Uninor's Rs 16 1 month SMS pack-actually Rs 31

During my stint in IIM-Ahmedabad, I'm a Uninor prepaid subscriber. The general plan tariff has SMS @25paise. A new SMS pack was offered for a month as follows:-
"Make the first 2 SMS's @ 50paise, next 100SMS/day free"

Apparently, it seems a great deal-pay just Rs 16 get 3,000 SMS's free. However, the first 2 SMS's would have cost Rs 0.5(.25*2) but now they cost Rs 1(.5*2). Thats a difference of Rs .5.day for 31 days approx Rs 16.

So, ethical marketing principles would have charged Rs 32(16+16) instead of unbundling them to be hidden in this fashion.

Chest/Heart trouble & Jail-correlation close to 1!!!

Pick up the paper & you read instances of people being hospitalized for chest pain soon after being arrested. Unless the mere act of being arrested induces such pain(unproven so far), we can only conclude that in most cases, this is a convinient excuse to swap the hard unwelcoming walls of jail with the cosy hospital bed.

Chest pain having several causes, it is quite difficult to diagnose. No doctor would dare issue a clean bill of goods to a patient in fear of the latter really being ill. The doctor would rather keep the patient under observation for 15days/1month during which time the person can seek bail, influence witnesses & enjoy 5 start amenities in that period.

Till medical science advances, the small number of genuine chest pain cases during jail time, would ensure that even the fakers get attention.

The untapped goldmine-C&AG audit reports

Around Apr-Jun annually, newspapers specially Hindustan Times report sensational extracts of Govt misspending, fraud, wasteful expenditure, delay etc. They do not devote resources to this but simply borrow the existing audit reports of the C&AG.

This Dept(http://www.cag.gov.in) is devoted to setting(not actually doing) accounting rules for the Govt/semi Govt/Govt funded schemes. Also, it carries out various types of audits on these entities.

By law, the Public Accounts Committe of Parliament(comprising mainly opposition members) is supposed to critically comment & accept the audit report. But instead, these valuable reports are just passed without even reading.

As the C&AG has no implementation power, it has to rely on the goodness of the concerned ministries to initiate change as per its recomendations.

In taxation areas, these changes take 1-2 years time usually(from publication of C&AG report to the legislative amendments). Examples include expanding definition of manufacture in excise law to include any activity, giving stringent audit guidelines to evasion prone areas, electronic returns etc.

Heads I win tails you lose-the tale of public money being siphoned

The mega-bailouts of banks, insurance companies & other "too big to fail" have evoked opposition from those who call this "privatization of profits & socialization of losses". But little do they know that even more lurks below the surface..
(1) Extension of concession periods in Public-Private Partnerships: The Govt prefers to delegate its job of creating infrastructure to the private sector on the specious grounds of "reducing risk". The private player builds, maintains & finally transfers the project at the end of the concession period during which he has the right to collect user fee/toll. Generally, the person offering lowest user fee/ highest Govt share gets the contract. But when the usage is below expectations, the private player lobbies the Govt to either hike the user fee or extend the concession period as is happening in Maharashtra where toll periods are hiked. This leads to asymmetrical payouts-will a person with higher traffic reimburse excess to the State?? And the person bearing the brunt is the common man
(2)Bailouts of "too big to fail" institutions: When the going is good, clarion calls arise for "liberalization", "deregulation", "competition", "free markets" & privatization. But when private sector players suffer losses, they look to the State to announce relief packages. And these pleas are often accepted

Union Leaders

Remember Mr Datta Samant of the 80's and early 90's? He was responsible for the closure of the textile(and many other!) industries in Bombay. I know it's bad to criticize the dead(this guy was shot dead somewhere around 1995), but we must face the reality that if Vapi, Baddi, Silvassa, Uttarachal etc have become industrial hubs today, a lot of the credit goes to our intrepid union leaders like him. Lets see how.

In the BEST strike in Mumbai recently, the city was paralyzed. People had to shell out large amounts of autos and taxis- which were in short supply that day. This strike was due to the issue of increasing the DA . Prima facie, this seems reasonable- who would deny inflation? The moot point is however that striking on an annual basis and thus holding the city to ransom is bad. After all, out of whose pockets will this DA hike come? The tax payers- who are only 3% of the population- will have to foot this one.

Besides, Mr Sharad Rao drives around in a AC luxury car-while pretending to espouse the cause of the workers. The fact remains that this man who has probably never worked a single day in his life had become a union leader merely on account of his rabble rousing ability. These leaders quote Gandhi to go on strike, but do not follow his other policy like satyagraha, simple living, dignity of labour etc.

Unions have become a stepping stone to political success- whether they be in colleges or factories. Consequentially, the main aim-collective bargaining- has been defeated. In this day of contract labour and temporary workers, the organized union component has been shrinking. I hope and pray that these unions go

NIIT- India's pride??

Most cities in India have atleast one NIIT centre. The organization has a good image- perhaps due to the huge media ad spends it makes. After all., which newspaper will dare to print anything against one of its major advertisers? But, there are some things you should know- which the sweet talking counsellor does not tell you during admission.
(1) We are chosen on our looks- not on qualifications alone
Is it merely accident that the NIIT counsellors are eye candy- but little of anything else?
(2) We may not be owned by NIIT
Most NIIT centres are franchisees and not own centres- that means the franchise pays big bucks to NIIT to use their name- but little else. Quality may be awful
(3) We will not refund fees
Suppose you pay even a token sum of Rs 500 and back out of the course before it starts, you won't get a pie back
(4) We do not adjust fees
If you change your inclination- say from MS Office course to Tally, NIIT is not bound to
even set off your fees. They may- but only if the price diffrential is in their favour
(5) We will use muscle power
Even seen the watchman with a register outside each NIIT office? Well, that watchman plays a dual role. One- to keep records of visitors. Two-To kick out troublesome visitors who pester for fee refunds/ protest against delays
(6) You mean the world to us- till money changes hands
Just compare the attitude at admission time to that after you join
(7) We guarantee jobs- at a very low salary, temporary ones only, and with us
Read the fine print in the job guarantee- where they guarantee "assistance' only
(8) Our testimonials are of other branches
If Mr XYZ from Dadar gets a job with Infosys due to his B.Tech, every NIIT branch will take credit for the same
(9) Our staff are not qualified
Only unemployed graduates(NIIT passouts??) join NIIT as a stop gap. C'mon, if they could get a job paying above Rs 8000/ month- that is what NIIT pays- would'nt they take it.

My aim is not to villify NIIT- others are not far better- but only that India's premier IT company should be more responsible