Needed - your Declaration of Intent - NOW !

A few months back , Planning Commission had prepared a scheme to distribute free smart phones to 71 million poor families

Recently , Kapil Sibal has submitted a scheme to distribute ( of course , free ) to children studying in Government schools ,

Ø  25 million smart phones

Ø  9  million tablets ( computers )

That would cost , somewhere between Rs 7,000 Crores to Rs 10,000 Crores

Earlier this week , a group called Smartnamo , has announced two models ( Safron 1 / Safron 2 ), of smart phones in honor of Narendra Modi

I believe top brass of BJP are considering to distribute 20 crore of these phones to youth between the age of 18 to 25 – free of cost , of course !

At Rs 1,000 per phone , BJP would need to raise Rs 20,000 Crore for this project

No problem !

India’s “ Businesses / Industry “ would oblige , since 75 % of industry-leaders want Narendra Modi to become the next PM

And these phones are believed to come pre-installed with a mobile app , ( called , VotesApp ? ) which will enable the young owner/voters to vote in 2014 National Elections , by simply touching the VOTE button , having finger-print recognition ( ala , Apple’s iPhone 5C )

Now , here is the most likely “ political specification “ of these phones :

Irrespective of , whether the owner / voter is residing and registered in Kashmir or Kanyakumari or anywhere else , the vote will get cast in favor of the local BJP candidate !

That would be one way to garner 275 seats in the Lok Sabha !

More seriously speaking , BJP will miserably fail to deliver on its corruption-free , Good-Governance promise , if it gets voted to power with less than 275 seats .

Secret behind NaMo’s  success story in Gujarat , is BJP majority in local assembly. No relying on corrupt coalition partners to carry out any reform !

And to get that kind of “ Absolute Majority “ , BJP must stop promising freebies and publish its  ACTION PLAN  for the first 100 days in power

TV opinion polls notwithstanding , even NaMo  euphoria  will fade away , if BJP continues to shy away from publishing , before October-end , its  “ Declaration of Intent “

·          Hemen  parekh [ 19 Sept 2013 ]

What exactly / precisely , will you do ?

Expected has come to pass

Narendrabhai Modi has been declared as the PM candidate of BJP

On TV channels , experts are offering advice to BJP / NaMo , on how they should conduct themselves  PRIOR  to 2014 national elections

For the voters , what matters is :

“ If BJP were to be voted to power , how will it conduct itself ,  AFTER  the elections ? After NaMo becomes PM ? “

All that we have been hearing from NaMo and other BJP leaders , over the last one year is :

Ø  Congress is corrupt

Ø  UPA 2 is incompetent

Ø  All of their policies are wrong , leading to price-rise , inflation , economic downturn etc

Ø  They failed to do THIS and THAT

But not a word so far of what exactly / precisely , BJP / NaMo would do , if voted to power !

I certainly don’t mean distribution of free laptops , tablets , mobiles , cycles ! Forget the manifesto !

As a citizen , I would like them to declare  NOW , their unambiguous stand on :

Ø  Dis-allowing “ convicted “ persons from contesting elections

Ø  Bringing political parties within the ambit of RTI

Ø  Appointment of a Lok Ayukt in Gujarat and passing of Jan Lok Pal Bill within 100 days of coming to power

Ø  Make CBI independent of Government

Ø  Passing Women’s Equal Representation Bill, pending for 40 years

Ø  Electoral Reforms incorporating , “ Negative Voting / Right to Recall “

Ø  Passing of Delivery of Services Act

Ø  Bringing out Black Money ( both , foreign and local ) for investment in Infrastructure / Health Services / Education / Housing for the poor  etc , thru suitable “ No Questions Asked “ Amnesty Schemes

Ø  Above all , creating 15 million jobs every year

These are , just a few of the people’s expections

Are BJP / NaMo willing to treat these as voters’  “  Charter of Demands “ ?

We have had enough of rhetoric oratory

People are asking :

“ Forget what UPA failed to do . We know that.

  What will YOU do , and WHEN ?

·          hemen  parekh [ 14 Sept 2013 ]

UPA 3 or NDA 2 ? What is your Choice ?

Our country is facing a long list of Economic and Social problems

Many of these require enacting new legislation

Equal number require strict implementation of existing laws

Solutions of quite a few problems , need bold / innovative and often , unpopular steps demanding deep sacrifices from different sections of our society

All of these need,

Ø    A heightened  sense of co-operation ( National interest comes first )

Ø    Willingness to reach compromises ( win some  / lose some )

Ø    An acute sense of urgency ( get going now / improve along the way )

Unfortunately , during the past few years , hardly any progress could be made towards Political / Social / Economic reforms , since no single political party got an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha

And , unless the Indian voters understand the shortcomings of the Coalition Government and decide to give one party ( it does not matter  which ) , an absolute majority in the forthcoming 2014 national elections , we can expect repetition of the history !

No Government which has to hopelessly depend upon its coalition partners , can carry out the desired reforms

I believe , any major national party ( only Congress and BJP ? ) , which gets less than 275 seats in Lok Sabha , will continue to be blackmailed by its coalition partners

And it would make absolutely no difference whether Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi heads UPA 3 or NDA 2 , as the Prime Minister !

Either would be an impotent puppet of “ Coalition Dharma “ where corrupt partners dictate the shape of reforms !

It is simple

Either we give 300 seats to a single party or we continue to suffer for another 5 years !

Remember , an imperfect decision is any day better than No Decision !

·         hemen  parekh

Let the Sleeping Dogs lie !

I think it was Oliver Cromwell who said these famous words – may be in a different context , at a different time , in a different country

But right now , in our beloved India , our very own ( not so beloved ? ) political leaders seem to be telling the Supreme Court , the same thing !

Yesterday , Supreme Court dismissed a Central Government appeal to review its earlier ruling , which held ;

“ An elected representative stands disqualified from the date of his conviction in a criminal offence . The mere fact that the convicted politician has appealed against his conviction does not imply that he would continue to hold office  “

So , what will the Government do now ?

With solid , unanimous backing from ALL political parties , it will amend the Representation of People Act , to nullify the Court verdict !

Of Course , retrospectively from 15 Aug 1947 !

I am not surprised , given the following statistics compiled by Association for Democratic Reforms :----

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

Party ………% age of MPs/MLAs with criminal charges

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

BJP………………………. 31

Congress…………….. 22

NCP……………………….30

Shiv Sena……………. 75

RJD…………………………46

JD(U)…………………..  44

SP……………………….   43

Rest …………………….. 32-36

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

Not having voted for past 30 years , I have a satisfaction of not having chosen myself , which party will torment / torture / murder me for next 5 years !

But of course , I will vote when I am allowed to cast “ Negative Votes “ !

When will India’s youth rise in revolt ?

·         hemen  parekh

Rejoice You Jobless !

In Aug 2013 , India’s Finance Minister announced a scheme called ,

“ National Skills Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme “

Here are the highlights of the schame :

Ø   To impart skills to 500 million youth by 2022 ( i.e. 50 million / year )

Ø  Of these,

·         Private Sector to train 150 million

·         18 Central Ministries to train 350 million

Ø  Scheme will provide employment as well as post-placement hand-holding for 1-2 years

Ø  A youth trained by an accredited institution will be required to appear for a national skill test before getting a certificate and reward of Rs 10,000 from the Government . Towards this , Govt has set aside Rs 1,000 Crores / year for 1 million trainees

Now , could the Minister be ignorant of the following ?

Ø  For some 62 years , we have a Apprentice Act ( 1951 )

Ø  Under this Act , private / public sector companies are required to train apprentices in different trades / crafts , for periods of 1 /2 / 3 years

Ø  At the end of such training , trainees are required to appear for their NCTVT exams and pass , to get certificates

Ø  Already thousands of Central / State Govt Industrial Training Institutions ( ITI ) are also imparting such skills training to youths who may or may not have passed 10^th standard

Ø  Most companies are using this Act/Scheme to engage such “ Trainees “ in place of permanent workers , to reduce labor costs

But the Minister does admit that , notwithstanding past efforts on such a massive scale , country as a whole , created only 20 million jobs in 5 years ( 2004-2009 ) !  A meager 4 million / year !

May be the Minister hopes that this time around , the Magic Wand of a reward of Rs 10,000 , will create  a miracle  !

Only his arithmetic does not seem to add-up !

Every year , 50 million trainees will add-up to a reward of Rs 50,000 Crores !

Hopefully , the arithmetic will get corrected in time for 2014 National Elections !

   hemen  parekh

Boosting Economy : Reducing CAD

Times of India ( 25 Aug 2013 ) presented following facts about USA prisons :


>    In 2010 , USA prison cost (  $ 80 billion as per Bureau of Justice Statistics )

>    Total Prisoners ...............  1.57 million

>    Average Cost / taxpayer ......................................    $  31,286

>    Ave Cost / prisoner ( in New York / 2010 )................$  60,000

>    Ave Cost / prisoner ( in New York / 2012 )............... $   167,731 ( Rs 115 lakhs / year )

>    Prisoner to Guard Ratio ..............................................2  :  1

>    No of prisoners in NY jails  .......................................12,287

>    Waiting time for case disposal  ...................................95  days


With these kinds of costs , our Commerce Minister should be able to persuade US of A , to " Outsource " their prison system to India , for an annual fee  of $ 40 billion and save 50 % of the cost ! Obama Administration will simply love this idea of cutting back on Government spending !

Here are a few benefits to India :

>   Construction of 10,00 prisons will give a huge boost to construction industry and generate employment for 10 million MNREGA beneficiaries ( creation of permanent capital assets )

>   1.57 million retired Jawans will get employment as prison guards ( personalized service ! )

>   CCTV / Electronic Surveilance industry will get a boost

>   Employment of millions of cooks / clerks / sweepers etc

>   A boom to " Prison-Supplies " industry

>   A huge foreign-exchange earning

>   If FDI in " Prison Industry " is allowed upto 100 % , that would make Foreign Institutional Investors to rush to India !

Clearly a win - win situation for both the countries !     



----  hemen 

Time for " Out of Box " thinking ?

Of late , there has been a lot of debate on TV / Newspapers etc , on ,


>    What has caused current economic crisis

>    What needs to be done

>    Who is to blame


The crisis manifests itself thru ,

>    Falling Stock Index

>    Weakening Rupee

>    Increasing Imports

>    Decreasing Exports

>    Widening  CAD / Fiscal Deficit

>    Sliding Industrial Production

>    Falling GDP

>    Rising Unemployment  ......  etc 


Economists ( experts and otherwise ) are offering all kinds of solutions - often contradictory 

Only thing , they all seem to agree upon is that , current Central Government , is largely to be blamed for the current mess !

I am not an economist and unable to offer " Expert Solution " 

But I do have following simple , non-expert solution :

" Through  " No Questions Asked " , appropriate Amnesty Schemes , enable trillions of Black Money rupees to come out in the open , to fund the Infrastructure projects "

Our Government estimates that we need to pump in , every year , $ 100 Billions , for the next 10 years , into infrastructure development , ie , $ 1,000 billions

Our Commerce Minister , Anand Sharma , estimates that the Indians are hoarding 31,000 tons of Gold ( equivalent of $ 1,400 billions )

Given our current economic climate , I dont expect any foreign individuals / companies / financial institutions etc to come forward to invest such funds into India

What is worse , I expect , once again in 2014 , a " Coalition Government " to rule the Centre - fully paralysed by its Coalition Dharma and incapable of taking tough decisions !

Apart from that $ 1,400 billion worth of gold , it would be safe to assume that another $ 14,000 billion worth of cash Black Money is also lying locked up in Safe Deposit Vaults of Businessmen / Politicians and Government Officers !

Grant them amnesty and a 10 %  ( non - taxable ) return on such Infrastructure investments for a period of 10 years , and we won't need any foreign exchange inflow !

Some will argue :

You will be punishing honest tax-payers and rewarding the cheats !

True 

But , in my opinion , this is the only practical / viable solution , in short term 

And , if incorporated in the Feb 2014 budget , it will get approved unanimously !

If those " Cheats " can help create 100 million jobs in 10 years , forgive them for their dis-honesty !

It is high time we did some " Out - of - the - Box " thinking !

Morality of creating jobs today , far outweighs the immorality of tax-evason in the past !


--  hemen