How to start 2015?

The 5 No's -- That can bring "Yes" for dreams in TWENTY FIFTEEN:

POINT 1: No Resolution. It only gives anxiety.

POINT 2: No Lacunae.

(Decide on doable improvement areas. Improve in those areas. No second thoughts. Take the improvement mission as Do or Die). 

POINT 3: No Hurry. Give time.

(Speed thrills but kills)

POINT 4: No 5 year plans. Give short timelines to the improvement mission. 

(This needs elaboration:  We generally give timelines to the result itself, that is wrong. Give timelines to the actionable.  For example-  Do not make a resolution that you have to be leaner in 2015. But plan that your improvement areas are say- Killing Calories by running. So, in the first week you will walk say, 2 rounds of the community park, next week the rounds shall be 4. And then next week it can be  not a walk but a quick jog., So, split the running into week wise short goals).

POINT 5: No fear from failure. Learn from Ants.

Bomb Blast in the Morning & Meal in the Mid of the Day : Is sun going to set for Nitish Kumar ?

Yesterday, a  survey conducted by CNN IBN- The Hindu , states that Nitish popularity in Bihar is going down and that of BJP is going up.The inference is debatable.
JDU's divorce from BJP rocked the STATE. (there was bandh the next day with a show of goondagiri from both sides)  Bodh gaya Blasts rocked the WORLD. Recent Mid Day meal deaths in a school at Chhapra rocked the COUNTRY. These incidents will definitely have strong repercussions, as much as coming General Election is concerned.

The question on the table is -- will Nitish abdicate power next year due to issues in smooth running of government machinery/law and order/safety of people, the very same reasons for which he is popular?

My take is that Nitish will still be the main leader of Bihar........ Lalu has lost his sheen. he has not been able to prove that he has not eaten fodder and he has not anything for the growth of the state and also for law and order....... Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP has emaciated......BJP has no leader face in Bihar. NaMo's Modi factor cannot have its rub off effect on sushil modi. He is good being a deputy. Plus Congress is inclined towards Nitish. It was evident in recent show of strength in Bihar assembly.

Nitish has demonstrated growth and has been able to take credit of being pro-muslim , especially after the separation with BJP.

It seems to me that, NaMo willnot be able to beat Nitish in the bastion of Bihar at least in today's time.

Dharavi defies all economics -- A shanty costs a Crore there !

Economic Times (ET) reported on 11 July, that a shanty in Dharavi (a slum in mumbai) costs over a Crore.

Who says money lies with the richest..... Look at Dharavi. Today the owner of a shanty in Dharavi is a crorepati. Have we ever thought what could be the reason? 

ET says that its the geographical accessibility to entire city that has resulted in exponential jump in "demand" for the land and hence subsequent upward spiral of real estate prices.

Well - In my view, its not the "demand" rather the "scarcity" that is responsible for such a ridiculous phenomenon. Scarcity of better place to spend life and to work/do business.

But too much of crowd , does that make the city a better place? Life has become hell in todays era.  Flash flood at kedarnath is a recent example.

Our government & Corporates needs to focus on these 5 parameters if we don't want to pay Crore to live in a slum-cluster:

Outsource offshore service sector to other geographies other than Metros :

Shifting of offshore services such as IT sector , manufacturing done for exports to other cities will stop migration to big cities and would ease the stress on civic systems.More jobs at cheaper cost, will be win-win for both employer and employee. 

Create more cities:

More cities especially along the business centres needs to be created at war level. E.g. mathura/agra/meerut near delhi needs to be ramped up at war level.

Connectivity :

Connect these new cities with major roads, metro trains and airports.

Join rivers:

Look at rajasthan. The canal irrigation projects have fetched results. It is green all along now. On same line we need to connect rivers all across india like electricity grid system. this will not only avoid floods but also save us from draught. Moreover we would have more fertile lands with us to enhance agri production. Today china is crying as all its fertile land has become a concrete jungle. 

Mechanize farming

Mechanisation in farming will allow farmer to produc more and earn more. GDP of nation would improve due to better agri productivity.The per capita would go up as 70% of us are living in farmer belt.

Our government need to act fast on these initiatives. or else there would be many more Dharavi waiting in line.

India Post Bank

Today Economic Times dissected the list of 26 applicants who can be among the list of 4-6 probables getting that apple pie.The one that most caught my attention was that of our dear Post Office applying for the Bank  License.

My heart says that, i would be delighted if they get the license. These guys were there when there were no e-mails, no e-banking and no mobile telephony.They helped us communicate to our near and dear ones via telegrams, inland letters, post cards and helped those who were away from family earning far off via money orders. They serviced the length and breadth of the country.

But my mind says that its not an easy walk for India Post, considering the strong balance sheet of its rivals such as LICs, Ambanis, Birlas and Tatas of the world.India Post is financially not in a robust condition. Even telegram would die on 15th of July.

But then 2 things might turn table in its favor:

1- If given the license, India post would have widest possible reach with more than 1.5 Lakh branches.
2- If rural servicing is a significant criterion, then nobody can beat India post with over 3/4th of post offices in rural areas.


Lets shower our wishes to India post ---- that it's dream sees the light of the Day, after all Government backs it and it would definitely be a strong point from RBI point of view.

Panchayat Poll in Bengal

Mamata Banerjee is hll bend on having her own way in administering the Panchayat Polls that would be held in July.

She wishes to have it in 2 phases, so as to avoid the use of central forces. Why so?

Even when the judiciary is all out in stating that what State election Commission is suggesting is right and should happen the SEC way.Didi is all out there to prove to the world that ALL IS WELL as much as her support base in bengal is concerned.Over the years infact less than 3 years that she has been in power in bengal, her support base seems to be dwindling especially from the intellectual class - from academician Sunando Sanyal to Painter Samir Aich to Actor Kahshik Sen to director Aparna Sen to poet Sankha Ghosh ... and many more eventually are drifting from didi due to her dadagiri.

My message to Didi - please understand the real problem of bengal, create the vision but leave the task to find path to reach that vision ion hands of those who are capable. Donot meddle there as then your entire effort and mission that you sought before coming to power would go waste.

Today's Politician : Marketeer or Social Reformer

Some say,
'Raajneeti means- Bas Raaj Karo, koi Neeti nahi'

Well, Netas have a fool-proof Neeti.

Neeti - NOT on how to better the lives of citizens in their constituency, but on, how to keep selling their political ambitions to the voters.

Marketing has been seeping through Political mansions since India attained freedom. In fact even before that during the freedom struggle,  politicians had carved out their niche positions, with Jinna opting to focus his politics on Muslim diaspora and Nehru on the rest.
Today, to keep winning elections, politicians majorly concentrate on the 2 generic (Michael Porter's) strategies, notably :
-Mass marketing to a broad segment of population (which our national parties such as Congress and BJP do)
-Focused marketing to a narrow segment of population (which our Regional Parties such as DMK,NCP, Shivsena etc. do)

And in pursuing this, they keep discovering new baits, to trap their Target Market Segment (voters), each time the election comes. Just the way companies offer Diwali-discounts to customers, these politicians distribute television sets to poor, cycles to school children before Elections.

When companies dole out discounts to their customers, they start price wars. Quality takes a back seat. Same has been the fate of Politics too, it is increasingly becoming more of a commodity. As the 5 year term approaches to an end, politicians draw plans on how to draw voters near them. Just the way, marketeers devise strategies on how to gain market share, politicians too, resort to all gimmicks. to capture maximum market share.

Marketing at play in the History of Indian Politics:

Peeping back into the history,Congress was in monopoly, that led the nation to freedom. Just then , Muslim League parted ways by creating a new market 'Pakistan', the same way as, companies such as Hindustan Lever create new markets to sell their soaps & detergents.

Congress was the tent-pole (as we say in marketing) of Indian Politics, under which varieties of values,culture and ideologies thrived and it encompassed the Rich & the Poor, the Industrialists & the Trade union socialists.
But then each product has a Life cycle, as it travels across Development, Growth, Maturity & Decline stages. And post that the process of Segmentation begins....

Congress too, had come of age. Indira Gandhi made the 1st major split in the Congress. During the days of  Emergency, Jan Sangh came into picture and later got transformed into BJP. Later on, Congress witnessed further fragmentation in the form of Sharad Pawar's NCP and Didi's Trinamool Congress. At BJP, too there was a split , with Uma Bharati's Bharatiya Jan Shakti. And parallely, regional segmentation brought about Chandra Babu Naidu's TDP, Lalu's RJD, Jaya Lalitha's AIADMK, Mulayam's SP, Mayawati's BSP and many more..

Too many competitors within a limited market space.... drives the players towards Differentiation.

In Strategy lessons, its said that 'when the Concentration-Ratio (the sum total of Markets shares of top significant competitors) in the market reduces the monopoly diminishes.
The best strategy then is to merge with key players so that each party in the merger benefits due to a consolidated chunk of the market. The way Petrol and Automobile complement each other, imagine what if, all the Petroleum companies start venturing into Automobile manufacturing and vice versa. There would be a utter chaos and a total loss, just what's happening in the Indian Aviation sector now..

This is the age of alliances and Joint-ventures as resources are scarce and competition is harsh.Politics too is treading the similar path. National political parties form coalition with regional parties and run the government through a Common Minumum Programme.

So, Social development has taken a back seat at the moment..what lays ahead on the road is for all of us to see... Who knows tomorrow there would be a separate Brand Modi .. Whatever the case maybe, the marketing gimmicks will keep on going.

Aqua-nomy : Visualising 'Water' through Strategic Lens

Newton in his 3rd law states that - 'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction'.

We apply this law in every facet of human advancement but when it comes to nature we just seem to forget the essence of it.
Take the instance of 'water usage'. Water is the most important, most under-priced, most undervalued and easily accessible, of all the natural resources we have on planet 'Earth'. Since it is available in plenty, we have been unlimitedly exploiting it. So much so that, in our part of the world we seem to pay the due reverence to the 'Jal Devta' and 'Godess Ganga' only during Worships.

We are using water at a rate higher than its rate of replenishment. Our Industries don't hesitate to draw water from dams recklessly. Our farmers don't refrain from switching on the gen-set because power to them is absolutely free, diesel to them comes subsidized and there is no tax on drawing water from underground. Our urban citizens too don't really pay the real price of water. But this 'marginal gain' at one side is offset by the similar or in fact higher 'marginal losses' at the other side. The oil subsidy bill is one such example, that comprise costs accruing due to sheer extravagant usage of water and in turn ramps up the oil consumption.

Kids in our schools are taught that water is a renewable resource. But water is seemingly, getting finite. It's sources such as polar caps and glaciers are melting day by day. The excessive, unwarranted and free usage of water is making us pay that cost of water some-where else.

So, the question is that where then does the common man  pay the cost of water?  Well we pay the price of water on :

Vegetables and Fruits Prices 
Courtesy poor monsoon, the water is procured from underground water table using pumps. Consequently, due to declining water table, farmers need to dig deeper and water is pumped from deep inside earth. This increases energy consumption per hectare for the farmers and hence increases the cost to the farmer which in turn is passed on to the end consumer when the consumer purchases food grains, vegetables and fruits etc...

Electricity Costs
Due to rising demand of water and receding water tables , water is transported from far-off places to the water starved localities. This long distance transportaion through pipelines soaks up lot of energy , which could have been used for some better purposes. Hence causing the electricity shortage .

Crude Oil Prices 
As we need more and more crops to feed our burgeoning population , we need more energy to draw water for our agriculture, consequently we need more oil . In a way, agriculture is converting oil into food. Urban consumers too rely on oil for water. Most cities are transporting water from far off sources. Electric generator sets, backed by diesel ones, pump water to the end consumers at a price that is rising with each hike in energy tariffs.
Water that trickles from our tap every morning has a high correlation with the crude oil docking at port.

Government Subsidies 
Due to erratic monsoon , the farm output decreases. This leads to lower contribution of agriculture to the GDP, consequently pulling down the overall GDP. Which pushes government to take some measures to instill confidence in the market, thereby it spends more of its tax collected in providing relief to farmers rather than investing in infrastructure and other employment generating opportunities.

Reduced Exports
Agriculture in India contributes over 10% to the national exports. Over drawing of water and unpredictable monsoon leads to imbalance in the water supply needed for agriculture and impacts the farm produce. Thus paucity of water impacts the agriculture production, and hence the exports, which ultimately impacts our Balance of payment.


What can be done therefore, to increase the SUPPLY of water?
Our industries suck up more than 50% of water from dams. So they need to lead the show, by consuming water economically. Our Government can help by rectifying leaking pipelines, using treated waste water for agriculture and industry, more fuel-efficient gen-sets. Our farmers can do their bit, by responsibly drawing water for their land and our urban population can assist by resorting to civilized usage of tap water.

Need of the hour is that we build as many Desalination (a technology which converts sea water into drinking water) Plants we can, along the coastal belts, that we are blessed with. More projects such as that in Minjur (Tamilnadu) or the upcoming one at Dahej (Gujarat), needs to be created on war level, so that more sweet water can be made available to industrial use.Middle east countries are mitigating their water crisis by investing in desalination. Today, Saudi Arabia uses 85% of water from the desalinated plants for the purpose of  irrigation.

On legislature front, requisite Water Policies should be rolled out of the parliament , which guides the consumers on its usage and price etc..

After all Water is Life. And we are playing with it......  Aren't we?