Why he sold his house to educate youth in rural India ?

  Pranjal Dubey, a 40-year-old techie gave up his job at SAP SE (German MNC) and sold his house to teach the youth of his ancestral village.He dreamt of providing better job opportunities and improving the life of rural youth of Sandalpur village (Dewas district). To fulfill his dream, he literally gave up everything he had. Today, more than 100 students of his college are currently working with IT giants like SAP, Cognizant and many others."Leaving my job was not an easy decision and selling your only house in city was a difficult decision to take. But I feel all of us have to take some decisions which are at times difficult ," he said.Bootstrapping Sant Singaji Institute of Science and Management (SSISM) in Sandalpur for education of rural youth changed the life of this technocrat."It took almost two years for me and my family to understand what I was doing and what I wanted to do after leaving a life in Bengaluru that most guys often dreams of," he added.After starting their first batch in 2010, Pranjal took the whole team of 50 students to Bengaluru and many other cities across the country so that the students would dream of something big in their life. "It wasn't an easy thing for me to connect with the rural youth. My background, upbringing was completely different from what these kids had seen. To ignite their dreams I took them to multinationals like Infosys, Biocon, SAP and many other firms where they could see what all happens and see the bigger picture," added Pranjal.He further added even today, girl education is one of the biggest challenges that he is facing. "To convince parents of girls in villages and assure the security of their daughters is still a constant struggle for me," he said.Six years after his struggle, many students of this institute are placed at multinationals and are earning good."Today when I see these kids and their achievements, it makes me realize that I have done something for them. Each member of a family who is doing well is a role model for his family and that brings the difference," he said.Covering almost 200 villages across various districts and with strength of 1,000 students in the institute, this young techie feels that degree selling institutes are one of the biggest challenges for them."Villagers get attracted when they hear about degrees. But they often forget that in the current scenario being a degree holder is no big deal. Even today majority of youths in this area still lack in communication, presentation and many other aspects,"He further said that all this can be improved only if we provide good exposure and practical opportunities to students.With support of his mother Kalpana Dubey, 61 and wife Amita Dubey, 37 this young techie has been able to achieve his dreams. "This wasn't an easy journey for both of us and even for the family. The first decision was that we had to change our lifestyle from leading a comfortable life in Bengaluru to a life which was not really so easy," said Amita. She further said that it was only because of his happiness that family supported him. "I just told him that if you are happy then I am with you and come what may we will be together," she added.

Sikh religion...

क्या आप जानते हैं विश्व की सबसे मंहंगी जगह ( ज़मीन ) 'सरहिंद' (पंजाब), जिला फतेहगढ़ साहब में है - जो मात्र 4 स्क्वेयर मीटर है।
क्यों हुई ये छोटी सी ज़मीन सबसे महंगी जरूर जानिये - रोंगटे खड़े कर देनें वाली ऐतिहासिक घटना।
यहां पर श्री गुरुगोबिंद सिंह जी के छोटे साहिबजादों का अंतिम संस्कार किया गया था।
सेठ दीवान टोंडर मल ने यह जगह 78000 सोने की मोहरे (सिक्के)
जमीन पर फैला कर मुस्लिम बादशाह से ज़मीन खरीदी थी।
सोने की कीमत के मुताबिक इस 4 स्कवेयर मीटर जमीन
की कीमत 2500000000 (दो अरब पचास करोड़) बनती है।
दुनिया की सबसे मंहंगी जगह खरीदने का रिकॉर्ड आज सिख धर्म के इतिहास में दर्ज करवाया गया है। आजतक दुनिया के
इतिहास में इतनी मंहंगी जगह कही नही खरीदी गयी।
दुनिया के इतिहास में ऐसा युद्ध ना कभी किसी ने पढ़ा होगा ना ही सोचा होगा, जिसमे 10 लाख
की फ़ौज का सामना महज 42 लोगों के साथ हुआ था
और जीत किसकी होती है..??
उन 42 सूरमो की !
यह युद्ध 'चमकौर युद्ध' (Battle of Chamkaur) के नाम से भी जाना जाता है जो कि मुग़ल योद्धा वज़ीर खान
की अगवाई में 10 लाख की फ़ौज का सामना सिर्फ 42 सिखों के सामने 6 दिसम्बर 1704 को हुआ जो की गुरु
गोबिंद सिंह जी की अगवाई में तैयार हुए थे ! नतीजा यह निकलता है की उन 42 शूरवीर की जीत होती है
जो की मुग़ल हुकूमत की नीव जो की बाबर ने रखी थी , उसे जड़ से उखाड़ दिया और भारत को आज़ाद भारत का दर्ज़ा दिया।
औरंगज़ेब ने भी उस वक़्त गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी के आगे घुटने टेके और मुग़ल राज का अंत हुआ हिन्दुस्तान से ।
तभी औरंगजेब ने एक प्रश्न किया गुरुगोबिंद सिंह जी के सामने। कि यह कैसी फ़ौज तैयार की आपने जिसने 10 लाख की फ़ौज को उखाड़ फेंका।
गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी ने जवाब दिया
"चिड़ियों से मैं बाज लडाऊं , गीदड़ों को मैं शेर बनाऊ।"
"सवा लाख से एक लडाऊं तभी गोबिंद सिंह नाम कहाउँ !!"

गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी ने जो कहा वो किया, जिन्हे आज हर कोई
शीश झुकता है , यह है हमारे भारत की अनमोल विरासत जिसे हमने कभी पढ़ा ही नहीं !

***कुछ आगे ***चमकौर साहिब की जमीन आगे चलकर एक सिख परिवार ने खरीदी उनको इसके इतिहास का कुछ पता नहीं था ।
इस परिवार में आगे चलकर जब उनको पता चला के यहाँ गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी के दो बेटे शहीद हुए है तो उन्हों ने यह जमीन गुरु जी के बेटो की यादगार ( गुरुद्वारा साहिब) के लिए देने का मन बनाया ....
जब अरदास करने के समय उस सिख से पूछा गया के अरदास में उनके लिए गुरु साहिब से क्या बेनती करनी है ....तो उस सिख ने कहा के गुरु जी से बेनती करनी है के मेरे घर कोई औलाद ना हो ताकि मेरे वंश में कोई भी यह कहने वाला ना हो के यह जमीन मेरे बाप दादा ने दी है।
वाहेगुरु....और यही अरदास हुई और बिलकुल ऐसा ही हुआ उन सिख के घर कोई औलाद नहीं हुई......अब हम अपने बारे में सोचे 50....100 रु. दे कर क्या माँगते है ।
वाहे गुरु....
वाहेगुरु जी का खालसा,
वाहेगुरु जी की फतेह जी

Sunaa hai .... by Ahmad Faraz...

Just found some beautiful lines of  Janab Ahmad Faraz ....

sunaa hai log use aankh bhar ke dekhte hain
so us ke shah’r mein kuchh din Thahar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai rabt(closeness) hai us ko Kharaab haalon se
so apne aap ko barbaad kar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai bole to baaton se phuul jhhaRte hain
ye baat hai to chalo baat kar ke dekhte hain

sunaa hai us ke badan ke taraash aise hain
ke phuul apanii qabaayeN(tunic) katar ke dekhte hain

Outsourcing to India - Beware of pitfalls

Outsourcing is not the new word in IT anymore. Roughly $300bn was spent in 2015 on global IT sourcing services. Out of which total contract value was around $70bn so stats speak for itself. But size of industry has nothing to do with the individual success though it clearly emphasize the needs of dos and dont of outsourcing industry.

My experience with Norway says that here the trend is to integrate one business service to another business service. In other words more B2B integration is being sought for. B2C is not the area where Norwegian companies are outsourcing but B2B.As norwegian companies are concerned about the long term commitments and lack of comprehensive development and maintenance expenditure so companies prefer to try outsourcing B2B model and select the IT service provider which has been tested and succeeded in nordic market.Norwegian companies does not believe in relinquishing control to IT outsourcing provider and so mainly keep their own key people and also invite key members of outsourcing team for onsite experience. Surely it helps in understanding as cultural gaps can be minimized. 

Sometimes IT outsourcing works and sometimes it does not work.When it doesn't work then usual biggest reason is delayed project delivery(i.e lack of project mgmt) on vendor's side and cultural differences.Here is the example Tomra production ( https://www.tomra.com ) which failed in its outsourcing venture. Here is how it story : 

 Tomra offers food shop and customers advanced solutions for monitoring and operation of 75000 reverse vending machines around the world.Tomra outsourced development of a new computer system to an Indian IT company. For 2 years they kept the Indian company on the project, dozens of employees worked in both India and Norway.After two years of collaboration Tomra canceled the outsourcing agreement. While reflecting upon the failure, Tomra management gave following 4 prime reasons :

Failure-1: Tomra thought they would get access to unique IT expertise and increased capacity using outsourcing. Which they could not manage.
Failure-2: Tomra couldn't document the requirements in such a way that could manage the ambiguity and rework( and consequently delay in delivery)
Failure-3: Tomra believes that geographical distance in addition made cooperation difficult.
Failure-4: Outsourcing provider's staff had a different attitude to ask critical questions about bosses and customers. They said yes to suggestions and input from Tomra when they should have said no.

Post failure statements from Ole Aleksander Mortensen, TOMRA :
We were not comfortable with continuing the process with the Indians. We had lost confidence.
We have made further progress in five months with a small team here at home than we did during the two years of the Indian company,

"The mistake companies make is that they do not see differences in the work culture in other countries and the problems it causes" - Steinar Koffeld, Vivende(which helped Tamara)

Post failure, Tomra has following advice for others  :
- Understand requirements for formality in the agreements in the current low-cost countries
- Use a lot of time on the agreement with the company you outsource to.
- Use extreme with time specification of the agreement.
- Important to have enough 'onsite' resources so that the communication flows between the company and the supplier. Have earmarked employees who work closely with the company you have outsourced to.
- Anchor solution internally, so that everyone who will work with the process understand why the outsourcer and that they support this.

So is it all about work culture or cultural gap ? No, it is not. And of course it is not about Indians too. It is ALL about project management.

Living a lost dream - Pottery

There are things that we wanted to do in life but somehow we never get the right opportunity and time to fulfil these small wishes and time flows like river. Ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by pottery to be specific 'Kullar' ( local indian handmade tea cup made of clay) . There were many potters living near to my grandfather's house so I watched them very closely. Never had the courage to let my feelings exposed to the world.
Few days back on FB, I got know about the workshop where a polish artist Izabela Baranska invited the enthusiasts to come and join the pottery workshop and somehow I could not stop myself but registered for it.

How to find jobs in Norway ?

Where to find available jobs ?
Research shows that as much as 60 % of all available jobs are never advertised through the regular channels. This number may be a bit too high, but the fact remains that many vacancies are never published.
How do you find jobs that are not advertised? Be creative and use as many different channels as possible. Take direct contact with employers and send open applications or presentations of your qualifications. If you already have contacts in Norway, use them to get information about job seeking.
Often there will be many applicants for jobs that have been advertised. You will find many of these advertisements in Norwegian newspapers, but it is becoming increasingly common to use the Internet as a channel for advertising. Many vacancies are now only published via company web sites, and some companies will only accept applications submitted through their own electronic application system.
Trade unions can also be good sources of information. Use Internet search engines and branch registers such as the Norwegian Yellow Pages (www.gulesider.no), to find relevant company web sites and contact information.
The largest Norwegian vacancy database is www.nav.no, but there are several others. You can also call the NAV Service Centre EURES on tel.: +47 800 33 166 to ask about vacancies.
Source: www.nav.no
List of vacancy databases:
  1. www.nav.no
  2. www.eures.no
  3. www.careerjet.no
  4. www.deltidsjobb.no
  5. www.finn.no/jobb/
  6. www.iktjobb.no
  7. www.ingeniørstillinger.no
  8. www.inkludi.no
  9. www.jobbdirekte.no
  10. www.jobbnorge.no
  11. www.jobbsafari.no
  12. www.jobbsøk.no
  13. www.jobb24.no
  14. www.journalisten.no
  15. www.karriereguiden.no
  16. www.karrierelink.no
  17. www.karrierestart.no
  18. www.lederjobb.no
  19. www.legejobber.no
  20. www.medrec.no
  21. www.monster.no
  22. www.norwaypost.no/jobs-in-norway.html (English)
  23. www.rubrikk.no/ledig-stilling-jobb/
  24. www.statsjobb.no
  25. www.stepstone.no
  26. www.stillinger.no
  27. www.traineeguiden.no
  28. www.tu.no/jobb/
  29. www.universitetstillinger.no/ledige-stillinger
  30. www.zett.no/vis/rubrikk/jobb.html
Recruitment companies / agencies:
Recognition of higher education:
If you have a higher education, it is recommended that you apply for general recognition of your education before/when you apply for jobs in Norway. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) provides general recognition (level and scope) of higher education from other countries. This means that NOKUT can grant you credits and, if applicable, provide general recognition of your education/degree as being equivalent to a university college degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, or a PhD degree. See www.nokut.no for further information.
Source: www.nyinorge.no
Checklist / What to do before start working:
Residence permits: If you intend to work in Norway for more than three months, you will need to registrate with the police.
Contact the local police office or a Service Centre for Foreign Workers , to apply. Bring a valid passport and/or ID-card and your working contract.
Special rules apply for nationals from the new EEA-member countries Bulgaria and Romania. You will need to apply for a residence permit, and may start working as soon as you have submitted an accurately completed application with all the necessary documents enclosed.
Check with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration for more information about how to apply and for actual forms.
Tax card and national ID-number: When you work for a Norwegian employer you are required to pay tax here. Therefore you will also need to apply for a tax deduction card at the tax assessment office where you live. To do so you will need to present your passport, as well as complete an application form ("Skjema RF-1209"). Also bring a valid residence permit if you have one. Once you have been issued a tax deduction card, you should give this to your employer.
Together with your Tax card you will also apply for a national ID-number or D-number (for persons residing in Norway 6 months or less). The national ID-number or D-number is stated on your tax deduction card and is used to identify you to the authorities.
If you will be staying in Norway for more than 6 months, you will need to report a change of address at your local tax office.
If you are in Oslo, you might apply for both a tax card and the ID- or D-number as well as report the change of address to The National Population Registry at the Service Centre for Foreign Workers.
Bank: In order to receive your salary, you need to open a Norwegian bank account. Note that most banks will require an ID-number or D-number as well as your passport as identification. Also bring your working contract. It is a good idea to check with more than one bank to get the best terms.
National Insurance: As a rule all persons working in Norway are automatically insured under the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme from their first day of work. This is administered by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service (NAV). You can obtain further information at your local NAV office.
As an employee you are obliged to pay a national insurance contribution. This amounts to 7.8 per cent of your wages, and is deducted together with tax withholdings. If you do not pay tax to Norway, the national insurance contribution is to be paid to your local NAV office. As a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme you will be entitled to benefits according to the Norwegian national insurance legislation. If, for example, you need to see a doctor, you are entitled to use the Norwegian health services in the same way as residents of Norway.
If you wish to apply for a Norwegian Health Insurance Card, or need information on health services, please contact the NAV Health Service Administration Service Centre.
If you are entitled to child benefits or cash benefit you will need to apply for this at your local NAV office.

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