Redesigning Newspapers ?

With arrival of dozens of news-aggregating Mobile Apps , hard copy news-papers are in danger of getting " extinct "

What will news-papers look like 5 years from now ?

Here is my prediction :

#   All news will become digital

#   These may appear on your bed-room wall or on a foldable blank sheet of

      plastic ( display device ) , whenever you choose to ignore your Mobile .

      Of course , VR device makers would want you to wear a headset  !

Now comes the FUN part  !

Currently , most hard-copy news papers group their news on pages titled :

City  /  Nation  /  Global - International / Sports / Politics / Entertainment etc

Tomorrow's digital news will get aggregated under following genres :

Scam /  Fraud  /  Fiction-like  /  Irony / Insult / Arrogance / Hope / Reform / Red Herring / Shame / Bravo / Future / Ego / Introspection / Ridicule / Bravado / Boasting / Insensitive / Scorn / One-up-man ship / Holier-than-Thou / Absurd / Tongue-in-Cheek / Laugh / Deja Vu ...........etc

To show you how such " re-categorization " can be so much more fun - and interesting - , I have compiled a few recent headlines , as follows :

#  RED HERRING

    Pak to charge Lakhvi

#  BOAST

*  Shah : BJP will dominate

*  Diggy says : Congress binds India

*  Gadkari : Our Ministry will contribute 2-3% to GDP growth

#  LAUGH

*  Mumbai Top Cop to probe Dawood's calls to Maha Minister

*  Onus of fallen bldgs on Assistant Chiefs : TMC

*  No failure is permanent : Sonia to Cong

*  " Industry " coined from Indus , says VHP man

#  HOPE

*   ED set to seize Mallya's assets

*   Bank Panel readies plan to resolve bad loan woes

*   Women's entry in Haji Ali gets Ajmer Sharif's support

*  Govt formulating scheme to provide compulsory power to all : says Goyal

#  FRAUD / SCAM

*   City mono rail running Rs 20 lakh loss per day

*   Govt took back 900 acres of grabbed land

*   More than half of the newly elected MLAs are crore-patis

*   Varsity staff arrested for selling answer sheets

*   PWD redoes newly built stretch on EEH

*   Not many paying toll : IRB to NHAI

*   Despite 1521 complaints, BMC issues notices to only 81 sites

#  TONGUE - IN - CHEEK

*   Son-rise interrupted, it's a bad heir day in politics

#   BRAVO

*   Sherpa climbs Everest for record 7th time

*   Kandivli woman chases , nabs molester

#   NON ISSUE

*   Push for vigil on dance bars

*   Septuagenarian couple having child , triggers debate

*   Kangana is 31 ( not 29 )

*   Rishi Kapoor : I am not against the Congress at all

#  JOKE

*  Expect less flooding this year , says BMC

*  Irla Nullah de-silting is perfect , says Civic officials

*  Telgi case convict seeks court nod to travel to Canada for son's

    convocation

*  Pak prosecution seeks autopsy reports for all 26/11 victims

*  Mumbai is rain ready , claims BMC

*  Civic body to launch new pothole tracking App on June 1

*  Black Money window not to accept " corrupt " money

*  Tharoor , Digvijay Singh ask Congress to attempt revival

*  Don't go slow on bad loan clean up : RBI

*  Consumers do learn from Ads

*  BMC attempts to stop sewage entry into Powai lake

*  Spot illegal sand mining in your area? Send email to Environment Ministry

#  SHAME

*   Congolese killed in Delhi after brawl for auto

*   Live wire put up by Govt contractor , kills man

*   Iran women cut hair short to dodge moral cops

*   Conviction rate of ACB-Mumbai , dips to ZERO with acquittals in all 29

     bribery cases

#   FUTURE

*   A wristband gives shock if you overspend

*   Google's sticky cars to pick up pedestrians they crash into 

Now , why do newspaper EDITORS want to wait for going digital ?

May be , following extract from Marshall McLuhan's book ( The Medium is the " Massage " - a typo for " Message " ) , will help them make up their minds :

" The Medium is the Massage demonstrates how modern media are extensions of human senses; they ground us in physicality, but expand our ability to perceive our world to an extent that would be impossible without the media ."

I am sure , as soon as just ONE newspaper experiments with this REVOLUTIONARY FORMAT , others will try to catch-up !

This format is designed to appeal to the sentiments and emotions of the readers , what Marketing Guru , Jack Trout describes as :

" Positioning is the place a product occupies in consumers' minds relative to competing products ". 

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24  May  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs        

  

Manoj Bhargava : My Hero

Hardly a day passes without reading news of inventions / innovations , that will solve , a country's or the world's energy problems in such a way that pollution and global warming , will go down

Most of these focus on renewable energy, as an answer to these problems

But , many of these innovations face following hurdles :

*   They require huge investments , beyond the reach of common man

*   They depend upon sources which fluctuate thru the day ( Sun / Wind )

*   Their conversion efficiencies are rather low ( 20 % or so )

*   These devices themselves need to be fabricated in large factories

*   These devices need large " Battery Storage " ( when no wind or sun )

*   At least in case of wind power , output needs to be fed into a grid

*   Need long lead-times for installing / commissioning

*   Need large land area ( impossible for a poor person needing power )

All these hurdles get overcome by an innovation that Manoj Bhargava ( www.BillionsInChange.com ) has come up with , in the form of a simple bicycle driven electricity generator ( costing around Rs 10,000 / - ), and which can be fabricated by any tiny workshop in a small town

When pedaled for one hour , it produces ( and stores ) enough electricity to light up 12 bulbs of 100 Watts each , for 24 hours !

Some 15 / 20 such contraptions are under testing for past 2 months , in villages of North India

Villagers are simply amazed / awed / inspired  !

My suggestion to Manoj :

Can you come up with a slightly bigger version ( but with same simplicity of working ) , that can power :

#   Small Domestic appliance ( Mixer / Grinder / Fan / Fridge / Oven / TV )

#   Small Industrial tool ( Handheld drill / Soldering Iron / Welding Set )

#   Small Commercial gadget ( Xerox / Printer / POS device / Card Reader  )

#   Self Employment Device ( Car Battery Charger/including for Elec Cars ? )

#   Agricultural Device ( Water Pump / Thrasher / Cold Storage )

#   Physical Fitness Device ( Tread Mills in Gyms )

And two more request to Manoj :

#   To set in motion a REVOLUTION of unparallel dimension , enable anyone

      to download from your web site ( after due registration ) ,  DESIGNS /

      MANUFACTURING  DRAWINGS , for all of your devices , FREE of cost  !

#    Where can I send a cheque for Rs 10 lakh ( 80 G or not ) , to set up 100

      jobless youth into dignified Self Employment , using your device  ? 

      You select them

Remember what Albert Einstein said about Mahatma Gandhi ?

“  Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth  ”

It is time to follow in Mahatma's footsteps  !

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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

22   May   2016

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Redesign Banknotes For Black Money Management

MINT ( 20 May 2016 ) carries a news report titled :

RBI proposes new banknote design

Following is an extract :

" Banknotes in India may soon carry a  NEW LOOK, with the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday recommending to the government a new set of  DESIGNS

The central board of the RBI also took stock of the macroeconomic situation and reviewed issues related to CYBER SECURITY and CURRENCY  MANAGEMENT, at  a meeting on Thursday

The RBI in a statement said the board discussed the national and international macroeconomic scenario and also reviewed the working of specific areas of operations of the RBI, including information technology (IT) and cyber security, and establishment of an IT subsidiary of the RBI "

Will , RBI go beyond a NEW LOOK for the banknotes , and seize this opportunity to make these NEW DESIGN notes to enable BLACK MONEY MANAGEMENT , and the CURRENCY  MANAGEMENT  ?

Easily possible if proposed IT subsidiary of RBI , implements my following blog dt  09 May 2016 :

Currency Maps of India ?

When in 1949 , George Orwell wrote his all-time classic " Nineteen  Eighty  Four " , he had not envisaged Tablets / Smart phones

So , he imagined that TV screens would keep a watch over mankind , 24 hours , like CCTV cameras

Nor did Tim Berners Lee , envisage  IoT ( Internet of Things ) or BIG DATA analytic tools ( MapReduce / Hadoop ), when he invented World Wide Web

And neither did Robert Easton , envisage RFID sensors when he invented GPS in 1967

But today , with wide-spread usage/application of these technologies, it is not difficult to envisage :

 CURRENCY  MAPS   OF  INDIA

No doubt , all of us have seen following types of Maps ( for India / Asia or for the entire World ) , on TV Channels and even on our tablets and smart phones  :

#   Weather Maps , showing :

      *  amount of rain fall ( inches / mm )

      *  location wise temperature intensity ( *C / *F )

      *  topography ( heights of mountains / depths of valleys )

      *  Cloud Formations and direction of Storms and landfall locations

      *  Wind Patterns ( velocity in km per hour )

      *  Ocean Currents in Atlantic / Pacific ( direction / speed )

      *  Ice Cover over Antarctica / Arctic Region ( sq km )

  

 #   Space Maps , showing :

      *  Geological formations on Moon / Mars / Mercury / Asteroids

      *  Night illumination in different parts of world as seen from Skylab

      *  Galactic formations , billions of light years away

And of course , Google Maps of all types ( including those peering into our bedrooms ! )

Given this state of art ( and of science ) , it is not difficult to envisage ,

following types of  CURRENCY  MAPS  of INDIA , showing aggregate value of Rs 500 / 1000 Currency Notes ( ie : currency density of Rs 1 million / 1 billion / 1 trillion / any figure of your liking ! ) in :

*   Any given Street / City / State 

*   Premises of any Car Dealer / Jeweler Shop / Real Estate Agency / Mall /

     Race Course / Builder ( any office / housing location of your choice )

 *  Any Airport ( a million Rupees in Rs 500 notes weigh only 2.2 kg ! )

 *  Any Safe Deposit Vault of any bank

With the existing technologies , it is even possible to plot the movement of Rs 500 / 1000 currency notes ( just one note or a thousand notes ) on a GPS map of India , to determine its direction and velocity ( Currency Currents )

In real time , too -  24*7  !

All of the above is possible to achieve within  6 MONTHS  , by :

*  Abolishing existing paper notes of Rs 500 / 1000

*  Replace these with plastic notes , embedded with RFID sensors

   ( can be embedded into existing 3 mm silver-colored  security wire )

*  Allot a unique IP V 6.0 address to each such note linked to its serial no

*  Develop / host a Technology Platform , based on GPS mapping system

   

*  All smart phones to carry GPS locator ( cannot be switched off )

  (  anyone carrying a Rs 500 note in wallet , also carries a Smart phone ! )

Of course , Currency Map App ( to be named, " Currency-Cure " ? ), available to general public on their smart phones , will not be able to zoom-in / drill down , under 1 sq km area, to protect individual privacy ( this can be done , only by authorized officers of Income Tax Dept / Enforcement Directorate )

If some of you think my suggestion is impractical , consider following :

A division of Master Card ( called , MasterCard Advisors ), aggregates and analyzes , 65 BILLION transactions from 1.5 BILLION card-holders in 210 countries , in order to divine , business and consumer trends !

And only 2 days back , Shri Raghuram Rajan , RBI Governor said :

"  It is because money has no odour, because it is the great equalizer , that so many people across history have been able to acquire resources and invested them to make the world we live in

Rather than prohibiting the use of money and wealth , let us think about increasing society's tolerance for its use "

Today's Hindustan Times quotes a Income Tax officers as follows :

"  The taxman will soon start matching your IT returns with your possessions

The Government has started collecting data from various sources and when this is done and the data has been sifted through , action will begin

This drive is a salient feature of the tax department's agenda to curb under-reporting of tax and expand the tax payer base in the country "

And two days back , the person who leaked PANAMA  PAPERS ( 11.5 million digitized documents ) , remarked :

"  Digitization will bring in a revolution "

I would like to add :

{ RFID sensors in Currency Notes  +  IP V 6.0 URL +  GPS +  HADOOP  } ,

will end BLACK MONEY and CORRUPTION , in India

( without needing to pass any bill in Rajya Sabha ! )

I do hope , Shri Arun Jaitley-ji will take note !

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21  May   2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

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One Small Step for a Man .....

Remember the words of Neil Armstrong when he stepped onto the moon ?

" One small step for a Man ; a giant step for the Mankind "

That brings me back to Revenue Secretary, Shri Adhia's remarks in Hindustan Times ( 20 May 2016 )

While referring to Government plans to crackdown on huge cash transactions, he said :

" This will strengthen archaic laws and improve enforcement actions

More checks and barriers will stop illegal fund flow into and out of the country and help more in search and seizure operations "

He was referring to the requirement of giving PAN , as announced by the government , in past few months , in the following cases :

#  cash transactions above Rs 2 lakh

#  sale / purchase of immovable property beyond Rs 10 lakh

#  paying of hotel and restaurant bills of Rs 50,000 and above

#  purchasing gold jewellery above Rs 2 lakh

#  buying / selling of shares of an unlisted company, of Rs 1 lakh and above

The government is now looking to

*  increase the usage of PAN and AADHAR numbers to include more

    transactions

*  declare cash transactions above a certain amount as " illegal "

*  require tax-paying residents to inform the government before opening a

    bank account overseas

RESULTS  SO  FAR  :

*  Found Rs 21,354 Cr worth of undisclosed income

*  Surveys yielded Rs 22,475 Cr

NOW  COMPARE  THIS  ACHIEVEMENT  WITH  :

*  Our nominal GDP is approx Rs 140 lakh*crore

*  Black Economy is estimated at 70 % of GDP ( ie: Rs 100 lakh*crore )

*  Between 2003-12 , Indians siphoned out $ 440 billion abroad

    ( Rs 31 lakh*crore )

So , after enormous administrative effort , we have managed to recover , a mere  0.2 % of the BLACK MONEY in our economy  !

Instead of taking endless number of small steps over next decade , I once again urge NDA government to take following one SMALL step , which will prove to be that GIANT STEP for the entire mankind :

#   Internet of Things ( IoT )

     As each currency note of Rs 500 / 1000 , is getting printed , embed it with microscopic RFIDsensors

     Besides communicating with each other , these sensors will also transmit their existence location , through internet , to cloud-based servers of Income Tax Department

     This will form a " NETWORK  OF  CURRENCY  NOTES ( NoC ) "

     You may like to call this Internet of Currency ( IoC ) , a sub-set of IoT  !

#   Internet Protocol Address System ( IP V 6.0 )

     Each Rs 500 / 1000 currency note must be assigned ( at the time of printing ) , its own unique Internet Address , using IP V 6.0

      This IP address should be linked with the unique Serial Number printed on each note.

     Since IP V 6.0 , will be capable of assigning   " 2 * 10 to the power of 128 ", no of  IP addresses , there is no danger of running out of addresses , even if we decide to extend this idea to Rs 100 currency notes !

Here are the most important BYE - PRODUCTs :

*   No more possibility of fake / forged / counterfeit , currency notes !

*   Plastic currency notes will last 10 times longer !

    

This reform will enable the Central Government / Income Tax Department  to :

*    Continuously trace the movement of each of these higher denomination currency notes

*    Instantly locate any place ( using Google Map based GPS ) , where there is an accumulation of more than Rs 1 Crore worth of currency notes

     Such accumulation will be made to appear as a TAG CLOUD on the web site of IT Dept, like thousands of balloons floating on a map of India , capable of being drilled down to within 1 Sq Meter  !

     On each balloon , will appear a number announcing , " Amount of Cash here - Rs " !

     This will vastly simplify the task of Anti Corruption Dept / Enforcement Dept etc

Of course , RBI will need to allow 6 month's time to the owners of current paper currency notes of Rs 500 / 1000 , to get these exchanged with new plastic notes before withdrawal of the old notes from circulation

Now , would not that distribute the hidden , unaccounted wealth ! - a welcome fall out  !

But then such transparency might lead to break-down of social order / chaos

It may be a better / safer / saner solution for such balloons / tag clouds to appear , on a secret Mobile App , available only to the officers of Enforcement Department ( ED )

You may want to call this app ,  " BLACK-MAIL "  !

Of course , my suggestions may become outdated with the arrival of mobile wallets based CASHLESS SOCIETY , by 2030

In the meantime , should Shri Arun Jaitleyji and Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji , want this implemented , it can be done in 6 months , at one tenth the cost of MoM ( Mars Orbital Mission ) , ie approx Rs 43 Crores

All they have to do , is to tell the bureaucracy :

"  Since we need not depend upon Opposition parties to pass a bill in Rajya Sabha , please go ahead and implement this - in less than 6 months "

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

20  May  2016

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Make    Yourself    Heard

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