Sunday, June 28, 2020

THE ESSENCE OF THE STUDY OF ECONOMICS

The study of  Economics is a very crucial one and is a professional and technical subject that encompasses a wide variety of domains.My earliest association with this subject was at the Engineering College where we had a full subject on Classical Economics theory.Much of the study of Economics begin with Adam Smith and his "Wealth of Nations" ,which was the earliest attempt at making Economics a full fledged subject matter of concern.


Concept of Economics encompass every -day life and even the running of Governments.But most of the study is largely cluttered by diagrams and graphs.I was listening to a lecture at MIT(Masachussets Institute of Technology) where the speaker called Economics a "dismal science" because the study of Economics is largely associated with scarcity.But is Economics a study of Scarcity ? Not at all. A proper study of Economics and its applications at all levels helps in the creation of abundance and helps societies understand Economic situations.

The good or bad of the study of Economics is the various strategic levels from which matters can be assessed.There is a high altitude level called Macro Economics and a more magnified view at a personal level called Micro Economics and note that the domains are highly interconnected.

For me Economics is just three words .Supply,Demand and Price ..add to that two more riders Utility and Difficulty. Utility and Difficulty pertain to Micro-Economics while Supply and Demand pertain to Macro Economics and Price is a common factor between these two domains. Price is determined by purchasing power on the Micro-economic side  and cost of manufacturing on the Macro-Economic side.

The concepts of  Micro-Economics is rampant in a Jungle.I call this domain Jungle Economics.In the absence of a well ordained Economic System Jungle Economics prevail.What is Jungle Economics?It is the most primitive form of Economics..where there is zero welfare from any organised body.Every time a Tiger is hungry it has high utility for food that might be difficult to find.When it is young it has the prowess to run behind a deer or an ox..as it runs it is loosing energy making it even desperate for food..if it gets the kill..well and good..for a few days and the cycle restarts again.As it gets older it stops running behind the prey and uses strategy by waiting near a water hole where its prey are constrained to visit and attacks in a spurt...it may attack other carnivores or slip into a nearby village and become a cattle-eater or a man-eater.All that the tiger is doing is Economics..and human beings would behave in the same way if an organised Economic system never existed.In other words the jungle is a "Zero Welfare Economic System" and forms a kind of basis for all forms of Economic Study.Simply said it is a high Utility Environment with High Difficulty atleast for the Carnivores and even some classes of herds.

Let us study the Human Domain.Beating Inflation is the collective activity of Human Economics.The opposite of Jungle Economics is Human Economics.We Humans by nature eat various forms of food and could be called a Herbo-Carnivore.But there are many other demands like Clothing and the like.Much of Human Economics at a Micro-level depends on how one runs oneself.However beating Inflation is the most important challenge of an Economic System in the human domain.Matching Supply and Demand on one side and maintaining a steady price and taxing people with in-ordinate incomes to keep Purchasing Capacity at parity.All these are corner stones of a Human Economic System which prevents the Human Economics going the jungle way.Taxation sometimes help in Collective balance of the Economy preventing Inflation.All Economies Inflate with time but it has to be controlled and processed .Inflation is a scenario of Increasing Prices ..where Demand and Supply are not properly matched or Demand far exceeds the Supply.


Let us understand this a bit deeper. Increase in Population increases Demand.Increasing Demand creates Alternate Demand or the Demand for Substitutes.Government has to constantly tap up Supply.Increasing Supply means increasing production.Increasing Production means scarcity of land because Land is needed for Production,Increasing Production means need for investment and labour that is trained,Investment means inputs from the Banking System, a largely working labour force increases Consumption and putting an elongation on Demand (reason why inflation control is difficult) and add to that the need to Import to meet the Demand..all steps to keep Inflation under check.Organised Economic Systems around the World are in constant effort to match Supply to Demand and an ideal Economic system around the World would be an Import-Export regime with minimum tariffs and duties.


What is the essence of the study of Economics. Primarily to prevent Human Economics  falling into the Jungle Economics trap.How can this be done? May be in three ways.Firstly Government must harness all possibilities to induce large-scale welfare in to an Economic System..Secondly the World Community must be more forthcoming in International trade with reduced barriers...and finally improving the Education process , its expanse and deliverables to equip people with skills and knowledge and if World communities focus on the third thing ,with time the first and second will fall in place.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

THE BACK-HOLDER

HIDING IN SOME HOSTEL ROOM WITH PAIN,
FACING HUMILIATION AND STRAIN,
WONDERING WHERE HE LOST TRACK,
HE HAS SOME PAPERS THAT ARE BACK.


UNCLES' DESCEND FROM HOME,

ALL THAT OUR WARD DID HERE IS ROAM,
HE HAS SIXTEEN PAPERS TO CLEAR,
FELLOW SHOWS NO SIGN OF FEAR.


HIS FATHER HAS DEVELOPED PRESSURE,

MOTHER HAS INCREASED SUGAR,
ONLY HIS SISTER SUPPORTS HIM,
SAYING HE ALWAYS "FROTHS AT THE BRIM".


THE STEWARD DOES NOT WANT THEM AROUND,

THE WARDEN PROWLS AT THEM LIKE A HOUND,
RESIGNED TO A SORRY FATE,
REPULSION AT EVERY GATE.


IT COULD BE THE SYSTEM'S FAULT,

THAT THEY ARE IN A HALT,
OR ,THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SMITTEN,
IN THIS TENDER AGE OF FUN.


ALL OF THEM MAKE A GANG,

WE HAVE TO ACT AND BANG,
THEY UNDERTAKE SOME JOINT STUDY,
WITH RENEWED STRATEGY.


THEY ALL FILL THE FORM,

FOR THE IMPENDING EXAM,
EXUDING RARE GRACE AND FAITH,
THOUGH THEY ARE LATE.

IN THE EXAM HALL THEY WINK AT EACH OTHER,

WHAT WE ALL STUDIED IS HERE,
BEING CAREFUL AT EVERY STEP,
IT MIGHT BE THE LAST CHANCE TO PEP.


IN THE END HUG EACH-OTHER TO DEPART,

ALL OF THEM WITH A HEAVY HEART,
THEY ALL FACED A RARE PLIGHT,
AND  INVOLVED IN A PRICELESS FIGHT.


JUNIORS CALL THEIR HOME TO TELL,

THEY ARE OUT OF HELL,
THEY HAVE CLEARED THEM ALL,
THOUGH THE CHALLENGE LOOKED TALL.


BACK IS NOT A BAD WORD,.

MANY A DISTINGUISHED ARE HIDDEN IN THIS HERD,
LATE IN LIFE THEY MIGHT BLOOM,
NOW ,THOUGH THEY ARE IN A DOOM,
SUPPORT THEM  HANDLE THE BACK-LOG,
NEVER TREAT THEM AS A HOG,
THEY ARE SOMEBODY'S CHILDREN TOO,
ONE DAY CAME HERE FROM  'OUT OF THE BLUE',
GIVE THEM A LEGITIMATE PLACE TO STAY,
WHEN THEY ARE IN THIS FRAY,
NEVER TREAT THEM AS A PREY,
OVER SOME QUIRK OF FATE,
THEY ENTERED THE NIT(REC) GATE,
FOR THOUGH THEY NOW SWIM AGAINST THE TIDE,
COULD SOME DAY BECOME SOCIETY'S PRIDE.










Friday, June 19, 2020

Dr.Sarasu Esther Thomas Registrar NLSIU

Sarasu Esther Thomas who used to teach me Human Rights Law at the NLSIU and present Registrar of the University.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

leg bye cartoon


Dr.M V Kesava Rao..FIRST DIRECTOR OF REC NIT CALICUT

There is an interesting anecdote in my life.I was travelling in 1998 from Bangalore to Chennai by a JTC corporation bus and happened to pick up a conversation with an elderly person sitting next to me who happenned to be the nephew of Dr.Keshava Rao the first principal of REC NIT Calicut from 1961 to 1969.He spoke to me at length about Mr.Rao and his trials as Principal at REC Calicut and political interference made him step down. Dr.Rao was earlier Principal of College of Engineering Trivandrum from 1950 to 61 and after his tenure as Principal of REC NIT Calicut  was at NIE Mysore.

The thought that a Mysorean was involved in laying and nurturing the foundations of  REC NIT Calicut makes a person like me feel proud.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

ROHINI THE HALF ELDER SISTER OF MY MOTHER

MY MOTHER HAD A HALF ELDER SISTER WHO PASSED AWAY IN 1974 AT THE AGE OF FORTY DUE TO ILLNESS WHICH WAS PROLONGED. HER FATHER WAS A PISHARODY FROM PAYYANOOR.THIS LADY FACED A TOUGH LIFE IN THE RUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS WHERE SHE WAS REARED BUT WAS A FAIR AND TALL WOMAN OF APPEALING COUNTENANCE.MY TRIBUTES TO HER THROUGH THIS PAGE.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

S L KIRLOSKAR

Shantanu Lakshman Rao Kirloskar

Few months back I was at the library of National Law School of India University and among the law books chanced to see a book personally written by S L Kirloskar. It made very interesting reading and I spent considerable time reading it.Sadly I  dont remember the exact name of the book but he has very lucidly and in very simple style elaborated his life in the early part of the 20th century and the early large scale manufacture of cycles by his father LAKSHMAN RAO KASHINATH KIRLOSKAR and later Pumps. He even explains the incidence of Plague to which his mother fell victim and their relocation to Belgaum if Iam not mistaken at length.Such books give deep insight into the era through which mankind progressed in general.

ACE CARBO -NITRIDERS BANGALORE-58

RAHUL MASUREKAR 
MANAGING PARTNER


RAHUL A MASUREKAR  Managing  Partner of  ACE CARBO-NITRIDERS in Peenya Industrial Area  Bangalore...An Engineering Graduate from BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES ....who put up ACE CARBO-NITRIDERS in 1974.

I  have written about Peenya Industrial Area earlier and many people from around the world must have had a look at it for the large conglomerate of  small scale sectors it has and has served as the back-bone of the economy of the city and the country for several decades now.The estate is a miracle in itself and I was personally associated with the minute aspects of the estate for many years.


In one such association I had the good fortune of  meeting and interacting with Rahul Masrekar who runs ACE CARBO-NITRIDERS which is in the heat treatment industry.I recently met up with him and was nice to see his enterprise having a much better strategic posture than the one I saw twenty years ago.The office staff were courteous to me and conducted me to his office.I even had a look at the plant working for few minutes and found a disciplined outfit.






Heat Treatment is an important component of any economy..by heat treatment the properties of materials change for the better and make it more valuable and the Economy in general need the large-scale support of such outfits.I  have seen heat treatment using gases and special electrical power equipment..some times high-power current devices that drive large current at very low voltages into charges.It is largely a metallurgical process and phenomena and is a speciality in itself. I must congratulate Rahul for having stuck to this field and progress in its various challenges.He services many formidable organisations in the country.

I have pasted some excerpts from his web site which organizations would find it interesting. 

ACE CARBO NITRIDERS is a pioneer in the Heat Treatment of steel parts. It is located in Bangalore, at the Peenya Industrial Estate, the largest industrial estate in South-East Asia. The total capital employed is 20 Million Rupees with a current plant capacity of 400 tonnes / month.


ACE CARBO NITRIDERS undertakes –
      1.    Heat Treatment Job Work
     2.    Metallurgical and Failure Analysis of Steel Components
    3.  Consultancy on Heat Treatment process and Plant setup