Shall We Follow or Lead ?

Hindustan Times ( 13 Sept 2016 ) carries a news report titled :

"  Britain's pound gets new plastic avatar "

It goes on to read :

" It can survive a splash of Claret, a flick of cigar ash, the nip of a bulldog, and even a spin in the washing machine - Britain’s first plastic currency goes into circulation from Tuesday in the hope that it is cleaner, safer and stronger than the current cotton-paper generation of banknotes.

Of the four denominations - 5, 10, 20 and 50 pounds - the first to be introduced in polymer form is the fiver

The 10 and 20-pound notes will be issued in 2017 and 2020 . There are currently no plans to replace the 50-pound note with a polymer version, the Bank of England said.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said:

“ Polymer marks a major innovation. It is cleaner, safer, and stronger. It is resistant to dirt and moisture, so the note won’t wear out as quickly as the current fivers but will stay in good condition for longer.

It is stronger than paper and can better withstand being repeatedly folded into wallets or scrunched up inside pockets.

Polymer notes are also better for the environment...

Importantly, using polymer means we can incorporate better security features. It allows for see-through panels, coloured foils, detailed metallic images, and a new advance: tactile features 

 ”

Why is Britain in no great hurry to introduce PLASTIC notes for pound 50 and 100 denominations ?

Because , Britain does not have to worry about someone carrying a MILION POUNDS in 100 pound currency notes ( its highest denomination ) in a small brief-case ! That would weigh 11 kg .

( - as against 1.1 kg for carrying a MILLION RUPEES in Rs 1000 currency notes ! )

Now you know why everyone in India , wants to continue with Rs 500 / 1000 currency notes . No chance to discontinue !

But we can still eliminate the scourge of BLACK MONEY / CORRUPTION , while retaining those notes !

WHAT SHOULD  INDIA  DO ?

As I have repeatedly recommended over the past year :

*  Discontinue paper-based currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000

*  Introduce plastic currency notes of Rs 500 / 1,000 which are embedded with RFID micro-sensors

*  Assign to each such note, a IP V 6.0 address , linked to its unique note number ( Internet of Things ? )

*  Set up a IT-enabled Technology Platform which will constantly monitor any accumulation of Rs 500 / 1000

    RFID embedded notes in excess of Rs ONE CRORE within an area of ONE square meter ( eg: Bank Locker )

*  Plot the density of these notes in real time across streets / cities / states ( Currency Map of India )

*  Track the bulk movement of high denomination notes across the country ( especially during election times )

All other measures to curb BLACK MONEY / CORRUPTION are only an eye-wash ! May be a lack of Political Will ?

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13  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

No need to appeal !

Economic Times ( 09 Sept 2016 ) carries a news report titled :

"  Unhappy Minister Puts Out a Notice "

It reads :

"  Agriculture Minister  Radha Mohan Singh  is unhappy with some of his officials of his ministry still not reporting to work on time despite an Aadhar-based biometric attendance system in place

This prompted the Minister to recently put out a notice in his signature , appealing to all officials of the ministry to come to work on time

He did mention there had been much improvement in the situation from the earlier times "

Shri Radha Mohanji :

No need to appeal - or be unhappy - if you change over from " Bio-Metric Attendance Device ( BAD ) " to " Mobile-based Attendance Device ( MAD ) " , as outlined below ( of course , Aadhar -based )

It may take 10 years to get adopted country-wise , but it will take our Discipline and Productivity ahead of the World !

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Wednesday, 1 June 2016

From   BAD   to   MAD

BAD   =   Biometric Attendance Device

MAD   =   Mobile Attendance Device

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Most people think the greatest contribution of Bill Gates ( onetime CEO of Microsoft ) was " MS Operating System "

I think , it was his book " Business @ the Speed of Thought "

Current CEO of Microsoft is a PIO named Satya Nadela

What is his contribution ?

What he said during his talk in Delhi on 30 May , called ,

" Tech for Good , Ideas for India " :

 He cited the example of how NASA scientists were not able to see the Rover move on Mars but the holographic output of the Rover is right there in their office.

Nadella also met two young developers, one of them a 17-year-old who has figured out how to take data from NASA , conflate it with other information and see the spread of algae in Bay of Bengal.

 “Here’s a student who is taking information that is available, bringing it together—he wanted to have a real impact right here in terms of how we managed our climate,” he said.

Nadella wrapped up by summing Microsoft’s mission in India.

" It is about really celebrating the technologies that you all in India create. In fact, I want us to be the platform creators that foster the ingenuity of what is happening in India,” he said.

Here is my idea of a technology that we need to create for a better India :

Today  Employee Attendance Systems  in India work at three levels as follows :

#   Entirely Manual

     Attendance Register and Wage/Salary payment in cash or by Cheque

#   Partly Automated

     Punch cards or Bio-metric recording of attendance but manual calculation

     of wages / salaries and payment by cash or cheque

#   Fully Automated

     Bio-metric Attendance Devices ( BAD ) , integrated with a home-grown or

     bought-out Salary Payment Software , running on a local Server.

     Salary payments could be by cheques or thru Electronic Transfer to

     concerned employee's bank account

Once in a while , if a company has several establishments within a city , those local servers are connected to a Central Server , doing all processing

In a rare case ( although , I am not aware of any ) , it may be that all the local servers of all the establishments of a company , all over the country , are networked with its central computer in its head-quarter

Now imagine this :

#  All smart phones to evolve as Bio-metric Attendance Devices , with built-in

    Bio-metric Recorders , GPS , a mobile attendance App ( called MAD ? )

#  App to have 2 buttons ( Green = IN  /  Red = OUT )

#  Employee to touch IN upon reaching his work-station and touch OUT ,

    while leaving work place , at the end of work-shift . That's all  !

#  Being GPS enabled , buttons will get activated ONLY when the employee

    has reached the work place ( not while he is on his way ! )

#  All 100 million establishments in India ( factories / offices / shops / clinics

 NGOs / Govt Depts ) to ensure that the MAD app is installed on the smart phone of each employee , when he joins

#  All of these smart phones to be connected ( IoT ) , with the servers of ,

    *  Labour Ministries ( Central and States )

    *  Skills Development Ministry / NSDC

    *  HRD Ministry ( Central )

    *  Finance Ministries ( Central + States )

    *  NITI Aayog

    *  Income Tax Department

    *  Any other server that you may want to

#   MAD app is integrated with a STANDARD / COMMON , software system

     for computing daily wages / monthly salaries of ALL the persons working

     in those 100 million establishments ( whether they are casual /

     contractual  / trainee / apprentice / probationer / permanent / retained

#   As each person joins in any of these establishments , data re  that

     person must be inputted by the Employer into the App , such as :

   

     *  Name / Contact Details / DOB / Aadhar Card No / Employee Number

         ( Each unique Employee Number will be auto-generated by the

         common Salary Payment Software , running on IT Dept Server )

     *   Employee's Jandhan Yojana Bank Account Number for salary EC

     *   Employer's Jandhan bank account / Unique Employer Number

     *   Payment Mode ( Hourly / Daily / Monthly Rated , wages / salaries )

     *   Leave provisions / PF rate / TDS rate / Allowances / Reimbursements

     *   Any other relevant data ( either about employee of for employer )

WHAT  ARE  THE  ADVANTAGES  ?

#   For employees , no need to file a separate annual Income Tax Return

#   Direct deposit of PF / TDS amounts into bank accounts of Govt Depts

#   Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) to every Employer for Stipend Subsidy ,

     based on number of total trainees / apprentices employed

#   Total Number of employees in India ( category / region / industry )

#   Employment Density ( Industry wise / Region wise / Skill wise etc )

#   Net Employment Growth Rate ( weekly - monthly / Industry-wise )

#   Co-relation with no of persons graduating at various levels

#   Data about those Unemployed ( " Graduating " less " Employed " )

#   Overtime Statistics ( Use / Abuse )

#   Work-hour Analysis ( Ave hours / week - month )

#   Wage / Salary Rates ( Rs per hour ) - Industry wise / Region wise

     ( of great interest to Foreign Investors looking to bring down

       manufacturing costs , by outsourcing to India / manufacturing in India )

#   Compliance with labour laws / tax laws / Apprentice Act etc

#   Job Market Forecasts through BIG DATA ANALYTIC ( region / industry )

#   Demographic  Profiles of employees  ( Rural to Urban migration )

#   Per Capita Income Growth for persons using MAD app  ( MOM / YOY )

#   Changing composition between Blue Collar and White Collar employees

Then there could be many other benefits not envisaged now

Here is an opportunity for :

 *  Manufacturers of Smart Phones

     To shrink stationary / bulky / common , bio-metric devices to mobile /

     small / personalized / hand-held devices

    { Remember , " If you don't make yourself obsolete , someone else will " ? }

*  Tech Start Ups

     To come up with the Mobile App ( MAD ) / Technology Platform

*  NDA Government

    To implement what Shri Narendra Modiji said on 15 July 2015 :

   "  If China is like a manufacturing factory of the World , India should

    become the human resource capital of the World .

   That should be our target and we should lay emphasis on that . 

   We should have a futuristic vision and prepare plans for the next ten years "

  

   MAD  could well be an important element  of  that  " JAM PLAN "  !

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13  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Not so Futuristic ?

To people who read my suggestion on how to save the lives of 15,000 persons who die every year, by being run over by trains while crossing railway tracks , it might have sounded , a bit too " Futuristic "

It is not easy to think of a " Low Voltage EMP ( Electro-Magnetic Pulse ) "

But it seems , scientists of the World are saying , " If you can think of some phenomenon , it might be possible "

Example :

Hindustan Times ( 12  Sept 2016 ) carries following snippet on its " Page One Plus ( News You Can Use ) " :

:  NEW  MATERIAL  CAN  BLOCK  MOBILE  PHONE  RADIATION  :

" Scientists have developed a new material that can effectively block electro-magnetic waves emitting from Mobile Phones , TVs and other appliances

Researchers manufactured the material made out of MXene "

I firmly believe that the Indian Scientists are quite capable of alloying another derivative of MXene with the steel used to fabricate railway tracks , to permanently " block the electro-magnetic waves emitted from the mobile phones "

All that is needed is for Shri Suresh Prabhu ( Railway Minister ) to forward my following blog to the Material Science Lab of our Steel Plants

And should you want to contribute , do forward this suggestion to :

 *  spprabhu1@rediffmail.com  /   sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in  / 

     www.SureshPrabhu.in > Contact Me

Suggestion sent through " Contact Me " on his web site , is immediately acknowledged !

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Saturday, 3 September 2016

Indian Railways : A Trillion Dollar Opportunity

That was the name of a Conference held in Mumbai , on 03 Sept 2016

Railway Minister , Shri Suresh Prabhu , wants businesses and Agencies ( both , national and international ) , to invest billions of dollars in modernizing the Indian Railways

These " modernizations " include :

#    High speed Trains

#    Rolling Stock

#    Railway Station Development

#    Signaling and Structural Development....etc

How about making this an " Opportunity to save 15,000 lives " ? ( Number of persons getting run-over by trains each year in India )

On the tracks of Mumbai local trains alone , some 3,000 + persons get run over each year , while crossing

Just the day before the Conference , as many as 18 persons got run over in a single day !

Provision of overhead bridges has not helped . Temptation to catch a train is too much when time is short  !

Perhaps sub-conscious thinking of people who cross the track , goes :

" Of the 100,000 persons who cross the tracks daily, only 10 die. My probability of getting hit is only 1 in 10,000 ! "

But what if that probability was 1 in 1 ( 100 % certainty ) ?

Like a 11KV current flowing in the tracks ?  You dare to cross , you die ! No one will dare !

No , please don't get me wrong ! I am NOT suggesting anything sinister like that ! ( anything like replacing those pellet guns in Kashmir with AK 47 assault rifles )

What I am suggesting is a " Digital Death " for the trespassers !

For today's generation , as real as " Physical Death " - or worse !

Mobile phone ( smart phone or feature phone ) of the person crossing , to get " fried / killed " , electronically !

By an innovative application of a " Controlled EMP ( Electro-Magnetic Pulse ) " , surging through the tracks , once every second - low voltage but strong enough to kill the onboard solid state circuitry of the mobile phone

This low voltage magnetic wave , will neither harm the human carrying the phone in his pocket , nor kill the phones of those travelling in the train , due to " Skin Effect "

Even though, a " Low Voltage EMP " , is an oxymoron , I am sure Indian Scientists are quite capable to resolve this apparent paradox , if challenged

Shri Prabhu-ji  :

In your Rail Budget speech, you had said :

" A single accident or loss of a single life causes me great sorrow and anguish. It also demonstrates that we still have a long way to go in realizing our objective of a zero accident regime. Although our safety record is better at 20% lower accidents compared to the previous year, there is much more that is required to be done. I truly believe that the way forward to eliminate accidents from IR is through adoption and assimilation of latest technology. "

Instead of , always trying to " adopt and assimilate " technologies developed abroad , please consider " Evolving " of a technology locally for your goal of " Zero Accident Regime "

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12  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs