'Deleting the delay button’ -An Approach adopted by Ministry of Environment

All project leaders wish to delete the word ‘delay’. It affects project cost, worker morale, quality of completed project and industry reputation. If delay arises due to Environmental ministry, it scares them the most. Recently Prakash Javadeker, Minister of Environment & Forests said that the word ‘delay’ is deleted by his ministry by speeding up the approval process in the past three months. But this has been seen as an assault on the greens from nature conservationists. On a positive side it’s a dream come true for project leaders of national highways, hydropower, mining, irrigation, oil & gas, railways, power, defense, and manufacturing sector. Is delete button becoming synonymous with ‘Minimum Governance’?.   

But, on 25^th August 2014, Supreme Court has given the first jolt to the NDA government for altering the composition of National Board of Wildlife (NBW) and its standing Committee. An open published letter is addressed to the Prime Minister by NBW on 12^th Sep 2014. It acts as a reminder for him to make good of his own message - “Zero defect and zero effect”. Letter literally opens up the Pandora box of its own non-compliance: (1) number of current board member present (11) versus needed (47); (2) bypassing of Section 5(A) norms of Wildlife Protection Act (WPA).(3) In two sessions, 133 development projects were cleared and pronounced environmental friendly cleared out of 160 assessed. Was that a sign of superman project leader or the avoidance of fear of complexity involved in evaluating the projects.?

It’s an excellent Project leader skill to remove bottlenecks. But shortage of ecology experts in the EC panel should not be used as a safety buffer in front of bottleneck. Bottleneck is generally removed by putting more resources, leaning, standardizing, fool proofing, flexible resourcing, or job levelling etc. Whichever approach thy use, even then the required number of resources - ecology experts - is needed for evaluation, acceptance / rejection.

An insight from an operation management perspective warns of common misunderstanding between ‘removing of bottleneck’ and ‘changing of bottleneck’. Both are different. The happiness of quickly removing the bottleneck changes immediately into sorrow on seeing new bottlenecks emerging. For example, Professors are facing problems in imparting higher knowledge to undergraduate students. Especially in courses which demands knowledge of basic science and mathematics fundamentals. But unfortunately those fundamentals skills were delivered in speed in school. The school teachers can’t fail students. Why? Because the bottleneck ‘fail option’ was ‘deleted’ by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Result - School system has simply increased the speed of delivering skills no matter they are fit or not for college education. Schools deliberately forget that they are connected with college in this ‘value chain of education’. It seems bottleneck in developing skill is always changing its form in education sector.

Statistics on the government website (www.forestsclearance.nic.in) tells that 80 projects were submitted after 15^th July 2014 and 72 (90%) are already under examination. Another government website (environmentclearance.nic.in) that 688 projects were submitted in 2014 alone so far. On a contrasting note, if we look at the data from 2004 to 2013, on an average 1700 projects sought for environmental clearances 

(EC) every year. But only 534 projects ( 3%) got EC certificate till 4^th August 2014.  This approval rate reminds me of an event when we played musical chairs. One of the participants was the slowest. Others were eventually slowed down as rule doesn’t allow overtaking the other. Gutsy members in the heat of frustration overtook the bottleneck member. But they observed that they are still behind that slowest person. They have to break the rule again and again to be fast. But in the end, they all lost the game and miraculously the winner was the slowest participant - ‘bottleneck winner’.

Can we say that our previous Ministry office was like that bottleneck winner playing with similar strategy. The previous Ministry was crawling forward at the speed of 3 files /year. And can we say that this new Ministry office by running at a speed of 65 projects cleared / meeting, is a symbol of minimum governance. The pros and cons are many for both minimum and maximum governance but we hope that by deleting the delay button, we don’t manufacture more disasters like that of in Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir.  Demand for EC certificate is very high by all Industrialists but we should ensure that the supply of certificates should not transform into orders to Indian army to rescue during floods.

Implementing Yellow Box could face behavioural challenges on Indian roads

Many Indian drivers have yet to respect the traffic light rules. Hence, the psychological rule of Yellow box of traffic system is not introduced in India. What’s a Yellow Box or Yellow Junction? It’s a sign of self-discipline exercised by the motorists on the road. These junctions have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road. It symbolizes that “You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear. But, you may enter the box and wait when you want to turn right, and are only stopped from doing so by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles waiting to turn right”. This rule is deeply imbibed by many European countries, UK, parts of United States and few other countries. The sole objective is to avoid gridlock and to ensure that densely populated intersections do not grind to a halt.

Currently our traffic department has started teaching Indian motorists this art of self-discipline. First comes the desire to learn rules of an art. Fear of any penalty comes second. We can see this big proof of absence of first step towards self discipline. In July 2014, fines of 1crore were collected by traffic department. Scores of driving licenses were cancelled despite media spreading the awareness campaign of traffic department. Punitive measures announced include hike in fine amounts from three to 50 folds, increases in types of fines & fine collection modes, and cancellation of license on repeat offence or reaching particular penalty points (12 pts). As I see, these fines and measures are both physical and verbal reminders for the motorists so that they can be prepared for respecting ultimate self-discipline signage - the Yellow Box. Yellow box concept is currently not in India but can see the foundations getting laid with the strong actions of traffic department. Result- motorists started shifting from their irresponsible driving to responsible driving habits-the first step towards self-discipline. Let me uncover some behavioral patterns of motorists that if understood by traffic department personnel, can be used for increasing motorists’ self-discipline.

First, Honking habit!  Honking shows that the traffic rules were not learnt. Honking is taken as an insult for motorists in countries where yellow box is a norm. On the contrary, honking is a sign that “I am a V.I.P.”. This V.I.P. habit becomes criminal when the sound of ambulance is suppressed by surrounding honks.  Sound of Ambulance is a non-verbal command meaning “give me the way”. But the honking habit has erased this sound of life to reaching out to the ears of fellow motorists. Lives could be saved if ambulance is being granted their “right of way”. Can we stop honking?

Second, CWG Corridor success! The fast-track bus corridor during Commonwealth games (CWG) of 2010 functioned efficiently in delhi. Building upon its success, the absence of green corridors (fast-track ambulance corridor) to facilitate transportation of organs from Hospital to Airport is not a far off dream. Some cities in Chennai have shown the respect for green corridor but not other parts of India. This wrongly prioritized perception of motorists needs correction. It seems we love and respect sports more than life. I don’t see why Perception managing firms or media houses can’t be roped in to influence the current perception of motorists towards honking, and green corridors. Can we?

Third, disrespect towards zebra crossing! Zebra crossing is a one-directional form of yellow box. There is acute shortage of respect of motorists towards pedestrians using zebra crossing. Respect towards zebra crossing signage will go in long run towards multi-directional yellow box signage. Indians tend to use cars due to habit, social norms, and lack of effective public transport. This lethal combination of blindness, arrogance, and frustration in many motorists prevents them from respecting pedestrians more than the traffic rules. Can Indian motorists respect these zebra crossings?

Fourth, Great Learning habit ! Indians are good learners. Chinese pedestrians while talking on mobile phone, use a special roadside made with signage without worrying about moving vehicle or open manhole. This signage system is an extended version of zebra crossing. Chinese motorists immediately learned and absorbed this new traffic signage system. Learning efforts for selfish motive are opposite to learning efforts for societal benefit. Can Indians demonstrate their world class learning prowess on roads too while driving?

These four challenges can make the dream of yellow box a distant reality. But when I see the alertness on roads in delhi, I don’t’ see why these challenges can’t be overcome. WE SHALL OVERCOME SOME DAY!

The Paradigm Constraint in Varanasi’s Smart City Project

The MoU for developing India’s first Smart City -Varanasi (Benaras / Kaashi)- utilizing Japan’s experience of their own smart city “Kyoto” is a global news. All hearts of Varanasi are praying for its quick start and completion. The operational challenges involved in building Smart city in Varanasi are similar to developing any Vanity city. According to the McKinsey Global Institute’s extensive study of global cities, by 2025, 40% of GDP contribution will come from smart cities in developing countries. China is developing its own 100 smart cities like India. At the Burning Ghats of Varanasi, before burning the body there is a ritual of smashing the skull else it will explode under the heat of flames. Similarly, if we can smash dead skull (worsening quality of life) by the bamboo of political will, it can signal the rebirth of an avatar- Smart City infusing new life.

 

Varanasi, the Spiritual capital city of India is barely breathing a quality life.  It will not be wrong if I say that most non-Varanasi, hindu visitors, come here or are being brought here to either cremate their relative or to get cremated. The foreign tourists watch this with a mixed response. For them, the holy city where the final send off is given to the Hindus, how this can be so uncivilized and in such a sad state of affairs. It should be place of omnipresent awe and wonder instead of omnipresent aah and buffalo’s dung-thunder.

 

Identifying the major constraints for the Smart city project whether physical, policy, paradigm, or market constraint is important.  The government’s objective is to put the city on the fastest route to profitability. Kyoto’s model of transformation in MoU means “what to change to”. The focused elements mentioned in MoU means “what to change”– heritage conservation, city modernization and field of art, culture and academics.

 

Signing of MoU is not a guarantee that smart city will forever remain smart unless the paradigm constraint in “what to change”-  is also highlighted or brought to light. Let the spiritual uniqueness of this holy city be reminded, amplified and magnified to locals before the smartcity projects starts. Fishes caught from far off corners of sea remains fresh in the fish market, if kept along with a baby shark in shipping containers. This ancient city also needs to place this baby shark -‘building true respect for the dead’, along with the Japanese and global infrastructural fishes that will be shipped to Varanasi in the container made of political will. Barring the airforce, army and navy community, the respect for both the death and life has not caught the fancy among civilians. Fulfilling the rituals alone is not the sign of complete respect as the whole process. Respect for death is not respect for life. Duty and love are not same. Love encompasses duty but not vice-versa.

 

This paradigm constraint looks like a paradox to an outsider but not an insider. And the unique locational advantage of Varanasi, if elevated, will definitely support in transforming its life. It shouldn’t be a totally stick & carrot approach but also a “fall in love” and “get kissed” approach. Fall in Love with life and get respectfully kissed when dead.

 

Government will-power and government itself is normally not strong. Hence the importance of policy constraint, which is now more of a strength rather a constraint. The physical constraint of uplifting the ancient city, thousands of years old, with 22,000 temples structures, will definitely act as major physical constraint. Even before its beginning, online retailers had opened their virtual market doors for giving a boost to Banaras weavers. Local real-estate agents are busy guiding Hospitality Industrialists to sign big land purchases. Is this the pre-good luck showers of Rs.7,060 crores allocated for “rejuvenating” Indian economy by building smart city here? It seems market constraint is also disappearing! Dubai is encashing upon its uniqueness now as a global shopping destination. Varanasi also can market its uniqueness.

 

One philosopher was passing through a construction site where he saw three workers working. He asked the first one, “what are you doing”. Worker replied that he was cutting stones. The philosopher moved ahead and asked the second the same question and he replied that he was working to earn bread and butter. The Third one was singing and working and upon being asked the same question, he replied that he was building the God’s Temple.

 

If kaashi can bless the dead then why can’t life be blessed by its very own human creations?