About 10% of the Indian workforce employed in the organised sector.
Which is around 40 million of the 470 million woking people.
35 million Indians pay income tax.
21 million employed by the Government, 14 million in the private sector.
Out of which 1 million in the IT sector.
In 1991 indian had 1 billion dollars in Forex reserves
In 2006 it was 140 billion dollars.
7 million people in manufacturing in India's organized sector. China has 100 million people in manufacturing.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
The Book List
"I vow to review all books that I read this year."
-New Year Resolution 2001.
Well I'm finally working on my New Year's resolution :).
May 22nd 2007
The No Asshole Rule, Robert I Sutton, 186 pages, 2007
An interesting book about people at work, in lie who are rude and overbearing towards other folks.
Mostly deals with workplace bullies. Quick read, big print.
Would recommend .. for a light read. Nothing deep here. But relevant yes.
May 20th 2007
The Long Tail, Chris Anderson 226 pages, 2006
This book has been talked about for sometime now. Anderson's article in 'Wired', with the same name, was one of the most read articles on the net. He also has a blog by that name.
This book essentially talks about how retailers like amazon, itunes, rhapsody and also companies like netflix have changed the game. Customers now have a greater choice and do not have to see,buy,consume what everyone else does ... but things that cater to their tastes.
Sites like netflix have 90% of their 55000 titles rented at least once per quarter, which is really high. the 80:20 rule (80% of the demand is fulfilled by 20% of the product range) is now more like 60:20. The demand for obscure, lesser known songs, DVD's etc .. is high enough to ensure a high revenue even for such niches. This makes the tail longer.
(His last chapter mentions this product http://www.solid-scape.com/t612.html, that converts designs into actual 3-d models. It's really cool :) )
May 9th 2007
Wikinomics - Don Tapscott 2006
A book that discusses Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on the world. Not only the world of business but also how technology helps spread news quickly (London bombings), help people (Hurricane Katrina). Collaboration is the buzz word. Many many people collaborating over the net has resulted in huge benefits for companies .. specially in the areas of medicine, research, pharmaceuticals, even mining.
Discusses how companies like Boeing stay ahead by using technology to communicate with vendors and making them partners and stakeholders in the process and not subordinates.
An interesting book. Could have included a lot more case studies. (difficult to hold interest inbetween and then the book picks up)
March 22 2007
Naked Conversation-How blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers.
Robert Scoble/Shel Israel
Published 2006, 232 pages. (credits pages not included)
An interesting book on how companies can use blogs to leverage their image and also help sell. It's more image that selling for companies. For small businesses it's more selling that image.
Microsoft and Sun are positively using blogs. Whereas Google and Apple(surprisingly) are not very open in this area. The book has a rambling, non heavy style.
This book mentiones quite a few companies and how the blogging stratosphere has helped or kicked them. How blogging has created problems and how blogging has helped them resolve issues.
This is good reading, a lot of useful information, good case studies. Would be extremely beneficial if CEO's actually read it, understood the concepts and leveraged employees to blog for the greater common good.
March 27th 2007
In spite of the Gods- The strange rise of modern India
Edward Luce
2007 356 pages
I wasn't sure of what to expect from this book. A lot of books on India are huge exaggerations of what the country is.
This book turned out to be extremely well rounded. The author has travelled the length and breadth of the country and interacted with academicians, civil servants, politicians, government employees, judges, entrepreneurs, policemen, social activists and more folks and presents an interesting picture of a very diverse India. The author has seriously covered a lot of ground here.
Did he actually figure india out?
Not really. India is an extremely complicated country and there's no way that it can be explained in a 356 page book. Readers should keep this is mind while reading the book. ( I was extremely curious to see how the foreign audience would react and so checked the few reviews on Amazon .. but did not get much. My feel(being an Indian) is that there is a lot in the book that is true, but that is not really representative of the India a normal person would encounter on a daily basis. )
Luce has done a good job getting information across, regarding all his encounters. He is bang on when discussing the political machinery, the way parliament works, corruption in political parties, the fact that none of the parties really offer the best option for the voter etc.
He is a little harsh on the RSS. The RSS is essentially an organization that has on its books everyday people who can fight with a wooden staff. Compared to the kind of training that cross border insurgents get, the RSS is an extremely extremely tame organization.
India's infrastructure, better law implementation, HIV/AIDS and the environment are definitely the issues that the country needs to address.
The only topic not covered is CRICKET. There's no way a writer can cover India without discussing cricket and the obsession for the sport.
All in all a nice narrative, makes interesting reading. And like I mentioned before .. India is too complex to be captured in a book :).
The book ends on a very nice note. His last tryst with the little kid is pretty amusing.
Good quotes:
Amar Singh about the press: "They eat my food and then speak ill of me."
Mahatma Gandhi : "The Hindu by nature is a coward and the Muslim a bully."
-New Year Resolution 2001.
Well I'm finally working on my New Year's resolution :).
May 22nd 2007
The No Asshole Rule, Robert I Sutton, 186 pages, 2007
An interesting book about people at work, in lie who are rude and overbearing towards other folks.
Mostly deals with workplace bullies. Quick read, big print.
Would recommend .. for a light read. Nothing deep here. But relevant yes.
May 20th 2007
The Long Tail, Chris Anderson 226 pages, 2006
This book has been talked about for sometime now. Anderson's article in 'Wired', with the same name, was one of the most read articles on the net. He also has a blog by that name.
This book essentially talks about how retailers like amazon, itunes, rhapsody and also companies like netflix have changed the game. Customers now have a greater choice and do not have to see,buy,consume what everyone else does ... but things that cater to their tastes.
Sites like netflix have 90% of their 55000 titles rented at least once per quarter, which is really high. the 80:20 rule (80% of the demand is fulfilled by 20% of the product range) is now more like 60:20. The demand for obscure, lesser known songs, DVD's etc .. is high enough to ensure a high revenue even for such niches. This makes the tail longer.
(His last chapter mentions this product http://www.solid-scape.com/t612.html, that converts designs into actual 3-d models. It's really cool :) )
May 9th 2007
Wikinomics - Don Tapscott 2006
A book that discusses Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on the world. Not only the world of business but also how technology helps spread news quickly (London bombings), help people (Hurricane Katrina). Collaboration is the buzz word. Many many people collaborating over the net has resulted in huge benefits for companies .. specially in the areas of medicine, research, pharmaceuticals, even mining.
Discusses how companies like Boeing stay ahead by using technology to communicate with vendors and making them partners and stakeholders in the process and not subordinates.
An interesting book. Could have included a lot more case studies. (difficult to hold interest inbetween and then the book picks up)
March 22 2007
Naked Conversation-How blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers.
Robert Scoble/Shel Israel
Published 2006, 232 pages. (credits pages not included)
An interesting book on how companies can use blogs to leverage their image and also help sell. It's more image that selling for companies. For small businesses it's more selling that image.
Microsoft and Sun are positively using blogs. Whereas Google and Apple(surprisingly) are not very open in this area. The book has a rambling, non heavy style.
This book mentiones quite a few companies and how the blogging stratosphere has helped or kicked them. How blogging has created problems and how blogging has helped them resolve issues.
This is good reading, a lot of useful information, good case studies. Would be extremely beneficial if CEO's actually read it, understood the concepts and leveraged employees to blog for the greater common good.
March 27th 2007
In spite of the Gods- The strange rise of modern India
Edward Luce
2007 356 pages
I wasn't sure of what to expect from this book. A lot of books on India are huge exaggerations of what the country is.
This book turned out to be extremely well rounded. The author has travelled the length and breadth of the country and interacted with academicians, civil servants, politicians, government employees, judges, entrepreneurs, policemen, social activists and more folks and presents an interesting picture of a very diverse India. The author has seriously covered a lot of ground here.
Did he actually figure india out?
Not really. India is an extremely complicated country and there's no way that it can be explained in a 356 page book. Readers should keep this is mind while reading the book. ( I was extremely curious to see how the foreign audience would react and so checked the few reviews on Amazon .. but did not get much. My feel(being an Indian) is that there is a lot in the book that is true, but that is not really representative of the India a normal person would encounter on a daily basis. )
Luce has done a good job getting information across, regarding all his encounters. He is bang on when discussing the political machinery, the way parliament works, corruption in political parties, the fact that none of the parties really offer the best option for the voter etc.
He is a little harsh on the RSS. The RSS is essentially an organization that has on its books everyday people who can fight with a wooden staff. Compared to the kind of training that cross border insurgents get, the RSS is an extremely extremely tame organization.
India's infrastructure, better law implementation, HIV/AIDS and the environment are definitely the issues that the country needs to address.
The only topic not covered is CRICKET. There's no way a writer can cover India without discussing cricket and the obsession for the sport.
All in all a nice narrative, makes interesting reading. And like I mentioned before .. India is too complex to be captured in a book :).
The book ends on a very nice note. His last tryst with the little kid is pretty amusing.
Good quotes:
Amar Singh about the press: "They eat my food and then speak ill of me."
Mahatma Gandhi : "The Hindu by nature is a coward and the Muslim a bully."
The Movie List
I've watched a lot of movies. But when people ask me for recommendations I struggle to remember all the good ones. This list is to avoid that struggle :) and make good recommendations of movies to see and movies to miss.
I'm more inclined towards Drama and Action, so not too much in terms of Humor and Cartoons.
Let me know if you need detail on any particular movie and why I've classified it so.
This list is 'work in progress', so keep visiting.
Movies seen recently
Fracture Good one (2007 Anthony Hopkins)
Bourne Ultimatum 2007 (must watch)
A Little Trip to Heaven 2005(good)
Peaceful Warrior (2006, Good movie. Inspired from real life)
Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp, Al Pacino) Good gangster movie
Network (Watch this one. An old movie. I think won an Oscar for Screenplay. Very relevant today. It talks of how a TV network is manipulated for ratings.)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Documentary. Good)
Music And Lyrics (2006 .. bad movie .. Hugh Grant standard)
The Shooter (Mark Wahlberg 2007 Action Watchable)
Miss Potter (2006 .. very nice movie. Not too dramatic .. but well done)
Life as a house (Kevin Kline) Drama, Oscar nominated. Well made
The painted Veil 2006 (Edward Norton, Naomi Watts) Good movie
Venus (2006 Peter O'Toole, Academy Award nominated) Good Movie
Absolute Power (Clint Eastwood 1997. Well made)
Apocalypto (2006, unbelievable movie. Go and watch it)
Central Station(Spanish movie. Pretty good.)
The Secret Life of Words (2005 Fantastic movie. Ending not well done.)
Freedom Writers(2006 .. Excellent movie. Must watch)
Little Children (2006 .. average)
The Motorcycle Diaries (2005, Spanish, Must see)
Deja Vu (2006, action flick. Average.. but seeable)
The Queen (2006 Excellent performance by Helen Mirren. Must watch movie)
The Last King of Scotland (2006 good movie)
Notes on a Scandal (2006 Extremely well made.)
Children of Men (2006, Terrible movie)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006 , good)
Once upon a time in America (1984 4 hrs long) Good gangster movie
Failure to Launch (2006 chick flick) Okay
Bobby (2006) Excellent movie. Ensemble cast. Well made. Golden Globe Award winner.
The Last kiss (missable)
Ferris Buellers day off (Comedy, old movie 1989.. but very well made)
300 (Good action movie. Based on 300 Spartans who battle the Greeks. Well made)
An Unfinished Life (reasonably good)
DOCUMENTARIES
Winged Migration
The Fog of War
Bowling for Columbine
Who killed the electric car?
The Inconvenient Truth
Why we fight
Enron: the smartest people in the room
March of the penguins
OUTSTANDING
Thank you for Smoking
On Golden Pond
Kinsey
Billy Elliot
Million Dollar Baby
Almost Famous
Hotel Rwanda
Batman Returns
Animals are beautiful people
The gods must be crazy 1 and 2
Lost in translation (not a populat choice)
Sideways
The Shower (Chinese)
Big Fish
Forrest Gump
Ray
The Green Mile
Crash
Blood Diamond
Malena
The Shawshank Redemption
VERY GOOD
The Inside Man
A Few Good Men
A Beautiful Life
The Insider
The Others
Babel
Walk the Line
Munich
Casino Royal
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Crash
Run Lola Run
Trainspotting
Snatch
Syriana
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
25th hour
The Constant Gardener
The Motorcycle Diaries
Traffic
The Prestige
American History X
Hustle & Flow
Eyes Wide Shut
Garden State
True Romance (very violent)
Star Wars (all parts)
Little Miss Sunshine
The 40 year old virgin
Casino Royale
Rainman
Fargo
GOOD
I, Robot
Assault on Precinct 13
The Last Samurai
Paycheck
Minority Report
Vanilla Sky
Jerry Maguire
The Firm
Born on the 4th of July
The Transporter
Babel
Good Night, And Good Luck.
Four Feathers
North Country
All the President's Men
The Aviator
Hollywoodland
Collateral
Mission Impossible 1, 2, 3
The Manchurian Candidate
Sahara
The Interpreter
Brokeback Mountain
Finding Neverland
Magnolia
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Two for the Money
World Trade Center
Guess Who
Freda
Any Given Sunday
Broken Flowers
Girl, Interrupted
Jarhead
Flags of Our Fathers
Memoirs of a Geisha
War of the Worlds
Collateral
PASSABLE
Shall We Dance
Boys Don't cry (dark movie)
The Holiday
The Sentinel
All the King's Men
The color of money
Cocktail
Tristan and Isolde
A Good year
Borat
Flightplan
The Breakup
Rumor has it
Hitch
Lord of War
Ladder 49
Match Point
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
21 grams
The Illusionist
Cinderella Man
TERRIBLE
Harsh Times
The Illusionist
Mr and Mrs Smith
Derailed
Firewall
Closer
Mary Antoinette
Must love dogs
Lucky Number Slevin
A History of Violence
The Terminal
Castaway
After the Sunset
The Notebook
I'm more inclined towards Drama and Action, so not too much in terms of Humor and Cartoons.
Let me know if you need detail on any particular movie and why I've classified it so.
This list is 'work in progress', so keep visiting.
Movies seen recently
Fracture Good one (2007 Anthony Hopkins)
Bourne Ultimatum 2007 (must watch)
A Little Trip to Heaven 2005(good)
Peaceful Warrior (2006, Good movie. Inspired from real life)
Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp, Al Pacino) Good gangster movie
Network (Watch this one. An old movie. I think won an Oscar for Screenplay. Very relevant today. It talks of how a TV network is manipulated for ratings.)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Documentary. Good)
Music And Lyrics (2006 .. bad movie .. Hugh Grant standard)
The Shooter (Mark Wahlberg 2007 Action Watchable)
Miss Potter (2006 .. very nice movie. Not too dramatic .. but well done)
Life as a house (Kevin Kline) Drama, Oscar nominated. Well made
The painted Veil 2006 (Edward Norton, Naomi Watts) Good movie
Venus (2006 Peter O'Toole, Academy Award nominated) Good Movie
Absolute Power (Clint Eastwood 1997. Well made)
Apocalypto (2006, unbelievable movie. Go and watch it)
Central Station(Spanish movie. Pretty good.)
The Secret Life of Words (2005 Fantastic movie. Ending not well done.)
Freedom Writers(2006 .. Excellent movie. Must watch)
Little Children (2006 .. average)
The Motorcycle Diaries (2005, Spanish, Must see)
Deja Vu (2006, action flick. Average.. but seeable)
The Queen (2006 Excellent performance by Helen Mirren. Must watch movie)
The Last King of Scotland (2006 good movie)
Notes on a Scandal (2006 Extremely well made.)
Children of Men (2006, Terrible movie)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006 , good)
Once upon a time in America (1984 4 hrs long) Good gangster movie
Failure to Launch (2006 chick flick) Okay
Bobby (2006) Excellent movie. Ensemble cast. Well made. Golden Globe Award winner.
The Last kiss (missable)
Ferris Buellers day off (Comedy, old movie 1989.. but very well made)
300 (Good action movie. Based on 300 Spartans who battle the Greeks. Well made)
An Unfinished Life (reasonably good)
DOCUMENTARIES
Winged Migration
The Fog of War
Bowling for Columbine
Who killed the electric car?
The Inconvenient Truth
Why we fight
Enron: the smartest people in the room
March of the penguins
OUTSTANDING
Thank you for Smoking
On Golden Pond
Kinsey
Billy Elliot
Million Dollar Baby
Almost Famous
Hotel Rwanda
Batman Returns
Animals are beautiful people
The gods must be crazy 1 and 2
Lost in translation (not a populat choice)
Sideways
The Shower (Chinese)
Big Fish
Forrest Gump
Ray
The Green Mile
Crash
Blood Diamond
Malena
The Shawshank Redemption
VERY GOOD
The Inside Man
A Few Good Men
A Beautiful Life
The Insider
The Others
Babel
Walk the Line
Munich
Casino Royal
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Crash
Run Lola Run
Trainspotting
Snatch
Syriana
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
25th hour
The Constant Gardener
The Motorcycle Diaries
Traffic
The Prestige
American History X
Hustle & Flow
Eyes Wide Shut
Garden State
True Romance (very violent)
Star Wars (all parts)
Little Miss Sunshine
The 40 year old virgin
Casino Royale
Rainman
Fargo
GOOD
I, Robot
Assault on Precinct 13
The Last Samurai
Paycheck
Minority Report
Vanilla Sky
Jerry Maguire
The Firm
Born on the 4th of July
The Transporter
Babel
Good Night, And Good Luck.
Four Feathers
North Country
All the President's Men
The Aviator
Hollywoodland
Collateral
Mission Impossible 1, 2, 3
The Manchurian Candidate
Sahara
The Interpreter
Brokeback Mountain
Finding Neverland
Magnolia
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Two for the Money
World Trade Center
Guess Who
Freda
Any Given Sunday
Broken Flowers
Girl, Interrupted
Jarhead
Flags of Our Fathers
Memoirs of a Geisha
War of the Worlds
Collateral
PASSABLE
Shall We Dance
Boys Don't cry (dark movie)
The Holiday
The Sentinel
All the King's Men
The color of money
Cocktail
Tristan and Isolde
A Good year
Borat
Flightplan
The Breakup
Rumor has it
Hitch
Lord of War
Ladder 49
Match Point
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
21 grams
The Illusionist
Cinderella Man
TERRIBLE
Harsh Times
The Illusionist
Mr and Mrs Smith
Derailed
Firewall
Closer
Mary Antoinette
Must love dogs
Lucky Number Slevin
A History of Violence
The Terminal
Castaway
After the Sunset
The Notebook
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