Indian farmers won’t retweet but foreign economists will RT their visions

Suman doesn’t go to bed, literally. He is rather forced to sleep along with all the other members of his family on the floor of his thatched hut. He wakes up at 5 am, not because he has to go office but doesn’t like the sight of defecating people around him while he is attending nature’s call. Suman is 21, has had a chance of visiting Bangalore once. He hasn’t heard about twitter but does know that people can send/receive letters without the help of a postman/post office. Suman’s story is not unique but a typical example of a rural youth in 21st century India. Suman can be anyone. Suman can also be a village girl, a unisex Indian name.

Peeps like Suman are clueless and sympathetically oblivious about everything. He is like the Natha of Peepli Live [India's official entry for the 83rd Academy Awards] who decides to commit suicide to save his land and to save his family from becoming homeless, after which his family will receive heavy compensation for his death. Farmers keep on becoming Natha(s), and they die unlike the character of the flick, but who cares?



As long as India’s GDP is growing at well above 8% and you can also make that figure 9%(thanks to the statistical manipulation we’re experts at), nobody really cares, do you?

What everybody really cares about is the BSE Sensex and NSE index. Till they are growing at around 1.8% weekly, nobody wants to be bothered. We have time to fight over whether someone was born at a particular place for more than 50 years. We have time to engage in rhetoric about Kashmir solution. If this still is not enough, we painstakingly move our ass to twitter and utilize our intellect, time and internet to the most powerful effect, we can come up with.

In a country, which shamelessly boasts of the ever exploding number of obscenely high net worth individuals, there is little hope for Suman or Natha. In a country which is blind to the fact that twitter won’t support their rebellion (if any), there is no hope for anybody for that matter.

“Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” writes Malcolm Gladwell in this article. True!

Hope is a bad thing, it always lead to despair. More so, in the case of Indians, we are born enthusiastic with dreams of conquering the world, but this smoothly fades out and a cynical outlook is what we are left with. Life is unfair, true.

In a country which is more concerned about altering things which are functioning well to transforming them to laggard government institutions, you don’t have to be smart to guess where your future lies if all this continues without any interruption. I’m referring to the IIT-JEE, the entrance exam which is the primary reason for the stellar respect people have for Indian techies in foreign-land. The HRD ministry always gets itself into such territories which are controversial and detrimental. Be it the issue of lowering the fees of IIM, introduction of OBC reservation, creation of umpteen no. of IIT and IIM campuses which does no good than diluting the standards which are already facing tremendous resource crunch, in terms of hostel, lecture-rooms and more importantly quality faculty. Why don’t you look into primary education, HRD ministry?

However, if you believe in some kind of magic, miracle or whatever you call it, you should sense change. India is going to transform itself from an agrarian economy in which farmers struggle to an economy which thrives on its prospering farmers. Yes, this is near not too far. Twitter and Facebook won’t help them. Ubiquitous cell phones, satellite Television, primary education, dissemination of modern agricultural practices, etc. would certainly help. We don’t need to retweet (copy) anybody to be a progressive nation. India at present is far behind China by any standards. India’s export figure ($176.5 billion) is just a fraction of China’s ($1.2 trillion). Unemployment in China (4.2%) is less than half of what prevails in India (10.7%). But, what should make you happy is the promising future, which lies ahead. It’s always the youth that drive any kind of revolution, protest movement, a much needed change. It’s the demographics of India which puts India at a better place than most countries. India outshines China in terms of the youth percentage. India is going to add 136 million working-age people, much higher than China’s 23 million. This is the only cookie India has, and if it judiciously uses this gift to survive the winter maybe we could benefit of the spring, summer and monsoon ahead.

The secret to India’s growth lies in the villages of India, the rustic face of India which is always overlooked and we talk of the swank T3 terminal at New Delhi, instead. Even the corporates have got this, and are doing their homework well. Coca-Cola brainstorms and comes up with a new marketing strategy to sell in smaller sized bottles and which is apparently very similar to the introduction of sachet-business model. The policy makers will have to follow soon, and come up with plans and strategies specifically designed for Indian villages and not inspired(and bluntly copied) from international white papers on policy, case-studies, etc. They need to address the problem which is Indian, so the solution by all sorts of imagination should be Indian too. We can’t retweet (copy) someone else’s model and impose on our different rural challenges. We need to come up with a plan. Focus should be on primary education and not in secondary education which is already driven by demand-supply law. Much of our attention should be to make our villages a better place to live, so that the reckless migration to cities stops. We need to foster an environment that transforms our villages and equip them with all basic amenities. No one should feel cheated and less empowered in Indian villages. The village economy needs to grow at 8% too
We can’t progress till we are indulged in age-old useless debates about Babri-masjid demolition and anyways the recent Allahabad high court judgement to me is a no surprise. It was always meant to be that. The judgement also termed as “village panchayat judgement” is the classic example of a matured political conclusion. We need to move forward and we are doing that too. As M.J. Akbar writes,

“The impoverished have understood a simple, important, over-riding reality: poverty is not communal. There is no shortage of places for prayer in our country. There is, however, a shortage of self-respect, since every hungry stomach in our country is a sharp slap on the face of the idea of India. 2010 is a hundred years away from 1992.”



We have matured from the experiences of early 1990s. Now we no longer dread or are provoked by speeches like, “SaugandhRam Ki Khaatein Hain Mandir Wohi Banayenge”. Period

Despite all these, we don’t need to change our values and customs. We just need to come up with an Indian solution to an Indian problem. We don’t need to retweet. Everybody else should retweet us.
Indian farmers won’t retweet but foreign economists will RT their visions. Jai Jawan Jai Kisan!
This post is dedicated to Lal Bahadur Shrivastav Shastri, India’s 2nd Prime Minister, whom we tend to forget on 2nd October, his birth date.

What's on your mind?

I’m swamped by thoughts. My mind is inundated with thoughts. This is “anti-writer’s block”. I don’t know where I’ll be after a 9-10 months. I don’t know what I’d really love to do when I graduate from college. I know when I was in class 11/12 the one thing I aspired was to become an “electronics and communication engineer” or “Aeronautical engineer”. The reasons for fascination with these two branches were quite fuzzy. I knew quite a few successful “electronics and communication engineer” and my love for fluid dynamics which still remains unrequited led me to consider Aeronautical engineering as a career option. Nevertheless, I had to take mining engineering as my undergraduate course at IIT Kharagpur. Man proposes God disposes!

“Ends are ape-chosen; only the means are man's.”

Just 6 years before, the one thing I desperately longed for was a seat in IIT, now I have it. After spending more than 3 years at IIT, I think I was eccentric. However, I did devote around 3 years to get into IIT. The silver lining is that I stand a better chance of being absorbed in a high-paying company than most of the students in India. Ultimately, an average middle-class youth’s dream is to get a good job after getting the very important degree, necessary evil. Ends justify the means, perhaps.



At present, I’m confused. I don’t know what I really want to do with my life. It’s like you have choices and choices and you don’t even have a slight preference for any of them. In such situation, it’s better to let others decide, not you. Exactly! When I was in class 10 it was all easy for me I was good at mathematics, science including biology. I knew I’d choose science stream but my parents chose engineering for me, as it’s easier to be an engineer (according to my parents, though!). Nobody’s complaining they knew more than me, at least then. My current problem I’ve N no. of choices and I know much more than my parents or any other close person in my life whom I can speak out my heart. So, it’s all me who has to decide.

1. Sit for CAT—Go to IIM.

2. Forget CAT—Sit for Campus Placements—Take a job which pays you the most.

3. Sit for CAT, Sit for Campus Placements— decide afterwards, what you want to do.

4. Higher studies—Figure out in which Field.

5. Go to Himalayas— forget the materialistic world; become a spiritual, motivational speaker.

6. Consider all the possible permutations and combinations of the above 5 options—Choose one.

My recent trip to Mumbai isn’t helping either. It has made me realize that I don’t know a lot of things which the “Kewl-people” talk about. I’m a bad conversation starter. I can’t talk about my favourite writers and poets, I haven’t read much. I can’t differentiate Rock, Pop, Jazz and whatever forms of music exist. In short, I’m a boring person, I cannot entertain you.

I have tried few things just for the heck of it, like swimming, tennis and jogging. I didn't like any of them. I don’t know what I love; I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I can stop thinking and follow the herd, but I don’t want to do it either. It is that phase of my life when I probably need to wait, have patience and leave it to the future. Perhaps!

However, I’d love to choose one thing and take a leap of faith.

Primer to Cleantech Internship

I always knew that I would do my compulsory summer internship with a dynamic organization and not necessarily in an MNC. After a lot of research, applications, e-mails and telephonic conversations I decided to devote my summer with Greenway Ecodevelopment in Navi Mumbai.

The internship experience had everything that one expects. Challenging projects, flexible work environment and, perks and incentives. Greenway Ecodevelopment Pvt. Ltd. is a startup with primary focus on CDM advisory, carbon footprint, training services and, eco-friendly and sustainable project development. The founders of the company validate their pedigree. Ankit Mathur is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, while Neha Juneja has done her MBA from FMS Delhi. Ankit and Neha also have engineering degrees from Delhi Technological University (Formerly Delhi College of Engineering).



The above company description does no justice to the kind of projects Greenway handles, apparently. In other words, after explaining what greenway does by paraphrasing the above company details people at the other side of conversation would ask, “Oh! I see, but what exactly Greenway does? ” . In reply, I used to say, “Carbon trading, carbon finance, environment-friendly technologies and services”. This would usually be followed by another query, “What the hell is carbon-trading?” . Carbon trading covers a wide range of mechanisms which help in curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which would have taken place in a business-as-usual scenario. Business-as-Usual is a term used for commercial ventures and projects which don’t consider emissions and focus on maximizing earnings. Business-as-Usual in most cases leads to degradation of environment with harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions leading to global warming and ultimately fueling climate change.

The debate about climate change is another agenda but carbon trading mechanisms are like insurance policies in which you invest for the untoward incidents that might take place in future.

Carbon emissions is a term collectively used for all types of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There are two types of carbon markets, voluntary and mandatory. The voluntary carbon markets are still in their infant stages, although the carbon market driven by Kyoto protocol has become a boon for emerging economies like China, India and Latin America through a mechanism known as clean development mechanism (CDM).

The clean development mechanism, one of the mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries (non-Annex I Parties). Emission reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent earns 1 certified emission reduction (CER) credit. CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries (Annex I Parties) or companies with emission targets to meet a part of their targets under the Kyoto Protocol.



CDM provides developing countries opportunity to implement projects which are less carbon intensive and also avail monetary support from developed countries. Annex I parties are developed countries. Annex I countries which have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, have to reduce their emission levels of greenhouse gasses to targets that are mainly set below their 1990 levels.

However, it is very difficult for the developed nations to achieve such a herculean target at the cost of meeting its current demands. To facilitate their economic and industrial sustainability, they can emit GHGs by buying equivalent emission credits from various carbon trading mechanisms. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the mechanisms, and is hugely popular because of its scalability, applicability and the benefits which can be shared mutually between non-Annex and Annex parties.

Emission reduction = Baseline emissions - Project emissions – Leakage

Emission reduction achieved by the project depends primarily on the baseline emissions offset, project emission and the leakage emissions outside the project boundary.

Baseline emission is the emission level that would take place in absence of the project activity. The project activity also emits some amount of GHGs, which is referred to as Project emissions which must be subtracted from the baseline emissions. Emission changes outside the project boundary, due to the project, not under control of the project participants is known as the Leakage. The tons of carbon dioxide equivalents which are calculated after subtracting “Project emissions” and “Leakage” from “Baseline emissions” is equal to the number of CERs (carbon credits) earned.

The basic steps include choosing a suitable methodology or suggesting a new methodology, determining the baseline emission and proving additionality. A CDM project activity is additional if anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses are reduced below those that would have occurred in the absence of the registered CDM project activity. Additionality may be financial, technical, institutional, etc.
The above details are incorporated in the Project Design Document (PDD). It is submitted to “Designated operational entity” (DOE) for validation, and “Designated National Authority” (DNA) for host country approval. After host country approval and validation, the PDD is forwarded to CDM Executive Board (EB) for project registration.

The EB after registering the project issues CERs (carbon credits) which can be traded in carbon markets. The value of 1 CER varies from € 8-12.
CDM Projects depend on future carbon credits for availing loan; it can also use the revenue from selling the credits for operation and maintenance, etc.

This is just about carbon trading, and also explains only CDM-project cycle. Greenway Ecodevelopment deals with much more than this. Greenway is a cleantech company. It is a startup, run by vibrant professionals. Greenway is also a consultancy firm which is going to have immense social impact. Speaking about social impact, Greenway would transform the lives of people by implementation and financing of 14,000 household biogas units in Yavatmal district under the CDM route. This is one of the first projects of its kind.

The think-tank of Greenway lives in a typical startup environment which is enviable. I will always relish the chance given to me by them for experiencing it firsthand. Everyone contributes invaluably, even their cute pet dog named Primer. Yes, the dog’s name is the title reference of the post.

More to follow about cleantech, internship, Primer, Mumbai and a lot more in subsequent posts.

Dalda, Xerox, … IIT, MIT, Stanford… and Twitter…

The amazing success stories behind brands and their products are very interesting. Vanaspati Ghee became Dalda, Photocopying became synonymous with Xerox, and these two brands are such pervasive that most of the consumers don’t even know the product’s actual name. So, what is more important for a manufacturer/ entrepreneur? Is it Product or Brand? Building a brand demands innovation of a different kind. Whenever you think about “Brands”, you can’t afford to miss out IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology). Though the product here is quite different and each one can cash in the brand reputation of IIT to build another brand which in fact makes IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology) the most powerful Indian brand ever created or is it the IPL (Indian Premier League)? India’s fetish with 3-lettered powerful brands also includes IIM (Indian Institutes of Management).

The equivalent of IIT in the USA is MIT or in more politically and historically correct form it’s the other way round. IIT, IIM, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and other top universities across the world attract the crème de la crème of the student populace and are known for their immensely successful alumni. Not long ago, people studying at these places eyed for their dream job and career path which leads to a stable (at least economically) career in the long run. However, in these last two decades there has been a paradigm shift in the psyche of the average MIT/Harvard/Stanford/IIT/IIM/… grad. Entrepreneurship has become socially accepted and a respected career path. These universities have started nurturing the entrepreneurial instincts of their students and venturing out in entrepreneurship has never been so serious activity.

"Let pedigree trickle out, don't spill it out"

Few days back, strategist and management consultant, Semil Shah (@semilshah) tweeted:
(http://twitter.com/semilshah/status/12996210164)



This is not the case only with MIT or Stanford, it is obviously a common practice adopted by young entrepreneurs who are naïve about their brand management and try to leverage their elusive and elite degree for touting their business plans and catapulting the popularity of their product portfolio. You can’t blame them too as they are not brand managers but entrepreneurs who don’t have much experience about the capitalistic economy and its dynamics. The degree though helps in building the brand image but can’t be made the only parameter to test the value and need for your innovation.

Shrey Goyal(@shreygoyal) says rather tweets:
(http://twitter.com/shreygoyal/status/12996763962)





Semil Shah further elaborates, “It’s much more effective to quickly introduce biz concept, impact. Let pedigree trickle out, don't spill it out” (http://twitter.com/semilshah/status/12996574589). At this point of time, the coherence in his thoughts seemed to be in sync with me. Great businesses have always solved problems or given us an alternative to do certain tasks.

Another subtle thing which you might have noticed is how I have used twitter. I got the opportunity to interact with an expert like Semil Shah, just because of twitter. This is not the only use of twitter I have come across. Recently, one of my friends got his summer internship by following his current internship employer on twitter, replying to tweets, and having “@” conversations. This prompted the hirer to have a look at my friend’s LinkedIn profile and discuss his internship application and he got the confirmation call.
(BTW, I've changed my twitter handle take a note of this: my earlier was @ashishiitkgp4 which is changed to this (@ashishgourav) do follow me!)

In a nutshell, entrepreneurship should be nurtured from a very early stage of maturity, work on your business plan focusing on the product, its applications, revenue earning model, proper branding and use twitter effectively. Social networking sites have been blamed for privacy intrusions but we need to embrace this medium of communication as this is the need of the hour.


I’d like to leave you with an invigorating video of Cameron Herold, Successful business leader. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCar_sFfEf4)



(Image Source: http://www.leadingedgealliance.com/issues_old/2002/fall/branding/i/branding.jpg)

Joys of Bribery, Blogging and Racist outlook

“You cannot enter this room with this ticket” says the lady attendant outside an Indian Railways’ “Upper Class” AC waiting room.
“I know that madam…how much should I pay for 2 hours” I replied squeezing my eyes and widening my mouth.



"I want either less corruption or more opportunity to participate in it"

This was how I bribed a woman for the first time in my life and after doing that I actually felt quite good and this was the first time I initiated the bribery. Bribery doesn’t mean splurging money on every paan-spitting lousy sarkari babu (clerk/official/peon) but efficiently tipping off poorly paid government employees so that your work is not hampered. Bribing can be embarrassing but it’s a win-win situation for both the parties. I would like to mention that I'm not in favour of corruption, it's detrimental to the smooth and democratic function of the society...you can read my take on this from here (Cynicism of an Average Indian and the "Vicious Circle of Corruption")

This all happened during my recent visit to the southern city of Chennai during Good Friday and Easter Sunday Holidays. It was my maiden trip to South India.

I have been born and brought-up in eastern India and am likely to be prejudiced about other parts of India but I did notice something about the south Indians in particular. Indians in general are corrupt and unhygienic but south Indians are hygienic and north Indians corrupt.
I’ve earlier announced my voluntary retirement from blogging but I revoked my decision (after public gatherings, suicides and hunger strikes to resume blogging). There is a thing about blogging which gives you an alter ego. People like to call you by your blog name, they mock your blog, it’s always you and your blog, these things always motivate a blogger like me to keep on writing.

Recently, our college had its Gymkhana Elections for the highest student post, the Vice-President. I decided to sideline myself from all the hullaballoo of these elections but ignoring someone is not easier than being indifferent. Candidly speaking, I do not know what powers the VP of our institute possess and I don’t even intend to acquire the knowledge, I simply don’t care.

To quote one of my comments
“I know people who campaigned for one, supported the other and voted in the favour of the third; to top it all, they shook their hands with Celestine(VP, IIT KGP Students Gymkhana) after he won...true spirit of KGP :P”

Share your grief, excitement, disgust and whatever emotions you have about my return to blogosphere…