Is Coaching really helpful?

Textbook definition of coaching is to get support in achieving a targeted personal or professional goal. More nuanced usage of this term is the process of giving a student extra teaching in a particular subject. Cultural moorings and history and current availability of types and competition for jobs in India have made coaching for few available jobs a booming industry in itself. A coaching culture of this kind in India is evidently growing every year, which seems to have been working inversely proportional to the vacancy figures being made available due to perverse incentives to tutors.

The problems of the students compound manifold as the promises and priorities of the majority of the coaching classes are misplaced since they hardly factor in the situations students face or are from. Their sole objective is to reap rich benefits by promising skies to the credulous parents and students. The fact also remains that there could be more than 100 times aspirants than the vacancies and all harbour the same dream of cracking a particular exam with all possible resources to their disposal, which without doubt create psychological, social and economic upheavals, resulting in violence and other ugly scenes in some parts of the country.

There is little denying the fact that a right kind of coaching proves helpful for especially the students coming from rural and semi-urban areas who are normally not aware or well-aware of the latest trends and practices of how to prepare for various exams. For example, a coaching is supposed to be giving them the right guidance, personalization of studies, new learning styles, tips for getting a competitive advantages, the proper utilization of time and routine, selection of subjects, getting to cover up specific chapters/subjects/topics among others. However the cons always overwhelm the pros. The cons also constitute additional expenditure on education by the poor middle class on coaching class which is rising rapidly, extra homework burden on students which causes physical and psychological stress to them and their families, focus on rote learning and curriculum being different from school academic structure among others.

The trend of having a parallel practice and guidance now seems to start right after a child completes his or her Kindergarten. The idea of having a coaching has become a trend today with parents too being unavailable for their part of impartations to children, and instead substituting it with coaching institutes. This has encouraged coaching institutes over last two decades to upgrade themselves with multiplied service packages, big promises with no guarantee, study material entrapment and tricky terms and conditions. This pressurises both types of students – those who take coachings, feel the pressure of clearing exams and the pressure increases manifold with more and more attempts and parents staring at them; and those who do not pursue coachings struggle with pressure of incompetence and fear of failure.

The situation can better be understood by the numbers of employees in central and state government services. The Union Budget for 2022-23 estimated the strength of central government employees at 34.65 lakh. If we add around 14 lakh armed forces, the number reaches to around 47 lakh employees. According to the report of the 7th Pay Commission, the total sanctioned strength of the central government was around 38.9 lakh in 2014. The central government employs around 8.5% of organised workforce with armed forces being the biggest employer. The military constitutes around 30% of the central workforce, followed by railways with around 28% share in central employees. Even among central government jobs the majority of government employees belong to group C with a share of 88.7%, followed by group B with 8.5% share and group A with just 2.8% of the share. While, state governments employ around one crore people. The average recruitment in the central government between 2006 and 2014, was a little over one lakh a year. But the number of youth preparing for government jobs both central and states, stands at several millions. The largest employer armed forces recruit around 60 thousands a year and each year, those knocking the job market stand at around 1.2 Crores. Solution to this is employment in stricter sense of being engaged in productive work, not necessarily a job. Agnipath is one marvellous program which is bound to transform the lives of the selected Agniveers, whether they continue in the job or step out and become an entrepreneur.

Strategic Evolution of Indian Armed Forces

Geography is important for Indian defence. Indian Peninsula is a distinct landmass with half its territory landlocked, major mountain ranges in the North, and the other southern half surrounded by 3 different oceans. Such a distinct, versatile and difficult geographic perimeter is guarded and patrolled by the Indian Armed Force, prime guardians of national integrity and sovereignty. From guarding the world’s highest battlefield in Siachen, to being posted in the extremely hot Thar and other desert regions in the west, to patrolling the politically sensitive Indo-China Border region and Bangladesh border region in the Eastern part, to guarding the never-ending stretch of the Indian Coastline, the Armed Forces patrol the entire length and breadth of the country even with unforgiving weather conditions beating down on them.

Indian armed forces evolved into a world class group of fighting forces since independence to meet the fast-increasing security, intelligence and strategic needs of the country. It requires to be noted that we had inherited a military that had been created, trained and equipped by the British regime to protect and consolidate their interests only. From a British led and man-power oriented force to truly techno-mechanised security personnel, we have seen revolutionary changes in past 75 years. These changes didn’t come in a day or two, but by fighting different threatres of war from western desert to Europe, to the forest of Burma and matching and exercising with the mightiest and most modernised troops of Europe, America, Israel and others. In between, Indian armed forces also fought several wars, which also proved to be the best training for both military and political establishments.

As per some estimates, presently at third position in military might in the world, it was hard for the Indian army to imagine that in the span of 75 years, a poverty-stricken, fragmented and deeply traumatised country would emerge as a military powerhouse. This transformation required continuous reforms of the processes as to how armed forces should operate keeping in view the fast changes in the global military practices. Certainly, the evolving global and regional strategic environments and perceptions have helped us grow much faster in last 8 years, however the increased focus spurred by the recognition of the needs and fast political decision makings have truly transformed the Indian army during these years. Changes gaining much momentum with a lot of thrust on self-sufficiency in terms of defence productions, are something, that can easily be seen. India’s growing military prowess has also resulted in a more robust and adventurist foreign policy in last few years.

The Indian military, Navy and Air Forces all are undergoing rapid expansion and transformation. Not only armed forces have grown like anything, but now, India has a robust air force with most modern fighter jets capable of playing both defensive and offensive roles, as have been seen in recent years and the strength of the navy is also rapidly growing with the fast acquisitions and developments of aircrafts carriers, submarines and a number of other world class navel assets.

Women participation and induction has also increased in the armed forces unprecedentedly. The number of women officers are almost tripled in about 6 years. Till recently, women were only part of ground duty in the Indian Army but now, women are flying aircraft in the Navy and Air Force, and now the Indian Army has also opened the way for women pilots by starting the ‘Army Aviation course’. in 2021, 83 women had been inducted as Jawans for the first time in the Indian Army. It is also heartening to note here that three women officers have been granted the rank of lieutenant general or equivalent.

Furthering the reform, for the first time, some kind of reservation has been devised for the armed forces with the Centre announcing a 10% reservation for ‘Agniveers’ along with a 3-year age relaxation above the upper age limit in the recruitment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Assam Rifles under ‘Agnipath scheme’- an attractive and transformative defence recruitment scheme of the Government of India. Moreover, India is rapidly upgrading its defence capabilities with more than 93 military modernization projects worth more than 18.4 billion dollar currently in progress. That is something every Indian should be proud of.

Building Smart Machine and Men Indigenously

Internet was a US military invention which went on to change the way humans live. Defence sector across the developed as well as developing countries spends a lot on R&D as well as in purchase, manufacturing and maintenance of traditional as well as cutting edge equipment.

According to a report by SIPRI (as of 25 April, 2022), India stands as the third largest military spender in the world. India has been endorsing the idea of building a strong indigenous defence manufacturing capacity and seeking investments from both foreign and domestic companies alike in the sector. Both the developments hint towards the unprecedented churn in the Indian defence ecosystem, which is giving a much-needed impetus to India’s fast-evolving defence economy.

India is rapidly modernising its defence capabilities to keep the Armed Forces in a state of readiness. More than 93 military modernization projects worth around Rs 1.43 Lakh Crore are currently in progress. In recent years, India has taken several ground breaking steps like creating defence planning committee, introduction of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, Technology Development Fund scheme, appointment of CDS to bring in greater synergy with Ministry of Defence, long term modernization plan by factoring the emerging or futuristic security situations, Army Design bureau, reorganization of Army headquarters, setting up of defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Military Technology Cooperation, increased foreign collborations, among others.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative for defence is also being carried out with 3 different treatments – Make I (90% government funded, with vendor), Make II (prototype development or upgradation of of equipment/system/platform, with zero government funding), and Make III (joining hands with foreign firms for production on Indian soil). Under the ‘Make in India’ program indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipments are being vigorously encouraged in the country, thereby reducing import of defence equipment.

The defence budget for the financial year 2022-23 is Rs 5,25,166 crore, an increase of Rs 46,970 crores or 9% over last year’s Rs 4,78,196 crore. As per the budget, Rs 1.52 lakh crore is being spent in capital expenditure, which relates to modernisation and infrastructure development of the Armed Forces only. Out of this 1.52 lakh crore, 68% of the amount is being spent on indigenous manufacturing to encourage investments and attract fresh capacity creation. An increase of more than 10% in back-to-back capital budgets expresses the continued push towards the modernisation of the armed forces. 25% of defence R&D budget is earmarked for private industries, startups and academia. Private industry is being encouraged to take up design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with DRDO and other organizations through special purpose vehicle model.

Ease of doing business is helping indigenous defence production too. An independent nodal umbrella body created for meeting wide ranging testing and certification requirements of defence systems and platforms, is helping domestic industry through faster processes and cost-efficiency. Two positive indigenisation lists comprising 101 and 108 items were promulgated by Department of Military Affairs (DMA) under Ministry of Defence in recent months. In addition, to minimize import by DPSUs, Department of Defence Production has also notified a positive indigenisation list of things, in which 2500 items are already indigenized. Government is also considering adding more items for indigenous production. Timeline to add more items is reviewed continuously based on the requirements of Armed Forces as well as capability of domestic industry. Despite all these revolutionary efforts, India still needs to introduce many more reforms to rise to the fast changing security situations. Schemes like ‘Agnipath’ seem to be a product of the same restructuring thought.

Preparing Youth for the VUCA World we live in

Singapore, South Korea and Israel are some of the countries with policy to get male citizens to serve a period of compulsory service in the uniformed services. In Israel its mandatory for women too. Most of the young adults in these countries serve two to three years around the age of 18 as trainees. Apart from obvious benefits of military training, these youth have been observed to pick up the traits of Tenacity of Purpose in Performing Missions and Drive to Victory, Responsibility, Credibility, Professionalism, Discipline, Comradeship, and Sense of Mission. Any country with youth imbibed with such wonderful traits is better prepared for the VUCA world we live in, and are going to be successful against all odds, which we have seen in these countries.

While choosing between a government job that offers stability or a private job that opens avenues of opportunities, may still be a question haunting many young minds, one fact remains that now job security carries insignificant meaning as the enterprising young lot spends time and effort to explore career avenues with acquired substance in the form of money, experience, exposure and performance. Youth is engaging in highly competitive and rewarding work culture and atmosphere caring a little for post retirement benefits, as can be seen in the rising craze for startups, unicorns, innovations, sports etc.

Till now, the main advantages driving the youth from especially middle and lower economic strata of the society for the central government Jobs are- relatively good salary based upon the profile of the job and qualifications of the claimants, allowances, job and social security, insurance cover, leaves, vacations, housing benefits, health and other benefits. However, things have changed with scores of funding opportunities available.

Hence, ‘Agnipath’- an attractive and transformative defence recruitment scheme of the Government of India has been designed to give lakhs of youth of the country, not just one career avenue or chance but quite a few. Being an essential part of the future-ready soldier, they are set to stand out in crowd and after four years of service with their changed attitude, skills, discipline, sense of timing and responsibilities. The new system is sure to attract even those who want to stay with the armed forces only for a few years out of the love for the nation and then want to do something else of their choice with a different aptitude, attitude and perspective towards life, society and nation building. One can also expect a lot of defence-related startups mushrooming 3-4 years from now across the country, taking the defence ecosystem to hit new heights.

The new scheme envisions creating a youthful profile of the Armed forces with newer technologies with being able to use the whole range of weapons and communication devices used across the world by the most advanced armies of the world. Strengthening the very connect between society and the military does serve many a purpose and the government wants to bring the armed forces closer to the people in general. 75% of the Agniveers going to the society after serving 4 years in the army, will also take with themselves the ideals and ideas for the country and society, discipline, serving tendencies, physical, mental and emotional prowess that the armed forces stand for.

The definition of Employment is changing tones at a dynamic rate across the globe. Youth across the world has left the conventional way of finding a set-patterned occupation behind and is engaging in opportunities which are tech-oriented, varied and skill-based in a global setting where different sectors are both inter-mingled and unexplored. India is one of the countries where the pace of change is much higher because of regional, cultural and religious diversity. Unlike earlier, when only academic qualifications and government jobs occupied the center stage, now, major thrust is laid on certain essential skills like ambition, entrepreneurial mindset even in a job, willingness to continuously learn and evolve, soft-skills and communication, ability to listen and assert, confidence, perseverance and risk taking ability among others to succeed in both life and profession.

Poverty Alleviation gotten right this time

The former deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram’s famous speech on hunger and poverty alleviation still resounds in many minds. One can judge his thrust by his words, when in an interview with All India Radio, he had said-(translated) “Any government who reigns here, whether socialist, communist, capitalist, or authoritarian, should first ensure that no one sleeps without food, each person has at least a shirt and a pair of shoes, and only then work on other things and plans. Quoting Swami Vivekananda, he further said – for those starving, one who provides food becomes like a God and freedom carries no meaning. Hence, our first objective is to provide food to one and all, then only that person can be free.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is one such welfare programme launched to alleviate the pain and sufferings caused by Covid-19 pandemic and to feed the country’s poorest citizens by providing grains through the PDS system. The government has spent Rs. 2.60 lakh crore so far and another Rs. 80,000 crore will be spent over the coming months till September 2022. According to a report by the dept. of Food and Public Distribution, the initiative stands out as the largest food assistance
program anywhere in the world during the pandemic in terms of the number of people covered, which is more than 10% of the world
population. Along with food assurance, financial benefits and healthcare expenditure are also being taken care of by the government, and continuous efforts are leading to positive results as far as poverty-reduction is concerned.

Financial inclusion plan like Jan Dhan, accidental insurance at the premium of Re. 1 per month and life insurance also at the same premium providing a cover of Rs. 2 lakh have proved vital. Over 12 crore people have been enrolled under PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana- the life insurance scheme and over 28 crore people have been enrolled under PM Suraksha Bima Yojana- the accident insurance scheme. Ayushman Bharat provides health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year to about 18 crore families. So far, over 3 crore treatments under this scheme have saved over Rs. 37,600 crore for the poor. The Jan Aushadhi scheme further helps the poor when it comes to bearing the cost of medicines. With a network of over 8,700 stores across the country, under the Jan Aushadhi Scheme, medicines are sold at 50-90% lesser than market prices, saving over Rs. 10,000 crore for the people since 2019.

Due to many inter-connected new steps & initiatives, India has seen a sharp decline in extreme poverty in recent years, prompting even the top multilateral organizations like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) appreciating India’s efforts towards reducing extreme poverty. A World Bank working paper has extolled the efforts of the Government of India with regard to extreme poverty in both rural and urban areas. The paper says that extreme poverty fell by 12.3% points to 10.2% in 2019, from 22.5% in 2011. According to the same paper, extreme poverty in rural areas dropped by 14.7% points, while in urban areas it fell by 7.9% points. Whereas, IMF’s paper says- PM Narendra Modi’s food security scheme proved crucial in keeping the extreme poverty levels checked in India even during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The IMF working paper furthers- the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, which is at less than 1%, did not go up despite the excruciating Covid-19 pandemic, attributing this achievement of the Government of India to free food grains provided under PM Modi’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana during pandemic. The paper says, a government which is serious about poverty alleviation, must do two things- first, a programme should be in place to ensure that the poor are lifted out of poverty and second – providing a social security net that protects the poor from falling back into poverty. Interestingly, both these factors are well taken care of in India’s current poverty alleviation approach.