How to pursue professional courses like CA and CS?

       I have been writing articles on various issues connected to corporate world, corporate law, and legal profession and especially about Judiciary in India. I will be writing articles pursing my academic interest apart from my professional responsibilities.

            Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam refers in his book that “strength respects strength” and he refers to the importance of knowledge and education in his book “Wings of Fire” and the same is extracted below:

“Anyone who has taken up the responsibility to lead a team can be successful only if he is sufficiently independent, powerful and influential in his own right to become a person to reckon with. This is perhaps also the path to individual satisfaction in life, for freedom with responsibility is the only sound basis for personal happiness. What can one do to strengthen personal freedom? I would like to share with you two techniques I adopt in this regard.

First, by building your own education and skills. Knowledge is a tangible asset, quite often the most important tool in your work. The more up-to-date the knowledge you possess, the freer you are. Knowledge cannot be taken away from anyone except by obsolescence. A leader can only be free to lead his team if he keeps abreast of all that is happening around him-in real time. To lead, in way, is to engage in continuing education. In many countries, it is normal for professionals to go to college several nights every week. To be a successful team leader, one has to stay back after the din and clutter of a working day to emerge better equipped and ready to face a new day.

The second way is to develop a passion for personal responsibility. The sovereign way to personal freedom is to help determine the forces that determine you. Be active! Take on responsibility! Work for the things you believe in. If you do not, you are surrendering your fate to others.”

              As our great Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam said and as many other successful people believed, I am of the strong view that the development of any country can be viewed from the way it respects education, its people respect education, educational standards and the approach towards research and development. If we see the developed countries like USA and Britain, they respect education so much and it can be seen from their funding to educational sector or the steps towards imparting quality education and their role in research and development. Even the developed countries like China is focusing so much on education and competing with the developed countries like USA. We need to move forward on war footing looking at this International Scenario as otherwise we will be nowhere in the world except being a big market for the cheaper products of China and branded products of USA and other developed countries. Even Barrack Obama of United States of America refers to the importance of education very frequently and cautions the Americans about the potential competition from the developed countries like China and India. If USA looks at us, why don’t we look at USA except thinking about going to USA to make dollars? That’s a different issue all together.

             As I am interested and connected to corporate world doing little big research and involving in corporate consultancy and litigation, I respect legal profession, accounting profession and the role played by Company Secretaries. All these people deal with very very complicated subjects and are long learning unlike other professionals. To support the industries and for attracting FDI and creating a feeling in the minds of foreign investors that India provides good managers, secretaries and accountants, we need truly qualified Legal Professionals, Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries.

           If some legal professional or Company Secretary is not discharging the functions properly when he opts profession or if such a person lacks the quality or ability suiting to his qualification, we need not criticize him, but, we need to again look at as to where the fault lies.

           The way adopted by a student while pursing his CA and CS etc. largely determines as to what he is in future. Its true. If a student thinks about passing the examination at any cost without concentrating on the importance of conceptual understanding of things, then, such student can never be a good professional even in future. I have seen and spoken to many students and they always talk about passing the examination at any cost and completely ignore the conceptual understanding of their chosen subject. A student should not pursue professions like CA and CS with such a thought as they will be handling complicated issues in future when they are employed in a company or will be advising their clients. 

         With my limited knowledge and exposure, I want to give my advice to the students who pursue professions like CA and CS as follows:

(1)       Have a basic thought that you need to be a master of your field in future and never limit your thought to just working in some company  and getting the salary.

(2)       Have a probing mind from the beginning and don’t turn pages, if you are not able to understand completely as to what you have studied.

(3)       Don’t focus on remembering the answers to the selected questions and don’t focus only on questions and answers.

(4)       Read about each and every topic and chapter and try to get complete understanding of what you have studied.

(5)       Do sincere introspection on your abilities and your speed in reading and writing.

(6)       After thorough introspection about your abilities, have a clear plan for preparing for your exams and write down on paper.

(7)       Never get deviated from your chosen plan at any cost and don’t loose your temper, concentration, spirit and competitive mind at any cost.

(8)       Concentrate on self-motivation by listening and reading about the successful personalities like Infosys Narayana Moorthy, Nandan Neelkeni, Ambani, Sir Sorabji, Barrack Obama, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam etc. and it keeps you moving and you start questioning yourself when you look at successful persons and their pains in the life journey.

(9)       Don’t get settled and keep changing your targets and aiming high.

(10)Never loose hope and belief that the better days will come.

I just want to quote as to how our great Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam opined about illusory backwardness before concluding my small brief and the extract is as follows:

“I will not be presumptuous enough to say that my life can be a role model for anybody; but some poor child living in an obscure place, in an underprivileged social setting may find a little solace in the way my destiny has been shaped. It could perhaps help such children liberate themselves from the bondage of their illusory backwardness and hopelessness. Irrespective of where they are right now, they should be aware that God is with them and when he is with them, who can be against them?” (page 167 of Wings of Fire).

Note: Wishing all the best to the student community, I want the students to note that I have just expressed my opinion.