Sign Word for Procurement Online

The question fills me with a grim sense of amusement because it gives me a chance to elaborate on one of the lessons I learned regarding military procurement during my service.You know the old saying “Amateurs talks strategy, professionals talk logistics?”.Well I have but one more phrase to add to it:“Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics. Bitter employees in the organization only talk bureaucratic politics.”Just one more thing to keep in mind when discussing what potential hardware a military could buy next.Take the 1980s for example, during the height of the cold war when the Indian Military was overhauling large amounts of equipment bought during the 50s and 60s and beginning a major military up gradation program that started somewhere in the late 70s and continued till the early 90s.This was matched by a Pakistani military up gradation that began with the US Aid package of $ 4 Billion of which $0.8 bill went to the nuclear program, $1.6 went to the economy and $1.6 b went to the military.Combined with the Siachen, Khalistan and Brasstacks tensions with an Afghan war in the background. all of this was a recipe for militarization.There was a flurry in the press back then and every military analyst went nuts trying to analyze who would purchase what and how that purchase would impact the South Asian military theater.There were two purchases of note that require examination: The Bofors artillery purchase by the Indian military and the potential purchase of M1 Abrams by the Pakistan army.When the Bofors artillery purchase was conducted by the Indian military from Swedish defense manufacturers, there was a flurry of interest in Pakistan that examined what could have motivated the Indian purchase of such an expensive and potentially game changing artillery piece. Officers would discuss the possibility of the Indian army completely overhauling their artillery set up and standardizing around this new piece of hardware, completely ditching their Soviet hardware. Others wrote fearful pieces about how the Pakistan army would face highly accurate western artillery all along the Western front and the Indians wouldn’t even need much of an air force if they had Bofors raining down accurate strikes on positions across the border. Lahore and the GHQ in Pindi being shelled were images that were considered.And what was the reality on the other side?The Swedish firm had bribed their way through the Indian defense ministry, providing major kickbacks to key players in order to secure the deal. Several Indian development projects had their funds diverted by key government officials to pay for this overly priced artillery piece.I remember several Indian officials being aghast at the purchase. The Indian army back then had been trying to phase out the different calibers in their army and standardize around the 155mm. The plan was to get rid of older calibers like 130 mm and have just one 155 mm caliber standardized as it would greatly simplify maintenance, training and operations.Instead, a completely new type of gun, the Bofors, was being forced on them with a massive part of the defense procurement budget gone and no resolution of the standardization issue.The Bofors would actually perform fairly well in the Kargil conflict, but the point here is how the bureaucratic politics behind the scene determined the procurement of defense equipment.The Pakistani side of the story revolves around the potential purchase of the M1 Abrams in the 1980s.This is again the good old times of the Afghan war with Pakistan being flushed with US military aid money and going on high tech shopping sprees.The sale of F-16s to Pakistan rattled Indian military analysts the same way Pakistan was somewhat rattled by the Bofors artillery purchase (just one of the many arms purchases made by the Indian military during the 80s arms overhaul campaign).The F-16 had been used in the Osirak reactor strike by Israel only a few years ago and its sale to Pakistan sent alarm bells in New Delhi over the potential capability of the Pakistani Airforce to carry out similar air strikes on Indian nuclear facilities.The US tried to downplay such fears by downgrading the radar of the F-16 and refusing to sell us the 1000 pound bombs needed to penetrate a nuclear reactors outer shell.The Pakistani Airchief refused to compromise on the radar and told the government that the F-16 was useless without its USAF radar and there was no point in buying it if the radar wasn’t the one the USAF used themselves.The US relented and kept the radar as it was (the F-15s sold to Saudi Arabia had the downgraded radar though). We never got the 1000 pound bombs though which was acceptable as Air Defence against Indian bombers and Soviet aircraft was the priority back then (especially over sensitive installations like Kahuta and Chashma which we feared would become the targets of a Osirak like strike).With the sale of the F-16s, suddenly the entire arsenal of the US military was potentially open to the Paks. So one can imagine how New Delhi was rattled when reports leaked that the Pakistan army was considering the purchase of M1Abrams tanks for its army as well.The same way Pakistan had freaked out over Bofors, the idea of M1 Abrams in the hands of the Pakistan army suddenly caused a flurry of scare mongering in Indian media. Scenarios of a second Operation Grand Slam and armored thrust towards Akhnur were drawn up. Other more fanciful ideas stemmed around the idea of a Sikh uprising in Punjab supported by Pakistani armored offensives, pushing first in a thrust outwards of the Sialkot sector and then swinging down for a pincer movement to trap Indian troops in the Punjab and avenging the 71 war etc.Yea I know. I think the Pakistanis were more surprised to hear about these plans to be honest.What was the end result of the entire episode?Literally nothing. The Pakistan Army muddled along, adding the occasional M48 Patton regiment or Chinese armor whenever they could afford it and focusing more on TOW anti tank weapons than anything.Turns out the Pakistanis had tried out the M1 Abrams but found it unsuitable for Pakistan. The Tank guzzled humongous amounts of fuel and would have drained the entire fuel supply for the Pakistani armored corp within a short while. The Pakistanis were hard pressed to stockpile enough fuel for 2–3 weeks of fighting, let alone armored thrusts into the Indian Punjab.Also, none of our bridges in the 80s could accommodate the weight and width of the M1 Abrams.A last story before we finish?I was lucky enough in my life to have met one of the Air Chiefs of the Pakistan Airforce at an event. This was back when Russia and Pakistan were undergoing a diplomatic thaw and Pakistan had begun its first forays into purchasing Russian hardware.A lot of our online forums had been speculating that Pakistan might purchase the Su-35 or something to replace the F-16 as the top of the line fighter jet for the PAF. Others speculated that it would be a European fighter like the Swedish Gripen instead.So here I was, lucky enough to meet the Chief of Air Staff back then. I asked him point blank whether there was any truth to the rumors of the PAF buying a Su-35 or Gripen or J-10 or ANYTHING really.He blinked in surprise.Apparently, all of the online theory crafting everyone had been doing about our next fighter aircraft was so far removed from the realities facing the Air Headquarters that my question surprised the ACM more than anything.He replied that the Airforce had no plans beyond upgrading and inducting incrementally improved blocks of the JF-17s and that the Airforce was quite happy with its performance and their needs were being met adequately.It was the M1 Abrams story all over again.People were speculating that some new technology advanced system would be inducted that would change the military balance and all that was happening was the Airforce was continuing to induct a standard workhorse (the JF-17) and slightly tweaking and improving the newer version Blocks.The F-16 wouldn’t be that easy to ditch. Decades had been spent building up its supporting eco system of training environments, maintenance and logistics supports, accompanying tactics and strategies. Armed forces don’t just throw out old systems like discarded tissue papers, there is an entire supporting network that needs to be overhauled using precious finite resources. Re-training all the ground crews to newer maintenance procedures alone would be hell.Also, the PAF has always supported a standardized force structure that’s built around a core of Top of the Line fighters performing advanced missions and with the best equipment supported by an outer shell of more mid-tier aircraft.This has been the standard model since the first armament campaigns of the 50s. A core of Top tier F-104s surrounded by an outer shell of F-86s.Sanctions and crippling resource shortages forced us to make do with whatever we had which is why we had 5–6 different fighter types by the 90s. But even in the 90s when the first Sabre 2 and Super Sabre plans were drawn up (predecessors of the Jf-17 program), the PAF’s long term vision was for a core of 100 F-16s surrounded by 200–400 JF-17s.It’s why the PAF ordered 12 F-16 B trainer aircraft in the first batch of 40 F-16s. 12 is a LOT of trainer aircraft for such a small batch, normally you’d get 4 F-16 B trainers for 36 F-16 A fighters. 12 only makes sense if your long-term plan is for 100 F-16s. Again, sanctions played havoc with that long-term plan.Currently, the PAF seems to have been locked into the F-16 by force of momentum, having invested too much into its infrastructure and maintenance to switch out that easily. We even imported special communication links and technology to allow our Western F-16s to collaborate with our Chinese AWACs.The only 2 contender aircraft that could have been inducted were the J-10s and the Swedish Grippens. The J-10’s induction would present an immense challenge to maintenance and logistical network of the PAF and to invest in such a maintenance channel for only 2 squadrons is not worth it for now. It only seems feasible if the supply lines for F-16 parts are threatened in a permanent manner.Despite our turn down in relations with US and their refusal to subsidize further F-16 sales, our logistical channels with the US are still open and spares/upgradation coming through. Alternative sources like Turkey are also opening up for our F-16 program in terms of upgradation and mid life upgrades.The Gripen purchase was heavily pursued at the time of the SAAB Eyerie purchase as the Gripen had the incredible ability to switch their radars off during Air Defense and rely on the Eyerie AEW platforms alone for interception and i think even missile guidance, making the Gripen aircraft very difficult to detect on radar in the meantime. The USAF F-15s and their AWACS have a similar capability. But again, that sale never went through due to logistical and maintenance costs.The F-16 and JF-17 alone are currently meeting the entire spectrum of the PAF’s requirements and doing so in a very optimized and cost-efficient maintenance and logistical framework. Why would anyone buy J-10s or Gripens, both mid weight TFL fighters when their capabilities already exist within the PAF is anyone’s guess. I would honestly look more closely at the combat drone program of Pakistan. Those Burraq UCAVs sure look like they could carry a few air to air missiles…The only online resource I’ve found that closely matches what my short talk with the Air Chief covered is this surprisingly excellent piece by Quwa:Analysis: Pakistan’s Fighter Modernization Roadmap (Part-1)QUWA’s reports on the Eyerie’s repair after the Kamra airbase attacks are also almost word for word what I’ve heard from top Airforce officials and I’m surprised at the excellent quality of their reporting. They are the only news source I would trust (I wonder who their sources are?). I have a good story about how the last Eyerie was repaired after the Kamra Airbase attack and will post it if I can find a matching question for it.For other references, Fizaya: Psyche of the Pakistan Airforce by Ravi Rikhe is a must read.My own time in service.The final nail in the coffin.It’s a mix between big-think questions and the politics of the organization.Big thinks:Who is willing to supply us?Is it sanction proof?Do we get tech transfers and training and maintenance support for a couple of years?Which country should we buy from and why is it China?Did we import a previous version before we have some familiarity with?Is it part of an integrated, pre-existing system?What’s our history of usage?Whats the current doctrine stemming from GHQ regarding procurement?Whose in control of the country at the moment?Whats the state of foreign relations?Who got bribed and by how much?And then of course, the politics.What’s the state of the civil-military tussle in the organization? Who’s at the top? Are they of good repute with their bosses in the GHQ and will they be staying on or are they getting booted soon? Who’s heading the procurement office right now? Whose heading central right now? Who’s heading the land-based segment recommendations?The weight of past decisions long decided before any of us even signed up and the flutter of miniscule but plenty decisions being made at the bottom drove organizational procurement. Several of our top brass inherited files and projects that had been dreamed up in the 1980s and were still in play. We’ve seen projects with life times stretching into the 2040s.One insider look into the bureaucratic, dull nature of paper-pushing military procurement is enough to dampen the heart and soul of every young lad banging on his keyboard about the PAF buying the J-20 stealth aircraft or Su-35 or whatever.References:Richard Rinaldi, Ravi Rikhye: Amazon.in: BooksFiza'ya

Let me admit, this is a wonderful question to answer and I am going to relish it.First of all lets put a glance at three major and prominent players from the house of the Pawar Dynasty.1.Mr.Sharadchandra Pawar2.Mr.Ajit Pawar3.Smt.Supriya SuleFollowing are the details of assets the above mentioned players have revealed as part of affidavit before the election commission of India in year 2014.Mr.Sharadchandra Pawar:Rs 32,06,26,677 ie ~32 Crore+ (here is the link Pawar Sharadchandra Govindrao(Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)):(MAHARASHTRA))Mr.Ajit Pawar:Rs 38,83,27,867~38 Crore+(here is the link Ajit Anantrao Pawar(Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)):Constituency- BARAMATI(PUNE))Smt.Supriya Sule:Rs 1,13,90,90,851 ie ~113 crore+ (here is the link Supriya Sule(Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)):Constituency- BARAMATI(MAHARASHTRA))Net wealth=Rs 183 CroreNow that been said, lets dig out the corruption.Lets take a look at the affidavits filed in year 2009.Mr.Sharadchandra Pawar: Rs 2,10,00,000 ~@2 Crore ( this is the link to his affidavit Page on 23.150.75) Please note that I haven't included the wealth on his wife's name.Mr.Ajit Pawar: Rs 10,78,38,032 ie ~10 crore+(Here is the link Ajit Ananthrao Pawar)  Smt.Supriya Sule: Rs 51,53,63,663~51 Crore+ (here is the link SUPRIYA SULE(Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)):Constituency- Baramati(MAHARASHTRA))Net worth:Rs 62 CroreWhich means there is 195% increase in the wealth of the clan.Where does this wealth come from is a moot point (pun intended as we all know it) but the interesting fact is that this is just the tip of iceberg. Remember that I haven't included the wealth owned by their immediate relatives for example the wealth owned by wife of Sharad Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, husband of Supriya Sule etc. Had I included those figures to the above figures the entire sum of money would be astronomical.As I have said earlier that this is just the revealed which is visible to the naked eye, there is definitely lot buried down the earth.

Hi...The Sales Funnel is a customer-focused marketing model which illustrates the theoretical customer journey towards the purchase of a product or service. An example of sales or customer funnelThis staged process is summarized below:Awareness – the customer is aware of the existence of a product or serviceInterest – actively expressing an interest in a product groupDesire – aspiring to a particular brand or productAction – taking the next step towards purchasing the chosen productThe Sales Funnel is also often referred to as the “customer funnel”, “marketing funnel”, “purchase funnel” or ...

Pinterest can truly help you generate traffic, even if you are not trying that hard.Here are some simple tips that can help you get traffic from Pinterest:Tip #1 一 Create a business account.The first step you need to take if you want to get traffic from Pinterest is to sign up for a business account. By doing so, you’ll get access to Pinterest Analytics, which will allow you to see which pins are being repinned the most, how many Pinterest users visited your website directly from this platform, etc. It’s pretty simple and effective.Tip #2 一 Name your boards correctly.If you think about it, Pinterest is like Google. People use Pinterest pretty much the same way they use Google 一 they type in a keyword in the search bar and wait for the results to pop up.Now, what do you do with the terms people search on Google (that are related to your industry and your blog, of course)? You include them in your blog posts. Well, the same thing goes for Pinterest. The terms people search on Pinterest should be included either in your pins and pin descriptions or your board’s names. I would advise you to start with optimizing your boards.To optimize Pinterest boards, all you need to do is name them according to the terms people search. For example, if you are a beauty blogger and often write about skincare products your follower can make at home, you can name one of your boards “DIY Skincare”.Tip #3 一 Pay attention to your pin descriptions.Another way to optimize your account is to write compelling pin descriptions.This step is essential because it can help you pin “rank” higher in the Pinterest results. To achieve this, you should limit the pin description characters number to 200 (although the limit is 500 and only 50 are shown in the feeds). As a study has shown, pins that have 200-character descriptions are the most repinnable.Also, when writing pin descriptions, be sure to say what the post is about in one or two sentences, there’s no need for more. And don’t leave out hashtags.Tip #4 一 Pay attention to creating pins.As you might know, Pinterest posts are more tall than wide, which means that you need to keep the aspect ratio of the pins 2:3 or 4:5.If you need some tips on how to create visuals your followers will enjoy pinning, you can check out the article I wrote on how to get traffic from Pinterest. One of the tips I mentioned is that pins with reddish and orange tones get 200% more repins. Ha, who knew?Tip #5 一 Pin other people’s pins.Pinning only your content is a bit too promotional, don’t you think? If you want to show that you are an active member of the Pinterest community, you need to pin content that is relevant to your target audience. To do so, be sure to follow credible accounts/blogs in your industry and pin the content your target audience will find beneficial.And that’s it! These are the tips I wanted to share. I hope you find them helpful. Good luck!

Choosing life.At the age of 9 I was raped by a family member who lived in our garage.My life before this was amazing, my parents were too young to be parents but they made the most of it. I had many Chuck E Cheese trips with them and we all bonded as a family should. I loved my mom and dad and when my sister was born it was a day full of joy and happiness. I never thought that having a sister would hurt me so much.As a child of immigrant parents who were assimilating to US society, I couldn’t accompany my parents to the meeting with their lawyers. Instead, I would stay home with my sister and this family member who would babysit us for a few hours while my parents got back.One summer day in June of 2007 my parents received a call from their lawyer and she required their immediate presence at her office in San Francisco (60 miles from where I used to live). My parents prepared all their documents in a matter of seconds, said they would be back soon and to behave.My sister and I were in the living room watching TV but once they left I thought it was a great idea to bring in my puppy. My parents weren’t home and this ‘family member’ never snitched on me. I got up and as I was walking toward the kitchen door that lead to the backyard he picked me up and put me against the wall with his body against mine.I didn’t know what was going on but I was definitely scared, he had never done that before. He carried me to his room in the garage and closed his glass slide door. He turned on the TV, threw me on his bed and laid on top of me. I screamed and yelled out for help and scratched his face, truly dug in my nails as deep as i could in order for him to feel pain and leave me alone but nothing worked. He laughed at me as i was crying and kicking until I saw my little sister going out to the backyard to play with our puppy.He saw that I had been distracted, he turned his head around to see my sister and then back at me. The look on his face was so evil, so scary, a face that would haunt my dreams for several years to come. He said with a smile “If you are not quiet your sister will be next.”I decided that I would protect her with all I had and no matter what the cost was. She was only 3 years old and I would not let him get his nasty hands on her. I began to weep in silence and still tried to fight back but it was useless. I remember every detail of what he did to me, all the pain he caused and all the pleasure I saw in his eyes.Suddenly I heard the front door open and I hear my parents’ voices calling for my sister and I. She went running to my parents and I was so happy that she was gone, her vision would never be of seeing me in so much suffering. She was safe but I was still in bed with the monster who attacked me. The couple of seconds it took for my parents to come outside and look for me felt like an eternity.My mom saw me lying on his bed, he finally got off of me! She opened the door, pulled up my jeans and undies and took me inside the house into her room. She asked me several questions and I couldn’t answer any of them. She left me alone in her room and went back outside to manage the situation with my dad.I was terrified and thought that he would run into my mom’s room and take me for good this time and I would never be able to escape from him. My imagination went wild alone in that room, which just hurt me more.I was only 9 and didn’t know what was going to happen next but I never saw him after that. My parents were young and didn’t know what to do in this situation. How could they call the police to let them know what had happened, keeping in mind that they were both illegally in this country? How could any of this favor their case in a courtroom? What kind of parents leave their two little girls with a full grown man?What they did do was kick him out of the house and warn him to never come back.A few months after this I got my first menstrual cycle, my body was changing and so was my mentality. In 5th grade I learned about puberty in boys and girls, then came middle school and more was taught there. There is where I finally knew exactly what had happened to me. My parents never talked about it and my father had become distant with me (became physically aggressive with me and constantly beat me) so I had no one to talk to. My parents told me not to tell anyone about what had happened because not even I knew.As I learned more and more and started to read articles on women who were raped and little girls who had their childhood snatched from them at such a young age because they were not only raped but also became pregnant because of it. I was shocked and realized that I could have had a baby as well, it had only been 2 months from my assault to when I got my first period. What if he had done it two months later? I would be pregnant at 9 years of age with a child that was product of rape!Throughout all of Middle school I was an angry girl who got into fights and never did my homework. In 7th grade my parents announced to me and my sister that we were going to have a baby. I was happy for the first time in so long until we went to an ultrasound appointment and the doctor found no heartbeat — I couldn’t protect that baby. At the age of 12 I was completely devastated and became depressed. I was suicidal but began talking to the school counselor, I just wanted someone to hear me out.She heard my story but most importantly, she listened. She called a meeting with my parents and me. My parents were not happy that I had such ‘stupid’ thoughts and the usual ‘don’t you know I love you?’ question would always come up. They couldn’t understand me but now I knew what I could do for myself — be happy. Yes, life had treated me unfairly but I remembered all those girls in the articles and how they grew up to be empowered women and I knew that someday I would take this tragic event in my life and empower other girls and women in the same situation.I decided to stay alive and not cut my life away (as I had tried many times before). My mother was pregnant again and out came a beautiful little girl, she truly saved me. She will forever be my angel because she came into my life in the darkest of times and gave me happiness.Choose to stay alive and live your life, make a change in this world, we need you.

Short answer, there’s plenty of space in the edtech world for you because there are a million problems that need to be solved.The challenge: getting your product out there in a system that’s riddled with adoption landmines.I just answered a question about the reasons edtech isn’t employed effectively. The challenges you’ll have entering edtech are that someone other than your users is generally responsible for permission, adoption, or procurement. Even if you convince an entire district or state to sign on, if nobody on the front lines wants to use your stuff or it doesn’t solve a problem for them, it’s not going to last long, even if the district or principal subscribes.You want your users to be raving fans of your product because it solves some problem for them, their schools, or their students. You want it to be easy to learn and fun. If you an do that—onboard easily, keep them coming back, and make the product virally amazing because it solves their problem—not someone else’s—then there’s space for you in edtech.There are a whole lot of things that need solving in education. Some you see a lot are portfolios, testing, remediation, online learning/courses, LMSs, data analysis, gamification, personalized learning… the list is long and growing.You must choose your space, and then the level at which you’ll attack the problem—student, teacher, schoolwide, district, or systemic levels. The lower you stick to the grassroots level, though, the easier it will be to get your product to the masses.The higher you go, the more you deal with issues of procurement and permission problems listed in the above post. Trust me, you do not want to be the tech equivalent of the old textbook rep who has to go door to door convincing ten people in each district to purchase. You want something that’ll be “I can’t imagine life before this” word of mouth shared.EdSurge calculated between $1.9B to over $2.5B (depending on what you’re classifying as edtech) invested in edtech in the first half of 2015, with over 161 investments listed. That’s a small fraction of $58B of venture capital deployed in all of 2015 according to the National Venture Capital Association.There are currently 11,088 companies that list themselves as education startups on AngelList. It might seem like a lot—it’s number six behind mammoth categories like IT, consumer, enterprise, media, health care, and finance. We’re talking about all markets—K-12, higher-ed, adult, non-traditional, and training. Education isn’t just schools.Even though there’s a lot out there, there’s room for you.Why? There are plenty—and I mean plenty—of problems that need solving in eduction today. Solve the right one and find a group of people who can’t live without it, and you’re gold.It won’t be easy—there’s decidedly more red tape in many spaces of edtech, especially K-12, than other areas—everything from federal laws regarding underage users, permission, data protection, school policies, funding, and infrastructure.If you study your users well, know their needs and position, and create a solution that makes their world a better place…there is always room for you.

Taking the question at face value.. here are some of my ideas for a multi-billion dollar business potential in the next few years.. Some ideas may seem whacky or just plain stupid (due to my limited knowledge), but please feel free to add your comments.1. A money lending institution that charges lesser % interest than guideline base rate.  2. An app that would revoke an email after it is read by the recipient - removes traces of the mail being sent at all3. Mobile battery juice packs under $10 for emergency usage.. maybe you could make it last for just one or few phone calls, I don't know... just solve this problem! should be something really small that fits in your pocket4. Start your own internet that kicks ass.. charge everybody $1 one-time fee to join in5.  a mobile phone with in-built cigarette lighter ;-)6. Real time tracking of all commercial planes, trains, automobiles7. Real time monitoring of all micro organisms in the world 8. A cheap way to make you forget a book or a movie so you can read or watch again with the  same thrill of doing it for the first time9. Find a way to store and tap energy more efficiently10. A device that uses the pressure your shoe soles to convert it to electricity and store it in a battery.. so you can recharge your mobile device from your shoesinteresting to come up with such ideas.... will come back and add more later.