Factors that are Hurting the Employability of Recent Engineering Graduates in India

Factors that are Hurting the Employability of Recent Engineering Graduates in India

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

My finding is that a lot of recent engineering graduates in India are unemployable. Why? Because they lack key skills.

To start with, when I was a student, there were only five Indian Institutes of Technology and only five engineering colleges in West Bengal. Getting admitted to an engineering course was very tough and very prestigious. I actually got a higher rank in the medical entrance examination than in the engineering entrance examination but naturally opted to study engineering because my dream was to study engineering, not to study medicine.

Nowadays, with the proliferation of engineering colleges, the standard of engineering graduates has declined. Basic problem-solving skills are lacking. In our times, the Internship was considered a necessary - and vital - part of education and getting a stipend for doing the Internship was unthinkable. I did not get any stipend for doing my Internship. Nowadays, students want stipends to do Internship although a company actually spends time and resources on Interns.

Supplementary education has become necessary for engineering students. Why? Because engineering curricula have become degraded in India. Take for example, a basic subject like Fluid Mechanics. By and large, this subject has remained unchanged over the past quarter century. Typically, simple problems are discussed and taught like the motion of a fluid between concentric cylinders. What will happen if the cylinders are not concentric is not discussed, not even qualitatively.

Now, such ideal cases are rarely to be met with in practice. In Fluvial Hydraulics, rivers, being formed by nature, do not have simple geometries. To model rivers mathematically, some sort of idealisation of the geometry is a must. These things are not taught to engineering students, again underlining the need for supplementary education for engineering students.

In practically every subject, idealised scenarios are taught to engineering students giving them no clue as to how more complex scenarios are to be handled in practice. All these hurt the employability of recent engineering graduates and also make supplementary education for engineering students a must.

© MultiSpectra Consultants, 2020.

Renaming of Places and Rivers in Northern India Proposed by Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

Renaming of Places and Rivers in Northern India Proposed

by Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

I propose that names of certain places and rivers in northern India be changed.

First of all, in view of the fact that West Bengal has a large population and a high population density, West Bengal should be split into two states of roughly equal population. The eastern part should be renamed Vanga and the western part should be renamed Anga.

As far as possible, the names prevailing in northern India in ancient times should be followed. Accordingly,

Tamluk should be changed to Tamralipti;

Patna should be changed to Pataliputra;

Rajgir should be changed to Rajagriha;

Uttar Pradesh should be changed to Koshala;

Uttarakhand should be changed to Himavant;

Ujjain should be changed to Ujjayini;

Ajmer should be changed to Ajayameru;

Haryana should be changed to Kurusthana;

Chambal should be changed to Champavati;

Betwa should be changed to Betravati;

Odisha should be changed to Kalinga;

Bihar, north of the Ganga, should be subtitled Vaishali;

Bihar, south of the Ganga, should be subtitled Magadha;

Gujarat should be renamed Surashtra;

eastern Maharashtra should be subtitled Vidarbha and western, that is coastal, Maharashtra should be subtitled Aparantaka.

© Bhattacharya International Buddhist Foundation, 2020.

Greek Influence on Indians: The Aftermath of Alexander's Invasion

Greek Influence on Indians: The Aftermath of Alexander's Invasion

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

Alexander's invasion left a permanent impression on the Indians. The first major impact of Alexander's invasion on the Indians is the Gandhara School of Art which produced sculptures with Greek styles but with Indian subjects. The statues of Lord Buddha produced by the Gandhara School of Art are characterised by their elaborate depiction of the folds of Lord Buddha's dress. This came to be considered the norm for statues and images of Lord Buddha, so much so that statues of Lord Buddha are made in this way even in modern times.

The second major impact of Alexander's invasion was the kingdom of Bactria ( Bahlika to the Indians, Balkh in modern Afghanistan ). This kingdom was to the south of the Oxus ( Amu Darya, Vakshu to the Indians ). King Milinda, to use his Pali name, took a great interest in Buddhism and the record of his conversation with the Buddhist monk Nagasena is preserved in the Pali Milindapanha.

© Bhattacharya International Buddhist Foundation, 2020.

Blitz Scale-up

Blitz Scale-up

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

Blitz Scale-up. What is it? Simply put, it is a rapid scaling-up by building an array of services around your core profession. Let us suppose that your core profession is Civil Engineering. Then, if you found a start-up with a core business of Civil Engineering, you will need to make publications, create media in the form of photographs, audios, slideshows and videos and, if you are rather more technically inclined, create software as well.

Now, each of these, publications, media and software, can be spun-off into separate entities and leveraged to scale-up the start-up at a lightening speed.

What I have mentioned above is just one example of blitz scale-up. There may be other activities that you are doing in your business which you may leverage for faster business growth using the blitz scale-up model.

The blitz scale-up model is just one of the techniques you should use to boost your start-up. There are other business strategies and tactics that should be dove-tailed with the blitz scale-up strategy.

At this point, it should be clearly understood that blitz scale-up is a strategy and not a tactic. What is the difference between strategy and tactics? Strategy is a high-level activity, planned so that a business gets from state x to state y. In contrast, tactics are specific activities designed so as to achieve the aim of a strategy.

To summarise, blitz scale-up is a very effective strategy to scale-up a start-up. The blitz scale-up model is a proprietary scale-up model developed by MultiSpectra Consultants as part of its overall growth strategy. MultiSpectra Consultants is ready to share the knowledge base developed by it regarding blitz scale-up with any company in the world and any company desiring to know more about the same should contact MultiSpectra Consultants.

© MultiSpectra Consultants, 2020.

Booking and Buying an Apartment in Bhattacharya Tower in Greater Kolkata

Booking and Buying an Apartment in Bhattacharya Tower in Greater Kolkata

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

The procedure for booking and buying an apartment in Bhattacharya Tower in greater Kolkata is given below.

Why should you choose MultiSpectra Realtors in the first place? It is simply because it is well known that other companies price their apartments much above their construction costs leaving them with large profits. On the other hand, MultiSpectra Realtors prices its apartments of exactly the same quality much lower, only marginally above the construction cost. Further, by involving you from the beginning of the project, MultiSpectra Realtors gives you a say at every stage and allows your apartment to be custom-made for you.

To start with, 7 buyers of apartments in Bhattacharya Tower, which is going to be a G+4 structure, will form a co-operative society with MultiSpectra Realtors.

What is the purpose of forming a co-operative society? The benefit to the apartment buyers is that the registration fee per apartment for a co-operative society is lower than what it would have been had a co-operative society not been formed. At this stage, the booking money is paid by the apartment buyers to MultiSpectra Realtors, land is purchased and construction started. Meetings of the co-operative society make decisions regarding the purchase of the land and apartment buyers can mention their specific requirements in their flats.

MultiSpectra Realtors goes ahead with the construction and apartment buyers pay in installments to MultiSpectra Realtors. Each apartment buyer also signs such legal documents with MultiSpectra Realtors as are necessary under the existing laws of the land. Every transparent, nothing hidden. No hidden costs.

At the end of the project, apartment buyers pay the last installment to MultiSpectra Realtors and enter into posession of their apartments.

This method of MultiSpectra Realtors forming a co-operative society with apartment buyers is unique and gives apartment owners benefits that they would not get with any other realtor.

© MultiSpectra Consultants, 2020.

Why Engineering Companies Must Establish Thought Leadership by Research

Why Engineering Companies Must Establish Thought Leadership by Research

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

It is imperative that engineering companies establish thought leadership by their research. What are the reasons? Firstly, thought leadership positions an engineering company as a leader in its field. Secondly, with educational institutions doing very little innovative research, the burden of doing innovative research leading to patents has shifted to engineering companies in the last quarter century.

Why do so few patents result from research conducted at educational institutions? It is because much of the research conducted at academic institutions are mere permutations and combinations of previous published research, often differentiated from previous research by variation of just one engineering parameter. Needless to say, patents cannot result from this kind of often useless research having no practical utility and value.

As a result, quite unlike the situation prevailing when I was pursuing my three engineering degrees, the burden of doing research eventuating in patents has shifted to engineering companies. Engineering companies that aspire to dominate their market must set up a research division immediately if they have not done so already. They must do practical research resulting in patentable outcomes. Clients are drawn towards engineering companies that have demonstrated thought leadership in the form of published journal and conference papers and patents.

An innovation is made with a view to penetrating a market, capturing a market and dominating a market. An engineering company that does not take the trouble to innovate runs the risk of becoming outdated and losing clients and marketshare. Even if such a company had a significant marketshare previously, it will find that its marketshare is eroding and clients are shifting away from the company to more modern companies.

In the future, research and innovation are going to become even more important for engineering companies. Companies that are laggards when it comes to research can hardly be expected to succeed while companies that do good research are bound to be successful.

© MultiSpectra Consultants, 2020.

The Meaning of a Holy Statement of Lord Buddha

The Meaning of a Holy Statement of Lord Buddha

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MIAENG, MMBSI, MBMSM

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

Website: https://multispectraconsultants.com

Lord Buddha said 'Whoever sees Dependent Origination, he sees the Dhamma; whoever sees the Dhamma, he sees Dependent Origination.' It is the aim of this article to explain the meaning of the above Holy Statement of Lord Buddha.

This statement of Lord Buddha is reported by Venerable Sariputta in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Tipitaka.

Now, it must be clearly understood that Dependent Origination is fundamental to Lord Buddha's philosophy. Suffering arises dependent on other factors and also ceases dependent on other factors. It is Dependent Origination that makes the extermination of suffering possible. Therefore, it is Dependent Origination that makes Nirvana possible. Thus, Dependent Origination, which meshes well with impermanence which is another key teaching of Lord Buddha, is co-extensive with Dhamma.

The above statement of Lord Buddha, together with another statement of His made in a totally different situation 'Whoever sees the Dhamma, sees me; whoever sees me, sees the Dhamma', are combined in the Mahayana Rice Sapling Sutra where Venerable Sariputta asks the meaning of the combined statement to Bodhisattva Maitreya. I do not fully agree with Bodhisattva Maitreya's answer and do not aprove of the proto-Tantric elements in Bodhisattva Maitreya's answer. This Mahayana scripture combines two statements made by Lord Buddha in two different contexts which was one of the devices used by Mahayana scriptures to get Mahayana scriptures accepted. Indeed, many Mahayana scriptures tend to be hybrid texts, combining established teachings with new innovations.

The word Dhamma can have more than just one meaning. When written with a lower-case d, dhamma can also mean any element of the universe, that is, Samsara. Every dhamma in Samsara is Dependently Originated and conditioned. In contrast, Nirvana is unconditioned. The word dhammata means the quality or characteristic of a dhamma. The dhammata of all dhammas is that every dhamma in the universe, Samsara, is Dependently Originated and conditioned. The word dhammata is a neutral word - it does not make any assertion as to whether a dhamma is empty or not. The moment one says that the dhammata of a dhamma is emptiness, as does Mahayana, one is making a definite commitment as regards the dhammata of a dhamma. In fact, if I were to spell out the difference between Theravada and Mahayana in just one sentence, it is that Theravada accepts only Pudgalanairatmya whereas Mahayana accepts both Pudgalanairatmya and Dharmanairatmya.

I have previously proved in a published article of mine that the soul, as conceived in Hinduism - and that includes the Hindu Bhagavat Gita, is empty. Carrying that discussion to its logical extremity, the emptiness of the soul allows us to make sense of some of the stickier elements of this Hindu text. For example, it is said in the Bhagavat Gita that the soul cannot be cut, burnt, etc. Why? Because the soul is empty. Emptiness cannot be cut, burnt, etc. Thus, to explain some elements of the Bhagavat Gita satisfactorily, we must take recourse to Buddhism. Also, the Bhagavat Gita implies, after giving a line of Hindu Samkhya philosophy, that the soul is not the owner of karma. Why? Because the soul is empty. Emptiness cannot be the owner of anything. The emptiness of the Hindu soul takes it very close to Lord Buddha's teaching of Anatta. The fit of early Hindu texts borrowing Buddhist materials appears even tighter when we find that in the Yoga Sutra, an ostensibly Hindu text written by Patanjali, certain materials are lifted from Lord Buddha's mouth ( Lord Buddha talked about the Four Sublime Abodes, which are Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha, and Patanjali writes exactly the same four, Maitri, Karuna, Mudita and Upeksha in his Yoga Sutra ) and much of Lord Buddha's concepts are interspersed throughout the text. Of course, there is Hindu Samkhya influence also in the Yoga Sutra.

Lord Buddha admitted the existence of suffering in the world. In fact, that suffering is Dependently Originated. Lord Buddha famously talked about the twelve links of Dependent Origination starting with ignorance and ending in suffering. But in the same breadth, Lord Buddha also talked about the cessation of ignorance eventuating in the cessation of suffering. To put a man's duty succinctly, Lord Buddha's injunction is simple: Suffering exists, end ( Nirodha ) it. How? By following the Noble Eightfold Path. Thus, it is the Holy Duty of each man not to accept, fear or succumb to suffering but to end, Nirodha, any suffering that exists and to achieve Nirvana. That is the Sat, meaning True, Dharma or, using the grammatical Sandhi, Saddharma. Saddharma is another name for Buddhism.

© Bhattacharya International Buddhist Foundation, 2020.