The Art ( and Science ) of Wooing

Following news appeared today :

Will design blueprint to woo MNCs looking beyond China: Sitharaman 

Highlights :

“I will go back and design in some way whereby I will identify those multinational corporations, American, European or British origin, who are moving out of China or who probably are even contemplating.

I will make a blueprint with which I will approach them and put forward to them as to why India is a far more preferable destination," Sitharaman told reporters in Washington after completing her engagements at the IMF-World Bank annual meeting.

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One does not have to be a genius to conclude that Multinationals are only interested in making profits – huge profits

As a corollary, they would set up shop and manufacture their products in a location , where they can do so at the lowest possible “ cost “

Those costs have following Industrial Inputs :

MANPOWER

RAW MATERIALS / COMPONENTS AVAILABILITY

FINANCE / BANK INTEREST RATES

LAND / LOCATION ( of manufacturing unit )

INDUSTRIAL  POLICY ( Central and State Governments )

MARKET

TECHNOLOGY

TAXATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

COMPETITION

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Madam Sitharamanji,

Now, it is just impossible to come up with a BLUEPRINT, that will overnight make India,

“ A LOW COST ECONOMY “

But, it is certainly possible to gradually and steadfastly, move in that direction by continuously comparing India with what other countries are doing to woo foreign companies

Now , Industrialists / Businessmen , all over the World , will continue to compare the INDUSTRIAL INPUTS existing in their own country with the following BENCHMARKS :

[ Following data is some 3 years old ]

#   Most Business Friendly ................................... Ireland

#   Lowest Corporate Tax...................................... Kuwait ( 0 % )

#   Lowest Hourly Wages ( PPP basis ).................... Bangladesh ( $ 0.25/hr )

#   Highest Working Hours.................................... Mexico ( 42.5 / week )

#   Least Govt mandated paid holidays................... USA     ( Nil )

#   Highest Manpower Productivity......................... Switzerland

#   Lowest Bank Interest Rates.............................  Denmark ( 0.05 % )

#   Demographic Advantage of a Young Population....India 

#   Ease of Introducing unpopular reforms..............  China ( Dictatorship )

 


There is , quite likely , some parameter on which a Country can claim to have distinct advantage over all the other countries

It could have something to do with its Geographical situation / Historical evolution / Political System / Legal Frame-work / Societal Norms etc

It is not possible to replicate advantages of all of these benchmark countries , into any one single country

At the same time , it is very important to keep studying these Benchmarks and ask ourselves :

"  How have these countries managed to reach , where they are ?

   What REFORMS can we introduce in our own system to catch-up ?

   Are there any parameters in which we ourselves are a Benchmark to others ?

   What should we do so that we do not slip-up where we are ourselves , some

   kind of a Benchmark , to the rest of the World ? 

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21  Oct  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RcruitGuru.com

Exam Malpractices ? No More !

For decades now, cheating in exams by students, was a well-known feature, all over India

This process was often assisted by the exam supervisors and overlooked by administrators of those thousands of exam centers

Following are some of the cheating methods employed by the students :

Ø  Writing down answers on palms of hands / legs

Ø  Carrying on body, carefully concealed pieces of papers

Ø  Getting friends to throw into the exam halls, answer papers

Ø  Looking up the writing from the answer-book of students sitting next

Ø  Wearing tiny ear plugs into which answers can be broadcast

With arrival of IoT  ( Internet of Things ), catching cheating students , is going to be ever-more difficult

Ask :

How long before the following items in that exam hall, carry RFID embedded micro-sensors, ( with electric power drawn from air ! ), which can receive and transmit all kinds of data (text – images – voice ) , through the walls of the halls ?

Ø  Water Coolers

Ø  Mobile phones ( already banned in exam halls )

Ø  Smart Watches

Ø  Smart Ball Pens

Ø  AR-VR augmented Eye Glasses

Ø  Pendants and other jewelry

Ø  Smart Clothes ( with button cameras )

Ø  Smart Shoes

Ø  Tooth Implants

Ø  Tatoos printed on hidden body parts

Ø  Walking Sticks / Wheel Chairs ( for challenged )

 This list is only limited by your imagination !

And applies equally, not only to the students but also to the exam supervisors !

Not counting tables / chairs / fans / drawing boards and walls of the exam hall – all IoT enabled !

All capable of receiving / broadcasting data !

Does all of these mean that , as far as cheating in exams is concerned, things will only get worse ?

May be

But, If bad people can use technology for bad purposes, then it also enables good people to use it for good purposes !

For example :

TCS iON , a unit of Tata Consultancy Services, plans to deploy this technology for eliminating cheating  !

HERE  IS  HOW :

Ø  Launching its Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) driven Command Centre in Chennai, which will monitor in real time, 6000 of its examination venues, across the country

OBJECTIVE :

Ø  Fair conduct of exams with transparency of the exam operations

       METHODOLOGY :

Ø  Monitor the exam process through a set of 150 parameters

Ø  Prevent, predict and post incidents as alerts for efficient management of the exam

Ø  Track movement and devices carried by every candidate at any exam centre, via a live CCTV feed

Ø  Predict the readiness of the Centre based on past incidents and the current live feed of events in the exam centre

Ø  Issue alerts about any malpractice attempts based on the learnings from the malpractice patterns of the past

Ø  Track the readiness of all the devices being used for conducting the exam, by leveraging TCS’s IoT  framework

Ø  Issue proactive automated directions for any observations that warrant immediate action through instant alerts against anomalies like exam interruptions. Unusual behavior on server or candidate system and the performance of the devices being used for the exam process

It is possible that the administrators of Bhagath PU College ( Haveri-Karnataka ), never heard of TCS iON innovation for preventing cheatings in exams

They ordered all students appearing for first year science exam, “ to wear cardboard cartons on their heads “ – to prevent sideways glance !

Cannot believe ? 

Read :

  

Karnataka: College students made to wear cardboard boxes at exams

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/students-made-to-wear-cardboard-boxes-at-exam/articleshow/71656212.cms

Although, the news report does not spell out, I suppose that :

Ø   Students appearing at TCS examination centers, do so on a computer screen

Ø  No two students have the same questions in their exam papers and for each student, the exam paper is instantaneously / randomly generated on the fly, from a vast data bank of questions of similar “ Degree of Difficulty “

Ø  There is a time limit for solving the online paper

Ø  As soon as the time gets over, the SCORE [ result ] is flashed on the screen, along with a rejection letter or an ( provisional ) “ Appointment Letter “ – which, the selected student must “ accept “ online and immediately

In India, hardly a week passes without millions of students appearing in exams being conducted by schools / colleges / Institutes / Prof Bodies / Exam Boards etc

Then there is Railway Board conducting paper-based written exams in thousands of exam centers, all over India, for millions of job-aspirants

Ditto with Indian Association of Bankers

And each of these is susceptible for cheating / paper-leaking / heartburning and injustice to bright students

Lakhs of crores of rupees and billions of man-hours and millions of tons of papers are wasted

All of this wastage of National Resources can be saved, if only Shri Prakash Javadekarji, requests TCS

Ø    To share its technology platform to the entire Education Industry , for FREE

Ø    To modify the National Career Service Portal [ www.nsc.gov.in  ]to become Online Jobs Fair

 dd.caiu@mail-dr.epfindia.gov.in>

feedback.dget@nic.in

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

hcp@RecruitGuru.com    

Will China Reign Supreme ?

China set to launch its own centralised digital currency

Extract :

China is set to introduce its own digital currency - one that could allow the Government and the Central Bank to see what people spend on  ..

Far from the libertarian ideals of cryptocurrencies, whose anonymity allows users to buy and sell without leaving a digital trail, China's mooted e-cash system will be tightly regulated, experts say, and run by the People's Bank of China, the Central Bank

The country where social credit systems and facial recognition cameras are becoming wide-spread, a new Chinese cryptocurrency could allow the govt to more closely monitor the actions of its population

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Only 2 years back , China had banned Crypto-currency exchanges and banned initial coin offering !

Now we see the reason :

When it come to Crypto-currency, the Chinese Govt just do NOT want any competition from any private party  . It wants its 1.4 billion citizens , to :

#  Stop using paper currency altogether

#  Switch over to its monopolistic crypto-currency for all purchases of GOODS and

    SERVICES ( no matter, how small and from whom )

In a nutshell, data on life-time purchases of everyone ( from cradle to grave ! )

For those who do not wish to sit down and make a list of thousands of GOODS / SERVICES they need throughout the day , here is a small sample :

#  Street-side Vendors / Kirana Shops / Misc Shops / Malls / Garments / Jewelry etc

#  Doctors / Hospitals / Drug Stores / Labs / Gyms /

#  Rickshaws / Taxis / Trains / Planes / Boats / any type of rented vehicles

#  Domestic Servants / Paper Vendors / Milk Vendors / Dhobi / Florists

#  Plumber / Carpenter / Electrician / House Cleaners / Masons

#  Yoga Teacher / Physio-therapists / Massagers / Beauticians

   

This list can run into thousands

And the Chinese Govt wants its citizens to throw away ( most likely convert ) their paper currency into its Centrally Issued Crypto-currency – may be by end of 2020

{  A far superior version of our very own De-Monetization , which increased corruption ! }

Have no doubt that this switch-over to Crypto-currency will start with the Chinese Companies / businesses , by end 2019

They must “receive “ and make all “ payments “, only through Crypto-currency  !

[  As I have pleaded earlier with our own Central Government, ALL businesses, ( no matter how

   big or small ), must raise ALL their bills / invoices , only through a CENTRAL GOVT

   PAYMENT PORTAL . Just no paper bills !

   And no need to file any GST RETURNS by any business since software of PAYMENT

   PORTAL will take care of that automatically ! Biggest grievance against GST will be

   eliminated ! ]

Chinese Companies must pay their workers / employees , only through Crypto-currency  !

All bank related account-keeping will be in Crypto-currency - [  Block-Chain Technology ? ] – whether Corporate Accounts or savings/current accounts of individual citizens

There will be no “ forgery “ , nor any unaccounted / tax-evaded “ BLACK MONEY “ !

May be this would eliminate the use of CASH in purchase of , difficult to detect “ physical assets such as LAND / GOLD / PROPERTY

May be, this revolution could reduce / eliminate CORRUPTION ( which is based on cash )

The Chinese Govt has already mandated that all smart phones sold / manufactured in China , must be based on Beidou Navigation System

Now Beidou is boasting of “ positioning accuracy “ of just 1 meter ( 3 feet )…… which can be improved to a few centimeters with augmentation systems

That fulfills the requirement of : Tracking mobile phones of every passenger in a vehicle !

And each of this mobile will come factory pre-installed with the Chinese Crypto-Currency Mobile App for making  , B2B / B2C,  DIGITAL PAYMENTS and Interbank Transfers !

QED :

Will China rule the Sky ?               [  26  Nov  2018  ]

-      Even as we keep ourselves busy trying to run down political parties  ?

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Hemen Parekh

hcp@RecruitGuru.com