LEARNINGS DURING THE 16 MONTH INDUCTION TRAINING at NADT, NAGPUR

This will be my first blog post this year. After a long time, I saw a mail in my inbox relating to my post on psychology tips which I wrote long back. Today is a Sunday and an exceptionally hot one here in Jaipur. I have this habit of saving all downloads, making new files on the desktop. I thought that today is a good time to organize my stuff. I came across a word file named as Learnings.docx and I realize this very vividly as an assignment that we had to submit on a difficult deadline. However, as I opened the file, I thought let me put this up on my blog. So, here it goes:-

The past sixteen months passed very fast. It seems to me that time just flew. But, as I sit down to pen down what I learnt, I think I got a better understanding of how the department functions, what are the problems of the department and what are the possible solutions?

In terms of knowledge, I learnt income tax law, accountancy and some economics. Income Tax is a very complicated legislation. I realized the importance of one word and how much revenue impact a phrase or a word can make. I also learnt that with amendments and with the use of appropriate words, we can minimize the misuse of provisions. In accounts, I learnt that handling accounts is more about diligently having a look at the books of accounts and trying to track the transactions. Tips like negative cash balance in cash book, comparison with previous year’s net and gross profit figures are helpful.

In terms of skills, I honed my computer and speaking skills. Although I have a background and interest in computers but the course team and all my batchmates had put on so much of confidence in me that I tried hard to learn new stuff like becoming an expert at formatting, movie making, creating powerpoint presentations, I have also learnt writing emails and letters in a professional manner. However, I still need to improve my oral communication skills.

In terms of attitude, I think I learnt the most. I learnt that everybody needs to contribute his or her own part so as to make the system run efficiently. Each one has a  role to play to improve the institution. I am summing the learnings as follows:-

1.       One should learn to say ‘’NO”.

2.       One should always strive for excellence rather than being satisfied with mediocrity.

3.       One should learn to work without any return.

4.       One should say “No” sometimes as it is not possible to be good to everybody. Helping somebody sometimes cripples him/her. We need not be unnecessary worried about the non-serious, insincere or lazy people and need not go out of the way to help him/her.

5.       One should take initiative in improving the institution. Although very few people take initiative and most of them do not, but if somebody takes an initiative, there are many who come forward and help the person who takes initiative.

6.       We need people who take initiative and who have commitment and passion to make the system work better.

7.       Technology is the way to go. There are a lot of occasions where we can use Excel and Powerpoint so as to improve the quality and do the work more efficiently like making a control sheet for TA bills, creating google spreadsheets or forms for simultaneous update of material.