Professionals, are we?

As per the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary the word Professionalism means

the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession,

Dictionary.com defines Professionalism as

1. professional character, spirit, or methods.

2. the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur.

How many time do we have asked ourselves whether we really fit into these definitions? Are we indeed different from an amateur or we are merely using it as a tag that we are professionals. Apart from the work that we do in our daily life do we indeed carry the other important traits of a professional. Do we really deserve the respect that a true professional should get from all the counters.

How we look, talk, write, act and work determines whether we are a professional or an amateur and attract due respect. It is not at all questionable if someone in a workplace has any brotherly/sisterly or any sort of love for someone there but then it is unethical and doesn’t bring one the due respect from the other colleagues for whom the same feeling doesn’t hold. In a professional workplace a true professional doesn’t go about shouting on anyone to show rage but is humble and uses the appropriate mechanism and tools the organization provides to show his/her discomfort or unhappiness. This brings the heart-felt respect to a true professional from all the counters. Actually, what we bring with us is what we think of others, that all depend upon how we have been brought up and what has been our socio-economic condition but still we need to overcome those conditions, seeking help does no harm humility takes a person farther.A professional always discusses rather than instinctively reacting. I believe the other important life-skill related traits of a person are really important for being a true professional as one progresses in one’s career and rides up the ladder. This brings loyalty, help and true respect and most importantly projects one as a true leader. A healthy criticism takes miles than an instinctive one. A criticism shouldn’t be such that it makes one to take it with a grain of salt as if it indeed has been done to make one doubt oneself. Similarly while spitting out bad words and slangs in a professional environment one should understand that it doesn’t take one higher, but rather degrades one in the eye’s of everyone around and this impression propagates.

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied – vacations in the judiciary

I am no specialist in law, neither do I have an in-depth knowledge of the Indian Judicial System; but with due respect and having a firm belief on the judiciary that we have I being a citizen of this country would like to understand the true rational behind the long vacation or the so called “recess” our judicial system enjoys.

 

The delays in our legal system is well known. There are more than 30 million cases pending in our courts. The average time required to resolve a dispute is around twenty years. The basic concept of a legal system is to protect the correct and punish the sinner. But this very meaning gets wrong if it is not delivered on time because the adage – “better late than never” doesn’t holds good here. A judgment is meaningless if a person is dead or his/her scientific time of growth is over by the time an issue is resolved and judgment is passed. Taking advantage of the loopholes in the legal system and its processes people on the wrong side of the law use litigations as a convenient means for avoiding prompt retribution. Take for example the widespread crime of corruption. One of the reasons why we cannot check corruption is because the corrupt, with the financial prowess of their ill-gotten wealth, are able to engage the best legal brains and get away through the legal system and laugh all the way to the bank.

 

There are quite a many loopholes in the Indian legal system administration and processes that needs to be plugged to make it meaningful for the citizens of this country and restore the faith amongst the masses and the fear of the law amongst the sinners, something that we haven’t been able to do till date. Although most of the processes and systems that we have in place today are inherited from the British which were/are quite perfect although they have left but we haven’t been able to mould them to our needs according to the changing times; they have done this in their land. We haven’t been able to pick their good in there correct form. With a mammoth number cases pending setting up of fast-track courts by taking long vacations is totally illogical. A government servant for example can have easily more than 150 days off made up of Saturdays and Sundays (104 days), Public holiday’s (12), Casual Leave ( 8 ) and Earned Leave (30). In the case of vacation departments like the judiciary, the number of working days gets further reduced. After half a century of experience, should we not review the concept of vacation and give it up? I wonder whether in other countries where there is no British influence such vacation enjoyed by the courts is a normal practice. The jobs done by all the working people in this country has got equal significance for the prosperity of the nation and that doesn’t mean that the courts work is extraordinary to entitle them with the privilege of long vacations, as is available for the school going children which is very much correct keeping in mind their tenderness. The significance of a person’s work should be echoed by the compensation attached with the role, not with such privileges which only drags the country backward with so many man-hours being lost. Although it may sound impractical; it is said that the war is too important an issue to be left to the generals alone. I wonder whether the legal system is too important to be left to the legal experts only.

 

 

The Base Effect

 

Technically speaking, inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services. It is measured as an annual percentage increase. As inflation rises, every rupee we own buys a smaller percentage of a good or service.

In India inflation is measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). While trying to understand the computation of this figure it has been found that this is basically an average of the current level of prices and the influence of the base-effect has got an important role to play in deriving out this figure. The year on year change in it tells us how much higher or lower prices are currently as compared at the same time last year. But if year on year inflation according to the WPI rises, it does not necessarily mean that prices are rising faster, it could also mean that the rise in prices slowed down during the same time last year. Similarly, if year on year inflation according to the WPI figure falls, it may be because prices began rising faster last year. So the crux of the matter is that the WPI figure as it comes week to week conveys nothing about the price rise or fall.

Then, why the government comes out with this figure every week, with year on year basis. Each of us has an approximate estimate of inflation depending upon the goods we buy every week, and can check whether we are spending more or less. Now if our expenditure goes up on the goods we buy every week we know that prices are going up, similarly we know when it is going down. Likewise, if we compare the percentage change in the prices over the past two, three, four and more weeks, the larger the number of such comparisons that shows a rise, the greater is the chance that prices are rising. Now if we annualize these change in the figures we can find that they go up and down quite abruptly and the slopes are quite steep. And I think that is the reason why the government take the year-on-year changes which are quite stable as compared to the week-on-week figures. Also, it takes care of the seasonal effects, which also influences our harvest yields and hence the prices which if had compared on week to week basis would have given us crazy figures.

 

 

 

Enemy in our backyard

Since inception as an independent, sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic we have been facing two enemies China and Pakistan due to geographic and socio-political reasons. But one enemy that we have created in 1971 by choice is Bangladesh, formerly called East Pakistan and the best thing about it is that we still don’t know that it is our enemy in our backyard.

I am writing this not as a hate inciting thought, but rather a reminder to our fellow citizens and the authorities that it is still not late but pest control time now.

Since I belong to the eastern part of the country, I would like to cite an observation that I had made few years back, may be this would help me to convey my understanding and the ground reality as it exists today.

The daily market place of the small and slowly waking town in the north eastern state from where I belong is just about more than a kilometer from my home. Now, few years back when I used to catch a rickshaw to reach there, it took me 5 rupees to reach there from my home. Then after some time I found that it took me only 3 rupees for the same distance. But now I find it costs around 10 rupees. Lot of people might think this as a cause of inflation and other economic factor(s), indeed its true. But trying to analyze one of the important root cause of the same I found lot and an important gap in my observation. Initially the rickshaw puller was a local person whom I had seen for long, but after that he was gone and the person who was pulling me to the market was a Bangladeshi. Now, I am quite affirmative about his identity since I know the regional demography. Now by keeping the rates low he has wiped out the local player and once established he has started dictating the terms along with his fellow fence jumped fraternity.

The bigger picture as I see today, cometh with the India shining story is its incapable neighbor unable to manage its very poorly skewed and high population density, spilling over to our country to feed on our resources and pulling us back steps for every few steps we progress, our authorities and people are no less to blame for this exodus and their flourishing into our side.

It has been alleged that there are 20,000,000 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India, with there reaches as far as the far flung western states. One can assume for sure that these enormous number of illegal migrants are riding on our growth story for free acting on our hard earned and developed resources. Economically speaking they are putting further pressure on the already existing supply side pressure, raising cost of most of the commodities, simply skewing the market dynamics wiping out local competition and eating up from within like pests. They contribute nothing to the economy other than feeding on it, since they don’t have to pay taxes even. Along with them come there tail of anti-social elements in the form of Huji and other groups, from their safe haven Bangladesh who are born to be a dark spot on human kind and do nothing than to kill. Thus, I believe that they are more dangerous a foe than Pakistan or China who are killing us with the most powerful weapon of the economic-gun.

Apart from the corrupt politicians who use them as vote banks, we are also responsible for inviting and brewing them in our socio-economic structure. We must ask ourselves why are we not encouraging the guy on the other side of the road but the illegal Bangladeshi migrant who has come to devastate us slowly. This is something that we would need address promptly before we die the economic death.