Salman Khan’s Caste

I had written some time ago about Amitabh Bhachan’s caste. http://obvioustruths.blogspot.in/2013/05/amitabh-bachan-oncaste-karnataka-state.html

Now, the focus is on Salman Khan.
http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/im-both-hindu-and-muslim-salman-khan-in-court/

Following a legal practice that was probably introduced by the British over a century ago, arms of Govt identify a person by name, religion, and caste. Why can’t India legislate out this practice? If it is only for identifying me, I believe that size of shoe I wear would be a more useful bit of information!

My hats off to Salman for answering “Indian” when he was asked his caste!

I got reminded of a time long ago when we were trying to get admission for our daughter in a well-known school in Mumbai. As I filled up the application form, I ignored the item that asked for my religion, and put in a dash there. The admission sought was for the KG class and there was an interview. From the way our daughter reeled off the questions she had been asked and the answers she said she had given, we thought that the school would appoint her as a teacher! But, alas, her name was not on the selection list. My wife and I asked for an appointment with the Head of the School, a highly respected missionary. On hearing our complaint, the Principal showed us the application form I had filled up and explained that she was concerned about the future of children who are brought up without a good world view. She said it did not matter what the family’s religion was, as long as there was a religion. She explained how engrossed in the material pursuits of life, parents often forget to instill good ideas in the minds of their children. She said that brings all kinds of problems as the children grow up.

I have no quarrel with the world view argument. I shudder to think of children who are brought up without ethical and moral values.  I do believe that they should learn about life and death, good and bad, humanity and inhumanity. They should learn to respect the bit of altruism that makes humans what they are, and be proud that they have it in them. But how do I tell a missionary who has spent most of her life educating students that I consider that traditional religious beliefs are not the only way to create a human world view?

I asked for the form and wrote the name of a religion where it was asked for. My daughter got admitted into that school. I felt I had been a coward. 

Hand crushed, and in need of surgery? CMC, Vellore offers hope.

Hand crushed, and in need of surgery? CMC, Vellore is one place that offers hope to people in that situation. See this announcement:

For Rs 5430 (roughly equivalent to US $ 90), they offer two days of hospitalisation and full treatment. What if it takes four days of hospitalization? Then you pay a total of Rs 9020 (about US $ 150).

Healthcare is affordable if those who offer it do it as a service! Of course, part of the cost could be coming from donors all over the world.

Is India ready for an eighth-magnitude earthquake near a metro?

The tragic earth quake that has hit Nepal is a warning for all of us in India. It has been said that earth quakes don’t kill, but falling buildings do. Ours is a country notorious for its inability to enforce building codes. Politicians and bureaucrats have made a mockery of building codes. Irregularities are there in the majority of buildings. Laws are enacted to “regularize” malpractices by paying some money. 

Malls are allowed to come up in the middle of cities without adequate parking. The roads are overloaded. The sewage system gets overloaded making most malls “the stinking malls” of India.

In the midst of all this, some cities are planning to encourage very tall buildings, allowing a floor space (FSI) index as high as 6 or more! What will happen if a major earthquake hits a metropolitan city, killing several hundred thousand people? 

Whose responsibility is it to mitigate such a disaster by tightening up on the inspection of buildings and eliminating corruption? Who will review the accountability of traffic management authorities and fire services? Who will ensure that they are allowed to operate without interference from corrupt politicians? Who will ensure that architects, builders and authorities who give occupancy certificates are held accountable long after the buildings are complete?

Narayana Murthy hosts Prof J G Krishnayya’s 80th birthday

It was a great event on Sunday the 12^th April 2015, focusing on the sustainability of India; it was held at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad (IIMA). I was delighted to hear Jayaram Ramesh speak on the subject with knowledge and passion, and to hear the veteran, Ashok Khosla. It was a pleasure to see Prof Jaswant Krishnayya as intellectually active as ever.  

You can read more about the event at

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/ahmedabad/others/at-iim-murthy-hosts-first-employers-80th-birthday/articleshow/46912625.cms

Shashi Sharma had done excellent organization of the event. 

Net Neutrality – my replies to the TRAI questions

Please refer to

Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services, Consultation Paper No: 2/2015, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), 27th March, 2015  http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReaddata/ConsultationPaper/Document/OTT-CP-27032015.pdf

I have responded only to some of those questions; the ones that are important to me. My answer to Question 9: “What are your views on net neutrality in the Indian context?” deals with an issue that has not got public attention. There is a lot of hype about the number of cell phones in India exceeding 900 million and the fact that a significant fraction of them are potentially capable of accessing the mobile Internet. My answer deals with unfair charging that holds back progress in taking the Internet to the bulk of India.

Question 1: Is it too early to establish a regulatory framework for Over The Top (OTT) services? 

A clear recognition has to exist that providing communication capacity is a different business from creating and distributing content and providing services using communications. If we recognize the difference, we could establish a regulatory framework for OTT services as well. The fundamental point is that giving Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) any control over charging users of communication capacity differently, or otherwise treating them differently, is wrong. These are different industries and each should be protected from the other.

Question 3:  Is the growth of OTT impacting the traditional revenue stream of TSPs?

Yes; the growth has impacted on them very positively! A TRAI publication     Telecom Sector in India: A Decadal Profile, 2012, Telecom Regulatory    Authority of India, 2012, 

http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Publication/Document/201304121052403536675NCAER--Report08june12.pdf

has pointed out that "Internet users in India expanded at a significantly high CAGR of 32.27 percent during the period 2000–10". The Telecom Service Providers have not been losing money due to all this growth! The telecom sector has received on average 8.2 per cent of total inward FDI between 2000–01 and 2010–11, indicating that the sector has been very attractive to investors. The telecom sector pays handsomely every year in telecom spectrum auctions to buy capacity to dish out mobile Internet services.  

The telecom sector cannot complain that the OTT sector makes profits. That would be like the taxi trade complaining that the restaurants make a bigger profit on feeding customers than they themselves make in carrying them to the restaurants. 

The OTTs have not been free of regulation. For instance, voice over IP is explicitly provided for under the telecom rules, under certain restrictions. Clearly, authorities all over the world have recognized that new technologies may be very competitive in relation to older technologies. So, what we do? Should we handicap new technologies till they cannot compete? If video over IP is less expensive than video over circuit switching, should we kill it before it takes off?  

No monopoly in OTT services is supported by regulation. On the other hand the number of TSPs in a given circle seems to be fairly tightly controlled by regulation. I cannot find a third TSP who can give me Internet connectivity over a landline to my place in the heart of Bangalore.

Question 4: Should the OTT players pay for use of the TSPs network over and above data charges paid by consumers?

Can a taxi operator demand that restaurants be required to pay them over and above what the customers pay to be taken to restaurants?

Question 7: How should the OTT players offering app services ensure security, safety and privacy of the consumer?

Yes. In particular, they should not compel users to share the details of their contacts (colleagues, friends and relatives) stored on phones/computers. They should ask for no more information than is strictly required to provide them the service their app is designed for. If they support taxi/auto services, they should take responsibility in ensuring that only licensed and identity-verified drivers are sent to customer premises. They cannot merely depend upon conduct certificates given by police!

They should innovate to use technology to improve security. They should ensure that all communication to the driver takes place only through a cell phone number which has been registered with the app service provider. At present I have seen the service provider send me one cell number as the driver’s number and some driver calls up using another cell phone! He explains that he carries two phones and that the other phone has run out of charge!

Question 9: What are your views on net-neutrality in the Indian context?

The most glaring violation of net neutrality in the Indian context is the punitive pricing of Internet access by cell phone service providers to beginning users and other small volume users. I pay roughly Rs 250 per month for 1 GB capacity per month over the cellular network, through a data plan. A student had asked me to get her an article on rice from the Internet for her. The article which met the needs was 6 MB in size as it had some photographs. I downloaded it (using my landline connection) and printed it for her. What about other articles she might need? Should I demonstrate to her how she could use her cell phone and access small articles which she could at least read on the screen? What would this cost her? I found that it would cost her (at that time) 3 paise per 10 KB over a 3G connection as she has no data plan; she just cannot afford a data plan. A bit of arithmetic told me that the rate for was twelve times the rate I was paying. I do not know what argument about Internet technology would justify this overcharging by a factor of 12! Is this neutrality between poor users and middle class users?

There could be a 50% or even 100% charge extra for those who do not have a data plan, but 1100% extra?

I would suggest it should be mandatory for any cellular wireless service provider to offer a 100 MB per month data plan at a price that is not exploitative. I would consider Rs 25 per month a fair charge for this service. At least the Government’s own cellular service provider should offer such a pack.

Question 12: Who should bear the network upgradation costs?

Should restaurants pay the taxi operators to replace vehicles when they become too old to run?

end

Government buildings in Chennai to have ramps

Good news for those on a wheelchair! The Chennai Corporation has decided that government buildings should have ramps to help visitors on wheelchairs.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Many-miles-to-go-on-the-wheelchair/articleshow/46902136.cms

I had a posting on this blog

http://obvioustruths.blogspot.in/2014/04/why-are-indian-buildings-unfriendly-to.html

on this subject.

I would appeal to readers to launch and/or support a change.org petition to the Central Govt. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to enforce this rule all over India. This Ministry is the one responsible for dealing with the problems of the disabled.

Ensuring that a vaccine you depend on is not a dud

Dr Giridhara Babu has done us a service pointing out that a valuable indicator which should be on vaccine packs is often not there.

Visit

Visiting private clinic for immunization?

Dr Giridhara R Babu, April 08, 2015, DHNS

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/470363/visiting-private-clinic-immunisation.html

He points out that you may be worse off if you get a vaccine shot at a private hospital. Government hospitals usually use vaccine that are guarded by a printed image named the Vaccine Vial Monitor. If the vial is not kept at specified low temperatures all the way from the factory to the place of use, the image changes its shape/color and warns you that the contents cannot be relied upon. Vaccines at private clinics do not necessarily use the VVM device.

I have myself taken expensive “flu shots” in private hospitals and I can assure you that there was no VVM on those packages. Why not? What prevents the government from banning the sale/use of vaccines not protected by VVM?

More information can be found on VVMs, including a very descriptive image, at

http://www.path.org/blog/2014/07/5-billion-strong/

Dr Babu's article goes beyond protecting vaccines through cold chains. There is another point he makes about an unethical medical practice that is unrelated to vaccines. However, that is also worth thinking about and protesting against. 

The role of the World Wide Web in promoting transparency

I found a Times of India item on the Web today about medical colleges which show to the regulatory agencies fake lists of professors they claim to have on their faculty. The professors appear on campus miraculously on the day any inspecting committee turns up. Visit

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/On-the-trail-of-ghost-faculty-in-private-medical-colleges/articleshow/46810529.cms

Incidentally, it is unfair to focus only on “private medical colleges” here. There have been reports in the press of government medical colleges using “short-term transfers” to make up for non-existent faculty too! Visit

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/kerala-loses-350-mbbs-seats/article7009287.ece

I have a simple suggestion. The regulatory agencies should ask the colleges to have permanently on the websites a list of faculty, giving the dates indicating the period they served the institution and details such as qualifications, department and designation. There should be enough information for anyone to figure out if the professor named is a real one or a ghost!