Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Low cost labour – attractive?
Since many decades, our country has been highlighting low labour cost factor. We have also been attributing our economic growth to this. I think time has come to look at the matter from a different perspective. The best way to anticipate the future is to analyze the past.
Historically low cost labour was attractive in three major sectors – Industry, Agriculture and Construction. And these were the country’s growth engines since many decades till the IT industry boomed.
Industry was the first to get rid of the labour factor in the name of productivity. Since the inception of automation, industry realized that low cost labor is an expensive proportion. The biggest plus with the automation was its predictability and consistency. In our country, we replicated this trend in last few decades. In all types of industry, the prime focus has been reduction in labour force.
More recent changeover I observe in our country is in the construction sector. Not many years back, pumping concrete were not even in our wildest imagination. And now premix concrete, heavy construction machineries are the norms of the day. We have realized that low cost labour can’t keep pace with rapidly growing demand. Industry has also realized that deployment of machinery is much more profitable compared to sticking to the old philosophy.
The only sector, which is still dependant on human labour in our country, is Agriculture. And we know our productivity figures are very low compared to world benchmarking figures. Within the country, western side is doing better compared to eastern side because of use of machinery. To keep pace with the ever-increasing demand, very soon we will see a major shift in the way we do firming.
Now let us come to the youngest sector – IT and ITES. Yes, till now we are enjoying the fruit of low cost labour in the global arena. But have we not seen migration of job to newer destinations? Frankly speaking, “low” is always is in comparative terms and there will always be someone “lower” than us in another corner of the world. And as someone said – “an IT job can go to any corner of the world where Internet connection goes”.
The bottom line is – we can’t survive with this “Low Cost” tag in coming decades. Shifting our focus on terms like “Efficiency”, “Productivity”, “Knowledge”, “Skill” etc. will pay much better dividends.
I always believe that “we perform the way our performance is measured”. Time has come to change our country’s “USP”. For a prosperous future, the faster we change the better.
Historically low cost labour was attractive in three major sectors – Industry, Agriculture and Construction. And these were the country’s growth engines since many decades till the IT industry boomed.
Industry was the first to get rid of the labour factor in the name of productivity. Since the inception of automation, industry realized that low cost labor is an expensive proportion. The biggest plus with the automation was its predictability and consistency. In our country, we replicated this trend in last few decades. In all types of industry, the prime focus has been reduction in labour force.
More recent changeover I observe in our country is in the construction sector. Not many years back, pumping concrete were not even in our wildest imagination. And now premix concrete, heavy construction machineries are the norms of the day. We have realized that low cost labour can’t keep pace with rapidly growing demand. Industry has also realized that deployment of machinery is much more profitable compared to sticking to the old philosophy.
The only sector, which is still dependant on human labour in our country, is Agriculture. And we know our productivity figures are very low compared to world benchmarking figures. Within the country, western side is doing better compared to eastern side because of use of machinery. To keep pace with the ever-increasing demand, very soon we will see a major shift in the way we do firming.
Now let us come to the youngest sector – IT and ITES. Yes, till now we are enjoying the fruit of low cost labour in the global arena. But have we not seen migration of job to newer destinations? Frankly speaking, “low” is always is in comparative terms and there will always be someone “lower” than us in another corner of the world. And as someone said – “an IT job can go to any corner of the world where Internet connection goes”.
The bottom line is – we can’t survive with this “Low Cost” tag in coming decades. Shifting our focus on terms like “Efficiency”, “Productivity”, “Knowledge”, “Skill” etc. will pay much better dividends.
I always believe that “we perform the way our performance is measured”. Time has come to change our country’s “USP”. For a prosperous future, the faster we change the better.
Monday, June 9, 2008
India – Changing boundary
My recent search for Indian Map in Internet was quite an interesting experience. To my surprise, I found many maps available in many reliable and educational sites, which are completely different from the one we have grown up with. For discussion sake, let me consider the one available in http://maps.google.com/.
In this map, the northern state and one of the northeastern states of our country is shown with dotted boundary! Obviously, the dotted boundary was meant to denote disputed territories. The extent of the dotted boundary was significantly alarming. To the best of my knowledge, the depiction is wrong. For any country, wrong depiction of its territory is a sensitive subject.
I am surprised to see no communication from our government on this subject. I get a feeling that our policy makers are not interested in resolving this. Currently they are busy with building stronger ties with our neighbours!
Frankly speaking, we are living with this touchy subject since ever. No elected government of our land has made a sincere attempt to resolve this. And my experience tells me that any dispute left unresolved becomes convoluted over time. It is true with this matter also.
What surprises me is that a country of our proportion is keeping quite over this matter. A country with 1.1 Bn population can not define and protect its territory! Thankfully, we have sea on three sides!
In this map, the northern state and one of the northeastern states of our country is shown with dotted boundary! Obviously, the dotted boundary was meant to denote disputed territories. The extent of the dotted boundary was significantly alarming. To the best of my knowledge, the depiction is wrong. For any country, wrong depiction of its territory is a sensitive subject.
I am surprised to see no communication from our government on this subject. I get a feeling that our policy makers are not interested in resolving this. Currently they are busy with building stronger ties with our neighbours!
Frankly speaking, we are living with this touchy subject since ever. No elected government of our land has made a sincere attempt to resolve this. And my experience tells me that any dispute left unresolved becomes convoluted over time. It is true with this matter also.
What surprises me is that a country of our proportion is keeping quite over this matter. A country with 1.1 Bn population can not define and protect its territory! Thankfully, we have sea on three sides!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Our Neighbor has gone “Ahead” of us
Our next-door neighbor has just made a record – now we have one country western to ours ahead in time. I am no expert to comment on whether semi-tropical country like ours needs a Day Light Saving but I can tell you that we need more than one time zone.
The realization of the need came to my life at an early stage when I was traveling to my aunt’s place on western side of the country. Having spent my childhood entirely on the eastern side of the country, I was amazed to see the extended day light during the visit.
Subsequently, I moved to another location, more central in country’s map, about a decade and half ago. The childhood realization has just got reinforced during my recent visit to Northeastern part of my country. I was mesmerized to witness that sunrise in the Himalayas in the early hour of the day. From my current place of living, whenever I go to my native, I always feel the difference - Sunrise is significantly early.
Logically speaking, we should follow the sun, not the watch. Watch is only a mechanism to refer to. It is man made and man adjusted. Watch can always be adjusted to suit our need, what we can’t alter is sunrise and sun set. Sundial, which is governed by the movement of Sun in the sky, had managed the mankind for several centuries.
The need for a different time zone is to utilize the available daylight in an effective manner. Otherwise, it was most practical to have one time for the entire globe. In the current state of alarming energy crisis, the most prudent way to tackle the situation is to make use of the “Father” of all energy sources, the Sun. By virtue of our location in the globe, we have abundance of natural sunlight. Creating different time zones will help us to minimize our dependency on electricity. Just by finishing the day’s work early by an hour or so, we can save significant amount of electricity and green house gasses as well.
The most practical use of this simple measure is demonstrated by the USA – a country with four different time zones, each apart from the next by one hour. More interestingly, this country also follows Day Light Saving. That means, a country with eight different time settings thru’ out the year!
The latest additions to this journey are Pakistan and Morocco. At this moment, there are many countries debating on this issue. Surprisingly, we do not have any taker from our country. I agree that there will be initial difficulties. But it is associated to any change. When in the history of mankind, a change is accepted without a trace of resistance? But history will tell us that in all cases, the logical changes have won the popular verdict and got implemented.
I urge the country’s policy makers to acknowledge the need of the hour and implement the necessary changes at the earliest. To me, we should have two time zones, Eastern and Western, with one-hour difference. Implementation of daylight saving is a much finer issue. Creation of two time zones itself will have round the year benefits.
Where is the countries’ science fraternity? Can we hear their voice?
Further reference - http://www.worldtimezone.com/
The realization of the need came to my life at an early stage when I was traveling to my aunt’s place on western side of the country. Having spent my childhood entirely on the eastern side of the country, I was amazed to see the extended day light during the visit.
Subsequently, I moved to another location, more central in country’s map, about a decade and half ago. The childhood realization has just got reinforced during my recent visit to Northeastern part of my country. I was mesmerized to witness that sunrise in the Himalayas in the early hour of the day. From my current place of living, whenever I go to my native, I always feel the difference - Sunrise is significantly early.
Logically speaking, we should follow the sun, not the watch. Watch is only a mechanism to refer to. It is man made and man adjusted. Watch can always be adjusted to suit our need, what we can’t alter is sunrise and sun set. Sundial, which is governed by the movement of Sun in the sky, had managed the mankind for several centuries.
The need for a different time zone is to utilize the available daylight in an effective manner. Otherwise, it was most practical to have one time for the entire globe. In the current state of alarming energy crisis, the most prudent way to tackle the situation is to make use of the “Father” of all energy sources, the Sun. By virtue of our location in the globe, we have abundance of natural sunlight. Creating different time zones will help us to minimize our dependency on electricity. Just by finishing the day’s work early by an hour or so, we can save significant amount of electricity and green house gasses as well.
The most practical use of this simple measure is demonstrated by the USA – a country with four different time zones, each apart from the next by one hour. More interestingly, this country also follows Day Light Saving. That means, a country with eight different time settings thru’ out the year!
The latest additions to this journey are Pakistan and Morocco. At this moment, there are many countries debating on this issue. Surprisingly, we do not have any taker from our country. I agree that there will be initial difficulties. But it is associated to any change. When in the history of mankind, a change is accepted without a trace of resistance? But history will tell us that in all cases, the logical changes have won the popular verdict and got implemented.
I urge the country’s policy makers to acknowledge the need of the hour and implement the necessary changes at the earliest. To me, we should have two time zones, Eastern and Western, with one-hour difference. Implementation of daylight saving is a much finer issue. Creation of two time zones itself will have round the year benefits.
Where is the countries’ science fraternity? Can we hear their voice?
Further reference - http://www.worldtimezone.com/
Thursday, June 5, 2008
On Environmental Day – Aerodynamic Drag – a silent killer
On the World Environmental Day, I find Mankind in a very crucial situation. With all its development engines running heavily on fossil fuels, we are at the most difficult juncture.
Frankly speaking – the writing was always bold on the wall – after all how long one can manage with one’s ancestral bank balance? Reserve of fossil fuel was always limited. And everyone knew that it is not replenishable. It was only a matter of time before it had to happen. And it happened – the sky rocketed crude price has slowed the growth engine. Without any practical and affordable alternative, we are left out with one option – CONSERVE.
One might ask – why we were silent all these days? My assumption is – it was easier that way.
Let me take the Automotive example – one of the double edged swords - one hand depleting oil reserves and global warming on the other. And let me take a more specific area – Indian mass and goods transport. In current scenario, with booming economy and nicely laid roads, road transport is the choice of the individual and industry.
To understand the basics – fuel is burnt in automotive engines to generate momentum. That is, if the weight remains the same, it is used to accelerate from one speed to another higher speed. Then, why do we need fuel to maintain a constant speed?
As we all know, the world in not perfect – there are many resistances and losses we need to overcome just to maintain constant speed. Given a vehicle, two major such resistances are “Rolling Friction” and “Aerodynamic Drag”. The first one is commonly taken care by keeping the vehicle weight minimum, regularly checking and correcting wheel tube air pressure. My concern is the second one – which has more potential and generally neglected.
Aerodynamic drag is the resistance offered by atmospheric air to a moving object. Though air is not seen, it has all characteristic of a fluid. The resistance has two reasons –
1. The friction between air and the skin of the object
2. The resistive thrust generated due to difference in pressure between the front and rear of the object
And the second reason is more contributing.
The drag (or the resistance) is proportional to three things –
1. Cross sectional area of the object (A)
2. Air density (d)
3. Square of object velocity (V)
To get the absolute figure, this product is to be multiplied by another factor – Cd – coefficient of Drag, which is dependant on the shape
Drag = Cd x A x (1/2 x d x V x V)
If one closely observes, velocity is a crucial factor – 10% increase in velocity means 21% increase in drag. At higher speed, drag overtakes rolling friction easily. That means – merely checking tyre pressure will not help at higher speeds. And, to add to our concern, in India, average transportation speed has increased – thanks to better roads and improved vehicle. Ask any one in logistics sector – travel time has come down to half in many cases. And there is my concern.
Another closer look reveals - nothing is left to the transport owner or the driver. Cross sectional area is fixed for a vehicle and the air density depends on the operating altitude and temperature. The economics of the business does not allow the driver to bring down the speed – it does not help the country’s economy either. So, we are left with the main factor – Cd.
To understand the Impact of Cd, let us take some common shapes. Two extreme cases could be – Smooth Sphere - 0.1 and Smooth brick - 2.1
It is a common sense that a smooth flowing shape means lower Cd, hence low resistance. Based on this theory, through ages, people are interested in making smooth shapes to reduce resistance and attain speed. This is more relevant in Aerospace Industry. Boering 747 has Cd of 0.031. In automotive sector, in search of speed and efficiency, people have attained new heights. There are commercial cars in today’s world with Cd as low as 0.3. For Concept and Racing cars, this figure is really low.
Here comes my point – what would be the Cd of our trucks and buses? I always surprised by the "blunt, square shapes" of our mass transport vehicles. In no imagination that could be Aerodynamic. I do not have any figure but am sure it will be considerably higher than the desired value. As I tried to explain, drag may not help us at low speeds or “stop and go” scenario. But for highway driving at high speeds it definitely matters. That means, for long distance, intercity buses and trucks, it has to be a factor to be considered for fuel economy.
Frankly speaking – the writing was always bold on the wall – after all how long one can manage with one’s ancestral bank balance? Reserve of fossil fuel was always limited. And everyone knew that it is not replenishable. It was only a matter of time before it had to happen. And it happened – the sky rocketed crude price has slowed the growth engine. Without any practical and affordable alternative, we are left out with one option – CONSERVE.
One might ask – why we were silent all these days? My assumption is – it was easier that way.
Let me take the Automotive example – one of the double edged swords - one hand depleting oil reserves and global warming on the other. And let me take a more specific area – Indian mass and goods transport. In current scenario, with booming economy and nicely laid roads, road transport is the choice of the individual and industry.
To understand the basics – fuel is burnt in automotive engines to generate momentum. That is, if the weight remains the same, it is used to accelerate from one speed to another higher speed. Then, why do we need fuel to maintain a constant speed?
As we all know, the world in not perfect – there are many resistances and losses we need to overcome just to maintain constant speed. Given a vehicle, two major such resistances are “Rolling Friction” and “Aerodynamic Drag”. The first one is commonly taken care by keeping the vehicle weight minimum, regularly checking and correcting wheel tube air pressure. My concern is the second one – which has more potential and generally neglected.
Aerodynamic drag is the resistance offered by atmospheric air to a moving object. Though air is not seen, it has all characteristic of a fluid. The resistance has two reasons –
1. The friction between air and the skin of the object
2. The resistive thrust generated due to difference in pressure between the front and rear of the object
And the second reason is more contributing.
The drag (or the resistance) is proportional to three things –
1. Cross sectional area of the object (A)
2. Air density (d)
3. Square of object velocity (V)
To get the absolute figure, this product is to be multiplied by another factor – Cd – coefficient of Drag, which is dependant on the shape
Drag = Cd x A x (1/2 x d x V x V)
If one closely observes, velocity is a crucial factor – 10% increase in velocity means 21% increase in drag. At higher speed, drag overtakes rolling friction easily. That means – merely checking tyre pressure will not help at higher speeds. And, to add to our concern, in India, average transportation speed has increased – thanks to better roads and improved vehicle. Ask any one in logistics sector – travel time has come down to half in many cases. And there is my concern.
Another closer look reveals - nothing is left to the transport owner or the driver. Cross sectional area is fixed for a vehicle and the air density depends on the operating altitude and temperature. The economics of the business does not allow the driver to bring down the speed – it does not help the country’s economy either. So, we are left with the main factor – Cd.
To understand the Impact of Cd, let us take some common shapes. Two extreme cases could be – Smooth Sphere - 0.1 and Smooth brick - 2.1
It is a common sense that a smooth flowing shape means lower Cd, hence low resistance. Based on this theory, through ages, people are interested in making smooth shapes to reduce resistance and attain speed. This is more relevant in Aerospace Industry. Boering 747 has Cd of 0.031. In automotive sector, in search of speed and efficiency, people have attained new heights. There are commercial cars in today’s world with Cd as low as 0.3. For Concept and Racing cars, this figure is really low.
Here comes my point – what would be the Cd of our trucks and buses? I always surprised by the "blunt, square shapes" of our mass transport vehicles. In no imagination that could be Aerodynamic. I do not have any figure but am sure it will be considerably higher than the desired value. As I tried to explain, drag may not help us at low speeds or “stop and go” scenario. But for highway driving at high speeds it definitely matters. That means, for long distance, intercity buses and trucks, it has to be a factor to be considered for fuel economy.
Can someone tell me the Cd figure for our buses and trucks? I would love to see one of our institutes taking this up as a project and come up with some suggestions. And I believe the savings could be as significant as 10%! Can any one substantiate?
Inputs from –
Reducing Aerodynamic Drag and Fuel Consumption - Fred Browand
Inputs from –
Reducing Aerodynamic Drag and Fuel Consumption - Fred Browand
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/106954/article.html
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Dear Mr. FM, where is SSN?
Few weeks’ back, our eminent Finance Minister gave a statement on how the use of PAN card has become popular during these days. He is right. Now one needs PAN for almost every financial transaction – from opening a bank account to depositing amount to buy mutual funds. This is another attempt, after introduction of DEMAT account, to curb the un-accounted transactions, which is otherwise known as “Black Money”.
Looking back, there were apprehensions in common people’s mind. It was more related to the hassles in implementation and fear of not meeting stipulated deadline set by government. It was nothing related to the “Black” thing. Common people never had those worries. I clearly remember the procedure I had to go thru’ those days and the long tense wait. When I had to get one for my wife, it was a pleasant surprise. Out sourcing the process has definitely made the whole thing user friendly.
Now, I would like to remind the minister about one more number – SSN. Somehow, I get a feeling that government has forgotten about this. For the benefit of those who are reading these three digits for the first time, it means – Social Security Number. As per the government web site, http://epfindia.nic.in/, this 14-digit number is primarily for tracking one’s Provident Fund.
As I recall, the process started sometime last year. Filling up the form was easy. But no one knew the target date of completion of the process. I felt the need during the whole of last month.
In my professional career spanning over 15years, my current job is the fourth and I did the last switch about a year back. Since then, despite my sincere persuasion, I could not make out whether the PF amount accumulated so far is transferred to the mew a/c. In this matter, all my employers lifted their hand. Upon enquiring with my friends and colleagues regarding the procedure for finding this piece of information, to my surprise, I found most of them are absolute unclear about their own fate. I started getting more involved in the search and found out the above mentioned website. It is quite informative with the contact details of the regional PF offices. But my happiness was short-lived when I realized that the e-mail ID s are orphans. I went back to fail-safe methods – fax and telephone calls. I got reply from one of the offices. The other office (which is in another state) choose to remain silent.
Then came the climax – I came to know that the PF accumulated during my first job (which was spanning over 12 years) is still not transferred to any of the subsequent accounts. But I clearly remember filling up the transfer forms at each of the job switches. As usual, none of the employers’ representative took the blame. For a middle age, middle class person like me, one can imagine the impact of loosing 12 year's PF. Needless to say, for us, the salaried class, this is the only means to survive the retired life. With increased life expectancy and ever growing inflation, I can imagine that the coming years are getting tougher. Now I am in the process of getting all my PF account transferred to my current one. At this moment, only GOD knows what is the chance of my success.
My point is simple – Government and the minister were interested in implementing PAN because it helps them to collect more income tax. But SSN is more important to the individuals. If Government is “for the people”, Pay Back time has come. Please stand up and get this implemented. Let the whole thing become transparent. This amount is lifesaver for many. And very few have any clue about the proceedings.
Looking back, there were apprehensions in common people’s mind. It was more related to the hassles in implementation and fear of not meeting stipulated deadline set by government. It was nothing related to the “Black” thing. Common people never had those worries. I clearly remember the procedure I had to go thru’ those days and the long tense wait. When I had to get one for my wife, it was a pleasant surprise. Out sourcing the process has definitely made the whole thing user friendly.
Now, I would like to remind the minister about one more number – SSN. Somehow, I get a feeling that government has forgotten about this. For the benefit of those who are reading these three digits for the first time, it means – Social Security Number. As per the government web site, http://epfindia.nic.in/, this 14-digit number is primarily for tracking one’s Provident Fund.
As I recall, the process started sometime last year. Filling up the form was easy. But no one knew the target date of completion of the process. I felt the need during the whole of last month.
In my professional career spanning over 15years, my current job is the fourth and I did the last switch about a year back. Since then, despite my sincere persuasion, I could not make out whether the PF amount accumulated so far is transferred to the mew a/c. In this matter, all my employers lifted their hand. Upon enquiring with my friends and colleagues regarding the procedure for finding this piece of information, to my surprise, I found most of them are absolute unclear about their own fate. I started getting more involved in the search and found out the above mentioned website. It is quite informative with the contact details of the regional PF offices. But my happiness was short-lived when I realized that the e-mail ID s are orphans. I went back to fail-safe methods – fax and telephone calls. I got reply from one of the offices. The other office (which is in another state) choose to remain silent.
Then came the climax – I came to know that the PF accumulated during my first job (which was spanning over 12 years) is still not transferred to any of the subsequent accounts. But I clearly remember filling up the transfer forms at each of the job switches. As usual, none of the employers’ representative took the blame. For a middle age, middle class person like me, one can imagine the impact of loosing 12 year's PF. Needless to say, for us, the salaried class, this is the only means to survive the retired life. With increased life expectancy and ever growing inflation, I can imagine that the coming years are getting tougher. Now I am in the process of getting all my PF account transferred to my current one. At this moment, only GOD knows what is the chance of my success.
My point is simple – Government and the minister were interested in implementing PAN because it helps them to collect more income tax. But SSN is more important to the individuals. If Government is “for the people”, Pay Back time has come. Please stand up and get this implemented. Let the whole thing become transparent. This amount is lifesaver for many. And very few have any clue about the proceedings.
PS: The first SSN was allotted to former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on Tuesday , February 25, 2003 (Source - The Financial Express, New Delhi)
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