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I was born and brought up in Kozhikode (during those days it was called Calicut) a city in the South Indian state of Kerala. In the early 90s when I was in high school, Kozhikode had a population of under half a million. As most of you would be able to relate, we did not have any fancy shopping malls or entertainment options in Indian cities during those days. Metropolitan cities like Bangalore, at least had options like Lalbagh and Cubbon Park, but we had none of that sort.It was during such times that a young IAS officer, who was appointed as the District Collector (District Magistrate) of Kozhikode district came up with a novel idea of building a park in the heart of the city. The park was planned to be built around a pond called Mananchira (chira in malayalam means pond). This pond was built in Calicut in the 14th century by Samoothiri Mana Vikrama (King of Malabar is addressed as Samoothiri or Zamorin in English). There was a large ground beside the park, called Mananchira Maidanam (maidanam in malayalam means plain ground).The IAS officer being a young energetic chap with a resolute mind pursued his vision for a patch of breathing space inside the city, which would add up as an entertainment option for the city folks. He was able to convince the local bodies, after much persuasion; in drafting the initial plan for the park. The park was named “Mananchira Square” as it was being built on the Mananchira. The initial plan consisted of building a park around the pond by rerouting the roads and demolishing a few business establishments. The park had a large open ground, stone paved walkway with colonial lamp posts and sculptures. The total cost of the project was estimated to be under Rs. 1 crore. The district authorities then published the initial draft in the public domain. From here on started a heated debate, uproar and what not from the general public.For the next few weeks, newspapers in Kerala ran articles on squandering of public funds by the district authorities. Every aspect of the project including feasibility of the project, environmental & ecological impact due to the project were discussed in length.Then came the series of million dollar questions based on the premise that, what else this money could have bought.How many poor children can be provided quality education with this fundHow many houses for the under privileged could be built with this fund (Remember this was in early 90’s and 1 crore value would have been around 15–20 crores for today in 2018)Shouldn’t this fund be used for drainage & sewerage work of the city ?Essentially everything pointed to the aspect that money was wasted on building a park, while it could have been deployed to useful projects. Now after 2 decades let us see what is happening with Mananchira SquareMananchira Square has become a hot spot for the city dwellers for fresh airSculptures by leading artists of Kerala makes it a tourist destination for people visiting Malabar (North Kerala)Today in 2019, after more than two decades, Mananchira Square has grown into the cynosure of Kozhikode city. From the parks to the gardens, from the colonial styled stone paved pathway with lamps to the sculptures, it draws on the rich heritage of Calicut.I believe now the reader would have got a sense of where I’m going with this answer. The project Statue of Unity is a repeat of what we saw with “Mananchira Square”. I do not want to go into details of the financial viability of Statue of Unity or get into a debate of how this is better than putting money elsewhere - all these are relevant and already answered by others.The fact that we need to understand is - there are different ways of solving problems, some solutions are direct where results can be assessed and evaluated much faster, whereas some solutions are indirect where conventional wisdom and accounting would fail appropriate assessment and evaluation takes longer cycles. Projects like Mananchira Square and Statue of Unity fall under the latter. I would never state that we need to throw good money after bad, on such projects without asking questions or proper accounting. The fact of matter is that we need newer ways of assessing such projects. Now taking a step backwards, what is the problem that we are attempting to solve with such a mammoth project ? To understand that, we need to delve into a topic called “Destination Branding”Destination Branding is known as the process of branding a city, province or an entire country, for tourism. Its about mapping the functionality and representation of a destination, to position it appropriate, so as to entice tourists and investment. Nowadays the benefit of this act is not restricted to increased tourism, but also in garnering investments which leads to growth of the economy and hence more jobs.The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been doing this from day one of being in his office. The project Statue of Unity, which he started when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat is another step in that direction. Narendra Modi, unlike other Indian politicians is not shy of proposing and implementing solutions which have long term impact and opportunity for economic growth. Even the initiatives like ‘Swachh Bharat’ (Clean India), ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ (Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child), all have larger economic impact. He is not pursing these initiatives for the purpose of slogan or vote bank, but these are initiatives which has the potential in transforming our economy. These initiatives will not have direct impact in the short term, but these are concrete steps which will help our country in prospering both economically and socially.PS:- Remember the young IAS officer who was the District Magistrate of Calicut - he is Mr.Amitabh Kant, today he is the CEO of NITI Aayog NITI Aayog, (National Institution for Transforming India), Government of IndiaReferencesMananchira - WikipediaAmitabh Kant - WikipediaSwachh Bharat mission - WikipediaEdit1Thanks everyone for the up votes and comments. Happy to know that this answer delighted you in some way. For more about me, knock at Saneesh Parambath

Since You have 60 Points, and you are talking about EOI, I am assuming that you have already completed skills assessment and you have a positive result and the number of points that you are eligible to get.In this scenario, I would highly recommend you take the PTE exam and score above 79. Personally, I found this much easier than IELTS and getting a slot is very easy as they conduct the exams everyday and the results are available in 3 days . The entire exam is on a PC and evaluation is also automatic.A score above 79 in PTE is equivalent to 8 and above in IELTS. This will add 10 points more and you will have 70 total points. It will put you in a much better position for being considered for an invite.Additionally, you can check Occupation visa options Australia Skilled Visa for state sponsorship of your chosen occupation. If you are eligible for state sponsorship, then you get an additional 5 points. Please note that you would have certain moral obligations to the state when sponsored under the 190 visa which is a state sponsored Visa.Also, 190 visa processing times are very short compared to that of 189. You may want to keep this in mind while planning. For Eg: If you do get 190 invitation from the same state as would intend to go under the 189, then immediately make the application. If you do get 190 invite from some other state, do a little research and find out if you would be able to manage in that state for 2 years. Some states allow for transfers if you cannot find work, but its your call.Feel free to reach out in case of any further queries (Not an agent, just a guy who went through this a while back)

60% of employees in India were found to be dissatisfied with their current jobs and 80% were seeking a job change in a survey conducted by TimesJobs. The findings point towards dissatisfaction rooted in career aspirations. Experts recommend career optimization as a strategy to prevent these outcomes. Professional career guidance and counselling services seek to meet the ideal of person-job fit and helps optimize one’s work life.Of all the decisions we make in our lifetime, choosing a career is one of the most important ones. When making this decision, we typically take into account our personal goals, interests, information bits we have already been privy to, and what we think we might be good at. We may also consult others for advice, or at the very least consider what they may have suggested is a good career for us based on their impressions about our talents and strengths.Sometimes our intuitions may work, and we could end up in a career that keeps us happy. But more often than not, in the long run, it turns out far from being fulfilling. We might be performing well, but not satisfied. We might find that there is so much more we can do with our capacities but that the career seems limiting. And in worse case scenarios, we might feel that the career is unsuitable for us due to a misfit between our capabilities and what the career demands. Some of us might experience disillusionment about the career we have always dreamed of when we actually taste what it is like in reality. And some of us may feel burned out in the field we have chosen after a couple of years.For such a crucial decision, it is rather too much to leave the outcome to chance when there are scientific and researched ways to minimize the possibility of running into these issues. The basic problem with making a career decision based on our own knowledge and impressions of others is that it is all based on half-baked awareness. Our assessment of what our strengths are, what skills and aptitudes we have, our personality and even what our interests are, could be just a partial understanding of ourselves. A major hindrance when it comes to taking the decision based on self-reflection and evaluation is that we are constrained by our biases about ourselves. Apart from this incomplete self-knowledge, a lack of awareness about career opportunities and trends in the present-day job market also adversely affects the choosing of an optimal career. Even in today’s age where information can be easily accessed, there are limitations in how we consume what is available to us. The most basic principle of professional career guidance and counselling is to widen these horizons of awareness with the assistance of an external expert and take a decision which is as informed as possible.Each individual case of making a career choice is a problem that must be solved at different levels: the personal attributes in interaction with their socio-cultural contexts, within the larger setting of changing global trends. The optimal approach to solving the problem is to bank on a comprehensive exploration of each case with scientific rigor combined with human expertise.Several professionals and firms attempt to provide such services across the country, most of them offering assessment and counselling in an offline mode and some that provide online services. The most important factor in deciding which of these are credible is to check how comprehensive the entire process of assessment and counselling is. Secondly, it is crucial to check how scientific and theoretically grounded the assessment procedures employed are. The experience and expertise of the professional who delivers the counselling undoubtedly determines how reliable the service is. And although this is a typical practice, giving the reviews by test-takers a read is actually often a good indicator of credibility.Arguably, one such advanced program that offers fully online services in India is Hikewise. The program has been developed by experts in the field and alumni of renowned institutes in India and abroad. I came across about their program, previously called LCAT, from this article and on looking up further found it quite impressive. You can find an extensive documentation of their research process on their website.The program consists of a rather comprehensive psychometric assessment of personality, interests, aptitude, work-value preferences and emotional intelligence. They provide a 50+ page detailed report discussing the findings of the assessment and a list of 5 best fit career fields is provided. Additional information regarding the client’s socio-cultural context, beliefs, additional talents etc. is also sought to inform the guidance process. The post-assessment counselling is extended and their approach is participant-driven. An action plan is drawn up in consultation with the field expert outlining what the client can do for the upcoming years. A “chat with expert” service is also made available for clarification of queries at a later point in time. Hikewise is definitely an option I would recommend for those who are beginning to explore career options, as well as individuals who are already at a later stage in their careers looking for more fulfilling avenues.