In my yesterday's blog ( Slow and Steady
wins the Race )- and in earlier blog ( If Mohamed cannot Go to Mountain / 26
July 2015 ) , I had suggested allowing 1.3 million schools of India to lease out their premises
at night ( 6 pm to 6 am ) , for private parties to set up Call Centers ( BPOs )
Also enabling them with 100 mbps Internet broadband connections ( of course , FREE )
Idea was to reduce investment in setting
up of BPOs by " round-the-clock " utilization of , otherwise idle
assets
That logic could be extended to many similar
under-utilized public assets such as :
# 2,25,000 Gram Panchayat offices ( all getting internet
connection )
#
1,45,000 Post Offices ( also
getting internet connection under Payment Bank scheme )
#
Lakhs of Government offices ( Central / State / Municipal / PSUs etc )
#
Lakhs of branches of Public Sector Banks
But any attempt to share a public place by
different entities ( especially by Private Sector entities ) , at different times of day and night
, is bound to raise many issues , including that of security / maintenance etc
Again , these " idle / under-utilized
" capacities will be available ONLY during the nights , whereas a Call Centre needs to work around the clock !
But then , in today's totally interconnected World , why should it be
necessary for housing 10 / 20 / 50 persons in ONE place , under ONE roof , for collaborating on execution of COMMON tasks ?
I am sure , in any given ONE square km of a small town , there are 50 unemployed - and quite
possibly , GRADUATE - youngsters , who would be more than happy to " work from home "
They will be happy
to set aside , in their homes , a 5 feet by 5 feet space , as a " Home
Work Station "
Now , that subsidy
of " Rs 1 lakh per seat " that the IT Ministry has promised , is quite sufficient to set
up a :
VIRTUAL CALL
CENTER ,
by connecting those 50 youngsters through
a , VPN ( VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK )
And since these youngsters are working
from their homes , they can be asked to work in 3 shifts of 8 hours each , providing " Round the Clock "
service to customers !
If Uber-Ola are adding 5,000
" Ride Sharing Taxies " EVERY MONTH , by providing lease finance to the drivers or even
buying the cars themselves and giving to these drivers , then what is holding
back the IT Ministry to follow their suit and enable 5,000 youngsters to become
" Self Employed
" , each month ? or even 50,000 ?
Dear Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad-ji :
Why give a subsidy to a prospective
" OWNER "
of a Call Centre ?
Why not give it directly ( DBT / Direct Benefit
Transfer ) to those youngsters ?
Of course , this subsidy transfer should
take place , only AFTER
, the Call Centre Owner , certifies that it has entered into a " Contractual Retainer-ship
" with a particular youngster
I would request you to consider the following aspects
of my suggestion :
*
No new building premises needed
*
All technologies
for a VPN, are existing / well proven / reasonably priced / easy to implement
quickly
* MSPs / ISPs and your own Ministry are pushing internet
connections to every corner of India
*
Moving from " Ownership of Assets " to " Assets as Service " scenario
( ala Uber-Ola-Airbnb etc )
* Moving from " Employment " to "
Self Employment
" with direct
transfer of subsidy to beneficiary
* Has the potential to raise
India's share in global BPO
business from current 36 %
to 50 % in one year
* Can
earn billions of dollars in foreign
exchange
*
It would become a LIVING
PROOF that DIGITAL
INDIA can help our un-employed graduates to earn a living
*
Google / Microsoft
/ Facebook , would be happy to help since " Next Billion " is their topmost agenda
In an age where the " Fast and Furious "
are out to overtake the " Slow and Steady " , the meek are unlikely to inherit the
earth !
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05 Oct 2016
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs