Are we at the cusp of a new Manufacturing boom or a bust?
Read Hillary Clinton's answer to Is bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US a realistic venture, given that manufacturing is so much cheaper elsewhere? on Quora
So, now Hillary wants you to "Make It in America", Modi wants you to "Make in India" and China has already built factories to make the whole world's output inside its borders. If all of them succeed, at best manufacturing capacities will meet the same fate as undersea Fibre optic networks, which subsidized the second wave of the Internet by providing cheap communication infrastructure at the cost of bankrupt companies who laid those cables in the first place.
But chances are that all of them will fail and the world will rise to a post manufacturing world as Alvin Toffler predicted. There are 3 major trends which will determine the future of manufacturing in a post globalization world (note that a post globalization world is where the rules of globalization such as manufacture where it is cheapest will NOT apply!).
Last, if local production will move from manual labour based manufacturing to 3D printing, it'll mean setting up of local supply chains, delivery boys, truck drivers. The local manufacturing hubs like warehouses will also need to employ workers to run the 3D printers, configure them, do quality checks etc. While, none of these jobs will require unskilled workers, but the demand for semi-skilled workers will rise.
So, now Hillary wants you to "Make It in America", Modi wants you to "Make in India" and China has already built factories to make the whole world's output inside its borders. If all of them succeed, at best manufacturing capacities will meet the same fate as undersea Fibre optic networks, which subsidized the second wave of the Internet by providing cheap communication infrastructure at the cost of bankrupt companies who laid those cables in the first place.
But chances are that all of them will fail and the world will rise to a post manufacturing world as Alvin Toffler predicted. There are 3 major trends which will determine the future of manufacturing in a post globalization world (note that a post globalization world is where the rules of globalization such as manufacture where it is cheapest will NOT apply!).
- Rise of robotics - it will become cheaper to manufacture goods in fully automated robotics plants rather than sweatshops or mega-structures where cheap human labor performs an assembly line of jobs
- High degree of Customization - A related collateral advantage of production by robots will be ability to customize each and every product; in fact a Tesla already comes with that option.
You would have already deduced that the traditional low cost human labour based manufacturing hubs will not be able to compete with robotics based manufacturing even if they were cheaper because of their inability to produce such customized output. - 3D Printing - There are two kinds of products manufactured; the first are appliances or valuable goods such as cars, scooters, microwave ovens, dishwashers, refrigerators etc, which not only are physically manufactured but also have moving parts, electronics controls and other decision making paraphernalia. The second are physical objects which have few or no moving parts or electronics - combs, screwdrivers, clips, knives, spoons, plates, furniture or even toiletries.
As 3D printing technology improves several of these can be printed as per your custom choice or colors and shapes either at home but more likely at a e-commerce store's warehouse outside your city or may be in a corner shop in the local market.
Where you get it printed will depend on the size of 'your market' i.e. how many people desire the same goods in your locality and how big your locality is. Printing at home is more likely in say Scandinavian countryside with a low population density; in central Europe local stores are more likely to print such goods while in large US cities or in India, with a high population density, an e-commerce portal will set up printing hubs outside cities inside their current fulfillment centers.
The above has many other connotations for jobs - which, and not national pride or economy - is the real target for politicians like Hillary and Modi alike. Firstly, if robots are taking over rapidly from cheap manual labour, the hope that manufacturing will produce jobs in high numbers is a myth.
Second, with customization means that all these new age manufacturing factories need more software engineers than mere workers. STEM and Coding education is the future for any and every society. While some - those with skills in AI or Machine Learning - will rule the roost, but there could be several more who will be able to seek employment as software testers, UI / UX jobs etc. Plus a sea of jobs like Social Media Marketers which have emerged from the Internet will continue to exist and won't be wiped off, in fact will only increase as we buy and sell more online.
In fact, Hillary will do better following the approach of encouraging technological innovation than paying lip service to Manufacturing growth. She describes all the necessary steps of doing this - education and training, providing broadband to every household, - herself in another answer on Quora.
Second, with customization means that all these new age manufacturing factories need more software engineers than mere workers. STEM and Coding education is the future for any and every society. While some - those with skills in AI or Machine Learning - will rule the roost, but there could be several more who will be able to seek employment as software testers, UI / UX jobs etc. Plus a sea of jobs like Social Media Marketers which have emerged from the Internet will continue to exist and won't be wiped off, in fact will only increase as we buy and sell more online.
In fact, Hillary will do better following the approach of encouraging technological innovation than paying lip service to Manufacturing growth. She describes all the necessary steps of doing this - education and training, providing broadband to every household, - herself in another answer on Quora.
Last, if local production will move from manual labour based manufacturing to 3D printing, it'll mean setting up of local supply chains, delivery boys, truck drivers. The local manufacturing hubs like warehouses will also need to employ workers to run the 3D printers, configure them, do quality checks etc. While, none of these jobs will require unskilled workers, but the demand for semi-skilled workers will rise.
Caveat: All this will not happen overnight or in the next decade alone. In fact, even after 50 years, we may still have some countries or societies manufacturing goods with manual labour, or there may be certain goods, say wrenches or screwdrivers which have little aesthetic aspect - still being manufactured the old way. But this is no different than the fact that even today, there are hunter gatherer tribes in some deep pockets of Africa or that agriculture is still done the traditional way in some parts of the world.
However, what is inevitable is politicians' promises to drive job growth through manufacturing centric policies failing fair and square. May be these politicians themselves know this and what they say is merely a ploy to garner more votes or may be they are indeed blind sided or may be I am wrong!
What do you think about this?
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Learning is broken
In my previous post, I advocated that learning for the purpose of making ends meet (making a living) is soon going to be passe. So people are going to learn for the sake of learning!
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| Some rights reserved by LeanForward lf |
This also means that the paraphernalia built by Universities across the globe - that of placement cells, industry-institute-partnerships, alumni programs and all such stuff to ensure that their students get 'placed' in the corporate world - are soon becoming effete.
But as technology and tech entrepreneurs continue to disrupt methods and means of education; possibly even the basic infrastructure - classrooms, campuses, hostels, dorms, auditoriums - might start becoming defunct. The future of learning will possibly just need an internet connection and a device (laptop or tablet or even a phone) to get connected to the internet.
The shift is not merely converting the physical to virtual. Using the power of 'virtual', apps and services like Byju's or Khan Academy or the likes of Coursera, UDemy and Oxademy are fundamentally altering several other aspects of learning. For example, learning is no more made out of multi-year syllabi replete with a structured set of subjects and a fixed degree you'd get at the end of it. You can learn smaller portions - indeed learn just one subject just the way Steve Jobs learnt calligraphy after dropping out, though it wasn't a subject he could have 'dropped in on' as a part of the course he was taking at Reeds.
Similarly, you don't necessarily get a full scale degree like a B.A. or B.Tech. at the end of these small stints, the objective - at least of services like Khan Academy or Byju's - is to allow you to learn skills which you think you'd like to put use to; not use to seek employment using the certificate you gain.
Take a leap into future, learning could be transitioning back to the heydays of Indian Gurukul system - just that these Gurukul's will be online. What will be known is not universities, colleges or degrees; what will be known is teachers and professors of repute (the Guru's) and the subjects they teach. Thanks to the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, Guru's could be running a course on several platforms or several courses on one platform. People will take courses from Guru's of repute to learn what they want to, not because they want a degree from the platform which they represent!
This future is clear to me - but what isn't clear is the path to get there. How do we transition from economics of education today which recognizes degrees more than teachers, campuses more than content of learning, curriculum more than individual student needs? How does the industrial way of educating hundreds with the same curriculum change into the knowledge economy world of where each student chooses what s/he learns and gets a customized degree for themselves?
And finally, the entrepreneur in me forces me to think what business opportunities exist in helping the world make this transition? Is it just about altruistic initiatives like Khan Academy or is it in selling apps like Byju's or is it in setting up platforms like Coursera or is it in partnering with established Universities to convert their degrees into online equivalents like Oxademy?
I am seeking answers - comments are welcome!
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But as technology and tech entrepreneurs continue to disrupt methods and means of education; possibly even the basic infrastructure - classrooms, campuses, hostels, dorms, auditoriums - might start becoming defunct. The future of learning will possibly just need an internet connection and a device (laptop or tablet or even a phone) to get connected to the internet.
The shift is not merely converting the physical to virtual. Using the power of 'virtual', apps and services like Byju's or Khan Academy or the likes of Coursera, UDemy and Oxademy are fundamentally altering several other aspects of learning. For example, learning is no more made out of multi-year syllabi replete with a structured set of subjects and a fixed degree you'd get at the end of it. You can learn smaller portions - indeed learn just one subject just the way Steve Jobs learnt calligraphy after dropping out, though it wasn't a subject he could have 'dropped in on' as a part of the course he was taking at Reeds.
Similarly, you don't necessarily get a full scale degree like a B.A. or B.Tech. at the end of these small stints, the objective - at least of services like Khan Academy or Byju's - is to allow you to learn skills which you think you'd like to put use to; not use to seek employment using the certificate you gain.
A phenomenon which is also supporting such bite-sized learning is the rise of entrepreneurship as a Career option. Entrepreneurship is making it redundant for entrepreneurs to seek formal degrees and learn a series of subjects at one time and then put them to work. An entrepreneur works towards building her/his business, realizes s/he wants to learn something, and then simply picks up a course on that subject alone to learn it and put it to work. Learning on-demand, just like hiring an Uber Taxi instead of buying a car!So, what this means is that 'Learning is broken' - learning as defined by the the established 'authorities' of the world is breaking right in the middle. Governments no more require to set up regulators to recognize or authorize universities, universities no more need to open colleges, colleges no longer need to employ full time professors or publish a set of degrees that they will impart to students or design a curriculum or even build a campus.
Take a leap into future, learning could be transitioning back to the heydays of Indian Gurukul system - just that these Gurukul's will be online. What will be known is not universities, colleges or degrees; what will be known is teachers and professors of repute (the Guru's) and the subjects they teach. Thanks to the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, Guru's could be running a course on several platforms or several courses on one platform. People will take courses from Guru's of repute to learn what they want to, not because they want a degree from the platform which they represent!
This future is clear to me - but what isn't clear is the path to get there. How do we transition from economics of education today which recognizes degrees more than teachers, campuses more than content of learning, curriculum more than individual student needs? How does the industrial way of educating hundreds with the same curriculum change into the knowledge economy world of where each student chooses what s/he learns and gets a customized degree for themselves?
And finally, the entrepreneur in me forces me to think what business opportunities exist in helping the world make this transition? Is it just about altruistic initiatives like Khan Academy or is it in selling apps like Byju's or is it in setting up platforms like Coursera or is it in partnering with established Universities to convert their degrees into online equivalents like Oxademy?
I am seeking answers - comments are welcome!
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Education for employment is passe!
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 Some rights reserved by Kevin Steinhardt |
Calling education as learning is probably misleading in today's world when there is more clamour for 'employable skills' to be imparted to our kids. From India to Europe to the US, we are all squalling for education in STEM or teaching kids to Code so that they can get jobs which give them better lives.
The purpose of education to merely ready you to earn a living, live a life is an ancient concept now and needs to be deprecated as early as possible. In this age where some developed societies are planning to provide for minimum basic income to all citizens [Reference], the concept of education for earning a living is soon going to be defunct. In such scenario, how do we motivate you people to aspire for education? Sam Walton has famously said - "How do you inspire a grandchild to go to work if they’ll never have a poor day in their life?"
So I think the future of education is about discovering new things, discovering truth, about learning to think, learning to experiment, learning to handle failure, learning to keep yourself motivated to learn even more. Mankind is finally progressing towards a point where the lower echelons of Maslow's hierarchy are met automatically for all citizens and the only ones that people will be able to aspire to will be Belonging, Esteem and Self Actualization - and education / learning will be the only way to attain the last one!
Continued here.
Education for employment is passe!
|
| Some rights reserved by Kevin Steinhardt |
Calling education as learning is probably misleading in today's world when there is more clamour for 'employable skills' to be imparted to our kids. From India to Europe to the US, we are all squalling for education in STEM or teaching kids to Code so that they can get jobs which give them better lives.
The purpose of education to merely ready you to earn a living, live a life is an ancient concept now and needs to be deprecated as early as possible. In this age where some developed societies are planning to provide for minimum basic income to all citizens [Reference], the concept of education for earning a living is soon going to be defunct. In such scenario, how do we motivate you people to aspire for education? Sam Walton has famously said - "How do you inspire a grandchild to go to work if they’ll never have a poor day in their life?"
So I think the future of education is about discovering new things, discovering truth, about learning to think, learning to experiment, learning to handle failure, learning to keep yourself motivated to learn even more. Mankind is finally progressing towards a point where the lower echelons of Maslow's hierarchy are met automatically for all citizens and the only ones that people will be able to aspire to will be Belonging, Esteem and Self Actualization - and education / learning will be the only way to attain the last one!
Continued here.
Why should I do an MBA?
Reproduced from a Quora Answer by me here.
There are many possible answers to this question depending upon what stage of life you are in - just graduating, within 5 years of work experience, beyond 5 years etc.; and whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own.
There are many possible answers to this question depending upon what stage of life you are in - just graduating, within 5 years of work experience, beyond 5 years etc.; and whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own.
I will provide the most generic answer here and refer you to few blog posts of mine for variations of it for different scenarios.
What value does an MBA provide:
- Network: As you go forward in life, you will realize that success depends on what kind of people you are connected to who can help in climbing the ladder of success. For example, as an entrepreneur, your company requires to connect to stakeholders - customers who buy your product / service, service providers who can feed into your product with minimal cost, investors who provide funding etc. Similarly, in a job, if you are connected to your superiors, you get more opportunities to excel and play a more impactful role. An MBA gets you that network - a network of batchmates, seniors, juniors etc who can play all the roles mentioned above (and many more).
- Brand: Needless to say, if you want a job or you are looking to attract investors, your qualification (more specifically, the institute you get that qualification from), makes a big difference. Top B-Schools fetch the meatiest jobs and best funded startup unicorns in India were started by MBAs.
- Knowledge: Knowledge is the primary reason purported for an MBA, but Network and Brand come before it. Nevertheless, an MBA gives you a comprehensive view in 1 or 2 years (depending on the duration of your course) of the academic basics of all aspects of the business world - Finance, Marketing, Logistics, Technology, Human Resources etc. This gives you a well rounded view of what lays ahead of your student life and even if it does not equip you enough with ability to excel in any one field, it sure helps you decide what you’d like to excel in. I have given a different view of thison my blog (this was written within my first year of job; do discount my age - and relative inexperience - at that time while reading).
- Perspective: Related to knowledge, but distinct, in my experience an MBA helps one develop a wider perspective of the world. Perspective develops as a result of learning multiple subjects, debating / discussing them within your class with your peers and teachers, and generally reading case studies which may or may not be within your curriculum. The pedagogy followed for MBA - given the relative fuzziness of the field - is different from the prescriptive method of teaching technical subjects. It is more exploratory (at least in most reputed institutes) and this helps develop a habit of exploring and developing a wider perspective.
There are many other reasons why a student should pursue an MBA, but I believe the above 4 top the list. The answer, as I had written earlier, will change slightly depending on what stage of life you are in. I am linking few of my blog posts which will help appreciate the differences of value of an MBA for a fresh graduate vs. those with experience or whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own.
Education of the hand and the head
I read this article in Mint by senior policy managers for J-PAL South Asia, they talk about "concern(s) that while enrolment in elementary education has increased, education outcomes have declined, with abilities in reading, writing and other comprehensive skills deteriorating"; suggest "Pedagogical solutions such as restructuring classes by learning level, rather than by age or grade and improving School governance like incentivizing teacher presence and effort, and putting in place properly designed monitoring and accountability structures".
What is lacking however in the whole discourse is making education more suited to vocation and real-world challenges. It is true that students should be able to read and write in order to perform even the basic functions of a modern life, but the reason that students can't read or write is usually not because teachers aren't present.
To illustrate this, consider as to why all students can speak the language well enough, but only fail to read and write? The reason is obvious - ability to speak the language gets practiced from childhood, it is immensely important in their daily routine. Similarly, if reading and writing the language is made a part of their daily routine, with or without teachers, with or without pedagogical help - they'll learn the word!
The question being, how do you make 'learning the word' a part of their daily life? The answer lies in Nai Talim - "The crux of Nai Talim lay in overcoming distinctions between learning and teaching, and knowledge and work. (Vinoba Bhave)". If the curricula go beyond just teaching 'alphabet and numbers', and include vocational activities such as making and selling simple toys - this would involve tasks like creating 'creative boards or charts' for selling, preparing 'sales material', bookkeeping & accounting etc - students find a purpose and a 'routine' to learn the alphabet, learn counting, numbers etc. This is not too different from the custom of lemonade stand set up by kids in the US.
This indeed is education of the head and of the hand as proposed by Gandhi in his seminal article on National Education more than 90 years ago; and as per him, it "will serve a double purpose in a poor country like ours. It will pay for the education of our children and teach them an occupation on which they can fall back in after-life, if they choose, for earning a living". In today's context, this will also help create a more entrepreneurial minded child as is required for a country like India. We will not then need late stage government incentive programs like Startup India, Skill India or Standup India!
It is appalling that even learned researchers ignore the above philosophy (or remain unaware of it) while proposing solutions to the problem of education in India. Even more appalling that the Ministry of HRD / Education department pays no heed to it!
Image Credit: OLPC @ Flickr
The Rail and the Road of career
My daughter was watching one of those Kindergarten videos on shapes [YouTube] and at this scene where a car is waiting for the 'Shape Train' to cross the level crossing; I ruminated a conversation between the vehicles where ...
The car wonders to itself - "I wish I could go as fast as the train!"I realized my rumination had a lot of similarity to the differences, perceptions and expectations of 'Corporate' vs. 'Entrepreneur' career paths. Corporate career is like the Railway - you have a defined career path to progress up, if you perform well, play your moves properly (including living with or harnessing office politics and networking), you can reach the top echelons very fast and without much financial risk on yourself.
The train itself responds "I wish I could roam anywhere like the car does!" [and not be forced to run only where the track goes]
Entrepreneurship is like driving a car on the road - you have a lot of freedom whether to take the highway, the arterial roads, by lanes and if you like it, just wander off into a cozy small village. It is this aspect that attracts professional most to it - 'independence', 'work on any idea', 'freedom to choose your work hours' etc. - a very rosy side of freelance lifestyle.
The similarities don't end here - in fact the analogy gives us several insights into the norms, habits and paradigms of success in both fields. Few examples:
- The train must follow rules, signals, stoppages and follow timings strictly to be efficient and reach its destination on time. For the train, the key metric that matters is reaching on time because the rest of the variables are already controlled by the Railroad company.
- The car, while free to roam exteriors, interiors - whatever - needs self discipline to stay the course. If it lacks its own discipline, it risks just making the journey, but never reaching the destination. On the positive side, that is usually something many people wish for - enjoy the journey, not the outcome.
- Also, the railway comes with its own amenities - food in pantry (nowadays even Wifi onboard!), while you need to manage your own provisions while riding in a car.
- There are times when both cars and trains can run at similar speeds - but cars at high speed are much riskier to drive than a train at similar speed. Hence, a good driver is more important in a car ride than a train.
- Finally, the train can never be owned by smaller individuals, needs huge capex to set-up and run but lacks maneuverability but cars are nimble, can get 'up-and-running' on any destination fairly quickly but are usually used only for short hauls and run on lower capacities.
- If you want to do well in a Corporate career - understand the explicit and tacit 'rules of the game' and follow them strictly; sometimes 'challenging status quo / establishment' may be one of the 'rules of the game'; but either ways - the better you follow the rules, the faster you will grow. When you don't get that promotion you believe you deserved - try to analyze which rules you overlooked and how to follow them in future!
- Entrepreneurship require self discipline if you want to prosper - else you will be one of those millions of freelancers or 'small businesses' who dwarf out and remain stuck-in-the-middle without any chance of making that million dollar valuation. (It's a different matter if that's what you choose to remain - dont-report-to-anyone-small-biz-boss!)
- Don't underestimate the importance of scaffolding when planning for Entrepreneurship; from the coffee machine to courier service and office boys, all need money. Unlike 'Intrapreneurship' roles, Entrepreneurship requires that you either take care of the amenities yourself or spend on them (usually more than what big Corporates do on a per head basis).
- Never underestimate the importance of having a good team in a Entrepreneurial venture - in a corporate set up, a bad accountant doesn't do much harm, but for a small business venture where margins are low, making mistake of one zero can wipe of profits. Relations are more intertwined in a startup - good cofounder relationship can make or break ventures.
- Corporate set-ups are good for established industries requiring large capex (even if they are "new" - like Solar Power or Space travel ventures) but startups are more suited for low capex businesses which need to be agile in changing processes to 'figure out' their business models.
As Steve Blank puts it:
a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.Also note that I didn't compare 'Salaried' vs. 'Business' because several Business folk today feel the same 'locked in' feeling of being restricted as several 'Corporate' guys feel; while several 'Salaried' Intrapreneurs exist who have the freedom to work around their passions - some example being professionals like Devdutt Patnaik or Ajit Ranade.
So, if your objective is just to pursue your passion - you need not necessarily embrace the 'Entrepreneur' track; there are ways to pursue passions in Corporate roles as well.
This analogy can be extended much farther, but you get the gist - hope it helps those in the process of deciding to make the shift!
The irony of our times ...
The irony of our times ...
- Those who oppose crimes against themselves, inflict crimes on their own people
- Those who want peace within, advocate bombing the 'criminal' states
- Those who oppose 'repressive' regimes, side with them when the 'rebels' start bombing their countries
- Those who work for off-shoring IT businesses, condemn governments for allowing cheap Chinese imports
- 'Export' cloth manufacturers encourage laws restricting of foreign manufactured vehicles
- Families who built houses with repatriation money castigate illegal immigrants from neighboring countries
- Those who worship most feverishly are also those who preach hatred
- People conduct 'culture' festivals at the Bank of rivers damaging fragile ecosystems on the riverbed
- Those who find affirmation action 'unfair' to the majority cringe when the government taxes their savings
- Minorities always cite the law; majorities make the law!
- My opportunity is fair - if they trouble you, you are incapable of adapting to change
- My troubles are unfair because they result from injustice meted out by chosen few to the majority
Image Source: The Dawn
Is Chinafication of everything sustainable?
I had a roadside Dosa after a long time today, and realized how different it tasted compared to the one I am used to having either at home or in the usual fine dining joints. As I was thinking as to why there was a difference in taste, I wondered if this Dosa (a Mysore Masala variety) has the dreaded MSG for which Maggi was banned last year [read about MSG controversy].
When the Maggi controversy broke out, most defendants of Maggi had claimed that there is more MSG in street food than Maggi; and this goes unnoticed because India does not have strict vigilance processes for street food vendors. Why do street food vendors add MSG if it is bad for health?
One of the side effects of running a street food joint is that it must remain cheap, but for the vendor to earn sufficient profits so as to recover rentals etc, from such street food, they must ensure that they sell more and for the food to sell more, the food must be tastier and hence street food vendors add MSG (not as an individual ingredient, but MSG is a part of most taste making spices) to make the food tastier.
This is similar to toys or iPhones being made in the unhealthy, labor intensive factories of China. These factories, as the Foxcon controversy suggests, employ labor in almost in-human conditions. Why do such factories survive then - well the reason is broadly the same as that for MSG in streetfood. For Apple to pay good money to its shareholders, the 'expensive' designers who work in their Cupertino offices and even to afford the Loop in Cupertino - it must sell more and more iPhones. To sell more, they shouldn't sell at the price of gold; but since you can't pay less to your iPhone designers, you have to cut costs in manufacturing the phone, and hence you manufacture it in China in factories that flaunt in-human but cheap labor!
This loop of cheap but unhealthy began with movement of factories outside the developed world in the 1990s and exacerbated with globalization and the Internet. This effect, just like remittance economy, can continue for another few cycles - as China develops, its workers' aspirations rise and its factories become more advanced and hence high cost, but lower cost factories can then shift to rural China or Africa or Philippines. This is already happening in India, where, as metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai develop and real estate becomes dearer, factories are shifting to cheaper districts like Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Ghaziabad, Ludhiana, Dharwad, Coimbatore etc.
But what happens when we exhaust places to move low cost factories? What happens when African populations' aspirations for a better life start rising? This talk by Hans Rosling illustrates what may happen if all 'developing' countries become 'developed'.
As this video illustrates, what happens if in our quest to sustain cheap manufacturing we keep moving such factories from place to place but in the process damage the environment irreparably (we might have done that already)?
I am seeking answers.The planet may already may be hitting 2 degrees above normal temperature & we still argue if climate change is real!https://t.co/UTltFxi6nl— Nikhil Kulkarni (@kulkarninikhil) March 24, 2016
Image Credit: Gayatri Krishnamoorthy @ Flickr
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India Rail Budget 2016 Highlights
Just finished reading highlights of the Rail budget (sorry! I am little slow); here are some forward looking initiatives I noted. Prabhu is doing a good job!
- Draft Bill on regulator - Restructuring Railway Board on business lines
- Sale of platform tickets through ticket vending machines both cash and card compatible
- Facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline using ‘One Time Password’
- ‘Clean my Coach’ service through SMS
- Periodic third party audit of stations of A1 & A category
- Cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals
- Rail side logistic parks and warehousing
- Appointing Key Customer Managers to liaison with our major freight stakeholders
- Hourly booking of retiring rooms to be allowed instead of the existing minimum of 12 hours.
- Baby foods, hot milk and hot water to be made available on stations
- Changing boards for babies would be provided in train toilets.
- CCTV cameras would continue to be installed in coaches
- Wi-Fi at 400 stations in next two years
- Rs. 50 crore for innovation grant
- Monetizing soft assets such as data, software and some of the free services such as PNR enquiry, e-commerce activities on IRCTC website
Overall this budget has taken steps in the direction of making Indian Railways a progressive organization like I have recommended on this blog. I am glad some of the ideas which I shared here have come to fruition with the Modi Government; Drutgamini will become a reality with Bullet train, a lot in this budget (like move towards business lines, dedicated customer managers and holding co for Railway PSUs) was covered in my post on need for reform; I do hope that by the time Suresh Prabhu's term ends, Indian Railways is the world's leading Affordable and Progressive rail networks!
I don't mean to take credit here - Modi government has more able people who must have come up with these ideas; just that feels good to be vindicated!
And one last thing; it would have been better not to club baby needs (items 10 and 11 in the above list) under 'For Women' - is taking care of babies only a headache for Women. I confess I might have never done Baby diaper change while in a train, but Dad's do (occasionally if you may) care about their kids food and sometimes do change diapers as well!
And one last thing; it would have been better not to club baby needs (items 10 and 11 in the above list) under 'For Women' - is taking care of babies only a headache for Women. I confess I might have never done Baby diaper change while in a train, but Dad's do (occasionally if you may) care about their kids food and sometimes do change diapers as well!
Image Credits: Unsplash.com
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