Why are bike reviews pathetic?

Every auto magazine seems to write a review of the new bike. But/yet,

1. They don't talk about after sales service in various cities.

2. They don't talk how the mileage changes after the first and second servicing.

3. They don't give the height of the seat.

4. They don't give the braking distance from 60kmph to dead halt (under standard conditions)

5. They don't talk about availability of spare parts and their costs vis-a-vis competitors.

6. They don't talk about maintenance needs of the bike and its associated costs. Some bikes need special oil and are costly.

7. Not all, even give the time needed to go from 0 to 60 kmph.

8. They don't talk about emissions vis-a-vis peers.

9. As a matter of fact, after the first review of the bike, there is hardly any follow up review done with inputs from the buyers/users to get real feedback on the bikes.

One of the best advices the magazines can give based on their "knowledge" of the industry is the how much do the spares and maintenance does the bike need compared to its peers. But, no kind of real knowledge comes from the review which help in decision making while buying the bike. Instead, each of them is off showcasing how erotic literature can be used to describe biking and the bike.

Companies on the other hand, put out info which is rather non-useful. Eg: Max torque and Max Power, Carbureter, Bore x Stroke, none of which is useful to the layman/normal user. What makes sense is the graph of the torque achieved across all rpm to see if the torque is good at low rpms (preferably vis-a-vis competitors) and graph of power achieved across all rpm.

A regulator for everything

With the Coalgate scandal and people proposing a coal regulator

(http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/energy-quotient/entry/now-create-a-coal-regulator), I think we should create regulators and Appellate Tribunals in all sectors/industries.

With the creation of TRAI, TDSAT and AERA (Airport Economic Regulatory Authority), we have around 36 regulators and Appellate Tribunals in India.

http://india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/8.1.1.pdf

Most consists of regulators for the small sector industries (Coastal Aquaculture, coir, health related) and some big ones (IRDA, PNGRB, SEBI,etc.)

Its time the Govt. of India creates the same structure of an Independent regulator and an appellate tribunal in all the sectors and industries.

This could have multiple benefits:

1. To look into the problems/complaints of customers/companies

2. The betterment of the sector through initiatives, policies and policing.

3. This focus on each sector may also reduce the number of cases going to the courts in the absence of such authorities.

A solution to the Govt.'s Agency problem

Almost all govts. in the world are not working in the most efficient way they possibly can. One of the major reasons is the internal looting of the govt by way of corruption (lobbyists influencing policies in a way that the govt and its people suffer), internal fighting among many others. All govt jobs have fixed pay and perks. The motivation to not harm the organisation they are working for is not much (excepting Patriotism and Morality). 

One of the possible solutions for solving the agency problem of the govt officials can be possibly found in the concept of capital markets. (Related post disecting the problem: http://ajitjagan.blogspot.com/2011/04/aligning-interest-of-govt-and-its.html) Capital Markets are inherently more efficient and way faster in doing things.

One solution I am proposing is to have the concept of stock markets with the very govt. itself being treated as a company. Lets take the one market which is most open to accepting free market concept - USA. So USA could be a stock which is freely traded by the citizens in the country just like its sovereign treasury securities.

Source of capital:

Now, lets assume 5 or 10% of all the govt officials salaries are given in the form of the employee stock options with the stock of USA.

Concept of Returns:

As a stock price indicates the problems of the entity and the future potential of the entity, investors will make money if they work in such a way that the country's future is better. They would like to see higher prices of all their 5-10% of their salaries in pensions to not greatly affected. This has the potential to stop the govt. official to work harder, not do things that will harm the country. Similar to how a employee stock option feels for an employee. A sense of ownership is created. These people will be willing to work harder and make better policies as they now have a stake. Once a critical mass is attained in any organisation, the peer pressure will make the others also work more efficiently and effectively.

Valuation of Stock:

This is the most tricky part. Unlike companies where future earnings is the most important parameter to be considered (if today's company abides by rules and destroys the environment, so be it. The investors dont care). But, in case of the country as a whole, there are many subjective parameters to be considered. National Security, Environment,  Sustainability of natural resources, mortality rate, quality of the govt officials making decisions, etc

Maybe an earnings index can be calculated based on the other indices. Take for example the Transparency Index the topic it relates to which is corruption and ease of doing business. Say, Corruption is given a weightage in the earnings as 10% and Ease of doing business as 5%. Next, if the country comes in the top 5 countries where corruption is least, it is given a full score of 10 points= full weightage; Top 10, 9 points; top 20, 7 points; so on and so forth.

So this will enable the country to come to a number based on the current ratings of Indices. As valuation is always subjective and depends on the uncertain future, different investors will predict different ratings and better/worse situation of the country on various parameters. This will make the people govt understand what is it that people want. If they dont do as per the wants of all their citizens, they get a lesser share of their pay/pension. If they manage to reduce crime, increase efficiency, etc, people will be happier and the govt officials will get more money. This also prevents petty politics in the country, which is nothing but a drain on national resources.

Foreign entities as investors:

Once foreign entities buys these stocks, there is an opportunity for the country to get someone who is interested in the well being of the country and get more favourable responses to various initiatives.

Concept of Holding company:

Since USA is made of various states and states resources/financials actually have a major role to play in the countries well being, state govts. should also give their employees the shares of their states.

Today, the govt. officials can play petty politics and get all their money in cash in priority. If the people can have a indirect say in what they think about the decision everyday instead of once in 5/6 years, I am sure better wiser decisions will be made by the govt. officials.

Useless Debates

The debates we take part in in schools are unrealistic and non-practical. The world doesn't and can't function from an extreme point of view. Maybe these debates may play a part in a students' narrow thought process by not accepting the whole picture or talking about things he/she doesn't believe in. Why should kids at a young age take stands on issues where the best solution in the real world is usually the middle ground.

If indeed the students' thought process has to be evaluated, his vocabulary and speaking skills have to be tested, let there be a competition of how should certain problems be solved instead of blind arguing as in a debate.

Let big or small or technical problems be thrown to this non-brainwashed people to come up with maybe some very innovative solutions.

How should India tackle the China threat? Or what kind of new design will you make for machine that has to clean up mines. What kind of mobile games would be a hit with adults or children?

Why not make the students really think, discuss and speak about it? 

Guess what, Nokia went to kids around the world and asked them to draw what they would like their mobile to look like with what features. And, this is how even big companies get ideas for the future.

Lets make tomorrow's future think about the future rather than make them recite about the past and argue about the present.

Extreme product development/marketing

Look at the two pictures:

What did you think it was? Liquid chocolate and strawberry syrup? You would be forgiven to think that. That is what I thought it was when I first saw this. Coloured shapely bottles with pictures of two tweens on it. I opened and smelled it and found the smell of chocolate and strawberry syrups respectively. But what was surprising was the brand name on it: Parachute advansed. Parachute brand is the most popular cocunut oil brand which is mainly used as a hair oil(and also for cooking). Ok, so I assumed Parachute has entered the edible eateries segment with syrups. But advansed is like a technology used for refining the hair products for specific use. Just to be sure, I read what the product actually was. Turns out it was shampoo.

Almost 99% of the people would have thought it to be something other than a shampoo(with the word shampoo written in such small words on the bottle)

Lets look at the consequences: How will a parent convince a three or four year old that the product the kid is demanding to eat is not an eatable in the first place. It looks like a delicious eatable, smells like one too. Big trouble ahead for parents!

What suppose the parent adds this 'syrup' on a home made cake or on an icecream/milkshake and gives it to the kid? I wonder if the company is going to get sued for making kids ill...

Since the marketers are "always" "trying" to make things "easy" and "convenient" for the consumers, why not they come up with a product which can be used for multiple purposes? Say you get up, and brush your teeth with this product as a toothpaste, then squeeze out some more of this stuff and use it as a soap, wash off and then apply some more on the body and let it dry working as a moisturiser. Then scoop some more and apply onto the bread and enjoy a delicious sandwich on way to the office. Won't such a many-in-one product "delight" customers?

Consumers can then need not have to remember so many things to buy when they go to a supermarket. Things will be more easily manageble. From cleaning the shelf of the bathroom that has on the average 3 to 5 or more different products to not throwing away unused product since it has reached the expiry data as it will be used frequently. A frequent traveller can slip in one of these many-in-one products into the travel bag and not have to worry to find the many things as used currently running across the house to just pack a bag. Maybe consolidation of products is the next level/generation of marketing and product development in particular for the marketers. The irony of this game is that fewer marketers would be required when this is done. A true revolution!

5 reasons why US is going to go downhill

Frequent International Interferences

The frequency with which US is involved in fighting other countries since 2001 is very high. Iraq, Afganistan, Pakistan and now Libya. The costs are huge, but the benefits in terms of oil is greater for USA. But the skepticism of the world on its activities is increasing all the while. The conspiracy theory on the attack on the pentagon, the non-provability of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, Contradicting claims of the US and North Korea on the torpedo that sunk the South Korean ship, Doubts if Osama Bin Laden was actually killed by a US raid,etc are helping build the skepticism on what US says.

Spill Out of Crises

The European debt crises in Ireland, Greece and expected crises in Portugal and Spain have brought the attention of the economists to the debt amounts of the countries and see a realistic picture of US debt. They have started questioning the assumptions and no longer see it as rational in blindly justifying US debt as something godly and always safe. The US crisis itself has forced the US economists to relook at the US debt and justify themselves being called rational. S&P's negative outlook on US sovereign debt is just the beginning of being rational. Faith of and on the dollar has diminished and is expected to further diminish. No one has yet able to think a perfect currency/thing which can be used to measure against all other currencies. The only possible solution that seems close to come to place in a few years time maybe the equivalent of the SDR(Special Drawing Right) of the IMF. It is equivalent to the basket of freely convertible currrencies. But in the coming scenario, Yuan may be added to this basket sometime in the current decade when China allows complete convertibility. The complete faith on the US Dollar is going to come down. The draw down of the US Dollar forex reserves is also going to play a major role in the downhill of US.

Internet

More internet availability and accessibility in the world in helping others know of the torture faced by US victims in Guatemala and the killing of two unarmed Pakistanis by a CIA contractor. Not to mention, the widespread news of wikileaks and videos of violent human rights violations by US soldiers in Iraq is there for all to see. Add to this, the ease and fastness with which conspiracy theories  are spread.

Weapons Technology

One of the main strengths of US has been its military muscle. The world's dependency on that is reducing. China is growing rapidly in weapons technology with the development of the anti-satellite missile, the anti-aircraft carrier ballistic missile, the stealth aircraft and of course, their own aircraft carriers. Japan has initiated developing its own fighter aircrafts and it is expected to reach the market in the coming years. India is planning on ICBMs(Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) and the Brahmos is world's leading cruise missile. The FGFA program with the Russians for the development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft is also supposed to be leading edge. With money always acting as a crunch to all the countries, most of these countries will be willing to sell the products to 'their' allies. The market share of US is going to go down. Compared to the other countries, US cannot fight on price too.

Rising Developing Countries

The rise of the BRICS countries and their collective power to say 'No' to US to bulldoze its way in trade agreements and climate change conferences at the cost of others shows reduced US ability to force others. The recent mention of British PM David Cameroon wanting the next IMF head to be from Asia also shows the way things are going in the world.

Aligning the interest of govt. and its people

There is a serious lack of alignment in the interests of the government and the collective of the people ruled. How else can anyone explain the future government's intention to liquidate the state/country in the name of helping the poor people.

Take the example of Tamilnadu. The DMK government came to power promising a television for each household (along with )if they win the election. They won the elections and this time upped the ante. Now, they want to give grinder or mixie to all the women. Plus, a laptop to all the students studying in govt. and govt aided colleges. The opposition party, AIADMK, is desperate to win and is playing the DMK's card even better. If they win the election, they promise to give grinder, mixie & a fan to all the women. Students of govt, govt aided and private colleges will get a laptop each and even class 11 and 12 students.

One question that begs to be asked here is: at whose cost? Is it at the  leader's personal cost? Of course not. It is with OPM. Other People's Money. In this case, the very people they will rule.

This problem is occuring and re-occuring due to two different reasons. One, the politicians and the government say that the ultimate test is people's vote and thats all that counts. Easy for them to say. After all, they have no stake or interest in the common people and it is the people who are going to suffer in the medium to long term.

They are no KPI (Key performance Indicators) that their bosses(the common people) or an independent arm of the government have setup or are monitoring. And there is no reward/punishment for the government and its officials based on these KPIs. The KPIs are usually used as a passive parameter to compare the policy initiatives with the effect on the ground by statistical organisations and is used more for academics and deciding policy directives. They are not currently being used as a strict performance measure of the government based on which its rewards are based.

Two, the government is able to exploit the differences between the poor and the others (working middle class and rich). The non-poor have televisions, fan, can afford spending on gold in marriage, etc. The poor on the other hand cant think of months or years ahead when they are focussed on earning their next meal to survive another day. This difference in interests gives the government ample leverage to play the pro-poor populists game while ignoring the long term impact of the decisions. This is equivalent to selling the family silver to get some income to dispose off immediately. I am not against poor, but providing televisions to all of them doesnt serve the purpose of taking them out of poverty. Where will they keep the television? Whats the use of the TV if the government doesnt have enough money to setup power plants and hence doesnt provide electricity to run the TV.

This problem of differed interests in similar that of secured and unsecured lenders in case of a distressed company. While the secured lenders would like a restructuring to happen and turn around the company, the unsecured lenders would like to see the company liquidated. The secured lenders have nothing much to lose as they have security cover over what whatever amounts have been lent. On the other hand, the unsecured lenders have some amount of money to get out of liquidation and if the restructuring doesnt turn the company around, they lose everything. One of the solutions used to align the interests of the secured and unsecured creditors is the concept of strips. Here, all the debt(secured and unsecured) is pooled up and stripped into equivalent pieces. So now, each creditor has both secured and unsecured portions in his 'strip'. Once, these strips are there, all the lenders can come to the best effective way to solve the problem (restructuring or liquidation) based on the business risks involved. 

A similar approach needs to be planned and used to align the interests of the poor and the non-poor so that the government doesn't play the divide and rule game with its people. I am yet to figure out how to make the 'strips'.

Marketing ideas

I think I have a couple of marketing ideas for the FMCG segment and for opticians which are yet to hit the market (atleast in India)

Considering the fact that around 70% of Indians eat non-veg, I think non-veg flavoured chips will do great business in India. Think Butter Chicken chips, Prawn chips and various fish flavoured chips. 

Instead of Fish & Chips, one can now have Fish In Chips :D

Considering that foreign markets have non-veg flavoured chips, I wonder what is taking the Indian market so long. I think the time will come soon.

One more idea I have been thinking which is yet to hit the market is spectacles for which the frames /sides can be changed based on the occasion/dress colour. Something of the plug the frame/side and wear type.

Hello marketing people, are you alive?

Genetically engineered exterminations

I have wondered for long at times how to totally destroy some species like cockroaches or mosquitoes. At times and at some places, they are so enormous and they cost humans a lot (think about the dengue scare at the start of 2010 in Delhi).

One of the best strategies is to be implant a virus/disease in the species which spreads for a few months/years among the whole species across generations and then like a ticking time bomb goes off all on one very fine day. Entire affected species gone! Boom!

But unfortunately, the only problem is that all viruses/diseases harm/kill the victim after a cycle that starts when it enters the organism. So the universal "all in one boom" cant happen at a particular day as such.

Now, scientists have finally got half the solution of the perfect genocide.

Enter the GM mosquitoes!

Scientists have created infertile males which they will release in dengue affected areas. Females won’t produce offspring with these guys, even after mating with them. Studies have found that dengue-infected populations fell by 80%. The males are engineered to die off naturally, and females only mate within their species, so the GM traits are self-limiting.

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/11/gm_mosquitoes_wipe_out_dengue.html

Taking this one step further, the ideal solution is to have sexually transmitted infertility. Then we obtain Success. As this species is not monogamous, the infertility will spread and make the whole species infertile with no heirs whatsoever!

Welcome to the new age of genetically engineered totalitarian obliteration!

On the same lines, I just hope AIDS is not some kind of extermination planned by some aliens/external forces...

Ear fitting Earphones

I have constantly got a little iritated by the ill-fitting APPLE white round earphones. The  circumference of these kinds of earphones are much bigger than most ear holes of people I know. Over the last few years a few comfortable (somewhat!) earphones have been developed. Like this rubber ended earphones that will flex itself to the shape of the earhole (My suggestion: this should be more conical for fitting perfectly to any ear).

Here are a few innovative/fashionable/stylish earphones I found on the net:

Some more of such earphones can be found here:

http://oddyfunny.blogspot.com/2010/09/weirdest-headphones-for-arduous.html

But what I want is some odd shaped earphones that will fit my earhole perfectly and not just pop out if I move my head:

More like this:

Time to make earphones a genuine accessory - a display of your personality.... Opportunity still there for some big phone company focusing on music phones to stand out and attract huge customers. 

I guess some fashion designer, marketing guy, creative guys and some engineers (engineers with focus on functionality and ergonomics, not the sound engineers) are needed in the companies making the simple and revolutionary earphones.
Also, the earphones should get smaller and be embedded in some sort of a earplug type of thing to get the perfect  fit for the ear.

Changing the Life insurance game in India in one masterstroke

There is a great big market opportunity for one of the life insurance players in India to become get a good big market share pie and tap the untapped markets. They need to unsettle the market just as Tata Docomo radicalised the telecom market with the 1paise/second plan. Everyone knows that there is a huge market for life insurance in India but none of the existing insurance players are taking the strategy of large volumes and lower commisions as in the best and purest form of life insurance called term insurance. Today when people talk of life insurance, people's first recall is LIC or rather LIC is the synonym of investments and life insurance together. The company which is willing to go the term insurance path can show that the benefit of low insurance costs for huge amounts of sums insured and can easily attract people. As many Indians are too stuck up with the idea of getting something back, they can show an advertisement of how somebody buys a car/bike insurance without a second thought for saving his/her bike, but when it comes to their own life, they dont seem to be concerned about the family in case of the loss of the earning member. The potent combination of low premium costs and likening it to auto insurance can get the middle class out of the rut of LIC's highly agent driven (read brainwashing) customers.

Now, only if someone out there is listening!

Ideal personality: Why MBTI is so not right..

When I first knew about the MBTI test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator) and that I was supposed to take it, I thought I was definitely strong in some areas and was kind of in the middle for some of the other parameters.

I was administered the MBTI test at my management school and I found it very hard to choose one of the two answers when asked to choose from. I had fair amount of instances on either side and if it was another day, I could have as well ticked the other option. With many a questions in limbo, I didnt really feel the test helped in testing me, or I was not quite the normal guy falling quite clearly in such sharp black and white categories (as it should have been perhaps).

Somewhere down the line in the last 1.5 years, I have been able to see that all for each pair of MBTI, one preference or the other is more beneficial depending on the circumstances. Sometimes, keeping your mouth shut helps to prevent further embarrassment and trouble, while at times going out of way to shout out your point is beneficial.

 

Similar with Sensing and iNtution. Wiki says { Individuals who prefer sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches, which seem to come "out of nowhere". They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data. On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information. } Again this preference is and should be based on the situation (or atleast that is how I have always used it). Without intution, how else can one even try to understand such vague things like atoms, their chemistry, radio frequencies, nuclear physics, integration and differentiation in mathematics, visions of leaders, faith on god, etc. On the other hand, how can you ever make a sound decision without any basis. Both extremes seem ridiculous.

If you think over it, even the other two pairs will be like that.

 

MBTI test says that these are personal preferences only and nobody can be a perfectly any of the 16 different conmbinations and it is not strictly a type to be classified into. People do exhibit both sides of a pair. The point why then classify it like that? Why not have three things instead of a pair. The third should be the center region in between the extremes of the pair.

And that I think is the perfect personality!

A person capable of being in neither of the MBTIs, but right in the center for all the four pairs and one who feels most confused as to what he really is after being given the test. He will be the most suitable in the ever so dynamic situations of the current and future worlds where prefering different ways to different situations and maybe even different ways for same situation at a different time is required. [If you understood the last statement, I assure you that you will qualify as "intelligent and wise" in Ajit's Intelligence test ;) ]

A perfect personality is a flecible one capable of handling a delicate as well as a hard situation. He is flexible in approach and knows when to stick to what and what is to be achieved. Extrovert helps in life to make new friends and contacts and achieve the unimaginable but being introvert and doing your own work is beneficial when you have a job in hand to complete all by yourself. The perfect personality should be able to do the right mix of both extremes right one after another or sometimes even simultanoeusly. e.g: Being introvert while being extrovert like when you go to a party and introduce yourself or make an effort to meet up someone(extrovert behaviour) but hardly talk anything (introvert behaviour). It is in a way like playing good cop, bad cop alone and seeing which is the best way the situation can be handled and then choosing the suitable role.

Drowning in smells

So you use a soap/body lotion, a moisturiser, some talc, deodarent, hair oil/gel/cream, face wash, face scrub, mouthwash, hand wash; shaving cream & after shave(for men); and many more products for women.

Have you tried counting how many of them have a neutral or no smell in them. If you are going by the lastest or the most fashionable of the products, it is very likely that you will find it hard to even find one or two of them with no smell. So in that case you are daily using a concoction of products with smells across the spectrum from sandalwood handwash to menthol shaving cream to walnut face wash to jasmine talc to metal deoderants. Interesting! So what exact smell do you want to convey to yourself and to people around you? 

The more ironic thing about this is apart from the deodarant, most of the other products we use have a smell only when we bring out nose to the product and smell it and many of them are used in such a way that they are washed off(soap, scrub, face wash, shaving cream).

So what significant benefit do these products, each of which comes in tens of flavours really serve? 

Do people buy and use varied smelling products for just the initial virgin smell of it while using it? Do they really want to override the previous smell with the next product they use? Do they think the people close to them will smell all the flavours that they have used?

I dont know if today's marketers' have done any study relating to this. The FMCG marketers are too category focussed to sell their products and I dont think they would have thought of the overall strategic smell a person really wants to emit/give out. Maybe the biggie FMCGs should think about  making products with a strategic smell in mind.

Big views, any takers?

Even Mukesh Ambani http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Think-of-economic-growth-in-qualitative-terms-Mukesh-Ambani/articleshow/5703503.cms backs my view I had expressed some time back in http://ajitjagan.blogspot.com/2010/01/case-of-perpetual-growth.html where I said "The concept of growth has unfortunately moved from qualitative growth to quantitative growth."

Stopping drunken driving

Many a people are killed in India and elsewhere annually due to the effects of drunken driving. Apart from the nice "cute" messages and talks given by traffice policemen in schools, I believe the traffic should do more. Firstly, remember that the majority of the drunken driving happens by college going students, the age group of 18 to 22 and beyond. The traffic police departments should team up with doctors and hospitals to make a video presentation and interview of people and relatives involved in accidents. The gruesome photos and videos of accident victims with flesh and bone and writhing in pain should be shown to the students to hit them hard with the effects of drunken driving. They should be so shocked that they will always remember it and  that will force them to not do drunken driving and not co-operate with drunken friends to drive and travel with them and discourage people from drinking and driving. These presentations should be made part of their curriculum and compulsory for all students in colleges.

If a doctor can go into depression seeing a few accident cases in a week, a half hr video session to college students will do wonders to keep their ego and arrogance(the main reasons drunken driving happens) in check.

Destroy the pyramids

Well, it is time we destroy the pyramids and start constructing apartments/flats. If we are to remove the widening rich-poor divide, the government will have to make some new policies and rules to discourage the people at the bottom of the pyramid to stop growing and simultaneously make them jump to the highest level. So how is it possible?

I have a probable solution. Yes, it is a little radical but here is a solution.

Make it compulsory for the rich to have/raise atleast 3 kids. If the family has one or two biological kids of their own, then they should adopt two or one kid respectively of their choice from the thousands of orphanage kids in the country and the adopted should have the same right as any other kid in the house and should also have the adopting parents' surname and religion. If they already have 3 kids, then they should adopt atleast one more. Such rules will make the following things possible:
1. There is a real chance for the poorest of the poor to come up in life if they are adopted.
2. The caste discrimination between the higher rich castes and the lower poor castes will come down drastically.
3. Parents who have always wanted either a boy or a girl but couldn't conceive one will have their wish come true.
4. The rich will be forced to have their riches divided between more children. So the average wealth of the richest will fall a lot bridging the rich-poor gap.

On the other end of the spectrum, the people at the bottom of the pyramid should be punished in some way for having more than two kids. Their selfishness to have more kids is putting more strain on the society and making the society as a whole poorer and creating excesses following the invisible leg theory
http://ajitjagan.blogspot.com/2009/09/invisible-leg.html

Till now, people are only avoiding to solve the real issues and problems and trying only to solve the symptoms of the problem. How else can people keep giving ideas of how to keep the people going up the pyramid structure while continuing to have the pyramid in the first place? Why not realise that the pyramid structure of society is not the most efficient and worthwhile of structures? I think the apartment structure is better. There is also a fair chance in the apartment structure that the non-performing may come down by a level and someone may have a better chance to go up.

A bloody good idea

You would think the world of medicine and finance don't mix... Well, not until now...

The following is an idea I gave to a market development head of an organisation in the business of stock and commodity exchanges. I got selected for this company based on this idea and many others I gave, but I have declined the offer. If this idea is indeed implemented, I would have at least managed one of my ideas to actually take off and see it in the real world.

Problem: Hospitals need a regular supply of “whole blood” and “packed cells” for giving it to patients. Maintaining a constant supply of these of the right blood type at the crucial life/death scenario is difficult.

Idea/Solution: Trade blood contracts on the exchange.

Buyers: Hospitals

Sellers: Blood banks, NGOs that do Blood donation camps/drives.

Benefits:

·         Helps hospitals get the required quantity and right type of quality tested blood in advance.

·         Helps hospitals save more lives and being more reliable.

Details:

In India, during a medical emergency, the onus is on the patient's relatives to arrange for replacement of blood. India has many blood banks, all functioning in a decentralized fashion. In the current system, there is no tool to find number of blood donors of the required blood group in current time and place, there is no interaction between blood banks, no exchange of blood or its components.

“Whole blood” is the blood available in human beings. Whole blood is extracted from the body during blood donations. The human blood has both solid parts (Red blood cells, White blood cells, Platelets, etc) and liquid parts (called serum). The whole blood can be stored upto a period of 15-21 days at 4°C. Whole blood is given to patients in case of major blood loss as in the case of accidents. The cost of a pint (Indian pint = 350ml) of whole blood is approximately Rs.650. This cost is not for the blood, but for the testing, transporting, storage and personnel cost.

Whole blood can also be separated into components and be stored. Certain components of the blood need to be given to patients in certain cases. Whole blood minus the liquid parts is called “packed cells”. Packed cells are given to patients usually in OBG cases. The cost of a pint (Indian pint = 350ml) of packed cells is approximately Rs.650-700 (slightly higher due to separation/sedimentation charges)

5.1 million units of blood are collected every year in India. The demand of blood is very high and there is a deficiency of 30-40 percent of blood as per WHO norms.

(Src: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/218536/119745403644.htm)

There is also a supply demand gap in the different states and areas. The main proposal of this idea is to make the commodity exchange as a marketplace for buyers (hospitals) to buy blood from the sellers. The sellers have expertise in procuring fresh blood, testing for diseases, classification based on blood types and storing them. The buyers can buy the required quantities of the right blood type from the sellers. This will enable hospitals to save more lives and become reliable from a patient’s point of view.

                This idea will enable the suppliers (Blood banks and NGOs) to try to increase their sourcing and increase voluntary blood donations in India. The suppliers will try to have captive donors and contact them for regular donations which will boost the blood supply available in India and close the supply demand gap.

Types of instruments (future/option) and contract specifications are to be decided.

Constraints/Challenges: Hospitals need a license to buy and store blood from the MCI (Medical Council of India).

Market size: There are a total of 2609 blood banks in India as of 30^th June 2009 out of which there are 753 private hospitals with blood banks.

(Src: http://cdsco.nic.in/html/BloodList.html

http://bloodbanksdelhi.com/content/LicensedBloodBanks.htm,

http://www.indiabloodbank.com/bloodbanks.php)

Forget the father, forget the mother

Forget the terms "mother" and "father". It does not seem to make any sense to me anymore. After the recent event that has taken place in the US, I am very confused about the definition of father and mother. I have a few questions that I would like you to answer before I go ahead with this topic:
1. Does giving birth to a baby make a person a mother?
2. Does providing the egg for making the baby constitute making the mother?
3. Has the mother always have to be a female?

In the most conservative answers, yes will hold good for all these questions. But think a little more liberally. Answer1: No. Haven't you heard of surrogate mothers? The egg donor is called the mother. Ans2: yes, a biological mother. But no, in case of adoptions.
Ans3: Now I am really confused about the meaning of the mother in the first place. So I will say cant say. I will explain this part. In the most reccent event, a father has given birth to a child. The story is as follows: There was this girl born 35 years ago and around ten years ago got her sex changed by surgically removing her mammary glands and taking testosterone, but retained her original reproductive organs. Then the state of Oregon in US pronounced that the person was man enough to be called a man(now this is legal). So she is now a he. He marries a woman. But the woman has had hysterectomy( a surgery where the uterus is removed) and cannot bear a child. So he stops his testosterone doses, orders a donor sperm, gets artificial insemination done, and he reproduces naturally(remember he still has the female reproductive organs). So he(legally a man) bears a child. 

So now I am really confused about the role of a person as a mother? What is the one critical condition that makes a person a mother? Looking by the way things are going, gays and lesbians wanting to adopt and raise children and also use donor eggs/sperms to have kids of their own, the definition of father and mother is going to be very blur and fuzzy. Interestingly, I have a solution to this :) Forget the terms father and mother. Call them parents. Primary parent and secondary parent. (Just like in a joint bank account). If the parents have two kids, one could be the primary parent for one and the secondary for another and alternatively for the second kid. This generalisation will bring all kinds of parents to the same level(Gay parents, Normal heterosexual parents, Lesbian parents, Single dad parent, Single mom parent and guardians for kids without parents). All will anyway be taking on the role of a human being who wishes well for the kid and wants the kids to succeed. So we can put an end to stopping the discrimination based on gender and then even the sexual minorities(cross dressers, transvestites, gays, lesbians and people with genetic defects where they may have the sex chromosomes of XXY and very rarely XXXY) will benefit and everyone should be treated as equal human beings. Oh! And by the way haven't you heard "Research is on to make a sperm in the lab just from a woman"? Science keeps getting interesting. :-) If you know or think you know the answer to this question, please comment :"What is the one critical condition that makes a person a mother?"

Update 26 Sep 2012:
After 4 years of proposing my above idea, France is set to ban words 'mother' and 'father' on official documents under plans to legalize gay marriage.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/09/25/france-set-to-ban-words-mother-and-father-under-plans-to-legalize-gay-marriage/