(토요모임) [03. Dec. 2016] Saturday meeting topic

[Scarlet]

Howdy ! 

It's me Scarlett !   

This week we have 4 topics. 

◈ Leadership : Five steps for Obama to break the deadlock

◈ Personalities & Career : The best jobs for your personality type

◈ Cashless society & Economy : Can India really become a cashless society?

◈ Christmas Plan : Christmas cards show nativity in war zone 

Hope you enjoy the topics. 

With luv 

Scarlett

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Five steps for Obama to break the deadlock

Leadership, enthusiasm keys as President seeks to re-energize Democrats

By Richard S. Dunham | on September 2, 2012

CHARLOTTE — Nearly half of American voters say they'll vote against Barack Obama no matter what.

That doesn't give the Democratic President much wiggle room as he tries to win re-election in a politically polarized America amid a weak recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

So, with the presidential contest up for grabs, what does Barack Obama need to do at the Democratic National Convention to take a clear lead against Republican challenger Mitt Romney?

Here are five things that would make Obama's week successful:

1. Take back the mantle of "strong leader"

Obama-bashers at the Republican National Convention scored some political points last week when they attacked the President's leadership skills, his ability (and willingness) to transcend partisanship and, as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put it, "leading from behind" on foreign policy. Democratic convention planners need to convince undecided voters that Obama is a bold leader who ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a courageous leader who fought for an auto industry bailout despite strong public opposition and a tough leader who fought Republican obstructionists as he tried to keep the economy from slipping into Depression.

Perception is reality in American politics. Obama needs to change public perceptions.

2. Reduce the Democratic Party's enthusiasm gap

Polls show that Republicans are now more excited about voting in November than are Democrats. With the electorate so evenly divided, turnout is going to be crucial. So Obama's mission in Carolina is clear.

"First and foremost they need to mobilize the base," said pollster James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project in Austin.

That means a lot of red-meat rhetoric for the left as the Democrats try to maximize turnout among the Occupy movement followers, under-30 voters, union workers, environmentalists, social liberals, minorities and anti-war activists.

3. Plant seeds of doubt about Mitt Romney

The Democrats will have failed in Charlotte if they don't do two things: Convince some voters that Mitt Romney is out of touch with the concerns of middle-class Americans and that he is willing to advocate extreme policy positions to cozy up to his party's right wing. Three essential targets are minority voters (with issues including immigration reform, Voter ID laws and redistricting), young voters (gay marriage, education funding, student loans and health insurance coverage for 20-somethings) and women (examples: Obama's Lily Ledbetter anti-discrimination law, abortion and family planning funding).

4. Convince Americans that "hope" and "change" were not empty slogans

Republicans did a good job of lampooning the slogans Obama used with great effectiveness four years ago. Romney's speech addressed the swing voters who were "disappointed" in Obama (as opposed to the core Republicans who have hated him since Day One).

"Hope and Change had a powerful appeal," Romney said in his acceptance speech in Tampa. "But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama? You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as President when the best feeling you had, was the day you voted for him."

Obama, whose personal favorable ratings have always been higher than his job-performance numbers, can't afford to have former supporters develop a case of "buyer's remorse" this fall.

"That has to be done with nuance," said University of Texas political scientist Sean Theriault. "I think Americans are tiring a bit of Obama."

5. Make the election a choice about two competing economic visions

If the 2012 election is a referendum on the state of the economy — or President Obama's stewardship of the economy — he'll probably lose. After all, the party in power was swept away by economically pinched voters in France, Britain, Mexico Greece, Italy and Spain.

Only 37 percent of Americans now say Obama has been a good economic steward, according to the most recent Gallup Poll, and 71 percent tell the ABC News/Washington Post poll that the President's handling of the economy will be a "major factor" in their voting decision.

So the Democrats need to contrast Obama's economic plan, including spending restraint and tax increases on wealthy individuals and small businesses, with Romney's program of deep spending cuts accompanied by tax cuts that tilt heavily toward the rich. You'll hear a lot about Romney-Ryan plans to partially privatize Social Security and to turn Medicare into a voucher program for Americans under the age of 55.

Democrats are eagerly giving the media a preview of the rhetorical assault to come.

"People who tuned in hoping for some sense of a road map to the future from Gov. Romney (Thursday) night, all they got were snarky lines and gauzy reminisces of the past," David Axelrod, the Obama campaign's chief strategist, said in a conference call with reporters. "(Obama's) speech is going to reflect the thinking of a leader that has a clear sense of what we need to do to continue to repair the damage done by the recession and reclaim the economic security many Americans have lost."

Richard.dunham@chron.com.

Article source : http://www.timesunion.com/local/amp/Five-steps-for-Obama-to-break-the-deadlock-3835476.php

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How to Break Through Deadlock on Your Team

Roger Schwarz/ JULY 07, 2015

If your team deals with important issues and team members have strong views on those issues, you can end up in a deadlock. When that happens, people dig into their own preferred solutions, operating from a unilateral control mindset where everyone believes that he or she understands the situation and is right, and that those who disagree just don’t understand the situation and are wrong. When all team members are thinking and acting this way, it creates a vicious reinforcing cycle. The more people try to prevail, the more people stand their ground, and the less likely it is that the team will ultimately resolve anything.

 But there is a way to break through a team deadlock.

First, it’s important to understand how deadlocks develop. Think of them as an adult version of a connect-the-dots puzzle. In the children’s version, you draw a line connecting a series of numbered dots that are scattered on a page. If you connect the dots correctly, they form a picture, which is the solution to the puzzle. In a team deadlock, the dots represent the assumptions, interests, and relevant information that each member uses to arrive at his or her own solution. The line connecting the dots represents the reasoning process. In deadlocks, team members don’t select all the same dots, nor do they connect them in the same way. As a result, they arrive at different solutions. And everyone believes they have the one correct solution to the puzzle. Because each team member’s solution is the result of how they selected and connected their own dots, arguing about competing solutions without understanding what generated them in the first place just maintains the deadlock.

Consider a three-person leadership team with members Stephen, Daphne, and Kim deadlocked about how to reduce the time it takes for the three divisions they lead to meet client deadlines. Let’s look at the dots:

 Assumptions. 

Assumptions are things you accept as true or certain to happen without proof. The assumptions you make influence which solutions you consider effective or even possible. If Stephen assumes that all division managers are capable of performing at a certain standard, but Kim and Daphne assume that some managers don’t have the capacity to do so, their solutions for meeting client deadlines will likely be at odds.

 Interests.

Interests are the underlying needs that team members try to meet through their proposed solutions. Positions are simply solutions that people support that meet their interests.

People often take positions that meet the legitimate needs they face given their role in the team or organization. For example, if Daphne directs operations and Kim heads up finance, they may both take the position that the problem be solved using people who do not directly generate revenue. Their position may be based on their need that any solution be developed in a way that does not jeopardize the unit’s short-term profitability, for which they are accountable. If Stephen is responsible for strategy, he may take the position that all the managers need to meet together. His position may be based on his need to ensure that everyone understands the plan and is committed to implementing it.

The problem with focusing on positions is that team members’ positions are often in conflict when their underlying needs are actually compatible. Unfortunately, when people fail to realize this, they fail to explore solutions that everyone would likely support.

 Relevant information.

Relevant information is the information you use to formulate your solution. It includes financial and other data about the issue, information others have shared with you, and opinions that you value.

Whether people consider information to be relevant also affects the solutions they reach. If Daphne believes that the impending organizational change will alleviate some of the deadline challenges, she may not support a solution that commits resources she believes will be unnecessary. Similarly, if Kim believes that the new time management training program is starting to have a positive effect, she may want to delay any decision until the program has had sufficient time to show its full effect.

 Connecting the Dots

To identify the cause of your own team’s deadlock and develop a solution that everyone can support, examine the reasoning that each person is using to connect their dots:

1. Identify the assumptions, interests, and relevant information that team members are using to reach their solutions. 

You can map these out using a connect-the-dots approach, or you can simply develop a list. Place the names of people next to the assumptions, interests, and relevant information they believe needs to be included; this enables the team to quickly identify who needs to explain their reasoning for each item.

2. Identify the assumptions, interests, and relevant information that team members do not agree on. 

Whether you are using a visual map or lists, circle the items that not all members agree on. In our example, Stephen, Daphne, and Kim would circle: Stephen’s assumption about managers’ capability; Daphne’s and Kim’s interest that implementing the solution not jeopardize short-term profitability; Daphne’s information that an impending organizational change is relevant to consider; and Kim’s understanding that the new time management training program for managers is having a positive effect.

3. Explore what leads members to include or exclude the item as part of their reasoning.

For each item the team identified in the previous step, give individuals time to explain how the assumptions, interests, and relevant information they think are important influence their thinking. The purpose of this step is to understand how each team member is thinking, not for team members to try to convince others.

4. Agree on the assumptions, interests, and relevant information that will be considered in developing a solution. 

The core of this step is jointly designing ways to resolve the differing views. In our example, Stephen, Daphne, and Kim would jointly design a way of determining the extent to which the assumption that managers who report to them are capable of performing at a certain standard is accurate. They may decide to review available information or collect new information. They would agree on whether the interest of maintaining short-term profitability was critical. Finally, they would also jointly design a way to resolve whether Daphne’s information about an impending organizational change is relevant to consider and whether the new time management training program for managers is having a positive effect, as Kim believes. Jointly designing how to resolve the differences ensures that people agree on the data that will be used, how the data will be analyzed, and what decisions will be made based on the outcome of the analysis. This is the most challenging part of the process. It requires that team members be genuinely curious about others’ views and willing to examine their own assumptions and interests.

5. Jointly develop a solution that integrates the newly agreed upon assumptions, interests, and relevant information.

In this final step, your team uses its collective creativity to generate a solution that is based on all the items they have agreed to. If your team has done its work well up to this point, then this step feels like you are solving a difficult puzzle together. The team is focused on the challenge of developing a solution, not on challenging each other.

While these steps are logical and seemingly easy to follow, to use them effectively, you and your team need to shift out of the unilateral control mindset that led you into deadlock in the first place. Most of the time, deadlock happens because we’re not fully transparent with others about how we arrived at our conclusions, we’re not curious enough about how others arrived at different conclusions, and we don’t creatively address and resolve the seemingly unbridgeable differences that form the deadlock. Making the shift to transparency, curiosity, and creativity is the key to making the process work.

Article source : https://hbr.org/2015/07/how-to-break-through-deadlock-on-your-team

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What Is Leadership?

Kevin Kruse/ APR 9, 2013/

What is leadership, anyway?

Such a simple question, and yet it continues to vex popular consultants and lay people alike. I’ve now written several books on leadership for employee engagement, and yet it occurred to me that I never actually paused to define leadership. Let’s start with what leadership is not…

Leadership has nothing to do with seniority or one’s position in the hierarchy of a company.

Too many talk about a company’s leadership referring to the senior most executives in the organization. They are just that, senior executives. Leadership doesn’t automatically happen when you reach a certain pay grade. Hopefully you find it there, but there are no guarantees.

Leadership has nothing to do with titles. 

Similar to the point above, just because you have a C-level title, doesn’t automatically make you a “leader.” In all of my talks I stress the fact that you don’t need a title to lead. In fact, you can be a leader in your place of worship, your neighborhood, in your family, all without having a title.

Leadership has nothing to do with personal attributes. 

Say the word “leader” and most people think of a domineering, take-charge charismatic individual. We often think of icons from history like General Patton or President Lincoln. But leadership isn’t an adjective. We don’t need extroverted charismatic traits to practice leadership. And those with charisma don’t automatically lead.

Leadership isn’t management. 

This is the big one. Leadership and management are not synonymous.  You have 15 people in your downline and P&L responsibility? Good for you, hopefully you are a good manager. Good management is needed. Managers need to plan, measure, monitor, coordinate, solve, hire, fire, and so many other things. Typically, managers manage things. Leaders lead people.

So, again, what is Leadership?

Let’s see how some of the most respected business thinkers of our time define leadership, and let’s consider what’s wrong with their definitions.

Peter Drucker: "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."

Really? This instance of tautology is so simplistic as to be dangerous. A new Army Captain is put in the command of 200 soldiers. He never leaves his room, or utters a word to the men and women in his unit. Perhaps routine orders are given through a subordinate. By default his troops have to “follow” orders. Is the Captain really a leader? Commander yes, leader no. Drucker is of course a brilliant thinker of modern business but his definition of leader is too simple.

Warren Bennis: "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

Every spring you have a vision for a garden, and with lots of work carrots and tomatoes become a reality. Are you a leader? No, you’re a gardener. Bennis’ definition seems to have forgotten “others.”

Bill Gates: "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."

This definition includes “others” and empowerment is a good thing. But to what end? I’ve seen many empowered “others” in my life, from rioting hooligans to Google workers who were so misaligned with the rest of the company they found themselves unemployed. Gates’ definition lacks the parts about goal or vision.

John Maxwell: "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."

I like minimalism but this reduction is too much. A robber with a gun has “influence” over his victim. A manager has the power to fire team members which provides a lot of influence. But does this influence make a robber or a manager a leader? Maxwell’s definition omits the source of influence.

So what is leadership?

DEFINITION: Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.

Notice key elements of this definition:

Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power

Leadership requires others, and that implies they don’t need to be “direct reports”

No mention of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are many styles, many paths, to effective leadership

It includes a goal, not influence with no intended outcome

Lastly, what makes this definition so different from many of the academic definitions out there is the inclusion of “maximizes the efforts”. Most of my work is in the area of employee engagement, and engaged employees give discretionary effort.

I guess technically a leader could use social influence to just organize the efforts of others, but I think leadership is about maximizing the effort. It’s not, “Hey everyone, let’s line up and get to the top of that hill someday.” But rather, “Hey, see that hill? Let’s see how fast we can get to the top…and I’ll buy the first round for anyone who can beat me up there.” So what do you think of my definition of leadership?  Social influence, others, maximize effort, towards a goal. Do those key elements work for you?

Article source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/2/#6482e4f7e825

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35 Inspiring Leadership Quotes

By Nicole Fallon Taylor, Business News Daily Assistant Editor September 9, 2015 10:51 am EST 

Whether they led a company or a country, history's best leaders understood the importance of providing the motivation and direction to achieve larger goals. Poor leaders lose the faith and trust of the people they lead, while great leaders seem to lead without effort. The character, actions and thoughts of a leader, good or bad, permeate an organization. Your goal should be to demonstrate the best qualities of a leader while encouraging the same from those who follow you. These 35 quotes about leadership will help you think about and guide your actions.

 The character of a leader

1. "A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see and who sees before others see." – Leroy Eimes, author and leadership expert

2. "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." – Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the United States

3. "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, poet and philosopher

4. "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand." – Gen. Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State

5. "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." – William Arthur Ward, author

6. "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." – President John Quincy Adams

7. "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." – Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

8. "In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up and goes." – John Erskine, author

9. "The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic." – George Orwell, author

10. "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."– President Ronald Reagan

11. "A leader is a dealer in hope." – Napoleon Bonaparte, military leader

12. "Always do right. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest." – Mark Twain, author [What Is Leadership?]

 The actions of a leader

13. "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." – Jack Welch, former GE chairman and CEO

14. "Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." – U.S. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

15. "People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives." – President Theodore Roosevelt

16. "What you do has far greater impact than what you say." — Stephen Covey, author, businessman and speaker

17. "Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality." – Warren G. Bennis, founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California

18. "To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence ... When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'" – Lao Tzu, philosopher

19. "A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit." – Arnold Glasow, humorist and author

20. "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on." – Walter Lippmann, writer, reporter and political commentator

21. "The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been."  –Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State

22. "Earn your leadership every day." – Michael Jordan, former NBA basketball player

23. "The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there." – John Buchan, novelist, historian and politician

24. "Make sure you're not just waiting for someone else to fix things, or hoping that things will improve...Figure out what's going on and make a plan to improve things." – Kenneth W. Thomas, author

 The knowledge of a leader

25. "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." – Gen. George S. Patton

26. "The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." – Jim Rohn, entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker

27. "Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob." – Oscar Wilde, writer and poet

28. "The led must not be compelled. They must be able to choose their own leader." – Albert Einstein, physicist

29. "In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better." – President Harry Truman

30. "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." – Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple

31. "If you think you are leading and turn around to see no one following, then you are just taking a walk." – Benjamin Hooks, former director of the NAACP

32. "You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too." – Sam Rayburn, former speaker of the House

33. "You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership." – President Dwight D. Eisenhower

34. "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." – President Abraham Lincoln

35. "You manage things; you lead people." – Grace Murray Hopper, U.S. Navy rear admiral

Article source : http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7481-leadership-quotes.html#sthash.3ST97Bry.dpuf

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<Questions>

Q1. What is your definition of leadership? What is the most important qualities to be a great leader? 

Q2. Many citizens are so frustrated about current Korean society. How about you? What is the key leadership skills to deal with current deadlocked Korean society?

Q3. Why does deadlock happen in a human society? 

Most of the time, deadlock happens because we’re not fully transparent with others about how we arrived at our conclusions, we’re not curious enough about how others arrived at different conclusions, and we don’t creatively address and resolve the seemingly unbridgeable differences that form the deadlock. Making the shift to transparency, curiosity, and creativity is the key to making the process work.

Q4. Have you ever faced with deadlock in a human relationship? How did you tackle those situations properly? 

Q5. I think below sentence is very impressive comment for me to be a successful leader. Which sentence do you prefer the most from above 35 quotes? 

 "The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." – Jim Rohn, entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker

Q6. Why don't Koreans trust each other? Do you trust politicians? Do you trust your colleagues? Why can't we trust each other?

Q7. Do you think politicians care about 'Honor'? Do you think being a politician is honorable?

Q8. Do we have enough time to eval‎uate potential leaders' qualities for futuristic Korea if we carry out presidential election too early? 

Q9. Why does every Korean political leader want to be a president? Why all the powers goes into one person in Korea? 

Q10. What is the strengths and weaknesses of Korean presidential system? What is wrong with a Korean governing system? 

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The best jobs for your personality type

Written by Richard Feloni, Skye Gould

Published Monday 10 October 2016

America's biggest companies have been operating on the assumption for decades that certain personalities correspond to certain jobs, and one of the main tools they've used is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test.

It assigns people one of 16 personality types based on how they measure themselves against four criteria — it's the test where you can find out if you're an ESTJ or an ISTP. According to statistics from a few years ago, around 80% of Fortune 500 companies use the test, as does the world's largest hedge fund.

To determine five of the best jobs for every personality, we consulted one of the most popular personality guides based on the Myers-Briggs system, "Do What You Are," which has sold more than 1 million copies over its five editions, and spoke with one of its authors, Paul Tieger. (Note: The book is not affiliated with the Myers & Briggs Foundation, the company that manages the official MBTI test.)

The job lists aren't meant to be definitive, but rather serve as a fun way to see how certain occupations attract a particular kind of person.

Figure out which type suits you best, and then check out the charts below.

Article source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/the-best-jobs-for-your-personality-type?utm_content=buffer89606&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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<Questions>

Q1. What is your MBTI personality test result ?

Q2. What are the best jobs for your personality test result? Do you agree with that result? 

Q3. What is your occupation now? Do you think your current job has something to do with above test results? 

Q4. What was your dream when you were young? Did you establish your dreams come true?

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Can India really become a cashless society?

By Sameer Hashmi/ Mumbai business reporter/ 25 November 2016

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to the media inside the parliament 

premises on the first day of the winter session in New Delhi, India, November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

On the evening of 8 November, vegetable vendor Vishal Gupta was preparing to shut his roadside stall when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that 500 ($7.30; £6) and 1,000 rupee notes would be banned effective midnight as part of a crackdown on corruption.

Within minutes, people were out on the streets - queuing outside ATM machines to withdraw money in lower denominations or rushing to shops to buy provisions. The two banned notes account for 86% of all notes in circulation in India's largely cash economy.

"I sold all the vegetables in my stall in 20 minutes. This had never happened before," Mr Gupta told the BBC.

But the following day, he did not earn anything. Very few customers turned up and even those who wanted to buy vegetables did not have change to pay him. The situation continued for the next five days where without buyers all his vegetables got spoilt, causing him a loss of over 10,000 rupees ($150;£121)

Desperate to earn some money, Mr Gupta turned to popular mobile wallet Paytm, which he had heard about from his friend. Mobile wallets are apps that allow people to load and transfer money electronically using their smartphones.

"The situation is better now. I get at least four to five customers a day who use mobile wallets to pay me," he says.

Like Mr Gupta, many small business owners are using mobile transactions and cards to survive.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the government's decision are financial technology firms which have seen a surge in new customers.

Paytm, India's largest mobile payment company, says that it has seen a 700% increase in overall traffic, and a 300% hike in the number of app downloads with daily transactions touching 5 million.

It currently has 85,000 merchants on its platform but the company has now set a bold target of signing up another five million by March 2017. The company is backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

"We have seen remarkable growth since the currency announcement came in. We are opening offices in small cities and towns to expand our presence" Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice president at Paytm, told the BBC.

Payment revolution

Other mobile wallets like Mobikwik and Freecharge have also reported a huge jump in new customers.

But it's not just mobile payment firms who are trying to woo consumers.

Indian banks are also encouraging people to go cashless by using online banking and mobile apps services. Financial technology firms are seeing the rupee ban as a start of a digital payment revolution in the country.

Paytm came out with full-page advertisements in newspapers, congratulating the prime minister for taking the "boldest step in the financial history of India".

What is fuelling this optimism is that India is the second largest market for smartphones behind China. This has coincided with a rapid rise in internet users. The country presently has more than 450 million internet users, a number expected to touch 700 million by 2020.

But despite this sharp uptick in mobile and online payments, this overall user base is still very small for a country with a population of 1.25 billion people. And India still has a long way to go to before it can become a major cashless economy.

Most people only like dealing in cash. This is a mindset issue that will take a lot of time and effort to change.

And with more than half of India's population residing in rural areas where mobile coverage is still patchy, this task becomes even more daunting.

Restricted use

Even though India has successfully opened millions of banks accounts over the last two years to get more people into the financial system, a huge portion of the population still has no access to banking services.

The country has more than 24 million credit cards and 650 million debit cards. The number of debit cards has been growing steadily but most people only use them to withdraw money from ATMs instead of using them to make payments.

"You need more small businesses to buy devices that will accept debit and credit cards. Most of them want cash," says Vivek Belgavi, a financial services expert with PricewaterhouseCoopers India.

While businesses in the cities are gradually moving to cashless modes of payments, their counterparts in smaller cities and towns are reluctant to do that. They still do not understand the advantages of digital transactions. There is also a perception among a lot of Indians that internet and mobile transactions are not secure.

Many experts say that the key task once the cash situation normalises will be to retain customers that have switched to cashless payments in recent days.

Not an easy task in a nation where cash is king.

Article source : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38048051

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11 reasons why India is not ready to be a cashless society, yet

Encouraging people to go cashless after announcing a ban on notes is 

like starving people and then telling them how to go on a diet

Rashi MathurNov 29, 2016

By announcing a ban on the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and by putting a cap on withdrawals from banks and ATMs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the idea of a cashless society. But is India ready for a cashless society yet? While online transactions will allow the government to keep a check on payments and lessen the possibility of black money in the economy, is it feasible to be dependent on online transactions rather than cash payments in India?

While transactions of higher amounts may be done through cards, shopkeepers are unwilling to use soft money for transactions which of a lesser amount.

In a series of tweets, Modi and his government ministers have been educating people on how to move towards a cashless society how will people who are not tech-savvy access these tweets? Encouraging people to go cashless after announcing a ban on notes is like starving people and then telling them how to go on a diet.

Here are some of the problems which stand in the way of India becoming a cashless society

1. Cyber security:

In October 2016, the details of over 30 lakh debit cards was feared to have been exposed at ATMs. It was believed that the card and PIN details might have been leaked due to which customers were advised to change the PINs of their ATM-cum-debit cards. Stringent steps issuing new cards were also taken. Just a month later, the PM is motivating people to move to a cashless society. Is the cyber security in place? While a card is cloned, it takes several months to recover someone’s hard-earned money from the banks. How can people be assured that swiping cards at small shops and vendors will not be a risk to revealing our card details?

2. Network connectivity: 

Since the day demonetisation was announced, people are trying to use more of card transactions to save that dreaded trip to the bank and to save the last penny of the hard cash in hand. However, a sudden surge in card transactions has led to connectivity issues. Several people have faced trouble while standing in line to pay for a transaction at a shop when the card machines have stopped working due to an overload on the network. Connectivity issues must be resolved before dreaming about a cashless society.

3. Internet cost: 

The internet cost in India is still substantially high. There is no Wifi at public places and if people do not get their monthly data packs recharged, there is no way they can be connected to make online payments. Internet connectivity is needed even for the e-wallets. In order to convince people to do cashless transactions, the cost of the internet should be lowered and free WiFi should also be provided at public places.

4. Charges on cards, online transactions: 

Heard of convenience charges? of course, you would have if you do online transactions. These are additional charges that are levied by the vendors when they offer an online payment facility. But when the government is forcing us to go cashless, shouldn’t this compulsory fee on online transactions be taken off?

5. Non-tech-savvy:

While the new generation is glued to their phones and gadgets, computer literacy among the people in the over-50-age group is still low. Not many people are comfortable using computers or mobile phones and depend on their children when it comes to using the gizmos. Before promoting a cashless society, efforts need to be taken to educate people on how to use phones for transactions.

6. Smart phone affordability: 

Several companies have come up with new and inexpensive phones but they still not affordable for most of the population in the country. More affordable options should be launched by the government for people to buy smartphones for cashless transactions.

7. Infrastructure/phone battery: 

India still lacks when it comes to supporting a mobile society. It is extremely difficult to find a public charging point if the phone battery discharges. Even metro stations or railway stations in the tier one cities do not provide that infrastructure. So what happens if you have cash in your wallet, but you are out of battery after travelling on the road for a day? Is there any alternative that we have then?

8. Not enough bank accounts: 

Most people still do not have bank accounts. Most often there is just one account per family which also limits the number of cards people can have individually. A family of even four people cannot be dependent on just one card for all household expenditure.

9. Internet blockage: 

States like Jammu and Kashmir often face crackdown where the internet is the first thing that is blocked. In such circumstances, neither is it possible to use cards for transactions nor is it possible to use e-wallets. Any alternatives there?

10. Are banks ready?: 

A cashless society needs a proper infrastructure. The banks need to be fully equipped to handle the surge in e-transactions. Infrastructure is also needed in terms of opening more accounts in the banks.

11. Encourage people to spend: 

Spending by cards often encourages people to spend more. giving cash by hand helps people keep a check on their expenses but paying by cards gives people a free hand. Not just through credit but even the debit cards give that impression that you can make that payment immediately.

A cashless society is a welcome idea but not without preparation. There is a precursor to taking such steps without which a move such as this would be more harmful that being beneficial. A cashless society, for now, seems like a distant dream but a less cash society can be appreciated.

Article source : http://www.inuth.com/india/cashless-society-narendra-modi-demonetisation/

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<Questions>

Q1. How much money do you use each day? 

Q2. Have you ever thought about a society without money? 

Q3. Do you use Cash or Credit? Why?

Q4. What would be the merits and demerits of a society without cash?

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Christmas cards show nativity in war zone 

1st December, 2016

A charity has released a series of Christmas cards with a difference. The non-profit organization Doctors of the World is selling four different cards showing traditional Christmas scenes from the Holy Land. However, the pictures also contain images of the war in Syria. The Doctors of the World want to make people aware that there is still a lot of suffering going on in the world, especially in Syria. One Christmas card shows Mary and Joseph travelling on a donkey through the rubble of modern day, war-torn Syria. Another shows the baby Jesus asleep in his manger as a missile is fired in the distance behind him. The next card shows the three wise men looking up at warplanes flying overhead.

The Doctors of the World website explained the reason for their alternative Christmas cards. It said: "Rather than making a religious statement, these images seek to remind the public that this year war has forced millions from their homes, and they really need our help." Money from the sale of the cards will help buy medicine and medical equipment for people in Syria and other areas of conflict around the world. The website said: "By purchasing our cards, you are helping us to provide healthcare to the most vulnerable, and together we will [put back] a little of the most festive feeling of all – hope." The United Nations estimates that 65 million people have fled their homes because of violence and war.

SOURCE : http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1612/161201-christmas-cards.html

'TIS THE SEASON TO GIVE A DAMN

Today we unveil our 2016 Christmas cards that starkly juxtapose vintage biblical nativity scenes with modern-day photographs of conflict zones across the Middle East.

The cards, with names including ‘Not So Silent Night’ and ‘The Star of Bedlam’, were designed pro bono by advertising agency McCann London and feature photojournalism from Press Association taken over the last year.

Rather than making a religious statement, these images seek to remind the public that this year war has forced millions from their homes, and they really need our help.

“Every Christmas a romanticised picture is presented of the Holy Land of the past, featuring peaceful pastoral images that are shared in homes, churches and high streets across the country," says Leigh Daynes, executive director of Doctors of the World. "This is completely at odds with the humanitarian crisis that the region faces today.

"This Christmas we’re asking people to see the realities that we see of the war-torn Middle East, and share some goodwill with a donation to help us give medical aid to people in desperate need.” 

Conflict in the Middle East has led to the biggest forced displacement of civilians since the Second World War. The United Nations estimates that 65million people have fled their homes because of violence and armed conflict. Half are from just three countries: Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. Some 28 million are children. 

Doctors of the World medics, midwives and psychologists provided over 580,000 people with medical care and delivered over 8,560 mental health consultations in Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq in 2015 alone. 

But much more needs to be done.

“Instead of sending shop-bought cards this year I’m asking everyone I know to buy and send these unique cards,” added TV presenter and Doctors of the World Trustee Dr Chris van Tulleken.

Proceeds from the sale of each pack will help us provide vital medical aid to people who’ve been forced from their homes by war.  And help to re-instate a little of the most festive feeling of all – hope.

Article source : https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/news/2016-christmas-cards

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<Questions>

Q1. Do you like Christmas? Why, why not?

Q2. Have you ever sent Christmas cards to anyone? Who was it? Would you send X-mas cards to anyone this year?

Q3. If your friends send you Christmas cards which shows nativity in war zone, how would you feel about it?

Q4. If Christmas were abolished, how would you feel?

Q5. Do you think we will have a white Christmas this year?

Q6. What would you like to get for your Christmas present?

Q7. Do you tell people what you want for Christmas or do you prefer it to be a surprise?

Q8. If your country celebrates Christmas, when do the endless Christmas songs begin in the shops? Which Christmas song do you find the most annoying?

Q9. Do you have any plans to go to a Christmas party?

Q10. What do you usually do on Christmas day?