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 the 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 scheme will give a huge 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 )
E – Governance ?
Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption ?
Most certainly
Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :
> Public Accounts Committee ( PAC )
> Central Vigilance Commission ( CVC )
> Central Information Commission ( CIC )
> Research and Analysis Wing ( RAW )
> Serious Fraud Investigation Office ( SFIO )
> Information Bureau ( IB )
> Economic Offence Wing ( EOW )
> Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI )
> Department of Revenue Intelligence ( DIR )
> Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG )
> Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States )…. ( ACB )
> Enforcement Directorate ( ED )
> Lok Ayukts ( States )
> Lok Pal ( Central )
Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away ?
Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years ?
No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter – agency rivalry to get credit – something difficult to eliminate altogether
But , I believe , the most important reason is :
Lack of a COMMON / COMPUTERIZED database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated
And , which is readily ” Accessible ” to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )
Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on ” Suspects ” in its own
” Departmental Database ” , which is never shared with other Agencies ,
leading to ,
> Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information
> Fractured / scattered profiles of ” Suspects ”
> Enormous waste of time / resources
What will help ?
> Dismantling of individual departmental databases
> Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database
> All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON
database , with nothing preserved on local computers
> All data-entry FORMS to be ONLINE . No paper forms at all
> All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )
> ” Access Rights ” to individuals , based on Biometric Identification
Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April ? ( Congress / AAP missed this boat ! )
It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,
” If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE – and do it within 6 months of assuming power ”
* hemen parekh ( 04 April 2014 / Mumbai )