Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 58 – Economics & Financial Acumen

My dear friends,

Economics and Finance have become the driving force of Humanity in modern times. A profound acumen is necessary for the empowerment of the whole of humanity to participate in an all-inclusive economic process. For example, providing good health care and quality education for the underprivileged or disadvantaged populations is not a charity but an investment creating quality human resource for expanded markets furthering the reach and scope of the economic engine (as discussed in World Economic Forum 2006 at Davos in Switzerland).

Three terms are generally used for Economic & Financial attributes

1. Sense,
2. Consciousness, and
3. Acumen

Sense

A lack of sense like “Pennywise Pound Foolish” transpires when you are purchasing a hot water system for your bathroom, and you opt for an Electric Geyser of Rs 6,000/- against a solar water heater of Rs 30,000/- with no running electricity bill.

Consciousness

Delay in commissioning of a power project of 500 MW by a single day can cause a revenue loss of nearly Rs. 1 Cr. to the Generating Company and Rs. 10 Cr. to the national exchequer since multiplier effect of electricity on country’s economy (GDP) is more than 10 times. If this kind of awareness/ consciousness can be generated from concept to commissioning in the minds of engineers, time & cost over-runs can be eliminated from the landscape of project executions.

Acumen

Back in 1975, once a trainee engineer asked the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) President in U.K. a very embarrassing question during an Annual Dinner…as to why they were spending so much on the training of foreign scholars. What was their hidden agenda? (I was also present in that meeting as one of the scholars to listen to the prophetic acumen of the President). 

The President replied with a smile, “Even if one amongst you becomes GM of his company in his own country with a soft corner and appreciation for British Engineering & British products, even after 20 years from now, in one single contract, I shall recover all the expenses incurred on the entire batch of engineers sitting here”.

Deeper Intuitional Acumen

Rita w/o Prof. Robert E. Lucas of University of Chicago while divorcing in 1989 had a provision placed in the property settlement promising her half the winnings, should her husband receive a Nobel Prize before 31-Oct-1995. Getting Nobel Prize for Economics on 10-Oct-1995, Prof. Lucas had to shell out half of his One million $ winnings. His Nobel Prize was on the theory showing how Consumer experience rather than Govt. intervention shapes national economies. He could not envisage his divorced wife’s intervention in his own future economy!

Such deeper Financial Acumen can’t be taught in any Advanced School of Business. It can only be developed in a School of Life where spiritual intuitional powers interplay.

Time Value of money

A 1,000 Cr Project with a construction schedule of 10 years eventually costs Rs 1,650 Cr with 8% escalation per year on the unspent amount as per the normal implementation/expenditure profile. People generally keep planning (for future!) on the present value of money. This should be avoided by constant awareness that there is ‘time value’ of money.

Project time assignment for optimizing the cost

A World Bank study reveals the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As can be seen, Developing countries’ Model entails higher cost due to the disproportionate assignment of time amongst Planning, Implementation and Problem-solving. Developed countries, spending 40% of their time on “Planning”, demonstrate that they believe in the dictum “Well Begun is half done”.

NPTI Case Study of Financial Management

NPTI had decades of baggage of being a financial burden on the Ministry of Power, its revenue generation to expenditure ratio being 37% on an average when I joined as CEO in the year 2000. We decided to become 100% self-sustained at the earliest. We started looking at our operations microscopically. We found that there was a regular decrease of training load year by year from within the power sector. We realized that not being policy driven, training was becoming a least priority item on the agenda of Power Utilities. We approached the Ministry of Power to permit us to draft a “National Training Policy for the Power Sector”. It was agreed, prepared and got approved by the Union Parliament with the mandatory provisions such as “Training for All”-Minimum One week Training in a year made compulsory for each and every person working in the Power Sector, Provision of 1.5 to 5% of Salary Budget allocated to Training etc. This entailed 10 Lakh Trainee-weeks of Training Load spontaneously. NPTI being the sole National Power Training Organization in the Power Sector, everyone started looking at us for training.

However, making the National Training Policy was a long drawn process from concept to implementation, going through a series of meetings, seminars and workshops with the stakeholders at state, zonal and central levels, arriving at a consensus, Ministry of Power finally going to the Parliament for sanction, gazette notification and so on. This long drawn process took almost 2 years. Eventually, it was launched by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Power from the premises of NPTI on 27^th March’2002.

Our resolve was to improve financially from Day-1. We looked at the possibility of educating and training the future generation of Power Engineers. On the training front, we realized that In-depth Power Training cannot happen without a strong conceptual back-up in the field of Power. For instance, without conceptualizing ‘Reactive power and Power factor’ can anyone imagine training on Capacitor banks; without understanding ‘Rankine Cycle’ can anyone predict the Performance of thermal plants?

Without feeling the Sine wave (the pulse) of Power Sector there can be no effective skill training, we were convinced. Academics and Skill Training are the two sides of the same coin. This led us to the backward integration of Power Training with academics. We started with Post-Diploma course in Thermal Power Engineering, B.E./ B.Tech. (Power); Post Graduate Diploma in Power Engineering and MBA in Power Management on the eve of Power Sector Reforms.

National Training Policy for the Power Sector did help us in generating training load but payments were still lagging from the bankrupt electricity boards on the plea that any cut on the budget is first applied on the training segment. In order to resolve this issue, we organized a workshop in New Delhi for Regulators (SRCs and the CERC) who agreed to include training expenses in the O&M budget forming a part of tariff structure for the entire Power Sector as was being accepted for NTPC. With this, the revenue component of Training started flowing with the tariff realization and consequently, our arrears started liquidating.

End of the day, NPTI was accepted as an ideal model of ‘Backward integration of Power Training with Academics’, UGC giving in-principle approval of Deemed University to the Centre for Advanced Management & Power Studies (CAMPS) of NPTI running a unique MBA program on Power Management, NPTI becoming the largest Power Training Institute in the world (expanding its 4-units to 10-units across the 5-Power Zones in the country), with the number of Trainees increasing by >600%, Training Load exceeding 75,000 Trainee-weeks per annum and at the same time becoming 100% self-sustained.

Summarizing the above, it can be inferred that “The wind may blow from any direction, but the direction in which you go depends on how you set the sails”.

Above given are only a few facets of economic astuteness (setting the sails) to show that there is a link between economic activity and human consciousness and spiritual sense. Deep acumen needs to be developed and practiced in life to achieve economic brilliance for the benefit and well-being of the Society at large.

 

Satyamev Jayate!!!

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Dr B.S.K. Naidu, Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon, INDIA

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 57 – Spirituality

My dear friends,

Spirituality originates from the term “spirit” or “soul” which is invisible and imperceptible. Therefore people at large avoid dealing with it. But, there are several invisibles like Electricity, Magnetism, X-rays, Gravity, Goodwill and Blessings which can’t be seen but felt, having their own relevance.

India is believed to have “spirituality” in its soil, but many consider it as a pursuit to be indulged in post-retirement life. Spiritualism is not a leisure activity; it is a way of life. It is a certain way of being, turning inwards and remaining connected with the inner self- the supreme intelligence, which can convert filth into a lotus or a mango. There is a captive creator trapped within each one of us, like any other creation. We shouldn’t miss him. If we recognize the source of creation within us, we are spiritual.

Fingerprints of the Supreme Intelligence

Since the dawn of civilization man has gazed in awe at the stars, wondering what they are and how they got there. On a clear night the unaided human eye can see about 6,000 stars. Prior to the 20th century, the majority of scientists believed our own Milky Way galaxy was the entire universe, and that only about 100 million stars existed. Now, Hubble and other powerful telescopes indicate there are trillions of them clustered in over 100 billion galaxies. Our sun is like one grain of sand amidst the world’s beaches. The positioning of the cosmos besides its creation is awesome!

The coding behind DNA reveals such intelligence that it staggers the imagination. A mere pinhead of DNA contains information equivalent to a stack of paperback books that would encircle the earth 5,000 times. And DNA operates like a language with its own extremely complex software code. Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that the software of DNA is “far, far more complex than any software we have ever developed.”

Genius behind the Grand Design

Albert Einstein called the genius behind the universe “an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.” Atheist Christopher Hitchens was most perplexed by the fact that life couldn’t exist if things were different by just one degree or one hair.

Davies acknowledges “there is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all. It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe…. The impression of a Grand Design is overwhelming”.

Who am I?

If you ask a question hard enough to yourself “Who am I?” the answer comes loud enough that you are not your name, your qualification, your position, your body, your gender or your species. Consciousness (चेतना) and Energy are responsible for your existence, growth and self-healing. The moment these leave you, you are declared dead.

Is our life on Autopilot?

For most of humanity, life is on autopilot. Body consciousness overpowers our existence. Soul does not get a chance to reveal and assert itself, though it vibrates and reverberates in the form of inner voice (intuition). Its existence is also concomitant to 6^th sense or 3^rd eye.

“The source of life is within you. If you remain in touch with that source, everything about you will be beautiful” says Padma Vibhushan Sadhguru of Isha Foundation. “Talk to your own self at least once a day, otherwise you will lose an opportunity of meeting a wonderful person on earth,” said Swami Vivekananda.

We have to be constantly aware that we are spiritual beings (individualised units of supreme consciousness – we may call them God sparkles) having human experience! God sparkle (a piece of life) has unlimited scope for blossoming, flourishing and undergoing infinite expansion.

Being Spiritual

Being spiritual is just being aware of the spirit inside and attending to its needs. Our body has material needs of food, water, cleanliness, exercise etc. which we fulfil duly as it keeps us running. Similarly, our soul too has needs of peace, purity, humility, positivity, righteous living, love, bliss etc.  Do we fulfil these needs?” More we fill ourselves with these divine virtues, more happiness we will experience ourselves and receive the gift of closeness with the prime-moving divine.

Spiritual Maturity

What is spiritual maturity? Spiritual Maturity is when you stop trying to change others, …instead focus on changing yourself; when you understand everyone is right in their own perspective; when you learn to “let go”; when you understand whatever you do, you do for your own peace;

when you don’t seek approval from others; when you are at peace with yourself and you can productively use the 3-faculties of soul i.e. Mind, Intellect and Sub-conscious recordings (संस्कार).

Spirit is consciousness (चेतना), rest of our existence is energy and matter. Being spiritual is to align with the divine virtues of the spirit stated above. It can transform our lives altogether. Our actions will automatically be positive and enchanting!

Let me wish you a happy, insightful and fascinating new year 2018!

 

Satyamev Jayate!!!

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Dr B.S.K.Naidu, BE (Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., D.Eng. (Hon), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)

Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurugram, INDIA

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 56 – Responsibility

My dear friends,

The conventional meaning of responsibility is duty & accountability.

If you accept its wider meaning as ‘response-ability’, then the scenario expands.

Responsibility vis-à-vis ‘Response ability’

For example, if you see someone dying on the street out of an accident, are you responsible? The conventional meaning will suggest you “No”. But by the second meaning, you have so many options.

1. If you are a doctor, you will try direct intervention.
2. If you are not, you may call an ambulance.
3. If you don’t have ambulance contact, you may yourself take him to the nearest hospital.
4. If you are not in a car, you may stop the next passing car and escort him to the hospital.
5. If you discover the identity of the injured person, you may inform his kith and kin.

Responsibility is enslavement or freedom?

Your eraser falls off a table. If you feel you are responsible, you have several choices before you:

1. You could simply bend down and pick it up.
2. You could ask someone to help.
3. You might pick it up when you leave the table.

You have a variety of options. But if you don’t take responsibility, you have nothing to choose from. Which is freedom? To have choices or to have none?

Responsibility is self-application

When we praise a person as being responsible, what exactly we mean? Primarily we think that he takes charge of the job assigned to him. He does not lack “self-application”. I remember when I was the Chief (Planning) at NHPC, one manager was posted from the field. His table used to be absolutely clean with all the papers shifted from the “In” tray to the “Out” tray. The secret, I discovered, was that as soon as any paper would arrive on his table; he would start looking at it from the angle “which direction it should be marked to, downward, lateral or to some other department for action/ comments” in other words “passing the buck”. He was not prepared to take responsibility for any of the issues. He soon became a symbol of non-self-application and proved unfit for the department.

Responsibility vis-à-vis Courage & Leadership

Taking responsibility is the ultimate essence of personal courage. The following is a fine example of personal courage on one side and magnanimity & leadership on the other.

In 1979, India launched its first SLV-3 built by ISRO, whose Chairman was Prof. Satish Dhawan and APJ Abdul Kalam was Project Director of SLV Mission. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure. Failure analysis was done and presented to the chairman Prof. Dhawan. Everyone was convinced about the technical cause-and-effect sequence and future failure management measures got settled. Just before the meeting was over, Dr Kalam suddenly stood up and said “Just 4 minutes before the launch, I had observed some leakage of Red Fuming Nitric Acid (RFNA) but ignored it thinking it was insignificant. As a Mission Director, I should have put the launch on hold and saved the flight. In a similar situation abroad, the Mission Director would have lost his job. I, therefore, take responsibility for the SLV-3 failure” Touched by Kalam’s honesty and personal courage in taking the responsibility, Prof. Dhawan said, “I am going to put Kalam in orbit!”

Dr. Kalam was very frightened to face the media and answer their criticism of wasting millions of people’s money. Prof. Satish Dhawan took Dr.Kalam to the press meet and made him sit aside and he said “We failed! But I have very good trust in my team that next time we will be succeeding for sure” and made everyone believe in the team’s competence.

The very next year, 18 July 1980, the same team led by Dr. Kalam successfully launched Rohini RS-1 into the orbit. The whole country was proud and cheering for the success of the launch. Prof. Satish Dhawan congratulated Dr. Kalam and the team and asked Dr. Kalam to conduct the press conference that day. The rest is History. Dr. Kalam led many more successful launches and became “Missile Man” of India. This would not have happened without what Prof. Satish Dhawan did on the day of his failure!

“Taking responsibility is the greatest mark of a great leader.”

Former U.S. President Harry S Truman was known to say, “The buck stops here.” That meant that people below his level may “pass the buck” or not take responsibility, but he could not afford to do so because he had the ultimate responsibility!

Invisible emotions driving one towards responsibility

There seem to be three invisible emotions which drive one towards responsibility. These are Love, Fear and Greed. If you love someone you feel responsible towards his/her concerns. If you have some kind of fear like losing your job; you will be forced to take responsibility. If you have any sort of greed say getting a fast-track promotion, you would try to take higher and higher responsibility to prove yourself. Taking responsibility makes you win hearts, getting over fear and accomplishing scintillating success. So, Take the responsibility and win the world!

 

Satyamev Jayate!!!

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu, BE (Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., D.Eng. (Hon), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)

Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurugram, INDIA

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 55 “Sincerity”

My dear friends,

Please think if you have ever searched for,

1. A single term which can be the root of all the attributes you wish to count and evaluate at the time of appraisal of people working with you.
2. A single characteristic which distinguishes you as an outstanding and successful person?
3. A single virtue which can revolutionise our national life and character.

It is SINCERITY, SINCERITY, and SINCERITY!!!

Please don’t get surprised to know that-

1. I have had a professional friend who if promised me a time when he would revert over the telephone; never failed in his life; MTNL, VSNL, be it any service network, never failed him.
2. A relative of mine was known for his punctuality so much so that people used to correct their wrist watches with his time of reporting to his own high office and other social events.
3. I have a family friend who has never failed till date to wish me, my wife, my children and my grandchildren to greet us on our respective birthdates.
4. My wife has not failed even once to feed me on time till date in the last over 40-years of our married life.
5. My boss in England, suddenly having trouble with his eyesight one day in his office, was to be rushed to the Hospital. Before leaving office he dictated a two page letter regarding my forthcoming visit to Scotland for the concerned person to receive and take care of me and my wife since we were foreigners visiting their country for the first time.

I can go on counting such examples which are propelled by one single characteristic i.e. “sincerity”.

Sincerity encompasses a large domain of virtues

Sincerity means Genuineness, Honesty, Loyalty, Seriousness, Earnestness, Authenticity, Truthfulness, Integrity, Probity, Forthrightness, Bona-fides, good faith, trustworthiness, straightforwardness, openness, candidness, uprightness, unpretentiousness etc. etc. Sincerity comes out of love, respect, commitment and human virtues imbibed within.

Sincerity Vis-à-vis Job Performance & Success

At Reliance Energy Management Institute, Mumbai we once discovered that all the dozen odd evaluated attributes for Job performance like Job knowledge, quality & quantity of output, time management, cost consciousness, planning & organising, initiative, customer orientation & responsiveness etc. were all linked to “Sincerity” at the roots.

Swami Vivekananda once said “Every successful man must have behind him somewhere tremendous sincerity and integrity and that is the cause of his signal success in life. The degree of sincerity marks the degree of success everywhere.”

Sincerity at the focal point of a strong national character: Japanese Example

Let me start from a story that stays in my mind since long. In a Japanese Railway compartment an old lady takes out a needle and thread from her purse and starts stitching a seat cover that had opened up. Someone asked “was it not the duty of the railway authorities” She replied, “it was the duty of every citizen since it was a national property”. The Japan Railway and other connecting subways and systems are well-known for their incredibly punctual schedules. As such, when there is a delay of even “a minute”, they issue late slips for passengers to take to their employers. After all, it leaves a very bad impression if you’re late to work.

It’s not uncommon for people to work several more hours after their contractual quitting time to complete the day’s targeted output. No overtime payments expected!

Japanese tourists pick up trash from around camp sites and rest stops even when they didn’t make the mess themselves. Japanese students clean their schools by themselves for a good 30 minutes each day. Making it your business to keep communal space clean is a distinct mindset emerging out of your sincerity towards the environment.

Soon after arriving in Japan, when Casey Baseel was still getting used to commuting by train instead of a car, he left his bag on the Yamanote Line. As soon as he noticed, he told the stationmaster, who suggested him to wait for 60 minutes until the same train came back around, as the Yamanote is a loop line. Sure enough, when it did, his bag was right where he had left it. Nothing was taken from inside. I found similar things happening with me in London Tube Train!

The latest government survey on national character has found that 83% of Japanese if they were to be reborn, would choose to live in Japan rather than anywhere else though more than 60% said they feel apprehensive about natural disasters.

Sincerity to each other, sincerity to the Community, sincerity to the Society, sincerity towards Environment, sincerity to the Nation, sincerity to the land of your birth-all in one !!

Can we take some lesson to enrich our life?

 

Satyamev Jayate!!!

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu, BE (Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Eng. (Hon), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)

Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurugram, INDIA

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 54 “Directional Shift of Disorders”

My dear friends,

It is commonly advised by the spiritual masters that one should conquer the following 5- Disorders (विकार) to make life meaningful and powerful.

1. काम- Lust
2. क्रोध- Anger
3. लोभ- Greed
4. मोह- Illusion
5. अहंकार- Arrogance

Conquering the above is extremely difficult for a normal human being but a directional shift is possible. A few real life examples narrated below can perhaps explain the same.

1. Lust

The natural attraction between the opposite genders deserves a directional shift to elevate from body-consciousness to soul-consciousness in order to become “Radha-Krishna” or “Meera-Krishna” like adorable couples inspiring true love with no trace of lust. Further, magnetic union of Feminine and Masculine virtues of the opposites can give rise to “Ardhrarishwar” अर्धनारीश्वर – a perfect being.

A directional push to lust can also convert it to passion which can transform any one’s life. Passion becomes a driving force to a great objective in life. Goswami Tulsi Das had a great lust for his wife. Once not being able to withstand separation, he rushed to his wife’s home and in order to reach her room upstairs he ascended through snakes presuming them to be ropes. His wife was horrified and exhorted him that if he had this kind of passion for Lord Rama, his life would be different. This turning point and a directional shift created history.

2. Anger

In good old days, there lived a poor man Doulat Ram who wanted to get his modestly educated son Ganga Ram employed. He could connect with a person who happened to be a चपरासी – a peon of a British Chief Engineer. When approached, he asked Ganga Ram to go inside and wait for the Chief Engineer. As soon as he arrives he would also come inside and introduce him to the Chief Engineer with a request to give him some kind of employment, he said.

The young boy Ganga Ram went inside and sat unknowingly on the chair of Chief Engineer himself. As soon as the Chief Engineer came back, he was furious. He screamed “what is your capability (औकात), you want to take my position?” Extremely humiliated Ganga Ram became angry but he kept it inside to prove him one day what his “औकात” was. He studied hard, worked hard and toiled upwards in the nights when others were sleeping. Obtaining a scholarship, he graduated from Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now IIT Roorkee) with the gold medal in 1873. Later for his excellent contributions in the field, British Empire awarded him the title “Sir”.

Once “Sir Ganga Ram” was welcomed by the same British Chief Engineer offering his own chair and at that time Sir Ganga Ram reminded him of the event that happened many years ago. The British melted away and said “you are great, Sir”.

Today our national capital Delhi has “Sir Ganga Ram Marg” and “Sir Ganga Ram Hospital” in his memory.  IIT Roorkee has a student hostel “Ganga Bhawan” in his honour.

Mahatma Gandhi in Maritzburg, South Africa was thrown out of the train on 7 June 1893. While Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white man objected to his presence in a first-class carriage, and he was ordered to move to the van compartment at the end of the train. Gandhi, who had a first-class ticket, refused and was thrown off the train at Maritzburg station. Shivering through the winter night on the platform, Gandhi channelized his anger to think “You have thrown me out of the train with a valid first class ticket; I will throw you out of the countries where you have invalid governance”. He made a momentous decision to stay on in South Africa and fight the racial discrimination against Indians there. Out of that struggle emerged his unique version of nonviolent resistance “Satyagraha” (सत्याग्रह). His resolve churned out of anger shook the entire British Empire.

Today, a bronze statue of Gandhi stands in Church Street, in the city centre of Maritzburg.

3. Greed

Ratnakar was a greedy dacoit who used to loot people and feed his family. He used to even kill people during his loot. Once, Ratnakar tried to rob Maharishi (महर्षि) Narad. Maharishi told him that killing was the worst sin and one has to pay heavily for it. Ratnakar found an excuse to say he was doing it for sustaining his family. Maharishi Narad asked him if his family would share the responsibility for his sin. He affirmed. Rishi said, would he go back to his family and get it confirmed. He would wait for him, if necessary he could tie him to a tree till he came back. Ratnakar did that and rushed to his family and asked them whether they shared the responsibility. None of his family members agreed to share the responsibility and they said it was his outlook how he earned their living. Ratnakar came puzzled and totally shattered. Narad said you are totally finished (मरा) today. In utter repentance he started repeating Mara which meant “I am killed”.

He did it for years in penance not realising that in continuity the pronunciation became “Rama” राम. An ant-hill grew around him, which in Sanskrit is known as “Valmika”. Repeating the holy name of Rama for many years during his self-punishment, he became pious and wrote the first ever poem “Ramayana” in Sanskrit consisting of 24,000 shlokas (श्लोक) and was given the name Maharishi “Valmiki” वाल्मीकि who is revered as the first poet or आदिकवि. Greed directed to self-realisation did wonder of wonders. The inner force remains the same, the direction changes.

4. Illusion

An Afro-American Mrs. Blanche Rudolph, was a maid having a girl child Wilma born on 23rd June 1940 who had polio (a crippling disease that had no cure) right from childhood. At the age of 4, the doctor told “Wilma would never walk”, her left leg being paralyzed from the polio. From the age of 5, she spent her childhood in steel braces and special shoes. Mother loved her daughter immensely and at the same time lived under the illusion (मृगमरीचिका) that she would always be there to take care of her.

One day her illusion took a turn and she decided to devote herself to rehabilitate the child to make her self-reliant. She started taking her twice a week to the nearest hospital for Blacks 80 kM away, every other day of the week massaging the crippled limb at least four times a day. She shifted her resolve further from making her just walk to making her run and become the ‘fastest woman on earth’.

My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother

-Wilma Rudolph

On Sept 7^th 1960, Wilma Glodean Rudolph became the first American woman to win 3-Gold medals in Rome Olympics becoming the fastest woman in the world at the age of 20, by winning the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and ran the anchor on the 400-meter relay team. She was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Wilma G. Rudolph Residence Center was dedicated at Tennessee State University. Wilma Rudolph Boulevard was the name given to the portion of United States Highway Route 79 in Clarksville, Tennessee. A life-size bronze statue of Rudolph stands at the southern end of the Cumberland River Walk at the base of the Pedestrian Overpass, in Clarksville.

23^rd June is Wilma Rudolph Day in the Tennessee State of USA.

5. Arrogance

Nations are proud of their virtues. At times their pride can convert to ego and even arrogance. British Empire was once quoted as an empire on which the sun never sets, mainly in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. During this period, the British Empire reached a territorial size larger than that of any other empire in history. British started thinking they were great people. It is interesting to know how their feeling of greatness was directed towards a different dimension of their large heartedness. With his nonviolent approach in freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi forced them to quit India as friends. The following story is quite interesting in this regard.

Coming to know that the Last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten’s daughter was getting married, Gandhiji proposed that he would like to send a gift. He got a tablecloth made out of the yarn spun by him personally and handed over to Mountbatten for onward transmission to the couple. The viceroy sent it on with a note “please preserve it along with your most precious jewels as it is made by a person who says that British should leave India as friends. Gandhiji silently shifted their greatness from arrogance of large territorial size of their empire to the pride in their large heartedness!

Satyamev Jayate!!!

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu, BE (Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Eng. (Hon), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)

Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurugram, INDIA

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 53 “Helicopter Skills centric 360-degree Training”

My dear friends,

As head of Training & Development at Reliance Energy Ltd., I was responsible for training 25,000 in-house workers right from gross root level to the CEOs of various Units and several thousands of engineers from SEB’s and DISCOM’s. There I realised that training them in their functional areas was inadequate and was in fact only 1/4^th of the job to make them complete professionals. The value-vision domain on which organizations survive for centuries has a strong bearing on mind-set, attitude and constant learning of working people to be competitive at all times.

A “360-degree training model” was evolved at Reliance Energy Management Institute (REMI) –with the 1^st quadrant circumscribing attitude which decides the altitude and is fundamental to self-growth. An IIT/MIT topper with a negative attitude will not be acceptable to any department. One’s mind-set exhibiting features like “Can you think big”, “Can you think in other’s shoe” etc. is extremely important. According to Harvard University research, whatever growth one achieves in terms of promotions, quantum jumps in business etc., 85% of the time it is due to his attitude and not his qualifications, gender, colour of the skin etc.

Attitude is inside while the behaviour is outside. Therefore in the 2^nd quadrant, the model emphasizes on development of individuals in a people’s organisation where their behavioural planes are polished like diamonds, going beyond courtesies to ‘elegance and dignity’. This becomes necessary in Business organisations where customer interaction becomes highly relevant. Behaviour decides their spread.

In the 3^rd quadrant the core competence, which is one’s exclusive strength, is addressed for its continuous reinforcement to upgrade a professional with the latest developments in his field to be competitive at all times, having an edge over others.

In this commercial world dictated by the global economy, each and every professional needs to have a commercial orientation and an understanding of the business, of which he or she is a part and therefore these aspects are covered in the 4^th quadrant. Commercial sense and acumen make all the difference; Bill Gates and Dhirubhai Ambani have proved it.

According to MIT executive report on innovation, 80% of all innovations are made by people working outside of the discipline for which they are trained. It is important not only to be trained in your area of expertise, but also to have a bird’s eye view of the other functions prevalent in the organisation periodically. At least once in a quarter, one has to rise above the horizon of his own discipline and rise above his own working area (like a helicopter) to have a broader view of the entire business.

There is a depth of knowledge and there is a breath of knowledge. Deeper you go; there would be chances of invention once in ages. While breath of knowledge has capacity to funnel down from all lateral sides ideas that are capable of creating spirals of innovations which are more relevant in business context. “Six sigma” was not innovated by a Quality Engineer but a Communications Engineer. Cross-functional teams can bring in more innovative ideas than the specialised teams.

Their down-to-earth questioning is perhaps responsible for it.

In view of the above, our training model was upgraded to “Helicopter skills centric 360-degree Training Model” as depicted alongside.

Programs like Finance for Non-Finance, Technical for Non-Technical, Electrical for       Non-Electricals, Commercial for Non-Commercial, HR for Non-HR, Legal for NonLegal, Customer orientation for back-end executives and ‘Power Business for all’ proved to be very helpful in developing “Helicopter Skills”. The kind of programs covered in different quadrants is listed in the exhibit. These were suitable for a Power Distribution Company. This training model created a history in Reliance Energy Ltd. and power industry as a whole. It was mainly responsible for Golden Peacock National Training Award to REMI as ‘Best Training Institute in the Corporate Sector’ in the year 2006. This model’s application is universal with suitable selection of programs.

I wish more and more companies take advantage of this model !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 52 “Gaps in Education & Training”

My dear friends,

After my service in Industry for 32 years, I have been involved with Education & Training for the last 16 years. This has been a fruitful combination of professional life which gave me a chance of integrating the two.

The major gaps I found in education were:

1. Moral Values & Ethics (Belief systems and principles) AND attitudes emerging out of the same
2. Education system concentrating on Left hand side of the brain utilizing only 50% of the brain’s potential

Moral Values & Ethics AND building of proper attitudes

In an interview at NPTI, we posed a common question to a set of candidates. “While going for your final examination, you find an accident-suffered helpless human being in a pool of blood who can be saved only with your intervention, what would you do?” A common answer (by some straight away and some reluctantly) was shocking. “I will go for my examination” Everyone weighed his one year more than a full human life. This needed a re-look in re-building of moral values and attitudes.

We conducted several attitudinal re-orientation programs for the staff, officers, students and trainees. In fact Attitude development became the buzzword for all and was instrumental in bringing phenomenal success and progression, in human behavior, creating an environment of self-esteem and self-reliance. We went a step ahead to ensure that Technical, Commercial and Attitudinal inputs were balanced out in every program.

Another policy decision taken at NPTI was to depute every one through the rank-and-file to training programs such as Attitudinal Re-orientation besides technical programs of one’s own specialization for a minimum period of 1-week in a year. As an outcome of these measures there was a built-up of learning spirit and application of mind for improvement of operations, synergizing efforts at the work place giving rise to multi-fold benefits, resulting not only in quantum jump in performance  but also sustaining them enduringly. This subsequently became a part of ‘National Training Policy for the Power Sector’ which was formulated by NPTI and was released from the Campus by the Hon’ble Minister of Power on 27-Mar-2002. This policy intervention at the National Level is an historic contribution of NPTI. This policy is highly acclaimed today in Training sector.

We made it a part of the Training Policy and adopted a 3-dimentional approach for our training courses (covering Technical, Commercial and Attitudinal aspects) reaching 75,000 Trainee-weeks in a year. We extended our public awareness programs like energy conservation to the nearby schools covering more than 26,000 students in a year, where we used to include a module on Attitudes, with an idea of catching them young.

Education system utilizing only 50% of the brain’s potential

Almost all engineering institutions are producing left-handers, which means their product is proficient in language, mathematics, analysis, logic, sequence, linear, details-bits and pieces and numbers, which are in the domain of left hand side of the brain. At the same time they are missing out space, rhythm, color, imagination, patterns, holistic pictures, concepts and shape which are in the domain of right hand side of the brain. This is amounting to utilizing only 50% of the brain’s potential. Great effort and innovation is required to complement the education system to fill this gap. Pioneering in nature, it requires a constant awareness to modify the lessons motivating the students to think holistically and conceptually also. We found significant success in subjects like Power Reforms, customer relationship, entrepreneurship, power-environment interface and sustainable development requiring a lot of imagination, patterns, holistic pictures and concepts. Lesson plans require imagination and conscious effort to collect examples for development of right hand side of the brain also.

Training as different from Education

In education sector no one asks “Why Education?” while in Training sector this is a common question “Why Training?” Why can’t we save expenditure on training? The arguments given are that on-job training should be good enough. It is sufficient to have specialized job experience. After a week’s training the candidate remains more or less the same. Timely answers and solutions were not given to these questions and as a result, the posting of Chief Engineer (Training) became a punishment posting, and a need for Training Policy was never recognized!

Let us find answers to these questions one by one.

Why Training? An un-trained Person can make only noise out of a most sophisticated musical instrument, while Training & Practice (Riaz) could produce not only music but “Bharat Ratnas” out of it [Pandit Ravi Shankar (1999), Ustad Bismillah Khan (2001)].

Sharpening the Skills: A woodcutter was employed to cut the trees. He cut 18 trees on the first day, 15 on the second day and only 10 on the third day. He went to his employer to apologise. Employer asked him “When did you sharpen your axe last?” the answer was that he did not get time to do that. Working hard is not enough; one has to keep on sharpening one’s skills periodically.

Expenditure on Training: Training is an investment not expenditure; it is the highest multiplier of productivity (1:30 in case of General Electric & Motorola). Cost of training is always less than cost of non-training. Cost of non-training of a driver for example can be loss of human lives. Same is the case with military training.

Training and Productivity: Based on recent research Findings from High Performance Workplaces in Australia, the ‘Australian Training Authority’ has concluded that Employees who receive formal training can be 230 % more productive than untrained colleagues in the same role. Every successful organization in the world has a strong back up of training and re-training.

Why on-job training is not enough? This question was being asked often when we were inviting trainees for “Simulator Training” at NPTI. We used to answer them by the following data:

A study was conducted by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) USA where thermal power plants were subjected to operation by following two different sets of operators at one time:

1. Operators who were duly   trained on Simulators
2. Operators who were never trained on Simulators

Compiling data from 8-Power Utilities, they studied and found that the Simulator Training benefits in respect of different operational parameters were as below:

Further, EPRI concluded that 20% forced plant outages were the direct result of operator/ maintenance errors. In India with Thermal power plants’ installed capacity exceeding 200,000 MW, simulator training can result in savings to the tune of Rs 200,000 x 300,000 = Rs 6,000 Crores per annum. This is a brilliant example of cost of Non-Training which our Nation has to pay every year.

What can be achieved in One Week’s Training? In a focussed training approach like the one adopted for “6-Sigma Training” where a Project (a problem area) is selected beforehand and during the course of Training it is defined accurately, measured precisely, analysed holistically, improved rationally and control parameters decided conclusively for action.

Similarly training with a “Case in Hand” is conducted. The participant is mandated to bring a problem he is facing in his area of operation. On the first day he is provided with the list of programs and copies of a 3-column matrix, for filling the first column as if to hang over the relevant issues of his job on to the subject being delivered.

During the week, he is exposed to the sessions on attitudinal aspects, behavioural wisdom, technical inputs and commercial acumen. These act like “hangers” where he has to hang the relevant issues of his “case-in hand”. The matrix also helps to fix and activate sort of “antennas” to capture the knowledge waves coming from the speakers during the week, without losing anchorage to their respective job-issues.

The trainee is supposed to record his learning’s from each session as relevant to his “case-in-hand” and also record at the end of the day his action plan. On the 6^th day each trainee is called upon to present his action plan and take suggestions/ moderation from the faculty members. He goes back to his department next week with the “action plan” in hand to start implementing it in co-ordination with his supervisor. This proves to be a fruitful approach in terms of Trainee’s take-home, relating concepts to his work and increasing the span of retention.

Training thus becomes not only innovative, interesting and rewarding but also proves to be an integral activity of the business nay ‘prime-mover’ to transform the Company into a learning organization of distinction to be competitive at all times.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 51 “Re-defining HR”

My dear friends,

As human ambitions are growing, quest towards excellence in performance is continuing to intensify. Experts and Management Gurus all over the world are revisiting HR concepts and practices to face the new challenges and opportunities in the field of Human Development and Utilization, Talent nurturing and retention, Employer Branding, Global mindsets, Drivers of Engagement etc. Call of the hour is to dissect HRM & HRD right at the foundation level and re-define these human sciences afresh in organizational context.

Business Management / Project Management were conventionally defined as management of 4-Ms:

• Man
• Material
• Machinery
• Money

Multinationals feel that talent is cheap in India!! According to them manpower resource is so cheap in India  that you can import material and export products after getting them engineered and manufactured in India through cheap manpower. Jack Welch the-then CEO of General Electric (GE) once said during the inauguration of GE’s R&D Centre in Bangalore “India is a developing country but it is a developed country as far as its intellectual capital is concerned. We get the best intellectual capital per dollar here”.

Question Arises

Is man an objectified resource like any other inert resource viz. material, machinery and money; which can be hired and fired any time! Can the choicest divine creation of God be reduced to such an inert level of consciousness that it can be queued up with lifeless material resources?

The Answer is NO…

• One single intuitive idea of a person can fetch you billions of dollars….
• Entrepreneurial geniuses like Bill Gates and Dhirubhai Ambani have proved to the world that even qualifications are not required to be visionary……and successful.
• World Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi could inspire millions to achieve historic objectives without any material resource in their hands.

Human beings are Living beings not Inert Resources

• Human beings are divine souls with unlimited power of enlightenment.
• According to Hal F. Rosenbluth founder of “Rosenbluth International” (world Leaders in Corporate Travel Management operating in >50 countries), there can never be employees but associates, who cannot be “fired” but only parted with dignity.

We have to appreciate how “emotional and spiritual intelligence” plays a crucial role compared to mere “intellect and expertise” in raising the productivity bars.

‘The Customer Comes Second’ by Hal F. Rosenbluth deliberates upon utilization of human beings, harnessing their potential with dignity. His Company achieved 98% client retention rate by focusing on their staff, not their clients. Once I stayed in a Hotel in Hyderabad and came down to the “Reception Desk” complaining that there was no wall clock in my room and I was not able to regulate my time for preparing for an International conference organised in that city. I had forgotten to bring my own wristwatch in that trip. The lady at the reception had no clock to provide but immediately she spared her own wrist watch saying that I could keep it till I was staying in that hotel. I could not comprehend the kind of motivation infused in the staff by the Hotel Management to provide service from their hearts till I read ‘The Customer Comes Second’.

Human Potential

Human beings have “infinite potential”. While this is an undeniable truth and does not require elucidation, hardly anything is really done for optimal utilization of this limitless power. An average man makes use of not more than 5 to 10% of his hidden talents; even people like Einstein have been able to use only about 18% of this latent power.

There is, therefore, a dire need for professionals concerned with HRD to give a thought to this tremendous under-utilization of the human potential and find ways and means to augment it. Every man is capable of performing much better than what he thinks he can. Even if he improves himself by 1% the resultant cumulative effect on overall organizational proficiency will be tremendous. Sky is the limit.

Happiness in an Organization

As more and more companies pay as much attention to their people as they do to public image, employer branding, increased profits, everything else would fall in place. Profits are a natural extension of happiness in the workplace. People work better when they want to work. Henry Ford said “There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something”.

Changing Management Paradigm

The changing career management paradigm is shifting from organization to individuals to be in charge of their own careers. The significant shift in terms of different parameters can be seen as below:

No	Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
1	Success = Career Ladder	Success = Valued Skills
2	Authority	Influence
3	Vertical Hierarchy	Horizontal and Orbital Hierarchy
4	Entitlement	Marketability
5	Loyalty to Company	Loyalty to work and self
6	Identity = Job, position, occupation	Identity = Contribution to work
7	Attention to bosses and Managers	Attention to clients and customers
8	Employees	Associates, team members
9	Full time employment	Part time, Flexi time and contractual
10	Bureaucratic Organisation	Shared vision and mission

Need for change in HR paradigm

Treating human beings as a resource to be used, utilized and manipulated like any other resource is demeaning. Shifting from “Personnel Administration” to “Human Resource Management” including “Human Resource Development” could not give any comfort to the employees since equating human beings with any other resource was derogatory. It was like putting old wine into new bottles. People cannot be relegated to corporate resource; they can at best represent corporate strength or corporate potential of the organisation. Working people would prefer the organisation to enable them attain their true potential and in so doing, help the organization to achieve its objectives. Synchronising the personal ambitions with the organisational objectives would be the key.

The Magic of Organizational Physics

Magic is in the understanding of the intrinsic natural frequency of individuals and synergizing the same with the induced frequency of the organizational enthusiasm. Human potential is so mesmerizing that if it is motivated/ vibrated to the right degree, it can resonate to infinite amplitudes of performance!!!

Matching the expectations at the onset

If we look at recruitment advertisements, generally the job description is mentioned along with required qualifications and experience. People have many more expectations like respect and dignity, recognition, growth etc. as shown alongside. The organization also has expectations more than mere job description. Why not define them at the first instance?

Competency Mapping and Enhancement

Competency Mapping is a process of identifying key competencies of a person for a job and incorporating those throughout the processes viz. recruitment, job evaluation and training. Competency mapping identifies an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. The aim is to enable the person to better understand himself or herself and to point out where career development efforts need to be directed. Competencies are derived from specific job categories within the organization and are often grouped around classes such as strategy, relationships, innovation, leadership, risk-taking, decision-making, emotional intelligence, etc. Once mapped, training can be planned to fill the gaps and enhancing the required skills.

Re-defining HRM/HRD as HPD

If HRM/HRD can be replaced by Human potential development (HPD), it would make a sea change in the mind-sets. HPD would be an integrative and continuous process of enhancing human capabilities and capacities by enriching human beings’ existing potential and helping them to discover and tap their latent potential. It would focus on self-development and self-management synchronising with organizational needs and development.

Sooner the organizations shift to HPD, better it would be for their higher productivity and higher accomplishments together with overall happiness.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 50 “Invisibles in Life”

Dear friends,

“Seeing is believing” is a popular catchphrase. Its natural corollary has been that “do not believe what you don’t see”. However, our biological eyes have their own limitations in being able to see everything that matters in life. Helen Keller, American Author-Lecturer-Activist, deaf-blind from the age of 1-1/2 years was once asked: Is there anything worse than blindness?

• “Yes, having eyes but no Vision” was the answer, after a pause!

“There is a significant difference between Vision and Visuals”. Invisibles can be seen only through vision which is in the domain of mind and not eyes.

Invisibles in Material World

In the material world itself, we cannot see electricity, magnetism or electromagnetic waves which can be sensed by sensors only. We are talking to the person on the other side of the earth today through “unseen” signals! Electromagnetic waves, light and x-rays, radio signals or infrared, can travel through the vacuum, which also we can’t see. They set up electric and magnetic oscillations, which do not need matter. You can have these fields in a vacuum. Can gravity be seen? It can only be sensed. Even air cannot be seen by our eyes but can be sensed by feel.

Invisibles in Spiritual World

Goodwill, blessings or respect cannot be seen but felt through body language or indirect actions which need to be interpreted. Eyes alone cannot help; you need the support of your mind and intellect (invisibles themselves) to feel them.

So the universe is full of “invisibles” at material and spiritual level. Let us not discard the invisibles! Let us ‘keep our eyes open’ duly supported by other sense organs and “Mind & Intellect” to comprehend the “invisibles”. There is an invisible within us which controls the “Mind & Intellect” and body of course, which when leaves the body makes us “dead”.

Once we realize the invisibles and understand the limitations of our biological eyes, we become conscious of yet unexplored world of invisibles and the avenues of discovery, moving towards completeness.

Power of visualisation to sense Invisibles

Invisibles like peace, purity, power, knowledge and love cannot be seen but visualised and felt. For example a visual of Mansarovar can make you realise peace, a visual of “Boudhi Vraksh” can take you closer to the knowledge or wisdom, a visual of lightening clouds makes you realise power, a visual of Krishna or Buddha can take you closer to purity, Christ in the arms of mother Merry can make you feel love, and so on. Power of visualisation is very strong and you can fill your mind with the great virtues of life by closing your eyes but keeping your mind open to the suggestive prompts.

Invisibles in Management Paradigm

Some of the world’s most talented, accomplished people choose to fly under the radar, not to be noticed. What do anaesthetists, structural engineers, interpreters; cameramen, story/ dialogue writers and background music players in Cinema have in common? When they do their jobs poorly, the consequences can be shattering, but when they do their jobs perfectly . . . They are invisible, explains David Zweig in his book “Invisibles”.

For most of us, the better we perform the more attention we receive. Yet for many invisible skilled professionals whose role is critical to whatever organisation they are a part of – it is the opposite: the better they do their jobs the more they disappear. In fact, only when something goes wrong that they are noticed at all. What has been lost amid the noise of self-promotion today is that not everyone can be in the spotlight. Invisibility can be viewed as a mark of honour and a source of a truly rich life.

Millions of these Invisibles are hidden in every industry. And despite our culture’s increasing celebration of fame in our era of superstar CEOs and assorted varieties of “genius” – they are fine with remaining anonymous.

A book by A.G. Krishnamurthy “The Invisible CEO” brings forth the magnanimity of an unconventional CEO who wants to be in the hearts of his associates rather than in high-profile cocktail circuits and press conferences. He develops a chain of leadership, remaining an invisible dot at the centre of the spiral.

Our subtle faculties generate consciousness

In life many happenings cannot be explained only in material or physical terms. At certain points of crisis or inspiration, there are deep emotional and spiritual experiences which separate us from the world around. We look inwards at such times; in order to understand these experiences.

Indeed, anything perceivable to us comes from two sources; that which is detected by the physical senses and that which arises from impressions recorded on our subtle faculties (thoughts & feelings). When we are in dreams during sleep, we see very real pictures although our biological eyes are closed. This clarifies the role of our invisible internal faculties. The recordings are unwound in the form of dreams. The things that we can see, taste, hear, smell and feel, as well as the body itself are formed of matter. But the subtle faculties of mind, intellect and personality make up what we call consciousness.

In order to live a conscious life of completeness, one has to explore invisibles, not getting restricted by visible only.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 49 “Education & Spirituality”

My dear friends,                 

Once I was captivating introduction of the new batch of MBA at NPTI. The dialouge went as follows:

A Student:          Sir, I am Shrivastava, BE(Elect)

Me:                       I am not interested in your surname and your degree

-These are on our records

Student:             Sir, I am Mahesh Kumar (Imaginatively substituted name)

Me:                      That is your name given by your parents-drop it

Student:             I am a student of NPTI

Me:                      That’s your present occupation-I know it

Student:             Sir, I am a boy

Me:                      I am not interested in your gender

Student:              I am becoming conscious now, who am I?

Another Student: I am feeling intrigued, I am thinking now,

His next:               I am sensitized on my existence today,

Next to next:        My conscience says I am God’s creation,

Yet another:         I am motivated to think, I am divine.

Me:       When you drop all your labels, you come out as “the pure you” :

• Your consciousness (awareness)
• Your conscience (sense of right and wrong)
• Thinking & feeling part of you
• Your sensor/ sensitivity
• Your motivation/ inspiration
• Your divinity

-is your Spirit . Keep it awakened!

We need it all the time for the spiritual paradigms of our MBA education at NPTI, I indicated. I further clarified to them that subjects like “Power Reforms” , “Customer relationship & Entrepreneurship”, “Energy Environment Interface & Sustainable Development” etc. derive their essence from holistic spiritual paradigms of our survival. Besides technicalities, they involve ethics and ethos, human values, customer care, environmental sensitivity, resource renewability, society’s anxieties over clean energy, electricity for all and its availability 24×7 and so on.

Spirituality

Spirituality is a rather mysterious term for the scientific community who keeps experimenting with external and physical world only. There are several inner dimensions of human existence which can not be denied; for example Mind, Intellect (consciousness transforms intellect into wisdom), Innner voice/ Intuition (sixth sense) etc. An encounter with one’s own “inner dimension” is spirituality.

Spirituality is manifested by original qualities of “the spirit or the soul” such as love, compassion, wisdom, bliss, peace, purity, humility, power, forgiveness, sacrifice, contentment, self-responsibility, values, self-esteem, harmony and connectedness to others.

Spiritual literacy is a basic literacy for all that enables the understanding and use of the deeper meaning and connection in all aspects of life. Spirituality teaches us how our lives fit into the greater scheme of things.

Education & Spirituality

 Swami Vivekanand said : “Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain, undigested all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated just five (5) ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.

A semi-literate man “Anna Hazare” also talked of 5-ideas

1. Pure Thoughts
2. Pure Conduct
3. Unblemished Life
4. Sacrifice and
5. Capacity to withstand humiliation;

which he assimilated, practiced and demonstrated, becoming the most literate man of today, saluted by the Indian Parliament.

Education is not merely Academics

Somehow we have misunderstood academics to be education

– We teach our children to read and memorise history but we don’t teach them to create history

– We teach them geography, but not geographical cultures and respect for them

– We teach them science, but not the science of life

-We teach them external management, but not internal management of Mind

Education is to lead a person to knowledge (know-how & know-why) graduating further to wisdom (discovery of truth by himself) to see life in its totality and to face it in its completeness. It is to set a higher goal of life, inner transformation, vision of oneness and genuine care for others.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 48 “Self-Management”

My dear friends,

I wish to share with you all a ‘Mantra’ that I shared with the graduands during GLIM’s Convocation on 18 May 2016. It is a tiny mantra against “The Bhagavad Gita” which has become a compulsory core course for every student in Seton Hall University in New Jersey, USA having > 10,800 students. The mantra is that “All the external managements have to be preceded by Self-Management.”

After joining their jobs, many of the entrants are sent for corporate training programs some of which are grossly misnomered. For instance, Time Management. Time is an irretrievable resource and there can be no inventory management in it. You can only ‘self-manage’ to be punctual and to be time bound. Another example is Stress Management. Can you manage stress after it is created? You have to depend only on doctors from headache to cancer. According to an authority on stress-related diseases, cancer is the end product of non-forgiveness. The secret is to ‘self-manage’ so as not to create stress, anger or hurt by you, within you. How do you do this? Foremost is the awareness that you are the creator of all these emotions.

On his first day in office as President, when Abraham Lincoln entered to deliver his inaugural address, a fellow stood up and said “Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for me and my family” The whole Senate laughed. Lincoln said “Sir, I know that and I also know that there was never ever any complaint from any of his clients including your family. He was a genius and he used to pour his heart and soul in to his job. I am so proud of him. “Let me see to what extent I can reach his creativity and perfection while presiding over the United States.” No one can hurt you without your consent.

Buddha was known to be beyond hurt. One day one visitor took up the challenge and started hurling abuses at him till he was himself totally tired. Finally he said Oh! Buddha you are still smiling, you have no self-respect. Buddha replied with the same smile “It is like this. If you offer me an apple and I don’t accept, where will the apple go? The visitor replied “obviously it would remain with me.” Buddha said “it is exactly the same with abuses; they have all remained with you”

The Blame Game

Unfortunately, we are all caught up in a blame game. We make some body responsible for our hurt, anger and stress. This starts from early childhood. Can you imagine a 2-1/2 year old child telling her grandfather “Nani has hurt me inside. She says she will not give me ice-cream until I finish my food”. We smile it off. We also help the child nurture a ‘belief system’ of blaming others for any hurt caused. Whenever she falls down and gets hurt, we go and hit the floor or the obstacle to console her. We never explain her that she fell down due to her own lack of attention.

If we don’t find a person or an object, we start blaming the circumstances. Do we really have to? Let me give you an example. Recently, in an award function where a renowned doctor was being felicitated, he shared his life story. He said he grew up in an extremely poor family who were not sure of the next day meal. He had an elder brother who was always blaming his father and turned alcoholic. His younger brother went into depression losing all hopes from life. This man thought the only way for him was to study hard and become a doctor, if possible, not only to get over the poverty but also to treat both of his brothers one day. He used to borrow books from his friends when they were playing or enjoying their picnics. He studied under the lamp-posts and struggled through. He attributed full credit of his success to the extreme poverty. The wind may blow from any direction, but the direction in which you go depends on how you set the sails. Setting the sails is Self-management or more precisely the Thoughts-management.

Egolessness

Egolessness is one issue which confuses the youngsters as well as the grown-ups. Should they not be proud of their higher qualifications, superior skills, long and rich experience etc? Should they compromise on their self-esteem in order to avoid ego clashes? These doubts arise out of the ignorance of a fine line between ego and self-esteem. If you are contributing in a meeting and if you say “This is the best idea” it is ego. But if you say “This is my best idea” it is self-esteem. You can keep your self-esteem intact by giving space to others’ self-esteem.

Willpower

At times you start feeling that you lack “Willpower”. You lack determination, resolve and strength of will. In order to explore this, you should start examining your own daily routine. You want to get up at 6. You put an alarm and the bell rings. You choose to close it and sleep for another half an hour, 45 min. or more. You finally get up and it is time to brush and go for a morning walk. You compromise on a bed tea. Now the daily newspaper arrives. You get tempted to see at least the headlines and the sidelines and the interesting lines. Morning walk gets postponed to the next day and you somehow reach office 15 min. late even after skipping the shave. You think 15 min. late is allowed, and you are still in the comfort zone! Now pause and look back, wherefrom the “power of will” can emerge and cultivate, if you go on ignoring the inner voice? So, if you want to be powerfully self-managed, you will have to:

1. Revisit your ‘belief-systems’ and alter them to the extent necessary.
2. Revisit your ‘so called’ comfort zones and see if their shells can crack under the resonance of your own Inner Voice.
3. And have a better control on your ‘thought factory’ which is generating 25 thoughts/min. or 36,000 thoughts /day.

 

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 47 “Carbon Neutrality in Industry”

Dear friends,

In today’s scenario of threatening climate change, Industry has responsibility of being carbon-neutral. Any Industry going Carbon Neutral implies that it offsets carbon as much as it produces through its operations directly or indirectly. “For every car produced which would run on petrol, your company should produce another car which would run on ethanol (bio-fuel)” said Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam while visiting a Car manufacturing company abroad. That signifies the concept of a carbon neutral industry in broad terms.

CARBON EMISSION IN INDUSTRY

Any industry is responsible for carbon emission directly or indirectly. Its scope can be categorized by “GHG protocol Corporate Standard” developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as under:

Scope-1: Direct Carbon Emissions from owned boilers, Diesel generators etc.

Scope-2: Purchased Electricity- Indirect Carbon Emissions at the Generating sources

Scope-3: Other Indirect Carbon Emissions from Waste generated, Business Travel etc.

SITUATION ANALYSIS AND SETTING AGENDA

Any Industry willing to become carbon neutral will have to first assess its Carbon Footprint and then set its agenda for action. A study was conducted by GLIM, Gurugram at Tata Communications in Maharashtra region.

Carbon Foot Print (CFP) of Tata Communications

Scope-1 CFP: Fuel (Diesel) used in backup power

Scope-2 CFP: Electric power usage

[In TATA Communications- Maharashtra, approximately 90% of the Carbon Emission is due to the above.]

Scope-3  CFP : Activities generating carbon indirectly: Waste generated, Business Travel and Employees commuting.

Agenda of Tata Communications towards Carbon Neutrality

Scope-1 Agenda:   Back-up Fuel “High Speed Diesel (HSD)” to be replaced by “Bio-Diesel”

Scope-2 Agenda:

Carbon reduction through:

• Energy efficiency {Efficient usage of power in data centers}
• Innovative techniques to restrict carbon emission
• Geothermal Pumping for Cooling (saving electric power)
• Solar LED standalone street lighting system

Carbon off-set by sourcing Carbon-Free Green Power:

• Solar
• Wind
• Regular & Seasonal Hydro

Scope-3 Agenda:

• Treating Waste generated
• Tele-presence Services to reduce “Business Travel”
• Replacing conventional vehicles by ‘Solar charged battery operated vehicles’ in the Campus to reduce carbon footprint of  “Employees commuting”
• Afforestation to nullify remains of the above three indirect sources of carbon emission
• Promoting Environmental Consciousness

STRATEGIES AND IMPACTS

Scope-1 Strategies & Impacts

Back-up Fuel “High Speed Diesel (HSD)” to be replaced by “Bio-Diesel”

Replacement of High Speed Diesel (HSD) used in power backup generating units by BIO-DIESEL could be very effective in reducing emissions by 90%. Bio-diesel is seamlessly interchangeable with petroleum diesel. It has better lubrication and increased productivity of electricity generators. Bio-diesel needs no change in infrastructure and no engine modifications.

Scope-2 Strategies & Impacts

Electricity is consumed at five different locations of TCL within Maharashtra. At the end of FY 2014-15, the load at TCL Maharashtra was approximately 23.5 MW causing emission of 113096.7 Tonnes of CO_2. Company proposes to expand its business by the end of 2020, for which it has estimated a capacity addition at some of the sites in Maharashtra resulting in 48 MW of net total load in Maharashtra.

CARBON REDUCTION STRATEGIES

Energy efficiency {efficient usage of power in data centers}

Benchmarking of Energy Efficiency of Data Centers is usually done by Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) which is defined as the ratio of Total Facility Energy to Energy used in IT Equipment. At present TCL compares with reputed companies in the world as follows:

                                                PUE in Different Reputed Companies

Company	PUE
GOOGLE	1.09
FACEBOOK	1.2
TCL	1.9

The above shows that there is a scope of improving energy efficiency at TCL. One of the simplest ways to save energy in a data centre is to raise the temperature. It is a myth that data centres need to be kept absolutely chilly. According to most IT equipment manufacturers’ specifications, data centre operators can safely raise their cold aisle to 80°F or higher. By doing so, we significantly reduce facility energy use. At present TCL Data Centres are operated at a temperature of 73.4 ⁰ F which is 6.6 ⁰ F chiller than what Google is operating at present.

The electricity that powers a data centre ultimately turns into heat. Most data centres use chillers or air conditioning units to cool down the equipment, requiring extra energy usage. At Google data centres, they often use water as an energy-efficient way to cool instead. At TCL also we have Chiller and Crack units installed besides air conditioning, which help in cooling whereas at Google they are using natural water based cooling mechanism.

For using natural water based cooling, quality of water needs to be ensured and it may have a cost component associated with purifying it. A feasibility test on the availability of purified water has to be done, which if turns out to be positive for implementation, huge amount of electricity consumption can be reduced.

Innovative Techniques to restrict Carbon Emission: Geothermal Pumping for Cooling (saving electric power)

70% of the total energy used in TCL Maharashtra is used in HVAC load, which basically includes Chillers & Cracks.

In order to drastically reduce the HVAC load of Chillers and Cracks or to eliminate them completely, geothermal pumping can be resorted to. Geothermal technology uses earth to dissipate heat as sink and uses reverse geothermal pumping for cooling purpose. It relies on the fact that the Earth (beneath the surface) remains at a relatively constant temperature throughout the year, very much like a cave. Heat pumps can be deployed using a vapour compression cycle to transport heat from IT Equipment to the earth which becomes a heat sink and in the process cooling the machines. Energy saved in Chillers and Cracks can be enormous contributing to carbon savings.

Solar LED standalone street lighting system

Streetlights, which are being used at TCL Pune facility presently, are having the rating of 250 watts with at least 200 fixtures. Taking round-the-year operation @ 10 hrs. /day, energy implied would be 250 x 200 x 3650/1000 = 182500 kWh. By installing standalone LED solar enabled street lighting system, around 182500 x 0.98 = 178850 Kg= 178.85 Tonnes of CO₂ can be offset annually.

CARBON OFF-SET STRATEGIES

Sourcing Carbon-free Green Power:

• Solar
• Wind
• Regular & Seasonal Hydro

Solar Power

At TCL there is 3 MW of installed solar capacity in Pune which is supposed to provide about 12 % of power used in TCL, Maharashtra. Out of total energy of 129578438 kWh consumed during 2014-15, 14173643 kWh (10.94%) of green power from solar was used in TCL. By adding some more capacity (going up to 5 MW), it is expected to supply about 20% of power from green sources in near future, saving to that extent the emission of CO_{2 .}

Wind Power

Out of the 5 office locations 4 are situated at the seashore where company is planning to install micro windmills for harnessing energy from wind source. They are looking at purchasing the turbines and installing them on the rooftops of the office locations. Power generated from these windmills can be used for general small lighting purpose. On an average these windmills cost Rs. 1-2 Lakh per turbine.

Regular & Seasonal Hydro

At Tata Communications, a paradigm shift in carbon neutrality can be seen by tying up with (carbon free) Hydropower. While seriously attempting to tie up with “Tata Hydro” for entire power requirement, surplus hydro power in Maharashtra Grid during rainy season could be tied up at the first place.

Scope-3 Strategies & Impacts

Following activities were identified under Scope-3 on which the Company did not have much control. However, Company’s limited intervention is possible.

Treating Waste Generated

In Tata Communications, the waste coming out of operations is primarily the waste from Diesel Generating sets during maintenance sent out to third party vendor for disposal. The data is maintained during refills and maintenance cycles for waste lubricating oil. Within the premises of Tata Communications, Pune the company has installed a waste handling unit, which essentially accepts biodegradable waste including kitchen wastes as input and processes it to provide output as manure, which is used for the plantation within the company. The net GHG emission is reduced because the energy intensive fertilizer production and associated GHGs are reduced to that extent.

Tele-presence services to reduce Business Travel

Tele-presence service can optimize travel. Tata’s Tele-presence service encompasses both public room services and private tele-presence managed services. Businesses aiming at reducing their travel costs and minimizing their carbon footprint want to consider adopting tele-presence meeting options such as videoconferencing. Frequent flyers contribute disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions besides losing working time.

Replacing conventional vehicles by ‘Solar charged battery operated vehicles’ to reduce carbon footprint of ‘Employees Commuting’

On an average around 750 vehicles are daily running within the campus for a distance of around 2 km each. So 1500 km of run of four wheelers at an average of 15 km/litre consumes 100 litres of fuel for commuting. TCL is planning to start battery operated vehicles within the premises and designing a master solar park at the main gate (proposed) which is at ideal location of sun face for solar power. Power generated from this park could be used to charge the batteries of a single vehicle with the sitting capacity of 25 to 30 people and total Run per day 80 to 100 KM.

Afforestation to sink Carbon

Remains of the three identified scope-3 activities can be addressed by creating some forest carbon sinks. On an average 12 trees are needed to sink 1 tonne of CO₂ after 5 years.  According to these statistics if we are planting 10,000 trees in 2015 in TCL’s campus then 833 tonnes of CO₂ emission can be offset by 2020.  Plantation pattern has to be identified, which contributes to offset carbon emission and also adds to the aesthetics of the office premises as per choice of the employees. This approach will help in building green healthy environment around the work place. The office location of TCL Pune is spread over 1100 acres of land, so plantation on this land can be used to create carbon sinks. As per the Government policy a Corporate has to invest 2% of its total annual Profit in CSR activity. Linking this expense with afforestation, plantation can be done in the premises with the help of any NGO.

Promoting Environmental Consciousness

Promoting cycling within the Campus to ‘burn calories not carbon’ will also help in involving each and every employee of TCL in generating awareness towards reducing carbon emission.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

All the above measures of carbon reduction and offsetting would show results in their own magnitude. Besides, it would generate tremendous awareness about carbon neutrality across the organization. Brand value of the Organization with pursuance of carbon neutrality as a corporate goal is going to increase in the emerging environment conscious scenario.  For many firms, the allure of bolstering their corporate or product brand reputation is a key consideration in seeking to go carbon neutral. What is crucial is that the approach adopted by TCL is robust, transparent and based on available standards and protocols. “Achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2020 in TATA Communications Ltd.-Maharashtra” has a great significance.  What is crucial is that it is not to be pursued as a stand-alone exercise, but as part of a broader sustainability strategy that encompasses the whole business.

At Tata Communications, the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020 seems possible if most of their input power can be tied up with (carbon free) conventional Hydro. The Group Company has an installed hydro capacity of 576 MW in Maharashtra itself. While the other measures dealt with in this letter may make their own contribution towards Carbon Neutrality, the objective could be fully achieved by dedicating majority of 24 MW now progressing to 48 MW of “Tata Hydro” to Tata Communications in Maharashtra by 2020.

Let us hope, Industry as such takes a step forward towards carbon neutrality.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 46 “Value Orientation to Power / Energy Sector”

My dear friends,

Life on earth has been created on so many exacting conditions.
1. The earth rotates on its axis at one thousand miles an hour. If it turned at one hundred miles an hour, our days and nights, would be ten times as long as now, and the hot sun would then burn up our vegetation during each long day while in the long night any surviving sprout would freeze.
2. The slant of the earth, tilted at an angle of 23 degrees, gives us our seasons. If it had not been so tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south, piling up for us continents of ice.
3. The sun, the source of our life, has a surface temperature of 12,000o F and our earth is just far enough away so that this “eternal fire” warms us just enough and not too much. If the sun gave off only one half its present radiation, we would freeze, and if it gave half as much more, we would roast.
4. If our moon was, say, only 50 thousand miles away instead of its actual distance, our tides would be so enormous that twice a day all continents would be submerged.
5. Had the ocean been a few feet deeper, carbon di oxide and oxygen would have been absorbed and no vegetable life could exist.
6. Ozone layer protects the earth from ultraviolet rays of the sun and a well-designed greenhouse enveloping the earth maintains the right kind of warmth for living beings to survive.
The above exacting conditions necessary for life on earth could not possibly exist in proper relationship by chance. There is not one chance in millions that life on our planet is an accident. In fact, it appears to be a deliberately designed system to perfect equilibrium.

Sustainability of Human Intervention in Nature’s Equilibrium
Mahatma Gandhi said “There is enough in nature for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed”. With the evolution of human beings and their multiplying population together with their intelligence and aspirations to command the nature, the question arises as to how much intervention is possible in the universe, in such an exacting relationship as described above. For instance,
1. How much we can intercept locally the nature’s hydrological cycle for irrigation and power, with repercussions on local environment, even though carbon-free.
2. How much fossil fuel we can burn for power generation and other needs since it has a very serious repercussion on emissions of carbon di-oxide which according to an estimate, if not brought down to 60% of the current level, may cause major climatic shifts and submergence of low lying lands by 2050.
3. How much we can afford emission of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) which have already started disrupting the ozone layer which may cause skin cancer, blindness etc. The seasonal hole in the ozone layer during Sept’1998 covered an area of 25 million KM2 (about 2.5 times the area of Europe). According to one estimate 60% of GHG is attributed to energy Sector.
4. How much technological development we can afford so as not to disrupt the nature’s supportive equilibrium. At what rate resource consumption and growth of population is possible keeping intact the regenerative and self-recycling characteristics of the nature besides carrying capacity and assimilative capacity of the Eco-systems.

Value Orientation
Human intervention needs value orientation in any sector of development. A 15-point charter of values is suggested below for power / energy sector.

1. Sense of Proportion: A respectable share of Hydro is a technical necessity of Power Grid. Present Hydro:Thermal mix of 20:80 should ideally shift to 40:60.
2. System Ethos: Voltage and frequency fluctuations causing heavy damage to power equipment and completely stalling the sensitive control equipment; speak poorly of power system ethos. Grid frequency is a critical aspect of power system operations and a function of demand and supply (when demand exceeds supply, frequency dips and vice versa). Grid frequency reflects the discipline and the stress in the system. The frequency variation for example should be brought down from 8% (48 Hz-52 Hz) at times to less than 1% (49.7 Hz-52.2 Hz) at all times. CERC now aims at 0.2%.
3. Techno-economic Sense: Techno-economically, Hydro proves several times favourable option compared to thermal keeping in view the life cycle cost, recurring fuel cost and its escalation, environmental cost and grid economy. Nuclear option exhausts our foreign currency reserves right from fuel (uranium) to technology.
4. Financial Acumen: Solar PV is the costliest option for a 50 MW scale, but it breaks even for a 50 kW plant and proves cheapest for an isolated 50 W system.
5. Sustainability: With the present rate of consumption, all oil and gas stocks would be completely exhausted in India before 2050. Fossil route cannot prime the growth which is sustainable.
6. Renewability: Ever renewed solar energy is radiating directly onto the earth, at the same time manifesting itself in several indirect forms such as wind, hydro, ocean thermal and bio-energy etc. This naturally recycled resource-base holds potential for perpetual power generation.
7. Energy Storage: Energy storage is complementary to intermittent renewables. With “Energy Storage” component, the load demand can be met much better, right from cyclic stability to daily demand pattern to even seasonal demands.
8. Environmental Compatibility: Environmental impacts net of mitigative measures place Hydro at 3 against 7 that of thermal on a 10-point scale. Carbon emissions of Hydro and Nuclear options are least compared to all other known options for power generation, considering the full energy chain. Their carbon emission compared to coal option is in the ratio of 5:270. Hydro:Thermal SO2 emission is in the ratio of 1:1000.
9. Interweaving of Technical and Commercial Values: Higher tariff for peaking power could be an attempt towards optimising technical and commercial values of power.
10. Security Concerns: Longevity of imported fossil fuels is extremely doubtful since globally the oil and gas stocks are going to exhaust fast with the rate of consumption growing with population and their aspirations. National energy security concerns call for indigenous and renewable options to be developed.
11. Optimizing Demand-Supply Gap: Present peaking power shortages in India could have been completely eliminated under the same MW installed (under the same investment) had the country gone for a judicious Hydro:Thermal mix. Demand side management and energy efficiency measures on utilization side can also narrow down the demand supply gap which at present is in the range of 2.1 % energy shortage and 2.6 % peaking shortage during 2015-16, in respect of present electricity connected consumers.                                   12. Smart Grid: A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operational and energy measures including real time smart meters and other appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency measures. For instance, improvement of tail-end grid voltages can be achieved through Solar Panels. Computer intelligence & networking abilities and automation make it interactive right from generator to consumer. Optimization of energy use on real time basis with resultant economy and comfort are obvious benefits of smart grid which should soon be made available to all the electricity customers.
13. Decentralisation: It may be uneconomical to extend the grid to the remotest areas and therefore off-grid electrification with localised generation and distribution system viz. ‘mini-grid’ should be equally respected and encouraged. Stand-alone systems can also help in avoidance of transmittal of that much of power over long distance with attendant losses.
14. New Capacity Vs. Upgradation: Upgradation comprising renovation, retrofitting, uprating and modernisation is cheaper, faster and environmentally friendlier option for coping with the increasing demand than the new capacity addition and should therefore get priority in the power sector.
15. Conservation: We generate 4 units for ultimate utilization of just 1 unit of electricity, 25% being T&D losses and 66.7% being the end conversion losses in some crucial sectors like agricultural pump-sets. Energy efficiency measures should lead to conservation of precious energy resources.

Sustained Value Addition
R&D should expand to R&D3 meaning Research and “Development, Demonstration & Deployment”. Such a countenance would provide an orientation to take research activity right up to its logical end. R&D3 program would involve Research, Technology development, Engineering and Business Management strategies, all together with an integrated approach. India should see more and more innovations through the entire R&D3 chain in the 21st Century for maximization of indigenous value addition which would not only make the nation proud but would rapidly strengthen our economy.

Concluding Remarks
Rather poor “Techno-Economic-Environmental-Operational ethos” of our Power System calls for value orientation- a conscious introspection linking the present ills and shortcomings to the values and ethos and strategic envisioning of corrective measures. Values chartered above for producing a credible blue print of a formulated vision for India’s Electrical Power Sector can be of generic importance applicable to other sectors of development also, with due modifications.

Let us appreciate that value based introspection and corrective action planning are crucial for development.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 45 “Solar Rooftops in India”

My dear friends,

India has been a land of revolutions witnessing the life changing upheavals like the Green Revolution and the White Revolution. Now she is on the verge of next revolution i.e. “Solar Revolution”. The newly set target of 100 GW Solar Energy by 2022 will change the position of India on the map of solar powered nations across the world. With 38 GW, Germany has led the world in Solar PV with a global aggregate of 177 GW. Can India follow suit?

Out of the Indian target, 40 GW is earmarked for Solar Rooftops. Our country has around 337 million houses as per the census 2011. A 1-kW system per house could add up to 337 GW of installed capacity; commercial and industrial rooftop space being additional avenue for generation which signifies that the 40 GW target is a small fraction of the potential. The commencements of “Make in India”, “Start-up India”, “Stand-up India”, “Housing for all by 2022” and “Digital India” missions are other elements which can complement and accelerate the transition.

Today, India’s 1/3^rd population has no access to electricity and lives in darkness. This can only be answered by decentralised sources of energy like solar. Solar Rooftop PV (SRPV) is a decentralised technology, which is being encouraged due to its low land footprint and ability to reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Weak local distribution infrastructure, lack of economies of scale and poor social outlook has prevented SRPV systems from penetrating the Indian market. Currently India has only 300 MW of rooftop solar projects.

Consumer awareness

A survey was conducted by one of our PGPM (Energy) students to gauge the awareness of consumers towards solar technology and the apprehensions/partial knowledge related to it. It was an on-line survey and more than 50% respondents belonged to the age group of 25-30 yrs. Most of the respondents (98.3%) were aware of solar technology and the cost of the system which signifies that people now know about the solar rooftop PV technology.

Encouraging feedback was that about 84% of the respondents showed their willingness towards installing SRPV system in future. Most of the respondents are not fully aware of the incentives and subsidies provided by the Government. Almost 41% of the respondents knew about the area required for the installation of SRPV. However, only 6% of the total respondents have installed SRPV systems.

Almost 38% of the respondents were not aware of the new target of 100 GW of Solar deployments by 2022. About 59% of the respondents didn’t know about the Net-metering scheme. There were some ‘true-false’ questions which were asked to test the apprehensions in the minds of consumers. The results show that the respondents are still not aware of the basic features of the SRPV system and have certain false assumptions like solar PVs may cause electric shocks; it will not generate electricity during clouds, etc.

The results show that still a lot is to be done at the awareness front to give a boost to the SRPVs in India. An awareness and a promotional program is proposed to remove the apprehensions and for the better penetration of the technology with promotional ads like that of “Clean Water”, “Sanitation”, “Child Education” etc. The Government can also mandate each energy generator whether conventional or non-conventional to put an information board emphasizing the benefits of Solar Rooftop PV.

Possible Elements of Awareness Campaign

1. With about 300 clear sunny days, the solar energy available in a year (5000 trillion kWh) exceeds the possible energy output of all fossil fuel energy reserves in India.
2. India is ranked number one in terms of solar electricity production per watt installed.
3. The electricity generated by Solar PV becomes free in 6-7 years (payback period) and you enjoy free power thereafter.
4. Government provides 15% subsidy on the capital cost of installation of solar rooftop PV.
5. Solar PV works more efficiently in cold climates (see graphs below).
6. On a cloudy day, typical solar panels can produce 10-25% of their rated capacity. The exact amount will vary depending on the density of the clouds, and may also vary by the type of solar panel.
7. The Solar PV doesn’t give electric shocks if touched rather they are required to be cleaned daily to keep them dust-free to increase efficiency.
8. 1-kWp of solar panels typically require 8-12 m² of shade free area to generate 4 kWh per day.
9. Cost of Solar Rooftop PV varies between ₹80,000 to ₹100,000 per kW system.
10. The electricity generated from solar PV costs ₹6/kWh.
11. The solar energy generated can be supplied to the grid if in surplus.

Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University have devised an ingenious means of boosting the efficiency of solar panels by exploiting a fundamental physics phenomenon. Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up. Just as the top of our head radiates excess body heat as infrared light, the researchers have developed a translucent overlay comprised of patterned silica that does the same for solar panels. The overlay separates the visible spectrum of light (which generates electricity) from its thermal radiation, effectively “cooling” the incoming light, radiating the heat away from the panel while allowing more photons to be converted into electricity. Thermal overlay cools the panel’s surface by as much as 22^o F and boosts energy production by 1 % (a sizable efficiency jump in the world of solar energy production @ 11-15% panel efficiency).

The fact that the “Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up” and “that they can suit more the colder and sunny climate” seems to have been ignored in the state-wise target allocation of SRPV out of 40 GW by MNRE in June’2015.

Climate Change and Solar Rooftops

The National Action Plan on Climate Change obligates use of Renewable sources of energy to reduce the carbon footprint. The recent move of the Government in continuation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (2010) to install 100 GW of Solar by 2022 is a step forward to Climate change mitigation and connecting the unconnected through distributed source of energy. As the country moves towards the clean energy deployment, it also happens to be a good time for all stakeholders to spread their wings in the new market.

Solar energy revolution seems to be the next big thing after the achievement of Mars mission for India. It is high time for Government to prioritize its further movement towards the building of healthy and sustainable policy & regulatory regime to nourish the sector. A lot of improvement will also be required in the infrastructure to avail the net-metering and feed-in-tariff schemes.

Graph 1 & 2 : Temperature coefficient for crystalline cells

The Government can obligate the banks for financing an allotted target capacity of solar rooftop projects in a way similar to the RPOs for Industries/Utilities. Housing financing scheme should attach Home loan with a loan for Solar Rooftops. T
he “Make in India” program is an attraction to many foreign investors and soon the companies will base their units in the country; the Government can mandate Solar Generation Obligation (SGO) to utilize their rooftop space. An agreement and support from Discom’s would smoothen the trajectory of growth.

 

India’s Latest Initiatives at Global Level

It was our Prime Minister’s dream to associate 100+ Solar rich nations like consortium of Oil rich nations to harness solar energy faster by pooling their resources. This indeed happened in Paris during 2015-United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, during 30th Nov-12th Dec’2015. [ It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.]

The Paris declaration aiming at containing the earth’s temperature rise to 2o C above pre-industrial level by limiting to 1000 billion tonnes of carbon, encompassed  “International Solar Alliance” of the countries to share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation, financial instruments to mobilise more than 1000 Billion US $ of investments needed by 2030 for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy and to pave the way for future solar generation, storage and utilization for countries’ individual needs. Soon thereafter International Solar Alliance – the First International and Inter-Governmental Organisation of 121 Countries with United Nations as Strategic Partner was inaugurated by our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, and the President of France Mr François Hollande. They jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), MNRE, Gurgaon on 25-Jan-2016.

These are positive steps which may also boost Solar rooftops segment in future.

Satyamev Jayate !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

 

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 44 – “Energy Storage for Intermittent Renewables”

My dear friends,

Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been announcing to the entire world that India has scaled up its plans from Mega Watts to Giga Watts in the arena of Renewable Energy in view of its environmental sustainability. The quantum jump being mentioned is 5,000 MW to 100,000 MW (100 GW) in respect of Solar Energy and 25,000 MW to 60,000 MW (60 GW) in respect of Wind Energy by 2022.

Such an ambition is not realizable without complementary energy storage of intermittent renewables. Both the above stated renewable energies are available only for 6-8 hours/day, not matching with peak load requirements and are further subject to seasonal variations. One of the basics of Power System is that the electricity must be generated at the precise moment it is demanded. It is the ultimate “just in time” system, where long-term inventory of electricity is denied. (Electricity can only notionally be stored in Capacitors and Inductors for a short time.) It cannot be stored in significant quantities but its converted forms like chemical energy in batteries, gravitational hydro potential energy etc, are possible to be stored.

Recent Cabinet Approval on Amendments in Tariff Policy

Recently the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power for amendments in the Tariff Policy. For the first time a holistic view of the power sector has been taken and comprehensive amendments have been made in the Tariff policy 2006. The amendments are also aimed at achieving the objectives of Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) with the focus on following 4 E’s:

1. Electricity for all
2. Efficiency to ensure affordable tariffs
3. Environment for a sustainable future
4. Ease of doing business to attract investments and ensure financial viability

Unfortunately the 5^th E i.e. Energy Storage for Intermittent Renewables has been missed out. Cost of energy storage should have been built in to the Peaking tariff. This was not expected in the present scenario when we have a common Union Minister for Power and MNRE.

Recent R&D Council Meeting of the National Wind Energy Institute under MNRE

I attended the latest (Twenty-third) meeting of R&D council of the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) held at Chennai on 30.12.2015 wherein their 10-Year Vision Plan was presented.

I pointed out that the renewables like wind and solar can become 24X7 power suppliers only when the appropriate Energy Storage systems are in place and hence a thrust be given for projects in developing Energy Storage systems, for renewables.

Pumped storage is one of the most promising options for energy storage in the form of hydro potential whose assessment in India is more than 96,000 MW of which not even 6,000 MW has been harnessed so far. Almost all (>99%) of power-grid-scale energy storage in the world today is pumped-hydroelectric.

However, Pumped storage is also undergoing a conceptual transformation. Rivers and dams are no more required. Sea water can be used as pumped storage media in novel approaches and “swinging door algorithm” pumped storage becomes a big battery analog for wind farm energy storage. Even an exhausted mine can be used as lower reservoir, if you can find a small water pond at a higher elevation nearby. There are many such novel systems that would revolutionize the energy storage spectrum and need immediate focus and practical green field pilots.

It was agreed in the Committee that a new group for “Energy Storage” would be created in NIWE, reflecting it as an essential ground-breaking component in the 10-Year R&D Vision Plan.

There is no future for Wind Energy Sector (and so also the SPV) without “Energy Storage”. Its importance is more than the “Solar-PV Hybrid” which can only expand the electricity supply period in a day to an extent, not necessarily matching with the Grid demand. It may however facilitate more land space for PV.

With “Energy Storage” component, the load demand can be met much better, right from cyclic stability to daily demand pattern to even seasonal demands. Without Energy Storage component Wind Energy & SPV can never be accepted as viable options for energy supply due to their intermittent nature. The cost of energy storage system has to reflect in the peaking tariff of energy supply. Higher absorption of renewable energy round the clock on the other hand may reduce its cost of supply.

There are four basic options in Energy Storage:

1. Mechanical→Pumped Storage (Seasonal balance), Compressed Air (Daily stability), Flywheel (cyclic stability)
2. Chemical→Batteries, Hydrogen (Electrolysers), Fuel cells
3. Electrical→Double Layer Capacitor, Superconducting Magnetic Coil
4. Thermal→Heat Storage (Molten Salt), for stability in heating systems or re-conversion in to electricity

The above options may suit different sets of wind farms & SPV stations and their connecting sub-stations to supply 24×7 and more specifically as per grid demand and the environment around.

I hope, all concerned wake up to the urgent need of Energy Storage in our country!

Satyamev Jayate !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)