My little donation

Last night I was searching for an auto in Gwalior to visit one of my clients who happened to be a civil servant. This time winter had been really cold. As far as my memory goes, I can recall such bitter winter in the late 1990's. Most of 2000 has been pretty mild. As I shivered under two sweaters & a coat, the search for a conveyance became an absolute must. Just as I was about to lose hope, I saw this auto pass by me. I waved a hand at it only after it had passed. He saw me from his rear view. Retracing his steps, He asked me, " Where to?"..I said, " Race course road. I want you to wait there till my meeting ends & then drop me back to hotel". Bargaining is a very interesting phenomenon. Neither party knows the real value of the deal. As the two unreasonable quotes meet each other, the clash results in the determination of the true value of the deal. I had Rs. 100 in mind. Before he could reply, I knew he would quote a figure which blow me up like a grenade. He said, "Rs. 60 saahab". I said, "Deal!!". It was one of the very rare occasions, when the figure in mind was MORE than what such people quoted. ( For once I was not livid at an autorickshaw driver given my horrid experiences with these guys in Delhi, Chennai & Bangalore ).Honesty it seems is still prevalent. May be like an endangered species, but its there. Post that as we chugged along the narrow lanes of Gwalior. He asked me the address. I told him. For quite some time, he went in one direction. Then he suddenly stopped, "Saahab, Is you client an IAS or a PCS?"..I was stumped for a second. Then recovering I said, "PCS, why?" He replied," Oho Saahab, PCS live on another lane. Dont worry I will take you there". Normally you expect these guys to be street smart & know the inside out of the city. But differentiating between an IAS & a PCS??There are many MBAs, who will still scratch their head wondering what I am talking about. I even in my wildest dreams did not expect a rickshaw driver to distinguish between state & central civil servant. Then out of curiosity, I asked the usual question, "Babu, You seem very smart.." Before I could complete the sentence, he replied,"Saahab, this is not my real job. My daughter is studying for medical. I am working extra hard to finance her studies..." My question to him was like an arrow to a pot filled with water to the brim. It was heartening to see female education being alive & kicking at one of the smaller cities of the country. Our country is full of paradoxes, where on one side the country is grappling with the problem of an abysmally low sex ratio owing to the blaspheming acts of female foeticide, on the other here was a person with a white collar job driving an autorickshaw in biting cold. For a second I had tears in my eyes....soon to be replaced by frustration......At the end of journey, I handed him a Rs. 100 note. As he searched his pocket for change, I walked away.....

1 million chulhas

Well, the last week was marred by the "Racist" row between the Indians & the Aussies. The newspapers, websites and the audio visual media just added fuel to the fire. There was of course an issue to be made for that. We are not a nation that takes such allegations lightly given that we ourselves have had to face the situation in the past. Nobody knows what happened. But its not that it doesnt happen in our country. Ask any North Indian who visits South India and he will tell you horriffic tales of the way the South Indians treated them which will put any Southie in North to shame. Not to say that our brothers from the Northern hinterland are any better. I, myself, have had to face them on numerous occassions. But then, you have to look at the larger issue at hand. Some of my cousins didnt take it too well & could only recoup when they found familiar faces (though with slightly idiosynchratic ideas about life). We can never escape it. We must accept that certain segments will always try to make you realise that you are different from them, but the intent must not be demeaning in any manner. Again, given that most of us are insane & insecure such thoughtful event would be a rare occurance.

Last week, one of my crazy searches landed me with a company called "Hi-tech Agro". The promoter happens to be one person called Mr. A K Khater. Upon meeting him, I realised that he was a stalwart of "briquetting and pilleting of Bio-waste". For some of our less aware friends, Bio-waste is not human waste, but rather the residue from farming harvest. In some cases it also includes household waste, waste wood material & other bio-degradable waste. Now briquetting as the name sounds relates to compacting of bio waste and making it in the form of bricks. Pilleting means making small bullet like structures out of Bio waste. To me it was as exciting as a teenager missing a heart beat on meeting a prospective sweet heart. And more so, I was intrigued by his enthusiasm on making it reach the remotest villages of India. He wanted to give something back to them. Whats the use of the 9% rate of growth, when the riches continue to throng the city dwellers, who are just making life difficult for themselves in their pursuit of quenching the thirst for luxury? So, what was the concept? Well, here it goes. In villages, the dwellers use the bio waste for household purposes like you know burning them for cooking food and heating purposes. Now these villagers do not use any efficient chulhas. They just burn the waste & over them place the vessel to be heated. Now, there are many hazards associated with such an exercise. One, this bio waste is not processed which means burning them leads to more smoke than real heat. This poses a health hazard to the user, but also consumes a lot of time. In some cases, wood from nearby forests are cut to burn the chulhas. Also, the bio-waste isn't basically a product that is of much economic significance to them. So, the better way is to use them to burn them to make food.

Mr. Khater, the pioneer in briquetting & pilleting of bio-waste, has hence thought of installing one million chulhas (on a pilot basis) that will allow villagers to use bio waste in a more efficient manner for more or less the same purpose. Now, here is the deal on offer. Firstly, a "Group operator" will be appointed for each zone/ state. Each of these zonal/ state level operators can appoint one operator who will be taking care of say 80 - 100 villages. Each of these smaller operators will own a briquetting & pilleting machine for treating the bio-waste. The villagers will give their bio waste to these operators. The operators will return one-third (by weight) of the bio waste submitted by the villagers back to them in the form of a briquet or pillet. The remaining pilletted bio waste is then sold in open market where there are ready buyers for them. These buyers in some cases own their own captive power generating capacities for which they badly need the raw material. Now, as far as the villagers are concerned, they also get a chulha from the village level operator. These chulhas are much easier to operate. More importantly these chulhas burn the bio waste more efficiently ( am no science geek, but they say it can burn the fuel inclusive of coal & wood efficiently by over 45% - 50% as compared to your traditional chulha) causing less environmental pollution and less health hazard.

Who will bell the cat? This was the question I asked Mr. Khater. To which he invited me to a brain storming session at "Batkal Lake" in Faridabad. I had been there earlier. Flanked by mountains, it used to be a scenic lake with a hovercraft facility. I am talking of at least 13 years to 14 years in the flashback of my life. Depreciation is another fact of life which is hard to ignore. "Batkal lake" wore a sad look. Thoroughly molested by apathy of local authorities and raped by human inhabitants around it, I was disheartened. Given that it is maintained by Haryana Tourism just underlines the importance we give to tourism in our country. Much to my excitement, I reached the venue much before my host. Whenever, I reach early for an appointment or am waiting for a person for a meeting, I am reminded of a very interesting definition of "Punctuality" - Punctuality is the art of waiting for those who are unpunctual.

We were a gathering of about 15-16 people. Most were from the same field as Mr. Khater, but were more or less leaders in their regions. So, when the discussion started it hit a road block on the financing part & more importantly the ownership part of it. For a long time I listened to the gyaan being imparted on environmental conservation & the inherent strengths of the project etc. etc. etc.But when I took it no more, I stamped my hand on my table ( not exactly, I just interrupted one of the speaker who was repeating the same point), and said, "Excuse me gentlemen, in the absence of funding from Government, how are we going to make this a viable project?" Thats when everybody agreed that they were missing a crucial point. I mentioned that debt in no option for them . Given that returns are still uncertain & there could be a substantial gestation period, till the project becomes viable taking upon a fixed liability will spell doom from Day 1. The project must be self-sustaining & must have an equity partner as far as the funding is concerned. I told them that they must float an SPV for this purpose. In this SPV, each "Group Operator" will necessarily be an equity partner. What can then be done is that based on demand from each of their regions, they could set up manufacturing facilities and could seek funding from the SPV. The SPV could then assist in either direct contribution to the project or can access Banks. Incase of a substantial equity contribution, debt might come cheap (I was also given to believe that certain Banks had shown interest in funding the project at a subsidised rate). Another point was that since, the chulhas were efficient burners they could also invite funding by way of Carbon Credits. Personally, I am vehemently against the concept of Carbon Trading. But then for a noble cause, what the heck??

One thing that yet remained unaddressed, was the ownership of the briquetting machines at the village level. Will that be owned by the goup operator or the village level opertaor or the village head or a SHG? But then the group Operator wont be able to benefit from the sale of the two-thirds of the bio-waste. Whoever is owning it will also have to bear the cost. Under the scenario of inadequate revenue streams of villagers, the role of micro-financing agencies will be pivotal. My suggestion was to de-couple the ownership of such machines & sell them to village based operators. Our SPV makes money by selling these machines to village level operators who are financed by micro-financing agencies. These village level operators make money by selling the pilletted Bio waste. Our SPV also makes money by selling the more efficient chulhas to the villagers. We can distribute them for free as well, because the more operating chulhas there are, the more carbon credits you earn and the more faster your project becomes viable. The villagers get a more effcient chulha that uses less fuel & causes less smoke.Voila!!!!

Towards the end of the meeting, Mr Khater told me, "Deepak, I pray to God that this project must be successful. We will need all the help from you". I replied, "Khater saahab, it seems your God has gone on a Long Holiday & he seems to have misplaced his cellphone as well. I guess, we are to help ourselves and more importantly the villagers will be our gods if there is going to be any involvement of divinity at all."

Nehru and the funda of Mixed Economy

Wishing all a very happy & prosperous New Year!!! A cliched line that will go on for at least the next couple of days. I was starting to wonder this time that the time is passing so fast, that expression of every regars over every occassion sounds so repetitive. With friends, colleagues, bosses, clients and with every second person that you meet on the street. I felt it was losing its relevance. This time I hence went on a "Satyagrah". No wishes to anybody. It really didnt make much difference anyways. Some friends did call up, but most didnt react clearly highlighting the boredom behind this entire concept.

I guess, one of the most beautifully written books on Indian history has come from none other than Free India's first prime minister, Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Books like "Glimpses of World History" or "The Discovery of India" are a joy to read if you relish history. These days I am reading a book called, "As Nehru saw the World". For a long time I believed that we were led the wrong way in terms of economic development. And that, we wuld have done more justice to ourselves by opting for a "Market Economy". Ex- CEO of HLL, Mr. Gurcharan Das calls it, "When humans err, it is sad. When leaders err, its haunts a generation".A close reading of Nehru's ideas kind of broke the mental shackles.


Many of us still recall the Indian Independence from the famous speech of Nehru called, "A Tryst with the destiny". And some of us from the black & white footage of Nehru unfurling the tricolor. Its a wonderful feeling isnt? But the background to Indendence was rather traumatic. There were numerous areas which were pulling the nation seeking their attention. National security, Food security, formation of consitution, uniting the divergent culture and more importantly ensuring that the identity "Indian" remains firmly entrenched in the psychology of the members of the Union. You know today we take it for granted, the fact that outside India a Tamilian, a Punjabi, a Bengali, a Garwali, an Assamese, a Kannadiga, a Malyali, a Gujarati would always be known as an Indian. The concept of India & Indian have come to us from our fathers & grandfathers who saw the dream of Nehru of a Unified nation that had an identity which overshadowed the other regional disparities. We must thank Mr. Nehru for it. At the time of independence we were short of leaders & intellectuals who could have driven the country on a fast track. With his limitations, Nehru thought that given the limited resources an optimum allocation of them is the best idea. He wanted to build a nation for the future. Then came the concept of Planning & the Planning Commission. The Five Year plan extensively criticised, then & today, remained a formidable driver of economic growth for India for many post-independence years. Today, though we are entering the eleventh Five year Plan, its role is limited to allocation of resources with a societal focus. In those days, in the absence of economic activity, Nehru saw creation of wealth as part of the Government's responsibility. Interestingly, he says, " India is a poor country. A poor country cannot afford concentration of wealth with a few individials. The idea of development in a country like ours is to ensure equitable distribution of wealth." His idea was not to kill Private sector, but more liberal role for Public sector. He also goes on to say, "Socialism as it is catching up today will not fit in well in a poor country like ours. Socialism is concept which is more suited to countries who are already wealthy & developed. Socialism seeks to ensure equity of prosperity, but in the absence of prosperity, distribution of it is a mere Myth." ( Both the lines are not direct quotes of Nehru, but rather the version as I interpret it). Unfortunately, the concept fell on its face. He was also more concerned about concentration of wealth. It is not that he was averse to a vibrant market economy. Being a political leader, his thoughts were more directed towards a just society. In his address to the Indian Merchant Chambers in 1950, he says, "Planning is a crucial element to India's growth. For its execution, we need the support from all quarters" (Again my interpretation). He saw Planning as a major tool to implement projects whose benefits would accrue to our future generation. There was then the fear of "Imperialism" in its new form. Multinational Agencies highjacking the growth of the country & making it dependent on the MNCs whims & fancies. Nehru feared it & more than that despised it. His vision was that of self generated and indigenous growth (we came to realise it only 50 years hence as today we are the second fastest growing economy driven by internal demand). His insecurity was echoed across all sectors. Hence, we saw extensive governmental control & Public sector domination over all economic activities. For him, America & Soviet were more or less the same entities. He wanted to distinguish India as a country with its own disntict identity & voice. Thanks to that belief instilled in our system, today our views over geo-political scenario are construed as filled with individuality and non-prejudice. But I guess today we lament over the fact that the growth engine could have run faster had we done this or that. And that Nehru was a total failure. Today we look at what we lost out & not what we have achieved. History will always remind you more of lost opportunities & less of achievements. He did what he thought was best for our country. If there was any view point contrarion to him, then surely with a logically strong basis would have ensured a growth pattern different from what it is now. Since, there was none then we must applaud the efforts of Mr. Nehru. He had a dynamic vision that if people work for other people, Growth will will happen at a fatser pace & will far more evenly distributed. But the vision was not shared by everybody in India. As it has been rightly said, "Leaders are remembered because of their followers"...Seldom the fally is ever that of the leader....Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru you did a great job...