Mishandling of Covid 2.0

 G Krishna Kumar  | Updated on July 06, 2021

The govt, healthcare sector and citizens, too, are to blame

The second wave of Covid has stressed and stretched India’s healthcare infrastructure to the limits. It was heart-wrenching to see people losing their loved ones during the wave. It is  time to reflect. There are learnings for the government, the healthcare sector as well as the citizens.

The government and the bureaucracy’s mantra for handling Covid should be “only the paranoid survive”. Our government called victory against Covid-19 much too early. On the vaccine front, there was laxity in procurement and government had do get into firefighting mode.

The opposition parties, by vilifying the vaccine policy, ended up creating vaccine hesitancy, which only added to the chaos. Better planning could have helped reduce the misery to a large extent.

The government would do well to form an empowered group of experts for regular advice and strategy. This group could comprise experts from institutes of national importance and research bodies and industry leaders.

Digital divide?

Developing an application for scheduling 200 crore vaccinations is not an easy task. While the government is responsible for the below par user experience with the CoWIN app, the current version of the app is much better than the March 2021 one. Proactive planning and extensive testing would have helped in creating a better solution for public use.

As CoWIN is available in many local languages, why is there still talk about digital divide? There are 75 crore internet users in the country. The digital literacy has improved significantly over the past few decades, unfortunately it is limited to digital entertainment.

The government should be held accountable for not having brought in more innovative solutions in not envisaging the challenges being faced by the people in remote parts of the country.

One other most important reason for the spread of the virus has been our callous attitude. The authorities are seen pulling up people for not wearing masks or stepping out during lockdowns. This shows either our don’t care/chalta hai attitude or sheer disrespect for rules.

A country well-known for discipline is Japan, where the people are known to follow rules and care for fellow citizens. The Japanese have a long history of wearing masks. Over the past 50-60 years, masks have been commonly used by people when they have common cold /flu, etc. This prevents others from catching infection.

In India, rather than blaming the government for the spread second wave, people on their part will need to be more careful and sensitive to the well-being of fellow citizens.

Doctors and hospitals

Indians are known to glorify doctors when they save lives and, at the same time, blame them for the death of loved ones.

Doctors serving Covid patients admit that they are learning every day, as each patient responds differently. Considering the unknowns in the treatment of Covid, increased transparency on a patient’s condition would help reduce any possible friction that may arise with the patient’s family members. While medical negligence must be strictly dealt with, it must be acknowledged that most doctors are doing their best in the given circumstances.

For handling the surge in patients, allowing students pursuing medicine and nursing to assist will prove handy and, at the same time, it will provide excellent hands-on experience for them. The government could consider allowing ayurveda and homeopathy doctors and students, too, to handle the patient load. This can potentially offer a large buffer pool of healthcare staff during crisis times.

Some questions that beg answers from the healthcare professionals are: Why didn’t they not alert the government strongly enough about the risk of a second wave? Also, why didn’t the private hospitals not prepare proactively if they knew the second wave was certain?

As the second wave of Covid recedes, it’s time for the government, the healthcare sector and citizens to pause and reflect. While a large part of the learnings from the mishandling of the second wave must be for the government, it is equally important for the people and the healthcare system not to repeat the mistakes committed.

The writer is a Bengaluru-based columnist. Views are personal

Monitoring digital content

G Krishna Kumar  | Updated on April 13, 2021

 The mechanism must be transparent and unbiased

The government’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 sent shock-waves across the digital and OTT industry. And why not? This is the first time the government has undertaken any initiative towards regulating the hitherto unregulated digital media and OTT (over the top) platforms. It is a fine line between regulation and restriction and hence the government is offering repeated clarification that it is aiming for “soft touch” regulations

India’s Internet usage has been growing rapidly, doubling to over 70 crore users now compared to 2015, and is expected to touch 100 crore users by 2025. During the past three years, subscribers on the digital and OTT platforms have also grown rapidly.

Two-sided marketplace

Digital platforms (like Facebook, YouTube) and OTT players (like Amazon Prime, Netflix) are often called as intermediaries in a two-sided marketplace. In such a market, two sets of players interact through the intermediary or platform. In the case of, say, Netflix, the two sides would be the content creator (movie or documentary producer) on one side and the consumer who watches the content, on the other.

“Network effect” plays a major role in a two-sided marketplace. Essentially, more the number of subscribers on a platform, the better it is for the content providers. The content moderation guidelines need to balance the needs of the general public and the content providers.

Social media companies have, of late, been facing a trust deficit as issues related to data breaches, privacy, provocative posts, fake news, etc., have been reported across several countries. India banning Chinese apps for data breach and the subsequent surge in equivalent ‘Made in India’ apps/platforms is well known. This should serve as a warning to the global tech giants on India’s ability to act in case of non-compliance.

EU regulators are pushing for laws that would hold the intermediary companies directly responsible for dissemination of illegal content on their platforms.

The UK is seeking to hold the intermediary companies responsible for a predefined list of online harms including illegal content and harmful user behaviours. France requires companies to remove illegal content within 24 hours from receiving a notification.

Singapore’s digital content regulation by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) focusses on community standards while providing more choices for adults and protecting the young. IMDA believes in co-regulation as an effective mechanism.

Recently the Australian government started an inquiry into the role of global technology firms/platforms in spreading false information. Already, global tech firms have responded by launching a voluntary code to prevent spread of false information on their platforms.

India’s plan to trace the source or origin of harmful content is a good step as this will deter mischievous elements from spreading false or harmful content on social media platforms. This will also push the content providers on OTT platforms and OTT companies to abide by the guidelines.

However, considering the size of the digital user base in the country, the government must create the right framework to understand the challenges in implementation. Can anyone raise objection, and how will the system handle if there are thousands of complaints? The online platforms should provide clear information on their operational model and responsibilities.

India’s plan to establish a three-level grievance redress mechanism looks to be a good model. The grievance redress officer needs to acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days. The government has defined a threshold of 50 lakh registered subscribers for an intermediary to be considered as “significant”. Such intermediaries are mandated additional compliance and reporting. Overall, it is still not clear how the whole model will be implemented.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry will formulate an oversight mechanism. The government having all powers can be tricky, but then it depends on maturity of the overall ecosystem, including the government, in creating an unbiased complaint redress system. While the government is implementing content moderation, issues like consumer/data protection and consumer’s privacy must not be diluted.

Considering the complexities, it would take at least a year for the impact of the present regulations to be visible. With several stakeholders involved in the process, regular audits and reporting will help in strengthening the regulations and bring a practical, unbiased and transparent mechanism in the country.

The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru. Views are personal

Some Caveats to Jio-FaceBook deal

Jio-FB deal: Kirana stores to benefit, but the govt must be vigilant

G Krishna Kumar  | Updated on May 05, 2020  Published on May 08, 2020

While the on-boarding of kirana stores onto a digital platform like JioMart will give a fillip to these stores, the government will have to address issues of data privacy and Net neutrality

Amidst the lockdown due to corona, the news of ₹43,574 crore investment from Facebook into Reliance Jio has provided a much needed positive sentiment in the country. The deal means a tie-up between Jio’s e-commerce grocery platform “JioMart” (a platform that would connect consumers with neighbourhood kirana stores) and Facebook’s WhatsApp.

Timing seems right

Jio gets access to WhatsApp’s 40 crore users in India, while Facebook gets access to 38 crore Jio subcribers. It is expected that three crore kirana stores will be onboarded onto the JioMart platform. An opportunity for kirana stores to embrace digital technologies and offer employment. Jio plans to expand JioMart beyond kirana stores and create an ecosystem by bringing in SMEs, farmers, and healthcare workers, among others. Reports already indicate that Jio-FB is aiming for an all-encompassing app like China’s super app WeChat

The internet is already abuzz with the news of JioMart-WhatsApp based service being rolled out as a pilot programme in three suburban areas of Mumbai involving over 1,000 neighbourhood stores.

Will this partnership transform the way we buy daily essentials? Time will tell, but the track record of Reliance in disrupting markets is well known. JioMart is ready to take on incumbent players like Amazon and Flipkart. Reports suggest that online e-commerce is expected to grow seven-fold to $30 billion by 2028.

Will we witness another hyper competitive scenario in the e-commerce space, similar to the one we witnessed when Jio Mobile was launched about three-and-a-half years ago? The government, specifically the Competition Commission of India, will have to actively monitor and ensure predatory pricing is not practised by the new entrant.

The timing for bringing kirana stores onto the JioMart digital platform appears to be right. Several companies have tried to digitise kirana stores in the past. In fact, about 7-8 years ago, a large enterprise software company had tried a similar approach to onboard kirana stores on their digital platform. Lack of success can be attributed to the fact that technology was still evolving, cost of mobile devices, low speed internet, high mobile data tariff and low awareness amongst the kirana store owners.

Things have changed now. A case in point is the wide acceptance of online food delivery platforms like Swiggy with 1.5 lakh restaurants on the digital platform should give confidence to Jio. With the Reliance brand name, much better internet speed and high internet data adoption, coupled with attractive business models would certainly aid JioMart to onboard kirana stores rapidly.

Once a sizeable set of stores are added, JioMart will have access to significant amount of data and by using AI and analytics, the platform can provide insights for providing personalised offers to the consumers. This could also push the neighbourhood kirana stores to come up with innovative methods to woo consumers.

Government must be vigilant

While Jio tries to roll out service across the country, potential concerns on Net-neutrality as Jio and Facebook join hands could emerge. In 2018, India implemented rules for Net neutrality wherein service providers (like Jio in this case) are required to treat all traffic equally, and not charge differently based on content.

The service providers are forbidden from throttling data speeds for any online service, and mandates all content be treated the same. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will have its task cut out in monitoring and ensuring Net-neutrality is not being violated.

The other concern can be on protection of personal data considering that India’s Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (PDP Bill 2019) is still in the works. In fact, a recent article (in The Mint) analyses the privacy policies of Reliance Jio and Facebook and concludes that other than good conscience, nothing can stop the two companies from sharing data as we don’t have a data protection regulator in the country.

In general, a strong regulatory oversight is urgently needed in the Indian context with digitalisation seeing a big uptick across the board. Hope the government will get the PDP law enacted soon.

More competition

Digital payment is another area that is picking up steam in the country. Especially during the current Covid times, digital payments are key to reduce social contact. It is heartening to see several neighbourhood kirana stores refusing to accept cash and preferring digital payments. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) must be enthused with this trend towards digital payments. In fact, a recent report suggests that 42 per cent Indians have increased use of digital payments since the lockdown.

A recent report suggests that the digital payments are poised to increase by five times to reach $1 trillion by 2023. No wonder, foreign companies are keen to play a role in India’s digital payment space. Sample this: Walmart owns Flipkart and digital payments company PhonePe. China’s Alibaba owns over 40 per cent of Paytm. Google Pay and Amazon Pay are also competing in digital payments in India.

The Jio-Facebook deal will provide a tough competition to the incumbent players. Although WhatsApp is trying to obtain approval for rolling out digital payment service, with the deal between the two companies, WhatsApp can lean on Jio’s payment service.

Revival of kirana stores

Back in 2012, when FDI was allowed in the retail segment, it was believed that the neighbourhood kirana stores would vanish soon. While most of them have struggled over the past few years due to demonetisaton and aggressive pricing by retailers and e-tailers alike, it is these kirana stores that have been the lifeline during the Covid lockdown.

A recent report states that 90 per cent of grocery trade in the country happens through kirana stores. This means there is ample scope for many more digital platforms like JioMart and, thereby, create a healthy ecosystem. Making these stores digital should be a win-win for both the consumers as well as the stores, but the government should be vigilant.

The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru. Views are personal

Technology’s always been a job creator

G. KRISHNA KUMAR

AI is here to stay. Sure, some jobs will go, but others will be created. And human intervention will always be required

Recently, economist Paul Krugman warned that India could lose its dominating position in the global services trade space due to the threat of artificial intelligence. He feels this could result in massive unemployment.

Artificial intelligence or AI is the intelligence demonstrated by machines. Essentially, computers continuously ‘learn’, mimicking cognitive functions like humans. AI has already started impacting our lives. Voice-based search used in smartphones is an example of AI. Self-driven cars is another .

According to Gartner’s Technology hype cycle, mainstream adoption of AI is expected to take off over the next 2-5 years.

From an industry perspective, the evolution of technology must be juxtaposed with the rate of change of customer needs. This means IT companies are required to support customers with stable/legacy technologies (such as the airline booking system or 2G or core banking software); at the same time, customers need leading edge technologies. The challenge for companies is to create the right mix.

Will AI be a threat to the current and future IT workforce? Will it wipe out the IT Industry? Certainly not. We still need people to monitor and maintain automated systems.

Co-existence is the mantra

The tech era is about 50 years old. Historical data shows that evolving technology has been a job creator. Man and machines need to co-exist. Many of the jobs that exist today did not exist 20 or 30 years ago; back then the same issues and concerns existed around job security.

It is a fact that AI-based bots and chatbots have already taken away jobs in the IT industry. This will continue and automation will certainly take over manylow engagement jobs.

However, over a period of time, we will end up with a more engaged and motivated workforce that would like to perform exciting and challenging tasks rather than mundane activities. For this to happen, an environment that can foster innovation is needed.

AI is likely to create more jobs than it would destroy. A Gartner’s report predicts that by 2020, automation will create 2.3 million jobs, while only 1.8 million jobs will be lost.

In order to keep pace with disruptions, the IT workforce need to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn. Reskilling/upskilling both out of individual interest and through organisational initiatives will be required. The key is the willingness of an individual to learn and adapt. The IT workforce needs to demonstrate the right attitude, analytical skills, strong domain knowledge and programming skills to stay relevant.

Collaborations and partnerships are needed to demonstrate agility and relevance in the industry. Lately, experts are being hired on need basis for specific tasks; they may end up working for different companies simultaneously. ‘Uberisation’ of the workforce is gaining popularity. Uberisation simply indicates freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.

A recent WEF report states that US leads the way in uberisation. Already, 36 per cent of its workforce are freelancers and by 2027 the majority will be freelancers. They keep themselves abreast of evolving technology.

Organisations must be willing to accept and promote the concept of remote workers, anywhere on the planet, with negligible ‘control’ over the people. This calls for a shift in mindset.

Better training

Other than the fact that engineering colleges piggybacked on the IT industry in India, industry-academia collaboration for ensuring industry ready talent has been a challenge. We need an IT workforce that can be future-proofed through better training.

The output from engineering colleges has been a major cause of concern for the IT industry. There are over 3,000 engineering colleges in the country, with close to eight lakh students passing out every year. Some 55 per cent of the students aspire for software employment while only 3 per cent of them are ready for such jobs.

Strict action from the Government to reduce admissions into engineering colleges must be put in place. In addition, tighter industry-academia collaboration is extremely important. The Government should consider imposing mandatory six-month training (similar to the concept of interns in the medical field). However, the sheer volume of students passing out every year is a deterrent for IT industry participation in guiding aspiring software engineers and getting them close to industry-ready.

Considering that AI and technology disruption is a given, we need innovative models through which gen-next engineers can gear up to face future challenges.

So, how shall we prove Krugman wrong? We know man and machines will co-exist. We need cohesive actions for upskilling existing talent, embrace uberisation of the workforce and ensure high quality gen-next engineers for India to handle the impact of AI.

The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru. The views are personal

Published on March 28, 2018

Internet addiction’s a public health issue

G KRISHNA KUMAR

Hindu Business Line 16th july 2016, Page 8, EDITORIAL PAGE

Japan and Korea are grappling with net-induced intellectual and emotional disorders. Why fall into that trap?

The telecom and IT minister recently announced that India will soon have half-a-billion internet users. That’s an unprecedented achievement considering India’s struggle to add internet users just 5-8 years ago.

As a result of easy access to WiFi, intuitive user-experience through touch screens, and availability of affordable mobile and tablet devices, internet usage is poised for a dramatic rise in the coming years. Although India’s mobile data consumption is just one-tenth of that in the US and other advanced countries, we are witnessing challenges due to the overuse of internet, especially among youth and children.

Sheer overuse

Studies have revealed that constant internet use results in reduced creativity, reduced ability to remember, and significantly hurts long-term memory. Another study shows that internet users get increasingly impatient. The psychological impact due to constant use of internet and mobile phones has been researched for many years. The anxiety among those who use their phones for email and social networking activities is known. For instance, ‘always connected’ people are nervous when the battery runs low.

Not surprisingly, ‘online anytime’ people get stressed in a no-internet zone. Of late, we have begun to accept mobile phones/tablets and other gadgets as replacements for kids’ toys. Indeed, parents often boast of their kids’ ability to use smartphones with ease.

According to a study, the addiction problem in India is real and at least 24.6 per cent of adolescents have problematic internet use or internet addiction disorder (IAD). A report by the Indian Council for Medical Research says that 12 per cent of individuals using internet in the country suffer from this problem.

The problem’s growing

Internet addiction is a growing problem world over. Japan, known for its early adoption of technology, was among the first to recognise the challenge of IAD. It is estimated that over 5 lakh children in the 12 to 18 years age-group are victims of screen addiction. High school students spend over six hours during weekdays and, in many cases, skip school to be online.

Japan’s education ministry has started internet fasting camps where the affected children are asked to spend time on physical activities. The intention is to help them get away from the online/virtual world and encourage them to have real communication with other children and adults — basically, teaching them the importance of human relationships. The Japanese government claims that the fasting camps have been successful because they motivated children to spend much less time online.

South Korea, another technologically advanced country, considers internet addiction a public health crisis. ‘I Will’ centres have been set up in Seoul. These are intervention institutions for internet and smartphone addicts among children and youth below the age of 24. They are provided counselling, preventive education, and alternative activities.

India’s premier mental health institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) has set up an internet de-addiction centre for healthy use of technology. A similar centre has been set up in a few cities. But considering that millions of Indians are either already or likely to be affected with IAD, shouldn’t there be many more such centres across the country?

Government help

India has the youngest population in the world but the demographic dividend we are so proud of could soon vanish if we don’t inculcate the right habits among gen next. India’s culture which revolves around strong family bonding is expected to address the issue. Yes, it can, but with low awareness of the IAD issue, we need multiple initiatives. Today, most of us do not accept that the problem is real.

India needs a strong framework for tackling IAD. This is a good opportunity for the telecom, human resources, health and AYUSH ministries to join hands and come up with suitable actions before the problem becomes an enormous issue. The ministry of health and family welfare should consider creating a pan-India initiative similar to the National Addictions Management Service (NAMS) created by the Singapore government. Under NAMS all types of addictions are brought under a single umbrella.

We need a multi-pronged awareness campaign directed at different age groups. The Government should embark on an awareness drive aimed at educating the public on the main symptoms of internet addiction. The AYUSH ministry could consider providing intervention programmes for people who are already found to be addicted to the internet.

The HRD ministry should consider mandatory training for school and college staff, who in turn can educate students on responsible use of the internet. The main focus should be on improving children’s cognitive skills and thereby nurturing creativity. Schools can play a supportive role by educating parents about symptoms and possible actions.

Can the telecom ministry ask internet providers to run regular campaigns educating people about internet addiction?

In an increasingly connected world, we cannot shy away from the internet. However, we need a strong framework in the country to educate the public on the symptoms of screen addiction and provide intervention mechanisms. We don’t want IAD / screen addiction to spoil our demographic dividend.

The writer is an adviser to the Centre for Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru. The views are personal

(This article was published on July 15, 2016)

Giving BSNL a new lease of life

G KRISHNA KUMAR

V SRIDHAR

Divestment can pave the way for a more agile management, that can put the infrastructure to optimum use.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been in the news recently for reporting an operational profit of about ₹672 crore in 2014-15 after continuous losses for the previous years. But the company is still hugely loss-making, and the CMD expects it to turn profitable by 2018.

Sliding performance

Recent announcements indicate that both BSNL and MTNL lag behind the private telcos in revenue growth. The market share of BSNL/MTNL in mobile is 8.5 per cent which declined from 14 per cent in 2008. Included in the list of Navratna public sector units in 1997, the sister firm MTNL (the operating company in Delhi and Mumbai) is on the verge of losing its coveted status, having accumulated losses at the rate of more than ₹1,000 crore per year.

The share price of MTNL has declined by 95 per cent since its heydays of ₹390 in March 2000. Though the issue of merging BSNL and MTNL to form a single company with pan-India assets and subscriber base has surfaced time and again, successive governments have put it on the backburner. While the divestment talks have not yet touched upon BSNL yet, it is time for the government to think along these lines. Here are the reasons why.

The average share of spectrum, the essential resource for providing mobile services, held by BSNL is about 20 per cent in a circle, which is significantly more than that held by most of the private telcos. The number of cell sites and associated Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) of the combine is more than 70,000, comparable to some of the leading telcos.

Unutilised infrastructure

Commanding 75 per cent of the landline user market, BSNL is a near monopoly in wired direct exchange line, especially in rural areas.

However, with all these assets, why are government telcos floundering in recent years? The main reasons, as pointed out partially by the minister, include (i) inadequate marketing of their services (ii) slow decision making with respect to purchase of equipment and managing contracts with managed service providers and (iii) inadequate management flexibility in pricing plans, and sharing arrangements, to name a few.

These have also started affecting the quality of service as is evident in the recent Quality of Service report released by TRAI.

The government firms had their own share of sops such as (i) year-ahead early start in the assignment of both 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in 2009 and (ii) reimbursement of about ₹10,000 crore of licence and spectrum charges during 2001-06, as part of commitment to BSNL corporatisation. However, the 6.2 MHz spectrum in the much valuable 900 MHz band held by BSNL/MTNL is coming to the end of its life in 2017 and it may have to be renewed pan India at the market value (if government does not provide sops once again!).

Despite the early release of spectrum, due to sloppy decisions in technology and service procurement, the BWA spectrum assigned to BSNL/MTNL in 2500 MHz band remains under and even unused in most of the circles, and has already been returned in about eight circles. The minister has also indicated that the spectrum in rest of the circles may also be surrendered soon.

Given the intensity of competition in the telecom sector, it is time that the government formulates a strategy for reviving the lagging telcos.

Globally, with the exception of China, most countries have reacted to the realities of the telecom market and acted accordingly — the notable examples being Telstra of Australia and British Telecom of the UK. In both these cases, government control was drastically reduced; they are listed in the stock exchange; with improved and agile management structure and accountability to shareholders, the companies have performed remarkably well, despite competition. The reasons for an overhaul are persuasive.

Revamp and divest

First, is the effective use of infrastructure and spectrum that BSNL/MTNL have. Despite 18.26 million fixed line subscribers with BSNL/MTNL, the number of fixed line broadband subscribers is just about 60 per cent, indicating that rest of the infrastructure is grossly under-utilised. A possible way to monetise these wired local loop assets it to accelerate unbundling it to ISPs or other telcos which TRAI included in its recommendations on Broadband last year.

Now that both active and passive infrastructure sharing is allowed along with spectrum sharing the firms should consider improving utilisation of its assets and to monetise the same using appropriate business models.

BSNL has wealth of infrastructure and network especially in the semi-urban and rural areas. It is time that BSNL adopts ‘collaborate and compete’ philosophy by sharing the infrastructure with private players and monetising the same.

Second, thanks to its preferential status, it stands to gain in phase II implementation of BharatNet. Most of the States have started developing plans for this phase; it is only appropriate that BSNL takes a lead in being part of the project as (i) contractor for laying the optic fibre to selected Gram Panchayats or (ii) provider of broadband access services or both.

Third, the government’s Digital India agenda cannot be sustained unless there is a robust broadband infrastructure and associated content available across the length and breadth of the country. BSNL/MTNL combine has the requisite infrastructure to implement the same.

For example, Telstra achieved providing their 4G network coverage to over 94 per cent of the Australian population. Telstra launched MyCareManager in April 2015, an integrated eHealth product designed to help disability, community and residential aged care providers deliver innovative services and information from a distance.

Public projects in the areas of governance, health, and education require digital infrastructure and BSNL/MTNL should take active part in building infrastructure and content for the same.

Fourth, competitors of BSNL are way ahead in vendor management practices, incorporating fully outsourced models and technology de-risking. BSNL should implement best practices in the industry for vendor management to survive in the marketplace.

However, to achieve all the above, government should lend a free hand to flexible decision making, incorporate a professional management team, inculcate customer centricity in the organisation and make it super agile. All of these are possible, only if government steps aside by divesting and making over BSNL/MTNL to a professional, responsive, and responsible organisation. This will be a great relief for the tax paying public!

Kumar is an ICT professional; Sridhar is a Professor at IIIT-B. The views are personal

(This article was published on March 20, 2016)

India’s dropped calls conundrum

(This article was published on September 24, 2015)

G KRISHNA KUMAR

Thanks to the sustained effort from the various television news channels and the print media, highlighting the issue of phone call drops plaguing the country, and there by get the stakeholders to act.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had instructed the telcos to provide a solution for the call drops within 15 days. The time frame is quite ambitious, but subscribers seem happy about the sudden seriousness the issue has found.

In fact, the situation is quite intriguing as the government and telcos are blaming each other for the crisis.

Earlier this week, India’s largest telecom service provider by revenues, Airtel, has announced that all the pre-paid subscribers will be moved from per-minute billing to a per-second billing. This means subscribers just pay for the seconds they have actually consumed.

For example, in the case of per-minute billing, if a person talks for 35 seconds and then the call drops, he/she will be charged for the entire minute, while the person will only be charged for 35 seconds in the per-second billing.

Good move, but why not include post-paid subscribers as well, who give over four times the average revenue per user (ARPU) compared to pre-paid subscribers?

In any case, Airtel’s move is aimed at silencing the critics who argue that the telcos create call drops and earn 10-40 per cent additional revenues thanks to the per-minute billing.

Acquiring and retaining customers is a huge challenge in any business and, in this backdrop, it is hard to believe any telco would purposely ‘engineer’ call-drops, annoy its subscribers and try to increase revenues.

Subscribers can easily switch to any other telecom service provider through the simple and inexpensive network portability process. However, as the quality of service with most telcos being similar, and with lack of differentiation, customers stay with the incumbent service provider.

Focus on quality

The dropped call rate (DCR) is an important measure for voice calls and anyone who has travelled abroad would know that the calls drop even there, but rarely.

For example, in the US and Europe dropped call rate is less than 1 per cent of total calls. In fact, some of the telcos in Europe are aiming at getting the DCR close to zero.

Although the benchmark set by TRAI is <2 per cent, recent audit reports reveal that the call drop rate was an average of 12 per cent to 17 per cent in the country.

The call drop issue may have suddenly gained prominence, but subscribers have been experiencing the problem for many years and it has been taken for granted by most of them.

Why did this happen? One of the reasons is that TRAI’s reporting on call drops have been irregular and incorrect. It is difficult to believe that the DCR was much better than benchmark, say, one or two years ago.

Thankfully, TRAI has realised the magnitude of the issue and one hopes the regulator would publish DCR every fortnight till we see some improvement.

We also need more granular data about call drops or other quality-of-service parameters per operator and per location. For example, it will be interesting to see who is the best telco in Mysore or Nagpur, rather than data at circle level.

In-building solutions

Can we expect the call drops issue to be completely fixed in a couple weeks? That’s quite unlikely, but some action from telcos in fine tuning the infrastructure would help. More importantly, if the towers that were shut down are restarted, they can provide some relief.

Adding towers will certainly help and may be the government should audit and assure the residents that the radiation effects are well under limits and publish quarterly results.

Lack of signal coverage resulting in call drops inside large concrete buildings such as apartments or office parks can be addressed by in-building solutions. Basically, there are efficient plug-and-play signal enhancers that the telcos could deploy for reducing dropped call rates.

More spectrum and M&A

Lack of spectrum is a constant complaint from the telcos. Indian telcos own roughly 1/5th of the spectrum compared to their peers in other countries. Also, a recent report states that in India, there is only 0.1 MHz of spectrum available for one million subscribers, compared to 3-6 MHz in Europe.

Indian telcos are stretching their infrastructure, shows another report. In metros, Indian telcos handle 8 times more voice calls per MHz per tower and 15 times more data per MHz per tower.

The mobile data consumption per month in India is just 1/10th that of the US and other advanced countries. We will soon see hyper growth in data consumption, and lack of spectrum will become a challenge then.

Specifics on spectrum sharing and trading are expected to be announced shortly. This can certainly help in bringing the call drops down.

India’s mobile telecom market is highly fragmented with 10-12 telcos operating in each circle, compared to the global average of 3-5 telcos. Consolidation in the industry could be the next big wave for improving efficiencies and it is imperative that the government announces a mergers and acquisition policy soon.

Another tricky topic is on the regulatory fees. The fees in India is nearly 20 per cent of the revenues earned by the telcos, compared to 3-4 per cent in China and other countries.

Shouldn’t there be a revisit on this and at the same time push the telcos hard to meet the prescribed quality of service.

We may not see close to zero dropped call rate in India, but some sustained actions from the telcos, TRAI and the government can certainly help in improving the situation.

The writer is a Bengaluru-based ICT professional. The views are personal

Create jobs where the job-seekers are

G Krishna Kumar  April 16, 2014:   Lead Edit Page , The Hindu Business Line ( Page 8)

A recent TV programme that reviews the work of MPs in their constituencies threw up an interesting fact — the chief concern raised by people across constituencies was the lack of job opportunities — not corruption nor infrastructure issues. A clear message that people need jobs rather than freebies.

The finance minister recently said the unemployment rate has fallen and is about 5.5 per cent. Chidambaram added that the UPA has fared much better than the NDA, though the absolute number of jobs created had not increased during the UPA regime. How? Perhaps the reduced unemployment rate can be attributed to people taking up jobs out of desperation — jobs with no relevance to their field of study or specialisation.

Instances of engineering graduates joining the insurance sector and educated people in the rural areas taking up manual labour are common these days. A labour ministry report says many people in employment are actually overqualified for the job they are doing and, therefore, society is losing valuable skills and forfeiting stronger productivity growth than would have been achieved.

Employability

India produces over 7 lakh engineering graduates every year; over 60 per cent of them don’t find relevant jobs. Questions have been raised on the quality of graduates, their employability. On an average, over 10 lakh people will enter the job market every month over the next decade and this number is expected to rise. The much-hyped demographic dividend must be used effectively, before it is too late. But where are the jobs?

The job market is primarily a factor of demand (for skilled people) and supply (availability of the right people). Reports suggest that the situation is quite alarming, with over 25 per cent of under-30 degree, diploma or other certificate holders unemployed. In contrast, it has been argued in recent reports that unavailability of the “right” talent is costing the economy a whopping Rs 53,000 crore and that India’s talent adaptability ranking is among the lowest. The new government will have to quickly address this severe demand-supply mismatch.

India’s biggest challenge has been the low-productivity agriculture sector that employs 50 per cent of the people, but accounts for just 14 per cent of GDP. There has been a constant decline in agriculture-based employment over the past two decades, with people shifting to non-farm jobs in labour-intensive areas, such as manufacturing and construction.

The MGNREGA and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna are only helping more people take up non-farm jobs. But a CRISIL report states that incremental non-farm employment is expected to decrease more than 25 per cent to 38 million in FY 2013-19 as the economy has been treading a lower-growth path.

High productivity services sectors such as finance, insurance and business services, including the IT sector, provide employment for only 3 per cent of the population, yet account for about 20 per cent of GDP. However, these industries have limitations in adding millions of jobs every year in a highly competitive global environment.

What needs to be done?

India needs a multi-pronged ‘rural-oriented’ strategy to improve the employment scenario. First, the Government should focus on improving farm productivity. With over two-thirds of the population living in the rural hinterland, the focus must be on using science and technology to improve farm output.

Countries like Australia and New Zealand spend heavily on farm R&D. Seventy per cent of the value of farm output in such countries arises from the various sources of productivity growth, such as improvements in infrastructure and communications, higher quality inputs, and new technologies from research and extension activities.

Some advanced counties are even encouraging urban agriculture as a key theme, including production, processing and distribution of agricultural produce.

Considering India’s demography, just replicating ideas from other countries may not work; instead, the concepts must be adapted to improve productivity.

India also needs major changes in rural infrastructure — better roads, and a reliable power supply and communications set-up.

Second, it is time policy was tweaked to enable indigenous manufacturing and thereby generate significant job opportunities. Isn’t it intriguing that India does not have the infrastructure to manufacture mobile phones indigenously?

There is certainly an opportunity for India to become a dominant player in the global manufacturing sector. Should it adopt the German model, in which public and private sectors work together and generate jobs? Or focus on creating a good ecosystem for cottage/ small-scale industries to flourish — maybe with learning from Japan? There is an urgent need for the right government policies and impetus to spur job creation in the large manufacturing sector.

 

Placement targets

Third, skill development initiatives such as the National Skill Development Corporation’s (NSDC) programme to create employment-ready people are very important. Although NDSC has not met the job skilling and placement targets so far, this initiative must be pursued with greater vigour going forward to achieve the skilling target of 350 million by 2022.

The Government formed the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) to support the NSDC by coordinating with it to create a framework for skill development. Eventually, the success of any such initiative is determined solely by employability.

It is imperative that the government accords the right priority to removing policy hurdles to create job opportunities, mainly in the rural areas. This, along with an increased focus on skill development, is urgently needed to address the serious demand-supply mismatch.

The writer is Advisor, Centre for Educational and Social Studies. Views are personal

(This article was published on April 15, 2014)

 

Lessons learnt, time to act

G. Krishna Kumar

Hindu Business Line , Opinion/Perspective
(This article was published on August 10 2013)

Our disaster preparedness is woefully inadequate.

It is unfortunate that Uttarakhand had to face landslides and flash floods yet again this week, hampering relief operations. Experts estimate that it will take between 3 to 10 years for the State to get back to “business as usual”. In many cases, when business leaves it may never return.

This crisis provides a major learning. While we can blame the government and officials for not enforcing regulations, people should equally share the responsibility.

We are unprepared

Post the Tsunami in 2004, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was formed, but has grossly failed both in planning and implementation. NDMA and its subsidiary organisations need a major shake-up. We should get away from the NDMA versus State blame game and fix accountability.

The NDMA provides an online inventory of resources such as life-saving boats, critical medical supplies and other resources needed for disaster response in all the districts across the country. Even if we assume the data to be accurate, the meagre resources available are inadequate to handle even a minor calamity. Rudraprayag had 12 life-jackets.

Only one trauma specialist has been identified for the whole of Bangalore Urban and Rural. In Shimoga district of Karnataka, there are no doctors or paramedics identified. Considering India’s vulnerability, it is frustrating that there is no system for predicting cloud-bursts. As a first step, India needs top class weather forecasting systems. More awareness should be created among the public. Considering the mobile phone penetration in the country, a robust disaster alert and early warning system similar to the one in Japan must be implemented.

Learn from Japan

While natural calamities and rescue operations are covered extensively by the media, the same is not true for post-disaster recovery. Research reports on post-recovery challenges cite many examples where recovery led to further risk of disaster. Are there lessons learnt from the 2004 tsunami rebuilding?Maybe we should look at countries like Japan. Within 10 weeks of a major earthquake in Kobe, electricity and water connections were completely restored; infrastructure was rebuilt in two years.

In the case of Uttarakhand, will the environmental negligence continue? Will buildings and hotels continue to be rebuilt along the river or will good sense prevail? Many case studies point out that a healthy community once re-established will sustain itself over time.

Wake up

The UN’s HYOGO Framework for action (HFA) review report states that following disasters, the public puts greater pressure on administration, resulting in improved governance and accountability. The rebuilding efforts must take the environmental aspects into consideration; the participation of local communities is crucial. The Uttarakhand tragedy should serve as a wake-up call.

(The author is an engineering professional based in Bangalore. Views are personal.)

(This article was published on August 9, 2013)

India's sub-standard engineering colleges

G. Krishna Kumar

Hindu Business Line, Editorial Page, June 10th

Engineering education remains IT-focussed and needs a broader framework with industry participation.

The world’s top 50 universities in engineering and technology in 2013 do not include any Indian university/college. The Higher Education World Reputation Ranking 2013 of top 100 institutions, has representation from all the BRIC countries, except India. We can conveniently blame it on bias, or simply ignore the global ranking. While the Government-run institutions have their share of challenges, the private institutes/universities, perceived to be a ray of hope, appear to be less interested in improving quality.

Employability, a challenge

Now, let us juxtapose the lack of quality institutions with another dimension — un-employability. There are over 2,500 engineering colleges in the country, producing over 7 lakh graduates every year. Notwithstanding the unpredictability, the IT Industry has remained the largest job provider over the past 15-20 years, absorbing about 10-15 per cent of the graduates. Hiring by public sector and non-IT private companies, and students pursuing higher education constitute 25-30 per cent. But, that still leaves a significantly large pool of engineering graduates without a proper job. The Industry Readiness Index 2013 survey by PurpleLeap, a company that provides skill bridging support for students pursuing engineering courses, indicates that only 10 per cent of the engineers passing out of colleges from Tier 2/3 cities in the country are employable. Even with the intervention programmes, the students struggle, primarily due to poor communication and/or analytical/problem-solving skills. Even worse, another report states that 30 per cent of the engineers do not have basic quantitative skills required for day-to-day life and entry-level engineering jobs.

India lags way behind China in terms of university research in engineering and technology. China, for example, has three times more enrolment for master’s programmes in engineering and management. India produces 1,000 PhDs annually in technology and engineering, compared to 8,000-9,000 in the US and China. It has to be noted that US and China have large well-funded universities that encourage higher education. The 2011 Kakodkar report emphasises the need for rapid improvement in research infrastructure in India, including the IITs.

So, what needs to be done to improve the situation? It is evident that active involvement and collaboration between government, engineering colleges/universities and industry is vital for improving the quality of engineers.

To fill up the vacant seats in private engineering colleges, the cut-off score for students seeking admission is being considerably watered-down. Added to this, many private colleges lack the intellectual infrastructure — comprising libraries, broadband connectivity for accessing knowledge resources on the Internet and, most importantly, qualified and knowledgeable faculty. Strict regulatory mechanisms should be implemented to ensure that only institutions with proper infrastructure are allowed to function.

Strict regulations

Simple things like monitoring the output from internship/project work should be strengthened. Strict measures are need for removing the rampant “paid” project work culture that is in vogue. It is appalling to see students get away by outsourcing their work.

The next most important step is to provide a clear road-map for the students with an inclination for research to pursue their interest. This would help in retaining the research-seeking graduates from going abroad. The effectiveness of government-funded schemes to promote research among engineering students through the Modernisation and Removal of Obsolescence (MODROBS) and the Research Promotion Scheme (RPS) is still unclear.

We need an environment that fosters active partnerships between industry and colleges/universities. In the advanced countries, research work is given high priority among the engineering colleges/universities. The teachers can lead by example and inspire students to pursue research and innovation.

The duration of the engineering course can perhaps be increased by six months or a year. This can help accomodate a sandwich/apprentice programme, which can provide hands-on work experience. For example, today, students get selected for project work/in-plant training through personal contact.

A transparent platform for monitoring and evaluating apprentice programmes should be created by involving industry — including private and public sector, and the universities. The Government’s latest initiative towards skill improvement through the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NVEQF) is certainly a good step. However, it may be worthwhile strengthening the existing well-funded National Skill Development Corporation, than creating new initiatives.

Look beyond IT

Although Nasscom predicts significant requirements in the IT industry over the next decade, it is vital that the Government looks at supporting altervative sectors and creating an efficient platform to manage the demand and supply of engineering graduates.

Reports indicate that manufacturing sector would grow significantly by 2025, fuelled primarily by the emerging economies. This could be an opportunity for India to take on China and emerge as a dominant player in, say, energy or semiconductor sector.

Why can’t government policies and best practices that helped in rapid growth of the IT industry be replicated in strengthening other sectors? AICTE/universities should upgrade the syllabus to be attuned with industry needs, especially in some of the core areas such as electrical and mechanical engineering.

It is, thus, imperative for the engineering education to grow beyond IT industry. A strong push is needed for strengthening industry-academia interaction in all the major sectors/streams. This would certainly spur innovation/research and help in improving employability among our next-gen engineers!

(The author is Vice-President, Symphony Teleca. The views are personal.)

(This article was published on June 10, 2013)

Don't let Doordarshan die

Hindu Business Line, Opinion Page 18th Feb 2013

G Krishna Kumar

Doordarshan may be a white elephant, but can be turned around on the lines of the BBC.

From just one channel, to over 700 channels, the Indian TV industry has come a long way. With 150 million households having TVs, India is the third largest market in the world after China and the US. During this unprecedented growth, Doordarshan has dramatically lost viewership, thanks to the satellite TV boom.

Although Doordarshan has achieved over 90 per cent reach in the country, it is not the preferred channel for people across the country who have a choice of channels. The story of AIR is no different. Private radio channels have been able to attract listeners quite effortlessly.

Such a phenomenon is not limited to DD/AIR. If we look at other fields that have witnessed private participation after Government monopoly, Government organisations like BSNL or Indian Airlines have miserably failed to retain their customer base, due to their lackadaisical attitude. It is a matter of survival for the private players, and hence they are competitive.

The recent news that Information and Broadcasting Minister has set up a committee under Sam Pitroda to suggest improvements in Prasar Bharati (which controls Doordarshan and AIR) is good to hear.

But recommendations of various committees in the past have yielded no result. What will change now? Can DD embrace the much-talked-about BBC model?

BBC Model

Globally, there are over 30 public service broadcasters (PSB), and most of them have built trust value with the public. The most popular PSB is undoubtedly BBC. In fact, UK is credited with pioneering the “arm’s length” relationship between the State and the public broadcaster. The BBC is autonomous and enjoys sufficient independence, preventing political or bureaucratic interference to a large extent. No wonder, BBC News has been the most trusted news source in the UK and across the globe.

Every TV owner in UK pays an annual licence fee. (This is much like the radio licence fee that existed in India long back). This fee is the main source of income for BBC as a PSB. In other parts of the world, PSBs are funded through a mix of licence fees, Government grants and advertisements.

BBC has managed to always stay ahead of competition through technology leadership. The latest financial report shows that over 70 per cent of the licence fee was spent directly on programmes, or the property and technology infrastructure to support their production.

BBC strives to deliver “value-for-money” to its audience through distinctive, high quality programmes. BBC’s PSB supports multiple national and regional TV channels/radio stations and an extensive website. BBC’s ability to provide innovative and distinctive content helps attract audience across age groups. For example CBBC and CBeebies, the flagship children’s channels are extremely popular even outside the UK. In addition to the public broadcasting channel, BBC has other channels that have different revenue streams.

Quality content

With this background, it looks like an overwhelming task to get DD anywhere close to BBC. However, with the right structural reforms which can reduce Government interference, there certainly is still hope.

It is shocking that DD has not learnt from other global PSBs who have managed to stay competitive in the presence of private players.

It is evident that DD lacks in-depth understanding of the changing market dynamics. This is the age of infotainment where information and entertainment are seamlessly integrated to attract audiences.

DD must focus on building trust with the people. It is not an easy task and may take several years. This would include some serious and sustained effort in creating high quality content that can connect with the public. This, coupled with strong marketing effort, is urgently needed. In addition, it is imperative that the DD re-skills existing employees and/or acquires the right talent.

Production quality must be improved with investment in infrastructure and technology. Why can’t DD tie-up with the best production houses in the country? Can DD champion mobile TV in India? DD’s presence in Internet and social media is absolutely miserable. But without good quality content, social media will be of limited use.

PSBs like DD have to fulfil social responsibilities, including strengthening national identity and culture.

DD conveniently ignores any comparison with private players due to the PSB tag. People look for entertainment value and the name of broadcaster hardly matters. Right now, even private channels are struggling to differentiate themselves from each other.

Can DD come up with a fresh idea by leveraging its exclusive access in Government offices and unmatched rich archives? DD can make a huge impact in the education segment. Although the idea behind UGC’s education programmes must be lauded, it failed to resonate among students due to below-par implementation.

Perhaps, DD could join hands with private players and provide creative programmes around education, career counselling, skill enhancements or language classes. How about coaching classes for IIT JEE or infotainment programmes for the agriculture sector? Regular audience feedback on the lines of BBC’s Appreciation Index (AI) score is absolutely essential.

Create alternate PSB

Reports suggest that the government spends close to Rs. 1,800 crore annually on Doordarshan, but DD’s revenue is about Rs 1,000 crore.

Where is the accountability? As long as Government funds DD, there is hardly any motivation for DD to be competitive or profitable.

The Government should gradually reduce funding and ask DD to come up with innovate ways of revenue generation.

Should the Government start charging a licence fee from TV owners? That’s the easy option. But why should public pay for mediocre content? Instead, Can DD should start a commercial channel that can compete with private players?

This should, in turn, fund public service broadcasting. Can DD become a navratna company by 2020? The other option is to create competition to DD by allowing another PSB in India. Some aggressive targets are needed for reviving this white elephant.

DD has a long way to go before it can emulate the BBC model. While we wait for Sam Pitroda committee’s recommendation with interest, the Government’s willingness to implement the recommendations will be the key. For a change, let’s hope the Government will surprise us with action.

(The author is Vice-President at Symphony Teleca. The views are personal.)