Daily Glass of Milk You Drink: The Untold Story

Daily Glass of Milk You Drink: The Untold Story

Executive Summary

Milk is mother natures’ perfect food for us, the wholesome diet – but only if you're drinking high quality product. 

·     When consuming your daily glass of milk have you ever experienced a taste characteristic as tart/tangy or produced by acids?

·     When consuming your daily glass of milk have you ever experienced that after compulsorily boiling, it turns thick/ turbid?

·     When consuming your daily glass of milk have you ever experienced bloating or indigestion?

If "YES" then you might be drinking milk coming from Dairy Cooperatives.

The conventional three-tier cooperatives structure consists of a Dairy Cooperatives Society at the village level which is affiliated to a milk unions at the district level that in turn is further federated into a milk federation at the state level. The business model has no answer for consumers regarding milk source i.e., Cow/Buffalo/Pooled milk? There is lack of control over cattle health, housing, breed, environment, milking procedures and sanitation practices adopted by farmers who are at the bottom of pyramid and that is the prime factor affecting sustainability. The control comes only from milk Procurement to Product (P-2-P) and not from Clean Milk Production to Product (CMP-2-P). Don't you sense it’s a clear cut bitter "TRUTH"?

If "YES" then you must shift to drinking milk coming from Dairy Corporates.

The Dairy Corporates have control over all aspects starting from "Land -2- Table" and have more potential to deliver highest quality of dairy products. This is done through backward integration of business model, i.e. setting up own dairy farms where highest quality of dairy products can be produced confronting to international standards, producing best quality fodder for cattle on own lands in a organic manner, as after all "We drink what the cattle eats", maintaining thorough cattle-wise records of entire herd i.e., health, nutrition, breeding, milking and milk quality data to ensure "Tracebility". The model incorporates a highly bio-secure, no human touch milking process. Cleanliness is given the foremost priority to ensure hygienic living and infection-free cattle. 

It's high time to improve your living standards and to improve is to change!

Dairy Cooperatives Model

Milk quality is dependent on three key areas viz. milking practices, the cattle and their environment, and the milking equipments. A common hurdle with many cooperatives model is failure to look at all three areas together and all causes of the milk quality problems are hard to identify. This snag in cooperatives model has resulted out India as a minor player in the world market inspite of having largest milk production i.e., 17% of world’s total dairy production. India is ranked at 18^th position in the world exports with a 1.6% share in total world exports. It is envisaged that till 2030 dairy products demand will rise at a rate of 9%-12% and industry demand at a rate of 4-5%. Surely, 100% self-sufficiency will be a challenge for India as local demand will be high i.e.160 to 170 million tonnes of milk that would be required by 2030. Encouraging more Dairy Corporates can help to curb this menace.

Dairy Corporates Model

Producing a superior quality milk product begins at the dairy farm level. Milk quality cannot be improved after it leaves the farm. Dilution or processing will not make good milk out of bad. Prevention is the only way to assure milk of good quality and flavor. Dairy Corporates Model incorporates strategies starting from farm level to Clean Milk Production to best quality product development so as to attain sustainability. Good management and good governance forms the pillars of such a model. The ideal Dairy Corporates model is as depicted below:

Emergence of more dairy corporates are foraying into forward integration by launching farm branded milk and milk products, launching innovative value added products conforming to international standards in Indian and global markets, which in turn will make Indian dairy industry more competitive therein at global context. In order to achieve this, let us define Indian dairy industry growth affecting factors empirically as:

I_DG = F₁ x F₂ x F₃ x F₄ x F₅ x F₆

(Where, I_DG = Potential of Indian Dairy Growth, Factors: F₁ = Milch cattle population, F₂ = Cattle's Average yield, F₃ = Dairy farmer's intent to consider dairying as a full time business, F₄ = Availability of lands for feed, F₅ = Available finance for milk production/infrastructure/cattle health, feed and nutrition, breeding/chilling/quality/logistics, F₆ = Market opportunity)

Now let us examine all these factors one by one and look at reimagining our approach by adoption of Dairy Corporates model to attain sustainable growth in Indian dairying:

·     F₁ = In India, cattle are mostly underfed and mismanaged by small and marginal farmers. Reimaging a Dairy Corporates model where all these farmers are enrolled into workable groups, clusters then it would be really easy for capacity building on health, breeding and feeding systems for cattle in a cost effective manner.

·     F₂ = Indian milch cattle population is highly scattered, reimaging a Dairy Corporates model where it is easy to implement a cluster breeding program for pockets of cattle. Also, it is convenient to announce schemes for large commercial dairy farms of corporates.

·     F₃ = Dairying without farmer's commitment is not sustainable. It is easy under Dairy Corporates model to develop formalised groups with progressive thoughts and to device and implement a strategy to grow and sustain by active engagement of the farmers and their family. It is only through such community development, Indian dairying can be seen as a professionally white collar activity to lure next generation.

·     F₄ = Rapid unplanned urbanization has led to scarcity of agricultural lands. Almost two third of milk production cost accounts to the feed alone. In such scenario, contract, community or corporate farming is the only solution to sustain the growth of Indian dairy.

·     F₅ = In many instances, under cooperatives model the farmer oriented investments are not reaching the last mile or they are not being utilised for the purpose they were meant to create an impact. Thus, community oriented schemes with special incentives to investment done by community or corporates for large scale dairy farming, processing, cattle feed, and animal health missions, feed programs or breed development could only be the solution. It's high time to shift investment mode from PPP (Public-Private-Partnerships) to PCP (Private-Community- Partnership) and/or PPCP (Public-Private-Community-Partnership) model.

·     F₆ = Due to Indian consumer's changing lifestyle and socio-economic conditions there is a rise in the inspirational levels and packed dairy products of high quality with health and nutrition increasing in demand. Such situation offers a huge potential for setting up community driven dairy farms that can be developed under PCP (Private-Community-Partnerships) rather than PPP (Public-Private-Partnerships).

A sample of draft design as shown below symbolises the results chain that can emerge out of Dairy Corporates model; adoption on a large scale at national level that links the outcome with the final impact which will promote growth in Indian dairy industry. A national strategy for sustainable dairy development in the country can be devised in this manner and the trend can be shifted from “Share Milkers” to “Share Holders”. However, the key to this massive change will depend on the willingness of farmers to adopt a more sophisticated approach for running their businesses and the adoption of the Dairy Corporates business model. 

Conclusion

Milk quality is a national issue. Consumers need a better quality product so it is the dairy producers and dairy industry's obligation to meet that request. India has witnessed lot of floods but still one flood is the need of the day to change entire landscape throughout the length and breadth of the country, starting from the villagers through the districts to the large metropolitan cities. Dairy Corporates model can play a strategic role to help dairy farmers control their created resources and also direct their own development. The present blog has brought out the model as a mantra for developing a national level strategy to meet the humongous demand of milk and milk products through sustainable dairying in India through community mobilization.

"Every time you drink a glass of milk take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance”.

By – Dr. Soham Trivedi
Rai University, Ahmedabad

Consumer Rights in online shopping

Consumer Rights in online shopping

                                                                                     

According to Philip Kotler, ‘Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods or services to the final consumers for personal, non-business use. Selling to the final consumers whether it is by a manufacturer, a wholesaler or a retailer-is retailing irrespective of the fact that the goods or services are sold (by person, mail, telephone, vending machine or internet or where they are sold – in a store, on the street or in the consumer’s home).’

Indian customers are habituated to shop from traditional seller due to Indian psychology. They shop product or goods with the key factors i.e. trust and security. While purchasing from traditional shop, Indian customer creates relationship with owner. There is always a known seller in traditional shopping, and also a built up trust, for which customers ignore to check the quality of the product sometimes. When there is emergency need of the goods, the customer calls the seller and gets immediate goods. Sometimes without paying money on time, customer gets goods immediately. And seller is personally attached to the customer, so customer feels much secure. Customer need not be worried in case of traditional seller. Sometimes when goods are defected, customers immediately replace purchased goods from the seller. As traditional shopping is sometimes time consuming, customers have to stand in queue but customers find much security and trust in case of traditional shopping. And quick delivery takes place in case of traditional shopping. Therefore, nowadays consumers are moving towards online shopping. But they are not fully aware about consumer rights available while dealing with online shopping.

Consumer Rights

According to Consumer Protection Act, 1986

The objects of the Central Council shall be to promote and protect the rights of the consumers such as-

(a) The right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property;

(b) The right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices;

(c) The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices;

(d) The right to be heard and to be assured that consumer's interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums;

(e) The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of con­sumers; and

(f)  The right to consumer education. 

Conclusion:

Online shoppers’ must be aware about consumer rights of online shopping. If their rights are breached, they have to follow legal actions to solve issues.

    -by Prof. Nita Solanki

Rai University, Ahmedabad

Enhancing the I/O capability of VFDs to Remove the dependency on external PLC

“Enhancing the I/O capability of VFDs to

Remove the dependency on external PLC”

Introduction

Variable frequency drives are backbone of an industrial process. Their effective control and protection adds reliability to an industrial process. The present work is focused on enhancing the fault detection mechanism of Variable Frequency Drives. Installed Variable Frequency Drives are having limitation of inputs and outputs capability; so with the help of “LOGO PLC” installed in the drive it becomes useful for extending the input and output capability of the drive as well as it is cost effective compare to the VFDs having extended input/output capability. Installed drive is having two PLC’s, one is SIEMENS basic LOGO PLC the other is expansion LOGO PLC module which are resulting in frequent failure faults of LOGO PLC modules that hampers coal transfer for plant generation.

The limitation of the LOGO PLC is that it is unable to detect faults, no monitoring, no control and it is not user friendly as well as the fault rectification time is also more. For removing the dependency of LOGO PLC on variable frequency drives, firstly this LOGO PLC is removed by initializing the new control unit in the drive which is used to handle the entire task which was earlier performed by the LOGO PLC. Secondly it was removed by transferring all the logic of LOGO PLC in the main Allen Bradley panel which is used to instruct the drive, so that we can overcome these limitations. This helps to reduce the maintenance cost and improve the process control. This Enhancement of the input/output capability of variable frequency drives to re- move the dependency on external programmable logic controller and helps in the reduction of downtime, equipment efficiency, improved critical equipment availability and system reliability. The effective fault detection proposed by the ladder logics of LOGO PLC and Allen Bradley PLC are verified by the experimental results.

Description of Variable Frequency Drive

Variable Frequency Drives also known as AC drives helps to drive a motor by varying the frequency and voltage that is supplied to the motor. Variable speed drive, adjustable speed drive, adjustable frequency drive, AC drive and micro drive are different names for variable frequency drives. Frequency is directly comparable with the speed. In other words, the more the frequency, faster the speed goes. As per the application the speed of motor requirements may vary, the VFD can simply increase or decrease the motor speed to meet the speed requirement. 

The speed and torque of motor is controlled by varying input voltage and frequency of the drive. It offers advantages like Energy saving, removal of expensive mechanical drive components, Increase the life of motor, Decrease the line disturbances and Reduced risk of motor damage during start up and stop.

Summary  

The first phase of the title includes the reasons for the faults of LOGO PLC, its detection and troubleshooting of its input and output. The second phase includes about removal techniques of LOGO PLC. The purpose of removing the dependency of LOGO PLC on variable frequency drives is to overcome its limitations which help to reduce the cost and improve the process control. The external LOGO PLC is removed by two different methods. Firstly by initializing the new Control Unit and new Terminal Module which together performed the and operations of LOGO PLC in it, though it is advantageous at the same time it is having disadvantages like it occupies more space compared to the previous control unit used, more costly and trouble shooting problems because of the more input/output capabilities. Secondly by transferring all of it’s input/output to the main Allen Bradley panel by developing the logic in its supportive software and give digital outputs to old control unit as LOGO PLC used to give. After the removal of LOGO PLC, the fault rectification time of the drive decreases, it further improves the equipment efficiency, process control and system reliability so that it may not hamper the coal transfer for plant generation.

By: - Prof. Sonali Changla

Rai University, Ahmedabad.

A Tribute to Mountains Uttarakhand

A Tribute to Mountains Uttarakhand

                                                

The state of Uttarakhand was formed on 9^th November, 2000 as the part of Republic India. Uttarakhand is also known as Devabhumi (literally "Land of the Gods"). It is one of the 27^th state of India. Uttarakhand is traditionally known for its culture and beauty of nature in all over the world. There are many writers known all over the world who belong to Himalayan region such like Sumitranandan Pant, Gaura Pant Shivani, Shailesh Matiyani, Shekhar Joshi and Manohar Shyam Joshi. The life style in mountain is quite simple. Uttarakhand can be divided into two divisions, Gharwall and Kumauo, with an entirety of 13 districts. The capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun. The life style of a mountain region is very simple. An individual comes to mountain for finding true meaning of life and make them self motivated toward living life. The literacy rate of Uttarakhand is 79.63% with 88.33% literacy for males and 70.70% literacy for females according to the census in 2011. The state stands at 17th position in India when it comes to literacy.

Cultural differences are found in mountain areas, as per the region, you will find food, clothes, languages also differ. Cultural diversity in remote mountain regions is closely linked to biodiversity, as there is a symbiotic relationship between habitats and cultures, and between ecosystems and cultural identity; indeed, religious rules and rituals often strengthen this relationship and are characterized by a conservation ethic. Since Uttarakhand comprises of both hilly and plain terrains that eventually demarcate the lifestyle in the state, and then there are areas in the hill that are remote and difficult to access, where obviously the way of life is entirely different. The urban areas like Dehradun, Nainital, Haldwani, Haridwar and a few others enjoy access to most of the modern facilities. The major sources of income for the state of Uttarakhand are agriculture industry and other industry also such like tourism and hydropower, and the recent development in IT, ITES, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and automobile.  

The land of Uttarakhand is full with variety of handmade craft which mainly include wood related items such like wood basket, flower pot, tables, etc. The best way to capture beauty of mountain is painting .The traditional dress for women in Uttarakhand remains Sarong, a mantle-type dress, tightened with a blouse and an Odani and Khorpi. Where as in the weddings or special occasion, native women are seen wearing the attractive Rangwali Pichora or Ghagra Choli. A significantly large nose ring (nath) and necklace called Galoband are also worn by the women during festivals/special occasion. In Kumaoni region, the dresses are slightly different for women and so is the choice of colors. Ladies in Kumaoni also put a different neck piece called Hansuli. Kumaoni men can be seen wearing same Kurta and Dhoti like the Garhwali men but they seem to be fond of jewelry and often seen wearing a variety of it in neck and hands. There are different dresses of Jaunsari and Bhotiya tribes in the state. However, in the recent time, the people in Uttarakhand for daily life wear the modern jeans/trousers and t-shirt/shirt irrespective of gender. The women can also be seen in sarees and ladies suit.

By- Prof.Nidhi Naithani

Rai University, Ahmedabad 

Ingenious HR policies and practices to retain employees

Employees work in the organizations mainly for money but apart from monetary benefits, an employee requires many things which boost them to work with motivation and not to leave the firm. Employer faces a lot of direct and indirect cost when employees leave the organization. These expenses consist of headhunting a fee, advertising cost, loss of time and productivity, experts’ fees, training and development expenses to new employers, work imbalance. Apart from these costs, company looses goodwill and important/confidential information of policy and project. So it is necessary for organizations to retain the employee. The contemporary innovations have started in the field of training, compensation, retention, performance appraisal, global HR, stress management, e-HR, recruitment and selection. Many new strategies and HR practices are executed to retain and make the employee satisfy in the organization.

Innovative HR practices	Name of organization	Summary
Hours that help- Donating leaves to colleague	Acceznture India	Allows employees to donate their extra leave to their colleagues who may need it in times of emergency
Allocating special time for social media	Cognizant technology solutions	The company provides its employees to access social networking sites like as twitter, Facebook for only 30 minutes in a day
Play contests – get the job as prize:	JP Morgan, Pepsico India, CEAT, Schneider electric and GSK consumer healthcare,	Case based simulation exercises helps firms to gauge the research and analytical ability of students
Payment for piercing company tattoo on body	Harley-Davidson, Kolkata knight riders, IBM, Convergys And oracle.	Companies are giving fair payment for piercing tattoo on body
Rewards under staff referral plans, Prefer to refer	Directi India, Smartplay, a technology service provider, Ola cabs, HSBC, Accenture, Lenovo	Rewards given are: Harley-Davidson bike and Volkswagen Polo car, European holidays, i-phone, international holidays etc.
Forums- Art gallery, infoculom	Infosys	Employees display their  artwork and carrying various events and activities respectively
Granny Gratitude Day	ICICI	Happy soul at work evolves healthy mind at work
My pay my choice, Bouquet of Benefits, Flexi grade allowance system	P & G, TCS, Asian paints, Wipro	Employee may want to take a certain amount of cash or keep it in a company fund which will come with its own benefits. Employees design their own pay plans
Mothers on board, post maternity transition	HSBC	A month prior to joining, a certified counselor establishes contact with the new mother to understand her state of mind as she readies to come back to work. Their on boarding programme, ‘Mothers on Boar’, provides a work buddy to the new mother along with IT support.
Matchmaker- Putting a list of brides and grooms	Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan	Company is trying to marry off its employees using its own home page. Prominently displayed along with Citizens Charter, Employment Notice, FAQs, etc, there is an icon, Martimonial, that takes you to a list of employees - KVS' prospective brides and grooms

Rai University, Ahmedabad

-         By Ashish Rami

Water Softening

Introduction:

Water mellowing is the expulsion of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water. The subsequent delicate water requires less cleanser for a similar cleaning exertion, as cleanser isn't squandered wiping up calcium particles. Delicate water additionally expands the lifetime of pipes by lessening or dispensing with scale developed in funnels and fittings. Water relaxing is normally accomplished by utilizing lime mellowing or particle trade saps; it is progressively being practiced utilizing nanofiltration or Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes.

Methods:

These are different methods of Water Softening.

1.      Ion-exchange resin method

2.      Lime softening

3.      Chelating agents

4.      Distillation and rain water

5.      Reverse osmosis

 

Ion exchange:

Customary water-relaxing apparatuses expected for family unit use rely upon a particle trade tar in which "hardness particles" predominantly Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ are traded for sodium ions. As depicted by ANSI Standard, particle trade gadgets decrease the hardness by supplanting magnesium and calcium (Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) with sodium or potassium particles (Na⁺ and K⁺)."

                             

Particle trade saps, as dots, are utilitarian segment of household water relaxing units.

Particle trade saps are natural polymers containing anionic useful gatherings to which the divalent Cations (Ca⁺²) tie more emphatically than monovalent Cations (Na⁺). Inorganic materials called zeolites likewise display particle trade properties. These minerals are generally utilized in clothing cleansers. Tars are likewise accessible to expel the carbonate, bicarbonate, and sulfate particles that are retained and hydroxide particles that are discharged from the resin.

At the point when all the accessible  particles have been supplanted with calcium or magnesium particles, the sap must be energized by eluting the Ca⁺² and Mg⁺² particles utilizing an answer of sodium chloride or sodium hydroxide, contingent upon the kind of pitch used. For anionic tars, recovery ordinarily utilizes an answer of, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide.

The waste waters eluted from the particle trade segment containing the undesirable calcium and magnesium salts are ordinarily released to the sewage framework.

Health Effect:        

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) prescribes restricting day by day completes sodium admission to 2,300 mg for each day; however a normal American expends 3,500 mg for every day. Because the measure of sodium present in drinking water even in the wake of relaxing does not speak to a noteworthy level of an individual's day by day sodium consumption. The Environmental Protecion Agency (EPA) believes that sodium in drinking water is probably not going to cause unfriendly wellbeing effects.

For the individuals who are on sodium-limited eating regimens, the utilization of a turn around assimilation framework for drinking water and cooking water will expel sodium alongside whatever other polluting influences that might be available. Potassium chloride can likewise be utilized as a regenerant rather than sodium chloride, despite the fact that it is all the more exorbitant.

For individuals with weakened kidney work, be that as it may, raised potassium levels, or hyperkalemia, can prompt more problems, for example, cardiovascular arrhythmia.

Contrasted with invert assimilation and refined strategies for creating delicate water, hard water passes on certain advantages to wellbeing by diminishing the solvency of conceivably poisonous metal particles, for example, lead and copper, which are more dissolvable in delicate water than in hard water.

Elevated amount of water hardness in the home may likewise be connected to the improvement of skin inflammation ahead of schedule in life.

Environmental impact:

Mollified water (estimated as remaining sodium carbonate list) in which calcium and magnesium have been somewhat supplanted by sodium isn't appropriate for water system use, as it will in general reason the advancement of salt soils.

Rai University, Ahmedabad
by- Nareshvari chovatiya