Financial Planning for FY 2021

Many articles were seen in various media on how to invest during Corona time. Though there were a few good points, many of them were trying to encourage Systematic Investment Plans(SIPs) and other investment ideologies and showing a rosy picture while the actual world may be  different. This blog is about a few practical ideas on how to increase your revenue and reduce expenses during this difficult time period.

One basic thing that everyone should do currently will be to activate their internet banking/mobile banking. Most of you will have some amount as a buffer fund in your savings account which is kept for facing some unplanned expenses. Keep very minimum balance in your savings account and convert all the amount to Fixed deposit. While a savings deposit can give you 3.5-4.0% interest, Fixed deposit can offer you 7-8% interest. Also you can close FD after 7 days if it is necessary. Keeping an FD of Rs.1 Lakh will give you around Rs.4000 extra which  is ~Rs.350 per month. While there are many other risky investments like shares and mutual funds are there which may give better returns, it can backfire as well. So, it is better to be concervative in difficult time period. (This is not applicable for people who have millions in hand to spend and want to try their luck in shares and mutual fund.) During this difficult period any additional revenue over and above the salary can be considered as bonus. Remember, Rs.350 can give you 10 kg of rice with which a family can survive for one week.

Another most important thing one must perform is utilize the government subsidies. Perhaps a Jan Dhan account for your grandmother might have given Rs.500 to your family. Keep an eye on all the government schemes and make sure you are able to obtain all the benefits that you/your family deserve.  I have collected Rs.15 KG rice last week from ration store which help us to ensure that we have sufficient stock of rice for next 2 weeks. Similarly, it is also necessary to make sure that you shall not be a beneficiary of any scheme that you do not deserve as there are thousands of eligible citizens waiting for the same.

It is equally important to reduce expenses along with increasing income for surviving difficult time. Perhaps this is the area where we require micromanagement.  We must be able to find out what percentage of our income are used on various expenses heads like – Household expenses – Food and groceries , Energy Expenses – Electricity Bill, Petrol etc, Communication Expenses, Health /Medical Expenses , Expenses for Children education etc. Among all the expenses head, Cost of Petrol is expected to decrease while electricity bill is expected to increase. There is not much variation in expenses is expected for medical expenses.

For those salaried persons, it is quite sure that your expenses would have halved in past 15 days which would help you to save better.   

1 Usage of Substitutes or Lower Branded items.

Purchase Beetroot instead of Carrot for preparing side dish (Cost of Carrot is high in Kerala . It may vary from state to state and country to country). Also use maximum items available from your field. For eg. If you have jackfruit tree at home, make sure you use all the jackfruit in the tree for consumption as every dish made using jackfruit will help to reduce your expenses of vegetables that you purchase from outside.

Using Santoor Soap instead of Pears is also a way to reduce expenses.

2Use of energy efficient mechanisms.

At home, number of people will be high on day time due to lock down. Try to make sure that all the family members sit in hall/one room during day time as it will help to reduce electricity bill. Another suggested method is replacing existing fans of 60-75 watts energy consumption with 27 watt/dc fans once the shop opens. We had done the same on Last September and average energy consumption at home had reduced by 1.5 units per day. Average electricity bill was reduced by more than 25%. (Around Rs.200-250 Rs. Per month)

3Cancel all the unnecessary expenses which include purchase of  branded new electronic items like watch as well as cosmetics (if you are sure that you can survive without that).

4

   Hold capital expenses like purchase of Car/Bike. If it is totally necessary, then purchase a Hero Honda Splender instead of a Royal Enfield Bullet. Banks may offer you a lower rate of interest to attract you but you need to confident that you will be able to pay EMI for next 4-5 years if your are purchasing the same with loan.Remember, your are purchasing a vehicle for your consumption, not for giving it to Bank.

    With proper financial management, while the Income can be increase by 2-3% only, expenses can be reduced by 50-60%.Use the saved amount as FD which will offer you better returns or donate to PM/CM funds so that it will be beneficial to the nation. Remember, you can survive only if the nation survives. You can buy rice, fruits and vegetables only if someone cultivates it.

Another important point  is,

Students who are graduating in 2020 will be most tensed as they will be having lot of difficulties regarding placements and those who got offers may not be allowed to join as per schedule.I had graduated in 2009 while a lot of people were saying that the world is going to end along with the recession. I was quite happy to stick to the only offer I had received and tried to survive and felt sad for those who had received offer letter but it was withdrawn by the companies. For many of them, life was miserable. But there were a few who had long term view and went for higher studies (MBA/M Tech/PHD).By the time their education got completed in 2011, the world had changed. So, the point is, if your salary is not necessary for your family to survive, you should try for a higher studies and make yourself ready to compete better by 2022. This is applicable for those whose parents/other family members are working currently and will not be retiring from job for next 3-4 years.

Bid Adieu to an eventful decade

Sometimes, it is good to think about the past and reflect. Its time to say Good bye to an eventful decade!!

I started this decade with my first job. On January 11, 2010, I joined in Infosys as a Systems Engineer. While some of my friends told they want to switch job after 2 years for a salary hike or promotion, I had decided that I would never leave job, after all, the brand Infosys had great market value and I hate changes in life. The same person had submitted resignation on January 11,2012 even without getting another job, because he started to hate Java and even computer!   And those who said they would quit job in 2 years are still in Infosys, either in India or in US. But first job is always close to heart and once an Infoscion is always an  Infoscion! Two good things happened in my life were 6 months stay in Mysore Campus and the development of blogger in me. On April 11,2012 I said Good bye to Infosys! (On the same day there were tremors felt at Trivandrum and the entire Ship building(Infosys SEZ  Building, Trivandrum) was evacuated! )

Like many other engineers, I also ‘realized’ that the best way to shift from IT is holding an MBA certificate. There came the IMS coaching days where I got chance to meet two great faculties and a lot of good friends. Unexpected side effect of CAT preparation was that, I cleared IBPS and became a banker – joined as Probationary Officer in Federal Bank on November 19,2012. But I felt bad as how can an engineer become a banker.(Later I realized B Tech means Banking Technology). But I had also cleared IRMA exams at the same time. Thanks to then HR head of Federal Bank, who supported me to resign from Federal Bank and join IRMA. Thus after a sweet short 6 months in Federal Bank, I left the job on 13^th June 2013 and reached Anand on 15^th June 2013.

IRMA is the best thing happened in my life. I realized that Kerala is not the whole world and I should broaden my mind. I celebrated Navrathri and Holi for first time in my life. I wore sweater for first time in life. I realized that sun can be cruel and can touch 46-48 degrees in summer.Being from Kerala,  I was surprised to see people who had never seen a sea/ocean in their life till then! But more importantly I started to see India beyond the Western Ghats. The Rural India, supply chain of commodities, microfinance, marketing, co operatives, FPOs, NGOs, great professors and friends. I was happy that I left both jobs so that I got a chance to be at Anand. If there is a heaven on earth it is this, it is this it is this. (Neither Kashmir, nor Kerala). I like to give a big salute to Dr. Verghese Kurien for changing the life of millions of people. He was at the right place at right time.

Then comes a few months of testing period where I had to take a decision between corporate or development sector. I chose later first and changed decision to former within 5 months as life is also about self sustainability and repayment of loans(education loan).

On October 5,2015 I joined in ESAF Microfinance which means Engineer became Banker again! ESAF had shown me the world of finance – Debentures, Bonds, Securitization, Bank Loans etc. I am really happy that I could see how an organization had transformed itself from an NBFC to a Small Finance Bank.

On March 18, 2017, my better half joined with me for the rest of journey. I welcomed Sreejaya to my Life. She is a goddess. Sometimes Saraswati, Sometimes Durga and Sometimes (Bhadra)Kaali.I believe we started our journey well for the next five -six decades to come.

 As I thought life is going to settle down after marriage and ESAF will be my final organization, the next twist happened and I joined in Axis Bank as a Credit Analyst on February 5,2018 .From Axis,  I learnt how to read P&L and Balance sheet. Also,the 'political' knowledge I gained from Axis Bank was more than the Credit Knowledge I learnt.

And finally, another job shift to ICICI Bank on September 25, 2019.   

Thus, Sumodh, the person who wanted to live his entire life in first job had completed his post graduation and switched job four times within a decade and in the end, he is still an Engineer by qualification and a Banker by profession! Perhaps this is the reason why I believe in God. Man proposes, God disposes! But whatever god gave is better than what I planned. 

I hope next decade will give me lot of good positive surprises except changing jobs.

Wishing you all a very happy new Decade!

Rise of the Right Wing

The second decade of twenty first century is witnessing two major rises
1. The rise of the right wing across the globe and
2. The rise of Super Powers with signals of cold war 2.0.

There was a time the capitalist economies were saying that the world is flat and the world should embrace globalization.There were many economists across the globe who were great advocates of it and many researches were published explaining the advantages of the same. But, when we look at the actual implementation what we could see was that it was a newer version of colonization where the developing countries of Asia and Africa were handling the commodities/labour which is the lower chain of value addition curve and value addition was done by Europe and US with the help of technology. The idea worked successfully for West in 1980s and 1990s and it had helped to widen the economic inequality between the west and the east. However there were a few assumptions that went wrong and the developed nations are paying now for their mistake.

The major assumption was that the east will always work on commodity products like exporting of  Minerals and other natural resources and they will act as the labourers of the west in manufacturing sector with  little investment on technology/value addition. However time has proven that the assumption went wrong. The reverse engineering has helped the developing countries to do value addition. This has resulted in creation of wealth in developing nations which is large enough to acquire companies in the west which will further help the developing world to compete against the developed nations. While the twentieth Century saw the development of European Companies with the support of Technology, twenty first Century is witnessing the rise of Asian countries as super powers.

Another assumption was that it was easy to displace the entire population  of job seekers from farming to service sector. While it was somewhat successful in US where just 2% of total population is farmers and they were able to shift the 98% of the population to manufacturing and service sector what they had forgotten is that the Eastern countries can also acquire the same skill set and they are ready to work at a lower wage rate which will ultimately give them advantage when they acquire the technology. This has resulted in replacement of domestic employees in the developed nation with low cost employees from the developing nations or transfer of the manufacturing and service sector units itself to the developing countries thereby increasing the transfer of wealth. (And the poor in the west cannot go back to agriculture now as the lands were already purchased by the corporate companies)

The big picture of globalization was missed by the western population partially because of the shift in employment among the population to the service sector which has helped them to increase their wages and also because globalization has helped them to control inflation as they were able to replace the high value domestic product with low cost products from developing countries thereby ensuring sufficient amount for recreation as well as savings. Also it was acceptable for the developing countries as it created job opportunities in the developing world which had relatively less skill set. However, as time passed by, the aspirations of the developing countries has also changed and they also wanted to follow the same consumption pattern of the west. They also started to shift the work force to manufacture and service sector thereby challenging the dominance of the western world in the field. This has resulted in the replacement of high salaried Western people with low to medium salaried Asian and African labourers.

This shift got accelerated in the beginning of twenty first Century and within twenty years, the western world has realized their mistake. This has resulted in the rise of the right wing protectionist ideology in West. The victory of Trump,Macron,Putin and Brexit shows that the rise of nationalism and the feel for national identity has started to rise in the western world. The irony is that the same right wing ideology which is in rise in Asia also who are advocates of Globalization. While the nationalism has helped Narendra Modi to come to power in India, the communist government in China has also embraced the ideology in a different way by giving infinite Power to Xi JinPing which was to make China a Super Power and also the create a feeling among the population that the communist government is capable of protecting the people of China by reducing unemployment using Globalization. In other words , Left is also Right in China even though we call the party as Communist Party.

What globalization and capitalism has actually created is concentration of wealth among a small elite class of population. This relative inequality has resulted in frustration among those who were left out. The irony is that the Poor in the East believes they are poor because of the exploitation from the western world and the poor in the west believes they are poor because of the cheap labourers from the Eastern world and in both worlds the Right Wing ideology has risen from the ashes like the phoenix. But the fact is inequality exist in both East and West and relative inequality within a country is increasing day by day. This is not actually because of the concept of globalization but because of its creator - Capitalism. People who created the wealth were able to mislead the anger of poor to the factors outside the nation. Thus they tried to act like the protectors of the nation while they continue to exploit the people using the money and muscle power which they possess. And it has lead to the second point which I have mentioned in the beginning, the rise of cold war. The current trade war between the world nations in not actually to protect the nation, but to protect the capitalists of  each country who actually controls the larger businesses of those nation. The poor in US will never get benefited by creating a trade barrier with China.It will in fact create inflation in the country.However the poor believes that the policy can actually protect them. This is same for all the countries where the nationalism is on rise.

The real danger of current nationalism is they can keep the elite safe for a few more years but it cannot help to increase the equality within the country as the exploitation is actually continuing and there will be a point at which this will burst and can lead either to violence that we are seeing in many underdeveloped countries in Africa or a recession which we have seen in developed countries. Both are not good for any country. Hence the time has come for the governments to understand the real issue existing in the society and to resolve the same rather than shifting it as delay in time will only amplify the frustrations which can result in many disastrous incidents for all the countries. 

Kerala @ 60:A Retrospection

On 1st November2016, Kerala has finally joined the league of senior citizens among the Indian states. A land of paradoxes , there are several unique features one can notice in Kerala. Kerala government was the first democratically elected communist government in the world. Kerala is always ranked top among most of the parameters to identify a welfare state- Highest HDI Index, Highest literacy rate, Health etc. to one of the early birds in India to achieve the status of open defecation free state. It is also to be noticed that Kerala is always one of the leading states in implementing central government schemes, be it MGNREGS by UPA or Swachh Bharat by NDA. Government of Kerala (irrespective of left or right) has always played a crucial role as an implementing agency. But it is to be noted that Kerala has the higher percentage of emigrant population. The time has come to think why the people are migrating from such a beautiful state, which has all the basic requirements, to settle in other cities of India and abroad? 

One of the most important factors for the relative development of the state was the higher literacy rate compared to rest of India. While the average literacy rate of India was 16% at the time of Independence, it was 46% in Kerala. This higher literacy rate had always helped Kerala to work more efficiently as an implementing agency for most of the government schemes. Kerala government had also given focus on investments in education and health sector during 1960s and 70s which had also helped in making Kerala a relatively better off state. But one of the most important flaws of the model was that the investment was heavily on non-income generating activities without much focus on revenue generation/job creation. A model can be considered sustainable only when it is able to survive without the support of an external agency. Otherwise it will fail with the closure of external funding source. In other words, most of the schemes in Kerala were implemented with the aid from central government or some international funding agencies with a target driven approach, without giving focus on employment generation (which would have helped in generating more revenue for the state government). This has resulted in creating a generation of educated people who could become an efficient work force but didn’t get a chance to prove their talent in their home state due to lack of opportunities. 

We can also say that most of these investments were with a short term view, more in line with the national trends. But it should be noted that the demands of each state were different. For example, if we look at the investments in health sector most of the investments were designed to handle infectious diseases which spread through various sources like air, water etc. But currently non infectious diseases like Cancer, Heart diseases, Diabetes, Blood pressure etc. are becoming a threat mostly because of food habits and our current hospitals are not equipped to handle those diseases. Similarly if we look at education sector, we can see that engineering had more importance in Kerala where most of the revenue generation sources are from service sector like Banking, Tourism etc. This has resulted in building up a generation of engineers who work in different sectors which has no relation with what they had studied in colleges. Remaining engineers had migrated to rest of the world where engineering still has some importance. In both cases (health and education), Kerala has done statistically well because the parameters for measuring performance was primarily set based on national parameters.

As the literacy rate in Kerala started to increase, people started to look for jobs which give better salary. As a result they started to lose interest in traditional jobs like agriculture, daily labour, construction work etc. which were occupied by migrant workers from other states; earlier by people from Tamil Nadu and currently from East and North East India. On the other side, neither government nor private sector investments had occurred in Kerala which would have given better job opportunities. This resulted in massive migration to gulf, Mumbai (now to Banglore) and other Western countries which today we proudly say as our NRI strength.  Initial migration was to Gulf countries getting citizenship is not very easy. This had helped Kerala to get lot of cash inflow from the gulf countries. However, similar to government, most of the funds were invested for consumption purposes like home, gold etc. and only very few portion was invested for any income generation or job creation purposes. And currently, as migration trend has shifted US and Europe, where tax rate is higher and receiving citizenship is easier, people who migrate tend to invest the money there itself. In fact people who sell all their assets in Kerala and become permanent residents in US and Europe are increasing and after one or two generations they may not have any relation with Kerala. This will further reduce the money available for development of Kerala.

Currently when we look at Kerala’s economic situation, Kerala is struggling to maintain the schools and hospitals set up by the government because of the huge maintenance expenses. However revenue for the government through taxes not grown sufficiently during the same period to match with those expenses and for new development projects.  As a result, fiscal deficit has increased and borrowings have gone up sharply in last two decades. Fiscal liabilities have increased from Rs.33,777 crore in 2002-03 to Rs. 1,41,947 crore in 2014-15. It is also to be noted that the migration from Kerala to West has increased during the same period and one of the districts – Pathanamthitta has shown a negative population growth for the first time in history mainly due to the shifting of people to the western world. 

In other words, while Kerala is becoming a senior citizen, she is also becoming economically weaker and weaker and both politicians and local population is not worried about the same, believing we can always find a heaven in the west. The time has come for government to rethink its strategy and take a new path so that Kerala will have a local population who can survive in the state with a decent income, not like the current old age home where the parents are living in Kerala and their children working outside.

Communism and Pseudos

Election of 2016 was very different in many ways especially with the active participation of the political leaders in social media. Even though BJP had effectively used the social media during 2014 elections, its influence in Kerala had peaked only in current elections with the entry of communist party and party workers into the social media. At first it may not sound wrong as any person and any party have the right to market their ideology. But the most important factor which is being neglected is the influence / penetration of capitalism and its ideologies into Communism. 

There was a time that communist party was working among the poor, mobilizing them against the feudal lords. It had helped the party to make its presence in many parts of the country and to become the main opposition in the first government of Independent India. However, they had failed to keep the momentum for one simple reason that communism is getting diluted day by day. Today communism had become a fantastic ideology that may never be able to make a comeback. This is mainly because of the fact that the people who are propagating the ideas themselves are being influenced by capitalism and their propagators. 

For example, we have seen lot of ideological fights happening across social media, say facebook. Facebook, a company opened by a capitalist in United States of America had earned millions in the name of communism and advertisements and discussions related to Communist party and ideologies. The Communists use the same social media to protest against the capitalists for one simple reason that majority of the population are under the influence of the media which is owned by capitalists. So, how can we expect Communism which diluted itself for promoting their ideologies, to escape the people from exploitation from capitalists? But people use the same social media and proudly say that they are the comrades who want to bring the change in the society. 

Another biggest threat to Communist ideologies is the influence of Pseudo Communists who are always under the influence of capitalism and its tempting yet deadly beauty. Middle class of Kerala is the biggest example. Most of them are currently working under the private companies which are owned by capitalists bourgeois who are settled in India or abroad. They are aware of the fact that they are being exploited, but they love being exploited just because of the materialistic pleasures that capitalism is offering. Today we can see communists who are working for capitalists, wearing the formals designed by capitalists, eating from Dominos/McDonalds/ any other hotel chain owned by capitalists using a mobile phone which is again designed and manufactured by the capitalists with a capitalist sim which was being purchased after falling in love with the advertisement of those companies. They are be using a vehicle which is manufactured by a firm owned by capitalists or even public transport of which most of the vehicles are still made by the same capitalist firms even though owned by government (which is again influenced by right wing ideologies). In simple words we can see that the people are under the influence of market right from dawn (brushing with colgate/close up) to desk (sleeping on a mattress) and still they talk about communism. Most of the products that we consume today are the output of systematic exploitation by the capitalists. Knowingly or unknowingly every human being is being exploited by capitalism and they will continue to do the same for the simple reason there is always a demand for the same. But still the so called pseudo intellectuals never accept about the influence and they continue discussing about a world which is not under the influence of bourgeois. 

Communism, at times, failed to identify the real enemies who are causing the real threat to the poor. Capitalism and its exploitation can exist in different sizes and forms at different levels within a society. It exists in all the areas where there is a probability of concentration of resources; be it wealth or power or anything else. Even democracy is becoming oligarchy in this modern world. Communist party which should have been acting vigilantly against these forces fails to redesign itself to become any of those as ‘participative democracy’, explained by Marx is something which is still unknown to the party. ‘Opium of Masses’ is gaining strength in the world with the rise of terrorism across the globe. Thus the fundamentals of communism are facing many challenges than never before and the propagators of the socialist ideologists are being corrupted by the influence of the capitalist class.

Even in the middle of challenges it is really surprising that the party is able to still hold their strength in a few pockets across the globe. But the political activities and governance under the communist party never justifies their thoughts and action. A party which claims to bring development in Kerala fails to create job within Kerala. People have to migrate to other metro cities and to Middle East to get a decent job which is mostly offered by private companies whose aim is profit maximization. Revenue generation activities by government organizations are reducing day by day with more than half of the government companies are in huge losses. Government has to depend on World Bank and other Financial Institutions promoted by First World Nations to meet their daily needs and it is quite sure that these institutions will only protect the interest of those capitalist countries. Slowly and steadily party ideologies are losing grounds against the market forces and are facing a premature death. Communist party may be able to survive, but the ideologies will never survive if a strong corrective action is not taken by them and the party will fall into the hands of capitalism. Communist Party has won the election, but did the Communist ideology win?  Remember, we had French Revolution and Napoleon Boneparte was the end result; power and resources never reached to the arms of poor.

Tolerant world and Intolerant India!!

Aamir Khan, another great Artist from India, has joined the debate on intolerance. In fact for the last few weeks we are seeing a few 'intellectual' guys sitting around in an air conditioned room and discussing whether we are becoming intolerant or not. And we have been tolerant to their discussions, though they called us intolerant. Bihar elections came just like a conclusion to those discussions and the initial victory was for the so called 'tolerant' force. Finally, when everyone started to discuss about black money, development etc, here comes our PK hero with the same intolerance discussion.


It is really nice to know that Aamir Khan got a wife who is aware of all the incidents happening across the nation.But it is the time to read the international column in news papers also. I would like to know the nation where they can live happily without any threat.

Europe was the best options till a few days back. But not anymore. Islamic State also prefers Europe just like the millionaires in India prefer.Another option will be United States of America, a beautiful land where the native tolerant people where forced to work under the White British and always been ruled by the them. But still the region is more tolerant than India!! Aamir and Kiran will be quite safe there. But what about their children? Every week there will be some news which shows some child has taken a gun to school and killed all classmates. A very tolerant generation!! Aamir can send his child to school on his own risk. But don't blame India's intolerance for whatever happening in America. Even though Sharukh is competitior, watching his movie 'My name is Khan' will help to increase GK.

Another great option is to move to Australia. The entire continent is very tolerant. Anyone who has a beard and a turban need to take a life insurance before landing. But Aamir doesn't have to worry. He is a 'Yo Yo' person. But, be careful in telling name.He also has got a second name which may not be tolerated by a few religious tolerant people there.

Another zone where Aamir should consider moving is Middle East. The region is quite nice for Aamir, but may not be nice for his wife , as she may not like to wear Pardah 24*7. But don't worry, that region is also more tolerant than India!! There are a few more options like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, ,Afghanisthan, Pakisthan and a few African countries. Those regions are very tolerant. But getting a job which suit the profile will be quite difficult. But still, it is worth trying. People have the freedom to choose the way of death. Bomb, rocket,gun, knife, stones etc...

Another region is Scandinavian countries which can offer you a decent job but they will take all your money back as income tax. More over they might not have seen Bollywood movies.

And another great option is China. The nation which loved Aamir as PK. People's Republic of China,a very tolerant nation. People has got lot of freedom to express. One morning Aamir can say the tolerance topic there; By evening he can join Dalai Lama at Dharmashala,Arunachal Pradesh. We Indians are known for giving refugee to everyone who needs.
But still, India is the most intolerant nation in the world!!

Dear Aamir,
Please be a little careful in speaking. We have a democratic system and people know how to respond to tolerance and intolerance. We saw your PK. We laughed and in the evening we went to temple. Can you think of doing a similar story about any other religion? And more importantly, if you think people of India have became intolerant after watching all your Satyameva Jayate episodes, it means you are a flop in conveying the message.

I am an Indian who belongs to Incredible India. Not your intolerant India.

P.S : I will again watch your good movies because I like you as an actor and I won't mix your personal life with professional life.

The wind of change

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world. " - Mahatma Gandhi

India is the land of Paradoxes. We say about the value of life, but will not act to save any life even if we see an accident. We say about the value of literacy, but will not do anything to improve the current situation. We say about poverty, but will not act. We have a very 'genuine' excuse to it - 'These are duties of Government, not mine!!' Of course, there are a few who genuinely like to do something to the society and I like to dedicate this post to them. The blog is about a set of people who are trying to change the life of a few illiterate children.

Last year, our college has got approval for increasing the batch size to 180. (For those who doesn't know my background - I am studying in IRMA, Anand ,Gujarat. ) The construction of class room, hostel etc. had started in last December. Hundreds of contract labourers are working in campus. They are actually migrants from Odisha. They come with their children to work place, as no one at home to look after their children. It is really nice to see the children playing around in the ground, enjoying their time. The sad part is - they are not going to school!! Parents want them to become construction workers by the age of ten, so that they can also contribute to their family income. 

Like us, they are also in IRMA. While we become the so called 'managers'  and conquer 'great heights' , these children will grow up and become construction workers, lives in some slums, do the work till their health is fine and probably they will die due to mishap at construction site. Some ministers may cry for a few minutes and no one cares their family after that. Many of us feel sad and had sympathy to them. But none of us did anything to stop this, until someone took the initiative .

One of my friend , Sudhir Kumar decided to teach them!! Inspired by his initiative, many of us joined with him. We donated 100 rupees each and bought sufficient stationery items. Within one week, we had a small board and about 20 notebooks for the children. We started with teaching them numbers and languages.Everyday two of us will teach the children in the evening after our class.Their interest in learning surprised us. Most of them learned things quite fast.Now they have learnt English - A to Z , Numbers 1-50 , name of some fruits,vegetables etc etc.Encouraged by our activity, one of our faculty's wife, a school teacher, promised to volunteer the activity while we are away for internship.

Currently, on June 2014, we are out of campus for our internship. But the children still gets tuition.We do not know whether this can make any difference in their life. We were not able to convince their parents regarding the importance of proper school learning. However we are doing our best. If one of them get a better life, we will be very happy. After all , life is not about collecting certificates.

We cannot say that this is our kindness. We are just trying to do our part as the responsible citizens of  India. From tomorrow, before you start complaining about the situation of our country, before you start praising the western countries for their so called development, ask yourself what have you given to your nation? A nation develops when the citizens work for the country. India has not developed. Why? 

P.S : Team members- Sudhir Kumar, Alankrita Goswami, Shivansh Mishra, Alok Anand, Sayeree Das, Srishti Mishra, Gadha Raj, Vikram , Ishita Kotak, Ishita Srivastava,Anjali Choudary and Sumodh G Namboothiri