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

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Aadhar : Not Niradhar

Time  and  Tide  wait  for  No Man  !


Nor does technology wait for the Supreme Court to ponder and decide !


With regard to “ Aadhar “ , SC is hearing some 21 cases for past 2 years


Yesterday , Chief Justice , Shri Misra decided to appoint a 5 judge Constitutional Bench to hear these cases and decide


One of the important issue relates to “ linking of Aadhar  with a user’s Mobile Number


Petitioner says : This is illegal / un-constitutional


It is possible that SC may agree with his argument


But government lawyer , Shri Venugopal is not worried !


How come ?


Aadhar  ID > < Mobile Payment App / Bank Account > < Mobile Number


What is there to worry if Aadhar is not DIRECTLY linked to the Mobile Number ?


As long as it is INDIRECTLY linked  !


And it seems NPCI mobile wallet app BHIM , which is cantered around Aadhar , is about to devour / engulf , ALL other Mobile Wallet Apps , installed on millions of smart phones

( see news report below )



It is only a matter of time before ALL E-Commerce Apps will be linked to BHIM


And ALL products and ALL services will get sold / offered ON-LINE  !


If the Hon Judges of SC get to read this email , they may not want to waste their time !




MOVE TO BOOST WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF UPI - All for Bhim, Bhim for All, as Banks to Align Pay Apps

( Source : Economic Times / 31 Oct  2017 )



Indian banks, both public and private, are set to bring their digital payment solutions under the umbrella of Bhim or the Bharat Interface for Money, in a move that could boost widespread adoption of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).


Banks will now display Bhim as a prefix to their own UPI applications in a bid to erase confusion among users.


In turn, this will help promote UPI as the single means of payment for smartphone-based small value retail transactions, according to bankers who see this as a branding exercise similar to how merchants display payment options for credit and debit card users.


“The UPI front end of the bank apps will be changed to include the name Bhim, though this will be a nomenclature change. Eventually everything will become part of the larger Bhim family,“ said one bankers directly aware of the development.


“ This should help clear all forms of confusion among merchants accepting UPI and consumers using UPI for payments.“


Bankers in the know told ET that since BHIM has become synonymous with digital payments, it will also help people to identify with the application easily.


 Further, it will also give a single identity to all the UPI apps of the different banks.


Also, this could give access to the promotional campaigns run by the government to the users of bank-led UPI apps which till now was restricted to Bhim users.


“Since there is a a wide-scale promotion campaign being run around Bhim, it has been decided through consensus that all bank apps should be renamed under the aegis of Bhim,“ said a senior public sector banker.


Bhim was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last December, as a government promoted UPI application to promote digital transactions for peer-to-peer payments.


BHIM emerged as a direct competitor for bank-led UPI apps like Axis Pay, SBI Pay, as well as non-bank UPI players like Flipkart-owned PhonePe and internet major Google's payment application Tez.


Now with the rebranding, bank-led UPI apps, for example, are being renamed as Bhim SBI Pay, Bhim Axis Pay, and Bhim RBL Pay.


National Payments Corporation of India which runs the BHIM application and manages the UPI railroads, has notified banks to place Bhim / UPI prominently at merchant checkout locations.


Industry executives are of the view that if every UPI app gets branded as Bhim, then it could have a major effect on merchant adoption of the payment interface and will also benefit non-bank payment platforms. As of now UPI adoption has mainly been driven by peer-to-peer transactions.


“All banking or non-banking UPI apps work on the same back end promoted by NPCI, since all these apps are interoperable the decision to market UPI as a common brand will help popularise it among the masses,“ said Rahul Gochhwal, co-founder of Trupay.



To know where all of this will lead to , read :


BHIM:  the Unstoppable  [ 14 April  2017  ]






31  Oct  2017



Monday 30 October 2017

BHIM gets a Voice !



Economic Times ( 29 Oct ) carries following news report :

=====
==================================================


MPFI plan to come out with user-friendly features
 

The Mobile Payment Forum of India (MPFI), a think tank, has set its eyes on coming out with a number of user-friendly features like voice-based authentication, a top official said.
 

A joint initiative of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, Hyderabad and Rural Technology Business Incubator, IIT Madras, MPFI's mission "is to enable mobile payments and financial services through secure, efficient and low cost transaction." 


It played a key role in developing interoperability and security standards for Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), the basic platform for mobile payments, and later the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), built using IMPS.
 



"MPFI will focus on futuristic solutions such as voice based authentication and security and privacy, among others," MPFI Chairman Gaurav Raina said. 




Raina, a Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), said others like creating user awareness, simplifying message formats for SMS banking, proximity payments and Near Field Communication (tap and pay) would also be taken up in the coming months.
 

For instance, MPFI was working towards standardisation of message formats for SMS banking across banks, he said.
 

On voice-based authentication, he said it was being assumed that there was a certain level of literacy whenever a financial transaction is done, but the aim was to make it easier for more and more people.
 

Further, elderly people may not be comfortable with other kinds of technology, he said.


"So can we not think of a world where voice plays a very important role in banking," he said on efforts on designing voice-based authentication.







Thank  You  , Shri  Raina  :


Thank you for moving forward to realize what I envisaged in :



BHIM ;  the Unstoppable  [  14  April  2017  ]




Inching Forward ?  [  20  May  2017  ]



Not exactly BHIM 4.0  [  19  Sept  2017  ]


https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/09/not-exactly-bhim-40.html

 

 

31  Oct  2017

 

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs




Sunday 29 October 2017

#Federalism ?

Federalism  ?


After assuming power some 40 months back , no doubt NDA government made a few mistakes – like the ill-fated “ Land Acquisition Bill



Surprisingly BJP ruled States ( such as Gujarat / Maharashtra ) came out with their own versions , based on :


Land Acquisition Solution  [  05  May  2015  ]


Now these States have no difficulty in getting the farmers to give up their farm lands for Infrastructure Projects .


I believe , even the new State of Telengana and its twin Andhra have adopted the route of  “ making the farmers , a stake holder and share in the prosperity on a permanent basis


Then , in announcement of DE-MONETIZATION , NDA government made some mistake as well , but I am still hoping that they will come out of this CHAKRA-VIEWH , by implementing :





============================================================================


Even as the various political parties – and sections of public – continued to focus on these “ shortcomings “ of NDA government , its  greatest achievement  has gone almost unnoticed !


The achievement of ushering FEDERALISM in India

==================================================================================


Federalism 1.0   [  01  Jan  2015  ]  NITI  Aayog


Reconstituting old Planning Commission and forming of NITI Aayog – National Institute of Transforming India


NITI Aayog has , as its members , Chief Ministers of all the States – including States where opposition parties rule


During its existence , NITI Aayog has come up with many far-reaching policies which will truly transform India . All of these policies emerged after intense debate and reaching a CONSENSUS


==================================================================================


Federalism 2.0  [  08  Aug  2016  ]  GST  Act



After more than a year of CONVINCING the opposition parties , government finally succeeded in passing the GST Bill in Lok Sabha


Then a group of State Finance Ministers ( including from opposition parties ruled States ) struggled for months to finalize the formation of GST Council – once again with REPRESENTATION of ALL states


Over the past 14 / 16 months , GST Council met nearly 30 times to evolve the rules / regulations and GST rates for thousands of items – all through CONSENSUS


After roll out on 01 July 2017 , GST Council keeps meeting , almost twice a month , to sort out problems faced by businesses / traders / industries etc – again thru CONSENSUS



=======================================================



Federalism 3.0  [  Dec  2017  ]  Ram Mandir



I believe the Supreme Court will start the final hearing of this decades-old dispute between the Hindus and the Muslims , on 05 Dec 2017


I urge ALL the Political Parties / the Supreme Court and the Public-at-large , to reach a CONSENSUS ( in the spirit of FEDERALISM ) , as suggested in :


SarvaDharma Sthanam ?  [ 02  Oct  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/10/sarva-dharma-sthanam.html

 

=======================================================

 



Federalism  4.0  [  Jan 2018  ]  Formation of State Governments



In Dec 2017 , elections for the State Legislatures will be held in Gujarat / Himachal Pradesh


Based on which party wins a clear majority , governments will be formed in Jan 2018


As per various surveys , BJP is likely to win in both the States with handsome majority or even absolute majority


This offers to BJP , a golden opportunity to come forward and offer to form “ Coalition Governments “ in both the States – despite no need to do so !



Making of such an offer , will serve following purposes :


·         It will convince our 870 Million voters that BJP truly believes in FEDERALISM


·         It will ensure for BJP , 350 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha election



·         These State Level “ Pilot Projects “ will silence the “ Doubting Thomases “ for ever



For formula of such a “ Coalition Government “ , look up :


AConstitutional Coalition Government ?  [  02  Oct  2016  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-constitutional-coalition-government.html

 

ConstitutionalCoalition Aftershocks !  [  02  Oct  2016  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/10/constitutional-coalition-aftershocks.html

 

====================================================

 


Federalism 5.0  [  May Day – 2018  ]  Kashmir



Empower our Interlocutor to make following offer to all parties ( Hurriat / National Conference , included ) :



If you give up all talk of Azadi / Autonomy , I will try to convince the Central Government ,



#   To retain Article 370 permanently


#   To hold fresh state elections in May 2018


#   Amend the Constitution which would allow formation of a “ Coalition Government “ in
     Kashmir , with Ministerial seats distributed in proportion to the “ percentage of
     seats won / percentage of votes polled “ by the contesting parties , with no recourse
     for a “ Vote of Confidence / Vote of No Confidence / Imposition of President’s Rule
    If you believe that YOU represent the WISHES of Kashmiris , then prove it in a
    democratic manner



=======================================================



Federalism  6.0  [  May  2019  ]  Formation of Central Government



Enthused by the “ Pilot Projects “ – and learning a few lessons in actualizing of FEDERALISM in  Gujarat / HP - , let BJP commit in its  Election Manifesto – 2019 :


“ If voted to absolute majority , we promise to amend the Constitution before Dec 2019 and form a Coalition Government at the Centre by Jan 2020


======================================================



Dear Shri Narendrabhai :


To create a Federal Germany , Bismarck took 20 years ( 1850-70 ) and shed a lot of blood



In 2017 , you have the opportunity to unify Indian States as never before – and in a democratic / peaceful / all-embracing manner – a Sardar Patel like statesmanship !



In fact , this is your chance to leapfrog China and offer to the warring factions of IraqSyriaAfghanistanYemenPalestine and of numerous African countries engaged in virtual Civil War , a new alternative for achieving peace and prosperity




30  Oct  2017