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Sunday 27 March 2016

PIYUSH PLAN ?

After second world war , European economy was in shambles / devastated

It was revived through America's generous help in the form of Marshal Plan

A couple of days back, Shri Piyush Goyal announced intention to replace India's current petrol / diesel vehicles with Electric vehicles , by 2030

Now , consider this :

* India boasts of 200 million vehicles today

* We add some 10 million new vehicles each year

* Today , global electric vehicles number only 6.65 lakhs

* World may reach 30 million electric vehicles by 2030

In light of this , is " PIYUSH PLAN " feasible ?

Let us take up the associated issues , one by one , and explore possible solutions

# TIME FRAME for CHANGE-OVER

Replacing 13.3 million vehicles per year ( starting TO-DAY ! ) to fully change-over 200 million vehicles in 15 years , is NOT possible

Remember , some 10 million vehicles get added each year for replacement / new demand

Way Out :

* Existing vehicle manufacturers to COMMENCE production of electric vehicles by 2020 , giving them 5 years lead time to tool up

* Manufacturers to start TAPERING OFF production of petrol / diesel vehicles from 2020 at the rate of 10 % per year. In 10 years ( by 2030 ) , they must stop all old vehicle production

* Simultaneously , manufacturers to step up electric vehicle production by 10 % per year , so as to achieve 100 % electric vehicle production by 2030

* This time frame will also apply to auto components / ancillary manufacturers ( Batteries etc )

* Complete elimination of petrol / diesel vehicles from the roads to be targeted by 2050

# DISPOSAL OF EXISTING VEHICLES ( 200 million + produced till 2030 )

* Enable / encourage MSME units to carry out " Retro Fitting " of existing vehicles

* Vehicles older than 15 years to be taken off the roads . Encourage MSME to salvage whatever they can from such vehicles ( eg : Steel )

* Provide special incentives to export such " Pre-Used / Reconditioned " to less developed countries

# CHARGING STATIONS

* Existing petrol / diesel filling stations will need to be converted to Electric Charging Stations

* These Charging Stations , themselves , must NOT draw electric power from State / National Power Grids - power which comes from Power Stations using FOSSIL FUEL !

That would only transfer the pollution creation from vehicle engines to fossil-fueled power stations !

My Suggestion :

Use bicycle powered electricity generating device , innovated by Manoj Bhargava ( BillionsinChange )

This pedal operated device generates / stores , with just ONE HOUR of pedaling, enough power to light up 12 lamps of 100 W each for 24 hours , and costs around Rs 10,000/-

Some 25 of such devices are right now under installation in north India

Its construction is so simple that any MSME in smallest town can fabricate it easily , making it possible to get 10 million of these devices manufactured within a year

I am sure , Manoj Bhargava would be more than happy to release its manufacturing drawings on his web site for anyone to register and then download for FREE !

Do we foresee 50 / 60 million unemployed youth to become self-employed by setting up their own mini Charging Stations , on every street corner of every town in India ?

No dependence on Fossil or Solar , yet pure GREEN power around the clock !

Who knows , some owners of electric cars may even install one in their garage to serve dual purpose ( improve health + charge the car ). No doubt , a higher capacity version !

And , may be all GYMS around the country will install one !

Some 32 years ago , India witnessed a Telecom Revolution , riding on the wheels of a million roadside PCOs and a million Cyber Cafes

Piyushji :

Enabling launch of a million street-corner Charging Stations has got to be your

TRYST WITH DESTINY

# FINANCING

Shri Goyal said :

" We don't need one rupee support from the government

We don't need one rupee investment from the people of India "

But Vehicle Manufacturers say :

" We cannot give away electric cars for FREE ! We need money to run our operations and in advance . At the most , we can consider some sort of " Hire Purchase " scheme , if we can get funds at an interest rate of 5 % and are allowed to charge the buyers , 10 % "

And Banks say :

" We have already advanced car-loans totaling thousands of crores . If we are allowed to transfer the unpaid balances along with the fresh loan amounts , to a " Restructured Loan " bearing a higher interest rate ( and EMI ) , then we can consider "

Government says :

" We don't have funds to build more roads . So, where is the question of financing private purchase / usage of cars ? We would rather build more / better ( concrete ) roads "

Individual says :

" I can hardly make ends meet ! If I must borrow from anyone , I would rather buy a roof over my head . I am already paying huge EMIs for my current car "

I say :

* No questions asked for any CASH deposited into a person's Jan Dhan Bank account

* Create a SPV called , EVFF ( Electric Vehicle Finance Fund )

* Public can invest in this fund but only from their Jan Dhan Bank Accounts deposits

* Interest earned from EVFF to be totally free from personal Income Tax for 10 years

* EVFF will finance Car Loan companies or " Hire Purchase Schemes " of car manufacturers

* Car finance companies will be asked to stop financing of petrol / diesel cars and finance

only electric vehicles

If this is implemented , within 6 months , EVFF will be able to create a Corpus of Rs 10 lakh*crores !

Can you think of a better way of harnessing BLACK money to finance a GREEN future ?

# INCENTIVE FOR CAR MANUFACTURERS AND CAR OWNERS

Shri Goyal says :

" We are trying to make this program self financing by monetizing the savings people have from using cheaper electricity to run cars

We are trying to work out whether we can give the cars for free initially and people can pay back out of the savings from not using petroleum products "

Figuring out which electric car owner saved how much money by not using petrol / diesel vehicle is a very messy issue , to say the least !

People use , from a 5 HP scooter to a 200 HP gas-guzzler car

Some use it for 500 KM per month , whereas others use for 10,000 KM per month

They may use it for self / family or for commercial purpose ( Rickshaw / Taxi / Bus / Truck )

They may use diesel or petrol ( even mixed with kerosene in case of rickshaws )

For 200 million existing vehicles , there could well be , 200 million different / unique ,

* Current amounts ( liters ) monthly fuel usage

* Purchased at differing prices per litter ( depending upon city )

* Amounts paid to Charging Stations ( bound to vary , even within a city )

* All of these leading to different amount of monthly savings

* All the while neglecting the monthly EMI costs incurred !

I am afraid any attempt to compute " Individual Savings " is bound to raise controversies and litigation of unimaginable scale !

And let us not forget that , when vehicle manufacturers switch-over to production of electric vehicles , it won't be just ONE / STANDARD model of same horsepower

There will be hundreds of models of electric vehicles of different designs / capacities / specifications and consuming different amounts of electric power !

My suggestion :

Forget about ,

* Computing of " Individual Savings "

* Giving electric cars " free initially "

* Owners " paying back from savings "

Based on car specifications / assumed average monthly usage etc , figure out and fix

* " Carbon Credits " for each model of electric car manufactured

* Based on Carbon Credits earned , calculate Direct Transfer of Benefit ( DTB ) to electric

car manufacturers based on monthly dispatches of each model

and then transfer these amounts from EVFF , as incentives to manufacturers

As far as incentives to electric car owners is concerned , make tax-exempt , all interest paid by owners for car loans taken , without any ceiling

# GENERAL / GLOBAL INCENTIVES

This game-changing initiative has at its root ,

" SAVE THE WORLD FROM POLLUTION "

This would require " Pulling out all stops " , in the form of unprecedented " Incentives " to :

* Individual Electric Vehicle Owners

* Electric Vehicle Manufacturers ( and " Disincentives " to petrol/diesel manufacturers )

* Manufacturers of Charging Station Equipment ( Bicycle based Devices , for sure )

* Charging Station Operators

* Old Vehicle Retrofitting Units ( MSME )

* Old Vehicle recycling Units ( MSME )

* Old Vehicle Exporting Units

* Roadside Vehicle Repairers

* Vehicle Purchase Finance Companies ( Car loans / Hire Purchase )

* Electric Vehicle Leasing Companies

* Auto Ancillaries of Electric Vehicles

* Distributors / Dealers / Stockists of Electric Vehicles

* Transport Companies using Electric Vehicles ( transporting people or goods )....etc

ALL of these ( and those that I missed out ), must be EXEMPTED from :

* Indirect Taxes ( Excise / Octroi / Import Duty / Sales Tax / GST / Road Taxes etc )

* Direct Taxes ( Personal and Corporate Income Tax / LTCG )

They must also be freed from rigid licensing / registration / incorporation requirements

Dear Piyushji :

Newspaper reports quoted you :

" We are thinking of leading the World rather than following the World

India will be the first country to think of that scale "

There is no doubt you can lead the World , if you do not allow yourself to get paralyzed with the fear of failure !

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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

28 March 2016

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Friday 25 March 2016

Oracle has spoken

WHO IS THE ORACLE ?

Sanjay Sarma ,

{ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Sarma }

has a bachelor's degree from IIT Kanpur , his master's from Carnegie Mellon University and his PhD from the University of California , Berkeley

He has authored more than 75 academic papers in Computational Geometry, Sensing, Radio Frequency Identification ( RFID ), Automation and Computer Aided Design

He also serves on the boards of GS1 , EPCglobal , several start ups and edX , the not-for-profit set up by MIT and Harvard

WHAT HAS HE SPOKEN ?

He sent me following email on 25 March 2016 , after reading my suggestion below :

Dear Mr. Parekh,

Yes, placing tags on money has certainly been considered in the past.

I think it is a matter of time before it happens.

I do agree with your idea.

Having said that, as more and more transactions become digital (credit cards, bitcoin, Adhaar card, etc.) the need for tracking cash goes down — ironically as our ability to track it increases.

-Sanjay

Sanjay Sarma , 35-206 MIT. 617 253 1925 (T). 617 253 7549 (F).

Email : 'SESARMA@MIT.EDU'

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WHAT DID I SUGGEST ?

NETWORK OF CURRENCY NOTES ?

( A Mobile App called, " BLACK-MAIL " )

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

While inaugurating the International Conference on " Networking the Networks " on Nov 2 , our FM Shri Jaitleyji said :

" Tax evasion and money laundering will become extremely difficult in the next 1-2 years, with the global automatic exchange of information system coming into effect on a real time basis "

To speed up this process and make it truly automatic / real time , I suggest resorting to the following technologies :

# Internet of Things ( IoT )

As each currency note of Rs 500 / 1000 , is getting printed , embed it with microscopic RFID sensors

Besides communicating with each other , these sensors will also transmit their existence location , through internet , to cloud-based servers of Income Tax Department

This will form a " NETWORK OF CURRENCY NOTES ( NoC ) "

You may like to call this Internet of Currency ( IoC ) , a sub-set of IoT !

# Internet Protocol Address System ( IP V 6.0 )

Each Rs 500 / 1000 currency note must be assigned ( at the time of printing ) , its own unique Internet Address , using IP V 6.0

This IP address should be linked with the unique Serial Number printed on each note.

Since IP V 6.0 , will be capable of assigning " 2 * 10 to the power of 128 ", no of IP addresses , there is no danger of running out of addresses , even if we decide to extend this idea to Rs 100 currency notes !

Here are the most important BYE - PRODUCTs :

* No more possibility of fake / forged / counterfeit , currency notes !

* Plastic currency notes will last 10 times longer !

This reform will enable the Central Government / Income Tax Department to :

* Continuously trace the movement of each of these higher denomination currency notes

* Instantly locate any place ( using Google Map based GPS ) , where there is an accumulation of more than Rs 1 Crore worth of currency notes

Such accumulation will be made to appear as a TAG CLOUD on the web site of IT Dept, like thousands of balloons floating on a map of India , capable of being drilled down to within 1 Sq Meter !

On each balloon , will appear a number announcing , " Amount of Cash here - Rs " !

This will vastly simplify the task of Anti Corruption Dept / Enforcement Dept etc

Of course , RBI will need to allow 6 month's time to the owners of current paper currency notes of Rs 500 / 1000 , to get these exchanged with new plastic notes before withdrawal of the old notes from circulation

Now , would not that distribute the hidden , unaccounted wealth ! - a welcome fall out !

But then such transparency might lead to break-down of social order / chaos

It may be a better / safer / saner solution for such balloons / tag clouds to appear , on a secret Mobile App , available only to the officers of Enforcement Department ( ED )

You may want to call this app , " BLACK-MAIL " !

Of course , my suggestions may become outdated with the arrival of mobile wallets based CASHLESS SOCIETY , by 2030

In the meantime , should Shri Arun Jaitleyji and Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji , want this implemented , it can be done in 6 months , at one tenth the cost of MoM ( Mars Orbital Mission ) , ie approx Rs 43 Crores

All they have to do , is to tell the bureaucracy :

" Since we need not depend upon Opposition parties to pass a bill in Rajya Sabha , please go ahead and implement this - in less than 6 months "

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

26 March 2016

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Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

( Just multiple copy all the following Email IDs into the Recipient column of your Outlook and Copy / paste this suggestion in the Message Box ) :

RFID Tagging of Currency / Two Views

For over a year , I have been strongly advocating embedding Rs 500 / 1000 new ( plastic ) currency notes with RFID sensors , to track large accumulations of these high denomination currency notes ( Rs 1 cr worth in 1 Sq Meter area ) , in order to bring an end to BLACK MONEY - and CORRUPTION

Following are comments / views of two experts in respect of my suggestion

# Sanjay Sarma , sent following email :

Dear Mr. Parekh,

Yes, placing tags on money has certainly been considered in the past. I think it is a matter of time before it happens. I do agree with your idea.

Having said that, as more and more transactions become digital (credit cards, bitcoin, Adhaar card, etc.) the need for tracking cash goes down — ironically as our ability to track it increases.

-Sanjay

Sanjay Sarma , 35-206 MIT. 617 253 1925 (T). 617 253 7549 (F).

Email : 'SESARMA@MIT.EDU'

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# Guillaume Lepecq sent following views :

Dear Hemen,

Thank you do for your kind e-mail. I am delighted you enjoyed the article.

If I understand correctly you are suggesting to incorporate RFID into high-denomination banknotes in order to avoid tax evasion.

This idea is not new; let me point out why I personally believe it would not work.

There is a need for an anonymous payment instrument

In a democracy, it is perfectly legitimate to have the freedom to make a transaction, or to store money without the monitoring of the State. And this anonymity is not synonymous with tax evasion.

One may wish to buy a present for his wife, without her seeing the transaction on a bank receipt. People who are ill have the right to purchase medicine in a confidential way.

I recently spoke to a pharmacist in France, who mentioned that many young people purchase contraceptives in cash.

Cash is anonymous but the anonymity is limited.

The anonymity of cash is limited by regulation, technology and bulk. Regulations include for instance imposing a cap for cash transactions; many countries in Europe have implemented this.

Internationally, the transportation of cash across borders is limited to $ 10,000. Technology, includes for instance inks used in banknotes which can be detected by sniffer dogs.

Also, forensic taggants are used in some countries and are sprayed on a banknote in the case of a robbery; when the taggant is detected, the banknote can be traced back to the robbery. Lastly, cash is heavy and bulky to store and transport.

Other anonymous payment instruments pose a far bigger threat

During the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, it has appeared that the terrorists have used anonymous pre-paid cards to fund the activities. Virtual currencies also offer a cheap alternative to make perfectly anonymous transactions with a simple click.

Using electronic tags in banknotes poses operational challenges

Firstly, it would increase significantly the cost of the banknote. But what happens if the tag is deactivated? There are stories where consumers have deactivated chips in ID documents by ‘frying’ them in a micro-wave.

Would deactivated banknotes still be legal tender? Also, a real fraudster would simply shift to another payment method and in the example you present, he would use lower denominations that do not carry electronic tags.

I hope this helps.

I invite you to visit www.cashesentials.com. The full report which was mentioned in the Business Line article will be available as of April 12.

With kind regards,

Guillaume Lepecq

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# My Take :

As onetime CEO of Sun Microsystems , Scott McNealy pointed out , way back in 1999 ,

" Privacy is dead , so get over it ! "

Of course , a little bolder - and universally welcome alternative would be :

" Abolish Personal Income Tax , thereby totally eliminating all incentive to generate Black Money through tax evasion .

All payments will get made through official channels .

Within 6 months , all Black Money will become WHITE and flow into the productive mainstream of the economy

Revenue loss of Rs 2.5 lakh*crore but GDP will go up to 10 % !

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

26 March 2016

Thursday 24 March 2016

Enemy from within ?

No doubt , many of us think of following in terms of potential external enemies of India :

* ISIL

* North Korea's Nukes

* Terrorists coming across Kashmir Border

* Chinese Army poised across Arunachal Pradesh......etc

But the moot question is :

Who needs these " potential external enemies " when we have the following cancers silently spreading into our Society's innards ?

* Drug (heroin ) smugglers in Punjab

* Manufacturers of fake medicines

* Hootch makers killing the poor

* Legislators opposing " Representation of Women Bill " for 30 years

* Political Parties refusing to reveal finance sources to Public under RTI

* Netas spending Rs 15,000 cr of Black Money for elections each year

* Ministers siphoning funds meant for irrigation projects

* Well-heeled industrialists refusing to repay Rs 4 lakh*crore loans to

banks , even as farmers owing few thousand rupees commit suicide !

* Politicians filling up SYL canal, under construction for 35 years !

* Some college students shouting : Bharat Murdabad

and power-hungry politicians defending it as " free speech " !

* Voters are urged to polarize along lines of caste /creed / religions

* Justice is so slow , court cases outlive suffering humans

* Hungry is put behind bars for stealing Rs 100 but rich get away for

stealing Rs 100 cr !

* Pollution kills only the poor ; rich don't get exposed to fumes of their cars

What is our chance of getting killed by one of those " External Enemies " listed above ?

May be " One in a Billion "

And by those " Enemies Within " ?

Close to " One in a Hundred " !

Don't expect any Political Party to talk of defeating these " Internal Enemies " in their Election Manifestos !

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

25 March 2016

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Make Yourself Heard

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Tuesday 22 March 2016

Missing The Disease ?

Symptoms :

Demonstrations / Agitations / Morchas / Militancy ( add your choice )

Disease :

Injustice / Inequity / Exploitation / Corruption / Denial of Service ( add )

History :

* In pre-historic times ( stone age ), everybody had equal " opportunity "

* In Medieval ages , Kings / Lords enriched themselves with slave labour

* During last 200 years, machines replaced slaves and rich/poor gap widened

* Rich people ( later, Banks owned by rich ) lent money to other rich , enabling them to

control " Natural Resources / Means of Production / Means for creation of Wealth "

* Rich / Poor gap became a Moat surrounding invisible " Forts / Islands of Riches "

* Religion became a tool in the hands of the Rich who asked priests to preach :

" Resign to your Destiny - even if that means living in abject poverty . It is God's will "

* Kings ( and later on States ) too became subservient to the CAPITALIST ORDER , serving

the interests of the rich only . After all , the Rich could finance those land-grabbing wars !

* 75 years ago TV arrived and it started exposing the life-styles of those rich to the poor

* Then came Internet / Mobile / Social Media and poor got appalled to know how rich/ poor

gap continued to widen with arrival of each year , when finally it came to a stage where

ONE percent of World's people garnered 90 percent of World's wealth !

* Poor also learned how the State Bureaucracy conspired with the rich to deny them even

their " Right to a dignified Life " - by denying them " Equal Opportunities "

* How else can we explain , Naxalite movement / Reservation movement etc ?

I hope the Bureaucracy wakes up and recognizes that " Intolerance is only a Symptom "

Inequality / Injustice / Inequity are the Disease !

Suppressing the symptom does not make the disease to go away

It only resurfaces in another part of this body that we call , " Society "

Please , do not wait till the poor / dying people , sleeping on footpaths outside our homes , just walk into our bedrooms one day and say :

" We have had enough ! We are not going to leave / vacate your comfortable homes "

And when 100 million poor decide to occupy our homes simultaneously , no police or military will be able to stop them !

Ye ! The Rich , the Powerful , the Elected , the Youth , of India !

Open your eyes and see how millions of poor / starving people from war-torn Syria / Iraq / Afghanistan / Yemen / Nigeria / Congo / Libya etc are OVER-RUNNING the Europe

They are crossing a moat called Mediterranean Sea and nothing can stop them !

Our bedrooms are not that far !

How long will we close our eyes to some 3600 + children ( under age 5 ) , die EVERYDAY due to starvation , in our beloved BHARAT MATA ?

Please , do not charge me with sedition

I have learned my patriotism / non violence at the feet of BAPU and fought the British for our freedom in 1942

Now , it is YOUR turn to free OUR country from POVERTY

Bharat Mata ki Jay !

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

23 March 2016

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Make Yourself Heard

Dear Visitor :

It is time for YOU to speak up - and demand that YOU are heard

By emailing this suggestion - incorporating your OWN improvements - to the following Policy Makers

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Monday 21 March 2016

Next Generation Newspaper ?

There must be many readers of newspapers , who ( like me ) wish they were able to instantly communicate with a person whose name is mentioned in an article / news report

I often feel like writing to the author of a newspaper article or to the journalist who wrote a piece of news

Whenever that desire is too strong , I spend hours on Google , searching for email ID of the person concerned

Sometimes I succeed but more often , I give up in frustration !

Even when I do find what looks like a legitimate looking email ID and spend hours typing email in Outlook , I doubt , it will reach the concerned person

And since I have so far received a reply against not more than one percent of the mails sent by me , I suppose , these never get delivered or get junked

For me , a very frustrating situation

How can people ( who are targeted by me ) , fail to read my mails and respond ?

OK , even if they do not wish to respond , why cannot they , at least " acknowledge " ?

Of course , if a person were to actually receive every message ( email / SMS / Voice-Mail etc ) that everyone else who wants to send , it will be a deluge , especially if the recipient is a celebrity .

A SPAM of a gigantic proportion !

But then , advances of technology rarely bother about its undesirable " side effects "

Hence , it is only a matter of time before you experience following scenario :

* Your paper newspaper gets replaced by a plain white LED embedded and internet connected sheet of plastic ( fold-able too )

* Every morning , unfold it , and touch on a icon at the top bearing the name of your desired news-source ( Publication / TV Channel / Web site etc )

* Touch a Subject Icon ( Politics / Sports / Entertainment / Economics etc )

Voila !

All - and the only news , you ever cared to read - will instantly appear on that plastic !

Without advertisements , if you so desire

And where , touching on any NAME of any person ( or of any organization ) , appearing anywhere , will enable you to,

* Read out / record your message , or

* On a virtual keyboard , type out your message

A long press on the name will reveal ALL the messages ever sent to that person ( or that Organization ) , in a reverse chronological order

If any message is a spoken message , the " News-Plastic " ( cannot call it " paper " ), will read it back to you

Now , those targeted recipients ( of the messages ) will receive those messages on their own " News-Plastic " , under an icon called , IN-BOX

Of course , nothing stops them from " long press " on their own name appearing in the news article and find out what other readers are trying to convey - and in what context

If a person's name appears anywhere in the news , in his own " News Plastic " , it will be highlighted in RED color

No need for me to search those Email IDs in Google !

For those who worry about invasion of personal privacy , I quote onetime CEO of Sun Microsystems , Scot McNealy who , in 1999 said :

" Privacy is dead , so get over it "

All that we can hope is that it is an Indian Start Up which comes out with " News Plastic "

I hope news paper industry remembers Ted Levitt's ( Marketing Myopia ) :

" If you don't obsolete yourself , someone else will "

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hemenparekh.in / blogs

22 March 2016