Saaf Niti, Sahi Vikas

Many experts in politics expected a hung parliament in 2019. However, the people of India judged the Prime Minister on his government’s five years performance from 2014-19.

“The left kept telling us about the social problems; they kept talking but did nothing. We are the ones who delivered”, said Narendra Modi in his thanking speech at the BJP headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road in Delhi on 23^rd May 2019.

In the last five years, Modi government not only revised passed growth to show a better GDP performance but also kept control on deficits, subsidies, debt, inflation and prices. No matter what the journalists talk about, but the reality at ground has seen a change. Some of the top schemes which the Narendra Modi’s government implemented has helped them connect with masses. 

Let’s have a look how Narendra Modi’s report card read in the last 5 years through some of the schemes that he launched

1. Ayushman Bharat: The health insurance scheme launched on September 23, 2018, has already benefited 10 lakh poor patients and was one of the key game-changer on 2019 Lok Sabha elections. More than 500 million Indians who could not afford medical treatment for non-communicable illnesses like cancer and heart disease now have access to free healthcare.
   
2. Rural electrification: The Modi government’s push to provide last-mile connectivity to hard-to-access rural clusters has been fairly successful. However, several villages cited as connected to the electrical grid still have households without power. Part of the problem is that some villages lie in areas controlled by Naxalites in states such as Chattisgarh and Jharkhand while in others the terrain makes access difficult.
   
3. Free LPG cylinders: Under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, women in villages now have access to cooking gas. This has both health and economic benefits. Over 60 million free LPG connections have been given with nearly 50 per cent going to SC/ST households.
   
4. Sanitation: The Swachh Bharat Mission has built toilets at an unprecedented pace. Since October 2014, over 92 million toilets have been constructed, covering nearly 500 million households in one of the world’s largest operations of its kind. Cultural habits, however, mean that open-air defecation remains endemic. Many newly-built toilets lack sewage facilities; others are being used as storage rooms. Nonetheless, a beginning has been made.
   
5. Digital transfer of subsidies: This has cut out most (though not all) middlemen who routinely siphoned off large chunks of benefits due to the poor. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, had famously said in December 1985, while addressing the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Congress, that only 15 paise out of every rupee in subsidies reaches the poor. With digitised transfers that figure has probably risen to 75 paise. However, lack of Internet connectivity in rural areas, combined with limited digital literacy among farmers and labourers, often leave them at the mercy of local officials to access their money electronically.
   
6. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code: The legislation, enacted in December 2016, is the silver bullet to tackle India’s chronic problem of non-performing assets. Banks have begun to recover debts that had seemingly turned irretrievably bad.
   
7. Infrastructure development: There has been a steep rise in building roads, highways and metro networks as well as housing for the poor. These are long-term initiatives but the benefits are already visible. According to fact-checking sites, 12km of highways were constructed in 2013-14. This pace more than doubled to 27km per day in 2017-18.

The current prime minister has achieved more than any of his predecessor in the history of India. First time the young generation in India looked up at the political leadership with respect and felt a nationalist fervor. This has not happened for decades. The image of a politician up till now was that of a goon with loads of black money who is able to secure a seat and out to loot the people. But the current government has been able to change that impression.

Will DEMOCRACY survive in India?

Ever since India got its independence in 1947, several statesmen wrote obituary for Indian Democracy. There were common apprehensions that India would ever be able to survive as a country.  

Winston Churchill, for example, predicted that after the British left the subcontinent, "India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages". J. E. Welldon, the Bishop of Calcutta in 1915 quoted, “As soon as the last British Soldier sailed from Bombay or Karachi, India would soon become a battlefield for antagonist racial and religious forces .The peaceful and progressive civilisation setup by Great Britain  would shrivel up in a night”.

Seventy One years after independence, India somehow survives but it remains an unnatural nation and for few people, an unlikely democracy.  We opted for democracy as our political system. But many people keep wondering – how democratic is Indian polity?

Democratic theory mentions that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarchical social structure are inhospitable conditions for the functioning of democracy. Yet except for those 18 months in 1975-77, India has maintained its democratic institutions ever since it became independent. When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended democracy in June 1975 and declared a state of emergency, it seemed that India was finally starting down the path that most of the world's poorer democracies had already traveled. Yet democracy returned 18 months later, and emergency rule proved to be an abnormality rather than an emerging structural trend.  

Last year, I was travelling from Bangalore to Pavagada in Karnataka, a 3 hours long journey. Early on, my car was held up by a level crossing. A goods train passed by leisurely, and I read the signs on the wagons - SR, NR, SCR, SER, WR - the ‘R’ standing for ‘Railway’, the other letters for the different regional branches of India's greatest and most genuinely public-service organization. In the course of their wanderings over the years, the wagons had got all mixed up, so that one which rightfully belonged to the Northern Railway was placed next to one that was the property of the South Central Railway, and so on. It was typical that the wagons belonging to different regional branches of Indian Railways had got so messed up; but that there was an Indian Railways to which all those branches owed allegiance signalled a unity amidst the diversity.

I feel there are 4 critical reason (in no particular order) for democracy for India to survive. The first is the game of cricket - an Indian sport accidentally invented by the west which keeps the people united. The second is the bollywood industry, another great popular passion that unites Indians of different languages, faiths and social classes together. Third, there are some vital unifying legacies of the Britishers, such as Civil Services, Defense Services (Army, Air force and Navy) and the English language, which allow goods and people to move more or less peaceably across India, and to traffic with one another. The fourth, and in my view most crucial, reason why a united and democratic India survives is the constitution.

That unity and pluralism are inseparable in India and in wonderfully expressed in the Indian currency graphically, which has a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on one side of all banknotes, with the denomination of the note printed in bold in Hindi and English and, in smaller type, in 15 other scripts.

A decade back, it was difficult to find solution to the common man’s problems. If a government teacher did not teach properly, could the parents do anything about it? Or if a doctor in a government hospital did not treat properly or did not give medicines? What could a poor person do if the ration shop keeper openly sold off the ration somewhere else? Or what could any one of us do if the policeman refused to register any FIR?

Today, the situation the different. Social Media has played a critical role in reliving the democracy. Who would have imagined that a person travelling on a train would tweet to a railway minister and seek help to arrange milk for his child and railway minister would get it arranged for this person who tweeted. 

Right to Information was also another concrete step towards making our polity democratic. The system will become more democratic when a common person will have more direct involvement in government decision making and when government would start co-creating policies 

Digitalization and HR

Its been a while now that we have been hearing the buzz words like Big Data, Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. These are terms which relates to Digitalization process that we are experiences in our day to day transactions whether at office or at a market place. As per KPMG’s Digital Transformation Report 2017, 79% of organizations worldwide believed that ‘advance technologies’ are a must have within the next 5 years.  

After the fall of Kodak and Nokia, all organizations are focusing on how to adopt to changing technologies and practices in order to remain relevant and sustainable. This is the reason why many organizations are looking at digitalizing their systems, their products or simply ensuring that they have the right skills for the future or how can the organizations develop more agile ways of working.

As per Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trend Report 2017, in the digital age there will be a dual challenging role for HR – One is to transform HR Operations and second is to transform the workforce and the way work is done.

HR’s impact in the digital world will be critical and will be in three spaces:

·       Digital Workforce – Designing talent practices, hiring digitally savvy employees and creating a culture of innovation.

·       Digital Workplace - Enabling productivity through modern communication tools and softwares.

·       Digital HR – Developing and implementing digital tools and apps to deliver HR solutions and innovations.

It will be imperative to have special (customized) human resources software that will help us effectively manage talent as well as optimize our plans and strategies based on data.

There are four pillars for digital transformation:

• Mindset – The willingness and enthusiasm to adopt digitalization
• People – The skills and competencies among the workforce to adopt digitalization
• Processes – The strategies for communicating and effective change
• Technology – The actual software tools

The weightage of Technology impacting the digital transformation will not be more than 10%. It’s the people, mindset and processes that will account for rest 90% where HR will have a value to add.

A major set of employees in the organizations (specially in India and developing countries) have a fear that machines or softwares will take away their jobs. HR would have a critical role in counselling these set of employees through soft skills and skill enhancement which would enable them to make them better and look at all growth possibilities lying ahead of them. It will be important for HR professionals to have an integration plan, starting with transparency and communicating the advantages of the transformation to the employees.

In most countries like India where the legal compliance is so complex and ever-changing that employee administration still accounts for most of the HR function’s daily work. Hence, HR processes should be among the first to be digitized and outsourced. In North America and Western Europe today, at least 30% of companies already outsource their payroll management and the trend is growing. In Belgium outsourcing reaches 90%.

Hence, it will not be incorrect in saying that HR will be one of the key buttons to activate in the digital transformation process.

How I Plan To Make You Happy Every Day Of Your Life

Dear My (Future) Wife,

The first time I thought I would fall in love and get married was when I was 8 years old. I envisioned a life where I would meet you by the time I turn 27.

The reason I am writing this today is because I can’t stop thinking about you and I can’t stop myself from imagining how happy we will be in the days to come with our togetherness. Let this letter be a promise to you that I will do my best to be the man I want to be for you:

• I promise to make your smile my priority
• I promise I will always look at you with the same adoration as I did the moment I realized I loved you.
• I promise to try to ignite the same sparkle in your eyes I see when you’re surprised, inspired, motivated
• I promise to hold your hand when we’re 80 years old with the same liveliness that I did when I crossed that line to hold yours for the first time.
• I promise to do my best always to interest you.
• I promise to keep reinventing myself, gaining new hobbies, new knowledge and new interests to keep you and myself - Entertained.
• I promise to have new stories to share with you, and maybe I’ll retell the best ones again if you insist.
• I promise to keep our friendship growing over the years
• Even in grief and darkness, I promise to show you the different shades of the dark, and to help you find the tiny rays of light that are always there if you seek them.
• I promise to play the games you like to play.
• I promise to love your family as you love them and to be by their side as much as I am by yours.
• I promise to always listen to you when you simply just want to be heard; when you want someone to vent to about something or when you want advice regarding the new dress that you would order on Amazon or Flipkart.
• I promise to cook and clean for us (sometimes).
• I promise to create family traditions and to make sure that your legacy lives forever through our child.
• I have pictured my life with the person I am committed to – YOU.

Sincerely, 

Your (Future) Husband

RED

As a child, I loved Red Cherries, Red Balloons, Red ketchup with hot samosa’s, Red Toys. Red was the colour of my mother’s bindi. Red – the cross on doctor’s car. Red Mehendi, Red Frocks, Red Roses, Red Candy Bars, Red Crayons. Red was beauty, was love, was passion, was energy, was dreams...  

And then I grew up... And something changed. Goodness of Red escaped from a crack and it became the colour of shame and the colour of pain. I was around 12 years old when I saw a red river flowing between my thighs. I was frightened, I was confused. I thought I had blood cancer.

I never imagined that this blood would become my life-long adversary. That Red would become my vengeance.   My life would be full of ‘DON’Ts’.  Don’t walk like that. Don’t talk to boys. Don’t dress like that. Don’t think like that. Ssshhhh... Don’t speak about those things. Don’t go out late. Don’t go to the kitchen. STOP..!! Don’t Pray.

Five long days – the days of impurity. Living life like an untouchable. [PS: We got independence in 1947 but we still make the female in our society untouchable every 5 days a month]. Living life like I didn’t exist. Five long days that I had to bear of my own. Uncertain, Uncomfortable, Painful, Ignored. Five long days that even God wiped me off his list. Can you imagine the horror of a 12 year old child? 

She suddenly discovers that she has become a woman? It’s nothing beautiful? Isn’t she beautiful anymore? She feels tainted, she feels ashamed. And I was not the only one. There were and there are many like me who step into puberty not knowing that their bodies are the most beautiful vessels. Vessels with the power to bring forth human-beings.  

Surrounded by myth and burdened by a taboo, they consider themselves a curse. They learn no hygiene. Rags, Ashes, Leaves - they use any means to remove all traces of shame. The drop out of schools. They withdraw into themselves. They wonder why their body limits them? Who clipped their wings? For humanity to live, they bleed.  

They have thousands of questions but yet they are scared to raise a voice. Too ashamed to think. But they need to be told that they are children like any other. Womanhood is not witch. Puberty means life. Menstruation is not a disease. With care, understanding and knowledge, give her the strength to untangle the chains to break the societal taboo. Talk to her, discuss it. Tell her that she has a magic within her. Tell her that the RED blood which comes from her will one day help another heart, beat.

Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.

The state of our environment is critical to human health and survival. Human beings depend on the environment for food, clean air, and water. Our diet includes plants and animals whose survival and safety depend on the state of the environment. Environmental pollution destroys ecosystems that are important to human health and part of our food chain. In additional, the environment is the source of natural resources that nations require for economic growth. Nations create wealth by trading their natural resources and products of such resources with other nations.

The Theme for World Environment Day for 2012 was ‘Think, Eat and Save’.  Think, Eat and Save was an anti-food waste and food loss campaign which was launched to encourage everybody to reduce their food print. The impact of food waste is not just financial. Environmentally, food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides; more fuel used for transportation; and more rotting  food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change.

Retailers’ strict cosmetic standards result in rejection of food items not perfect in shape or appearance. Consumers’ waste food through excess purchase and careless eating behaviors’. If food is wasted; it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost.

A recent study by the Indian Institute of Public Administration on the wastage of food during social gatherings in national capital region Delhi, shows that rising economic prosperity makes people indulge in extravagance and ostentatious behavior during social events and people do not mind throwing away food, but the menu has to be extensive as any shortage would affect their so-called honor and respect in society. Also, celebrations of plethora of festivals in Indian societies waste food on such occasions as it is prepared on a large scale.

Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, it is expected out of us to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices that we all make and empowers all of us to make informed decisions. The objective rallies us to take action from our homes and then witness the power of collective decisions which we and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient.

Although governments bear the responsibility of protecting the environment, all citizens have a role to play in keeping the environment clean and safe.

I would urge you to look for wastages happening around in your vicinity, in canteens, at office get together, at guest houses, in your own house or when you go out to eat in a restaurant. Think of innovative ways to reduce food wastages and you would be doing your bit to save the world

Towards a Digital India

Date: 19^th April 2016

To,
Shri Narendra Modi,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,

New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Greetings.

I hope that this letter finds you in best of health and spirit.

First of all, a hearty congratulations to you and your entire team for doing a wonderful work for the country. I follow each of your agenda and I feel proud in sharing that your actions and efforts inspire me every day.

I am writing this email to share a suggestion with you. I am highly ambitious about the fact that you have shown us a dream of ‘Digital India’. With the action plans and strategies which you have planned, I am certain that in future, Digitization will become an integral part of our lives. The drive for automation and other advancements such as artificial intelligence in each sector will transform the country and at the same time drive our economy to a greater level.

I would like to bring to your notice that Companies Act 2013 and SEBI regulations state that any Company shall maintain all records as per the Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Regulations for not less than 8 (Eight) Years and all these documents to be preserved at the Registered Office of the Organization. While in the age of Digitization, I believe that preserving these documents in physical form should not be a mandatory clause as per the Companies Act and SEBI guidelines. I would request you and your team to propose an amendment in the Companies Act 2013 and SEBI Guidelines by passing an amendment in the upcoming session of Parliament or through Cabinet approval that these documents can be acceptable in digital form (soft copy stored on company server/cloud) as well.

Sir, you will agree with me that as a digitized country, it will be very heartening to see that no matter which whichever branch or office of any company that you visit, you will be able to access these documents and audit as per government guidelines if we store those documents in soft form rather than maintaining it at physical form. 

I hope my suggestion will be looked upon and implemented.

Jai Hind..!

Cc:       

1. Mr. Ravishankar Prasad, Hon'ble Minister Department of Telecom

2. Mr. Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Minister of Corporate Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting

3. Mr. Jayant Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance

4. Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry

Regards,

Varinder Singh

A proud citizen of India

Mumbai