Dr. Akshita Bahuguna

₹80,000 Today or Power Tomorrow? The Question Every Career Decision Must Answer

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Salary now or success later?

It was an ordinary evening until my phone rang.One sentence erased nearly two decades. “Ma’am, you were right.” There was no excitement in his voice. No relief either. Just steadiness.The kind that comes when a career stops demanding justification. It was Anku. Back in 2006, Anku was already earning well. Fresh out of college, he […]

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When Passion Is Used as Payment: A Reflection on Teacher Compensation and Conditioning

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Why opt teaching

A Research-Backed Analysis of Why the Teaching Profession Deserves Better Than Ideals The Question That Unsettled the Room: A B.Ed Classroom During a recent panel discussion on employability and professional readiness at a B.Ed institution, a fourth-semester B.Ed student posed a question that momentarily unsettled the room—but deeply resonated with many: “Why are teachers not

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Beyond Unicorns: The India Built by Pico Entrepreneurs

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The India Built by Pico Entrepreneurs: FutureIcons in Action

From Svyambhu to FutureIcons: How Self-Reliance Became a Living Movement Big change rarely begins with big money.It begins with a simple question: what if people already have what they need, and we just help them see it? That question sat at the heart of Project Svyambhu, when our founder Dr Akshita Bahuguna first called for

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National Startup Day 2026: The Uncomfortable Truth Behind India’s Startup Boom

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We're Building Aggregators, Not Solutions

India’s startup ecosystem achieved the impossible: 2.09 lakh recognized startups, 1.66 million jobs, $131 billion raised, 119 unicorns. Yet beneath these spectacular numbers lies a structural fragility that threatens the ecosystem’s long-term relevance. On January 16, 2026, as India celebrated a decade of Startup India, few noticed the uncomfortable truth: the ecosystem has optimized for

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When Ideas Went on Sale (Limited Period Offer!)

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Ideas on Sale

Last week, someone slid into my inbox with an exciting opportunity. Not for my work.Not for a project. For my thinking. They wanted to “handle my social media” and “position me as a thought leader.” Monthly packages. Weekly deliverables. Guaranteed visibility. Apparently, my ideas just needed better lighting and a posting schedule. I stared at

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The CLO Teacher: Why Mental Health Must Be Your Foundation, Not Your Add-On

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The CLO Teacher: Why Mental Health Must Be Your Foundation, Not Your Add-On

A New Way to Think About Teaching and Learning We have it backwards. For decades, we’ve talked about teaching as content delivery, with classroom management as the mechanism to maintain control so that teaching can happen. We’ve added mental health support as an afterthought—something counselors do, or something we address when crisis strikes. But emerging

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When Dharma Becomes an Excuse: India’s Betrayal of Its Teachers

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When Dharma Becomes an Excuse: India’s Betrayal of Its Teachers

A teacher in a Delhi government school earns ₹75,000 a month. Across the same city, her private school counterpart earns barely ₹20,000—less than the intern who designs PowerPoint slides in an air-conditioned office. Step outside India, and the gap widens into an abyss. A teacher in Finland or Luxembourg makes ten times more for the

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The Silent Killer of Thriving Businesses: Why Consciousness Based Emotional Intelligence Is Your Most Critical Asset

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The Silent Killer of Thriving Businesses: Why Consciousness-Based Emotional Intelligence Is Your Most Critical Asset

How Self-Aware Leadership Transforms Pressure Into Performance and Prevents Preventable Failures Your business isn’t failing because of bad strategy, insufficient capital, or market conditions. It’s failing because you can’t see yourself clearly in the moment that matters most. This is the harsh truth that separates businesses that scale from those that stall, leaders who inspire

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Delhi AQI 550: When Governance Fails, the Air Enters Our Lungs

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Delhi AQI 550: When Governance Fails, the Air Enters Our Lungs

This morning, when the eyes opened, the city outside the window had vanished. Not hidden. Erased. This wasn’t low visibility. It felt like negative visibility, as if someone had rubbed out the horizon and then shaded the air with a thick, poisonous pencil. The number confirmed what the body already knew.Delhi’s AQI today: 550. That

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