Congratulations, Shri Rajiv Gaubaji

 

What for ?

For doing some plain-speaking re : Risk Avoidance by govt babus

 

Where did he say – and what did he say ?

Here is that report :

Stop passing the buck when you see files, cabinet secretary  tells officials  /  TOI  / 25 Dec 2021

 

Extract :

For years, government officials have taken refuge in phrases  such as “ may also see “ or “ may kindly see “ on files that move from one desk to another just because no one wants to take a call on the matter mentioned in them – a case of passing hot potatoes around in circles

The “ syndrome “ has caught the attention and drawn criticism from the country’s top bureaucrat at a time when the government is seeking to speed up decision-making and reduce red tape, with cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba ( cabinetsy@nic.in ) , urging senior officers to consciously avoid taking recourse to such phraseology and encourage other colleagues not to succumb to risk-averse behaviour

Seeking a change in the way the government works, the cabinet secretary said at a workshop on “ Increasing Efficiency in Decision Making “ , that unless government departments change their culture and take timely decisions, even big ticket announcements made by the government will not take off

Gauba’s comments came after coal secretary, Anil Kumar Jain [ secy.moc@nic.in ] flagged how many officers were simply putting their signatures on files without adding any value

 “ I think this has to do with risk avoidance. The DoPT and DAPRG ( administrative reforms and grievance redressal department ) should look at the root cause of why this syndrome has developed and what needs to be done “, he said

 

MY TAKE :

Dear Shri Gaubaji,

As you so rightly observed, “… this has to do with risk avoidance  “

Let us ask those “ risk avoiding “ baubus  :

“ What risk are you afraid of ? “

Most likely reply :

“ Even if my decision is totally honest ( and in no way corrupted by any desire to benefit myself / my family / my friends ), if at a later date it turns out to be a WRONG decision, I am afraid of my head getting chopped off, after someone asks PAC – CVC – ED – CBI etc., to conduct an inquiry. No one can make RIGHT decisions all the time. To err is human

Even if such an inquiry proves that I had acted without any malafide and taken that decision in the best interest of the government and the public, my reputation will, forever stand tarnished and come in the way of my future promotions

On the other hand, no one can blame me for an indecision “

Dear Shri Gaubaji,

Here is “ what needs to be done “ :

To encourage HONEST officers to take bold / quick decisions on matters presented to them, I urge you to implement :

Ø  To Err is Human………………………. [ 20 June 2014 ]

 

 Extract :

Often, decisions taken at a point of time, turn out to be " poor ", with passage of time

Reasons are simple :

*  We never have all the information - relevant to the problem we are trying to

    solve - available with us , at the time of taking a decision

    
*  Even when most of such relevant info is available, we may not have the

    capacity/competence to " process " such info

    

*  As humans, we have our biases / prejudices , based on our previous

   experiences , which influence our decisions

    

*  Quite often , and often against our own better evaluation / judgement of a

    given situation , we are wrongly influenced by our peers / bosses /

    subordinates or even voters - all of whom have different expectations /

    vested interests !

    

*  Additional - and more relevant - information surfaces , AFTER we have taken a

   decision ( happens all the time  !  )

   

To encourage Babus and Ministers to take FAST decisions , Shri Narendra Modi

 must insist that :

 

Ø  They carefully " Record " on the files :

* What info / data he wished was available for a better decision

* What different " views / opinions " were presented to him for

       consideration

* What " Data / Views " he would have obtained if he had more time

* Who all , the decision might offend

* What is the likely " Cost " of postponing that decision

And finally a declaration ,

“ THIS DECISION IS NOT LIKELY TO BENEFIT ANY OF MY NEAR RELATIVES / FRIENDS , DIRECTLY OR IMMEDIATELY “

After all of this , if the decision appears to be " Wrong " in hindsight , it must be " forgiven " and treated as an honest error

With regards

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 26 Dec 2021

 

Related Readings :

Policy Paralysis : Can be Avoided ……………………………..[ 26 Aug 2016 ]

Honest decisions : Haunted in hindsight ?............... [ 03 July 2018 ]

Prevention of Corruption Act : Amended………………….. [ 12 Aug 2018 ]

Not curious : definitely injurious !........................... [ 11 Dec 2018 ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adani’s Aluminum Agenda

 

Context :

Now, Adani ventures into aluminium business   /  BL  /  19 Dec 2021

Extract :

Gautam Adani is expanding his sprawling empire by venturing into aluminium business that is dominated by the likes of Aditya Birla and Vedanta groups.

Adani Enterprises Ltd, the flagship company of the diversified Adani Group, has formed a wholly-owned unit named Mundra Aluminium Ltd to set up alumina refinery and aluminium smelter.

 

Adani Enterprises did not disclose details of its planned alumina refinery and aluminium smelter while announcing the formation of a subsidiary to pursue the aluminium business, in a filing to the stock exchange.

Over the past few years, the Adani Group has entered new businesses such as airports, roads, oil refining and petrochemicals, data centre, solar energy, warehousing, real estate, super app and logistics technology to add to its industry leading positions in ports, power, transmission, gas and edible oils.

Industry sources believe that by floating a subsidiary, Adani could be preparing the ground to participate in the bidding process for privatising state-owned National Aluminium Company Ltd, which is expected to be considered by the Cabinet soon.

Aluminium could be a standout metal next year, according to Think, the Economic and Financial Analysis arm of Dutch multinational investment and financial services firm ING.

Think has projected aluminium prices to average close to $3,000 a tonne next year.

In the long-term, FSCRIR said aluminium prices will remain high as the demand will be supported by acceleration in the shift to green economy.

Fitch Solutions has forecast aluminium production at 69.95 million tonnes (mt) next year compared with 67.6 mt this year, while utilisation is projected to increase to 63.99 mt from 62.36 mt this year.

 

 

MY  TAKE :

I envisage Adani’s Aluminium Agenda as follows :

 

[ A ]…….CAPACITY BUILDING

            As reported in above-mentioned news report, Adani could be eying

            NALCO

[ B ]……RAW MATERIAL AVAILABILITY

           Kutch holds 15 % of all-India bauxite reserves

[ C ]…..RE-VITALIZING IDLE ASSET

            #  Adani’s 4600 MW ( imported from Australia coal-based  ) power

                 project is totally lying idle for several years now – reason being :

                

     #  A few years back, Australia suddenly raised its export prices for coal.

          This pushed-up the cost of production for Adani’s power plant . Adani

          could not get power purchasing companies to agree  to  higher price.

          PPA got terminated and a long court battle ensued. For past few

          years, that plant is closed down. Conciliatory efforts by the Central

          Government has failed to resolve the deadlock

           

     #  Adani would re-start this plant which will mostly supply power to

         Adani Alu Project nearby

 

[ D ]……….CAPTIVE COAL SUPPLY

                After a long drawn struggle with environment groups in Australia,

                just a few weeks back, Adani has managed to start mining coal at

                its Australian Coal Mine

                 

                 Importing coal from its own coal mine in Australia, Adani could be

                 planning to re-start its  Mundra Power Plant.

                

[ E ]………POWER FOR SMELTING – REFINING

             Aluminium production is energy intensive. About 17,000 kWh of electricity are required to          produce 1 tonne of aluminium. This means that it has a relatively high cost 

 

[ F ] ………EXPORT

              Using its Mundra Port, Adani can export finished Aluminium to foreign

              countries , where demand is going up sharply and, as a consequence,

              prices are rising

 

              

[ G ]……….LOCATION

           This means, Adani will have, practically at a single location ( Mundra ) :

        #  Abundant supply of raw material ( bauxite )

        #  Abundant supply of cheap power

        #  Practically ZERO logistics cost for loading aluminium on a ship

 

[ H ]……….INTEGRATION ( FORWARD – BACKWARD )

 

               There is another opportunity , viz : exporting ALUMINA to OMAN for

               REFINING , since power is relatively cheap in MUSCAT

               

               Adani could load Alumina on a flat-bottom barge and tow it across to

              Muscat for converting into ALUMINIUM

              

               On return journey , that very same barge will bring back refined

               ALUMINIUM ( no idle trip ! )

 

        [ I ] ……….SELLING ALUMINIUM

                 #  Adani are betting big on RE-NEWABLE ENERGY

                 #  Not only they plan to manufacture PV Solar Panels but also

                     STORAGE BATTERIES 

                    ( both for  vehicles and for GRID-SCALE storage )

                      

                 #   And, as per some experts, ALUMINIUM-AIR batteries, are the

                      future of EV / GRID

 

 

References :

Tata, Adani Mundra power plants may get to sell electricity on power exchanges  /  ET  /  30 Aug 2021

Extract :

Projects on India’s western coast, including these two 4,000 MW plants run by 

Tata Power and Adani Power use imported coal, but are not operating now in the absence of compensation for high fuel cost, the official said.

Power prices at the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange have peaked at Rs 20 per unit, the upper limit on power exchanges, due to desperate buy by distribution utilities.

 
The average price is hovering around Rs 9 per unit against Rs 2.95 per unit in July.

Industry executives said Gujarat is buying the maximum — 4,000-5000 MW — from IEX, followed by Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adani Powers Mundra Plant Sets A Record In Power Generation

Mundra Power Plant, Gujarat

 

Gujarat agrees to buy Tata Mundra power at Rs 4.5 for a month  /  ET  /  13 Oct 2021

Bauxite Distribution in India – UPSC  /  13 May 2021

 

Extract :

• Gujarat is the second-largest producer and produces over 15 percent of the total bauxite of India.
• The most important deposits occur in a belt which is 48 km long and 3 to 4.5 km wide lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and the Arabian Sea through Bhavnagar, Junagadh, and Amreli districts.

====================================================================

 

 

 

 

Taste of a TV ?

 

 

 

Context :

Touchscreen to tastescreen: ‘Lickable’ TV simulates food flavours   /  ET  /  24 Dec 2021

 

Extract :

A Japanese professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours, another step towards creating a multi-sensory viewing experience

 

In Covid 19 era, this kind of technology can enhance the way people connect and interact with the outside world, said Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita   

 

 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2xPoNxEAAAAJ&hl=en

 

https://meiji.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/homei-miyashita

 

 

 

“ The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home “ , he said

 

Miyashita has also been in talks with companies about using his spray technology for applications like a device that can apply a pizza or chocolate taste to a slice of toasted bread.

 

He also hopes to make a platform where tastes from around the world can be downloaded and enjoyed by users    

 

My Take :

If you can imagine some technology-related development, it will happen, sooner or later

What I envisaged below some 32 years ago, just materialized.   See extract below

Source : QUO VADIS

[   http://hcpreports.blogspot.com/search?q=smell+taste  /  05 Jan 1989 ]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following developments will revolutionise the tele-communications:

 

* Very powerful supercomputers

* Artificial intelligence/Expert systems

* Miniaturisation

* Optical computing

* Large scale use of optical fibre cables

 

Within the next 10 years, there will be Generation/Storage/Retrieval/Manipulation/ Transmission of

- Voice

- Data

- Text

- Image

              - thru a single instrument.

 

Having covered the "Senses" of EYES and EARS within the next 25 years, the 3rd generation revolution will comprise the long distance transmissions of the feelings generated by the senses of:

 

- Taste

- Smell

- Touch

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  / 24 Dec 2021 / hcp@RecruitGuru.com

 

Related Readings :

2024 ! – V 2.0 of Orwellian 1984 ?........................... [ 07 July 2017 ]

Extract :

 “ SOUND WAVES “ ( Audio )

“ LIGHT WAVES “ ( Video )

“ TOUCH WAVES “ ( Feel the SKIN )

“ BRAIN WAVES “ ( EEG ) 

----------------------------

“ SMELL – TASTE “  WAVES  

 

With arrival of Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality, day is not far when, sitting in your sofa, you can smell / taste that pizza , from across the World

 

But Japanese firm FutureLeap says : this is nothing !

 

It claims it has just the thing for the in-the-mood couch potatoes with a Virtual Reality System so realistic you’d swear that cyber date just whispered sweet nothings in your ear !