Desicritics Author: Krips

Eco Friendly Vehicles: A Case of Misplaced Emphasis?

Krips — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:07:45 EDT

In this year's budget, the Government reduced the excise duty on electric cars from 8 per cent to nil. Recently the Government repeated the same with 2 and 3 wheel electric vehicles. (Full article here) Why? Well, if one were to believe the advertisements, this is because the Government wants to promote these "eco friendly", "zero pollution" vehicles. Just open any electric vehicle manufacturer's website and you will see these words laced all over the site.

Well, that might be true if one were to compare electric vehicles with carbon dioxide emitting vehicles. However, I seem to have been bitten by the recent bug of measuring everything by its carbon footprint. Considering that most of the power produced in India is from hydro carbon fuels I fail to see how these vehicles are eco friendly. Just because you choose to be blind to the technology that brings the electricity right to your doorstep it does not cease to exist. Add to that the fact that we are an energy deficient nation, I fail to see the rationale in promoting electric vehicles.

I see a lot of similarities between ethanol blended fuel and these electric vehicles. Ethanol blended fuel was supposed to be environmentally friendly since it used natural component that could be regenerated. However, this has a hand in the spiraling food prices as food crops like corn were diverted to produce ethanol. Similarly agricultural land meant for food crops began to grow crops that were in demand to produce this "bio-fuel".

As and energy deficient nation and one that meets its electricity needs primarily through fossil fuels can we really afford to promote electric vehicles?

The Cost of a Medical Degree

Krips — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:05:55 EST

I was recently reading an article in “The Week” ( A weekly magazine) that claimed a 5 year MBBS degree (A basic degree in medicine after 12th standard) in China with an additional 1 year internship cost a total of Rs. 7 to 11 lakhs only. This, the article claimed, included tuition fee, boarding, lodging, flight charges, and hostel rooms that boasted of broadband connections, washing machine and microwave ovens.

Naturally I was skeptical. As far as I know, the average cost of a medical seat in India was much more than that per year. And many places don’t have even half the facilities listed here. My first thought was that these were some little known colleges. However, the article stated that these were top of the rung colleges in China.

Though there are several questions about whether these degrees will be recognized in India I couldn’t help thinking about the supply and demand equation here in India. Around 6 years back I had heard of a friend’s family who paid 43 lakhs for the first year MBBS course (management seat). What justifies these prices? Why are parents willing to shell out so much for their kids to become doctors? Is it an investment whose returns are well worth the initial capital?

I am inclined to think that we are obsessed with our kids becoming engineers and doctors. The emotional attachment of the same makes parents blind to the other considerations. Even if the child is not cut out to become a doctor or engineer the parents push their ambitions onto their kids. While this isn’t true in all cases, it certainly holds good for a majority of the cases. The mushrooming of hundreds of engineering and medical colleges around the country which churn out non employable graduates is being documented by numerous surveys. One such survey stated that hardly 25% of the engineering graduates in Karnataka were employable. They didn’t have the soft skills and / or the knowledge to be hired in companies.

While the figures might be debatable, I feel that there is no smoke without a fire. The demand is much more than the supply. Fly by night operators and sub standard colleges are cashing in on the irrational demand. Whether the Chinese colleges belong to this category or are really providing quality education only time will tell.

In the meantime maybe we should take a good long look at our beliefs. In this day and age, with so much information available and the numerous career options open to people, one cant help but wonder why such an irrational demand persists. Is it because we wax eloquent on this topic to others and THEIR kids, but heart of hearts want OUR kids to be doctors/engineers?

Book Review: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Krips — Thu, 1 Nov 2007 12:02:34 EDT

We often hear recruitment ads say that they want people who think outside of the box. Well, if you want a crash course in the subject or are a fan of out of the box thinking you should get your hands on The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

You might have heard about the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, which is only one part out of the Ultimate guide, since it has been made into a movie. Now while I haven’t seen the movie myself I don’t think any movie could do justice to Adams' style of writing. I do plan to watch the movie at the first opportunity I get, but I seriously recommend this book.

I went crazy with this book. I mean he can take the most mundane fact and create a whole new dimension to it. For example, more often than not, when we book a table at a restaurant we turn up much later than the time we specify. He takes this to the extreme of saying that the time we specify is the exact time that we will not turn up at the restaurant and hence become the basis for metaphysical calculations that should take place on a waiter’s notebook. Or mice being the most intelligent species on earth and they are actually observing us while leading us to believe that we are observing them. OK. I am getting ahead of the story here.

Basically the book revolves around a book (please note the irony here) called the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. DON’T PANIC is printed in bold on the cover page because you would probably only refer to the book when you run into trouble on your inter stellar travels. Mr. Arthur Dent is the lone survivor of the demolition of earth for an Inter Galactic Hyper pass and is thrust into this journey with a humanoid alien life forms.

The story line itself is vague and contradicts itself in places. So if you are the kind who likes a well defined story line and slow build up of facts and figures to a definite conclusion you shouldn’t really consider this book. You would find it a waste of money. But if you are looking to expand your horizons of thought and are ready to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of the human race, pick up your copy the next time you see it in a book store.