Name of the Game : Co-operation

There was a time when a Company had to compete with other companies within its own Industry

Entry-barriers across industries were very high

No more !

In the Internet Age , a Company never knows from where a competitor will spring up and completely re-write the " Rules of the Competition Game " !

It seems , the rules of this new Competition Game is , " CO-OPERATION "

Something like : " If you cannot lick them , then join them "

FOR  EXAMPLE :

The existing Car Manufacturers are being threatened by the " Non - Car Manufacturers " such as Amazon / Google / Apple / Alibaba / Baidu etc , who are rushing headlong into manufacture of Autonomous ( Driverless ) Cars

So these Car Manufacturers have realized the threat looming on the not-so-distant horizon and started tying-up with " Ride Share " companies

Eg:

*    General Motors with Lyft

*    Toyato  with Uber

*    Volkswagen with Gett

*    BMW with Scoop

*    Ford ( India ) with Zoomcar

*    Mahindra & Mahindra with Ola

WHY  ?

Because they have realized that the  TECTONIC  SHIFT  shaking up the Car Industry is :

If you can have " Transport as a Service " delivered WHERE you wants , WHEN you wants , WITHIN  5 minutes and CHEAP , then why OWN  a car ? - and worry about repairs / parking / driver / taxes  ?

Ride sharing services are re-writing the rules of " Asset Ownership Vs Asset Service "

Remember , some 30 years , in many parts of India , homes and shops , used to " OWN " a small privately owned diesel-operated GenSet , since there were long hours of power BLACK-OUTS  ?  One could not depend upon State owned power supply companies . You had to fend for yourself !

But when power from Public Utility Companies became abundant / cheap and reliable , private  Gensets disappeared  !

That is about to happen in case of privately owned cars of which India produced some 2.8 million in 2015-16

HOW  ?

A privately owned car ( may be ) operates for just 2.4 hours ( out of 24 hours ) per day . That is 10 % utilization

Rest of the time , it is parked

But suppose , it was available for plying on the roads , for 50 % of the time ( 12 hours per day ) ?

That is 5 times as much ! And available to ANYONE at a moment's notice ( thru Mobile App )

Then , it is theoretically possible that the number of NEW cars Indian private owners buy , may go down to 0.5 million per year ( as against 2.8 million ) , since few people would want to " Buy / Own " a car !

That is a huge threat to existing car manufacturers ! Imagine being made obsolete by Ride-Sharing Companies !

  

WHAT   NEXT  ?

Next tectonic shift is :

DRIVER-LESS  CARS  =  LESS-CAR  ROADS

Why do you think , car-companies like Tesla / General Motors / VW  and non-car companies like Google / Uber etc are frantically working to launch " AUTONOMOUS ( DRIVER-LESS ) " cars ?

They have no love lost for the drivers ! ( May be , a little bit ! )

In a traffic jam , taking a taxi from Andheri to Churchgate , will take you 90 minutes , even if it is a Uber or Ola

So , a Ride Sharing company may save you those other hassles ( repairs / parking / taxes / driver etc ) , but it does not save you any travel-time , to go from A to B

That ( no reduction in travel time ) holds good , even for DRIVER-LESS , ride-sharing taxies !

Diver or no driver , travel time remains the same

Except for another " PARADIGM  SHIFT " in case of DRIVER-LESS cars , viz:

Its utilization can easily go up to 90 % of 24 hours !

Imagine 1 LAKH , DRIVER-LESS , Uber / Ola ride-sharing taxies roaming the streets of Mumbai , 24 hours a day !

That may eliminate from the roads of Mumbai , 10 LAKH private cars ,  making Mumbai , a

*  less CAR  /  less  TRAFFIC JAM  /  less  POLLUTED /  less NOISY /  less TRAVEL-TIME  / less ACCIDENT , city  !

I hope Shri Nitin Gadkariji , re-focuses on replacing Old Polluting Petrol / Diesel Vehicles ( V-VMP ) with Driver-less Ride Sharing Future of Urban Transport

I am sure , he is aware of the Guidelines released by the US Department of Transportation just 2 days back , which outlined safety expectations and encourage uniform rules for the DRIVER-LESS CAR technology  

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23  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

From OLD to NEW ? No , go NEWER !

Economic Times ( 19 Sept 2016 ) carries following news report :

GST comes in way of government’s plan to scrap old vehicles 

" The government's ambitious programme to get old, polluting vehicles off the road has hit an unexpected speed bump: Goods and Services Tax. 

The Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme ( V-VMP ) is back on the drawing board as the government reviews its options to reward those who agree to junk their old vehicles to buy new, less polluting, ones. 

The earlier plan was to levy lower excise tax on new vehicles bought under V-VMP. 

But the new tax system that is expected take effect next fiscal year will amalgamate excise tax into the overarching indirect tax called GST. The finance ministry doesn't favour giving incentives under GST and has directed the roads transport ministry to examine other methods to encourage people to scrap old vehicles. 

The draft policy currently proposes slashing excise duty by half on the purchase of a new vehicle after scrapping an old one, fair value for the scrap and special discounts from automobile manufacturers.

The incentives are expected to reduce the cost of a new vehicle for the buyer by 8-12%.

Further, to encourage commuters to shift to new and high capacity buses, which will help decongest roads, the policy also recommends complete excise exemption for state transport buses. "

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Simply replacing OLD petrol / diesel vehicles with NEW petrol / diesel vehicles is a half-way house !

No one understands this better than our " Minister-in-a-Hurry " , Shri Gadkariji , who does not believe in the theory of " Evolving through Incremental Improvements "

That is the reason he mandated the vehicle manufacturers to jump straight from current BHARAT 4 emission norms to BHARAT 6 emission norms , ( bypassing BHARAT 5 norms ), by 2020  !

He knows how 800 million poor Indian Citizens who had never owned a landline telephone , simply bypassed it with a cheap mobile , to usher a Communication Revolution in India !

But even he cannot persuade the just constituted GST Council ( which will hold its very first meeting today ) , to reduce GST rate for new vehicles . That would open up a " Pandora's Box "

But surely he can convince his Cabinet Colleagues ,

*  The  FUTILITY  of just replacing OLD with the NEW ( petrol or diesel )

*  The  DESIRABILITY  to move straight from OLD ( petrol / diesel ) to NEWER ( electric vehicles )

Here is how this can happen ( - and without having to reduce GST on the new electric vehicles ! ) :

Abolish  CORPORATE  INCOME  TAX  for next 10 years for the following manufacturers / service providers ,

#  Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles and Manufacturers of " Special Purpose Components " thereof

#  Manufacturers of equipment needed for charging of electric vehicles

#  Companies  owning and operating Electric Charging Stations

#  Companies manufacturing Solar Power Generation Equipment

#  Electric Utility Companies owning / operating Solar Power Generation Stations

 

    ( Surely , we don't want to simply transfer the pollution from cars to fossil fuel power plants ! )

#  Any other manufacturer / service provider who helps to accelerate this revolution

Now , with this " INCENTIVE " , imagine the kind of " FIERCE COMPETITION " among the vehicle manufacturers to quickly switch-over from petrol / diesel to  ELECTRIC VEHICLES  , in order to survive !

Expect a MAD RACE  to switch over - a race in which selling prices of electric vehicles gets 10 % lesser than equivalent petrol / diesel version  !

No need to " incentivize / reward " the buyers with a reduced GST , for scrapping their old polluting vehicles  !

Just harness the combined power of  Corporate  GREED with INSTINCT  FOR  SURVIVAL  !

Entire World would want to copy the  MIRACLE  that gets unleashed in India

I hope Shri Gadkariji will give my suggestion , a serious consideration

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22  Sept  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

On its Way : Refugee-Migrant Tsunami

Hindustan Times ( 20 Sept 2016 ) carries following news report :

: We can change this : World leaders at UN approve plan for refugee crisis :

" With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War

 II, global leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more

 coordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained 

resources and stoked divisions from Africa to Europe.

The issue of what to do about the world’s 65.3 million displaced people took

 centre stage at the UN General Assembly with leaders from the 193 member

 states converging on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large 

Movements of Refugees and Migrants.

The declaration carries no concrete commitments and is not legally binding but

 rather calls on countries to protect refugees’ human rights, boost humanitarian

 aid and increase resettlement of refugees.

A number of countries rejected an earlier draft of the agreement that called on

 nations to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, something

 that has led several human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed

 opportunity.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to

armed conflict or persecution, while migrants choose to move in search of a

 better life. Around the world, there are currently about 21.3 million refugees,

 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants.

More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by

 President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make

 pledges that are in line with US goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3

billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million

 youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced.

Prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with

 top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to

 help address the problem, Power said. "

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Refugees  are fleeing wars / persecution by military dictators / oppression by

 radical and fanatic Terrorist Groups

Migrants  are fleeing unemployment in their own poor ( and corrupt ) countries, 

which causes poverty / starvation

Hence , the permanent / ultimate solutions are :

#  Stopping wars everywhere / eliminating dictatorships - military rules - 

terrorists

#  Eliminating corruption and creation of jobs in poor countries to reduce

 inequity within societies

Despite the laudable efforts by the UN , all of this is unlikely to happen any time

 soon . May take many years

Or , may never happen , given the collective human greed ( at the level of rich

 Societies / Nations ) !

Or , may happen very soon , if the World-wide population of Refugee / Migrant /

 Displaced Persons swells from 65 million to 650 million within next 10 years ! -

 a more likely / probable scenario !

Considering that ,

#  Economies are slowing down World-wide , causing unemployment on

 unprecedented scale

#  Countries unable to provide jobs to their own citizens are unwilling to accept 

more refugees / migrants

#  Rich EU countries / USA / Australia etc are facing problems of integration of

 refugees within their Societies ,

It is not too late for the World at large , - and especially , the Rich Nations - to

 consider my following suggestions :

*   World  Migration Day   

(  http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2015/06/world-migration-day.html  )

*  MUAMMARGADDAFI - A VISIONARY ?   

(  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2015/08/muammar-gaddafi-visionary.html   )   

*  From Behind the Bars  ?

  

(    http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2015/09/freedom-behind-bars.html  )

*   No  Use Fighting 

(   http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/04/no-use-fighting.html  )   

   

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20  Sept   2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Filtering Candidate Information ?

Hindustan Times ( 19 Sept 2016 ) carries following news snippet :

" The rise of internet may have led to a decreased voter turn-out , owing to people facing a large pool of information and not knowing how to efficiently filter relevant knowledge , a study said

The internet has transformed the way in which voters access and receive political information , researchers said "

True , there are lots of web sites where you can find some ( - though rarely up-to-date ) info about candidates contesting elections

But consider this :

#  There are 543 seats in Lok Sabha and 4120 seats in State Assemblies ( total of 4,663 seats )

#  On an average , some 16 candidates contest each seat , making for a total of 74,608 candidates

#  There are approx 850 million eligible voters

#  Even if each voter searches info about 10 candidates ,it will take him 5 hours ( 4250 million man-hours in all ! )

#  If each voter takes a ONE page print-out of those 10 candidates , that will be 8,500 million printed pages

   (  incidentally , how many voters have access to a internet-connected PC and a Printer ? )

#  By the time , voter enters the Polling Booth , he would have forgotten what those 10 pages contained !

#  And , of course , he will not allowed to carry those pages inside the Polling Booth and refer at the last moment !

BUT ,

Would voters be enthused to come forward to vote , if

#  Latest info about ALL of those candidates was available at finger-tips on his Mobile ( authenticated by Election

    Commission ), eliminating hours of " searching " on the Net and hours of " filtering "

#  That info would comprise,

     *  Affidavit filed by the Candidates

     *  Police Record including cases filed / pending / disposed off , against the candidates

     *  Past political history ( no of political parties changed )

     *  Director-ship ( direct / indirect ) in private businesses and NPA of those businesses

     *  Results of open Surveys on " ROMP - RecallOur Member of Parliament "

        {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2015/08/romp-panacea.html  }

     *  Whether the candidate has accepted to implement the " Charter of Demand " ( if elected ) , submitted

         and uploaded by the Voters of his Constituency on the web site of the Election Commission

#  He can vote directly from his Mobile , without having to go to a Polling Booth and spend 4 hours

#  He can take 5 minutes to cast his vote, sitting in his bedroom , without holding up other voters in the queue

#  He can vote at any time of the voting day and from any place on the earth !

#  And get to know the very next morning , who got elected

YES , of course !

And voter turn-out would be 95 %  !

HOW  ?

By implementing , " VotesApp " 

{ http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2012/12/votesapp.html }

( a Mobile App which , effectively shrinks a bulky, common , special purpose  Electronic Voting Machine - EVM - into a tiny, personally-owned , versatile Mobile )

{ http://www.hemenparekh.in/2013/08/votesapp.html#.V99_Kfl94ok }

ANY   BYE-PRODUCT   ?

Sure,

Central Government , can earn Rs 20,000 crores , by enabling 15 million Indian businesses to advertise to 850 million voters thru this mobile VotesApp , sharply targeting by Gender / Age / Marital Status / City / Street / Education / Income Tax paid / Employed or Jobless ....etc

       

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19  Sept   2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs