Suggestions for Better Governance

Here is a  PARTIAL  list of initiatives that may transform India - if successful

But let not " Fear of Failure " prevent us from undertaking a " Out of Box " thinking

In a democracy , people have a right to differ

Hence ,  many will not agree - but they must have their say

In the end , there is only ONE WAY to find what works - and what does not

BY  TRYING  OUT  !

 MY LIST  ( not in order of importance or priority ) :

>  Food Security Bill

>  Connecting 2.5 lakh  panchayats  thru broadband

>  Aakash Tablets for 220 million students

>  Lokpal Act  /  Delivery of Services Act ( " Magic Wand " App ? )

>  Bank Transaction Tax / Demonetization of Rs 1000 currency note

>  Aadhar Identification Card

>  Electoral Reforms / Right to Recall ( " VotesApp " mobile App ? )

>  CAG audit of Private Companies using Government resources

>  4G Wireless Internet all over India

>  Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor

>  Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor

>  Natural Resources Allocation Policy

>  Political Party's Funds under RTI scrutiny

>  Social Media based marketing

>  Liberalization in FDI ( Entire economy - not just retail )

>  Direct Transfer of Subsidies to poor

>  Government funding of Elections

>  Interlinking of Major Rivers

>  " India Post Bank "  with 139,040 branches in Rural areas

>  Bank A/C for every adult by 2016

>  Divestment / Closure of loss-making / bleeding PSUs

>  Imparting skills to 500 million youth ( NSDC )


>  Sulabh  Sauchalaya

Here are my own suggestions :

>  BLACK MONEY

   * As incomes climb ( for an individual or for a corporate ), reduce taxation

     rates for each higher slab ( reverse of present system )

     Eliminate incentive for tax - evasion

     Reward honesty / efficiency  /  productivity

     Celebrate Wealth-Creators

     No more "Black Money " generators

     With such " Inverse Taxation " regime , we can

     expect Corporate and HNIs from all over the

     world , to pump in $ 100 billion worth of

     investment, EVERY YEAR , in our Infrastructure
  
     projects ! 

   *  Introduce Amnesty Scheme for black money declaration

       No questions asked ( re Source of funds ) for investment in specific

       Infrastructure Bonds , with tax - free interest for 10 years

>  JOBS

   *  With ever-increasing mechanization / automation in every sector of

       economy , there is no way , we can create 12 MILLION  new jobs ,

      either in Organized or Unorganized sectors , year after year

Creating just ONE job in these sectors , requires a

Capital Investment of Rs 1 million ( Ave )

Where can we find Rs 12 million million  ? 

      Our only hope lies in creating " SELF - EMPLOYMENT "

      To generate massive self - employment , provide generous , low interest

      loans and " Tax Free " income (up to Rs 5 Lakh/ year) for self-employed ( including Proprietary Firms )

   *  Create an " Online Job Exchange " to replace 943 existing physical

      Employment Exchanges , with 42 million current registrations

      Call it "  GLOBAL-RECRUITER "

      Require ALL  job-portals of India , to RSS feed into Global-Recruiter ,

      #  Every single job advt posted everyday( including current )

      #  Every resume posted everyday ( including current )

     Make these jobs and resumes " searchable " from ALL the job-portals ,

     irrespective of , on which job portal , these were posted

    

     After matching " JOBS " with " RESUMES " , Global Recruiter to send out

    daily Job - Alerts on the smart phones of the jobseekers , thru a mobile

    App ,  " MY JOBS " - against which , candidates can apply from mobile

   Make it mandatory for every Smart phone and Tablet sold ( or given away

   free ) in India , to pre-install " My Jobs " App

   And , most certainly , those 9 million Aakash - 4 tablets  for which tender

   opens on 28th Jan 2014

Will Narendra Modi  /  Rahul  Gandhi  /  Arvind  Kejriwal  etc , incorporate these , in their poll manifestos for April 2014 election  ?

*  hemen  parekh  (  15  Jan   2014  /  Mumbai  )     

Transferring Cancer ?

Arvind Kejriwal's order to transfer 800 officers of Delhi Jal Board to other departments , is like trying to cure cancer by transferring it from one part of the body to another part  !

At worst , these officers will end-up spreading their corrupt practices to those other departments

At best , those other departments now will have , twice to thrice the number of tables to push the files around  !

Their current departmental efficiency / productivity of 10 % will further go down to 5 %  !

Perhaps , in the short term , Arvind had only this alternative to send out a message

What should he do next ?

Here is a suggestion :

>  Invite National Productivity Council  to carry out TIME & MOTION studies

     and WORK-SAMPLING studies , to set STANDARD TIMES for all activities

     / processes

>  Get IIT -Delhi , to monitor the individual and departmental efficiencies

    ( Ratio of Actual Times / Standard times  )

>  Publish findings on Delhi Government web site

>  Get IIM-A , to develop / install , a Performance Appraisal System based

     on ANNUAL OBJECTIVE SETTING exercise for each officer  

     ( MANAGEMENT BY  OBJECTIVES  )

    

>  Incorporate , elements of " Self Appraisal " / " Superior Appraisal " and

     " Peer Appraisal "

>  Serve " Show Cause Notice " to those officers whose productivity is less

    than 80 % of the standard in any quarter

>  In Service Rules incorporate a clause to terminate the service of a officer

     whose productivity falls below 50 % for two consecutive quarters

Over the next 12 months , this exercise should be carried out for all the departments of Delhi government

This is a pre-requisite to the introduction of Guaranteed Delivery of Services Bill

DEAR  ARVIND

Cancer cannot be cured by transferring it from one part of the body to another

The affected part must be amputated  !

*   hemen  parekh  (  14  Jan  2014  /  Mumbai  )

Petty Thieves or Party Thieves ?

Arvind Kejriwal's helpline produced 23,000 complaints against corrupt officials , within first 2 days

And managed to arrest 2 constables trying to accept Rs 3,000 by way of bribe

Some 60 + sting operations are under way

Similar help lines are being installed in Goa , MP , Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh

(  BJP walking in the footsteps of  AAP  ?  )

Can such efforts to curb corruption,  produce results  ?

Yes , if what China's Central and Provincial governments managed to achieve in just 11 months ( Jan - Nov 2013 ) , is any clue

Here are some statistics released by Supreme People's Procutorate :

>  No of " corrupt " govt officials investigated .............. 36,907

>  Total number of cases  

.........................................  27,236

>  Major / Important cases  ......................................   21,848

>  Cases involving " Losses "  .....................................  16,510

>  Amount of Losses  ............................................  Rs  566 crores

   (  - peanuts compared to our scams totaling Rs 5 LAKH CRORES  ! )

Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection reports :

>  Investigation and Punishment of party Officials  ......... 182,000

>  High level officials facing legal prosecution  .............     8

   ( - including Zhou Yong Kang - a former member of Politburo Standing

     Committee - equal to an Indian Cabinet Minister )

If our Democratic System is superior to China's Dictatorial System , we ought to do better  !

In China , a Politburo Member cannot be " Voted Out " by people

But , in India , we can  !

I hope the 543 sitting MPs and 5,000+ sitting MLAs of India realize that they will get voted out in April 2014 , if they fail to act against the corrupt - and do it fast

People calling Narendra Modi , a " Dictator " have no clue how angry Indian voters are  !

For them , a dictator who rids them of corruption is a better choice than the so-called democrats who couldn't care for 4,383 children ( under age of 5 ) dying EVERYDAY , due to starvation !

Voters  know that Rs 5 LAKH CRORES could have saved these children  !

They don't care for Freedom of Speech that cannot bring Freedom from Hunger  !

*   hemen   parekh  (  13  Jan  2014  /  Mumbai  )  

 

Lesson Number 5

For Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues , meeting people of Delhi in person and listen to their problems , was very desirable

In the past , a couple of Prime Ministers have tried to do the same

But on a smaller scale , by " Pre-Selecting " and admitting in their compound , some 30 / 40 people on any given day

By putting in place , some " System " of pre-selecting , they made the exercise manageable

What went wrong with Arvind's failed attempt to hold a " Janata - Darbar ", yesterday , was not that it was a wrong idea

It was a " System Failure "

It was a failure to properly " Anticipate "

120 lakh people of Delhi have at least one problem each , which the past government - and the municipality - have failed to address  !

Hence , it did not need much " Imagination " to expect 10,000 persons to turn up  !

Can you  imagine , what would happen next time if 100,000 persons turn up, -  which is very likely  !

Now , it would be impossible to listen to the grievances of even 1,000 persons , one at a time

Arithmetic is quite simple

A minister would need at least 2/3 minutes to listen to a complainant and need another 2/3 minutes to give a reply / make a notation on the complaint paper / give instructions to his secretary etc

At 5 minutes per person , he can manage no more than 12 people per hour

A staggering 80 working hours ( 10 working days ! ) to meet / listen to 1000 persons  !

Obviously , something not " Do-able "  !

What is the way out  ?

Simple

STEP NO  1

>  Implement a " System - based Solution " outlined in my blog (30 Dec

     2013 )

STEP NO  2

>  Launch " MAGIC WAND " mobile App , described in my blog ( 27 Dec

    2013 )

Look up on my web site

DEAR   ARVIND

Lesson Number 5 :  Differentiate between " DESIRABLE " and " DO-ABLE "

*    hemen   parekh   (  12  Jan  2014 / Mumbai  )

The Bandwagon is Rolling

Today's Guru-Mantra seems to be ,

"  Let us learn from  AAP  -  and in a hurry , too  !  "

>  Rahul Gandhi says,

    "  We have to learn from AAP , how to connect with the ordinary people "

    He is even changing the Lok Sabha candidate selection criteria to ensure that only honest , non-corrupt , non-criminal and youthful candidates get chosen - and transparently

>  Jairam Ramesh says ,

   "  Had we introduced Lokpal Bill 2 years back , AAP would not have come

      into existence "

Soniaji  /  Rahulji  /  Man Mohanji  are in agreement

They are asking Jairam to resign his ministerial post and ensure that history does not repeat itself in April / May 2014 , by implementing what AAP did , viz: connecting with grass-root congress workers

>  Mohan Bhagwat ( RSS ) is telling Rajnathji ,

   "   Wake up from the euphoria of having won in 3 states . Look back over

       your shoulder . AAP is gaining ground . Ensure selection of honest

       candidates having clean image  "

>  Man Mohan Singhji admits ,

    "  Somewhere along the line , we failed in our understanding of what

       common men ( Aam Aadmi ) want

       We could not contain inflation and corruption

       We must learn a lesson from our defeat at the hands of AAP  "

>   Aslam Sher Khan ( Congress ) says ,

    "  The way things are going , it seems , the party has not learnt any

       lessons from the recent defeat  "

>   Pankaj Chaturvedi ( MP Congress spokesman ) says ,

     "  We have to learn lessons from AAP - especially in simplicity  "

>   Chhatisgarh CM , Raman Singh told party MLAs ,

    "  We must live with simplicity , as Aam Aadmi was influenced and

       impressed by it  "

>   Sanjay Nirupam ( Congress MLA ) says,

     "  If AAP can reduce electric bills in Delhi within a week of coming to

        power , why can't Congress government in Maharashtra do it

       after 5 years ? "

>   Digvijay Singhji told Congress party co-ordination committee ,

     "  Those who sit in their homes and hurl abuses on political parties ,

       and their leaders , should learn from Kejriwal to form a political party

      ( first ) and ( then ) make whatever laws they want to "

>   Mani Shankar Aiyar says ,

    "  I hope and pray that the AAP stops the BJP and Modi

       The Hitler ( Modi ) must be stopped from coming to power

       The Congress would welcome any assistance from AAP in this regard "

>   Amartya Sen ( Economist ) says ,

  

     "  It is wonderful that they have succeeded in mobilizing people

        One has to congratulate them on their success

        AAP should have laid more emphasis on areas like education

        and health in their election campaign  "

>   Shivanand Tiwari ( JDU ) says ,

       "  Personally I feel , the AAP as a phenomenon has got people

         excited .  People have responded favourably to a third alternative

         which is a good thing  .  They should be given time , before any rash

         judgment  is passed on them  "

>    Basudev Acharia  (  CPI - M ) says ,

       "  Yes , there is a lot of similarity between AAP and our party  "

>   K Narayana  ( CPI State Secretary - AP ) says ,

     "  AAP has proved in Delhi that the BJP and the Congress were not

        alternatives anymore and their end is near  "

>   Shatrughan Sinha ( BJP MP ) says ,

    "  Other parties should learn from AAP's rise from the grassroots

      Honesty and transparency must go together but that rarely happens "

>   Naresh Agarwal ( SP ) says ,

    "  We have decided to watch AAP for a period of six months before we

       decide on things like an alliance with them  "

>   Bhartruhari Mahtab ( BJD ) says ,

    "  I expect AAP to deliver on the promises that were made before polls "

>   Dara Singh  (  BSP  ) says ,

    "  We want to watch what the AAP does for a few months before deciding

      on anything  "

>   Ravi Shankar Prasad ( BJP ) says ,

     "  AAP has put up a good performance in Delhi but had it not been in the

       fray , BJP would have done better "

>   Rajiv Pratap Rudy  ( BJP ) says ,

      "  Regional manifesto is setting the National Agenda .

        This is what happened in Delhi

        A great churn is taking place  "

>   Prakash Karat  ( CPM ) says ,

     "  The interesting point about the AAP has been that they have been able

       attract the middle classes to politics in a metropolitan city like Delhi

        It hasn't happened before and is a novel phenomenon

        AAP did what CPM wanted to do  "

The list goes on and on

Apparently , leaders of political parties are vying with each other to climb onto the AAP bandwagon  !

But the bandwagon is rolling - and how  !

4  LAKH members in a single day , yesterday  !

Target of  100 LAKH  members in 10 days  ! That may be just a beginning !

Poor , oppressed , tormented , tortured , looted , raped , hungry and starving , are all marching towards AAP offices , - and web site - from all over India  !

There is no stopping them  !

The only option for 1400 + , LOCAL REGIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES , is to merge with AAP

I  URGE THEM TO MERGE WITH AAP TO DECIMATE THE DEMONS OF PAST  !

It is time to STOP  THINKING  LOCAL

GO  NATIONAL  /  GO  AS  ONE  !

Or else , get consigned to the dust-bin of History  !

*    hemen   parekh   (  11  Jan  2014  / Mumbai  )  

Dark Cloud Over Horizon ?

Of all the countries in the world , America contributes most to the Global Warming

As a result , over the past few weeks , a white cloud ( Polar Vortex ) , has enveloped entire America , plunging temperatures below zero

In India , a dark cloud has been gathering over the past few years

And it is caused by no ordinary " Warming " !

It is caused by people's anger " Boiling Over "  !

Boiling over the past 15 years , at the rampant ,

>   Corruption amongst law-makers / bureaucrats / low-level government

     officers  / black-moneyed  businessmen  / greedy industrialists  etc

>    Criminalization amongst politicians - turned - mafia

Now with the arrival of AAP government , this dark cloud has slowly started clearing in Delhi

But a dense dark ominous cloud still envelopes  rest of India

Will AAP succeed in clearing it in April / May 2014 elections  ?

If opinion polls published on TV channels last evening are to be believed , it will

And believe me ,

Over the next few weeks , these opinion polls will get , ever more ,

>   Sharper

>   Shriller

>   Deafening

The writing is on the wall  !

But the short-sighted politicians cannot read  !

And the far - sighted TV channel experts are refusing to read  !

Every Saturday ( starting tomorrow ) , Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues , will sit on a footpath outside Delhi government Secretariat  and face the public

They will make themselves " Accessible " to people

They will " Listen " to people

What next  ?

Holding a cabinet meeting in Chandni Chowk  ?

Or , a Delhi Vidhan Sabha session at Rajghat  ?

AAP says ,

"  To hell with procedures / precedents / barricades

    Hail , the power of People

    Come out on the streets

    Clear the Dark Cloud  !  "

*   hemen   parekh   (  10  Jan  2014  /  Mumbai  ) 

Lesson Number 4

Hesitation is your worst enemy

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra , Arjun had doubts

Sure , he had been wronged by cousin Duryodhan , but how can he think of fighting him - and grandpa Bhisma - just to regain his rights  ?

When Gandiv ( the mighty bow ) started slipping from his hands , he sat down on the chariot and told Lord Krishna ,

"  I am confused . I have doubts about fighting this battle  "

It was then that Lord Krishna taught him Karma-Yoga

Rest is history

When Arvind Kejriwal ( Chief Dark Cloud ) , announced launching of a helpline yesterday , the Doubting Thomas  of all respectable TV channels broke into a chorus :

>   Helpline is an eyewash - bound to fail

>   No more than a populist measure to divert people's attention

>   A ridiculous , half-baked idea

>   If people are to conduct sting operations , what will you do ?

>   Going back on promises - what else

>   Corrupt officials will get friends to make fake phone-calls on helpline

     and learn about the " Modus Operandi " of the planned sting

>   If it was this easy to get rid of corruption , Congress would have done it

     50 years back

>   Why did it take you 15 days to announce such a simple thing ?

DEAR   ARVIND

Remember ,

>  Too much analysis produces paralysis

>  No decision is worse than a bad decision

>  Fear of failure is your worst enemy

>  World average is : One idea succeeds after 99 fails

>  Only way to success is by experimenting - by making mistakes

>  Only way to learn swimming is by jumping into water

>  Successful governments all over the World , have a " BIAS FOR ACTION "

This is your Lesson Number  4

BIAS   FOR   ACTION

Learn it well

*   hemen   parekh   (  09  Jan   2014  /  Mumbai  )