These days school students are encouraged to evaluate taking undergraduate courses abroad as the first option. Even though the government is aware that every year a minimum of 3 to 4 lacs aspirants who qualify for quality higher education year after year, they eliminate more than 99% of the eligible students under some fancy evaluation basis and pride itself on having completed its duty. They could not have been more wrong. What a practical and performing government will do is to exploit this strength of talent and built one of the most qualified young force in the world. But we are yet to realize this potential. However the other governments who do not have the youth as we have, are alive to the situation and are here to exploit it. They are fighting amongst themselves for our brilliant minds, with or with out funds. There are advertisements and promotions, school sponsored visits which all bring in a major influence to favor this option. Peer pressure through previous batch students who have taken up the course and who give a measured feed back also add to the influence.
As a person who has had first hand experience in children currently on study assignments abroad I list some of the most common issues which crop up after one decided to take up the course (which for reasons best known never crop up earlier!).
Familiarize with the place through a personal visit: First and foremost is to get a first hand experience of the place where you intend to send your ward. It would be best to travel with your family and visit the university. You may drop by on your journey abroad or join the numerous promotional travels being arranged. Even if the entire family cannot travel one of you, best visits the place. It is necessary to meet the staff, past students and current students studying in the institution and discuss with them all your doubts; how is the teaching? What about ragging? How is the syllabus? What about mess facilities? What are job opportunities after completion of course so on and so forth. You may identify Indian students who are studying there and catch up with them here in India on their holiday. It is necessary to convince yourself about the course content, especially for higher studies, for most of the information available through the internet medium and the printed brochures are only indicative.
Hostel facility is another important consideration. It is necessary to ascertain whether hostel accommodation is available. Typically, no separate Girls hostel is available. In some cases, girls & boys share the same room and in others, girls & boys share the same hostel though in different floors. This may come as a major surprise for some as we are all used to separate hostels for girls and hence tend to be presumptuous on this account. There are universities which recommend off campus stay which in most of the cases is very painful as we do not train our wards to run a household at this young age. In case you consider it as an option, it is necessary to train your ward to be independent to the extent of running the house (for self of course).
Another is the food. For both vegetarians & non-vegetarians, there will be issues on the food front. It is indeed a disappointment that international institutions which promote Indian students to join them is not encouraging establishment of Indian Non Vegetarian & vegetarian cuisine as an option in the campus and their mess / canteen. In some locations the absence of food of your liking combined with severe climate does put a lot of pressure on the ward which one must carefully evaluate and prepare for.
On the curriculum the method of teaching and evaluation are totally in line with CBSE syllabus but students who have studied under different schemes where memorizing is given importance, over understanding basic concepts do find the going tough. In extra curricular activities, though plenty of facilities are available the ward needs to have a certain standard of play for participation. Typically, a beginner finds the going tough as other players who regularly use these facilities have had prior training and are proficient at these levels.
Cultural difference and its impact on your children need to be understood. Dress code as practiced by us and what is acceptable outside is entirely different and you must prepare yourself and your children for it.
Summing up, parents need to apply their mind more thoroughly and evaluate not only the main curriculum related issues such as method of teaching, but also off curriculum items such as Hostel facilities, Canteen facilities, cuisine, extra curricular activities and preparedness of your ward for running the household alone.
Neyveli Disinvestment
NLC Disinvestment – Way Forward – A Model
A performing Prime Minister and person responsible for spearheading India’s resurgence in the new millennium, is ready to move away from active governance; a Dravidian party which has just come back to Power and has a very grand agenda for decimating its only opponent including smooth transfer of power to the next in command is ready to put at stake its entire plan on this issue – NLC disinvestment. Such is the power of this issue that it requires a thorough analysis of the issues involved, a possible solution and its impact on the entire reform process.
To start from the origin, the NLC web page takes you back to as early as 1828 when the first traces of “Low Calorific value of Coal” deposits was found. It took years of investigation and policy making for the birth of a commercial enterprise to exploit these “traces” which by now had been identified as “2000 Million Tonnes” of Lignite reserves. So in 1956 Neyveli Lignite Corporation was born with Mr.T.M.S.Mani as the chief executive of the project. It stands today with an installed generating capacity of 2490 MW supporting the southern grid with its steady and sustained performance of XX % PLF.
Lignite is a soft brown mined fuel found in distinct areas through out the globe. Its characteristics in terms of composition and calorific value is between “Coal” and “Peat”- a state of the rotten vegetable mass buried over many years. The calorific value of Lignite is 2450 Kcal/ Kg as against 6500 Kcal /Kg for high calorific Coal. But the moisture content in Lignite is very high -53% which is one of the major issues in burning it. It however ahs the advantage of being “Free Burning” with low ash content. Once the high moisture content is addressed (through Air Drying) lignite is suited for direct burning. With the identified reserves in our country of lignite and the growing appetite for energy in our country “Lignite” as one of the primary sources of Power Plant fuel is undisputed.
With the union government’s plan to proud power for every one by year 2012, every source of power which is owned by us and not dependant on imported fuels needs to be exploited. It is therefore necessary to leverage the fast technical expertise available with NLC in the areas of Open cast mining, handling of Lignite, dealing with sub terrain water tables, consistent Power generation over the years with this high moisture fuel and last but not the least managing & minimizing the environmental impact of the entire cycle of mining to Power generation. One must also not underestimate the cash surpluses that are generated (which can no doubt be maximized by further improved performance and financial reengineering), which can be utilized to build new capacities.
The government is therefore correct in wanting to do something about it; but has not quite approached the subject. As Sri. N.Ravi in his recent article “Half Done” pointed out, the political class is correct in implementing the reforms but are not convinced that it will bring the votes which they badly need. On the contrary they are mislead with the scare that these reforms are driving their voters away from them. The reforms therefore “need to be packaged”.
How does one go about “packaging” the disinvestment plan? The main issues the political class are confronted with today are
· Family silver is sold cheap
· Not sure about future as ownership change may alter the basic character of the institution and hence
· Employees stand to loose their jobs; if not jobs at least they may loose the benefits which other wise they enjoy.
To address both these issues, we can look at how another great professional orgainsation addressed the similar dilemma and has come out successful. – L&T. Because of its performance and lack of ownership clout L&T was always a target for corporate raiders till the present management decided to pool their own strengths and that of the the majority shareholder Financial Institutions to make an enterprise which all of us are proud of. The management reviewed the asset base of the organisation and created value by demerger of divisions, which was pooled in to the shareholder’s wealth. Employees benefits were ensured for posterity through the L&T employee welfare trust.
To replicate the same model for NLC(or any such PSU), the following steps can be an option:
· Create 4 subsidiary companies de merging the main assets as under
o Mines
o Power Stations under two distinct groups – TS II and IA and TS I
o Package the large land available under a different company and create a dedicated industrial estate
o Future projects.
· Sell of the majority stake in two of the existing entities and plough back the proceeds as equity capital for the future projects. In the process you have a lean organization with a low equity base but large cash to spearhead investments in the booming power sector. In addition to the already identified future expansion plans the much talked about Jayamkondam Project, Srimushnam Project and similar such projects can be started immediately.
· Allow the personnel to choose and incentivise their cntinunace by providing schemes through the welfare trust.
Based on the current PEs enjoyed by similar companies and the real estate values, NLC will be able to generate much more than the required equity component for all their future projects. This unlocks the hidden value and provides the benefits to the rightful owner the “Employee” and the Government. It is also acceptable to the political class as they will launching new projects in the Public sector which will generate much more employment and overall growth which is their main concerns. Reformist economist Sri. Manmohan Singh is also happy as he is able to provide funds for development with out burdening the Revenue budget.
A performing Prime Minister and person responsible for spearheading India’s resurgence in the new millennium, is ready to move away from active governance; a Dravidian party which has just come back to Power and has a very grand agenda for decimating its only opponent including smooth transfer of power to the next in command is ready to put at stake its entire plan on this issue – NLC disinvestment. Such is the power of this issue that it requires a thorough analysis of the issues involved, a possible solution and its impact on the entire reform process.
To start from the origin, the NLC web page takes you back to as early as 1828 when the first traces of “Low Calorific value of Coal” deposits was found. It took years of investigation and policy making for the birth of a commercial enterprise to exploit these “traces” which by now had been identified as “2000 Million Tonnes” of Lignite reserves. So in 1956 Neyveli Lignite Corporation was born with Mr.T.M.S.Mani as the chief executive of the project. It stands today with an installed generating capacity of 2490 MW supporting the southern grid with its steady and sustained performance of XX % PLF.
Lignite is a soft brown mined fuel found in distinct areas through out the globe. Its characteristics in terms of composition and calorific value is between “Coal” and “Peat”- a state of the rotten vegetable mass buried over many years. The calorific value of Lignite is 2450 Kcal/ Kg as against 6500 Kcal /Kg for high calorific Coal. But the moisture content in Lignite is very high -53% which is one of the major issues in burning it. It however ahs the advantage of being “Free Burning” with low ash content. Once the high moisture content is addressed (through Air Drying) lignite is suited for direct burning. With the identified reserves in our country of lignite and the growing appetite for energy in our country “Lignite” as one of the primary sources of Power Plant fuel is undisputed.
With the union government’s plan to proud power for every one by year 2012, every source of power which is owned by us and not dependant on imported fuels needs to be exploited. It is therefore necessary to leverage the fast technical expertise available with NLC in the areas of Open cast mining, handling of Lignite, dealing with sub terrain water tables, consistent Power generation over the years with this high moisture fuel and last but not the least managing & minimizing the environmental impact of the entire cycle of mining to Power generation. One must also not underestimate the cash surpluses that are generated (which can no doubt be maximized by further improved performance and financial reengineering), which can be utilized to build new capacities.
The government is therefore correct in wanting to do something about it; but has not quite approached the subject. As Sri. N.Ravi in his recent article “Half Done” pointed out, the political class is correct in implementing the reforms but are not convinced that it will bring the votes which they badly need. On the contrary they are mislead with the scare that these reforms are driving their voters away from them. The reforms therefore “need to be packaged”.
How does one go about “packaging” the disinvestment plan? The main issues the political class are confronted with today are
· Family silver is sold cheap
· Not sure about future as ownership change may alter the basic character of the institution and hence
· Employees stand to loose their jobs; if not jobs at least they may loose the benefits which other wise they enjoy.
To address both these issues, we can look at how another great professional orgainsation addressed the similar dilemma and has come out successful. – L&T. Because of its performance and lack of ownership clout L&T was always a target for corporate raiders till the present management decided to pool their own strengths and that of the the majority shareholder Financial Institutions to make an enterprise which all of us are proud of. The management reviewed the asset base of the organisation and created value by demerger of divisions, which was pooled in to the shareholder’s wealth. Employees benefits were ensured for posterity through the L&T employee welfare trust.
To replicate the same model for NLC(or any such PSU), the following steps can be an option:
· Create 4 subsidiary companies de merging the main assets as under
o Mines
o Power Stations under two distinct groups – TS II and IA and TS I
o Package the large land available under a different company and create a dedicated industrial estate
o Future projects.
· Sell of the majority stake in two of the existing entities and plough back the proceeds as equity capital for the future projects. In the process you have a lean organization with a low equity base but large cash to spearhead investments in the booming power sector. In addition to the already identified future expansion plans the much talked about Jayamkondam Project, Srimushnam Project and similar such projects can be started immediately.
· Allow the personnel to choose and incentivise their cntinunace by providing schemes through the welfare trust.
Based on the current PEs enjoyed by similar companies and the real estate values, NLC will be able to generate much more than the required equity component for all their future projects. This unlocks the hidden value and provides the benefits to the rightful owner the “Employee” and the Government. It is also acceptable to the political class as they will launching new projects in the Public sector which will generate much more employment and overall growth which is their main concerns. Reformist economist Sri. Manmohan Singh is also happy as he is able to provide funds for development with out burdening the Revenue budget.
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