[Reader-list] Cotina Radio:This is Akhtar talking

[Lokesh]

dear All,

Over the last 6 months i have being trying to understand the practices 
that surounds the world of `duplicate` goods and technologies. I am 
posting a text that came about from a series of conversation with Akhtar 
Ali one of the many `worker/artisan/imitator` that inhabits this social 
world. This is part of my longer project to look at `innovation` in the 
`jugaad` (improvised) practices.

As usual, looking forward to comments and suggestions.

cheers
lokesh

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Cotina Radio:This is Akhtar talking


" I have passed all my life at Kotina. I used to tell my wife that if we 
have a son I will accommodate him somewhere here. After all at this 
threshold of forty it is difficult to look for work afresh."


When he lost his job of a radio technician to which he had contributed 
the best years of his life it was hardly difficult to read the emotions 
chasing each other on his face and in his eyes. However, he kept talking 
in detail about the history of his technique, skill and pains enjoying 
his tea. I had a chance encounter in a Union office in the sprawling JJ 
colony in Seemapuri with him who had risen from being a mere helper to 
become a master.


Akhtar who has crossed the 37th milestone of life stays along with his 
family in a Resettlement Colony at Seemapuri since 1967. When the hut of 
his father in Yamuna Bazar was razed Akhtar was hardly a year old. 
Speaking about this hoary tradition of levelling JJ in Delhi , mother of 
Akhtar Ali says," Government made us roofless with promises of a 22 
sq.ft plot but brought us to this open ground out of the city and dumped 
us here. We had not been able ever to gather our things, even take down 
the boards for keeping the household utensils when they brought 
everything down. They loaded us in a tempo and dumped on this open 
ground in the evening. " Many families have spent the following 3-4 days 
in the open. Now-a-days this open ground is a sprawling JJ colony of old 
Seemapuri. Akhar has also a two-story house in the lane directly 
opposite the Jama Masjid, Seemapuri about 10-15 houses inside. He stays 
there along with his mother, wife, a daughter and the family of his 
younger brother.


Hardly had he reached fourteen he thought of finding some work weighed 
down by the consideration of family responsibilities. In 1980-81 he came 
across a man at his Uncle's place where he occasionally visited. This 
man ran a small unit turning out 20-25 radio sets and send these for 
sale to the shop of his sister's husband at Kolkata. He purchased the 
spares from the Lajpatrai Market and himself did the assembly work. 
After completing one order and receiving payment for it alone that he 
took up another. Keeping constantly in touch with him Akhtar Ali 
resolved to take up the same work and started as an apprentice with him.


The arrival of coloured TV and VCR in India was years' away then. The 
radio was becoming quite popular. There was a wide scope for radio 
marketing from villages to towns. Big brands like Philips and Murphy had 
a stranglehold over the market. However, their price bracket was quite 
high severelly delimiting its market. During the 80s the local 
manufacturing played a decisive role in taking the radio to all classes 
of people. During these days the learning of assembling opened 
employment avenues. A number of institutes big and small had come up for 
technical training from place to place. You could learn the assembly 
work either from any teacher or else at these institutes. Akhtar was 
hardly in a position to undergo a diploma course and had to make do with 
the /ustad. /This time it coincided with the hectic preparations which 
were going on in Delhi for the coming Asiad. Construction work was going 
on apace. This attracted workers from villages in the bordering States. 
Most of them came to settle down in JJ colonies This was the population 
which just for ensuring its cussed existence subsequently entered as 
cheap labour in the local manufacturing activities.


 From 1981-84 Akhtar kept learning the skills at the feet of Zulkarnain. 
Side by side he kept testing his skills on the nicities of production. 
In the meantime Zulkarnain who was expert in the most intricate details 
of production started visiting a local unit Kotina Electricals. The 
company offered Zulkarnain an opportunity to work with them. According 
to Akhtar they said," Come over and we will pay you handsomely." 
Zulkarnain-e-Ali started working with them in 1984. Since then he has 
been working there as n engineer. Neither is Kotina ready to leave him 
nor he Kotina. His income there is more than any worker or engineer. 
This Engineer No.I gives designs for all the new circuits coming to the 
unit. When a IC with a new value comes into the market he designs a 
circuit and runs the piece to test its output to find out which PF is 
needed and where, what is the resistance required etc. Sometime after 
joining Kotina he closed down his own unit and took up Akhtar on his 
bandwagon.


Akhtar Ali started working on a piece-rate basis with Kotina Radio when 
Delhi was burning in the anti-Sikh riots consequent upon the 
assasination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Kotina was neither an old or 
popular brand then. The owner had put it up in 1981-82. The owner lived 
in Shahdara area in a two room tenement with a tile roof along with his 
family. Upto 1983 Akhtar's employer carried the ready goods to Lajpatrai 
Market on a cycle. He turned out 25-30 sets a day and kept them in the 
market. The production has reached to a daily average of 50-60 sets by 
1984. Initially he had an agreement with the shop there where he took 
all his goods. Towards the end of 1985 he himself hired a shop there. 
Sometime after this he went in for the boxes put up over the shops in 
the Lajpatrai Market purchasing one. However, this was brought down by 
government as an illegal construction. After that he hired another box 
from where he began marketing. However since the 80s a vast 
trasformation has come over in the stand of the Lajpatrai Market. Akhtar 
highlighted some tendencies revealed in these changes.


The constant disturbance and the continuous changes straightway 
adversely affects the production. The need to go in for new forms of 
sets and its internal wiring is the outcome of this process. Secondly, 
even if their goods are sold at the Market they receive orders directly 
at the factory both from the city as well as outside. The customer asked 
for designs according to his requirements and the production proceeds 
accordingly. Out of station parties have to be despatched the goods in 
cartons of varying capacities and forward them so that their 
representative could collect them from the station. Thirdly, one can get 
not only readymade goods but also spare parts in the Lajpatrai Market. 
People purchase these spares, take them to their towns where they get 
these assembled and sell them. Most of the spares for Kotina come from 
Lajpatrai Market. Kotina has direct business relations with other parts 
of the city and other States with the shopkeepers who exhibit their 
wares and sell them to the consumers.


Remembering his attraction for radio Akhtar says," I don't know who 
invented radio. When I came in this line they only knew that Philips and 
Murphy manufactures sets. We had seen only seen these which resembled 
big boxes one could see in shops these days. There were tubes inside. 
They were known as High Band.If you had an occasion to peep at the back 
of the TV you would have noticed that the picture tube is elongated 
towards the rear. The radio tubes were similar and a set contained 3-4 
inch long 4 to 6 tubes. The battery system was not there in them at the 
time. ..When we started production these were small two-band 
radios--medium and short wave." In 1994 Philips and Japanese brands 
became 4-bands on introduction of FM. The local production of FM sets 
began in 1996 when we at the Kotina went in for it."


Initially the output of stations in radio kept varying -sometime high 
,sometimes low. It was necessary to change the band, adjust the setting 
of the anttenna suitably. Today all these things have been epitomised in 
the IC dispensation with anttena nor the constant shifting from here to 
there


When Akhtar joined this work people had a liking for listening to radio 
news. Now-a-days it is the predelection for songs and new programmes on 
Radio Mirchi. The people in the rural area go in for BBC London news and 
Radio Ceylone. Akhtar says that the credit for expansion in the market 
for radios goes to these two channels. Kotina is comparatively in a 
better position now-a--days not only in market but in the local 
production and its sale. It is a well-known brand among 
consumers(especially the limited-income sector).It has a good market in 
different cities ,districts, small town to villages in Kolkata and UP 
regions. This industry launched with insufficient investment whose owner 
himself was a technician has not only held its own for the last 24 years 
but has also improved its returns. There are many aspects of this matter 
which helped this outcome.


Referring to its staying power in market Akhtar says that Kotina is a 
good invesment when compared to its price and quality, almost able to 
hold its own against Philips. Whenever Philips marketed a new model the 
owner would get one. It was thoroughly analysed ,"We used to copy down 
its circuit on paper. After brining it on paper we used to copy the 
design on the wiring plate. After this a radio set was made using it and 
verify where any technical lapse has remained. Sometimes the lapse is in 
earthing . In the copying of the circuit some lines might have been 
drawn rather thin or thicker necesssitating its rejection. However , it 
has been observed that after slowly resetting it, it becomes quite 
regular. It is only then that it is put on the production belt. "Similar 
the radio comes in various sizes 9, 12 or 18 inches etc. There are 
differences on account of voltage and band. Radios with 4 1/2 and 6 
volts are also made out. Similarly, in the beginning band radios were 
made. After FM came one more band was added to made it 3. Subsequently 
there was a further addition of 2 bands in FM, along with one additional 
band for TV. Now-a-days they come in 4 and 5 bands.


Most of the technician work on piece-rate basis. Akhtar also worked on 
the same basis for over 18-19 years. When he started work the rate was 
Re.1.25 per wiring, it went by 10 paise in 1986 bringing it to 
Re.1.35.This prevailed for four years when in 1990 it rose marginally to 
Re.`1.50. The current rate ranges from Rs.3 to Rs.5, FM Rs.5, 2 band Rs.3.


Except for packers, marketers and transports all other in the unit 
worked on the same i.e.piece rate basis. There are three grade in the 
manufacturing activities-wireman, fitter and tester. Secondly others who 
fashion the circuit design and do final checking. It is noteworthy that 
all the workers ,irrespective of the nature of their work got paid 
similarly i.e.Rs.3/-The maximum monthly emolument of packers, marketrs 
etc was Rs.4000/- per months, though in most cases it hovered between 
Rs.1200 to Rs.1500.However, the income of those working in any of the 
three grades on piece rate basis differed substantially from them, 
provided they got work.


Actually the wireman who undertakes wiring and soldering of plates could 
turn out only 25 to 30 plates daily. In comparison the fitter could fit 
out 50 sets on an average per day. An engineer could easily carry out 
tuning and checking of 100 sets daily quite easily. Thus their daily 
income varied from Rs. 75, rs.150 and Rs.300. Akhtar Ali feels ," It is 
the wireman whose work is the most strenous.Sitting steady for hours 
with concentration can be most tiresome but fetches the lowest income."


In such units there is a definite procedure of work, showing the 
division of labour quite clearly. However, the piece rate worker has to 
take many responsibilities . For example, should any lapse be revealed 
in a set during the final checking it has to be set right by that worker 
who has originally done the wiring. Generally the goods of two types may 
be referred back - one is due to internal lapse and another is setting 
right sets which have come back for replacement. As making good the 
lapse is the responsibility of the concerned worked but piece rate 
payment envisages there can be only a single payment once for working on 
a set, no separate or additional payment is made for the additional 
burden of setting the set right. However, where the daily production is 
of hundres of set and the wiremans and fitters may have different 
engineers how could it be possible to correlate a set to an specific 
individual? It is imperative to know this as in its absence how could it 
be possible to know who is an efficient worker and who is not? All the 
three -owner,engineer and technician --should know this. Consequently if 
a set comes back for some shortcoming to avoid that one has to slog for 
somebody elses's lapse he makes a sign on the back of the plate or put a 
cut on it with the soldering iron or else he may put up a different 
patch on it. This creats a distinct identity of the technician and the 
engineer and assists them in ensuring that they attend only to their own 
original work.


It is noteworthy that this locally manufactured goods have different 
users who cannot afford to go in for branded radioes. The cheap sets are 
meant for them.Where a 4 1/2 band Philips radio sets is priced at Rs. 
870/- and 6 volve at Rs.970/- the corresponding local set comes in a 
mere one to two hundred chips. Consequently it is necessary for the 
manufacturers to ensure that their investment is low and turnout is more 
For this purpose he has to watch the market response to new technique, 
new parts and their price.Akhtar says,"In Lajpat Rai market you could 
set with FM ,with TV et all can be had for Rs.100 on the footpath or the 
small side bazars What the local manufacturers do is put up a IC and the 
set starts working ,FM will operate.The Chinese ICs have all the 
functions in them." At this price not only the sellers but even the 
manufacturers can get a handsome margin.Even after defray all expences 
Akhtar's factory owners gets Rs. 50 per set..At present his daily 
turnout and sale is a thousand sets.Small shopkeepers who turn out sets 
with non-descript labels work on a lesser margin of Rs.20 to Rs. 
25/-.For this purpose it is necessary that one should know everything 
about every ware offered in the market. Akhtar says, "Where one 
shopkeeper charges Re.1.50 for a spare part another offers it for 
Re.1.25 One has to find out what is the different between the 
two.Initially Kotina employed most of the spare parts of Philips make in 
its set. Slowly with the growing competetion it made some changes. Thus 
initially Philips made gang was fitted in its set which came for about 
Rs.13 .Now it is some duplicate resembling Philips gant and costs 
Rs.8.86. Now-a-days the demand for FM is so much that pelple fit even a 
gang worth Rs.4.70..Not that the spare parts have become cheaper but 
that their duplicates are coming in the market. Every original has its 
duplicate. Now even there is dupliate of the duplicate . "This variation 
in prices is quite important for both the local manufactures and sellers 
comparatievely reducing its dependence on big capital.


Once its brand was established in the local market Kotina started 
supplying goods to various other places. There was keen competetion in 
the market.Many a cheap brands had established themselves in the market. 
In this contest everybody studies the market and resorts to marginal 
reduction in price.For covering this margin it also introduces some 
small change in its produce. As Akhtar says,"If any buyer asked for 
price reduction the owner would say that it is impossible to reduce it 
even by a couple of rupees. However, if you persist I would have bring 
out another edition. If the customer would nervously ask if he would 
change the produce the owner would reassure that it would not be so. He 
would just use a cheaper cover or body. However, these remained the same 
and the place inside was deprived of some paraphernalia which would 
affect the sound." Akhtar further adds, " This is imperative if one has 
to survive in competetion e.g. cut down the margin according to the 
demand necessitating the use of duplicate spares for original. If 
anybody shoots past would forge ahrea. Nobody would pick up the loser"

When Akhtar started work there was an another company who brouht out 
radioes under the brand name Al Cone. There were yet other units also 
but Al Cone enjoyed quite a good market. It had a factory in Shahdara 
and also a shop in Lajpatrai Market. This was an established local brand 
of the time.Kotina had just started production and in order to 
established itself it took on the brand head on. For some time there was 
a keen competetion on price and quality in the market.During this period 
Al Cone discontinued production and started getting goods manufactured 
from other small-scale units, affixed the Al Cone sticker and 
market.Thus, the product was Al Cone only in name and the entire product 
came from outside. Now, Kotina expanded work in its unit, expanded the 
facory, brought out quality goods,increased work-strength and secured a 
strong presence in the market.


Evidently there was keen price competetion in the market,especially when 
many units were presenting identical goods. Kotina faced the same 
experience. It is significant that when Kotina established its name in 
the market after taking into account the technical nicities of Philips 
new people were bound to jump into the market for competing with them. 
After all it is a matter of changing a single word.Akhtar tells, " One 
man named his produce Motina . It looked just like Kotina but the goods 
inside were all inferior. Now everybody does not peer at the name and 
takes it that it was Kotina. Similarly they just replaced the ' i ' in 
Philips with an' e '.and markets the goods by just changing one single 
word. Neither is this very difficult. Lajpatrai is a market where number 
plate of any type can be had. They would change any company's monogram 
just marginally enough as not to impinge on the customer's attention. 
Even if caught he would still insist that its produce is quite 
different. Our label is different. Our sound is different. This and 
that. Here he would emphasise these minor variations. " Something like 
this happened with Kotina also. The sale of Motina brand affected the 
sales of Kotina.He drove away the Motina brand goods from the market and 
also its factory workers. However, Akhtar pleads," But Montina was 
marketing goods under a different name." The age of Competetion will 
always rule in the market


Akhtar after passing through all these problem picked up all the 
intricacies of a production unit and as always happenes also taught up 
some new unskilled recruits.Once he started work in Kotina he always 
continued to be there never even thinking of going elsewhere or started 
his own production.He started to work there as if the unit belonged to 
him. He never thought it important enough to think about the potential 
closing down or his being driven out. Suddenly...


On 1st February 2002 Aljtar as usual reached the unit on his old 
co-travelled, the cycle, negotiating the lanes of Seemapuri, crossing 
busy thoroughfares. He god busy in work. He had no premonition that this 
would be an unforgettable day for him. He had a heart attack in the unit 
the same day. When the attack came on he was with his old tutor engineer 
with whom he had been associated as a help for the last one year trying 
to pick up some remnant pieces of skill. When this happened it was the 
last month of the period. Next he would started working as engineer in 
his own right.Akhtar sayss,"On the day the tutor had asked me to test 
the tuning of some sets and finalise them. This involved frequest going 
up and down I was on the occilator tuning . Suddeny there was a strange 
feeling in my chest as if somebody was bursting blows on me from behin. 
I started perspiring and lie down there itself on the slab. But the pain 
and panic kept increasing. The foreman Tipu and some other boys picked 
me up and carried me to a doctor."


A heart attack when only just 35. He was in the hospital for a few days 
and then returned home. As there was even still no improvement the 
doctor advised him complete rest for three months. However, on account 
of the long-drawn out treatment as well as household expences only led 
to mounting debts. It was very difficult to carry on and he returned to 
work earlier. However, the owner asked him to work at home and not to 
come there.During this time the two candidates under training in the 
same unit would bring plates and carry back the wired plates. When there 
was some improvement in health after three months he went back to the 
factory . He would also bring some work at home and also taught the 
technique to his wife.His wife picked up the wiring work quite nicely. 
She would attend to the domestic work as also plate wiring. This went 
on. His wife says " I had began working as we had to repay the loans Now 
I feel that I was just sitting idly at home. Now I could bring in some 
income from this work.."


After 2000 quite a change has come over in the atmosphere of the city. 
An exercise to make Paris of Delhi was under way. There was a vigorous 
drive for demolition of JJ colonies.Now after the 1996 orders of the 
Supreme Court closing down 168 bigger factories in 1996 the small-scale 
industries were now in the queue.There was an unsuccessful attempt in 
2001 to shift the small-scale units to conforming zones.The legal action 
for relocation had begun. However, neither the owners nor the workers 
approved of going down to Bawana and Narela.


Kotina Electronics had also the premonition of danger and in 
2002.instead of going down to Bawan ,put up a Rs.3-crore plant in 
Tronika City in UP abutting on Delhi.A unit which had stated with 
marginal capital nearabout in 1982 had put up a 3-crore plant in 
2002.Evidently, it was difficult to contine work during the process of 
shifting to a new place. They otherwise also felt that a transfer to 
Bawana was a losing proposition. Consequently, slowly within a year upto 
the middle of 2002 Kotina shifted all its activities to the Tronika 
City. The tecnnicians and workers were directly affected by this. By the 
end of 2003 all the piece rate workers had been removed including Akhar. 
For Akhtar already struck by the shifting this was unimaginable. He has 
this to say about the development," Now-a-days the owners are passing 
through this phase.Even those whose factory was shifted and others who 
had not joined this bandwagon. "


The opinions of Akhtar Ali and his colleagues about this discharge from 
the factories and shifting of the units are quite interesting.They feel 
that this is a diplomatic action of the government . It wanted to shift 
the factories to such places where it could keep a complete track of its 
activities and income. Factories in residential areas only declae half 
of its income to government e.g against a production of 100 units only 
50 are declared.


It is noteworty that Kotna has not totally cut off work at the original 
place.However, both its nature and volume has undergone changes. Only a 
couple o engineers and some boys are working there. The wiring is got 
done from outside against orders as they were entrusting to Akhtar Ali 
at home. The unit only attends to fitting and testing whereupon the 
goods are packed and despatched out.


Consequently, two changes could clearly be observed in the Tronika City 
plant. For one out of the 40-45 orignal workers less than half have 
remained there. They have mostly been replaced by young girls. The other 
is a transormation in technique. .Earlier the soldering work was done 
manually . There is a machine for this in the Tronika City. Akthar 
remarks, "Soldering machine has taken away employment of many workers."


For workers living in Seemapuri and the trans-Yamuna region may not find 
it difficult as well as uneconomical to travel to Tronika City for work. 
Akhtar feels,"This is a winning situation for the ownes. He had to pay 
from 75 to Rs.300 from wireman to engineer daily. He now employs girls 
there who are paid Rs.1000 to Rs.2000 per month. Thus even after paying 
Rs.50 per day he saves Rs.25/-. " In new units all the girls are 
assembled at one place ,given plates for wiring. On a average a girls 
wires almost 50 plates per day.After this the soldering is got done 
mechanically. There is the engineer there for the testing and checking 
work. Akhar says, " Even at the rate of Rs.3 per day he is paying at the 
minimum Rs. 100 less.At the rates prevailing in the old units he would 
have had to pay more."


Akhtar feels that besides these transformations in the techniques and 
mehods of radio production there could be some other reasons behind the 
removal of him and his colleagues.It could be some demands which they 
had put before the owner, though till then they were not members of any 
Mazdoor Union.Even then they had three demands.


One was of water The factory was on the upper floor and the ground floor 
was the residence of the owner. There was no separate arangements for 
the factory workers for drinking water. Akhtar says, " Water was quite a 
problem during summer.We asked him to entrust the work of providing 
water to any salaried employees. However , he paid no attention to this 
request."


Anothr was for increasing the piece rate. He has been paying the Re.3 
rate for quite some time whereas the market rate was Rs.5.


Third related to time. If a large order was received the technicians had 
to work da y and night for which no allowance for food etc. was 
available. While on duty they had to spend from their own pockets for 
food. In addition they had also asked for Fund and Bonus.


Most of the workers would prevail upon Akhtar to take up the matter with 
the owner.," You are an old hand .You talk to him." Perhaps they felt 
that the owner would not avoid a request from an old worker. However, 
shortly after this the owner had told them that ince factories were 
being shifted they better find out some alternative work.


However, Akhtar Ali who had already lost his job decided to approach the 
Union against this decision.I came across him in the Union office. His 
case against the forcible removal is going on in the Labour Court.


After all this long voyage from Radio Ceylone to Radio Marchi it was 
just possible that with the experience of 20 years and armed with all 
the intricies of radio work he would have started his own business with 
a small capitaal. During the couple of initial meetings with him I had a 
feeling that sooner or later he would think over the matter.Akhtar did 
think but quite differently which was rather disturbing for me after 
knowing his odyssy of life. When I asked him he says, "I would do radio 
work only if I get work at Kotina . Otherwise whatever I would do quite 
away from this line. Even now he has not finally decided what he has to 
do for his future. According to him the radio is no more as paying as is 
necessary for the present times. For bringing out a radio using new 
spare requires immence capital. It could be around five lakhs according 
to his estimate


Akhar Ali who had devoted the best years of his life on radio technique 
new a days runs,hold your heart, a fruit juice handcart in Semapuri for 
meeting his household expences and defraying the court expenses.


(translated by Subhash Gatadey )