Thursday, 27 April 2017

An Open Letter to Prakash Javadekar, Union HRD Minister of India ― Check Corruption and Irregularities in Private Colleges in Telangana ― Professor M.S.Rao




Dear Shri Prakash Javadekar, Honourable HRD Minister of India

It is with deep regret I am writing this open letter to you about the prevailing corruption and irregularities in private engineering, medical and pharmacy colleges in the state of Telangana. Previously I wrote an open letter to the Chief Minister of Telangana requesting him to close down fraudulent colleges in Telengana and offered some suggestions to improve in the education system. URL:  http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2016/07/an-open-letter-to-shri-k-chandrashekar.html.  Some of my suggestions were implemented and some of the fraudulent colleges were closed. But much needs to be still done to streamline the Indian education.  

I served in Indian Air Force and joined teaching profession with a passion to make a difference in the lives of students. I worked as a professor in various private engineering colleges in Telangana and most of them are corrupt and fraudulent who cheat faculty by not paying salaries when the faculty leave the college. They don’t give relieving letters to the leaving faculty. If faculty questions, they file wrong cases in court to drag the issues for years. For instance, I worked in a private college in Hyderabad (the name of the college is known to AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) Chairman, JNTU Hyderabad Registrar and all the faculty members of college) which did not pay my salary for more than three months. Worse, it did not give me the relieving letter at the time of leaving. When I raised the issue with AICTE and JNTU Hyderabad, it sent me the relieving order after many months by a post. But my salary is still pending from 01 July 2015. These managements cheat students by taking money through dubious means. If university officials don’t give affiliation due to irregularities, these rogue colleges approach courts to get a temporary relief. Here are my observations to bring it your notice to close down the fraudulent colleges and improve the Indian education.
  • Colleges blackmail students to pay money through various means, and students comply for fearing retribution. They pay because the internal marks are in the hands the faculty. Parents don’t want to take risk as it would adversely affect the future of their children. Hence, students end up paying money.  
  • The managements of these fraudulent colleges suck blood from students like leeches. Those who fail to pay money are punished through dubious means. They are not implementing biometric attendance of students and faculty. The officials of the affiliated universities are incompetent to enforce the biometric attendance of faculty and students because they receive bribes.  
  • These fraudulent colleges don’t pay salaries as per the pay commission but claim to be paying on records. They take the differential amount by force from the employees on the day of crediting the salary into the college accounts. If the employees fight such irregularities they file wrong cases. 
  • The faculty in fraudulent colleges face huge exploitation, unreasonable terminations, violation of fundamental rights, deprivation of benefits, and lack of adequate grievance mechanism to name a few.
  • There is a close nexus between these fraudulent colleges and political parties in Telangana. These fraudulent managements pay donations to political parties to enable the political parties to remain as mute spectators whenever complaints surface.
  • These fraudulent colleges believe in brand building rather than adding value to the students and the society.


Suggestions

I love to be part of the solution rather than the problem. Hence, I offer some suggestions to consider improving the Indian education system:
  • Close down the fraudulent colleges that have the frequent complaints from faculty and students.
  • Organize surprise inspections to find out the irregularities such as inadequate faculty, poor infrastructure, ill-treatment of faculty and students.
  • Check the bank accounts of employees whether salaries are credited promptly. Colleges are notorious in manipulating the salaries of employees. They show high salary on records but pay less salary in reality. At the time of crediting the salary, these fraudulent colleges take the differential payment through self-withdrawal forms from the staff. You can easily check these irregularities because all employees withdraw the differential payment on the same day of crediting salaries. To check this, the income tax must call for the details from the banks and the fraudulent colleges. Additionally, organize frequent income tax raids to check black money.
  • To redress the grievance mechanism in each college, there is an inbuilt mechanism in the college website to conduct it. The members involved in this grievance redressal mechanism are the employees of the colleges. How can they go against their managements? Some of them lick the legs of the management to ensure their survival. Hence, ensure that the grievance redresssal mechanism is effective by involving the outsiders with credibility to redress it.
  • Invite the experienced intellectuals with great track record and integrity to find out innovative solutions to address these challenges. An integrated efforts from all stakeholders including politicians, intellectuals, officials and colleges is the need of the hour to streamline the system.
  • You cannot build a superstructure on a crooked infrastructure. Hence, build a strong infrastructure by eliminating fraudulent colleges that harm students and damage society. Educational institutions are the temples of learning. We must maintain their sanctity.


Indians Treat Education more than a Religion

Education interlinks all religions to come to one platform in India. Indians treat education more than a religion. They treat it as sacrosanct. Unfortunately, criminals and mafia entered into it who converted education into prostitution. They ill-treat intellectuals, cheat faculty by filing wrong cases, and don’t pay salaries. Although it is a daunting task to set the house in order, it is possible by making system transparent and closing fraudulent colleges with a track record of complaints from faculty and students. There is a corruption between the officials and college owners during inspections thus harming the interests of students and faculty. To please these officials, the notorious college managements invite top officials to college events and functions and pay huge money through honorarium. In fact, it is not an honorarium but a bribe. These higher officials don’t take any action against these fraudulent colleges because they received huge bribes from them. Worse, these corrupt officials pass the information about the people who complained to alert the fraudulent management to avenge. Hence, deny permission to the top officials from universities and other education bodies to go to these colleges as special guests.

The problem with private colleges is viewing everything from commercial perspective rather than from education perspective. Previously philanthropists founded educational institutions to add value to the society. Presently managements with criminal background are founding educational institutions to exploit students to make money.

It is unfortunate that the educational institutions that are supposed to shell out students with ethical values are unethical. How can we expect ethical students and ethical society?  Remember, the day the corruption enters into armed forces and educational institutions the country will collapse. Therefore, ensure that the cancer of corruption doesn’t creep into Indian Armed Forces and educational institutions. Jai Hind!

“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” ― Mohandas K. Gandhi

Note: These are my observations in the private colleges where I worked as a professor in the State of Telangana. Similar fraudulent practices occur in other states of India also.

References
http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2016/07/an-open-letter-to-shri-k-chandrashekar.html
www.unesco.org/iiep
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/faculty-names-fraud-across-engineering-colleges-in-india/article7190827.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/colleges-at-a-loss-to-explain-shared-faculty/article7190859.ece?ref=relatedNews
http://businessworld.in/article/-Friends-of-Faculty-Fight-for-Your-Rights-Satyamev-Jayate/08-07-2016-100167/
http://businessworld.in/article/Irregularities-In-Private-Engineering-Colleges-In-Telangana/2016-07-05-100033/
http://businessworld.in/article/Education-Is-For-Sale-Not-Educators/08-07-2016-100168/





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Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Global Top Gurus 30: http://globalgurus.org/upcoming-leadership-gurus/




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.


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Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Free Chapter of Professor M.S. Rao’s Award-Winning Book “See the Light in You: Acquire Spiritual Powers to Achieve Mindfulness, Wellness, Happiness, and Success”




Dear friends,

Here is the free chapter of my award-winning “See the Light in You: Acquire Spiritual Powers to Achieve Mindfulness, Wellness, Happiness, and Success.” His Holiness Dalai Lama wrote the foreword for this book. I  dedicated this book to Honourable Vice-President of India, Sri M. Venkaiah Naidu. You may share your thoughts about this book on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Introduction

“One's everyday life is never capable of being separated from his spiritual being.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

People encounter several challenges globally due to various reasons such as volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Currently, they encounter challenges much bigger than their predecessors due to rapid growth in technology. They enjoy more comforts than their predecessors but suffer from ailments arising from stress and burnout. Hence, the importance of spiritualism is more felt than ever before. In this regard, we will discuss spiritualism that helps lead your personal, professional and social life happily.  


What is Spiritualism?

Spiritualism is more about intangible than tangible. It is more about the mind and human spirit than the so-called materialistic things. It is not connected with any particular religion. Succinctly, spiritualism is a way of life anyone can practice to achieve harmony, peace, and love in life.

Spiritualism is a means to achieve your end of salvation. Spiritualism synchronizes your mind and body with the soul.  Spiritualism is to surrender yourself to serve others. It is to refine your thought process to build a positive attitude and develop an attitude of gratitude. It is to keep people around you happy and warm with your positive thoughts and vibrations. It is to build better communities and societies. It is to build a better world. Above all, it is to leave a better legacy to the next generations.

It is observed that the people who are divorced, bankrupt and encounter death in their family become more spiritualistic. They find solace in spiritualism since they forget their unpleasant events and failures.


Advantages of Spiritualism

There are innumerable advantages associated with spiritualism. You develop open-mindedness and appreciate others’ achievements. You become tolerant, optimistic, confident and compassionate. You maintain the sound mind in a healthy body. You enjoy every moment of your life.

Spiritualism helps forgive others and forget the unpleasant past. It helps look at similarities, not differences. It breaks barriers and builds bridges. It connects people and brings them into one platform. It improves health and ensures longevity. It helps overcome challenges with calm and composure. It helps make smart and wise decisions by blending the head, heart, and gut. It converts into a better human being.

Spiritualism enlightens people. It helps them introspect themselves and empathize with others. It eliminates conflicts and enhances fraternity and brotherhood. It removes negative thoughts from their mind to replace with positive thoughts. It enhances their creativity and helps them think differently. It helps them realize and unlock their hidden potential. Above all, it helps them find meaning in their lives to make a difference to the world.

The human brain is basically rewired to ensure survival rather than success. We spend most of our time with repetitive thoughts. And most of our thoughts are negative in nature. Research shows that the average person spends 95% of their day going through repeat thoughts. Worse, an average 75% are repeat negative things, just 20% on positive repeat thoughts and only a tiny 5% on new ideas.  When you stress spiritualism you think positively without wasting your time on your unpleasant past events. You emphasize new areas and explore them to achieve amazing success and happiness.


Spiritualistic versus Materialistic People

The materialistic people crave for money while the spiritualistic people crave for love, peace, and happiness. For materialistic people, money is the end while for spiritualistic people, peace is the end. Hence, their goals are totally different. William James rightly differentiated, “Materialism means simply the denial that the moral order is eternal, and the cutting off of ultimate hopes; spiritualism means the affirmation of eternal moral order and the letting loose of hope.” Technology has added further woes to complexity. In fact, technology is a double-edged sword. It is both a boon and a bane. It is boon because it brought comforts to humankind. It is a bane because it increased health complications. It is replacing spiritualism with materialism.


A Blueprint to Lead Your Spiritual Life

Here are some tips to lead your spiritual life. Be simple and humble. Walk your talk. Be a giver, not a taker. Invest some time regularly to serve others. Associate with positive and likeminded people. Emphasize ideas rather than individuals and issues. Add value to others.


Body is Mortal and Soul is Immortal

The human body undergoes three phases ― creation, generation and destruction. The body is mortal while the soul is immortal. To make our lives immortal, it is advisable to wed spiritualism.

When a man marries a woman he craves physical unification first, emotional unification second and spiritual unification third. When a married couple understands each other well, they reach the third stage successfully. It is possible only when people understand and appreciate spiritualism.


Love Your Mother but don’t Hate another Person’s Mother

Love your mother but don’t hate another person’s mother. As your mother is precious to you, another person’s mother is equally precious to him/her.  As your race, religion, region, language, ethnicity, culture, and community are precious to you; they are equally precious to others.

People must learn to empathize with others to make a difference in the lives of others. We need empathetic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev and Dalai Lama; and religious leaders like Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad to name a few to achieve global peace, prosperity, stability, and security. Remember, what Mother Teresa said when asked what you can do to promote world peace: “Go home and love your family.”  As charity begins at home, let us promote global peace by loving our families and empathizing with others first.


Life is an Echo

“Life is like a sandwich! Birth as one slice, and death as the other. What you put in-between the slices is up to you. Is your sandwich tasty or sour?” ― Allan Rufus

Currently, there are several conflicts globally due to religious, racial and regional intolerance. Embracing spiritualism is the only way to bring improvements in society. We brought nothing to this world when we were born. We will not carry anything from this world when we die except either a good or bad reputation. Hence, stress on spiritualism to spread peace and love in the world.

Life is an echo. If you do good things, you get back good things. Newton’s third law of physics “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” is applicable here. Hence, do good for others to build a better world. To conclude, spiritualism is the only way to provide meaning to your life and to build a better world. 

Note: Here are the links to purchase this award-winning book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949003132 or https://www.amazon.in/dp/1949003132



Life is great!

Professor M.S. Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India
See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949003132



Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.


Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.
at 2 comments:

Sunday, 2 April 2017

Build Leadership Skills for Indian Students


“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ― John Quincy Adams


There are mushrooming leadership development programs for students in the developed countries to impart leadership skills and abilities in students. Some prestigious international universities have customized training programs including Harvard Business School offering degrees in the domain of leadership. However, there are no such initiatives and courses in India despite being the second largest populated in the world with the highest number of young population. In fact, there is a huge potential for leadership training programs for youth in India.  Unfortunately, India doesn’t have organized method to impart leadership training for students except in a few premier business schools. 

During my leadership training programs I often come across with students raising questions whether leaders are born or made. I try hard to persuade them that leaders are made rather than born. Most of the leadership skills depend on emotional intelligence that can be cultivated through teaching, training, observation, experience and practice. Hence, anybody can acquire leadership qualities unlike talents which are inborn and the same has been substantiated by a number of leadership gurus including Warren Bennis, Stephen R. Covey, Ken Blanchard and John Maxwell.

Developing leadership skills in students needs an integrated approach and coordinated efforts from various stakeholders including educators, students, parents, educational institutions, industry and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) to enable students shift from campus to corporate successfully. Here is the blueprint to achieve it:

                                                                                       
Role of Students

Learning leadership is like learning how to swim. Only when you get into water you learn the art of swimming. Hence, take a plunge to lead from the front.  Here are some of the ways to acquire leadership skills and abilities:
  • Be passionate to lead from the front with a heart to make a difference in the lives of others.
  • Visualize yourself as a leader as visualization is one of the effective tools to achieve whatever you want in your life. Remember, a battle is won twice – first in mind and second in real life.
  • Apply SWOT tool to assess your strengths and weaknesses, and search for opportunities from threats.
  • Work in teams to understand team dynamics and improve your emotional intelligence.  Practice is the most effective way to learn any skill and leadership is not an exception. You cannot become a crackshot unless you lose some ammunition.
  • Take successful leaders as your role model and find out the qualities you admire and imbibe them.
  • Read inspirational books. Most of the leaders are great readers including Abraham Lincoln.
  • Find out the problems that affect the people; create a common cause; influence the people; build a strong team; align their energies and efforts; and motivate them constantly to accomplish your goals and objectives.
  • Delegate routine tasks to others so that you can find more time to undertake challenging roles and responsibilities. 
  • Spread the fame when things go well and take the blame when things go wrong.
  • Learn, unlearn and relearn as the world is changing rapidly. In addition, what works now might not work in future due to increased uncertainty, volatility, complexity and ambiguity everywhere.


Role of Educators

Educators must take initiative to build leadership skills in students to enable students find themselves comfortable to lead at the corporate world.  For instance, they must encourage students to participate in simulated ‘United Nations Assembly’ which is a mock exercise for students wherein students represent various countries in the world and discuss and debate on pressing global issues. They can also discuss the ways and means to ensure global peace and security and maintain ecological balance.  They must encourage students to participate in group discussions to develop leadership skills.


Role of Educational Institutions

  • Organize events, functions, conferences, tours and excursions. Also, conduct industry visits for students to expose them with the practical world to build skills. 
  • Nominate class representative for each classroom to build coordination and leadership skills.
  • Encourage students to participate in NCC, NSS, and NGO where they work with other team members and they are the right avenues to learn team dynamics to build leadership skills.
  • Inspire students to participate in jungle training, mountaineering, or river rafting where they have to work with other members.
  • Teach them how to handle pressure and work under stress to achieve all-round success in this century.
  • Balance both curricular and extracurricular activities as presently Indian educational institutions don’t emphasize on extracurricular activities. Building leadership skills fall in the bracket of extracurricular activities and these skills groom students as well-rounded personalities.

It is essential to build leaders on continuous basis as the Baby Boomers are retiring and there is a dearth of leadership talent in the leadership pipeline globally. Current complexity calls for leaders who can take on challenges head-on.  Hence, it is strongly recommended to include a few courses on leadership development along with soft skills to groom leaders for tomorrow.

Future of any country depends on developing healthy minds in healthy bodies and it requires developing a unique mindset, toolset and skills set among the students. India has less number of leaders when compared with the size of population. Small countries produced the best leaders. What is wrong with India? Why is India unable to produce the best leaders in the world? India had a great leader like Swami Vivekananda who left an indelible mark internationally by spreading tolerance and universal brotherhood. India needs more such Vivekanandas to inspire Indian youth to change their mindset with a proactive and positive attitude to grow along with other civilized and advanced nations in the world.  


Note: This article has been adapted from my award-winning book, ‘Student Leaders: Growing From Students To CEOs.’ Here is the link to purchase and post your review: http://www.amazon.com/Student-Leaders-Growing-Students-CEOs/dp/9351101630  




If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414

Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html 


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Global Top Gurus 30: http://globalgurus.org/upcoming-leadership-gurus/



Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.


Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.
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