Demonetization Tremor & After Shocks

The common men have generally welcomed the demonetization decision of the government in spite the subsequent continued pain. However, the loads and loads of new currency notes caught nationwide is intriguing to him. The scenario reflects following facts about  us, the Indian society for which we should be ashamed of.

1. The wealthy & influential people always find ways & means to beat the system and take advantage for selfish gains without bothering for fellow poor citizens. The wealthy & influential in collusion with corrupt bank officials could convert their black money into white while the common men continue to struggle to withdraw their totally white money.

2. The large numbers of people caught hoarding the new currency notes and the bank officials caught facilitating this shows some efforts being made  by government to catch the corrupt. Are they sufficient? It may be possible  that large numbers of manipulators could escape unpunished and the very purpose of demonetization is lost in large extent.

3. We,  as a society are corrupt to a large extent and will not hesitate to deceive any honest attempt to gain a slightest advantage. 

Meditation & the Universal Power

The entire universe comprising of galaxies, suns, moons, earths and countless stars is programmed to be governed and work in an orderly manner by an universal force, the infinite universal power. In spirituality, we call it an orderly execution of the divine plan. In simple language, we call it God's plan and can name the infinite source of power as God, call; X,Y, Z, Vishnu, Krishna, Christ, Allah or anything. This power enlivens and encompasses each and every object, living or non living, suns, moons, earths, stars, atoms, molecules, plants animals & human beings. Nothing can exist without this supreme power and all our actions, voluntary or involuntary, walking, talking, breathing, digesting, thinking, sleeping, dreaming and all bodily & mental processes tap the energy from this infinite source of universal power. Indirectly, we can say that we are continuously and constantly energized by the universal power and we have no independent existence which can separate us from the infinite power whether we are alive or dead. We come; take birth from this universal power and shall die & merge with the same universal power. In the mighty and infinite, all pervading universal sphere of power, we are nothing but a minute dot within.

In our normal day to day activities during the wakeful state, we consume the stored universal power, which is the energy drawn from food, water, rest & sleep. Though all the energy sources are important for a healthy living (they too draw the energy from the infinite universal source), the sleep is the most important process by which we tap the infinite source of life energy in greater quantum for recharging the bodily battery. Without sleep, within few days, our consciousness will start disorienting which will severely affect other bodily functions. We will fall sick and ultimately die. Through deep sleep, we draw the infinite universal energy into ourselves and because of this life energy drawn, we feel fully fresh & recharged when we wake up. How to tap and draw within more and more universal energy? Indian Yogis through their yogic practices and meditation techniques have answered this question, who had mastered this science to tap the infinite universal force. They have discovered that there is a state beyond sleep in the fully wakeful state called meditation through which we can tap the source of infinite universal energy. By practicing meditation and making it a daily routine, we can draw more and more life energy and eliminate many physical & mental ailments to remain ever healthy, peaceful & joyful.

Meditation is a process by which we try to calm the mind by breathing slowly, effortlessly and naturally.  The simple meditation techniques involve the following;

1. Choose a neat and clean place, preferably well ventilated allowing fresh air to enter the room if the place is indoor. You can do a little warm up exercises or yogic asasnas (yoga postures) before sitting for meditation.

2. Meditation can be practiced at any time but it is preferred to meditate early in the morning at sunrise or/and in the evening at sunset. It is advised to be on empty stomach.

3. Keep a gentle smile on face and feeling of happiness within. Sit in a comfortable position cross legged or in lotus posture on a mat or soft blanket. One can sit on a chair also. It is not advisable to lie for meditation as one may fall asleep.

4. Close your eyes and take few deep breathes. Then breathe normally, make no extra effort to control the breathe; simply breathe slowly & naturally.

5. Mind will wander here and there; do not try to control the mind, allow it naturally to settle with attention drawn to the breathing process. Feel and observe mentally the inhalation and exhalation process. Gradually, the mind will settle and breathing process will become slower and calmer.

6. In the beginning to start with, do the meditation for five to ten minutes and gradually increase the meditation time to half an hour or forty minutes.

7. At the close of the meditation, do not hurry to open the eyes and move around. Rub your palms slowly for few minutes and keep the palms on your eyes. Keeping the palms on eyes, feel the warmth of palms, open your eyes slowly and gradually and take the palms away, put them on your laps. Take little time to become aware of yourself and your surroundings. Get up slowly and then you can move around slowly.

In deep spiritual terms, meditation is a process of connecting the self consciousness which is a spark of the infinite universal energy; with the supreme consciousness, the infinite universal energy itself; like connecting a small electric bulb with the infinite source of power by a live wire, a super conductive highway. This connection opens the door of infinite universal life energy (also called pranic energy) to the mankind which in normal sleep state, only a fraction of it is possible to be tapped. 

Beyond meditation lies the state of Samadhi, a state when your consciousness is merged with the super consciousness of the infinite power, the God. You, yourselves achieve and become the super consciousness, a state beyond which nothing is left to be known. The knower (the self), the process of knowing and the known (the universal supreme power, the God) becomes one. At this state, one knows the mystery of the universe and mystery of life and death. In the Bhagwad Gita, the Lord Krishna himself has explained the mystery of Yoga and Meditation to Arjuna following which the Jiva (the soul of human beings) can merge with the spirit (the Supreme Soul, the Paramatma).

However, the beginners should not look for any immediate results or miracle but continue meditation practice as a part of daily routine. Gradually you will start experiencing a feeling of lasting joy and happiness. You will become calmer and calmer day by day. The first sign of successful meditation is the constant joy felt within. The long practice of meditation will act as an elixir for your life improving your health and  curing completely many  ailments.

                                         

                                          Om Tat Sat… Tat tvam Asi

ओम् तत् सत्……………… तत्त्वमसि

The Anatomy of Bharat Bandh

The Anatomy of Bharat Bandh

Any successful bandh or protests require mass participation of common man, the Aam Aadmi. Example of successful bandhs & protests in India are the hartaals during freedom movement, protests during Nirbhaya case & Anna movement on Lokpal bill where people participated enmass. In the case of present bandh or protest today on demonetisation, there is hardly any participation by common man. It is a call given politicians, a fractured opposition.  The cause they say is the harassment of common man due to long ques in banks & impact on livelihood of poor. They are talikng of the problems to public but have no answer to the solution. People are generally happy with the move. The dark elements supporting black money economy & terror funding are badly affected What interest opposition has in saving them? Are they the part of problem? It appears to be so. And that's why the today's protest is complete failure.

How many farmers committed suicides in this country? How many soldiers & citizens have been killed in terror attacks? For such national  tragedies, no protest & bandhs were there by these so called sympathisers of common man. ! So dear politicians, don't befool the common man. it's your duplicity! You are fighting for your part of loot & politics, not for common man atleast.

Who funds the political parties…. It is the general public only

Who funds the political parties…. It is general public only

In a democracy, the political parties and the people, both are the stakeholders. Through election process, the winning candidates of the political parties form the government. It does not mean that the government is formed only by the majority party but the remaining parties, the so called oppositions too are the part of the government, otherwise, if they don’t have any role in government, they should sit outside the parliament and state assemblies and should not claim any salary and perks. Since the political parties and the people are the stakeholders, the government (meaning thereby all the political parties collectively) must ensure that it’s actions are always in the interest of general public and total transparency is maintained in their funding and expenses.

Alas, this is not the case!

The political parties need money to perform their various activities like election campaigning, advertising and publicity, organizing rallies, meetings, travels, salaries  and running the party show like a corporate house. It has also said that the political parties also resort to distribution of freebies and sometimes even hard cash illegally to influence the voters in it’s favour. From where the money comes to the political parties for all these expenses? Ultimately, the real source of the money can be traced to the pockets of general public only. The donations from corporate houses are nothing but money earned from the public by doing business. The donations by the party members and general public are also ultimately national wealth earned from the public only. The corporate donations also give rise to crony capitalism influencing government policies in its favour and earning profits, again from public only.

It is also said that the major source of political funding is black money and no political parties is left untouched by it. The trail of black money can also be traced back to the people’s legitimate money only. As per various reports, it is said that more than 80% of funding of major political parties comes from unknown sources. The present law permits political parties to collect small contribution up to an Rs 20,000 from anyone without asking for the particulars of the donor. If one wants to donate Rupees one lac to a political party, he/she can easily donate it by splitting the amount in five Rs. 20,000/- sums and donate as an unknown person. The party need not maintain any details of the donor. (However, ironically in recent demonetization drive, people were asked to record their identity proof to exchange their own old two thousand Rupees with new notes).

Why the governments, the present as well as pervious ones and all the political parties collectively adopt double standards? They form one set of laws for general public and another set of law for political parties. The present demonetization drive of government banning Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- notes to eradicate the black money has been generally welcomed by the public in spite of hardship of standing in ques and even with some unfortunate deaths. In spite of this, the opposition parties are also playing politics and opposing the government’s move of demonetization but are silent on their own funding through black economy. Until and unless these loopholes in political funding are not plugged, no drive will be successful in eliminating the black money economy totally. Therefore, the present government must take at least the following action if they are really sincere and interested in eliminating black money from the Indian economic system;

1.     Implement laws to ensure 100% transparency in political funding and expenses including submission of timely audited accounts to Election Commission.

The sources of all small or big contributions, even if it is rupees one has to be declared.  

2.     People are encouraged for digital transactions whereas political parties will gladly accept upto Rs. 20,000/- in cash from an unknown source. This is to be stopped.

·       Implement laws to ban any cash transaction donations as well as expenditures and ensure it through digital transactions only.

·       Details of all donations (even if it is one Rupee) and expenses are to be maintained online on their party websites.

3.     Implement laws to bring all political parties under RTI.

Need to Widen Tax Net in India

The salaried class who pay income tax at source always look towards government for concessions on tax rates in every budget year after year. While they pay income tax at source,  many other class of citizens like traders, small businessman, professionals like doctors and lawyers find ways to evade tax though their actual income may be well above taxable limits. Financial analysts are also repeating time and again  that the government should focus on increasing the tax net instead of announcing fresh income tax measures, endless surcharge and cess. The senior citizens who are not covered with any pension  scheme and whose only source of income is interest earnings from their life time savings are badly hit in the recent times due to falling interest rates.

It is estimated that only about 3 per cent of over 1.25 billion people in the country are paying income tax. The number of people who declare annual income of over Rs 1 crore is abysmally low at just around 50,000 in the country which is an insignificant figure of just 0.004 per cent. Looking at the prosperity of the people with few economic health indicators like palatial houses, numbers of cars & SUVs they possess, frequent air travels within & outside the country will definitely establish that many of them may be tax evaders.

The government's recent move to demonetise Rs 500 & Rs 1000 notes to weed out black money and efforts to compel people to use of e-transactions, plastic money, mobile wallets and opening of bank accounts by more & more people should yield surprIsing result in few years in widening the tax net.  The government should also put a limit on cash transactions to avoid creation of black money. With the widening of tax net & greaters compliance due to technological benefits, it is hoped that the government will find it easier to reduce tax rates in near future, may be in the forthcoming general budget.

Arvind Kejriwal, the CM of Delhi has raised a very logical point that he has not seen any black money hoarders outside the bank ques to exchange money and only common man is suffering standing in que.

Agreed! Arvind Kejriwal is absolutely right. But the people of this country have also not seen Arvind Kejriwal standing in the que for money exchange. Similarly, non of the other opposition leaders who are shouting in parliament & outside agaist demonetisation taking a shield of common man are seen standing in ques for exchange of money, except Rahul Gandhi who got exchanged his old Rs 4000 notes once. The people of this country are greatly  puzzled how these leaders are managing their lives without money exchange! Are they getting new notes from back channels or, are they surviving on thin air without new notes? It would be a great help to the country man if they can suggest how to survive on thin air without money? Or, do they fall in the logical category of black money hoarders as suggested by Arvind Kejriwal who do not stand in que? Does Arvind Kejriwal, himself fall in the black money hoarders category?

About Rahul Gandhi, it should be very paiful for the citizens of this country that he is surviving  on Rs 4000 only till now like a beggar and has not returned back for further money exchange or withdrawal. Under which category he falls, he only knows!

The other derivation can be that some other persons or agencies are footing the bills for day to day expenses of these politicians.

हाथी के दांत दिखाने के और खाने के अलग अलग होते है.

Few Questions to Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Former Prime Minister of India

Few Questions to Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Former Prime Minister of India

The Congress men are rejoicing over the statement, the Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh made yesterday in Parliament slamming the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by Modi government and terming it as a " monumental mismanagement " that might dent GDP by 2%. He has also said that he was convinced that demonetisation had led to "organised loot and legalised plunder"

Every coin has two side. For a coin to realise it's full value, both the sides are essential and important; one cannot ignore one for the other. Now let us come to the personality of Dr Manmohan Singh. Nobody can be more experienced and personally draw more respect for his integrity & honesty other than Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, former Finance Minister, former Chief Economic Adviser, former Finance Secretary, former Dy. Chairman of Planning Commission & former RBI Governer. Time will only tell where the observations of this great personality will stand with the passage of time and what further actions the present government follows or does not follow to weed out corruption & stop genetation of another cycle of black money. However, although, I am not an economist, I am simply applying common sense and feel that Dr Manmohan Singh's statement raises more questions than answers. The questions look like are;

1 (a). How much loss the GDP has suffered during 2004 to 2014 during the two terms he had presided over as Prime Minister of India due to hoards of "Monumental Scams", the country has witnessed?

1 (b). How much NPAs were created in Indian banks during the UPA-1 and UPA-2 regimes and how much loss the GDP has suffered due to these NPAs?

2. Is the loss to the nation due to points1 (a & b) above not an "organised loot and legalised plunder"?

3. How much loss the GDP has suffered due to a huge size of black money economy flourishing in Independent India since 1947?

4. What actions Dr. Manmohan Singh's government took during it's ten year tenure to;

 (i) weed out the black money economy and,

(ii) recover NPAs of Banks?

Without asking further widely talked questions as to where the government's real power was centred during Dr. Singh's terms as Prime Minister and actions taken & not taken by his government under compulsions of coalition dharma, every Indians has right to ask atleast the above mentioned questions.