Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen; Mission Accomplished!

My obsession with Formula one began aroun 9-10 years ago. One of my friend used to closely follow it. It is from there that I got addicted to this sport. I would describe my love for Forula one car racing some other time. But, I am a big fan of Formula one. Infact, I have hardly missed any races in last 9 years (Except for 2 seasons wherein my favorite driver did not participate). My favorite driver has been Kimi Raikkonen. He started his career with Sauber, and after 1st year itself, he got to drive wih Mclaren, which was one of the best teams that time. He replaced another F1 legend and fellow Finn, Mika Hakkinen. Thereafter, he drove for Ferrari in 2007. He fulfilled his long time wish of driving in Nascar, and came back to Formula one with Team Lotus in 2012. He has been my biggest influence to watch Formula one. I can say, I watched Formula one just for him! Family functions, exams, power outages, friends.. Nothing could stop me watching it!

I always dreamed of watching a formula one race live. Infact, when I was on a trip to Malaysia in 2006, I tried my best atleast to witness the grand Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, could not. Even last year, when Formula one debuted in India, I was desperate to witness it, LIVE! Missing out last year too, I was determined not to give it a miss this year. As it is rightly said, when you really need something, entire universe conspires for you to get it. Situations happened in such a way that my dream was finally going to be a reality. The race was to happen on Sunday, 27th October 2012. I somehow completed my work and booked my tickets at 6.30pm on Saturday, 26th October. Some friends were supposed to join me, but could not make it. But, I was determined to watch it, come what may; and decided to go alone.I reached Delhi early in morning of Sunday, went to a friend's house and got ready for D day. As things turned out, my friend too got tickets and we along with his cousins set sail for the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.

I collected my passes on the way from a mall in Noida, where a huge queue greeted me. After almost an hour in the queue, I finally managed to grab my passes after verification of my e-ticket. My happiness knew no bounds as I finally had the opportunity to see my hero, live!!We drove our way to the BIC facing some traffic enroute. I was already thrilled by the site of Mercs, Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs along the way driven by some enthusiastic and some not so enthusiastic fans. Hordes of Bollywood actors, celebrated sportsperson were an added attraction.

My happiness knew no bounds at the first sight of circuit. I located my stand.. it was North Picnic stand. I had my security check done and rushed to the stand. My friend who witnessed it last year had instructed to be there before time. I reached there an hour before the start up. I was finally in the company of Ferraris, Mclarens, Force Indias, Bernie Ecclestone, beautiful women always associated with F1, race stewards, Michael Schumacher (in his final few races) and most of all.. my hero, my demi God.. Kimi Raikkonen. The first sight of the beautiful Grand stand left me amazed at the architectural marvel. A grand circuit expanding across over 5 kms of race track. Eventually, a helicopter started encircling the circuit. 
Sounds of engine began to grip the circuit, and people sensed a coming car. It was Mercedes Benz SLS AMG car which zoomed past. It was the safety car which had to ensure smooth proceedings of race. This car had my hearts racing in anticipation of the grand show that I was about to witness. Slowly time approached. The commentator started a count down, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 and huge roar equipped the entire circuit. It was like the sound of normal car engine raised multifold times. And the cars started to flow in. It was formation lap. And the fastest car in qualifying of Sebastian Vettel passed through. The blaring engine sounds engulfed the entire arena. The sound was deafening, and I had to literally shut my ears to protect my ear drums. But, my adrenaline started and I started to get a high from that sound. And finally, the car of my hero passed through. I could not believe my eyes at the sight of Kimi Raikkonen passing through. I finally achieved my dream of seeing him in action! The cars lined up the grid, had a warm up lap and finally the race began. The cars started circling the circuit. The ultra fast cars, ultrafast pit stops, amazing over taking manoeouvres, wonderful fans, kept me glued to the race throughout. It is indeed amazing how a car has his 4 tyres changed in 3 seconds and complete the entire 5kms tipsy turvy track in about 90 seconds!!!!

I got some F1 facts online (Source: http://www.binscorner.com/pages/s/someamazingfactsabtf1technologyatitsbest.html):
à F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
à When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!!à F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!! 
à F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO....that's the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...à An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that's right!!!) 
à At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.à To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track. 
à Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.à In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening! 
à The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.à TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point 
à During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.à Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.       
à A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.And that's not Magic . Its only the Power of Human Imagination!

F1 is a truly amazing sport.

The race was amazing as always. One disappointment was the small screens, which made it difficult to track the drivers. We had to track them using a live F1 mobile app. Unfortunately, Schumacher had a tyre puncture in initial lap only and had to retire. Other then that, no major accidents happened. The sound of cars, sight of best drivers in world, speed of fastest cars in world, glam of the most glamorous sport in world,  nobility of the most expensive sport in world, expertise of most technical & technological sport of the world made it a memorable event for me.

Formula one in a cricket crazy nation was bit disappointing. Some people still felt Michael Schumacher drives for Ferrari. Irrespective of driver, Ferrari was always cheered. People searched for Michael even though he had crashed out in first lap itself. During the race, some people asked, is India leading? I wondered if he's asking about Narain Karthikeyan or Sahara Force India? Either ways, they have never lead a race. Some people were found sleeping with their ear plugs on during the race, the people catching photos of speeding F1 car got tired and retreated after few laps. Some people kept wondering what is this sport.. no boundaries, no catches, no wickets. Some people enjoyed the exorbitantly priced beer and other cold drinks with chips, snacks.





I happened to meet some fans. To my great joy, Kimi Raikkonen had a strong support in the crowd. A group of Finland nationals were present in the crowd to cheer for their national hero Kimi. They were supported by some Indian fans too. Everytime Kimi passed through, he was cheered. There were some Schumi fans too, and so were the cheers for team Ferrari. Although Kimi did not have a podium finish, he managed a wonderful race, right upto my expectations and beyond.

I realized my dream of watching a Formula one race. I would now love to watch a Formula one race at Monte Carlo circuit in Monaco and watching Kimi Raikkonen drive at his favorite circuit of Spa-Francorchamps  in Belgium.

Kimi Raikkonen, Formula 1; Mission Accomplished. Dream Fulfilled!

The sport of Formula one, Kimi Raikkonen and my obsession with it is truly Amusing and Confusing! 

Free & Quality Education for all.. A possibility!!!!

Andhra Pradesh is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad. The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third among all states in India. The State has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among all the States in India. The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and Urdu is the secondary official language in some places, while other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh are Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Oriya.

Andhra comprises of 23 districts or blocks. These districts cover over 1124 mandals. In all, there are 26,613 villages in Andhra Pradesh.

I happened to work in the education system in Andhra Pradesh thanks to an internship that I carried out with Society for elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), an independent society under the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. Of Andhra Pradesh. I got an opportunity to visit a number of schools especially in tribal Andhra Pradesh. After visiting the schools and interactions with a number of households, parents, teachers, government officials, NGO’s etc.

Common Observations at most schools

• Most of the schools visited lacked basic infrastructure like benches, tables, electricity, good buildings, toilets etc.
• The teachers and Head Teacher at many places are hardly X^th or intermediate cleared makes many of the schools sub standard and incompetent.
• Only one teacher is present for a school of 45- 120 students. Rest of the teacher positions is either vacant or the teacher is absent at many places
• Students roamed around or kept playing even during the school hours
• Parents at some places complain of being abused by the teachers when they raise voices against sub standard teaching
• There is minimal accountability on the part of teachers
• There is no evaluation mechanism for teachers
• Herd rearing was the major reason for dropout of male child and wedding or handling family chores was prime reason for girl child dropouts.
• Male children were given preference for education
• There is no attendance at many places, or there is fake attendance.
• Hygiene levels at school premises is extremely low
• Some public schools are efficiently functioning and churning out great results
• Some public schools have adopted private modes of school marketing like putting up hoardings, distributing pamphlets, holding seminars etc. They also provide career counseling to students and are extremely competent. This is in areas where private schools are quite prominent.
• Private schools are highly preferred by the rural families
• Private schools are beyond the financial capabilities of majority of tribal families
• Most families aspire to send their wards to private schools
• ICT infrastructure available in many private schools
• Teacher accountability in private schools is very high
• Parents are constantly updated of the progress of their children
• Quality education is provided very cheaply at many private schools
• Hoardings of private schools put up at prominent places
• Special training targeting IIT’s carried out by some schools
• Many private schools although do not have necessary recognitions
• Community Resource Persons were substantially able to bring down the dropout rates

To overcome this, I propose an education model which can turn Andhra Pradesh in to a literate state with Best Quality education.

Few assumptions are:

• ·        Schools are present in all the villages
• ·        Mid day meal is served in all schools
• ·       All schools receive the grant for books and scholarships, maintenance, teaching aids etc. earmarked for them
• ·         There is atleast a teacher or proxy teacher in every school
• ·         Government machinery provides full support to the program
• ·         SERP promoted SHG network is prevalent or people are acquaint with the concept

There are 2 options. These can be carried out independently or simultaneously.

Education via DTH

Satellite based DTH is widely penetrated throughout Andhra Pradesh. The key players in DTH are SUN TV, Tata Sky, among others. 2 Televisions with DTH sets can be set up in every school in every village. Through DTH, sessions shall be delivered simultaneously to all schools. Timings for every class would be pre fixed. Or, Multi Grade Multi Learning form of education can be delivered wherein joint lectures of multiple classes can be simultaneously delivered. Multi grade multi learning system has proved to be very successful at many places. The lectures shall be highly standardized and formalized designed on state standards. Regular awareness movies can also be transmitted through DTH. The DTH sessions will be complemented with necessary activity worksheets, quiz papers, etc. Which the teacher will ensure gets completed on time. The teachers shall be provided with a toll free helpline number to clear her doubts. This mode will reduce the dependency on teachers, bring standardization and improve the overall quality of education in state by using the existing infrastructure. Also, the remotest villages could be accessible to quality education. The model could also lead to electrification of many schools. The above model could be made purely market driven by charging for advertisements which would be delivered through that channel straight to rural masses.

Education via DVD’s

This model will be very similar to education via DTH. But, the mode of delivery will be in form of DVD’s which shall be standardized. All the schools shall receive the DVD’s containing lectures at the beginning of the month/ year along with necessary activity sheets, worksheets, quiz papers etc. The advantage of this model over DTH could be that the lectures could be viewed repeatedly at comfortable timings. Advertisements can be displayed through these too to make a healthy source of income.

  

The cost heads for the above Project are:

1. Content Development & Helpline Creation: Content Development shall be one time expenditure. Content in local dialects can be prepared with the help of experts. New & innovative methods of learning can be employed. Content can be pre developed for all standards, and as per state standards. Content especially of higher classes shall be developed in such a way that even the students with minimal understanding for that level can cope up. Or additional sessions as remedial for that standard can be carried out before school starts.
   
   An additional toll free helpline shall also be created wherein teachers or students with any doubts, questions, etc can get their solutions just by a simple phone call.The cost of Content Development along with Helpline Creation is estimated to be 2 crore rupees.
   
2. DTH with television or television with DVD player: 2 television sets with DTH and/ or DVD players need to be purchased for every village school. These units would be the chief mode of delivery of lectures. 2 units would be set up in every school. These units can be used for primary and secondary sections and at different times of the day. Cost of each television with DTH/ DVD is assumed to be Rs. 16,000. 
   
3. Infrastructure Upgradation: Most government schools in Andhra Pradesh lack proper infrastructure like benches, electricity, water etc. This fund shall help in providing these basic amenities. This fund would be in addition to what government already spends. A fund of 1 lakh rupees for every school is earmarked for this purpose.
   
4. UPS with solar panel: Most schools in Andhra Pradesh lack electricity. The chief necessity for the success of this project is electricity. Hence, a solar PV cell charged inverter battery shall be installed at schools to produce enough electricity to run fans, lights and televisions. A fund of 25000 Rupees per school is earmarked for this purpose.
   
5. Teacher & Community Resource Person Training: A chief reason for substandard education is lack of efficient teachers. Teachers to undergo a vigorous short term training course to better handle the doubts of children ensure high learning of students with the proposed model and improve teaching standards.
   
   SERP has an initiative wherein they appoint Community Resource Person (CRP). CRP is an educated person from the community. He looks after the education status, reduce the dropouts, and ascertain the causes of dropouts, community motivation etc... He can also be trained to run the school along with some more locals in absence of teacher. This is done because teachers in school have a huge backlog of government delegated work, which renders them incapable of running schools. These resource persons can run the DVD’s/ DTH at pre scheduled times to avoid loss of student hours due to unavailable teacher.A fund of 20,000 has been earmarked for this purpose.
   
6. Miscellaneous: There can be several other costs. Roughly Rs. 10000 are earmarked for every school anticipating unexpected expenses.

Additional Features:

• Schools to be run by village level Self Help Groups. These groups ensure smooth functioning of school. 
• These SHG’s would also encourage fixed monthly savings from all the parents. These savings would be deposited in the bank in account name of the student. Students can use the fund, or use it as collateral to fund his/ her higher studies. 
• These SHG’s are run by women. Hence, it will encourage girl education.
• Student already get Mid day meal, books, bags, uniform etc from government.
• Additional schemes like a rupee a day incentive for every student attending the school can be laid out to attract and retain students
• Child Labour abolishment rule should be implemented more strictly to avoid losing children to labour. This should also be complemented by providing of jobs under MGREGA or other employment schemes.
• Parents should be equally involved in child education by way of regular Parents Teachers meetings, report cards to parents, etc. SHG and CRP can ensure this. This shall also make the parents more hopeful of bright future of children.
•  Extra sessions on demand can also be organised at nights for students who missed the earlier session or some session. Also, night schools can be run by SHG to teach the illiterate of the village of basic arithmetic to ensure that moneylenders and traders do not fool them. Basic sciences can be imparted to dispel myths and superstitions.
•  Community harmony video, movies promoting social cause, social awareness videos, children movies etc. can be screened at regular intervals.

Financials:

Heads	Per School	Schools in 26613 villages	Shared between 2 villages	Shared between 3 villages
DTH with television x 2	32,000	85,16,16,000	42,58,24,000	28,38,72,000
Teacher Training	20,000	53,22,60,000	26,61,40,000	17,74,20,000
UPS with solar panel	25,000	66,53,25,000	33,26,75,000	22,17,75,000
Infrastructure Upgradation	1,00,000	2,66,13,00,000	1,33,07,00,000	88,71,00,000
Miscellaneous	10,000	26,61,30,000	13,30,70,000	8,87,10,000
Total	1,87,000	4,97,66,31,000	2,48,84,09,000	1,65,88,77,000
Content and Hepline (One time)		2,00,00,000	2,00,00,000	2,00,00,000
Net		4,99,66,31,000	2,50,84,09,000	1,67,88,77,000

In effect, best quality education can be delivered to every student in less than 500 crore rupees. This includes upgradation of infrastructure, teacher training and Best quality education in local dialects for the students. Additional benefits include night schools, increased social awareness, etc.

The new infrastructure can be created in every villages, or can be shared between 2 or 3 villages.

The budget of Andhra Pradesh Government for the year 2010-11 is a staggering 3155 crores. The face of education in Andhra Pradesh can instead be changed forever at less than one sixth of annual state budget!

Further, I have few suggestions as to how to make the entire project free of cost to the state exchequer!

Major Heads of expenditure in the project are:

• DTH/ DVD with television
• Teacher training
• UPS with solar panel
• Infrastructure Upgradation

a.      For DTH/ DVD with television

• DTH/ DVD with television as well as UPS with solar panel can be provided to every school on loan. Loan amount can be payed by the schools in the following ways:
• Savings of parents. Parents pay a minimum amount to school every year to ensure their interest in the school
• Solar PV panels for electricity can save huge carbon emissions. CER’s or VER’s can be issued and encashed in the market to pay for the debt.
• Subsidy schemes of central government on Solar panels can be utilized to bring down the costs
• Advertisements can be broadcasted through DTH or DVD’s. These advertisements reaching to everyone at BoP can command huge premiums. The returns from these advertisements can be used to pay off the debt. After clearance of debt, the money generated through advertisements can be used in development of school.

b.     For teacher Training

Just as pharma companies do, teacher trainings can be carried out by getting the entire event sponsored by one or many private education providers in Andhra Pradesh. These education providers in turn get wide scale publicity and acknowledgement for their contribution.

c.      For Infrastructure Upgradation:

This is slightly difficult. But, donations from NGO’s, donor agencies, CSR’s etc can be called for. This can be further incentivised by selling the naming rights of schools for a fixed tenure recognizing the contribution of the donor. Donors can also be thanked by displaying their name on website, newspaper advertisment by state thanking them, etc. Besides, the upgradation can also be sponsored by the advertisement revenues generated by DTH/ DVD’s.

Only thing needed for making the entire state of Andhra Pradesh literate with high standards of uniform education is Government willingness, support from SERP and a good project management team!

Advantages in Brief:

• Every village can have a well developed school with latest infrastruture
• Uniform education provided to everyone 
•  Universal Primary Education can be ensured by 2015
• Entire project covering whole India can be done in 12000 crores, which further can be made free of cost by free market economics
• It would be a one time investment. For all the following years, the schools shall generate its own revenues. This money can be used for maintenence and covering day to day costs of school
• Schools can run even without a teacher, by a trained local; as local person has just to play the right session to the students
• It can lay a foundation for secondary education also     
• Good quality primary education would further usher in private companies to invest heavily in schools and education. This would further boost the education system.

It is amazing and confusing how merely one time investment of Rs. 500 crores can be sufficient to educate an entire state and 12,000 crore to educate an entire nation with best quality education. But, government, over the years spending crores and crores of rupees every year have not been able to produce even a fraction of desired output!

Arpit H Shah.

Email: arpithshah99@gmail.com
Mob: +91-9821211381