This refers to the BS Special report "Tech schools: How did they lose their mojo" (November 10). They lost their mojo by the sheer force of Darwinian laws. Till the recent past, these schools followed the non-Darwinian application of the survival of the unfittest. With the change in market dynamics, these institutions need to be the best to survive. The process of churning will permit only the best to progress. Technical institutions will have to spend their resources on upgrading infrastructure and attract the best in faculty and skills training. These days jobs require the candidates to have technical knowledge, experience and demonstrate a high capability for logical analysis, reasoning, communication, and presentation skills. Our colleges should focus upon these needs and train students to face the challenge of the skill deficit that our nation is facing.H N Ramakrishna  BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Za

Letters: Revving up our tech schools

Business Standard

Keya Sarkar's column "The art of opting out" (People Like Them, November 9) was an extremely observant piece on urban metro-centric societal mores. However, such mores are not limited to geographical options of opting out. It is considered quirky to opt out of artificial societal hierarchies created by the professional world. There are those who are without a desktop provided by someone else; sans a visiting card with a famous logo and their name followed by alphabet soup - the key determinants of success.A phone call to such a breed from long lost relatives starts inevitably with the question: "Where are you?" A reply such as "walking along a field", "watching the sunset" never satisfies the curiosity, however honest the answer may be to an assumed prima facie question. The hackneyed, desperate follow-up query:"What are you doing?", elicits replies such as "playing music" or "reading a book" that are either considered impudent at best or dumb at worst.Maybe a question such as "How are

Letters: Opting out

CRISIL has analysed the profitability trends of 9,200 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing, service, and trading sectors from 2009-10 to 2011-12 (refers to financial year, April 1 to March 31).The analysis reveals that MSMEs in the manufacturing sector were better able to prevent erosion of their return on equity (RoE) as compared to their counterparts in the service and trading sectors.The RoE (profit after tax divided by tangible net worth) in the manufacturing sector improved from 16.96 per cent in 2009-10 to 17.86per cent in 2010-11 and was able to hold on at 17.63 per cent in 2011-12. In comparison, RoE in the services sector deteriorated continuously from 18.77 per cent in 2009-10 to 15.30 per cent in 2011-12. RoE in the trading sector showed some improvement by increasing to 22.88 per cent in 2010-11 from 21.18 per cent in 2009-10, but declined eventually to 19.72 per cent in 2011-12.Returns in services and trading appear to have declined as competit

CRISIL SME tracker: Manufacturing MSMEs improve their returns

Lessons of Bengal's ill-advised restriction on potato trade

Single market truths

India's structural weakness on external account unaddressed

Wages of complacency

John McAfee, founder of one of the largest internet security firms in the world, recently featured in the speakers' list of an industry event in the capital. As is usual whenever global executives, especially founders of multinationals, visit, scribes look for exclusive interviews. The company's India office, however, said that it was not coordinating the visit. That's because the company had been sold and is part another group now, even though the company still bore the founder's name. McAfee recently made it to the headlines of global dailies for being identified as a "person of interest" in connection with a high-profile murder of an American expatriate. The founder also has quite a history of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. On the day of the event, McAfee did address the Indian media but through Skype. The grapevine has it that his visa wasn't approved!

Lost and foundered

An online travel website musafir.com is offering Mumbaikars free cab rides from different junctions in the city to Wankhede Stadium by way of celebrating Sachin Tendulkar's 200th and final Test match. The facility is available from November 14 to November 18. The 200 cabs hired for this purpose will also drop the cricket fans back to the designated points.

Riding on Sachin

The promoter of an unlisted pharma company that specialises in contraceptive drugs frequently changes his mobile number. Asked why, he said he is often bothered by importuning phone calls from politicians and their sidekicks. He did not, however, specify whether the calls were for complementary supplies of his company's products or for party funding.

A CEO's number crunch

The Mahindra group's ad films usually have an underlying theme of adventure emphasising the brand's positioning as the maker of sleek and sturdy automobiles. Around the launch of a new sports-utility vehicle (SUV), group chairman Anand Mahindra had compared it to a cheetah and the competition to rabbits. An advertisement film showed a cheetah jumping on the SUV's bonnet to the delight of the passengers inside. Little would the ad film makers have thought that their creative was not very far from reality. On Monday, Anand Mahindra retweeted a post that was linked to an auto website that showed an adult tiger in a tiger sanctuary in Africa (the tiger is not native to that continent) climbing on top of a Mahindra SUV and chewing on the spare tyre. The feline then dozed off and even took a short ride, the film showed. At the speed the "Mahindra" tiger is going viral, it might soon beat the cheetah.

Mahindra SUV's 'tiger' safari

This refers to the editorial "A 1970s argument" (November 7). Those who know of the tariff rates since the 1970s, and their declining trend, cannot agree with the editorial. The argument is an old controversy between free trade and protection. The level of protection to Indian industry has not remained the same but has declined substantially. In the 1990s, the customs tariff rates were typically 85 per cent for machinery and even higher for consumer goods. The highest range of rates were nearly 500 per cent. Even the baggage rate was 250 per cent. The "collection rate" declined from 47 per cent in 1990-91 to 29 per cent in 1995-96; 23 per cent in 1998-99 to 21 per cent in 2000-01. The"median" or "mode" rate (that occurs most of the times), has come down from 70 per cent, in 1991-92 to 30 per cent in 2001-02, and just 10 per cent in 2013. We are not talking about nominal protection but the effective rate of protection (ERP) that expresses the margin of protection on value added in the p

Letters: Effective rate of protection

This refers to the editorial "The row over GM crops" (November 7). Bangladesh recently approved the release of Bt brinjal. In contrast, India had banned the release of Bt brinjal and research on other genetically modified (GM) crops. Bt brinjal was ready for release four years back but the ministry of environment banned it. So now, farmers in India will have to smuggle seeds Bt brinjal seeds from Bangladesh. It also seems likely that Bangladesh will soon release a promising variety of golden rice - with critical Vitamin A in it - that will also have to find a smuggling route to India. When agricultural scientists and researchers in India have to witness the creation of smuggling routes for GM crops, how does one expect us to have any enthusiasm to work on high-tech agriculture? If the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) can take a decision on allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail then what has stopped them, and the Supreme Court from supporting scientific research on G

Letters: Bt truths

Arvind Kejriwal must know era of free utilities is over

Edit: Arvind Kejriwal must know era of free utilities is over

Prices had soared in 2012, with poor rain, low stocks and a 30% rise in minimum support price (MSP)

Indicus price monitor

Why did the European Central Bank cut interest rates?

StatsGuru: 11-November-2013

Today, Reliance General Insurance's CEO, Rakesh Jain, answers your questionsUnder the new health regulation norms, what are the downsides for a policyholder? Many benefits have been taken off from the maternity cover, and one is not even allowed to port plans within the same insurer.The new health regulations have standardised key definitions and policy features across health products. These regulations will make the products simpler and help customers in better understanding, interpreting and also comparing the key benefits of products, so that one can choose wisely. The new regulations have defined the bare minimum coverage for different products and allowed the insurance companies to expand the base coverage by offering additional benefits. This will help the customer tailor products to their needs.Are health policies from health insurers the best? Or under what circumstances can I consider buying a health plan from a life insurer, too?The same set of health regulations govern both

General Insurance: Rakesh Jain

Lowering expectations from China's Party Congress

No Gorbachevs

The coal block allocation scandal in which the ruling coalition is embroiled plus runaway onion prices have provided rich fuel for Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Speaking at an election rally in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, he took a dig at the United Progressive Alliance by saying, "People will now put coal in bank lockers and if the price of onions continues to skyrocket, it will also find place in lockers." Not content with these quips, he rubbed it in. "When guests come home, the host will take out an onion from the bank locker, make the guest smell it and put it back," he added for good measure.

Locker humour

Modi's muscular criticisms of the United Progressive Alliance's record in power at every election rally may make Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders happy. But Congress leaders are left confounded by the recent tactics of Modi's rival and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and those select few considered close to him. A while back there was much debate in Congress circles on whether Gandhi had actually said that he was willing to lose the 2014 elections in the longer-term interest of creating a dedicated voter base. Many had dismissed such talk as baseless rumour. However, Rural Development Minister and Gandhi confidant Jairam Ramesh's recent remarks appear to have given credence to it. Ramesh shocked many when he said, "If Modi loses 2014, his bubble is burst, while Rahul Gandhi in comparison will still be around." BJP spokespeople jumped on the remark. "Even before the battle has started, the Congress has practically conceded defeat," crowed BJP's Prakash Javadekar, leaving an embarr

Gainer and loser

At an event to inaugurate a maternity and paediatric hospital Isis, in Bangalore, the actor-politician Ambareesh was the chief guest. The event was scheduled for 11.30 a m. But the organisers had forgotten to check what time Ambareesh preferred to start his day. Then they discovered that the celebrity wakes up only by 11.30 a m. So, the organisers inaugurated the hospital on schedule. The minister came much later, but the hospital authorities ensured that there were photo shoots that recorded his presence.

Too early for the chief guest

Pre-election surveys in Chhattisgarh may have given the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the lead in the state but Congress leaders there remain upbeat. Not on hope and optimism, to be sure, but because the party has beaten its rival in releasing its candidate list and party manifesto. The latter, in fact, caused a senior leader to quip that the BJP now had the opportunity to crib from the Congress manifesto. He was not wrong; both manifestos have several points in common.

Still first!

The extent to which tech leaders outpace other SMEs in revenue and job growth is consistent across both developed and emerging countries

Business Standard

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