Author: Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

I work , write and speak on Public Policy , Economy, Education , Health , Innovation & Governance Reforms. Twitter handle @rajendragupta

Pakistan , Pakistan Spy’s & Indian Fatwa’s


It is an established fact that,  Pakistan does not use funds that it seeks from US for the purpose that they are given. The funds are used for funding terror in India ,U.K. & the U.S.

It Is the right time that India asks for foreign observers ( Including and Indian representation ) to oversee and audit the use of any foreign fund in Pakistan

Also , we have seen two cases of Pakistan setting its strong hold in the Indian armed forces . We have just caught two of them ( Mrs. Gupta & Mr. Prasad ). I believe that there might be 100’s of such Pakistani moles within the Indian establishment and not just in forces and bureaucracy but also beyond . Time to act fast . Kargil , i believe , happened due to such a nexus !!

Also, over the last few weeks , i have see a lot of Fatwa’s issued by non-judicial entities . Why is our ‘Supreme’ court not taking a Suo moto action ?  It should be made a rule that no religious entity can issue any FATWA or order that goes against the fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution and the laws of the land . If anyone dares to do that , he or she must be tried for challenging the law of the land !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Demystifying the Congress Report card


Clueless government

The 3G auction was expected to raise about Rs.32000.00 crore and it raised about Rs.69000.00 crore !! Normally , the statistical error is expected to be + or – 5 % , and that is the standard accepted level of error. If the government’s projections were left behind by a whopping 100 % , what do you call such a government ? Pranab da can rejoice , but not because of his colleagues or his planning !!

Same happens for inflation : Since the UPA government has taken over in May 2009, the inflation has touched double digits , Government talks like an astrologer that the inflation will come down in the next 6 months ( and this has been the talk for the last one year !! ). It does not tell why and how will the inflation come down ? Also, what is the government doing to bring the inflation down ? The government is heavily depending upon the divine intervention ( rain God’s ). When government launched the Maoist offensive , it was clueless that the entire battalion would be wiped off !! It just expressed its regrets !!

All this goof up when our PM is an Economist from Oxford, Home Minister from Harvard and Montek from World Bank  + we have a lot of professors from Cornell etc. ……………….All theory and no practicality !!

Education reforms : How many people in India actually use or even remember the knowledge of what they study from 10th class till their graduation ? I for sure , did not use my B.Sc degree ( except that for some weird reasons , since graduation was the basic requirement , i have done both the B.Sc and B.A. (Hon’s, Social Sciences ) and even M.A. Prev !! ). I talked to a good number of my ‘well placed’ friends, and they had the same response . That that qualifications did not matter or help them professionally . Majority of the Indian population study for the sake of getting degrees which finally , makes them either ‘highly qualified’ or ‘not with relevant experience’ category . We must look at mapping the ‘Knowledge gaps’ and ‘Skill gaps’ and then do the reforms in education . We are just manufacturing Degree holders and not creating any knowledge pool that has monetary value . Some degrees in graduation should be scrapped totally . We are wasting our time & killing our talent !! Time to understand what India needs ? In most of the company boards i sit , i find that my CEO / M.D. is not able to find the right ( competent ) talent at the lowest level for the job ? Because of this , all major companies lose out . On one side , we talk about unemployment and over a billion population , and on the other side , we are having acute shortage of skilled manpower ? Do we need educational reforms or ‘Skill development programs’ ? Countries like Finland , Israel etc with just a population between 5 to 7 million have more productivity per capita (PPC – sorry if you did not hear this word before !! I coined it in Indian  context ) than India . Unless , India addresses PPC in education reforms , churning out more degrees holders will just add to ‘Educated Naxalites’ in the next 5 years

Demystifying BPL or the Below Poverty line : According to Suresh Tendulkar committee report , poverty line for the rural areas is Rs. 15 and Rs. 19 in Urban areas. Whereas , according to Arjun Das Gupta , any one earning less than Rs. 20 per day falls below the poverty line ( Please correct me for my lack of knowledge ) What can you get in Rs. 20 per day per person ( Tea one cup Rs. 2 , Lunch Rs 10 , Tea evening Rs. 2 Dinner Rs. 10 ) This is the cheapest meal option ( Though ,i still have to find a stall that can serve you such cheap meals ).

Also , with this , i must highlight the following daily requirements:

1. Breakfast – 5 Rs.

2. Lunch – 10 Rs.

3. Evening tea and something to eat – 5 Rs.

4. Dinner – 10 Rs.

5. Clean water to drink , and taking care of the basic hygienic – 2 Rs.

6. Clothes to wear with washing Rs. 5 Per day ( atleast 1500 per year – two sets of an upper garment and an under garment and daily washing will need a minimum earning of Rs. 5 day )

7. Healthcare & Savings for unforeseen contingencies ( Rs. 5 per day )

8. Travel for going to take meals or get to work for earning the daily subsistence is not accounted for

9. Shelter to sleep, with bed sheet and seasonal clothing for winter and rain – 5 Rs / day

So, one needs atleast Rs. 37-50 per day to stay alive on the basics necessities of life On what basis the government calculates the PBL .

I think what C.K. Prahalad mentioned as the ‘Fortune at the bottom of pyramid ‘ , i will phrase it as ‘Unfortunate at the bottom of Pyramid’. The government’s basic responsibility is to create ‘Fortunate at the bottom of the pyramid, and than think of Fortunate and the fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid ‘

Our current Prime Minister is a typical case of good brand and poor performance !!

Time to think practically, and work more Dr.Singh  !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email: office@rajendragupta.in

Pakistan is a Schizophrenic Nation


Via Email with CC to Rahul Gandhi , Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi & Sonia Gandhi

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India

New Delhi 110001

Dear Dr.Singh,

This has reference to your initiative of the talks with Pakistan

It is a good thing that the talks will resume . The bigger question is , if this is good for something or good for nothing ?

Put three pre-conditions for the talks to start

  1. 1. Handover Dawood Ibrahim
  2. 2. Maulana Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammad leader
  3. 3. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (LeT)

If Pakistan is sincere , it will hand over these three terrorists or else , it will continue its talk , shoot & blame the Taliban policy . And one fine day , we will be shocked to see that Pak nukes will be used against India and we might be wiped out of the map !! Pakistan will just blame the same on Taliban  and express regrets . Above mentioned three Pakistan agents cum terrorists are the key to end Taliban and its activities, and anything less than these three terrorists being handed over to India is a compromise with the security of Indians and underplaying the nuisance value of  Pakistan in future

Please do not take Pakistan on face value . You cannot expect a habitual offender to reform with just a dialogue . Pakistan is a schizophrenic nation

Diplomacy does not work with Pakistan . History has repeated and defeated itself when it comes to Pakistan

Take Pakistan seriously to avoid more troubles . I hope that you might not like to defend another 26/11 in the times ahead .

With best regards

Rajendra

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

President

Countryfirst

Email:  President@countryfirst.org

view point


Talks with Pakistan resume

Recently , our economist turned Congress’s Prime Minister announced that the foreign minister level talks will resume with Pakistan . It is quite a shock knowing that Pakistan is not even sparing USA Why will it leave India ? I am worried that one day Pakistan will fire the nukes at India and express a sincere apology stating that Taliban did it and it was not a state sponsored / supported act .  It is high time that India asks Pakistan to hand over its most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and then starts any talks . This will be the best proof of Pakistan’s commitment to India

IPL :

All those who are looking forward to action on IPL scam are fooling themselves. This issue will die a natural death as lot many senior politicians of all major political parties are involved .

Loss of food grains due to poor storage

Sharad Pawar’s made a statement that India is wasting Rs.58000.00 worth food grains due to poor storage conditions . This is the second term as a Agriculture minister for congress led government . Have they not planned for the same ? Are we hinting something ? It is high time that opposition takes the government to task and arrests this wastage . The government must come clean on this loss to the exchequer and the resultant loss for the public

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Why only seek quotas for Muslims ?


According to the study done by NCAER along with the University of Maryland ,nearly one third of the muslims in the nation live below the poverty line on less than Rs.550 a month,  and those in villages survive on Rs. 338 a month .

Same study also revealed that over 50 % of the Adivasi and 32 of the Dalits are leaving below the poverty despite quotas for over 60 years  .

Mandal battle started and was won on the Gangetic plains , but the reservations have failed to raise the standards and serve its purpose .

Two questions :

Why are the quotas only asked for Muslims even in the recent debate on reservations for Women ?

Have quotas lived upto their expectations ?

Should we not do away with caste or religion based quotas and move to a financial denominator driven reservation system that does not discriminate on the basis of caste but on financial status ?

Time to evolve

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Demystifying FDI


All the major retailers be it Pantaloon , RPG ,Reliance or Bharti . All are shouting from the top of their retail roofs about their demand that India needs to become more liberal and allow Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) in retail

Let’s study where retail is,  and why do we need FDI ?

A lot of people jumped into retail around 2000 including Pantaloons, Subhiksha , Vishal , Adani group etc . A few years later, excited by the ‘unsubstantiated reports’ from the top consulting firms about the fantastic retail sector  , every major corporate houses like RPG, TATA , Birla’s and Reliance also joined the bandwagon. It lead to competitive retail . All Retailers were vying for the same space , same people & same vendors for a much higher price . Marketing costs increased but margins decreased .

Finally , everyone in retail burned their fingers and lost hundreds of Crores . A few merged or died a natural death !!

I have written earlier ( in 2007 ) in my column that retail in the current form and format was unviable . We see that , when we look at the closures of stores at all major retailers. I think that the way forward is clear , either you have to get into Hypermarkets or small ( Kirana ) format . There is no place for medium ( so called super market ) retail format . I see that the Indian customer’s fondness for variety and prices coupled with the entertainment options within the retail super space !! No other format except Hypermarket will succeed

Back to my main topic why do we need FDI :

What do retailers need to succeed ?

  • Technical knowhow – This can be had by hiring experienced people from abroad who are happily willing to come and work in India or through the franchising route
  • Vendor or sourcing arrangements – can be done via franchising tie ups
  • Merchandising mix– Actually , this is the least of problems as one can go around and see what all is visible and can be copied
  • Brand value – Franchising tie ups can bring brands like Wal-mart etc
  • Training the retail staff – Can be locally developed in collaboration with international tie ups
  • Money to grow – Here is where the answer lies – Retailers in India are loss making and even if a few who are reporting profits , they have uncertainty over the consistent growth  and profits . Retailers know that, they need to make the best of the opportunity with major foreign retailers entering India. Whenever FDI is allowed , it is a foregone conclusion that major foreign retailers  would either pick up a stake or buy the local retailers out at ‘Decent valuations’ and the promoters will cash out with big bucks .

I do not understand if the retailers are successful , why should they have problems with raising money locally ? Any investor would be keen to invest in a profitable venture or the money can be raised from the stock markets .Rest all can be had as mentioned above via tie up or recruitment of experienced people from abroad

PE / VC’s do not invest in retail as it is not profitable and the successful model is still to be seen. Government must be firm that it will not allow FDI in retail , as it will definitely kill smaller retailers . Government should evaluate what the retailers need and understand their reasons for asking FDI to open in retail sector ?  These ‘failed retailers’ will cash on and exit and the Indian retail scene  with the opening of the  FDI . Indian retail sector will get dominated by biggies in retail like Wal-mart or Carrefour or Tesco’s of the world . I see more deaths in retail in the times ahead.  Indian  retailers have still not figured out a successful retail format and that is the challenge,  and FDI in retail does not have an answer .  Indian government should only allow franchising in retail and nothing else. If retailers want to raise money they must either raise it privately or through the stock market

If we allow FDI in retail at this point , it will be like creating another East India company and India will lose heavily

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

emai: office@rajendragupta.in

IPL- Politicians are where the money is !


Why are people so surprised at the disclosures coming out of IPL ?
We all know that politicians get into anything that makes money ( read only big money ). Why is Sharad Pawar left out in this scandal- he is the king pin .  ? He would have made less money than Lalit and allowed him to stay ? Money making in politics is hierarchical ! If you all think that only Lalit made money , you are fooling yourselves ?
Imagine , that a person of the stature of  Shashi Tharoor could not resist the big bucks , what about petty politicians who are in this game ? Let CBI investigate everyone on the board of IPL. I am aware who all are there on the board and still i am asking this inquiry .
It is a big ‘white collar crime’ – an organized corporate corruption racket – Bust it and send the chaps to jail
Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Water tanker mafia’s at work


To : Ashok Chavan , Murli Manohar Joshi and Rahul Gandhi via Email

Mumbai under Siege by water mafia

It is quite disappointing to see that every week water pipelines are getting damaged in Mumbai. More people live in Delhi  and water is carried by pipes there as well !!

“In 2007, the ‘redefined’ Delhi urban agglomeration has (a population of) 21.5 million people against 19.3 million in Greater Mumbai. Why do the pipes burst only in Mumbai so frequently, and that too, during the peak demand time  ?

Now the BMC will spend Crores of rupees to repair the pipes . Water tankers ( read water mafia ) will use this opportunity to supply water in the affected areas. Is it not a calculated move by the water dons ?

I suggest that a CBI inquiry be instituted in this matter . It is a 1000 crore scandal with the connivance of local government , BMC &  Water mafia .

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email: office@rajendragupta.in

Office.rajendra@gmail.com

73 murders, One Mine blast – A tribute to our Home Minister


Naxalites kill 73 CRPF personnel:

It is a big loss for each family member who lost these innocent hard workers. My sincere heartfelt condolence and i do hope that our political leaders wake up to reality than making a show travelling in the high security areas. I also hope that the government has given the actual figure on the causalities .

73 CRPF personnel are not ordinary public without arms , if they get killed in such large numbers , it is a warning sign !!

I just need to comment on two points today

First  comment-  that our Home Minister made to the CM of West Bengal that the ‘Buck ends at the CM’. For the entire nation, the buck stops at the PM and his council of Ministers !! We need an answer that why these 73 people were killed ? What kind of democracy is this ? Gun salute that the Home minister has got has shown what it means for the future?

Imagine how the villagers must be living under the fear of guns – Naxalites? How many loots, rapes and murders these naxalites must be committing every day? No one has a clue as there are no officials or police stations functioning in naxals hit areas.

Second Comment : i recommend that  Vineet Jain (Managing Director, The Times of India)as the best fit for being the home minister of India. Reason – A reporter of the Times of India can reach the naxalites leader Koteshwara Rao and meet him whenever TOI wants, but not our force headed by the Home Minister!

Time to wake up friends!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email: office@rajendragupta.in

from CSR to ISR


Thanks  Paritosh,

Keep up your good work. I hope that the article is as per your request on the issue of Naxalites . Though , i have covered other issues as well.

Here is what i want to do next . Your newsletter reaches out to 2 lac people . Let’s bounce this to them and build upon this

For a prosperous India – Fixing accountability is the biggest challenge and how we can address it

All the money that we pay as taxes is frolicked by these politicians without any questioning or accountability

Consider  these examples :

  1. Air India & Indian airlines ( NACIL ) will lose this year Rs. 4500 crore . Does the public realise that we will pay for these loses from our pocket as increased taxes on our fuel , service tax , property tax etc ? The parliamentary committee has asked the Ministry to pay for these loses as they have resulted from a wrong decision to merge these two incompatible airlines . Should we not sell it off to avoid thousands of Crores as loses ?
  2. BSNL will lose a lot of money this year . While all private telecom players are making money and some are even open to acquiring foreign telecom companies . Why is BSNL losing money ? What has the government done to make it profitable ?
  3. Dr. Manmohan Singh , Our ‘honest but inefficient’ PM & his team delayed the auction of the 3G spectrum by almost two years which would fetch our nation some Rs.30,000.00 crore. This delay caused our nation a loss of atleast Rs.6000.00 Crores . Now imagine that it was just an action of air waves with no hard infrastructure to be built in ? This year 8 new services were added in the budget to raise another Rs.3000 crore . We as citizens will pay newer and more taxes for the inefficiency of these leaders ? Who is responsible for this loss to the citizens ?
  4. 7 out of 11 major projects announced by Mamta Banerjee have been given to West Bengal . This is when it will take another five years to connect the nation by railways ? No one asked her to justify the reasoning behind such an allocation !!
  5. Last year , in the budget ,  the health minister announced National Urban Health Mission and allocated money for the same . This year , the project was shelved . Why was this announced in the first place ?  No one has questioned why it was shelved
  6. Austerity drive for the bureaucrats & political leaders is over . Now they can travel business class.  On what basis has this decision been taken when we are falling short of budgeted revenue by thousands of Crores ? Public does not realise that it is our hard earned money that is being wasted. Domestic travel is on an average an 2 hours flight . Why should business class be offered at all. Infact, it should only be Economy class
  7. Mayawati is installing statues from the money that people like you and me pay as taxes.
  8. All ministers spend the largesse in their home constituency , while they represent the nation . They are biased .  Why are they not questioned and removed ?

Now the question is , do these politicians realise that it is not their personal money ?

Most importantly , do the people know that directly or indirectly we are paying for all this  from our hard earned money ? It is the money we pay as taxes that goes in such spending .

Every minute a politicians remains in office and every inch he or she moves , is funded by our money . Why do we not hold them accountable ?

I think , we need to form a tax payers association and ask these reckless spenders on everything they do that is a loss to us ?

We are paying more for food , fuels and more taxes with every year passing by, but there is no improvement in our lives . Nation is plagued by ‘Powerful announcement and powerless execution’

We cannot take all this with our eyes open and mouths closed.

Let us initiate the ‘Tax Payers Association’ and create education , awareness about all these and fix the accountability . Let’s fix this inefficient and corrupt national leadership  . it is time to change ‘CSR – Corporate social responsibility ‘ into ISR – ‘Individual’s social responsibility’

It is our people, our money and our nation . Let’s not sleep anymore

I had discussions with Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary , CAIT – largest traders body with 5000 Supporting organizations and he is keen to take this idea further.

Let’s do it

Best regards

Rajendra