A Common Man's Blog

Rajendra Gupta's Blog will now be posted only @ www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

2011-06-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

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History repeats in Congress - Mrs. Sonia Gandhi & Dr. Manmohan Singh , you must go now !

2011-06-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Gandhi , Rahul & Dr. Singh,

Today, this great country is ashamed & aghast due to your cowardly & cold-blooded attacks at Ram Lila Maidan on 4th June 2011. India has reached a new low under your regime !

Every now and then, the supreme court has to intervene and direct the PM & his government to discharge routine duties towards the nation & its citizens. When the constitution of India was written , the constituent assembly laid the foundation of an independent judiciary , legislative & the executive , but due to gross misuse of constitutional powers bestowed upon the Prime Minister through his remote control boss ( Sonia Gandhi ) , you all have forced the Supreme court to run the government on important issues like corruption and high handedness , and this has never happened in the history of India .

Politics & governance under congress has reached the lowest level , and today, everyone realizes that the supreme court is running the nation on a day-to-day basis ( directly or under its fear of intervention ! ). After 4th June , Supreme court will have to make bureaucrats discharge their duties . Jai ho Supreme court and shame -shame for congress !

Congress created hue and cry when Rahul was arrested by Mayawati & now that you have mercilessly beaten up the sleeping protestors ! This clearly indicates a few things :

1. If one makes black money and does wrong , Congress will not kick you out ! ( means that Congress patronizes people who do wrong things and make money ). I believe, that you could not buy Ramdev through your so-called negotiations , and so you tried to assault him to kill him in cold blood ! I am sure that your government must be now planning to invoke your cronies in CBI , IT , ED & FDA etc to raid Ramdev’s establishments and take him to task. Same you have done to those who decided not to toe your line like Amitabh Bacchan and Narendra Modi

2. If people peacefully fast and demand the black money back , Congress will go and kick out people in mid night ?

This act on 4th June was not short of what is happening in the Arab World !! Mrs. Gandhi , since Congress party is running the government, and you have been the President of AICC & the Chairman of NAC , you have proven to be the most incompetent person in Congress as its leader. All your top functionaries are economists ( Chidambaram , Manmohan , Pranab, Montek ) , still you have failed to bring down the inflation , which was to be done in the first 100 days of coming to office !! , Common man has been left behind in all that your party is doing !

Congress has been reduced to the party of scams in the name of social schemes ! Corruption has become the order of the day & currency in this nation . Foreign media has tagged India to be more corrupt than developing ! A. Raja has become amongst the top most corrupt person in the recent international list released by a leading magazine . You are bringing down the country before the global forums . We cannot tolerate this as Indians , and I request you as a common man to resign and go immediately !!

I request the opposition parties to declare a “Corruption , mehagaye aur tanashaye ke virudh Bharat Bandh” ( preferably on a Sunday , to cause least inconvenience to people ) as a show of resentment against your dictatorial and corrupt rule . Congress has always played the politics in the name of Poor , Gandhi family and Religion and cheated the innocent poor for decades , it is time to end this rule . All national leaders marked in this email must come forward so that we do not repeat what happened on 4th June .

I must put these facts before you

The Indian Emergency of 25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977 was a blot in the name of democracy by Indira Gandhi

4th June 1989 , Tiananmen Square happened, and Sonia Gandhi’s Congress did it again on 4th June 2011

3– 6 June 1984, Congress stormed the Golden Temple and killed Sikhs in Operation Blue star Congress leaders led to mass killing of Sikhs post the death of Indira Gandhi

4th June 2011, Congress brutally attacked peaceful protestors in cold blood with an aim to assault Baba Ramdev, repeating the history of Gandhi’s & Congress , and the party has the audacity to call itself as United Progressive Alliance (UPA ) ? Shameful acts . This is what happens when you are afraid of being exposed and your black money is under threat ; Go out and kill innocent in cold blood , and , finally, the Supreme court has to take suo moto action for this cowardly act.

If you have to show courage , go to Pakistan and do an act like America did to capture Dawood Ibrahim !

Though this email , I request our national leaders in the opposition to promise that they will honor our Supreme court judges with at a least Padma Vibhushan ( if not Bharat Ratna ), who woke up our highly educated but ignorant PM to act against Raja, and the judges who took suo-moto action for the cold-blooded attacks on peaceful protestors on 4th June .

Our Tiananmen Square has happened, and now our Egypt like protest must happen . Time for India for a ‘Doosri Azadi’ from this inefficient , corrupt , bankrupt & dictatorial government . Sonia and Rahul are failed politicians and bankrupt with ideas , and a liability on the congress . I am hoping congress will stop idol worship of these two leaders; who brought down the congress in the eyes of a common man, and India in the eyes of the world & hopefully opposition will rise up to restore the faith of the common man

A Common Man

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Nehru Gene , Congress & Faulty Policies - Let's move on or else suffer more !!

2011-04-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

March – April meant a lot of travel and meetings for myself , but the most interesting part were a few conversations that I will never forget !!

Whenever I am travelling to places within India and abroad , I make sure that I interact with people and ask them how much they know of our great country and what they feel about it . I am always proud to be born in this great country . May be , this drives me to find some answers to questions that need not be stated here !!

One conversation I had was with a senior columnist in Kashmir during my visit last month . While we were talking , the issue of partition came up ( this topic is close to my heart as my mother was born and brought up in Lahore , now in Pakistan ) .

This columnist had an interesting point : He mentioned that due to the insatiable lust for power in Nehru , India got divided . His belief was that, Jinnah was at his fag-end due to cancer , if only Nehru would have waited for one more year ( It is not good to have a wish that one dies of cancer but...) , we could have saved ourselves from partition . The columnist went on to add , how could India leave Khyber pass and partition India and give away the pass to Pakistan ;The only way to reach Europe ?? I do not know geography so much , but he had an interesting point !

Other discussion I had was with my cab driver on the way from Washington DCA airport to the hotel . I figured out that the driver seemed to be from our part of the world , So I asked him where he belonged to ? I was right , he was from Pakistan but settled in the US for over 28 years !! While we kept talking about our countries before Partition and the sad story of strained relations now . He shared some very interesting information of why India got partitioned ?

According to this cabbie . India had the maximum number of Muslims , and Nehru & Congress party knew very well that, if India remained united , the vote of Muslims would swing to Indian Muslim League and not come to congress , so Nehru used his proximity with Edwina Mountbatten and planted the thought of partition in Jinnah. Well, I never thought of this angle !! Further this cabbie informed that, if you see the history of Jinnah a few years before freedom , he was never in favor of a partition . It was a congress and Nehru’s game plan and they never wanted to share a few states with IML ( Indian Muslim League ), which would have garnered power in some states, as some states had Muslims in majority , and Hindu’s & Muslims lived in complete harmony .

I completely empathise with this cabbie . I can only state that my mother’s family stayed in Lahore and Karachi , and I have seen my grandfather writing letters in Urdu , it never was an issue . It was planted by congress and today both nations are paying a price for the naked & insatiable lust of Nehru & his congress for grabbing power in 1947 .

The amount of money both these nations have spent on armed forces and conflict would have made this region developed in just 25 -30 years after freedom . But what we got was freedom for Nehru family to rule this nation and not for India !! Now we can well understand why Gandhi ji was in Calcutta during Independence and not with Nehru !! Gandhi ji died at the right time. Had he been alive , he would have revolted against Nehru .

AICC should have been dissolved after independence : Gandhi ji was never in favor of AICC continuing after freedom , In fact , he made a suggestion that since the objective of the congress were achieved by getting freedom from the British , it must be dissolved . But we know that Nehru had a different plan and India continues to ruin under this party !!

One of the interesting viewpoints I can share is from LKY ( Lew Kuan Yew , Father of Modern Singapore ). He has openly criticized Nehru for aping the central planning of the Soviet Union . LKY went on add that Nehru was a good writer & poet but not a great leader for India . Nehru kept promoting the non-aligned movement for the developing world but strongly sided with the soviet Union ( that is , he said one thing and did just the opposite , this is what I call the ‘Nehru Gene’ , which by the way is a legacy of the Gandhi family and its congress ) , and in the end, Nehru caused more harm to India than any other leader ! Nehru had a great opportunity to change the course of the nation immediately after freedom as he had a free hand and people believed in him , but he missed the opportunity .

Indians know that Nehru was the one who took Kashmir to United Nations , he was the one who promoted industries and not SME’s & agriculture ! Nehru guided India towards a disaster with his short-sighted policies ‘Nehru gene’ still rules the Gandhi family and the congress, and it is time to let this party be out of power for at least two terms so that the country can be brought back on track

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Mental Healthcare Act 2010 - Needs Revisions

2011-03-30T06:34:00.001-07:00

Registered Speed Post / E-Mail

Dated: March 24th 2011

Shri. Ghulam Nabi Azad

Hon’ble Health Minister

Government of India

Nirman Bhavan,

New Delhi -110108

Reference: Revision of Mental Health Act 1987 & Mental Health Care Act 2010 ( draft )

Dear Shri Azad ji,

This needs your esteem, kind and personal attention.

I am writing this note on behalf of the Disease Management Association of India – ( DMAI)- The Population Health Improvement Alliance . DMAI works with all the stake holders in the entire continuum of care, for improving the population health of the nation . Over the last few years, we have worked with different stake holders to help define the right priorities in healthcare for the policy makers & the care providers .

Through this note , I am drawing your attention to the revision of the mental health act of 1987 and the proposed Mental Health Care act 2010 (Draft). The process of revision of the Mental Health Act 1987 was initiated about a year back, to make it compliant to the United Nations Convention on the ‘Rights of Persons with Disability’. Disability includes persons with long term mental illness. This convention advocates equal rights for all disabled persons.

Dr Saumitra Pathare ( a private psychiatrist) and Dr. Jaya Sagade (a lawyer) of Pune were in charge of conducting the regional consultations on behalf of the Ministry. Over the last one year, there have been 5 regional consultations with various stakeholders. The major stakeholders consulted have been users, care providers, professional bodies in mental health, mental health institutions and state government representatives. However, it is to be noted that, the Medical Council of India, other specialties of modern medicine, and professional organizations of general health field, have not been consulted. This is important, as the changes which are evident in the draft bill have far reaching consequences in terms of the way the modern medicine is taught and practiced currently.

DMAI- The Population Health Improvement Alliance, is surprised with the outcome of the consultations , and that there was hardly any discussion on the final outcome to patients due to the significant changes which are being brought in terms of the 'mental health’ field of practice of medicine by way of promulgating this act. Proposed changes are likely to cost human lives , as persons who have not been trained to be physician (Clinical Psychologist, Psychiatric Social Worker, Psychiatric Nurse), will be entrusted with the role of independent examination, diagnosis and admission of patients in mental health facilities. Currently, this role rests with a Psychiatrist who is a medical doctor (MBBS) trained in Psychological Medicine. In modern system of medicine ,only a physician (M.B.B.S )can diagnose a patient, as only he has received training in all the specialties such as Medicine, Surgery, Eye, ENT, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Orthopedics, Radiology, Dentistry, Dermatology, Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, Preventive and Social Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Anatomy etc. , which essentially means, covering all the systems of the body. Unfortunately, Human body cannot be compartmentalized and however we may wish, but we cannot have an Eye specialist who has studied only ‘Eye’ and not done MBBS ( as a basic general qualification and set of skills covering the entire human body system) to examine each and every system of human body. Similarly, we cannot have a Psychologist who has no training of the subjects studied at MBBS level, to diagnose mental disorders by only doing psychological examination!!!!

Only an MBBS trained doctor with the proper understanding of the entire human body system and its functioning, can do a detailed psychological evaluation and come to a diagnosis of whether the patient has a psychological illness or it is some physical illness, which is presenting itself as a psychological illness. In cases of latter, appropriate referral is required and any delay may even be fatal. S/he can also order various tests and imaging and interpret them for aiding in his diagnosis. After a diagnosis is arrived at, s/he can plan and provide physical treatment (ECT), pharmacological treatment or psychological treatment. The role of psychiatric nurse, clinical psychologist or a psychiatric social worker is to assist him by nursing the patient, helping him in psychological interventions, helping him in psycho-social interventions respectively. But the patient is under the overall care of a psychiatrist who is the leader of the mental health team. All the three categories of personnel work under the supervision of a psychiatrist .

A clinical psychologist, PSW ( Psychiatric Social Worker ) or a psychiatric nurse is not trained to be a physician. They have not studied the human body as an MBBS doctor and cannot do detailed physical or systemic examination, investigations and imaging like a psychiatrist. They are in no position to independently examine, diagnose and advise admission of patient. A PSW and Clinical psychologist have not general training in other subjects of modern medicine. Just by talking to patient, how can a Clinical Psychologist or PSW diagnose a mental disorder? They will be severely restricted by their inability to do general and systemic examination and order and interpret investigations and imaging. A Psychiatry examinee will fail in his examination if he did not touch the patient for examination ; however bright drug treatment he may formulate for the patient ; as without a general and systemic examination, a person cannot make a diagnosis of mental disorder. In many cases special investigations and imaging also has to be ordered and interpreted. As per the diagnostic criteria for mental illness, a mental disorder can only be diagnosed after ruling out that the signs and symptoms are not better accounted for by a medical illness or use/abuse of a substance. In this scenario, without proper validation of the reason for the particular condition , what is the validity of diagnosis of mental disorder by a Clinical Psychologist, PSW or a Nurse ? Even the quacks believe that they can diagnose and treat independently. Each such claim needs to be examined objectively in line of their competence and current practice related to their vocation.

In modern system of medicine, which is regulated by MCI, there is no specialization known as Clinical Psychology, PSW or Psychiatric Nursing. The mandate of ‘Rehabilitation Council’ is limited to rehabilitation of persons with disability and practice of modern medicine under Rehabilitation Council is neither required nor allowed. If at all, new independent specialties such as Clinical Psychology, PSW and Mental Health Nursing without any supervisory role of a Psychiatrist is being planned for modern medicine system, then the whole modern medical system (MCI, Indian Medical Association, Other Medical Specialties) must be consulted .

If we go as per the draft, it means that Clinical Psychology, PSW and Mental Health Nursing personnel are as much a specialist as a psychiatrist and can independently examine , diagnose, admit and treat patients with mental disorders.

It is not understandable why a psychiatrist has to do MBBS (study the whole human body) and then specialize in Psychiatry while for the other persons they need to study only psychology or social work and yet be assumed to be qualified to examine the whole body, diagnose, admit and treat patients (albeit without medicines) . The demand to prescribe medicines by non psychiatrist is also going around (and may be later on this will be also be made possible.) There is no institution in the country where a Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Mental Health Nurse examines patients independently, diagnoses a mental disorders, admits patients and treats them. This amounts to practice of Psychiatry under the modern system of medicine and would invite penal provisions of MCI. The sole aim of drafters is to get the bill through and take credit for drafting the bill rather than have a healthy development of the sector. Nowhere in the country there is a Clinical Psychology ward, PSW ward or Psychiatric Nursing ward. The decision to admit is taken by the leader of the mental health team who is a Psychiatrist and it is the Psychiatrist who is overall responsible for treatment of a patient with mental disorder.

One of the reasons given by the people behind the draft of the Mental Healthcare Act 2010, for giving the role of independent examination, diagnosis and admission in bill, is the shortage of psychiatrist in the country. But if we go by the definition of psychiatrist in the bill which is the same as that in the previous Act, ‘an MBBS qualified person with experience and training in Psychiatry can be designated a psychiatrist’ for the purpose of the Act.

At present , there are about 8 lac medical practitioners in the country and these can potentially be designated as psychiatrist. So where is the shortage for the purpose of the Act ? The only purpose which could be served by giving an independent examination, diagnosis and admission to Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Mental Health Nurse in the bill is to later on claim that if they are capable of doing these jobs, then this means that they can practice their trades independently under the modern system of Medicine. This would mean they will be physicians of mental disorders just like a psychiatrist.

The inclusion of Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Mental Health Nurse for purpose of independent assessment, diagnosis, admission to a mental health facility should be deleted and replaced by ‘psychiatrist’ (an MBBS qualified doctor with some training/experience in psychiatry). After this, there will not be a need for defining mental health professional in the Act. If at all it has to be defined, then Clinical Psychologist and PSW shall be designated as Assistant Mental Health Professional as in the present legislation (Section 22 of State Mental Health Rule 1990) and their role clearly specified as being- to assist a psychiatrist.

Further, the supervision and review of the decision of a psychiatrist by a Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Mental Health Nurse in the mental health review commission is not feasible as review is to be done by practitioner of the same specialty i.e. Psychiatrist. Thus, the provision of Psychiatrist in the review commission should be made mandatory.

In a multidisciplinary team such as a mental health team, each team member has a specific role. If everyone will do the same role, which is to independently examine, diagnose and admit, then there could be no team functioning. Rather the role of each mental health person should be clarified in the Guidelines /Rules clearly, so that there is good team functioning and the public is well informed and is not misguided by manipulative persons. Can we imagine a similar provision for a Nurse specializing in Medical, Surgical, OBG, Cardio-thoracic nursing to independently examine, diagnose and admit patients in Medical, Surgical or OBG, Cardio-Thoracic ward respectively? Then why should we consider similar provision for Clinical Psychologist posted with Neurology department?

Psychiatry is a medical discipline as any other discipline. If Clinical Psychologist, PSW and Psychiatric Nurse want to independently examine , diagnose, admit and treat patients without even having the training and skills for the same and government wants to allow the same, then they should be allowed to start their own wards to do so and be responsible for their decisions. If we allow such changes to be brought, this would mean that a Psychiatrist too does not need to do MBBS. Then all the specialties of modern medicine should have direct specialization rather than first spend 5.5 years to be a General doctor. Human body cannot be divided in a compartments. All organs and systems are interrelated. A stroke can present itself as a depression in a mental health facility. What skill a psychologist or a PSW has to diagnose it without doing a full neurological examination or relevant investigations. They will treat for depression while the patient will die. In my view , compartmentalised knowledge is dangerous for the medical profession and defeats the basis of evidence based medicine

We are trying to make Clinical Psychologist, PSW and Mental Health Nurse into Physicians in mental health by giving the role of a Physician to them under the new draft bill on the pretext of shortage of Psychiatrist. However, there are less than a 1000 Clinical Psychologist and PSW both combined in the country. Further, there is no dearth of Psychiatrist under Mental Health Act, as Govt. can very well designate MBBS doctors with some experience in Psychiatry as Psychiatrist (as per the definition and provision in current legislation and the draft Bill). So even the assumptions for the shortage of psychiatrists is not a right justification for this act

The role given to Clinical Psychologist, PSW and Psychiatric Nurse in the draft bill is ; independent examination of patients, diagnosis , admission and then review of decisions taken by a Psychiatrist. Instead of this, in the draft bill, the role of a Clinical Psychologist and PSW- as a rehabilitation professional , and Psychiatric nurse - as a specialized nurse, should have been clarified and focused.

The position of a Psychiatrist as a mental health team leader should be reiterated and the decision of a psychiatrist should only be reviewed by a board having a psychiatrist. These rules could further be clarified In the draft bill psychiatric social worker and clinical psychologist has been mentioned as mental health professional just like a psychiatrist. However, In section 22 of the State Mental Health Rules’1990 (the existing legislation) the PSW and Clinical Psychologist are referred to as Assistant mental health professional. The change in the draft bill under consideration has been done with a view to make their role fit for independent examination, diagnosis, admission to a mental health facility by the drafters, without any regard to the impact of this on the patient care and safety. If they are full-fledged professionals (as they claim) who can diagnose, admit and treat patients, why do they need to be defined as such in the Act. At no place in the draft bill their role has been mentioned separately. At all places they are bunched as mental health professional with no individual roles. At no place it is mentioned that they will function under the supervision of a psychiatrist. If they independently examine, diagnose and admit patients they are then deemed to have an independent role. This will increase the role conflict which is already very high in the mental health team. So much so that at some places there is no team work. In Kerala High Court, there is a case going on, to allow clinical psychologist to independently practice in community to treat patients of mental disorders.

This is a serious issue and needs to be taken up strongly so that untrained people are not given the role of a physician i.e. to practice independently to treat patients.

DMAI insists that the Medical Council of India, Indian Medical Association & patient groups & DMAI needs to be taken in confidence and consulted, as independent examination, diagnosis and admission and also treatment by psychological or psycho-social means is practice of psychiatry under modern medicine and could not be allowed to be done by persons who do not even have a MBBS degree, in view of patient safety and care.

All health personnel shall work within the limits of their competence. In section 43 and 45 of the draft bill related to admission in a mental health facility: a mental health professional (i.e. Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Psychiatric nurse) has a role to examine a person suspected to be mentally ill independently, assess mental illness and its severity and advise admission. This is a role which goes beyond their competence. There are already instances of Clinical Psychologist practicing treatment of mental disorders independently as isolated examples. There is growing demand from clinical psychologist to allow them to practice independently the treatment of mental disorders. This change in the draft bill will allow them to be recognized as persons who can independently examine, diagnose, and admit patients, which will substantiate their claim to practice independently in community rather than under the supervision of a psychiatrist. It’s altogether different matter that they are not trained to examine and diagnose mental disorders as it requires ruling out other physical disorders as well and it requires a person to be a physician to do that. In section 22 of the draft bill : Constitution of district panels of mental health review commission , two members could be mental health professionals (i.e. Clinical Psychologist, PSW, Psychiatric nurse) which may not include a psychiatrist if he is not available, but then how the commission can judge the decision of a psychiatrist if no psychiatrist is in the commission? One needs to have knowledge of psychiatry to assess the correctness of the decision of a psychiatrist in a particular case. Provision of a psychiatrist in the review commission should be mandatory rather than being replaced by non-psychiatrist personnel Mental disorders are medical disorders and should not be treated by non-medicos .

I am quite sure that you will intervene and ensure that the corrective measures are taken to address the lacunae in the bill Also,

DMAI- The Population Health Improvement Alliance has initiated a ‘NCD Policy of India’ initiative, and would be glad to have the views of the ‘Ministry of Health’ involvement on the initiative

I am quite convinced that committed leadership will take cognizance of this note and take measures to implement the suggestions after a debate with all the stake holders in the continuum of care.

Should you need any assistance at my end, do let me know.

With best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

CC. Dr.Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi ,Rahul Gandhi , Dr.Syeda Hameed, Dr.Murli Mahohar Joshi , Montek Singh Ahluwalia ,Shri Dinesh Trivedi , Sitaram Yechury, Members of Parliament , Sam Pitroda , Secy-Health & Family Welfare , GOI, Dr.K.Srinath Reddy, Debasish Panda , Secretary (ME) Governors , MCI DGHS,MOHFW, Dr.Sudhir Gupta , CMO, NCD-MOHFW ,Dr. Suman Sinha, Psychiatrist, IMA , Chief Minister’s of States

Include Homeopathy in National Health Schemes

2011-03-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

DMAI wants the govt to give due weightage to homoeopathy in NRHM

Suja Nair Shirodkar, Mumbai Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 08:00 Hrs [IST]

The Disease Management Association of India (DMAI) has recommended the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the central government to increase the role of homoeopathy in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), especially for acute illness.

At present homoeopathy is not being leveraged properly under NRHM in spite of it being the cheapest way of treatment in the country. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, president and director DMAI pointed out that the homoeopathic medicines are cheaper and much more accessible to patients thus it is only natural that its potential should be utilised properly under NRHM.

Though the treatment used in homoeopathy is superficially similar to the medicines prescribed by a conventional doctor it differs in their source, preparation and dosage. He observed that in spite of having enough qualified homoeopathic physicians in the country the government is not giving them enough chance to play any role in the national health program. “Today there are hospitals and colleges that cater to homoeopathy and encourage its use then why isn't the government utilising these resources to increase the demand for homoeopathic medicines among the rural population.

The government should take step to ensure that the people in the rural India can also benefit from this system,” he pointed out. He said that the demand for homoeopathy has increased over the years as more and more people are adopting homoeopathic treatment due to its effectiveness compared to other available methods. Thus it should be put to use more effectively. He added, “Homoeopathic medicines are very cheap, in almost two rupees a patient can get a weeks worth of medicines which will be a great support to the rural population, it would provide them with cheapest alternative that assures best treatment.”

Homoeopathy is a system for the treatment of illness that is based both on the recognition of patterns within the symptoms of the illness and a wider consideration of how the individual is as a person. Although conventional medical assessment also takes these issues in to account, the homoeopathic approach integrates personality type, previous experiences, emotional state, the influence of the environment and other social factors to a greater degree than is usual with standard medical practice.

http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=62119&sid=1

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

DMAI wants the government to extend the NRHM till 2017 with radical operational changes

2011-03-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

The Disease Management Association of India (DMAI), a non-profit organisation propagating disease management concept and tools in the country, has urged the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the central government to reconsider its recommendations for scrapping of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) as the NRHM has made an impact on the lives of the rural population in the country.

The DMAI suggestion in this regard was put forth by the DMAI president and director Rajendra Pratap Gupta in a letter addressed to PAC chairman Dr Murli Manohar Joshi recently.

The NRHM was launched in the country on April 12, 2005 for a period of seven years i.e. from 2005 to 2012 for providing integrated comprehensive primary health care services, specially to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. It means that NRHM will get expired by 2012. However, seeing its impact on the rural population, the government is thinking of a possible extension for another five years. In this regard the government had asked PAC to review the NRHM. However, in its reports the PAC has recommended on scrapping the NRHM scheme.

However Gupta suggested, “NRHM is a very useful programme and has been successful in having its presence felt even in the remote parts of the country. However, there are many radical administrative and operational changes needed to be made in the present format of NRHM.”

He suggested that with proper administrative and operational tactic, this programme certainly will have the power to create desired impact in the rural health scene. In his recommendations to the planning commission on the changes needed in NRHM for the 12th five year plan, Gupta suggested that technology must be leveraged in NRHM for accountability, transparency and telehealth and that 12th five year plan must consider opportunities to digitise NRHM in all spheres of its implementation.

He said, “There are many important changes that needs to be undertaken in the NRHM, but of all changes the first and foremost change should be to improve the quality of medicines that is being supplied at the NRHM centres. Secondly, minor surgeries are not allowed in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as of now. This should be changed and the government must allow minor surgeries in the PHCs as it would help reduce a lot for hassles for the villagers and bring revenue for the government as well.”

Other issue that he had highlighted in the letter was on the inadequate fund flow on time which could lead to corruption among the people working at the lowest level in PHC and sub centres.

“I have met people who were not paid salary for months, and also discovered the fact that the funds that were supposed to be sent for 2010 were received by the centres in mid January 2011. Such delays must be stopped with immediate effect as this clearly will encourage and lead to corruption as people drawing a monthly salary of Rs.5000-8000 won’t be able to sustain their family without salary for months. Either they will resort to bribing, selling the government supplies or starts absconding and working for employers in parallel. Thus I suggest that the fund meant for a sub centre or PHC must be transferred in advance for the quarter if not half yearly,” Gupta points out.

He put special stress on telehealth adoption goals for NRHM and other healthcare projects, as setting up and manning the physical infrastructure with qualified professionals at remote places is nonviable. To stress the importance of telehealth adoption in the country the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) is organising a three-day conference Telemedicon’ 11 in Mumbai from November 11 to 13. TSI is completely dedicated to the promotion of telehealth in India and is being organised at a time when there is a big push from the government and private players in the field of telehealth in India.

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=61977&sid=1

www.telemedicon11.com

Nuclear deal , FDI , Inflation & Black money - You did not change India , but changed India's image Dr. Singh !

2011-03-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Dr.Singh,

I read the top story in the current issue of the International Magazine ‘The Economist’ , and felt sad . Whenever , people like us visit outside of India , we are questioned or pointed towards corruption in India , and believe you me , it is painful to accept such criticism for our great country ! You put us to shame !

Nuclear deal & Jaitapur Plant : Recently , Wikileaks have exposed that Nuclear deal was not even acceptable to congress MP’s but money was paid to get votes !! It calls for a review and legal action against people making mockery of the most sacred institution of our country – Parliament ! Dr. Singh , please step down , we cannot bear more international assault due to your misdeeds ! Also, that India must immediately have a rethink on the location of all the nuclear installations from a public safety point of view . Jaitaput plant in Maharashtra is in Seismic risk zone and had 92 quakes in the past 20 years . The earth quake in 1992 was measuring 6.2 on Richter scale !! It calls for a fresh consideration of the approval granted in light of the developments in Japan post the Tsunami

FDI : Last week , I read that the government is considering granting FDI in retail for metros . Please desist from implementing your flawed policies again . Do not create hype and investment around metros , it leads to lopsided development and migration . If at all you want to grant FDI , please allow it in class 3 & 4 towns first , so that the local people get employment and we can see some reverse migration of populations and the burden on metros can reduce . Frame policies where foreign retailers cannot own more than 26 % in Indian companies across board . We do not want to lose our freedom Dr. Singh ! Also , as I have always mentioned change the definition of FDI from Foreign direct investment to Finance from domestic institutions ! Encourage retailer friendly policies for locals. Britishers financially exploited India , and took our wealth . Today MNC’s ( Multinational corporations ) are acquiring flourishing Indian companies and will take the profits away ! Are not getting back to pre-1947 days ? We will be exploited financially again and forever ! We are losing freedom with every investment & acquisition ! What is the use of such independence when the financial exploitation is similar to that under the British rule ? Please come up with rules that, in any sector , investments more than 26 -40 % cannot happen . Significant majority has to be with Indians ( Resident Indians). This is in the interest of national security & maintaining independence

Inflation : I have been watching your statements for the cause of inflation . Earlier , you attributed it to recession in 2008, poor rainfall in 2009 , and now you are attributing it to money from NAREGA !! Please do not blame the poor for every thing !! When you blamed poor rainfall as a cause of inflation , people were skeptical about it . When rainfall was good in 2010 , inflation still did not go down , now you had to find another reason , and quite cleverly , yourself & Pranab have been saying that because people are getting NAREGA money so they are buying more , thereby , leading to inflation . Please do not make lame excuses Mr. Prime Minister ! You & Montek have said that we must start to live with inflation as growth and inflation are intertwined . Sorry Dr. Singh , you need to study Economics again . History has shown that high growth and low inflation is possible and has happened in Germany & China and other parts of the world. So please do not give lame excuses . The real issue with inflation is that , because of your flawed policies for rural India , the migration has become perennial , and there is a tremendous loss in productivity ( multi-dimensional loss ) and that has caused inflation . Raising interest rates would not help ever , and time will tell us this hard fact . It is difficult to find a farmer less than 30 years in age .

NAREGA In its present form is causing irreparable damage to rural India , and I do hope that the educated economists in your team and the planning commission will attend to it as top most priority

I am scared that, if God forbid , India had a famine , how are we prepared ? We know such things can happen & without any notice like the recession ,and are not prepared for any such eventuality . Please let your cricket minister work on the worst case scenario’s as well.

Black Money : Last point is about the black money . We have seen all the estimates so far , and every number is an eye popping trillion dollar amount . Please challenge my number if you can !! India spends close to 30 % of its GDP in running the government and bureaucracy every year . it is a hard fact that, every employee who takes bribe gets almost double his salary in bribes ! Now another reality is, that senior bureaucrats and politicians get disproportionately high money in bribes when it comes to comparing bribes with their salaries . So clearly , the average B-GDP ( Black GDP ) is certainly 1.5 times the 30 % of GDP that the government spends on administrative costs of running the government . So If I average out the last five years GDP at half trillion dollars a year . India would have lost One trillion dollars in black money in just last five years , and trust me , these are the most pessimistic numbers ,and so are on the lower side . Your government & Mr.Khursheed talks about corporate governance ? When political governance of the nation is a sham and people have to take out thousands of cores off the balance sheet as bribes to your cabinet ministers , how can transparency and corporate governance work in this nation ? Take the case of telecom licenses ; every telecom company paid money other than the license fee . Where did the money come from , and where did it get accounted ? Not certainly in the legitimate account books , and so the corporate governance was severely compromised . Dr. Singh , The change should start at the top . if the political governance is good , corporate governance is good , if the political governance is shady , the corporate governance can never be imagined .

Dr.Singh , the nation recalls your letter to appear before the parliamentary accounts committee . I think that is not enough . You must be interrogated by CBI and charge sheeted for leading the most corrupt government in history of India ,and perhaps the world !

Read the article below from the Economist !

A Common Man

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Article from the latest issue of The Economist

Corruption in India

A rotten state

Graft is becoming a bigger problem—and the government should tackle it

Mar 10th 2011 | from the print edition

INDIANS’ anger over rising corruption has reached feverish levels. What people are calling a “season of scams” includes the alleged theft of billions by officials behind last year’s Commonwealth games in Delhi; $40 billion in revenues lost from the crooked sale of 2G telecoms licenses; and over $40 billion stolen in Uttar Pradesh alone from schemes subsidising food and fuel for the poor. Foreign businessmen, who have slashed investment over the past year, rank graft as their biggest headache behind appalling infrastructure. Now India’s anti-corruption chief has been forced out over, well, corruption (see article).

Graft is hardly new in India: the Bofors scandal brought down the government in 1989. But there seems to be more of it about than ever, if only because India is getting richer fast, and the faster the economy grows, the more chances arise for mind-boggling theft. The government says that in the next five-year plan period, which starts next year, $1 trillion will be spent on roads, railways, ports and so on, with billions more on re-equipping the armed forces and welfare. Add in an insatiable appetite for scarce land, water and minerals and a monsoon of bribes is forecast.

Some are inclined to shrug their shoulders. After all, corruption does not seem to be stopping India from growing. Yet imagine how much better the country would be doing without it. Corruption raises costs not just to Indians, but also to the foreigners whose capital India needs. Thanks in part to those scandals, India’s stockmarket was the worst-performing outside the Muslim world over the past year.

To its credit, the government has begun to take action against powerful individuals. Maharashtra state’s chief minister was forced out over a property scandal. Police have quizzed Suresh Kalmadi, the politician who ran the Commonwealth games. Most strikingly, Andimuthu Raja, the cabinet minister who oversaw the 2G telecom licences, was arrested.

A 2005 act giving the right to information is welcome, as are auctions for public goods, such as last year’s lucrative sale of the 3G telecom spectrum. Technology is helping. In some states, bids for state contracts are being run online, allowing anti-corruption bodies to monitor them. Gujarat does this for all contracts over 500,000 rupees ($11,000). It also puts land records and death certificates online, cutting down on one form of petty graft. Websites, led by ipaidabribe.com, reveal the cost of graft by publicising the sums demanded for everything from registering a baby to fixing a broken water supply.

The central government should now implement a plan for a universal, computerised ID scheme. It would allow welfare payments to be paid into individuals’ bank accounts, hindering theft by state workers.

The licence Raj lives on Most of all, India must redouble its efforts to liberalise. The state could outsource official tasks, cut red tape and sell wasteful and corrupt state-owned firms (why does the government make watches?). For all that the “licence Raj” was supposedly scrapped two decades ago, it can still take nearly 200 days to get a construction permit and seven years to close a business. Regulations are not, by and large, deterrents to corruption, but a source of it.

Inaugural Speech delivered by Rajendra Pratap Gupta on March 14th 2011, at ‘Spardha’ - A national level event organized by VAMNICOM , Pune, for students of Management & Agricultural institutes across India

2011-03-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

Good Morning friends !

I feel honoured to be here and am thankful to my friend, Dr.Yash Patil and the Director, Dr.Reddy, for giving me an opportunity to be a part of your National event, ‘Spardha’ .

Whenever I address students - the young , energetic and vibrant crowd , I am quite convinced that India will change . You are all full of great energy and ideas, but sadly , at present , India does not offer you a readymade & attractive platform due to our inefficient leaders at the helm of affairs and corrupt bureaucracy who are eating away the money and opportunities meant for the common man . But I see that the winds of change are on the horizon , and I believe that each one of you will push India ahead ; to set a new bench mark for the world in all spheres.

Today , India stands at a very critical juncture , and institutes like VAMNICOM hold the key for either India’s meteoric rise or a gradual fall !!

I was going through your chairman, Dr.Chandra Pal Singh Yadav’s message , and I was impressed with his views that we need to support farmers ,workers and weaker sections of the society for the development of this country. I believe that the education imparted via VAMINICOM aims to deliver that goal . This is exactly what India needs today .

It is an ironical fact that IIM’s and IIT’s have lost direction and failed to deliver the mission with which they had started with. Today, IIT’s & IIM’s are about fat packages from MNC’s . In fact , they have become subservient to MNC’s packages and are doing little for this country’s betterment . In these times , we want you all to pass out of VAMNICON and set goals that will re-define the future of this great nation.

Let me put things in a little perspective so that you do not have illusions in future when you move out of the campus. I believe that you will pass out this year or next year, depending if you are in 1st year or the final year. Some of you will get back to their family business , some will seek jobs and some will become entrepreneurs . No matter which path you take , the formula for success would remain the same . So let’s understand the realities of professional life :

Each one of you needs to have two goals in mind – Urgent ( short term ) & Important (Long term )goals . ‘Urgent’ is about the present i.e. your studies, to clear the exams with good marks . ‘Important’ is about future . What are you going to do after passing out from VAMNICON ? Don’t ever commit the mistake that President Obama did ! When President Obama started his election campaign, he talked about healthcare reforms & the Wall Street reforms. By the time he became the President , things had changed, but he still focused all his energies on the ‘Urgent’ & forgot the ‘Important’; that the market conditions had changed and there was a deep recession . People were losing the jobs every hour . President Obama still kept working on his ‘Urgent’ agenda,not realizing that the conditions had changed . He accomplished Healthcare reforms & Wall Street reforms !! Mid-term elections came in for the congress . President Obama had missed out addressing the Important , and so he lost to the Republicans in 2010, and finally , he is fighting to save the essence of the bills that he had passed on healthcare & Wall Street . The point is, never loose sight of the changed circumstances and keep focusing on both the urgent & the important . Else , you will have to compromise to survive . We are living in a very dynamic and an ultra -volatile world .

We live in a material world :. Don’t try to kill your desires. Reality in life is that people worship knowledge, position, influence & money. So you need to have each of them if you want to be successful. You must aim to be debt free by the age of 40 and, have a house , vehicle and savings good enough to last you without working for a year or two. It is extremely important to draw a line as to how much is much ? If you do not have those boundaries, you are bound to get into the mad rush for making money without realizing where to stop ! This is what our current politicians are doing . They lack moral boundaries, and they go for more and more and do not stop before nature pulls the carpet under their feet !!

Getting settled in life : How many of you want to get settled in life soon? Well let me quote you an interaction with one of my dear friends – Shiv Khera . He is the biggest motivational Guru in India . Sometime in 2009, we were coming out of The Grand Hyatt hotel , and he was discussing with me about the new path he had undertaken that required tough decisions . So I asked him ‘Shiv , can you leave your book writing and speeches and join politics full time ? To which , he immediately replied ‘ I am not yet settled’ . Imagine , if a person who is the highest paid speaker and the best motivational writer, is not settled , how will people like you and me be settled ? So it is wrong to assume that we ever get settled in life . Life is about facing constant challenges. Have you ever seen an ECG ? If ECG comes out as a straight line , the patient is dead !

You cannot have a long ride without a puncture : While all of you will do well in life , but you can never drive a vehicle always in the fifth gear . Long rides cannot be without a puncture . Some time , you will feel that you weren’t wrong but still you were punished . Never mind , even Gods were punished without fault ! Lord Ram & Lord Christ were punished for no fault of theirs . But do fight back for what is right !!

Keep reading books and newspapers to update yourself on the global and national scene & across sectors . If five friends came together , you could buy one book each and read five books . Form a habit to read at least two news papers a day . But learn to appreciate the difference between education , knowledge and wisdom . A highly educated person might not necessarily be a wise person .

Stay Fit : As you move up the corporate ladder , you will need to be mentally fit and physically active . Devote 5 % of your daily time for yoga , mediation and gym Working is important but so is networking . How many of you are on facebook , Orkut or twitter ? How many of you are on a professional networking group ? Professional networking groups are a powerful professional tool for career progression . Please do not ignore them .

Always look for new ideas & not become copy cats : I was heading a large retail chain as a COO, and every time in the review meetings , I would solve the operational problems with a new approach . Once , my team member asked me , ‘Sir, every time you come out with something new , but one day you will run out of ideas , then what will you do ? I asked him “Since how many years river Ganges is coming out from Gangotri ? . He replied ‘ Since ages’. I asked him again ‘has it stopped ?’ . He replied ‘never’. He got the answer . That there is no limit to new ideas . While you are working in an organization , ensure that your work & experience profile changes every 2-3 years . Else , you would be like a truck driver with 20 years of experience. Remember that a truck driver faces the same road conditions every year . So his actual experience is just one year !!

You are amongst the five % Indians that are graduates . So you are also responsible for the remaining 95 %......... Let me ask you a question ? I know of a family where 56 % of the income goes in paying loans , 30 % of the income goes in running the household and another 10 % is miscellaneous expenditure , and only 4 % is invested to increase the income or to create assets . How would you rate such a family? Well to do, not good not bad or in a serious financial crisis ? So here are the facts about Indian economy : 55.9 % of the GDP goes into servicing the debt, approximately 30 % is the cost of running the government and bureaucracy, 2.5 % goes to subsidies , 2.6 % goes to defense . One fact is clear that only about 4 % of the GDP is going towards asset creation or wealth creation in this country . This is a very serious issue facing the nation.

How will the country be prosperous which spends about 96 % of its income with no wealth creation strategies & adds 17 million people to its population every year !!

If our country borrows Rs.80 lac a minute how will its citizens be prosperous ? Similarly, If the 99 % of the system is corrupt , you & your family members and even your next generation will certainly be harassed unless the system gets changed ?

Let me ask you another question. If you were earning handsomely after working hard, how many of you would share your monthly income with you neighbours or servants after paying your taxes ? We keep hearing that the fruits of growth has not reached the masses.

Common man will not reap the fruits of India’s prosperity unless he is the one driving it !! Why should someone share the earnings of his hard work with someone who hasn’t ? This is where each one of you can make a real difference . Agriculture continues to employ 65 % of its population and contributes just 17.2 % of the GDP. There is so much to be done but none at the policy maker level knows what to do ?

A few weeks back I was with the policy advisor of Rahul Gandhi , and we were discussing about how we could transform rural India . He informed me that he was advising Rahul to create 600 new districts at a cost of USD 1 billion each to transform India, but he could not convince me as to how 600 new districts transform the population’s standard of living ? After an hour of discussion , he admitted that the future of the villages was doomed ? Should we let this to happen ? We know the problem , lets take the challenge to change the fate of these ‘doomed’ villages . Each one of you can contribute effectively . We know that the government might not have the right answers but we must not just find solutions but also go ahead and implement them.

Rural India can transform if we understand that the basic requirement for such a transformation is having ‘transactions’ in rural India . The good thing about money is that whenever it changes hands , the hand becomes heavier ! I request you to think of creating business models that can utilize the local inputs and create products and services that leads to more transactions for rural India . Co-operatives & SHG’s ( Self Help Groups) are central to rural India’s transformation. Think about the 1.55 lac post offices , 2.38 lac gram panchayats and millions of kirana stores . Can we not create rural millionaires out of 700 million rural Indians ? We need micro-preneurs & agri-preneurs, if we want to change the rural landscape . Due to uncertainty of variable factors and no clear political vision for the prosperity for rural India , people do not want to remain in agriculture any more . If they get a job they keep moving and are selling their land. Because of the haphazard developmental policies , land and employment under agriculture is decreasing . In the western world, people are migrating to rural areas for better quality of life and in India , it is just the opposite, as Indians are migrating to urban areas. God forbid, if India ever faced a famine or severe draught , what will happen to a billion people ? Have we planned for it ? Can we guarantee it will never happen ?? We have not been able to tackle inflation even ??

A day before yesterday , I read that government wants to open the FDI in retail for metros and we have heard in the past that ‘Mumbai is being made Shanghai’ . So if we are creating hype and investing in metros , why should people not migrate ? We must create more ‘Mumbai’s in India rather than trying to create ‘Shanghai’ in Mumbai . Government has always said that opening up the FDI in retail will improve the supply chain. But we know that FDI in supply chain is already permitted . So we know that this is a wrong reason to justify FDI in retail.

Most of our growth is inspired due to the growth in China. India woke up for growth when China started growing at 10 + % per year with a much larger population . The current growth in India is about GDP and sensex . India’s growth is only applicable & benefits people who read The Economic Times . Such a growth has no strong fundamentals .

The government has allocated Rs,500 crore for skills development programme, and Rs. 40000.00 crore in NAREGA . This is, when we are facing acute shortage of trained man power in every sector at every level ! If a few thousand crore was invested in skills development for rural India , it would create a lasting value for the rural people and the economy

Wastage of agriculture produce due to lack of proper infrastructure is to the tune of Rs.30000.00 per year . Can we address this issue ? Some of you go and start a daily transportation service that carries the farm produce to the nearest town for sale . Imagine the value addition it would bring to the farmers ? You charge them a fixed percentage of sale ?? All will make money in the process and Agriculture will be lucrative for farmers – something that is missing today .

Can some of you go and set up low cost rural cold chain facilities for rural India Can some of you set up international technical collaborations for enhancing the quality and quantity of farm produce India has the largest number of cattle but not milk products . Can some of you create more Amul’s & Warna’s in India ?

India is the largest producer of milk in the world but not the top most exporter !! India is endowed with livestock resources of vast genetic diversity and accounts for about 11 percent of the world livestock population. The country boasts of 55 per cent of the world buffalo population, 20 per cent of the goat population and 16 per cent of the cattle population in the world. India has the largest cattle and buffalo population in the world and holds the second rank with respect to goat and sheep world population. Some of you could take food processing techniques to rural India

Kiwi fruit is sold at Rs. 25 a piece and it is given to pigs in Manipur as the road infrastructure is so bad that the fruits are unfit for consumption by the time they reach the markets . Some of you develop technologies to save such a wastage

Healthcare reaches only 24 % of rural India . Some of you could create a viable rural healthcare delivery model .Some of you should go and set up telemedicine centres across rural India

Some of you could maybe set up veterinary care centres ?

Kirana stores in rural India are still lagging behind . Some of you can start a rural Kirana store chain

Can some of you go and set up SHG’s in different states in India and empower them to form a national level marketing channel for rural India Opportunities are countless , just go and execute .

Let me tell you that Indian system is very good but manned by wrong people , and so public has lost trust .

Despite all the odds , everywhere in India, I see so much opportunities to work on , and it is a great boon to be born in India . It is how you take it . I believe that each one of you will have a lot to accomplish in life , and am sure that this institution will equip you with the right tools to handle the opportunities that will come your way

I wish you all the best and hope to see you again

Rajendra

Elections in Tamil Nadu- DMK Vs AIIDMK

2011-03-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was in Chennai and discussed with some people about the scenario in the April elections for the state assembly

I was informed that the 2 G money is already showing up , and last week only DMK distributed sarees and stainless steel jar to all the residents of kovilambakkam. Each vote is likely to cost Rs.2000 to 3000 only !!

When I asked a few people ( professionals who work in different companies that , ‘ Why you all do not oppose such things ? I was told that DMK has hooligans in their cadres, and opposing DMK means inviting the wrath of these cadres and creating problems for our families !! So it is better we take the freebies & cash and vote them back

Further , these people said that DMK needs congress desperately , as if Congress is unhappy , DMK will invite action from congress for its illegal activities and black money. If congress is with DMK , State is already under its control and now centre will be blind to all the wrongs that DMK does – It is a win-win for both DMK –Congress . We know the kind of people congress works with and the thing congress supports !! DMK is widely referred as Daily Making Money for Karunanidhi – DMK

Also, a few weeks ago, I was speaking with a grass root worker from Tamil Nadu , and he informed that DMK has approached a lot of AIIDMK leaders and offered them cash as high as 50 cores and got them to work in AIIDMK and transfer their votes to DMK !! Shrewd & crafty congress allies !!

So , finally , we know what is going to be used in the state elections in Tamil Nadu & what will be the outcome on April 13. Only Almighty can intervene & swing things differently !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Unhealthy Promotions- Banning toys with food products meant for Children

2011-02-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

February 21, 2011.

Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad

Minister of Health & Family Welfare

Nirmal Bhawan, New Delhi – 110108

Subject: For Immediate action-banning of toys given as free gifts with food products & drinks, & framing guidelines on Child Health & Preventive care

Hon’ble Minister,

I am writing this important petition on behalf of the Disease Management Association of India – DMAI; The Population Health Improvement Alliance. DMAI is founded by global healthcare leaders to help improve the population health in India by focusing on the entire continuum of care.

In November 2010, during my visit to the US , I was with Senator Tom Daschle ( Senator Tom was nominated as Health & Human Services Secretary by President Obama , which he declined, and is often referred to as a senior Advisor & Mentor to President Obama). During the discussion, he asked me; how is India a better bet than China? I told him that, in the next three decades, while India will have majority of working age population, China will have one working person and three retired persons. This should put China in serious productivity issue!! India is the youngest nation today, with an average age of approximately 25.9 years, and this is often referred as a ‘demographic dividend’.

While statistically, India is having a tremendous demographic dividend , if we do not attend to the ‘ Child Health’ as a top priority , our demographic dividend will become a ‘Demographic Disaster’, as our working population would be ‘Unhealthy’ and thus drastically impact the productivity of the nation . This is the biggest hurdle for India to attend, if we need to overtake China in the long-term for being a developed & a vibrant economy

For Immediate action: Media has proliferated & children have dedicated channels on TV.They watch T.V. , which is flooded with animated cartoons & other Sci-fi serials, and children get fancied with such shows. The companies have started giving the characters associated with these shows as free gifts to entice the children to buy their food products and drinks. So children force their parents to buy the foods stuff or drinks just for the sake of these ‘Freebies’ , and they also consume these products, so that the parents do not scold them for spending so much on these food items !! Due to this, our children are fast becoming obese & unhealthy!! Just for the sake of an example , I am quoting my son who buys Mc Donald’s ‘Happy Meal’ just for the sake of getting the toy that comes free with it & I can see that he is least interested in the meal , but then he consumes the ‘Burger’ , and ‘Cold Drinks’ that comes with the ‘Happy Meals’ to ensure that next time he gets a chance to buy the Happy Meal from Mc Donald again and most importantly , get the free toy . He already weighs 40 KG at the age of 7 years. Luckily, he has joined the Gym with me. But imagine, the severely ‘Obese’ children that are a result of such ‘Unhealthy’ Promotions with food products meant for children. I have just quoted Mc Donald for the sake of example, but we have most of the companies selling ‘Unhealthy foods’ with promotions aimed at enticing children, playing for their ignorance and their intense desire for playing with toys!

Through this note, I call upon the policy makers to ban such toys and also the advertisements related to such promotions in national media with immediate effect. I also call upon the ‘responsible’ companies to sell & market their products for ‘nutritional value’ and not on ‘Unhealthy promotions’ or ‘Freebies’.

Also, the MOHFW should come up with “hand book on Preventive Healthcare for Children” below 12 years If we fail to take immediate and strict action now, our future generations will grow up to curse this generation for inaction, and the nation will be burdened by poor productivity and high healthcare costs with no signs of health ! It is a call to action . I do look forward to prompt action on the same from all the concerned.

If the policy makers fail to take action, DMAI will initiate a nation-wide campaign for such ‘unhealthy promotions’.

With best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

CC.

Sonia Gandhi ,Rahul Gandhi , Dr.Manmohan Singh , Dr.Murli Mahohar Joshi , Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad Min, for information & Broad Casting, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dr.Syeda Hameed, Shri L.K.Advani , Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Shri Dinesh Trivedi , Sitaram Yechury , Members of Parliament , Sam Pitroda , Secy, Health & Family Welfare, GOI , Dr. K. Srinath Reddy , Chief Minister’s of States, Media

Corruption mera Karma aur Coalition mera Dharma

2011-02-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

Dear Manmohan ji,

The common man is really frustrated with your ‘blame game’ approach in the recent press conference . When you became the PM, we had hoped that an economics Professor who had been educated in the best of institutions in India and abroad , could impress upon the people in his party and change the governance of the nation without compromise. But , by staying silent on all the unethical activities in the congress , not only you denigrated the national institutions , you lowered the stature of the Prime Minster’s post & eroded the trust of the common man .

In the press conference , you said that, ‘let’s not just focus on scams as that lowers the image of the nation’. I wish to point Dr.Singh that, not just the image but also the financial health of the nation has been affected due to your being a patron of corruption !!

You have clearly conveyed that ‘ Corruption is your Karma & Coalition is your Dharma’. While it is known that you had some good qualities like knowledge , honesty etc , but you did not exercise those qualities , so in a sense , you became a greedy professor wanting to just stick to the Chair of the PM .

I am wondering how come Pranab Mukherjee was not questioned in this scam when he is the finance minister ? Is he just responsible for collecting taxes and not about the financial loss to the nation ? He must also follow Raja in Tihar . No one is above law ! Also, If you have the guts , please question Mukesh Ambani . He is the one who routed international calls as local calls and committed a criminal offence. What has your government done ? The Telecom co’s CEO going to CBI office and having coffee & lunch does not impress the common man. We know that these visits might be a ‘eyewash’ for the common man at the behest of congress party, and the common man is made to believe that your government is acting on corruption . Do not put off the JPC demand quoting these arrests .Suresh Kalmadi is still enjoying the dollars made in CWG !! Why he is he not in Tihar ?

Dr.Singh , every one in India is talking about the black money in Swiss banks , Dr.Singh , India has more black money than all the Swiss banks combined ! Why Pranab Dada does not start taxing expenditure rather than taxing income !! Every government officer is directly or indirectly involved in bribery , every business is into tax evasion , every builder takes a portion of the cost as black money , every minister fights election on black money . Still you think that only Swiss banks have India’s black money ? Swiss banks , I believe would only have 10-15 % of the black money , rest is still in India , and may be, some money might be in middle eastern countries .

Please change your tax system. If you tax one’s income , he might not disclose it , but at the end, the money is used to purchase something , so go and tax expenditure , the government will collect more taxes , and we would be happy paying taxes on expenditure !!

Now back to my question of your moral flexibility to run the government .

Why have you tied up with DMK in a poll bound Tamilnadu ??

Why has the CBI let off Mulayam in the disproportionate assets case ?

Is this a part of Sonia’s five pronged approach to fight corruption ???

Rahul : Where is your clean up of the party going ? Are you cleaning up the honest people by such tie ups ? What about your call to go alone in polls ? While I was at 10 Janpath with you a few months ago , a first generation leader whom you inducted in your party had met up with myself , and he told me that you are just getting educated people in the party . So all new congress leaders have started enrolling in MBA !!. Finally , this call for educated leaders is leading to elite with money bags joining youth congress. You are totally disconnected from the reality on ground !! By the way , Gandhi’s are always disconnected with reality . Nothing new !!

Dr.Singh , by asking Supreme court to directly monitor the probe, you have shown that you have no interest to act on your own or you do not trust that you will do a good job in the case ! We all know why retired supreme court judges get plum posting !! So if nothing comes out of these so called ‘Blame Free investigations’ ( Which we know will happen ) , you will shed off your load saying that you had asked the top most court to direct the probe and that you are like ‘Ceaser’s Wife’ etc etc………………….. and you cannot be blamed for the culprits being acquitted !!

When you constitute the JPC , please also mandate it to come out with an action plan that can

a) Investigate the wealth creation formula of the ex Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan .

b) Bring back the black money and put the people behind the black money in Jail

c) Recover the loot of public money by people like Lalu , Maya & other leaders like Sharad Pawar etc.

d) Take action for CWG loot

e) Investigate on all massive loot cases happening in the nation

f) Frame up laws and set up a system say a CIA ( Central Corruption Investigating agency ), which can take suo moto action against any one ( Even the President of India ) , should the need arise without going through any approval , and this institution must report to the supreme body – Legislature every six months . This body should be adequately equipped with resources ( legal, financial and human resources ) to decisively act against corruption , and all top level appointments must be made by a body consisting of the P.M. , CJI , CVC & Opposition leader .

I also want you to ask CBI to investigate if Apollo Hospitals Group paid money to A.Raja. I was told by none other than the brother-in-law of A.Raja that Apollo had paid Rs.700.00 crore to Raja

I am also quite surprised that you have quoted that you will not quit the post of PM. It is the height of being shameless

Dr.Singh,history will paint you as Mohammaed-Bin-Tuglaq-A knowledgeable and wise king who caused lot of misery and pain to his people

If you do not shape up, wait for 2014, and the common man will throw the congress government and return results like Bihar

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

A Common Man

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

NRHM & Jan Aushadhi Scheme review by Parliamentary Accounts Committee ( PAC)

2011-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

February 14th 2011.

Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi
M.P.( Lok Sabha )
Chairman ,
Public Accounts Committee
Government of India
6, Raisena Road
New Delhi 110001

Reference : National Rural Health Mission ( Ministry of Health & Family Welfare ) & Jan Aushadhi Stores ( Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers )

Dear Dr.Joshi,

Namaskaar,

This has reference to our meeting on 9th February 2011 at your residence in Delhi , and our discussions regarding NRHM & its review by the PAC . I have gone through the entire NRHM set up and even visited various centres and sub centres operated under NRHM in different parts of the country . I believe that, you must reconsider your views on recommending the scrapping of NRHM, as NRHM has definitely made an impact on the lives of the rural population . Though, NRHM needs some radical operational changes , but as a program , it is impactful. Please find my recommendations to the Planning Commission on the changes needed in NRHM for the 12th five year plan . Planning commission had asked me for inputs on the same , and I am sure that the MOHFW might be working on the changes as well . Rest we will discuss when you invite me to dispose before the PAC as an healthcare expert for NRHM & other schemes of MOHFW.

Jan Aushadhi Stores ( under ministry of chemicals & fertilizers ) : In fact , this scheme is poorly planned and badly executed . You must recommend scrapping of the Jan Aushadi stores scheme with immediate effect . This is a blatant misuse of public money . Whereas , the idea of generic stores is great , but this scheme has been a failure so far , and I do not foresee this scheme taking off . In the current form , Jan Ausahdi is a scam in the making !!

If you are still to review the Jan Aushadhi stores under the PAC , I would be happy to despose based on my hands on experience with pharmacy chains and the ground reality with Jan Aushadi stores

I am sure that you will certainly consider these inputs and revert in case you need more information . Also , Dr.Joshi , I am travelling to your constituency in March 1st week to deliver a lecture at the Institute of Medical Sciences , BHU on NRHM , and If you are in Varanasi , would be glad to meet up.

With best regards

Rajendra

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
President & Director
DMAI
www.dmai.org.in

Worst Prime Minister India has ever had & the worst President Congress ever had

2011-02-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

A few days ago , the Prime Minister defended that, during the appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC ), he was not aware of any charge-sheet against him , this is despite the fact that, Sushma Swaraj clearly raised an objection to the appointment of Mr.Thomas as CVC based on the charge-sheet.

Now ISRO says, that it had kept the cabinet in dark on the deal with Devas. This office is with the Prime Minister . I am sure that all of us realize by now that , this Prime Minister is no more than a rubber stamp of Sonia , who has no inclination to go into facts and take action . In fact, this is the worst Prime Minister India has ever had , and Sonia is the worst President Congress had ever had .

Sonia is Queen of Corruption and mother of all scams & Manmohan is a lame duck PM

Both must resign and go

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

What's Happening ??

2011-02-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Dear National Leaders,

For the last couple of months , we are seeing a ‘high octane’ battle being fought between the parties for two issues ‘ Corruption in congress and unchecked inflation’. As a common man , I am worried that this great nation is going to dogs because of the lack of governance in the ruling party , and lack of outcome based action in the opposition ( which needs to unite for a national cause ) . The current government is a serious threat to the national security

One side , Rahul Gandhi says that Congress will fight corruption , and Sonia says that she has a five pronged strategy for fighting corruption , one the other side , we see that congress goes and co-habits with DMK for the Tamilnadu elections, and the government is shy of disclosing the names of 17 account holders in Swiss banks , so it clearly tells what kind of five pronged approach congress has to fight corruption .

Arrest of Raja by CBI is a tactic by congress , CBI is not a prosecuting agency, it is an investigative agency.If congress was serious , the system would have sent him to judicial custody – I am sure that intelligent people who understand the mechanizations of congress , get the meaning.

My biggest worry is that Indian military is getting weaker day by day , and we are waiting for an attack to happen , India could face serious losses and a major setback , if that were to happen. I do hope that BJP will take action . Scams can be handled , may be, even some lost money could be recovered. But if we are attacked by a foreign power and we fail , We would have lost it all.

Congress has to go now and so has to the Gandhi Dynasty from Indian politics . I would suggest BJP to start Egypt like movement so that our Hosni Mubarak’s ( Gandhi’s ) and Mohammad Bin Tugluk ( Manmohan ) go soon , and the country can be put back on track

We don’t want our great nation to suffer more . Please get your act together

A Common Man

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Re-structuring Healthcare in India - 12th Five Year plan - NRHM , ICDS & Malnutrition

2011-02-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

January 31, 2011.

Dr.Syeda Hameed

Member

Planning Commission

Government of India

Yojna Bhawan,

Sansad Marg, New Delhi- 110001

Reference: Inputs on the 12th Five year plan W.R.T. (1) Eradicating under-nutrition and malnutrition in India through restructuring of ICDS or other means and (2) Suggestions for improvement in the present structure of NRHM.

Dear Dr. Hameed,

I am sure that this finds you doing well. This has reference to the mail from your office on 5th January 2011, requesting me to provide inputs on the 12th five year plan w.r.t.(1) Eradicating under-nutrition and malnutrition in India through restructuring of ICDS or other means and (2) Suggestions for improvement in the present structure of NRHM.

At the outset, let me put my deep appreciation for the NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) and its positive impact on the healthcare of the rural population. I had a chance to visit many rural pockets over the past few years, and my inputs are based on the reality as seen by a commoner, and I do hope it is insightful along with being helpful.

Policy Changes:

To me, there appears to be no single prescription for addressing the diverse healthcare needs of this country, which is as big as a continent, but NRHM has made its presence felt even in the remote parts of the country. Seeing that the NRHM was launched only in April 2005, and would be around till 2012, with a possible extension for another five years , one of the key policy action items that might be worth considering to create a pro-active Rural healthcare system in another six years ( assuming that the NRHM is discontinued in its current form by 2017 ), is to be able to sensitize the population on the adoption of basic standards of personal hygiene , nutrition & lifestyle necessary for fitness ( wellness) that makes our population less dependent on hospital care . This should be one of the key goals of the NRHM for the 12th Five year plan .The current NRHM has put the onus & financial burden on the centre, as the centre and state partnership in terms of the financial outlay is 85: 15 . Second important consideration , this also must get a key policy shift for the 12th five year plan which should have one more stakeholder i.e. center : state : Beneficiary .

Funding for NRHM:

We need to see a financial participation from the beneficiaries of the NRHM, as they would have got used to the services offered via NRHM centers ( ASHA , ANM, Sub Centers , PHC , CHC & District hospitals ) , and the value of offering would have increased through NRHM centers. In addition to this, per capita income will also go up in the next five years if the country continues to grow at the current pace. So we must consider if we can increase the fees for basic services towards the 10th year of NRHM; even a token increase by one rupee can deliver a quantum leap. Besides, we must keep reducing the financial incentives gradually every year to phase it out eventually. Still, the people would enjoy the safe healthcare services which are subsidized or offered at a very low cost. Villagers are getting used to these services , and I am sure that in the 10th year of NRHM , it might be a right time to bring down some of the subsidies and incentives , as the trust would have built up considerably .

NRHM should welcome ‘tax free’ donations from individuals and corporates: This should be publicized and could become a good way to raise funds in a step towards building a financially sustainable healthcare model for rural India

With a gradual reversal in the expense funding between center and the state, the expense part needs a micro planning as, though the hard infrastructure expenses might not be as high as it is now (since we are constructing sub centers & upgrading some existing centers ), but the maintenance of the infrastructure built will become a huge financial burden, and knowing that the divestment & auctions are not routine incomes for the government, this would lead to a huge deficit in the budgets over the next six years if financial planning of NRHM is not planned and managed well.

Also, one of the key considerations for the policy makers is to look at converting NRHM into NHM ( National Health Mission ) , as the conditions remain deplorable for urban poor , and the private facilities are not going beyond tier 1 & 2 towns .

Structural changes:

It would be worth considering replacing the hierarchical designations to functional designations to have a clearly defined role and an outcome driven responsibility

Mission Steering Group (at the Centre) could consist of the following :

Director for Planning & Forecasting,

Director for Strategy

Director for Analysis & Research (One who looks into the regular reporting & review)

Director – Innovation & Program improvisation (Program will certainly improvise with regular feedback & inputs)

Director – IT

Director – Procurement

Director – Logistics

Director – Finance & Accounts

Director – Standards - Medical Protocols, GCP (Good Clinical Practices) & Quality Control

Director – IM (Infant Mortality)

Director – MM (Maternal Mortality)

Director – Nutrition

Director – Immunizations

Director – Preventive Care

Director – Mental Health

Director – TB- DOTS

Director - ART

Director – NCD

Director – Anemia & Related Disorders (This needs a special focus, as more than 50 % of women are Anemic)

Director – Oral Care

Director – De-addiction (De-addiction must also be a focus area, as the consumption of alcohol has been on constant rise, and wife beating is prevalent in most of the households)

Director – Ophthalmology

Director – Ambulatory services

Director – Pharmacy

Director – NGO & Alliances

Director – Media & Communication

Director – Human Resources & Training

More people can be added depending upon the focus areas for NRHM. In fact, I would strongly recommend that all the national health programs be merged with the NRHM one by one to ensure that health & wellness issues are addressed holistically in rural India

The reason I am recommending a dedicated resource for each action area like Director – MM, Director IM etc. is that, then we have people with specific deliverable, and outcomes would be better. Currently, at the centre, we have four Joint Secretaries and four directors with multiple responsibilities . These might leave them with delivering outstanding results in some areas, and with serious gaps in some!!

The above mentioned Central Committee (Mission Steering Group ) , should be overseen by the board or committee which has members from Public Health, doctors from modern medicine, Ayush, Nursing, Public representative, patient groups & people from different walks of life, who bring diverse capabilities to the team with proven competence in envisioning and executing projects on mass scale or of making a social impact. 1/3rd of these representatives must change every two years (rotating public participation). 50 % of the members must be from the government and 50 % from the private sector. Also, of the total members, 50 % must be practicing doctors and remaining non-medicos.

Further, a similar structure needs to be set up at the state level. At the District level, the work gets delivered via same field workers.

While the PHC’s & Sub centers are done up very well, some gaps remain, like;

There is a mismatch in the requirement & stocks of medicines. All the PHC’s get similar stocks of medicines irrespective of the load in OPD. So , whereas some PHC have more stocks , some have stock outs – More of Forecasting and logistics issue
Supplies of nutrients is insufficient & inconsistent - Once we have a focused resource ( Director – Nutrition , Director – Forecasting & Director – Logistics ), these problems would reduce drastically
Need is for three doctors instead of the two currently at the PHC, so that the load can be handled well. Currently, at times, the wait period for a patient to be seen could go beyond 4 hours at times in OPD. Also, with this, the PHC can operate 24 X 7 , since doctors can do an 8 hour shift each
It would be good to have the doctor’s residence attached to the PHC
Biomedical waste disposal has to be given priority to avoid infections in villages.

Challenge: Nutrition given during ANC / PNC is consumed by the family and not by the mother.

Solution: If ASHA can monitor this during visits or otherwise, it would be effective or the gender specific nutrition packs could be made to ensure that the females consume what is meant for them. Self Help Groups have emerged as the new power centers in the villages and every village has Self Help groups. ASHA’s must work with SHG’s to address this issue and oversee that the diet meant for the lactating mother is given to her in presence of a SHG member

Challenge: Electricity – Load shedding in villages: This leads to lack of storage conditions in PHC’s & Sub centers

Solution: India has adequate sunshine for 9-10 months in a year, for rest of the months, the load shedding is less, so it is worth considering having solar panels as an integral part at all the PHC’s & Sub Centers for generating electricity needed for storage and other requirements

Challenge: Poor Quality of Medicines: It is observed that the qualities of medicines are poor, and it is procured by the district Health committee. Poor quality of medicine is a serious issue, as the patients are given medicines for treatment, and if the medicines are not effective, it will lead to mistrust in the entire system, and the poor people will have to move towards private practitioners or quacks and suffer more

Solution: Since all the companies in pharmaceuticals have national level operations, it will be good if the national level tie up is done for procurements of medicines at the NRHM rates, and the order, supplies & payments happen locally. With this, we will be able to get the best rates and also give the best quality of medicines to the needy poor patients. Also, generic medicines should only be allowed to be used under NRHM. This will help to save enormous costs to the government. Also, all the PHC’s & sub centers must set up ROP’s (re-order points for all the requirements, factoring in the time lag for supplies based on past trends. This will ensure that there are near zero stock outs).

It was observed that the specialists (Gynecologist ) in one of the model PHC (Wardha district) comes only for two hours and that too, to direct patients to private practice. This must be avoided at all costs, as this will eventually make ASHA’s & ANM’s, agents for private clinics for all the wrong reasons & erode the trust in the NRHM

Challenge: Absenteeism in PHC: It is a common problem to see that doctors are missing or come only for a few hours or few days in a month.

Solution: It is suggested that the entire NRHM attendance moves paperless (biometric attendance be made compulsory). With this, the problem of absenteeism will come to an end

Challenge: Preparing reports and paper work takes most of the productive time of the health workers

Solution: With the advent of low cost tablet PC’s & low price 3 G enabled phones; it might be worth considering giving these devices to health workers like ASHA’s. Also, if these mobiles / tablets have a GPRS connection, it can mean live data updates, thereby, reducing the three month gap between the village data entry and the central review points at Delhi

When I visited the residence of one ASHA worker, she had more registers to maintain records then her daughter would have used in her studies! In all, she had about six registers to maintain records and spent 2-3 hours daily to just fill in her records. I believe that just one register should have been good enough , with name of the beneficiary , under which head ( disease or operation ) , visit for the purpose of , repeat visit , action taken, next steps, and next due visit etc…….The register given by NRHM was in English with words like Vulnerable men / women . I believe that the language used should be bilingual and not just in English …. This needs immediate attention. Digitizing the records through mobile phones would be great, as has been done in Wardha district for IM & MM programs. The data is updated live and the impact is significant with no chances of multiple entry and errors, and also real time actions happens due to SMS based follow up and care.

Ground reality: I visited one centre in a rural area, and I was surprised to see the PHC decked up to welcome the Health & Sanitation committee that was to visit the centre. I was told by the centre staff that they have been waiting since past one week, expecting this committee and they had bouquets etc ready to welcome them. Such visits do not reveal anything and add no value to the working of the village sub centers or the PHC but work only for photo-ops!! Only surprise visits must be under taken with no formal information given in advance, so that the right picture is presented during the visit, and the action oriented steps can be taken to fill the gaps, if any.

Pharmacies are present in every part of India .It is believed that India has about 7.5+ lac pharmacies across the country, and most of the villages have a pharmacy. All the

Pharmacists must work as ASHA support systems due to their knowledge and skills, being the trusted touch point for basic health problems. Focus through pharmacists should be on chronic diseases and paternal care, and through ASHA’s on child and maternal health

Medicine kits given to ASHA should have all the instructions in English, where as all the pharmaceutical companies are expected to carry the same bilingually (English & Hindi). For NRHM supplies, pictorial presentation along with bilingual labeling must be mandated.

Tribals & Upper caste: Despite the best efforts of the government, tribals are still called the ‘Black castes’ and live in a separate area demarcated for them. One of the biggest challenges is that ASHA from a lower caste would still find few takers amongst upper caste households, and vice versa. This is one issue that needs to be addressed. It would be wrong to create two ASHA’s and further the divide , but some really significant work can be given to ASHA , so that it appears to be compelling enough for everyone to seek ASHA’s assistance- Like the entire village birth certificates must have ASHA’s signature etc.

Changes in the delivery of services

New Opportunities:

Community Radio: This is being experimented in Baramati, and must be looked into. Similar services can be started in villages to drive healthy behaviors. I had visited a few villages in north, where a simple awareness campaign (pictorial & through songs in local dialect) have reduced the maternal mortality by 93 %. The expenses in this project were not more than Rs.5000.00 per village. Such models need to be adopted

Toll free based IVR Multilingual helpline: NRHM must initiate this to help reach the right people for the right inputs

m-Health based Jeevandaini scheme : This has been piloted in Wardha district , with good results in institutional deliveries and drastic improvement in MMR. The simple mobile based applications have lead to live data upload and follow up via SMS, leading to good compliance amongst ANM’s & ASHA’s . This health based model needs to be made an essential part of NRHM . Since 3G & WIMAX is now a reality , the rural health information flow and delivery of few basic services must be done adopting m-Health ( mobile health platform ).

Mobile Sub centers: Sub centers are built at a cost of Rs.8.5 – 13.5+ Lacs. It might be worth considering to set-up mobile sub centers( Mobile Vans ) that can go across to the remotest areas and conduct outreach programmes. So the cost of operating the sub center ( rental , electricity etc ) gets consumed in the form of fuel expenses for the mobile health center and also, these sub centers can be used as an ambulance in case of medical emergencies . Thus it would save Rs.300 that is given for transferring patients to the referral centre. The cost of mobile centre is expected to be much lower than the cost of a physical centre. Location of PHC’s & Sub Health Centers is mostly around a few Km’s from the residential areas, and this needs to be corrected or filled up with such mobile health center

Digital Training of Health workers: It might be worth considering creating a TV programme on doordarshan modeled exclusively for training ASHA, ANM & for increasing awareness amongst NRHM beneficiaries. Also the same should be made available through mobile phones as 3G is now a reality. Expecting mothers must be able to see the demo & programme clippings via their handsets or through ASHA’s handsets, which could be upgraded to a 3G enabled mobile handsets for live reporting or for delivering video content for various programmes.

Technology must be leveraged in NRHM for accountability, transparency and telehealth. 12th five year plan must consider opportunities to digitize NRHM in all spheres of its implementation

Minor surgeries in PHC: Now that that PHC’s have facilities for delivery, minor surgeries must be allowed in the PHC. So far, minor surgeries are not allowed in PHC. This is one important decision that can help save a lot for hassles for villagers and bring revenue for the government. The PHC’s can enroll patients for minor surgeries, and then get a surgeon on call for a day from a nearby town and complete the minor surgeries at the PHC to function as day care centers .

Reporting of NRHM across states should be on the same format as of KPI’s (key performance indicators) so that it leads to apples to apples comparison and this could be on these indicators

Structural : Setting up and maintenance of the facilities
Functional : Human resource management and flow of instructions and funds
Fund utilization: special focus must be paid as to why the funds could not be used, as the money is meant to be spent with an outcome allocated to every rupee spent.
Outcomes : Measurable outcomes in improvement in the village / Taluka health must be done every quarter

Reporting and review must be

Weekly for Talukas
Fortnightly for Districts
Monthly for states
Quarterly at the centre

This timely reporting will itself bring out better outcomes. It was sad to learn that during the mid-term review of the 11th five year plan in July 2009, the ministry of health & family welfare was not even aware of any targets. The reality is that, the files from the planning commission were not even looked into by the ministry of health & family welfare until the mid-term review of the plan started. One of the senior official of the MOHFW had revealed to me that rarely MOHFW looked into the files from the planning commission , and they were not even aware of any targets set by the planning commission , and that if the MOHFW did not respond to the plan targets set by the Planning Commission , the planning commission assumed the targets as accepted by the Ministry of Health & family welfare .This is a structural and procedural lacunae and needs to be addressed from the planning stage for the 12th five year plan , so that the ministry does not question in the meeting who set the targets for them ??

Administrative changes:

Financial planning and flow of funds: The fund flow on time is the biggest problem. I have met people working at the lowest level in PHC & Sub centers, where the salary has not been paid for months, and the funds for 2010 were received in mid – Jan 2011. This clearly will encourage corruption. People drawing a monthly salary of Rs.5000-8000 cannot sustain their family without salary for months. Either they will resort to bribing; selling the government supplies or starts absconding and working for employers in parallel. The fund meant for a sub Center or PHC must be transferred in advance for the quarter if not half yearly. This is one single biggest action item to make a sub center or PHC Staff working 6 days a week

Referral centre: It has been found that the referral centre in Panvel (district Raigad) does not even accept patients & turns them away from the door itself ( this is a reality ), and the patients are routed to the Alibag referral centre. Such centers must be a common occurrence across India. Government is paying for them, but they are operational only on paper. Such center must be tracked down, and either made fully operational or closed down. As not only they cause a loss of money to the exchequer, but also diminish the trust of the common man in government’s flagship schemes like NRHM

Why programmes succeed or why they fail- Lessons to learn: Let’s take a look at the successful programmes like NACO for Aids, National TB control programme & the Pulse Polio programmes. All these programmes have worked well because of the fact that they have proper structure and resources allocated. In the ministry of health & family welfare, the programmes are fantastic announcements, but the human resources required are not properly allocated in the ministry to handle such programmes; only the funds are transferred in the bank for the programme. So the department handling the programme is under resource crunch , they do not even have people to handle the communication , and most of their time goes in reporting ; Result – the funds remain un-utilized and are returned back in case of calamity announcement from the PM’s fund or for other reasons and thus programmes fail to leave an impact . Planners must study the success of National TB control programme & NACO and implement the learning’s in all the programmes for Health & family welfare

Incentive to health workers ASHA’s ANM’s & other Sub center & PHC staff: It is expected that since ASHA’s and ANM’s are incentivized for institutional deliveries, referral etc. The incentive might also make them turn to private practitioners over a period of time, as the lure of money will drive them to recommend private gynecologists & give less focus to home visits and counseling, and this might be happening even today as well. It is suggested that the ASHA’s & ANM’s must be incentivized for counseling, home visits, immunization & preventive checks as a routine part of their job and the incentive must be paid for each home visit ( even Rs. 2 to Rs.3 per visit is good enough ) . This will lead to a fixed remuneration to ASHA’S & ANM’s. Certain Evaluation parameters for the success of an ASHA must be established like how many households are aware of sanitation, hygiene, preventive health and healthy lifestyle. Since the NRHM has a huge outlay of funds for the national healthcare, a ‘dip–stick’ audit using random sampling must be done with the households, and this must be done every quarter across the states where NRHM is currently operational.

ASHA is not paid a salary but is paid incentive for institutional deliveries (Rs.100), DOT treatment (Rs.250), meetings for once a month (Rs.150, out of which Rs. 100 is for travel and Rs.50 for refreshments). A supervisor is above ASHA’s and she handles about 30 ASHA’s. She is paid Rs. 3000.00 per month. She is supposed to be meeting two ASHA’s a day. Since both the ASHA’s and Supervisor have to travel long distances by road , and keep in constant touch with each other , I would recommend free local roadways pass to NRHM workers , and a mobile connection with CUG ( Closed user group , that allows free calls between users ) for NRHM staff. The cost of which could be less than Rs.75 per month

NRHM Handbook : Since the NRHM programme is the biggest healthcare programme so far, it is imperative that a detailed multi lingual NRHM Handbook, manual or ready reckoner be brought out for all those involved in the programme , covering basic protocols, bio medical waste disposal , do’s & don’ts dealt with FAQ’s . Also, the digital version must be available on mobiles and internet.

1-3 months rural posting of nurses, pharmacist and doctors must be made mandatory for the courses to fill the resource crunch, and the professionals must be remunerated for these postings along with free accommodation on site at the sub center and PHC.

Awareness & sensitization: Since NRHM is addressing the key areas when it comes to health and hygiene, it is imperative that a chapter on NRHM is added in secondary education (class 6th onwards). This will lead to awareness and sensitization amongst children to adapt to healthy habits

Role model & Case studies approach: People believe in facts, and the case studies & success stories of ASHA & ANM’s must be shared nationally to make the acceptance more impactful for behavioral change. I must share with you something interesting that I witnessed in north India. I was visiting rural belt in north India, and came across an ancient custom called ‘Shourey pratha’. Under this , when the lady delivers a child , she is confined to a room for 40 days , and cow dung is plastered on the walls ,and baked cow dung cakes are burnt non-stop to fumigate the room, automatically the mother and child suffocate to death . Now we can well imagine why the IM &MM (Infant Mortality & Maternal Mortality) was very high in the rural belt in north India. With simple explanations and scientific explanations with the help of the Self Help Groups (SHG’s), this tradition is on its way out. SHG’s is the most powerful change agent in rural India and the NRHM must use this channel to drive a behavioral change in rural India.

Eradicating under-nutrition and malnutrition

The issue of under-nutrition and malnutrition is not just an issue associated with poverty . If I were to say that malnutrition is also prevalent due to the lack of sanitation facilities, people would not believe it, leave alone talking about linking the two.

Here is an interesting linkage : Females in the village have to defecate in the open , and for that , they either go out in early mornings or late evening when it gets dark . To avoid going in between , the women not only eat little , but also feed children just good enough so they do not go out and defecate too often , and this has been a cause of malnutrition and under-nutrition . There is a common habit amongst girls studying in schools with no proper toilets that , they seldom drink water during school hours to avoid going to toilet !! Strange but true . Similarly , mal-nutrition and under-nutrition has become a sanitation issue . This calls for the involvement of the ministry of rural development to address the sanitation issue in rural India to completely address the issue of malnutrition & undernutrition . Also, the ministry of food processing to work with the players for producing locally fortified foods to reduce the cost of ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF).

Nutrition is often overshadowed by other medical conditions, like malaria or diarrhea, despite the fact that malnutrition, combined with these conditions, can more often be fatal." A "severe acute malnourished child" is more than nine times more likely to die than a well-nourished one, & malnutrition from any means retards normal growth .

Besides sanitation , societal traditions that female child is a burden still plagues the nation ,and there is a bias towards the male child who is treated as an inheritor and an insurance in the old age for parents . Government needs to step its machinery on all fronts . It is a known fact that, a weak female will never bear a healthy male child , and this should form the basis of the Healthy India campaign as the discrimination against the female child is rampant in every part of the nation . The issue needs to be attacked multi-fold ;when the mother is expectant , post child birth , adolescent years, post puberty age in girls . Special focus has to be given to the female child , who bears a male child in future .

One of the key pillars of NRHM must be eradication of anemia amongst women with the focus on the girl child. Special fortified biscuits or snacks with calcium, iron and zinc need to be made available for the girl child ( developed specially for females, so that male child is not given those products ! ) and separate packing for boys to be given as mid day meal or as packaged snacks made especially for children fortified with nutrients ; ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF). For boys, the nutritional support must continue till the age of 6 years but for females , this support must continue till 16 years in age

The deficiencies varies with the region , like Vidharbha region has a severe issue of sickle cell anemia , and this is becoming a serious genetic health issue . Similarly, deficiencies in every region needs to be addressed region-wise.

Diet charts are as important as immunization charts and needs to be given together during child birth based on the physique of the newly born

RDDA’s ( Recommended Daily Dietary Allowance ) should be worked out specific to each child . The role of the nutritionist gains significance in NRHM and is central to the issue . The diet plan must be made for each new born and followed under the directions of ASHA locally . So far, I have not seen a prominent role of a dietician in either the sub center or the PHC

I would recommend national health planners to tie up with WFP ( World Food Programme ) to provide daily nutrition for as low as Rs.5 per day . Even companies like Unilever are working on creating BOP Healthcare ( Bottom of Pyramid Healthcare ) models focusing on healthcare basics for the rural masses. It might be worth exploring PPP ( Public Private Partnerships ) to address this issue & come out with ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF)

Indian Pediatrics has brought out a Special Issue (August 2010) on Severe Acute Malnutrition, which deliberates in detail on the global and national evidence relating to pertinent issues on this subject.

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children is recognized as a major underlying cause of death amongst under-five children. These deaths are preventable provided timely and appropriate actions are taken.

According to National Family Health Survey-III, conducted during 2005-2006 in India, 6.4% of children below 60 months of age were suffering from this malady . With the current estimated total population of India as 1100 million, it is expected that there would be about 132 million under-five children and amongst these about 6.4% or 8.1 million are likely to be suffering from SAM.

With the emergence of home based management approach for SAM children, which includes the use of Therapeutic Nutrition (TN) as part of Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT), it is possible to address this issue in a cost-effective manner. More than 85 % of total SAM cases are without medical complications and can be identified through active case finding in community to be successfully managed at the home level. Global evidence suggests that with integrated management of SAM children, case fatality rates can be reduced to less than 5 percent. Short-term therapeutic nutrition for 6-8 weeks is an integral component of home-based management of SAM. There is an urgent need to develop an indigenous preparation of therapeutic nutrition in the country and operationalize the community management of SAM. Exploring a tie up with WFP / Unilever might be a good start. Also NRHM can start a mission GYM ( Grow Your Medicines) at the PHC , Sub centers and in every households ,as most of the green vegetables and fruits can be grown locally , and can be used for fighting mal nutrition and under nutrition . On one side , fortified snacks could be given , and also the NRHM can distribute seeds for growing vegetables and fruits that can mean much cheaper source of right nutrition .

Height weight charts must be distributed in all households to keep them aware of age- weight –height ratio and the relation to malnutrition . Automated SMS based service could help in ensuring compliance as seen in the case of Wardha pilot for MM /IM.

Awareness and sensitization must happen through short films and pictorial comics about the deficiency of Iron & Calcium in females

ICDS : Policy makers must consider merging ICDS with the NRHM , as it might be worthwhile to double the number of ASHA’s and allocating more high priority job to ASHA’s.

Health Fairs must be organized locally to create awareness on the issue of malnutrition . Those parents who have the healthiest girl child must be made ‘Role Model’s’ for others to follow . A ‘healthy girl child award’ must be instituted in each village ( Say Rani Laxmi Bai Award ,Sarojini Naidu or Indira Gandhi award etc) , and the government must recognize the mother and father ( Good Parenting ) for healthy upbringing of the female child ,along with a cash award of say Rs.1000.00 , or other incentives like 2 KG extra ration at the PDS shops, free bus travel for parents for one year in ST ( state transport ) bus , 50 % fee reduction in graduation of the child ,if studying in government college etc, could also be considered depending upon the consensus of the relevant stake holders. This can be a good competition to start with, which will drive home the message that bringing up a healthy girl child is beneficial in the short run and in the long run & the responsibility of the parents , with the Government acting as an enabler for this . To start with, if each of the 6 lac + villages gives this award to one girl ( parents ) , and each encourages 10 people to take care of their girl child , we would have got 6 crore healthy females in the next 10 years !! If we want faster results , we can fix the criteria for a healthy girl child for the age group 1- 16 years , all those who qualify can get incentives for the healthy upbringing of the girl child like free travel on ST bus etc . Ministry of women and child development might like to take this up in the 12th five year plan.

NRHM must insist with the ministry of education to include in the curriculum few chapters on micro nutrients and their role in healthy living , and this should start from class eight onwards.

I do hope that these inputs are of some help .I remain at your disposal should you need more inputs on other aspects of healthcare & rural economy

With best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Office@rajendragupta.in

Budget Expectations- Preventive Care

2011-01-27T05:54:00.001-08:00

January 25th , 2011.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee

Minister for Finance

Government of India

North Block,

New Delhi -110001

Subject : One action item in the budget for 2011-12 that can raise the GDP by 1-3 %

Dear Pranab Da ,

I am sure that your team is working hard to find a balance between maintaining the growth, reducing inflation , keeping the debt within reasonable limits , and still maintain India as one of the most appealing investment destination for foreign investors !! I know that it is quite a challenge, but we are sure that your team will achieve it under your leadership

I am making this request on behalf of The Disease Management Association of India ; DMAI- The Population Health Improvement Alliance . At DMAI, we work with various stake holders to bring about a lasting improvement in our healthcare system Healthcare in India is a big economic issue and is fast turning out to be a social & a political issue .

Let me walk you through one reality – Healthcare is not an individual issue , it is a family issue . Take the case of a person suffering from just one of the chronic diseases like Arthritis, Diabetes , Cardiac disease or Cancer (It is a known fact, that by the time an Indian reaches the age of forty , he is either at the risk of or suffering from a chronic disease) . If a person in family suffers from a chronic disease , not only does that person lose his efficiency ( productivity ) , but loses many work days every year due to treatment and restrictions imposed during the course of treatment . In addition to the person having a direct loss in his productivity , his entire family has to make some adjustments & sacrifices , thereby having a cascading effect on the productivity of the entire family !! Ultimately, this affects the entire family , organizations where these people are working , and finally pulls down the productivity of the entire nation directly , which is what I understand as the GDP of our nation !

Pranab Da, just consider one step in your budget , and you would be the first Finance minister in the world to have given top priority to health to boost the productivity of a nation !

I am hopeful that you will allow expenses in meditation , Yoga , Swimming pool , fitness centers, Gyms & preventive health check-ups to be included in the rebate for income tax -Just like we have health insurance premiums which qualify for tax rebate . Health insurance is nothing but transferring the risk and payment to a pool, but what we need desperately in India is “Health Assurance” – avoiding diseases , and that means, we need to encourage healthy habits & provide appealing benefits to people to take to activities that promote fitness and take away sickness !!

I am sure that you will consider to levy a 4 % service tax on all the providers of services like meditation training , Yoga classes , Swimming pools , fitness centers, Gyms & preventive health check-ups , but also give rebate to the citizens who enroll in such activities . Further , I would request you to give equal rebate to Health insurance & Health Assurance in this budget in terms of the total amount qualifying for the rebate in income tax.

I am very sure that, the ministry of Finance and the entire nation would gain from the healthy population in terms of enhanced productivity and lesser loss of man days , in addition to a healthy collection of taxes from the service providers in the fitness segment that will add up the numbers drastically. I personally believe that this one step that has the potential to raise the GDP of the nation by a minimum of 1 % and can go as high as 3 % additional increase in GDP , which means that by 2012, India can grow at 10-12 % in terms of GDP by just taking one step in this budget !

In addition to the growth in GDP , our future generations would always feel indebted to your selves ,for taking this most important decision for bettering the healthcare of individuals & raising the productivity of the nation

I am sure that this very important recommendation would be considered positively and acted upon!

We will always remain thankful to you for the kind consideration

Yours in good health

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

CC.

Sonia Gandhi Rahul Gandhi Dr.Manmohan Singh Dr.Murli Mahohar Joshi Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad Montek Singh Ahluwalia Dr.Syeda Hameed. Shri L.K.Advani Smt. Sushma Swaraj Shri Dinesh Trivedi Sitaram Yechury Members of Parliament Sam Pitroda Secy , Health & Family Welfare , GOI Dr.K.Srinath Reddy Chief Minister’s of States Dr.Salim Hebayeb, WHO Gerard M La Forgia , World Bank

Media

Give us a Prime Minister - Manmohan Singh is a good professor but certainly not a PM material

2011-01-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

Dear Mrs.Sonia Gandhi,

Since you are the President of Congress party , please look into this email

Over the last few years , we have tried to accept Dr.Manmohan Singh as our Prime Minister , but his performance as a congressman might be good , but he has failed completely as a Prime Minister . Congress has been blinded by Gandhi dynasty to such an extent that it has become poor in chosing the right people for the right job. May be that your and Rahul’s intellect is not upto the mark where you can choose competent people .

Over the years , congress government under your Presidency has become a government of faulty planning , false promises , blaming coalition for your failures and blame free investigations in most of the scams

This government has too many highly educated people, economists & NRI experts & advisors , but still the wisdom to understand the problems and give exact solutions is missing .

Every time your Congressmen give a new date about controlling inflation , and every time they miss it . When the inflation is perpetually high , you blame coalition politics for it. So why do Indian’s pay a price for your forming the government ?Dissolve the government and go for fresh elections .

You are not able to judge the talent and most of your ministers are highly inefficient and corrupt , and we were hoping that Sharad Pawar would be removed so that he could focus on the ICC world cup in 2011( Which he will do anyways !!), but he seems to have hypnotized you !! He is still around !

Your party believes that , by revealing the names of those who stole the government money and deposited them in Swiss Banks , would pose a security risk ! So you are trying to tell India that, majority of your office bearers are Swiss account holders !! And that their getting caught would mean that the government would collapse !! Anyways , Julian Assange is on the way for dropping a few names , and I do hope that they are not from India & Congress !!

Industrial growth has been reduced to 2.7 % , lowest in the past 18 months . Would like to answer it why ? Rather , I must ask you if your people know at all why it happened ?

People are very bullish about rural India, and every major FMCG , White good & vehicle manufacturing company is over- joyed with the growth coming from rural India in terms of the purchases being made . Let me take you through a very dangerous & disturbing development in rural India – I call it Rubble ( rural bubble ). I have been visiting rural India and talking with villagers . Here is what I want to tell you. Let’s take the example of Chavane village in Raigad. The village has changed dramatically in the past 3 years. It is great to see concrete (Pucca )houses with two wheelers parked in front of the houses. As you dig deeper , the facts reveal that people sold their land to MHADA for Rs.30,000.00 per acre for SEZ, and with sudden flow of funds, the thatched roof houses got converted into Concrete (Pucca ) houses, and two wheelers were also purchased along with some jewellery . Villagers had for the first time seen so much money, so instant money that came by selling land was used to make aspirational purchases , and it is over now , lands are gone as well !! What will the farmer do ? What will the farm labourers do ? How will they earn their living ? Let’s take another village 80 Kms from Nagpur , where Lanco plant is being built . Villagers have sold land for the rates as high as Rs. 25 lac per hectare . In India , average size of the land holding would be around 5-7 acres. Selling the entire land would fetch Indian farmers between Rs. 1.25 lac to 1.75 crore depending upon the size of the holding and the rate paid by the acquirer. On these lands , manufacturing plants would come up. We would never see greenery again. And farmers and their children who do not have jobs and land to do farming will be the next anti social elements or naxalites !! With land not available for agriculture , inflation would be higher than what it is today . Today farming is seen as a disdainful activity , and people want to do a job of Rs. 4000 but do not want to work in farming . Your congress government has kicked the ass of 100’s of millions of farmers over the past 60 years , and we are on a temporaray rural growth that I call as a rural bubble – Rubble !! India is headed for a major crises , & all because of the faulty policies of successive congress governments focused just on building billionaires , industries and encouraging FDI !! Get retail FDI in India , and see how the 12 million kirana stores and their families will starve to death . I have had discussions with the Parliamentary Committee of Commerce , Chairman in 2009 , Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi , and have given him in detail the reasons why we need to avoid FDI for the next 5 years at least !!

For price rise , last year ,Manmohan ji said that it was due to poor rains , in 2010 we had good rains and good crop , so why the price rise ? Kindly explain

I was in Nagpur on 17th / 18th , and I read in one of the news papers about the fact stated by none other than Mr.Subramanian Swamy that, your bank balance was about Rs.10 crore some twenty years back , and now it is Rs.80,000.00 crore !! I think that this shows that inflation is very high at 10, Janpath . Please clarify if you actually made 60 % money in the 2G scam or this money came from abroad ? You are answerable

Ironically , in the current times , we have a strong opposition but a weak ruling party . How can this government run ? If BJP comes down on its demand for JPC in budget session, Indian public will assume that it ‘settled’ the matter with congress and will never let them win again the seats that they are looking for, and if they keep their agitation on like the winter session , your government will have to go , and India will see a sign of relief !!

Madam, congress might be your personal fiefdom , but not this country . You have created multiple power centers more powerful than the PM , like Rahul , NAC etc….You are the worst Congress President in the history of this country . But usual , we have a saying ‘Andhon main Kane Raja’ So you are the right person for the congress, which does not have any talent left !!

We have an outdated finance minister , unfit Agriculture minister , Hyper environment minister and an ineffective Person on the seat of the PM. All along, I have heard that we need 100 good people or 1000 good bureaucrats etc. But the fact is that , we just need one right person : at the seat of Prime Minister . One right person will change the future of this nation , and Manmohan certainly is a disaster at the cost of people . At this time , we cannot afford to have a lame duck as a Prime Minister of this youthful nation . Please give us a Prime Minister , we do not need a professor !!

A suggestion for controlling food inflation : Please ask the government to start a daily free ( even if you charge the farmers for this service, it is fine ) truck service from the remote villages to cities , where only farmers can come directly to the market and sell their products, rather than selling through agents , mandis or APMC . This will ensure that the person who adds maximum value and takes maximum risk for growing the produce ( farmer ) should also get the maximum profit . The profit at every point of sale post the harvestor ( farmer) should not cross 15 % , and this will bring down the prices to reasonable levels permanently . I read Subbarao stating that the government is desperate to control inflation and will raise the base rate , I heard Chidambram that government is clueless about the tools to control inflation , Sharad said that he cannot control what the farmers want to grow and so he cannot control food inflation . All these stupid statements come because you have bookish professors and so-called highly placed intellectuals and NRI & outdated advisors , who have no connection to ground reality . I do not understand how will raising the rates decrease inflation ? You have been doing this for the last two years and the result has been same – inflation has only increased . Do we need such economists who do not have answers to the common man’s problem ?

Do you never apply your brains about this fact that, the prices of the grains and vegetables are sky-high , still the farmers are committing suicides ? Does this not help you understand the problem and get an answer ? You all must be high level fools then !!

In addition to high prices of food stuffs, by increasing the price of petrol again you have signaled the common man that ‘do not eat , do not go to work’

Nitin Gadkari ji , please take up these matters with utmost seriousness , as congress is forcing the poor people to take to suicides by failing to control prices . If BJP does not take the matter seriously , the people of India will feel betrayed. Congress is fast becoming a failed party under you Sonia Gandhi ! Please either give us a PM or you and PM can go now ….. do not let this great country go to dogs !! This email is marked to Sharad, your dear son , FM , HM etc. to do some soul-searching and step down

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Why JPC ? FAQ- Frequently Asked Questions

2011-01-02T01:37:00.000-08:00

As the country steps into 2011, memories of 2010 as the ‘year of loot and Scams & Parliament deadlock’ will keep chasing our minds, trying to find answers. Congress continues to use its good offices to give a wrong picture & keeps confusing the common man, painting a saintly image of the Prime Minister , Sacrifice of Sonia Gandhi for giving up the Chair of PM , side-tracking the issues of uncontrolled inflation and other glaring national issues concerning the common man, and blaming the opposition parties of sabotaging the winter session of the parliament . Here is a short document that presents a factual picture, as to why the entire opposition ( and not just BJP ) is sticking to its demand for JPC & why is the Congress hell bent on opposing JPC, thereby sabotaging the parliament session ? Here are some of the facts;

 On 23rd July 2009 , the issue of the 2G scam was debated for 3 days in Rajya Sabha, & the Prime Minister still asked “What has Raja done” ? The BJP has always respected the people’s mandate and demonstrated highest regard to the constitution and safe guarded national interests. We must consider that , In Rajya Sabha, where Congress is in minority , BJP worked with the Congress to get the Suppliers liability corrected, keeping in view the Bhopal Gas tragedy, and ensured that the Nuclear Liability Bill was smoothly passed . So BJP is not a party that will stall the proceedings of the house, leave alone a parliament’s session.
 According to the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG ) Report , Raja’s opaque and ‘Speed Allocation’ ( Telecom companies were asked to deposit the drafts within 30 minutes !! ) caused a loss of Rs. 17,60,00,00,00,000.00 to the government of India . This is besides the Common Wealth Games loot of about Rs. 7,00,00,00,00,000.00. Total money in just two of these scams is to the tune of Rs. 24,60,00,00,00,000.00. Is the demand for the Parliament probe not a fair & justified demand for looking into the government functioning, that blatantly looted the nation of money and brought down the respect of the nation before the global community ??
 Despite the issue being discussed in Parliament , the Prime Minister did not act on the telecom minister , and the CBI kept its Masters ( Congress Government ) in good taste by registering a case without filing charge-sheets against ‘Unknown persons’ for this biggest scam !. It is clear that CBI had covered up the issue with its ‘Blame Free’ investigation. The scam and the ‘No response’ from the government was such a blatant ignorance that, on October 29, 2010, the Supreme Court had slammed the CBI for its “slipshod” investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation issue and even wondered how Mr. Raja was continuing in office.! We know what had happened in the case of Jessica Lal , where the investigation lead to the outcome that , ‘No one killed Jessica’, and if the congress government continued in its way of dealing this issue , the massive loot of the state exchequer would end up getting lost into files and years and finally fade away.
 We must not forget that it was the Supreme Court that pushed the government to act, and then only after the entire opposition pushed the government, Congress had to sack Raja .
 We must not forget that All India Congress Committee, AICC meet in New Delhi on 2nd November 2010, on the eve of 125th anniversary of Indian National Congress did not even mention a word about corruption despite this glaring and shameless loot of the nation for lacs of crores !!
 The parliament logjam is due to fight between the Arrogance & Rigidity of the congress to not to have a JPC , (so that AICC can maintain the opaqueness of its dealings and keep doing the denigration of government institutions under its regimes to continue to loot this nation) , and the reports of the CAG , reason & logic of the opposition for a very basic demand to have a JPC , so as to set a strong deterrent & a lasting precedent to check the recurrence of these scams . On one side, the Prime Minister wants to appear before the PAC in complete disregard to the framework of PAC, and in addition , the government has decided to circumvent the JPC issue by asking the retired supreme court Justice Shivaraj Patil to probe the 2G scam. If the government is serious about bringing the guilty to book, why is congress shying away from JPC, which will also have a congress nominee to lead . But the fear of the Prime Minister stems from the fact that, in the JPC , there will be representation from all the parties as per the strength of the house in parliament .Congress is well aware , PAC does not have necessary mandate & is restricted , & even if PM presents his views to the PAC, it is not of much consequence . The fact is that , every time governmental transactions take place, CAG goes into those transactions. The CAG is like an internal auditor; it produces an audit report. The PAC’s jurisdiction stems from CAG only. It is restricted. The magnitude of this issue is far greater. Politics, government formation, policy formation, portfolio allocation distribution, people learning of the government’s policy days in advance--these are not auditing matters, they are not accounting entries which PAC can go into. CBI can only determine the criminality of the issue; as to retired judges giving reports on policy, Then you have a PAC with a limited jurisdiction. The only body which can look into all institutional ailments is, the JPC. That’s why the entire Opposition and not just the BJP is asking for a JPC probe. But BJP is firm that it will not give in and bow in to the tactics from Congress
 Karnataka comparison with 2G scam and the reality ? Issues have been raised with regard to certain land transactions and land allotments. It has been an established practice according to which, the state chief ministers have the authority with regard to some discretionary allotments and to the release of land which they don't require. Now, whether this was properly done or improperly done, questions can arise, and have arisen. There are various mechanisms going into those questions: you have the Lokayukta going into those questions; a separate commission has been appointed. Our party president has said he is taking somebody's help in going through those questions. The issue is not closed. BJP is committed to complete transparency in its dealings , and time will prove that no wrong doing was ignored and no wrong person was spared under BJP.
 If NAC ( National Advisory Committee) is needed , when a government with a PM & cabinet is functioning , why there should not be a JPC despite a PAC ? Congress must look into its double standards rule book, and then talk . BJP is a responsible party committed to highest values in governance for safe guarding the interests of every Indian
 Congress calls the opposition irresponsible, and Pranab Mukherjee threatens a mid-term election, if the opposition sticks to its demand in the parliament for JPC – Public knows who is black-mailing !!

Prepared by Rajendra Pratap Gupta for the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Quota for medical emergencies in Railways and Airlines

2010-12-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

28th December , 2010

Ms.Mamta Banerjee, Union Minister for Railways, Government of India
Mr.Praful Patel, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India

Subject : Quota for Critically ill & Medical Emergency patients

Dear Hon’ble Ministers,

I have the honour to write to you on behalf of DMAI (Disease Management Association of India) – The Population Health Improvement Alliance, concerning Quota in trains and airlines for critical ill and medical emergency patients .For airlines, I am aware of the frequent flyers quota ( As a Platinum Member of Jet Airways, I am guaranteed a seat at the full fare 24 hours before departure ). I believe, that the members of Parliament have a quota with NACIL. The different quotas in railways in mentioned below .

General Quota
Ladies Quota
Head quarters/high official Quota
Defence Quota
Parliament house Quota
Foreign Tourist Quota
Duty Pass Quota
Tatkal Quota
Female(above 45 Year)/Senior Citizen/Travelling alone
Physically Handicapped Quota

Though, it is a matter of shame that despite 63 years of independence, we still have a waiting list that never gets confirmed, and needy passengers lose a day or sometimes are not able to reach their destination in time for treatment or pay more to touts who gets the reservation under HOR (Higher official Requisition ).

Besides the poor planning from the railways, one thing is clear; that a common man and his genuine needs are clearly ignored. We are aware of the fact that, during medical emergencies , people have to carry the sick patients to the various national institutes like TATA Memorial ( Mumbai ), AIIMS (Delhi ), NIMHANS etc, for referral , surgeries and other treatments , which are in major mega metros, and that too, at short notice many a times !

Similarly, for various other ailments, the patients have to travel to major towns where the facilities are available, and this might happen at an extremely short notice, and such a travel is necessary to save a precious life most of the times

To be short and accurate, people have to travel from ‘Bharat’ to ‘India’ to save the lives of their loved ones. What I am proposing is that, we must have a quota for medically-ill patients with one attendant at least .This quota must be available for all trains and same for airlines .

How to implement this quota ?

Let this be a simple process for an already suffering family with a medical emergency. Idea is , not to waste the most critical resource; ‘Time’ . The station manager or the station master must be empowered to allow the patient with not more than a one page single form with Xerox of medical report and an identity card, referral letter from a qualified government or private practitioner. The station master could call the doctor to verify the letter and approve thetravel instantly, so that the patient could board the train even if s/he has reached just before the train departure time !! If you want , DMAI could assist you with qualified volunteers to help frame the guide lines for this . Travel should be made free for railways for AC III Tier , as it has been the failure of the government to provide good care facilities uniformly across India , and people have to travel for treatment to mega metros and other major nearest town for treatment . The guaranteed reservation should be for to & fro travel

I am sure that this is a very genuine request and the government will work out the modalities for implementing this from the next budget itself

We remain at your disposal for further information & assistance , should you need in this matter

In hope of the needful with an action taken report

We wish you a great year ahead . Happy New Year .

Yours truly ,

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Copy to:
Dr.Manmohan Singh , Prime Minister , Government of India
Shri Pranab Mukerjee , Finance Minister , Government of India
Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare , Government of India
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi, M.P.
Arun Jaitley , Leader of Opposition – Rajya Sabha
Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition – Lok Sabha
Dr.Syeda Hameed, Member , Planning Commission of India .
Dr.K.Srinath Reddy, President , Public Health Foundation of India
Secretary for Health & Family Welfare Government of India

Stop this loot of our hard earned money by supporting defunct and inefficient public sector companies & being blind to private operators !!

2010-12-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

Praful Patel
Minister of State for Civil Aviation
Ministry of Civil Aviation,
Government of India
Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan,
Safdarjung airport
New Delhi -110003

Dear Mr. Patel,

I have been reading all that Niira Radia said about you, ‘ That, you ruined the Aviation Sector & that you work for Naresh Goyal’ . Well, i am not in a position to be judgemental about her comments .Nevertheless , as a frequent flyer ‘common man’ , and a concerned Indian, i am sending you some action points , which will be subject to RTI enquiry by January 16, 2011., in case , no action is taken or no written response from the Ministry within 15 days .

I know that you have been proactively involved though the media, for showing your concerns for high fares , and trying to bring down the fares of the domestic airlines . I am sure that you could at least create media bites because of the same . Through this appeal for action , i wish to share my view points on some action areas that might be worth your getting into, and showing your commitment towards the passengers and the common man .

Today , i received a message from my friend from BJP, who had a harrowing time due to delayed Spice jet flight at the Delhi airport , he was made to wait for hours without being even served water !! I expect your ministry to come up with Guidelines for treating passengers ( both domestic and international ) for Foggy conditions or any technical reasons etc, resulting in delays beyond 30 minutes , and cancellations . I expect you to ‘instruct’ the airlines with a penalty clause to provide ‘healthy refreshments’, in case of any delay beyond 30 Minutes as per the dietary guidelines . Also, the Ministry of Civil Aviation or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or the Airports Authority of India must make alternative arrangements for dealing with delayed passengers at your cost (FOC) for making two free phone call ( one at the boarding city and other to the destination city ) to the relatives or friends etc , and for refreshments like hot beverage during winters and cold beverage during summers & a meal for each two hours of delay . AAI and airlines are collecting heavy airport and terminal taxes for each flight that we take. Should it not be a joint responsibility of the airlines and the AAI ? Please set up a toll-free number operational 24 X7 for such complaints . Need your response on this within 7 days

I was in Bhubaneswar in November to attend a conference which was also attended by ISRO scientists . While we were discussing our travel itineraries , i was informed by them that PSU & government employees are only entitled to travel via NACIL airlines ( Air India & Indian Airlines ). So for travel that could have been done for less than Rs.8500 by any LCA’s ( low cost carriers ), these people paid upwards of Rs.28000.00 because NACIL airlines does not fly direct to Bhubaneswar . Two questions to your ministry . Private airlines fly to Bhubaneswar ! So for sure , it is a good sector , else the private airlines would never fly on these routes . So did NACIL never consider this Or it stopped flights to this sector for any other ‘considerations’. Please clarify with details of the review meeting minutes whether this was ever considered ? Second ; Why should Government employees or PSU’s be allowed to use only NACIL airlines ? Rather i must ask the Ministry of Labour , HRD or the PM through this communiqué , why is there a restriction for government and PSU employees to use only the state run company services like NACIL or BSNL or MTNL ? Despite this monopolistic practices and captive customers, both these corporations are under heavy losses !! Remember , that PSU employee pays Rs.28000.00 instead of Rs.85000.00 for flying with inefficient NACIL airlines . With this , you are being unfair to the market , and we the tax payers are being put to a double loss to encourage the inefficiency and corruption in the PSU backed service providers and still fund their losses !! Please stop this stupid rule . Let us make our PSU sector to be competitive to get customers. Government backed & public funding of the losses must be stopped immediately .Just consider that the Rs.20000.00 extra that the ISRO scientists paid to travel to Bhubaneswar was coming from our money ( taxes ), and despite giving this captive business to NACIL , it continues to bleed every minute , which is again funded by our monies . You are gonna fund these losses by bailing them from our tax money .

My suggestion , government nationalised Air India when it was owned by TATA’s. Last month only , Ratan Tata had said that , he was being asked Rs.15 crore to start the airline business . To my surprise , instead of taking this serious investigation further ( you could have got a CBI inquiry done for all the airlines that have got the license , and how much did they paid to get their airline license ? Instead, you asked Ratan Tata to name the minister, thus obfuscating the real issue and letting it die slowly ). Now , you must give NACIL back to TATA’s and let them run it efficiently , and you remain a 40 % financial share holder and don’t meddle in the operations . We, the tax payers would save our hard earned money in funding the losses every year , and have a much better experience flying the same airlines under TATA management

Lastly , i have sent a note on October 22, 2010 that healthy foods be served at all airports and all airlines . I am attaching the PDF file in this email , and also pasting some of the action points for your action

Issue guidelines & standards ( and enforce them ) with regards to the food served in airlines , railways , other public transports, government canteens, private dining establishments, School canteens & packed foods ( all forms )

 All such foods / foods items must carry the calorific intake for each serving

 The customer must be given a choice of low calorie, low glycemic index, and zero cholesterol options rather than forcing them to eat unhealthy foods that adds to the disease burden of this nation.

 Above all, all packaged food companies must carry tips for good health on the individual packs – at least a one liner if not more!!

Detailed note is available on the DMAI – The Population Health Alliance’s website www.dmai.org.in . Link http://www.dmai.org.in/Appeal_DMAI.pdf

I am hoping that you will definitely attend these issues in this year itself

I wish you , family and the team a Marvellous year 2011

CC: PMO / Min of Labour / HRD / Prominent Leaders of the Opposition

Regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Mobile:

India + 91 9223344542 / +91 9867300045

USA + 1515-966-6557 / 1515-450-8036
UAE + 971-553121829

Email: office@rajendragupta.in Office.rajendra@gmail.com

Address for communication 102, Siddhivinayak, Plot no.3

Sector 14, Khanda colony, New Panvel (W). Navi Mumbai . India 410206

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This is what foreign media is reporting about India

2010-12-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-53758120101223

Let not inefficiency , inflation and corruption get into 2011

2010-12-24T00:50:00.001-08:00

Dear Mr. Singh ,

Last year was the worst year of the decade, and perhaps after independence due to your weak leadership as Prime Minister.

I read today in the newspapers that, the food inflation is in double digits , i feel it is not just double digits , but a double blow for the poor or medium class fixed earners, whose salary does not increase with inflation . Think about daily wage earners that earn 40-60 Rs a day and manage their family of four ( two children and parents , though we know that, poor people have more than two children !!) ? Do you not feel the guilt , that you have caused irreparable damage to the nation, and its people both economically , and its image in the eyes of the world ? Today we are called a scam friendly corrupt nation - a nation of scamsters!!

People have got carried away with your degrees, but seeing your miserable performance , i have realised the difference between being educated , being knowledgeable and being wise . You might be educated , but you are definitely not knowledgeable and not at all wise ! A Prime Minister is expected to be Wise and pro-active on important issues . You have built your good image , but ruined the nation's image !

You and Pranab are fooling the people of this nation by showing 8-9 % GDP growth and a higher forecast . Reality is before us, it is difficult to survive for a common man in today’s time when one cannot get anything done without paying money , when one cannot live within his salary seeing the high price of daily food intake . A big Shame on you both and Sonia !! With such revolting conditions , i am sure you are working for pushing people to take to Naxalism and crime !!

Two days back i was talking to Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi and discussing the current developments , and i told him that, Dr.Joshi you could have proved to be a better PM ! Incidentally , there is only one Dr. in Congress and in BJP. In Congress ,It is yourself , and Dr.Joshi is the Dr. of BJP. I have had a chance to work with him on several issues , and have seen his grasp of real issues facing the nation, and no wonder , even you have been high in praise for his abilities as PAC , Chairman, besides other colleagues in congress . I am sure that he would have proved to be a much better Prime Minister . I cannot comment on others , as i do not know other leaders much .

My humble request Manmohan ji, give Indians a chance to celebrate the new year , Please resign and go ...............we do not want more corruption , more inflation and more GDP !!

We would happily settle for no corruption , low inflation or no inflation and a moderate GDP .

Go now Sir , take rest .Let’s celebrate New Year with a new Hope

Hope this does not fall on deaf ears

Wish you a great year ahead

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : Office@rajendragupta.in

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Thank the generous leaders of the opposition that have not asked for your resignation

2010-12-20T21:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Manmohan ji,

More than six years back, we handed the reins of a great country to you, assuming that, you were the person who had turned around India in the late 80’s. It was on the basis of the past credentials that you were asked to be the supreme custodian of the nation, its values, its sovereignty and its 1.2 billion people . We were wrong , it was Narasimha Rao who did it , and you just got the credit . Also, i presume, that besides devaluing the currency , and giving into the IMF’s demands, you did not have any alternatives , so unnecessarily , you took the credit after being pushed to the wall. Now where is your economic understanding and knowledge in taming inflation , when inflation is killing the common man for over about years now ??

Your men ( ministers) have looted the nation to the tune of Rs. 3.0Lac crore ( 1.72 Lac in the 2G scam and 70,000 Crore in CWG + other routine scams and bribes will add up to the figure of Rs.3.0+ Lac Crore , and now you are claiming innocence and stating that you have nothing to hide !!

You cannot hide anything Manmohan ji, you are already exposed by the taped conversations and the reports of the CAG ! The technology ( mobile phone licenses ) which gave your men 1000’s of Crores , that same technology ( Taped phone conversations of Niira Radia ) exposed you bare before the common man !! People are now asking you to go under the scanner to be punished and that’s a fair thing to ask, as the nation has been under siege by your men, who have recklessly looted the nation and thrown the laws to the wind . This in itself shows how serious the issue is ? You come from a party that that have never respected democracy , and still believes that Gandhi family is the start and end of all. Congress have even strangulated the democracy & its institutions , and has put to stake the interests of the nation before the interests of the dynasty . Do not forget that Indira became a dictator by imposing emergency , and that’s the party you belong to right now . So when congress arm twists politicians with CBI raids and IT notices , you are just carrying on with the DNA of Indira’s dictatorial policies, that were like ‘ either support us or else get harassed’ . Do you not see that Jagan was denied his father’s role , and Rahul has been appointed the Secretary of Congress due to his Surname !! Does it not prove double standards .

As a head of the gang that has looted the nation of Rs. 3 lac crore , you should be thankful to the opposition that they have not asked for your resignation till now . As head of the gang ( basically , what i am saying is that , you are an offender and have committed a crime of betraying the trust of a billion people ) , you have no right to decide who will probe you and how ? You are a big fat offender in supreme office ? You must voluntarily step down and face the law. You cannot be probed till you are in the seat of the Prime Minister . How can a thief decide who will put him to trial ? and which laws will apply to him ? Aren’t you doing just that ? You are a miserable failure as a PM on all accounts , and people have just got carried away by your fanciful & foreign degrees and your old age for which you are being respected .

You loot the nation first and then cry aloud that you are as Pristine as the silver clouds in the sky ?

I am marking this mail to the top leaders of the opposition to ensure that they reconsider their demand, and ask for your resignation besides JPC. If the leaders fail to do so , the public will punish them for not caring for the interest of the common man ! Manmohan ji , You have failed in your fiduciary responsibility as the custodian of this nations , its democratic values and institutions , and now Sonia , Rahul and you are talking like an opposition party , stating that we will have a five pronged approach to fight corruption ? That too, after systematically looting the nation, you are trying to become saintly policemen ? Were you not the PM when you supported Raja, and said that you are in the loop of all that is happening in the DOT ? You were the one who gave him a clean chit ? Now , it’s your time to surrender to the law of the land for a fair probe, and that is a reasonable demand from the opposition . In that , i as a common man , am adding one more genuine request . People with questionable credentials and dubious record of governance must immediately resign

Time to pay for your sins

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : Office@rajendragupta.in

www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Common Man !!

2010-12-20T08:46:00.001-08:00

Dear Rahul,

I read about your definition of the common man at the Congress plenary session . It is rather a matter of shame that, the Congress has decided to search the definition of a common man after six decades after India became Independent !! Your party has ruled the country for about half a century with absolute power, and your dad used to say in 80’s that, of every rupee meant for the poor only 15 paisa reaches the poor, and now you say only 10 paisa reaches the poor. So what have you all done for this country ? Your contributions are a serious question mark ?? Now to shadow your failures , you are talking of terrorism !!

We have met twice on your call at 10 ,Janpath ( Once in March ’10 & second time in Oct’10 , i could not come in July as i was abroad ). Coincidently , Kanishka was present in both the meetings and had told me that i could have fought the elections !! I must tell you that , i have not been impressed by your rhetoric on development or your being a Sipahi for the Tribal’s etc. Look back , what has congress done to the nation ? In a land of a billion people , if we have to ask the question, to name 10 big business houses ? The person will start answering something like this, Reliance , Tata, Birla , RPG group, Bharti, Vedanta , Sahara ..............and start fumbling for want of more names . Shameful isn’t ? That this should have been the scenario of every state, where we should have created millionaires and billionaires .............But we just have a handful of tycoons ........close to the establishment .

But the bigger question is , how & where did these groups become big & make their money ? Answer is simple . They all made their money in natural or government resources ( Steel, Mining , Gas , Spectrum, real estate ). All these resources are owned by the state , and have been either selectively leased or licensed to some tycoons who could bribe the party , politicians and bureaucrats and loot the resources owned by the government . These groups have been created by politicians , and now these groups manage the greedy lot !!

So please do not make tall statements at the public forums . I was having lunch with an industrialist friend from Delhi a week ago, and he thought that i understood the mechanizations at the Delhi’s corridors of power. So quite naively , he asked me ,Rajendra , do you know who is the Mr. Ten Percent in Gandhi Family ? I answered point blank, ‘No’.

To which he named your brother-in-law !! Stating that Now a days , Robert Vadra is known to get 10 % , when he is not even worth ten percent . I also heard Tarun Das , Mentor CII, Stating to Niira Radia that , Mr. Kamal Nath takes 15 % cut . He later justified and retracted .But a senior and an elderly Industry spokesperson saying such a thing is a matter of shame for the nation .

You & others have said many things in this plenary , but do you all have a plan ? The malaise is so deep that people will revolt against the powers, should you try to kill the giant whom your family let flourish all these decades ; The Giant call corruption . I understand when Raja made a statement today that ‘ I am not afraid of CBI’ . He knows that, CBI is busy with Jagan Mohan Reddy now a days and Reddy brothers & Yeduyurappa . It cannot act against its masters ! Else , how will the CBI Chief get his plum post after retirement ? We all know that you do not intent to end the corruption my friend !!

Rise up from your slumber and talk sense Prince RG !!

Regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Congress Plenary - Congress shows its double standards

2010-12-20T02:02:00.000-08:00

Congress has the right to crack jokes at its plenary session . How can congress shout at the top of its voice to fight Communalism and corruption , when none others than the congress leaders propagated Communalism and corruption ? The whole idea of this session was to extend the rule of Sonia and role of Rahul , and hide their failures by shouting aloud at non-issues .?

We all know that the deterioration of congress under Sonia’s leadership is its worst ever in its history . She should have resigned from the party than extending her President-ship to five years. What was the hurry after all, if she is such a great leader ? She could have become a President for another 3 years after her current term got over ( Her new term , i presume, commenced only a few weeks back , when congress tore the decades old rule book and elected her as the President for the fourth term ). Two things are clear with such a move , first that Sonia is insecure about her getting another term , and second , there are tremors within the senior Congress leadership, who were not happy with the current turn of events , and might have questioned Sonia’s inability to tame the moral and electoral downfall of congress , and the party sycophants silenced them by increasing the term of Sonia – This is congress . No word is heard against the first family and their future off springs !!

Politicising Ram , One is reminded here how the decision to throw open the doors of Babri Masjid first at political level was taken by Rajiv Gandhi under the advice of Mr. Arun Nehru and then the judgement was pronounced by the district magistrate that the doors of Babri Masjid be thrown open which gave rise to a serious problem.

We should also not forget the Congress sponsored Somayagya by Chandraswami at Ayodhya . When Congress failed to milk the Religious issue of Hindu’s , it started provoking and blaming the BJP

My grandfather ( also that my mother was born in Lahore ) was born in what is now called Pakistan , he used to write in Urdu and no Hindu ever questioned him ? It was the leaders of the Congress that divided India in closed door meetings with British on religious lines and started Hindu- Muslim divide ,

It was congress that failed to address the Kashmir issue and the boundary dispute with China ( Nehru shut the door to negotiations on the (India-China) boundary on July 1, 1954″, according to a just-released book by A.G. Noorani based on archival research and hitherto unpublished material ). Nehru’s refusal to negotiate, and the 1960 rebuff to Chou En-Lai when he was visiting and appeared ready to settle the issue — may well have sowed the seeds of the 1962 India –China war, and finally the defeat .

Criminalization of politics was started with Sanjay Gandhi during emergency, and thereafter, this spread like an epidemic. Who killed thousands of Sikhs after the death of Indira Gandhi and got away after decades of blame-free investigation & trail ? Who use to go to meet the Maulana Bukhari before the elections, begging for Muslim votes – Rajiv Gandhi ! See now, this clan (Gandhi ) calls for fighting religious terrorism , and blames Hindu radical groups for fomenting terror !! I have no doubt about what Rahul told Timothy Roemer about Hindu terror groups , and now , his mother will use all the government machinery at the center and in the congress ruled states to put RSS and others on the other side of law . This is what Congress is known for . Perhaps , Mahatma Gandhi was right , when he asked to dissolve the congress after the freedom was achieved . May be, he had got a sense of the future tactics of congress ,and he had lost confidence in the powers in Congress , and their ability to run the nation post freedom using the alter of Congress- which i presume Mahatma Gandhi never wanted to happen .

Digvijay’s communally provocative remarks have been summarily dismissed by the Karkare’s family and also by his own congress ruled government in Maharashtra , still congress calls him to the dais to deliver a talk at the Plenary . This is the true face of congress – Double standards . Do something , and run to stop it – posthumously !!

Another glaring example of double standards of Congress comes from the fact that , Congress goes to bed with any party for grabbing power , and then realizes that the partner was not accommodating in the bed and did not have an appetite for congress’s taste . See the case of poor chaps that got trapped and went to bed with Congress and lost their respect later – Lalu, Mulayam , Mayawati …………list will continue as the Congress party lacks character .

After criminally looting India for close to half a century , Gandhi family chooses to shout at the top of its voice to end the problems that have originated from their weakness !! This is the clever strategy to convert weakness into strengths . This is also called Sainthood in old age

Lastly, after 62 years of independence , Congress party has been working hard to find the definition of the “common Man” !!

Time to expose these corrupt leaders from the Scam Party of India – Congress in itself is a big Scam !

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com

Poor people are looted at the airports - Plan backed by the government

2010-12-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Speed post

December 15th, 2010.

Mr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India , New Delhi.

Subject: Email sent on March 01, 2010, regarding Immigration forms & the loot of the poor passengers at the International Airports in India

Dear Prime Minister,

Please go through the attached email, wherein I brought to your notice, the organized loot happening at the international airports across India. As usual, no action has been taken so far .May is, because the poor people do not have a lobbyist like Niira Radia!!

This is how Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is involved:

The MEA knows well that less than 5 % of the Indians know English, still the immigration forms are printed only in English. The poor Indians who cannot read / write in English are forced to shell out between Rs.20-Rs.60 for the touts to fill the forms.

It is more than six months that I have brought this to the notice of policy makers including your selves, but no action has been taken. Is this how you look after the common-man!! Do you not know how many poor workers travel to gulf countries every day!! They are robbed even before they leave the Indian shores to earn for their families, who are struggling back home at their native place to make both ends meet!

Please let me know in writing why no action has been taken on this complaint? Also, for the past so many decades, why has the government not thought of having immigration forms in Hindi and other local languages? Also can we not have counters for illiterate people at the international airport, where assistance can be provided to fill in the forms ?

The existing Immigration form does not mention, if the form has to be filled in black or blue ink, please mention this in the new forms right at the top.

Lastly, give me a definite date as to when this be done?

This complaint will be subject to RTI act, if no response is received by January 31, 2011.

In hope of the needful

-Signed

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Encl: Email sent on March 1, 2010 & Immigration form

CC:

Mr. S.M.Krishna, Minister for External Affairs

Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi

Leader of the Opposition, Arun Jaitley (RS), Sushma Swaraj (LS)

Media

Rahul is not at fault - fault lies in his surname !

2010-12-17T20:49:00.000-08:00

“My grandmother was behind the creation of Bangladesh”. This was none other than Rahul GANDHI’s remark a few years ago, so when i read his Wiki leak’s revelations about his conversation with Timothy Roemer , i was not surprised . Firstly , why was he seated next to the Ambassador of the US ? Was there no protocol for seating arrangement or he just grabbed the seat ?

Rahul ventured beyond his role as the General Secretary of Congress and as an M.P. Such comments about terrorism should come either from the Home minister or the Prime Minister .He should have talked about congress and his youth congress , but for sure , not for the nation and its security . Why does he not utter a word against corruption ?

But we must not forget that once you have the surname ‘Gandhi’ , no matter , even if you are insane , you will be the heir apparent for Congress party, that has become a party of sycophants for the Gandhi family .......................... Competence does not matter in the party , otherwise there are many competent leaders in congress , but once you challenge the first family , you are out .

Last year , i was with a senior politician at Delhi, and i asked him, why do you not promote ‘talent based’ politics in Congress ? To which, he answered ‘ Talented people ( we get some talented people elected to the parliament) are sent to the government as junior ministers or in ‘light’ ministries , and keep the sycophants in the party , because the party runs the government and not the other way round !! This answered my question why was Manmohan elected as the PM , as he is not a politician and would take his directions from the party even for doing wrong things ‘rightly’ and for doing ‘right’ things wrongly , and later take the brick bats without even politicising the issues !

We must wait for the Wiki leaks regarding Manmohan Singh , and that would certainly be more interesting than any of these leaks .

I recall someone from the NDA ( Sharad Yadav perhaps !!) had said during the Bihar assembly elections that, we must dump Rahul in Ganges – Bihar certainly listened to him !!

Whenever , this poor chap (Prince RG )makes statements drafted by his speech writers , he talks sense , but i believe , with Timothy , the discussions were not supported by his speech writers , but were extempore !!

Congress did not replace Rahul despite his irresponsible utterances from Time to time and his devastating failure in Bihar . Look back , Advani was removed for his utterances for Jinnah, so was Major Jaswant , and finally , Advani stepped down after failure in 2009 elections , but Gandhi family members can commit blunders with impunity and have immunity for any adverse actions being taken against them . Only a few weeks ago, Sonia was elected President for the fourth time , breaking all the rules of the congress party !! That's the Congress (I)

Judiciary is as inefficient & as corrupt as its top tier in Supreme Court & the top most politician of this nation

2010-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Just ask yourself , why do Chief / Justices of Supreme court, Chief Election Commissioners , Chief of Police , Chiefs of Army etc get plum postings after retirement ? Simple answer – they get return gifts for the favors they do when sitting in the hot seat !!

I was chatting with a senior journalist at the India International Centre , New Delhi a few weeks ago, and he had informed me that, it is believed in political & industry circles that , CJI K.G.Balakrishnan decided Mukesh Ambani’s case just before his retirement and made around Rs.450 Crores !! Well, this may not be just the only judgment to make money !!

Also, we can now understand , why In an embarrassment to former CJI K.G.Balakrishnan, Supreme Court judge H L Gokhale today contradicted his claim that he was not aware that it was former Union telecom minister A. Raja, who had tried to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case

In a statement, Justice Gokhale, who was the chief justice of the Madras High Court at that time, said that in his letter to Justice Balakrishanan, the then CJI, he had clearly referred to the name of Raja.

Justice Gokhale ‘s statement totally contradicts Justice Balakrishnan's claim that there was no mention of any Union minister in the report sent by Justice Gokhale, then High Court Chief Justice, on Justice S Reghupathi episode.

"I regret to say that the allegations are absolutely incorrect," Balakrishanan had said last week referring to news reports that he had suppressed a letter purportedly written by Justice Reghupathi to him when he was Chief Justice of India.

CJI K.G.Balakrishnan protected Raja and became a Raja himself after bring appointed to the coveted post of Chairman, National Human Rights commission . Had he not protected Raja and done other favours to Congress , do you think he could have got a Cabinet Minister rank post his retirement ?

Think again , why did M.S. Gill become the Union Sports and Youth affairs minister after retiring as the Chief Election Commissioner ? Gill is in his late 70’s. and his youth passed away decades away !! Does he represent the youth of this country ??

Also reason out , Why did T.N.Sheshan not get any cabinet rank post his retirement ? Why did Kalam not get second term as President ? Why did Kiran Bedi resign before retirement ? Also , the current Judges of Supreme court who have questioned the CWG & 2G scam and taken a tough stand to unearth corruption will certainly not get a cabinet rank position post retirement !!

It is being talked in Congress circles , that the former Chief Minister of A.P., K. Rosaiah had resigned on grounds of poor health , and now he is to be rehabilitated as a Governor of some state. So is Raj Bhawan ( Governor’s residence ) meant to house the sick people ? After all , it is our money ( taxes) that support all such sinecure offices . It’s time to question such appointments .

Why is BJP supporting a sick George Fernandez ( he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease ) as a Rajya Sabha member, when he cannot even recognise who is Arun Jaitley ? Time to question every such decision which takes our hard-earned money that we pay as taxes to run this government !!

Corruption is a trickle down process and starts right at the top !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

office@rajendragupta.in

Raja not only made money out of air waves ( spectrum ) but also out of airtime !!

2010-12-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

Manmohan Singh ( You do not deserve any respectable salutations !!)
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi
Media

Subject : First Hand experience with the de facto Raja i.e. Mr.R.P.Paramesh Kumar

In the year 2007, I had a chance to meet the de facto Raja i.e. R.P.Paramesh Kumar , who has been in the news recently for being the front-man for taking moneybags on behalf of A. Raja

We had a two meetings ( one at his T. Nagar office , and the other in a five star hotel at Chennai ) , and some of the highlights ( take homes from the meetings ) are as mentioned below :

• Paramesh Kumar informed me that he was the cousin of Mr.A.Raja , and that his call was as good as A.Raja’s call . Further , he offered to arrange a meeting with any I.T. company top honchos , and for doing so, his rate was Rs.10 Lac for ten calls . He assured that he would put us in touch with ten people , be it Narayana Murthy , Azim Premji or anyone else , and we had to use the opportunity to make business from those meetings . He was just responsible for getting an appointment !! What a business model !! Rs. One lac per phone call !!
• Also , the person who introduced us to Paramesh Kumar was a nice guy , a close relative of A. Raja . He informed us that Apollo Hospitals group had paid Rs.700 crore to A. Raja for a deal , and that Raja charged for every visit to companies for inauguration and the amount would run into lacs per visit !!
• The same relative informed us that Mr. Paramesh kumar was the cousin of Mr.A.Raja and the company M/s Green house promoters was the entity where Raja routed all his ill gotten wealth
• In one of the meetings with Mr. Paramesh Kumar in a five star hotel , Mr.R.Ramakrishan from Sobha Applied DSP ( part of the Sobha developers ) also joined the meeting.

I have never been into bribing, and so I did not pursue this discussions any further, and this remained just an exploratory meeting called at the behest of Raja’s close relative . This was in 2007, and I am sure that from 2007 ( or even before 2007 ) , Mr. Raja would have made 100’s of crore rupees making calls at the rate of Rs.1 lac per call to just fix meetings !! Manmohan ji , I do not know how he could do that with you as the PM ???

Manmohan Singh ji, if your ministers did such things while you were presiding over them as a PM , what does it indicate ? It is clear that you were a like a blind security guard on duty who did not see who was looting the building which you were supposed to safeguard !! If your intelligence failed even over your cabinet colleagues , how do I expect as a common man, that the same intelligence and supervision will take care of the safety of the nation and its borders !!

Last week , I was in a meeting ( which was also attended by senior people from the USA ), and one of the presenters had a slide that read – “We are a scam friendly nation ”. Trust me , it pained me a lot, and I felt ashamed before foreigners, that what people like you have made of this, once a great country – India !!

Nehru ignored corruption , Indira patronized it , Rajiv participated in it , and now , Rahul and Sonia are setting new benchmarks in corruption . If India had great leaders , we had just about 300 million population during independence ,and we could have become a developed nation by 1975 itself !! A system delivers what it is made for , and India’s system is made to work for inefficiency and corruption !!

I was in Delhi a day before yesterday ,and was having coffee with one of the Rahul’s close aide and advisor , and after an hour of discussion, he accepted that the future of the villages in India was ‘doomed’ . He accepted that government has no plan for rural India , and he was equally frustrated with the current scheme of things . Manmohan ji, your people are also fed up with your working !!

Manmohan ji, if you have little respect for the law of nature , please accept your failure and resign

We need drastic changes in our system and the current stream of politicians are not capable to comprehend the need and do the needful

Journalists : I know that you will doubt that I ever met Paramesh kumar , and that I am working for some vested interests ( as Raja’s aides or the morally flexible congress spokespersons would say ) , so I am attaching Paramesh Kumar's visiting card along with the Sobha’s Director , Mr.Ramakrishnan’s visiting card . I am sure that it good enough ,and trust me , I have no axe to grind . People who have worked with me are aware of my ‘zero tolerance’ towards corruption and bribing .

I do hope that CBI will investigate Sobha’s & Apollo’s connection with this money launderer- Raja & his ill gotten wealth . I have no proof other than quoting my discussions and attaching the visiting cards . Raja should be arrested immediately ,and his case put directly under a supreme court’s fast track system . Send these corrupt politicians to gallows !

Please act

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email: office@rajendragupta.in Office.rajendra@gmail.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.N. I receive over hundred email messages every day , and it is not possible to respond to all the emails promptly. Also , that the response time can be as high as thirty days or more . Please do not hesitate to follow up or sms at +91 922 33 44 542 in case you have a message which needs to be attended on a priority.

Mr. Prime Minister , you must go now !

2010-11-28T04:25:00.000-08:00

28th November 2010, via Email

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
New Delhi.

Dear Dr.Singh ,

Over the last few weeks, we have seen that that our hard earned money ( about 40 % of our hard earned money goes to government as direct and indirect taxes ) was been looted more blatantly by our own politicians under your leadership than by Moguls or Britishers !!

We are ashamed of your leadership, more so, because you are a highly educated Prime Minister . It was hoped that a highly educated person has become the PM , the politics & governance would be without compromise and would improve , but seeing the massive loot of the our money in IPL, Rotting of food grains , naxalite problem , unchecked inflation , CWG , 2G & 3G , MCI expose , Adarsh’ & now LIC , it seems that the game of looting the nation will continue unabated . I still recall that you were the first one to back A .Raja last year , when the issue of 2G allocation was raised , you have stood beside him . Now that post the Supreme court intervention , Raja is gone , what are your thoughts ?

This is the first government in the country where the supreme court had to intervene many times and express shock ( remember the supreme court questioning CBI in Mulayam & Mayawati case , telling the government to give grains free rather than letting them rot !! & now the silence or patronage of the 2G minister !! ).

Dr.Singh, do not forget that the media reaches till the last man in this nation , and when they hear that the Prime minister lead government has looted lakhs of Crores , the reply in 2014 is going to be worse than Bihar. Over 400 million poor people do not even get one full meal a day & more than 5 million kids die every year of malnutrition !!

Dr.Singh , in history , you will go down as the most ineffective Prime Minister . You are the only Prime Minster, who was blatantly used & his position repeatedly abused by the Gandhi family . No wonder, Sonia came to your rescue saying that you are 100 % above board, and that your honesty should never be questioned . Dr.Singh , can you raise your hand and say that you are honest and you lead ministers like Sharad Pawar, A. Raja , Shashi Tharoor etc...........Your integrity and Honesty is just a matter of your 'being an educated & learned person' and nothing beyond. In the last 7 years that you have lead this country , you have denigrated the government institutions & investigative bodies to mere puppets, and systemically allowed the loot to happen just to retain your chair . Dr.Singh . It is high time that you resigned and moved on and start writing your memoirs ‘honestly’.

I think it was a clever ploy to make you the Prime Minister , so that you could share all the blame for the planned loot , and when it comes to taking credit for NREGA , food security bill or women reservation bill , it would be the NAC headed by Sonia . ...............You should keep this email for your record . Post your stepping down( whenever it happens ) , you will be the first one in the line of fire from the Gandhi family for your inept handling of security , inflation and corruption . They will be the first one to say that could not understand managing a coalition and became morally flexible and allowed the loot of the nation !!

I also urge the opposition ( BJP ) to work on a program to educate the common man, that we must ensure that the congress is out of power for the next 10 years to get this nation back on track .........from 2014 till 2025 we do not need congress at all .

I am sure that all marked in this email will understand the anger of the common man and act as per our wishes !!

A common man

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Healthy foods- A must have

2010-10-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
President
Disease Management Association of India (DMAI)

Dated: October 22nd, 2010.

Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad
Hon'ble Minister for Health & Family Welfare
Government of India
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi -110108.

CEO’s of the industry
Subject: An important appeal

Dear Shri Azad ji & CEO’s ,

This appeal needs your esteem, kind and personal attention.

Disease Management Association of India (DMAI ) – The Population Health Improvement Alliance is thankful to the Ministry of Health & Family welfare for taking action on its recommendations for health reforms appeal sent last year ( dated November 23rd 2009 ). Members, associated organizations and the Board of Directors of DMAI – The Population Health Improvement Alliance, are highly appreciative of the steps that the current government is taking to tackle the healthcare issues concerning our nation.

One area where DMAI feels that the Ministry & the industry have to draw its focus and attend urgently is:

Issue guidelines & standards ( and enforce them ) with regards to the food served in airlines , railways , other public transports, government canteens, private dining establishments, School canteens & packed foods ( all forms )

All such foods / foods items must carry the calorific intake for each serving

The customer must be given a choice of low calorie, low glycemic index, and zero cholesterol options rather than forcing them to eat unhealthy foods that adds to the disease burden of this nation.
Above all, all packaged food companies must carry tips for good health on the individual packs – at least a one liner if not more!!

It is proven that Indians are genetically susceptible to circulatory disorders , and that we can only fight it by inculcating healthy eating habits by educating the public on healthy foods, promoting healthy foods ,and at last , giving them an option to eat what is good for their health .

I have personally experienced that all the airlines, Indian railways, public transport and eateries are serving foods that have a high glycemic index, high in fat content and are loaded with calories that remain in the body as excess fats. Such foods are a slow poison for consumers!! This is the main cause of India becoming a diseased nation, and the alarming rise in the obesity amongst children in addition to diabetes and hypertension. DMAI had conducted a random Health Risk Assessment with 2000 people in association with IIHMR, Delhi. The revelations have been shocking!! We have an abnormally high incidence of diabetes, hypertension and obesity. It’s a call to action.

We have to aim at keeping the BMI of Indians below 23, and today, it is shocking that about 50 % of Urban Indians are either at the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension or joint pains or suffering from it.

By the time Indians reach forty years of age, they become patient of one form of illness or another. It is high time that we all get together and put efforts to make India a healthier nation. We cannot just blame the government for the healthcare issues and leave it to handle this issue alone!

Through this appeal, we expect all the airlines, public transport and eateries to ensure that they serve healthy food and carry the total calorific intake for each serving.

It is also expected that that all the concerned will take the health of Indians as a top priority in all the offerings when it comes to foods intake , and give options like brown bread , sugar substitutes , low calorie and low fat meals as an option and not force the passengers & customers to eat high calorie meals.

DMAI is committed to working with all the major stake holders in the entire continuum of care to bring about a population health improvement through actionable steps

We expect the government to formulate definite guidelines on this issue, and the industry to take a proactive approach. Work place wellness must be focused on by the HR captains and CEO’s of all the ‘responsible’ corporations.

DMAI appreciates the proactive approach of the government to ensure healthcare for all. Should the government agencies need any assistance in drafting guidelines or in the implementation plan, DMAI would be more than happy to volunteer for the same

In hope of the needful

Sincerely

CC:

Dr.Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister

Ms.Sujatha Rao, Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, GOI

Shri Dinesh Trivedi, MOS, HFW

Dr.K.Srinath Reddy, President, PHFI

Health Minister of States

CEO, Jet Airways, King Fisher Airlines, Goair, Indigo, Air India, Spicejet

Minister for Railways

Ministry of HRD / Ministry of Labour / Ministry of Civil Aviation

Koutenya Sinha, Editor Health, Economic Times

Sonal Shukla, Hindustan Times

Priyanka, DNA news

Rajdeep Sardesai

Barkha Dutt

CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI & CIAT to circulate this to all its members

Ecorape in Navi Mumbai

2010-09-27T06:07:00.001-07:00

( Via email )

Dear Jairam,

I suggest you to send your team to Nerul, Navi Mumbai ( opposite Dr.D.Y.Patil stadium ). You can see that the beauty of Navi Mumbai ; the hillocks are being razed down under the patronage of the NCP leader , Ganesh Naik.

This is nothing short of an 'Ecorape' . Please save the beautiful hills and the natural creations . Today , these are being razed to make way for sky scrapers . Our next generations will pay a heavy price for such neglect and callous attitude of builder lobby in Navi Mumbai

Expect an immediate stop to such activities

Best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Government ( MP's ) , Government employees & the Common Man !!

2010-09-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

A few days back, the members of Parliament got a raise ( Over 300 % ) . Today, the government employees got 10 % increase in their dearness allowance , and the “poor” Common Man gets to read the headlines that, the inflation for food items has crossed over 15 %. But Pranab says, economy will grow at 9 % next year

This is the government (of ) MP’s, (for ) government employees & (at the cost) of the common man !! This is what happens when there is “democracy” for a population that is either illiterate or unemployed or both ............Votes count and voters don’t .

Democracy will function effectively in a population that is literate and employed .Else dictatorship or democracy mean the same !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

US increases VISA fees and Bans outsourcing

2010-09-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

It is quite natural for any country into recession to resort to protectionists measures. So for sure, that Indian IT / BPO companies will face a flack and lose business . So what to do ? How to counter the threat ?

Improve & increase the current offering , slash prices and force the US firms to come over to you..............this is the best way for Indian companies to help US based companies to lower costs and increase profits ...and ensure that Indian IT companies are more compelling value proposition for US corporations hungry for profits . Let's see what works better - Business over politics or Politics over business ?

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

2010-09-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

13th September 2010

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
Government of India
7, Race Course , New Delhi-110011

An Open letter from a common man

Dear Dr.Singh,

Namaskaar

I wrote you a letter on 14th February this year asking about creating wealth and employment ( available on my blog www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com ). Post that letter , i did hear Pranab da stating that we need to create wealth ........but as always, i have not seen a concrete action plan post that “loaded statement”

For the past few months , i have been wanting to communicate to you what an ordinary Indian thinks about the current state of affairs, so that you can take appropriate action. Since so many things have happened, i will just randomly start than prioritizing any particular issue

Wastage of Food grains : In India , it has been a tradition of not wasting food on the plate . But we are wasting more than 50000 of tons of food grain and on the other side , we are having unprecedented and unchecked inflation. Conditions are revolting for the common man. If i was born in a deprived family , i would have become a ‘Civilian with a gun, out there to seek revenge’; what you can call as a naxalite !! But i have a very decent corporate job , i live with my family in Mumbai and i have a more sophisticated way to vent my anger with this note ( i presume that is the reason why we say that the Pen is mightier than the sword ! ). Else , for sure , i would be a more dreaded naxalite that Koteshwara Rao !! My social & financial standing prohibit me to think on those lines for moment ............

Back to the point of the wastage of food grains , i am quite surprised that supreme court ( knowing well , that our courts are the most inefficient & corrupt ). Still they felt that the government should distribute grains free than letting them rot and even passed an order . Not just the citizens but the court also believes that the government is a laggard when it comes to addressing the issues of the common-man & So it had to pass an order !)

What are the steps you are taking to ensure that this wastage does not happen again ? Have you taken the FCI & Ministry of agriculture to task for a poor job on forecasting the production , planning storage and facilitating distribution of grains or exporting them rather than letting them rot when the country is facing a double digit inflation ? If i were in your position, i would sack the minister , the secretary of the Ministry & a bunch of senior officials responsible for the criminal waste and start the legal proceedings to penalise them & disqualify them from holding any post ever . So that no one would ever repeat this even for one KG of food grain, leave alone 50,000 tonnes. You seem to be enjoying as a silent spectator !!

Dr.Singh , how would you feel if your children or grand children slept hungry for a few days or just had one meal a day ? Do not forget that , 4 lac of children have their first birthday as their last & 56 % of the women suffer from anaemia . All this is easily preventable . I wish your children were malnourished and then you became the Prime Minister

Honesty , inefficiency & Corruption : Dr.Singh, i sometimes wonder why people call you honest ! In my view , you are not honest at all . Yes you might have some integrity ( though you have become morally flexible to a large extent ). Let me quote your silence on ministries handled by Mamta , Lalu, Raja, Sharad and others........if you were honest , you would never tolerate their incompetence and corrupt practices ! You are the patron ( rather the Head ) of this gang of inefficient ministers . CBI has become ‘Congress Blackmail & Bachane ka institution” . When there is a show of strength in Lok Sabha or there is a need for support , CBI goes to the Supreme court to withdraw cases against Mulayam , Maya and Lalu etc . Whenever these people take congress to task , CBI starts knocking the door with charge sheets. Which honesty are you talking about Dr.Singh or are you selectively blind ?

Leadership abilities : You had once remarked that the history will judge you & not the opposition . Let me tell you that history would judge you as the most incapable leader who moved with the tide & sometimes it worked ( like in 1990’s ) and most of the time you failed miserably

Your party always projects you as the person who modernized India. Totally wrong !! In 1990’s , you were pushed against the wall with foreign exchange left for just a few days . Dr.Singh, you had no choice but to let the rupee devalue , and let the foreign investors bring money , and that too, was envisioned by PVNR ( who will never get his due share as he is was not from the Gandhi clan !! )

If you are such a great economist ( Look at your team: Finance minister is an economist , Home minister is a past finance minister , Montek is a finance man , In addition to this , you have Kaushik Basu, Raghuram Rajan etc....bunch of economic advisors ) . Then, why the hell are you all floundering !! You are all simply clueless about inflation and its solution!

I heard Pranab da saying yesterday that he was worried with inflation rising again !! He actually meant that he was failing ! I know that sometimes it is hard to put the right words, but public is not a fool Dr.Singh . We can make out what is underneath your statements .

Here is what historians would actually consider while rating you :

1. Allegiance to the Gandhi clan and not to the nation
2. Sharm-Al Shaikh & your love for Bush ( the residents of America hated the man and you loved him , i always fail to understand this one )
3. Double digit Inflation ( You even failed as a astrologer here )
4. Common Wealth Games fiasco
5. Kashmir violence ( Worst thing to imagine is that house wives are on the streets pelting stones & Omar & you are on the same boat !! )
6. Naxalites
7. Relations with China ( Visa row clearly indicates that relations are at an all time low )
8. US sanctions against outsourcing and increasing the VISA fees ( you just get flattered by Barack’s calling you ‘Guru’ , and you have gone overboard to get the nuclear deal through . Look at India’s past, and you will see that whenever India has faced sanctions , India has come out with its innovative research and developed the capabilities . Agni & Chandrayaan were built by Indian scientists. I don’t think that we should have surrendered our ‘Nuclear Sovereignty’ by signing the nuclear deal with a lot of riders and opening our sites for inspection to foreign powers .....You have let us down & undermined the capability of our scientists Dr.Singh ! Long term prospects of India of being the nuclear giant is gone with the deal . Without the deal , we could have taken longer but become stronger
9. Relations with Pakistan , Nepal & Sri Lanka have gone at an all time low during your regime
10. Farmers suicides are a blot to this nation
11. Andhra Violence
12. You are the only Prime Minister who has appointed & tolerated incompetent & disobedient ministers like Mamta , Sharad , Raja , Tharoor et al.

Under your Prime Ministership the political health, Social health & Economic health of the nation has touched a new low . I am not a fan of Advani , but when i see what Mani Shanker Aiyer did recently w.r.t. the Common Wealth Games or what Tharoor did a few months back or what Digvijay Singh has been saying about the Home minister or your own M.P’s criticizing the Kapil Sibal or Jagan defying congress and continuing with its Odarpu Yatra , i think Advani was right in saying that you are a weak Prime Minister . This is the worse government we have ever seen . The things have gone so bad that people curse you and your team . Even those who are well to do, are revolting in conscience and criticizing you ............you should be ashamed Dr.Singh of still sticking in your chair . Media calls you night watch man !! I feel ashamed to mention the language common man uses for you .

Dr.Singh , you represent the ‘political culture’ of this nation . If you are silent ( or helpless ) seeing the corruption and inefficiency of the ministers who report into you , how can you expect the citizens of this nation to stand up against corruption and inefficiency ? You are leading by a wrong example . Please change it immediately or do not give talks that calls the people to stand up & raise voice , when you are silent and blind to acts of corruption , inefficiency and nepotism !!

Seeing what you have done , i can put here that you never could become a politician and failed , and also that the professor in you died as you could not convince your colleagues of looking after the nation as per the mandate given to your government .

Every minute you stay in office or every inch you move is financed by my taxes ( read common man’s tax money ), and i have every right to question you about your indecision and decisions both . Please do not ignore the concerns of the common-man . Change your style of working , make changes in your cabinet , let the corrupt ministers go .......and do not do the mistake to pass off Rahul as a representative of youth for the nation .........He does not represent the youth , he represents the Gandhi’s

I expect you to act on this ...............you already have a detailed note sent out to you on Feb 14th about the steps you could consider to take in the interest of this nation . Else , resign and go. For sure , we will get a better Prime Minister ........

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email: mail@rajendragupta.org
office@rajendragupta.in

Don't try to copy and chase China

2010-09-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

One of the most important ( and expensive ) learning’s out of common wealth games experience has been that we should stop following China !!

We hoped to repeat the Beijing Olympic games at Common Wealth Games , and are very close to mess up with the much smaller games event than Olympic Games ( CWG )

It is time for our politicians to wake up and stop dreaming of making Mumbai like Shanghai or aping China in terms of double digit growth. India can never do a “China story”.

We tried to copy SEZ's model from China , and today we know how many SEZ bidders have walked away from their signed deals for setting up SEZ's

We have to come up with our indigenous model of growth rather than making references of China and trying to bench mark our growth numbers with China's milestones !

Rajendra

Women / Senior Citizens - Immediate & Important steps that needs to be taken

2010-08-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

To: Dr.Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi , Sushma Swaraj, Meira Kumar , Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi via email.

Dear Dr.Singh,

Please pardon me for raising this issue ( this is the only issue for which i have not down much ground work !! ), but i am solely moved to raise this issue , seeing the plight of women passengers squeezed between males across towns in public transport .

I was in Bangalore last week, and when my cab passed by a public transport bus , i could see how we respect our women !! Reservation for women is a good step . But first let’s address the basics

. Ask all the state governments to start special busses for Women passengers / senior citizens in all towns . You can probably have common buses for Women / Senior citizens

. The local licenses for toddy ( local fermented drink ) should be banned
I am sure that women being in key positions in India ( President , Chairperson UPA , Leader of Opposition , Speaker of Lok Sabha ) could make this happen sooner than later

Best wishes

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Food Inflation - the real issue is of planned production & storage

2010-08-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

Pulses – the pulse of the nation : Pre-dominantly , Indians are vegetarians , and so the protein requirements are met through consumption of protein rich - pulses

We have always been worried about high food inflation charging the government for inefficient handling of the prices. Often we quote the high price of pulses . Let’s do a little digging on why pulses cost more when 65 % of our nation is engaged in agriculture ?

Pulses production in India is 12-15 million tonnes , and the requirement is 18-20 million tonnes . Looks like pulses production have never been planned by the ministry of agriculture or the planning commission ; this is when we have celebrated 63 years of independence recently !!

Second issue is that despite poor production , even storage has not been attended to .

FCI- Food Corporation of India has 60.5 million tonnes of food grains ( all kinds of grains & not just pulses ) . This is good enough of quantity to give 21 KG of grain every month to people below BPL . Sadly enough , 30 % of the 60.5 Million tonnes gets wasted every year due to storage conditions

Issue is very simple , and the policy makers need to plan production and storage to address the gaps . Once this is done , we should never have issues related to irrational prices of food grains

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Security or Surveillance ?

2010-08-26T01:26:00.001-07:00

Since our last major terror strike at Mumbai two years back , one of the major developments have been about security . I feel strongly that since a lot of VIP’s died at the TAJ Hotel , a lot of ‘high octane’ drama was enacted both in the parliament , media and other public places .

Let’s do a quick check of what happened post our 9/11 ?

Where do we see most of the surveillance ? Airports , stations , five star hotels etc. I have stayed in Taj Hotels in Bangalore to CROWN plaza in Delhi and many others. I visit a five start hotel every week to meet friends and visitors who stay in such hotels . Here is what i feel about the so called “over hyped’ security

We have been working for the elite who stay in hotels and travel by air . But still , security issues have not been addressed . Let me walk you through the security processes at display in all major locations

You will find a metal detector ( by default ) at all major public places , and it beeps every time you walk past though it . You are required to take out your cell phone , keep it outside and then walk through it . I has asked at a five star hotel security person in Delhi . If my cell phone was having a bomb what can you do ?? You do not even scan it in the metal detector , i have to keep it in the tray outside the metal detector . The poor guy was doing what his security company had told him. He was blank and answerless.

In every airport , the process is the same .

Interestingly , i was at HYATT regency at Mumbai a day before yesterday. A person came , asked my driver to open the door , bonnet etc wiped the steering with a plastic and went back to the machine to read the plastic . Imagine , i was a terrorist , would i not get enough time ( while the security guy is reading his plastic wipe !! ) to run my vehicle into the hotel and shoot or blast anything i wanted ? can you call it security ?
In the hotels , well dressed security chaps will say Namaste to you with folded hands , ask you to open the doors or frisk you. No one even understands what the hell bonnet of the car looks like or does it have a bomb ? i bet you that even if i carried an explosive , it would get in well past the entry point ! Like a convict who carried a pistol in Delhi court last week despite all the security !!

So the point i am making is that due to this security scare , dogs have got employment ( my friend who is President with a reputed five star hotel had once told me, that these dogs can work with accuracy only when deployed for 20-40 minutes , but they are made to work for hours ). So the point is that, it is all show of surveillance and not security . Intelligence and pro-activeness is lacking totally in our system. People standing at the security points are ill equipped , and there is no way that these guys can be alive to resist the attack, if terrorists strike !!

Last week , i took the security officer of Mumbai airport to task for allowing the so called VIP vehicles parked at the exit gate no 2. I informed him that the gate no 2 has only pick up and drop and is not meant for parking, and that the VIP parking had been created specifically a few meters away , but our arrogant VIP’s have taken it as their birth right to flash red light beacon or VIP numbers and park vehicles posing a big security threat to Mumbai airport. I asked Asst. Police Inspector , Mr, Mane why he did not tow the vehicles parked on the gate 2. He was speechless , he tried to explain that the VIP’s don’t listen . There were at least 6 vehicles blocking the exit , and not a single driver was in the car ................I wrote the same to the Chief Minister and the Home Minister .....i do hope that these guys act before a strike !!

We have as a nation failed before naxalites and we will continue to fail against terrorism , till we address technology proactively and pre-empt strikes . Current vigilance in the name of security is a farce wasting money and delaying the check-in in the hotel & airports

Hope the policy makers take the note and act

I have marked this to our Home Minister

Mumbai airport - A true reflection of India

2010-08-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

When you land at Mumbai next time , do peep below to get the aerial view of Mumbai- A true reflection of India . On one side , you have dozens of aeroplanes , and the other side hundreds of Slums . That’s India .

The government will remove the slums shortly, but the poverty will not go ,it will be shifted from the eyes of the viewer. You will have swanky buildings coming up on the slums- may be a new runway or another terminal etc. So after a few months, if a visitor lands in Mumbai and sees that there are no slums , he or she will imagine India growing much faster , slums disappearing .... Poverty vanishing off fast , faster than China .

Think before you imagine the real India . We are doing cosmetic changes and these do not impact the health of our nation

We need change at the grass roots .

We are still far - far away .............

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

3G & the high speed downfall of the Telco's

2010-08-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

3 G spectrum has been over-sold . Considering the fact that, the average yearly penetration of 3 G users has been highest at 5 % in developed countries like Japan. It took them 7 years to increase the penetration of 3G services to 35 %. India is a country with 150- 220 million middle income people , and not everyone requires 3G !!

In India , do we need high speed internet in our daily lives ? We are pretty okay with Blackberry, emails and voice calls- Just 70 million internet users !!

Industry has perhaps gone overboard to pay “Obnoxious” sums for 3G spectrum.

To ensure profitability , 3G players will have to invade few sectors to make it viable ( trust me , it is a big challenge for immediate future ). The sectors that need to be invaded are HEART ( Healthcare , Education & Entertainment , Agriculture , Rural India & Travel & Tourism , Telemedicine )

People have wrongly understood the first wave of telecom revolution . The first wave came because of the following

Before the cell phones were launched , getting a land line from the government “monopoly” ( BSNL /MTNL ) was difficult – wait times was uncertain & services pathetic even after bribing the lineman the things would not work !

‘Rich’ people could afford the luxury of a ‘Cordless’ phone, that would have a coverage of 10 or 20 Feet . Suddenly , with a cell phone , people could roam with a phone across India or the world !! I think people in the telecom sector have believed that the craze for 3G would be the same as the first wave for cell phones !! But believe me , it will never happen . I have used cell phone since 1996 , when it was launched and paid an “Airtime’ of Rs.16.40 per minute + normal call rates !!

The actual number of cell phone users are still as per what i call the 1/3rd Rule ( we just have approximately 200 million cell phone users and not 654 Million, what the Telco’s & the government talk about )

Handsets to use the features of the 3G are not evolved as yet

Overall, paying and bidding for 3G was a lot easier than to manage the profits out of the networks using 3G. This will leave only two players doing something worthwhile ( Vodafone & “may be” , Mukesh Ambani ). Rest will have to work hard to avoid “Consolidation” of the industry

May be , some players will use 3G airwaves to enhance the voice quality

MNP ( Mobile number portability ) : MNP was delayed for obvious reasons !! But once the system is operational, it will crash due to the overload of the people applying for the same . There is a lot of anger amongst users for poor service quality . People will change the provider not for better service but to vent out anger at the existing service provider. Some Telco’s will lose millions of users in months ( who gains in the long run is going to be a billion dollar question ) Time to wake up and take corrective action, and innovate the services !!

Two big challenges 3G & MNP – Head ache of CEO’s of all Telco’s

3G might become the high speed to downfall – Thanks to the myopic government policies and over excitement of the bidders. May be , that’s the reason why MNC’s stayed out of the bidding. Perhaps,they will wait for some companies to bleed, and then, buy them out

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Impact of Healthcare Globalization on our Economy

2010-08-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Address as the Session Chairman for Panel Discussion on the topic “Impact of Healthcare Globalization on Economy” at the 3rd International Healthcare Quality Conclave, 31st July, 2010

Good evening friends. I have an Interesting topic for discussion amongst my esteemed & learned panel of experts.

Let me introduce you the expert panel. I have with me, Mr. Rajiv Sharma, CEO, Sterling Hospitals, Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals, Mr. Sudhir Bahl, COO, IVEN Medicare India Ltd, Dr. Dharmendra Nagar, Managing Director, and Paras Hospitals

Coming to the topic, I have had a chance to be involved with a few healthcare systems across the world: The largest, over-funded and under-performing healthcare system – US Healthcare system, the government supported UAE healthcare system & the one that is under-funded and under-performing healthcare system – India

What will be the impact of healthcare globalization on the Economy? Firstly, why will the healthcare globalize? And when this happens, what impact will it have on our economy?

My understanding is that the healthcare in the US / Europe has already embraced the ‘Moment of truth’ - that both these systems are not sustainable in the current form. I believe that the solutions for the healthcare problems of the developed world lie in the developing world, and so, healthcare globalization is the only way forward! With private Indian healthcare organizations setting up world class facilities in India, a good number of Indian faculties are headed back home with better environments to work in their very own home country. This will lead to reverse migration.

Also, developed world is facing the problem of high cost and a long waiting period for major interventions. Certainly, Indian healthcare system offers solutions to fill in this need gap with an assurance of world class care. Adding to this is the healthcare insurance products being launched by some insurance companies in the US that will encourage the patients to travel overseas for treatment

Today, US healthcare system is a big talk everywhere as it is 17 % of its GDP. In India, a 1.2 Trillion USD economy, healthcare is 2.91 % of the GDP. This number of 2.91 % of the GDP is too low to impact the economy unless it becomes 2-3 times of its present number. One of the impacts of healthcare globalization will be that it will increase the healthcare’s share of GDP in India

Recently, we saw a major healthcare group in India bidding for a regional healthcare group. I can safely bet that the Wal-mart of healthcare will be from India

With Healthcare globalization, the healthcare will improve and impact the healthcare of the common man, and ultimately the productivity of our country’s work force will go up; thereby leading to a more vibrant economy

Overall, the impact of Healthcare globalization in our economy will be felt across sectors as Healthcare is a complex industry with the highest employment potential . Healthcare globalization will positively impact employment across sectors like manufacturing , R & D, tourism , textiles, hospitality , education , IT, Insurance , BPO , Telecom etc , and so one can easily understand the multiplier effect on the economy in India due to healthcare globalization

We have started the journey for globalization. India has the potential to set India class standards for the world rather than aping the world class standards for India. We have some great leaders in Healthcare like Dr.Syeda Hameed, and we are sure to reap the benefits that healthcare globalization brings to our economy

So if I were to sum up the impact of the healthcare globalization on our economy, it would:

a) Reverse brain drain in healthcare

b) Increase the share of healthcare as a percent of GDP

c) Create the Wal-mart of healthcare from India

d) Enhance the productivity of the workforce and make our economy more vibrant

e) Have a multiplier effect on many sectors of our economy

Thanks for patiently hearing me out. Now let me open the session to our expert’s panel

UID & PDS - Will wipe out each other's value proposition

2010-07-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing that there is a lot of Hype & Hoopla around the fact that UID will weed out corruption , and that the poor will get their share of monthly grain & Kerosene quota

Let’s examine some hard facts :

PDS system runs on corruption , systemic loot and injustice to the needy card holders. Else, why will a person take a ration shop and run it for distributing sub-standard grains to the poor with so low a margin!!

The margins are barely anything to even recover the rents & other incidental costs !! It is like the fuel stations around the country, the margin of Rs.1.22 per litre of petrol and .64 Rupee on a litre of diesel is barely anything to cover the bribes to inspection authorities , rents and salaries ( few fuel pumps could be an exemption !! ). But most of the fuel stations run on ‘Adulteration’ & ‘Lesser quantities’ dispensed per every litre of fuel.

So UID has a value proposition which will make the business of PDS ( Ration shops ) business unviable for its licensees. So while the poor will have UID card , but no shops to dispense the ration !! I am not mentioning about electricity in rural India etc.etc...for reading the UID card and other related issues w.r.t implementation

Also , UID on paper is very good. Believe me, that about 300 million people in India still think that Indira Gandhi is the Prime Minister of the country !! The reason i write this is, because , parts of our country still live in 1847 ( grossly neglected ), parts live in 1947 ( plans on paper ) and about 300 Million live in 2000 ( have had an impact of ‘time bound’ growth ).

For people who don’t have shelter to sleep , clothes to wear , where will they keep the UID Card ? What will they understand of UID when they cannot even read and write , & when they know that ‘Government establishment’ is meant for either the people in government service or the corrupt !! One must study the ‘High tech’ ideas before taking it to the people who barely have 5-6 meals per week !! Remember , 7000 children die every day due to malnutrition in India

We must also understand that corruption never started because of lack of technology , but because of wrong leadership at the top, absence of a feedback mechanism & corrupt machinery at all levels, that has never taken action . So i believe that, the powerful people in the rural India will mislead the poor and keep their UID cards or the poor will spoil them due to mishandling of the cards . Also , UID does not have the techniques to turn stock hoarders and swindlers into honest PDS contractors !! Either the rot will continue after the UID or will wipe out the PDS shops by making them non-lucrative businesses .

Time to address the real issues. UID is a good idea , whose time is yet to come !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Wrong Economic priorities ,lop sided growth & flawed statistics

2010-07-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

This is the follow up blog on my views dated 15th June 2010 & 27th June 2010 on the topic of “High GDP but low GDP per capita”.

Focussing on statistics , in April-May 2010, IIP witnessed a decent growth of 14 % but this did not cover some vital sectors . Only one sector , machinery and equipment , alone contributed 37 % to this high growth. Transport equipment , metal products and mining contributed another 32 % to IIP growth. This implies that around 70 % growth of IIP was a result of high growth in just 4 out of a total of 19 sectors . Also , that these growth rates have an important factor ‘Low base effect’ . Like manufacturing sector achieved one of the highest growth rates of 19.4 % in April 2010 over a low base of 0.4 % in 2009. Similarly, Capital goods sector’s high growth of 72.8% in April 2010 was over a negative base of 6 % in 2009.

Time to balance out. Else , we will blame Greece, Italy , Europe , China , poor rainfall etc. Etc. for all our ills, forgetting that we never looked at "REAL India" for growth

Get the priorities right and actions STRAIGHT

BJP must be focussed more on right issues than routine struggles !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Indian Pharmaceutical Industry is already controlled by US / Europe, and now it is Retail Sector's turn - FDI round the corner

2010-07-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Dr.Joshi,

Namaskaar,

I am sure that this finds you doing good.

Last year i had detailed discussions with you on FDI and i sent you a note on not opening the retail sector to FDI. Till last year , you were the Chairman, Parliamentary Standing committee on commerce .

This year the issue is out again . It is shocking that UPA is even considering to open the Retail sector for FDI. Just consider ;

Total retail market is Rs. 1.2 Lac crore. Isn’t that too tempting for recession hit economies like US/ Europe and U.K. to fight recession through markets abroad ? They cleverly call us as an emerging / developing economy

To foreigners , this is a market but for us (Indians) it is 40 % of our GDP. You can expect that in the next few years , a good percentage of 40 % of our GDP will be in the hands of foreigners !! . We have 15 million retailers , thereby directly employing at least 30 million people and indirectly 6 times more i.e. 90 million .

Only 4 % of our retailers have an area of 500 Sq. Ft.

Food constitute 70 % of our retail trade

The UPA’s discussion paper is a wrong start as it has by-passed the parliamentary standing committee’s report tabled in both houses in June 2009. Consisting of more than 40 Member of parliaments . The committee had taken into account the report submitted by ICRIER

British MP David Amess recently said that the Indian Government to tread"very carefully" if it opened up the multi-brand retail sector to FDI because the entry of companies like UK-based retailer Tesco would"literally change the fabric of life in India" by endangering small shops. Amess chairs the British All Party Parliamentary Group on Small Shops (APPGoSS).

The government is currently holding consultations on allowing companies such as US-based Wal-Mart, France's Carrefour and Tesco to come in. Critics have urged the government to insert safety clauses following protests from small independent retailers that potentially face closure."Britain was a nation of small shopkeepers," Amess."All of that has changed and this is because of the supermarkets, led by Tesco. It is impossible for small shop keepers, who have so much to offer, to compete with the prices of the supermarkets".

APPGoSS Secretary Bob Russell MP, added "the expansion of supermarkets in Britain has been to the serious detriment of small shops, there is no question about this".
One in six small stores in Britain have gone out of business in the last decade, the group said.
Atul Patel, an Indian origin Briton who runs Pelican News, a small store in North West London. said his family-run business was now struggling to survive, with sales of meat, groceries and fresh fruit having dropped by at least a fifth after Tesco opened a store hear his.
Largest Indian pharmaceutical companies like Ranbaxy and Nicholas Piramal have already changed hands and are no more with Indians . With the recent acquisition of Piramal with Abbott , MNC’s control more than 50 % of the Indian Pharmaceutical industry , and more acquisitions are likely to follow soon.

My personal belief is that, the when the large foreign retailers come in , the fight will not just be between large and small retailers but between large and medium retailers . Small retailers will die for sure . Needless to mention , when the elephants fight , the grass ( small retailers ) gets trampled !!

Dr. Joshi , please take it up at the appropriate levels .

Recently , it was reported that acute poverty prevails in 8 Indian states ( 421 million people in Bihar , Chhattisgarh , Jharkhand , Madhya Pradesh, Orissa , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal which together account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combined ( 410 Million ), a new ‘multi dimensional’ measure of the global poverty said According to the MPI- Multidimensional Poverty Index , developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support

Also, i hear that Economy is growing at approximately 8 %. I need to tell our Dr. Manmohan Singh, the economist that the literal meaning of Economy is “Community’s system of wealth creation” and not just growth of a few sectors, as is in the case of India and we call it Indian Economy ? So Indian "economy" is not growing , but a few sectors that are in a 'few hands' are growing !!

Dr.Joshi , you have profound knowledge of each and every aspect of history , culture and wealth creation and distribution , that is even acknowledged by Congress leaders in power.

Let’s work to change all this . I am hoping to meet you soon.

Thanks with best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Business , Politics and reforms - Coincidence or well planned ??

2010-07-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

A few months back the RIL had withdrawn the EOU status ( Export Oriented Unit ) for Jamnagar and the petrol got deregulated !! So that Mukesh bhai can sell oil in domestic market

Mukesh hired the head of Tesco Lotus and the retail FDI paper is out from DIPP !!

What a coincidence ? No guesses i suppose !

Rajendra

National Council for Human Resources in Health - NCHRH

2010-07-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

Date : June 30th , 2010.

Mr. Debasish Panda
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Government of India
Nirman Bhawan , New Delhi 110108

Ref: D.O. V.11025/10/2009-ME(P-1) dated 8th June 2010

Dear Mr.Panda,

Thanks for the invite for the regional consultation on NCHRH . Unfortunately, I could not attend the meeting at Mumbai on 18th June due to a prior commitment at Bangalore for the India Innovation Summit on the same date.

I had sent you an email on the NCHRH with two recommendations. Since then, I have dwelled on the issue at length and wish to submit some recommendations for your kind consideration

Before I start on the specific recommendations, let us consider a few important points that need to be kept in mind for the National Council for Human Resources for Health - NCHRH

• India has 1.2 Billion population out of which about 1/3rd is illiterate population
• In the next 10 years, India will add 120 million people in the working age category
• Currently, India has about 2/3rd of the population below 35 years in age
• Currently , 2/3rd of India lives in rural India and probably, in that category, healthcare does not figure in the list of priorities
• 2/3rd of India does not have adequate access to healthcare
• Awareness and sensitization about healthcare is missing . People will go and splurge money on dining outside , but will not spend a fraction in wellness .
• India believes more on religion , spirituality and charity than wellness
• Healthcare professionals available are not willing to work in the so called rural India . At max, they are willing to work in semi urban India
• The incidence of diseases is not vastly different in rural India from that of urban India for most of the ailments
• Status of urban poor is deplorable when it comes to healthcare
• PPP’s in healthcare are not going to work in rural India
• Those who study for healthcare in urban areas, majority of them are not willing to adjust to the rural lifestyle for professional or family reasons . Gives us a reason to think to start medical colleges in rural settings !!
• The entire healthcare system is focused on medicine , doctors, clinics and hospitals etc. This has created a fear & suspicion amongst the healthcare users that healthcare means pills, surgery and hospitalization
• New models of care are evolving for addressing the changing disease patterns and Indian healthcare system is ill prepared to handle the same
• Time has come to take health ( not medical ! ) education from medical school to primary school. Basic healthcare education should be made compulsory at the school level.
• 3G has now become a reality , so mHealth will not just re-define the healthcare delivery but also healthcare education

In short , I would say that , the world over , no healthcare system has answers for our problems, as all the systems are already failed or heading towards a collapse . This provides a unique challenge and an

opportunity to build a robust healthcare system for India that is low cost, agile , protocol driven, and evidence based and not eminence based system; one that avoids errors , trails and wastage . Then only we can have an outcome driven health system that cares !

Here is what I submit for your kind consideration :

NCHRH ( National Council for Human Resources for Health ) has been set up with the goals to overcome the acute shortage and uneven distribution of human resources in public health delivery system & aims at overhauling the current regulatory framework. Toward this end, it is proposed to set up a National Council
for Human Resources for Health as an overarching regulatory body to achieve the objective of enhancing the supply of skilled personnel in the health sector

What I can understand from the above stated purpose for NCHRH is that NCHRH will ;

• Regulate the current set up
• Identify the current need gap
• Project the future requirement for the next 10, 20 & 30 years
• Asses the population mix and the disease patterns and address the issues in a proactive manner
• Create a resource pool & knowledge pool ( not just impart knowledge but create it as well )
• Human resources for disaster management in healthcare is missing from the draft that I have gone through . It needs to be incorporated

Health in India has to be looked regionally and planned at the district level: It would be wrong to just limit it to five members headed by a chairman. I would suggest that you must create an “Indian Health & Wellness Service (IHWS )” for the entire nation on the lines of IAS . Today , if I have to complain against deficiency of healthcare services or standards or care at a hospital, there is no grievance redressal mechanism !! Because the system is ambiguous and there is no demarcation for people to look at health and wellness services. For erring police , I can go to SP City , DIG –Range or IGP or the DGP; for an erring postman , I can go to the Post master general etc., and the same for most of the services ; but if there is a deficiency in a hospital service provider where does a common man go ? Another hospital, I suppose !!

So when you are planning for NCHRH , You must consider having an all India service to tackle the multi headed monster called healthcare.

Have separate members in NCHRH, each having a clear role and responsibility for capacity building for the following :

1. Urban Health
2. Rural Health
3. Tribal Health
4. Health in hilly areas
5. Health in Armed forces
6. Health for retired government employees
7. Health for private sector
8. Work Place wellness
9. Healthcare amongst Minorities
10. Expatriates working in India
11. Geriatric care in urban & rural health should be handled separately by different members
12. Split ‘Mother and Child care’ under separate heads, each under a separate member . It is glaring to note that According to International Institute of Population Sciences , Mumbai , 56 % of the Indian women in the age group of 15-49 suffer from anemia
13. Diabetes
14. Hypertension
15. Arthritis
16. Cancer
17. Epilepsy
18. Mental Health
19. Telehealth should be a strong focus area for Urban & rural health. It should also be a part of the Medical curriculum and a 3 month internship should be made mandatory for telehealth
20. Medical Education
21. Home health & care technicians
22. Healthcare counselors and Physiotherapists
23. Health administrators for clinics , hospitals other wellness providers
24. Gyms & Wellness centers
25. Diet and Nutrition
26. Acute care
27. Immunization
28. Awareness & Education about wellness
29. Awareness & Education about diseases
30. NGO’s capacity building
31. Disaster management in healthcare including outbreaks & epidemics
32. Epidemiology & research on regional requirements . One example I will quote here. In north eastern part of India , in tea gardens , people take black ( known as red tea in NE ) with salt and so there is a very high incidence of Hypertension and stroke . Same applies to other belts in India which have very specific requirements that cannot be tackled with centralized planning and execution
33. Technical up-gradation & training of the workforce on latest developments in equipments and technology
34. CME for each level of workforce
35. Nurses should be renamed as Physician’s Assistant (PA’s ) or Health & Wellness Officer (HWO’s ) . There should be a plan to create enough specialized resources under this head for rural health, geriatric care , telehealth , chronic diseases etc. We need not make our healthcare system doctor & hospital centric . The number of PA’s / HWO’s should at least be double of that of the doctors in the next 10 years
36. For medical education ( all streams ), behavioral psychology should be added in the curriculum . This is one of the most important change that we need in the medical curriculum . Doctors have just been reduced to diagnosis & prescription machines . Whilst we might be imparting the best of medical knowledge, but patient care and handling is missing totally from the curriculum . Writing prescriptions does not deliver care . Patient friendly care is a must . Because of the lack of understanding of the behavioral psychology amongst doctors , the patients fear and suspect the doctors . Even the doctors do not go beyond prescriptions !! This needs an immediate change to ensure compliance and outcome from the treatment , most importantly, regain ‘Trust’ in the system by the users
37. Put a separate head for innovation in healthcare education
38. Separate head for guidelines, standards , treatment protocols , assessment & accreditation for each aspect of medical & health education and research

Further , each member should be responsible for research , planning & execution for his department. It is clear that if we do not plan for human resources , it will not just lead to deficiency in healthcare services but also increase the cost of healthcare . Limited number of healthcare professionals would be available for jobs and that will definitely lead to unrealistic inflation of salaries amongst health professionals

Since this note is about the healthcare in the country , I would also like to add that, we must look at setting up a TAB ( Technology Adoption Board ). India must not import technologies simply because GE / Siemens have

produced it and it is the latest. Technology is one of the major cost drivers for healthcare . TAB must ensure that the technologies that have demonstrated positive impact on the treatment compared to its cost and accuracy of diagnosis should only be allowed in practice . In 2007 , a 64 slice CT Scan was the most advanced , now it is 914 slide CT scan . The question is what is the difference in cost and accuracy of diagnosis compared to the earlier versions ?

Also, MOHFW should set up ICE – Insitute of Clinical Excellence to formulate and work on clinical pathways & protocol based treatment for all major illnesses , so that the doctors do not resort to expensive and arbitrary line of treatment at the cost & care of patient . A protocol based treatment would let all the stake holders in the continuum of care to work in close coordination

Also, the time has come to move to a greener healthcare system. I hope that we will learn from the MEA ( Ministry of External Affairs ). When you apply for a passport , the passport office gives you two or three receipts , one for the passport application fees, second for jumbo passport ( if you opt for ) and a third one for tatkal category ( if you fall under that category) . I fail to understand that, would it not be better to have one receipt with multiple options for ticking !! It wastes paper , ink and generates three times the heat and noise printing three receipts . MOHFW needs to ensure that we move to a Mobile Health Record system (MHR ) that does not depend on paper . Mobile phones could carry all the records, and more so , when most of the people are likely to carry mobiles. Providers could sync all the medical records with SIM cards. But the success of this depends on the will of the policy makers, honesty and efficiency of implementers ( bureaucrats ) and literacy amongst users

Lastly, it is high time to check migration of our best brains & highly skilled manpower. We can build six AIIMS like buildings, but building institutions will be an onerous task in the current scheme of things, and this could well be the first test for NCHRH.

With some good leaders at the helm of affairs in healthcare , I am quite confident of the changes in healthcare for the benefit of the common man

I do hope that the recommendations are of some help. Incase, you need some clarifications or assistance , I remain at your disposal .

With best wishes

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.in

C.C.-
Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health Family Welfare, Govt. of India
Dr.Syeda Hameed, Member , Planning Commission , Government of India
Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State for Health , Government of India
Sam Pitroda, Advisor , Prime Minister of India & Chairman, National Knowledge Commission .
Ms.K.Sujatha Rao, Health Secretary, MOHFW, Govt. of India
Dr.K.Srinath Reddy, President , PHFI, Government of India
Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi, MP.
Mrs.Sonia Gandhi , Chairperson ,NAC , UPA.
Rahul Gandhi
Dr.Sharat Chauhan, csharat@ias.nic.in / rshankar50@hotmail.com
Dr.Gautam Sen
Dr.Devi Shetty
Encl: note on healthcare reforms sent on 23rd November 2009.

Rich get richer and poor get poorer in India - GDP statistics

2010-06-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

On 15th June , i wrote on my blog about the topic ' High GDP but low GDP per capita' is like growth without progress and prosperity . Well, i did not know that 11 days after the blog a report would come out that would validate my analysis . Here is the report

According to the 2009 Asia Pacific wealth report , by Capegemini and Merrill Lynch wealth management , India’s high net worth Individuals ( HWNI’s ) are 120,000 ( 0.01 % ) but their combined net worth is close to one third of the India’s GDP

At the peak of recession ,in 2008, India had 84000 HNWI’s with a combined net worth of $310 billion . To put that figure in perspective , it was just under a third of India’s market capitalization , that is, the total value of all companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange – as of end March 2008. The average worth of each HNWI was Rs.16.6 crore .

According to the firm's 2010 World Wealth Report , India now has 126,700 HNWI’s , an increase of over 50 % over the 2008 number . In 2009 alone , an estimated 13.6 million more people in India became poor or remained in poverty than would have been the case had the 2008 growth rates continued , according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ( UNDESA ). Also, an estimated 33.6 million more people in India became poor or remained in poverty over 2008 and 2009 than would have been poor has the pre-crisis (2004-7 ) growth rates been maintained .

I keep saying that recession or growth that we keep reading in the Times of India or The Economic Times, is only affecting people who read these newspapers. Rest all live under abject poverty .

Read the presentation that i made at the 6th India Innovation Summit on 18th June 2010 at Bangalore . You will see that our demographic dividend is fast becoming demographic disaster !! ( Download the presentation from www.rajendra.groupsite.com )

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Dr.Bamboo - Tall & Impressive , but hollow - Dr.Manmohan Singh

2010-06-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

I think , Dr. Manmohan Singh is like a Bamboo . Tall & Impressive in stature , but hollow .

See what he is doing . All across, the country is failing but his image continues to be a hit !

China has decided to do a nuclear deal with our Pakistan !

America is not as friendly with India , as it is with Pakistan

Inflation is going up and the government is clueless

Naxalites control 1/6th of India

This government is a failed government and BJP is not reining in the government ! I fail to understand why BJP is not addressing the important issues !!

Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Bamboo Prime Minister !! Time to raise voice and get the right issues addressed

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.in

3 G & BWA Auctions - Things could have been done in a better way

2010-06-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi
Chairman
Public Accounts Committee
Government of India
6 , Raisena road , New Delhi 110001

Dear Dr.Joshi,

I am sure this finds you fine .It was really nice talking to you yesterday. I wish to submit the following for your kind consideration

Recently , the government has raised Rs. 1.06 Lac Crore from the 3 G & BWA auctions. Though it is a different issue that the government was expecting a modest Rs. 32000.00 Crore from the auction ! The following should be considered

1. What was the basis of the government’s projections ? Was it a failure on the part of the government that the proceeds of the auctions exceeded by 3 times of the projections from the government ? This clearly gives a reason to believe that there was a systemic failure on the part of the government and it shows up in government’s failure to arrest price rise ( inflation )
2. Was the spectrum auction and sale the best option ?
3. If the government went for a zero price or nominal booking price, and allotted spectrum for the entire India as one circle with say a 25 % - 30 % of the recurring revenue share from the telecom providers, would it not be better in serving the interest of the government in the long term ? It would have eventually generated much higher return per year and every year rather than one a time high auction fee ! What was the basis of deciding one time auction fee with an expected collection of Rs.32000 crore ? This money ( Rs.1.06 lac crore ) might give temporary sound bites to Pranab Da ( and the PM ) for no efforts of his or Mr. Raja . But the fact is that , it will put a strain on the telecom companies and will also suck the liquidity from the markets . This will also cause a long term loss to the government as it could have gained immensely , had it gone for a lower or zero initial fee and a larger share in the recurrent revenue from the telecom providers. This is a myopic policy of this government and a big loss to the exchequer
4. What was the total loss in previous auctions done in arbitrary allocation of telecom spectrum, and what is the progress in the CBI investigation ? Why has the FIR lodged by the CBI not named anyone ? When the senior most minister or the bureaucrat should be named in the FIR , what has prompted the CBI to lodge the FIR against unnamed persons ?
5. Since Rs.10.6 Lac Crore is already raised through the auctions, i suggest that the government allocates the 10 % the money raised in India Innovation and Entrepreneurship fund to promote innovation and entrepreneurship amongst youth of the nation

I am sure you will take up these matters in appropriate forums . We look at your leadership in addressing some important issues concerning the nation .

With best regards

Rajendra

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email: office@rajendragupta.in

High GDP but low GDP per capita - Time to give a public explanation - the Congress and the Opposition

2010-06-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

If we see , India’s GDP is growing but the majority of the population is not prospering . Why ??

Let us consider this

The quarterly growth report card shows that Mining and Manufacturing contributed between 18-22 % of the GDP in the Q 1 , 2010 numbers released last week.( Remember mining is concentrated in a few government PSU’s or some mining barons like Reddy’s of Karnataka etc )

Exports are roughly 13 % of the GDP

Agriculture contributes 20 % of the GDP ( Supporting 60 + % of the population )

My view is that, the decline in agriculture & growth in mining can be related directly to the growth of Naxalism , as one creates a naxalites and the other nurtures it !!

Rate of growth of yields per unit area in Agriculture has fallen in:

Food grains from 3.39 % in 1992-93 to 1.39 % in 2001-02

Non-Food grains from 3.19 % to -0.57 %

According to the Economic survey between 1980-81- 2001-02 the capital formation in agriculture has fallen from 3.4 % to 1.3 %

FDI in Agriculture was never encouraged or focussed – Announcements does not matter Dr. Manmohan Singh ji ?

Between 2002-08, population growth has been 1.4 % and the labour force has been growing at 1.9 %

According to the World Bank Development report

Between 1988 to 2008( 20 years ) as a percentage of GDP the :

Agriculture sector decreased from 30.5 % to 17.3 , whereas 65 % of the population depends on agriculture

Industry grew from 26.2 % to 28.8 % ( Population & people employable has been growing faster )

Manufacturing decreased from 16.2 % to 15.1 %

Services increased from 43.4 % to 54.6 % ( Private sector contributed to this )

Household final consumption expenditure decreased from 65.8 % to 54.1 %

Imports of goods and services increased from 7.5 % to 28 %

Yesterday , in the Times of India , the Finance Ministry’s chief Economic Advisor said that GDP growth of 8.9 % in the Q 1 of 2010-11 was due to robust growth in capital goods and consumer good production

Does it not look like some Middle eastern countries , where the GDP is very high but GDP per capita is less, as the high GDP is due to mineral oil wealth , and low GDP per capita is due to the fact that the oil wells are in the hands of a few royal families !! In India , Mining , Exports and trade is in a few hands and the focus , incentive and investment is maximum from the government !! For Agriculture , we all do not depend on the government but on the Rain Gods !!

BJP must act as a responsible opposition . The current state of affairs is not just a failure of the ruling front, but of the entire opposition . Public demands an explanation from both !

What is government doing ? Bhopal Gas tragedy GOM's is just an issue to divert the attention from real burning concerns of the public

Politicians are addressing 90 % urgent matters and 10 % important matters.

Time to act responsibly and explain or else both Congress and the opposition would be dammned in the next election

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email: office@rajendragupta.in

India & China : New Super power and the next crisis state

2010-05-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

India and China are headed for a new challenge . India has all the ingredients to qualify as the next super power . Unlike the US , Which has arrogated for itself the ‘Big brother’ status , and almost failed as a ‘Responsible super power’. China might have a big 'trade surplus' but has a huge ‘Credibility deficit’. With no other credible alternative , it is for sure,that India can work towards being the next ‘Responsible Super power’ by 2025

China is on the way to be become the victim of the ‘economic crisis’ that has already hit the USA & Europe, and for sure ,now its China’s turn !!

Wait and watch

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.in

Pakistan , Pakistan Spy's & Indian Fatwa's

2010-05-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

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. Cost of education, 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 BPL .

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

2010-05-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

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. Handover Dawood Ibrahim &
2. Maulana Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammad leader
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

2010-05-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

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 quota for Muslims ?

2010-04-24T23:48:00.001-07:00

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 retail FDI

2010-04-24T01:02:00.000-07:00

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 are not investing 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 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

2010-04-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T04:32:00.000-07:00

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 land mine blast - A tribute to our Home Minister

2010-04-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

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 think Vineet Jain (Managing Director, The Times of India) is 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

2010-03-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

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

Growth, Recession & Realities

2010-03-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Readers,

Thanks for your continuous feedback . I am attempting to address the issues that you have talked about .

Over the last few months, i have been reading a lot about inflation , double digit growth and so on....................

We need to understand the real issues a little deeper and better if we wish to do something worthwhile for this nation

Consider the following :

A few decades back , government thought that nationalization was in the best interest of this nation and it nationalised the airlines , banks etc.......Now after a few decades , privatization is considered in the best interest of the nation !!!
The government was cursing the huge population in 80”s and termed it as ‘Population Explosion’ . Now the government is talking of the demographic dividend , because everyone across the world is talking about the same ! We are having the government that does not have original ideas but have copy cat versions or China inspired & induced growth !

What is the government doing to convert ‘No productivity jobs into low productivity jobs and finally into high productivity jobs' Every district should focus on productivity . People do not reason the government and never questions the actions and government even does not know if it is doing the right things .

Look at these facts

Between 2010 and 2020, India will add 120 million people in the ‘working age population’ . It will also add 43 Million senior citizens to its population . Does the government have a concrete plan to address this ?

If we do not plan for 120 million people that we are adding to the working age population , we will be provoking between 10-30 % of them into naxalites or anti-social elements . Imagine , 12-36 million gun wielding naxalites !!

If there is no growth , it does not lead to poverty . It either leads to ill health & evil minds . Which is more disastrous than poverty In the next 10 years , some parts of India will become more developed than they are today. We will become a more materialistic nation in places like Mumbai , Goregaon , Bangalore , Pune etc................. Media would have exposed this ‘Have not’s’ to this material world .

This will lead to aspirations in youth for a better life style, and with no means to make it to this elite league with legitimate means , the criminal route to making money will lead to more extortion , more drug lords and criminals in politics – GDP growth can be 8.5 % or 10 % but criminal activity will growth much faster under such conditions . There is no doubt on this . India will become a naxalite factory and will surpass Pakistan in producing anti-social elements

GDP attributable to agriculture is de-growing , GDP attributable to services and industry is growing . Agriculture not only supports 57 % of the work force & has low productivity per capita but has to feed the 1.2 Billion population else , we know the triple digit inflation that will strike India by 2050.

Agricultural productivity can go up if we bring down the cost of logistics from the current of 16 %. Worldwide , it is around 9 % ............. Government must plan in detail how to boost the agricultural productivity
We are treading a difficult path and the "demographic dividend will become a ‘demographic disaster’ or the ‘Demographic bomb’.

People with many educational degrees ( Indian experts from USA recruited by the government as advisors ) are working for people with no degrees (poor population ) . So they do not identify the real problem leave alone addressing the issues . Recently , i have heard about the food coupons being distributed to the BPL families . What a joke ? BPL people do not know how to read and write & also this is bound to be misused ( 10 paisa of every 10 rupees will reach the BPL families )

Few fundamentals have to change .

India has not to change , Indians have to change .

Made in India has to become made in ‘rural India’

We are talking of CSR ( Corporate Social Responsibility ) but what we need is ISR –(Individual’s Social Responsibility )

We are all talking of divestment . The government is looking to raise Rs.40,000.00 crore through divestment but why is government not looking at investing back 10 % of the divestment money to build another PSU that can yield returns disproportionate on its investments ? How about setting up the Solar Energy Corporation of India or the Hydro Power corporation of India ? Build them now . Don’t just sell

Governments tax collection targets have been missed by around Rs. 40000 crore, i am sure that divestment target is also going to be missed !! Where will be the GDP deficit be in 2011-12 ?

Indian government has not just to create jobs ( employment ) but also create entrepreneurs . It has to think inside the box only ( forget out of box ). Imagine , if different cities with tourism potential start training tourist guides , taxi drivers and listing them on a central website . People travelling to these towns can avail the services of the government approved guides at the pre-decided rates & can pay in advance through the website . The money can be transferred electronically directly to the service provider after a referral cut ( government can retail 20 % & transfer 80 % money). Safety & savings for tourists and income for self employed people .

Back to my favourite recession & India :

Why did recession in the USA / Europe not affect India so much Or you all believed that government was able to protect India from recession effectively ? Think about this report

Times of India , 17th March 2010. According to the WHO - UNICEF report ,58 % of all the people in the world who defecate in the open are in India . 638 Million people in India have no access to toilets . Will India, with such living conditions ever get effected by recession ? The same government could not control inflation . Imagine how they can control affects of recession – they faked the efforts and impacts and we all believed it like fools !

In 62 years after Independence , we have more than 60 % population having no access to ( toilets ) hygiene , 2/3rd of the population living in absolute poverty , 1/6th of the nation living in naxalites controlled areas . And we are already a “recession proof” India . Entire India has still not felt the impact of growth except a few urban towns , so recession hitting us is a joke ?

By the way , next few days will show India conquering the world as ‘ BHARTI is acquiring an African Telecom Giant’. Read all the headlines ................................

While you read these headlines , more than 50 % of India will go to sleep without a meal .............................

And also, according to the government , the austerity drive for Indian government is over & our babu’s and politico’s can fly business class, so finally , India is out of recession & in a high growth phase

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : Office@rajendragupta.org

Judiciary, Diplomacy and political leadership of the nation will be tested soon

2010-03-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Judiciary, Diplomacy and political leadership of the nation will be tested soon

The recent confessions of David Coleman Headley about his involvement in 26/11 proves his guilt . With this , India must seek David Coleman Headley and Tahawuur Rana’s extradition for trail in India . Both David & Tahawuur have committed an offence on Indian soil and there is no reason for India to give up the demand . If America does not extradite David Coleman Headley and Tahawuur Rana to India , it would mean the failure of Judiciary, Diplomacy and political leadership in India

India created NIA after 26/11 along with a lot of show biz and media hype to show that India is committed to fight terror. India needs David and Tahawuur more than the nuclear deal from America

I am sure that India will get to try and execute these gruesome offenders soon on Indian soil as per the law of the land .

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.org

V Scan - India does not need this

2010-03-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Raja,

Trust this finds you doing good.

This mail is regarding the Vscan product that GE is planning to launch in the Indian market . I have been always appreciative of the latest technology that GE has brought to the Indian market and helped millions across the nation . GE , under your excellent leadership has also set up the PPP models that are a good start for our healthcare system

I have some serious reservations about this product Vscan & that i must share the concerns with your good selves . In fact , i believe that Vscan is an absolutely fantastic product for the rural masses and for physicians in general, if we are able to prevent the misuse of this wonderful piece of portable technology !!

I might be wrong in my assumption, but this is what i wish to share and humbly submit to your company – GE

If Vscan can be used for Sex determination in a handy manner by unscrupulous doctors etc. It will adversely impact the use of this technology and go against the interest of the society . I might be wrong in my assumptions on the capability of this beautiful device, but this is what i fear will happen and since the device is portable , it can be disastrous for the nation and the female births .

If the Vscan can identify the sex as in the case of the sonography machines , please do not launch the product in India

I hope that you will take this email in the right perspective and do the needful in the larger interest of the society as a responsible corporation

With best regards

Rajendra

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
President & Director
Disease Management Association of India
Mobile:
India + 91 9223344542

Budget , Governance & Political leadership

2010-03-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

Budget , Governance & Political leadership

Few important points :
Paridhi : Here is the answer on how budget could have been better: Besides ,there are many other points that i have covered based on queries from other Blog subscribers

1. If the budget was not just a statement of account or an announcement . All the investments should be related to quantifiable outcomes

2. What will 37 % investment in infrastructure lead to ? How many jobs ? How much time will it take ? Were there any other opportunities that can have a better ROD ( Return on decision ?? )

3. If the PSU will get divested , what is the return on Divestment (ROD ). When you divest, you are giving away profits to the investor forever . How much profit will we give away because of divestment ? one is the ROD ( Return on divestment ) or the cost of divestment ( COD ) over the next 10 years & the last is the Return on Opportunity loss ( ROOL ) .

4. Every year 3 % of the population ( 30 million ) go below the poverty line due to healthcare costs . Last year due to recession , at least 3 % more would have gone down below the poverty line + 1.55 % annual population growth rate adds another 15.5 million people to India every year . Where does the budget put in place these numbers and the plan to address the needs of additional 75.5 Million people ? . Can we call the current budget without such considerations & provisions an all-inclusive budget ?

5. Budget should also give an account of the last year’s budget versus achievement and also state how many plans have been shelved and what is the amount that has been unused by the various departments . So that we can ensure the sanctity of the budget and the accountability of the people at the helm of affairs

6. On one side we are talking of revenue / budget deficit , on the other side , we have given a 30 year tax holiday to SEZ ? What is the logic ?

7. Over Rs.6 Lac crore worth of Black money is lying in the banks . Government should promise the people that the money will be brought back to the country in the next few years . This should actually cover the revenue deficit

8. The current budget is provoking budget for Naxalites . Naxalites strives on poverty and poverty thrives on poor governance

9. If the government wants to increase spending for employment generation , it must pass a rule that from 2015, any company bidding for government tenders should have a manufacturing base in India to cater to 50 % of the delivery of products and services
from its Indian company . This will fuel large-scale investments and generate phenomenal employment opportunities .

10. The budget must have allocated money for solar energy in Rajasthan and for villages that still do not have electricity
11. Pentakota in Orissa has one school for 40,000. We need one university and 15 -30 schools in that town. Such things should be considered if we talk about all-inclusive growth .

12. It will take 320 years to clear the judicial back log, Every Indian judge has a load of about 2147 cases. This must be addressed or else i might consider becoming a hard core criminal than writing such emails expecting a change . Simply because my case would beyond 2147 and it will never get settled in my lifetime at least !!
India has the biggest problem with the average age of the political leadership that is a big disadvantage seeing the average age of Indians . The ratio’s are out of sync . Age of political leadership should match the national age group . I am totally against reservation that divides the society and the nation. The best thing would be to provide financial and institutional support to those who need and may be get 50 % of the youth in government ( without any reservation )to lead this nation's political agenda

. RESERVATION PROVES THAT PEOPLE AT THE HELM OF AFFIARS ARE NOT WILLFULLY WANTING TO CHANGE AND NEED LAWS TO ENSURE THAT CHANGE HAPPENS BY FORCE !
WHY RESERVATION FOR WOMEN ? GIVE THEM 50 % TICKETS TO FIGHT ELECTIONS ON YOUR WILL

See the case of 3G spectrum : few questions .

Why are we launching 3G. Can we not move directly to 4G ? Smaller countries like Sri Lanka started 3 G five years ago. Why are we so late ? It could be a better decision to move directly to 4G . Government wants to collect more than Rs.30,000.00 crore. But it has not stated what is the benefit of 3G for the investor over the next 5 years . What is the life cycle (Span )of 3G, when the 4 G comes , what will the players do then ? This could prove to be very costly and killer for some of the telecom players. India is still a voice driven cell phone market .

2. Why India should have 16 circles . Why not one India . USA has single geography for its mobile user

3. I personally believe that 3 G will hit the telecom companies mercilessly . It might lead to losses and mergers & finally consolidation amongst telecom companies in India
In India , i believe that the basic problem is ‘powerful announcements and powerless execution’

Corruption & leakage is leading to a black money economy : Why it is that giving bribe is a crime ? No one gives bribe willingly . It is only a choice-less option when you are pushed against the wall . We need to encourage people to report bribing . But seems that the current law is to protect and patronizing bribe takers. The law must be amended with a clause that giving bribe is not a crime as long as it is reported with the vigilance authorities after the bribe has met its purpose. This will help ensure that the work will get done and the person taking bribe can be brought to the book. We must encourage people to come out and report without the fear of getting caught and that their genuine work does not stop !

China – India : Politicians in India are trying to ape china . The fact is that, a few decades from now China will be a big economy and an old nation. India is not a big economy now but is a young nation today and we will lose our Future demographic advantage (FAD ), if our politicians do not act with right policies now .

We are a victim of a good government , but poor governance .

eHealth & Adoption incentives

2010-03-06T03:51:00.000-08:00

Adoption of e-Health

Today i was attending the Joint Round Table on Communication Policy – eHealth in India

I made a few comments and they were accepted by the Round Table, and will be presented to the Hon’ble Union Minister for Health , Dr Dinesh Trivedi & the Planning commission on Monday , 8th March 2010

My view was that if the government tied up with private players like TCS, Infosys , Cognizant ( or anyone ) and worked out a nationwide uniform solution for eHealth for the practising doctors and nurses , it could transform the healthcare system in many ways

The government can bear the cost of the software ( Entire solution- i am not a techie so cannot spell the exact terminology !! ) and give it free to doctors who wish to get on this platform within the next three years . This will help a faster adoption of the EMR or the eHealth platform . After three years , the doctors will be charged for the program on the market cost . Here the disincentive will work as the incentive
The government can negotiate the rate with the hardware vendors for doctors who wish to install the hardware. This way , the doctors will get a better deal
This eHealth can start with 40 metros and finally drive down to smaller towns and finally to every doctors
This will check fake doctors . As only registered / qualified doctors will be given login id / password . The patient can even identify the fake doctors
This will get the government the actual number of doctors working in India in each geography. This will help government map the ‘gap’ areas and post government doctors in those areas or initiate PPP in those select areas on priority
With the doctors details resting on the central database , i can simply SMS to a number and get the details of the nearest doctor to my pin code . Pin code mapping will get government and patient the correct picture of the practitioners in the area
Patient database can be used for patient education and immunization of children in an effective manner . Since patient’s medical and allergy history will be available , the medication errors will minimize to a large extent and the treatment will become more outcome and compliance driven .
Spurious drugs can also be tackled to some extent
Medical history / patient record can be made mobile / universally accessible
This will empower the patient for referral / changing his doctor . The patient might not be required to repeat the same tests if he changes the doctor in a short time , as all the tests might be available online for a similar treatment
My view is doctors are not adopting to EMR – eHealth, as most of the dealings are in cash and there is no record of how many patient the doctor sees per day. With this one uniform system , the government’s tax collection will zoom . Thereby making the entire policy change a zero sum game for the government . The government will make money by selling the software to doctors who come on this system after three years , and also by increased tax collection for recording each patient on the central database .

Worth adopting this !!

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.org

Budget or Fudget -

2010-03-05T05:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks Paridhi for regularly reading my blogs and your comments . Regarding your observation on the price rise . Why i am not convinced that this was the best step is because :

1. People like you and me do not make 1.2 Billion people . We are amongst the 5 % of the population who can afford a Rs.2 increase in the price or may be even more

2. For farmers in India , the input cost has gone up for their daily livelihood with subsidies going down . Their cost of living is going up due to inflation, that is going up. Recently , due to hike in fuel prices , the transporters have increased their rates by 15 %. This will be passed on to the consumers .

I always hear a famous line from C.K.Prahalad – ‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid ‘. I must say after this budget , i would call it ‘Unfortunate at the bottom of the pyramid’ . Imagine the lives of such people who would hot have even seen a Rs.500 note ? Who do not know if they will have a meal tonight ? Who are shivering in cold but know that no one will help them with a blanket ? Life is not as easy as you read in the Economic Times of the Times of India ? It is a ‘hell across the bottom of the pyramid’

3. NAREGA has worked well for congress and helped it come back to power. As NAREGA was used to legally pay for who vote for congress . People should know the real intent of this scheme . Congress found a clever way to buy voters- No wonder the allocation has been increased for such so called ‘Social schemes’. I am not against congress or its leadership. I am just putting my point across for them to stop saying that out of Rs.100 meant for the poor only Rs. 10 reaches them ? Why ? This statement was made by Rajive Gandhi in 1980’s . So after being in power for 25 years , Congress has not addressed this question !

Pranab Da is the finance minister is for the urban areas , for rural India , he can be rightly called the ‘Famine Minister’. Due to his policies , the so called BPL families are living in the same condition that prevail during the famines . Showing increase in taxes does not pave the way for a prosperous nation . I have seen on 27th Feb at Delhi how industrialists behave like Sycophants, and shower heaps of praises on the Finance Minister seeking favours for the industry, and they are not even a bit concerned about the nation

Instead of addressing the needs of the ‘Common Man’ . The definition of the common man has been redefined . Anyone earning above Rs.3 Lac / year is a common man as the budget has gone all out to appease him with the best possible

Instead of budget , it will call it ‘Fudget’ - a fudging of figures in the name of budget.Please feel free to share your views, and i shall attempt to answer them with my little knowledge & understanding .

Best regards

Rajendra

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

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International Passengers being looted every day

2010-03-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

Shri S.M.Krishna / Mr.Shashi Tharoor,
Ministry of External Affairs
Government of India New Delhi

Subject : Poor / Illterate international passengers being looted every day at Mumbai & other airports

In the above quoted reference , you might be quite surprised as ‘Air passengers’ are not expected to be ‘Poor & Illiterate’ !! Yes , the fact is that the thousands of poor Indians that travel to UAE / Middle East countries for menial jobs every day & are both ‘Poor’ & ‘illiterate’ ( Some know how to read and write Hindi but for Ministry of Foreign Affairs , they are illiterate as it still prints the immigration form only in English! )

Let me appraise our ‘Twitter savvy’ minister and his superiors in power that, i have been observing that people travelling especially as labourers ( Poor & Illiterate )have to pay between Rs.20 to Rs.60 to fill the immigration form at the Mumbai international airport . I have witnessed this several times . Our politicians are fighting for local language being spoken in Maharashtra but our immigration form is not even in our national language spoken by Majority – Hindi ( I do not know if deliberately the forms are only made available in English, so that the poor people have to use the services of ‘Touts’ who charge for each form being filled . I tried to help some poor / illiterate people by filing their form but i have limitations with time so as to catch my flight .

I find these poor people are literally begging these touts to negotiate the price for filling the form .

Once i heard the ‘tout’ telling the poor traveller that, “he had to also pay to enter the airport to offer these services, so he cannot charge less ” !!

What security are you talking our Hon’ble PM / HM ? If ‘Touts’ can find an entry to the international airport .................rest is at the mercy of the terrorists !

Suggestion :

1. Please start a counter at all the international airports ( i am sure that this must be an organized racket in all international airports and not just in Mumbai ) for these poor labourers who leave their loved ones to do menial jobs to keep their kitchen fires burning . They are ‘robbed’ even before they leave their country at the airport !!

2. Also, please print the immigration forms in Hindi and local languages 3.

Poor are never heard. I am speaking for them. Please act immediately and respond to this email.

Do not forget to raid the airports and suspend the corrupt directors of these airports immediately

Best wishes

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.org

Sanctity & Accountability in the budget is missing - Rajendra Pratap Gupta

2010-02-27T23:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, i was invited by the Ministry of Finance for an interactive discussion with the Finance Minister . I asked him the following question :

Question :

Pranab Da, Sanctity and accountability is slightly fading with every budget presented before the people . If we consider the fact that government announces many programs and schemes and delivers partially on a few . Example is the NUHM ( National Urban Health Mission ) which was announced in earlier budget with an allocation of Rs. 50 crore . The money was not used and the program is shelved now

Also , the Telecom minister has failed to allocate the 3G spectrum for almost two years which could have fetched us Rs.30,000.00 Crore. The market interest loss is in itself approximately Rs. 3000.00 and Pranab Da you had to add 8 more services to garner an additional Rs.3000 crore this year for taxes. So are we paying for the inefficiency of the people at the helm of affairs ?

Also, You can divest the PSU’s to fulfil the shortfall for your generation and for raising funds , what will be left for our generation to sell with such a widening revenue and budget deficits ?

It is our ( tax payer’s ) money, and i need an answer as to what steps the government will take to ensure the accountability of the people at the helms of affairs and the sanctity of the budget . So that my money ( taxes ) are used productively for the progress of the nation ?

Pranab Da was quite taken aback with such a question but he did reply in detail and admitted that there has been gaps , and that a lot needs to be done

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Email : office@rajendragupta.org

An Open letter to the Prime Minister

2010-02-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

14th February 2010

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
7, Race Course road,
New Delhi.110011

Sub : Some important issues that needs to be attended on priority

Dear Dr.Singh,

This note needs your esteem , kind and personal attention

I have written to you in the past on healthcare reforms agenda with a detailed note on what needs to be done. Through this note, I wish to draw your attention to broader topics that have a deeper impact on our all inclusive growth agenda and if attended properly, can result in more than 10 % GDP growth.

I have been watching the economy across sectors, government initiatives and speaking to people from all walks of life. I feel that it is the time to do an introspection , look carefully at the realities and take immediate corrective action. This letter might be a bit long for you to read, but it might be worth spending a few minutes .

We all know that India has been passing through a trying time . Last two years, we had a recession and it played havoc on our growth and also rural India. This year we are passing through one of the worst inflation & in not the very best of times. We had not fully recovered from recession when inflation hit us. Today, because of inflation, where the prices of essential food items is beyond the reach of 2/3rd of India’s population for its recommended daily calorific intake , we are slowly pushing people towards ‘Partial Starvation’. Exceptional circumstances require exceptional decisions .We need immediate intervention. I recently read that you formed a committee for price control. I had presumed that we must be already having a department for price monitoring & regulating supplies in the ministry of agriculture . It is high time that the current Minister for Agriculture is replaced and the right person is chosen for a very important job. A job that determines the lives of farmers (2/3rd of the population ) cannot be handling cricket and agriculture and also a political party (NCP is headed by Sharad ). He is dedicating just 1/3rd of his time to his ministry. Also, I see that firstly a wrong person was appointed and now he is wrongly blamed for food price hike ! It is an irony that as a Prime Minister , you are equally responsible for the situation that is created and the congress is just playing a blame game when millions of people are being pushed below the poverty line and death. If you see, Agriculture , forestry and fishing recorded negative growth in 2009 but I still don’t see proactive approach of the government . I know price rise is an urgent issue , but there is a more important issue ; Supply versus demand of agricultural products. You must take note of the statement issued by Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi , M.P. on 17th January about the sugar prices going up due to bulk allocation of the sugar produce to soft drink companies and chocolate manufacturers. I must state that these MNC’s take cheap raw material from Indian system and sell expensive drinks & chocolates to our people !! High time that they import their raw materials or produce them . Government must not let the common man pay a price for their products in such a manner . Also, let each state have a state farmers pricing authority that fixes the prices of common products till the next season based on regional produce , buffer stock and demand . No one should be allowed to trade in agricultural commodities , hoarding and speculative pricing

Fund utilization : I understand that CAG has stated in his latest report that most of the programs that were announced have not used the funds allocated to them . So, in all, the government’s commitment and efficiency is put to a serious question.

Recently , i also learned that the plan is to discontinue the NUHM ( National Urban Health Mission ). This shows clearly that either the projects are not thoroughly planned or not properly executed. Infact, it is a truth that major projects do not cross the announcements stage and do not go beyond the paper work

Some of the action points I feel are important are mentioned herewith & I would like you to act on them or let me know your views :

Employment generation : It is high time that the government thinks about increasing employment and earnings to raise the GDP numbers of the nation. All I see from the statements of your finance minister is that the tax collections have gone up or missed their targets . So , are we confusing the portfolio of finance minister with Union Minister for tax collections ? There is no wealth generation happening in the country . Whatever we have we are depleting our resources . You can privatise our PSU’s , Banks etc and reduce our deficit for the next 2-3 years . What will you sell after that ? We will go back to the World Bank & IMF for loans ? We need to create wealth for rural masses and for India . This is the precursor for an All inclusive growth. NAREGA is a bottomless pit and there are suspicions that this scheme is used to rehabilitate political workers for the ruling party. Please understand the seriousness of the situation and act . We need wealth creation strategies .

Here are suggestions of some of the means to create employment opportunities in India in the existing government set up.

Post offices : India has 155,000 post offices( Check http://www.indiapost.gov.in/New_Code.pdf ) . Whereas , it might be worthwhile to implement PAL code instead of PIN code but it more important to create 1 million employment opportunities out of this network. Just think, Post offices remain open from morning to evening on weekdays, they are closed after 5 PM ( Except the 24 hour post offices ), and on weekends and holidays . If we gave an opportunity to college going students and unemployed youth to provide some basic services of post offices which do not have a time bound delivery like selling stamps etc from their residence, and they can work on some commission or may be , take a surcharge for the convenience offered say @ 10 %. We can create a minimum of one million jobs @ home

Passport : Let us look at appointing government authorised agents for each pin code at least in urban and semi urban India , and let people use their services . This gives the citizens the convenience to get things done locally and they will be willing to pay a little more for their comfort , and this will also create additional jobs . People can work from their home .

Bill payment : Bill payment agents can be appointed by the government and these can be the people who can operate from their residence and get a commission on bill payments

RTO : Learning license should not be issued by RTO because people actually don’t know driving when they apply for the new or driving license . Like I mentioned in the above 3 options , people can get their temporary driving license or their learners license from these approved agents and then go to the nearest RTO and give a test to get the permanent license . This will free up a lot of people at RTO from the job of learners license and the proceed of issuing the permanent driving license can be speeded up as well.

Train tickets : Why should only railway stations issue tickets ( Only reservation is available online , normal tickets are still procured from the local station booking counter ). Say even for local trains in Mumbai. There are around 79 sub-urban stations and people should have the comfort to buy a local train ticket at their comfort in their locality , and step in to board the train at the station . This will ease the queue at the stations and people will not hurry up and get tense reaching the station and buying the tickets and then boarding the train

Forms for different office work should be sold by such agents @home .

India is the global capital in Information Technology. We can have MPRSO’s ( Multi-Purpose Resident Service Officers ), who operate from their homes and provide services 24 X 7. It is do-able . We need political will , rest is possible

Indian Restaurants abroad : The world is turning towards vegetarian food and we have an opportunity to open restaurants abroad , create the India brand abroad and win the hearts of people and feed them healthy Indian food. Indian dishes are relished in U.K. / U.S etc . Same is possible for Indian herbs & Ayurveda , Yoga schools , mediation etc . These opportunities create employment , wealth , and do brand building for India

Tourism : India has tremendous potential and the irony is that , it remains to be ‘Potential’. Giving advertisements in newspapers does not help. Major tourism destinations have terrible infrastructure and poor connectivity

Organic food presents a great opportunity for farmers , industry and India . We are missing a multi –billion dollar opportunity . If we work on this , I see that some farmers in every state can earn enough to have their own helicopters to spray insecticides etc and drive BMW’s . Today , even after 62 years of Independence , when we think of farmers , the image that we get is that of an ill clad , dark skinned , white bearded old age person looking at the sky . We must live up to the fact that ‘ Farmers of the nation are the fathers of the nation’ and give top most priority to the sector. Government must allot land to the tillers. When government can acquire land for SEZ for big business houses why not for landless farmers !!

SEZ should not be allowed. No more development should be allowed in already crowded towns . New towns should be built in remotest part of the country .

Courier Service : Government must start courier service as a PPP with existing players or with unemployed youth . This can create lacs of jobs across India .

There is a lesson to learn from Dubai. The vision of one man could convert a desert into a business and tourism hub ( Though they overdid it !! ). People from all over the world go to Dubai . India has a desert ( We too can have a desert safari ) and our products are cheapest . So we can have a shopping festival and our Duty free can be the cheapest in the world . But unfortunately , our politicians are ‘Duty Free’ !

Youth : We have reduced the age for voting and increased the age for retirement but no one thinks about lowering the age for employment . India is yet to ratify the minimum age convention ( No.138 ) of the International Labour Organization (ILO ). Rahul must rethink about the call to youth to join politics at young age and change the politics .Rahul has been running around the country to do that- I find this call quite ridiculous ! While Congress party is in power why are your people asking the poor Indians to join politics ? You run the government, and can change the things the way you want ! I would say let the youth do their jobs and let you do your job rightly. Please do not drag people for doing what you have already been voted for doing . Only message that you, or for that sake any politician must give is to ‘vote’ during elections and keep a watch on the tax payers money.

Remember it is not the defence, technology , Industry, SME , agriculture that will take the nation to the next level of growth, but it is the power of the youth that will push the nation ahead on 10 + % growth per year and we can do it only by empowering the youth with employment and wealth creation opportunities .

Today , every youth is disturbed by competitiveness and lack of options after doing hard work at school and college . Students are committing suicides . Please control the same . Those who are not committing suicides live worse lives .

Agriculture supports more than 65 % of the population but government still has a casual approach towards agriculture . In 2009, agriculture , forestry and fisheries grew negatively . If this sector can grow 4 % , the overall economy will grow more than 10 % . Which will be an all inclusive growth . Government spending in agriculture is neither planned and neither committed . Occasional waver of loans does partially solve the problems of the past but does not open opportunities for the future .

Foreign policy : We do not have a single friendly neighbour . All our neighbours are hostile.

Our relations with the three big world powers are on a shaky ground . Recent statements made by Barack has created a lot of unrest in the IT & BPO industry. We are failing in our foreign policy

Internal security : Blasts in Pune and continuous increase in infiltration are not a good omen . Some areas of the country are not under the control of the government . Go and see in Darjeeling & Maoists areas which is approximately 1/6th of the nation . They run their rule of law . Police and politicians fear treading into their territory .

Healthcare : I will not mention much about what needs to be done as i have already written to you about the same in November 2009. (Link http://rajendragupta.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/india-needs-massive-healthcare-reforms-rajendra-pratap-gupta/ .I read that the Ministry of Health & Ministry of Railways are working on setting up hospitals on railway land near stations . I believe that this is not the best option, as some of the medical equipments need pin drop silence ( For Electron Microscope , the doctors even have to stop their breath for a second to avoid any noise for the sake of accurate results ). Please drop this plan . Else , there could be more harm than general good . Remember bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions !!

You are building six AIIMS like institutes ,but you are not even able to control the exits from AIIMS ? AIIMS has become a center of excellence due to its intellectual wealth and not due its buildings or medical equipments . You must realise this point . There is no fun spending thousands of Crores from our money ( taxes that we pay ) for things that you will not be able to manage . Work out alternatives, or go back to the drawing board .

I don’t see that the government has concrete plans for healthcare . Ideally , along with six AIIMS , government should have set up National Research & Resource Center for Diabetes, Similar centres for Epidemiology , CVD , Arthritis , mental health , Telehealth etc. Healthcare is becoming expensive due to the high cost of equipments. MRI costs a few thousand due to our lack of technical R&D . Our health minister must push more funds & incentives for research for technical & clinical R&D. This one factor will drive down the cost of diagnostics . Retail margins must be increased from 20 to 25 % for pharmacies so that the storage conditions can improve and the public can take medicines that are efficacious . Still you can drive down the cost of medications by asking doctors to write just generic medications. Please refer my earlier note on healthcare reforms sent to your office in November 2009.

Legal System or Judiciary ? : I will quote CJI , Justice K.G Balakrishanan , who apprehends public revolt because of delayed justice with an every –increasing back log . He once said ; For many , real life is different from reel life . Our judicial system has become an adjournment based judicial system . Parties take stay order in initial date , and then never care to allow the case to proceed by seeking adjournments on one excuse or the other

My personal view is that , we do not have a judicial system at all. What we have is a legal system that works for the benefit of lawyers ,criminals & politicians in power. We can safely say that the current CJI will be sitting on some assignment after retirement. Similarly , we can say the same about our Chief Election Commissioner or the Chief of Armed forces or the Chief of CBI etc. The possible rehabilitation after retirement in return for their political obedience and return gifts.

Judicial system is one that not only acquits or convicts but delivers justice . Our judicial system delivers only incomplete judgements about either conviction or about acquittal ; mostly about acquittal. I will quote two cases for your better understanding

Jessica lall murder case : The judgement that came can be safely concluded as that ‘No one killed Jessica ‘ . This is what it meant when it acquitted the so called ‘Suspects’. Ideally a judicial system should have stated that Jessica was killed by ----------- and he is found guilty and convicted . Stating that the suspect was not guilty and freed, the judiciary did not state who killed Jessica ? Why at all we call ‘Black coats’ as ‘Judges’ or ‘Justice’ ? . You cannot call it a judicial system !! It is a legal system where all can argue but outcome is one ‘Justice delayed if not denied or both in most of the cases’.

Second case - Babri Masjid : It took few hours to demolish the mosque with all video clippings and it took 17 years to figure out who did it ? 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 Raji 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 -------------------( Anyone’s Guess ) !!

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 love 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. I have been reading that our CJI has been asking for reimbursements for his wife’s bill who travelled with him abroad. Shame on him ! India is running a huge budgetary deficit and the government is following an austerity drive . CJI must understand that his legal system is a sham when it comes to efficiency but he has the temerity to demand allowances from a government in deficit . On the contrary , he should not have taken his spouse with him under the current circumstances and given up the cabinet status enjoyed by him as CJI .

RTI : We must move RTI online and provide information by email as well. Why should I have to go to a post office to give my form . Get an online payment gateway so that the people can use online application and get an online form . The process saves hassles of travel ( Fuel cost ), Paper ( Eco friendly ) and time .

Role of ministers : We have approximately 100 people who work as union ministers and it is their responsibility under your leadership to run this nation as per the mandate of the people.

Delay of the 3G auction has cost our tax payers a loss of approximately Rs. 7000.00 crore. Read this : http://rajendragupta.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/vulgar-salaries-indian-corporate-world/I would say that the basic responsibility of each and every minster should be measured on few Key parameters every six months against targets set for each . Incase people fail thrice, remove them. They cannot be wasting our money.

1. Wealth creation – ironically no ministry works for it . Please don’t take divestment as wealth creation !
2. Job creation
3. Managing expenditure
4. Regulation , controls & reputation ( Brand building for India )
5. Protecting the citizens
6. Enhancing the international foot print of their respective ministries as applicable .
7. All the above should be self-sustaining and the ministers must spend half of their work time amidst the public and not in the comforts of their AC cabins and cars.

Charitable public work cannot be a long term plan. It can at best work as a short time gimmick which costs exorbitant to the exchequer and loss to the citizens ; in a sense it is like a bottomless pit . One must remember that , any investment that does not build assets or results in outcomes that positively impact the future become ‘case studies of fraud, faulty implementation and finally, failure '

Dr.Singh, you are known for knowledge ,integrity and obedience to 10 Janpath . But that is no measure of your performance. I tried to rate you on the following parameters as a Prime Minister of India on a 10 marks report card for each of the following key performance Indicators:

1. Performance on national integrity & Secularism: 00/10 ( India is fast becoming regional – A dangerous sign that can split India )
2. Performance on Preparedness for war – defence capability – 2/10
3. Performance on population control : 00/10
4. Performance on forecasting , identifying key priorities : 00/10 .
5. Performance on preparation and pro-activeness of the government for unforeseen contingencies : 00/10
6. Performance on action time from the time of identification of problem : 3/10.
7. Performance on Team work : 5 /10 .
8. Performance on foreign policy : 0.5 /10 ( 0.5 marks for signing the nuclear deal )
9. Performance on law and order at home : 2 /10
10. Performance on planning , fund allocation and utilization : 2/10
11. Performance on enhancing the competitiveness of Indian industry & exports : 2/10
12. Performance on making India’s voice heard in the global affairs : 3/10
13. Performance on rural upliftment – farmers , rural infrastructure : 3/10
14. Performance on healthcare : 2/10
15. Performance on delivery of justice : 00 /10
16. Performance on Raising funds from divestment, issue of Telecom licenses : 1/10
17. Performance on wealth creation in India : 00 /10
18. Performance on brand building for India : 1/10
19. Performance on climate change : 00 /10
20. Performance on empowerment of youth : 1/10
21. Performance on women welfare : 1/10
22. Performance on long term planning : 00 /10 ( Infact, there is no plan )
23. Performance on budget / deficit : 2 /10
24. Performance on approvals / industry : 3/10
25. Performance on SME : 2/10
26. Performance on Education reforms and capacity building including vocational courses : 2/10
27. Performance on infrastructure creation & new towns : 1/ 10
28. Performance on curbing corruption : 00 /10
29. Performance evaluation of the team / reports : 00 /10
30. Performance on transparency & accountability of public servants and representatives : 00/10
31. Performance on public perception : 2 /10 ( This was much higher before elections in 2009 )
32. Overall performance versus commitment & mandate : 1.5 /10

Dr.Singh , i believe that leadership is performance and you are failing badly. Time to shape up !! Good image is not performance !I am not surprised as your team of advisors lack ‘common man’ and internal critiques . You have advisors who are out of touch with reality . Correct this immediately .

As a honest tax payer , it is my duty to seek answers from the people who use our money and run the ministries and as bureaucrats . Every minute you people spend in your office or every inch that you move is funded by money collected as tax from people like us . I need your response

Please respond at your convenience . Should you require any details , feel free to connect . This is an environmental friendly mail and so not sending a hard copy

Best wishes & with warm regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Email : office@rajendragupta.org
Office.rajendra@gmail.com
Cell : +91 9 22 33 44 542

1/3rd India Rule

2010-02-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

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 .

Accept failure and face Common Wealth

2010-01-30T00:55:00.000-08:00

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 !