Blog

Monday, 7 March 2016

A Half-hearted Measure ?

Following report appeared in today's news papers :

[ The Reserve Bank of India will share FDI-related information with country's intelligence agencies -- IB and RAW -- to check black money from entering the country.

During the meeting of "Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus", representatives of Intelligence Bureau felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that RBI should share with IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI which actually enters the country, the sources said.

"Hence, it was felt that they should form a database on it and share details with both IB and RAW," said a senior official in the Cabinet Secretariat, requesting anonymity.

The RBI has also been asked to consider displaying this information on its website, he said ]

This is just not good enough to curb the menace of BLACK MONEY / CORRUPTION / MONEY LAUNDERING

I , once again request Shri Arun Jaitleyji to implement my following two year old suggestion ( 04 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 "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemenparekh.in / blogs

08 March 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :

narendramodi1234@gmail.com; 38ashokroad@gmail.com;ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in; jayant.sinha19@sansad.nic.in;piyush.goyal@gov.in;nitin.gadkari@nic.in; spprabhu1@rediffmail.com;bandaru@sansad.nic.in;smritizirani@nic.in;nsitharaman@nic.in; ravis@sansad.nic.in;sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in;prakash.j@sansad.nic.in;secy-ipp@nic.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; shaktikanta.das@nic.in; rsecy@nic.in; adhia1981@gmail.com; ceo-niti@nic.in; atul-chaturvedi@nic.in; uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in; d.pradhan@sansad.nic.in; rprudy.office@gmail.com; rudypr@rediffmail.com; eam@mea.gov.in; mosvks@mea.gov.in; mvnaidu@sansad.nic.in; mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in; rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in; mljoffice@gov.in; sadananda.gowda@sansad.nic.in; ministerminority@gov.in; najmah@sansad.nic.in; minister-ca@nic.in; ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; akumar-alpha@sansad.nic.in; jpnadda@sansad.nic.in; hm.moca@nic.in; geete@sansad.nic.in; simratbadal@yahoo.com; ns.tomar@nic.in; rmsingh@sansad.nic.in; tc.gehlot@sansad.nic.in; dr.harshvardhan@sansad.nic.in

Sunday, 6 March 2016

There is a Simpler Way !

A study by Harvard researchers ( led by former Standard Chartered Bank Chief , Peter Sands ), recommends doing away with the most popular banknotes used to evade the banking system : the US$ 100 note / the 500 Euro note / the 1000 Swiss franc note and Britain's 50 pound notes

If those large bills were eliminated, argues the Harvard University study, the drug dealers , arms traders , terrorists and tax cheats would find it a whole lot more onerous and risky to move their cash around undetected , carrying huge sacks of small denomination notes

Apparently Harvard researchers did not know that , tax cheats of India have,

* Siphoned away Rs 34.4 lakh*crores to foreign banks in past 10 years

* Stashed away (my guess) TEN TIMES as much (Rs 500/1000 notes) in local bank lockers

Had they known , they would have whole heartedly agreed that my following suggestion is a far SIMPLER / FASTER / SURER method to eliminate BLACK MONEY , forever :

* Discontinue paper-based currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000

* Introduce plastic currency notes of Rs 500 / 1,000 which are embedded with RFID sensors ( far thinner than a human hair ! ) , always broadcasting their presence to Internet of Things ( IoT )

* Assign to each such note, a IP V 6.0 address , linked to its unique note number

* Set up a IT-enabled Technology Platform which will constantly monitor any accumulation of Rs 500 / 1000 RFID embedded notes in excess of Rs ONE CRORE within an area of ONE square meter

Only 2 days back , Mumbai police caught a van carrying Rs 500 / 1000 currency notes worth Rs 2.84 Crores , hidden in a secret compartment below the floor board

If my suggestion is implemented , who would want to be followed / tracked on Google Map ,

( on the law-enforcer's mobile App ), with a balloon inscribed with the value of those notes ?

I wish Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad would tell Shri Narendra Modi :

" Modiji , this is the ONLY foolproof way to solve the problem of BLACK MONEY , without worrying about introducing a MONEY BILL in Lok Sabha

And our bright young Start Ups are capable of implementing this within 6 months

Please , give me a GREEN SIGNAL ! "

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemenparekh.in / blogs

07 March 2016

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :

Thursday, 3 March 2016

Citizens' Grievances ?

Following is a news report from DNA ( 03 March 2016 ) :

" Citizens' grievances against the central government ministries have increased over three fold in 2015 as compared to the previous year

A total of over 8.81 lakh complaints have been received by the government , which attributed the surge to a number of citizen friendly measures

These grievances were received online through Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System , against central government ministries

This was a written reply in Lok Sabha given by Shri Jitendra Singh , Minister of State for Personnel , Public Grievances and Pensions "

I wonder if that reply provided following " Analysis " :

* No of Complaints : Ministry wise / Public Service wise / Period wise / Pendency wise

* Ave time / Max time / Min time , taken to redress the complaints

Leaving that aside , Shri Singh may want to consider the following :

* In a population of 1.25 BILLION , not more than 200 million can access the govt web site through a computer ( no internet connection )

* Even those who may find the concerned web site after a lot of online search as I did ( pgportal.gov.in ) , they will get stumped / overwhelmed by the GRIEVANCE SUBMIT FORM !

* As against this , we have already 200 million persons having smart phones and that number will reach 651 million in 3 years ( all internet-connected )

In light of this , I request Shri Singh to consider implementing my suggested mobile app , described below in my blog [ 29 Dec 2012 ] :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I SIN><U SIN

That could be the name of an android app

( I Seek It Now > < U Solve It Now )

To be developed by India’s Central Home Ministry for successful implementation of proposed,

“ Delivery of Services Act “

The app will come pre-installed on those mobile phones which Government of India plans to distribute FREE , to some 400 million “ Poor People “ of India , before the 2014 National Election (and on those 220 million Aakash Tablets )

Issuer will enter the Mobile No and that person’s Aadhar Card No, in a computerized central database , before issuing the phone

Hence , no need to login to the App , whose screen will read :

I wish to send my complaint to the following department :

· National Commission for Women

· Garbage Clearance

· Water Supply

· Electricity Supply

· Roads Repair

· Rationing ( Food Distribution )

· Police

· Bus Transport

· Railways

· Post

· Employment

· Education

· Irrigation

· Building Permits

· Revenue / Land Records

· Anti Corruption

· Other ……………………………………….etc

(List should not exceed 50)

Touching name of any department name will open a SMS message box where the user will type out his complaint ( in a language of his choice )

There will be option to speak-out and record voice message , for illiterate users

Touching SEND button will transmit the complaint and within minutes, user will receive SMS reply , giving,

· Name of Officer responsible

· Office Landline No

· Mobile No

· Email Id

· Complaint No

· Expected date of solving

Bingo !

Then publish online , a tabulation of departments , arranged in the descending order of the no of complaints received / cleared / pending

This frugal innovation will bring in Good Governance all over India

Request Nandan Nilekani / Sam Pitroda to help out , even though they may be busy implementing my earlier suggested app ,

“ VotesApp “

I have no doubt that the political party which promises , “ I SIN >< U SIN “ , will get voted to power in 2014 (now change this to 2019 )

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemenparekh.in / blogs

04 March 2016

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :

Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Whom to Train ? How to Train ?

A report in Economic Times ( 24 Feb ) talks of the exercise undertaken by NITI Aayog to ,

* Map the skill requirements of 22 industry sectors ( " Make in India" listing )

The exercise is expected to be completed in 6 months , after which , NITI Aayog will prepare a sector wise road

map with targets to be achieved across sectors in the given time

The road map will lay down a process for training ( skilling / re-skilling ) some 402 million youth by 2022

The report adds that the Skills Ministry ( headed by Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy ) has outlined :

* 1500 job roles ( like trade classifications / vocational designations ? )

* 6,700 qualifications ( job descriptions ? )

I suppose much of those trainings will be imparted in following Industrial Training Institutes ( ITIs ) :

* 13,105 ( existing as on 2014 )

* 1,150 ( set up by Skills Ministry in 2015 )

* 7,000 ( targeted to be set up in 2016 )

MY SUGGESTION :

In India , we have :

* 4300 Degree level Engineering Colleges

* 700 Diploma level Engineering Colleges

All of these colleges have WORKSHOPS equipped with different types of machines needed for " Skills Training "

These ASSETS are used / occupied only for a maximum of 8 hours ( daytime ) and remain idle for 16 hours

Through a partnership with these colleges , NITI Aayog should consider using these UNDER-UTILIZED assets for

imparting skills to those who need

Such an arrangement will :

* Enable NITI Aayog to accelerate this program , without a long mobilization time

* Save thousands of crores of rupees in constructing new buildings / buying new machines

* Boost " Make in India " initiative by making available skilled manpower at short notice

* Increase ASSET UTILIZATION of scarce resources

* Foster INDUSTRY - EDUCATION INSTITUTES cooperation through closer interaction

* Enable College Faculty involved to earn extra income through charging PLACEMENT FEES to industry

What about Schools ?

* We have 1.3 million schools in India . But these schools do NOT have workshops / machinery

* Between them , these Schools have millions of class rooms which too remain unutilized for 16 hours per day

MY SUGGESTION :

* Ask Sundar Pichai ( Google ) to convert all of these Schools into Wi-Fi Hot Spots ( of course , free of cost ! )

* And Tim Cook ( Apple ) to provide iPAD-Pro tablets ( no doubt , free ! )

* And Satya Nadela ( Microsoft ) to provide software support ( ex-gratis ! )

Then use these 1.3 million schools to provide basic COMPUTER SKILLS to future DATA ENTRY OPERATORS

Where there is a WILL , there is a WAY ( even a Super Highway , if there is a Political Will )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemenparekh.in / Blogs

03 March 2016

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Don't Want to Pay Taxes ?

An interview in Hindustan Times ( 02 March 2016 ) quotes Shri Jayant Sinha ( Minister of State for Finance ) as follows :

" People in India don't want to pay taxes .

In many societies, people recognize that you have to have a level of taxation for society to flourish

India's top tax rate now is 35 % for the super rich , which is very much on the low side

In the US, depending on the state , it is above 50% .

Our tax to GDP ratio is 16-17% , China has 21-22% , while the US has 25%.

The OECD average is 35%

That is why we are not able to provide the public services people need

We don't have enough resources .

The citizens have to decide the kind of society they want "

HT report also mentions that Shri Sinha is an MBA from Harvard and also headed a consulting firm before becoming a Minister .

So , we must pay attention to his views

Especially , his view that " People in India don't want to pay taxes "

But if he were to ask these people , " Why don't you want to pay taxes ? " , they would tell him :

Sir , for all the taxes that we patiently paid for past 68 years , what public services have we got ?

Sure , you ( NDA / BJP ) may not be responsible for the TRILLIONS of tax rupees that the Establishment and the corrupt politicians pocketed over these years ,

But then , don't blame us for having lost ALL faith in government's ability to use our tax money for delivering any worthwhile public service !

Will you please care to also compare the public services that people in those other countries get from their respective governments , with the service that we get in India ?

Your comment that we don't " want to pay taxes " , comes as an insult . We feel like crying at this humiliation !

We wish , you were a little more charitable !

At least as charitable as you have been to those hundreds of rich people who are enjoying their holidays in Europe while defaulting on repayment of Rs 4 lakh*crores worth of loans !

If Bapu were around , he would have launched a " Satyagraha " and told people NOT to pay taxes !

We would rather NOT pay taxes and use that money to get whatever service that we want, directly from non-government agencies in private unorganized sector - agencies ,

* which we don't have to VOTE for

* over which we have total CONTROL

* with whom we can negotiate the QUALITY / QUANTITY / DELIVERY TIME / PRICE of service that we expect

* which we can SACK at will at short notice

* whom we pay , " AFTER " the delivery of DESIRED service

Dear Shri Sinha :

Just abolish Personal Income Tax and let us fend for ourselves !

We will be happy to start paying income tax once again , if public services reach even 50 % of what the government of US delivers to its citizens !

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemenparekh.in / blogs

02 March 2016

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :