11300 and still going

Yes, Iam talking about the Sensex.The BSE is in its bull run for more than 24 months now. So what is it signalling? India is buzzing with activity. India is the economy to watch in the next decade. For the first time in the last ten years the Sensex has crossed the DOW. Traders are exalted. Investors are queueing up to invest in the stocks. Mutual funds are at an all time high. Foreign investments in India are piling up. The whole economy is blooming. Experts say that there is a correction overdue. But the correction does not seem to be coming. But most say that the next financial year will see " the rise and rise of the sensex". With the expected GDP growth of 10% the sensex should gain a further of 2500 points in 12 months. The stoic march will continue unless something goes wrong in the economy like a bad monsoon or reduced inflows. At the moment the investors, the companies and the financial institutions are hoping that the cruise never ends.

Ghost Villages and Sleeping Towns

With the advent of the IT and the ITES companies the metros are becoming bigger and wider in very short period of time. People from the second rung cities and the smaller towns and villages have moved to the metros in search of high paying jobs. Seventy-five percent of the Engineering graduates every year leave their home towns to the IT hubs like Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad. The rate at which these metros are expanding the mini metros in these states are shrinking. As people move out, more family businesses are shutting shop. No one in the next genaration is intrested in running the business.The average age of these towns and villages keep increasing. Not many want to try their hand at new ventures.They think the chances of these ventures biting or burning the fingers are very steep.

In case of other professionals like Doctors, Chartered Accountants and Lawyers fifty percent move over to the metros but the rest stay in their home towns. Journalists, Accountants, Bankers, Designers, Artists do not stick to a particular place at all. It is the Institutions that matter. But these towns do have small scale Industries. These Industrial owners believe that their breed will die out if Multi-nationals come into their town. But with the majority of the talent moving to the metros will these small scale industries be able to grow?

There is the attractiveness of higher pay packet and improved standard of living but should we allow these small towns and villages to die? If the villages die there are higher chances of the productive land to come down. Are we initiating the slow death of Agriculture? In this hi-fi world are we forgetting the natural elements of the earth?

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Another women's day is around the corner. The upliftment of women is still only talked about in many countries. There is commitment from a lot of women to better the life of other women who are in dire straits. The celebration of women's day does not get the attention it deserves. It is celebrated in schools, colleges and a few NGOs. The celebration of this day warms the heart of women. In many colleges debates and lectures are arranged on this day but does it serve its purpose? Aren't women still the second fiddle in the society?