How to govern sports associations

Many sports associations are governed by politicians and rich people. Talented sports persons are in their grip. This is bad for the health of the games. Sports is still run on the whims of feudal lords.

We need to run the sports bodies by admitting only the sports persons - present and past as full members. The management talent should be hired. If any one is keen to run the federation, he should be appointed full time as an officer (an employee) and not elected. The governing body should be elected periodically say once in two years only from the players who have represented India and the respective state for a qualifying period of at least three years.

Other interested people can join the association /federation but with no voting rights. Their membership is like club membership. You get to have the facility and interaction but no say in running the association.

Stand up Speak up and get counted

Blogging is a courageous way of speaking up.

It is there as long as you don’t delete it.

It is not forgotten.
It can be referred to whenever you want.

And it is a better way of

Stand up, speak up and get counted.

That is my motto for some time now.

Transferring your contacts from old mobile to a new one

Many of us change our mobile about once in two years.  At that time transferring our contact list from old mobile to the new one becomes a tedious exercise.

I have overcome this by putting all my contacts on contacts list of gmail account.

Once I configure my new mobile and access my gmail through the new one I synchronise the contacts with gmail then I get all my previous contacts straight away in my new mobile also.

Try this and you will find life so smooth 

New paradigm for ATMs in India

Installing and maintaining of ATMs in India is a wasteful and costly affair. For installing an ATM, a Bank hires a shop undertakes interior and exterior decoration and has a separate air conditioning. Each Bank has its own ATMs. The concept of white ATM has been created but the growth of white ATMs is far from satisfactory.

I propose that Reserve Bank of India should create a separate ATM organization. It should create and takeover most of the ATMs except branch based ATMs.

Right now, a Bank collects new currency notes from RBI gives it to third party agency which carries and fills the ATMs with new notes. You can cut the process short. RBI gives the money to ATM Organization. They stock the currency in ATMs. Whenever a bank customer withdraws the money from ATM, the money is transferred from RBI to his Bank and money is deducted from his account. Physical transaction happens once. Electronic transactions happen twice.

Right now urban areas have too many ATMs. Small towns and rural areas have very few. ATMs should be placed in Malls, Railway Stations and Bus Terminus. These will reduce the expenditure on security also.  

Our real interests

This blog is for my IIMA Batch mates.

This is second day after  Diwali. I am  in Delhi and struggling with pollution. The  air quality is bad, classified as severe.

I have  been  experiencing itching largely  on my face, neck and  shoulder area. This is allergic  reaction to the pollutants in the air.

Last  Diwali  we were  in Dubai and I escaped the pollution  of Delhi.

Last to last  year on Diwali night, it was quite bad. I had perceptible difficulty in breathing. In The earlier  years I did not  feel it troubling me.

Like me every one else  also  needs fresh air. This is our basic physiological need.

Who would  fulfil this need?

Clean air is a public good. I cannot have a private chamber where  I  have my own  oxygen cylinders  providing me fresh air.
At least  not in immediate future. And that scenario  severely restricts my mobility and quality of life.

I expect this to  be taken  care by the Government.

Our elected governments  have failed in this. All three - UPA, NDA & AAP.

Both  Executive and Legislature  have failed. Fifteen years ago Delhi air quality had gone very  bad. In some areas during evening I had   experienced burning sensation in my eyes.

Then Supreme  Court mandated  change over  to CNG for  public  transport.  We heaved a sigh of  relief. And for nearly  a  decade Delhi could claim as Green Delhi Clean Delhi. However  now we have gone back to same pitiable situation.

This  time also  Supreme  Court banned  cracker sale.
Though it had  some effect, it was not enough.

As a group what are our interests. Most of us have  earned  large amount  of  money and materially we can take  care of  our families  quite well.
In fact most of  our children are also  grown into  adults.

The entire batch has gone beyond 50 years of age. For us health  is emerging as a  key concern. Some of us have  health issues and are likely to face them more frequently.

At this  point our main  need  from the Government is clean  air. We can take care of water  by purchasing 10 to 15 litres of mineral water every day.

Do you  agree? If yes,  what are the solutions?
Can we  develop a new agenda for action?

Curbing Private practice in UP Medical colleges

Dated 14 August 2017.

News channels are  reporting today regarding rampant private  practice being indulged in by Doctors in Medical  Colleges  of UP. This  is  a corrupt  practice. It  has  to  be  curbed. However  it has  been  going on  for  a  long time. Hence  it will  not  be  easy. You  require  drastic  action. I have  outlined below the steps.

1. Appoint an IAS officer  as Principal of each Medical college with  a  clear  mandate to curb the practice. Period  3 years.

2. Give an offer  of VRS to  Doctors àbove the  age  of  40 years.

3. Make transfer  of doctors from one medical  college  to  another after  every  5 years  compulsory.

4. In order  to  achieve the above a UP Medical  Education Service may be created as Medical colleges are  autonomous. Some changes will be  required in the structure of  the  colleges. (Current Medical Service consists of  doctors who are posted  in Government  hospitals. )

5. Similarly for the staff also.

6. To achieve  coordination a council  of all medical colleges  to be  created  (if not there already. )

7. Anybody found indulging in private practice to be terminated forthwith.

8. After 3 years the IAS  officers to be  withdrawn. 
Appointment of  Principals to be  centralized.

Aadhar number should eliminate all other numbers for individuals. (Revised)

Aadhar  number  is being  linked to PAN, Bank Accounts and many other  numbers.

Why not just  eliminate all other  numbers?

One by  one.

Eliminate  PAN for individuals. You file your return using your Aadhar number. For other  legal entities  having economic  identity, let  PAN continue.

You want to  open a bank account. You apply with your documents. Your account number is Bank branch code plus your Aadhar number. Last character is added to denote the nature of  your account - savings, current etc.

You are registered as a voter. No separate Voter  ID number.  Before the  election you  are just  informed about your polling booth number and its location.

You need  a  driving license. You pass the  test and your license has only your Aadhar number and your photo  and other details plus  the  type of  vehicle you are allowed to drive.

If you  are  a student and are appearing in CBSE exam,  your Aadhar number is your roll number.  You will be  given location of your exam  centre. When the result is announced you can check your result by punching your Aadhar number and a password which  you  may have created.

Similarly for Passport, LPG and host of other numbers which create confusion.

For  that matter  why should we have a separate GST number for individuals who are carrying on business as sole proprietorship.

[All these  suggestions are for individuals. For other legal entities such as companies, partnership firms, societies, trusts etc. a corresponding unique ID can also be created.] 

Revised on 29 December 2017.

Olympics in the need for reinventing itself

Sports events have lost the fan following in past two decades. Opening and closing ceremonies used to be spectacular displays leaving the viewers wonderstruck. These were also demonstration of the prowess of the host country.

These spectacular displays no longer impress the people because they have seen similar or much better than those on TV and videos received through WhatsApp. And any country with money to spend can get the event management agencies to do this task for them.

Too many events happen together. It is difficult to follow. Too much information is available. It is bewildering. And that makes it uninteresting.

Despite vigorous arguments from the organisers an honest appraisal leads us to the conclusion that money spent on these is largely a waste.

The largest beneficiary of such an event are the contractors and corrupt officials.

Before such an event, large sums of  money are spent on improving infrastructure. Some of it is useful like better airport, train stations, roads, bridges, flyovers and better housing  (in a limited way)
Hotels are encouraged to increase their capacity. These hotels find their occupancy rates quite low after the event is over. And that makes the investment a loss.

Investment in sports facilities suffers from low utilization after the event. Evidence is at hand. Look at the facilities created in Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi. Barring Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium other facilities are not even utilised for 10 % of the time. We saw the same plight of Beijing Sports facilities created during 2008 Olympics.

So what is the solution?

I have following suggestions:

1. Olympics should not be given to a City but to a country. Today a city hardly has ability to host such a big event. High time that Olympic Association recognises this basic fact. After all who are the members of Olympic Association?  Countries - some 200 odd and not 2000 cities.

2. All games need not be hosted by same city. Let the host country distribute the game sites within say a 500 km radius. (USA, Canada, Russia, China, Australia have such wide geographies that such a restriction would be needed ) This would mean even growth of that area.

3. The schedule of the total event should be more spread out. Instead of 2 weeks it should be spread out to 8 weeks.

4. Sports facilities largely should be created in the vicinity of a University or a big educational institution like IIT and handed over to the institution after the games are over. This would lead to better utilization of the facility after the event is over.

5. Sports persons should be allowed to stay back in the country for one to two weeks to travel around after their individual games are over.