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, 29 November 2016

One Nation , One Vote ?



For the past few months, Shri Narendra Modiji has been requesting all concerned to debate:

" Should we not have simultaneous polls on the same day , both for Lok Sabha and all the State Assemblies ? "


He would like all citizens to express their views on this , even as he tries to get a consensus on this issue from all political parties , whose whole-hearted cooperation in this is essential since this reform would require amending the Constitution with two third majority


I suggest that NDA government , go about this process as follows :


AWARENESS  CREATION  PHASE  { Now - March 2017 }

Publicizing ( in Newspapers / TV / Social Media / Government web sites / Hoardings / Radio etc ) , the advantages / benefits of this reform

Debates in Town-Hall type of meetings all over the country

Debates in Schools / Colleges / other Educational Institutions

Competition among Start-Ups / Entrepreneurs for creation of Mobile App for " Opinion
    Survey " and selection of winning app {  #OneNationOneVote  }



OPINION  GATHERING  PHASE { 18 - 19 - 20 th APRIL 2017 }

*   Exhort citizens to download mobile app {  #OneNationOneVote  } and record opinion
     ( app can be downloaded ONLY ONCE on a given smart phone and self destructs after a
       single use . Additional security features can be incorporated to prevent duplicate use
       eg: Aadhar Card Number )

*   Those not having Smart phones can log in at the Election Commission web site ( Aadhar
     No and Voter Card Number ) and give their opinion

*   App will stop working on 21st April

*   Software will display the OPINION SURVEY results ( on Election Commission web site )
    on 22nd April . The results will also be viewable through the App on mobile phone



#   CONSENSUS  GENERATION  PHASE  {  May 2017  }

*   Central Government to hold SEVERAL meetings of all political parties in which , the
    Government would ( step by step ) present ,

    #  Opinion Survey findings

    #  Provisions of the Constitution which would need amending - and its " wordings "

    #  Nature of amendments in State Laws ( if any )

    #  Time table / Schedule for implementation

    #  Logistics ( Manpower / Software / Hardware required )

    #  Onetime Cost ( expenses ) vs  Recurring Savings


*  Just as in the case of Lok Sabha proceedings , these meetings must be televised so that
   citizens get an opportunity to listen to the views expressed by the leaders of political
   parties



#   IMPLEMENTATION  PHASE  {  20 April 2019  }

*   Conduct simultaneous polls , using my earlier suggested app " VotesApp "

    {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2012/12/votesapp.html  }



As far as the OPINION SURVEY is concerned , I suggest following questionnaire :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you believe holding simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and all the State Assemblies, on
    the same day , is desirable ?...............YES / NO


Do you believe simultaneous polls would result in less hardship for people ?......YES / NO


Do you believe simultaneous polls would reduce the cost of conducting elections ?
    YES / NO


Do you believe simultaneous polls would enable Administrations ( both at Center and in
    States ) to focus on matters of importance / priority to citizens ?.......  YES / NO


Do you believe such polls can be conducted much more efficiently / transparently /
    economically , using mobile app such as " VotesApp " ?................. YES  /  NO


Do you believe , use of Mobile App ( such as " VotesApp " ) would result in a huge saving
    due to eliminating the need for

    *    935,000 polling booths 

    *    1.7 Million EVM ( Electronic Voting Machines / each costing Rs 41,000 )

    *    10,000 tons of paper

    *    10,000 liters of indelible ink

    *    Deploying 11 million  Election Officials and Security staff

    *    Declaring holidays to enable 863 million citizens to go out and vote

    *   Millions of man-hours of advance preparation, stretching over one year

    *   Weeks of counting before declaring results for 5000 seats ( MPs and MLAs )
         .... YES / NO 


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I urge NDA Ministers / Secretaries / MPs / MLAs etc to look up my earlier blogs as follows :

OnePoll  , One  Time  ( 06 Sept  2016 )

   { http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/09/one-poll-one-time.html


OneDay Polling is possible  ( 31  March  2016 )

  {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/03/one-day-polling-is-possible.html  }


Honey ! Ishrunk  the  EVM   (  21  Oct  2015  )

   {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2015/10/honey-i-shrunk-evm.html }


#   ROMP - A Panacea?  (  06  Aug  2015  )

   { http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2015/08/romp-panacea.html  }


Filtering  Candidate Information ?  (  18  Sept  2016  )

   {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/09/filtering-candidate-information.html  }


Advantage  Incumbent ?  (  05  Sept  2016  )

   {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/09/advantage-incumbent.html  }


How  to Save  Rs  5511 crore  ?  (  12  Dec  2015  )

  {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2015/12/how-to-save-rs-5511-crores.html  }


A  Software Powerhouse  ?  (  24  April  2014  )

  {  http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2014/04/a-software-powerhouse.html  }

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

In 2016 , " technology " is the MOST POWERFUL force which is re-shaping the social / economic / political behavior of our citizens .


Millions of our citizens , taking to Mobile Wallets / UPI etc , is an outstanding example of how smoothly / eagerly , they are " embracing " technology for their day to day transactions


And , in the process of " adapting " , they do not mind temporary inconveniences / hardships , for a long term benefit !  Just look at recent local body election results in Gujarat and Maharashtra !


The citizens , seem to be saying :

 " We are fed up of indecisive regimes of the past . Just decide something / anything . There is no way  we can get any worse . From where we are , things can only improve , if you decide "


No one understands this better than our " decisive " PM , Shri Modiji  !


And no one understands , as well as he does , the power of technology to improve lives of millions of poor Indians !

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30  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs


   







Monday, 28 November 2016

Keep Humming , Narendrabhai !



Hindustan Times ( 29 Nov 2016 ) carries following news report :

" Centre looks to bring daily wage earners , SMEs in the banking net "


It goes on to read :

"  The government has directed all public sector banks to once again focus on opening new zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts for daily wage earners and those engaged with the small , micro and medium enterprises .... this has to be taken up in mission mode to ensure that most payments to daily wage earners are included in the formal banking sector .... the Centre has underlined the need to adopt electronic payment modes or cheques to pay wages "


Two days back , Shri Narendra Modiji had asked all citizens to convert their mobile phones into their own, personal " bank branch " through use of e-Wallet apps


Some 6 months ago , I had sent following proposal to all NDA ministers , outlining an End-to-End solution for enabling wage / salary payments using Smart Phones


Its time has come NOW !


Dear Shri Narendrabhai :


If , some naysayers ( and there are many among our politicians / economists ! ) tell you that my suggestion is " impractical / unviable / non-feasible " , tell them about that marble plaque at the gates of the Sikorsky helicopter factory in USA , which reads :


" By all known laws of Aerodynamics , the ratio of the wing area to the weight of a Humming bird is such that the humming bird cannot fly . But the humming bird never went to college to earn a degree in aerodynamics , so it goes ahead and flies any way "


Keep  humming , Shri Narendrabhai  !



with regards,

hemendrabhai

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Wednesday, 1 June 2016



From BAD to MAD


BAD   =   Biometric Attendance Device

MAD   =   Mobile Attendance Device


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

Most people think the greatest contribution of Bill Gates ( onetime CEO of Microsoft ) was " MS Operating System "


I think , it was his book " Business @ the Speed of Thought "


Current CEO of Microsoft is a PIO named Satya Nadela


What is his contribution ?


What he said during his talk in Delhi on 30 May , called ,


" Tech for Good , Ideas for India " :

 He cited the example of how NASA scientists were not able to see the Rover move on Mars but the holographic output of the Rover is right there in their office.


Nadella also met two young developers, one of them a 17-year-old who has figured out how to take data from NASA , conflate it with other information and see the spread of algae in Bay of Bengal. “Here’s a student who is taking information that is available, bringing it together—he wanted to have a real impact right here in terms of how we managed our climate,” he said.


Nadella wrapped up by summing Microsoft’s mission in India. 


" It is about really celebrating the technologies that you all in India create. In fact, I want us to be the platform creators that foster the ingenuity of what is happening in India,” he said.



Here is my idea  of a technology that we need to create for a better India :


Today Employee Attendance Systems in India work at three levels as follows :

#   Entirely Manual 

     Attendance Register and Wage / Salary payment in cash or by Cheque

#   Partly Automated

     Punch cards or Bio-metric recording of attendance but manual calculation
     of wages / salaries and payment by cash or cheque

#   Fully Automated

     Bio-metric Attendance Devices ( BAD ) , integrated with a home-grown or
     bought-out Salary Payment Software , running on a local Server.

     Salary payments could be by cheques or thru Electronic Transfer to
     concerned employee's bank account


Once in a while , if a company has several establishments within a city , those local servers are connected to a Central Server , doing all processing

In a rare case ( although , I am not aware of any ) , it may be that all the local servers of all the establishments of a company , all over the country , are networked with its central computer in its head-quarter


Now imagine this :


#  All smart phones to evolve as Bio-metric Attendance Devices , with built-in
    Bio-metric Recorders , GPS , a mobile attendance App ( called MAD ? )


#  App to have 2 buttons ( Green = IN  /  Red = OUT )


Employee to touch IN upon reaching his work-station and touch OUT ,
    while leaving work place , at the end of work-shift . That's all  !


Being GPS enabled , buttons will get activated ONLY when the employee
    has reached the work place ( not while he is on his way ! ) 


#  All 100 million establishments in India ( factories / offices / shops / clinics
    NGOs / Govt Depts ) to ensure that the MAD app is installed on the smart
    phone of each employee , when he joins

    
#  All of these smart phones to be connected ( IoT ? ) , with the Servers of ,

    *  Labour Ministries ( Central and States )


    *  HRD Ministry ( Central )


    *  Skills Development Ministry / NSDC


    *  Finance Ministries ( Central + States )


    *  NITI Aayog


    *  Income Tax Department


    *  Any other server that you may want to


#   MAD app is integrated with a STANDARD / COMMON , software system
     for computing daily wages / monthly salaries of ALL the persons working
     in those 100 million establishments ( whether they are casual /
     contractual  / trainee / apprentice / probationer / permanent / retained 


#   As each person joins in any of these establishments , data re  that
     person must be inputted by the Employer into the App , such as :

    
     *  Name / Contact Details / DOB / Aadhar Card No / Employee Number

         ( Each unique Employee Number will be auto-generated by the
         common Salary Payment Software , running on IT Dept Server )


     *   Employee's Jandhan Yojana Bank Account Number for salary EC


     *   Employer's Jandhan bank account / Unique Employer Number


     *   Payment Mode ( Hourly / Daily / Monthly Rated , wages / salaries )


     *   Leave provisions / PF rate / TDS rate / Allowances / Reimbursements


     *   Any other relevant data ( either about employee of for employer )



WHAT  ARE  THE  ADVANTAGES  ?


#   For employees , no need to file a separate annual Income Tax Return


#   Direct deposit of PF / TDS amounts into bank accounts of Govt Depts


#   Direct Benefit Transfer ( DBT ) to every Employer for Stipend Subsidy ,
     based on number of total trainees / apprentices employed


#   Total number of employees in India ( category / region / industry )


#   Employment Density ( Industry wise / Region wise / Skill wise etc )


#   Net Employment Growth Rate ( weekly - monthly / Industry-wise )


#   Co-relation with no of persons graduating at various levels


#   Data about those Unemployed ( " Graduating " less " Employed " )


#   Overtime Statistics ( Use / Abuse )


#   Work-hour Analysis ( Ave hours / week - month )


#   Wage / Salary Rates ( Rs per hour ) - Industry wise / Region wise 

     ( of great interest to Foreign Investors looking to bring down
       manufacturing costs , by outsourcing to India / manufacturing in India )


#   Compliance with labour laws / tax laws / Apprentice Act etc


#   Job Market Forecasts through BIG DATA ANALYTIC ( region / industry )


#   Demographic  Profiles of employees  ( Rural to Urban migration )


#   Per Capita Income Growth for persons using MAD app  ( MOM / YOY )


#   Changing composition between Blue Collar and White Collar employees



Then there could be many other benefits not envisaged now


Here is an opportunity for :

 *  Manufacturers of Smart Phones

     To shrink stationary / bulky / common , bio-metric devices to mobile / 
     small / personalized / hand-held devices

    { Remember ?  

If you don't make yourself obsolete , someone else will  }


*  Tech Start Ups

     To come up with the Mobile App ( MAD ) / Technology Platform


*  NDA Government

    To implement what Shri Narendra Modiji said on 15 July 2015 :


   "  If China is like a manufacturing factory of the World , India should
    become the human resource capital of the World .


   That should be our target and we should lay emphasis on that . 

   We should have a futuristic vision and prepare plans for the next ten years "

  

   MAD  could well be an important element  of  that  " JAM PLAN "  !

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29  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
  


Sunday, 27 November 2016

How to go Cash - Less ?



While talking on " Man ki Baat " broadcast yesterday , Shri Narendra Modiji , once again urged the citizens to go " Cash Less " by making their Mobile phones , their very own bank branch


I am sure , Shri Modiji realizes that no country can ever become totally cash-less


But , at the same time , India has the greatest potential to move towards non-cash transactions , considering that , currently , some 90 % of our transactions are through cash


In order to speed-up this transition , Shri Modi has appointed a committee of Secretaries , headed by Shri Amitabh Kant , CEO - NITI Aayog


While thinking up " Ways and Means " to speed up this transition , I am sure the Committee will consider the following hurdles :


*  India has only 215,000 ATM machines , with 95 % located in cities


*  Then there are just 1.44 million PoS ( Point of Sales ) / Card Readers for 50 million shops


*  This means , rural folks just do not have enough " devices " for making digital payments


*  At the current rate of printing , replenishing those OLD notes ( Rs 500 / 1000 ) with NEW
   notes ( Rs 500 / 2,000 ) , will take 18 months !


   Even if we assume that this process ( of printing of NEW notes got started ) , 6 months
   ago , it will take another 12 months for enough CASH to be available to sustain , day to
   day  purchase / sale by people


*  In absence of these " Devices " , availability of 70 Crore DEBIT CARDS ( of which , 30
   crore are RuPay cards ) , is of no help !


   It must be remembered that only 2 months back , some 32 lakh cards got hacked !


   Rural owners ( of RuPay cards , issued with 25 crore Jan Dhan accounts ) are not savvy
   enough to change their PIN / Net Banking Passwords , every 3 months !


And, it is obvious that millions of such " devices " just cannot be manufactured and installed , all over the country ( especially , in the far flung rural areas ), within 3 months


But , as Shri Modiji pointed out , given that Indians have some 1033 million mobile phones ( of which , approx 240 million are Smart phones ), switching over to Mobile Wallets , is the only quick solution to going " Cash Less "


No wonder , in the past 20 days ( since demonetization announcement ) , Paytm has added 8 million new users to its base of 150 million !


In a TV interview a few days back , Vijay Shekhar Sharma ( CEO - Paytm ) said :


" We have advanced our target of reaching 500 million users , from 2020 to 2018 "


And considering that it will take another 5 years for those 750 million FEATURE PHONES , to get replaced with SMART PHONES , he is in a tearing hurry to make Paytm app available , even on those feature phones - by calling a toll free number or by sending a text message !


And , in this rush ( to DIGITAL GOLD ? ) , he is not alone


Hardly a day passes without some bank or some Start Up , launching a Mobile Wallet !


Dear Shri Amitabh Kant :


There is no doubt , you will encourage PRIVATE SECTOR players to launch Mobile Wallet apps


But you have this opportunity to SIMPLIFY the use of Mobile Wallet Apps - the use , which appears " daunting " to rural folks


Here is how :


*  Based on UPI / Indiastack , come out ( in next 6 days ? ) , with M-Rup ( RuPay based
   mobile app , linked to Jan Dhan A/c and to Aadhar Biometric verification of the user )


*  Citizen can download M-Rup ( whether on Smart phone or on feature phone ) ,from
   Google App store


M-Rup can be activated only after user enters his Jan Dhan A/c number / his Aadhar Card
    number and his Mobile number , in the App


*  At the time of " Activation ", let the M-Rup wallet get filled up with Rs 100 ( as a freebie )


*  This initial loading of M-Rup with Rs 100, to happen, even if the user has no Jan Dhan a/c


*  This initial loading will enable the users to " experiment " transferring or receiving digital
   money ( even between friends , none of whom have Jan Dhan accounts !). Make it FUN !


I am sure , you will say :


" How does this make M-Rup any DIFFERENT from any other Mobile Wallet app ?  

Where is
  that SIMLIFICATION of use ? "



Dear Shri Amitabh :


Like you ( and of course , Shri Modiji ) , I have a great faith in the ability of Indian software engineers ( local or NRI ) to come up with revolutionary solutions / innovations !


Just ask Sundar Pichai , Sam Pitroda , Satya Nadela , Sachin Katti , Pranav Mistry , Sanjay Sarma , Nandan Nilekani etc , if they will help implement the following :


*  Buyer  buys something worth Rs 100 from a shopkeeper


*  Buyer and the Seller , look into their own mobile-cameras ( of  smart phones
   loaded with M-Rup ) for biometric Aadhar identification / linked to Jan Dhan a/c


*  Seller speaks in his mobile : " Muze Sau Rupiah dedo "


*  Buyer speaks in his mobile : " Inko Sau Rupiah dedo "


*  Message flashes in the mobile screen of Seller : " Tumhare account-me Sau Rupiah
   Jamah ho gaya / GST bhi kaat ke Sarkar-ko bhej diya "


*  Message flashes in the mobile screen of Buyer : " Tumhare account-se , Sau Rupiah inko
   Bhej Diya . Abhi balance me teen sau sath rupiah bacha hai "



I request all concerned , not to insult our engineers / scientists / geeks , by doubting if such SIMPLIFICATION ( based on day to day spoken language ) is possible


Doubting Thomas may want to look up ... PILOT   

{  http://www.waverlylabs.com/  }


This is the only way rural India can bypass the Jurassic Age of Plastic Cards to usher into a CASH-LESS society !


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28  Nov  2016


www.hemenparekh.in / blogs