GANESH NATARAJAN

MR. GANESH NATARAJAN did pioneering work in the area of Computer Education being the CEO of APTECH for more than a decade.I some times call the period between 1990 to 2000 as the Golden Decade for Education in the Country with every lad and lass busy learning something about Computers and Mr.Ganesh Natarajan had a right combination of  the Education and Commercial components of this sector.He used to be an enthusiast of Re-engineering and Corporate consultancy. The GOVERNMENT OF INDIA must actively consider giving him a Civilian Honour for his contribution to this sector.

V BALASUBRAMANIAN

Mr. Balasubramanian  who used be Regional Manager  at APTECH Bangalore and ran the activities of the organisation at that time with distinction.He had an incisive mind at taking quick commercial decisions with ease.

MY EXPERIENCES IN MUMBAI BOMBAY

In the year 1999 I used to travel to Mumbai quite often sometimes directly fron Bangalore and sometimes via Goa working in Andheri(E) and living in Chembur and thereafter in Marol. The experience of travelling to  Mumbai I used to enjoy a lot.Lee Kuan Yew was once asked What should India be? and surprisingly he said If every city in India could become like Mumbai it would be ideal.I dont know fully well what he meant ,but conclude that in Mumbai according to him there is more co-operation among people.

I remember an incident around this time when I was travelling to Mumbai from Kozhikode the bus happened to reach Dadar at  3:00 AM and I was confused because the first local train is at 5:00.I still remember a cop posted at that point who told me to spend the intermission in a school bus parked near by and told me the first local goes to Andheri and he was checking on my well being often.He must be a police constable but he showed great concern for people and doing what was right beyond the call of duty. I was impressed by his conduct and concern.

I used to stay at a resort in Chembur and remember coming out mid-night for some stuff and all the shops were closed.Someone in the neighbourhood took me to the house of the shopkeeper who came out opened the shop just for my sake and sold me what I wanted.There are many such small instances in the city that somewhere left me impressed.

I must thank these people in particular and Mumbaikars in general for having inculcated such a positive culture and ethics and should maintain the same for ever.

FINAL CONSULTANCY REPORT KSRTC

10 of January 2020

WISHING YOU  and your team A HAPPY NEW YEAR

BACKGROUND OF THIS MATTER.

In 2017 I had sent an article I had written about  KERALA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION to the then Chief Secretary Smt. Nalini Netto on reading in the news papers that  KSRTC is in  economic difficulties. (A copy of this article is enclosed).Thereafter I got a call from Shri K R Jyothilal IAS secretary to the dept of Transport Govt. of Kerala with whom I was in touch eversince and he referred the issue to Shri M P Dinesh,IPS(Rtd)  CMD KSRTC with whom I had some interactions.

Based on the contents of the article  I had developed a PPT presentation which was sent to both the Transport Secretary and CMD-KSRTC. Some key excerpts from the PPT are being discussed here which would provide inputs to further fine tune  KSRTC. Three hard copies of the condensed PPT are being enclosed.

At the outset let me emphasize that KSRTC is a very well run organization with high quality manpower and administrative stability and order and also very punctual in its operations for which your team has to be congratulated.

However as an end-user of KSRTC some of my observations I discuss below and with this I would  like to close this matter that was commenced in 2017 .Kindly thank Shri K R  Jyothilal and Shri M P Dinesh for having interacted with me.

·       Slide 1 and 2 discuss the concept of a dysfunctional organization which simply means feedback from end-users are not periodically collected to orient Operations.

·       Slide  3  provides a simple format to collect and assimilate customer feed back.This can be collected from commuters through some formal procedure from key Bus stations. The call centers also could contact commuters on their mobile phones for their inputs.Such inputs can be used to take any corrective actions if needed.

·       Slide 4 and 5  shows a VISION and MISSION statement developed by me. There is already a VISION and MISSION statement of KSRTC on the web site but does not touch upon Economic side of the organization. The VISION and MISSION statement of KSRTC could be made more conspicuous on the web site and also presented in the Malayalam language. VISION and MISSION statement could be displayed( using some standard format of background and scripting) across all bus stations and other depots of KSRTC in English and Malayalam languages.

·       Slide 6 talks about training for staff and human resources initiatives. Two hours of classroom training could be instituted for staff every year and training videos could be sent by email and whatsapp to staff to go through. Training videos could be uploaded on the web site.

·       Slide 7 talks about using the Japanese concept of Quality Circles at Bus stations. Quality Circles are group of four to five people drawn from different domains who meet formally or informally periodically to discuss events of the preceding period, very often a month. Quality Circles must make at least one improvement every month or even once in three months. Some chair in the bus station might need welding and the Circle could talk to the concerned department and get it welded. Any innovative form of improvement however small could be instituted periodically. One improvement per month per station results in twelve improvement a year and multiplied by 100 stations is 1200 improvements. Such activities improve organizational stature. Japanese used to call such activities KAIZEN.

·       Some strategic partnership with the postal department could be considered  to route some of their cargo through KSRTC.

·       Slide 10,11,12and 13 talk about the logo of KSRTC. The present logo of KSRTC is shown in slide 11. Slide 12 shows an improvised version showing a road encrypted in it. Such a logo positions KSRTC more as a transport corporation in the minds of the public.Telengana State Road Corporarion has such a logo. The slide 13 shows a further improved  logo with  a punch line “We Move The State”. Such activities come under the gamut of “Brand Management” which makes the organization perfectly positioned in the mind of stake holders and helps in Competitive Advantage.

·       KARNATAKA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION has done a good job at branding all its classes of buses.To my observation Kerala SRTC is also doing the same. Slide 14 shows Ambari of Karnataka SRTC. Slide 15 shows the green colour bus of Kerala SRTC which your drivers tell me are of TATA_BENZ make. It is a fantastic bus and I call this “the poor mans VOLVO”.This bus is excellent for night travel except for the engine noise prevents commuters from getting a good night’s sleep. Once passengers enter the bus some innovative technique like a screen should shield the drivers cabin reducing engine noise from entering the passenger area.This class of buses could be branded with some distinct brand name. Slide 16 shows the red colour Kerala SRTC bus which also could be given some distinct brand name and small logo. Karnataka has a bus RAJAHAMSA which has a small logo attatched to it.RAJAHAMSA in Kannada means the Swan of the King.

·        Slide 17 addresses the factors that influence Travel Quality. If buses are making unacceptable vibration during travel some efforts must be made to control it and bring it under limits or even jerks and noise. Some ingenuous extra fittings could be considered to reduce such occurrences.

:Shri.  TOM JOSE, IAS

CHIEF SECRETARY- GOVERNMENT OF KERALA

SECRETARIAT

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

CALICUTCITY:Kapad beach near Kozhikode Calicut

Kappad beach is the exact location they say where Vasco Da Gama touched the Indian soil after a nine month voyage from Portugual in 1498 (May 20 1498) landing at the beach with a reasonable crowd from his three sea carriers.

Kappad is some eighteen kilometers or so from the Kozhikode (Calicut) town.It would be ideal to take one of those buses going to Telicherry and alight at a point called Pookad and hire local conveyance to this point.

There is a Monument erected here to commemorate this journey and the step taken by Vasco Da Gama. The monument as of  now is few meters inland the sea having withdrawn from the land considerably over the last few centuries and this monument is now set adjacent to a housing locality.The beach is worth visiting and the sea and its vast expanse can be felt at this place.

Few hundred meters to the North of this point is another beach with a large rocky formation and some like to visit this place and feel the Sea from this rock.