Christmas is classically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically as all rich and poor purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the U.S, the “Christmas shopping season” starts as early as October. In Canada, marketers begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween, (it is a yearly ritual observed in a number of countries to remember all dead people on October 31st), and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid November; around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on to mark the beginning of celebrations. In Mexico it begins from third week.  In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas shopping season. The winter breeze has a charm in it; shopping in winter is a blissful affair.

Winter season has a rustic appeal. Winter is the coldest season of the year. December and January are chiefly the winter months. Cold winds blow from the north. Thick fog often hides the sun, and cold becomes severe. People are seen basking in the sun, or sitting around the fire, to keep their body warm. In winter, we get lovely fruits and vegetables; it gives us various kinds of seasonal flowers; Dalais, Roses, Lily, Lavender, Primrose, Daisy, and Begonia and many other seasonal beautiful flowers make the season multihued. The winter sky is clear and blue. The roads and paths are clean and dry. You can go for long walks without sweating. The winter sun is mild and warm. Everyone is in full of amusement. The winter season is lit with nice, dim beautiful sconces. The beautiful, cold dew drops on rooftops and ground look as beautiful as pearls. The cold morning with nice music and deep-red rising sun is what people wait for. Winter is indeed a season to be celebrated.

The month of December being the last month of year usually passes fast because of the Christmas and year-end. People usually prefer celebrating year ends in far-off destinations. Therefore after 15^th December you find many people opting for leave. Holiday plans are made well in advance.

And 31st December means celebration for every individual. The New Year carries special symbolism for one and all. And why is the celebration of the New Year so common around the world, as it has been for at least as long as there have been calendars? Behavior that everywhere must surely be tied to something natural in the human beings, something intensely meaningful and important given all the energy and resources we put into both the celebration and our efforts to make good on which we start working well in advance. As common as the celebration of New Year’s Day is, it may be that the symbolism we attach to this one moment is rooted in one of the most powerful motivations of all, and that is our motivation to stay alive another year. And, many of us make list resolutions for the New Year. So what even if we fail to keep most of them…..

At one second past midnight on Sunday, the day will change to Monday, which is otherwise normal ordinary transition that happens every day, with no connotation. But somehow this change, which will end one old year and begin the next New Year 2018. That makes the difference. This unique tick of the clock has always encouraged all of us to celebrate, welcoming the New Year with new zeal and new enthusiasm. On the other hand, some people experience a sense of nostalgia as they reflect on the events that took place in their lives in the past 12 months. To step outside to live day-to-day in which we’re at all times so busy with. For many of us the last day of the year is the day to reflect back; to look flipside, take stock, to assess how we did in the year, and to cheerfully resolve to do better and look forward. Ha! Another year, it’s time to raise our glasses and toast to “our survival” yes, another year to accomplish many more things.

Some people celebrate New Year’s Eve by attending midnight church services, while others gather around in public venues such as hotels, clubs and many gather in friend’s house, grounds etc. The size of festive events for New Year’s Eve varies in size and theme. Some people attend formal masquerade balls while others have costume parties. Many New Year’s Eve celebrations are commenced with firework.

Many people start counting down to New Year’s Day in the last minute or seconds before the last night of the year ends and the New Year begins. Some people tune into watching televised countdowns. As the clock strikes midnight into New Year’s Day, many people celebrate this event by exchanging hugs, kisses, and wish each other a “Happy New Year”. In some parts of the world, including in the United States, many people sing the Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” during the New Year’s Eve celebrations. The song means can old acquaintances be forgotten and never be brought to mind? The song references the love and kindness that was experienced in the past; it also gives listeners a sense of union and belonging to bring with them into the future. Because of its meaning it’s quite fitting song to be sung on New Year eve.

It is important to note that not all cultures follow the Gregorian calendar in observing New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. But, the Hindus, Chinese, Coptic, Jewish, Islamic calendars differ to that of the Gregorian calendar. However, for businesses around the world, 1^st Jan marks a new beginning of a calendar year.

Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas!!

]]> https://drvidyahattangadi.com/what-is-the-meaning-of-christmas/feed/ 0 https://drvidyahattangadi.com/what-is-crypto-currency/ https://drvidyahattangadi.com/what-is-crypto-currency/#respond Thu, 07 Sep 2017 01:03:42 +0000 http://drvidyahattangadi.com/?p=4408 The term ‘Bitcoin’ refers to a block chain asset whose units is created and managed by decentralized computer network and stored electronically in a block chain. A block chain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography (Codes). For the crypto currency public ledger of all transactions that have ever been executed, are maintained in which cryptographic proof replaces central trust.

While there are over 600 different crypto currencies at the moment, Bitcoin is by far the most dominant in terms of capitalization and acceptance. There are certain benefits of investing in Bitcoin. It helps to diversify your portfolio. And, Bitcoin has a low connection to other asset classes. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto currency in 2009 and it is invented by Satoshi Nakamoto (this is the name used by the unknown person who designed bitcoin). Since then, numerous crypto currencies have been created. These are frequently called altcoins, because they are created as an alternative by blending bitcoin. The bitcoins and its derivatives use decentralized control as opposite to centralized electronic money and centralized banking system.

A Satoshi is the smallest fraction of a Bitcoin that can currently be sent: 0.00000001 BTC, that is, a hundredth of a millionth BTC. In the future, however, the protocol may be updated to allow further subdivisions, as they would be needed.

As of 6 February 2016, there are 15.2 million bitcoins circulation of a capped total of 21 million. Over 72% of all bitcoins are already in circulation. Currently there are 25 new bitcoins produced (mined) every 10 minutes. This honor is thought to belong to bitcoin’s shadowy inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, who is estimated to have mined 1 million bitcoins in the currency’s early days. His stash is spread across many wallets

You can buy with one bitcoin share of Amazon stock, three ounces of gold, 15 inch Mac-Book Pro. Even, hotel chain Howard Johnson will gladly take your Bitcoins in exchange for a hotel stay. You can buy guns. PizzaForCoins.com makes it possible to order a Dominos pizza with your Bitcoins. A Texas family recently sold their Porsche Cayman for 300 Bitcoins. And, you can swap Bitcoins for real currency using a Bitcoin exchange like MtGox.com.

Some other famous crypto currencies are Litecoin (LTC), launched in the year 2011, were among the initial crypto currencies following bitcoin and were often referred to as ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold. It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer. 2) Ethereum (ETH)

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications (ĐApps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. During 2014, Ethereum had launched a pre-sale for ether which had received an overwhelming response.

Zcash, another decentralized and open-source crypto currency launched in the latter part of 2016, looks promising. “If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https,” is how Zcash defines itself. Zcash offers privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Thus, like https, Zcash claims to provide extra security or privacy where all transactions are recorded and published on a block chain, but details such as the sender, recipient, and amount remain private. Zcash offers its users the choice of ‘shielded’ transactions, which allow for content to be encrypted using advanced cryptographic technique.

Dash (originally known as Darkcoin) is a more secretive version of Bitcoin. Dash offers more anonymity as it works on a decentralized master code network that makes transactions almost untraceably. Launched in January 2014, Dash experienced an increasing fan following in a short span of time. This crypto currency was created and developed by Evan Duffield and can be mined using a CPU or GPU.

Ripple is a real-time global settlement network that offers instant, certain and low-cost international payments. Ripple “enables banks to settle cross-border payments in real time, with end-to-end transparency, and at lower costs.” Released in 2012, Ripple currency has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion. Ripple’s consensus ledger — its method of conformation — doesn’t need mining, a feature that deviates from bitcoin and altcoins. Since Ripple’s structure doesn’t require mining, it reduces the usage of computing power, and minimizes network latency.

Monero is a secure, private and untraceable currency. This open source crypto currency was launched in April 2014 and soon spiked great interest among the cryptography community and enthusiasts. The development of this crypto currency is completely donation-based and community-driven. Monero has been launched with a strong focus on decentralization and scalability, and enables complete privacy by using a special technique called ‘ring signatures.’ With this technique, there appears a group of cryptographic signatures including at least one real participant – but since they all appear valid, the real one cannot be isolated.

Bitcoin’s market value is $ 56 billion, which surpasses value of General Motors. Though, bitcoin is the latest mania as a digital asset on top of transformative technology which could eventually replace fiat currency. Fiat currency is declared by government as legal tender, but is not backed by a physical commodity. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand rather than the value of the material that the money is made of. Historically, most currencies were based on physical commodities such as gold or silver, but fiat money is based solely on the faith and credit of the economy. Most modern paper currencies are fiat currencies; they have no intrinsic value and are used solely as a means of payment.

One of the Bank of America strategists has mentioned that while ‘early adopters’ (a segment of buyers who just buy things by their gut feeling) have bought and enjoyed sharp price appreciation in crypto currencies there is no certainty that it will continue.

Age catches up with all of us, but in the marketing profession it catches up a bit too faster than anywhere else. Age is experience. Age is the time period a person or thing has survived till date. Age is a sign of survival. It is said that age brings wisdom. Age brings knowledge. But, the fact is age is just a number in our minds.

Every phase of life is important; one should experience each phase in life. Every age has its own essence. Be it a 1 year old child, 16 years old teenager, 35 years old man or a 90 years old man. We see different behaviours in people at different ages. Different marketers offer different interpretations of age. Jan Gooding, Global Inclusion Director at Aviva Insurance, believes that age discrimination has always been acute in advertising agencies; it might be lesser in client marketing departments.  She recalls her own experience of facing age discrimination in her mid-40s when, having run her own consultancy and worked as head of strategic communications at BT (British Telecommunications) for three years, she considered returning to agency management.

Disparity in employing older people: Behaviour is the way one conducts himself; it is the way one behaves. One’s behaviour is influenced by several factors like health, mentality, surroundings, society, culture, tradition and age is of course one of the parameters among others. We see 76 years old behaving more chirpy and happy than 36 years old. Therefore disparity in employing older people is certainly not rational. This disparity in employing older people varies sector by sector. But, we see great discrepancy in the beauty sector, where 44% of marketers feel older people are either under-represented or not represented.

While young people have boundless energy and they offer a certain valuable perspective to a business, we also see that most people improve with age, and have decades of experience and wisdom that can’t be matched by someone few months or few years out of college. I would love to give an example of feminist icon Gloria Steinem. At 80 plus years, which is practically considered dead by Silicon Valley employers, Steinem dint withered away since her activist days in the ’70s. In fact, according to her friend and fellow activist Robin Morgan, she is more effective than ever. “She is a better organizer now than she ever has been. She’s a better persuader. She’s a better writer than she ever has been if she’d give herself the time to sit down and write,” Morgan told the New York Times recently. Throughout her life as a public figure, Steinem has continued to reshape the way people view aging, pushing back against the misguided ageism in American culture. At 40, she famously came out, so to speak, telling a reporter “This is what 40 looks like.” At the time, it was common for women over 30 to lie about their age. Since, she has stormed into each new decade proudly, and claims to love getting older. In her own words fifty was a shock, because it was the end of the centre period of life. But when she turned 60 she looked and behaved great. Seventy was greater. She has always loved aging. Her mantra is “we don’t have anything permanent, so go on with life” If anything changers periodically, it is our age.

The number of 60 plus older is growing in developed and developing nations all over the world. But as a society we are still are not ready to embrace the aging population, gereopsychologists (psychologists who work with old age related problems) say that those who are 60 or older may all too often find themselves the victims of ageism. In fact, in a survey of 84 people ages 60 and older, nearly 80 percent of respondents reported experiencing ageism–such as other people assuming they had memory or physical impairments due to their age, which is not true at all.

Message to marketers: Need is necessity. There is a very slim line of difference between need and want; needs describe basic human requirements such as food, air, water, clothing and shelter. But, people also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need. Need recognition is the basic step in the buying process. Every age has a different list of needs. It depends on an individual’s age to decide whether a product is a need or not. This process of need recognition is greatly influenced by the age factor of the buyers.

But, we see 60-70 years old guys buying products and services enjoyed by teenagers. In terms of their general behaviour, seniors tend toward seasonal migration to warm climates and to earlier bedtimes. Two distinct sub segments seem to exist–the “young old,” aged to 74, and the “old-old,” those 75 and above. The young-old are active, vibrant, and healthy. The old-old are less healthy, more sedentary, and less sharp in their mental and physical abilities. There are twice as many young-olds as there are old-olds. The elderly increasingly exhibit a trend toward “gray pride” which is a positive identification with their age and away from the negative stereo-type as ’poor’, ‘depressed’, ‘physically deteriorated’, and ‘inactive’. Perhaps the most impressive difference between oldsters and younger age groups is the combination of flexible time and money. The purchasing power of this segment has been estimated at between $60 and $200 billion. So you find them everywhere – night clubs, dance floors, yachting, paragliding, jungle safaris, playing tennis and cricket. They like to buy flashy clothes, variety of foods and beverages. They like to go driving, shopping movies etc. Lets the marketers not use the older demographic notion of buying behaviour.

The world is experiencing an exceptional increase in average life expectancy and population aging, described as a revolution in longevity. In the twentieth century, the industrialized world gained some 30-40 additional years of life, greater than had been attained during the preceding 5,000 years of human history and transforming what was once the experience of the few to the destiny of many. It is time that marketers must realise that they must discard ageism from their dictionary. The so called “aged” population is economically liberal, knowledge, maintains good health and most importantly, is ready to ENJOY life.

Anger is a natural emotion. Everybody experiences it for variety of reasons. It is an emotional response to real or imaginable feeling. Anger can be an active or a passive emotion. A person lashes out verbally and sometimes physically also when the emotion is active. In case of passive anger, it reacts by silently sulking, being quiet, eating less, remaining aloof or becoming unreceptive etc. Each person has a different pattern of reacting to anger within him/her.

Hanging on to bitterness or resentment is not at all good. It is always better to resolve issues which upset us. All of us get angry, and sometimes our anger gets out of hand. We say and do things that we later regret. Anger can be expressed in many ways; different types of anger affect people differently and can manifest to produce different actions and signs of anger.  The most common signs of anger are both verbal and non-verbal. But, people who hold back resentment sooner or later become unwell.

How is Anger expressed?

It can be clear that somebody is angry from what they say or how they say it, you can see it from their tone of voice.  Anger is expressed through body language and other non-verbal cues: an angry person’s face becomes red, the nostrils fluffs up, he/she stares straight into face, frowns, and sometimes clenches fists.  Some people are very good at internalising their anger and it may be difficult to notice any physical signs.  However, it is better to resolve anger at the earliest.

I look at anger as one of the best tools that helps us read and respond to upsetting social or personal situations. Many researchers have responded that anger increases optimism and creativity within us. One specific research suggests that expressing anger can lead to more successful negotiations in life or on the job. In fact, suppressing anger can actually hurt you. Dr. Ernest Harburg and his team at the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health spent several decades tracking the same adults in a longitudinal study of anger. They found that men and women who hid the anger they felt in response to an unjust attack subsequently found themselves more likely to get bronchitis and heart attacks, and were more likely to die earlier than peers who let their anger be known when other people were annoying.

Aristotle said that anger can be good for you because it’s designed to protect us, our relationships and our way of seeing the world. In the everlasting battle between right and wrong, the bodily effects of anger are meant to tell us that something is wrong.

Do you know that the earlier US President Bill Clinton was once the leader of the free world, but this iconic politician came from humble beginnings? As a junior high schooler, he was picked on insistently for being a “fat band boy” with bad taste in clothes. Their taunting culminated in an incident at a junior high dance: one older student teased Clinton about his carpenter’s jeans, and even hit Clinton in the jaw. But Clinton did not give the bully what he wanted, choosing to stand his ground rather than fight back or back down. Clinton shares in his memoir, My Life, “I had learned that I could take a hit and that there’s more than one way to stand against aggression.” He survived the incident, and his status as a band geek paid off, with Clinton becoming a talented and celebrated saxophone player in addition to his life in public service.

How does Anger help?

Anger is motivational force: You sometimes hear people talking about using anger as a motivating force by turning their anger into positive energy. In fact anger itself is a kind of positive energy and a powerful motivating force. Research has shown that anger can make us push on towards our goals in the face of problems and barriers. Anger tells us not to stop or limit ourselves.

Anger helps in protecting: When you or somebody closer to you is in danger your mind automatically kicks into finding solutions immediately. You don’t have time to stop and ponder a course of action when one of your near and dear is in some serious problem. Anger short cuts our thinking brain to allow us to act quickly. This is nature’s way of protecting your family from harm.

Anger enhances leadership skill: When you appear to be angry and carry on an intense conversation or presentation, you ignite new ideas, thoughts and feelings. Your intensity allows you to call the shots. Steve Jobs is famous for his anger, although he hardly controlled it.

Anger makes a person practical: When you are angry, your attention is laser-focused on the wrong issue. That gives you great problem-solving skills, and the ability to focus on the solution. All great leaders like M.K.Gandhi, Nelson Mandela used their anger for finding solutions to their nation’s problems.

Anger teaches: Our anger management styles are learned from our own parents. If Mom was a yeller, we may follow her example, even if we vowed never to yell at our kids. Fortunately, if you learned one anger expression style you can learn another. Disconnect the idea that feeling angry is bad. That is natural and unavoidable but what you do with those hot emotions is completely under your control; one needs to practice the art of using anger for benefit. Allow yourself to find new ways to cope with daily parenting hassles by taking a class or reading a book on anger management, or see a counsellor.

There are so many people around us who have used anger as a motivating force by turning anger into positive energy. The fact is that anger itself is a kind of positive energy and a powerful motivating force. Anger helps us in pushing our goals in the face of problems and barriers. The caution around anger is to manage it positively: it should not be overused, or used with everyone.

When the South African actress Charlize Theron was only 15 years old, she witnessed her mother shoot her alcoholic and aggressive father out of self-defence. But instead of letting the trauma define her future, she looked to her mother’s protective example of strength and worked to build an amazing sense of confidence of her own. She continued to pursue her acting career, and she ultimately became the first South African actress to win an Academy Award. In an ABC News Interview with Diana Sawyer, Charlize Theron said she views that experience as a tattoo on her heart. “It’s a part of me, but it doesn’t rule my life,” she said.

The expression of authentic anger can be entirely appropriate with certain people in certain situations. The question is how you do that without letting it go too far. One can train the mind to control anger wherever possible and learn the tactics of the right way to get mad.

India is an agricultural country. The land is best suited for agriculture because of its fertility and the climatic conditions. Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. The growth in the agricultural sector has made a large impact on generating revenue from the rest of the world. However, storage has always been a big problem; the gap between the produce and storage is simply too wide. Quality production and enhancing storage capacity are all long-term goals of the nation. The solution in storage will reduce the wastage of grains and vegetables.

When each year some state in the country fears drought on one hand, on the other hand, Food Corporation of India loses tonnes of grains brazenly. It is reported that the country lost more than 40,000 tonnes in past two years due to natural calamities like cyclone and floods, experts say it is also an indication of poor storage facilities, pilferage and transit loss.

Food and food grain worth nearly Rs.50,000 crores is lost every year. More specifically, nearly 30% of the country’s fruits and vegetables are lost due to lack of cold-storage facilities, and more than 30% of grains supplied through the public distribution system are lost because of storage constraints. As much as 1, 94,502 metric tonnes of food grain worth crores of rupees are wasted in India due to various reasons. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has given this information in reply to an RTI query sought by an activist Mr. Om Prakash Sharma. This happens because of lack of proper cold stores and corrupt middlemen, who are also responsible for increasing the prices of vegetables, hoarding and lack of government spirit to bring in scientific systems.

The inadequacy of government operated storage is often cited in the media as a major cause of food waste in the country. The Food Corporation of India has little modern storage such as grain silos, and instead maintains its stock of grains in outdoor depots scattered throughout the country. The government-run grain storage compounds are pathetic; warehouses are 20 foot stacks of 50kg burlap sacks sitting in parking lots and covered with plastic tarps to keep out the rain. This is a common scene in Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and many other states. Most facilities are open air and offer no protection from humidity, birds or pests. In many cases, the tarps don’t even fully cover the grain, which rotten the grain depots after being hit by an unexpected rainstorm.

Experts estimate that as much as 20% of the grain stored in these conditions goes to waste. The absolute wastage is worst in recent years when free market prices collapse and the government is forced to buy excess supply at the minimum support price.

The entire food chain requires modernization and the production is expected to be doubled in the coming 10 years. Apart from domestic demand, this industry brings in huge export prospects. At present agri-business may involve either an input or a product or service which encompasses items such as Productive resources (feed, seed, fertilizer, equipment, energy, pesticides, machinery, etc.), agricultural commodities (raw and processed commodities of food and fiber) and facilitative services (credit, insurance, marketing, storage, processing, transportation, packing, distribution, consultancy, soil testing etc.).

Most of the agricultural infrastructure can be built on public-private partnership model to improve storage facilities is a promising solution, and additional deals are in the works. Infrastructure investments would include distribution, quality control, manufacturing, food processing, quality control, storage and warehousing, logistics, packaging and many more.

The main objectives of the Agricultural Infrastructure Development Project are to 1) develop land and water resources for the purposes of increasing farmers’ incomes and protecting the environment through land terracing and harvesting of runoff water in small hill ponds 2) increase access to and from isolated rural areas through the construction of agricultural roads and 3) strengthen the institutional and implementation capabilities of the Green Plan and the Directorate of Studies and Coordination within the Ministry of Agriculture by upgrading their human and material capabilities, financing the conduct of a National Agricultural Census and establishing an Information Management System to provide the data necessary for strategy and policy formulation.

In the private sector agriculture infrastructure companies are the in thing that aims at addressing the needs of the farming communities for farm services and agricultural infrastructure. These companies offer collateral management, grading facility to farmers who can get 15-25 per cent value addition on their crops. There is a huge opportunity in this sector. Farmers need both front-end and back-end infrastructural facilities.

The post-harvest ecosystem is very diverse, and hence has several players like SLCM (Sohanlal Commodity Management Pvt Ltd), Star Agri-warehousing and Collateral Management, Origo India which is a complete post-harvest management services for agricultural commodities, and Gramco Infratech Pvt. Ltd which is an answer to the farmers needs for modern and efficient agriculture. These and many other companies have created a platform and network of infrastructure for framers. More players are entering the market and attracting investors to pump in capital in the under-developed agricultural storage and cold chain industry in India that is hyped as the next big thing and expected to contribute to long-term gains as retail demand and consumption pick up in smaller cities and towns across the country.

The government of India has legislated 100% Foreign Direct Investment in the agricultural sector. This has given a huge boost because investors from foreign countries are provided with a direct route for investing in agricultural warehousing, which would also include investing on cold storage. Similarly, 100% FDI also offers an automatic route for foreign companies who specialize in the development of seeds and other agricultural produce.

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is mainly responsible for foreseeing the optimized utilization of soil, water, land, and other natural resources related to agriculture. The department is headed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and is responsible for initiating policies and programs to push growth in the agriculture industry of India.

Currently, there is indeed a dearth of warehouses in India, especially in the agriculture sector. For a country which is primarily an agrarian economy, there is immense potential in the agri-logistics and cold chain industry. In fact, seeing this, risk capital investors such as private equity and venture capital funds are betting big on the business opportunity that the sector has to offer in the long run. There is a significant investor interest in niche segments like cold chain, agri-logistics, and warehousing within the logistics sector. However, there’s need for integrated infrastructure and agri policies, which could lead to more warehouses in the country.

The good news is that there are quite a few private equity (PE) deals in advanced stages of discussion. For instance, ColdEX Logistics, a cold chain company that provides support and distribution services to well-known international brands including Burger King and Starbucks, is expanding its operations. Investments are pouring in this sector. Since 2012, PE investors have infused around $275 million in the sector, according to research firm Venture Intelligence. Recently, Canadian investment giant Fairfax invested $126 million in National Collateral Management Services, a private-sector agricultural commodities Storage Company headquartered in Gurgaon.

Indian cold chain industry is growing annually at 28% the total value of cold chain industry in India is expected to reach USD 13 billion by 2017 through increased investments, modernization of existing facilities, and establishment of new ventures via private and government partnerships. India’s cold chain industry is still evolving. The Indian cold chain market is highly fragmented with more than 3,500 companies in the whole value system. It has tremendous scope because 11% of world’s total vegetables production is accounted by India. 127 Million Tonnes of milk was produced in 2011- 12, but cold storage capacity is only available for 70,000-80,000 Tonnes of milk. Fish production is wasted to a big extent due to lack of cold storage.

There is a big scope for new ventures in Indian agri-business and it has a promising future.

Situational Leadership model is a popular model of leadership which is formed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard; this leadership model is based on the idea that effective direction depends on leader’s ability to be flexible as per the requirement of a situation in the organization.

Situational leadership refers to the styles of leadership in an organization which leaders manage as per demand of a situation. They need to show lot of flexibility while managing challenging and difficult situations. They need to command, demand, inspire, prompt, mentor, guide, coach, sell ideas, take part, act, build, and sometimes even reprimand. Often the leadership style may change as per need of the hour. Following are four styles which are common.

Telling and Directing:

James F. Parker, the Ex-Southwest Airlines CEO is a great example of telling & directing leadership. He has earned reputation for always putting the customer first, no matter what the situation. The September 11, 2001 tragedy led to an unmatched situation of forcing all airlines to shut down for days, which led to stranding passengers, pilots and flight attendants at airports across US. While other airlines sat and waited, Southwest employees took the passengers for bowling or to the movies to pass the time. The customer loyalty earned owing to this quick thinking, resourcefulness, and flexibility to make the most out of a bad situation helped Southwest’s popularity soar leaps and bounds. Parker also announced Southwest would not only retain all their employees but also start a profit sharing payment to employees just three days after 9/11, when other airlines were contemplating a 20 percent cut in staffing. Southwest handled the crisis much better than any other airline.

In telling and directing, the leader of the organization makes the decisions and informs others in the organization of the decision; this style of leadership also refers as micro-management because the leader is very involved himself in the crisis or situation and closely supervises the people who are working. The leader calls the shots by getting closely involved and his subordinates follow him with faith.

Selling and Coaching:  

Effective leadership in change process is particularly important because the leader can make great effect during the organizational change process. The leader’s competencies such as emotional intelligence, integrity, drive, leadership motivation, self confidence, intelligence and knowledge of business are essential for effective leadership for transforming organization. Ratan Tata started his career as a chairman to Tata Group of Companies in 1991. He took charge from J.R.D. Tata. India was going through a period of economic reforms such as liberalization, privatization and globalization of business. The constantly changing business environment needed the business leaders like Ratan Tata first to manage the environmental change. Ratan Tata during the nation’s transitional phase led the Tata Group of Companies for 21 years and established Tata as a world brand. He used the various leadership styles such as transformational, transactional. He also used product orientation as well as people orientation concern – selling and coaching. He led the Tata Group with the qualities such as courage, creativity; risk bearing ability, social sense, sense of employee training and development and ultimately having a quality concern about the product. Leaders when they use the selling and coaching style of leadership get   involved in the day-to-day activities as they are aware of critical inputs. However, input is requested from the employees before the decision is implemented. With this style of situational leadership, employees are still supervised but it is in more of a coaching manner rather than a management manner.

Participating and Supporting:

Virgin Airline’s Richard Branson’s informal style and unconventional attitude has earned him fame. His affinity to the hippie movement, particularly of the sixties, simply reflects his knack for being in tune with the feeling of the times. This is one of Branson’s greatest business attributes. This allows him to project the Virgin brand as a “cool” alternative. Besides, Branson is not motivated by money. Money may be a measure of his success, but for him the excitement is in the challenge. Virgin staffs are often paid a little less than market rates yet they are happy to work for Virgin because they enjoy being in the team. In this regard, I will like to draw your attention to the fact that when organizations struggle today on the employee retention issue for Virgin Airline loyal employees are their core competence. Losing skilled and experienced employees is the biggest loss to companies. Branson leads his organization with self-example; he tells his people to do “the impossible possible”. For Branson, the Virgin experience has been a magical mystery tour. That is the reason people can’t resist joining the Virgin adventure. It is a way of life than a job.

The participating and supporting style of situational leadership passes more responsibility to the employers or followers. While the leader still provides some direction, the decisions ultimately lie with the follower. The leader is there to provide feedback and to increase their confidence and motivation with praise and feedback for the tasks completed.

Delegating style:

Delegating leadership requires appointing managers who are competent and do not need day-to-day supervision. Warren Buffett hires executives who are highly skilled and independent and then trusts them to perform. Within this environment, Buffett’s staff is self-assured and driven to achieve. They not only feel they are in charge; they do have full responsibility. Consequently, supervisors are motivated to reach their goals. Buffet believes in the abilities of his employees, but he does not keep that to himself. He communicates his trust and respect to the people he hires. If someone makes a mistake, Buffett often uses it as a learning experience and does not believe in penalizing the worker. Although he does not interfere with his executives’ functions, Buffett is accessible and willing to advice, if he is sought out. He is open and honest in his interpersonal dealings and is willing to acknowledge his own mistakes. Buffet is approachable, because he projects a mixture of modesty, confidence and appreciation.

Delegating is the situational leadership style where the leader is involved the least amount with the employees. The employees are responsible for choosing the tasks and the directions they will take. Although the leader may still be involved for direction or feedback purposes, it is on a much lower level than with other situational leadership styles. With this style of leadership, the employees know their role and perform it with little supervision required.

Conclusion: The Situational Leadership Model suggests that there is no sure-shot solution or “one size fits all” approach to leadership. Depending on the situation, varying styles of leadership is required.  However, leaders must first identify their most important tasks or priorities. Second, leaders must consider the readiness level of their followers by analyzing the group’s ability and readiness. Depending on the level of these variables, leaders must apply the most appropriate leadership style to fit the given situation. Change is pertinent and each change brings along with it different challenges. Leaders are supposed to grasp the situation and use relevant keys to solve problems.

The consumer behavior analysts have noted through many studies that ‘Country of Origin’ has become a significant phenomenon in today’s marketing practices. The words ‘Made’ and ‘In’ conveys the strength of the product.  The label ‘made’ on the packing label of the product refers to the manufacturing aspect of the origin of a product. It is often related to legal certifications, the technologies involved ingredients and techniques as well as work ethics and safety standards. And, ‘In’ refers to the origin and the geographical dimension of origin such as the location of the manufacturing process and the source of ingredients. ‘Made In’ therefore suggests information and associations that are both tangible and intangible. The ‘Made in’ tag helps consumers to make rational and emotional decision both.

In its 2005 “Year of Ideas” issue, The New York Times Magazine listed nation branding among the year’s most notable ideas. The way a country is perceived can make a significant difference to the success of its trade, business, tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other nations. Simon Anholt coined the term ‘nation branding’ in 1996 and since then he has been working with governments to help them plan the policies, strategies, investments and advance which lead their country towards an improved profile and reputation. America has become the largest and most powerful brand in the globe; it virtually shapes the world in almost all dimensions such as national governance, policies, exports, people, tourism, economic and social status etc. In the fast growing global village nation’s branding is considered as big as federal mega-projects. Steve Silver and Sam Hill, both marketing experts define nation branding as most complex (brand) positioning problem; how can we brand a nation? A nation is as big as a Meta brand inclusive of numerous mega brands. There are so many mega activities of in a nation such as political governance, commerce, education, human resource development, environment, foreign affairs, infrastructure, environment, tourism, culture and heritage and most importantly the national character. The study of national character refers to anthropological studies after World War II.

The Japanese are known as law abiding people; the Americans are known for their grit for freedom – freedom of speech, freedom to pursue their own interests, freedom from bullying, freedom of religion, freedom of movement within the country, freedom to associate with whomever they please. The Chinese are known for their orientalism; the French are known as arty.

The country of origin (COO) specifically matter to the customers because every country has its reputation and the association between the product and the country’s expertise matters while buying products. For example Italy is known for designs, North Caroline for furniture, France for fashion and wine, the USA for entertainment, India for spices, Germany is famous for cars. Today’s consumer understands legal and safety issues sharply. Consumers today look at the ‘made in’ label with many perspectives. The ‘made in’ dependent on a combination of many factors – from heritage, to design and physical manufacturing, skilled labour, infrastructure, market intermediaries etc. Hence manufacturers can leverage a lot on the country of origin as one of their competitive advantage. A company needs to be physically present in the country; the design and patents need to have emerged from talent in the country, or the brand needs to have factories or parts of the production process in the origin nation. In the past, when it was  enough to ‘borrow’ associations from a country for pure marketing purposes, today consumers not ready to accept country of origin as a choice driver unless it is bona fide.

Successful brands contribute to nation branding. Of the world’s 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2014, among the Fortune 500 companies 28 are headquartered in Germany. Well-known global brands include Mercedes Benz, BMW, SAP, Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Porsche and DHL. Thus, famous brands strengthen branding of a country. Similarly, brands across every category, like Apple, Cadillac, Clinique, Coca-Cola, Ford, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Ralph Lauren, Starbucks and M&M’s have made the USA a strong nation brand. These corporate have made Germany and America leading nation brands.

The concept of branding is viewed as ‘cultural diplomacy’ of nations. It is a somewhat new way of looking at a nation, but every nation is already a brand. Every nation is perceived in the minds of people living differently in nooks and corners of the world. Some countries are known for good things, some for bad, and others have mixed insights. Based on the different perceptions, nations in the world interact and do business with each other, either contributing to its development or encumbering it. For example Africa is associated with civil war, Iraq with suicide bombings, Pakistan for terror bombing, India for scam and Cuba with Fidel Castro’s dictatorship (though he is dead). On the other hand, countries such as the US, Canada, Germany or France, are perceived positively for decades for their sound political and economic development. Nation branding is based on the underlying hypothesis that every nation can make a good or bad brand depending on its efforts. The important thing to realize about branding a nation is that one of its ingredients is the escalating value of something that is found already within that nation.

Consumers in developing countries like India, China, and Brazil still tend to prefer brands that come from other countries. Global supply, manufacture and export of goods began to accelerate in response for lower prices and greater choice of goods. Companies became international or multinational and the rise of an affluent middle class in the USA, Europe, India, China and UAE demand more sophisticated marketing. Due to rise of consumerism, categories of goods and services became more sharply defined. And, most brands started crossing the borders of their origin. With all the great business strategies, advertising, marketing and intelligent supply chain strategies even today in the 21^st century for most of the brands, their place of origin and heritage continues to be a key part of their appeal and differentiation. Their name, identity, design and symbolism of logos or trademarks become synonymous with their country or place of origin.

We should realize the fact that Brand building in emerging markets is a difficult task. As the rapid growth in an emerging market gives millions of consumers new spending power, they eye for and are encouraged by their counterpart in developed countries to buy established brands. Marketing efforts in developing countries is very multifarious.

In 2003, when Mahindra & Mahindra launched a smartly designed sport-utility vehicle called the Scorpio, CNBC India, BBC World’s ‘Wheels’ program, and others chose the vehicle for the

‘Car of the Year’ awards in the SUV category. That was not a small achievement: The made-in-India automobile won top honors ahead of global best sellers such as the Mercedes-Benz-E-Class and Toyota Camry sedans. To M&M, which manufactures tractors in several countries as well as vehicles targeted at India’s semi-urban and rural markets, the awards signaled that it could finally take the world’s automakers head-on. Even as the Scorpio successfully battles multipurpose vehicles like Toyota’s Innova and GM’s Chevy Tavera at home, M&M has started marketing the SUV in South Africa, Spain and many other countries.

As a nation, Singapore’s stunning rise from third world to first world in a matter of 30 years was spearheaded by an intensive and rigorous closely-coordinated programme of nation branding. Today, brand Singapore attracts the investments, business, trade, tourism and talented human resources from all over the world which is helping it further to become more flourishing nation. This state is internationally known as a vibrant, safe, corruption-free place to do business. Name any of the great businesses of the world; everybody wants to be in Singapore! The vibrancy and liveliness of the nation in its culture and the fine art attracts more and more tourists. In global surveys of quality of life, Singapore regularly tops the charts.

Nation Branding is catching up rapidly: the brand must be accepted internally first, i.e domestically, meaning throughout the nation, by all stakeholders. Only then can it be effectively promoted internationally.

I think merit is a hazy concept. What we call merit need not be its worth. Our analysis of merit is biased. Our education system needs a cleansing process at the earliest. We Indians are making the bias of merit deeper by caste based reservation system. It’s becoming more and more serious. As a nation we are still ‘developing’ so what if we got independent in 1947? We are yet emerging as developing nation. Our inertia for progress is known in world.

It’s high time we take some proactive steps to curb the demon of reservation. Actually the system is nothing but a mockery. We live in a free country and this freedom is a gift of democracy to us. Our constitution gives us the right to freedom and most importantly to exercise this freedom in an equitable manner. The state is responsible to ensure that parity prevails in all sections of the society. Most reserved candidates hail from good economic backgrounds and yet they are provided with additional scholarships and the like. They enjoy all privileges at minimum qualifications. Why can’t we use the reservation parameter based on merit and economic criteria rather on the basis of caste? It’s such a joke to still give importance to caste and creeds that too in this age where people hardly about it any longer.

The point of reservation was discussed in the round table conference and provisions were made in Communal Award of 1935; it is worth a recall that Mahatma Gandhi had opposed the reservation. Dr. Ambedkar was appointed as member of Viceroy’s Executive Council and he submitted a memorandum titled ‘on the grievances of the schedule castes’. The schedule castes were allowed 8.5% reservation in central services and other facilities for the first time in the history of India in 1942. Let’s not forget the reservation system was to be followed for limited time, but our politicians have used the tool for their own benefit, for divide and rule and for creating ‘vote banks’.

What we need to examine is does India really need reservation today? What the reservation system hopes to achieve? What about equality of opportunity and sovereignty? Number of disadvantaged people who have access to education and jobs; how many people benefit from reservation every year? Are those beneficiaries genuine?  Has reservation changed anything in terms of caste distribution of the poor? Has reservation system improved quality & educational performance? What is the future of reservation? The Government has to own responsibility of taking some firm steps in this regards. Government cannot play ‘Robin hood’ at the cost of the national wellbeing.

Abolition of reservation will help diminish the frustration and discouragement level among the deserving candidates. Reservation system has corroded the merit of the society. Undeserving teachers, undeserving researchers, undeserving engineers and doctors have spoilt the social fabric already. Because of the reservation the middle class is the worst sufferer. They can’t beg and they have no doors to turn to; any chances of reservation for them?

The past century has been exemplified by a massive worldwide educational expansion. Lot of innovation has taken place in most parts of the world. Each nation is struggling with increasingly complex economic challenges and these challenges can obviously be faced with logical and scientific educated workforce. Moreover, in a globalized world culture, developed nations are calling shots and developing and under developed nations have to rely on buying outdated patents from the developed nations. It’s shame on us that we are piggybacking on reverse engineering and outdated patents from the West. Educational expansion is the need of hour. While we need explicit affirmative action in the education, we first need to suspend thorny issue of reservation from the system. We have been diluting the essence of education since long.

Rote learning has plagued our system so much that students study only to score marks in exams. Marks are everything. Students can go to any length for the sake of marks. Poor quality teachers please students by giving undeserving marks.  Reservation has played havoc; we have the most undeserving academicians and administrative heads in the most significant posts in the universities, colleges and schools. This is how the entire educational system has gone to the dogs. The colonial masters introduced education systems in India to create clerks and civil servants, and we have not swerved much from that pattern till today. If once the youngsters prepared en masse for civil services and bank officers exams, they now prepare to become engineers. If there are a few centers of educational excellence, for each of those there are thousands of mediocre and terrible schools, colleges and universities that do not meet even minimum standards. The entire system is being dragged by terrible inertia and corruption.

Let us at least be aware that our education system is terribly flawed; we do not care for the originality of a student.  Memorizing only gets marks. Thinking is discouraged, risk taking is mocked. Look at those pathetic PhD theses in most state run Universities – students have earned PhDs by cut, copy and paste from Internet and many have earned PhD by changing only titles, rest is somebody else’s work.

Our testing and marking systems need to be built to recognize original contributions, in form of creativity, problem solving, valuable and original research and innovation. If we can do this successfully Indian education system will have a positive change overnight. Thousands of terrible teachers all over India are wasting valuable time of young children every day all over India. Their thinking and questioning is killed at the primary level of schooling itself. They are killing the very learning spirit of the students. Appalling teachers are producing appalling output from schools, colleges and universities. These youngsters are not fit for the jobs. The industry is demanding creative and innovative youngsters but, we are unable to provide them. Therefore, our labor pool is also of poor standards. We have created a vicious cycle and we need to break it as soon as possible.

In my opinion, we need to redefine our education system by deregulating the rules and regulations. We have the biggest number of engineering graduates in the world, but that certainly has not resulted into much technological innovation, why is it so? Rather than producing some world-class products, we are busy running the call centers of the rest of the world in which we are using our engineering students. What a pity? How many entrepreneurs as a nation have we produced? The goal of our new education system should be to create entrepreneurs, innovators, artists, scientists, thinkers and writers who can establish the foundation of knowledge based economy rather than the low-quality service provider nation that we are turning into. We will soon be labeled as ‘call center nation’.

We are seeing big number of politicians and corrupt autocrats entering the education sector to hide their black monies. These people are earning hefty profits from education; yes, education is a big business in our nation. These shoddy educationists are amassing hefty profits through clever structuring of fees and donations and thus sidestepping the rules. The loopholes in the system are such that people are making money left, right and center. There is an urgent need for effective de-regulation of Indian education sector so that there is combination of sufficient capital and those who provide or create extraordinary educational products or services are effectively rewarded.

Coming back to the reservation point – we need to use the rationing system; though this is not a permanent solution. If we want to emerge as a country built on a knowledge economy, and drive it by highly educated people, we need to make high-quality education universally available so that reservation will lose its meaning automatically. We don’t see reservation in online education because it depends on scales. You can access to the notes and lectures online of the top universities of world. Already many students are opting for various courses online. Virtual classrooms are the future of education and I think this is the how we could beat reservation and make it insignificant. Let’s accept that merit and creativity has no caste, creed and gender.