Turbulent Times affects formal education

The world is going through a major crisis owing to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus. Countries imposed "Lock Down" to contain the spread of virus. Its glad to note that a few countries like New Zealand have emerged triumphant. Many countries have eased lock down restrictions but the threat is looming large. May scientists trying to find a cure & vaccine to this pandemic come victorious soon ! With lockdown, "Working From Home (WFH)" have gained prominence. Though the system was around for quite some time, many companies have embraced it these days. Except core operations of "Brick & Mortar" companies, WFH offers advantages to all sectors. In line with WFH, formal schooling has also gone to "Online" mode. Physical Classes are the best option where peer group interacts with one another, teacher clarifies doubts by explaining concepts in simpler terms, lot of group activities which will be stored in memory forever to feel Nostalgic about... Online classes will require a very robust networking infrastructure & availability of connectivity & required bandwidth to each student. Present scenario in many developing countries are far from ideal. Though efforts to build infrastructure is going on, its a time taking process. Television (e.g. "Victors" channel in Kerala) & Social media streaming sites is being used which is a very welcome step in improving the learning experience. I hope governments can release some frequencies from licensing so that community radio stations can be started by local bodies or even schools with low power transmitters to cater to students nearby. This will bridge the gap between the teacher & the student. Presently teacher on Victors channel is addressing students of whole state of Kerala. With community radio stations, it may be possible for each school to start a low power transmitter with help from parents, NGOs, Alumni associations etc. I would have loved to suggest local TV station but the cost might as well play spoil sport. Moreover, i am not sure if Indian laws in vogue allows terrestrial transmission any more. All TV sets is required to have a digital subscriber set-top-box these days. One possible way will be to persuade local cable operator to provide a few channels exclusively for School Education. Lectures can be recorded by local school teachers & broadcasted. Agriculture & formation of young people must be given priority by all nations. Fighting pandemic is the first priority. Resurrection of economy may be the second priority. Next priority should be Agriculture & School Education. Till world comes out of Corona Pandemic, all possible alternate ideas for imparting formal education to students must be explored. Afterall "Child is Father of the Man"

An Year went without Blog Updation

It has been quite some time. You can attribute it to my sheer laziness. It is nice to know that I have been away for more than a year. This post is just to ensure a blog entry in 2017. Going has been good, Heavens have been kind. Satisfying time period as far as professional life is concerned. At NTPC Kayamkulam, a pilot floating Solar PV project of 5 kWp was commissioned in 2016. Afterwards 100 kWp added to it. Both installations are in raw water reservoir of Kayamkulam plant. Incidentally 100 kWp is the largest installation of Floating solar in India as of now. I had the good fortune of looking after these projects right from the design stage to commissioning as head of section at Electrical Maintenance in NTPC-Kayamkulam. With vast backwaters, dams and waterbodies, Kerala sure have great potential for this renewable energy source. Especially since availability of land for a MW scale project in Kerala is pretty low. Commercial operation may become feasible with economy of scale as well as stringent environmental norms that are put into practice.

Picture from NTPC press release on 10th March, 2017

Walk Through Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=636BPQV5M5s

DD News Coverage : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgowaGHT-oQ

Change - The only constant thing - remains unchanged

My last post was about a year back on election. Elections did bring in change. Arguably for the better. Governance under coalition regime came to an end. A clear mandate was given by the people so as to straighten things in government & governance. It was a nice break from the routine. We earnestly hope for better days. ('Acha Din'). With a glorious start and a good pace, things started to fall into place. Big propaganda and little action at ground slowly moved out. Programs such as 'Swatch Bharath Abhiyan' moved well with public participation. And the first full budget of the present Central government has been laid out. Of late, I am getting skeptical about the change that current government is supposed to bring out. I am finding continuance of many policies of erstwhile governments. Hence the title of this monologue! Additionally we have enough controversies in political circle - be it at central level or at the state level. Common Man has no time to mull these things over. He/She is worried about the immediate needs - personal or familial or of the society. I hope media - including print, television and social - to turn away from sensational and controversial stuff. Glorifying unwanted acts/elements might fetch readers. Are they going to help in nation building in the long run? Are we teaching next generations any value by printing and talking about all the rubbish ? Let there be some consensus among media to restrain reporting on trivial issues.

Intolerance

elections, the biggest festival of the largest democracy is on the anvil. there are three tiers of elections for India. The local body level, the state assembly level and the federal parliament level. this year the elections are for the supreme tier viz Lok Sabha. There are 2 seats as far as Kerala state is concerned. All the major political parties have come up with their candidates. The biggest show is on. Alappuzha aka alleppey is my home turf. We do have many candidates out there. Sitting MP is contesting on congress ticket. His arch rival is from LDF. May the best of the lot win. It is tough to be at the top. In order to get to the top, one will have to cut through many rivals to raise in one'sown party. Alappuzha seat is traditionally contested by UDF (congerss)with candidates outside the locality, earlier by Vakkom Purushothaman, later by present KPCC chief V.M.Sudheeran to sitting M.P. K.C.Venugopal. We have the tradition in LDF too. however, LDF has decided to field a local candidate this time. Lets see how the elections work out. Initially i was under the impression that there is an anti-incumbancy leaning towards LDF. My recent trips and interactions reveal that there is nothing of that sort on grass root level. Though i am wary about the political machinations especially of the sitting variety,i guess present sitting M.P. is having an advantage. Picture is not yet clear. May the educated and politically aware electorate of the alleppey constituency decide upon the right candidate on the poll date. Considering the economic scenario, it is highly desirable that some political party gather winning majority to form the government at centre. Recent happenings at Delhi governance is an eye opener. I personally do not mind any political party coming into power at centre. My only worry is that some political party MUST come into power with a thumping majority. UPA led by congress if coming into power will see continuance in the present scenario. NDA led by BJP if coming into power will preside over some U turns in policy which need not be as bad as the word seems. Specifically one can hope for some more disinvestment. Hope Gandhiji's talisman will be remembered & the welfare of downtrodden will be prioritised. A clear picture will emerge after declaration of results. I hope all parties will abstain from horse trading to form a clean governance. Long live Indian Republic! This much as preamble, let me come to the title! Intolerance exist in the society de facto. The levels it can take is to be watched and curbed if necessary. Political, racial intolerance that exist in a plane do not ring alrams. However, intolerance to forms of art curtailing the freedom of expression does worry me. I was going through recent viral videos of youtube. As part of international womens' day celebrations, there was a song posted from some female artists. The kind of responses that we got were amazing. Clean parodies true to the spirit of 'King of Malayalam Parodies' Sri. V.D. Rajappan were enjoyed to the hilt. But there were some elements which as per news report threatened original posters. If such a thing is true, we ought to re-visit the definition of artistic freedom. I watched the trivandrum version, thrissur version and many i could lay my hands upon. Some were hilarious especially the Thrissur one and some were simple and elegant. To think that some one will take a revengeful take on a seemingly innocent outburst is outrageous. I congratulate the original uploaders ans the parody makers. I am sure no one would have thought with animosity. It is strange and sad that some people take things to extreme and goes on to threaten original posters. May wisdom prevail & people get used to ravines of the youth

At Cross Roads

Year of big elections for the biggest democracy. Big elections imply Lok Sabha elections. In fact for keralites, there is panchayat elections for next year and assembly elections on ensuing year. Surely the tone of governance in the coming years will be set soon. In a way we always had choices but this time choices as well as issues have sort of multiplied. Aam Admi Party (Common Mans Party) is the new kid on the block. Many especially the learned ones and activists have flocked to this party to make a change. With the Delhi fiasco, the long term action plan / agenda will have to be set. There are actions to resurrect third front. I am not very enthusiastic though. The main coalitions (UPA & NDA) will fight it out for majority. Regional parties which are associates of either of the coalitions might polish some worn out local issues to trump up support. National agenda of sustainable development and having a long term plan as in the past takes a back seat. The optimist in me hopes for prudence to prevail so that all parties stay away from election gimmicks and agree upon certain bare minimum agenda for nation building. We do have talent, resources and capabilities. A political will power is one missing ingredient. May all of my fellow citizen get good choices for the elections and may the best come out of the elections to govern this ancient land of wisdom. On a personal front, I am also at cross roads personally as well as professionally. I guess getting into 'Naughty Forties' comes with this baggage. Peace and stability in the long term are major issues. Responsibilities towards earlier and new generation gets a hold on you. Professional growth is still of concern but i guess that might get dumped into back burner once we progress on the time scale in life beyond the present. Investment decisions especially connected with asset creation seems critical and important. In a decade, kids will move from schools to college. Education has surely become costly! Given the values inculcated into my generation, we as parents will not spare any avenue to impart better education to kids. I am hopeful (merely hopeful) that kids will realise some time or the other that parents did their bit. Alas i can't claim that i had been with them for long. My job had kept me away from most of the time. Initially in New Delhi, then in Vishakhapatnam and presently in Thiruvananthapuram. I am happy and thankful that I managed to come nearer with every move so far. The progress have been good - from visiting family once in a quarter to bi-weekly visits. Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu