Pawan's Pill

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi


Courtesy Jehaan Kotwal, I know Pawan Sharma Asopa from Navi Mumbai. Interesting character with interest in multiple things. Our common connect is driver welfare and fighting corruption on highways.

Recently  we travelled Mumbai-Nasik-Mumbai on road and that's when his interest in meditation become apparent. Actually he took me to the Vipasanna centre at Igatpuri. He did a short course there and since then exploring to teach truck drivers "meditation".

According to him, it is the best medicine-free stress buster. 

Truck drivers and meditation? Possible. Meditation is nothing but trying to keep the mind and body at peace. Very challenging. Mental turbulence does not differentiate between the educated and uneducated. It attacks or engulfs both.

More the educated, more the disturbance is my conviction. Don't know about you.

Truck drivers and mental stress go together. Inseparable. For a variety of reasons.

Truck drivers, away from home and alone on the empty and sparsely populated highways at day or night, with or without driver assist, music blaring from their cheap sound system, need greater concentration for safe driving.

Distractions come in various forms; phone calls from family or friends or colleagues mostly. Or from office supervisors keeping track of their movement. GPS? Forget it. Even if it is functional, nothing like the conventional one on one talk. Right?

Distracted driving is a pain area from the safety perspective. Added to these tangible turbulance is the fear factor. Drivers worry a lot about what lies ahead on the road ahead. Not from naxalites or anti-social elements. But corrupt, rent-seeking highway officials working for the state transport departments who hang around on the edges of highways  at multiple locations - district wise in each state - to bounce on the gullible drivers to extort illegal money.

Drivers desire to avoid such elements. Purely out of self interest. How and why?

Fleet owners pay peanuts to drivers in India. Most of the time, a four digit amount just on paper. But give good amount of money to bribe highway vultures grudgingly - running into thousands of rupees per trip - to ensure timely delivery. Again self interest of fleet owners.

Drivers look at this as a bonanza that can be usurped if they can avoid the corrupt vultures. No bribery translates into their pockets bulging.  Hence the worry, which affects their mental balance.

Tension, tension, tension from trip start to trip finish. 

Hence, Pawan Asopa's prescription for meditation to achieve mental equilibrium under all circumstances makes sense. A fortnight ago, the tall Rajasthani do-gooder noticed Linde trucks  parked on the road side and during interaction with drivers learnt the placement of cameras inside cabins from safety perspective and drivers' disenchantment with such "big brother watch" always.

Following a quick conversation with some  multinational company's logistics  officials, he is  selling the concept of meditation - not medication - to truck drivers. Worth trying. His choice of approaching MNCs is spot on. Because only these foreign companies give adequate importance to road safety and willing to invest. Yes, invest is the key word. It is not an expenditure but an investment to ensure just not safe delivery of their consignment but equally saving several valuable human lives. Desi companies, however big or small, are found wanting in this sphere. Shame.

Will fleet owners pay for such services? Pawan's services are not free. Marginal fee, he charges. Secondly, will drivers be interested in learning 'meditation?. Worth trying, again.

Good luck, Pawan!

Pawan Sharma Asopa is reachable at +91 9324024111

The Painter Babu

 Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi

Noticing Saheb Kumar Paswan ambling across the spacious open workshop area with his multi-colored folding walker  brought back memories of my late mother.

Way back in 1990, she had fallen in the washroom and broken her thigh bones in Mumbai. Post surgery with a steel bone as a replacement she needed the folding walker to move around.

Paswan-cum-folding-walker popped up mother on my mindscreen for a few seconds. Memories.

The sprightly Paswan was all smiles as we exchanged "namastes".

How did he break his haddi (bones)?

"Not planned," replies he sportingly. Great sense of humor. Yes, accidents don't send Short Message Service or SMS to the victim prior to their arrival!

He walks me to the accident spot at the workshop where his colleagues are busy "brown"ing the exteriors of a truck - part of annual ritual when peeled off paints are not eye-candy and clients - read, automotive giants whom these trucks serve - are getting more brand conscious and therefore insist of carriers of their precious vehicles also be spick and span. 

How about these OEMs showing same kind of enthusiasm to make the drivers of these vehicles also "brand ambassadors" by making their working conditions better outside their factory gates and en route by promoting on their own or in collaboration with other stakeholders the American style pitshops? For everything else, these OEMs blabbering, "Look at USA/Europe." Why not in these areas as well? These thoughts flash through my mind.

The "tak-tak" noise with the hammer kissing iron sheets somewhere in the vicinity of where are grouped. A pair of mechanics ferrying an empty fuel tanker, repaired and painted, to another safe location at the workshop. Their leather gloves remind me of a discussion I had with a CEO of another MNC-owned, fleet owning car carrier business enterprise a few hours ago on the "Personal Protection Equipment" (PPE) issue.

He, again, owning a workshop where his tractor trailers has safety concerns. Similar to what I am noticing at the Manesar workshop where I am conversing with Paswan.

Repaint work in full swing.  High steel stools and bamboo ladders used to reach heights. During a similar chore two months back, this painter from Luckysarai in Bihar, slipped. Rest, as they say,  is history.

He had spent time in a private hospital and then rested at home more than a month and now back at work.

The June heat coupled with the severity of his medicinal intake had taken a toll: there are boils on his upper lip.

Still Paswan is not fit to resume full fledged work. That does not bother him.

Sitting at home, says he, is   more painful than the injury.

"Requested (my seniors) to  allow me come to work. Whatever suits you, they told me. Am here," adds he.

His enthusiasm amazes me. Be more cautious in future at work, I advise. His job profile won't change, post accident. He nods. Those around him also shake their heads collectively.

"Want to see (the stitches)?" asks he innocently.

Why not?

He unzips his pant, draws down the left side of the trouser. There it is. The stitch marks. Almost a foot long vertical scar runs through with mini marks horizontally where the needle and  thread sew the slit open thigh flesh for surgery and subsequently bound them together for healing.

Several pairs of eyes watch the scar closely. Each one of us, mentally thanking our respective Gods that this did not happen to us! Natural human instinct.

Someone asks him: "When will they remove the iron part fitted into this thigh?" Valid question.

Paswan: "When it heals fully."

Really so?

My experience - rather my mother's experience was different.

A day after my mother's death, I revisit the Lodi  Road Crematorium in Delhi (June 26, 1996) to pick the bones and ashes for immersion at the Ganges later. Noticing the gleaming steel bone replica lying ash-covered, I bend down to pick it up gingerly and get my fingers singed in the process. It was hot still.

While the fire consumed mother's flesh, it could not do much to the steel bone that was part of her torso. I did bring that part of my mother home as part of her memory. Sure, must be lying somewhere at home with other memorabilia.

Memories again, linking Paswan's predicament with my mother's.  Experience and observation are the best teacher, I believe.

About the foreign element in Paswan's thigh, I have no idea. Will it be removed as he believes? Or will it remain permanently like my mother's? Clueless absolutely.

Paswan's cup of joy is full. He is able to amble with some support today. He is confident of getting 100% fit quickly.

"Malik spent so much on my medical," confesses the temporarily handicapped painter. Though he has no risk coverage in the form of accident insurance, his motor malik was his risk bearer. Lucky, he was to enjoy such a benevolent malik. Such bosses are rare in the Indian transport ecosystem.

With a color bandana tied around his head,  another  painter climbs the tall iron bench top to resume painting the top portion of the truck parked nearby.  It wobbles a week bit.  It does not matter.  He knows his Malik is there to take care of him and his family in case of any accident. Paswan watches him closely from the ground level, with one hand holding the folding walker and another clutching the tall iron bench. Safety got into Paswan's DNA and etched permanently perhaps. Good. 📌

  

The Strike That Wasn't

Ramesh Kumar from New Delhi 

It's over. Yes, it's over. 

Am talking about the indefinite strike call given by All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners' Association or  ACOGOA.. The angst of fleet owners was against the incessant diesel price hike and daily revision, higher third party insurance premium and continuous increake toll fees.

ACOGOA has actually called off the strike, but prefers to phrase it diplomatically as "postponed".  General Secretary Rajendra Singh and President Channa Reddy in their joint statement on 21 June (on  the fourth day of strike) say: "As we have received telephone call from central ministry, that since the minister is not in the station till 27.6.2018 to call off the strike and come to discussion after 27.06.2018. In view of this and in the public interest, we have postpone (sic) the truckers strike." 

One phone call from the Ministry of Road Transport & HIghways on the fourth day did the trick. Why did the caller wait for four days is not a mystery at all for those who understand the nuances of government working.

In the run upto any strike, the government machinery - read the Intelligence Bureau - gets into play with  them conversing with  strikers informally. One, try to gauge the seriousness of  the strikers'intent and secondly, to find ways and means to avert any such activities that can cause public distress in howsoever small measure.Damage control, yes.

Simultaneously, the strikers also keen to know the government stance. Will it accede to our demand, however genuine the laundry list maybe? Put it differently, every striking party is keen on one thing: an exit path. Indefinite does not mean infinity!

Something similar to the private equity players. Even  before they actually put in money, they work out an exit path: when, where and how.

In a similar fashion, every striking party works out an exit path - call it, a face saving formula - even before the launch date. That is when to call off and go back to routine work. Strike is huge risk and a big gamble. It may work. May not. No lobby group or trade unions want egg on their face.

It is a different matter altogether whether transport lobby groups are of businessmen or workers? If the former, it is unheard of businessmen going on a work stoppage. They sit across the table and negotiate. Convince or  get convinced. In fact, this dichotomy is glaring and mandarins in the government always wonder about the character of the transport lobbies. 

Am scratching my grey cells to  figure out whether the industry lobby groups (Assocham, CII, FICCI at the apex level) has ever called for an industrial shutdown to get their concerns addressed ever. Certainly, the industry has their own massive laundry list. They do meet with the respective ministries at regular intervals with no photo ops to convey their viewpoint and get the bureaucrats to modify their previous stance. 

Yes, the tension builds up- mostly on the striking party. Particularly if the  striking organisation does not have total control over its constituent members. Leave aside the multiplicity of associations in the same segment who are not in friendly terms and have their own agenda. Why only in transportation segment? The case is same in every  industry. Disputes are not uncommon among siblings.

All said and done, ACOGOA is one of the three transport lobby groups,  representing  the interests of fleet owners with more focus, unlike its rivals whose reach and constituents encompass every single segment of transport ecosystem including fleet owners.

By the way, All India Motor Transport Congress or AIMTC, the biggest lobby group, is gearing up for its own indefinite strike from July 20. Their mobilisation drive is in full bloom. Its laundry list of course also covers the concerns of ACOGOA and beyond.

Big boys have big laundry list. 

Let us examine what was the response of indefinite strike called by ACOGOA? A day after the strike launch, says:

"North East has completely gone on a standstill as it is the only gateway from West Bengal. About 30,000 vehicles moving in and out from north east are therefore stopped. In Maharashtra, the markets  have reported prices  of vegetables like onion undergoing sharp increases. Even Delhi today has reported stoppage of 4,000 vehicles at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Terminal." 

Well, that's not the end. Hearken this:

"Taking off from yesterday, West Bengal continues under complete chakka jam allover the state. In Karnataka also, the situation continues to be encouraging with vehicle movement continuing to be stopped  all over. Mr R Sugumar, President, TNLOF informed that out of about 5 lakh vehicles 3 lakh vehicles are stopped," says ACOGOAspokesperson.

In totality, Ganesh claims that "there are now above 50 lakh estimated vehicles that have stopped which will mean a loss of about more than Rs.1,000 crore to the lorry owners."

Total shutdown of West Bengal is unsurprising, given the state's high agitation quotient. Was the  three lakh vehicles going off the highways in Tamilnadu noticed? Doubtful. Forget about rival bodies, even general public living on the fringes of state and national highways passing  through  the entire state did not see  highways devoid of trucks.

Forget that. These are all hearsay.

I was travelling from Gandhidham to  Ahmedabad (325 km) by road on 18 June - the day the strike commenced -  and watched normal truck movement on the entire stretch. Again, in NCR, I did not see commercial vehicles going off the busiest National Highway 8 linking  Delhi with  Jaipur on 19 and 20 June.

All India strike by transport strikes can be effective only if all the three bodies come together with a clear agenda and a token strike for a day or two. Certainly not  an "indefinite strike". No fleet owner will be interested for long duration agitation. None of them have  the financial muscle to withstand losses. Stopping the movement of truck means mainly loss of business for that day plus other commitments such as EMI for vehicle purchase, driver salary. Work stoppage does not automatically lead to financiers offering a "moratorium" till the work resumes. Nor drivers can be allowed to  park vehicles and go home because none has an iota of idea when the "indefinite" strike will be called off.

Barring a few states, none of the lobby groups have invested or groomed leadership at the grassroot level. A typical Indian National Congress syndrome. Top heavy, bottom hollow.

What about their demands? Certainly genuine.

Let  me take you  back to 1979 in the United States when truckers went on a nationwide strike. Exactly, 40 years ago (22 June 1979), President Jimmy Carter said: "The truckers have many legitimate concerns... The key problems that face the truckers are the same as those that face all of  us: too little fuel at too high price."

The word 'indefinite' can be interpreted anyway one likes. It can be one day to one week to one month to whatever one's holidng capacity to stay from earning money in any business.

It took almost three months for the Carter administration to restore normalcy through various policy initiatives including Special Rule #9 roll out to ensure fuel for the farmers(!) primarily keeping food security in mind. Transporters came only after that at the the Iranian Revolution and the OPEC price hike at that time.

Did  the four day stirke impact the industry, basically the end users or the public? Nope. Any strike to succeed needs a strong leadership coupled with grassroot support.  None of  the lobby groups can claim that credit, notwithstanding the "All India" tag in their  names.

No, am not sarcastic. It's a ground reality. 

Interacting with long haul truck drivers at multiple points in India during these four days, we found the sadak sepoys have no  clue about the "indefinite strike".  Basically, their motor maliks never asked them to  stop loading and moving.

Generals can sketch grandiose plans. Ultimately, the foot soldiers have to execute.That connect is found missing in  ACOGOA case. Will AIMTC gearing up for  July 20 indefinite chakka jam make it a success? Worth watching.

By the way, ACOGOAmanaged to get an "exit" pass. For the time being that is. Because, they said,  the indefinite strike is not called off, but "postponed".

Will NItin Gadkari on his  return from foreign trip apply balm to the wounded transporters next week?

Let's wait and watch.📌

RENAULT NISSAN-1: Hello, Mr Colin Macdonald....

27 April 2018

Mr Colin Macdonald

Managing Director

Renault Nissan India P Ltd

Tamilnadu

Sub: Utilization of barred 22 metre car carriers in India – Violation of CMVR norms

Dear Mr Macdoland,

Greetings.  Am Ramesh Kumar, a supply chain & logistics focused journalist and also the Editor of DRIVERS DUNIYA, India’s FIRST and ONLY English quarterly magazine focused on long haul truck drivers in India since 2015.

I closely follow Indian transport industry developments – from policy watch to grassroot developments at highways, dhabas, factory gates etc.  That’s how I came to know of the alleged violation of CMVR norms by your company.

As you are fully aware, Government of India two years ago amended the CMVR norms to regularize vehicle dimensions particularly in the car carriers segment. For ages, fleet owners in this segment were using 22 metre tractor trailers and penalized heavily by various state governments. Ultimately, following a thorough study instituted by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways of Govt of India, the relevant sections in the CMVR norms were amended making 18.75 metre as legal.

As of today, all fleet owners in car carrier segment are using only 18.75 metre without any exception. Hence it came as a surprise to know that Renault Nissan India Private Limited is still using 22 metre multiaxle car carriers to move its export cargo from its Chennai plant to Ennore Ro-Ro port. It is learnt that this illegal dimensioned vehicles, owned and or hired by MOL on your behalf moves stealthily at night to evade detection. When caught by transport officials, illegal gratification is resorted to, to complete the task, it is alleged.

Attaching one of the 22 metre trucks utilized by Renault Nissan India found in your Chennai premises recently waiting for load.

Mr Macdonald, it is crystal clear that the usage of 22 metre car carriers is illegal. Hence request you to intervene and stop this illegal practice.

Perhaps you are aware the government was compelled to change the dimension from the road safety perspective.

As a responsible corporate citizen of India, DRIVERS DUNIYA hopes you will intervene to do the needful.

A copy of this mail is addressed to the Home Secretary & Transport Commissioner in Tamil Nadu for necessary action to investigate this allegations and initiate suitable action, if found guilty.

Similarly a copy is being sent to Mr Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Government of India to keep him abreast of the developments in his chosen arena.

A copy is being sent to the embassies of France and Japan to keep them equally aware of such practices by companies originating from their respective homeland and doing business in India.

Warm regards,

Ramesh Kumar

Copy to:

Dr Niranjan Mardi IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Tamilnadu

Mr Samayamoorthy IAS, Transport Commissioner, Govt of Tamilnadu

Mr Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Govt of India

The Ambassador, Embassy of France, New Delhi

The Ambassador, Embassy of Japan, New Delhi

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?