The Maze of Desires

Whenever in my life, I've desired something badly, i can be sure that i wont get it and whatever i get, is usually a surprise. I thought of a job after giving mains but as luck would have it, i'm not just getting any chance. I needed this DCIO interview to go well so badly that you can't imagine. Although i'm out of touch of Electronics and Communication from past 3 years, i decided to give it a good try. I decided to work on Current affairs, Communication (Modulation, GSM, CDMA etc), Digital Electronics, personal details, job etc.

While preparing, it was a strange lack of energy i felt, maybe because i was left alone at my flat or may be due to the realization that it is unrealistic to even attempt to study this vast course. Anyways, i managed to finish atleast 5 chapters from Haykin and 3 or 4 chapters of Digital Electronics (Morris Mano).  I prepared all my hobbies, personal details and all other bullshit (Bullshit because not even a single question was asked about Current Affairs or personal profile).

On the interview day, a friend accompanied me till the venue (Dholpur House). On checking the call letter they let me in, and asked me to enter from Gate No 2. As i entered they asked all aspirant to deposit their mobile phones and gave us a token, assign us a table and asked us to sign on a sheet. I saw that my name was listed in the afternoon session. 

Then they let us into a hall and i sat on the table assigned to me, This hall is the central hall of the Dholpur House and the dome that appears in all pictures of UPSC. This was followed by a verification check by a rather strict lady and unluckily one candidate was asked to leave the venue as the caste certificate was not in the format provided. After getting the verification, we were all onto ourselves, free to gossip and discuss the questions asked in interview.
One by one interview passed and we kept discussing what was asked. It was mostly about their job and Communications and no electronics (Analog or Digital). Candidates whose interview was after lunch were asked to get lunch and report back at 2:15. I went to the UPSC canteen and got the famed puri-sabzi in 10 rupees.
Then came my turn, i was escorted by a friendly gentleman to the interview room. I passed along the corridor, looking at the names of the UPSC members embossed on their offices and wondering what it takes to reach such heights. Anyways, in no time i was sitting on a comfortable chair outside the interview hall. To reduce anxiety i took an active interest in the gossips of the UPSC employees about things ranging from LPG connection to bank jobs.
Anyways, a bell rang and i was let in the room. Chairman in front and a gentleman and a lady on my end of table. I'm trying to reproduce the verbatim script of the interview: (CM is the Chairman, and I1 and I2 are two interviewers and K'Jo being me :P)

CM: So, Javed Akhtar.. (I thought, question bombarded even before asking my name. Then i realized that one guy was absent before me.)
K'Jo: Kartika Joshi.
CM: Sit. You were working in Deloitte, thats a private company (as if it is a crime to work in a private organization, when a glorious career awaits in Government. I replied in affirmative, luckily the lady happened to know that its some popular company. I explained about the company). You were paid well, so why did you leave the job.
K'Jo: Sir, i wanted to prepare for civil services, also i found myself a misfit in the IT culture.
CM: ooohh, So your main aim is Civil Services. So you are here for practicing for the interview (Grr..). As of culture, you'll find it worse in Government departments. Anyways, i'm not discouraging you. Ill begin with a preliminary question, What was this Y2K problem and was it really a problem
K'Jo: Caused die to 6 place storage of dates and it was not really a problem,a mere hype by IT companies. IT companies made quite a fortune in the name of upgrading the systems and it wasn't really a problem
CM: Agreed. Okay, if as a technical head of IB, a person reports that a Wireless set has been missing. What will you do?
K'Jo: The medium of communication is no longer secure as it has been compromised. I'll issue instructions that no confidential instruction should be transmitted on the medium. Ill explore if there is a way by which i can permanently disable the wireless set or keep it off the grid.

He pointed to the Gentleman sitting next to me to continue.

I1: You must have read the roles and responsibilities of the job (i replied a brief, "Yes Sir"), then you must have figured out that a lot of maintenance work is involved in it.
K'Jo: Sir, I'm ready for it.
I1: You have a wire of a certain length, how will you measure its resistance. (K'Jo: Multimeter) What if you dont have a multimeter. (K'Jo: Do i know the material ?) Yes.
K'Jo: If i know the material then i know the resistivity. Then i can calculate using cross section and length using R= (P* l)/AI1: Suppose an equipment stops working, how will you proceed?
K'Jo: I'll first check the power supply, if it is okay, i will open it. I'll check various wirings and detachable parts by plugging and unplugging them. Then I'll use a multimeter to check if they are receiving current.
I1: What else can be used?
I could not think of anything else.
I1: Oscilloscope.
K'Jo: Yes sir, using that ill check the output of various ICs and transistors and check if they give desired output.
I1: How will yo check whether a transistor is functioning correctly?
K'Jo: I'll apply current across emitter and check the output at the collector.
I1:  How will you check when a transistor is connected in a circuit.
I could not think of it and I1 said that you haven't done that in practical, right?
I1: At what Bandwidth does voice travels in a landline telephone?
K'Jo: Sir, its from 300 Hz to 3100 Hz
I1: How does the bit rate comes out to be 64 Kbps?
K'Jo: Sir this is sampled at 8 Khz due to the constraints set by Sampling theorem. (Explain?) Then using 8 bit coding for each, we get 8 KHz * 8 bps= 64 Kbps (i fumbled a lot in explaining that)
I1: Do you know how a PCM system works?

Well this question was the single biggest mistake committed by me. I skipped this chapter while reading  Haykin. I thought, all those Passband Modulation Schemes and Spread spectrum modulation is far more important. So this point can be termed as the 'Turning point' of the interview.

K'Jo: No sir. I remember only few parts of it.
I1: Can you tell me, how the voice is converted to the electrical signals in a telephone?
I said something about Sound being a longitudinal wave and pressure etc but it was of no use to them :(
On to I2.
I2: What are the various security algorithms?
K'Jo: AES, DES, PGP, SSL etc etc
I2: No, the ones we use for encoding (I asked, Channel or source Encoding?), Yes!
K'Jo: Linear Block codes like Huffman coding and Convolutional encoding.
I2: How do you implement them on a circuit?
K'Jo: Sorry, i don't know. (I knew it, but i was too tensed to remember it. Its using XOR gates)
I2: How will you design a jammer?
K'Jo: I'll use a high bandwidth noise.
I2: Thats a good idea, but how will you implement it? Do you know of any other technique?
K'Jo: I heard of a multitone method, but i dont know how to implement it. (Gosh! How on earth can i draw a circuit of a Jammer. For god sake, we never studied it in the B Tech)
I2: Okay, if you are provided with Network Analyzer or Spectrum Analyzer, which one will you use for making a Jammer.
K'Jo: Spectrum Analyzer.
I2: Can you tell me, what are they used for?

That was most idiotic again, Not knowing something but choosing an option out of two. A suggestion, Never make a choice in an interview when you don't know about other option. In exams it may work but not in interviews.

K'Jo: Spectrum Analyzer is used to see the distribution of harmonics and i don't know about Network Analyzer.
I2: You haven't studied Network Analyzer and network parameters like S, S2..
K'Jo: No mam, is it the electrical one (Obviously No)
I2: Were you a communication student ?
K'Jo: Yes mam.

That finishes the interview. I felt terrible at the end of it. It was a bad experience but yes a learning one as well. I got the lesson than how big a zero i am in my core Electronics and Communication. I have two chain of thoughts, either to not ever try in a core job or to study it very well so that i don't get to face this humiliation ever again. Lets see which direction i take. 
The result has not been announced yet but i don't have any expectations. The theory that whenever i 'desire' something badly, i don't get it seems to prove correct this time as well. :(

Blue Brain Project

Science has advanced in the Second Millennium in ways that we now challenge ourselves into doing what we could not have earlier. We have embarked on an experiment to determine the ultimate particle of which all nuclei, atoms, molecules and materials are made anywhere on earth or in the vast sky. We look for the “God particle”. We have sent man-made crafts to other planets, and have made machines and tools that enquire whether life exists elsewhere in the sky, and whether there are other planets similar to ours that may supports life- “second earths”. We have read the “book of human life”, the 3.2 billion- letter-long code of DNA that makes us what we are.

But the book of life tells us how our body works. DNA determines the physiology and biochemistry. What about the brain? Can we ‘model' the human brain in the laboratory? How do the trillions of cells in our brain connect with one another so that it can do all that it does – pick up information from the outside world, make sense out of it and act, learn things and control our thoughts?

There are two ways to approach this grand challenge. One is to try and understand the neurons (nerve cells) of “lower” organisms – worms, flies, fish, rats and such, and build on this knowledge. This involves experiments on the “normal” organism and on its “mutants” – its cousins who are born (or tampered with in the lab) with one or more neural problem. Many biologists are involved in such experiments, and several more directly study humans with neurological problems and try to make sense out of the basis behind such errors in the brain.

This field is busy; every year as many as 60,000 papers are published in this area of neuroscience. But we need to learn from them, bring the pieces together and make sense out of them. This approach is incremental, building from what we have learnt and plan new experiments there from. With advent of computers, another approach called in silico (since computers use silica chips) has emerged. This exploits the fact that information is collected and collated in the brain via connections between neurons; based on the results of such neural interactions, the brain processes the information and acts on it. So then, why not model this using the computer?

By the mid-1970s, information technology had advanced to such a level that companies, notably IBM, had thought of modelling the “thought” behind chess games that we humans play. The advanced computers programming that they did at that time was christened “Deep Thought” (a term coined by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, including Dr. Thomas Anantharaman). By the 1990s, IBM had put together a then gigantic computer system that was named ‘Blue Gene' (blue being the nickname for IBM, and gene referring to the kind of biologically realistic model of DNA-based and protein- based information processing). One of the noteworthy programming done using the capabilities of Blue Gene was to play chess. Real chess involves calculating the consequences of moving pieces from place to place, each step determined by the possible consequences of what the “opponent” does in response, with the ultimate aim of winning. Having done this, Blue Gene challenged a human champion, Gary Kasparov, to a series of chess games. (Comfortingly for us, the human won over the machine then, but who knows what tomorrow has to offer).

It is these advances in computers that led Dr. Henry Markram of Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne, Switzerland, to think of creating supercomputer models of the brain that would be accurate to the last biological details. To this end, he has put together what he calls the Blue Brain Project (the blue here symbolizing supercomputers).

The approach of Blue Brain is binary. It uses the information available from the hundreds of thousands of publications of neuroscientists on one hand, and ability of computer programmers to create connectivities between the millions of “neurons” in silico on the other. Combining the two, he expects to build a facility that would aim at data integration and help build brain models.

What has been achieved so far? His group was able to incorporate data collected from genetics, cell signalling pathways and electrophysiology, and program them on a supercomputer. And by 2006, they were able to simulate one of the neocortical columns of the brain of a rat. The neocortex is that part of the brain responsible for higher functions such as thought and consciousness. The neocortex of the rate consists of many columns, each 2 mm tall and 0.5 mm thick and has 10,000 neurons, which are interconnected through synapses (connecting junctions or ‘solders'). The number of such synapses in one such rat column is 100 million. The task is thus not trivial and Markram believes that by the next a few months, a cellular circuit of 100 neocortical columns and a million cells will have been built.

And given enough money, it should be possible in about 10 years hence, to get the first to the first draft of a unified model of the human brain. It will not be a complete model, but one that will account for what we know. Believable Boast by the Builder of the Blue Brain! Hope the Bursaries Buy it! (An interview of Dr Markram by Greg miller appears in the 11 November 2011 issue of Science).

(Reproduced from The Hindu)

FDI in Retail

1991: Beginning of Economic Reforms and an era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) 

2001: Beginning of IT Revolution

2011: Beginning of Retail Revolution

The opening up of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in multi-brand retail trade (MBRT) may be the biggest ever reform in agriculture economy and at the same time it may also be the biggest danger to them. The issue need to be analysed in detail. It has fierce supporters and even fiercer detractors.

Current State:

• FDI in multi-brand retail trade is prohibited
• FDI in Single Brand Retail is permitted under FIPB/Government route (from 2006)

The Decision

Multi Brand Retail Trade

FDI in multi brand retail trade permitted upto 51% of capital with Govt approval. It is subjected to following conditions:

1. Minimum amount of FDI is $100 million
2. At least 50% of total FDI shall be invested in "backend infrastructure"
3. At least 30% of the procurement of manufactured/ processed products shall be sourced from `small industries` (which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding US $ 1.00 million.)
      
4. permitted in 53 cities with a population greater than 1 million, as per 2011 census.
5. Government will have the first right to procurement of agricultural products;

Single Brand Retail Trade

Government has decided to increase the limit of FDI in single brand retail to 100% but an additional condition has been kept. If the investment under SBRT increases 51% then 30% of the articles have to be sourced from SMEs/Village and cottage industries. The reason for this increase is the dismal response of the global brands toward the 51% FDI state. The FDI in single brand has been $44.5 million in past five years and is about 0.03% of the total FDI received.

Benefits of opening up Multi Brand Retail Trade

• Leveraging foreign investment in supply chain infrastructure: India seriously lacks the supply chain infrastructure like cold storage, logistics and transport. Lack of adequate storage facilities cause heavy losses to farmers in terms of wastage in quality and quantity of produce in general, and of fruits and vegetables in particular.  Post-harvest losses of farm produce, especially of fruits, vegetables and other perishables, have been estimated to be over Rs. 1 trillion per annum, 57 per cent of which is due to avoidable wastage and the rest due to avoidable costs of storage and commissions.
• As per some industry estimates, 35-40% of fruits and vegetables and nearly 10% of food grains in India are wasted. Though FDI is permitted in cold-chain to the extent of 100%, through the automatic route.  In the absence of FDI in front-end retail, investment flows into this sector have been insignificant.
• Bringing supply chain efficiencies: Foreign retail majors have gained decades of experience, technologies and management practices which will ensure supply chain efficiencies.
• Medium-term impact on regulating food inflation: The opening up of Multi Brand Retail will also have a salutary impact on food inflation as it would contribute to savings to the food which perishes on account of inadequate infrastructure.
• Securing remunerative prices for the farmers: Removal of middlemen will help in benefits accruing to the farmers as well as the retailers. But it would require amendments in the APMC Act (Agriculture produce Marketing Committee Act) to allow direct procurement from farmers. 
• Employment opportunities: Huge investments in the retail sector will see gainful employment opportunities in agro-processing, sorting, marketing, logistic management and the front-end retail business. Estimates suggest 1.5 million front-end and 1.7 million back-end jobs in next 5 years. Indirect employment in supply chain will also add million of jobs.

Conclusion:

Indian farmer realizes only 1/3^rd of the total price paid by the final consumer as against 2/3^rd with higher degree of retail.  A World Bank Study of 2007 demonstrates that the average price a farmer receives for horticulture produce is barely 12 to 15% of what is paid at the retail outlet.

And as Gandhi has said:

"There is enough for everybody's need but not for everybody's greed"


Glossary:

FDI and FII: FII(Foreign Institutional Investors) are the financial institutions (banks, pension funds, mutual funds, investors) located outside India and which invests in the Indian debt and equity markets through various mediums.

FDI is an investment in a specific enterprise with an aim to increase its capacity/productivity or to change its management control. Here the capital inflows results in increased production. (More details here ) 

Backend Infrastructure:

processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. Land cost and rentals are not a part of backend infrastructure.

 

Multibrand and Single brand Retail: Stores where only a single brand is present is called a single brand retail trade while stores or rather multistores where multiple brands are present is a part of multi brand retail trade.

Sectors still not opened for FDI: Arms and ammunition, Atomic energy, Railway Transport, Coal and Lignite, Mining of iron, manganese, chrome, gypsum, sulphur, gold, diamonds, copper, zinc

APMC Act: This act regulates the procurement of foodgrains from farmers. It mandates that the farm produce can only be sold at the agriculture produce marketing committees. This prevents the private food processing industries from buying directly from farmers. Since this is a state subject, only they can amend this law and many states have already done that to facilitate contract farming.

References:

1. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=77619

2. www.indiafdiwatch.org/fileadmin/India_site/10-FDI-Retail-more-bad.pdf

3. http://www.legalindia.in/foreign-direct-investment-in-indian-retail-sector-%E2%80%93-an-analysis

 

Hello World!

Hello World!
Well, the attempt of CSE 2011 seems over for me, thanks to the glorious disaster in maths. Now a lot of introspection and anxiety awaits me. First thing i thought of is to start a blog. Since i have a lot of time this year i must allocate some time for extra-curriculum activities (watching movies is the other) as well. I devoted around 6 months for last attempt, having left the job in May and now that i don't see any job option ahead it seems i have the full year ahead for preparation.
Although i hate all those, "Sureshot strategies for success in Pub Ad/ How to crack GS in 30 days", i still make a strategy, based on my own convenience and my own strength and weaknesses. I've worked out for this year as well. I've figured out the topics in Maths and Pub Ad which need work and i'm gonna work on  them. I'll try to write an essay every fortnight and share with you guys here on this blog. (I'm announcing it, so that i fulfill it, the probability increases...)
I have this terrible habit of predicting questions in exams. I did it in X Board, JEE and then CSE 2011. It seem to work fine for me. Its not something divine or special, every serious aspirant in an exam get this feeling on seeing a question and by sheer coincidence they seem to hit the bulls eye.
By this blog, i'll just keep myself and my readers aware of current affairs and my work in Pub Ad, Essay or even Maths. That is it for now. Hope to see you in the next post! :-)