The making of a Scientist in India Vs. Developed Nations - An Ethmos Perspective.- PART I

We hope you have gone through our previous articles regarding research funding through banks and the quality of research in Bharat.  After giving much thought to the state of affairs at our research institutions and institutions of higher learning vis' a vis' developed nations, we got so frustrated that we decided to write something regarding how all these great achievements are accomplished by our research institutions.  So here goes:

First we will take a look at how things actually need to be done and are being done at the developed countries like the USA, UK, Germany, etc. which give utmost priority to original research and innovation.  A scientist is made right at the schooling stage in those countries.  Every child is a scientist - s/he likes to explore his surroundings and environment and learn through that process only.  This quality of children is nurtured right from the pre-schooling stages in the developed countries and the nurturing continues throughout the schooling and college education wherein lectures are not taken as class periods of 30-45 minutes and a monotone is sung by the teachers while the students doze off in harmonic motion every 5 to 10 minutes.  The children are given real-life projects, told to explore their environment, probe everything that they are curious about, read and study about new developments in the fields that they wish to choose as their profession.  In those countries, there are no "scientists" but biologist, chemist, entomologist (insect specialists), microbiologist, biochemist, physicist, mechanic, etc. and all professions are seen with more or less equal respect with the quality of living near about evenly distributed among the populace.  The students are encouraged to take up research projects right at the schooling stage and involve in original innovation and encouraged to share their ideas freely, thus resulting into a overall positive and open atmosphere where creative inventions are born.

Now we look at how great we are doing in our very own Bharatvarsh which invented ZERO and are still extremely good at multiplying zeroes (no pun intended).  Over here, our children are our biggest "investment" which have to be liquidated after they get a decent job (look after your parents) and of course, there are only THREE jobs in this whole spherical world - DOCTOR,  ENGINEER, and OTHERS.  And once your child is in school, he is not supposed to (1) ask curious questions that are out of syllabus and which the teacher has told that it won't come in the exams (2) not study foolish comics other than your textbooks (3) play around or fool around by doing stupid desi inventions like making a bow and arrow out of broom sticks {I personally used to love it!!!}.  And you are supposed to (1) attend school and tuitions and the number of tuitions required was derived using a simple formula wherein you multiply the number of subjects with one and multiply the answer with two to get get the number of study hours required after school hours (2) copy-paste whatever has been done in school class from a book called C.W. (Class Work) to H.W. (Home Work)  (3) make sure the teacher is always happy and is not irritated with questions she does not know or care to know the answers to and most important (4) DO NOT THINK ON YOUR OWN.

So, now our Bhartiya child comes into the most important phase of his educational life called the Higher Secondary Boards or class XII as we call it.  Now, apart from school + tuitions, he has to attend specialized coaching for the Olympics called PMT/PET with all its hues and colors from different states and also a common exam at the central level.  And IF, and it is a big IF, you don't clear it - It is definitely and absolutely the end of the world for everybody on this planet - so now you are the saviour of this planet and you have to do it for this planet's sake.  Our Bhartiya child has already succeeded in killing his enthusiasm, curiosity, innovation, creativity, and the beautiful but useless spark in his eyes.  And hence, definitely he fails to clear these dreaded exams and ends up being the biggest disappointment in his entire family history and will be talked about how he has ashamed his entire previous and forthcoming generations.  Since he is used to all these insults and crushings, he just accepts his fate and goes and joins a "normal" science college which is the ONLY other option left according to his genius multi-talented parents since the world does not require any lawyers, bankers, administrators, drivers, soldiers, cops, businessmen, or anything and the only two people they take help during their routine lives are the mighty engineer and the divinely doctor.

We will continue the story of our brilliant scientist in our next part since we don't want our readers to sleep away reading this interesting story.

Thanks and happy Ethmos to all.

What happened to the mighty Russia? - A very brief Ethmotican perspective

Statue of Mother Russia at Volgograd

Russia is one of the major economies of the world , overall sixth by GDP standards.  Russia is the land of heroes who showed the world that the uncontrollable forces of "Nazti" Hitler can be tamed.  The country of greats like Lenin and Stalin which stood with defiance to show that the powers can be controlled by strong solidarity.

During the cold war era, Russia formerly known as USSR, was representing the socialist ideology against mighty western powers.  The important events which changed the course of history can be enumerated as follows:

1. Change of 88 and introduction of Perestroika and Glasnost.

2. Disintegration of mighty USSR

3. Opening of economy and governance

4. Better trade pacts

Above all it fetched the Nobel Peace Prize for His Excellency Mikhail Gorbachev.

Now we will discuss briefly about the economy of Russia:

As per GDP - 6 th in world

Economy - $2.118 trillion

Central bank - Bank of Russia

Currency - Rouble

Major exports:

Petroleum and Petroleum products

Natural gas, Metals, Wood and wood products, and last but not the least, advanced military equipments.

Petroleum accounts for 70 % of exports for economy.

Major imports:

Consumer goods

Pharmaceuticals

Vehicles

Russia is divided into different economic zones.  These are different from federal districts\states.  Each economic zone is again sub-divided in micro zones.  This led to the development of economy by proper utilization of manpower and resources.  Zones can fix their taxation and custom laws.

Even though Russia is a socialist economy but distribution of wealth is unequal which results in high inflation.  Due to this high inflation, country has been hit badly during the recession of 2008-09.  Sarcasm on the face of country is that Moscow has been termed as the "Billionaire capital of the world" on Forbes list since 2008.

What went wrong?

Global meltdown has been troubling Russia like other leading economies of the world.  The Ukraine crisis was the last nail in the coffin. Due to the Crimean issue, Russia was snubbed by G-8\G-5 group.  The direct or indirect involvement of Russian military forces led to a great number of sanctions on the country.  Since the major export of country is petroleum and petroleum products, a major downturn in the prices of oil in the international market had a severe blow on the economy of the country. The mighty OPEC and western powers didn't do anything to stop the crisis. As the major source of revenue is not functioning properly, the economy is unable to revive itself due to which the country is struggling with high unemployment and inflation.

Vladmir Putin - the man of the moment

At the end of the article I would like to say "Are you happy superman (read Putin)? " pun intended. Readers might be thinking that the article is against Putin but no, its not . It is for the Russian people, the people with the nerves of steel . Team Etmos admires you and we know that the country will bounce back with a bang on the face of the world now that Shri. Vladmir Putin is back on track after his "did-not-tell-where-he-went" sojourn.

Stop war - make world a better place to live.

TEAM ETHMOS - "Be one in a billion"

Are we really doing any research in Bharat?? The Ethmos Innovation Index

Going from research to innovation - The Ethmos Innvoation Index

First of all we thank all our readers for receiving well our previous article on research funding through banks but we are really sorry to note that we did not receive a single brickbat from anybody - please somebody criticize us; we are the perpetual attention seekers and are dying to seek your attention because your attention to our issues is required for resolution of the various issues plaguing our nation and the world at large.

In this article we are asking a very basic question to our readers - the junta of Bharat - are we really doing research in our country?  We feel proud to have ancestors like Aryabhatta, Charaka, Brahmabhatta, etc. who were pioneers in their own fields of science and have literally changed the way world used to see things during their times - in fact, they were much ahead of their times.  But sadly enough we have wasted our legacy.  In today's world, research has lost its originality to a large extent and is confined to the publishing of research and review articles on "impact-factor"-graded journals.  The higher the impact factor of the journal, the better the quality of your research considered as per the standard norms.  But in Bharat, very few researchers are engaged in research which is up to the expected level of these journals and the practical applications of these research works are seldom known even to the person conducting the research.  In fact, research has become a very comfortable way of claiming grants from University Grants Commission (UGC) or any other government body like Department of Science and Technology (DST), etc. and use them as you like, which includes but is not limited to foreign tours in the name of paper presentation/conferences/seminars, grants for purchase of equipment and chemicals which hardly have any use after one or two experiments, and "n" number of creative ways of utilizing public money for purposes other than research and development.

We believe that the actual research is done at the ground level - i.e. by people actually working in the industry like the farmers who are experimenting on a monthly basis to improve the quality of their produces, people living in the remote corners of the country who hybridize bicycles and motors to make their own concocted motorcycles that run on steam or solar energy, and much more.  Recently, a person from Rajkot, Gujarat, named Mansukhbhai Prajapati, who hardly had any formal education, innovated on a rural refrigeration system using the potter clay and named it "Mitticool"

The Mitticool refrigerator developed by Mansukhbhai Prajapati

and the refrigeration system was efficient at not only providing cool water but also keeping perishable food items like fruits/vegetables for longer duration of time thereby saving on multiple traveling costs to far away market places on a daily basis for procurement of the same.  Fortunately, the innovator was able to find investors and has started his own business by mass production of these useful and eco-friendly machine that does not use any electricity at all to keep things cool.  These root-level innovators are the actual researchers of the country who are seldom funded by any UGC, DST, DBT, etc. but are doing whatever they can from their own savings and borrowings from friends and relatives (and if they are lucky and enterprising enough, they get funding from investors too!) and the only thing that keeps them going is the unlimited enthusiasm to do something for the society at large.

We want to ask - are our researchers also motivated towards the larger good of the society and the country at large?  How many patents are we filing on an yearly basis?  We don't agree much with the people who think that publishing research articles is the yardstick of innovative work - what we consider is whether your ideas are fructified and the fruits available to the general public for use?

As discussed in our previous article, we strongly believe that funding should be available to researchers and innovators regardless of their educational qualifications or background.  And since we are born "doers" we introduce to you our own Ethmos Innovation Index which will do investment-grade credit rating of innovative ideas; help them nurture, incubate, and get the required crucial seed funding and give them end-to-end consulting solutions - the primary condition for all this being that your idea has to be strong enough to attract us - just attract us and we will attract the rest towards you.  So if any of you innovators or researchers out there are interested in this proposition, you can mail us your requirements at teamethmos@gmail.com.

Let us stop talking and start doing and do something towards the growth of our society and nation.

Happy Ethmos to all!

BANKING IN INDIA- A VIEW FROM BOTH SIDES - THE ETHMOS PERSPECTIVE

To know about the structure or policies of Banking in India, there are and number of books available in the Market or over the Internet. But we here at Ethmos show the view, which may seem general but gives the real picture of the practices happening in India. (Note: The motto is not only to discuss about the change to happen but make the changes happen.)

  A.  From Public point of view:

Public can be an individual, a family, a firm or any entity who uses the services of banking industry. The Journey or relation of banks with public mostly starts with the opening of an account through which s/he utilizes the multiple services of banking. But in practice when we as a public enter in a bank, particularly a public sector bank, we hardly get to know from where to start, as everything seems to be on a different planet and the view will be like- A guard sitting at the entrance who is the most frustrated man in Bank who teaches the people banking in his own way (some exceptions are there who really help public in need) as public feel more secure to ask the security guard rather than any other employee of the bank.

 Counter interactions- What we have heard or read in books or newspaper that in PSU’s our work will be done at the single counter (SWO-Concept) but in reality first we have to win the position by standing in a queue. After the initial battle only 25% chances are there that our work is done. We will be shown next window for our work to be done. It will make us think whether we really need the service of bank by wasting so much of time that to in today’s tech savvy world. And overall we invest our own money and time in banks, and in return we get the harsh language of the bankers along with the half knowledge what we have consumed. Even if we have availed any facility from bank we are not sure if we can utilize it 100%. These are the just initial encounters faced by our more than 100crore public in Banks.

Managerial experience to Public: Frankly speaking, Bank managers are not less than any of the God in our country. It will be a rare time for public that he can interact with the Manager in a bank. As first thing he has to find out, where is the Bank Manager. When he finds the Lord of Bank Branch He is being treated as he has made a crime by entering in the cabin and having interactions with him. Then finally if he is in mood our problem will be solved but if he is in bad mood then even 100 coconuts or number of rounds are not enough to make our work done. But even after this sort of humiliation, we as a public have to respect Bank manager and Have to say “Thank you sir, I will be back”.

(These are the experiences people in India faces at the initial stages as they are not aware of their own rights even at place like Bank. But when we are used to it, we learn too many things to get our work done.)

B.  From Bankers point of view:

Banker: Banker is an individual who provides the banking service to the public through banking channel directly or indirectly. When an individual gets selected in Bank, he feels on top of the world. (Which won’t last too long). When he is being trained what he has to do in banks, he thinks that he is being chosen for a noble cause. But when the actual practice of Banking gets started everything changes. The change starts form the timing to report at the branches. (Posting of bankers is more than an issue, so it is being skipped) He has to open the bank much before the actual working hour’s starts. On an average, at least before 45 minutes of actual working hours. He has to look after the things which are kept at the desk as unfinished tasks a day before. (In banking unfinished tasks are more compared to the finished tasks due to staff shortage or unskilled staff, which will not be understandable by A general public. So after arranging all the things neatly and getting to know what he has to do today, multitasking is obligatory as he has to do the tasks of at least two people. So, the beautiful journey starts.

Customer Interaction & other: From a banker’s point of view, every person who consumes banking service is a customer. And as per the old saying

“Customers are god!” So, we have to respect the customer as foremost thing along with providing a better service. When the banker starts the working hours by providing the service, he never thinks that he has to do the repeated task which he is being doing since many days or months. He just kept on doing things, Even he is not being diverted by the various chaos some customer makes against him. It didn’t fail him to provide the banking service to the others. As there are many things from a banker’s point of view which can be completed by using common sense, but as some of the smart customers knows the rights of a customer, deliberately neglecting their responsibilities kept on asking the same question number of times. He thinks that it’s the banker’s duty to please the customer as he wants. (Though there is difference between customer satisfaction and pleasing customer). After a long duration of working hours get finished, there are still n number of tasks are waiting for a banker which will take again at least 1 and half hour more. Means doing the multiple tasks, managing minimum 100 customers and working nearly about 9 hours in a day a banker will spend remaining 3-5 hours to his beloved family.

Our View: As we have seen the Indian banking from both customers and bankers point of view. Though there are too many parts still to be covered, we herewith summarise the thing by putting a small solution. It’s not necessary that every solution has to be out of the box. Even in this context we just want to make you realise the others point of view, so we can understand the problem in our thinking. As you can observe thing that We have referred both Public and banker as “We” to just express one thing that we all are one, No one is different from the other. Suggestions and comments are most welcome.

Thanking you,

Team Ethmos.

Research funding through banks in India - The Ethmos view

The Union Budget 2015 has allocated Rs. 41,900 Crores for the overall R&D in the country and that includes all the departments like health, defence, agriculture, earth sciences, renewable energy, space & atomic energy, etc.  If you just consider the Ministry of Science and Technology, then the fund allocation is a measly Rs. 9,500 Crores out of the above.  It is no open secret that R&D is the backbone of development in any civilization.  The Americans, Russians, Germans, Britons, and of course not to forget, our Vedic Civilization ancestors used to give a huge stress on the generation of new ideas and technologies for making our lives easier and more comfy and in the meantime providing more food to people at the same cost of production, giving better quality of life like better houses to live in, better amenities to use, etc.  We appreciate the efforts taken by our present government in boosting growth in our country but what concerns us is the "below-inflationary" increase in the funding for R&D in our country, viz. the net increase in the budgetary fund allocation viz-a-viz last year was only 3.5% as compared to an inflationary increase of around 5-6% in various costs.  So, in simple terms, a major part of these funds will be utilized for paying higher bills, higher salaries due to increase in dearness allowances, higher cost of raw materials like chemicals, equipments, etc. and only a microscopic portion will be really left for conducting the actual research.

We at Ethmos are deeply concerned regarding the sluggishness in the R&D sector and the sorry state of affairs in our country wherein many fine minds are either quitting the R&D sector or migrating to greener pastures in the foreign countries.  And we are strong believers that R&D has the power to transform the lives of billions that inhabit this planet and hence we are putting forth a proposition for changing the way R&D is funded across the world.

First of all, for the sake of background information, let us just inform you that in comparison to the R&D sector, the government has allocated Rs. 25,000 Crore for agricultural rural infrastructural development fund (RIDF) and is targeting the annual credit outflow of a whopping Rs. 8.5 lakh crores (i.e. Rs. 8.5 lakh crores worth of loans need to be disbursed to farmers for agricultural activities).  Regarding the RIDF, it is a fund created by the NABARD (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) wherein the funds from banks are pooled in whenever the banks are not able to reach the minimum lending targets (40% of annual credit to priority sector like agriculture, housing, education, and business loans in case of public sector banks).  For example, if say bank X has got Rs. 100/- with it for lending, it is mandatory for the bank to lend Rs. 40/- to the aforementioned sectors failing which the shortfall in lending (say if it was able to lend only Rs. 30/-, then the shortfall will be Rs. 10/-) will have to kept in the RIDF at 4% simple interest per annum.

Now we put forth our view for the brickbats:

1.  Why cannot banks finance the R&D funding as they are doing for the highly probabilistic and unpredictable agriculture sector? Even if they can finance 10% of what they are financing to the agriculture sector, the R&D sector can get a handsome Rs. 85,000 Crores for the R&D activities.  The loans can be advanced with higher repayment periods and flexible repayment terms as in the case of agricultural loans.

2.  Putting R&D sector under the purview of bank financing will open up an entirely new area and science of financial analysis which will be analyzing the risk-return ratio of various projects and this may lead to weeding out of many "unwanted or repeated" research projects across the country.  If we are not mistaken, then the same research is being carried out by 5 scientists simultaneously across the nation and many more across the globe with varying results (some of which are also fabricated to suit the requirements of the publishing journal or the University guides so as to get the degrees, recognition, and grants).  What is required is the integration of such projects, at least in the form of a central database wherein the results & protocols are shared by the concerned scientists in order to eliminate duplication of work thereby avoiding unnecessary expenditure.  If the banks can create a financial behemoth of a platform for storing zillions of data of accounts of billions of customers, the research database will require hardly a portion of that space - we propose that the government lend a generous helping hand to the research and financial institutions for the same. The research database can be similar to the lines of CERSAI (central electronic database for immovable properties).

3.  The R&D proposals should be routed through the banks and need to be credit rated compulsorily by external agencies like Ethmos, S&P, Crisil, etc.  Special credit rating formulas need to be developed and evolved for the same.  We have already started on the same and will be submitting our proposal to the government regarding the same.

4.  There should be a profit-sharing basis for the R&D scientists involved in the project and the patents or the end result of the work should have practical applications in day-to-day life or at least in other R&D works to make the work feasible.  Many of the Indian Universities have not evolved yet from streaking the same bacteria again and again and testing their resistance to various antibiotics which are already tested by others!  The end-product and practical applications will be the deciding factor for giving the loans since it is the end-product or in some cases, the byproduct, that will be the marketable commodity produced out of the research using which the financial institution can recover the loan amount lent along with handsome commissions and incentives to the scientists responsible for its creation.

5.  And if you are thinking about default on payment and loss of money without getting any definitive results, then we wish to inform that every year, many farmers have to default on their payments due to the totally unpredictable weather in our country and subsequent loss of crops.  What the government does in that case is the rephasement of loans, i.e. extension of time periods for repayments and giving fresh repayment terms and conditions.  We believe that this formula can be applied to research proposals that are not yielding definitive results after say 2-3 years of research.  If no results are obtained, then the research project can be analyzed further and restructured in order to be profitable.  Furthermore, the fundamental law of research is that it ALWAYS produces something - whether it is useful now or later is what needs to be determined.

We at Ethmos believe that R&D is as much a riskier proposition as is agriculture in India since 90% of it is totally rain-dependent.  At least in R&D, we are "brain" dependent and thus the probability of success is better than that in agriculture.  Hence, we propose full-fledged government support in the idea of financial investment-funding methodology of research funding for the betterment of our future generations.  We will be giving more inputs on this seed of an idea that we put forth today.

Till then, 

Happy Ethmos to all!

What, who, why, and how are we - The Ethmos

Many of our readers would be thinking by now that who and what the heck are these Ethmos guys.  So, during one of our group discussions, we had agreed that we will not be just knowledge and info type people but will also have a spiritual and other humane side to us.  Hence, we thought of enlightening our readers regarding what and who we are as well as giving some spiritual food for thought for getting their neurons working on the right side.

Now first things first.  Who are we?  Frankly speaking, our names does not matter right now because as Mr. Naseeruddin Shah tells in the famous movie “Wednesday” – ‘Us gumnam chehre se koi bhi pakad lijiye, main woh hoon!’ (Pick any person from those unknown faces and I am him) – to describe the plight of the common man in our country.  Now if you are thinking that we some kind of saviours to the common man, then again you are grossly wrong.  Because common man is an extremely powerful entity who does not require a saviour.  Instead what he needs is a guide who can show him the destination of various paths and leave up to him which path he wants to tread.  We are those guides to put it in a simple manner.  We are those unknown faces that you can encounter in any house or in any office.  We are not products of IITs or IIMs some of whom finish their expensive (expensive to the government’s public money) education and either join investment banks or open “idli-dosa” outlets stating that “its different!”.  Again, we are not any kind of frustrated individuals who are venting their frustration over the present state of affairs and public system over the internet and going on criticizing things.  Instead, we are extremely motivated individuals who despite having no backing or background, despite coming from very modest middle-class families, have achieved the knowledge of ins and outs of the system by joining the system, remaining in this system, and trying our level best to improve this system and still trying the same.  All we have with us is a steely will and determination of titanium that “we can and we will” and even if “we can’t then also, we will.”  This steely grit we got not from studying in costly convent schools but through government schools, not by going to educational institutions that choose only the best and leave the rest – of course, we did try our best to get into them all but we could not because our parents could not afford a costly enough coaching centre for coaching and guiding us 8 to 10 hours a day and practicing us questions that we asked since the last millennium.  We were individuals who tried their level best with whatever little resources and books they had with them, without much of external guidance, tried their best to get into the best but “fortunately” could not because had we been selected, who knows, even we would have been selling “IIM brand pani-puri stalls” and would not be creating the wonderful things that we are doing now.

We did not learn management from the so-called western management gurus who write voluminous books on management concepts that are mostly applicable to western social and economic conditions little realising that management is a highly dynamic subject changing its from with the change in geographic and cultural boundaries.  Instead, we learnt our management lessons by working for one of the biggest conglomerates in the world – the Government of India.  We learnt the true concepts, meanings, applications, and shortcomings of management concepts by working in the heartlands and badlands of India tasting the dust and mud ourselves in the way which was a very important part of our evolutionary process, which actually metamorphosed us into what we are today.  We learnt and want to teach that always what is shown in the media and the newspapers (even 100 years’ old ones) are not necessarily the real stories or the truth and that there are not just two sides of a coin but the coin over here is actually a multidimensional sphere with no sides, only a continuum of surface and space – everything interconnected among themselves.  It is these financial, economic, and social interconnections that we learnt and did not find anywhere much in any of the books, websites, or forums – may be because many people in their own frenzy of “studying” what is known simply ignored what is lying in front of them.  For example, many people even today blame the government for raising the salary of bank employees after 5 years and giving a whopping Rs. 4000 crore bunk to the exchequer but comfortably forget that their own tax-paid money was utilize to pay off the interest worth Rs. 5000 crores for education loans taken to educate “idli-dosa” selling IIM and other graduates/postgraduates – unfortunately which was neither reported much nor discussed about in any of the grand newspaper editorials/opinions or even in the great weekly’s who claim to have a legacy of 100-year plus.

Confused regarding what we are?  Don’t worry – just follow us and we will show you what we are and what we are made up of.  We will show you what a common man can do if he desperately wants to do something.  And yes, we are a 100% commercial organization and not at all a charity or NGO because we believe that money is the root cause of all things – good or evil – its our choice and we choose the good for our country and the world.  If anybody having any objections with that can very well find a nearest lamp post and bang their heads in merry!!

Happy Ethmos to all!

Join the Indian Railways Olympic Academy through the Tatkal Exams - The Ethmos way

First of all, we would like to thank all our readers for giving us your valuable time and making us so important in the world of web space just after few hours of our launch.  Thanks a lot and it would have been impossible without you.

So, after writing some serious hardcore stuff about various issues, we thought about taking it on a lighter note for our readers.  We hereby provide you a one-on-one account of one of our Ethmoticans who had the platonic pleasure of travelling in our great Indian Railways' sleeper compartments. So here goes::

Best Books for a healthy mind We Hindustanis have never received any medal at the Olympics for any of the gymnastic categories.  I personally think that we have been making the wrong selections of the candidates and it is an absolute and hard lie given by the government that we do not have good training facilities here in India to train our gymnastic athletes.  If not, then what are the Indian Railways for?  So, here we would like to give our views on saving the precious money for the government as well as getting some medals for our medal-starved nation so that at least once in a century our tricolor is unfurled at the Olympics.

Our Indian Railways has got one of the best infrastructure and training facilities for training athletes - all types and kinds but gymnasts, the most.  How?  Tell us first - what is the first thing that is required for being a great sportsman - is it strong muscles, hardcore abs, stamina, etc. - NO - it is the will power to succeed and the persistence to stay on despite all suicidal desperation.  And you want to test your willpower - try to book any railway ticket from 10 a.m. onward through the IRCTC website - it will take all your willpower in the world to either take a hammer and break your computer or instead break your head.  You would think the better option would be to go to the railway reservation counters and book the same.  Now, now - to become an athlete is not so easy - you have to be stronger than a rugby player to just get into

A typical view of the railway reservation counter - 10 marks for finding the line!

the line and have the intellect of a Magnus Carlson (World Chess Champion) to first figure out which line to stand in because there will be lines of all shapes and figures ranging from horizontal line (most likely to be seen near the counter wherein people would be pushing each other side to side to just get a single view of the beautiful god called the counter clerk), snake line wherein everybody is thinking that s/he came before the other blokes sitting in his vicinity and that when the time comes to prove his might (i.e. to book the ticket), he is the heir to the throne of counter window and would be booking his ticket before others.

Once after you chose which clan of line to choose in order to get that ticket, you will be tested for your patience and determination - because you will have to stand in the line from morning 4 a.m. at the LEAST just to make sure you have any chance of getting your beloved ticket.  Who told that Darwin discovered theory of evolution (survival of the fittest and natural selection) through Galapagos Island - he would have definitely got the first ideas through our railway queues only - sad that he did not mention anything in his book and we have to write about it over here.

Now the time comes for you to reach the counter - the D-Time approaches - the counter queue has around 5-10 people standing before you (as you may be thinking but the others who are in their parallel self-originated queues will be thinking otherwise) and it has struck 10 a.m.  Now the real game begins.  The counter clerk god will be taking his jolly time to check your application, your identity proofs, and then typing on his Charles Babbage-era computer with only his two fingers and resting the other eight for his next seven lives.  Once the data entry is complete, he will again ask you which train to travel to (as if you are moron and have not mentioned the name of the train or train number on the application form) and then tell you coolly that it is a tatkal waiting list of 10.  Oh yes - despite the poor clerk being faster than Michael Schumacher, he could not book even one ticket for the hundreds standing in the queue.  Then he will shout at you to tell him fast whether you want to book the ticket in waiting list or not.  Now comes the second part of athletic training - quick thinking exercise.  It is assumed that you have been bitten by the same spider that bite Spiderman and you have its spider instincts to judge whether the ticket you book will be confirmed or not.  And finally, just out of boredom and giving up, you tell the clerk god to book the ticket at waiting list with the hopes that it will be confirmed the next day while preparation of the charts.  See I told you - this is the test of your persistence - you have nearly 24 hours before travel and you have two choices - either cancel the ticket if it does not get confirmed within 2 hours prior to journey or repeat the entire above-mentioned process for booking the next day - a perfect test of determination.  And believe me, when I say that it is easier to crack the UPSC, CAT, Bank exams or for that matter the Railway exams itself, rather than getting your tatkal tickets - it really tests your character and what you are made up of and you will be a changed man after you leave the counters with a confirmed ticket - if at all you get one.

Strength training at the Indian Railways Olympic Academy!

Now considering that somehow you managed to get your tickets after bribing some person in the railways under the VIP, AIDS, cancer quota, etc.  Then comes the interesting part - boarding the trains.  Believe it or not - it takes the strength of a world champion wrestler and the agility of a rugby player if you want to make sure you are boarded on the train with all your amenities for the ultimate survival (for the next 20 to 24 hours of your journey).  There will be only two doors for a compartment and it will somehow seem that the entire train will be getting filled up at your station only and that the train is wastefully stopping on other stations en route because then where will the others sit?  But you are wrong - 80% of the people who push, pull, punch, kick, & dhobhi pacchad for entering the compartment are not the passengers - they are the relatives who have come to drop the SINGLE lone passenger since he is going on a mission called Ultimate Railway Survivals and they want to have a last look at their beloved ones before the wretched train departs.

Flexibility training equipment - Indian Railway Olympic Academy

And once you are lucky enough to board the train with all your stuff - here comes the ultimate pleasure and your test of endurance and flexibility - THE SLEEPER COMPARTMENT (or for that matter even the 3rd AC compartment).  In this stage of your training, you would be trained on the intricacies of body flexibility including spinal cord flexibility.  The coaches of the Indian Railways have a peculiarity - there are normal seats and there are side seats (which are way too smaller, around 1 to 1.5 feet smaller than the normal seats).  And I have never been able to see any column in the railway ticket application form wherein you are required to fill in your height in order to allocate a berth you can at least fit in.  But that is the challenge - to FIT into the berths.  You will have to brush up your yoga or take special Iyengar Yoga Classes and be sure to be a master of Ashtanga Yoga or Hatha Yoga if you are by any chance getting the upper berths because you climbing and reaching the berths is different thing and fitting in there and actually sleeping/sitting is an entirely different odyssey.  And all this has to be done while the train is wobbling side-to-side precariously as if reminding you of the fragility of human life and that it CAN end any time.  Of course, not to mention, you have to tarzan your way around bhelpuri walas, paani bottle walas, ice-cream walas, and the favorite idli-wada walas - and all this has to be done within a split second so as to avoid your berth being taken away by some local commuter who will not be having any reserved ticket but since the Railways was given as dowry to his father, it becomes his "berth right" to sit or shit on any berth regardless of the fact that there are others who have actually managed to clear the tough "tatkal" exams and managed to get a confirmed berth.

See, that's why I told you that we Hindustanis deserve an Olympic medal - after all, we have some of the finest and toughest warrior athletes in our country with world-class real-life-stimulating infrastructure in our country - only the government needs to do optimal utilization of its resources.  Here, I have deliberately not mentioned the literally shitty state of the Indian Railway toilets which are so wonderful that you will also learn to stay on for prolonged periods of time with distended bladders and inflamed abdomens because this discomfort is nothing compared to the torture of pooing or peeing on another unknown persons (didn't matter if it had been known?) poo or pee.

Best Books for a healthy mind Enough of this shitty thoughts now - at last, I only wish to say - we deserve an Olympic medal in gymnastics and the government should concentrate on developing the railway infrastructure, if not for the better, then for the worst, at least for the sake of creating future Olympic champions from our great Indian Railways Olympic Academy.

Happy Ethmos to you all!

The Sahara game or the wolf of Dalal street

SUBRATA ROY - SAHARA GROUP CHAIRMAN

When we discuss anything about SAHARA group, we will come to know about  rags to riches story of Shri. Subrata Roy. 

Why this hue and cry for Sahara group. The bone of contention is issue of OFCD (optional fully convertible debentures). Now I don't have any option but to go to my mentor Shri. Superman to know about these issue. 

Superman's version:

There are two methods by which a company can generate cash for their requirements: 

1. Debt instruments (loans, bonds, angel investors, debentures) 

2. Equity instruments (shares) 

Usually companies always maintain a desired ratio of debt and  equity as there are different norms for both of them. 

Debt instruments:

Usually bonds are issued by government, viz. state government, RBI, and other PSUs. 

Whereas debentures are issued by private corporations to meet their cash requirement. 

OFCD ( optional fully convertible debentures) 

In these kind of debentures issuer provides the option to the debenture holder that after a certain period, these debentures will be converted under equity, i.e. shares of the corporation. 

THE BIG SAHARA GAME 

Mr Roy floated two companies 

1. Sahara Housing Investment Corporation 

2. Sahara Real Estate Investment Corporation 

These are not listed with any stock exchange corporation in India. 

Mr Roy raised funds nearly to the tune Rs. 24,000 Cr. Now if he wanted to do so, the corporation should have wrapped this exercise in fifteen days or the stipulated time, but they did so for a grand TWO years . As per SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India) Amendment Act 2012 and 2013, all the securities related matter will fall under their jurisdiction and SEBI aptly filed the case. 

Now the main issue is where are the investors of this ponzi scheme.  Nobody has come out in the open in this case . Even if we go by the version of SAHARA corporation, the majority number of investors are from semi-urban and rural households, then why there is hesitation in transfer of money/capital invested.

Court has directed the corporation to return the money with 15% interest.  In case if they are unable to trace the investors, then money will be returned to government. 

As far as a common man is concerned, nobody will pay a penny more for anything.  Who will let go of his/her hard earned money invested in SAHARA corp. Is it the biggest black to white money conversion in Indian history? Are the financial pundits ready to accept it?  

Its really difficult for Mr. Roy to arrange Rs. 10,000 Cr for bail bonds and financial fraud committed by him has directly thrown him into the jail. 

Food for thought - The Ethmos View

List both the companies, do the market survey and research to fix the share price . if company is able to trace the investors, then issue the shares in demat form . in case the company is unable to trace the investors, then the cash raised will be returned to the concerned district authorities of the district from where the investors have invested the money through the local SAHARA office  and money will be utilized for construction of schools and hospitals under the supervision of SEBI officials, the report of which should be submitted to the court on a quarterly basis. 

We at ETHMOS believe that there is a solution for every issue . 

Another Ethmotican View:

The contention of Sahara that he cannot trace the investors is a spoof because every company has to maintain clear KYC of its investors even if it is receiving Re. 1/- from any person.  The probable reality is that at least 50% to 60% of this money is the black money of various people related to Sahara which they wanted to make white (as mentioned in the article).   And the solution offered is also superb but there is a chance of corruption in this because then every Tom Dick and Harry will claim himself to be an investor in the group and want a share of the pie once the listing is done on the exchange.

A better way would be to conduct a complete forensic audit of the company including the bank account of the company along with its directors and top officials to get the trail of the money - a.k.a. FINANCIAL TRAIL AUDIT as discussed in one of our articles.  And audit should be conducted by an independent organization like CAG or any auditing institution of repute or any society like Ethmos.  It is also likely that the company was grossly overvalued for getting undue benefits.

Happy ETHMOS to all.

Partnership of India Railway and financing of Indian Railway Projects at Border Areas - SUPPLEMENTARY ETHMOTICAN VIEW

After our previous article on the Indian Railways from one of the best Ethmotican, here is another supplementary view by another Ethmotican neuropath:

We should learn from China and Russia with respect to the development of rail and road connectivity.  Both of these countries have one of the roughest and the most inaccessible terrains in the world and to connect these geographical monsters to the mainland of the country is nothing short of an engineering marvel and work of sheer human genius and determination.  How they did this was through "cluster development."  As you would be knowing that development of one sector cannot take place in isolation, i.e. just building railway tracks is not possible and not advised when you do not have properly maintained railway stations, water and electricity connections to all the stations, proper accommodation facilities for workers/staffs/etc.  So, these countries used to take small patches of areas, say of the size of a small taluka or village and used to do the complete development of that area, i.e building of schools, hospitals, government offices, banks, service centers, and most importantly ROADS - all using the help of locals only which gave employment opportunity to the local people thus preventing any sort of revolts or accusations of snatching away the land by the government or private parties.  And this they used to do in a time period of 6 to 9 months and once the same was done, especially building up of roads, then the linking of railway tracks was more or less a cake walk.  And please note that this development was done simultaneously by government teams for 7 to 10 areas in a stretch so that at least 1000 km of line could be covered in 1 year's time.

If we also implement such strategies and use our District Collectors and local government machinery for this, then this can definitely be achieved.  But this will only happen when we bring to a halt the corrupt mechanisms of the government by which tenders are given to hopeless contractors who overbill the government by doing no work and eat away the tax payers money.  Concurrent audit should be made mandatory in all government departments and the audit should be done by both CAG as well as independent external agencies like Ethmos to generate transparency in the dealings of the government and to instill confidence in the public that the money from their sweat and blood is being utilized for their own development.

These are the views of a stupid idealist who can DIE for his ideas.

HAPPY ETHMOS TO ALL.