The voice that could stop another Dantewada ?

If you’re wondering, why I was harping on Mobile Technology and Infrastructure… it is precisely for this purpose… for IT to penetrate and add value to our great nation, benefitting the less-fortunate, giving them a voice  and improving their economic condition - India’s Economic Future is IT & Telecom’s Future in Vernacular.

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is the only way forward… we have seen how the advent of Satellite and Cable Regional Language Television, have transformed the hinterland, providing them with unsurpassed awareness of how the “others” live.

However, the problem is that both TV and Print are broadcast one-way communications….the economically less privileged get to hear - but are not heard.

This one-sided communication of listen but don’t speak is the cause of the tragic events we are witnessing that is tearing apart the Chota Nagpur Plateau region of our beloved country.

With Broadband connections being a miniscule percentage of the 600 million mobile connections in India – I truly believe the future of ICT in India (and incidentally, the world as well,) is on the small screen and not on a laptop or desktop.

It is 2G, 3G LTE and WBA, that will lead to the much-needed two-way communication, which will provide the less-fortunate with a voice and representation… the beauty of mobile technology is its scalability.

Apart from boasting the cheapest hardware cost and entry load, amongst all Information and Communications Technologies-  You can use a Mobile to simply talk to someone, or use it in more interactive formats, such as IVR, SMS, Alerts and ultimately for full-scale Internet connectivity.

While urban Indians latch on to facebook, orkut, youtube and twitter (@shashitharoor) apps on their phones – there unfortunately remains a great void for similar apps in Indian languages, which can provide a powerful platform for individual representation and opinions.

While there have been great advances in Indian vernacular SMS, Email and News portals – There is no interactivity in the Regional Languages, no social networking, no online gaming, and very very few blogging sites.

The dearth of such infrastructure tools, applications and content, are what’s retarding the pre-eminence of the Unique Medium of Internet in India - as it has already been illustrated by our neighbour China.

Is this the voice that could stop another Dantewada?

###########

End Note –

Why is the Media FULLY focused on Lalit and his IPL kin and not the armed forces, the ‘insurgents’ and their kin???

Links in this Post –

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/03/is-it-bird-is-it-plane-noooo-its.html

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/03/we-got-carsbut-whither-roads-sad-state.html

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/04/no-words-can-express.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=p&qscrl=1&tbs=nws:1&q=naxal+maoist&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSGE63Q05A20100427?sp=true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_broadband

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2006/gb20060721_375326.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_voice_response

http://twitter.com/shashitharoor

http://www.nriol.com/news/newsline/vernacular.asp

http://www.edu.cn/20010101/22272.shtml

http://www.google.com/search?q=dantewada&qscrl=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=nws:1&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wn

Leading from the Front – The Philosophy of Putting the Employee First

This post is dedicated to the Memory of Prof. CK Prahlad. 

“Good human relations not only bring great personal rewards but also are essential to the success of any enterprise” said the visionary JRD Tata.

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” said George W. Carver, and that is precisely what we realised that in the knowledge industry, Value is created, not at the top, but from the front line – in face-to-face interactions between the customer and employees.

This  gave  birth  to  a  path breaking  concept  in management  called  the Employee  First  Philosophy (EFP) one of the most modern management ideas of our times.

It is a bold statement to make, and even more daring to uphold, in the fiercely fought competitive market of today. However, such is the realism, execution and communication of this concept- that customers, employees and all other stakeholders embrace it with the most positive mindset, and everyone reaps the benefits of this paradigm.

To quote Voltaire’s adage, “Common sense is not so common”, value is created at specific touch points – primarily when a customer meets and interacts with an employee, secondly when he experiences our products & solutions and lastly from Top Management cues – this is INVERTED PYRAMID OF THE NEW KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY OF TODAY.

The CEO of today is the Chief Empowerment Officer and the employee enabler of the knowledge economy, not the Chief Executive Officer and the command and control center of the industrial economy.

Every employee under EFP is an Empowered Employee, a Brand Ambassador with decision-making rights, and the right to take calculated risks. EFP employees build the brand with their hard work, spirit of innovation, passion for quality, and commitment to customers. Ensuring that they are provided the requisite skills, support, knowledge, recognition and a passionate place to work is the CEO’s job.

I would like to end with another quote from JRD Tata, which reflects the EFP spirit - “We have retained the fire of idealism and in its glow we have come to recognize that no wealth or power can be more valuable than our dignity; no loss or profit can be more critical than the loss of our credibility; no skills or qualifications can substitute the integrity of our character.”

----------------------------------------------

Additional Reading –

The Starbucks Case Study –

http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2007/01/the_starbucks_e.html

No Words can Express …

The Death of Innocence

A moment of silence

for those who have died needlessly

 both in India and Abroad.

I have already blogged on this here

----------------------------------

I QUIT

Tomorrow –April 13, 2010

I shall be back as a non-smoker next week…

PEACE

----------------------------------------------

Link in this post -

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/03/terrorism-success-of-stupidity.html

IF - The Mad Hatter, The March Hare & The 2 of Clubs were Bloggers

I really haven’t had time to cogitate this week, and write something substantive – ‘March’ has been ‘Mad’ with workload…

Therefore, I am writing something worth the Two of Clubs, in any game of cards.

As would be evident I managed to see Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” recently, the movie was what I expected from Tim & Johnny Depp’s Gothic Visions, though the other characters were a bit insipid, save for the Red Queen played amazingly by Helena Bonham Carter.

Other events of personal impact, for which I have not been able to devote adequate cogitation time, to elicit an opinion are –

1)     The New Fundamental Right to Education (RTE) – my personal persuasion of panacea - refer to my Terrorism & the Success of Stupidity Entry. The RTE is a wonderful law - added to The World’s Most Voluminous Constitution (that of India, juxtaposed with the most succinct constitution - USA’s)… How will it perform in practical implementation? … where are the teachers?

2)     The Demise of the Maruti 800 – India’s first people’s car … numerous tomes have already been written… so I am abstaining to add another.

3)     Love Over Country – LOC – The Sania & Shoaib Malik love story… setting an exemplary example …but culminating happily-ever-after in Dubai.

4)     Rising Prices-Stagnant Incomes, Food Shortages, Rotting Grain, Petroleum Prices, Commonwealth Taxes, The Direct Tax Code … I am still trying to make sense of it all – refer to my Palpitations by Pranab Entry.

5)     And Finally, with due credit to my good friend Urmi – I have been meditating on Kipling’s pièce de résistance , allegedly written in 1899 for his son, that I have regurgitated below –

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Kipling himself noted that this poem had been "printed as cards to hang up in offices and bedrooms; illuminated text-wise and anthologised to weariness"

--------------------------------------------

Apologies for this entry…I fear I will be jailbroken & heartbroken ….But I hope to write something more original and substantive soon…

End Note: Money still talks… but today it is a hoarse whisper…

Web Links in this article-

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4240966169/

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/01/india.education/

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/many-challenges-before-right-to-education/112494-37.html

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/03/terrorism-success-of-stupidity.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/auto/automobiles/End-of-the-road-for-Maruti-800/articleshow/5749179.cms

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/tennis/03/31/tennis.mirza.malik.cricket/?hpt=T2

http://aseemseth.blogspot.com/2010/02/palpitations-by-pranab.html

http://sameoldurmi.blogspot.com/2010/03/if-by-kipling.html

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm

##############