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

Sunday 23 April 2017

Thank You : Beerud



Thank you for your offer through following email ( Sun 23-04-2017 /  00:30 ) :



Sub : BHIM 4.0: conversational apis


Hemen-bhai , 

We'd love to enable conversational interface for BHIM. As you mentioned in your post, we're one of the global leaders in bots and partners with Google. We're talking to NPCI, but let me know if you have any other contacts. 

Keep up your blog  !  Enjoyed  reading  it.

--
Beerud Sheth
Chief Executive Officer
The leading bot platform



Dear Beerud :

For the first time since independence, we have a Government ,

·         whose Ministers / Secretaries listen to the suggestions given by ordinary citizens


·         which accepts and implements suggestions, strictly on “ Merits / Benefits “, without need for “ Contacts



I will persevere to “ Influence the Policy Makers “ to 

follow the Road-Map ( leading up-to BHIM V 10.0 )  

that I have suggested in my following blogs ( sent as 

email to all the Policy Makers ) :

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

BHIM , theUnstoppable ( 14 April 2017 )




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



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


While we await for NPCI ( National Payment 

Corporation of India ) officers to discuss voice-

activated BHIM V 4.0 , with you , I would like to 

pose another challenge !




Based on the concept outlined in   VotesApp  (  18  Aug  2013  )




( mobile app for replacing millions of EVM-Electronic Voting Machines ) ,


do you think it is possible to enable 800+million Indian voters to cast their votes ( for Lok Sabha / State Assemblies / Municipal elections ) , through a chat-bot called “ VoteBot “ ?


VoteBot would consist of :


·         CommissionBot……( representing Election Commission of India )


·         VoterBot………………( representing an India Voter )



These will transact business as follows :

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

·         CommissionBot

“ Kaun election me vote karnaa hai ? Lok sabha , ya tumhare pradesh ki vidhaan-sabha , ya tumhare shahar ki municipality ? “



·         VoterBot

Lok Sabha




·         CommissionBot

Pucca ? Lok Sabha ke liye vote karna hain ?



·         VoterBot

Han ji ! Lok Sabha ke liye vote dalna hai “




·         CommissionBot

      “ Kaun si party ko vote dena hai ?



·         VoterBot

     “  Muze BJP ko vote dena hain “



·         CommissionBot

    “  Pucca ? Fir se boliye , kis party ko vote dena hain ?


 “

·         VoterBot

    “  BJP ko dena hai “




·         CommissionBot

    “ Tumhara vote BJP ke khate me jamaa kar diya 

hain aur tumhare mobile number pe
     

confirmation SMS bhi bhej diya hain “



If you say :


“ No problem !  Can be done in 8 weeks , with 

biometric id verification of Iris / Speech / Finger and 

of course , linked with Aadhar as well  ! “ ,



then  Election Commission need not order 1.6 Million V-VPAT ( Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail ) devices , costing Rs 3173 Crore  !




That apart , Lok Sabha election can be conducted in just ONE DAY !





23  April  2017









Friday 21 April 2017

“ Think Out of the Box “ Possible ?



DNA ( 22 April 2017 ) carries following report :



“ Take decisions fast , don’t fear consequences : PM “


Here is an extract :


·         Urging the country’s top officials to “ think out of the box “and take collective ownership to bring change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them to become “ enablers ” rather than “ regulators “


·         Some bureaucrats have referred to the three Cs – the CAG , CBI and the CVC – as stumbling blocks in decision making.


·         He asked civil servants to weigh their decisions from an outcome point of view and not from an output point of view


·         A legislation proposed in 2013 to amend the “ Prevention of Corruption  Act “ to protect “ honest “ officials by differentiating between a corrupt decision and a genuine error is pending before the parliament


·         Over the years, this “ fear factor “ have led bureaucrats to defer decisions either referring them to their respective Ministers or to the PMO


·         If a decision is taken with honest intention , truthfulness and for the welfare of the public, nobody can raise a finger at you


·         Something momentary may happen , but I am with you “



Dear Narendrabhai :


Expect a miracle of decision-making , if that proposed amendment to “ Prevention of Corruption Act “ incorporates following provisions from my earlier blog / email


Friday, 20 June 2014


To Err is Human


To forgive is divine ( provided it was a honest error )


All of us keep making errors , all the time


But rarely same " mistake " twice


Often , decisions taken at a point of time , turn out to be " poor " , with passage of time


Reasons are simple :


  
·         We never have all the information - relevant to the problem we are trying to solve - available with us , at the time of taking a decision




·         Even when most of such relevant info is available , we may not have the capacity / competence to " process " such info



*   As humans , we have our biases / prejudices , based on our previous experiences , which influence our decisions


*  
Quite often , and often against our own better evaluation / judgement of a given situation , we are wrongly influenced by our peers / bosses / subordinates or even voters - all of whom have different expectations / vested interests !


*  
Additional - and more relevant - information surfaces , AFTER we have taken a decision ( happens all the time  !  )


To encourage Babus and Ministers to take FAST decisions , Shri Narendra Modiji , must insist that they carefully " Record " on the files :


*   
What info / data he wished was available for a better decision


*   
What different " views / opinions " were presented to him for consideration


*   
What " Data / Views " he would have obtained if he had more time


*   
Who all , the decision might offend


*   
What is the likely " Cost " of postponing that decision


And finally following declaration :


*   
THIS DECISION IS NOT LIKELY TO BENEFIT ANY OF MY NEAR RELATIVES / FRIENDS , DIRECTLY OR IMMEDIATELY


After all of this , if the decision appears to be " Wrong " in hindsight , it must be " forgiven " and treated as an honest error


To err is human  !


22  April  2017



Need of the hour ? : TEAM



By TEAM , I mean :  Technology Evaluation and Acquisition Minister



Whose job description will be :


Remain constantly on look-out for developing / developed technologies from around the World , evaluate their relevance to India’s myriad problems and acquire the same from the developers ( including patent rights / IP rights , to exploit it / improve upon it )


Make available these acquired technologies to Indian Companies ( both , in private and in public sectors ) / NGOs / Start-Ups etc , FREE of cost ( conditions apply in respect of production targets / pricing / time to implement / after-sales service etc ! )





Following are some such technologies :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Problems : Unavailability of clean drinking water in 

drought / famine affected areas


              : Pollution thru Plastic Bottles / Mountains 

of Land Fills – Garbage Dumps


Tech from : Prof  Omar  Yaghi ( Uni of California ) / 

Skipping Rock Labs ( UK )


Details at :






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

Problem : Loss of Forest cover / Rampant 

Desertification



Tech from : Zhong Zhihua, Chinese Scientist 

(Chongqing Jiaotong University ).


Details at :



Problem : Millions sleeping in Streets / Slums, for 

want of affordable houses

Tech from : Chris Kelsey ( Cazza ) / WinSun ( China ) / Formwerkz ( Singapore )

Details at : 

·         PlasticSkyscrapers







·         FutureHome is here !





·         FromWaste to Wealth





·         ARoof  over  every head  ?









Problem : Traffic Jams on City Roads / Hours to reach Office-Home


Tech from : Electric Front Wheel for Bicycle from Geo-Orbital ( Cambridge – USA )


Details at :







Problem : Charging of Batteries of Electric Vehicles takes hours !


Tech from : Flash Battery Charger from Stores-Dot ( Israel )


Details at : 

·         ARadical Radial Revolution





·         All ChargedUp ?




Problem : No transmission lines for taking electricity to far-flung villages


Tech from : Bicycle Generated Power from Manoj Bhargava ( BillionsinChange )


Details at :








Problem :  No way to store ( for use at night ), billions of KWH of Solar Power


Tech from : PowerPack Batteries from Elon Musk ( TESLA )



Problem :  Fossil Fuel Power killing millions / Urgent need to generate Solar Power


Tech from :  All over the World


Details at :





Problem : Dependence on import for Li-ion batteries /

 Fast charging button batteries


Tech from :

 #  Venkataraman Thangadurai and colleagues ( University of Calgary / Canada )

     Thangadurai  says :

“ The technology we have developed would enable absolutely stable, robust, safe, high-powered, all solid state lithium batteries for future energy storage , which have many potential applications , including charging of electric vehicles 

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

#  And then there is Israeli firm  Stores-Dot , which claims to be developing a car battery  that can be charged in 5 minutes and give a range of 300 miles !

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

#  A research group at the University of California (UCR), Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering has developed nano silicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, by simply using a low-cost chemical process and waste glass bottles.

The batteries will not only extend the range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles, but also provide extra power with fewer charges to laptops, cell phones, and similar personal electronics.



Problem :  High value currency notes facilitating generation of BLACK MONEY
Tech from : RFID technology from Sanjay Sarma ( MIT )
Details at :

Problem : Making available high speed Internet to entire India ( remotest corner )

Tech from : GoogleLoons  ( from Google ) / Drones ( from Facebook )



Problem :  Poor road construction methods resulting in perennial pot-holes

Tech from :  Cold Asphalt technology from COLAS ( France )
Details at :

21  April  2017