THE ECONOMIC TIMES

The Edit Page

India Needs Free

Wi-Fi, Not Free Basics
There is a business case for the spread of free Wi-Fi
The desire to provide millions of Indians access to the internet they have been denied so far stirs so strongly within Facebooks bosom as to make it invent Free Basics, a
platform for select sites, the data cost of accessing which
would be borne by Facebook. This is the claim that Facebook uses to justify the privileging of some sites over others that Free Basics implies. If this passion is so strong,
why not simply bear the data cost of all phones priced below a cut-off, to ensure that only the poor get the benefit of
the subsidy? Or even better, why not invest the money in
creating an infrastructure of free Wi-Fi for all citizens in
every town with a population above a cut-off figure, to be
determined on the basis of the availability of funds?
The internet should remain free and open, with no access provider privileging or degrading access to any site.
This is the structure designed to fully tap the revolutionary potential of the internet to empower humanity to learn, transact, innovate, create, earn and enrich. While expanding internet usage, Free Basics
ends up eroding such an open structure of the internet, discriminating against all sites that are not part of the
free platform. Instead of such a platform, why not fund setting up the infrastructure of free Wi-Fi? Since spectrum is scarce in India, Wi-Fi providers can generate revenue by letting telcos offload a part of
their data and voice traffic to Wi-Fi, even as Wi-Fi is offered free to consumers. The government of India already
seeks to create Wi-Fi hotspots at railway stations and the
like, with support from Microsoft and Google. Why not
scale up this activity significantly, and fit a revenue model on to it, benefiting spectrum-starved telcos and our
data-starved public?
Of course, this would call for additional pieces of software, on telco equipment and consumer handsets. That
would be a relatively minor hurdle. The big one is clarity
on the real goal being pursued while promoting free access to a select few websites. Once that is achieved, something on the lines of New Yorks gigabit Wi-Fi being rolled out right now is entirely doable in Indian towns.

CURSOR

Some technology changes on the horizon could pose a severe challenge for India

Wrecking Tech Shift Ahead

T K Arun

ndian industry must prepare

for a paradigm shift in manufacturing that is on its way
that could sweep swathes of
traditional Indian industry into that dustbin of gargantuan appetite, that of history.
Technology keeps evolving, everyone knows. But sometimes, the scale
of evolution can be dramatic, and
deeply disruptive. Such a paradigm
shift is almost on us. Industry had
better keep its eyes peeled for it. And
the government must prepare policy
to ease the transition for Indian industry and enable it to ride the new
wave. The biggest partner in this has
to be academia.
Technology is changing in every
area. What is of particular relevance
right now is technology change in solar power generation, power storage,
robotics, material sciences and nano
technology, the latter two being closely interrelated.

Disruptive Change
The cost of generating solar power
has been coming down year after
year, sharply. Stanford lecturer in entrepreneurship, disruption and clean energy Tony Seba forecasts dramatic lowering in the cost of solar
power over the next eight years, to
bring it below the cost of conventional power, aided by dramatic improvements in storage technology.
Traditionally, battery technology
attracted the interest of the electronics industry. Of late, the automotive
and solar power industries have joined electronics in investing huge amounts of money in improving, in fact,
revolutionising, storage. Not only
would the efficacy and cost of storing power come down radically, shifts
in business models would allow any-

Some Useful Advice

for PPP Projects
The Kelkar committee report on revisiting and revitalising
the public-private partnership (PPP) model for infrastructure
projects rightly pitches for pragmatism, transparency and a
business-like attitude for all stakeholders. The idea that PPP
contracts must focus on service delivery rather than fiscal
benefits, and further that we need improved fiscal reporting
practices, is spot on. In tandem, we need better identification
and allocation of project and other risks among stakeholders,
as the report has stressed.
About 1,200 PPP projects estimated to cost over `. 7 lakh crore,
which amounts to over a third of the Union Budget, are under
various stages of implementation nationally, most of them
road projects. The report commends the
ministry of highways for proactively reactivating scores of languishing or stalled
projects. The way ahead in roads is to
avoid delays and to institutionalise dispute resolution, it adds. Airports have also
garnered much PPP resources, but the
panel wants a unified regulatory structure for the sector notified and says it is essential to take into account all aeronautical and other cash flows into account.
More important, the report calls for promptly amending the
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and to differentiate between genuine errors in decision-making and plain corrupt
practices. Broadly speaking, for renegotiated projects, the panel wants full disclosure of long-term costs, risks and potential benefits, along with financial implications for the government, prior to the renegotiation. Also recommended is a centre for excellence for PPP and mechanism design in the form of
a National Facilitation Committee for time-bound ironing out
of policy and operational glitches. We need to step up PPP for
newer areas like public housing.

Midnight snacking might expand the

waistline but cuts into brain power

When Rumination
Affects Cogitation
Raiding the refrigerator in the dead of night for a very late
post-prandial snack has been immortalised by the famed
fridge forays of the Rubenesque Nigella Lawson in her TV
cookery shows. Even if todays standards demand a slimmer silhouette, midnight munchies have not been regarded
as a health hazard, except by weight watchers. But recent research showing that this nocturnal habit may seriously affect memory, too, rather than merely pile on the pounds, puts
a different cast on the matter. That the timing of food may
affect cogitation as a scientist put it implies that sustained midnight snacking may put too much of a strain on
the brain when the circadian clock (which ticks on regardless of sustenance) decrees it is sleep time.
True, the researchers arrived at their conclusion based on
the reactions of laboratory mice eating at the wrong time
(for them), which may not mean that humans will react the
same way. Anyone who has woken up in the morning wondering how that big packet of chips or tub of ice cream miraculously emptied in the course of the previous night will realise that memory lapses related to late-night eating are not
entirely unlikely. Maybe that is another reason why Lawson
in her svelte new avatar has also dispensed with the secret
bedtime snack segment in her latest TV series.

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | BENGALURU | WEDNESDAY | 30 DECEMBER 2015

one to buy storage on tap from battery banks, just as they buy data storage capacity on the cloud.
The ability to store power and retrieve it at will makes a big difference
to the viability of non-conventional
power and managing peak demand.
Imagine a situation in which all, or
most, power is generated from solar
panels. Where would that leave the
coal and oil and gas industries?
Oil would still be saved by automobiles, right? Perhaps not. Electric
cars would not just become viable alternatives to those running on internal combustion engines but surpass
the latter in range and performance.
An electric car has few moving parts
apart from the wheels and Tesla offers limitless warranty on its cars.
An internal combustion engines
ability to convert the energy produced by burning fuel into the cars motion is pathetically low, less than onefourth the ability of an electric car
engine to convert electric power into There, the most modern factory. What next?
kinetic energy moving the car. Electric cars would, thus, not just shift both light and strong will switch and at least cost in a country like Inthe pollution produced while gener- from metal to carbon and other com- dia. The range of things that will fall
into this category will depend on the
ating their energy, that is electricity, pounds of nano particles.
Carbon fibre is but one of the skill levels of our workforce, on the
outside the city but also reduce, overall, the pollution that is created for many new materials that will funda- ability of our schools and colleges to
mentally alter the composition of ev- cotton on to new requirements in inmoving the car.
Electric cars would, in short, dis- eryday goods. Metals with ceramic dustry, make appropriate changes to
place conventional cars, sooner rath- particles diffused in them, compou- the curriculum and train young peoer than later. Is Indias sizeable auto- nds designed to mingle with metals ple with new knowledge and enhancmotive parts industry prepared to and non-metals to perform in what ed ability to adapt.
To remain relevant to a new global
the jargon calls additive manufactucountenance such a change?
economy with altogether new manuIt is not. Also because of the on- re, popularly known as 3D printing.
facturing practices driven by new
going change in the materials with
advances in materials, distributed
which cars are going to be made. India Has to Adapt
BMWs most advanced cars already Then there is the steady advance in computing and new forms of energy,
are made of carbon formed into a robotics. If robots can cut cloth to the country will have to overhaul its
kind of wool, spun into fibre and wo- preprogrammed patterns as well as education system completely. Qualiven into sheets that are pressed into a master tailor can, and other robots ty must improve, and the nature of
car body parts in a specialised divi- can stitch the cloth as desired into schooling, change.
India traditionally has focused on
sion of labour at plants in Germany, garments, what competitive advantage will remain for low-wage coun- mastering existing knowledge, with
Japan and the US.
the implicit assumption that knowlThe Boeing Dreamliner is already tries like India and Bangladesh?
The answer is, there will always be edge pre-exists. This outdated view
made of carbon fibre. More and
more things that are required to be something that can be done better of knowledge must be replaced in
our pedagogy, to train children to question what they are taught, to develop critical and creative faculties so as
New energy sources, shifts in automobile technology to prepare them to create new knowledge. Not a nano challenge.
and material sciences, and advances in robotics and

distributed computing will force extreme adaptation

tk.arun@timesgroup.com

Bell Curves

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Writer

839
707
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140

A living language is defined as one that has at least one speaker for whom it is their first language

Believe me, Lord,

Im a monotheist.

Play the Game,

Administrator

Will Indian Football Start Rolling?

INDIA!

This refers to the report, Cheap LPG Turned Off for Those
Earning `. 10L (Dec 29). One
fails to understand the practicality of the governments decision, which is not sensible to
say the least. The sanctity or
genuineness of taxable income is a moot point. Here too,
those sections that do not disclose their real income will
benefit. The governments
approach of trusting the citizens has to wait in a country
of professional tax evaders.
N VIJAYAGOPALAN
Trivandrum

10 HOPES FOR THE NEW YEAR

of Jos Mourinho and even Ashley Westwood

than Virat Kohli & Co.
This is the impact of satellite
television, of course, and
it is not restricted to
big cities. Chew on
these numbers
the official broadShamya Dasgupta
casters of the Indian Super League
Indian football could be readying for a quantum (ISL) sent across:
leap in 2016-17. Indeed, this two-year spell could  46% of the viewermake or break everything.
ship last season came
Many years ago, Sean Fitzpatrick, the one-time from semi-urban and
All-Blacks captain, had told me, Rugby is to New rural areas.
Zealand what cricket is to India a near-religion.  The viewership inThe difference is that a major portion of the rug- creased to 47% in the
by-viewing population plays the game, while in second season in 2015.
India, there are very few that actually take to the  In 2014, roughly 93 million viewers were urfield at a competitive level.
ban, while around 80 million were not.
Its self-evident, really: the more people play a sp-  In 2015, 237 million TVTs were urban, and
ort seriously, even if not professionally, the great- 210 million semi-urban and rural.
er the chances of finding talent that can, circums-  The average time spent by viewers increastances permitting, go on to make a career of it.
ed by 36% this season.
Now thats a problem for Indias
Organisers say the 2015
football culture. Outside of a few
season had a 77% stadipockets West Bengal, Kerala,
during the first 52
MAKE IT um-fill
Punjab, Goa and the northeastgames, compared to 72%
ern states it was never really a
in 2014. That should quabig deal. Thats whats changing.
Will 2016 be the year lify as a blockbuster hit.
we get our act together? Cutting across sections
In the urban centres today, Bengaluru, for example, youll find
of society.
kids trotting out in matching jerseys and boots on
Its not just about the Indian Super Leweekend mornings, headed for the nearest big- ague (ISL) or about the refurbished
brand academy. Arsenal, Barcelona, Manchester and televised I-League either. In 2017,
United, Boca Juniors, Paris Saint-Germain the Under-17 World Cup will be hosted
they all have football clinics in India. These kids by India. No major European league
may not follow the India vs South Africa Test se- stars, sure. But with Fifas more-thanries, but are up to speed on the goings-on at La Liga able marketing skills, we can safely exand the Premier League, and have strong opini- pect good turnouts at the venues and decent teleons on everything happening at the Champions vision viewership.
League. Even among my friends, I hear more talk
Of course, awarding that World Cup to
India, which doesnt have a great standing in the sport 166th in the world
Todays kids may not follow a
at the time of writing this is a risky decision, one among many dubiocricket Test series, but are up to
us moves Fifa has made down the
speed on La Liga and the Premier years. But from the Indian point of
view, it could make a serious difference to the football culture.
League, and have strong opiniExpect the legends of the game to
ons on the Champions League
swing by, interact with youngsters, and

Selfless action is the outward

expression of selfless love.
When the heart is filled with
love, it expresses itself in the
form of unselfish action. One
is a deep inner feeling and the
other its outward manifestation. Without deep, unconditional love, selfless actions cannot be performed.
In the beginning of our journey, our self-love becomes the
driving force for each of our
actions, even if we choose to
call them selfless. Love for the
ego, or oneself, is the predominant feeling in every human
being. Unless this feeling
withers away, real selflessness
will not emerge.
There is a story of an old
man planting mango trees.
When his neighbour saw what
he was doing, he said, Do you
think you will live long enough to taste the mangoes from
those trees?
No, I doubt it, replied the
old man. Then why are you
wasting your time? asked the
neighbour. The old man smiled and said, All my life I have
enjoyed eating mangoes from
trees planted by others. This
is my way of expressing my
gratitude to the people who
planted those trees.
If you choose love and selflessness as your goal, you need
to be watchful. Watch your
mind constantly, because the
mind wont let you do anything selflessly.
The mind doesnt want you
to be selfless its only aim is
to drive you down the path of
selfishness, because the mind
is selfish. As long as you dwell
in the mind, you can only be
selfish. You have to be free of
the mind to be selfless.

LPG Cut-Off
a Lot of Gas

Top 15: Linguistic diversity of countries

PNG
Indonesia
Nigeria
India
US
China
Mexico
Cameroon
Australia
Brazil
DR Congo
Philippines
Canada
Malaysia
Russia

MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI

Chat Room

There are 7,102 known living languages in the world, with Papua
New Guinea (PNG) home to the maximum number (839), according
to Ethnologue. The table below ranks countries according to the total
count of living languages used as a first language in that country

The bitterest
tears shed
over graves
are for words
left unsaid
and deeds
left undone.

Mind as
Minefield

R Prasad

Living Languages

Source: www.ethnologue.com

18 

spread the love and the nutmegs.

We see the Fifa Under-17 World Cup as
the catalyst for Indian football.
The game is about to reach
critical mass in India,
because of a combination of the huge rise
in interest in international football
among kids and
the development of the I-League and ISL. And
the World Cup
is the event that
could take it to
the next level,
says tournament director Joy
Bhattacharjya.
That it could.
Messi and Ronaldo and zil and
Lampard fans are already making space in
their hearts for the local
boys: Sunil Chhetri, Mehtab Hossain, Thoi Singh, Subrata Paul, Amrinder Singh,
Laxmikant Kattimani and others.
And thats pretty amazing.
Unhappily, much of this coincides
with the gradual death of iconic tournaments like the Durand Cup and the
Subroto Cup. For those of us who followed the sport through its non-glitzy
years, and still keep an eye out for the
Great Kolkata Derby, that is depressing.
Still, theres no getting away from the
fact that to become big, to grow a fan base and, therefore, money and facilities, this is the right way. TV has to do a big chunk of the
work, the way it did for cricket after
1983. And, like cricket, football now
needs a Sachin Tendulkar.
The next year or two are key. To
borrow a line from Sholay, loha garam hai, maar do hathoda (the iron
is hot, time for the hammer-blow).
The writer is senior editor, Wisden India
Tomorrow: Can We Have Cars & Clean Air?

Apropos the editorial, Beautiful Games, Awful Administrators (Dec 29), the most popular game on the planet has
received its moment of truth,
in the sad form of sacking of
top two administrators of the
game, and one
of them has
been a French
football great.
The milliondollar question is, when
will our countrys sports
bodies act on the series of corruption charges in cricket and
other sports. Yes, the game is
always beautiful, and administrators can add to this beauty by discharging their duties
with honesty and integrity.
BAL GOVIND
Noida

Let Airlines Face

Competition
This refers to your edit, Dont
Pamper Airlines, Make Travel
Cheap (Dec 29). Shouldnt the
citizens benefit from competition? The domestic airlines
pitchfork fares even in times
of calamity like floods to profiteer from flyers misery. The
DGCA continues to look the
other way when the so-called
budget airlines charge more
than the full-service airlines.
The government, which has
never bothered to address these malpractices, should abandon this anti-consumer policy.
Rather than the airlines, the
government has a duty towards the people. Ensure a level
playing field and let the airlines fend for themselves.
ASHOK GOSWAMI
Mumbai
Letters to the editor may be addressed to

editet@timesgroup.com