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

Friday 6 May 2016

Well Begun is Half Done



Following news report appeared in today's Hindustan Times :

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NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) has inked a partnership agreement with social networking site Facebook to build a 'product design initiative’ in the country.

This nation-wide initiative by NASSCOM is aimed at offering focused programmes to build awareness around product design, training on design tools, design lab, awards, design sprints and mentorship.

This will be a flagship programme of the NASSCOM Product Council.
This will aim at supporting over 500 product start-ups on product design.

It will also focus on training over 5,000 product designers in the next two years.

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Here is my suggestion ( sent to DIPP / ASSOCHAM / FICCI / CII / NASSCOM etc, in Sept 2015 ) :

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 Role of MakeinIndia web site


    >  On its web site , list 5000 products that we currently import ( with
        annual import bill / sources / ave landed cost etc )

    >  Invite 1000 leading manufacturing companies of India , to make
        online selection of minimum of 5 items each, for preparing DPR
        ( Detailed Project Reports ) .

         Freely visible online database of who selected which items
        will avoid duplication
         

         

 Role  of  Manufacturing Companies

    >  Prepare and submit to Ministry of Commerce, at least 5 DPR  by
        Dec 2016 . More the merrier ! Earlier the better !

    >  Each report must carry , name of at least one bank which has
        accepted that as a " Bankable Report " , eligible for funding

    >  Train at least 100 fresh engineering graduates in various
         manufacturing related functions under GET ( Graduate Engineer
         Training ) Scheme  , each year



*   Role of Ministry of Commerce

   >  Publish DPRs on its web site for free downloading


 Role of  Income Tax Department

   >  Give 200 % tax deduction to existing manufacturing units for 2
       years , for employing fresh engineering graduates on their rolls ,
       under :

      " Graduate Engineers Training Subsidy Act - 2015 "
        ( to be enacted )

      This will motivate manufacturing units to impart manufacturing
      related experience to fresh engineering graduates before they
      venture to set up own  MSME factories
     
  >  Admit expenses incurred by manufacturing units for preparation of
      DPR ,under their CSR obligation ( 2 % of ave net profit for 5 years )

  >  Exempt all GET Start Ups ( registered on eBiz web site ) from
      paying Corporate Income Tax for first 10 years of working
     

  >  Exempt all GET Start Ups from GST payment ,  for 10 years



*   Role of Fresh Engineering Graduates


  >  Get GET Training Certificate from employer companies

  >  Download DPR from Commerce Ministry web site

  >  Apply for funding to banks , attaching DPR and GET Certificate

  >  Upon receiving Approval Intimation from bank , apply for various
      permissions on eBiz web site , quoting Bank Approval Number



 Role of ASSOCHAM / FICCI / CII etc

 >  Encourage their manufacturing member firms to take on the
     task of preparation of DPRs and follow up

>   Publish DPR reports on their web sites for free downloading

>   Constitute State-wise " Hand-holding Teams " of retired
     executives having " Manufacturing " experience , to guide the
     local GET applicants in obtaining all permissions from various
     State Authorities



 Role of eBiz web site

  >  To make available in public domain , all investment related
       applications , and progress status of each


 Role of State Governments

  >  To keep track of those eBiz investment applications where
       the State is the proposed manufacturing location

  >   Pro-actively reach out to such applicants for expediting their
       proposals


All of the above need not / must not take months to materialize !



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www.hemenparekh.in  /  blogs


07   May   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 ) :


    narendramodi1234@gmail.com; 38ashokroad@gmail.com;ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in; jayant.sinha19@sansad.nic.in;piyush.goyal@gov.in;nitin.gadkari@nic.in; spprabhu1@rediffmail.com;bandaru@sansad.nic.in;smritizirani@nic.in;nsitharaman@nic.in; ravis@sansad.nic.in;sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in;prakash.j@sansad.nic.in;secy-ipp@nic.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; shaktikanta.das@nic.in; rsecy@nic.in; adhia1981@gmail.com; ceo-niti@nic.in; atul-chaturvedi@nic.in; uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in; d.pradhan@sansad.nic.in; rprudy.office@gmail.com; rudypr@rediffmail.com; eam@mea.gov.in; mosvks@mea.gov.in; mvnaidu@sansad.nic.in; mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in; rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in; mljoffice@gov.in; sadananda.gowda@sansad.nic.in; ministerminority@gov.in; najmah@sansad.nic.in; minister-ca@nic.in; ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; akumar-alpha@sansad.nic.in; jpnadda@sansad.nic.in; hm.moca@nic.in; geete@sansad.nic.in; simratbadal@yahoo.com; ns.tomar@nic.in; rmsingh@sansad.nic.in; tc.gehlot@sansad.nic.in; dr.harshvardhan@sansad.nic.in   


Wednesday 4 May 2016

Long Way to Go ?



Most of us listened to the debate in Rajya Sabha yesterday , re Augusta Scam


One thing emerged , time and again , viz:


Tender Specifications got " tailor made " to suit Augusta and to rule out all competition


Now , after coming into power in May 2014 , NDA government has taken a few steps to eliminate such " built-in biases " from the tendering process and make it transparent


While appreciating that " Negotiation Process " ( after receipt of the offers ), cannot be carried out publicly , I believe , there is still , a long way go  to improve the tendering process , as per my following suggestion , sent to Shri Narendra Modiji , on 06 Nov 2014 ( as email and hard copy ) :

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SCAMS   ARE   AVOIDABLE   !

( blog date : 21 April 2014 )


Early this week , Supreme Court held that , CAG ( Comptroller and Auditor General ) has the right - and obligation - to conduct an audit of telecoms



WHY  ?



>   Spectrum is a natural resource that belongs to the nation


>   Private telecom companies have a revenue-sharing agreement with the
      Central Government , for allowing them to " exploit " this natural
      - and national - resource



WHAT  ELSE  ?



>  This logic should also hold good for all private companies , who are
    allowed to exploit India's NATURAL / NATIONAL resources , to create
    materials / energy


    Here is a partial list :


    *  Fossil Fuels ( Oil / Gas / Coal )

    *  Minerals

    *  Sea-bed Nodules

    *  River Waters

    *  Wind

    *  Tides

    *  Sunlight

    *  Sea Water

    *  Jungles / Trees

    *  Earth's Magnetism

    *  Electromagnetic Waves

    *  Gravitational Force.....etc



HOW  ?



*  Tendering process must be public / transparent / equitable

*  Tender terms must be open for scrutiny/comment  by public

*  All resource-exploitation licenses must follow auction route

*  Eligibility Criteria must be pre-defined / publicized in advance

*  Licenses should be valid for pre-defined fixed period

*  Licenses cannot be renewed / extended

*  Concerned States must have a share in profit-sharing etc

*  Profit - sharing formula must be part of tenders

*  Any failure / delay on part of the Licensee Company to implement the
   Contract , will require return / surrender of the natural resource
   concerned , to the Central Government, with appropriate penalties

*  Natural Resource involved , cannot be hypothecated to banks / financial
    institutions to raise loans


*  Shares of the licensee companies cannot be traded in open market or

     pledged , without prior permission from Central Government

*   CAG Audit will be mandatory and reports must be published

*   Tendering / Auctioning / Licensing must not be handled by any Govt
     Department . A separate statutory authority should be created for this

*   To encourage early / fast implementations of Exploitation Licenses , there
     will be no Corporate Income Tax for the Licensee Companies

*   Each license will be given only to a SPV , created for this purpose

*   Cost-escalation leading to any Selling Price Escalations would be pre-
     defined



IN   HIND-SIGHT



*   Had we followed the above-mentioned process , perhaps , we could have
     avoided several scams of recent past and KG-D6 type  disputes


*   We could have also avoided ,

     #   Arbitrary price escalations

     #   Inflation

     #   Private profiteering

     #   Costly litigations

     #   Policy and Decision Paralysis

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www.hemenparekh.in  /  blogs


05  May  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 ) :


    narendramodi1234@gmail.com; 38ashokroad@gmail.com;ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in; jayant.sinha19@sansad.nic.in;piyush.goyal@gov.in;nitin.gadkari@nic.in; spprabhu1@rediffmail.com;bandaru@sansad.nic.in;smritizirani@nic.in;nsitharaman@nic.in; ravis@sansad.nic.in;sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in;prakash.j@sansad.nic.in;secy-ipp@nic.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; shaktikanta.das@nic.in; rsecy@nic.in; adhia1981@gmail.com; ceo-niti@nic.in; atul-chaturvedi@nic.in; uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in; d.pradhan@sansad.nic.in; rprudy.office@gmail.com; rudypr@rediffmail.com; eam@mea.gov.in; mosvks@mea.gov.in; mvnaidu@sansad.nic.in; mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in; rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in; mljoffice@gov.in; sadananda.gowda@sansad.nic.in; ministerminority@gov.in; najmah@sansad.nic.in; minister-ca@nic.in; ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; akumar-alpha@sansad.nic.in; jpnadda@sansad.nic.in; hm.moca@nic.in; geete@sansad.nic.in; simratbadal@yahoo.com; ns.tomar@nic.in; rmsingh@sansad.nic.in; tc.gehlot@sansad.nic.in; dr.harshvardhan@sansad.nic.in   






Tuesday 3 May 2016

What would they do ?



For the year 2012-13, Personal Income Tax paid by individuals is as follows :

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(  Number of Tax payers  ) (  Total tax amount paid - Rs Crore )
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(   3                    )........ (        437     ).... Super Rich

(  5430               )........  (     8,907     ).... Rich

(  14  Lakh          )........  (  253,656    ).... Middle  Class

(  111  Lakh        )........   (   23,000    ).... Neo Middle ( Minimum Slab )

(  162  Lakh        ).........   (   NIL        )....  Poor  ( Tax Exempt )

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(   Total = 287  Lakh ).........(   2.86 lakh*Crore  )  
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Now , I have repeatedly advocated total abolition of Personal Income Tax

So , it would be natural to ask :

If these people did not have to pay personal income tax , then what would they do with this ( Rs 2.86 lakh*crore ) tax amount saved ?


MY   GUESS  :


#    3 Super Rich individuals

They might buy some more gold / ornaments / flats or take more holidays abroad

Of course , the expenditure for the purchase of flats and ornaments will help the economy



#    5430  Rich  persons

Some of them would also indulge in buying gold / flats

Many would buy luxury cars / luxury goods ( Consumer Durables , like domestic appliances or Consumables like expensive clothes / ornaments / purses etc )

All of this expenditure will , no doubt , help the economy grow and create more jobs



#     14  lakh Middle Class persons

From the above data , it is obvious that it is this Middle Class persons ( 14 lakhs ) , who bear the brunt of the Personal Tax collection !

And , as Rajiv Gandhi once said , for every rupee of tax that they pay , only 15 paise worth of " Civic Services " ( infrastructure / drinking water / health-care  etc ), returns to them !

And , on top of everything , they have no " Social Security " of any kind !

So , I believe that they would invest the saved tax money in bank fixed deposits / mutual funds / life insurance / Public Provident Fund etc , to ensure a small - but steady - source of income after retirement

Now , if Rs 2 lakh*crore of this tax saving were to become " Bank Deposits ", it would enable these persons to raise their " Credit Rating / Loan Repayment Capacity " and take out bigger loans for homes / cars etc

This would give a huge boost to our economy !

That would also raise our Domestic Saving Rate , once again , above 30 %

That would also relieve some pressure on the Government to introduce a forced " Pension Regime "

And , if this group spends some more money in sending their girl-child to better schools , they would be investing in a better future of their children - a highly desirable type of expenditure  !

And do not discount the long term social impact of investing for retirement

In most middle class Indian families , parents today depend upon their SONS , to look after them in their old age . Male child is THE only retirement assurance for these people

When tax savings make it possible for them to become independent of their male child , the desire to have a male child ( at the cost of aborting a female child ) , will go down !



#   111 lakh , Neo - Middle Class persons

They have just entered the minimum tax slab ( 10 % ? )

Without doubt , they would spend the saved tax money in buying items of daily NECESSITY - food being the foremost  ! May be some cheap clothes !

By being able to meet the Cost of Living  a little better , these persons would be able to live a dignified life - even if living in slum-like conditions !

Their tax-saving would just not be enough for them to book a 250 sq ft flat !



And since there would be no Personal Income Tax to be paid, no one would want to hide any income ! Every rupee of income would get accounted for in official banking channels !
 

Other than small daily purchases , large CASH payments will disappear !
Official payments ( through electronic transfer / credit cards / mobile wallets etc ) will dramatically go up  !


Banks will get huge amounts of deposits and be in a position to engage in micro - lending !


P2P lending platforms will take off like a rocket  ! Especially those " RICH " and the " SUPER RICH " will now start lending to Start Ups and Self Employed Entrepreneurs , through this P2P web sites


I request Shri Arun Jaitleyji to seriously consider my suggestion in the forthcoming Central Budget


I am confident that not a single Political Party will oppose this , either in Lok Sabha or in Rajya Sabha


It will be a political " Harakiri " for anyone to oppose !


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

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

04  May  2016

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

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 ) :


    narendramodi1234@gmail.com; 38ashokroad@gmail.com;ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in; jayant.sinha19@sansad.nic.in;piyush.goyal@gov.in;nitin.gadkari@nic.in; spprabhu1@rediffmail.com;bandaru@sansad.nic.in;smritizirani@nic.in;nsitharaman@nic.in; ravis@sansad.nic.in;sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in;prakash.j@sansad.nic.in;secy-ipp@nic.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; shaktikanta.das@nic.in; rsecy@nic.in; adhia1981@gmail.com; ceo-niti@nic.in; atul-chaturvedi@nic.in; uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in; d.pradhan@sansad.nic.in; rprudy.office@gmail.com; rudypr@rediffmail.com; eam@mea.gov.in; mosvks@mea.gov.in; mvnaidu@sansad.nic.in; mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in; rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in; mljoffice@gov.in; sadananda.gowda@sansad.nic.in; ministerminority@gov.in; najmah@sansad.nic.in; minister-ca@nic.in; ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; akumar-alpha@sansad.nic.in; jpnadda@sansad.nic.in; hm.moca@nic.in; geete@sansad.nic.in; simratbadal@yahoo.com; ns.tomar@nic.in; rmsingh@sansad.nic.in; tc.gehlot@sansad.nic.in; dr.harshvardhan@sansad.nic.in   






Monday 2 May 2016

Tomorrow's Headlines Today ?



Take a look at the following news headlines :

#  64 million jobs created in China
    (  Business Line / 29 Dec 2015 )


#  Employers may get some sops for creating extra jobs
    (  Economic Times / 05 Feb 2016 )


#  23 % Indians aged 20-24 seeking jobs
    (  Times of India / 23 Dec 2015 )


#   27mill SSC-pass non-grads seek employment
    (  Times of India / 23 Dec 2015 )


#   Jobs grew 4.4 % / wages 14 % in 2013-14
    (  Business Line / 11 Feb 2016 )


#   Labour Ministry to restructure job survey , include service
     sector data ( Mint / 10 Feb 2016 )


#   India's Job Crisis : Here's a plan for creating 50 million quality
     jobs in the next decade : Romesh Wadhwani
     ( Times of India / 09 Feb 2016 )


#   With focus on Mfg, Labour Min Pitches for Jobs Survey Recast
    (  Economic Times / 21 April 2016 )


#   The Jobs Discourse : Ajit Ranade
    (  Mint / 20 April 2016 )


#   Job growth down to 7 year low in 2015 : Labour Bureau
   (  Business Line / 16 April 2016 )


#   No country for freshers
   (  Economic Times / 28 March 2016 )


Now , can you predict what will be the newspaper headlines , when it comes to the matter of " JOBS " , 2 / 3 / 5 years from now ?


There are two methods , as follows :


*   Reproduce the above headlines by simply changing the year
( in the " date " ) to 2018 / 2019 / 2021

You will not be too far off !


*    But if you are a " Data Scientist " , you may want to borrow from me a database of 2+  million job advertisements compiled from leading job portals over the past 8 years ( and covering job advertisements released by 50,000 + employers ) , and subject this data-set to BIG DATA analytics , to predict :

#   WHO   ( which company ) , will advertise

#   WHAT ( vacancy name ) , and

#   WHEN  ( almost , to a day ), for posting in

#   WHICH ( city ) , and needing

#   WHAT  ( Skills / Edu Qualifications ) , offering

#   HOW MUCH ( salary )


You will be doing a great service to not only the Jobseekers but also to Policy Makers / Educationists / Economists / NITI Aayog / HR managers / Trade Associations / Industrialists etc


If , based on search-terms used by billions of surfers every day ,  Google can accurately predict an outbreak of flue in any part of the world , then , surely Indian software geeks can predict jobs !

I am surprised why Naukri / MonsterIndia / TimesJobs etc are not publishing such job related analytics on their web sites in a dynamically changing fashion , given their enormous databases 

They , have even captured , BILLIONS of search queries by :

*  Jobseekers searching jobs , and

*  Employers searching resumes

These portals are , literally , in possession of ( what John Battelle - author of book " Google " may have said ) , " Database of Intentions "  !

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www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

03  May  2016




Sunday 1 May 2016

Transparency : The Biggest Reform


Since assuming power 2 years ago , NDA government has carried out many reforms , having deep impact on social and economic matters ( - regrettably , hardly any reform to our parliamentary political system or in our electoral system )


I believe , THE reform that brings about other reforms , is TRANSPARENCY in the working of the government , mostly through ONLINE INTERACTION between the government departments and the citizens / businesses


Take a look at the following :

*    Auction of Spectrum

*    Auction of Coal Blocks / Oil - Gas Blocks

*    Auction of UMPP power projects / Solar Power Projects

*    Bidding / tendering for Highway Projects

*    Bidding for Defense Projects

*    Grant of Building Construction Projects

*    Grant of Environment Clearances

*    Registration of Companies / Start Ups

*    Launch of Mobile Apps for lodging complaints for govt services

*    Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts with zero deposits

*    Direct Transfer of Benefits to replace subsidies to middlemen

*    Availing of bank loans under MUDRA / STAND UP Schemes

*    Online applying for Government jobs through a web portal

*    Enforcement of Net Neutrality through public consultation

*    Involving Private Sector in big way in " Skilling of India " project

*    FDI through automatic route in many sectors

*    Encouragement of E Commerce sector



Not being Press Bureau or Public Relations Department of the Central Government , I am bound to have left out a few other examples of such Transparency


Nor do I have a user's perspective ( either as an ordinary citizen or as a businessman who has to deal with any government department ), to know how these Policy Initiatives have got actually translated on the ground


But I do know that NDA government has been " less than a success " ( I am being as polite as I can ! ), when it comes to :


*   Stopping future generation of BLACK MONEY and CORRUPTION

    {  It is simply futile to waste time / energy on trying to bring back the
        $ 501 billion siphoned out of country in last 10 years }

    One easy / administrative solution ( not needing passing of any law ), is
    to embed Rs 500 / 1000 plastic currency notes with RFID sensors

    And , if this simple step is coupled with TOTAL ABOLITION of Personal
    Income Tax , the resultant TRANSPARENCY will sustain our economic
    growth ( GDP ) , above 10 % , leading to elimination of Poverty in 10
    years


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www.hemenparekh.in  /  blogs

02  May   2016

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

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 ) :


    narendramodi1234@gmail.com; 38ashokroad@gmail.com;ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in; jayant.sinha19@sansad.nic.in;piyush.goyal@gov.in;nitin.gadkari@nic.in; spprabhu1@rediffmail.com;bandaru@sansad.nic.in;smritizirani@nic.in;nsitharaman@nic.in; ravis@sansad.nic.in;sureshprabhu@irctc.co.in;prakash.j@sansad.nic.in;secy-ipp@nic.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; shaktikanta.das@nic.in; rsecy@nic.in; adhia1981@gmail.com; ceo-niti@nic.in; atul-chaturvedi@nic.in; uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in; d.pradhan@sansad.nic.in; rprudy.office@gmail.com; rudypr@rediffmail.com; eam@mea.gov.in; mosvks@mea.gov.in; mvnaidu@sansad.nic.in; mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in; rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in; mljoffice@gov.in; sadananda.gowda@sansad.nic.in; ministerminority@gov.in; najmah@sansad.nic.in; minister-ca@nic.in; ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; akumar-alpha@sansad.nic.in; jpnadda@sansad.nic.in; hm.moca@nic.in; geete@sansad.nic.in; simratbadal@yahoo.com; ns.tomar@nic.in; rmsingh@sansad.nic.in; tc.gehlot@sansad.nic.in; dr.harshvardhan@sansad.nic.in