Tuesday, November 28, 2006
बहुत दिनों से हिन्दी ब्लॉग लिखने की इच्छा थी। लेकिन पता नहीं था कि शुरुआत कैसे करुं, आज ऐसे ही नेट पर घूमते घुमते मैं सर्वज्ञ की साइट पर जा पहुंचा। कुछ लोगों को हिन्दी के लिये काम करते हुए देखकर अच्छा लगा। अक्सर लोग हिन्दी को कम्प्यूटर के लिये उपयुक्त नहीं मानते, लेकिन कई अन्य भाषाओं का, जो रोमन लिपि में नहीं लिखी जातीं, प्रयोग प्रचलन मे है। मंदारिन और जापानीज लिपि अपेक्षाक्रित अधिक क्लिष्ट हैं, पर हिन्दी की अपेक्षा ज्यादा प्रचलित है। चालीस करोड लोगों की मातृभाषा होते हुए भी हिन्दी का पिछडापन दयनीय है।
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Rethinking Education
Education is an admirable thing, but everything that is worth knowing can’t always be taught. Conversely, everything that’s meant to learn doesn’t always have a marketable value before a panel of examiners. Education stretches beyond teaching and reviewing, it’s a process of learning and unlearning as well. In an education system, expected to produce enlightened minds, rather than mere literate individuals, such abstract exchanges should have a place. But in this fast moving world of cut-throat competition, no one seems to have time and willingness to bother. The very soul of education and its purpose seem to be weighed down by the utility of degrees in fetching jobs or more commonly by the degree itself. Our universities are working as factories to produce tons of undergroomed scholars with impetus on stepping up one exam after another, and in order to pass this fiery ordeal of tests the content “has to be got up” not from desire but from dismal necessity. While the art of taking and writing exams is perfected to the highest note, it often has opposite effect and instead of arousing appetite for knowledge; it leaves a kind of apathy towards subject. The result is megabytes of data are stored before exams, cleared out on answer sheets, but seldom do we find heart of the candidate, the labor of love on answer sheets.
Undoubtedly current education is helping students, but not even up to the quarter of their potential. . The serious neglect of interest, innovation and originality has high opportunities costs. I know it can’t be helped completely and examinations have to be more or less the same. But some intelligent and sincere efforts from institutes along with students can change the picture. Actually problem is much severs than it looks at the surface. In this country of limited options, where education is a wagon to cross the fringes of uncertainty and to avail economic security, few dare to think differently. Education has been viewed as a tool to avoid risks, rather than enabler of intelligent risk taking. Such a mindset hinders innovation because any significant innovation almost never comes without some amount of risk involved. Students, although uncharacteristic of young minds, are content with doing anything tried and tested that’ll guarantee them a job or other affluent chances. This reluctance to experiment is not because of some inherent weakness, but the result of years of conservative training in schools and unfortunately in colleges, coupled with humble economic backgrounds. In some cases they lack the innate thirst for knowledge, treating knowledge as a secondary tool to help in pursuing a career. The teachers on the other hand, with a few exceptions, are not concerned with the amount of stuff digested by students. Although they may be doing their part in a rationally unobjectionable way; their style of work is more like “ nishkam karm ” of
Gita . They do their job without thinking about outcome, they teach, deliver lectures without bothering about it’s result on the students, who are, in turns, times ahead of their professors with an attitude most akin to “sad indifference” of Jesus Christ. That’s why our education system has become ‘activity oriented’ rather than being ‘outcome oriented’- The activities without active participation. The need of hour is to make it more participating, flexible and experimenting. The courses can be customized to some extents based on aptitudes of students. Regular credits can be replaced by some projects in their specified area of interest. The grading system can be made more inclusive by taking more no. of tests, assignments that test analytical skills, imagination and scientific temper rather than ability to mug and reproduce strings of data. Real life and industry problems can be used to stimulate their problem solving skills and curiosity. Such kind of active participation is far more beneficial in understanding of subjects than routine class notes and examinations; furthermore they will have a multiplying effect on classroom learning and academic performance. The other important traits to be groomed like team work and planning will also get a boost. Today Indian universities of producing lots of research paper but little original work, the reason is the lack of confidence and absence of desire to perform. Our aim should be to catch students young and try to cultivate originality from the very beginning of their college lives.
Despite the flaws of current system, it had been able to produce successful professionals, but that was not because of the flaws but despite of them. The potential of education doesn’t recline in what it produces anyway, but what it can produce with best utilization of the available resources. Other extra academic activities should hold a good share in evaluating overall performance. The exposure to sports, music, debate and other cultural activities is complementary to academic inputs and enhances the skill set of an individual. Most important is development of an atmosphere conductive to discussion and free exchange between pupil and the mentor, thus strengthening the respect for teachers in hearts of students and care & concern for students in teachers. It’s time to realize the leap we can make and implement them. To make education not only a tool for job or degree but something that prepares us for the journey called life.
Undoubtedly current education is helping students, but not even up to the quarter of their potential. . The serious neglect of interest, innovation and originality has high opportunities costs. I know it can’t be helped completely and examinations have to be more or less the same. But some intelligent and sincere efforts from institutes along with students can change the picture. Actually problem is much severs than it looks at the surface. In this country of limited options, where education is a wagon to cross the fringes of uncertainty and to avail economic security, few dare to think differently. Education has been viewed as a tool to avoid risks, rather than enabler of intelligent risk taking. Such a mindset hinders innovation because any significant innovation almost never comes without some amount of risk involved. Students, although uncharacteristic of young minds, are content with doing anything tried and tested that’ll guarantee them a job or other affluent chances. This reluctance to experiment is not because of some inherent weakness, but the result of years of conservative training in schools and unfortunately in colleges, coupled with humble economic backgrounds. In some cases they lack the innate thirst for knowledge, treating knowledge as a secondary tool to help in pursuing a career. The teachers on the other hand, with a few exceptions, are not concerned with the amount of stuff digested by students. Although they may be doing their part in a rationally unobjectionable way; their style of work is more like “ nishkam karm ” of
Gita . They do their job without thinking about outcome, they teach, deliver lectures without bothering about it’s result on the students, who are, in turns, times ahead of their professors with an attitude most akin to “sad indifference” of Jesus Christ. That’s why our education system has become ‘activity oriented’ rather than being ‘outcome oriented’- The activities without active participation. The need of hour is to make it more participating, flexible and experimenting. The courses can be customized to some extents based on aptitudes of students. Regular credits can be replaced by some projects in their specified area of interest. The grading system can be made more inclusive by taking more no. of tests, assignments that test analytical skills, imagination and scientific temper rather than ability to mug and reproduce strings of data. Real life and industry problems can be used to stimulate their problem solving skills and curiosity. Such kind of active participation is far more beneficial in understanding of subjects than routine class notes and examinations; furthermore they will have a multiplying effect on classroom learning and academic performance. The other important traits to be groomed like team work and planning will also get a boost. Today Indian universities of producing lots of research paper but little original work, the reason is the lack of confidence and absence of desire to perform. Our aim should be to catch students young and try to cultivate originality from the very beginning of their college lives.
Despite the flaws of current system, it had been able to produce successful professionals, but that was not because of the flaws but despite of them. The potential of education doesn’t recline in what it produces anyway, but what it can produce with best utilization of the available resources. Other extra academic activities should hold a good share in evaluating overall performance. The exposure to sports, music, debate and other cultural activities is complementary to academic inputs and enhances the skill set of an individual. Most important is development of an atmosphere conductive to discussion and free exchange between pupil and the mentor, thus strengthening the respect for teachers in hearts of students and care & concern for students in teachers. It’s time to realize the leap we can make and implement them. To make education not only a tool for job or degree but something that prepares us for the journey called life.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Core sector engineers & migrating to software jobs
Selection of career is one of the most important decisions one has to make in his life, and in most natural way it is a blend of what one can do, what one should do and what one enjoys doing. Decisions like selection of a career can’t be based on a “herd” behavior or what is “hot” in market this year or for the decade. But in current context it seems that tendency for migration towards so called white collar jobs in software sector has developed into a hedonist trend which will ultimately cause huge impairments on personal as well as socio-economic grounds. In the subsequent discussion the personal as well as wider social aspects of the migration are integrated to show the hegemonic hazards inherent in the current trend
Adam Smith, the great economist, in his classical work “Wealth of Nations” stated “The acquired and useful abilities of inhabitants of a society are like general stock, the acquisition of such talents by maintenance of acquirer during his education always costs a real expense, which is capital, fixed.” Non-IT engineering graduates have this fixed asset of knowledge with them which has consumed national as well as personal resources to groom. And after having so much specialization in their respective fields they are simply “overqualified” for software jobs. It is wastage of such a costly talent of national interest. It really makes no sense of an engg. Graduate attending the overseas calls and illustrating specification of an IT product to its clients, a high school student in U.S. does the same thing.. Many a times engineers migrated from core branches in software firms find that they are performing at a subdued level than they are capable of.
The far-reaching adverse effects on the health of economy due to unbalanced migration of talent are glossed over in the vibrant hype of Indian software and IT enabled sector (SITS) in recent past. Undoubtedly, the Indian software industry has compiled a journey like fairy tale, earning huge amounts of forex ($ 18 bn in 2005). There are discussions about how India can transform itself into a knowledge-based economy by riding the information technology (IT) bandwagon. However the vision of a knowledge-based economy will be realized only on the foundation of a robust industrial economy. To be truly beneficial, the rain of IT must fall at the right place, in the right quantity, at the right time and for the right purpose. IT is an efficiency enhancing technology. You have to have production going there before you can use IT to enhance productivity. The simulation package Procast is good for nothing unless you are producing castings. Are we putting the horse before cart here? Economic development is cumulative; the growth of IT must be counterbalanced with a simultaneous growth in manufacturing, agriculture and infrastructure. An unbalanced stress on IT will only worsen the conditions. Migration of core sector talent will mean empowerment of software sector (which constitutes only 0.25% of total workforce contributes only 3.2% to GDP & consumes massive part of the top-level talent) at a cost of other sectors resulting in greater social inequality. On the other hand growth of core sector like manufacturing along with IT will have a multiplying effect on no. of employment opportunities involving a broader range of society. One should not be surprised on L&T Chairman A P Naik damning the Technocrats. He asks “Who will build the nation?” the construction major requires at least 2000 engineers every year at its present growth rate but it is facing severe paucity for recruitment. India can’t shine with sparkling of a few complexes in Bangalore & Hyderabad, India means much more than that. Development of infrastructure, good roads, healthcare, power grids and dams are more substantial for growth of India. Currently our SITS is chiefly dependent on the demands of western industrialized economies, around 80% of revenues generates through exports, but a nation can’t export its way to prosperity. More industrialization will also lead to more domestic demand of software. The Indian government is itself more interested in development of Infrastructure and Manufacturing e.g. 1, 70,000 crore rupees are proposed to be invested in highways over next 7 years. The market for engineering services outsourced to India is expected to reach around $ 40 bn. In next 13 years. There is a lot of FDI and domestic investments already proposed in Manufacturing and the Indian manufacturing scenario looks promising in days to come, provided its HR needs are served with the top level talents. So where does the real problem lie? Is it the payment! Certainly not the case, TATA Steel pays at par with any software firm in India and the same trend is followed by almost all the industries. “There are other issues like you can’t have a blast furnace in an air-conditioned environment.” Quotes Mr. Muthuraman CMD TATA Steel. It is time to discard the notion that the manufacturing sector is inherently less appealing because it may involve some physical labor. In the more advanced economies, a skilled factory floor worker is frequently paid more than a call-centre employee. Empowered with technology, the factory worker can add value at a remarkable rate. On grounds of opportunities for growth and performance, core sector like Metallurgy offers a much bigger platform for study of pure sciences, their application and innovation than the typical low end jobs in SITS (you are most likely doing these having a non computer background). To create a mark of your own in IT is possible only if you have a true ecstasy for it rather than treating it as just another insouciant career option. Only in case of this scarce infatuation the migration can be justifiable. However your misadventure can cast you and your nation in a hard to compensate manner
Adam Smith, the great economist, in his classical work “Wealth of Nations” stated “The acquired and useful abilities of inhabitants of a society are like general stock, the acquisition of such talents by maintenance of acquirer during his education always costs a real expense, which is capital, fixed.” Non-IT engineering graduates have this fixed asset of knowledge with them which has consumed national as well as personal resources to groom. And after having so much specialization in their respective fields they are simply “overqualified” for software jobs. It is wastage of such a costly talent of national interest. It really makes no sense of an engg. Graduate attending the overseas calls and illustrating specification of an IT product to its clients, a high school student in U.S. does the same thing.. Many a times engineers migrated from core branches in software firms find that they are performing at a subdued level than they are capable of.
The far-reaching adverse effects on the health of economy due to unbalanced migration of talent are glossed over in the vibrant hype of Indian software and IT enabled sector (SITS) in recent past. Undoubtedly, the Indian software industry has compiled a journey like fairy tale, earning huge amounts of forex ($ 18 bn in 2005). There are discussions about how India can transform itself into a knowledge-based economy by riding the information technology (IT) bandwagon. However the vision of a knowledge-based economy will be realized only on the foundation of a robust industrial economy. To be truly beneficial, the rain of IT must fall at the right place, in the right quantity, at the right time and for the right purpose. IT is an efficiency enhancing technology. You have to have production going there before you can use IT to enhance productivity. The simulation package Procast is good for nothing unless you are producing castings. Are we putting the horse before cart here? Economic development is cumulative; the growth of IT must be counterbalanced with a simultaneous growth in manufacturing, agriculture and infrastructure. An unbalanced stress on IT will only worsen the conditions. Migration of core sector talent will mean empowerment of software sector (which constitutes only 0.25% of total workforce contributes only 3.2% to GDP & consumes massive part of the top-level talent) at a cost of other sectors resulting in greater social inequality. On the other hand growth of core sector like manufacturing along with IT will have a multiplying effect on no. of employment opportunities involving a broader range of society. One should not be surprised on L&T Chairman A P Naik damning the Technocrats. He asks “Who will build the nation?” the construction major requires at least 2000 engineers every year at its present growth rate but it is facing severe paucity for recruitment. India can’t shine with sparkling of a few complexes in Bangalore & Hyderabad, India means much more than that. Development of infrastructure, good roads, healthcare, power grids and dams are more substantial for growth of India. Currently our SITS is chiefly dependent on the demands of western industrialized economies, around 80% of revenues generates through exports, but a nation can’t export its way to prosperity. More industrialization will also lead to more domestic demand of software. The Indian government is itself more interested in development of Infrastructure and Manufacturing e.g. 1, 70,000 crore rupees are proposed to be invested in highways over next 7 years. The market for engineering services outsourced to India is expected to reach around $ 40 bn. In next 13 years. There is a lot of FDI and domestic investments already proposed in Manufacturing and the Indian manufacturing scenario looks promising in days to come, provided its HR needs are served with the top level talents. So where does the real problem lie? Is it the payment! Certainly not the case, TATA Steel pays at par with any software firm in India and the same trend is followed by almost all the industries. “There are other issues like you can’t have a blast furnace in an air-conditioned environment.” Quotes Mr. Muthuraman CMD TATA Steel. It is time to discard the notion that the manufacturing sector is inherently less appealing because it may involve some physical labor. In the more advanced economies, a skilled factory floor worker is frequently paid more than a call-centre employee. Empowered with technology, the factory worker can add value at a remarkable rate. On grounds of opportunities for growth and performance, core sector like Metallurgy offers a much bigger platform for study of pure sciences, their application and innovation than the typical low end jobs in SITS (you are most likely doing these having a non computer background). To create a mark of your own in IT is possible only if you have a true ecstasy for it rather than treating it as just another insouciant career option. Only in case of this scarce infatuation the migration can be justifiable. However your misadventure can cast you and your nation in a hard to compensate manner
Friday, September 16, 2005
Ankur on bloggers
Hi, It’s a good news for nifftians as now ankur is also on blogspot. What are you waiting guys? Go, check his page shah of blah
Monday, September 12, 2005
Hi I am new to blogging, and it's my firstever blog.Just searching for people of similar interrests I came to blog page of jaya jha, it was really a nice page and I thought that I should also try a hand in blogging.Wait untill I post some of my earlier writings or write some new articles.
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