Barunjha’s Blog

How easy and handy it is when we want to have a cup of our favorite drink, be it hot coffee, tea or cold beverages.  These cups have a recyclable logo printed on them. If you think there is no problem using these stop and take a look. Because every time you are using these cups knowingly or unknowingly you are contributing to the greater environmental problem.

Generally these cups are made up of high quality paperboards. Manufacturing these virgin paperboards requires lots of wood and hence forests are cleared. While recycling is one way to reduce this new wood consumption but a variety of reasons prevents it. To make them well insulated, durable and water proof these are coated with polyethylene. This prevents recycling of these cups. Even intentional recycling of these cups is very limited due to concerns of hygiene and health.

There is a huge investment in terms of natural resources and energy. Many trees are required for pulp whereas its processing requires energy, water and chemical.  After usage of these cups, a large amount of Solid waste is added to the environment. These wastes if left untreated will contribute to pollution of different sorts else will again consume a large amount of energy to process and treat those wastes.

So what is the solution? Use mugs which are reusable. You can have a variety of options available to you in form of various size and color. Use ceramic mugs or better still stainless steel mugs which you can reuse thousands of times. Compared to paper mugs, these will ensure a better tomorrow and a greener earth.

I remember the days when you could have used plastic bags so freely in the small and beautiful state of Sikkim. Like any other place in India, every purchase you make, you get it in plastic bags. It was very useful .Yes you are at ease but someone somewhere pays the price. In this case it was the environment, the cool, serene, green and peaceful nature that was at stake. Sikkim being a hilly state is dotted by countless small and big waterfalls. The situation was so worse that you can see the debris made of these plastic bags flowing in these falls and floating in the mighty rivers of Sikkim. The scene was just unbearable, there were numerous landslides and clogging of water seepage into ground by plastic was one of main reason. Yes things go off hand, worse when you play with the rules of nature. People of this state depend on earnings from tourism industry to a large extent. Now think will you like to visit a place for your holidays which is full of garbage and waste dumps here and there. No not at all.

Sikkimese were fortunate enough that their conscious government acted in time. They showed that they care for Mother Nature and respect the environmental diversity of this Himalayan state.

The law came in form of ban on use of plastic bags and effort to clean up the state of all plastic debris. No wander it became the plastic free state of India, that is a great achievement indeed in the age of so ruthless and careless citizens. There were raids on big retail shops to small neighborhood grocery store and all stock of plastic were confiscated and done away with. Not only that they even banned all those Gutkas and pan masala which contribute to the plastic menace in form of litters and hence saved people from the unhealthy habits.

So what was the substitute, off course the paper bags. A whole new industry of paper bags grew to replace the plastic bag market. This move was a welcome by the environment conscious people of Sikkim. So don’t get surprised when the road side hoardings advise/ask you not to carry any plastic bags which are banned, next time you visit the state. Today if you are even a bit conscious about your environment you will feel proud that a small state has made it possible. Sikkim has not only saved its nature from deterioration but also set an example for others to follow.

“If someone can do it I too can” that should be the attitude, if we want to save our environment from disastrous suffocation of plastic. It is not only in our interest but also for the generation yet to come. A complete renounce of plastic usage is possible only when each one of us will think in urgency that this is the time to act. Each of us needs to do our best at our own level to fight the menace. Here are a few tips you can adopt:

•1.       Refrain from using plastic bags when you go to shop next time. Refuse plastic bags when you really don’t need them.

•2.       Ask the store for Paper bag instead of plastic bag.

•3.       Buy yourself a reusable bag made of jute or cloth, and carry it every time you go shopping even to neighborhood grocery store.

•4.       Reusing packaging material of your previous purchase. It not only saves money but also energy.

•5.       Go for minimal, avoid extra packaging, it will save you money and lot of landfill space.

•6.       Work locally and globally to discourage the use of plastic bags. Create awareness in and around you.

Our management decided to make it compulsory for each one of us to have basic level certification in any foreign language. On their generous part they will be providing free classroom training for that. So, I got a mail from one of my colleague, requesting to choose from the four language courses. I need to submit my choice before I leave for the day.  Foreign language you see, they are so foreign. I am not interested in any of the choices; I wish I had one more option “None of the above”. I would have surely gone for it.

It often occurs in our life that we want one more option i.e. not to choose from given option. With General Election-2009 on door I see how important that yearning had become for me.  Sometime I think I should vote and change the face of our country, as I believe you are & your society is what you choose. In great democracy like our things propagated in such a way that you feel better not to vote. “I don’t want to regret any thing I do in my life”. To put it simply I want no sin by me.  Do not wonder how voting is related with sin. This is how the story goes…………………..

Suppose in a particular LS constituency I have “n” number of candidate contesting for the prestigious chance to represent people.  But a close look into the profile of these so called politicians will reveal who they are. Goons, dacoits, murderers, bloody criminals, scam plotters,……  (search a dictionary for all such words and they will fit right for their character).  It is not that they are all the same, they have got dimension both in variety and magnitude. So the Election Commission plays its role right to give you an option to choose your representative from among the goons and criminals. So the poor children of democratic nation have options choose whoever you like, come under the influence of so called influential (Bahubalis….) & choose them or choose the least hardened one, the decent in arena of lewdness. Choose any of the options you will have the same result. The biggies will use power to grow even bigger; the middies not miss the opportunity to be biggies and the decent guy you chose will rise to replace the biggies by next elections.

This is not a new story of any part of our diverse India. It is widespread and prevalent throughout the length and breadth.

What do you think is the solution the save our ailing democracy from the life taking grip of criminals in politics? One, have an option of “None of the above”; this will give the misfortune children of this country a life saver. A right to decide their future, choose what they think is right, not to choose right among all wrongs. Let the voters decide what they want, if they don’t want them lets have an option to express so.  Two, modify the laws to keep these criminals and politicians who use them to debar from contesting elections. Have a stringent law to deal with wrong use of power. Third, have a negative voting factor, and decide a weighting factor for these negative votes cast for the qualification for next election. 

These will not change everything drastically but I hope will change the topography of Indian politics to an extent such that an ordinary Indian can easily navigate through and not feel shame.

Think of a shopping center where you walk in with no cash, a number of interactive mobile machines are there to welcome you. One of those identifies you and chances are that it will know for what you are there. They are your friends who are salesman in real terms. These machines can advice you on what to buy and what not to buy, buying which product will save you dollars. They know what designs and fashion you wear, what food you eat. Leave it here they even know of the things you bought last time and how much of it is left in your refrigerator.  This smart salesman can tell you how much to buy so that it will last till the next time you visit the store. They can tell you the same jeans you were looking for last time are in fresh arrivals and literally take you there. And when you are done with your shopping you need not to wait in long queues to get your purchases billed. No bar-code scanning, no card swipes you walk out of store and the bill is deducted from your credit card account or whichever account you choose to………………………………….. Yes this is future of Retailing which you will be seeing in just a few years to come. Get yourself ready to have hands on this revolutionary technology.

All these will be new application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Radio Frequency Identification technologies provide a unique way for wireless communication between objects and readers. RFID system comprises of RFID tag, RFID transceiver, servers, and middleware and application software. The RFID tag is a low functionality microchip with an antenna connected to the item to be tracked, or identified, and stores the unique identification number of the item. These chips transform the electromagnetic energy of radio-frequency signals/queries from a RFID reader/ transceiver to respond by sending back information they enclose. The readers communicate with the tags for reading/writing the information stored on them as well as update the servers which may be standalone or networked. Readers may be fixed or mobile. Finally, a computer hosting a specific RFID application pilots the reader and processes the data it sends.

RFID Tags can be Active or Passive. Active RFID tags are powered by an internal battery which is used to power ICs and generate the outgoing signal. They are typically read/write type and the size of memory used varies according to application requirements. The battery supplied power of an active tag gives it a longer read range, but such tags have large size, higher cost, and a limited operational life.

 Passive RFID tags operate without an external power source. They use the operating power generated from the reader. Electrical current induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal provides enough power for the Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit in the tag to power up and transmit a response. The absence of battery makes them lighter than active tags, less expensive, and offers a virtually unlimited operational lifetime. But they have shorter read range than active tags and require a higher-powered reader. Passive tags are typically Read-only and are programmed with a unique set of data (usually 32 to 128 bits) that cannot be modified.

The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location information, or specifics about the product tagged, such as price, color, date of purchase, etc. The interrogator, an antenna packaged with a transceiver and decoder, emits a signal activating the RFID tag so it can read and write data to it. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader’s activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag’s integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host computer. RFID system can also be distinguished by frequency range.

Your Life @Ease with RFID

• v Auto-Identification
• v Intelligent Shopping tips
• v Real time item tracking
• v Mall navigation guidance
• v Smart Shelves
• v Auto-billing
• v Card less checkout

Limitations of RFID Tags
1. There exist no globally accepted standard, regarding usage and manufacture of RFID tags and related products.
2. Frequencies incompatibility between various nations still exists.
3. RFID tags can be illicitly tracked which poses risk of personal location privacy.
4. Privacy Concerns:
a. if a customer is not aware about the presence of tags on his purchase, as tags can be read at a distance it is possible to gather sensitive data without his consent.
b. If the purchase is made by credit card (or by using loyalty card), it is possible to detect the identity of customer.
5. The Smart tag technology is yet to be perfected for accurate performance in real life situations.
6. Limitations of reading through metal & liquid greatly reduce the accuracy.
7. Presence of other radio frequencies can disrupt proper transmission.
8. Increase in expenses:
a. the higher cost of RFID tags is deterring the use of the technology on mass scale. On t he contrary, large scale use/demand is likely to reduce the price to a viable limit.
b. The whole system for use of RFID tracking system needs to be established right from retailer down to manufacturer which requires heavy capital investment from all parties involved. This factor is likely to act as inhibition for early acceptance of technology.
9. Apart from technological, the limitation of using RFID boils down to synchronizing business relationships. To exploit the benefits fully, all partners must be equipped with a common data format.
10. Each of RFID tags must be programmed, applied and verified individually, and data synchronization is usually required, but such a case is not required in BAR CODES.
11. The information the tag sends to the reader is only as good as the information that was put on the tag. This opens the door to human error in data entry. Information can also be affected by poor system design, unskillful or incompetent integration, poor software design, unfriendly materials such as water and metal, human error, double reads, no reads and other factors.

Benefits of RFID
RFID has many benefits compared to competing technologies like barcode. A few of them are listed below:
1. Radio Frequency tags can be scanned simultaneously all at one instant, whereas bar codes must be separated and scanned individually by a reader.
2. RFID is more durable compared to bar codes.
3. RFID tags are read more accurately, 99.9% read rate compared to 80% read rate for bar codes, because they eliminate manual data entry and can be read through most all materials.
4. Typical RFID tags have more data storage capacity compared to bar codes.
5. RFID technologies are more reliable as they have no moving parts and require no maintenance.
6. It offers higher security as each tag is unique and extremely difficult to duplicate.
7. RFID doesn’t require a line-of-sight and has greater reading range, so it stands way ahead of bar codes in terms of security and theft prevention.
8. Continuous communication of tags enables location and details to be tracked in real time.

Seeing the current scenario, I think it is time for IPL people to be pragmatic. IPL is important but more important is to conduct the Herculean task of free and fair general election. It will be wise not to divert the security forces from elections and continue with cricket after that. One more thing is to make public understand that the safety and security of a common man is equally cared for, than the VIP/VVIPs. The crux is that we need able, honest, committed leaders more than hours of cricketing entertainment to make us through this global recession and act against internal and external security threat. After all you will enjoy a cricket match more in safety and prosperity than the other way round.