Unearthing Black Money: Start with election affidavits

1st appeared as an OpEd in the Heraldo

The demonitisation policy was touted as the biggest move in India’s history to break the back of the black economy and as a bonus the counterfeit currency would take a hit. A master stroke which would kill a minimum of two birds with one stroke. The counterfeit industry would have surely taken a hit and it will take some time to generate new genuine looking counterfeit notes, ofcourse good photocopies are already available.

The many unscrupulous bankers colluded with the cash hoarders and the demonitisation policy failed miserably with just about 3% of the old notes staying out of circulation, this means that the effort to hit the black economy failed miserably. It succeeded in creating hardships for the common man and the common man’s sacrifice has come to nought as the objective was not met. Infact the cost of this operation will be even higher than the 3% which was shut out.

The Government is not very happy with the situation, so to try and pull back some of the illegal cash that has slipped thru the dragnet, the IT department has gone into overdrive to seek out the black money. They have received lacs of responses which they have to go thru and that would be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

However, one wonders why the Government is looking at such methods, there are simpler ways to get to a major portion of the black money generation and owners, the politicians. It is an open secret that this strata of society is responsible for generation i.e. fees under the table for permissions have to be paid in cash so that they can use their discretionary powers and any and every contract usually has a kickback component. Thus they also accumulate this cash all the time and appetite is insatiable. Yet there is not a single action that would attempt to get at some if not all of the black money from this class. The 80:20 rule is pretty much applicable, 80% of the black money will be with just 20% of our ruling class.

The recent elections saw all the aspiring candidates file their affidavits of assets and liabilities and rather than shift through lacs of explanations of why “X” deposited “Y” amount of cash which will take forever, the IT Department should check out these affidavits especially of those standing for re-election as they can easily have a compare affidavits and see where there is evasion.

Let’s take an example of Mr X. He has stood for elections in Goa in 2007, 2012, 2014 and 2017. He lost in 2012. His net worth increased 80% in 5 years.ie an average of 16% /year, during the period he was an MLA. However, post his election loss his net worth increased by an average of just 1%/year. Surely his salary as an MLA could not have been the contributing factor to the phenomenal growth of his net worth when he was an MLA. In 2014, MP election his income as a non MLA dropped to 62 lacs against 1.6 crores he showed in his IT return for 2010-11. In 2017 his income in the IT return drops to a mere 27 lacs?

Lets take another example Mr B, a sitting MLA. In 2007 he was a small time businessman with almost nothing to his name, even his qualifications he subsequently watered down. In 2017, he realised he had brought an apartment in 1993. Do these affidavits have any sanctity? By the end of his first term he had tripled his assets, and multiplied these assets an astounding 6 times in the last five years. Just bank deposits went from a measly 5 lacs to 1.5 crores. His income increased 50 times from 1 lac to 50 lacs. He even managed home loans from LIC and the Goa Legislative assembly while the affidavit dose not reflect any such home. Does the Legislative assembly not keep proper track why the loan is sanctioned? The market value of an asset goes up seven times with three years when for all practical purposes real estate has been flat, was the acquisition undervalued? We could go on.

There seems to be a direct corelation between income before and after becoming and MLA. The IT department is always looking for sudden spurts in income or assets and that is why they have raised questions on the cash deposits. So should they not be studying the affidavits of MP’s/MLA’s to start with and then move on to MLC’s and Panchayat members?

There are some gaps in the information asked for in the affidavits, for eg: Only income declared in the last IT return is mentioned, they should provide details of income for each year if a person was previously elected. The investment in insurance is a grey area, why not ask how much was invested in insurance every year? While the cost of acquisition is mentioned, what is not mentioned is the market value at the time of acquisition.

While most businesses had a hard time maintaining their bottom lines in recent times but for our MLA’s that is a small matter, they turn into King Midas once they become MLA’s and better if they are Ministers. Maybe a few are good businessmen, but to believe everyone of then is honestly earning the huge increase in income and assets is to be surely naive. So in keeping with PM Modi’s intolerance towards “kala Dhan” the focus should shift to screening elected representatives and ensuring that the black economy is tackled from the top and not starting with the common man. A good IT officer will do a much better analysis and unearth much more if allowed.

Acknowledgement: The data it readily available on the website of Association for Democratic Reforms. www.adrindia.org

Matka: Why Not

1st appeared as an OpEd in the Heraldo

A public spirited citizens appeal to the court has sparked a renewed debate on Matka. Once the court took notice, there has been a flurry of activity with the police arresting so called Matka bookies in what one can term Non Value Adding (NVA) activity. In industry NVA is sort to be eliminated as the name suggests doing that job adds no value, hence arresting these so called matka bookies is absolutely useless as the arrest will not stand the scrutiny of the court and after a few years the accused will be acquitted.

The police know about the existence of the matka outlets because when they go on their rounds surely they will see the classic matka booth, a low box table with sides high enough to conceal the transactions from prying eyes walking along the road. The police have not learnt or do not want to learn from previous acquittals. They catch a person with chits, some cash and lock him up, report the numbers to the press. For a few days it is holiday time for the matka business. In court they will be asked to present witnesses and they will have none, the cash they say is for a bet, but they do not have anyone who placed the bets in custody, you need two hands to clap right, and finally they cannot prove that the money seized during the raid was used for gambling.

If the police had the will they can ensure a conviction, marked money and decoy customer routines are well established in raiding suspected institutions. One cannot blame the police as they are taking the blame for the entire system that actually supports the matka business. They are just one part that is forced to act because the judiciary has intervened and in a way has promised to commission a special squad to investigate the matter if the police cannot. Maybe in a bid to pacify the court and show that action is being taken, the police launched this half hearted drive which will last but a few days before everything goes back to normal.

The solution is to allow matka to function openly. We have allowed casinos, we have allowed lottery’s and every State has its own lottery, we allow clubs to organise bingo, so where is the problem. The official problem is that Matka spoils families because winners of poor families get addicted and drive the family into debt and penury. Surely this oft repeated and half baked argument against matka will hold for casinos or any other form of gambling. The stock market, after famous crashes do we not hear off suicides by punters who lost heavily. Why is there no talk of making investing in the stock markets illegal? So why apply it only to matka.?

The other unofficial problem is that currently keeping it illegal or not official forces those who run the matka operation to “oil” the system to prevent hiccups. If matka is made legal this oiling will stop and huge revenue would be lost.

Gambling is something that each individual has to decide if he wishes to or if he can afford to indulge in. There is no way the State can stop a person wanting to gamble, or for that matter drink. Within days of the Supreme Court decision to ban bars on highways, accidents in Goa claimed eight people in one day. So be sure, matka or no matka people are going to lose their money in one way or another.

Look at the positive contribution of matka. First, it is an additional revenue stream for the shop keeper, at no additional cost. If it was legal he could keep operate it from within his shop as if selling any other ware. Then there is employment. Matka employs many otherwise unemployed youth and since they are not cheating anyone, it is a good clean income. The matka trade is known for its ability to deliver winnings without any default. This itself should be a plus point. So even if it does not contribute any taxes to the State it is doing the State a favour by providing direct employment to thousands. These people in turn will spend their earnings and the economy gets a boost and that adds to the indirect tax kitty of the State.

Given the situation, why does the State not move to make life easy for everyone and legalise Matka. There is actually nothing they have to do, is there any specific law that governs bingo or marbles for that matter. Let the people play. Automatically the “better/player” will go to an outlet which gives him an official receipt and the results will be posted as a printed list or as an advert.

The Matka papers will benefit as other related establishments will begin to advertise. If there is a dispute it can go to the consumer forum and the only time the police will be involved is if there is a fight where law and order is breached. If a player wins big he will include it in his tax return as done by casino players, it is small he will just let it go. Once in the open and transactions are official TDS can be deducted on payouts, which will accrue to the Government as most of the winners will be in the exempt bracket, and it they pay taxes they can take credit.

Make matka legal and save the courts time and energy, police can focus on catching criminals and ordinary citizens can relax and bet. It is win win for all.

Hail Taxi’s, Hail Hitler’s

This 1st appeared in the Herald dt 19.05/17

The reality of living in a part of the world where a fair taxi system is absent, was once again brought home during a visit to Hyderabad. On arrival at the new airport which is a good 40 kms from the city, there was no tension. Signages inform you to check one or the other taxi app. For those not tech savvy there are prepaid counters.

While waiting to collect the checked luggage, the taxi is booked on the app. Once the driver confirmed we were his customers, using an “OTP” he loaded our luggage and then switched on the meter. Strange in Goa, at the prepaid counter one has pay extra for bags. The taxi was comfortable and air conditioned, if I was wondering if I had to pay and arm and a leg like one does in Goa, there was no need for anxiety, the app had already told me the ride would cost between 700 to 750/-. A steal considering that to get from the Goa airport to Verna Industrial Estate in a non AC cab one shells out almost 500/- for 10 Km.

The almost one hour ride was interesting, apart from seeing how Hyderabad had changed since my last visit 15 years ago, it was a chance to interact with the driver on his experience with Ola. He drives during the day for 8 to 10 hours and he has a driver who takes over in the second shift. No time to sit around and play cards for sure.

His driver is paid 1500 per shift. If the cab clocks Rs 3000 in terms of fares, Ola pays the owner an incentive of 3000/-. This from Ola’s point of view ensures that the taxi’s are available as much as possible so customers always have a ride no matter what time of day. There are other slabs of incentive. Each a little lower, the minimum seems to be 1200, below which no incentive is payable. The catch however is the customer rating. If a customer gives a bad rating to the driver assuming he was rude or drove recklessly etc, the driver loses his incentive for that day. So drivers I noticed in my next few rides were careful. No signal jumping etc.

Once the customer has chosen his destination and if the taxi goes ofcourse, immediately there is a call from the control room to check if everything is OK. So one can be taken for a joy ride, in Goa this does not happen (brownie points for the goan taxi) because the exorbitant rate is fixed first so no point in driving in circles to make the meter show a higher fare.

Another advantage with apps, one can compare rates, since the estimate is given when you make the booking, one can choose the cheapest fare going at that time. The aggregators also make offers which can make the ride cheaper for a customer and also benefit the driver. The fare back to the airport was almost double, the reason it was cheaper was because the operator had an offer. The benefit for the drivers is that he gets a fare from the airport faster rather than waste the whole day waiting. Is this not something the goan taxi’s should agitate about. They go to Calangute and return empty, why not be able to pick a fare from Calangute to the airport. This has two parts, one is statutory, some archaic law prevents this as one assumes it denies a local taxi of his fare in Calangute and two technology, how does the driver know who wants a ride back to the airport. This is where the app helps, it puts the driver and customer on the same page.

Today, in Goa to get a taxi or even a richshaw for a short distance it is impossible, and even if the driver decides to take you, it is a favour for which you will have to add a premium. With an app based service this is not an issue, when the driver accepts your request he does not know where you wish to go till he arrives to take you, so there is no question of turning down fares based on distance.

With cashless payment options there is no issue with change, the money just gets deducted from online wallets once the ride is closed.

So, is it all one sided, no drivers can rate the customer too, and if the customer has a poor rating because of boorish behaviour, the driver seeing a customer’s low rating can decide not to accept his ride. So customers cannot behave badly and keep riding.

Because it is so easy and reasonably cheap, the number of people using ride hailing apps has increased drastically, more customer means there is a need for more taxis, car owners are preferring to use taxis to avoid the hassle of parking or driving after a drink. The market size has increased. This is an opportunity, not just to become a driver but to own your own car, the EMI’s are paid from the earnings and why one, they own several. The ride hailing app is an employment generator.

The aggregator takes 21% for his services, mind you 1% is TDS, this means that the drivers come into the tax net and become responsible citizens. Most ride hailing apps are possibly foreign owned. The myth being spread by local taxi unions is that outsiders will come and enter the taxi business, this is far from the truth, it is local who will sign up and be part of the system. Ola and Uber do not import drivers.

Hopefully good sense will prevail among the decision makers and they will decide in favour of the State rather than a few votes in their individual constituency.

BRICS cannot help Goa Tourism

First appeared in  the Goan Everyday

The Chief Minister of the State has made a statement that the BRICS summit to be held in Goa latter this month will help tourism in the State. Most likely he made this statement to try and get some stake holders especially those in the Coastal belt to support some issues viz: mobile towers for improved connectivity. He must have felt that, with a lot of them depending on tourism for a lively hood they would relent and not oppose the last minute activity if they believed it would benefit them.

What is BRICS? BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.  The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs. The stated objective is to focus was on means of improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions, and how the countries could better co-operate in the future or make an impact on global issues.

It is clear that BRICS has no role to play in the local economy let alone give tourism a boost in Goa. At most it will test Goa’s ability to hold an important Global conference in terms of venue, availability of hotels and connectivity. Not for the Heads of State, they will fly in on special aircraft but for the others, especially the world press. So it is good if Goa gives a good account of itself, one of the areas Goa wishes to position itself is MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism.

Despite knowing in March 2016 that the BRICS Conference was scheduled for Oct 2016, nothing much seemed to be done. If some planning had gone into the organising of the Conference would the hotmixing have to be done in a hurry, from the Aiport to The Taj Hotel. The shoddy work will come apart in a few months and the public money spent will be wasted. Hotmixing was done on the surfaces not prepared, while it appears nice, will it last. The widening of the Colva road was started a couple of months ago. Could it not have been delayed till after the Conference. Now, lots of dressing is being done obviously in a hurry and at an extra cost. This will have to be redone later and money spent again.

Does the “life” of the local also mean nothing, assuming that public money is of no consequence to the powers that be. All speed breakers have been removed, why were they put in the first place. Surely, if the Government wishes to remove the speed breakers for the duration leading up to the conference they would have additional police handling the traffic especially near educational institutions to ensure smooth and safe flow of traffic. It remains to be seen how quickly the speed breakers and rumblers are reinstalled post the Conference. More money will be wasted. I cannot believe that speed restricting devices would have been removed in a developed country just because the Head of State is going to pass. The quality of the work done near Carmel college means that the Head of State is going to feel the bump for sure.

A lot of effort and threats have flown past citizens like the waters of the Mandovi with regard to mobile towers. Does this mean that citizens are supposed to get a better service only because the Conference attendees need connectivity. Most likely each, Head of State will have his own communication system and surely not going to depend on BSNL or any other private operator. Mobile towers are required but using the Conference to shove it down the throats of the Citizens is not an answer.

If the Government is serious about pushing Tourism then it is not piggy back on the BRICS conference, but focus on a few couple of other things especially infrastructure.

Public Transport. Nowhere in the world where Tourism is a mainstay will you arrive at the airport and find yourself at the mercy of taxi drivers. Taxi’s are an option, and so are private shuttle services, public buses or trains. While a “train/metro” may or may not be an option in Goa, surely private shuttle service or KTC bus service is easy to implement. The industry association has already gone to Court to force the Government to get the Taxi’s to install meters. This shows that the Government is unable to implement a decision which will have a positive impact on the whole economy because of a seemingly negative effect on a limited vote bank segment. The irony is that if tourism booms even the taxi drivers automatically benefit.

Clean Beaches and public areas. One aspect that puts many a tourist off is filth. They associate filth rightly with unhygienic conditions and thus sickness. No tourist wants to fall sick on a holiday. Unfortunately, the Government spends crores of Rupees every month on contractors tasked with cleaning and there is not one beach which can be classified at the cleanest beach in Goa. For BRICS the large metal dustbins along the highway have been removed and the highway is being policed by specially paid contractors to ensure there is no garbage and it does look clean. Why cannot this system be in place all year round?

If the Government of Goa focuses on just infrastructure creation to ease transport woes and on Garbage, Goa will be surely be what God wanted it to be “a paradise” not just for tourists but also for the local inhabitants.

GST: Finally at India Inc’s doorstep

First published in the Herald

Wow, finally a decision, it took a good 20 years but it has arrived at the doorstep of India. The much awaited Goods and Services Tax has finally seen the light of day. There are still a few things that need to be done before implementation but no turning back now. India Inc., has to prepare for its rollout, anytime after 1^st April 2017.

The Government is surely going to pull all stops to ensure timely implementation; the Bill needs to be ratified by Lok Sabha and atleast 15 States have to adopt it before getting the assent of the President. All States bar Tamil Nadu are on board so there should be no hiccups. The reason TN is opposing it is because it is traditionally a manufacturing State and benefited under the current tax regime. GST is different in that sense as it is a destination tax and accrues to the consuming State and thus addresses an existing anomaly in the system.

The back bone that is being set up is GST Network or GSTN. This will be the interface between Center State, Banks and Companies and with electronic credit matching; compliance requirements could be pretty stringent. Private IT systems will now have to begin the task of becoming GST compliant, with details still being worked out, not much can be started so there will be a rush a little later. This will be the key to ensuring that those who make fake bills are shown up as all transaction have to be uploaded immediately.

In the foreground the GST law making process will take center stage and surely will not be easy. The key issue everyone is look at is the Revenue Neutral Rate, which will be decided by the GST Council. Currently 18% is being talked about. This council will subsequently also oversee the States demand for change in rates. As such it will not be easy for States to make arbitrary changes in rates as is the case at present.

The model law at present is attempting to widen the input tax base, but it will need tweaking as currently its provisions are more skewed to a lesser input tax regime or imposes restrictions on taking input credit in some situations, to ensure seamless credit more work needs to be done.

GST is a game changer. It is not just a new tax but will affect every aspect of business, including cashflows, pricing, supply chain, accounting, IT systems etc. It will change the way business is done. Take the example of a factory having warehouses in different States. Today they stock transfer and there is no tax till it is sold from that point. Under GST, the tax will have to be paid for stock transfers, the advantage is the credit in the books is also transferred to the stock point where it can be used at the time of sale. This means that a Company in Goa will benefit if it sells most of it goods outside Goa. Earlier the credit accumulated in their books and could not be used. In such cases the companies preferred to buy from vendors outside Goa paying 2% CST rather than from Goa with paying VAT at 12.5% and having funds blocked. Now manufacturers will have to consider if it is useful to have warehouses and stock points purely for tax purposes. Vendors from outside a State can be more competitive as there will be no 2% CST or C form hassle.

Another significantly different approach is that one can take credit on receipt of invoice, however if the seller has not deposited the tax within 90 days with his quarterly return, the buyer will have to reverse the tax credit with interest. So the onus of ensuring that the tax is paid is on the buyer. While this sounds harsh, it actually moves the policing away from the department to the buyers. If a credit is disallowed the buyer will refrain from using this supplier, and hence only those suppliers who comply will be able to operate in the long run. Tax evasion and avoidance will be curtailed automatically if not eliminated. Without bill transactions should be a thing of the past.

Once GST kicks in there will be transition of unused credits, so the tax paid on inputs on stock will be allowed to be carried forward as input tax credit under GST. Questions will remain till the details are ironed out. What happens to the CST paid under current tax regime, will it add to the tax credit or will it lapse as before?

Valuation will be based on the existing Central Excise and Customs rules with arm’s length and related party transactions being the guiding principle. But surely this is one area where litigation will be rife. Under GST even free samples or promos will attract tax, so what happens to loyalty points then?

Companies will have to prepare a road map for the switch over. Big or small an impact analysis will help understand in which areas costs will increase or decrease, how will cash flow be impacted and what IT changes will be needed in existing systems etc. For this each Company will have to set up a core team, who will study the impact and if required they must be ready with their representations when the GST Law is in draft stage. They must get copies of the statutory registers and records that will be needed so as to plan for their implementation. Employee training will be a must. Finally, everyone must put their heads together and decide what part of the existing business model has to be reworked.

Make in India, sell anywhere in India. If you get it right, your business can benefit from GST.

Public Money is not for wasting

First Appeared in The Goan Everyday

The recent BRICS summit in Goa has brought into focus the spending on sprucing up the State when it comes to organising a big event. There is no doubt that an event of the stature of BRICS will give a small state like Goa, prominence. The fact that the summit will end with a declaration to be called the Goa Declaration will add to the value brand Goa. By all accounts it is going to be a successful summit and that will add to India’s stature. PM Modi, right from the word go has been pushing an aggressive diplomatic policy and this is will be another feather in his cap.

However, can we learn from this event? Can we look at what could have been done better? So that after all the dignitaries have gone home and the dust has settled, Goa would have benefited a little in real terms, on the ground and not just hype.

The CM Parsekar has stated that the State has spent between 70 to 75 crores on making Goa BRICS ready. The Center was supposed to allot 200 crores for this purpose. Did they reduce the budget? Was the State forced to shell out money from its already stressed finances? Wonder if there will be any account given or will asking for an account make one anti national? After all national pride is involved.

If one looks at the list of works done they are all mainly in the realm of maintenance. Shifting poles, transformers, fixing lights, etc. So technically we spent 75 odd crores on make up. The widening of the Colva road is widely believed to be part of the BRICS preparation, if it really was, it is an ambitious project to undertake given the time span available. Ofcourse as Putin and Co zipped past, they may not have noticed it is incomplete. They cannot be blamed because good money was spent on ensuring it looked complete, this needless expenditure will have to be wasted in order to actually complete the road.

Black topping the roads, the Colva road was given two coats, especially when it was raining was a bad idea. Hopefully the surface which has already started crumbling will be good enough to give Putin and Co a relatively smooth return journey. Else, we can expect the PWD to give a fresh coat just before they leave their hotel for the airport. So it is clear the work done on the roads is not only hasty but also shoddy and will not last too long. However, public memory is short so nothing to worry about.

The stretch from Airport to Mobor had lines painted on the road, the kerb stones painted yellow and black, the missing road dividers replaced, rumblers removed, potholes repaired and all the electrical poles painted. Question is how was the work tendered and who supervised the same. Take the example of the poles which were painted. The workers simply painted the poles over the rust, dirt and holes. Was that specified in the tender or was it mentioned, first paint primer and then two coats of blue paint. Consider the Verna Bypass, it is partially done in some stretches, basically patch work. How will the contractor raise the bill, for patch work or for the whole road.

Is replacing rumblers part of the tender or will that be another tender and how long will it take. The rumblers/ speed breakers are there because of safety issues, so will the Government act quickly to replace them or will it be replaced only after a couple of accidents. Ideally it should have been part of the original tender ie removal and replacement of speedbreakers/rumblers. If the leaders needed a smooth ride, could they not have been taken to the hotel by a chopper or by boat like the IFFI delegates?

Coming to issue of tenders, we all know that the State Government got a firm confirmation about BRICS around March 16. Were the tenders for the different works issued in time or were they “short tender”, meaning urgently required so checks and accountability are bypassed with this type of tendering.

The banners, bill boards were plastered around the route. Wonder how they get accounted for and who does this job of checking “ordered v/s delivered” before the payment is released? Would be interesting to know.

There was a budget for the refreshments of the police personnel on bandobast duty. They did a good job and were on their toes continuously. Reports indicated that they were forgotten about and one of them suffered a heart attack. There was a small pickup going around distributing tea, not sure what else. Contrast this with the army style. At Trinity beach, where an antiaircraft gun was positioned, an army truck came by with dinner for the guard detail. Very impressive.

While most of the work appears to be cosmetic, there is one job that will benefit Goa in the years to come. It was long pending. The airport road has been illuminated. They did the job in a few days, so why was it not done for so many years?

The preparation and execution of the various jobs in such a short time points to the fact that if required the administration can get its act together and can deliver. What should now be added to this capability is planning. Imagine the same jobs delivered in time for BRICS but planned and executed. It would have ensured better and more efficient utilisation of public funds. Something that was lacking and needs to be addressed.

New Education Policy: Backward or Forward

1st appeared in the HERALD

The shifting out of Former Education Minister Smriti Irani was probably the best thing that could have happened for education. Among the first things the new Education Minister Prakash Javadekar’s did was extend the deadline for seeking public opinion.

Not known to many, the NDA II government is currently drafting a new education policy “to meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regards to quality education, innovation and research”. This would be a perfect starting point for a noble cause given India’s push to become an intellectual super power on the back of an IT boom.

However, some things were just not right, why was this path breaking initiative kept under wraps, in fact only 43 pages of the entire report were circulated. Surely anyone studying such a condensed version would have more questions than clarity. Considering the report is in two volumes. The first, in 230 pages, contains nearly 90 suggestions; the second has over 100 pages of annexures, these suggestions supposedly evolved out of extensive grassroot study.

The panel has recommended significant interventions such as amending the Right to Education (RTE) Act to bring back detention of students after Class V, elimination of unviable schools and making minority schools reserve 25% seats for candidates of economically weaker sections (EWS). The last provision tramples the rights of the minority institutions (linguistic and religious) which is enshrined in the Constitution.

Thankfully this has been corrected with the release of the complete version and extension of the date. However, no visible effort is seen to make the policy widely available to schools, colleges etc for allowing proper debate.

We have had two NEP’s, 1968 and 1986, under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The National Education Policy (NEP) of 1986 was revised in 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao was PM. So it not something that is not or cannot be changed. What would be watched is the process and that has ruffled some feathers, especially the minority institutions who run many educational institutions and whose views should be considered given their experience. Hopefully under the new Minister this too will be considered.

From the official website, the NEP was formulated with a time bound BOTTOM UP approach and different from previous exercises which were supposedly TOP DOWN. Also rather than have experts this time the ministry opted for discussion village education committees across all 2.5 lacs Grampanchayats. Was Goa left out as nothing was reported or maybe Goa does not count. Not many in the education sector have heard of this new policy, which would mean the fault of the sector or the ministry?

The Ministry feels that previous policy consultations took between 3 months (really) to 6 years, hence this policy is going to be time bound. However time bound does not mean not doing things as planned in the “Consultative Framework”. The consultations with National education bodies was done over one day each. Considering the themes listed out in the Consultation document, it is too little time given the importance of the subject.

The themes are no doubt very good, especially focus on teacher training and quality.

Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai raised the issue of “neighbourhood school” as envisaged under the RTE Act, it was not being implemented, kids travel more than 1 km to get to school. Under the NEP this will be done away with. Schools which are small or are not viable will be consolidated. MLA Vijai is unaware that the NEP is already proposing to do away with what he is asking to be implemented.

Education is a State subject and the NEP will provide broad guidelines for the States to follow, should not the States be well aware and contributing so that the States plans and the National Policy do not oppose each other?

The current Minister is a product of student politics. Will he agree to the view that student politics is a distraction that should be eliminated from every campus. Will it be possible to prevent as envisaged, formation of student groups on the lines of religion or caste or politics, would it not violate the fundamental right of a student. Did the recent unrest or rather ham handed handling in the JNU campus have an effect on getting this issue included in the policy?

The most important issue to my mind that needs to be discussed is this. The guiding principle for the recommendations made in the NEP ….more than economic objectives, education should aim to “develop pride in India and in being Indian / with roots embedded in Indian culture etc”. So did the panel findings include the fact that those produced by the current education system are less nationalist or cultural misfits and hence this problem has to be addressed. Then contrast it with an objective of NEP, make student more employable, do corporates employ students who are culturally sound or those who have the necessary skill sets to do the required job. Where is the focus?

The NEP has raised more questions than provided solutions. The method of discussion or dissemination or consultations have left mush to be desired. There seems to be a knee jerk reaction to various happening and above all a scant regard for constitutional rights. It appears that the current draft policy has hidden agendas.

It would be therefore imperative for the Minister Mr. Prakash Javadekar to review the process and once again go back to having proper nationwide consultations with actual stakeholders so that the revised draft meets the minimum expectation of improving the quality of education and enhancing the employability, and in his own words, A STUDENT CENTRIC POLICY.