Your job evaluation is not only based on a 2-page resume, but mainly on the way you fair in your interview.

Different interviewing methods ensue different lookouts and even more varied ways in which you should respond to each of these different testing styles and methods. Preparing for an interview does not only need best of your skills and knowledge to be put to use, but also being aware of the different formats of interviews and what should be your approach to each of them.

Apart from this, researching the company and preparing for the questions likely to be asked is mandatory.

From group interviews to a lunch interview to even a presentation interview, there are many different methods of knowing if the interviewee is apt for the job.

We will guide you through the varied interview styles and how you can bag that ‘so-desired job’ using these simple tips when the unexpected interview sessions are what you can expect.

The Traditional face-to-face interview

In the traditional set-up, the hiring manager intends to know if your skills match the requirements of the company and the questions asked are simply resume-based, about your job experiences and what new values will you bring to the company. “Why should we hire you”, “Say something about yourself” or “Where do you see yourself in two years” are the common questions for this type of job interview. Most companies swear by this method when it comes to formal interviews.

Your answers should be well-prepared and you must be as precise, honest and specific as you can be. You need to be convincing enough with your answers for the interviewer to consider you as the ideal candidate.

The post How To Nail Different Kinds Of Interviews appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Five or six years back, what used to suffice for the youngsters while considering a job has changed drastically over the time.

Now it is not only a good job title, handsome pay package and the branding of the company that matters, there is a lot more that the young minds want!

The workplace should be filled with life and there must be a life outside of work in the company for the GenY. A fatter salary package and some routine activities are not what the people belonging to the late 80’s and 90’s period look forward to.

And well, Yes! There are some companies in different fields that cater to this attitude and wants of this generation. These workplaces satiate not only your taste palette, but also your learning abilities and interests, by providing for developmental opportunities and taking initiatives to make their employees feel a sense of job security, feel at ease and responsible for their work, and are respected and encouraged on their individuality, apart from the freebies that the employees are being offered here.

HRs… Are you following?

There could be several things that you could learn and incorporate from the HRs of these companies. We give you an insight into how these companies are different and how you being a HR can incorporate these initiatives in your company to increase the retention rate and make the employees feel content working:

Google

The internet giant that is used by one and all for professional and personal needs, be it searching for a good hangout hub, the best restaurants/café in town or complete official projects or even search matter for exams, mostly for anything and everything we wanna know or do in life. It is this company which has made internet mobile and added to the video views and made us wanna find answers to random questions!

Why Google is Special: Fun, interesting, surprising, zany, insightful, impactful and brilliant are some of the words you can easily relate to while talking of this tech entity. There are snack rooms with immense diversity in the food range. The food is fresh and the food court includes many cafés and dishes that are usually a part of expensive restaurants and hotels. The food is not only delicious and impressive in presentation and variety but is also healthy and fresh as its organic. Can you imagine eating a Taco Bell gourmet range in a corporate office set-up?

The workplace also consists of in-house fitness facilities, indoor games and organizes inter-departmental cricket and basketball matches apart from massage chairs that would ease out your muscle and joint pains that you might have had sitting on that office chair for long. The company also provides for Tech Stop, Geek Gods and Hardware Depots that are time-saving and user-friendly, making you waste less of work time on solving computer bugs, software and hardware issues in office. You also have extra learning opportunities here where notable eminent people from all walks of life deliver lectures and talks, not to mention the small eco-friendly initiatives that the company takes. If you are a Google employee, you are also entitled to a free Mac book, free Nexus phone and access to Android updates.

What other HRs can learn: Apart from these fun programmes that make it a happening and lively place and the initiatives that are helpful for the employees, Google does not believe in bureaucratic or hierarchic lineages in the workplace, engages and empowers people who have raw talent with complex opportunities at office. If you are a HR, you can make your company a cooler place to work not only with these zany activities and learning activities like Google, but also by introducing better career growth prospects, work-life balance, financial compensation and benefits, individual performance assessment (not only at the time of appraisal) and offer stability to the employees and encourage them by helping them follow their dreams and goals. The ambience, flexible work hours, freedom to try new activities and enhance individual creativity, knowing more about what is happening globally and a casual atmosphere yet intense learning and working methods, easily accessible seniors/managers, emphasis on good quality, innovative work and work ethics, et al vie for a better job, better employee satisfaction and of course, less attrition rate and less of complacency.

Microsoft

They are the ones who have made the Windows Operating System that we all use in our laptops, PCs and now even on phones.

Why Microsoft is Special: If you think the bean bags, TVs, X-box rooms and gymnasium with shower rooms are comforting and refreshing enough in an office set-up, then imagine foosball, snooker, pool, snooker, carom, chess, table-tennis equipment, badminton court, cricket ground and basketball court in your workplace along with freebies like a free Windows 8 phone, surface tablets and laptops.

What other HRs can learn: If only the HRs of other companies provided free training and certificate programmes for employees that are otherwise expensive or included changing job profile if there is an interest or aptitude for another profile in the company, apart from paying for the travel, accommodation and food expenses for employees who attended company events and would have sent freshers for events abroad just like Microsoft does, life would have been so much better in other corporate structures too.

Accenture

This is a well-known technology and consultancy services firm.

Why Accenture is Special: With a new interviewing app, now the candidate can engage with the company even before the interview is scheduled and can get an insight into the company and who the interviewer is. The Accenture talent tool clubs with different social media apps like those of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to connect with prospective candidates.

What other HRs can learn: Better career prospects, effective ways of hiring, engaging and training people, striking a balance between professional and personal life, evaluating performance and providing job stability are some things other HRs can learn from the policies at Accenture.

IBM

The world’s largest information technology company w.r.t. revenue manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, computer infrastructure and consults services for technological issues on devices that use mainframe computers or even nanotechnology.

Why IBM is Special: The Company that has employees numbering more than a lakh in India alone believes that keeping them happy would make the company grow and succeed.A social platform called ‘New2Blue’ creates a community where new hires could interact and communicate with each other and gain insights and guidance from existing employees with the work and culture of the company. The company is trying to keep all the generations of people engaged and thus developing.

What other HRs can learn: The other HRs can try and implement practices where new employees can adapt to the work and culture of the company better by interacting comfortably with the old/existing employees of the company.

TCS

This is the largest private sector employer in India and has a low attrition rate. The consultancy firm has more than 3 lakh employees.

Why TCS is special: The Company knows how to manage its young workforce of varied age groups and experiences. People from different nationalities work here with the average age of an employee being 28 here and all of them connect better with the use of social media as the company favours the medium of interaction. TCS has come up with an internal social networking platform called ‘Knome’, the short form for Know Me that helps connect the employees with their company’s leaders or higher authorities.

What other HRs can learn: The other companies could learn to enable better engagement among its employees and corporate leaders of the company and bring about a holistic approach in making the place employee-friendly. This would definitely increase the retention rate.

MTV Music Television

This is the renowned TV channel known for its music chartbusters, reality shows, general entertainment programmes and sitcoms.

Why MTV is special: The place has introduced a video game centre, 24-hour coke machine, pool tables, foosball table, sun recliners on the terrace, bean bags, a rooftop café and yoga classes in the evenings. Yes, all that and you can even spot models and VJs from the terrace and the café. How cool is that?

What other HRs can learn: The other HRs can also bring up innovative policies in their company like MTV does – employees can pursue their post-graduation degree and creative writing courses along with their work and have a gala time on Fridays by gathering on the office terrace, taking their food and drinks there, or shoot videos, do mimicry and make parodies and play music while working in the office.

Facebook

This is the social media site we all use to connect and share pictures, updates and videos with our friends and family. Forbes has listed this company as the best place to work in and this has come to be the leader in social media.

Why Facebook is special: There are several gaming devices, foosball, snooker, table-tennis equipment and hosts in-house karaoke competitions and all-night hacking contests for programmers, called hackathons in the office as well as customizing Facebook merchandise for employees such as t-shirts, hoodies, pyjamas, stationery and accessories, et al also takes place here.

What other HRs can learn: Other company HRs can also work on incorporating a casual work lifestyle with work from home options, paid time off, flexible hours, floating holidays, maternity leaves of upto four months, etc.

Though many creative and media companies such as the 120Media Collective and others have made successful attempts at employee retentions with fun programmes, good initiatives and benefits for employees, there are companies in several other fields that need to boost their employee satisfaction and retention rates if they actually want their company to grow and prosper.

The post Attention HRs: Make A Better World For Employees, These Companies Will Tell You How appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

While there are people who would crave for a Ph.D. from one of the most prestigious colleges of India, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), there are some who would want to keep to their passions, interests and dreams rather than just follow the herd mentality, 9-5 job structure and the tough race to high-level positions in corporate houses.

While our PM Narendra Modi started the journey from being a ‘chaiwala’ to a successful Chief Minister of Gujarat to being the country’s Prime Minister, we have Shahziad Ibrahimi who has taken the reverse circle by studying the Doctorate Programme from JNU and then opening a Dhaba outlet in the campus.

When the university departments and the teachers were infuriated that the dhaba from an alumnus of the university and a Ph.D. holder in the college premises might defile JNU’s reputation since all these years, Shahziad popularly known as Mamu among his friends maintained that he “will not ruin JNU’s name.” Detemined as he was an with his strong interest and aptitude in cooking, Mamu truly kept his word as Bihari Thali and Litti Chokha became the buzzword in JNU and even among the outsiders who visited the college, both young and old.

His obsession over onion and tomato salads which he likes to cut in a zigzag style and not the routine ‘chop chop’ increased the footfalls in the university. We would not be taken aback if we were to know that some students joined the university only to taste Mamu’s Dhaba’s special dishes daily!

However, life was certainly not a bed of roses for this PhD holder in Urdu and a Mass Communication graduate, when he decided to leave his job of a TV Journalist in Hyderabad to return to his second home, his ‘alma mater’ to pursue his cooking dreams in a dhaba. The permit to start a dhaba in the university was truly a tough nut to crack for him, where the university officials dared him to run the canteen for six months, then only will they accept his plea and you bet, they were forced to give him what he wanted – a place within the campus to operate his own canteen.

But the journey to carving your own niche somewhere in this big, wide world is not easy. Shahziad’s family back in Bihar could not accept that their son had opened a dhaba even after holding a Doctorate degree. His parents had terminated all contacts with him and it was only his brother who he was in talking terms with, among his family members. It took time for the sunny side to come up for Shahziad. But when it did, his parents were more than happy with Shahziad’s career decision when they visited his cafeteria, where he sometimes even gives food for free, irrespective of the religion or caste of the student, depending on whether they have money with them at the moment or not. Students would sit with their laptops and discuss politics for long hours here without any disturbance.

Shahziad’s experimentation with dishes is not the only thing that preoccupies his life and workplace, his notes ‘like chapters of a book’ and his recipe book called ‘365 days’ are certain other important things in his life currently.

Not only with his career, Shahziad experimented and followed his heart as far as his love life is concerned. He fell in love with a Hindu girl before completing his Master’s programme. His inter-religion relationship caused much turmoil back home and with the girl’s parents but anyhow they got married secretly in the campus and shifted their residences to the married students’ quarters in the campus. Not that we are vouching for any inter-caste marriages and secret weddings or opposing parents either, but we would still appreciate the daring attitude and the spirit to accept challenges and mould everything from tough times to happier moments in Shahziad and would hope that more of today’s youth can share the same spirit and attitude in life. In his own words, “There is no other place like JNU; there was something always pulling me back. I think I was always meant to be here, running this small dhaba.” (As reported to the Indian Express)

Of making food, Shahziad emphasizes on the different methods of cooking that make you special and of salary and jobs, he claims that he does not care whether he makes money or not, but loves the fact that he is his own boss and does not have to take orders, he loves his work and the fact that he does not give an explanation to anyone for being late to work. Like him, there might be many who do not like fixed jobs and feel it is still less for the company and the job even after giving one’s 100 percent, handling work pressure and deadlines. But how many of us would actually show the courage to do something we absolutely love and not consider any work too low or menial?

Even PM Modi liked to share his joy of swearing as the PM of the country with Shahziad by calling him at the ceremony.

If you wish to pursue your Masters in JNU, you would not want to miss out on tasting fine thalis and litti chokhas! Just ask a fellow passer-by in the campus about Mamu’s dhaba and s/he will be more than pleased to give you the directions!

The post Have You Tried Litti Choka At Ph.D. Scholar-Turned Dhaba Owner, Mamu’s Dhaba in JNU? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

So, you have made up your mind on getting that prestigious degree from a reputed foreign university and are checking on your funds to meet the tuition fees, travel and accommodation expenses, et al?

Worried that this decision of yours might burn a huge hole in your pocket?

What if I tell you that you can have good quality education and a valuable study experience for fewer hassles, less compromises and lesser funds?

Especially in times of such economic crisis that India is suffering, where international education also has to bear the brunt, you may want to consider some better value deals for your study destinations abroad!

If you are ready to think beyond USA, UK, Canada and Australia for your graduation degree, we provide you with a list of foreign destinations that provide value-for-money deals along with a memorable foreign education experience:

Italy

Your dreams of getting a world-class education may just come true with the oldest university in the world, the University of Bologna at your rescue with its set standards on achieving greater qualifications for higher studies, particularly in a modern-day university set-up, and influencing international education. Historically viewing, Italy has gained much educational expertise but, this is not the only reason you have for studying in the beautiful country where Indian Congress President Sonia Gandhi belonged!

Italy is also a wise choice for graduation as several educational institutes in the country comprise the top 200 universities in the world, where the tuition fees and the regular life expenses are much less.

Germany

Europe’s one of the top study destinations, Germany is one of the most economical choice too. According to HSBC’s Studying Abroad Research (2012), Germany has been listed as the least expensive country for students from different nations. With a work permit just after 18 months after graduation and low tuition fees, a degree in Germany can be just the thing you want. Though the cost of living is higher than many other European nations, Germany has ten institutes ranking among the top 200 world universities.

The nation comprises of more than 350 universities offering 800 courses, thus giving you the opportunity to explore more possibilities and varied study options. There are several research-based courses and doctorate (Ph.D.) programs to choose from if you wish to pursue further studies in the field of academic research. Also, while learning medicine or other such courses, you will get the chance to learn German as it is imperative for you to learn the language for certain courses, while for others you can get the guidance and instructions in English. Some of the acclaimed universities are Technical University Munich, University of Heidelberg, University of Munich and University of Freiburg.

If you choose to opt for non-public universities in the country, the tuition fees can be between Rs. 40,000 – Rs. 1, 10,000 while the accommodation may cost you something between Rs. 19000 to 30,000 per month. You can also avail the student discounts from the International Student Identity Card while Indian students can apply for scholarships from a variety of options through the German Academic Exchange Service.

China

Now that the Chinese population is eventually learning the English language, the country has been home to many Indian and foreign students. China can be a good study destination for the medical students with Liaoning Medical University and other such institutes offering much lower tuition fees for a MBBS degree than even some Indian universities. You may even opt for an Engineering or MBA degree from China, where some of the well-known universities are Fudan University, Tsinghua University and Peking University.

While the tuition costs are based on the course and the university opted for, average fees can range from 1, 25,000 INR to 2,60,000 INR. The cost of living is much low with accommodation charges between Rs. 15-20,000 a month and monthly expenses covering anything between 12-30,000 INR.

Indian students can enrol themselves for graduation or post-graduation degrees or even some research studies in China with the privilege of having grants through the Huawei Maitree Scholarship.

Spain

While you hone your English skills (both speaking and writing), you can also learn Spanish while in Spain, as Spanish is one of the few other languages spoken worldwide apart from English. Architecture and Humanities students can also opt for a degree in Spain, while business or management degrees are also common at institutes such as the IE Business School.

The cost of living and tuition fees in the nation has a marginal difference from that of Italy, which can provide for a more affordable study destination. But why only think of the fact that Spain can be pocket-friendly when it can expose you to vibrant and varied cultures, pleasant climate and warmly-welcoming people?

While Universitat de Barcelona and IE Business School are some of the renowned universities, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Universitat Pompeu Fabra are some other well-known study institutes.

A Public university education for a post-graduation programme can cost you in the range of Rs. 80,000 – 1,50,000 while the accommodation can be between 15-30,000 approx. The accommodation expense also depends on the city you choose to stay. Madrid and Barcelona are costlier cities.

Hong Kong

With the promise of providing good quality education, greater living standards and several work opportunities, Hong Kong is one of the popular study destinations for students worldwide. You may have to settle for a four-year undergraduate programme if you opt to study in Hong Kong. Though management studies, social science and humanities rule the course choices, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and University of Hong Kong are considered to be the top-most business schools.

The tuition fees may be somewhere between Rs. 6 lakhs to 10 lakhs with accommodation costing you around 90-1, 30,000 INR per year. Several summer jobs may benefit you as you are allowed to work for any number of hours you prefer to work for. Indian students also have an access to The Hinrich Foundation scholarship.

New Zealand

You can not only have the benefit of studying in some of the well-acclaimed universities such as the Universities of Auckland and Otago that are a part of the top 200 world university rankings, while in New Zealand, but can also set to embark on a journey to natural beauty where outdoor activities will occupy you as much as your studies. Academics in New Zealand can provoke you to have a thinking of your own as several universities in the country are known for their independent thinking and offer pocket-friendly cost of living and tuition fees, even lesser than that of Australia.

If you have been looking for that one foreign destination that can provide you an excellent learning environment and a quality education without digging a hole in your bank balance, these study destinations can be apt for you.

While the above-mentioned destinations can be a good bargain, some other pocket-friendly study destinations such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Russia, etc. can also be wise options for a quality graduate program. While Denmark stresses much on high-quality education and innovative methods apart from the beautiful locales it has to offer and the low cost of living and tuition fees, Finland believes in not charging any tuition fees or hidden costs as their government wants good students from weaker economic backgrounds to make their mark, while the former funds their education.

Are you planning to make Europe your study destination now that you know that several opportunities lie at your doorstep, which enable a higher quality education without having to break the bank and prepare for the visa interview?

The post Study Abroad: Pocket-Friendly Destinations appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Have you ever lied to your partner?

If your answer is yes, you need not feel guilty, provided it is a white lie and did not hurt anyone.

While lying to your near and dear ones may seem like pushing them away, honesty may not always be the best policy as some white lies can actually help secure a strong bond between you and your partner!

Amazed?

Here are some of the lies that can indeed help you in your relationship:

Wow! You look Amazing!

Boys, do you follow? When your lady love asks you if the dress suits her style or if their haircut is a little too much, you can always spare the drama and unnecessary question sessions by simply telling this lie, but you need to say it with much conviction so that it seems convincing. Mostly, what your partner is wearing or the new haircut she got done is something they already like and they only need your assurance or confirmation for the same. So, even if you feel that they could lookout for better options, just say they look gorgeous and both of you will be happy.

Your Best Friend is great

If you have had several meetings with your partner’s BFF but are still not able to like the person unlike as expected by your partner, just say that s/he is awesome and you are much fond of him/her. Your partner will then be better able to keep a balance between both the cherished relationships and not worry about why you do not like the best friend.

Yes honey, I understand! Or I know what it feels like!

When your partner bemoans losing in a video game or the abrupt ending of a sitcom or serial, you can just end the topic there and then by resting a hand on their shoulder or over their hands and appease them by saying, “Honey, I understand!” You may thus get the chance of grumbling on something that they will not be able to relate to but will still have to be calm.

S/he is just a good friend, nothing else

Let bygones be bygones when you are in a new relationship with your current partner. Even if you liked or were attracted to someone in the past, just keep the old flame under covers and rest his/her pangs of jealousy and unwanted suspicion at bay.

I don’t mind when you hang out with him/her

Even if you are possessive about your partner and do not particularly like your partner spending time with a close friend of the opposite sex, you need not have to be truthful about your feelings, unless and until there is some valid reason for your suspicion. Revealing your true feelings will only lead your partner to believe that you lack trust or do not have any faith in them.

Oh! How cute this is, I absolutely love it!

A little note of appreciation from your end will appease your partner thinking that you really liked their present, even if it is not so. Who knows you might someday actually get what you want with just a white lie that you loved the gift they have bought for you? It will also make your partner feel good about him/her, which in turn would help you both sharing a happier relationship.

No, I did not even look at her

As much as people hope, it is unnatural that anyone will become oblivious of people around them. But your partner might unnecessarily drag the situation by saying that you both may be involved in a relationship and ask you several unexpected questions if you tell her that you just had a glimpse of a good-looking girl who just passed by. So, cut the crap and just say you did not check out anyone.

Oh! I missed you too darling!

Your day was a splendid one with friends getting together after a long time and hanging out at café, clicking pictures, et al and you really did not quite miss your partner, you did not probably even get the time or chance to think of him/her so at the end of the day when they call you to say that they missed you so much, just do not give a detailed account of what you did and how you enjoyed with your friends. Just sum it up by saying that I did like meeting friends after so long but I really missed you a lot.

I don’t believe in lying

You may be pretending some feelings and situations but putting them across clearly will be a smack on your partner’s face. You surely don’t want that right! It will only increase your relationship problems. So, simply say that you never lie and your relationship will run as smooth as butter!

While lying sounds insecure, it is surely better than hurting someone’s feelings. So liars, Alert! You can now put your fears at rest as these fibs can save your relationship and you as well!

Now make your love go on fire with these white lies. Have fun lying!

The post “Lies” You “Should” Tell In A Relationship appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Indian society emphasizes on arranged marriages and marrying as soon as you land up a good job. Watch this video to know the perspective of the youth on this Indian tradition.

The post Marriage Proposal Or Job Interview? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The start-up industry is mushrooming each day and is doing much good for people who are passionate and want to stand out of the herd mentality of working from 9-5 and create their own business enterprise, a dedicated team and a customized set of products and services.

As an investor in such companies, you can get to feel the experience both at a personal and a professional level as you get to be an effective contributor towards creating more jobs, promoting a better employment scenario, and offering hope to have a base for capital investments.

Though there are percentages and limits up to which you should invest, the first funding preference for any start-up companies is friends and family and acquaintances as well. So, lesser people look forward to professional investors.

However, there are many start-up companies that have done good with the help of an investor and incubation centres, be it Toppr (a start-up to help with entrance exams) or Instamojo (an e-commerce initiative). Also, with PM Modi’s plans to start 500 incubation centres to help micro, small and medium enterprises, the investing market is bound to grow exponentially.

Here are certain facts you must check – How to invest in start up companies

Research about the business owners

Since the company has not made its mark in the market yet, it is the people behind the company who are and who should be the most important factors behind deciding of or not to invest in the company. Consider researching the educational and work background of the company founders to know more about their skills, knowledge and how well they will be able to sustain themselves in the growing start-up market.

Invest in multiple and different start-up avenues

Even if one company you invest in does not make good, and you invest in diverse businesses, you will sooner or later gain success through one of these mediums. First-time investors need to understand which kind of companies do better and so cracking more than one deals is always helpful.

Find out which field interests you more and also its growing prospects before investing

Just as reading all documents carefully before investing is necessary, similarly knowing which particular domain will fetch more growth in the near future by studying other company’s growth rates and understanding the market scenario better is also something as essential. A field that you are already interested in and know that it can rise to greater heights as seen with past examples, can give you better money back guarantee.

Finding out more about the start-up market scenario

Know about the competitors of the company you are planning to invest in and also how the company is equipped to compete with its competitors or is it an edge above them. Also, researching whether the company you are investing it has a large enough market to sell its products and/or services as well as what the company primarily deals in and is concerned about should be your lookout. The client’s feedback is as necessary to know for you as it is for the company founders and employees themselves.

Scrutinizing how the company has made use or is making use of the funds it gets

You as an investor have all the authority to know the strategies of the company and its motives behind using the fund that it is raising through you. Also, take a note of the salary amount each employee gets and the owner himself/herself earns through this business. Before thinking of increasing or decreasing the amount of funding, you should make a count of how much the company would need to grow their business keeping apart the cost of the products/services and the salary amounts.

Check how legal the company is

Last but not the least, it is mandatory to check the company’s legal documents and all the agreements that the company has signed so far and with whom. Check if all the documents are authentic or make your lawyer check that, rather and know about the infrastructure and how many shares of the company you own according to the legal agreements.

Finding out whether or not the company is likely to pay all its debts and loans and the money you invest in them is your absolute right and duty as well. The company you invest in should have the potential to grow and be useful to the customers it claims to provide products/services for. It is better to take precautions beforehand rather than curing yourself for the loss later.

The post Things To Consider Before You Say Yes As An Investor To A Start-Up appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Women’s day is past but women from different parts and corners of India still have to fight it out to make their position strong in the society and have a stable, peaceful and respectful life.

For Mahananda in Kappalguddi, a village in India, opportunity to save her poor mother from serious illness was offered but she had to pay a big price for giving her mother her life back. At the age of 16, when her mother was sick, her uncles offered her monetary help that amounted to Rupees 3000 but as she being a teenager could not pay the money back, her uncles sought another cruel way to get back the amount. They made her a Devadasi, or a temple slave where neither was she allowed to marry anyone in her life nor her future generation could ever come out of the torments of slavery and sexual exploitation.

When she was fettered in the shackles of sexual abuse, she probably did not even know what was about to happen to her as she was sold to a trader in Sangli for sex trade. She was enslaved as a Devadasi, a practice that had been deemed as illegal way back in the 1980s but is still used and misused to sell and enslave girls, only to harass them sexually. The social stigma in the country around devadasis has been such that they are being denied employment and even cannot save their children from getting drawn into this vicious circle of ruthlessness and crime.

The figures would shock you: while 91 per cent of devadasis are illiterate, 93 per cent are unmarried. 200 girls and women are made to become prostitutes daily where 80 per cent are unwilling.

Mahananda was another victim of this evil system and could not do much at that time when she was forced into it, given her age and inexperience of the world’s culprits. She had to spend three years, not at her home but at a brothel house. Earlier, she had been able to save her mother, but now it was time to save herself. But how could she? Days of hope and brighter future evaded her in those three years until one fine day, she could finally plead with the brothel owner and convince the person to let her go, now that she was a mother.

However, as she had been already labelled a ‘whore’ by the society, it was difficult for her to find a life for herself anywhere outside the brothel. Neither could she marry anyone because Devadasis are not supposed to marry anyone and nobody comes ahead to marry these women nor could she do a job of her own choice.

So, Mahananda set out to win back her respect and dignity in the society and to give her daughters a life of their own, a respectable prestigious position in the society that could only be possible through education.

She began with a sewing enterprise which has now been running for four years and her daughters are studying in Morarji Residential School for free. While the older daughter, Rekha is pursuing her science course before joining a university and wants to make a career in medicine, the younger one, Puja is set to have her goals right for her career and life ahead. She plans to study science and is currently studying in the 8^th class.

At the age of 34, Mahananda has been capable enough of employing four other former devdasis in her sewing business. After all, she could not have let her daughters be turned into devadasis as she believes that girls should be given the right to prosper and this is why she has put much efforts and pain in bringing up her daughters so that they can enjoy the good life where there is much happiness and prosperity, the things she was denied.

As and how her daughters are growing and are looking forward to college admission, Mahananda felt she needed to earn more. She applied for an enterprise loan through Milaap’s Hope Project to buy three more sewing machines which she has put to use after employing former devadasis. She has even executed a small training programme where she teaches 10 other former devadasis to sew and charges them Rupees 100 on a monthly basis. Since her sewing gig is not enough to fend her funds, she also works on farms in the morning, as her village is a remote one and does not let her earn much only through tailoring business.

Though she had been constantly pecked at and misbehaved with by the society, the ray of hope in her was alive and she put it to a good use by giving her daughters a life better in every sense than hers. Her love as a mother for her daughters and as a woman in understanding the importance of educating girls is far beyond the ills of the society and the twisted mind-set of people. She has not said it, but done it; she has empowered other women like herself who also needed a breakthrough, a new hope and reason to live a better life and mark a new beginning in their way of living.

In her journey towards freedom, Mahananda has come across an activist, Sitava who attempts at helping former Devadasis get back a normal, healthy life and also got training and financial help through a membership organization  comprising of devadasi women, called Mahila Abhivrudhi Samrakshana Samsthe or MASS that has been in the business of promoting development and a healthy living for devadasi women in Belgaum district, Karnataka. This institute now holds more than 5000 devadasis together and has helped to assimilate their lives to make them as normal as possible. This organization has been working towards eradicating the devadasi system altogether and empowering women and girls exploited in this system for commercial sexual harassment under the disguise of making them devadasis.

This is the organization that aided her in crowd-funding a microloan which helped her in running her sewing enterprise all these years effectively.

Mahananda has been among women who have battled through the socio-economic hassles and setbacks only so that she could protect her children from serving as devadasis or be harassed by the evil society in the name of giving them a life. There are many like her in rural India who have been victims of such horrendous crimes and ruthlessness and have had to seek training as well as financial support to become proud women entrepreneurs and trendsetters, building other such women’s lives along with empowering their own children, dismantling the stigma and barriers the society had set, thus revolting and rebelling against the entire system.

We can only live the spirit of Women’s day in the true sense and make it truly happy and worthwhile if we can garner support for these women from their own brethren, identify and appreciate their painstaking efforts and boost their confidence for a brighter, more hopeful future.

After all, it is hope that has kept the world in its place.

Hope against all odds and adversities!

The post She Was A Devadasi, Now She Is A Successful Entrepreneur And A Proud Mother! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

So it has been a year since you have launched your entrepreneurial venture and are unsure of how well you have progressed and the demand you have raised in the market?

It would be a good idea to test yourself on the grounds of your strengths and weaknesses and even your business strategies to assess how well have you been able to tap the growth areas of your start-up and move forward towards your professional goals and objectives.

This self-appraisal would let you understand if you are moving in the right direction towards accomplishing your long-terms business plans and strategies. This method would enable you to evaluate yourself as to how many goals you have fulfilled in the past year and what all is left to achieve so that you can start working on them and begin a phase that will clearly define meeting your short-term goals for the business.

Entrepreneur appraisal

The time when corporate companies assess their employees and offer them appraisals is almost here and you too as an entrepreneur are not barred from appraising yourself. Why not use this time of the year for chalking out your already accomplished goals and setting future objectives?

You also need to figure out if you are moving in your business as per the planned budget. If you had thought of following the lean operational strategy whereby you do not waste any extra penny, you can jot down the areas where you can cut costs for the future, focussing on other areas where some more money can be invested.

Also, how much time you need to spend on each department that you are working on and the tasks for which you need to devote more time are areas you need to rethink and gauge. An assessment of your time-management skills will help you understand if or not you need to hire assistants and executives for help in executing your job duties.

If you make presentations, spread sheets, workflow charts and project planners, they can well be an aid to your efforts at better time management.

Performance appraisal for entrepreneurs

As a company and an entrepreneur, you need to be versatile and have diversity and variety in the range of products and services that your company offers. This would ensure that you are trying your level best to sustain yourself and grow your business in the market and can be a good competition to other companies in the same segment.

Gauging your strategy to market and promote your products could be a good thing to do now as this is the time that hugely advanced technology has gripped the market and if you are not using cost-effective marketing techniques then you are at a loss of reaching a wider audience efficiently and productively. You can use promotion techniques such as exhibitions, free samples, social media marketing as well as blogs, e-mail newsletters and journals.

This can be a good time to ensure if all your staff is trained well and can even represent the business effectively. The staff should not stay in oblivion to any of the customer’s needs as this can lead to liquidated loss to your company and loss in tapping potential clients and generating further leads. Conducting polls on customer satisfaction and receiving feedback is a good way to know how the customer feels about your company and its services. You can conduct employee training programmes to improve staff training levels.

self appraisal

You can ask yourself questions like the number of customers you have acquired over the past few months, customer retention programmes and how many can you actually retain as well as the fact on whether you are offering better perks to your customers than your competitors.

Hiring good talents who share a similar passion on working with entrepreneurships and making sure that they are capable of fulfilling the company’s goals and expectations in the near future can be a good option now. You also need to ensure if the team knows the specific task it has been assigned.

Make sure your company’s culture is one people would look forward to working in.

Finding out better options for funding like crowd-funding and bootstrapping and your plans on utilizing these funds to the most productive usage and handling investor’s expectations are all viable options for self-appraisal.

Your growth levels with respect to holistic growth, customer satisfaction and the time till when your growth can be feasibly counted on and its transient or permanent nature also needs to be measured at this stage.

So use this appraisal time to do something constructive and fruitful for your business!

Happy Performance Appraisal!

The post Continue With Innovation: Time To Appraise Yourself As An Entrepreneur! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

India is making efforts to think, behave and make plans that are innovative, creative and are on the upsurge.

Chennai schools and colleges introducing unique courses and career options such as bag designing, footwear making in colleges or even legal and theatre studies in schools bears a testimony to this fact.

Bag designing

Could you have ever imagined that you can get a degree in performing arts and crafts or niche courses in humanities could also be a part of the education system in India wherefore, you can make great careers out of it? No, right?

But, now with unpredictable off-beat courses offered by Chennai educational institutes such as Kalakshetra and Dakshin Chitra and integrated courses on arts by IIT, Madras and colleges affiliated to the universities in Chennai, it is a possibility to pursue your career in a completely different direction, and yes, it is a welcome change keeping in mind the current trends and times.

Many students have been interested in enrolling themselves for visual communication in Madras Christian College, stressing the relevance of ad agencies, presentations and more interactive methods of communications in all fields.

The state universities in the past few years, have come up with fascinating and interesting courses in food processing, footwear making, bag designing, computer mathematics and even insurance subjects.

Food processing

It is of even greater importance that schools in Chennai too have decided to make their mark in this field, with many offering film-making courses, cinematography and photography. However, these courses, more than film- making have mostly been based on designing ad campaigns for films, video-making and giving lessons on the state of extended media and the innovative techniques of collating videos for storytelling purposes.

Footwear making

Chennai colleges are too emphasizing much on revamping their course infrastructure by introducing plant biotechnology, food service and nutrition management replacing those traditional, conventional subjects such as home science and botany.

Not only do these colleges introduce unique courses but they also cater to vocational, placement-based education especially for degrees in BBA, B.Sc. and BCA as apparently, most students choose to pursue them. However, the speciality now is that the B.Com. Cost Accounting course would now offer students with a professional degree and coaching from the institute itself, and would not require you to wait for a year after graduation to finally get placed.

In the field of Engineering however, the interests for instrumentation and mechatronics have not gained much warmth and popularity from the students. People mostly prefer courses in Computer Science or Electronic Engineering or even for that matter Civil and Mechanical Engineering. The students, it seems like to have it specific and clear before they even enrol themselves.

There are less of students now who are purely and genuinely interested in science subjects such as botany, zoology and physics. Maybe this is the reason why Chennai schools and colleges have come up with such multi-faceted courses and unique subjects as Legal Studies and Theatre Studies for its Class 11^th students.

However, it seems that India has not warmed up to the idea of opting for such subjects as not even 20 per cent of the students have chosen these subjects, thus making these courses as good as non-viable and even forcing closure upon them. CBSE schools had faced much difficulty in shutting down these courses as after they had appointed faculty it was not possible to end their employment just as the interest for these courses had been rare.

The Chennai school authorities had mentioned that these off-beat courses are more popular in the northern part of the country and South India is still not open to the idea of non-conservative courses and are still living in the era of engineering and medicine.

While CBSE came up with 186 different courses ranging from Radiation Physics to Bakery Science for class 11^th and 12^th students, schools in the state have mostly witnessed children still opting for science and commerce streams.

Even schools that had introduced these unconventional courses have had to see close-down because of lack of the number of students applying for them.

This lack of patronage among students and their parents for these courses even led a course on Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India in The Vel’s Vidyashram Senior Secondary School to be shut down, that had once seen much fan following, especially as the CBSE Chairman was the one to launch the course in the city.

The city had also come up with interesting course combinations such as Economics, Maths, Science and Physics or Business Studies instead of Maths replacing the traditional choice of Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English or Computer Science instead of Maths or Biology for the State Board stream.

However, courses like Photography and Home Science have not done well and this has made it doubtful whether these off-beat courses are doing any good to the city’s schools and colleges, given the smattering of students.

The post India Still Not Open To Unconventional Courses, Claims Chennai! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Even though we are at the comforts of our home and office, technology is paving newer paths for the world.

With solar cells, geysers, kitchen equipment, light systems and the like, it is time for a solar plane now.

Two Swiss pilots have covered around 270 miles on a plane carrying no fuel, called Solar Impulse 2, that covered the area from Abu Dhabi, UAE to its first stop at Muscat, Oman on Monday, 9^th March.

The two pilots, André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard have launched this project which will last a good five months in its journey around the world where the flights would be for continuous five or six days while the pilots swap positions on the single-seater plane that is propelled by nothing but the sun.

Solar Impulse pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg

This is the first-ever attempt to fly the entire globe, a complete 21,747 miles or 35,000 km in 12 legs across the Altantic and Pacific oceans, returning to Gulf only in the month of July or August.

These pilots would be enduring a gruelling 250 hours in the narrow cockpit without any oxygen or even a temperature control option while the outside temperatures would range somewhere between -40 to 40 degrees Celsius.

As the first such solar-power flight has been launched, it comes with another disadvantage: the pilots would have to constantly attend to it and cannot afford to take long naps.

Pilots with Solar Impulse 2 Plane

They would only be able to survive the day with 20-minute naps after every two to four hours. Eventually they will be woken up by pilots who will wear goggles and flash lights.

Apparently, they intend to practice yoga and have even taken training for the same to ward off the physical strains they will experience during the journey owing to sitting in the same position on the same seat for several days at a time. However, Borschberg reported that concentration is the most difficult part of the entire project.

Piccard, a psychologist, has been learning meditation and hypnosis techniques so that they can work on their concentration levels better.

The plane not only provides energy efficiency but also enlarges the possibilities of having a clean flight.

The pilots are however, unsure upon the success of the mission as it is interesting to simulate, calculate and imagine but it is only during practical testing and experimentation that one gets to know the real picture, though the pilots are both confident and    hoping to meet each other in five months.

Solar plane working

Both the pilots have circumnavigated the globe from one coast to another in the US before this and are now expanding their boundaries to cover the whole world.

The plane’s built is light and weighs the same as a Volvo Sedan, its top mileage being 140 kilometres per hour, but the pilots will have to constraint on the battery usage by letting the plane use half of that speed. Its wings are huge that help it in absorbing the solar radiation and maintaining its flight, with 17000 solar panels powering them and making them look wider than even a Boeing 747. Lithium Batteries of a quantity of 633 kilos, that is somewhere about a quarter of the entire plane’s weight, are present in the plane to provide for energy for motors overnight.

The cockpit still lacks the provision of more space, oxygen supplies, food and other support systems of life. It comes with solar cells that constitute a very thin film. This solar energy trapped in its batteries is used for providing power to the motors and aiding its move while at night. There will be several halts in between this journey so that the pilots get enough time to rest and even fix any maintenance problems in the plane.

This project will bring about the viability of green flights and the promise of cleaner energy. For now, the two pilots are planning on campaigning on “Future is Clean” where the Solar Impulse Mission is set to garner support from English business magnate, Richard Branson and Prince Albert of Monaco.

Unfortunately, this plane cannot yet be called the future as it has a single-seater and too light-weighted to be used for a commercial purpose.

The Solar Impulse 2 has not only been instrumental in bringing about cleaner, greener options for flights, but has also been the first one to fly the distance between two continents.

Aviation industry is believed to burn the maximum amount of carbon according to the number of passengers and kilometres and emits a limitless quantity of greenhouse gases because of its emissions.

However, according to the pilots who pioneered this project and the Aerospace magazine, “it will take, as it took in the past, around 30-35 years to fly clean. New technologies will have to be developed , this will take time.”

However, this project and such energy-wise technologies can provide for great ideas of solar efficiency and power-saving in homes, inside cars and other useful, daily appliances as “unlike conventional engines, the aircraft loses only 3 per cent of energy through heat whereas the standard loss would be somewhere around 70 per cent.”

Energy efficiency, being the cheapest method for lessening carbon emissions across the world, Borschberg claims that these technologies  help to “cope with a major part of the challenge we are facing today in terms of energy, environment, pollution, natural resources and so on.” (As reported to The Guardian)

The post Solar Impulse 2: First Solar Plane To Fly The World, Reduce Carbon Emissions! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav has made a crass, inhumane and sexist comment on the complexion issues of India, especially targeting the south Indian women. This reckless move by him came while a debate on the government’s Insurance Bill had been on-going in Rajya Sabha.

Don’t get the connection between the Insurance Bill and the comment, right? Neither do I.

This is what the JD (U) President rambled on the obsession of the average Indian population on fair skin:

“Your God is dark like Ravi Shankar Prasad, (who at that time, was present in the house) but your matrimonial ads insist on white-skinned brides,”Yadav said. “The women of the south are dark but they are as beautiful as their bodies…We don’t see it here. They aren’t made like this here. They know dance.”

While the male members of the parliament were having fun moments when Yadav made such an insensitive statement, the women members were left speechless and did not know what or how to say after this inhumane act.

The President also did not think it would be fair to leave the recent case of Leslee Udwin’s documentary, India’s Daughter that was based on the interview of the rapists and the lawyers defending the rapists of the gang-rape incident of December 16 in New Delhi. He claimed that “she must have got permissions easily because of her white skin.”

While DMK President was against such unwelcome remarks by Yadav and asked him to focus on the subject of discussion, the latter justified himself saying that there was no harm in having a non-serious discussion.

Many Twitteratis have resorted to the social micro-blogging site; while many criticised his sexist statements,  referring it as ‘disgusting’ and the man as a ‘nincompoop’, some have even taken sarcastic hits at Yadav.

https://twitter.com/SansadBhawan/status/576660372809256960

It's unacceptable to make sexist and misogynist comments in RS. It's shocking to do so being a "best parliamentarian" awardee. #SharadYadav

— Himala Joshi (@Himala) March 14, 2015

#IHaveAQuestion Why can't all women MPs come out together to expel MPs showing sexism in words/behavior like #SharadYadav from parliament?

— Prof. Satish Pandey (@SatishPan2013) March 14, 2015

@KriteshK @sharadyadav_jdu #SharadYadav is the Best Example of 'Vinashkale Viparit Buddhi'#ShameOnSharad for his Disgusting comments!

— PUJA_AGRAWAL (@PUJA_AGR) March 13, 2015

These kind of Nincompoops in Rajya Sabha..& they have the power to stall major bills..sad but true…#ShameOnSharad #SharadYadav

— parmarsap (@parmarsap) March 13, 2015

But, there are even some who defended him, and yes, that too from a political party.

JD (U) leader, KC Tyagi commented on Yadav’s selection of words, saying that though the words he used were wrong, his intention was clear.

What could have possibly been his intention when he said that “here people are awed by fair skin. In our matrimonials too, we look for gori, gori (fair skin)”?

If this is the way Yadav proposed to describe the increase of Foreign Direct Investment from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, then it is time we tell our ministers how to use analogies, examples and illustrations.

The post Sharad Yadav Finds New Way To Make Headlines, Receives Flak From People! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Everyone needs proper guidance and support before starting up a business, starting something of their own.

Before even thinking of what products and services the business should provide for, you must make sure that you follow these ten steps.

This video would take you through the different Steps To Successful Business you need to follow before stepping your foot in the new entrepreneurial venture.

With lots of illustrations and examples, this video would tell you the fundamentals of setting up a business plan, securing start-up capital and even the legalities as well as the credibility issues you would need to cater to.

How important is online presence for your upcoming business, and the relevance of bank and merchant accounts, etc. is very well established and explained in this video. Who all you need to hire and what all rules and regulations you will need to follow as a budding entrepreneur have been well sufficed in this video.

It is a must-watch for those of you out there who plan to set up a start-up and are looking forward to garnering support from friends and family and collecting funds for the same. This step-by-step video would help you to set your footprint and eventually carve your niche in the business industry and the market segment of your field.

The post Steps To Successful Business: A Must-Watch Video For Budding Entrepreneurs appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

One of the most sought-after jobs in the aviation business, Air India failed to grab the attention of job-seekers and applicants who became too cautious and wary of the airline and did not turn up for the walk-in interviews that it had scheduled in Hyderabad on both 10^th and 11^th March, 2015.

Air India

The interviews were scheduled to hire Captains or Commanders but not a single applicant came to the venue on the day of the interview.

The Hindustan Times reported Air India’s spokesperson saying that “no commander turned up.”

The plan was to hire around 197 commanders and first officers or co-pilots for the Airbus fleet of Air India. However, for this problem, Air India management has been at fault, as the airline’s officials claimed, who were flown in along with senior experts for conducting the interview and selecting capable officers for the vacant posts.

According to the AI official, “This is the first time in recent memory that the airline organised walk-in interviews for captains and it was completely mismanaged.”

Both the experts and the senior AI officials who formed the Board of panelists had been lodged at five-star hotels but to their huge dismay, shock and disappointment, their long hours of wait turned into nothing but a serious case of mismanagement and disaster in the history of aviation business. One Air India official even took a pot-shot at the AI managerial team, saying that “the applications should have been invited online and panelists flown in only if there were applicants.”

This wave of horror and disappointment at the incident was reiterated by a senior pilot, who lamented that what happened was “a statement on the state of affairs at Air India that a once sought-after job failed to attract a single applicant.”

The HT had also reported earlier that the issue of directly hiring captains had faced much opposition by the Air India pilots and had even gone as far as warning them against this walk- in interview’s “potential of creating industrial unrest.”

The once largest operator in the subcontinent that had a market share of more than 60 per cent has now dropped down to the fourth place, with rivals such as Indigo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways taking the top position in Indian aviation. In four consecutive years, from 2007 to 2011, the flight’s business saw a sharp decline from 19.2 per cent to 14 per cent and it is all accounted to not only the tough competition from private carriers, but also the financial service and labour troubles that needed huge restructuring and implementation of disciplinary regulations in the carrier, which it finally did. The airline ultimately emerged at the third position after Indigo and Jet Airways making its market share somewhere around a little above 19 per cent.

However, this incident has yet again marked shame and huge embarrassment for the Air India team and more so, for the future of aviation in India.

The post Air India Yet Again Put To Shame And This Time By Job Applicants! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The international rankings for universities across the world have listed Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford as the top three.

The list has been released by Times Higher Education (THE), a magazine in London that keeps a record of the education market scenario.

THE

The magazine is also responsible for producing the World University Ranking for the past 11 years using the university’s academic citations and popularity for admissions as well as the number of faculty members who hold a Ph.D. in the institution.

13 different criteria are used to categorise universities where even senior professors from 140 different countries are asked to nominate some institutions, in their area of study that they consider to have the best departments in their field.  This information collated in 15 languages, is further dissected into different disciplines, engineering, physical sciences, technology, social sciences, medicine and life sciences as well as humanities. Though the data is opinionated, the opinions are of those who have made a mark in the field of academics and are hence entitled to share their point of view.

The reputation a college/university possesses is instrumental in giving this global recognition and ranking as whenever the question of pursuing higher education comes into picture, it is the reputation that a university is marked with, which helps the person to decide his/her future career move. People in the business of education would also find it convenient to collaborate with universities that have a good market reputation. Students too decide on their choice of university through the reputation the university has made in the market. So, reputation has been the numerouno criteria for ranking universities for THE.

When a certain university ups the global ranking chart, the number of applicants and the kind of students enrolling themselves for courses in these institutes also goes up.

THE’s ranking can be called as the ultimate, definitive and one that holds much value in the global sphere since a survey of the scholars decides the status these universities share internationally.

It has been reported that this year’s rankings are a subsequent result of 10,500 responses from senior academicians and scholars who have been constantly working in the field of education for an average of 15 long years.

The ranking determines that American universities still tops the list closely followed by British schools. U.S. universities have made their mark in the list with 26 of them being a part of 50 top places while 43 of them being among the top 100.

However, some American universities such as the University of Michigan, University of Illinois as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and even the University of Texas which had been enjoying good positions in the global ranking since last year have dropped down owing to the funding issues in these institutions. UK on the other hand has been able to grab 12 of the 100 most renowned premier institutions in the world.

It seems that US and UK have collaborated a list of universities that have become ‘brand-names’ for education in the market with Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley constantly topping the list.

Stanford University

Germany and France have also put their stamp on the list with six of Germany’s and five of France’s institutions making it in the top 100 THE list.

Unfortunately, University of Tokyo and two Chinese universities have claimed their positions on the list among Asian countries but, India is still nowhere close to being among the top 100 in international rankings this year. This is so, despite the fact that 694 universities form the educational grid of India yielding around five million graduate students. IIT Guwahati that had made its mark in the THE list last year for top 100 universities has not found its place in the rankings this year, although things have been looking hopeful since the past few years when seventeen Indian universities climbed the ranking list of Asia top 300 of QS World University Rankings this year and in the QS ranking of the top 100 universities among Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and India, 16 Indian institutions won the honour of being in the list with 5 of them among the top 20.

IIT Guwahati

The Indian universities have been taking initiatives to improvise upon their research methodologies, foreign alliances and introducing other skill and talent developing initiatives in their curriculum so that they can revamp their old educational methods to meet similar criteria as the internationally recognized universities and their standards.

But, due to funding problems and unawareness about newer funding options like industry partners who can offer to fund a majority of the cost as it is done in the U.S., we lack better infraastructire for carrying out research and study patterns in most of the Indian universities. Foreign contracts by many universities and colleges in India have however, apparently helped them to offer both the students and the teachers an access to foreign resources and methods of research.

A clash between the public and private universities in India during the time of admission and the out-dated methods of teaching and research in many yesteryear colleges still lags in making the education an employment-friendly field. However, gradually these old universities are too trying to match up with the new ones by adapting the more innovative methods and moving on from familiar grounds. However, much is to be achieved before India makes it to the top spots in the most elite and globally acclaimed Times Higher Education survey list.

The post Times Higher Education List Out, US Maintains Legacy, India Out Of League! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Quitting you cushy high-paying corporate job for being your own boss and starting your own company sounds like a very confident, bold and progressive decision.

However, there is much to consider before you finally decide to quit a daily schedule for something new where there could be erratic work hours and no breaks, forget weekends and parties or going clubbing, especially for the initial days of your start-up career.

Working with insensitive, cruel bosses or having issues with colleagues or even dealing with long hours of commuting and inept company policies cannot be the only reasons why you feel prompted to start something of your own and quit your current employment.

Dreading to wake up to go to work, getting bored and feeling uninspired with your current role and responsibilities and feeling there is nothing new to learn can be enough reasons to believe that you need a drastic change in your professional career but it still does not suggest that you quit your job.

Starting up your own business would mean that you would be the deciding factor for each and every step you take with regards to your business, but it does not claim you being your own boss as there will be some customers who will be at the forefront of your business idea and it is they who will guarantee a success or a failure for your company.

Though uncertainty and the fear of failure are the two biggest reasons for unwillingness to give up the stability and security you are already enjoying, there are several other reasons that might have made you cringe at the idea of starting an entrepreneurial venture.

Even if you find your job miserable and want to quit, you will need a business idea that is possible to carry out and also have a plan ready for carrying out marketing and operations of your company successfully. You can keep working on these plans till the time you are not sure about how you are going to start your own business, and earn a monthly income side by side till that time.

Following the same daily schedule as your current job when you have quit and working the same number of hours would be a boon for your company, rather than letting yourself think that now that you have lot of time in hand, you can keep duties for later.

Money can be yet another big hurdle when it comes to starting up a company. So, it is always fair to yourself that you decide your plan of action before you are firm on taking the leap. Have your projections as realistic as possible as you need to prepare yourself for not earning profit for the initial years of your business. Your ways of supporting yourself and your dependents, if any, should be clear to you. Once this is clear, you can focus on your short-term and long-term goals related to your company without thinking about your bills and payment issues that you need to adhere to, once you are on the grid.

You sure don’t want to be surprised with the costs you have to continuously incur on your business, especially if and when you have not anticipated it. From market research, legal advice, lease agreements, stamp duty, phone, internet installation bills, electricity connections, obtaining statutory licenses, marketing, equipment and fittings to wages to staff members, purchase of initial raw materials and wholesale stock purchases, etc., there are many bills in your kitty that you have to handle, so it is better to figure out the possible unavoidable and unforeseen expenses and even managing through freelance or part-time gigs can contribute a lot to make ends meet. So, consider all your options before you put down your papers.

Also, until and unless your start-up business grows and branches out where you would have to delegate different people for separate works; you will have to manage different tasks on your own. Donning different hats such as the marketer, the techie and even the cleaner is what you should be prepared to do before the impulsive decision to quit. You can still manage with your ego clashes and attitude problems in an office environment, but when you start-up something new, you will be the one responsible for your company’s growth, marketing and maintenance, so you practically cannot afford to have an ego then.

Making an extensive research on your competitors, market value of your business idea and the kind of customers you will have to tackle is a good idea. However, till the time you conduct these research operations, you can consider starting up your venture as a test plan part-time and gradually as you start earning good profits through the same, you can then quit your job to work on your business full-time.

Your family and friends form a strong network of support while starting up a business. They might even help you financially. It is always better to let them in on the risks you are planning to take as your family is definitely affected with your risk-taking initiatives.

You will have to keep options open of part-time, freelancing and even full-time regular jobs while keeping your start-up plans on hold, and avoid burning bridges with recruiters, employers and other networking contacts. It is a small world and you never know when you might even need the help of your current boss in building up your venture. Helping with transition duties during notice period and being honest about your future start-up plans can be beneficial for both you and the company as they also may offer to give you flexible work hours or retain your services as an advisor or consultant to the company.

The first effect after you start your entrepreneurship would be on the monthly salary that you have a habit of expecting at the end of every month.  So you must chalk out how you will handle monthly expenses, if not for salary and how much can your savings last you. Give yourself this buffer time before you plan on making your mark in the business field.

Whether you take a loan or speaking to prospective incubators and investors in your business, you will need to understand that both the plan of getting into manufacturing and services would require you to plan the costs your business will incur. Seeking venture capital or VC can be another good option but you may not be able to secure funds right away so crowd-funding can also be considered. Many new start-up ventures have succeeded using the idea of crowdsourcing of funds.

Also, too much planning may spoil all your plans so when you seem to make assumptions on the basis of your plans so far, realize that it is time to act and not fall in paralysis because of your analysis. You can think of talking to potential customers, and even consider speaking to people who have already experienced the issues in the segment of industry you are planning to launch a start-up in.

If you take care of these necessary do’s and don’ts before you plan on the plunge-in, you are bound to come up with flying colours in your entrepreneurial career.

Note: It is different to start a business and to sustain the same.

Good Luck!

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What if your nascent start-up gets funded by a couple that has had a 100 per cent success rate in building start-ups just as they invest in it?

Yes! There is a couple that has been instrumental in carrying many start-ups from the early stages to a stable successful position and the history has repeated itself for as many as 100 times.

They have outdone themselves as the investors, strategists, managers and mentors of companies such as HCL, Bigbasket.com, BlueStone.com, Avagmah.com, HomeLane.com and Portea Medical when every time they have accounted for complete success of these companies even though all of them are in different stages of their growth.

These are the ones that they are helping to nurture and flourish presently, but there are four other such ventures that they have fostered since the 90s era and that have now become a brand name.

Bangalore-based Krishnan and Meena Ganesh are an entrepreneurial couple who have led start-up beginners to believe that if the companies reach a certain perfection, they can defeat even bigger and more successful competitors. And, this they claim has been the mantra to the success of such companies!

They not only serially launch ventures but are also managing their recently started food services business.

From start-up companies delving in home furnishing and decorating services, food and catering, technology knowhow and cloud computing software to handyman services, the duo takes up fields that are grabbing markets and much of consumer attention and they have fared better than the best as they could sell three start-ups, Customer Asset, Marketics Technologies and TutorVista (set up in 2006 with initial investment of Rs. 50 Lakh) to ICICI Bank for 20 million dollars in 2003, a BPO company called WNS for 63.5 million dollars in 2007 and wait for it….Pearson Group in UK for 213 million dollars in 2011. For Marketics, Krishnan had served as the only mentor, investor and even the Chairman until it got sold.

The BigBasket is currently estimated to be at Rupees 1000 crore whereas an online light jewellery store, BlueStone has seen prime investors such as Saama Capital, Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners and even Ratan Tata. This has been the result of the success of the duo towards marketing and promoting these companies and even nurturing and encouraging their growth. Meena is the founder and the CEO of Portea Medical and spearheaded a 9-million-dollar-raise from big funding partners, the likes of Qualcomm Ventures, Accel Partners and Ventureast in 2013. Even Avagmah has reached a certain level as it is being funded by Capital 18 that is a part of Network 18.

50-year-old Krishnan has a post-graduate degree from IIM Kolkata has successfully funded and taken them from the stealth mode to the zenith and ultimately exited them. Not only this, he has been able to raise capital for all the ventures that he chose to nurture and has paid returns to his investors and employees. He comments on the changes he has experienced in his management journey, saying that the encounters have led him to “become more mature, tolerant and patient” (as reported to SmartCEO.com) , which he believes, involves age more than anything else.

Apparently, Krishnan’s expertise in being serial entrepreneur and business leader comes from his stint at an IT company where he worked in the initial years of his career. Here he came across clients who kept facing innumerable issues with the hardware and maintenance of their computer. He thus became the Founder and CEO of IT&T that was responsible for being a multi-vendor IT service company with 16 offices and 400 employees to his credit.

There are five other companies that they have invested in currently that are in stealth mode where three have already launched, one of them being Freshgrub that caters to the food needs of people at home and office-goers with ready-to-eat food and meal options.

And, this is not all. For 23 start-ups they are angel investors and truly for all the companies they invest in, they are like angels who come and build the company from a stealth mode to a success mode before they exit.

No wonder renowned and revered industrialist and the chairman of India’s biggest conglomerate company, like Ratan Naval Tata has invested in BlueStone after the duo came into picture.

Both HCL that the couple had worked with in the yesteryears and Portea Medical that has been launched in August 2013 have their own stories of relevance to tell. As Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL explains, “What particularly sets him apart is his ability to constantly accept feedback p- to assess, reassess and introspect continuously and remain positive. Both he and Meena are very quick thinkers too.” (As reported to Economic Times)

Meena and Krishnan

On the other hand, with Portea Medical, the duo has been able to generate a technology-based home healthcare services company with a workforce of more than 1000 people and branches in 18 cities where employees make over 25000 home visits every month.

Among the top 5 nominees for the Economic Times Entrepreneur 2012 award, the mentor, incubator, investor and promoter of numerous internet and e-commerce companies of India, Krishnan is now confident and ready to nuture potential ‘billion dollar businesses’ as his and his wife’s future project. The National Knowledge Commission, Govt. of India has honoured him as among the “Iconic Entrepreneurs of India” and he even has been meted out the privilege to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of IIM, Calcutta. Meena, on the other hand, has been the proud winner of the ‘Distinguished Alumnus’ award by the same institute for her very capable skills of leading the operations of several companies and developing markets for the same successfully.  She is the only Indian and the first among four women in the Global Retail Council of Tesco to run operations of the company worldwide.

As Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani puts it in clear terms, “they enter a new field, put together a team and inevitably become successful in whichever area they get into.” And yes, they do it with a lot of emotion and enjoy their work!

The post They Can Lead Your Company And Take It To A Never-Imagined Stage Before! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Indian classical music that originated in the time of the Vedas is losing its glory and grandeur with time as are the musical instruments that are instrumental in creating the music.

The classical tones are now either intermixed with foreign music or other western forms of music, making it more of a fusion song version or are sung as it is by SPIC MACAY, having more than 500 chapters globally that conducts around 5000 events every year.

The Indian classical music and dance forms that are showcased through these events are only made possible through instruments such as sitar, sarod, veena, surbahar, tanpura, bansuri, shehnai, sarangi, santoor, violin, pakhavaj as well as tabla.

There are some more like harmonium, mridangam, etc. that are part of the Carnatic music but keeping in mind today’s rock, pop and rap generation, these songs and the instruments have disappeared from the scene.

It would make you wonder as to who makes these classical instruments. Who makes the sitar? Well, the truth is that not only the classical instruments have become out of sight these days but even the makers have.

Sitar being a cornerstone of Indian classical music , has a different sort of relevance in the Indian tradition and has therefore been an important feature of our past. Sad it is that the making of sitar has not gained as much popularity and as many skilful hands as it should have by now. However, we do have some families that have kept the art of sitar-making alive and have been only making sitars since number of ages you cannot even think of. One such family lives in Miraj, situated in Sangli, Maharashtra that has been doing rounds at making one of the most pleasant sounding string instrument since generations or 350 years to be precise.

Sitar manufacturers – Miraj

This place boasts of its love for Hindustani music and original classical instrument makers who have been doing this work since years and have gained fame across the globe for keeping the art, technique and creative passion alive since a long span of time. It has now come to be this family’s heritage that they yearn to preserve at any cost.

Abdul Rahiman’s entire family is focussed on making the whole process of sitar-making a cult, from the wood work to the colouring to designing to putting the strings on the device and each and every other work related to the creation of heavy-weight instrument. They not only make creative designs and select gourds that are specifically known for making sitars, but have also been the pioneers of new inventions and innovative shapes and designs of the sitar. And you thought there are only different shapes and styles for guitars like the acoustic and electric one? Unfortunately, nobody knows that the Abdul Rahiman family has invented the wooden flat sitar and foldable sitars that have transformed the complete idea of how a sitar looks and feels.

Rahiman Sitar Maker

Not only this, the family has been skilfully and passionately creating wooden sitar, black-coloured sitar and sur bahar, where the black sitar has been popularly called the black beauty because of its glossy fine black polish and the sur bahar is made using a flat gourd and can also have double gourds.

The family specialises in customizing their products as per the customer’s needs – the Angur Bel Sitar, Simple Sitar, Double Gourd Sitar, undecorated Sitar and Flat Gourd Sitar. Their company is known by the name of Abdulrahiman Sitarmaker and Sons.

It takes them 20-25 days to make one sitar and the price can range somewhere between Rupees 5,000-50,000. The family comprising of 8-10 members are as educated as talented and skilled they are. If some are engineers, others have pursued L.L.B. and B.Com. Despite this, they believe in keeping their tradition flowering and mushrooming with each new generation and preventing the art from becoming extinct.

Another place known for the making of classical musical instruments is a village called Uluberia in  north Kolkata where people have been quite passionate about the making of sitars, sarod and other string instruments that contribute to Indian classical music. It seems that they too have been involved in this creative business since a lot many years. At least it looks like that when you see the wood work around and the whole set-up where the workers pull off their creative zeal quite well.

The instruments that are made here are known to be sold all over India and at times abroad too.

These are some of the very few places in India that are known to make these beautiful string instruments and it is very unfortunate for all Indians alike that there is no official body that looks after the making of such instruments. Only people who have the passion for Indian classical music and want to have the knowhow on creating instruments to spread the beauty and glory of the Indian tradition feel interested in taking this up as a business.

Well, how about if the young generation indulges in sitar-making as an entrepreneurial venture and take the business online? This way not only the country’s heritage will be preserved but the youngsters too would be better able to appreciate music.

The post The Dying Art Of Sitar-Making Calls For The Youth To Embrace Classical Music! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

How would it be if you get to know that the founders of Rediff.com, Zivame, Snapdeal, Reliance and even Infosys are there to guide you personally into their experiences as entrepreneurs.

Who can be better people to guide you into the world of start-ups and what all you need to learn before venturing into doing something of your own and building a company that you can call yours?

This is what happened at the Bangalore Literature Festival in the month of February this year that comprised of top authors, artistes and speakers for around 24 panels and more than approximate 20,000 attendees for three whole days with topics ranging from politics to Bollywood to music and even entrepreneurship and the steps to building a successful start-up company.

So let’s have a look at the lessons that you can take away from this event:

You don’t need to plan to be an entrepreneur; you can be an accidental one

With many it has been true that they have stumbled upon a great idea of entrepreneurship and have then implemented their idea to become accidental entrepreneurs, only because of their will power, determination and conviction or maybe because of some external stimuli that comes in the form of a given situation which leaves you with no other option other than starting up something new.

idea

Idea need not be gizmo-related or a mapped out area

It is not true that all start-ups are somehow related to technological advancements, they can very well be a completely unchartered area, which nobody has explored so far. Something which is entirely original and comes from a deep insight and social, economic or environmental thought is much welcomed in the start-up scenario.

Un chartered area

Continuous Evolved Learning is the Key

Identifying what can be a good idea for an entrepreneurial venture and continuing with learning procedures to solve difficult situations and having new ideas is the key to the unaltered growth of your company.  You may also have to unlearn in some situations and be imaginative in your approach as you have to show how you are different than your competitors otherwise you can never have the selling benefit.

Continuous evolving

Execute What You Plan

You can have several ideas related to creating the products and services in the company, but the real task that will daunt on you is when you think of its execution, that requires knowledge of the finances needed to pull off the task, your knowhow on how to carry off the operation and the team work. You would need to carry out a lot of experimentation, management of different projects and their step-by-step planning.

Plan Execution

Failure Is Actually the Stepping Stone to Success

When Thomas Edison failed 999 times while lighting a bulb, he claimed that not only did he finally succeed after a lot of trials and experimentation, but he also came to know 999 ways in which a bulb cannot be lighted. Isn’t it inspiring enough?

Failure lets you have the chance to comprehend and understand your mistakes in ideas and execution and certain insights into the operational functionalities of your company. You cannot learn from anything more than what you can learn through failures. The skills and knowledge you acquire along the way will lead you to not only bounce back with double the energy and passion but may also be valued enough by another company, maybe in the country or abroad.

Failure is success

The Fest taught that a start-up needs bright perspectives which you have fostered throughout till your present age and also perseverance and persistence that will help you keep through all your ordeals and get your work done despite rejections and adversities. You need to be flexible to create new things if your old ideas don’t work in certain circumstances.

The Fest witnessed around 60 speakers from ‘Easy Money’ book’s author, Vivek Kaul to Reliance Retail CEO, Damodar Mall and Snapdeal Co-Founder, Kunal Bahl to Infosys Co-Founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy.

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HRD Minister, Smriti Irani has urged and prompted the women scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) who form about 20 per cent of the entire workforce to work increasingly to work increasingly towards and favour girl education especially those living in rural areas so that they can enroll themselves for reputed educational institutions without facing much of financial and social constraints.

Nothing could have been a better move than this while commemorating the International Women’s Day at a national workshop on ‘women innovators for excellence in research and science winners’. Around 200 women scientists working in different laboratories had been a part of this workshop hosted by Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES). Eminent scientists and the Director of CFEES, Dr. Chitra Rajgopal here stressed on thoughtful efforts for equalising the opportunities for both the sexes at all areas and fields, in all sections of the society as well as the importance of innovation and the environment required for the same.

Iraani, it seems yearns to make a difference in the rural lives with her statements and also through the Udaan project that has already been launched so that the underprivileged girls can take part in entrance and competitive exams such as IIT-JEE and IIM exams.

DRDO women have now the responsibility of motivating girls, especially from the disadvantaged sections of the society to help them realize their dreams and lead others to the path of intellectual freedom. “Some of the brightest minds in DRDO can interact with girls who are trying to take flight,” she was quoted saying during the workshop.

Not only does Irani wish to witness girls from the lower strata of society joining the prestigious institutes and handling leadership positions through her Udaan initiative but also wants the intellectual women of the research institute to make their significant efforts for making the ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ a success. This campaign has been launched to address the concerns that have been bothering women in rural India since a long time.

IITs and NITs have been dexterously working since last year when the Abhiyan was launched, to improvise upon the situation of the rural lives in India through advanced technologies specifically customized for use in villages.

Irani claimed that the ministry needed DRDO’s women’s support for their ‘Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan’ as well so that an interest is generated for science and mathematics among the rural population of the country, which had witnessed a decrease to a mere 30 per cent in the previous months.

Women scientists can truly be an inspiration for those innumerable girls who wait for miracles to happen to enable them to study at premier educational organizations along with students from other parts of the country and enjoy honourable degrees and positions.

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