
MPG DIVERSIFIED FROM GOLD LOANS INTO NON-ASSET BACKED LOANS LIKE MICROFINANCE THAT SERVES CUSTOMERS WHILE THEY ARE POORER WITHOUT EVEN ENOUGH GOLD AS ASSET. AT THE SAME TIME, THE GROUP ALSO DIVERSIFIED INTO TWOWHEELER LOANS AND AFFORDABLE HOME LOANS WHICH ARE HIGHER ASSET BACKED LOANS THAN GOLD LOANS, FOR CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY BECOME MORE PROSPEROUS. general insurance, forex services, international money transfers, travel services, precious metals etc. MPG’s renewed focus on the unbanked and the common man has been beautifully captured in a new advertising campaign centred
around its new brand ambassador Vidya Balan and running along the theme, Blue Soch, meaning Blue is Belief. One strategic edge that Muthoot’s current leadership has pioneered in the industry is about meeting the lifecycle needs of the common man. MPG was synonymous with gold loan, which is a fully asset backed loan, just one or two decades back. But long years of experience serving that segment gave the Group a deeper understanding into customer needs, both on the downward curve of the lifecycle as well as its upward curve. For instance, MPG diversified from gold loans into non-asset backed loans like microfinance that serves customers while they are poorer without even enough gold as asset. At the same time, the Group also diversified into two-wheeler loans and affordable home loans which are higher asset backed loan than gold loans, for customers when they become more prosperous. Thus MPG is able to handhold the
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customer to prosperity, starting from microfinance, to gold loans, to twowheeler loans to affordable home loans and gold based MSME loans. Ease of availing these loans has been another strong selling point of the Group. Around 1 lakh common Indians - men and women - walk into
IN FINANCIAL SERVICES, MPG RUNS 5 COMPANIES, ITS LARGEST COMPANY AND GOLD LOAN MAJOR MUTHOOT FINCORP, THE LISTED TWO-WHEELER LOAN PROVIDER MUTHOOT CAPTAL SERVICES, AFFORDABLE HOME LOAN PROVIDER MUTHOOT HOUSING FINANCE, NOTED MICROFINANCE PLAYER MUTHOOT MICROFIN AND ITS INSURANCE ARM MUTHOOT RISK INSURANCE & BROKING SERVICES.
their 3600 branches across the country every day. They come for meeting their diverse financial needs from a simple gold loan to a twowheeler loan to an MSME loan. But across all these branches they get the same friendly treatment – what MPG calls the 'One Muthoot Experience'. MPG also has several innovations to its credit. Recent ones include goldbacked automotive loans, customized used car financing, tech enabled gold loans that provide 24X7 availability and a Health Guard insurance scheme for its customers. The Group continues to scout for opportunities for growth leveraging on its expertise in serving the common man. MPG has recently partnered with Central Government’s NSDC for the PMKVY program for the skill development training of 10,000 youth, and has thus become the first organization in Kerala to do so. Moving with the start-up wave in its core financial services sector, MPG has also unveiled plans to invest in the now buzzing fintech start-up space.
MPG’s only stock-market listed company, Muthoot Capital Services has put up a blistering performance in recent quarters, riding the resurgence in two-wheeler sales post the demonetisation and GST crises. The rapid growth in two-wheelers, especially scooters, and the strong presence of MCSL in the Southern States have enabled the firm to come up with admirable growth numbers in recent quarters. The stock has more than doubled during the past 12 months, and grown 8 times during the last 24 months. The Group is now diversifying to India’s Northern and North-Eastern states with good results. Muthoot Pappachan Group's focus on addressing the lifecycle needs of the common man and the unbanked, the leadership of its companies like Muthoot FinCorp in its sector of gold loans, and the blistering growth track of its auto loan provider Muthoot Capital Services Ltd will all help the Group be on a sound footing when Muthoot Microfin, MPG's microfinance arm, goes for its IPO soon. The firm has filed its DRHP with the market regulator. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
STRATEGY
FOR WINNING, IGNORE WINNING & EMBRACE PROCESS WHY WINNERS FOCUS ON BETTERING THEIR OWN PERFORMANCE AND NOT ON RELATIVE OUTCOMES WITH PEERS. n his autobiography, Bryan Cranston (Walter White of the renowned Breaking Bad) described the lesson he learned that helped him go from an average actor to an extraordinary one. Here’s what he wrote: “Early in my career, I was always hustling. Doing commercials, gueststarring, auditioning like crazy. I was making a decent living…but I felt I was stuck in junior varsity. I wondered if I had plateaued. Then, Breck Costin his mentor suggested I focus on process rather than outcome. I wasn’t going to the audition to get anything: a job or money or validation. I wasn’t going to compete. I was going to give something. I wasn’t there to get a job. I was there to do a job. I was there to give a performance. If I attached to the outcome, I was setting myself up to expect, and thus to fail. My job was to be compelling. Take some chances. Enjoy the process.” Cranston went on to say after he made this mindset shift, he felt much more relaxed and free. There was no longer any pressure, because the outcome was irrelevant. “Once I made the switch, I had power in any room I walked into,” he wrote. “Which meant I could relax. I was free.” Soon after this shift, Cranston was offered a role in the wildly popular Malcolm in the Middle, for which he was nominated for 3 Emmy awards. He is now one of the most respected and well-known actors in the world. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
What would it do for you if you could walk into any room and feel relaxed and free? How would it feel to have power in any situation you walked into? What would happen if you could live your life with no pressure, free to achieve any goal you wanted? Ordinary people focus on the outcome. But extraordinary people focus on the process. This is how they achieve such enormous goals. Pressure isn’t real? it’s just the stress you put on yourself in your head. Pressure is the result of limitations we put on ourselves to produce outcomes we don’t control. When we focus on the outcome, we begin to expect things out of our control, which sets us up for failure. Here’s a personal example. Back when I used to work as a telemarketer, I was under extreme stress every day. I was making 250+ calls a day to random strangers (most of whom had already told me “No, I don’t want to buy your products, stop calling me.”). My boss was constantly breathing down my neck, demanding to know why I hadn’t made more sales. He constantly implied he was about to fire me. After months of this, I began to believe a false reality: that I could make people buy something. If only I said the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. At least, that’s what my boss claimed. I wasn’t until nearly 2 years later I finally quit that awful job and left my manipulative boss that I realized: “That’s
ORDINARY PEOPLE FOCUS ON THE OUTCOME. BUT EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE FOCUS ON THE PROCESS.
not true. I can’t make anyone do anything.” All that pressure I had been putting on myself was imagined. I had made it all up in some sick effort to “motivate” myself. You don’t need to pressure yourself to compete, to win, to come out on top. Because the truth is, you don’t control the outcome. You don’t control anything except yourself. The only parts you truly have control over are your attitude, your
By Anthony Moore mindset, and your actions. The rest is out of your control. There’s a quote I heard in my many years of therapy and counseling: “My serenity is inversely proportional to my expectations. The higher my expectations of other people are, the lower is my serenity.” The higher your expectations for your job, the people around you, the outcome, the lower your serenity. The more you expect things to happen in ways you don’t control, the more stress and pressure you’ll experience.
your attitude, and your actions. Once you understand pressure is imagined, nothing can phase you on your path to mastery. You can achieve enormous goals with simple ease. “Ignore what other people are doing. Ignore what’s going on around you. There is no competition. There is no objective benchmark to hit. There is simply the best you can do that’s all that matters.” - Ryan Holiday “Champions aren’t made in the ring, they are merely recognized there.” -Joe Frazier, Heavyweight World Champion Anyone who relies solely on luck, talent,
THE BEST PROFESSIONALS WERE, AT ONE POINT, PRETTY BAD. EVERYTHING IS DIFFICULT BEFORE IT BECOMES EASY.
stronger, faster, more focused, and more skilled. A quote by prolific British writer Somerset Maugham comes to mind: “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” When you focus on the outcome, you stunt your growth. You lose focus on the here-and-now. True champions focus on the process. They know champions aren’t made in the ring, they’re made in the practice arena, every day for months before. The Boston Globe once studied a typical day for Olympic snowboarders. The athletes are “up at dawn, stretch, watch a video of the previous day, hit the slopes till lunch, go to class, do more conditioning, eat dinner, and then go to study hall for an hour and a half. At most, they get about an hour of ‘free time’ a day, but it’s usually used for homework.” These athletes went on to become the best in the world at their craft. They became champions long before they start their first Olympic competition; they are champions because they practiced every day. This motivation is what keeps them going through the tedious repetition, day in and day out. In Anders Ericcson’s famous book Peak: Secrets of the New Science of Expertise, Ericcson says, “At its core, practice is a lonely pursuit.” Commitment to the craft can be lonely, boring, and tedious. It often is. But this is the difference between good and bad writers, snowboarders, CEO’s, singers, and jugglers, the good ones practice consistently. They focus on the process of getting better, every single day.
This is a hard lesson. I don’t expect many people to get it right away. I’ve heard that phrase for years and still have a hard time with it. That’s OK. Fundamental mindset shifts like this take time. If it doesn’t make sense now, don’t worry about. If there’s one thing I encourage you to consider: pressure is imagined. You don’t control the outcome, so don’t even try. Instead, focus on what you can control: yourself,
The bad ones don’t. or prestige doesn’t understand this lesson, and will suffer for it. The best professionals were, at one point, pretty bad. Everything is difficult before it becomes easy. True champions, however, don’t rely on luck. They don’t wait for inspiration to train or do the work. They just do it. By focusing on the process, doing the work, day in and day out, they become
Ordinary people focus on the outcome. Extraordinary people focus on what they can control, the process. “Every day, check these 4 boxes: Have I improved 1% on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health?” -James Altucher “Many people think in terms of ‘I have to do what my colleague/neighbor/ family member is doing’ instead of ‘I SEASONAL MAGAZINE
have to do what’s best for me.” - Grant Cardone Many people are at their jobs today with one goal: to beat the other guy. Maybe it’s to beat the competition. Maybe it’s to beat your cubicle-mate Richard for the promotion. Maybe it’s to beat your boss’ low expectations of you. Maybe it’s to beat your more successful sibling. Maybe it’s to have something cool to say when your high school reunion comes around. Very few people are focused on winning the only game worth winning: beating your former self. Ernest Hemingway once wrote: “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.” When you focus on the outcome, you prevent yourself from fully immersing in the process, studying your craft, honing your skills, perfecting your form. If all you want to do is beat the other guy, you allow yourself only a fraction of your abilities. This was me for a long time. In middle school, I wanted to beat every other guy in the race for cutie Kimberly Romero’s affection (I didn’t win). In high school, all I wanted to do was beat Bryan Cardoza for the starting spot on the basketball team (I never did). In college, I wanted to graduate faster than my sister. (We graduated at the same time.) But focusing on the outcome meant I rarely honed my craft. I almost never
Bryan Cranston stuck my head down and just worked. I was always thinking of what “the other guy” was doing. I was more focused on how much better everyone else looked than how I was actually progressing. Last year, I finally started focusing entirely on the process: my writing. I stopped jealously looking at other writers and their followings. I stopped looking at my page views and just wrote. I wrote every day for a month. I studied top-tier writers, their word counts, quotes-per-article, headline, article structure, etc. I became a student of my craft. I became a fanatical learner. That’s when my writing quality actually increased from mediocre to decent. People started reading my stuff regularly. I got followers. Soon, I was getting
THIS WAS ONLY POSSIBLE BECAUSE I STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT THE OUTCOME, AND TURNED ALL MY FOCUS TOWARDS THE PROCESS.
Money Can Make You Sick A trade body has cried out what cashiers always suspected. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Government of India to investigate if diseases are being spread through currency notes. CAIT's Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal has cited a 2015 study by Government's top autonomous institute Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The study has found traces of DNA footprints of at least 78 disease-causing micro-organisms on these notes, though not all of them on a single one. Most of them were fungi, but there were also bacteria that can cause dysentery, tuberculosis and ulcers the study implies is that currency notes often act as carriers of these micro-organisms and can spread microbial diseases.
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1000’s of subscribers every month. I started averaging 10,000’s of views each month. Then 100,000+ every month. It’s been steady ever since. This was only possible because I stopped worrying about the outcome, and turned all my focus towards the process. This is why most people won’t achieve their goals, because they are too focused on beating the competition instead of actually working to hone their craft and become elite at what they do. If this is you, it’s OK. We’ve all been there. But it’s up to you to shift your attention away from others and focus entirely on the only thing that truly matters: being a better you than you were yesterday. It’s way easier to focus on the outcome. It’s easier. It’s familiar. Everyone knows how to do it. It’s much harder to ignore the competition, keep your nerve, and stare in the face of possible failure as you work on yourself. But the outcome is out of your control. As long as that’s your focus, you’ll continue to waste precious energy on an outcome you can’t control. This is why most people will fall short on their dreams; they’re too exhausted from trying to look better than the other guy. Their focus is on the wrong priority. It’s not easy. But when you choose to focus on the process, your attitude, your actions, your mindset, you shift your focus onto the things you can control. That’s what will upgrade you from ordinary to extraordinary.
POLITICS
CONGRESS AND BJP ARE WOOING ALL, MISSING MOST As 2019 polls loom, Congress is wooing back upper castes and dalits, while BJP walks a tightrope to keep its core base happy. here is growing anger among the upper castes who feel they are being neglected by the BJP despite their enduring loyalty to the party. As the next Lok Sabha election draws close, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have ramped up their efforts to maximise their reach and expand their sphere of influence. However, this competition has also brought to the fore the inherent contradictions in attempting to please all. Both the BJP and the Congress will have to do a fine balancing act as they seek to retain the loyalty of their core voters while adding new groups to their list of supporters. In this process, the BJP finds itself in the firing line of its time-tested loyal supporters – the upper castes – who are upset with the saffron party’s outreach to the backward classes and the Scheduled Castes. The Congress, on the other hand, is making a conscious effort to shed the tag of being a “Muslim party” by making overtures to both the upper castes and the Dalits, who once constituted its core support base. In both cases, there is an inherent assumption that the two parties can afford to overlook their traditional supporters who will not desert them for lack of options. For instance, the SEASONAL MAGAZINE
Congress has not actively pursued the minorities in recent months as it believes they have no choice but to back it or the anti-BJP regional parties to keep the saffron party at bay. Similarly, the strenuous efforts made by the BJP to win over the Dalits and backward classes is also based on the belief that that despite their anger and unhappiness, the upper castes will not desert it. If the BJP is caught in a bind over the protests by upper castes, the Congress is also being forced to tread carefully. On one hand, it has been consistently speaking up for Dalits and, on the other hand, it is also reaching out to the upper castes in a bid to reconstruct its traditional support base of Brahmins,
Dalits, and minorities. The party’s dilemma was evident from Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi’s carefully crafted response when questioned about the ongoing protests by upper castes against reservations in promotions and the Narendra Modi government’s decision to overturn the Supreme Court’s order, from March, in which it diluted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. While glossing over the party’s stand on the issues raised by the protesting upper castes, Singhvi instead blamed their agitation on the Modi government’s failed policies. Singhvi said that it is not
just the upper castes but every segment of society, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and the poor, that is seething with anger at being let down by Modi’s promise of development with all and for all. Singhvi said: “If there is a huge amount of anger, huge amount of feeling of trust deficit, of being insulted on account of an absolutely failed economic system,
woo upper castes, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been making highly publicised visits to Hindu temples – he is currently on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage – and has declared himself to be a devotee of Shiva to reclaim his Hindu identity. Last year, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had gone as far as to describe Gandhi as a “janaeu dhari Brahmin.” Further playing the Hindu card, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath has announced that the party will open gaushalas in every district if it is voted to power, while party spokesperson Manish Tewari defended this announcement saying that it was the Congress that had enacted laws banning cow slaughter in the several states in the first place.
THE BJP MADE ITS INTENT CLEAR SOON AFTER IT CAME TO POWER IN 2014 WHEN IT APPROPRIATED BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR’S LEGACY BY ORGANISING A SERIES OF PROGRAMMES IN HIS MEMORY. one of the most shocking levels of unemployment, a distorted and badly applied GST [Goods and Services Tax], scams like Rafale, SMEs tottering under unbearable weight etc then I think an egotistic dictatorial ‘Modi sarkar’ has a lot to answer from every segment of society including each of the above categories.” It is clear that the Congress does not want to be seen to be taking sides here. In fact, it would possibly like to use this opportunity to wean away the upper castes from the BJP just as it is seeking to take advantage of the building resentment among Dalits following a series of attacks on them in BJP-ruled states. As part of this ongoing effort to
At the same time, Surjewala told a Brahmin seminar in Kurukshetra, Haryana, on Wednesday that the “Indian National Congress is that party in whose blood Brahmin Samaj’s DNA is present”. He promised that the Congress would set up a Brahmin Kalyan Board to provide loans and scholarships to “needy Brahmin youths” and provide 10% quota for the poor members of the community. Like the Congress, the BJP is also struggling. Known as a “Brahmin-baniya” party, the BJP has, over the years, resorted to social engineering to expand its base by coopting the other backward classes. Initiated in the nineties, the experiment helped the BJP to increase its tally substantially, especially in Uttar Pradesh. However, the BJP frittered away this advantage as the upper castes retained control of the party till Narendra Modi, a backward class leader, arrived on the national scene. Since then, the BJP has run an aggressive campaign to consolidate the support of the backward classes in its favour, especially the nonYadav backwards, and the Scheduled Castes. The BJP made its intent clear soon after it came to power in 2014 when it appropriated Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy by organising a series of
programmes in his memory. The party stepped up these efforts when it found itself on the back foot following a series of attacks on Dalits in BJP-ruled states. When it recently faced angry protests by Dalit groups over the Supreme Court’s order diluting the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in March, the Modi government rushed to mollify them by bringing in a Constitution amendment bill, in August, to restore the original provisions. The upshot of these measures is growing anger among the upper castes who feel they are being neglected by the BJP despite their enduring loyalty to the party. Although simmering for some time now, it is now out in the open as upper caste groups have taken to the streets. There have been several agitations in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh over the past few days. On Thursday, the state government imposed prohibitory orders in four districts after several organisations called for a shutdown. The protestors are demanding that the Supreme Court order on the Atrocities Act be restored and that the policy of reservation in promotions be done away with. Predictably, these developments have worried the BJP top leadership but there has been no word, so far, on how it plans to placate its angry upper caste supporters without alienating the Scheduled Castes. The party is hoping that the elaborate asthi Kalash yatras for the immersion of the ashes of the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and other events being organised in his memory, will tone down the anger among the upper castes, especially the Brahmins. However, there is a sizeable number of sceptics in the Congress and the BJP who are not convinced that the steps being undertaken by their respective parties will make an impact. They believe these measures are, at best, mere tokenism and that the upper castes can only be appeased if they are accommodated in positions of power at all levels by the two parties.
(Anita Katyal for Scroll) SEASONAL MAGAZINE
HEALTH
AND YOU THOUGHT THESE WERE ALL GOOD FOR YOU? orrect eating helps maintain our hormonal balance. Many foods affect our hormones positively and incorporating them into the diet is one of the easiest ways to achieve balance," says Dr Sheilja Singh, consultant internal medicine, Hinduja Healthcare Surgical, Mumbai. "Likewise, certain foods potentially contribute to hormonal woes like bloating, fatigue, hair loss and even infertility." It's common knowledge that consuming too much alcohol, sugar and caffeine will get you into trouble with your nutritionist. But introducing superfoods like avocados, Brazil nuts and dark chocolate as well as antioxidant-rich green tea into your diet will help boost your hormonal health. Take a look at 10 foods that affect your hormonal balance:
FIND OUT WHETHER THESE COMMON FOODS ARE GOOD OR BAD FOR YOUR HORMONES.
Cinnamon
Dark chocolate
Green tea
The humble spice is a common fixture in most Indian kitchens. "It keeps insulin levels under control, and helps lower blood sugar levels, increases lean body mass and reduces PMS symptoms," Dr Singh says.
"It reduces levels of cortisol, a hormone released by the adrenal glands during stress," she says. But before you go ahead and treat yourself to a large bar — because you're obviously stressed, duh — remember that like all delicious things in life, moderation is key.
Ever had a cup of green tea and felt refreshed? "That's because green tea helps raise levels of epinephrine, a hormone that can provide extra energy in times of stress," she says.
Alcohol Much as we love sipping on wine (and stronger spirits, honestly), it opens up a Pandora's Box of chaos in the body. "It not only affects our body’s production of sugar-controlling insulin, but also hampers sexual hormones. It lowers testosterone levels in men and causes menstrual irregularity in women," she says. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
Brazil nuts
Sugar
Eggs
If you, like us, can't resist a slice of cake, but go back for a second helping, keep this in mind: "Our cells store sugar as glycogen, which we can use for energy later. When we eat sugar, the hormone insulin helps transport sugar out of our blood into our cells. However, the excessive sugar is stored as fat, which leads to weight gain and puts us at risk for Type 2 diabetes," cautions Dr Singh.
Make an omelette for breakfast tomorrow because according to Dr Singh, eggs help stabilise blood sugar levels, contain a good deal of vitamin D and promote bone health.
Avocado
Soy
Coffee
This superfood is a millennial favourite for good reason. "Avocado is high in heart-healthy fats and helps maintain normal cholesterol levels," says Dr Singh. It falls under the category of monosaturated fats AKA the good fats that help lower cholesterol. If your cholesterol levels shoot up, so does your risk of heart disease. So, go ahead and order that avocado toast.
"Much of the debate around soy is about phyto-estrogens, which are plant compounds that act similarly to the hormone estrogen. Though they may be useful to replace estrogen during menopause, they may influence testosterone and thyroid hormones adversely," says Dr Singh.
Sorry to break your coffee-loving hearts but all that caffeine you're consuming is causing your body to boost production of cortisol, the number one stress hormone. "Variation in cortisol levels disturbs the immune function, causes sleep problems, poor sugar regulation, weight fluctuations and even feelings of anxiety or depression," she says. To avoid fluctuations, limit your coffee indulgence to one cup in the morning.
"The nutrient-rich nuts are one of the best sources of selenium, a mineral that plays an essential role in the smooth functioning of the thyroid," she says.
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INNOVATION
HAIL AN AIR TAXI
UBER ELEVATE WANTS A SMOOTH LANDING IN INDIA, BUT WILL THE GOVERNMENT ALLOW THE TAKE-OFF OF THIS AIR-TAXI HAILING SERVICE? crack the code on creating a cheap, long-lasting, quickcharging battery that is powerful enough to run these commercial rides.
ecently, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company said it has shortlisted five countries, besides the US, to launch its air taxis: Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, and France. “Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore are some of the most congested cities in the world, where traveling even a few kilometres can take over an hour,” Uber said in a press release. “Uber Air offers tremendous potential to help create a transportation option that goes over congestion, instead of adding to it.” Elevate, the company’s aerial taxi play, will let passengers take small aircraft rides with vertical takeoff and landing. Uber plans to launch air taxis in Dallas, Los Angeles, and one international destination by 2023. Experts believe Indian cities’ mounting road traffic woes make the country a perfect market for Elevate. To begin with, Uber’s options were limited, said Yugal Joshi, vice -president at Texas-based consultancy Everest Group. It has been ousted from China and several southeast Asian nations. It is also facing serious challenges in Europe. India is now its biggest market outside the US. “The ideal launch city for an urban air taxi is a dense metropolitan area where traffic congestion can mean that even distances of 10-15 kilometres can take an hour. Indian cities qualify quite well,” according to Kartik Hosanagar, professor of technology and digital business at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Traffic congestion costs major Indian cities Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru Rs1.5 lakh crore ($21 billion) each year. Since air taxis will work node-to-node instead of point-to-point, “good use cases might be taking people to airports or industrial complexes in the outskirts of the city,” Hosanagar said. With Uber’s air taxis SEASONAL MAGAZINE
traveling 150-200 miles per hour, long rides by road can be reduced to just a few minutes 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the ground. Already, such a service has existed in Bengaluru since March this year, with helicopters slicing the two-hour road commute between Electronic City and Kempegowda International Airport to a mere 15 minutes for Rs4,130 per person. A similar heli-taxi service cut down the four-hour Chandigarh-Shimla journey, too, to just 20 minutes by air. So, there is clearly a growing appetite for it. However, Hosanagar and Joshi both agree this isn’t a mass-market offering. “To begin with, high-income people will be the target,” Joshi said. “The eventual segment will depend on pricing and Uber will surely leverage off-peak time to provide these at lower costs to incentivise consumer adoption.” The short-term fares are likely to be around Rs 200 per kilometre. Uber believes this could fall to Rs 50. While there’s much hoopla around Uber’s announcement, the optimism around its feasibility in India runs low. Uber Elevate plans are already underway in the US but India is a much tougher market to crack. For one, there are the infrastructural woes. Considering the aerial vehicles will be 100% electric, India will need a robust electrical grid and a suite of batterycharging locations. Uber itself is yet to
And in theory, Uber’s air taxis would take off from its own sky ports built atop high rise buildings. Constructing a vast network of these stations of sorts will likely be a herculean task in a country where bridges take 20 years to build. Even once the aircraft land in each port, commuters need to be able to connect to their destination via public transit, ridesharing, or bike-share, if not walking. India’s public transport system is in dire need of a makeover. Then there are the regulatory and bureaucratic barriers involving approvals, land acquisition, and legal challenges, Joshi warns. Identifying vehicle manufacturers, real estate developers, technology developers, and others to partner with could prove difficult, too. Moreover, there’s a nagging concern that Uber is spreading itself too thin. “These weird services indicate the company is getting into a vanity trap and ego journey of introducing concepts that create market buzz without possibly a strong business case,” Joshi added. “This possibly indicates that the company is running out of ideas to transform its core (taxi) business and put its house in order. Instead, it’s getting attracted to such unwanted services.” The Uber CEO sees it differently, though. “For me, the ‘aha!’ moment came when I started understanding that Uber isn’t just about cars,” Dara Khosrowshahi said during the Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles in May this year. “Ultimately, where we want to go is about urban mobility and urban transport, and being a solution for the cities in which we operate.”
HIGHER EDUCATION
SYMBIOSIS SKILLS & OPEN UNIVERSITY
MAHARASHTRA’S FIRST SKILLS UNIVERSITY IS BREAKING NEW GROUND IN EMPLOYABILITY
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Symbiosis International is one of the oldest deemed universities in the private sector, with its roots travelling back to decades. Last year, Symbiosis scion Dr. Swati Mujumdar established the new Symbiosis Skills & Open University (SSOU) at Pune. Educated and experienced in USA, Dr. Swati is breaking new ground in employability of its students by offering degree, diploma and certificate courses in buzzing sectors like automotive, construction, mechatronics, architecture, retail, ports & terminal management, beauty & wellness and more, to formal students and informally trained workers who might have dropped out of school earlier.
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leadership doesn’t happen overnight or by luck, it is all the more so in the higher education sector. It demands a vision that is multitimes larger than that of peers and sheer persistence and hard work to see it through. Dr. SB Mujumdar has been such a visionary who dreamed of creating ‘Symbiosis Village’ where students from all walks of life and ethnicity would co-exist, more than half a century back. Back then a professor at Pune’s famed Ferguson College, Dr. Mujumdar also had the gumption to execute his lofty vision which became Symbiosis International, one of India’s oldest deemed universities in the private sector. If he could guided tens of thousands of students from all over the world and from all parts of India properly, it is no wonder that he could guide his daughters too to exemplary achievements. Today, his elder daughter Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar leads Symbiosis International as its Pro Chancellor and his younger daughter Dr. Swati Mujumdar leads Symbiosis Skills & Open University (SSOU), which is Maharashtra’s first and one of India’s pioneering skills university. According to Dr. SB Mujumdar, “India is enjoying a historic opportunity of demographic dividend and we must provide skills to our youth to enable our country to reap its benefits. In order to achieve this, our Hon’ble Prime Minister has given us a clarion call of 'Skill India' and Symbiosis has taken a lead by establishing India’s first residential Skill Development University. Based on the German model, this University is a pioneer in the field of Skills education and shall contribute to the socio-economic growth of our nation. I am confident that students seeking gainful employment and entrepreneurship will be immensely benefited.” Pro Chancellor Dr. Swati took her degree of Bachelor of Computer Science from Ferguson College, Pune; her MBA in IT from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management; and her Masters in Computer Science from Ball State University, Indiana, USA. Dr. Swati has also done her PhD in Vocational Education & Skill Development. She worked in USA for over 12 years with
If
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"The demand for B.Tech in Mechatronics & Automobile, B.Arch. & BBA in Ports & Terminal has been higher than our expectation. We are the only University in India to offer a B.Sc in Beauty & Wellness. This degree program has been well received in the market & we have seen admissions coming from all parts of the country."
some of the leading ICT companies including Nortel Networks, CISCO and EDS. Starting from 2001, she was Director of the distance education arm of Symbiosis called Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, which she made into a huge success. Today, the Centre imparts distance education to lakhs of students from across the world. An acknowledged expert in the field of skills or vocational training, Dr. Swati Mujumdar was the Chairperson of an 11- member Committee constituted by the Government of Maharashtra for formulating the vocational education policy for the State. Today, as the Pro Chancellor of the newly constituted SSOU, she directs a huge operation that imparts skills based training in promising areas like Automotive, Construction, Mechatronics, Architecture, Retail, Ports & Terminal Management, Beauty & Wellness etc. According to Dr. Swati Mujumdar, "Today, there is a huge requirement of skilled manpower in the industry. But at the same time, students completing graduation from conventional universities are unable to find jobs due to lack of skills as per industry needs. To bridge this gap the newly established Symbiosis Skills and Open University will offer degree programs as well as SEASONAL MAGAZINE
short term courses at all levels in high growth sectors. We have entered into collaborations with top industries in high growth areas. The curriculum has been designed by industry partners. We are also providing high end skill training labs & workshops with specialized machinery for hands-on training. Industry partners are setting up retail store, mock bank, finance plaza & automobile training facility for providing real life experience to students. I am confident that this unique skills & open university model & state of the art infrastructure supported by expert faculty will create a world-class experience for students leading to gainful employment & entrepreneurship.” One year into the operation of this new private university, certain courses have proved to have stronger than expected demand like the BTech courses in certain industry-ready domains. While currently SSOU is focusing mainly on skills development, the young university has ambitious plans for open and distance learning programs by leveraging technology like video conferencing classes. This is definitely destined to be a success given the expertise of Symbiosis and Dr. Swati in delivering distance education
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courses for many years now. SSOU has pioneered the world-class multi entry/ exit and credit banking options for the convenience of students who can carry on studies at their convenient schedules. The exclusively modular nature of the courses offered by SSOU has enabled the university to implement such international norms. While the university is not enjoying any government grants currently, and has been set up solely by funds from Symbiosis Group, the university is now scouting for opportunities to establish Centres of Excellence with the help of industry partners. Being set up as a
"Dr SB Mujumdar has always been a constant source of inspiration for me. He is a visionary, who dreamed of creating ‘Symbiosis Village’ where students from all walks of life and ethnicity would co-exist almost 50 years ago."
private university under a legislation by Government of Maharashtra, SSOU can offer even conventional courses but for the present Dr. Swati is more focused on offering only courses at various tiers that promote skill development in students. A noble ambition while setting up SSOU has been that it would welcome school dropouts, farmers, informally trained workers etc. Admirably, these segments have warmed up to SSOU’s welcome for the certificate and diploma courses and the university is now hoping that government would soon announce equivalence for prior work experience for enabling the same for degree courses. With the international background of Symbiosis Group and as someone who has worked in developed economies, Dr. Swati Mujumdar has implemented many international practices in vocational training at SSOU.
Seasonal Magazine in conversation with Dr. Swati Mujumdar, Pro-Chancellor, Symbiosis Skills & Open University: Your skills based training is mainly in promising areas like Automotive, Construction, Mechatronics, Architecture, Retail, Ports &
"IN NEXT 5 YEARS, THERE SHALL BE CLOSE TO 5000 STUDENTS ON CAMPUS. THE PLACEMENTS HAVE BEEN GOOD FOR OUR CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS. AS THE STUDENTS ARE TRAINED ON SPECIFIC SKILLS REQUIRED BY THE INDUSTRY, OUR STUDENTS FIND JOBS IMMEDIATELY ON COMPLETION OF THEIR PROGRAMS."
Terminal Management, Beauty & Wellness etc. One year into your operation, which all of these sectors have proved to have stronger than expected demand? Before launching the Programs in the above mentioned high growth sectors, we did detailed market research to identify the job roles in demand in our State. The degree programs offered in Automobile, Construction, Mechatronics, Architecture, Retail, Ports & Terminal Management, and Beauty & Wellness are mapped to these high demand job roles and skill needs of the industry. Thus, the response to all the sectors has been very good. The demand for B.Tech in Mechatronics & Automobile, B.Arch. & BBA in Ports & Terminal has been higher than our expectation. We are the only University in India to offer a B.Sc in Beauty & Wellness. This degree program has been well received in the market & we have seen admissions coming from all parts of the country.
SSOU is both a skills and Open University. Can you start by describing your open courses and Open University features? Presently, SSOU is offering only skill development courses in face to face model. However, in the future we plan to offer several distance learning courses as well. Through its Open & distance learning programs, the University aims at reaching the unreached and providing educational opportunities to students from all strata of society and to those located in remote corners. One of the unique features of Open education is its ability to provide continuing education and lifelong learning opportunities to students with the facility to study from anywhere at any time. The university promises multi entry/ exit and credit banking options. Can you explain these features and how it would help your students?
Multi entry/exit provides student the option to exit a program at any level with a skill certification. For example, a student enrolled in our BBA / B.Sc program can exit after first year with a Diploma & exit at second year with an advance diploma. The student can also come back to the University, after a break and continue his/her education. This provides students with flexible learning pathways and a choice to pursue their dreams as per their own pace, time and financial status. All courses offered by the University are modular in nature. Credit banking and transfer system allows students to enroll for certificate, diploma or degree courses/programs & utilize credits earned from earlier courses taken at the University. For such credit transfer they get exemption from respective courses. Credit Banking & Transfer system encourages life-long learning in students and enables multi-entry & exit. SSOU is the only University in India, to provide credit banking facility to its SEASONAL MAGAZINE
students. This enables students, who have to quit their studies due to financial constraints, come back to the University at any time to complete their education. Being set up under a Central Government program for skills development, does SSOU enjoy any kind of one-time or ongoing grants for the land, infrastructure or running of the university from Central or State Governments? SSOU has not received any grants from the Govt. We have recommended to the Govt. to explore the possibility of setting up Centres of Excellence on Skill university campuses in PPP model with the industry. Being constituted as a private university in Maharashtra, can SSOU also offer conventional degrees and postgraduate programs? The University can offer all types of courses from degree to PhD level. However, being a Skills University, we shall only offer certificate, diploma & degree programs that are sectoral and skill based in nature, aligned to the needs of the industry. Our teaching learning pedagogy also focuses on hands on practical training, which is different from conventional system of education. The practical component in each program is 70% and theory component 30%. The curricula itself is designed be to competency based, with clearly defined learning outcomes. A possible concern for students while enrolling at an open university is whether certificates, diplomas and degrees from such universities would be honoured by other universities and institutions for the purpose of higher studies. How are you addressing this concern? All Open & distance learning programs are considered equivalent to SEASONAL MAGAZINE
conventional degree programs for purposes of higher studies as well as Govt. employment. This parity has been created by the Central Govt. and UGC has issued a notification to this effect. Therefore, students need not worry about the status of their degrees offered by any Open University, approved by UGC. A noble ambition while setting up SSOU was that it would welcome school dropouts, farmers, informally trained workers etc. Has these segments warmed up to your welcome, and what percentage of your students are from these sectors? As part of my research in the area of vocational education & skill development, I had identified a large section of the informally trained workforce as well as over 4 lakh vocational students in Maharashtra, who would benefit from a Skills University. SSOU has set up a Department for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to recognize prior achievement and acquisition of skills by such students, even if they do not have any formal qualification. Bridge courses are provided to map the skill gaps and enable students to get admission to various courses at the University, thereby providing vertical mobility opportunity. The recognition of prior learning scheme has been especially useful for the informally trained workers as it has enabled them to enter the education mainstream. We have received a good response to our certificate & diploma programs from this target group. However, for entry of informal sector into degree programs, the Govt will have to create equivalency and relax their eligibility norms for such students. I have given recommendations to both Central & State Govt. for allowing such students to seek admission in degree programs. Do you currently offer or are you planning to offer any correspondence courses or distance education leveraging technology like video conferencing classes?
SSOU will offer several distance learning programs in the future. Currently, we are offering several PG level programs under the Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, by leveraging latest technologies. We have a student strength of over a lakh, not only from all States of India but also from 42 different countries. We shall adopt similar technologies for SSOU ODL courses. As someone who has worked in developed economies and with the international background of Symbiosis, can you explain some international practices in vocational training that has been implemented in SSOU? I have studied several skill development models from Australia, UK, Sri Lanka, Germany, Korea etc. Based on their best practices, I have developed a unique model of Skill Development University relevant to the socio-economic conditions of our country and our ethos. Some of the best practices adopted in this model include industry participation in curricula development, training and assessment of students, teaching learning pedagogy focusing on hands of training, assessment models based on competency mapping and outcomes of learning. SSOU has set up Centres of Excellence in collaboration with Industries such as SKF, Daikin, Enrich Salons etc. for hands on training of students. Another unique feature of the University are the learning factories set up to provide experiential learning to students through real life exposure to same machinery, environment and processes, used in the industry. What is the current intake capacity of SSOU, your current student strength and your growth projections for the next few years? How has been the placement for certificate courses? The intake capacity varies from program to program. We have close to 900 students studying in various
"I have studied several skill development models from Australia, UK, Sri Lanka, Germany, Korea etc. Based on their best practices, I have developed a unique model of Skill Development University relevant to the socioeconomic conditions of our country and our ethos."
certificate, diploma & degree programs at the University. In next 5 years, there shall be close to 5000 students on campus. The placements have been good for our certificate programs. As the students are trained on specific skills required by the industry, our students find jobs immediately on completion of their programs. We also provide life coping skills & entrepreneurial skills as part of all our certificate programs. This has enabled a few of our students to start their own ventures. Can you tell us brief details about your academic and professional background in India and USA before taking up this assignment? After obtaining a degree of Bachelor of Computer Science from one of the most prestigious colleges of India,
Ferguson College, Pune, I completed an M.B.A. in IT from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management. I then went on to obtain my Master’s in Computer Science from Ball State University, Indiana, USA. I have received my PhD in Vocational Education & Skill Development. I was in USA for over 12 years working in some of the leading ICT companies such as Nortel Networks, CISCO, EDS etc. In 2001, I joined as the Director of the distance education arm of Symbiosis called Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, which today imparts distance education to lakhs of students. I was the Chairperson of an 11- member Committee constituted by the Government of Maharashtra for formulating the vocational education policy for the State. You have an illustrious edupreneur
in your father to back your initiatives. How far has his vision and experience given you a jumpstart in SSOU? Dr S.B Mujumdar has always been a constant source of inspiration for me. He is a visionary, who dreamed of creating ‘Symbiosis Village’ where students from all walks of life and ethnicity would co-exist almost 50 years ago! His dream came true with establishment of Symbiosis International University. He has given me the courage to follow my dream of creating a ‘skills eco-system’ where students irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, socio-economic background will be able to acquire skills and pursue their chosen vocations. He has mentored and guided me throughout this skills journey and continues to provide his valuable insights, every step of the way. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
OPINION
HOW TRUE IS BJP TO VAJPAYEE'S LEGACY, TODAY? VAJPAYEE’S LEGACY HAS BEEN LOST IN BJP'S CURRENT DISPENSATION WHERE THE SPACE FOR THE LIBERAL HINDU IS SHRINKING FAST.
n the last month the ruling BJP has made every effort to make sure that memorials of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are raised to the same heights as Nehru-Gandhi memorials once were. From planning museums and statues, to the wellpublicised Asthi Kalash Yatra or carrying Vajpayee’s ashes across the country, there are also plans to rename towns and roads after Vajpayee. The sendoff to Vajpayee was marked with the ultimate symbolism of homage when Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked behind Vajpayee’s hearse all the way from party headquarters to the funeral venue. But beyond the symbolism, has BJP in its 21st century avatar truly embraced the plural impulses of a prime minister who, even while remaining rooted in the RSS-Jana Sangh movement as a proud swayamsevak, tried to create (in however patchy a fashion) a political identity for the Hindu liberal? A ‘what if’ may be interesting here. What if Vajpayee had not lost the elections of 2004? In his first term, as
Vajpayee sought to dilute the Hindu rashtra by reaching out to the ‘other’ be it Kashmiris or Pakistan. But for the Vajpayee liberal Hindu moment to be truly successful, it needed a second term.
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By Sagarika Ghose his critics accuse, he spoke of ‘rajdharma’ but chose at critical junctures to prefer compromise over conscience: Gujarat 2002 being the example. But if Vajpayee had won in 2004, his political stock may have been far stronger than in 1999 and perhaps he could have moved to quell Hindutva hardliners and strengthened BJP’s push for a modern liberal identity. At the moment, Vajpayee’s achievements are being used by those forces within the Hindutva movement, whom the former PM had once tried to counter. Vajpayee’s counterattack was unobtrusive, conveyed through a mix of enigmatic poetry and rapid moves on economic reforms. Yet for all his perceived ‘weakness’, Vajpayee clashed repeatedly with then RSS sarsanghchalak KS Sudarshan and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, by refusing to let the sangh call the shots on economic and cultural issues. Vajpayee sought to dilute the Hindu rashtra by reaching out to the ‘other’ be it Kashmiris or Pakistan. But for the Vajpayee liberal Hindu moment to be truly successful, it needed a second term. Right of centre political movements across the world are increasingly shifting towards the extreme. Even in the welfare state of Sweden where elections are due, the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party tied to neo Nazi ideas is growing. Conventional right wing movements are getting outflanked by nationalist, populist and exclusionary agendas. Rightist parties are thus seeking to adopt extreme causes as smart strategy: the anti-immigrant or anti-minorities ‘nationalist’ battle cry is seen to deliver more votes than ‘normal’ right wing positions. But in Vajpayee’s time the wide alliances that BJP was able to craft served to locate the party on a centrist line. Today, without the need to appeal to a wider coalition, the right wing agenda is getting drawn inexorably towards extremist slogans which galvanise foot soldiers and excite angry voters. Here are some questions that the party needs to ask itself if it truly wants to honour Vajpayee’s legacy beyond
VAJPAYEE REPRESENTED BJP’S MODERN MOMENT WHEN HE TRIED TO NUDGE THE PARTY TOWARDS A FUZZY ILL-DEFINED CENTRE, BREAKING AWAY FROM DOGMATISM AND TRYING TO APPEAL TO A WIDER CONSTITUENCY. building statues and renaming roads. Would Vajpayee have felt the need to rename Mughalsarai Station as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction or rename Aurangzeb Road? Would Vajpayee have tried to change Christmas (his own birthday) into Good Governance Day or rejected participating in iftaar parties? Would Vajpayee, a non-vegetarian in his food habits, have pushed for beef ban diktats? Would he have allowed Union ministers to use language like “ramzadon” and “haramzadon” or allowed them to threaten “go to Pakistan” or allowed them to garland those convicted for lynching? Would Vajpayee have dubbed his critics anti-national? Would Vajpayee have allowed gau rakshaks to feel empowered enough to have a licence to kill, or indeed allowed mobs acting in the name of love jihad or moral policing to get away without a strong note of disapproval? Would Vajpayee, the quintessential parliamentarian, have allowed the cut and thrust of legislative debate to be constricted by the brute strength of treasury bench numbers? A modern identity will continue to elude
To win in 2004, Vajpayee needed to win over the swing voters, or the middle of the roaders who were most offended by the Gujarat riots.
BJP as long as it is dependent and unwilling to face up to those within its ranks who seek to establish a puritanical ideologically driven Hindutva state. In Bengal, the Left aristocracy eventually had to pay for the depredations of its cadres at the grassroots. Vajpayee failed to win in 2004 because although for a brief period his leadership cult towered over RSS, he gave up trying to reshape the organisation post 2002, perhaps realising that he didn’t have the capacity or the resolve to stand up to his detractors in the sangh. To win in 2004, Vajpayee needed to win over the swing voters, or the middle of the roaders who were most offended by the Gujarat riots. To do so he would have needed to practice his rajdharma as an inclusive model of governance instead of just preaching it. If he had still won, his rajdharma may have gained more heft. But history denied BJP and Vajpayee this opportunity. Vajpayee represented BJP’s modern moment when he tried to nudge the party towards a fuzzy ill-defined centre, breaking away from dogmatism and trying to appeal to a wider constituency. But however much today’s BJP may mourn his passing, the rise of the party’s 21st century aggressively muscular avatar is a defeat for Vajpayee. The question can be asked, if the former PM had been alive and well, would he have been a member of BJP’s margdarshak mandal, confined to the margins of public life as his lifelong comrade LK Advani is? The valourisation and deification of Vajpayee in death is in stark contrast to the diminishing value of his true legacy within his own party. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
INNOVATION
READY FOR THIS? SUICIDE DETECTOR VERSION 1.0 Scientists write a complex artificial intelligence based software that can take common medical and other inputs from a person and predict with 84% accuracy whether they will attempt suicide very soon.
patient goes into the emergency room for a broken toe, is given a series of standardized tests, has their data fed into an algorithm, and—though they haven’t mentioned feeling depressed or having any suicidal thoughts—the machine identifies them as at high risk of suicide in the next week. Though the patient didn’t ask for help, medical professionals must now broach the subject of suicide and find some way of intervening. This scenario, where an actionable diagnosis comes not from a doctor’s evaluation or family member’s concern, but an algorithm, is an imminent reality. Last year, data scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, created a machine-learning algorithm (paywall) that uses hospital-admissions data, including age, gender, zip code, medication, and diagnostic history, to predict the likelihood of any given individual taking their own life. In trials using data gathered from more than 5,000 patients who had been admitted to the hospital for either self-harm or suicide attempts, the algorithm was 84% accurate at predicting whether someone would attempt suicide in the next week, and 80% accurate at predicting whether someone would attempt suicide within the next two years. Colin Walsh, the Vanderbilt data scientist who led the project, wants to see this SEASONAL MAGAZINE
algorithm put to widespread use. Currently, most people in the US are only assessed for suicide risk when they actively seek psychiatric help, or exhibit clear-cut symptoms such as self-harm. Walsh hopes his algorithm will one day be applied in all medical settings, in order to catch depressive behavior early on, and give doctors the ability to proactively offer care to those who haven’t yet asked for it or shown obvious symptoms. He’s not the only one interested in algorithms’ ability to predict suicide risk. Facebook has also developed patternrecognition algorithms that will monitor users’ posts for risk of suicide or harm, and connect them with mental health services if necessary. The two projects rely on different data: Walsh has access to actual medical records, versus Facebook’s reliance on social media activity. Walsh’s project is also crucially different in that, by integrating with the US medical system, it opens up far more possibilities for how to respond to risk. At most, Facebook can put people in touch with mental health services, whereas doctors already have patients within their care and can offer an array of interventions and treatment programs. “We know we won’t get it right the first time.” Walsh is currently working with doctors to develop such an intervention program based on this algorithm. If the AI deems a
patient to be at high risk of suicide, they might be asked to spend several days in a hospital under supervision. In certain cases, a doctor might deem hospitalization necessary regardless of whether or not the patient volunteers to be admitted. In lower-risk cases, the patient would be told of their analysis, and given information about available therapists and treatment plans. They would be offered an appointment with a psychiatrist and, a day or so after they’ve been discharged, a member of the medical facility would give them a call to check on their mental health. This binary division of risk levels is imperfect, the Vanderbilt team acknowledges. For example, there are patients at intermediate risk, who are not clearly in immediate crisis, but are at considerable risk of suicide within a few weeks or months. “We know we won’t get it right the first time,” says Walsh. “We’re trying to be transparent about that.” Nevertheless, he expects the program will be ready to roll out for clinical use in hospitals within the next two years. Walsh consulted Warren Taylor, a psychiatrist and professor at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, on how the algorithm could work in practice, and he says the broken-toe scenario is conceivable. It’s fairly standard for someone to come in for a physical injury and leave with a
diagnosis and prescription for extensive treatment for something else, Taylor says, often a previously undiagnosed addiction. Most doctors are accustomed to keeping an eye out for the sorts of undiagnosed mental health conditions commonly seen in their fields, and psychiatrists are taught to assess suicide risk even among patients who don’t voluntarily mention suicidal thoughts. When they see patients at scheduled appointments, they consider factors such as demographics, medical history, and access to guns. Nevertheless, even psychiatrists are little better than a coin toss at predicting suicide attempts. And, Taylor notes, psychiatrists only have limited contact with many of the patients who are at risk of suicide; historically, he says, many of those who do attempt suicide often saw a doctor in the previous month, but comparatively few saw a psychiatrist. Even psychiatrists are little better than a coin toss at predicting suicide attempts. “At the end of the day, we’re only human and our predictive powers are poor,” says Taylor. As such, the algorithm has the potential to make a drastic difference. The fact that so many suicidal patients see a doctor, if not a psychiatrist, during the critical period of their lives, means that the algorithm could be used among those many patients come into contact with the medical system but currently aren’t assessed for risk of suicide. If an AI with an 80% prediction success rate is used to assess risk of suicide every time a patient comes into contact with medical care, then, in theory, we would be able to predict, treat, and hopefully prevent far more suicide attempts. Doctors aren’t used to relying on machines to make such delicate decisions, but Taylor is open to trying them out. “Anything that could help give us more information is something we should include in evaluation,” he says. Though useful, the algorithm will likely raise ethical issues that cannot be foreseen or resolved until they play out in practice. “It’s not really outlined in our ethical or practice guidelines how to use AI yet,” McKernan says. For example, if, as Walsh hopes, all emergency room visitors are automatically run through the suicideprediction algorithm, should they be told this is happening? McKernan says yes: all patients must be told that hospitals are
monitoring data and assessing suicide risk, she adds. If a computer algorithm deems them to be at risk, they should know to expect a call. As with all medical data, the question of who has access to the information raises another ethical minefield. In the case of the algorithm, Walsh says only doctors and those hospital staff treating the patient would know about the algorithm’s assessment; insurance companies and government bodies would not be privy to such knowledge. It’s not yet obvious exactly what steps health care providers should take when a machine decides a patient is suicidal. But it’s clear that recognizing risk, and creating further interactions between patients and doctors, could have a huge impact in preventing suicide. McKernan says research she conducted on patients with chronic pain, done over a 20-year period (1998 to 2017), found that those who have a history of self-harm and whom the algorithm found to be at higher risk of suicidal thoughts spent far less time with medical professionals over the decades than those at lower risk of suicide. The results, which are due to be published in Arthritis Care & Research, show correlation rather than causation—after all, it may be that people at lower risk of suicide were more willing to engage with doctors—but nevertheless highlights a factor for doctors to analyze and consider. “It highlighted the importance of being in contact with [health care] providers,” McKernan says, and can “help direct what interventions we want to design,” like the programs Walsh is currently refining. “People who are very depressed can be very good actors.” Though algorithms will undoubtedly inform and benefit patient care, McKernan is adamant that humans must hold ultimate responsibility for the overall assessment and treatment of a patient. The
Doctors aren’t used to relying on machines to make such delicate decisions, but Taylor is open to trying them out. “Anything that could help give us more information is something we should include in evaluation,”
decision to keep a person under forced health care, for their own protection but potentially against their will, is extremely ethically sensitive. “When you hospitalize someone under those circumstances, you remove personal autonomy,” she says. A decision to override a patient’s claim that they’re not at risk, whether made by doctor or machine, must only happen under special and rare circumstances. “I’m not comfortable with the idea that an algorithm could override clinical judgment,” McKernan says. Although the data behind every individual decision is based on too complex an analysis to identify any single factor for suicide risk, the algorithm can point to broad overall trends. For example, Walsh noticed a correlation between risk of suicide and melatonin prescriptions. While it’s unlikely that melatonin causes suicidal thoughts, the prescription is likely an indication of trouble sleeping, which itself is a key factor in suicidal risk. Ultimately, use of algorithms in a medical setting should be focused on developing more informed, data-driven, health care practices, rather than instituting hierarchical decision-making. “All models have times when they’re wrong,” says Walsh. “We need to learn from those examples as well.” Any prediction model should improve with time. If a physician overrides an algorithm’s decision and decides a patient is not at high suicide risk, that information can be fed back into the program to make it more accurate in the future. If the patient does later die by suicide, that should also be relayed to both algorithm and physician, with the hope that both will continue to improve their prediction accuracy. The point is to inform a physician’s judgment, and potentially help doctors reconsider how they evaluate risk. “As humans, we get blinded by our own assumptions,” says Taylor. “People who are very depressed can be very good actors.” Someone who’s at risk of suicide can be attractive, successful, and smiling. Machines, unlike humans, aren’t misled by these distracting details and, thanks to their unique ability to focus on data rather than human traits, have an an uncanny ability to analyze and predict human behavior. Simply by virtue of thinking like a machine rather than a human, the algorithms can know us far better than we do ourselves. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
3 IIMS AMONG TOP 5 B-SCHOOLS IN ASIA ACCORDING TO THE FINANCIAL TIMES MASTERS IN MANAGEMENT RANKING, IIM AHMEDABAD, IIM CALCUTTA AND IIM BANGALORE ARE RANKED NUMBER TWO, THREE AND FIVE IN ASIA RESPECTIVELY. Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad has emerged as the number one Business School in the country followed closely by IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore. According to the Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking, both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta ranked number two and three in Asia. Globally, IIM Ahmedabad was ranked number 21 and IIM Calcutta was ranked 23 — a slight improvement from its previous rank 28 last year. A total of 104 B-Schools took part globally in this year’s survey. FT rankings 2018: Top 10 business schools in Asia 1. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Antai- China 2. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad- India 3. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta- India 4. Skema Business School- China 5. Indian Institute of Management Bangalore- India 6. Tongji University School of Economics and Management- China 7. Grenoble Ecole de Management- Singapore 8. IQS/FJU/USF- Taiwan 9. Hult International Business School- China 10. Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian- Singapore
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Incidentally, based on the 2015 graduates’ ratings of their own programme, subject-wise, IIM Calcutta has been ranked number 1 in Economics and number 7 in Finance as subjects taught at the business schools. These rankings are based on the data collected from top 10 BSchools on the various subjects they teach. The rankings were calculated according to the information collected through two separate surveys — the first one was conducted by the business schools and the second by alumni who graduated in 2015, the IIM Calcutta release said. The academic infrastructure, sports facilities and all other possible areas of resources have gained substantially and as per the world standard to attract more and more international students. “Our alliance with CEMS and ESCP Europe have paved the way to garner double degree programme a success. Coupled with student exchange programme with globally well-known business schools, currently IIM Calcutta is tied up with over 100 such schools and the exchange programme is gaining momentum every year. “In 2017-18, 133 students from IIM Calcutta participated in exchange programme, while 87 students from partner schools spent their term at IIM Calcutta,” the release added.
IPHONE DEBUTS DUAL SIM IN A TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FASHION iPhone’s dual SIM feature is however severely limited when compared with the feature available for years now in Android phones.
A LESSON FROM PAKISTAN?
Recently, Apple announced the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and, the not-so-budget iPhone XR. Apart from all the other latest features, something that’s never seen before on the iPhones is the support for dual SIM.
While all the regular iPhone users may have gotten happy to hear that, there’s a bit of catch in how the dual SIM functionality in the Apple’s devices work. To start with the hardware, on opening the SIM tray you’ll discover that the Cupertino giant have given provision for SIM cards on a single tray. This is unlike other Android smartphones which have separate slot for each SIM. In the latest dual SIM iPhones, both the cards settle together with one being on top and the other at the bottom. Moving on to the network part, the type of carrier you are using decides if you can use two SIMs simultaneously in your iPhone. Notably, amongst the two SIM cards you’ll be integrating, one of them needs to support the eSIM standard. Only then can you use two carriers together. Not all companies provide cards with the support for eSIM standard and in India, Airtel and Reliance Jio are the only two providers. Surprisingly, even if both the SIM cards you are using support eSIM, the smartphone allows the usage of only one at a time. Unlike the Android smartphones, calling on both the cards won’t work at the same time. If you are on a call through any one, the other activates the voicemail. Also, the data connection of one card gets deactivated if you are on voice call through the other one. Regardless you are currently an Android or an iPhone user, all of this dual SIM mechanism of the 2018 iPhones may sound a bit tricky. However, the feature will work similarly like Android smartphones in selected places including China, Hong Kong and Macau.
PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER'S HOUSE IS TO BE TURNED INTO A POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE.
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n order to cut government's cost, new Pak PM Imran Khan has decided to convert the PM's house into an institute.
The Pakistan Prime Minister's House will be turned into a campus of a postgraduate institute, said a minister recently while divulging governments plans to utilize official buildings for public use. Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood told the media that the public was fed up of the previous governments' "royal" ways of living. The minister said it was important that government officials live in a way that does not waste public money, which is why Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided that he would not stay in the PM House and governors will not stay in Governor Houses to cut down on costs, he added. According to the minister, the annual expenditure of PM House was Rs. 470 million. Therefore, it has been decided that the PM House will be turned into a top-level educational institute, Mehmood said. Speaking about reconstruction of other official buildings, Mehmood said the Governor House in Lahore will be used as a museum and art gallery, while the park on the premises will be opened for public. The Punjab House in Murree will be turned into a tourist complex, while the Governor House in Karachi and the one in Balochistan will be used as museums.
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SUN STOPS SHINING OVER INDIA'S SOLAR BOOM
ELECTRIC DRIVES WILL BE IN PERMIT-LESS RAJ
In the second quarter of 2018, the number of new solar installations in the country fell 52% compared to the first, on lingering policy roadblocks. ccording to research and consulting firm Mercom India, 1,599 megawatts (MW) of fresh solar power capacity was installed between April and June 2018, down from 3,344 MW in the previous quarter. This is their lowest quarterly level since 2017.
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Mercom said the decline was expected due to “uncertainties around trade cases, module price fluctuations, and power purchase agreement renegotiations after record low bids that contributed to the tender and auction slowdown in 2017.” Large-scale solar power projects that account for most of the installations fell almost 60% from the first quarter. However, rooftop installations grew 6%. “The drop in 2018 solar power installations is mostly in large-scale projects due to the lack of a strong project pipeline,” Mercom said. In its annual budget for 2018, the Indian government allocated Rs2,054 crore ($290 million) for installations, up 23% from last year. But it is likely to fall short of the country’s goal to raise solar power capacity to 100 GW by 2022. Mercom puts India’s present solar power capacity at 20 GW, and forecasts an addition of 8-9 GW in 2018.
NITIN GADKARI PROMISES THAT ELECTRIC AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL-POWERED VEHICLES WON’T REQUIRE PERMITS TO RUN. e have taken the decision to make these permitfree,” Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said during an event in New Delhi. The recommendation was made by a Group of Ministers, headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunus Khan, and all states will abide by it, Gadkari added.
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However, there will be no permit exemptions for hybrid vehicles. “There will be 100% exemption for alternate fuel vehicles such as ethanol, methanol, CNG, electric, but not for mild hyrbrids,” said Gadkari. The minister’s comments come amid his government’s efforts to promote eco-friendly vehicles through the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles India scheme started in 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the scheme’s second phase receently. The government will not provide any financial incentive for automakers turning to electronic vehicles and alternative fuel. “With GST at 12% on EVs, I don’t think there is any further need for subsidy,” said Gadkari. “We need to think innovatively to bring in that environment.” SEASONAL MAGAZINE
China Wants to Drive a Train to India CHINA HAS MOOTED A HIGH SPEED TRAIN BETWEEN KOLKATA AND KUNMING VIA BANGLADESH AND MYANMAR.
Get Ready for Toyotas from Suzuki, Suzukis from Toyota APART FROM REBADGING BALENO AND BREEZA, TOYOTA WILL NOW BE MAKING CARS FOR SUZUKI TO MAKE THE MOST OF ITS UNUTILISED CAPACITY AT ITS SECOND FACTORY IN BENGALURU, WHERE TOYOTA ETIOS SEDAN AND THE ETIOS LIVA HATCHBACK ARE MADE. AND SUZUKI WILL BE REBADGING THE LIKES OF COROLLA. ast month there was news of Suzuki investing $1 Billion into the Toyota plant on the outskirts of Bengaluru in order to expand the facility for its joint venture. The increased capacity will be used for the shared vehicles, the first of which will be 25,000 Maruti Suzuki Baleno's which will be restyled and rebadged as Toyota cars and sold sometime next year. However, according to recent reports, Toyota will also now be making cars for Suzuki to make the most of its unutilised capacity at its second factory. The factory currently makes the Toyota Etios sedan and the Etios Liva hatchback.
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hinese Consul-General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu recently said China is keen to build a high-speed train service between Kunming and Kolkata which will pass through Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Speaking at a conference here, Zhanwu said, “To increase the possibilities of trade and economic developments in China, Eastern India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, I think with joint efforts of India-China, a high-speed train service could be established between the two cities.” He said that if it could be done, then it will only take a few hours to reach Kolkata from Kunming through train. The project had also found mention at the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) meet in Kunming in 2015, he said. “This will also help all the connected countries to grow economically. We may have industries along the route which will increases the possibility of economic development in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor,” Zhanwu added. The Consul General also said that India and China need to cooperate with each other to move forward. “Individually, no one can tackle a problem. There are Chinese investors who want to invest in India. They will surely look for profits because they are answerable to their shareholders.”
Although it is unclear which cars Toyota would make for Suzuki at the Bangalore facility, the automakers have recently agreed to share cars going forward as a part of their joint partnership. While Toyota will get the premium hatchback Baleno and the subcompact SUV Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki for a visual update and a rebadge, Maruti Suzuki will in turn get the Toyota Corolla as a part of the deal as a new flagship Maruti offering. While Maruti Suzuki has two plants in India, one in Manesar and the other in Guragaon and a third plant in Gujarat that is run by Suzuki, at automaker is already stretched for capacity. The Gujarat plant is still not running on full capacity yet with a second and third line due to start production in the near future. With the help of Toyota's Bangalore facility, Maruti could greatly benefit from the extra capacity. NDTV carandbike has reached out to both Toyota and Maruti Suzuki for a statement and is awaiting a response from the automakers on the same.
Speaking about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he said, “BRI is not something to conquer the world or its neighbourhood. It is a project which will benefit all.” The rail route aimed at boosting trade flow in the BangladeshChina-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor, Zhanwu said, adding that his country has been striving for the revival of Silk Route to increase connectivity from Kunming to Kolkata. During the Wuhan Summit in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had agreed to further the partnership between the two countries. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
IN-FOCUS
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WHY GVK GROUP HOLDS PROMISE
Mega projects need mega funds and mega time. And nothing that GVK attempts can be regarded as not larger-than-life. But thanks to such unique strategies, its listed firm GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is parent to enviable assets like 1600 MW of operational power projects, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Australian Coal Mines in Queensland, 900 lane km of expressways in India, 7 luxury hotels with Taj, and a cuttingedge pharma company. GVK's most lucrative airports vertical had bagged the contract for the new mega airport planned for Navi Mumbai at a cost of Rs.16,000 crores and the project has recently achieved financial closure from lenders led by SBI. GVK Power & Infrastructure has turned around to profits in FY’18, aided by a careful pruning of debt. GVK is also planning the IPO of its airports vertical, to pare the debt further and unlock significant value as it will be one of the first airports major in India to go for IPO.
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G.V. Sanjay Reddy
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IN PHARMACEUTICALS, THE GROUP OWNS GVK BIO, ONE OF INDIA’S LEADING CONTRACT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS (CRDO).
or more than a decade now, Hyderabad based infrastructure & power major GVK Group has moved with a greater momentum than its peers. Thanks to these giant steps, its flagship firm GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is parent to several enviable assets across sectors, in both India and abroad. A publicly listed firm, GVK Power & Infrastructure’s projects and assets include 1600 MW of operational power projects, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and 900 lane kilometres of expressways in India. GVK Power & Infrastructure also holds Australian Coal Mines in Queensland. A diversified player, GVK Group also has significant operations in hospitality and pharma sectors. In hospitality, GVK owns 7 luxury
hotels managed by Taj and publicly listed in the stock market as Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Ltd.
a project cost of Rs. 16,000 crores and will have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers smoothly.
In pharmaceuticals, the group owns GVK BIO, one of India’s leading Contract Research & Development Organizations (CRDO).
GVK has recently completed the financial closure for the phase 1 of this mega project, from a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India. GVK has also signed the necessary concession agreement with CIDCO for the phase 1 which has paved the way for commencement of work.
GVK’s airports vertical owns and operates Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, which is world's busiest single runway airport. Earlier, this vertical also used to own and operate Bengaluru International Airport, which GVK successfully divested to Canadian investment group, Fairfax. What makes GVK one of the most promising and exciting companies in India and especially its stock market is that it has also won the contract for the newly planned airport coming up at Navi Mumbai, the satellite city of Mumbai. Coming up in phases, the phase 1 of this airport will involve
GVK Power and Infrastructure had recently invited expression of interest from EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors for works related to the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport. While GVK had won the project under DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) basis, the scope of the current EoI includes cut and fill works, construction of terminal building, airfield works, including SEASONAL MAGAZINE
runway, taxiway, apron, other airside infrastructure and facilities, land side infrastructure including roadway network ancillary buildings, multilevel car park, utilities and other associated works. This new airport will have the latest international technologies in the sector like automated light-based Multiple Apron Ramp System (MARS). This will enable the capacity to handle much more flights per hour as MARS is designed for faster take-offs. The architectural design of the Navi Mumbai airport has been entrusted to the renowned airports designer Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). Headquartered in London, ZHA is famous for the Daxing Airport of Beijing, China. After the successful completion of phase 1 of the Navi Mumbai airport by 2022, GVK Group is planning its phase 2, which will see passenger capacity expand from 20 million to 60 million passengers per year. The
THIS NEW AIRPORT WILL HAVE THE LATEST INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SECTOR LIKE AUTOMATED LIGHT-BASED MULTIPLE APRON RAMP SYSTEM (MARS). expansion is as per the projected burden on the existing Mumbai International Airport in the coming years. To fund the grand scale of projects undertaken by GVK including in power, infrastructure and airports, the group had run up significant debt. But since the last few years, GVK has been pruning its debt very prudently, mainly by selling of various assets. As a result of this, the flagship listed firm which currently houses the airports vertical, has become a much better performer. Institutional investor interest is also running high in GVK Airport Holdings, which is a subsidiary of GVK Power &
Infrastructure, with some of the largest institutional investors as well as airport companies expressing interest to take stakes. The planned stake sale will be of a significant minority nature and will be most likely in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) which runs the current Mumbai Airport and which is a subsidiary of GVK Airport Holdings which in turn is a subsidiary of the listed GVK Power & Infrastructure. Interested bidders for the stake sale include Singapore’s Changi Airport, German airport operator AviAlliance, India’s sovereign wealth SEASONAL MAGAZINE
THE PLANNED NAVI MUMBAI AIRPORT IS A HUGE AFFAIR REQUIRING A TOTAL OF 2,240 HECTARES OF LAND. fund National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The deal if goes through will value MIAL between Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 18,000 crore, and will enable GVK to further deleverage and free up cash for the new Navi Mumbai project for which it is eyeing around $1 billion as the equity component. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
The planned Navi Mumbai Airport is a huge affair requiring a total of 2,240 hectares of land. The company created for the project, Navi Mumbai International Airport (P) Limited (NMIAL), is jointly owned by GVKled Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation), which hold 74% and 26% stake in the company, respectively. Having achieved financial closure and having signed the land concession agreement with CIDCO, GVK is also planning for the IPO of GVK Airport Holdings. This will be one of the first IPOs of airport operators in India, with the other one being the planned IPO of peer firm GMR Group’s airport operations. The IPO will enable GVK to list GVK
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Airport Holdings separately which will result in significant value unlocking, as well as further paring of debt. GVK Group continues to be bullish on the airports business in both India and abroad. Recently, it was one of the majors who bid for the planned Bhogapuram International Airport in Andhra Pradesh. As a pioneer in airports operation, GVK has been adding impressive capabilities to its portfolio. Recently,
GVK GROUP CONTINUES TO BE BULLISH ON THE AIRPORTS BUSINESS IN BOTH INDIA AND ABROAD. RECENTLY, IT WAS ONE OF THE MAJORS WHO BID FOR THE PLANNED BHOGAPURAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN ANDHRA PRADESH.
it inducted an Advanced Passenger Evacuation Vehicle for rescuing stranded passengers or crew from inaccessible areas of aircrafts. The vehicle covers all types of aircraft currently used in the aviation industry, including the A380, which is the biggest civilian aircraft available today. This highly developed vehicle will be used for rescuing stranded personnel, where conventional alighting systems cannot be employed. In the unlikely event of an aircraft veering away from its normal path, this equipment can be rushed to the spot and the attached ladder can be extended up to the aircraft door for passengers or crew to be safely evacuated. This ladder can be extended up to a maximum height of 8.3 meters. The escape stairs have a high evacuation
load capacity of approximately 115 people at one time. This machine is equipped with a 540 HP engine, with an acceleration of 0-80 km per hour in less than 40 seconds, which is one of the fastest in this category. The vehicle is fitted with a high pressure smoke ventilation system, which can remove smoke from the fuselage/ cockpit and increase the chances of surviving. This machine can also reach off-road surfaces with its 6X6 wheel drive system on a single wheel configuration. Meanwhile, the listed flagship
company of the group, GVK Power & Infrastructure, which is the parent of GVK Airport Holdings had effected a miraculous turnaround to green after several years in the red on a consolidated basis during FY’18. It has held on to the turnaround in the first quarter of this fiscal too on a standalone basis. Net profit of GVK Power & Infrastructure rose 137.96% to Rs 16.11 crore in the quarter ended June 2018 as against Rs 6.77 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2017.
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L U X U R Y
KATE SPADE NEW YORK FALL 2018 COLLECTION IN STORE NOW KATE SPADE FALL 2018 COLLECTIONSEPTEMBER 7, 2018: IN CELEBRATION OF ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, KATE SPADAE’S FALL COLLECTION IS INSPIRED BY AMERICA’S BEAUTIFUL PRAIRIES.
BONHAMS AUCTIONS PINK DIAMOND & TIARA FROM CHURCHILL FAMILY
The collection exudes a sophisticated style through utilitarian fabrics, details and motifs and a sparkling twang unique to Nashville, Tennessee. The Ready to wear colleection is an amalgamation of menswear-inspired shapes with feminine silhouettes in a palette of deep blues, faded pinks and russet browns. Indigo denim is featured prominently throughout the collection from a boxy jacket with studs, a swingy skirt, to a trim on a tweed suit. Prints like the calico florals, patchwork and plaid capture the prairie spirit, especially when cast across dresses and blouses with lace, yokes and ruffles. A horse motif on a sweater and dress is a wildly likeable tie-back to the heart of the season.
detail and croc-embossed leather which comes in shearling, as well as black and deep red velvet. Alongwith a smooth leather boho bucket bag, Vanessa, the chain strap shoulder bag Kate Spade Fall 2018 collectionThe Sam Marci is adorable too. The footwear includes studded suede mules and a bag from 1993 is re-explored, giving knee-high leather boot with contrast birth to the summer’s bangle-handle piping. style in luxurious suede with fringe
An exceedingly rare and exceptionally beautiful fine Fancy Pink diamond weighing 5.03 carats, VS1 clarity, (estimated at £600,000-800,000) will headline Bonhams London Fine Jewellery sale on September 26, 2018. Emily Barber, Director of Jewellery at Bonhams UK, said: “This pink diamond, offered at auction for the first time, possesses an exceptional combination of characteristics. It is extremely unusual to find a pure pink diamond, of even saturation, with no secondary component colours, weighing over 5.00 carats. This diamond’s significant size and elegant, unmodified square cut, coupled with its high clarity grade distinguishes it further.”
ZEGNA GROUP TO ACQUIRE MAJORITY STAKE OF THOM BROWNE The Ermenegildo Zegna Group announced that it has reached an agreement with Sandbridge Capital and with Mr. Thom Browne for the acquisition of 85% of Thom Browne Inc, for an enterprise valuation of approximately half a billion dollars. Mr. Thom Browne will be the sole other shareholder, with the balance of the Company’s shares. The Thom Browne business will remain independently run. Mr. Thom Browne will continue in the same capacity as Chief Creative Officer and Rodrigo Bazan will retain his role as Chief Executive Officer. Ermenegildo Zegna, Chief Executive Officer of the Zegna Group said: “In addition to the immediate benefits with regards to fabrics and manufacturing support we can leverage our global reach to further expand Thom Browne’s retail network. Most imporSEASONAL MAGAZINE
tantly, we share the same passion for excellence and impeccable, modern tailoring. Thom’s visionary approach and his unique point of view have enabled him to build and nurture the most loyal clientele. On this strong footing, and thanks to a thriving women’s business and strong appeal with millennials, we believe that we
can build long-term value for all of our stakeholders.” “Finally, I am very proud to oversee a rare major investment by an Italian luxury player in an American company. I have always been a strong admirer of the United States, and look forward to our strengthened presence here.”
ROLLS-ROYCE HEIGHTENS THE LUXURY OF PRIVACY IN PHANTOM The British luxury automobile brand, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, announced at the 2018 Chengdu Motor Show the introduction of the ‘Privacy Suite’ for the new Extended Wheelbase Phantom. As it has over the past 90 years, Phantom still stands as the most celebrated luxury item in the world. Its customers, the world’s most influential and enigmatic individuals – men and women – demand the ‘luxury of privacy’ wherever they travel. Expressing a deep understanding of this requirement, the marque has created the Privacy Suite, balancing function and luxury without compromising the space and comfort of rear passengers.
Hermes unveils new Heure H Double Jeu watch In tandem with its theme for the year of ‘Let’s Play’, Hermès has launched the playful and contemporary the Heure H Double Jeu watch, which carries within its square the paradox of lacquer and diamonds. The watch has two variants in black and white with a contrasting steel case and has subtly staged the letter H. Hermes Heure H Double Jeu watchWhether vertically adorned with 122 diamonds or embellished in its horizontal version with 93 diamonds on the case and 138 on the dial, it extends an invitation to temporal recreation by playing with tones and luminescence. The black and white editions are both elegant, classic and unique. The Heure H Double Jeu is an intelligent recreation of the 1996 version by Phillpe Monquet. With both of the variants being beautiful and amazing, we recommend the Vertical version of the Heure H Double Jeu watch. It’s simple yet classic.
MB&F AND L'EPEE LAUNCH THE NEW ROBOTCLOCK GRANT
Timekeepers MB&F and L’Epée have collaborated once again for Grant, a triple-tracked, MadMax-cross-Transformer robot clock on a mission. Grant is a robot with a time display on his shield, with no incessantly flashing digital numerals, no constantly spinning second hand. Grant transforms frantic chaos into relaxing hours and minutes, and that’s all the time you really need. Grant being derived from a tanker with the same name, can also transform into one of three different modes: lying horizontally; crouching at 45 degrees; and sitting up 90 degrees. Grant’s time shield can always be set to a comfortable and optimal viewing angle. Whatever the angle, Grant’s highly polished clockwork is on full display, and you can follow every click and turn of the gears. The mainspring barrel click near his ‘belly button’ is particularly mesmerizing in operation. The isochronal oscillations of the regulator keeping time in Grant’s glass-domed ‘brain’ are evidence of the clockwork’s high precision. Watching Grant “thinking” in real time is a stressrelieving activity in itself.
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SANS SOUCI LAUNCHES JASMINE-MARIGOLD LIGHT INSTALLATION ans Souci, the Czech lighting giant, combines creative designs with dexterity to fill your home with the dynamic beauty of glass and crystal. This festive season, they unveil a chandelier that spreads the spirit of Diwali with grandeur and beauty. The chandelier is a collection of strings of white glass units that have yellow flowers at the bottom end, crossing each other in a DNA-like structure creating a grand dramatic effect.
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While the star-shaped white units of the chandelier are in fact the jasmine flower, the yellow flowers at the bottom end are marigolds. Flowers have a special place in all Indian celebrations, especially during Diwali. Jasmine symbolises sensuality, grace and elegance, while the exotic marigold signifies new beginnings as it represents sunlight, creativity and passion. The chandelier is a sophisticated and contemporary rendering of the Indian spirit of celebration.
TITANIC VICTIM'S POCKET WATCH SOLD AT HERITAGE AUCTIONS pocket watch recovered from R.M.S. Titanic passenger Sinai Kantor, a Russian immigrant who got his wife to one of the liner’s few lifeboats before perishing in icy waters, sold for $57,500 on a winning bid cast by John Miottel, a collector of timepieces relating to the infamous disaster.
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Heritage Auctions offered the pocket watch on August 25, in a public auction of important Americana memorabilia. The pocket watch was sold by a direct descendant of Miriam and Sinai Kantor. Both from Vitebsk, Russia. He was just 34 years old, and she just 24, when he paid £26 (roughly $3,666 today) for ticket No. 244367. The two were among 285 Second Class passengers and boarded the ship together in Southampton, England. Titanic Ship pocket watch auctioned by Heritage AuctionsThe Swiss-made openface silver-on-brass watch, with its original movement and a diameter of three inches, includes numerals that are Hebrew letters. The back cover has an embossed design that shows Moses
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holding the Ten Commandments. The watch’s movement is rusted, the result of immersion in salt water, and the hands are nearly all deteriorated and the dial is stained. The watch was sold with a letter of provenance from the descendant, who does not wish to be identified, along with copies of letters issued in the aftermath of the tragedy, sent to Miriam Kantor. “It will take one of the primary spots in our collection,” Mr. Miottel said, where it will be added to the San Francisco Bay Area museum’s Ocean Liner Section, which is comprised of thousands of historic maritime artifacts and memorabilia.
JAEGER-LECOULTRE LAUNCHES NEW REVERSO TRIBUTE TOURBILLON DUOFACE o mark its 185th anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre launches the new Reverso Tribute Tourbillon Duoface, a highly anticipated version of the Reverso Tribute. The new vision of the iconic model brings together the flying tourbillon with the Duoface concept. Equipped with the new manually wound calibre, JaegerLeCoultre Calibre 847, this unique timepiece will be kept to a mere fifty pieces. Remarkable in more ways than one, the technical feat achieved here is maintaining the tourbillon’s moving carriage and its sprung balance through the use of an ingenious ball-bearing system, all while still offering the freedom to express oneself fully on the back of the watch.
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ITC KOHENUR HYDERABAD A REAL DIAMOND Hyderabad, known for its pearls, gets another gem in the form of ITC Kohenur, perfectly tailored for the corporate traveller. Or a luxury vacay! Hyderabad has had a special place in modern Indian history – from its rich cultural and culinary traditions, remarkable palaces and public institutions built during the Asaf Jahi
ASTON MARTIN REINTRODUCES DBS SUPERLEGGERA Luxury automobile company Aston Martin, has reintroduced the DBS Superleggera, reviving an iconic nameplate that first appeared in 1967, while Touring’s famous mark – Superleggera – will once again adorn the bonnet of an Aston Martin, which pays homage to the historic super lightweight construction technology of the famous Italian coachbuilder.
Nizami era (1724-1948), and a noteworthy peaceful coexistence amongst followers of different religions. Royal patronage saw it emerge as a centre for carpet weaving, Bidri metalwork, fine handlooms, a cuisine where the biryani starred, and of a variety of gems, including pearls and diamonds. It is from this last, lustrous tradition that ITC’s newest hotel, ITC Kohenur takes its name and inspiration. The ultra-sleek business hotel has just opened amidst Hyderabad’s IT hubs, chock-full corporate entities, from mega Fortune 500 companies and local start-ups.
JO MALONE LAUNCHES THE HONEYSUCKLE & DAVANA FRAGRANCE
latest model is blessed with muscular, highly individual styling.
language. One that combines compelling curves with advanced aerodynamics for a sleek shape that both cheats the wind and clamps the car to the road. Set low and and as far back in the chassis as possible to optimise the centre-of-gravity and weight distribution, this high-performance engine develops 725PS at 6500rpm and 900Nm from 1800-5000rpm.
DBS Superleggera has a commanding and powerful sound character, particularly in the more aggressive dynamic modes. It has the capability of a maximum speed of 211mph. While being resolutely modern in design and engineering, DBS Superleggera expresses itself with an explicit design
Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Davana fragranceAugust 20, 2018: Jo Malone, the British fragrance brand, has launched their new limited edition fragrance - Honeysuckle & Davana. The fragrance is a fresh and sweet scent. The sunny yellow and soft peachy shades of untamed honeysuckle is bottled in Honeysuckle & Davana. Perfect to be worn alone or paired with another.
A look that’s perfectly matched by epic performance courtesy of Aston Martin’s 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12, it is tuned to produce tremendous power and immense torque for breath-taking response and extraordinary in-gear performance. Using immaculately sculpted carbon fibre body panels, this SEASONAL MAGAZINE
DOG LED BLIND OWNER DOWN 78 STOREYS DURING 9/11 ATTACK
UPPER CASTES SHOULD BE GIVEN 15% RESERVATION: UNION MINISTER
A guide dog named Roselle led her blind owner Michael Hingson down 78 storeys of the World Trade Centre's North Tower during the 9/11 attack. The Labrador then guided Hingson to a friend's home. The attack, which killed nearly 3,000 people, was carried out by 19 militants associated with militant group al-Qaeda on this day 17 years ago.
On being asked if he feels something needs to be done for some upper castes, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, "Why 'something'? They should be given 15% reservation." "The BJP can never have an anti-upper-caste perception. Upper castes are the backbone of the BJP. They are the party's natural allies," the Lok Janshakti Party leader added.
PM MODI, BANGLADESH PM LAUNCH KEY RAIL, POWER PROJECTS
KIM JONG-UN ASKS FOR SECOND MEETING WITH TRUMP
PM Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina have launched three key projects via video conferencing. This included 15km Akhaura-Agartala rail link which will be operational in next two years and rebuilding Kulaura-Shahbazpur section of Bangladesh Railways. The third project is the additional 500MW power supply from India to Bangladesh via Bheramara-Baharampur interconnection.
US President Donald Trump has received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un asking for a second meeting, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Monday. Calling the letter very warm and very positive, Sanders added it exhibited "a continued commitment to focus on denuclearisation". Further, Sanders said we are already in the process of scheduling the meeting.
ISI IS THE WORLD'S BEST INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: PAKISTAN PM Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the best intelligence agency in the world, calling it Pakistan's "first line of defence". Khan also assured ISI officials of his government's support to the armed forces and intelligence agencies and acknowledged the "unprecedented achievements" of these institutions, an official statement read. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
WAS UNDER PRESSURE TO PAY BIKE'S EMI: HDFC VP MURDER ACCUSED Sarfaraz Shaikh, who was arrested for allegedly killing 39-year-old HDFC Bank Vice President Siddharth Sanghvi, told Mumbai Police he plotted to rob the executive because he was under pressure to pay his bike's EMI. Shaikh stabbed Sanghvi and slit his throat after he refused to give money. Sanghvi's body was found four days after he went missing on September 5.
SAUDI PRINCESS' JEWELS WORTH RS 6.7 CR STOLEN FROM PARIS HOTEL An unnamed Saudi princess has reported a theft of jewels worth •800,000 (over ?6.7 crore) from her suite at the luxury Ritz hotel in Paris. The jewels were not in a safe when they were taken and there was no sign of forced entry, according to the police. France's anti-organised crime brigade has launched an investigation into the incident.
NATURE
Scientists Discover Fish that Melts MEET THE NEW SPECIES OF DEEP-SEA FISH SO GOOEY THAT IT MELTS WHEN BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE, FROM THE 26,000 FEET OF UNDERWATER DEPTHS WHERE IT RESIDES. Picture a fish. No matter what type you picked, you probably imagined a colorful scaled creature with fins, gills, and puckered lips, or maybe a toothy open jaw if you went in the shark direction. A lot of the fish we think of as particularly “fishy” have one thing in common: They come from just a tiny portion of the ocean. By some estimates, humans have explored only a fifth of Earth’s seas, which cover the majority of the planet. The fish that we’re familiar with are just a small sample of the diversity of life underwater. Three new species of fish, discovered by a massive team of researchers exploring the Atacama trench, highlight that diversity. The blue, pink, and purple Atacama snailfish (a temporary name) were caught by a camera that had been submerged, with bait, to some 26,000 feet (about 8,000 meters). The snailfish’s blobby, translucent bodies look like ghostly tadpoles, and they appear to have very few bones. A report on the fish was presented recently at the 2018 Challenger Conference, which is focused on marine biology and held at Newcastle University in the UK. Based on the 400 or so known species of snailfish, the team was able to identify their discovery as part
of that family, also known as sea snails or lumpsuckers for their feeding style. A cousin of the Atacama snailfish, the Marianas snailfish, is the deepest-dwelling fish ever discovered, inhabiting depths below 26,600 ft. Because their habitat is in the deepest trenches of the ocean, Atacama snailfish live without the fear of predation; five miles is an awfully deep dive for a meal. They have also adapted beautifully to their environment. “The hardest structures in their bodies are the bones in their inner ear, which give them balance, and their teeth,” Thomas Linley, a marine biologist at Newcastle, said in a statement. Otherwise, the fish are made of a gooey substance that relies on the crushing pressure of the deep ocean — some 2,500 times what we land-dwellers are used to, according to Smithsonian—to hold their bodies together. Unfortunately, these evolutionary lifehacks come with a price: When brought to the surface, the snailfish “melted” apart. Researchers were able to preserve one, which is currently being studied further, but the effort of retrieving and storing these fish means they will likely never be as understood as more easily accessible animals, like those that live near the surface of the ocean or on land.
BASED ON THE 400 OR SO KNOWN SPECIES OF SNAILFISH, THE TEAM WAS ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEIR DISCOVERY AS PART OF THAT FAMILY, ALSO KNOWN AS SEA SNAILS OR LUMPSUCKERS FOR THEIR FEEDING STYLE.
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WHO DRILLED THE HOLE ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? The ISS crews are ferried to and from the space station in Russian Soyuz spacecraft, docked to ISS. The hole was drilled in a section of a Soyuz.
INDIA BANS DECADES OLD DRUGS, CITING SAFETY!
HEALTH MINISTRY BANS SEVERAL PAINKILLERS, COUGH SYRUPS, OINTMENTS AND ANTIBIOTICS INCLUDING POPULAR NAMES LIKE SARIDON, COREX AND 326 OTHER COMBINATION DRUGS. he Ministry of Health has banned the production, sale and dispersal of about 328 fixed dose combinations of drugs (FDCs).
This ban will bring an end to a long legal battle between the ministry and the drug manufacturers. The battle, which has been ongoing since 2016, called for these ‘unsafe’ drugs to be banned. ussia has reacted angrily to a report that it suspects US astronauts of deliberately drilling a hole on the International Space Station, one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between the countries. The hole was detected on the ISS last month and quickly sealed up, but some reports said Russia has suggested that it was drilled deliberately. Russian daily Kommersant reported that a Russian space agency investigation is probing the possibility US astronauts deliberately drilled the hole in order to get a sick colleague sent back home. Kommersant reported that this scenario was being looked into "as a priority," quoting a source participating in the investigation. But deputy prime minister Yury Borisov rejected Kommersant's report, saying that "it is absolutely unacceptable to cast a shadow either on our cosmonauts or on American astronauts," RIA Novosti state news agency reported. The deputy prime minister said it was "shortsighted and dangerous" to speculate until the findings of the investigation were released. He also stressed the ISS was "a unified group where there are no political disagreements." Russian space agency Roscosmos told AFP it would make no official comment until the findings are released, which is expected to happen this month. Astronauts located the hole on August 30 in a Russian-made spacecraft docked to the ISS after an air leak was detected onboard, and closed it up with sealant. Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin told journalists last week that the hole could have been a deliberate act of sabotage and suggested this could have happened in space as well as back on Earth. But since then, Rogozin wrote on Facebook that "spreading speculation and rumours about the incident on the ISS doesn't help the experts at Roscosmos and is aimed at undermining relations between comrades in the space station crew." He told journalists that initial findings showed "the situation is much more complicated than it seemed before." The ISS crews are ferried to and from the space station in Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The hole was drilled in a section of a Soyuz that will not be used for the return journey to Earth. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
Around 6,000 drug brands are expected to be affected by this ban, among them popular brands such as Saridon (painkiller), Panderm (skin cream), Lupidiclox (antibiotic), Corex (cough syrup) and several others. In March 2016, the government had banned up to 344 FDCs but this was met with heavy criticism and contested in various high courts, and even the Supreme Court, by the manufacturers.
IN MARCH 2016, THE GOVERNMENT HAD BANNED UP TO 344 FDCS BUT THIS WAS MET WITH HEAVY CRITICISM AND CONTESTED IN VARIOUS HIGH COURTS, AND EVEN THE SUPREME COURT, BY THE MANUFACTURERS.
In December 2017, the SC asked Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) to intervene in the matter. The DTAB eventually said there was no therapeutic evidence that the ingredients in about 328 of these FDCs cause any harm to people. The SC further added that the remaining FDCs, on the original list, could also not be banned as they have been manufactured in the country since before 1988. The All India Drug Action Network sought the banning of the drugs which were not part of the DTAB report, as these itself accounted for about Rs 2,500 crore of the pharmaceutical market. Since then, several drug manufacturers have claimed that such drugs have either been phased out or have gotten their combinations altered.
BRAVERY
FRANCE HONOURS ILLEGAL MIGRANT FOR SAVING 4-YEAR OLD BOY
'Spiderman' migrant hero who saved 4-Year-Old boy becomes French Citizen. Mamoudou Gassama from Mali was granted French nationality after the daring rescue in May. he migrant hero nicknamed "Spiderman" for saving a child hanging off a balcony by scaling a Paris apartment block with his bare hands has become a French citizen, according to a government decree. Nimble 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama from Mali was granted a fasttrack to French nationality and a job in the fire service after the daring rescue in May. "This act of great bravery exemplifies the values which help unite our national community, such as courage, selflessness, altruism and taking care of the most vulnerable," said the official document published recently.
Gassama, who had been in France illegally, was catapulted to global fame by the extraordinary feat captured in footage seen by millions on social media. The video showed the former construction worker jumping from one floor to the next, hauling himself up with impressive athleticism towards the four-year-old boy dangling above. He was congratulated in person by President Emmanuel Macron two days later and also met Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the capital of the West African country. Gassama arrived in France in September 2017 after travelling the perilous Mediterranean migrant route
and found a job in the construction industry despite not having the right to work. He has received international acclaim for his bravery but activists have accused the French government of "hypocrisy", pointing to its treatment of other migrants. In August a controversial asylum and immigration bill was signed into French law, designed to accelerate asylum procedures by cutting the maximum processing time. The new law was passed despite opposition on the left which decried an effort to limit arrivals while the far right saw the measure as not going far enough. SEASONAL MAGAZINE
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TECHNOLOGY
WILL AN APPLE ON YOUR WRIST, KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY? THE NEW APPLE WATCH SERIES 4 WILL HAVE A BETTER GRIP ON YOUR HEALTH, THANKS TO THE ADDITION OF ECG IN THE FEATURES.
aybe the Apple Watch Series 4 doesn’t get the attention it deserves. But the fact is that the Apple Watch is not just the top smartwatch, but also the top watch in the world. This is because Apple was very careful from the very start not sell the Apple Watch as just a smartwatch, it was always a lifestyle accessory, even a piece of jewellery if the need arises. We often tend to forget the fact that for men a watch is among the few personal accessories on which money can be splurged. But Apple has over the years also developed the Apple Watch into a unique health product too. With deep integration with Medical Kit and collaboration with top institutes on how to use this data, along with the accessibility aspects of the Watch, it has moved into a territory where there is hardly any competition. Now with the Apple Watch Series 4, the watch will have a better grip on your health, thanks to the addition of ECG in the features with an electrode ring enabling the process. And that is SEASONAL MAGAZINE
not the only insight the new Apple Watch will have on your cardiac health. It will also wake up when the heart beat is a bit too low to be normal, or when your heart is beating irregularly indicating something could be wrong. Just these three features can help hundreds of lives across the world. But having these features, especially the ECG, on your wrist could open up a whole lot of new use cases and challenges. For instance, we don’t know how people will react to having real-time data on how their heart is working. Will we become more cautious or will that make us more panicky? There is more. When the watch detects you have had a hard fall, it
HOW PEOPLE WILL REACT TO HAVING REAL-TIME DATA ON HOW THEIR HEART IS WORKING? WILL WE BECOME MORE CAUTIOUS OR WILL THAT MAKE US MORE PANICKY?
will alert your SOS contact. Apple Watch Series 4 has had some design changes too with the sizes going 2mm up to 40mm and 44mm. This also means there is a 30 per cent larger display, though the watch is pretty much the same size. On close inspection you can see that the display now blends into the sides and looks more like a composite unit, but overall the watch does look almost similar to earlier versions. The microphone and speaker are now on different sides so as to cut echo on calls. The new watch faces show more complications and give you more data in one glance. Also, pushing the breathe app to become a full watch face seems like a very good idea at the moment. There is no date yet on when the Apple Watch Series 4 will be available in India and what it will cost. US price is around 400 dollars. Also, the best feature, the ECG, will be limited to the US when it is rolled out later this year.
SPACE
NASA WANTS TO VISIT MOON AGAIN
For several decades after the first and subsequent moon missions ended, NASA went slow on moon missions due to the prohibitive cost of landing there again with a larger payload necessary for extending the stay of the astronauts for any meaningful work. But with its ongoing Orion program, it is devising a way to doing that cheaply, by using a complex system of mammoth parachutes for a safe return trip. NASA has successfully completed the final test to qualify Orion’s space capsule’s parachute system for flights with astronauts, ahead of its mission to send humans to the Moon and beyond, the US space agency said. Engineers evaluated the performance of Orion’s parachute system during normal landing sequences as well as several failure scenarios and a variety of potential aerodynamic conditions to ensure astronauts can return safely from deep space missions, over the course of eight tests at the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. “We’re working incredibly hard not only to make sure Orion’s ready to take our astronauts farther than we’ve been before, but to make sure they come home safely,” Orion Programme Manager Mark Kirasich, said in a statement. “The parachute system is complex, and evaluating the
parachutes repeatedly through our test series gives us confidence that we’ll be ready for any kind of landing day situation.” During the final test, which took place on September 12, a mock Orion was pulled out from the cargo bay of a C-17 aircraft flying higher than 6.5 miles. The protective ring around the top of Orion that covers the parachute system was jettisoned and pulled away by the first set of Orion’s parachutes, then the remaining parachutes were deployed in precise sequence. The Orion system has 11 parachutes, a series of cannon-like mortars, pyrotechnic bolt cutters, and more than 30 miles of Kevlar lines attaching the top of the spacecraft to the 36,000 square feet of parachute canopy material. In about 10 minutes of descent through Earth’s atmosphere, everything must deploy in precise sequence to slow
Orion and its crew from about 300 mph to a relatively gentle 20 mph for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The parachute system is the only system that must assemble itself in mid-air and must be able to keep the crew safe in several failure scenarios, such as mortar failures that prevent a single parachute type to deploy, or conditions that cause some of the parachute textile components to fail. Orion will first fly with astronauts aboard during Exploration Mission-2, a mission that will venture near the Moon and farther from Earth than ever before, launching atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket which will be the world’s most powerful rocket. The parachutes for Orion’s upcoming uncrewed flight test Exploration Mission-1 are already installed on the vehicle at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The knowledge gained through the Orion programme has enabled NASA to mature computer modelling of how the system works in various scenarios and help partner companies understand certain elements of parachute systems.
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