Virginia Kilings & Gun Ownership

This might sound blithely ahuman. But from a macro point of view, there are a lot more crimes that are averted due to gun ownership than are commited because of it. The issue is very much in the nature of the problem.

When things go wrong they make news. When they are going right, they are seldom newsworthy.

How often do we hear of a person preventing a burglary, a rape, a kidnapping with the power accorded to him by a gun?? But when once in 365 days, an incident like Virginia takes place, it makes big news.

Even if we ban guns, criminals will still get them. Look at the situation in India or Latin America - countries where gun ownership is restricted. People with mal-intent still get their hands on guns. The cost of a fool-proof method to control and monitor gun ownership is impossibly high and the endeavor might even be foolishly impossible.

The question is should we equip our people with the tools to protect themselves or not? The positives of doing this far outweigh the negatives of a stray incident like Virginia Tech.

Financial Education for Kids

I came across an interesting article by Keane Lee in Fundsupermart - the quaterly magazine issued by iFast Financial Pte Ltd., an investment administrator in Singapore. It talks about wealth accumulation and the different vectors that drive it.

It said , there are 4 things that determine your wealth accumulation ability:
1. Wage, W
2. Savings Rate %, S
3. Return on Investment, R
4. Time, T

Simple, isn't it?

Reading that article, I realised that financial education among kids in India is not that prevalent. Most kids learn this if they are lucky to be born into a Marwari or Sindhi or Baniya family.

Equipping kids with this powerful tool should be an important objective of education. Making it into an entertaining game should get it off the ground with them.

Working hours over a lifetime

My theory is that every person is born to work for a FIXED no. of hours. You can choose to cover them over 32 years (as my dad did) or the way its going, cover them off in 10 years and be done with it all!

Incidentally there's also the theory that every person is born with a FIXED no. of breaths allotted to him/her. Thats why deep breaths and yoga increase your life span.

Schools in the new world

Information is free and out there.
No one owns it. Its not stored in bound up books.

We need to point our kids to where this information is - Wikipedia?? Google??
We need to ask them the right questions to help with their search - Why?? How??
We need to ask these questions in an interesting manner - Projects?? Contests?? Games??

Does that sound like a new kinda school?

The right kind of questions

Too often in schools the questions that are asked are:
Who?
When?
Where?

All the time I think that the questions that should be asked are:
Why?
How?

The first set relies on memory, the 2nd on reason. I'll anyday pick a person who can think to a person who remembers.

How to make money in India, long term

India as a consumer market of 1.1 billion people is an attractive proposition for any Commercial Enterprise. Earning even $1 from each person is worth $1.1Bn. A lot of MNCs have bought this math and entered the country, expecting to make money with their existing models. Their assumptions are flawed at 2 levels.

One, the size of the 'consuming' population is not 1.1Bn but 800mn - the remaining 300mn live below the poverty line.

Second, the GDP per capita, even on purchasing power parity is $3700 - at best 1/12th that of the US.

Given these 2 factors, the expected size of prize of a business in India is at best 1/5th of that in the US. The math is 800/(300X12) ; 300 being the population of the US.

So, in order for an enterprise to make money in India at the levels that its huge population warrants, it should focus on improving the Purchasing power of Individuals. The single biggest known way of improving people's purchasing power is to improve their skills, i.e. through education.

Hence my plea: If you want to make money in India, invest for the long term, invest in educating its population. They'll grow up to earn more, consume more and by extension, put more money back into your pockets.

Hope some corporations embrace this long term business plan. I'm sure they'll see the returns in their shareholder value.

Sydney - why and why not

Just came back from Sydney yesterday. I love the place - brilliant weather, great food. The only thing that stops me from moving there are the high taxes and high cost of living. A taxi anywhere outside of the main city will set you back by about 25 Aussie dollars. Parking and road tolls are excessive. And the taxes are insane.

If only Singapore could get Sydney weather - I yearn for 4 seasons in a year! And a harbour bridge. And some fabulous beaches. Mountains at our doorstep. Being able to look up and see clear, blue sky. Drive for 40 kms and still be in the same city.

But then, I'm not willing to give 40% of what I earn to the government for weather and views.

Education in India

Education in India needs to improve on 2 parameters – the no. of people who have access to education needs to go up and those who get education need to get a better version of it. The first area is where Government and Public-Private collaboration of a massive scale needs to be undertaken. The second area is where I want to make a difference. In the current system, it is enough for students to read the chapters of their text book, learn answers to the questions at the end and regurgitate them in exams that move them to the next level. There is little being done to spur curiosity, to inspire discovery and to develop well-rounded individuals. Educational qualifications and knowledge bear little correlation.

We lack a vision of an ideal student – he is described more in terms of his behavior than his capabilities. The absence of the right vision means no clear definition of the means needed to achieve it. If we define our ideal student in terms of:

I. Capability
1. Multi-faceted skills
· Knowledge beyond text books
· Active in sports
· Can appreciate fine arts (music, dance, painting, sculpting etc)

2. Perspicacious
· Can analyze information and develop an independent point of view

II. Appearance

1. Civil Behavior
Makes the world around him a better place to live in. This is a wide ranging area that spans from respecting social hygiene (garbage, spitting, urinating at appropriate places) to social interaction (traffic rules, queues, courteous conversations)

2. Personal hygiene

Cleanliness in clothes and body (Body odor, Bad breath)

This needs efforts on 4 fronts –
1. Curriculum improvement to make it more well-rounded and experiential.
2. Teacher training to enable them to instill a sense of curiosity in students and help them discover vs. learning by rote
3. Parent education to enable a learning environment beyond school.
4. Supplementing school curriculum with after-school and holiday activities.

Credit: Picture on top from Getty Images