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

Thursday, 12 July 2018

People’s Pulse ? People’s Confusion ?




DNA ( 12 July ) carries following report about launch of mobile app “ People’s Pulse





Despite 2 / 3 attempts , I could not download it


Then I filled in the survey online and got a feeling that it is quite wide ranging , and without any focus !


Why did I feel this way ?


To get a feel , take a look at the following format of the “ People’s Pulse “ :



SECTION  A  [  mandatory  ]


Select your State / Constituency ( from drop-lists )



SECTION  B  [  mandatory  ]


What do you think of the progress achieved by the Central Government in the following sectors ?  ( 5 point scale of : Very Poor / Poor / Good / Very Good / Excellent ) . Each of the 12 sectors to be rated separately , one after another


Affordable Healthcare  /  Employment Opportunities  / Rural Electrification  / Farmer Prosperity  / Fight against Corruption / Swachh Bharat /  Road Construction / Connecting cities and towns by Airways  /  Up-liftment of Poor and Marginalized / National Security / Tackling Internal Security Threat  / Economy



SECTION  C  [  mandatory  ]


Do you think that the speed and the scale of govt work has improved ?     YES …..NO


Are you feeling more optimistic than before about the future of India ?      YES….. NO





SECTION  D  [  mandatory  ]


How do you rate the performance of the Central Government ? ( 5 point scale as above )





SECTION  E  [  mandatory  ]


How do you rate the performance of your State Government ? ( 5 point scale as above )




SECTION  F  [  mandatory  ]


Which of the following issues is a prime consideration when you are voting ? ( multiple choices  /  choose any number of the following by ticking   )


Price Rise  / Law and Order Situation  /  Education  /  Employment  / Cleanliness  / Corruption /  Farmer  welfare




SECTION  G  [ optional  ]


Name the three most popular BJP leaders in your constituency ( one after another to be rated independently )


Rate each of these leaders on 5 point scale as shown above :


Honesty and Integrity  /  Approachability and Humility  /  Popularity among Youth & Masses




SECTION  H  [ optional  ]


Name the three most popular BJP leaders in your State


Rate on following ( same as above 5 point scale ) :
Honesty & Integrity  /  Approachability & Humility / Popularity among Youth and Masses




SECTION  I  [  optional  ]

Please answer the following questions about your  MLA

*    Name of your MLA


*    Are you aware about his / her initiatives ?     YES …..  NO


*    Is he / she , accessible  ?                             YES …..  NO


*    Are you satisfied with his / her work ?           YES ……  NO


*    Does he / she solve people’s problems  ?       YES …..  NO




SECTION  J  [ optional  ]

Please answer the following questions about your  MP

*   Name of your MP


*   Are you aware about his / her initiatives  ?       YES  …..  NO


*   Is he / she accessible  ?                                  YES  …..  NO


*   Are you satisfied with his / her work  ?             YES  …..  NO


*   Does he /
 she solve people’s  problems  ?         YES …..   NO



SECTION  K  [  mandatory  ]


How happy are you with the condition of the following infrastructure in your constituency ?  (  Rating of each item separately , on 5 point scale  )


Roads  /  Power  /  Drinking  Water  /  Healthcare  /  Education  /  Ration-related Issues  /  Job  Opportunities  /  Law and Order  /  Cleanliness




SECTION  L  [  mandatory  ]


*   According to you, which are the three most popular Government Schemes ?

    ( Type free text in box )


*   Do you have suggestions for PM Modi ?  (Type free text in box )


*   Do you listen to Mann ki Baat  ?       YES………….. NO


*   Will you be interested in volunteering for BJP in 2019 Election ?     YES…….NO



SUBMIT




The questions that passed my mind were :


*     Is this a survey for evaluating the performance of the ,


       #    Central Government  or of the State Government  ?

      
       #    Govt Schemes or the performance of the local  MLA / MP  ?

      
*    Is it to evaluate the present performance or assess the future potential of BJP
      leaders ?


*    Is this a GOVERNMENT survey or a BJP survey ?


*    With as many as 13 SECTIONS ( distinct pages ) and a 5 point scale rating ( in most
      questions ) , is this not too clumsy for a Mobile App ?





My  Suggestions  :



#  If this purports to be a “ Central Government “ survey , there should be no mention /
    reference to BJP .


 
    Party can launch its own , separate Mobile App for evaluating the performance of its
    own MPs and MLAs and for assessing the popularity / potential of its future candidates
    for 2019 elections


    
    I strongly recommend that Shri Amit Shah consider my following suggestion :

    ROMP - A Panacea ?  [  06 Aug 2015  ]

 

    If he does ,

 

     *  He will get far better / precise feel of the “ People’s Pulse

 

     *  He will know whom to re-nominate / drop from 2019 candidature

 

     *  Voters will have an assurance that their combined opinion will make a difference

 

     *  There will be a marked improvement , not only in the attendance of the MPs and

         MLAs , but also in their behaviour within Lok Sabha / State Assembly

 

 

     Amitbhai would do well to launch ROMP ( may be a modified version ) before Rahul

     Gandhi comes out with something similar !

 

     He may even want to learn about  People’s Perception “ of the achievements of the

     BJP  government ( against is own 2014 Election Manifesto ), by implementing :

 

     But You have Promises to Keep  [  14  May  2016  ]

 



#   There should be separate Apps for evaluating the performances of the,

      *   Central Government

      *   State Government



#   Given the 5 point scale , most respondents will tend to select the “ median “ point ,
     viz : GOOD .  In study after study , this “ tendency to centralize “ has been observed
     when deciding is difficult / time-consuming . People like to select an option which is “
     Safe “ – nothing to go wrong !  Well-designed surveys have only  YES .. NO or
     TRUE…..FALSE “ type of selections


  
*   In a Mobile App , no one has time ( or patience ) to write ( free text ) in boxes

     Avoid these



*    List of “ Sectors “ or “ Issues “ or “ Infrastructure “ is quite long


      Either make it short ( 4 / 5 ) or do not make it mandatory to rate ALL



*   If BJP leaders are really interested in election related  REFORMS , they may want to
     look up :

     Reforming Elections and Lok Sabha [ REaL ]   (  20  Dec  2016  )

 

     It is still not too late to treat the above blog as “ People’s  Manifesto “ for

     2019 general elections

 

     It is high time 900 million voters stop reading Election Manifestos of the political

     parties and come up with their very own , then tell the political parties :

 

      We will vote for only that political party which commits itself to implementing our

       Manifesto “

 

13  July  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs    



Wednesday, 11 July 2018

How to grab Women Votes in 2019 ?





During 2014 general elections, there were a total of 814 million voters


In 2019 , we can assume this number to go up to 900 million


Of these, ( say ) , 400 million will be women




Our Minister for Women and Child Development,

Smt Maneka Gandhi

has come up with a sure fire method to get all of these 400 million women to vote for BJP in 2019 general election



She has “ requested “ Shri Piyush Goyalji ( acting Finance Minister ) :


“ Please amend section 64 of the Income Tax Act so as NOT to tax, assets that are gifted to women by their husbands . Husbands are apprehensive to transfer assets to women because they fear income accruing from the asset will become a burden on them “


And she tweeted :


“ Section 64 of the Income Tax Act deals with clubbing of incomes  and provides that if a husband gifts an asset to his wife and the asset results in some income to the wife, the income will be added to the taxable income of the husband


The provision was originally formulated in 1960s under the assumption that wives and daughter-in-law would normally not have any independent taxable income. However, today , with women leaving an indelible mark in every field, the Act seems to have an adverse effect “






Congratulations , Smt Gandhi 




Leaving aside any beneficial impact this may have on BJP’s vote share , your suggestion will go a long way to truly “ Empower Women “



And it is much easier to implement than “ Demonetization / GST / Simultaneous Elections “ etc



No political party will ever dare to oppose such an amendment to the Income Tax Act !



Also consider the following :



In India , it is estimated that some 20,000 tons of GOLD ( mostly in the form of STRI DHAN jewellery ) is locked up in households and lying idle ( worth Rs 57,00,00 crores )



And Indians are piling into gold like never before.

The latest import-export data released on Friday shows that India imported $ 41.4 billion worth of gold and silver in the April-November period of this financial year. That's over Rs 2,15,000 crore  at current exchange rates.


The imports are a record  56 percent higher  than the corresponding period of last year.






Unfortunately , the conditions governing our current GOLD  MONETIZATION  SCHEME has failed to bring this IDLE assets ( mostly held by Indian women as their “ parent / husband gifted “ , Stri-Dhan ), into official Banking System



I urge Shri Piyush Goyalji to consider my following suggestion along with the suggestion offered by Smt Gandhi



11  July  2018



Monday, 9 July 2018

This is just the Beginning !




DNA Money ( 09 July ) carries following news :




Extract  :
Directors of over 10 lakh companies currently registered in the country will have to upload their videos in an e-filing to the government in a major crackdown on "fly by night and dummy directors ".

Not just that, companies too will be required to upload a video clip of the office premises in a step that is aimed at checking creation of shell companies.

This is a part of the government's new Know Your Customer (KYC) norm, which will kick in for close to 35,000 directors from Tuesday under the supervision of Ministry of Corporate Affairs secretary,  Injeti Srinivas.


WHAT NEXT  ?

*  I suggest the Government incorporate following clause in the draft “ Data Protection
    Law “ proposed by B N SriKrishna Committee :
--------------------------------------------------------
       Anytime requested by the Government ,

       *   Social Media companies ( such as Google / FaceBook / Twitter/ LinkedIn etc )

       *   E Com companies ( such as Amazon / eBay / Flipkart / Jabong / Alibaba etc )

       *   Mobile App companies ( such as Paytm / TEZ / WhatsApp / SHAREit etc )

       -  shall provide following information about those 35,000 directors :
       ===========================================

          Who ( name )

·         Where and when, born / names of parents


·         Where  grew up / where living currently


·         Does he live in a rented place or in an owned flat


·         What Schools / Colleges did he attended ( - and degrees  acquired )


·         What Companies did he work for and salaries he got


·         How does he travel to work ( own vehicle or public transport )


·         Where does he go for his holidays / what books does he read


·         Who is he married to and who are his children ( - and how many )


·         If divorced , how much alimony does he pay and to whom


·         Where has he invested his money ( Banks – Funds – Equity etc )


·         How much has he borrowed from whom and for how long


·         What is his credit ranking  ( including spending history / card wise – wallet wise )


·         What are his eating ( food ) preferences and the restaurants he visits


·         What does he do for entertainment ( Music / Movies / Videos )


·         What clothes does he wear and how often does he buy


·         Who are his friends and how often he phone / text them / meet them


·         What ailments does he suffer from and what medicines does he take


·         What minor offences ( traffic ) or crimes has he committed


·         What elections has he contested ( won and lost )


·         Who are his doctors / lawyers / brokers / agents etc


·         What web sites does he visit / how often and for how long


·         What does he search on the Net / What RSS feeds does he subscribe to


·         What TV channels does he watch and listen to which Radio Stations


·         Every photo of his ever taken ( selfie or otherwise )


·         Every phone call that he ever made or received


·         Every Email / Text message that he ever sent or received


·         Every blog / comment that he ever posted on the Web


·         Every face-to-face communication that he engaged in


[ Source : Privacy does not live here !  ]


    



Of course , to many , this may seem draconian

But there would have been no need for this , had a few businesses ( and bankers / politicians / bureaucrats too ) not engaged in their corrupt ways

Between them , they built an evil empire of “ Shell Companies “



But , by itself , what I have hinted above , will not suffice to demolish this monster which has siphoned off ( as Black Money ), trillions of rupees of tax payer’s monies over years



For a thorough / permanent solution, Government need to simultaneously implement :

E - Governance ?  [   03  April   2014  ]




It is no more enough to be honest . One has to be also perceived to be honest !


Sorry , honest Businessmen ,


Like Sati Sita , you too must undergo , a “ Trial by Fire “



10  July  2018