Category: Politics & Recession

India is 1/3rd of what it is made to believe –


We must consider accepting a new rule which i call the “1/3rd India rule”

It is so relevant & applicable to most of what we measure .

 In India , 1/3rd of the population is beneficiary of reforms . 2/3rd still pays a price for negligence of 1/3rd

 India has 1/3rd of its population living in urban India and the rest lives in rural India

India talks about 500 million cell phone subscribers . Actually, most of them are multiple / unused / dumped sim cards . So the actual number of users could be just approximately 1/3rd of the number projected In India 

Rural per capita GDP is around 1/3rd of the per capita GDP in urban India Even the actual GDP growth is one third of what is shown by the government . If you see for 2009, Agriculture , forestry and fishing grew negative . These three sectors are the basic means of subsistence for 2/3rd of the population . But the government is just working for 1/3rd of the population ignoring a major chunk

 Till we address SME , Agriculture and manufacturing , we will be subject to negative cycles

For most of the schems for upliftment , one third of the funds remain unused , which clearly proves that it is not lack of resources , but lack of governance which is dragging the nation backwards .

 Last year during the recession , and this year due to inflation (exorbitant price rise) , India has pushed more people below the poverty line then we could have thought . Still the government says , India has been unaffected by recession? India still wants to increase the price of fuel ?? We must take our current policy makers to task and question them about the 1/3rd rule that is shaking the economy and dragging us backward . We are among the lucky 1/3rd of the privileged population . It is our duty to raise the standards of remaining 2/3rd .

Right time to accept failure


Common Wealth Games – Where are we heading ? Isn’t it the right time to accept failure?

 India thought it was a great move to show off and seek the sponsorship for Common Wealth Games.  Firstly, it was a wrong decision, as we needed to spend money on accommodating the huts and slums and poor people in NCR, and not on building pools and stadiums and secondly, India is not yet ready to host such events!!

 Above all, it appointed a politician Suresh Kalmadi to Chair the same!!

 It should be wise to raise hands and accept with the Common Wealth that, we are going to mess with this mega event, and we will face a bigger insult and cause inconvenience and shame for Delhi & Delhites at the cost of immediate priorities. Time to face the moment of truth. Politicians cannot handle even politics, then why give them performance & timelines driven events. We all know the real reason why every politician wants to head the sports body!!

I think , we again took  a challenge thinking if China can host Olympics , why can’t India host the Common Wealth !! A wild dream for lethargic and corrupt politicians meddling in sports !!

 Time to wake up Dr.Singh and Suresh Kalmadi !

Solution for water crisis in Mumbai


Water woes in Mumbai – Solution that is tested, tried and is working well

I have been seeing that the issue of water crisis in Mumbai is becoming more serious as time passes by. It has been informed that the water reserve for Mumbai is only remaining for 200 days. Also, that there is water cut of 20-30 % in Mumbai. Imagine, if we get poor rainfall next season, or the monsoon comes late! As always, politicians are still getting as high as 3-4 lac litres of water per day (Read Governor of Mumbai who has been getting 3-4 lac litres of water for his lawns etc !! ).

 Solution: Let’s see what Mukesh Ambani did for Jamnagar Refinery Township. The entire water needs of the township comes from desalination plants. Infact, for quite a long time, the entire Jamnagar town got water from Mukesh Ambani’s desalination plant Can we not implement the same in Mumbai and other coastal areas?

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.org

Increase in prices for the common Man- Solution


Price increase of basic commodities – Solution

Recently , we heard what Sharad Pawar said . ‘ I am not an astrologer to predict when the prices will come down’. He also stated that, t is the collective responsibility of the cabinet and not just his to take the blame’

With this , two things are clear :

One , he agrees that he has no plan to control prices, and Secondly, the government does acknowledge his wrong policies that lead to increase in prices. The blame must go to the failure of the congress government to take care of the common man. More people may die due to high price of basic food stuff this year

I suggest that we have a State Food pricing Authority in each state to fix the price of Agricultural products and the same should be strictly enforced . This department should be entrusted with the Public Distribution system . All this should come under Central Food Pricing Authority as it will involve imports and exports in some cases. The price for each and every agricultural produce like wheat , rice , pulses and vegetables should be fixed annually by the authority .

No trader should have the right to charge on the whims and fancies, and all the prices should be as fixed by state food pricing authority with the involvement of the Central Food Pricing Authority. 

Food Should be made the Fundamental right . After all , we don’t expect the Hungry person standing up and asking for right to freedom , equality ,etc.. etc….Food first ……………country later……..

Hope it works Rajendra Gupta ————————————————————————

Rajendra Pratap Gupta President

Country First 

 Email: President@countryfirst.org / mail@rajendragupta.org

Babri Masjid demolition- The Real Culprit is ……………..


Babri Masjid Demolition – Who is the real culprit ?  – Rajendra Pratap Gupta

It took seventeen years for Justice Liberhan to deliver his ‘Trash Report’ on the demolition of Babri Masjid. While a lot of finger pointing is being done at Rajiv Gandhi who did the Shilanyas in 1989 and opened the doors to the problem , then it comes to the turn of P.V.Narasmiha Rao, during whose ‘Rule’ the Masjid was demolished and lastly, comes the names of politicians like Atal Behari Vajpayee , Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi and Shri L.K.Advani et al. From different political perspectives , you can blame all of them or either of them !! History is always written by who wins the war !! This time the history was written by Congress !!

Over the last few weeks i have followed the Liberhan Commission report , the discussions and the writings in the media about the blame game on this Babri Demolition . If i were Justice M.S.Liberhan , i would have concluded my report in just three lines .

When trust fails , people resort to justice ,

When justice fails people resort to power,

When power fails , people resort to violence

 My understanding is that ,the  Babri Masjid case has been running for decades what the hell was judiciary doing for all these years ? Had they decided the case , the people would not have taken the law in their hands . History has proven that whenever law fails to deliver justice on time , people lose patience and take the law in their hands . So i would say that , neither congress nor BJP nor Kar sevaks nor the politics of this nation was responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid . It was the failure of the Indian Judicial system that led to the demolition .

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.org

2010- The start of the India Decade


Happy New Year

I wish all my friends a very happy new year and a great decade ahead. I truly wish that this decade becomes the ‘India Decade’ for the World, and we emerge as a great nation by 2020.

 Best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

India Decade Foundation

Email: office@rajendragupta.org

Mobile : +91 9223344542

Address at the Dhanvantri Sewa Samman felicitation function by Chikitsasansaar


Friends ,

Thanks a lot for bestowing me this honour and giving me an opportunity to visit this historic city

I am thankful to the jury for having selected me for this honour though I am not a doctor !

It is a real pleasure to be speaking with such an audience in the land of famed rulers like Chandragupta I, Vikramaditya , Ashoka & Poet Kalidasa.

“The town fallen from heaven to bring heaven on earth” wrote Kalidasa about Ujjain. It is a twin blessing for me , first to visit Ujjain and second to get the award !!

I have been asked by the organizers to speak for a few minutes on

• India’s healthcare system versus the World Healthcare system & the future of the India’s healthcare system
• Retail Chains in India
• Indian Economy and its future

These three topics are loaded ones , and I need to dwell briefly on the same

Firstly,

Healthcare in India & the way forward : All across the world the healthcare systems have failed . In India, we are placed at a point in time when we can chose what we want, as we are about to build our healthcare system. We are here not by design but by default ! I have always said , we must not import failures !! Recently , i have sent out a detailed note to the Prime Minister and our Health minister on healthcare reforms . Imagine , we do not even have a epidemiological survey in India , so how can we build a healthcare policy without it ? We need to build more preventive care then tertiary care , unfortunately , we are doing the reverse . NRHM & NUHM can spend a lot of money but these adhoc schemes cannot build a lasting and a result oriented healthcare system

Health Insurance : People are very gung ho about Health insurance , we need to check if this is the right model for India !!! Government run blanket insurance schemes make people irresponsible and careless and the systems go bankrupt , this is what the failures in USA & Europe prove. Taking cue from this, India must re-look into the entire insurance business

Technology is advancing fast and becoming cheaper day by day and this must be used extensively at the PHC’s and PHC should become Panchayat Health centres with basic telemedicine facilities . India is the youngest nation with an average age around 26.5 years. If we don’t focus on healthy diet , fitness & chronic care , our economy will collapse due to exorbitant healthcare costs and an ailing and non-productive population over the next 30 years .

Retail chains in India .

Retail sector is the key to India’s economy. We have more than 12 million retailers and many times the multiple of 12 million earn their livelihood from this sector . Whilst the media opened the eyes and exposed us to the western world, we have got carried away and are trying the cut , copy and paste model to imitate what happens in other parts of the world , without even caring for the basics !!

I will limit my references here to the pharmacy chains here, though most of what I say applies to other general retailers as well.

Pharmacy trade has to be looked upon from three players perspective :

Independent retailers , organized chains and AIOCD Venture for retail

We have about 20 + retail pharmacy chains and trust me , all are having serious issues with scaling up and profits !! This leaves us with one learning , the current organized pharmacy model does not seem to be working .

Ironically, even AIOCD got carried away with organised retail . Though my understanding is that it will never be successful in getting into total pharma distribution , retail and market research; as their history shows them as a cartel extensively into boycotting and arm twisting pharma companies to accede to their demands. With such a history , and with same people at the helm of affairs , think what will happen if the pharmaceutical companies become totally dependent on AIOCD for their market research reports & distribution !! Also that, AIOCD is looking at private labels , manufacturing , retail chain companies , distribution and market research . Last thing for them to do is to appoint their health minister !! Result is a foregone conclusion

Retail chains have their own set of problems and will take time before they get the ‘right’ funding & the right people which has become the biggest bottle neck for the success of the pharmacy chains in India . If this continues , the organized pharmacy retail will be eaten up the MNC chains that will find a way in India in the next 3 years . Also that, the pharmacy chains are not united to present themselves as one voice and this is telling its tale with AIOCD tightening its noose around them . Overall , the next three years will see more deaths in the trade . Already a few players have started showing up symptoms of Asphyxia

Independent retailers : Two places where no one can defeat them is a sense of ownership and cost advantage !! Most of the organized retailers are losing money in monitoring their business with its supervisory infrastructure . Where you need to gear up is customer record keeping and satisfaction . Add adequate stocks and join hands to do good marketing by adapting to latest standards. Most importantly, please look at offering basic health checks for the part of the population you service . In the next two years , I expect pharmacies in India offering chronic care programs . This is what the pharmacies should be doing in India . Think small , act fast and aim big !!

Focus on basic cold chain infrastructure , join hands and approach the government for putting you in ‘Essential Population health services’ and offer you discounted electricity charges and lower taxes so that you could have the standards to maintain efficacy of medicines or else , ask the government to increase margins to 25 % for retail and 12 % for distribution. We have enormous potential for employment and pharmacies can bring about change that can make the healthcare system more result oriented as it the first and the last point of care for the common man . I see a bright future for small & independent retailers and big MNC chains !!

Indian Economy & Future :

We must not forget that India is a great country and we call ourselves a ‘developing country’. Now we need to change from being identified just as a ‘developing country’ ! We have much more than our economy for the world . The World cannot ignore our contribution to science , spirituality and peace . Ironically, our lack of public activism has given us a self seeking political leadership that lacks original ideas and for years, they leaned on Russia and then USA and in all probability , will lean on China in the next decade. We are trying to copy models from abroad . Even most of our Prime Minister’s advisors come from Abroad or foreign universities . Trust me , we are importing failures . China built SEZ’s , we tried to do the same ………………why , no one asks how many people have exited the SEZ business !! What kind of tax loss will the government have when we are currently under a huge budget deficit by promoting SEZ’s !!

We are living in a country with enormous potential . Just check that 1/6th of India is under naxals , 4/6th lives under less than Rs. 80 a day. So effectively , what you read in the news as growing India is just 1/6th of India . We have started measuring our growth with the growth of the sensex . If the sensex grows , we see growth . Unfortunately , not even 1 % of the population trades in shares . Ground situation is that we have a very high inflation , lawlessness and insecurity, and we push more poor people below the poverty line due to healthcare costs and price rise than we push above the poverty line every year

Go and check a crowded general compartment in Indian railways . People are seated in toilets to reach their destination. Looks like a scene of partition days . Why do we witness such a scene after more than 60 years of Independence ? Can railways not increase the coaches or trains ? Will this not make the lives of a common man better and earn more revenue for the government & add to the development of this nation ?

A few days back there was a hue and cry on Shashi Tharoor and S.M.Krishna staying in five stars hotels. Government announced an austerity drive. This week , government passed a bill allowing ministers to travel with families and relatives 48 times a year !!! Don’t forget , government’s money is not someone else’s , it is our money and we are letting all this happen with our eyes open and mouths closed. A time to get into action . But the government is least concerned as we are . We only speak , government also speaks; when we will act , government will also act! Government mirrors its citizens in actions

Finally , I must say that the government must focus on Agriculture , industrial production and SME’s for making India a progressive nation . All industries can fail but not agriculture & industries into daily needs

Lastly, i must touch the topic all the major nations for fighting for – Climate change

We should carefully commit to emission cuts keeping in view that we are far from industrialized . India must focus on emission per capita rather than ‘committing percentage cuts’. If you see the rough emission trends of the global emissions , India emits about 5%, Europe about 11 %, China about 15 % and USA about 20 %. Compare the population size and emissions and then decide . At maximum , we must stick to standards for emission norms and not commit summary cuts , even self imposed .

Even the World Bank’s study has contradicted the governments claims made that India can achieve an emission intensity target of 20-25 % below 2005 levels by 2020. It wonders how it is possible when the capital costs in setting up cleaner grid power could rise by 15-25 %. Though capital cost is only one of the several cost factors . Government’s claim was based on the home work done by the planning commission .

With this , i must thank you for patiently hearing me and enjoy the speakers ahead

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Lessons to learn- Rajendra Pratap Gupta


Price rise & Inflation: ‘Elecflation’ –i coined this term for ‘election induced inflation’. This is a recurring phenomenon

I see a lot of hue and cry on the inflation and price rise of vegetables and pulses. While the public is worried, government seems to be doing nothing on it. Why???
Answer: Whenever there are elections, the business houses are forced to contribute to election funding or false cases built up to make money to fund the party. So how will the business houses recover the money they have spent for the elections? So very naturally, the politicians are also obliged to allow these business houses to hoard and sell at higher prices till they recover in multiples of the money paid for fighting elections. It is a simple election driven price inflation. Remember , same politicians and business houses will meet again for the next elections

I was recently addressing a gathering and i told the people that we don’t have any political parties in India. The people were quite anxious to know what made me conclude this? To which, i explained that what we have today are ‘election parties’ & not ‘Political parties’. Election parties come up with a manifesto during elections and then forget everything for another five years and spring into action again gearing for the next mandate. If we had political parties or politicians then we would have a long term vision for this great nation. Unfortunately, we don’t have politicians. A politician or a political party cannot run a nation of 1.2 billion population without an agenda for 10, 20 & 30 years. Adhocism has not taken this nation anywhere in the last 60+ years

Also, no politician or party can take credit for India’s growing middle class. What we are today is not by design but by default and fault of failed policies and politicians. Fortunately, it puts India in the right spot at the right time. But we should not brag about it but we must have a long term vision and policies and actions to shape the destiny for the nation

Just think, 1/6th of India is under naxalites, 4/6th of India is poor. So whatever you read or see as India opportunity is just representing 1/6th of India. I.e. 200 million Indians are in a position to afford what you have. This blog will only reach may be 40-50 million people. Isn’t that an irony of a nation with 1.2 billion brains? We are exporting brains and then importing technology. We are not a democracy but a pseudo-democracy for just 200 million Indians

There are clearly three segments of Indian population.
People who vote (majority are paid or coerced to vote – these are the people who fall into 800 million people living @less than 2 $ a day)

People who make others to vote (town class or semi urban middle class or Political workers.)

People who are voted – run into a few million as elected or rejected candidates who have the best of all available and are above the law of the land)

It is a time to change …………………………..The democracy that is India is for 1/6th of the population. Remaining 5/6th is either under the slavery of naxalites or poverty.

On 25th /11 there was a function organised at the Mumbai police Gymkhana. As a trustee of the United Force of India i was asked to share my views on the Mumbai security after 26/11. I only asked one question to the journalists. If after one year of attacks our elected representatives can be manhandled in the Vidhan Sabha and our journalists can be beaten and their office vandalised. Where are we? What security are we speaking about? We are just waiting for another attack to happen and it will!!

Now coming to Dubai crises: For long, i have believed that we are chasing wrong goals as an economy. In fact, on 19th January, i wrote a letter to our Hon’ble P.M. that we should not build our economy on dollars but it should be built on agriculture and SME’s. Free dollar flow is a sign of future pain!! . See the case of India’s stock markets . The FII’s invest in it raise the index , exit and book profits . Poor Indian retail investors lose when such FII’s exit . But you cannot do anything . The big fish make money . My perception is that , this is happening with the concurrence of the people who are a party to such ‘short money making tactics’. Every politician starts as a humble farmer or a worker and then becomes a ‘uncrowned king’ with schools , charitable institutions , real estate , business ventures unheard and unimagined by people like you and me . We have seen the case of YSR’s son, Reddy brothers , Madhu Koda and the list is end less …………

Take the case of Dubai. Now people have started calling it ‘Doob Gayee’ . Dubai built their economy on dollars and we know their fate. If India does not focus on Agriculture and SME’s. We will cry with pain. I recently read Dr. Manmohan Singh statements that with strong FDI inflows, our economy is slated to grow 9 %. I sometimes, don’t understand why are we still dependent on the foreign money? This FII / FDI are like a refined and sophisticated terms for EIC – East India Company. They will take profits abroad. These instruments have only one goal – Feast on the growing middle class. Do we allow them? The day we make our ’Farmers , the father of the nation , the nation will turn into a vibrant economy’. I wish Dr.Singh to say some day that our farmers contribute to the growing GDP and SME contribute to a majority of dollar inflow .
Lastly, i must quote our Environment Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh – ‘If there was a noble prize for filth, India would get it hands down as there would be no competitors’. I expected our M.P. friends to seek his resignation for officially calling India a land of filth. He is a union minister and he should have abstained from making such a degrading comment on this great nation. Anything he says impacts India’s image negatively. What will people think about India when they read about this ‘noble prize’ eligibility for India? Do we expect more tourism with such statements or do we get more sanitation funds from WB / WHO etc with such irresponsible comments? Is the entire nation full of filth? Mr. Minister, please apologise for your senile statements and resign . You are getting your perks from this nation of filth .
Does it not prick your conscience to bring about a change in the nation than to complain??

Each one of you can bring about a small change in the scheme of things . Think small , aim big and act fast .

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
President
Country FirstEmail: President@countryfirst.org / mail@rajendragupta.org

Vulgar Salaries – Indian Corporate World


Mr.Salmaan Khurshid
Union Minister for Corporate Affairs
Government of India
New Delhi

Dear Mr. Khurshid ,

I wish to put my view point on your statement made a few days ago on the Vulgar salaries. Since i was travelling so i could not send this earlier .

Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry created due to a statement made by you. Earlier a similar statement had come from Dr. Manmohan Singh. According to you, corporate honchos are drawing salaries that are 12500 times the per capita income of this nation

I am not at all happy with your statement . I recall my letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh in January 09, wherein i requested that the salaries of the public representatives must be made more lucrative to attract the best brains

Also, that I must walk you through some of the realities in the corporate world and the politician’s working so as to make a correct assessment and a logical conclusion.

Firstly , Mr.Salmaan Khurshid , you must question why the governments in the last 62 years have not been able to increase the per capita income in this nation ? If the per capita income would have grown sufficiently , then you would not have a devastating comparison of 1:12500 ? Prime Facie your governments are at a fault for the backward development of this nation on the basis of caste and regions , and focussing on the real issues

Also , that the corporate world have created wealth for the nation and politicians have taken the nation’s wealth to Swiss Banks ? Did you take this into account before your statement ?

Corporates have created millions of Jobs. Be it TATA’s , Birla’s , RPG or Reliance or any big or even the smallest corporate house . These people have a lot of responsibility to deliver & risks to take at the cost of their family and social life. Still of whatever they earn , you ( i mean the government ) takes 50 % as taxes , both direct and indirect taxes. Needless to mention, about the income that government makes from the corporate taxes that the companies pay due to the hard work and intelligence of these executives !! . If they earn Rs.50 crore a year after delivering billion of dollars for the nation’s economy & creating lacs of jobs, what is wrong in that ? You forget that Ambani’s themselves contribute about 10 % to the total tax kitty of this nation ? What an irony that you would pat your back with his 60 % voluntary salary cut . Anyways, he has his net worth in billions of dollars as stakes in RIL etc…….. You must think of nationalising his stake in RIL

Did you also take into account the CSR ( Corporate social responsibility ) that the corporates undertake ?

Mr. Minister , did you ever consider that government run companies are ‘Toxic assets’ till your people run it, and they become ‘Exotic assets ’ once they are privatised !! Because when you pay peanuts , you get monkeys !!

Today , you go all over the world and scream of the India’s IT & Telecom numbers . This is done due to the hard work of Private CEO’s and not political monkeys !! You had the monopoly of BSNL & MTNL . What great job have you done despite the monopoly ? You privatised VSNL to TATA’s and it is doing good. You could not make good business out of it. In the 60’s when the private sector wanted to grow you licensed it and even nationalised it, claiming it was the right thing to do . After messing it for 40 years , now you are privatising and you believe that it is the best thing to do ? Are you not fooling the public ? You all are privatising as you don’t have the money to run the government !! That’s the truth .

Let me show you what you politicians do. Here are some examples

Centaur hotel at Mumbai airport was sold to Batra Hospitality for Rs. 85 crore . Without doing anything , Batra Hospitality sold it to Sahara for Rs. 143 Crore within a few weeks . And its occupancy is 100 % at any given point in time. What was your minister doing when Centaur failed to deliver ? What was the basis of his selling to Batra and not to Sahara directly ? Reason out why the hotel was sold at such a low cost to Batra Hospitality ? Government lost due to a minister that was not at all as competent as Batra Hospitality executives or …………………..

Your Current Civil Aviation minister had lost the election in 2004, despite that he was made the minister . Under his leadership, Indian airlines would stand to lose Rs.5000 Crores this year . Is this how a corporate CEO performs when he takes the so called ‘Vulgar’ salaries? Give me one example in India where the CEO gives such a humongous loss and still continues !!

India is facing an unprecedented shortage of agriculture products ( grains etc due to erratic and insufficient rains ). Please check the rule book of the FCI (Food corporation of India ) godowns ( warehouses ). 2.5 % of wastage is permissible ( please correct me , i may be wrong on this info). This means for one lac ton of grains , 2500 tons of wastage is permissible !! How efficient is this ? Please privatise and see the magic !!

Mr. Telecom Minister is delaying the allocation of 3G spectrum. It is estimated that the spectrum allocation would earn the government anywhere between Rs.20000 to 35000 crore . Ministry has already delayed the spectrum allocation by more than a year . If he takes it to two years . Just the interest loss to the government on the spectrum fees would be as high as Rs. 7000 crore ? Wish you had a corporate CEO taking Rs.100 Crore a year salary and saving you Rs.6900 crore ( Assuming a loss of Rs.7000 crore on the interest income ) ? Does it sound ‘Vulgar’ ? And , interestingly, even after giving such a massive loss to the government exchequer . Your minister has the ‘Cheeks’ to make tall statements and he is not accountable . Had it been a corporate CEO issue , he would have been removed ‘unceremoniously’ from the board , and his career would have ended forever !!

Sometime in 2007,i had a chance to meet once of the relatives of your Telecom Minister Mr.A.Raja . His relative asked for 10 lacs to make ten calls on behalf of the Minister to corporates irrespective of the outcome . What a business model ? Dare to act ? Please initiate a CBI inquiry against Mr.Raja’s assets and the truth should be out .

Earlier , you had the license Raj that killed the corporate world . Now you are trying to license the salaries ? Do you want corporate CEO’s to meet the Minister for taking approval of the salary hikes ? So that you all can start making money on corporate salaries ? Have some shame Mr. Minister !

When parties go to collect donations for the elections , why do you not talk about this ‘Vulgar salaries’. Shamelessly, you collect money from corporates and then have the ‘balls’ to talk nonsense !!

Do you also have a figure of the cost of buying an M.P’s vote in the ‘floor test’ of the house ? For an ordinary MLA it is about 50 core !! That’s what we have always heard or read in the news . Does this not sound ‘Vulgar’

When your allies ask for ‘Plum postings’ in Ministries what does it mean ?

Mr. Khurshid, let us check what the Minister’s take as salaries and perks:

• Average minister get’s an M.P.’s basic salary of Rs.1.92 Lac per annum
• Rs.24000 additional
• A Bungalow in Delhi – Costs upwards of Rs. 200 crore at today’s prices and would mean a rental of Rs.60 lacs a year
• A staff strength of 16 for cabinet ministers and 13 for Deputy ministers
• Plus Security Guards
• A fleet of three cars with Petrol ???
• Unlimited domestic and international calls
• Now ‘Cattle Class’ travel and also private jet’s and government choppers used for luxury travel – cost cannot be calculated off hand .
• A MPLAD fund of Rs. 2 crore for expenditure
• Above all . No accountability !!

Do you think that an M.P. can represent 1.9 million people and win an election at these salaries and perks ? unofficially , the average cost of becoming an M.P. is Rs. 20 crore . That is the reason that most of the current lot of M.P’s are either owners of media houses , educations trusts , shady businessmen or sons and daughters of politicians .Pay decent salaries to your M.P’s, rather than being jealous of the corporate salaries !! Corruption in politics is only, because all of us expect a lot from our politicians and they are grossly underpaid . My view point is , that each M.P. represents an average of 1.9 million citizen, and they must be paid a between Rs.5-10 crore per year as salary to get the best out of them.

With 545 M.P’s in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha working for this nation . We still had a staggering fiscal deficit of Rs. 2,10,000 crore in January 2009 and counting . It works out to a loss of Rs.575 cores a day , 23.95 crore per hour or Approx. Rs.40 Lac a minute. Does it not make sense to pay each M.P. a salary of Rs.5 -10 crore a year and get the best brains ? You all are penny wise and pound foolish policy makers !!

What a colossal opportunity loss for India due to ‘mediocre brains’ and ‘low salaries’. Please re-consider the salaries, and we ( at least i would be for sure ! ) would be glad to join !!

I know that recently , Mukesh Bhai decided to take a 60 % cut in his salary so Salmaan Khurshid can pat his back . Don’t take common man for a ride Salmaan Sahab . Your statements are a proof of your getting distracted by handling the ministry of corporate affairs . You should be made either the rural development minister , NAREGA , JNRHM or the minister of telecom . Your mouth would be shut for the next few years !! After all they are ‘Plum postings’ !!

Don’t forget that until 1980’s India was only known for poverty , population & corruption. It is the private sector that has taken India where it is today. Don’t try and meddle with the sector

Though , i must make a point that a very few corporate CEO’s in India take a salary of about Rs.10 crore or more . They are a handful in a land of 1.2 billion . Pray to God that we have more such CEO’s so that India can grow more . I want a wealthy India . You might say it is ‘Vulgar ‘ to think so !

Regret to write to you this email, but can’t stop expressing the thoughts

With no wishes or regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

President
Countryfirst
office@rajendragupta.org
President@countryfirst.org
+91-922 33 44 542

C.C.
Mrs.Sonial Gandhi
Dr.Manmohan Singh
Rahul Gandhi
Sharad Pawar
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi, Chairman , Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
Sitaram Yechury
A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
Shiv Khera
Ratan Tata
Mukesh Ambani
Anil Ambani
Media

Michael Jackson’s death & the Indian Economy have similarities – Rajendra Pratap Gupta


Indian Economy Opti – ‘mystic’ about growth numbers- Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Why is an economy of a billion people failing ? why are we fast becoming a junk economy ? I know it is quite good to hear 7.5 % growth estimates coming from the government, with riders that are totally justifiable for our failure to achieve 7.5 % growth or ‘cook’ the numbers to show ‘Illusionary statistic’. The future predictions of 7.5 % growth are dependent on US Economy , Oil economy & Rain Gods . Do you still believe our politicians for the growth numbers ?

Growth in 2008-09 : A large part of our 6.7 % growth in 2008-09 was nothing more than an illusion. 1.8 % out of it is accounted for by a 7 % spurt in ‘community , social and personal services’. Which is the arrears paid to 20 million government servants in 2008. If we deduct this out of the 2008-9 estimate , the actual growth was 4.8 % and not 6.7 %.

Confirming the correction of the GDP data to only the second half of 2008-09 , which is when the pay commission awards were paid out, reveals the GDP grew not by 5.8 % but only 2.2 %. This is the harsh reality. Check the fact that , agriculture grew by 1.6 % and industry, utilities & construction reported 2.4 % growth in the entire year as stated by the economic survey. Did we actually grow by 6.7 % ?

This year could be the worst for the economy. Outlook for industry is more bleak; zero growth till May 09. Agriculture is slipping due to poor show from the rain Gods . Even World Bank’s estimate for growth at 4 % looks optimistic

Now that government has to borrow about 4 lac crore to finance its largesse . If the government is borrowing 4 lac crore , what will happen to such an economy . Are we not already a bankrupt & Junk Economy ? Are we waiting for it to be rated as junk !!

No government or department talks about the ‘Job deficit ‘. Hiring Indra Nooyi or Raghuram Rajan to drive in ideas don’t work, as these people have stayed away from India for long and they themselves are in out of touch with the common man’s problems . So their solutions would all be on financial reforms, and they cannot suggest things that can salvage the common man. Till the common man does not become financially strong , Indian economy cannot take off. NAREGA is not the soultion , it is just a temporary morphine like injection to ease out pain . Indian economy will collapse like Michael Jackson, who died of drug overdose .

The status of the government is better than the citizens who cannot even borrow money to run their finances. We need a miracle to happen to save this nation .