Poverty Declines !

We must believe Montek Singh Ahluwalia ( Deputy Chairman – Planning Commission of India ), when he says poverty declined during 2007 – 2012.

Poverty in India, according to him, came down from 37 % ( in 2004 ) to 32 % ( in 2009 ).

Now, that is 70 million people !

It is another story that the Supreme Court of India, criticized the Planning Commission for employing the daily expenditure criteria for deciding the “ Below Poverty Line – BPL “ people as those whose daily expenditure ( on food / shelter / clothing ) is less than,

Ø  Rs.12 ( $ 0.26 ) in rural areas

Ø  Rs.17 ( $ 0.38 ) in urban areas ( enough to buy 4 cups of tea )

In the next Plan Period ( 2012 – 2017 ), how about pulling-up 200 million people above the poverty line by changing the daily expenditure criteria to

Ø  Rs.7   ( $ 0.15 ) in rural areas

Ø  Rs.12 ( 0.26  )   in urban areas

Montek may want to “ export “ this innovation to other poor countries.

With regards

hemen  parekh

Impossible Task ?

Bombay Municipal Corporation relaxed the labor recruitment criteria to run 4 Km distance in 25 minutes now, against the 15 minutes stipulated earlier.

Candidates are complaining that its an impossible task, considering that not a single candidate could successfully run 4 Km in 15 minutes.

But then, interviewing 300,000 candidates is not an easy task either !

Even if the interview panel was to interview 1 candidate every minute and for 8 hours per day, it would take 625 working days !

And since Municipal Offices work for no more than 150 days in a year, that would take more than 4 years to select 3,916 conservancy workers.

So what ? Streets of Mumbai are cleaned only once in 4 years !

With regards

hemen  parekh

Entertainment for Jobless

According to one estimate , British Government spent $ 34 millions on the Royal Wedding of Prince William with Kate Middleton.
Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne must be thinking ,
“ What the hack ! This is peanuts when compared to my 2011 Budget deficit of $ 426 billions. And surely the British population of 62 million enjoyed $ 0.5 worth of entertainment watching the wedding. Many are jobless in any case and have nothing better to do. And don’t try to confuse people by saying British industry will lose $ 50 billion because of long 3 day holiday. “
Ministers of India’s Central and State Governments are not least impressed with this logic.
They have been using this argument for decades !

With regards

hemen parekh

Poll Statistics — 2

In the 4 Indian states where polls are under way [ April – May 2011 ], how many current MLAs have assets more than Rs. 1 Crore ( 10 million ) ?
Take a look :
> Tamil Nadu 57 [ 27 % ]
> Assam 16 [ 13 % ]
> West Bengal 7 [ 0.02 % ]
> Kerala 8 [ 0.05 % ]
{ % refer to MLAs analyzed }
Don’t be surprised if these numbers go up 300 % in the new legislature ! And don’t ask for the secret of multiplying wealth several folds as soon as you get elected ! May be your voters gifted on your birthday !
And “wealth-multiplication “ has nothing to do with what party you belong to !

With regards
hemen parekh

Good looks kill job chances !

Bradley Ruffle and Ze’ev Shtudiner sent 5000 CVs against 2500 advertised job openings.

For each application they sent two CVs, one without a photograph and the other containing a photograph of either an “ attractive looking ” man or woman or a “ plain looking ” man or woman.

Here is what they found :

Ø  20 % of the “ attractive “ men received a response

Ø  9  % of the “ un-attractive “ men received a response

Ø  14 % of the men who did not include their photo, received a response

What happened to the women applicants ?

Ø  Women who attached no picture to their CV were 22 % more likely to receive a response than women with “ plain ” picture – and 30 % more likely than women with an “ attractive “ picture !

Likely reason ?

Investigators’ guess ( after meeting those who screened the applications ) :

 >   Persons screening applications were “ Single, Young Women “ !

Not difficult to figure out the results if the persons screening were “ single, Young Men “ !

[ source : Times of India / April 20,2011 ]

With regards

hemen  parekh

A Vote of No Confidence ?

Times of India [ Feb. 03,2011 ], reports the findings of a survey done by Synovate – a global market research agency – which polled 2500 respondents in Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata,Chennai,Bangalore,Hyderabad,Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

Here are the findings :

Ø  Price rise has impacted family budget………………………………. 97 %

Ø  Blame Centre / State for inflation………………………………………..86 %

Ø  Say Govt hasn’t done all it can to curb prices…………………… 62 %

Ø  Say corruption at all-time high………………………………………….  83 %

Ø  Feel politicians main culprit……………………………………………….  60 %

Ø  Say Govt not serious about tackling graft…………………………. 64 %

Ø  Say Central Govt’s image damaged by spate of scams……..96 %

Has the Central Government got courage to conduct a national referendum ( only tick, YES  or  NO  ) asking :

“ Shall this Govt resign and conduct a mid-term election ? “

With regards

hemen  parekh

Poll Statistics — 1

In the 4 Indian states where polls are under way [ April – May 2011 ], what are the percentages of female MLA [ Members of Legislative Assembly ] currently ?
Take a look :
 Tamil Nadu ………….. 9 %
 Assam ………….. 10 %
 West Bengal ………… 13 %
 Kerala …………… 5 %
It seems, like Lokpal Bill, Women’s Reservation Bill too will take 50 years to become a reality !
With regards
hemen parekh

two Indias.

On April 20, 2011, the Supreme Court of India told the Central Government ,

“ We can’t have two Indias. You want the world to believe that we are the strongest emerging economy, but million of poor and hungry people are a stark contrast. It is a tragedy of sorts. We have our food granaries full, and in many places, overflowing. And there is a prediction of bumper crop this year. If it’s so, why not allocate substantial food grains to take care of hunger and malnutrition ?”

Could following have prompted the Supreme Court to make these remarks ? :

Ø   2010-11 harvest of food grains will be at 232.1 million tonnes, the second highest of all times

Ø   Total effective food storage capacity in the country is less than 3 million tonnes

Ø   Over the last 10 years, 1 million tonnes  of food grains have rotted in the godowns of Food Corporation of India

Ø   435 million Indians [ 36 % of 1210 million population ] are below poverty line, unable to spend even Rs.12 ( $ 0.21 ) per day on food / clothing / shelter

For this “ Second “ India comprising the remaining 36%, it is starvation from birth until death ! To them a GDP growth rate of 9 % makes no sense !

With  regards

hemen  parekh

A Full Blown Crisis ?

World Bank president Robert Zoellick warns that the world is one shock away from a full-blown crisis.
Here are my guesses re: where that one shock may come from :
> European Invasion [ Libya ]
> Ethnic Massacres [ Africa ]
> Population Explosion [ India ]
> Regimes Overthrow [ Middle East ]
> Nuclear Nemesis [ Japan ]
> Economic Collapse [ PIGS ]
> Overheated Economy [ China ]
> Melting Snows [ Poles ]
> Terror Exports [ Pakistan ]
> Food Shortages [ Developing Countries ]
> Global Warming [ Worldwide ]
Feel free to add your own.
There is no doubt that in 2011, a “ Black Swan “ event is around the corner !

With regards

hemen parekh

Makes no difference !

Whether you want to start a business or want to close a business, it makes no difference in India.

International Finance Corporation’s “ Doing Business Report – 2011 “,ranks India as follows amongst 183 countries surveyed [ Source : Times of India / April 18,2011 ] :

 Starting a business ………………………. 134

 Closing a business ………………………. 134

 Paying taxes ………………………………… 164

 Dealing with construction permits .. 165

 Enforcing contracts ………………………. 182

How many approvals do you need ?

 To start a business ……………. 35 ( takes 29 days )

 To construct a building …….. 37 ( takes 195 days )

And now, some good news for entrepreneurs of the “ Economic Super-Power “ :

Government is set to launch a project that will not just provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to seek all clearances for starting a business at the click of a mouse but also guarantee approvals in a specified number of days.

With regards

Hemen Parekh