Productivity and the Effective Use of the Internet

 

Recently, I wanted a credit card company to stop sending me hard copies of my monthly statement, and instead send me email statements. I located an email address for their customer care and sent my request. There was an automatic acknowledgment followed later by an email saying I could request the change through digital channels and giving me a link and a call center number. I clicked on the link which gave miscellaneous information but did not say how to stop the paper statements. So, I called the call center and went through an elaborate process at the end of which the operator said that my request has been noted and they would act on it soon. Then the operator asked me to speak to his supervisor to give my feedback rating his performance. The supervisor had a chat with me and said that an email request would soon come to me on which I could give my feedback. I must have spent over an hour on this wild-goose-chase. 

The whole thing reminded me of a newspaper report a decade ago which said that a certain airline had 18 employees standing by at various places on the side all along the route, as a passenger walked his way from the security check to his seat. This airline, after bleeding the country of several billion dollars year after year, was finally sold for peanuts.

When are we going to realize that this country’s productivity is the most important index to watch and to improve? Otherwise, we may become a five-billion-dollar economy rather than a five-trillion-dollar economy!

Srinivasan Ramani

MINOO MEHERWANJI DOSABHAI (MM DOSABHAI), 1930-2023

Photo: Courtesy of Minooji's Family

Minoo Dosabhai headed the Software Promotion Centre (SPC) and Hardware Division during the formative years of NCST. He also worked as the chief engineer, managing all engineering responsibilities of NCST including campus development and maintenance. Because of his work, we had a very well-designed campus in Juhu when we started out there in 1986.

Consultants who had supported users of NCST computers were from the Software Promotion Centre. They helped thousands of students and hundreds of advanced course participants do their work on computers.

I gratefully remember the work done by Minooji’s Division in setting up and maintaining the computer systems and software used by the ERNET. NCST’s Networks Division played a key role in this nation-wide project. ERNET, with the support of SPC, had set up an email link between NCST and IIT Bombay, in 1986. The project connected India to the Internet in 1988; this was a full seven years before VSNL entered the field in 1995. The cooperation between staff of the ERNET project and the SPC is one of my happiest memories of that era!

Minooji had helped me learn using the CDC-3600 in 1964-5 at TIFR. I was then working at TIFR as an intern, doing my M Tech project. The Institute was expecting a big computer at that time, the CD-3600. Dr PVS Rao and Minooji were creating the massive infrastructure required by the machine. I was happy to lend a helping hand occasionally.

Minooji was a soft-spoken gentleman, always cheerful, and helpful. They don’t make them like him anymore!

Minooji passed away on 19th January 2023. He leaves behind his wife and two daughters. 

Srinivasan Ramani

Promoting the use of UPI to make donations safer

 As we all know very well, thousands of temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras and other places of worship in India play a vital role in people’s lives. The quality of cleanliness in these places and their immediate environment matters a lot to our self-esteem and to national pride. Some places are exceptionally good and some need attention.

These institutions collect thousands of crores per year through their hundis and collection boxes. A part of these donations helps maintain these places of worship. Ensuring that the donations are transparent, legal, safe, and efficient is a valuable goal. Eliminating fraud, misuse, and corruption is equally essential. We must promote the use of the Universal Payment Interface (UPI) to provide for a safe way to donate.

UPI need not be the only route for donations, but it should carry a significant part of the load. The recent safeguarding of bank URIs on the Internet by introducing the domain name “.bank” is a brilliant move. Now banks can be asked to identify accounts eligible to receive charitable or religious donations by ensuring suitable labels are part of the account name - such as temple, church, masjid, gurudwara. They can also verify if the account holder has a PAN number and is authorized to receive donations from abroad or not.

Places of worship can then publicise the UPI IDs for receiving donations and publish QR codes for the purpose through various channels.

This will facilitate legal donations from all corners of the nation to all places of worship, big or small. It will also increase legal donations from NRIs and OCIs.

This need not involve any big effort by the Govt. Suitable guidance to the National Payments Corporation which implements URI, and to banks will achieve a lot. However, publicising the effort and making the nation aware of the issues involved are important.

There are many low hanging fruits we can easily pluck to improve India’s image in the world. This is one of them.

Srinivasan Ramani 

Two people's lunch for a few cents less than one US$

 

Uttara Karnataka Speciality Food Store, Photo by: Srinivasan Ramani

Yesterday I reported how you can get lunch for three at a bit less than 2 US$. Today, we went to another place in Jayanagar, Bengaluru. Two of us had lunch for Rs 80, which is a few cents less than one US$! 

Pretty good lunch it was. My wife chose Puliyogare for herself. I chose Bisi Bela Huli:  a cooked and well spiced combination of rice and lentils. At the Uttara Karnatka Speciality Food Store, it had some carrots and potato chunks as well. Protein and Vitamin A! 

We ate out of good paper plates, standing on the sidewalk  in the shade opposite the store, next to the Ramar Temple. Most people eat without any cutlery, as Indian food is usually eaten with one's hand. I asked for a spoon and was given a well designed plastic spoon.  

We got a parcel of Onion Pakoda and Chili Bajji to take home for a snack. Rs 30! The main problem we noticed was that there was not enough parking space on the street!  A few poor guys in million rupee SUVs had to walk some distance to eat lunch!

Governments at every level in India must work to foster this culture of low cost food services. The two places I have visited in these two days were pretty hygenic. However, it  would take a lot of effort for the city government to ensure that all eateries in the city get safe, piped water. We also need to ensure that taxation does not burden these eateries that cater to a very basic need. We need to make these places a matter of pride and an item of the city's identity. We should not forget that the small eateries of Bengaluru probably provide a hundred thousand jobs! 

Srinivasan Ramani  

Cost of Living in Bengaluru

 

Photo Credit: Yours truly

We had lunch at the Iyengar’s Inn in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, about two weeks back. We had asked our driver to join us, and ordered three plates of Puliyogare. I was curious to know what an Ambode is (it is a Vadai) and so I ordered one; the others did not want it. The bill was for three half-plates of Puliyogare and my Ambode. My wife asked the man at the counter if the half plate would be sufficient. He said it would be more than sufficient. What about our driver, who is younger? The man at the counter said it would be sufficient for him as well! The total cost was only Rs 160! I asked for a bowl of Morukozhambu. They gave it to me and did not let me pay for it!

Three lunches and a few cents less than two US dollars! It tells us a lot about purchasing power of the Indian rupee!

The Puliogare was exceptionally good. We noticed that there was a crowd of customers. You stand and eat at this restaurant. Some stand on the sidewalk outside the shop and eat. The place was clean, and the staff were courteous. Most of the customers were young people. A lot of them were wearing what Bangaloreans call a corporate thali! An RFID tag on a tape to let them into their offices. So, clearly this restaurant caters to the middle class!

I checked the prices of a few grocery items on a site that does home delivery:

Peanuts: Approximately 230 Rs/Kg (less than 3 US$)

Raw rice: Rs 48/Kg

I also noticed the calorie content of each:

Peanuts: 600 Calories/100 grams

Raw rice: 350 Calories/100 grams

So, it is true! You can buy the cooked food you need for sustenance at less than 3$/day in Bengaluru!

Caveat: I am not asking the Reserve Bank to do anything to raise the prices!

Srinivasan Ramani

Can you add years to your life?

 

I wrote an article recently about reduction in peoples’ Longevity due to  Covid-19. This was in Hindi along with an English version. You can visit https://hindimestem.blogspot.com/2022/10/blog-post.html to read it. If you do not read Hindi, you can skip the first half and go to the English version. The loss of years of life suffered by the victims of Covid-19 are shocking! Some of the causes of these high death rates are equally shocking. Noteworthy is the unreliable information on networks about vaccines. Most of the Covid deaths were of people who had not taken the necessary vaccination.

Let me move on to talk about the risks of alcohol consumption. A report from the prestigious CDC in the US Alcohol and Cancer Risk Fact Sheet - NCI says:

“Based on data from 2009, an estimated 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States (about 19,500 deaths) were alcohol related”.

It also says
“In fact, a recent study that included data from more than 1,000 alcohol studies and data sources, as well as death and disability records from 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016, concluded that the optimal number of drinks to consume per day to minimize the overall risk to health is zero”.  

However, the shibboleth continues to be propagated that it is okay to have “two drinks for a man, and one for a woman, per day”.

What is the increase in cancer risk for a person taking one drink every day? It is considerable. The British  Medical Journal  (https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3944/rr-3 ) says: In fact the main characteristic of alcohol is it is a human carcinogen (Class 1) even at a low level.

The magnitude of the problem can be understood by looking at the number of cancer deaths per year in the US.  The US National Institute for Cancer had reported in 2020 as follows:

In 2020, an estimated 1,806,590 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 606,520 people will die from the disease. Visit Cancer Statistics - NCI

Heart Diseases and Blood Pressure

• An estimated 17.9 million people died from Cardiovascular Diseases in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) (who.int)

• If you’re age 40 or older, or if you’re at higher risk for high blood pressure, get your blood pressure checked once a year
  Get Your Blood Pressure Checked - MyHealthfinder | health.gov

Let me move on to the last topic in this article: air pollution. A report of the World Health Organization says that 4.2 million deaths per year are caused by air pollution Ambient (outdoor) air pollution (who.int)  That is the 2016 estimate. What do you think? Would it have gone down in the following years?

The action item for this topic is to look up air pollution data for the last six months. (Do a browser search for

Air Quality Index Your-city-name Your-Country-Name

Example: Air Quality Index Bengaluru India

                One of the search results returned is

                Bangalore Air Quality Index (AQI) : Real-Time Air Pollution ).

If you find that you are living in high pollution area, pack up and leave! Find a place that offers you a safer atmosphere! You don't want to be one of the 4.2 million in the near future!

Srinivasan Ramani

   

  

 

What should the Computer Society of India (CSI) focus on?

 

Photo: User Gflores on en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Computer Society of India’s election for key committees at the national level is to be held soon. I am confident that members will do their best to ensure good elections and hand over the society to responsible professionals.

We need to look beyond the election. What should be our priorities? There will be many answers to this question. CSI consists of many types of members such as professionals in business, industry and R & D, entrepreneurs, students, and academics. There would be activities for each group, depending upon the leadership each group elects to the key committees.

Let me offer my own humble thoughts. I would emphasise lifelong learning for members, good quality publications, focus on online courses & educational technology. There should be special activities for student and teacher members.  I think that all these activities have a tremendous potential. Nation-wide R & D activities in technology for education have been mostly government funded so far. These R & D activities have given India a major lead.

Industry and business have their own importance. While Govt funding goes to institutions with an impressive past, industry and business seek out activities that have a great future. Educational Technology companies and start-ups in India have done well, though they are now facing some problems. Our vision should be to have a national effort in which all sectors cooperate to earn India a reputation around the world for technology-based education of high quality. We ought to have a million or more Indians working to export services worth, say, 20 billion dollars a year. This would require that we should be creating and serving a domestic market which is larger. While export earnings and job creation matter, the service angle matters a lot more. No export, and no domestic sale, would be more valuable to the buyer than a high-quality educational service.  Beneficiaries would remember their gains life-long, creating us a lot of goodwill.

IEEE Computer Society was running an annual series of conferences on Technology for Education (T4E) till a couple of years ago, when the Covid pandemic caused a break. This effort was spearheaded by the IITs and a few other institutions of higher education such as the Amrita and Goa Universities. CSI should cooperate with like-minded groups like these whenever possible. We have a great strength – our Chapters are everywhere. We can have a few regional conferences as well as an international conference every year. We can even run a good quality journal/magazine on technology enhanced learning. However, sister societies and other like-minded bodies have their strengths too. We should be adding to each other’s strength. 

A veteran of online education and educational technology is standing for election as a Division Chair: Dr M. Sasikumar. That gives me hope.  He and his colleagues nation-wide can do a lot for CSI in this area.

Srinivasan Ramani