What is the difference between CTC and take home?
As you probably gauged, CTC is not the same as take home. Your take home is always lower than your CTC. Besides examples mentioned above, there are two major components that eat into the CTC. They are:
1. Tax liability
The company calculates your tax and deducts it every month from your CTC. This includes income tax as well as professional tax.
2. Contribution to PF
Here is the confusing part. Provident fund contribution has two sides – the employer’s contribution and employee’s contribution. The employer’s contribution is included in the CTC as it is a cost that the company incurs to employ you. This is usually 12 per cent of the basic salary. However, this contribution is not paid out to you monthly. It is directly deposited in your PF account and paid to you when you retire or resign.
There is also employee’s contribution to PF. This amount (usually 12 per cent of the basic salary) is deducted from your monthly salary and deposited in your PF account.
Now let us calculate how CTC becomes take home.
Step 1: Calculate tax:
| Particulars | Taxable amount (see notes below) |
| Basic | 480,000 (1) |
| Dearness Allowance | 48,000 (2) |
| Entertainment Allowance | 12,000 (3) |
| HRA | 52,800 (4) |
| Conveyance | 2,400 (5) |
| Overtime Allowance | 12,000 (6) |
| Medical Reimbursement | Nil (7) |
| Gross taxable salary | 607,200 |
| Tax | 86,685 (8) |
| Net annual salary | 205,155 |
| Net monthly salary | 43,376 |
Notes on tax calculation:
Let’s look at it step by step.
1. Basic salary is fully taxable under Section 17 of the Income Tax Act, in this case Rs 40,000 is fully taxable.
2. Your Dearness Allowance and overtime allowance are fully taxable.
3. The taxability of entertainment allowance depends on the company policy. In this case, this is wholly taxable. However, in some companies, entertainment allowances become tax free if bills are submitted to the extent that these expenses were used towards office purposes.
4. House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemption is applicable only if you are living in a rented house and not in your own house. HRA calculation in this case is as follows:
The minimum of the three amounts will be exempt from tax:
a. Actual HRA allowance in the salary package, that is Rs 96,000
OR
b. HRA received less 10 per cent of salary and DA, that is 43,200 (96,000 – 10% of 528,000)
OR
c. If you live in metropolitan (Delhi, Chennai, Bombay and Calcutta), 50 per cent of salary and DA However, if you live in any other city, it is 40 per cent of salary + DA.
So, in this case it would be Rs 211,200 (40% of 528,000)
The least amount of the three would be Rs 43,200, which is exempt. That means the actual taxable amount would be
Rs 96,000 (less) Rs 43,200 = Rs 52,800
5. Conveyance allowance of Rs 9,600 per annum is exempted from tax. So, in this case Rs 2,400 will be subjected to tax. Again, this is according to her company policy. In some companies, if the balance is used for official purposes, the amount becomes tax free.
6. Overtime allowance is fully taxable.
7. Medical reimbursements, if substantiated with bills, are exempt to a limit of Rs 15,000 annually. So, one can produce medical bills for a maximum of Rs 15,000 to her employer. If you are allotted a annual medical reimbursement of Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 would be tax exempt if you submit bills, which means you’d have to pay tax on the remaining amount of Rs 5,000.
Some other allowances and reimbursements which may be part of your package are food coupons (sodexho, ticket restaurant), phone reimbursements, books and periodical reimbursements etc. The taxation of this would depend on your company policy.
8. In this case salary falls in the highest tax bracket. This tax amount includes education cess too. Of course, this calculation is done assuming that one does not make any tax saving investments. If she invests the maximum permissible limit of Rs 1 lakh, her tax comes down to Rs 55,785.
Step 2: Deduct provident fund and professional tax
Out of the CTC, employer’s contribution to PF will not be included in the take home, as discussed earlier. Employee’s contribution, that is one’s contribution would have to be deducted.
Monthly take home would be:
Net monthly salary (post income tax) Rs 43376
less contribution to provident fund Rs 4,800
less Professional tax Rs 200
Monthly take home Rs 38,376
So while monthly CTC was Rs 61,050, take home is just Rs 38,376
How can one increase take home?
One can plan taxes and increase the take home. If one invests Rs 1 lakh (the limit under section 80 C) in tax saving instruments like PPF, ELSS etc, annual tax comes down to Rs 55,785.
| Gross taxable salary | 607,200 |
| Tax | 55,785 |
| Net annual salary | 551,415 |
| Net monthly salary | 45,951 |
| (Less) Pf contribution | 4,800 |
| (Less) Professional tax | 200 |
| Monthly take home | 40,951 |
It is also important that while she changes jobs, she should take some time to understand the package offered to ensure that the CTC is friendly and ensures maximum take home.
Address by Azim Premji
Posted on: September 23, 2009
I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth.
At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life.
First
The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, ‘Forget about hopping. You are, anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming.’ They sent the rabbit for tuition in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?
While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.
Second
The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend was sharing with me, the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook cereal packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. The child found the food delicious. The difference was that she had cooked it! In my own life,
I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our own rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of ‘come easy, go easy’. I guess we only know the value of what we have, if we have struggled to earn it.
Third
The third lesson I have learnt is, in Cricket, no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don’t beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not ‘lose the lesson’.
Fourth
The fourth lesson I have learnt, is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering, whether you deserve all of it. We have so much to be grateful or. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors, have done so much for us, that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously, no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge, what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent, but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savor the memory, of the good things, while they lasted.
Fifth
The fifth lesson I learnt is, that we must always strive for Excellence. One way of achieving excellence, is by looking at those better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must involve not only our mind, but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act, but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.
Sixth
The sixth lesson I have learnt is, never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you, suddenly without warning. Always keep in mind, that it is only the test of fire, that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, “Look, why don’t you just give up? I don’t think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day.” The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, “But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!” If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective.
Seventh
The seventh lesson I have learnt is, that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said,” You must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze.” Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination.
Final
And the final lesson I learnt is, that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the Customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick up the money, smile politely and say, ‘Thank you, Sir.’ One day, the vendor’s assistant asked him, “Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don’t you throw the newspaper at him when he comes back tomorrow?” The vendor smiled and replied, “He can’t help being rude and I can’t help being polite. Why should I let his rude behavior dictate my politeness? I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life. “Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.” Prayer is not a spare wheel that you pull out when YOU ARE IN TROUBLE, It is a steering wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout your life.
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The Soldier and the Nun :)
Posted on: September 22, 2009
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The Soldier and the Nun
A soldier ran up to a nun. Out of breath he asked, ‘Please, may I hide under your skirt. I’ll explain later.’
The nun agreed. A moment later two Military Police ran up and asked, Sister, have you seen a soldier?’
The nun replied, ‘He went that way.’
After the MPs ran off, the soldier crawled out from under her skirt and said, ‘I can’t thank you enough Sister. You see, I don’t want to go to Iraq .’
The nun said, ‘I understand completely.’
The soldier added, ‘I hope I’m not rude, but you have a great pair of legs!’
The nun replied, ‘If you had looked a little higher, you would have seen a great pair of balls….I don’t want to go to Iraq either.’
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Motto of the Sikh Regiment: NISCHEY KAR APNI JEET KARON (I Fight For Sure To Win)
Regimental Battle Cry: JO BOLE SO NIHAL SAT SRI AKAL (He who cries God is Truth, is ever victorious).
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the travails of time, men have been inspired by countless tales of bravery, intrepidity and chivalry. None evokes such raw rush of emotions as the story of men defending their post against daunting odds both in terms of numbers of the enemy and the certainty of paying the ultimate price.
The annals of military history, witnesses famous battles fought on epic scale by a small group of fearless men, punctuates its chapters from the Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC when Sparta under King Leonidas put up a stubborn resistance against the onslaught of the Persians on the narrow isthmus, to Battle of Thakur Ghar in 2002, when US Special Operation Forces were cut off and surrounded yet fought a pitched battle with Taliban fighters occupying higher ground.
The Thermopylae legend has it that 300 Spartans faced almost 60,000 Persians. 20,000 Macedonians under Alexander faced 100,000 Persians in Battle of Guagmela. 70 French Foreign Legionnaires under Captain Jean Danjou made their last stand in The Battle of Cameroon against 2,000 marauding Mexicans. Battle of Alamo, Bastogne, Pasir Panjang, Chosin Reservoir, Tra Binh Dong and countless others have one thing in common; all tell the tales of collective bravery and devotion to duty against an otherwise, hopeless situation.
In terms of ratio on the odds faced in such a dire situation, none came closer than those faced by 21 formidable soldiers of the 36th Sikh of West Bengal Infantry (present day 4th Sikh Regiment of The Indian Army) on a hot summer morning in Saragarhi, North Western Frontier Province (NWFP – present day Pakistan) on 12th of September, 1897.
These 21 Sikh soldiers were up against ferocious Afridis and Orakzai tribes of the Pashtun, numbering close to 10,000. The staggering ratio of 1: 416 stacked against the Sikh’s were both unmatched and unprecedented making their ‘last stand’ at Saragarhi, as the greatest odds faced by any troops in the history of warfare. The odds faced by the Sikhs of 1 against 416 Pathans will make the Battle Of Thermopylae made famous by the Hollywood flick “300” a child’s play.
Saragarhi is a communication relay post between Fort Lockhart and Fort Gulistan in the Sulaiman Range of NWFP. Since Lockhart and Gulitsan are not in visual line of sight due to geographical attributes, a midway heliograph communication post was built, Saragarhi. Heliography is communication technique by capturing the sunlight with mirror and transmitting it via coded messages. Therefore Saragarhi post was vital in ensuring the survival of these two Forts in specific and the defense of the region, in general.
PROLOGUE
The last decades of 19th century was indeed a trying time for the British Empire in India, the crown jewel of its empire. The Russians were trying to make inroads into the continent via Afghanistan and the British made several incursions into Afghanistan to stop this adventurism by the tribes allied to Russia. In order to contain and keep the tribes in check the British manned a series of posts along the Hindu Kush ranges.
These posts were constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during his Western campaign and after the decline of Sikh empire, these were taken over by the British for the same purpose. Constant raids and skirmishes by these violent and bloodthirsty tribesmen were a regular occurrence and British Indian Army was in constant vigil.
Atrocities against captured soldiers by the Pashtun or Afghani tribesmen were rampant. Castration, mutilation and skinning captured soldiers alive was one of the many ways tribal leaders instilled fear and control. The Pasthun were fierce warriors just like the Sikhs and Gurkhas of the British Indian Army but lacked the chivalry aspect of the warrior ethos.
The type of war the British soldiers and Indian sepoys fought in Afghan and NWFP was aptly written by Rurdyard Kipling in his poem “The Young British Soldier”.
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
The relationship between the Sikh soldiers and the British Army started out of mutual admiration for each others’ courage and tenacity in battle during the First Anglo – Sikh War (1839-45) and Second Anglo-Sikh War (1845-49). The inception of Sikh soldiers, their former nemesis into the British Indian Army was a testament to that admiration.
Soldering in Sikhism has a strong religious underpinning to it, akin to the Samurai warrior’s Code of Bushido. Sikhism emphasizes in defending the faith, protecting the weak, devotion to duty without fear or favor. These are main hallmarks of the Sikh religion and devotees, especially during the early days of Sikhism held true to these tenets. It is no wonder the Herculean task which fell on these 21 Sikh on that faithful day, would test their soldering skills, bravery, devotion, endurance and above all faith to its limit.
THE BATTLE
Prior to the 12th of September numerous attempts were made by the Pathans to overrun the post but failed due to calculated defensive actions by the Sikhs under the able leadership of Havildar Ishar Singh, the detachment commander at Saragarhi. Unbeknownst to him the Pathans were planning for a major offensive to decimate this vital post and the d-day was set for 12rd of September 1897, H-Hour at 0900 hrs. The Pathan strategy called for the time proven hammer and anvil maneuver, which is to block the reinforcement from Fort Lockhart (anvil) and strike Saragarhi with impunity (hammer). The chess pieces were in place and it was time for the Pathans to make the first move.
Havildar Ishar Singh peered through the binocular from the watch tower of his post, what he saw numbed him, briefly. Through the magnified view he could see columns upon columns and row upon rows of Pathans waving their swords and guns menacingly at the Sikhs. The dust kicked up by the thousands of horses temporarily blocked the sun rising over the horizon, the Pathan forces assembled before the Sikhs were colossal and raring to go.
Sepoy Gurmukh Singh the detachment signaler went up an elevated mound to set up his heliograph and began signaling to Fort Lockhart about their predicament ‘ENEMY APPROACHING THE MAIN GATE..NEED REINFORCEMENT’. Lt Col Haughton, Commanding Officer of 36th Sikh Battalion rushed his troops to augment the outnumbered Sikhs but to no avail. The Pathans have systematically cut-off the supply route between Fort Lockhart and Saragarhi, a tactic to slowly strangle the Sikhs into submission.
Fort Lockhart transmitted ‘UNABLE TO BREAKTHRU..HOLD POSITION’. Saragarhi flashed back ‘UNDERSTOOD’. With that message Lt Col Haughton have sealed the fate of the Sikhs at Saragarhi to certain death, as he watched from Fort Lockhart, Haugthon counted at least 10 enemy standards (each representing 1,000 tribesmen) facing the 21 Sikh soldiers. Sepoy Gurmukh passed on this message to Havildar Ishar Singh as he comprehended the grim situation facing him and his men, the Pathans attacked. Like wild hordes on the loose the Pathans howling at top of their voices rode with guns blazing onto the Sikh in order to breach the main gate of the post. One of the sepoy sounded the bugle as per Havildar Ishar Singh’s command (signals during battle in 18th & 19th centuries are through bugle) and in a flash they formed up two line abreast one row in a squatting firing position and the other standing as per the bugle’s tone.
The Martini Henry breech loading rifle, standard British Infantry rifle was put through its paces. Martini Henry rifles first entered service with the British Army in 1871 and quickly became the mainstay. Colonial units such as the Sikhs and Gurkhas only received them after all the British units were equipped. It has only been a few months since these frontier regiments were equipped with these rifles, replacing the venerable Enfield. Capable of firing 10 .303 calibre rounds a minute, it proved to be more than a match to the antiquated muzzle loading rifles possessed by the tribesmen. Havildar Ishar Singh piercing eyes stared at the group of tribal leaders ordering him to lay down his arms and surrender. A devout Sikh and fatherly figure to his unit, the troops under his command knew full well the ability of this North Western Frontier veteran. Havildar understood this terrain very well, its unpredictable climate and above all the character and fighting ability of the blood thirsty Pathan warriors. As a Sikh the underpinning fundamental of the religion forbade cowardice and by laying down his arm he would desecrate this holy tenet. The Sikhs are one of the marshal races recognized by the British for their fighting prowess and on the 12th of September, this notion would be challenged once again.
The effective range of Henry Martini rifle is around 600 yards (550m), Havildar held his order to fire until the enemy closed in within 250m from his post. Once the Pathan’s breached this marker he yelled ‘NA DARON ARI SON JAB JAI LAROOON’ in chorus with the soldiers ‘NISCHEY KAR APNI JEEET KAROOOOON’.. ‘FIRE! RELOAD!..FIRE AT WILL’. The .303 calibre was deadly and affective at this range, coupled with the grouping shots formed by the line abreast formations the first line of Pathan advance was completely decimated.
However there was no time to reflect upon their success, with manual breech loading, the rifle had to be cocked every time to shoot. This was time consuming. Further the Pathans who fell in the first wave were only part of the advance party that was sent to recon the Sikhs strength. From atop of the post Havildar Ishar Singh saw again thousands of blood thirsty Pathans in rows upon rows, waiting to charge against their beleaguered position. Now the Pathans knew the actual strength of the Sikhs and planned for a massive assault on all flanks, a multi pronged attack designed to divide the outnumbered Sikhs into much smaller groups thereby ensuring weaker defensive formations.
The attack this time was with such fury that the earth around the fort shook as the Pathan horsemen thundered across the barren land to slice the Sikhs into pieces. Havildar Ishar Singh unnerved by this onslaught gave battle orders again ‘SQUATTING SOLDIERS TO THE RIGHT! STANDING SOLDIERS TO THE LEFT! QUICKLY! QUICKLY!’..with such clarity amid the chaos of battle. The highly disciplined soldiers followed the orders like clock work. The tribesmen attacked in two formations, one towards the main gate and the other towards the gap at the fort.
Havildar Ishar Singh calculated at least 150 tribesmen rode in this wave, he could see only the white of their eyes as the tribesmen approached closer, masking their face, undeterred he yelled their regiment battle cry together with his troops.. “JO BOLE SO NIHAL, SAT SRI AKAL!” ..as the tribesmen were within range ‘FIRE!’.. the sounds of .303 exiting the barrels was deafening.
The tribesmen’s attack was repulsed once again by the Sikhs due to superior marksmanship and motivation. Some tribesmen lay dead just yards away from the Sikh’s position denoting fighting at close quarters. The soldiers rank and ammunitions also started to dwindle at this juncture.
Out of the full strength of 21 soldiers at the start of the hostilities around 0900 hrs, by 1200 noon they were down to 10, with the ever inspiring Havildar Ishar Singh still leading the men, despite being gravely injured by bullets and saber slashes. By this time the Sikhs have repulsed nothing more than 7 fanatical charges by the tribesmen.
As the battle raged on without any respite the ammunition gradually depleted and by 1400hrs 12 of September, 1897 Sepoy Gurumukh Singh signaled Fort Lockhart the Battalion HQ: “LOW ON AMMO! NEED AMMO URGENTLY”, the heliograph has done its part in conveying the message. Lt Col Haughton sent his personal orderly to pass the ammunitions to the trapped Sikhs, again to no avail.
As the Pathan attacked again, with less than 10 able bodied men, the Sikhs put up a stiff resistance and managed to repel this brutal attack yet once again; but only briefly. The tribesmen now resorted to ungentlemanly conduct of war, whereby they lit fire to the bushes and scrubs around Fort Saragarhi in a desperate attempt to subdue the Sikhs. Clouds of smoke blanketed the fort, making it impossible for the Sikhs to see the enemy.
Taking this opportunity and knowing full well that frontal attack against the Sikhs was suicidal the tribesmen used the smoke to mask their approach to the breach at the wall. Officers and soldiers at the Battalion HQ in Fort Lockhart could clearly see the approach of the tribesmen due to their elevated position above Saragarhi, Lt Col Haugton frantically signaled Saragarhi. “ENEMY APPROCHING THE BREACH”.
Havildar Ishar Singh due to injuries sustained dragged himself towards the breach with two other sepoys to the stop the tribesmen from entering the fort. Out of ammunition all three of them fixed bayonet and charged against the tribesmen. Overwhelmed by the sheer numbers facing them all three fell were they stood, Havildar Ishar Singh providing leadership until the end. At the same time tribesmen entered the main gate due to the thinning of the defensive lines as a result of mounting casualties.
The main gate had been breached however hand to hand fighting still took place inside the fort, in full view from Fort Lockhart. Lt Col Haugton clenched his fist in frustration as there was nothing he could do to help the Sikhs. Only less than 4 Sikhs were alive by the time tribesmen breached the fort with additional Sepoy Gurumukh Singh in the nearby mound providing up to date situation report via heliograph.
Out of ammunition, they did not lay down their weapons; instead formed an all round defensive position with all their backs against each other with their bayonet pointing out.
The onslaught of tribesmen with bloodthirsty fury reached its feverish peak, a force of nearly hundred converged on the fort and hacked the valiant Sikhs into pieces, but not before the Sikhs took a few heads with them. From Lockhart soldiers were in utter disbelief of the raw courage displayed down below at Saragarhi and the stiff resistance put up by the remaining Sikhs gasped in awe of the action unfolding.
At 1530 hrs Sep Sepoy Gurumukh Singh transmitted “MAIN GATE BREACHED!..DOWN TO ONE! ..REQUEST PERMISSION TO DISMOUNT AND JOIN THE FIGHT”. Orders came back, “PERMISSION GRANTED”. Sepoy Gurumukh Singh disassembled his heliograph device, picked up his rifle and went into the fort to join the fight. With exceptional presents of mind, courage and incredible tenacity Sepoy Gurumukh joined in the fray.
Soldiers at Fort Lockhart see him disappear at the thick of battle into the tribesmen line, they could only hear him shouting on top of his voice, “JO BOLE SO NIHAL! SAT SRI AKAL”… “JO BOLE SO NIHAL SAT SRI AKAL”, the third battle cry even more weaker whilst choking on his blood as he stood there bayoneting, legend has it that he took down single handedly 20 tribesmen before succumbing to the repeated slashes of the tribesmen sword and the fire that was engulfing the post.
Sepoy Gurumukh Singh, the youngest of the group not more than 19 year old and the last to fall, lay down with blood oozing from his wound as crimson as the sun setting over the horizon. Twitching to an end as his last breath left the battlefield, Sepoy Gurumukh Singh could hear in the deep recesses of his mind the melodic hymn of “DUKH BHANJAN TERA NAAM” his mother recites every evening in their home. Satisfied in the knowledge that they have done their duty for his country, his empress Queen Victoria and above all held true to the holy tenets laid down by the Gurus.
EPILOGUE
LT Col Haughton signaled his HQ in Punjab about the battle that had transpired. Within a few hours, tales of their bravery were making news across India. The Governor General of India Earl of Eglin wrote a personal telegraph to the Queen Victoria on the bravery of the Sikhs soldiers defending the post till their death.
The news reached the House Of Common, as the tales of sacrifice of the 21 Sikh soldiers were narrated; tears flowed freely in the August house, at the end the Chief Whip speech, the entire parliament gave a rousing standing ovation to the Gallant 21, as their name were called out aloud in a symbolic roll call.
The collective courage of the 21 Sikh soldiers moved Queen Victoria so much that her majesty decreed that due to conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity beyond and above the call of duty displayed by the 21 soldiers, all of them shall be awarded the Indian Order Merit (IOM) posthumously. IOM is the highest award for bravery given to colonial troops and it was equivalent to the British Victoria Cross. This was the only time in history of warfare where each soldier who took part in the same battle was given the highest award. Additionally, Her Majesty decreed that the net of kin of these brave soldiers would be given a stipend of 500 rupees and 50 acres of land.
Finally a memorial cenotaph was to be erected near the place where all these 21 soldiers fell, as a perpetual record to the heroic action of these gallant soldiers who died at their posts in the defense of Fort Saragarhi, on the 12 September 1897. Without the stiff resistance of the 21 Sikh soldiers at Saragarhi both Fort Lockhart and Gulistan would have fallen to the enemy. By defending their position long enough for the relief column to arrive with artillery support, the 21 Sikh soldiers became the crucial factor in turning the tides of battle in favour of the British.
The 21 Sikh soldiers fought on continuously for 7 punishing hours without food and water, completely surrounded and pounded from all flanks. Unwearied by constant charges and mortal danger they stood their ground against daunting odds, they repealed wave after wave of attack and fought till their last bullets. Out of ammunition they did not abandon their post and instead chose to engage in a fatal hand to hand combat, till all made the ultimate sacrifice.
When the relief column arrived a day later, they saw the burnt out bodies of all the 21 Sikh soldiers, together with at least 600 dead bodies of the tribesmen strewn only yards in front of their position. The Sikhs faced 10,000 and vanquished but not before taking 600 tribesmen with them.
A REFLECTION
12th of September officially became the regimental day of the Sikh Regiment, Gurdwara Saragarhi was built in Firozpur as a remembrance to the 21 brave souls. Their name forever etched within the marbles of the Gurdwara, close to the gurus that they were true till the end.
It is unfortunate that most Sikhs, almost 90 percent of them do not know the significance of the Battle of Saragarhi. In France school children are studying Saragarhi as curriculum for devotion to duty and sacrifices. UNESCO has listed the Battle of Saragarhi as one of the 6 tales of collective bravery.
By conducting extensive research on this battle I am able to understand the gargantuan task that befell these soldiers, the grit, determination and indomitable fighting spirit of the gallant 21 during the battle. It is my sincere hope that on 12th of September, Gurdwaras throughout the country would perform prayers to commemorate these brave souls.
Battle of Saragarhi would be forever remembered not for the battle itself, but for the 21 soldiers who against unmatched odds in military history, of 21 against 10,000 an unforgiving odd of 1:416. They, at the call of duty, rose to the occasion, met their challenge and triumphed even in defeat by paying the ultimate price.
Their action on the 12th of September would be a tough act to follow and they set a very high standard for gallantry. The 21 soldiers gloriously maintained the reputation of the Sikhs for unflinching courage on the field of battle till their last breath, keeping up with the finest tradition of the Sikh Regiment
ROLL CALL (A SALUTE TO THE BRAVE)
• 165 Havildar Ishar Singh
• 332 Naik Lal Singh
• 834 Sepoy Narayan Singh
• 546 Lance Naik Chanda Singh
• 814 Sepoy Gurmukh Singh
• 1321 Sepoy Sundar Singh
• 871 Sepoy Jivan Singh
• 287 Sepoy Ram Singh
• 1733 Sepoy Gurmukh Singh
• 492 Sepoy Uttar Singh
• 163 Sepoy Ram Singh
• 182 Sepoy Sahib Singh
• 1257 Sepoy Bhagwan Singh
• 359 Sepoy Hira Singh
• 1265 Sepoy Bhagwan Singh
• 687 Sepoy Daya Singh
• 1556 Sepoy Buta Singh
• 760 Sepoy Jivan Singh
• 1651 Sepoy Jivan Singh
• 791 Sepoy Bhola Singh
• 1221 Sepoy Nand Singh
Related Links:Uk Sikh Times
Google Map: Battle Location
THE GALLANT 21:
SAGA OF THE SIKH SOLDIERS AT SARAGARHI,
12th of SEPTEMBER, 1897
BY JEYAGANESH GOPALSAMY
LLB (HONS) WALES, MA (STRATEGY) UKM
(The author JEYAGANESH GOPALSAMY was born 1974 in Taiping, Perak, Malaysia.He was educated and trained in the Royal Military College, Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur from 1987-1991, where he completed his secondary education from Form 1 to Form 5.
Thereafter he went to pursue Law in University of Wales, Cardiff and graduated with LLB (Hons).Completed Masters in Strategic Studies from UKM in 2006 with a thesis titled ” REVOLUTION IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMING THE DYNAMICS OF MODERN BATTLE”.)
Getting rich through sensible mutual fund investments is very much plausible. Here, I would like to stress on the word ‘sensible’. However, most investors fail to create wealth by not being adequately sensible with their fund investments. In the years that I have spent interacting with investors, I have found that the biggest mistake most of them make is that they treat equity funds as equity stocks and fixed-income funds as actual fixed-incomes.
In a recent conversation with Nilesh Shah, chief investment officer of ICICI Prudential, this observation came to the fore again. As per Shah, many investors keep moving in and out of equity funds while they stay put in fixed-income ones for long periods. This is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. Ideally, fixed-income investors should be switching between different types of fixed-income funds as the economy goes through different interest rate cycles. However, many investors are under the assumption that fixed-income funds are equivalent – or even superior substitutes – to fixed-income investments like bank fixed deposits, PPF or post office deposits. They invest in these funds for long periods, not knowing that fixed-income funds are best suited for professional investors seeking short-term parking slots for their money.
Fixed-income funds are most ideal for professional investors like treasury managers of big corporations who need to park their money in relative riskless investment avenues for short periods of time. For individual investors looking for long-term avenues, fixed-income funds don’t make much sense. This is basically because in periods longer than a few months, fixed-income funds rarely give returns superior than that of other asset types. At present, the average three-year returns of fixed-income funds vary between 6-8.5% per annum. This is in no way better than a bank FD or a post office deposit.
In fact, the Indian post office savings system is probably the most under-rated and under-utilised investment avenue. With XX per cent returns, government-guaranteed safety and zero TDS deduction, post office deposits are a gem and in many ways superior than fixed-income funds.
Coming to equity funds being treated as stocks, what I have observed is that a number of investors move in and out of equity funds as they would do with individual stocks. This defies logic, and is almost always counter-productive. Over the last couple of years, a vast majority of equity fund investors stopped investing when the markets crashed in…
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Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.
A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey. One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced.
Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. Still none of them attempt to climb the ladder.
All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why……..
Interview with Jason Zweig
Posted on: August 19, 2009
- In: Finance
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Zweig is a senior writer for the Money magazine and has been a guest columnist for Time and cnn.com. He is also the editor of the revised edition of Benjamin Graham’s ‘The Intelligent Investor’. In an interview to Vivek Kaul, Zweig speaks on Neuroeconomics and his philosophy of investing.
You seem to suggest in your book that investors should not fall for the story behind the stock. What else does one look at, then?
The key is to understand a crucial distinction, first drawn by the great investor Benjamin Graham, who was Warren Buffett’s teacher. Stocks and businesses are not the same thing. Stocks flit around all the time; you can watch them moving up and down on your computer screen all day long. In New York, it’s not unusual for the price of a stock to change at least 10,000 times in a single day of dealing, and I imagine it’s not very different in Mumbai. Stock prices are in constant flux, but business values are not. The underlying value of an ongoing enterprise does not change every day. Something like 99% of all the trading activity in the typical stock is meaningless. The future value of a business has nothing to do with the current price of its stock. What you should do is learn to look past the noisy twitching of stock prices to the enduring value of businesses as living organisms.
Is the business run by honest people who treat outside investors fairly? Does it make products or provide services for which customers are willing to pay higher prices if necessary? Can you understand its financial statements?
These constitute the reality of the business and determine its future value. The “story” behind the stock is almost certainly nothing more than the stampede of thousands of speculators in and out of the shares. Train yourself to ignore them.
“The best financial decisions draw on the dual strengths of your investing brain: intuition and analysis, feeling and thinking,” you write. Isn’t there a dichotomy there?
Yes, there is. But let’s get our terminology straight, and again we can do so by going back to Benjamin Graham. Graham’s formal definition has never been improved upon: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return.” Notice carefully that this is neither an “or” nor an “and/ or” definition; all three components – analysis, safety, and an adequate result – must be present. If any of them is missing, you are not investing. You are speculating. In India, as in the United States, most people who call themselves “investors” are not investors at all. They are speculators. In the short run, particularly while the Indian capital markets are rapidly developing, speculators may be able to earn high returns by rapidly trading stocks without doing thorough analysis. But in the long run, you cannot earn sustainably high returns from mere “gut feelings.” I find it striking that in a society with cultural traditions of great patience and acute analytical ability, so many people trade as if their knickers were afire, scoffing at the long term and analysing nothing but the craziness of the crowd. There is no doubt in my mind that Indians have the potential to lead the world in investment skill. But, so far as I can tell from my faraway vantage point, what most Indians do is not investing. In my own portfolio, I do not invest with the next year in mind, nor even with the next decade in mind. I invest with the next century in mind; that is when my heirs will benefit from my decisions. I do not care what stock prices do this afternoon, or this week, or this month, or this year. I care whether business values are rising. That is what it means to be an investor. You have written about the link between dopamine and the way investors invest.
What’s the link?
Dopamine makes us pursue whatever we think will be rewarding. When we earn more than we expected, that generates a “positive prediction error” – a flood of dopamine that signals to our bodies that something good has happened. After only a few repetitions, the dopamine is released in our brains, not when we earn the actual gain, but when we believe we know that the gain is coming. It is not the reward but the prediction of it that generates pleasure in the brain. I call this the “prediction addiction.” You become addicted to your own belief that you are about to make money. Like any addict, when the reward does not come, you will go into a painful withdrawal.
Why do investors get greedy? Even Isaac Newton lost most of his money in the South Sea Bubble. What does Neuroeconomics have to say on that?
Greed is generated in the same regions of the brain that produce pleasure when we find food or shelter or love. These basic reward circuits are among the oldest systems in the human brain. Geniuses have them, too. Brilliant people are better at generating great ideas than the rest of us, but they are no better at controlling their own emotions than you or I. We get greedy because the anticipation of profits activates the dopamine system in the brain, flooding our neurons with a signal of excitement. Newton was not just one of the smartest men of all time, but was also very well-informed financially; he was the master of the Royal Mint. So he certainly knew better in the “thinking” part of his brain. But his “feeling” brain was swept away with greed. If you do not put policies and procedures in place, in advance, to control your emotions, you will never be able to resist the siren song of the markets when the markets go mad. Common sense and good judgment are vastly more valuable than intelligence.
What makes investors book profits fast, but hold on to their losses?
We do not merely buy stocks and sell them. What we really are buying is pride and prowess, and what we really are selling is pain and shame. Once a stock earns a large gain, you want to lock in the reason for your pride and the proof of your prowess; if you hang on too long, the profit may disappear. But, once a stock produces a big loss, you want to hide the source of your pain and shame. If you sell at the bottom, you will have to admit your error, and that admission will only compound your shame. Whenever humans are ashamed of anything, we cover it up. So we cover our financial losses by pretending they are not there.
So, what is the best way to invest?
My fondest wish for Indian investors is that index-tracking funds will become widely available at very low management fees and dealing costs. If I were an Indian financial entrepreneur, I would study US firms like Vanguard, Barclays Global Investors and Dimensional Fund Advisors to learn how they run their tracking funds so efficiently and fairly. And if I were a young Indian investor, I would embrace low-cost tracking funds and put most of my money there for the very long run. The combination of diversification, simplicity, convenience, and low cost provides an insuperable advantage to the tracking investor. The life of a rising professional is busy enough without having to spend precious time and emotion following every momentary rise and fall of every stock you own. If your money cannot buy you peace of mind, why invest at all?
Does luck have a role in investing?
Luck has a great deal to do with it. Whenever a stock trades, the buyer thinks the seller is making a mistake. The seller thinks the buyer is mistaken. Only one of them can be right. After they both pay their dealing costs and any taxes on the transaction, neither may show any net profit for his pains. In the short run, almost anyone can be right a few times in a row, by luck alone – just as anyone can flip a coin right-side up several times in a row without any coin-flipping skill, whatsoever. Even in the long run, luck can rule the day. It can take years, even decades, to determine whether an investor has genuine and repeatable skill or is just lucky. The danger comes when you believe you are skillful and, in fact, you turn out to be merely lucky. Then you do things out of a belief that every step you take is the right one, and you end up slipping on a banana peel and falling down the stairs.
You talk about the “illusion of control.” Investors tend to be over-optimistic when they are directly involved and have had no negative experience from the over-optimism. How does this affect investing decisions?
It is easy to believe “I did it” when a stock you buy goes up. However, your actions did not cause the price to rise. Ask yourself this: If I had not bought the stock at all, would it not have risen without me? The way to escape the illusion of control is to invest with the aid of a checklist, a series of rules you must always follow before buying or selling any investment. This way, the rules make the decisions for you, and you take your pride out of the picture, enabling you to be more objective. In my book, I outline some rules that may be useful for many people.
Can financial future be foretold?
Some things can be. I am very confident predicting that the Indian stock market will lose a third of its value over the course of a few months. However, I have no idea, whatsoever, when this will happen. I am equally confident predicting that the Indian stock market will rise ten-fold and more over the long term. And I am more confident still in predicting that the true investors who have the courage to buy when the market crashes will make much more money in the long run than the fools who buy only when stocks go up.
Why are investors so addicted to CNBC? Their broadcast gives a feeling the “stock markets are in a crisis all the time.” Does that have an impact on the way investors invest?
Years ago, you could only find out a stock price in tomorrow’s (or sometimes, the next week’s) newspaper. Now you can find out the latest price every few minutes on CNBC or every few seconds online. This is the tragedy of technology – that the tool that should make us wiser, instead makes us act more foolishly than ever before. The human brain is a pattern-recognition machine. The more frequently you look at a series of data, the more often you will see “trends” and patterns that are not really there; they are nothing more than chaos clothed in a costume of regularity, illusions of order in streams of data that are utterly random. After two consecutive stimuli in the same direction, the human brain automatically, involuntarily, and uncontrollably expects a third. We extrapolate repetition out of what actually is randomness. CNBC is addictive because it continuously presents you with the opportunity to perceive what is not actually there: order, predictability, reliable patterns. It grips us the way all great fiction is gripping, with the added irony that very few of us realise that what we are watching is actually fiction.
Most of the investment experts do not really give any usable information. Is not listening to such experts better than taking them seriously?
I would listen very seriously to any financial expert who would provide a comprehensive record of every forecast he has ever made, both good and bad. Many forecasters will tell us about every single one of their successes. However, to the best of my knowledge, there is no financial forecaster alive who has ever provided a complete list of all his predictions, including the failures. There’s a reason for that: Anyone who really knew how to forecast the financial future would be most unlikely to let others in upon his secrets
Concept of a bubble!
Posted on: August 17, 2009
Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the
tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollars as there
were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around.
1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country. A owned the land. B
and C each owned 1 dollar.
2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, now A and C own 1
dollar each while B owned a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar.
* The net asset of the country now = 3 dollars.
3) Now C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country,
and land is non producible asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he
borrowed 1 dollar from A, and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the
land from B for 2 dollars.
*A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B sold his land and got 2 dollars, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollars but with his 1 dollar debt to A,
his net residual asset is 1 dollar.
* Thus, the net asset of the country = 4 dollars.
4) A saw that the land he once owned has risen in value. He regretted having
sold it. Luckily, he has a 1 dollar loan to C. He then borrowed 2 dollars
from B and acquired the land back from C for 3 dollars. The payment is by 2
dollars cash (which he borrowed) and cancellation of the 1 dollar loan to C.
As a result, A now owned a piece of land that is worth 3 dollars. But since
he owed B 2 dollars, his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B loaned 2 dollars to A. So his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C now has the 2 coins. His net asset is also 2 dollars.
* The net asset of the country = 5 dollars. A bubble is building up.
(5) B saw that the value of land kept rising. He also wanted to own the
land. So he bought the land from A for 4 dollars. The payment is by
borrowing 2 dollars from C, and cancellation of his 2 dollars loan to A.
* As a result, A has got his debt cleared and he got the 2 coins. His net
asset is 2 dollars.
* B owned a piece of land that is worth 4 dollars, but since he has a debt
of 2 dollars with C, his net Asset is 2 dollars.
* C loaned 2 dollars to B, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* The net asset of the country = 6 dollars; even though, the country has
only one piece of land and 2 Dollars in circulation.
(6) Everybody has made money and everybody felt happy and prosperous.
(7) One day an evil wind blew, and an evil thought came to C’s mind. “Hey,
what if the land price stop going up, how could B repay my loan. There is
only 2 dollars in circulation, and, I think after all the land that B owns
is worth at most only 1 dollar, and no more.”
(8) A also thought the same way.
(9) Nobody wanted to buy land anymore.
* So, in the end, A owns the 2 dollar coins, his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owed C 2 dollars and the land he owned which he thought worth 4 dollars
is now 1 dollar. So his net asset is only 1 dollar.
* C has a loan of 2 dollars to B. But it is a bad debt. Although his net
asset is still 2 dollars, his Heart is palpitating.
* The net asset of the country = 3 dollars again.
(10) So, who has stolen the 3 dollars from the country ? Of course, before
the bubble burst B thought his land was worth 4 dollars. Actually, right
before the collapse, the net asset of the country was 6 dollars on paper.
B’s net asset is still 2 dollars, his heart is palpitating.
(11) B had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. C as to relinquish his 2
dollars bad debt to B, but in return he acquired the land which is worth 1
dollar now.
* A owns the 2 coins, his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B is bankrupt, his net asset is 0 dollar. ( he lost everything )
* C got no choice but end up with a land worth only 1 dollar
* The net asset of the country = 3 dollars.
************ **End of the story; BUT ************ ********* ******
There is however a redistribution of wealth.
A is the winner, B is the loser, C is lucky that he is spared.
A few points worth noting –
(1) When a bubble is building up, the debt of individuals to one another in
a country is also building up.
(2) This story of the island is a closed system whereby there is no other
country and hence no foreign debt. The worth of the asset can only be
calculated using the island’s own currency. Hence, there is no net loss.
(3) An over-damped system is assumed when the bubble burst, meaning the
land’s value did not go down to below 1 dollar.
(4) When the bubble burst, the fellow with cash is the winner. The fellows
having the land or extending loan to others are the losers. The asset could
shrink or in worst case, they go bankrupt.
(5) If there is another citizen D either holding a dollar or another piece
of land but refrains from taking part in the game, he will neither win nor
lose. But he will see the value of his money or land go up and down like a
see saw.
(6) When the bubble was in the growing phase, everybody made money.
(7) If you are smart and know that you are living in a growing bubble, it is
worthwhile to borrow money (like A ) and take part in the game. But you must
know when you should change everything back to cash.
(8) As in the case of land, the above phenomenon applies to stocks as well.
(9) The actual worth of land or stocks depend largely on psychology
Fantastic Article… Read on.
Here’s a story about George Dantzig – the famed mathematician who’s contributions to Operations Research and Systems Engineering have made him immortal.
As a college student, George studied very hard and often late into the night. So late, that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for Prof. Neyman’s class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several days to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on Neyman’s desk the next day.
Six weeks later, on a Sunday morning, George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn’t heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind-teasers that even Einstein hadn’t been able to answer. But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.
Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn’t know he couldn’t. You are not limited to the life you now live. It has been accepted by you as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you’re ready to go beyond the limitations currently in your life, you’re capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it’s amazing how your mind begins to figure out how.
A person is limited only by the thoughts that he/she chooses.
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