Economy

Pic source: myprivatetutor.com Katerina Milkova, a working mother in Bangalore, wanted a personal tutor for her son who is in 5th grade. She tried a couple of home tutoring service providers, and her search ended when she found EON Education. They met her at her convenience and explained the process very professionally. They provided a demo class for her and arranged for a passionate teacher to come home. “The tutor writes what has been taught in a logbook, with the date and duration of the class. My son is also given tests by her and his scores are recorded. It…

3.30 am, KR Market complex. Seethamma, in her sixties, is busy dealing with her customers, with a huge pile of jasmine and marigold in front of her. She has been selling flowers for the past 40 years, commuting all the way from Doddaballapur every day. Her customers are street-side vendors who sell stringed flowers by the mola or make garlands out of it. Even as dawn is hours away, Krishna Rajendra Market (KR Market), also known as City Market, is already bustling with activity. Flower and vegetable vendors visit the market in the wee hours of the morning, to offload…

Clad in yellow-and-red, a vegetable seller sits nonchalantly on a chair in the middle of the road. Pic: Deepa Mohan Valli is a 45-year-old woman who sells vegetables on her cart in Ulsoor. Two to three times a week, she takes a bus from Cox Town where she lives, and makes her way to City Market at about 1.30 pm. With a budget of Rs 4,000 on each visit, she buys vegetables based on the prices. If the prices are up, she buys about two kilos each of assorted vegetables; if they are down, she picks up about five kilos…

  Nowadays, festival shopping in Bengaluru is no longer about rushing to crowded malls and grabbing that last piece of discounted product off the counter. One cannot think of a single product that cannot be bought over the internet. Sitting at the comfort of your home, you can order just about anything, ranging from electronics, clothes, cosmetics, jewellery, medicines, home needs, toys, books to even pets and plants. The online shopping fever hasn’t spared anyone. As payment and replacement guarantee are in place for most products, even kids buy what they like with the ‘Cash on Delivery’ mode. Sudha, a…

A surge of promotions by e-retailers brought out the brick and mortal merchants in full force. They are demanding that the government should do something to make sure that the deep discounts from e-commerce companies are not life-threatening to the old retailers. There is a concern that some of the discounts from deep-pocketed web sites are 'below cost' sales, which are anti-competitive. (a) Direct intervention by government would be wrong. There is a Competition Commission of India, which is the appropriate body to look into unfair trade practices, and it should be left to the CCI to deal with this…

A good opportunity for those who have finished Std 12 and interested in vocational training. Center located in South Bangalore.  Labournet is starting a new skill development course next week.   Name of the course :  Home Appliances Repair Training   Qualification:   12th  Pass  onwards , ITI passed or failed  and  any Graduate Age: 18 Yrs- 30 Yrs   Course Fee: free Course duration: 50 days = 200 hours    Total intake: 60 students (male/female) Certification: Bajaj Electric and NSDC   Course will take place in the Gottigere Center, Bannerghatta Two batches possible (morning and afternoon batch)   For more information, please contact…

The Karnataka Domestic Workers Union has organised a protest against the employment of minors as Domestic Workers.  Time: Thursday August 21st, 3 30pm and 4 30pm Venue: Karmikara Bhavana, Bannerghatta Road The Karnataka Domestic Workers Union strongly condemns the recent attack on a child domestic  worker by her employers in Bangalore. We stand in solidarity with the girl who struggled for her life  for ten days at Vani Vilas hospital and demand that the employers are brought to justice. We stand for the right to life, dignity and education of every child and we demand that the girl is rehabilitated and…

July 15 was the deadline for the public to send in comments and suggestions  to the government’s ministry of labour and employment, about the proposed amendment to the law on child labour (prohibition). An NGO, Walkfree, working on child labour abolition had put out alerts, urging the public to sign the petition to the government, but at last count just before the deadline, there were only around 2,300 signatures. In a country of 1.2 billion people, this hardly qualifies as “popular involvement.” I haven't seen any involvement on this in Bangalore. We need deeper thinking, especially among the citizenry (rather…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Beedhi Vyaapaari Sanghatanegala Okkoota (Federation of Street Vendor Unions of Bangalore) is a federation of Street Vendor unions in several areas of Bangalore. Our member organisations have organised unions in Vijayanagar, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar, K.R.Market, Kamakshipalya, Aerohalli Ward No.72, Yegganahalli, Rajajinagar, Dodda Gollarahatti, 1st & 2nd Block, Nandini Layout, Nandini Layout,Ramkrishnanagar, Cholurpalya, Goragunte playa, Kamalanagar and several other areas of Bangalore. One of our member organisations, the Vijayanagar Beedhi Vyaaparigala Sanghatane is in fact the first registered Street Vendors Union in Karnataka. We have been working with vendors in different areas, making them aware of the New Street…

Valuation is thought to be a science by many. Just because a number is put out and there are detailed calculations and forecasts and projections of scenarios, it is assumed that valuation is rational, objective, data driven and sensible. When was Valuation ever just a number that one arrived at? And.. the WhatsApp deal with Facebook.. again demonstrates how little valuation is about science and how much more it is about belief.. of the future and what one wants to make of the future. While only Mark Zuckerberg can give us his true reason for this acquisition.. typically any deal…