PRICE AS A MARKETING TOOL

PRICE AS A MARKETING TOOL

Price has two fuctions in marketing

n To recover investment and cover opportunities costs.

n It can also determine the market strategy where focus must be on volumes or margins, but the most significant principle is price performance points (PPP)

Conjoint Analysis: It is an important part of marketing strategy involiving price distribution. Porter suggests that margin route has low volume with high prices and is able to cover the cost, low volumes sale is able to give significant profit. The decision to go with volumes is driven by the fact of large volume push down. A company like Wall-Mart eliminates all unnecessary input cost to sell products 20%- 30% below market price. Wall-Mart makes sacrifices- sale support, overhead cost and design, warehousing costs by creating space within. Coz it has a high footfall ( nos of persons buying) it can bargain for heavy discount from supplies. This principle applies to low cost airlines also.

Price used as a marketing strategy must be used carefully. In globalization every culture looks at products differently. Pricing is a mkting tool, subject to different rules and categories of products for different age and different cultures by certain amt of standerization due to modernization.

A pair of Levis in the US is about 40-50$ and the same pair would be about 60-80$ in Europe. This is because in Europe Levis is perceived as a premium brand. Pricing in India uses psychology pricing (Rs.99). Pricing is abt optimum utilization of mkt sentiments and expectations.

Apple uses skimming method. When it comes out with a product it has a high price and as other companies come out with their own counter products Apple lowers the price of their products.

When Diet Coke came out Coke-cola droped it’s price to 30% coz it belived that lower prices would get people hooked.

Polaroid and Gillette use the capitalist strategy that is its main product may be very cheap but the accessories are expensive.

Value pricing have 2 different kinds of meaning

n Higher price suggest higher quality or an aspirational orientation

Also mean money pricing

translation notes by Dhanika

THE QUILT

Right from the title to the last paragraph of the story, the translation is very well done. It is smartly done and, to a large extent, perfectly done. The original story carries in it a flavor of humor. The story is different and interesting but what makes it all the more interesting is the usage of pure Hindi and Urdu terms as well as proverbs. Not only this, the narration and the language hold the attention of the reader through the end. In the story, it is in fact, the language that makes all the wonders. Imagine the story, and that too on a subject like this (a lesbian relationship), being written and narrated in simple Hindi. It will surely sound a little crude and vulgar. In order to keep the humor in the language alive, the story ‘Lihaaf’ needs a very clever translation and ‘The Quilt’ is exactly what you can call one. Not only has the translation been done word-to-word (which is a very risky thing to do) but also it has been done with great care and commitment. The words and phrases used in the English piece are successful in conveying the mood and the essence of the story. Also, in the original, the narrator, that is, the small girl, in spite of her naïve abusive comments, comes across as very amiable. The English translation has been able to maintain the amiability, such that it appeals the English reader who hasn’t read the original piece.

Many sentences have been exactly translated, for example –

‘Angaaron pe letne lagi’ – ‘raked over the coals’.

Some phrases like ‘Nihayat Nek’ have been beautifully translated in ‘noblesse oblige’.

But there are some places where the actual text seems far better in its usage of language than the translation. For example –

1. ‘Vahan toh bas vah thi aur unki khujli!’ – ‘All her time was taken up with the treatment of her unfortunate itch.’

2. ‘Soti-jaagti gudiya’ – ‘Sleeping-walking doll’.

In some places, the translator has retained some words from the original – ‘Babua’ , ‘jaali karga’.

In some places, to add more effect to the translated piece, the translator has added some words, phrases and sentences of her own –

1. ‘but ungrateful wretch that he was’

2. ‘What I saw when the quilt was lifted, I wil never tell anyone, not even if they give me a lakh of rupees.’

All in all, the translation is creditable and successful in carrying the actual effect that the original carries.

Lit notes

Pls note that this is all crap

LANGSTON HUGHES

Q1. Write a brief essay on the contribution of Langston Hughes to Afro-American Poetry

A 1) Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Missouri and was raised by his grandmother. He came to New York and attend the Colombia at 20 and after that he was always on the move. He contributed greatly to the Harlem Resistance.

Langston Hughes poetry was all about the plight of the Afro-American and the oppression they were under. His early poems contained elements of Jazz and blues. Later on hs poems also incorporated bebop rhythms. His poetry has a lot of irony in it (The Ballad of Landlord) and some have anger (Will V-Day be Me-Day too).

Q 1) Evaluate the poetry of Langston Hughes (and about the Harlem Renaissance)

A 1) In the poem I, Too Sing America by Langston Hughes. The poem was written in a time when African-American were oppressed by the majority Whites. This poem is a proclamation of Langston Hughes against this oppression.

The poem is of the plight of a Afro-American servants who are made to eat in the kitchens and not the dining hall. As the poem proceeds we see Hughes refusing to this, refusing to in kitchen to eat.

He shows a challenge to his oppressors by laughing at them.

In the second verse he dreams of a better tomorrow where he will have his rights and no one will dare to tell him to eat in the kitchen for he to is American.

The poem makes am indirect reference to the Constitution of America that says that all men and women are equal, but yet just before they are darker they are discriminated against.

Hughes wants to point out that they are all equal. That all American belong to the same family and humanity.

This poem reflects the collective states of minds.

The Harlem Renaissance: This was culture movement of Afro-Americans that 1918 and blossomed in the 1920s. It took place at Harlem in New York. The literature developed was informal and incorrect. Afro-American writers twisted the English language to be appropriate for their culture. There was an acceptance that America was now their homeland and Africa became the idea of a lost paradise. Now they had to look to the future and forge for its identity in America.

CANNERY ROW

Q 2) With reference to Mack and the boys, how does Steinbeck subvert the idea of the American dream.

A 2) To answer this question we must understand the concept of the American Dream. The American Dream is a traditional idea in the USA. The people of America were tired of war (1914-1918) and were looking for many people just wanted to have a settled, have a family and a successful job. There was also a high rate of migration of people into American. Everyone wanted this piece of prosperity. Everyone wanted this piece of American Dream. Simply American Dream is an idea in the United States that everyone has a chance to achieve prosperity and success.

Mack and is boys are exactly the opposite. They don’t want to prosperity and success. Mack could be the President but he does not want to. They just want to live day to day. They don’t need success to have be happy. They are happy just by having each other. They don’t think of tomorrow but only today. They don’t want to settle down and have a family.

Probably the point Steinbeck is making that there are some people who don’t want the American Dream or maybe the American Dream was stereotypical. That there is a lower underlining group of people who do not want this dream.

Q 3) Would you characterize Steinbeck as a realist? Discuss.

A 3) Steinbeck’s novel Cannery row is about a bunch of lower income group people and their life in a community. So is this account, is this story realistic. I think it is not that simple. It is a hybrid of utopian and a realist. Firstly to point out there is a Chinese shop owner who gives a credit without any limit. The fact that he gives the Mack and the boys free without any rent is questionable. To cap it of Chinese businessmen have a very good economic sense and are hardly the people who give a lot of credit. Also how does most people have not paid back the money how does he continue running the shop. Secondly are people so good? Are people always so good natured in a community?

However there is the realistic part of the story also. That there exsists a group of people in society that live the way as described in the book. There are bums and there are blah.

The Steinbeck has written a Utopia Realist. Utopian in a sense that the novel idealizes the values of the lower classes and insists that good fellowship and warm-heartedness are all that are needed to create a paradise anywhere on earth, even here on run-down Cannery Row. The characters in the novel are accordingly stereotyped at times: the gruff madam with the heart of gold, the grocer who is a tough and even extortionary businessman but who nevertheless keeps the Row going and is capable of extreme generosity, the shiftless man who can't hold a job but will tenderly nurse a puppy back to health.

Realitist in the sense that the weight of current events sometimes breaks through: This novel is set immediately following the Depression and World War II, and for many on Cannery Row, the war did little to end the Depression. In all these ways, the "real world" intrudes

Q 4) Evaluate Cannery Row as a novel based on Place and Community rather than Plot and Action.

A 4) Cannery Row is a story of people and place. It has no story. Steinbeck shows how a bunch of people are living together in this community. There is no main story, but every chapter tells us little of the characters and their life in the community. The starting description of the story gives a vivid description of Cannery Row.

For the characters in Cannery Row may be more than they appear to be-more

than obscure storekeepers or drifters-but they, like the humanity which they

represent, are far less than perfect. Neither their happiness nor their means

of achieving it is simply the "good" way compared to the "bad" way of the rest

of the money-grubbing world. Mack and the boys, like the rest of us, often

break when they wish to build, hurt when they want to love; and, like the rest

of us, their immediate appetites often distract them from their deeper need to

give of themselves.

ROLE OF INDIAN WOMEN IN POLITICS notes

ROLE OF WOMEN IN INDIAN POLITICS

Women in India have been oppressed and discriminated by men. They are seen as the weaker sex. Many see women are just supposed to stay in the house, keep it clean and take care of the children. Women have been given a second class citizenship in many parts of India. They are still fighting for their rights.

Many places they are fighting against the social clauses against them. Most of them look towards the law of the government to help them.

They are fighting for right to get married to who they want to, the right to get justice if raped.

Women like Sarojini Naidu, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Aruna Asaf Ali were some of the educated, elite women who played their part in the independence movement.

Women find it difficult to join India politic coz: -- They are not educated

n They are oppressed by their husbands and families.

n Their responsibilities of a mother and house wife.

n And any other u can think of.

A Case:

Kerala is a vastly educated State with female literacy rate of 86%. Yet the rate of women in the Kerla legislature rose from 1% to 6 % from 1967 to 1991. The reason is because these women are still under the social and traditional constraints and this prevents them from entering politics.

Education is not enough for women to join politics. Reservations are just not enough to get into politics.

They need:

n a supportive family and a family that has a political background.

n Someone in the family who is willing to take over the care of the family especially the children.

n A good amount of surplus money in the family.

But getting elected is not enough. Take the case of Uma Bharti of BJP who was driven to a suicide attempt caused by the slander campaign of her own colleagues.

However inspite of this there quite a large number (though not large enough) have broke through the ceilings and become big in politics. Women like Indira Gandhi, Mamta Banerijee, Sonia Gandhi - most of these women were single or windowed and had no man to hold them back. Also most of them had the elite background.

Women in Indian Poilitcs

Indira Gandhi made a great impact on the Indian Democracy; however she did little to promote the cause of women. However Indira was the first women Prime Minister of India and she rose to be one of the most powerful people in the world. Then there is Mamta Banerijee who came from West Bengal with the popular mass base support she rose as a powerful political leader. Then there is Sonia Gandhi who is right now one of the most powerful women in the world. She is leader of Congress. The first women President Pratibai Patil was elected only after 50 years after independence.

The majority of women in the Indian Parliament are from the elite class. While their public role challenges some stereotypes, their class position often allows them a far greater range of options than are available to poorer women. Caste has been an important feature of Indian society and political life. Most of the women MPs in the Tenth Parliament were members of the higher castes. Currently only 9% of women constitute in the Parliament. The Union Council of Minister consists only of 8 women where only 4 women are Cabinet members.

The reservation system for women in India was introduced first at the Panchayat level in Karnataka first in 1983 where 25% of the seats were reserved for women. Then in 1996 one-third (27%) of the seats in the Parliament and State legislatures were reserved for women. And now the UPA government is trying to make a Constitutional amendment to give reservation of 33% of seats for women.

Reasons why more women need to in politics:

n the greater the number of women in public office, articulating interests and seen to be wielding power, the more the gender hierarchy in public life could be weakened. In other words the social constraints (husband, family, village) can be weakened if there are more women.

n explore the strategies that women employ to access the public sphere in the context of a patriarchal socio-political system. These women have been successful in subverting the boundaries of gender and in operating in a very aggressive male-dominated sphere. Could other women learn from this example?

At the end of this I can only say that women role in politics is set to increase. It will increase at a very fast pace.

YOU'RE NOT THE BEST, BUT...

YOU’RE NOT THE BEST, BUT…

You go through life competing, fighting you want to be the best. You want to be number one. You work as hard as possible and then when the results come… you don’t succeed. It did not making sense to you worked you ass off and you did not make it. There were other people who are better than you. You feel your heart getting crushed. You worked too hard to come to this. The number times you tried to be that number one and you’re not even close. You let yourself fall. You wonder whether you can take much more, if you can stand up and fight again with the hope of being the best, with the hope of taking every one by storm.

But know this, in the end, life is a challenge. The question is whether you are willing to embrace this challenge and tell life that when it shoves failure in your face you won’t piss in your pants out of fear or you won’t get down on your knees and cry. Instead what you can do is embrace this challenge, tell life no matter how many times success evades you, you will not stop trying, and you won’t stop trying even if God himself comes down and tries to stop. You just keep trying and in the end the greatest success you will have is not achieving that success, but the greatest success will be that no matter what you never gave up.

AGRARIAN PROBLEM

A farmer with 15 acres of land would earn a net income of Rs. 32500. A class IV employee of the government the lowest ranking civil servant is better off since he earns double.

AGRARIAN CRISIS

In India more than 75% of the population is in the rural areas. Indian agriculture accounts for almost 25% of the total GDP and about 65% of the GDP is from agriculture. Indian agriculture only occupies 0.6% in the export of India.

Indian agriculture is on the decline and one of the reasons is because of the decline of the investment in agriculture. The Indian government slashed its support to rural areas from 14.5% (1985) to 5.9% in 2001. The public investment declined. This is lead to loss of financial support toward the peasants

Most of the agricultural labourers they themselves do not own any land and work as tenants on others. Also original settlers are removed from their land by the Government and there settlers are latter termed as encroachers. The agrarian markets are flooded with instability because of the lowering of tariff barriers.

HYV seeds are also a causes of concern. These seed have only caused confusion with many of the poor farmers, who want high yield and wonder if it is worth the risk.

PROBLEM OF FARMERS

n Heavy Indebtedness: This indebtedness is not acquired overnight but is a result of spoil messed up credit system. Also Banks mostly give loans to rich farmers (because they have the assists to afford it) while the rest of the them must depend on moneylenders. Heavy indebtness is the number one reason of farmer sucides

n The indebtedness itself results from a mismatch in the cost of production and the support price and the market price that the cultivators are receiving at the end of every cropping cycle. In other words the cost of farming (buying seeds, fertilizers) are not even equal to the money from the harvest.

n This is because of crop failure. The land productivity is low. This could be co of fertilizers, pesticides, or HYB seeds.

Talking about the credit system, money lenders are still the top source of credit providers to farmers. the banking sector is fast moving out of the credit delivery mechanism.

n Lack of rains and proper irrigation systems.

n The access of knowledge to farmer is poor and so they are not able to properly improve their method of farming.

n Government failure to create a safety net for farmers who have a failed crop.

All this contributes to plight of the farmers.

Every day five to seven farmers committee suicide in the country. All these problem and more attribute to the farmer suicide. He is so much indebtness that he does not know what to do. He has a family which he cannot support anymore, which he cannot feed anymore. Hence to escape his problems he suicides.

SPECIAL POWERS ACT notes

SPECIAL POWERS ACT

The Special Powers Act was passed in 1958 for the states of of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and in 1990 another Special Powers Act was passed by the Parliament to be applied to Jammu and Kashmir.

This Law was created and implemented to fight the rising number of militancy in the disturbed areas

Both these Act are very similar.

Main points of these Acts:

n This Act is applied to disturbed areas. Disturbed area’ means an area which is for the time being declared by notification under section 3 to be a disturbed area. The Governor has the power to declare an area disturb. An area may be called disturbed if there is a presence of terrorists activities against the Government threatening law and order and causing terror amoung people; and activities disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India.

n Special Power given to the Armed Forces; Any commissioned, warrarnt, non commission officer is considered as an armed personal.

--- if he considers it necessary to fire or kill a person to maintain law and order (coz they were threatening law and order)

--- if he is of the may destroy arms dumps, fortified postion, training camps or shelter from where armed attack may be made

--- he can make arrest without any warrant.

--- he can enter any premises and search without any warrant a person who may have committed or is under suspicion of committing an offense

--- he can stop, search and seize any vehicle which is suspected of carrying a person who may have committed or is under suspicion of committing an offense.

CRITISM AGAINST THESE LAWS

This law is seen as draconian laws. These laws given to much power to the armed forced without sufficient checks and balance (check and balance are the beauty of Indian democracy).

United Nations Human Rights Committee, 1991 questioned the constitutional validity of this law and asked how could it be justifies under Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

There have been a vast number of protestations against this law in the places of these implementation.

On the areas of this implementation of this law there have been high cases of disappearance, a high number of tortures on citizens by the Army. The army has misused their power and killed, tortured, raped and have got away scot free with these crimes.

CHANGE

Each of the protestation in these areas have garnered around a particular incident where there are discrepancies can be easily pointed out. For example in J&K there is the Shopian case.

While SPA still has a strong hold in the North-East States, it has loosened in J&K with only particular districts falling under this Act. This is mainly attributed to the media exposure given to the SPA in J&K while it is ignorned in the North-East States

HINDUTVA AND BJP

HINDUTVA AND BJP

Hindutva was an ideology penned by Veer Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? It made major references for Hindu Nationalism.

Points of Savarkar’s Hindutva:

n Hindutva is a history. It is the history of the country and Hinduism is part of this history and hence a part of Hinutva.

n The Indian Sub-Content is homeland of the hindus. It is the motherland- matrubhume.

n The nation starts with Aryan and with them that hindutva starts.

n Hindutva is about three main things : race (jati), nation (rashtra), culture (sanskar).

n A major factor of Hindutva is about protecting the rashtra. Protecting it from outside influences and invasions. Savarkar uses a lot of historical evidences where the country deflected attacks.

n He says that any religion that has originated from this land is part of the Rashtra, the Hindutva. (he is referring to Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism).

n He also says the everyone who from this Rashtra is part of this Hindutva nation.

The revival of the ideology of Hindutva can be compared to the revival of Marxism.

BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)

BJP was formed in 1980. It was a break away from the Janta Dal Party. It founding members were Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K Advani. BJP continued as a small national party with a small support ( in the 1984 election it won only 4 seats in Lok Sabha). However in 1990 it adopted the ideology of Hindutva switching over from Gandhian ideology. Simply stated the Party corrupted the ideology of Hindutva and turned into a ideology simplying state as India as a Hindu nation (Saravkar was careful to draw a line between Hindutva and Hindism—that is both of them were different). Most of the members had close ties with RSS, a religious and cultural organization of India.

BJP immediately took up the issue of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The issue was that Babur had abolished a temple and set up a mosque, and that was the place where Ramayan was born.

L.K Advani went on a on a chariot around India. This symbolized a ratyiatra where Lord Ram went around in his Chariot and Advani he himself represented Lord Ram. On his tour he raised this issue and he asked people to send blocks of stone to build the temple once again. This method moblised a lot of people, so much so that Indians from abroad were also sending blocks of stone. Eventually all this came down to the destruction of Babri Masjid and the Mumbai riots. After this BJP became very popular and in came to government in 1999.

In Gujarat BJP used a similar method and enticed Hindus to go and massacre Muslims. The issue used here was that allegedly a group of Muslim had burnt a train coach with RSS members. Modi meshes devolvement and Hindutva very well.

Currently BJP for the last eight years has been only in as the opposition.

It as occassionaly raised the issue of the Ram Setu Bridge. This is a mythical bridge which Ramyan used to go to Sri Lanka and which the government proposes to build a tunnel.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT (RTI)

The right to information act was introduced in 2005. This Act has been a revolution in including people in governance. It applies to all parts of India except Jammu and Kashmir(which is covered under a State level law and not a central one) . The Act provides that any citizen (including citizens of J&K) may request information form a public authority which is expected to reply within thirty days. The Central Information Commission was set up to over look the implantation of this act. Every government body was appointed a public information officer who was to reply to the filing of RTIs.

This Act is applied to all authorities: Judicial. Executive and Legislature

The Act specifies that citizens have a right to:

• request any information (as defined).
• take copies of documents.
• inspect documents, works and records.
• take certified samples of materials of work.
• obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes 'or in any other electronic mode' or through printouts.

However there are a some exemptions of information mentioned in this Act. Here are some of them:

- Information that affects the sovereignty of the country and integrity of India- security and economic interests

- Information received in confidence from foreign government

- Information that would endanger the life of a person.

- cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers

n There are some government bodies that are also exempted- to name a few:

--- Raw, IB, CBI, CID, CRPF, CISF

RTI has bought on transparency into the government. One can now find out what happened to ones document and files which are being processed by the government or find out why is an area not getting water. People armed with this information can force official to change.

Due to the undying spirit of the people who are pushing to make more government institutions more transparency by bringing them under this Act. The judiciary has recently decided to exposes it assests, joining the cause of this Act. The Act is slowly getting more more institutions and post under it.

DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

India has turned out to be the biggest democracy on the world. After gaining independence after 1947 Nehru created an interim government and also created a Constituent Assembly to create a Constitution.

In 1950 India adopted the constitution and became a democratic republic.

For the first half our democracy was shadowed by the Congress. Congress held power from the first election in 1950 and till 1977. In 1977 for the first time a non-Congress government came to power under Moraji Desai, which was a coalition government. However this government only lasted for two years before Congress came back to power, in 1980. The reason Congress dominated and was supported in the country because everyone saw it as the party that bought India to freedom and there was no other party strong or nig enough to challenge the Congress.

In 1975 India was imposed the Emergency by the Congress and this is considered to be darkest era of Indian Democracy.

In 1980 the BJP was formed, though it did not seem to challenge the power of Congress. However this party in 1992 after adopting the Policy of Hinduvita posed as threat Congress. In 1999 BJP came to power and that lasted to 2004. The support of the Congress for the first was shaken and it began to lose its support.

However Congress came back to power after the 2004 election and it came back with a bigger bang after the 2009 election with a majority of 206 seats in Lok Sabha. Manmohan Singh is the current Prime Minister.

India has adopted a system that balance powers with three institutions of Indian democracy that is Legislative, Judicial and Administrative. Each one acts as a check and balance on each ones power.

NATIONS

NATION

Nation, named human community possessing an historic territory, shared myths, symbols, and memories, a common and distinctive public culture, and common laws and customs for the members.

There is no exact definition of a nation. They are all varied. Some scholar are stipulate (proposing how the term should be used) or ostensive ( defining it by pointing out examples). There is an assumption that the nation is a product of nationalism. There is an objective of nationhood through criteria’s such as language, religion, territory etc. and also psychological criteria’s such as will, imagination memory etc.

Later on nation also included criteria’s such as borders, citizenship, political community, sovereignty.

Basic features of nations:

1. a growing communal self-definition, including self-naming, and contrasting self with other communities, “us” and “them”; 2. the development and cultivation of a fund of distinctive symbols, myths, memories, and traditions of the community; 3. the growth of collective attachments to an ancestral land, or to a land associated with a particular ethnic community; 4. the development and dissemination of a distinctive and shared public culture to the members of a community; and 5. the standardization and application to its members of common laws and customs, which normally involve common rights and duties. These are general processes that, as we shall see, find their way into many influential accounts of the formation of nations.

In the 19^th and 20^th Century most of the member of the nations were not conscious of their of long standing nation hood and had to be aroused by nationalist. These nationalist began to be revive the country. For example in India we have our own share of leader who during the colonist time aroused the public to stand for their country.

Nation and nationalism are seen as a product of modernization. This is because modernization began to bring people together and closer and a few people realized that they have very similar culture and tradition and theses people began a process of join kingdoms into a nation.

Nations were formed in various ways.

n Gellner- Industrial modernization was uprooting villagers eroding their culture and traditions and forcing them to adopt a new culture and tradition in an anonymous and impersonal city. The homogeneity and fluidity of modern societies serviced by a highly mobile, literate workforce tended to iron out cultural differences.

n Benedict Anderson provides an alternative constructionist account that locates the origins and spread of nations in the realm of culture. Imagined community coz members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them or even hear of them, yet in their minds each lives the image of their communities.The community is imagined as in a comradeship but still inequalities and exploitation take place. Religion is imagined by humans in response to the burden of human suffering

n Eric Hobsbawm and his associates that nations are not only recent, but “invented”, social constructs engineered by ruling state elites through the judicious selection of “invented traditions” of national community, history, mythology, and language, which link a modern nation to a fictive historical past the nation became a form of social control, and nationalism was encouraged in order to manipulate and channel the sentiments and votes of the newly mobilized and enfranchised masses in rapidly industrializing and democratizing societies

Types of nations:

Liberal Nations – Nations are genuine organic communities. It talks of sovereignty and world of nations states.

Conversation Nation – Definite view on a nation. Could be external or internal. Internal means a group of people dictates what it means to a citizen. External means foreign countries dictates what a country is.

Expanision – Expanding what a nation is.

Anti- Colony Nations--- These refer to the nations which are formed by opposing the colonist rule over them. There was a mushrooming of them in 1950s and 60s and especially over Asia and African countries

CASTE POLITICS IN INDIA

CASTE POLITICS IN INDIA

Caste politics in India refers to politics played by politicians to get votes from a particular caste community and this is normally done through a policy of appeasement. It was first started by Babu Janjan Ram from the Congress in 1970s.

Historically, the basic limitation of lower caste mobilisation in the north was its failure to break out of the Sanskritisation mould in contrast to western and southern India where caste movements were questioning Hindu religious culture. In Tamil country, the multi-layered ideology of Dravidianism emerged out of opposition to Brahmanism and Brahmin institutions of colonial rule, and in the hands of Periyar became associated with a vision of Dravidian and Shudra primacy against Aryan Brahmanism. In Maharashtra, Jyotiba Phule blamed Brahmins for the deprivations of the lower castes and hence of the many ills of society. There are three tendencies in lower caste politics in north India: Laloo Yadav's cultural critique and opposition to upper caste-class privilege; Mulayam Singh Yadav's substitution of upper castes politics with a model of a peasant-cum-caste politics; and Mayawati's Dalit power agenda.

Caste system has been in India for a very long time. Various attempts to eradicate it has resulted failure, so much so that Dr. Ambedakar even decided to convert to Buddhism to escape. The Indian Government officially abolished the caste system in 1950 after the enactment of the Constitutions. Untouchability was abolished under article 17. It forbids discrimination of caste under Article 15. However the leaders still realized that enactment of this would not be enough since it would require changing the mindset of the public and for this a reservation system was created. Reservation was given to Schedule Tribes (STs) and Schedule Castes (SCs) and Dalits. Reservation was supposed to be removed after ten years of independence, however ten years later there was still a strong discrimination against the lower caste and hence through a constitutional amendment it was extended. In time the situation has not changed while the reservation only increased from political bodies to administrative bodies to educational bodies. Article 47 provided promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker sections. Also there is the ST and SC Commissions that oversees the welfare of SCs and STs.

THE MANDAL COMMISION

In 1979 the Mandal Commision was set up to identify the socially or educational backward. It was headed by an MP, Bindheshwari Mandal to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination.

The Commission gave reservation from 27% to 49% in government jobs and universities. It introduced OBCs (Other Backward Classes) . The Commision laid down certain criteria on which if a community passed it could become an OBC. The big controversy over addition of OBCs is that if a community is backward in a particular State or area it did not mean that community is backward in others. For example the Jats in Bihar are backward but the Jats in Punjab are quite well to do.

CASTE IN TODAYS PLOTICS

Caste plays an important role in politics. Though reservations provisions have been there since independence there seems to be a slow change in the minds of the people. Interestingly the tenure of the reservations provision will be getting over in a year.

Indian parties playing vote bank politics make sure that they have people from these communities to show that they are representation that community. So much so that Parties that are special appealing to these communities have been set up such as Janta Dal, BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party).

The BSP can be called revolutionary party in terms of caste politics. The Party was set up (1984) Kanshi Ram. The party claims to take inspiration from Dr. Ambedakar. The party claims to represent all the repressed people. The significance of this in 2007 BSP lead by Mayawati, a Dalit leader captured power in Uttar Pradesh. For the first time in India a Dalit leader can boast of such feats.

PANCHAYAT RAJ

PANCHAYAT RAJ

In democracy it is about giving power to the people and that’s what panchayat raj is about. The Central Government gives local political bodies autonomy. The Government recognized a third tier political after the Central and State Level it recognized the village. It was adopted by the government in 190s and 60s and it also has a Constitutional provision in the 73^rd Amendment in 1992. The point of Panchyat Raj is decentralization.

Decentralization has been able to create more accountability:

--- Active participation (voting, attending meeting, running for office) in governance by all villager.

--- Fiscal (financial) and political authorities from higher authorities of government.

--- The existence of competitive political parties whose legitimacy depends on the support of the majority of the village and that include the STs, SCs and weaker sections.

Dr. Ambedakar, Gandhiji and Nehru all had different views on establishment of Panchayat Raj.

n Dr. Ambedakar: His main aim was to abolish the untouchables system. He belived that it existed at all levels and giving power the people at lower levels were not good. He also did not completely support centralization. He believed in modernity and he look towards urban areas.

n Gandhi: wholly supported the idea of panchayat raj, of giving the people the right to geverven themselves.

n Nehru: He was against this idea. He felt that people of the villages were not equipped with the knowledge to govern themselves.

PANCHAYAT RAJ FOLLOWS A THREE TIER SYSTEM

Under the 73^rd Amendment there are three level of the Panchayat Raj

n Gram Sabha at the village level which is headed by a council leader called a Sarpanch

n Panchayat Samiti consists of all the Sarphachs in a Taluka from all the Gram Sabhas. It is the link between the Gream Panchayat and the district administration.

n

FOUR STAGES

Panchayat raj has an evolution of four stages.

n Feudal/Traditional: Panchaytat with a single head

n Managerial Paternal: Here a group of people benefit controlling the Panchayat. For example if a sugar factory owner gets elected to the village all the sugar farmer become a patron of the person. This types are found in Maharashtra and Delhi.

n Fragmented : Here the groups are fragmented. Panchayat do not patronize a group but the village as a whole. Found in West Bengal.

n Democracy: The last and final stage. The ultimate stage. No more inequalities.

CRITCISM AGAINST PANCHAYAT RAJ

n There is a threat that the village will be held by a few who do not care about the welfare of the village and patronize only a particular section of society.

n There will be a filter down of political parties resulting in villagers losing power and the panchayat becomes all about politics and which party is winning instead of focusing on village issues.

n Villagers are uneducated and are not able to take proper decisions.

n Villager will support a lot of wrong decisions if given a free hand. This can be seen in Khap Panchayats in Haryana.

Blue ocean Strategy notes

BLUE OCEAN STARTEGY

NEW MARKET SPACE

This means creating a new market demand. Companies need to stop competing with each other, they need to stop competiting with the competiton.

Red ocean- all the industries in exisitence

Blue Ocean- All the industries that are not in exisitance- unknown market space.

THE CONTINUING CREATION OF BLUE OCEANS

Most of earlier industries were once upon a time blue ocean – automobiles, health care, avation

Market is on a continuous evolution. Industries never stand still.

Most of the strategic thinking has been based red ocean stragegies.

14% of business launches are blue ocean that take 38% of companies revenue and reap a 61% profit in a company as compared to Red ocean which occupies the rest.

THE NEED FOR BLUE OCEAN MARKETS

While supply is on the rise there is no clear rise in the demand and this includes developing markets to. In overcrowded industries differentiating brands become harder in both economic upturns and down turns.

FROM COMPANY TO INDUSTRY TO STRAGIC MOVE

Companies need not compete head on. A strategic move is a set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market creating business offerings. Blue ocean can be captured by all and any industry.

VALUE INNOVATION THE CONNERSTONE OF BLUE OCEAN

Blue ocean does not follow a bench mark of competition instead it looks toward value innovation. Value innovation looks to create a new set of demand and market. It does not focus on beating the competition but opening new and uncontested market space. Value innovation place equal focus on value and innovation. Value without innovation focuses on value creation. Value innovation is a new way of thinking about and executing strategy that results in creation of a blue ocean and a break from the competition. Value innovation sees that blue ocean purses differentiation and low cost simultaneously. For example a circus acquiring expensivce clowns and lion tamers results in having high cost structure and no new experience for the customers. However Cirque du Soleil created a theme which had a story lined which resulted in a theatre performance and eliminated the expensive and gave a whole new experience.

Value innovation (Figure 1-2) involves reducing cost (eliminating things that the industry competes on) while increasing buyer value(by creating and offering a whole new experience)

FOUR ACTION FRAMEWORK (Figure 2-2)

Reduce- Raise A new value curve Eliminate-Create

1^ST Question: Which of the factors that the industry take for granted should be eliminated?

2^nd Question Which factors should be reduced well below the industries standers?

3^rd Question Which factors should be raised well above the industries standards?

4^th Question Which factors should be created that the industry has never seen?

[This system forces a person to ask question and take action

1^st Question- Eliminate factors that companies have long competed on. These are factors that have been take for granted which no longer have any value or may even detract value.

2^nd Question- Determine if products or services have been overdressed to compete with others and have resulted in a burden for customers.

3^rd Question- Uncover and eliminate the compromise ur industry forces customers to make.

4^th Question- Help u discover new sources of value for ur buyers and to create new demand and shift the strategic pricing of the industry.]

1^st Managers do not eliminate or reduce their investment on what the industry competes on resulting in mounting cost structures.

2^nd Gives insight into buyer’s value and new demand. Also shows how to reconstruct buyer value element resulting in giving a whole new experience and keeping cost structure low.

For example Yellow tail did not steal the sale form the competitors it grew its market. Yellow tail did not have to compete with sale as it grew its own market; it bought non-wine drinkers (beer drinker and cocktail drinkers) into the market by offering wine which was soft in taste and the flavours were of fruit flavours; the packaging was of simple bottles of bright vibrant colours- orange and yellow; the employees became the brand ambassadors by wearing bushman hats, oil skins and jackets, and this made the employees very happy; the variety of the wine were of only two a red and white. All this contribute to creating a new market- wine towards non-wine drinkers.

Applying the four grid system gives four benefits:

§ It pushes industry to pursue low cost and differentiation.

§ It forces on companies that are only focused on raising and creating and lifting costs structure and over engineered products and services-- a common plight amoung companies

§ It is easily understood by all level managers and creates a high level of engagement in its application.

§ Coz completing the grid is challenging it forces a company to scrutinize every inch of itself.

THREE FEATURES OF A GOOD STRATEGY

FOUCS: Every strategy has a focus and a company’s strategic profile or value curve should show that. For example Southwest’s profile gives three focuses—friendly services, speed and frequent point to point departures.

Divergence: The value curve of blue ocean strategies always are different from the rest. By applying the four grid system they differentiate their profile and stand apart from the rest.

Compelling Tag Line: A good tag should not only deliver a clear message but also advertise an offering otherwise the customer may lose interests. A good strategy always contains a strong and authentic tagline.

FOCUS ON THE BIG PICUTRE AND NOT NUMBERS

Focus on the big picture, not numbers. This approach unlock the creativity of many people within an organization, opens an organization’s eyes to blue ocean strategy and are easy to understand and communicate for effective execution.

FOCUSING ON THE BIG PICTURE

By building a company’s strategic planning process around a strategy canvas a company focus and its managers focus on their main attention(big picture) rather than become immersed in numbers and jargon and getting caught up in operational details.

Strategy Canvas does three things:

§ 1^st it shows the strategic profile of an industry by depicting the factor (and the future factors) that affect competition

§ 2^nd it shows the strategic profile of current and potential competitors .

§ 3^rd it shows a company’s strategic profile/ value curve—depicting how it invests and how it might invest in the future.

If a company’s strategy curve does not reveal that then it is likely to mixed-up, undifferentiated and hard to communicate.

DRAWING YOUR STRATEGY CANVAS

Asses what extent you company and its competitors offer various competition factors. Most managers thing they know how they and their competitors fare, but what they have is only a two dimensional image and few can see the overall dynamics of the industry.

§ 1) Visual Awakening: --- Compare your business with you competitors by drawing ‘as is’ strategy canvas.

--- See where your strategy needs change.

§ 2) Visual Exploration: ---Go into the field to explore the six paths of creating blue ocean

--- Observe the distinctive advantage of alternative products and services.

--- See which factors you should eliminate, create or change

§ 3) Visual Strategy: --- Draw your ‘to be’ strategy canvas based on insights from your field observation.

--- Get feedback on alternative strategy from customers, customer’s competitors and non customers.

--- Use feedback to build the best ‘to be’ strategy’

§ 4) Visual Communication: --- Distribute your before-and-after strategy profiles on one page for easy comparison.

--- Support only those projects and operational moves that allow your company to close the gape to actualize the new strategy.