What is fair fare?

முதன் முறையாக தமிழில் முயற்சி. சென்னையில் ஆட்டோ ஓட்டுனர்கள் பேரம் பலருக்கும் பிடிக்காத விஷயம். ஆனால் கன்னிமரா ஓட்டலிலும், அறை வாடகை பேரம் பேசப்படுகிறது என்கிற விஷயம் எவ்வளவு பேருக்குத்தெரியும்? சொந்த அனுபவத்திலிருந்து சொல்கிறேன். போகட்டும்; management பேராசிரியர்கள் ஒரு கல்வி நிறுவனத்தில் வேலைக்கு சேரும்போது ஊதியத்திற்கு பேரம் பேசுவது கிடையாதா? அதற்கு நாசூக்காக negotiatiation என்று சொல்கிறோம்! ஆகவே ஆட்டோ ஓட்டுனர் கிடைத்தவரை லாபம் என்ற அடிப்படையில் ஆரம்பத்தில் அதிகம் கேட்பதில் என்ன தவறு என்று தோன்றுகிறது. ஆட்டோ ஓட்டுனரும் information asymmetry, மற்றும் what the market can bear என்கிற அடிப்படையில் வியாபாரம் செய்ய விரும்புகிறார். ஆட்டோ சவாரி செய்ய விரும்புபவருக்கு சரியான தகவல் தெரிந்திருந்து negotiate செய்யக்கூடிய நிலையிலும் இருந்தால் optimal கட்டணம் சாத்தியம்! அவ்வளவுதான் விஷயம்.

Demands by IIM Faculty

It is unfortunate that professors at IIM are not satisfied with the pay hikes suggested by the HRD ministry and are protesting rather vigorously and asking for a 100% hike from current pay. As is usually the case with media, which takes up issues only when the elite interests are affected, we see a lot of television footage – largely supporting the professors. Have we ever seen such extent of coverage when school teachers demand something? Whether the recent protests by the doctors in Kerala about the revision in their salaries got such coverage even in Malayalam channels is a moot question. In the course of the discussions on the IIM professors’ pay several distortions are introduced and as academics management professors must be aware of them but are conveniently silent about them. Let us see some examples, 1. Comparison between IIM professor’s salaries with that of a Harvard professor (NDTV channel was flashing Harvard Professors' salaries along with IIM Professors' salaries during the time the IIM spokesperson was airing his view) in rupee terms is a serious distortion. Management professors know something about purchasing power parity based comparisons. Moreover, should we not then compare what a school teacher in the United States makes in comparison to the school teacher in India; or what a medical college professor makes in comparison to a medical professor in the U S and so on? 2. It is pointed out that the IIM /IIT graduates at the entry level make more than the professor who taught them. This is true of the entire world. Academics do make less in terms of monitory benefits compared to those who go into the profession whether it is management, medicine, law or even science. The important issue to be noted here is that one (the writer included) chooses to be in academics NOT as a missionary renouncing everything and wedded to the cause of education alone; (if it were so this whole discussion would not have arisen!); the choice to get into academics is because the person values that way of life more than other ways of life and hence the price he / she pays for that desired value is the acceptance of a lower salary compared to the professional in other occupations. 3. From the society’s perspective the professors in medical schools, doctors in hospitals, teachers in universities and schools who build the foundation and serve to create responsible democratic citizens are probably more important than the professors who help to create a few thousand individuals whose indifference to social responsibility has begun to be questioned all over the world, consequent to the global economic crisis. 4. It is strange that IIM professors do not talk about the ways in which many of them earn an additional income - sometime even more than their salaries – through consulting, hourly fees for training programmes and such other avenues. 5. It is debatable whether all the management professors if they chose to go to the corporates, will be grabbed at much higher benefits to them. I would suggest, in line with my second point above, that many may not fit in the corporate sector for a variety of reasons – not to be confused with lack of competence. I would also suggest that many a business would value the intervention of a person, with largely an academic aptitude, more as a consultant, churner of ideas or catalyst rather than a full time employee. 6. Even if the professors who want to leave for corporate pastures left these institutes, (Has there indeed been such an attrition among management teachers, is a question to be examined!) I believe that the IIMs can function without compromise to quality of management education with the next best available in the country and with the guest teaching by many industry professionals who have a flair for teaching. 7. That brings me to the final point. When the IIMs were started in the early sixties, there was a need to spearhead the movement of formal education in management and hence the state took the initiative to heavily subsidize these institutions. It is time that the government stops subsidizing these institutes and in fact moves away from this largely corporate-focused (that too largely for global corporations) educational activity. Instead they should concentrate on strengthening management departments of selected universities who may have the potential to perform well. Having stopped the subsidies to professional education through IIMs and IITs, the question of student fees and salaries to professors can be decided entirely by the institutes' management. At best the government may insist on some subsidized programmes be run for targeted groups such as government and public sector managers, in return for the subsidies enjoyed by the institutes over the past several decades. Considering issues raised above one should think that the professors’ protests are not just unfortunate but can be characterized as unjustified if they want the government to continue to fund the institute to any extent. It is time to seriously reconsider alternative models for such exclusive professional education. Late Professor Dandekar had suggested once that the teachers in specialized higher education must be just given the basic infra structure, a subsistence salary and the freedom to offer courses and training programmes for which the clients would pay. The entire payment may be retained by the professors. If such a system is put in place in the field of management education we would come to know how indispensable or otherwise these wizards are. In fact some professors in IIMs may probably be already aware of the consequences if such a situation is created. Let them pass to think on how many students would opt for some of the courses if they were not core courses. So let the professors not ignore the fact that they may have to pay a price for the luxury of having a ‘market’ created for them through a variety of means in addition to the generous funding by the government in the past.

PPP for Parking Facility

The Chennai Corporation has decided to get a private consortium to put up a multilevel parking facility near Apollo Hospital – a prime area (See the link below) http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/28/stories/2009012858970400.htm The corporation will allot nearly 27000 sq.ft of space and the consortium will build at a cost of Rs. 50 crores (Rs. 500 million) commercial spaces in the ground level and parking spaces for 200 cars and 290 two-wheelers. The government is suggesting a fee structure for the parking (not for the rented commercial space) and the entire revenue will go to the consortium for the next 18 years. The consortium will pay the corporation a paltry Rs. 46 lakhs (4.6 million) annually. The corporation is patting itself for insisting that the annual levy will be collected in advance every year! In another decision the Corporation is leasing out the parking spaces in the city to a private company which will put up parking meters and collect the revenue 11.5% of which it would share with the corporation. What should be the economic rationale for deciding the levy in such cases of common resources being handed out? It is a pity that the corporation can not mobilize Rs. 50 crores to build the facility and collect all the revenue, if necessary handing over the management of the collection of fees / maintenance for a fee to be paid to the management agency. What are the practices in car-dense countries? I am aware of a corporation property in a prime area of Coimbatore which has been leased ( 99 years?) to a private agency supposedly for putting up a “socially-desirable” auditorium, which of course has been put up, just a huge hall and a dais. But surrounding the hall on both sides – since it is a corner plot - car show room and commercial shops have been put up and all the revenue is gobbled up by the private agency. Another dimension is the parking fee fixed for cars and two-wheelers: Car parking @Rs. 20 per hour while two-wheeler parking is @ Rs. 5 per hour. What is the rationale? If you go by the area required for say the 200 cars, including the space needed for manoeuvring the vehicles, I would estimate that nearly 1500 two wheelers can be parked in the same area. It is also more likely that the two-wheeler space is utilised at a higher rate than the car parking given the density of these two types of vehicles in the city. Add to that the fact the car owners should cross subsidise the two-wheelers in this limited context of car parking facility. Thus, the two wheeler charge should not be more than 10% of the car parking fee. As is the nature of the state the super elite get subsidised by the lesser elite. How can we make the citizens think about these issues and protest?

Indian Elections 2009

The election results are touted as definite indicators of the Indian voters’ preference for stability and to their frustration with regional parties. I am not inclined to swallow this conclusion – not even a hypothesis. If the regional parties had contested all the seats in their respective regions and had failed to obtain a significant share of the votes in multi-cornered contests, then such a conclusion can be supported. However, the anomalies of the present system which lead to the first ranker winning the seat irrespective of the percentage of votes polled create a false impression of "dominance" of winning parties. As a consequence of the anomalies, political parties tend to form alliances without contesting all the seats fearing that the division of votes among many contenders may lead to outcomes unacceptable to the respective parties. This has lead to a situation where the regional parties seemingly have lost out. The very fact that the Cogress has won largely because their regional allies have won (Trinamul Congress, DMK etc.) shows that the regional parties are still a force. Even in UP and Bihar, if we were to look at the share of votes polled by the regional parties we can not escape the above conclusion. It would be even more illuminating to look at the share of the votes of the regional parties of only those seats where they contested. If we look at the share votes pattern where there were no alliances, it would provide another picture. While the government formation as of now does not depend on these kinds of analysis, a political scientist/ sociologist can not ignore such analysis. Unfortunately the present constitutional arrangement favours the dominant national parties and the failure of the regional parties (when the national parties were weak) to press for alternative systems such as proportional representation or run-off elections among the top 2 contestants in the event of none getting 50% votes, have led to the seeming rejuvenation of the large “national” parties. The left parties’ failure, to my mind, is largely a result of the public perception that these parties are more concerned with global / international issues rather than local issues. The time and energy wasted in opposing the nuclear deal without educating the public on how exactly it would affect their life seems to have been a waste. Nuclear deal issue was not touched upon by any party in the election campaigns! Of course, the intra-party bickering in Kerala and the lack of tact in handling Singur and Nandigram problems definitely seem to have had an impact. Having accepted the parliamentary party system, should the left just go it alone without alliances, at least in those states where there is a modicum of presence? May be some grassroots work might get done on account of such a strategy. We must overcome the fear that such a strategy will lead to BJP gaining power. After all one stint by them did not bring down India in any great manner compared to the "secular" congress! They were taught a lesson by the electorate that India can not shine just for a few! In the long run the negative strategy of keeping the worse evil at bay, rather than take every evil head-on, may be counter productive to build the movement! Ramakrishnan May 2009

Social change - Planned or serendipitious

Are we right in thinking that social changes in the past have really been the result of planned orchestrated movements? Soviet and Chinese resolution, Vietnamese victory over the mighty US and our own freedom struggle will obviously be cited as examples. I am not so sure. That the subsequent development in all these socities were not according to the original plans makes me feel that what happened was the result of the combined effect of various factors and fortuitously one factor happens to be the “peoples struggle” I am aware that I am being very dismissive of what are termed as epoch making struggles. But in the time frame of human civilization’s evolution the episodes seem to be just that - episodes; episodes without much lasting influence given the fact of Soviet Union’s demise and China’s march toward capitalism. Look at the countries with a semblance of socialism: Nordic countries, Costa Rica, even Canada (compared to USA) and France. Did socialism (whatever little remains of it) come about in these societies as a result of people’s struggles of the kind we call revolution? How is Cuba holding out while Nicaragua has almost been subjugated by US capitalism? All such questions make me wonder whether social changes are just accidents rather than events with a pattern. We seem to adduce reasons selectively to rationalize the “success” of one and the “failure” of another! May be I am being overly “realistic” or fatalistic to rationalize my inaction. May be we have not studied enough to understand the dynamics of social transformations and how to bring them about.

Civil service examinations

I wonder why a degree should be the minimum qualification to appear for IAS / other UPSC exams. After all, the candidates are not compelled to write the examination in the subjects in which they graduated. In fact many engineers and science degree holders choose subjects such as Comparative Religious Studies, Philosophy etc. as the special subjects. Obviously the degree specialization is not considered relevant or necessary. Then why not allow anybody to appear for the preliminaries and if successful examine ALL candidates in the same subjects relevant to the career as a civil servant: Indian Constitution, Indian Society/ Economy, Basic Public administration, Human relations etc. besides the GK and English. When people prepare for UPSC exams they will prepare for these subjects. The cost of conducting exams also will be less since the number of subjects to be offered will be less. If we believe that the UPSC exams are adequate to discriminate between those who can be a competent civil servant and those who cannot, then why bother about the minimum requirement of graduation? Incidentally, is this system of inducting civil servants through examinations being practiced now in any other society?

Equitable use of public road space in urban areas.

Increasingly the minuscule minority of private vehicle owners are being allowed to appropriate an undue share of the limited road space in urban areas by using the road space for parking. The pedestrians and those who depend on public transport are put to great difficulty. It is ironical that pavement vendors who eke out a livelihood are driven out while cars - which occupy much more space and which are not necessities for livelihood - are allowed to be parked, very often for a pittance of a fee, if at all a fee is charged. When public services such as education and health care are being marketed and priced to be beyond the reach of the poor, what is the rationale in allowing scarce urban space to be used by the affluent either freely or at highly subsidized rates. The following steps are urgently required: 1. All vehicles must be required to be parked off the road in self-financed multi-layered parking garages (as in the case of Western countries) and the road space restored to moving traffic and pedestrians. 2. All owners of commercial establishments must be asked to provide off-the-road-parking spaces for their customers. The number of parking spaces to be provided by them must be in consonance with their expected customer traffic. (We already have such examples: cinema theatres.). If necessary, commercial establishments in a given locality can pool their resources and build the multi-layered parking facilities in strategic locations. 3. Wherever legally required parking spaces such as those in the basement of commercial complexes have been illegally converted into shops and other establishments, the parking spaces must be restored by legal action. 4. All roads must be provided with pedestrian walkways according to international norms so that the objective of ensuring equity in the use of environment is assured. The policy makers and the lawmakers who want global standards for everything that they are interested in must try to move towards such better global practices.

Freedom of the individual versus laws and morals

I came across the following argument in a post of another mail group, to which I subscribe. .."the idea of “contemporary morality” (which many seem to be impressed with) is not based on any empirical evidence of social benevolence or a set of principles but simply on the victories of special interest groups forwarding their vested agendas. Arguments can be conveniently weaved around the positions to reflect “Humanist ideology”, “progressive philosophy” or whatever other names one wishes to call, but the core reason for the existence of these moral imperatives in “contemporary pop-morality” is the victories (or losses) of the special interests and therefore logical arguments favoring/justifying them are irrelevant." The above argument set the following train of thoughts in my mind: I have always wondered about the legality of certain issues: one at a very mundane level - the legal compulsion to wear a helmet for riding a motorised two wheeler (or the need to wear seat belts while driving a car), and the other at a "higher" level - the illegality of attempting to commit suicide. I have argued that by not wearing a helmet I do not endanger anybody else (unlike drunken driving or smoking in the public places, by which one can endanger somebody else's life or health). In fact, I have come across at least one case, where a cyclist and a helmet wearing motor cyclist collided "head-on" literally and the poor cyclist got injured grievously by the hard helmet of the motorcyclist! Hence failure to wear a helmet should not be a punishable offence, especially when the state does not provide free health care facilities! Disincentives such as ineligibility for insurance compensation may be considered. I suspect that a law to punish those who ride not wearing a helmet is brought because of the interplay of a variety of forces. Some well-intentioned neuro-surgeons want to minimise head injuries and keep harping on that. The lawmakers also see an opportunity to prove that they are interested in welfare of their citizens and here can be a law that is easy to implement; the lawmakers also probably get "influenced" by the helmet manufacturers. The traffic police see the law as another "boon" - more opportunities to take some additional bribe. Thus the argument of my friend whom I quoted at the beginning is valid: Namely, what gets proscribed and what gets sanctioned at a given point of time in a given society is not a simple question of the logic of the times. You must have also heard the argument that beef eating was proscribed because the then pastoral / agrarian society depended on cows and bulls in a variety of ways. One hears all kinds of explanations for the explicit and bold "carnal" sculptures in Kajraho / Konarak and in many other ancient temples. I wonder whether these conjectures are even valid. Persons such as (late) Dr. Audiseshiah had been advocating legislation for the right to die with dignity when someone felt that he/she was not only unable to contribute to the society but was a definite burden on the near and dear. Societies do not allow that right and the attempt to take one's own life for whatever reason, if unsuccessful, is punishable - to add to the misery of the person! Yet another example: How can anybody justify a law against "compulsory" religious conversion? If any "compulsion" (blackmail, threat to life etc.) is used for any purpose, existing laws can always be used by the aggrieved person. So where is the need for a special legislation for punishing people who attempt to convert people to another religion? But these conventions / traditions / legislations are brought about with motives other than "social benevolence", at different periods in human history and some get entrenched as the quoted argument suggests. I also argue that if we accept the quoted argument, we can understand how the legal acceptance of gay marriages is a challenge. I have no problem with the stand that sexuality, just as religion, must be a private affair and not brought into public space. But we have seen how some practices get proscribed by religion or law over time. Without altering the perspectives radically we cannot expect changes that are just convenient to us. Why do we need to legally recognize the marriages – conventional or homosexual? We are told that we need that for purposes of sharing income, property, custody of children etc. In my opinion the state / legal system should interfere only to provide some protection to the children born through marriage; no need for any other intervention with respect to property, income etc. These must be decided by the partners through specific written contracts and be dealt with as any other business transaction in the event of the “marriage" breaking up. (e.g. Jacqueline – Onasis marriage?) In any case majority of the people would sort out the problems themselves; in the case of the fraction of the relationships which go sour, no great harm is done to either "spouse" if no children are involved. "Buyer be aware" must be the caveat as in the case of Indian marriages where grooms are "bought" through dowry! (Or through one's youth in the case of young women "buying" rich old men as happens in the West!). All physical abuse of "spouse" must be treated as "criminal" just as in the case of other physical attacks! Marriage licenses need to be optional. There is no need for tax concessions to facilitate married life, excepting to support children (natural or adopted) by "partners in the marriage". Without accepting such a view on marriage, crying foul on the non-acceptability of same-sex marriages by the society seems to me to be a little hypocritical.

Education and Examinations

National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has suggested that examinations be dispensed with till the 10th standard and children are not detained to repeat an additional year or more because they have "failed" in the annual examination. I would go a step further and suggest that the public examinations at the end of the 10th and 12th year of school study may also be dispensed with, for the following reasons. Educationists all over the world agree that common public examinations are required not so much to maintain quality of education but to "certify" the level of competence of the examinees for purposes of exclusion or inclusion in further avenues of education or work. Just as "Quality Control" at the final output stage is being replaced by Total Quality Management in the case of industry, periodic assessments by the teachers to provide constructive feedback to the students and help them progress through the education programme will be the right approach to maintain and enhance quality of education rather than examinations to promote or detain students. There may be need for other revolutionary" reforms too: some students may be asked to do extra time for catching up in some subjects of the lower standards even while they are attending classes of a higher level for some other subjects. Of course, suggestions as above are based on the assumption that the primary purpose of school education is to "educate" children, not just produce some "graded" batches of "human resources". It is also assumed that administrative conveniences of mass examinations should not be the criteria for declaring at some specific points in the "academic calendar" that some students have become eligible for further studies / work and some have not. The schools should be empowered to declare that a student has "successfully" completed the 10-year or 12-year education at any point in time mutually convenient to the school and the student after the minimum period of study has been completed; the assessment of the teachers of various subjects may also be appended to the completion certificate. Those who want to go to university education may have to take a varietyof additional comprehensive entrance examinations conducted by a central body such as the association of Indian Universities which may berequired by some universities / colleges who have far less capacity than the number of applicants. In any case, all admissions to professional courses are now based on common entrance examinations and some elite institutions insist on their own entrance tests even for non-professional degree courses. The greatest advantage of such a system is that the majority of those who do not pursue higher education do not get branded as "failures" for not "passing" in one or two subjects. This is in fact a great confidence-builder for the poor who are the most affected by the public examinations. Many of them are branded for life as 10th-failed or12th-failed and what is crueler is that job opportunities which require completion of 10th or 12th standard of education are closed to them. Moreover, the tension that is associated with the ritual of examinations - passing and failing, not getting into the top ranks etc. - would also be eliminated at least for the majority of the students, if not for all. Children will get back some of their childhood to indulge in other activities, necessary for a holistic development as an individual. Thus the eminently sensible suggestion of NCERT must be welcomed by all those who are genuinely interested in the development of individuals and not just in pseudo certifications. In this context it may be pointed out that in the United States of America - whose practices our elite would want to emulate in a variety of spheres - the High School diploma - as they call the completion of the 12th standard - is awarded by the schools themselves. All examinations at the colleges and universities are, of course, conducted by the respective course instructors. Only professional examinations such as those for Certified Professional accountants (CPAs, equivalent to our Chartered Accountants) and Professional Engineers (PEs or Chartered Engineers as they are referred to in some countries) are conducted as common public examinations. Such a practice is definitely something we should seriously consider emulating.

Business Leadership and Critical Thinking

I was sent the following link to Narayanamurthy’s (Infosys) talk about what we should learn from the West. http://www.icbs.com/iit/learn-from-west-narayan-murthy.htm My response: In the US , youngsters -10 to 12 year olds - earn pocket money by distributing newspaper in the neighbourhood. (I am talking about the times I lived in the US – almost 30 years back!) They never shirk their responsibility even if it is snowing hard. I have come across the father or an elder brother doing the chore if the boy is unable to perform his job because of sickness or his bike having broken down! Thus many of Murthy’s observations resonate with my sentiments. But, is Murthy correct in suggesting that the reason, for the current undesirable practices and attitudes of the society, is the fact that we were "under foreigners control for thousand years"? I am not comfortable with this formulation on several counts: a) The nomenclature of “foreigners”. If Mugals were the foreigners that Murthy is implying, so were Cholas to Pandyas (both reigned in different parts of ancient Tamilnadu ); Pallavas to Chalukyas (in present-day Karnataka) or Vijaynagar’s Krishnadevaraya to ancient Madurai ! Did Normans’ control of England create the same problem for the English? b) The logic of his argument that when “foreigners are ruling, people will lose the traits of self-discipline, collective social responsibility” etc. is not very convincing either. Were all the desirable traits present in the “Indian” society before the “foreigners’ control”? (If that had been the case “foreigners” would not have been successful in taking over!) In fact historians suggest that the concept of India as a united national entity happened because of the British rule, albeit inadvertently! c) Has collective good ever been the conscious and willingly accepted goal of societies anywhere in the past? The modern industrial development in a sense forced the need for "collective work" and development of "public goods" force people to cultivate the need for respecting their usefulness. One must understand that even in USA more "dog-eat-dog" practices were prevalent just 100 years back. Recall how the old and the infirm lost out in staking out land when the Western frontier (Oklahoma etc.) was opened up one morning some time in the later half of 19th century. Consider Dr. Narendra Jadhav's suggestion (Economic Times of May 2, 2006 ) that the rigid cast system could have been at the root of lack of economic development (though great strides were made in the realms of theoretical / conceptual domains) in India. A small minority bestowed with privileges and wanting everything done for them and their benefit even at the expense of the majority, probably is responsible for the current mindset in the society which is resource-crunched and has become intensely competitive! Everybody aspires to be the part of that privileged minority (a la protesters of reservations!). Oh, have I stirred the hornet's nest or opened a Pandora’s Box - whatever the appropriate adage is!

Expansion of Higher education

I hear that the elite policy makers are concerned that the enrolment in of students in higher education is only 6% of the population of the relevant age group (18 to 24?). Efforts are required, it is suggested, to raise this to at least 15%. We may be charitable and appreciate the policy makers’ concern for more of our youth getting higher education. Unfortunately they are not willing to dole out the funds required for that. They want private-public partnership for higher education. One finds it difficult to understand what seems to be an inherent contradiction. I hope that the government does not compulsorily want the parents to cough up money to the education merchants (self-financing colleges) in order that we will project a better statistics. But first, let me explain what is unrealistic about the expectation of higher enrolment in university education? Hardly 20% of those who ought to complete 12th by the age of 18 do so. If that be the case, only when 75% or more of those who complete 12th pursue higher education, we will achieve the kind of enrolment ratio desired for the college-age group! Even advanced countries have not come anywhere near that figure even though most of them have achieved the 100% of relevant age group completing high school (12 years). So there is no realistic statistical basis for the expectation. But all is not lost. The access to higher education is limited because of the high cost. The high cost is largely because of the traditional requirement of classrooms (which are utilised for a few hours a day) and teachers (who are available for fewer hours!) for classes of anywhere from 20 to 90. Large number of studies from all over the world has shown the economics of Distance Education (an erstwhile vice-chancellor of a university called it Distance-less education!). Distance education of high quality, but at low cost for the student must become the logical choice of fast learners and those who can cope with some employment while studying. Personal contact programmes using part-time teachers, retired teachers and scholars pursuing M.Phil and Ph.D programmes can in fact provide better learning opportunity than institutionalized higher education. The curriculum and examinations for the regular and the distance education streams must be the same to ensure credibility. (The Education Minister of TN has recently advocated this!) Laboratory facilities in the affiliated colleges are not utilised to their full capacity. Hence, it may be possible to offer even science courses to be offered through distance mode by tying up with affiliated colleges for the lab facilities to be utilized in the evenings and week ends. This will generate more revenue for the colleges and some more employment for teachers. More poor students will be able to pursue higher education in their desired field. Computer Science, Computer Applications etc. are programmes which require lab facilities and we are already conducting programmes through distance mode for these courses. Hence it is a feasible idea. If thus the distance education mode becomes the dominant mode for those who pursue higher education – not always with any intent of specialising in a particular field by pursuing Masters and Doctoral programmes - the access can be enhanced and the flexibility of a very loosely structured curriculum to suit the specific needs of the candidates can also become possible. This of course means that the universities give up the attitude of treating distance education activity as merely a cash generating activity. All of the revenue from distance education should be spent for that activity and all efforts to strengthen and subsidize distance education must be taken. The industry may be incentiivised - I picked up the use of this term because of its usage by leading management gurus who want corporations to be incentiivised to be socially responsible - to look at the graduates from distance education as attractive by levying a cess proportional to the government's cost of the education of the employee hired by the industry and who had recived subsidized full time education.

Income from property / wage; trade /service

One NRI friend of mine seemed to imply that Rs.50 for a haircut at Chennai is exorbitant. I have held a case discussion on Fair Fare for Autos, with students, management / economics teachers and of course with individuals. during all the discussions the popular middle class sentiment that the auto drivers exploit the "poor" public was dominant. Most people do not realise that a big chunk of the payments they make to the hairdresser or the auto driver in fact goes to the propertied class by way of rent, interest etc. and less than 50% is the compensation for the labour. I try to bring this out in my courses by encouraging the students to analyse the cost components in tiny business. It may be interesting in this context to compare those who set up grocery stores, fancy stores, medical shops or such other retail outlets who start out in a humble way without a huge investment. A good proportion of them you would have noticed managed to expand their business significantly, acquired the property in which they were located and in general prospered. Of course some would have gone down, largely because of mis-management, cheated by employees, outstanding customer credit etc. Now, look at a number of those who set up service outfits such as haircutting saloons, electrical/electronics repair shops, vehicle service facilities, tuition centers, small printing facilities, auto drivers etc. Have you seen a similar proportion of such service outfits significantly expanding? What should we infer? Traders always have the advantage over "producers" (of services) just as in agriculture. Is not this a tendency to be corrected by social intervention? Traders will be able to get institutional finance easily; but not the service providers. Should there not be cooperatives of service providers for each trade, to make institutional finance available? Shouldn't there be subsidized place of business on hire for these service providers, just as we have industrial estates? But a picture for the Indian economy as a whole must be available. What is the share of "income from property and investments" as opposed to "income from wages or labour" in the total national income. What percentage of the huge proportion of ‘self-employed” are in “trade” as opposed to “services”? I drew a blank from the National Institute of Public Finance. The commission on unorganized sector does not seem to have gone in depth.

Right to search those who come to search!

Let us say that the police or government officials want to search the premises of a suspect or an accused. Does the person have a right to insist on a body search of all those who want to enter the premises for the purpose of the search? By offering such a right to the citizens, we can avoid the accusations that a member of the search party planted some incriminating substance such as narcotics or fake documents in the "suspect's" premise to falsely implicate the person in a crime. I do not know whether a constitutional amendment is needed for conferring such rights to the citizens!

Sops to the rich and powerful

Dr. M M Singh claims that the airline industry is being bailed out since the employment angle is important. The report about Gujarat government's sops for TATAs and similar report about undisclosed terms from WB government too are justified by the respective governments from the same employment generation point of view. Are there any informed studies about the potential for employment generation through these projects in comparison to the same extent of support being given to the unorganised sector or even the organised SME sector? Are there studies, which at least compare the extent of support to the mega industries through direct and indirect subsidies with similar support for the other sectors? Isn't it time the development economists bring out such studies and disseminate to the general public most of whom are outside the ambit of employment in large scale organise sector? May be such studies are already there but in a form, which only academics can appreciate. Can I seek the indulgence of those friends who see this communication to let me have a few references?

Credibility of the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Development Projects

Very often, development projects such as creation of SEZs or constructing ultra-modern airports are justified supposedly based on long-term cost-benefit analysis. Theoretically such analysis should lead to "optimal" decisions for the society as a whole, though sub-optimal for some sections, for example, those whose lands get acquired. However, we should also be aware of how such analysis always gets doctored to suit the dominant elite such that even the “global optimality” is questionable. There are enough "call girls" (a la Arthur Koestler's novel of the same title) in every academic profession to craft an analysis desired by the decision makers! Look at the Sethu Samudram project. Maritime experts seem to indicate that the dredging at such exorbitant costs is not worthwhile in terms of global shipping traffic expected, especially with ships getting bigger and bigger. But the kick-backs to be reaped in such huge projects are too much of a temptation for politicians to ignore such considerations. On the other hand there is very little interest in developing inland waterways for energy efficient transport of non-perishables or low cost passenger-commutation since the projects are likely to be scattered and small. The reason for the road transport project - golden quadrilateral - getting approved, despite such considerations may be because road travel is something the rich and the powerful also are interested in. Pardon me, if the "analysis" as above is superficial and cynical.

Land for Industrial / Infrastructure Projects

If we assume that those who don’t want to give up their land for industrial projects are rational and are not being misguided by the politicians, then we can come up with terms that the land owners can not refuse. Given below is an imaginative solution, sketched by a friend of mine in the context of the Singur imbroglio, which if refined appropriately, would be salable to the sections whose land is being acquired. If the owner is assured of a regular income close enough to what he would have got out of the land and also the possibility of benefiting from “appreciation” in future, why would he refuse? The company’s continued access to the land can be ensured through suitable laws that the purchase of the title allows the purchaser to enjoy only the stream of pension and share of the capital gains if any and not to ask for the physical land. The company is not going to suffer on account of the appreciation in the value of the land just as the higher price of the share does not adversely affect the company. The company’s only objection can be that the wind fall profits that they may get at a distant future for the real estate if they close down the industry will still go to the original land holders or those who purchased the de-mat-title rather than to the shareholders of the company. Remember the controversies behind the closure of the DCM unit in Bhara Khamba, New Delhi. (The TU leader Lalith Makan allegedly got eliminated since he was a stumbling block for the closure of the mill and sale of the real estate!). Or the controversy around the land of the textile industries in Parel, Mumbai being sold consequent to the closure of those mills. Such instances of capitalist exploitation /loot can be avoided by the suggested method. So why shouldn’t the W B government explore such innovative solutions. After all, management students are urged to “think out of the box” and industry leaders do so when they want to reward themselves even while the corporations that they are running are incurring huge losses or are at the verge of bankruptcy as is evident from the recent events. ------------------------- From: "M Koteeswaran" To: "Ramki Ramakrishnan" , ge64@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:49:09 +0530 Subject: Re: Fw: [foil] How Tata got Singur cheap Quote Perhaps there is another way to look at. Land is personal to the owner. He has a few options: 1. Keep and grow crops. 2. Keep idle. 3. Sell at the most profitable price. 4. A source for rainy day. Time increases the price and value of the land. Is it not possible to convert land into a dmat form with the transfer of ownership irreversible. A transfers to Government his land . This is irreversible. A can opt for a pension like payment with commutation facility based on its present market price. Like a person having contributed some sum through 30 years of service getting a commutation amount and a monthly pension. After ten years the commutation is restored. On the same basis why not compensation be given with a right to commute up to 100% ( if he is satisfied with the present compensation and wants to redeploy for some other business etc. ) Now this so called pension for land can be in dmat form which if he wants, he can sell to anyone at any time. Like in pension scheme, the value of the land can be readjusted (like pay commission/ DA) once in 5 years or 10 years. The total life of this pension for land could be for a maximum of say 20 or 30 years. Will this not meet all the four options a landlord has today? Of course he cannot leave land as property for his children or grandchildren. But he could leave a sharing will out of the pension for land for the balance period. Unquote

Age limit for entry to government employment.

For entry to government employment there is an upper age limit which I feel is constitutionally not valid. If a person who has put in 10 years of service in a private transport company as a driver, he should in fact be preferred over a younger person for the position of a driver in a state transport undertaking. The older person even at the age of 35 or 40 would not mind starting from the bottom of the ladder in the government employment since the entry-level salary and perks are better than that for even an experienced person in the private sector in such cases. What is wrong if a 50 year old experienced driver seeks a position in the government though he might retire within the next 5 , 8 or 10 years? Similarly a homemaker once her child rearing stage is over, probably after ten years of marriage, may want to write the public services commission examinations and be gainfully employed. Why should she be denied that opportunity because of her age? After all government officials rising from the ranks are made IAS officers even at the age of 45 some times. Hence the upper age limit for most government employment must be scrapped. Unless the higher age can be shown to be a definite disadvantage such as the case may be for jobs requiring physical agility or strength, stipulating an upper age limit for entry, I feel, should be avoided. I was surprised to learn that a person just migrating in and becoming a citizen of Canada at the age of 53 is not barred from government employment as long as he/she meets the qualifications. My brother-in-law is the person I am talking about. Hence, a precedence from a developed society!