Air India : A Pride ?

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture , says :

“ The government should review its decision to privatize or disinvest Air India and explore the possibility of an alternative to disinvestment of our national carrier which is our national pride “

[   Source : Don't privatise Air India, give it 5 years to revive: Parliamentary panel 

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dont-privatise-air-india-give-it-5-years-to-revive-parliamentary-panel/articleshow/62400999.cms  ]

And how much would it cost poor Indians to preserve this “ pride “ ? ( - none of who have even seen an Air India plane from inside ) ?

According to CAPA [ Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation ] , a cool Rs 16,000 – Rs 19,000 crore !

According to CAPA , the parliamentary panel’s recommendations , if implemented , will further erode value requiring the need to inject additional $ 2.5 – 3.0 Billion in funding over that period

Now remember , that would be on top of approx. Rs49,000 crores of loans that the MAHARAJA has raked up over the decades  !

Fortunately , recommendations of the Standing Committee are not binding on the government

In July , Minister of State , Jayant Sinha said :

"Air India is facing financial pressure and earning less profit due to high debt burden as an offshoot of past accumulated losses. The debt servicing is at around Rs 6,000 crore per annum. 

Citing provisional figures, Sinha said Air India's total debt stood at Rs 48,876.81 crore at the end of March 2017. 

I wonder if the Parliamentary Committee had anything to say about the following :

TAXPAYERS MONEY GIVEN TO AIR INDIA :

·         2014-15……………………………. Rs  5,780  Cr

·         2015-16……………………………  Rs  3,300  Cr

·         2016-17……………………………. Rs  2,465  Cr

·         2017-18……………………………  Rs  1,800  Cr

LOSSES  INCURRED  :

·         2012-13…………………………..  Rs  5,490  Cr

·         2013-14……………………………  Rs  6,279  Cr

·         2014-15…………………………..  Rs  5,860  Cr

·         2015-16…………………………..  Rs  2,636  Cr

·         2016-17……………………………  Rs  3,643  Cr

Despite Air India being a patient suffering from a “ Terminal Illness “ and being kept alive on a “ Life Support System “ ( aka “ Tax Payers sweat and blood  “ ) , why is there this morbid obsession to keep it alive in a vegetative state ?

  

I sent following suggestion to the Minister :

Findinga Bakra ? Possible ? [  04  June  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/finding-bakra-possible.html

09  Jan  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

 

Data Protection without Data Privacy ?

How will that happen ?

Over the past 4 / 5 days , there is a debate raging around the UIDAI filing a FIR against a whistle-blower journalist of TRIBUNE , who found out a chink in the armour of UIDAI

He found that , for a small payment of Rs 500 to some low-level functionary in the vast UIDAI machinery ( running into thousands of data-processors / handlers , spread all over India ), one can access the Aadhar Database !

According to TRIBUNE report, there were about 100,000 illegal users and that the unauthorised may have started 6 months ago !  It has offered all help to UIDAI , which has in the meantime , taken following precautions :

·         Restricted the access of all designated officials – numbering about 5,000 – to the Aadhar Portal , only by entering the biometric of the person whose details were sought to be verified ( - just entering the 12 digit unique identity number , will no more suffice )

·         Under the new system , access needs to be authenticated by the fingerprint of the Aadhar holder and the data available will be restricted to that person

·         Moved to banks / post offices, centres of 4,000 PRIVATE OPERATORS and started work on shifting of another 26,000 PRIVATE OPERATORS to these ( presumably ) SAFE PREMISES

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In the meantime , Justice BN Srikrishna ( who heads an expert committee for framing a draft DATA PROTECTION LAW ) says :

·         His panel is NOT examining how Aadhar works . Supreme Court is looking into it

·         Data Privacy across the country is NOT a problem as such but Data Protection is

·         HOW the data is collected , either by consent or without consent , WHAT will be its implications and HOW do we protect it, these are the issues

·         Protection means it is YOUR data, YOU have the RIGHT to say for WHAT purpose it is being collected, WHAT it is being used for and WHEN will YOU destroy it

I am glad that the Expert Committee , found time to read my following E Mails – and accepted ( - could be reluctantly ! ) , my contention that it is getting almost IMPOSSIBLE to prevent internet connected devices ( starting with smart phones ) , to collect / harvest , a user’s PRIVATE DATA

As far as that matter of CONSENT is concerned , all those devices will warn you when you switch on :

“ BY USING THIS DEVICE , YOU ARE AGREEING TO OUR COLLECTING ANY / ALL DATA ABOUT YOU AND ALSO ALLOWING US TO USE IT FOR WHATEVER PURPOSE WE THINK FIT “

Privacy? What is that ?  [  04  May  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/05/privacy-what-is-that.html

 

Delusionof Privacy ?  [  10  June  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/delusion-of-privacy.html

 

 

Privacy? Perish the Thought !  [  18  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/privacy-parish-thought.html

 

 

#RighttoPrivacy! Thank You Your Honours ! [ 19 July 2017 ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/right-to-privacy-thank-you-your-honours.html

 

 

Privacydoes not live here !  [  22  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/privacy-does-not-live-here.html

 

 

Supreme may Propose : Technology will Dispose [ 23  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/07/supreme-may-propose-technology-will.html

 

 

Seeing AI through Google Glass ?  [  24  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/07/seeing-ai-through-google-glass.html

 

 

Artificial Intelligence : Destroyer of Privacy ?  [  25  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/07/artificial-intelligence-destroyer-of.html

 

 

Privacy : Not Right ?  [  30  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/07/privacy-not-right.html

 

 

Future is Nearer !  [  31  July  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/07/future-is-nearer.html

 

 

Three got it Right !  [  02  Aug  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/08/three-got-it-right.html

 

 

www.PrivacyForSale.com  [  26  Aug  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/08/wwwprivacyforsalecom.html

 

 

Right to Sell My Soul ?  [  27  Aug  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/08/right-to-sell-my-soul.html

 

 

A Fool’s Paradise ?  [  29  Aug  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/08/a-fools-paradise.html

 

 

Wherefore Art Thou, O Romeo ?  [  20  Sept  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/09/wherefore-art-thou-o-romeo.html

 

 

Data Privacy : We are getting overtaken !  [  26  Sept  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/09/data-privacy-we-are-getting-overtaken.html

 

 

7  Pillars  of  Data  Protection  Law [ 27  Nov  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/11/dataprotection-srikrishnacommittee.html

 

 

Just  Ask  Google  !  [  28  Nov  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/11/googleindia-privacylaw-dataprotection.html

 

 

Here is the Proof  [  30  Nov  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2017/11/here-is-proof.html

 

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09  Jan  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tax Sops ? How about Abolishing ?

Times of India ( 08 Jan ) carries following news report :

“ Eye on ’19 polls, govt may woo the middle class with tax sops “

Extract :

·         Middle class taxpayers are a key BJP constituency

·         Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said previously that government believes in leaving more funds for people to spend and invest

Dear Shri Jaitleyji :

As the above news suggests , you are facing pulls from several sides

And , to satisfy everyone ( - although a little bit ) , you will be tempted to resort to tinkering / tweaking the personal income tax , a little bit , here and there

But , even though it may not be possible to announce total abolition of personal income tax with effect from April 2018 , you may , at least want to ask your Cabinet Colleagues :

“ What would tax payers do with the tax amount saved , in case Personal Income Tax was totally abolished , with effect from April 2019 ? “

It is very likely that you may get to hear something like what I wrote to you earlier , as below :

·         Whatwould happen ?   

         https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-would-happen.html

·         Whatwould they do ? 

 

·         https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/05/what-would-they-do.html

Considering that you make such an advance “ Declaration of Intent “ for 2019-20 , in your Budget Speech on 01 Feb 2018 , it cannot be considered as “ Influencing the Voters “ , by the Election Commission ( - breaking Model Code of Conduct ) !

And any opposition party that “ dares “ to criticize / oppose your “ Declaration “ , is bound to get branded “ Anti Poor “ and lose all the 8 State Elections coming up in 2018  !

Worth a gamble  ? In the interest of not only the tax payers but entire economy  ?

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08  Jan  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs