Pre and Post Cyclone management to minimize loss of property.

The last few cyclones have shown that India is able to get its act together in the face of  Cyclones to minimize the loss of life.
There is work to be done to minimize the loss of property.  It is here that people/colleges/Schools/ NCC cadets must be involved.  Here are a few examples.

1. Trimming of trees before the cyclone. Flying branches hit power lines and other property.
2. Removing road side banners/hoardings. They will surely fall.
3. Parking vehicles under covered areas.
4. Covering the glass windows with board, so that glass does not break and hurt people.
5. Asking people to check and reinforce tin roofs/fiber roofs.
6. Critical care patients should be moved to other cities.
7. 4-6 hours before the cyclone, power lines can untied from poles, this will substantially reduce the load on the poles during the cyclone.


Post Cyclone:
1) Mohalla level teams should be prepared with men and equipment before the cyclone to clear roads.
2) Community kitchens should be planned before the cyclone to restore food and water supply.

Lessons from Uttrakhand disaster.

A summary of the lessons from June 2013 disaster in Uttrakhand

1) Allow only people aged between 20 to 60 years to go for yatra.
2) Those wishing to go for yatra should undergo a fitness test.
3) Issue day wise quota for number of people who can take the yatra.
4) Do not allow construction of the buildings near the river.
5) Check the status of dams before the beginning of the monsoon and undertake dredging if required.
6) Planting of trees on the slopes.
7) Prevent mining and other destructive activities in the mountains.
8) Instead of large dams, make a series of small dams for power generation.
9) A check on the number of tourist allowed to go to Nainital and mussorie.
10) Above measures should be applied to other ecologically sensitive regions like Vaishno Devi and Shimla.

Today India looks like Rwanda.

When I read about horrors of what happened to women and children during the war/conflict in Rwanda in early 90s, I never imagined that people in a civilized society are also capable of such horrific acts against humanity.

The gang rape of a 23 year old on 16 Dec 2012 has shaken the nation, not just by the savage things done to the girl, but also by the shame that many such savage acts have been silently accepted. 

Like Rwanda, in India also, those who hold the power, savagely exploit the weak. This is true even in situations when one group of people are momentarily more powerful than the exploited. The criminals have a confidence in themselves that they can get away with the crime and are sure that the system and society will never be strong enough to hold them to account.

Like Rwanda, the savage criminals, have lost humanity even for their own. They did the horrific acts in front of a minor kid and involved the kid in the criminal act.

Women have been treated in-equally in India, taken for granted and their sacrifices never acknowledged. 

Yet India is not Rwanda, it has found the courage to stand up and not bow down to the powers that be. People are demanding justice and actions that have long term impact on the safety and progress of women. Hopefully, they will succeed.

How quickly and harshly India punishes those who have committed crime against women will be a tests of how much India respects its women.

Abhinav
28 Dec 2012

Introduction to Engineering product development

Engineering product development is essential for the comfort of man and development of nations. All the major economies of the world, like US, Germany, Japan, Korea, China have companies that make engineering products that are sold across the world. New products, efficient process are the key wealth of the nations.

New product development is not just about things that appear in news like cars or computers, they make news because they are sold directly to consumers. Better products and process are introduced in industries and lead to huge gains for the society.

I will try the explain the process of Engineering product development using an example of a electric wheel chair. Lets say a group of engineers want to develop a electric wheel chair. Its not a rocket science or a cutting edge R&D, its a product that requires engineering.

User Requirement: At each stage it is extremely important to understand the users requirement and review it repeatedly. It is usually seen that there is a big gap between engineers and their end users. This affects the product development negatively. This is an iterative process.

Multidisciplinary: This product (and many others) is a combination of, mechanical, electrical, electronics/controls and computer science engineering. It is always good to have friends from other branches of engineering. One should be capable of appreciating and understanding the subjects from other branches also. Never have this attitude, “I am a xyz Engg, so I have no idea of other engg.”

Gross BoM: Then make a gross Bill of Materials or list of important parts. The wheels, the structure of the chair, the bearings, motors, battery, control stick, PCB, display or indicators. Once you have the gross BoM, find out which parts can be made lighter, cheaper, or more efficient. Here are a few examples, the battery can be same as a car or 40 mobile batterys in series. Can the PCB be same as used in toy cars? Can the bearing be same as used in cycle, scooter, motorbike? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each options. Example, if you use mobile battery, they can be replaces one by one, while a car battery change will cost more? Or the charging time of each?

Gross calculations: Make a gross calculation of the major components. The wheel chair is for patients till 50kg or till 80 Kg. Then calculate the required torque for plain surface, or for inclined surface of 15deg. On the basis of torque required, you will calculate the power of the motor required, then the battery required to run the motor for a few hours. All this, will give you an idea of the control system required to maneuver the wheel chair. Make control algorithm, and a drawing showing what the product may look like.

References: Why not Google it, ya sure!!. Find out what others have done, mistakes they made and learn from them.

Detail Calculations: After a few iterations of gross BoM and gross calculations, you have to do the detailed calculations and show it on paper that the wheel chair with the selected components, like chair, wheels, bearing, motors, battery will work under the given environmental conditions. At this stage you will also finalize, where each of this components is kept, and the control algorithms.

Detail Drawings: Now is the stage of detail drawing, preparing final Bill of Material and making assembly drawing, work instructions and sourcing the components.

Design Standards: Most of the engineering products, from a door knob to aeroplane, have to adhere to certain design standard,. There are Indian standards (ISI) , German standards (DIN), international standards (ISO). There are standards for the components, drawings symbols and every smallest of the details, even the nut bolts that you use. If you want to make a product that is of high quality and is acceptable world wide, then you choose the appropriate standard and make sure your calculations and drawings fulfill those standards. For example, bolts and nuts are as per ISO 4016 or 4018 depending on application and there are separate standards for washers.

Documentation: At each stage, it is extremely important to have a good documentation. Make tables, charts, of the requirements, calculations etc. This is extremely important when making decisions or reviewing decisions.

Further development: Always document further advancement that are possible in this product. For example, the wheel chair can be made using a direct drive motor or can have a regenerative braking, i.e. Which generates electricity on braking.

The future needs of humanity asks for more efficient products that have longer life spans, are more reliable, have less impact on environment in their production or operation. Great companies have begun with small products and new ones continue to be build on strong engineering foundations. A example is DEHN, a German company dedicated to lightning protection only or SVENDBORG that makes brakes only.. They make high quality engineering products and test these products to high standards. Good engineering teams are an asset to the nation.

Abhinav Bhatnagar

2000 Electrical

Mar 2011 for SRIJAN , MNNIT College Magazine

Democratic distribution of electrical power

This post is about the (mis)use of electrical power in energy deficient India and shows that the current allocation of electrical power is a cause of many problems that India faces.

Country running on UPS and inverters:
                UPS and inverters are as common in Indian house holds as salt. This is true not just in cities but also in villages. The reason behind this is that one knows that power cuts are regular, unpredictable and very often. The reason behind power cuts is that India does not have enough power generation plants. The reason there are not enough power generation plants is that there is not enough fuel.
                India has a shortage of all types of fuels. It imports the petrol for transport, it imports coal for thermal power plants, it imports uranium for nuclear power, it even imports hydro power from Bhutan and to top it all India imports cooking oil to power its human population. You can see the wastage of energy everywhere in India.
               UPS and inverters are used to run only the essentials, like a bulb in each room, or a computer in the office.No one uses inverters to run Televisions or music systems. When there is a short supply, it is common sense to prioritize the needs and use the resource cautiously. Indians do that in their home, but collectively as a nation they do not.
               Take for example, if a city has given amount of power will it use it to light up neon signs and keep hospitals in the dark. No, but that is what happens in every Indian city. In one part of the city, usually where poor people live or on the outskirts, power cuts are more often and hospitals and houses are without power while in the central part of the city, the neon signs and the bill boards are lit.


             The smaller towns endure longer power cuts, in villages the power is available only for a few hours and voltage fluctuations are high. People wonders whose needs are more important, a hospital in a village/town near New Delhi/Mumbai etc or a bill board in new Delhi/Mumbai which consumes enough electricity that can power a hospital.

                      The argument of economics fails here as the hospital is paying for bills and when there is a shortage of resources, the state has a duty to do a fair allocation of resources. More on economic arguments below.


The downward spiral of darkness:
                 No human being would like to live in darkness. So those living in villages want to move to cities, those living in out skirts want to move in central parts of cities. So the resourceful will move out of town and those places will become less desirable.
                But what about the business, the factories, the shops. They find it more and more difficult to operate. If they buy generators, the cost increases. This adds to the inflation numbers every week.
                As with any other services, you would not like to pay if the service is not good. You will not pay a restaurant if it doesn't serve you food when you need it. Same with the power supply.  If the power supply is eratic and unpredictable, there will be a point where the consumer will say I will not pay for this service. This is what has started happening is villages and small towns.


The problems of Power(ful):
                        The places where the power supply is regular and good, have their problems for the same reason. The big cities have too many people living in them. More and more people want to live in big towns because that is where all the power is. People need jobs, medical facilities etc and as we have seen business are moving out of small town, so are people.
                       This brings the problems of overcrowded big cities. Traffic jams and high commuting time are a daily affair in big cities. Over crowding is straining the physical and service infrastructure. There is a shortage of water in all the big cities and public health facilities are insufficient. The quality of life in cities is deteriorating.


The failure of economic arguments:
                         India has a complex web of subsidies which have the intention of supporting the poor, but largely end up supporting the rich.
                         It is true, that farmers are getting free electricity, which is wrong but the electricity that they get is so little and of such quality that no one can ask them to pay for it. The supply to farms is during midnight, when there is less need in cities, the voltage fluctuations damage the water pumps, the supply is not predictable, it will be there on one day and not the next, the farmer cannot plan his day or irrigation of field. How can one pay for this kind of service. Electricity to farmers is used for production and an increase in its cost will increase cost of food to city dwellers. So most of the farmers have turned to diesel generators which is also subsidized.  But more of the subsidized diesel is being burnt in SUVs in the traffic jams of large cities.

                     Lets stick to electricity. The street lights in cities are also subsidized. So is most of the consumption for government offices. The electricity dues of the government and politicians are waved of more often that farmers dues. Even if the government pays for it , it is by taking that money off from other services that the government is supposed to give.
                     

The solution:
                      Prioritize the use of electric power. India has a shortage, that means it need to give priorities to the requirements. Some public services like hospitals, schools etc must have higher priorities than other consumption like marriages, or neon signs.

                       Put a cap on use by individual or events. This will lead to more innovation in efficiency and usage of the power. For example, a shop can use only 500W for the name sign on the board or a shop can use a total of 2000W. Such measures will lead to shopkeepers investing in efficient lightning. For example, a public ceremony, like marriages or Durga pooja, Dasheera etc. there can be a limit on the electricity consumed.
                      Some consumption can be totally stopped till the requirements of first priority is fulfilled across the country. Example here is bill boards vs hospitals. Till there is enough electricity that no hospital is facing a powercut, no bill boards should be allowed to use electricity. Some of these suggestions may sound impractical, but there is no denying that the situation has reached alarming levels.



Abhinav
07 Oct 2011

India Vs Chiina:: Democracy Vs Dictatorship

If India has to get better than China, it needs more democracy not less, as some India-China observers suggest.


Anyone who has visited India and China, will tell you that the difference between the two is of a few decades, obviously China is ahead. Even the Prime Minister of India declared in 2005 that he wants to make Mumbai like Shanghai. I hope he meant only physical infrastructure because Mumbai has a history and culture of itself.

The observers also tell you in one word that the reason why India is not able to progress as fast as China is 'democracy', which delays decision making as it allows people to raise objections and demand compensation. I beg to differ. Here I will present evidence that India has far too many dictators and their whims and fancies delays progress and creates chaos.

Dictatorship begins at home:
Like all good practices begin at home, dictatorship in India also begins at home. Usually the male head of the family behaves like a dictator. He would decide things that need to be bought, where to holiday and what the kids career should be.

Like China, in India also one of the surest way to getting ahead in life is to get good education and given the size of the population there is stiff competition for every opportunity. So the kids need to study hard, many hours a day, some kids study 12 hrs a day from the age of 15 or 16. Nothing wrong with that, except that they do it not out of their own drive but because their father wants them to be an Engineer or Doctor. This goes on for many youngsters till they are 24 or 25, only the name of the exam changes.

How does it affect development? As the number of opportunities are limited only a few kids get through, the rest come out of the process after loosing a few years of life. On any given day in India there are millions of youth who are not contributing to the society in any productive manner, but only as consumers of education services. They simply sit at home and study for a exam. All this youth energy if free to contribute the way they think is right can transform the country in a little time, but the dictator will not allow it to happen. Meet any young person in India and the chances are that he/she has spent a year or two appearing for exams.

Another example of 'Dictator Dad', when the young try to marry a person of their choice the 'dictator dad' steps in and takes it upon himself to find a suitable match for his grown up boy/girl. These young people who are sensible enough to elect their own govt and are allowed to vote are not allowed to choose their life partner. The dictators find a solution within the limits of income group, caste, religion, region etc. The youth hardly get a say, they nod. Those who revolt are often murdered and it is called 'Honour Killing'.

Leaders as Dictators:

India has more dictators of mass appeal than all the communist nations combined. Even the leaders of China would envy the political leaders of India. India has a plethora of political parties and the leader of each party is a dictator. Almost all of them are Party President for life time or till they give up the position for their son/daughter or a kin. Their wish is a command for the party cadre. Even their perceived wishes are command enough to come out on the streets to protest. Some of these dictators are literally worshiped by party men everyday. They are placated by naming bridges, flyovers, markets etc after them.

No communist dictator can dream of such a thing. In India's political party, if someone is not happy with the dictator leader, he or she is free to break out and start their own party and become a dictator in it. And they do.

How does it affect development?
The dictators wish is a command for other party men, ministers and even bureaucrats. Hence all the development is concentrated in the few places which the dictators or their men favor, secondly everyone wants to be close to the dictator and keep him/her pleased.

Here are some examples of the dictators effect on development.
Even the aspiring politicians who are supposed to be close to people and understand peoples problems make a bee line to the dictators house to get nominations. So the politicians don't waste time in solving peoples' problems, instead they spend time keeping the dictators happy.

The area most severely affected by the Naxals, is mineral rich but lags far behind the rest of the country, the reason, no politician came from those areas who could find favor with the dictator or be a dictator in himself for his/her constituents.

The dictators, in order to increase their followers distribute favors, from free electricity to a law that requires grains to be packed in jute bags. For a poor and hungry country can let its grains rot in jute bags as the bags, unlike plastic bags, are not weather proof but not displease the dictators. Amartya Sen told you that famines don't occur in democracies, he was right. If India had more democracy, even malnutrition would not occur.

Why Indian dictators delay progress?
Lets comeback to the central point of discussion, the delay in progress. One of the significant ways in which Dictators in India differ from those in China is their decision making time. Indian society being so diverse and stratified, makes it difficult for the dictators to understand whom to favor and how to satisfy so many constituents. The constituents are not opposing each other or revolting against the dictator, they merely ask for their share of the pie. The share is to be decided even before the pie is made. Deciding how to share the pie takes a lot of time that adds up in the time taken to make the pie.

An easy example is the Common Wealth Games (CWG) to be held in Delhi in Oct 2010. Although everyone wants the games to take place, but everyone wants their share of the pie first. Hence the plethora of agencies responsible for the different works. The half baked pie gets created and distributed. Dictators don't make the 'sub-dictators' accountable for the shoddy work done. The work for CWG is far from complete.

Democracy is the solution:
The more democracy increases, the less dictators powers will be. More democracy will result in more people demanding rational decisions. Rational decisions results in rational allocation of resources and more efficiency. Democracy will allow people to ask for accountability. That is the path of development that India must take and as all good things democracy must begin at home.

The MF Hussain saga, and the law breaking elites

Here are some points that the liberal elites forgot to mention.

Unlike Taslima, Hussain has been victimized more by the govt. than by the radical elements in the society. He has a Non Bailable warrant issued on him by a court. May be he didn't spend enough on the lawyers.

The elites on the TV argue that the cases are frivolous, is it not for the courts to decide that the cases are frivolous or not. Is it not for the courts to decide, if someones sentiments were hurt or not?

That said, any artist or any citizen is not above the law of the land or do the so called 'liberals' want a provision that law shouldn't be applicable on selective people. The counter argument is that law is already weak and selectively applied, but that does not mean we give permission for further abuse of law.

Indian elite has a tendency of avoiding law, and MF Husain has done the same. Social and political leaders have spent time in jail, if Mr. Hussain would have submitted himself to courts and spent some time in jail, he wouldn't have become less of an artist.
But the elite has to show it again and again that they are above the law and Mr. Hussain has done it again.