Monday 2 May 2022

A Tale of Two Platforms

PLATFORM [ A ] :

ONDC pilots start today, want small business on board / TOI / 29 April 2022

Extract :

Unlike Amazon or Flipkart where the e-tailer lists the top sellers using an algorithm

and payment of commission, here it will be based on what the consumer wants and

could be based on parameters, such as :

# price

# location of the Seller, or

# delivery time

Besides, setting up the store front is going to be much easier with virtually no

cost involved as the products will be listed in a catalogue and the seller can

simply opt to draw from them to create its own catalogue

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PLATFORM [ B ] :

Ø Congratulations, Shri Anurag Jainji………………………… [ 17 Jan 2022 ]

Extract :

I urge you to consider feasibility of creation of a COMMON PLATFORM for JOBS, as

described at :

Global Recruiter / Technology Architecture - User Interfaces

( 25 April 2016 / now de-hosted )

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

Please consider delivering Job-related info to every Job-Seeker

Let us break-up the Job-Portal SILOS ( databases of millions of jobs / vacancies

),as envisaged in following :

PROCESS FLOW CHART of Global Recruiter :

regards,

hemen parekh

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Sunday 1 May 2022

Never too late for a Course-Correction

Context :

A sunny lane on the Green Highway / Business Line / 02 May 2022 / Print Copy

Report pitches Solar Power as a more pragmatic fuel than ethanol-blended petrol

Since I could not find this article online, I reproduce below, what seems like the original source :

IEEFA: Solar recharging of electric vehicles is a far more efficient use of land than ethanol crops for blended fuel in India

23 March (IEEFA):

India’s 2025 target for 20% ethanol blending in petrol requires large increases in ethanol from sugar and grains. A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) shows that generating solar energy to recharge electric vehicle (EV) batteries would be a far more efficient use of land than growing crops for ethanol.

The report shows that matching the distance driven by EVs recharged from one hectare of solar generation would require ethanol derived from up to 251 hectares of sugar cane or 187 hectares of maize – even accounting for losses from electricity transmission, battery charging and grid storage.

Enhancing goals for EV uptake could meet many of the goals set out in India’s Roadmap for Ethanol Blending – cutting emissions and air pollution, supporting domestic agricultural demand, and reducing the drain on India’s foreign exchange by limiting oil imports – while using a fraction of the land, according to the report.

The ethanol-blending target, also known as E20, will require a doubling of ethanol from sugar and quadrupling of ethanol from grains in just four years, with significant land use implications.

While surpluses may be sufficient for the component of new ethanol earmarked for sugar, up to 30,000 sq km of land may be needed for the additional ethanol planned for grains (maize).

“This large-scale diversion of agricultural land for ethanol blending conflicts with other key priorities for food production, water use and renewable energy adoption,” says report author and guest contributor Dr Charles Worringham.

“While the government’s promotion of ethanol blending in petrol may seem like a way to ease the burden of soaring crude oil prices, it further increases the pressure on agricultural land just as the war in Ukraine threatens the world’s grain supply. This intensifies the competition between energy and food and raises the stakes for wise land use in India significantly.

Large-scale diversion of agricultural land for ethanol blending conflicts with other key priorities

“Although Russia has an 11% share of global oil exports, 26% of wheat exports come from Russia and Ukraine, and 16% of corn exports. In the end, food trumps energy for claims on arable land if the food supply comes under pressure.”

Future threats to agricultural production in South Asia have been reinforced by the recent IPCC Working Group II report, underlining the critical importance of wise land use in India.

“A re-evaluation of the ethanol-blending policy and alternatives is needed urgently, given that its targets have been brought forward to 2025 from 2030,” says Worringham.

The report builds on IEEFA’s recent examination of the interplay between the energy transition and land use in India, and of India’s potential in agrivoltaics, comparing the land required to meet the ethanol-blending target with land needed for solar generation.

The report contains three key recommendations:

· Exploring the option of enhancing India’s EV adoption strategy as an alternative to blended fuel.

· Undertaking a critical review of the ethanol-blending plans with efficient land use as an important consideration.

· Pausing measures to further implement the ethanol-blending policy while such a review is conducted.

Read the report: India’s Ethanol Roadmap Off Course

Media contact: Rosamond Hutt (rhutt@ieefa.org) +61 406 676 318

Author contact: Dr Charles Worringham (cwor@gmx.com)

MY TAKE :

Dear Shri Tomarji – Shri Gadkariji :

Only last week , I sent to you following e-mail , urging you to “ Re-consider “ our

Ethanol-Blending policy :

Ø Is Gadkariji having second thoughts ? …………………. [ 26 April 2022 ]

- Where , I suggested as follows :

What could / should be done ?

Ø Reduce intake of sugar in daily food intake ( through education and

steep price rise )

Ø Reduce Petrol vehicles and quickly change-over to Electric Vehicles,

thereby reducing petrol demand

Ø Reduce ethanol blending – thereby reducing ethanol production /

sugarcane diversion

What made me suggest this was based on my following 5 YEAR old e-mail :

Ø Not a straightforward Answer !................. [ 03 March 2017 ]

Extract :

# It takes 1700 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol

# Biofuels use an astonishing 1.78 million times more water than Solar to

generate the same amount of energy

# Sugarcane , one of the biofuel industry’s “ success stories “, converts

just 0.38 per cent of sunlight into biomass

# In the end, the solar-to-ethanol conversion ratio for sugarcane is

just 0.13 per cent , according to “ Scientific American “

# The average Solar Panel is 123 TIMES more efficient in converting sunshine

into usable energy

# Concentrating photovoltaic { CPV } can turn about 40 per cent of the

sunshine into electricity, which makes it THREE HUNDRED TIMES more

efficient than sugarcane ethanol biofuel

# SOLAR IS ANYWHERE FROM 123 TO 550 TIMES MORE EFFICIENT THAN

BIO- FUELS

# SOLAR CHP ( COMBINED HEAT AND POWER ) CAN CONVERT SUNSHINE 550

TIMES MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN SUGARCANE CAN

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

Dear Shri Tomarji – Shri Gadkariji ,

Whereas cars can – and will – survive without ETHANOL, people ( mostly in rural

India ), are likely to die without WATER !

It is not too late to re-consider ETHANOL BLENDING policy

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 02 May 2022

Have got the formula to equalise the calorific value of petrol and ethanol, says Gadkari

( Business Line / 25 April 2022 )

Brazil, India can steer global transportation towards biofuels

( Business Line / 28 April 2022 )

IOC rolls out methanol-blended petrol on pilot basis

( Business Line / 01 May 2022 )

Eke Out a Living ( aka, “ Papi Pet ke Khatir “ )

Context :

Headline in Mumbai Mirror of 01 May 2022 :

“ Hafta for hawkers can vary from Rs 1,500 to Rs 25,000 a month “

Extract :

Footpaths have real estate value. In Mumbai, street sellers pay off Civic employees in an organized way depending on locality and goods sold . Everyone in the system wants a share of hafta pie

How a well-oiled system of “ hafta “ collection works on city streets

# Powai……………………………………. ………………….Rs 25,000 / month to park a tempo

# Dadar ( Ranade Road-Senapati Bapat Marg )……Rs 150-800 / day

# Worli ( Currey Road )………………………………………… Rs 300 – 800 / day

# Lower Parel ( outside Malls-Corporate Offices )…Rs 150 / day

# Byculla Market……………………………………………………..Rs 3,000 – 3,500 / month

A ‘hafta’ system haunts hawkers in Mumbai / Citizen Matters / 05 April 2022

Extract :

Varsha, a hawker sitting beside Haseena, selling occasion wear, corroborates this. She adds that the fee goes up to Rs 200 at Naya Nagar in Mira Road and near Santacruz station, where she goes on Saturdays and Thursdays respectively. A third hawker with a semi-permanent shop, who did not want to be named, alleged that he had to pay Rs 120 per week to sell clothes on Linking Road in Bandra.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started to use a pauti system in 1988, in lieu of licences. The fee, which started at Rs 5 – Rs 15 and went upto Rs 30 – Rs 100, was called “unauthorised occupation cum refuse removal charges.” The hawkers’ illegal, or “unauthorised,” status did not change under this system, but the recognition gave them some legitimacy to the space they occupied. The system was also lucrative for the corporation, reportedly earning them up to Rs 146 crores every year.

At the time in 1997, a survey by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the non-profit YUVA, in collaboration with the BMC, found that there were over 1,03,000 hawkers in Mumbai. 15,000 had old licences issued before 1950, while 22,000 were issued pautis.

A conservative estimate of Rs 50 given by each of the 3 lakh hawkers in the city adds up to Rs 550 crore annually. Mecanzy Dabre, deputy secretary of the National Hawkers Federation (NHF), estimates the amount at Rs 800 crore every year.

MY TAKE :

Dear Shri Hardeep Singh Puriji ,

A couple of days, Central Govt extended the PM-SVANidhi [ Street Vendor Atm-Nirbhar Nidhi ] scheme , by one year

Thanks

However, after reading the above-mentioned news reports, I hope that you will implement the suggestions made in my following earlier e-mail, to put a permanent end to the HAFTA SYSTEM

Ø Thank You, Shri Hardeep Singh Puriji ………………….. [ 01 June 2020 ]

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 01 May 2022