Capitalist-cum-laborers, they are, but ...

Ramesh Kumar 
Salaam to my driver bhais across India!

Am sure few of them may  be aware of May Day Celebrations - commemorating the role of labor. Yes, the organized labor under various trade unions with political affiliations may engage in some form or other to celebrate May Day.

Not long haul truck drivers. For many of them on the job - ferrying goods to help in nation building activities either to the manufacturing plant or to the marketplace of the finished items - May 1, 2017 is yet another ordinary day. Like any other day.

May be he is resting outside some factory gates or warehouse/distribution centres while collar babus busy with their chores. Or may be resting inside  his  "coolest" truck cabins under the 40 plus celsius Indian summer on the edges of Indian highways or maybe a dhaba with several other truck drivers en route to his destination.

Is he aware of the significance of May Day or celebrated as International Labor Day since 1886? Guess what: the May Day has begun in the citadel of Capitalism, the United States, not the erstwhile USSR. It all began Chicagoans demanding 8 hour work at Haymarket on May 1, 1886.

Does he  aware of his rights and duties as truck driver? After all, he is a laborer.Rather strangely, in India, a major chunk of them are owner-cum-drivers: put it differently, capitalist-cum-labor - owning two factors of production, yet clubbed mostly as labor and treated as one! Nowhere in the world, this sad spectacle is on display! Middlemen exploit them to the hilt.

Do we, in India, have any special legislation for truck drivers?  Good question. Permit me to introduce S P Singh, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of Delhi-based Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRI).

Just a week ago (April 24, 2017), this is what he posted  on his social media space:

"At a time drivers on highways are painted as villain of peace by all and sundry with suggestions to impose stringent PENALTIES, very little attention has been paid to encourage to open this vocation of commercial vehicle drivers to be educated, well trained and skilled , but can happen if for laborious and responsible job, the truck driver is paid wages, emoluments and working hours in consistent with THE MOTOR TRANSPORT WORKERS ACT WHICH MANDATES THAT TRANSPORTERS EMPLOYING 5 or MORE WORKERS must adhere to the law . At present, as per conservative estimates, out of 2.5 Lakh transport firms/ Transport intermediaries/ fleet owners, hardly 5-7? of them follow the minimum wage and social security rules.

2. Hence, the move to check fatique and performance through intelligent seat device developed by IIT-Madras is a step in right direction. The IFTRT suggests that this Intellseat must have system to check if driver is drunk or under the influence of drugs apart from important intelligent features is carries. 

3. Though it may not be directly connected to this new Intelligent Seat by IIT-Madras, it should be mandatory for OEMs to supply goods carriers with fully factory built up driver cabin with this Intellseat, which must have alcohol detection alarm as well.

4. A factor which is missing is to ensure truck drivers to have potable clean water through their regular long journey on highways . This, OEMs must fit. WATER PURIFIER IN DRIVERS' CABIN AS MANDATORY REQUIREMENT,SO HEALTHY DRIVER IS SAVED FROM WATER-BORNE DISEASES AND SHALL HELP TO IMPROVE DRIVERS'  PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE  DRIVING FATIGUE.

5. While Government is more keen to have air-conditioned truck drivers cabin, it must issue ORDINANCE  to have mandatory fittement of Water purifiers in driver cabin and the existing trucks  be directed in a time frame to retrofit water purifier, which is low cost solution to keep healthy and save him from regular water-borne deceases,they suffer and it's affecting their performance.

6. Unfortunately, Government is intriguingly silent on ensuring minimum wage, social security benefits and working hours, providing water purifier in driver's cabin; instead Government is more keen in removing educational qualification for procurement of CV license to "ensure" low cost drivers { read Motor Vehicles( amendment) Bill, 2016 }, and indirectly making The Motor Transport Workers Act redundant to suit the designs of fleet owners' powerful lobby.

Fact remains, when basics are misplaced with transport workers being used as "bonded labour" , then mere modern Transport intelligence systems like having Intellseat by IIT-Madras loses its relevance and sincere digital effort to judge drivers' accountability, fatigue and performance, when transporters/fleet owners remain out of the mandatory ambit of Motor Transport Workers Act and also Carriage By Road Act, 2007."Today is May 1, 2017. More than 50 years a piece of legislation in this regard was passed.

Well, this is what I had written in the maiden issue of DRIVERS DUNIYA (September 2015) issue titled "Just on Paper":Fleet owners will be ready to procure several lakh worth of heavy commercial vehicles, paying usurious interest rates. Ask them about what kind of social contract they have with their drivers, they will be dumb-founded because they don’t believe – yes, that is the right word – in social obligations. Otherwise, long haul drivers should be on the master pay roll of these companies with social security benefits such as provident fund, medical/healthcare, retirement plan etc. This is not the case. Forget about all these long term bonanza. When executives of companies travel on duty, they have a structure of Dearness Allowance and Travelling Allowance etc. But for long haul drivers who are euphemistically called ‘business partners’ by some at least, there are no such basic facilities.

One motor malik brusquely asked: “Where is the need? Is he not supposed to drive always?” How do one respond to such indifference except with a look of pity at the questioner. Rich he is money wise, but absolutely bankrupt otherwise. Is the long haul driver supposed to behind the steering of moving truck 24 hours? Considering that motor maliks are bludgeoning the move to go in for double driver format for national permit vehicles with the government playing benevolent brother or turning a blind eye citing that they find it difficult to hire even one driver, don’t the existing drivers need rest for a few hours on a daily basis when they are on the move? Are there not any legislative sanctions in this regard? Good question.

Actually, there is a piece of legislation aptly titled The Motor Transport Workers Act 1961 ... Yes, this is on the statute, passed during the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s era. Since then, we had half a dozen political worthies occupying the hot seat in Lutyen’s Delhi. National Highways have come up. Vehicles got upgraded. Quality of fuel has improved considerably. But …. Status quo as far as driver comfort is concerned. Despite the 1961 Act categorically talking about wayside amenities, there is nothing on the ground.

The  Act, gazette on 20th May 1961 after being passed by both Houses of Parliament and came into force as Act 27 in Circa 1961.  Why such a piece of legislation in the first place? “There are at present certain enactments like the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 and the Factories Act 1948 which cover certain sections of motor transport workers and certain aspects of their conditions of employment. There is, however, no independent legislation applicable to motor transport workers as a whole or for regulating the various aspects of their conditions of employment work and wages. It is considered desirable to have a separate legislative measure for motor transport workers which would cover matters like medical facilities, welfare facilities, hours of work, spread-over, rest periods, overtime, annual leave with pay etc. on the analogy of similar enactments for workers in factories, mines and plantations. The present Bill is intended to achieve this object,” (emphasis mine) the government said I its statement of objects and reasons while seeking Parliament approval.

Chapter IV under the sub-head of ‘Welfare and Health’, it reads asunder:

“In every place wherein motor transport workers employed in a motor transport undertaking are required to halt at night, there shall be provided and maintained by the employer for the use of those motor transport workers such number of rest rooms or such other suitable alternative accommodation, as may be prescribed.
The rest rooms or the alternative accommodation to be provided under sub-section (1) shall be sufficiently lighted and ventilated and shall be maintained in a clean and comfortable condition.

The state government may prescribe the standards in respect of construction, accommodation, furniture and other equipment of rest rooms or the alternative accommodation to be provided under this section."



Yes, yes. These provisions are well scripted and etched in our legal framework. But who bothers? Not motor maliks. Not government. Truck drivers, being unorganized (which motor maliks love the most!), are therefore voiceless. Being nomadic in a manner of speaking, they don't constitute a solid vote bank and hence politicians have no interest in them.

At the drop of the hat, many transporters would point to Ramesh Agarwal's Dudu/Rajasthan Driver Seva Kendra. Yes, he is doing a fantastic job. But one Ramesh Agarwal does not make a summer. His own tribe are not ready to emulate him when it comes to driver welfare.

That's where I see a silverlining in the burgeoning online freight exchanges. These IIT-IIM grads, entering the unorganized transport segment, are talking about driver welfare right from the word 'go' because they know in the heart of hearts that unless and until you take care of this specie (read drivers), your future is bleak.

Rivigo, owning 2000 trucks, is on a massive driver-friendly activities. Wish others follow this new babe. Sooner the better.

Well, that's enough for this May Day 2017.

Tornagallu Diary - 2

Ramesh Kumar

On the Sunday morning bus ride in mid-April 2017 from Vidya Nagar complex in Toranagallu (the exquisitely planned township by JSW Steel Limited) to Nandihalli Hub boasting of railway siding (to ferry iron ore brought from pitheads by trucks for onward journey to JSW steel plant (40 km away) and  the maintenance facility of Ashok Leyland and Hino dumpers, I sat next to Anjanappa, a drilling operator deployed at Kumaraswamy Iron Ore mines, contracted out by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to JSW Steel.

In broken Kannada (mine, of course) mixed with Hindi, I broke ice with him to satiate the hunger of the curious cat in me. He hopped into the bus of JSW Steel at Muraripura, nestled between Toranagallu and Sandur.

"Tell  me, why so many trucks parked at the entrance to your village?" I beseeched this mid-thiryish skilled operator.

He guffawed.

"Yakke nagutheera?"(Why are you laughing?). It was me in Kannada, trying to reconfigure the language that I had learnt forty years ago (1977-1980) when I began my career in Bangalore with Macmillan India, the prestigious publishing house. With time and lack of avenues to speak in Kannada outside the state and in my domain, this capability withered away. So, ever since landing up in Toranagallu, I made up my mind to reconnect with this language. If someone laughs at my mistakes, so what? Trial and error method!

Muraripura, according to him, consists of 260  homes with a population of 1,200. Okay. What has that got to do with the stranded trucks on the State Highway 40, connecting Torangallu with Gudligi via Sandur?

The trucks are about to drive into the Thimmappanagudi mines, situated near the village, on a slightly higher plane. They get parked in a long queue and the village is visible from their cabins. So what?

Well, that's the interesting story to share.

The village has few toilets and therefore ... you know the rest ....

Between six and seven in the morning and the same timeslot in the evening, the fairer sex step out into the open to fertilize the barren ground. And, the truckers, if allowed, will have a bird eye view of this "open defecation practice". Villagers wish to avoid displaying such a spectacle to the wandering tribe: truck drivers. Hence, a ban on any movement of trucks onto the steep mountainous climb to the Thimmappanagudi mines during those specified or pre-notified timeslots.

Two days later, I drove into Muraripura for an interaction with the villagers, which boasts of each home sending at least one male member into trucking career. Armed with some sweetmeats in a non-airconditioned Bolero pick up, I step out in the village road and soon a sizeable gathering of people of all ages - no women, mind you! - surrounded me to check who the hell I am and what was the purpose of my visit to their hamlet. Not hostile, but friendly of course.

Again in a concoction of broken Kannada and Hindi, the question of lack of toilets at home and open defecation came up for discussion.

They concede that some houses do have toilets, not all. Okay. Why the reluctance to  build one?

"How can you have a toilet inside your home? Indecent and bad!" bursts out elderly Hanumanthappa. Floored, yes. How many toilets I have in my own home? Two. That too in a 2BHK flat in Delhi.

When you have so much of open space to extricate your waste, why confine yourself in a closed room? Claustrophobia! Another line of argument. Nothing novel because I have been used to this rationale from thousands of truck drivers I had met since 2010. Forget it. In fact, I practised Open Defecation myself throughout my 28000 Km truck trips. It is a morning chore none can postpone. It has to be instant and no options.

In fact, my maiden book, 10,000 KM on Indian Highways published in 2011 and included in the Library of Congress, Washington, opens with the chapter aptly titled, "Always In Public!" Yes, wherein I narrate my experience!

Young and unmarried Ravi, a truck driver from the same hamlet, responds to my query as to what about government funding under Swatch Bharat Abhiyan wherein approx. Rs.12,000 is dished out to each household that would like to build its own toilet: "Those who came to propagate were not serious, it looks."

Does it mean Muraripura is ready to give up Open Defecation 100%? Looks like. But a lot of convincing needed on a sustained basis to  make Prime Minister's SBA dream project a reality in the southern state of Karnataka.

Keep getting heavy dosage of Param Iyer, Secretary in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Central Government, visiting a lot of villages across India felicitating launch of toilets at the grassroots level. Hope he gets time to visit Muraripura.

On my exit out of Muraripura, I buttonhole a few drivers on SH40 and seek their views on this halt on highways practice to save the modesty of Muraripura fairer sex.

"I don't know why we halt for an hour in the morning and evening here. But if that is what this villagers wish, understandable," says one, peeping out of his cabin. Another innocently asks: "Is Rs.12,000 sufficient to build a toilet?"

How about companies in the vicinity - for instance, JSW Steel Limited with a Foundation of its own and a huge corpus under CSR - turning their gaze towards this socially impactful work?

(To be continued)

 CLICK here to read Tornagallu Diary-1

Always In Public!

 CHAPTER ONE

Ramesh Kumar

Pitch dark it was all around. Nothing visible. One can hardly see beyond two feet. February it was. The double carriageway National Highway 56, linking Benares or Varanasi as is popularly known with Lucknow, remained silent. No vehicles at all. I could not fathom what the time was then: four? Five? No idea. 

Anil Pandeyji’s snoring from the upper berth was discernible: loud and clear. Poor guy. He was in deep sleep. Somehow, I managed to snuggle out of the more comfortable lower berth. The fog outside had made the huge expanse of Tata truck’s front glass too opaque, adding to the sea of darkness pervading there already. Hardly a feet away, I noticed a bundle over the bonnet sandwiched between the two front seats. That ought to be Parvez Khan, second driver of the vehicle. Pandeyji, the senior most driver, commandeered the ship carrying 26 tonnes of Tata Steel’s wire rod for Ludhiana. It was a stock transfer from the company’s Jamshedpur mother plant. 

Pandeyji’s mission was to cross the 1,650 km stretch crossing five states – Chattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab – in six days. We had been flagged off by Ramesh Benniwal, fleet commander of Credence Logistics, at the Transport Nagar in  Jamshedpur just before sunset two days ago. That’s when the entry/exit restrictions had been lifted permitting heavy commercial vehicles to ride onto the Tatanagar tarred road: National Highway 33.  

It was Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2011) and Credence’s Arvind Ambo quipped through SMS, “What a way to celebrate your Valentine’s Day in the company of drivers!” Valentine Day or no, my trip was planned well in advance. Moreover, if one has to celebrate ‘love for one’s beloved’, it can be any day. Why only February 14? 

I rubbed my eyes and succeeded in locating my spectacles, lying next to the make-shift pillow. My biological clock was working fine and it was time for bowel movement. So I surmised that it ought to be past four because for fifty five years that’s how my bowels have been functioning. Wake up at the pre-fixed hour, empty one’s bowels, brush teeth and gulp down a hot cuppa: sugarless tea or coffee. In that sequence. This programme has not changed much all my life. Why should it today?

The only hitch was that I simply had no clue as to how to extricate myself out of this narrow 8 x 5 feet Tata horse-cum-trailer cabin. No way I could get out without disturbing the young Khan tucked in a bundle over the bonnet. Gathering courage, I  hissed: “Parvez!” I did not want to wake up Pandeyji.

A startled Khan woke up and sensing my urgency, made space for me to exit and thoughtfully handed a two-litre Pepsi bottle filled up water. What else, but for morning ablutions! It was no shock for me since it was not my maiden outing on a truck. I had been on a similar binge a few months ago. The only difference was the payload and destination: the payload was eight Hyundai cars for Delhi delivery from Hyundai Motor India’s Irungattukottai manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu and the distance was 2,800 km. With driver Umesh Rana and assistant Pinto Kumar Sahu, I had crossed Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi over seven days. 

That’s when I realized that it would be next to impossible to look for a proper western toilet to relieve myself every morning. The young Rana – hailing from Chattisgarh – understood my predicament but could do nothing. “There’s no option, sirji,” he advised while offering a plastic bottle – a two-litre Aquafina PET bottle  – on the first night at Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu incidentally my birthplace! Tears welled up. What a shame! Am I going to defecate in public place? Even if this chore has to be done behind the bushes, still it would be a public place. 

...

This is a truncated portion of Chapter ONE of my maiden book, 10,000 KM on Indian Highways published in November 2011.

To read the full piece, write to editor@driversduniya.in 

 

Toranagallu Diary-1

Ramesh Kumar

Honestly I never heard of Toranagallu until my  colleague Selvan Dasaraj at TransportMitra spoke of it almost a year ago. Barring a few superb images shot with his Blackberry and loads of talk of this town or village by him post visit, I knew nothing. Yes, my only source of information was him, notwithstanding that my relatives even today live at Tungabhadra Dam and I did visit them a quarter century ago. The aforementioned Dam is hardly 40 km away from Tornagallu. 

How and why Toranagallu became a part of my lexicon? This warrants a dive into the origin of Transport Mitra, a for-profit business enterprise. Two of us - Selvan and self - met in 2013 due to our common interest in studying the lives of long haul truck driver and their families. He is a logistician with more than a quarter century past and me, a business journalist with specialization  in supply chain and logistics. (To know more about our "coming together", check out http://bit.ly/2otPWo8).

In 2016, he heard about Toranagallu from a mutual friend and .... also about the huge industrial township of JSW Steel Limited in the heart of Sandur mining zone. However big or small the enterprise be, truck driver is one of  the key supplychain element. The JSW Steel Limited's India's largest integrated steel plant is no different.

Steel plants are 24x7x365 type operations and warrants a non-stop supply of raw material - iron ore from the pithead to the plant. The Toranagallu plant has to access iron ore deposits from the 40-50 km distance Donamalai Hills near Sandur, the mining zilla, leased out from the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), a state enterprise.

Almost two-thirds of iron ore from this zone  is mined by JSW Steel for captive consumption. The mined iron ore is transported from pitheads to the plant via the nearest railway siding and also directly by  fully concretized two lane state highway 40 to the JSW Steel plant situated at Toranagallu.

When I talk about transportation, yes, I mean trucks and therefore truck drivers. Here, our  focus is on  inbound which is mighty huge. We are not even glancing at outbound of moving finished products this plant to all parts of India.

Talking about JSW Steel, I had a past relationship. At the height of mining dispute that reached the portals  of Supreme Court around 2012, I used to research a lot for a crisis management team in Delhi as an external consultant. I never imagined that I would land up  at this Ground Zero few years down the line. During that period, my reference was to the crisis at Hospet & Bellary and somehow, the name Toranagallu did not surface at all.

(Left to Right): Selvan Dasaraj, Mohamed Rafi, Subash Parida(JSW) and self

Talking of truck drivers in Toranagallu or any where in India, the framework is the same: absolutely no basic driving training. 100% self taught. Even Truck manufacturers seldom gave importance to imparting basic driving skills and all their interest was selling, selling and selling their wares. Naturally, this meant, even several decade long truck drivers in this mining zone had no clue about safety of their vehicle, cargo and themselves. It was a jungle raj and it continues to be. A fact vouchsafed by Toranagallu Sub Inspector Mohamed Rafi, the winner of Karnataka Chief Minister's Meritorious Award 2016.

Back to Selvan. Sensing a business opportunity, he broached the subject of enhancing the skill sets of the Tornagallu truck drivers and help improve road safety practices in this massive township built and nurtured by JSW Steel with the higher ups and  thus landed up with a 3-month project to study the behavior of 200 company-owned truck's drivers as the first step beginning from April.

Well, that sets the stage of Transport Mitra's Tryst with Toranagallu.

(To continue)

Go beyond the 'nomenclature game'!

Ramesh Kumar


"They are not Drivers. They are Pilots," thundered my youngest logistics friend Manikandan Krishnamurthy of Rivigo a day after Easter Sunday 2017 in a social media posting.

I actually read out this to my colleague Selvan Dasaraj of TransportMitra at Tornakallu/Karnataka where we were stationed for a driver behavior study of JSW Steel mining drivers.

We began laughing. Because we have gone through this rigmarole umpteen number of times and found the efficacy of such "nomenclature game" to be just that: game. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Whenever anyone in the logistics/supply chain domain boast of calling or wanting to call their drivers as pilots, I watch with lot of interest since I appreciate such a move coming from the white collar babus - right from motor malik to the the lowest administration chap wherever - dealing with the lowest but vital supply chain link viz., drivers. Any move that would boost the confidence of drivers about their career option and make them feel that they have got into a rotten job deserves applaud. The 'pilot' namakaran initiative is in that direction.

Honestly, the situation was not bad as it is today. It has a history of glorious past. But the present is abominable, courtesy the handiwork of several things.

The two developments  affected the morale of these saratis and made them curse themselves. What are these twin 'drivers' that drove these asli drivers to question their career choice and pledge themselves that none of their clan would join this bridge and fill up the vacuum? After all, elders have to step out and newgen has to step in. That's natural progression.

The twin destablizers are: the advent of pucca state and national highways and secondly, the transfer of highway management from police to newly minted transport department in every state. What these item have got to do with drivers' self esteem? Good question.

First thing, first. Buttonhole any old driver or motor malik who had built his empire 20-30 years ago to ask him about his past driving experience. Here's what Ramesh Benniwal, from the cradle of transportation in the north Hissar/Haryana) and ex-supervisor of Credence Logistics, shared way back in 2011 while sipping extra sugary tea at his Jamshedpur branch office: "Roads did not exist. Still the drive was pleasant. There were no RTOs that time. Police, of course, were there. Believe me, they used to salute us (drivers) when we see them on roads. We used to give 'baksheesh' to them voluntarily." Most friendly, it was, to believe Benniwal.

Adds Rajinder Singh of Janata Roadways, a veteran transporter based out of Chennai and a respectable voice in the unorganized transport vertical: "Even the bonhomie between owners and drivers was unique. We were together as one family. No distinction. Since owners themselves are or were drivers at some point of time, they understood the nature of job. So, they genuinely felt the need for a humanly approach." It was as challenging then as it is now. Those days, the challenge was on account of absence of pucca roads only, though underplayed by drivers. Nothing more.

Mind you, Singh himself driven trucks across the length and breadth of mera bharat mahaan. But the scenario underwent a major metamorphosis with the government's desire to build roads for better connectivity of various cities within the state and then interstate, thus wanting to make India truly a one nation and from economic growth perspective. Laudable. Obviously, this necessitated funding. Government's own coffers - either at the centre or states - could not and did not provide adequate capital to build and maintain roads.

Then came the new funda of PPP: Public Private Partnership under which roads were built jointly. It is no secret that private partners do not invest money for charity, but out of profit motive. Nothing wrong. In such a scenario when roads built with private funding, there kicks in toll, road user fee or whatever one wishes to call. A price has to be paid. Yes, life gets more organized with better roads. Truly remarkable  moving from roadless country to roaded country. Excellent.

This obviously increased operating cost - legally and illegally. Legal part, one understands. What about illegality? Many transporters/fleet owners entered into some sort of 'understanding' with toll plaza operators to escape paying full toll fee by coughing up some amount in black. Gradually, honesty of ordinary citizen got discounted. Sab chor hai syndrome emerged, like it or not.The character of business began to change. For better or worse? Both perhaps. Drivers became accomplices in this tacit crime on roads.  For survival, yes.

Another point to be noted is the demand-supply mismatch of trucks plying on Indian highways. With easy financing and no entry barrier, every Velu, Hanifa, Kartar, etc lured into this trucking. Is it good? Decide for yourself. Pure and simple basic economics. No need to be an Adam Smith or Dr Manmohan Singh. Excess supply of anything impacts pricing.

Who are the end users of trucking? India Inc wanting to deploy transporters as contractors as part of outsourcing strategy both for raw material primarily and then the movement of finished products ultimately to market place. Remember, the age of outsourcing has set in. Core competence mantra. Focus, focus and focus. Transportation is not my core competence. Let me focus on my manufacturing activity, decided India Inc. Good. No issues.

In this process, the excess supply of trucks at any available time gave a lever for end users to keep freight rates abysmally low. No  question of price escalation clause in the so-called Service Level Agreements. Even if it exists and if the transporter demands a price hike, he can say good bye to that business with the OEM forever. None wanted to lose because if A walks out, there were B, C, D etc to grab that slice of business. For survival again.

So, it was debatable whether transporters/fleet owners covered their operating cost at least. In the light of the fact that most fleet owners are small or marginal with 5 to 10 trucks and with least educational background, mathematics was not their strong point. No books of account. No P&L process.

Nonetheless, they understood that they were being taken for a ride by the end users. Undisputable statement. Many resorted to illegal activities in the form of overloading to bridge the gap.

This is where the confabulation with toll operators and fleet owners/transporters to cheat fructified. Willingly or unwillingly drivers became accomplices to the crime on highways.

When you indulge in such kind of activities, the relationship between the involved parties changes a lot. The actual corruption handlers - fleet owners/transporters and toll plaza operators - hid behind the scenes. Owner-driver or driver per se command no respect.

Now,  move onto the second most ugly development. The creation of transport department at state levels is a pure evil, like it or not. This made life miserable for drivers. A majority of transporters/fleet owners follow no statutory rules: read CMVR norms as laid under the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, now amended and awaiting Presidential asset and one will understand the gravity of the situation.

A simple example. Carriage By Road Act was passed in 2011. Believe me, it is not yet implemented due to the reluctance of government to discipline the transport fraternity. Why? God only knows.

The fraternity constantly cribs that their vehicles are penalized by RTOs in most states  under various sections of the statute (CMVR norms). In the heart of hearts, they know the violations they commit.

This unstoppable violations gives ample scope for RTOs in every state to fleece the drivers. Most of the time. How? If challaned as per CMVR norms/MV Act provisions, they would have to cough up a huge sum. So, they strike a deal with the RTOs. A small amount is exchanged between them which goes into the pockets of rent-seeking RTOs, not state exchequer. RTOs happy. Drivers happy. Motor maliks happy.

Well, the creation of transport department in every state became a milch cow or separate profit centre. Targets were fixed in every state -district wise - to garner revenue. Instead of stopping crimes being committed in the form of overloading or non-compliance in terms of uniform, fuel tank size etc. under CMVR norms, transport department became a collection agency for every state. Regulation took a backseat and replaced it with a revenue-seeking model, both for state and officials, allegedly and ruthlessly.

The revenue collection potential was so huge, it became a perfect avenue for rulers (read politicians of every hue). Transport segment is one of the  biggest fund raisers for every single political party in India.

Now, this revenue jackpot also enabled corrupt RTOs to line their pocket. Finish the  government-fixed quota per month quickly in the first 10 days of any month and then the rest of the days are there for them to loot to line their pockets. Otherwise, why RTO posting is one of the most sought after slot by unscrupulous officials in transport departments of every state? Having invested heavily (sometimes, the bidding price is several crores for a fixed term of 12-18 months!), the 'investors' want to ensure quick returns: capital plus a decent interest! So, simple violations are ignored and they scout for big goof ups which drivers, on their own or on behalf of their masters, indulge in non-stop. Bang, bang.

The corrupt regime is in full swing: the RTO is corrupt. Driver as well. Fleet owner, yes. Transporter, yes. Agents, yes. End users, yes. So, these allegations are not someone's figment of imagination, but a reality. Mahatma Gandhi even would not have survived in transportation business. So deep is the malaise.

But the interface of this corruption on highways is the Driver, willingly or unwillingly.

So there goes the Benniwal-Singh's glorified and halcyon good old days of truck driving through the roof.

Violation all around.

Drivers face the brunt of high-handedness on highways is no secret.

That's one - but big part of their story. Their entire life is spent on corrupt Indian highways, eking a pathetic life out of dungeon, unhygienic dhabas eating unhealthy food and using truck cabins as their sleeping chambers; not to forget that their basic need of emptying their bowels every morning in the open fields. Uncared for. Disrespected. Bullied.

Not to forget is the poor communication between motor malik and driver followed by less-than-friendly relationship between line supervisors of motor maliks and drivers per se. It is a case of huge mutual mistrust.

Now, back to Manikandan Krishnamurthy's nomenclature game strategy. A few observations:

Calling drivers as pilots does not usher in behavioral or attitudinal change among stakeholders.

Is it the right step? Yes. No doubt about it.

But a lot more needed.

Primarily, motor maliks and line supervisors whom drivers serve should "learn" to treat drivers as equal humans. This is not happening on ground.

Cases of drivers being beaten and locked up by supervisors are legion. Incidence of line supervisors ruthlessly downward revising the en route expenses incurred by drivers and making them bear that. Not that, drivers don't fabricate receipts. They do. But supervisors attempt this route to showcase they are more loyal than the king! Actually, this is a big impediment because drivers are not on the payrolls with social security benefits but paid per kilometre driver basis or the fixed cost per route basis. These fixation of fixed cost is an accurate barometer of actual expenses. It is a case of mistrust between the stakeholders.

So, how does calling a driver as 'pilot' changes this equation?

That's one end of the story. Now take the other end of the spectrum: how well drivers are treated or received at factory gates (materials gate-inbound/outbound)? Check this link wherein I have sketched how drivers pay for the inefficiencies of OEMs/3PLs.

When Manikandan Krishnamurthy says, "Pilots", his intentions are noble and appreciable. He wants truck drivers to be treated at par with  Pilots of aeroplanes. Right? 100%. Let's examine the parallel.

Pilots of aircrafts are educated, technically qualified and certified to fly aircraft. Our  truck drivers do not meet any of these criteria.

Pilots have fixed hours of flying. Our truck drivers have no such schedule.

Pre-flying medical tests (alcohol check via breath analyzer) are mandatory for pilots. None for truck drivers.  (There are more road accidents than aircraft accidents and drunken driving is very common).

Compulsory resting of pilots after the fixed hours of flying from passenger and aircraft safety perspective. None for truck drivers though they command and in charge of costly vehicle and equally expensive cargo.

Pilots are unionized and thus enjoy collective bargaining. In case of challenges, there are clear cut dispute settlement mechanism in place for them. For Truck drivers, none.

Pilots work for structured, professionally managed corporate. Motor Maliks of truck drivers do not meet this criteria. Still in infancy in terms of professional management.

There is something called Directorate of Civil Aviation to monitor Pilot behavior among other things and they can be derostered by this governmental regulatory authority, if found violating laid out norms. Absolutely, none for truck drivers.

Pilots on long haul (for example, Delhi-Paris) are put up in one of the best deluxe hotels on reaching destination (Paris, in this case) at company expense. They don't sleep inside the aircraft cabins and eat on roadside eateries. After prescribed rest period, they fly back to home base and driven home.  About Truck drivers' plight, less said the better.

Cockpits are air-conditioned and no question of single pilots, however expensive their wages maybe. Trucks are mostly single driver mode. Why? There's a driver shortage (22% according to Federal Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari). The constant crib of motor maliks is: it's difficult to meet even one driver for our needs. Pay well and see the impact.

Trucks are not air-conditioned at all. However, from April 1, 2017, newly manufactured trucks have to be airconditioned as per new statutory norms. Worth checking.

Pilots, as part of their contractual terms, enjoy several benefits. Sick/medical leave, casual leave, privilege leave. What about truck drivers? Forget it. There is no piece of paper showcasing such a benevolent employer-employee relationship.

Pilots or aircraft drivers - well, that's what these white collared professionals are -  have the facility of "auto pilot". Drivers don't have that facility. This translates into 100% vigilance during driving on roads.

The chances of mid-air collision with another flying object are negligible compared to truck collision with other road users. Again, the chances of pilots of aircraft get beaten up by others is remote. But the plight of drivers in case of highway mishaps is spine-chilling. Sometimes, they lose their lives from the irate and unruly villagers or townfolk when their truck hit or kill stray cattle, hen or people even. Yes, it is a lynch mob scenario.

Pilots of aeroplanes would have never met rent-seeking RTOs in the skies. Neither interstate barriers. Nor Customs, Excise or Forest department or the rest of notorious 18 highway vultures. Like seamless border crossing for trains, pilots of aeroplanes have no challenges that would render life tough. Truck drivers have to face them daily.

Even passengers would cherish to enter the cockpit for a darshan of it and take a selfie, if allowed inside the cockpit with the pilot in his/her seat. Not even motor maliks would love to climb into their own truck cabins. Shaking hands and selfie moments are unthinkable. Why? The huge class divide: rich and the poor. ugly and better dressed. Infra dig for many motor maliks to be seen in the company of their own drivers, unless it is a PR exercise to promote their brand. Not out of genuine affection for the fellow human being.

So, rechristening a truck driver as pilot is child's play. But changing the mindset of motor maliks, OEMs/3PLs, highway authorities and other stakeholders to behave normally towards a fellow human being demands another Mahatma type soul to whack the conscience and bring sense to the needy.

Till then, companies like Rivigo may tinker and attempt something positive like what Manikandan Krishnamurthy was talking about. But one swallow does not make summer, folks! The restoration of basic ethics in all walks of life is something everyone ought to contemplate and practice wholeheartedly. Piecemeal efforts won't do. The pilot nomenclature game, unfortunately, falls into that category.

Well, this list is endless.  Let me stop here.

How critical is trucking to India or for that matter any nation in the world? More than two-thirds of cargo moves on road in India. Road transportation is the backbone of any economy. None can dispute that.Cliched, so to say.

Captain Pawanexh Kohli, CEO and Advisor to National Centre of Cold-Chain Development (NCCD) is humble enough to proclaim that he was a driver of commercial ship. Quips Raghuram Sharma, former Air India Cabin Crew Trainer, tongue in cheek: "There is another route to boost the confidence of truck drivers - rename aeroplane pilots and ship captains as 'drivers'!"

Wonderful idea. But be prepared for work stoppage by pilots and captains for "downgrading" them by putting them on the same pedestal as that of truck drivers!

Thanks, Mani, for reigniting this spark to look inwards!

Why drivers pay for OEMs/3PLs inefficiency?

Wake up folks, change yourself to drive productivity gains…

Ramesh Kumar

Folks, don't raise your eyebrows and hurl expletives at me after seeing the headline that squarely pinpoints that long haul truck drivers are penalized for others foolhardiness. Sounds harsh? Indeed, it ought to.

This assessment does not need a pen-and-paper study by IIM or IIT grads. Even a school dropout can figure out by one look at the long line of waiting trucks at the material gates of any renowned Indian manufacturing companies' factory gates and warehouses.

Several India Inc companies tom-tom about their observance of practice of "Just In Time" and or "Zero or No Inventory". Great.  They also boast of how their supply chain honchos have developed a robust vendor base (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 etc) as part of their outsourcing model. Supply chain risks, they claim, are manageable through this dependency via penalty clauses blah blah.

While the Big Boys of India Inc have re-layered or restructured their inbound operations to begin with, even Tier 1 vendors  have not achieved that level of maturity in Just in Time practice at their level. This is  not out of lack of desire but their own dependency on their vendors, who are not matured enough to meet the expectations of their Masters (Tier 1 vendor of the Big Boys).Further you go down, the adoption of efficient manufacturing - that's what Just In Time is all about - is not robust.

Okay, how this chain of lesser and lesser efficiency impacts the Big Boys boast of Just in Time? One, Tier 1 vendors (other level of vendors or suppliers or suppliers are not directly linked to the Big Boys) to escape the penalty clause as part of their Service Level Agreement produce, pack and push it to the OEMs - the Big Boys - well before deadlines; rather Just Before Time to beat the penalty use of the Big Boys.

By and large, OEMs have again outsourced their logistics handling to 3PLs who monitor the inbound as well as outbound. It is no secret these white collar professionals have to abide by OEMs factory gate entry/exit norms. The OEMs don't keep their gates open 24x7. Entry & Exit hours are restricted. Mostly, night entries into the factory premises for unloading is strictly a No-No affair. Considering the fact that products manufactured have several hundred - if not more - components procured right across the country and outside (routed via seaports and brought on road post-deshipment) these trucks line up outside factory gates for long hours for no fault of theirs.

Warehouse on Wheels. WoW! Actually, it was not what was intended originally. Pure inefficiency or poor planning on the parts of every stakeholder involved: be it OEM, 3PL or vendors etc.

Secondly, the Big Boys enamored by the gains of JIT have slashed down their inventory levels. Or almost, no inventory as they claim. So there is no question of a huge warehouse as in the past. Not that they 100% scrapped because imported and some vital components are kept for emergencies or supply chain risks. But that space is inadequate to store even a fortnight's stock of their 100% requirement to keep their assembly lines running non-stop. That critical is inventory management.

Now, there is another element: another the Big Boast of the Big Boys: supply directly to the assembly line. This is more critical and more interesting. More challenging too. Components have to be unloaded directly from the trucks and pushed to the assembly line: from the belly of trucks to the tut-tuting production lines.

This "direct to assembly line supply" presupposes the assembly  lines are running. Unlike power utility companies - nuclear, thermal, hydro etc - which operates round the clock, not all Indian Inc operates 24x7 for a variety of reasons. Maybe, they operate two shifts in any 24 hour cycle and therefore, the assembly lines go to sleep for one shift of say 8 hours daily. Right?  Not to be overlooked is the weekend when the plants are shut totally.

They shut shop and go home for a few hours rest daily. Weekend shutdowns mean longer rest for white collar supply chain/logistics babus.

When the plants are shut and operators have gone home, vendors who pushed their part of agreement via trucks, witness their trucks loaded with their product waiting outside factory gates as the security guards (of course, they work round the clock!) bar any truck movement into the plant. Logical when there is no 3PL hand to monitor unloading and  pushing to assembly line feeding.

It is significant to note that NONE - repeat NONE - of the Big Boys have created Driver Rest Rooms outside their factory gates - whom they call their Business Associates. Proxy, yes, because Vendors are OEMs/3PLs'Business Associates. Not truck drivers!

Inside any factory when blue collar workers work beyond the prescribed hours, they are compensated in terms of Overtime allowance as per well laid out regulations. And there is a blue collar union to protect their rights if and when any violation occurs. Besides, there is governmental interface via the Labour Department of the respective state governments where the plants are situated for any dispute mechanism.

Unfortunately, there are no regulations for truck drivers. There is no Overtime for them. They is no Union to protect their rights. So even while their complaints are Himalayan size, there is no wailing wall or listening post. Rarely one heard of this unorganized truck drivers' complaints being heard by authorities. They simply don’t exist for OEMs & 3PLs. Because their interaction is with their Business Associates viz., transporters or fleet owners. Not who actually move raw materials/components to help OEMs/3PLs to execute their production plans and assist the top echelon of these companies achieve their goals: increased top line and robust bottom line.

Significantly, these truck drivers are one of the vital supply chain links in the entire ecosystem, but ignored right royally.

These truck drivers are not paid by hour. They are mostly paid by kilometres they drive. There is no concept of compensating them for the waiting hours outside the factory gates.

So, it is not off the mark and pure baseless allegation when it is said that these less privileged and less educated truck drivers pay for the inefficiencies of highly educated, better profiled OEMs/3PLs, surely.

Yes, there are some Big Boys/3PLs claim that in the absence of unloading within a stipulated timeframe after trucks reach their factory gates, they have to pay a penalty to the transporter. But, it is all on paper. None of them pays. Instead they arm-twist transporters/vendors and subtly blackmail that any escalation of such inefficiencies on their part would entail transporters/vendors losing business. So, a lot of compromises – all in the interest of protecting OEM/3PLs’interests!

Having said that actually, truck drivers would not mind the long waiting hours outside factory gates if only there are some toilets/washrooms in and around the factory gates that they can access while waiting for the "Pearly Gates" to open. Surprisingly, these Big Boys talk of Village Adoption and building toilets in girls schools etc under the recently mandated CSR norms. Yet, they have not built toilets/washrooms outside their own factory gates to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project of Swatchch Bharat Abhiyan. In the absence of any toilet/washroom facilities, these waiting drivers fertilize the surroundings of factory gates via open defecating. Nauseating. But who cares?

Just not in India, even overseas, drivers are paid for kilometres they drive. No penny for the long waiting hours caused by the inefficiencies of OEMs/3PLs. Detention time is a big productivity loss. This pain point is purely the handiwork of OEMs/3PLs. Nothing to do with drivers. So, why should they pay for this?

It’s time for a deep introspection by the white collar honchos. Will they?

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