50 Years Journey!! The Story of the World of Automation and AI! Nov 15, 1971,” Announcing a New Era of Integrated Electronics”, The First Ad for Microprocessor (Intel 4004) to the recent Cerebras Systems’s the world's largest AI purpose Computer Chip! Who are to be given credit? Read this Interesting Perspective?

Dear Friends and Students

The seed for automation celebrates 50 years!! Ted Hoff’s team from Intel developed the 4004 a general-purpose processor that could be used across many devices. The credit goes to Intel! Beyond, we need to appreciate another company, requested Intel to develop this chip! That is Busicom, a Japanese calculator maker (Nippon Calculating Machine Corp)!.

Busicom was a Japanese company that owned the rights to Intel's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, which they created in partnership with Intel in 1970. Had Busicom not allowed for general sale, probably things would have been different, right! Busicom owned the exclusive rights to the design and its components in 1970 but shared them with Intel in 1971!! This year we are celebrating 50 years of this chip journey!!

I feel credit goes to both the founders of Busicom and Intel: Tadashi and Robert!

Tadashi Sasaki was a Japanese engineer, a founding member of Busicom, driving the development of the Intel 4004 microprocessor, and later driving Sharp into the LCD calculator market. Robert Norton Noyce, nicknamed "The Mayor of Silicon Valley", was an American physicist who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968.

While we are proud of this legacy, recently Cerebras unveiled a chip that accelerates deep learning. They developed Wafer-Scale Engine (WSE) – the largest chip ever built! It is 56x larger than any other chip, the WSE delivers more compute, more memory, and more communication bandwidth. The performance of a room full of servers into a single unit the size of a dorm room mini-fridge!! What a miniature version?

Andrew is co-founder and CEO of Cerebras Systems. Andrew holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford University. Gary is co-founder and CTO of Cerebras Systems. Gary holds more than 50 patents. The perfect combination of Management and Technology!!

Let’s see the dimensions of this chip: Sparse Linear Algebra Compute (SLAC) Cores 400,000, On-chip Memory (SRAM), 18 GB SRAM, Memory Bandwidth 9.6 PB/sec, Interconnect Bandwidth100 Pb/sec, System I/O 1.2 Tb/s and Dimensions 15 rack units.

Dear Friends and Students (Machine Learning Lovers)

The Cerebras software platform integrated with popular machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. It also has a programmable C++ interface that allows researchers to extend the platform and develop custom kernels.

I liked their tagline!! “Explore More Ideas in Less Time. Reduce the Cost of Curiosity”. I am really amazed of this statement- Reduce the Cost of Curiosity!

This year, many engineering colleges in India started CSM and CSD courses (CSE- AL-ML) and (CSE- DataScience). Cerebras Systems announced an Internship. Please read the following requirements, which helps you to plan your AI-ML skills (cerebras.net/careers/).

The Role

Cerebras is developing both novel algorithms to accelerate training of the existing neural network architectures, as well as new, custom network architectures for the next generation of deep learning accelerators. For this internship position, we are looking for hands-on researchers who can:

Take an algorithm from inception, to TensorFlow or PyTorch implementation, to results competitive with state-of-the-art on benchmarks such as ImageNet classification.

• ·         Develop algorithms for training and inference with sparse weights and sparse activations.
• ·         Develop algorithms for training at unprecedented levels of scale and parallelism.
• ·    Publish results in Machine Learning conferences and company messaging, like blog posts and white papers.

Skills & Qualifications

• ·         Publications in Machine Learning such as supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement learning. Statistical modeling such as generative modeling and probabilistic modeling.
• ·       Graduate and undergraduate students with a background in Deep Learning and Neural Networks
• ·         Experience with deep learning models such as Transformers, RNNs, and CNNs for language modeling, speech recognition, and computer vision
• ·         Experience with high-performance machine learning methods such as distributed training, parameter server, synchronous and asynchronous model parallelism.
• ·         Experience with 16 bit / low precision training and inference, using half-precision floating point, fixed point.
• ·         Experience with model compression and model quantization.

Happy Deep Learning!! Raise your Bar

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:

www.bbc.com/news/technology-49395577

https://www.hindustantimes.com/photos/photos-how-the-microprocessor-changed-our-lives-for-you-101614411430009-8.html

Rural Brain Drain! China Appeals Urban Tech Talent to Countryside Migration! Talent Gap in China's Rural e-Commerce rising from 2.1 million (2021) to 3.5 million (2025)! Chinese Universities are going to work towards this aspiration! Does India Need Similar Appeal? Agro Brain Drain in India is Cause of Worry & Threat to Food Security! Read this Interesting Perspective!!

 Dear Friends and Students

Yesterday Korea times published an interesting article on how China is struggling with Rural Brain Drain and how it is devising a big plan for Rural Brain Gain! After reading this article, I feel, a similar move is needed in the Indian context.

In fact, China did a similar call during the 1960s and 1970s. It is estimated that 16 million urban youth moved to the countryside for work and re-education. China has a 44% rural population but rural income per capita (2020) was only 39 % of urban. Now China is looking towards talent flow in the areas of smart agriculture, business operations, public service, etc esp. in the rural context. China is planning to revitalize its Universities to offer degrees in fulfilling this aspiration! The core technologies including 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and e-commerce are going to be integrated into its rural tech transformational program.

Alibaba & JD.com (e-commerce), XAG (agricultural drone manufacturer), Pinduoduo (online shopping platform), etc are working towards skill development and rural service centers for logistics capability. As of now, China has 13 million e-commerce merchants based in rural areas. They are expected to grow fast in the next few years.

Friends and Students,

While China is making this grand plan, we also need to start a similar initiative in India. Agro Brain Drain is a concern and affects our food security. Indian youth is about 41% of our population and rural youth are losing interest in agriculture. Only 20% of youth from rural families are engaged in agriculture! This is not a good sign (www.indiancooperative.com). In 2011, 70% of the Indian population lived in villages. In 2015, it got declined to 65%! In 4 years, there is a 5% drop!! What a sharp decline?

Covid-19 brought some reverse brain drain in tier-2 cities and villages. Thanks to internet broadband availability in rural India, this dream can be fulfilled. In fact, one of my friends, Biplab Saha, Founder at Uplist and eGramServe, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, established BPO and tech company in Narendra Nagar, Tehri Garhwal, Tehri District, Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. eGramServe fosters life-transforming careers for the local youth. It is working with a leading American retailer, a cutting-edge e-learning company, and the world’s largest legal content platform. They are helping in content enrichment, meta-tagging, translations, and building training data for fine-tuning their NLP & AI algorithms.

Similarly, I also need to mention Dr. Sridhar Mitta, The FIRST EMPLOYEE of Wipro Infotech Business (1980). I got a chance to meet Dr.Mitta in 2010 when I was moving out of Wipro. Dr. Mitta shared his vision of setting up a social enterprise. He started NextWealth Entrepreneurs Private Limited in the year 2009. As of today, in 2021, If I recollect his words, his vision came true!! NextWealth is a social impact organization providing world-class “customer interaction” and “data enrichment” services to its customers across AI/ML tech, E-commerce, FinTech, and other domains. 

You know what, Dr. Mitta started delivery centers in the following locations: Salem (TN), Chittoor (AP), Hubli (KA), Bhilai(Chhattisgarh), Mysore (KA), and Vellore (TN)!! All these are tier 2 and 3 cities!! It has more than 2700 people working, out of which 65% are women. It has less than 10% annualized attrition. This company managed 251 million transactions to date in the last 10 years of its operation. It got a 72 Net Promoter Score, which is considered excellent (the percentage of customers rating their likelihood to recommend a company, a product, or a service to a friend or colleague). A score between 0 and 30 is a good, higher than 30 that would indicate that the company is doing great, An NPS over 70 means your customers are generating a lot of positive word-of-mouth from their referrals. NextWealth is at 72!! Now you can imagine its position!!!

We need to develop similar social enterprises across India, esp. organizations linked to the Agriculture domain & rural entrepreneurship. The next decade is highly critical in the Indian context as we are on the edge of losing our demographic dividend in the next 10 years. This decade has to leverage our demographic advantage!

Students passing out from 2021 to 2030 are the Game Changers!! Are You?

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/world/2021/02/672_304587.html

Hiring Strategy of a Successful Entrepreneur! Tips from Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji! How did they hire their leadership team? Read this Interesting Hiring Perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

Today, the Leadership team is critical across all organizations! Be it an organization based out of the US or India, Talent is the core investment of any knowledge-based organization. Employers are struggling to Hire the Right People for the Right Functions at Right Time!

But, what is the hiring strategy of a successful employer? This could be a great tip to all entrepreneurs! Today I read a striking article in News 18 on the hiring strategy of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, etc. This is going to be a useful tip for all founders, esp. startpreneurs. However, finally, the founder should be convinced about his/her hiring strategy.

All successful entrepreneurs invested most of their time in smart human resource management. Read these divergent perspectives.

Steve Jobs: “It does not make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do! We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. As a leader, you must be open to people who will help you to improve the company instead of only bossing them around to fulfill your vision”

Elon Musk: “One of the worst mistakes that I have made in the past is looking too much at their intellectual capability alone and not on how they affect those around them”

Bill Gates: “There is certain prejudice in industries about the age of the employees. Some industries only prefer young people while some want decades of experience. Bill Gates believed in hiring any age as long as they were good and passionate about their work”

Warren Buffet: “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you are going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb”

Azim Premji: Intensity to win, Acting with sensitivity, Unyielding integrity. Premji believed that diversity of business experience will help leaders become more innovative and create leaders who will succeed in the future. ( www.peoplematters.in).

I worked for Wipro and closely observed Premji’s leadership development model. Premji used to rotate all the vertical heads and function heads every 3 to 4 years! I have seen Premji moving few leaders to Non-Customer facing functions even at a time when they were doing extremely great in growing their verticals. Rotation strategy is well applied in Wipro to groom talent and make it a process-dependent organization.

Narayana Murthy: You can see how Murthy managed his team: Nandan Nilekani, the strategist, and rainmaker; Kris Gopalakrishnan, the technologist; SD Shibulal, the delivery specialist; Mohandas Pai, the financial magician (http://bwpeople.businessworld.in/). A successful company is the combo of all!

Ratan Tata: In the History of TCS, we have seen only a few CEOs like F.C. Kohili (a brilliant technocrat, 1974), S Ramadorai (1996), Chandrasekaran (2009), and Rajesh Gopinathan (2017). This shows how Tata believed and trusted in their people at prime.

The current Tata Chairman, Chandrasekaran studied in a Tamil Government school in Mohanur. He did a bachelor's degree in Applied Sciences and a Master of Computer Applications (MCA). He joined as an Intern in TCS and rose to the level of CEO in 2009 and Chairman in 2019. He rose to Chairman level in 10 years’ time!! He did not do any MBA from ivy league institutes, he did not do any bachelor's from IITs or Stanford’s. However, how his simple commitment helped him to rose from intern to the Chairman of a Large Global Organization!!

Dear Friends

After reading these multiple case studies, I am realizing that there is no “One size fits all” hiring model. Every founder’s belief becomes the foundational force for their hiring strategy. At the same time, leadership aspirants should not look for what they don’t have. Every individual possesses certain strengths. It is always good to focus on our individual strengths rather than acquiring alien strengths, keeping the current and future employer’s perspective! Accepting weaknesses is the greatest art and science in leadership theory. It is a stress buster. If God has not gifted your a certain job and talent, it is a blessing. I realized this after many incidents in my life. Do you also agree?

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:http://dhunt.in/d9URf?s=a&uu=0x5a456b3b6e0d57a8&ss=pd

Electrical Engineering from Local Engineering College to Work at Tesla to Now as Tech Program Manager at Nuro (Robots) @ all in 5 Years (2013 Engineering, 2015 M.S.). How someone got EB1A through regular H1B lottery did not work?

Dear Friends and Students,

A couple of days back, one of my friends forwarded me an article published in Yourstory.com about Mr. Saiman Shetty. Yesterday I was giving a talk to M.Tech Students on “Inspire to Innovate Storytelling”. During my interaction, most of them shared their career plan in R&D. Today I thought, sharing this story is more apt, as to how a local engineering student can rise to the level of Tesla and Now at Nuro Robots, all this transformation in 5 years’ time! Do you call it passion or hard work or luck or networking?

My answer is this. When you plan a career, when you live for your career, all of them get connected and converted in the form of an opportunity. After reading this article in yourstory, I checked Mr. Saiman Shetty’s Linkedin. The tag line says,” Robotics & AI @ Tesla, Lyft, Nuro | EB-1A "Einstein Visa" Recipient & Coach | Entrepreneur | Speaker | 35,000+ Followers | Hiring!”.

Today with someone with 5 years’ experience, still they talk following words like getting settled in a career, learning started, am billable, my boss is good, I started liking my company, I am going for higher education, and so on. Read Mr. Saiman’s story. It is 180-degree upside-down.

Engineering: 2009-2013 from Local Engineering College affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University: Member of Society of Automotive Engineers, Electrical Integrated Team of Engineering Students, All India Students' Council, Editorial member of the college magazine, Editor of the department newsletter

During the fourth semester: Changed life. Building a Tesla coil - designed by scientist Nikola Tesla as a wireless method of transmitting electricity. Also developed a platform to sell merchandise and other personalized products along with his batch mates.

Master of Science: 2013-2015: First time in the family to reach the US. Arizona State University, Electrical Engineering (Control Systems).

Internship @ an automation engineer at Integra International in 2014.

Job Struggle: After 600 applications and 50 interviews, in 2015 got a job at Atronics Engineering, a small company that catered to the automation needs and equipment

Atronics (5 months): Building vision systems to detect bottle capping defects on a detergent’s filling line, and automation of large-scale sorting and material handling processes for freight clients

Container Automation Systems (8 months): Designed UL-compliant electrical scheme and control logic for lubristat spray-booths, leak detectors

Startup Founded (Founder, CEO, Hygiea Inc, 1 year 11 months): AI-based software platform that enhanced the efficiency of waste management

Tesla (2 years 3 months): Led the advanced insights initiative for more robust system state monitoring via tools on robots and other automation equipment software in Powertrain Engineering. This recorded better visibility into the fault states, thus helping quicker diagnosis, and lesser downtime.

Lyft (2 years): Led the development, build, and bring-up execution of Lyft's first functional AV platform from start to finish; established fleet-grade product reliability. cross-functional interfacing (Mechanical, Thermal, and Electrical Engineering teams)

Second Start-up (Co-Founder, Head of Product, ResumePuppy Jan 2020 – Present)

Nuro (Technical Program Manager – Robots (Feb 2020 to till now)) Building robots that are transforming local commerce through driverless delivery

Visa Lottery Issue but how he Got EB1A: After reading this, I can gauge the kind of energy Mr. Saiman possess!! Surprisingly, in 2019, the United States awarded him the EB1 Extraordinary Ability green card, colloquially known as the "Einstein visa". He wasn't lucky at H1B lotteries, so he challenged adversity by sleeplessly hustling towards meeting the high bar of EB1A!!!!!

Read the last statement in the above paragraph!!!

Saiman says “I am so thankful for all the stories that shaped me!”!! Stories are powerful. If you get inspired by this story, it is great!!

Get Inspired!! Plan your career

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:https://yourstory.com/2021/02/techie-tuesday-saiman-shetty-tesla-lyft-autonomous-vehicle-robots-nuro

The Founder’s Mentality! Founder Led Organizations Outperform Rest!! Business Insurgency. Front Line Obsession. Article Praises One Indian Company! Owner’s Mindset: More Innovative and Profitable! Worldwide only 13% “Intrapreneurs”, Supporting “Entrepreneurs” in Growth? Read this Interesting Perspective!!!

Dear Friends and Students

Recently I read an interesting article in Harvard Business Review Press by Chris Zook, Partner, Bain & Company. The author did a deep study on how Founder Led companies are more innovative, more productive, and more profitable!

While the founder’s mentality is a key strategic asset and indicator of the health of a company, the revealing & shocking stat is only 13% of the employees (I call them Intrapreneurs) engaged in their work, emotionally attached, focused on creating value! Disengaged workers outnumber engaged workers at a rate of nearly 2-1 (Gallup’s survey). Though it is a slightly old data point(almost 7 years old), still it makes sense and I am sure of similar figures even in today’s context. 63% of the employees are not engaged. 24% are actively disengaged. This is the cause of worry!! What is it for me attitude?

Recently I mentioned this in one of my talks- Once a student asked me, “which job is more secured in this world”? My response is this. There are only 5 jobs in this world. 1. Entrepreneur 2. Intrapreneur 3. Inventor 4. Innovator 5. Employee. Out of 5 jobs, 4 jobs are permanent and 1 temporary job. Entrepreneur, Intrapreneur (works for a company, but feels like it is his/her own company though no stake in the organization and not expecting), Inventor, Innovator are permanent jobs and employee is the temporary job. The reason, employees are disengaged! They look for immediate results, failing changes their skin. Remember, Employee has to learn a new skill every 2-3 years as they lose skill often.

Why this story is critical in today’s context, because, many organizations are relying on human talent and less on natural resources. Coming back to founder-led companies, “the study found that S&P 500 companies where the founder is still CEO are more innovative, generate 31% more patents, create patents that are more valuable, and are more likely to make bold investments to renew and adapt the business model — demonstrating a willingness to take the risk to invent the future”.

Companies with a founder’s mentality like to stay longer than others maybe 4-5 times more. The reason, founder has moral authority to make the hard choices, know the business in detail, have better instincts, and having a long-term perspective on investments.

This article makes special mention of one Indian company as an example! It is proud to see M.S. Oberoi, founder of Oberoi Hotels, name in the article, how he became a role model for the next generation of leaders! At age of 94, he used to scrawl responses on customer comment cards, keeping them an inch away from his eyes.

The founder’s mentality is a Front Line Obsession! It leads to Business Insurgency! An important stat: Engaged Employees (Intrapreneurs) are 3.5 times as likely to solve problems themselves and invest personal time in innovation compared to unengaged workers (regular employees)!!

When the owner is not present or the owner’s mindset changes, the company becomes complacent, loses focus, risk-averse, and finally leads to bureaucracy. Finally, it loses its sheen! Sometimes, it exists.

Dear Students, do you want a permanent job or a temporary job? Do you want to be 1. Entrepreneur 2. Intrapreneur 3. Inventor 4. Innovator or 5. Employee? Decide Quickly and Start Your Career Planning!!

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:

news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/171632/gallup-releases-new-insights-state-global-workplace.aspx

https://hbr.org/2016/03/founder-led-companies-outperform-the-rest-heres-why

Prisons are Getting Closed due to Falling Crime rates! Electronic Ankle Monitoring System is an Amazing Out of Box Idea! A Journey towards Repression to Rehabilitation!! Which Country is Adopting these Reforms? Read this perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

I was presuming prisons rehabilitate most of the inmates and bring total transformation among most of the inmates. Today I read an article on crimemuseum.org. I am surprised to read a statement, “Research has consistently shown that time spent in prison does not successfully rehabilitate most inmates, and the majority of criminals return to a life of crime almost immediately”. It says, “Many argue that most prisoners will actually learn new and better ways to commit crimes while they are locked up with their fellow convicts. They can also make connections and become more deeply involved in the criminal world.”

If we analyze deep into these statements, I feel, there is some truth. The four walls and hard punishments are not providing a 100% solution in terms of criminal mindset change. Prisons may provide some temporary solution but they are giving long-term transformation.

Contradictory to this notion, Dutch prisons are closing down!! Do you know the reason? It is all due to falling crime rates in the Netherlands!! There are some law reforms as well - Judges are imposing shorter sentences. It makes criminal spends less time in jail. A few aspects like relaxed drug laws, rehabilitation over punishment, and an Electronic Ankle Monitoring System are aiding in this positive direction. An electronic ankle monitoring system allows people to re-enter the workforce!! This is a great move. We should emulate this model.

A crowd platform to track these electronic ankles can be developed. This would become a pseudo policing for all the criminals. Of course, we can always use prisons for extreme offenders and life convicts.

Right Technology can bring down the crime rate!! Ankle monitors can also record the conversations. There are GPS ankle monitors that can hear using built-in microphones. They act like eavesdrop or spy. Of course, hackers can hack these ankle chips and change the course of direction. We need to develop a fool-proof security model to beat this issue and self-powering technology to power these electronic ankles.

Few ankle monitors can detect drugs using sensors. A SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring device.) is an ankle device that tests sweat and detects whether an individual consumed alcohol or not and the level of alcohol.

The role of technology is going up the ladder. Arthur C Clarke says, “Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology Is Indistinguishable from Magic”. Technology becomes a great source for reforms!! Hoping for many more interventions and innovations for better Prison Management.

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-prisons-incarceration/rehabilitative-effects-of-imprisonment/

Source Inspiration: https://www.khaama.com/dutch-prisons-are-closing-as-falling-crime-rate-leaves-cells-empty-0423/ 

Intergenerational Model of Care!! Innovation in Aged Care Facility: Young and Elderly Learn Under the Same Roof! Can You Guess Which Country is Experimenting? Read this Perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

This is an interesting Experiment conducted on Elderly People in Australia. Before that, please read the Indian perspective and check whether this fits in the Indian context or not, keeping our culture and ethos into consideration.

It is estimated that number of elderly people to increase to 173 million by 2026 in India. A few decades back, children deem it their moral responsibility to take care of the old parents. However, there is a huge social transformation in terms of lifestyle changes, nuclear families, independent mind-set of elder people, in search better education and jobs to metropolitan cities and outside India, chronic health issues of the parents, etc. It is not only from the children's side, there are few issues reported from the elder’s point of view as well as they are not getting adjusted with daughter-in-law or son-in-law. This trend led to mushrooming of old age homes across India. We are also observing that many children do not show up after 4 or 5 months of dropping parents at old age home. One of the reasons cited was an increase in the maintenance costs.

While this is the fact, it is reported that the elder people at old age homes are facing a lot of distress. There was a study made. It was found that 37.7% were found with depression, anxiety disorders (13.3%), and dementia (11.1%) (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440908/)

These aspects demand better old age homes for senior citizens. So there is a need to revamp the old age home concept. Shall we call them Old Age Home or Retirement Homes/Senior Living Homes? Conceptually, Senior Living Homes or Retirement Homes are above the old age homes!! They should consider architecture, facilities, companionship, independence, Spaces to Hone skills or Learn New ones, stimulating lifestyle, Continuous Care Retirement community (CCRC): physiotherapy, bathing, medicated dressing, feeding, grooming, Food & nutrition, a place to host children, family and friends in their independent unit, Yoga, swimming, gyms and fitness centers, table tennis, badminton, indoor game halls, meditation and Satsang classes, etc. (www.ashianahousing.com)

Griffith University Experiment

Griffith University of Australia is making an Innovative Experiment. They observed bringing seniors and children together under the same roof and in the same learning environment benefits both Elder and Children.

As an experiment, a new day-care center being built in a Melbourne aged care home, where they are going to create a learning system for both young and elderly together.

Elderly residents take part in arts and crafts, music, and reading along with kids under the shared-roof. Elderly residents will be able to sit in a lounge and watch kids playing. These intergenerational care programs are going to immensely benefit old people, as well as young kids as young, learn from old. This program develops a sense of belongingness and a positive attitude in the kids. Kids might participate in some assistance programs for elderly needy people.

Intergenerational Model of Care is going to be a New Innovation in Societal Care!! Can someone start Intergenerational Care in India? It is going to be a good impact project and a great business idea as well.

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration:https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/7116770/herd-mentality-a-win-win-at-aged-care-preschool/

4-Day Working Week, 3 Days Off without reducing 48 hours per week! Sounds Great? Where is this going to be? Curious?? Read this Perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

In the 1990s, many of my friends moved to the US and Europe - Most of the conversations ended up with the better quality of life and work-life balance available in Western business. It is strict 5 day working and employees are discouraged to attend office on Saturdays. Over a period of time, it got gradually implemented in India as well in few sectors.

In 1890, It was estimated that a full-time employee worked for 100 hours per week in a manufacturing plant in the US. It was reduced to 40 hours per week in the mid-20th century. (www.changerecruitmentgroup.com). The world of automation is bringing a lot of change. This move is inevitable. The human brain can leverage this free time for a better purpose, quality of life, family relationships, better ideas, and higher productivity.

However, it is a slightly different case in the Indian scenario. We have a 48-hour week, span across 6 days, with 8 hours per day. We need to look at 1.2 billion population needs. We need to feed a large population. These extra 8 hours is inevitable in our context. There is a talk about India planning for a 4-Day work week. Ministry is working on this proposal it seems. The proposal is considering the 4 day-48 hours’ model. It means there will be long working hours (12-hour shift) but LOOONG WEEEKEND.

Let’s discuss the merits and demerits of this proposal. Personally, I feel this model works, provided all employees take this move in a positive spirit. They can use this extra free time for better engagement and meaningful life.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics would give better access to the workplace and remote management of the systems. Teachers have already proved how to handle students remotely. The core & critical concepts of teaching, exams, and evaluation, team management related projects can be handled physically at Colleges and Schools. The peripheral activities can be managed remotely. This gives extra time and space for kids and students to think out-of-box. Students can be engaged in creative work. Otherwise, today on the name of few entrance examinations, students are slogging long hours and short/no weekends.

Stanford University research found an interesting equation: 60 x P60 < 40 x P40. It means, “Overwork has been observed to lead to a decrease in total output, Hence the average productivity got decreased (P60)”. P40 is normal 40 hours work productivity. It is found that “the increased number of hours worked per week, say 60, multiplied by the decreased average productivity is less than total output produced under normal work hours” (cs.stanford.edu).

Students, Very Interesting insight right!! I am sure it is quite applicable to you as well. It does not matter how much oil burnt during mid-night! It matters how much content absorbed during mid-day!!!!

As per New Zealand based company, Perpetual Guardian study, it is found that 4-day working week reduced employee stress by 45% to 38%.4-day week will reduce medical bills as employees get enough rest for the body, so as to better health.

It will also lead to huge Ecological benefits. A study was conducted in the US State of Utah for government employees. They reduced working days to 4 days working. “During the first ten months, the project saved over US$1.8million in energy costs and a reduction of at least 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions”. If they include travel as well, it is going to be 12,000 metric tons of CO2, equal to removing 2,300 cars off the road for one year!!

Now you can imagine, how much CO2 can be saved in India for the working population in India? Definitely, it is going to be a wise idea. However, we need to take the following precautions into consideration while implementing this proposal. Customer satisfaction should not be hit. Few employees might misuse this facility. We should also prepare employees to work 12 hours long while enjoying 3 days off! If these 2 issues are well-taken care of and guarded, it is going to be a great decision by Govt. Let’s wait how it works in the Indian context?!

Alan Cohen says “There is Virtue in Work and There is Virtue in Rest. Use Both and Overlook Neither”

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/crunchmode/econ-hours-productivity.html

www.changerecruitmentgroup.com/knowledge-centre/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-4-day-working-week

Source Inspiration: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/new-labour-codes-india-four-day-week-7182376/

Deadly Cyber Attacks in the New Form! This Time Not on IT Financial Systems! But on Water Systems!! How Do You See this New Phenomenon? The Role of Cyber Security Going Beyond Horizons! Read this Perspective!

Dear Friends and Students

Yesterday hackers gained unauthorized access to Water Treatment Plant in Florida! Hacker was trying to increase the Sodium Hydroxide by a factor of one hundred (from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million). Hacker accessed the mouse, went to settings, and increased the amount. Hacker was active for 3-5 minutes it seems!!

Sodium hydroxide generally used for cleaning soaps and drain cleaners. It might cause irritation, burns, and other issues if it is consumed in large quantities. Recently, a similar intruding incident took place in the Israel water utility system. Israel could detect this early and averted a great danger.

The question is not about these isolated incidents. It is all about how do we manage in the view of the vision for Industry 4.0, where we are working towards digital supply networks & smart factories (industrial control systems-power grids, manufacturing facilities). If there is a compromise at one point in the assembly line, there is a cascading effect in the chain of reactions.

We are working towards a human microchip implant, DNA banks, etc. If someone intrudes into the Smart factory, it is fine. There is only economic loss. But, If someone attempts to intrude into the human body, we cannot even imagine the damage!! How do we manage such vulnerabilities?

In recent times, we witnessed few deadly cyber-attacks like the WannaCry attack (encrypted all devices, including medical equipment, and some factories were forced to stop production across 200,000 computers in 150 countries), ExPetr/ NotPetya (ransomware encryptor, damage estimated at $10 billion), A smoking cyber gun, DarkHotel: Spies in suite rooms, etc. We have seen the impact.

Bio-Cyberattacks are more dangerous than Cyber-attacks. A cyberattack may take us back to 20-30 years. However, a bio-attack takes us back to 1 or 2 generations!! Cyber is an element of the future of warfare, but the bio will be an element of the future of genocide.

Dear CSE Students

Recently someone asked me what are the prospects for CSE (Cybersecurity). Now this story clarifies that question. The potential for this course. Investments in Cybersecurity are growing rapidly. There is wide scope for ethical hacking. Ethical hackers should devise ways and means to keep their hands above the intruders & con-hackers. They need to assess the security of computer systems by looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems and help companies to build better-secured systems. Hope you now understand the scope!

Generally, a typical Technology Development Stack for Web is as follows (rubygarage.org)

Client-Side Programming (users see on the screens)

-         HTML & CSS

-         JavaScript (JS). JS makes web pages interactive (JavaScript libraries (e.g. jQuery, React.js, and Zepto.js) and frameworks (e.g Angular, Vue, Backbone, and Ember) for faster and easier web development.)

Server-Side Programming (It is not visible to users, but it powers the client-side)

-         Python (Django, Flask, Pylons)

-         Ruby (Ruby on Rails)

-         PHP (Laravel)

-         Java (Spring)

-         Scala (Play)

-         Node.js (a JavaScript runtime)

Database (to store user data or retrieve the data to display to the user)

-         MySQL (relational)

-         PostgreSQL (relational)

-         MongoDB (non-relational, document)

Server (a web application needs a server to handle requests from clients’ computers)

-         Apache

-         Nginx

Hosting (a secured cloud services platform that offers compute power, database storage, content delivery, and various other functionalities)

-         AWS

-         Microsoft Azure

-         Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, etc.

Security has to be planned at every layer !!!

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/in-florida-city-hackers-try-to-poison-the-drinking-water/articleshow/80769746.cms

One Centimetre of Soil on the Planet Takes 400 years to Form!! Iran Loses 2 Billion Tons of Soil Annually!! Soil Erosion by Water Costs 8 Billion USD to Global GDP! 33 % of India’s coastal line witnessed Erosion! Not just “Save Land”, But “Save Soil” should be New Age Slogan!! Read this Perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

I hail from the place named Vijayanagaram, one of the North Coastal Districts of Andhra Pradesh. The popular and renewed Telugu poet Sri. Gurajada Venkata Apparao hails from this town. Yesterday, when I was reading an article titled “Soil erosion control, requires special attention” in TEHRAN TIMES, a famous Iran’s newspaper, I was remembering the poetry of this influential social reformer & great poet. He said, “Desamante Matti Kaadoyi, Desamante Manushuloyi”. It means, “A Country is not made of Land; A Country is made of its People”. It was mentioned in the context of the Independence Movement. This is absolutely right at that point in time.

However, in the context of Environment Protection, looks like, we need to re-write this as “Desamante Raai Kaadoyi, Desamante Mattioi”, which means “A Country is not made of Rocks; A Country is made of its Soil”. I shocked to see the following statistics pertained to Iran’s soil loss: “Each ton of soil is valued at $28 in terms of metal ores, so the loss of 2 billion tons of soil annually means the annual loss of $56 billion”. This is more than the sale of oil and agricultural products, gardens, and few other farm products.

Iran stretches to 165 million hectares. In that, 90 million hectares is not covered by soil. It is critical and vital to protect the land from soil erosion. According to estimates, 16.4 tons of soil erodes in Iran per hectare. This is more than 3 times the global average.

The importance of soil is not just for agriculture purposes, but to also prevent global warming. Kioumars Kalantari, an environmentalist says, rich biodiversity and organism of soil store more carbon, reduces greenhouse gases which is the cause for climate change and global warming. See the volume of the carbon available on the earth's surface: 3,000 billion tons of carbon in the soil, which is about 315 times the amount of carbon released into the Earth’s atmosphere. Maintaining the carbon balance allows the planet to remain hospitable for life!

If you look at it from an Indian perspective, according to a 2015 report of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), the estimated amount of soil erosion is around 147 million hectares. Coastal states like Kerala are prone to water erosion and northern states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Gujarat face the problem of wind erosion. We need to create an immediate action plan to contain this soil erosion. Few practices like Contour farming (the practice of ploughing sloped land along lines of consistent elevation in order to conserve rainwater and to reduce soil losses from surface erosion), Contour bunding (A traditional low-cost method of soil conservation suitable for sloping land), strip cropping (crops are grown in strips parallel to each other, tree crops act as windbreakers or shelterbelts to the smaller crops), shifting cultivation, controlled grazing, afforestation, mixed cropping and mixed farming, etc should be promoted (geographyandyou.com/soil-erosion-and-conservation-in-india).

Feb 14 is famous for Valentine's Day!! I don’t want to comment further on this significance. But, do we know, World Soil Day? Honestly, I am not! I am hearing this first time. It seems Dec 5th is World Soil Day!! In 2018, there was a major campaign took place on this day “#StopSoilPollution”. It is shocking to read: 33 % of India’s coastal line (7,517 km) got eroded (esp. eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal)! Of course, the good news is, 29% of the coastline also saw a gain in soil or land accretion.

Do you know why Soil Erosion? Human Activity is one of the major reasons. Currently, I am staying in a place called Visakhapatnam on the Bay of Bengal Coast. Looks like the Bay of Bengal's intensity and wave heights have been increasing over the years. This is impacting the coastline. Of course, another reason is due to dredging in port areas and sediments are dumped in deep seas.

Few states which witnessed highest soil erosion are WB (63%), Odisha (28%), AP (27%), Kerala (40%), GJ(26%), MH(24%), and KA(22%).

Friends, again I am repeating: Desamante Raai Kaadoyi, Desamante Mattioi: Save Soil!

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/india-loses-one-third-of-coastline-about-soil-erosion-soil-accretion-html-1313027-2018-08-13

Source Inspiration: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/456823/Soil-erosion-control-requires-special-attention

Can You Imagine a 10th Class Passed Joining Microsoft and Becoming Sr. Technology Architect at Windows Phone Division, Microsoft Corporation (R&D) – USA & Served 13+ Years!! Today The Same is an Emperor of Kotii Group of Technological Ventures R&D P Limited with more than 1600 crores turnover!! Read this Inspiring Story of Kotireddy Saripalli!!

Dear Friends and Students

Recently I read an article on LinkedIn: “No degree? No problem. Here are the jobs at Top Companies you can land without one”. We know many founders of amazing companies are College dropouts: Uber, Dell, Facebook, Apple, Dropbox, Whatsapp, WholeFoodMarket, Twitter, Microsoft, Wipro, etc.

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the White House on March 6, 2019, and made the following comment: "About half of our U.S. employment last year were people that did not have a four-year degree,". “Hannah Maddy, a UX designer at Netflix, ranked No. 11 among this year's Top Companies. "Not only I do not have a four-year, degree but I’m also a high school dropout and worked the graveyard shift as a baker until I landed my first design gig," Maddy told LinkedIn.” (linkedin.com)

Having said that, it is not an easy path to get into premium companies through the hiring process without a proper college degree. It needs extraordinary skills. Today, I am going to present one such story!! Read the story of Kotireddy Saripalli.

I am constructing the words, not the grammar as each word embedded the emotion.

Childhood

Born at Budameru, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Father: Farm Labour and owned 0.5-acre land. 2 elder sisters. Land sold for marriages. Back to square: Father became a Farm laborer. During his 9th standard, his father took 16 acres lease for 2.5 lakhs. If there was a good yield, Kotireddy would have studied Polytechnic and MCA or Doctor using that money. Incessant rains washed the field. Lost money. Father became sick. Spent more money on health.

That year, he got 1st in 10th Std at Mandal level but cannot go for higher studies. Became farm laborer. Once father gave him 1000 rupees for Pongal dress. He went to Gudivada, a nearby town to buy clothes. Saw an Ad saying “PGDCA for 1000 rupees @ DataSoft”. This Ad changed the life. Joined the course even there is resistance at home.

In 3 months, he completed the C Programming. Seeing his skill, the DataSoft founder recommended him for a Data Entry Operator in a nearby Cloth shop for 750 Rupees salary. He used to start with a lunchbox in the early morning from his village, commute to the town and reach home late in the night!! In 2 years’ time, he became the faculty of C Programming and Data Structures in the same institute. However, he used to communicate in TELEGU: Local Language. Students loved his pedagogy. In 6 months’ time, owners leased the institute to Kotireddy.

Father initially resisted but took 15000 loan and gave it to Kotireddy. He used to be Invited by Vijayawada C Point as a Guest Faculty. Later he moved to Hyderabad for better prospects. At that time, he was barely 15-16 years old. Rejected by many companies and coaching centers. Finally, a small training institute recruited him as a tutor for C Programming.

Here is the twist!! He taught to 2 Govt. employees. One of the employees appreciated him and recommended him to ZEDNTT Software Company. They tested him on Graphics work and gave him 4 hours’ time to complete. Kotireddi completed it in 45 minutes. Got job. However, he was not well encouraged by other colleagues as he was not good at English communication. On top of it, he is the only 10th Passed. He took it as a challenge. In 1.5 years, he mastered English communication.

He learned Java on his own by buying old books at Koti Jn in Hyderabad. He became Youngest Java Programmer and also 2nd Level at Asia level. He became a core team member for Reliance's low-cost Phone. Upon successful completion of this Reliance Project, he got a call from Microsoft for a job. After 12 rounds of an Interview, he was asked to submit certificates and profile. He has only a 10th Std Certificate and TC!! He was rejected. Then he challenged, “if Bill Gates (a dropout) can become chief, why not me?” The next day, he got an offer letter. He is the First Indian with no degree to join Microsoft.

In 2 years’ time, he moved to the US. Reached to highest level award winner (only 0.01% employees get it)- Golden Star Achievers Award. Bill Gates praised him!!

In 2014, he decided to be on his own. He started Koti Group of Ventures which is into Education, Health, Media, Wellness, Finance, etc. Started Digital Education Ecosystem at Sri Venkateswara University. This company crossed 1000 crores turnover in 4 years itself!! Today it is clocking almost 1600 crores turnover. Kotireddy spends 33% of this income on Social Service!!

Today, the Kotigroup group is working towards deep-rooted innovations in AgriTech, ConstructionTech, EduTech, FinTech, HealthTech, MediaTech & QualityTech. Finally, Kotireddy completed his MCA through distance education and became Dr. Kotii Reddy Saripalli.(the University of Washington gave him Research Doctorate)

Dear Students

The world recognizes the true skill. A degree only gives you the Entry. If you are not the real worth, your own Degree becomes a thorn on your head. Degree with Skill will only make you to survive. 

Degree (Plus) Skill= Guarapo (The Liquid Extracted from Pressed Sugarcane)

Degree (Minus) Skill= Bagasse (The dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane)

Are you a Guarapo or Bagasse, Decide!!!

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration: Eenadu Sunday Editorial 31-Jan-2021

www.linkedin.com/pulse/degree-problem-you-can-still-land-jobs-top-companies-joseph-milord/

Can a Dream Impact Our Mood? Can a Dream Influence our Day Activity? Connection Between Dream Content and Social Behaviour!!! Dreams are Our Reflections! Read this Perspective!!

Dear Friends and Students

Today I came across an interesting article in the one of Spanish News Papers: ABC.es. You woke up after a Nightmare. Do you experience some uncomfortableness throughout the day? I am sure today onwards we all start correlating! I will check.

It says, If the dream is closer to almost real experience and if it is a sad one, it can affect at least the first few hours of the next day!! 

Though there is no scientific evidence for dreams have a meaning, and they reflect what we care about (as explained by María José Moreno), but “The content of the dream is more likely to be what we have been thinking about during the day, especially in the moments before we go to bed”. Very interesting. This statement made me go further deep into this thought.

As per www.silentnight.co.uk article, half of Brits admit, they are influenced by their dreams. 47% of people let their dreams impact how they feel when they wake up. It says we get powerful insights from our dreams. Sleep expert Dr.Nerina says, it is good practice to write a diary on your dreams. Over a period, it gives us some perspective. Dr. says a poor lifestyle (alcohol, caffeine, stimulants, refined sugars, screen time during bed, etc.) can lead to bad dreams.

“Silentnight’s study also found that 37% of people rely on dreams to help them make decisions in real life”. It presented a list of commonly encountered dreams as per the survey in the UK (Being chased, Falling, Flying, Being Unprepared for Exams, being unable to find a toilet).

If I reflect on myself, being unprepared for Exams and being chased are my common dreams. I missed a few educational dreams & goals in my life. It created a huge impact on my psychology. One missing dream made me run after 9-12 education goals over a period of 25 years. I succeeded in a few. Still, I get a dream. esp. being unprepared for exams and failing!! It means, my sub-conscious brain is not satisfied with what I am accomplished today!! The very recent dream I got was silly but I get it too frequently: “I did not open Physics and Chemistry Degree Test Books. I have to go to exam next day”. The second one is chased by the thief. It means, there must be some good connection between what I am and I am dreaming. I need to deep dive into this understanding!!!

As per www.psychologytoday.com article, “dreams are a huge source of influence on daytime waking behaviors but we do not know precisely how that influence works”. Whether there is scientific proof or not, dreams are a partial reflection of our life goals. If someone gets amazing dreams, enjoy the moment, share those dreams with your relatives and friends. As per few articles, when we share those positive dreams with our close person, the mood gets permeated throughout the day. Don’t worry whether someone laughs or makes fun but try sharing those dreams as I am sharing mine openly with all of you.

Personally, I feel,

1. You are Super rich if you get sound sleep without any disturbance.
2. You are rich if you are getting positive dreams.
3. You are poor if you are getting terrifying dreams even you are materially rich in the real-world! It signifies that we are insecure. It is haunting us.

Compare the following scenarios

1. XYZ lives in a stylish apartment in a multi-facility complex, wakes up throughout the night, watching glittering buzz on the streets and thriving city, sitting on the balcony
2. ABC lives in a hut, happily watches glittering stars in the sky sleeping on the wooden nylon knitted cot on the street, no worries what happens tomorrow, and finally gets sound sleep throughout the night.

Who is Rich?

Dreams are Our Reflections!

Your Well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

https://www.silentnight.co.uk/sleep-matters/sleep_views/do-our-dreams-impact-our-mood-during-the-day/

Source Inspiration: https://www.abc.es/bienestar/psicologia-sexo/psicologia/abci-puede-sueno-cambiarnos-estado-animo-202102050053_noticia.html