The PJ (poor joke) above might no longer remain a PJ if banana peel is replaced by a typical problematic situation one encounters in daily routine. The question remains unanswered then: Why do some people find it difficult to act beyond cure? They do think 'Prevention is The Best Cure' though! I was no different from them! But now my journey is gathering speed, hopefully in the direction that the blog is supposed to drive towards. Checkout my other blogs and work at http://www.worldOFkaizen.com/
Showing posts with label Habit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Habit. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Water Matter

Study the two videos attached!

What do they suggest?

One of the videos shows the amount of water that goes down the drain (rather gets wasted) in a single flush stroke.

The other one shows the wastage of water is reduced considerably.

The latter was a case of handling the lever consciously to release it early enough so that only needed amount of water is used.
Sometimes it's a case of wrong setting or lack of maintenance, both resulting in the lever getting stuck. See picture-1.

In any case, human is to err!
The error however results into defective output and hence it produces waste.

But then what can one do?

See picture-2. This one is a mistake-proof (called as Poka-Yoke Kaizen in Japanese industry!) design of the flush tank.

It has two levers side by side: one for economy flushing and the other for normal flushing. The user needs to choose the right one consciously of course! Another opportunity for Poka-Yoke that is!

It's good to eliminate defects and waste early enough at initial or design stage itself. That's why this pillar of TPM (total productive maintenance) is also called as 'early equipment management' or 'initial flow control' (IFC).

It's the job of everybody to think, workout and feed their ideas about probable failure modes (FMEA, failure mode and effect analysis) so that corresponding Kaizen solutions can be incorporated at design stage itself.

The objective is to make the offering easier, faster, and less costly to make it and service it as well. In fact the design should, as far as possible, be maintenance free during the life-cycle of the offering; the concept called life-cycle-cost.

Can the change advance from thoughts stage to action now?




Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Change is a hearty game!
Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Not-Soon, Says Monsoon
Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall   

Tuesday, 31 January 2017

Change is a hearty game!

I wash my cup after tea and plate after food almost immediately. As much early (JIT) you do so, as much lesser resources you consume. Because, they are easier and faster to wash with less water when they are still wet.

The other day I'd to do it with left hand because one of the fingers was swollen after clipping off my nails.

It was difficult for me because I am a right-hander.

Usually any change is difficult but possible. Try signing with your left hand if your are used to doing it with your right hand.

I'd to get the senior management team of a company to try this out the other day. The reason was their impatience on the change management initiative in their company.

It was just about a few weeks having begun the initiative. Each visit the managers would be anxious to know when would their subordinates change their work habits for the better.

Change management is about commitment to change self first (PQI, personal quality initiative). It's about putting in concerted and continued efforts during the process because it's more to do with head (mind) and heart rather than hands (physical actions) alone.

Listening to other's 'voices' (be it your employee or customer or any stakeholder for that matter) actively plays a major role in the change management process. It's not merely hearing but it's about hearing them tactfully and tenderheartedly... Hear-T in short! Active listening creates an emotional connect or a connection with their heart.

Mind (head) always connects a little later. Mind connects only after the heart gets connected. Heart itself gets connected if they see your concerted and continued actions towards the desired change rather than empty speeches and promises.

Their actions to change their habits as desired is the corollary thereafter!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Mosquito to teach patience
Voice of Customer
No Time? Micro-Meditate 
What do you do when a dog barks at you?
How To Make A Difference 
Conscious Of Self-Esteem
Catch a Butterfly
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important
Eternally Happy
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Mosquito to teach patience

Say, you are busy reading a long pending novel.

A mosquito sits on your left hand.

No sooner you shove it off, another one troubles you.

You get upset. You try to hit it hard.
It escapes leaving a mark on your hand.
The cup of coffee by your side spills over you and over the book as well.

Nothing happens to the mosquito.
You get more angry.
If at all, everything that's wrong happens to you.

You hurt yourself physically.
You mess it up around.
You lose balance of mind as well thinking that everything wrong happens to you and you alone.
That enhances the chances of more reactions rather than a rational response.

Reactions generally tend to be wrong.
You invariably hurt your own-self more.

That's exactly is the result of getting angry.

Not that I'm free from it.
The learning that, however, I draw from it is that there's no point in getting angry.

Reactions tend to damage you your own-self more.
Instead, better to stay in control.
It's better to act (as well as proact) rather than re-act while enjoying the process of tackling the difficulties at hand.

Mosquito is perhaps the reason designed for you to learn patience and to learn to come out as a more composed personality.


If a mosquito can

You too can
Make a difference man


That's my Haiku inspired by the quote of Dalai Lama: "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."


Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

No Time? Micro-Meditate 
What do you do when a dog barks at you?
How To Make A Difference 
Conscious Of Self-Esteem
Catch a Butterfly
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important
Eternally Happy
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Is the Free cheap?

It was TIMES (of India sponsored) SANSKRUTI time!

Thane loves anything to do with cultural (Sanskruti for Culture in Sanskrit and most other Indian local languages) activities.

Since a last couple of years, the year had been beginning in Thane with a big bang of cultural programmes representing art from across India... be it 'Kesariya' song from Rajasthan in West to Manipuri dance from the far East and Kashmiri culinary art from the North to the Katthakali dance from deep South.

Among many other programmes to choose from, the celebrity stage was to present the pop-queen of India 'Padma Shri' Usha Utthup on the last day.

I was left with a coupe of tickets extra since my friend couldn't join due to his last minute commitment.

So I offered the tickets to someone standing near the entry gate eagerly trying to catch a glimpse of the stage: I've got this extra. Do you want it? Free!

He looked at me with suspicion about the 'Free' and turned his head away.

Then I walked a little. Asked a middle aged couple if they were interested. It's Free I said. They shrugged as if I was asking for some favour.

Finally I found two young (college going) boys: I've got this extra. Do you want it? This time I asked without saying it's Free. My intention was not to make it appear Free.

Momentary reply was No cash sir!

Then I explained to them (why) it's Free.

They grabbed it. I'm sure they must have enjoyed their grandma like Usha Utthup sporting her trademark Bindi on the forehead with a look of a lady in her 30s, with a soulful but melodious and powerful voice none less than that of a 17 year young girl.

Hats off to the talented 'Padma Shri' Usha Utthup for her lovely-n-lively presentation to a jam-packed 10,000 strong audience at the age of 70 with the same enthusiasm and passion that of (her own) 1970's.

The questions that brushed my mind were:

Although it may be inconsequential to the first couple of pairs to whom I asked, they lost the 'Free' opportunity that came walking over to them just because they didn't hear attentively to what I offered. Poor communication (perhaps from me)! Perhaps I asked wrong questions!

Often people tend to perceive before even they hear completely
People hardly listen actively!!

People have no value for the things they get free and get them without any efforts!

People choose to think Free is (always) Cheap!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!
Some Moron ! Some Great !!!
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Take your career in fast lane!
Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It
Is Your Job Boring!
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up
Eternally Happy
Take Habits For A Ride 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?


Monday, 11 January 2016

Penny-Wise Pound-Wiser

Penny-Wise Pound-Wiser
Daily saving countless Water
Being an intelligent Miser

That's the Haiku poem I wrote at the sight of my dinner plate.
Actually each day I tried to be a miser and console myself that I'm an intelligent miser. 

I reason it out of being a so-called self-appointed "intelligent" miser. 
Why? Because I ask some "foolish" questions to every human activity that I see, rather, that "I probe" I should say. 

But I don't have control over some. 
So I be "funny" with myself, with what I've control over. 

My dinner plate for instance.
I 'want' a fresh one. That's my desire.
That's my healthy habit.
But can my 'need' be served by something else?

Can I choose a soiled one that's available from the kitchen after being used for its intended purpose in the cooking process? 

For instance, one in picture is the pot of balance quantity of rice and another one is that balance quantity of curd. 

One plate and one bowl stays fresh!
Also you can see an old newspaper used below the plate so that the table doesn't get soiled. 

Plate reused!
Water saved, waste eliminated!!
Economy for Ecology!!!

How many such activities and avenues possible in a day? 
How much time can be saved that can be used for more value-adding work? 
How much water can be saved each day?

Countless at times!!!

Penny-Wise Pound-Foolish it is to call the self so-called intelligent!

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Poverty-to-Power of Poetry
Not-Soon, Says Monsoon

Saturday, 23 August 2014

Judge If It's Paralysis-By-Analysis

A mother instructs her child not to run too fast, not to run outside the given track in the garden, not to run without sports shoes, etc. etc.

She'd seen the child injuring herself earlier in absence of observing the discipline of 'not-to' such as above.

Another mother sitting next to her appeared appreciative. She didn't hesitate to share her experience of how her non-observant son had damaged his hamstring muscles irreversibly. She was concerned that her son had been living with the pain since years.

The pathological and clinical tests, investigations, analysis and treatments are now companion for the lifetime, she said.

Question is, is the former approach, the 'nagging' one, correct?

Obviously, but not so obviously!

Former approach can be called as judgemental based on seed-stage deviations that probably were thought to lead to major deviations or crises if not kept under check. It's about commonsensical risk management.

Latter one, the one that involved accidents and treatments, is an analytical approach that reactively analyses major deviations already occurred.

Former one is based on real-time (genjitsu) observations of real-facts-and-conditions of things and people (gembutsu) at the real-place of happening (gemba).

Latter one usually needs extensive analysis. At times it leads to 'paralysis-by-analysis' that necessitates intervention of judgement in order to unlock the tie and move ahead.

Former approach is easy, fast and proactive although seems to appear like 'nagging'. Of course it is expected to incorporate factual learnings from past.

The latter is difficult, time-consuming and reactive one. It's usually a post-mortem that often necessitates involvement of specialist agencies. Most often it results into repentance of irreversible damage and costs.

Importance of structured analysis however can't be undermined particularly if it's for exploratory or descriptive research in order to study cause-effect relationship of an hypothesis on an observed phenomenon in real-time (genjitsu) or for future innovations.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
When Safety Becomes Sorry
Drove To Hell ... Almost ! 
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Take Habits For A Ride
How Many Times Do You Wash Hands
In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !!
Part-1
In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it! Part-2
How To Make A Difference
Big-Be Or Bug-Be !
A Ride To Hell
Make checklists your friends
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!
Will It Work Here
That's How Morons Work
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 
Wish To Be Planet-Friendly?: Save! 
Waste-to-eat-sea-to-drink
Don't Save Water on Holi-day
Be Shame-less Or Water-less

Friday, 18 July 2014

Water-Hour: What'an-Hour

What-An-Hour it was!

On our monthly-music-meet day, suddenly power went off! 

Although the electricity company had declared timetable for load shedding, usually their poor work practices don't allow them to stick to it. In absence of power to music system our lunch had to be preponed.

I picked up my snack plate that was still around me, rinsed it a bit and reused it for lunch. I used the leftover water from my drinking glass. 

My friend exclaimed at my 'funny' behavior. I said I wash my plate regularly at home as well as wherever else possible. Whenever I wash hands, I pick up at least one utensil to wash. Two-birds-in-One: Hands and the utensil washed using same amount of water that anyway I would've used to wash hands!

While writing this post, I remembered the so-called 'countdown to EARTH HOUR (23rd March at 20.30 hrs)'. Just before it had 'begun', the same friend had reminded me to participate in it. Why not observe such HOURS every MINUTE, I had exclaimed. That I had just returned from a around where I'd put off a couple of fans including one in the toilet. It was left ON by the previous user. 

While I do appreciate importance of such HOURS, the intention can be best evidenced by making it a habit taking it beyond the HOUR.

Hats off to those who instead of waiting until such '20.30 HOUR' head right away to 'Switch-off' an appliance left 'ON' inadvertently though. 

Power generation needs human activity, water and other resources. Salutation is because such people are able to see direct or indirect link of almost every wasted human activity to that of waste of water.

Hats off to those who commit to be conscious to a cause in present tense. Hats off because they don't allow thoughts to constipate. Because they go beyond their 'knowledge' of 'zero-wastage'. They make others learn through their demonstration of 'an-action-each-moment-a-day'.

One must experience the satisfaction one derives and the respect one earns by by committing to 'Save Even-A-Little, At-Each-Opportunity, Each-day, Each-Minute...' rather than once a year on a "Happy........ Day!" 

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Not-Soon, Says Monsoon
Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall   

Friday, 27 June 2014

Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

My google map was not responding.
Public transport was not in sight.

How far is Hill road, I asked at the roadside stall. 
"15 minutes", the stall-owner replied.

Just to reconfirm I asked same question to a person parking car nearby. It's hardly 2 minutes: He replied.

I was a bit confused. 15 minutes or 2 minutes?

After a couple of minutes walk, I asked same question to a lady waiting to cross the road.
She replied: It's about 30 minutes.

More confusion: 30 minutes after 5 minutes walk?

I continued walking down.
After 10 minutes walk, I asked someone for a landmark for the place I had reached. I thought someone could pick me up from there in order to reach me to my destination.

The person couldn't tell me one. She kept looking at the cow instead I was standing next to. Luckily she didn't tell me the cow as the landmark. Otherwise I would've ended up looking at 'google-guy' (snail) instead of google map. (Cow is pronounced as Guy in vernacular.)

The point I am driving home is it's all relative!
Long ago Einstein brought the concept of relativity. 
Perhaps by car it was 2 minutes.
By walk it was 15 minutes.
And by the walking speed of the lady it was 30 minutes.
Probably the lady was right. She was pregnant.

The only thing wrong was I didn't confirm the mode of travel. Nor did they specify.
Actually I was wrong not to ask right question.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:  Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Do You Ask Right Questions
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Make checklists your friends
Love is Care.. Care is Love
Take Habits For A Ride
Are You Good If Others Are Bad
Bust-wants, Boom-needs
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
I am afraid ! What do I do !!
Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order
Success Or Failure: What Do You Like?
Fearful Death-Of-Birth !
Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell Me Hey Raam!

Thursday, 15 May 2014

Take Habits For A Ride

Long time ago, while approaching a crossroad where red light was blinking, I slowed down the jeep that I was driving.

Just about when I was to cross the signal, suddenly a biker overtook me from left in a flash. He almost took a ninety degree turn to right, crossed me and sped away. By the time I could realise what was happening, he evaporated in thin air.

His dangerous adventure was just short of being fatal. His motor cycle narrowly escaped  bumper of my jeep. Perhaps the elephant-god saved him. It was the first day of Lord Ganesha's festival in Mumbai. So what the blind faith may prompt one to believe so.

He took himself for a ride 
Death almost came calling in stride
Why don't habits suicide

Couple of mistakes that he committed was he overtook from wrong side. At the crossroad looking at amber signal in particular he should've slowed down instead of zipping in. He should've stayed in the extreme right lane well beforehand with indication signal ON if he wanted to take right turn.

Perhaps for him those were "I've been doing this for years" kind of 'skills' rather than mistakes. So how does one tackle such 'skill-full' mistakes?

Mistake-proof methods (Poka-yoke) should be in place particularly in high-probability high-risk zones. Poka-yoke is an innovation by Shigeo Shingo at Toyota. Poka stands for a mistake. Yoke stands for proofing against it. It's a commonsense improvement (Kaizen) but with a structure. In order to prevent nail-biting habit, application of something on fingers that tastes bitter is an age-old Poka-yoke used by a typical grandma.

For instance, in accident prone areas there should be guided lane dividers to prevent sudden lane changing habits. Rumblers should be provided to force slowing down at crossroads. Speed measuring devices should be installed alongwith cameras to detect speedsters.

In spite of the above, some practices (Habits!) get ingrained in us so much that they become our second nature. If the habits are for good then it's fine. Otherwise even if you want them to die they don't! Instead they make sure that you do!

By using various grandma kind (Sama-Dama) methods one may try to change habits piece-by-piece. But a piece still remains until you lose your peace. Habits do die but they die hard way.

Habit is a H. A. B. I. T.
Even if you remove H in it, A BIT remains.
Remove A; and BIT still remains.
Remove B; but until you remove 'I' in it, IT still remains.

The only way to remove 'I' in it is to teach IT (the self) by a stick if everything else fails. If you don't, the habit-prone may 'poke' a 'yoke' in the Poka-yoke itself.

Here's a MaiKu© on the topic.

Back-n-forth Habits sway 
Unless they die hardway
Few mistake-proof by-the-way 

MaiKu© Is My-Haiku

Freely ideate it's poetic rhymes

Any objective topic it chimes

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:
Please consider leaving a comment or sharing this post via social media.
Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?
In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !!
Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-1) 
Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-2
Discrimination Cremated! But How Long
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 

Thursday, 3 April 2014

No Time? Micro-Meditate!

Just read about Mindfulness and Micro-Meditation.

It reminds me of the tips in blogpost on self-energizing in a minute. It's about meditation in order to overcome overworking and tension.

If you are short of time to 'sit down and meditate' in a conventional sense, don't worry. Even a single spiritual breath cycle can do the magic if you do exercise your choice.

Just 'catch a minute' in order to micro-meditate and self-energize.

Even a Lift that takes a couple of minutes to reach it's destination offers an opportunity. Of course you must commit yourself to do so.

Like a 'standing-corpse', lean in a comfortable position against a support in a corner of the lift.

Close eyelids gently. Taking advantage of gravity, 'throw in your head'.

Relax all facial and body muscles including eyelids and eyeballs. 'Visit' them with 'mental eyes' to do so. Eyes dissipate maximum energy. So more and faster they are relaxed, more and faster you gain.

Take a deep breath... Gently! ... Without appearing to force it down your wind pipe!

While doing so let 'mental eyes' traverse the path of the breath.

As you inhale, feel cool breath entering your nostrils, touching it's walls, going deep down into your belly as much as possible and naturally.

As you exhale, feel it moving up into your lower chest region, then to your shoulder region and then out of the nostrils. While exiting feel warmth of the breath.

Now dwell a moment on your eyelids. Slowly and deeply breathe into the muscles of the eyelids. Feel the heat being thrown away from eyeballs to eyelids and finally into atmosphere. Feel that eyelids as well as your facial and body muscles are relaxed. Dwell into this feeling until the time on hand permits.

Gently open your eyelids. See naught while staring into space. Just an empty look into Zero. Walkout of the lift slowly as it reaches destination. Now you are more happy, with reduced level of anxiety and fear, 'ready to go' with more energy and confidence.

If you did it right then it's likely that you just had a micro glimpse into the most secret phenomenon: the phenomenon of buddhahood. If yes, then celebrate your new 'self', the new birth!

If you couldn't do it right, don't worry. At least 'you' tried to make a difference to yourself. Keep practising it until it becomes a habit.

Enjoy the day!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Eternally Happy!
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad
Want Need-Or-Want
How To Make A Difference
Love is Care.. Care is Love ! 
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like? 
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !!

Sunday, 16 March 2014

Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !

"Green tax of Rs 20 crore in kitty, but pollution in Thane remains high!"

This news that I read while sipping tea after a long drive of over 100 kilometers across Mumbai and Thane, reinforced writing this blogpost and its title.

Actually I had already begun to write this blogpost on studying various signals over a few days. Only some of them had 5...4...3...2...1... 'Second-tickers' that indicate time in 'seconds' the next signal would show up. 

More than half of almost a hundred signals that I studied didn't have 'ticking countdown timers' nor were they visible except to the first row of vehicles.

Purpose of the 'ticking' is to provide transparency so that speeding vehicles could predict when to halt and stationary vehicles could 'start' their engines just-in-time. Former would prevent accidents. And both, the former and the latter, would save fuel as well as pollution by preventing idle running of engines.

So it's not necessarily the old vehicles that cause pollution. Attitude of drivers in spite of the infrastructure such as above (or the lack of it) also contribute their might. Even new vehicles holding 'pollution-in-control' certificate 'vomit pollution'. 

Causes may be many that need to be treated at root cause level. It's actually easy and less expensive to do so.

Lack of proper maintenance, for instance. 

Attitude of 'managing' to seek pollution certificate.

Fitting 'timers' at all signals or fitting them at visible level.

Marking an area at busy signals (as yellow box-1, 2, 3, say) that indicates those many vehicles within a maked box could pass through a given 'timer-setting' of the signal. So only one batch of vehicles within the yellow box-1 would pass within the fall of one signal. 

Vehicles within yellow box-2 need not race-to-chase since the timer-setting of signal-1 won't be adequate to get them cleared. See the idea in sketch. 



The denomination of the boxes can be standardized in steps equivalent to the units of signal-time so that signal time can be adjusted as per demand. This is equivalent to a 'pitch' in 'just-in-time' or 'lean' operations that bring in visibility. Thereby it will reduce costs such as fuel consumption and pollution in case of traffic.

Installing proper signboards and indicators. In absence of that, many a time a driver ends up getting stuck on signals while he could have easily taken a couple of flyovers to reach his destination without any waiting time. 

This is analogous to a 50-story building employing say four high-technology lifts: one each reserved for going upto 10th floor, upto 20th floor, upto 30th floor, and upto 40th floor respectively; but not having a few pennies worth signboards. A first time visitor might end up landing into a wrong lift and shuttling among lifts and floors. Murphy's law usually takes over in such cases!

Tackling habits of people pressing switches of all the lifts at a time without reading signboards if at all they are readable, is another story of course! 

Shear waste of energy! Many a time road-signs are hidden behind political hoardings full of birthday wishes. 

In short, root cause of pollution is the wasteful human-activity that adds costs rather than value. 

Unless there is a reward mechanism to recognise all those stakeholders who involve themselves in finding out non-value-activities, merely punishing at symptomatic level is not going to be of much help. 

Authorities must listen to their voice on their real time difficulties. Leaders need to go to corresponding workplace (Gemba) in real time (Genjitsu) in order to do so so that they can see the difficulties themselves. They must treat those difficulties at root cause levels rather than merely giving first-aids to symptoms.

In absence of doing so, many more 'crores' might get collected as 'pollution tax' in kitty, but abnormality levels will remain high in multiples of hundreds!'

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: