a mba oct2015

Advanc’edge MBA October 2012 3

editor

Aditya Prakash IengarEditor

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Let’s begin with a cliché. If you work hard, it will garner you the success you want in your career.

Now let’s change it a bit. Add “conviction”. Work hard with conviction. By conviction, I mean belief and trust in yourself, in what you’re doing, in what you want to do, the whole gamut. You might call it passion, or the ability to stick to something, what have you.

Lastly, top it with a large dollop of self-confidence.

So now, the cliché has become real, tenable, actionable — and of course, something you can work on.

This is what an entrepreneur has described in one of the articles of this issue of Advanc’edge. And this is what I want to talk to you about, as we approach the last mile to CAT, the last lap, the final stage of your preparation. You’ve battled it out with the various concepts that will be tested in the CAT, you’ve been working on your test-taking skill, fine-tuning your strategy until you’re sure of giving your best shot at the exam and getting the score you need to get into the institute you want. These next few weeks will be your final leg of preparation in which all these factors will culminate towards building your future.

Now is the time that you must put in your best efforts, of course. There is, after all, no substitute for hard work, so put in your 100 per cent, and you will certainly be rewarded down the line.

Have faith in your abilities. You know why you’re here, why you’ve spent the last few months preparing for the CAT. Now is not the time to have doubts, or question yourself. Believe in your strengths and your motivation to do well in the CAT. An easy trick is to keep reminding yourself of the next two years that will certainly be one of the biggest highlights of your life — the experience of studying at a top B-school surrounded by the cream of the country and the constant exchange of exciting thoughts and ideas.

Finally, do not lose your confidence. You’ve made it this far, and that’s farther than many others who couldn’t last. A dwindling level of self-confidence is the worst possible enemy you can have at this time, because it will make you question yourself and your motives. Put in the effort, and be confident that that effort will take you where you want to go, and make you a stronger individual in the process.

All the best.

OCTOBER 2015CONTENTS

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the articles by contributors and others are not necessarily those of the Publishers, unless specifically stated therein. While no effort is spared in ensuring the accuracy of the information published herein, readers are advised to reconfirm the current facts before acting upon any such information. The Publishers regret their inability to accept responsibility for any inadvertent errors of commission or omission in this issue. Readers are recommended to make appropriate inquiries before incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The publishers do not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of any products or services. The Publisher, Printers or Editor shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior permission from the publisher.

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CORPORATE INTERVIEWSWATI VAKHARIA,

co-founderof Black ID Solutions

10

COVER STORYCracking CAT 2015: One more month to go

06

COUNTDOWN10 Greatest business movies

16

SUCCESS STREETRoad to success: EQ, MQ

and BQ are the new IQ

20

SNIPPETSNews in brief

36

STUDY HOURTest Q&As

Word Dose: The first impression

Globescan

SuDoKu

3942

4446

CORPORATE WORLDChanging business models

Food safety in India:The Nestle Episode

The reservation issue: Reasons and repercussions

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The Advanc’edge Team

The time is almost here, when you have to get into concentrated test mode and attack the questions in earnest. With just over another month to go, this is your last lap to the CAT.

Here are a few things to keep you going in this last stretch.

Cracking CAT 2015: One more month to go

he CAT has always been designed to assess the ability of an individual to

become a successful Master of Business Administration — in the true sense — and subsequently, a successful manager. One should therefore look to inculcate the following basic qualities that are required in an MBA: } Ability to identify strengths

and weaknesses, thereby building on one’s own strengths

}Ability to adapt to any

situation }Ability to plan, strategise and

execute}Ability to manage time}Ability to make quick and

correct decisions}Ability to perform under

pressureAs we all know, the CAT

this year has gone through a major facelift, with a slew of changes announced. However, this is in no manner a cause for concern, because fundamentally, everything that you learned

during your preparation for the CAT still holds true. You’ll still have to deal with the same concepts in Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading comprehension, etc. The test hasn’t changed, only how you take it.

There are three sections to contend with this time: a) Quantitative Ability, with 34

questionsb) Verbal Ability and Reading

Comprehension, with 34 questions

c) Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, with 32 questionsThe time given per section is

60 minutes. In those 60 minutes, you will be able to go back and forth within that section to review your answers. However, once the time ends for that section and you move on to the next, you will not be able to go back to the previous section. And finally, the two big changes — an on-screen calculator and type in the answer (TITA) questions.

By now, you would have evolved as a “test taker” with certain identified strengths and weaknesses. With just over a

T


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month to go for the CAT, you need to manage both your strengths and weaknesses and ensure that your result is the desired one.

Managing your strengthsLet us first start with the strengths. The first thing you need to do is to understand whether you have consistently done well in these areas to label them as strengths, or if your performance purely incidental.

In case of the first eventuality, the next issue you need to address is whether these areas emerged as strengths in a fair distribution of time across all sections/areas of the test or due to significantly more time allocated to these areas.

If it is the first case, then it is infallibly an area of strength; you simply need to sustain the tempo and ensure that it stays a cash cow for you. If it is the second case, you need to ensure that the same performance is upheld in a certain desirable time frame. For example, a student getting 99 percentile in one section (because he has spent disproportionately more time preparing for this section) and faring abysmally poor in the other, cannot brand the first section as his/her strength. You need to sacredly anchor on to an instruction which requires you to be competent across all sections of the test.

In case of the second eventuality, that is, when your performance in the so called “strong areas” is a consequence of random flukes, you have to immediately stop cheating yourself, categorise it as a weakness and revamp your approach vis-à-vis these areas.

Managing your weaknessesNow, let us consider the

weaknesses. You need to understand the core reasons for not doing well in these areas, wherein the following have been identified as the most common ones, with their corresponding remedies:-} Inherent dislike for these

areas, due to which students start ignoring them. For example, most of the students have a natural antipathy towards “permutations and combinations” and they start shying away from questions on this topic; consequently, even the easier questions on this topic get overlooked on that day and this adds to the

“opportunity cost”. You need to prepare all topics/areas of the test—which ones you finally respond to or attempt will be a function of multiple variables.

} Not being able to spend adequate time on these areas, due to which your performance is marred. You need to apportion judicious time to all sections of the test. Placing the sections appropriately along the time curve is a skill you need to master. The sequence of attempting the different sections will vary from one test taker to another and an

equilibrium will evolve only over a period of time.

} Incorrect prioritisation and selection of questions due to which you end up picking “wrong” questions on that day. You need to be more vigilant and understand that wrong picks can unsettle even the best of students! While selecting questions, the following points need to be factored in:

l Do not choose questions only because they are shorter than their bulkier counterparts. Shorter questions are not necessarily easier and vice versa.

l Do not pick up questions only because they are from apparently simpler topics; for example, students typically prefer questions on arithmetic and algebra as compared to geometry and modern math.

l Please ensure that you exhaust all ends of the section while selecting questions. Starting off in a sequence and not being able to reach the fag end of the section, because of dearth of time may keep you away from potential picks.

} Conceptual flaws and loopholes in these areas, whereby they assume the proportions of “weaknesses”. This requires an immediate attention to fundamentals and revisiting concepts. Unless the requisite conceptual clarity is there, application of these concepts would be a far fetched expression!To summarise, “the one

month to the CAT” requires you to leverage your strengths, hone your weaknesses and formulate

WATCH OUT FOR THE OFFICIAL SAMPLE CAT PAPER TO BE RELEASED IN

THE MONTH OF OCTOBER.

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a smart strategy to approach the test. The most important thing is not to lose heart or feel that it’s just too late. There have been others in your position and they have made it to the top through sheer focus and pragmatic time management.

Finally, it is obviously wise to keep a watch for the official sample CAT paper that will made available on October 15, 2015. Once that has been released, you will have a good idea of what the CAT will entail, and with more than a month left, you will have ample time to tweak your strategy to maximise your score.

Building up to D-dayAs CAT aspirants, most of you would be dreaming of making it to one of the IIMs. So let us take inspiration from those who have already “been there and done that,” and see how they managed their entire preparation and addressed their weaknesses over the final month leading to the CAT.

When D-day finally approaches, pressures, expectations and apprehensions will have built up phenomenally. The last few days before D-day will demand a greater depth of confidence, diligence and commitment from you. So here are a few aspects that will help you refine your thought process.

Reach the venue well in time and ensure that you take along a copy of the admit card, a valid ID proof and the necessary stationary. Ensconce yourself comfortably in front of the designated terminal and read the instructions carefully before graduating to the 180 minutes of the actual experience. While simulated tests would have helped you reach a certain equilibrium in different parameters of the

test, this should not stop you from thinking on your feet and realigning to sudden changes in the difficulty level of the test.

Also, do not get emotionally attached to any question/section. Previous experiences

tell us that this has drastically marred the overall performance of students; even the ones who were expected to do well. Ensure a certain degree of speed as you graduate from one question/section to another. A

Read the instructions given on the test booklet. You will get some time to read and comprehend this page. This page will also tell you about the test structure. You have to now use your knowledge and plan your test.

Carefully read the directions before you answer a questionMake sure you are answering the question that is being asked! Often, students know how to solve a problem, but they misread or misinterpret the question itself.

Read through the sections firstBy spending the first couple of minutes reading through the entire section you can learn what is expected of you. Prioritise items on the test, and pace yourself.

Intelligent guessingYou can attempt certain questions when you test the alternatives one by one for correctness. This way, you are able to eliminate wrong alternatives. You may be first-time lucky or you may be required to test all but one of the alternatives. Here are a few tips on how you can guess intelligently:• Wrong choices usually don’t answer the question; that is, they may

sound good, but they’re answering a different question. • Sometimes, two answers are very close. Consider both of these for

future consideration, because they both can’t be right, but both can be wrong. Answers that are very close are sometimes given to test your comprehension.

• Some wrong choices may just strike you as wrong when you first read them. Trust your instincts. If you have spent time preparing for these exams, you have probably learned more than you think.

Don’t dilly-dallyIf you get stuck on a problem move on and come back to it later. When you are finished, recheck all your work.

Watching the clockWhen the test begins, check your watch and write down the time you start and the time that you will finish. Knowing how much time is left helps you to pace yourself during the test and in turn helps you to attempt more questions in the given time.

Keep a good attitude. Think positive!The bottom line is that you have to be alert for the entire time while taking the test. In the end, it’s not just about Mathematics or English, attempts and accuracy levels. It is also about whether you followed these basic steps to ensure that you have taken the test in the most appropriate manner.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

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says SWATI VAKHARIA, co-founder of IT firm Black ID Solutions and founder of charitable trust Women Planet Foundation. An MBA with specialisation in finance, Swati tells Alolika Banerjee that working for things she is truly passionate about gives her the

impetus to work harder and accomplish greater goals in life.

‘Hard-work, and conviction will bring success’

Q. You have dabbled in multiple fields — specialisation in MBA finance, co-founded an IT firm, social activism with a charitable trust. How do you handle such varied things with ease?(Smiles) I don’t remember being ambitious at all back when I was a student. I never had huge career goals in life, and unlike the students of this generation, I hadn’t chalked out any career path for myself. I did MBA because I knew that a management degree was the key to getting lucrative job offers. I completed my MBA from LJIMS Ahmedabad and started working

there with The Times of India. However, after a year I started missing home

and wanted to return to my hometown Baroda.

Coincidentally, at that point of time my boyfriend, who eventually became my husband, wanted to start

a venture and infused within me that

desire as well. He has always been

my inspiration and together we started e n v i s i o n i n g our own company.

This was way back

in 2008 and 2009, when

online marketing had just started to make its mark felt, and my husband

wanted me to take an active interest in it and grow professionally in this booming industry. From there on there was no looking back. It was a new field for me and I was learning many interesting things every day. Our main aim was to best utilise online marketing to augment the growth of our company. I took an active interest in the field of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and slowly mastered it. Then I built my own team and slowly our clientele increased.

When I am working for my own company, the dedication and passion towards the job is much more than when I had been an employee in another organisation. My own company is my baby, and even if I am working throughout the day and even at night, I never get restless or fatigued. I guess that helps managing multiple things at the same time.

Q. When did you finally decide to co-found not only an IT firm but also start a charitable organisation?Black ID Solutions might have my husband’s dream, but starting Women Planet Foundation was completely my own initiative. I’ve been inclined towards social causes from quite a young age. Injustices towards women have been numerous and indiscriminate, and even though our society is progressing in leaps and bounds, basic reservations against women remain unchanged. The 2012 gang rape of Nirbhaya in Delhi touched a deep chord within me and I decided to respond to an inner call that always told me to rise up and challenge the age old prejudices against women.

Moreover, my experience at handling online media gave me a confidence that I could reach out to many other socially conscious women like me for a common cause. Digital media was an immense boost to augment my social consciousness ahead and slowly I opened my charitable trust Women Planet Foundation.


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Q. Share with us the kind of work you do in your IT firm and your charitable trust Women Planet Foundation.In Black ID Solutions, I work on varied things related to the online world, from logo designing, to branding and online marketing. We offer all possible solutions to our clients. Our clientele is based outside India and that is the reason our communication is mostly through emails, Skype calls and video conferencing. We never really targeted the Indian market. This gives me the scope to acquaint myself with people from all across the globe, know their culture and different lifestyles. So along with the work, this is another aspect that I feel is extremely motivating and satisfying about working for Black ID Solutions.

My work in Women Planet Foundation gives me a sense of completeness and I feel motivated to expand the work that we do and take it to a much larger scale. We started off as an open online platform where we brought in like minded people together to share their thoughts as well as educate women on various concerns. At Women Planet Foundation, our aim is to educate, empower, and entertain! It’s a podium where individuals from different walks of life congregate, spread awareness and enlighten each other on the rights of women in society. It is the only online platform that provides free Q&A sessions and support with the help of various experts.

Today, our charitable trust has close to three lakh followers from all across the world, which many tell us is a tremendous number to achieve for the young start-up that it is. (Smiles)

Q. You end up doing such varied work. How do you keep yourself motivated?The Nirbhaya incident, triggered me to come up with this charitable trust Women Planet Foundation. That was the initial impetus. But my family’s support, especially my husband’s encouragement, keeps me going. My husband keeps boosting my confidence and tells me that I have the potential to reach out and aid a lot of distressed women and bring a smile to their faces. I guess this is what motivates me to try harder in whatever way possible.

Q. How has your MBA helped you in your professional life?Well, I feel MBA is mostly for your personal

development. It is extremely useful not only because of the theoretical learning you get there, but how well you can execute that knowledge as a team. MBA days are great as perfect grounds for constructive socialisation with people from a huge diaspora. That is why it is an excellent platform for tremendous self-improvement.

Q. If you were to narrate a day in the life of Swati Vakharia, what would you have to say?(Smiles) Every day is a busy day for me with a lot of running around and newer things to learn. Mornings are usually peaceful, when I spend some quality time with my family. The running around begins as soon as I step into my office. Currently, I am handling three to four projects with both Black ID Solutions and Women Planet Foundation.

Apart from this, I am working on a venture with my brother called Property Planet, which also involves

a lot of planning and strategising. And then there are a few more projects that we are planning to launch. Even at night when I return home, I am mostly lost in thought on planning for the next day! In fact I am surprised myself how hours fly by in a day for me!

I feel running a business and a charitable trust at the same times involves a lot of challenges every day. I encounter new problems daily and I have to use different ways to sort them out. All the problems and challenges are unique and I have to

use individual skill sets to solve each one of them. Ours is a small to mid-level company. So here, starting from HR to marketing, admin and even finance, all decisions are taken by me and my husband. So each day is a new day with its own set of challenges.

Q. Marketing is crucial to propel any venture on its way to success. Share with us the strangest marketing experiment that you ever did.We don’t do much marketing for Black ID Solutions, since most of the work is done through the system of referrals as we only target the international market. However, Women Planet Foundation started off in a very unique way. I can’t pinpoint any single strange marketing venture, but how our charitable trust came into being and gained popularity is certainly very different from many others.

When I had just started this foundation, I was clueless about promoting or marketing it. All I knew

MY WORK IN WOMEN PLANET FOUNDATION

MAKES ME HAPPY AND GIVES ME

A SENSE OF COMPLETENESS.

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was that I had to do something for the welfare of women. My initial approach towards starting this platform was certainly different. I started off as a blog first and approached others to participate.

And those who connect with us are not only experts on women issues, but also women who have been victims of exploitation. So what started off as a blog became a community on social empowerment. Social media, especially Facebook, had a pivotal role to play. I could reach out to women from different walks of life, even globally.

It is not always about beings victims in an unfair social structure. It’s also a lot to do with being concerned and remaining aware of what’s happening around you. And this applies to all aspects of life.

Q. What are the three adjectives that best describe your strengths? Are these qualities absolutely personal to you?It’s certainly difficult to praise oneself so blatantly. I would rather work and let it do the talking on my behalf. But I feel that hard-working is one word that would describe me best. I am always keen to work hard to learn something new and gain expertise in any field possible. The second quality that I can attribute to myself will be my conviction in things. If I am convinced about a particular thing, I am ready to pursue it and take it ahead to any extent. And the third quality that best describes me is my self-confidence. I think I have the confidence from within not to get deterred by external circumstances, if I am seriously passionate about something that I truly cherish.

I say these are my own qualities, but they can certainly be inculcated by any budding professional. There is no substitute to hard work, with which you can reach extraordinary levels in your career. And having the conviction about things you’re passionate about is also important. Only then do you follow a goal you’re truly interested in, instead of choosing something because of peer pressure. And self-confidence is just an extension of the second attribute. Anybody with

the right self-confidence will be ready to take on the challenges of life.

Q. It is said that we learn best from our failures. Share with us one such experience where a failure turned out to be a learning experience.Once, at Black ID, there was a marketing venture I was associated with. I had read about it a lot and was trying to upgrade myself in every possible way to master it well. However, initially I kept failing in making myself familiar with the concepts. I’ve never really been very comfortable with marketing. However, when you run your own company, you can never say no to any kind of work. But slowly I mastered it very well and became extremely competent even in marketing, which was a weak area for me initially.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you ever got that you think had a positive impact in your life?Well, my husband is instrumental in whatever good that has happened in my life. He had advised me that there is no substitute to learning and that helped me master many unknown aspects of life. Whenever I asked him something, no matter how many times, he always heard me out patiently and gave me the right answers. He also showed me the avenues from where I can learn things. He made me realise that there is no shame in not knowing something, but the willingness to learn has to be there and then there is no stopping the person.

Q. What would you term your biggest achievement so far? Share with us one of the most satisfying moments of your career.I feel I have a lot more to do in life and achieve and the road ahead has multiple challenges. However, one of the most satisfying moments of my life professionally was when I was awarded the Woman of Substance at an event organised by Radio Mirchi. It might have been a small thing, but it gave me a sense of achievement and made me realise that in certain small ways I am also contributing to society.

Q. Any word of advice for MBA aspirants who would want to be like you one day.Remember that when you choose a career for yourself, it is essential to understand your personality and the kind of person you are and then take a decision. It is unwise to take up something just because it pays well or your friends are pursuing it. It’s best to follow something that your heart wants, rather than randomly choose something that’s fashionable. A

Swati Vakharia with actress Elisha Kriis who is also associated with Women Planet Foundation.


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10Watching a movie is a unique experience. Films educate us, excite us, enthrall us, amaze us. They transport us to new lands, engage us with innovative themes, introduce us to varied characters, arouse a turmoil of emotions – in short, for a while, movies transform us completely by uplifting us from our mundane existence.

Compared to thrillers or romances, movies about business or its nuances are comparatively rare. A lm with a strict business setting may lack an over pouring of overt emotions or dangerous stunts in adventurous locales, but some of the best movies have been about business. Here are the 10 best of the best.

CITIZEN KANE

Genre: Drama MysteryDirector: Orson WellesYear: 1941Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore

About the film: Citizen Kane is a movie that tells the story of an empire builder and the price he and others pay to taste success. Since then, every media mogul (or wannabe mogul) is inevitably compared to Charles Foster Kane.

Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate’s dying word: ‘Rosebud’.

Business Movies

Greatest THE GODFATHER

Genre: Crime DramaDirector: Francis Ford CoppolaYear: 1972Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan

About the film: This classic film is on how a reluctant son is forced to take over the empire of an organised crime dynasty from an aging patriarch. Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel of the same name, The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema —and as one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre.

There are many key moments in the film that a budding businessman can learn from, from how to deal with competitions to upheavals from within.

THE GODFATHER PART II

Genre: Crime, DramaDirector: Francis Ford CoppolaYear: 1974Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall

About the film: Often considered the ultimate family-business movie, Godfather Part II scores over its predecessor in sheer sophistication and finesse in which the story has been unfolded in the film. The story comes alive with Michael Corleone, expanding and tightening his grip on his crime syndicate.

Both this film and its predecessor remain highly influential films in the gangster genre, but more importantly, they show the rise of a business model being led by a man who might be considered to be a highly astute businessman in every sense.

WALL STREET

Genre: Crime, DramaDirector: Oliver StoneYear: 1987Cast: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie

About the film: A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.

A film that was made as a tribute to director Oliver Stone’s father Lou Stone, a stockbroker during the Great Depression, Wall Street has come to be seen as the archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess, with Douglas’s character memorably declaring that ‘greed is good’.


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10Watching a movie is a unique experience. Films educate us, excite us, enthrall us, amaze us. They transport us to new lands, engage us with innovative themes, introduce us to varied characters, arouse a turmoil of emotions – in short, for a while, movies transform us completely by uplifting us from our mundane existence.

Compared to thrillers or romances, movies about business or its nuances are comparatively rare. A lm with a strict business setting may lack an over pouring of overt emotions or dangerous stunts in adventurous locales, but some of the best movies have been about business. Here are the 10 best of the best.

CITIZEN KANE

Genre: Drama MysteryDirector: Orson WellesYear: 1941Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore

About the film: Citizen Kane is a movie that tells the story of an empire builder and the price he and others pay to taste success. Since then, every media mogul (or wannabe mogul) is inevitably compared to Charles Foster Kane.

Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate’s dying word: ‘Rosebud’.

Business Movies

Greatest THE GODFATHER

Genre: Crime DramaDirector: Francis Ford CoppolaYear: 1972Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan

About the film: This classic film is on how a reluctant son is forced to take over the empire of an organised crime dynasty from an aging patriarch. Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel of the same name, The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema —and as one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre.

There are many key moments in the film that a budding businessman can learn from, from how to deal with competitions to upheavals from within.

THE GODFATHER PART II

Genre: Crime, DramaDirector: Francis Ford CoppolaYear: 1974Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall

About the film: Often considered the ultimate family-business movie, Godfather Part II scores over its predecessor in sheer sophistication and finesse in which the story has been unfolded in the film. The story comes alive with Michael Corleone, expanding and tightening his grip on his crime syndicate.

Both this film and its predecessor remain highly influential films in the gangster genre, but more importantly, they show the rise of a business model being led by a man who might be considered to be a highly astute businessman in every sense.

WALL STREET

Genre: Crime, DramaDirector: Oliver StoneYear: 1987Cast: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie

About the film: A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.

A film that was made as a tribute to director Oliver Stone’s father Lou Stone, a stockbroker during the Great Depression, Wall Street has come to be seen as the archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess, with Douglas’s character memorably declaring that ‘greed is good’.

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NETWORK

Genre: DramaDirector: Sidney LumetYear: 1976Cast: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch

About the film: This film shows how a television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor’s ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.

Network remains to this day one of the most vivid reflections of the goings-on in the media industry, especially for TV journalism. A certain must watch movie for all to-be media management professionals!

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Genre: Drama, family, fantasyDirector: Frank CapraYear: 1946Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

About the film: A story of a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, who shows him all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born.

The movie is a perfect illustration of the failures we all face, and the fact that such failures should only spur us to rise to greater heights.

THE INSIDER

Genre: Biography, Drama, ThrillerDirector: Michael MannYear: 1999Cast: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer

About the film: The movie is on the life of a research chemist who comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a ‘60 Minutes’ expose on Big Tobacco.

The film is based on the true story of a ‘60 Minutes’ segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry.

MODERN TIMES

Genre: Comedy, DramaDirector: Charlie Chaplin Year: 1936Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman

About the film: A classic silent comedy film in which Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialised world, with the help of a young homeless woman.

The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin’s view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialisation.

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS:

Genre: DramaDirector: James FoleyYear: 1992Cast: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin

About the film: This is a 1992 American film, set in New York City or Chicago, depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a trainer to ‘motivate’ them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired.

Although notorious for its use of profanity, the film remains a noted commentary on the psyche of a high stress work environment.

TIN MEN

Genre: Comedy, DramaDirector: Barry LevinsonYear: 1987Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey

About the film: The film revolves around two door-to-door aluminium siding salesmen in Baltimore, Maryland. Working for

different companies, the ‘tin men’ are prepared to do almost anything — legal or illegal—to close a sale.

A minor car accident drives the two rival aluminium-siding salesmen to the ridiculous extremes of man

versus man in 1963 Baltimore.


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NETWORK

Genre: DramaDirector: Sidney LumetYear: 1976Cast: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch

About the film: This film shows how a television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor’s ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.

Network remains to this day one of the most vivid reflections of the goings-on in the media industry, especially for TV journalism. A certain must watch movie for all to-be media management professionals!

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Genre: Drama, family, fantasyDirector: Frank CapraYear: 1946Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

About the film: A story of a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, who shows him all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born.

The movie is a perfect illustration of the failures we all face, and the fact that such failures should only spur us to rise to greater heights.

THE INSIDER

Genre: Biography, Drama, ThrillerDirector: Michael MannYear: 1999Cast: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer

About the film: The movie is on the life of a research chemist who comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a ‘60 Minutes’ expose on Big Tobacco.

The film is based on the true story of a ‘60 Minutes’ segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry.

MODERN TIMES

Genre: Comedy, DramaDirector: Charlie Chaplin Year: 1936Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman

About the film: A classic silent comedy film in which Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialised world, with the help of a young homeless woman.

The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin’s view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialisation.

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS:

Genre: DramaDirector: James FoleyYear: 1992Cast: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin

About the film: This is a 1992 American film, set in New York City or Chicago, depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a trainer to ‘motivate’ them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired.

Although notorious for its use of profanity, the film remains a noted commentary on the psyche of a high stress work environment.

TIN MEN

Genre: Comedy, DramaDirector: Barry LevinsonYear: 1987Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey

About the film: The film revolves around two door-to-door aluminium siding salesmen in Baltimore, Maryland. Working for

different companies, the ‘tin men’ are prepared to do almost anything — legal or illegal—to close a sale.

A minor car accident drives the two rival aluminium-siding salesmen to the ridiculous extremes of man

versus man in 1963 Baltimore.

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Multiple independent studies from across the world have all confirmed that emotional and moral intelligence are far more closely linked to career success than IQ.

Road to success: EQ, MQ and BQ are the new IQ

ecently 12-year-old Nicole Barr from Essex, England, made headlines when her

IQ was measured to be higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Nicole scored a 162 on her Mensa IQ test — that’s two points higher than what Einstein and Hawking scored. Her score puts her in the top one per cent of the population on the intelligence scale and grants her membership to Mensa, the club for individuals with high IQ.

Broadly speaking, intelligence quotient (IQ) is a score derived from one of several standardised tests designed to assess human intelligence. IQ tests are used as an indicator of logical reasoning ability and technical intelligence. A high IQ is often a prerequisite for rising to the top ranks of business today. However, necessary although it may be, it is not adequate to predict executive competence and corporate success. By itself, a high IQ does not guarantee that you will stand out and rise above everyone else.

Albert Einstein’s IQ was estimated at 160, Stephen Hawking at 160, pop superstar Madonna at 140 and John F. Kennedy at only 119. But as

it turns out, one’s IQ score pales in comparison to one’s EQ, MQ and BQ scores when it comes to predicting one’s success and professional achievement.

Move over, IQ!Research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that 85 per cent of your financial success is due to skills in what is termed “human engineering” — your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. This, then, means that only 15 per cent of that success is due to technical knowledge! Additionally, Nobel Prize winning Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman has determined that people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don’t, even

if the

likeable person is offering a lower quality product or service at a higher price.

So, instead of focusing on your conventional intelligence quotient, you should make an investment in strengthening your EQ (representing Emotional Intelligence), MQ (representing Moral Intelligence) and BQ (representing Body Intelligence). These concepts may be elusive and difficult to measure, but their significance is far greater than IQ.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE The most well known of the three, Emotional Quotient (EQ) is broadly a measure of your awareness of your own feelings and those of others, regulating these feelings in yourself and others, and using emotions that are appropriate to the situation, self-motivation and

building relationships.For most people,

EQ is more important than IQ in attaining success in their lives and careers.

As individuals, our success — and

the success of most professions today — depend on our ability to read other people’s cues and signals and react appropriately to them.

“Your EQ is the level of

R

Subodh SinhaSenior Trainer, IMS


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your ability to understand other people, what motivates them and how to work cooperatively with them,” says Howard Gardner, the influential Harvard theorist.

Categories of EQThere are five major categories of recognised emotional intelligence skills.1. Self-awareness: The ability

to recognise an emotion “as it happens” is the key to your EQ. Developing self-awareness requires tuning in to your true feelings. If you evaluate your emotions, you can manage them. The major elements of self-awareness are:

• Emotional awareness: Your ability to recognise your own emotions and their effects.

• Self-confidence: Sureness about your self-worth and capabilities.

2. Self-regulation: You often have little control over when you experience emotions. You can, however, have some say in how long an emotion will last by using a number of techniques to alleviate negative emotions such as anger, anxiety or depression. A few of these techniques include recasting a situation in a more positive light, taking a long walk and meditation or prayer. Self-regulation involves the following.

• Self-control: Managing disruptive impulses.

• Trustworthiness: Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity.

• Conscientiousness: Taking responsibility for your own performance.

• Adaptability: Handling change with flexibility.

• Innovation: Being open to new ideas.

3. Motivation: To motivate yourself for an achievement requires clear goals and a positive attitude. Although you may have a predisposition to either a positive or a negative attitude, you can with effort and practice learn to think more positively. If you catch negative thoughts as they occur, you can reframe them in more positive terms — this will help you achieve your goals. Motivation is made up of:

• Achievement drive: Constant striving to improve or to meet a standard of excellence.

• Commitment: Aligning with the goals of the group or organisation.

• Initiative: Readying yourself to act on opportunities.

• Optimism: Pursuing goals persistently despite obstacles and setbacks.

4. Empathy: The ability to recognise how people feel is important to succeed in your life and career. The more skilful you are at discerning the feelings behind others’ signals, the better you can control the cues you send them. An empathetic person excels at:

• Service orientation: Anticipating, recognising and meeting clients’ needs.

• Developing others: Sensing what others need to progress and bolstering their abilities.

• Leveraging diversity: Cultivating opportunities through diverse people.

• Political awareness: Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships.

• Understanding others: Discerning the feelings behind the needs and wants of others.

5. Social skills: The development of good interpersonal skills is tantamount to success in your life and career. In today’s always-connected world, everyone has immediate access to technical knowledge. Thus, “people skills” are even more important now, because you must possess a high EQ to better understand, empathise and negotiate with others in a global economy. Among the most useful skills are:

• Influence: Wielding effective persuasion tactics.

• Communication: Sending clear messages.

• Leadership: Inspiring and

BODY INTELLIGENCEThe Body Quotient, which measures your body intelligence, is the final piece of the puzzle. It reflects what you know about your body, how you feel about it, and take care of it. Your body is constantly telling you things, but are you listening to the signals or ignoring them? Are you eating energy-giving or energy-draining foods on a daily basis? Are you getting enough rest? Do you exercise and take care of your body?

These aspects might appear to be unrelated to business performance, but your body intelligence absolutely affects your work, because it largely determines your feelings, thoughts, self-confidence, state of mind, and energy level.

85% OF YOUR CAREER SUCCESS IS ATTRIBUTED

TO HUMAN ENGINEERING.

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guiding groups and people.• Change catalyst: Initiating or

managing change.• Conflict management:

Understanding, negotiating and resolving disagreements.

• Building bonds: Nurturing instrumental relationships.

• Collaboration and cooperation: Working with others toward shared goals.

• Team capabilities: Creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals.

MORAL INTELLIGENCE The Moral Quotient (the index that measures moral intelligence) directly follows EQ in order of importance, as it deals with your integrity, responsibility, sympathy, and forgiveness. The way you treat yourself is how others will treat you. Keeping commitments, maintaining your integrity, and being honest are crucial to moral intelligence.

Moral intelligence is the capacity to understand right from wrong and to behave based on the value that is believed to be right.

There are seven main points that build someone’s moral intelligence, such as empathy, conscience, self-control, respect for others, kindness, tolerance, and fairness.

MQ: Seven essential virtues 1. Empathy: Identifying with

and feeling other people’s concerns.

Step 1: Foster awareness and an emotional vocabulary.

Step 2: Enhance sensitivity to the feelings of others.

Step 3: Develop empathy for another person’s point of view.

2. Conscience: Knowing the right and decent way to act and acting in that way.

Step 1: Create the context for moral growth.

Step 2: Teach virtues to strengthen conscience and guide behaviour.

Step 3: Foster moral discipline to help children learn right from wrong.

3. Self-control: Regulating your thoughts and actions so that you stop any pressure from within or without and act the way you know and feel is right.

Step 1: Model and prioritise self-control.

Step 2: Encourage yourself to become your own self motivator.

Step 3: Teach yourself child ways to deal with temptations and think before acting.

4. Respect: Showing that you value others by treating

them in a courteous and considerate way. Step 1: Convey the meaning of respect by modelling and teaching it.

Step 2: Enhance respect for authority and squelch

rudeness. Step 3: Emphasise good manners and courtesy — they do count!

5. Kindness: This is about Demonstrating concern about the feelings of others.

Step 1: Teach the meaning and value of kindness.

Step 2: Establish a zero tolerance for meanness and nastiness.

Step 3: Encourage kindness and point out its positive effect.

6. Tolerance: Respecting the dignity and rights of all persons, even beliefs and behaviour we may disagree with.

Step 1: Model and nurture tolerance from an early age.

Step 2: Instil an appreciation for diversity.

Step 3: Counter stereotypes and do not tolerate prejudice.

7. Fairness: Choosing to be open-minded and to act in a just and fair way.

Step 1: Treat your peers and colleagues fairly.

Step 2: Help those close to you learn to behave fairly.

Step 3: Teach others ways to stand up against unfairness and injustice.

What you really need to succeed It doesn’t matter if you did not receive the best academic training from a top university. A person with less education who has fully developed their EQ, MQ and BQ can be far more successful than a person with an impressive education who falls short in these other categories.

Yes, it is certainly good to be an intelligent, rational thinker and have a high IQ; this is an important asset. But you must realise that it is not enough. Your IQ will help you personally, but EQ, MQ, and BQ will benefit everyone around you as well. If you can master the complexities of these unique and often under-rated forms of intelligence, research tells us you will achieve greater success and be regarded as more professionally competent and capable. A

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Dr Suresh Srinivasan

Changing business modelsPlayers like Uber and Ola are going strong on the technology front, betting highly

on their app. However, they are open to other business models as well, as are other bigwigs like Flipkart, Amazon, et al.

T he term “business model” can be described as the means by which

a company delivers superior customer value through uniquely orchestrating its revenue model, cost structure and investment options to maximise the return on its investments.

For example, Uber, the world’s largest app-based taxi aggregator, operating in numerous countries, has designed its business model as a pure technology platform that brings together the taxi owner and the passenger. In this process, it secures a commission from the revenue the taxi owner collects from the passenger. By carving out such a business model, Uber has come out as a pioneer in the “sharing economy” that is fast emerging. On the same lines, Ola Cabs, primarily operating in India, has been acting as an intermediary bringing together the taxi owners and the passengers through mobile applications.

However, the business models of such companies keep undergoing changes; they are constantly fine-tuned as the business grows in terms of scale, as competitors imitate, as regulatory oversight catches up and in the pursuit of gaining market share ahead of the competition.

Amazon vis-à-vis eBayAmazon and eBay, both pioneers in the global e-commerce space, started off differently in terms of their business model. While eBay was purely an auction platform, bringing together the buyer and seller and making revenue through listing and deal closure fees, Amazon was established as a e-retailing company with full inventory holding and delivery model supplemented by logistics capability. These represent contrasting business models, although both of them operate more or less in the same industry, serving similar customer groups.

While eBay had an “asset light” technology platform, Amazon was, conversely, asset intensive, with large asset holdings that included inventory, warehouses and logistics networks. However, over a period of time, the distinction between the two companies in terms of business model has been blurring, and both the companies now appear to be stepping into each other territories due to the changing trends of consumer demands and the companies’ own quest

to capture a larger market share, ahead of the other.

A similar phenomenon seems to be currently emerging in many of the e-commerce driven platforms, be it app-based taxi services or e-retailing. In the former, leading companies like Ola and Uber are switching business models as markets are growing, consumer demands are changing and competitors are reacting. Similar developments are happening with e-retailing companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal.

App-based taxi aggregators – UberUber is the global leader in the app-based taxi aggregator market. Its service is available in close to 60 countries and 300 cities worldwide. The company has now extended its service to include car pooling a year ago. Uber is currently estimated to be valued at around close to US$ 50 billion. This is interesting, especially when comparing it with the valuation of American Airlines, a Nasdaq listed company that is considered to be the largest commercial airline operator in the world with a fleet of close to 1,000 aircrafts, and valued only at US$ 30 billion! How is this possible, and what are we missing here?

Uber’s business model is simple. It creates the technology platform to connect the cab


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INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE

Growth strategy for Godrej groupThe growth strategy of the Godrej group has recently been spelt out. The group proposes to expand through both organic and inorganic routes in spearheading its five key companies —

Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties, Godrej Agrovet, Godrej Chemicals and Nature’s Basket. The group is currently operating in 18 countries; focus geographies are Indonesia, Africa and Latin America. The strategic focus over the next three years will be on its consumer goods and real estate business. It plans to increase its workforce to 20,000, from the existing 16,000, by the year 2018.

100% FDI coming in DTH and cable networksAfter relaxing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in sectors such as defence, construction and railways, the Government of India is considering a proposal to raise FDI limits to 100 per cent in broadcasting carriage and content services, including DTH and cable networks, aimed at attracting overseas investment and improve infrastructure. Companies involved in the busi-

ness of broadcasting carriage services include Dish TV, Siti Cables, Hathway services and Den Networks.Currently, in broadcasting content services, 26 per cent FDI is permitted. The increase in FDI limit will also help improve the pace of digitisation of broadcasting services across India.

owners and the passenger, the taxi fare is collected by the driver and he pays a 20 per cent fee to Uber for its services. Uber’s return on investments in the technology platform comes from such fees, and the market expects that such profits in the near term future will secure a cash flow that would currently value the company at US$50 billion.

Globally, Uber is now moving away from the “asset light” aggregator model to owning cars that can be leased to drivers. Under its “exchange leasing” programme, prospective drivers can lease a vehicle from the company and drive it for their personal use, in addition to driving for Uber. With weekly leasing rates indicated to be around $120, Uber is confident of enrolling a sizable chunk of drivers into its fold.

App-based taxi aggregators – Ola CabsMore or less along the lines of Uber’s model, India’s Ola Cabs is the first nationwide cab booking

application, available in more than 50 Indian cities. The company is reported to average close to two lakh trips per day and has enrolled more than 50,000 cabs. More than 70 per cent of its drivers are independent car owners who have offered their cars to be part of Ola’s fleet.

Fleet taxi market shareUber attempted to enter the Indian market, but had been banned due to one of its driver being charged with a case of rape in New Delhi. Currently, the app based taxi market in India consists of Ola having a 75 per cent market share after it acquired its competitor TaxiforSure,

Meru Cabs with a 15 per cent market share, Uber with around 5 per cent and others holding the remaining 5 per cent of the market. Ola is targeting to reach 200 cities by the close of this year. Meru, initially bought cabs and hired drivers on its payrolls to run its taxi service. However, in 2012, Meru shifted its business model to a part-inventory, part-marketplace model in 2012. It somehow missed the opportunity to expand aggressively like Ola, as it was not able to manage venture capital and private equity investments as Ola did.

The part-inventory modelIn line with Uber’s strategy of venturing into car ownership, Ola has now responded and will be buying cars and lending them to new drivers, as it moves to a part-inventory model to build exclusivity with drivers. This is a strategy to penetrate the market ahead of Uber, which is aggressively waiting to re-enter the Indian market.

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INDIA INC: AT A GLANCETata steel to sell `2,500 crore stake in Tata MotorsTata Steel is offloading around a fifth of its equity shareholding in Tata Motors

at around `2,500 crore. The timing of this sale is not such good news for Tata Motors. Although the main idea for Tata Steel is to sell its noncore investments and redirect the funds to reduce its debt burden, the financial health and strategic future of Tata Motors is not very healthy, and this is possibly signalling the group’s perspective on Tata Motors’s future. It is expected that this sale, if completely used to repay outstanding debt, will reduce Tata Steel’s overall debt by around 3 per cent.

Indian products charged with anti-dumping duty in the EUThe European Union (EU) recently imposed tariffs as high as 30 per cent on water and sewage pipes imported from India, which are priced below cost, and at a price-point which many local pipe manufacturers would find it unable to compete.

When a country exports goods and prices them below costs, the importing nation adds on an “anti-dumping duty” to make the product more expensive in the importing nation. This is to ensure that such imported products do not have an undue advantage as compared to the local manufacturers in the importing country.

Such changes in business models go a long way in defining the strategy of companies. By choosing to own cars, both Uber and Ola are now differently allocating the resources available to them; by purchasing cars, the funds available to them are diverted away from the core technology platform, which could blunt its competitiveness. However, currently, many drivers use both Ola and Uber to secure clients with very little exclusivity. The model to buy cars and lease to them is a strategy to lock the drivers in and is considered to be an insurance against their defection to the competition.

Lawsuit: An impending threat?However, there is a major threat that is looming for the app-based taxi aggregator business model, and it could impact all the players in the game, be it Uber, Ola or Meru. A class action suit filed in a California court is challenging the business model of Uber, and contends that the drivers are not independent contractors, but must actually be treated as

employees of Uber. This will have far reaching implications, and if the ruling comes down against Uber, it would have to end up paying healthcare, insurance, workman’s compensation and various other costs, including vacation pay, for such drivers. This will eventually make Uber’s business model unviable and untenable. Such a ruling can further inspire drivers around the world to take a similar course.

Online retailersIn the e-retailing business, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm are steadily moving into “hyper local” delivery business, and are building exclusive capabilities

that are very different from their core e-commerce business model. This business involves connecting households with supermarkets and local grocery stores for delivery of groceries and perishables within hours of ordering. FlipKart’s “f Qck” is one such app that will spearhead the hyper local delivery business, but it was quick to find the global giant Amazon entering this space through its “Kirana Now” business. Both these players are competing with established players like Grofers and Big Basket in the hyper local delivery business. Snapdeal is also forward vertically integrating and moving into the logistics space through its acquisition of GoJavas, which was originally owned by Jabong. Snapdeal feels it needs more control over the critical delivery experience for customers, if it has to retain customers in the longer run.

In summary, business models will continue to evolve and will undergo changes until a dominant design is established in the market and until technology fully trickles across to all the players! A



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Food safety in India: The Episode

A food safety regulator’s certification goes a long way in giving the consumer the necessary comfort factor to peacefully consume the food item. The Nestlé issue will make companies

sit up and become more responsible for the products that they offer.

I ndia’s packaged and non-packaged food market is mostly dominated by the

unorganised sector. Given the lack of a robust food safety and standard regulator, the safety of such food items was always suspect and the Indians had more or less reconciled to that fact. However, it came as a major surprise when even a trusted brand like Maggi, and that too from a global giant like Nestlé, could have turned unsafe! Is Nestlé solely responsible for this?

The Nestlé issueThe Maggi issue certainly did not blow up overnight. Back in 2013, it was reported that a Gorakhpur laboratory had found abnormalities in Maggi samples

which contained excessive amounts of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Neither the authorities nor Maggi appeared to have taken this report seriously. The public did not hear anything further on this case until recently, when more samples of the noodles were picked up from retail outlets and were sent for testing at the Gorakhpur laboratory. This again seemed to have shown abnormal levels of permitted additives. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ordered Nestlé to withdraw the instant noodles

from the market. Nestlé recalled the samples and destroyed close to 27,000 tonnes of Maggi in furnaces of cement factories, a loss that ran into more than `200 crore.

Interestingly, two other FSSAI approved laboratories, one in Goa and the other in Karnataka, cleared Maggi samples as being free of any abnormalities. The FSSAI, however, did not confer with these labs and their methods of testing. Food regulators in many other countries also declared Maggi to be a safe food item for consumption;

the list of regulators included the Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America. The Indian

government also filed a class action suit with the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission for close to `650 crore.

Subsequently, the Bombay High Court put an end to the Maggi ban and ordered fresh testing. The court alleged that the FSSAI had failed to follow the principles of natural



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justice before banning Maggi. Concerns were also raised on the laboratory test results. The court expressed concerns at the fact that this could impact both the consumer safety and investment climate in India and put off new investors proposing to enter the country, given the lack of a sophisticated product market regime here.

A sample of Yippee noodles, an ITC product, was also reportedly found to have lead content beyond permissible limits. The company, however, denied the charge and made it clear that it had received no communication from the state government in this regard.

What is the FSSAI’s role?In India, the FSSAI is responsible for protecting public health through regulation and supervision of food safety. A food safety regulator plays an important role in ensuring safety of food products sold in the market, as there are enormous levels of information asymmetry in the way the food items are

formulated, manufactured, packed and distributed across channels to reach the consumer. A food safety regulator’s certification goes a long way in giving the consumer the necessary comfort factor to peacefully consume the food item.

From this perspective, the FSSAI plays a key role in regulating food safety in our country. Although a number of fragmented diverse laws and regulations were governing different forms of food for decades, the FSSAI was formally commissioned through the enactment of the Food Safety

and Standards Act of 2006; to that extent food safety regulation in our country is

fairly nascent.

FSSAI: CriticismThe FSSAI’s role is similar to that of the US’s FDA in terms of oversight. Their

approval is required for novel and proprietary additives, but

for products using permitted ingredients, no

specific approval is required

when such

products are launched. However, it has been reported that in India, the product approval regime required the FSSAI to approve every final food product (not food additives), irrespective of whether these products used permitted additives or not.

More importantly, the lack of a list of approved ingredients was a major disadvantage and created ambiguity. Analysts believe that India should possibly move away from the final product regime to an ingredient-based approval setup. It is believed that the courts are also in favour of this. This could actually turn out to be more meaningful, especially given the infrastructure and shortcomings of the FSSAI. This will also bring in the required transparency in terms of procedural protocol and bring India closer to global practice norms. The FSSAI is being widely criticised for lacking efficient and reliable testing labs and enough skilled labour to deliver its objectives. Reportedly, it has also not been proactive since its enactment in 2006.

Can a developing country like India, which has been campaigning to be a hot investment destination, err in the vital area of regulation? More importantly, food processing is an important industry in India and will support the “Make in India” initiative, as India’s food processing industry is one of the largest in the world. It is also likely to grow steadily as our economy develops. It is made up of a number of small and medium-sized organisations, thus creating employment deep inside rural areas.

The Maggi issue: How the FSSAI erred Questions have also been raised about why only Maggi had been handpicked for the

A FOOD SAFETY REGULATOR’S

CERTIFICATION GIVES THE

CONSUMER THE NECESSARY

COMFORT FACTOR.

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INDIA INC: AT A GLANCEHousing.com acquisitionsRecently property website Housing.com announced two acqui-hires that include Plat, an online network for agents to share real estate inventories, and BigBHK,

a property management software (PMS) targeted at rental suppliers. Through these acqui-hires, Housing.com is accessing a high quality pool of diverse skills that will be a key for Housing.com’s future growth endeavours.

Acqui-hires is a process by which one company acquires another, not for gaining access to its products and clients, but to gain access to the acquired company’s skill sets and employees. This gives a quantum leap to knowledge-based companies in terms of skill sets and capability building process.

BT to close Indian call ventresUnited Kingdom based telecom major British Telecom (BT) will close down its call centres in India, and will shift them back to the UK. Customer dissatisfaction has been cited to be

the reason for such a move, as more and more customers seem to prefer talking to local contact centres in the UK. Companies generally move such call centre work offshore to save costs; substantial savings arise out of moving jobs offshore to countries like India. However, due to remoteness and lack of cultural fit, customer satisfaction takes a toll, which is why BT took the decision.

tests. The irregularities in the Indian food industry in the form of adulteration, lack of quality checks and selling defective food products are considered to be rampant. Political manipulation is also being suspected; these developments, however, send the wrong signals to the investor community and undermine India’s institutional robustness.

The core of the problemAlthough the problem may seem addressable through a more robust testing and analysis protocol, the problem is actually much larger in magnitude and needs extraordinary level of focus by the government to fix. It is the failure of the government to develop the institutions within India in line with the country’s economic development.

Institutions play an important role in a nation’s progress. They maintain a level playing field in the economy and include formal and informal organisations, including norms and laws, which ensure allocation of national resources to all players across the economy,

in an equitable and just manner. The strength of the institutions in an economy is extremely important for its growth, success and competitiveness. Institutions form an important part of the governance. It includes consumer protection to ensure the product markets are well regulated through consumer protection, patenting and copyright laws and nurture vibrant consumer activism.

India’s regulatory landscapeWith the regulatory and institutional underdevelopment in India, neither the consumers nor the investors get the necessary comfort factor. Many

of the Indian sectors do not even have a regulator, let alone the concept of seamless regulation. For example, there is no regulatory watchdog patrolling the infrastructure sector. How the country addresses this situation is now important to watch.

The FSSAI’s weakness is a classic case of lack of institutional development in the food safety arena. The US FDA, for example, is still striving hard to prevent food-borne illnesses by finalising the first two of seven major rules under the bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernisation Act.

Continued improvements are being made to prevent food-borne illnesses and to develop a nationally integrated food safety system in partnership with state and local authorities. India needs to go a long way in developing its food regulator and, more importantly, its overall institutional framework. This alone can sustain the high level of economic growth, and if not, such growth plans will remain a distant dream. A

FSSAI’S WEAKNESS IS A CLASSIC

CASE OF LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL

DEVELOPMENT IN THE FOOD

SAFETY ARENA.



33


The reservation issue:Reasons and repercussionsThe issue of the quota system once again came to the fore recently through Hardik Patel’s protests. But what exactly are the reasons behind the reservation system, and what needs

to be done to resolve the issue?

T he reservation issue has once again resurfaced under Hardik Patel, who

recently mobilised the Patidar community with an agenda of demanding the inclusion of the Patel caste in the other backward classes (OBC) category in order to qualify for reserved quotas in education and government jobs.

The issue of reservations has always been a sensitive and debatable one, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight! Of course, there is a larger philosophical perspective from our history of caste-based oppression and the supposed undue advantage the upper class have been enjoying. Contrasting views also are prevalent that advocate economic status-based reservation.

Criteria for reservationOnce, when he asked about caste based reservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had commented that if all Indian citizens had access to education and had job opportunities, nobody would then demand reservation quota. His view was that when more capacity is created for education and more jobs are available in the economy, the issue of reservation would become irrelevant. He also indicated that his Gujarat model reflected such a scenario.

The Prime Minister’s argument is logical and every government needs to strive to think on the lines he had articulated as the solution. But the question is this: Has even the PM delivered along his own lines of thinking? Or, in the last 15 months of his government in power, has roadmap been created to take the country along the path of progress, in line with his articulation?

Hardik Patel recently claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had actually failed to deliver on his election promise of widely inclusive prosperity through the Gujarat model of business-friendly policies.

India: Current statisticsIndia is a country where demand exceeds supply, virtually in all walks of life and in all facets of the society. Let us consider primary education. India has over half a billion people below the age of 25. One third of the population is under the age of 14, all of whom will require primary and secondary education in the coming decade. Astonishingly, to put this in perspective, this number exceeds the entire population of the United States! Is India geared up in terms of infrastructure and teaching skill sets to cater to this avalanche of demand? Not at all — demand still far exceeds capacity.

Consider the population that is in the 17 to 23 age bracket. Not more than 10 per cent of this population is currently receiving higher education in the country. The government is targeting to double this by 2017, which, admittedly, seems to be quite a long shot.

Even if achieved, it will be miniscule as compared to global best practices. With India projecting itself as a knowledge economy, such poor capacity creation is never going to take us to our destination! Again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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a case of capacity falling short of demand.

The Indian job marketToday, the population in the productive age group is high, and therefore, capacity is abundantly available. However, the irony is that they are not skilled, meaning that they are not “industry ready”. India today is under skilled! The demand for skilled labour far exceeds the supply available — of the nearly 40 crore workforce in 2010, only a tenth of them receive training.

With a population of around 1.2 crore joining the workforce every year, available vacancies don’t exceed 40 lakh. More than 90 per cent of our workforce is employed in under skilled jobs, leading to a situation of “disguised unemployment”. Industrial training institutes, created exclusively to skill the unskilled, have turned out to be a waste due to lack of funds, infrastructure and teaching skills. Corporates are also not incentivised to adopt one of these institutes, so that they can ensure their requirement of skilled work force is met through training provided through these institutes.

Healthcare scenarioThe situation is very similar in the healthcare sector as well. India is short of 1.1 million beds. If a 280-bed hospital is considered to be a large hospital, India straightaway needs to create a capacity of close to 4,000 large hospitals, if it has to meet the current healthcare demands in the country. With every passing day, the demand is steadily increasing — again a classic case of demand far exceeding supply. In any economy, when demand far exceeds supply, corruption is always considered to be an inevitable consequence.

What can the government do?Over the decades, our per capita income has grown. The Indian gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the fastest growing in the world. Indian is considered to be a sleeping elephant with enormous long term potential. However, with everything said and done, even after 68 years of independence, India has been unable to come out of the “demand exceeds supply” scenario — a gross failure by the prior governments.

The only way in which reservation can be successfully tackled will be through the current government, or for that matter, successive governments working on bridging the demand-supply gap in education, skilling

and employment. This can be done by creating an environment conducive to bringing in investments that will result in a large number of jobs across the length and breadth of the country.

Ground realitiesEvery other government has missed out a number of opportunities. It is well known that India is severely short of infrastructure. It is estimated that India needs to spend two trillion dollars over the next five years on infrastructure creation like power plants, roads and expressive ways, airports and ports. If not, it is likely to have a 2 to 3 per cent point impact on India’s GDP growth rate. At the same time, allocating resources for infrastructure creation will increase jobs and can absorb a large part of the unemployed population. Knowing this well, it is still surprising as to why the prior governments — and this government as well — have not moved at the pace that is required? With the current government in power for over 15 months, drastic changes on ground are yet to be witnessed.

The belief that the “Make

Hardik Patel during one of his protests

THE GROUND REALITY IN INDIA IS THAT DEMAND FAR OUTSTRIPS

SUPPLY, LEADING TO A QUOTA

SYSTEM.



35

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCEInterest ratesAccording to the State Bank of India (SBI), low food inflation and a reasonably satisfactory monsoon looks to be the reasons why the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut interest rates by 25 basis points in the

coming monetary policy review meeting scheduled for the last week of September 2015. So far, the RBI has reduced the benchmark rate by close to 75 basis points in 2015.

The US Federal Reserve has also recently confirmed that it is unlikely to increase interest rates during 2015; bringing some much needed relief to the global economy. Had the US Fed increased interest rates in 2015, it would most likely have a substantial impact on global liquidity, which could in turn affect liquidity in emerging markets like India.

Fund outflow from Indian marketsForeign investors have been pulling out funds from Indian stock markets over the last two months. This was in expectation that the US Federal Reserve would increase interest rates so that these funds could be invested back in the US. September saw an exodus of `4,600 crore, while August recorded `17,000 crore of outflows, the highest for any month in the last 17 years. However, since the US Fed has now confirmed that it would increase interest rates only in 2016, the exodus will reduce, and some of the funds that went out could also find its way back to India.

Economics of sharingLarge Indian corporates have hailed the business models of companies like Ola and Uber. Chandrasekaran CEO of TCS and Ajay Piramal praised the cab sharing app model and highlighted the extent to which such business models can unlock underutilized assets in the economy. By a sharing cab service, one is making the whole world much more productive and sustainable and will be a win-win for all stakeholders. However, automobile manufacturers are unhappy that such app-based aggregators could dent their volume of sales, as potentially, their customers could opt to share a cab rather than buy a new car, which would turn out to be much more expensive.

Uber partnership with SafetiPinWith safety of passengers gaining enormous importance, especially in large cities like New Delhi, taxi companies are focusing on safety tools to differentiate themselves

from the competition. American taxi aggregator Uber, which was banned in New Delhi for offering unsafe transport, is expanding its partnership with SafetiPin, a map-based mobile safety app, to reach up to 50 cities globally, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Noida. SafetiPin generates safety scores for various locations in major cities so that the passenger is aware of the safety concerns with respect to specific locations. This partnership is likely to be expanded to more than 50 cities.

in India” program will instantly generate millions of jobs has also been disputed by many analysts. Economies like South Korea demonstrated a 30 per cent increase in employment only after a 40-year period, and that too through steady and sustainable increase in manufacturing activity. Although China initially showed enhanced employment as its manufacturing sector grew, the trend started to reverse after a couple of decades. Now with the slowdown, a large number of jobs are being lost.

The US is today considered to be the second most competitive economy in manufacturing. It will increase its manufacturing sector growth, but will not offer more jobs, as it would be disproportionately driven by automation and robotics. If India has to be competitive with such global peers, it has to deploy cutting edge technology, which will involve high levels of automation. This eventually will mean that the inability of the country to absorb the surplus labour force, which is predominantly unskilled still, will remain! This is a discouraging scenario and will not go in the right direction to address the reservation issue.

The labour force needs to be super skilled in order to be absorbed in high tech industries, and this will be a big challenge. Reversing the demand supply gap in both education and employment and thereby show a roadmap that can deliver inclusive prosperity is the only way the reservation issue can be permanently addressed. A

Dr Suresh Srinivasan is a Chartered Accountant, has an MBA (Bradford UK) and a Doctorate in Strategy. He is a Professor of Strategy in Great Lakes Institute of Management and a management consultant.

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snippets

IIT Delhi makes summer internship optionalIIT Delhi has taken an unprecedented step this year when for the first time in its

nearly five-and-half decade history, the institute has made summer internships optional for its students.

From this year, other than summer internship, third-year students can opt for live projects in subjects like robotics and design-based learning, or pick up any other hobby project after consulting the department. Until last year, it was mandatory for everyone to go for a 10-week internship, which often helped students secure job offers.

Newsin brief

Here are some

interesting

titbits from

over the last

month

China’s smartphone growth slows down this yearSince last year, China’s smartphone growth had been slowing down. However,

now, since the mature market has almost neared saturation point, a new forecast says that the smartphone growth in China is about to come to a standstill.

IDC has issued new forecasts saying smartphone shipments in China will grow only 1.2 per cent in 2015 – way down from 19.7 per cent in 2014.

The IDC report attributes this dramatic slowdown to China joining North America and Western Europe “in a more mature growth pattern.”

Ray-Ban drags online store Shopclues to court Luxottica Group, the owner of popular eyewear brand Ray-Ban, has taken legal action against an online marketplace for allegedly hosting fake products for sale. The company dragged ShopClues.com to court, also accusing it of misleading customers by offering heavy discounts.

The Delhi High Court last week pulled up ShopClues for breaching its earlier direction and continuing to sell Ray-Ban branded items.

7 young entrepreneurs on India’s ‘super-rich’ list The Indian business scenario is young, enthusiastic and vibrant like never before with seven young entrepreneurs within 40 years in the list of India’s super rich.

The first and second positions have be en taken by Flipkart co-founders Binny and Sachin Bansal. Third in the list is Micromax boss Rahul Sharma with a net worth of `4070 crores. The top man at Paytm, Vijay Shankar Sharma is at the fourth position.

Ola’s co-founders Bhavish Aggarwal, and Ankit Bhati, have occupied the fifth and sixth positions respectively, with a net worth of `2385 crore. And with a net worth of `2314 crores, Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl is at the seventh place.


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snippets

Swiss black money law to changeThe Swiss Federal Council approved a bill that would allow the government to share “stolen data” with other countries.

The council, Switzerland’s highest executive authority, said in a statement: “The Federal Council initiated the consultation proceedings on the revision of the Tax Administrative Assistance Act,

which provides for an easing of Swiss practices with regard to stolen data. Partner countries find Switzerland’s current practice too restrictive… the most pertinent illustration is the case of India (HSBC list).”

Entering historical monuments will be costlier from November The Archaeological Survey

of India has increased the entry ticket prices for historical monuments by a massive 200 per cent in all categories. The price hike came after an interval of 12 years.

For the World Heritage monuments that are listed under the ‘A’ category, ticket price has been raised from `10 to `30 for Indians and from `250 to `750 for foreigners.

However, unlike the other monuments in rest of the country, tourists visiting the Taj Mahal will have to pay even more because of an extra fee that is collected by Agra Development Authority as ‘toll tax’.

E-commerce companies expected to burn `2,000 crore in the festive seasonE-commerce companies are gearing up for the festive season!

The market leaders like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, as well as smaller start-ups, are expected to burn together ̀ 2,000 crore in the four months around Diwali as they try to wean away more consumers from traditional stores to online marketplaces during the festival season.

Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan will join other celebrities in promoting e-commerce companies in the multimedia blitz that, media planners say, will shift significantly towards print and digital this Diwali from television.

IIM Calcutta: 24.8% rise in top salary offerThe campus placement for IIM Calcutta’s one-year residential programme for executives has seen a rise of 24.8 per cent in the top salary offered to the students, as compared to the last year.

The highest annual salary package has been offered at `33.7 lakh per annum. The average salary for the eighth batch of Post Graduate Programme for Executives also saw an upward graph climbing 21.6 per cent from the last year to `22.69 lakh per annum.

Vodafone to start 4G in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Kochi by December endVodafone India, the country’s

No. 2 carrier, will roll out 4G services from December starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Kochi.

In addition, “Vodafone India will also roll out its own 3G networks in 7 circles — Assam, North East, UP West, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha — to expand its overall 3G fo otprint to 16 circles across the country,” the local unit of UK’s Vodafone group said in a statement.

Beauty start-ups to shift to app-based platforms with 50-70% regular customersThe plush salon experience is all set for a transition to

app-based platforms in a few months. Many of these beauty and wellness start-ups are taking bookings by phone and about 50-70 per cent of their customers are regulars, spending `1,500 - `1,800 a month.

So, in case you are looking for a makeover, but have a time crunch, you needn’t worry. Several start-ups including MyGlamm and The Home Salon are looking to make booking a stylist or beautician an experience like hailing an Uber or Ola taxi — available on demand.

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snippets

Facebook to introduce ‘dislike’ button soonAfter much speculation and multiple requests from members, Facebook will be launching a ‘dislike’ button. This feature will be introduced soon during a town hall meeting at the company’s California headquarters.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the button wouldn’t be a way for users to ‘downvote’ posts but let them express other emotions besides the inferred positivity of the Like button.

Speaking at an event at Facebook’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters that was streamed live online, Zuckerberg acknowledged that ‘Like’ isn’t always appropriate for some posts about a tragic news event, for example, when people might want to express empathy.

Centre unveils Rs 100 crore spiritual tourism circuit for Kerala The Centre on August 31 proposed a `100 crore spiritual tourism circuit for Kerala

and assured steps to declare Sabarimala as a national Pilgrimage Centre. It has been a long pending demand of the state government to declare Sabarimala a national pilgrim centre.

Surprisingly, women between the age group 12 and 50 are prevented from entering the temple premises since the idol of the temple Ayyappa, being a celibate, prohibits the entry of women who are in the menstrual age group.

ITC to enter dairy market with gheeFMCG major ITC is set to debut in dairy products starting with ghee, which would be available in the market by the end of the current

quarter, a top company executive said.The Kolkata-headquartered business group’s

ambitious dairy business will roll out in the next few years. Along with ghee the company will come out with packaged milk, butter, cheese and chocolates.

ITC has set up a milk processing unit in Munger, in Bihar, and there are plans to set up similar processing facilities in other parts of the country as well.

The Earth has 3 trillion trees, study findsA new study finds that there are 3.04 trillion trees on Earth,

7½ times more than previous estimates. That’s more than 3,000,000,000,000. Roughly 422 trees – a tiny forest – for every person on the planet!

However, researchers estimate that the total number of trees has plummeted by roughly 46 per cent since the dawn of human civilization.

Darjeeling tea exports to Europe soar in 2015Darjeeling tea exports are expected to be about 4 million kilograms in 2015, which are 30,000-40,000 kg higher compared with 2014. Darjeeling’s 87 tea estates have produced 8 million kg of tea this year.

The increased exports may help its producers in the Himalayan foothills cope with the rising cost of production to some extent.

Higher purchase by EU countries is an indication that they are gearing up to sell only 100 per cent Darjeeling tea from 2016, as the product’s Protected Geographical Indication status curbs selling of blended teas with the Darjeeling tag.

Cow becomes Nepal’s national animalCow, an animal considered hallowed for Hindus, has now been declared the national animal of Nepal when

the country’s newly-unveiled secular constitution was drafted. Nepal finally adopted a new constitution on September 21 after years of political wrangling. Now that the animal has constitutional protection, cow slaughter has also been banned in the country.

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QuantDIRECTIONS for questions 1: Choose the correct alternative.

1. If y = then, for how many integer values of x is y > 0?

1] 0 2] 255 3] 624 4] Infinite

y = Let x = p4, then the equation becomes

y = p3 + p2 – 20p > 0

–5 < p < 0 or p > 4.

Since, p takes infinite values x takes infinite integer values. Hence, [4].

2. In PQR, PD QR and QR = 2RD. The length of all the sides of PQR have integral values, with at least

one side measuring 26 units. If the area of PQR is 240 sq. units, then semiperimeter of PQR can be:

1] 35 units 2] 32 units 3] 31 units 4] 36 units

In PQR, PD QR and QR = 2RD.

PQR is an isosceles triangle.

Then either PR = QR = 26 or QR = 26

If QR = 26 PD =

Are you a Brainiac? In this section, we shall explore several different types of questions from the various areas of entrance exams like the CAT, CET, GMAT,

etc, and how to best solve them.

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But the length of PR = will not be an integer number.

PR = PQ = 26

(PD)2 + (DR)2 = (26)2 = 676

and PD x DR = 240

PD + DR = 34

PD = 10 and DR = 24 or PD = 24 and DR = 10.

semiperimeter = (a + b + c)

= (26 + 26 + 20) = 36 or

(26 + 26 + 48) = 50.

Hence, [4].

Alternatively,

After (i), consider the options.

From each option, we get the semiperimeter(s) and third side of the triangle and using the formula ;

where a, b, c are the sides of the triangle, we can check whether the area is 240 or not.

Verbal

Q1) The Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua holds the largest rain forest in Central America, covering some 20,000 square miles of dense vegetation, swamps, and rivers. _______________. The persistence of the myth of a hidden White City owes a great deal to the forbidding nature of this wilderness. But the origin of the legend is obscure. Explorers, prospectors, and early aviators spoke of glimpsing the white ramparts of a ruined city rising above the jungle; others repeated tales, first recorded by Hernán Cortés in 1526, of fabulously rich towns hidden in the Honduran interior. Anthropologists who spent time with the Miskito, Pech, and Tawahka Indians of Mosquitia heard stories of a “White House,” a refuge where indigenous people retreated from the Spanish conquest, never to be seen again.

1] Mosquitia lies on the frontier of Mesoamerica, adjacent to the realm of the Maya. 2] While the Maya are among the most studied of ancient cultures in the Americas, the people of Mosquitia

are among the most mysterious—a question mark embodied by the legend of the White City. 3] From above it may look inviting, but anyone venturing into it faces a host of dangers: deadly snakes,

hungry jaguars, and noxious insects, some carrying potentially lethal diseases. 4] This rain forest can now be traversed by road thanks to the highway built in 1994 by the Honduran

government with technical assistance provided by the US Army Engineers Corps.

Directions for questions 1 and 2: The following questions have a paragraph from which one sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.

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The key phrase is “forbidding nature of this wilderness” that occurs directly after the blank sentence. Therefore, the blank sentence should describe the “forbidding” aspects of this particular forest. Eliminate options [1] and [2] as they do not offer any such explanations. [4] makes this forest accessible and definitely less forbidding; in short it contradicts the “forbidding wilderness” expressed after the blank. Only [3] describes the dangers lurking in this forest which makes this wilderness “forbidding”. Hence, [3].

Q2) The boat is dangerously encumbered. It pushes three barges by means of an engine that was built to convey about 750 tons. The cargo—iron rods, sacks of cement, food products—exceeds 900 tons. Ruffling over the barges is a patchwork roof of tarps and cloth, and beneath it are some 600 human passengers. Perhaps half of them paid up to $80 for the journey upriver. _______________.

1] Many are city dwellers hoping to find work harvesting corn and peanuts. 2] A few of the women, toting portable charcoal stoves, have hired themselves out as cooks and therefore

not paid for the journey upriver. 3] The rest sneaked aboard. 4] Now and again an intoxicated passenger falls overboard; so far no one has drowned, but the journey is

still young.

The key is the penultimate sentence: Half paid for the journey. What did the other half do? They sneaked aboard without paying. Option [3] states this and closes the paragraph. [2] may seem close but the repetition of the phrase “journey upriver” in both the penultimate and the concluding sentence will be awkward language usage. Options [1] and [4] do not connect with the penultimate sentence which is about paying for the journey. Therefore, they are easily eliminated. Hence, [3].

A. For three years, I was told, few fish were caught, and many people starved. B. A resident told me that recently the chief had grown angry at the failure of the local fishermen to respect

Ngombe ways and punished them by putting a curse on the town’s fishing trade. C. All of this suggested to me a show of muscle for which the warlike Ngombe were once known, before

the minions of King Leopold came to exploit the river basin.D. “The Belgian colonization killed the Congolese soul,” historian Kambayi Bwatshia later told me.E. The fishermen were brought to their knees, and the chief removed the curse. F. Yet a traditional Ngombe practice persists.

[1] ABCDEF [2] FBAECD [3] DBAECF [4] DBAEFC

BAE are clearly linking sentences. B is about a curse which A describes as being effective (few fish were caught) while E is about the curse being removed. F and B are also connected since both speak about the Ngombe; F about Ngombe practices and B about a curse being put on fishermen for not respecting the Ngombe ways. CD are linking sentences. C with “Ngombe” will precede D since C talks about the aggressive instincts of the Ngombe before Belgian colonizers arrived and finished off the Ngombe people’s capable instincts (mentioned in D). Therefore, the sequence is FBAECD. Hence. [2].

DIRECTIONS for question 3: The sentences given in the following question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences, from among the given choices, to construct a coherent paragraph.

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WOR

D DOS

E

M AT C H T H E W O R D S W I T H T H E I R M E A N I N G S

Queen of the nightEUSTACIA VYE was the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would

have done well with a little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman.

Had it been possible for the earth and mankind to be entirely in her grasp for a while, had she handled the distaff, the spindle, and the shears at her own free will,

few in the world would have noticed the change of government. There would have been the same inequality of lot, the same heaping up of favours here, of contumely there,

the same generosity before justice, the same perpetual dilemmas, the same captious alternation of caresses and blows that we endure now. She was in person full-limbed

and somewhat heavy; without ruddiness, as without pallor; and soft to the touch as a cloud. To see her hair was to fancy that a whole winter did not contain darkness

enough to form its shadow: it closed over her forehead like nightfall extinguishing the western glow.

Her nerves extended into those tresses, and her temper could always be softened by stroking them down. When her hair was brushed she would

instantly sink into stillness and look like the Sphinx.

Excerpts from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

1. Divinity – (dih-vin-i-tee) (n)2. Olympus –

(oh-lim -puh s, -) (n)3. Grasp – (grahsp) (v)4. Distaff – (dis-tahf) (n)5. Spindle – (spin-dl) (n)6. Shears – (sheer-s) (n)7. Heaping – (heep-ing)

(present participle)8. Contumely –

(kon- tyoom -lee) (n)9. Perpetual –

(per-pech-oo-uh l) (adj)10. Dilemmas –

(dih-lem-uh-s) (n)11. Captious –

(kap-shuh s) (adj)12. Alternation –

(al-ter-ney-shuh n) (n)13. Caresses – (kuh-res-es) (n)

14. Endure – (en- dyoo r) (v)15. Ruddiness –

(ruhd-ee-ness) (noun)16. Pallor – (pal-er) (n)17. Extinguishing –

(ek-sting-gwish-ing) (gerund)18. Tresses – (tres-es) (n)19. Stroking –

(strohk-ing) (gerund)20. Sphinx – (sfingks) (n)

a. Insolent or insulting language or treatment.

b. The repeated occurrence of two things in turn.

c. A slender rounded rod with tapered ends used in hand spinning to twist and wind thread from a mass of wool or flax held on a distaff.

d. A woman’s long silky hair.e. Piling with contents above the

brim or edge.f. Gently touching in a repeated

rhythmic manner.g. Never ending or changing.h. A stick or spindle on to which

wool or flax is wound for spinning.

i. Tending to find fault or raise petty objections.

j. A divine being; a god or goddess

k. Touches or strokes gently or lovingly.

l. Situations in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are equally undesirable.

m. Suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently.

n. Seize and hold firmly – in her control.

o. An unhealthy pale appearance.p. (Of a person’s face) having a

healthy red colour.

q. Cause (a fire or light) to cease to burn or shine.

r. Scissors of large size or cutting implements or machines having two blades that resemble or suggest those of scissors.

s. A winged monster of Thebes, having a woman’s head and a lion’s body. In Greek mythology it spoke in riddles which were very difficult to solve – hence a stony and inscrutable look.

t. The home of the twelve greater gods, identified in later antiquity with Mount Olympus in Greece.

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A quiz to boost your General Knowledge

1. Name the ISRO scientist who has been conferred with the first Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2015. The award carries `5 lakh, a gold medal and a certificate of appreciation.

a. TK Anuradha b. Prof. Mustansir Barma c. Jothimani Gowthaman d. N. Valarmathi

2. Recently a bank launched a mobile wallet app called Buddy in collaboration with Accenture and MasterCard. Name the bank.

a. SBI b. IDBI c. Standard Chartered d. Axis

3. A state recently launched a flagship programme Grama Jyothi to empower its gram panchayats. Name the state.

a. Jharkhand b. Himachal Pradesh c. Telangana d. Punjab

4. In banking terminology what does BBB stand for?

a. Bank Board Bureau b. Bank Benefits Bureau c. Bank Blogger Bureau d. Bank Broadcast Bureau

5. Name the Indian organisation that recently released Amar Chitra Katha & Aan Comics on inspirational stories of war heroes.

a. Indian Army b. Nationa l Security Guard c. Indian Air Force d. Indian Navy

6. Onam is a popular 10-day-long festival which is celebrated to commemorate the Vamana avatara of Vishnu. Which avatar of Vishnu was Vamana?

a. First b. Third c. Fifth d. Seventh

7. Recently World Health Organisation declared a country as maternal and neonatal tetanus free. This means mothers and newborns are free from tetanus at the time of birth. Name the country.

a. Sri Lanka b. India c. Cambodia d. Bangladesh

8. Sunhak Peace Prize is given to eminent individuals for their contribution to peace and development of the world. Name the person who has been chosen for the award this year in 2015.

a. A. R. Rahman b. Narendra Modi c. Sachin Tendulkar d. Modadugu Vijay Gupta

9. India has gifted its former Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship to Sri Lanka and it was rechristened ‘Sagara’ by the island nation. What was the original name?

a. Sindhukirti b. Arihant c. Varaha d. Vikrant

10. India will be hosting the 10th World Hindi Conference on

September from 10th to 12th this year. In which city will this conference be held?

a. Allahabad b. Bhopal c. Jaipur d. Patna

11. Recently Film Federation of India appointed a popular personality as the Chairman of India’s Oscar Jury. Name the person.

a. Nana Patekar b. Sharmila Tagore c. Amol Palekar d. Adoor Gopalakrishnan

12. The Union Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad released a `5 postal stamp in honour of a famous historical figure. Name the historical figure.

a. Ashoka b. Chandragupta Maurya c. Akbar the Great d. Tipu Sultan

13. Temple of Baalshamin got demolished in a civil war recently. In which country was this temple located?

a. Pakistan b. Saudi Arabia c. Syria d. Iran

14. Name the African city that will be hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

a. Durban b. Cairo c. Jadu d. Johannesburg

15. The West-Central Railway has become the first zone in

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the Indian Railways to finally eliminate all unmanned level crossings. Where is this zone headquartered?

a. Jaipur b. Jabalpur c. Patna d. Kota

16. The government of which state in India launched One Stop Centre “Sakhi” to help women in distress?

a. Rajasthan b. Punjab c. Haryana d. Uttar Pradesh

17. Name the two banks that have been declared by Reserve Bank of India as Domestic Systemically Important Banks.

a. Kotak and Standard Chartered

b. Union Bank of India and UCO Bank

c. HDFC and HSBC d. ICICI and SBI

18. Name the game which is associated with “Buchi Babu Memorial Trophy”.

a. Volleyball b. Badminton c. Cricket d. Kabbadi 19. Recently, tropical storm Etau

caused extensive floods and brought in destruction in many parts of a particular country. Name the country.

a. Japan b. Australia c. United States of America d. Algeria

20. The Union Government has taken several measures to increase availability and control the price of essential commodities, especially pulses and onions. To maintain

availability and control the price, the Government of India has banned export of all pulses except one variety. What type of pulse is that?

a. Kabuli Chana (chick pea) b. Moong (green pea) c. Tur (pigeon pea) d. Urad (black gram)

21. Name the state in India that is not affected by Left Wing Extremism.

a. Odisha b. Maharashtra c. Uttar Pradesh d. Rajasthan

22. The highest foreign exchange in India is earned from which sector?

a. Tourism b. Engineering Exports c. Petroleum Products Exports d. Jewellery Exports

23. Name the state government of India that has rechristened its e-governance architecture as “e-Pragati”.

a. Maharashtra b. Kerala c. Andhra Pradesh d. Arunachal Pradesh

24. Kala Utsav is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to promote art. How is art promoted through this initiative?

a. Nurturing and showcasing the artistic talent of school students

b. Providing folk art performers a platform to showcase their talent

c. Providing scholarship to art students

d. Providing financial support to tribal art performers

25. India and another country have

signed a pact for repatriation of each other’s wanted prisoners and cooperate in all criminal matters, including gathering evidence. Name the country.

a. Bangladesh b. Bhutan c. Indonesia d. Sri Lanka

26. Recently a Bollywood actor has been conferred with the Honoured Guest award by the US State of Texas for his contribution to the cinema and the world of art. Name him.

a. Anupam Kher b. Amitabh Bachchan c. Irrfan Khan d. Shah Rukh Khan

27. Renowned policy expert Ramaswamy R. Iyer passed away recently. He was instrumental in drafting a very popular policy in India in 1987. Name the policy.

a. Agriculture Policy b. Water Policy c. Farming Policy d. Industrial Policy

28. Name the person who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Press Trust of India.

a. Mahendra Mohan Gupta b. Mihir Shah c. Riyad Mathew d. Hormusji N Cama

29. Name the bank that has recently launched the mobile app LIME.

a. Standard Chartered Bank b. The Royal Bank of Scotland c. Axis Bank d. HSBC Bank

30. China will be hosting 2022 Asian Games. Name the city where all the games will be held.

a. Tianjin b. Chengdu c. Xi’an d. Hangzhou

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46 How to PlayFill in the grid so that every horizontal row, every vertical column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating the numbers in the same row, column or box. You can’t change the digits already given in the grid. Every puzzle has one solution.Hint: Don’t fill in numbers at random. While filling a particular square, write numbers 1-9 on a pad and start eliminating those numbers that already appear in the same row, column or 3x3 box.

SuDoKu

For more similar puzzles, visit:www.sudoku.com

ANSWERS

GLOBESCAN

1. d 2. a 3. c 4. a 5. a

6. c 7. b 8. d 9. c 10. b

11. c 12. a 13. c 14. a 15. b

16. c 17. d 18. c 19. a 20. a

21. d 22. b 23. c 24. a 25. c

26. a 27. b 28. d 29. c 30. d

31. a 32. c 33. c 34. b 35. b

WORD DOSE

31. The well-known dancer and Padmashree-awardee choreographer, Kalamandalam Satyabhama passed away due to illness recently at the age of 77. Name the dance form in which she specialised.

a. Mohiniyattam b. Kathakali c. Kathak d. Kuchipudi

32. Recently, the government of a state in India approved the formation of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The ATS will comprise of 6 DSP and 11 Inspectors in it and will be headed by an official of the rank of Superintendent of Police. Name the state.

a. Telangana b. Andhra Pradesh c. Jharkhand d. Tripura

33. The Indian Railways partnered with a company under the ‘Project Nilgiri’ to create India’s largest network of free WiFi across 400 railway stations, pan India. Name the company.

a. Airtel b. Vodafone c. Google d. BSNL 34. Name the city where the Veer

Savarkar International Airport is located.

a. Mangalore b. Port Blair c. Odisha d. Mizoram

35. Kalarippayattu is the traditional martial art dance and is often considered the mother of all martial arts. Name the state in India where it is originally taught.

a. Karnataka b. Kerala

c. Tamil Nadu d. Andhra Pradesh

1. j 2. t 3. n 4. h 5. c 6. r 7. e 8. a 9. g 10. l 11. i 12. b 13. k 14. m 15. p 16. o 17. q 18. d 19. f 20. s

a mba oct2015

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