“India has no business being poor.” - Dr FC Kohli, March 1924 – Nov 2020

2020 left its biggest blow for the very end. 

As I write this, it has still not sunk in that Dr. Fakir Chand Kohli (#FCKohli) has left us to be with God. My first boss, my mentor, the person I wanted to be every single day for the good part of 14 years. He not only created the Indian Software industry but literally invented remote software development. In the 60s and 70s, when most computer manufacturers were American companies and Software was written inhouse, he saw the potential of software as the driver and more importantly, the pivotal role India can play as a software powerhouse. He put together a few unrelated macro trends – rapid innovations in computer science, industries relying on software en masse, Indian kids being good at math, flexible hard working young generation – and was the first visionary to put a roadmap for building an industry that defined (and continues to even today) India’s prominent role in global business. 

After completing his masters from MIT in 1948, he came back and joined Tata Power. After nearly 2 decades there, he was given charge of TCS in 1968. TCS grew and its model was adopted by many others. In 2016, TCS was India’s most valuable public company with a value of 650,000 Crores. Leading IT services companies of India were created and followed TCS, giving rise to the industry that has given India wealth, jobs, global outlook and confidence. This software industry that Dr. Kohli pioneered also showed the way to other part of the world such as Ireland, Europe, Asia and Latin America. In a way, not just India but the world owes him gratitude for creating this massive industry. 

He embodied gargantuan intellect, a global outlook, vision for future, people development, focus on R&D and the confidence to do things ‘first time at global level’ against extreme odds. Problem solving and helping India were his denominators. Looking back, we didn’t much discuss topline, bottom line, targets etc. that consume most of the conversation in today’s corporate world. TCS was about fundamental intrinsics, cutting edge innovation, developing distinctive people, and serving clients with world class solutions. 

We didn’t differentiate between Indian and overseas clients. He once remarked, “Whether its Bank of America or Bank of India, our solutions ought to be top class”. We didn’t work on just writing code but owned the entire lifecycle of systems and operated those for clients. The foundations laid by Mr. Kohli are so strong that TCS towers over all others in the industry. That is the power of his leadership and the successors he carefully created. 

He taught us how to not worry about job titles and hierarchies, to work collaboratively and spend time on professional development of self and others. Led by him, the atmosphere was deeply intellectual and academic. LC Singh, Founder & Chairperson of Nihilent and a close friend from TCS says, “The intellectual atmosphere was intense, almost scary at times”. I agree with him. But there was amazing freedom, devoid of politics, focused on meritocracy. 

He was deep, intense, committed and set very high standards for himself. Nothing was impossible for him and he expected the same from all of us. Once you figured out that his often-unreal expectation was his way of showing confidence in you, it became a powerful motivator. If you took an initiative and led it, he would back you beyond your expectations. He took pride when people with management degrees were deeply technical and engineers excelled in commercial and managerial roles. He built some world class generalist talent. 

Mr. Kohli was an academic and a researcher at heart while he led TCS as CEO. He played a pivotal role in founding of IIT Kanpur. He believed that existing institutions like College of Engineering, Pune and NITs should be upgraded in addition to creating new IITs. His work with COEP is proof of this idea. Though not that well known yet, the ‘software for adult literacy’ initiative that he led post his retirement is a torch bearer on what computers can do for humanity. Every time we met, he would ask me how much time I was spending on teaching. Coming to TCS from IITB, academics never left me and Dr Kohli was the biggest reason for that. 

I was among four people selected by Mr. Ramadorai and Dr. Kohli to expand TCS in US in 1985. We never looked back. Once on a visit to Dallas, I told him about the research on object technology taking place at Bell Labs and Texas Instruments. When I returned to India towards end of 1988, he asked me to join TCS Research (known as TRDDC) to create Object Technology group. Later I founded AI group for which many ideas came from him. Imagine doing AI more than 30 years back. Many people who heard of AI in past few years can’t believe this. Prof. Kesav Nori at TCS Research had created vibrant research program on compilers, program understanding and automatic software generation. We created an interesting fusion of compiler tools and data models to give birth to new software development architecture that is still the genesis of some of the TCS research today. Dr. Kohli supported us to the point where we would feel guilty of using company resources for R&D. Imagine marshalling your people through hardcore business development and then into R&D. I was amazed by how well he balanced commercial goals and R&D pursuits. He could zoom in grassroot detail and immediately zoom out and think 30,000 feet – both with alarming clarity and simultaneously. His cerebral fluidity was majestic.

For me, the benefits of exposure to him after a college degree have been life long and immense. I feel equally close to R&D and business. Compilers technology and its application to software analysis and migration tools, technology for software lifecycle tools big data platforms, local area networks, cybernetics, concurrent engineering, software metrics, computer human interactions and AI are some of the areas in which TCS did significant and world class R&D. 

He came across as a tough and a demanding person. But underneath that tough exterior, Dr. Kohli was extremely soft at heart. One incident comes to mind, Our son Shantanu was born in Dallas in 1987. Dr. Kohli and Mr. Ramadorai were in US and had a meeting in Houston. My wife Rajani and I were in hospital post-delivery and suddenly saw Ram and Dr Kohli come in the room! Not only did they come all the way (a Houston Dallas detour in those days was not easy) but had a wonderful pram and some toys as a gift for us. Till date, Rajani and I remember how both Dr. Kohli and Ram both sat next to her on the bed and spoke softly and affectionately. Another incident comes to mind which I just cannot forget. I was 28 or 29 at the time and Dr. Kohli sat in on one of my presentations. This was one of our first interactions. After it got done, he asked me to see him and I knew it can’t be good news. I walked into his intimidating corner office. It turned out Dr. Kohli just wanted to get to know me personally! He asked about my experience till then at TCS, my family, where I’m from, what hobbies I had. Finally, he asked about my father and I told him I lost him at age 7. He asked me how old my father would have been, and I told him. After a few thoughtful moments, he looked at me and said, ‘I am the same age as your father’. He left it at that, and I felt the room fill up with his affection toward a young employee he was getting to know. Of course, he used the ‘Don’t argue with me, I am like your father’ argument often in disagreements thereafter, but one gets a sense of his empathy and generosity in a few words. 

Dr. Kohli had a great a sense of humour. During founding of the AI group, he once quipped, “While you build artificial intelligence, don’t ignore natural intelligence!”. 

 When I joined TCS in 1978 after IITB, I had no clue that I will get an opportunity to work with a global visionary, a top-class human being and contribute my tiny bit in creating a global industry. It is terrific luck. 

Dr. Kohli, Sir you have contributed immensely to the industry, to India and earned your place high up in the heavens. 42 years of knowing you, learning from you, and being friends – I could not ask for more. While I will sorely miss you, we will continue to relish your memories and carry forward your mission. 

Salute to a true leader who selflessly shaped our nation.

Making IITs even stronger for a prosperous India

Good education is the foundation on which wellness and prosperity of a society rests. Institutions of learning carry major responsibility for this. While many things have not worked in India, many have gone right and become globally recognized. IITs top that list. Some of us have been privileged to be in an IIT for our education and reap the benefit every day of our lives. I have been in IIT Bombay, an IIT that often leads in many areas. But all privileges come with responsibilities. Challenges have grown significantly for IITs in recent times. Funding from the Government is under stress. One can argue why funding is to bereduced when India is relatively prosperous today than the period when IITs werecreated. Many of us got our education relatively free though the Country was financially poor and suffered severe shortages of essential commodities. The Government needs to think hard before doing a funding haircut. However, even the most willing Government will not have enough resources. The solution requires creative thinking and collaboration. While IIT based entrepreneurs’ incubators have made progress, there is a need to take these to a different orbit if we want to see real impact. In spite of support these days, entrepreneurs suffer seriously in India. There is little understanding of the tough terrain that lies ahead. A plethora of competitions with not so great prizes attract inexperienced entrepreneurs but distract them from real work on their startups. Here, IITBwith SINE for example, can take show the way. I have been involved with SINE entrepreneurs for years as a mentor. It has big potential. Being a top brand worldwide, much is expected from an IIT like IITB in research and taking education to colleges beyond say its own campus. IITs are often called best for bachelors’ degree college but not good enough for research. When I asked Prof Abhay Karandikar, a Professor at IITB then, he shared the number of PhD students just in electrical engineering department, quite contrary to the prevalent impression. Even if one wants to hold say IITB to a higher bar, opportunity lies for alumni to help the institute get there. I have been involved in IITB eYantra program that has helped over 1300 engineering colleges in robotics education and trained over 35000 students over past eight years. The program is now extended to colleges in neighbouring countries and a couple of African nations. eYantra program has decided to make disaster management as its core theme. The idea to do something in disasters came when Professor Kavi Arya of IITB CSE and Founder of eYantra organized a workshop in Bhutan on entrepreneurship in disaste management. I was a co-faculty along with Prof. Vinod Jain (Founder member of NDMA) and Sumit Sen, Senior Scientist in GISE Lab at IITB. These challenges are worth taking head-on given our privileged position. In today’s time, we want our military to be strong and won’t want to cut the Defence budget. If military is security today, education is securing our future. Let’s make our alma mater strong.

Walking in Mahatma Gandhi's memory

Whatever be the situation with life with Covid19, exercise and eating regime has gone up several notches since the lockdown. Of course, working from home with no choice to travel has ensured regularity, a big plus. However, this ‘post’ is not about WFH or Covid19 and not even exercise. Its about walking! For Rajani and me, August has been an extra ordinary month. I clocked ~195KM while Rajani clocked 126KM. As a comparison, my score for 2019 was a meagre 600KM. Primary reason was we registered for Oxfam Trailwalker, 10-day 50KM for Rajani and 10-day 100 KM for me. We hit the target with a day to spare. August was a wet month in Pune, so it was “walking in the rain”. While getting totally drenched many times, I maintained an average speed of 6.6KM per hour, a satisfying score. Though I love walks, it has been an appetizer for me before the main meal i.e. a good run. The only exception is on October 2, birthday Mahatma Gandhi. I walk in his memory and in deference to one of the finest humans in the history of humanity. He was an avid walker. While his Dandi march is famous, he did many walks during his seminal work while in South Africa. I have been doing this since 2012 when I accidentally won 1st prize for 10KM in a charity walk organized by FootSteps 4 Good on Oct 2. Both of us registered along with Rajani’s brother Nishikant and his wife Amita. Nishikant won a special prize for walking with a blind person. And the tradition of walking on Oct 2 continues. Last year, my walk was a lonely walk of 45KM almost encircling the city of Pune, a day before as I had a social commitment on Oct 2. Many people told me; we will join you next year. The 30-day count down begins today for a walk on Oct 2, 2020. Family and friends have committed 5Km to 21KM. So minimum target is 21KM. I may do a walking marathon (42.2KM), subject to physical condition and the time available. Route will be decided along with fellow walkers. Many will walk around the world on Oct 2 for goodwill and in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. 

My thoughts on the New Education Policy - Part I

Few things in the newly announced National Education Policy remind me of my time nearly 50-60 years back. There is resonance with the policy but lots of discordant notes with the current education ecosystem. 

5+3+3: Resonates with my schooling days, 1961 to 1971. First 5 years were in a ‘prathamik vidyalay / shala’ or primary school. ‘Prathamik vidyalay / shala’ was most popular. In Indore where I grew up, very few people used English nomenclature in those days. Next 3 were in a ‘madhyamik vidyalay’ or middle / secondary school. Finally, the last 3 were in an ‘uchhatar madhyamik Vidyalay’ or higher secondary school. My primary school was ‘Hindi Prathamik Vidyalaya Kramank 7’. From there, I moved to Vaishnav Uchhatar Madhymik Vidyalaya (aka Vaishnav Higher Secondary School) for 3+3. Primary school had no English, only Hindi. We learnt English from 6^th year onwards starting from alphabets. 

Languages: Three languages or ‘tri-bhashi’ formula was the talk of the town, resonates with the debate that is beginning now. A major anti English movement started in North India and an anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu at that time. For the tri-language formula, it was mostly Hindi as the higher language followed by English and Sanskrit. There were few schools where either Marathi or Urdu were options for higher language. Options for French, German etc. didn’t exist in Indore in my time. Because of this, the MP Board removed English from the curriculum. Thus, the last year of 5+3+3 was Hindi, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, No English!. I learnt English as a secondary language partly in the school (0+3+2), learnt further in BITS including spoken English and developed it further in TCS! 

Interdisciplinary: In BITS, Prof. CR Mitra (then Director of BITS) introduced one of the most revolutionary engineering graduate programs. Some of the ideas in the policy interestingly resonate with the purpose of the program Prof Mitra and his academic colleagues implemented. I feel Prof. CR Mitra is most accomplished but unfortunately an uncelebrated educationist in India. He introduced a number of innovations. Humanities courses, a language laboratory where students could practice spoken English, a course in technical report writing etc were part of this innovation. Let me recall some of these courses - Philosophy, Symbolic Logic, Economics, Econometrics, Introduction to Political Science, Modern Constitutions, History and Music. These courses have helped me understand and get a better appreciation of:

1. Economists views on economy, its deeper aspects and day to day nuances 
2. Western and Indian philosophies
3. All ‘isms’ - capitalism, imperialism, communism and its derivatives such as Leninism, Maoism; forms of democracies etc. 
4. Fine elements of constitutions of India, United States of America, British customs and conventions, parliamentary and presidential form of Government etc
5. And more....

Even in the engineering curriculum, Circuit Theory and Fluid Mechanics was combined into a single course called Transport Phenomenon and taught by Prof Rathore, a young IITK PhD. 

Even in the school we had a course called ‘Manav dharma’ that was not part of the MP Secondary Board curriculum but to teach philosophy and values of humanity. The course was probably ahead of its time but timely. Ethics was a major thread that ran through the course. 

Flexibility: Prof. Mitra introduced a concept called horizontal and vertical mobility whereby one could take courses across departments and also accelerate finishing a course ahead of time. Formal dual degree program was launched. One of our batchmates whose primary degree was MSc Chemistry took courses in Chemical Engineering and requested for BE (Honours) in Chemical Engineering and was granted the degree. 

Practice: Practice School program of BITS was introduced in 1974. At the core was the practical training in companies. At that time, it comprised two summer internships and one full semester. In early times, many of us did internships in national research laboratories – NPL, CEERI, LRDE and many more. It was a powerful way to learn application of scientific theories and engineering principles. One long term impact on me has been that I take student internships very seriously. The student is with you not only to get practical training but also to strengthen and reinforce the degree. I have found many managers in companies see students as a cheap resource. Yes, they are cost effective resources. But organizations have to ensure that the work assigned helps embellish their degree. . 

Underlying all of above was the sincerity of the Institutions (right from Hindi Prathamik Vidyalaya Kramank 7 to IITB), of our teachers and the unbelievably low cost of such a quality education. 

One of the discordant notes is that the cost of education has skyrocketed. Higher education is out of reach of lower middle class today.  I was educated nearly free and reap the benefits every day. Education has become a business which it should not be. 

Despite success with IITs, IIMs, NIITs, IIITs, NIDs, Kendriya Vidyalay’s and many many more, Government has not asserted on the quality of institutions it has created and demanded the same standards from private institutions. There are more discordant notes of which I will write again. It is however my hope that the resonance continues as National Education Policy gets implemented and discordant notes die.

It is not worth ending life - at any cost

Success in life has a price. Hard work, tension, push - pull and competition are part of it. It's a mixed bag. For most, the pleasure of success outweighs the pain due to all these factors. And, the pain increases in direct proportion to the success. Super success means intense pain. In sport, opposition will strategize and target you if you are really good and will use both fair and unfair means. Sports also teaches you that the opposition will get better of you sometimes. Ask anyone who has played any sport at international level.

If you are new, disruptive and come with no support, the system will try to keep you out, will form a cartel against you. It happens in all walks of life, art, business, sports etc. If a promising start-up begins to seriously challenge an established international brand, all weapons physical and others are pointed and thrown at you.

In all this, the pleasure - pain equation must be maintained. Pleasure must outweigh the pain. Your being targeted is indicative of how serious the system takes you. And, sometime one will lose because the world is not a fair place. If you are not being given an opportunity to participate, change the success parameters (or rules of the game) and you are back in the game. Pleasure pain equation has different values now. But nothing is worth ending your life. Then you are converting your pain into misery for all. And, if you are Sushant Singh Rajput, it means millions of people who like you, adore you and take encouragement from you. And, it is devastation of unimaginable proportion for the family. COVID-19 viral attack feels like a mosquito bite as compared to what Sushant’s Dad and the family must be going through.

Our current world has made success as a binary and the only measure by which human beings are evaluated. It is absolutely necessary to pause and ask, why I feel pained to the point of leaving it all. If you reach out to people who love you, some of them will have an answer. Ancient Indian scriptures have dealt with this subject in detail, specially the concept of “pravritti” and “nivritti”. It would be worth understanding these to get a perspective on life and its trials.

Our dear Sushant made a choice and left all of us in deep pain and anguish. There are lots of things to learn from him but not this one – ending the life. Reach out for help if you are in any kind of anguish.

Dear Sushant boy, while we are all restless, our prayers are for you to rest in peace.

Playing to our strength - competing with China

With the announcement of “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” by Hon. PM, lot of debate has started in media and elsewhere. However, these debates, especially those on TV channels have missed key points. Issues that dominate the debates are manufacturing, curtailing of imports specially from China plus fear and awe of China. I want to bring in different ideas.

One does not win without a winning mindset. India needs to build on its strengths, including manufacturing by the way. Let’s see where we have built world-class industries and we are the leader – IT Services, Bollywood and higher education if we consider IITs and IIMs. Chinese have not made a dent in IT Services where India is the undisputed world leader with other countries such as Brazil, Hungary, Russia, Philippines and many others following India. Hollywood considers Bollywood a serious competitor.

Coming to manufacturing, it is not the end game. Companies like Reliance, L&T, Tata Motors, Rajesh Exports (Surprised with this name! Please check their annual turnover ) and many others have been recognized for engineering expertise and scale. Let’s focus on high end engineering and select manufacturing. Pick specific areas rather than getting hung up with what Chinese do. Let’s target at least 10 good companies to reach ~$50b to 100billion and another 20 to reach $25billion to $50billion in next 5 to 10 years. This alone will generate $1t to $2trillion topline. And a strong ecosystem of ancillary units. Many MSMEs will repivot to support these mega engineering companies. Trick is to identify these 20 and say another 50-75 companies for mega growth. I have not included oil and petroleum companies like IOC, ONGC, HPCL, BPCL etc. Let Chinese supply us cheap phones and other consumable items they are good at. In fact, an inexpensive phone will mean more affordability for a farmer and good for the country.

Secondly, Specific verticals namely, tourism, healthcare, Defence production, satellite communication, telecommunication, select agriculture produce and even areas like disaster management, where Indian can reach the top or at least in top two or three. How about higher education. India is known for its intellect. Why not grow education as a vertical. I am sure many will argue that a large part of our population is illiterate and needs education. But that’s like saying let’s build software for our own usage before exporting. IT industry would not have grown. There can be some juggling of basket of industries and verticals. Once earmarked, we need to get laser sharp focus on mega growth of these companies. Government cannot dampen the mood. It has to act like a high-octane catalyst.

Concluding, let’s consider Cricket. Over past 20 years, India decided to flex its muscle on the world scene. Legend (Tendulkar), world class talent (Dravid, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and others.) and a confident leader (Saurav Ganguly) coupled with modern methods in coaching and facilities made India make tremendous progress and get to No 1. The system of IPL and leagues has not only given chance to a large number of players, there is continuous supply of talent and a business has been created. But the key was talent and the confidence. One can say Gavaskar and Kapil Dev reached world class level and 1983 world cup win sowed the seed. So, a few companies reaching world class can be the motivation pill for the whole industry and the country. 

“Atma Nirbharata” is not the myopia of restricting to manufacturing and scare of China but reaching the next level where we can afford to buy goods and services we don’t make. But we offer the world several quality goods and services.  

Helping Government for Migrant Workers by pressing in motion private vehicles on voluntary basis

Seeing people travel 1000s of kilometres on foot on a cycle with little or no money in scorching heat can rattle even the most indifferent ones. It’s not that the Governments meaning Central Government and the State Governments are not doing anything, but the problem is so complex and of such a scale that foolproof execution is not possible and should not even be expected. Here is an idea for senior Government functionaries to consider.

While Government struggles with buses, trains, cost of travel and reaching out to small towns etc., how about crowd sourcing personal vehicle owners who can do sorties carrying migrant workers. Let’s take the example of Mumbai to Patna, approximately 1830KM. The route will be Mumbai Nasik, Dhule Indore Bhopal Sagar Katni Rewa Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kudra and Patna. Here are possible guidelines / preconditions for such an initiative:

1.    It’s is a voluntary help by citizens who have larger vehicles like SUVs, Innovas and are ready to bear the cost of the trip meaning fuel, food for the driver (Can be owner also) and migrants workers

2.    While a vehicle can go from source to destination, recommended way would be for a vehicle to go upto 200-300KM and return. For example, in the Mumbai Patna journey, a vehicle starts from Mumbai and goes up to say Nasik or Dhule from where another vehicle takes over up to Indore and so on. This way, a vehicle is back to its home base same day and if needed ready to travel again next day or the day after. It may be required that some vehicles may be ready to travel longer distance, if a change vehicle is not available. For example, if 1000 vehicles leave Mumbai, one would need 1000 in Dhule, Indore and so on.

3.    Migrant workers are screened for COVID-19 and assigned a vehicle and point to board. Vehicles can be sourced through Internet. Government can ask for volunteers and decide the criteria – Passport / Aadhar Card / Driving License / No traffic violations / Has PAN card and paid taxes consistently and has no litigation etc. They need to be tested for Corona before embarking on the journey.

4.    Government can ask for volunteers thru Internet. People fill in above details. Government has enough data to quickly select those who satisfy its criteria and issue a travel permit to the vehicles. It then assigns the workers who have been screened and ready to travel.

5.    Logistics companies such as Rivigo, Gati (@Rivigologistics, @gati) etc can provide ready to use logistics system to plan route for these vehicles and monitor them. Vehicles report to the police station if needed.

6.    Corporates can take up the responsibility of suggesting who among their employees will volunteer. 

7.    To weed out people who may play foul, say by asking money from workers and dropping them off, police can check these vehicles every 100-200 KM. And, Government should make these checks easy by being on the highway and not put such vehicles to inconvenience by asking them to find nearest police station during their journey. If people are volunteering, there will be negligible cases like this. Government can find some incentives like amount spent is eligible for tax break. My strong recommendation is for this class of people not to look for tax benefit in these times.

Think even if 1000-2000 private vehicle owners from Mumbai volunteer and say 3-4 people per vehicle, 3000-6000 migrant workers can travel per day and at no cost to the Government. I am confident, people on the way will help these new Corona warriors by offering packed food and even fuel. I am insisting personal private vehicles who are ready to volunteer. A bus will carry more people but then the bus operator may want to charge for it. The idea is to help Govt infrastructure of railways and buses financially and logistically. These vehicles can also be invoked to bring people back to expedite kick starting the economy.

I have given Mumbai - Patna as an example. NCR, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata … all cities that have migrant workers can go for this.

Personally, I am ready to volunteer as I have an Innova that we use for out of Pune travel and will satisfy above criteria.

Imagining telecom and radios for next decade and India to take the lead

Imagine post COVID-19 lockdown, you are driving home and your favourite TV channel is being beamed to your mobile phone from sky by likes of say Tata Sky, Dish TV, DD Direct or any other service provider of your choice (e.g. Jio DTH, Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct…) What does it mean? First, the quality of the video will remain good and will not deteriorate during your car ride like it does even with best mobile coverage. Secondly, your mobile data pack will not have to fork out the bandwidth as the television channel is broadcast and doesn’t not come thru the cellular network. What about HotStar, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Well you have the option of pulling it from the Internet or if your DTH broadcaster includes these, they too will come via sky. What more? A COVID-19 related alert or a flash flood warning can also be broadcast to your mobile phone. This can make a difference between life and death. Last year there was flash flood in South Pune where several vehicles and ground floors of housing societies were submerged in water in minutes as the water came too fast breaking all barriers. A person who was driving home called his wife saying he would be ~30 minutes late as there was incessant rain hence traffic was slow but moving. He never reached as his car was submerged. What if he had a warning voice / video message on his mobile phone about the water rising from Pune civic administration via TV broadcast.

People have been using mobile phones primarily for voice calls, Internet browsing and social networking. And, now those working from home log into their company servers. Students use video conferencing for online classes. So, can one have the Internet connection for tweets, social media etc. while videos in all of this and others come via broadcast medium like the television Direct to Home (DTH). It all gets integrated in the mobile phone and other personal computing devices in the hands of the end user.

TV channels directly on the mobile phone is an interesting idea. Quality of the video is based on the instantaneous speed rather than average speed. If you are downloading a file, average speed matters. But a video requires good instantaneous speed to provide good viewing experience. Unicast method used by mobile communication (4G and even 5G) doesn’t guarantee this. Further, it is predicted that the video content will increase by 8-10 times between now and 2023. Post COVID-19, this may go up even beyond.

India is a large, diverse and a content rich country. And, why not? There are 22 scheduled languages, over 1500 spoken languages, several powerful and rich regional cinemas besides giant Bollywood, 20000 culinary heritage recipes in a culture and civilization that goes back thousands of years. In addition the country is home to a giant IT services industry and now expanding to many other services such as tele-medicine, Yoga and what not. Post COVID-19, video traffic may zoom even beyond the factor of 10. Many activities like working from Home, education and others that have gone online will continue in that mode increasing overall digital traffic. Should we then be driven by the current stale state-of-the-art of mobile communication wherein more data means fatter pipes or deploy smart radios to create smart pipes.

Current communication architecture (Internet, mobile telephony and broadcast) does not have the provision for receiving broadcast on mobile phones. And, there is no native support for Over-The-Top content. Unicast mechanism for video will have run its course for the volume India will require in next few years. It will become uneconomic for telecom service providers. Even Jio may find it tough.

It is therefore necessary to look at broadcast spectrum, mobile spectrum and other point to point and point to multi point radios in a wholesome manner for the next generation communication topology. Further there is need  to optimize overall radio spectrum by utilizing underused broadcast spectrum to ease the pressure on the cellular spectrum. In a content rich but spectrum starved country like India, this is a MUST.

It’s fine grain mixing of mobile spectrum and broadcast spectrum to take video, text and data traffic together, split the video traffic to be sent over broadcast while rest of the traffic travels on mobile, fibre etc. Now, with this architecture, the input can be TV channels, Content providers like HotStar, Netflix and free to Air channel like Doordarshan. The traffic is desegregated into video and non-video and traverses over broadcast medium, Internet and cellular to be reassembled at the receiving end for consumption by the end user. Over the top (OTT) content should move from unicast to broadcast networks. We should create smarter pipes rather than put weight on our networking infrastructure by using clumsy fatter and fatter pipes. Just the way WiFi offload has been useful for mobile data, video offload is the next progression to optimize spectrum usage. Let’s look at TV, OTT, social media, voice and data as different facets of human interaction and take the lead in creating next generation communication technologies for these.

While working from home, online education and entertainment are obvious to people, tele-medicine, disaster alerts, secure communication for armed forces, communication for difficult to reach areas like high altitude or remote rural areas are other applications that will love video desegregation and smarter pipes. Even industry verticals like automotive can gain from this as there will be more software and electronics in cars than mechanical parts. Most interesting part of building infrastructure technologies such as telecommunication is that people find usages through innovative thinking that technology developers never thought of.

Now, is this wishful thinking or does the technology exist for all of above. The answer is that technology not only exist but has been developed in India. Direct to mobile TV may look futuristic but is possible today. Who would have thought we can create a movie on a mobile phone or watch a YouTube video comfortably on a mobile phone even three years back. System integration capability that is required to deploy, operate and manage such technologies is available in abundance in India.

What is needed for next generation communication revolution is visionary and forward looking policies coupled with the right regulatory mechanism. These must act as catalysts to bring these innovations to commercial implementations and create the ecosystem. It will impact not only India but many parts of the world, where countries are tired of high handed approach and cartelization by few global players and would welcome Indian leadership. Specifically, my request is for the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology (MCIT), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Defence Ministry to come together as major stake holders and come up with new guidelines on usage of radio waves. PMO can provide the trigger and over-arching guidance. This requires political attention at the highest level. Once that is available, we have expertise in the country right from semiconductor to system integration. And, if India takes the lead, it can lead next wave of telecom revolution with global impact.

We are into Lockdown phase 2 now. This week as described by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is most stringent. The Government is between a rock and a hard place (or “pahad” and “khaee” as the saying goes in Hindi). Longer the lockdown, worse it is on the economy. Maximum brunt is being born by the daily wage worker or the migrant worker Government has to feed now as they have lost their livelihood. How does one strike a balance?

Can the giant wheel of Indian economy start moving without violating the norms set to protect one from the corona virus? In order for the wheel to move, people have to start working. How do we have both the work and COVID-19 guidelines in place at the same time. Luck has it that it is possible to work from home for many people. But how about the work that’s not possible from home? A CEO can work from home but the shop floor mechanic, cannot. Let’s see the nature of workplaces people go to. A manufacturing company has manufacturing plants, warehouses, supply chain such as trucks, trains and even air cargo where their employees and contractors work. A bank will have offices and branches from where their business is done. On the other hand, an IT company will have offices from massive campuses to small remote offices. There may be special places like a data centre, mobile workplace like a truck, car, train and even let’s say an ambulance. Now human density in these places is well understood. For example, number of people in a warehouse or on manufacturing shop floor is far less than an office. Even within an office, a call centre IT company will be lot denser than a software development centre. And executive floor in a corporate office may have less human density than even an automated manufacturing plant. This list is not complete as retail meaning shops and stores, especially unorganised ones are in millions in India. And, one must not forget colleges and schools as many people are gainfully employed behind educational institutions. I know some of the leading Universities in US are thinking of how to get going as students live in hostels and physical classrooms are worst from social distancing point of view.

Question is, can these workplaces be made COVID-19 safety guidelines compliant? Then a supply chain company or a manufacturing plant can start operating, giving critical push to the giant wheel and alleviate the pain. WFH

Three key practices for protection from COVID-19 are: social distancing, washing hands with soap for minimum of 20 seconds and, wearing a mask. There are others but if I am asked to report to work to drive a truck, I will wear mask, carry a bottle of soap water myself and never go closer than 1 meter to anyone including my co driver and the cleaner. Same when my workplace is a warehouse or shop floor. or an office. If I am driver, I will ask my fellow driver and the cleaner continue to wear the mask and stay away as far away from each other while the truck is on the move.

Now can businesses enhance their quality processes to cover a pandemic. They sure can. India has rich expertise in ISO and other standards. Software export industry has demonstrated compliance to STPI guidelines thru self-regulation. Decades back, a Customs inspector used to sit outside software export companies to ensure there are no violation. Today STPI units ensure self-compliance. No one from STPI or Excise & Customs physically monitor day to day activities. CCTV cameras have been installed in most offices, manufacturing facilities etc. These can be used to track human movement and density. I will go one step further, wireless technologies such as Cell towers can give an approximation on human density say within a kilometre while a WiFi access points in a workplace can give the same within 50-100 meters. Geo spatial technologies can help a lot. These are good indicators to check if social distancing may be getting violated. And, let's err on the side of caution, technology gives a warning when problem may not be there.

These technologies are in use throughout India. What is laid out here is a different use case. You don’t need to look to US or other countries for expertise. Human density in a workplace is something we have better understanding than anybody else.

Companies have to worry about employees and contractors going home and coming back to work as well as mobile work force like drivers. But their tasks are simpler than police and Healthcare people.

I have not thought through detail implementation. Some may feel this is difficult. But these are not normal times. Extra ordinary circumstances require extra ordinary measures. It is difficult but not impossible. Close collaboration and active participation of all can make it happen.

Government in collaboration with industry associations like CII, FICCI, NASSCOM, TIE and many others can design and implement this. These can take into account Corona hotspots, red, orange and green zones.

@narendramodi, @CMOMaharashtra, @FollowCii, @Ficci_India, @Nasscom

Supporting Working From Home and Workplace (WFH&W) to protect people and economy both from Covid-19 Pandemic

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on India and specifically Maharashtra has been severe leading to Maharashtra Government ordering shutdown in four major cities including Pune. Hon. Prime Minister Modi suggested working from home and other measures in his recent address to the nation. He made exception for those working for National Critical Infrastructure (NCI) namely, telecom, water supply, electricity grid, health care facilities, petroleum and natural gas, transport, Defence and Police. Maharashtra Government has exempted designated essential services. At this point the entire focus of the national State and local Governments is on social distancing to arrest spread of Corona virus and, rightfully so.

Working from home or WFH has emerged as a preferred way. However, many businesses can’t have WFH for some of their operations. For example, how does a truck driver, a shop floor mechanic or someone does electronics assembly work from home. Should we not think about such businesses. We can withstand a shutdown for a short duration. However, it will deliver a fatal blow to a large number of small businesses that are the lifeline of Indian economy. I am not talking about sick or badly run businesses. Those will need to tone up to survive. It’s about good and upcoming companies but are small in their life’s journey. Even if these remain small over their life, very large number of such very small companies contributes more to the economy than several mega companies put together. Economy is already weak, and jobs are very hard to come by. These companies provide a crucial lifeline here.

Several founders of startups and CEOs of such businesses want to find a way to continue the business and protect from Covid-19. I happened to have detail conversation with three founders / CEOs since March 19. And all of them are close friends as we support TiE (The Indus Entrepreneur), world’s largest not-for-profit organisation for entrepreneurs and by entrepreneurs.

First Founder & CEO runs a fast growing brick and mortar company with manufacturing facilities, warehouses, dealers and most crucial a mobile work force of truckers. Some of these are permanent employees while others are on contract but nevertheless part of my friends’ workforce. As a good employer, he never differentiates between contract staff and those on company payroll.

Second Founder & CEO in fact runs a software product company. One may think most of the people can work from home. Wait, they have a specialised computing environment in which impact and containment of computer malfunction is tested. How do you make such a team work from home? Similarly, a wireless radio company may have an anechoic chamber that will make it difficult to work from home.

The third Founder runs an electronics products company, one of the few in India. He was at pains to explain that he has to shut down. He mentioned they have received shipments of components but can’t put together their own end products because of the shutdown. Anyone will notice, one has to pay for components but no way to sell end products.

These three companies will survive temporary shutdown but many others that are small and too early in their life’s journey will disappear. And, Pune with diverse base of manufacturing, electronics, software businesses and a long-standing tradition of engineering entrepreneurs, there would be tens of thousands of such businesses.

So, I decided to create a mixed mode model where people can work from home as well as work from a workplace and not home. Workplaces can be geographically distributed and, can be mobile pan India. My mixed model is given at the end of this article for those who are interested. However, I want to bring few points for Government, business and industry to think about.

1.     Government unfortunately has a problem of unprecedented nature on hand – weak economy, Covid-19 pandemic and people’s social and other habits. It will be most desired if one can create a mechanism by which as many businesses as possible can continue to operate without risking people’s lives thus reducing Covid-19 impact on the economy.

2.     Small to medium businesses (please note many startup businesses belong to this category) will need specific financial; infrastructure and supply chain help to tide over this crisis. Can this be supported by the Government and large corporations in a participative model. For example, a mobile work force requires medical facilities at multiple places or help with wages and other costs because of increased cost of operations.

3.     Government and say top 200 corporations by profit can create a corpus to support business continuity of small businesses as these businesses implement protection of their employees, contract staff and the families from Covid-19.

4.     All or major portion of CSR funds for 2 to 3 quarters can be directed to this initiative.

5.     Economic Task Force being constituted under Hon. Finance Minister of Government of India can devise the mechanism working with industry association and chambers of commerce. Same can be done at the State and even city level for businesses under their purview working with National task force and local industry associations and chambers of commerce.

This help is not for sick or badly run businesses. It’s for small and young companies that have been hit hard because of the pandemic and have to invest significant resources to provide safety to its work force during this time. Money can be returned once climate improves and the beneficiary company can afford to return the funds provided to them. Detail mechanisms can be worked.

Above founders by the way are all IIT alumni. These and many other founders I know are socially conscious, run ethical businesses and worry about job creation and social welfare as much as the profit. They can be trusted and if needed contractually bound to return the subsidy once their businesses improve and are back on track.

My shot at guidelines for businesses which require Work from Home and Workplace (WFH & W) to ensure same level of protection and care whether one is at work or working from home:

1.     Close specific locations if the Government / relevant authorities have mandated shutdown. This is complex for businesses distributed in geography with multiple regulators and Governments. Many pan India Indian businesses fall into this category. But this will have to complied with.

2.     Organisational guidelines and remediation for non-home workplaces:

2.1.   Onsite medical professional – doctor or a paramedic for each working shift. If work force is mobile, medical help needs to be extended over a geography.

2.2.   Extend work to more shifts if it helps to decongest the working say in a warehouse or on shop floor (by spacing production)

2.3.   Daily thermal check during entry and departure of workers. Self-check for mobile workers or at both starting and destination points.

2.4.   Adequate supply of soaps sanitisers throughout the premises and with mobile work force.

2.4.1.For shop floors and warehouse with large floor areas, create temporary facility for hand washing so that workers don’t have to walk long distance to wash hands.

2.4.2.Mobile hand washing kit for each mobile worker.

2.5.   All machines, bins, door handle, vehicles and other objects to be sanitised frequently and fumigated at least once a day.

2.6.   Surveillance cameras to be installed and live eyeballing of the premises from a central location. Videos captured to be analysed every day to detect unwell workers who have been skipped in live surveillance, for medical attention.

2.7.   Large screens connected to personal computers for video conferencing for the CEO / Senior Executives to address people at workplaces (shop floors, warehouses etc.). Screens to be in enough quantity so that not more than four people gather around a computer and that people are standing sparse (more than 2 meters away) while attending a video conferencing call. Enough wireless mikes (sanitised) to be provided so that staff can interact with CEO / Senior Executives live.

2.7.1.Mobile connectivity with easy to log into corporate website and for Executive video call.

2.8.   Help at residences of workers

2.8.1.Sanitisers / soaps etc. to be made available to staff at home as the people travel to and back from the workplace / home.

2.8.2.Staff asked to strictly prohibit visitors to their residences. If that happens, the person checked and if needed to be sent home for home quarantine. This is to be enforced strictly.

2.8.3.Staff to identify medical facility close to their residence. Organisation to inform all such facilities that it will take care of testing and other expenses for the worker and the family if needed.

a.     If a worker lives in congested community or a house with more than 3-4 family members, special attention and remedial steps such as organisation sponsored sanitisation of the residence.

No disruption in wages for people who are not able to attend the work temporarily during this emergency because of Covid-19.

AAP Victory - A Message from the People

Victory of AAP Government is more significant than the simple fact of people electing AAP for their good work in Education and Healthcare. I was in Delhi last week. Every Uber / OLA driver and Riksha-wala had this message – “Kaam achha kiya hai, vote unhi ko denge”.

It is a strong signal to the entire political class, not to take people of India for granted. I recall an article by eminent scholar Prof. Bhabani Sengupta long time back wherein he proved that that the people of India have rewarded good Governments and punished bad Governments. This may not be the popular view but Prof Sengupta gave direct evidence from national and State elections over a period of time.

Let’s see some examples. Mr. VP Singh won national election on the simple message of being Mr. Clean. Bofors was on people’s mind. And, later, Janata Dal was out for the mess that was created due to Mandal Commission for which the then Prime Minister had to take the blame. Mandate in 2009 was for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his clean image and the Nuclear deal he negotiated. But in 2014, Mr. Modi was helped by people’s view that an honest PM like Mr. Manmohan Singh was not able to control scandals. One can trace the history all the way back to 1971 and even 1967 when several non-Congress State Governments came to power.

And, it is not just election votes. People of India are even understanding of good steps that may be painful. Demonetization is a good example. In spite of extreme inconvenience of not having cash, people gave the prime minister benefit of doubt as it was a bold step to reduce black economy. Same goes for Government revoking special status granted to the State of Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370. People are concerned but are patient. And, restraint and composure shown by the people of all communities with Supreme court Ayodhya verdict speaks volume about their maturity.

AAP victory proves that core value propositions like health and education will be rewarded. My son who lives in Delhi told me that Government owned schools in Delhi are as good as the private school he went to in Pune. Imagine the impact it has on children of poor and lower middle class. They get quality education at an affordable price. Many of us who went to IITs (including victorious CM of Delhi who is from IIT Kharagpur) and many other good Government colleges got educated literally free and benefit from that education every day. This can be extended to all Government owned schools in other cities and towns. Why only Central Schools or Delhi Govt schools, all municipal schools in the country can be as good.

It can also serve as a model to be adopted for Urban India. Urbanization is a reality. And if urban India is vibrant and benefits from good Governance, everyone rural or urban will benefit. Second tier cities like Pune, Surat, Indore, Vadodara, Ludhiana, Kanpur, Coimbatore, Kochi etc. have suffered long and will benefit immensely if the local city administration is efficient and is empowered. If these cities and even tier III towns like Nasik, Hubli-Dharwad, Meerut etc. get into the act, not just $5trillion but even higher targets would be achievable. Let’s set GDP growth target for top 50 towns in the country besides metropolitan cities.

My last point is a compliment to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. Here is a politician who did a complete turn around from an activist Chief Minister to focus on Governance, go off media and produce results for the people and AAP. Other politicians, please THINK.