Analytical Thoughts

Economic Growth & Tata's Singur Row - An indepth analysis

The entire nation is up in arms against Mamata Bannerjee. Only a handful of people - the villagers, Trinamool congress and the anti capitalists would be celebrating the exit of Tatas from Singur. I wanted to determine the ground reality albeit sitting 6000 miles away and find out answers to some of my questions "How can we have a balanced economic growth in a capitalist environment", "Did the people of Singur really lose out?", "What is the solution for such problems", "Will see more such protests hindering economic development" ?

Before I go find the answers to these questions, let me bring about some of the statistics. We have 160 million hectares of arable land and 800 million people dependend on such land for a living, i.e. 0.2 hectare per person (or 0.5 acres). This number looks stunning. Let me give one more statistics about my village. The total arable land in my village should be about 250 acres supporting 100 families (about 500 people) which is similar to our national average. But the reality bites when the one comes to know that the land is owned by about 20 families. The rest 80 families (400 people) work as day labourers, business men,teachers, barbers, etc. Suppose a company sets up a factory in these 200 acres of land and compensate the 20 families which sold land. The big question is "what will happen to the 80 families". Most of them will become jobless now. The 20 families which received compensation will end up wasting the money without proper guidance. The new factory would provide employment to a few of the villagers. They need skilled labor and will import from neighbouring cities. What will happen to these 400 people. Some of them who have resources or guidance will end up in starting small businesses supporting the new township that comes around the factory. The remaining migrate to nearby cities or villages. But a few of them might pickup arms under the guise of some movement (E.g. Naxals, etc).
>> Complete article to be Published soon
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Arranged Marriages - Recipes for Successul Partner Hunt

Being in the arranged marriage market is a pain for both guys and gals. Having undergone the process of selection with multiple failures have given me good experience about "To Do's" "Do Not's" for a successful partner search. I will bring out all the crazy tips that friends and relatives give(E.g. How to evaluate the girl's family?).

Religion or Language - Which is the bigger threat to National Integration ?

The birth of Bangladesh was purely driven by "language and development" differences between east and west Pakistan. Regionalism in India is on the rise with unity is more demonstrated based on language in many parts of India. This could be the opposition in Bengal and Tamil Nadu in 60's against imposing Hindi, the Cauvery dispute turning out anti-lingual or the recent turmoil in Maharashtra. In this article, I will dvelve into the parallels between Bangladesh issue and the current challenges faced in India on many factors - politics, water, GDP growth, jobs creation, literacy, population density and linguistic problems. The article will try project different scenairos that might develop in future when regional disparity increases along with increasing population.

What if Gandhi Had not happened to India ?

I always wondered what if Gandhiji had not been born in India or had not returned from South Africa? I digged out in deep about the freedom movements of different countries, USA to south east Asia. Also, the different personalities present in India during Gandhi's time like Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dadabhai, Sardar Patel, etc. What differently would have these people done if Gandhi were not be in India? Would we still have got indpendence in 1947 as promised by the British for sacrificing 1 million Indian soldiers in the winterlands of Europe and rough terrains of Africa? Or do we had to wait more till the UN influence growth in the 50's or the bloody nationalist movements similar to other countries against colonizations like in the 60s (Vietnam) or an economic growth influenced revolution like in the 90s (Hongkong)

Salary Hikes and the Impact on Indian Outsourcing Industry

Come April, there would be two sets of people. One set happy with the pay hikes, and another set disgruntled and eager to look for another job. Well, the latter outnumbering the former. This "desire for more" has been the basis of astrnomical figures for most professionals (mainly IT) in India. As per many researchers and industry reports, India is fast losing as an attractive offshoring destination. I will dvelve on this topic in my other articles in http://stradlingsourcing.com/publications.php and forthcoming articles. However, wage inflation in India is exaggerated. Most people don't understand the difference between the increase in salaries and wage inflation. Wage inflation refers to how much your average salary has changed, assuming the average experience of your employees stays constant. This article talks about how salaries have changed for different categories of people in different cities and analyzes if Indians are "Over Paid".