Volume 3 Issue 4
lMj
July 2014
Is India into new way of Marketing?
Our Team Chief Editor Sarfaraz Sub Editors Vimlendu Govind Ballabh Pandey Nitin Narang Homa Afroz Nurullah Qamar Managing Editors Shahbaz Haider Asim Abdullah
Letter from the Editor Dear Readers To the young ones, to an energetic and belligerent lot; Congratulations. You have made a historical and a very prominent change in the polity of the greatest and largest of all the democracies the planet has ever seen. There is a change of guard. There is a change in direction of all the vectors of socio democratic institutions of our beautiful country. Once again thanks. Your duty doesn't end here. Rather you have taken the larger share of the burden on your shoulders. Now you can not shy off the socio political dramas and casually say that these are not my cup of tea. Even if you are enjoying rock music of the most famous bands of west or cinemas of the alien worlds where every second hour somebody comes to destroy our planet and another somebody saves it with his or her pyrotechniques, the shadows of your decision will chase you relentlessly. You will chase your dreams and they will chase you – a sort of cruelty. Isn't it? It is. Grow up! Don't let anything get away unnoticed. Read the fine print. Read between the lines. It's you who has written those lines. Read yourself. The articles (in this issue of SAMAR) on some very brute social issues have encompassed the problems India may face in coming days. They are showing the stigmas of manual scavenging, urban caste biasness and above all corruption. In coming days perhaps we will face more stringent situations. The writings are clearly indicating it. Enjoy all the articles and write ups. SAMAR will stand on its heels during the changing times ahead – your co voyager in the journey of nation building. Happy reading!!
Photos used in the magazine are for representational purpose only
Content 1. Victim of Politics - Aslan Reyaz 2. Caste rules, Whether you see it or not - Devika Mittal 3. A illegal, yet common practice- Sreelakshmi R 4. e-Commerce - a modern language of Marketing Sabeeh Ahmad 5. Being Real and Tomorrow Killed Today - Abhash Upadhayay
July 2014
The Victims of Politics This article has been written by Aslan Reyaz, who is pursuing his Bachelor in Economice from Bihar National College, Patna
There's no denying that we all are victims of
Some people think that their salary is
politics. Everything religion, caste, society all
increasing but they don't understand that they
are the main victims of politics. Most of the
are in the same situation as they were before
decisions that politicians take and the policies
because dearness is also increasing with their
that they make are for their own benefits
salary which restricts them in the same
instead for the goodwill of this country.
situation.
I'm going to describe all types of problems that the people of this country are facing. First of all we'll discuss about the continuous rising of prices of goods and services. Prices of basic necessities are on a rise. Prices of daily commodities like grains, petrol, gas, flour are rising by leaps and bounds. Besides this, the cost of education is also going up remarkably. One point where I want to draw your attention is on the bad condition of our education system. The quality of education getting from bad to worse, the Bihar board education which
There are many parties in India who want to rule and run their own government but none of them take care of the well beings of India rather they care about their leaders and party members. They boost up their leaders all the way so that they are able to make enormous money and luxuries. And when they get to next election, they start splendid campaigning with a lot of promises of all types of activities and works and say that they take pains to develop the whole community to a better position.
was called very tough, it has become easy
Similarly corruption, which's a great part of
and effortless job. And now, the Iron Gate
politics, could be found in other strata of
which we used to call the class 10th board
society. All those money that is used in doing
exam has totally become rusted . The worst
corruption hasn't any account in our GDP. If
thing is that it affects the life of students who
we calculate all that money that's used as
work hard and at the end they don't get a good
corruption, it will definitely boost up our GDP
job. Our government is doing all these things
up to good extent. A great amount of money
to enhance the rate of literacy. In this way they
nearly above 50 lakh crore has been
can show to the world that India's literacy rate
scammed by politicians of different parties.
is increasing. They're doing for the sake of name and fame of their party. And it'll help them in next election.
In the box, am mentioning a list of declared scams and scandals that took place in India
Facts on scam 2G Spectrum ScamCommon Wealth GameUP Food Grain ScamIndia Coal Mining ControversyISRO ScamKarnataka Wakf Board ScamDIAL ScamUttar Pradesh NRHM ScamMaharashtra Irrigation ScamStamp Paper ScamSaradha Group Chit Fund Scam-
Rs. 1,76,000 crore Rs. 70,000 crore Rs. 35,000 crore Rs. 1,85,591.34 crore Rs. 2,00,000 crore Rs. 2,00,000 crore Rs.1,66,972 crore Rs. 10,000 crore Rs. 72,000 crore Rs. 30,000 crore Rs. 20,000 crore
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/13/25-corruption-scandals-that-shamed-india-89069.html
since independence. These include political,
supportive to anyone of them. Some
coporate, financial and others.
politicians always give hate-speech against
So, these are the some examples of scams. After seeing this list we can say that these scams are affecting India upto some extent. Now, one can understand the reason for inflation and why government has failed in controlling poverty. There are two problems which these stupid political leaders always do. Firstly, they do a series of scams, ceaselessly. Whatever the revenue or money collected in
their rival community. They want to show their love and concern to their respective religion. Since independence there were many riots that took place between different communities, whatever is the reason, the common people are always the main victims. In other words, its aam aadmi who is badly affected and their life totally gets disturbed and it takes time to recover.
the form of taxes ( VAT, payroll taxes, income
The main motive behind all the above bad
taxes on individuals or businesses), foreign
activities is that they want to intervene and
aid, investments, fines etc are never fully
trap us into these social problems so that they
utilised by the ministers but is stolen in the
can easily harvest the benefits. So, finally I
form of scams. Secondly, hoarding of money.
say that we should never be mesmerized by
which is a big disaster for the economy of any
the worldly labyrinth of the bureaucrats and
country.
politicians. They never keep their promises but
Similarly, these bureaucrats exploit people by hooks and crooks. They want to show that they're with a particular community but in reality they could never be caring and
go on adding to the old ones. I think we should never pay heed to their promises but keep our conscience fresh and fine to give our country and its people the real freedom.
July 2014
Caste rules, whether you see it or not Devika Mittal is pursuing her M.Phil in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics. She is a core member of Mission Bhartiyam, a peace and social justice organisation. She can be reached at devikamittal31@gmail.com
Power is not a difficult or an unusual concept
the deprived. It is sad to see these views but
to be understood. Power as domination, is
the truth is that, this is the popular view of
generally understood to be recognisable. It is a
most of the upper-class urbanites.
lived experience for all of us, whether in the form of exercising it or experiencing it. However, it is argued that while power is a lived experience, it cannot always be seen. It is not always recognisable as there are some forms of power which we internalise and normalise, making it a social fact, which let alone resist, we cannot even recognise.
It is sad but not shocking that the rationale behind caste-based reservation is not understood because this again comes from the dominating section who had not only dominated but is still dominating. Thecastebased domination is not an evil of yesterday, it is going on. It is the reality of today that still there is a discrimination against students of
Sadly, this seems to be the case for caste in
backward castes in schools. The report in a
urban India. A generally-held view among
newspaper, Times of India, dated 25 June
young, upper-class urbanites is that caste is a
2009 talked about the discrimination faced by
problem of rural India. While a general survey
backward caste students across India. In the
would suffice to prove my point, the voices
report titled "Dalit kids cannot use school loo
against caste-based reservations definitely
but have to clean them", it is stated how not
shows this. Going by the slogans and opinions
only the students but the teachers also indulge
of the anti-caste-based reservation, it seems
in caste-based discrimination. They are made
that most are unaware of the logic behind
to sit on the floor, punished unnecessarily,
reservation. They see it as a privilege being
forced to clean the classrooms, the toilets, and
extended to some because they were
are refrained from attending several school
discriminated centuries back. They see the
programmes. Similarly The Hindu, had
reservation as "discriminating" the general
released its report titled "In Perali village,
category. It is viewed as "anti-progressive".
Dalits can't cycle in upper caste areas" in this
Infact, reservation has almost become a joke
very century. These are not the discriminations
for many. Recently, Aam Aadmi party had
of the past, but the realities of today. Upper-
proposed reservation for Delhi students in
caste men raping dalit women are almost a
Delhi University. Reservation is being seen as
norm in villages even today.
a privilege, rather than as an opportunity for
As about caste being a problem only of the
limited to the rural. It is very much present in
rural India, these upper-class, educated
the urban areas. Another way to 'see' it is in
urbanites should ask the caste of the people
the institution of marriage. Even today, inter-
who come to collect garbage from their house
caste marriages are a problem. Contrary to
or clean the mess on the roads, in their
the view, honor killing and the 'milder' forms of
schools/colleges and workplaces. According to
abuse and discrimination are not limited to
the report 'Upper castes pose problem for
rural areas.
sanitation in BMC' published in The Hindu dated 27 July 2009, while the upper-caste would be appointed, they would not clean roads and drains because they felt that it the work of the lower-castes. The class of sweepers is still largely dominated by the people of underprivileged or backward castes. This is not all. It is wrong to think that discrimination happens only in villages. According to the report titled "Suicide by Dalit students in 4 years" published in The Hindu dated 5 September 2011, 18 students in some premiere educational institutions had committed suicide in four years because of traumatic experience of caste-based
It has been argued that class, not caste, should be given reservation. Do the urban, educated, upper-caste youth realise that a large section of the poor comprise of the under-privileged or backward castes? Caste is not such a social identity. It is tied to political and economic identity as well. They need opportunities to come up. Reservation based on caste will ensure them economic liberation and may also lead to their social liberation. When they will get opportunities to prove themselves, to break this myth that they are good only for 'menial' tasks, they will be able to provoke a change in thinking.
discrimination. One of the victims, a Dalit
I would like to conclude by arguing that caste
student in AIIMS was taunted by both the
is still a reality of the today, whether the urban,
faculty and class mates:
upper-caste people can 'see' it or not. The
“How could Chamars become doctors? You have come here only because of quota, you cannot go ahead�
reason why the urban, upper-caste youth cannot see it is not because it does not exist, but because they are not affected by it. Ask a Dalit, what caste is. As about this constant
This was not a one of its kind report. There are
debate of going 'beyond caste', as Social
hundreds of such reports and thousands of
Scientist Surinder Jodka had rightly pointed
unreported stories. How many of the
out, the beyond framework seems to be a
'progressive, educated' upper-caste youths do
conspiracy of the upper-caste. We cannot go
even realise that their abuses are also caste-
beyond the caste because caste still exists
based? The abusive words "bhangi",
and determines the life of a large section of
"chamar", "chuda" are names of some
population".
underprivileged castes. Caste is not just
July 2014
A “illegal”, yet common practice This article has been written by Sreelakshmi R who is puriuing Masters from IIT Madras.
Much has been said, written and debated
various regions-bhangis is Gujarat, pakhis in
about the issue of manual scavenging in
Andhra Pradesh or sikkiliars in Tamil Nadu-
India. But what everybody seems to miss is
are willing to take up this occupation, and
the fact that human beings- very much
inevitably the burden of “carrying forth the
belonging to Homo sapiens- with the same
tradition” falls on the women folk of the
brain capacity and physical abilities as
community. Also to be read with this is the
anybody else, are being forced to engage in
fact that both the husband and wife in a family
this. It doesn't seem to make an impact on the
need to work thanks to absurdly low wages.
policy makers that a violation of human rights
This just shows how gender and caste are
through such a despicable situation as caste-
irrelevant in the analysis of this issue.
based job allotment is taking place in a
Teltumbde noted that alternate employment
country promising its citizens equality of
for manual scavengers was supposed to be
opportunity and rights to life. A recent
completed by 1993 as per the Supreme
discussion on trying to explore the various
Court ruling. Several deadlines have
dimensions of this issue conducted in IIT
whooshed past and the authorities haven't
Madras, led by Anand Teltumbde, a faculty
lifted a finger.
m e m b e r o f Vi n o d G u p t a S c h o o l o f
engaged in this occupation are being forced
Management at IIT Kharagpur and Bezwada
to continue in it, and their children also end up
Wilson, one of the founders and National
in it, much to their chagrin. This only shows
Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan
the negligence that lawmakers have for the
(SKA), a human rights organisation that has
problems of the community.
been campaigning for the eradication of
We fall into a generation of innocent souls
manual scavenging revealed the reality
who would doubt if any such heinous acts
behind this.
take place. So alienated from the social
All through India, only one particular Dalit
realities in a fast-“growing” country such as
caste, known by different names in the
India, it would be quite shocking that caste-
So the people who are
based allotment of Class-IV jobs still occurs
independence and 150 years of colonial past
in the Panchayat level. Wilson, who hails
have only strengthened practices known to
from such a community himself, could justify
exist only in the ancient times in the country.
his fight highlighting his personal
And the most terrible thing to happen is that
experiences: his mother, so determined that
even Government agencies, such as the
her children should not take up this job, tried
Railways, hire the (unofficially, of course!)
her best to dissuade his brother and sister.
“Scavenger community”. When PSUs and
But they got sucked in by the system, as
such agencies also support this, can the
putting bread on the table at dinner was more
government have a clear conscience when
important. He was the youngest, so could
stating, “The law will take care of
escape the terrible fate that the world had
everybody”?
bestowed upon them and took up the cause of his community. His passionate words show how even the most “reformed” members of the society humiliated him in his many trips to the capital to fight the endless, looping legal battles. This is when name-calling and other forms of discrimination in the name of caste are prohibited by law. The real problems in the issue of manual scavenging are the stigma associated with hygiene workers and the shamelessness of the general public in dirtying the public space and expecting someone else to clean up after them. So what about the said latter set? They get to walk around polluted minds and clean bodies, while the others get jeered at.
Is it really so difficult to do away with manual scavenging? Strict policy measures, including enforcing the existing ones, and will-power to make a difference, is all that we need. After all, this is the Indus Valley civilization that had planned cities and common baths and underground drainage systems right from the times of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. It is time for us to wake to the reality that most Indians live in. To conclude, Manual Scavenging should be prohibited – both legally and in practice - because it is a clearly harmful and hazardous practice. Such regressive practices only hinder India on its march to becoming a global superpower. Through collective dialogue
The discrimination that the Dalit's face in the
and action, we must initiate steps to remove
country are so deep-rooted and cruel that if
this practice from our country and attempt to
one was born Dalit, they will have no chance
come up with new ideas and inventions to
to live with dignity and would eventually
stop manual scavenging, related diseases
succumb to suicide, if not murdered already.
and the caste based bias against people in
More than just the general human rights
the hiring of scavengers.
violation, this shows that 66 years of
Cover Story
July 2014
e – Commerce a modern language of Marketing This article has been written by Sabeeh Ahmad, who is pursuing his post graduation..
E-commerce is one of the hottest and
through their splendid and impressive looking
ubiquitous topic in present times. The mass
items and their way of marketing is that easily
adoption of the Internet has created a
availability of products and its timely delivery.
paradigm shift in the way businesses are
Doing business online is not an easy task at all.
conducted in today's modern era. Unlike past decades, currently we are facing the emergence of new kind of commerce and that is e-commerce. Traditional physical trading of goods and currency is becoming increasingly popular and more businesses are jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon-commerce is a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organisations, merchants and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery by using the Internet. It differs a lot from traditional ecommerce in the way that it enables the trading of goods, money and information electronically from computer to computer. This cumulative ecommerce industry has emerged as a favourite destination for those who love to shop online. Online portals like Flipkart, Amazon, Snap deal, Jabong, Fabmart, and Infibeam and others have attracted their customers a lot
Apart from these things, companies have to look into some other areas in order to make their online business more fruitful. They have to focus on areas such as direct marketing, selling, services, online banking and billing, secure distribution of information and last but not the least on value chain trading and corporate purchasing.
Today e-commerce
conducted between businesses differs from that carried out between a business and its consumers. The various types of ecommerce/e-commerce market models are: Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Consumer (C2C) and Business to Government (B2G).Business to business refers to ecommerce activities between businesses. An e-commerce company can be dealing with suppliers or distributors or even agents. But these transactions are usually carried out through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).It is
generation, business process automation, and
Company's vision for e-commerce should also
even cost reduction must be met. The systems
be to help businesses establish stronger
used to reach goals should be flexible enough
relationships with customers and industry
to change when the business scenario
partners. E-commerce is about setting our
changes. The internet provides universal
businesses on the internet and it should be on
access, but companies should protect their
the right track. Allowing visitors to access our
assets against accidental or malicious misuse.
website and go through a virtual catalogue of
System security however must not create
our any company's products/services online.
prohibitive complexity or reduce flexibility.
When a visitor wants to buy something he/she
Customer information also needs to be
likes, they merely add it to their virtual
protected from internal and external misuse.
shopping basket. Items can be added or
Privacy systems should safeguard the
deleted and when we are all set to the check-
personal information critical to building sites
out counter which has our complete total and
that satisfies the customer and business
that asks us for our name, address etc and
needs. Most of the companies already use (IT)
method of payment(via debit/credit card).
to conduct business in non-internet
Once we enter all these information, we can
environments, such as marketing, order
then just wait for delivery. Today, consumers
management, billing, inventory, distribution
are pushing retailers to the wall, demanding
and customer service. The internet also
lower process, better quality, a large selection
represents an alternative and complementary
of in season goods. Retailers are scrambling to
way to do business, but it is imperative that e-
fill the order. They are slashing back-office
commerce systems integrate existing systems
costs, reducing profit margins, reducing cycle
in a manner that avoids duplicating
times, buying more wisely and making huge
f u n c t i o n a l i t y a n d m a i n t a i n s u s a b i l i t y,
i n v e s t m e n t s i n t e c h n o l o g y. T h e y a r e
performance and reliability. When systems
revamping distribution channels to make sure
from two or more businesses are able to
that warehouse costs are down by reducing
exchange documents without manual
their average inventory levels and coordinating
intervention, businesses achieve cost
the consumer demand and supply patterns. In
reduction, improved performance, and more
the push to reduce prices, more and more
dynamic value chains. Failing to address any of
retailers are nowadays turning to overseas
these issues may spell failure for a systems
suppliers, in part because of cheaper labour
implementation effort. That is why the
costs.
commercial strategy of any company should be designed to address all these issues to help customers achieve the benefits of ecommerce.
On the other hand, e-commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing, relationship marketing, and sustaining a long term relationship with
an automated format of exchanging
consists of a person to person transaction that
information between businesses over private
completely excludes businesses from the
networks. As a result, this allows more
equation. Customers are also a part of the
transparency among business involved;
businesses and C2C enables customers to
therefore business can run more efficiently.
directly deal with each other. For example we
EDI is composed of standards that enable
can say that peer auction giant, Ebay's
businesses computers to conduct transactions
business to government is a new type of trend
with each other without human intervention.
in e-commerce industry. This type is used by
With the help of B2B e-commerce, companies
government departments to directly reach to
are able to improve the efficiency of several
the citizens by setting up the websites. They
common businesses functions, including
have some government policies, rules and
supplier management, inventory management
regulations related to some respective
and payment management.
departments. Any citizen may interact with
Using e-commerce enabled businesses applications, companies are able to control their supplier costs by reducing purchase order processing costs and cycle times. This has added a lot of benefit of being able to process more purchase orders at a lesser costs in the same amount of time. E-commerce technology can also serve to shorten the order-ship-cycle of inventory management by linking business partners together with the company to provide faster data access. Businesses can improve their inventory auditing capabilities by tracking
their websites to know the various details. The concept of smart city has been evolved from B2G e-commerce. To many businesses, information is their most valuable asset. Although the internet can enable businesses to reach huge new markets for that information, businesses must also ensure to safeguard that information in order to protect their assets. Digital right movement provides protection for intellectual and information property and today it is a key technology to secure information distribution.
order shipments electronically, which results in
E-commerce can also be implemented
reduced inventory levels and improves upon
through various issues. Although it is simple to
the ability of the company to provide just in time
describe their benefits, but it is not nearly as
service. Business to consumers refers to e-
easy to develop and deploy commercial
commerce activities that are focused on
systems. Companies may face significant
consumer rather than on businesses like
implementation issues like cost, value,
purchasing services from an insurance
security, leveraging existing systems and
company conducting online banking and
interoperability. Businesses want to know
employing travel services. Customer to
whether their investments in electronic
customer refers to e-commerce activities,
commerce systems will produce a return or
which use an auction style model. This model
not. Business objectives such as lead
the existing and the potential customers, and
opportunities. There are very few successful
even event marketing for example we can say
business companies that do not use
that setting up a virtual booth where interested
computers in their everyday business
people come and visit. If we consider a case of
activities, which also mean that these are few
conventional direct marketers, who devote
companies who do not use e-commerce. So
some percentage of their revenues to such
some advantages of e-commerce are, speed,
costs as printing and postages for catalogue
cost saving, no boundaries, ease of
etc. Interactive marketing could help cut such
networking, reduced prices to its customers,
expenses and may even deliver better results.
global market place, 24*7 access, quicker
Interactive marketing is accomplished in
delivery.
electronic markets via electronic multimedia catalogues that give the same look and feel as a shopping channel. By this way, users find moving images more appealing than still images and listening more appealing than reading text on screen. Maximum public acceptance will require that interactive catalogue services have a more entertaining visual appearance than traditional textintensive have had. Ideally, an interactive shopping program should produce full-motion demonstrations of selected products but such kind of practical and economical technology is yet to be developed. In order to be a successful e-commerce company, there are also certain incentives. The key to e-commerce success is to optimize several key factors such as selection, value, performance and service efficiency, the look and feel of the site, advertising and incentives to purchase, personal attention, community relationships and last but not the least security and reliability. When it comes to the matter of e-commerce advantages, with the astonishing growth of the internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business
Apart from these things, there are also some disadvantages like hidden costs, network unreliability, the cost of staying in business, lack of security, lack of privacy, low service levels, legal issues and limited access to computers. Although vast amounts of money have been invested into making e-commerce work, and although it causes vast amounts and large number of goods to change hands every day, it has also so far failed to deliver the goods for a broad audience. The various reasons for e-commerce not been an overwhelming success for the masses can roughly be answered firstly, everybody don't have access to computers, secondly, buying goods over the internet is not natural is that one cannot feel or see the products in real life, the interaction is unnatural, there is no salesperson present, and thirdly, people feel unsafe to buy over the internet.
Poem
July 2014
Tomorrow killed today
Being Real These poems have been written by Abhash Upadhayay.
It's better to hate;
Often we dream of a tomorrow which totally contradicts the reality, the truth
Than to fake a love, We imagine a tomorrow with no worry, no grief. It's better to be ugly and evil, A tomorrow when we find that happiness, Than to be pretentious beautiful and loving; It's better to be alone, Than to be with “temporary” loved ones; It's better to be cheated Than to be trusted like cunning fox;
Tomorrow filled with believe and faith, An incarnation, A rebirth, Tomorrow which will overshadow today's tear Tomorrow when we are together and happy! What an irony. A dream of best tomorrow dominating the pinching reality
Its better to be hostile, For today and always let's try one thing Than to be friendly; Let's not be more hard on ourselves Its better to walk off; Than to call a fight for nothing at stake. There is a reason for it Atleast! We are not under a “formal duty “of being loved, beautiful, friendly and trusted
lMj
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