Digvijay Singh, alias Diggy, The Driver

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

At the safe sex promotion booth  of BEST Roadlines in Bawal/Haryana on the  Drivers Day Celebratory event (September 17, 2017), this lean and emaciated handicapped gent was at his taunting best.

While other long haul truck drivers remained tight-lipped, this man from Ayodhya/Uttar Pradesh kept hurling barbs at the booth agent Raj Gupta.

That's where he drew my attention.

Am familiar with catcalls and snide remarks  at truck driver meets to promote condom promotion as safe sex tool to this most vulnerable segment. Sex is a basic need - like water, food and air. Physical hunger is natural for homo sapiens and animals.

At this gathering, this man going great guns.

Quietly pulled away by  Transport Mitra Selvan Dasaraj for a  chat onto the sidelines,  we noticed for the first time, he was handicapped and  ambling with  the help of a five-and-a-half feet long staff. Marginally shorter than his physical height. The limp was perceptible. 

Nice  stubble. Hair on head? Marginal, again. Closely cropped or little growth? Could be both.

"Something bothering him. That's why he is exploding. Let's find out," Selvan said while escorting this fortyish Diggy.

What is he: Driver? Or what?

He was a driver at BEST. Until eight years ago, that was. Earned his daily bread driving trucks. During one of his visits to his hometown, a tractor hit rendering him handicapped.

Since then, he is unemployed. Or unemployable by any truck company. Eight long years.

With two kids and spouse to support, he was  forced to sell off his land  to meet his medical  expenses post-accident. Eyes water as Diggy gets emotional.

So  what is he doing at BEST now? No, he is NOT on the rolls of this fleet owning company, plying on Delhi-Mumbai route. But he hangs around within its several acre premises seeking a livelilhood. Professional pride does not permit him beg on the streets of Ayodhya.

What kind of livelihood he is leading now?  "At times, drivers take me on their trips as a second. I help them. Including driving when they are tired or sleeping. Remember, am a truck  driver. Licensed," explains emotive Diggy.

Licensed is a dicey angle. Yes, he would have been a licensed HCV driver when he joined BEST. He could not have got his license renewed given his handicapped situation. So?

How serious was the accident? I ask him.

Instantly he unzips and lowers his pant. No underwear.  Unmindful of a crowd of  drivers hanging around us and listening to his sad sob story, he is not ashamed of displaying his private parts. Oh, My God!  He is crying profusely.

His left upper arm reaches eyes and the dirty full sleeves of shirt wipes the rolling tears. Running nose as well.

Deep cut. Healed? "It pains even today," adds he as Selvan runs his fingers over the yet-to-heal deep wound.

The treatment is not complete because he can't afford. What about BEST supporting him? He remains silent while other drivers guffaw. That gesture tells a lot.

How much Diggy earns a month? He laughts at you as if you asked the stupidest question. Yet, he responds: Rs.2,500-3,000. How much he sends home? Again, a weak smile. We know, we posed another stupid question.

Where does he live?  A driver standing next to him blurts out: "Where else? Inside the truck."

On his trips, the BEST driver takes care of Diggy's food and liquor supply. He hankers after more trips because such trips assure him of his food and beverages to keep his body and soul together.

When not on trips, what about his basic needs?  Sympatheitc drivers pay for him.

BEST bosses have been 'magnanimous' enough to permit him hang around in its premises without charging him any rent!

Diggy is not the first long haul truck driver, handicapped and rendered useless to the business enterprises that used his services when he was shipshape and ... DUMPED.

We know a handful of such unfortunate ones.  The story is same. Use and throw. Heartless motor maliks? No. Less sympathetic towards those who helped them build their empires.

Spending crores of rupees on Drivers Day is fine. Securing the safety and future of truck drivers ought to be a key concern for all stakeholders. OEMs, the primary load providers, should deny business to motor maliks if their truck drivers are NOT insured for accident and death while on duty. Similarly the road transport authorities should penalize fleet owners if drivers are not insured during periodic checking on highways.

There are hundreds of Diggys ditched by motor maliks across India. If such disciplinary initiatives are rolled out and enforced sincerely, then there will be no more Diggys.

If anyone out there want to rehabilitate - Yes, that is the word - REHABILITATE Diggy with a job in anything related to driver training or a job at fuel station or wherever, let me hear here.

Why not try the "Amul' model?

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

Not a single day passes without screaming headlines of slowdown of Indian economy in the media. Growth slowdown. That is,  the rate of growth has slipped to the five point something (sorry, Chetan Bhagat!).  Data confirms that the slowdown is  for real.

Certainly a cause for concern for all, cutting across which strata of society one belongs to. The  decibel levels of debate has attained the stratospheric sphere with the premature  obituary of the present government is already been written. No second term for Narendra Modi-led NDA beyond 2019.

One of the key concerns is the expensive fuel price tag: hovering around Rs.80 per litre for petrol and marginally lower for diesel. Revenue considerations of states to the maximum extent and the federal government of course has kept the petroleum products outside the GST purview. For transport fraternity, fuel is  a big  expense to fend for. So, the noise level expectedly is high. '

Yes, more than 100% marked up price of fuel over the landing cost is a public loot. However, the government contention that those marked up revenue is being spent on meaningful developmental expenditure is  yet to cut ice with the public. There's resentment. Petroleum ministry is openly began canvasing  for reconsidering the inclusion of fuel  in GST basket.

Will the GST Council, comprising all state governments headed by the Federal Finance Minster accede to this dire need is worth watching. Will it affect poll prospects of the ruling alliance in the forthcoming state elections and thus set the template for General Elections 2019 when the ruling party at the centre would be seeking a fresh mandate for a consecutive second term? Again, wait and watch.

Yes, the public mood is no longer the "Har, Har, Modi" of the recent past. However, it has not slipped into "Go, Go, Modi".

Besides the fuel imbroglio, the next Himalayan challenge before the transport fraternity is the raging debate among millions of them is: To go for GST registration or not. Hamletian situation.

A section of this segment, however puny, prefers the Full Credit Mechanism (FCM) necessitating GST registration on their own or dictated by the end user (read OEMs) and become eligible for Input tax credit. Another section prefers Reverse Credit Mechanism (RCM) warranting no GST registration, but at the same time, no input tax credit.

FCM vs RCM is more to do with the argument over capability to meet regular and mandatory filing of returns with the authorities by those opting for FCM route. Stay in the "no registration" group and avoid all paper work and pay 5% GST with no input tax credit.  Proponents of GST registration of FCM logic is: get registered, file returns as per legal mandate and grow. Grow?

*What is the meaning of "grow" here?*
 Since the GST roll out w.e.f. July 1, 2017, OEMs viz., the service seekers of transportation needs have indicated their choice. They prefer FCM route. That is, they prefer to deal with GST-registered transporters. No GST registration, no business, please, say OEMs. That's where the "grow" angle kicks in.

Transporters -particularly large fleet owners: 100 and above - see merit in FCM route for two reasons: one assured business, to survive; secondly, input tax credit when they buy new trucks or deal with other GST registered clientele. Some of those big transporters, not comfortable with FCM route, have been trying to convince OEMs of their option, but not succeeding.

It is early days of GST roll out and so let's stick to RCM and later when fuel gets into GST basket, then switch over to FCM is one line of argument. Corollarily, there is no backing out  of FCM at all. Once in FCM, it's eternal. On the other hand, there is option to shift from RCM to FCM.

What will be the fate of millions of small and medum size truck operators who are being wooed to go for RCM on obvious grounds of their incapacity to meet the filing of humongous paper work?  Transport lobbies are yet to decipher a solution, notwithstanding high decibel debates in selected quarters. Confused? Perhaps.

Not that these bodies are lying low. Every single day, one delegation or another keeps knocking on the doors of Finance Ministry in Delhi because the GST Council will be the ultimate authority to give or deny relief to transporers or anyone. Not that the Council is inconsiderate. At its regular meetings since July 1, it has met and conceded relief on various product or service categories. So, the transport fraternity has not lost hope of getting some relief.

How to convey our displeasure to the government is hogging time in the transport lobby groups.

The murmur of a nationwide transport strike at this juncture has few takers. It is not difficult to fathom for the lukewarm response to the strike proposal. The nature of transport business is such that, few have the wherewithal or gumption  to shut shop and keep  their fleet of the roads beyond 2-3 days. Can't recollect a  successful lengthy work stoppage in the past. Given the division among the transport fraternity, the ploy of divide and rule by government is a standard operational procedure!

*So, let us return to the crucial question: what's the fate of millions of small and marginal fleet owners?*

 Let us revisit their rationale for FCM, a sine qua non sort for ultimate end users: OEMs. Massive paper work, that each fleet owner cannot fulfil. It is a capability that can be built, if not individually but collectively. Various lobbies boast of district and taluka level transport associations. So, each such body can explore forming a co-operative model where fleet owners come together on the Gujarat Amul model and that secretariat handling the much-feared paper work. It is doable, but challenging. That way, to execute anything is tough.

Remember, the birth of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC)? Those who are unaware, let it be said that the refusal of the British official holidaying in Simla/Himachal Pradesh to meet individual transporters regarding their concern  compelled them to form a body on the kutcha roads of Simla. They thought quickly as the British official gave a solution by telling them that he had no problem meeting them as a group and hearing their group concern.
 The transporters' pain in the pre-Independence India was so dire, it warranted the creation of a body which later came to be the AIMTC. So, the remedy is there for everyone to see.

From the transporters' perspective the situation is that critical  today. Like that time. The GST bombshell is trying to derail (is there a word, "deroad"?) their business.  Just not derail, but total eclipse of the bulk of small fleet owners.  If Gujarat kisans - marshaling cattle - can conceive, accept, join and make a massive business entity under the Amul brand and 'milk' prosperity, why not the transport brethren cutting across the swathe of mera Bharat feeding, clothing and sheltering 1.2 billion populace!

Another route is to get attached to the big boys and do business under their suzerainty. Hereagain, the headache of GST compliance work is someone else's. Not the less privileged fleet owner.

Shouting from roof tops by the lobby group to draw government's atteniton to redress tranpsorters' woes should - and would - continue, no doubt. Even the ruling elite can ill afford to ignore if the collective voice (milions, remember) hit the roof. Remember, state and General Elections are not too far away. Rulers are after all politicians seeking the comfort of vote banks and, not to be ignored is the unadulterated truth of transporters' perpetual funding of politicians at the MLA level. Target them where it hurts them the most.

That's it, for now!

In the Age of Glorious Humdinger

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

Like it or not, the hitherto transport segment has been whiplashed by the government at last.

No question of "will you please!" approach.

The government patiently listens to their laundry list and marginal tweaking which is in the national interest, it concedes. Other sectoral agenda with personal glory tag visible 100 km away is just brushed away. Want to take photos with us in the corridors of power? Take it. No problems. But go almost empty handed because your thought process is NOT in sync with the national agenda. Got it?

Bright transporters -there are many, of course - smell it quickly and re-calibrate their thinking. Others fall by the wayside.

Transportation undoubtedly is the backbone of any economy and India, no exception. Hence the patient hearing the lobby groups gets in government corridors.

Whiplash? Yes. This segment has been shaken ... rather woken up from its several decades self-imposed slumber of "we are different and leave us alone". This strategy won't work any longer post-GST.

In that respect, GST is a glorious humdinger.

This time, next year (Circa 2018) we will notice a different India. My focus is only on the behavioral or attitudinal transformation of the massive unorganized and most competitive (thanks of undercutting one another to grab a slice of business, without realizing how their freight calculations are unworkable!) transporter fraternity.

Get educated on taxation and join the ranks of responsible corporate citizens.

Corporate citizens? Yes, big boys of  transportation (we all know them by names!) will gobble up the pigmies. There are millions awaiting this "swaha" ceremony.

Nothing wrong. Survival of the fittest. For growth, compliance with the laws of the land is a necessity. Transporters are waking up to this reality. Good.

Honestly, I see the greenshoots of such a positive transformation in the offing. Back of the envelope costing and bribing logistics heads or sucking upto the brokers' whims and fancies will go away gradually.

The Genext at chota-mota transport outfits is emerging as catalysts with their penchant for tech-savviness and hunger for growth in double quick time. Go-getters. Go, go and get business - profitable business at that.

All said and done, the inefficiencies/wastages of logistical operations is not entirely transporters. Mostly this crime is being committed by 3PLs kullan kulla.

The Genext is open, upfront and unlikely to sit quiet and gulp insults or blames which they don't deserve. So 3PL honchos, watch out. Life for you will be on fire, equally in the days to come. Good for all.

Consolidation of small fries, corporatized or business like transport management and better onground facilities (removal of checkposts, octrois etc and the impending e-way bill) and a dynamic and mature political leadership at the national level and the most active transport minister perhaps in the history of India post-liberalization....

By the way, big boys of transportation are roping in  the residents of hole in the wall type dukaans floated by IIT/IIM grads  salivating to grab business by introducing data analytics to improve their operational efficiency. Good, no?

Well, the list is endless. All this augurs well for the nation.

I believe. What about you?

May Day Thoughts on Hapless Truck Drivers

Army recruitment drive somewhere in India

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

Every job is challenging. The difference is in degrees. Truck driving falls in the more challenging category in comparison with babus behind desk with computers or blue collar workforce at factories, or healthcare professionals at hospitals or educationalists at their citadels or sanitary staff at municipalities.

The most challenging, in my reckoning, is the role of defense forces because they enroll in this career knowing fully well that they are willingly signing their own death warrant.

Yet, millions flock to recruitment camps, held on weekends at district playgrounds across India at regular intervals. Metro dwellers may not witness this spectacle but it is a reality. Those who get selected rejoice and the rejects curse their fate and return home with a desire to return soon after improving their physical fitness. Yes, their maiden bridge to cross is this critical aspect.

What attracts these swarming army of wannabe fauji (both men and women) to a career in defending the country? Patriotism? Nah. It's a preferred career option. Why? Once you get selected, the future is assured. The Nation takes care of you. 

The recruit may become a cook or driver or artillery gunner what not. The whole nine yards. Am talking at the grassroot level. I recall what (Retd) Col. H P Sharma at Army Welfare Placement Organization, helping ex-servicemen with jobs in civil India saying: "Except teaching accounts, we do everything under the sun." So when they exit the services, choices before them career wise is wide. That's what Col. Sharma was trying to impress.

Simply put, the Indian defense sector attracts millions from remote villages to try their luck because their future is taken care of. Added advantage is the respect the civil society bestows on them, unless and until they misbehave.

The Nation's concern - the ruling elite marshalling the tax payer's money (yours and mine, of course!) - about them right from day one of their joining the forces till their departure for their heavenly abode via natural route or in action is astounding. It ought to be.

Leave aside for a moment, the fauji. Even the white collar - absorbed via contracts or proper appointment - enjoy regular monthly salary, social benefits (provident fund, healthcare insurance including accident/death coverage), weekly offs, a slew of leave of absence - casual, sick and privilege. Or take the workmen at factories whose interests are protected through various labor legislative pieces. And, the quintessential trade unions to ensure these men and women are not exploited and their rights are not usurped.

Brothers Vikram and Raju Singh from Bheem, Rajasthan into long haul trucking, the author travelled with in 2012

Now, come to the world of long haul truck drivers.

It's a different world. Is there any recruitment process? No. Then how come 2.5 million heavy commercial vehicles are plying on Indian highways? Are they driverless trucks? You must be joking. No driverless trucks, for sure. They will not descend on the Indian soil for a decade at least in my reckoning.

The truck driver recruitment process is simple: someone in the mohalla happens to be a driver with no pucca training but learnt via On The Job Training mode or OJT as popularly known. Another reason for this OJT route is the total absence of Driver Training Institutes (DTIs) to impart formal driving education since the advent of trucking in India more than a century ago.

This OJT driver, mostly uneducated or less educated, seems to have built a career splendidly. With no industrialization in the vicinity, village youth loitering with no job in sight are goaded by the family to try their hands at truck driving. No education required. Look at Chacha Abdullah or Parkash or Velumani. They made a career. Look at the living standards of their parivar. They are well off. Give it a try, beta!

OJT Chachas also tell them: "Come. See hamara desh (from the driver's cabin). Free of cost. In the process, learn driving. I will teach you. Of course, I will take care of food etc when you travel with me." The reluctant kid from dehat hops into the cabin for his free Bharat darshan to explore a new career disinterestedly to begin with. If he likes the journey and cherishes what he does (learning to drive a truck) and the kind of money he can make when he turns a full fledged driver - a year down the line - he is set. That's how truck drivers in India germinate. Or, after one or two trips, he is off the truck. Not my cup of chai, Chachu! Back to idling at dehat. 

When he takes up truck driving as a career, he comes to term with the ground reality. What he heard from Chachu is not all that rosy. What he sees sitting next to him while on the drive is something different. Plenty of gaping holes. There is no job security. No social benefits. Your earning comes from every single km driven with load. No load, no payment. Fall sick and can't drive. Sorry, no earnings. There is a wedding in the family and your presence is required for a month or so. Go away. No drive, no earnings. Or death in the family. Ditto.

Forget about job security. What about his own personal safety? Recall what happened during the recent farmers' agitation in Madhya Pradesh. Trucks were looted and torched. Drivers have to jump and run away to save their precious lives. En route, hit a goat or chicken or a human being while passing through the villages as part of National or State Highways. The locals will lynch you. It is driver vs the mob. Or take the empty highways nestling amongst forests that he has to cross at nights. He will be waylaid by hijackers. Drugged, looted and killed at times. Right Ramrattan Singhi?

When he dies what happens? Nothing. Fleet owner mostly will arrange for the body to be carted to his hometown from the accident/death site and a few thousand rupees to the bereaved family for cremation. That's it. Period. Who is bothered about the future of the driver's family? None. Ram naam sathya hai! Or if his limbs are lost, believe me that's the end of his career as truck driver. Insurance? Haha. Do you ask me about various insurance schemes rolled out by government? 99% of long haul drivers have no idea. No promotion. Neither by the insurance companies (mostly PSUs). Nor by motor maliks.

That's the owners' attitude whom these drivers serve with no piece of paper to support. What about the consignor or consignee whose survival depends on these drivers in this age of outsourcing? Pathetic. No rest rooms when these drivers reach destination for loading or unloading. There is no concept of detention time, thanks to inefficient 3PLs. So during the waiting period, they defecate in the open, fertilizing the surroundings of India Inc whose CSR spend is large, no doubt. Are they not aware of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swatch Bharat Abhiyan? Is he going to come and check outside factory gates of India Inc? No way. He is trusting these educated lot will help him build a better India. If they turn a blind eye, how can he be held accountable?

Okay. What about the en route experience of drivers? Less said, the better. There are 18 vultures on the highways, it is said. "Vultures" is the euphemism for rent-seeking sarkari babus representing various wings of federal or state governments. Taking advantage of the lack of education and therefore their lack of awareness of document of vehicle, cargo and their own, they will be fleeced. Not to forget is the poor attention to the CMVR norms by their motor maliks and themselves. All these provide fertile ground for these vultures to loot. That's the bribery part. Hello, by the way, the Republic of India is NOT a single unit, but actually it is United States of India: 29 or 30 odd states with their own piece of legislation!

When white collar staff travel on work, are they not entitled to traveling and dear allowance (TA/DA)? And when they travel do they sleep on the railway platform or airport lounges or inter state bus terminus benches? We all know the answer. But drivers on duty have no rest room facilities en route. Even when they reach the destination - loading or unloading point - no waiting shed or rest room for toilets or washroom.They are something like the caravan serai of yore. Park wherever and exist. Period.

Another biggest missing element is lack of respect bestowed on this profession. Want proof? The moment a young driver decides to get married, there are no parents willing for "kanyadhan" (betrothal of their daughter). Why? Because truck driving is not a respectable profession. Social stigma. 

In a nutshell, truck driving offers no job security. no benefits. no social status, and no respect. Still men from dehat opt for this thankless job because the opportunity cost is very high. Become a truck driver and lead a comparatively better life vis a vis his neighbor engaged in farming that is seasonal and poor earning.

Federal Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari keeps harping on 22% driver shortage in the country. Under Skill India, the government is exploring to bridge this gap via the setting up of Driver Training Institutes. Good initiative.

But is this drive adequate? Sufficient? Not at all. This Skill India initiative is trying to address a miniscule challenge. Put it differently, it touches the tip of the iceberg.

Creation of DTIs alone is not the panacea.

Then what? The need of the hour is a fulsome approach, involving various stakeholders. Yes, a social transformation, if one can say so. No jokes. Because, the future is alarming if the driver shortage is not bridged. Yes, Gadkari is keen on promoting multimodal mix to reduce the dependence on road transport (read trucks). That's a long term goal. Coastal shipping, rail logistics are all fine. But the first and last mile connectivity has to be through trucks. That too with drivers at the wheels. Not driverless trucks!

Why am I talking about fulsome social transformation? Let me put it this way. Right from the occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan in Lutyen's Delhi to Chacha Abdullah in his Azamgarh basti has to go on a frantic food hunting when trucks go off the roads protesting against something or other. Suddenly, essential items price spiral. Healthcare institutions will face medicine shortage. Political masters get jittery as vote banks turn hostile. The nation is always in election mode at the state or federal or local level.

Mami Ambuja in Mylapore and Aunty Nandini Kaur in Chandigarh will find their fridges empty with no milk, no vegetables, no paneer. Kartar Singh Ahluwalia in Mumbai and Soumitra Banerjee in Salt Lake will try to acquire their nightcap (read liquor) at whatever price even. All because Chacha Abdullah and his ilk have switched off their engines and  taken their feet off accelerator for a few days even if it means loss of income for the days their vehicles won't move an inch. 

Forget about everything. India Inc will face the music severely. In this age of Just In Time or Zero Inventory and outsourcing model, their assembly lines will grind to a halt when trucks go off the road.

Trucking or transportation is the backbone of any economy. India is no exception. Here again, transportation has to be understood in the right perspective. Not the HCV OEMs alone. Not the fleet owners only. Not the light asset management agency type transporters only. Not the agents or brokers alone. But the key player is the man behind the wheels. Truck drivers.

Transportmitra Services Founder Selvan Dasaraj (Disclaimer: this writer is the CoFounder - www.transportmitra.com - as well), keen on addressing the shortage issue realized that this challenge will remain unmet unless and until the anomalies in the way the current truck drivers are rectified by the society.

Why millions flock to army recruitment jamborees? Commonsense tells you  that the service conditions are good and a career path is shown. Plus post retirement benefits spelt out clearly. Nothing to worry.  Mein hoon na? Similarly, when basic issues are addressed with sincerity by all stakeholders - not the government alone -  the village youth will explore truck driving as a career option genuinely.

Okay, what needs to be done? What's the Laundry List? 

 The responsibilities can be put into three baskets viz.,

a) The Government
b) Fleet Owners/Transporters/Brokers/Agents
c) End Users (consignor & consignee)

The government has to ENSURE the provisions of Transport Workers Act 1961 is implemented in letter and spirit. It contains everything including wayside amenities, working hours, resting, social benefits etc. But, there is no monitoring and implementing with the result this segment, second only to agriculture in terms of providing massive job opportunity directly and indirectly, remains unorganized and therefore indisciplined. By the way, the truck drivers are not unionized at the scale of transporters, brokers, fleet owners. A unionized truck driver fraternity  is feared at and viewed as an evil and hence fleet owners, transporters prefer the status quo is maintained. Sheer self interest with poor long term vision.

Fleet owners have to get into a concrete working arrangement via written employment papers with social benefits such as Provident Fund, Healthcare, Accident/Death Insurance, Working Hours, etc. It is no use claiming that drivers are comfortable with the existing working relationship with per km basis. Most of the fleet owners are fully unaware of CMVR norms. If that is the case, how can they monitor their vehicles and drivers are law-abiding? So, fleet owners need education first. Remember a major chunk of fleet owners are owner-cum-drivers with little or no education to boast of. It is a challenge.

Last, but not the least, is the role of consignor and consignee. Here I mostly refer to the behavior of India Inc -the ultimate beneficiary or end user of transportation services. These giants with multilocation manufacturing facilities and huge budgets for  mandated CSR spends turn a blind eye to creating driver rest room facilities outside their own factories. Reason:  they claim transportation has been outsourced and therefore it is not their responsibility. Sad, these rich and educated owners and managers of these billion rupees business enterprises need a stick - not a gentle prodding - to become better corporate citizens. 

This segment believes in adopting villages than creating basic toilets and rest room facilities outside their own factory gates. Why? Village adoption gets more publicity. Not creating toilets outside factory gates. Pathetic and pitiable. This segment also needs awakening.

Career path is something that needs to be addressed for truck drivers as well. Why a 15-20 year old experienced driver be equated with a rookie? Why both be bracketed as driver? Even someone joining as a cook or driver in defense forces, he progresses in his career. His designations change. Role changes. At the time of retirement he is no longer the cook or driver he was recruited. He retires as Subedar. With a life long pension and free medical facility for him and his family.

Truck driver is just that: no seniority. No worktime benefits. Nor post-retirement benefits.

It is a tough call for the entire society to change its attitude towards truck drivers. But worth trying.

When these changes are brought about, the driver shortage will vanish on its own. Better working and living conditions will automatically draw freshers to this profession.

Remember that we are in the midst of Make In India journey with the grandiose plan to spike contribution of manufacturing to GDP from 16% to 25% . Basically this is all about making physical or tangible goods to meet the needs of 1.2 billion populace that needs to be clothed, fed and nurtured in this age of decreasing mortality or increased longevity of life. Items are to be manufactured and distributed pan India.

Roads have become better. Trucks have become better. But the treatment meted out to drivers remains unchanged. Even those opting for driving career would prefer to steering Olas and Ubers in cities for obvious reasons. Not the trucks of Tatas. Not Leyland. Not Eicher. Not Bharat Benz. Not Scania on highways far away from home for long stretches and treated shabbily  by all and sundry. 

Create this basic mindset change and begin to adopt a humanly approach towards truck drivers. Then DTIs will begin to get candidates. Mobilization of candidates will become a child's play. Today it is not. DTIs are unable to survive due to mobilization challenge. Why would anyone want to be a truck driver if the working and living conditions are worse? It is not aspirational yet. It's that simple.

The government, primarily, should turn its spotlight on improving the working and living conditions of current truck drivers. When they feel they are treated well, the viral effect will be phenomenal. The result will be positive. For this to happen, the government should prick the conscience of all stake holders and make them fall in line. All in the overall interest of economic growth.

When that happens, the Recruitment Drive for Truck Drivers at district headquarters on weekends will become something like what we are witness to army recruitment drive today. Millions will flock to these jamborees. And the 27% driver shortage will vanish into thin air.  Are we ready?

The writer is the author of 10,000 KM on Indian Highways, Naked Banana! and An Affair With Indian Highways. He has traveled 28,000 KM in trucks since 2010. He also found and manages KRK Foundation, a registered NGO focused in improving the working and living conditions of  long haul truck drivers and their families living in remote villages of India. He is Co-Founder of Transportmitra Services P Ltd (www.transportmitra.com) and edits DRIVERS DUNIYA, India's FIRST English Quarterly focused on truck drivers. He is reachable at ramesh@konsultramesh.com

Why I Am pissed off with TISS...

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi


Is Driverless Truck Desirable in India?

This question arises in the wake of recent comments heard from the corridors of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai that the driver shortage will soon be mitigated through two developments viz.,

1) The advent of Driverless Trucks
2) Rivigo

Oh, really?

This response of a panel of honorable social scientists came during an interview with a 40-year old supply chain veteran when he had submitted his proposal for a Ph.D thesis on the need for creating better working and living conditions  for long haul  drivers and thereby mitigate the looming shortage.

By the way, the wannabe Doctorate supply chain practitioner is yet to recover from the shock administered by the brainy TISS team. My first reaction was their lack of touch with ground reality. Literally, I was unequivocally pissed off with  TISS.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H) has been maintaining that the shortage is pegged at 27% as of today. A monumental figure. Considering that the sale of heavy commercial vehicles (trucks in common parlance) in FY 15-16 was approximately 7,00,000 according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the projected CAGR of 12-14% every year here onwards, India needs the same number of fresh Formally Trained Drivers (FTDs) every year. Yes, every year! Despite the grandiose promotion of multimodal mix of rail and coastal shipping, surface or road transport continues to hog 60% freight movement.
Enough of number crunching. Now onto the ground...

Who gets into long haul truck driving? Not the padhe likhe sort. Truck driving as a career option does not appear on the  radar of even Class 10 failed from the underprivileged segment of society. A microscopic examination of those who are already into this profession willingly or unwillingly reveals that most school information is mostly fake, manufactured by the touts at RTOs helping  them get a driving licence with no formal training. It is altogether another pitable story that India has no formal driver training institutes (DTIs). A few by Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, IL&FS, Eicher Volvo is a nano-drop in the ocean.

What's the employment scenario? An alarming rising proportion, notwithstanding the laudable GDP growth. Alarming? Because it is more or less jobless growth, thanks to automation, partly and other factors. Even here, we are mostly talking about those who have been "educated" in the formal sense. A degree in hand. Just a piece of paper, which was once considered an an automatic passport to job market. No longer. 

A sizeable chunk from hinterland stay away from education per se. So, their absorption into formal job market is negligible. This is where the TISS contention that the driver shortage is a short term phenomenon and will get addressed over the next 5-6 years via the introduction of driverless trucks gives a wild ass kick. Not, the kickass thrill!

Surprisingly, these social scientists have not understood the social implications of shutting the doors of job opportunity for these less privileged (read illiterate or less educated) for whom truck driving is a good option. Even from the political perspective, it will be a disaster for parties when the government greenlights driverless trucks in India.
It would be suicidal even otherwise. Here is a golden opportunity to absorb the steady stream of candidates favorably considering truck driving as a career option - as a last resort, though. Yes, it is a fact of life that those getting into the profession do not cherish the classroom formal training and prefer the guru-shisya route that is in vogue since the advent of trucking in India, courtesy the British that had brought trucks for its troop movement more than a century ago.

But their aversion towards formal driver training can be overcome. It is  noteworthy here to draw attention to the fact that better educated set is exploring truck driving as a career option. This writer has met graduates in remote villages either already driving trucks and showing interest. The advent of onboard electronic management in Indian trucks certainly needs a better educated lot vis-a-vis the present one.

Another insight worth noting is the reluctance of truck manufacturers to implement the recent compulsory airconditioning of truck cabins citing that fleet owners do not wish to bear this additional spend. Even fleet owners arguing that their drivers prefer non-airconditioned variety. Nonetheless, it is mandatory to improve the working conditions of long haul truck drivers. If they are not used to airconditioned trucks, they will get used to it sooner than later.

Are the fleet owners not shifted from dungeon narrow gullies of Mahipalpur to swanky centrally airconditioned  offices in Gurgaon or Punjabibagh - some with glass-fronted cabins trying to show they have come off age? If they can, why not their drivers? What is missing is the will to act upon and improve. Not as charity. But out  of sustaining their business. Remember the government admits there is a 27% shortage. What's the point  of buying a truck if there are none to steer it? Got it?

Cost factor is the real issue here. Indian fleet owners, it is agreed, do not want to spend a Rs.50,000 towards aircondioning of truck cabins. It is a small sum. Now, examine the cost of driverless truck. Indian fleet owners will collapse when they see the price tag. Even a hefty discount, which is most likely, as an introductory offer as and when it comes to India will render our fleet owners breathless.

Conceding that driverless trucks would reduce human error - a major element in road accidents - Indian traffic discipline in cities or highways is  nothing to gloat. Unlike, Otto driverless trucks ferrying Carlsberg beer consignment in the United States, where there is a greater sense  of traffic discipline, it is dreadful to imagine a load of Nissan-Renault's most popular Kwid loaded car carrier plying on the south-north highway corridor without a driver at the steering. We, Indians (including the well educated), are not a disciplined lot.

Now, let us move on to the second pearl of wisdom from the TISS panel. Rivigo is one of the start-ups in transport ecosystem that is making waves with its comparatively more driver-friendly approach with its 2,000 plus owned fleet. Indeed, a welcome scenario. I can declare that Rivigo's arrival has rattled the entire conventional transport fraternity. Mera kya hoga? syndrome.

Yes, Rivigo is a fresh breath of air. But one swallow does not make summer. Is there a possibility of Rivigo clones on the Indian transport firmament? Yes. Over long term. I mean long term in the Keynesian parlance. Remember what he had said: In the long run, we are all dead.

Why Rivigo model is tough to copy? It is an asset heavy business enterprise. Indian transport segment - not bestowed the industry status - is more of agents (small, medium, large) and companies practizing light asset model, owning a miniscule number of trucks to get the transporter tag and mostly accessing trucks owned by others who again can boast of 5-10 or even less. With no business acument to procure business and manage, they are comfortable going through the time tested management agency system. End users (read the India Inc) is equally  blameworthy whose tariff fixation is a gamble playing in their favour. They take advantage of the pathetic demand-supply mismatch. Take it or leave it approach, thus making fleet owners who are the backbone of any economy as beggars. This kind of approach cannot be sustained for long.

By the way, there are hushed conversations in the smoking corners or watering holes or vast lawns of IIT-IIMs that are incubating start ups in the transport ecosystem among other things that the day is not far off when graduates will get into truck driving because that is the only ready career option available. Air conditioned cabins. Wow. And Rivigo type driver-friendly management. Far away from the current motor malik-chalak rishta. Plus, actually, truck driver earning capacity is far better than the non-existent formal sector jobs. (My own study of over 100,000 truck drivers over the past seven years confirms that a long haul truck driver walks away with approx. Rs.30,000 every month though there is no formal letter of appointment. An enticing package!)

Driverless trucks is a pill that TISS can swallow and theorize. Not the occupant - whoever it is and whichever political party - of 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. The Bharat will erupt. I repeat, the Bharat where two thirds of Republic of India lives. It is a lunatic concept from the Indian perspective. Wish, am wrong. Strange such ideas germinate from the portals of TISS!

--
The writer is Editor of DRIVERS DUNIYA, India's FIRST magazine in English focused on long haul truck driving community. He has travelled 28,000 km in trucks on Indian Highways and authored three books. Plus, he is the Co-promoter of TransportMitra Private Limited. He is reachable at ramesh@konsultramesh.com

How to SUBSCRIBE to DRIVERS DUNIYA ...

Hi folks,

Greetings.

First things, first.

DRIVERS DUNIYA is India's FIRST English magazine focused on the working and living conditions of long haul truck drivers in India.

It is a QUARTERLY, published every March, June, September & December.

Each hard copy issue is priced Rs.100/- (approx. US$1.53).

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 DRIVERS DUNIYA is a unique media platform touching the lives of the key supply chain element: truck drivers.

They are the backbone of any economy. Ignore them at one's own peril.

Support DRIVERS DUNIYA with your subscription - Soft or Hard Copy. Choice is YOURS.

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Editor 

 

Why this smugness or indifference...

EDITORIAL

Sympathy for the marginalized segment of society is scarce. I did not bargain for what I was witness to during the 700 km two-day Kanyakumari to Chennai Road Trip in mid-May 2017. The reality was stark. The key question was - and is: why long haul truck drivers are treated shabbily by the most respected corporate  entities.

Just not one, but all the four companies that I had spent time outside their factory gates conclusively showcased their distate for love for labour. These corporate entities are no babes in the woods and boast of "great work" under the now-mandated Corporate Social Responsibility rules.

It beats  me why truck drivers without whose services the entire business will collapse gets such a raw deal. Are these multi-crore  enterprises knowingly ignore them? Or simply unaware of the ground reality of pathetic living and working conditions  - not far away but just outside their factory gates? Or is it because truck drivers are not unionized and therefore have no collective bargaining?

Am sure, these corporate are not blind. So, logically it proves that they believe this uneducated or less-privileged fellow-citizens do not deserve any sympathy. Perhaps there is a feeling at the corner office of each of these business entities that the total absence of basic amenities such as toilets and washroom outside their factory gates where these trucks that ferried both raw materials/components from vendors - because this is the age of outsourcing - and waiting to carry finished items to market shelves are sheer waste of money and does not get them positive coverage in the media.

Strangely, these same companies go to town tom-toming about how they have adopted villages as part of their CSR activities and showcase them on their websites. Publicity hungry. Yes. Short-sighted. Yes.

In the bargain, they all forget that as responsible corporate citizens of the Republic of India, they are snubbing none less than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. How? By totally ignoring his nationwide call and championing of "gSwatchch Bharat Abhiyan" - Clean India Campaign.

The suffering target group is equally blameworthy. Why accept such inhuman treatment? Why should they accept to live without a bathing facility or toilets outside factory gates of companies for whom they have hauled goods and made to wait due to the poor inefficiencies of the company or its logistics service providers? If only, they refuse to ... Let me not get into that area at this moment.

It's never too late. Wake up, folks! Go ahead and spend money on adopting villages and get media coverage. No issues. Simultaneously, step out of your cabins and aircondioned vehicles at your factory gates and perform a 'rounds' to see what have you done. And then, act.

DRIVERS DUNIYA, in this June-August 2017 issue, turns the spotlight on the heartless performance of these Indian companies towards the key supply chain element viz., truck drivers.

It's never too late to look into the mirror and change one's attitude towards the marginalised segment of our own society. Father of  the Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi will be punch pleased when the dignity of labour is appreciated and acted upon. So also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

What are you waiting for, India  Inc?

Ramesh Kumar
editor@driversduniya.in

Sabaash, Ramalingam Saar!

Ramesh Kumar

 Meet Sankara Ramalingam. Why? What's so special about him warranting some space here?

First things, first. Who is he? He is an Indian Oil dealer, operating on one of the busiest National Highways (NH7) linking Kanyakumari with the Madurai, near Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district in Tamilnadu.

No way, you can miss his pump... unless you decide to shut your eyes to the surroundings. I did  not as a co-passenger with Indian  Oil Assistant Manager Srinivasa Rao recently as we motored down this NH towards our destination:  Trichy, approx. 400 km away from the southern most tip of Republic of India.

Considering the fact that fuel sold at any pump is like a commodity - be it IOC or BPCL or HPCL or Essar or Reliance or anyone - the dealer has to innovate to lure or entice potential customers into his pump. Decorating the pump into an eye-catching  fashion - like what my friend Parakh, another IOC dealer operating on NH37 near Siliguri connecting Kolkota with Guwahati, did. No way, you can miss his pump day or night adjacent to the gurudwara nestling  against few more outlets.

Ramalingam, a fleet owner-turned-oil dealer, has hit upon  the novel idea of attracting customers almost 24 kilometres away from his pump. Really? Of course. His  modus operandi is simple. The fact that there were hardly any visible mandated milestones on this stretch once you cross Tirunelveli, Chandru Fuel bossman pitched signage of IOC right from 24th km before you reach his fuel station. At every kilometre, it is there until you  steer into his outlet. As of today, there is no other outlet in this 24 km stretch, but  soon another rival will be pitching tent.

Cleverly, Ramalingam has used these signage to propagate road safety message as well in each one of them. Yes, there are repeats. That's understandable given the key road safety messages are less than a dozen. 

Road safety is a major concern as India has the dubious distinction of 500,000 accidents and 150,000 fatalities over the past three years on an average year after year. Bad and sad. Precious human lives are extinguished. This has to be stemmed.

Another noteworthy aspect of his business development acumen is to make it known to the potential customer of his unique service offerings: such as Free RO water, Cleaning of front glass of vehicles, Free Toilet etc.

The IOC dealer at Gangaikondan Ramalingam deserves a pat on his back and a loud 'Hip, Hip, Hurray' for his clever strategy of cocktailing business objective with solid social messaging.

Ramalingam saar, sabaash! Chumma sollakoodathu, neenga dhool kalaperenge! (Must tell you, you are doing a wonderful job!)

Disclosure: The 700 km Kanyakumari2Chennai Road Trip was sponsored by Indian Oil Corporation, conducted over two days (17-18 May 2017). The trip was done for DRIVERS DUNIYA, India's FIRST English Quarterly focused on long haul truck drivers, to study the condition of this national highway, toll gate practices, accident spots if any in this route and the kind of wayside amenities at selective IOC outlets and big companies situated on this stretch have created for truck drivers servicing them directly or via contractors.
 

Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-7

Ramesh Kumar

Throughout the 30 minute Fortuner ride from Escorts Mujesar metro station on the Pink Line of Delhi Metro to Sikra office of LTC Logistics, Anand Lakhani saab kept me flooded with his insight into the Indian transport ecosystem from his perspective. Good learning it was.

Categorical he was that most of his driver relationship management  gyan that he was sharing over the past few months was culled out of one and only Devinder Kohli. "He is the hands on man. Operational head and interacts round the clock. He knows the inside out of every single driver," he confessed.

No wonder, my curiosity was getting higher and higher to meet this gent. Who is he? How does he look like? What could he his background? Going by what Lakhani saab has shared of his thoughts on driver relationship and what he had written for an exclusive piece for DRIVERS DUNIYA (to be published in June 2017 issue), the depth was phenomenal. Now that I know Lakhani saab's is received wisdom, a mulaqat with asli gyani assumed extra vitality. Any day, an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory. On that parameters, Devinder stood very high on my barometer.

When Inder introduced his General Manager (Operations) in his corner office, I found him interesting. A glint in his eyes. Eagerness to talk, but not an eager beaver wanting to jump the queue. Waiting for his turn. When you have a group, each wanting a share in the conversational pie. Lakhani saab, I noticed, decided to be a spectator. Possibly he felt, he downloaded his gyan already during the Fortuner ride! Inder, between responding to the non-stop flow of emails on his laptop, he did share his insights into his business. So too his nephew Mayank.

When the topic of drivers popped up, I turned to Devinder sitting next to me. As a preamble, I  shared that a majority of drivers whom I had interacted with have a good word for their motor maliks but their ire or  angst is against middle level with whom they interact on a regular basis. "The line  supervisors treat drivers badly. Do you share that opinion?", I asked Devinder.

He did not respond directly but he shared his  experience. At LTC Logistics, he has a regular Saturday meetings with his drivers - whoever happens to be at the workshop/office for regular maintenance check up or other matters on that day where they share their mutual concerns and get them sorted out. Good practice. Because Devinder himself participates. He is not the cabin type and to meet him you need no permission! There are many such specimens in this segment.Protocol-driven!

Devinder believes mutual trust and treatment is essential to get the best out of anyone - including drivers.

Are LTC Logistics drivers on payrolls? Rs.7,500 a month and other allowances while on trips. Social Security benefits such as PF, ESI? None. A long way to go, I tell myself.

Post lunch and post-Operations wing visit, we  amble onto the workshop space. Floored by the interaction with Tire Doctor, we move on.  The next room is open and we enter. Two wooden cots placed diagonally along the walls. Four are sitting on one and two sleeping alone on the other. On the floor, someone is sleeping, snoring gloriously.

Drivers? I ask. Devinder confirms.

The seated four turn around to reveal that they are all from Agra. While three are waiting for their trucks to get ready, one with a towel wrapped around his head says he has returned after a month long chutti and waiting for re-allotment of vehicle for him to resume work.

All look very young. Less than 25 year old, I reckon. This lot belongs to the Uttar Pradesh  lot, disclosed earlier by the top honchos. Recruitment of drivers happens through referrals. Simple. Existing driver recommends someone - mostly from his own village or one of his relatives. With or without license. The modus operandi or rationale is crystal clear. It is sort of a moral and unwritten guarantee by the experienced driver who is recommending.

The  guarantee is a must for the motor malik to agree to induct the newcomer into his empire. What if, the new guy runs away en route or indulges in some unlawful activity? That's where the guarantor steps in. He is held responsible by the motor malik. The guarantor has to ensure the anomaly is set right. So the guarantor is also very careful in recommending someone. This is something similar to the practice in self help groups (SHGs) when one debtor defaults, other members of the group step in to leverage their collective strength to make good. Long haul truck driver recruitment does not happen via job portal routes, though many have been trying.

Why motor maliks are scared of direct recruitment? Elementary. Safety principle. In this case, the financial risk is very high. Today, the price tag of truck is upwards of Rs.30,000. Materials it carries will be nothing less than Rs.100,000 every trip. Plus, the fuel tank of 250-300 litres multiplied by Rs.60 a litre or above depending upon the states the truck passes through; and the trip advance (inclusive of feeding the bribe hungry highway officials), running into Rs.50,000 at least one way. Am talking about long hauls.

Simply put, the motor malik hands over a truck with materials and sizeable cash along with the truck key and trusts - that's the key word - to some less educated and most likely not a pass out of some driver training  institute. Mind you, he has given a commitment to the end user (consignor) that the maal will reach the destination on the scheduled date. Everything based on bharosa!

What if? That is the biggest if. By and large, long haul truck drivers are trust worthy. After all, they have to earn a livelihood. If they leave this truck driving job, they will find it difficult to get another job. Yet. Probability of someone acting funny cannot be ruled out. That's why the referral.

Let me share a personal experience of recommending a driver to one of my well known  transporter friends few years ago. I have known this  long haul driver for long and he had a good reputation among his peers. So when he sought my assistance for a job, I obliged him as someone was looking for a driver. Demand and supply marketplace dynamics in play. The driver got the job and I have forgotten about that. A month later, I receive a call from someone - introducing himself as GM (Operations) from the transport company demanding my intervention. For what? "The driver you referred and we hired is gayab. No idea where the vehicle is and his mobile is switched off. The client is shouting."

The time was close to midnight. That's was the first and last driver candidate I placed with any company. Many IT jambawans think, running a job portal for truck drivers is easy. Dive in, folks and experience the elixir!Placement of truck drivers in a job portal or placement centre route is paved with huge challenges.

One out of the four confesses that he took to driving two months ago. License? No. Is he getting a chance to drive the truck? Of course. What's the point if he does not get a chance to steer the truck?

I glance at Devinder.

This is a common practice. This is how India is training truck drivers. On the Job! 

Listen to this conversation, I had with a veteran long haul truck driver at Raipur, a few years ago, to understand the disdain these men have for driver training institute-trained ones!

I step out and ask Devinder about toilet facilities for these drivers. There is. Usable? Sort of. Not cleaned properly. Perhaps none felt a need that drivers' toilets need to be as good as the white collar staff's.

My take on toilets for drivers is simple. Let there be a common toilet for both white collar and truck drivers. When that happens, cleanliness will automatically kick in. Yes, drivers need education on hygiene. Who has to teach them? Who else, but the staff under Devinder and perhaps Devinder himself during his weekly Saturday meetings.

Talking about toilets, brings back memories of my battle with Renault Nissan stock yard at Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh a few months ago. Toilets built for parking drivers at the stock yard was barricaded citing that drivers have no sense of using toilets and forced to go behind bushes outside the yard. Well, after a protracted canvassing, the Franco-German automotive giant conceded to reopen those toilets to drivers.

Amenities for truck drivers is not a priority for motor maliks or OEMs who utilize their services. They need a lot of education than drivers. Outsourcing does not mean abdication  of responsibility.

Highway amenities is of paramount importance to fight driver fatigue and slash down accidents by half as chalked out by the government.

Driver comfort is still not getting adequate traction. He is not asking for air-conditioned  rooms. His needs are basic: clean bed. Good ventilation with coolers and fans. A decent subsidized canteen. Toilets and washroom. Not difficult to fulfill. What's missing is the desire to make him feel better and perform better.

Devinder promises that he would keep these things in mind and do his bit. I hope so.

Wonderful May Day outing, spending a couple of hours at LTC Logistics.

Before dropping me at Escorts Mujesar metro for my ride back home, Lakhani saab assures that whenever I visit next time, I shall see a better LTC. I trust him. Next May Day - May 1, 2018 - perhaps.

Ciao

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Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-6

(Devinder Kohli explaining the Tire Management Data Sheet while Tire Doctor Vikrant Lal Srivastav looks on)

Ramesh Kumar

"Vikrant Lal Shrivastav, mera naam. Tire Doctor!"

That's how this mid-twenties professional with a stethoscope kind of stuff round his neck introduces himself at the open workshop yard.

Tire Doctor? Never heard of such a designation till this moment. Basically he is a mechanic whose specialization is in tire management. I like his confidence. His zest. His pride. Hum kissi se kam nahi, bindaas attitude and posture. No hesitation in interacting with a stranger. Looking straight into the eyes.

With a fleet strength of 250 and a tight delivery schedule or commitment across pan-India, LTC Logistics has to have a robust tire management system in place. And it has. Vikrant is the witness to that process. The system put in place is meticulous. After every round trip, at the base camp of Sikri workshop, every single truck undergoes a microscopic examination under the watchful eyes of Tire Doctor. However, en route any complaint from drivers about tire issues, they are directed to the nearest dealer network for quick remedial action.

(Watch the video of Vikrant Lal Srivastav & Devinder Kohli here and here)

LTC Logistics' choice of tire appears to be Apollo. No idea why. Even the vernier caliper that the Tire Doctor wearing snake like round his neck is from Apollo: gifted may be. Nonetheless, Vikrant rates Continental highly for his own reasons. Radial tire, he believes, gives higher mileage though expensive.

Early this year, I ran into Heera Lal, owner cum driver at Rattanpur, the border town of Gujarat and Rajasthan outside a highway dhaba. Our discussion veered around tire management.

Hear him out here...

All said and done, tire is a huge cost for any transport company, constituting next only to fuel. Fleet managers go mad trying to extract the maximum out of tire because it is a huge investment. Non-radials cost a little over Rs.25,000 a piece at the lower end. MRF is believed to be the costliest. Almost double. Radials, on the outer ridge! No wonder, fleet owners are reluctant to embrace radials in the commercial vehicle segment. Tire sellers invariably harp on a macro angle. Better tire leads to higher mileage, possibly better payload and less maintenance. Logical.

Big fleet owners get into a contract with tire makers with option of the same company even undertaking retreading when the tire wears out. A routine stuff and therefore a regular money-spinner!  A bulk deal. If my memory serves right, VRL Logistics (owning 4,500 plus trucks) has such an arrangement with Michelin. Complete outsourcing. In the process, the transporter gets the best deal.   Even the tire maker.

Tire management is a big business, certainly.  Two years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Bridgestone exclusive workshop at Sankakiri, near Salem, owned by 350-fleet strength SSPL. The kind of research study this company has done on tire management is stupendous. In fact, its meticulousness enabled SSPL to walk away with an award at Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards function a few years ago.

Not Bridgestone alone. Every tire company has got into this segment. Had a chance to visit Michelin facility as well in Jaipur three years ago on the highway.

Tire management, confesses Devinder, is critical for two reasons. One in this age of rising input costs of every item and the reluctance of end users to revise freight rates, margins shrink. So to float and survive, maintenance cost has to be squeezed as much as possible. Secondly, invariably fleet owners resort to overloading to fight the escalating operational cost with poor implementation of overloading norms. Overloading means extra pressure on tire because ultimately, it is tire that bears the beastly burden of the entire load.

It is not out of place to point out that the prevalence of tire theft on highways mostly at night when drivers halt on highway dhabas for a few hours food and sleep. Regional and transport-focused vernacular magazines are full of stories how trucks are parked on stones after dacoits decamp with tires!

Similarly drivers clandestinely disposing off stepney (tire) is again normal happening in the Indian trucking scenario. Another pain point for fleet owners/supervisors is the tire puncture issue. Given the status of Indian highways (both national and state), not the entire stretch is like Hema Malini's cheeks as the ex-Chief Minister of Lalu Prasad Yadav wished. It sports several patches of bad roads due to poor highway design and or engineering for kilometres together. This certainly impacts the health of  tire and puncture is a common occurrence. Taking advantage of this situation, long haul drivers create fake scenarios and fake receipts of tire bursts and therefore puncture costs! Some smart fleet manager/supervisors randomly get the repaired tire opened up to verify the truth! Not always.

From the corner of my eyes, I notice Tire Doctor is back in action with his  tools: stethoscope and vernier caliper, measuring the amount of wear and tear of a parked truck that has come for maintenance check up. 

With lunch break over, I notice people in greasy pants and shirts moving around and under the vehicles. At a corner, see the bluish flame of gas cutter. Welding section.

But where are the saratis?

Devinder leads me to the men - or is it boys? - who enable Inder to make profits and Devinder, Lakhani saab and Tire Doctor to earn their daily roti, dal, sabzi, chicken/mutton, eggs waghera, waghera.What did I see?


Ciao



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Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-5

Ramesh Kumar 

Open office is something I cherish. Not many. Recently, a senior official in a listed company lamented that he has no "privacy" because he operates from an open office. What privacy? he was talking about. "Everything I say in this cubicle gets broadcast. There is no secrecy," explained this privacy-seeker and a staunch open office hater. I can understand his predicament. By nature, we Indians are loud-mouthed. Talking in hushed tones over phone is an alien concept to most of us!

As April 1969 born Devinder Kohli, son of late Puranchand Kohli (a renowned transporter in Faridabad in his time), escorted me into his den from where he rules the LTC Logistics kingdom, I found it to be an open office. Simple but elegant. Tastefully decorated. Lot of natural light, thanks to large glass windows on three sides - facing the front yard one side, workshop on the other and the rear of the complex.

The squarish hall can easily accommodate 20 seats. However, the Operations wing was empty almost.

"Lunch time," explains Devinder, a seasoned operational hand in transportation. In no time, I notice people trooping in. On their own volition? Or directed? No idea. My wrist watch displays 1402 hours. Okay, lunch time expired and back to work.

Introductions happen with Devinder explaining their job profiles and how critical each one of them to the operations. Believe me or not, I respect and love op guys immensely. "Government bodies are nothing if not unending report generators, and NITI Aayog probably could not avoid the trap," commented R Jagannathan, Editorial Director of Swaraj magazine recently on the Action Agenda (2017-2020) prepared by the august think tank of Government of India. Number crunchers and strategy makers. All on paper. The actual challenge lies in translating those dream plans or strategies into actions. That's where these guys jump in. Now you know, the rationale for my hats off approach to these action heroes.

"This gentleman tracks all vehicles. Sort of control room master," adds Devinder, pointing to a tall guy occupying a window seat and busy with work.

24x7? Devinder looks at Mayank, part of the cruising crew inside the Operations wing. It's a tell tale sign that their response would be measured and calibrated. Psychologists claim that our response time to any question may be instantaneous or delayed for a variety of reasons. The hesitation rises whenever the responder evaluates how would the receipient of his response would react: positively or negatively.

Sensing a sudden nano second vacuum in the conversations which may be interpreted anyway one likes, Mayank interjects to say: "No."

Good. It's always advisable to be transparent and upfront and not hide the reality. Undiplomatic? Not at all. Mayank's intervention has to be seen in that light.

Control room in logistics companies is a MUST. Supply chain is all about end to end visibility involving multiple stakeholders. In the good old days (talking about 25 years ago and before the advent of mobile phones), long haul truck drivers used to halt wherever there is some telephone connectivity on the routes they steer around and trunk call to their supervisors indicating their location at that point of time and seeking assistance of sharing their visibility.  Trunk call? What's that? Check with those who lived under the Prime Ministership of Smt Indira Gandhi. Nothing to do with her politics, but the then prevailing economic scenario.

Challenging times it were for transporters (logistics was  not a term in vogue those days!) to keep abreast of the vehicle movement. Whatever they hear from the other side from drivers, they used to note down on notebook to share with consignor or consignee in case they demand delivery schedule from transporters. By the way, those were the days transporters mostly meant fleet owning tribe. Not the modern day zero or light asset maestros, riding on the shoulders of less privileged motor maliks.

Couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to watch the control tower of Kundan Mal Transport (KMT Logistics) at its old Jaipur office. Under the watchful eyes of youthful Gaurav Jain, in a room with walls converted into black boards where assistants were calling up  their own vehicle drivers ferrying passenger cars for various auto OEMs across India to know their position and literally chalking them on the boards! Primitive? So what? It served the purpose of location awareness. A few years later, I did visit them at their new control tower at Dudu where they have gone a bit modern: a hybrid of black boards and PCs. Not to be forgotten is the visit to Gati's Secunderabad - not the current one, but the previous location, closer to the famous Paradise.

Another control tower I dekko-ed was at Agarwal Packers & Movers' Masjid Bunder (Mumbai) office with Gayatri Jha shepherding her team. Hybrid again. The most modern one was at Hyundai Motors India. Walls stuck with giant flat TV screens, tracking mostly ships from South Korean ports to Europe and all over including  India for its subsidiary Glovis India which is also into Freight Forwarding business. That was the ultimate I have seen. Maybe many others have much more sophisticated control towers for supply chain visibility factor.

That's why when Devinder's control tower (a desk top, actually) did not impress me much. So long as it serves his objective, what has size got to do with it? My liking or rating, actually, does not matter much.

"You ask him where any truck is, he will tell," says Devinder. I did not venture.

LTC Logistics boasts that the tracking can be  monitored at the consignor/consignee end as well since necessary usernames and passwords to access such crucial data are shared. Nothing new, again.

By and large, most transport companies religiiously mail a status report of vehicles to clients on a daily basis. That's it. Can't  they check on their own consoles? They are too busy, perhaps.

The atmosphere seems to be relaxed. This is not Satish Dhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude Range of Indian Space Research Organization. Appears all is well with LTC soldiers delivering service without any hitch on this day. Or is it because of May Day holiday across India? Could be.

I scan the walls and notice several message boards kept close to the ceiling over the wall mounted orange shelves. Among them, one attracts my attention which reads:

"Sabhi sarati (driver) ko suchit kiya jaata hai ki raate mein koi  bhi chalan hone par uska aadha chalan sarati ko bugatna hoga"

Very interesting sandesh. How many LTC Logistics' saratis read and understood the meaning of this suchit? Worth pondering.

Through the transparent window facing the workshop, I notice very little action. Lunch time. Plenty of trucks parked haphazardly. Some trucks'  front open. Tools lying all around. Left midway by workshop hands to partake their food.

After all, we all work is to feed the hungry stomach. Had the Almighty not invested us with hunger, we would have been lazing around. Moreover, there is capacity limitations. You cannot eat for tomorrow today. It's a daily chore. For some three times. For some two times. For some just once, depending upon their earning capacity. Because no food is free. Some, like Devinder,  Lakhani saab and Mayank exercise their mental powers to earn their daily bread. Others, like those in the workshop and truck drivers, use their own skills (mostly physical) and stamina to eke out their living. Wages of labor. Are all equal? No way. I pinch myself for this May Day thoughts!

"Can we step out?" suggests Devinder.

We did.

The very first man I met bowled me over.

How?

Ciao



Click this link to read Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-1


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Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-4

(Left to Right): Mayank Laul, Anand Lakhani & Devinder Kohli

 Ramesh Kumar

As you walk into the spacious conference room, one cannot miss noticing quotable quote frames. One of them reads:

"If Today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"

That's the late Steve "Apple" Jobs.

"Push yourself because no one else is going to do it for you"

That's another one which credits none. Anonymous. But the import of messages understood.

These nuggets of commonsensical morale booster frameworks, I reckon, belong to the NextGen Lauls: December 1992 born Mayank and August 1997 born Rishab, currently pursuing finance in the University of South Carolina, United States.

The fragrance of fresh distemper on the walls and the smell or odour of wooden furniture permeates the air-conditioned conference room. Actually, this does not distract me much. Out of the blue, mind reruns my understanding of formaldehyde-treated wooden items at home or office. LTC Logistics has moved into this corporate office hardly a few weeks ago to bring every single department under a  single roof - including maintenance and workshop. Barring Inder, the Managing Director, others operate in an open office environment. A few empty cabins are very much there. One half of the spacious office is occupied by the operational team, monitored by Devinder Kohli, General Manager (Operations). Every vital department is just a buzzer call away for Inder.

Lakhani saab, the eldest in the group inching towards 70, unzips his plastic bag and digs out a bunch of musa acuminata. Hang on, what I mean, is bananas. Kela!

No proper lunch? He is a fruitie. Light eater!

Meanwhile, several dabbas containing daliyia, sabzis, daal, salad and aluminium foiled oil-less chapatis surface on the table. Inder quickly begins to empty containers onto the plates. The female catering executive rushes in with a set of cutleries and cold water.

I sit at the edge of the table with Inder on my right and Mayank sitting to my left (90 degrees); Lakhani saab, bang opposite and on to his left is Devinder. Soon, another young man joins, whom Inder introduces as his  Finance hand. Another relative of the owners. It's all in the family. Why not, if talent is readily available within, asks Lakhani saab. Of course, why not? Again nothing unusual in the Indian transport fraternity. Trust gets the maximum vote because it is a business of cash all the time.

 Every single vehicle, bought at a hefty price tag with one's own money or bank-financed or NBFC-leveraged, with or without load is something like an elephant: with a huge appetite. It has to be fed whether it carries load or no load. Plus, fleet owners spend upfront and wait for payment from end users with no fixed delivery date on the horizon. Few end users behave like gentlemen. For a lot of expenses (including the bribe en route), there is no supporting receipt for accounting purpose. Imagine the plight of finance head! This kind of cash transaction without receipts is a major dampener for private equity to touch the traditional transport companies with a barge pole even! Finance portfolio, invariably, has to be family-managed. That's also one of the reasons why PEs prefer to shower dollars on start ups in this segment because they have no past and begin with a clean slate.

Between bites, the conversation continues, enabling me make mental notes. LTC Logistics is majorly into the movement of two-wheelers, tractors, earth moving equipment. You name the biggies in each of these segments, they ride on LTC Logistics' shoulders. Ashok Leyland is the dominant vehicle supplier. Tatas, yes. Mahindra inducted of late.

What's great about Leyland? "Superb performance. Best after sales service," responds Inder. Not that Tatas don't match, but Inder's comfort with Leyland is pretty high. Want to ask him about his tire preference, but hold back because Devinder already hinted that his fleet management - especially tire management - is top notch.

What about drivers? A major chunk of them come from Agra region in Uttar Pradesh. Basti  from Bihar and, of course, the inevitable Mewat of Haryana. Once upon a time, the Mewati group dominated but over the period of time, their numbers dwindled. Inder is happy. Devinder too.

Somehow, the Mewati drivers are considered as  necessary evil. I spend a lot of time regularly in Mewat since I have several long haul truck driver friends from that zone - hardly 100 km from Delhi towards Alwar in Rajasthan. Every home will have more than one truck driver. Reliable? Trust worthy? Debatable. Having said that, you buttonhole any transporter and he would grudgingly admit that his flock of drivers would invariably consist of Mewatis. You cannot escape from their clutches! A few years ago, a well known transporter from NCR, created a website to blacklist errant truck drivers to alert other  prospective employers of the minefield they would walk into if they hire those blacklisted. Well, the list mostly consisted of Mewati drivers!

By the way, the proportion of Mewati drivers servicing the Indian transport/trucking ecosystem is so high that there are dedicated Mewati dhabas across the length and breadth of Indian highways.

Like there are good transporters and not-so-good ones, there are good drivers and not-so-good ones as well. Have not come across any fleet owner who is 100% Mewati driver-driven.

We talk about empty back haul, payment cycle from clients, emergency relief operations with regard to their own vehicles, the business cycle and last, but not the least, the utility of various transport associations. Lack of unity among the office bearers of umpteen transport lobby groups is a bane, concedes Inder.

Vehicle dimension is a serious challenge, particularly in Maharashtra, concedes Lakhani saab. He shares the meetings with the state bureaucracy in the recent past and still keeping fingers crossed. What's the outcome of the recent nationwide transporters' agitation? Silence rents the room. I don't want to embarrass them by probing deep and leave it there, therefore.

The business, concedes Inder, is good. Growing. GST? "Will manage. Have to," admits LTC Logistics bossman. Practical and pragmatic. No point of breast thumping of "How can we? We are too small." While everyone is falling in line with the GST roll out, transporters can ill afford to antognize the government, however strong or valid their viewpoint maybe.

Elsewhere I heard someone cribbing, "am a two truck owner. Am I also suppose to follow the rules and fulfill all norms?" Yes, he must. There are no exceptions. Does this two-truck owner has nation wide branches? Good question. Maybe one or two. To that extent, his headache or challenge is negligible.

What about LTC Logistics which has 20 odd branches and 250 odd vehicles? Mind boggling.  Inder does not deal with pigmies but the giants in each vertical, who will be 100% GST compliant. To derive due tax credits at each stage, paper work is a  necessity. No papers, no credits. This simply translates into big dent into one's top and bottomlines. Forget about that. Non-compliance means penalty as well. Yes, tough times for transporters who have been doing business like any mom-and-pop shop for decades. Time to mature. Never too late.

That's precisely what Inder has embarked upon. The new office. Infusion of young and fresh talent - from within the family and outside. Adapt, if one wants to survive and thrive. That's the spirit.

"How about one more banana?" beseeches Lakhani saab extending another one. I accept and share half of it with Mayank, who luckily does not refuse. Good god.

Lunch over. Table cleaned. Inder suggests Devinder  show me around the office and workshop.

Inder exits to his cabin. I follow the trio: Lakhani saab, Devinder and Mayank into the heart and soul of the business enterprise. Operations.

A board "Golden Rules", listing five items in English and Hindi is lying behind the reception desk waiting to be hanged on the wall.

The May heat hits the face, though we are inside the concrete building, not out in the open space.

Pushing open to the tinted glass door of Operations wing, we enter. 

What did I see?

Ciao.

Check this link to read Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-1

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