Public Policy Game-Changer ?

Economic Times ( 29 July, 2016 ) carries a report , titled :

" Your Smartphone can be Public Policy Game-Changer "

This report describes UIDAI's idea as follows :

" Chips of Aadhar-enabled smart phones will be encrypted with UIDAI key and the phones will be connected to the Aadhar server

The key is a security feature to prevent information leakage . The server connection will allow instant fingerprint and iris authentication

The technology bar for putting these features in smart phones is not high - most smart phones can be equipped similarly "

Shri Ajay Bhushan , CEO - UIDAI , added :

" This can be a game-changing feature in phones to become the identity of a person and let him do more transactions on the phone in a secure manner .

This is perhaps the first time something like this will be attempted in the world

Nearly 104 crore Indians have Aadhar and almost 40 crore have smart phones . Every agency requires authentication via Aadhar

If people don't need to go to any office to authenticate their identity and get government services, and if they are able to do so through their mobile phones, this can be a game-changer "

Writing in Times of India ( 28 July, 2016 / How Digital Will Save India ) , Shri Nandan Nilekani , writes :

#  Aadhar provides open Application Programming interfaces or APIs, which can integrate easily into any electronic device . These APIs enable online authentication using a fingerprint or iris. Recently Samsung introduced an Aadhar-compliant tablet with a camera that in a single click performs iris authentication

#  More than 290 million bank accounts are linked to Aadhar today, and several billion dollars of benefits and  entitlements have been transferred to people's bank accounts electronically in real time

#  Such platform aggregators will also create jobs, not as monolithic large organizations, but as millions of small entrepreneurs connected to a platform

#  Indians will either migrate or do outsourcing work. Care providers around the world will come from India

#  The only place where India can achieve economy of scale is in services

Will these visions of Shri Bhushan and Shri Nilekani , get translated into reality - and in near term ?

Read following Smart phone based Mobile Apps for conceptual frame-work :

 *  BackFactory of the World

*   Redefining  Manufacturing

*  RobotsRobots Everywhere , Not a Soul to See  !

*   VotesApp

*   ISIN > < U SIN

*   ROMP

*   BANMALI

*   Black-Mail

*   Currency  Maps of  India

*  An  Aadhar  for   Corporate

*  From  BAD to  MAD

*  Digital  Locker Project

*  DISPENSER- Digital Delivery of Drugs

*  DIGI-MET/ FARE-CALC

*  Fak-e-Mon

*  The  March of  Algorithm

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

05  Aug  2016

www.hemenparekh.in  /  blogs

Fraud Corporation of India ( FCI ) ?

No , I have not given that name to the Food Corporation of India

It is none other than the Supreme Court of India , which seems to think so !

Following are the " reasons " ( as reported in Times of India , a few weeks back ) :

#  On Jan 09 , SC said, " there was something seriously wrong with the FCI where 370 departmental labour

    were each paid Rs 4.5 lakh a month , a salary much more than the President of India "

#  Report of a high level committee said ,

    *   Rs 1800 crore salary bill for labourers in FCI , was unacceptable

    *   Apart from these 370 , there were other departmental labourers who earned a monthly average salary of

        Rs 80,000  and that in contrast, the Contractual Labourers doing the same job earned Rs 10,000 per month

#  Vikram Singh Jangra ( advocate for FCI ) admitted that the average cost per month per worker was Rs 80000/-

#  Supreme Court remarked :

   " They are just loading and unloading sacks of food grain. How are they paid so much when the Contractual

     Labour for the same job gets paid Rs 10,000 ? This means there must be many who must be subletting the

     work to the Contractual Labourers and drawing salary without doing anything "

#  The Government admitted :

    Those drawing salaries in lakhs had actually engaged Contractual Labourers .

#  Amit Sibal ( advocate for FCI Workers Union ) said :

    * Since the salaries could not be paid to the Contractual Labourers , the departmental labourer who engaged

      them was collecting the entire money for their behalf, showing erroneously that a single departmental labourer

      was drawing hefty salary

#  Earlier , the Bombay High Court had passed following directions to FCI :

    *    Reduce the mind-boggling incentive scheme prevalent in FCI

    *    Make the labourers jobs transferable

    *    Abolish depots

    *    Abolish the system of departmental labourers in phases

#   Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar informed SC :

     The Centre has issued a notification on July 06, to revert to Contractual Labourers for loading and unloading

     of food grains sacks at FCI depots

MISSING  LINKS :

#   What punishment , if any , was handed out to those " Labour Department Supervisors " who ,

     *  failed to mark as " absent " those departmental labourers and instead marked them as " present "

     *  allowed entry to those Contractual Labourers , who were NOT engaged " directly " by FCI

#   Does the Central Government notification , violate the " Contract Labour  Abolition and Regulation Act "  ,

     which stipulates monthly wages to Contract Labourers equal to those paid to regular workers at the bottom of

     the scale ?

#   If regular workers are to be replaced by the Contract Labourers , what will those 370 regular workers do ?

     I suppose , they will continue to draw their wages ( obviously , much higher than the monthly average of

     Rs 80,000 ) for playing cards in FCI premises !

#   Do FCI have any established ," Productivity Standards" for " Tons of grains loaded / unloaded per work-day " ?

#   What are the " Permanent Workers / Contractual Workers / Total Wage Bill / Ave wage per worker per month "

     scenarios in other Government Corporations such as STC / MMTC / ASI / GSI and hundreds of PSUs ?

It is high time , our decades old " National Productivity Council - NPC " is requested to carry out an exhaustive work-measurement study of ALL such Corporations and establish clear OUTPUT PER WORK-HOUR norms

#  Annual Salary Bill of the Central Government ( for 39 lakh employees in 2016-17 ) is Rs 183,936 Crore

    Government could easily save 5 % of that bill ( = Rs 9,197 Cr ) , by simply implementing MAD ( Mobile

    Attendance Device ) described in my following email to the NDA Ministers / MPs on   01 June 2016 :

   "  From  BAD to  MAD  "

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

03  Aug  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

   

     

   

Land Pooling vs Land Acquisition ?

Remember those violent demonstrations against the proposed Land Acquisition Bill , all over the country , some 2 years ago ?

After weeks of debates - both inside and outside the Parliament and issue of 2/3 ordinances - , that bill remained in suspended animation

That is when I sent the following email to Shri Nitin Gadkariji ( 23  March  2015 )

Now , more than a year later , I am happy that different States are in the process of implementing different variations of my suggestion through a process of " Land Pooling " , for the following infrastructure projects :

#    Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area ( NAINA ) / 3,800 hectare

#    Navi Mumbai International Airport / 1,160 hectare / Rs 16,000 crore

#    Mumbai-Nagpur Communications Super Expressway / 22,000 hectare / Rs 30,000 crore

#    Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development - Amravati / 13,355 hectare / Rs 1 lakh*crore

DNA ( 30 July 2016 ) reports :

#   Experts say a pooling scheme can change all that and encourage farmers to give up their land in lieu of monthly rent and other benefits

#   It's also a win-win for the government and the investors as it will only help in expediting the infrastructure and development related projects

#   The Gujarat , Chhattisgarh , Chadigarh and Andhra Pradesh governments too have found it better to go for land pooling scheme as against complex Land Acquisition , Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act , 2013 ( Laar )

#   In land pooling, resistance is least and compensation amount way less than Laar

#   Owners of smaller plots will also get a share certificate in the Company that will be formed for the project

#   Un-irrigated and irrigated farmers will stand to get annuity of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh per hectare with a provision of 10 % hike every year for a decade

This is what I wrote to Shri Gadkariji on 23 March 2015 :

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Nitinji,

Farmers are opposing this bill for the following reasons :

>    Low / Inadequate compensation

>    Once land is sold , not being able to benefit from the appreciation of land value , when the project comes up

>   Private parties bought their land at low price and then sold it ( mostly to private builders ) for a whooping profit

I think there is a simple solution to the concerns expressed by the farmers . Please consider the following :

>    Each project will be tied to a specific SPV , created for that purpose only

>    In the first instance , affected farmers will create a " Cooperative Society " 

>   Co-operative Society will issue shares to each land-donor farmer , in proportion to the QUANTITY / VALUE of the land donated by him

>   In turn , Co-operative Society will receive shares in the SPV , equal to the value of the land + a cash compensation equal to 4 times the value of the land

>  Farmer's shares of Cooperative Society cannot be sold in open market before 5 years but can be gifted to wife / Children

>  Shares of Cooperative Society in the SPV itself cannot be sold for next 10 years

>  The " Cash-Value Compensation " received by the Co-operative Society ( ie 4 times the land value ),  will be deployed as follows :

   *  To be immediately paid in cash to the farmers............ 2 times

   *  To be deposited in the Jan-Dhan Account of each farmer as FIXED DEPOSIT ( with 10 @ interest ).............2 times

Dear Gadkariji ,

My proposal will ensure :

>     Immediate attractive compensation to farmers

>     Recurring income from FD in Jan Dhan account ( for a sustained livelihood )

>     Continued sense of " Ownership " in the SPV / Project , which will facilitate QUICK implementation without

       resistance

>     Willing farmers themselves canvassing / convincing " Reluctant " farmers

>     No fear of private parties benefiting by appreciation of land value

>    A sense of " Enlarged Participation " thru Co-operative Society representing them on the Board of Directors of

      SPV

>    Board Representation enabling farmers to ensure that honest decisions are being taken

PLEASE , GIVE  THIS  SUGGESTION   A  CONSIDERATION 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you , Shri Gadkariji !

Thank you for listening to ordinary citizens

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

02  Aug  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Turning Back the Clock ?

Many years back , King Canute realized that a tide cannot be stopped from coming in

But it seems that some of us still think that it is possible to arrest / reverse the " March of Technology " !

How else can you explain the recent decision of the Road Ministry that Uber / Ola taxies must install taxi-meters currently found in Kali-Pili taxies / Auto Rickshaws ?

Because , after all , a taxi by any other name is still a taxi , and must comply with the provisions of The Motor Vehicle Act ?

What will the North Block / South Block mandarins do when the following happens ?

#   Google / Alibaba ( internet giants ) and Tesla / Mercedes ( car manufacturing giants ) , put on the roads ,

     autonomous ( driverless ) cars which will pick up a passenger from anywhere and take him anywhere else

 #  And summoning this taxi and paying the taxi-fare will be through a mobile app ?

#   When this trend picks up , people will stop buying " personally owned " cars and existing car-manufacturers

     will themselves , morph into " Taxi Manufacturers / Aggregators / Service Providers " , in direct competition

     with today's Uber / Ola ?

Instead of trying to turn back the clock , I hope the powers-that-be , read my following blogs and reconsider their

decision

TAKE  AWAY :

*  For Kali-Pili Taxi Owners

Stop depending upon " Sarkar Maa-Baap " ! By harnessing technology , turn the tables on Uber / Ola !

To beat Uber at its own game, pool your fleets all over India and make available a Kali-Pili within 3 minutes anywhere in India , with your own Mobile App , " Kuber " ( Kali-Pili Uber )

If you unite , your " Aggregation " can be 10 times bigger than Uber !

With your clout with the governments ( Central+States ) and with local RTOs , force Uber / Ola , to install in their taxies , Digi-Met tablet meters and Fare-Calc applications for calculating fares ( no surge pricing , since Fare-Calc will be running off the Servers of local RTOs ! )

*  For the Policy Makers in Road Ministry

    Instead of playing a Regulator ( for over-pricing violations by Uber / Ola ) , become a Facilitator for the App-based Taxi Aggregation Industry

Control surge-pricing by increasing competition ( supply exceeding demand , at all times )

Encourage ( through easy / simple rules ) , 10 more Ubers / Olas to come up in the country in next 3 months !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, 16 May 2016

Tablets in Taxies ?

DNA ( 16 May 2016 ) carries following news-report :

" LMO for apps to replace fare meters "

In this report , Shri Amitabh Gupta , Controller of Legal Metrology Organization ( LMO ) , is quoted as follows :

" There are couple of mobile phone-based applications available on the internet which can calculate the fare based on distance and waiting time.

If genuine applications are verified by the LMO, then any auto rickshaw or taxi driver can download it on their phones and then use them.

Since they would be verified by the LMO, there would no question over the issue of malpractice.

This way, gradually the electric metres would give way to such applications that appears to be useful and are in line with the latest technology "

Congratulations , Shri Gupta , for this initiative  !

This is , indeed , good development and reinforces my following suggestion / blog  : 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Making Yourself Obsolete ?

As I observed in my earlier blog ( 05 Feb 2016 ), Theodore Levitt wrote in his seminal essay," Marketing Myopia " :

If you don't obsolete yourself , someone else will . So keep asking yourself : What business are we in ?

Levitt gives example of American Railroads , which failed to ask themselves this question and got obsolete by American Car manufacturers and American Airlines . No more people wanted to travel by trains !

Whereas it may take 10/20 years before Car Manufacturers themselves get obsolete ( by manufacturers of Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality / Holographic / Hepatic devices and web-services - making travelling unnecessary ) , according to me , taxi-rickshaw Meter Manufacturers are in the danger of getting obsolete , within the next TWO YEARS  !

Expect some Indian Start-Up to come up with a digital taxi meter ( to be called , DigiMet  ? ), resembling a 8" tablet , with a screen on both the sides , visible to both , the driver and the passenger

DigiMet will be integrated with :

*  GPS based Google Map

*  Mobile App ( called , FareCalc ? ) downloaded from the web site of the Authority fixing " Tariff " ( RTO ? )

Passengers will also need to download / install , FareCalc app on their smart phones

As requested by the passenger , taxi driver will enter the destination location , in DigiMet

Immediately , DigiMet will display the following routes to the desired destination :

*  Shortest route ( distance-wise )

*  Fastest route ( time wise ) , taking into account the traffic conditions on different routes

DigiMet will also display , the amount of " fares " payable for each route ( also displaying tariff : Rs per Km )

Now it is the passenger's turn to select / choose the route that he wants the driver to take

The taxi / rickshaw will start only thereafter !

At the end of the journey , passenger will have the options to pay the fare ,

*  In cash

*  By entering his Credit Card details into the DigiMet , or

*  Through his Mobile Wallet ( using NFC  ? )

The Mobile App will also need to have a provision for any " Waiting Time " charges to be added

When the destination is reached , DigiMet will display :

*  Distance travelled

*  Time taken

*  Waiting Time ( if any )

*  RTO approved tariff ( Rs per Km )

*  Fare amount payable

Any revision in the tariff will get updated automatically in DigiMet as also on the smart phone of passenger

For taxis / rickshaws running on Hybrid fuel ( producing less Co2 ) or Electric Vehicles ( zero emission ) , both , the driver and the passenger will get " Carbon Credits " , which will also get displayed on the DigiMet as also on the FareCalc Mobile App on the smart phone of the passenger ( @ 20 % of the fare payable ? )

These amounts will get transferred to their respective Jan Dhan Bank Accounts ( thru DTB ) , every quarter

I suppose some variation of DigiMet / FareCalc can be introduced in all State Transport buses and intra-city Municipal buses

I hope , the current manufacturers of taxi - rickshaw meters are asking themselves  :

What business are we in ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01  Aug  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs