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About eight months are left for the Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination 2006. The Mains will conducted in October/November.
I'm in that situation in which every CSE aspirant finds himself before beginning serious preparation. In my case, three major issues need to be solved to get out of this:
1. Coaching:
I felt it's not that necessary. But this is a sort of exam in which your preparation must be extremely focussed. Coaching centers help you do that. I bowed to this fact.
Delhi is the place where most aspirants find coaching. Hyderabad comes next. But I felt Delhi has the best institutes and I'll be able to get better guidance there. I decided that if I'm going to Delhi, I'll join Vajiram and Ravi's, starting in October. It got superb results in the past. But Hyderabad also has good institutes. They have also shown good if not great results.
Moreover, Delhi is a new place. I have to adjust to entirely new conditions. Hyderabad seems to be a better place in this aspect. But I feel there'll be too many distractions. So there's a dilemma here. Delhi or good old Hyderabad?
2. Optionals:
The Preliminary Exam has only one optional paper. I've decided on Geography. The Main Exam has two optionals. I've decided on Geography for one optional. The issue is the second optional.
Previously, I thought, since my graduation subject is Electrical Engineering, I'll go for that. But some time back, I've seen the past question papers. I felt it'll be too tough. This is a competitive examination. Even a few marks can make a lot of difference. It's a vast and deep subject, similar to Mathematics, Physics and other Engineering subjects. You have to be exceptionally good to do well in these sort of papers. One bad paper can screw the exam entirely.
So, I've been thinking about other subjects like Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology etc., which are thought to be relatively easier to prepare, even to those who dont have a background in them. I must make a decision soon.
3. Starting Point:
Do I start preparation when coaching starts? Or do I start it now itself? If I should start now, with what?
Uncle Chandramouli came over this evening. He appeared in this exam too in his younger days. He worked very hard but couldnt get through. He tried for State Services and he got through. Today, he's a Superintendent in the State Excise Department.
He was not happy with me. He asked me to start reading NCERT books. I myself planned to buy these books and start studying. But there were too many books. I didnt know which ones to pick up first. So, it was in the background for sometime. He asked me to start studying right from tomorrow. He also pointed out that I already wasted time. On the issue of the second optional, he asked me to go to the coaching institutes in Hyderabad and discuss with the guys there.
He's really given me a wake up call. I'm going to do what he asked me to do. Reading NCERT books will be the starting point. Thanks to uncle! He's given me some fresh impetus.
This is not a bedtime story. August 29 was very lucky for Hyderabad. Not because the government hit off a deal with a major MNC to set up shop in Hyderabad. Because a major disaster could have happened at the airport but didnt.
At 11.00 PM., the lights lining the runway at the Begumpet airport suddenly went off. A bulldozer was working on the runway when, accidentally, it snapped off a power cable. The entire 3 Km. long runway went dark. At 1.10 AM., a Lufthansa flight arrived eight minutes earlier. The pilot was shocked to see that the place where the runway is supposed to be was entirely dark.
The flight waited for an anxious half hour in midair by circling around the airport. Atleast the ATC was working. So, it was possible to give instructions to the pilot to divert and land in Bangalore, which it did. The power came back only at 2.30 AM., three and a half hours after it went off!
Imagine what would have happened if the cable snapped when a flight was landing!
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill 2004 has been passed on August 23, after a number of recommendations and modifications to the original features present when it was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2004.
Among the main features of the Bill, some are:
1. 100 days of guaranteed employment to one member of every household in a village.
2. The minimum stipulated wage is Rs. 60 per day. In States which have a minimum of higher than Rs. 60, the wage will be equivalent to the State minimum. In States which have a minimum of lower than Rs. 60, however, the minimum wage will be Rs. 60.
3. In the initial years, the scheme will be introduced only in 200 districts. It'll spread to all 600 districts in the next five years.
4. The implementation will be carried out at the Village Panchayat level. State Governments and NGOs will also play a role.
The Bill as a whole is largely welcomed as it is targeted at reducing poverty at the village level, where it is largely concentrated. I appreciate the target. Also, the nature of the employment is unskilled, which makes the employment guarantee available to just about every adult. But I think some of the main features of the Bill do not seem satisfactory.
The Bill guarantees employment of 100 days to one member of each household. This means this member will bring an income of Rs. 6000 per year into the household. This becomes Rs. 500 per month. This is well and good for a small family of two or three. This will give them minimum sustenance. But what if the family is a large joint family and there are school going children in the family? This will definitely not be enough.
The Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, has said that some member of a large family may already be having employment and so, this employment will generate additional income to the family. Nobody knows how many will be having employment already. Even if some have employment already, what about the large family in which no one has any sort of employment?
Only one member of a household can get the guarantee. What about the others if it was, say a joint family? There may be every chance of conflict arising in the family on the issue of who is going to get the job. Every adult is an independent citizen of this country and so, the benefits of such a guarantee should trickle down to every adult.
Another issue of great importance is the implementation. They have passed the Bill alright. But its effectiveness is what actually matters. Effectiveness must be ensured by strict implementation from all sides i.e., the Village Panchayats, the State Governments, the NGOs. However, judging by past failures of similar Bills at the State level, one does not feel too confident about its implementation.
People in villages may have already started dreaming about the benefits of the Bill, whereas, people in towns and cities will view the project as a new, fertile breeding ground for corruption. I can visualise Village Panchayat and State Government officers licking their lips in anticipation of the disbursement of funds. The amount of money involved is huge, about Rs. 40,000 crores per year. Village Panchayats are known to be very corrupt in most parts of the country. Many people think the Bill will spawn even more corruption.
The Bill, of course, calls for strict implementation and proper monitoring. Similar Bills at the State level in the past have done so but with dismal effect. Transparency and accountancy have been continually absent.
The government has done well by passing this Bill successfully. But the next phase i.e., the implementation, is most crucial. It should take into account the dismal failures met by similar Bills at the State level and see that past mistakes will not be repeated.
As predicted, Australia lost the fourth Test, giving England a historic 2-1 lead. England were set 129 to win. Lee and Warne made things hard for them but the target was too small. England finally prevailed.
Well done England!
"Ashes to Ashes, England to Dust", screamed a headline of a national daily after England lost yet another Test in the previous Ashes series. This time around, it looks like it's going to be Australia's turn to bite the dust.
Since the World Cup win in 1999, Australia's progress has shown a remarkably upward trend. The curve was always going up. There were very few times when it showed a dip and the dip was always small. The few times they have been really challenged were during their tour of India in 2001 and India's subsequent tour of Australia in 2003-04. The West Indies' world record chase in 2003 at Antigua also comes to the mind.
Although its recent performance in Test cricket was splendid, not many would have thought that the latest team to challenge Australia would be England. But that is exactly what is happening in the current Ashes series. The series now stands at 1-1 in three Tests, the last Test having been drawn.
The two best Test teams at the moment in world cricket have presented us with an outstanding spectacle in the first three Tests. Before the series began, speculation was rife that Australia would actually find it difficult to beat England. It stemmed from the fact that England had proved a tough team to beat for Australia in the onedayers. There was a sense of revival and everybody was gung ho about the upcoming Ashes series. All tickets for the series have been sold out even before the series had begun.
Australia had proved why they are the world champions by winning the first Test at Lord's by 239 runs. But the real drama began in the second Test at the Edgbaston. England had won one of the closest Tests ever by 2 runs. It got even closer in the third Test. In the final moments of the match, the equation for England to win read an astonishing "1 Ball, 1 Wicket". England couldn't take that last wicket. Australia had drawn the match. England would have been disappointed with the result after having been in control for the entire duration of the match. But nevertheless they had participated in one of the most memorable contests in Test history.
Australia, one feels, was succumbing to pressure for the first time in many years. They were matched and even outclassed in every department by England. Australia's fielding was not what it always was. Catches were dropped and stumpings were missed at crucial junctures. Ricky Ponting's captaincy too was not appreciated by everyone. Some of their batters, especially, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist were not playing those blitzkriegs, something so crucial to their success in the past. They couldn't carve out a strategy against the attacking batsmanship of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.
It has got even worse in the current fourth Test. England had scored 477 in their first innings. Flintoff impressed again with a century, played in his typical slam-bang style. Australia were bowled out for a paltry 218 in their turn. None of their top order batsmen clicked. Simon Jones did well for the second time in the series with 5 for 44. It was left to Brett Lee, a tail ender, but no mug with the bat to take Australia to 218 with a quick 47 off 44 balls. They've been made to follow-on after 191 Tests, the first time since 1988! They have begun their second innings reasonably well though. The score, after the end of today's third day, reads 222 for 4.
It remains to be seen whether Australia can redeem themselves and their pride. All is not over yet. They can draw this Test and win the next one and still win the series. To draw this Test, they have to bat for quite a long time tomorrow. It'll be tough! England, on the other hand, will be in a hurry to finish off the match and take a 2-1 lead in the series.
It was only a matter of time before I started blogging. It was always on my mind from the time I started reading Adarsh's blog. The main factor that impeded me from starting blogging was this: what would I write about? I've made a decision. I'd write everything that came to my mind.
I also have a need to start blogging. Thoughts and ideas need outlets. They should not stay for too long inside the brain. If they do, they end up rotting the brain. Atleast in my case they do. One train of thought overlaps another, effectively crippling the whole process.
I cannot remember each and every thought that takes place inside my head. In ancient times, all knowledge was passed down to lower generations by an oral tradition. A time came when the human brain became insufficient for the amount of knowledge that was present. Humans were becoming increasingly curious about their surroundings and themselves. There were more questions to be asked. Our awareness correspondingly increased as more answers began to come. There were more ideas and thoughts.
At one point, there were just too many. This was probably the time when someone invented writing. As far as I know, in Egyptian mythology, it was Thoth the Thrice Great, their god of wisdom, magic and a few more, who invented writing. Other civilizations do not mention any particular name who had invented writing though they do have their gods of writing like Lord Ganesha in Hinduism.
The earliest known form of writing is the Cuneiform script, used by the Sumerians. It was created in the 4th millenium B. C. The Hieroglyphs of the Egyptians and the Chinese script come a close second at 3rd millenium B. C. The Vedas were written down in the 2nd millenium B. C. The Mayans and their predecessors, the Olmecs, starting writing roughly around 1000 B. C.
Over the millenia, writing became increasingly complex as new languages arose out of the older ones. Every language had it's own script though they all took birth from the same source. Take all the Indian languages. They all originated from Sanskrit. Some languages derived qualities from more than one language. Urdu, for example, has an Arabic like script but most of the words are derived from Hindi.
As we enter the 3rd millenium A. D., a completely new set of languages is becoming prominent. A peculiar nature of this set of languages is that it was invented by humans but yet it is not used for communication from human to human. They are used by humans to communicate to a new kind of entities called computers. This language is having a great effect on the socio-economic scene of this period. It has given rise to an entirely new set of tools for man. These tools or software as it is known is the primary reason for the great effect, a revolution in its right.
Thanks to this great development of language that has enabled me today to use a tool to give vent to my thoughts like I did here. Writing in books was the method before. I have thought of writing to give vent to my thoughts. But books degrade with time. They get torn, physically damaged, become homes to fungi and moths just like an old building loses it's physical strength and becomes a haven for antisocial elements and robbers.
And lo, and behold! I have completed my first weblog!
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