Where are your papers, O rider?

If you own a motorcycle and drive one in any decent-sized Indian city, you would know what a menace the "regular police check" can be. Groups of policemen stand at high-traffic corners, signalling to every passing motorised two wheeler, stop them indefinitely, and ask for licence and papers. If you are not carrying either, get ready to be threatened by challans and fines, after which you would rather pay a bribe, which can amount from anything from a fifty to a fifteen-hundred. Well, you can bargain your way from a fifteen-hundred to a fifty always, depending on who it is you are bargaining with.

But the point of this post is, that unless you have smart cards for the driving licence and the registration, which you can carry in your wallet itself, you are stuck with lots of papers. At least the insurance (and in some cases of "migration", the NOC) are A4 to legal size sheets of paper, which are fragile and will tear at the slightest jerk. And then there is the ever-necessary and not-at-all-standard-sized PUC. Can we carry all of these in our wallets? I guess not.

Most people get around this problem by carrying these documents in their backpacks and bags which they carry. But how many of us do carry backpacks every time we go out on a ride, or are just going to the market or are going for a haircut? And it certainly looks silly carrying a backpack when all you have to carry is an envelope full of papers.

It has long been a problem. Shouldn't the motorcycle manufacturers look at providing a decent-sized, waterproof, lockable compartment in the vehicle itself where we can store the necessary papers so that we don't have to go through this hassle of lugging around bags just so we don't have to fall on the "wrong side of law"?

X-Man Amit

indian Airports

The past decade has seen a sudden upsurge of the Indian Airline Industry. Millions of passengers are commuting through various airports across various destinations in India and abroad.
The Airport Authority of India is roping in best of the firms to improve the facilities at its airports to accommodate more and more passengers. But like our railways, it is doing the same basic mistakes.
1. Every domestic airline allows a passenger to carry 20kgs of cargo and 10Kgs of cabin baggage. But there is not even a single porter employed by AAI who can help senior citizens and Ladies in carrying the baggage across within the plane.
2. If one has to answer the nature's call at the airport and is traveling alone, he/she has to carry the baggage along with him/her to the toilet as there is no cloak room outside the toilet.
I am afraid that if the facility management is not properly done we are heading towards a "Railway Platform" scenario at our airports too.
X-Man
Manish Saini

Pricing under Fire......

Indian Railways requires no background but yeah the pricing structure of the railways does. You can go through a post over here to understand their pricing structure thoroughly.
My argument centers on the online pricing policy adopted by the Indian Railways.

Let me start with an example –
For a ticket in an express train (A.P. Express) from Hyderabad to New Delhi, the charges I had to pay for an I-ticket are as following –
Base Fare – 1220
Reservation Charges – 25
Super fast Charges – 30
Internet Service Charges – 40
Courier Charges – 20
Transaction Charges (ICICI Bank Debit Card) – 11

Total = Rs. 1346

For rail reservation from the railway counters, the railways charge Reservation Charges for the infrastructure which the customer uses to get the tickets reserved like the manpower, stationary etc.

Introduction of online reservation introduced internet reservation charges levied on the consumer for using the online infrastructure of Indian railways. But now, the online customer pays for both online service charges in addition to the Reservation charges.

Why is the customer being billed for what he hasn’t utilized?

It seems like a way of discouraging the customers from using the online system while it should have been otherwise.

The cost structure of any service for the service provider will have a fixed and a variable component. Online services are cheaper because the service provider’s variable component goes down to almost negligible with just one time fixed cost.
This is what Banks have realized and are now encouraging their customers to go online by charging extra amount for providing a service from the bank counter to reduce the bank traffic and thus reduce the costs further.
Then why is the railways even after four years charging extra from the online customer?

Talking about figures, according to IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) Indian Railways recorded 2.5 million ticket sales through the Internet in the last financial year, a growth of 100 percent over 1.2 million sold in 2004-05.

Assuming each reservation from the Indian railway counter takes an average of 5 minutes (which I am sure majority will agree is negligible as compared to the actual), the number of man-days saved are 18116 which is working with 100% efficiency. Working with an extraordinary efficiency of 70% Indian Railways saved 25880 man-days in a year.

There are two ways of making profit - by reducing cost or by increasing prices. And over here Indian Railways is exhibiting the features of a poor service provider with lack of vision. Instead of sharing the savings with the customer, they are being charged extra for a cheaper service. It won't be too late before the customer's retaliate to this exploitation of monoply rule.

The X-Man
Manish Saini

Motiveless as usual.....

In India, we exclaim in surprise if our administration system becomes efficient. And this post is going to give you no reason for such a rare occasion.
The famous author and columnist Surjit S Bhalla, in a guest column for rediff argues against the illogical system of foreign portfolio investment where only institutions approved by SEBI can participate in the Indian Stock Market.

This policy commands that -
“These management fee-receiving institutions cannot be based in India because if they were, they would not be classified as an FII! Foreign-based individuals (Indian and foreign) are forbidden from investing in India.”

The X-factor around which Surjit argues is that while the Government is gaining nothing from this policy, it is loosing out on three important fronts – “large-scale employment in the financial sector, the development of India as a financial centre, and large-scale tax revenues (India lost close to Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in tax revenue last fiscal (2005-06).”

As per the policy –
“We require all foreign investors in the Indian stock market not to be based in India! Let me phrase it in a different, but equivalent, fashion. We state to the outside world that yes, India is generating wealth, yes, you can come and profit from it, but no, you cannot be based in India, or have India-based offices making the decisions. All the profits that you make are yours, and please pay the taxes on the fees that you generate to needy governments like the US and the UK.”

Through a crude analysis form the 2005-2006 FII profits, Surjit concludes that these institutions could yield a cool Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to the Indian treasury in the current financial year which is enough to finance the first year of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Now, the question which the government always leaves unanswered while devising these policies is ‘What is the motive for designing this policy?’

For drafting any policy an answer to this simple question would not only make the system more transparent rather would also facilitate a national debate which is a part and parcel of any “good Democracy”(sounds like an Oxymoron….right!!!)

The X-Man
Manish Saini

All Illiterates Should Have been dead!!!

We are very proud to admit that “India resides in its villages.” If you want to see the real face of India, you need to visit its villages. Even the figures reflect that –

“According to the Census 2001, in India out of total population of 1027 million about 285 millions live in urban areas and 742 millions live in rural areas.”

Now a similar set of figures for literacy if seen will reflect a better picture of India in its villages –

“The Census 2001 analysis further reflect that the overall literacy rate of India (65.2%) has a contribution of 59.21% from the rural areas while 80.06% from the urban areas.”

Now consider how literacy is calculated in India –

“Literacy, as defined in Census operations, is the ability to read and write with understanding in any language. A person who can merely read but cannot write is not classified as literate. Any formal education or minimum educational standard is not necessary to be considered literate.”
So how do the census data collectors find out whether a person is literate or not is by making him write his name.

This means that the people who can properly read and write in India would be somewhere 50% of what the census shows or even far below that.

Interestingly, majority of these 50% would be literate in their local dialect only. Now when majority of India’s population lives in villages and understands the local dialect, the wrapper of every consumer good should have instructions in the local dialect written over it. And this requirement becomes further more important in case of medicines. The criticality increases in case of life saving drugs.

Enclosed as a sample picture are some common medicines which are available in every medical shop. Kindly note carefully that not even a single alphabet on these wrappers is in the local dialect.

Lack of ability of an individual to read instructions, manufacturing date and expiry date of these daily use medicines pose a severe threat to the community.

Thanks to Kiran Nanduri

The X-Man
Manish Saini

Cosnumer Friendly Design???

Sachet packing was introduced for one primary reason by the marketers in India - to make consumers test new products launched in the market. But this new packaging turned round the whole marketing concept in India when the marketers realized that its potential was far beyond.
In consumer goods parlance, `economy pack' has usually referred to larger pack sizes. The economy pack is the marketer's way of rewarding a consumer who buys more of his brand at one go. But in 2001, the new rage for low-priced sachets in the shampoo market had just reversed this logic. With most shampoo sachets, one saves more if one buys less. But this was rectified after few months, so that sachets will be just convenient and not economical. People who were initially not buying the shampoos, sachet made the luxury affordable to them.
Ironically, when these sachets resulted in FMCG companies seeing double digit growth they forgot the bottom line of the business – “Consumer Needs”.

Shampoo sachets cannot be easily opened with wet hands. It is difficult to open shampoo sachets with wet hands. Provision of a notch doesn’t help much as hands tend to slip due to plastic material of the sachet.

Thanks to Dejo George

X-Man
Manish Saini

The Missing Concern

The concern which this post addresses is about the admission procedure in Post Graduate Studies and to be precise in MBA program in India.
The question we pose here is not to the B-School’s or their management, it is specifically addressed to the “So called philanthropist” The MMJ types (Murli Manohar Joshi types)
The year 2004 was an incredible year for B-Schools who got unparalleled publicity and especially IIMs. All thanks to the new policy enforcement of reduced fee by MMJ followed by a thorough debate by other public writers exploring their own philanthropic roots.
This brings us to the X Factor that the real nightmare which every B-School aspirant goes through remains unaddressed till date. All B-Schools follow their own methodology and time period in dolling out Calls/Admissions. Missing centralization of this process results in students and their parents depositing Non refundable fees ranging from 10k to 130k in the college where the student gets his first call from.

Options left for the studen

• Don’t pay for the student expects to get a call from better institute later when it declares the result


• If you don’t get anything else go through grievance of writing the test again


• Pay the fees to the first college which gives a call and then wait for the other colleges to announce their results


• If the aspirant gets through a better college then


• Join it and forget his/parent’s hard earned money (But only if he can afford it. That’s actually the price you pay for hurting the ego of a B School and telling them that college ‘X’ is better.


• Forget the better college and join the college where the aspirant has already deposited the fee and settle for something less than what he actually deserved.

Afterthoughts

• Educational Institutes are there to provide education and not to earn money through gambling.


• The System and the ‘so called philanthropist’ who want the lesser privileged get better education opportunities


• Seem to be completely ignorant about this core problem.


• Or are purposely ignoring this core problem for some mutual benefit.

One of the main problem is that its not only the Post Graduate admission process rather the Graduation one also like that of the Engg. college is plagued with the same problem. And Even more worse fact is the citizens have accepted the fact that Education is a Business and this policy is part of their business. But the question is if it is so then why Educational Institutes are not in purview of Indian Penal Code…and there are no chances of suing them

Thanks to Yogendra Saraogi

The X-Man
Manish Saini

In the Name of Welfare

A survey done by the Excise Dept. in Tamil Nadu some time in the mid 1970s gave an estimate of yearly liquor consumption of 25 lac litres in the state. While the figure for Karnataka stood at 75 lac litres. A repeat survey after a decade showed an increase in consumption of around 10,000 litre in Karnataka while Tamil Nadu during this period had overtaken Kaarnatka.

The figures shocked the whole state as this was a period when prohibition act was in force. Every department took whatever measures it could and gave all kinds of explanations.

But as Levitt says – “You need to talk to the right people and look at the right data to get the right answers”.

Following is an excerpt from an interview with a laborer conducted by an organization doing field survey to unravel the causes. This one interview unraveled facts which went on to solve this whole mystery –

Q. How much do you earn in a day?
A. Rs. 12 - 13

Q. How many people are there in your family?
A. Eight. My four children, my parents, myself and my wife.

Q. How much do you spend on food daily?
A. Rs. 6

Q. Rs. 6 for a family of 8! Is it enough?
A. Sir, we belong to a "special class" of people according to the Govt.* My children are entitled for a meal in the school, my parents under Old age pensioners (OAP) scheme are entitled for free rice while my wife being pregnant now and then also falls under one or the other program of Aanganwaadi.

This was a big slap on the face of Welfare Activists.

So much in the name of welfare.


*He was trying to point out that he fell under BPL families category.

Disclaimer: This complete story is an excerpt of an interview with a director of a prominent NGO for whom I was doing consultancy on a project. In the process of capturing the theme I might have distorted a few facts. Kindly ignore them.

The X-Man
Manish Saini

The Golden Hour

In Indian medical practice doctors can fall under any of the three categories according to their qualification and experience -

• M.B.B.S: The vast majority of doctors (usually the only doctors in field)

• MD/ MS/ DNB: Specialists


• MCH / DM/ DNB: Super- Specialists

Handling of Emergencies
The best way to improve the outcome of any kind of medical emergency is to administer the required therapy within the first 30 minutes to one hour (The Golden Hour) of the onset of the condition.
The following two scenarios briefly define that in India how emergency cases are handled –

• In case of Emergencies, the people most competent to treat the patient seldom see the patient during his Golden hour. They are mobilised only after some time.


• The doctors most likely to & most required to handle emergencies (M.B.B.S), especially in the field, are given neither the adequate training nor the facilities to handle most of such cases, thus nullifying the purpose of placing them in the field and wasting six years of education.

The X-Man
Manish Saini

>>>>POWER BRAKES>>>>

This is one of the best examples that how the modern sophisticated systems of today can turn out to be a danger to ones life.
All modern cars today are equipped with ‘POWER BRAKES’ so as to increase the efficiency of the Braking system of the vehicle. Power brakes use the power from the engine and the battery to do so. The working of the Power Brakes can be understood in detail over here.
Though, check valve is provided in the system to help the driver stop the vehicle even when the engine stops running, a few factors need to be highlighted here.
The engine must be running in order to have power assist. If the engine stops or stalls while driving, there will have small reserve of power assist for two or three pedal applications but, after that, it will be very difficult to depress the brakes.
Just imagine parking/driving your vehicle downhill, and God Forbids, for some reason your engine stops………..
Read about a real time experience over here.
Thanks to Mandeep Singh Brar…
The X-Man
Manish Saini