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

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Quarterly Labour Survey : A Still-born Child ?



Economic Times ( 21 March 2017 ) carries following news report :




“ PMO Nudges Statistics Ministry to Start Quarterly Survey of Labour Force


The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has prodded the statistics ministry to begin a periodic survey of the country’s labour force which has been pending for a while now. 


The survey will provide the government better information on the country’s labour force, helping it plan policies better. One of the promises of the Narendra Modi government is more job creation. 


The statistics ministry planned to conduct the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the country’s first survey using tablet computers last year, but the process got delayed due to lack of resources 


The technology-driven survey will be conducted by researchers using tablets and guided by what’s known as computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) technique. 


At present, employment data is only available through NSSO surveys done every five years. Not only is it limited to a few sectors, but also based on the Annual Survey of Industries which only captures the employees of the registered factories. 


It is supported by the quick quarterly employment surveys the Labour Bureau has been doing since the global economic crisis of 2008. 


However, these cover only select sectors of the economy at the enterprise level to assess the impact of economic slowdown on employment in India. 


These numbers are insufficient to assess the state of the economy. 


Developed countries such as the US come out with monthly employment data. 




MY  TAKE  :


Conducting surveys like this ( manually / going around the entire country / asking questions / typing out answers in tablets / compiling findings / plotting graphs etc ) is ARCHAIC  , to say the least  !


Just look at the technologies available today , to simplify / automate all the processes :

·         Smart Phones ( with bio-metric identification including Face Recognition / Blue Tooth / RFID / NFC / ever-powerful Voice Assistants , Photo-video capabilities / Language Translation Apps / ability to transfer data without towers  etc )  


·         Google Maps , capable of seeing everything , everywhere and showing it


·         Cloud based Data  


·         Artificial Intelligence 


·         Everyone present on Social Media , everyone exchanging Messages on WhatsAp - Twitter 


·         Everyone being “ watched / recorded “ by ubiquitous CCTV cameras


·         Everything getting connected with everything else through Internet of Things ( IP V 6.0 ) providing 50,000 TRILLION URLS to every human being on the Earth


And these technologies are improving BY THE HOUR and solving problems which were considered unsolvable just ONE HOUR ago !


Dear Shri Dattatreya Bangaruji / Shri Prakash Jawadekarji / Shri T C Anantji :


 I urge you to ask our Scientists / Engineers / Software Guys , if they too believe that the RIGHT WAY to conduct LABOUR SURVEYS is “ NOT TO CONDUCT “ surveys , by implementing the suggestion in my following Blog / E mail :



·          

Wednesday, 1 June 2016



From BAD to MAD


BAD   =   Biometric Attendance Device

MAD   =   Mobile Attendance Device


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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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23   March  2017


Aadhar : The Omnipresent ?



Hindustan Times ( 23 March 2017 ) carries following news report :




“ Jaitley : Aadhar made mandatory to check fraud  “


Aadhaar might become the sole identity card in the future, finance minister Arun Jaitley said in Parliament on Wednesday, a move that could possibly replace PAN, voter and ration cards.

His remarks came during a debate on the finance bill, which the Lok Sabha passed during the day.

“A STAGE MAY COME THAT THE UNIQUE IDENTITY WILL BECOME THE ONLY CARD,Jaitley said, responding to the Opposition’s protest against the government’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for filing tax returns.

 “There are many countries where such a situation exists. There is a social security number in America and in India it (Aadhaar) could be the counterpart,”  he said.

He affirmed that it was a deliberate step to prevent tax evasion and financial frauds that bleed the economy.




Thank you , Shri Jaitleyji :


Thank you for your consideration to simplify the lives of millions of our CITIZENS and millions of our BUSINESSES , as requested in my following blogs :




Thursday, 12 May 2016


An " Aadhar " for Corporate ?



How many types of  NUMBERS, do Indian Companies need to register and acquire , to do business ?



Writing in MINT ( 02 May 2016 ), Narayan Ramchandran quotes Manish Sabharwal , who has researched and listed the following :


#   Corporate Identity Number...........................................   ( 21 digits )

#   Tax-payer Identification Number for commercial taxes......  ( 11 digits )

#   Service Tax Number...... ( Alpha-Numeric ) ....................  (  15 digits )

#   Permanent Account Number - PAN  ( Alpha-Numeric )........ (  10 digits )

#   Central Excise Number..................................... ( PAN + 2 Characters )

#   Provident Fund Number .................( Alpha-Numeric )...... (  11 digits  )

#   Profession Tax Registration Certificate ( Numeric )...............  ( 9 digits )

#   Profession tax Enrolment Certificate    ( Numeric ).............    ( 9 digits )

#   Income tax Deduction/Calculation Number ( Alpha-Numeric ) ( 10 digits )

#   ESIC Number ( Numeric )................................................  ( 17 digits )

#   Labour Department Registration(State specific alphanumeric) (13 digits )

#   Importer-Exporter Code  ( Numeric )................................. ( 10 digits )

#   Shops/Establishment Reg Number ( alphanumeric )............  ( 20 digits )

#   Contract Labour Registration ( alphanumeric ).................. ( 15+ digits )

#   Labour Welfare Board ( Numeric ).....................................   ( 5 digits )

#   Higher Court Case Number ( Alphanumeric ).....................   ( 12 digits )



Now , CBDT and MCA are in the process of integrating their back-end operations , to provide ONE SIMPLE IDENTITY to companies, doing away with the above multiple numbers


Without doubt , this long overdue simplification will make it easy to do business in India


But , it seems , that each State will have unique number ( for each Company registered in its territory ), as far as GST is concerned


I hope , someday soon , an India Start-Up comes up with a digital solution ( pasting, a unique RFID sensor on the forehead of each child , at birth ? ) to get rid of all the CARDS , a person needs to acquire in a life-time , as mentioned in my following blog :

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Wednesday, 30 January 2013


Raining Cards ?


Some 70 years ago , I had only one card – the Ration Card


I was using it to buy , either wheat or bread or war-disposal biscuits from a Shivaji Park ration shop in Mumbai


Now I have,


*   
Driving License Card

*   
Senior Citizen Card

*   
Voting Card

*   
Credit Card

*   
PAN Card

*   
Aadhar Card ( UID )



Apart from sundry cards issued by private / commercial companies and NGOs


As if this was not enough , Central Government of India wants me to carry one more card !


National Population Register ( NPR ) is all set to issue,


 
RESIDENT IDENTITY CARD ( RIC )


It will contain demographic and biometric details of the owner and will be issued to 820 million adult Indians at a cost of Rs 5,552 Crores


I believe only those holding RIC will be entitled to receive subsidized food-grains under the Food Security Act


HOW ABOUT A CARD TO REPLACE ALL THE ABOVE-MENTIONED CARDS ?


23  March  2017