Hue and Cry for increasing agri product prices – Balassa Samuelson Effect?

Balassa Samuelson effect explained by Mr.Raghuram Rajan, the Reserve Bank Governor of India in his speech on “Dosa Economics” was quite convincing. The effect states that, in an economy which is growing and with its sectors improving technologically, the price of goods manufactured by those sectors which are not improving technologically will go up faster.

My view is – when a particular sector fails to grow technologically due to capital inadequacy or due to the inability of the incumbents / promoters in the sector to infuse more capital due to historically low margins or due to the lack of commercialization, and when there is a larger control on the prices of the goods and services provided by these sectors from the part of the government in a socialistically skewed mixed economy, those sectors will have to move to a more commercialized mode of productions or will have to perish over a period of time.

Given that the agriculture sector and dairying in India has been historically dominated by marginal farmers, the ability of the individual farmers to infuse more capital in to the business remains limited. Coupled with the indirect/direct control of the prices of agricultural and dairy products by the government, the price of the produce has not gone up historically in line with the increase of the cost of inputs. The government is also not left with any choice than to directly or indirectly keep a control on the pricing of these products as they are bound to control the inflation especially for the food items.

So over a period of time the cost of inputs has gone up manifold and the technological developments though happened, remained unaffordable, and the price of the output from these activities has not grown in line with that; a contrast to the Balassa Samuelson Effect.

In a market driven economy the sectors which are having lesser operational margins will not attract a huge influx capital investments which enables the adoption of modern technologies to increase productivity as the investments can only give returns over a long run.

This has result in the hue and cry from the producers of agri and dairy products to increase the price of the commodities while the government is always bound to limit it to the maximum possible extent. The government always tries to mitigate these worries and supports the sector through various measures like the declaration of minimum purchase price of the produce, declaring support prices, subsidising the inputs/controlling the price of inputs and raw materials. But these measures historically have not proven to be very effective in bringing increase in the cost of input in line with the increase in the cost of output.

Taking the example of dairy industry, the major production of milk in the country is from marginal farmers. As per the tenets of a capitalistic economy, as labour is cheaper or more affordable than capital, more labour-intensive methods of production is used in this industry. But over a period of time, the labour got costlier and the marginal nature of the production made infusing of capital unaffordable to the farmers. Moreover government directly or indirectly controls the milk prices through their strong grip in cooperative bodies and through other regulatory authorities.

The dairying in our country is also highly depended on climatic factors leading to a fluctuation in the quantity, quality and price of the major inputs like the fodder and feed. This has ended up in lower operational margins in this industry as a whole and has always acted as a deterrent factor for major investments from the private players, with very few exceptions, to equip the means of production with high end technology to improve the productivity, though it is available.

Over a period of time, as the other sectors can afford for a better wages due to its growth in productivity and technology, these marginal farmers tend to migrate to other industries as skilled or unskilled labourers which will in turn end up with a drastic decline in the productivity of the milk. To the best of my understanding this trend has already started. This may lead to a demand supply gap in the market which will end up in a drastic increase in the price of the milk based commodities and in turn to a major food inflation. This situation may be exploited by the corporates who can make huge capital investments and meet the supply gaps at the same time earning huge profits as the operational margins will be high at that time.

As the dairy industry falls under the list of essential commodities, in a mixed economy like ours, the government is striving hard to help the producers by various ways and means of direct and indirect subsidies. The cost of inputs like the cattle feed is always kept at a check by the government by investments from the public sector in the feed manufacturing industry, a major example being the Kerala Feeds owned by Government of Kerala. Another aspect is providing the animal health care and breeding services to the farmers across the country through a chain of government owned veterinary and para veterinary institutions across the country, supply of mineral supplements to augment the production through these institutions, supply of free fodder seeds, and various other measures to help the farmer to improve the productivity through better management practices and also by improving the genetics. The minimum support price of agri products and subsidy of fertilizers are also indirectly helping the industry.

But the question here is with the increase in the expendable income of the citizens in the country which results in increased demand and widening of the demand supply gaps, are the measures taken by the government sufficient to ensure that the food inflation is curtailed at a widely acceptable levels? Any measure in the regard of advancement of technology to improve productivity at the same time made affordable to the marginal farmers through cooperative or community farming or through the modern machineries like the farmer producer companies will be highly appreciable at this moment so that we remain self sufficient in terms of our food products at the same time the basic needs of a common man can be met at an affordable price to him.

Picture Courtesy: http://www.hangthebankers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Food-Inflation.jpg

Not the Indian Capitalist Dream.... but ground reality!

Abnormally high profits recorded by the business entities  in an economy will only worsen the inequality and will challenge the principles of financial inclusivity as they are generally the result of  persistently high prices of services/goods  and depressed wages.

This applies very well in Indian context aswell when few of the businesses are recording phenomenal profits in decades especially in the oil and gas industry, when the economy of the nations which contribute to the major production of crude oil is suffering from an economic turmoil.

The banking and insurance industry is also not insulated as well. When the public sector banks and insurance firms cannot clock a half of the profits registered by private players in the same grounds in percentage terms; we cannot blame bad debts and inefficient leadership as the only reasons for their below the par performance. It may also be due to the increased cost of services levied by those private players ensuring their high profits while challenging the entire principles of financial inclusivity in day light for which the banking system as a whole should act as a guardian for and which is imperative in a developing economy.

The Venuzelean example of regulating the markets by subsidising almost all essential goods and services has once again prooved to be a wrong approach aswell. But in the quasi federal system of governance in India, those in power, especially in the southern states of the country are wooing the public by susbsidies to ensure an easy path to their electoral victory and there by hampering the system.

To the best of my limited knowledge no system exists to limit the profits of a business entity to the median of the industry standards though it sounds highly utopian. But a system that  facilitates those profits to be ploughed back to bolster the infrastructure development of the country as well as ensuring the wages of workers to a set standard will and can surely ensure the development of a nation in the long run.

Cheap availability of the qualified quality resources should never be a reason to pamper the capitalist dream of higher profits. If we are doing so, it is only reiterating the clichéd statement of neo colonialism.

In a country like india, which produces as many engineers equalent to the population of Switzerland, though they stand number 1 in innovation index and our position can put us to shame; it is cheaper to avail the services of an engineer than to the services of a plumber or maison. But it should not be or cannot be the reason to employ a qualified professional delivering the same quality of any one comperable with him across the globe at almost a quarter of what is getting paid for the same profession abroad. The payment should be at the least made in line with the currency parity. It may also plug the brain drain on which we make hue and cry day in day out.

The financial inclusivity happens with the concept of distributution of wealth but not through a highly subsidised system and not by market regulation of goods and services but ensuring that there is a market correction of the percapita expendable income of the citizens.

(Picture Courtesy: http://art-and-anarchism.tumblr.com/post/64854603304)

Another Face of My country

Another Face of My country: Jalgaon Story!!!

A town with urine stink..... that’s what I felt when I stepped out of the comfort of the air conditioned sleeper bus. It was not easy for me to find a comfortable journey to this northern Maharashtra town Jalgaon as there were no multi axle bus services to this place. As told by Dr.Zaidi who was travelling with me it is a town of bananas, cotton and Doctors!!!!

The town where people were brownish and hard burned by sun and the agriculture was fully dependent on rain or else the farmer should be rich enough to afford the drip irrigation. When you meet any person the first question they may ask is are you a service personnel??? A very typical slang used in this part of the world to denote that you are a salaried employee. I think people all over the world can be classified using this parlance...  Either you are salaried or a business man or else you are unemployed.....

The major and only thing that you can find all over in this town is hospitals... I do wonder why... Are there enough diseased people in this place to cater the business needs of all... I don’t know... But I stumbled with the answer later... There were doctors and doctors all over this place... Left right and centre.... Health care is not a booming industry here. The doctors fight for their daily bread with each other.

I was staying in a hotel and was here for a longer stint of 6 months on an assignment. So I cannot afford to stay in that hotel room for long and neither my company will pay the hotel rent for such a longer period for me. I need to find a house or a room to stay. The best part came when one of my colleagues told me that I may find a comfortable stay in a hospital!!!!

Yes though it came as a shock to me.... now I am comfortably staying in a hospital ward of a nursing home like many others in this city!!!

 The doctor who rented me out his hospital ward is also finding it financially beneficial to him as he was not able to find enough patients to fill the wards of his nursing home. He has kept one room for his consultation and one room for the patients to get admitted and have rented out rest of the wards.

Now about Jalgaon:

A city where a person completing MBA could not figure out the vowels of the English alphabet... A city where the English newspaper is available only by 3:30 PM in the afternoon and that too with an additional service charge of Rs.100 per month along with the monthly cost... A city where you will have to pay Rs.18 for a Coke or Pepsi and when you ask the shopkeeper “Why?” he will give a beautiful reply “Things are costlier now”!!!

Being born and bought up in Kerala; I felt I have ended up in a different world altogether. When I went for a walk and stepped on human faeces on the road... my colleague who was with me told “Welcome to Maharashtra”. A very dangerous statement to make!!!

This is another part of this great country where the police men shamelessly take bribes in the middle of the road for no reason but you are on a vehicle with all papers right. The youth prepare for public service commission exams believing that they could earn a lot with so called “Other Income”.

But I don’t know why there is such a huge abyss exists between the rich and the poor. The rich still have expectations like the upcoming better shopping malls and the existing mediocre ones..... but I could not figure out any expectations for the poor. They are supposed to live in slumps and are supposed to have stolen electricity from the public supply and their kids are denied of any educational facilities or even the basic public health facilities and are taught that they are supposed to defecate only in the roadsides when India is talking about holistic and inclusive developments. We expect the flights to be cheaper and common man using that mode of transport more like the ‘Jadkas’ of olden days just because we have opened up our doors for FDI in aviation. We expect the cost of rice to come down.... We have all the foreign retail majors here... So keen to serve our countrymen!!! We expect free electricity to all the poor families.... We have given our coal blocks for free to generate power to all the steel majors!!!.... No wonder in this country a company which started off in capital intensive power sector could breakeven in 2 years while world over any such company could take 5-7 years to achieve that feat!!! 

A country where the parties which remain as the greatest enemies in their home states remain as the staunch supporters when they come to union government to suppress the “Disproportionate Asset” cases of their ‘Nethas’!!!  Still we say we are proud to have apolitical view and heartlessly laugh at those persons who dare to move away from the views of so called anti corruption crusaders to launch a political party and vehemently and patriotically vouch that “I cannot keep quiet when my country is bleeding”.

I believe that they are not having any colour codes for their new party and I believe that those who believe and propagate Lokpal bill as a wonder drug for this country need to awake at this day light where we see that the whole country is bleeding irrespective of the so called promised land of Gujarat to the culture rich east which voted for a change, to the sugarcane belt of the west, to the mighty north or the highly literate or the proud Dravidian south.

It is time for a blood less revolution when the whole country is bleeding in want of a correct and upright political party which could give at the least taintless leaders and scamless headlines for the newspapers. Not even a single day in the past so many months had passed without reading the headlines of the newspaper with a newer and better scam. It is the time we need to choose a right person in our ballot papers than to vote for the least venomous ones. As a proud citizen of this nation I demand a political party which I can vote with my heart.

The Rich India, The Poor India.

The Rich India, The Poor India.

I have seen many people speaking of pluralism when they speak of India. Though my views are not very different, I would like to express few of my own views in this regard.

How many of us are competent enough to differentiate a Marathi from a Mallu without asking their surnames??..... How many of us are competent to differentiate a Manipuri girl from an Assamese girl? How many of us are competent enough to differentiate a Haryanvi from a Punjabi except for some of my Sikh friends who could be identified because of their turban. Since the foreigners who invaded India at various points of times also failed like us, they for the easiness of references started calling us by names north Indian, south Indian or north east.........

I pity for the fact that though the divide and rule followed by the British failed to take away the tag of Indian form a noth, south or northeast; though not forgetting the wounds inflicted by us in the partition. When it comes to the unity I would like to refer to the comments made by Mr.Shashi Tharoor regarding the pluralism and unity. It is nothing but there is more resemblance between a tamil Brahmin and a tamil muslim than that of a Haryanvi Jhatt though both the Brahmin and Jhat are believing in the same faith.

These resemblances might have donated us the additional stratification of north, south, north east etc. But when it comes to various other facts which may be disgusting to a greater extent we Indians remain the same in lots of our practices. Go to a railway station and see around...... in any  part of India the railway lines remains as an answer to the comic question posted by someone in face book.... world’s longest open air toilet.... When I saw the last Sherlock holmes movie – A game of shadows, I don’t know how many of us have noticed that in a sequence where Mr.Holmes disguised as a lady was trying to use the lavatory in a train in which Mr and Mrs. Whatson was travelling, he was stopped by the railway ticket examiner telling that he cannot use the washroom when the train at the station. I believe that the director of the movie Guy Riche has done enough homework to ensure that it was not an anachronism in an 18^th century movie. But it is hard for me to believe that any such practice is here in our country even in this 21^st century. We Indians remain the same in our washroom habits except for a nominal population of elite class. Go to any Indian road, we can see lots of waste materials thrown out of household piled up except for few of the so called posh localities like Chanakyapuri of our capital city....... I could hardly differentiate the MG road of Bangalore from the MG road of Kochin in kerala when I am walking on these roads looking down or on the sides. Go to any liquor shop in east west north or south of this subcontinent, the music played and the lighting and the sound and the spirit remains the same.... Let me be clear that I am not talking about “that Spirit”....

Then go to any star rated clubs or bars or pubs in India, the subject of discussion remains over there remains the same all over the country and may be the world. Take the lifestyle; the elite crowd which contributes to 3% of the population and 40% of the GDP numbers which is not so rare breed across India since they are spread across all the metros because of their property holdings in the prime locations across the subcontinent have similar looks and are using similar brands and leading a similar lifestyle. Go to the poorest of poor they also lead the same life style may be the materials use may differ but they resort to the cheapest of the locally available goods and have the least nutritional diet and use the same locally available ‘desi’ liquor. They may be different in their dressings when you consider a landless farmer of Haryana with that of Tamilnadu; but the smell of the sweat remains the same. The basic fundamental rights drafted by the framers of our constitution remain distant to them even today. These kinds of discriminations bring another major classification to us; the rich Indians and the poor Indians. Keeping the income as a basis we may be able to classify the entire human race, but I am concerned only about my country. Though my thoughts may sound wrong in this era of universal brotherhood and global village, I believe in clearing the crap around my locality before venturing for the whole of the world.

Major question remains, what created this rich Indians and poor Indians from the earlier existent stratification based on the directions of compass. When was it created? Who is responsible?

Let me start with a story. It is not long back, it was in 1980s early days. A marriage was being solemnised in a prominent family of the village. The local doctor of the government hospital and the prominent illiterate business man were in the guest list. The business man was fortunate enough to reach there before the doctor though both of them were travelling in their respective cars, two Hindustan Motors Ambassador Mark II cars. The business man received a warm welcome and he was all in his charm. Then came the doctor. The persons who were welcoming the guests immediately turned their attention to the most respected person in the village, known for his selfless service to the society and helping the poorest of the poor in the village. The business man was told to give way for the doctor who is not even 1/10^th of his net worth. The time passed and it is this 21^st century 2012. The scenario remains the same the local doctor and the business man and the marriage. But the world around has changed a lot. They are travelling in the modern cars. Doctor came in one of the most sold models of Maruthi Suzuki a white swift. The business man has gone places but he is also attending this marriage came in a brand new BMW 5 series. Because of the bad traffic the business man was a little late to reach the venue and fortunately or otherwise our doctor managed to reach there before him. Though he was welcomed but this time the clamor of money has its better charm. This time the doctor was asked to give way for the business tycoon. Though illiterate he was manifolds richer than the poor doctor who has only goodwill as his bank balance. The business man has learned the value of education from his previous experience also ensured that his son is getting an admission for a medical degree in management quota from one of the famous private institutions in the country though it will not make a big dent in his kitty. His business acumen has taught him that the health care is going to the next “in – thing” in this country.

Now let me come to my take in this story. In the pre-liberalisation era though the difference between this rich India and poor India did existed in the books, there were no evident testimonies for these book values. But in this post liberalised world there are clearly conspicuous. The rich is having the opportunities to flaunt the wealth like never before though I am not forgetting the fact that the ultra rich of the pre independent India flaunted their richness even by importing these products of the western culture which we consider as “better lifestyles”. But the options were limited. But in this post liberalised era the brands compete for the attention of the prospective buyers giving hoards of opportunities to satiate the needs, wants and desires. In 80’s the society could not perceive the richness beyond a limit as it was not so conspicuous so they respected the services and the knowledge. In 80’s the rich and the so called middle class travelled in the antiquated models of ambassadors and had only few options like the vimal and the Bombay dyeing to wear. But in today’s world the difference between the rich India and poor India is clear and conspicuous in black and white. The rich are having the options from bugatti veryon to Audis, Merks and BMWs to travel and Armani suits and designer wear to dress up and clearly distinguish them from others. The rich are having options to “purchase” the degrees and leaving no stones unturned to question their positions any time in near future. In the past there were lots of people who went for higher education from poor families and it never came in the news, because it was a very common thing. But today if something like that happen the media and the virtual social world like facebook celebrate it with 1000s of likes and shares. Is it because of the fact that it is not so common? My logic makes me doubt so. We don’t celebrate day and night but we celebrate if there is a meteor shower in the sky because it is not happening on a daily basis. We have a tendency to celebrate the things which are not so common.

I do and strongly believe in one thing that the maintains the homeostasis of the economics; the talent of individuals. Otherwise the rich remains richer and the poor continue to remain poorer. Look back in history; a blacksmith’s son was bound to be a blacksmith and he cannot be a teacher or a writer. Are we going back to that vedic and pervedic era? Take the case of money minting bollywood or kollywood in the south or any film industry across this subcontinent. How many of the new actors do not bear a legacy tag? How many of the new faces have come and gained stardom without having a strong filmy family background? How many CEOs in this country are from poor or middle class families? If some are there, then we celebrate it. I believe that the only exception to a greater extent is sports. Say cricket for example. I do respect Sachin Tendulkar for his talent like any of my fellow Indians. But I could see that he is equally respected for the money he earns with his skills. It is his talent which made a kid from an average Indian family to a rich Indian. But how many are there like that; the elite 11 cricketers of the Indian team? Then what about athletics, football and our national games hockey. Don’t you think that still our athletes run for a railway or police job or for winning a government quarters as told in the mega hit movie Chakde India?

We may say that liberalisation has given us lot of entrepreneurs who are venturing to conquer the world but not to forget that the companies which we proudly proclaim as Indian companies like the Infosys, the reliance and the wipro were the start-ups of our pre-liberalised era. Now we see entrepreneurs who create a company and want to sell it off to the might of multinational giants. I still remember a conversation with one of such IT entrepreneurs who reluctantly admit that he is building a company so that he can sell it for a fortune to some xyz MNC giants in future. I read a statement in similar lines form Mr.Kishore Biyani the retail king of India very recently. Now we can also see that the rich Indians are also conquering political sphere. How many of the companies are there is in this country without a politician attached to it? Spice get, Vasan eyecare, sun network, Cafe coffee day, Oh no.... the list is too long.

Are we not curbing the only way to maintain the economic homeostasis though we preach a lot of financial inclusion and inclusivity these days? I think so. By reducing the opportunities for talent to flourish, we are truly curbing that. The enhanced ways to curb the talents through nepotism and the right to purchase anything to everything in today’s market place is ultimate contribution of liberalization. Few days back I read in news papers that our finance minister telling that the managers who refrain from taking the educational loan applications will be punished after the Indian Banking Association coming up with a suggestion to restrict the educational loan applications in fear of NPA. So from now on I can expect that the bankers will queue up in front of the houses of the poor requesting them to go for higher education. But don't you think that it is just a political game to con the poor, so called fooled citizens? I am not being political at any point because, I don't see a difference in any political class whether they are wearing the so called woven Khadi or the saffron or the red. I subscribe to the school of thoughts that irrespective of the colour of their cloths, all roads leads to Rome.... oh sorry....  not Rome the Swiss constantly putting their earnest efforts to break their own records in Scams. I believe they are also planning for an index to consider the inflation to project that the scams they do are not so serious when we consider inflation.

Then what we need? Will we be satisfied with a silent Prime Minister controlled like a puppet or by a prospective one who could befriend all those business tycoons forgetting his hands coloured red by the relics of past communal violence? I think we need to think of options beyond that to break this “Berlin Wall” which divides India into rich and poor.

Here I am not championing the pre-liberalization era or the license raj. But before we venture in to the depths of liberalization we must think once whether it in-Toto is good for us or not. Before venturing into something like the foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and aviation it is always better to give a second thought. The experiments world over has once proved that communism is good in theory but a failure in practice. Likewise the liberalized world is sinking across the globe. The great USA, the Greek or the Europe as a whole. So it is high time to give a second thought whether the liberalization is completely good for us or not. We should not be doing a mistake in this regard like the escalation of commitment or measuring the depth of the pond with both feet at this moment. But it will always be wiser enough to apply brakes before reaching the tip of the cliff.

Realty TV shows………. Its high time that you give something positive to the society

I am not doing social policing….and never expect me to do so…..

I am not claiming to be eligible for a seat next to Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Theresa……

But some of these bullshit things that I come across raise my blood pressure and make me talk about some of the basic ethics…….

Being an MBA student, I believe that I know about marketing a little. But the marketing trends followed by some of the television channels are just ridiculous as much as it can….

Take any reality show….. These rascals never forget to include a blind fellow or a handicapped person….. Don’t think that it is with out any intention….. we the common men are intelligent enough to understand that the channel will get excellent viewership by showing some of the celebrities shedding their crocodile tears for these contestants….

Enough is enough…..

What made me write about this is the gr8 idiotic show which I come across in SUN TV and in Surya TV: Deal or No Deal….. 

Many of you might have come across such an idiotic program but still I am briefing you on that… The program is not a quiz or any program which involves intelligence…. It is a simple program where mere luck plays the game and there will be a banker making deals reminding us of the merger and acquisition news that comes in business line…………..

But the latest ad which was shown during a movie was as ridiculous as it could be….. few females cribbing about their unluck and ultimately about their financial burdens which happened due to that and enlisting them as their ultimate reason for coming for the show…………

I pity you Mukesh… you somehow managed to have the image of a good actor but I pity you for the single reason that you are anchoring such a ridiculous program in surya TV. May be you can speak of increasing popularity of the show or the rising numbers of viewership….. I simply damn care about that….

Being an actor / actress you guys are supposed to exhibit some sort of social ethics…. Which many of you forget these days……….. At least don’t use the sentiments of the society towards a physically challenged person or a mentally challenged person to promote your show………….

Please………. Please………… Please exhibit something positive…….. Follow some thing good from the foreign culture……….. Take the example of Nike ad using a physically challenged sportsman to show endorse their products……….. pls do some thing positive…. Give some positive energy to the society………

I know that you people will speak of all those activities like visiting the old age homes and singing in front of them and serving meals in their platter………… But do you think that it make any sense???

If your real intention is to do something good don’t take benefits out of it………. Please don’t show the tears of those old people who are abandoned by their children……….

Don’t take it otherwise………. I do respect some service given by you to the society but what is not digesting to me is the exhibitionism of what you do………..

Give something positive in your messages…….. Show how to save fuels……. Show how to reduce energy food prints…………. Show how to reduce use of paper………… show how to reduce environmental pollution………

But your intentions are different……… I know that you may not be interested because these may not attract viewership…………  and that is what you are ultimately interested in……….. So admit that fact and shrug………

Self Marketing: I felt like this when i studied the 4p's of marketing..............

Promotion the final P

Self Marketing is nothing but how
well you make yourself acceptable to the
society. Self marketing is mainly related to
how well you present yourself and interact
with the society. The society’s perception to
your deeds, acts and even looks acts as factors
affecting your brand value.
Everyone starting from the paperboy to
the milk man who comes to your home at the
day break to the beggar who knocks at you car
window in the traffic signal needs self
marketing. The basic concept related to this is
how well you play your role in every days life
and how well it is accepted by the people
around you.
The times where a person is valued by
his first impressions are lost by mid 80’s and
now it is a period of continuous evaluation. It
is applicable to everyday life, your job, your
bank transactions and even how the society
reacts to you.
When a person is approaching an
organization for a job; his biodata is already in
the table of the interviewer as it is available
from his previous endeavors while working in
another organization. Likewise the banks all
over the world can easily collect the customers
behaviour in repaying a credit from his
previous transactions with any other bank
world over.
Self marketing is sometimes
misjudged and limited to the way you market
yourself in a job interview. But the fact is that
the implications are much more than we
perceive. Self marketing is something which
you require for every action you do in today’s
world where there is surveillance in and all
around you. It can be even considered as a
part of the personal ethics.
The first lesson I learned from my
experiences is that there is a substitute for
everything in this world and it is our duty to
have an upper hand in the market place by
being acceptable and not by being totally
different. Today’s world is having people with
almost equal talents and the mood all around
is of a burgeoning competition. The only
relevant question is how you gain an upper
hand whether it is a job interview or for a
promotion post or even for winning the heart
of a college beauty.
Self marketing is closely associated
with the classical 4 P’s of marketing. It is
nothing but Putting yourself as a right product
in the right place, with a right price, while
keeping yourself upright promotes you as a
brand to the society.
But how is price playing a role in self
marketing? The price is nothing but the
expenses the society incurs in any interaction
with you as being a part of the society. The
society is incurring an expense for each of its
members starting from the time to the services
that is enjoyed by that particular person from
the society. It is our duty to keep our self
eligible for the price that is incurred by the
society.
In my opinion the place is as relevant
as the price in self marketing. It is difficult for
any person to have a pan acceptability. So it is
his duty to find a place where he is mostly
valued so that he being non acceptable
remains out of question atleast in that
segment.
Ultimately it is the ethics what an
individual keeps upright is his promotional
factor in a society. The final ‘P’.

Tamilnadu: Is it a vibrant state? The pros and cons

     Being a Malayalee when I came to coimbatore it was a wonder world where I could travel long distances with a two rupee coin, could see excellent infrastructure like roads, bus stations and working traffic lights and could smell the fragrance of jasmines in the heart of the city from the baskets of flower vending ladies at Gandhipuram in the evenings, I was really wondered to be in state where there was a spirit of development and progress everywhere. I could see many private educational institutions mainly running on the revenues from the students from kerala working with out being hampered by strikes and politics; I could see roads getting wider as per the traffic requirements after wiping out the shops and street peddlers with out outcries of protests from the political parties. I could see institutions with excellent health care facilities and could see ambulances flying to the hospitals from an accident spot with out being a part of the traffic block.

     At first sight itself Coimbatore impressed me with the infrastructure and the amenities that the town provides to a vast population.

But the things changed in a matter of time. To conquer is easy but to maintain the statuesque is bit difficult. The first thing which I stumbled was when a friend of mine met with an accident. We had to pay even for the mobile recharge of the sentry at the police station before we could release the bike even though a drunkard came and hit our parking bike. I took it as an exception. But later on there were so many experiences like that. I was really wondered to see so much of escort vehicles and traffic regulations for the one day visit of the states chief minister when the chief minister of Kerala sometimes used to travel with out an escort vehicle; I later concluded that it may of the reason that once an Indian prime minister was killed in a bomb blast in Tamilnadu; and there may still be branches of extremist groups of the neighboring country running in the state. But still I feel that this much of security is nothing but a sort of showoff.

     I had a great respect for the chief minister when I came to know that he is supplying rations for the below poverty line group at a rate of one rupee and is providing colour television sets to all the families and bicycles to all the girls up to +2 and is promoting industrialization like anything in the state. I was happy to hear that BMW factory is setting up in the state. I still remember the state wide strike that we Keralites have arranged for welcoming the auto giant when they came to visit Cochin, which was their first priority in setting up their factory. I was also happy to hear lots of mega industries like the Nokia, Samaung etc have their factories in Tamilnadu along with lots and lots of small scale industries in the state. I was really dumbfound when my friend took me to some of the small scale industries in and around the housing colony at Hopes College Junction where he is staying. I could also see lots of malayalee restaurants from Ukkadam to every where as there is a large student population who are resorting to these shops for the tastes of their home. People of very far away places like Kannur and Kasargod are running business in coimbatore andi could see a large malayalee population earning their livelihood from the city. 

     I also met Mohammed, a Sudanese student who was studying in PSG Tech at a tea shop. He was staying in an apartment and he told me that his parents are there at his native land. It is a good thing to hear that the fame of Tamilnadu education has reached even overseas. He is happy about the educational facilities in Tamilnadu and the only thing which bothers him is the hot climate. He told me that he is planning a trip to Vakala beach of kerala and added that he is likes the climate of kerala more.

     But on the same day I met Mohammed when I came to the Bus station at Gandhipuram I felt really bad about the mess going over there. The private bus people are cajoling the passengers to get in to their bus rather than using a government transport at the bus station. I felt it really bad and even the cops were present there when all these kinds of business were going on. Nobody is questioning these guys. Likewise the Mineral water vendor at the bus station was charging 1 Rupee extra to the MRP for a bottle of “Aquafina” and gave me an explanation that it is the cooling cost!!! and when I told him that I’m gonna complaint; he just scorn at me and asked me who am I gonna complain about him….. I am sure that these kinds of ridiculing never happen in Kerala. I felt that Kerala is having better and conscious consumers. Like wise the Urinals at the same bus station were charging 2 Rupees though the board speaks of 1 Rupees per person and the person in-charge told me that it is an old board. I relay wonder why these people are lying so blatantly as I could see the same board week after the other.

     You may ask why I am bothered about these small little pennys……… I do have an answer for that. My answer is Krishnan; a person whom I met during my return journey from coimbatore. He was working as a welder in a workshop and he is staying 2-3 bus stops away from my place. But I saw him taking a bus ticket to my stop and I asked him the reason…… I was astonished to see a “Penny wise Pound foolish” policy in an illiterate person like Krishnan. He gave me the answer like this. For him to get down at his bus stop in an inter-state fast passenger bus, needs to spend another 6 rupees additional and if he is getting down at my place and is catching a local bus will cost him only 3 rupees and he told me that each penny is valuable for him as it is so hard earned. Though Krishnan was eloquently speaking of his better job opportunities in Tamilnadu, I have a feeling whether the corruption is engulfing the goodwill of the state. For corporates the richie riches who never bother about few thousands to get their things in a speedy and preferable way corruption may not be a problem but for the other major population including Krishnan, it may take away a major part of their earnings.  

     I have just sited the examples of corruption at the root levels in Tamilnadu. I now remember the famous dialogue from the hit tamil movie Annyan that the corruption in today’s society is so subtle that nobody understand the corruption of a 5 crore ruppes taken as 5 paise from one hudered crore population. These tendencies are to be countered to any extent as at least some of the persons like Krishnan are directly feeling the heat better to any other observant economist analyzing the corruption and nepotism in the society.

     Everybody is giving voices for setting up of a central agency to counter terrorism; a major problem affecting the life of many and the economy of the country. Likewise there should be a central agency to counter and punish corruption as it is an equally important hazard affecting today’s society. But never speak of eradicating corruption from the base level as we always do. Our tendency is to eradicate corruption from the lower stratum; that may be from the attendants in the office while the higher bureaucrats and the persons in power are doing major corruptions blatantly. That year old idea sounds ridiculous. Never think of felling down a big banyan tree by tearing its leaves. We need to start from the roots. Likewise the higher stratum needs to be free of corruption and should exemplify them for the lower stratum to follow. For that we need better leaders and the election time is on and we need to respond through our ballots by electing the most suited candidate rather than looking for the politics, religion, caste or community of the candidate. But to be stated with great remorse that electors of India usually ensure that there will be some tainted candidates at least with some criminal and corruption background to reach the Loksabha. But let us all hope that the 15th Loksabha will be different. India which is in a growth trajectory needs to keep its pace and we all should exercise our legal right to vote keeping such a thought in mind that MY COUNTRY NEED TO PROGRESS.