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

Monday 25 December 2017

For EV , Andhra gets an A







“ Andhra Plans Sops to Pull in Rs 30,000 CR Investment in Electric Vehicle Industry “




Summary of Incentives offered :


·         Capital subsidies to Automakers and Charging Equipment manufacturers

·         Fast government approvals

·         Concessional land and power

·         Complete state GST reimbursements

·         Special incentives for Battery manufacturing to draw investments

·         Waiving of registration and road tax on the sale of Electric Vehicles

·         Tendering three-wheeler fleet licences to companies

·         Imposing additional taxes on Petrol / Diesel Vehicles

·         Introducing promotional Schemes for women and consumers from vulnerable backgrounds for two-wheeler purchase

·         Setting up an Electric Vehicle Park with plug-and-play infrastructure for manufacturing units to start production

·         All cities of the State to come up with an Electric Mobility Blueprint

·         Convert the entire government fleet to Electric and shift the complete bus fleet to Battery operated vehicles by 2030

·         Support to other shared-mobility vehicles for conversion to e-fleet

·         Invite tenders for procuring Electric Vehicles through EESL

·         Provide capital subsidy and SGST exemptions for charging infrastructure installations

·         Land to be made available at concessional rates to Charging Stations and Battery-Swapping Kiosks

·         Bus Terminals, Bus Stops , Government Offices and Public Parkings , will compulsorily have charging stations and swapping stations

·         Time bound permissions for setting-up charging infrastructure




Such a comprehensive policy can only be expected from a visionary like Chief Minister , Shri Chandra Babu Naidu , who turned Hyderabad , into “ Indian Silicon Valley “ , a few decades ago !


Those who have any doubts about Shri Naidu’s vision, may want to look up :


https://qz.com/1157941/google-x-will-use-light-beams-to-bring-the-internet-to-12-million-households-in-indias-andhra-pradesh-state/



The “moonshot factory” of Alphabet, the tech giant that owns Google, is bringing a wireless internet technology it tested in the stratosphere to connect rural areas in India’s Andhra Pradesh state.


X, as the company is known, is using Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) to connect far-flung regions of the state.


It involves using beams of light to deliver high-speed, high-capacity connectivity over long distances.


X has set up some 2,000 FSOC links in partnership with Andhra Pradesh’s telecom company, AP State FiberNet, as part of the state’s plan to bring broadband connectivity to 12 million households and thousands of government offices and private enterprises.


“These FSOC links will form part of the high-bandwidth backbone of their network, giving them a cost effective way to connect rural and remote areas across the state,” Baris Erkmen, the FSOC Lead at X, wrote in a blog post on Thursday, Dec. 14.


A small group of Google engineers and experts will work out of Andhra Pradesh to help roll out the project in 2018.


26  Dec  2017



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Sunday 24 December 2017

Budget Time is Taxing Time ?




On 21 Dec , following news appeared :


Hindustan Times


India’s Skewed Tax Base

A handful of people pay the bulk of our tax

95 % of tax payers pay only 9 % of taxes in India

Of the “ Total Reported Income “ , Salary Income’s share is only 33.2 %

More than 50 % of income tax collections in AY 2015-16, came from the top 0.01 % of income tax payers



Business Line

Super rich on the rise : India has nearly 60,000 crorepatis ( in Assessment Year 2015-16 )





On Feb 01, 2018 , when FM Shri Arun Jaitleyji rises to present the Central Budget in Lok Sabha , he will be faced with many ( contradicting ? ) demands :


·         Every Economist ( - whether worth his salt or not ! ) , will advocate lowering of Corporate Tax


·         Ditto with ASSOCHAM – FICCI – CII and every Chamber of Commerce


·         All politicians ( especially those belonging to opposition parties ) , are demanding lowering of Personal Income Tax on individual tax payers


·         Every  Minister wants his / her next year’s allocation of funds raised by 50 %


·         All bureaucrats belonging to Finance Ministry , want to vastly expand the tax-payer base by casting the net as wide as possible


·         The looming shadow of State Elections in 8 States in 2018 , demands that he introduce , not only a FARMER FRIENDLY budget but , generally , a VOTER BAITING budget ( stop calling it a “ Populist Budget “ ! )


·         Every State Government ( not limited to those states governed by Opposition Parties only ) , want MUCH BIGGER SHARE of GST collection ( partially, to write off Farmers’ Loans / DISCOM losses /  7th Pay Commission  /  funds siphoned away by SCAMS , etc  )


One can go on and on


Obviously , it is a “ Taxing Times “ for Shri Jaitleyji !
 

No matter what he pulls out of his brief-case , he won’t be able to “ please everyone “


For the next couple of weeks , he – and his officers – will be at pains to explain why / how , this was as “ Balanced Budget “ as it can ever be


But , he has an opportunity to silence his critics – and usher an unprecedented REFORM of far reaching consequences to growth of our ECONOMY – if he announces :


TOTAL ABOLITION OF PERSONAL INCOME TAX ( OF COURSE , WITH EFFECT FROM 01 APRIL 2019 )


To know how this take India onto 10 % growth in GDP for the next 10 years , he might want to read :


=================================

 What would happen ?

InnovativeFinancing ?

IndonesiaShows the Way

What would they do ?

MakingIndia a Tax Haven ?

Don'tWant to Pay Taxes ?

ACASE FOR ZERO PERSONAL INCOME TAX

25  Dec  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

 

 

 

 



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But How Will You Collect ?




Hindustan Times ( 23 Dec ) carries following news :




“ House panel okays bill to increase your traffic fines by 10 % every year “



A parliamentary panel has agreed to a 10% annual increase in the fines for various traffic violations including drunken driving, talking on mobile, rash and negligent driving.

Drunken driving — one of the main causes of deaths in road accidents in India — will invite a fine of Rs10,000 from the existing Rs2,000. Talking on mobile phones while driving will result in a fine of Rs5,000, up from the present Rs1,000. For red light jumping, driving without seat belt/helmet, the proposed fine is Rs1,000.




Annual increase in traffic violation fines ( just like annual salary increments ? ) , is a good idea



But , in case of that Salary Increment , if the boss forgets to grant , employee will remind him every day and not leave him alone till it is given !



When it comes to paying traffic violation fines , it is just the other way around !



Example :



In Mumbai , some 800,000 drivers got e-challan through SMS ( for jumping red light signal ) , asking them to pay up the fine



But only 50,000 paid – with rest developing an amnesia !



Now the traffic department has to resort to delivery of paper challans through couriers !



I have a feeling that the new rules will meet similar fate !



Unless , the traffic department implements my following suggestion / blog :


Thiswill take Ages !

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/12/this-will-take-ages.html

The best way to ensure “ Instant Punishment “ for any – and ALL – kind of Traffic Violations , is to :

·         Remove human intervention in the process of punishing

·         Immobilize the vehicle ( kill the engine / motor ) using remote sensing , till fine gets paid

24  Dec  2017
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs



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Veering Around ?




DNA ( 24 Dec ) carries following news :



“ Rs 15K crore to be spent on training under Skill India “


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2vH3gu4jYY



New Delhi, Dec 22 (ANI):


Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has announced a unique initiative by the Transport and Skill Development departments to spend 15,000 crore as payment to labourers working on construction of National Highways under Skill India.



He said that the rural labourers, who do not possess required skills as well as knowledge for the new age machinery and technology in the field of construction, would be able to reap the benefits of the initiative.





It is satisfying to know that Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has found my following suggestion worth implementing :


SavingJobs : Creating Jobs

25  Dec  2017
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs


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Saturday 23 December 2017

Did You Say, “ Ahead of Times “ ?




A pile of trash in the ocean has grown to the size of France — and some people want it recognised as a nation


Will the Trash Isles be the world's 196th country?
By 
Akshat Rathi


19 DEC 2017 - 10:43 AM  UPDATED  20 DEC 2017 - 9:58 AM

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

There’s a country-sized problem in the north Pacific Ocean — a patch of trash has grown to the size of France.


So the environmental charity Plastic Oceans Foundation has paired up with the news and entertainment publication LadBible to campaign for it to be recognised as an official country.


The campaign claims that, under Article 1 of the 1993 Montevideo Convention on the rights and duties of states, a country must be able to :

·         define a territory,

·         form a government,

·         interact with other states , and

·         have a permanent population.



The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has borders ( sort of ), and it’s easy to create a government and institutions for interacting with others.



Now with former US vice president Al Gore signing up as the country’s first citizen and more than 100,000 signing the petition to be granted citizenship, the campaign has submitted its application earlier this month to the United Nations to recognise the Trash Isles as the world’s 196th country.



The project is the brainchild of advertising professionals Michael Hughes and Dalatando Almeida, according to AdWeek. Designer Mario Kerkstra helped create a flag, a passport, currency (called debris) and stamps.



I just got reminded of my following blog :


Monday, 25 April 2016


No use Fighting !



Entire world produces 280 million tons of plastics , every year


Of this , some 20 million tons finds its way into world's oceans


Rest finds its way into ugly land-fills


A very tiny percentage of this has accumulated at one spot in Pacific Ocean


It is called Great Pacific Garbage Patch , , covering an area , twice the size of United Kingdom ( approx 500,000 Sq Km )


Since most of this is non-degradable , it will continue to float for 50 years


Hundreds of scientists and governments are working for years to find a solution to this problem of cleaning up the ocean by removing floating plastic


But the solution is evading !


Use of current method of skimming will take several decades to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch


But if some method can be found to ,


*  Increase the thickness of the patch to several hundred feet


*  Bind the loosely floating plastic with some glue / resin , to turn it into a
    strong land like mass ( of course , still floating )


*  Build onto this light weight pre-fabricated homes


then ,



it could become a Nation of 126 million inhabitants ( twice the population of UK , since Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the area of UK ) !


Of course , if this method succeeds , 280 million tons can create an entire continent , the size of Europe !   Every year , too !



May be scientist can even find a way to tow it away anywhere  !



For EU threatened with an influx of a million migrants every year , this could be a much cheaper - and humanitarian - way of housing them



Much cheaper than what Elon Musk / Mark Zukerberg / Jeff Bezo etc are spending on Space Missions to locate inhabitable distant Earth-like planets !



Why spend billions of dollars on finding ways to bio-degrade plastics ?



Just find a way to " Re-Use " it for benefit of poor people !



Call it USM ( United States of Migrants ) !

===================================

24  Dec  2017


www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
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