ISB Breaks into the Big Leagues!

The UK based newspaper "Financial Times" released its annual list of global rankings for Business schools.

European business schools and their US counterparts have fallen victim to a growing number of ever-improving Asian, South American and Australian schools in global rankings as evidenced in the list. This year sees three Chinese schools and one Indian one in the rankings.

The relatively young business school "Indian Business School (ISB)" in Hyderabad was ranked #20. It was set up in 2001 as a private B-school with the blessings of Fortune 500 companies and top Indian organizations. It collaborates with the world's leading business schools like the Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School and the London Business School. These associate schools actively participate in curriculum design, research, conferences and teaching. According to the school's Deputy Dean Ajit Rangneker, the school is set to increase class size by over 100 students in the next academic year. There is also an anticipation of increased applications from international students. Rangneker estimates around 5% of the students are from abroad.

ISB; the only B-school from India to be ever ranked among the top 20, is not an institution recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for technical education.

Until now the IIMs were considered most likely to be ranked in such international rank orders.

"US news" releases its list of top B schools later in the year. This highly regarded ranking list ignores Asian Business schools. Only schools from Europe and North America are ranked. In the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Survey of how recruiters eye International B schools, only schools from Europe, North America and Central America were ranked. (Check the list at "IIMs not eyed by US Recruiters - or are they?")

The Underage Breadwinners - Child Labor in India

(Source:National Geographic)

The Indian government-affiliated V.V. Giri Labour Institute estimates there are 12.5 million children younger than 14 working in India. UNICEF puts the figure at somewhere between 75 and 90 million. Why are so many of our children working?

It is obvious most children are working under some form of compulsion. The compulsion is most often related to economic necessity or expectations attached to their caste.

But the important aspect of child labor is to understand that without a market for it, it would not exist. The carpet and rug industry is known to be the major employer of children. Their employment tactic is based on the fallacy that children's fingers are more nimble and adept at making the fine furnishings. Other industries and households employ children for the ease with which they can be trained, admonished and controlled.

Every day parents introduce their children to the labor market where they are readily absorbed and recruited. In a recent news report the UK daily "The Observer" exposed to the world a sweatshop in south Delhi contracted by the global retailer "Gap". Children rescued from the shop told reporters of how they were aggressively recruited and ill-treated. One child described how his parents succumbed to the lure of higher returns from a working child; "The men came looking for us in July. They had loudspeakers in the back of a car and told my parents that, if they sent me to work in the city, they won't have to work in the farms. My father was paid a fee for me, and I was brought down with 40 other children."

With the kind of poverty seen in India, parents are often left with the heart wrenching choice of starving, loosing their dwellings or having their children work. The employers send paychecks to the parents and the children most often work for food and shelter. The economic necessity is far too great a defence of their action for them to see much wrong in it. Besides in a caste ridden country where lower castes are expected to live a life of labor and in a society that has traditionally employed children, child labor is not a clear wrongdoing.

The worst form of child labor that is unfortunately the most rampant is "bonded" child labor. The children work like slaves and the debt that binds them to their employer is incurred not by the children themselves, but by their relatives or guardians, usually a parent. Children work several hours without food or drink. They are given corporal punishment when they need to be disciplined and live in deplorable conditions.

India does not have an outright ban on child labor, Indian law only prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14 in occupations deemed hazardous. The list was recently expanded to includes domestic, hotel and restaurant work. When the government first moved to ban child labor, employers and even some children's rights activists pointed out that millions of children worked in order to survive. Out of work they would have no one to feed them and no where to go with the absence of facilities to absorb them. Some even conceded that at least some employers treated their child-workers better than their own parents could.

Unfortunately "this notion of benevolence often masks the exploitation and the long-term harm for children" as Shantha Sinha, an anti-child labor activist and 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient rightly points out. It is true that the government has done little to provide for the rehabilitation of the children or alternatives for income the children bring in that parents heavily depend on.

But legislation is a necessary starting point that will lead to a change in mindsets, social policy and the availability of alternatives. These changes are not necessarily natural phenomenon, it will take a very proactive society and government to bring about.

Society's major role is to remedy the conditions that encourage subservience and subjugation, especially the caste system and to oppose and report all forms of child labor.

The Government has had legislation in place for years but without enforcement, success is a distant dream. There is a lack of recognition of consequence and respect for law that creates the absence of self-limitation and compliance. With stricter enforcement and punishment for the offense some of that compliance can be achieved. Financial incentives such as tax benefits for employers that do not employ children in sectors where child labor is common would also help. Right to education must not only be enforced but also shown to ultimately provide superior benefits. The availability of better paying and decent opportunities for the educated youth will be a compulsion for parents to send their children to school rather than off to work. As far as alternatives to work for the children are concerned there is some good news; India's Ministry of Labour reports that the number of children withdrawn from hazardous jobs and enrolled in special schools under the National Child Labour Project has more than doubled in the last three years.

As long as labor is equated with survival, no matter how deplorable the working conditions are parents and children will prefer employment to unemployment. They will support child labor employers and find ways to subvert the law. Pulling them out of this extreme economic necessity will require further bolstering of economic policies that are poor and rural driven. The National employment Garuntee scheme needs a massive overhaul to be rid of the corruption and the diversion of funds into the wrong hands.

The child labor situation in India is grim. We cannot allow our children to grow up under these circumstances. We have a responsibility to show them that they have been born in to a world that cares for them and one that is willing to protect them.

Resources and References:

Govt. Of India Ministry of Labour (PIB Press Release)

"Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap's ethical image" , The Observer

Save the Child Foundation (Bachpan Bachao Andolan) Pictures from National Geographic

International Labour Foundation - Statistics and Databases "India's latest move to stop child labor", Anuj Chopra, Christian Science Monitor

"Child slavery: India's perpetuating dilema", Natasa Kocevic, Harvard Interantionl Review

Rag-time Blues - Is Ragging in tune with college culture?

Ragging (also known outside of India as Hazing) is a form of ritualistic social induction into a group usually in an educational setting. Depending on whom you ask the induction can be described as anything from fun to abuse.

In 1992 when I entered dental school as a freshman, Ragging was not only necessary but an inevitable part of social interaction and familiarization. Avoiding it meant social isolation and a very low place on the popularity scale. Every freshman dressed themselves up in a senior mandated uniform of slippers, formal pants and shirts. We shaved often to maintain a clean hairless face and cropped our hair close to our scalps. Like animals nearing extinction we were tagged with these easily identifiable features and our actions on and off campus were closely monitored for non-freshman like behavior. The session of ragging lasted almost six months or until the end of the first semester.

In this article I attempt to understand two of the supposed justification and incentives to engage in Ragging:

Ragging promotes Camaraderie and Friendship?

Although the justification for ragging was the eventual familiarization between freshman and senior it is hard to see that as the strongest incentive for one to engage in it. "I want to get to know you, therefore I must rag you" sounds almost preposterous. Surely we are and have always been aware that there are more innocuous ways of making friends. But with ragging having become so ingrained in the college culture, interacting with a freshman in any other way makes it almost awkward. This method of social interaction has worked for years that simple introductions or an evening at a bar getting to know one another becomes uncharted territory. You simply did not get to know a senior if he doesn't rag you! It is easy to see how over the years everyone including those being ragged believes it to be a necessary tool for eventual friendships.

When ragging is either curtailed or banned often students complain that they go through their college years without ever knowing their seniors. This is consequence of fear among seniors of of being reprimanded for even casual conversation with the freshman and/or the lack of any alternative organized social interaction. When ragging is suddenly not an option, other forms of interaction are new and unexplored. It takes time to integrate other forms of communication into the college where ragging has been the norm for years.

Ragging is fun to all?

Within a really small boundary ragging can be fun. But it takes a lot of parameters for that to happen. Most importantly the freshman has to accept ragging as inevitable or even necessary. Since a lot of the amusement comes from subjugation, humiliation and mockery, a freshman also needs to shed all of his ego and inhibitions. Finally he needs to trust the ragger to find limits that would be acceptable for him. When all this comes together, harmless acts such as serenading an unsuspecting stranger, dancing to imaginary music etc become amusing to all the players.

But not all freshmen are alike and often have a harder time dealing with the mockery or trusting a stranger they only know as "Senior". Even the slightest form of ragging can make them anxious, fearful and sometimes angry. Often the resistance to ragging becomes an annoyance and the seniors begin to push the boundaries. Simple amusing tasks transform into physical assaults or taunts. Some raggers become notorious for being harsh and physical from the get go. Unfortunately they bask in the notoriety and remain unchecked.

Ragging has no rule book of what is allowed or disallowed; seniors get to make them as they go along. Ragging can be anything a "ragger" decides where the only things constant are the freshman and the senior(s). And that is where this argument for ragging falls apart. If there is no way to contain the harmlessness of the act then there cannot be any justification for it.

After my freshman year, I tried my hand at ragging the new batch. I wanted to build friendships and have some fun. I had strict boundaries and stayed clear of anything I had thought of as unacceptable during my year as a freshman. But none of that made it right and I realized a bit late that there were plenty of other ways to befriend the juniors and definitely a lot better ways to have fun.

To engage in something that can easily get out of hand is helping perpetuate it further. There might not have been any tragic consequences of ragging at our college, but do we have to keep at it until something like that makes us stop?

Comments:

Almost all of us have been involved in some form of ragging. Please leave your comments regarding your present opinions on the issue so as to start a meaningful debate.

Creating humanitarians out of computer consumers - THE XO LAPTOP

Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Foundation is based on its belief that a computer in the hands of children would allow them the chance to explore the world and delve into the Web's vast resources. It would give them a huge dose of "illimitable knowledge" from their seats in lesser developed countries.

But why a computer, how about money for schools, teachers and educational supplies? OLPC sees itself as supplemental to the efforts that are already ongoing to improve education in these countries. It sees the computer as the window to the world and a means for impoverished children to feel less isolated within their own countries and the world.

The laptop (XO) that hopes to sit on the lap of a deserving child is designed to be distinctive, rugged, efficient but most of all cheap. Initially pegged as the "100$ Laptop", manufacturing and other ancillary costs have the computer priced at about twice that. Initial reports about the computer have been mostly positive and rather complimentary.

With mass production about to begin the foundation recently announced the "Give 1 Get 1" initiative. The initiative calls for the sale of two computers for $400 in America. The purchaser gets to keep one while the other will be added to a pool for donations. Apart from creating a ready pool for donations, the foundation also hopes to create enough buzz to encourage private donations and governments to place large orders. There has been some talk about a luke warm response from governments that initially showed a lot of interest.

Initially OLPC will distribute computers in countries whose governments have made "commitments for the funding and program support required to ensure that all of their children own and can effectively use a laptop."

The Give 1 Get 1 program starts November 12th, until then you can sign on for an email reminder when the the initiative is officially launched.

Hopefully the program will set a trend in helping reach the many other supplies and necessities badly needed in many of the same countries.

IIMs not eyed by US Recruiters - or are they?

While the IIM's have a great reputation at home, it seems they are yet to make a lasting impression on recruiters here in the US. The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Year 5 Survey released this week is based on the opinions and behaviors of 3,267 M.B.A. recruiters who hire full-time business-school graduates No Indian Business school figured on their (recruiter's) preferred International list.
But a closer look reveals how "International" this list really is. It seems IIM's never had a chance. This is yet another ranking list that ignores Asian Business schools. Only schools from Europe, North America and Central America were considered. "US News" only considers European and Canadian schools in its International B school rankings.

Recruiter's Top International Business Schools (WSJ)

1. IMD
2. ESADE
3. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
4. IPADE
5. London Business School
6. Ivey, Western Ontario
7. Thunderbird
8. Mass. Institute of Technology
9. INSEAD
10. INCAE

THES- QS rankings of International Schools lists IIT Delhi as 57th on their list on International Universities.

"Teach for America" might teach in India

"Teach for America (TFA)" receives many requests from countries to help them develop the Teach For America model in their countries. Currently the organization is advising one undisclosed group in India, according to Eva Boster (Communications Coordinator for TFA). This novel approach to alleviate the ailing education systems could have a very great impact in India. It could not only help the teaching sector but would also open a huge avenue for those wanting to vent their desire to be of social service in India. The challenges and workability of the program in a country like India are hard to predict. Either way it would a step in the right direction.

"Teach for America"- There's more teaching to be done!

A social service group in India is consulting with TFA to develop a similar model for India. The challenges and workability of the program in a country like India are hard to predict. An analysis of TFA's working here in the US itself reveals that it has its share of critics.

Wendy Kopp started "Teach for America" in 1990 with a noble mandate to eliminate educational inequality. Today it has become America's largest provider of teachers for low-income urban and rural communities. The organization recruits recent college graduates of all academic majors who can commit to two years of teaching. Those who are accepted to the program attend an intensive 5-week summer preparation institute and are placed in one of the 26 urban and rural areas. Corps members are paid directly by the school districts where they work and receive the same salaries and health benefits as other beginner teachers. After they begin teaching, most recruits are required by state law to pass subject-area tests and take courses during the year. Many recruits receive their teacher certification after their two years.

While a lot of graduating seniors are driven by their earnest desire to do community service there is a fair share of those who are looking to TFA as a great resume filler..........

Read the whole essay at "India Indeed: Indepth"