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Thursday, June 17, 2010

An appeal not to abolish JEE ( Joint Entrance Examination for IITs).

An appeal not to abolish JEE ( Joint Entrance Examination for IITs).

To:  Members of Parliament of India - Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha
Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India,
Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resources & Development,
Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition,
Smt. Meira Kumar, Speaker of the House
Members of the Parliament in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,
State Education Ministers, Chairman of the UGC,
Directors of all IITs and Citizens of India.

Petition Created on 5th April 2010.

Subject : An appeal not to abolish a proven system called JEE (Joint Entrance Examination for IITs).

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister and a great visionary, created the five IITs, getting UNESCO, USA, Germany, UK & Russia to fund, furbish, staff and nurture them in the initial years. Pandit Nehru built them on the lines of premier institutions world wide. The dream was to kickstart and accelerate a process that would identify talented high school graduates and provide them a high quality education in engineering.

To qualify for the JEE (Joint Entrance Exam for IITs) every applicant must have passed the final examination of the 10+2 system (or equivalent) with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. There was no emphasis on overall performance at high school and none on student’s educational background, promoting a level playing field for students from nooks and corners of India.

Over the past 50 years, 175,000 graduates of the IITs have established IIT as a Global Brand, facilitated by the autonomous structure & funds granted to the IITs by the Government of India. This valuable Brand name arose out of the graduates being able to compete in the global market place, where merit and capability are the only measures that matter. The success of IIT alumni who have done the Nation proud belongs to the Indian Government, the IITs themselves and also the Indian Tax Payers, whose money was invested unconditionally by GoI in IITs for five decades.

Whilst all of the above share credit for the success of the IITs, basic marketing principles would say that a Global Brand is created more by its graduates and the benefits that those alumni bring to India and the world at large, than any other single entity; thus, IIT Alumni is a critically important group to consider.

Such excellence and recognition could not have been achieved over a sustained period of 50 years, without the help of the selection process. The key ingredient to the IIT system is the JEE ( Joint Entrance Examination ), that has helped pick truly gifted students for 50 years for a B.Tech Degree. Quality materials are needed to develop a quality product, and JEE does just that, selecting from about 400,000 aspirants annually, the cream of the nation to study at IITs.

Whilst JEE is a key ingredient, the IIT Brand is a recognition of the contribution of IITians to the Global society. IIT Alumni have created many new companies and have served the nation by introducing state of the art technologies. They have helped generate several million jobs over the last 50 years globally, with almost 75% of those jobs being created in India.

Quoting French Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1921, Anatole France “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” The IIT Brand has inspired passionate young Indians to dream big, believe in themselves and aspire with confidence.

In accordance with the IIT Act, the President of India initiated a review of the IIT system in 2004 by a Committee consisting of :

Prof. Rama Rao, former Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad;
R. Chidambaram, then Principal Scientific Advisor;
Dr G. Mehta, Director Indian Institute of Science;
Dr S.K.Joshi, National Physical Laboratory;
A. Mahindra, Chairman Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd;
and C.K.Birla, Chairman Hindustan Motors

and they had concluded that :

“JEE is singularly responsible for accomplishing the brand image of India” and “the system which has been put into place to conduct the JEE exam should NOT be disturbed and that a group be formed of senior IIT professors who have been associated with the JEE to look into some reforms.”

There has been no review since and nothing could have changed to warrant abolition of JEE by 2013 as reported by the media in recent times.

Any system that has consistently delivered high on career development can be prone to abuse. There have been allegations of some misuse of the JEE too. Private coaching classes have mushroomed around the country to circumvent JEE methodologies used to identify excellence. This needs to be fixed.

However abolishing JEE would be a case of "throwing the baby out with the bath water". We are sure you will see our appeal is fair, in the best interest of the nation and children of the future.

There is a good case for the proposed Common Entrance Test (CET) eliminating the need for one student to take multiple exams for example the CBSE Board 10+2, IIT JEE, BITS Pilani, AIEEE, State Level MH-CET and private college entrance tests and then having to attend in-person interviews for seat allotments for example in Trichy (TN), Warrangal (AP), Pilani ( Rajhastan), Wakaranghat (HP), Delhi, Mumbai and more.

However with hurdles like 18 official languages, many backward class students deserving reservation and a large disparity between rich and poor in terms of opportunities & awareness, implementing CET will be a challenge; it further compounds the risk of placing all eggs in one basket called the CET, eliminating free choice. What happens to a clever student who for reasons beyond his control does badly in the CET or is forced to miss CET. Does he or she not deserve a few more options ?

CET will grade a million students whilst JEE differentiates between the top 10000 students by testing their native intelligence. Even if CET is established, the need for JEE will not diminish as it is a unique high grade filtering process. JEE is unique in testing complex problem solving skills requiring abstract & lateral thinking while other entrance exams test knowledge.

JEE is very different from 10+2 board exams in that JEE tests a students raw intelligence, which is an individual's ability to grasp abstract concepts, recognize patterns plus apply prior knowledge while 10+2 school board exams test knowledge acquired at school. Restricting entry to JEE by raising the qualifying marks from 60% to 85 % in 10+2 exams as is being considered is a retrograde step as it will deny IITs the benefit of selecting some very clever and creative students, favouring those who only excel in examinations. Should such talented students be denied the opportunity of a lifetime for an affordable and superlative education ?.

If the current JEE format allows any form of "beating the system", then what is essential is to plug the loopholes. If, as alleged, JEE standards may have been compromised by the very people meant to guard the system, it is not a system failure, but a violation of ethics that requires eradication. The system needs to be streamlined to plug the loopholes without compromising on any processes which ensure standards.

JEE is the Gold Standard for Engineering entrance exam and should stay. This appeal is for GoI to set up an “ Independent Commission ” to correct the flaws and abuses in the JEE system and not to abolish the methodology.

To abolish the JEE would be tantamount to finding a key ingredient of a winning formula and removing it. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for doing this, no scientific evidence whatsoever that the Global IIT brand would be improved, and no scientific evidence whatsoever that any generally accepted objective would be achieved. Indeed, such a move flies directly in the face of any evidence-based thinking that has been put forward.

The Nation will be indebted to the Ministers of GoI, for making the right decision “Not to Abolish JEE” and that JEE, the Gold Standard, will continue to serve our children of future generations.

We the undersigned "Save JEE Team of Volunteers", offer our services to the nation to help investigate, redesign and develop a fool proof and just "JEE" system.

Ram Krishnaswamy, B.Tech 1970, IIT Madras, M. Bldg. Sc. Sydney University, MIE.Aust., MAAS.,
1990-97 Managing Director- Environmental Noise control Pty Ltd.
1997-2000 Managing Director - Noise Control Australia Pty Ltd.
Currently: Managing Director – NoDesCo, Sydney, Australia.

Arvind Singh, B.Tech 1993, IIT Kanpur
Currently: Software Development Lead and Principal Architect, Marshall Watson , Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

B.K.Syngal, B.Tech (Hons)1961, M.Tech 1962 IIT Kharagpur, India,
C.Eng (UK), M.I.E.E. (UK), Sr. M.I.E.E.E. (USA), and F.I.ET.E. (India), Member London Court of International Arbitration.
1991-98: Chairman and Managing Director of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL), 1998-2001: Chairman, Reliance Telecom,
2001-2007: Vice Chairman, BPL Communications Limited, Currently: Sr. Principal Dua Consulting, India

Barun Kumar, B.Tech 1992, IIT Kanpur, Currently: DGM, Reva Electric Car Company, India

Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna, B.Tech, 1971, IIT Bombay, MBA, 1971, IIM Ahmedabad, M.Phil., Columbia University, Ph.D., Columbia University,
Professor and President of The University of West Georgia, with two terms served as Interim Executive / Senior Vice Chancellor of the University System of Georgia
(Dr. Sethna is the first Indian-born President ever of any U.S. University)

Chidambaram Raghavan, B.Tech. 1974 IIT Madras, M.Sc in Engg 1976 Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland USA
1978-85: Worked in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 1985-06: Principal Research Engineer at Flow International Corporation, Kent, Washington
Currently: Consultant for Aerospace and Advanced Systems in India to Flow International Corporation, India

Gajendra Sidana, B.Tech 2006, IIT Madras, Currently: Process Safety Engineer, Hazira LNG Pvt. Ltd (a Shell & Total Joint Venture), India

Dr. G.S.Parthasarathy, M.Tech 1969, IIT Madras, Prof in Civil Engineering, M.S.University of Baroda, Gujarat, India

Dr. Harwant Singh Chhabra, B.Tech1969, IIT Madras, MBA, Fellow IIM Ahmedabad, Former Professor, NITIE and IIML, Currently: President, Lemonte Acquisitions Houston, USA

Jairam Sampath, B.Tech 1985 - IIT Madras, PGDM 1989 - IIM Ahmedabad, Currently: CMO - iPath Technologies, India

Dr. Narayana Prakash R.Saligram, B.E 1976 (NITK, Suratkal), M.Tech1980 IIT Bombay, PhD 1993(IISc), Currently: VP (Operations) Plug Power Energy India Pvt. Ltd., India.

Navroze Havewala, B.E, PGDM – IIM Bangalore, Currently: Chief Executive of Mazda Consultants, India.

Padmanabh Sahasrabudhe, B.E 1999 JNEC, M.Tech 2001, IIT Bombay, Currently: Senior Member of Technical Staff in Oracle USA.

Dr. P R Swarup, B.Tech 1975, IIT Kanpur, Ph.D Rajeev Gandhi Technical University, Bhopal, D.Sc. (Honoris Causa)
1975-96 Worked on Physical Infrastructure Construction Projects in India and overseas
Currently: Director General, Construction Industry Development Council, New Delhi, India

Raghav Mittal, M.Tech [Dual Degree] 2004, IIT Kharaghpur, Managing Director Extra Edge Infomedia Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, Editor UPTU WATCH, Trustee & Chairman Paarth Educational Foundation, Mathura, Mentor Paarth Educational Services, Mathura, Advisor: Braj Chikitsa Sansthan; BSA College of Engineering & Technology, Mathura , Trustee & Project Coordinator, The Braj Foundation , Secretary, Braj Rakshak Dal . Member, District Vigilance Committee Mathura, Coordinator, Students' Forum for India's Heritage [SFIH], Convener, Bharat Bandhu Network [BBN], Member, Bharat Punarnirman Dal [BPD]

Dr. Raj Mutharasan B.Tech 1969, IIT Madras , M.S. Drexel University 1971, Ph.D. Drexel University 1973
Frank A. Fletcher Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Former Dean of Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Ramanan Ramamurti, B.Tech 1976, IIT Madras, Currently: Director - Nile Ltd., India

Ranjan Pant. IIT Kanpur B.Tech (1973). Currently, Chief Technology Officer at Powermax Global, Maryland, USA.
Involved in organizing IIT alumni activities in the US since 1998; Co-founder of Capital IIT (later Pan IIT association of Washington DC);
Co-chair of world's first major international IIT conference (Washington DC, 2002);
co-author of “IIT India's Intellectual Treasures” and forthcoming book “Global 101“ which features 101 IIT alumni making key global contributions

Sadashiv. K, B.Tech 1977, IIT Madras, MBA IIM Bangalore, Currently: Partner (ASEAN)-Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young, Singapore

Dr. Samir Kelekar, B.Tech 1983, IIT Bombay, MS 1987 Clemson University, USA, Phd 1994 Columbia University, NYC, USA.
Founder- Director of Teknotrends Software Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India.

Dr. Sanat Agrawal, B.Tech 1988, IIT Kanpur,
Currently: Associate Professor, Mechanical Engg, Jaypee Institute of Engg and Technology (JIET), Madhya Pradesh, India.

Sanjay Jadhav, B.Tech 1989, IIT Bombay, MBA 2003, IIT Kanpur, currently Director on Golden Arch International Ltd., India
Guest faculty at National Power Training Institute , Project Director and Volunteer at Bharatshodh

Selvaraj Israel, B.Tech 1972, IIT Madras. Retd Engineer SG ISRO. Currently Researching Human Posture, India

Somayajula Achuta Ramaiah, B.Tech 1967, IIT Madras. Wing Commander (Retd) Indian Air Force, India

Somnath Bharti, MSc (IITD), LLB (Delhi University), Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court, Partner, Bharti & Associates (Advocates and Corporate Lawyers), India.
Former Secretary, IIT Delhi Alumni Association, Formerly Member, Senate, IIT Delhi, Founder, Save Vikram Buddhi Movement.

Dr. Sriram Parthasarathy, B.Tech 1982, IIT Madras, PhD 1998 Georgia Tech, India

Suresh Adina, B.Tech 1989, IIT Kharaghpur, MS 1992- MIT USA, MS 1998- NEU USA, Currently: MD Quickeagle Networks, USA

Udit Chaudhuri, BSc 1979, Univ of Delhi, Adv Dipl Mgt -Wolfgang Mewes Verlag, Strategy Consultant / Technical Writer / Lead Coordinator (SME Interim Management Program), India

Varada Raju Dharanipragada, B.Tech 1970, M.Tech 1974, IIT Madras
Currently : Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Vickram Crishna, B. Tech 1975, IIT Delhi, P.G.D.M. 1977 IIM Calcutta, Chief Executive, Radiophony, India, Currently: Coordinator, Privacy Network in Asia, India.

Vikash Kodati, B.Tech 2002, IIT Guwahati , Currently: Technical Manager at Verasta – a subsidiary of Trilogy, USA.

Vinayak Markande, B.Tech 1980, IIT Bombay; DMS- University of Bombay
1993-96 : Project Manager- National Peroxides Ltd., Kalyan, Mumbai, 1996-05 : Sr. Project Manager- Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Baroda
Currently: Director / Proprietor - Perrin Valves Pvt. Ltd., Baroda, India

Sincerely,



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‘All NRIs aren’t quite as rich as you think we are’

By Ram Krishnaswamy

Editorial By churumuri


Every so often, Indian politicians and organisations call upon Non-Resident Indians and People of Indian Origin to plough their money back home. They are told to use their dollars to adopt villages and take part in social projects so as to make a difference in the land of their birth and origin.

The call presumes that NRIs and PIOs are rolling in cash. But says Ram Krishnaswamy, an IITian, this is a specious premise. NRIs, he says, aren’t as rich as most Indians think they are; the Indian middle-class is richer. And Indians working in lowly jobs in the Gulf are doing far more for the country than Indians in hi-tech jobs in the USA, UK and Australia.

Instead of looking for the greenbacks of the NRIs, India would be better served if it tried to use their grey cells.

***


RAM KRISHNASWAMY writes from Sydney, Australia: 


Two years ago, I attended a reception for a Union Minister who had come to Sydney to make a big speech asking all NRIs to invest big in India and to attend the annual NRI yatra that was to be held at Bombay.

The Minister was expecting NRIs to queue up and pledge millions if not billions as was done by some Indians in Hong Kong and South Africa. He was most disappointed with the NRIs in Australia.

When question time came, the audience were suggesting to the Minister that for them to come to India to attend the meeting, they needed reduced fares in Air-India as well as free accommodation in Bombay!

I just chuckled and left the meeting convinced that the Government had it all wrong. As I was leaving the Intercontinental Hotel, I was confronted by a Group of Sardars who were yelling “XYZ murdabad!”. They asked me why someone like me would attend a meeting and listen to a murderer. (It was a Congress minister, for sure.)


If truth has to be told, my reading is that people living in India, especially the middle class, have a lot more spare cash than Indian NRIs. It is a myth that NRIs have a money tree growing in their back yards.

The majority of recent NRIs came abroad as students and started life with a huge mortgage hanging over their heads to do their undergraduate or masters degree.

As students they work about 20 hours a week, which is legal, in restaurants, car washes, telemarketing companies, petrol stations or as taxi drivers, just making enough to pay rent and food bills. This goes on for three to four years. During this period they feel home sick and visit family at least twice in four years spending whatever funds they have saved or money that they do not have by borrowing from friends.

At age 25, they get their first job, mostly in IT, let us say for a gross annual salary of $30,000 and a net take-home pay of about $2000 per month. All their focus in the next few years is all about getting permanent residence (as in Australia) or a Green Card in USA. Many have a masters in IT and work as tellers in banks or drive taxis as a full time job.

At age 30, the lucky ones get their permanent residence, while the unlucky ones return home broke or go underground, becoming illegal migrants living in fear of being apprehended and deported. Also around age 30, they get married to partners back home as arranged by their parents or find partners locally and live in de facto relationships.

With both partners working the disposable income at home is improved and round $3,000 and $4,000 per month. But then they have to rent a small two bedroom flat at $1,200 a month and the food bill comes to about $800 a month even if they are living frugally.

Then comes the urge to own a car and along with it come car expenses like registration, insurance, repairs and the fuel bills. Plus there are utility bills like gas and electricity, clothing and entertainment to pay.


By the third week in most young NRI households, all funds are gone and they are using their credit cards and waiting anxiously for the next pay packet.

In other words it is hand-to-mouth living for most young couples, in what is basically a Credit Card Society. There is no such thing as savings, especially with low interest rates it is just not worth saving anything in a bank.


At age 35, comes the first child and at 40, most Indians who value education enroll their children in private convent or grammar schools, with annual school fees being at least around $12,000 a year. Imagine having three children and having to fork out $36,000 out of the net income after tax?

At age 40 also comes the dream to own a property and a 25 -year mortgage with interest rates on the rise year after year. A mortgage that will not get paid off even when the man is 65 years of age unless he pumps in a lot more than the minimum required.

In the 1980s, the banks were pretty strict about who they gave out loans to. They looked at the employment record and your savings record and insisted on a minimum 25% as deposit. Today the outlook of banks is different. Banks are queuing up to give massive loans to young couples, knowing pretty well that these youngsters may not be able to discharge the loans.

House loans of the order of $35,000 to $50,000 are very common with minimum monthly repayments of about $1,500 to $2,000 a month. Last financial year alone the banks repossessed as many as 6,000 properties from young couples for defaulting mortgage payments.

At age 50, if one is lucky, he has done well career wise and has gone up the ladder to earn say $100,000 or $150,000 a year. It is only at age 60 that one may get a breather with children completing degrees and also working part time while studying. Mortgage and loans have been discharged.

It all flies so fast that you realise that retirement is staring at you and you have not put aside enough funds in your nest egg for retirement.

Add to this equation the annual or biannual trips back home to India to attend weddings, deaths, etc besides holidays. Let us not forget that 95% of NRIs are employees and mere wage earners. Then there are the unfortunate ones who get sick or lose their partners (mostly divorces) or even lose their jobs.


I am reminded of an NRI who died suddenly of a heart attack leaving behind a wife who had never worked and two young school going children.

The society at large believed the man was a well-to-do businessman living in a two-storey mansion in an upmarket suburb, with his children going to private schools, and he and his wife driving the latest BMWs.

Appearances can be so deceptive at times. Within a week of his death, both cars were leased were repossessed and within a month the house was on the market being auctioned by the bank. As for his flourishing business, well it was running at a loss and had to be wound up totally.


While most friends sympathised, there was nothing any one could do to throw a safety net for this unlucky family. While this was the worst-case scenario, I am sure many are bordering on similar limits.

We then have another category of NRIs. Skilled workers like nurses, masons, carpenters, etc, who go to the Middle East. They earn pathetic wages, live in pigeon holes and live like slaves. They send money home for their wife and children, and save every penny to buy a property in their home town in India.

These are the NRIs who have boosted India’s economy as each and every one remits money on a regular basis. These people do not have an option of becoming citizens in the Middle East and have to return one day when their contract is terminated.

The Dinars and the Dirhams earned in the Middle East are much stronger than the greenback and hence the boom in real estates in States like Kerala.

Most of the NRI revenue to India comes from this group of people in the Middle East as compared to the NRIs in USA, UK, Australia, etc who have migrated for good and taken up citizenships.
All it takes for an NRI to show off in India while on a holiday is an air-ticket charged to the Visa card, one thousand dollars (Rs 45,000) to spend, a few gifts for the family, and a video camera. If this is a family of four it will take them a year to pay off the holiday expense using the credit card.

We also have the oldies like me, professional doctors and engineers who migrated about 30 years or more.

Most of us oldies have spent half our life time in the country we migrated to seeking a better life. Our children were all born here and educated here and settled here for life. To our children India is another holiday destination and not the mother land as it is to first generation migrants.

Even when we retire we will remain where our children are and look forward to the grand children. Some of us may have our feet in both countries and there are others who have adopted the new country as the motherland.

The question is, if the second generation Indians abroad are in fact NRIs. Most young NRIs born and brought up abroad, only associate with India when it comes to cricket but very little else and I do not blame them.

Given all this, now tell me how much money you can expect the million NRIs to plough into the 600,000 Indian villages?

It is unfair to assume that all NRIs are loaded and that they are tight with their money. The truth is that there is no money tree in their back yards. That NRIs are rich and loaded is a myth. Surely a small percentage have made big money but majority are just wage earners working for some one else.

The neo-rich NRIs have to show off to society how well they have done financially. It is a necessity to live in a posh suburb where real estate is expensive and to have an S-Class Merc or a couple of BMWs parked in the garage of a mansion with a swimming pool and a tennis court.

Try getting this class of Indians to adopt an Indian village and see what they have to say.

I believe the 300-million middle class people in India have much more spare cash than an average NRI.

Yes, I agree we need to do something to improve the wretched lives in the villages not by adopting villages or pouring your hard earned funds.

Charity, as we all know begins at home. If I have money to spare, will I give it to family members in India who are in financial strife or adopt some village ?

I do not believe in feeding the hungry fish but would like to teach them how to fish.

It is from this view point my batch mates have taken it upon ourselves to adopt a public high school in Alamathi village in Thiruvallur and teach them computers and graphics and web design. We also organise weekend coaching classes and the benefit is already showing in the school results of these children.

During my visit in 2004 we had these kids visit IIT Madras and I have made a pledge that the first student from this school who gets into IIT will be fully supported by me financially.

Here is a story that moves me and motivates me.

An army jeep driver returns to his village after 30 years in the army and finds that nothing has changed in his village and decides to do something about it. He is most definitely my hero and he is none other than Anna Hazare.

Last year we we had to raise Rs 1.5 lakh from our batch mates for the graduate dinner. Alumni in India were just as happy to donate Rs 5,000 as NRIs who donated US $100 each. Surely giving $100 from a $100,000 annual income (0.001) is much easier than donating Rs 5000 from an annual income of Rs 5 Lakhs ( 0.01)

I believe every individual should do whatever he is happy to and comfortable with. At age 60 most of us support one charity or the other. I am an ardent supporter of Jeevodaya in Madras which is a hospice for terminally ill destitute cancer patients and try to send Rs one lakh a year besides hosting the web site www.jeevodaya.com.

In Australia I support Salvation Army, Royal Blind society, Heart foundation and RSPCA by making a small annual contribution. My son Anand has adopted a child in Africa and sends money every month and this at age 23. I had nothing to do with this and I am most certainly a proud father.

Should I be adopting a village in India especially when I was brought up in the city of Madras ? I am not saying I will not but it seems far fetched.

If we IIT alumni are to give back something to society I do not think it is money but something tangible by using our collective brains.

(Thanks to Bhamy V. Shenoy)

 

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

In Remembrance of my Friend Ramanan IITM


A class apart

For some a stint at the IIT is not the realisation of a dream but the beginning of another, discovers SOUVIK CHOWDHURY




Old pals T. Muralidharan, H. Sitaram and R. Ramanan catch up with each other — Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
THERE ARE three types of engineers coming out of the Indian Institute of Technology. A `natural engineer', also called a blue-blooded one, who are people cut out particularly for engineering. The second category, which the IITs generate in large numbers, is a `research engineer', - these are people who devote their life to research and technological innovation; unfortunately much of it is done abroad. The third and the most interesting category, is an `accidental engineer'. He comes out of IIT to discover that he is a novelist, a vocalist or someone who can run a poultry farm better. H. Sitaram, an IIT Bombay alumnus, does exactly that.

By his own admission, he lost his way and ended up having an innings in IIT. T. Muralidharan, R. Ramanan and B. Vijay Kumar share his story. Chilled out, classical music crazy, multitalented, simply brilliant - the foursome represent a whole constituency, who did engineering to become something else - that, which is utterly divorced from engineering fundas they learnt at IIT.

"To a 15-year old straight out of school, if one says here's a challenge - have a crack at it. What else does he do than be in IIT - the best option after school," says Ramanan, CEO, Astra Microelectronics.

While Sitaram gave up his electrical engineering degree from IIT Bombay to engage in something as remotely related as poultry, Vijay - who loves the chills and thrills of life, changed lanes to become a rally-car driver for sometime. Directionless after completing his engineering, Muralidharan had a stint at IIM-Ahmedabad - the place, which he claims, "resulted in his growth", while Ramanan joined BHEL initially, keeping in mind the sooner he left the public sector the better were his chances of becoming a father.

Brilliant, the buzzword


"Intelligent, we all were," says Sitaram, now Head of Department (Printing) at ICFAI, adding, "but when one enters the IIT, the initial euphoria is so high that there is hardly any clarity on what one would do after four years."

Simply put, it takes extraordinary brilliance to get into IIT, clearing all the hurdles that require backbreaking preparation. Yet there are people who undergo all this to deviate into branches unrelated to engineering and how.

Says Muralidharan, Managing Director & CEO, C&K Management Ltd, "As long as engineering is devalued in our country to management courses there will always exist guys who feel disoriented after engineering and end up being at the IIMs."

Then where do they apply the engineering skills if management skill is what their job demands? "The knowledge from IIT can hardly be put to any practical use," says Sitaram. Seconding him, Ramanan says, "There's no denying the knowledge of engineering equips us to take quick decisions accurately; our analytical and logical skills are enhanced to a considerably degree which helps us solve or fix a problem much faster. But with respect to the technical knowledge, it is unfortunate that unless one is a blue-blooded engineer, there is not much use of that."

Murali, along with a few IIT-Madras alumni is preparing a database of people who passed out from IIT Madras and are engaged in an activity not related to engineering. "There is a sizeable section of such people," he assures.

Denying a chance?


But aren't such people who are on an academic trip, who become IIT engineers to take admission into management courses in IIMs and subsequently sit for their civil services, doing so at the expense of those who are more focussed, who could have possibly made great engineers and contributed proactively to nation building?

Murali attributes it to the "lack of career counselling" that few engineers lose sight after IIT and find themselves at sea as to what to do following the completion of their course. T.V. Ramana Rao, an aerospace engineer from IIT Madras, never got a chance to apply his knowledge in aerospace.

He chose software instead and following a brief stint in the U.S. is now back in town as a project manager with Yasu Technologies. "No regrets," he shrugs off adding, "What can one do when there aren't enough opportunities."

Then, there are IITians like B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, founder, chairman and managing director of Infotech Enterprise, who feel a stint at the IIT improves one's lateral thinking abilities because of the unique delivery mechanism the institute follows.

A 1972-batch of IIT Kanpur, Mohan Reddy says, "Three parameters - faculty, curriculum and infrastructure have earned IITs a formidable reputation worldwide."

Teachers are good at IIT but students are better. "And it is not quite easy to teach math to IIT students," says Ramanan. Many have taught a lesson or two in math to their mathematics professors! One rarely comes across bored engineers coming out of the IITs; only interesting people who are way ahead of others.


Copyright 2000 - 2004 The Hindu

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hospices: Are they necessary in India? (13/12/2002)

Hospices: Are they necessary in India?
By Dr. Manjula Krishnaswamy M.S
(Honorary Medical Director-Jeevodaya)

The hospice movement was obviously started by people who saw with their hearts, people, who not only saw, but, who reacted to the plight of these unfortunate people by reaching out to help them, as they limped along slowly and painfully, to finish the last lap of their lives for, finish, it, they must!

The hospice, a home away from home for terminally ill patients, is said to have originated in France several years' back and is a very popular concept in the western world. In England alone, a country which is smaller in area and population to many of our Indian states, there are around 200 hospices. Of late, however, they are steering away from hospice and moving towards home care. This is quite understandable, as these countries have developed an excellent health care system. With a manageable population, better socio-economic standards and higher literary background, a patient can very well be managed at home, if health care is delivered at his doorstep as it is done in these countries. This is as it should be, for there can be no place like home.

In India, on the contrary as in most third world countries, the panorama is entirely different and in no way comparable to the west. The hospice movement, or for that matter palliative care itself is still in its infancy in India. The first hospice "Shanti Avedna" was started in Mumbai in 1988. "Jeevodaya" the second hospice in India and the first of its kind in South India was registered in Chennai in 1990 and started inpatient care in 1995.

It is true that the family structure in India is such that the responsibility of looking after a patient rests with the family, but, to generalise and to assume that every patient has a loving family, caring for him or for that matter to assume that every patient has a family at all is to deceive ourselves.

We have studied the types of patients and the reasons for admission to our hospice and are convinced, more than ever, that there is scope to start many such hospices all over the country.

  • DESTITUTE PATIENTS :

Any one familiar with India will not question the existence of destitutes or the life they are forced to lead - their plight gets compounded when they are struck with a disease that cripples them so much that they are unable to fend for themselves.

Mrs. Sakunthala (name changed) was picked up by the police from the platform and admitted in a Govt. hospital, where we found her on the floor, near the toilet with not a yard of clothing on her. She had a massive fungating tumor of her breast, crawling with maggots - no one wanted to go anywhere near her. We had her transferred to the hospice where she was cleaned, clothed and made to look like what she was meant to be - a human being. She died peacefully in the hospice after a couple of days, surrounded by people who cared for her. The last rites were done by the hospice.

She is one of the many destitute cancer patients, whom we picked up on receiving information, some from the roadsides and some from the hospitals. Many others are brought to us by social workers. These patients constitute only a miniscule of the destitute population scattered all over the country and - if we do not care who cares?

  • ABANDONED PATIENTS :

Many patients are abandoned by their families, for reasons, that may be convincing in some, perhaps not others but still the fact remains that they have nowhere to go.

  1. Poverty
  2. Three hundred million Indians now live below the poverty line. There is an eternal struggle for existence, a scramble for the next meal. When a healthy person has to struggle to survive, a sick person does not stand a chance. The family transfers the patient to a government hospital, give a false address and then do the disappearing act.

    Miss Banu (name changed) was a 14-year-old who had Ewing Sarcoma of her leg. She was one of five motherless children who had a drunkard for a father, who used her sickness to make her beg on the streets. When she became very sick, he admitted her in a Govt. Hospital. The child underwent an amputation of her leg, but when the time came for her discharge, the father was nowhere to be found. Efforts to trace her family with the help of local police were of no avail - she was transferred to the hospice, where she spent the rest of her days in as much peace and comfort as on can get under such circumstances.

  3. Lack of living spaces

Often large families live in small spaces - huts or single rooms - and to have a patient with foul smelling wounds would be near impossible. The neighbors too start complaining, hence out of compulsion, these patients ate either driven out or abandoned in hospitals.

Mrs. Radha (name changed) belonged to the upper middle class and she had a loving family - husband, son and daughter who doted on her. When she developed cancer of the breast, the family gave her the best care, surgery, RT and CT in the so-called five star hospitals, but inspite of treatment, the disease progressed. When we saw her she was in a grossly advanced stage with frank gangrene of her arm and chest wall with pus pouring from everywhere. At that stage none of the private hospitals or nursing homes were prepared to take her in - and the neighbors (the family was living in an apartment) started objecting to the smell emanating from her room. The family were desperate for help - and that was when Jeevodaya stepped in.

  • Abandoned by spouses

Sad is the story of young women developing breast or cervical cancer. This is a good reason for her husband to forget her and turn elsewhere. Not that wives do not desert their husbands - many a time the wife runs away to her parents home, but the usual story is of the wife having to seek employment, often doing menial work to feed and clothe her children, leaving her with little time to look after her husband (if she does come to see him she often gets beaten up by the husband because he suspects her fidelity!)

  • Widows and spinsters

Widows and spinsters are a deprived lot - especially the latter as no one feels morally obliged to look after them.

Miss Parvathy (name changed) was a teacher in school. As long as she was earning and contributing to the family, she was a welcome member in her brother's house. However when she became bed ridden with cancer of the breast her brother insisted that his other sister should take turns to look after her and sent her there - where she was politely refused entry. Heart broken she found her way to the hospice.

  • PATIENTS SHUNNED BY SOCIETY
  1. Large foul smelling wounds: Mrs. Kanthi (name changed) a patient with cancer of the breast complained that she felt nauseated all the time and could not eat - reason? She could not tolerate the smell emanating from her wound "if I myself cannot tolerate the smell how can I expect others to come anywhere near me" she mourned pitiably.
  2. Disfiguring lesions of the head and the neck: Malignancies of the head and the neck make the patient look grotesque. With high prevalence of oral cancer - thanks to tobacco - some patients have half their faces missing. Adults and children alike dread to go near them. Unfortunately these patients have to bear the burden for long periods because these are slow growing tumors.
  3. Miss Barthy aged 20 had a maxillary antral growth and her face was so distorted that even the doctors found it difficult to face her. She was a recluse in the house, confined to her room where no one except her parents would go. She felt so depressed that she stopped eating and was starving herself to death. It was at this stage that her parents brought her to the hospice. With all the love, care, and affection, she received there, she overcame her depression and became her normal self. She spent the remaining of her days in the hospice.

  4. Ignorance: Ignorance born of illiteracy - it is estimated that India has the highest illiterate population in the world - approximately 500 million. To them cancer is a contagious disease and patients are kept in isolation - the usual story is of the daughter-in-law refusing to let her child go anywhere near a sick grand parent - who yearns for children's company.
  5. Superstition: Superstition is in the bone of every Indian, educated or uneducated - only the degree varies. Hence it is not surprising that for some at least, cancer is a curse of the God and the patient must be left alone to serve his karma.
  • INABILITY TO BE MANAGED AT HOME
  1. Needing Pain Relief: Pain as we know is all pervading problem of cancer. The medical practitioners are largely ignorant of the use of oral morphine or, even if they did know, there is no access to the drug, unless it is in a specialised centre like a hospice. This is the current picture, one, which has to be rapidly changed, if not, thousands of cancer patients will continue to live and die in pain.
  2. Wounds Needing Repeated Dressing: Some wounds are large with copious discharge and need to be dressed five or six times a day. This is not feasible in home or even hospital.
  3. Bedridden, paraplegic patients and bedsores: Bedridden paraplegic patients with bedsores are always a challenge to the nursing profession. An institution like Jeevodaya alone can provide round the clock facilities like waterbeds, dressing, and individualised nursing care.
  4. Patients with VVF & RVF (Vesico-Vaginal & Recto-Vaginal Fistulas): Patients with VVF and RVF are usually due to cancer cervix - the constant dribbling of urine and leaking of motion can be acutely embarrassing to the patient in the home environment and also difficult to manage.
  5. Ostomy care: Patients with ostomies generally are too weak to look after themselves and need somebody to help manage their ostomies. It is true that the caretaker can be trained, but for most patients, a caretaker, who cares is hard to come by.
  6. Patients needing special nutrition: Some patients are on tube feeds or ostomy feeds. They need a nutritious diet to keep them going. The poor usually feed them with a dilute Kanji (porridge) or half-milk, half-water diet - these patients die of inanition rather than their disease.
  • LACK OF MEDICAL INFRATSRUCTURE

India is a country of contradictions. The metropolitan cities boast of state of the art medical care - available to the wealthy few. The majority of the urban poor have to rely on the Government run hospitals, which are overcrowded, and busting at the seams. Palliative care is the least of their priorities. It is natural that they should devote their limited resources to patients who can be cured. There is lopsided concentration of doctors in the cities, but to see them one needs money and in any case the average medical practitioner is not aware of palliative care, for it was not taught to him in his medical school!

In the rural areas the doctors and hospitals are few and far between. The vast distances and poor transportation facilities prevent these patients from getting medical relief and let us not forget - India still lives in her villages.

All said and done, it is true that Hospice alone is not the answer for advanced cancer patients. It is only one of the modes of rendering palliative care, along with home care, hospital based palliative care units or out patients' centers. All these must go hand in hand and compliment each other for - there is a place for everything and everything in its place!

The common accusation against the hospice is - too much is being spent on too few. But we must also remember, quantity by itself cannot be a virtue, and quality often matters. Though India is described as land of poor - there is no dearth of the rich. If the latter's eyes and heart can be opened to the plight of their unfortunate brethren, I am confident and I speak out of experience - they are only too willing to come forward to help such projects in cash and kind. I am also of the firm belief that such projects should be the collective responsibility of the society - not always expecting the government to do it for us.

And speaking of too few - there is this story of the Starfish. One little girl was frantically throwing the starfish that were washed ashore back into the sea. When her mother asked what she was doing she replied that she was saving the life of the starfish by putting them back into the sea. Her mother exclaimed, "look, there are thousands of them. By putting back a few how is it going to matter?"

The little girl held the starfish in her hand and said, "it matters to this one" as she gently threw it back into the sea!"

Waiting for the Mangalore Express- 14th Oct 2002

Waiting for the Mangalore Express
By Ram Krishnaswamy
14th Oct 2002


Waiting for Raj Dhani express brings back this very special memory that I treasure and would like to share with all members of IIT- Global.

It was end of March 2001. Health issues took me from Sydney to Madras and then on to Calicut for Ayurvedic Treatment for four full weeks.

Nothing short of a prison term. Couped up in an a/c room in a house (nursing home) with my younger sister who is a surgeon and insisted on keeping an eye on me.

We were allowed to go downstairs just to the massage room. Otherwise confined and not even allowed for walks. Imagine paying Rs 50000 for this nigtmare. The food was so bad, that I could have cannibalised Raman the cook if only he had been a bit more meaty.

We insisted on them moving their large TV from the reception cable and all to our room. Otherwise we were going to pack up and leave.

Thank God we are cricket mad and the test match at Eden garden,Calcutta was on when Laxman, Dravid and Baji showed the Aussies what Indians are capable of. (Now now when it comes to cricket I am 200% Indian) I even got hooked to all Tamil serials. Any
way the day of discharge came.

As some one who did not rely on local transport and timings of trains I got to Calicut Station nice and early for a 4.00pm Mangalore Express back to Madras.

Little surprise that the train was going to be late. We sat down on the railway benches and started reading the news paper.

4.00 pm came and there was still an hour to go. I got up and walked to the shop on the platform. "Just looking" I told my sister. She knew what I was upto and shook her head in disapproval. Too late.

My gaze switched from magazines to FOOD. I then suddenly yielded to temptation. I asked for two bottles of cold mango juice and two packs of Kerala banana chips. My mouth was watering.

Took out my wallet to pay and I felt a little shrug on my T-shirt from behind. There was this little girl not older than about seven, carrying a little baby on her hips. She looked at me with pleading eyes. I just melted and placed the two drinks and two banana chips in her hands. I will never forget the joy in that childs eyes.

The shop keeper shook his head and took out two more of each. I was just checking the balance in my wallet, when in no time at all I was surrounded by about ten to fifteen kids.

I remembered all the children at our birthday parties for kids in Sydney. Heaps of food and drinks and we also had the clown come home and perform plus take home giftpacks. I was saddened by the plight of these children.

"I am going to give them a party", I decided.

I made them all stand in a line and asked the shop keeper to give a mango juice and a large packet of chips to each child. He protested feebly.

He asked "Saaru Entha Ooru ?? " sort of implying that I was crazy. I just smiled and beckoned him to do as he was told. Everyone of them took their treats and went and sat around my sister. We suddenly realised that every man & woman on the platform was looking at us. They all thought I was crazy too. Some smiled approvingly.

About Rs 1800 I was told. I paid him only to realise that I did not have enough for the two of us. The mango juice was also finished. So I was about to walk away when the shop keeper gave me two cold fantas and chips packets. "Sarru Good man, me give" he said in his broken
English. I said thanks and went back to my seat. It was a real joy to see all those beautiful eyes looking at me thankfully.

As I sat down, my sister said do you have any money left to buy bananas on the way as we have no food for the night ?

We just burst out laughing.

I hope to be back in Madras this Christmas. I am sure I am going to repeat this at some other railway station.

Ramboaus

Perceptions of Today's India in America:

Subject: Perceptions of Today's India in America:

This article got posted on 30th April. I meant to respond lot sooner. Time just flies.
Ramboaus

I just finished watching "A Big Fat Greek Wedding". I am sure most of you would have seen this nice comedy. If you have not I highly recommend it to you. There is a scene where the brother says to his sister, "Don't let your past dictate who you are, let it be part of who you will Become". 

I hope impressionable young Indians in America understand the depth of this statement. This is perhaps the most appropriate quotation I can come up with in response to this article by an American Indian.

I was quite impressed with the beginning of this article which spurred me to read on. By the time I got to the end I was just left saddened by how Indians who have gone to America (not all but definitely the sort of people who endorse articles like this or similar views) have been brain washed by the American ways of doing anything and everything for money.

To feel that there will be no life or future for India unless we become American Lap dogs and hang out for the crumbs definitely gets to me. 

Indians in America should get off this HIGH horse that makes them feel superior. There is lot more to life than money. If money and the Green Back was taken out of the equation, it will be interesting to see how many Indians in American would like to say "Back home in America" and continue living there.

We all know not every Indian who goes to America is successful. A handful make it big and it is their destiny not their doing more often than not. The rest are gainfully employed like people anywhere in the world. 

Majority in USA proudly told their families back home in India that they were doing Body Shopping Business. The first time I heard this from a friend of mine in Hyderabad that his future son in law was doing body shopping I was shocked and appalled. I assumed it was some sort of Brothel business. I now know it is a name for recruiting IT workers at low wages to serve in America, a sort of slave trade like it or not.

Since 9/11 all this body shopping artists have been without jobs them selves.

The one advantage is that every American dollar buys you Rs 55. Take that out of the equation life in America Stinks. Like it or not. There is no life for Indians in America if they have no money. You cannot even get a decent medical treatment if you are ill.

Ours is an age old Indus Valley civilisation and we have a rich culture, which has withstood so many invasions and assaults. Life in India will go on with or without America.

The caucasians ruled the world with gun powder and slight. They have deceived the world for well over a century. Ofcourse the allied forces saved the world from Hitler in the second world war. Now the same allied forces are determined to exercise the same control over the world as Hitler did by disarming the entire world while they arm them selves to their teeth.

To be honest they are not allied forces anymore. The British and the Aussies (the people) want to disassociate themselves from America.

John Howard is getting pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes since America announced that Australia cannot sell wheat to Iraq any more and cancelled all previous contracts in favour of American companies.

From now on it is going to be the
 

"UGLY Americans Vs the Rest of the world."

Bush's administration has destroyed what America stood for in the past. We trust and hope the next election will restore America in its true glory.

Terminology like American Start up's, Venture Capitalists, Fortune 500, Board Rooms, Profitability all reminds me of Michael Douglas's Movie the "Wall Street" . 'It is Greed and all about GREED"

Let us change the equation, says the author by becoming better at being Lap Dogs to America hoping we might get to gnaw at bigger bones, with may be some meat.

I am constantly reading about India becoming the Silicon Valley of the world. Is this really true ?

Consider this, in the 70's one Australian dollar fetched two and a half Singapore dollars. A whole lot of manufacturing was moved from Australia to Singapore. When the Singapore dollar got stronger there was a shift of focus toward Thailand and Malaysia. 

In the 90's the focus was on China when it came to manufacturing. India was out of question those days because of Government controls. Even CocaCola did not survive in India.

Companies like Nike run sweat shops in Vietnam and Thailand to manufacture their shoes for a pittance to sell them with perhaps a 1000% margin to the western world. Sheer exploitation.

Now the IT business is no different. India educates perhaps about 200,000 IT graduates each year and thus creates a huge supply of cheap labour. American companies can employ five Indian Graduates in India as compared to one American graduate. If course it amounts to getting five times productivity for the same cost.

While all the major multinationals are setting up business in a big way in Bangalore and Hyderabad and sure help create employment it will be interesting to see the annual returns to see how much tax these companies pay to the Indian government. 


Australlians only know too well as most of the multinationals pay less that 5% in corporate tax. Funds are juggled around between companies globally and audits are conducted by the likes of Andersons who have access to all tax specialists who know all the loop holes that Local tax offices are scared to take them on.

Companies like Exon, Mobil , BP etc pay very very little as a token gesture to Australia as annual tax. I am sure the same is true in India unless it is a joint venture

Let us Change the Equation: (My way of Thinking)
-IITians have been away in USA for more than 50 years now.
-let us hope fellows in USA have learnt some good tricks (I do not mean dope sniffers and the like) that they can teach our people in India
- sit in your OWN Board rooms in India instead of playing second fiddlein some American firm. I am sure some will turn around and say what are you doing yourself ?. For your information exactly what I am preaching.

I have certainly learnt a few tricks in my time and am doing my little bit to pass it on. Australia is a fine country and the Australiansare lovely people and I have no regrets about that either.

- forget that India is a third world country as this is a Tag given by the west to keep our country down trodden and with Rs 55 to one American dollar we will be a third world country for may be another century
- go and see the real poor in USA and UK and you will find that the poor in India can still smile as they know nothing better, something the poor in the west cannot do as they have seen better times.
- get out of the slave mentality that we have grown up with as our parents and grand parents were used to serving the British Sahibs. Stop being subservient and be a BOSS yourself  

I am proud to say that atleast three of my class mates are doing exactly the same. One classmate of mine in fact is designing Micro Chips in Hyderabad and making them in Taiwan and selling them back to USA. Now this is the equation we are after.
- successful Indians in America and else where in the world would agree that Indians are a much cleverer race than the caucasians. The ones we have to contend with in the future are the Chinese as they are just as clever if not cleverer.
- India was held back the last 50 years by Nehru's stupidity while China's set back was communism. Both countries are free of these shackles to grow at will and become the Forces to Reckon with.
- stop thinking about how sitting in USA you can create a few opportunies for Indian companies. It is time to stop looking up to the western world and become independent and lead the way in research and technology. Let us stop playing the catching game and take the lead. This is where Chinas strength is . They can copy anything overnight (which we in India cannot) and the next day are ahead of the west where they copied something from.

At the moment India has a small edge in IT because of the language advantage. This will not hold out for ever.
- I remember a family migrated to Australia from mainland China and the little girl joined year nine at school without knowing a word of English. In year twelve she scored 100 TER and went on to join the medical school. We Indians may boast of education in English. Majority however cannot compose one grammatically correct letter and lack communication skills.
Most Indians are scared to stand up and make a speech. Why because there is no such thing as show and tell in our schools.

- The Chinese are learning English very very fast like it or not as Australian Universities are behind it all the way. AGSM in Sydney is full of students from mainland China. Australian Universities are setting up facilities in China.

If I remember right China is interested in setting up 100 IIT type institutions and if I remember correct our own Rajat Gupta of Mkinsey is working on this Blue Print for China.

- If Indians were smart we should forget about the west that will for ever use us as slave and cheap labour. Bill Gates is not Interested in India. There is only one thing that Bill Gates or for that matter any American is ever interested in "The Bottom Line"

So Let us Change the equation " Forget the west, it is a spent force and will liquidate itself soon by its own greed. Look up to partnerships with China. For those of you who have not grown out of the incursion in the sixties by a Communist Chinese regime, I mix with a lot of Chinese in Sydney and believe me they are nice people. (Ravi Prasad Take note, Indians future depends on strategic alliances with China ) If India and China stand united then no one will ever dare to call India a THIRD WORLD Country EVER again.

I fully agree it is Time to Change the Equation folks.

It will be interesting to ward off the brick bats for the next couple of days.If you disagree with me it is fine just post your views without calling me names.

I support the Australian farmers who have just as much right to sell wheat and meat to IRAQ as the UGLY Americans. I am sure the French and Germans have no chance at all if UK and Aussies get booted out
Ramboaus

Are IITians Elite & Truly Educated???? By Rambo 8th Dec 2002

Are IITians Elite & Truly Educated???? By Rambo
8th December 2002 ( Message 214 )


Hi IITians

In the last three days I have sent the flyer for the Charity show to about 32 yahoo eGroups for IIT alumni and have had nil response and no one has even bothered to sign the guest book, leave alone making a commitment to send a few bucks. We are supposed to be the "Elite" and the "Best of the Best". If we consider ourselves a true sample of the Indian population (which we are not) you will understand why India will never ever progress or change for the better. The people of the country make a nation, it is the people that are responsible for success or failure of any organisation for that matter

If China is improving the standards of living and business by leaps and bounds it is because of the culture of the people and their commitment to succeed. Most restaurant owners start off as an illegal dish washer's. Give him five years, he has his own house and BMW and owns his own restaurant. Once they have made it big they are the most generous lot.

In Sydney we Indians have struggled for seventeen years to raise funds to build a Venkateswara Temple which is still half finished. Over night there appears a Buddhist temple in Woolongong where millions have been spent. What a beautiful place. It fills your heart with Joy and Peace and above all it is so clean that one could eat off the marble floors.

I cannot say this about my temple of worship. Not only that the committee members come to blows at a general body meeting and police are called in and next day they make head lines. We Indians are so divided with our prejudices of race colour and creed. Yet we arm chair pundits sit there and criticise Bill Gates for donating $100 million to fight AIDS in India. We try to find motives behind his generosiity..all this stuff about Linux and open platform or what ever..........

I am not crticising every one but the general tendency is to spend a life time looking after one self and family. Some may include their friends in the inner circle....

We are happy to just keep our houses clean inside but just as happy to sweep all the dirt on to the street. It is not uncommon to be spat upon from a bus if you are walking on the pavement where you have to step around dead snakes (you know what I mean). Yet the man who spat is educated with a lap top on his lap pretending that he did not do it.....Indians are for ever trying to break rules and bribe any one and every one to get what ever they want from telephones to train tickets.

In the short span of three months I have found a handful of people in the IIT egroups who are committed to improve the lot in India. I did not know them before July this year.

We have members like Ravi Challu, Daljit Dave Singh, Praveer Gupta, Suhas.V, Shyam Raghunandan, Deshpande, Narayanamurthy, Ashok Jhun Jhunwala, Abhay Bhushan, B.K.Syngal, Ram Krishnan, Pradip, Leo Jayaprakash and a few more who are committed to doing something about improving the lot of IITians and Indians in general. The rest just sit and complain..........

These are some of the responses that I have received so far in IIT Global, INTERIIT and IIT-Global-Jobsearch as a moderator, which ares so very heartening that I have saved them under "Quotable Quotes" :

* Hey Unsubscribe me immediately. This is supposed to be a tech group and do not like spam about some charity
* I am not an IITian but am a member of this group. Is this all you elite IITians are capable off....???
* Hey I am going to report you to the right authorities and close you down
* Your group is going to sink under its own weight......
* Your group is illegitimate and does not have approval from authorities
* you are defragmenting other serious efforts to unite IITians
* stop this friday inspiration rubbish. Are you an evangelist ??
* So many IITians are turning off their PC's because of your messages , so please take my advice and close it down
* Ram what are you trying to achieve, just close shop my friend
* hey you are the moderator and should know how to stop SPAM....
* Your Mangalore express story, I am sure you meant Rs 180. You could not have spent Rs 1800.(sad)
* I know you are trying to help us find jobs. But you should realise there are so many useless ads that are not relevent to me. Can you not classify them ???
* I am happy you are sending all these job ads, but they are too many
* and the list goes on.
* I must add out of 1500 members there was just one fellow who took it upon himself to help stop the SPAM to our group. Ravi mate you are a champion too.

Are we not a classy bunch of ELITE IITians ??
I am beginning to detest this word for some reason


I have not had one offer to help the Charity Night, despite it being an all IITIAN effort. There are 1500 hundred members in this Elite group. Do you think these members can donate just $10 each for a worthy cause ??? no no no
Charity is for the white man............

Hey leave alone money, if there was some kindness in your hearts I am sure you could write a few words in the guest book. Is that too much to ask ??

When I go to India, my well to do friends will not hesitate to spend Rs 8000 for drinks and dinner at Taj or Chola or Connemara Hotesl in Madras.....yet the same people when we walk out and I give a poor starved woman with an undernourished baby Rs 100 out of my wallet, I get a sermon " You fellows go abroad and come to India for holidays and throw your money around and really spoil these beggars. Beg your pardon?? Did I hear it correct ??? My own batchmates who are supposed to be hosting this show have not come forward to help as foot soldiers....Love to, but tooooo busy and have dead lines to meet....otherwise I surely will

I did not get educated at IIT.......
I learnt some skills for survival perhaps.


My true education came from my mum and dad who taught me the value of life.
My education came from being a Boy scout at School
My education came from St.Bedes High School where I studied moral science
My education came from associating with the poor and the needy.
My true Inner Happiness also comes from the same sources.
My inspiration came from the mosque across from my house where I visited the mullah every saturday morning as a kid
My inspirations came from my visit to the Gurudwara where I went around singing "Satyanam satyanam satyanam Ji, Vaya guru vaya guru vaya guruji" May be I just did it for the halva at the end who knows ??
My inspiration comes from Sri Rama Krishna & Sai Baba
My strength comes from Lord Hanuman.
I am non descript human being. Telugu chap, born a Kalapani, settled in Madras, married to a Bengali and now above all an Aussie/Indian at heart

Now here is my chat with an American lady Kristy O'Donnell. I have never met ever. She is some one who has survived a Brain stem stroke and is condemned to a wheel chair for life and cannot even speak properly. Have a look at the compassion in her noble heart. This is what life and living is all about. Now I am sure I will get emails suggesting I stop giving sermons and generalising. Just prove me wrong and that will be fine...... I am trying to raise just $100,000 so help me if you can and I will take back everything I have doled out here..

Please note "LOL" is laughing out Loud and not "Lots of Love" as Indians think it is
(I got into trouble with a friends wife once as she misunderstood me)

Ramboaus: I agree, I am strange that way and I do such crazy things.
Ramboaus: hey did you read about my charity night?
Kristi O'Donnell: no
Kristi O'Donnell: what?
Ramboaus: Oh I posted it to your group. I am hosting a charity show in India along with my class mates of 33 years ago to raise funds for terminally ill cancer patients in India
Kristi O'Donnell: oh that's right duh
Ramboaus: have a read of this
Ramboaus: Subject: URL-Lp-Unplugged Charity

Many friends have written saying they have had problems opening the Flyer for the Charity show and those with yahoo and hot mail addresses have got all clip art attachments "detached". Thanks for your feed back. The web site for the Charity show is now pretty much ready and is getting updated every day. We will be including lists of all donors however small to say "Thank You". I agree that majority of us are foot soldiers battling for survival. I am not going to ask anyone to dig deep to find anything . I am hoping a large number of people world wide would drop small insignificant amounts like $10. That is all I ask. If you have a bigger wallet and an even bigger heart, do make a generous contribuiton "Little drops make and ocean."
Ramboaus: URL for Charity show:
http://lpunplugged.homestead.com/Index.html
Please spare a few minutes to sign the Guest book
URL for Jeevodaya-Hospice for Terminally ill
http://www.jeevodaya.com
Please do not forget to pass this on to as many people as you can think off.

Kristi O'Donnell: ok will do
Ramboaus: can you please sign my guest book and ask all your friends if they would
consider just donating $ 10 each ?
Ramboaus: look at my creation LP-Unplugged, did that in seven hours....LOL
Kristi O'Donnell: hey i'm going to send this to the "Today Show" here okKristi O'Donnell: Oprah too
Ramboaus: you are a true champ make that two pent houses one for Amanda too LOL
Kristi O'Donnell: and the american cancer society
Kristi O'Donnell: lol
Kristi O'Donnell: ah this is easy stuff
Ramboaus: you are a God send in my life to further my dreams. God bless
Ramboaus: even if every one sends one dollar it will make a big difference
Kristi O'Donnell: we have many large corporations here you can get much $$ from
Kristi O'Donnell: oh yes i know
Ramboaus: I will be eternally grateful to you for your help
Kristi O'Donnell: no problem
Ramboaus: well only you can help
Ramboaus: do you want me to include your name to the organisation committeee?
Kristi O'Donnell: deb and i are both experienced at writing official business letters and i have a fax machine
Kristi O'Donnell: i don't want any recognition
Kristi O'Donnell: just want to help those who need help
Ramboaus: please I would like to include your name in the web site
Kristi O'Donnell: if you wish but don't have to
Ramboaus: just to let sponsors and donors know you are genuine about the cause
Ramboaus: representative North America ?
Kristi O'Donnell: i dunno
Ramboaus: can I include your web site details ?
Kristi O'Donnell: sure
Ramboaus: this will go to thousands of people
Ramboaus: cool, you will see the changes within the hour
Kristi O'Donnell: young strokers need to know something like this does exist
Ramboaus: cool I will do that
Ramboaus: believe me God has set me a task to give you some additional purpose to life so you will snap out of depression
Kristi O'Donnell: if you must my pics are on my group page and my stroke was locked in brainstem at 30 on 12-24-99
Ramboaus: so what makes us come for a chat on messenger today?? divine intervention??. do not get me wrong I am not an evangelist and not even a christian
Kristi O'Donnell: i don't believe in organised religion
Kristi O'Donnell: too hypocritical for me
Ramboaus: nor do I
Ramboaus: last night I went to a muslim friends house for a Ramadan feast
Kristi O'Donnell: i'll send you my story
Kristi O'Donnell: cool
Ramboaus: see we are birds of the same feather
Ramboaus: sorry you are a dove and I am a crow LOL
Kristi O'Donnell: flock together, lol
Kristi O'Donnell: i'm something
Ramboaus: that felt funny the crow bit
Ramboaus: doves are beautiful
Kristi O'Donnell: lol
Kristi O'Donnell: this one can't be caged though
Ramboaus: hey kristi I am starving it is 2.00pm now and all I have had is a coffee since morning. mithu is in Delaware in the snow Bye
Kristi O'Donnell: Bye Hon.

Now folks Kristi is a Brain Damaged stroke victim, condemned to a wheel chair for life. For those of you who read last weeks Friday inspiration, are you a potato or an egg or Coffee. I definitely wish to be coffee, what kind of a person are you ????

Ramboaus

Friday, May 7, 2010

Plea to Preserve the IIT Brand and Build Complementary Brands to Serve India

To: The Prime Minister & HRD Minister of India
Hon.Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh & Hon.HRD Minister Mr.Arjun Singh,

It took a great visionary like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to create the five IIT's, getting UNESCO, USA, Germany, UK & Russia to fund, furbish, staff them and nurture them for ten years. It took 125000 IITian's 50 long years to establish the IITs as a Global Brand Name, aided by the autonomous structure & funds granted to the IITs by the Government of India.

This valuable Brand name belongs to the Indian Government, the IIT administrators and the real achievers, the alumni of IITs who have done the nation proud. Such excellence and recognition has to be achieved the hard way and is neither transferable nor can it be gained by association of the name.

We understand that, towards enhancing the quality of education in India there are now, moves afoot to name several existing colleges as IITs. While the governments overall goals are laudable, we would like to strongly urge honourable ministers to consider the potential damage to the IIT brand name, by such a move.

Instead, we urge the government to name these colleges as Hindustan Institutes of Technology (HITs) or a more suitable name, give them better funding than IITs and further empower them to succeed under their own brand name by making them all operationally autonomous along the lines of the IITs. Let the Govt create healthy competition between IITs and HITs and even go a step further and make faculty transferable between IITs and HITs so every one benefits through this exchange.

Taking the concept further HITs can benefit even more from official joint ventures with foreign universities of repute in countries like USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Singapore. This will encourage annual exchange of faculty and UG and PG students..besides raising research to international standards. What better way to accelerate this new Brand name and give IITs good healthy competition ?

The GOI should fund not just seven but many more engineering colleges in India, at least one in each state for a start, to raise their standards and to significantly increase the well-trained manpower pool of the nation, which is of national strategic interest especially in the IT/ITES and other emerging economic sectors.

However, we request you to please refrain from calling these colleges IITs or Deemed IITs since a brand name typically only gets diluted when it gets distributed around. After all, there is only one Oxford, one MIT, one Harvard, one Cambridge, one Sydney University in the world.

We strongly feel that the proposal to rename the seven existing colleges Deemed IITs will result in fourteen doomed IITs, a few years down the road. Please do not downgrade the nation's Temples of Technology & Islands of Excellence, the IITs, that visionaries in your party played a key role in building soon after independence.

The Brand Name that IIT's hold today are a result of their intellectual capital, quality infrastructure, selective intake of students through JEE, and most of all, operational autonomy. Above all, the five primary IITs have managed to evolve a unique academic culture over the last fifty years and that culture will be hard to replicate at any other institution. The culture includes components such as faculty who were all recruited for an IIT right from the beginning, inputs from foreign sponsors into the formation and development of each IIT, high quality students from the day of formation etc. which will be difficult to replicate at any other institution that has already been in existence for several years and has developed its own culture.

The Nation will salute the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and HRD Minister Mr.Arjun Singh for making the right decision that will serve our children of future generations.

Petition Created by:

Ram Krishnaswamy, B.Tech, IITM-1970
Dr.V.N.Sharma, M.Tech, IITK-1978
Sriram Vajpayam, B.Tech, IITM-1985
Bhuvan Prasad, B.Tech, IITK-1982
K.K.Subramanian, B.Tech, IITKgp-1970
Ashish Agarwal, B.Tech, IITM-1997
Atif Hussain, B.Tech, IITK-2003
Barun Kumar, B.Tech, IITK-1992
Ramakrishnan Rajamani, B Tech, IITM 1965
Raj Varadarajan, B.Tech IITM-1966
Sanat Agrawal, BTech, IITK-1988
Ajay Kumar Singh, B.Tech, IIT-R-2003
Varun Arya, M.Sc, IItd-1976
Sincerely,