दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

As a consumer, we feel like replacing the old TV with the latest in market. Naturally, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and Plasma TVs would have been the choice, but for the price. Plasma is costlier. The shop owner, the other day, suggested us to buy plasma, as its performance is better. But then a gentleman there suggested us to wait for a year when the price would come down considerably. And then I read about Toshiba’s surface-conduction electron-emitter display, or SED televisions. SED televisions are similar to traditional tube televisions. Electrons are fired at a screen to create images. However, instead of coming out of a large electron gun, the electrons are fired from several thousand nano particles. One advantage is that SED televisions are much thinner than tube televisions. The performance and picture quality will also be far higher than LCDs or plasmas. The contrast ratio is 50,000 to 1, far higher than LCD or plasma. The response time is a millisecond, thus the image blur or ghosting that can occur with some LCDs doesn’t occur. SED televisions will also last for 30,000 hours, putting them on par with traditional tube TVs. Power consumption of SED televisions is about half that of plasma. I am sure the other manufacturers will soon follow. Should we wait for it? Can we afford to replace our TVs every year to take advantages of the best technology? Perhaps, those who are in good jobs with fat salaries can do that in plastic card era.

And when we returned home undecided, we were looking to some old photographs taken from my first Yasica- a box camera that I bought when I was in UK in 1966. Many cameras came in after Yasica. During my visits to Japan in 80s and 90s, I kept on buying cameras, particularly the auto focus ones. We have seen revolution taking place in camera technology. Films are gone. Development cost has disappeared. Digital cameras, one gifted by Anand, with my PC and laptop have made the life so easy. I was thinking of enhancing the pixels of my camera or replace it with one with higher pixels. And then I read about Single Pixel digital camera. This digital camera records pictures in the infrared and the ultraviolet as well as the visible range could work using just a single-pixel light sensor, as opposed to the million-pixel sensors digital cameras now employ. This single-pixel camera could drain less power and take up less space without sacrificing image detail. And perhaps very soon, I shall be hankering for a single pixel camera.

However, the most alluring will be the researches in solar energy, when I think about our villages and the lethargy of the government in rural electrification. I keep on thinking why can’t our IITs, IISc, CSIR, and DRDO labs give the rural India a very cheap and reliable source of energy. The sun radiates about a kilowatt of energy per square meter on the surface of earth. There are 2.6 million square meters in a square mile. Thus, every square mile gets about 2.6 gigawatts. (A million kilowatts equals a gigawatt.) Can CISG replacing silicon be an answer? With the limited resources of oil and coal, why should not our best brains try to explore ways and means to exploit this never-ending source of energy? Will it also not end the supremacy of some countries and make the mother a peaceful place to live without Iraq?

Why should not our scientists work on those issues that can change the world forever? Unfortunately, perhaps the scientists or technocrats solving this problem will not get the Nobel Prize.

PS- Big-TV Battle: LCD vs. Plasma
Some Interesting News
IIMs and IITs among world’s best
Economy on a roller coaster

I don’t know how many of metromaniacs know that the changes in rural India are coming pretty faster than what they would have even dreamt of. The life style of the rural people is changing too. There are hardly any cattle now in households. Both, the bullock-drawn carts and ploughs are gone forever. So no one is required to look after the cattle. In my childhood, we, as even a small landlord, used to keep some 6 persons as the whole timers for the whole year. Harvester Combines have taken over even the highly manual harvesting- reaping and thrashing that was a time taking operation too. Houses are today bricked ones, so the ritual of annual repair work before the rainy season requiring the manual labour has gone.

My cousin who looks after the farming in our village says, the farmer today is hardly required to be engaged for a maximum of 30 days. There are some significant social changes too. Some persons, generally women, used to be engaged for drawing water from the wells for household requirements. Presence of a hand-operated tube well in each house has done away with that work. Women of the village hardly anymore work for even the paddy transplantation in the fields. The operation is now a totally male affair with expert gangs coming from other region of the state to do that work on contract. They do it better and fast too. All these changes have meant loss of jobs for the people of the village. Naturally quite a large number of them are immigrating to towns and metros or to other states with all the associated problems for the urban development. And the population in the villages consists more of the aged ones.

If the rural India wish to keep its children engaged in the village itself and the rural economy flourishing, a new approach is necessary. Some out of the landless households are leasing the land of those landowners who don’t farm themselves. But others are still in need of useful and paying engagements. Villagers own today a number of mechanical, electrical and electronics appliances- tractors, motorcycles, diesel pumps, harvesters, oil, rice and flourmills, music systems, cookers, cooking gas stoves, electrified households with solar plates or grid electricity and colour TVs. Presently, the villagers generally go to the town for the repair. One can see hordes of these repair shops while entering or exiting from the road going through the towns. Young persons from the village don’t get themselves properly skilled in repair of these appliances. If they get trained, they can take up this work as profession, become self-employed and remain in their own village. Some more may be required to maintain solar plates and household electrical fittings and appliances with rural electrification spreading in rural India.

Some may also go for some new work. One such work is to produce compost that can replace costly fertilizers effectively, if marketed well. The task can engage some men on regular basis, if understood properly. Unfortunately, there is hardly any move for that, even though many of the farmers know by now that the chemical fertilizers are spoiling the soil of the agriculture fields and making it gradually less fertile.

Can’t the government and the manufacturing company such as M&M or Escorts for tractors, Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda for motorcycles, open these skill- building facilities in rural India? Will it not be helpful in growth of the manufacturers’ business further? Can’t some affluent or educated among these rural young men become the dealers of these companies and its spare parts?

And then how can the rural economy afford to keep the women folks without any productive work? The women are talented and knowledgeable in many skills such as stitching, different types of rural art and craft, rural food processing, dressmaking, and nursing from their childhood. A formal training enhancing the talent can make them employable? We require these skill-building centres in every village for every child that can’t pursue higher education. This is an absolute necessity for building a strong economy. Once some one even without much formal education gets trained as mason, carpenter, or electrician properly, his employability improves. He can earn in his own village or outside the state or even in countries abroad where many are immigrating to build a better career.

No amount of NREG (National Rural Employment Guarantee) plans can improve the rural economy on long term. Some sort of manufacturing bases are essential in rural areas to engage more and more local people that are entering workforce. With expansion of rural electrification, manufacturing can take base in rural India as it did in China. I still remember a story from China’s rural area where a teacher took a lead in starting a shock manufacturing facility and in very short period, the village was a cluster for shock manufacturing supplying millions of shocks to the domestic market as well as for the export. India will have to emulate the Chinese model of manufacturing. Every household will have to be a manufacturing unit however small it may be. That can only provide employment and bring real long-term prosperity in rural India.

Some great News
Govt OKs $9 bn road project: FM

In one of my write-up I suggested that the education department should prepare a must reading book for the school students of Bihar. It must not include the stories of the living political heroes such as Laluji or Nitishji that the sycophants will try to do or had been doing.

I tried to prepare a list of ’10 Great Sons of Bihar’, and came out with the one as follows:

Mahavir, Chanakya, Ashoka, Vidyapati, Shershah, Veer Kunwar Singh, Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Jagjivan Ram, JP Narayan, and Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’. I felt like including the names of two more persons about whom I had heard from my advocate maternal uncle- Shri Gorakh Prasad, and Shri Basisth Narayan Singh. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get some references, and so dropped for the time being.

I know many may not agree with this. However, I made it a point that none of them are living ones, and they must have impacted the nation. I also tried to pick up those who would be least controversial. I had also decided to exclude non-historical names. I wished the members of ‘bihariyahoo’ or ‘worldbihari’ group to suggest some names that they opined as better candidates for the list giving their reasons too. One of the members pointed out that my list doesn’t include any ‘daughter’. Another member, in the reply to the response, suggested including the name of Sita. I am still not convinced to zero it on a name.

Should the project be expanded in three categories based on the time periods: Ancient Bihar (up to 1000 AD), medieval Bihar (up to 1001-1600 AD), and modern Bihar 1601-2000)? That might be a way out, but with the increasing number, the consensus will be more difficult.

I thought many of my friends would help me in getting an agreeable list. But the responses were not satisfactory enough. And suddenly I thought of drawing the information from the knowledge banks that I use very often: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and www.answers.com. I could get a fairly well done listing.

However, the whole lot of names mentioned in them can’t be part of the book that I thought we must have for the school children of Bihar. Surprisingly, both the sources gave the name of one immigrant politician of Bihar origin Faz Husain too. I wish my NRI readers confirmed this. Can they provide some NRI names with some details in industry, medicine, management, politics or social sector?

I wish the intellectuals of Bihar debate and come to agree to a list.

And through patnadaily.com, I wish to get some useful comments on the subject to complete the task for the school children. However, I am nor sure even after the agreed list is arrived at, if the minister in charge of education will agree to it.

PS I have revised the number of great sons from 10 to 13 and included Gautam Buddha, Aryabhatt, and Guru Govind Singh.

Many players in this game- the entrepreneur company, the landowners, the middlemen- environmentalists, human rightists, politicians- both of the ruling and opposition, and many other sympathizers, are creating confusion and social conflicts. And we are to tolerate in the name of the largest democracy.

Let us take the case of Singur. First of all, why is Tata Motors not coming out with technical logics behind the necessity of 1000 acres of land for an assembly plant for 1,00,000 mini-cars (known as Rs 1 Lakh car) per annum? Is the location technically necessary or politically dictated? Why Tata Motors can’t, on its own, move to a land that is not in use for agriculture? Why is Tata Motors using some sort of threat for handing over the land? Why is it not coming out with its plan for rehabilitation or benefits of the people affected? Why is it not participating with the government officials to convince the farmers to hand over the land?

West Bengal government, particularly the CM is doing a wonderful job of convincing the people and obtaining the land by negotiations and quick compensation delivery. However, perhaps in eagerness to get Tatas in Bengal at all cost, Buddha Babu is not demanding some necessary clarifications mentioned above.

As reported, over 70 Trinamul leaders and supporters of the Singur Krishi Jami Bachao committee were arrested, when they were protesting handover of farmland to the Tatas for their small car project. The chief minister can claim that he had gone the extra mile to accommodate the Opposition in the drive to re-industrialise Bengal. The CPM leader ruled out shifting the Tata unit site in Singur to nearby marshy land. But then can someone say ‘why’? Hindustan Motors located near Singur, came up in a marshy land some 60 years ago. Fortunately, there are still no environmentalists, nor middlemen as the CPI (M) cadres in the area are already playing that role. However, the farmers losing their landholdings must get good compensation, as they are getting in Haryana and Punjab.

In case of Orissa and that also of Kalahandi, it is just some people with vested interest are trying to misguide the people there. The land is not fertile. The region is famous for draught and deaths. If the farmers are getting good compensation and are getting assurance for employment or participating through share offers, there can’t be a better option than leaving the land for the factory. However, when the country celebrates Dussehra, Kalahandi in Orissa will witness a huge protest against the Vedanta industrial project. Villagers and environmentalists fear (as claimed) it would do more harm than good without any logic. The local leaders with vested interest will collect a crowd of thousands of tribals and will take to the streets to demonstrate their strength for bargaining. An organization named Green Kalahandi has been opposing the plant on several grounds. It claims, it would divert water of the Tel River away from irrigation, causing destruction of environment, cultural degradation and pave the path for droughts. And this is when Vedanta has already spent over Rs 3,100 crore on the construction, and the project is likely to be commissioned by the year-end.

Why can’t these protests be avoided and an agreed policy be followed that takes care of the interests of those who are losing their lands and residences? All these developments may be very much democratic, but ultimately the poors are losers too.

A Good Writeup
How not to displace people by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar

In last few years, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) unlike other government institutions changed its policy and initiatives to improve its image. It was due to its director general RA Mashelkar’s personal initiatives and wonderful leadership from the front. Its 38 laboratories have changed from patent-poor to patent-prolific. CSIR could get 543 US patents in the last four years, more than the number granted to its counterparts in Japan, Germany and France combined. This is something unique and happened for the first time. It would have got some special laurels from the scientific community, in particular.

Naturally, it has happened at some cost. According to CSIR itself, on an average, each US patent costs Rs 6 lakh to obtain and Rs 6.3 lakh to maintain over 20 years. And the total amount may come to Rs 18-20 crore. Though it can also mean revenue in return. This year, CSIR expects returns exceeding Rs 25 crore from some of its licensed US patents. The revenues will certainly depend on the commercial utility of the patents and vary in amount from year to year.

As reported, Indian scientists are divided on the issue of public spending on obtaining US patents. Some, such as Knowledge Commission vice-president PM Bhargava and former IIT Kharagpur director Professor KL Chopra have apprehensions about the exploitability of the inventions and want to have stringent screening. While some are more critical, “CSIR is wasting taxpayers’ money. I myself hold US patents and know it means nothing.” Is it not a little too harsh a comment for a country that wishes to be globally recognized for its R&D capability? With most of the scientific researches going on in government laboratories, naturally CSIR is the institution to provide the lead.

CSIR director general RA Mashelkar and many others think the criticism is unjustified. US patents are important as a key technology achievement index of the UNDP. On allegations, he argues: “When people call us a patent factory, they should see that CSIR with 20,000 people and 38 labs is only producing about a 100 patents a year. The University of California alone produces over 400 a year.” Scientific Advisory Council chairperson CNR Rao justifies CSIR initiative to take international patents and wants India to have a target of “at least a couple of thousand patents a year”. National Knowledge Commission chairperson Sam Pitroda thinks patents’ initiatives as a correct to be in ‘the global game’.

Why should the scientists of repute start this unnecessary dispute and bickering on so trivial an issue? Is the cost of patents involved are so high that the country can’t afford? How much are wasted in so many unnecessary procedural formalities and unnecessary staffing? Why is China spending billions of dollars to get its universities in the world’s best university list?

There is nothing wrong in spending for getting American patents, if it is being done after proper screening. Papers published in world-class research magazines and patents are certainly the recognized index of the R&D prowess. I do also believe that other R&D institutions including IITs and even DRDO with huge drain on national exchequer must also have some similar achievement index to show that some real good research works are being done there. It will make them a little more accountable and respectable to the nation and the people.

Seeing other states that have already established their lead in development race, I keep on writing some of my ideas about a fast track progress plan for Bihar. I don’t know if others do also agree with this. But the feedback tells me that many agree with my suggestions. One such recently sent to CM and deputy CM is as follows:

Can DGP Abhayanand with his immense interest in education as apparent from his work through Super 30 institute be given a major role to make the education in Bihar its mainstay? Can Abhayanand try to have one primary school in each of the police station manned by the staffs and officers there? I hope that will make them more responsible, clean and efficient. Can this idea be given a trial?

Can DM of each district be encouraged to be its PM as advised by the CM? Each DM can create an education hub in the headquarter of his district in a large enough campus with at least one Science College, a Foreign Language School, one ITI, one Engineering College, one Nursing School, if not Medical College, and five high schools (class VII-XII) sharing some common facilities such as laboratories, auditorium and playground. Can DM and SP actively facilitate the execution of the national projects such as Bharat Nirman or Sarv Shiksha Aviyan in their districts?

Can the education system drop its pass courses at graduation level? Let all deserving students go for an honours course making them really knowledgeable in the subjects. Others must go for professional courses and skill development in polytechnics and trade schools.

Can the school education up to Class XII be affiliated to single curricula of CBSE by abolishing state boards and redeploying its employees in other areas such as health?

Can the CM provide all the incentives to bring in extensions of IIT, Kanpur or Delhi in Patna? Can the three engineering colleges in Patna, Muzaffarpur, and Bhagalpur be upgraded with the curricula and standard of IITs or affiliated to some reputed foreign universities, and drop all teachers that are dead woods?

Can each NRI Bihari wishing to help its root adopt his village primary school or start a trade school to see that all those who don’t go for higher education get trained in some skills?

Can the education department prepare a book ’10 Great Sons of Bihar or BiharRatna’ giving the life stories of Mahavir, Chanakya, Ashoka, Vidyapati, Shershah, Veer Kunwar Singh, Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Jagjivan Ram, JP Narayan, and Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’?

Can the state administration start a reward for the DM and SP of the five best performing districts based on measurable and transparent criteria?

Can the teachers in colleges, particularly of science and professional colleges be awarded special cash prizes for papers published in reputed journals and research work? Can the government announce and ensure those who get selected to IITs, BITS, and NITs would be paid scholarships amount good enough to take care of their essential expenditure?

Can the CM organize a grand conference of the men of all panchayats in the state and invite the President, MS Swaminathan, Kurien, Guru Ramdev and some other non-political personalities to talk to them to enthuse and involve them in the process of rural development? Can CM get at least four or five urban centers in different parts of the state developed as hubs of development with all infrastructure including an airport?

Can the Deputy CM take an initiative to start all the closed mills by providing all the assistance possible and in cases of unscrupulous owners by forcing them? Can the CM assure of the strictest actions against the ‘rangadari’ system?

Can the new management Guru Laluji get the railway axle project at Siwan in operation and Patna Railway Station to a world-class standard as promised before he goes out of railway ministry?

Can Shri Ram Vilasji get some pharma companies set up some herbal based units in Bihar or can M/m Meira Kumar get Sasaram some respectable infrastructure suitable to its history to get some tourists and related benefits for her constituency?

Can the CM initiate the celebration of a Bihar Day once a year where all the achievers are rewarded publicly?

Many times, I wonder why in all world religions, the Supreme has been considered as male and even all the incarnations do also belong to that gender. I wish it would have been the opposite and the world would have been better. One of the Hindi poets whom I love to read even today- Jai Shankar Prasad wrote ‘Nari Tum Kewal Sradhha Ho’ (Woman! You are respect incarnated.’) with a little change ‘Mother! You are Respect incarnated.”. Let me give a prayer of Mother on Mahanavami of Durga Puja that has been written by the great son of Aurvindo who was revolutionary in every respect.

Will you like to read, ‘Ancient Hindu Text Preserved by Modern Technology’ By Jeanna Bryner?

As I spent best part of my life in West Bengal, Durga Puja became our most important of festivals. From early school days at Birlapur, I remember those Bengali Jatras, the open stage plays that were the best attractions. But the most filling event was the sweets offered at the friends’ houses on the Vijayadasami, the tenth day. From Hind Motor days, I remember of one or two night trips to Puja pandals in Calcutta along with the kids. The thing that I disliked most was the separate ques for the women and men in the pandals. It used to cause a lot of problems and unnecessary worries. Later on, I never dared to go out though my Bangali friends and acquaintances kept on insisting me and even though Yamuna loved it. I never liked the huge crowd at the pandals.

My grandfather used to read the whole of Tulsidas’s Ramayan in nine days as ritual finishing on Navami. I followed his way for many years. But now I only read Durgasaptasati. The 700-verse Devi Mahatmyam or Durgasaptsati is from the Markandeya Purana.

Durga is the militant manifestation of Parvati, the consort of Shiva and the embodiment of Shakti, infinite energy created from the combined invocation and the conjoined effulgence of the gods. Gods couldn’t face the demons individually or together and were driven away from heaven by rampaging demons after the battle, which they lost. The gods gave Durga their powerful weaponry in a bid to strengthen Durga’s 10 hands to fight the ferocious fiends headed by Mahishasura, the buffalo-demon.

Shiva gave her his trident, Vishnu his disc, Kubera his club, Indra his thunder and Vayu his bow and arrows. Other gods vied with each other to equip her with their best of the tools. Equipped with the varied weaponry, she mounted her lion. Mahadevi Durga challenged the demons considered so far invincible. And in a fierce and gory battle, she ultimately killed him and became Mahisasurmardini.

Is it not the story that tells us that the woman supported and assisted by the males can do better than them? Was this annual festival started to remind the conflict between divine and demonic forces that always exist in all society? Does the story of Mahishasurmardini symbolise the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil and the undying hope of the ultimate triumph of all that is good?

Does this annual homecoming of the mother remind us about the continuity of the battle against the evils of the society?

In Durgasaptasati Durga has been depicted in many forms and with varied traits. She is on one hand Bhavani, Gauri, Uma and on the other Durga, Kali, Shyama, Chandi and Bhairavi besides being also Jaagaddhatri, Amba, Bhadrakali and Chamundi.

Does Durga Puja also try to remind us the role the woman can play to strengthen the society?

One of our close elderly acquaintances had requested me to take them to Puja pandal of Noida. Today we could take them. I happen to meet some alumni of IIT too in one of the pandals. Durga Puja has now spread all over India. Even many pujas are organized in US, EU and UK too.

And perhaps ‘Incredible India’ can make this festival season a marketing feature to attract tourists from abroad. With mass dancing concerts for dandia and garba in Mumbai and Gujarat, the dusehra processions with elegantly decorated elephants in Mysore, unbelievable architectural feats of the pandals (structure to house the festivals and install the statues) and sculpture excellence, and Ramlila, there can’t be better occasion for the foreigners to enjoy the best and understand India.

Read
Connotations of Navratri by Meera Gopalkrishnan Khanna
The new theme of worship by Gargi Gupta

I have written extensively about MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte plan of manufacturing $100 laptop and sell them to children of the countries like India and China in millions earlier. I was amazed to read a news report that Indians are aspiring to better him many times and sell similar laptops at an unbelievable price of $10, or Rs 450 each.

Indians found Negroponte’s offer of $100 (the real price was coming to $200) a little too costly. HRD and telecom ministry officials and experts from IITs and Indian Institute of Science are working for the indigenous laptop. But as reported, it will be ‘three years before the first $10 laptop comes out’.

As reported, Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT, Chennai, with the famous for his ‘Simputer’ had not only pointed out various problems relating to cost and technology but also offered to devise a much cheaper but equally advanced computer for schoolchildren. I wish he succeeds but does it fast enough, and like many other project it doesn’t remain only at the idea stage. And I don’t know how Bill Gates and other critics of $100 laptop would react to Ashok’s project whenever the Indian scientists and manufacturers are able to do it.

It sounds great and exciting that the taskforce has identified critical challenge areas and set up six anchor groups to be in touch with experts and remove bottlenecks. Institutions like IITs/IISc are entrusted with the task of research and development of cheap laptops. And the more interesting is its vision that wishes to produce some working device not only cheap enough, but also simple enough to be operatable by an uneducated housewife or mother. “If illiterates can handle television and other electronic equipment, why not computers? If the mother is trained, the entire family can become computer literate.”

I was recently reading about the $300 eBook devices being launched this year in September 4, 2006 issue of ‘Business World’. The whole thing appears to be very useful. With this advent of eBook Readers, pretty much the same size, slim and light, as an average paperback novel, one can store plenty of books in digital format, enlarge the text several times making it easy to read on a wide screen page by page. Further, one can plug into PC and download anything one wants, edit the text and make notes. Two devices, Hanlin V2 and V8, out of four are from the Chinese manufacturers. Sony Portable Reader PRS-500 will be half-inch thick device; weighing only250gms with a battery life of 7,500 pages turns per battery charge. After reading about the eBook readers, Ashok Jhunjhunwal’s $10 laptop proposal builds and brings in a new hope about India’s capability for digital devices for daily use.

I wish he could make it a combo with the possibilities for using the same as reader too. If these devices are not affordable by the individuals, why can’t the schools or next-door video shops give it on a cheap rental? The device may work as a common one for father, mother, and child. Every one can use the common device with the individual storage devices- the child device will have his all course books, mother’s her recipes and bank accounts, and father’s office documents and files.

PS: For more on ‘Simputer‘
Low cost to make $100 laptop revolutionary
Indian woman wins ‘alternative Nobels’.
Wipro buys Sweden’s Hydrauto for $31 mn
JSW Steel to invest $18 bn in 3 steel plants
M&M to acquire 67.9 pc stake in Jeco Holding
The IIT story
Microsoft and Hughes to set up rural IT kiosks
HCL launches laptops at Rs 27,000