e-Nagar

I know that if a certain individual reads this post of mine, it might as well be my last one. This unnamed friend of mine is a glaring example of the hindi saying – “prabhu ki maaya, kahin dhoop kahin chhaya“. Despite being a happily (?) married man with a couple of kids, he was really taken aback when he saw a couple of porn videos. His comments left us laughing and rolling on the floor. His best being:

“WOW! What position is that??”

“Girls DO that? Hmmm…”

“What the hell is THAT?!?”

Being the last of the baby boomers, it can be safely assumed that he had no access to internet, globalization, computers etc. etc. when he really needed them. Thankfully, they have led us to a higher level of exposure (and action) in more aspects of life. Here’s one to Gen X and Y.

Vedas repeatedly say:
“Hate the Sin and not the Sinner”
What the line means is that one needs to have the ability to differentiate between the object and the subject. In today’s world, it becomes specially important because we seem to have lost focus. The focus of any good judiciary process is not to bring the perpetrators of a crime to justice, but to analyse why they did what they did. Then be objective to ones approach and try to mitigate the circumstances which forced/shaped them in what they are.
Our forefathers realized that life is transitory, it can be there today and not there tomorrow. The real problem in hand is not revenge, but to ensure that if you nip this bud, it does not lead to a 100 others. Setting an example of the guilty might be one of the strategy in this goal. However it should not be the only strategy.

Urban solid waste is a major problem in India. According to a TERI report, 70% of the Indian cities lack modern solid waste disposal system and of those who have it, don’t process more than 72% of the waste generated. Most municipalities simply dump the garbage in the landfills which leads to creation of leachate. Another major problem is the scarcity of land for dumping garbage near the urban centers of India.

Gasification reduces the total quantity of the waste. The ash generated does not have the foul odor of decomposing waste and is sanitized. The power generated from the process can supplement electricity supply. Considering the fact that most regions of the country face scheduled power cuts and the fuel import bill constitutes a major chunk of India’s imports, most electricity boards are also favor these mini power plants. Hence the only sustainable solution for India’s Municipal solid waste is gasification. The Government grants and subsidies aid in setting up of the plant, garbage collection and lucrative deals with State Electricity Boards make it an economically viable solution.

As per the MNES, government wants to bring and additional 299 Class I Cities and 36 Class II cities under “National Master Plan for Development of Waste to Energy in India”. The scheme is applicable to private and public sector entrepreneurs and organizations as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for setting up of waste-to-energy projects on the basis of Build, Own & Operate (BOO), Build, Own, Operate & Transfer (BOOT), Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) and Build Operate Lease & Transfer (BOLT). Government is also ready to sign a long contract of over 10 years after the party demonstrates the requisite financial, managerial and technical capability.

I wonder what is still holding these entrepreneur back. There is more money to be made in garbage that they can possibly imagine

I have been brought up in a traditional middle class family where no morning starts without spending some time reading the newspaper. My school started on Thursday and I just now realized that since then have not touched the newspaper. This Sunday morning, while I was staring at the stack of 3 unopened newspaper, I wondered should I discontinue my newspaper subscription.

Is my newspaper like that gym membership which I had taken 2 years ago. I could never take the time out to work out in that gym, yet somehow the very idea of cancelling such a membership meant that I have resigned to the fact that I am too weak to improve myself, do the things we like.

How many times have we paid for the goods and services which we believe we should have, but also secretly know that it will be a complete waste of money.

One of the best way to create a brand position often does not involve having unbelievably tall claims but simple communications.

For example, take the ipod box.
On the black package, in bold white print its written: “Works with PC and Mac”

Unlike most other computer accessories/software packs, it has very little words and pictures. So each word that is written on the box has more emphasis. This simple line is important in a very subtle fashion it emphasizes the Mac notebook’s unique position.

I thought of updating my previous post on nuclear deal. 2 years ago, I had wondered why USA signed this deal. After all the terms of the deal (atleast those revealed to the public) seems to be lopsided in benefiting India. Even the gains made by the rest of the world because of opening up of india as a nuclear market seems to benefit Austraila, Russia and France much more than anybody else.

When India came to the nuclear negotiation table, it had 3 priorities:
1. Nuclear Fuel: India has excess of Thorium, but most of its nuclear program is Uranium based. The shortage of nuclear fuel had reached critical stage when the deal was signed.

2. Electricity: India is already short of electricity and as per India Core every 1% rise in India GDP needs 3% rise in electricity consumption.

3. Technology: Without being disrespectful to Indian Scientists and Engineers, there is always a lot to be gained by exposure and access to technology from a distant land. Plus one cannot ignore india’s skills in reverse engineering.

Areva recently offered not to install turnkey nuclear reactors but is also offering to sell its stake in Uranium mines of Africa.
So basically india is getting all it wants .. and that too at competitive prices.