I recently went to a school. The school principal had approached an organisation I'm affiliated with (why no names? Because I don't want anybody getting in trouble.) for funding for a classroom. The school itself is fantastic. It provides free education (yes absolutely free) to around 600 kids. From 1st to 7th. The school is what is called a government aided school. This means that the government agrees to pay all the salaries of all the teachers and probably give them some kind of pension (I'm not sure about the pension) in return the school agrees to not charge any fees whatsoever. On the surface this sounds like a good idea as kids are getting free education and the government doesn't have to manage all these schools. But who will pay other bills, like electricity, water, staff wages, maintenance and hundreds of other expenses. Since the school has no income it must be pretty tough. I kept asking the principal where they get the money to maintain and improve the school. And they said donations. But it seemed a little difficult to believe that the schools are asking people for donations to even pay their electricity bills. It was only later that someone told me (this is unconfirmed) that since government teaching jobs are so much in demand teachers are willing to pay upto 5 lakhs to get the job. This money is then put back into the school to maintain it. What a strange and convoluted way of running things. I was thinking it would be so much easier to charge the kids a nominal fee and use that money to run the school, but ofcourse then the teachers wouldn't be able to get their government wages, which they already payed good money for.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Nurses wages and sugar export
Politicians are always proposing some new policy to please one of their electoral groups. However when these politicians and as a consequence government passes these laws they never look at the total consequences. Most of these laws and rules have consequences in places that are easy to see but are rarely studied and fully understood. Lets take 2 examples.
Ban on export of sugar. I always found this a strange law in India. For the longest time, sugar export is banned, restricted or constrained to certain times and certain quantities. This is ostensibly for the purpose of keeping inflation in check. But since this is not really a necessary item like wheat, rice or dal, or even onions, it is a 100% populist measure. Now when the government passes this law it has absolutely no cost to the government. So who will bear the cost for this law. Its the sugar farmers. Since the price they will get will be less, and in some cases the money they get will not be paid in time, since most of the sugar mills need exports to make some money because of other government imposed problems.
Wages for nurses. Its easy to see that nurses in Kerala were getting exploited. They were being paid a pittance and made to work long hours. So the government came in with a minimum wage law and restricted work hours. Now the government is overcompensating saying that nurses should get paid 12500 a month. The problem with this is that, the cost of all this nursing care will be passed on straight to the consumer. So you are creating one problem by solving another. Often times, besides setting a minimum wage and setting work standards that reduce exploitation, its best to leave things to the marketplace and let demand and supply take care of things.
Ban on export of sugar. I always found this a strange law in India. For the longest time, sugar export is banned, restricted or constrained to certain times and certain quantities. This is ostensibly for the purpose of keeping inflation in check. But since this is not really a necessary item like wheat, rice or dal, or even onions, it is a 100% populist measure. Now when the government passes this law it has absolutely no cost to the government. So who will bear the cost for this law. Its the sugar farmers. Since the price they will get will be less, and in some cases the money they get will not be paid in time, since most of the sugar mills need exports to make some money because of other government imposed problems.
Wages for nurses. Its easy to see that nurses in Kerala were getting exploited. They were being paid a pittance and made to work long hours. So the government came in with a minimum wage law and restricted work hours. Now the government is overcompensating saying that nurses should get paid 12500 a month. The problem with this is that, the cost of all this nursing care will be passed on straight to the consumer. So you are creating one problem by solving another. Often times, besides setting a minimum wage and setting work standards that reduce exploitation, its best to leave things to the marketplace and let demand and supply take care of things.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Child care in 2011
When I was but a lad of 6 or 7, our driver, who was a trusted member of the family, was going on a week long trip to Malabar in a lorry that my father owned in those days. He was to head from Kottayam to Malabar, via Kannur. So it would be an overnight journey to get to Malabar, stay a few days there to unload and load whatever it was that he was transporting, and a similar journey back. The Estate was owned by my fathers brother, who was living in the US and consequently managed by my father.
My brother and I heard about this fantastic journey that was to take place. A journey through Kerala on a lorry. And he being 8 or 9, and being on holiday, we started to plead with the driver to take us with him. He ofcourse shrugged his shoulders and pointed us in the direction of my mother.
My mother ran the house and the kids and everything about our lives revolved around her. My father being busy with work, she and oftentimes my maternal grandmother, did most of the bringing up. But when there's 4 kids to bring up there's only so much looking after you can do and she had a laissez-faire attitude to child management, which we loved.
So we were not surprised when our mother gave us the nod. The journey was awesome, although I remember only patches of it now after 30 years. I remember sleeping on the bunk in the lorry. Driving at night. Stopping at a Dhaba for tea. Brushing my teeth in a stream by the road.
I recently spoke to our old comrade the driver and I am still astounded that our mother sent us kids off in a lorry to Malabar. But what an experience to have. What a memory to treasure.
My brother and I heard about this fantastic journey that was to take place. A journey through Kerala on a lorry. And he being 8 or 9, and being on holiday, we started to plead with the driver to take us with him. He ofcourse shrugged his shoulders and pointed us in the direction of my mother.
My mother ran the house and the kids and everything about our lives revolved around her. My father being busy with work, she and oftentimes my maternal grandmother, did most of the bringing up. But when there's 4 kids to bring up there's only so much looking after you can do and she had a laissez-faire attitude to child management, which we loved.
So we were not surprised when our mother gave us the nod. The journey was awesome, although I remember only patches of it now after 30 years. I remember sleeping on the bunk in the lorry. Driving at night. Stopping at a Dhaba for tea. Brushing my teeth in a stream by the road.
I recently spoke to our old comrade the driver and I am still astounded that our mother sent us kids off in a lorry to Malabar. But what an experience to have. What a memory to treasure.
Friday, June 24, 2011
The future is Ipad.
I recently bought an iPad. That most profitable of Apple products. Designed and sold from '1 Infinity Loop, Cupertino, California'. They've sold about 25 million of the thing and they're just getting started. Made in China, designed in the US and sold everywhere. The best gift for Mothers day, Fathers day and every birthday. So I was really looking forward to it when I got it.
Its not that expensive. The last computer I bought, cost me thirty thousand. This cost me only twenty. Its not very big, its not very heavy and actually once you open the box, its not very impressive. It looks like somebody plucked the screen of a laptop and packed it in a white cardboard box. Its even got the camera hole like your laptop screen.
Once I got it started I was even less impressed. Yes its touch screen, which means, no mouse, only fingers, to do everything. Touch things, move things, slide things. Yes the screen is nice. But the camera is lousy and you can't really input anything and even writing an email is a bit of a pain. No word, no excel. And that's where the disappointment ended and the fun began.
The greatest thing about the iPad and about this whole concept is the appstore. Once you've been introduced to it, you think, 'Hmmm, why didn't anyone think of that before.' No going to a shop to buy software. No buying it online and waiting for it to come by post. Not even downloading and installing and updating and registering. Its so simple you won't believe it. But you like a program, you click it, you enter a password, wait 2 minutes and your done. You're set to go. And that's just the start.
There's hundreds of thousands of programs. You won't believe me unless you try it. Anything you want, anything you can think of. Its there. I myself spent about one fifth the price of the iPad on programs. Stuff for the wife. Stuff for the kid. And games for myself. Board games, RPG's, racing games, puzzles. Its all there. My son has got story books that read themselves to him. Jigsaws that clap and shout at him. Painting books. Counting books. All rolled into one. It really opens up a world of possibilities and you really get the feeling that if you were paralyzed from the waist down, it really wouldn't be that bad.
So the excitements over and here's the bitter aftertaste at the end of the story. With so many programs, three people and one iPad, who gets it. I think I'm going to need two more iPads. Damn you Apple.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Railways
The best way to get around India? By train. Most Indians can afford it, its reasonably fast, its reasonably comfortable and its really cheap. If its not cheap enough you can get on for free and hide in the bathroom.
So here's a thought. Instead of spending billions on road development, lets leave the roads the way they are and focus on railways. This the transportation of the future. What we need is better railcars, more rail tracks and privatisation. Yes the magic P word.
Let the government continue to run the railways it has now and develop new lines. But let private guys also run trains on these lines. Just like the private plane operators have come in. In the early days, there was Indian express and nobody else. There were government airports and nothing else. The government continues to run the airports but private players can also use these and Indian express continues unabated (albeit with fatter air hostesses who frown at you from their union protected towers).
However much the government invests it can never match the efficiencies that come from competition among private players.
Within the cities lets invest in bus only routes and metro's. No matter how many highways, over bridges, ring roads or flyovers you build you can never keep pace with the number of cars getting on the road. So the best thing to do is to abandon the idea of keeping pace with the number of private cars and focus on building up a superb public transportation system. Private and public buses. A metro system for any city with over 2 lakh people and a concentrated urban center. Special bus roads. And high taxes on cars.
If you do this in 20 years you'll end up with ppl buying and using fewer private vehicles. More ppl using public transportation. Less pollution. Less traffic jams. Shorter, safer, commutes.
So here's a thought. Instead of spending billions on road development, lets leave the roads the way they are and focus on railways. This the transportation of the future. What we need is better railcars, more rail tracks and privatisation. Yes the magic P word.
Let the government continue to run the railways it has now and develop new lines. But let private guys also run trains on these lines. Just like the private plane operators have come in. In the early days, there was Indian express and nobody else. There were government airports and nothing else. The government continues to run the airports but private players can also use these and Indian express continues unabated (albeit with fatter air hostesses who frown at you from their union protected towers).
However much the government invests it can never match the efficiencies that come from competition among private players.
Within the cities lets invest in bus only routes and metro's. No matter how many highways, over bridges, ring roads or flyovers you build you can never keep pace with the number of cars getting on the road. So the best thing to do is to abandon the idea of keeping pace with the number of private cars and focus on building up a superb public transportation system. Private and public buses. A metro system for any city with over 2 lakh people and a concentrated urban center. Special bus roads. And high taxes on cars.
If you do this in 20 years you'll end up with ppl buying and using fewer private vehicles. More ppl using public transportation. Less pollution. Less traffic jams. Shorter, safer, commutes.
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