An article in the Financial Times stressed on the growing importance of an MBA degree for career-oriented women.

Employers are constantly on the lookout for prospective women armed with an MBA degree.Universities like the IMD in Switzerland and the London Business School are designing prgrammes that harp on the softer skills rather than the hard analytics. These courses are designed to pull in young mothers who are returning to the workplace. Also there has been a substantial increase in the number of women enrolling for an MBA degree.

The flip side is, women with an MBA degree are often paid less. The fee structure for women executives are not at par with that of men.

But the day is not far behind when these women executives take over the world displacing the male order.

The US has gone a step further to customise their MBA programmes to suit the needs of their niche customers like LG Electronics, Rolls-Royce, Texas Instruments to name a few. The courses offer the company executives with expertise to reach the numero uno status.

Diversity is what makes these courses a huge hit, in the UK and the US. Some have also predicted this as the “future of MBA programmes”.

Maybe the day is not far behind when “tailor-made” courses would be the buzz word in every educational institution. Schools, colleges and universities will be awarding customised degrees to students with varied levels of intelligence and capabilities.

The last decade gave rise to the customisation of internet sites. It seems the decade to come belongs to the universities and the paradigm shift in academic focus.          

Can you believe the ruling politicians in India regard the soaring price of onions to be a potential tool in determining their office?

An article in last week’s edition of The Economist spoke at length about India’s rising food prices and its relation to inflation.The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) suffered a defeat in a Delhi election after onion prices increased nearly six-times. That was in 1998. The present ruling coalition also fought an election amidst unfair rise in the price of food items including onions.

An average Indian would spend nearly three-fourth of their income in feeding their family . Food-price inflation is a serious cause of concern for this section of the Indian population. The annual food price inflation climbed to 10% from 7.6% a year earlier. Price of oil has risen 12%, while edible-oil prices have shot up 43% in just one year.

Food price inflation elsewhere in the world often results from extreme weather conditions but back home it is the “poor economic management”. Food price stability demands better roads and electricity. About 40% of fruits and vegetable often fail to make way to the market and rot on their way.

Organised retailing is a concept that India has to familiarise with.But with retail giants like Wal Mart’s being refused an entry into the Indian retail scene, would have been an encouraging sign.

Politicians campaigning before elections often make much hue and cry about trivial matters but fail to address issues that demand more attention. True, the indian economy is growing at the rate of 9.2% but why rejoice when rest of the country is battling the food price inflation.