Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Monday, 4 December 2017

#EGovernance #Blockchain #DigitalIndia

Blockchain  for  E Governance  ?



Mumbai mirror ( 04 Dec ) carries following news report :



Blockchain journey goes from suspect to solution




Police and security agencies have so far only taken an interest in blockchain — the distributed ledger technology behind crypto-currencies like bitcoin — for tracking criminals hiding illegal money from banks.


But that’s changing as some civilian, police and military agencies see blockchain as a potential solution to problems they have wrestled with for years: how to secure data, but also be able to share it in a way that lets the owner keep control.


Australia, for example, has recently hired HoustonKemp, a Singapore-based consultancy, to build a blockchain- based system to record intelligence created by investigators and others, and improve the way important information is shared.


“They’ve been trying for years to come up with A CENTRALISED PLATFORM, but people are reluctant to share information,” said Adrian Kemp, who runs the consultancy, which was awarded a A$1 million ($757,500) grant by AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence agency, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.


Blockchain’s appeal for data sharing is threefold.



Its ledger, or database, is not controlled by any single party and is spread across multiple computers, making it hard to break.


Once entered, any information cannot be altered or tampered with.


And, by using so-called smart contracts, the owner of information can easily tweak who has access to what.



Governments are already exploring ways to store some data, such as land records, contracts and assets, in blockchains, and the financial industry, too, has experimented with blockchain technologies to streamline transactions and back-office systems, though with limited success.




In April 2014 , I pitched this very idea where I suggested creation of a  “ COMMON  SHARED  DATABASE “ between :



Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )


Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )


Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )


Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )


*  Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )


Information Bureau                        (  IB   )


Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )


Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )


Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )


Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )


Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States ).... (  ACB  )


Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )


Lok  Ayukts    (  States   )


Lok Pal           ( Central  )


For details of my scheme , read :






Blockchain seems like the most appropriate way to implement my suggestion



04  Dec  2017




Sunday, 3 December 2017

A Rapidly Shifting Paradigm



Last week we learned that Elon Musk won the bet  !


Of erecting / installing / commissioning a 100 MW capacity Lithium-ion Battery Storage facility in South Australia , in 100 days ( cost : $ 50 million ) or give it away FREE if not delivered in 100 days !


Now Bllomberg tells us  :







South Korea’s Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co is building a 150 MW lithium-ion Battery storage facility in Ulsan ( near South East coast )



But in 90 days  !   And for $ 45 million  !



At $ 0.3 million / MW , Hyundai facility will be 40 % cheaper than TESLA’s $ 0.5 million / MW 



All within 90 days  !



Next expect the Chinese to build a 1000 MW Battery Storage for just $ 200 Million ( @ $ 0.2 million / MW )



And in 60 days  !



Now with solar power prices dropping continuously ( @ 20 % per year from latest Rs 2.4 / kwh ) , it is a matter of few years before all of our coal-based power plants ( @ Rs 3.2 / kwh ) will become uncompetitive / unviable , to provide any kind of load balancing during peak / non peak hours



In any case , India is planning to generate 100 GW of solar power by 2022



BY 2022 , THIS COULD POSSIBLY COST US LESS THAN RE 1 / KWH  !



So , whatever solar power we could manage to generate when the sun is shining , we MUST store in batteries for use at night .



We have no choice but to go for huge Lithium-ion Battery Storage installations , all over India



Possibly , 1000 installations of 100 MW each ,to store those 100 GW of solar power !



Each installation ( on an average ) , costing $ 25 Million  ?  So , a total of $ 25 billion



IFC Report estimates that India needs to invest ( between 2018-30 ) , $ 448 Billion for Renewable Energy ( approx. $ 35 Billion every year )



If we do not plan for these large Battery Installations ( and invite global tenders NOW ) , how much of that Re 1 / kwh solar power ( generated during the day time ) will go waste ?



I hope Shri Piyush Goyalji / Shri R K Singhji / Shri Amitabh Kantji , will examine this




04  Dec  2017





Equalizing / Distributing / Transferring , Pain ?




And , may be pleasure as well  ?



A familiar dialogue in my home goes :

Wife :
I have a terrible headache
Me :
Take an aspirin tablet
Wife :
It has bad side-effects
Me :
I wish I can touch your forehead and let your pain flow into my hand
Wife :
Why don’t you invent such a mechanism ? . It will equalize pain and pleasure , among all the inhabitants of the Earth and ( even ) reduce poverty
Me :
How come ?
Wife :
Millions of jobless poor people will be ready to “ accept “ the pains suffered by rich people , for a fee { Mild Cold for $ 10 / Migraine Headache for $ 50 / Stomach Ache for $ 100 …etc } . Got the idea ?
Me :
Oh ! I see . A simple mechanism to “ transfer “ the pains being suffered by those 1 % of the World’s people who control 58 % of world’s wealth , to the other 99 % of the population , for a price ?
Wife :
And the beauty of my suggestion is : along with the transfer of pain , that wealth-inequality will also get slightly corrected and our government would not have to worry about skilling 500 million youth in 5 years and create 120 million jobs in 10 years ( or else face prospect of losing the 2019 general election ! )
Me :
Hey ! This is revolutionary and far better than “ Organ Donation “ from a dead person to a living person . Here , it is from one “ living “ to another “ living “ – and without waiting your turn ! And, from / to , your person of choice !
Wife :
Now don’t be surprised if many Start-Ups come forward to launch web sites such as :
online E-Com platforms for Buyers and Sellers , quite like Job Portals and Dating / Marriage Sites
Me :
And that would enable our poor people to compete with poor people everywhere for a share of this very lucrative market . But the best part is :

·         Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that these “ transfers “ ( of Pain and Pleasure ), can be done remotely across oceans , using Holograms / Hepatic Devices / Brain Computer Interfaces /  VR headsets / whatever else you can think of

·         Such “ Buying / Selling “ of “ Services “ cannot be regulated by WTO ( free for all )

·         There can be no levy of any “ Import Duty / Dumping Duty “ on cross-border transfers


Of course , If Shri Arun Jaitleyji comes to know about this possibility , he may impose a nominal GST of 1 % on such “ Sales Incomes “ ! Except that he would not know from whom to collect the tax since the Seller pays and the Buyer ( of pain ) receives the payment !

Of course , it would work if I am “ Selling ( sharing ? ) pleasure “ for a price with those millions of “ depressed ( but rich ) persons “ of the World except what “ pleasures “ can the poor sell to the rich ?

Wife :
I think you are reading too much of what Peter Diamandis’s  ( http://www.diamandis.com/ )
and  Ray Kurzweil’s ( http://www.kurzweilai.net/ ) ,  writings  about future
Why don’t you look up : https://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/ie-5 : , to realize that it was our very
 own Babar who was the first to invent this technology of “ Pain Transfer “ ?

Poor  Guy !  If we had a Patent Office then , he would have minted a ton of Gold Mohurs !

Me :
If you have any doubt about my prediction , read :





04  Dec  2017


Saturday, 2 December 2017

Not Good Enough !




Business Line ( 30 Nov ) carries following news report :


“ Govt may amend Electricity Act to allow e-vehicle charging stations to sell power “


The Centre is set to make changes to the amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003 to allow electric vehicle charging stations to sell power.

“The NITI Aayog is preparing the roadmap for this. We will propose changes to the amendment to the Electricity Act,” a government official told BusinessLine.
[For my version, see: 


The Electricity Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2014, and has been pending there since then. “The government will have to introduce changes to the proposed amendment to allow retailing of power by e-vehicle charging stations. This is because the current amendment does not include a provision to allow a non-discom to sell power,” said PK Pujari, former Power Secretary.

Effectively, the charging station will be acting as an intermediary between the discom ( distribution company ) and the e-vehicle owner, added Pujari.

“At the moment, no one apart from a discom can own power. This means only a discom can set up a charging station,” Saurabh Kumar, Chairman, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, had told BusinessLine.

“At the moment, there cannot be any private sector participation, unless the regulations allow private players to set up charging stations. This is something the government is working on and I hope it happens very soon, because unless you have charging stations across the country, you cannot expect e-mobility to really happen.”

But the government will also have to define a nodal authority to monitor these charging stations. To this Pujari said: “Since a small business cannot approach the State and Central electricity regulator, the government will also have to establish a nodal authority to regulate and license the charging stations. The discoms can act as regulators for these charging stations and can fix a rate of purchase for them to ensure that there is a margin for the business, too.”


MY  TAKE  :

As I am fond of saying , this is an “ Incremental / half way house “ , like applying a Band-Aid plaster on a deep wound !

Just allowing “ Charging Stations “ to be able to “ Sell Electricity “ and permitting Private Sector to set up such “ Charging Stations “ , will miserably fall short of our goals for E-Mobility ( estimated  500 million vehicles in India to be electric by 2030  )



As it is , currently we have approx. 60,000 petrol / diesel pumps in India , which fill up a vehicle in ( ave ) , 10 minutes



But a Lithium-ion Battery of an Electric Car ( approx. 100 Kwh ) , needs 300 minutes for a full charge ( 30 times longer ! ). Will we need 30 times many more Charging Stations ?



I hope that Road Map which NITI Aayog is supposed to be working on , is as detailed as the “ India’s Energy Storage Mission





And I hope , it recommends amending Electricity Act whereby ,



Anyone can generate and SELL electricity , anytime and to anyone and at any price !



For reaching the target of 100 GW of Solar power generation by Nov 2022, we need to install 1.5 GW capacity EVERY MONTH for the next 60 month ( remaining 85 GW after current installations totalling 15 GW )



That would require an investment of Rs 10,000 Crore per month , every month for the next 60 months ! ( @ One Billion dollars per GW )



Part of this investment will have to come from Roof Top Solar projects , to be set up by :



·         An Individual home-owner ( who may also want to sell surplus power to a neighbour )


·         A Coop Housing Society wanting its huge unutilized terrace to produce solar power, for its members


·         A Business which will install these roof-tops at its own cost and is allowed to sell power to the residents of a building

    [ Business Line / 30 Nov : 


      Mumbai-based CleanMax Solar is a pioneer in the ‘opex model’ in India, where the company puts up solar plants— rooftop or otherwise—at its own cost, and sells the power directly to customers. ]



·         Millions of unemployed rural youth wanting to set themselves up in the “ Solar Electricity Selling “ business , with a small investment of Rs 25,000/ - and recharging :


     300 Watt HANS Solar PowerPacks with HANS Solar Briefcase

          http://www.buyhanselectric.in/


Surely , our Policy Makers cannot be unaware of the following benefits to millions of rural youths generating / consuming ( and , even “ selling “ ) solar power :


·         Not need to erect /maintain miles of transmission lines to those huts


·         No need to install and monitor Electricity ( Smart ) Meters


·         No need to collect monthly payments for the power consumed


·         In fact , no need to PRODUCE coal-based power elsewhere , in the first place


·         No pollution due to power from coal-based power plants


·         No need to dig or import expensive coal / or worry about low plant-load factor



·         No need to worry about power thefts / transmission losses !


·         No load shedding ( so common in rural areas ) for “ non-payment of bills / low
          consumption “


·         No need to worry about PEAK / LEAN load periods


·         No need to keep Subsidizing Power for ever


Please,  liberate our rural youth from the tyranny of this hundred year old “ Electricity Act “ !

It has no place in 2017 ( - even if you do not want this BOLD REFORM to ensure absolute

majority in 2019 elections  )


Dear Shri Jaitleyji :


It is time to end the monopoly of the State / Big Houses , in generation / sale of Electricity


There is nothing like competition to decrease COST / increase QUALITY and speed-up DELIVERY of electricity 


Please , do not levy any GST on sale of Electricity to ensure its unlimited availability at Rs 1 / Kwh



https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/01/solar-power-at-rs-1-per-kwh.html

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03   Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs