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 29 March 2014

Nothing But Despair ?



Do forthcoming Lok Sabha elections hold anything but despair for the women of India  ?


Unfortunate , but I don't think so


Optimists may want to look at the following statistics  :


Lok Sabha of  /  No of Women Contestants  /  Winners  /  Percentage



>    1957   /   45   /   27   /      60 %

>    1967   /   67   /   30   /      45  %

>    1980   /   142   /   28   /    20  %

>    1998   /   274   /   43   /    16  %

>    1999   /   296   /   52   /    17  %

>    2004   /   355   /   45   /    13 %

>    2009   /   556   /   59   /    10 %

>    2014   ?   600  ?   60  ?     10  %  ?



My reasons for despair  :


>  Even though marginally more number of women may contest in 2014 ,
    the percentage of women winners may either remain same or decline


>  Apparently - and sadly - women voters ( nearly 400+ million ) will
    continue to vote for male candidates


>  With a male-dominated Lok Sabha , Women's Reservation Bill , which is
    pending for the past 40 years , will continue to remain pending for next
    40 years


>  With 11 % women in Lok Sabha , India ranks 111th out of 185 countries
    when it comes to women representation in parliaments of these countries


>  Criminalization of politics will continue as before , despite the fact that ,in
    the current Lok Sabha , only 6 women MPs have " Criminal Cases "
    pending against them , as against 161 male MPs who have such a
    reputation  !



Is there any hope  ?



Yes ,


>  If all women members of 7 National level and 34 Regional level political
     parties resign en-masse from their current parties and come together to
     form WAR ( Women And Rights ) party


>  Accept only women as members of this WAR party


>  Put up women candidates for all 543 Lok Sabha seats ( too late for 2014 )


>  Persuade women voters not to vote for any male candidate



WOMEN  OF  INDIA ,



If you think , by some magic , male-dominated Lok Sabha will hand-over to
you  EQUALITY  on a platter , then forget it


You are fooling no one but yourself   !


Don't expect the males to gift you , your RIGHTS


You will need to forcefully snatch away what is rightfully , yours  !


Empower  Yourself  !





Stop self - pity and ask yourself,


" How come a developing African country like RWANDA , has 60 % members of its parliament ,
women  ? "






*   hemen  parekh   ( 30  March  2014  /  Mumbai  )

Friday 28 March 2014

Who all are scared of NaMo ?



You don't need to be a Psycho-Analyst to figure out , who all are scared to death of Narendra Modi


Obviously , all those who abused him over the past few months


I figure , the more they abused and the lower they stooped , the more they were scared  !


As if this was some competition where your own getting a ticket depended upon how foul you can get with your language  !


Here is a  ( no doubt , partial )  list of  " who " called  Namo , " what "  :



>   Sonia  Gandhi.................... Maut ka Sodagar


>   Salman Khurshid...............  Impotent / Monkey


>   Mani Shankar Ayer............. Chaiwala / Snake / Scorpion


>   Rashid Alvi ....................... Yamraj  riding  a Buffalo


>   Digvijay Singh  ...............    Ravana


>   Hussein Dalwi  .................  Mouse


>   Beni Prasad Verma  ..........  Dog


>   Manish Tiwari ..................   Dawood Ibrahim


>   Shantaram Naik  ..............   Hitler / Pol Pot


>   Renuka Chowdhury ..........   NaMonitis Virus


>   Naresh Agarwal  ..............   Chaiwala




And to top this all , 2 days back , Imran Masood threatened to cut up NaMo into pieces  !


I wish , all of this name-calling was nothing more than a symptom of their nervousness .
 

Voters would have treated such nervousness as natural human reaction to impending disaster - and might have , even forgiven them


But , I suspect these outbursts are no mere " Symptoms " 


This is the  DISEASE  itself  !


Godse killed Bapu physically in 1948


But those claiming to be Bapu's " Moral Heirs " , continue to kill his spirit everyday , 66 years later  !



VOTERS   OF   INDIA  ,



When you are about to press that button on the EVM ( Electronic Voting Machine ) , do recognize the disease  
!


*   hemen  parekh  (  29  March  2014  /  Mumbai  )

  

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Manifesto Misconduct ?



In its manifesto released yesterday , Congress has promised to create 10 Crore ( = 100 million ) new jobs in next 5 years , if voted to power


Now , EC's Model Code of Conduct tells political parties ,


"  If you make any promise in your manifesto , you must also spell out , how
   you are going to fund it ; how - and from where - you are planning to
   raise the money to fulfill your promise  "


No such explanation / clarification in Congress Manifesto  !


Only EC can say whether this is a blatant violation of Code of Conduct


Provided , BJP / AAP lodge a complaint with the EC


But BJP / AAP can do better than just lodge a complaint


In their own respective manifestos , they too , can promise to generate 100 million new jobs in 5 years , if voted to power


But strictly , in


>   Organized  Private  Sector


>   Un-organized  Private  Sector


>   Self - Employed  Sector



Now each job will require an additional Capital ( fixed + working ) of Rs 1 million , on an average


That means , these Sectors ( not the Government ) will need to raise ,



>  Rs  1 million * 100 million  ( Rs 10 Lakh * Crores )



If voted to power , we ( BJP / AAP ) will enable these Sectors to raise this amount of funds thru introduction of following schemes :



>    BLACK  MONEY  AMNESTY  SCHEME



These Sectors will be allowed to invest their Black Money ( whether stashed locally or abroad ) in specific , Government - Approved , " Infrastructure Bonds " . No questions will be asked as to the source of the funds and the interest earned will be tax-free for a period of 10 years



>    JOB  GENERATION  SCHEME



Since the emphasis is on Job Generation , companies will be " incentivized " to hire more permanent persons

The incentive will be in the form of reducing Corporate Income Tax ( % ) as a company's employment goes up by setting in motion , " INVERSION  of JOB  REDUCTION " regime , under which ,



"  The more jobs a company creates , the less Corporate Tax it pays "



Example :


> Up to employment of 100 persons  ............................... 30 %  tax


> 101  -  500 persons....................................................  25  %


>  501 - 1000 persons ...................................................  20  %


>  1001 - 5000 persons ..................................................  15  %


>  5001 - 10,000 persons 

................................................. 10  %


>  Above 10,000 persons .................................................    5  %



Let us celebrate those who provide employment to large number of persons




>  DOWN-SIZE   GOVERNMENT    SCHEME



*  Government is already over-staffed . It is hiring 4 persons to do the work of one  !


Hence , no new jobs will be created in Government or in PSUs for next 5 years


There will be a " Recruitment Freeze " in government - except for the defense services


Government  /  PSU employment will be allowed to shrink thru resignations / retirements / deaths etc , by adopting the rule of " No Replacements "




>  SELF  EMPLOYEMENT  SCHEME




Every unemployed person registering under this scheme will get an interest - free loan of Rs 50,000 / - from any scheduled bank where he / she opens a bank account , repayable in 10 years. Central Government will insure these loan-re-payments


A suitable mechanism will be put in place to prevent misuses such as ,



*  Duplicate loans from different banks


*  Already employed persons applying for loans


*  A loan-taker taking up  a job after availing a loan





>   HONESTY  REWARD  SCHEME




" Inverse " the " Personal Income Tax " slabs as follows :


>  Up to  Rs 5 lakhs..................... NIL  tax

>  5.1  - 10 lakhs.......................  8 %

>  10.1 - 20 lakhs......................  6 %

>  20.1  - 50 lakhs.....................  5 %

>  50.1 - 100 lakhs.....................  3 %

>  Above 100 lakhs......................  1 %



This will encourage tax-payers to honestly declare their entire income and eliminate tax-evasion / black money generation at the very source itself  !


Under such a scheme , Rs 5 * Lakh * Crores worth of estimated Black Money will return to the official " White Money " banking stream , during FY 2014-15 itself  !



Can you imagine everyone wanting a " Cheque Payment " only  !


And this White Money will get deployed in the CAPITAL MARKET , officially !


With this , we expect SENSEX to cross 50,000 by 2019 !


Listed " Private Sector " companies will be able to attract funds at very low interest rates and deploy these for creating productive assets / employment


These funds will also encourage Private Sector companies to take up long duration Infrastructure Projects - without asking the Governments to guarantee " Viability Gap Funding "




>  CAPITAL  ASSETS  CREATION  SCHEME




Under this scheme , companies will be granted an " Accelerated  Depreciation " on incremental Capital Assets created  during the year


This will encourage companies to plough back their profits into creating manufacturing capacities , thereby improving the contribution of manufacturing to our GDP


Simultaneously , this will give a big boost to India's Capital Goods Industry - the mother of all industries


I hope the Manifesto - Writers of BJP /  AAP  etc examine these schemes and ask of themselves ,


"  Will these meet EC's Code of Conduct  ?  "


And , will these Manifesto Authors dare to promise ,



" If voted to power , we will enact a law that makes each Manifesto , a legally binding Contract between the people of India and the party making the promises - breach of which , will be punishable by a jail term , of not less than 10 years " 




*   hemen  parekh  ( 27 March 2014 / Mumbai ) 

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Burn Your Boats



All these days , I had serious doubts whether Arvind Kejriwal will really go through his plan of fighting Narendra Modi in Varanasi


It seemed suicidal


It still is


But now that the die has been cast , the only option for Arvind is to tell his party workers ,


"  Let us burn our boats  "


Much like the Spanish conqueror , Hernando Cortez , who sailed all the way from Spain to the distance shores of Mexico , in 1589 AD ,  to fight the mighty army of the Aztecs


With just 400 soldiers  !


Upon landing , he told his soldiers ,


" Let us burn our boats . Let us not think of retreat / defeat / option to
   return


  Either we win or we die "



 And they burnt their boats to eliminate that option


Then fought like hell and defeated the Aztecs - something no other challenger had succeeded in preceding 600 years  !


Arvind can most certainly defeat NaMo , if his party workers realize that they have no other option but to win


Unlike NaMo , who has an option to win in Vadodara  !


Remember what Bapu told millions of Indians while trying to overthrow the British Empire  ?


"  Karenge  ya  Marenge  "


No other option  !




*   hemen  parekh  (  26 March 2014 / Mumbai  )

Monday 24 March 2014

Salvaging Life On Earth

The biggest cause for the degradation of environment is burning of fossil fuels

Burning of coal / gas / oil etc produces green-house gases , leading to global warming / floods / droughts etc

Everyone knows that the real long term solution is switching over to renewable energy sources such as wind / sun / tides etc

Can we tap earth's magnetism to produce abundant / unlimited / clean energy ?

I believe so and would request the scientists to consider my following suggestion :

Every school child knows that ,

>  Electricity is generated when a copper wire is 
     rotated in any magnetic field

>   Earth is surrounded by a very strong magnetic
     field

>   This magnetic field is generated by the rotation
     of molten iron deep inside earth's core

>   This magnetic field also protects us from harmful 
     ultra-violet rays / gamma radiations from space

Now , suppose we find a way to ,

>  Construct a hollow cylinder of woven Copper wires  
     to envelope the earth , 100 miles above the 

     earth's surface ( like those thin rings of Saturn )

>  Then , using small rocket thrusts , rotate this

     cylinder in the direction opposite of earth's

     rotation , to cut through its magnetic field

Will that generate electricity  ?

I think so

With international co-operation such a project would take less time - and possibly money too - than the already successful international projects of the International Space Station or the Large Hadron Collider of CERN

It may be exciting to discover the God Particle and understand what makes up mass but I think , it is far more useful to find a permanent / clean source of energy to prevent the extinction of all life on earth by burning fossil fuels


*  hemen  parekh  (  25  March 2014 / Mumbai )
  

Sunday 23 March 2014

LEGALIZE MONEY LAUNDERING ?




In Satyamevajayate TV episode ( 23 March 2014 ) , Amir Khan had one expert present the following fact :
Market value of ALL the fossil fuels + ALL the minerals , lying under Indian soil is ,


A  = Market Value =  Rs  5  *  Thousand  *  Lakh  *  Crores


If we were to extract all of these in the next 100 years , then


B  =  Annual Output  =  Rs  5  *  Ten  *  Lakh  *  Crores

   ( on dividing " Thousand "   by  " Hundred " )



But how much additional investment would we need to get such an output  ?


Let us assume that we need an additional investment of " Rs TEN " to raise an additional output of " Rs ONE "


That is an ICOR of 10 ( " Incremental Capital Output Ratio " , which is now close to 6  in our country )


So , let us divide B by 10 , to get ,



C  =  Additional Investment =  Rs 5  *  Lakh  *  Crores



Bingo  !


If we are to believe sundry Economists ( Baba Ramdev / Narendra Modi etc included ) , then that is exactly ,


D  =  Black Money =  Rs 5  *  Lakh  *  Crores


( Amount locked up / stashed away by Indians in Swiss + local banks + gold + land etc , by way of " Unproductive Assets " )


Now , all that we need to realize our underground resources is a " Magic Wand " that would convert this Black Money into White Money !

Turn our " Unproductive Assets " into " Productive Assets " (Rs 5 Lakh Crores )


And enable people to do so legally  !


Here is my oft-repeated suggestion ,



" Inverse " the Personal Tax slabs as follows :


>  Up to  Rs 2 lakhs..................... NIL

>  2.1 - 5.0 lakhs......................   10 %

>  5.1  - 10 lakhs.......................   8 %

>  10.1 - 20 lakhs......................   6 %

>  20.1  - 50 lakhs.....................   5 %

>  50.1 - 100 lakhs.....................  3 %

>  Above 100 lakhs...................... 1 %



What is likely to happen with such " INVERSE  TAXATION  " regime  ?


Following few things :


>  Total personal tax payer base will go up dramatically from current 4
     crores tax-payers


>  with this " INVERSE  TAX  REGIME " , there will be no incentive to  evade
    taxes and to generate " BLACK  MONEY  "

    There will be no resistance to accept ALL payments by cheque / electronic
    clearance

    The more you disclose as your income , the less you pay by way of taxes


>  For a change , we will learn to reward honesty / efficiency / productivity !
    No need to bribe those Income Tax officers  !


>  Suddenly , lakhs of crores of BLACK MONEY will become  WHITE MONEY
   

>  There will be a huge surge in bank deposits ( - even with , the inevitable
    lower interest rates )


>  Banks will be awash with funds to finance businesses / infrastructure
    projects etc , encouraging entrepreneurs / self-employed to set up new
   businesses ( at 2 % interest rates of loans ) and generate millions of jobs


Amir Khan said ,


" If we divide Rs 5 * Thousand * Lakh * Crores , by 1200 million Indian population , then each one of us , is the proud owner of Rs 40 lakhs  !  "



My suggested Magic Wand would eliminate poverty - something which Congress Governments have been trying to do for the past 60 years !


*  hemen  parekh  (  24  March  2014  /  Mumbai  )




  

  

Saturday 22 March 2014

The More Things Change



It is said ,


"  The more things change , the more they remain the same  "


If in doubt , take a look at the following analysis , carried out by ADR ( Association for Democratic Reforms ) ,



In Current Lok Sabha :



>  MPs facing criminal charges.............. 162 ( out of 542 ) = 30 %


>  MPs facing SERIOUS charges.............  76  ..............     =  14 %


>  MPs whose cases are pending for 10+ years..................      45 MPs


>  MPs whose cases are pending for 20+ years ..................       7 MPs




Does that deter our political parties from giving tickets to candidates with past Criminal records  ?


You would be naive if you believed all those lofty announcements made by our political leaders - led by Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi - that this time around ,


" No one with past criminal record will be given a ticket "


In the first lists of 301 candidates announced for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections , by various political parties , ADR analyzed the  affidavits filed by 188 candidates


And found 56 candidates to have Criminal records  !  56 out of 188  !


Same  30  %  !



Wait till ,


>  final lists of all parties are out in the next 3/4 days


>  ADR find time to analyze (approx ) 8,000 affidavits


>  May 16th - when 542 winners are announced



Once again you will find that 30 % of the " Winners " have criminal cases pending against them  !


Our only hope is Supreme Court directive ( to the lower courts ) that such trials must be completed within ONE year and those found guilty must be disqualified from Lok Sabha / State Legislative Assemblies


It is another matter that Salman Khurshid thinks that our Judiciary has become hyper-active and started taking decisions that rightfully belong to the Legislative wing and the Administrative wing


Agree , this is not an ideal situation


But ,


when the other two wings of the Government simply STOP taking decisions or START / CONTINUE , taking " corrupt / tainted / dishonest " decisions , then someone has to step in !


Long live Supreme Court  !



*  hemen  parekh  (  23  March  2014  /  Mumbai )