Some Food for Thought

The COO of naukri.com speaks on placements at B-Schools and management education in India
more...

The real story of subsidies in India. more....


Also, we wud like to wish all of u guys a success in your summer projects.


regards,
blog team.

Summer times are here....

Hi guys,
Its almost summer time. With the first year in college drawing to a close this month, the "Summer Internship Programme" is the next hurdle. Those with work ex have a rough idea what is in store. The freshers are apprehensive but would be looking forward to it. Whoever the student, each one would be excited and at the same time anxious to exprience the SIP.

Some take this as an oppurtunity to get the feel of an organization. Some others want to convert it into a Pre-Placement Offer (PPO). Some would have no clue as to how to approach SIP.

Is the SIP something which can be taken lightly? Is it relavent? Still confused as to the purpose of an SIP? Its not the time to be struck with such questions, it is the time you find answers to such questions.

All the very best for your SIP guys!!
Regards

The blog team.


What you'll do this summer.
When Kumar Gautam, a student of the graduating class of 2005 from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), was offered a Rs 55-lakh-plus-bonuses...(More)

10 MUSTs for a summer internship!
(Click Here)

Summer job hunt: why internships are crucial..

Summer internships are also a way for students to try to...(More)

Economic survey 2005-06
Investment Engine Takes Over
For nearly a decade now, the Indian economy has been like a plane flying on one engine — domestic consumption. Economists have fretted this would harm the economy in the long run, and the contribution of investment — the other big engine — would have to increase.
That seems to be happening. Economic Survey 2005-06 shows that in FY05, investment contributed significantly more to GDP growth than consumption, the second time in a short span. The last time before 2002-03 consumption contributed less was during the investment surge at the end of 1996. In the initial years of the following industrial recession, consumption contributed 90 per cent to GDP growth.
The balance between investment and consumption has been improved since then, ever so gradually. Since 2001-02, consumption has, on an average, contributed 54.5 per cent to economic growth. In 2004-05, consumption accounted for 46 per cent of the economic growth that year, while investment accounted for 51.9 per cent of that growth. Finally, the Indian economy is more investment-led than consumption-led. Investment activity has increased even further in the current year, so it is likely that its importance to GDP growth too will increase further. This means that the Indian economy will be firing both its engines this year.
But this will not be without an attendant problem. The investment rate in the economy has been rising and is now at over 30 per cent of GDP. This is far more than the 25 per cent that we averaged in the 1990s. Local savings are financing a large part of this investment boom. The domestic savings rate is now at an all-time high of 29.1 per cent of GDP. That’s good news. Yet, the fact is that domestic investment today is higher than domestic savings. Or, in other words, we do not save enough to fund all our investment needs.
Hence the greater need for foreign savings. The savings-investment gap slipped into negative territory in 2004-05; the difference between the two was 1 per cent of GDP. The negative savings-investment gap marked the reversal of a three-year trot when domestic savings were higher than domestic investment. This is evident from the change in the current account. It, too, has slipped into the red after three years of surplus. India is now one of the few countries in the region to have a current account deficit, and a growing one, at that. China still has a current account surplus of 6.1 per cent of GDP.
How the government and the central bank manage the deteriorating current account will be one of the more interesting things to look out for in the months ahead.

Euthanasia

The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek word “euthanatos” meaning “well death” and originally referred to intentional mercy killing. In the modern context euthanasia is limited to the killing of patients by doctors at the request of the patient in order to free him of excruciating pain or from terminal illness. When medical advances made prolonging of the lives of dying or comatose patients possible, the term euthanasia was also applied to omission to prevent death.

"There is no quality of life when the patient is dead."... a nurse

“We are expected to treat a patient to the best of our ability. Whether we have a right to take anybody’s life is a serious question because we are supposed to offer hope even in the worst situation,” ...Dr Mandloi

“If a person is leading a life of misery with no hopes of recovery, a medical and social enquiry should be allowed. There should be a body to certify that the patient needs euthanasia. But legislators should make it absolutely foolproof as there is a great risk of bogus certificates being issued here.” ...Advocate Bhaskarrao Avhad

So friends, Should Euthanasia be legalised in India?

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Barclays growth graph: India@17%, China@13%:
Firms that manage money for wealthy individuals expect to see double-digit growth in China, India and South Korea every year for the next three years, according to a study by Barclays Capital. more...


The world makes a beeline to growing India:
Americans, Europeans, Koreans, Japanese and even Chinese are making a beeline towards India either to buy stakes in local firms or to raise capital through its booming stock market to fund expansion. more...

Can you answer this issue raised by pakistan ?

Many eminent Pakistani analysts and former military generals believe that Bush’s visit to South Asia virtually upgraded India to a mini-superpower and it is the beginning of Pakistan becoming a satellite of the mighty India.

“Bush has come here only to console the Pakistani rulers for their role in the American war on terror. He has struck a huge nuclear deal with the Indians and that is a sign of Pakistan’s future role as a least important country,” Aseff Ahmed Ali, Pakistan’s former foreign minister, said. He said Pakistan had got nothing from its all-out support to the US-led war on terror. “Instead, the Indians, due to their independent and sovereign stance, succeeded to take a significant role in rest of the world,” Ali said.

Former chief of Pakistan’s premier spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, Hameed Gul, said Bush’s visit should be an eye-opener for Pakistan’s military regime and they should mend relations with the US.“Bush has started implementation on his plans to make India the regional power and make Pakistan subservient,” said Gul.Gul, who played a role in the insurgency in Indian Kashmir, said the Americans had sided with the Indians to ‘grab’ the Valley. “Difficult times are ahead for us,” Gul said.

Mushahid Hussain, a senator and secretary general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, believed that the US-India deal might boost a renewed race of lethal arms in the region and rest of the world if Kashmir issue was left unsettled.

What do think about issues raised by pakistan ? Can you pacify them ?

regards,

The editorial team

Sunday Specials!

First up, this is an interview with Jagdish Sheth, who has taught marketing at Clumbia, MIT and numerous other institutes. Check out waht he has to say on Brand India and its positioning. click here.

U have heard of Balanced Scorecard and u keep hearing it. But don't know wat it is all abt?
Then click here to know more about Balanced Scorecard.


Bye,

The Blog team.

Are we paying heavily for the fuel?

The entire country (well atleast the congress) is rejoicing over the land-mark'ed'( yeah now the US has MARKED our reactors) deal with the US. The entire media is going ga ga over the deal, the sincerity with which our PM pursued the deal, the emergence of India as the next super power blah blah blah....

Once the hangover is over, think we should give the deal a fresh thought. Has it really come as an answer to all our energy needs or as a harbinger for future "diplomatic" and political problems ? Well people may brush aside this as cynical, but i dont think we would lose much by giving it a thought.

Citing this favour, will the US bargain hard for something or the other in the future? I would say, the probability for the answer being yes is very very high.

Some of the things can be

i. Buying more arms from US as against from our usual supplier Russia.

ii. Getting more Indian projects for US firms. This can include airports, other infrastructure projects, and also

building future nuclear facilities.

iii. Arm twisting India over the agricultural subsidies.

iv. Getting more relaxations for FDI inflows from US.

v. the worst of all, forcing India to be a partner in Iraq like endeavours.

At the end of the day, these can be mere speculations, but can such a big deal come without any strings attached?

Just give it a thought and let us know wat u have to say.

Have a happy weekend.

Regards,

The Blog team.

Bush: Outsourcing painful, but remedy is worse.... more

Has the budget changed your lifestyle??

Hey guys,
By now the budget would have been thoroughly scrutinized. No new taxation is being levied. But however the budget talks about levying a service tax on operation as well as management of an ATM. Withdrawal of money from the ATM belonging to the company whose card you have, will not attract this tax. But the bank incurring this cost would have already made plans to pass on this tax to the customers. Moreover withdrawal of money from an ATM which is not that customers bank, would result in him have to pay a tax on that. Would this result in a change in usage pattern of the ATM?

Check out the article below regarding the ATM service tax:
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=88774

Also the details of the recently announced budget can be got at the following site:

http://www.expressindia.com/budget/06

The article "Why it’s not just about nuclear power" can be found at the following address:

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=88904

Regards,

The Blog team.