Karnataka should address charging woes to become a hub of EV adoption

This article I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald Panorama Page . The article mainly looks at the following: 

1) Private /Home charging ( This is a big challenge in a city like Bangalore). The whole process is quite painful. A single window system must be created ( Like New Delhi)

2) Need to create awareness for charging/safety guidelines. The incident where a father and daughter died while charging their EV scooter overnight should be fully avoided through regular audit ( just like how BPCL/HPCL do home audit of gas connection)

3) Back-up power along highway stations is important.

4) Monopoly of Discoms must end. We need competition just like Mumbai or Delhi.

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Protect youth from stock market perils

 This article I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald on 28th march 2022. Key points:

1) Globally it is established that stock market fall and suicides have deep correlation.

2) More and more youngsters are falling into the trap of make quick and easy money based on the stock market trend on 2020 and 2021

3) Government must embark on  "Financial Literacy" courses at all levels including Under Graduate and PG progammes.  Maybe the SEBI/NCPI led financial literacy module can be enhanced for wider audience

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It is easier now to start a new business

 This article "It is easier now to start a new business" I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald/Panorama. The article looks the major changes between 2009 and 2021 when it comes to starting a new Business.

Ease of setting up new business has significantly improved over the past 12 years . The ecosystem for supporting new companies to establish their operations has also been a great positive change. Talent acquisition has become tougher compared to 2009 due to significant demand supply mismatch, but then India still accounts for the largest pool of highly skilled technology talent in the world. New technolog
y companies will continue to find India attractive! 

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Burdened telecom sector awaits government intervention

 This article I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald on 13th Sep. The article is about the current state of the Mobile Telephony industry in the back drop of the near bankruptcy situation for Vodafone Idea. 

1) We need at least 4-5 mobile operators based on HHI analysis

2) Can BSNL+VIL become a game changer ?

3) Satellite Broadband services must be started .This will help provide internet access to people in the remote areas where terrestrial/Mobile internet cannot be reached. 

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Curb corruption in real estate

 This one I wrote appeared in Deccan Herald Edit page on 30th July 2021.  Despite 4.8 years of Demonetization , Black money continues in Real estate. 

1) Apartments are constructed in residential sites violating all rules.

2) 30-50% of transaction value happens in cash

3) The nexus between the authorities, builders and legislatures look to be too obvious. 

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Mishandling of Covid 2.0

 This article I wrote appeared in the Business Line on 7th July 2021. We need to be paranoid and be better prepared . Government , Healthcare sector and the citizens need to play an active role

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Monitoring Digital content

This article I wrote appeared in the Hindu Business Line Newspaper on the 14th April 2021. The article comes in the back-drop of the content moderation guidelines for OTT and Digital Platforms and the never ending clarifications the government is providing and  with the Supreme Court also getting involved

1) Need to balance the needs of the players in the two sided market place

2) Global actions on Content moderation

3) While Guidelines are really needed, it is a fine balance and will need transparency, maturity and practicality for this to succeed.

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Can RBI fix flaws in NEFT?

This article I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald on 4th Feb 2021.

1) NEFT is a popular mechanism used for transferring money between individual Bank accounts. 

2) But NEFT has flaws. The Payee details are not validated during registration or during transfer. 

3) This needs to be addressed by RBI so that erroneous transfers can be completed eliminated.

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Time to strengthen digital banking

This article was published in the Hindu Business Line Web portal. Making the NEFT system foolproof, ensuring customers of merged banks are not deprived of digital services, and mandating OTP for even cash withdrawals are among steps that need to be taken

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India’s EV conundrum: Incentives in place, but no infrastructure

 This article I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald on 31st Dec 2020. In spite of the government actions to improve EV uptake, the numbers are not encouraging. . 

1) India has 22 cars per 1000 people now and this is expected to touch 175 by 2040. Even a fraction  is assumed to be EV, the infrastructure required is huge and we are way off the mark. The global average is 1 public charging station for every 7-8 cars. 

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2) EV price is about 25-30% . But the Maintenance and Running costs will add upto  about 15-18% or ICE price. Net-net the car becomes cheaper than ICE car in over 4 years of regular driving. 

3) OEMs and government need to invest in R&D. We need to steps-up R&D spend on upcoming technologies like Induction charging or Solid state batteries. 

Overall, the government has to take the lead with proactive investment in Infra OEMs and we the public must also support. 

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Should kids code or not?

 This one I wrote appeared in the Deccan Herald Panorama page. The article argues that it may not be a good idea to mindlessly push children into software programming. 

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Education and the town-country divide

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This article I co-authored with Prof PV Krishna bhat is published in the. This  Indian Express on 2nd Sep 2020. The article looks at the following:

1) We need a large scale orientation programme for teachers similar to the one done by Germany soon after unification

2) We need rural focus by creating Bridge infrastructure, Significantly improve R&D spend on Agriculture and allied industries.

3) Need to building rural leadership that can help in generating jobs in Agri and allied industries. 

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