Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Sunday, 10 April 2016

Robots Robots Everywhere , not a Soul to See !


This may not happen anytime soon in India , it could soon be a reality in Japan

If in doubt , look at the following figures for Robot Population :

*    Japan............... 310,508

*    USA.................  168,623

*    Germany..........   161,988

*    South Korea....... 138,883

*    China.............     96,924

*    Canada............    18,387

*    UK................  ..   15,046

*    India...............     7,840

*    Brazil................   7,576


Read these figures in following context :

#  In last 10 years , Japan's population shrunk by 1 MILLION people

#  Last week , in New York and California , minimum wage for unskilled
    labor was raised to $ 15 per hour ( approx Rs 1000 per HOUR ! )

#  A fresh Civil Engineering graduate in India gets paid Rs 15,000 / month
   ( Rs 75 per hour ! )

#  There are demonstrations by citizens in most European countries which
    are trying to introduce " Austerity Measures "(aka " Employee Benefits ")

#  My following blog :

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Monday, 21 September 2015

SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ?


The First Industrial Revolution started in Britain , with the invention of steam engine , which multiplied human power many times

With help of steam engine power , one man could do the job of ten men

Human productivity went up sharply , enabling production of ten times more goods , in ten times less time

Thousands of factories came up ; first in Britain , then in USA and gradually spreading to rest of Europe

But it took over a century to reach the poor countries of Asia / Africa / China

Under colonial rule , these countries were forced to export own raw materials to industrialized countries at a very cheap price and import their factory-made finished goods at very high prices

But as poor countries started catching up on factory-based manufacturing using its cheap labour , the developed countries are now worried !

One time importers of finished goods are now exporting those very products to the developed countries , which are finding it difficult to compete with the emerging markets

An outstanding example of this is the rise of China , in the past 25 years as the , " Factory of the World "

But Western countries are not resigned to their fate of a lowered

 " Standard of Living "


They are gearing up to usher :

The Second Industrial Revolution  !


In the form of Robots :

Robots manufacturing cars / appliances / machinery / anything
Robots 3 D printing products from designs downloaded from Net

Robots managing health care in hospitals

Robots serving food in restaurants

Robots carrying out office jobs

Robots teaching in schools

Robots entertaining

Robots everywhere !


And these are :

Robots which work 24 hours/day and do not ask for a salary

Robots that do not " go slow "or go on a strike

Robots that do not demand " Quotas / Reservations "

Robots that do not take holidays or take " Sick Leave "

Robots that do not resign / demand promotion

Robots that neither envy other robots nor sabotage 

Robots that do not complain against unpleasant work

Robots that do not get tired and need rest

Robots whose production does not drop after working for 8 hours

Robots that do not demand " Overtime Pay " @ 200 % of normal

Robots that perfectly co-ordinate their tasks with other robots

Robots that willingly " retire " at any age , whenever required

Robots that do not demand Unemployment/Retirement Benefits

 Robots which may , some day , provide you with emotional support when you are sick / depressed  !


And this Second Industrial Revolution is NOT going to take a hundred years to reach the shores of India


With spread of DIGITAL INDIA / Internet / Mobile Apps , it may take , no more than 20 years !


Question :

Fearing that it will create further unemployment , shall we try to stall its arrival  ?

OR ,

Will our Self-Employed and Start Ups expedite its arrival and imaginatively use it to create 100 new jobs for each lost job ?

Let us stop tinkering with ,

*  The India Aspiration Fund

*  The MakeinIndia Soft Loan Fund

*  The MUDRA Bank



Converting millions of Job-seekers into Job - Creators ,  would entirely depend upon Union Government quickly passing , what I earlier advocated as :


Start Up Act - 2015


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hemenparekh.in / blogs

11  April  2016

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Friday, 8 April 2016

Water Wars ?


Long time back , someone had said :

The third World War will be fought over water

I don't know about World War 3 , but I have a dreadful feeling that , soon enough , a Civil War may get fought over water in our country !

For decades , our Southern States have been fighting over the waters of Krishna , Kaveri , Godavari etc

Recently , Punjab has stopped supplying water to Haryana thru SYL ( Sutlej - Yamuna Link canal )

In the meantime , 10 States are declared " Drought Affected "

Section 144 has been imposed in Latur and other cities

Armed police are deployed to protect water-stealing from dams in Bundelkhand

Thousands of farmers in Maharashtra / Rajasthan are committing suicide because of crop failures , leading to starvation

Lakhs of drought-affected villagers are migrating to city-slums / railway platforms / under the city-bridges

Villagers are refusing to marry their daughters to youth in drought affected villages

Lakhs of women are trudging 10 KM in 40* C temperature to fetch a bucketful of water

Even children ( under age of 10 ) are leaving studies and waiting with pots , for the arrival of water tanker

Maharashtra CM , Fadnavis says : You may shift the IPL outside Maharashtra , if you wish  ! We are not supplying POTABLE WATER to stadiums !

What is holding him back to say : Sorry , potable or not , I will not allow IPL
to WASTE , 60 Lakh liters of water , under any circumstance !
  
Several World Bodies have forecast that by 2050 , millions will die in India due to water shortage


WHAT  IS  THE  PERMANENT  SOLUTION  ?


At the level of Central Government

*   Make " Water Conservation / Usage " , a  CENTRAL SUBJECT  in our
     Constitution . Remove it from the list of STATE SUBJECTS

*   Declare all existing sources of water ( Rivers and Lakes ) , as National
    Resources belonging to entire Nation and not to the particular State
     where these are  located

*   Make it Center's responsibility to decide which State shall use how
     much of each of these resource ( allocation / rationing )

*   Center will also be responsible for developing of future resources by
     digging lakes & ponds / building dams / interlinking rivers & lakes etc
     Use MNREGA funds for creating such assets

*   Center will not need permission of any State to implement such projects

*   Center will implement " River Interlinking " Project by 2025 , and for this,
     it will not require permission of any State

     As repeatedly lobbied by me , please find a way to divert BLACK MONEY
     to this Infrastructure SPV ( Tax haven or local - which is 100 times ! )

*   Mercilessly , shut down all factories dumping polluting effluents in rivers


#   At the level of State Governments

*   Make following mandatory for ALL buildings ( existing or future )

    +  Rain water harvesting system ( this tank to supply toilets / sinks etc )

    +  Recycling of water from Kitchen / Shower / Wash Basins, for use in
        toilets , by installing a simple sand filtering tank in society compounds

    +  Installation of water flow restricting devices in all taps

    +  Mechanism which stops water flow when hands are removed under tap

    +  Water Supply Cut of 25 % , round the year

         Do not raise Water Charges . The higher the charges , more ways will
         be found to evade ( as in case of Personal Income Tax ! )

         Water meters will get tempered or bypassed !


Note the following :

   

*   Of all the water that rains bring , 99 % flows out to seas, leaving 1 %
     on land

*   Out of this 1% , 99 % percolates into the ground , leaving 1 % ( of that
     1 % ) , into lakes above the ground !

*   75 % of earth's surface is covered with seas / oceans . So , really , there
     is PLENTY of water

*   Nature ( Sun ) has gifted the Earth with evaporation / condensation cycle
    which converts the salty sea water into distilled potable water,
    automatically / continuously , and deliver onto the land masses

    Amount of water falling as rain on land each year is 2.4 trillion meter cube ,
    more than 10 times the annual requirement of 7 billion earthlings , at the
    rate of 100 litres per person per day !
     

    As far as India is concerned , all that is required , is to dig 700,000
    ponds / lakes ( one in each village ) , where we capture / store rain water

*   These 700,000 ponds must be lined with Geo-Synthetic Fabrics to ensure
    that the captured water does not seep underground - a simple technology

*   Capturing most of rain water in these ponds , will raise the water table in
    bore wells

*   None of the above suggestions require Rocket Science !  But , even if it
    does , our Scientists who have sent Mars Orbital Mission , are quite
    capable of finding appropriate solutions !


I hope the Center / the State Governments and all the political parties , rise
above their differences and join hands , to avoid a CIVIL WATER WAR !


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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

09  April  2016

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Thursday, 7 April 2016

Short-Circuiting of Round-Tripping !


What is Round Tripping ?

Black Money sent to tax havens ( eg: Panama ) for laundering and which returns to the country of origin as White Money , in the form of investments

What is the Global Amount  ?

Approx $ 23 Trillion ( China's GDP is about $ 17 Trillion )

What is the mechanism ?

In India , it is LRS ( Liberalized Remittance Scheme ), under which any Indian ( including minors ! ) can remit abroad officially / legally , EVERY YEAR , $ 250,000 for any of the following reasons (and without prior RBI permission ! ) :

*  Under Current Account

   #  Medical Treatment
   #   Education

*  Under Capital Account

   #  Buying Property overseas
   #  Holding shares in an overseas company
   #  Combination of these two


What is the safeguard  ?

Details of foreign assets have to be declared in the Income Tax Returns

How black money gets sent to tax havens ?

Some amount by Hawala route but most by legitimate banking channels !
You don't see plane-loads of cash landing in Panama !

Does that mean Indian Banks are party to these ?

Without doubt ! They will advise you how to do this ! Of course, legally !

If these remittances are legal, will 500 Indians get jail ?

Forget it !

Most legal experts say , they will be let off with some fines , if they have failed to declare these assets in IT returns


Are laws designed so as to prevent Round Tripping ?

Far from that ! Here is what President Obama said yesterday :

" There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally is a huge problem

The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal , not illegal

We shouldn't make it legal to engage in transactions just to avoid taxes

A lot of these loopholes come at the expense of middle class families

Alternatively , it means that we are not investing as much as we should in schools , in making college more affordable, in putting people back to work rebuilding roads, our bridges, our infrastructure , creating more opportunities for our children  "


What  is  the  best  SOLUTION ?

*  Make it unnecessary for our Black Money to first travel abroad ( to tax havens ) , before returning ( as White Money ) and getting invested in capital market

*  Short-circuit the Round Trip by enabling our Black Money to become White Money , HERE  itself ( no need for help from Mossack Fonseca ! )

*  As suggested in my recent blog ( Make India a Tax Haven ? ), abolish Personal Income Tax ( remove incentive for tax evasion )

*  Enable direct investment of " Black-turned-White " money into government approved INFRASTRUCTURE BONDS , thru creation of designated bank accounts where Black Money can be deposited , without any questions asked

*  Obviously , interest / dividend earned from such investments will be tax
free , being Personal Income  !


Is this a practical solution ?

Not if you ask the Economists / Bankers etc

Just ask the man on the street  !

This is too serious matter to be left to the Experts !


Will such a bill pass the legislative muster ?

Rahul Gandhi promised to pass the GST bill in 15 minutes if amendments proposed by Congress get incorporated

" Short-circuiting of Round-Tripping Bill " will get passed in 5 minutes - and unanimously too !  You know why !

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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

08  April  2016

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Monday, 4 April 2016

Making India a Tax Haven ?


Yesterday's leak / report " PANAMA PAPERS ", revealed that some 500 Indians have stashed away abroad , billions of dollars worth of " Undisclosed Assets " , courtesy Mossack Fonseca of Panama , a money laundering law firm with staff of 600 , operating in 42 countries and having a client-base of 300,000

Now Panama is not the only tax haven on earth

There are others such as Switzerland , Cyprus, British Virgin Islands , the Isle of Man , Guernsey , Jersey etc

Nor is Mossack Fonseca the only money launderer. It is only the 4th biggest

Acting unusually fast , Union Government has set up a multi-agency group to investigate and bring to book , the suspected Indian tax evaders

While wishing all luck to this Group , we cannot overlook the terribly disappointing results of the Supreme Court monitored SIT , during the past 16 months ( viz: discovery of illegal assets worth around Rs 6500 Crore )


Experts are clamoring :

*  Tighten existing laws

*  Make illegal , anonymous investments ( eg: Participatory Notes )

*  Pass law to declare all undisclosed foreign assets as " National Property "


MY  SUGGESTION :

*   If you cannot lick them , join them !

*   Abolish Personal Income Tax

*   And , instead of a Tax Return , every existing tax payer ( approx , 4 cr )
     to file , annual DECLARATION  OF  ASSETS ( Movable and Immovable )

*   Introduce Amnesty Scheme under which , no questions will be asked as
     to the source of any amount of CASH deposited in a person's SPV
     INFRASTRUCTURE account ( at any local Indian bank of his choice )

*   Encourage those 500 Indians to liquidate those Undisclosed Assets
     abroad and deposit that CASH in SPV INFRASTRUCTURE accounts

     Of course , all Indian citizens can do likewise !

*   SPV INFRASTRUCTURE accounts can be used ONLY for investing in
     government approved Infrastructure Funds ( especially funds devoted
     to Renewable Energy / Swatchh Bharat / Health / Education / Homes
     costing less than Rs 5 lakhs , etc )

*   Make India a Tax Haven of sorts !

 
By no stretch of imagination , I am suggesting that India becomes a destination for parking

 *   Drug Mafia money

*    Terrorist Money

*    Bribe Money for international purchase contracts ( defense etc)


All I am saying is :

*    Take away incentive to evade taxes , thereby stopping future generation
      of Black Money

*    Channel all existing Black Money ( locked up in assets , in India or
      abroad ) into the main stream of economy ( Infrastructure Building )

*    Enable current annual inflow of inward remittances from overseas
      Indians to go up from $ 70 Billion to $ 700 Billion

*    Through rapid development of Infrastructure , generate Self
      Employment for 12 million youth every year

*    Drastically reduce FDI requirement for rapid growth of economy

*    By cutting down on government outlay for Infrastructure , reduce govt
      borrowing from market and consequent debt servicing

*    Raise GDP to 10 % by 2018


It is time to stop tinkering when govt has miserably failed to bring out black money stashed abroad (or locally) , nor succeeded in stopping future generation of Black Money


It was good that the NDA Government raised the expectations of citizens


Now , it is time to deliver on those expectations before Assembly Elections get over in 5 States

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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

05  April  2016

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