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

Friday, 4 May 2018

Inter-operability of Wallets





Business Line ( 04 May , 2018 ) carries following news :



 



The Reserve Bank of India is likely to unveil this month the final guidelines for digital wallets to be interoperable. The banking regulator also wants the wallet players to integrate the functions and procedures by the end of June.

“The final guidelines on interoperability are likely to come this month. The RBI is working with the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) and a few other groups to frame the guidelines, but these are complex processes and systems and everyone wants to be 100 per cent sure before the final roll-out. Technology has to be tested, and hence, it is taking time,” said a banker requesting anonymity.

The RBI, in its master directions for prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), had proposed the idea of interoperability among digital wallets within six months, following which digital wallets present in the ecosystem will be able to interact or transact with each other.

At present, a user of a wallet, such as Paytm, can only send or receive money through another Paytm account. Once wallets become interoperable, users will be able to transact with each other, irrespective of the platform they have subscribed to.

Sources said that the RBI wants to test out the whole process with 10 digital wallets initially, and added that the central bank wants to make the NPCI the “centre of switch” for all kinds of transactions.




Congratulations , RBI  !



To overcome any resistance to this excellent idea, either from the bankers or from users of Mobile Wallets,  I suggest that the advantages of this reform , as highlighted below , be widely publicized / debated :

 

Source :


A Matter of Time  [  03  Jan  2017  ]


https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-matter-of-time.html

 



*  All bank accounts of a person ( in different banks ) become inter- operable / fungible ,

   through seamless interlinking , using Aadhar / UPI Interface in a Mobile Wallet .


   No need to " select " a particular bank name


  
*  All transactions using a Mobile Wallet, automatically entered in BLOCK-

   CHAIN database commonly shared by ALL banks



  
*  Wallet based algorithm will move funds across different bank accounts for best yield ,

   constantly searching for best interest rates offered by banks on Fixed Deposits


   This will happen automatically , much like algorithm-based share trading , taking

   advantage of price differences in two bourses located 300 km apart ( in one

   thousandths of a second ! )


  
   No rocket science here considering availability of " BEST PRICE " apps for thousands of

   goods and services



   And since computing power of mobiles are doubling every 18 months ( Moore's Law ),

  nothing will stop algotrading through a Mobile Wallet  as well ( Demat A/C on Wallet ? )

   



*  Of course , future Mobile Wallets will subsume within itself , ALL AUTOMATIC

    PAYMENT APPS , using which ( individually ) , currently I make following digital

    payments :


    
     #  Property Taxes / Locker Fees / Housing Society Charges / MTNL bill


     #  Mahanagar Gas / Tata Power / YOU broadband / Vodafone / TATA Sky TV etc



   I expect , a future Mobile Wallet to take care of ALL my periodic dues, automatically

 

 

Same page of Business Line , also carries following news :

 

Bank Account portability still some time away


https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/bank-account-portability-still-some-time-away/article23763055.ece

 

I have no doubt that interoperability of mobile wallets , will hasten the Bank Account Portability

 

04  May  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs



Thursday, 3 May 2018

#Aadhar #DataProtectionLaw #Privacy #SupremeCourt


Everything  You   Do  ?



Yes , it seems everything you do will get,


*    “ recorded “


*    “ stored “ in a universal database


*    “ searched / retrieved “


*    “ morphed “


*    “ sold “ ,



-  in order to manipulate you – sometimes for good and at other times , for bad



Technology itself is neutral / unbiased



It will be up-to the people , how they want to use that technology – whose march is relentless



Following article , unfolds what turn that technology might take :




A plausible case for a future with no privacy, and why it should concern you

How will technology go about this business of compiling your personal / private data , from your birth till your death ?

For an explanation , read :

2024 ! – V 2.0 of Orwellian 1984 ?  [  07  July  2017  ]





Privacy does not live here !  [  22  July  2017  ]







As far as the draft of that long awaited “ Data Protection Law “ is concerned , I am not sure whether the members of the drafting committee can even reach a consensus on the definitions of the following terms , which are bound to appear in various clauses of that law ( - they must worry about how the Supreme Court will “ interpret “ each term ):


#   Private

#   Data

#   App

#   Permission

#   Access

#   Download

#   Sign

#   Rights

#   Own

#   Personal

#   Share

#   Entity

#   Processing

#   Obligation

#   Handling

#   Collection

#   Use



I am sending this as email to the Supreme Court


Let us hope , the Hon Judges keep this in mind while pronouncing their judgement on Aadhar case





04  May  2018





Wednesday, 2 May 2018

#IndiaReforms #DigitalIndia #NITIaayog


New   India   2022


Business Line ( 01 May ) carries following news :








NITI Aayog will soon come out with a development agenda for ‘New India 2022’, which will spell out strategy for expediting economic growth, its vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said today.


NITI Aayog had earlier planned to come out with three documents: 3 year action agenda, 7 year medium-term strategy paper and 15 year vision document


The think-tank, in a presentation last year, had said the foundation for freedom from six problems  poverty,  dirt,  corruption,  terrorism,  caste-ism and communalism—will be laid by 2022 when India celebrates 75 years of independence.




I urge Shri Rajiv Kumar to go through my following earlier e – mails :








SUGGESTION :



Dear Shri Rajiv Kumar :


People have short memory ( - what under the influence of an opium called “ Elections “ )


But , before rushing in to release a NEW DOCUMENT , you may want to consider launching an Online Opinion Poll ,  ( - through a Mobile App ) , asking citizens to assign  Percentage Achieved Score “ against each of the following promises contained in BJP’s poll manifesto  ( OLD DOCUMENT ) , released before 2014 elections :



  Elimination  of  Black Money


   
  Special Courts to stop Hoarding / Black-Marketing



  Set-up a Price-Stabilization Fund



  Develop Labour-intensive Manufacturing



  Empowering Youth for Self-Employment



  Transforming Employment Exchanges to Career Centres



  Eliminating Corruption thru E-Governance



  Rationalization / Simplification of Tax-Regime



  Insulate Intelligence Agencies from political intervention
   


  Strengthening Physical Infrastructure



  Expediting work on Freight and Industrial Corridors



  Setting up Gas-Grids



  Optical Fibre Network up to the village level


   
  Quadrilateral project for Bullet Trains



  Establishment of National  " E - Library "



  Implementation of National Education Policy



  Evolving further the PPP model to PPPP model



  Building 100 Mega-Cities




02  May  2018



Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Samudra Manthan [ Ocean Churning ] V 2.0






10,000  B C  (  Ancient  Legend  )



I am reminded of an ancient Indian legend of “ Samudra Manthan “ [ Ocean Churning ]



It seems Devas ( Good people ) and Asuras ( Bad people ) got together to churn the ocean , both desirous to get their hands on AMRUT ( Nectar of Immortality ) , hidden within the ocean



They picked the mountain MERU as the churning tool  and the huge snake WASUKI ,as the rope with which to rotate the tool , with one end of WASUKI held by the DEVAS and the other by the ASURAS



After a lot of churning , many things surfaced , some good and some bad



Then came out VISH ( Poison ) !



No one wanted that !  It would , instantly kill who-so-ever came anywhere near it



So , both the parties jointly petitioned Lord Shiva to drink it , in order to save them from complete annihilation by the poison



Being a generous and mankind loving God , Shiva drank the poison and held it firmly in his throat and became known as NEEL-KANTH ( God with green-coloured throat )



I have forgotten if the legend makes any mention of finding that AMRUT and who benefitted by drinking it



But I do find some striking similarities between this legend and our Information / Data driven society of today  !



Just substitute as follows :


*  Ocean ( SAMUDRA )    =    Database of past-present-future “ THOUGHTS “ of entire
                                           mankind


*  Churn ( MANTHAN  )     =   Big Data Predictive

 Analysis



*  Mountain (  MERU  )      =   Internet Connected  Devices ( IoT )



*  Rope   (  WASUKI  )       =   Artificial Intelligence ( AI )



*  Good  People ( DEVAs )  =   Scientists finding solutions to human misery


*  Bad People  ( ASURAs )  =   Greedy / Selfish / Power-hungry politicians


*  Poison  ( VISH  )            =   Malware / Spiders / Hackers / Evil software / Terrorists



*  God    ( NEEL-KANTH )   =   Central Server storing all “ Thoughts “ of mankind






02  May   2018  (  Today’s  Legend  )








Now, customers with no prior credit score can easily get loans


The burgeoning online lending segment in India is also giving rise to a new kind of challenge on sourcing credit score data.


To solve this problem, several fintech companies are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to create alternate lending data score for more than 80 per cent of the Indian population who have no credit scores.


From the place where people live to the restaurants they visit to their digital footprints on social media, ML captures it all.




2020  A D  (  Tomorrow’s  Legend  )



Following news snippet appeared in Times of India ( 29 April ) :








Misbehaviour on-board one of China’s high speed trains ( 20,000 km built in past 10 years ), can hurt a citizen’s credit score



The warning should not be taken lightly because, come 2020, a state backed  Social Credit Scheme “ will become mandatory



A loan default by a friend or a snide comment on social media could affect creditworthiness



Government will profile citizens based on their Commercial , Social , Trust and Judicial Credibility



Even refusing state incentives, say, by not having two kids, could be held against a citizen



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



C


Chinese  Surveillance  is  getting  into  Workers'  Heads 

https://futurism.com/china-emotional-surveillance/


Here’s how it works. Lightweight sensors embedded in workers’ hats or helmets wirelessly transmit the wearer’s brainwave data to a computer — it probably works a bit like an electroencephalogram (EEG), as MIT Tech Review notes


Then, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms scan the data, looking for outliers that could indicate anxiety or rage.


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



Question :


How can we use our ANCIENT LEGEND to save the Mankind from the Poison and find that elusive AMRUT  ?



By substituting :


*  Nectar  (  AMRUT  )        =   ARIHANT-  the Saviour








02  May  2018