We are what we are !!

IPL has had so far 13 editions of experience- in India, South Africa, UAE once each and UAE again now.IPL  finals have been a brutally fought match till now. Mumbai Indians have emerged winners 4 times and Chennai Super kings thrice victorious. Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings have entered finals so far 9 times in 12 finals and that is phenomenal domination. Elections drove IPL out of India once in 2009 to South Africa and now the COVID pandemic has both delayed and moved the tournament to UAE in the current year. Wikipedia says that this is the most-watched Twenty 20 tournament in the world and the second-best paying sporting league globally.( link ) What are the specialties of the IPL tournament. It has had its share of scandals, scams, match-fixing cases, betting cases (betting in a game banned in India) and even Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings had to be suspended from the tournament for 2 consecutive years. One of the IPL heads who led IPL in its formative years is an alleged economic...

 Indian Central Govt. successfully pushed  3 Farm bills through both the Houses of Parliament last week. Since the ruling NDA led by BJP has a majority in the lower house i.e Lok Sabha the passage of these bills happened without any hiccup there. But when the same bills had to be passed by the higher house i.e Rajya Sabha, where NDA has a thin majority, pandemonium reigned and all hell broke loose. But the Chairman of the house went by voice vote amidst allegations that he chose to ignore the call for division of the house. Now the opposition is upset not by the farm bills per see but the way it was carried by the Chairman by the Upper house by not allowing them to stall this reform in the garb of discussions et al. Several Agricultural Commissions and Committees incl the Sen Committee and Dr.Swaminathan Comittee over the last 30 years, have strongly suggested on this unshackling of Agri markets across the country. This reform is long overdue. Even Congress Govt. wanted to imp...

  Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) is the top Govt Auditor of India, who is a Constitutional authority. He Audits all the Central and State Govt related accounts and gives his report with his findings, lacunae observed in the system, along with necessary corrective measures as per the best practices around the world. In his latest report on the Income & Corporate  Tax department functioning under the Central Govt, he has given some damning statistics. People in the know feel vindicated with his report lashing at the ineptitude of the Dept in tackling the inefficiency of the tax bureaucracy. Let us look at some of his key observations:( link ) 1)Income tax arrears of demand has increased from Rs.11 lac cr.in 2017-18 to Rs.12.3 lac cr, in 2018-19. 2) Out of this Rs.12.3 lac cr. the Tax dept itself says 99% of it is non-collectible or in other words, would be difficult to recover. 3)At the CIT Appeals, which is the first forum of Appeals,the Auditor observed, the...

 Edward Altman published the Z score formula for predicting bankruptcy way back in 1968. He said this formula can be judiciously used to find whether any company may go into bankruptcy within the next two years. It is a quick find formula to gauge the financial health for publicly held companies by using the P&L values and Balance sheet values through a mix of business ratios. In simple terms Z =1.2X1+1.4X2+3.3X3+0.6X4+1.0X5, where X1= Working capital/Total assets.i.e the ratio of liquid assets in relation to the total assets or size of the Co. X2=Retained earnings/Total assets i.e the ratio of retained profit in relation to the total assets of the Co. X3=EBIT/Total Assets i.e the ratio of efficiency of the operations without the impact of leveraging, in relation to the assets deployed in the Co.also signifying the importance of operating earnings for the long term financial health of the Co. X4=market capitalisation/book value of total liabilities i.e the ratio of market price...

 Sir Francis Galton, a British polymath, did pioneering work on Regression or Reversion to the Mean in Statistical Research in the late 19th Century. According to his analysis of human characteristics, he applied statistical methods to the study of human differences and inheritance of intelligence and pioneered the work on Eugenics. He also contributed to the field of psychology by founding psychometrics with personality mapping. He was a versatile genius and being the half-cousin to Charles Darwin, his works in many ways drew sufficient inspiration from Darwin's studies. But his most outstanding contribution is Regression to the Mean in Statistical analysis. He is also considered to have developed a central limit theorem showing that with sufficient sample size the binomial distribution approximates a Normal Distribution and the practical demonstration of it is called Galton Board or Quincunx or Bean machine Regression to the Mean is in simple terms that if there is volatility obs...

 It is said "there is a world of difference between precept and practice"- more so with our politicians and the gap widens when they speak about it more.!! It is generally thought that Political lies are always for exploiting the ignorance of the public. Mostly they are manipulative for winning the elections. But there are times like Obama lies about Health care inorder to push through some legislation to benefit the larger society( link ). However coming to India, Politicians throw promises at the people mainly to win elections and then they renege on the promises made. In the recent few weeks there are lot of accusations by the Opposition parties against the Central Govt that Question Hour in the ensuing Parliament has been abolished muzzling the freedom of MPs to ask Govt questions about peoples' problems to elicit answers from the Govt. But there are two stark statistics contradicting the so-called champions of freedom of expression in the Opposition. In the last few ...

 India's agriculture has hit a new high when the entire country is under lockdown and the industry has hit the rock bottom.Kharif sowing as on 5th Sep20 has reached 1095 lakh hectares which is 6% more than what was the sown area in kharif season 19-20.The acreage of paddy has grown by 8% to 396 lac hec.over previous year.The acreage under Oilseeds has grown by 12% to 195 LH; Pulses by 5%  to 137 LH; Cotton by 3% to 129 LH and Coarse cereals by 2% to 179 LH.This has been facilitated by 9% increase in rainfall during June-Sep 20 to 795mm. All five summer grown Oilseeds has seen higher than anticipated increase in their respective MSPs  and better procurement during the initial months of Covid pandemic phase.The increase in Minimum Support Prices including that of Paddy announced at the beginning of Kharif season in june 20 has really helped in increasing the sowing area and in augmenting the revenue of the farmer. That apart, India has witnessed a 23% increase in farm expor...