H4 Visa - A Fresh Debate

I was reviewing the H4 Visa updates and the last update is when the US government for once again updated the court on revoking the H4 EAD.  Once again the time-line provided is for 3 months and the next update is due on November 19. 

In the whole case, Save Jobs USA has been asserting on an early judgement on the case. The case that they highlight here is that the H4-EAD is hurting their job opportunities.  Does that stand a ground is the question here.  I will sight out a few cases that I have observed and that I have encountered in the industry where the Jobs are identified as getting impacted - 

1. One Network Administrator who was working with this company reached that position based on how the situations were handled by that person over a period of time. The total years of experience was 35 at age of 66 and the relevant experience was 6 years.  Education background  - high school pass with CCNA certification.  out of 6 years of relevant experience, the person in consideration was handling a store network for 3 years and based on the successful handling of the store network, gets moved to handle the Corporate Network.  A review of the overall work provides quite an interesting update - none of the older network rules ever get removed, just new rules get added and the routing rules grow over a period of time.  No route rationalization and not route updates.  This person was aligned with an H4 EAD holder for Network modernization and the H4 EAD is a Computer Science Graduate, 10 years of experience of Network Administration with CCNP certification in tow.  The case become aggravated as this Network Administrator starts with Social Media stating his job is in Danger due to a H4 EAD situation.  The question here is - How is the job in danger? is it due to the lack of knowledge in the field or lack of understanding of the overall technology?
2. One Security Administrator, Veteran at age 58 years, 32 years of experience, only 5 years experience of Information Security, In-charge of firewalls.  An H4 EAD was hired to work with the Security Administrator to help with Next Generation Firewalls and UTM devices. Starts showing the concern of Job loss due to the overall situation of H4 EAD. Why??
3. One 70 year old Contract Employee assisting the Organization for SoX Compliance, put under an H4 EAD along with other Compliance Analysts to move the overall Organizational Compliance Efforts under Unified Compliance Framework. Shows dissent and fear of Job loss. Where and Why??

There are similar other cases tons of them, where the main hue and cry round Job loss is more of a concern rather than actual case.  The whole situation is boiling out to be what it is because of the availability of higher skilled resources who right now are untapped due to the way Visa is constructed. Consider it that there still is a deficiency of high skilled resources in the field of IT and Cyber Security.  Consider that by 2020, the Demand and Supply gap for the Cyber Security Professionals would grow to almost a million and I the organizations are not going to address that gap by tapping the available pool of resources trapped under the condition of H4 Visa, there would be serious repercussions.  

Consider that skills are not something that are grow with age, it is important to have that exposure to the latest and best knowledge source and the capability to absorb it at the right time.  Not just in IT, but in other professions too, tapping the right skills is an important requirement for organization success.  

My Question to Save Job USA is - Why don't you bring the Manufacturing jobs back to USA? When Most of the products available in US markets are produced in other countries, doesn't that hurt the US Jobs and US economy?  

I support the Buy American motive as I believe that would boost the economy with more employment being created locally.

My request to the Save Jobs USA would be to address the concern holistically rather than just being aggressive against just a high skilled resource pool that was being brought out to the mainstream and support the US business and economy.

Amritsar Dussehra Tragedy

With my deepest condolences to the lives lost and the families who suffered due to the loss of their near and dear ones, I would like to call out for action against the Organizers as well as the Local and District Administration who should be held responsible for the tragedy.

Though the leading media reports are highlighting the cause of tragedy to be "the train running over the people celebrating Dussehra"  specifically the way headlines on Economic Times read - Train runs over people celebrating Dussehra near Amritsar, over 60 dead. How irresponsible is that to simply sensationalize the news and implicate the railway department to this tune.

Did anyone ever think about the following aspects:

1. Why didn't organizers take safety measures to create fencing around the location of Celebration to ensure that crowd doesn't spill over the Railway tracks?
2. Why did Administration not deploy security personnel near the Railway tracks to ensure that crowd doesn't spill over the Railway tracks?
3. Why didn't organizers and administration inform the railway officials to ensure that they could issue caution notice to the train drivers and deploy a 20-40 rule while crossing the celebration area?

From what I reviewed on the videos available, I couldn't place the responsibility of accident on the Railway department as I found it to be the total mismanagement by the Organizers and the Local as well as District Administration teams.

One more thing that I would like to highlight is the Law that prohibits Walking, Crossing or doing anything on Railway tracks that is the property of the Railway department.  It is a punishable offense to either stand, sit, cross or walk on the railway tracks.  So, certainly, Railway Department is NOT responsible for the tragedy from the perspective I look at.

It indeed is a saddening misshape that cause loss of valuable human life and it would require a lot of understanding and common sense to prevail.  Media also should behave responsible to not write headlines that would prove to be provocative in this case.  

One headline that can be called a responsible reporting - 

Amritsar train accident LIVE UPDATES: 61 dead; 'Railways had no info about Dussehra festivities near site'

Overall, action must be taken against the Organizing committee as well as the Local and District Administration to this effect for their responsibilities. It is their failure that lead to this tragedy and that cause loss valuable human life.

Concepts of Marketing - Types or Forms

Marketing is such a broad topic to cover in today's world that there is absolute confusion between the types / form of Marketing Strategy that is adopted by the corporates.  It is interesting as well as annoying to see masses resorting to common definitions for the various types of Marketing.  Interesting because they are naive to understand the difference and annoying because it may hurt the business sentiments.

It therefore is very important and critical for the Marketers to define the boundaries and explain the difference. They need to be savy about taking this training and awareness to the masses in one or other form.  It is important that they educate the masses between the difference and remove that commonality from the definition perspective.

With this article, I am trying to instigate that process to help marketers create that awareness drive for the masses to understand the difference between the most common Marketing Strategies that corporates use: viz - Reseller Marketing; Direct Marketing; Multi-Level Marketing; Pyramid Marketing. The terms used are some of the commonly misunderstood aspects of marketing.

Reseller Marketing: The form of Marketing that follows a Wholesale to Retail Chain of Command that can be a Multi-Level or Pyramid from the perspective of Geographical Territories as may be defined and distributed by the Corporate.  This type of Marketing Strategies require large quantities to be ordered, processed, stored and exchange multiple hands before reaching the final consumer.  The reason I have categorized this into Multi-level / Pyramid marketing because in this right from the Origin of the Product to Final Consumer the product moves from following layers - 

a.) Company

b.) Distributor

c.) Wholesaler

d.) Retailer

Now, it is important to note that Right from the Company to Retailer, it forms Multiple Layers as well as Pyramid, with the Company making the most margin and Retailer making the least margin.  The Money and product have reverse path where product moves from Company to Distributor to Wholesaler to Retailer to Consumer, whereas Money movers in reverse form.  However, be cautious that there is a chance of Duplicate products getting introduced in the lot with negative customer sentiments hurting the company due to quality issues in the duplicate products.

Direct Marketing: This is probably considered as the unconventional marketing route as in this case the company cuts out every and every layer between them and the consumer.  Certainly, the profit maximization works for the company and the company is able to pass on that cost arbitrage to the Consumer either directly or indirectly. The way this marketing initiative is organized and used is pretty subjective to perception, but the corporates who have actually implemented this in near perfect form, have made fortune.  No doubts, the ghost of being Unconventional has always haunted this form of Marketing and the way the Cost arbitrage has been passed on to the consumers have been questioned multiple times.  For instance, the referral bonuses paid for successful conversions have often been referenced with negative marketing gimmicks. But one thing needs to be noted for Direct Marketing - You could be a Reseller or Reference Provider, but the Company ships product directly to the consumer with company liability for any order processing/storage/shipment/payment etc. Unlike Direct Marketing, the money doesn't flow from consumer to retailer to wholesaler to distributor to company.  Chances of Duplicity and Poor Quality is ruled out to a large extent with a Direct channel between the company and the consumer. Direct Marketing's success is more from the enablement to consume and sell rather than hire/recruit resellers

Multi-Level-Marketing: This could be either Reseller Marketing or Direct Marketing, but the thin line that separates it from the Direct Marketing initiative is - In Direct Marketing there is no concept of Recruitment for the downline reseller.  There is a choice of being a Reseller based on one's interest and wish to succeed; a Direct Marketer would certainly not want to reduce one's margin by recruiting a downline reseller.  However, in Multi-Level-Marketing there indeed is a Recruitment aspect hidden somewhere in the overall business theme.  Recruit and build a team to expand the business.  This turns out to be the similar aspect as the Reseller Marketing with top level running the whole chain as his kingdom.  Success at the top depends on how many have been recruited by the guys down below. Sales is an after-effect.

Pyramid Marketing: I tried to put my mind behind this aspect, but haven't really been able to understand this from the core marketing perspective.  What I have seen in this case of marketing is Top is heavy with Profits and the lower ranks are heavier with the overall sales numbers.  From where  I see this one, how-much-ever one would sell, the most benefit would be for the guy at the top.  Not something that see a long term success and not something where the downstream businesses stay for a longer term.

General Elections 2019 - India

Indian Political system has picked up the momentum towards the General Elections 2019.  It is very interesting that every political party is geared towards ensuring that the current ruling party in Center is defeated and for that purpose all the coalitions are being considered.  Though the main coalitions that exist today standing against BJP led coalition NDA is UPA, but we may see a few more from the regional perspective and then combining them on central perspective.  This could be a good development only if the voters / citizens are benefited and the coalition parties work together towards progress of the country.

Though I have my reservation that the mismatched coalitions would not sustain the test on the floor for their ideologies differ and the only things that's bringing them together is the motive to defeat BJP led NDA.  To be successful, there always is a need for mapping the ideologies and goals that are constructive and positive in nature, negative goals certainly don't help.  In politics, the typical understanding that "My Opposition's Opposition is on My Side" doesn't necessarily work.

From where the situation needs to be assessed and the way social media particularly is buzzing with anti-BJP sentiments with all the sorts of negative news being highlighted, the current opposition parties are not helping themselves to garner the votes. They actually are aligning on the negative axis, and the young voters of India do understand the Two negatives not necessarily align to get one positive.  Anti-BJP sentiments would trigger BJP highlighting its good work and the positives the it has brought to the economy and the way nation got benefitted with whatever BJP did.  Now, at this juncture, it certainly would be the progressive aspects highlighted that would garner more votes and the feel that if a party in Particular has done so much in so short a timespan, then that party should be in the center to take the nation forward.

On the contrary, the negative campaign being run by the opposition would harm them only for they are not stating what they would do in this case and How would they make things better in the areas where they are trying to highlight the lack of governance oversight by BJP - the current ruling party.  The time has gone when we used to think on one stream and may be there are still a few who think or act on those lines like Religious divide and caste based approach.  The current generation thinks more positively and in constructive manner and looks at the 360 degree rather than having myopic view on the negative sentiments.

In reality, need of the time is to unite for the progress of India. Even if the Opposition fails the floor test, they needs to unite for Constructive Criticism and not for the negative criticism as they are involved right now.  What we see at present is negative criticism with no suggestion on how to better things; they are just focused on why the things are wrong, not where things can be better. As state earlier, this would not help them win the general elections in 2019.

On the other side, BJP would need to ensure that it reaches out to its cadres across the states and teaches the to behave responsibly so the the negative news is no more available.  There is a need to address the negative news right where is could generate rather than trying to curb it once it has generated.  Social Media is very strong and reality can traverse faster than not along with the Rumor Monger news.

Societal Changes

When it comes to anything and everything, we start pointing fingers at the Government and we start pointing fingers at the Prime Minister.  What do we think is Governments’ responsibility? To enforce policy and to enforce law and order? No, that is something that Bureaucrats and Police is supposed to be doing. Government is Law Maker and needs to ensure that the Law is followed adequately and appropriately. I guess most of us would not align with the aspect, but that’s fine, differences are bound to be there and that’s good otherwise neither of us is going to learn something new.

Coming to the most talked about set of incidents, “Rape” in India, well, it certainly is the most condemnable act and when committed against minors, it is indeed a sin for which death is the only verdict. But then, would a death verdict be enough to clean the societal trend of rape? No, it is not because Rapes don’t occur just out of blue; they are committed by those who are mentally sick and do not know what respect means in the society.  These are the set of individuals who are dealing with low Self Esteem and Inferiority Complex and to counter that, they commit that crime.  Now, many out there would challenge my previous statement, but I would leave it to them to accept it or counter it. What I would focus on is the probable aspects that can be attributed as the cause of actual number of cases v/s reported number of cases.

The case is not just of India, rather is across the world that the Rapist is not sentenced by law as much as the victim is by the society and the media.  What happens as the debate on rape by the traditional as well as social media is nothing but discussing the aspects of how the victim was traumatized, without even realizing that the discussion and mention of the rape as well as victims’ reference adds to the trauma of the victim. 

The societal tendency of pointing fingers at the victim and accusing the lifestyle of the victim does nothing much but add to the trauma of victim.  Do you really think that the lifestyle of a minor say a 2 year, 4 year or 6 year old would be something that would attract the perpetrator?  Hell, No, it is the sick mentality of perpetrator, the way I mentioned earlier, is responsible for that crime. 

Coming to the Police and the Court halls, there also, the cops and the lawyers don’t do the best to help the victim, but they carry on the impact of rape by seeking answers to some really lead questions; some actually go to the limit of seeking minute details of the incident and add to the trauma of the victim. 

Points as discussed above do nothing but restrain the Rape victims to go out there and report the crime.  More so, it boosts the morale of those perpetrators in many cases where the victim retracts after filing a report and the perpetrator making pun on the law by walking free.

What I feel is that these aspects as highlighted above would need let even the death penalty would not be able to put a restraint on the act of Rape.  Until we as the society regroup and rework on the aspects of what is highlighted above, we never would be able to eradicate Rape as a crime.  There can’t be an immediate solution to the Rape, but there certainly can be an antidote that would result in longer run rather than immediate case.  

We should start from the first part of “Not Accepting” traumatization by Media, Police and Cops; rather we should work together to stand with the victim to not let that trauma extend beyond the incident.  Additionally, as a society, we need to put pressure on Jury to NOT permit post rape marriage between the perpetrator and the victim; as after that incident of rape, self esteem of the victims goes so low that if they have to tie knot with the perpetrator, they would NEVER be able to grow out from the trauma.  Moreover, what would be the opinion of Jury where a group rape is committed by 5 married men?  Certainly, its time to change the society first before seeking Death Penalty for Rape.

Legacy of H4 Visa

The day when the H4 Visa was created, least the regulators knew that they are creating a path of career destruction for millions. The Country, that has its base in immigrants and that has its most innovative developments initiated by immigrants actually made a gruesome mistake of barring immigrants from working, just because they were married to highly skilled immigrants in specialized roles.

What the regulators forgot then was the core that most if not all of the H4 dependents actually would be equally if not higher skilled and specialized as their H1B spouses would be.  And we all agree on this point as this is not the first time anyone is writing an article of this nature.  However, a partial relief came in during Obama regime when an executive order enabled H4 dependent spouses of H1B visa holders to obtain Employment Authorization (EAD) provided their spouses had their I-140 approved.  But others were still kept away from the "right to work". Strange isn't it that the H4 spouses who were working professionals before they moved to this country are treated as second grade unwanted residents although with their skills and specialization, they would actually generate more jobs and would add to the "Income Tax" paying population of the country.  Ah, but regulators and those opposing H4 EAD wouldn't be able to see this or should we say that they are blindfolded with what is politically correct thought and wave for them?

When "Save Jobs America" campaigns against H4 EAD or for that matter against the H1Bs also, why does it forget that on an average, US has shortfall of Skilled IT resources and in some work domains, the skills are far too less than what the actual demand is.  I can state this from my own experience where I have witnessed some insane hourly rate demands because some basic skills that are required in the trade have become "Niche Skills" just because the demand surged way past what the supply is. More so, the College Grads coming out will not be able to meet the requirements both by the sheer difference in Demand v/s Supply and by the experience required in those trade.  This doesn't mean that College Grads would not be good for those jobs, they would be, but then they would make a fresh head start rather than bringing their experience on the Subject Matter. This for sure is something that needs to be considered by the regulators before overturning the H4 EAD decision.

I am sure that the economic viability assessment that would have been conducted would provide far more insight with statistical data that certainly most of the Bloggers would not be able to collate.  The aspect that the US regulators need to note, understand, accept and acknowledge before making any adverse changes to the H4 EAD is - "What is more beneficial for the Country at large rather than what is Politically Correct?"  Indeed many a times the decisions are taken based on the Political Benefits and on the basis of What is Politically Correct, and such decisions never help in the Economic Growth.  

Regulators must also look at the aspect - "If L2 dependent of on L1 Visa Holder can get Employment Authorization, why should H4 Dependent only be barred from that Right to Work?  H4 dependents are as skilled and educated as the L2 dependents are and by no means should be restricted to the confines of their home. This if represented well in the Court of Law would become a challenging task for the government to answer, because this is where they themselves are back stabbing Right of Equality and the Diversity Program they advertise as the base of Right to Work.  And yeah, without explaining this, the Government would not be able to repeal L2 EADs as it would be another Political and Legal Challenge for them to face.

Legacy of Indian Media

Press or News Media, the way we should address it now a days is considered to be the Fourth Pillar or Democracy.  But, looking at Indian Media it so feels like it is another Ponzi Drama Organization bringing in one or another distasteful Ponzi news to us.  Today they show what gets them better TRP; why better TRP, because better TRP means more advertisement business as better TRP would mean better viewer reach.

Lets take a look at the recent news that they have been covering - 

1. Congress demanding Fair and reasonable treatment to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

2. Untimely death of first female superstar from Indian movies

What Indian media covered in the above news is the way Narendra Modi government gave a cold shoulder to the Canadian counterpart, but then failed to cover WHY? Interesting because that WHY was not as sensational news as it would ensure that Narendra Modi government is actually applauded for that.  Until the Canadian as well as International media started covering it from the perspective of Failed visit of the Canadian PM.  

Yes, the visit of Canadian PM to India was treated in the manner it should have been treated.  Canadian PM stood with forces demanding Khalistan and the forces that would want to divide India.  More so, he had mentioned that the protest by the Khalistan supporters was in-line with the Canadian Laws....Did I hear that as political appeasement of the vote bank that now matters a lot in Canadian politics?  

What Mr. Justin Trudeau missed that sovereignty of India is prime for Indian Prime Minister and he as well as Indian citizens would never tolerate anyone who supports separatists on this or any other land.  The treatment meted out was perfect and had the right effect with the World media excluding Indian media was actually saying absolutely the same - "Failed India Visit of Canadian Prime Minister".  Only the Indian media was engaged in shaming the government and broadcasting the demand of Congress leaders on giving adequate honor to the Canadian Prime Minister.  Well, adequate or not is not sure, but he got appropriate honor that aligned with his policy towards Khalistan and Khalistanies. 

On death of the famous yesteryears star from Indian movies, the Media - one and all, actually were engaged in voyeuristic, ghoulish and insensitive coverage. The way they handled the overall news and the way they blew it out of proportion is really insane.  The representations, the language and the tone used was really one of the worst reporting standard that I have ever witnessed that too involving a news on death.  I am surprised the amount of research they did, the amount of conspiracy theories they came out with and the amount of versions of the same case went out as a story.  It was sounding as if every of the news anchor is narrating some piece of drama story.

By all the perspectives I looked at or pondered over the two stories, it just reaffirmed to me that the Indian Media is going down the trend of responsible organizations and are headed to make the mulla by hook or crook.  Moreover, they sound more to be the political mouth piece of one or political outfit or political party.

Most of the Media groups have lost their creditability in current context as most of them have forgotten to praise the good efforts of the government and are inclined to highlight only the misses, or the negative points, even if there is NO merit in them.  

Another typical case is of the petrol prices in South Asia where Business Standard is still stating that the petrol prices are costliest in India. Now this is a clearly a false statement as Indian media missed the bus that there are other sites also that provide more accurate information to us including the GlobalPetrolprices.com that published the latest rates on February 26, 2018 and are accessible at https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/benchmark/

So, am sure the legacy of Indian Media has changed a big time from where they started as the front line fourth pillar to where they are doing the dirty laundry of the Political Organizations or trying to mint money by sensationalization of the news.

Reality Check for Indians and India

This is my second article on this topic, previous one being "Indian Education System - Needs to be Overhauled" published on June 20, 2013.

The previous article and this one establishes that I have always been a critic of the Indian Education system with British Foundation in it and have always echoed that the India Education system needs to be revived from where it is today to where it was before the Foreign Attacks destroyed the then prevailing India Education system.  Gone and Forgotten are the days when India was the hub of Education with the revered universities like Takshashia and Nalanda were the prime Universities for education and had invited the best and the brightest from across India.  Now, the Indian Education system is nothing but a system that encourages rat race rather than promoting vocational practices.  

This article titled "Indians study hard and get MBA, may be buy Mercedes but lack creativity: Apple co-founder Steve Woz" based on Steve Wozniak's (Apple fame) opinion relates a lot to that. I actually came across this on an FB post by a Friend Dr. Vivek Kaul and then the discussion where Dr. Kaul and one of his friend Jayati Roy exchange interesting notes.  

In the FB article reference above, Dr. Kaul writes "Very few people would have worked & interacted with hundred of nationalities as I have. One of my sole reasons for this is to understand what keeps India n Indians from breaking into the big league. I thought I had worked with almost all nationalities till this Saturday when a nurse at the hospital declared she is from Reunion Island ! Stumped by her looping googley I left everything down to go to Google n know Reunion Island is a Country between Mauritius & Madagaskar with its own mini melting pot of Africans Chinese Indian & French!"

How true that we, who have worked with people of multiple nationality still get stumped by the way we get to hear about a new nation that is as tiny as may be one city in India.  Now, why is that? just because our dear education system in India is not interested to teach us the global aspects and is very much limited to the doctrine on which Britishers established it.

Dr. Kaul further writes - "let me go back to this Steve Pundit who rightly thinks Indians are not creative .

He is from Polish extraction whose forefathers must have left Poland to escape poverty as have majority of half a million Poles in UK - coming after joining the Super Welfare Club of EU in 2004 !

When you escape poverty from third world conditions , you are not exactly creative in the Einstein or Chaplin mould! Vast majority of his compatriot Poles in the UK are not exactly creative as Woznaic expects Indians to be!

Majority of Polish citizens in Great Britain are in building industry as builders , plumbers , electricians or in hospitality sector as Cleaners, waiters etc etc - not exactly a creative enterprise ! They are doing these dead end jobs to escape the high unemployment rate & poverty - exactly the same scenario from which Indians are escaping with better degrees to the West or other countries incl Middle East .

Indians are better than Woznaik's Polish cousins tho !

Indians earn much more than expat Polish manual workers with a PAYE - tax deducted at source income unlike cash in hand income of Polish workers! People have always immigrated mainly for economic or prosecution reasons - lets not kid ourselves. Irish, Jews, Dutch, & vast South East Asian immigrants all fit this bill.

Third world immigration is mainly due to same reasons .

Now coming to the other reasons of lack of creativity! Foundation of your character is laid in your primary school & home country environment!"

Indeed the last portion of the statement above refers to the lack of creative culture in Indian Education system.  Right form the childhood we are taught only limited amount that would work to make us either an Engineer (to do repetitive jobs), a Doctor, a clerk or something on the similar lines.  I remember a case where due to the geographical incline, one particular piece of construction was getting damaged at a particular height.  The Project Engineer reviewed the scenario and revised the design (thinking in a creative manner) and the structure got the strength required as there as a curve introduced.  Interestingly, that was not honored and that Project Engineer was alleged of malpractice and he hence resigned from job.  The management of the organization was least concerned about the good work done, but was more concerned that the structures revised architecture increased the cost. How funny or should I actually call it tragic??

Taking another example where creative thinking is culled by Indian Education system - A student never wanted to be an engineer or a doctor, he wanted to be an artist. Though he was academically an ace of his batch, he was more inclined in theatre, but the peer pressure and the pressure from his teachers went on so much that he had to give in to prove that he excels in studies forgetting his theatre dream. Thanks to the Education System to this effect.  If it would have been an education institute in west, as Dr. Kaul refers in his words - "Primary school education is a revelation in the West. It is in the most friendly atmosphere that western kids are nurtured by an army of happy smiling teachers & teaching assistants. No home work is ever provided & no test given for next class admission. Everyone eats the same decent State provided food. Stories are read by actors like teachers with differing voices to suit the story characters amongst the giggles or hush of boys & girls. Small kind gestures are rewarded - if a kid helped other with shoe laces or in an English lesson! Assembly hall is told Joshua was very kind to Simon and he helped him with his heavy rucksack  Well done Joshua. You are a Star. Joshua thinks he can conquer the world. The idea is to make each boy or girl by turns proud of themselves. This lays a excellent foundation to their future. Cramming is deplored & as said end of the term exams do not take place & you are automatically promoted to the next. Equal emphasis is on music games & arts." Alas!! In India that is just one long forgotten case!!

Jayati Roy adds her opinion on Dr. Kaul's article as - "Our education system sadly does not allow the children to pursue their own dreams and interests. We are obsessed with churning out more doctors, engineers and lawyers than nurturing innovative skills in our children. The need to survive and earn takes over the dreams of excelling in other fields of knowledge and arts. Most parents do not encourage their children to think on their own but impose their own unfulfilled dreams and goals which builds up as huge pressure on the child and he shuts the world of imagination and creativity and starts working on realising his parents wishes. Failure is not tolerated and comparisons with other children make it more worse . the government education policy is also a big hurdle. They have never invested in such an important area and we have a huge number of graduates and literates whose main objective is to earn money and nothing else!. With a population of 1.2 billion, it is more about doing a job amidst high corruption and caste reservations that take up the mindset than to compete globally in innovative skills and knowledge.  You have rightly observed that unlike the west we hunt for talent in the university level and not in the primary school level stage. I entirely agree with you that the battles of third world nations override the need for bringing the best of the creative skills and knowledge in to the global platform."  

Indeed she has read the article by Dr. Kaul in all the right perspective and related to the overall truth exposed by Dr. Kaul.

What is the crux of the matter - Indian Education system as highlighted by Woz and then elaborated by Dr. Kaul as well as Jayati Roy, needs to be revisited.  Focus on Vocational Trainings need to be emphasized. "Catch them Young" needs to be the success criteria as creativity can be seen in a child right when they start playing with Lego's or start fidgeting with the musical instruments in their childhood.  It is important to encourage them right at the time they get out from their Diapers and start wearing those pajama suits to go to bed.  Need is to encourage. 

India, a country of a billion plus doesn't have the lack of skills or talent, but indeed has a lack of mentors. There is a dearth of those who would step up to encourage Risk Taking behavior to try something new and something creative.  It indeed is an open secret for the world that Indians in the West are more creative and more Risk Taking race than any other one, then why not just in India? Simple answer is the Rat Race being promoted by the Indian Education System that qualifies success by the academic brilliance for Fat Pay Check rather than a meaningful occupation with inner peace!!!