Crime and Punishment

There cannot be any punishment , unless crime gets proven

Recent example :

CBI could not “ prove through irrefutable evidence “ that A Raja and Kanimozi had committed any crime

And to be able to prosecute suspected criminals, you need evidence from every possible source

That is why the following announcement by Shri Parrikar [ CM – Goa ] assumes significance :

Goa govt launches criminal tracking system

Goa Chief Minister  Manohar Parrikar today launched Crime and Criminal Tracking and Networking System (CCTNS) in the state which will provide the police an access to the national database of history-sheeters. 

The initiative, a part of Union Home Ministry's  National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), was launched in presence of senior police officials on the occasion of Goa Liberation Day. 

If the Government is serious about “ bringing to books “ , perpetrators of Corruption ( White Collar Crime ? ) , then Shri Rajnath Singhji might want to take a look at my following blog / email :

 

Thursday, 3 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

23  Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Unsustainable SRISTI ?

Business Line ( 22 Dec ) carries following news :

“ Green Power : Govt proposes Rs 23,450 crore Roof Top solar scheme “

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed SRISTI — Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India — the scheme to incentivise the installation of roof top solar projects in India.

An official statement said, “The concept, once approved, shall serve as the basis of revised scheme of MNRE for solar rooftop in Phase-II and will replace the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs note that has been submitted to cabinet since April this year.”

The scheme will integrate discoms as an implementing agency in Phase-II of rooftop solar scheme, the statement added.

The proposed scheme aims to achieve a national solar rooftop target of 40 GW till 2021-2022.

It is proposed that a Central Financial Assistance will be provided only for installation of roof top solar plants in residential sectors.

The residential users may install the plant of capacity as per their requirement and the respective State Electricity Regulatory Commission regulation. But, the subsidy support will be limited up to 5 kWp capacity of plant.

The incentive towards subsidy to the residential sector is capped at ₹18,000 per kW calculated at benchmark cost of ₹60,000 per kW.

The incentive to discoms for social, institutional, government sectors, commercial and industrial sector is capped at ₹5,500 per kW calculated at benchmark cost of ₹55,000 per kW.

The total incentive for the residential sector stands at ₹9,000 crore for 5000 MW of installations. The incentive to discoms is capped at ₹14,450 crore for 35,000 MW of roof top solar installations.

The total outlay is ₹23,450 crore for 40,000 MW of roof top solar installations.

Sector wise targets  :

*  Commercial and industrial sector ……….. 20,000  MW

*  Government…………………………………………..    5,000  MW

*  Residential……………………………………………..    5,000  MW

*  Social…………………………………………………………  5,000  MW

*  Institutional ……………………………………………..  5,000 MW

CURRENT  STATUS  :

·      *   “ Bridge to India “ consultancy Estimate for 2021………… 13,200   MW

·      *   Actual reached by March 2017………………………………………..   1,396  MW

·      *   Expected Addition in 2017 – 18………………………………………    1,232  MW

WHY  UNSUSTAINABLE  ?

·         Cost of 5 Kw plant   =   Rs 300,000

·         Subsidy @ 30 %      =   Rs   90,000

·         Balance to be financed by owner  =  Rs 210,000

·         Interest on Rs 2.1 lakh @ 15 % = Rs 31,500 per year ( Rs 2625 per month )

As against this , consider what I got billed for last month by my DISCOM :

#    Fixed Charge   =                                         Rs  210

#    Wheeling Charge   =                                   Rs  360

#    Regulatory Asset Charge   =                        Rs  135

#    Energy Charge   =                                      Rs  881

#    Fuel Adjustment Charge   =                         Rs   21

#    Govt Electricity  Duty  ( @ 16 % )   =           Rs  257

#    Maharashtra Government Tax on sale of Electricity ( @ 16.04 p / unit ) = Rs 36

Total Bill Amount  = Rs 1900  ( rounded off  for a total consumption of 228 Units )

======================================================  

Does this mean that , if I were to install a Roof Top Solar under SRISTI Scheme , then  that would amount to a monthly loss of Rs 725 ? ( Rs 1900 paid to DISCOM currently – Rs 2625 interest on Rs 2.1 lakh of loan that I take from the bank )

Incidentally , on the web site of MNRE , I could not find any mention / reference of SRISTI  !

I strongly suggest that MNRE ,

·          Take a close look at suggestions contained in my following earlier email :

     GreenBuildings ? Put Greed to Work !  [  05  June  2017  ]

       https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/green-buildings-put-greed-to-work.html

·         Publish on its web site , calculations of  “ MONTHLY SAVINGS “ that a residential owner may look forward if he were to install a 5 Kwp Roof top  solar plant under the SRISTI Scheme

23  Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Supreme improves upon “ AdJourn “ ?

Hindustan times ( 21 Dec ) carries following news report :

Now, QR codes will help litigants track their case records

·          

This code will be allotted to a litigant or a lawyer so that he or she can access case details digitally on a smartphone

Your smartphone can now help you know the status of your litigation.

The Supreme Court’s e-committee has started a unique initiative of assigning QR code to every case.

This code will be allotted to a litigant or a lawyer so that he or she can access case details digitally with a smartphone. To enable the reading of the QR code, special software needs to be downloaded in the phone.

This move comes almost a month after the e-committee launched an online service to alert litigants about their upcoming cases, a step expected to bring transparency and efficiency in the lower judiciary. A mail is sent out the day the case is heard, informing the litigants about the day’s proceedings and the next date of hearing. The litigants also get a reminder mail a day before the hearing.

The service was started with the objective to give litigants first-hand information since on many occasions, lawyers do not give their clients the correct picture of what happens in the court.

The QR code facility will also help the litigants get an update their matter, without relying much on lawyers.

“This is yet another step by the e-courts committee to digitise judicial proceedings. It was started 10 days back and is as of now restricted to trial courts,” Supreme Court judge justice MB Lokur , who heads the panel, told Hindustan Times.

According to him, it’s the first of its kind initiative in India. “Even government records are not accessible through a QR Code,” he said. A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by smartphones. It allows to encode over 4,000 characters in a two dimensional barcode. They are used to display text to the user, to open a URL, save contact to the address book or to compose text messages.

QR code will be assigned to the case as soon as it gets registered with the court. All the old cases too have been given the code. A litigant can know this code number after logging on to the e-courts website where he or she will have to full up the CNR number of the case. This CNR number, which is similar to a PNR number of railway ticket, is given when a case is filed.

Here is what I suggested some 4 months back in my blog :

AnApp called “ AdJourn “  [ 19  Aug 2017 ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/08/an-app-called-adjourn.html

================================================

After reading this , do not be surprised if some Start Up ( could be :  MeetUrPro / LawRato/ Vakilsearch /  IndiaFilings / Vahura  ) , comes up with a Mobile App called , “  AdJourn “ , to enable BMC lawyers to enter the adjourned date in the App which instantly and automatically , updates the CASE STATUS on the BMC web site and simultaneously , on the web site of the concerned court  !

Call this , “ Transparency at its Best “ ( - also to judge the performance of the JUDGE ! )

With more than 30 million cases pending in Courts all over India ,”  AdJourn “ could change the very landscape of India’s Legal Management System , if adopted by all the Courts !

This could be one more “ App for Everything “ – which Shri Modi would love to launch !

22  Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Where is proof of attendance ?

A news report in DNA ( 21 Dec ) carries following news :

“ Fingerprint , iris issues affect Aadhar work, impact salaries “

Hansa Jadhav from the B ward of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did not receive her November salary as her fingerprints were of poor quality and could not mark her attendance in the biometric machine introduced by the BMC about two months ago.

The BMC has made biometric attendance compulsory for all employees and even declared salary cut for those who fail to clock biometric attendance in their respective office.

In December, the BMC administration decided to cut the salary of around 4,000 employees for not marking attendance in biometric systems.

"I used to get my salary by first week of every month. But, till December 20, I did not receive my salary for November ," said Jadhav.

Udaykumar Shiroorkar, assistant commissioner of B ward took the matter to administrative department and Human Resource departments of the BMC.

"Jadhav's fingerprints are poor and it was not recorded when Aadhaar was being generated. So, she could not mark her attendance through the biometric machine," said Shiroorkar. He added that she, however, had come to office all working days.

Surprisingly, the BMC had stopped providing stationery for muster attendance soon after it introduced biometric attendance.

Sudhir Naik, deputy municipal commissioner said that there are around 140 employees in BMC who have such problems and now, the civic administration will not push them for biometric attendance.

Aadhaar records finger prints, iris and face information while registering. However, if any person is having problem in finger print, it is mentioned in the acknowledgment copy whether the finger quality is good.  In such cases, the Aadhaar operator mentions these while registering which appear in the acknowledgment copy.

All of this frustration could be avoided , if only BMC would implement :

From  BAD to  MAD  [ 01  June  2016  ] 

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/06/from-bad-to-mad.html

Before implementing this , BMC may want to consult Medical Council of India for the result of their following experiment :

MedicalCouncil goes MAD-ical  !   [  20  Aug  2016  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/08/medical-council-goes-mad-ical.html

22  Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs