Caste based census - Regressive Step

Recent action by government to go ahead for Caste based Census is not a healthy sign for Indian democracy. This is another attempt to divide our country men on the name of caste. We all understand that there has been a group of people who are not getting the benefit they deserve in current system. But that certainly do not mean we should start dividing people on the name of caste. People suffering is not related to their caste but primarily related to their economical status. There may be cases in rural areas of social differentiation based on caste but that certainly does not warrant the need of caste based census. Government need to look for mechanism to strengthen the executive rather than taking a regressive path in the 21st century. It is an irony, that when ISRO is planning its second mission to moon , there are few politicians who are still thinking on taking the caste based politics to a new high.

Why move semis out of bangalore?

It is very disturbing to see IPL mgmt taking a decision to move IPL semis away from Bangalore. We the Indian people itself take decisions like this, then foreign people will also look at India in the same way. Does that mean , now no Championship should happen in India? We need to trust our security personnel and should not get disturbed by one of these incidents. This does not look like a thinking decision but looks more of a political decision to shift the venue. My sincere request to politicians and IPL Mgmt not to tarnish the great image of our Bangalore. Are we saying, other cities are safer than Bangalore?

Work Life Balance

Work Life Balance - This is a another buzz word in organizations to keep the employees motivated. It has worked in few cases as well. I personally like the concept because employees are given different kind of flexibility under this concept ranging from personalized working hours , working location of choice, different communication media etc. So a employee can choose if he wants to work in morning hours because or he want to work late evening hours. In fact few can work across the day in multiple shifts. Employees are given flexibility to work from home to ensure they are able to fulfill their personal commitments without wasting time in commuting. So everything looks good to employee in this case. But is this applicable to all situations. Theoretically yes.. because people say "if you plan well, nothing is impossible". But when you implement this , you come across so many issues not only to organization but to employees as well.

These things generally work well if you work in a situation where your work is very much planned and you do not get ad-hoc line items to adjust within the planned work. In addition if you are working from home, then you must me assigned a work which primarily is a individual kind of work which needs minimum or little interaction with people. Fewer employees rather take this to a wrong direction by not working professionally from home which results in loss to organizations productivity.

Now for those employee who are really hard working, who follow "Work is Worship" and "Team first, individual second" , this is a tough call. If you are not having work from home, then you ideally tend to enjoy late nights or few of the planned weekends. Initial pleasure of getting a laptop and work from home goes away very soon. But yes, it gives them some comfort during time frame when they would have to sit idle in office waiting for some activity to happen. Those waiting time is utilized well at home.

There is one more angle which slightly goes against this principle. There is a lot competition in the organizations to achieve more. No one knows what is the limit? You can work 9 hours, some one will work 12 hours... but is there any limit? Should not there me any upper limit of working hours, whether at home or office? How do a person who wants to balance work life performs against a person who probably is spending 15 hours a day.. Shall we exploit the theory of "Survival of Fittest" to create a unhealthy race which may impact the social fabric since human interaction is getting reduced outside offices?

I do agree, that working from home or other options do give a greater amount of time for people to stay at home. But what do families need? Quantity of time or Quality of time? You may be sitting at home working on your laptop or participating in call, but does that mean you are taking care of you family or friends?

Have a nice weekend....

Women Empowement in Corporate World

Empowering women in the corporate world is a welcome step. Currently most of the organization are trying to make a point that they are the best when it comes to implementing program for Women leadership and take credit for fulfilling social responsibility as well. But the thought that forces me to write this blog is whether are the needy women getting what they need? Generally , organizations schedule and invest a lot in terms of conference , lunch , human resources, training etc. Organizations claim that they helping build the confidence of women leaders in their organizations. But if you really see these meetings and conferences, you will come to know that most of the participants are either already established women with good networking or women with excellent background of a convent school co education. Are we trying to provide them the confidence. Should we do more research on finding more about the women we would like to empower. Should not we put more focus on women who come from Government schools and colleges and may not have worked in a industry which keep both males and females in the same regard and given then equal opportunity to perform. Should not they pick women who may not be much comfortable with the industry needed communication skills. Should not we give them the opportunity to present infront of established women leaders rather than opposite way that is happening right now. I think the executives who drive the Women Empowerment initiatives in these organizations should do a introspection and come up with something that would help needy women rather than just being the paper tiger with display of numbers of women leaders created on papers. Let us hope the needy will get what is required !!

Should IPL be sorry to Indian Railways

I am a big fan of IPL. It has brought a new energy in the game and has given a complete entertainment to the Indian cricket fans. Infact the current BCCI Mgmt has been very successful in making India a Super Power :) in the world of cricket. But the real question here is ...Does this allows them to insult a Government organization which serves millions of Indians from different economy strata. I am really disappointed by the latest TV ads by IPL where they show Train tickets as a low graded against IPL tickets. This shows that we are in a world where even our own Indian are not avoiding to insult their own organization for selling their tickets. Have we come to a stage where we need to show some one down to sell our self in market. Have we lost the ability to market ourself per the need of viewer rather than letting down some one else? Isn't it the same what few politicians do during elections?

I wish IPL a big success and would request them to please take care of these views in future.