A Simple Solution!!

“Raghu, our company is not doing well, we need to take some desperate measures now, I am sorry, but we HAVE TO DOWNSIZE”, said Mr.Sinha, the Managing Director of Quanta solutions. Raghu simply nodded. He was in a state of shock. It had been 3 years since he joined Quanta Solutions as a Senior Manager and it was the first time he would be asked to downsize people from his team. Raghu shuddered at the thought of facing his subordinates. “What am I going to do, how am I going to downsize 100+ people from the 400 members within 2 months”, Raghu said to himself.

Raghu had an excellent track record at Quanta. Under him, the various business functions at Quanta had delivered products and services of excellent quality. The company had just 450 odd employees, each of them were sincere, committed, and hardworking. Raghu was in a dilemma. If he laid off 125 people, it would demoralize the other staff and set a bad precedent. If he didn’t, then the management would anyways lay off people. In a state of confusion, Raghu took 2 days of leave and went to his native village.

At the village, his dad welcomed him with a warm hug. Raghu took his bath, had his breakfast and sat in the Verandah wondering about his office situation.
“Raghu beta, what are you worried about?” asked Dhanram, Raghu’s dad. Raghu explained the whole situation to his dad who smiled and said, “Don’t worry beta, there is always a solution to every issue, just relax. Come, let’s go to our farm.”

Raghu went with his dad to their Mango farm. It was a small farm spread just over a hectare. Dhanram asked Raghu to sit beneath the shade of a mango tree. As his father along with the farm employees started their work, Raghu watched carefully.

Raghu’s father and his employees were cutting some old mango trees; the employees were watering only a few trees and adding fertilizers, while some were planting young mango saplings. Raghu was puzzled and asked Dhanram why some trees were being cut. He replied, “Beta, we are only cutting trees that yield very less fruit. Since we have water scarcity, we water and nourish only a few trees that yield more fruits.”

“Then, why are you planting new saplings when you can’t water the existing ones?” asked Raghu in an irritating tone. Dhanram just smiled and said, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow; I am cutting down the old trees so that I can water and nourish only the fruit-yielding trees. We take care of these selected Mango trees because they provide us rich yield. We plant new saplings because they consume less water. By the time they grow into mature trees, the water scarcity issue would be solved, and we would get more yield of mangoes! You gotta plan for the future”. Raghu was puzzled. It was a rather simple explanation which made a lot of sense.

Dhanram’s thoughtful reply made Raghu think deeply. That night, he couldn’t sleep. He just kept pondering over Dhanram’s reply. In the morning, Raghu took the blessings of his parents and left the village. For some reason, his father’s farming strategy seemed to make complete sense.

Raghu arrived at his office and called his sub-ordinates for a meeting. In the meeting, he asked his sub-ordinates to prepare a list of all employees who were slacking in performance. Within a few hours, Raghu got the list of all employees and the details of their performance over the past quarter. He and the managers of the respective functions sat together and planned the strategies for the upcoming quarters. The employees who were slacking were given training to improve their skills, and warned that they would be fired if they didn’t raise their performance level within a month.

Raghu called in all his team members for a meeting and asked them to provide suggestions/measures that would help Quanta Solutions increase their sales and establish themselves in the market. He also announced huge incentives for employees who could implement measures to increase profits. Within a month, Raghu received many valuable suggestions from his team members. He chose the best 5 solutions and gained the approval of the management to implement them. The employees who gave the suggestions were rewarded handsomely. Soon, the work atmosphere at Quanta turned lively due to the positive vibes from the management.

Meanwhile, employees who were still slacking in their performance were fired and replaced by talented young freshers. Raghu placed appointed a team of talented, skilled, and dedicated employees to mentor the freshers. Within a span of three months, the share value of Quanta Solutions increased by 20%.

Mr.Sinha, the MD, called Raghu to congratulate him. “Raghu, you have done a great job, thanks to your ideas, we are now in a position of strength, how did you do this?”
Raghu just smiled and said, “It’s easy sir, just nourish the trees that yield the most and plant new ones”. Mr. Sinha was puzzled, but knew that Raghu’s words implied a hidden meaning.
Raghu then shook hands with Sinha and left the room. As he sat in his cabin, he remembered his father’s words, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow.” Raghu couldn’t help wondering how such a simple solution could solve a complex issue.

BJP should STOP ITS HINDUTVA AGENDA!!!

Come April we will be having the 15th Lok Sabha elections in India. As expected, the Congress and BJP have indulged in some very aggressive campaign battles. The Congress had gained the upper hand by labeling the BJP as a SAFFRON party. To add fuel to the fire, Varun Gandhi’s latest campaign speech for BJP has provided more fodder to the media and the congress.

An Unnecessary Act: Young Varun had passed many inflammatory comments aimed at the minority community in one of his speeches during the election campaign. Maybe Mr.Varun didn’t realize that polarizing people to get votes was an idea long used by the British Raj in 1905 (Partitioning of Bengal). By doing this, he has done extreme disservice to his party by severely damaging its reputation.

Mr.Advani should have avoided this major folly. Being the spearhead of the BJP and a prospective Prime Minister candidate, he should have clearly instructed his cadres not to indulge in such regressive acts. The Hindutva agenda has been BJP’s Achilles heel and if the party does not do anything to mend its ways, it would lose the respect of the people easily! The BJP should drop its hindutva agenda. There is no need to emphasize Hindutva when there are several hundred other issues to be solved.

The BJP must differentiate itself from the other parties by having Development as its Agenda, not Hindutva. Let us remember that India has hundreds of important issues such as Terrorism, poverty, poor infrastructure, and high prices of essential commodities. BJP’s agenda should implement measures to combat these issues effectively. The common man is only concerned about his essential needs, not about religion or caste; it’s unfortunate that no party understands it.

Why the BJP needs to change its agenda?
As of now, BJP and Congress are the only major national parties that have sufficient strength to form governments. Unfortunately, the Congress in its tenure failed to focus on key issues like rising poverty, unafforability in housing, and steady decline of sectors like Agriculture and Export, and terrorism. If the people desire to vote for a change at National level, then the only other party strong enough to form a government is the BJP. Although the communists and the newly formed Third front are national parties, they lack the numbers to form the government especially since their ideologies are not in sync with the needs of the people. Since BJP is the only other major party capable of forming a government, it must act RESPONSIBLY. It should promise the minorities that they will be safe and treated well if the BJP comes to power.

Ideally, BJP must be focusing on these points:
1) Reducing the Poverty level: Today, there is a vast gap between the upper class and the lower class. Every industry is now catering to the rich people, be it the Realty (Real Estate) sector, or the other essential sectors such as Transportation and Clothing. All prices of essential commodities have gone past the affordable level. As a result, Poverty has grown by atleast 5% as per an official survey. Measures to abolish poverty should be the main agenda. India will never shine if people live in poverty
2) Terrorism: Terrorism has been slowly spreading its roots in India. We already have seen three instances of major terrorist attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore in the past two years. The next incoming government must introduce stringent anti-terrorism laws and implement adequate measures to eliminate terrorism.
3) Recession: The prices of all essential commodities have gone up by atleast 20%. Agriculture, our most important sector, is dying a slow death. The Automobile, Iron, Steel, and other Export industries are faring no better. Obama’s anti-outsourcing policies have forced MNCs like Microsoft to cut down atleast 5000 jobs. Big MNCs like TCS, Wipro, IBM, HCL, and CTS are cutting down jobs everyday. BJP should announce measures to create new jobs in non-IT sectors and introduce tax sops and other beneficial measures to ailing industries. Unemployment should be abolished.
4) Prices of Essential Goods: Over the past two years, the prices of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities have increased almost by 20-30%. This hurt the common man badly. Ensure that the common man gets the three basic things, Food, Clothing, and Shelter, at an affordable price.

This country does not need additional Temples, Mosques, or Churches, but just more schools, hospitals, organizations, and sectors that cater to the needs of the AAM AADMI (Common man).