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, 14 June 2021

RBI : Do not Nudge : Shove

 


 

Context :

Step up working capital loans to Street Vendors : RBI nudges PSBs  /  Business Line  /  15 June 2021

 

Extract :

Ø  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has impressed upon public sector banks (PSBs) the need to step up working capital loans up to ₹10,000 to street vendors, who have taken the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns.

Ø  The Scheme has been designed to ,

        #   help FORMALIZE the Street Vendors

            #   open up NEW OPPORTUNITIES to move up the economic ladder


Ø  As of 14 June, No of applications received …. ……………………………………. 42.28  lakh

Ø  Loans disbursed / Loans sanctioned   =        84.41   %                                                

Ø  No of Loans sanctioned and disbursed  /  Total No of Applications     =   58 % ( of 42.28 lakh )

Ø  Total loans approved   ……………………………………………………………………Rs  2458 Crore

Ø  Total loans disbursed    ………………………………………………………………….Rs  2059 Crore

Ø  Ave no of days to sanction a loan  ……………………………………………………….  20 days

Ø  Ave age of loan applicant  ……………………………………………………………………  41 years

Ø  No of Street Vendors accepting DIGITAL PAYMENTS  ………………………….  19,31,272

Ø  These vendors received a CASH-BACK of ……………………………………………Rs 50.53 lakh

Ø  60 % of loans disbursed were to MALE street vendors and 40 % to FEMALE vendors

 

Dear RBI,


Thank you for giving this NUDGE to PSBs ( Public Sector Banks ) . I hope PSBs will act upon your advice expeditiously . That is good nudge


But , you can give ( this scheme ) a powerful SHOVE , by urging the Central Govt to enlarge / expand,  the following ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 


( source : file:///C:/Users/HCP/Downloads/PMSVANidhi%20Guideline_English%20(2).pdf _

Eligibility Criteria of Beneficiaries

The Scheme is available to all street vendors engaged in vending in urban areas as on or before March 24, 2020. The eligible vendors will be identified as per following criteria:

(i) Street vendors in possession of Certificate of Vending / Identity Card issued by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs);

(ii) The vendors, who have been identified in the survey but have not been issued Certificate of Vending / Identity Card; Provisional Certificate of Vending would be generated for such vendors through an IT based Platform. ULBs are encouraged to issue such vendors the permanent Certificate of Vending and Identification Card immediately and positively within a period of one month.

(iii) Street Vendors, left out of the ULBled identification survey or who have started vending after completion of the survey and have been issued Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB / Town Vending Committee (TVC); and

(iv) The vendors of surrounding development/ peri-urban / rural areas vending in the geographical limits of the ULBs and have been issued Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB / TVC.

 


For a long time, I have been pleading with the Govt ( read my following e-mails ) to ,

Ø  Not restrict the scheme ONLY to those persons who are ( currently ) or were ( in the past ), Street Vendors or who have been SURVEYED


I have advocated that the Scheme should be open to ANYONE who may not be eligible as per above criteria but who just WANTS to become a SELF – EMPLOYED STREET VENDOR


As simple as that

Reason is staring in our eyes :


Ø  As a result of pandemic , some 20 / 25 crore people have lost their jobs – with no prospect of getting re-employed, any time soon . May be never !


Ø  MNREGA just cannot provide 100 days of work ( per year ) to all of these rendered jobless


Ø  To this, we must add another 12 milion youth joining our work-force every year but , for whom, neither the Govt ( PSUs ) nor the Private Sector can provide paid jobs ( whether in large organized sector companies or 65 million MSME )


Ø  As against these figures, of the 42.3 lakh applicants, only 24.5 lakh got sanction, leaving out 17.8 lakh


Ø  25 lakh is just 1 percent of 2500 lakh ( 25 crore )


Ø  What hope is there for the balance 99 % unemployed and starving persons ?


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


Dear Shri Narendrabhai,


I request your PERSONAL INTERVENTION in changing the Eligibility Criteria for Street Vendor Scheme


With regards,

Hemen parekh /  hcp@RcruitGuru.com  /  15 June 2021

 

My earlier E Mails on the subject :


Street Vendor Loan Scheme ……………………………………..[ 14 May 2020 ]

Thank You, Shri Hardeep Singh Puriji ………………………..[ 01 June 2020 ]

Providing Jobs : a Fundamental Right ? ……………………..[ 07 June 2020 ]

Congratulations , Shri Mahesh Kumarji ……………………..[ 20 June 2020 ]

God appears as Roti …………………………………………………..[ 30 June 2020 ]

Street Vendors : How to Organize ?...............................[ 21 July 2020 ]

Fresher need not apply ? ……………………………………………[ 09 Sept 2020 ]

Summary of E-Mails to Cabinet Ministers > SELF EMPLOYMENT ……………..[ 10 Mar 2021 ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, 13 June 2021

One Earth ; One Health

 


Context :

Ø     PM Modi makes global health pitch at G7             /  HT  / 13 June 2021

Extract :

Ø     Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the G7 states to adopt a united approach to the coronavirus pandemic and future health emergencies with the mantra of “ One earth, one health ”


Ø     He pointed to the special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies to prevent future pandemics, and said there should be “ One earth, One health ” approach.


Ø     Modi highlighted India’s approach to counter the pandemic that synergized efforts of government, industry and civil society. He said India is willing to share its expertise with others.

      

 

Dear Shri Narendrabhai,

 

You are so right. Planet earth is a ship in the ocean of Universe. If there is a hole in the ship ( eg : current Covid pandemic ), then everyone goes down when the ship sinks !


I hope, this message of yours ( One Earth : One Health ) gets accepted by ALL the nations ( especially, comparatively less affected RICH nations ) and succeeds in uniting all to jointly fight current pandemic and devise “ways and means “ to prevent future pandemics or at least better prepare everyone to lessen their impacts ( if these cannot be prevented )


Whereas there is no doubt that India can share its “ EXPERTISE “ ( in fighting Covid ) with other nations, I urge you to consider my following suggestion:


Ø     We still have a long way to go before our entire population gets

        vaccinated with 2 dozes

Ø     So far, millions of poor people have not managed to get even their first

       doze

Ø     Shortage of vaccines, is only a “partial answer “ for this uneven

       distribution


Ø     The more likely reasons are :

#  Lack of awareness among non-tech-savvy millions re; the importance of

     getting vaccinated

#  Difficulty in use of CoWin portal for registration ( I had to do this for my

     part-time domestic helps )



Ø     Millions of poor / illiterate / rural people are unlikely to overcome anytime

       soon, the constraints imposed by this “ Digital Divide

Ø     On the other hand, as many as 210 million households have TV

        installations (although not all are smart TVs ). This translates into some

        900 million persons viewing TV every day ( more hours during current

        pandemic )


Ø     Let Central Government launch a TV Channel exclusively dedicated to

      Covid ( of course FREE and obligatory for inclusion in any bouquet  offered

       by ALL TV service provider ( DTH – Cable ) and by all  OTT platforms

 

Ø     This channel may be named  DaroNa

 

Ø     It will have following sections :

 

 

#  How to register on CoWin ( step by step instructions / in all regional

    languages – depending upon viewers )

    

#  Statewise / Districtwise , list of all Vaccine Delivery Centres ( Govt owned

     or Private ) , with full contact details of each

    

#  Earliest SLOT AVAILABILITY at each of these VDC


#  Live phone-in Covid related questions to be answered by Expert Doctors /

    Task Force members


#  State-wise / District-wise Covid related STATISTICS ( easy to grasp

    graphs ) . Full transparency

 

This will be Version 1.0 of “ DaroNa “ , to be launched by Sept 2021

By Dec 2022, we should launch “ DaroNaV 2.0

 

It will be INTERACTIVE CHANNEL version, which would enable viewers to,

 

#   Register on CoWin portal from that Channel ( every member of the

      household having TV )

#   Get “ Notifications “ re SLOTS allotted ( Date and the VDC )

#   Just by speaking to the TV , record their entire Health History /

      Medical Records ( not at one go but over a period of time – at any time )

     Each member of the household will be able to record his / her

     history. For toddlers / children / invalid old family members, other

     members of the family would do such talking 

     TV will morph into a sympathetic LISTENING ROBOT , which will even “

     prod “ answers by asking health related questions !

     If in doubt, look up Sophia

     A web camera mounted on TV ( or built into Set-Top Box / Remote ) will

     recognize ( face recognition ) which member of the family is talking (

     Voice recognition as well )

     But it will have built-in features which will disable / prevent surveillance

     like THIRD EYE

     

     Broadly these features would comprise :


·   Using both hands ( thumbs ), simultaneous pressing of START ( Green ) buttons on both, the Set-top Box AND the Remote . Only then, TV’s Facial Recognition and Voice Recognition systems will get activated and a “ READY TO LISTEN “ text message will flash on the screen


·   Only upon seeing such message, family member will ( without removing his thumbs ), speak aloud , “ DaroNa , Meri baat soono  “ . Message will flash, “ I am listening – main soontaa hoon


·   Recorded conversation ( unstructured data ) will NOT get transmitted to the server of the National Clinical Registry, until the concerned family member re-plays entire dialogue , gets satisfied and then , on Remote press a button which reads “ TRANSMIT “

 

In another 2 / 3 years, all medical devices ( and most likely, all popular Home appliances ) , will have all kinds of sensors embedded into them, which are internet-connected ( IoT )


Now imagine dynamic / automatic, DATA CAPTURE of entire Health Eco-System consisting of :


#    Digital Delivery of Drugs


#   Thousands of illnesses / Doctors’ Prescriptions / Medicines purchased –

      consumed



#   Millions of Medical procedures carried out with millions of IoT-connected

      instruments


#   Millions of pathology / diagnostic test results ( TV scanning X-Ray plates

     / ECGs – EEGs – PET etc )


#   Demographic data of 1.4 BILLION Indian Citizen ( Sex-Age-Address-

     Religion-Employment etc )

 

Can my concept of an Interactive TV Channel be extended to address some other equally urgent / important, national problems ?


I think so . These could be :


Ø     Diksha  (  for online learning )

Ø     Karma  (  for work from home )

Ø     Kaushlya (  for AR / VR based Skilling / Training  )



QUESTION :

How can 210 million TV households afford the cost of such TV Channels ( made Interactive using souped-up Set Top Box / Remote ) incorporating emerging technologies listed below ?


ANSWER :

These channels will also enable those TV owners to SELL their private / personal data ( of course, anonymized and aggregated ) as conceptualized at :


 Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]…………………..... [ 14 Feb 2019 ]

 

 SARAL Single  Authentic  Registration for Anywhere  Login )…[ 10 Feb 2019 ]

 

PrivacyForSale.com …………………………………………………………………… 26 Aug 2017 ]

   

This DaroNa ( V 2.0 ) will require ,

 

[ A ]   Device – wise


Ø     Redesign of


#   SET-TOP boxes ( imagine a bigger / more powerful avatar of current

     Smart Phones )


#  TV REMOTES ( with Keyboard and Mouse features built in )


#   Home Assistants such as Google Mini / Fire TV Cube ( Alexa )



[ B ]  Software Platfoems-wise 

  

Ø   Convergence / Integration / Application , of some of the following emerging technologies :


#  AI – Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning

#  Blockchain

#  NLP ( Natural Language Processing )

#  Automatic Language Translation  /  Conversational AI

#  Facial Recognition / Voice Recognition / Other Biometric Recognitions

#  LaMDA of Google

#  GPT - 3

#  National Health Stack

#  “ Speech to Text / Text to Speech “ technology

#  Siri – Cortana – Alexa – Google Mini etc

#  Satellite based Broadband ( Starlink – OneWeb – ViaSat – Kuiper etc )

#  Internet of Things / Internet of Everything

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


 Related Readings :


Ø     NHS Open House on Open Health Services Network

       GPT3 free tools I tried recently for fun

 

Ø     Tele-Medicine / Tele-Health : a COVID gift ? ………..[ 20 May 2020 ]

Ø     Corona Patient Case Histories : a Fragmented Database…[ 30 Mar 2020 ]

Ø     Will “ Ayushman Bharat “ listen ? ………………………………[ 14 Nov 2018 ]

Ø     Personal Health History : NHS ……………………………………[ 11 Aug 2018 ]

Ø     Healthcare : The Unfolding Story ……………………………….[ 19 June 2018 ]

Ø     AI  for  Healthcare ………………………………………………………[ 17 June 2018 ]

Ø     Online Sale of Medicines ? ……………………………………………[ 24 Dec 2016 ]

Ø     Share - Your – Soul ………………………………………………………[ 24 July 2016 ]

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  14 June 2021