FDI – What is it actually??

The recent hot topic in media and as usual, heavily debated by general public in social network medias is about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  Everybody has got an opinion on FDI and wants the Indian Government to ban FDI in retail sector.  So, I thought let me also write my opinion about FDI.  Now, whoever is reading this blog has no choice but to read my opinion!!!!

What’s wrong in allowing FDI in retail sector?  Isn’t competition good for business and also for end user?  I have seen few people saying the local traditional “nadar shops” and “chettiar shops” have to close down if Government allows FDI in retail sector.

What are these people trying to tell me? That nadar shops and chettiar shops are more expensive than Wal-Mart, Carrefour, etc.?  If yes, then I think it is only fair to bring these international giants in order for the nadar shops and chettiar shops to be in competitive range.

As an end-user consumer, where will we buy the product (assuming we are comparing apple to an apple)?  We will buy from the cheapest shop.  If this is the case, how can Wal-Mart and Carrefour be a threat or competition to local retail vendors?  How can a multi-national company, considering all the huge investments and expenses, be competitive than a local vendor?

In my opinion, the public is opposing FDI just because the media and some politicians are saying it is wrong.  Haven’t we, India as a country, allowed foreign companies in other sectors?  Where were all these individuals opposing FDI were at that time?

The day we decide to buy a car, we compare Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Ford for price and fuel efficiency comparison.  We sometimes even forget that Maruti and Tata do make cars, which are Indian companies.

We want to celebrate a birthday party or get together at Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, Mary Brown, KFC, etc.  At that time in our short list for venue, the Muniyandi Vilas, Thalapakattu Briyani and other local vendors name won’t feature.

Ask the current generation kids what soft drink they like.  Mostly, the answer will be Pepsi or Coca Cola.  They might have even forgotten that there was a local company producing Thumbs Up (now they may remember due to fantastic advertisement campaign with Akshay Kumar).  We want to drink Coke and Pepsi but don’t want foreign companies entering into retail business.

How many individuals own BPL TV or other Indian made televisions?  Most of us have Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc… Why don’t we stop buying foreign televisions?

I am not even sure if any Indian company makes cell phones in India.  The biggest market shareholder for cell phones are Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Apple, etc.  Why do we buy foreign brands if we are protesting against FDI?

So, we want to enjoy the fruits of all international comforts and cuisine.  When Government opens one more sector for foreign investment, we start the protest and say the Government is trying to kill retail vendors in the country.

Look at the other side also.  We proudly say Mr. Vijay Mallya has bought White & Mackay Distillery and he is now the world’s third largest distillery owner.  An Indian buying foreign companies and investing in foreign countries is national pride.

Tata Motors went ahead and bought Jaguar and Land Rover companies in a single deal.  We were very proud to say that now Jaguar and Land Rover are party Indian made cars (due to the ownership).

We want our Indian investors and businesses to invest/buy foreign businesses but we do not want foreign investments to enter into India.  Is this reasonable or being patriotic?  I think this is being greedy.  We want to take over the entire world with our money power but don’t want foreign companies making entry into India.

For some reason, Indian currency became weaker against dollar and many other foreign currencies.  What did happen?  There’s an article, which claims more than $700 million worth of foreign currency came into India during this period.  These are money transferred by NRI’s living outside India.  There was also an article, which stated that Saudi Arabia thought of banning money transfer into India for a while due to the amount of money going out of Saudi Arabia.

What does above indicate?  We have so many Indians working abroad (that includes me too!), who earn money living in a foreign country.  If we are all so patriotic that we do not want foreign countries to invest in India, why do we come abroad in search of a job?  By doing that, aren’t we taking away employment opportunity from local nationals, wherever we go to work?  In what way this is right if a foreign company investing in India is wrong?

I don’t want to deviate from the topic of this blog and I am going to write my next blog about the public mentality and media’s role in diverting issues.  Many of us blindly believe what media says is 100% truth. 

So, as I drive my Nissan SUV in UAE roads and spending Dirhams as I watch the Indian currency exchange rate keenly, I also protest FDI being allowed in India…. JAI HIND !!!

I HAVE A NECK SPRAIN… THIS IS BECAUSE OF THIS NEW GOVERNMENT!!!!

I know the title of this blog would have made few to raise their eyebrows.  I won’t say the few who read my blogs would have been ‘shocked’ with this title…

We blame the Government for everything.  This is the latest trend.  This can be seen in the newspapers, TV channels, Facebook, Twitter, etc…etc…  Yes, government is responsible for everything.  We, as common public, are not responsible.  Our only responsibility is to blame the government.

Severe power cut in Tamil Nadu – It’s all because of this new Government led by AIADMK.  Wow, how short people’s memory is!!!!  Before the elections, the general consensus among people, media and critics are that DMK may lose the elections mainly because of the power cut issue right through the state.  Now, when we have electricity shortage and face power cut, we blame it on the new Government.

What would have the old Government done if there’s power shortage?  How would have they solved this problem?  As general public, I don’t care… I have already blamed the current government for this problem.  My social responsibility as a citizen is over!!!  Worst case, if this power cut problem continues, we will start a demonstration, fasting and other acts of protest against the Government till the power cut problem is solved.

Ok, Government is trying their best to avoid this power cut problem.  What’s the best solution?  Alternate sources of energy.  Government has spent crores of rupees in Koodangulam Nuclear Power project.  What we did as general citizen of this country?  We staged demonstrations, fasting and protests against the Government stating the nuclear power plant should not be started.

On one hand we oppose the government for power shortage and on the other, we also oppose the government when they try to start new power plant projects.  So, what should the Government do?  As a common citizen, here’s my answer: “I don’t care…. They should not start nuclear power plant to overcome power shortage.  At the same time, there should not be any power shortage in the country/state”.

What’s the rule as per TNEB for new power connection?  Only one connection (meter) per kitchen.  This means, if a building has two houses, you can have only 2 connections and then one connection for common utilities (viz., motor, general lights, etc.).  But what do we do?  We pay ‘something’ under the table and split our electricity connection into multiple connections so that we will not pay high tariff due to high consumption slab.  With all this, obviously TNEB will make losses.  They raise their tariff in order to cover all actual expenses, what do we do?  Stage protests, demonstrate, fasting, etc.

Whenever the new Government takes over, people tend to agitate against each and every single decision about the government.   What this beautiful media and general public forget (conveniently) is that this new government is there in power because majority of the general public voted for that party!!!!

So, we select a government – this is disputable statement – majority of us are very busy to go even for voting.  Technically, we have always had minority government.  The maximum state-wide polling is about 60% only.  So, 40% of our learned public are too lazy or too busy to participate in electoral process.

But when the government is formed, we are ready 100% to find all loopholes in the decisions taken by the government and protest against it.  This is the true “PUBLIC DEMOCRACY” !!!!

Are the politicians only the corrupt people in this society?  This is a huge topic on which I have already written a blog and in general ‘majority’ of the readers disagreed with me!

What does general public do?  Mostly (out of the 60% who takes the pain to go the polling booth to cast their votes), they vote for the party offering better ‘terms’ for the vote.  If a party is giving free laptop, free grinder, free mixer, then we will vote for them.  So, we - the general public, have started selling our votes, which is our basic democratic right.  If we vote only to the party offering us more benefits, then this is business.  The political parties who offer such things have to make more money so that they can offer better terms for the next election.  So, why blame them for being corrupt?

Due to recent heavy rains in Chennai, there was havoc in the city.  Particularly the low-lying areas were flooded completely with water.  I was watching Sun News with my early morning cup of tea.  They were showing footage from one of the areas where the local residents were complaining about lack of facilities and were stating, “Government is not doing anything”.  Whoever was lucky enough to see that footage could have seen that the road was very narrow.  There was a small sitting area (thinnai) in almost every house.  Where is this built?  On the road, outside the proper land area owned by the resident.

Earlier, the Government has brought in a rule that every house should have rainwater-harvesting facility.  What did we as common public do?  We buy 800 sq. ft. of land and build a house edge-to-edge (half the balcony will be in the adjacent property-overhanging).  We make the entire plot total concrete.  What happens where there’s heavy rain? The rainwater goes into the sewage system, which is not built to take that much load.  We do not have any soil in our plot, which can absorb the water.  Who do we blame?  The Government… Because it is their problem that the water is not cleared from the roads and our own plots as soon the rain has stopped…

Why are we not contributing something to the society and then force the Government to continue it?  Why do we need everything to be done by the Government?  We want to by-pass the system in order to pay lesser utility bill, we will vote for the party, which offers more freebies, but when it comes to Government, they have to PLEASE ALL OF US… We don’t care how they can do it and the Government also cannot expect anything from us but we need it all.

Now, after writing this blog, still my neck is not alright. I think the Government has to do something about this!

Child Labor... What is it actually???

Hello Friends,

It's been a while since I met you all here in my blog.  Finally, found some time to check a draft blog from past and decided to post it here for my friends to read, comment and criticize... :)

In the recent past, I've heard far too many people crying out loud against "Child Labor"....  They all convey their views, criticisms, opinions and demand everyone to avoid child labor.  Great thought... Will genuinely appreciate anybody who takes a step to get children into school and to educate them and better their lifestyle and future.  But will definitely not appreciate just propaganda against child labor without any action...

What's the point in protesting against a problem without solution?  There's a saying that more than 95% of people know the problem and can talk about it... But only 5% can offer a solution for the problem rather than talking about the problem itself...

Personally, I've never given much thought about child labor and have never been encouraging or discouraging it.  I realize there are child labor in this society just because of the living conditions and other social reasons. 

If we want to abolish child labor, what's that family going to do for that extra income?  How are they going to feed themselves?  Are we intending to abolish child labor and put a entire family out of streets hungry?  I don't think that's the right path or decision.

Also, increasingly I see anti-child labor slogans against the fireworks industry.  Even my nephew told me couple of years back that he will not buy crackers for Diwali anymore since there are child labor in that industry.... Good job... Good decision.

Now, let us assume we all stand united and boycott buying fireworks for Diwali and other occasions.  What will all the employees employed by these fireworks industry do for their living?  Beg on the streets?  By doing such abolition, we are not eradicating a problem called child labor... But, we are creating far more new problems like unemployment, economic slowdown (as this industry brings considerable % of foreign currency and revenue in other forms), loss of money to government through central excise and taxes, which will increase the other tax % in future, which is going to increase the burden on everybody else!!!!

Also, I do not understand targeting one specific industry like fireworks or match industry.  Many people who are against child labor in fireworks and match industry, completely forget other industries / business which employ child labor.  Some examples I could think of are below:

(A) Our friend, who boycotted buying match box and fireworks, goes to a tea shop and says "Thambi... strong-a oru tea kuduppa" to a 10 year old boy working there... Why not boycott drinking tea than ordering your tea through a child?

(B) We go to a shopping mall (or a shop) and we cannot carry our own shopping bags (this can be seen widely in big textile stores).  So, our 'thambi' working there, who could be only 12 or 14 year old will carry our bags to our car and we will generously tip him for helping us.  Why do we buy things which we cannot carry?  Why not we shout against child labor there and stop buying clothes from such shops?

(C) We ride our motorcycle and unfortunately end-up with a flat tyre... We struggle to push the two wheeler to the nearest shop.  There's a 10 year old sitting their managing the business.  We tell him "Thambi... Urgent-a puncture seri pannuppa... I have important work"... We don't mind child labor there... Why not abandon our vehicle there and go find a shop which does not employ a child?

(D) We have seen many of our friends and neighbors employing small girl or a boy as their house maid.  How many of us have protested against it?  How is that right when employing child labor by fireworks/match industry is wrong?  Why not we boycott such friends and neighbors?

Is our concern when we protest against fireworks industry and matches industry really about child labor or is it because of increasing prices of fireworks and reduced dependency on match boxes?  I honestly feel we target these industries because many of us are hurt with increasing prices every year for fireworks.  Also, I don't think many houses use match boxes anymore.  Most of the smokers use lighters and match boxes are used at home only in pooja room!!! 

In my humble opinion, above is the fact.  But honestly, I've never fought against child labor.  Because it is not the fault of the businessmen to employ young children.  It is the need the family has to run their livelihood that they send their children to work.  I believe, if we completely abolish child labor, we will end-up with far more social problems than a simple child labor problem.

As stated earlier, I don't want to be in the 95% mass of talking only about problems... I would love to be in the 5% (or at least try to work towards reaching into that 5%).  I think below are the basic steps that needs to be taken in order to avoid child labor.

- Any family sending their children to work, should be compensated by the Government for children's education and better employment opportunity (to compensate the earning of the child) to the family so that they can earn their livelihood.

- Increased access to education and other facilities right throughout the country and increased awareness and assurance to the parents that they will have access to their necessities when they send their children to school.

Above are the couple of thoughts / ideas which immediately came to my mind... These are not entirely possible by individuals and social working groups.  This needs a much better and bigger set-up like the governments themselves working towards this and funding this.

Also, this may result in little more of tax from us so that government can achieve these objectives. 

How many of us are willing to bear extra expense/tax in order to achieve this?  We all should... and then we can talk about abolishing child labor.

When Indian Government came-up with Education Cess, how many of us happily paid it?  We don't even question the government on how they are spending millions of rupees collected... Shouldn't we all start from there?

As always, I look forward to comments and criticisms from my friends.... :)

A big Thank you !!!

Thought of writing a blog today but too lazy after I finished couple of projects I was working on.  There's been a bit of gap in my blogs due to hectic travel and projects.  Also, spent some good two weeks with my family here in Dubai :)

I was so delighted to see my blog page today and realize I've hit the 4 digits on readership!!! Yes, more than 1,000 reads as of today morning.

I am glad people do read my blog so much and also appreciate all the comments, feedback and criticism....

You guys encourage me to write more (this is official warning!!!!).  Don't blame me later that I didn't warn you.... :)

Again I will take this opportunity to thank few of my regular followers - Anu, Sangeetha (my official Ko Pa Se), Sriram and the recent addition to my readers list Jana... :)  You guys make the difference!

Thanks again for your interest in my blog....

Will be back soon with my blog (quite a few topics are already written half-way!).

Love and peace to all,
SK

CHARITY - Should we publicize???

My friend Sangeetha wrote a blog about this last month.  This blog can be viewed at: http://www.sangeethaarunachalam.com/?p=439

However, my views on charity is totally different.  I don’t think anybody should be publicizing about his or her charity work until and unless you want the entire world to praise you about what you have done.

In my opinion, the above applies only to individuals.  I am not saying trusts and other charitable organizations should keep a low profile.  These trusts and other charitable organizations are started with a vision to help the needy by collecting as much contribution as they can and hence requires publicity.

Jai Sarathy, Sangeetha and other younger generation people have started a trust called Manasika Foundation in Chennai.  They have their Facebook page and are doing whatever they can to help orphan children.

But as an individual, if I have to tell what all charity work I’ve done, then it is like I’m seeking some form of publicity from what I’ve done.  If that’s the case, then I won’t call the money given away as “charity” but rather would call it as “publicity expenses”!!!!!  

If our aim is to have publicity, why give money to some needy people, take photograph and publicize their inabilities and their need for money also along with our good publicity?  Just go ahead print posters, banners and stick it on every compound wall in your city… That will help I guess!

What is Charity?  As per Wikipedia, it is defined as the practice of benevolent giving and caring.   The term charity is derived from Jewish word Tzedakah, which is the Jewish concept of giving to worthy causes or people in need.

Now, what is worthy cause to you may not be worthy cause for me.   If I read about somebody doing a charity work and I feel it is not necessary to develop such things and encourage by giving charity, I get furious… Even though I don’t comment most of the times, I start to hate people offering and seeking charity for such acts.  By this publicity, actually sometimes we may all lose interest in charity and that’s one of the principle reason, I believe we should donate, help and contribute towards charity whichever we feel like doing without any publicity.

Why do we engage ourselves in charity activities?  For me personally, it’s for self-satisfaction.  A peace of mind when I know I’ve helped in some way to people who are in need.  If charity is for inner peace and self-satisfaction, why do we need to publicize it?

Charity takes many forms… Helping a beggar (disabled) on the road, giving money for school fees to needy parents in order to educate their children, giving books to children in need, helping orphanages to provide proper food, shelter and education to kids, etc.…etc.…

For many people, donations given to temples are also considered as charity.  In my opinion, whatever we do for a temple does not fall under the category charity.  If we donate money specifically for a free food scheme or education scheme of a temple or other religious institutions, then it can be called charity, as we know the money is used only for that purpose.  However, the money we put in the “hundi” of many temples cannot be called charity.  Most of the temples use such money for various other purposes (including complete golden karpagraham at Tirupati temple and other temple related works).

I am not against we offering money to temple or other religious institutions.  My point is that it cannot be called charity.   Such offerings to temples and other religious institutions take a total different aspect called religion and I’m not willing to dwell into that topic (at least for now).

So, bottom line, I don’t think we should be publicizing our charity works until and unless our only aim to do such things are for publicity.

Any comments, feedback, criticism from my friends?

Marriages..... My own view

Friends, after a long break, I am back to blogging... Been hectic couple of weeks (or more... I lost count) on the work front.  Last one week, my family is also here in Dubai and been very busy with them and having lot of fun.... :)

Thought I will write this blog as reply to my friend Sangeetha's blog about marriages.  Visit this link to read Sangeetha's views on marriages:  

http://www.sangeethaarunachalam.com/?p=414

In my opinion, marriages are a social event where you get to see and mingle with lots of friends and family members whom you may not have a chance to meet frequently.  So, the event should be memorable for all good reasons.

Apart from that, the way the marriage is conducted, amount of money spent, etc. depends on every individual's capability and their wishes.

I took care of all arrangements for my niece's wedding.  Wanted to make it a grand event and I think I've succeeded to a great extent.  Was involved in every aspect of marriage arrangement to ensure there's no room for any complaint from anybody.

Since I'm in logistics business and know what it takes to spoil a grand event, I ensured to get involved in all the details.  When the caterer {God bless him... When I wanted clouds, he was aiming for heaven and beyond !!!! :) } started explaining me the menu for the entire event, I started showing off my experience in food service industry.  Instead of regular juice or anything else, I told him we need to serve tender coconut juice (ilaneer) during the marriage.  The concept looks simple but I know it is very difficult to arrange tender coconut juice for about 1,000 people without it getting spoiled.

Result??? Everyone who attended the marriage appreciated it.  I even heard comments from some elders stating "in so many marriages I have attended so far, this is the first marriage I've seen tender coconut juice being served"... That satisfaction and remark gave me and the catering team a big boost.... :)

Similarly, a lot of other arrangements... I can keep writing but as usual didn't want to brag about things I could do and done... :)

My bottom line opinion is that spend all you can on marriages to make everyone happy.  After all it's once in a life time occasion for both bride and the groom....

As Sangeetha rightly said in her blog about marriages, the only thing many of us remember after some years about a marriage is the food... There's nothing else which matters.

About all other things listed by Sangeetha (I'm not going to list them here and make this blog look like a duplicate of that blog), it all depends on every individual.  If the bride and/or groom are not comfortable with few things, just leave it be. 

I think I've posted my opinions on this and as usual, look forward to comments / feedback and criticism from my friends.... Feel like I'm losing touch in writing blogs after this gap...

Will continue to write on other topics which I have penned down during this break.

See you all in my next blog....

What is Passion???

Friends,

As I am busy finishing up two projects, I did not have any time to write blogs even though I have a lot of requests on topics and I have few things already in mind after reading couple of blogs by Sangeetha...

Will definitely write my next blog soon.  This 'soon' is going to be around mid July, since I will be on travel in USA from Saturday.

In the meantime, I saw my daughter, Abinaya, writing below in her Facebook.  Thought I will share this with you all here....

Good job Abi... Kudos to you! :)

********* PASSION - Written by Abinaya Kannan ************

It’s a word with a profound meaning. Passion is a compelling or powerful emotion or feeling. It’s a feeling that drives you crazy. It could be about anything. You could be passionate about writing, dancing, singing or even, programming!

Passion is a feeling that drives life. It moves us forward towards our goal, keeps us focused, helps overcome obstacles and feel contended and happy with life.

But, in today’s world, money and opportunity has replaced passion. Passion does not only need to be in your hobbies. It should be a part of your everyday life, the job that you do, and the course that you study. There is always that one thing that makes our heart throb with happiness and we are always eager to do something in it. That should our path of life. Fine arts do not need to be a hobby only. This is a misconception. Dancing, singing, writing, etc. can very well be career choices in our life. You might not end up like Asha Bhosle, Yamini Krishnamurthy or John Grisham, but the happiness derived out of pursuing something close to your heart is exponential.

If your passion lies in cars and you are not sure if there is a future ahead in that field, go ahead study a course about automobiles and pursue a career in it. Life is not about money alone. It is about doing things that make you happy. Ambition and passion are words with more profound meanings than money.

My mom and I have frequent arguments on this topic. Whenever anybody happens to tell my mom about the limited scope in Aeronautical Engineering, my mom hypes up and asks me why I had to take up that course. When I happen to tell my mom the passion and interest I have in that field, my mom immediately retaliates about how money is more important. She tells me how I cannot fulfill my demands without it. Yes, I completely agree with you, mom. But, can money buy me passion? Can it alone make me happy?

The richest people in the world are not happy ONLY because they are rich, they are happy because they listened to their hearts. They pursued their passion or put in passion in whatever they had to do. When you look back at life, it’s not money or property that’s going to make you smile. It’s what you did with your life that’ll make you beam, cause only then will you have lived a life with no regrets!
Money is a by-product of our hard work, passion and all the time we invested in something. Money alone should not make you happy, the work out of which you gained money should make you happy!
In short, all I’m saying is pursue you passion.

"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart."
- Ben Crenshaw

Now.. That’s what PASSION is about. :)

This is just my opinion. Please feel free to comment about yours.