AFSPA

Someone said AFSPA should be repealed. I was also of the similar opinion till I devolved deep into AFSPA.

I fully sympathize and agree with what naysayers said. But my dear friends - consider the situation in which the militants are roaming around frequently. Would you prefer a Army personnel to stand on the road or the militant. I for sure would feel safer with presence of Army than presence of militant. There was a Bollywood movie in which a ATS (Anti Terror squad) has killed some terrorist preemptively. The lawyer of the policemen asked the same question to the judge - Who would you give gun to protect your house, a militant or a cop ?????

The response was -

...what if the army presumes you to be a terrorist?The army under AFSPA can arrest and detain anyone without warrant if they feel that the person might be a terrorist which is the deprivation of basic human right

Dear Lucky, It was but after many incidents that the cry for repealing this act has been raised by the masses in the north east. I think it was not advocated to remove it from anywhere else in India where it was needed. And please..don't refer bollywood movies to understand matters of such grave seriousness.. I can't comment on Kashmir. It is a sensitive issue. But I empathize with the innocent people who suffer because of Power Misuse...Its only the common folks who suffer. You have to be there to understand the real situation..

Yes, the issue is complex and I agree that you have to be there to feel it. I agree its easier to write while sitting in comfortable place in Delhi but the situation might have been different if I would have been in Manipur or Kashmir. The presumptions of army are really not the right thing. But still we need to find solution to improve the AFSPA like intense scrutiny of the case by other central agencies and solution deadline of say 1 month. I believe AFSPA is evil but their non presence is worse. It may lead to violation of human right of 1 out of 10000 individuals, but it is collectively good for rest all 9,999 people. But yes, the agony of that 1 individual is something which needs solution. 

The world is not flat - Google+

The world is not flat - Google+

Domestic Solar Panel Manufacturing Industry in India

There is surely something wrong.

Link to the Report on Domestic Content Requirement


Either everyone is wrong or India is only wrong. Whatever be the case, at the moment, you have to be Roman if you are in Rome. India should do something to protect the domestic solar Industry.

1. If the domestic solar industry flourishes, then they would be able to reduce the cost in medium term and match the cost in long term. 
2. There is interest of Solar developers but that is short term interest for the country.

Is solar going the same way the heavy industry for Thermal Power Production was going 10 years ago. There was a time when 40% of the Chinese Thermal Industry was based on demand from India.

Govt. need to put in substantial efforts to make India a manufacturing hub.

Economics blogging: Salute to the India of ideas | The Economist

Economics blogging: Salute to the India of ideas | The Economist

I really liked the statements
1. And perhaps the country’s brightest economists are simply rubbish at communicating sharp ideas to the policymakers, activists, media types, business leaders and members of the public who could make use of them.

2. The contributors, by and large, are Indians, or people of Indian origin based in America and elsewhere. Their challenge is to engage their countrymen. If they succeed, the rewards could be magnificent.

This means the solution is the Indian economist but not the one like Kaushik Basu, whom I once read told sarcastically, about beggars - "if he does not accept 10 paisa (or something really small) then you will say this as a result of inflation"

Economist like Kaushik Basu are the real perils of India as they know simple facts but are biased due to their positions and alienation. Such economist are dangerous for India's future. But you know what - Govt. has made him along with the legendary (sarcastically used) to be the "Top Economist of India" - Thats the peril of India.  

MGNREGA

Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 This was perhaps one of the rare incidence when all the parties are speaking in the favor of once particular scheme. This scheme have really moved the things and for the first time perhaps stakeholders seems to be working in sync for a national scheme. Most important the scheme has a local flavor as the labor has to provided within 5 kms of radius of the village Stakeholders 1. Rural Farmer (landless or laborer) Family as job card is for full family. Now this scheme has included 5 cr (of 1.7 cr families) = one fifts of 25 cr rural labor (not population) 2. BC 3. Adhar 4. Auditor 5. Collector 6. State Govt (pays 1/4 of material cost and Administrative Cost). Have to pay unemployment allowance of min 100 day wage otherwise. 7. Central Govt.(pays 3/4 of material cost, wages and some admin) Issues 1. Reimbursement (allocation) not as per demand 2. Audit related 3. No skill upgradation 4. Poor Quality Work 5. Fake Enrollments AP has been considered a success story as they have appointed 3rd party auditors. My opinion :- The scheme is good but the object is wrong. I would repeat the impression of Deng Xiaoping - Move people out of villages to factory NREGA is doing opposite. It is taking people from factories to villages. It is sort of competing with Industry for competition. INR 120 (@ 2009 prices) is too high in some pockets such as Rajasthan to compete with industry such as solar. It is well documented that solar industry is suffering due to NREGA. The bill of $9 bn for 2011-12 is too high.

Engineers Day Celebration of Regional Engineering College (RECK / NITK) Kurukshetra

Well this was my first alumni gathering of my undergraduate alma matter which I attended. I was fortunate to be in India this time. A very interesting discussion was - "Who is an Engineer". There were various answers to this question, but most of them centered around - "Someone who creates something of value is an Engineer". The word "Engineer" has lost significance in the current era in terms of the old definition which segregates "Engineering" under various streams. Past Trends Whether it is IT or Globalization or any other technology / macroeconomics related change, all of them have significant impact on Engineering. Consider the fact that only very few of my batchmates, who passed out of RECK in 2002 are now doing the core of Engineering related work. Incidentally most of them landed jobs in IT or have shifted to IT. It is the external change, which changes the orientation of professional. Especially in India, IT growth overshadowed the growth of any other sector. Future of Engineering Now the pertinent question is - "What is future of Engineering?". As we have witnessed in the last decade the pace of economic growth had guided the orientation of Engineers. It could be Biotech or Renewable Energy decade of 2010-2020. Questions which Engineering institutes like RECK need to answer 1. How to stay ahead of the change curve in Macro-economics 2. How to stay relevant in the uncertain future 3. How to help existing alumni to cope up with these changes.

REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) Mechanism in India

The REC mechanism was introduced with lot of Pomp and Show in the beginning. There was a bait for the developers to 1. Take high ROI for some years and recover the cost 2. Ready to Trade Market for immediate cash realizations Prices were definitely attractive with floor and ceiling fixed at 9 and 12. It was definitely a profitable venture as per some of the experts. Despite all good promises, it failed on the following fronts 1. Due to lack of strong RPO (Renewable Purchase obligations), most of the REC would be sold around year end (or end of a any other review period if RPO review durations are reduced in future). This makes the revenues from a REC backed project uneven and adds to lots of uncertainties. 2. Grid projects can only be supported by subsidy due lack of grid parity in solar till now (situation may be different beyond 2015). So, Off-grid projects (which are economically viable as of now) need to be included in REC mechanism in reasonable scenario. As of now it is absent and I am stumped why? 3. What would substitute “REC” after 2017 4. Lack of visibility of pricing beyond 2017 even if policy remains intact It is highly likely that prices of modules will reduce further due to both market growth and technology up gradations. So the capital cost is bound to decrease by 2017, but capital cost of a developer would be the cost he incurs right now. Hence, it is unfair to developer of 2012 than someone entering in 2017.