India's research, design and manufacturing capabilities!

If you do a SWOT analysis of India's capabilities, certainly Software prowess will be among the top in the list in terms of technological leverage. Pharma will come next to it and there are others like leather goods, cotton textiles, garments etc.

There is one niche area where India has excelled in all- Research, Design and Manufacturing capabilities and that is two-wheeler production. Even though India borrowed the technology from Japanese manufacturers initially, now India has its own name in the world for 2 wheeler manufacturing competing and even outshining the best in the world.

Yesterday I was listening to a panel discussion on defence manufacturing. Two out of the four panelists predicted in about 5 to 10 years time, India will be among the first three in terms of Research, Design and Mfg. of niche defense equipment incl high-end weapons built on the cutting end technology. According to them ,it has been made possible by the coherent, calibrated and painstaking efforts of this Govt. starting from Manohar Parrikar as the Defence Minister.

One of the panelists being Air Vice Marshal(retd) knew what he is talking about in terms of Govt. policies and the dilly-dallying attitudes of bureaucrats in carrying the agenda of the Govt. forward. He said that the dance involving the Govt, bureaucrats, and the armed forces have got into synchronized steps with well thought out targets after listening to the Defence Mfg.Industry.

Apart from these industries, India is also looking at developing capabilities in semiconductors, smartphones, chemicals and high-end pharma, renewable energy power equipment production, Mobility solutions etc. India stands to gain by investing in cutting edge technologies in Nano, AI, Robotics, Space, IoT, ML, DL, etc. For these things, India's investment in Targeted Research and Development will have to be substantially scaled up as a percentage of GDP.

Alvin Toffler in his "Powershift" mentioned about Knowledge, Wealth and Power/Violence as the three dimensions (கல்வியா,செல்வமா,வீரமா?) of the society with Knowledge being mentioned as the most democratic of all levers.India has to use that lever to its advantage.

Then, India can leapfrog into Industrial Revolution 4, since India was forced to miss the first three Industrial Revolutions by design!

Reforms in Power sector.

Central Govt announced Rs.90K cr rescue package for power gencos through PFC and REC.But PRAAPTI ( Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators) website shows that the total overdue amount to be paid to Gencos stood at Rs.113.8K cr at the end of May 2020 continuously going up for the last 18 to 24 months. The total outstandings were Rs.125.6K cr.link.

Apart from this, there is renewable energy generation pending to be adjusted against captive consumption of factories which is not yet visible.This may be another iceberg submerged.

After clearing Rs.90K cr.as per GOI plan  stated above, how the state discoms are going to manage their future liabilities.

With a negative gap between Average Cost of Supply(ACS) and Average Revenue Realised at Re.0.41 per unit on an All India basis, it is a losing game. AT & C loss is also still very high at 18.72%link.UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) commitments lie in tatters.

All the UDAY Targets remain unfulfilled. The website says there are no newsletter releases after Jan 2019 and that sums up the state of affairs under UDAY. UDAY is now Asthamana.It looks like an orphan.

Targets on All India basis set were:

Feeder Metering                                   30th June 2016 
DT Metering                                          30th June 2017
AT&C Losses                                        15% by FY 2019
Consumer Indexing & GIS Mapping      30th Sep 2018
Upgradation of DT,Meters etc.              31st Dec 2017
Smart meter for Consumers                >500 units by Dec 2017;>200 units by Dec 2019
Elimination of ACS-ARR gap                 FY 2019

Smart metering completion is at 6% - 7%  on All India basis as per the website UDAY.in whereas , it should have been completed  100% by Dec 2019 according to the Targets set.

Are there methods amidst madness to come out of this mess?. There are practical methods to bring down AT &C loss by upgrading the cable quality.adoption of smart metering etc. But the easiest way to do is by horizontal deployment across states. State of Himachal Pradesh has the lowest AT &C at 5.62%. There are great lessons for other states to learn from them. The lowest gap between ACS and ARR is in Gujarat at just 4 paise. This will open the eyes of other States.This cross fertilisation of ideas is the way forward to healthy federal competition.

Many political parties give electoral promises of free electricity to farmers to win elections and in the guise of farmers many use free electricity even for their farm houses. This misuse is rampant across India.

The best way to counter this is to transfer subsidy given to marginal farmers to their Jan dhan account and charge uniformly for agri sector. Another method could be charge 10 paise for a unit for agri activity instead of calling it free and increase this tariff every year by indexing it to CPInflation for those agriculturists consuming more than 1000 units per annum.

Art of living and 5 random acts of kindness

I had the privilege and honour of attending "Art of Living" sessions for 4 consecutive days.

the sessions were very informative, opening many doors for me even though known to me. There were exercises for the conscious, subconscious and superconscious levels.

One of the tasks given to us was to do 5 random acts of Kindness by each one of the participants. This was thought-provoking for me ,since I wanted to continue with it every day. Feeding a dog, crow, helping your wife in household chores(Is it an act of kindness!!), making a small donation, etc. But sustaining this on a day to day basis every day is highly demanding. So I have reduced it to at least 2 acts of kindness per day!!

There are a few important powerful messages I received:

1)Opposite values are complementary- day/night, ugly/beautiful, good/bad- one cannot exist without the other. Somebody said Opposites merge in Oneness like Seshnag and Garuda exist in one abode with Bhagwan. Thiruvalluvar said "
வேண்டுதல் வேண்டாமை இலான்அடி சேர்ந்தார்க்கு 
யாண்டும் இடும்பை இல 
(அதிகாரம்:கடவுள் வாழ்த்து குறள் எண்:4) "

(To those who meditate the feet of Him who is void of desire and/or aversion,evil shall never come)

இருள்சேர் இருவினையும் சேரா இறைவன்
பொருள்சேர் புகழ்புரிந்தார் மாட்டு 
(அதிகாரம்:கடவுள் வாழ்த்து குறள் எண்:5) "

(The twin-fold deeds that spring/lead, from/to darkness, shall not adhere to those who delight in the true praise of God)

In both the above kurals the emphasis is on opposites losing their values in front of God.

2)Pl. don't see intentions behind other peoples' mistakes/actions;i.e many a time we start jumping drawing diabolical evil intentions, purposes,motives behind others' actions. That is for Police and Judiciary to see and not for the common man who is in search of  harmony.

3)Pl. do not be a football for others; willingly you can be a football for some time but do not allow others to use you like a football. Even Lord Krishna ,when he went as Pandava Dhootha allowed the enemies to play him like a football but with the good intention of preventing a war. 

4)Accept people and situations as they are. Most of the time we react to others but not respond to others. Forgive and forget even those who have done the worst to you. This is being proactive in forgiving and forgetting for getting ahead with life.

5)Always live in the present and not brood over the past or worry about the future or the unknown. Give 100% to the present moment and action is important for peace of mind without any regrets in the future.

We are all energy microcosm and so since energy is neither made or destroyed in the Universe but only transformed,the rightful conclusion is that we have been in this Universe from time immemorial.

Am I counting my blessings or accounting for the missing, daily!!!