Restarting OrangeGlass - With Education Focus In Budget '11

It has been nearly 1.5 years since this blog last saw a post and many significant developments have happened in the tech, media and business world since. A case in point is the strong growth of Twitter and its increased usage, at least in the tech, media and startup world. No wonder then, that a lot of people (including myself) are more active 'tweeters' than they are bloggers. That perhaps explains the lack of activity on this blog. (And I can hopefully get away with that excuse?)

On a more serious note, the advantage of Twitter is perhaps is its disadvantage as well. While it works great for sharing short, quick opinions and resources that one comes across, it doesn't work so well to share more detailed views. You can be as creative as you want to limit what you have to say to 140 characters, but there's a totally different pleasure in writing a detailed and a more 'thought-through' blog post running into a few hundred words or even more. Also, Twitter is a lot more dynamic with the timeline changing by the minute, sometimes even by the second and it becomes difficult to keep a track of what you have shared and the discussions around it. People do retweet and add their comments some times, but those don't add as much value as comments on a well-written blog post. Also, a blog and blog labels with the blog help in much better archiving than by searching through hash tags on Twitter.

(Note to myself: With all said and written(?), now please be regular in posting henceforth.)

Developments In Education Space In India

Over the last 2 years, I have spent a significant amount of my time in the education space in India and we are surely going through very interesting times. Developments like the CAT turning into a computer-based test in 2009 (and the 'fiasco' that ensued), the extension of CCE by the CBSE into lower classes will no doubt lead to increased use of technology.Considering that there are nearly 2,500 entrance exams in India and most of them expected to turn into online/computer-based tests soon and even schools and colleges adopting technology for learning and assessment, there's surely a large opportunity in this space.

On the other hand , the focus creating a large talent pool to meet the growing human resource demands of various industries has led to an strong thrust on vocational skills development. So much so that a unique public-private partnership, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has been set up with a corpus now of Rs. 15,000 crore to produce 150 mn skilled workers by 2022 in 21 sectors as diverse as Construction, Automobiles to Food Processing, Gems & Jewelery to Travel & Tourism.



To get a better sense of NSDC's vision and plans, here is presentation by Yuvaraj Gadala shared at the NASSCOM Product Conclave held in Bangalore last year. (This was part of session on 'Funding From Govt/Quasi Govt Sources' held at the Product Conclave and I was part of the organizing team for this session. Thanks Indus for the opportunity! More about this on Indus's blog)

NSDC at NASSCOM Product Conclave 2010

View more presentations from Indus Khaitan

Highlights Related To Education From Budget 2011

Interestingly, skill development seems to be a major area of focus in the announcements related to education made by the Finance Minister in his budget speech. NSDC seems to well on course to reach its target of skilling 150 mn people by 2022. In fact, the Finance Minister expects that this target will be met two years in advance. He has allocated an additional Rs. 500 crore to the NSDC for the coming year. NSDC also seems to be moving quite fast in disbursing funds having already sanctioned 26 projects worth Rs. 658 crore and these projects alone are expected to train 40 mn people over next 10 years. What's also interesting is that of the 20,000 people trained in FY 2010-11, 75% have found placements. One would have expected these numbers, those of number of people trained and those of placed to be higher, but I am sure these will surely look better over time.

Here are some key points related to education from the FM's speech -

• Total Allocation To Education
• Rs. 52,057 crore | Up 24% from previous year's allocation
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) - centrally sponsored scheme to provide free and compulsory education to children in age groups 6-14
• Allocation of Rs. 21,000 crore to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) | Increase of 40% over previous allocation of Rs. 15,000 crore
• National Knowledge Network - connecting education institutes through optical fiber backbone
• NKN will connect 1500 institutes of higher learning. 190 institutes will be linked during 2011, connectivity to all institutes by Mar 2012
• Link to the NKN Website - http://www.nkn.in/
• Scholarships for SC/ST students in classes ninth and tenth
• Special grants to certain education institutes
• Focus on Skill Development
• Additional funds of Rs. 500 crore for National Skill Development Corpn (NSDC) for next year (NSDC has a corpus of Rs. 15,000 crore)
• NSDC to achieve its mandate of skilling 150 mn workforce two year ahead of stipulated target of 2022
• NSDC has sanctioned 26 projects worth Rs. 658 crore, these projects are expected to train 40 mn people over next 10 years
• Of the 20,000 people trained in FY 2010-11, 75% have found placements

Excerpts from the Finance Minister's speech with items related to education -

India Budget 2011 Education Excerpts

Mukesh Ambai Eyes Education

Potential of the Indian education segment -

According to an IDFC-SSKI report, Indians spend $50 billion annually on private education. The four segments of the education market — plus two, higher, vocational and supplemental — present a $80-billion opportunity by 2012. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16%, says a CLSA Pacific study.

Now Mukesh Ambani is planning a private university in line with Ivy league institutions, says this ET headline article.

Good to see the larger groups getting interested in the education space.

India To Have 3rd Largest Internet Userbase By 2013

"The number of people online around the world will grow more than 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users by 2013 and Asia will continue to be the biggest Internet growth engine.

"... India will be the third largest internet user base by 2013 with China and the US taking the first two spots, respectively," technology and market research firm Forrester Research said in a report.

From a Forrester Research report. Via Contentsutra from the PTI piece.

Like most forecasts, this one also has to be taken with a pinch of salt. When it comes to internet usage in India, I believe we have already spent way too much salt by now, with most of the forecasts and estimates not turning out as expected. Worse still, there are already enough people fighting for what appears to be, as of yet, a small pie and claiming all kinds of numbers when the measurement metrics and not very clear. Anyway, that's for another blog post another time. While the numbers may not be as turn out exactly as forecasted or as estimated, there is not denying that there is growth, albeit slowly and there is a huge opportunity waiting to come good. A few years in the context of an entire industry is a short time, and hope there are enough people around to make the most of the opportunity.

Bhagawan Aaye Cycle Se

No wonder it won the Bronze at Cannes.

You Are Watching the Big Brother

Location: Raheja Arcade, Near Forum Mall, Koramangala, Bangalore

Perhaps just a co-incidence that the agency connected with the big screen in the picture above is named Apple Media. Otherwise, the picture looks eerily similar to scenes from Apple's 1984 Commercial. With OOH advertising growing at such a big rate, looks like no matter how much we run or hide, the advertisers are going to get us, our eyes or our eyeballs rather!

Orkuting In Cyber Cafes Of Varanasi

Above photo taken on the streets of Varanasi.

Perhaps they should add Orkuting to the OED, at least in the Indian edition.

Why Gas Price Hike Won't Increase Auto Fares

Following the recent hike in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, it is natural to expect an increase in auto rickshaw fares to ensure that the interests of the auto-wallahs are maintained. But look like increasing the fares isn't quite in their interest, going by what one heard from the auto-wallah last night.


Here was his logic -

Nodi saar, cutting tea elli sigatto alli hogi naavu tea kuDitheevi. Ondu angadi avanu cutting tea kododu band maadidre bere angadi ge hogtheevi. Ade thara naavoonu rate jaasti maadidre saamaanya jana auto bittu bus alli hoghtaare. Adakke rate jaasti maadidre namage loss-u. Duddu iravareno taxi alli hogthaare, aadre naavu rate jaasti maadidre auto alli baro jana ella bus alli hogthaare.



Rough translation -

Those who are well-off will anyway use taxis. If I want to drink tea I will only go to a shop which serves me cutting tea ( half a cup of tea) and if it stops serving it I will go to another shop which serves me cutting tea. Likewise, if we increase auto fares, the commoner who'd come with us would start commuting in buses.

Quite an interesting observation, no?!

Photo courtesy: rviswana

Truth About Youth - An MTV Study

Not yet. Turns out MTV is not going out of business because of every Tom, Mark and Steve and Chad turning into a content generator or building platforms for user generated content. A series of studies and research by MTV compiled into a book The State Of Cool, confirms mostly what is common knowledge and some insights into trends on youth culture, their usage of internet and mobile.

The State of Cool, a book published by MTV’s Insight Studio has a statistic that should set minds at ease only 1% of young visitors to user generated content sites actually upload anything fresh and original. 10% or less actively participate and leave comments, while 90% are passive spectators.

Ah, what about the Pareto Principle then? But 1% is way too less.

The importance of catching ‘em young is almost a cliché , but MTV states the market is more lucrative than ever before: youth across India spend up to Rs 9 billion in pocket money every day. A good deal of it on mobile phones and related services. Two years is the utility expectancy of a cell phone for 63% of young Indians; 57% of youth across Asia state that they’d like to replace their MP3 players with a music enabled mobile. The eagerness to add ringtones, music and games is good news for promoters of value added services.

No wonder every youth brand is chasing the youth these days. And their pockets are only going to swell in the days to come.

Indian youth are obsessive about keeping in touch, of which social networking is a huge component . 59% visit sites like MySpace almost every time they are online (see I-Generation ). India lags behind only Brazil in this sphere. As many as 69% of young Indians use these sites to chat with existing friends. 57% consider it an avenue to meet new people. It’s a de facto art gallery for 49% who share pictures. In India , Brazil and China, exclusively online friends beat close friends by a huge margin.

What Indian youth add to their mobile phones?

















What Indians use the internet most for?



















What Indians use the mobile most for?


















Source: This Economic Times article.

PS. Recommended reading - Chasing Cool.

A Lot Can Happen Over Coffee. A Lot, Really!

While we're at it, trying to understand if it's just coffee for which people hang out at coffee shops, YouthCurry has an interesting discussion on the same subject.

From Coffee to bahana hai -

I bumped into a friend who has just joined a mobile start up company at Barista in Phoenix Mills. "Aajkal yehi mera office hai," he grinned.


"Hmm.. investors ko bataana padega aap unke kitne paise roz coffee peene mein waste karte ho..."


He replied, only half in jest, "Rs 500 a day is a steal. When our office across the street gets ready we'll be shelling out Rs 1.75 lakhs a month on rent alone!"


Point to hai. Reminds me of the scene during the earlier dotcom boom when junta had made the Oberoi lobby and coffee shop their adda-cum-office. Paanch saal mein kuch progress hua hai: cheaper coffee and data modem cards to access internet anywhere. In the near future we'll see more of public wifi access.

For the start-up types!

Current hotspots for startup types include:
Just Around the Corner, Bandra
lobby of Marriott hotel
And in Bangalore, the Leela coffee shop

Interesting how each coffee shop serves as a convenient location for different people and different purposes.

Of course, coffee shops are not just the preserves of recently-quit-job-looking-for-VC types. There are many other species, and in fact each location has its own peculiar set of customers.

Barista Chembur: popular with MLM (multi-level marketing types). They make snazzy presentations which promise anyone can make 3 crores in 2 years if they work hard enough and get enough other idiots to join.

Barista & CCD Lokhandwala: The preferred hangout spot of filmi and TV wannabes. I suppose they actually hang out here waiting to catch the eye of some hotshot director, or at the very least Ekta Kapoor's casting crew.

Barista, Colaba (near Regal cinema): Always full of backpackers - has it got a mention in Lonely Planet yet? Possible description: 'A place where you can rest your dusty feet and use the free loo, for the price of one black coffee'.

This, is so very true. Having observed quite a few of such interviews.

At all Baristas, everywhere: Arranged marriage 'interviews': ladkas and ladkis who've located each other at shaadi.com. Remember Konkona meeting Irfan Khan in Life in a Metro?

Of course usually there are parents and sometimes even extended family in tow. After a few pleasantries they move six tables away and give the boy and girl a chance to 'talk in private'.

Kuch nahin jama to you don't need to feel like a loser. It was just a casual meeting at a coffee shop!

Definitely, a lot can can happen over coffee. In fact, more than a lot. If nothing happens, it was just for coffee. True, no?

Coffee in CCD - yeah,right.

Trying to understand what makes Café Coffee Day the popular hang-out it is today among the youth.

Ayan says -

I personally dont like coffee at all, but would love to try out kopi luwak coffee simply for so-I-can-talk-about-it-and-gross-others-out benefits. Can't comment on how much people like the coffee there.

What to do at CCD?

But yes, its a nice relaxing place where all one should do is relax, tell the waiter (who'll come wearing a long red skirt) that you are waiting for n+1 friends (where n is the number of friends you are expecting) and you'll order after they come, chat with your friends after they come, then get up and leave. If you order coffee, then you didn't get the point of the last sentence. Of course, after a few such trips, the waiters will become wise to your ways. In that case, simply shift to the next CCD - which wont be more than a 5 minutes walk.

Oh, and in case you were feeling hungry and decided to go to CCD, try this - take out a hundred rupee note, throw it in the gutter, and then buy a dabeli at the nearest stall - the effect will be the same.

What do you think of CCD? Like it or don't like it? Tell us in the comments. An easier way out, just take this poll.