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

Saturday 12 November 2016

Oh ! For a Painless Birth


For the past 3 days , we have witnessed a lot of suffering on the part of ordinary citizens


For hours on end , they have been waiting patiently in mile-long queues to withdraw new currency notes from 2.2 lakh ATMs ( often non-working or getting empty after serving 10 persons ) or to exchange Rs 4000 worth of OLD notes with NEW notes , at bank counters


Businesses of lakhs of small shops and millions of roadside vendors , came to a virtual standstill


Private hospitals refused to treat serious patients, who did not have NEW notes


Marriages came to a standstill, since caterers would not accept OLD notes .


And so did vehicles at toll nakas


Passengers got stranded at Railway Stations since they had only OLD notes which taxis / rickshaws , refused to accept


This list goes on and on


Of course , Shri Jaitley is right when he says :


A Child Birth is always accompanied by intense temporary pain - to be followed by immense perpetual joy , for months and years to come


No doubt true in case of Mother Nature's " Scheme of Things " !


But this was a TOTALLY AVOIDABLE pain , in case of the man-made " Scheme of Things " called " Currency Notes " !


What brought about this pain ?


Just a mere 4 hour notice before the OLD notes ceased to be " Legal Tender "


And no availability of the NEW notes , for days after the EXPIRY of the old notes


No overlap between the two .  No simultaneous existence for both !


But imagine if the OLD notes were to continue as " Legal Tender " till 31 March 2017


That would have enabled citizens to carry on their daily lives , as if nothing has changed !


They would have deposited their OLD notes into their bank accounts and would have withdrawn NEW notes ( either from their bank accounts or from ATMs ) , over the next 4 months , at their own convenience ! No hurry  !


During this TRANSITION PERIOD of 4 months , sellers ( whether individuals or companies ) , would have continued to accept OLD notes without any hesitation and the buyers would have managed to buy ( goods or services ) , by giving OLD notes !


Why did the Government not do this ?


Government was worried that Rs 5 lakh*crore worth of Black Money ( some 33 % of Rs 15 lakh*crore ) which was in the form of CASH ( OLD notes of Rs 500 / 1000 ), would get exchanged with NEW notes , WITHOUT getting deposited into banks !


Over the overlap period of 4 months , unknown to IT / ED , Black Money holders of OLD notes will persuade honest / tax-paying holders of NEW notes to exchange these at a discount !


None of those Black Money holders may ever come forward to deposit their crores of ill-gotten wealth into banks and pay up 230% tax + penalty


Simply because , the Government today , has no means to know who has accumulated , how many thousands of high denomination notes and where , and totaling how much !


But , if those NEW notes were embedded with RFID sensors , then the Government would know , where exactly EACH PIECE of such note is , at EVERY MOMENT !


And , no matter which - and how many TRICKS that the Black Money holders may employ , at the end of that 4 month TRANSITION PERIOD , there would be NO OLD NOTES remaining in circulation !


ALL notes would be ,

*  NEW

*  RFID embedded

*  Traceable ( pinpoint GPS location )


During his TV interview yesterday , Shri Jaitley said :

"  SIT had even suggested that government empower itself with seizure of a large accumulation of CASH at any given location , and then require the Owner to prove that he has paid taxes on it .

We will not hesitate to take such stringent steps in future , if the menace of Black Money persists "


Also during his speech to the Indian Community in Japan yesterday , Shri Modi said :

" There is no guarantee that , after 30th Dec , we may not take further drastic steps to eliminate the scourge of Black Money "


Dear Shri Modiji / Shri Jaitleyji :


Today , in small quantities , passive RFID chips cost , around 50 paise


If you buy these in BILLIONS , you will get these for less than 5 paise per piece


Let this be your MASTER STROKE / SURGICAL STRIKE , in 2017


This will be a BIRTH of a new and clean Economy , without causing pain to honest tax payers


Please , also consider :


Which Political Party / Neta , would want NEW RFID embedded notes to accumulate in cabinets / bank lockers which show up on IT / ED mobile app ( BLACK-MAIL ) ?


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13  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs








Friday 11 November 2016

One Innovation would have sufficed !


As far as the Currency Demonetization is concerned, newspapers are reporting following tricks , on part of those holding OLD notes :


TOI / 12 Nov / Page 10 :


#  Many employers have begun to pay their staff in advance , including salary for the next one year , in CASH


#  Some traders are depositing their CASH as business revenue to be shown as sales done before Nov 8 , but payment received thereafter


#  Wholesale traders are reporting cash-in- hand in their ledgers to legitimize previously unaccounted CASH and have it deposited at a later date


Ajay Agnihotri, manager of State Bank of India's Fatehabad Road branch in Agra, said,

"There are around 15,000 Jan Dhan accounts at our branch, and 30% of the account-holders have deposited amounts of up to Rs 49,000 since Thursday (when banks reopened in the wake of the demonetisation announcement). We are quite sure that this percentage will go up in the coming days."


TOI was able to track a few account-holders used for this purpose. One of the victims, who had deposited Rs 49,000, said he was promised Rs 500 in return. He would have to return the rest of the money in some days .

#   On Nov 8 / 9 / 10 , Gold Jewellery was being sold for Rs 60,000 per 10 grams ( a 100 % hawala rate ! )


#   Thousands of people purchased " Season Tickets " for 1 year / booked advance wait-listed tickets in trains / bought air travel tickets ( of course, all with OLD notes ! )


#   A Dollar was getting " sold " for Rs 110


#   Persons registered as " FARMERS " were in great demand , since their income is Tax-Free !

(  I suppose in our current Lok Sabha , 39 MPs who have declared their profession as " Agriculturists " and 5 MPs who have called themselves " Farmer " , must be in great demand by their co-members ! )


No doubt , many more methods will be reported in the days to come  !


Now the nightmare !


DNA / 12 Nov , reports :


" Based on intelligence inputs, there is a strong apprehension in the government that there could be organized attempts of robbery , including armed robbery of banks , ATMs and loot of CASH carrying vans , especially by the Mafia cartels who have lost their Black Money because of sudden demonetization "


On Thursday , Economic Affairs Secretary , Shri Shaktikanta Das said at the Economic Editors' Conference :


"  In due course , Rs 1,000 notes will come back in the market with new dimensions , new design and new colour "


Dear Shri  Das  :


It is still not too late to implement my following suggestion ( sent to you , almost ONE YEAR ago )


 This one simple INNOVATION on the part of the Government , would NULLIFY, any - and ALL , innovations on the part of the BLACK MONEY holders !


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Thursday, 26 November 2015

THEFTS  CAN  BE  OBSOLETE  



Yesterday ( 26 Nov 2015 ) , a Cash Van driver in Delhi , escaped with Rs 22 Crores worth of cash


Obviously this heist consisted of currency notes in denominations of Rs 500  and  Rs 1,000


Now such thefts would become a thing of the past if my following suggestion (  sent to Central Ministers /  Secretaries  /  NITI Aayog members  etc  ) , were to be implemented :


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#   Internet of Things ( IoT )


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



     Besides communicating with each other , these chips 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 "  !


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12  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs







  

                                                                                                           

Let us grant them , their Dying Wish !



A news report in Business Line ( 11  Nov 2016 ) carries following headline :

" Modi may reap $ 45 billion Budget gain on demonetization "

Report snippets follow :

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

The move will suck out about 86 percent of the 17.8 trillion rupees of currency in circulation. The analysts say as much as a third of this will prove to be illegal and be unclaimed. Those funds can then be used by the government to narrow Asia’s widest fiscal deficit.


"This money can now get utilized for various economic reforms’ funding," said Edelweiss analyst Manoj Bahety.


The central bank can reduce its liabilities by an equivalent amount or share the cash with the government, he said.


Here’s what the funds could offer Modi:

  • The chance to slash by more than half his projected 5.3 trillion rupee budget deficit for the year through March 2017

  •  
  • The opportunity to double expenditure on defense and energy

  •  
  • Or increase three-fold federal spending on social services such as education, health and housing

  •  
  • ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are GOOD suggestions

But , as suggested in my earlier blog , can we grant the dying man his last wish ?


MY   SUGGESTION  :


Please allow those Black Money Holders to deposit those Rs 10 lakh*crore  in bank accounts created specifically for :


*    Prime Ministers Relief Fund


*    Armed Forces Relief Fund


*    Environment Rejuvenation Fund


*    Pollution Solution Fund


and , above all ,


*    BANMALI  (  Ban Mal-Nutrition in India  )  Fund


{   http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-mobile-app-named-banmali.html   }


Some 1.2 million children ( under age of 7 ) , die in India  EACH YEAR , due to mal-nutrition ( since , you do not wish to call it " Starvation " ! )


If each of these children were to be provided highly nourishing food packets each day , costing Rs 50 per day per child, that would cost the Government , Rs 2190 Crore / year


By enabling channelizing those Rs 10 lakh*crore into these Bank Accounts , we will be able to convert that Black Money into White Money ( but for use by the POOR / NEEDY of the Society )


Will those  Black Money Holders come forward for such a DONATION ?


They will , if the Government promises that while depositing the old notes into these accounts , 

*  NO  QUESTIONS will be asked , 

*  Depositor does not have to REVEAL IDENTITY  !

*  There will be no UPPER  LIMIT


They have nothing to lose in this World and everything to gain in the NEXT  !


Far better than donating crores to religious temples / shrines !


Let those Black Money holders " donate " their hearts to the 1.2 million dying children !

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12  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs


Thursday 10 November 2016

The New Maths ?


The new maths is :

Less Rich = Less Poor

But,

Rich does not equal Poor !


Here is how :

A few lakh Black Money holders possess , some Rs 14 lakh*crore worth of OLD notes ( Rs 500 / 1000 ) in their cabinets / vaults


But all that they dare to deposit officially in their bank accounts , will be Rs 4000 crore , trying to stay under the Scrutiny Limit of Rs 2.5 lakh, to avoid tax / penalty / jail


So how will they get around to " save " their black money ?


By sacrificing some 30 % ( " Hawala Rate " being reported by all news papers and TV channels for past 2 days ) , in order to salvage 70 %


Not too difficult if you consider that , our country " boasts " of some 40 Crore potential hawala operators !


I refer to those 40 crore Indians below the official Poverty Line ( having expenditure of Rs 32 per day in Rural areas and Rs 47 per day in Urban areas )


Can Black Money holders succeed in convincing these 40 crore persons to go / deposit in their Jan Dhan Bank Accounts ( government claims that 99 % of Indians - including these 40 crores , now have a bank account ) , just Rs 1 lakh each ?


That would take care of some Rs 40 lakh*crore worth of OLD notes !


Of course , those 40 crore persons would be expected to withdraw ( after some time ) , Rs 70,000 ( 70 % of deposit ) in NEW notes and return to the Black Money holders !


And with the remaining Rs 30,000 in their bank accounts , these poor persons can now start spending every day ( say ) Rs 50 - way above the official Poverty Line !


With one fell swoop ( of demonetization ) , government might have managed to lift 40 crore Indians , ABOVE the official Poverty Line !


No mean achievement , by any standard !


Black Money holders would become less rich but poor people would become less poor !


Now we know , that Shahukars ( unauthorized money lenders ) in our small towns and villages , have lent thousands of crores of rupees to needy poor ( to whom , Banks would not lend since they have nothing to pledge by way of security )


These crores have been lent in Rs 500 / 1000 notes


And the Shahukars will accept " repayments ", only in Rs 500 / 1000 notes !


It is possible that these Shahukars will tell the borrowers :


" You owe me Rs 50,000 but you are unable to return that sum

  Now , take this Rs 1 lakh ( in OLD notes ) and go / deposit in your Jan Dhan bank account

  After 1 month , withdraw Rs 50,000 ( in NEW notes ) and return to me as your repayment
  of that loan . 

I will tear off that LOAN DOCUMENT in front of your eyes ! "



Would you say a " win - win situation "  for both !


Such a " generous offer " on part of the Shahukars , might even save thousands of farmers from committing suicides !


May be every dark cloud has a silver lining !


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11  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs


Wednesday 9 November 2016

A Face Saving Formula ?


With reference to demonetization of old currency notes , Government , yesterday came out with the following clarification :

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

By 30th Dec , you are welcome to deposit any amount of OLD notes in your bank account ,

BUT,

If that deposit exceeds Rs 2.5 lakhs , you will need to pay on the excess , 30 % tax plus 200 % penalty

AND

possible prosecution / jail term

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

Having introduced the easy INCOME  DECLARATION  SCHEME earlier and having repeatedly warned the Black Money holders of dire consequences if they do not come clean , it is understandable that the Government has to live up to its words !


With this clarification , one thing is very clear


No one holding crores of Black Money , is going to come forward and deposit more than Rs 2.5 lakh in his bank account !


Even if he has that 230 % ( tax + penalty ) in WHITE / OFFICIAL  bank account , who wants to go to jail ?


So , what will they do ? 


Of course , BURN UP  those old currency notes in order to destroy all evidence  !


Now Black Money stashed away locally are estimated at Rs 30 lakh*crore  ( @ 15 % - 20 % of our GDP )


Let us say , only 33 % of these are in the form of CASH ( balance being locked up in Gold / Land etc )


This means , some  Rs 10 lakh*crore  worth of Rs 500 / 1000 notes will get burned in the coming days - adding to air pollution !


Can something be done to , put these money to some PRODUCTIVE  USE ( without putting those Black Money holders behind bars ) ?


Let me provide a context , as follows :


A person convicted of having committed a murder and punished with death penalty , says,


"  I know I must suffer the consequences of my heinous crime . But after I am declared dead , please donate my heart for transplant and save someone who will , otherwise die "


I believe our Society will accept  such an offer gracefully , even if coming from a murderer


MY   SUGGESTION  :


Please allow those Black Money Holders to deposit those Rs 10 lakh*crore  in bank accounts created specifically for :


*    Prime Ministers Relief Fund


*    Armed Forces Relief Fund


*    Environment Rejuvenation Fund


*    Pollution Solution Fund


and , above all ,


*    BANMALI  (  Ban Mal-Nutrition in India  )  Fund


{   http://myblogepage.blogspot.in/2016/09/a-mobile-app-named-banmali.html   }


Some 1.2 million children ( under age of 7 ) , die in India  EACH YEAR , due to mal-nutrition ( since , you do not wish to call it " Starvation " ! )


If each of these children were to be provided highly nourishing food packets each day , costing Rs 50 per day per child , that would cost the Government , Rs 2190 Crore / year


By enabling channelizing those Rs 10 lakh*crore into these Bank Accounts , we will be able to convert that Black Money into White Money ( but for use by the POOR / NEEDY of the Society )


Will those  Black Money Holders come forward for such a DONATION ?


They will , if the Government promises that while depositing the old notes into these accounts ,

NO  QUESTIONS will be asked ,

*  Depositor does not have to REVEAL IDENTITY  !

*  There will be no UPPER  LIMIT


They have nothing to lose in this World and everything to gain in the NEXT  !


Far better than donating crores to religious temples / shrines !


Let those Black Money holders " donate " their hearts to the 1.2 million dying children !


I request Shri Narendrabhai Modiji to go, sit silently in front of Raj-Ghat Memorial and ask :


"  Did you say : To the poor , God appears in the form of a  ROTI   in their hands  ?


  By allowing the Black Money Holders to save these children , am I going to lose face ?  "

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

10  Nov  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs