I Am Alive!!!
A second blog post with the same title...but seems to be apt given the current scenario
This post is the excerpt from the series of thoughts that streamed through my mind on my way to work on the day after the blasts at Delhi high court.
The newspaper carried reports of how some people were lucky to have missed being killed by the blast and how someone was unlucky by being early in reaching the court on that particular day....
Suppose one does manage to escape from the terror attacks. But hwo does one surive through the innumerous factors which are out there to attack.. if you survive the terror attacks, then there are natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, tsunamis!!!
If one manages to survive even that, then there are innumerable accidents especially in a city like Mumbai.
The way people travel in the local trains during peak hours is plainly crazy. One has to be really lucky to be coming back home alive. god only knows how many people die each day in rail and road accidents everyday.
Suppose one still survives the accidents and makes it to the next day...
What next...
The Rising inflation flares its hood...
1) Hike in fuel prices: petrol, diesel, cng,lpg, piped gas
2) Food prices escalating. : but farmers still commiting suicde... no improvement or relief in their lives...
3) taxes rising...now perhaps very soon along with educational cess we might even have to shell out a cess for healthcare benefits.. ( Wonder.. healthcare for whom though...wonder how much of the educational cess that we have paid has helped in eradicating illiteracy from our country )
4) Real estate prices rising
5) adding to the woes of rising property prices is the rising interest rates making home loans dearer. So if one dreams of owning a house, it would only remain as a dream or would bleed one till death.
Ok.. so suppose one still manages to fight the above battles... tries to earn money in order to live for one more day... tries to work hard... but s/he has to fight another battle at work.
1) the boss!!! your growth/ happiness/ how much you will earn... all depends on the boss and the boss's perception about you.. no matter whether you work hard/ slog/ die... nothing matters...so you better please your boss...
2) Fight to get a better pay packet.. try to find a better job.. say things which you don't believe ...please people....so that they like you and offer you a job or perhaps give you a good hike in the salary
3) The strike at will contest.... Bus strike, auto strike, taxi strike, motormen strike, truck drivers strike, political strike.. (read enforced 'BANDH').. wonder what will happen the day the Common man decides to go on strike and whether if such a thing will ever happen
But people still survive these slow and silent killers. They still get married and make babies; oblivious to all thats happening around...Maybe thats the only thing which takes their minds off such things...
and perhaps this has lead to the growing business of all the possible babas and matas that we have around offlate. . people just want a way to escape this madness of the world around us. or the ever increasing line of 'Navas''" at lalbaug cha raja or the never seen before crowd at Mount Mary...apart from the innumerous holy places that we have...
Dont know about me.. but our Gods are definately getting richer... ( read the reports on the offerings at the various ganapati pandals in mumbai alone).
So... I guess.. I am just plain lucky to be alive at this moment and to be writing this blog post... :)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Good Morning???
Today: 7 a.m
Location: My cozy bed with 4 newspapers
and the headlines go as below:
1) CNG and piped gas rates to be hiked
2) stock market crashes on a the fears of looming greek economic crisis and US and its recession
3) property prices on the upward trajectory
4)Six die as slab crashes in bhayander
5) Thanks to RTI , now even the PM is under the scanner for 2G scam along with the Home Minister
6) a garland seller who lives on the footpaths of Mumbai with his family and spends Rs. 57 per day ( has only one meal a day ).. is not poor as per our planning commission
7) Illegal Mining in Goa
in addition to the general news of late:
1) Sikkim earthquake
2) Rise in fuel prices
3) all possible scams
4) terror Attacks
5) Rising interest rates making loans costlier
and the list continues..
Wonder if one can say GOOD Morning.. any more!!!!
Location: My cozy bed with 4 newspapers
and the headlines go as below:
1) CNG and piped gas rates to be hiked
2) stock market crashes on a the fears of looming greek economic crisis and US and its recession
3) property prices on the upward trajectory
4)Six die as slab crashes in bhayander
5) Thanks to RTI , now even the PM is under the scanner for 2G scam along with the Home Minister
6) a garland seller who lives on the footpaths of Mumbai with his family and spends Rs. 57 per day ( has only one meal a day ).. is not poor as per our planning commission
7) Illegal Mining in Goa
in addition to the general news of late:
1) Sikkim earthquake
2) Rise in fuel prices
3) all possible scams
4) terror Attacks
5) Rising interest rates making loans costlier
and the list continues..
Wonder if one can say GOOD Morning.. any more!!!!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Jaankari: an e-RTI initiative by Bihar government.
While Anna Hazare's Fast hogged all the possible media attention, there are some more instances of fight against corruption which has probably not received the attention that it should...
I read an article in today's paper about confiscation of property of corrupt officials and using it for public service. The Bihar government seized the mansion of a corrupt officer and converted it into a school for poor children. These schools were being run in rented rooms. The details can be read at the link provided below.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2436881.ece
On further research i found out about Jaankari. an e-RTI initiative by Bihar government... All of us know about RTI and its benefits to the society.. However the process is cumbersome for the common man to fully utilise the benefits fo this act.The details of the current problems and how it is addressed through Jaankari was provided in this PDF file shared on Bihar CM's website.
Excerpt from the report is provided below.Objectives of RTI The "Right to Information Act" was passed by Government of India in June,2005 with the following objectives:
(i) to provide for setting out practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities;
(ii) to promote transparency and accountability in the working of everypublic authority;
(iii) to set up Central Information Commission and State InformationCommission and for matters connected therewith;
(iv) to contain corruption and to hold governments and theirinstrumentalities accountable to the governed;
(v) to harmonise revelation of information with public interests includingefficient operations of the governments, optimum use of limited fiscalresources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitizeinformation.What does Right to Information mean
It includes the right to –
i) inspect works, documents, records;
ii) take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
iii) take certified samples of material;iv) obtain information in form of print outs, diskettes, floppies, tapes,video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through print outs.
Who are Public Information Officers (PIOs) ?
PIOs are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrativeunits or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting forinformation under the Act. Any officer, whose assistance has been sought by the PIO for the proper discharge of his or her duties, shall render all assistance and for the purpose of contraventions of the provisions of this Act, such other officer can be treated as a PIO.
Project "JAANKARI"-A Facilitation Centre Approach
It’s common experience that masses often are oblivious and ignorant about how the Government decisions are made. This lack of transparency acts as a barrier which prevents the masses not only from actively participating in the Governmental functioning, but also from raising questions and protecting from impaired or ill-advised decisions.
Non-transparency also promotes and disguises official graft and favoritism.
It’s here that e-Governance can play an essential role in bringing the governmental policy and processes to light.Government transparency should be embedded in the decisions of all ICT systems. For example, official corruption can be reduced by re-organizing activities, such as licensing, permit, etc, and creating an online monitoring system to track each application, whereby official could be identified and held personally accountable for any action or inaction at anystage. It was felt that highly-placed public officials can expedite transparency and accountability efforts by making their offices positive examples of openness. While putting services online, citizens should begiven the ability to track the status of their applications.
Government programmes. Such technology programmes must tackle the twin issues, of e-literacy and accessibility especially for the disadvantaged groups of the rural Bihar.
Problems of the citizens:
Many people cannot fill Form A, as mentioned in the relevant Rules or draftapplication. Some of them are illiterate and due to this factor alone, RTI cannot be used by a huge section of population.• People do not know which Department to approach for different issues. And without this knowledge, it is impossible to file an RTI application easily.
• Even if one knows the Department, there are multiple Public Information Officers (PIOs) in a Department and it would be quite difficult for a personto know who is the right PIO, suited to his requirement.
Depositing application fee of Rs.10 is another nightmare. One has to eithergo in person to the concerned office to deposit cash or make a Demand Draftor a postal order. Apart from a financial implication, it also involves spending a lot of time investing Bank/post office.
If one does not the get "right" information, filling an appeal is even more complicated and tiring process.
RTI Act has major role in promoting e-literacy, especially among the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society. And to ensure e-literacy, the factor of accessibility must also be taken care of. Governments must be sensitive to the special needs of poor, physically challenged and disable persons. It must design its services with appropriate interfaces suited to the disadvantaged persons.
However, this accommodation and customization has significant cost implications.The poor, disadvantaged and challenged section of the population can substantially benefit from e-government services, as they may not be able to travel to government officers or the downtrodden people may not be able to articulate their demands.
Solution- Project "JAANKARI" - an ICT initiative
Visualizing the ramifications of the RTI Act for people’s empowerment and its effectiveness in reduction of corrupt practices in government offices, which result mostly due to holding of information and avoiding transparency, the State Government of Bihar decided to make provision of RTI Act more broad based and easily accessible to ordinary people. It was decided that ICT (Information, Communication and Technology) be innovatively and effectively employed for expanding the base of the RTI access and that a Facilitation Centre Called "JAANKARI" for RTI be set up, for the first time in India, Bihar Government's RTI Facilitation Centre “JAANKARI” for filing RTI application with the concerned State government Department works on premium rate services of BSNL.
System designed to enable a citizen wishing to file an application forseeking any information under RTI Act, without any hassles of physical movement for purchase of postal order ( for the requisite RTI application feeof Rs.10/-)going to the designated RTI Officer of the concerned department.
The primary and mandatory requirement was to charge RTI applicationfee(Rs.10/-) from the citizen without physical transaction of money. This could be fulfilled with the help of BSNL Premium Rate Services.
All the facilities were quickly put up in place and the “JAANKARI”Facilitation Centre was located in the State Government’s SoftwareTechnology Park in BISCOMAUN Tower, Patna. The State Government asked Beltron to procure the necessary hardware, software & authorised to operate it.
The operation was outsourced to a government neutral agency.The Facilitation Centre executives were not from government and hencewere unbiased. The Software was designed in consultation with officials who had been operating another e-Janshikayat software from CM Secretariat.
Necessary amendments were made by the State Government in the relevant rules to lower the fees for filing first and second appeal to Rs. 10/- each, to enable e-transactions through phone call to receive payments.
Executive Orders were issued and the Facilitation Centre “JAANKARI” was designated and authorised to receive phone calls from public at the prearranged premium rate i.e. a call costing Rs. 10/per call (rupees ten per call) to take care of the prescribed application fee and generate RTI application on behalf of the caller.The Facilitation Centre executives were trained and sensitized. They were to receive calls and convert the voice demands into "electronic format",compatible with RTI, Act. Since issues involved varied with each request and it was difficult to pinpoint the exact PIOs dealing with the issue,
One senior administrative officer was made available to Facilitation centre to help in co-ordinating with PIOs and departmental heads. The official was well versed with the governmental system and its "Rules of executiveBusiness" which assigns specific work to a department and also mentions itsdelegated powers.
This is the first and unique experiment aimed at RTI empowerment of people.
Procedures for filing “Request for Information”:
• The Government after realizing a Facilitation Centre, advertised two phone numbers to the public. One of the numbers is RTI Help-line Number (RHN)and the other number is RTI Application Number (RAN).
• RHN is an ordinary number with hunting line facility with normal Callcharges. If any citizen wants to get any help about how to use RTI, he can use this number.
• When a person calls up RAN, he is asked to give his name, address, what information does he want and from which department does he want thatinformation. This conversation is voice recorded and also typed on computersimultaneously by the Facilitation Centre executive receiving the call request.
• If the citizen does not know the department concerned, then the Facilitation Centre staff will help him identity it. But in some rare cases, even the Facilitation Centre staff would not know about the exact department. To deal with such cases, the Government has assigned a government official to oversee the operation-centre. The official knows the functioning of each department and the relevant issues connected with it. So, he can supervise the operations at the centre and can facilitate in ascertaining the correct PIO/APIOS.
• Many ordinary citizens may not even know what types of information to askfor. They would just know their problems. Facilitation Centre staff would be trained to help and deal with such cases. A good amount of handholding is required to help the not-so-literate people. A patient, effective conversation with a caller results in generation of one application.
• Once an RTI application has thus been filled the Facilitation center (FC) will confirm its contents with the caller again & than take two copies of it and send the first copy to the applicant. Each of these generated applications will have a unique reference number, which will be assigned by the computer S/W, itself .
This reference number can be quoted on the helpline to ask for the application's content (with proper mechanism to respect one's privacy and address the security issues).
• The Second copy will be sent to the concerned PIO and The PIO will have 35 days (from the date of receipt of application in CC) to provide information. During this period, the PIO should prepare information and send it to the applicant directly.
Advantages to Citizens :
1. Sitting at home-Power of information is just a phone call away. Project
application was designed after wide consultations. Citizen is the focus of the
initiative,
2. No hassles of physical movement to PIO Office for filing RTI application,
3. Money saved by way of travel time/lost as well as for making drafts/Postal
order from Bank and Post offices,
4. Government bears the cost of the Facilitation Centre, cost of transmitting the
application to the concerned PIOs as well as substantial cost on providing
the premium call service,
5. The Project keeps in mind differences in local culture when seeking to
engage citizens,
I read an article in today's paper about confiscation of property of corrupt officials and using it for public service. The Bihar government seized the mansion of a corrupt officer and converted it into a school for poor children. These schools were being run in rented rooms. The details can be read at the link provided below.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2436881.ece
On further research i found out about Jaankari. an e-RTI initiative by Bihar government... All of us know about RTI and its benefits to the society.. However the process is cumbersome for the common man to fully utilise the benefits fo this act.The details of the current problems and how it is addressed through Jaankari was provided in this PDF file shared on Bihar CM's website.
Excerpt from the report is provided below.Objectives of RTI The "Right to Information Act" was passed by Government of India in June,2005 with the following objectives:
(i) to provide for setting out practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities;
(ii) to promote transparency and accountability in the working of everypublic authority;
(iii) to set up Central Information Commission and State InformationCommission and for matters connected therewith;
(iv) to contain corruption and to hold governments and theirinstrumentalities accountable to the governed;
(v) to harmonise revelation of information with public interests includingefficient operations of the governments, optimum use of limited fiscalresources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitizeinformation.What does Right to Information mean
It includes the right to –
i) inspect works, documents, records;
ii) take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
iii) take certified samples of material;iv) obtain information in form of print outs, diskettes, floppies, tapes,video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through print outs.
Who are Public Information Officers (PIOs) ?
PIOs are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrativeunits or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting forinformation under the Act. Any officer, whose assistance has been sought by the PIO for the proper discharge of his or her duties, shall render all assistance and for the purpose of contraventions of the provisions of this Act, such other officer can be treated as a PIO.
Project "JAANKARI"-A Facilitation Centre Approach
It’s common experience that masses often are oblivious and ignorant about how the Government decisions are made. This lack of transparency acts as a barrier which prevents the masses not only from actively participating in the Governmental functioning, but also from raising questions and protecting from impaired or ill-advised decisions.
Non-transparency also promotes and disguises official graft and favoritism.
It’s here that e-Governance can play an essential role in bringing the governmental policy and processes to light.Government transparency should be embedded in the decisions of all ICT systems. For example, official corruption can be reduced by re-organizing activities, such as licensing, permit, etc, and creating an online monitoring system to track each application, whereby official could be identified and held personally accountable for any action or inaction at anystage. It was felt that highly-placed public officials can expedite transparency and accountability efforts by making their offices positive examples of openness. While putting services online, citizens should begiven the ability to track the status of their applications.
Government programmes. Such technology programmes must tackle the twin issues, of e-literacy and accessibility especially for the disadvantaged groups of the rural Bihar.
Problems of the citizens:
Many people cannot fill Form A, as mentioned in the relevant Rules or draftapplication. Some of them are illiterate and due to this factor alone, RTI cannot be used by a huge section of population.• People do not know which Department to approach for different issues. And without this knowledge, it is impossible to file an RTI application easily.
• Even if one knows the Department, there are multiple Public Information Officers (PIOs) in a Department and it would be quite difficult for a personto know who is the right PIO, suited to his requirement.
Depositing application fee of Rs.10 is another nightmare. One has to eithergo in person to the concerned office to deposit cash or make a Demand Draftor a postal order. Apart from a financial implication, it also involves spending a lot of time investing Bank/post office.
If one does not the get "right" information, filling an appeal is even more complicated and tiring process.
RTI Act has major role in promoting e-literacy, especially among the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society. And to ensure e-literacy, the factor of accessibility must also be taken care of. Governments must be sensitive to the special needs of poor, physically challenged and disable persons. It must design its services with appropriate interfaces suited to the disadvantaged persons.
However, this accommodation and customization has significant cost implications.The poor, disadvantaged and challenged section of the population can substantially benefit from e-government services, as they may not be able to travel to government officers or the downtrodden people may not be able to articulate their demands.
Solution- Project "JAANKARI" - an ICT initiative
Visualizing the ramifications of the RTI Act for people’s empowerment and its effectiveness in reduction of corrupt practices in government offices, which result mostly due to holding of information and avoiding transparency, the State Government of Bihar decided to make provision of RTI Act more broad based and easily accessible to ordinary people. It was decided that ICT (Information, Communication and Technology) be innovatively and effectively employed for expanding the base of the RTI access and that a Facilitation Centre Called "JAANKARI" for RTI be set up, for the first time in India, Bihar Government's RTI Facilitation Centre “JAANKARI” for filing RTI application with the concerned State government Department works on premium rate services of BSNL.
System designed to enable a citizen wishing to file an application forseeking any information under RTI Act, without any hassles of physical movement for purchase of postal order ( for the requisite RTI application feeof Rs.10/-)going to the designated RTI Officer of the concerned department.
The primary and mandatory requirement was to charge RTI applicationfee(Rs.10/-) from the citizen without physical transaction of money. This could be fulfilled with the help of BSNL Premium Rate Services.
All the facilities were quickly put up in place and the “JAANKARI”Facilitation Centre was located in the State Government’s SoftwareTechnology Park in BISCOMAUN Tower, Patna. The State Government asked Beltron to procure the necessary hardware, software & authorised to operate it.
The operation was outsourced to a government neutral agency.The Facilitation Centre executives were not from government and hencewere unbiased. The Software was designed in consultation with officials who had been operating another e-Janshikayat software from CM Secretariat.
Necessary amendments were made by the State Government in the relevant rules to lower the fees for filing first and second appeal to Rs. 10/- each, to enable e-transactions through phone call to receive payments.
Executive Orders were issued and the Facilitation Centre “JAANKARI” was designated and authorised to receive phone calls from public at the prearranged premium rate i.e. a call costing Rs. 10/per call (rupees ten per call) to take care of the prescribed application fee and generate RTI application on behalf of the caller.The Facilitation Centre executives were trained and sensitized. They were to receive calls and convert the voice demands into "electronic format",compatible with RTI, Act. Since issues involved varied with each request and it was difficult to pinpoint the exact PIOs dealing with the issue,
One senior administrative officer was made available to Facilitation centre to help in co-ordinating with PIOs and departmental heads. The official was well versed with the governmental system and its "Rules of executiveBusiness" which assigns specific work to a department and also mentions itsdelegated powers.
This is the first and unique experiment aimed at RTI empowerment of people.
Procedures for filing “Request for Information”:
• The Government after realizing a Facilitation Centre, advertised two phone numbers to the public. One of the numbers is RTI Help-line Number (RHN)and the other number is RTI Application Number (RAN).
• RHN is an ordinary number with hunting line facility with normal Callcharges. If any citizen wants to get any help about how to use RTI, he can use this number.
• When a person calls up RAN, he is asked to give his name, address, what information does he want and from which department does he want thatinformation. This conversation is voice recorded and also typed on computersimultaneously by the Facilitation Centre executive receiving the call request.
• If the citizen does not know the department concerned, then the Facilitation Centre staff will help him identity it. But in some rare cases, even the Facilitation Centre staff would not know about the exact department. To deal with such cases, the Government has assigned a government official to oversee the operation-centre. The official knows the functioning of each department and the relevant issues connected with it. So, he can supervise the operations at the centre and can facilitate in ascertaining the correct PIO/APIOS.
• Many ordinary citizens may not even know what types of information to askfor. They would just know their problems. Facilitation Centre staff would be trained to help and deal with such cases. A good amount of handholding is required to help the not-so-literate people. A patient, effective conversation with a caller results in generation of one application.
• Once an RTI application has thus been filled the Facilitation center (FC) will confirm its contents with the caller again & than take two copies of it and send the first copy to the applicant. Each of these generated applications will have a unique reference number, which will be assigned by the computer S/W, itself .
This reference number can be quoted on the helpline to ask for the application's content (with proper mechanism to respect one's privacy and address the security issues).
• The Second copy will be sent to the concerned PIO and The PIO will have 35 days (from the date of receipt of application in CC) to provide information. During this period, the PIO should prepare information and send it to the applicant directly.
Advantages to Citizens :
1. Sitting at home-Power of information is just a phone call away. Project
application was designed after wide consultations. Citizen is the focus of the
initiative,
2. No hassles of physical movement to PIO Office for filing RTI application,
3. Money saved by way of travel time/lost as well as for making drafts/Postal
order from Bank and Post offices,
4. Government bears the cost of the Facilitation Centre, cost of transmitting the
application to the concerned PIOs as well as substantial cost on providing
the premium call service,
5. The Project keeps in mind differences in local culture when seeking to
engage citizens,
Corruption.... A speed breaker to growth?
Due to Anna Hazare's fast, the fight against corruption has met with fervor across the country. Though i do support the Fight Against corruption and believe that it is corruption indeed which is hampering the growth of our country. Or else , if you talk about resources.. be it human , material or natural.. we have all in abundance... its just the lack of opportunity or failure to channelize of our resources. The major reason for the same being improper systems which is also a cause and effect of corruption. Our food distribution systems, public welfare schemes like NREGA, various housing schemes, employment schemes, are not actually reaching the poor in the way they should be.
Anna Hazare and team's fight to bring lokpal bill will not solve the problem of corruption. It might reduce it to some extent but not curb it since it is a reactive measure and not a proactive one. It deals with punishing the guilty and not eradicating the crime in the first place.. If people feared stringent laws then there wouldn't be any crime in our country or the world for that matter... The solution to this problem lies in changing the system. By bringing transparency into the system and continuous improvement.
RTI Act was a major step towards bringing about transparency. One of the major causes of corruption is lack of information... This can be dealt with use of technology. for. e.g. Use of technology has brought about transparency and convenience in Tax Filing and refunds. ( an input shared by a friend ). The tax refunds are faster now.
Why does corruption occur in the first place.. ok.. greed .. yes.. but lets leave the top level scams etc..lets talk about you and me.. the common people.. the public.. for example.. I need to buy a property.. I have no clue about the procedures or regulations, taxes or duties to be paid.. Still I go to the government office and am lost in the sea of people around with no clue where to go or what to do.. So what do i do... Hire an agent.. who will be the shortcut for me.. What did i do??? bought a little bit of convenience for myself... ok.. i had to pay a little extra.. but what the heck.. my job is done... without having to wait in queue.. I bought preference for myself and convenience..
Now how can this situation be avoided?... If all the systems are made online. i.e. online payment of your taxes.. stamp duty, registration etc, then this would reduce the human interface and thereby automatically reduce corruption.. because all are at the same level.. there is no preference.. and it is the easy and convenient way...and one has all the information required at one click.
Take another instance... You break the traffic rules and the cop catches you...and the cop tells you to shell out the fine... and you find out that the fine has been hiked... what do you do? pay him a bribe and drive away.. easy and convenient option... in this scenario is hiking the fine a deterrent to commit such offences or an incentive/pay to pay a bribe?
Its just that a law alone will not end corruption, we need stronger systems and a complete revamp of our system which cannot happen over a single day .. It has to be a continuous process. But yes, the Jan lokpal bill is necessary since it will empower the government to deal with the corrupt.
There are other ways also to fight corruption which perhaps has missed the media attention.. followed in the next blog...
Till then..
Sau mein se Ninyaanve beimaan... Phir bhi.. Mera Bharat Mahaan..
Jai Hind :)
Anna Hazare and team's fight to bring lokpal bill will not solve the problem of corruption. It might reduce it to some extent but not curb it since it is a reactive measure and not a proactive one. It deals with punishing the guilty and not eradicating the crime in the first place.. If people feared stringent laws then there wouldn't be any crime in our country or the world for that matter... The solution to this problem lies in changing the system. By bringing transparency into the system and continuous improvement.
RTI Act was a major step towards bringing about transparency. One of the major causes of corruption is lack of information... This can be dealt with use of technology. for. e.g. Use of technology has brought about transparency and convenience in Tax Filing and refunds. ( an input shared by a friend ). The tax refunds are faster now.
Why does corruption occur in the first place.. ok.. greed .. yes.. but lets leave the top level scams etc..lets talk about you and me.. the common people.. the public.. for example.. I need to buy a property.. I have no clue about the procedures or regulations, taxes or duties to be paid.. Still I go to the government office and am lost in the sea of people around with no clue where to go or what to do.. So what do i do... Hire an agent.. who will be the shortcut for me.. What did i do??? bought a little bit of convenience for myself... ok.. i had to pay a little extra.. but what the heck.. my job is done... without having to wait in queue.. I bought preference for myself and convenience..
Now how can this situation be avoided?... If all the systems are made online. i.e. online payment of your taxes.. stamp duty, registration etc, then this would reduce the human interface and thereby automatically reduce corruption.. because all are at the same level.. there is no preference.. and it is the easy and convenient way...and one has all the information required at one click.
Take another instance... You break the traffic rules and the cop catches you...and the cop tells you to shell out the fine... and you find out that the fine has been hiked... what do you do? pay him a bribe and drive away.. easy and convenient option... in this scenario is hiking the fine a deterrent to commit such offences or an incentive/pay to pay a bribe?
Its just that a law alone will not end corruption, we need stronger systems and a complete revamp of our system which cannot happen over a single day .. It has to be a continuous process. But yes, the Jan lokpal bill is necessary since it will empower the government to deal with the corrupt.
There are other ways also to fight corruption which perhaps has missed the media attention.. followed in the next blog...
Till then..
Sau mein se Ninyaanve beimaan... Phir bhi.. Mera Bharat Mahaan..
Jai Hind :)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Few Answers and Some More Questions!!!
Recently, I read a speech on ‘Statistics in the world of RBI’ by Mr. Duvvuri Subbarao, on the occasion of World Statistics Day, which answered quite a few of my queries related to inflation.
The report talks about Statistics in RBI’s Policy Making which includes (i) Quality of data; (ii) Data revisions; (iii) Data interpretation; and (iv) Data gaps.
This post is in three parts:
I. Questions with theirs answers from the report.
II. Additional Info gained
III. Questions which still need answers
I. My Questions answered
a. Why do we adopt a WPI based measure of inflation instead of CPI?
CPI (Consumer Price Index) would be a better indicator of the rise in prices due to demand side pressures. However RBI adopts a WPI system instead of CPI.
Below is the excerpt from the report:
The use of WPI as the headline inflation index is flawed, as it does not capture the final goods prices that consumers actually experience in the market. RBI should be guided more by the CPI, which more accurately reflects demand pressures because it is demand pressures that monetary policy action can influence.
Conceptually, the CPI is a better indicator of demand side pressures than the WPI. An increase in wholesale prices, if sustained, either results in an eventual increase in prices by retailers or a squeeze in their margins. If demand is strong, retailers may exercise pricing power and pass on the increase in wholesale prices to consumers. In case demand is weak, retailers will be forced to partly absorb the increase in wholesale prices in their margins. Thus, there is no denying that consumer prices better reflect demand side pressures than wholesale prices
Even so, in India, we have opted for WPI over CPI as a second best choice for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, we do not have a single CPI that is representative of the whole country. Until recently we had four, and of those, currently we have three CPIs representing different segments of the population. While WPI is computed on an all-India basis, CPIs are constructed for specific centres and then aggregated to an all-India index. Second, WPI is available with a slightly shorter lag than the CPIs. Third, WPI has a broader coverage than the CPIs in terms of the number of commodities, number of quotations, inclusion of non-agricultural products and tradeable items.
b. Which is the base year upon which the rate of inflation is calculated?
A. Excerpt from the report:
The revision of the basket for CPI series lags that of the WPI series. Last year, the WPI series was revised to the base of 2004-05 whereas the existing CPIs continue with the old base - for CPI-RL (1986-87), CPI-AL (1986-87) and CPI-IW (2001) which makes CPIs ill-equipped to capture the price behaviour caused by the rapid structural changes in the economy.
c. Which products are included in WPI index?
A. The Report doesn’t mention the details of the products included in the WPI, but gives some information about the class of the goods and the number of items included.
Excerpt:
The revision of the base year in the case of WPI also led to some increase in the weights towards fuel and power and manufactured products away from primary articles. Although changes in the weights for manufactured products were not substantial for the group as a whole, there has been a tilt in the weights towards non-food manufactured products reflecting changes in the production pattern over the decade. The number of commodities included in the new WPI series increased from 435 to 676, even after dropping/revising 176 items from the old series.
II. Additional Info gained:
1. Quality of Data:
The data on which the policies are made is not reliable. E.g. data on unemployment and wages show a certain paradox.
Certain statistics like for. E.g. the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) statistic shows counter- intuitive trends.
Excerpt.
During the period when the global financial crisis was at its peak - December 2008 to June 2009 - IIP growth was positive according to the then available IIP series. This was contrary to our assessment of the underlying trend of some deceleration on account of the crisis. The new IIP series, revised with 2004/05 as the base, now shows that IIP growth was, in fact, negative during that period vindicating our intuition. Again, the old IIP series indicated that industrial activity slowed in the second half of last year (2010/11) relative to the first half but the revised IIP series shows that industrial growth maintained roughly the same pace between the two halves of the fiscal year.
2. Data Revision:
The data on which the policies are based are not Real time.
Excerpt:
The Reserve Bank’s policy formulation is also handicapped by frequent revisions to data. We make policies in real time and if the provisional data that these are based on are inaccurate, the resultant policies can turn out to be sub-optimal choices. Take estimates of GDP growth. For the year 2009-10, for example, the Advance Estimate of GDP growth rate at market prices from the expenditure side, that came out in February 2010, was 6.8 per cent. That was changed to 7.7 per cent in the Revised Estimate in May 2010 and further to 9.1 per cent in the Quick Estimate in February 2011. Therefore, policy that per force had to use information on Advance Estimate of GDP was fraught with the risk of underestimating the growth momentum
3. The report also mentions about the exclusion of Service sector and the Price index in inflation calculation. It also mentioned need to monitor the Financial Stability especially after the recent economic crisis faced by the world.
III. Questions, which still need answers:
1. Is the high rate of inflation that we are facing currently influenced by increase in demand or lack of supply?
The monetary measures implemented by RBI would only curb the demand but what measures are being taken by the government to increase the supply? Have any import tariffs/ quotas eased?. Has there been any measure taken to discourage export of essential commodities? Has there been any measure taken to increase the production? As we have seen in the above report, the IIP figures are not completely reliable.
2. Our sentiment driven capital market is highly influenced by the RBI reports on inflation, IIP figures etc. Considering the accuracy of the data as mentioned in the report, where are we heading? Our markets either shoot up or crash based on such inaccurate data!!!
3. The world was facing a recession, then how were the prices increasing? How could inflation and recession co-exist? There were no hike in salaries stating the reason of recession and yet the prices kept increasing due to inflation. How can such two contradictory terms co- exist?
Last question:
4. Where are we heading?
The ever-increasing prices, their effect on the society at large and on the common man would require another post. The effect would be very similar to Abhimanyu’s chakravyu . There is no way out of this vicious circle.
The entire report by RBI can be accessed at the link provided below.
http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Speeches/PDFs/SDASD060711.pdf
The report talks about Statistics in RBI’s Policy Making which includes (i) Quality of data; (ii) Data revisions; (iii) Data interpretation; and (iv) Data gaps.
This post is in three parts:
I. Questions with theirs answers from the report.
II. Additional Info gained
III. Questions which still need answers
I. My Questions answered
a. Why do we adopt a WPI based measure of inflation instead of CPI?
CPI (Consumer Price Index) would be a better indicator of the rise in prices due to demand side pressures. However RBI adopts a WPI system instead of CPI.
Below is the excerpt from the report:
The use of WPI as the headline inflation index is flawed, as it does not capture the final goods prices that consumers actually experience in the market. RBI should be guided more by the CPI, which more accurately reflects demand pressures because it is demand pressures that monetary policy action can influence.
Conceptually, the CPI is a better indicator of demand side pressures than the WPI. An increase in wholesale prices, if sustained, either results in an eventual increase in prices by retailers or a squeeze in their margins. If demand is strong, retailers may exercise pricing power and pass on the increase in wholesale prices to consumers. In case demand is weak, retailers will be forced to partly absorb the increase in wholesale prices in their margins. Thus, there is no denying that consumer prices better reflect demand side pressures than wholesale prices
Even so, in India, we have opted for WPI over CPI as a second best choice for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, we do not have a single CPI that is representative of the whole country. Until recently we had four, and of those, currently we have three CPIs representing different segments of the population. While WPI is computed on an all-India basis, CPIs are constructed for specific centres and then aggregated to an all-India index. Second, WPI is available with a slightly shorter lag than the CPIs. Third, WPI has a broader coverage than the CPIs in terms of the number of commodities, number of quotations, inclusion of non-agricultural products and tradeable items.
b. Which is the base year upon which the rate of inflation is calculated?
A. Excerpt from the report:
The revision of the basket for CPI series lags that of the WPI series. Last year, the WPI series was revised to the base of 2004-05 whereas the existing CPIs continue with the old base - for CPI-RL (1986-87), CPI-AL (1986-87) and CPI-IW (2001) which makes CPIs ill-equipped to capture the price behaviour caused by the rapid structural changes in the economy.
c. Which products are included in WPI index?
A. The Report doesn’t mention the details of the products included in the WPI, but gives some information about the class of the goods and the number of items included.
Excerpt:
The revision of the base year in the case of WPI also led to some increase in the weights towards fuel and power and manufactured products away from primary articles. Although changes in the weights for manufactured products were not substantial for the group as a whole, there has been a tilt in the weights towards non-food manufactured products reflecting changes in the production pattern over the decade. The number of commodities included in the new WPI series increased from 435 to 676, even after dropping/revising 176 items from the old series.
II. Additional Info gained:
1. Quality of Data:
The data on which the policies are made is not reliable. E.g. data on unemployment and wages show a certain paradox.
Certain statistics like for. E.g. the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) statistic shows counter- intuitive trends.
Excerpt.
During the period when the global financial crisis was at its peak - December 2008 to June 2009 - IIP growth was positive according to the then available IIP series. This was contrary to our assessment of the underlying trend of some deceleration on account of the crisis. The new IIP series, revised with 2004/05 as the base, now shows that IIP growth was, in fact, negative during that period vindicating our intuition. Again, the old IIP series indicated that industrial activity slowed in the second half of last year (2010/11) relative to the first half but the revised IIP series shows that industrial growth maintained roughly the same pace between the two halves of the fiscal year.
2. Data Revision:
The data on which the policies are based are not Real time.
Excerpt:
The Reserve Bank’s policy formulation is also handicapped by frequent revisions to data. We make policies in real time and if the provisional data that these are based on are inaccurate, the resultant policies can turn out to be sub-optimal choices. Take estimates of GDP growth. For the year 2009-10, for example, the Advance Estimate of GDP growth rate at market prices from the expenditure side, that came out in February 2010, was 6.8 per cent. That was changed to 7.7 per cent in the Revised Estimate in May 2010 and further to 9.1 per cent in the Quick Estimate in February 2011. Therefore, policy that per force had to use information on Advance Estimate of GDP was fraught with the risk of underestimating the growth momentum
3. The report also mentions about the exclusion of Service sector and the Price index in inflation calculation. It also mentioned need to monitor the Financial Stability especially after the recent economic crisis faced by the world.
III. Questions, which still need answers:
1. Is the high rate of inflation that we are facing currently influenced by increase in demand or lack of supply?
The monetary measures implemented by RBI would only curb the demand but what measures are being taken by the government to increase the supply? Have any import tariffs/ quotas eased?. Has there been any measure taken to discourage export of essential commodities? Has there been any measure taken to increase the production? As we have seen in the above report, the IIP figures are not completely reliable.
2. Our sentiment driven capital market is highly influenced by the RBI reports on inflation, IIP figures etc. Considering the accuracy of the data as mentioned in the report, where are we heading? Our markets either shoot up or crash based on such inaccurate data!!!
3. The world was facing a recession, then how were the prices increasing? How could inflation and recession co-exist? There were no hike in salaries stating the reason of recession and yet the prices kept increasing due to inflation. How can such two contradictory terms co- exist?
Last question:
4. Where are we heading?
The ever-increasing prices, their effect on the society at large and on the common man would require another post. The effect would be very similar to Abhimanyu’s chakravyu . There is no way out of this vicious circle.
The entire report by RBI can be accessed at the link provided below.
http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Speeches/PDFs/SDASD060711.pdf
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