A SAVIOUR SCHEME ?

Montek Singh Ahluwalia ( Dy.Chairman – Planning Commission ) is scheming to handout free handsets to 71 million poor ( Below Poverty Line ) families, at a cost of Rs 7000 Crores – each mobile costing Rs 1,000 /-

Finance Minister , P.Chidambaram  is opposing saying, “ this is money down the drain “

If he is smart , he should stop opposing and start pushing to give away Smart phones , costing Rs.10,000 /- each ( no doubt , Kapil Sibal will pitch for Rs 1200/- Aakash2 Tablet with SIM card )

Each phone to be integrated / pre-installed with :

• “ Mobile Wallet “ of Sam Pitroda

• “ Aadhar Number “ of Nandan Nilekani

• “ Aakash2 Educational Apps “ of Kapil Sibal

• “ Vote for Congress “ App of Sonia Gandhi

Here are the advantages ( if escaped your notice ) :

•  Political  Advantage

All 71 million votes cast , using the voting App , will go to local Congress candidate , by default , ensuring absolute majority in State Legislatures and in Lok Sabha elections of 2014

Narendra Modi : please take note !

•  Economic  Advantages

·     TELCOS will stop complaining about Rs 14,000 Crore spectrum auction fees. Their ARPU will go up 

·     Industrial production will go up

·     GDP will go up

•  Social  Advantages

·     Subsidy leakages will be eliminated by mobile-transferring of Rs 1,000 / - ( using Mobile Wallet ) , directly to each BPL family , every month. Government will recover the Scheme-cost ( Rs 70,000 Crores ) in just 1 year !

·     Corruption in PDS will go down

·     Distance-Education and Skills Training will improve dramatically thru use of pre-installed Apps

·     Rural jobseekers ( without access to PC/Internet cable ) will be able to get “ Job-alerts on Mobile “ , with each phone morphing into a “ Mobile Internet Kiosk “

·     Farmers’ mobiles will get instantly credited with the “ Sale Value “ of grains procured by Government

  

•  Governance  Advantages

No strikes / bandhs / agitations / dharanas / fasts-unto-death etc by Aruna / Arundhati / Arvind / Anna / Baba etc

No empty threats of “ Maha Kranti “ !

Don’t bother to kill 2 birds with 1 stone

Kill 4 problems with 1 Smart phone !

Hemen  Parekh

IS ANSHAN , AN INAPPROPRIATE TOOL?

 Yes , if it is employed,

• Frequently

• As a “ threat “ rather than a means of “Self Purification“

• Then easily given up in search of alternate tools

May be Anna – and his team – failed to learn these lessons from Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Ramulu ( who died fasting for creation of Andhra Pradesh and forced Nehru to constitute , State Reorganization Commission )

Any way, now that Anna Team has decided to ,

• Create a new political party

• Contest 2014 National elections

• Try to change the system “ from within “,

they  must  rigorously follow the following  “Principles/Rules“:

• Create a broad-based core committee of honest persons of high integrity. These persons must be drawn from all the States , without consideration of caste / religion etc

• They must be young , working class persons from all walks of life

• Core Committee members ( Central as well as State level ) , shall undertake , NOT to contest 2014 election themselves , in order to avoid any “ Conflict of Interest “ vis-à-vis their declared and noble objective of “ not wanting positions of power “

• Only State-level  “ Core Committees “ shall select state-candidates who will get “ party tickets “ to contest election. No role for “ High Command “ will ensure “ decentralization “ of decision making as advocated by Anna’s , much hyped, “ Vi-KendriKaran  “

• Candidates will be from “ Educated Middle Class “, who will NOT be expected to bear the election expenses , nor bring funds for the party. Since they would need to resign from their jobs , Party shall pay them an equal salary

• Party candidates shall undertake an oath not to defect and be prepared to be “ re-called “ when demanded by the party

• Party shall not accept any donation in cash

• Party shall publish all receipts / expenditures on its web site , monthly

• Party shall publish its “ Draft Manifesto “ before Dec 2012 and enable public at large to “ Vote Online “ on each clause separately . This could be made in the nature of a “ Yes / No “ referendum, eg:

·     Conduct a plebiscite in Kashmir [ yes / no ]

·     Allow FDI in retail [ yes / no ]

·     Link petrol / diesel prices to international crude prices [ yes / no ]

·     Remove subsidy from LPG [ yes / no ]

·     Close down Air India [ yes / no ]

·     Sell off all loss-making PSUs [ yes / no ]

·     Write-off Central Govt loans to all States [ yes / no ]

·     Acquire farm land for private sector industries [ yes / no ]

·     Sell all natural resources thru auction only [ yes / no ]

·     Provide for 50% preservation for women in Parliament as also all State legislatures [ yes / no ]

·     Disqualify MLAs whose attendance in parliament is less than 80 % [ yes / no ]

• Media ( especially , TV Channels ) should be requested to conduct “ Yes / No “ opinion polls thru SMS , on each clause of the “ Draft Manifesto “

• Final Manifesto ( based on the feedback ) must be published , latest by June 2013

• Criteria for the selection of the Core Committee members as also for the selection of party candidates MUST be made public , latest by Oct 2012

• Since no individual can be expected to fulfill all the laid down criteria 100 % , once selected , those criteria where he / she failed , must be made public

• In selection of members of Core Committees ( both Central and State ), as well as party candidates for election , 50 % reservation must be made for women

• As far as possible , members of Core Committee ( Central and State ) , as also the party candidates , should be under 40 years of age

  

I hope others will come forward with similar suggestions and write to Anna Team

One last piece of “ Caution “ to Team Anna / Baba Ramdev:

You will fail miserably to bring about any change thru our Parliamentary system , unless your party gets an absolute majority and has to depend upon the Mulayams / Lalus / Mamtas etc ! Don’t even attempt !

And that will apply equally to Narendra Modi , should he become next PM

Coalition – Dharma is the worst kind of dharma!

Hemen  Parekh 

THE SORRY STATE OF INDIAN EDUCATION?

25 Jul 2012

THE SORRY STATE OF INDIAN EDUCATION?

Not surprising considering the sorry state of our teachers

Mumbai Mirror [10,July2012] reports about a survey conducted by Parents Teachers Association United Forum(PTAUF) in Mumbai, covering

• 60  Schools

• 400  Students

• 150  Parents

• !50  Teachers

As far as physical punishment is concerned , what do our teachers believe in ? Here is the shocker :

• Corporal Punishment  …………  100 % of teachers

• Hitting students with rulers ……  70 %

• Slapping  ………………………  55 %

• Hitting with chalk  ……………… 60  %

• Pulling years …………………    44  %

• Hitting on back of palm  ……40  %

• Making students stand on bench……    62  %

• Making students to do sit-up  …  81  %

• Giving extra homework  ………  85  %

In this “reign of terror“, it was not surprising that:

• Students not informing parents of ill-treatment…88 %

• Parents not complaining (fear of victimization)…88 %

And talking of innovations in the methods of punishment, recently, couple of teachers (West Bengal/UP) punished students by forcing them to drink their own urine !

Apparently, our teachers have their very own unique ways for cultivating/motivating, young and impressionable minds!

Hemen  Parekh

Writing on the Wall ?

Mumbai  Samachar ( 16 July 2012 ) provides following figures :

Ø  No of Post Offices in 2006

·        In rural areas………………………….. 1,39,046

·        In urban areas……………………………. 16,258

Ø  No of Post Offices closed down since 2006

·        Rural………………………………………………. 6

·        Urban………………………………………………..732

Obviously , less and less people need a post card / envelope / postage stamp etc. , these days , in order to communicate with friends / relatives / clients / suppliers etc

If , for less than the cost of a post card , people can talk across the country on their mobile phones , then why run to a post office ?

And soon , millions will start sending emails writing on their tablets ( Aakash / Ubislate / Zen / HCL / Karbonn / Micromax / Zync / Funtab etc )

And in 10 years they will be talking to their friends / relatives / sweethearts , on Skype embedded in their bedroom wall !

Indian Government would do well to convert closed down post offices into primary schools

With  regards

hemen  parekh

www.CustomizeResume.com

Jobs  for  All  =  Peace  on  Earth

CROREPATIES (BILLIONAIRES) GALORE !

DNA (13 July 2012) provides following interesting figures:

• Only 1 % of India’s people are Crorepaties

• But , 48 % of our elected MPs are !

• State wise distribution of Crorepaties :

·     92 % of those elected from Goa

·     86 % of those elected from Punjab

·     72 % of those elected from Haryana

  

• Individual Ranking of Crorepaties :

·     Mahendra Prasad ( JD-U )………………Rs. 692.41  Crores

·     Vijaya Mallya……………………………………Rs. 615.42  Crores

·     Jaya Bachhan…………………………………Rs.  483.86  Crores

• Party wise distribution of Crorepaties :

·     Bahujan Samaj Party………………………………….. 69 %

·     Nationalist Congress Party………………………….. 68 %

·     Samajwadi Party…………………………………………… 63 %

Our Election Commission has laid down several criteria which “ Disqualify “ a candidate from contesting an election

But our political parties seem to have laid down a single “ Qualifying “ criteria ,for distributing candidature tickets to hopefuls , viz :

“ Thou shall be a Crorepati to begin with ,

It is entirely up to you what you end-up with “

  

Hemen  Parekh