How big can you dream? An overall market capitalization of around $380 billion, ranked No: 1 consistently among the Fortune 500 companies, one of the world’s most admired and respected corporate with a tradition of more than 125 years of extraordinary leadership having an employee base of over 300,000 spanning 100 countries. What started off as a humble beginning in the year 1876 with the invention of incandescent bulb by Thomas Alva Edison is today a huge conglomerate having interests in virtually every business in the world. No credits for guessing this mammoth organization, yes its none other than General Electric (GE).
Oil and gas, Wind turbines, Consumer and Industrial goods, Rail, Aviation, Water, Finance you name it, GE is sure to have a strong foot hold in each of these sectors. I am sure most of you would have heard of NBC Universal (Production house of Bourne Ultimatum), but many wouldn’t know that it’s an arm of GE. One of the world’s most powerful jet engines GenX is from GE. It’s a place where sharpest minds across the globe work in tandem to produce some of the best technical innovations that mankind has ever seen.
” Imagination at Work”, what a perfect tagline for this great corporate.
GE has 4 research hubs in the world viz. Niskayuna in New York, Munich, Bangalore and Shanghai. The Bangalore centre known as John F Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) is the largest research centre outside US.I was fortunate enough to get a summer internship at Global Research Cente, JFWTC. Global Research Centre (GRC) is a pure R&D wing that gives research backup for all GE businesses. Spread out in an area of more than 50 acres with lush green lawns and Japanese garden JFWTC is truly world class.
For all of you who would like to pursue a career in research, my sincere advice, do your masters and PhD, pack your bags and get ready to be a part of GE family. All said and done I realized one thing after successfully completing my internship, core research is not my cup of teaJ
PS: Absolutely no point joining GE after B.TechL
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Primary Education in India….
Indian education system is a huge tower with a very poor foundation. The government is making a mockery of themselves by broadening the top of the tower without even trying to lay the foundation straight. Six new IIT’s all supposedly to bring prosperity to the underdeveloped states. Prosperity to whom? To the millions of children deprived of even primary education or to those starving young minds that come to school just to have the “sumptuous” mid day meal. When the primary educational system in India is in a grave situation due to lack of funds and infrastructure government is pumping crores for the creation of IIT’s.
I happened to read a very interesting article in the Harvard Business Review. It was about a startup company called Gyan founded by 3 Indian students after passing out from Harvard Business School. The study they conducted in India revealed the fact that majority of children drop out or do not get access to primary education not due to cultural or social reasons but simply due the lack of access to credit. Their venture focuses in providing credit in a profitable way to these deprived souls. There are similar programs in other parts of the world such as Bangladesh’s Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).
According to the standards set by UNESCO primary schooling is defined as completion of grades 1-5. The success levels are measured by three parameters. . The first is net enrollment ratios for all children, disaggregated for boys and girls; the second is the percentage of children entering Grade One who complete Grade Five, and the third is the literacy rate among 15- to 24-year-old boys and girls. In India the drop out numbers are very high and in effect these children remain functionally illiterate for the rest of their lives.
The gross neglect and lack of a clear policy to improve the primary educational system in India is a serious lapse on the side of the government. Setting up of IIT’s at this juncture is clearly a move eyeing the next elections. When will we come out of this cheap vote bank political tyranny? Or are we destined to be like this forever? It’s said change is the only thing constant in this world, but seems like Indian politics is an exception!!!!!
I happened to read a very interesting article in the Harvard Business Review. It was about a startup company called Gyan founded by 3 Indian students after passing out from Harvard Business School. The study they conducted in India revealed the fact that majority of children drop out or do not get access to primary education not due to cultural or social reasons but simply due the lack of access to credit. Their venture focuses in providing credit in a profitable way to these deprived souls. There are similar programs in other parts of the world such as Bangladesh’s Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).
According to the standards set by UNESCO primary schooling is defined as completion of grades 1-5. The success levels are measured by three parameters. . The first is net enrollment ratios for all children, disaggregated for boys and girls; the second is the percentage of children entering Grade One who complete Grade Five, and the third is the literacy rate among 15- to 24-year-old boys and girls. In India the drop out numbers are very high and in effect these children remain functionally illiterate for the rest of their lives.
The gross neglect and lack of a clear policy to improve the primary educational system in India is a serious lapse on the side of the government. Setting up of IIT’s at this juncture is clearly a move eyeing the next elections. When will we come out of this cheap vote bank political tyranny? Or are we destined to be like this forever? It’s said change is the only thing constant in this world, but seems like Indian politics is an exception!!!!!
Friday, June 20, 2008
The World is Indeed Flat...but not smooth...
The international best seller book "The World is Flat", by Thomas Friedmann speaks of globalization and its impact on the 21st century.He suggests the world is "flat" in the sense that globalization has leveled the competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries. In his opinion, this flattening is a product of a convergence of personal computer with fiber-optic micro cable with the rise of work flow software. He termed this period as Globalization 3.0, differentiating this period from the previous Globalization 1.0 (which countries and governments were the main protagonists) and the Globalization 2.0 (which multinational companies led the way in driving global integration).He details on his visit to the silicon valley of India,Bangalore that boasts of world class corporates like GE,Google,Infosys..well the list is endless.
But my experience of Bangalore on the contrary was a city that's double sided, one with glit and glamour of the corporate and just behind the ITPL(International Tech Park) I saw a huge dump yard of plastics and e-waste.I was on my way to the GE Global Research campus for my internship.To my dismay I saw 3 kids , half naked,coming out of the dump yard with an innocent smile on their face holding plastic bags filled with batteries and other electronic wastes.
But my experience of Bangalore on the contrary was a city that's double sided, one with glit and glamour of the corporate and just behind the ITPL(International Tech Park) I saw a huge dump yard of plastics and e-waste.I was on my way to the GE Global Research campus for my internship.To my dismay I saw 3 kids , half naked,coming out of the dump yard with an innocent smile on their face holding plastic bags filled with batteries and other electronic wastes.
There 's a grand debate on the issue of inclusive growth to reduce the growing disparity in economic growth doing its rounds everytime the nation approaches an election.60 years down the lane we still havent reached a stage where we can provide our children a basic standard of living.Mr.Friedmann is right the world is getting flatter with all the high tech gadgets and fiber optics ,but long way to go before it gets smooth....
Epicurean Physics and todays world!!!!
Epicurus' philosophy of the physical world is as follows
"If a limited form lives within an unlimited void, the form could only wander aimlessly about, because what is unlimited is ungraspable; meaning, the limited form would travel forever, for it does not have any obstacles. The void would have to be limited in quality and the form of an unlimited quality, for an unlimited form can oscillate and seemingly grasp—practically, but not literally—an unlimited number of spots within the limited void. "(courtesy:wikipedia)
Does it strike any chord with our present day lives.Ponder over it and all are free to interpret it the way they want:):)
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"If a limited form lives within an unlimited void, the form could only wander aimlessly about, because what is unlimited is ungraspable; meaning, the limited form would travel forever, for it does not have any obstacles. The void would have to be limited in quality and the form of an unlimited quality, for an unlimited form can oscillate and seemingly grasp—practically, but not literally—an unlimited number of spots within the limited void. "(courtesy:wikipedia)
Does it strike any chord with our present day lives.Ponder over it and all are free to interpret it the way they want:):)
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Are we running Backwards??
When Dr.Ambedkar and his team drafted the constitution of India,it was with a great vision and dream.They envisioned India as a developed nation socially,economically and politically.They came up with a strategy to uplift the deprived classes in the country by means of reservation.Decades down the lane our country is in a state of dichotomy.A fast forward "Shining Bharath" surging ahead in business, technology and banking and another "Reserved Bharath" making hue and cry to move backward.
Todays The Hindu carried an interested article "68% Reservation in Rajasthan".Out of every 100 people 68 people have reservation.There are moves to even give reservation for economically backward ,so called "forward castes"!! The day is not far away when there will be a reservation for unreserved people...Hail India!!!!!!!!
Todays The Hindu carried an interested article "68% Reservation in Rajasthan".Out of every 100 people 68 people have reservation.There are moves to even give reservation for economically backward ,so called "forward castes"!! The day is not far away when there will be a reservation for unreserved people...Hail India!!!!!!!!
Myself Me and You
I believe there are 3 important "mutually exclusive" facets of every individual. MYSELF, ME and YOU.Physically these three attributes corresponds to MYSELF as seen by me,ME as seen by the rest of the world,YOU as how I see the rest of the world respectively.The first and third are relative in nature but the second aspect MYSELF is absolute to each individual and perhaps the most important one too.Now since myself is absolute ,it defies the famous theory of relativity and all laws of science are ineffective here.Where science fails,spirituality succeeds and from here spirituality takes over.Hinduism speaks of "atma" or the inner soul,which is absolute in nature.
WHO AM I???
The toughest question I have faced in my life is "Who are you ?".I have asked myself a million times who am I? The answer for this million dollar question still eludes me.But nevertheless I do know bits and pieces of my identity .Again another question arises,the fragmented truths I know about myself ,are they illusions I have framed or are they eternal truths? Firm introspection made me realize a very important fact as Sigmund Freud said "We are our Desires". One's desires shape his identity ,same applies for me too.But then comes yet another important question.Our desires keep changing,so does that mean our identity too keeps oscillating?Thats a debatable issue .
So how do I open up myself to you ? Through my desires,my goals, my ambitions or with a jugglery of my literary skills? Maybe a proportion of all the above will be the best.
So how do I open up myself to you ? Through my desires,my goals, my ambitions or with a jugglery of my literary skills? Maybe a proportion of all the above will be the best.
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