Rajopadesam - 2

When I was an entrepreneur, I attended a Quality Management Program which was based on Phil Crosby's viewpoint on QM.

And the program changed the way I looked at life.

We always hear that to "Err is human", and accept mistakes in workplace and in personal life with a philosophical shrug. People are conditioned in their early life, especially in a more philosophical country like India, that it is normal to make mistakes and this belief gets firmed up by the time they start working. As kids, our mistakes are glossed over or covered up by the parents. At workplace, we expect others to make up for the mistakes we do -which is unfair. If everyone thinks like that, we will end up with a pile of defective products and services that increases Waste, which as you know is the real enemy of any organization as I had posted once here in this blog

Then, do we have an inbuilt error ratio? We do not. We might drop a stainless steel vessel, but rarely do we drop a glass vessel. We rarely make a mistake while crossing a street, for the consequences can be fatal. We carry eggs, glass, and other breakable substances very carefully, while being careless about paper, books or a broom. Another interesting thing is that while we accept imperfection in us, we rarely tolerate imperfection in others. We can see hoardes of examples of this while driving, where people scream at another driver just minutes after they themselves cutting across another driver without notice. Hence, it is not as if there is a built in error ratio within us. Errors need not happen.

Then, why do errors happen?

According to Crosby, errors or mistakes are casued by two things : Lack of Knowledge and Lack of Attention. Knowledge can be measured and deficiencies corrected through tried-and-true means. One can overcome knowledge inadequacies through learning, either from the book or through experience. But lack of attention must be corrected by the person himself through an acute reappraisal of his or her moral values. Lack of attention is an attitude problem. The person who commits himself to watch each detail and carefully avoid error takes the giant step toward setting a goal of Zero Defects in all things. Zero Defects is an attitude to Do Things Right, the First Time, Every time, and attitude, they say, is a little thing that makes a big difference – if it has to be, it is up to me.

Hence, make an effort to change your attitude, and,

DO THINGS RIGHT, FIRST TIME, EVERY TIME, and ON TIME

Some refuse to change......................

On 21st November 2009, I wrote this post, after watching with horror the handball (twice over) Goal of Thiery Henry for France over Northern Ireland in the world cup play off.

I then wrote about Neeti and Nyayam as follows,

There is a clear distinction between NEETI and NYAAYM.  NEETI is Justice, and the various laws that goes with it in any organization. NYAYAM has a wider meaning. It denotes ethics and morality. Or simply the RIGHT THING to do. NEETI is to ensure NYAYAM. It is a means to achieve an end, and not by an end itself. But many a time, we get to see people hiding behind Neeti, forgetting that enforcing the neeti may not ensure nyayam. This is blatantly wrong and unjust.

 

I, then, went on to say how FIFA, Footballs World Governing Body refused to take corrective action when it was obvious to the whole world that France didnt deserve to go to South Africa, citing rules (Neeti), when they should have looked at whether the Right Thing was done or not (Nyayam).
 

Great Organizations, and people, learn from their mistakes. But most of our sports bodies are ostrich like and refuse to innovate. Cricket has done so and full credit to them. But it has to do with India taking leadership in the ICC. As long as England were in charge of ICC, they talked about tradition and refused to change. Pakistan brought in the concept of neutral umpires and India took lead in using technology to assist umpires. It is not perfect, but these days there is less acrimony. Tennis do not have much scope, but they are still going ahead with Hawk Eye, at least in major tournaments.

 

Football has been pathetic. The whole world was able to see the off side of Tavez against Mexico, or the Goal that was but not give of Lampard against Germany, or the 2 disallowed goals of USA or the handball of Fabiano - but all FIFA had to say was that the goals should not have been shown on the giant screen in the stadium. Ridiculous. Forget about using technology, which is difficult in a free flowing game like football, but at least FIFA could have gone ahead with the concept of appointing 2 additional goal post referees who will stand behind the goal post. This was mooted long time back, and would have solved both goal line errors like Lampards and also assist the Referee in identifying the foul committed in the penalty box. FIFA is making a laughing stock of themselves this World Cup. To attribute these bloomers to human error is silly, for these errors need not have happened in the first place, if only FIFA gets out of its ostrich mentality

Best Dietician in India

I asked my friend Budhirakshasan who he considers is the best dietician cum physical fitness Doctor in India, as I wanted to improve my fitness levels and reduce my weight

Bang came the answer - Dr.Manmohan Singh.

When I looked askance,he quickly changed the channels of his TV to  Health (or is it Help? I dont remember clearly) India TV. It was showing the rerun of an  interview given by our Health (oops! Prime) Minister. The video footage showed the smiling Doctor coming out of a Cabinet meeting that raised the price of petroleum products across the product lines on Friday, 25th June 2010. He was accosted by a shrieking young lady interviewer of 20 plus,

"Sir, could you tell me what do you propose to do to improve the overall health of Indians?"

"Well. We dont believe in words. This UPA government under the guidance of Soniaji believes in action. We have already taken a cabinet decision for the Welfare of the Aam Aadmi.

"But...................."

"The aam aadmi today onwards has to walk to work than travel by bus, car or motorcycle for we have increased the Petrol Prices by Rs 3.73 and Diesel by Rs 2 with immediate effect. Walking is very good for health. If we make it prohibitively expensive for them to drive a car or scooter, they wont use it."

"But how about housewives?"

"Our UPA Government believes in empowering women, especially housewives. Hence we have decided to increase the LPG prices by Rs 35. From now on, Housewives will have less work to do for they wont have to cook and as everyone knows raw vegetables and fruits are better than cooked ones, which will make the whole family healthier. And anyway there is hardly anything in the kitchens these days as everything from rice to salt, milk to fish, vegetable to fruits is beyond the purse of the the people"

"The aam aadmi who are below the poverty line..............................."

"Do you think we will forget the BPL aam aadmi? They have the first right of my government's 'brilliant ideas', err...... resources. The best way to improve one's  health is to have a good 9 hours sleep per day. By increasing the Kerosene prices by Rs 3, we have ensured that the BPL aam aadmi wont have enough money to light up their houses, and having no other option will go to bed early. Err.........there will be a minor side effect of increase in population if people go to bed early, but even there I look at the positive side of the issue - more population means there will be more people to share the same food,as my Agriculture minister dont or wont increase food production, less food will be available per head, leading to lesser calorie intake. Again, less obesity"

"But sir.............................."

Also remember that we have ensured the food prices are very high with the food inflation at 16.4% and this is at the wholesale level!!! At retail level the inflation must be 25-30%. This is good for health of the aam aadmi as he cannot afford to buy Rice, Wheat, Pulses, Dhal, Vegetables, Milk, Fruits, or for that matter even Dhal. High prices means less consumption (I should know, for everyone says I am an economist, though I am not sure whether I am a Doctor of Economics or Doctor of Diet and Fitness), less calories taken, meaning leaner, meaner and fitter population. So on the one hand we reduce the population's calorie intake, and on the other hand we make them walk/run more. Also, they sweat more hearing the prices, which opens up the pores of the skin and makes it glow"

"Sir.................................................................."

"Sshhhhhh. This is the world cup time. What if we didnt qualify. While our friends in the Brazil team are right now kicking a Jabulani ball in South Africa, our Government is busy kicking millions of A**es of fellow Indians"

At this point Budhirakshasan dipped inside his pocket and whipped up a RED CARD

Of laws and sentences

There is considerable anguish at the arbitrary functioning of the Khap Panchayats in North India, and the spate of 'honour killings'. Now the Central Government is planning to introduce a bill in the Parliament towards stopping this atrocity.

With reports of 'honour' killings of young couples and 'kangaroo' court rulings on the rise, government today said it has drafted a law that will seek to put an end to such 'extra-judicial' actions. Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters here that the Home Ministry has already prepared a Bill aimed at "putting an end" to such crimes being reported from different parts of the country. "The Home Ministry has already drafted a Bill, which has been vetted. It will be a tight law to put an end to such crimes," he said when asked to comment on the proposed law that the Home Ministry had prepared.

The problem with India is not the absence of laws, but the poor implementation of them. For example any 'honour' killing should automatically fall under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which states "302. Punishment for murder.-- Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or 1[ imprisonment for life], and shall also be liable to fine".  
The maximum punishment of death by hanging can be given. Then where is the need for another law?
 

For a culprit to get the punishment he or she deserves, three arms of the government have to do their jobs properly. The investigating agency, be it the local police, crime branch or the CBI, has to painstakingly get the evidence and build a rock solid case. The Prosecuters office has to argue the case correctly in the Court and finally the Court has to sentence without undue delay.

 

The track record of investigating agencies is extremely poor. They are plain sloppy, untrained and frankly dont care. Just watch any crime or accident scene to know what I mean. You can see everyone other than the police trampling all over the place destroying valuable evidence. Then there is the tacit understanding between the police and underworld. Finally, there is considerable political interference. Mostly, the prosecutors office do a decent job, though they are also guilty of dragging their feet in the court. And judicial system is so slow, it takes ages to get a conviction. No witness in their right mind will come forward to testify for fear of being dragged to court for at least 5-10 years. And the witness protection program is non existant in India.

 

I have seen with my own eyes how dangerous it is to be a witness. When I was a HPCL Sales Officer in early 90's, one of my Petrol Pump dealer shot dead his ex-car driver at 12.40 in the afternoon in a suburb of Coimbatore in front of 50 people and bang in the middle of the market. He absconded, threw his murder weapon away from top of a hill but later surrendered. When the case came up for hearing, only 3 out of the 50 volunteered to be in the witness stand. Others were either afraid or compromised. While the hearing was on, the first witness, whom I know slightly, died of a 'snake bite'. After another two months the second witness, a perfectly healthy young man of 32, mysteriously died of a 'heart attack' and the third, understanding quite clearly how the other two were eliminated, turned hostile and told the Court that he didnt actually see the killing but just heard a shot, which was akin to a 'soda bottle' being opened. That was the end of the case. It is another matter that the judge was bribed heavily and the died Car Drivers family, which comprised of 3 unmarried girls, were terrorised not to go for appeal. The murderer got away scot free (It is another matter that a power higher than the Court punished him severely within another 6 years and he was a broken man full of remorse when I met him in 1998).

 

We need a system to speed up justice. That is the root cause of the problem pertaining to Khap Panchayats or Katta Panchayats as they are called in north and south india. People dont have faith in our Police and the Court to give them timely justice.

Mother of all tennis matches

I have been following a most amazing tennis match on web for the better part of  last evening.

A first round match between the 23rd seed John Isner of USA (see pic on the left) and unseeded Nicolas Mahut of France (pic on the right) at Wimbledon. The match was suspended on tuesday evening at two sets all. They resumed on Wednesday and played the final set for ..............hold your breath.................another 6 hours...........and the score stood 59-59 (tie break is not applied in the final set at Wimbledon) when the poor umpire thought it fit to put a temporary stop to the marathon and suspended play for the day. The match has broken all the records. It has already lasted 10 hours and is the longest match in official tennis history by a long mile. The next longest match lasted only 6 1/2 hours.Isner has served 98 aces and Mahut 95 (The next highest was 51 in a match). For 118 games the serve was not broken and both served brilliantly. The singles match that had the maximum number of games in a match stood at 112, and the final set alone of this match has had 118 games so far and it is still not finished. At 50-50, the score board operator didnt know what to do as there was no provision for beyond 50. He reverted to 0-0 and begged everyone to add 50 to each figure. The players, who could barely remain standing and were delirious, will continue the epic on the third day, thursday. And by the way, what was the score in the first four sets? Well, no one quite remembers!!!!

The match moved even the mighty Federer who was in awe and had this to say " It's unfortunate these guys are going to be a little bit tired tomorrow... and the next day, the next week, the next month… It's absolutely amazing. It's a very special match. I hope some way it's going to end. know they're maybe not loving it. This is unheard of in our game. Normally there are breaks but John's barely moving but is still able to produce good serves. I don't know if I was crying or laughing, it was too much. I can relate to it to some little degree - but this is beyond anything."

"There's no way you can think about trying to describe something that's never happened before and will never happen again," says John McEnroe, who played a marathon last set (18-16) with Bjorn Borg three decades ago himself in another epic final, which I was fortunate enough to follow on BBC radio.

And what did the two gladiators had to say?

Mahut - "He's just a champ, we had to fight like we never did before. Someone has to win, we'll come back tomorrow and see. I mean, it's amazing, the crowd is just fantastic. Everyone wants to see the end, but we'll have to come back. We play for too long, I don't know how many hours."

Isner - "Nothing like this will ever happen again... ever. He's serving fantastic, I'm serving fantastic. That's really all there is to it. I'd like to see stats, the ace count. We both couldn't agree to play so they cancelled."

This is what sport is all about, and

it is Surreal

Rajopadesam - 1

Never take 10 days to do something that can be done in 10 minutes !!!

Nothing irritates me more than professionals delaying a work for no apparent reason. Recently I asked a couple of professional colleagues to give me a simple document showing their skill sets - One gave after 3 days after a reminder, another took one week, another promised to give within a week but has not done so even after 3 weeks, and two others have just not bothered. All it would have taken them to prepare and e mail the 2 page document was 30 minutes, and they claim they have not found time to do it - in 30 days??

Another case involved the signing of an Agreement. I met the concerned people on 3rd of June. The Agreement was fairly standard, with only my personal details to be filled in, which I promptly furnished by the next working day after reveiwing the draft. It took them another 12 days for them to prepare the original agreement which I signed in 2 minutes, but it took the first party another 3 working days to get it countersigned.

A third incident involved another professional acquaintance. He called me up three weeks back and solicited my assistance in a professional venture. He set up a meeting a week down the line. On the day of the meeting, he promptly cancelled it citing the reason that he had to get his car repaired and promised to fix up the meeting on another day and has vanished since. He apparently has his own consultancy, and if this is the way he treats his clients, I dread to think what is in store for them.

Why are we like this?

At the end of second round of matches in the Group Stages

I thought I was burdened with the Commentators Curse when my pre tournament favourites Spain were shocked in the first match of the group by Switzerland,  when Brazil struggled against North Korea and then later Germany was beaten by Serbia in the second round of matches.

Despite the defeats of Spain and Germany, at the end of the second round, it looks like this World Cup is progressing as per the form book.

The South American teams are looking great. Argentina looks solid, despite Maradonna as their Coach. Their mid field is functioning well, and Messi is in his elements. Brazil came to their own in their match against Ivory Coast, though they struggled against North Korea. But then Brazil has always been troubled by higly defence oriented teams who denies them space inside the penaly box. Brazil always had the flair. But their Coach Dunga has brought a discipline and organization to their tactics. They are not reckless anymore. But contrary to what many thought, this has not killed the creativity of the Brazilians. All the 5 goals they scored were pure gems. The Maicon's zero angle shot, Fabiano's marvellous skills and the sublime pass given by Kaka for Elano to tap in has restored my faith in the Brazilians. Their only worry could be the two cheap goals they conceded, one each against North Korea and Ivory Coast, but they look solid in defence with Luciao, Maicon and Bastos and for once have a World Class Goal Keeper in Cesar. Paraguay will go far. They are lively, moves the fall around fluently and should reach the quarter final at least. Both Uruguay and Chile should progress to the next round. That makes it 5 out of 5 for the Latin American Teams, no mean achievement.

There is a levelling off in Europe. Spain and Germany, despite their defeats look good. Spain was again wasteful against Honduras and cant afford to be so in the Round of 16, where they will meet either Brazil or Portugal, the latter pumping 7 goals against a hapless South Korea, but to be honest, the Portugese were clueless almost for 2/3rds of the game. Germany lost mainly because Klose was harshly red carded. Even then, they looked good against Serbia in their defeat. Their only worry could be the poor form of Podolsky and Klose, their strikers, leading to the World Cup. Holland has been steady but not spectacular. One has to wait for Arjen Roebben to return to see whether they are lively as well. The other title contenders Italy, England and France are trash. Italy is an ageing team and have forgotten how to score. France is a joke and has provided much entertainment off the field with Anelka abusing the Coach, being red carded out of the team altogether, players refusing to train, fitness coach walking off, Federation President quitting in disgust and finally some players refusing to play in the last game. Makes for a nice Bollywood script - all that is missing is the sex element, which anyway Ribery and Benzema provided before the World Cup. England is England - long on talk but short on football. Describing their play as insipid is an understatement. The lesser teams like Denmark and Serbia are likely to progress and looks quarter final material.

African teams have disappointed. Much was expected of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria. Only Ghana looks game to progress to round 2 and it was supposed to be Africas Word Cup. The Mexicans have taken after their Latin American neighbours and look good, while New Zealanders have brought their Rugby zeal into their game.

The World Cup which was mediocre in the first round of games have livened up a bit in the second round. That is due fear of elimination triggering the attacking tendencies. Round 3 is do or die for many teams, and should see some attractive attacking football. It can but improve.

Argentina and Brazil have their noses ahead by a small margin now. But never underestimate the Germans. They will be there when the Semi Final line up is completed. The fourth place could go to another Latin American team.

'Poor' Accounting

No one argues that poverty in India is widespread. This despite 63 years of Independence out of which 43 was under a socialist leaning mixed economy which is ostenably for the poor, and the last two decades which saw a 'Liberated' Indian Economy. Our politicians boast of 8% GDP growth rate and have accurate figures (though they fudge the inflation figures and the fiscal deficit figures) on any macro economic indicator.

But when it comes to assessing how much of India is really poor, there is absolutely no consensus amongst the various arms of the Government, and no one cares.

The Planning Commission considers 27.3% of the rural households are below the poverty line (BPL). Another group, N C Saxena Experts Group, which assesses poverty based on Calory intake, estimated that 50% of the rural households are BPL. That is not all. Arjun Sengupta Commission found that 77% of the Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day, which definitely means abject poverty, while Suresh Tendulkar Committee says only 37.2% lives BPL. All this while the international norm for BPL is < $1 (=Rs 45) per day, a threshold which UN wants to raise to $ 2 taking into consideration the depreciating value of currencies.

During the last election campaign, our venerable Prime Minister asked for a second term for UPA, on the premise that if voted back to power, the Congress Government will wipe out poverty in 100 days. Many 100 days have come and gone since. The least he can do is to get an accurate figure of the number of people BPL AND THEN START doing something to alleviate their misery.

Did you know?

Did you know that India's,

National Flag is the Tri-colour

National Anthem is 'Janaganamana................' written by Rabindranath Tagore

National Song is 'Vande mataram.................' written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

National Animal is the Tiger

National Bird is the Peacock

National Flower is the Lotus

National Fruit is the Mango

National Tree is the Banyan Tree

National Emblem is an adaptation of the Budhist Lion Capital of Asoka at Saranath, near Banaras

National Sport is Hockey, and

National Calender is based on Saka Era with Chaitra (falling on 22nd March normally, and on 21st March in Leap Years) as the first month.

C is not for Cat in Business

When an entrepreneur starts a Small or Medium Business, he follows the 3C Model for establishing the business and to generate sufficient cash flow - Capability, Capital and Connections. At this stage he is essentially inward looking, putting more stress on his strengths. He should answer the following questions - Do I have the Capability to succeed in this business?, Do I have sufficient Capital to sustain it till it breaks even? and Do I have the right Connections that I can leverage?

As the Business grows he needs to focus on 4 more C's - Competition, Customers, Communication and Commitment. The first is obvious. He should now be having a set of Customers and should focus on thrilling them, apart from attracting new customers. Communication becomes more important at this stage, both external and internal. The latter helps to build a strong team while the former aids in developing the Brand Equity. One thing noticed amongst the Entrepreneurs is their fall in Commitment as the business starts dipping post the initial spurt. The enthusiasm of starting a new venture falls off and one has to plod on. It is a time for consolidation. Most entrepreneurs, by nature, enjoy the creative freedom the new venture gives them but are hopeless when it comes to handling the nitty gritty routine of consolidating the business. This is the time when they have to tighten their belt, grit their teeth and hang on - and this requires strong Commitment.

At all stages, the entrepreneur requires an additional 4 C's - Cash Flow, Clarity of Thought , Core Competency and Competitive Edge. Cash is the bloodline of any organization. It is what fuels it. Most business schools downplay the importance of cashflow, while talking up abstract conceptual issues. No Cashflow and business will start stuttering. The 9th C stresses the importance of Clarity of Thought - one should be certain of one's Convictions, as to what the business stands for and how to run the business. Vagueness and hazy vision will lead to confusion amongst stakeholders. Right or wrong, follow your Convictions. And finally, over a period of time, develop not one, but multiple Core Competencies in one's business. This helps the entrepreneur to maintain a Competitive Edge in the market place, without which any business is doomed to fail.

Interesting chat transcript of the blog post on China dream souring.

I had an interesting chat with a student of mine yesterday on the blog post on rising wages in China. The chat transcript is reproduced below as a Q & A. Disregard the spelling and the grammatical mistakes as one has to give allowance for messenger language.

Q: if moving from A-I-S is sure thing to happen, how can economies make most of it ? i mean for eg if china...what shd they idealistically be doing ? start concentration in service industry ??

A: Countries should move away from low cost manufacturing, to more quality value added manufacturing which will give them more margin and help them to pay higher wages, those kinds of manufacturing also requires lesser man power. Simultaneously they will move towards a services economy which can absorb high value high skilled employees. Low cost core competency is easily imitable, and wont stay as a competitive advantage for more than 10 years max.

Q: but tht means tht every country through dis transition period will create economic drifts between rich and poor

A: poor gets richer as they get higher wages. my grandfather was an agriculturalist. my father was an engineer of the industrial era and me and my brother are of the services era. our standard of living has grown. we were very poor 2 generations ago and we are all well off today

Q: but now suppose china is shifting to high qulaity value production ...what hppens to the unskilled labour ....as the conomy shifts....the existing unskilled labor will lose jobs and have less pay?

A: no, they will get better paid jobs as companies will increase their skill sets through training. overall wages will go up anyway

Q: then why is there such huge gap of rich and poor in india?

A: many reasons. In India, 60% of the people are dependent on agriculture. they have not migrated to industrial economy and agriculture gives the least returns and wages. Successive governments were more keen on giving them doles but hardly did anything to give them skill sets

Q: if you look at the 60 % then we can't say tht india has moved to the manufacturing stage right

A: give a man a fish, you satiate his hunger for a day. Teach him fishing and you give him a living. India is a rare country

Q: atleast not entirely as most of the population is still farming

A: we moved from Agri to Services and then came back to industrialization. this was a problem , as agri to services is not a logical transformation for most, hence only the elite benefitted or the middle class but the farmers suffered. also some of the figures are skewed. these farmers kids have migrated and are in services sector. they either ignore their parents or parents refuse to move out to live with children. we missed the industrialization bus in 1970 due to license raj and went back to it only by 2000. the clashes we are seeing on grabbing land for industrialization, is a sign of growing I-economy in rural areas also govt. dont spend money on rural development ,they dont create assets, they dont create small industrial clusters, and there is widespread corruption

Q: so basically it means we have been put behind a decade due to license raj

A: only 15 paise out of each rupee spent on rural population benefit the beneficiary. you are correct. we lost not one, but 3 decades or at least a quarter of a century. the green revolution of late 60s should have led to industrialzation based on agro output in 70s. this did not happen. also govt, killed pvt initiative and gave govt jobs left right and centre. this created a generation or two of unproductive people

Is the China dream souring?

Economies move from Agrarian to Industrial to Services. The wage and skill levels also increase while a country progresses in the A-I-S path. Countries enter the Industrial economy phase on the back of low wages and low skill sets, inherited from the Agrarian Economy. As skill sets improve, the demand for skilled labour increases leading to a demand-supply imbalance, which in turn leads to wage inflation. Add to this the changing focus of the young to pursue higher education than semi engineering education required for the manufacturing sector, and you see a further widening of the gap between demand and supply of the blue collared workers, the backbone of the sector. A country is able to maintain its manufacturing edge, only as long as it is able to keep the wages down, for wage is very critical input in manufacturing, despite mechanization. Once the Industrical economies mature, the wage level increases, pushing up the cost of production and thus the prices. The low cost advantage is lost. Most of these countries compromise on quality in the initial phases, for they enjoy the low cost advantage. They are unprepared for the phase when they lose their low cost advantage. We have witnessed this in the developed countries in 1970's, in Japan in 1980's and in Korea in 2000's. Closer to home, I have personally seen this in the textile city of Coimbatore and the hosiery town of Tiruppur.

Looks like China, who became a world power on the back of their low cost, low quality, low wages manufacturing sector, is seeing the beginning of the end of their boom period in manufacturing. We are seeing the first signs of labour unrest and wage hikes.

"Foxconn, which manufactures components for giants like Sony and Apple, has been forced to announce a 66% wage increases after a spate of 11 suicides by its workers and allegations that it was caused by workplace depression and low wages.The embattled Foxconn Technology Group has indicated it will move a part of its plants in southern China to one of the northern cities like Tianjin to overcome the problem of rising wage costs. Though Foxconn or other foreign companies might chose to relocate within China, they would not pull out of China altogether because it might cause market access problems in one of the world’s biggest markets, sources said. Many of the foreign companies either sold vast quantities of products in the local market or provided components to major sellers to China, analysts pointed out"

........................................................................................................................................................

"The biggest eye-opener for multinationals in China recently has been a nine-day-old strike at a sprawling Honda transmission factory here in Foshan, about 150 kilometres northwest of Hong Kong. The strike, which has forced Honda to suspend production at all four of its joint venture assembly plants in China, has shown that Chinese authorities are willing to tolerate work stoppages at least temporarily, even at high-tech operations on which many other factories depend. Even before the strike, manufacturers and buyers of low-cost products were already actively seeking alternatives to China, such as Vietnam and Cambodia, said Richard Vuylsteke, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Honda has been making increasingly generous offers to settle the strike. The company has already offered increases in total compensation of close to 50 per cent, according to crumpled-up copies of the offer provided by striking workers. One surprise of the strike here is that it involves workers whose wages appear to have already roughly doubled in the past five years: blue-collar workers in export factories in the Pearl River delta region around Hong Kong. Partly because so many young Chinese now go to university, and partly because of a declining birth rate, the number of young Chinese available for factory work is falling far short of the demand from employers. That is producing higher wages for blue-collar workers and giving them leverage to demand more, as the Honda strike shows.

So is the China dream souring?

World Cup Titbits

Few titbits on World Cup 2010

A really amusing take on various team strategies . You will love it if you know your football, and you may replace China with India in the last figure.

What do fans do after their team has won a match? They ****

Here is another interesting link - The Goldman Sachs report on World Cup and Economics 2010

German brilliance

German football team used to remind me of my father. He built three houses, post retirement. All the houses are functionally bloody efficient but aesthetically jarring, which hurts my delicate pisces sensibilities.

As a professional, I admire the German efficiency. But I never thought I would see a day when I would be actually enjoying a football match involving Germany.

But the German team in this World Cup looks so different. They are young, energetic and absolutely breathtaking to watch. Yesterday Australia played a unique 4-6 combination, packing the mid field with 6 men with no one up front. That tight defensive approach would have baffled any team, including Brazil who have time and again been troubled by highly defensive teams. Such teams have 6-8 men in the penalty area whenever the opposition attacks. Very tough to crack them. In fact Greece won a European Cup adopting such a tactic a few years back. But this young German team, with 9 of them less than 25 years old, was brilliant yesterday. They were pleasing, moved the ball forward magnificently, the midfielders run behind the forwards into the goalmouth was breathtaking, the crosses superb, they used the right wing effectively and finally they finished with clinical precision. And of course, their defense was solid, except for an early blemish in the 4th minute. The 4-0 victory over Australia was fully deserved. The Australians were baffled by the lighting quick runs of the mid fielders behind the man up front and were caught napping time and again. It was a tactical masterpiece. The team of the tournament so far for me. That is no mean feat considering we have seen what Argentina and Messi can do.  This German team oozes with class and are a treat to watch. 

So, follow the future matches involving Germany carefully. They can but improve and that is bad news for some of the other teams.

My take on the major title contenders as on date;

Germany - Absolutely Brilliant
Argentina - Lived upto their potential. Very creative mid field trio in Messi, Veron and Tavez.
England - Reminded me of a political party in India. No strategy, everyone working at cross purposes.
France - Shabby, drab and uninspiring. 

This too will pass.

The TV centric media era and the changing values of the population has proved to be a boon for the corrupt Corporate--Politician-Bureaucrat- Media nexus. Those with vested interest know that all one has to do is make some right noises in the TV sets during the crisis for a week, and then sit tight. The public will lose interest and move on to the next 'sensational' news. People are not interested in the solutions, hardly do any follow up, don't bother to find out the root cause and don't ask for systemic changes. The political parties, who used to take up these issues in the past and keep it in limelight, are all compromised by the big businesss. The general public is apathetic and is hardly bothered about nation building and fighting injustice. The corrupt exploit this to the hilt and merrily go on with their behind the scene skulduggery.

There was much hue and cry about President Pratibha Patils financial impropriety in the Co-operative sector in Maharashtra and her husbands involvement in a murder case. This was when she was elected in 2007. Have you heard anything about it since?

Quottrochi, of the Bofors infamy, was allowed to go Scot free, his accounts defreezed and all charges dropped against him three years back. The issue has died down.

Justice Dinakaran, the land grabbing Chief Justice of Karnataka, continues with impunity even disregarding a transfer order issued by the Government. The Karnataka High Court is totally paralysed for the last few months. No one is bothered about it now.

Telecom Minister Raja, swindled thousands of crores of rupees in the auction of 2G spectrum. Is anyone talking about it now?

The IPL fiasco that resulted in Sashi Tharoor losing his post and the subsequent IT raids on various franchisees and Modi was in the news for a week. Do any one of us know or care about what action was taken by the Government on the errant franchisees who apparently have flouted all Foreign Exchange norms?

Do any of us.................................... Oh! forget about it. The list is endless.

Hence, let us not break our head over Bhopal Gas Tragedy or how Warren Anderson was spirited out of the Country by none other than the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (it is ridiculous to even listen to Congress parties assertion that on the day of the biggest industrial tragedy in India, the American CEO, who was arrested and let on bail was flown from Bhopal to Delhi on a State Plane, and then out of the Country but the PM was totally ignorant of it. And this when not a leaf moves without the PMs consent in a dynastic party like Congress) or whether judicial system failed the people of Bhopal.

This too will pass.......................................

An unforgettable experience all those years back

The year was 1986. I was in my 3rd Semester of MBA, at the University Campus in Calicut. TV came to Calicut in 1984 and the hostel did not have a TV.

You need to know the atmosphere in the University Campus those days. Only the rank holders get admission to the PG programs in the Campus, and the Campus offered and still does offer only PG programs. Studying in the campus was a honour, as the seats are limited to 10 or 12, and only the best from the Malabar region of Kerala manage to get admission. Most of them were from poor family, bookworms and had no life outside their chosen area of specialization. Sports was a distraction for them, and they spent most of their time in the classrooms or in their department library or in the huge University Library. They hardly socialized.

The only extroverted students were us, 11 MBA students (out of which 3 were day scholars, and one a girl), the MA English students (mostly girls, including the daughter of the then Vice Chancellor) and the Journalism Students. The Campus was also a breeding ground for the ultra left political philosophy, who thought TV a luxury and a bourgeois conspiracy.

We approached our Warden, who was a Psychology Professor and our Organizational Behaviour faculty with a representation to provide the hostel common room with a TV. He flatly refused citing non availability of funds. In typical MBA students style, we never gave up and pestered him day and night. Fed up, he gave what he thought was an impossible solution - raise half the amount for a TV and I will get the University contribute the other half. We were aghast and cried foul. Half the amount was Rs 4000, which is equal to four times the entry salary for a MBA fresh recruit. He was adamant and smirked, confident we will never be able to raise Rs 4000, in two weeks time leading to the World Cup.

We went on a fund drive @ Rs 20 per head. Remember that Rs 20 was a princely sum those days. And the social objective students, who had government subsidy flatly refused to contribute. The ultra left went on a counter offensive. They labelled MBA students, us, Capitalistic evil. But we persisted, begged, cajoled, threatened - but raised Rs 4000 by the 9th day. A major success for our tenacity and management skills.

The warden was shocked when we dumped Rs 4000 on  is table, a collection of Rs 10, Rs 5, Rs 2, Re 1 notes. And he didnt know what to do, as he just did not have the other Rs 4000 fund. We were devastated and were downcast in our Department Reading Room, when our Head of the Department, a Syndicate Member, walked by and asked us the reason. He listened to us and asked us to join him with the money collected. He marched us to the Vice Chancellor's house, and asked us to recount our story. Then our HOD used his considerable persuasive skills, and political power to get approval of another Rs 4000 from the VC.

The TV, showing only Doordarshan, was installed with much fanfare before the opening match. The matches were held in Mexico, and the first match was at 11.15 pm in the night, ending at 1 am. The second match commencing at 3.15 am to end at 5 am.

Our routine was something like this. Have dinner at 8 pm. Play Cards in Francis's room till 11.10 pm. Continue the Rummy after the first match, till 3.10 and then off to bed with bleary eyes at 5 am (It is another matter that the hall was packed during the matches, with even the ultra left students sneaking behind after the lights are switched off to watch the match. This gave us immense satisfaction. We, of course, sat on the front row - as a privilege for bringing the TV to the hostel). By 8.30 am, we are all in the Reading Room of the Department, with heated discussions about the previous days matches and the prognosis for that days matches. It was a terrific experience, what if it adversely affected our studies and health. We were rewarded with the glorious spectacle of Diego Maradonna at his best, the wonderfully talented Danish team that was so tragically beaten in the second round, the attractive Brazil, the ruthless Germany who kept on coming back. So many wonderful players - Maradonna, Rumeniegge, Zico, Socrates, Careca, Scifo,  Blanco, Butrageno the vulture, Michael Laudrup, Larsen, Platini, Mathaus, Linekar.

And we were close to the soccer crazy Calicut City. If you walk in the City, you could hear nothing other than people discussing football during those 40 odd days. Calicut is a city that rarely sleeps, being a transit town. But during the World cup, the streets were empty and one could only hear the sound of the crowd and commentary that emanated out of TV, wherever one walked in the night.

So many wonderful memories. An unforgettable experience for more reasons than one.

D-Day

The World Cup is back. This is the 7th World Cup I will be watching on the TV. I had posted before how the World Cup of 1986 changed the football appreciation standards on the crazy Kozhikkode fan. You can read that post here.

This World Cup is different for me in a way. I am an ardent fan of Brazil, like half the football fans across the world. It may have to do with the flair and breathtaking beauty of Brazilian football. Their control of the ball in the midfield, their wonderful short passing game and their ability to create goal scoring opportunities from out of nothing is breathtaking. Add to this their genius in dead ball situations and you have to be less than human not to tip them as favourites.

But this time, it is different. I am not taken in by the solid team that Dunga has chosen. Over the past decade and a half, Brazil football has slowly lost its Latin American flair, to be replaced by the European efficiency.  Dunga, the World Cup winning captain of 1994 and the current Coach, has packed his mid field with defensive midfielders and there is a lack of flair up front. Defensively Brazil is very strong, and for once they have a world class goal keeper in Julio Cesar. Luciao and Maicon at the back are the best in the business. The saving grace for the traditional Brazil fans are the creative Kaka, brilliant Robinho and the clever Danny Alvez. But I dont see Brazil progressing beyond the Semi Final, though they come into this world cup with a tremendous unbeaten run in the qualifying, Copa America, Confedrations cup and warm up games.

The hot favourite is Spain. The perennial under achievers and chokers are brimming with confidence. They have tremendous talent in the mid field and in the front. Iniesta and Xavi are the best mid fielders in this World Cup by a couple of miles at least. Their control in the midfield is similar to what Brazil was those years back. Brilliant is an understatement. And in Torres and Villa, they have two brilliant strikers. But they have never been beyond quarter finals, and just do not have the pedigree to win the World Cup. Only 7 Countries have won the coveted trophy in its entire history - Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, Uruguay, England.

Another team who are my favourites are Holland, brilliant but erratic. Arjen Robbens injury is a big blow to them. There are'nt very many genuine wingers left in the game today. For the sake of using the width of the football field, I hope Robben will be fit. Robin Van Persie will also be hoping for Robben to provide his with those pinpoint crosses from the right touchline.

Then there is always the hugely talented Argentina, coached by that maverick genius Diego Maradonna, perhaps the greatest football player world has seen, with due respect to Pele. I have not seen Pele, but have seen Maradona in his prime. I am yet to see a more creative genius of a footballer than Maradonna. Having said that he has been a disaster as a Coach and has not brought out the best of his wonderful team, especially Lionel Messi. They scraped through their qualifying zone and has not bonded as a team yet.

Despite all the hype by the British journalist, England is an average team and lacks the class to win the World Cup. Italy is ageing and France is in disarray. The African teams will play attractive football, but are not likely to reach the Semi Finals.

And then there is the team which jars my sensitive Pisces sensibilities. Never ever discount them in any World Cup. They play unattactive, physical but efficient football. And they are always there at the business end of the Tournament - Germany.

Something tells me we will be seeing a different World Cup winner this time around.

But dont be surprised if the final sees Brazil and Germany facing each other.

Collective failure of a nation

This thought provoking blogpost in Headlines Today by Associate Editor Gaurav Sawant, from the much respected India Today stable is worth a read.

Switch over to a basket of fruits

Yesterday, a student of mine came to collect her MBA degree certificate. It is one of the more gratifying moments for a teacher - a student getting graduated.

For this student, this was a double celebration, for her husband had also just completed his MBA.

She was nice enough to bring individual boxes of sweets for all of us. Very thoughtful of her.

A recent health scare, unfortunately, meant I cannot enjoy her gift box of sweets. Suddenly, I remembered that we meet the elderly and sick with a box of fruits, rather than sweets. Maybe I am becoming an elder citizen!

But in today's world, is it not always better, safer and healthier to give a basket of fruits in lieu of sweets? We will be doing the recipient a great favour by at least not spoiling his/her health, as eating sweets lead to diabetes and obesity. Fruits, on their part, can be consumed without any adverse health consequences.

Hence, switch over to a basket of fruits next time around.

Caricature of modern manager in Mahabharatha

Modern Management can learn a lot from the varios personalities in Mahabharatha. Each character conveys a particular trait so essential for an Organizations success. It also conveys that an organization has to have multiple skill sets blended together by a common thread to succeed.

Yudhishtira embodies ethics and value system. He attaches lot of importance on propriety and sets high personal standards. Bhima is the executor. For Yudhishtira, both 'Lakshyam' (Goal) and 'Margam' (Path to achieve the goal) matters. Bhima, on the other hand, believes only in attaining the Goal using might at any cost. For him, the end justifies the means. Arjuna is the multi skilled General Manager Strategy & Operations. He, with his key adviser Krishna, plans and executes with precision. He is the charismatic leader everyone looks upto in the battle-field. The man for a crisis  and the one, the subordinates are in awe of. Sahadeva is the dreamer visionary knowledge bank. Even Yudhishtira turns to him for advice in times of need. Nakula is the service provider, who offers support services to others. The quintessential backroom boy. Even the eldest of the Pandavas, Karna, can be likened to the skilled executive who is blinded by the loyalty to his superior, which led to his doom. We can see many like him in today's Corporate World. The yes men, who knows the boss is wrong, but who owes his position to the boss (Karna was crowned King of Angarajyam by Duryodhanan when he was humiliated by Dronacharya and hence his loyalty) and hence couldnt come to tell him that he is wrong. He is the possessor of considerable vanity and an inferiority complex, that proves to be his undoing, despite his considerable skill sets. And like his contemporaries in the Corporate world, he ends up being an underperformer and fails.

Delhi to Delhi and back in 5 years!!!

You are the highest ranked minister after the PM. You send a file which has immense consequences to the nation to a State Government ruled by your own party for action. Then you discretely ask the Chief Minister of the State to sit on the file. Further, you keep on sending reminders as to why the file has not been cleared by the State Government. Finally, you brazen it out in the media claiming you are awaiting report from the State Government, and are helpless since the matter is out of your hands. For this 'efficiency' you get a plum posting as the Governor of a State. This can happen only in India.

The mystery over why it took four years for the Delhi government to clear a file related to Afzal Guru’s mercy petition finally seems to be unravelling. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit has all but admitted during an interview to a television channel that Shivraj Patil, Union home minister at the time, had asked her government to sit on the file. ‘‘May be what you are thinking is true,’’ Dikshit said when asked if Patil had told her to keep the matter pending.

Sources privy to the exchanges between Dikshit and Patil told TOI that soon after the file came to Delhi government in 2006, Patil had made it very clear that there was no hurry. ‘‘He kept saying so throughout 2007 and 2008. Even when the delay in Afzal Guru’s hanging became an issue during the 2008 Assembly elections, there was no change in the position. The direction clearly was that no matter how many reminders went from the ministry, the file should not be cleared,’’ a source revealed.

Asked why he would give such an instruction when his own ministry was sending a reminder every three months (there were 16 of these before the file was sent to the lieutenant governor on May 17), the source said: ‘‘There does not seem to be any other reason beyond the possibility that the home minister may have been reluctant to take the onus of clearing Afzal’s file on himself. That pre-poll pressure built up by BJP did not make any difference shows he was not on the lookout for an electorally beneficial opportunity to dispose of the file.’’ - source TOI

Of course, Shivraj Patil is only a stooge in this case. The decision is entirely Sonia Gandhi's and Manmohan Singh's.

Personally, I am against Death Penalty. It has never proved a deterrent against violent crime. It is better to send the criminal to solitary confinement forever, which is a much greater punishment. Imagine living in solitary confinement for 40 years, with no hope of getting even a parole. You have the rest of the life to regret what you have done.

Having said that, the law of the land provides for death penalty in the rarest of rare cases. The Parliament Attack in which Afsal Guru was convicted and given death sentence falls under that. If the attack had succeeded it would have wiped out our entire political class and would have destroyed the biggest symbol of democracy. The argument that he did not get a fair trail is specious. The Indian Judicial systems conviction rate is so low that, any case with a one in a million chance of doubt will result in a positive verdict for the defendant. Co-conspirators like Geelani were released for want of evidence in the same case. Afsal Guru has gone through the whole process and has been found guilty by the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court and in our Country, we dont run Kangaroo courts and the judiciary is very independant. Afsal Guru has been found guilty and given death sentence.  Period. Full Stop. No further argument on this. He got what he deserved.

It is the prerogative of the convicted prisoner to file a mercy petition to the President. And there is no reason whatsoever that it should take 5 years for a file to move from President to Home Ministry to Delhi Rajbhavan to Delhi Home Ministry office and back.

In any other country with an iota of accountability, heads will rule. But not in India. The people involved in this 'grand inaction' charade are all rewarded. And therein lies the irony!

Justice murdered in broad daylight

Your negligence results in the worst industrial tragedy in India - 20,000 people are dead.

(I remember Prasanna, my sister's friend, who was then in Bhopal, coming down to Kerala a month after the tragedy with her new born baby, and with tears in her eyes told my mother "Aunty, if the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction that day, I would not have been here talking to you". So saying she held her child tightly to her bosom.The horror and shock on her face is still vivid in my memory. She was amongst the lucky ones who escaped death that fateful day)

And you get 'convicted' after 25 years.

One accused is already dead, another is 85 years old, yet another the big daddy of them all, Warren Anderson, absconded to US and government did not lift a finger to extradite him.

And what is the punishment you get???

2 years in Jail plus a total fine of Rs 5 lakhs to be paid by Union Carbide!!!!!!!!. If you convert that to the Rupee value of 1984, it will work out to Rs 30,000!!!!

And this judgement is given by the lower court. The convicts can apply to the High Court where it will take another 10 years and finally in the Supreme Court, which is not likely to take up the case for 5 years.

And if you think that at least the culprits are behind the bars already, you are mistaken. They have been given bail immediately and are out on bail already, and hold your breath - for a surety of a paltry Rs 25,000. They did not stay in the jail for even one minute.

Is it any wonder, the International Community dont take India seriously?

What the heck! We ourselves can't take ourselves seriously.

There is a saying that 'Justice delayed is justice denied'

But this is not even Justice denied. This is 'Justice Murdered in broad daylight'

Crime on humanity

Every year we lose Rs 58,000 Crores worth food grains due to absence of/poor storage facilities. This is approximately 10% of the total food production in the country. In a country where food inflation is at 16% plus, and 60% of the people living below the poverty line and struggling for one square meal a day, one would have expected any decent government to add storage capacity on a war footing, apart from augmenting the infrastructure of the existing storage facilities.

On the one hand there is a direct loss of foodgrains already procured. Either they are left in the open, leading to loss of weight or sprouting. Or the storage facilities are so poor, rats feast on them. Pilferage is another threat. There is a much wider indirect cost. Lack of storage facilities result in Government lowering its procurement targets, leaving the farmers to the mercy of the private middlemen, who fleeces them. The farmer loses interest in farming over a period of time, and migrates to city. Is it any wonder our agriculture growth is less than 2%?

Lack of priority in procurement and distribution of food grains mean millions starve. Rural India is worse than Sub Saharan Africa when it comes to malnutrition and children mortality. The rural Indai is hungry. According to UN figures 61 million children in India have stunted growth and 42% of the world's underweight children are in India. And we shout from the rooftops about 8.5% GDP growth. We should be ashamed.

The MP's have Rs 2 Crore fund for developing his constituency every year. Why can't they be asked to set up storage facilities in their Constituencies for 3 years using this fund. You can create a lot of storage capacity with Rs 6 crores. Multiply that by 750 MPs (both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) and the investable fund is approximately Rs 4500 Crores. The Government recently waived Rs 60,000 crores worth farmer loans. If they had spent one fourth of it in building modern godowns, farmer suicides that has assumed alarming proportions can be avoided.

Farmer Co-Operatives can be set up in rural areas with the specific purpose of developing storage infrastructure. Land is not an issue as Government excess land is available in plenty in rural areas, or alternatively the farmers will happily chip in with the funds for the land.

The Agricultural Ministry requires a young, dynamic go getter. It is far too critical a ministry to be left to a non performer like Sharad Pawar. But who cares? Sometimes I suspect, there is a vested interest in keeping the rural India poor, for then the ruling party can dole out some benefits like free sari, money, liquour, TV sets during election time to win votes. Why can't we have an Agricultural Budget presented in the Parliament, when we have a budget for Railways, which is much less important.

The Indian farmer wants a level playing field, effective marketing strategy, fair price, quality seeds, fertilizer at competitive prices and more farm credit at the right time at a low interest rate. He also needs the government to set up medium scale industries that add value to his agrarian product in the broader farming area of his. This calls for a grand vision which is sorely lacking.The amount of subsidies given to the industrialists who employ one twentieth of what the farm sector employs is mindboggling. But the farmers are not organized and they dont know how to lobby, and they dont have the money in crores to grease the politicians palms. Hence, he is left high and dry.

When I was a kid, it was drilled into me that I should not waste food. Should we not drill this into our worthy netas as well?

2 anna syndrome

The Indian Rupee was once divided into 16 Annas, with today's 50 paise equal to 8 annas.

Though we got Independence 63 years ago and Anna gave way to Paise, it is easy to equate my MBA Student's mindset in Anna terms.

I call it the Two Anna Syndrome, or 1/8th of a Rupee Syndrome (The 2 annas were in existence till 1957 and is depicted in the picture).

Only half of my students (i.e; 8 annas, assuming 1 Rupee to be the whole) believe or take seriously my advice given during the orientation program and during the first semesters as to how to go about a MBA program, the need to read extensively, to take the assignments seriously, not to miss an opportunity to develop soft skills, to focus on applications of theory in practice and to write the examinations in the first attempt.

Out of that half, a further half ( i.e; 4 annas, half of 8 annas) actually makes an effort to try and put that into practice some way or other.

Only a further half of those (i.e; 2 annas, half of 4 annas or 1/8th of a rupee) who try to implement my advice sustain it till the end of the program, the balance dropping it mid way through.

Thus, in a class of 24, 12 listen to me, 6 try and follow the advice initially and only 3 sustain it.

Here is to those 2 anna students!!!

Bhoomikkoru Kuda (An umbrella for the Earth)

Today is World Environment Day.

I have the fortune to have been born and brought up in Kerala, God's Own Country (inhabited by Devil's Own People, as one wag remarked recently).

The blistering dry heat of the Sun gave way to torrential downpour with the the onset of monsoon. The rains were heavy and spread across 3-4 months. My hometown, Palghat, also got the benefit of the rains from the North East monsoon during october - december. Water is the lifeline for plants and trees, and the reason why Kerala, in its pristine glory, looks as if a green carpet is spread across it. The shocking change in the landscape when one crossed the border to the drier Tamil Nadu was too big for the small kid in me to comprehend, when I was young. By Onam, in late August/early September, the whole state is painted green with multi coloured flower dotting it all over. Palghat, being the rice bowl, had hectares and hectares of paddy field, which changed from brown barren fields, to light green paddy saplings, to dark green paddy plants, to golden yellow when the fields are ready for harvesting. The numerous rivers, all streaming down to the Arabian Sea, was a life support system, apart from being a feast to the eyes.

Kerala has couple of uniqueness. It is perhaps the only state where there is a rural-urban continuum. There is hardly any difference between the rural and urban infrastructure. Another uniqueness is that, the coastline and the hills are hardly 40 kilometers apart, as the crow flies. Hence, to the locals and to the tourists, the State offers the experience of the sea, the breathtaking beauty of the backwaters, the paddy fields in the plains, the rubber estates in the mountain terrain, the tea estates on the mountain slopes and the forests.

But all those have changed over the years. First the rivers were blocked by dams and they dried out gradually, before being totally destroyed by the sand lobby. Today, you can hardly see a sand bed which allows for free flow of water. Thousands of ponds, that were full even in peak summer and contributed to reducing the temperature by 2-3 degrees were filled up and houses built on it. Gulf money and the rising demand for housing amongst the Keralites have led to a reduction in the arable land and has increased the pressure for water. The water tables have gone down. It was unimaginable a few years back that Keralites would have to resort to bore wells, for the water table was barely 50 feet below the ground level even in peak summer, and in winter it was hardly 2 feet. One could touch the water in the open well a couple of decades back. The mushrooming of houses increased the demand for housing materials, mainly sand, which led to the destruction on riverbeds. The concrete houses also contributed to the warming as they blocked the free flow of wind and increased the radiated heat content in the atmosphere. Finally, indiscriminate felling of trees in the forest and in the countryside reduced the green cover. The end result was erratic rain, land slides, gradual warming, water shortage and the ecological balance being disturbed. A sad development.

This World Environment Day, the Kerala Forest Department has announced a welcome project called 'Bhoomikkoru Kuda' ( An umbrella for the earth). The idea is to distribute and plant 10 lakhs saplings on the day. Functions have been organized in 63 Taluks across the State and all the VIP's from the Politico, cultural, arts, socio, sports field have been involved to create enthusiasm and awareness. The Saplings are available to anyone who wants it. The message is to plant one tree in every household and maintain it. This welcome move has not come one day too late.

Go ahead, Plant a tree wherever you are. Theworld can do with more trees. Be eco friendly.