Why not to have quota based voting?

This issue popped up in my mind some time back when I heard our new HRD minister Dr. Kapil Sibal talk about having quotas for OBCs in private institutions. It’s not that I was amazed at this U-Turn by Mr. Sibal on the issue of quotas (He was one of the few from government to criticize Arjun Singh’s quota policy.). I have understood by now that you can never trust a politician. But this news item triggered a thought in my mind that when the government is keen to divide the society on the basis of castes, as opposed to what it SHOULD be

doing, why doesn’t it allocate a quota to the voting as well?

Here’s a proposition for quota-based voting in India. Let’s have 27% quota for OBCs, 33% for women, 15% for SCs, 10% for Muslims, 5% for Christians and 5% for others. Remaining 5% might be allocated to the General Category but only if Mr. Sibal and his government think that GC are intelligent enough to chose a government. If they decide to move ahead with their existing argument that GC people have EXCESSIVE advantage over other castes and categories of people, they might take away this Extra-ordinary right as well.

But just imagine what will happen after this quota allocation. 27% of the whisky bottles for elections will be distributed among OBCs leading to nation-wide strikes by SCs to increase their quota. The Election Commission of India will issue a

charge-sheet against Mr. Lallu for exceeding the quota of SCs and OBCs in his rallies. Mayawati will be awarded the “Best Politician” award for showing most respect towards the quota system and the quickest implementation in her state. Mulayam will be put behind bars for having 25% muslims in his party against the quota of 10%. And BJP will be banned for defying the entire Quota regime. Congress will still remain the Most Secular Party in India with strict adherence to quotas.

So, while the GC citizens will be downgraded to third-class citizens, India will develop as the Most Secular Nation on the planet with Quotas for everyone.

AS

Originally posted on http://am-i-possible.blogspot.com

History of various technologies

This is an excerpt from an article in the newspaper today.Found it interesting.

Ever wondered how old your favourite technology or gadget really is? Read on to find out


CELLPHONES

How many years old: 36

Date of birth: October 17, 1973

From being a luxury for the rich to an absolute necessity even for the common man, the cell phone’s come a long way. It’s almost an extension of the human body now. Martin Cooper made the first call on a handheld mobile phone on April 3, 1973. The first mobile phone was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in the US in 1983.

THE INTERNET

How many years old: 40

Date of birth: September 2, 1969

For something that you can’t feel or see, the World Wide Web has changed our thoughts and our lives in ways we’re only just beginning to realise. The Internet truly shrunk the world, being the harbinger of an information revolution. This mode of connectivity was born at the University of California 40 years ago last week. And when was the first time it was attacked? In 1988, by ‘Morris’, one of the first Internet worms!

BLOGS

How many years old: 12

Date of birth: April 1, 1997

This one’s the kid in the family. Blogs are freedom of expression on steroids — everything from Bush-bashing to your sex life can be broadcast to the world. ‘Scripting New’ was the first modern blog. Initially, it was named ‘weblog’ (meaning log of the web), and later, in 2004, it received legitimacy from the etymological elite, with the Merriam Webster dictionary making it its word of the year.

THE WALKMAN

How many years old: 30

Date of birth: July 1, 1979

This one passed away young, but its memory lives on every time someone plugs in the earphones of an MP3 player. Thirty years after it was born, the great grand daddy of iPods has been relegated to obsolescence, but the snazzy gadget revolutionised the way people listened to music, and still inspires fond nostalgia from the parent types.

Forecasting Model for Fruits & Vegetables in Retail Outlets

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Statement of Purpose

To create an indenting system between Retail Outlets & MIS of Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd in Upper North Region. The system should serve the following purposes

Ø Reduces Inventory

Ø Reduces Time lag in SCM

Ø Reduces Dump

Problem Faced

Ø High level of Inventory

Ø High time lag in SCM

Ø High Dump Value

Solution

Implementation of PRABAL’S INDENTING SYSTEM Version 1 that takes into consideration the following parameters.

Ø Average Sales

Ø Day Effect

Ø Season Effect

Ø Increment Effect

Ø Dump Effect

Ø Days of Stock

Ø Critical Shelf Life

Problem Analysis

The company is leading Retail Chain, which serves Fruits & Vege

tables (F&V) also. The F&V are purchased centrally from

Mandi and supplied to Ware House. The purchase is based are based on the compiled order of the region provided by MIS. MIS compiles the data based on the Indent given by individual RO’s(Retail Outlet).

Indent is made by Supervisor. The education level of Supervisor is less than higher secondary. The indent is given in 2 days advance to MIS. Indent is normally created by gut feeling of Supervisor.

Indent > Supply = Wt loss + Sale + Closing Stock

Closing Stock = Sellable Closing Stock + Dump

Present Methodology

Ø On the Closing of Day i.e at night, closing stock is weighed and recorded.

Ø Each outlet tries to maintain the desirable no. of day’s stock, which has been calculated for each item separately.

Ø Also Critical Shelf Life of each SKU has been calculated and circulated.

Ø While indenting, supervisor normally keeps both the mentioned information in mind.

But the closing stock calculated by them is misleading in two ways:-

• Closing Stock reported consists both sellable Closing stock and Dump.

• Closing Stock is taken at night, while reported in the morning. Considerable amount of weight loss and increase in Dump occurs by the morning.

This deviation from ideal indent at RO level creates a bullwhip effect at Central Purchase Level.

New Methodology

The indent is forecasted, based on the mathematical formulas.

It Considers:-

Ø Average Sales

Ø Day Effect

Ø Season Effect

Ø Increment Effect

Ø Dump Effect

Ø Sellable Opening Stock in the morning

Ø Days of Stock

Ø Critical Shelf Life

Ø Crate Size

1. Gives Recommended Indent
2. Gives the option of modifying indenting by increasing the %age of sales over last day

Nomenclature & Formulae

Nomenclature

DSi = Day Sale of particular SKU on Day i

Average= ∑ DSi (i=1 to 14)

Dump E=( ∑ DUMPi)/14 (i=1 to 14)

INPUTS

DSi where i=1 to 14

OS15 = Opening Stock of Day15 of particular SKU

DUMP15 = Opening Dump Stock of Day15 of particular SKU

STN IN15 = Stock Transfer Inwards(Accepted) on Day15 before Indent is made.

STN OT15 = Stock Transfer Outwards on Day15 before Indent is made.

OUTPUTS

RI = Recommended Indent in no. of crates for Day17

FI = Final Indent in no. of crates for Day17

Recommended STN out in no. of crates on Day15

OPTIONAL INPUT

Increment desired on last day sale in percentage inputs.

REMARKS

Kindly mention that why you are giving this increment when its more than 50% or less than -50%

Formulae

DE= Day Effect

DE= (DS3+ DS4)/2

Avg Sale

SE= Season Effect

SE = ∑ DSi (i=1 to 8)

∑ DSi (i=1 to 7)

Dump E= Dump Effect

Dump E= (( ∑ DUMPi)/14)/Avg (i=1 to 14)

PS= Projected Sale

PS= Avg(1+DE+SE+ Dump E)

DOS = Days of Stock

DOS = OS15 + STN IN15 – STN OT15

Avg

CSL= Critical Shelf Life

Logic Test 1 If DOS > CSL

> Stock out the excess stock

Else >Regular Indent

Logic Test 2 If DOS<1/2*csl

> Additional Indent=AI

> AI= RI*0.45 (0.45 is taken by Hit & Trial)

Else >Additional Stock=0

Recommended Indent = Reco I = RI+AI

Inc= Increment percentage over last day sales (DS14)

FI= Final Indent = Reco I(1+Inc/100)

Marketing Concepts@IIMs

A Professor at one of the IIM's (INDIA) was explaining marketing concepts to the Students:-
1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing
2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's very rich. Marry him." - That's Advertising
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me." - That's Telemarketing
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say: By the way, I'm rich. Will you marry me?" - That's Public Relations
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: You are very rich! Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face. - That's Customer Feedback
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband. - That's demand and supply gap
8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she goes with him - That's competition eating into your market share
9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your wife arrives. - That's restriction for entering new markets

Delhi: A long way to go.

It’s really difficult to understand the relevance of the claims made by Mr. Kalmadi and Ms. Sheila Dixit about ‘successfully’ holding the Commonwealth games in Delhi next year. We do not have the stadia ready to play, we do not have the audience to watch sports apart from Cricket, we do not have the roads to carry the tourists across the city and we do not have the buses to do so. In such a case, how do we make the claims to hold Commonwealth Games in India and are bold enough to bid for Olympics.
A short stint of 4.5 months in Dubai was enough to change my perception on India Shining. A GDP growth rate of 6% and the ability to fight the inflation did not have any impact on the actual condition of India. Through this post, I do not intend to criticize and re-criticize the government for its failure in bringing up the talent to the forefront, but I’ll pick up three most grieving problems faced by Delhi to attract foreign tourists and businesses. I end this blog with three recommendations for the government and the citizens to start the change process and give a speed to it.
The first and the foremost factor is the portrayal of the image of India. I landed at New Delhi IGI Airport and the first sight was old, stressed out baboos sitting at the immigration counter, handling the foreign tourists and creating the proverbial first impression on them. The moment I came out of the airport, the scene outside was even worse. There was a long queue at the pre-paid taxi counter that was shattered itself. After standing in queue for 15 minutes, I got the receipt for the taxi but no taxi number and nobody to tell me where to get the taxi from. As if that wasn’t enough, the taxi itself was in a broken condition with foam coming out of the seats, rear view mirror missing and seat belt just tied at one end. And if you get a chance to travel by train in the morning, you’ll see people doing their chores besides the railway tracks making India the butt of the joke.
The second serious problem faced by Delhi today is the road traffic control system. Delhi-NOIDA express way was created to showcase India’s prowess in the road transportation but despite the wide, high-speed roads, the toll-gate has done the damage by making the cars wait for long times. Though I am proud of the DMRC project in the city, but the traffic hassles that it has been creating for the last 6-7 years have been a major headache. The temporary roads that have been built as bypass to the metro-line have been built in a very bad condition as if the responsibility for travelling on temporary roads lies with the drivers and not with the authorities. At traffic lights, it becomes evident that there’s no lane system existing in Delhi, whatever are the claims of the Delhi traffic control authorities.
Third major problem faced by Delhi is the safety of its citizens, especially at night. Every other day, we read a couple of news of murder in some corner of Delhi or a rape in the other. Night life is pathetic, to say the least, in Delhi and the only reason is the security issue. People don’t feel safe to come out of their houses at night, even for a walk. And foreigners are the least protected of the entire lot because of their naiveté about India.
Given these basic problems, apart from the administrative, bureaucratic and sports issues, how does Delhi claim to be in control of the situation and sure enough to be able to hold the Commonwealth games in 2010?
Coming to the solution part, there are three basic things that Delhi needs to focus on, rather than beating around the bush with same old policies leading to absolutely nowhere.
The first thing that Delhi needs is the role clarity between the Center government’s responsibilities and the State government’s. Not long ago, the state and central governments were from different parties and one could see a constant blame game going on between the two for the responsibilities of the safety of citizens, public transportation, power supply, water supply and other basic infrastructural facilities. Even now, it’s not clear whether the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) needs to tighten the state government for certain facility requirements or the Center govt. Before we move on to ensure a Developed Delhi, we need to sit for a while and draw clear lines of responsibilities.
The second important step to be taken by the Indian government is to ensure a better road network and a planned expansion of the same. Just like the Andhra Pradesh government, Delhi govt needs to take some bold steps to expand the road network within the city at a much faster pace than it has been doing. Roads in Old Delhi need to be broadened and new roads to be added, even if it means purchasing the land from the residents of the area. The Delhi-Gurgaon flyover system was planned to take on the traffic for next 20 years, but it has already been clogged up with traffic jams and long queues. Proper traffic planning needs to be put into place before mindlessly creating new roads. The BRTS system has faced so much resistance from the local public because this system created another barrier in the already bad traffic condition of the capital. A centralized support system for the public transportation should be set in place to help the non-residents of Delhi. In the nutshell, the master plan for the city or Delhi Vision 2020 should be created for Delhi and every department should be aligned to work towards the same.
My last recommendation to the Delhi government will be to shift as fast as possible from the man-oriented governance system to e-governance. I really appreciate the Bhagidari initiative of Delhi govt. under the supervision of Ms. Sheila Dixit, but this initiative needs to be more inclusive in approach. E-governance should not only be focused at the citizens or residents of Delhi, but it should also be targeted at making the stay of the tourists as comfortable as possible. E-governance should help the citizens to fill in the bills online, file complaints against public offices, get to know the bus routes, know about the decisions of the government, know about the plans for Delhi’s development, rules and regulations prevalent in Delhi and other needed support for the residents of and visitors to Delhi.
I think these three solutions will form the base for the Delhi government to start its further development towards proving itself as the capital of the next super-power of the world. Once developed in Delhi, the same model can also be implemented in other cities in India that suffer the problems similar to New Delhi’s.
But before putting it all on the government, I must say that nothing can be fruitful if the citizens of the country will not support the system. Any initiative of the government needs an encouragement and acceptance in right spirit by the residents. Only then will we be able to create a Shining Delhi and Shining India.


ARUN SHARMA




Copyright © 2009, Arun Sharma. All Rights Reserved.

For discussion on this article, visit http://am-i-possible.blogspot.com
For more posts by Arun Sharma, visit http://WhyNotHaveFun.wordpress.com

Opportunity at the Bottom of the Pyramid ???

Opportunity at the Bottom of the Pyramid – CK Prahalad proposed the idea and many of us cashed upon it. The “Business Pandits” of the world like Mr. Prahalad, say that the opportunity exists in emerging markets like India and there too, in the rural markets of India. My point of dissatisfaction with this approach is with treating the rural population as target market and not as a means to ensure a fair distribution of wealth.
The major indicator of India’s financial intents is the Annual Budget of India. The Finance Minister of India, Mr. Pranav Mukherjee presented the budget on 6th July 10, 2009 and spelled out a budget that clearly revolved around the single point agenda of the upliftment of the Bottom of The Pyramid. Increased allocations for JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) and NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) are just a few indicators of this approach. Another important step taken by government is to subsidize the communication infrastructure set-up in rural India to ensure a faster reach.
Any considerate citizen of India would’ve appreciated this approach of India, Inc. to pave a path for the rural population of India to reap the same benefits as the urban population. Infosys Chief Mentor, Mr. Narayan Murthy appreciated the Finance Minister by saying, “heart of the UPA is in Inclusive Growth.”1 Through budget focus on agricultural growth by fertilizer policy and credit availability to the farmers at low interest rate, it has been tried to create an equated society of India.
But then why at the end of the day, Sensex (Bombay Stock Exchange Index) fell by 6% in a single day? And why has every other person from the industry criticized the approach adopted by Indian government? Why has the approach of India to make a rich brother help his poor brother been criticized by the “Industry Experts”? Why did The Wall Street Journal regard this budget as “A Budget for Second-Tier Developing Nation”2 ? Why would The Financial Times pass judgments about the Finance Minister by saying, “one would expect him to at least balance the politics”3 ?
I see only one reason for this – Expectation of immediate gains. In May alone, the FII to the Bombay Stock Exchange went up by $ 4.14 bn4 on the hopes of immediate gains when their economies back home were not stable and needed the cash badly for revival. But excess “money attracts more money” is the rule. So, the business logic makes sense only when it adds to itself – doesn’t matter what the country needs. And they expected Indian government to pave a path for them to realize their short term objectives, which obviously did not happen and the stock markets plummeted.
There is a major problem with the idea that all these organizations agree with – the fact that the “Opportunity lies at the Bottom of the Pyramid” where everybody looks at them just as potential customers. Several NGOs work at the grassroot level to take the benefits of government policies to the real beneficiaries. Not to miss out that the corporate also contribute to this, but only from a single perspective of “Tapping the untapped markets” or being “Prime-movers in markets of no-competition”. Never has any business organization thought about the welfare of the society in general and not as customers.
Why I am so against the “mutual benefit” theory of the Corporate Social Responsibility? The reason is that there is always an Information Asymmetry in Urban-Rural interaction and hence, there cannot be an equal “mutual benefit” for the corporates and rural population. And in such a case, it is the prerogative of the government to provide essential infrastructure to the rural population (and urban poor) to bring them at par.
So, the opportunity indeed lies at the bottom of the pyramid but let’s not consider them just a Market but a part of the family that we left behind in the run for money.

References:

1 “FM did a good job: Narayana Murthy”, The Economic Times, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/FM-did-a-good-job-Narayana-Murthy/videoshow/4744647.cms
2. “A Budget for a Second-Tier Developing Nation”, By PAUL BECKETT, JULY 6, 2009, The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124687522344399695.html
3. “India’s Budget lacks a reform agenda”, By John Elliott, July 6 2009, The Financial Times, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0be648c2-6a2c-11de-ad04-00144feabdc0
4. “India is now flooded with $1billion per week”, by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, June 7, 2009, The Times of India

Copyright © 2009, Arun Sharma. All Rights Reserved.

For more articles by Arun Sharma, visit http://am-i-possible.blogspot.com

How To Survive The Recession, Then Fail The Recovery. The British Airways Story.

"How To Survive The Recession, Then Fail The Recovery"
“The British Airways Story”.
Last year BA reported a sharp rise of operating profit to £883 million, which in view of the rising fuel price and their falling market share, seemed to be bucking the downward global trend.
This year they reported a loss of £401 million.
Somewhere between the two reality probably lies, but when has reality ever paid out a performance bonus? And when have the published numbers ever reflected what is actually happening to a business?

A spokesman for BA, Mr Willie Walsh, said last month: “The combination of unprecedented oil prices, economic slowdown and weaker consumer confidence has led to substantially lower first quarter profits." “But,” He said ”British Airways is well prepared and has adapted its plans in the event of further economic uncertainty.”

These reported performance figures for BA and their smooth denial of concern reminded me of the last time BA management hit the news.

It was several years ago and Rod Eddington, the then chairman of British Airways, was responding on TV to concerns about the profitability of British Airways.
He was having a moan about how the budget airlines were cutting into his market share, but he was still being quite bullish about it. He told the interviewer how, in the last three years, he had cut the operating costs of British Airways by 5% and that although the competition was tough they fully expected to maintain their market share.

What he didn’t say was that in the past three years, to make that 5% saving, he had made redundant 16,000 members of his workforce.

He must have had some idea of the consequences of those redundancies for the remaining workforce. How did he think they felt about it?

Did he think they still felt good about working for British Airways?
Did he think they still felt their jobs were secure?
Did he think they felt proud of what had happened.

At the time Rod Eddington seemed supremely unconcerned by any of the consequence of his actions other than the ability to boast about the financial savings he thought he had made.

The men and women who worked for BA had. in the main been in their dream jobs. Pilots, who as schoolboys had pictured themselves wearing Raybans while they lounged around in the cockpits of big jets.
Cabin crew who used to dream of all the exotic destinations they would go to.
Baggage handlers and support staff who at the time could use BA to nip over to Paris for the weekend for the price of a cup of strong coffee.

And then, by making 16,000 redundancies, Rod Eddington had at a stroke completely changed the way that the remaining BA employees felt about what they did.

He had changed their attitudes and behaviours from those of a proud group of motivated people, dedicated to the service of their customers, to a bunch of disillusioned job hunters.
By making these redundancies British Airways changed the behaviour of their whole workforce from a powerful group of people who were proud of what they did, to an apathetic, untrusting workforce who were only interested in where they could send their next CV.

In the latest twist in the saga of the failure of BA we read of the appeal from the current management for the workforce of BA to give the company one months work without pay to try to save the company.

Since the days of Rod Eddington, management at BA have completely lost the loyalty of their staff by the way that they have behaved towards them, creating a morally bankrupt organisation, Make no mistake, this moral bankruptcy was caused by BA management.
Now we see the current management attempting to cash a cheque against the BA account that they themselves have already emptied.

Is this BA management completely misreading the way that the workforce feel about the company they work for? Or is this a cynical manoeuvre by management to deflect the blame for the failure of the company?

It is possible that the company will fail without these individual contributions from the workforce.
The workforce must be aware that it is just as likely that the company will fail even after they have put themselves into personal debt to try to keep it afloat, the only difference being that when the company fails, even after the workforce have given their time for free, the workforce will be in an even worse position to support their families.
Either way, management have already broken the trust of the workforce and since none of the management team seem to have offered to work for nothing it seems even less likely that any of the workforce will be persuaded to stick their necks out.

Do BA management truly believe that the workforce, working for nothing, will save them or are they working a spin, which when the company goes to the wall will enable them to say
“It was not our fault, We were let down by the workforce who would not support us.”

In this ongoing crisis we have to be very careful about what we do to survive and how that changes the way that our remaining workforce feel about they are asked to do.

Ride roughshod over the workforce during the recession because you can, and like BA you will have a very hard time continuing to trade even when the rest of the world has resumed doing business, Or, take care of your people when they most need it and they will take care of you when you need it.

We can’t have it both ways.

What goes around comes around.


Peter A Hunter
Author – Breaking the Mould
www.breakingthemould.co.uk