Monthly Archives: February 2016

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Freelancers: Now may be a good time to buy a house

February 29, 2016
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In a speech this past Monday February 28th, 2016 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his third budget. In his speech, Mr. Jaitley focused on what is commonly referred to as his big ticket reforms – reforms which are focused primarily providing relief for farmers under distress and on the rural sectors of the country.

To that end, Mr. Jaitley announced that the promotion of affordable housing is one of his “thrust areas”, meaning that this is a sector of the economy whereby he wishes to make a strong impact. As things now stand, people are able to deduct up to Rs 2,000,000 from their taxes for the interest that is paid on their home loans. That means that if you have a mortgage on your home and you pay up to Rs 2,000,000 in interest on that loan, you can take that Rs 2,000,000 off of your taxes and pay that much less in taxes. Well what Mr. Jaitley has now announced is that if you are a first time home buyer, you can deduct from the money you would be paying in taxes yet another Rs 50,000 that you pay in interest on your home mortgage. Stated in another way, if you are a first time home buyer and you pay Rs 2,050,000 in interest on your home mortgage and if the amount in taxes that you owe the government is Rs 2,050,000 – in theory – you would not have to pay any taxes at all. You are able to deduct from your taxes the amount that you pay in interest on your mortgage.

What does this mean for our freelancers on IndiaFreelancers.com? Well, what this means is that our freelancers are now able to purchase a home a little easier. Having and owning one’s home is a strong measure of security in this world – and we want that security for our programmers and other technical professionals on IndiaFreelancers.com. Therefore, we encourage our freelancers to please look into these new programs which were announced yesterday, February 28th, 2016. It may be that this may a great opportunity to purchase your first home and to make your freelancing on IndiaFreelancers.com a little more comfortable and stable.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

Freelancers: Choose the jobs you accept carefully

February 28, 2016
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In a recent article in the Times of India, there was a story of a man in Saudi Arabia who was fined about ₹36,600 Rupees and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for tweets on Twitter and writings on other social media outlets which were felt to apparently be atheist in nature or tone and therefore against the rules of his government. Apparently, according to the organization Human Rights Watch, this is all due to a series of laws enacted in 2014 by the late Saudi King Abdullah which defined atheists as terrorists.

In addition to controversial postings on social media, there are also websites themselves on the Internet which are considered to be controversial. For example, on November 12, 2012 in a posting on Facebook called “World of Facts” there was published a list of websites which are felt to be controversial. Websites such as the Pirate Bay, which reportedly allows users to download copyrighted material or a website reportedly known as Ogrish which reportedly published news which found to be controversial in some places. There are even more controversial websites such as a website known as a Pro Anorexia website which encourages people to pursue that eating disorder or a website which supposedly gives people advice on how to commit suicide. All really tough stuff to stomach.

The key for all of this and the reason for this blog entry is to ask our programmers and web developers on IndiaFreelancers.com is to please be careful when someone asks you to do something for them. Every job is not the same as the previous job. If someone – regardless of how lucrative the offer – is asking you to create a website which goes against your conscience and/or your sense of correctness, don’t do it. The money is simply not worth the possible loss of your reputation – or worse. There are many, many people who wish for you to create websites and/or computer programs which will not cause you such headaches; so please do your best to stay away from accepting work which may be more trouble than it is worth.

We at IndiaFreelancers.com absolutely reject and do not condone in any way the creation of websites or the writing of computer programs or the posting of content on social media which are, in any way, offensive or against the law – and we ask for our programmers on IndiaFreelancers.com to also adhere to this same rule.

My mom used to say “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” – and in the world of programming and web development this maxim may be even more relevant than ever.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

Mobile phones in India: 1 Billion and counting

February 27, 2016
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India is the 2nd largest mobile telephone market in the world with over 1 Billion mobile telephones registered. By size, China is the first and the United States, Brazil and Russia are third, forth and fifth respectively. Brazil is third? Yes, Brazil is third.

With such a large command of the world mobile telephone market, India is starting to be taken quite seriously by the world mobile telephone providers. In India, the mobile phone market share is now moving away from the governmental providers to the private providers. The Mobile Carrier Market Share in India is 24% AirTel, 19% Vodafone, 17% Idea and 11% Reliance. That means that between the four largest mobile telephone carriers, they hold 71% of the market of the world’s second largest mobile telephone market. These are important statistics to know.

Programmers on IndiaFreelancers.com would be smart to move into coding and creating programs which run on mobile telephones. According to the trade group GSMA and the Mobile World Congress which starts today February 27th, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, by the end of this year 2016, mobile telephones will account for 50% of all mobile connections world wide. Increasingly, the Android platform is the one in which more and more mobile phones are based. Thus, if our programmers on IndiaFreelancers.com wish to be relevant to the almost 7 Billion mobile telephone users world wide, they would do well to be active in producing apps and coding for mobile telephones.

These are enormous numbers. If we think of the fact that in Indonesia, which has a population of 237 million people, there are approximately 237 million registered mobile telephones! That means that there is one mobile telephone in Indonesia for every man, woman and child in Indonesia – and worldwide, this trend is only continuing to rise, not decrease.

Therefore, we at IndiaFreelancers.com encourage our programmers and developers to please do all you can to become as proficient as possible at writing code and programming for mobile telephones. These devices are not only the future – they are the present.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

New Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge to be launched in India in March

February 25, 2016
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Samsung, the electronics giant, just announced that it will launch the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge mobile telephones in India this coming March 2016. The key point here, of course, is that the price is reported to be approximately 49,000 Rupees for the Galaxy S7 and 55,000 Rupees for the S7 Edge.

Why is this significant? Well, if we look back on our blog entry of just a few days ago, we wrote about the new mobile telephone introduced by the company called “Ringing Bells” called the Freedom 251 phone which sold for just 251 Rupees! Unbelievable but true. Samsung is selling a mobile telephone for 49,000 Rupees and Ringing Bells is selling a mobile telephone for just 251 Rupees. No wonder there is such a commotion these days in the mobile telephone world. The price for the Samsung mobile phone is 195 X the price for the Ringing Bells mobile phone!

We at IndiaFreelancers.com have been watching with great interest and amusement (?)  to see what finally happens with these “mobile phone wars” as it were. To charge a little less is one thing, but to charge 195 times less is unbelievable – yet that is exactly what Ringing Bells proposed to do.

Whatever happens with the “mobile phone wars”, it will be important to watch. No one would pay 49,000 Rupees if they can just pay about 300 Rupees for a decent mobile telephone. But its not that easy. The authorities in India are investigating Ringing Bells. They want to make sure that the company is legitimate and that they are able to deliver what they say they can deliver.

Please keep watching this blog. We will keep an eye on these things for you and will keep you informed.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

E-Commerce in India: What Freelancers need to know

February 21, 2016
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India is growing in many ways. We are growing in population, worldwide influence and, most importantly, financially. Today India is one the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world and, as with all growth, we are seeing stiff competition come our way. Entities such as  Amazon India, Flipkart and Shopclues are growing E-Commerce platforms in India; however, few are growing as Snapdeal. Indeed, Snapdeal, with its recent purchase, FreeCharge for approximately US$400 – US$450 million dollars, is gearing up to move away from using the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) as the metric it uses to chart its progress and growth to one of using its 20 million daily users as its metric.

FreeCharge is a company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which provides the ability to recharge any prepaid mobile phone, DTH & Data Cards in India right online. When SnapDeal purchased FreeCharge, it acquired the ability to provide its customers not only a platform for buying things, but also the ability to pay for them. SnapDeal is a New Delhi company which was just started only 6 years ago in 2010 and already has a valuation of approximately US$5 Billion dollars and over 5,000 employees.

Unfortunately we have seen this movie before and it did not end so well. In 2002 the US E-Commerce giant Ebay purchased the payment system PayPal for US$1.5 Billion dollars. The goal for Ebay was to provide its E-customers not only with the ability to purchase its goods, but also with the ability to pay for them online. This strategy is also what apparently SnapDeal seems to be thinking with its purchase of FreeCharge. If, as people say, the past is prologue to the future, then things may not bode well for the SnapDeal purchase of FreeCharge. In 2015, just 13 years after Ebay purchased it, PayPal,  was removed from Ebay and became an independent company. Thus, we see that the goal of “one stop solutions” whereby you can get your coffee, dress pants and television all in one store, is not as easy in the E-commerce world.

We at IndiaFreelancers.com encourage our programmers and developers to keep an eye out for what happens next with SnapDeal, FreeCharge, Amazon India and other E-Commerce sites which operate in India. Yes we in India are growing, but with growth come problems and things we never expected. Therefore, yes let’s grow but let’s also be careful and vigilant because the landscape, like the seasons, can change at any time.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

Freedom 251 mobile telephones and Freelancers

February 20, 2016
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New is new. Anytime something is new, it is bound to bring attention – both good and not so good. This is what is happening with the Freedom 251 telephone and its maker, Ringing Bells.

To make a new mobile telephone is ok. To make a new mobile telephone which is maybe a little less expensive than the competition is ok as well. But to make a new mobile telephone which upends the status quo and throws the entire mobile telephone world on its ear is most certainly to bring a tremendous amount of attention to oneself.

All new things have always brought this sort of attention – and scrutiny – from the status quo. When electricity was introduced, when cars were introduced, when airplanes were introduced – all of these new things were opposed by the status quo at the time. Electricity was opposed by the kerosene lamp industry as potentially electrocuting people. Cars were opposed by the horse-and-buggy companies as “noisy, dangerous things” and airplanes were, understandably, opposed by transatlantic steam ship operators as never being able to transport someone from the USA to Europe. As history and time have shown us, of course, we now use cars, electricity and airplanes regularly. This is the challenge and the nature of new and disrupting things. If they are truly good things, they will endure the scrutiny and attention that comes with being new and will become part of our daily lives.

Such is the case now ongoing with the Freedom 251 mobile telephones. To make a mobile telephone with a camera, operating system, etc. etc. which costs, as one online newspaper said, “about the price of a cup of coffee” is amazing to say the least. Now the  I-T department of India is looking into this disruptive newcomer to the mobile telephone world as well as the Excise Tax and Income Tax departments of India. The Ringing Bells Company (the company which makes the Freedom 251 mobile telephones) financial structure and its Registrar of Companies (RofC) is being studied. In short, the company and its disruptive product are under the hot sun of a magnifying glass by its competitors and the authorities. We will watch carefully what happens as these things unfold, but one thing is certain: the mobile telephone world in India – and possibly the world – will likely never be the same.

When the Wright Brothers flew the world’s first airplane on December 17, 1903 no one would have imagined that just a mere 66 years later – on July 20, 1969 man would walk on the moon! Think of it. It took 1,903 years for man to fly the first airplane and once that was achieved, it took just 66 years after that for man to take that new invention, perfect it, develop it and walk on the moon! Just 66 years compared to One Thousand Nine Hundred and Three years! Progress is progress and in life change is the only constant.

We at IndiaFreelancers.com will follow the news and the developments which continue to happen with this new and apparently revolutionary new mobile telephone. Freelancers on IndiaFreelancers.com will want to know if they can and should write software for this new disruptive machine – and we will keep you informed of developments on this site. We suspect, however, that just as with the Wright Brothers’ invention, the time to when a mobile telephone will not be as expensive as they are now, seems to be coming soon.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

 

Freedom 251 phones: A Freelancer Opportunity

February 18, 2016
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When the Noida-based “Ringing Bells” company launched India’s most affordable smart phone yesterday, the Freedom 251 smarphone for Rs251, the demand was so high that the company’s website crashed and has been unable to sell smart phones for hours.

A smart phone priced at Rs251 which is, as the website Independent.co.uk quotes, as being valued “about as much a cup of coffee” was sure to have a mass appeal. Indeed that has been the case. The furor over such an inexpensive smart phone has not gone unnoticed by the various regulatory agencies. Indeed, the ICA (Indian Cellular Association) wrote to TeleCom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that the rate for this phone could not conceivably be below Rs 3,500 – even after a subsidized sale. And yet here it is. A smart phone featuring a 4-inch display, with a 960 x 540 pixels resolution, a 3.2MP rear facing camera and a 0.3 MP front facing camera. Its connectivity features include 3G capability, WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, a GPS and an amazing 1,450 mAh battery all running on an Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system with a Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded further up to 32GB using a microSD card. It is just unimaginable that such a device with such features is possible at such a price – and yet here it is for just Rs 251!

Life is all about the disruptors. When electricity was developed, the kerosene lamp industry fought it as being a dangerous new thing which could electrocute people. When Alexander Graham Bell tried to sell his new invention, the telephone, to AT&T he was told that it was a “nice toy” but that no one would ever use it. When Henry Ford tried to sell his idea for an internal combustion vehicle called an automobile, the industry “experts” of the time told him that this new vehicle was “cute” but that “the horse and buggy are here to stay.” Disruptors have always and will always upset the status quo.  That is why they are called disruptors. Change is difficult for humans. We like life to remain predictable, known and comfortable. There is a saying that “the only one who likes change is a wet baby” and yet change is what life and living are all about.

We at IndiaFreelancers.com say “let’s embrace change” rather than wish it was not happening. If indeed the Rs 251 mobile telephone is here to stay, lets create programs for it. Lets develop apps for it and lets become familiar with it. If the Ringing Bells website crashed because it was receiving “6 Lacs hits per second” (600,000 hits per second), this tells us that the likelihood is that the Freedome 251 – and/or others similar to it – are here to stay and we should learn to code and develop for them and their inevitable subsequent copies – rather than resist them.

Ranjiv P for Indiafreelancers.com

 

Freelancers: Certainty in uncertain times

February 16, 2016
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In a recent article (February 16, 2016) in the Times of India it was noted that the Supreme Court (SC) of India has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the information about which companies are the largest debtors who have their loans either in default or are restructuring their loans.

Presumably, the SC in India wants to avoid in India what happened in America in 2008 when the banking activity of companies on Wall Street caused a terrible financial problem and almost a depression in the United States. The financial firm Lehman Brothers went into bankruptcy and the automobile industry required a large loan from the Federal Government of the United States or it would not have survived in 2008-2009. The SC in India wants to know which public sector banks and/or financial institutions are advancing such tremendous loans to companies which then are unable to pay them. They are asking for information about the guidelines used to make such large loans and the safe guards instituted for loan-recovery mechanisms.

These loans in question can sometimes be as large as Rs 300 Crore or more – and are either not being repaid and thus in default or are in need of restructuring. These are very concerning things for the whole economy of India. India is not a country with the financial resources of America and yet even the US was unable to withstand uncontrolled banking activity as occurred in 2008.

In such uncertain times, if you know how to program or write articles or a skill which is able to be hired on a platform such as IndiaFreelancers.com, it would be very advisable to do so. Such a “firewall” or protection or safeguarding mechanism may give you the peace of mind of knowing that even if the economy in India suffers, you are able to find work on IndiaFreelancers.com from employers in America, England, Australia and other parts around the world.

Life is not anything if not always a surprise. They say that in life it is not what happens to you that is important – it is what you do about it that matters. Thus, creating an account on IndiaFreelancers.com may be your best protection from the uncertainties of life and the uncertainties of our economy.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

Freelancers: Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2016
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In an article today, February 14th, 2016, in the Times of India, there is a story that even on Valentine’s Day Cyber Criminals do not take a day off. Many happy couples on Valentine’s Day are looking for gifts online for their sweethearts and what they may unfortunately find is a cyber criminal who is offering a deal that is too good to be true – and often it is.

For Freelancers – most of whom work at home – who are already on their computers for hours a day, it is very tempting to simply go online to shop for a Valentine’s Day gift. The cyber security experts at Kaspersky warn us that that is exactly what cyber criminals are hoping. They offer high-end luxury goods which are either fake or stolen – and could ruin more than your Valentine’s Day. They could get you in trouble with the law or at the very least take your money.

On IndiaFreelancers.com we have many different specialties of tech professionals. Some are experts in cyber security and can help developers and company owners to manage the risks of cyber attacks and cyber hacks. An example of something that could particularly be demoralizing on Valentine’s Day is an electronic greeting card which, when opened, may have a malicious computer virus in it which then infects your computer with the malicious code. Many people send electronic greetings these days – especially on Valentine’s Day, so be careful.

When I think of things like this it makes my blood boil. It angers me that criminals are so heartless as to damage such a purely innocent and wonderful day such as Valentine’s Day. It is unconscionable to think that in their depravity, criminals do not care at all that they would now create a sense of worry for Valentine’s Day revelers in terms of opening a Valentine’s Day electronic greeting card or not – for fear that it might contain a computer virus.

So please be careful – even on Valentine’s Day – and remember that cyber criminals unfortunately do not take a day off.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

Tech Freelancers: One way out of poverty in India

February 13, 2016
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Poverty in India remains a reality. In the Wikipedia entry entitled “Poverty in India” (ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_India), it is documented that in some parts of India such as, Ranchi, Bhopal, Raipur, Patna, Imphal, Itanagar and Guwahati as much as 30% – 40% of the population of those areas live in Poverty.

What exactly does poverty mean? Well, since 1990 the World Bank has defined poverty as when people have a purchasing power of only about $1.25 a day. That is just amazing. When one considers that a typical cup of coffee at a Starbucks in the United States costs approximately $2.10, the thought that perhaps an entire family in India can have the purchasing power of only $1.25 a day is tremendously impacting. If nothing, this tugs at one’s heart.

On IndiaFreelancers.com, the average tech earns as much as $9 dollars an hour. Think of it. In a country where a family in Ranchi, Bhopal, Raipur, Patna, Imphal, Itanagar or Guwahati may be earning only $1.25 a day, IndiaFreelancers.com can give someone in this same country the possibility of earning as much as $9 per hour! In an August 2015 article in the Times of India (http://blog.indiafreelancers.com/category/academics) it was noted that a student at the India Institute of Technology student (IIT) – who has not even yet finished his or her studies – can earn as much as Rs70,000 a month (which is roughly US $1,170 a month) by simply developing only about 3 hours a day on IndiaFreelancers.com to developing software for a start up company abroad. This is nothing short of amazing. A young person who has learned to do tech work and who works just 3 hours a day has the potential to provide a family in India almost 1,000 times the income which is considered a poverty income – and one which many people in various parts of India are suffering through right now.

The government of India is making a noble push to help young Indians to learn tech by helping to ease the severity of the entrance qualifications and requirements for young Indians to enter into one of the branches of IIT. We at IndiaFreelancers.com heartily encourage the government for doing this and encourage the private sector in India to please do all it can to continue to encourage young Indians to pursue a career in the tech industry.

IndiaFreelancers.com encourages young Indians to pursue a career in the tech field. A young Indian living in Ranchi, Bhopal, Raipur, Patna, Imphal, Itanagar or Guwahati – or elsewhere in India – working on IndiaFreelancers.com – or on one of many other platforms which put programmers in touch with employers – can do a lot to help himself or herself and their families.

Ranjiv P for IndiaFreelancers.com

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