JiFi - A Easy Social Banking - A New Initiative In India

I came across JiFi today in one of social meets by Indiblogger (More details below). JiFi is a new social initiative from Kota Mahindra Bank. As soon as I came to know that you can use twitter & Facebook for this account all kinds of thoughts started pouring in.

• Will I as a customer use social accounts for banking?
• Will it be secure?
• Is it just a new channel for banking?
• Is it just to get the new generation to banking?
• And many more...

What Features are offerened by JiFi  ... Are they Positive or Negative?

• It Invites user to either join using Facebook or Email (Positive)
• Kind of self subscription
• Better than other self subscription as details to be entered is much lower
• Doesn't make user feel so much reluctant to join
• Invite makes consumer feel better than just subscription
• No Minimum Balance (Positive)
• With no minimum balance, initial entry barrier is removed
• No Interest Bearing Account (negative / neutral)
• This will make user not keep much money in this account
• It makes user feel it as just a transnational account 
• No Interest and fears of web/social security of the money will make user have hiccups of using of the account
• Its more closer to P2P Banking.
• Looks more like Airtel Money / Eko with use of Twitter as a new channel

Social Banking through Twitter  (neutral / positive)

• Transaction details are in Direct Messages and not public twitts. So privacy is there.
• For security concerns, if user want they can disable or delink the twitter account.
• It's easy, just tweet to ‘@kotakjifi’ with the corresponding hashtag for your request 
• E.g. #JifiBal for balance Inquiry
• Referals (Positive, great opportunity for Kotak Mahindra Bank)
• Usage of Referal was one of the obvious things to use, if going social
• Kotak Bank is trying to leverage a positive network effect of already existing Facebook & Twitter networks.
• Adding Reward points will attract consumers to refer others in their network
• Loyalty Club (Positive)
• Addition of loyalty points will help increase loyalty.
• Consumers have to read between lines here - Social Points is not same as transaction points.
• Social points is more for discounts in lie of indirect advertising or marketing done by user.
• Transaction points are actually for usage of the JiFi service.
• Mobile Apps (Neutral)
• Launch of mobile App is just one more thing done by the bank. Most of the banks have mobile apps, so its not any new great differentiation.
• Kotak Money Watch (positive for 1 year )
• One place to manage your various financial assets
• Its free for just one year, so user may be concerned with those fine prints.
• Debit Card
• Similar to other banks.
• Liability is lesser as you just carry transactional money and not your complete bank with you
• You can use other banks for funding also (Positive)
•  You can fund your account online through Net Banking or a Debit Card transaction from your other bank account(s) or handover a cheque to our executive at the time of account opening.

Overall it looks a good deal ... But I am really concerned with the fine print of "Free for 1st year" for few of the features... If it goes Airtel Money way later on charging transaction fees to user it won't succeed... If no transaction charge, Indian users may still use it.

For More details on KotakJifi

Why Venture into Social Media for Banking by Banks?

It was a well thought move by Kotak Mahindra bank. Following are the advantages which it will get

• Social Media marketing offers a better targeted advertisements
• Social Media provides a better customer insight thanks to all the technology - cookies / Analytics.
• Cost Effective way of Brand Building.
• New youth (potential new account holders) . It can't be ignored. Its necessary for survival. To stay relevant & grow for long term they need to attract the new Gen Y. Approx. 20 million youth have joined higher education last year.
• Improvisations:- Social conversations about bank products and services can be used by banks to identify the pain points, trends, delight areas, etc . This will help to reduce the pain points and increase the areas of delight.
• Word of Mouth Publicity.
• Improved Customer Experience & customer engagement
• Reduced costs - Paper, employee, etc
• Reduced queue in bank branches & ATMs
• Increasing the channels available to acquire & maintain customers
• Also its a known Fact that more Engaging customers are more Loyal customers.

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Recently, I participated in the launch event of JiFi by Kotak Mahindra Bank in partnership with IndiBlogger. More details about the event be

When & Where?

Location: Bangalore
Sunday March 23, 2014 - 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM

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The Venues

Bangalore
The Biere Club
20/2, Vittal Mallya Rd
D Souza Layout, Ashok Nagar

Event was great. Atmosphere in The Biere Club was really happening, all the bloggers were in great energy. I also met few of the unknown folks as this was my first IndiBlogger Meet. There were many events like a songs by the bloggers, pics, twitting and many others.... 

Guess the Guest seemed an easier one, as Chethan Bagat was the guest... I believe the most guessed second possibility was Arvind Kejriwal, else he would have made all of us do BLOG DHARNA :-). Chethan tried to host the show well, but seems like he was not in great mood or all the blogger wanted to move things fast.

Once JiFi was introduced, we felt it was a great concept and is adding a differentiation to Kotak Mahindra Bank in already commoditized banking sector. I really like the media Ads for JiFi which were really thought of and focused well.

After all the nitty gritty and Q&A about the product, It was an open house and people were having a nice lunch. During the exit, we were given a nice IndiBlogger T-shirt.

FALL OF RUPEE: IMPACT ON COMMON MAN AND THE IT INDUSTRY

With the depreciation of a currency, the cost of living essentially goes up in that country or region(s) substantially; for the simple reasons that, more money has to be paid for the imports and the exports will fetch lesser returns than before, with a falling currency. Its GDP[1] is greatly influenced. Its EXIM (Export-Import) on goods and services that reflects its economic health gets adversely affected by the depreciating currency, because exchange rates impact the manufacturing/production costs of products and indirectly their prices as well.

The Rupee Vs Dollar issue has been a cause of concern for the common man more than the IT companies relatively. Whenever the rupee depreciates, any effort by our central bank (the RBI) to control the slide, results in a higher inflation. In fact, with dollar being the reserve currency of the world, the United States intelligently transfers inflation to other countries. A higher inflation impacts the lives of the common man impacting his day to day activities vividly. In contrast, with the depreciating rupee (as against the dollar), the exports tend to increase, even though the margins are lesser than before. India’s IT industry is the highest exporter of software products and services and the falling rupee helps that part of the IT industry that works on dollar based transactions in presenting positive quarterly results and an impressive balance sheets. On the other hand, the other part of the IT industry that services Indian firms and deals in rupees will be impacted by the ensuing high Inflation. So the impact is of mixed type.

Whenever the rupee depreciates against the dollar, the following phenomena are common. A higher demand for dollar due to lesser availability; a reduced demand for the rupee due to its easy availability (a heated economic situation); infusion of more dollars into the market by RBI to stem the slide, results in the reduction of FOREX reserves which is dollars; a higher infusion of dollars into the market by external investors (investors from outside the country) there by further depreciating the rupee.  Any effort to fix the above phenomena, almost always results in a higher inflation.

Through macroeconomic studies, the behavior of an economy as a whole can be studied effectively. Macroeconomic theories relate the phenomena of GDP, unemployment, and inflation. From a macroeconomic point of view any volatility in exchange rates (for ex. rupee Vs dollar) can drastically impact these macroeconomic parameters as discussed below.

From the perspective of a common man:  The original version of Okun's law[2] states that a 3% increase in the nation’s total production would lead to a 1% decrease in unemployment. When there is inflation, it affects the common man in terms of his purchasing power. Prices will increase and with increase in prices people will find living tough as their disposable incomes reduce. The problems of a wage-price spiral – price rises can lead to higher wage demands as workers try to maintain their real standard of living. Higher wages over and above any gains in labor productivity causes an increase in unit labor costs. To maintain their profit margins prices are increased. The process could start all over again and inflation may get out of control. In a theoretical world, a 2% wage increase during a year with 4% inflation has the same net effect to the worker as a 2% wage reduction in periods of zero inflation.

Depreciation of the rupee as against the dollar directly impacts the remuneration, the various loans and interest rates, the monthly grocery bill, the cost of luxury goods like Cars, Smartphones etc the vacation expenditures, the dining cost and last but not the least, the increased surcharges and taxes on various fuels like Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, LPG etc. With a major dependency on imports for its energy needs, the Indian government is forced to increase the prices of fuel, also increasing surcharges on the fuel to fund its governance and the various development programs. The depreciation of the rupee has considerably affected the price of the edible oil in a big way, as we import nearly 60-70% of our requirement. FMCG, or Fast Moving Consumer Goods, such as soaps, detergents, deodorants and shampoos, of which crude oil is an input, are more likely to become more expensive. High raw material costs (since most of it are imported paying more rupees than before) will result in a higher retail prices for the common man.

The investment towards foreign education will be impacted directly with a depreciating rupee. One has to spend more rupees to send the same amount of dollar’s to their sons/daughters. The education loans also tend to become costlier. When the cost is in dollars and the borrowing is in rupees, students may fall short of funds as the loan may be based on the initial loan agreements. Vacations abroad have become costlier too for the same reason.

Property costs have gone up because of a depreciating rupee. Due to heavy inflow from NRIs to invest on properties (with dollar fetching more rupees), the increased demand has lead to increased property prices. Inflation can also cause a reduction in the real value of savings - especially if real interest rates are negative[3]. Many pensioners who are on fixed pensions will find it impossible to handle the effects on inflation.

A depreciating rupee and the accompanied inflation also have resulted in more people looking for opportunities abroad for various obvious reasons. This will lead to increased brain-drain.

From the perspective of the IT industry:  In contrast, for the IT industry, the depreciating rupee has helped in increased revenues but also with an increase cost to attain those revenues.  IT companies that generate a major part of its revenues from the US based projects will benefit majorly because they generate more dollar revenues. At the same time, with increasing operating costs, Sales and Marketing expenses, R&D and Salary costs offshore, IT companies will face more problems due to increased attrition rates that could thwart the very foundation of their business. IT industry as a whole is forced to prey on the available talent pool, attracting them with bulky (also tricky) pay packages. This has also resulted in reduced margins.

Additionally, the depreciating rupee is impacting potential upcoming IT contracts and could impact onsite costs and international hiring plans. IT BPO (Business Process outsourcing) business are also facing the heat as any increased revenues due to the depreciating rupee also leads to increased local wages. Outsourcing firms in the US have started to renegotiate the terms of some of the potentially renewable contracts.

            The increased pressure from the Indian government to stem the depreciation of rupee, the IT industry may also be forced to reserve dollars. Loans get tougher for the IT companies with high interest rates. This impacts the overall margins that are very much required to stay afloat in the short/long run. Recruitments in IT firms may have to freeze during times of high inflation, resulting in a higher unemployment rate. Firms may have to cut down on incentives and other perks for the employees. Also frequent restructuring could add to higher cost and reduced margins further enhancing the unemployment rates.

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[1]  GDP measures the value of all final goods and services (output) produced domestically over some given interval of time

[2]  Okun's law (named after Arthur Melvin Okun) is an empirically observed relationship relating unemployment to losses in a country's production

[3] Negative Interest rates is assessed as Deposit rates minus loan rates  (D.R – L.R < 0)

Why not have a new foreign policy - "All Weather Friends"

Somehow I was following up on the news going around related with India-Japan-China-ASEAN ... Then somehow I got this India's foreign policy related thought in this "IT" Brain... He he ...was surprised myself....Anyhow...just putting it down...

I believe its very important for India as a nation to have few "All Weather Friends". We have definately seen that for every nation ups & downs are there. Today India is in upwards trend....we may be downward sometime...similarily some other nation...so we need to have a group of friends who help you & you help them back...in all weathers....

1> Have atleast 1 "All Weather friend" in every regional unions of nations
The reason I am saying that, no nation should be able to get a whole regional union against India if we get a strong friend in all groupings. At the same time, it gives us extra soft power to push for some resolution against our adversary or those which can benefit India economocially, militarily, or strategically. I will put just one nation which I think will be most prefered in each category. At the end we can compile a list of most prefered friends and then India can work more closely with them.
List of Group/unions which I can think of
a> African Union consisting of 53 African states. The only African state not in the AU is Morocco.
In AU, South Africa will suit India the best. South Africa & India has literally no conflicts. There is a large group of South Africans of Indian descent. Mahatma Gandhi, spent many years in South Africa, during which time, he fought for the rights of the ethnic Indians. Nelson Mandela was inspired by Gandhi. Also They are close in various forums like IBSA.

b. ASEAN is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. Economically, culturally, militarily as well as strategically its very important for India. Also all members of ASEAN also form East Asia (EAS) also, to which India is also part of. ASEAN is one where India & China are competing for influence.
In ASEAN, Vietnam will be my Pick. As its Anti-china, miltarily capable & share some good history with India along with economical benefits. Also both are members of Mekong-Ganga Cooperation. Both India & Vietnam are already helping each other.

c. Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG) comprises the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. For India, its very important. More than 50% of the oil consumed by India comes from the Persian Gulf countries[181] and Indian nationals form the largest expatriate community in the Arabian peninsula.
Here I will put Qatar as most favoured. Saudi Arabia are more pro-pakistan as compared to India. Also one of the reason for Qatar is that we already have a landmark defense pact was signed, under which India committed its military assets to protect "Qatar from external threats".

d. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) + Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Here I will put RUSSIA, India & RUSSIA have a time tested friendship + there relationship is win-win situation in defence area.

e. Union of South American Nations is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modeled on the European Union.

Here I will make Brazil as the preferred choice. Most of the foreign policy stands matches with Brazil also both countries are already discussing in IBSA forum.

f. Arab League is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia.
I will prefer Egypt here as potential All weather friend for India. India & Egypt are also founding members of NAM and both have supported each other.

g. North American (NAFTA) Not sure whom to pick...Canada / US / Mexico....Not sure....U ppl suggest....

i. Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
Here, I will prefer New Zealand. One of the reason not to choose Australia is that ppl to ppl contact between two nations doesn't seem to be converging. I didn't choose Fiji as its suspended now.

j. The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states[8] which are located primarily in Europe.
here I will prefer, France. Yes, you are right. France, Russia and Israel were the only countries that did not condemn India's decision to go nuclear in 1998.[164] In 2003, France became the largest supplier of nuclear fuel and technology to India and remains a large military and economic trade partner. India's permanent member aspirations in the UN Security Council have found very strong support from former French President Chirac and more recently by the current French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

k. Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations, with 57 member states.
Iran :- It has proved already that it regard India as friend when it saved India when it was in a mess from Kashmir Issue being adopted in OIC. I hate to say that India voted against them for nuclear. I wish India build that relation ship back & informally apologise to Iran who has always been our friend. Strategically, Its also neighbour of Pakistan and it will help us.

2> Try to be "All Weather friend" with countries with lot of Ethnic Indians
Here my picks are
a> Mauritius :- Majority are from Indian Origin + its already very close friend.
b> Not Malaysia :- Wont be an all weather friend for sure...they somehow dont like India, I feel. But we need to be friend, not all weather though. Malaysia most of the times take anti India posture. So wont pick it
c> Singapore :- Strategically + Economically. Lot of PIOs are there
d> Caribbean (Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) :- Miltarily + strategically not very important. But has huge Indian Origin presence.
e> Fiji :- Lot of PIOs are there. Miltarily + strategically not very important. But India needs to be friend to protect Indian Origin people.

3> Strategic allies + Misc
My Picks here are:-
Israel :- Lot of military training & execution can be learnt from them. Nice to be on ur side rather than against you.
Tajikstan :- India already have troops stationed there + Energy security in Central Asia.
JAPAN :- It has money + technology, India has market. Both are threatened by China. Win-win.

4> All Neighbours except Pakistan + China India needs to be close to its neighbour and somehow break the China's "String of Pearls" in Indian ocean

List of All weather Friends I propose :-
1> South Africa
2> Vietnam <>
3> Qatar (CCASG, Gulf)
4> RUSSIA (CIS, EAEC)
5> Brazil (South America)
6> Egypt (Arab League, African Union)
7> New Zealand (Pacific Islands)
8> France (EU)
9> Mauritius (Indian Oceans, PIOs)
10> Singapore (EAS, ASEAN, PIOs)
11> Israel (Miltarily)
12> Tajikstan (Energy, Military)
13> Iran (Energy, OIC, Militarily)
14> JAPAN (Strategically, technology)
15> SAARC countries except Pakistan


Optionals
Carribean (Optional, PIOs)
Fiji (Optional, PIOs)

What do you guys think of new Policy "Make All weather friends" ....Once we have good number of All weather freinds Enemies will have to think before taking some mischeievios steps...I know India is self sufficient, but in this world its very important to link and form strategic alliance...

But India should keep this policy secret & not reveal it...

Battles I see around me !!!

Well, I see more of battles going around our world in different sphere from cultural to technological to ideological to political ....

So just though to list them out and may be add some opinions on them...

1. Battle of Sex:-

• Male vs Female :- Perhaps the oldest one and the one which will last till the either of the last men or female survives in the planet. Latest one was in the Indian parliament. The battle of Supremacy.

• Heterosexuality vs Homosexuality ? Bisexuality :-Well the battle between homo's & hetero's are own. Its more kind of civil war for the acceptance of homo's as part of our society. Now or later we have to accept them. Well what about Bi-Sexual ?? Seems like its more like a third front of our politics, can mix with any side without any problem. The battle of Acceptance & Inclusion.

• Man + Woman & Eunuchs "The Third Gender" :- Well different world or cultures were not sure where to place them in the order of the society or within clan which they wanted to establish. Anyways leave past... A court once said eunuchs are technically males and which blocked one of the eunuch from becoming Mayor as it was booked for a women as part of reservation in the Indian System. Though this battle is silent, but lets ask ourselves - Do we have to wait for someone to take up arms or demand for the right of equality for the opportunities or let us forward our hands for their acceptance in the society as equals. I never say give reservations or anything. I just want equal opportunity based on Merits. Mostly I have seen them begging in trains or earning by dancing or earnings when new baby's are born. But I believe this angle is largely untouched and taken least seriously. The only good thing is that they have started to take things on their own hand by forming political party, better than waiting for us - "so called rationalists".

2. Battleground of Telecom :-

• Apple vs Google vs Microsoft (OSs) :- This is one heck of interesting battle to watch. With the advent of i-Phone seems like Google's Android as well as Microsoft's Windows 7 Phone series are all set for a war to be win the smart phones market. They have started wooing the carriers as well as manufacturers. Google is more after advertising revenue and revenue generating revenues, Apple with i-Phone already has the bigger advantage of first to the market with huge bank of application, lastly Windows 7 Phone last entrant with the least chance to become King. Best part, only the consumers are to gain with the battle in this field. This is the battleground of OS-Framework war within the Telecom.

• Nokia vs HTC vs Motorola vs Samsung vs RIM vs Apple (OEMs):- Nokia is no doubt the market leader in the smart phone segment. But lead seems to be in serious danger from the new entrant in the segments, like Apple and Google through its proxies (Motorola, HTC, Samsung). Motorola stopped all of its other platform and gave a complete push for one only, i.e., Android. Motorola's Droid has made a good name, interesting thing will be to see if it can turn around the company which brought Razr and how it performs after the spinoff. It has one of the highest paid ceo- Sanjay Jha. RIM is also increasing its market share at the expense of Nokia. Interesting part will be to see which of the OEM's goes for the Windows Phone 7 series and whether it will have the might to take on the established players and being the late entrant in the market. This is the battleground of OEMs within the Telecom.

• Verizon vs AT&T (Carriers :US):- There is already a commercial war in televisions between them. AT&T had i-Phone but with a bad network coverage in US, Verizon had good n/w coverage but no i-Phone killer. With the arrival of Android Phone's Droid + Devour, Verizon seems to be armed to take on AT&T. Now doubt, Verizon will have an advantage now with its vast 3G coverage area. But in reality, the battle will be win by the carrier which delivers the first effective 4G service in US. This is the battleground of US Carriers . Keep Watching.

• Airtel vs Vodafane vs Reliance vs Idea (Carriers :India):- Till now, it has been now only the price war and consolidation business with acquiring of spectrum and licenses etc. But the winner will be the one with improved QoS, coverage/reliability of n/w, security and performance. Price will be always a factor, with conscious Indian consumers, its always a tough job with the carriers with huge amount of pressure in profit margins. All carriers now know its a just matter of time when the revenue share will move more towards Value-added-services, basically, more revenues from data than voice revenues.This is the battleground of Indian Carrier's price war ;). Lets watch this local battle in our own country. ;)

Damn I am feeling sleepy now....Its 2 am... will continue tomorrow.... with the rest of the Battleground....

Till now only two I have covered: - Battle of Sex & Battleground of Telecom

Bollywood & its new affair with health disorders ;)

Yesterday, I was watching newly released movie, "Paa", starring Bachan's dual of Father & Son, Vidya Balan.

Movie was really nice and it adds new perspective to these rare disorders which never gets known or noticed by ordinary people.

In this film a child "Auro" was suffering from "Progeria - A rare abnormality marked by premature aging (grey hair and wrinkled skin and stooped posture) in a child". The role was played very well by Mr. Amitabh Bachan.

There has been couple of movies released on the same lines of health disorders recently.

It all started with "dyslexia - Impaired ability to learn to read" in Taare Zameen Paar played by Ishaan.

"Black" had Rani Mukherjee starring as blind girl who struggles hard to study and get a degree taking help from his teacher played by Amitabh.

In all three, "Taare Zameen Paar", "Black" and "Paa" one very important aspect of life was also touched called Parenting. Generally we fail to miss this part which is of utmost importance because of our attraction towards the stars starring rather than the design and script around it. I just hope that parenting aspect is shown in more better way so that it catches the general public's attention and add value to the society...

Then there were few other movie which had packaged the disorder with bollywood masala like love, dance, fights, comedy, etc. Like "Ghajini" starring Aamir Khan playing role of Sanjay Singhania suffering from amnesia with short term memory loss. Ghajini is more remembered in a funny way of short term memory loss and good fights rather than any other aspect :(.

Hope the change and momentum in the direction of "Paa" continues......

Google Vs Apple

Whenever one hear the name of Google or Apple one think of Google search engine or Apple's

Mac OS, iPod, iPhone, respectively. But it seems Google has agressive plans to intrude into the Apple's core business. Apple will not be sitting silently for sure after observing the aggressive plans of one of its allies. In last 12 months, google had a $10 billion of profit on a revenue of $20 billion,

whereas Apple had a $8 billion of gross profit on a revenue of $30 billion. Both are technology giants and will definately grow bigger. But google is supposed to grow more faster once its investment starts yielding results. What is Apple going to about it? Will the business allies turn into fierce competitors ?

Google's recent foray into new domain like mobile framework and operating system it seems the technology giant wants a bigger pie of the technology market.

The recent demonstration of Android OS speculates a war of technology powerhouses. Microsoft is not even a major player in this battle. After Vista, many of my friends say it Visaster (read disaster), even though it might believe in itself being one

of them. Google started with a google chrome browser, and many speculated the os to be the next step, which is true. Microsoft is no doubt the leader in the os market now, but after vista will it be able to come up with something which can beat the chrome, + Microsoft's reputation with all those bugs and crashes. So if you ask me, its a battle between Apple and Google. Microsoft is soon going to be a history in the OS market.

Android Mobile venture as Open Mobile Alliance, which has a strong backing up from Motorola and couple of other OEM seems be platform in which google will launch itself with a big bang. Android OS is leaped a

great deal ahead with Motorola nearly dumping all its old platforms and putting all its eggs on Android. Its more like demise of Windows Mobile & palm OS. Android phones will be competing with Apple's iPhone, and definately a google app store is expected to come soon to take on Apple iphone app store.

So it seems like in Desktop OS + Mobile OS google is definately expected to beat Microsoft's Windows XP + Vista & Windows Mobile. So its more like Google chrome OS v$ Apple's Mac Os and Google's Mobile Android OS v$ Apple's iPhone. With Google chief resigning as Apple director, battle is about to heat up more.

When will strikes stop in my Kolkata (Calcutta) !!!

For some or the other reason, West Bengal have been in news for quite some time, be it Singur or Lok Sabha elections, or Mamta Banerjee's Rail Budget or Maoist threat in Lalgarh. There was strike few days back called by congress and its back again by some unions today.

Lot of people outside of kolkata anticipate that most strikes are because of communists in W.B. But, it seems now the trend has changed and strikes are called by someone else, sometimes congress, sometimes Trinamol congress or some other union. The baseline is whether communists are there or not, strikes have become a part-and-parcel of us in kolkata. So lets not blame CPI(M) alone for the strikes.

I just hope that the peace returns in West Bengal soon.

Sri Lanka : War is Won - What about Peace ???

Sri Lankan Government may have won the war against LTTE, but what about winning the hearts of the Tamils? For me its just a territorial gain and nothing more than that. The estimated amount of the people displaced is more than 250,000. I just hope that Rajpakse govt. will try to give some more powers to the tamil population there and treat them equally, and not as a 2nd class citizen. I have been reading many blogs written by various tamils from Sri Lanka staying outside. And everyone says about one thing with one voice, whether he is a hardline Sri Lankan Tamil or moderate one, "discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils". The LTTE came about as a result of the oppression of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government. One never knows what will happen next. Its the best time for Sri Lankan government to give all the Tamilians the rightful place in their own country.

Not sure how they managed to kill Prabhakaran . But there seems to be many versions floating in here and there. Sri Lanka has to come out of its etnic loyalty culture ever since they gained independence from British. I feel sad at the death of Prabhakaran (Even though I don't agree with his methods). Noone can deny that he had a goal and he was working to achieve it with all resources he had. But really what makes Sri Lankan govt celebrate more is that LTTE was more of a one Man Ruled private limited company with no norms of liberation organisation. And with all the top leaders of LTTE dead, none knows what lies ahead of the Tamilians in Sri Lanka.

I pray to lord Shiva that he bless all the souls innocent or warring one peace at the Resting Place.

ARPU

To the list of jargons used in the telecom field this is one of the few. This acronym stands for "Average Revenue Per User" or "Average Revenue Per Unit".

Now the mobile is in the hands of 50% people and we are entering the third quartile. Most of the people who are going to be added are expected to be from low income group. The countries which are going to contribute to this bulk is China, India , Pakistan and Bangladesh. With the declining ARPU, mobile services can be profitable only if there is a continous high growth at the same time the processes are corrected to make it more efficient and cost effective. recently I read that Aircel has announced plan to provide life time services for new subscribers @ Rs .49 ~= $ 1.2 for existing subscriber @ 249 ~= $6.2. And with the voice call rates declining day by day from where are the operators expecting to earn much of the revenue? How they are planning to be profitable?

The crux of the story is the shift in the contribution to the revenue by the data services.
The revenue percentage for the services provided by the mobile operator are continously shifting from Voice services to the Data services like SMS etc. Data services are more frequently used in the urban areas which is resisting the decline of overall ARPU. In India, Popular serials ,like Indian Idol or Bid2Win, are one of the factors in the rise of revenues from data services, as more and more people are voting/bidding using sms. And these operators are expecting mobile banking to start contributing.

But still it needs to be seen if the data services can offset the decline of ARPU to an inclination.

Indian State's defence Budget Allocation

The allocation for defence is being raised by 10 percent from Rs.96,000 crore (Rs.960 billion) to Rs. One lakh five thousand six hundred crore (Rs.1,056 billion),' Chidambaram said while presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha Friday. The allocation is still below 2.5 percent of the GDP, even as successive parliamentary committees have recommended this be raised to at least three percent if the armed forces are to rapidly modernise...... The reason this is happening is that there is more allocation to other departments like health, etc and the beauratic hurdles in modernising the military........ "India's military expenses at $26.18 billion (Rs 105,600 crores) were less than half of China's expenditure in absolute terms" ...How they are going to protect our country ?


Still I see chinese citing India as threat and hiked spending to nearabout 17.6% compared to 10% by India.... Chinese have developed a massive infrastucture near the Indian borders.....And what was the response of India ...

1. lowering of defense budget (%age of GDP). 2.1% in 2008-09 against 2.17% in 2007-08.....
   
2. Allocating funds for Arunachal that for the southern parts....Reason, chinese may use the same infrastucture for their adavance ment
3. Inability to spend the allocated budget, which is already low.

Even this defence budget of china is not real....the real one is much more....

See the extimations in the table.


The only Thing I wanna say is to the politician to wake-up ....and remove this those bauracratic hurdle....and Modernise the Indian military into a might Military capable of protect our territorial integrity and at the same time punching the countries out who might even dare to do it.

Gigolooosssss.......

Few days back when I was in Hyderabad I was watching a movie related with Gigolos....coincidently when returning from there I saw a magazine with a a coverpage dedicated to gigolos....in India.....

So who are these gigolos..... in simple words you can say them as "male prostitutes" .... Actually I was actually shocked after knowing abt it ..... Though I could believe that its quite possible in western countries ..... But even a stray though didn't came to my mind about a possiblity of these peoples adopting it as profession in India..... But as per that magazine...thats true..... Though at first I envied them ..... But later on thought .... not everyone can do everything ..... After I thought what will those guys will do when they face some one homo - people.....

So I just thought that about this phenomena from various perspective ....

First of all Who are the clients of these gigolos :-

1. a) Married Females

• Husband staying Far away or not in contact with their husband for quite a long time
• Husband either being not interested or unable to fulfill there desires
• they might be seeking some variety
• Just for fun.

1. b) Divorce or Widow Females
   

• This might be because of their sexual desires unfulfilled beacause of absence of their hubby

1. c) UnMarried Females
   

• They might do this for experience
  
• May be scared of entering into any kind of relationship
• Or may be just for fun
• Some May hire them even just to show that they have a boyfriend
• They might be homo and to avoid it getting noticed they might use gigolos to pretend as they have a Man.

1. d) Males (homo or bisexual)

• Now these people may not be finding partner
• May be they want to hide their homo sexuality behaviour

1. e) People (male or female) with some un-common characteristics or old

• people who might be too fat or too small or too large ....etc might look for the gigolo services as they might need fulfill their desires naturally or because of social reasons.
• Old people who are not able to fulfill these desires.

Who might be gigolos ?

Any male who gets paid for his services which includes sexual pleasure or strip shows but not limited to these.

Potential Age group :-

May be 18 -28 (No hard and Fast rule)


What could drive a person to be a gigolo ?

1. No employment
2. Money
3. Sexual pleasure
4. Gifts, or travels they might get as a part of services
5. Parties which they might attend

Drawback a Gigolo Might have ?

1. After Some time or because of something like Age or physique : He can't persue this a career for lifetime
2. Social Acceptance is not there
3. Marriage or his personal relationship might get affected
4. His own choice of sexual desire is not counted
5. Its not easy to be a gigolo.

Is it going to get acceptance in the society?
What are implications of such behaviour in Society ? Both , in west and in east?

Still lot of questions keep on cropping ................

Modi -- Winning against All Odds

Narendra Dāmodardās Modī , Commonly known as Modi or Narendra Bhai, was sworn in as Chief Minister of Gujrat for the 3rd Consecutive time defying all the anti-incumbency factors and the open rebellion within the party.

SWOT analysis:-

• Strengths -
  
  1. Awesome Campaigner and great public appeal
  2. Image of a Clean and Honest Man ("Mein Khata Bhi Nahin Hoon , Khane bhi Nahin Detta hoon")
  3. Economic Growth during his tenure as CM of Gujrat
  4. No Terrorist strike in Gujrat(2002-07)
  5. Social Reforms

• Weakness -

1. Modi's Role in Gujrat Riots
2. Open rebellion Against him by BJP members.
3. No campaigning from VHP and other hindu organisations for him.
4. Media most of the time against him.
5. Anti-incumbency factor.

• Opportunities

1. Sonia's Speech refering him as "Merchant of Death" used to raise the communal sentiments.
2. Demoralisation of Congress workers beacuse of acceptance of BJP rebels.
3. Gujrat elections centered around one agenda Modi.

• Threats

1. Open Rebellion by his own party members
2. Minority totally against him
3. No Camaigning from KeshuBhai a prominent BJP leader
   

Why We Indians Have Double Standards ?????

Why is that we Indians have so many double standards? Not only politicians but also the self proclaimed great Human Right activits and all the so-called secular intellects also follow double standard.

There has been a lot of articles in all around the Indian Subcontinent by the adriot media persons criticising the attempts made by some Hindu backed organisation trying to stop an Art Exhibition depicting Hindu Goddess in unacceptable forms. They all tell it suppression of ART. Even I have been reading articles by people with great intellect like Shashi Tharoor , who might have become UN secretary general.I read his articles in Times Of India describing about Ellora and some temples and the association with the art displayed in Gujrat. But didn't saw a single word for protecting the Art work by people like Salman Rushdie, who is a great scholar. Critics say praise a lot for all the contribution made by MF Hussain and the critcise people who were hurt by his paintings. Just because MR MF Hussain hurted the feeling of Hindus and Hindus are themselves divided between themselves. The intellect who is criticising the so-called suppression of Art is also a Hindu.

Why none of the critics ever stand up and take one stand. That all arts will be allowed without any parity. Why they have never said a single word criticising the people who opposed and suppressed "Satanic Verses" by Sir Salman Rushdie and banned it. Why is the barometer different to protect Art Works differnt? Is it measured in terms of the community whom it is affecting? Why were there world wide protest against Danish Cartoons are apllauded and felt by everyone, but at the same time the protest against the Arts in Gujrat are localised and subpressed and crticised viciously?

I expect only those people to acclaim or critcise any issue, who dare stand and take one view - unaffected by politics, vote bank, community , back ground, religion, be unbaised. If one thinks the art should be protected in form of paintings offending Hindus , then the various form of Arts should also be protected which offends Muslims. I am not against Muslims or Hindus or against Art.

I hate the part when anyone proclaiming himself the greatest critic give a high toned voice for the same root issue, but at the same time a complete mute in respect to the other issue.

Today is World Refugee day

We the general people (Aami Admi) are least concerned about it. Infact with all the pandemonium of urban life we are least bothered about these events. I am still least bothered about the dates, but when thinking about the plight of being refugee I feel that we are in a much better position. How they might feel staying in a foreign country unwillfully? How can one ever forget his place of birth ? Once hearing the term "Refugee" I remembered the plight of Tibetans, Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Kashmiris (both Hindus and Muslims).

India is about hoem to 250000 refugees. Though out of these refugees who belongs to different nations, communities , etc. I have came accross Tibetans hundred of times and most of the times in restaurants. They have been living here for more than 3 decades. Still the Chinese who occupied Tibet are not even giving them autonomy and None in the world cares a damn about it.

Kashmiri Pandits were butchered in there home country beacause people with malicious intentions sitting accross the border desired to do so..... :(

I don't know about Tibetan or Iraqis ..... But yes , I feel bad looking at the people having their roots based in India being thrashed by some other countries....

I dont like the Gandhian approach by India for issues related to its own people. Also India should take moral responsibility for Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism as these are the three religions which doesn't have majority in any country of the world.People may question me why not christanity, Islam or Buddhism. I dont have anything against any of these. But all of these has some countries with majority of population like Japan,Sri Lanka, China, Thailand (Buddhism), Most of the Middle East Countries, indonesia (islam),US, europe,(christanity).

Now if u think for Jainism, Hinduism and Sikhism , other than Nepal for Hinduism you dont find any country other than India for them. So I strongly believe India should be aggressive regarding people belonging to these religions. It should consider itself similar to Israel which is for Jews. I dont intend in any manner that it should opress any other religion. I just want to say it should act more as saviour for these three religions.

Take for example India should agressively make sure that Turban, which is a holy symbol for sikhs be allowed without any partiallity in any part of the world. India should not be sitting Idle looking at the ethnic Indians in Fiji. Even a person of Fijian ethnicity, Cmdr. Banirama, felt the partiality being done and made a coup. US, EU , Australia and New Zealand have imposed sanctions for this rightfull act of his. This act was for equality, to remove corruption , for justice ( not to let people who tried coup earlier escape from the law). On the other hand, countries with dictator like General Pervez Mushrraf are termed as a soldier of war on Terror. This same country, Pakistan which is responsible for the plights of all people of Jammu & Kashmir (India) and Afganistan. So its clear India should stand up and help people who have roots in India as they have none to lookupto.

Also to add-on, one of the great contributor to this refugee problem is

1> Pakistan ( so called "soldier of War on Terror")

2> India ( Having pessimistic approach towards the problem of refugee, A sitting Elephant)

India never took any aggressive action on pakistan for supporting terrorism in India.And also never heard the humanitarian plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka after the sad demise of Shri Rajiv Gandhi. I am not saying support LTTE, I would say destroy LTTE but support the Tamils in Sri Lanka who are being opressed. Once even in news I saw Sri Lankan Tamil s asked to leave colombo just because they are Tamil. a pure act of ethnic cleansing.

I dont know what made me write this one diverting from the main topic of Refuggee day ....But i dont edit by blogs....

Oceans apart,
day after day
And I slowly go insane
I hear your voice on the line
But it doesn't stop the pain

If I see you next to never
How can we say forever
Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all the times
That I thought would last somehowI hear the laughter,
I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now
Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me going crazy

I wonder how we can survive
This romance
But in the end if I'm with you
I'll take the chance

Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me going crazy-

Madi, "Right here Waiting

Well....blogging after a lot many day s.......


Mind is in much more stable possition now.......
And dont wanna reveal those absurd things out....

Professionally there was very less work for last one week.....
Most of the time concentarted on the Ideas generated in the ESA scrub churning session.....
Got one reply for the idea submitted for patent by the reviewer .....need to respond by tuesday lets seee......

Well about weekends.....
Navin has come to bangalore .....for some interviews ....and it really felt good that he is here with me......
He is a very nice techie chap......
possibly will convert all of the calls.... I wish him luck.....

Next week too someone is coming from kol......
someone for whom I have been waiting for long .....
Had made a lots of plan .....

Also needs to meet relatives in weekend ...just got call from bhua to meet .....

So many things to do in weekends .......And I hope I am not neglecting the most important one i.e. CAT......

I need to make sure its never in the backseat ....
So my first priority is CAT ....
Though not preparing at war level .....But it seems need to start it very soon than later ......

Had got an offsite meet from sasken somewhere next month .....
Lets see ...that too will consume some time.....

This is where the prob start ....
How to use this 24 hrs to make it effectively equivalent to 28 hrs ....
So many things to do ...so little time.....
Need to start running in the morning .....But dare not wake up ....Lazy
need to join Gym for the tummy which look small now but scary ........Need to make sure it vanishes.....
CAT , friends, office work , relatives......................


Time keeps running and making one more and more busier .....
Now I must hangon .................