Reservation ????

Everybody in India is familiar is familiar with the concept of the Reservations i.e fixing a quota for specific section of the people based on their category of caste etc. our more knowledgeable forefathers surely had development in mind when they went for the reservations. And this was generally based on the three principles:

• Equality of opportunity: If a member of lower strata applies to a job and has the right qualifications and is a better performer compared to peers, he should get the job. i.e, their caste/economic status should not decide which jobs they apply/get selected to.
• Equality of autonomy: If a member of lower strata wants to become a rocket scientist, and has the intelligence and is willing to work towards this goal, there should not be any barriers to pursuing this goal. i.e, they should not be at a disadvantage when choosing their course of life because they were born poor/belong to a particular caste.
• Social safety net: When certain members of society did not have these privileges earlier and the government wants to help them, certain non- contributory (free) measures are taken to help them. i.e, members of a disadvantaged group are given free financial incentives so that they are not trapped in the present position/do not fall into a life of crime and poverty.

  But In present context, the Hardik patel calling for the quota for Patels is a shining example of what reservation has come to. Now reservations has become a clause for vote bank politics. Main question remains reservation for whom? For the Deprived class. But in reality the beneficiary of the reservation are the same families who have benefited from it and now are not deprived. It has become some sort of vicious cycle.

Though “lower strata” term is relative, the reservation system has not changed anything drastically when comparison of poverty rates and income of the bottom 20% of society is relatively the same compared over the last 40 years. This is more evident in rural areas. There are a significant portion of upper caste (6% of national population) who are poor and do not benefit from reservation. Cost of education has increased 12.5X over the previous decade - even the cheapest institutions have five percent inflation a year. Overall, the Caste based reservation system has achieved very little for the rural poor and has mostly fallen flat on its face in most of the metrics. It has failed because (unfair debate left out, as what's fair to me may not be fair to someone else):

• It has not improved dropout rates
• It has not improved income share of poor people
• It has not performed in terms of quality of education (India ranks 72nd in the world )
• It is not inclusive of all the poor sections of society (poor upper castes are left out)
• It is based on fixed percentages creating selection bubbles ie, there is no incentive to perform for those with reservation and there is no motivation for those without reservation as competition is higher
• There is no data to support reservation based on caste has met any of its objectives after 4 decades of practicing it

Future:
The caste based reservation system is a part of the Indian Constitution and unlikely to change. The window of opportunity to make effective long lasting changes to any Indian system is 10-15 years, and the political landscape is too busy on other things rather than trying to wrap their wits around this. It has affected who we are as a society and it will continue to affect future generations to come. The changes to this system can only be made by a bold government prepared to take action with a long term vision and goals, and that is not going to happen anytime soon.

  

Rules : to be broken or to be followed?

From the very beginning of the civilizations some conditions and rules were in place which gave way to the foundation of a society. even in the current context we live in a world of rules which have to be followed at all times this gives us a feeling of restrictions .The very suffocating feeling that comes from the rules are generally essential for our lives. We do not understand the importance of the rules unless there are some accidents. Rules that we follow in our daily lives provide a semblance of normalcy to our chaotic world.

Rules that we follow in our day to day life cycle are the essential measures of taking steps ahead rightly and proper decisions are centered round the rules which are key to living a good life. Off course stringent laws as for rules before us are somewhat difficult to comply with. Then we take recourse to ignore them somehow resulting in operational difficulties on the way to our normal existence as though we defy to sort out normal acceptance of the other sides and respects of the hard rules only tricky way is the means of breaking a rule for mere attaining objectives in a short cut.

But we forget that there is a reward waiting for us in a long course of our movements ahead. Yet we commit gross mistakes simply avoiding the path of our duty and rules are the does and don't that we sometimes forget to follow because of our petty interests that in course of time prove to be so disastrous that we can hardly be able to protect us from monstrous downfall which is beyond all expectations.

Then we suffer and think long about the past course of action which rendered us sorrow and tears for happiness and cheers due to breaking rules and making a primrose path by sheer indulgence in corrupt means in what actually is in form and manner.

But that doesn’t mean that if a law which is oppressive must be followed. Imagine if the government stops the export of salt in order to save salt in a country, what will happen? One can’t make money as their trade is ruined and this isn’t even fair. Nobody has the right to ruin one’s career. We also know about the oppression when other countries ruled. But the national leaders fought and the citizens became rebellious to fight for their independence. One of the instances is when the women fought against the law of not voting. They fought for acquiring their right and independence and they finally got the 'Universal Adult Franchise'. These were the fruits of their hard work. So we must never forget that besides following certain rules, we too have independence and right to raise our voice against such rules which lead to exploitation and suppression.

I would like to end with that Rules are necessary generally to live a normal life but if you want to make history Some archaic rules will have to be broken.

Battle For Bihar

The Bihar election is the current hot topic of the newsrooms nowadays.Who will win the election?Charismatic Modi or the Dynamic duo Lalu and nitish?? Sorry to say, i was talking about Honorable prime minister when i wrote Modi not the Sushil kumar modi who can be the CM if NDA wins.Its not only very important to win for BJP as it needs the numbers in the rajya sabha,but also after the Delhi debacle this win will help in consolidating its Power. Lalu yadav, who famously said "Jab tak rahega samose mein aalo tab tak rahega Bihar mein Lalu" can't fight the elections but will look to consolidate the power of his family in the state with his two sons and daughter misa entering the fray this time.But the man who has the most to loose is Nitish kumar,if he doesn't win may be he will have to take a hiatus from the Political Scenario.But if Nitish wins He will become the major opposition against the Modi in 2019.so,this election is not just the simple one;its results will have a far reaching consequences.

BJP has formed alliance with Ramvilash pashwan's LJP , Mahadalit leader and former CM Jitanram Majhi's HAM, Union minister Upendra kushwaha's RSLP. Well under Amit shah they have already declared Seat sharing:BJP-160,LJP-40,RSLP-23,HAM-20.

On the other side there is Mahagathbandhan (Grand alliance) Of Nitish and Lalu one time arch rivals, now partners against communal forces as they have repeatedly told in the press conferences.Well Netaji(Mulayam singh yadav as he is fondly called) was there in alliance too,but he has left the alliance to form Third morcha.

Asaduddin owaisi's AIMIM will also be contesting the elections this time mainly in the seemanchal region where the Minority vote is in majority.

Every party is doing every bit be it the caste politics to mouthing off the opposition.From Honorable PM question the DNA of Nitish to Lalu calling Modi Executioner.This will go on.

But who will gain from all this ??Does the common People get anything from this?PM announced 125 lakh crores package but will it help Bihar grow? as there have many announcements in past which are in the cold bags now.It does seem like bleak period.But one can hope.

The dates have been announced 12th October,16th October,28th October,1st November,5th November.

In a state of 6.69 crores, where everybody has an opinion, maybe this election will be for the development not the caste.But with way parties are checking their caste tick-boxes,It remains a pipe dream that election will be fought on the  basis of policies,visions.

whatever may happen,whoever wins the election just do some developmental work in Bihar. As that's not a charity that's the right of of Bihar.  

Niche Marketing

Niche, the very word sounds so elegant like coming from the Victorian age. As was at that time specifically for Lords, Earls etc. It was a segmentation of Customers. In the current context it’s pretty much similar to concept of niche marketing; which is focusing on the on a small but well defined segment of the customers. Generally it’s aimed at catering to needs of few which are being ignored for what may be the reason. It can be related to being a large fish in a small pool in contrast to small fish in a large pool. This is clearly related to Micro-Marketing; but with a minute difference being Specific product focus in niche marketing.

Before going forward let me put a clear words to niche marketing; Niche marketing is a targeted marketing plan that focuses on one particular section of the market that has high potential to connect with a product or service. Instead of casting a wide net in mass-media and large-event marketing, niche marketing zeroes in on strategically selected venues and media platforms that have high concentrations of these targeted consumers.

The very best example of Niche that exploded after is Facebook; created for the Harvard students and now it has touched 1 billion users a day figure.In niche marketing smaller is bigger mantra apply.Either be it the target consumer or the Product, its very specific.From the three Competitive advantage strategies, niche marketing follows the strategy for Differentiation focus strategy; as achieving cost focus would not be possible in the niche markets Normally.

The things to keep in mind when making your niche marketing strategy would be:

• Targeting the right audience: Well, simply finding the gaps is not good enough; what we to find is the audience with a special requirement.
• Market research: It becomes absolute necessity to conduct in depth research to know the actual need and consumers want along with the feasibility of the offering.
  
   

  

•  Third point would be the competition; what if there is not a single competition,Its not always good. it can also mean that some have thought and found it not profitable.
• Promotion: what market can be achieved through without a promotion But in Niche market,its more critical than mass market.As your target audience can be scattered.So choosing medium becomes difficult.generally people advertise on Facebook twitter and other media But maybe paid search ads would be better way to go depending on the target audience.But its critical to choose carefully as this the place where cost can saved
• Last point but the most important part is customer is the king,they know the business better than companies even.so hearing them out is absolute necessary as they will also be medium of promotions for you.

Before ending;If You Commit To a Niche and Stop being everything to everyone.

Signing off till another time..

Rural Markets: land of opportunities

In a country, where almost its 70% population lives in villages,It has taken so long to Go Rural mantra to start in the marketers.Well the villages whose number almost touches 6.5 lakhs grows at compounded growth rate of 6.2% from the 2000s. And its been almost the 1.5 times its urban counterpart.Well looking at the projected numbers for the rural markets it would be dumb to ignore it.

Well thats the figure only for the Fmcg products. The total spending of the rural consumers out paced its urban counterpart by 25% during 2009-2012.This is just an indication of the might of the rural markets.In the last decade only 75% of manufacturing factories were built in rural areas which contributes 55% of the manufacturing GDP. With the focus on the Make it in India its bound to go up.Rural multiplier effect is the most exciting prospect in this.The growth  bound to happen in is exponential rather than the linear.

The reasons for the marketers to follow the Rural hullabooo are many fold.some are :

• Sheer Number of population in rural area;around 11% of world population.
• Purchasing power capacity of the rural consumers has been on the rise for past decade and so.
• Market growth.
• Government initiatives has lead to better Infrastructures which is doing better and better.
• Increase in Aspirational factor for the Rural people.
• Changing taste and preferences. Times  are gone when rural market was used for dumping ground for outdated urban products.Now the rural people are more aware.

  But as they say All that Glitters is not gold.There are lot of challenges faced by the companies.few of them are:

• Reaching the rural consumer:it is the biggest challenge even now.sheer scattered population of the rural population makes it even harder to reach.The cost of reaching the consumers is high making it some sort of barrier.
• Seasonality of the rural demands make it tough for the marketers and so does the need for specialized sales force.
• Language barriers:nothing more to be said about this.
• Illiteracy
• Underdeveloped logistics and infrastructure

 But challenges can be overpowered Through focusing on the Basics of rural marketing that is :

• Availability
• Awareness
• Acceptability
• Affordability

Making the goods available should be the first priority as its a challenge as well; project shakti, ITC e-choupal are example of that.Acceptability it focuses on convincing the consumers to buy the products Here personal selling approach is required more in rural area than the urban area.Affordability means making products focused on value pricing.But with rise in aspirational group R1 in the villages affordability is becoming less of a concern.But awareness is the most important point In the country where the literacy rate leaves much to desire, consumers himself doesn't know that he requires a specific product .so Awareness is much required factor in rural marketing.

At last I end with Hope that Rural marketers overcome the challenges as it will not only Help the bottom-line of the company, it will also help in socio-economic development in rural areas.