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Sunday, 7 April 2024

Bhrashtachar Hatao : 100 DAYS ROAD-MAP

Dear Shri Narendrabhai ,

In past few weeks , you have spoken about this on several occasions. It appears to be , one of your most important GUARANTEES to voters . You have promised to include this in your 100 DAYS ROADMAP , by taking concrete steps

Of late , government agencies have stepped up their efforts to catch suspected “ Bhrashtacharis “. But most of these efforts are related to old cases . New cases have gone down when compared with the number of such “ New / Fresh “ instances taking place 10 years ago

For a clearer understanding , let us reflect on a rather narrow / crude definition of corruption

( A )

Between

Ø a person who deserves delivery of a product or service “ legitimately “ ( by law or constitution ) from any government agency

And

Ø the actual / timely, delivery of the same to that person

Stands

Ø an INTERMEDIARY , who holds back such “ delivery “

Till

Ø he / she is given a BRIBE in CASH ( or some Quid-pro-Quo favour ) – money not shown in his / her Income Tax return

( B )

A person sells “ Products / Services “ and takes payment in CASH ( although strictly required to receive the payment through official banking / digital payment methods ), in order to evade payment of taxes

You will notice that, in both these cases, payment of CASH is the culprit. This is

BLACK MONEY ( BM )

Over the past few years , your government has taken following important steps to

reduce the use of CASH :

# BM V 1.0 > Demonetization of 08 Nov 2016

# BM V 2.0 > Gradual withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes , starting 09 May

2023

As a result of these steps, ACCOMPANIED by introduction of DIGITAL PAYMENT

METHODS , use of cash has considerably come down

I urge you to now take the following steps to accelerate this process :

# BM V 3.0 > Replace Electoral Bond System with “ Central Election Fund “, as

proposed by me through my following e-mail :

# Election Tax : alternative of Electoral Bonds

( to be effective from 01 Jan 2025 )

# BM V 4.0 > Withdraw from circulation ( not demonetization ) Rs 500 paper

currency notes , effective 01 Apr 2029

( a smooth withdrawal over a long period of 5 YEARS )

This period of 5 YEARS should be used for introduction of the

following :

# Linking of FACIAL RECOGNITION with a person’s BANK

ACCOUNT ( Face = Password )

# All small value / day-to-day payments can be made by

LOOKING and TALKING to a Smart phone

( Read > How to go Cash - Less ? ………… 27 Nov 2016 )

Dear Shri Narendrabhai ,

When we eliminate Rs 500 paper currency note , instead of transporting CASH BUNDLES in cars ( for delivering to those CORRUPTS ) , a person would need to hire TRUCKS !

By that time, technology ( of that Security thread in our currency notes ) would have sufficiently advanced for road-side CCTV cameras to DETECT those bundles of GLOWING / REFLECTING metallic threads, from a kilometre away !

( Read > How to conquer Corruption ? .. 21 Dec 2015 )

Most “ VIKSIT “ countries in the world, manage with their “ Biggest Paper

Currency “ denomination at only 100 TIMES of their “ Smallest Paper Currency “

denomination, as can be seen from the following tabulation :

Country	Minimum Denomination	Maximum Denomination	Ratio
United States	$1	$100	1:100
Eurozone	€5	€500	1:100
United Kingdom	£5	£50	1:10
Japan	¥1,000	¥10,000	1:10
China	¥1	¥100	1:100
India	₹1	₹ 500	1:500
Canada	$5	$100	1:20
Australia	$5	$100	1:20
South Korea	₩1,000	₩50,000	1:50
Brazil	R$2	R$200	1:100
Russia	₽50	₽5,000	1:100
Mexico	$20	$1,000	1:50
Germany	€5	€500	1:100

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai / 08 April 2024

After 8 years, RoboTaxi on horizon

Dear Shri Gadkariji ,

I remember you having said sometime back :

“ In India , we will not allow AUTONOMOUS CARS, which do not require a driver to drive. We cannot allow millions of DRIVERS lose their jobs “

One another background :

Currently, barring may be, Bangaluru city , no other Indian city permits BIKE-TAXI ( where client is riding on the rear seat ) which one can rent for a ride in city, using a mobile app

I urge you to reconsider your views in the following perspective :

Ø In 23-24, India produced 4.2 million cars , 99.99 % of them being Petrol or Diesel . Imagine the amount of GHG they emit and the amount of Traffic Jams they cause, and the un-productive man-hours, sitting behind the wheel, waiting for traffic to clear

But imagine , in place of those “ Single owned PRIVATE “ 42 lakh cars, there were only 4 lakh “ Ride-share AUTONOMOUS taxis “ ( described below ) , how much cleaner would be our air and how much our productivity would go up ?

If we assume that the total number of cars ( ICE + EV ) in 2030 is 80 lakhs, then imagine this TRADE-OFF :

# 80 lakh cars , each running ( asset utilization ) for 10 % of the day ( 2.4 hours )- parked rest of the day

Vs :

# 8 lakh cars running for 100 % of the day ( 24 hours )

I urge you to include this in your ministry’s 100 DAYS ROAD-MAP

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai / 08 Apr 2024

Context :

Elon Musk Announces August Launch Of Tesla's 'Robotaxis'. What Are They .. NDTV… 06 Apr 2024

Extract :

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced the release date of his Tesla robotaxi. In a post shared on his platform X, formerly Twitter on Saturday, the tech billionaire wrote, “Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8.”

What is a Robotaxi?

Tesla's robotaxi, described by Elon Musk during a 2019 investor event, is a futuristic self-driving vehicle.

Mr Musk envisioned a future where owners could earn by renting out their autonomous vehicles for use in a taxi service, with Tesla taking a commission.

My Take :

8 Years ago , I blogged :

Ø Name of the Game : Co-operation ……. ……………………23 Sept 2016

Extract :

There was a time when a Company had to compete with other companies within its own Industry

Entry-barriers across industries were very high

No more !

In the Internet Age , a Company never knows from where a competitor will spring up and completely re-write the " Rules of the Competition Game " !

It seems , the rules of this new Competition Game is , " CO-OPERATION "

Something like : " If you cannot lick them , then join them "

FOR EXAMPLE :

The existing Car Manufacturers are being threatened by the " Non - Car Manufacturers " such as Amazon / Google / Apple / Alibaba / Baidu etc , who are rushing headlong into manufacture of Autonomous ( Driverless ) Cars

So these Car Manufacturers have realized the threat looming on the not-so-distant horizon and started tying-up with " Ride Share " companies

Eg:

* General Motors with Lyft

* Toyato with Uber

* Volkswagen with Gett

* BMW with Scoop

* Ford ( India ) with Zoomcar

* Mahindra & Mahindra with Ola

WHY ?

Because they have realized that the TECTONIC SHIFT shaking up the Car Industry is :

If you can have " Transport as a Service " delivered WHERE you wants , WHEN you wants , WITHIN 5 minutes and CHEAP , then why OWN a car ? - and worry about repairs / parking / driver / taxes ?

Ride sharing services are re-writing the rules of " Asset Ownership Vs Asset Service "

Remember , some 30 years , in many parts of India , homes and shops , used to " OWN " a small privately owned diesel-operated GenSet , since there were long hours of power BLACK-OUTS ? One could not depend upon State owned power supply companies . You had to fend for yourself !

But when power from Public Utility Companies became abundant / cheap and reliable , private Gensets disappeared !

That is about to happen in case of privately owned cars of which India produced some 2.8 million in 2015-16

HOW ?

A privately owned car ( may be ) operates for just 2.4 hours ( out of 24 hours ) per day . That is 10 % utilization

Rest of the time , it is parked

But suppose , it was available for plying on the roads , for 50 % of the time ( 12 hours per day ) ?

That is 5 times as much ! And available to ANYONE at a moment's notice ( thru Mobile App )

Then , it is theoretically possible that the number of NEW cars Indian private owners buy , may go down to 0.5 million per year ( as against 2.8 million ) , since few people would want to " Buy / Own " a car !

That is huge threat to existing car manufacturers! Imagine being made obsolete by Ride-Sharing Companies !

WHAT NEXT ?

Next tectonic shift is :

DRIVER-LESS CARS = LESS-CAR ROADS

Why do you think , car-companies like Tesla / General Motors / VW and non-car companies like Google / Uber etc are frantically working to launch " AUTONOMOUS ( DRIVER-LESS ) " cars ?

They have no love lost for the drivers ! ( May be , a little bit ! )

In a traffic jam taking a taxi from Andheri to Churchgate will take you 90 minutes , even if it is a Uber or Ola

So , a Ride Sharing company may save you those other hassles ( repairs / parking / taxes / driver etc ) , but it does not save you any travel-time , to go from A to B

That ( no reduction in travel time ) holds good , even for DRIVER-LESS , ride-sharing taxies !

Diver or no driver , travel time remains the same

Except for another " PARADIGM SHIFT " in case of DRIVER-LESS cars , viz:

Its utilization can easily go up to 90 % of 24 hours !

Imagine 1 LAKH , DRIVER-LESS , Uber / Ola ride-sharing taxies roaming the streets of Mumbai , 24 hours a day !

That may eliminate from the roads of Mumbai , 10 LAKH private cars , making Mumbai , a

* less CAR / less TRAFFIC JAM / less POLLUTED / less NOISY / less TRAVEL-TIME / less ACCIDENT , city !

I hope Shri Nitin Gadkariji , re-focuses on replacing Old Polluting Petrol / Diesel Vehicles ( V-VMP ) with Driver-less Ride Sharing Future of Urban Transport

I am sure , he is aware of the Guidelines released by the US Department of Transportation just 2 days back , which outlined safety expectations and encourage uniform rules for the DRIVER-LESS CAR technology

Saturday, 6 April 2024

Election Tax : alternative of Electoral Bonds

After SBI handed over all data of Electoral Bonds and the Election Commission published it on its portal , lots of things became clear

News reports came out with umpteen types of analysis of WHO gave HOW MUCH to WHOM etc

But no one has , so far published an alternative of the kind I suggested in my following email :

Ø Transparency in Political Funding ? .. ……………….06 July 2017

A couple of days ago , there was news that officers of Finance Ministry have started working on drafting of an ALTERNATE SCHEME for funding of elections , which will bar loss-making and Shell companies from funding political parties

Though a good suggestion, this is only peripheral

In my 7 year old suggestion, there were many advantages ( most notably, absence of Quid-pro-Quo )

But , whereas this is an “ advantage “ for “ transparent governance “ , for precisely the same reason , it becomes a “ disadvantage “ for those Corporate Donors / Corporate Electoral Trusts ( - to best of my knowledge, there were no INDIVIDUAL donors of Electoral Bonds ) . You know why !

This raises following possibility :

Corporates will simply STOP donating to the “ Central Election Fund “ ( controlled by Election Commission ) as proposed in my above-mentioned e-mail !

Here is a way out :

Ø Introduce an “ Election Tax “ ( payable by Corporates ) equal to 1 % of the Net Profit ( ala CSR , which stipulates , 3 % of ave net profit of past 3 years )

This suggestion must be viewed in the context of the Govt expecting Rs 9.23 lakh*crore of corporate tax collection for FY 23 – 24 ( = 3.11 % of GDP )

Very likely, my suggestion would result in an Election Tax collection of about Rs 30,000 crore / year

Ø This will get paid in “ Election Tax Account “ section on Income Tax Department portal

Ø On 31 Dec of each year, this amount will get transferred into Election Commission’s “ Central Election Fund “ bank account

Ø This data will be transparently visible to everyone ( without login ) on portals of both, IT department and Election Commission ( not just the aggregate total but company-wise )

Ø Disbursement from “ Central Election Fund “ to the eligible political parties ( based on a transparent / published formula ), will be as per my proposal in > Transparency in Political Funding ?

To my above-mentioned earlier proposal , I would suggest adding one more following condition , as far as “ After the Election, re-imbursements of Election Expenses “ to the contesting candidates is concerned :

Ø There will be NO REIMBURSEMENT to those candidates ( whether win or lose ) , against whom , there is even ONE CRIMINAL CASE ( of Serious Nature ) is pending , as per mobile app KYC

Dear Smt Sitharamanji,

Three things :

Ø If you incorporate my proposal in your 100 DAYS ROAD-MAP , you will be fulfilling “ Modi Guarantee “

Ø If implemented , my proposal will enable you to contest 2029 Lok Sabha Elections , without worrying about source of funds required to fight the election – or asking for obligation ( from you know WHO )

Ø In all future elections ( Central or State ), we will find many more HONEST / COMPETENT candidates coming forward to fight elections as INDEPENDENTS(expect more Engineers / Scientists / Executives )

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai / 07 April 2024