Interesting article on lobbyists, PR firms and the influence they have.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265345
Their services are employed by certain companies to ensure that they have a level playing field.
There are many who claim to be experts and influential, but actually they are only good at making tall claims. Their data is often not backed by facts and numbers. Doing a little research will expose their lies.
If you have studied in the best college in the country strictly on the basis of merit and worked in the largest professionally managed company in the country, one of the most unpleasant experiences of running an online business is the corruption and nepotism you encounter.
Most people do so, because they think they can get away with it due to their contacts.
When things go as per plans, life becomes boring. When people create problems for you, it adds some excitement , you get a break from your daily routine and force yourself to learn some thing new.
People who know me tell me, if you lead a difficult life, you become so tough, you can face anything.
At first , certain hacking incidents seem to be random.
But after these hacking incidents occur repeatedly, it is easy to find patterns and take suitable corrective action . It appears that the hackers are well funded as they continue with their activities for many months and years.
From corruption, absenteeism in India
When I see the Indian elite, and I hear the talk about how India is improving all around, I feel I am observing a bubble. The reality out of the bubble is very different. People in the rural areas, just a few minutes drive from the elite bubbles, live in a literally different world. The reality on the ground: There is complete chaos.
One of the reasons why there are few world class Indian companies ( especially in non-commodity and non-service sector), is the inability to accept the facts, the hiding of the truth.
A decade ago, most young people respected their seniors. The respect for seniors was genuine and they learnt from their experience and knowledge. This helped them learn quickly and avoid repeating mistakes.
Today, a significant number of young people think that a person who is older to them is stupid and try to cheat, lie or take advantage of them. When a person is nice to you , it is a choice he or she makes on how to live, not because the person is stupid. They do not realise that the experience of life, include experience of tactics used by cheats and how to counteract the dirty tactics. It is common to come across popular blogs with editorial postings like ” Who can afford to be honest nowadays, Cheating is justified”.
For many the reason why they start a business is money and fame, which if why getting funded or featuring in TV interviews is important. For me , the biggest incentive is the freedom to take my own decisions, to work independently.
The freedom to take decisions, to treat customers fairly is part of a companies’ work culture. In that respect employees of big Public Sector Units enjoy more freedom compared to private sector employees. As a result, based on my personal experience ( I mostly dealt with the Navratnas -the largest and most profitable PSUs) , it is much easier to deal with them, there is a lot of transparency. And the employee satisfaction is reflected in the way they deal with customers and vendors.
Many times you come across people who will harm you, harass you , spread malicious rumors about you without reason. I believe in the concept of Karma, that these people will ultimately suffer the consequences of their action.
In India, this is part of the Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist philosophy – the concept of “action” or “deed”, which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect.
A century ago, during British rule, some restaurants had the sign ” dogs and Indians not allowed” . Now the same seems to be applicable at many money making websites online. If you do not allow Indians to sign up initially it is OK, but after you have accumulated your earnings you don’t get access to them just because you are from India.
The latest instance was IRazoo, account holders from India are not allowed to redeem points. For Bukisa , I signed up, but never received the activation mail at 2 different email addresses. (though I regularly receive mailers from them) . For PickJack, my account was suddenly deleted. I have got comments on my blog, you are from India, the max you can earn online, is $3000-$5000. In a way , it is good, I will be looking at other options.