Congratulations , Pratham Mittal !

Today ( 24 Aug 2018 ) , 27 year old Pratham Mittal [ p@outgrow.co ] is launching his Mobile App , “ Neta “

It will enable Indian citizens to “ Rate “ our politicians , on a continuous basis

“ Mittal wants to build a company, along the lines of Gallup in the US, which will gauge changes in political preferences, and quantify public mood. “

For details , read :

Neta app: Finger on democracy's pulse

Pratham Mittal's app allows people to rate politicians and gauge public mood before elections

I urge, Pratham to incorporate “ ROMP “ into “ Neta “  :

ROMP :  a Panacea  ?  [  06  Aug  2015  ] :

ROMP   User  Interface  :

LOG-IN :

#    Suspend MP for next Session................................ YES.......NO

#    Recall MP.............................................................YES ..... NO

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Justify your recommendation by " Rating " your MP , below

( Unless rated on each criteria , your vote will be invalid )

Is this MP ( who is being rated by you ) :

#     Honest.............................................. YES........NO

#     Of high Integrity................................. YES........ NO

#     Sincere.............................................. YES........ NO

#     Hard-working ....................................  YES........ NO

#     Punctual.............................................. YES.......  NO

#     Dignified............................................  YES........  NO

#     Follows Speaker's Orders.....................   YES........  NO

#     Good Listener.......................................  YES......... NO

#     Awaits his turn to speak.......................... YES........ NO

#     Asks only relevant questions..................  YES........ NO

#     Approachable to Voters..........................  YES....... NO

#    Answers Voters' Emails promptly...............  YES......  NO

#    Provides regular feedback to Voters ............. YES.......NO

#    Addresses other MPs with respect...............  YES..........NO

                                        SUBMIT

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pratham ,

I have no doubt that “ Neta “ will make our political leaders “ perform “ better , all through the year  ( whether or not , they are a sitting MP / MLA / Corporator )

But do not stop here

Do consider the following as well ( even as separate Apps ) :

Filtering Candidate Information ?        [  18  Sept  2016  ]

        VotesApp ........................................(  Simultaneous Voting thru Mobiles  )

        I  SIN  > < U SIN .............................(  Delivery  of  Government  Services  )

        From  BAD   to   MAD..........................(   Mobile based Attendance System   )

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

Pratham ,

Future of  DEMOCRACY  rests in innovations like  “ Neta “


Till arrival  of  the  2019  general election days - and for ever thereafter - our politicians would log into " Neta " everyday , to know their " Share Price " in the " Political Stock Exchange " of India  !

Congrats !

24  Aug  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Milan Vaishnav got it right !

Rest are barking up the wrong tree  !

Today’s Hindustan Times carries following news report :

EC to push for cap on poll expenses of political parties

 

Proposal in nutshell :

“The Commission has proposed to the law ministry that a ceiling may be stipulated on election expenditure by political parties towards Parliamentary or Assembly elections.

It had proposed that such ceiling should be either 50% of or not more than the expenditure ceiling limit provided for the candidate multiplied by the number of candidates of the party contesting the election.”

Milan Vaishnav(mvaishnav@gmail.com /https:milanvaishnav.com ) commented as follows :

“The loophole on party expenditure has made individual limits on spending farcical. The issue is with enforcement.

Given the difficulties of monitoring and enforcement, it is not clear how limits on parties will be more efficacious than limits on candidates.

I would prefer a situation where contributions were made more transparent and spending limits were relaxed. But the government has made the former ever more opaque” 

My misgivings :

If this goes through , is it likely that each party may ask more than one of its members to contest each seat ? May be 10 party-candidates for each seat ?

But this is so obvious that the finally accepted proposal will also limit that each party can put up only ONE candidate per seat . No brainer  !

The root cause of all the “ extravagant / un-documented / un-reported “ , election related expenses is :

Un-accounted / Un-restricted  ( BLACK MONEY  financed )  PARTY-FUNDING

As I had feared , recently introduced ELECTORAL BONDS have miserably failed in addressing this fundamental / structural WEAKNESS  ( - some say intentional loophole )

The only foolproof way to rectify this situation and make it totally transparent is to implement my following suggestion ( sent as Email to Cabinet Ministers / NITI Aayog / PM-EAC / Election Commissioner / Political Party Chiefs etc ) , is :

Transparency in Political Funding ?  [  06  July  2017  ]

Make Me A Party  ………………………….. [  03  Oct  2017  ]

 

So  Much  for  Transparency   !        [  03  Jan  2018  ]

 

Don’t Disclose Donations [ 3 D ]       [  04  Jan  2018  ]

 

 

Given the fact that all political parties ( including BJP ) are opposed to bringing themselves under RTI , I do not expect them to come forward and support my idea !

 

And as far as the Election Commission is concerned , I don’t blame it for throwing up its hands , since it cannot even get the parties to follow “ Model Code of Conduct “

 

Our only hope is some “ Judicial Intervention “ by the Supreme Court

( supremecourt@nic.in  )

 

22  Aug  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

 

 

 

 

 

   

Google Knows All : A de Jure Recognition ?

In Bombay High Court , this is what Hon Justice S C Dharmadhikari said  YESTERDAY :

“ The concept of of surveillance state exists , even without the Aadhar card

Today, Google knows more about Justice Dharmadhikari than may be himself and it is available to everyone

Personal details are collected for credit cards, driving license and flight tickets

Everything is easily available . For everything , we do not have a medicine

Here is what I wrote ( blog sent as email to Supreme Court / ShriKrishna Committee )

An   Open  Letter  [  13  April  2018  ] :

Dear Hon Shri Misraji ,

Let me assume that you are using a,

*    Smart phone made by SAMSUNG 

     ( a South Korean manufacturer  )

*    Its Operating System is ANDROID 

     ( owned by American Google )

*    Its service provider is Vodafone

   (  a UK based Mobile Sevice Provider )

All of these entities have a complete  AUDIO LOG  of each and every word that you ever uttered , using your smart phone !  Ever since you started using it !

And complete log of every web site you ever visited from that phone

And entire data of your online purchases , made through any mobile app

This holds good of everyone using a smart phone – including government officials in charge of our national security !

Although a bit late , George Orwell’s “  1984 “ has finally arrived  !

And a few months earlier , I sent the  following E Mail :

[ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/11/aadhar-irreversible.html [ 05  Nov  2017 ]  :

I am tempted to call this phenomenon ,

ELECTRONIC  AMALGAM  !

Take the case of Aadhar , which is our BIO-METRIC DATA ( captured as BYTES )

Over the past 3 years ( - and especially after De-Monetization ) , Aadhar has been alloyed  inextricably with the following other BYTES of DIGITAL DATA , to form an ELECTRONIC AMALGAM  :

·         130 DBT Schemes

·         Bank Accounts

·         Mobile Wallets

·         Ration Cards

·         Credit-Debit Cards

·         PAN Cards

·         Driving Licenses

·         Income Tax Payments / GST Payments

·         E Commerce Apps

·         Voter ID Cards ( soon ? )

·         Online Purchase of Train ( - and other transport ) services

·         Registration on most web sites / all Messaging Apps / Social Media

·         Passport / Travel Documents

·         Appearing for Online Exams / Tests

·         Altogether firmly linked with ,

#     50 crore SIM cards

#     54 crore Bank Accounts seeded with Aadhar

#     118.64 crore Indians who used it for authentication nearly 1217 crore times

#     19 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts used Aadhar for identification

#     9.54 crore MGNREGA workers have used Aadhar to receive wages in accounts

#     1.48 crore pensioners have linked Aadhar to bank accounts

#     1.36 crore Indians got passport based on Aadhar

#     Due to Aadhar linkage, 11.35 lakh duplicate PAN got detected / deactivated

   

List keeps growing by the day !

Therefore , I am not surprised that 2 days back , Supreme Court refused to grant a stay to petitioners for Aadhar Actlegitimacy and  linking with Bank Accounts / Mobile Nos

It referred the matter to the 5 Judge Constitutional Bench , formed for this purpose , which will decide by end November

I would be surprised if that Constitutional Bench were to decide :

·         Aadhar Act is “ Un-Constitutional “ and must be struck down

That would be like discovering some, hitherto unknown method of separation / dis-entanglement / dismembering  / destruction , of  an ELECTRONIC  AMALGAM ,

 - a task of erasing trillions of petabytes of 0s and 1s , from millions of computers from all over the World – remotely and without the permissions of those Computer Owners !

The chaos that is bound to ensue, will make us forget the pains of DEMONETIZATION and GST , combined !

We have many examples of   “ Un-implementable Laws “

STRIKING DOWN AADHAR ACT WILL BE AN EXAMPLE OF  “ UN-ENFORCEABLE   JUDGEMENT “ !

Such a “ discovery “ would merit a Nobel Prize ( - in  “ Virtual Unreality “ category ? )

I have no doubt , the Hon Judges of the Supreme Court have heard about :

The Law of Un-intended Consequences

21  Aug  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

EESL : Put it off indefinitely !

Business Line ( 18 Aug ) carries following news :

EESL puts off IPO again ; now in FY 20   

Highlights :

·         In Jan 2018 , its paid up capital was Rs 460 cr

·         Revenue : Rs 1200 cr in 2016-17  /  Rs 1400 cr in 2017-18

·         Revenue target :  Rs 3000 cr in 2018-19

·         Capital Expenditure proposed for 2018-19  :  Rs 6,000 cr

·         Amount to be raised through DEBT  :  Rs 4,800 cr ( 80 % of Rs 6,000 cr )

·         Comprising : Domestic Borrowing of Rs 2,000 cr / Rs 2,000 cr of Bonds

I suppose , EESL needs that Rs 6,000 cr of Capital Expenditure to “ BUY “ , those ELECTRIC CARS ( each priced at Rs 11 lakhs ) from TATA and M&M

But , if it were to “ LEASE “ those cars ( from TATA / M&M ) , instead of “ BUYING “ , then I suppose EESL would NOT need that CAPITAL EXPENDITURE !

If anything , it might have a monthly “ LEASE INCOME “ ( through sub-leasing of those cars to various Govt Depts ) which would be far in excess of the “ LEASE RENT “ that it would pay to TATA / M&M  !

A positive “ Working Capital “  !

I , once again urge Shri Saurabh Kumarji , to go through my suggestions in following emails :

EESL : Grab this chance !  [  01  Aug  2018  ]

You may be able to :

·         Avoid market borrowing of Rs 4800 cr at 12 % interest

·         Service additional Equity

·         Avoid IPO

19  Aug  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs