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

Friday 30 September 2016

INTEGRATED , WE SUCCEED / STAND-ALONE , WE FAIL !


United we  Succeed  :  Divided we Fail
Times of India ( 29 Sept 2016 ) carries a news report titled :
" CCEA clears Rs 2,256 cr project for CBEC's GST integration "
Details are :
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CCEA today cleared a Rs 2,256 crore IT project Saksham of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, which will help integrate CBEC's system with the GST network before the rollout in April next year.

The implementation strategy for the project will be to ensure readiness of CBEC's IT framework by April, 1, 2017, when GST is to be introduced, an official statement read.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Project Saksham, a New Indirect Tax Network (Systems Integration) of CBEC.

Project Saksham will help in implementation of goods and services tax (GST), extension of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) and other taxpayer-friendly initiatives under Digital India and Ease of Doing Business of CBEC.

"All taxpayers/importers/exporters/dealers under various indirect tax laws administered by CBEC -- presently about 36 lakh -- are likely to go up to over 65 lakh after introduction of GST," the statement added.

CBEC's IT structure needs to integrate with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) for processing of registration, payment and returns data sent to CBEC as well as act as a front-end for other modules like audit, appeal and investigation.

There is no overlap in the GST-related systems of CBEC and GSTN, the statement said.

"This IT infrastructure is also urgently required for continuation of CBEC's e-services in Customs, central excise and service tax, implementation of taxpayer services such as scanned document upload facility, extension of Indian Customs SWIFT initiative and integration with government initiatives such as e-nivesh, e-taal and e-sign," the statement added.

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Indeed a very good beginning at integrating Government Departments / Databases / Processes

I hope , someday soon , NDA government will take the next step described below ( and sent to all Ministers as email ) :

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Thursday, 3 April 2014


E - Governance ?



Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption  ?


Most certainly


Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :



>  Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )


>  Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )


>  Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )


>  Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )


>  Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )


>  Information Bureau                        (  IB   )


>  Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )


>  Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )


>  Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )


>  Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )


>  Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States ).... (  ACB  )


>  Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )


>  Lok  Ayukts    (  States   )


>  Lok Pal           ( Central  )




Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away  ?


Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years  ?


No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter - agency rivalry to get credit - something difficult to eliminate altogether


But , I believe , the most important reason is :



Lack of a COMMON  / COMPUTERIZED database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated

And , which is readily " Accessible " to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )



Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on " Suspects " in its own 
" Departmental Database " , which is never shared with other Agencies ,
leading to ,


>   Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information


>   Fractured / scattered profiles of " Suspects "


>   Enormous waste of time / resources



What will help  ?



>  Dismantling of individual departmental databases


>  Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database


>  All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON
     database , with nothing preserved on local computers


>  All data-entry FORMS to be ONLINE . No paper forms at all


>  All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )


>  " Access Rights " to individuals , based on Biometric Identification




Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April  ?  ( Congress /  AAP missed this boat  ! )


It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,


" If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE  - and do it within 6 months of assuming power "

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30  Sept  2016


  




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