What Went Wrong with the 8/11/16 Indian Money (Mis)management?

My apologies for not publishing any blogs after the last one some time in April 2016.

In fact this year has been much eventful for me. It was the last year of my long professional career extending over 36 years in a government owned company. It is the Steel Authority of India Limited or SAIL in short. Unlike most engineers and professionals in the current IT-era, my generation belonged to an era when engineers and jobs were both scarce and when most of us never ever seriously thought of switching jobs once we got in to one with luck being at our side! Only those rare very ambitious ones from our lot tried switching jobs for betterment! I too remained honestly loyal to the one and only employer which made me sustain so long! It is not true to say that I never tried to leave my original governmental employer. Yes, I too got in to current of exodus to mushrooming private sector of the Nineteen nineties, but could not muster enough courage to do the final act, somehow.

That way fortunately or otherwise, I remained with SAIL all these years from 1980 to 2016. The company gave me opportunity to work in the Bhilai Steel Plant for over three decades and another half decade at Ranchi. I said goodbye to the professional career and shifted to my ancestral home place back in south India in the now urbanized village, Elanthoor, in Kerala.

Shifting residences is not anything easy in India. It is really painful and frustrating in many ways in this country due to several reasons. They are all unavoidable pains in a budding democracy and I do not wish to elaborate on those in this blog. Not continuing with my writing too was due to some of those frustrating obstacles!

Being a citizen who was compelled to shift residences quite frequently in the recent past, I have not been able to exercise my voting power as an adult Indian citizen. I had written about those in some of my blogs earlier. As is the case with several others, I haven't been a blind follower of any political party so far. I liked the government for doing good to the people and disliked when they did foolish things regardless of the political party lines of the government.

The proxy government under the leadership of Dr.Manmohan Singh as the PM in the past ten years has been more of a dislike than any like due to its inability to explain its honesty rightly to the people. Many, including me obviously found lack of leadership, honesty and guts to act when governmental actions were commonly thought as essential.

And that caused many unbiased citizens like me to look for hopeful alternatives and that was how we started developing a liking with the leadership of Narendra Modi, even while we disliked many ideologies and personalities that his political organization embraced.

And that tilt in the minds of the people catapulted Modi to the top seat of power and we expected miracles. But nothing spectacular never happened except the spectacular international diplomatic shows and endeavors of the new PM. The people, including me, did not lose patience. We knew that the new government needed time and experience!

And then the most spectacular thing suddenly happened on the 8th November 2016 night. Very dramatically the PM's face and voice beamed in the millions of household TV screens across the length and breadth of India! The PM announced his ambitious and very daring anti-corruption drive- the now infamous 'demonetization' drive! The government of India was withdrawing two largely circulated Indian paper currencies-the 500 and 1000 rupee notes with immediate effect with certain allowances! New 2000 rupee notes and 500 rupee notes would replace these cancelled currencies in a phased manner!

The PM requested the public to be patient for 50 days and to bear the inconveniences that might arise for this big and bold step by the government to wipe out black money and counterfeit currencies from the Indian monitory system. He explained the restrictions for people to withdraw cash from banks and ATMs.

We danced initially with joy as we found this daring PM taking daring action to clean Indian economy from its black labels! He had earlier taken similar steps to clean the Indian streets from its foul smell that had become the obvious characteristic of the Indian winds!

We were ready to face the odds for making this happen though some of us had our doubts deep in our minds. For example we could not digest the logic of withdrawing 1000 rupee notes with 2000 rupee notes! Yet we never doubted the wisdom of the all knowing government.

As the days went, the Indian people were realizing the great administrative blunder or mismanagement. They were witnessing the lack of planning within the governmental systems and the top bank, the Reserve Bank of India. People like me could not digest the fact that the Indian bureaucracy is so ineffective or unprofessional to handle this kind of a situation which is not in any way a herculean task. How could they do such a big administrative action without proper planning?

Withdrawing most of the existing currencies without making any alternative arrangements to replace those genuine cash? They have not undertaken any action for low denomination currencies. They have not thought about the ATMs and making changes in those machines and the systems with the banking system to dispense cash!

Neither they did any thing to make at least the educated and well to do Indian middle class to switch to cashless electronic money transactions! There have been no governmental rules or systems that ensured this.

As of now, the troubles of the people and increasing day by day. The most vulnerable are the citizens at the lower rungs of the society who earned their daily earnings in low denomination paper cash. The retail traders, the rural farmers, the daily wage earners and the like are all miserably affected. The Indian economy has come to a pathetic halt not because of shortage of money, but because of the inability of the government to make financial transactions possible wherever it was needed!

The inability of the government to dispense the worries of the people at this stage is more worrisome now. The news of infighting within the government and the political system have been enhancing the worries.

There are reports of large scale loss of employment especially in the unorganized sector. Whether this will percolate to the organized sector is something the regular employees of India keep watching tense-fully!

The long ques in the banks and ATMs in India are nothing encouraging to the Indian economy. The catch of unaccounted cash in the new currencies and the threat of the government with more penalties and punishments to the economic violators are not any thing that make India an investment friendly nation!

The nature of uncertainty in the economy is not anything good for a nation like India. No doubt, we need to tackle black money, counterfeits and black economy. But it should not be at the cost of the whole economy.

Will any one burn the house for fear of rats?

What could have gone wrong in this big administrative decision of the Indian government?

I think it is one typical case of administrative goof up just as the deeds done by Muhammad-bin-Tugluq a few centuries ago due to lack of well informed planning and unprofessional execution. Historians do admit the good intentions of Tugluq, though!

In the current case, if we observe unbiased, it is not difficult to find an unnecessary and undue encroachment by the political leadership in an administrative act that involved high degree of economic and financial complexities! Though the government is supreme, it was a job of the Reserve Bank of India and the latter should have done it professionally after due homework!

Instead what the people of India witnessed? The PM announcing the decision most dramatically at an awkward time in the news channels! And the man responsible for the final thing- the governor of the RBI was not to be seen anywhere!

And for that matter, the RBI boss was a new one. No doubt, he was an experienced professional in some other field. But he took the reigns of RBI only very recently. That kind of a time period is just not sufficient for any external management expert to master the complexities involved in the management of the central bank! With that short stint, he was obviously not in a position to advise the political and bureaucratic bosses with correct predictions and consequences even if he was consulted prior to the move!

And that explains why the RBI is very poorly equipped to deal with the consequences of the 8/11 demonetization act! Nothing surprising then to learn about the inadequate stock of currency printing paper and security inks with the security presses managed by the RBI! Nothing surprising to find the ATMs of the country cannot be equipped for the new paper currencies! Nor the failure of the Indian banking system to act foolproof post demonetization is also nothing surprising!

No one with the right kind of information would have ever thought that India is fully equipped for digital revolution to such an extent that it can do away with physical currency in just one stroke! No doubt, India has achieved much in the recent years with regard to its internet networks and electronic communication systems. But that is just not enough and can never replace the common money that the poor and ignorant majority Indians are still depended upon in the present times. At the most these are wishful thoughts for India for the future!

Unless the people are reasonably well to do with above poverty incomes and reasonable standards of living it is difficult for any government to honesty remove corruption. Under privileged masses are prone to be the poaching ground for the clever characterless people to perpetuate corruption! With India with its present levels of below poverty line and marginally above poverty line masses, the upper money making lots would keep their exploitation practices in so many ways so long as the latter change their evil mindsets! 

There are better alternatives and that is the need of the hour! Income tax raids and stricter punishments for black money would only make corruption money to change hands! It will not eliminate corruption! Why not the government encourage people to pay taxes honestly and honor the high tax payers with awards instead of threatening all tax payers with draconian punishments? Draconian rules are the first cause for corruption, in my humble opinion! And corruption is the first cause for black money and black economy! 

We may have moved to the 21st century, but with all those who enjoy power and position, the mindset remain as of the dark ages! The moment power and position are achieved, human mind tilts towards evil and begins to explore ways to exploit others instead of being of any good service to others!

Observe any man who occupies a powerful seat of power high or low. Observe his or her ways and manners. Is it not the same like the hawks or the wild hyena? Or may be of the cunning jackal? And watch the same person after he or she is removed from the seat of power!

And character cannot be brought in a man or woman just by education. Without character, there is potential of evil always. Developing good character in the people is a lengthy process that might take generations for full transformation. Yet, it is nothing non-achievable for the individuals! 

In this context some readers might remember what I had written some time ago: An attempt to eradicate corruption in any characterless society would bring about more corruption!

So what the PM should have done in the current situation?

He should have created a situation that encouraged good citizens to do their economic activities without fear or apprehension while making it difficult for those who are more prone to corrupt acts.

He should have eased the income tax rules and laws and created better systems and procedures for people to pay their taxes honestly and removed the draconian or complex return filing procedures for individuals while making it perhaps necessary only for business firms. Let the government tax all incomes at the source, but why should the individual tax payers troubled for keeping all mundane accounts and file the returns error free in a system that no Indian can do without external help? Obviously, such systems and procedures are made by tax officials when they are in power with the intention of enhancing their power! And such enhanced powers obviously become another source of corruption!

Why does the government keep agricultural incomes tax free for all? Is it not a good opportunity to convert big black money? How on earth someone check the validity of any one declaring a million or more income from a few acres of land that he or she holds without doing any farming at all? This one provision compels many to buy cheap farm lands and keep them barren or under utilized for tax evasion. Even if the farms yield big incomes, why such incomes should be tax tree? Small farm incomes should be tax free. But big farms should not be.

Why does the government extent many tax free privileges and perks to the government officials while no such things are available to employees in the private domains? Why does the government keep enhancing the salaries, perks and pensions of the government employees without any due consideration to spend any tax collections for any logical social benefits to the general public including the tax payers?

I remember a youth working in a private company in India asking me this question recently: Why should we pay income tax when the government does nothing for us from the tax so collected? Will the government pay us subsistence allowance if I lose my job tomorrow and become income less from the tax they collected from me earlier? And remember, the several developed nations in the present day world do have such schemes while the government of India does not subscribe to any such ideas.

The youngsters of India do not wish to hear from the government that they take taxes only for fighting wars or defending the borders. Of course, that is important. But concurrently, the government has to prove to the nation that every rupee they collect as taxes are spent wisely for the people! When the people realize, it more and more will honestly come forward to pay taxes!

But no doubt, it is not good for modern governments to function as goonda sarkars of the bygone past when the word sarkar was actually associated with danda or stick!

  

Let us hope the PM and his team recognize the anxiety of the silent and honest masses of India now and take some bold but honest corrective steps that make India and Indians shine! 

When Religious Organizations Run Educational Institutions For Money and Power, the Damage to the Society is More!

To be very frank, I am pained by the way the Indian education system has deteriorated over the past few decades beyond redemption. When I talk about the deterioration, I do not mean the physical deterioration of the infrastructure that the Indian educational institutions have. In fact, the physical infrastructure in many private educational institutions have improved tremendously when the governments have allowed the private educational institutions to charge heavy fees from the students, several times more than what existed a few years ago. So, the deterioration is not on that count.

On the other hand the deterioration I am talking about is the moral deterioration that has been taking place in the education system in India. Again, it is not about any explicit immorality that I am concerned with but about certain kinds of indirectly discernible acts of certain private school managements  that cause the students to get distorted ideas about morality and ethics that are applicable to the citizens. While publicly most schools display their concern for morality, discipline and high ethical standards, what they actually practice convey some thing else!

Most of the school managements cannot set any moral examples for the students because the ones who manage the schools are often ruthless or ignorant people who either do not believe in any moral values or who do not know what it actually is. 

The educational institutions they manage boast of high disciplines, highest standards of education and the like [There are people who can frame all standard objectives, rules and regulations for them to get all statutory clearances!] But those who really manage these are without any of these qualities in most instances. In reality these institutions kill the real creative talents and innocence of the children and reduce them to biological human robots whose ability is measured in terms of the scores or grades that  they obtain in examinations. 

Indian education system as it stands today in the schools and colleges essentially measures the memorizing capacity of students! The training for memorizing begins even before a child learns the mother tongue, killing the child's creative abilities and its abilities for understanding meanings and values! The children and their parents are pressurized and to the highest possible levels all throughout their school education years only to be repeated again when these students become parents again a couple of years later!

In the process, most of the children who are trained through these institutions become intrinsically fearful persons who either have lost their wisdom to live a life according to their inner consciousness or become clever cheaters who do not feel the mind pinch to do any thing immoral or illegal so long as they could do those without getting caught. The children and the parents have been forced to become helpless and rotten on account of the education system forced on them by people who have never undergone through such a torture. The latter are the cleverest ones who know well to control all those who want to become great through what is being cleverly projected as the 'highest quality education'. 

Some children watch the material success of those VIPs who were managing their educational institutions and many of them are intelligent enough to understand the clever games the so-called successful people play. The children also witness how some of their teachers are exploited by the school managements. Those teachers who are not pets of those who manage the schools have been reduced to persons with no self esteem! The children also watch the benefits that some of their teachers who are the favored ones of the management get and they also sense the disparities that exist among their teachers based on various factors which are not logical or justifiable to their young minds. Some of their teachers are good teachers in their eyes but they are not that way before the management or the principal. 

The principal is the visible management representative whose main function is to enhance the institutions' image so that it attracts a steady stream of parents every year who are too willing to get their wards admitted to the institution by any means. Private managements of many of the educational institutions of India are too willing to spend much on the principal and showcase him or her as a living example of pomp and show to boost the image of the institution in the public gaze! 

It is not difficult to find such principals of private schools in India who sit in such lavishly furnished offices which could even make the CEOs of large business groups feel pretty ashamed of themselves. 

Such principals, especially those of the schools,  move around in expensive chauffeur driven vehicles! 

On the other hand, within a few hundred yards away one may also find government run schools or even some private government aided academic institutions having perceptibly higher societal importance getting much less or no facilities of that kind. 

Projecting the principal is a new technique some private educational institutions have adopted to boost the image of their school and hoodwink the gullible parents. More and more private schools and educational institutions are now resorting to this technique in India. But if you happen to talk to any such VIP head of any such institution, it is likely that you soon realize the hollowness of the person sitting on the chair as a neo-aristocrat! 

Meeting such a principal of an educational institution would be perhaps much more difficult for the parents than to meet the Chief Minister of the state. Many principals are also known to show favoritism to the parents according to the wealth and status of the latter. They treat wealthy and powerful parents with visible politeness while they show no such politeness to those parents whom they consider as of no consequence. 

Such favored parents are too happy to oblige to any request the principal may occasionally request from them! This way such principals soon become influential persons of the locality. 

Soon the wards of the less favored who happen to be students of such so-called prestigious educational institutions develop a feeling of class differentiation and a general antagonism within their minds which explodes in manners that we can never imagine, sooner or later! Wards of the lesser privileged in the locality who happen to study in such schools might develop a kind of inferiority complex which gets reflected as psychic anomalies later in their lives. 

Hype generation by educational institutions managed by societies formed by groups of people with motives and objectives for building public influence and power is understandable. At least  they are not making any false claims on morality! Again, there are many educational institutions in India which are essentially family run but officially run in the name of Societies formed by select group of individuals from the same family. Sometimes the name of the society that manages the educational institution might bear a misguiding name! But such acts are done by business oriented people who went in to the profitable education business in the guise of the non-profit societies because they had no other choice to establish such a business declaring it honestly as a profit making venture! How could any body believe that some one would spend scores of millions to establish an educational institution for charity alone? It is quite unlikely. So all those private educational institutions in India run by business groups under the banner of registered Societies are run for profits in terms of money and also for gaining influential positions in the country. That is the reason why India now has hundreds of private engineering colleges, medical colleges, universities and management institutions all competing each other to woo parents to sent their wards to them by paying high fees.

But what pinches is the manner in which even many of the educational institutions run by Christian church groups and other religious organizations slowly getting adapted to the new trends!

In the process they seem to forget what they preach and practice some thing which is not compatible with their teachings! 

The objectives in their bye laws may be good but many of these societies stand hijacked by people who do not possess the moral and ethical strengths of their predecessors. This is because of the democratic nature of these societies where it is very easy for characterless people to enforce their dominance over the majority members many of whom might be good and simple people. Such hijacked educational institutions are capable of creating much damage to the social moral fabric.

Since they could perpetuate the moral and ethical decline through the students of the concerned educational institutions they keep managing, I consider it as much more serious than those doing the education business! 

It is foolish to think that our children are blissfully ignorant about these double standards of our educational institutions set up and managed by our religious organizations! When religious organizations err, the moral damage to the society is many fold!

The educational institutions which boast of high standards and proudly announce their cent percent results in the final examinations are in reality managed by narrow minded pseudo practitioners who are too eager to exploit the ignorance and anxiety of the gullible Indian middle class parents. 

These parents are under the false concept that it is the English speaking students who find success in their career. This erroneous concept has been forced upon the gullible public minds by the very same pseudo educationists of India by using various techniques reinforced by either inaction or wrong actions by the state and central governments.

Let me categorically tell you this. I am not against English medium education. But imparting the education in a second language other than the usual mother tongue or the common language of the locality for a child is highly damaging and it actually kills its ability to understand language and meanings properly in its later years.

There exists a group of people in India who try to show to the rest of India that they are different from others by speaking in a foreign language and directly or indirectly projecting this quality as one of the essentials of measuring knowledge and educational superiority. Coupled with their outwardly lavish life styles and their peculiarly accented English speaking usually create inferiority complex in those people who are not of this category, in spite of many of the latter being better of than the former. 

This growing inferiority complex fuels the fire of aspirations of gullible middle class of India who want their future generations to acquire the much needed aristocracy through the so called English-medium education. Those who cannot fulfill this aspiration then become antagonistic to the system which generates this disparity. A new caste system begins to establish.

Children whose mother tongue is not English and who are compelled to get education in English right from the Kindergarten or nursery levels are bound to develop a language deficiency which is difficult to explain. They are highly handicapped to understand higher meanings. I have seen this deficiency in grown up people who have undergone such an education. 

In my opinion, it is not at all necessary to have English medium education for getting English language proficiency. 

Of course, English is now the international language and proficiency in this language is definitely an advantage for Indians under the present circumstances. But that does not mean that the Indian children should be taught in English right from age two. By creating a situation like this, India is generating a future generation who are not good in any language!

I am pained to read one of the clauses of the a private English medium school under their 'general guidelines for students' that is published on their website. It reads like this:

"Conversation in English - During the school hours but for Hindi classes the students are informed to converse in English which is essential in developing communicative skill in English.  Other than Hindi periods in the class and in the campus and also in the bus English must be the spoken language; if not spot fine will be charged."

So this school threatens the students to speak in English only, in the campus and also while they commute to the school by the school buses. Else they would be fined. The school is honest to declare that they do it to encourage their students to speak in English! Obviously, the school tries to tell that communication skills in English is the most important thing to develop in life as a school going boy or girl for future success! 

And this school is not an exception. There are several such schools in India who frame their ill conceived rules this manner, many of them contradicting the Constitution and the laws of the country in this manner. 

This school is managed by a society formed by Malayalam speaking members of a Kerala based church located in North India. The school administration  is carried out by an elected management committee, having very ordinary folks as its members having pretty no idea about the rules and laws that the governments issue from time to time. Effectively, they are guided by one or two external advisers who pose as chartered accountants and lawyers with some contacts in the concerned government departments. The school committee thankfully take their advises and perhaps even obliged to take 'other' kinds of helps that are required to keep them safeguarded from the government officials who are likely to pounce on them for possible violations of government directives that keep coming from time to time.

Thus a new kind of game gets started. The schools do the education business and money pours in as fees. The more the schools reputation with results and the infrastructure the more the students they get. The more the students, the more the money they get as fees. The more the money, the more the government departments come in to monitor them. The more the government scrutiny the more they have to spend to be compliant with government directives. The more they try to be compliant by unfair means, the more they spend later directly and indirectly for escaping government's punishment acts. The more such indirect acts needed for compliance, the more the chances of the managing committee members to make personal benefits!

This process then leads to a kind of give-and-take friendship among the players. Both sides become influential.

This way running any educational institution could be done by any one in India even if they do not know any thing about the law or about the field that they manage. The educational institutions in India are not managed by any eminent educationist. Any teacher or professor employed by an educational institute who is in the good books of the educational society eventually becomes an eminent educationist.  

The members of the educational society need not have any experience of their own to vouch for the efficacy of English medium education. Even the teachers need not be those who are excellent in teaching in English. What they need to have is the desire to imitate what the so called Indian educationists elsewhere are apparently doing. And that desire is not essentially based on their desire to turn their students to English speaking Anglo-Indians, but by the desire to promote a pseudo aura about the school's elitist culture that would attract more and more parents to send their children to them! And that would ensure them to earn a steady future income and also maintain their influence in the society indirectly.   

But who are responsible for this situation? It is easy to blame the over anxious parents who want the best education for their kids. But personally by analyzing the situation, I consider the parents are not to be blamed. Most parents I talk to and even me myself have been mere victims of the situation. The existing educational institutions who have been doing yeoman service to the nation have been clandestinely closed down by creating situations for their closure or non-performance. 

Is it the unholy or rather ill conceived nexus between  the governmental authorities and the private educational institutions responsible for creating such a thing to happen in India? I am not sure. 

I think it is the unwillingness of the governments to open up education system in India. It is an erroneous thinking that educational societies are formed by eminent citizens with desired levels of qualifications and experience to establish and manage educational institutions effectively for the common good of the nation. Unfortunately, the Societies Registration Acts in force in many states of India are too vague and have no practically effective supervisory controls in regulating the education activity in India. The governments control the education sector by using various administrative orders and also by controlling the examination boards , the universities and also the entrance examinations.

It is again to be stressed that eminent educationists and highly educated and experienced people who are capable of understanding the psychology of children well have no role whatsoever to play in the education management in India. Just as the Indian politics, the Indian education has also degraded to such levels that people with some self respect cannot think of associating with it! Education in India is in the hands of people associated with religion, politics and the like and they would not allow those who are not of that kind to enter into that field.

Artificial scarcity in education in India has made education black market. Helpless parents are anxious about the future education of their children. Fees are sky rocketing year after year. A parent who has a transferable and non-influential job in India posted in a city faces his or her greatest ordeal in life to get a school admission for his or her son or daughter. Many young people are shying away from having children for the dread of education for their children!

Educational societies are making a kill and are not answerable to the most important stake holders-the parents and the students. Unless one is having political blessing, no educational institution can be established. Individuals or companies are not allowed to enter into the formal education field in India.

Education stands as a clandestine business just as public transport, liquor trade, petroleum trade, health industry and the like in India. Those who know the tricks of the trade, big fortunes are awaited at the cost of the poor children and their parents! What a nice country to live on. Any wonder that the Indians who go the USA or Canada for a job do not want to return any time later?

But the worst that can happen is the hijack of Indian educational institutions established by religious organizations by those who have no religious good left in them!

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Do You Allow Philargyria to Overtake You ? Is Your Life A Blessing or A Curse ?

Today I would like to share with my readers two things which have been  in my mind for quite some time, but intermixed with many other thoughts. But two things happened yesterday that caused these to be brought out that I write some thing about these and share with those who might happen to read it.

The first event was attending a small christian convention arranged by the small group of Malayalee Marthoma community of thirty odd families in Ranchi to which I too belong. Such annual congregational meetings arranged for a couple days are part of the routine programs of the Marthoma parishes for keeping the members refreshed of the good teachings of the Bible and giving them an opportunity for re-dedication of their individual lives to live a meaningful life. As we human beings are inherently non-perfect, there is a need for continuing efforts from the side of preachers and teachers for keeping us in the right path always. Even those exposed to such efforts also are not becoming anywhere near perfection is another thing that many others like to debate.

So our parish committee had invited a well known revival speaker from Kerala, who also happened to be an elderly priest of the Marthoma Church. He had come all the way as the main speaker for our spiritual three nights' christian conference and yesterday night we had the first night meeting from 6-30 PM to 9-00 PM at our small chapel located in the premises of St.Thomas School, Ranchi managed by our parish members. 

The opening remark of the speaker was a direct and piercing question to each one of the individuals assembled there including me who are all the so-called Christians. He asked this:

" Is your life a blessing? Or is it a curse?" He continued to expand that theme question further based on what Jesus has been told as taught as described in John 15: 1-17  . This is the famous teaching of Jesus about 'the vine and the branches' where he equates himself as the vine and his followers as the branches commanding his followers to love each other.

Incidentally this is the sum and substance of Jesus' teaching which is stressed again and again in the Urantia Book as well many times. Let me put it the way I understood it:

If God is the creator of humans, then He is the universal father of all human beings (for a moment let us forget all those other beings and things of the universe that He had created.) 

Then there exists a bondage of inherent brotherly or sisterly love among all humans. The fundamental duty of all human beings is to love his creator father God and also his siblings unconditionally. Love here has a different meaning. It means devotion, service and care than what other meanings that we attach with that word in some other context.

As children of God, the fundamental duty of all human beings is to abide in the love of God. And those who are not abiding in that love of nourishment would cease to exist just as the branches of the vine that is cut and removed from the vine.

When me and my wife returned back yesterday night at around 9.30 pm IST (17th Jan 2014) I thought of watching the late night news in the TV. All Indian channels were beaming the news about the sudden death of a glamorous Indian lady, the third wife of an internationally famous Indian and a high profile central government minister of India under mysterious circumstances in a five star hotel suite in New Delhi.

The lady was in her prime middle age and was materially very successful just as her husband.

The news media has been analyzing the cause and consequences of this tragic incident. How could these very successful people could have a life of miseries and sorrows in their private lives while publicly they appeared smiling and happy most of the times?

What went wrong?

How could they become some thing of a curse to themselves and many around them while every one viewed their life with full of blessings?

Were these blissful couple a blessing to others? 

Today morning while I was reading more about them using the internet resources, I chanced to read an interesting article titled : the Biblical Money Code. [It is too lengthy and you should consider clicking the link and reading the whole article yourself. It is worth reading. Book mark this page for a future reading if you do not have the time now.]

It is about the idea of money and wealth which matches with the concepts that I have been nourishing for some time now. It is written by one famous American, named Sean Hyman a successful investor, money maker and money giver. In the article, which perhaps you might have read by now, he is explaining the principles of money and wealth generation successfully in accordance with the teachings of the Bible.

Let me stress what he had stressed in the article: " Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil". But money is not the evil, it is the love for money.

And love for money and material gain is greed. I learnt a new word from Mr Sean Hyman, the humble american pastor who is also a successful investor who claims the use of the biblical money code for his success.

And that Greek word is : Philargyria [fil-aar-gee-rya] : the insatiable greed for money and material pleasures!

But when this philargyria overtakes the divine command we face the danger of being cut off from the nourishing love of God that enables us to live as a blessing to all including we ourselves.

And that is indeed a very pathetic situation.

But yet, it is indeed a puzzle for me that many of us are not able to overcome our greed and love for money, wealth and material pleasures. 

Are you using your knowledge, skills, competence and such other talents for the pursuit of philargyria?

Do you want to end up your life wretched as if entangled in curses for generations even when you had all the so-called genius and talents?

Think it over.

You could still be wealthy and your life could be a blessing to all if you do not allow that greed and love for money to overtake your mind and senses.

Modify your passions and ambitions with character and compassion. While you earnestly do your work and while you gain wealth and money, remember that you do that in accordance with the divine commandments.

We are not supposed to do our works affected by any kind of dishonesty that could deprive or cause some damage to our fellow beings. We have to be compassionate to our fellow beings-children of God- all the while we do our work.

Because we all exist for doing some kind of work which is a service to some others around us and we need to be compassionate to others while we do our part of the responsibilities entrusted to us.

If it is that way we are going to live a life which is a blessing to others. If it is a blessing to others it could no doubt be a blessing to us too!

Let not that type of things similar to the tragic case that I mentioned above happen in our lives!

What Will You Do If It Happens in Your Life ?

Yesterday I got a call from a person whom I had known well some decades ago. Without him elaborating, I perceived that he was in great distress. He was hesitant to tell or ask for a help. He needed something at that moment to save him and his family from immediate financial ruin. I am happy that I could do something yesterday for him even though it might not sustain him for ever. That in any case is up to the invisible ministers of the universe administration who are all around us !

Any way to tell you the truth, giving is a great pleasure. A pleasure you have to know for yourself. Much more than what you get from receiving. Again, if you are in a position to give, it is a higher privilege vested on you !

I would like to tell some thing more about the person who called me yesterday. When I met him the first time, he was an engineering technician cum supervisor of an engineering construction company. This company was entrusted with some chemical plant erection contract for my company where I used to function as the engineer- in-charge. This was some time in the early 1980's.

He spoke my mother tongue and hence in another couple of days he became very close to me. I found him a very talented technician with superb skills in engineering erection and construction. He did not possess any worthy certificates of formal education. But his skills and knowledge he gained through practical experience and observations were commendable. He was also a good leader for his team of construction workers. I found that his company was making a good fortune simply depending on the skills of this man.

One day I pointed out this to him and encouraged him to set up his own construction contract firm. He acted on it with some initial guidance from me and soon established a very successful engineering construction company. He bagged a few independent contracts and soon his company prospered with very good profits and financial status. I remember the time when he brought his first graduate engineer and first qualified accountant he recruited for his firm to me and introduced them to me. 

Soon there after he became so immersed in his business that his contact with me snapped. For some more time I used to hear about him. By this time he had become a really wealthy man. Wealth and money with him were much more than an engineer like me could amass in a life time ! Later I also learnt that he was very influential in the local politics also as some of the political leaders who became very prominent later were his proteges.

Nearly two decades later, he appeared to me all of a sudden in a new prominent restaurant that was opened in the area where me and my wife had gone to dine. He was the owner of the restaurant. He told me that he had he had diversified his business. Though he was showing due respect to me, he talked much about his influences and holds in politics, police and the like. He offered me any help with his battalion of goons that he had raised for his protection and maintenance of business activities, if at all I needed some of those !

My God ! What a transformation money and power can bring about ! I thought .

Nearly another decade passed. One fine morning I was surprised to find him in my office.

This time, he was a ruined man. His money and wealth had all gone. He was now facing successive failures. But he was confident of making a come back !

Then I did not hear from him for another year. Then one day, he came to my house.

He wanted to tell me his story. I listened. He was still a ruined man financially. It was difficult for me to believe that he did not have anything even to buy food for the day.

But, yet he appeared to be happier and pious than he was an year ago when he met me in my office.

Then he told me another thing. He told me that he and his family are now followers of Jesus Christ.

It was something difficult for me to believe. He was a staunch Hindu and a supporter of a militant ideology earlier !

Who converted him ? None. That was what he said. He was converted to be a christian by none other than Jesus Christ ! Too difficult for me to digest, being a nominal christian my self !

Was it his financial ruin that forced him for this change of mind ?

Perhaps yes. But the financial ruin had forced him to attempt suicide en masse with his family. But at that time of great distress when they were about to die, it was Jesus who brought about a change in them. A change to live a different life ! That was what he told me !

I could read the sparkle of happiness in his eyes, even at the time of great uncertainty in continuing with his earthly life. Later I met his wife and his children. I found the same in their eyes too.

I kept observing him in his trials and tribulations of earthly life in his new way of life. Perhaps this time he was facing more troubles. But yet he and his family continued to sustain triumphantly. There were inducements to go back to his earlier way of life. Perhaps he could make his life materially successful once again. But I find them not willing to do that for the transcendental joys they have found now.

There are things in this world which are beyond our understanding !

While I type this in, another story also came into my mind which thought of sharing with you all.

While I was a small boy, I used to hear about one of the brothers of my grand mother, who at that time served the lone international airline company of India at that time as a pilot.

He was an aristocrat of our family having married to a lady from similar backgrounds while we all remained at our villages as their crude country relatives.

As a boy I had an immense desire to meet this great uncle of mine who flew airplanes, a rare fascinating machine of those days.

I used to hear our family members talking about his life styles, his salaries and the like. While we went to village schools, his children never went to schools for studies, which used to be for lesser mortals. Instead, they were taught at home by tutors to make them pass the prestigious Cambridge school certificate examinations.

We never had an opportunity to meet him or his family while he flew over the globe.

Then some time in early nineteen sixties, the news about his losing job percolated to the family circles. He was suspended pending enquiry for some irregularity at the fag end of his career.

For a couple of years he sustained by consuming all that were at his disposal to come to a naught at some time later.

He fell from a height, down to stark realities of life ! They had relatives and friends elsewhere. He could have approached some of them with whom he was in contact. Those who matched his life style earlier.

But the stark truth all of a sudden made him realize that such friends and relatives are of no use when you are in real trouble. Aristocrats have no time for failing fellows ! Even he would have done the same way had he remained in the same fashion !

So what is next for the aristocrat who was defeated in life ?

Death ?  Yes, that is what the rule book of theirs said.

So this great uncle with his entire family decided to end their lives one fine day. They had faced a humiliating reality of life with no possible solution.

But his youngest son in his pre-teens spoiled their plans.

It was this time that some of the other family members extended a helping hand.

My father was one among them.

That resulted in this great uncle living in our home for more than three years. As a high school boy at that time I got the opportunity to learn many things from this man who was also a royal air force pilot of world war-2. He had become a  down to earth friend of mine !

Many times this thought used to come to my mind.

What would I do if such a thing happen in my life ?

I do not know.

It's a difficult thing.

But it does happen with many in this world.

Money, wealth and power do come and bless many abundantly. But it also could vanish all of a sudden just as it came !

So what have I learnt from these ?

First, if I am not abundantly blessed with these, I should be happy.

God is listening to my daily prayer: " Father, give us this day the daily bread ."

But if He bestows more than that, it is an additional responsibility. I should be careful. I should consciously make efforts not to get carried away by this wealth, money or power.

I should make conscious efforts not to hurt others with these material power gadgets that are under my command. I should feel humbled and should think of using these for the benefit of others, if possible.

If I do not, what is going to happen ? Perhaps nothing.

But I would indeed lose the opportunity to help.

An opportunity to get refreshed by the joy and pleasure that the god within me radiated from deep inside me.

Observing all these, I guess,  I am learning the meaning of this prayer that Jesus taught:

"Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil."

That I have been reciting almost every day for years !

But now in real life situations, I prefer to go by the advice of Jesus to the rich man, as narrated in my favorite book :

" When in honest doubt about the equity and justice of material situations, let your decisions favor those who are in need, favor those who suffer the misfortune of undeserved hardships.”

Do You Want Power and Money ? It's Easy, Just Bow Before Him !

There is a story in the Bible about Jesus facing the testing of Satan. In one of those tests Satan tells Jesus that he would just leave the control of earth to Jesus' if Jesus acknowledge him as the boss by bowing to him.

In other words, Jesus had to make a small compromise for achieving a big success !

Restating this in our modern political management concepts it would mean just saying 'yes sir' to Satan whenever an occasion comes so that Satan the boss becomes too pleased.

The pleased boss would entrust all the wealth and power portfolios to his obedient subordinate or subordinates !

In the satanic ways of management it is this simple !

Just be ready to say 'yes sir' or 'yes boss' always to the one above to acquire power and position !

Then the boss would be pleased to elevate you to important positions, even when you do not have the capacity to discharge the responsibilities associated with those power positions.

You are entitled to enjoy status, position, perks and the like so long as the boss is pleased with you.

For pleasing the boss the primary requirement is keep saying yes to whatever the boss wants. Boss wants to be adored and he likes all those who keep adoring him. Even if those adorations are false he would not mind. After all he knows that he is not God.

Even when your own judgement is not in agreement with the boss you have to simply shake your head in agreement with the boss. In hindi language this is known as Mundi Hilao Management (MHM) or Head Bow Management (HBM)

For the onlookers it appears as a very easy and simple thing.

Satan knew the inherent qualities and power of Jesus. Perhaps that is the reason why he made it simple for Jesus. Jesus was required only to acknowledge the superiority of Satan to gain the control of earth.

Any way Jesus did not compromise. He admonished Satan reminding him about the fundamental requirement of all creatures in the universe. All creatures including Satan and human beings are to bow only to the Universal Creator God. No one else !

But Satan keeps trying with others.

He wants to make an independent system in the universe where he can be the god.

Even if it is some thing smaller than the God's Universe, he does not care !

So long as he is adored and worshipped like God in his smaller domain, he is pleased.

He is also ready to share his spoils with those willing to make compromises.

He is ready to make all those willing to be in his line and accept him as god as smaller gods in their own domains.

The requirements are not very difficult and the rewards are very appealing and quick.

You have to say yes sir to the boss and of course be willing to work against the universal law of love and mercy that God has given to His creations.

So requirement number one : be ready to bow to any one not necessarily only the Universal Creator God.

Requirement number two : work against God's plans.

So if God says you be merciful to all your fellow creatures and human beings, you should now twist it a bit saying that it is wise to be good only to your own near and dear ones. No one else !

If God wants you to be compassionate and honest  to your subordinates, you can twist it a bit by saying that 'those under me are my slaves, I can treat them the way I like'. The boss is entitled to mistreat his subordinates !

If some one is not showing respect, you can teach him or her a lesson till he or she bows to you. After all you are also a smaller god. Those below you should necessarily acknowledge that !

If a person is not agreeing and saying yes sir, you can crush him or her. That is justified.

If some one is showing sycophancy you are entitled to enjoy that to the full and reward the sycophant adequately with undue favours. Boss means demigod after all !

Satan is in the look out for people who do not mind acknowledging him as the master for gaining money and power.

Thousands are doing that and really gaining money and power.

But in that process they are trapped by Satan to live according to him and not according to God.

Knowingly or unknowingly Satan has become their god.

So what ? Any way there should be a god. I have chosen this one as my boss or god and it is serving my purpose and getting me money, power and the joys of life in this world. That is the logic of those who follow the unseen dark powers that exist in this world.

Success, fame, money, wealth, power, ego satisfaction, mass following and the like are easily accomplished by those who are willing to accept satanic principles.

But Satan does not guarantee good things always.

Perpetual happiness and well being are not fully guaranteed.

Risks of losing health and life are always there.

Not only the the material life of this world, but also the much more rewarding life in a higher form of existence that God has promised to all those who conduct their life according to His laws.

And to seek God's laws it is not necessary to run here and there.

For it is written in the minds of all men and women.

They are only required to look in to their own minds and be willing to conduct themselves in accordance with those inbuilt laws.

God has given you the power to chose.

He will no way interfere as He is not like the other boss who delegates power and works against it.

I have experienced this: acquiring money and power is very easy.

But I have also experienced this: It is not worth to acquire those by bowing to Satan and his associates !

You are likely to lose much more precious things in life !

Indian Budget: Killing the Goose that lays Golden Eggs!

There is a likelihood that some of you might have heard of the folklore about the foolish man who killed his magic goose which provided him a golden egg every day. His greed for amassing wealth as quickly as possible compelled him to take the decision of killing his goose to take out all the golden eggs from its belly all at once !

While watching the news channels that beamed this years budget proposals made by the Hon'ble Finance Minister of India Union, some how the above said story came to my mind.

I am not an economist or expert in the economic nitty-gritties of a massively populated and complex country like India.

The minister and his team of experts know better than me about running the country's finances.

No doubt about that.

Yet, common men like me are compelled to think otherwise.

Are the so-called financial experts administering the country trying to kill its economy and its people by their tax administration and taxation policies?

I do not say that citizens should not be taxed. But taxation should not be such a way that it forces the very sources to get dried up and initiates negative growth.


It is the common man with some income who is the fundamental element that keeps the country in shape. The common people are the base for the country's existence, its markets , its richness and its governmental system.

The government in any case takes a cut of its own on every rupee that is transacted in each and every money exchange or transactions by various kinds of indirect taxes. Every goods and services have an indirect tax component embedded in them. As long as people buy goods and services, the government makes money as taxes, even when the business men do not make a profit.

Take for example the airline ticket charges. Even if the airline is ready to take you free, the government will not allow them to do it. A few thousand rupees per hour of flying per seat is mandated to be paid to the government as various kinds of taxes.


If this is the ground reality, if the government wants to enlarge its coffers, what should it do?

Should it cut the source of money or encourage the people to have more transactions ?

If you are thinking like the man who killed his goose, you would rather opt for the first choice !

That is taking away the money of the common man by taxing him at the source of his income by the so-called income tax !

Is it prudent to think of cutting the income of a person who is finding it hard to adjust his own personal budget ?

Some amount of money is required for meeting his essential expenditure of his house hold. That means he or she would spend that much money almost compulsorily. There is not much choice for saving any from that. The person is not likely to have any substantial sum of money with him at any time.

He earns some money and he keeps spending it for his needs.

And what he spends is directly going into the market economy of the country with the government benefiting first by way of indirect taxation. Indirect taxes like excise duties, sales tax, service tax and the like totalling 10 percent or more goes to the government in every transactions involving goods and services.

The money gives out by an individual for purchasing goods and services goes into the hands of service providers who in turn uses the money to source their inputs. This way financial transactions keep taking place.


If the same amount changes hand 10 times an year, the government gets an amount equal to the original amount as indirect taxes. If the number of transactions increase, the major beneficiary is the government. The government will have more to spend on priorities of its own, making further boost to the economy by enhancing the opportunities of income to the individual citizens. The cycle of progress proceeds in positive trend in this case.

Thus governments that are run by wise and intelligent people would create a situation wherein the above said positive economic trend is maintained.

Such a government would have main economic priorities with an objective of enhancing individual incomes at the lower levels and creating more opportunities for people to come into the income generation bracket.

In simple terms, this means their priorities would be to create more and more employment and to see that the lower level incomes of citizens are raised progressively so that they can afford more and more goods and services.

Once this is ensured, the government need not worry much about its sources of income for meeting the expenses for providing a better administration.

Hence a wise thinking government would never think of taxing its ordinary citizens by the so-called income tax which essentially cuts down the source of money which supports the country's market for goods and services.

It would perhaps consider to impose direct income tax only when there is a probability of excess  income beyond the capacity of the individual to spend for his needs on goods and services. This excess is likely to be kept idle without any possible transactions in the year or later. An individual who makes an income much more than he needs to maintain his lifestyle would have such an 'idle' excess income which accumulates in his bank account. This excess income accumulation in more and more individuals would cause some individuals to spend loosely creating unjustified price rise in certain kinds of goods, services or assets. There is not much harm if the government tries to cut some of that idle income of an individual by income tax. Essentially, this is the purpose of income tax. It should not be used as the primary means of income generation by the government, if the government is wise !

Now let us see how much money a typical middle class Indian nuclear family needs to sustain their lives in their middle class way of living.

If the head of the family has an income more than this, there is the likelihood of an idle income for this person and he or she could be a probable candidate for 'income taxation'.

By the phrase 'typical middle class Indian nuclear family' I mean a family consisting of a husband and a wife with not more than two dependant children, living in an urban area, with one of the adult member having a regular income from some kind of economic activity.

Now let us examine what could be the most realistic monthly expenditure this Indian family unit would have on a conservative and realistic approach.

For this analysis, I take the first quarter of 2012 as my base and the expenses as given are typically applicable on an average for such a family.

The members of this family are careful with their income and expenses and are responsible citizens with no vices or bad habits to drain out their incomes.

All expenses are on a monthly average basis and the numbers are in Indian Rupees (INR).

The following gives the monthly expense account for this Indian family:

1. Rice (30 kg ) :              1000

2. Wheat flour (20 kg) :    600

3. Pulses (4 kg) :              350

4. Vegetables :                 600

5. Milk (1.5 L):                1400

6. Cooking Oil (4L):        400 

7. Spices/salt etc:            200

8. Misc eatables:            1200

9. News Paper  :              200
10. Domestic fuel :          450

11. Electricity :               600

12. Local transport :      2000
13. House rent (2 BR):  5500

14. Telephone/Mobile:    600

15. DTH/Cable TV :        350

16. Education Expenses: 2000

17. Clothing (prorata) :   2000

18. Health Insurance:      2000

19. EMI for loans:         15000 

20. Vacation travel:        2500
21. Other services:         3000

       Total ---------         41250 ; Say, 40000 per month or just $ 800 per month.

This amounts to nearly INR 500,000 or less than $ 10,000 annually.

In my simple common sense, India government should not consider taxing any of its citizens having an income less than this amount by way of income tax.

Any income above this may be deemed as the surplus or taxable income which could be taxed in a few slabs at the rate in the range 10-70 %.

The above should be applicable only for individuals.

Since corporates are entities who are engines for economic growth, their incomes should be taxed at a lower rate, allowing them to sustain and grow.

These are just suggestions from a common man.

Past history tells that those in authority and position do not listen to the voices of the common man while they enjoy such positions and powers.

Any way whether to kill the golden goose or not is up to its owner !

[When color TV and telephones were common things in most parts of the world, for Indians they were super luxuries before 1980 !  Indian leaders controlling the goverment used to consider electronic goods as a luxury and never allowed these things to be brought to India even from abroad.

Bringing any kind of electronic consumer goods to India was treated as a sin and an offense of the highest order. With this mind set they kept the country away from contemporary progress for over three decades. Things changed when the old leadership got changed.

If this is any lesson, people should think of supporting young leaders for getting effective and radical changes in the government policies in accordance with the common man's thoughts. Progressive financial management thoughts and policies can only come from younger brains ! A UP like wave is needed for the whole of India !]