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

Thursday, 7 June 2018

A Smart Move , Shri Singh !




About a year back [ 19 May 2017 ] , I sent my following suggestion for introduction of a Smart Electricity Meter to the Cabinet Ministers :




But , how about a PREPAID ELECTRICITY METER , with following features / functionality ?


·         It will be a Tablet look-alike device
·          
·         It will show daily – weekly – monthly , power consumption of the premises
·          
·         It will show the “ average / highest / lowest “ monthly consumption
·          
·         It will also show how many UNITS remain to his BALANCE , at any given time
·          
·         It will show a GRAPH comparing consumptions during any two “ periods “
·          
·         It will have facility to enter ( type in ) , customer’s Aadhar Number ( of course, linked
          to his Bank Account Number )
·          
·         After login ( using biometric identification of Finger + Iris + Voice ) , customer can “
          Re-charge “ his “ Account “ with ( say ) , Rs 1,000 / - at the beginning, using the
          built-in Virtual Keyboard ( Device will have built-in camera )
·          
·         When the “ balance “ to his credit falls to ( say ) Rs 100 / - , an alarm will ring and
          he will also get Email / SMS / WhatsApp reminder
·          
·         If he fails to “ Re-Charge “ his account , power will get disconnected upon the
          balance falling to Rs 10/-  !
·          
·         Power will start flowing again as soon as consumer “ re-charges “ through device




None of this ( hardware + software + wireless telecom ) , is a Rocket Science !


Any Start Up can come up with such a total, end-to-end, solution within 6 months !


Only thing , this device cannot stop is UN-METERED THEFT of power , where wires get pulled from a power-line , bypassing the meter !


Other than this one limitation , this suggestion has the potential to dramatically improve the Financial Positions of the State DISCOMS !


Dear Shri Goyalji ,


Would you like to pose this challenge to our Start Ups ?


[ Read :






Today’s  Business Standard carries following headline :


  Dear Shri R K Singhji :


Many thanks for accepting my suggestion . I urge you to consider the specifications of such a Smart Electric Meter , as described in my above mentioned email


Extract from today’s Business Standard news item :

"In the next 3 years, metering will go smart and gone will be the days of bills reaching your house. So, need of the hour is to scale up manufacturing of smart prepaid meters and to bring down their prices," the statement cited Singh as saying.
"This will revolutionise the power sector by way of reduced AT&C ( aggregate technical and commercial ) losses, better health of discoms, incentivisation of energy conservation and ease of bill payments, etcetera," he said.


Dear Shri Singhji :

And now that there is so much talk of using Artificial Intelligence and Block-Chain technologies for improving productivity of all “ Retailing Processes “ ( - distributing electric power to millions of homes , is the biggest “ retailing / home delivery “ process ), I urge you to ask our scientists / engineers to consider the following research :

Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence ( AI ) system that can detect ELECTRICITY THEFT and meter mis-readings –  a common problem in developing countries


A team from the University of Luxembourg looked at the energy use of 3.6 million Brazilian households over FIVE YEARS


The researchers specifically focussed on nearly 200 Million monthly readings made by professional meter readers


They then developed an algorithm that , after sifting through the readings, could recognize when energy use at a property was suspiciously low


Researchers verified their results with data on past inspections , checking if their tool was correctly highlighting potential cases of fraud or faulty metering


The most accurate versions of the system were able to identify problem cases just over 65 % of the time , News Scientist reported

[ Source : Economic Times / 26 Sept 2017 ]


08  June  2018


Wednesday, 6 June 2018

#RFID , A breakthrough , at last ?




For over 2 years now , I have sent dozens of emails ( basically , my blogs ) to our Policy Makers , suggesting embedding of RFID sensors in Rs 500 and Rs 2000 currency notes , so that any large  accumulation of such high currency notes ( predetermined at 1000 or 10,000 notes ? ), in one sq meter area can be traced / tracked , remotely



This accumulation can be made to show up on the Central Servers of I T dept / ED / etc , to catch the BLACK MONEY



But, that plastic currency note needed an in-built tiny battery , to supply power to the RFID sensor so that it can announce its existence( Serial Number of the Currency note  )



Incorporating such a battery, was not possible in a thin ( plastic ) currency note , although embedding a microscopic RFID sensor poses no insurmountable problem



But here is a breakthrough that could finally solve this problem !






Here is the paragraph which is relevant :


“ The researchers are now working on making the power delivery more efficient and transferring it over greater distances.


This technology also has the potential to improve RFID applications in other areas such as inventory control, retail analytics, and “smart” environments, allowing for longer-distance object tracking and communication, the researchers say.



References :


Prof Giovanni Traverso   [  ctraverso@partners.org   ]









I urge Shri Jaitleyji to take a few minutes to read my following blog :

Currency Maps of India ?  [  08  May  2016  ]




07  June  2018




Solar Power Based Charging Station ?






In my following blog , I had written as follows :




No Battery Charging  Stations  ! [  The  Holy Grail  ]



Dear Shri Gadkariji,

Current investment in the existing 60,000 Petrol-Diesel pumps is Rs 6.5 lakh*crores

If 30 times more Battery Charging Stations are needed, then that could cost Rs 195 lakh*crore  !




I am at a loss to understand why Indian Auto Industry is reluctant to approach ISRO for its Solar Roof Top powered electric cars ( with a 5 Kwh Lithium-ion Battery ) which would eliminate need for roadside charging stations altogether !



But , if we must have Battery Charging Stations , the least we can do is to have these depend upon Solar Power and not dirty , coal-based electricity



All we need to do is to COPY , the following example :












Remember , we in India get nearly TWICE the number of hours of sunshine as compared to Netherland


Ref :








If Indian Oil / Hindustan Petroleum etc do not step in fast ( to obsolete themselves ) , then it is quite possible that innovators like Chetan Maini / Pawan Goenka etc would obsolete them !




07  June  2018


Monday, 4 June 2018

Liu Zhenya : The Visionary




 
Liu Zhenya is the Chairman of 





He is planning a globally interconnected International Grid of electric power



For details of his vision , read :
“ Does the path to a low-carbon future run through a global grid  ? “
Extract :
By any measure, this super-grid would be an immense undertaking.
The GEIDCO plan involves building nine latitudinal and nine longitudinal lines, linking every continent on Earth except Antarctica.
“Like a river with many tributaries, it will connect over 100 countries and 80 per cent of the global population, with a total length of 180,000 kilometers,” Liu said in April 2018 .
The benefits could be immense, as well.
The GEI would improve reliability and, he predicted, even ultimately reduce the average cost of electricity. 
Most importantly, interconnecting grids and power sources over larger distances can facilitate greater penetration of renewable powersmoothing out the inevitable geographic and temporal variability in solar and wind power production by balancing supply with distant loads.

The GEI could thus turn the 12-hour time difference between New York and Beijing into an advantage, sending power in one direction or the other as those cities’ demand peaks at different times.

“It is a radical solution for overcoming the world’s energy dilemmas,” Liu said.

JUST 7.7 PER  CENT OF THE SAHARA’S SOLAR ENERGY WOULD MEET GLOBAL ELECTRICITY DEMAND. ”



To know the congruence of my own dream with Liu’s dream , read my following blog :


Unlimited Power : and round the clock ?  [  29  July  2016  ]





05  June  2018


Sunday, 3 June 2018

Will MahaGathBandhan steal a march ?





In recent election results of Karnataka State Assembly, Congress had won many more seats than JD ( S ) but still agreed to make Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister



Who knows , Congress may even give to JD(S), number of Ministerial births which are more than proportionate !



May be Congress has realized the logic of “ Cooperation “ instead of “ Confrontation “, when it comes to “ sharing of power “ for the next 5 years



But then there is a fear that the Supreme Court may rule that any “ Post Poll “ alliance is invalid  !



So , how can MahaGathBandhan overtake NDA in 2019 general election ?



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




Here is how :



*   All 19 opposition political parties to form a “ Pre Poll “ alliance right now



*  Apart from promising usual freebies  , “  MahaGathBandhan Manifesto 2019 “ to explicitly promise


   the voters that after assuming office , its first task would be to propose amending the Constitution
   to convert our Central Government System into a “ Constitutional Coalition Government “ , as
  conceptualized in my following blogs ( each sent as email to Central Cabinet Ministers / MPs / MLAs
   / NITI Aayog etc )




*  A firm commitment to subject ALL political parties to Right of Information Act



*  A firm commitment to a transparent Election Funding System as envisaged in :



  Transparency in Political Funding ?  [  06  July  2017  ]


https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/transparency-in-political-funding.html

 





Constitutional Coalition Aftershocks !  [  02 Oct  2016  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/10/constitutional-coalition-aftershocks.html

 

Presidential or Coalition Government ?  [  25  March  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/presidential-or-coalition-government.html

 

Revolution Through Coalition Government ?  [  27  Sept  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/09/revolution-through-coalition-government.html

 

Why can’t we institutionalize Coalition ?  [  29  Sept  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/09/why-cant-we-institutionalize-coalition.html

 

Federalism  ?  [  29  Oct  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/10/federalism.html

 

How to form a Government  ?   [  19  May  2018  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-to-form-government.html

 

 

1320 million Indian citizens have been fed up of the daily tamaashaa of :

 

*  Elections after elections


*  Horse trading in order to form a government


*  “ Purchasable “ Paatli-Badlu  MPs and MLAs


*  Complaints / counter-complaints to Election Commission for breach of Code of

   Conduct


*  Running to the Supreme Court for every little thing


*  Total wash-out of Lok Sabha sessions due to slogan shouting


*  Use of foul / abusive language for running down opponents

 

 

Can BJP / NDA prevent MahaGathBandhan from stealing a march by winning voters’ trust in its own manifesto ?

 

Surely !

 

Don’t wait till Dec 2018 to announce its manifesto

 

Announce it NOW ( - containing provisions listed above ) to usher a TRUE FEDERALISM !

 

If not , brace for some very unpleasant surprises

 

04  June  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs