Home Services - Get Services at your home

After e-commerce and online grocery, i think the next big thing is availability of home services like Electrician, Plumbing, Carpenter etc, on internet. With today's busy schedules, the working class finds it very difficult to go around in search of a plumber or electrician. And then if the service is not satisfactory, make many calls for the same person to come and fix and there is no guarantee that extra money won't be charged. People need comfort as well as guarantee. And that's where new forms are coming into picture. They offer ease of booking a professional, provide discounts and guarantee. For example, serviceplatter.com, this website seems to be providing services in Lucknow and adjoining areas. I am not sure how good are the services, but the idea sounds good. Let's wait to see how this business area grows in India.

Change of title.....

Have been thinking for a long time to revive this blog but couldn't find any motivation. Then, a thought passed through my head. Instead of sharing my boring thoughts, its better if i share some very basic information that can help us save on taxes. Yes, many of you will know these things but, i know, a lot of us don't know this info. So let me know if this is helpful and if you want me to write on something specific.

I'm Bored

Yes, you read it right, i'm bored with this life. This daily routine is making me sick. I need a break.

Can i bank on you? Please suggest what should i do to refresh myself.

I'm Back

Long time since my last post. Was busy in lot of things in my personal and professional life. Got some time today and thought of restarting the process of expressing my thoughts.

World has changed a lot during the last 6 months. From Osama's death to India winning cricket world cup and from protests in Egypt to violence in Libya. But, one thing still remains same, Corruption in India. 

Past few months have seen a massive movement in our country in support of a strong and effective Anti Corruption Bill. And, as anyone could have guessed, people who earn their luxury cars and houses from corruption, I would not say bread & butter because the amounts involved can buy bread & butter for whole population of India and not just them, are trying to generate an equally massive movement to oppose such a bill. 

I think this is time when we all should stand up and do something instead of just watching from the boundary. You are either for or against a corruption free India. There is no "in between" way. I want to do my bit. So during next few days, I will try to write details of the Bill being asked for by the Civil Society, its differences with the Government's version and my view of everything. And yes, i would like to hear from all of you about your views on things.

Series Leveled, Bigheaded Smith answered

After the first test, Smith was asked if winning the toss helped in winning and he said "its not just the Toss that helped us win. Even if we had batted first, we would have performed better than India."

Second test was a fitting reply to his statement. Its very easy to pass comments on others when you have won. But, Smith should have remembered that the No. 1 Test team can make him eat his words, and they have done it. His team was not able to out score India in both the innings.

Great performance by India and our own Very Very Special Laxman. What an inning he played. Brilliant.

Keep it up boys, we want more such wins.

Corruption, Corruption and Corruption. God save India

2G spectrum scam, Adarsh Society scam, LIC Housing finance, bank write offs and the list goes on(phew). I really wonder if there is anything or anyone who is not involved in corruption. From taking bribe of 5 rupees to scam of 70000 crores, everyone is contributing. 


GOD SAVE, PLEASE SAVE INDIA.

India - A country of Multi Level Taxation

Government says that in four years the collection from Road Toll will reach 10000 crores. Meaning that common man will pay 10000 crore rupees for using those roads which the government promises to build on payment of Income Tax, Service Tax, Gift Tax, Sales Tax etc.

What i fail to understand is that if we are supposed to pay for using roads, airports etc then why government says that Income tax and other taxes collected will be used for growth of India. What growth is happening out of our tax money. I can't see any growth in rural India and whatever growth we see in cities is mainly because of private sector with hardly any support from the government.

The only use which i see of our tax money is in building monuments, waiving off farm loans, spending on reservations and going in pocket of our corrupt officials.

Waiting for your responses.

India Bounced Out

Another world cup, another match, another ground but, same tactics -  BOUNCERS. As we saw in the last T20 world cup, Indian team is again failing to cope with fast bouncers bowled to them. It forces us to think if our team is actually practicing anything. We have seen this problem persisting for so many years. Is there anyone trying to fix it.

People might say that one bad match and i have started scolding our team, but it is not about the match. Its not about losing or getting out. Its a sport and anybody can win or lose. More than losing, its the way our batsmen get out. If a child falls once in a pit, he learns from his mistake and is careful while going near the pit next time. But, our players play nothing shots to bouncing deliveries and continue doing that.


I can see other two teams playing India will also use the same strategy. I really don't know if i can expect any change in our batsmen or should i just quit watching this world cup. But one thing is for sure, if there is no change in our batting approach and preparedness for bouncers, we will again see what happened last time - loss in all three matches of super eight.

Reverse Brain Drain in India

India is transforming from a 3rd world country with few opportunities to a nation moving rapidly towards growth, providing opportunities like never before. With this, we are seeing a reverse brain drain happening now. 

It was painful to lose some of the best talent of our country to developed nation. But, that was actually understandable as there were very few R&D, innovation, wealth creation happening in India. But now with so much investment coming to India, this is the time when we need to move swiftly towards creating an environment where all those students return back to our country.

We already have huge amount of opportunities which are attracting talent from all around the world to India, if the government tries to prepare an environment for supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, Research and technology transformation, the rate of this reverse brain drain will increase significantly providing India with the required last stage thrust needed to move into a developed nations category.

Hope that day comes sooner than late in our life.

Indian Education System - What it is?

Recently i got to know about some of the questions that were asked to a guy during selection process of one of India's top B school. What confused me was the purpose of the questions. Questions about Monetary Policy, Fiscal Deficit etc., to a guy who is not from financial or economic background, really don't get anything out of the candidate. Is a candidate going for MBA supposed to know about countries financial systems. Does knowledge of Monetary Policy means that a candidate is good to do MBA or does lack of this means lack of traits required to be a Manager.

Actually this has been the problem with our Indian education system for long. Here a candidate is not evaluated on what he knows and what talent he has. The evaluation is on the basis that how many things the examiner knows that the candidate doesn't. Performance in a 3 hour exam or a 15 minutes interview is used to give a verdict about the student. What is being done is, this is forcing students to just concentrate on mugging things and not on understanding and questioning concepts. This is killing out innovation from young minds, Which seems to be the reason we are lagging in R&D. Young minds in our country are more interested in getting favorable results using whatever data has been provided. They never think about questioning the concepts.

It is high time government looks towards changing the education and evaluation system in our country or we might be left far too behind when it comes to creativity and innovation.

IPL-Indian Panga League

With so many issues coming out i wonder if IPL is actually Indian Panga League. Politics, glamour, alcohol & controversy, i wonder if it is a cricket tournament or another SAAS-BAHU serial. And as with all such serials, it is also attracting huge number of viewers.
But deep within, cricket lovers like me are missing the dignity of cricket, which was the reason for calling it A GENTLEMEN'S GAME.

Beggers - Are you really helping them by giving Money?

Often while waiting at a busy traffic signal, we find small children coming to you and asking for money. More often than not, we give them some money hoping that we have earned some "PUNYA" for ourselves. But what we need to ask ourselves is, our we really doing something good? Are we really helping those children?

Off late, i have watched few movies showing the roots of this begging system. Slumdog Millionaire even went on to win an Oscar. But have we learned anything from these movies. One might argue that what was shown in the movies was too much. Although i don't agree with this statement, even if it is correct, we all know that there was a certain amount of truth in those movies.

There are many organized gangs who are into the business of making people beg for them. There main targets are children. Mainly because it is easier to control a child's mind and movements than of an adult. They show many fears to these children and make them believe that they can not run away from these gangs. The money which is received by these children, is not used to feed them or to get them basic commodities of life, but is used by these gangs for supporting their other illegal businesses. These gangs often push children in the well of drugs so that it is even more difficult for them to run away.

So, what i want everyone one to think about is - Are we really helping these children by giving them money. Is there anything we can do for them. We as responsible citizens of this country, will have to find some way of pulling these children out of this mess. Do we have the will and desire to do so? I request everyone to do his/her own bit to change this. Think about it.

Huge Infrastructure Deficit - Between India and Growth

Browsing through today's newspaper, i found a news saying India has a huge infrastructure deficit. India faces a shortfall of as much as $190bn in financing key infrastructure projects. Then there was the news of huge amount of money being spent on repair of water pipelines in Mumbai, that too for no use. Although these were two different news but made me think about the huge amount of money that we Indians waste because of the mismanagement spread in our country.

There seems to be no or very less coordination between various stakeholders that are responsible for infrastructure development. While the road development organization is constructing a road, the water distribution or the sewage managing organization never realizes that they need to finish their work before the start of road construction. And then, after some time you will find these organizations coming and destroying the constructed road causing not only monetary loss but also inconvenience to people.

With this kind of mismanagement, government comes back to people saying - pay taxes for development of country. But where is the development. With so much money being paid by people as taxes, why do we need to pay Tax for using roads, airports, medicines etc. This is because there is no one to manage the proper & honest utilization of money.

We need a change, we need good managers to occupy positions of responsibility, we need honest spending of money, we need better coordination between stakeholders, and this deficit might go away very soon. Or, we can continue functioning as we are right now, and just look towards loan from organizations like World Bank. Not to mention the time this is going to take.

Success - What it takes

Success, is what everyone is running behind. They can do whatever it takes to taste success. But the way one reaches the destination of success, is different for different people.
 
There are few who are born intelligent. Who get success in everything they get into.  Who can set their goals in any direction and then can reach there without the kind of slogging that people associate with that kind of goals.

But, then there are few who are different. Who don't have the same kind of intelligence(or what some people call luck). There success is not always easy. The most important things these people require to achieve success are Hard Work & the skill of taking right decisions at the right time. Hard Work is what helps them being at par with people of first category. And taking right decisions lets them reap the maximum benefit out of the efforts they put in. The skill of identifying what is right decision comes with vision-the ability of viewing what decision today will bring success tomorrow, which in turn comes with experience.

I am one of the second category who is still trying to develop the skill of finding what decision is correct. Thanks to all who are around me and helping me in developing this vision through experience. Please be with me as i travel through the bumpy roads of life, earning the ingredients of success.