App based cab service and peek pricing

Last Saturday I used app based cab service OLA for coming back from New Delhi Railway Station to my home at Indirapuram, Ghazibad.

Let me talk about various charges of cab:

Base fare: This is added to fare irrespective of number of kilometers run. This is to cover for expanses incurred by driver to reach at pickup location. I don't have any problem with this fare because it helps in keeping per kilometer charges low. If we don't allow this charge then it will be factored in per kilometer charges which will be bad for long distance travelers.

Per Kilometer charges: This is the charge for basic service.

Per minute charge: This is charged per minute for the travel duration. This charge is to cover for extra fuel consumed by cab because of traffic jams and slow moving traffic and driver's pay for time wasted in traffic jams. I don't have any problem with this charge also.

I was charged 50% extra fare for peek charges. This peek charges increases with demand. The mobile app of OLA disclosed the revised rate card before I booked the cab so no problem there. But the problem is with fact that price are increasing with demand. So cab companies are making extra profit by exploiting passenger in need and not by increasing supply to meet the demand. Cab companies will not be interested in increasing supply if they can charge passenger extra by decreasing the supply. There have to be a cap at maximum fare which can be charged by cabs. I don't have any problem with off hours discount being offered by cab companies. But maximum fare need to be regulated to force cab companies to increase supply to make more profit instead of exploiting passengers.

Assam Class 10 topper is a Muslim boy from RSS-backed school

Today a news came out that a Muslim boy of a RSS run school has topped class 10 exam of Assam. It clearly shows that RSS is working for welfare of society irrespective of religion of the people being benefited. Had there been any discrimination in the school this Muslim student would have dropped out or would have not been able to perform well. I hope this will open eyes of people criticizing RSS day in and day out. I am proud that I am contributing financially to RSS.

The news item is available at following link:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/assam-class-10-topper-is-muslim-boy-of-rss-backed-school/story-9dySC10MPjdqeQmlwJrOlL.html

Assam Class 10 topper is a Muslim boy from RSS-backed school

Digambar Patowary, Hindustan Times, Guwahati |
Updated: May 31, 2016 22:43 IST

Sarfaraz Hussain topped the state board’s Class 10 exam with 590 marks out of a maximum 600. (Ujjal Debb/HT Photo)

A Muslim boy has given the RSS in Assam a reason to rejoice again, a week after a BJP-led government came to power in the state for the first time.

Sarfaraz Hussain topped the state board’s Class 10 exam with 590 marks out of a maximum 600. The results were declared on Tuesday.

Others before him have had similar scores. But 16-year-old Sarfaraz is the first Muslim to pass from a school run by an affiliate of Vidya Bharati, the RSS’s education wing.

He is not the only Muslim student of Sankardev Sishu Niketan, one of the many schools run by the Vidya Bharati-affiliated Sishu Shiksha Samiti, Assam.

The school at Betkuchi on the outskirts of Guwahati has 24 Muslim students, most of whom – like Sarfaraz – have won prizes for reciting the Bhagwad Gita.

“They have never complained about what we teach because our emphasis is on academic excellence apart from giving the students a grip on Indian culture and values,” Akshaya Kalita, the school’s headmaster, told HT.


“We did not make them feel different, and as a rule, they have lunch with all the other students and teachers after a bhojan mantra (prayer before meal),” he said.

Ajmal Hussain, Sarfaraz’s father, said he let his son study in the school because it provided free education. “It would have otherwise been difficult to sustain his studies with my meagre income as a waiter in a small restaurant,” he said.

He credited his son’s success to his hard work, the support from his schoolteachers, and also to the Hindu goddess of learning, Saraswati. Sarfaraz was the secretary of the school’s Saraswati Puja celebrations.

“The school shaped my life, and I hope to achieve greater academic glory as my teachers expect,” Sarfaraz said, wishing he could repay his alma mater some day.

For now, the Sarbananda Sonowal government is taking care of the payback. Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma promised a road to the school that existed only on paper since it was established in 1998.

“We will also give the school Rs 10 lakh for upgrade and give Rs 5 lakh to Sarfaraz in a fixed deposit for his higher studies,” Sarma said.

State secondary board officials said of the 381,585 students that appeared for this year’s Class 10 exam, 239,614 passed to clock a 62.79% success rate. Sarfaraz was one of 44 candidates of Vidya Bharati-affiliated schools in the Top 20.

Krishi Kalyan Cess of 0.5% gets applicable today

From today Krishi Kalyan Cess of 0.5% is getting applicable on Service tax today. This cess is to finance farmer welfare schemes of central government. I think it a good step from government that they are thinking about welfare of farmers of India who provide food to whole nation. I feel happy that I am paying for welfare of the farmers. 

The people who are cribbing about Krishi Kalyan Cess are selfish people who don't want to pay back to society from which they are getting everything. Government should ignore opposition from these people.