The Great Indian Political Drama - 1 (Oct 2017 - Mar 2018)

[Sicanta]

Sicanta,

If the bankers were pushed into feeding a huge amount of aadhar backed accounts into the system, then the problem is definitely in planning - which is the government's area of responsibility. If the government/Modi is incapable of understanding how things are to be executed at the lowest level. This is definitely a governance problem.

This incompetence is something that pervades everything that this government has attempted, whether it is the ham handed way in handling pakistan, the near loss of Russia as a partner, GST (pathetic beyond extreme), demonetisation (something Tughlaq would have been proud of), job creation.

The issue is with planning, i agree. There are loopholes which are actively exploited by some elements. And as usual, gov is fortifying the scheme regularly. Which is why ekyc is being introduced on compulsory basis now.

[AbhishekC]

wrong, this one is the fault of banks fullstop. I know for a fact that which is why ekyc is now being compulsorily introduced in all banks - private or public as far as aadhaar is concerned while opening new accounts, or making any changes to previous ones.

Just declaring me wrong will not make me wrong.

There are other ways to get ekyc done - much better ways that have police verification involved.

Aadhar has no police verification requirement. Heck, even driving license requires you to turn up at a government office, and is therefore has better security.

You should see some of the messages I get from my bank and Telcos about getting aadhar. Intimidating messages - saying my services will be cut if I do not get it linked. Why is the tone of messages so intimidating? Because that is the kind of pressure they are facing from the government. SC just yesterday told the banks/telcos to tone down on the intimidation.

[Sicanta]

Just declaring me wrong will not make me wrong.

There are other ways to get ekyc done - much better ways that have police verification involved.

Aadhar has no police verification requirement. Heck, even driving license requires you to turn up at a government office, and is therefore has better security.

You should see some of the messages I get from my bank and Telcos about getting aadhar. Intimidating messages - saying my services will be cut if I do not get it linked. Why is the tone of messages so intimidating? Because that is the kind of pressure they are facing from the government. SC just yesterday told the banks/telcos to tone down on the intimidation.

Banks are asking customers since are concerned only with completing their targets since they have to report to higher authorities. And frankly, what intimidation? I am yet to see such a message and i have recieved many, both from telecoms and banks. And ofcourse, services will be put at hold if you have not complied with new rules after being asked to do so for more than a year. You cant claim some emergency for such a long time period.

As for telecoms, they want to ensure that all aadhar are connected by customers themselves since they have to borne the cost for this exercise (forced by SC). So ofcourse, they want to reduce the costs. Already they are being forced to come up with different methods to link aadhar for customers who have not heeded to these messages.

[arshyam]

#Blow2Modi. #TheMudiShudRejine

I suppose the non bhakts above haven't linked their Aadhaar with bank accounts. Otherwise, they'd have known that it is a simple entry in a form without 2 factor authentication (SMS to the RMN or cross checking with the Aadhaar DB). Given that, it is easy to imagine wrong data creeping into the system, though the scale is disturbing. The government did the right thing by cross checking the data, otherwise this same set of non-bhakts would have heroically come to criticize the government for not doing this basic thing and wasting taxpayers' money, along with some choice epithets for Modi.

Yes, everything is Modi's fault onlee. No need to think beyond one's own ivory tower.

Bash on, regardless.

[sanjayC]

All credit to Modi and his GST and Adhaar.

India to be high middle income economy by 2047: World Bank CEO

Days after it gave India a 30 place jump in its ease of doing business ranking, the World Bank on Saturday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and reforms push by the government will catapult the country to high middle income economy in 30 years.

It credited India's "extraordinary" achievement of quadrupling of per capita income to reforms taken in last three decades.

Comparing the achievement of securing 100th rank in the latest Doing Business Report to hitting century in cricket parlance, World Bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kristalina Georgieva said a jump of that nature is very rare since the beginning of the survey 15 year ago.

"It is particularly rare when we talk about size of India. I understand that in a cricket-loving nation hitting a century is a very important milestone," she said.

Last week, India moved for the first time into the top 100 of World Bank's Ease of Doing Business global rankings due to sustained business reforms over the past several years. Last year the report had ranked India at 130.

Speaking at India's Business Reform even organised by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, she said, high level ownership and championship of reforms is critical for success.

"We have learnt that in reforms what pays off is persistence...what we are recognising in India is that this success today is to be turned into more energy in reforms for the future," she said.

Praising the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to carry forward reforms, including unification of indirect taxes, the World Bank CEO said the GST reform creates an incredible opportunity for India to grow through unified internal market.

There is visible impact of reforms on foreign investment, she said, adding that foreign direct investment (FDI) has doubled to USD 60 billion from USD 36 billion in 2013-14.

Besides, she said, investment in infrastructure building, investment in its people and strengthening of cooperative and competitive federalism are foundation for more progress in the future.

"We know that there is a very strong condition that extreme poverty would be history in India. The target date that was set 2026, I understand that the Prime Minister intends to shorten to 2022. Given the track record so far, I have no doubt that would be possible.

"And I have no doubt that when India hits another century, the century of independence in 2047, most people in India would be the part of global middle class. India will be a high middle income country," she said.

The World Bank appreciated the fact that 60 million Indians in the recent past came out of destitution.

Noting that doing business is very pragmatic way to demonstrate that progress is being made, she said, the World Bank looks at doing business achievements in the broader context.

"What we have seen is remarkable overall success story of India. Extraordinary achievements in the last three decades, the per capita income has quadrupled. It was done with an eye on lifting out people out of poverty," she said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bus ... paign=show

[AbhishekC]

#Blow2Modi. #TheMudiShudRejine
...
Yes, everything is Modi's fault onlee. No need to think beyond one's own ivory tower.

Bash on, regardless.

This is the standard reaction of bhakts to even half a sentence of criticising modi. Cognitive dissonance

It is my democratic right to criticise the government if I feel it is incompetent. As long as there is no official restriction on this I will exercise my right. The day modi decides to make Kim jong Il (or whatever) his political guru and ban this - I guess taking up weapons will remain the only choice.

Modi is angrezon ke zamaane ka jailor.

[AbhishekC]

Regarding ivory tower, do you know that large bribes are now being given by cheques?

[AbhishekC]

A government should be afraid of the people, people should not be afraid of the government. - This is the real test of being a democracy.

[Sicanta]

Criticism should be based on reality. Don't come up with outlandish theories because you are peeved with government.

[jamwal]

Regarding ivory tower, do you know that large bribes are now being given by cheques?

How does it work ? Why not just give cash ?

[Sicanta]

And about police verification for aadhaar, correct me if i am wrong but weren't you and few others were complaining recently about bureaucratic quagmire that is aadhaar. About how modi gov is increasingly impinging on personal freedom by introducing yet another id scheme. And now if the gov had found a way to complete the process of generating aadhaar with least possible pain to citizens, you have complaints about that too?

[Supratik]

Not to get your BP high. They are like the guy who pees on the street and then complains to foreigners how filthy India is. As Modi said "mera keya, mujhe keya". A simple one time Adhaar seeding is seen as mind bogglingly difficult. But they will give long speeches on corruption.

As for WB having the largest number of fake ration cards. Not surprising. That is what the Cong-left used as incentive to settle Bdeshi population. Cheap food.

[AbhishekC]

Regarding ivory tower, do you know that large bribes are now being given by cheques?

How does it work ? Why not just give cash ?

So, a Rs 1 lakh, bribe will be paid in cheques of Rs 25k each. This is the going rate for GST registration.

As per news reports 60 lakh businesses registered for GST, of which 14 lakh were in tax generating range. If we assume that 50% of the tax paying businesses paid 1 lakh each, the black money generated by GST registration alone was Rs 7000 crore. This has been shared between IT officials and BJP.

[AbhishekC]

I have never complained about aadhar being bureaucratic nightmare. I had got an aadhar before modi came to power. I went one day for registration, was given a time and date, and was able to get it on the specified day. You might be mixing me up with some other critic

[Supratik]

If you have proof that bribes were paid for GST registration and IT sand BJP took it you should file a PIL in SC, call Kejriwal and give details, call one of the TV channels and give details. But judging from your BRF record you are just ratting.

[sanjayC]

More companies use Aadhaar to verify new hires

Employers are beginning to use Aadhaar to verify their potential employees, a move that could see the weeklong verification process reducing to less than 15 minutes, and hiring costs falling dramatically. It is also helping make the process paperless — no need to provide documents that show, say, the proof of residence. One of the country's largest private sector employers, contract staffing firm Quess, has onboarded more than 30,000 employees — blue collar and white collar — using Aadhaar verification over the past four months. Quess employs 2.1 lakh people, and supplies them to companies that need them.

Attrition rates are very high in certain categories of its employees, so its hiring numbers are always big. Ajit Isaac, founder and CEO of Quess, said the verification process now needs just six people, and takes just a few minutes, whereas it required 35-40 people earlier working for weeks. Quess has its own verification division. But employee verification is usually outsourced to an agency that goes and checks whether the employee resides in the address provided to the employer. The agency even makes calls to the references provided by the employee to check the antecedents. This process usually takes five-seven days.

Gurgaon-based employee verification company Authbridge has been helping its clients onboard employees using Aadhaar. Bengaluru-based verification company BetterPlace has also deployed an Aadhaarbased verification solution for its clients that include Swiggy, Runnr, Dusters, Guardwell and Housejoy. "Aadhaar verification is simple enough to be done at scale," says Saurabh Tandon, COO of BetterPlace. He says people often use false identities, or use a driving licence at one place and an election ID at another place. "People even use different ID cards to rejoin the same company," he said.

Aadhaar verification will make such frauds difficult. The cost of verification using Aadhaar can be as low as Rs 15 per person. It'll be particularly useful in manpowerintensive sectors like retail and logistics. Aadhaar verification will not suffice in jobs where police verification is obligatory — for instance security guard jobs, where police verification is mandatory in most states. The employee verification is similar to what Reliance Jio did to enrol customers. It's now acknowledged that this was what enabled Jio to enrol 10 crore customers in less than six months. And where other telecom companies spent Rs 50 to verify every customer, Jio did for less than a rupee.

Quess' Isaac says hiring costs can come down by 60% using its Aadhaar platform. BetterPlace's Tandon expects many companies will use Aadhaar for employee verification once they are ready with the technology. "When they start using it, they see a lot of value in it," he said. According to Isaac, Quess' verification tool was developed by Heptagon Technologies, a company it acquired recently. It is now opening the platform for third-party users. "Since we started implementing it, we've got requests from companies to use our software. Surprisingly, even wealth management companies want to use it as a tool to onboard customers, because Aadhaar now has bank accounts and PAN card linked to it," he said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bus ... 110368.cms

[AbhishekC]

If you have proof that bribes were paid for GST registration and IT sand BJP took it you should file a PIL in SC, call Kejriwal and give details, call one of the TV channels and give details. But judging from your BRF record you are just ratting.

No can do. It was told to me by a person who is close to me. Complaining publicly means exposing them.

[SRoy]

And about police verification for aadhaar, correct me if i am wrong but weren't you and few others were complaining recently about bureaucratic quagmire that is aadhaar. About how modi gov is increasingly impinging on personal freedom by introducing yet another id scheme. And now if the gov had found a way to complete the process of generating aadhaar with least possible pain to citizens, you have complaints about that too?

I think we have to understand a few things.

1. Aadhar linking infrastructure is NOT IN PLACE. People have returned from telecom customer care offices.

2. Banks have opened up to the problem just now. In June 2017 (it's not even 6 months, right?) while opening a salary account I offered a photocopy of my Aadhar card, which they returned saying not required. What is is problem here? The problem is suddenly Aadhar has taken primacy over PAN card. I think it's not my problem if the bank didn't think it useful to take in my Aadhar card when I offered it first. Larger issue is redundant documentation. Why is no one talking of phase out of PAN and EPIC? Sorry, I don't think Modi has that sort of farsightedness.

3. So, the whole business of verifying bank accounts, which many posters are shouting out as an achievement, is to plug revenue leakage.This is one of the goals at least and a very laudable one. And if that is so, what's the rush to to impose this Aadhar linking dictate on everyone in one go? Why it can't be a phased exercise? Why not something like linking for all accounts that get money from GoI (loan waivers, handouts, pensioners etc.) in Phase 1 and rest of us commoners in Phase 2?

The larger theme is that the Modi has gone back on his word of "Less government and more governance". What he is doing is just the opposite. Bureaucratic thuggery, a convoluted GST etc. all has his blessings.

[Supratik]

You can let us know the people taking the money and we can forward it to the PMO.

[Supratik]

Eventually all other documents will disappear. Only Adhaar for ID and NRC for citizenship will stay.

[SRoy]

There is a lot of difference in the "eventuality" being in our mind-spaces and GoI policy.

What about discontinuing EPIC card for the kids that turn 18 tomorrow? Is Modi there yet?

[Supratik]

In a country like India it is not that easy. First step is to link everything to Adhaar, verify and for system to stabilize for every citizen. If and when the govt implements NRC you have no idea how much documentation you will require to prove you are a citizen.

[SSundar]

Sir, what would you about the 'people' who used to say "Har Har modi"? These people happened to be Modi fans (bhakts). Were they also brainwashed by missionaries?

It took a call from a Shankaracharya to not use the udghosh of Shivji, for Modi, to stop the nonsense.

So, you yourself are giving me an example of an instance where people stopped abusing Hindu words when told that it is wrong.

I rest my case.

[SSundar]

If you have proof that bribes were paid for GST registration and IT sand BJP took it you should file a PIL in SC, call Kejriwal and give details, call one of the TV channels and give details. But judging from your BRF record you are just ratting.

No can do. It was told to me by a person who is close to me. Complaining publicly means exposing them.

And who is this person close to that is giving them this information? What are those companies paying bribes for? Just to register as a GST payer?

[AbhishekC]

Sir, what would you about the 'people' who used to say "Har Har modi"? These people happened to be Modi fans (bhakts). Were they also brainwashed by missionaries?

It took a call from a Shankaracharya to not use the udghosh of Shivji, for Modi, to stop the nonsense.

So, you yourself are giving me an example of an instance where people stopped abusing Hindu words when told that it is wrong.

I rest my case.

I am saying use/abuse of Hindu words emanates from Hindu sources as well. Yes, it is right that Hindus stopped using the phrase after Shankaracharya's rebuke. But I don;t think Shankaracharya has spoken a similar rebuke for using the word 'bhakt', has he?

If not, we can use it without the same consideration as shown to 'Har har modi'.