05 December 2008

What are we really scared of?

Anger clouds our thinking. So, does excitement, and emotion.

Terrorists occupied the Taj for 60 hours. And the Taj occupied our media for more than a week. It was such a good opportunity to bash up our politicians. Artists, Journalists, Political analysts, Movie-makers, retired bureaucrats..almost everyone had a say and almost everyone of them had to say that the main culprit was the politician.

The Home minister, who had no clue as to what (or who) was coming, was unwillingly made the scapegoat. And we dutifully sympathised with, prayed for and thanked our NSG, Army, Police and whoever was there at the operation, for saving our lives and recapturing Taj. What could have been an icing on the cake was to hoist an Indian Flag at the Taj.

Do we really think our whole national security was in the hands of just 1 minister ?
Or do we believe that if our RAW / Intelligence sleuths had credible information, they would not have acted in advance?
Do we really think 7 hours for NSG to drop into action is really late. It takes 2 hours on flight for any chopper to fly from Delhi to Mumbai. Under who's estimate is 7 hours bad? and what's a good time to respond?

There was a news that a gun was easily smuggled into Mumbai CST station despite the metal detectors. Do we believe that we could physically check the millions who travel in trains daily at CST station? It is a statistical nightmare, even if we station 100 hawaldars at CST.

National security is largely based on information. Information which comes on the street and off the borders. We kid ourselves into thinking that more policemen means more security.

The other funniest thing going around these days is the spirit of Mumbai. Did we really think that we could bunk work and sit at home, just because some terrorists are holding up a hotel. No matter what happens next door, my kitchen stove lights up only when I work. Spirit of Mumbai is for ad-gurus.

We have been living in these conditions for ages. Is that we are only worried about terrorists from aborad? What about our own naxalites? Is our life more precious if we loose it to foreigners, but less so if Indians take it.

Or, are we worried that a handful of terrorists could paralyze our country. Work everywhere else did happen normally. Only a couple of locations in Mumbai were effected. MNS, Bajrang dal, various political & social organization do that to our cities every other day. Are our time and freedom more precious when foreigners meddle with it, but less so if some local gang does the same.

A familiar foe is better than an unknown one. Our freedom, time and life has always depended on the will of politicians & police. Now that it is within the reach of an unknown terrorist is what's really scary.

11 September 2008

Soft-War-ed

"There are only 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

If you got the joke, I am sure, you'll empathize with the rest of this blog. One of the questions that I dread answering is "Are you in software?". The question seems so innocent, that it borders on ignorance. I often wonder, why people don't ask, "Are you in Electricity?' to an Electrical Engineer.

The question seemingly so simple, draws such strong reactions on answering an 'Yes'. I am often confused on how to interpret those reactions.

Some show such an enthusiasm, that I am almost tempted to explain my whole project, with code and comments. Its not really that difficult or clever to be software engineer.

On some faces, I see agony, as if world is such an unfair place, and that my life is so simple and theirs so difficult. Yes, Easy it is, if you think working with deadline of yesterday is easy. Thats how most projects are done. But, then every job has its own problems, and every problem, its own workarounds. And Yes, mine is relatively easy. But, it needs ME.

Some cannot hide their reverence. It's as if they met a celebrity. I wouldn't wonder if they asked me to pose for a snap with them. Nowadays engineers are dime-a-dozen. I guess this is just a passing phase.

Some show an unparalleled envy, I do not understand why. Do they think I do not deserve even half the money I earn? If only they understand, we're billed in dollars and paid in rupees, they would appreciate how underpaid we are.

Some show deep resentment, as if I inherited lots of wealth and do not know the value of it. Well, there is a Mike Tyson and then there is a Warren Buffet. We all fall in between. And NO ! We are NOT to be blamed for high rentals. We too are victims of it.

Some show an expression of such ridicule, as if there can be nothing more funnier than being a software engineer. It seems they think they could take me for a ride as easily as eating popcorn. I couldn't care less, so long as its not my popcorn they are eating.

Some mourn & forecast doom, as if a calamity is going hit my life and I am going to loose everything the day software business is going to end. These are the doomsday-wishers. Nothing can make them happier than our economy falling and all of the software engineers loosing their job and realizing their folly. Such sadism.

Some throw a relaxed smile, the way we enjoy a child's exuberance. It's as if they have found how immature I am and then would proceed on to teach me the nuances of life. Every generation has a new set of rules. I think 3 generations ago, when we moved from agrarian to industrialized society, we had similar immature children [our grand-fathers].

Some caution me about my stress levels and physical conditions. Give me a break. Almost every high paying profession has high stress levels. Doctors, lawyers, police, builders, politicians. My job is pure fun. And NO ! software engineers are NOT any more prone to injuries of fingers, rotary muscles, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, legs, back etc. than other normal human beings. I have seen more healthy people in this industry than anywhere else. Exceptions are not the Rule.

Pardon me for my self-indulgence. I know I don't do such an important job.

11 July 2008

Transport

One of the most thoroughly screwed up areas in public life is the Transport. Not only in India, but in several other countries, this very important area is muddled up, thanks to the noble intentions of the Governments.

Lets see the insanity of the situation. A two-wheeler today costs upwards 40k and a four-wheeler upwards of 2.5L. This is a huge factor of a person's annual salary, considering India's Per capita. For a majority of people, a vehicle is rarely used upto 2 hours a day. Buying an item whose cost is so high and whose utility is so less frequent should not make economic sense. People would ideally rent vehicles or share vehicles rather than buying on their own. This would be the only economically sound and viable option, if not for our regulations.

Firstly government has a monopoly on public transport. It makes the transport cheap, dirty, unreliable and crowded. Further since it is governemnt owned, the fares have to be low, and meet only the minimum standard. Forgiving the lack of corporate management skill in the government, the financial position of all these public transport corporations through-out the country is in a dismal state, thanks to the high levels of corruption. If an absolutely important and repeatedly used service, which is run a monopoly, is not economically viable, then the only blame will be on bad-management.

What are the effects of such management. If Cheap, Dirty, Unreliable, Crowded are the adjectives that can be given to this sector, then people obviously shy away from it. Any person who can even remotely afford a own-vehicle will definitely go for it.

There is an interesting side-effect to it. If private enterprise runs public transport, Oil or Energy are a cost to it. Companies will be forced invest on reducing cost and hence vehicles will become energy-efficient, and economical alternate energy sources will be easier to come into market. If private enterprise is only into selling vehicle, Oil or Energy is at best a non-competing partner in the market. Companies see no reward in investing alternate fuels, as Oil is not a cost to them. Since the cost of Oil is pushed to the common man, who is no position to invest on research for alternatives, he picks his available alternatives. Cheap and Unreliable Public transport. Costly but Reliable Private transport. If Reliability leads to success, then you know who gets richer.

As long as the person is poor, he would choose Public transport, but the moment he becomes better off, he's off to buy a vehicle of his own. Another area in which our government regulations cause a heart-burn, is our taxi-service. Autos (three-wheelers), as they are popularly called, are a life-line to public transport, especially for shorter distances. Government excessively regulates them. Fixes the price, Fixes the color, does not allow branding, fixes the dress code, limits the number of passengers.

What is the effect of each:
1. Fixing the price: Auto drivers earn a measly amount per day. Most auto drivers rent their vehicle per day for a fixed amount like 300/- per day etc. They toil the whole day and hardly make an amount more than the rent they pay. No matter how hard an auto driver works, his income is limited due to this. Government artificially keeps the auto-drivers poor, in the garb of keeping the common man happy. Somehow, for government, auto drivers are not common-men. In many areas, auto drivers do not follow pricing and resort to fleecing and/or extortion. Every one of us, at one time or the other, would have had a good fight with an auto-driver over pricing. Such unprofessionalism in a service which we use so blatantly.

2. Fixed colors and no-branding: How many times did you get to travel in the same auto, in which you had once got a very good service. For me, it is almost none. For auto drivers, there is absolutely no incentive to be professional. If they are polite to you, or do not cheat, is there any benefit for them. Almost none. He does not see a repeat business. You would notice in areas where there is repeat business, auto drives act very polite and professional. Such is the effect of our regulation. We reduce people from professionals with self-respect to fleecers and extortionists.

3. Limiting the number of passengers: In India, every kind of vehicle is overloaded. It is in our culture to utilize our resources to the breaking point. Buses, lorries, cars, cabs everything is overloaded. Fining auto-drivers for overloading is just exhibition of power on the powerless.

To fix such simple issues, government ingeniously finds horrible solutions. By making traffic police monitor auto-drivers, we are insulting the police profession. Police who have to manage traffic, handle accident cases and investigate road related crimes have become arbiters of auto-fares, bullying around auto-stands and pocketing petty bribes.

The solutions are simple and straight-in-the face. Yet, we choose to ignore them without an ounce of reason. First, privatize the public transport. Let corporates run the buses. They'll do it more efficiently and cost-effectively. Second, allow branding. Customer loyalty greatly reduces prices. Enable free-market competitiveness, ie. allow multiple operators ply on the same routes. Third, abolish pricing controls, and branding controls on autos. Let them compete with the bus service. They are a good alternative for short travels. These can greatly benefit from alternate fuel technology like Solar / Electric / Pressurized-Air. Abolish any subsidy on transport fuels. Let the end customers feel the real cost of fuel. By subsiding one technology, we are closing doors on alternates.

10 July 2008

Hijack of Basic ameneties

Why am I so against helping the poor? Because in the garb of helping the poor, government regulations acheive the just opposite, hijack the basic ameneties and make them costlier. The basic amenities are food, water, energy, transport, roads, electricity, drianage. I will take up transport and energy later. But the most basic of all requirements, clean drinking water. How does governemnt screw it up?

Water is a scarce commodity. Hyderabad has 3 huge waterbodies, Hussain Sagar, Osman Sagar/Gandipet and Mir Alam tanks all of which were commissioned much earlier to Indian independence. In the subsequent 60 years. Government has not built even one more water body for the city's growing population. So much for centralized control. But the problem is not in inaction, but in action. I live in a colony of high tax payers. The average income tax per house-hold in my colony would exceed 1 lakh per year. None of the 1000 or so flats nearby have drinking water connection. We buy drinking water from private companies which is very un-reliable. There is a small slum right next to my colony. I doubt if anyone there pays even Rs.1/- as income tax. They have a government water connection and you wouldn't believe the amount of that gets wasted there.

I do not envy their fortune. Quite the contrary, I want to find out the reason for such mis-management. A person who is willing to pay doesn't get the service, and a person who can't pay gets it. We are penalizing those who can afford, and subsidizing those who cannot, with the money from those who can.

The reason is simple: A slum is a mob. They have a herd mentatlity or act to have one. It is a vote-bank for the local politicans. A colony is not a mob. Each individual in a colony may vote for a different candidate. Hence there is no possibility of having a vote-bank here. And so, local politicans gain more by favouring the poor-mobs than the rich individuals, no matter how small
the mob is and how large the individual numbers are.

Secondly, government charges absurdly low charges for the supply of water. Government is not a charitable institution. Even if we agree that profit-making is evil for government, it should atleast get back the cost. How would any organization survive if it does not make atleast as much amount as it spends. As thoroughly illogical it may seem, government expects such a system to work.

Pro-Poor vs Anti-Poverty

Every government in our country aims to be pro-poor. I do not understand this. Why should any government be pro-anybody. Are we all not equals in law? Then why are the law-makers pro-poor? Poverty is the default state of any society. Wealth has to be created. People, by default, are poor. They need to make money (wealth) and accumulate wealth. In any sane society, accumulating or creating means (i.e wealth) to procure goods for survival is a man's fundamental duty. By tagging itself to the poor, government is siding a losing cause., and much worse, it is aiming the wrong cause.

When do we say India does not have any poor? In 1980s, people who did not own a radio were considered poor. In 2000s, people who did not own a black-and-white television were considered poor. Now, most of these people own color tv's. If we take 1950 standards, India would be almost rid of its poor instantly. But unfortunately, government does not consider so. This is like a race where the finish line moves faster than the runners. Who can win such a race? What is the objective of such an effort? Does the government have an agenda, like we will help poor till 90% of people earn more than 3000/- pm or that we will help poor till 2050 etc or a list of 20 million or so people and their details, whom it'll help till they grow over poverty? When do we end this charity?

A typical example of this is the CPI/CPM (Left)'s stand on small traders. Before the retail business was opened to corporates, Left had criticized small traders for having huge margins and eating into the Producer's (farmers) pie. Now with Reliance, Bharti, Heritage etc., venturing into Retail space, the culprits have become the victims. Now Left is sympathysing with the petty traders, saying that corporates are eating to the trader's pie.

This agenda of supporting anyone who is poor, without an iota of thought on the rationale behind it or the objectivity to define who is right and whose right is it, is the cause of our mis-fortune. Poverty can end, if we define it, measure it and take steps for its eradication. Atleast we could hope to reduce the high prevelance of poverty. But, Poor will always exist. There will always be poor people and rich people, because not everybody is equal in ability, timing or luck.

Group Appeasement vs Individual

Around two years ago, in some small village in Northern India, a 6 year old child, named Prince, fell into an open empty borewell. As the borewell wasn't very deep, he survived the fall with minor injuries, but safe at the bottom. This event would have gone unnoticed and uncared for had it not been for a news-starved and a low-on-trp television channel. The rescue effort to get the kid out of the borewell was aired live on the channel for the whole day.

As the day progressed, and the rescue was getting delayed due to various reasons, the live-program on television got more and more viewership and in a matter of hours became a national sensation. This might have been left out as a small abberation or an example of the effect of mass communications in public life and closed the chapter. But that is not to be so. Seeing such popularity for the show, a few politicians showed up at the scene of rescue, and bashed up the poor police for their lack of sensitivity to the issue and delaying the rescue. The icing of the cake came when a local MLA declared that the kid would get Rs.1 lakh in compensation and free education till school.

This is exactly the misfortune of our governmental policies. An MLA gives Rs.1 lakh (that is not his) to a kid for falling into a borewell. For what is government compensating the kid? What if other kids take the example and start jumping into borewells. Do we compensate every one of them? Who's money was the MLA donating anyway? Do we suppose that an MLA can exhibit his sensitivity to such issues at the expense of tax-payers. This is not very different from the Kings we had a few centuries ago, where if the King was pleased he could graciously give any amount to anybody. The only difference here is a politician would give any amount to anybody,
as long as feels that the public is pleased with it, or he should manipulate the public to get pleased at his donations. That is the rule of the game, and a very dangerous one at that. A lot of government policies are just that. They are aimed at pleasing the public at large.

Milton Fredman, the nobel prize winning economist, once said, Our policies should be measured not by intentions but by the results they achieve.

Money, Government and Tax

First, let me begin with a few definitions.

Money - is the value somebody is willing to pay for a product/service.

This means, if you create a product, you create money. If you enhance a product, you enhance the value and hence create money. If you work for a company, you enhance its capability to produce, hence you create money. The amount of money is not a fixed value within a country (or world, city, family). It increases if you produce and falls if you dont.

Government - is a system formed my people to make and enforce laws that ensure our social interactions remain peaceful and just.

Tax - is money collected by Government from its citizens for its expense.

The following definitions are intentionally very simplistic to allow for later interpretations.

Its all about Money, Honey

“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it” - Ronald Regan.

Coming from a seasoned politican, this quote is amazingly honest. Funny as it may seem, it is also the hard truth. For almost 60 years, Indian government has been actively working for social and economic equality and bridging the divide. Thousands of Crores of public money has been spent on public administration and social welfare schemes of which I too am a beneficiary and am also a contributor to the funds.

Even after such magnanamous effort by the Government, the results often leave a lot to be desired. Why do so many well-intentioned plans fail to impress? Are we funding the wrong cause?

The following are a series of blogs is an attempt to understand of our economy.

. Money, Government and Tax
. Group appeasement vs Individual (Rajas of Free India)
. Pro-Poor vs Poverty
. Hijack of Basic ameneties
. Transport
. Energy
. Cost and Subsidy
. Price Rise, Demand and Housing
. Movies..Freedom...Govt.Control
. Rich-Poor gap and Power struggle

21 February 2008

Education - Did I get the worth? - Part II

Most of my current knowledge is something that came not from school, but by way of conversations with people or reading books and news articles or on the net.

School education provided me with such good foundation,that building more knowledge on it came naturally. In that way I couldn't have done so well without school. I bet the whole 10 years on it was worth everyday.

Graduation was a revelation of society। While school provided a safe and static environment, college was more of a vibrant and casual place to be. I learned more from outside my classes than inside them. Though attending classes didn't teach much, what it taught was to be independent. In this sense college education was very important, for individual development. I should have put in less number of years and more number of hours in effort.

But, this is a postmortem view of the situation. If I knew what I had to learn in advance, I could have spent less time and effort to gain that knowledge. The point that what interested me and what I had to know was not known to me, is what necessitated the 20-year span. This required me to learn a lot more than required and lot more than what I could actually retain. In this sense the 20 years spent on my education was a necessity and rather insufficient.

20 February 2008

Education - Did I get the worth?


My previous blog on '... 3 books', has brought up an interesting topic. About education ... Was it worth the trouble?
No..I didn't mean that education was not worth. On the contrary I meant, did I actually get my time's worth? I will spill out my side of the story and hope to strike similar chords in yours.

I spent 12 years in school before I passed 10th standard and in a decently good private school. Then I spent another couple of years in Intermediate (Pre-University /XII / Plus 2), and spent a bunch of money of tuitions. I did my graduation in Physics for about 3 years in a private college (aided by Government) and another 3 years for my post-graduation in Computer Applications in a government college. Thats a good (12+2+3+3) 20 years of education which comes to about 7300 days of effort and couple of lakhs in investment by my dad and others [Government aid means some-body's hard earned money forcibly looted in the form of tax and paid to me].

Did I do good enuf? I guess not. In fact, I am quite sure I didn't do well.
I put in 7300 days of effort to learn English, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Civics, Geography, Economics, History and Computers. What do I know at the end of it.


























































SubjectWhat I Know
Englishknow enough to write this blog and read the daily newspaper.
Telugustopped writing long ago. Can read the daily newspaper.
Hindistoped reading and writing long ago. Can read the movie names on posters.
SansrkitNever understood this language. Dont think ever will. [2 years wasted completely].
MathsKnow to count, multiply, add and divide, and some basic trigonometry, probability, algebra and geometry enough to solve GMAT aptitude tests.
PhysicsNewtons 3 laws and some basic principles. Cannot recall the value of any constant apart from g=9.8 ms^2.
ChemistryPeriodic table. Acid+Base is Water+Salt. Amino acids are building blocks are proteins and cells. Vaguely remember Krebs Cycle and ATP. Thats it. Nothing more than that.
BiologyPlant cells are different from Animal Cells and that biologist have a very complicated name for everything. A little about evolution.
CivicsWe have a constitution, a President and Prime-minister and some rules of the game.
GeographyIdentify World and India Maps and name all the states and some important places.
HistoryMughals invaded India, ruled for 200 years, British ruled for another 200, Free from 1947 onwards. A little about world history, i.e the names of various revolutions and world wars [cant remember a single date/year].
EconomicsBook Keeping, reading a Balance Sheet and a little about GDP, inflation, and stock indices.
ComputersSome programming languages and s/w engineering concepts.


Phew! that sums up all my 7300 days of effort.

Couldn't I have done that faster, cheaper, smarter, easier? I bet I could have..

Or, is it everything appears easier after-the-fact?

[Will continue later..]

19 February 2008

Everything about Cosmos, Evolution and Genes - 3 good books

I cant figure out exactly why, probably aging or marriage, off late I am unable to hold on to reading fiction. I used to enjoy reading simple fiction from the likes of Sidney Sheldon, Jeffery Archer, Robin Cook etc. The complicated ones (Booker/Pulitzer's winners or classics from Dickens or Austin) have always tested my patience [and I always failed]. I have been trying to read 'Crisis - Robin Cook', from past 3 months. Couldn't move beyond the 2nd chapter. The only notable exceptions were Harry Potter series and 'Eragon & Eldest' , which are more of fantasy than fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

'Science-for-Dummies' is what interests me now-a-days. My last 3 reads fall into this category.

The first one 'The Fabric of Cosmos', by Brian Greene is a brilliant book on physics. In this books, he tries to explain space, time and the theories behind their origin. I never understood relativity much - even during my graduation in physics -, but this books explains it in such a simple language, you will be forgiven if after reading, you believe you understood it. String theory was new to me. The examples he takes to explain various String theories are fascinating. My imagination failed me a lot of times in trying to visualize what is said. But, such are quantum and string theories.
'If you think you understand quantum theory, you do not understand quantum theory- Richard Feyman'.

The second one 'The Ancestor's Tale', by Richard Dawkins is a very interesting book on the origin of our species. This was the first time I read anything on biology [after my 10th std]. And, the book was captivating from the word go. He starts with our species and goes back in time tracing common ancestors with Chimps, Gorillas, Baboons and other species till the origin of life. Each chapter traces back a few million years to tell about an ancestor of us and in doing so, he throws in some interesting tales on various topics. In one topic, he explains logarithmic tables. Believe me, I didn't understand what logarithms were in all my school and college days. If only I knew this part during those times, I would have done so well in some of my maths. Sometimes it feels that my education was very inefficient in terms of money, effort and time. Probably, I would have done better had I tried to know things rather than learn them.
Dont miss his other book 'The God Delusion'.

The third one 'Genome', by Matt Ridley is a wonderful book. Wonderful, in its true sense, that each chapter fills you wonder. This is about the 23 chromosomes in a human body. Since the chromosome is too huge for a book and too complicated for a lay man, he gives a brief of 1 or 2 genes on each of the 23 chromosomes, and in doing so he explains so much about our life, health, diseases, intelligence, sex and what not. I am currently reading penultimate chapter, and am worried that the book is getting over too soon. Wish we had more chromosomes, so that he had more to write.

The common feature of all these 3 books, is the enthusiasm that these generate. After the first one, I thought I should have been an physicist, after the second, a Evolutionist and after the third, a Geneticist. I know,I cant be any of the above, but I thank each of the above authors for so graciously sharing such wonderful knowledge.