Indra Nooyi is no ordinary woman. She is one of the most powerful women in the world. She broke the glass ceiling many years ago and has managed to rise and rise in the corporate world even though she admits that she had to run to keep pace with the men walking. But that did not deter Indra, the king of gods in Hindu mythology. The god of thunder and rain, and a great warrior Indra is a symbol of courage and strength. The wind is his friend. Surely Indra Nooyi lived up to that name, working her life like the wind, with courage and strength
For Nooyi, 61, with two grown-up daughters, steering a $66.4-billion empire and earning a pay packet of over $18 million in 2013, is brutally honest and speaks from the heart, instantly striking a chord with many grappling with work-life balance issues.
Her basic grounding allows her to deal with a myriad of issues apart from work such as obesity and work-life balance. This despite the fact that she is one of the most powerful women in the world calling the shots at a mega multinational. She creates a buzz not only in the workplace but leads the chatter among the pack of global Indian women on the web too. And the social buzz around her is largely focused on three things; on her leadership qualities, her emotional appeal and her management of Pepsi as an organization.
But the buzz around Nooyi is grounded in reality. After all, it was under her stewardship that the cola giant revenues almost doubled from $ 35 billion to $66.42 billion between 2006 and 2014. She played a stellar role in giving shape to some of Pepsi’s biggest milestones since its journey since the late 1990s. She played a stellar role in the company acquiring brands like Tropicana and Quaker Oats and also to take the bold decision to venture into a separate restaurant business.
But Indra Nooyi’s story is a simple story of a powerful woman. The story of an Indian girl who grew up in conservative Chennai in Tamil Nadu and landed up in the US with little money and no safety net. While she studied in Connecticut, Indra worked night shifts as a receptionist.
The story goes that she struggled hard to put together US $50 to buy herself a western suit for her first job interview after she finished studies at Yale University. After she managed to get herself a suit, Indra was not too comfortable in her clothes. She got rejected and when she told her professor about it he asked her what she would have worn if she happened to be in India. Sari was her obvious reply, and her professor taught her something that day which she never let go. He said just be yourself and stick to what is comfortable. She got the next job in a sari and she never let go of the belief in herself. She has always been clear that she is so secure in herself that she didn’t have to play American in the corporate world.
It is not easy to find a woman and that too an Indian at the top of the Silicon Valley male mound. In a culture dominated by men, it is a rarity to find an Indian-origin woman created her won slot.
Padmasree Warrior is no doubt an exception. The chief tech officer at Ciscos Systems, Warrior ealier held positions like the the CTO and Veep at Motorola as far back as 2003. Before she left Motorola in 2007, she had become the topmost ranking officer in the company’s history. She joined the company in 1984 when she was one of the few women on the company’s rolls and went on to spend 23 years. She left Motorola to take up the job of CEO in Cisco.
Warrior’s background is that of an engineer. She was a student of the prestigious IIT-Delhi in 1982, one of five girls in her batch. She then went on to do a masters from Cornell University which gave her her strong domain expertise. She is also a great twiterrati with an amazing following of 1.46 million.
Firm in the belief that the quality of a loeader is based on the lasting difference the person makes while remaing true as a person. She has led Cisco in major market transitions and is looking forward with passion to mentor the next generation of leaders, with her special interest of training women in technology.
Growing up in India, Padmasree was very close to her parents. Engineering education in India is highly competitive, but she is proud to have been one of only five girls enrolled in her class of 250 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
It was no mean honour when Fortune Magazine named her as one of the four rising stars on its Most Powerful Women list as far back as in 2006. Warrior believe in technology and is of the view that it has a strong impact on society and our lives. From the industrial revolution to the information revolution the impact has been largely positive but occasionally negative too. Warrior’s take on the future world is that the internet, mobile and cloud will be at the heart of the unprecedented change that is taking place across every industry today.
In 1982, Warrior went to study chemical engineering at IIT, Delhi — no ordinary feat three decades ago. Later Warrior was to recollect that when she went to IIT she thought she was the smartest. But soon realized that she was not and that was her first lesson in humility. And she learned that true scientists and technologists are always learning.
Warrior then moved to the US, where she read for a master’s degree in chemical engineering at Cornell University. It was during her master’s that she was first exposed to microchips; Warrior specialised in electronic material. Her research work involved finding ways to make materials that would create semiconductors.
When she joined Cisco, the San Jose-headquartered company was trying to rebuild its image from a staid legacy establishment to a young consumer-friendly technology firm. Over the years, Warrior has been at the forefront of transforming Cisco and building the company’s strength around its focus area—the concept of connecting things ranging from soccer balls to household gadget through the internet.
Named among the top 15 most influential women driving innovation (and revenue) in corporate America by PINK magazine in 2008, Warrior is a member of the board of trustees for Cornell University. She also serves on the boards of cloud storage company Box, and American clothing and accessories retailer Gap.
Alka Banerjee is the Managing Director — Product Management, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and also heads the company’s joint venture in India with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). This is the company that calculates the indices that tell you the mood of the stock market at any time. The company calculates more than a million indices every day — globally. And it covers 83 countries.
Alka Banerjee embodies the global spirit of S&P Global both personally and professionally. As managing director and head of equities product management at S&P Dow Jones Indices, Banerjee travels the world to meet with investment and trading professionals and market participants, such as leaders of stock exchanges and local market regulators. Her goal is to find out how best S&P Dow Jones Indices’ can meet their needs, whether it’s through creating benchmarks to gauge markets, or indices that serve as a basis for investable products.
Alka could at best be called a global citizen despite the fact that she reached the US in 1994. She has her feet firmly on ground and clued in to what is happening locally. She sees India poised at an exciting time today with the promise of a lot of dynamism and growth in the country. She has observed her country of birth very closely and witnessed a lot of changes for the better in the last decade.
Banerjee’s imagery and influence are strong in the community where she matters most: investors. Online conversations about her are almost entirely about her domain expertise. Banerjee feels India helped develop her personality as well as her work ethic. She is clear that she is who she is because of her Indian parenting, her Indian schooling and the Indian value system that she grew up with. Banerjee is keen to promote index-based investing across the world. She feels every country needs robust capital markets... and a complete range of transparent, cost-effective and liquid products accessible to all. She sees herself helping to bring this message to all the countries around the world.
She feels that there are many moments of pride and joy at small accomplishments, but the most meaningful invariably tend to be deeply personal ones like when young colleagues tell her that she has been an inspiration to them and motivated them to push their own limits. That she feels is very humbling as well as rewarding.
She is India's richest self-made woman. Yet last September when India’s Silicon Valley came to a grinding halt to protest the release of the Cauvery waters, it was Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who raised her voice against holding demonstrations that crippled normal life. The prominent Bengaluru citizen got trolled no doubt but that did not cow her down.
This was not the first time that Kiran spoke up on issues of public concern. She has been as much vocal about Bengaluru’s civic infrastructure as she has been with gender bias in corporations. She is a strong person who is not afraid to share strong views that are based on fact.
It is this feistiness with which the 63-year-old chairperson and MD of Biocon has pioneered an enterprise in the field of biopharmaceuticals, emerging, in the process, as India’s richest self-made woman. Mazumdar-Shaw is at the peak of her career, and her strong return to the Forbes India Rich List for 2016, after dropping out in 2015, reflects her position.
Mazumdar-Shaw has always taken bold bets, some of which were ahead of their time and not always palatable to stakeholders to get to where she is today. But she stayed the course even as questions were repeatedly raised over Biocon’s business model and its need to spend copiously on research and development (R&D), without immediate sales and profitability.
Before establishing Biocon in 1978, Mazumdar-Shaw had returned to India with a master’s degree in malting and brewing from Ballarat College, Melbourne University. Her biography, Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech, points out that Mazumdar-Shaw, the daughter of Rasendra Mazumdar, former chief brewmaster at United Breweries, realised it wouldn’t be easy for a woman to land a job at a brewery in India those days. She was about to leave for Scotland to work at a malting company when she was approached by Les Auchincloss, the owner of an Irish company called Biocon Biochemicals. He wanted Mazumdar-Shaw to be their partner for the company’s proposed Indian foray.
Though initially hesitant, she decided to enter into a joint venture with the Irish firm. Just 25 at the time, she became the head of Biocon India. (Biocon Biochemicals was acquired by Unilever in 1989, and its stake in the Indian joint venture was sold to Mazumdar-Shaw in 1998. The brewing industry’s loss has been Indian pharma’s gain.
Behind many dreams that come true, there is a choice Kiran made that many might quail at. She put her work before all else and it was only when she was 44 that she decided to get married. She never once thought of having a family but then she does admit that she does miss having a child. But that’s a sacrifice she made with her eyes open and she is proud and happy of all that she has achieved in life. She discovered herself and the biggest gift of all she made ordinary people do extraordinary things. That’s no mean achievement.
Banking has come a long way from its male-centric image of yesteryears. In fact, surprisingly some of the biggest banks in the country are headed by women bankers. Naina Lal Kidwai, 60, is one such woman who has shattered the banking glass ceiling years ago and went on to be known as one of the biggest dealmakers in the country.
She started her career with the prestigious Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers. An economics graduate and a chartered accountant, she was bluntly told during the job interview that the firm did not employ women. Yet it hired her.
The list of Kidwai’s firsts is staggering: she was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School or HBS; the first woman to be hired by PriceWaterhouse in India; the first woman to lead a foreign bank in India. Kidwai says she had to work "very hard" to find her space among the men.
Kidwai reveals she was the first woman in her family to work. She comes from a very conventional north Indian family. One of two daughters, her parents had aspirations for the two sisters as they did not have a brother. She studied for a Masters in Business Administration at a time when her friends were mostly getting married. She was the youngest member of the HBS class of 1982
The years at Harvard altered her worldview and greatly influenced her leadership style. Kidwai is charming, highly amiable, and possesses a lot of pizzazz.
Despite her degrees and soaring career, Kidwai often faced tremendous pressure to give up. Her mother often asked her to quit once Kidwai herself became a mother.
But she persevered, inspired primarily by her father. There were no flexible working hours those days. Washrooms for women were usually located in a dark, dingy corner of the office. There were no laptops - reams of paper had to be carried home in bulky folders to work on at night.
Three decades of long hours, meetings at odd hours and constant travel have meant that Kidwai has missed attending important birthdays, anniversary celebrations, festivals and other important family moments. Some of it was tragic, but she never faltered in her focus. In fact, she found no time to visit her ailing father for months and when she finally fixed a day to visit him, he passed away two days before that.
Even now, Kidwai works out of two offices, one in Delhi and the other in Mumbai.
After years of hectic deal-making and negotiations - during her 13 years at ANZ Grindlays, eight at Morgan Stanley and more than a decade with HSBC – Naina also got involved in doing some pioneering work in water conservation and women's empowerment. She is also a non-executive director on the board of Nestle, a member of the Audit Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and on the governing board of the National Council for Applied Economic Research.
At 60, she feels as enthused as when she started.
In a recently published book, 30 Women in Power, a chapter on Kidwai rightly mentions her as ‘The First Lady’.
In an era when Indian women stepping out of their homes to chart careers was impossible to imagine, Naina chose to leave the country in pursuit of her dreams and the vision she had for herself.
A pioneer, she turned down the best international jobs to return to India because her heart was set on working in her own homeland. She is a nonconformist, who finds time for social causes and turns every adversity into an opportunity. A feminist in the best sense of the word — a doer, not a preacher — Naina Lal Kidwai is a woman of substance
Women have changed the way family businesses were once run as male bastions with sons as the natural inheritors. A fine example of such a change in our social and business mores is sisters Monica and Sonica who in tandem is marking new heights in a business established by their father.
Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Managing Director of MBD Group, and Sonica Malhotra Kandhari, Joint Managing Director of MBDGroup run the entire business together, a business founded in publishing and expanded into diverse areas. The two sisters decided to handle sectors that are close to them. So while, Monica handles the E-Learning, Teacher Capacity Building, Stationery, MLearning, Skill Development, Eco-Friendly Notebooks, Paper Manufacturing, ICT Infrastructure, Project Management, Sonica looks after the Hospitality, Real Estate, Mall Development and Management aspect as well as corporate finance, taxation, and legal for the entire group.
They may have started off in the business as daughters of the chairman of the group, but they have slowly and surely been leaving their own mark on the footprints of this mega business. And it has been no cakewalk for the two as it took a while for them to establish their credibility in-house. “It was a bit difficult initially, but once we proved ourselves, the acceptance was far greater,” says Sonica
It all started off with their father Ashok Kumar Malhotra, who began working at the family bookshop, Malhotra Book Depot (MBD), while still in school. At the age of 13, he authored and published his first book. It was the first step in the direction of what today is the MBD group. Later, Ashok Kumar Malhotra’s foray into the publishing world saw him at the helm of one of the largest publishing houses in the country
Today, the group has diversified into a multitude of areas which include hospitality, real estate, mall development and management, ICT infrastructure, skill development, among others. His legacy is being carried forward by his two daughters who have innovated and expanded the business along the way.
They have had their fair share of challenges and losing their father was tough on them. “After my father’s death, we not only had our own personal grief to deal with but also had the larger responsibility of MBD Group, as well as the need to protect what our father had given his life to build up. It was a very critical time for us; yet, we did not let this discourage us. We were successful in directing our multiple business verticals through many pitfalls,” Sonica recalls.
But the greatest challenge they faced was to bring innovation into the group without losing out on the MBD legacy. They have retained a lot of the key employees and talent in the company, and are proud that some of their employees have been with the company for more than 40 years.
Born in Jalandhar and brought up in Delhi, the sisters graduated from Jesus and Mary College in New Delhi.
Their mother has been a major influence in their life too. “My mother has always ensured that her daughters are brought up to be strong individuals with independent thinking and yet be grounded. It’s because of her remarkable contribution that we both are qualified (postgraduate diploma) Kathak dancers from Kathak Kendra, New Delhi, under Pandit Birju Maharaj Ji. This truly helped us in personal development, attaining emotional maturity, and meeting artists from all walks of life,” says Sonica.
The sisters share a comfortable working relationship that is based on understanding and mutual trust. Sonica says, “In some cases, although I may have a different opinion I would go by Monica’s judgement, as she has better knowledge of certain things and same is the case with her, on matters on which Monica feels I have a better understanding she would leave the final call to me.”
Monica was passionate about singing, dancing, and basketball. The other thing that drove her at a young age was the craving for learning. This led her to start working since the age of 15. She wanted to know what her father did at work and how he handled different business situations and would go and work in different departments in publishing after school every day. “Where my classmates bunked classes at times for a movie or so, I did for work and office.”
Monica’s own style of working has emerged from her father’s style, “My dad was a Karma Yogi and I idolise him. He taught me to learn from my mistakes, to be humble, to never stop learning. While he taught me to aim for the sky he also told me that creating job opportunities is the greatest social work. Do not learn tricks of the trade instead learn the trade. He also taught me ‘either be the best or the biggest at work’.”
She has always been drawn to the education sector and enjoys working towards bringing new techniques in the e-learning field of education.
Given that there are multiple verticals that need attention and the group as a whole needs dedicated attention, Monica’s business mantra is to keep the business backward and forward integrated as much to have better control on costs, time, and quality. Her focus is to create a fine blend of rigidity and flexibility in policies that help keep the team motivated. She wants the group to be recognised as futuristic and visionary.
Sonica was a top student through school and college. She studied BCom at Jesus and Mary College (Delhi University) and later pursued an MBA specialising in finance International Management Institute, New Delhi. She has also attended a Program in Leadership Development (PLD) from Harvard Business School, Boston.
“My father gave me total freedom – no supervision, no policing. It was his trust that kept me on my toes and helped me to work hard and not let him down. He explained that we all are born in an orbit. We can either choose to stay there and waste our potential or strive to push ourselves ahead to the next level that not only benefits us but also benefits the people walking along with us,” Monica remembers.
In these past few years, MBD Group has established itself in the hospitality industry through its maiden venture, Radisson Blu MBD Hotel Noida (Delhi NCR). The second venture of the group is the Radisson Blu Hotel MBD Ludhiana, which is the first fivestar deluxe hotel in Ludhiana.
They have also ventured into premium mixed-use developments, encompassing five-star hotel, premium retail and entertainment, under The MBD Neopolis again in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
The group has recently signed a Joint Venture with Steigenberger the leading German hospitality chain to open hotels in India.
Goa is a destination, they are aggressively looking at
IN MAY 2016, the then Raksha Mantri, Manohar Parrikar constituted a Committee under Lt Gen DB Shekatkar (Retd), to recommend measures to enhance combat capability and re-balance defence expenditure of the Armed Forces with an aim to increase “Teeth to Tail Ratio” of the Forces. The Shekatkar Committee, as it was called, submitted its report to the Ministry of Defence in December 2016. Parrikar left in March 2017 to take over as the CM of Goa and Arun Jaitley assumed additional charge of the Defence portfolio. Under Jaitley, the recommendations were partly approved in August 2017, with the MoD giving out the broad contours of what had been planned.
The MoD statement read: “In a first-ever exercise after Independence, the Ministry of Defence in consultation with the Indian Army has decided to reform the Indian Army in a planned manner. These decisions were approved by the Defence Minister.” The statement went on to say that in the first phase, reforms would involve redeployment and restructuring of approximately 57,000 posts of officers, junior commissioned officers and other ranks and civilians. It further stated that optimisation of signals establishments, closure of military farms and army postal establishments in peace locations as well as the restructuring of repair echelons in the army including base workshops will also be part of the extensive exercise.
The restructuring would include redeployment of ordnance echelons to include vehicle depots, ordnance depots and central ordnance depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms. The reforms would also be carried out to ensure better utilisation of supply and transport facilities and animal transport units. In addition, there would be an enhancement in standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in the Army as also improving the efficiency of the National Cadet Corps. The Committee had suggested 99 recommendations for structural changes in the Army out of which the defence ministry has accepted 65 after consultations with all the stakeholders. Implementation of the Shekatkar Committee Report has begun with the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security to close 39 military farms in a time-bound manner.
The above is indeed an important move to restructure the Army and to improve the teeth to tail ratio. The administrative component of the Army was a legacy of the British and it has served its purpose well. However, increasing digitisation of the Force, improved industrial capability within the country and rapid strides in communication technology necessitate a review of the methodology of providing administrative support to the Field Force. Earlier, in April this year, the issue of enhancing the Army’s overall strike capability had been deliberated upon in the Army Commanders’ Conference, which means that a broad consensus exists for the reform process within the Army.
Redeploying 57,000 personnel for combat duties is unlikely to significantly impact upon the teeth to tail ratio. Doing away with military farms, postal services and base workshops and reducing manpower in the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) is a positive step, but most of those laid off will be civilian noncombatants who cannot be assigned combat roles. The saving on their establishment costs would need to be redirected towards meeting the outsourcing costs as such services cannot be dispensed with. There would be some savings through ‘optimising’ non-combat support arms — Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) and Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME). This would be marginal. At a future time, the Army would need to restructure these services to form a composite logistics service rather than individual services carrying out these functions.
The Army is invariably seen as a manpower-heavy organisation fit for cutting ‘flab’ and therefore defence expenditure, especially revenue expenditure. It is not well appreciated that the Army, by the very nature of its role has to be a manpower intensive organisation, considering the nature of its employment on our borders with China and Pakistan and its continuing commitments in countering terrorism and insurgency. No technology can replace the manpower required for these tasks. The Navy and Air Force, on the other hand, are equipment and technology-intensive organisations operating from well established and compact bases with no commitment or employment in underdeveloped areas with extreme terrain and climatic conditions where supporting a combatant at the cutting edge may at times need more support troops than the combatant itself.
Siachen is a pertinent example. A more pertinent reform would lie in reforms in the defence support establishments like Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Director General Defence Estates, Director General Quality Assurance (DGQA), Ordnance Factory Board, Ordnance Factories, Defence Public Sector Undertakings and so on. Expenditure incurred on these organisations also forms part of the defence expenditure, but these see little accountability. The investment in these entities and the ‘teeth’ provided by them merits much greater scrutiny than the support elements within the services, but this is rarely if ever considered. Interestingly, defence civilians account for 40 percent of the defence pension budget. The recommendations of the committee on these structures is unlikely to see implementation.
It needs to be appreciated that India is burdened with a large number of ordnance factories and Defence Public Sector Undertakings, which continue to underperform. Privatisation of these can be the most effective way to improve the teeth to tail ratio. A comparison of the manpower efficiency of the government-owned Vehicle Factory, Jabalpur and the private sector Ashok Leyland is revealing (See chart: data for the years 2008-2010).
While outsourcing has always been considered as a viable tool to cut manpower, such methods throw up specific challenges, some of which are as under:
• Strategic/critical core activities in defence sector not feasible
• Large-scale civil staff attrition
• Lack of availability of facilities meeting quality standards in private sector.
• Limited private sector participation
• Lack of detailed guidelines.
• Concerns about information security..
• Efficient quality assurance mechanisms.
As part of the modernisation process and the efforts to reduce manpower, we could consider Performance Based Logistics. Under traditional contract structures, the military services are responsible for determining the type and quantity of parts they need, as well as making repairs, while the contractors only have to supply parts. PBL contracts differ by putting contractors in charge of knowing what parts are needed for the types of repair work. The inherent incentive for the supplier is that if they can make equipment more reliable so that it spends less time in the shop for repairs, their costs will go down and their profit margin will increase. We need to look into integrated, affordable, performance packages designed to optimise system readiness and meet performance goals for a weapon system through long-term support arrangements with clear lines of authority and responsibility.
We could also look into Public Private Partnership (PPP) models. A PPP arrangement is a business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of the government and one or more private sector companies. The cost of using the service is borne exclusively by the users of the service and not by the taxpayer and the capital investment is made by the private sector on the basis of a contract with the government to provide the agreed service.
Another area where reforms are required is in the Ministry of Defence itself. It comprises solely of civilians, with very limited knowledge of matters military. India perhaps is the only country in the world which has a Ministry of Defence devoid of military officers. Most modern democracies have half if not more of their personnel in the ministry from the military. India has none. This is a structural flaw which has never been rectified due to government apathy. Briefly put, the MoD has ‘full control without accountability or responsibility’.
Ideally, the MoD should have a mix of military and civilians working together in a cohesive manner, to meet demands of national security. This is resisted by the bureaucracy, which continues to retain a vice-like grip on the Armed Forces. Integration of the MoD, by bringing in uniformed personnel in the decision-making process is a long overdue reform, but one that is unlikely to come about in the near future. However, reforms in the management of defence at the apex level are necessary, if meaningful reforms in the Armed Forces are to come about. While a good beginning has been made in putting up some of the recommendations of the Shekatkar Committee for implementation, much more is required to be done. The new Raksha Mantri, Nirmala Sitharaman indeed has a most challenging task in front of her.
Warren Buffet was born to be a businessman. Stories abound about his uncanny ways to make money since he was a little boy. Clearly, he was an unusual child. He found ways to make a nickel since very young. When he was just six, Buffet made his first stash – by selling packs of Juicy Fruit, Spearmint and Doublemint for five cents apiece.
Warren seemed to be obsessed with numbers and calculations since childhood. Back in his hometown church in Omaha, he in fact calculated the lifespans of people who composed hymns. His official biography, The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life, is full of such stories, detailing the making of a legend from a very young age.
He began dreaming up money-making endeavours from the time he was 6, and he hoarded his earnings. He would look at a dollar but saw the $10 it would eventually become when compounded. (He held off on major philanthropy until late in his life, ostensibly for that reason.) At 14, he made enough money delivering newspapers to file a $7 tax return. He deducted his watch and bicycle as business expenses
He's also always been an investor. Buffett, who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, bought his first stock when he was 11, in the summer of 1942. (That means now, at 87, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has been on the market for 76 years.)
When he was 13, Buffett took a job delivering copies of the Washington Post and tracked when homes along his routes had magazine subscriptions that were expiring. He would sell them new subscriptions. By the time he was 15, he had made $2,000 with his media distribution business and invested $1,200 of that in a 40-acre farm where he had a profit-sharing agreement with a Nebraskan farmer, writes Schroeder.
In his youth, Buffett also had other entrepreneurial schemes to make money: He bought used golf balls for $3.50 and sold them for $6; he rummaged through discarded horse race betting tickets searching for winners to turn them in for the payout; he sold collectible stamps, buffed cars and bought and installed pinball machines in local hairdressers, taking a cut of the profits.
By Warren Buffett’s own admission, his time and place of birth contributed to his success — in the past eight decades, the United States has gone from strength to strength, growing from a $91.2 billion economy in 1930 to $15.7 trillion in 2012.
Buffett explains this in The Snowball. “Imagine there are two identical twins in the womb, both equally bright and energetic. And the genie says to them, ‘One of you is going to be born in the United States, and one of you is going to be born in Bangladesh. And if you wind up in Bangladesh, you will pay no taxes. What percentage of your income would you bid to be the one that is born in the United States?’ It says something about the fact that society has something to do with your fate and not just your innate qualities. The people who say, ‘I did it all myself,’ and think of themselves as Horatio Alger — believe me, they’d bid more to be in the United States than in Bangladesh. That’s the ovarian lottery.” Buffett says the fact that he was born in 1930 in the United States as a white male was winning the ovarian lottery. “I had all kinds of luck… I’ve had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were 50-to-one against me being born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some other country where my chances would have been way different.”
Warren’s father Howard Buffett was instrumental in shaping his values, building on the mid-Western culture of modesty and humility. Buffett Sr, a stockbroker who later ran successfully for Congress, was a man of high integrity. In the year after he was voted into power, the government announced a pay hike, which he refused. When his father got to Washington, he returned the pay increase to the Treasury saying he was elected at the old pay and he was not going to take the pay increase. Integrity and humility are two virtues Warren Buffett, too, embodies.
Buffett went to Columbia University for his Master's degree after he read Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor at the Omaha public library when he was 19. Also called the ‘father of value investing’, Graham coined the term ‘margin of safety’, which became the bedrock of the value investing philosophy and also the foundation for Buffett’s investing framework. Over the years, while Buffett has developed his own distinct philosophy,he has not deviated from the underlying principle of buying an asset at a substantial discount to its intrinsic worth as preached by Graham. Buffett also worked in Graham’s partnership firm, GrahamNewman Corporation, between 1954 and 1956 before setting up his own partnership. He calls The Intelligent Investor the best book he has ever read and still considers it a must-read for every investor.
After an extremely successful stint at the Buffett Partnership, Buffett decided to close down the partnership and return the money to investors in 1969. Despite his fabulous performance, he took this bold decision citing “inability to find bargains in the current market”. He liquidated all shares held by the partnership, except Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company he had systematically taken control of. Buffett qualifies his purchase of Berkshire as the “dumbest” stock he ever bought but then turned it into his famed investment vehicle. When Buffett bought into Berkshire, its textiles business was ailing, but he managed to revive the company under the able stewardship of CEO, Ken Chace. But Buffett also read correctly the winds of change affecting the textiles business, so he quickly changed direction and invested its cash flows into other, more lucrative businesses, including insurance.
In 1967, Buffett bought into an insurance company called National Indemnity at a substantial premium to the prevailing market price. He thought of insurance as a business that provided “free” cash to invest as long as the firm did not make any underwriting loss. Using the insurance structure as his investment vehicle is really Buffett’s masterstroke as it provided an implicit leverage without the firm having to actually borrow any money, bolstering overall returns. This “float” is estimated to have added nearly a third to Berkshire’s annual returns.
Charlie Munger, vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has been Buffett’s partner and confidante for 54 years. Munger was instrumental in making Buffett see the merits of focusing on high-quality companies and paying up for it.
Munger meeting Buffett was pure serendipity. Buffett’s neighbour Dorothy Davis and her doctor husband were impressed enough to ante $100,000 when Buffett started his investing sojourn. Dr Davis felt Buffett’s temperament was uncannily like that of Munger and finally introduced the two at a dinner party in 1959. From there on, the two communicated regularly, sharing investing ideas and even ended up holding the same companies in their portfolios. Writer Janet Lowe says, “They hit it off instantly because they both have a take-quick-action kind of brain.” The association was finally cemented in 1978 when Munger became BRK vice-chairman and then chairman of Wesco Financial in 1984. Before they joined forces on Buffett’s insistence, both managed money separately.
See’s Candies, a California-based candy company, was the landmark investment that marked the departure of Buffett from a purely quantitative process that Graham advocated a quality-focused approach — the concept of ‘moat’, in Buffett parlance. Buffett bought the company on Munger’s recommendation, at a price far higher than what he had paid for any stock till then. He paid $25 million, or 6X operating income, in 1972
But Buffet was to run one of the biggest philanthropist of our time. He made a fortune from his uncanny ability to read the market, yet he has been canny enough to give away 98 per cent of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is quite philosophical when it comes to money as he puts in The Snowball, “Wealth is just a bunch of claim checks on the activities of others in the future. You can use that wealth in any way that you want to. You can cash it in or give away.” That, in short, is Warren Buffet for you.
Demonetised currency finds its way back into the system — but can we still call it a success?
• Demonetisation policy failed to purge black money from the market, but analysts still view it as a success.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party saw a resounding electoral win in March, following implementation.
• The programme has improved tax returns and encourages digital payments, figures suggest.
November 2016 changed many things for India and Indians. Suddenly, overnight, people found themselves cashless and helpless. The government by declaring that two big currency of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 as invalid caught the nation unawares. A year later the repercussions are still being felt what with the economy taking a downward turn. India's demonetised currency may have found its way back into the system, but analysts suggest that far from tarnishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image, the strategy will ultimately be viewed as a success.
It’s important to remember that the demonetisation move was intended more as a political move than as an economic one. The drama of demonetisation allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demonstrate in a very visible way his commitment to fighting corruption and black money.
With this unexpected shock-and-awe announcement, Modi tried to fulfill a declared campaign objective to fight “black money” or to put it another way, cash made from tax evasion, crime, and corruption. The prime minister declared that his announcement would not only rid the nation of black money, it would render worthless the counterfeit notes that were reportedly printed by Pakistan to fuel terrorism against India.
The initial stunned reaction was followed by a panicky scramble to unload the expiring notes: the very night of the announcement, people rushed to petrol pumps to fill up their tanks, jewelers tripled their sales, and loans were hastily returned. There were unexpected consequences too: housewives who had salted away their savings in biscuit tins for a rainy day found their years of thrift would soon be worthless. In most cases, even their husbands had not known how much their wives had saved.
But within days the real result of the Modi announcement became apparent— the severe disruption of normal economic activity. Inept implementation made a mockery of the initial shock-and-awe. Not nearly enough new currency had been printed before the announcement (some estimates were that only 4 percent of replacement currency was printed), so banks did not even have a fraction of the money needed to meet consumer demand for new notes. Long queues snaked in, outside and around banks, foreign exchange counters (including at the international airport), and ATMs to change the old notes and withdraw new ones.
But the ATMs were largely empty since the new notes had been made in a different size from the old ones and did not fit the existing ATMs. This needed re-calibration, a process that took tens of thousands of engineers several months to complete. The Government had not thought of making the new notes the same size as the old to avoid this obvious problem.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence that any of the declared objectives of the scheme will be attained. In a largely cash-fueled economy, all cash is not “black money” and all black money is not cash. In fact, most of India’s black money has been invested in real estate and other forms of property, gold and jewellery, investments in property abroad, and “round-tripping” that has seen the money return to India’s stock market as “foreign investment” via countries like Mauritius. The Modi move, therefore, touches only a small proportion of black money assets.
Worse, the government had hoped that the sudden move would eliminate a large portion of the black money holdings altogether from the government’s liabilities since it was assumed that many hoarders would destroy their money rather than attract the attention of the taxman by declaring it. Various agencies of the government had initially estimated that around 25 to 35 percent of the demonetized banknotes would not be deposited by the stipulated dates. On November 23rd, 2016, the Attorney General of India told the Supreme Court of India that the government expected that notes worth four to five lakh crores (some $800 billion) would be rendered worthless by not being deposited
But the story unfolded somewhat different: the annual report from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, found that a total of 15.28 trillion rupees ($239 billion) worth of cancelled high-value notes were deposited or exchanged for new money in the 10 months since the strategy was implemented
just one percent shy of the number in circulation before the plans came in.
The results suggest a damning failure for Modi and his flagship policy. In November last year, Modi announced the radical step to demonetize the currency notes in order to tackle the rampant problem of the so-called black money – billions of dollars’ worth of cash in unaccounted wealth and fake currency notes. The government decided to introduce a new 500 rupee note and also introduce a higher denomination banknote of 2,000 rupees. Opponents hit out at Modi and accused him of damaging the economy and tarnishing the country's credibility at home and abroad. First quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data released marked a three-year-low of 5.7 percent, versus 7.9 percent the year before. The RBI had to spend 79.65 billion rupees on quickly printing updated replacements for the 500 rupee ($7) and 1,000 rupee notes which were abruptly banned at midnight on November 8 last year, according to the central bank's annual report.
Meanwhile, cash-dependent small businesses and poorer citizens – those Modi had claimed to be helping – have been badly hurt by note-shortages this year.
Prior to the data release, it was unclear how successful Modi's policy had been, and as such his political motives were enough to win him favor with India’s vast segment of poorer voters at the polls. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won overwhelming support in March 2017 elections in Uttar Pradesh, India most populous and one of its poorest states.
“If the government had not spent an incredible amount of energy on demonetisation it may -- may, because it had not done anything the previous six months either -- have been able to pay attention to the deeper problems of low investment and job creation,” says Dr C Rammanohar Reddy, the economist who edited the Economic and Political Weekly for 12 years, and is the author of the widely acclaimed book, Demonetisation and Black Money.
The government and its supporters can argue that even if demonetization failed to remove black money from circulation, that at least Modi and the government tried to do something about it.
But politics aside, analysts claim that the economic benefits will emerge over time.
The demonetisation campaign clearly contributed to the economic slowdown, reflected in poor GDP figures in April-June. In hindsight, this can be deemed a failure from an economic point of view. Still, assuming that demonetisation is complemented by efforts to enhance tax compliance, then some success can be salvaged and lead to higher government revenue.
As a result of demonetization, and in tandem with Modi's 'Digital India' strategy, which aims to expand India's online infrastructure, the country now sits on a treasure trove of data. The government has been gradually making enrolment to its national electronic database 'Aadhaar' mandatory for tax returns, the opening of bank accounts and any purchases above 50,000 rupees. It is estimated that over 99 percent of Indians aged 18 and above are now enrolled in the scheme.
This means that the government can expect to see the benefits of taxation on previously hidden black money over the coming months and years.
India's finance ministry says it is probing 1.8 million bank accounts where cash inflows during the demonetization period "did not appear in line with its tax profile," meaning it can expect some belated tax payments.
There are also long-term benefits from demonetization in terms of increasing income tax payments going forward and encouraging the use of digital payments over cash, a means of encouraging better tax compliance among businesses.
However, whether it is a model to be replicated by other countries struggling to combat corruption and illicit money is not yet clear.
The initial economic fallout may be too much for other economies to stomach. On balance, governments abroad are unlikely to replicate India's experiment given the economic fallout. Traditionally, other governments have only embarked on demonetization schemes in times of extreme need, such as hyperinflation, political upheaval and wars.
Encouraged by the spontaneous outpouring of sympathy and resolve across the country after Gauri Lankesh’s murder, I began to ferret out my last year’s notebook. The thousands who came out in marches need a regular formation to lean against – a nondoctrinaire left. Are such movements stirring globally? I fell back on my coverage of events, including elections in the US, Spain, France, the UK and the mayhem in virtually every West Asian country.
Because there is no tradition of coverage of international affairs by Indian journalists, we sometimes miss out on external affairs impacting on our political and social currents.
Let me give you just one example. The post 9/11 global war on terror generated a wave of Islamophobia which, as a reaction, augmented by geometrical progression, cesspools where more terror bred.
When Narendra Modi turned up in Gujarat in October 2001 as Chief Minister, he was not even a member of the state assembly. On October 7, 2001, began the US airstrikes against Afghanistan. Even as the world – India included – remained riveted on the menacing fireworks for months, Islamophobia and terrorism grew apace. The global anti-Muslim atmosphere amplified on world TV was a Godsend for Modi to shape his majoritarian platform in the state and beyond.
New Delhi found itself in the embrace of a global power, buoyed by its recent triumph over the Soviet Union. This victory was marketed not as a victory for human values, but as a triumph of unbridled capitalism. This self-image took something of a knock in 2007-08 when the very citadel of capitalism, Lehman Brothers, collapsed. Then other citadels fell.
Indians did not quite see the writing on the wall as starkly as the more creative folks in the West did.
Corporate American greed and crime became the theme of a play which set West End in London ablaze. Enron, based on the power project in Maharashtra, shrouded in corruption, became the most talked about script by playwright Lucy Pebbles. It had an extended run on Broadway as well. The irony, of course, is that the play is based on Enron’s Indian scandal. But India had buried its head in the sand. No libertarian theatre group has ever thought of producing the play in Mumbai or New Delhi.
The post-2008 political restiveness in the West is there for all to see. The word “establishment” has acquired a particularly negative connotation and establishments are under attack from both flanks, Left as well as the right. Everywhere, even in countries where it has held on to power, it has done so by throwing everything into the battle – money and media above all.
In the US even this combination has not worked.
For the Democratic nomination, a liberal Left, Bernie Sanders was way ahead of others in the race but he was grounded citing a 1962 law. It did not matter whom the Republicans nominated because Hillary Clinton, being the darling of the Establishment, would trounce whoever the Republican candidate might be. In their obstinate determination to have Hillary as their nominee, the authors of the script forgot the cardinal point: an antiEstablishment electorate was by the Democratic Party’s choice, being required to elect a candidate who was nothing if not the very core of the establishment. Well, they helped manufacture Trump.
Today, in September 2017, opinion polls describe Sanders as the most popular American politician by a long shot. But we also know that the ghost of Joseph McCarthy oversees much of what the establishment does. Will this establishment versus the people deadlock ever be resolved?
The Establishment versus the popular will debate in the UK, is poised for an outcome which is healthy for democracy. Oddly enough, my gloom at Gauri Lankesh’s murder was dispelled by a four deck headline, in large fonts, as the front page lead story in Britain’s most rightwing, establishment newspaper – the Sunday Telegraph. The headline read: Tory Rebels Told: Back Brexit or get Corbyn”. When the establishment begins to project the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, as the bogeyman, it is reasonable to assume that the establishment does not find itself in good electable health. In any case, umpteen polls in recent months give Corbyn a huge advantage.
The novelty of the surprise 39-year-old Centre-right Emmanuel Macron provided has worn out quite as rapidly as it had caused the French to be in its thrall. Three months into his Presidency, he is being seen increasingly as power hungry and inexperienced. What has made him look a little silly recently is the $36,000 bill paid to a “make-up” team which helps him conserve his “boyish” looks. His ratings have plummeted, encouraging debate that the more “authentic” peoples’ candidates, if not the establishment’s, may well have been the Left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon and, for the right, Marine Le Pen. The Establishment in Spain, a descendant of the Franco era, is doggedly keeping the notoriously corrupt Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in power by the management of the arithmetic in the assembly. Even so, Pablo Iglesias of the Podemos, (Communist) has been holding his own.
Syriza or Communist party, which had come to power in Greece, was badgered into compliance by Germany and EU on issues like austerity, exactly the policies the party had opposed to come to power. So it will someday be replaced by its rightist counterpart in the coming elections.
The point I am making is this: the Gauri Lankesh murder has not taken place in an atmosphere of total helplessness for folks who have their heart in the right place. The pre-2008 drab, right-wing uniformity is under challenge. A new, nondoctrinaire, Left is on the ascendant in many places. Eruptions taking place elsewhere will, in the medium to long-run impact on India. The traditional Left in India is, of course, on the retreat but the ideology responsible for Gauri’s murder will remain under challenge by regional forces in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka etcetera
The BJP’s defeat at the hands of AAP in Delhi, Ahmad Patel’s victory in Gujarat, an unprecedentedly massive rally in Bihar, the embarrassment on demonetization, are clearly not making the rulers smell of roses. Slowly coming into focus, is a real question mark on the longevity of the structure which evidently shelters killers of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh.
At Vedica, I can be on a platform with minds that are not only rich in experience but are from diverse exposures with no barriers. An environment created to promote learning, this will definitely bring out the best in me.” This is Aneesha Sharma’s testimonial on the official website of The Vedica Scholars Programme for Women.
Aneesha recently graduated from Christ University, Bangalore, majoring in English, Psychology and Performing Arts. She has always been attracted to inter-disciplinary education. She has explored fields such as Human Resources and Clinical Psychology, interned with NGOs such as Dream A Dream, understood the workings of an organisation at Sennheiser, as well as worked with Vimhans Hospital. Her leadership skills came into play when she led team-building workshops for the MBA class at Christ University. And then she found Vedica, a unique platform for women — an 18-month residential, postgraduate management course specifically designed for young women called the Vedica Scholars Programme.
For a girl from Coimbatore, Vedica proved to be everything that she had hoped. Having graduated in computer science engineering from the Kumaraguru College of Technolgy in Coimbatore, Ashmita Kannan finally found an answer to what she was looking for. She had started working at a data analytics firm and seemed to think that she had made a good start in her career but soon she became restless.
She felt that this was not what she wanted to do. In fact, she wanted to take time off to study, explore a variety of subjects to see where her interests lay. She was also not interested in an MBA programme at an IIM or ISB. She too discovered Vedica.
This unique multidisciplinary MBA programme, probably the first of its kind, is being offered by the Vedica Foundation and the Shri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication in New Delhi.
Kannan opted for Vedica because it gave her a chance to look beyond the profitcentric corporate CEO mindset. She soon was able to explore a lot of qualities which she didn’t know existed before. She has now learned how to handle conflict better, accept feedback and improve her people management skills. It’s been a win-win for both Aneesha and Ashmita.
Cofounded by Anuradha Das Mathur, The Vedica Scholars Programme for Women is backed by a governing council that includes former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and McKinsey & Company director emeritus Joanna Barsh.
Interestingly, Mathur's cofounder is Pramath Raj Sinha, a former McKinsey partner and founding dean of ISB, a top business school. ISB’s illustrious governing board reads like the whos-who of global business and wealth: the Reliance Group’s Anil Ambani, Dell’s Michael Dell, ArcelorMittal's Lakshmi Mittal, Khosla Ventures' Vinod Khosla, among others. But of the 72-member governing board at ISB, only five are women.
The corporate sector is just one avenue for Vedica students. Development professional Tania Tauro is confident the Vedica qualification will sharpen her management skills in her line of work. She’s done her master’s in development from the Azim Premji University and has worked in the area of public health with two NGOs, Armman and Magic Bus Foundation. Anuradha Mathur, a media professional and entrepreneur, is Dean of the Vedica Programme. She is one of its founders. The other two founders are Pramath Raj Sinha, founder and first Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Daljeet Wadhwa, Founding Director of the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication.
There were several reasons why they started Vedica. They were primarily concerned that many academically bright young women were dropping out of the workforce a few years into promising careers. To create a pool of financially independent women with determination to stay the course in their careers was the starting point of Vedica.
After being selected to be a part of the Fortune and US State Department Emerging Women Leaders program due to Mathur’s existing media firm, 9.9 Media, she was exposed to a larger global debate on what the working world for women is like.
Arming women scholars with selfawareness, self-confidence, the power to negotiate, retain work-life balance and network were important considerations when Mathur and Sinha sat down to create the Vedica programme.
Launched in July 2015, the Vedica course is now on its third intake of students, with applications coming in from around India and the world. With a 10 per cent acceptance rate, students are typically aged between 22 and 26, although there is no set age limit in place.
It's first batch of graduating students joined roles at a variety of corporates including Google and Nestle.
The other driving reason for Vedica was that the traditional ‘vanilla MBA’, as Mathur terms it, is losing some of its sheen and there was a need to embellish the core of management practice by adding the liberal arts, communication and personal growth. So Vedica students learn a gamut of liberal arts like micro and macroeconomics, women’s studies, development, public policy, history, philosophy, psychology and international relations. Courses in communication and thinking help Vedica students develop their logical, analytical and critical thinking skills. These factor in written, oral and visual communication skills that extend to business writing, drafting reports and proposals, presentation skills, social media engagement and public speaking.
There is an emphasis on personal growth, critical for women so that they can handle conflicts and dilemmas at their workplace.
Art appreciation and theatre workshops are juxtaposed with courses in public policy, sustainable development, impact evaluation and other subjects.
The best thing about Vedica is that the education is broad-based. So while some have their sights on careers in Silicon Valley and quantum mechanics, others are keen to better appreciate art. Broad-based learning is really the crucible of education.
As the first batch of Vedica scholars readies to go out into the world, the question is whether they are equipped for the challenges coming their way. The Vedica team certainly thinks so. While the placement process starts, an exciting onemonth ‘Shadow a Woman CEO’ programme begins in the first week of August. The young women will spend a month getting hands-on experience of working with top-rung, professional women like Anu Acharya, CEO, Mapmygenome, Gunjan Soni, CMO of Myntra, Pratibha Advani, CFO, Tata Communications, Hitu Chawla, India Head–Enterprise, Microsoft. Then there are others like Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India, and Roxanne Hakim, Social Development Cluster Leader at the World Bank.
If the scholars develop a great rapport with seniors in the industry through the programme, they become mentors for life.
The curriculum emphasises how women’s strengths can play to the work environment in a similar vein to a traditional MBA programme. Classes use role models, inviting both male and female speakers from a variety of business backgrounds, and students spend one month shadowing a female CEO mentor. International mentors are welcomed, encouraging the women students to get experience in a global work environment.
As the programme grows, Vedica hopes to also become a hub of professional research on women’s issues, which can influence public policy and encourage women’s productivity within the working world and grow into a full-fledged university.
But in the meantime, the goal is to ensure the Vedica students are equipped intellectually and emotionally to climb the ladder of financial independence in the workplace. After all, an MBA from Vedica is smart, female and beyond profit.
Marked with firework displays and family feasts, Diwali, is a fiveday festival celebrated by millions of people across the world every Autumn. The festival is observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, with its main theme the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.
Also known as the festival of lights, houses are decorated with candles and colourful lights and people share gifts and recite prayers.
Celebrations carry on until the fifth day when Bhai Dooj or Feast for brothers is observed. On this day sisters invite their brothers to a meal, which includes their favourite dishes. The whole ceremony signifies the duty of a brother to protect his sister, as well as a sister’s blessings for her brother.
Indians celebrate this hugely popular annual festival with family gatherings, glittering clay lamps, festive fireworks, strings of electric lights, bonfires, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship to Goddess Lakshmi. Some believe that Lakshmi wanders the Earth looking for homes where she will be welcomed. People open their doors and windows and light lamps to invite Lakshmi in.
Over the centuries, Diwali has become a national festival that is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith: Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs. Hindus interpret the Diwali story based on where they live: In northern India they celebrate the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps.
Southern India celebrates it as the day that Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In western India the festival marks the day that Lord Vishnu, the Preserver (one of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon King Bali to rule the netherworld.
In all interpretations, one common thread rings true—the festival marks the victory of good over evil.
Non-Hindu communities have other reasons for celebrating the holiday: In Jainism, it marks the nirvana or spiritual awakening of Lord Mahavira on October 15, 527 B.C.
In Sikhism, it marks the day that Guru Hargobind Ji, the Sixth Sikh Guru was freed from imprisonment.
Deepawali or Diwali is the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals. It is the festival of lights: deep means "light" and avali "a row," or "a row of lights." Diwali is marked by four days of celebration, which literally illuminates the country with its brilliance and dazzles all with its joy.
The festival occurs in late October or early November. It falls on the 15th day of the Hindu month, Kartik, so it varies every year. This year it will be celebrated on October 19.
Each of the four days in the festival is separated by a different tradition. What remains true and constant is the celebration of life, its enjoyment, and a great sense of goodness.
Historically, Diwali can be traced back to ancient India. It most likely began as an important harvest festival. However, there are various legends pointing to the origin of Diwali.
Some believe it to be the celebration of the marriage of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, with Lord Vishnu. Others use it as a celebration of her birthday as Lakshmi is said to have been born on the new moon day of Kartik.
In Bengal, the festival is dedicated to the worship of Ma Kali, the dark goddess of strength. Lord Ganesha— the elephant-headed god, and symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom—is also worshiped in most Hindu homes on this day. In Jainism, Deepawali has the added significance as marking the great event of Lord Mahavira attaining nirvana.
Diwali also commemorates the return of Lord Ram (along with Sita and Lakshman) from his 14-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
Each day has its own tale, legend, and myth to tell. The first day of the festival, Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.
Amavasya, the second day, marks the worship of Lakshmi when she is in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year to light millions of lamps and dispel darkness and ignorance while spreading the radiance of love and wisdom.
It is on the third day, Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu. The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes.
Some people refer to Diwali as a five-day festival because it includes the festival of Dhanteras (dhan meaning “wealth” and teras meaning “13th”). This celebration of wealth and prosperity is two days before the festival of lights
The tradition of gambling on Diwali also has a legend behind it. It is believed that on this day, Goddess Parvati played dice with her husband Lord Shiva. She decreed that whosoever gambled on Diwali night would prosper throughout the ensuing year.
All Diwali rituals have a story to tell. Homes are illuminated with lights and firecrackers fill the skies as an expression of respect to the heavens for the attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, and prosperity.
According to one belief, the sound of firecrackers indicates the joy of the people living on earth, making the gods aware of their happiness. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by the firecrackers kill many insects and mosquitoes, which are plentiful after the rains.
Beyond the lights, gambling, and fun, Diwali is also a time to reflect on life and make changes for the upcoming year.
To Give and Forgive. It is common practice that everyone forgets and forgives the wrongs done by others during Diwali.
To Rise and Shine. Waking up during the Brahmamuhurta (at 4 am or 1 1/2 hours before sunrise) is a great blessing from the standpoint of health, ethical discipline, efficiency in work, and spiritual advancement.
To Unite and Unify. Diwali is a great unifying force and it can soften even the hardest of hearts. It is a time when you will find people mingling and embracing one another with love.
To Prosper and Progress. On this day, Hindu merchants in North India open their new account books and pray for success and prosperity during the coming year. Everyone buys new clothes for the family.
Employers, too, purchase new clothes for their employees.
To Illuminate Your Inner Self. The lights of Diwali also signify a time of inner illumination. Hindus believe that the light of lights is the one that steadily shines in the chamber of the heart. Sitting quietly and fixing the mind on this supreme light illuminates the soul.
In each legend, myth, and story of Deepawali lies the significance of the victory of good over evil. It is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope
From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity.
Diwali is celebrated around the world. Outside of India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities. If you are away from the sights and sounds of Diwali, light a diya, sit quietly, shut your eyes, withdraw the senses, concentrate on this supreme light, and illuminate the soul.
India is heading to South Kensington for the Science Museum’s latest season, celebrating the global influence of India’s science, culture and thought. Joining ‘Illuminating India’ is Danny Boyle in a Q&A following a special screening of ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’, the ‘Bluebird Tea Company’ hosting tea blending workshops, renowned speaker Sadhguru – named one of India’s 50 most influential people, talks from Indian science, tech and innovation experts and famed Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission, Moumita Dutta. Much of the season is free, however, some events are ticketed.
The Science Museum had earlier in the year celebrated Vasant Panchami and introduced two exhibitions dedicated to the people, culture and skills of India. Running from 21 September 2017 to May 2018, “Illuminating India” will promote the rich culture and history of innovation in India.
The first exhibition is an ambitious and unprecedented survey of photography in India from the emergence of the medium in the 19th century to the present day. The other will highlight the long tradition of scientific thought in India and present India’s extraordinary expertise in observation, calculation and innovation, emphasising the importance of science in India as a way of understanding the world and creating a better society.
The idea was announced by Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2016 as the UK premier visited India to open the UKIndia Tech Summit. The Science Museum is the most visited museum in the country by school groups and is uniquely placed to engage the next generation of scientists and engineers in developing a global perspective on science, innovation and future bilateral cooperation. The activities will mark the British Council’s UK/India 2017 season, celebrating the vibrant cultural history of the two countries.
Director of the Science Museum Group, Ian Blatchford, says: “India’s history and culture are built on a rich tradition of scientific thought and innovation. The stories we will be showcasing through this vibrant season not only shaped India but had global significance.”
Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital and Culture expands: “India has a rich scientific history that dates back thousands of years, and continues to influence societies across the world. This exhibition will educate new audiences on the exciting story of Indian design and innovation from the ancient past to today. It is a fantastic addition to the UK-India Year of Culture programme that will strengthen the special cultural partnership between our two countries and celebrate the shared ties across science, design and the arts.”
At its heart are two major exhibitions: 5000 Years of Science and Innovation and Photography 1857–2017. Respectively they present a kaleidoscopic history of scientific breakthroughs in India and a unique photographic survey of the country's technological and cultural development that begins at the dawn of photography itself. The varied event season spotlights the diverse scientific and cultural fabric of India and includes film screenings, music and dance performances, conversations with experts and much more.
5000 Years of Science and Innovation
From some of the earliest cities to interplanetary exploration, Indian innovation in science, technology and mathematics has dramatically shaped the world we live in today.
5000 Years of Science and Innovation reveals how the Mughal emperors conserved nature in the 16th century, how 20th-century mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan revolutionised mathematics, and how the Indian Space Research Organisation sent a camera to Mars for less than the cost of the film Gravity. Let us take you on a journey through the remarkable history of Indian innovation and discovery, which has been influencing and changing people's lives for 5000 years.
Shortly after its invention in Britain in 1839, photography arrived in India. It was used by the British as a tool to document and exert power over the people, architecture and landscapes of the subcontinent, but it also became a medium for Indians themselves to express their unique experiences of the country.
This exhibition brings to light the previously overlooked Indian photographers who worked in parallel with their foreign counterparts from the 1850s onwards. Pivoting around two key dates: 1857, the year of the Mutiny and 1947, the year of Independence and Partition, it is an ambitious survey of the technological and artistic development of photography in India that examines the role the medium has played in charting the country’s modern history.
Among the images are works by Samuel Bourne, art photography pioneer Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Henri Cartier-Bresson and award-winning contemporary photographer Vasantha Yogananthan.
Part of an exciting series of events marking the UK–India Year of Culture 2017–18, which will celebrate the vibrant cultural history of the two countries.
By taking a global perspective on the development of science and technology, the Science Museum aims to engage new audiences and strengthen international relationships between British and Indian scholars and cultural institutions.
As the home of human ingenuity, the Science Museum’s world-class collection forms an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe. Welcoming over three million visitors a year, the Museum aims to make sense of the science that shapes our lives, inspiring visitors with iconic objects, award-winning exhibitions and incredible stories of scientific achievement.
UK/India 2017 is a year-long celebration of the long-standing relationship between India and the UK, which will see a vast programme of cultural exchange and activity take place in cities across both countries. Working with a huge number of partners and institutions, the British Council is developing a programme of cultural activity which will connect and inspire people in both countries; and strengthen and celebrate the UK and India’s cultural ties.
Discover South Kensington brings together the Science Museum and other leading cultural and educational organisations to promote innovation and learning. South Kensington is the home of science, arts and inspiration. Discovery is at the core of what happens here and there is so much to explore every day.
There was a time when journalists writing about Nirmala Sitharaman would undoubtedly settle their gaze first on her collection of saris and her sense of dressing. In fact, women in power seemed to attract a lot of attention to what they wear whereas men are not dealt the same scrutiny. I wonder if Arun Jaitley, whose defence ministry shoes is what Nirmala Sitharaman will be slipping into, is held to his sartorial scrutiny. After all, it’s known that Jaitley is fond of his expensive collection of shawls, suits and jackets. However, it’s time now when attention is going to shift from Sitharaman’s wardrobe to her war room.
Nirmala Sitharaman turned many heads as she was sworn in as India’s second woman Defence Minister. She created a splash in the news as India’s second woman defence minister after Indira Gandhi, who held the charge of the ministry during her tenure as Prime Minister. In another first, the apex Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will, for the first time, have two women members – Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
PM Modi’s choice of Sitharaman to be the next Defence Minister, will mean no big changes in current Indian foreign and military policy. Both Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar struggled to leave a distinctive mark on the South block during their tenure.
Like her predecessors, Nirmala Sitharaman will enter the South block with limited knowledge of how unwieldy military bureaucracies function and the expectation to establish a force with the capabilities needed to meet India’s challenges in the coming years will weigh heavy on her limited tenure.
After taking charge from Arun Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharaman, 58, laid out her priority areas as that being military preparedness, defence indigenisation, resolving long-pending issues and the welfare of soldiers.
There was a certain solemnness to the whole occasion as a priest conducted prayers in the defence minister's chamber before Sitharaman assumed charge. Her parents were present.
Nirmala comes from a tradition where rebellions are quiet and not emphatic. Her mother’s part of the family is from Thiruvangad in Tamil Nadu. They are Tamil Iyengar Brahmins, who moved from the banks of the Cauvery to Madurai. As her father was with the Indian Railways in a transferable job, she grew up with relatives in Chennai and later Tiruchi, where she completed graduation.
The exposure to politics (and the rebellion) happened at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). There she did an MA in economics, living in Godavari hostel with a clutch of friends who were Free Thinkers. She campaigned vigorously for Nalini Ranjan Mohanty for president — the election was a benchmark of sorts for politics in JNU — in the students’ union elections in 1982. He won the election, defeating the Students Federation of India (SFI), which seemed unbeatable during that time
Sitharaman was one of the students who was in a posse of Free Thinkers when it gheraoed the Vice-Chancellor’s office in protest against the sealing of a student’s room. Several students were locked up in Tihar jail. Many students mingled with fellow students who had come to see them and walked out of the jail, establishing a record of sorts in “jailbreaks”
It was in JNU that Sitharaman met her husband, Prabhakar Parakala also committed to politics, but of a different kind. Parakala’s father, Seshavataram Parakala, was a well-known Congress politician and an associate of PV Narasimha Rao. Sitharaman and he got married and she registered for a PhD dissertation (on India-Europe textile trade in the GATT framework) which she never completed because Prabhakar got a scholarship for a PhD at the London School of Economics and she couldn’t appear for the viva.
She signed up to be a salesgirl at Habitat, a home décor store on London’s Regent Street, where she won a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne that winter because she made record Christmas sales. That was a short-lived pursuit. She moved on to the research division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. But soon after, a baby was on the way and the duo returned to India in 1991.
She set up a school in Hyderabad – a kind of alternative education setup (now given on lease). She came in touch with Sushma Swaraj and much later, was appointed to the National Commission for Women (2003-05). She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2006. When the BJP adopted 33 per cent reservation structure for women throughout the party, she was invited to join the National Executive Council. She was appointed national spokesperson in 2010 and moved from Hyderabad to Delhi.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, she became a familiar TV face of the BJP. But when she took charge of the ministry, she preferred to be rather low-key and only stepped in to do the political work when asked to do so. During the Delhi elections, Sitharaman would enlist a list of five questions a day to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal while holding press conferences from the Delhi BJP office.
What turned out in favour for Nirmala Sitaraman was the fact that she understood a complex ministry and could decode complex issues such as the WTO. Sitaraman will now be the second woman in the hallowed group of Cabinet Committee on Security besides Sushma Swaraj.
Her choice clearly projects her as a rising star in the south. Amit Shah is eyeing the southern states as he wants to offset the losses in the North where the BJP peaked in 2014 with gains in the South. With Venkaiah Naidu, the party's face in the south, moving to the VicePresident's office, Sitaraman is being seen as the one drafting BJP’s long-term strategy in southern states.
Normative and political calculations were achieved by a woman rising to the defence ministry. It was a compliment to Arun Jaitley and it also achieved cutting of height of bigger leaders like Rajnath Singh”
Her choice has sent multiple messages and has become the big takeaway of the last cabinet expansion. The BJP is eyeing women as a constituency in the run-up to 2019 and cannot be blamed for being a male-centric party. The BJP wants to break the myth of being a party of the Hindi heartland and may have found its own Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu.\
Swaraj and Sitharaman had a historic falling out over Telangana. In February 2014, Sitharaman tweeted: “If only Sushma had stood for Seemaandhra in Lok Sabha just like Venkaiah & Jaitley did today”. To this, Swaraj responded: “With spokespersons like @nsitharaman, u don’t need enemies”. Both the tweets were deleted but the damage was done. It was Swaraj who bitterly opposed Sitharaman’s entry in the Rajya Sabha.
It was Jaitley who took her under his wing and in 2014 she became the commerce minister. When the question came to entering Parliament, Naidu nixed her candidature from Andhra Pradesh. She was finally elected from Karnataka.
Nirmala Sitharaman has surely come a long way. And she has had to prove herself at every step. In just over 10 years in the party and she is part of the top three ministries. And now as defence minister, Sitharaman will sit in the Cabinet Committee on Security, in the company of Jaitley and Swaraj (and Rajnath Singh). She will have to match up to the stature of politicians like AK Antony, George Fernandes and Jagjivan Ram and the authority and political muscle they brought with them to the job.
It starts early morning. Inspirational quotes on WhatsApp that tell you to be kind, urge you to be yourself, and bullet-point the differences between a boss and a leader. Facebook comes close, what with its shared articles on “Five ways to live your life to the fullest”, “How to eat healthy”, posts from “Humans of New York”, “Humans of Humza”, and sponsored posts on “How to find the divinity in you”. Initially, people like you and me would click on links, read these words of wisdom religiously and also quote it at social gatherings. They would get you noticed and made you look “deep”. However, so often are these “inspirational” nuggets thrust on us now that they have become blind spots. For those looking for a chance to weave it into their small talk, it doesn’t work anymore, since nearly everyone’s seen and maybe even read them.
In this saturated sea of inspirational content, Prachi Raturi’s I Did It stands apart. Published by The Times Group, Raturi’s book is a collection of stories recounting the trials and tribulations of accomplished men and women from all walks of life – sports, dance, business, social enterprise, art and literature, and so on. What also makes it stand out is the detailed, humane treatment of stories that brings to the reader tales of the indomitable human spirit in life’s struggle and the dark days. Financial insecurity, physical disability, victimised due to one’s caste or sex were just some of the hurdles that these achievers overcame in the course of their lives. Not only did they overcome them, today they are forces to reckon with in their respective fields.
So, you have Goonj’s Magsaysay award winner Anshu Gupta, who established an organisation that has transformed the culture of giving, in India. Bindeshwar Pathak formed the Sulabh Sanitation Movement, which has done crucial work of liberating human scavengers and rehabilitating them. Ace archer Deepa Kumari not only overcame extreme poverty, she has made it to world number five in archery and has been awarded the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri. Two-time Paralympic gold champion in javelin throws, Devendra Jhajharia overcame physical disability and self-doubt. Entrepreneur Captain Gopinath, who changed the Indian skies with Air Deccan, comes from a humble background.
There is also the celebrated comedian Johnny Lever, who did odd jobs to support his family, including grinding chutney in a dhaba. USbased entrepreneur Jyothy Reddy once worked as a daily wage earner in the rice fields of Andra Pradesh. Before becoming known as the software giant Quick Heal, Kailash Katkar was a merely a radio and computer repair person. Famous playback singer Kailash Kher’s first salary was a mere Rs 700. Industrialist Kalpana Saroj not only fought against patriarchy and was married away at the age of 12, she stands tall to inspire countless others. Nitin Godse, who did everything from selling vegetables to working as a daily wager, runs Excel Gas and Equipment, which has an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore. Restaurateur Patricia Narayan put an abusive relationship behind her to head Sandheepa Group of Industries.
Rapper and producer Raftaar could have been that wayward hyperactive child who lost his way, but turned his life into something positive; today he is a well-known lyricist, producer, composer, singer, rapper and dancer. Ramesh Babu lost his father when he was just seven and did odd jobs and got his first salary as a plumber’s assistant. Today he has a luxury car rental business. Famous choreographer Remo D’Souza has seen many dark days of struggle but didn’t give in. Ruskin Bond, our very own writer from the hills kept chipping away and has made a mark for himself in English writing the world over. PR Shreejesh turned to national hockey and has made a mark for himself in the sport.
Last but not the least, there is Sridhar Vembu, who came from humble beginnings and today heads Zoho Corporation, which is based in Chennai.
Ready for any challenge
She can still recall the sticky mud and water slush under her feet that went right up to her knees. And when she would finally straighten up after hours of bending to plant paddy, it would be a while before she felt the numbness transform to pain. Severely malnourished – one of the five siblings of her farmer parents, married at 16 and a mother by 18 – Jyothi Reddy was just another contractual labourer in the fields of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh. That she got Rs 5 after a hard day’s labour of 10 hours, made every ache worth it.
But within the depths of this dark, frail woman burnt a fire, a fire that touched her at 10, and egged her to believe that no matter how hard the situation, she would be the master of her destiny. It was on one of these days at the field when she heard an aeroplane fly past. ‘I instinctively freed my hands of the paddy in my hands, put my muddy hands on my forehead to cut out the scorching sun and get a better look at the aeroplane. And, then, I blurted almost instinctively, “One day I am going to sit in one of these and fly,”’ recalls Reddy.Another labourer, her mentor of sorts in the fields, rebuked her to stop dreaming big and focus on the plantation. ‘I still remember telling her, “Sapna dekne ko paisa nakko (You don’t need money to dream).” This was 1988. Twelve years later when I was buying my ticket to the US, handing over the hard-earned ` 48,000 in cash, I remembered this instance and smiled to myself.’
This woman of substance is Anil Jyothi Reddy, the owner of Key Software Solutions in Phoenix, USA, which had a turnover of $15 million in 2015-16. She has certainly made her life large. She makes several trips a year to India to focus on the charities where she donates ` 50-60 lakh a year – mostly to orphans and women – and to hold talks and seminars to encourage many others like her to fight their situation and realize their potential. ‘I live by three simple formulas: no compromise (on your dreams and achievements); no condition is permanent by birth; and nothing is impossible,’ she says, with a confident smile
It is not surprising that she went through some extremely tough situations to develop her formulas. In fact, when Reddy opens up, it is not uncommon for her to break down. Yet, when she is done with her crying, she looks radiant, as though the tears have helped her wash away the deep-rooted pain. And deep it sure is. ‘I still remember the pain of hunger. It is so intense that after a while you just feel a hollow in the pit of your being. What made it worse is the fact that as children you are so much hungrier.’ Neither can she forget the agony when abject poverty forced her parents to send her to an orphanage along with her younger sister. ‘I was 13, my sister 12. Our father warned me not to tell anyone that we had a mother, otherwise we would be thrown out of the hostel orphanage. I couldn’t stop thinking about my mother, the warmth of her skin, the comfort of her hug.’
As years trickled away, the pain only grew with her. Yet, she clung on to hope – hope of a better future. ‘And you know what I wanted most to begin with?’ she asks. ‘A pair of shoes and a school bag. I hadn’t, until I was 15, ever worn anything on my feet.’ Those two dreams came true when she cleared her Class X exam. ‘The superintendent of the orphanage gifted those to me.
I felt I owned the world!’
Sadly, her world came crashing down when her father decided to marry her off to a distant cousin, a poor farmer, when she was 16. ‘I can’t recall all the instances of mental I and physical abuse but I still have some marks that remind me of those horrors,’ she says.
She became a mother at 17 but what she hated most was working in her husband’s fields; that meant no money as they lived off those fields. What added to her woes was a second pregnancy barely a few months after she had had her first daughter. ‘I was severely malnourished. My husband’s brother would bring with him beer or cold drink bottles when he visited us. I would wait for him to leave. After he left, I would quietly gather the bottles, hide them in my sari pallu, go to a shop to sell those, so that I could buy milk for my daughter,’ her voice choking with emotion.
After her second daughter was born, something within her snapped. Money from the fields was severely limited,and she took a spine-chilling decision. ‘I saw no hope. It was the dead of night. Picking up both my daughters, I walked to the closest well. I kept the older one down so I could throw the younger one in the well first, then my elder one and finally I would jump in. Suddenly my elder daughter called out to me: “Amma.” That was a life changing moment. Here I was, a mother, with my child calling out to me and I was thinking of ending their lives! How could I not take care of my babies? As I walked back, tears streaming down my cheek, my two girls held tight to my bosom, I decided I will rewrite our destinies, I will do whatever it takes.