Economy of Social - Social Media Tips, Marketing and Business

Food security in India is an issue of rising concern with long term consequences affecting the growth of 9%, which we have maintained for the last four years. About 26% of our people live below the poverty line (BPL) today and they don't have enough money to buy essential food items, not even the first meal. The green revolution gave us food security in the 60's, but today there is a need for another such revolution. The recent Food and Agriculture Organization summit concluded that over 100 million joined the world's hungry and 22 countries are vulnerable to chronic hunger. Before going ahead, I'd like to emphasize the correct definition of food security. Food security is a situation where a country can meet its domestic food demand while maintaining enough reserves for any eventuality or crisis. Not only the demand of food should be met, it has to be made more affordable. But why are we suddenly discussing about food security today ? One main reason is the burgeonin...

There have been many rising stars of Indian cricket in the last 5 years or so. But only a few of them actually could take the longer leap to becoming a star. Many of them showed promise but only a few of them could actually be consistent. The Indian media's hype or the big endorsements,some of them are too immature to take it. looking at those who went ahead on the road of success, Gautam Gambhir's name makes its mark. He has proven it in the one dayers and test matches too. His knock of an unbeaten 149 on the first day of the third test between India and Australia [Border Gavaskar Trophy], was another reminder of a cool head on an angry young man. Sounds contradictory, but it is true. He showed the coolness while batting, but kept his stance aggressive against shane watson who tried his best to play the mind game against Gambhir. Staying cool while working is the mark of a successful man. He has shown it time and again. But today's cricketing strategists would also ask you...

illiteracy in India is not something new to us. If you look closely, about 90% of India's population is illiterate about the deteriorating state of environment. They are not aware of the damage being done to the society even after repeated attempts to civilize them and make them aware of the degrading environment. As I am writing this post, crackers are going out in my neighborhood park. An uncivilized family is displaying their show of illiteracy outside. Despite repeated attempts by the government and media, people still light crackers and go on and on. Not realizing the fact that they are killing their own environment and surroundings, they still burn excessive amount of crackers and the story gets bigger every year. If we go on at this rate, our very own world will end up soon.Compare the damage done by crackers to the damage done by cigarettes. Ambumani Ramadoss banned cigarettes in the capital and gave solid justification for it. What about crackers ? Aren't they damaging...

Dear Reader, Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. On this auspicious occasion (irrespective of religion), I would like to wish you and your family a very happy Diwali. May this Diwali light the lamp of a race, which will lead you, India and all other countries towards a path of prosperity, happiness and peace. So lets all celebrate this beginning with fun, music, drinks (but no drinking and driving), dance and light our way into a newer brighter future. But please remember, no crackers please. Remember, your initiative will go a long way in saving the Earth and the especially the underprivileged children, who are forced to do child labour, and also loose their lives as a result of mishaps (The recent one in Bharatpur which killed 28 people including 12 children). Celebrate this diwali with lamps and music. Enjoy!!! Regards, Sushant...

The crunch of energy has led Indian strategists to believe that the only solution to India's power problems is Nuclear Power as a result we signed the Nuclear Deal to import fuel and technology. Power problems are faced by all developing nations and United States of America too went through such a crisis in the 70's. As a result of it, presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter promoted the use of renewable sources of energy like solar power and also increased the mileage standards for the automobiles from 13.5 miles per gallon to 27.5 miles per gallon. This helped to create a global oil glut during mid 1980's. But as things eased off, the focus was shifted. When Ronald Regan became the president, he let the tax incentives lapse for the Solar Energy Research Institute and stripped of the solar panels in the white house installed there at the time of Jimmy Carter. He also reduced the mileage standards to 26 miles per gallon. Looking at India's energy model, we are adopting ...

Reality TV has become a phenomena amongst Indian viewers. There are different kinds of reality shows propping and the trend continues. The best thing in all this is the way it has been processed and packaged, just fit for the consumer, the viewer. So what is it that manages to catch so many eye balls, and creates an illusion of candid reality. The race for higher T.R.P's has converged the content of most of the reality shows on a single point. The concepts may be different, but idea of attracting audience, the same. The directors and creative heads of these shows are now taking bolder steps to ensure the T.R.P. success of their show. Under the magnifying glass, you can easily see the prefabricated cloth, the so called concept of these shows. The candid confession As one may call it, the confessions of an angry tiger, the candid confession is the part of reality show that enthralls us all. In an music reality show, a candidate might say, "I'll show Anu, the power of my sin...

The maddest and the craziest time of the year, Diwali has arrived, but something is different, not as usual. The madness is not the same as it was last year, and the celebrations are less. The answer is written all over the 21 inch sets beaming stripes of fast moving lines with numbers along side green and red indicators and a serious female painted with more than required material speaking in a rather fast way, repeating the words "Market" and "Down" frequently. The markets are rolling down the slope of an illusionary slope created by the mad rush and greed of investors last year. The market is setting records of new depths as the fire ball is gulping down many people, as it rolls downhill. The investors have lost money, they are madly selling of their shares and henceforth pulling the fireball with an even more greater speed. All this loss has directly hit the festival with the highest expenditure of India, Deepavali or Diwali. Many are buying less expensive gift...

There is a community who we always forget to thank at the end of our success trip, a community we fail to recognize as one. They still serve us as faithfully as they can. A stroll on the road and it wouldn't be hard be hard to spot one. With a small shop hardly noticeable to the people in big cars with tinted glasses stands a tea stall owner often surrounded by bunch of people ready to have a sip of life for only Rs4. There could around 4 to 5 shops on a road and in crowded places and office areas there could be more than one in the same place. These can be found anywhere in India, but still they go unnoticed as an industry. The working class of India spends around 15 minutes minimum at these shops everyday, and a significant part of time of their lives but the sheer simplicity of this business makes us hard to recognize this as one. Still no reforms for them, no upliftment and no consideration also. The investment is a big table, a stove, a cylinder and other raw material like, m...

Aravaind Adiga's Booker Prize Beating predictions by bookies and others, debutant Indian novelist 33-year-old Aravind Adiga’s book “The White Tiger” was on Oct 15 declared the winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 2008. I have read the book and it captures the emotions of all characters very effectively giving you a sense of presence throughout the story. The White Tiger Book review The book is about a boy who was named munna by his parents. Later his teacher gave him a name, Balram Halwai. He comes from a small town in Laxman Garh and he somehow manages to get out of the town and come to delhi as hos master’s driver. In Delhi he encounters the golden haired prostitutes and witnesses his master’s divorce. He observes his master taking bags loaded with money to give it to the politicians in favour of reduced tax liabilities. One day while on such a trip, his master is carrying Rs 700,000. He murders him and runs away with that money to Bangalore. All this at the...

Government of Delhi has banned smoking and if you are caught smoking a fine of Rs 200 will be imposed on you. I wasn't very serious about the ban until yesterday when the shopkeeper denied me a matchbox for lighting a smoke. After a bit persuasion he gave me the matchbox and told me to go away from the shop and light the cigarette. "चालान कट रहें है भैया" ["Chalaan kat rahen hai bhaiya"] I went and lit up my cigarette in the side and sat back in my car and went away. Now I was beginning to feel the pressure of the ban. It is really sad now that government has banned smoking in public places, without actually building up structure, such as a smoking zone in the city. When I see our government's policies and rules, I feel as if they have been made by people having half knowledge and half baked ideas much like the character of Balram Halwai in the The White Tiger [A book by Aravind Adiga, that has won the man booker prize]. In the story, the character of Balram...

It feels great pleasure in telling you that Speak India now features in the directory of most popular blogs of India. This project is maintained by Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration . Amit Agarwal is India's first professional blogger who completed his graduation form IIT Kanpur. He now blogs full time and is considered as the avant garde of Indian Blogging. I would like to thank my subscribers for their support and motivation they gave me to write more articles and keep Speak India updated. But there are still miles to go. I need your support as active contributors to add dimension to this blog and broaden its spectrum.

BarCamp Delhi 5 was held at the sprawling campus of IIT Delhi on 11th and 12th october. Due to some personal appointments I was unable to attend but just made it for the last hour of sessions on entrepreneurship on the 12th. My apologies to my subsctribers for not being able to cover the whole event. The good thing about this BarCamp was the sponsors. Last year, the BarCamp 4 was held at the Amity University Campus at Noida. Bar Camp is a place where entrepreneurs come, share and discuss about their experience. For people like me it is a chance to have an idea about what is happening in the developer sphere and what are the start ups doing, since I too am interested to start my own business. Another positive this time around was that it was not a tech-tech start up focus, there were people from start-ups from the service and finance sector as well. I see it as a platform where a group of young innovators meet in an informal setup, share ideas and discuss about their problems. It gives...

Sourav Ganguly, the prince of kolkatta, the god of offside and the first aggressive leader of Indian Cricket will finally bid goodbye to International cricket in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. This post is not dedicated for praising his achievements, but a closer look at the BCCI retirement scheme . Last one year has been particularly tough for Ganguly and he will get the benifit of retiring early (earlier than his mates, sachin and dravid) in terms of good media deals. BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) which was playing the role of Bad Boss for the last two years has given DADA a chance to redeem himself and get out of cricket gracefully (Rather than being thrown out). Being trhown out of the Indian squad regularly was humiliating for Ganguly, a fact he accepted when he said,"I was tired of being humiliated again and again". This is even tougher for a more aggressive person. The more corporate BCCI has forged out a nice retirement scheme : Retire Gracefully Scheme fo...

The underlying tradition and mode of celebration vary vastly by region. However, all festivities celebrate the victory of the forces of Good over Evil. It is considered an auspicious day to begin new ventures in life. It is the largest festival of Nepal, and celebrated by Hindu and non-Hindu Nepalis alike. This day marks the triumph of Lord Rama over Demon king Ravana. On this day, Rama killed Ravana. This time, it should mark a beginning of peace and prosperity to all Indians. We have suffered a lot this year because of wrong people, wrong policies and bad leadership. The Ravana are the terrorists, the rapists and the corrupt politicians. As the body of Ravan explodes and a light of a new dawn spreads, we have to refresh ourselves to fight out terrorism out of sight. Enough is enough now. A word of caution, although we might be celebrating the victory of good over the evil, there will be the evil forces ready to strike as loads of men,women and children will out on the streets watchin...

Tata Nano's mother plant will finally move out to Sanand in Gujarat. The Modi government has handed over 1050 acres of land to Tata Motors and according to the press conference. The land will be sold at the market price. Ratan Tata said that they have got a better deal in Gujarat, with the infrastructure, roads, highways, the roll out delay could be reduced. This plant isexpected to create around 10,000 direct and indirect jobs for the people of Gujarat. Apart from that there will be many Small and Medium Enterprises(as vendors) setup near the plant. On asking about the difference between Mamta and Modi, Mr Tata replied "One is a bad M and the other is good one". The investment will be to the tune of Rs2000 crores.

Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, age 31, working as principal software engineer at Yahoo earning around Salary 19 lakhs per anum. He goes to work, is highly respected and his parents are proud of him. But there is a deep dark hidden side to this techie. He apart from his normal work is upto something. Something, only his dark shadow knows, which follows him to the workstation he uses for carrying out work that even god would have not thought of. One fine day, things are not as normal. The darker shadow is still supporting him in his act of crime. He is a part of a big chain that will be responsible for killing innocent people struggling to keep pace with life, and not even half as successful (professionally) as he is. The dark hour arrives when a series of bombs rip apart the flesh of innocent people, powerful enough to blow away the life out the mortal bodies of people. He has done his job. Waking up to the intensity of the blasts is the Indian police, intelligence and a host of other agencie...

This was an article written in the Times of Ideas column of the Times of India on 3rd Oct 2008 by K.P.S Gill, the former DGP, Punjab. Here are some excerpts from the article. An incoherence of ideas continues to advance a false construct of 'Islamic' or 'Islamist' terrorism, while the reality is that, in both Afghanistan and India, what we are experiencing is, quite simply, ISI terrorism. This reality is, in no way, diluted by the fact that some of the perpetrators of terrorism are Indian citizens, with affiliation to extremist organisations created on Indian soil. The core question, then, is, how does India tackle the ISI and the enduring Pakistani intention of harnessing terrorism to secure its own strategic goals? It is necessary to understand the precise contours of Pakistan's intent and objectives: the ISI and its terrorist proxies in India seek to recruit increasing numbers of Indians to carry out their dictates. To this end, they have created a network for id...

I am Boy and a boy is a boy. That sounds a cool pick up line.

This Diwali could be the most scariest of all Diwali's in the recent times. This times the danger is from inside, these people are home grown terrorists. They are determined to cause damage and festive time could be the time when most of us are out in the market buying gifts and the number of scattered empty carton bags are uncountable and unaccountable. This could be the time when most of us could be caught unaware, unguarded. We will have to be extra cautious and do our shopping for the mad gift exchange before the festive season is on the peak such that isolated suspicious bags could be located. I'm tired of this mess happening again and again. I just want an end to it. The other day an innocent 10 year old child was killed as he tried to return the bag to the terrorists. I don't know what they want. What have these innocent people done to them or their families.

This is wonderful speech by Chetan Bhagat, the famous masala writer.I read it in one of the daily chain mails I receive. It is an inaugural speech given to the Symbiosis BBA batch of 2008. It talks about sparks, a thing we forget in our quest for success. I hope this not taken as any copyright violation and is taken in good interest. About chetan Bhagat Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974) is a best-selling Indian author. He is the author of three bestsellers: Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT , One Night @ the Call Center ,The Three Mistakes of My Life. He is also the scriptwriter for 'Hello', the Bollywood movie based on One Night @ the Call Center . After eleven years in Hong Kong , the author relocated to Mumbai in 2008, where he works in an investment bank. Apart from books, the author has a keen interest in screenplays and spirituality. Chetan is married to Anusha, his classmate from IIM Ahmedabad and has twin boys Ishaan and Shyam The speech goes as... Good Morn...