A PM for Power Ministry

Posted on June 14, 2009 by indra

Power situation in India has been grim for decades. I remember how in late 60s- 80s the dismal power situation at Hindustan Motors made our life miserable. Our task at the factory was to keep on closing and starting machines in different sections to match the supply under quota. For months, we had to switch to third shift operation that was inhuman and highly inefficient. As a mad young man, I used to get in and come out of the plant many times in a day working almost 20 hours a day. In mid-80s when we got opportunity, we preferred to import huge diesel generating sets for around 20 MW. In 1997, I retired and came to Noida in Harig Crankshafts, and the power situation was equally bad if not worse. It remains the same today all over the country, be it Bangalore or Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai. The story of power outages is an example how the government and its bureaucracy have failed to provide the very basic infrastructure to tap the growth potential to its optimum level. How can the country’s GDP grow at 8-9% as the Prime Minister promises without availability of power?

As reported, power disruption in India’s offshoring capital Bangalore takes over 70 minutes for power to be restored if and when the disruption occurs. And it is all due to failure of the government after government that has ruled the state. NR Narayan Murthy in his book ‘A Better India, A better world’ has referred to the power project dedicated for Bangalore that still awaits government’s sanction after twenty years. Why can’t all the Metros and satellite townships have its own captive plant as proposed in SEZs? It can’t be for any other reason but the politics that rules the day.

According to a report of Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology and Emerson Network Power, power disruption or outage costs India Inc Rs 43,205 crore. And this is situation when the captive power plants set up by individual companies in India generate 55,000 MW beside 148,000MW generated by power plants.

While on one hand the work in the companies in India gets disrupted because of power outages, 27% of the total power from the plants is lost in transmission and distribution and theft.

The record of power generation capacity addition has been poor. The new cabinet that retains the same minister hardly gives hope. Perhaps the only way out may be a PM for power ministry. It is not undoable, if the project management is efficient and the promises are met. Here is some good news that may enthrall optimistic like me:

The Power Ministry of the new UPA government promises to deliver new power capacity of 5,653 megawatts (MW) to the nation by the end of August. The President address promises to add 13,000 MW a year. But the use of words such as ‘strive’ or the ‘promise to announce’ additional coal-based ultra mega power projects (UMPP) of 4,000 MW each at Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Orissa in the next 100 days’ makes the intention doubtful.

As reported, a bevy of private power promoters are waiting in the wings with firm proposals to set up more than 30 greenfield power projects with a collective generating capacity of well over 25,000 MW across the country.

The Clinton Foundation has firmed up its plans to set up the world’s largest solar park in Gujarat with a capacity of 3,000-5,000 Mw.

If PM couldn’t get a better power minister, will he use one of the best youngsters from among new MPs or an efficient IAS to get the power projects monitored for him?

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Green Technologies: Design for Recycling

Posted on June 12, 2009 by indra

“From 2010, the European Union has made it mandatory for all automakers to produce cars that can be recycled up to 80% so that the pressure on the natural resources is lower. Auto compnenets maanufacturers are abandoning the use of carcinogenic products in favour of biodegradable materials.”

Manufacturing management talked in 80s and 90s about two target considerations for designing any new products- design for manufacturability, DFM and design for assembly, DFA. The idea was to tell designers that they can’t work in isolation creating the drawings and detail specifications including tolerances of the product and all its components without ensuring its feasibility to manufacture and assemble without excessive cost and inconvenience. Later on the design for serviceability got introduced. It must be easy to repair and service the product too.

And with the concern of the global warming and pollution of the environment that is becoming critical today, the engineers must design products also with recyclability or recycling, DFR as one of main considerations for easy disposal without causing much damage to the environment.

“The automobile industry still remains the pioneer in this field. The bodies of most end-of-life vehicles have been recovered by specialized processes. But this is no longer enough, as cars are not made solely of metal. Polymers are extensively in use along with various grades of coated and uncoated steels. Designers must therefore try to recycle all the components going in the latest cars. This is the real challenge, because it requires the establishment of economically viable recycling chains, organized by major categories of materials.

“All the major automakers have decided to incorporate the demands of recycling into the design of its vehicles.

Design for Recycling encourages manufacturers to take voluntary action without waiting for the government imposed intervention or making it mandatory. Its goal is to encourage pre-production planning for safe and efficient recycling by eliminating hazardous and non-recyclable materials from the production process. Manufacturers and their technocrats are taking up the challenge keeping the global need in mind.

There are many tough technical problems that require R&D. for example, plastic gas tanks, becoming very common in new vehicles, cause several problems for recyclers. First, there is potential danger to the environment and worker safety because the plastic tanks absorb volatile organic vapours from gasoline. Furthermore, the current multi-layer/multi-polymer design cannot be easily or economically recycled.

All the R&D institutions will have to take special interest to work for green technologies. Will India and its innovators take lead to remain globally competitive?

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Growing ‘Made in India’

Posted on June 8, 2009 by indra

India’s big domestic market is reason enough for growing interest of MNCs to set up its manufacturing plants in India. Many companies of developed countries are entering in India’s manufacturing sector.

Most of the globally known auto companies including commercial vehicle manufacturers are having its facilities in India.

Toyota Motors’ first coming in India for commercial vehicle didn’t get ahead significantly in 80s. At later date, Toyota Motors set up a plant near Bangalore in India for manufacturing its utility vehicles and compact passenger cars, presently manufacturing Innova and Corrola respectively. It has another manufacturing facility that produces gearboxes that are exported too. Toyota Kirloskar, as part of its expansion plans now to set up another small and compact car manufacturing unit with an investment of about Rs 3,200 crore, creating 2,000 jobs.

GM might have filed bankruptcy in US; GM India is planning another minicar in India that will be priced below ‘Spark’. Other foreign auto manufacturers including Honda and Nissan are setting up or expanding their manufacturing facilities in India to get its own share of Indian market. Interestingly, exports of passenger cars from the country soared 41.64 per cent in May, although domestic sales increased by a meager 2.48 per cent.

Hyundai Motor India is studying the feasibility of setting up a diesel engine plant close to its existing car manufacturing plant near Chennai. Hyundai Motor already has a petrol engine plant which makes Kappa engine at its Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai. The Kappa engine, which is fitted into the i10 car of Hyundai, was developed at a cost of over $400 million. The company expects to sell about 5.8 lakh cars during this calendar year, which is an increase of slightly over 18 per cent over the previous year. Out of 5.8 lakh cars, about 3 lakh cars will be exported including to some European countries.

Being in Noida and seeing Delhi Metro getting into this NCR by August end, I can realize the speed at which Metro is expanding. Its contribution to the improvement of the quality of the life of the city has made other cities to go for Metros in number of cities. And this is the way the related manufacturing gets a boost. Bombardier Transportation set up a manufacturing facility in Gujarat to produce metro train. The first Bombardier Movia train has wheeled out of the Savli facility in a record 18 months. The coaches are cheaper in price than the imported ones. Its design is improved one and incorporates many improved features. It is about 35-40% indigenous. It will supply a total of 81 train sets comprising 424 broad gauge coaches to Delhii Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) by October 2010 at a cost of about Rs 3,000 crore. I am sure that the plant will soon become the company’s hub even for export market.

The defence production facilities can further enhance the manufacturing sector if it scales its production and also get into export business more commercially. Latest in the news is the Indian Army’s acceptance of DRDO designed and locally built main battle tanks, Arjun. The first armoured regiment with 45 Arjun tanks has taken shape. MBT Arjun has excellent mobility, superior fire power and protection, and is comparable to contemporary world tanks. Some of the significant locally built technologies include Kanchan armour, hydro-pneumatic suspension, armament system, integrated fire detection and suppression system, system engineering and system integration of complex weapon platforms. The tank has been designed and developed by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment India (CVRDE) along with other defence research and development organisations (DRDO) and industrial partners.And the government must take a prudent decision to keep on scaling up and innovating it. It must market and export it to all the countries against global competition. It will mean a lot of outsourcing to many manufacturing vendors.

The government must facilitate Indian PSUs such as HAL, BHEL and BMEL to expand and to become one of the top 10 companies of the world. Automatically, this thrust will give Indian manufacturing a big boost.

But the real employment generation can come only through manufacturing of low tech high volume domestically required commodities in big way in all corners of the country. India will have to compete with other Asian countries, particularly China. How can India get into this mode of manufacturing? India must find a cost effective model and induce the thousands of the new entrepreneurs for this sector.

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Death (?) of General Motors-The Legendary Giant

Posted on June 4, 2009 by indra

IMAGES

It is unbelievable to many like me but the reality too that can’t be overlooked anymore. GM will soon be declared bankrupt. General Motors filed for bankruptcy on Monday morning. It is the lowest point in General Motors’100-year history. GM would close 14 more American factories and cut up to 21,000 more jobs. G.M. will have fewer than 40,000 workers building cars in the United States – one-tenth of a work force that in the 1970s numbered 395,000 people.

GM that I knew was the largest company of the world with many legendary giants among its CEOs. In early70’s, when I was reading Alfred P Sloan ‘My Years with General Motors‘, I was awestruck by the data on its back page-its revenue and profit, its number of plants and number employees. It was a nation in itself perhaps a global one.

GM led the innovations in car that started with electrical starter instead of hand cranking. And majority followed from GM. It set management standards through professional teams. It made automobile manufacturing as sector the most respectable. ‘The auto giant helped to define the nation’s car culture and played a part in creating the American middle class’.

Hindustan Motors where I worked for the most of my active life was having a long business connection with GM. I went to UK in 1966 for a training in Vauxhall Motors that was GM plant. Vauxhall was one of the largest producers of commercial vehicles with each vehicle coming out from conveyor a different in one way or the other. Whatever the customer wanted it delivered. But when I visited it in 1982, Vauxhall hardly had its old charm. Its business had gone down. Later on in late 80s I visited Isuzu Motors, Japan many times. HM went to collaborate with Isuzu for building trucks in its new Vadodara plant as GM had a stake in it. Isuzu trucks were known world over because of superiority in technology. GM was outsourcing a number of vehicles from Isuzu. In late 80s and early 90s, GM was trying to come in India. It collaborated with HM for building car. It took over the HM assets, particularly the plant that HM had build for the Isuzu truck and abandoned later on because of strengthening yen. I was associated with GM’s team, visited their European facilities, and came in close contact with some GM Technical center in US. I couldn’t get very high opinion about their approaches. But then I was shifted to the factory operation for few years, and the contact with GM got lost that was there as corporate planning man.

However, as I had the academic interest I kept on knowing more and more about the automobile world that I could collectively put in my book, A Treatise of Automobile Manufacturing’. I can’t but mention GM’s Saturn cars and its technological superiority. GM had puts its best in it in many way. Perhaps GM had tried to compete with Japanese with Saturn. Surprisingly, after the bankruptcy initiated reorganizations, Saturn will no more be there. Last year when I was in US, I had visited NUMMI plant an experiment in collaboration where Toyota and GM were working together.

Last year itself Toyota took over the GM supremacy and went ahead of it. American automobile manufacturers over the years had handed over the leadership of the industry to the Japanese. And the recent financial meltdown brought the end faster than expected. The management system of American companies couldn’t find the solution to overcome the crisis. Even after substantial government aids and doles, GM and Chrysler couldn’t survive. Both have gone in bankruptcy.

According to the media, GM will be now Obama Motors. Obama considers it as ‘the end of an old G.M., and the beginning of a new G.M’. Will GM become viable again following the prescription of the bankruptcy and new ownerships? Will GM remain for posterity or get into only the history of automobile manufacturers of the world as my own company HM?

What are the lessons from GM’s demise? Whose fault was it? Is the American management system responsible for it? Has America lost its managerial talent that it even now boasts to have? Who were responsible for the much talked about poor quality coming out of the American auto manufacturers for more than a decade? Why couldn’t the management or the government take the right step in right time? How can Harvard and Stanford- the management schools, boast itself the globally best, as it happened in its country? And finally why we in India still keep on adoring everything in American management? Will Indian companies take some lessons from the GM story?

As reported, GM India may still survive. Surprisingly, GM India plans to come out with a new mini car at around Rs 2 lakh. Will the government and the banks in India allow GM India to continue and grow independently? One way for MNC GM will certainly be to make its local units in different countries totally insulated from American operation and its management control? And new GM may use research and development centre in India to get the right car with frugal design and manufacturing concept.

What a humiliation or what an end!

A search for ‘GM’ on Google got me 165,000,000 and for ‘General Motors’ 73,600,000 on this day June 04, 2009 at 1.45 PM.

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BJP- A national necessity

Posted on June 3, 2009 by indra

A strong opposition with countrywide presence is essential for a good democracy in India. As on today, it is BJP that can occupy the place. And the members of the party, its MPs, and its leadership must take pride in it and workout strategy for making the kill to go to the top rather than getting bogged down because of the irritants from RSS or allies such as Sarad Yadav or the media.

A dynastic party can never remain the darling of the country for a long time and may turn complacent to the need of the people of the country. It will be a shame for a nation of a billion. How long Rahul be kept off the throne. Manmohan will make the way for Rahul. In that case, the mother and son will run the government. Will India live with this alternative or will it like to have a real democratic people’s party? Dynastic politics is anti-people. Perhaps the best example known to me is that of Meira Kumar. She might have won from Sasaram twice, but hardly remained in touch with its problems, its people or did anything for it. BJP must sell the disadvantages of dynastic politics effectively to the people.

Can BJP be a challenge to the dynastic alternative by being different?

Can BJP be run professionally? It requires making its succession policy transparent based on meritocracy and democracy so that internal feuds are minimum. It can have senior mentors in Bajpai, Advani or Murli Manohar, but the CEO must be the best that it has in its lot, be it in among the chief ministers or senior leaders. It may follow a rotational system for the position for some time to decide the best. It must even give due considerations to the popular opinions and can take help of professional consultants. Let it remember that it is to fight with Rahul, who is getting the maximum attention for his age and fresher views.

Can BJP leaders try to avoid putting their offspring in politics? Can it ensure a different situation than one seen in present ministry where even both sasur and damad are ministers? Can BJP officially get the party agree to have only one person from the family in the parliament unlike the present house when both Maneka and Varun, are in the same house? Can BJP shun the family politics as policy? The 15th Lok Sabha has seven sets of parent-child combines in the House in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh, Ajit Singh and Jayant Choudhury, Sharad Pawar and daughter Supriya Sule, Sisir and Subhendu Adhikary, and former PM H D Devegowda and son H D Kumaraswamy.

Can NDA create a shadow cabinet of a sort to cover all the cabinet ministries and be the first opposition to do that?

Will BJP ensure that its members play the role of a constructive Opposition and try to prove they are better parliamentarians? Advani has laid down five principles: support the government when national interest demands; oppose anti-people policies; use parliamentary devices to keep the government on its toes; raise issues of people’s concerns; and focus on states that have not elected BJP members. Will the members go religiously with this spirit?

Will BJP raise the real and contemporary national issues proactively-safety of Indian students in Australia or the civilian Tamils killed in Sri Lanka operation, follows up the government promises and positively point out its failure if necessary on the sites, particularly the occasional price rises? UPA had been the master in promisology. Can UPA justify the prices of potatoes and onion in Noida market that Rs 16 and Rs14 a kilo today? How much the producing farmers get for a kilo?

Let the people appreciate and differentiate between the Congress and BJP. The CEO of Congress, be it Sonia or Rahul is bound to work harder than the CEO of BJP. CEO of Congress takes the job as one for its own private company. Motivation factors for Congress are different. Not even a very senior member has guts to say anything against the family or its views. BJP is public company with no stake of any particular family or individual. Under this disadvantage and the handicap of the minority totally united to vote against it, will BJP be able to go ahead of Congress? The answer can be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. BJP can do it with a system that can select a visionary and more so missionary leader who can bring discipline and transparency and motivate the nation in favour of the democracy, the government of the people, by the people and for the people. And the ‘people’ for BJP must be all Indians without any bias.

It must come out with a roadmap for survival as the single major opposition and for win.

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Educating in Australia- Fad or Necessity

Posted on June 2, 2009 by indra

The stories of assaults on Indian students in Australia did shock me like many. I have a neighbor, Grover here in Noida whose both sons have studied and now working in Australia. While the elder is married, the younger is not. Grover is retiring by the year end from his government job, but wants to get his younger son married before that. And then he has a plan to go and live with sons. Grovers have been going to Australia almost every year and have developed fascination for the place. He meets me almost every day during my morning talk and many a times, on his own talks about the superiority of the quality of life in Australia. I was talking with him about the current assaults and asked if he would change his mind to settle there. Grover was forthright and put the blame on the students assaulted.

Anyone who goes to a different place other than the one where he has been living for a long time must take precautions against such eventuality. What happened in Melbourne, Australia can happen anywhere even in Mysore and Bangalore. Why should we forget the stories from Mumbai and how the goons of MNS assaulted their own countrymen from the provinces in North?

Migration of the students, rather young educated youths to the all the green pastures of the world has been growing over the years. With increasing globalization it will grow further. One of my friends in Indore has son and daughter- both working in New Zealand. Both the couples are doctors, earning decent remunerations, and have all the amenities of a rich country with large houses and good cars. Even those working there know what precaution they must take to avoid all the racial feelings.

When I look at the recent stories in media, I couldn’t but infer that many of the students are pursuing regular courses for which there is hardly any dearth of facilities in India itself. Most of the colleges that the students join may not be one of the best. The reasons of migration these days have been the possibility of employment after studies that ensure much better quality of life. Other reason is certainly the failure to get entry in the colleges or institutions of choice. In India today, if I go by the media reports, the admission in a large number of private professional colleges for various courses is not difficult. But majority of them lack the infrastructure for good education, particularly related to hostels, teachers and labs. What needed is the improvement of the quality of education at these institutes. It can come with some sort of mandated ranking of these institutes and its courses at state and national level by some credible agencies. The joint ventures and collaborations with highly ranking institutions and universities of the developed countries can also improve the quality of education. May be the new government can take soon some action in freeing education from its control and permit the FDI in education sector.

Today Indian students from all over the country are not only going to USA, UK, but even to the countries such as China, Singapore and even Ireland. With all the initial advantages, India has failed to develop its education sector to the level it could have. A good education is a universal necessity and so good business proposition too. If Australia can have the third highest earning from education, and Singapore is investing in developing its educational institutes with that intention, why should not India.

I get really elated and amazed with our youth who are ready to go anywhere in the world for a good education and career taking all the risk. It is good that they got together and took other communities along with them to raise their voices with peaceful protest and made the media and the governments listen to their problems that must end. However, they must shun any violence under any instigation. I only sympathize with many aged and incapable parents, particularly the mothers, who still in Indian traditions keep on worrying about their children. Unfortunately, many can only pray and keep blessing.

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PS: My daughter-in-law, Shannon, a US citizen, was working in Australia’s CISCO office. She told me once that her house there got repeatedly burgled. As I know the early settlers in Australia were the vagabonds from all the European countries. Perhaps it is the DNA background that is behind the stories of brutal attacks on Indian students in Australia. And as it seems some in the Australian police are racists. Why can’t India threaten Australia and advise against the tourists and students going to Australia for a year? People of the country on their own can take such decision.We could have seen a faster action from the Australian government. Afterall with a little trouble in India many so-called developed countries keep on issuing advisory against visiting India to their citizens

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IIT -The Dream Destination of Young India

Posted on May 27, 2009 by indra

Noida, Monday, May 25, 10 PM: I normally go to bed by this time. But it had started raining and as usual the power had gone off. Yamuna asked me to check if I had locked the main gate. As I found a marriage procession going with loud band, I called her. In the meantime the telephone started ringing. We were surprised as no one calls us at this hour. Yamuna picked up the call. I was just listening to her conversation. She was congratulating profusely, and then she called me. It was Ramesh, my cousin brother from Varanasi on the other side. His son Golu has cracked IIT-JEE with a rank of 209. It was certainly good great news. Golu becomes the third in the extended family to enter IIT and the first after Rakesh. Every middle class Indian dreams to see his or her child in IIT for engineering education that is the most sought after profession. As reported, some 384,977 students appeared in the JEE this year , competing for 8,295 seats at 15 IITs, the IT-BHU, and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. The higher the rank, the more are the chances of better stream of engineering. Present trend is for computer sciences and engineering, Every Indian parent, even in rural India knows that. Golu can certainly get it in one of the older IITs. I congratulated Ramesh. He has not been very successful himself. But the achievement of Golu will make him known in the community. I parted with some suggestions to Golu. I am sure he would have been knowing much more than me. My maternal uncle who is my guardian too, must be the happiest person today.

Tuesday May 26. The newspapers have all the news of the success stories of students from different zones, states, and cities- Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Faridabad, Vadodara, Jaipur, Varanasi, Nagpur and Kota, the town that has become the hub of JEE coaching industry. Some of the stories are really one of aspiring and empowering India. But most important of the stories is one of repeat performance of Super-30 of Patna and the legendary Anand Kumar and Abhayanand, IPS who have been selecting and coaching deprived class students for IIT-JEE free. The later now works for Rahmani 30 of minority community.

The stories on IITs always remind me of the year 1957 when I entered IIT. Kharagpur was the only IIT at that time. Bombay IIT came up when I was in the second year. There was hardly any hype in the family as it is today. There was neither coaching industry nor helping material in print or on Internet. Now there are 15 IITs, and may be very soon there may be dozen more, as IIT has become one of the election manifesto promises to the people of a state. However, I get morose when I hear from the students in IIT about the deteriorating infrastructure such as the proper facilities of hostel. I can’t imagine reading a news report saying students using the bed of a hostel bed in shift.

Let me list some of my wishes for IITs and IITians.

Can the IITs be autonomous in real sense of the term and will the bureaucracy be out of dictating their terms and conditions to them?

Will there be a fair competition between the IITs in getting more and more papers published, patents applied and obtained, awards such Nobel and attaining higher position in global ranking of institutes? Will the faculty members keep themselves updated to the latest knowledge in their areas to get similar ears when they speak on any global forum?

Let the entrants realize that they are the best brains of the country. Let them focus to become good engineers and technocrats? Let them become innovators of some world class products? I know of only one Indian who has a product brand to his credit- Bose audio equipment that can compete with global product brand such as Sony or Cannon. Is it not a shame that hardly any product in world market today (such as Nano if it gets success) can be called an Indian discovery? Will more and more IITians stop their craze for getting into IIMs or becoming IAS and remain with the engineering profession?

Let each IIT promote world class incubations for getting the students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Let the faculty be in constant touch with industry of their interest, interact and pass on their ideas.
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PS: A wonderful news that heartened me relate to an analysis by the JEE cell. It reveals that while 60% of the students who made it to the seven old IITs in 2007 opted for some form of coaching, in 2008, this figure dropped to 45% this year. I was among those who wished to do away with any number of attempts for the entrance.A committee headed by C N R Rao limited the JEE attempts to two. It used to mock the intention of selection of the best.

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Verdict 2009: Priority Power

Posted on May 25, 2009 by indra

Can the new government focus on the two most needed infrastructure priorities- power and road that can put the country on real fast track of development?

Perhaps that was the intention when the Manmohan’s government prepared the 11th Plan (2007-12) that envisages addition of a whopping 78,000MW. It means an addition of around 15,600 MW every year. However, out of the targeted 11,061 MW capacity addition for 2008-09, only 3,453 MW or 31.2 per cent has been achieved. In the previous year 2007-08, it achieved 9,283 against the target of 16,335 MW that is, 56 per cent of the target. How will it improve on the annual addition to make up in the three years left? Can the new government search a real dynamic leader to lead power ministry? Will Shinde or Jairam Ramesh be able to do that? What happens if in 2014, the voters make them lose the mandate for not keeping up the promise?

Power generation in India is 140 gigawatts (GW) today and will go to be close to 800 GW by 2032. Between the NDA and UPA rules, per capita power consumption increased from 592KWH in 2003-04 to 707KWH in 2007-08. However, peak shortage has also gone up to 16%.

Top priority must go for ramping up electricity generation capacity, reducing transmission loss by getting states to re-start reforms, and changing laws for effective private role in nuclear power such as low cap of equity. Administration must take head-on the tendering tangles, delayed statutory clearances, disjointed fuel supply chains and a severe shortage in facilities to manufacture power equipment.

Transmission & Distribution requires attention too. For every euro invested in power generation, investment in T&D is to be also one.

Funding: As reported, the government may face an Rs4.51 trillion funding shortfall in adding generating capacity during the 11th Plan.

Will the economist Prime Minister take care of the funding constraint?

Power equipment manufacturing capacity: India’s capacity of manufacturing power equipment has been a big constraint, though it is set to increase four-fold to around 43,000 Mw over the next five years through investments of over Rs 30,000 crore. India’s overall capacity of power equipment manufacturing stands around 10,000 Mw, solely contributed by the government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). However, companies like Larsen & Toubro, JSW and Reliance are in the process of setting up equipment manufacturing capacities in the country in partnership with overseas partners. Will the task be taken up as priority?

Either BHEL upgrades fast or the country goes for extensive import of the equipment. Foreign suppliers will have to enter. Many private companies and state government have already gone for the Chinese power equipment manufacturers like Dongfang Electric Company (DEC) and Shanghai Electric Company and have ordered over 20,000 Mw capacity of power generation equipment for the current Plan period, which ends in 2012. The country must meet the target without any emotional attachment for local supplier till the power situation becomes comfortable.

Fuel Shortage: The new government will have to take care of the scarcity of fuels such as coal, gas and uranium with sufficient buffer stock in store that has been causing underutilization off the installed capacity. The country’s gas-based capacity of 14,600MW operates at 52% efficiency. 17 nuclear reactors are currently operating at 46% capacity because of shortages of the fuel. With enough gas and uranium, around 9,500MW power generation can immediately enter the system. What can be the excuse for the government, if it fails even after the so much talked about Indo-US Nuclear Deal?

Nuclear Power: Manmohan Singh must show the benefits of his coveted indo-US Nuclear Deal. The country must see at least some of the nuclear plants through foreign companies running in his term ending in 2014. It is to be seen if the government moves fast and innovates for speedy implementation or works only on finding excuses for not achieving the goals for the campaign trails of 2014 election?

Efficiency improvement: Can the government find and take some innovative steps to cut down the losses because of inefficient transmission and distributions that is around 40% of the power generated. Will it make APDRP, meant to upgrade the distribution system, minimize transmission and distribution losses, improve metering and assign responsibility for realization of user charges, function effectively? APDRP had set a target to bring down the losses to 15% by the end of 2007, sometime in 2000-01.

Let the Manmohan and Rahul leadership not get complacent with the comfortable win. The electorate don’t keep on making mistakes between the one who just promises and the other who achieves.

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Popli’s Prayer

Posted on May 21, 2009 by indra

Popli is older than me. He is one whom I find much younger for his age. He walks fast and covers more number of rounds than I do. Once I found him reciting his prayer while walking. I asked him to make it audible for me. He did and to me it was just fantastic. I requested him to give it to me so that I can share with my readers. I don’t know why he didn’t give it then and for a long time. However, now he has sent that with some note.

It has taken me over two years to compose the contents of this prayer which I venture to share with you as I truly think it has universal appeal. I say/recite this prayer at least twice daily if not more often and find it soothing. Of course before retiring to bed I use ‘Good night’ instead.

Prayer

Good morning, Dear God!
The Omni-present, The Omni-potent,
The Omniscient and The Omni-protector
Please keep us safe, sound and healthy.

We beseech Thy blessings, Dear Lord!
Please lead us with Your kind hand
For the remaining leg of our journey
As You have been doing till date.

We thank Thee dear Lord for yesterday
We thank Thee for today and
We thank Thee for tomorrow.

Surely Dear Lord!
We thank Thee for every year of our existence
We thank Thee for each month of the year
We thank Thee for every day of the month
We thank Thee for every hour of the day
We thank Thee for every minute of the hour and
We thank Thee for every second of the minute.

In fact Dear Lord!
Remaining thankful to You in perpetuity
We thank Thee for everything in our lives
We thank Thee for the good food we eat and
We thank Thee for the invigorating,
Fresh exhilarating air we breathe.

Dear Lord! Please forgive us
Our faults, our misdeeds,
Our follies, our crimes of passion
Our acts of omission and commission
Our sins committed if any
In thought or in action, knowingly, unknowingly.

Dear God! Let everyone of our human beings
Of any race, of any faith,
Of any society, of any country
Be hale and hearty, happy and contented
In his/her walks of life where-ever he/she may be.

Dear Lord! Let our young ones become
Intelligent, obedient, disciplined, focused
Well mannered, well behaved, cultured, God-fearing,
Loving, caring and responsible citizens
Of the country, nay, of the universe
As they grow from their
Infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood
In the years to follow.

Dear Lord! At this stage of our lives, please spare us
Body-aches, body-pains, mental stress or
Disease of any nature what so ever.
In fact dear Lord! Let our body organs be
Kept functional in their well-knit, coordinated and
Systematic approach as desired by You.
Till such time You ordain us to be within
Your feet in the Heavenly abode above.

Dear Lord! Let there be joy, happiness and
Peace all around us.
In this context it becomes necessary,
Imperative and pertinent that
We human beings should have more
Tolerance for each other.
As in my opinion intolerance alone Leads to
Confusion, ego hassles, unnecessary arguments,
Violence, causing thereby,
Heart-burns and heart-aches.

Thus, Dear Lord! Please bestow upon us that
Extra spirit of tolerance and compassion for our fellow beings.

Dear Lord! Please empower us
To observe, notice, appreciate,
Conserve and preserve the nature’s beauty
Its bounties – flora and fauna.
After all these have been created by Your Goodself
With a purposeful meaning in life but
We mortals due to our ignorance
Can’t comprehend and visualize
Their true value, their true nature,
Their true worth, their true potential,
Their true assessment and their true importance.

Thus dear Lord please enlighten us, brighten us,
Remove our ignorance or else let us have faith of conviction that
We are in a position to be able to differentiate and avoid
What is not palatable to us rather than going into any frivolous argument on this count.

Dear Lord! We offer our prayers in all
Earnestness, sincerity and humility.
Please forgive if there be any lapse.
Accept the same thanks
Amen, Amen!
Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti!

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Nation’s Priority Number 1: Education

Posted on May 17, 2009 by indra

I felt happy when Kapil Sibal talked of education reform as priority on NDTV on May 17, the V-Day of Congress party that has been liberated by the people verdict of election 2009 while answering NK Singh.
India boasts of its demographic dividend. Population of young India between 12 and 35 is 521 million with 268 million men and 253 women that can make India rule the world, if it is educated, employable and skilled. Today 25%, that is, 130 million, out of this population, are studying in schools, colleges and universities.

According to another estimate, number of unemployed in India is still at around 250 to 300 million. India adds about 15 to 20 million new job seekers every year to the number of unemployed. However, about 70% of these youngsters aged between 18 and 25 are illiterate or barely literate. And that is the main hurdle for India to compete with the world. The new government must take this task of educating the population its topmost priority.

Some other data about the 521 million of the population between 12 and 35 years provide potential and challenge to policy makers and entrepreneurs of the country.

67.9% are unaware of the Internet

86.9% don’t go to movie theatres, 76.8%never listen to the radio, 4.1% read English newspapers while 17.9% read Hindi dailies

40.9% never watch TV while 44.2% watch it once in seven days

One recent study titled ‘Universities of India 2008’ provides some encouraging trends about the education in India.

o The total number of enrolled students has grown by 81 per cent in the past two years.
o Women enrolment increased by 100 per cent in the last academic session over the previous year.
o Around 20 per cent of the universities have the capacity to offer full degree programmes online.
o The number of students with work experience increased by 53 per cent between 2006-07 and 2007-08, indicating that higher education as a medium of updating skills is gaining among professionals.

As reported, in one decade, from 1998 to 2008, China’s university enrolment went up from 3.4 million to 20 million-an annual growth rate of 18%. This far outstripped university enrolment growth in India in the same period. But over the year, India has been adding a large number of private professional institutes. I get a feel of it while glancing through the pull outs on education every week almost in every national newspaper.

I quote from NR Narayana Murthy’s ‘A Better India, A Better World’.

India has the third largest higher education system in the world-after China and US- with 311 universities and 15000 colleges as on 2004. The number of degrees awarded by Indian educational institutes has grown by 70% between 1990 and 2004, and the number of engineering degrees awarded has grown by 90 percent. Of the 10.3 million students attending Indian universities, the students’ enrolment for the undergraduate levels is 88.9 percent. India produces 2.5 million graduates and 350,000 engineers every year. India’s pool of universities graduates alone is 1.5 times the size of China’s and twice as large as that of USA. However, the India’s pool of Ph.Ds is less than one-tenth of the size of the US pool. India’s annual output of Ph.Ds in the Computer Science (CS) area is around 25 while the output of Ph.Ds in CS in the USA exceeds 800 a year. Even China is estimated to produce more than 2,500 Ph.Ds every year in the CS area.

The new government must take education as priority and come out with all the reforms without much debate and delay to make India’s education and its universities compete with the globally best ones. It must start with making all the institutes of excellence totally autonomous and free from the clutches of political supervision of persons such as Murli Manohar Joshi or Arjun Singh. It must encourage and incentivize positive involvement and interactions between the industry and educational institutions.

As reported, in a recent global evaluation of Asian universities, only seven Indian universities have made it to the top 100 – five of which are the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Delhi University (DU) ranks 60 and is the first traditional Indian university on the list, while Pune University is ranked at 100. It is just a shame. All the universities and educational institutes must have the goal to participate in global ranking, as the industrial enterprises go for Deming Award. Every institute on its website must provide the details of talent pool, the research papers published, patents applied and granted, incubation activities, and prizes own in global competitions.

On one hand, more and more students must be encouraged to go for post graduate and Ph.D qualifications; on the other hand the quality of higher education demands a major improvement to make graduates employable. Interestingly, Indian IT sector can proactively and intensively get involved in this task. That can be the easiest and fastest way to attain the competitiveness with USA and China.

As many suggest, if India allows foreign investment and expertise into the higher education sector, it can easily become an attractive global education hub. Why should not the new government take a quick action on this issue?

The last Manmohan Singh government had added the quantity through various initiatives; let it concentrate to improve its quality to globally best level.

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