Essays for IIM

Problem: The falling rupee’s 18% decline since August has made it the worst-performing Asian currency this year. This is worrying policymakers, not least because a steady drop in the country’s foreign exchange reserves and a worsening current account deficit make it vulnerable in a tough global environment. Extent: India’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen in recent months, dropping to a nine-month low of $304 billion on November 25. The country had repayment obligations worth more than $100 billion in the 12 months to June 2012, data released earlier this year showed. Currency strategists at HSBC and CLSA have forecast the rupee slipping another 13% from its present levels to 58 per dollar in the next few months. Why the problem arose:  The Euro zone crisis has triggered risk-aversion among investors and slowed capital inflows  pressure on the economy and the currency from a slowing economy, a widening trade deficit amid high contractual repayment obligations.  Dollar li

With Indian government mulling making 'Corporate Social Responsibility' mandatory in the new Companies Bill, this issue has become ever more important for interviews.Have a read.

What are the criminal charges impinging on free speech? In keeping with the reasonable restrictions allowed by the Constitution on free speech, there are criminal provisions against defamation, sedition, blasphemy, contempt of court and hate speech. The defence available against defamation is that the words in question should be substantially true and that they should have been uttered or written in the public interest. The plea of truth is allowed as a defence at least in theory against the contempt charge as well. The blasphemy provision is meant to penalize only those insults to religion that have been committed with a deliberate and malicious intention. The hate speech provisions often fall in the political domain, as they seek to punish those who deliver inflammatory speeches promoting enmity between different groups or prejudicing national integration. Mahatma Gandhi, who was himself convicted for sedition. Isn't the sedition provision introduced by the British contrary to

Read it as an addendum to the article in the e-book How is kerosene produced?  Petroleum or crude oil is the liquid which comes straight out of the oil wells. This liquid is of little use because it is a mix of various hydrocarbons each having a different boiling point and ignition temperature and hence it is necessary to separate them for efficient use. The separation is done by a simple process known as fractional distillation. These hydrocarbons have progressive boiling points, so they can be easily separated by distillation — heating the oil and pulling out different products at different vaporizing temperatures. Using this method, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrol, kerosene, diesel and lubricating oils are separated from each other. The residual is processed to extract asphalt, tar and wax. How are petroleum product prices determined in India? India has to import about 80% of its total crude oil consumption. Given the high volatility in international oil markets, the gov

History of Egyptian rulers Because of its strategic location, both as a base for explorations in Africa, as well as the country through which the Suez Canal linking Indian to the Atlantic Ocean passes, having a control on Egypt was important since the colonial days. Although the country gained its independence in 1922, the British continued to control its politics by keeping puppet kings. Monarchy was finally overthrown in the 1952 revolution led by Gamel Abdel Nasser who established a one-party system to rule the country. Although the freedom of the general public was restricted, Nasser, who nationalized the Suez Canal and helped in the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement, had substantial public support. His successor, Anwar Sadat, liberalized the economy and made peace with Israel in the 1979 Camp David agreement, which resulted in Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League but established it as a liberal Arab country in the West's eyes. After his assassination in 1981,

A clear theme has emerged for IIFT this year. The essay topic is related to Indian Economy or the Financial sector while the GD topic is a recent controversy or a decision-making question being faced by the government. Essay Topic :-   India's global image is driven by private initiative (  http://swaminomics.org/?p=1937  ) GD Topic :-   Recent Decisions taken by the Environment Ministry will lead to Sustainable growth of Indian Economy. Essay Topic: India's productivity growth is indeed rapid as compared to that of other nations GD: Should India allow 100% FDI in all sectors ? Essay topic: "India's Equity Market growth has reflected strong Fundamental gains" GD Topic: " Food Security Policy Act should guarantee food not only to the people below poverty line but those above the poverty line also." Essay- Mergers and Acquisitions -An expensive way for corporate growth GD- Wikileaks has brought more transparency in international diplomacy. P

Important for Software engineers: Google is accusing Microsoft Corp. of cheating as the two duel for Internet search supremacy, but Microsoft denies the charge, saying it's just using all available weapons to lessen its rival's dominance.   The dust-up between the two companies that process virtually all of North America's search requests grabbed the spotlight Tuesday at an event sponsored by Microsoft about the future of Internet searches. Microsoft's practices have even wider implications now that its technology powers Yahoo Inc. searches in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Brazil as part of a 10-year partnership that grew out of the companies' inability to mount a serious challenge to Google on their own.   Google's attempt to embarrass Microsoft at an event devoted to innovation served as the latest reminder of the tensions between the technology heavyweights. While Microsoft has been pecking at Google in search, Google has been chipping away at M

Southern Sudan, which recently carried out a referendum on seceding from the north, will be named the Republic of South Sudan upon independence, officials in the regional capital of Juba said Sunday. While the name is not yet official, members of a steering committee on post-independence governing said the decision, made last week, could be announced as early as Feb. 14, when final results from this month's historic referendum come out. According to the latest ballot figures, about 99 percent of southern Sudanese voters have chosen separation from the mostly Arab north after decades of brutal civil war. The north is under U.S. economic sanctions and Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes in the Darfur region. "We've had South Korea, North Korea, South Vietnam, North Vietnam," Marial said. "South Sudan and North Sudan." According to Marial, more than a dozen potential nam

1.        What is the amount of Subsidy given on Kerosene? 2.        What is the primary reason for giving subsidy? 3.        How much is the current consumption level of Kerosene and what is the purpose its being used for? 4.        Why should Kerosene subsidy be reduced? Would it not be detrimental to the poor? Give an exact economic logic for the same. 5.        Should subsidy for Kerosene be same across states? Or should it be dependent on per-capita income of states? Or are there some other factors? 6.        What are the negatives of diversion of Kerosene into adulteration etc? All the above questions will be answered in the next update send to subscribers. It is emerging as one of the most important issue for the interviews with the Sonawane case. Do go through it in detail.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the the eastern Alps region of Switzerland. The meeting brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world, including health and the environment. Beside meetings, the foundation produces a series of research reports and engages its members in sector specific initiatives The foundation was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-born business professor at the University of Geneva. Originally named the European Management Forum, it changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987 and sought to broaden its vision further to include providing a platform for resolving international conflicts. The Competitiveness Team produces a range of annual economic reports, the most famous being   the Global Compe

Monetary and Credit Policy decisions on Jan 25,2011 1.        Repo rate raised 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent 2.        Reserve repo rate increased 25 basis points to 5.5 per cent   3.        Cash reserve ratio left unchanged at six per cent   4.        Statutory liquidity ratio left unchanged at 24 per cent 5.        March-end inflation projection raised to seven per cent compared to the 5.5 per cent anticipated earlier 6.        Gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2010-11 retained at 8.5 per cent, but with an upside bias 7.        Money supply growth retained at 17 per cent for 2010-11 8.        Non-food credit growth retained at 20 per cent for 2010-11 9.        Additional liquidity support to banks under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) extended till April 8 from January 28 10.    Second LAF to be conducted till April 

The RBI has said that environment sensitive policies and procedural delays are hurting foreign direct investment.  The moderation in FDI inflows to India during April-November 2010 has been driven by sectors such as construction,mining and business services. A major reason for the decline in inward FDI is reported to have been the environment sensitive policies pursued,as manifested in the recent episodes in the mining sector,integrated township projects and construction of ports,which appear to have affected the investors sentiments. The report adds that persistent procedural delays,land acquisition issues and availability of quality infrastructure have added to the environment related issues . These factors,which are more structural in nature,if addressed expeditiously,could raise the share of India in the projected FDI flows to EMEs in the near future.

Falling FDI in both absolute and relative terms indicates a lack of investor confidence. It should jolt politicians back to governance and building on the 1991 reforms.  A UN report on FDI in 2010 makes this point sharply. Though global FDI flows increased by a percentage point over the last year, developing economies' share jumped 10%. For the first time ever, more than half of global FDI travelled to emerging markets. However, FDI inflows into India declined by a whopping 31.5% . And that's not in relative but in absolute terms.  In other words, it's not just that India is getting a smaller share of a bigger pie - indicating its relative uncompetitiveness among emerging markets. It's that the size of the pie itself has shrunk for India - by almost a third. That ought to be enough to set alarm bells clanging for our economic managers.  Crucial to India's rejuvenation, FDI builds infrastructure, brings in best practices in technology and management, and makes t

These are sample pages of the material. The data presentation is shown while the numbers are present in the material. India trade data

IIM Indore now has a Written Ability Test instead of a GD in the second stage of admissions for PGP. Though the weightage of the WAT or the Essay is not clear yet, it is expected to be on the lines of IIM Bangalore where the Note/Essay has 15% weightage out of 35% for the 2nd stage. In effect, IIM Bangalore assigns 43% weightage to the Essay and 57% to the Interview in the 2nd stage. IIMK has assigned a weightage of 20% to the writing task(Essay) while a 35% weigtage to Personal Interview. Though the relative weightage of Essay as compared to Interview is lesser (36%) than in IIMB, but considering that the absolute weightage is higher (20%) it plays an even important role in the selection.A very high discretionary weightage has been assigned to Profiles(15%) which makes it even tougher for the most common aspirant of the Common Admission Test, the Male-Engineering candidate. A good performance at the Essay and PI is hence necessary for selection at IIMK. IIML has a Essay/Written Ab

No Go / Go Mining Area Classification Methodolog Canopy Density: This is the proportion of ground that is covered by the crown of trees. It is expressed in percentage of total area. 70% Canopy density:Very dense forest cover 40-70% Canopy density:Moderately dense forest cover 10-40% Canopy density:Open Forest Cover Gross Forest Cover (GFC) : Calculated on the basis of total area covered by canopy. Weighted Forest Cover (WFC) : (Very dense forest cover X 0.85) + (Moderately dense forest cover X 0.55) + (Open Forest Cover X 0.25)  Based on above calculations, Go/No-go areas are decided as follows: GO Area: If WFC is 10% or less and GFC is 30% or less NO GO Area: If WFC is 10% or GFC is more than 30%

·           Poverty causes environment depredation? ·           Religional fanaticism makes way to regional chauvinism ·           Ecological balance has vanished in modern civilization ·           Regional blocks are the only way to safeguard national economies ·           Automation helps the poor and the illiterate ·           Gender Equality will be a reality in the 21st century ·           Right to Strike is a violation of Human Rights ·           Women make better managers than men ·           Coalition government is the true representation of Indian Government. ·           Is criminalization killing Indian democracy ·           Indian media is giving too much attention to Indian cricketers ·          "Women in Indian Politics?" ·           "India needs as much honest managers as efficient bureaucrats" ·           "Equality of the sexes is an impossible dream" ·           Religious freedom and secularism do not go together ·           Entering of for

General Category candidates:   540 candidates whose percentiles in each section were 94 and above, and who had an overall  percentile of 99 and had an Application Rating of >= 21 were considered for personal interview. NC-OBC Category Candidates: 193 NC-OBC candidates whose percentiles in each section were 84 and above and who had an overall  percentile of 94 and an Application Rating of >=19 were considered for personal interview. SC Category Candidates:   108 SC candidates  whose percentiles in each section were 75 and above  and  who  had  an  overall  percentile  of  80  and  an  Application  Rating  of  >=17  were considered for personal interview. ST Category Candidates:   55 ST candidates whose percentiles in each section were 50 and above and who had an overall percentile of 80 with an Application Rating of >= 16 were considered for personal interview. DA Category Candidates:   21 DA candidates whose percentiles in each section were 65 and above and

STAGE 1: All candidates who will secure minimum section – wise and aggregate percentile scores in CAT are first short listed. Components                    Weight Aggregate CAT-2010     37.5 Class – X Marks              2.5 Class – XII Marks           2.5 Graduation Marks            2.5 Experience Profile            2.5 Graduation Profile#          2.5 Total                                50  # Only the bachelor’s / Master’s Degree holders in select disciplines mentioned in the image below are eligible for this weightage for Graduation Profile Table 3: Pre – GDPI score for the work experience (for PGP) Work Ex in Months* Score (out of maximum of 2.5) Less than 12               0 12 to 23                     1 24 to 35                     2 36 and more               2.5 *As on 31 August 2010 (Indicate only paid and full-time work experience, acquired after completing the Bachelor’s Degree. Apprenticeship, Articleship, Internship etc., which form an integral part of a cours

Read this along with the MFI article in the material.  India – Ranked 8 th in the world on microfinance business environment by EIU Key characteristics of the microfinance business environment: ·          The microfinance sector has continued to grow rapidly and with it the need for better regulation. The proposed microfinance Bill has been pending in Parliament since 2007, although it was expected to pass in 2010. However, the bill does not cover non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) registered as not-for-profit companies, thereby ignoring over 80% of the microfinance sector.   ·          The Reserve Bank of India regulates two types of institutions that engage in     microfinance activities: banks and NBFCs . There are also Self-Help Groups (SHGs) that operate as informal credit and savings groupings of 5-30 poor individuals. Under the proposed bill, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) would be responsible for regulat

The essay was a surprise for many aspirants, though it was an easy one, once you understand the topic. The topic was taken from the book "Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith. Topic: "The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with most unnecessary attention but assume an authority which could safely be trusted to no council and senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of man who have folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it. "   A clear debate between Capitalism and Socialism is envisaged in the topic. Or, in other words, a discussion on Imperative Planning and Indicative Planning can be done. India shifted from an imperative to Indicative Planning in the 9th plan and the post-liberalisation period has shown clearly the difference on growth it makes. 

This is a representative list of topics covered in EssaysforIIM e-Book and not an exhaustive list. There are many more issues covered and we aim to cover all issues relevant for the Essay/GD or Interviews. Please give your suggestions on the blog or email us at essaysforiim@gmail.com Economic Issues European Crisis - PIIGS in trouble Disinvestment- Prospects & Problems Inflation in India FDI vs FII, Current a/c deficit and other issues before Indian economy E-governance : Implementations Status 13th Finance Commission Report Impact of Quantitative Easing on India Jalan Panel - Stock Exchanges Business Issues GST, DTC and other reforms Mining Industry - 'Go' or 'No go' India's regulatory dilemmas Microfinance Industry - Regulatory risks GST, DTC and other reforms Subsidy reforms Cancun Summit Discussions Political & Social Issues Naxalism - A Threat to Internal Security Climate Change and India's Stand India's stand in WTO ta