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

Tuesday 16 August 2011

UNWANTED GIRLS OF INDIA

16 Aug 2011

UNWANTED  GIRLS  OF  INDIA

In Mint ( 25 May, 2011 ), Jacob Koshy reports about a study by Prabhat Jha / Jayant Banthia , published in Lancet magazine.

Their findings were :

·      Girl / Boy ratio ( at birth )

·     In 1990 ………..  906 / 1000

·     In 2005 …………. 836 / 1000

·      No of selective abortions involving female fetuses :

·     In  1980s …………  0 / 2         million

·     In  1990s …………..1.2 / 4.1   million

·     In  2000s …………..3.1 / 6.0   million

·     In 3 decades …….. 4 / 12      million

·          Who is aborting ?

              “ The declines were much greater in mothers with 10 or more years of education than in mothers with no education, and in wealthier households compared with poorer households “

A lady-president notwithstanding, 64 years after independence, the fate of the females in India has only deteriorated!

With regards

HEMEN  PAREKH

MAKING INDIANS EMPLOYABLE


16 Aug 2011

MAKING  INDIANS  EMPLOYABLE

Mandate given to NSDC ( National Skills Development Corporation ) is to train 500 million Indian youth, to make them employable.

Of these, 150 million to be trained by 2020.

That is nearly 15 million per year – a tough target.

So NSDC turned to TeamLease Services Pvt Ltd for help, who will open 1349 multi-skill development centers to train 1.8 million school drop-outs in remote areas over the next 10 years.

Considering that India’s high school drop-out rate is almost 56 % , this is good news.

Turning to private coaching classes for help is no doubt, a good idea.

What NSDC might want to seriously consider is to request India’s reputed Corporate (Tata / Mahindra / L&T / Birla etc) to start 10,000 skill development centers , in their own interest.

Also, how about handing over the management of thousands of existing ITI (Industrial Training Institutes) run by the State Governments, to these corporate ?

With regards


HEMEN  PAREKH

Wednesday 10 August 2011

200 hours for 67 bills ?

Monsoon session of Indian Parliament , which commenced on Aug. 01, 2011, will last 5 weeks.
That is 25 working days = 200 working hours.
With some 67 bills to be discussed and voted upon, legislators will get approx. 3 hours per bill.
But that is more than enough – since less than 10 % ( of the 540 legislators ) read those bills in any case.
And no more than 1 % submit any relevant / cogent argument – for or against any bill.
It is another issue that only 50 % of the legislators are present in the house at any given time ( you can find the rest in the parliament canteen , eating dosas at a price which is less than anywhere in the country !).
But those who are present ensure that they get noticed by their party-bosses, by shouting simultaneously ( – when not staging a “ walk out “ ).
Lok Pal Bill ? What is that ?
PS :
As of today ( Aug 10 ) , 60 hours lost without debating a single bill !


With regards
Hemen Parekh

Tuesday 9 August 2011

A TIME TO BUY ?

9 Aug 2011

A TIME  TO  BUY  ?

Eurozone Crisis : A time  to  buy  ?

If you have the money, it is the best time to buy.

Cash strapped Companies, Councils and even Countries are selling their family heirlooms.

Who is selling what ?

·     Companies

BP and Toyota are selling entire business divisions at a few billion dollars a piece

·     Councils

A Council in UK is holding a civic fire sale of

*  CCTV Towers

*  Shipping Containers

*  Tree Planters

*  Steel bins ( + 400 other items )

The Council just got a budget cut of 33 million pounds !

·     Countries

Debt-ridden, Portugal – Italy – Greece – Spain are offering to sell,

·     Airports / Seaports

·     Railroads

·     Postal Services

·     Telecom Infrastructure

·     Banks

·     Anything state-owned that anyone offers to buy !

  Next time you see on eBay / Amazon, an advertisement which reads,

“ PIGS for sale “

You will know what PIGS stands for !

With regards

HEMEN  PAREKH

What does Europe think about the crisis?

If you have the money, it is the best time to buy. Cash strapped companies, councils and even countries are selling their family heirlooms. Who is selling what?

Companies
BP and Toyota are selling entire business divisions at a few billion dollars a piece

Councils
A Council in the UK is holding a civic fire sale of
* CCTV Towers
* Shipping Containers
* Tree Planters
* Steel bins ( + 400 other items )
The Council just got a budget cut of 33 million pounds!

Countries
Debt-ridden, Portugal – Italy – Greece – Spain are offering to sell,
• Airports / Seaports
• Railroads
• Postal Services
• Telecom Infrastructure
• Banks
• Anything state-owned that anyone offers to buy !
Next time you see on eBay / Amazon, an advertisement which reads,
“ PIGS for sale “
You will know what PIGS stands for !

With regards

Hemen Parekh

Thursday 4 August 2011

Care to return the “ White Money ‘ ?


Will the rich of India, return a part of their wealth to the society from which they have earned it ?

Economic Times ( 30 June,2011 ) has a few suggestions to make to the “ rich “ of India, re : where they should invest to make a big impact on the well-being of the society, viz:


Ø  Affordable urban housing  ……………………..  $   214 – 786  billion

Ø  Clean water for rural areas  …………………..  $   5.4  -  13   billion

Ø  Maternal health  …………………………………….   $   0.4  -  2.0  billion

Ø  Primary education  ………………………………….  $   4.8  -  10  billion

Ø  Microfinance  ……………………………………………. $   176          billion



Do the rich of India have the necessary funds ?


Economic Times says, “ yes “. And provides following figures :

Ø  In 2010/11

62,000 Ultra High Net Worth Households had net worth of $ 45 trillion


>  By 2015/16


    219,000 UHNW will have a net worth of $  235  trillion


And since this is all “ white money “ right here in India, why run after a few billion dollars of “ black money “ stashed away in Swiss Banks ?


With regards

Hemen  Parekh

Monday 1 August 2011

Better to be urban / Rural – Urban Divide

Of course, there was never any doubt, but here are figures to prove.

As per 66th round of survey carried out by National Sample Survey Office ( NSSO ) of India, average  URBAN monthly per capita consumption expenditure ( MPCE ) were higher than RURAL MPCE as follows :

 
In Punjab  ……………………  28 %  higher

In Kerala  …………………….  31 %  higher

In Rajasthan  ………………   41 %  higher




And just as expected, the expenditure on “ food “ is :


In urban India  …………….  44.4 % of  MPCE

In rural India  ……………..   57 %    of  MPCE



No wonder there is a huge migration of rural folks to cities.



With regards

Hemen  Parekh