This LS 2014 Elections ... will you, the voter, make a promise ?

“The AAP will make no promises to you. Instead it will ask you to make a promise. This time you will not cast your vote on the basis of kinship. You will forget caste; you will drive away the distributors of alcohol and money. AAP has not come to ask you for your vote. If there is anything we ask of you, it is to have faith in yourselves; and to listen to the voice of your soul. This election is not about the victory or defeat of political parties; it is about victory or defeat within ourselves. In front of the voting machine, we must think of the future of our children, the future of our city and our dreams for the future of our country.” Short link http://bit.ly/meera4mumbai

Thursday 30 January 2014

Meera Sanyal at a Cuffe Parade residents meeting

Meera Sanyal at a discussion graciously hosted by Ramasubban Balakrishnan at his residence at Cuffe Parade earlier this evening. Her knowledge and understanding across issues and subjects was impressive and so has been her work in rural development over the past years. Not only South Mumbai, where she proposes to contest from if selected by AAP, will gain from her insights and ability to work at the ground level with teams, but the country at large will benefit from her presence in the Lok Sabha.



Meera Sanyal - South Mumbai AAP Candidate Form & Affidavit


Tuesday 21 January 2014

In appreciation of AK

Sajjid Mitha says:

He's been in office a little over three weeks. He's a serious kid with no political experience but a will to fight the system. He thinks out of the box and many of his actions may seem unconventional. But rather than ridicule him I for one salute this man who has balls of steel and a true vision for a better India. For once I sincerely hope the educated elite embrace the vision of the Aam aadmi as far as political governance is concerned. India needs Kejriwal to flush out everything that is wrong in the system for neither you nor I are likely to do it.

For the first time post independence the Aam aadmi has one more thing in his heart other than faith and prayer. He has a very real hope that his children may just have an opportunity to have a relatively honest government in power. How easy it is to criticize and so difficult to appreciate. We constantly ridicule the system and when some brave heart emerges we waste no time in bashing him. I prefer to play the 'wait and watch' game and embrace the Aam aadmi's thought process of hope for a better India.

Mumbai Marathon 2014 : Supporting Aam Aadmi Initiative


Acceleration of Police reforms is a more constructive approach.



If the Delhi government is to be held accountable for the law and order situation in Delhi and NCR, it should be provided control over the Delhi police. Else the Delhi Govt would be rendered toothless. It is logical that the CM should have control of the most important means of governance. Indeed, no system is better than those who run it. Republic Day is a good day to remember that lesson and build strong institutions instead of destroying them. Durga Shakti has done just that by one act of upholding the law and restoring faith in the institution of SDM. Good cause! + wrong method? = black day. Better to be patient, allow national support to fall in place first (LS team 400). Take care not to loose the gains made AAP.
The CM getting soaked by unseasonal rain may not quite be the solution. Mobs getting out of control could have adverse consequences. See http://bit.ly/policereforms Take a more constructive approach, which efforts should be accelerated.

Monday 20 January 2014

Mumbai Marathon 2014



The Mumbai Marathon 2014 - for our team it was about supporting North East India Development - East West Interconnect - and the Aam Aadmi Initiative !

Saturday 18 January 2014

Mumbai Marathon 2014 - supporting the Aam Aadmi Initiative


The Mumbai Marathon 2014 - for our team its about supporting North East India Development - East West Interconnect - and the Aam Aadmi Initiative !

AAP South Mumbai Loksabha 2014 Elections - Preparatory Work

  • Each constituency team would have plan and execute their own campaign strategy - the ball is in our court.
  • The elections are likely to be 3rd/4th week April. We have 100 days!!
  • We would need to find the right people and build teams and get into execution mode latest by 1st Feb. 
  • We need offices in Colaba, Mumbadevi, Byculla, Sewri, Worli and Malabar Hill. 
  • We need to activate a collection drive for money - we will need to raise at least 50 lac through crowd sourcing. 
  •  There are approx 1500 polling booths in South Mumbai. 
  • We will need approx 25/30 volunteers per booth not just on polling day they need to come on board sooner rather than later because they will form the bulk of our door to door campaign in their respective areas (1500x30=45000!!) This is 80% of the work. 
  • Our volunteers need to establish personal contact with the voters. This was also the main reason why AAP did so well in Delhi. The press says that BJP also plans to focus on door to door campaign. 
  • A draft induction and training manual that all our volunteers should read and understand, is under preparation. 
  • A constituency manifesto is under preparation. 
  • Other aspects of the campaign would be to effectively use social media, telemarketing, leaflets, posters events and research. 

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Value Proposition of the AAP

AAP volunteers seeking guidance on the value proposition of the AAP to be conveyed to citizens at the crossroads of their decisions read Swaraj - by Arvind Kejriwal  (click on link)


In fairness also look at http://bit.ly/rahulgandhi However, written by someone else. Does he or the Congress follow this? When some of the most brilliant people seeking to join politics were told that they would have to meet Rahul, before it could happen? They have readily been embraced by the AAP without any high command interference. See an example in Kishore Mandhyan  and this is only one example. (click on links)

Note: Link to value proposition at http://bit.ly/swarajak   and to the membership form at http://bit.ly/aapform

Monday 13 January 2014

Easy Access to membership forms

Online at http://www.aamaadmiparty.org/join-us

OR download print and fill in Link to printable form

https://app.box.com/s/aaanc3p26010w65p6r6b

Political parties receive 75% of funding from 'unknown' sources

Vinita Deshmukh | 09/01/2014 04:10 PM |

Although political parties are required to submit details of donors who have made donations above Rs20,000 to the Election Commission, every year, they report that 75% of the donations are unknown

While 75% of the sources of funding for political parties are unknown, the latest study undertaken by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows that within the 25% of known funding sources, a whopping 87% comes from the corporates, mainly from trusts and groups of companies and the manufacturing sector.

The analysis by ADR put up on its website on 8th January shows that, out of Rs435.87 crore collected by national parties between the financial years 2004-05 and 2011-12, Rs378.89 crore was donated by corporates and business houses, thus constituting 87% of the total contribution from known sources of political parties. Since, except for the Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), no other national party has submitted its donations report for the financial year 2012-13, ADR’s report covers donations received from national parties only between FY05 and FY12.
             
In ADR’s earlier report of 13 September 2013, based on innumerable documents procured under Right to Information (RTI) from various relevant government departments, it was found that 75% of the sources of political parties is unknown. This, despite the fact, that, political parties are required to submit details of donors who have made donations above Rs20,000 in a financial year (between 1st April and 31st March) to the Election Commission of India, every year. Parties are required to provide details of the name, address, PAN, mode of payment and amount contributed by each donor who has made donation above Rs20,000. However, this is largely not adhered to.

The report shows that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the maximum donations of Rs192.47 crore from 1,334 corporate donors followed by Congress which received Rs172.25 crore from 418 donors. The main donors to the Congress are Aditya Birla Group which donated Rs36.41 crore, Torrent Power Ltd which donated Rs11.85 crore and Bharti Group’s Bharti Electoral Trust which donated Rs11 crore. The BJP too received generosity from the Aditya Birla Group which donated Rs26.57 crore and Torrent Power Ltd which donated Rs13 crore. It also received Rs10 crore from Asianet V Holding Pvt Ltd. Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) received Rs1 crore each from Ambuja Cement, Hindustan Construction Co Ltd and Infina Finance Pvt Ltd.

The report states, “the maximum number of donations was made by the manufacturing sector (595 donations, Rs99.71 crore) followed by 340 donations (Rs24.10 crore) from the real-estate sector. The least number of donations was made by the hospitals (16 donations, Rs14 lakh) followed by 45 donations each by the shipping and transport (Rs3.67 crore) and communication sectors (Rs13.26 crore) to the national parties.”

The corporates’ inclination towards Narendra Modi-driven BJP is reflected in the maximum number of donations to BJP. The report states: “Out of the national parties, BJP received the maximum donations of Rs192.47 crore from 1,334 donors from corporate/ business sector followed by Congress receiving a total contribution of Rs172.25 crore from 418 donors from corporate/ business sector.’’

Although foreign funding is banned for political parties, the report states, “A total of Rs29.26 crores was accepted by Congress and BJP together between 2003-04 and 2011-12. ADR has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to take action against the two largest national parties, Congress and BJP.’’

A total of Rs105.86 crores was donated by six Electoral Trusts to the national parties.

The ADR recommends that, “the Supreme Court gave a judgment on 13 September 2013, declaring that no part of a candidate affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs20,000, should be blank; all donors who have donated a minimum of Rs20,000 as a single or multiple donations should provide their PAN details and; details of donors who make donations to the Electoral Trusts should be available in the public domain to increase transparency in funding of political parties.’’

Until any stringent measures are taken by the government in implementing the strict norms of political funding, unaccounted money will continue to be the fuel of election campaigning.
Number of donations made by corporate/ business sectors:
Maximum number of donations was made by the manufacturing sector (595 donations, Rs99.71 crore) followed by 340 donations (Rs24.10 crore) from real-estate sector
Least number of donations was made by the hospitals (16 donations, Rs14 lakh) followed by 45 donations each by the shipping and transport (Rs3.67 crore) and communication sectors (Rs13.26 crore) to the national parties

Top corporate donors to national parties
Congress: General Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla Group donated the maximum amount (Rs36.41 crore) followed by Torrent Power Ltd (Rs11.85 crore) and Bharti Electoral Trust of Bharti Group (Rs11 crore)

BJP:  General Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla Group donated the maximum amount (Rs26.57 crore) followed by Torrent Power Ltd (Rs13 crore) and Asianet V Holding Pvt Ltd (Rs10 crore)

NCP: Ambuja cement donated the maximum (Rs1 crore) followed by Hindustan Construction Co Ltd (Rs1 crore) and Infina Finance Pvt Ltd (Rs1 crore)

CPI and CPM: CPI received a total of Rs11 lakh from 13 corporate donors while CPM received a total of Rs1.78 crore from 108 corporate/ business houses

Political parties which received maximum contributions from various sectors:
Congress received maximum contributions from trusts & group of companies (Rs70.28 crore), while BJP received maximum donation from manufacturing sector (Rs58.18 crore) and power and oil (Rs17.06 crore)

Maximum donations from mining, construction, export/ import sector was received by Congress (Rs23.07 crore) while maximum donations from the real estate sector was received by BJP (Rs17.01 crore)

Donors who have not declared PAN and address:
A total of 301 donors contributing Rs25.28 crore to the national parties have not declared either their PAN details or address in the contribution form

BJP has the listed the maximum number of donors (273) who have not declared their PAN and address while contributing a maximum of Rs22.53 crore

Donors who have not declared their mode of payment:
Mode of payment of donations by 58 donors who have donated Rs1.02 crores to the national parties have not been declared by the national parties

Recommendations of ADR
The Supreme Court gave a judgment on 13 September 2013, declaring that no part of a candidate affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs20,000, should be blank

All donors who have donated a minimum of Rs20,000 as a single or multiple donations should provide their PAN details

Political parties are not permitted to accept contributions from foreign companies or companies controlled in India by foreign companies but a total of Rs 29.26 crores was accepted by Congress and BJP together between FY 2003-04 and 2011-12. ADR has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to take action against the two largest national parties, Congress and BJP

A total of Rs105.86 crore was donated by six Electoral Trusts to the national parties. ADR recommends that the details of donors who make donations to the Electoral Trusts should be available in the public domain to increase transparency in funding of political parties.

For more see link

Mass exodus to AAP has unnerved all the political parties

Dear Friends,

After AAP's strong showing & TV channels showing many joining AAP. This mass exodus to AAP has unnerved all the political parties.

They are now making friendly noises of fighting against corruption.

The corrupt are tom-toming about being champions against corruption & talk of Zero tolerance to corruption.

Then why are the guilty in the scams 2G, CWG, Bellary mining scam & others not behind bars & property attached?

Do you really think that this will happen?

There is total loot of the treasury all over India cutting across all political parties, very recently one case in point is study tours.& another is Mulayam Singh's night of revelry.

I think the movie industry should have in their sensibility REFUSED to perform. This reflects very poorly on our movie & TV stars.

I think all of you watch all the news & realize everything & come to your own conclusions.

It is very important that we now stop India sliding into more corruption.& we need to stop this VIP culture.menace once & for all. LETS strengthen this movement with AAP.

Your interactions are welcome
Kishore Jagtiani

It’s tough to keep the middlemen out

13 Jan 2014
Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
Surendra P Gangan surendra.gangan@hindustantimes.com

Govt must withstand pressure from strong trader lobbies and establish a viable alternative supply chain for scheme to succeed

MUMBAI: Experts from the agriculture sector and stakeholders in the state’s APMCs claimed that implementing the scheme for farmers to sell directlytly to con-consumers would be a Herculeanculean task for the state, becauseuse those with vested inter-rests could create hur-dles as they had done in the past.
FILE PHOTO The fruit and vegetable market at APMC, Vashi. The state had denotified 42 fruits and vegetables from the list of the Agriculture Producee M a rke t C o m m i t t e e (APMC) Act in August 2013 to offer consumers respiteite from high prices, but the decisionision was withdrawn after APMC stakeholders allegedly warned of extreme consequences.
“There have been other instances in the past where the government succumbed to pressure. The lobbies of wholesalers, middlemen and mathadis are strong enough to defuse the plan. The political leadership needs strong will power to implement the decision. I do not think the Congress-led government has it in them,” said agriculture expert Girdhar Patil.
Fruit and vegetable wholesalers claimed there was no way to reduce prices. “Does the government have a plan to replace the one in place? Even if farmers decide to trade directly, what mechanism is available to them?” said Balasaheb Bende, president of the Fruit Merchants’ Welfare Association at the Vashi APMC.
Bende said the margin charged by various components, including wholesalers, middlemen and retailers, was justified. “The wholesalers bear the loss of damaged vegetables and fruits, give credit to retailers, share cordial relations with and lend a helping hand to farmers. They will not part with us just because they have another option,” he said, adding that by allowing direct supply to retailers, the government was also defeating the purpose of shifting markets from CST and Byculla to Vashi to decongest the city.
Political observers claimed the implementation could see an escalated tussle between the Congress and NCP. Most of the APMCs and the mathadi workers’ unions are led by the NCP. Many said the delay in issuing notifications in the matter was because of the opposition from within political circles.
However, Sanjay Shetye, chairman, Sahakari Bhandar, said the alternative chain and infrastructure would be established in time. “The infrastructure will come up, responding to the demand by the market forces. It will take time, but once in place, it will help reduce the prices by at least 50%.”

Take away -

The article also shows how & why the govt may not be able to do so.

The AAP can definitely lead a peoples movement & the pressure WILL FORCE GOVT TO DO THE NEEDFUL, & THIS WILL BRING DOWN PRICES BY 40% as the newspaper report states.

40% - WOW --PHEW, a very hefty price differential.LOOK at the difference it will make to the prices.

Going a step further if AAP gets agri scientists & innovators involved they can work on decreasing agriculture input costs & bring down prices.

Studies done by experts, scientists & foreign govts in the past 30 years or so have shown how agricultural input costs can be brought down.& storage wastage stopped.

Corruption in FCI & PDS system, & black market links also responsible for rotting of food grains.

This will be a double edged sword if the prices can be reduced on both fronts.

The people of India will be thankful to AAP for GENERATIONS TO COME.

Get the priorities right: India first, AAP second

Chetan Bhagat
12 January 2014, 05:13 AM IST

It is not easy to write a column with views that run against the wave, particularly against well-intentioned people you have yourself encouraged. I face this dilemma when I write about AAP and its need for a reality check. AAP is the flavour of the month. The media is going gaga over it, the poor see it as their messiah, and rich but bored executives are quitting their jobs to join the ‘movement’.

It deserves some of the hype. It is honest, humble and responsive. The party quickly adapts to public opinion, even if it means changing a previous stance. This responsiveness alone makes it stand out from existing political parties, led by dinosaurs that couldn’t move even if their tail was on fire.

If AAP plays its cards right, it can be a leading national party over the next decade. However, AAP needs to realize that the bigger concern is not AAP, but India. Sadly, some recent policies and decisions have been highly questionable in terms of national interest.

In a bid to come across as a hero to voters, AAP announced free water, and a bizarre subsidy-based cut in electricity tariffs in Delhi. Some estimates say this could cost thousands of crores a year. This money could have been used for hospitals, schools, flyovers, employment generation and a dozen other purposes. The poll promise was to reduce the alleged corruption in the electricity sector, and pass on the efficiency gains to the people. The cheeky accounting and subsidy-based reduction was irresponsible. If the AAP tariff decision is extended pan-India , the cost could be lakhs of crores a year. Such moves can not only wreck the country’s finances, they will send the wrong signal to private players who will shun investing in India’s electricity sector. It helped AAP win some instant applause, but did it help India?

Another example is AAP’s bid to have 90% reservation for Delhiites in Delhi colleges, many of which are national brands. Note the damage this creates at many levels. It prevents students across the country from joining the best colleges. It denies the colleges the best talent, and damages their brand. It creates pressure to move to Delhi, adding stress to urban infrastructure. It encourages parents to send kids abroad to study, costing us foreign exchange. Shouldn’t we discuss all this? Why don’t we have top Delhi colleges opening branches across the country, for instance?

Again, this move may have helped AAP, but did it help India?

You may be honest, but if you are ok with raiding the national treasury and hurting national brands to aid your party, are you completely pure?

There also seems to be a self-righteous attitude towards an ‘aam-aadmi’ lifestyle, and a disdain for affluence. While conspicuous consumption is wrong, I fail to see how aspiring to a good lifestyle, or living it with one’s hard-earned post-tax money is less virtuous? Millions of Indians have worked hard in the past decade and upgraded their lifestyle. That has increased our per-capita GDP. Should we discourage that? Do we want an honest, but poor India? Is AAP pro-poor, or pro-poverty?

Why is AAP getting it wrong already? One, an explicable hurry to compete in the LS elections. Two, a mindset that lacks vision on what India needs to be, apart from being corruption-free. I wouldn’t blame AAP for the latter. They were meant to be an anti-corruption movement. Now they aspire to be a national party. There is a substantial re-think and reinvention required before it goes ahead with its new goals. It needs to learn governance, and have clarity on how it can deliver not only a corruption-free India, but also a thriving economy with millions of opportunities for youngsters . All this needs time. However, the upcoming election and the overrated ‘momentum’ it seeks to capitalize on, is hampering this crucial process. In this hurry, AAP also risks attracting the wrong people who seek power over a better India. If AAP opted out of the LS 2014 race, only the truly dedicated would join. AAP’s entry in the LS race will increase the chances of a hung parliament and a khichdi government. For what it’s worth, a lot of foreign governments, investors and local entrepreneurs feel Modi can put India back on the path of growth. I am not sure they feel the same way with AAP. What is best for India then? Similarly, the Congress, with all its ills, has the most experience in governing India, while AAP has none. Does that experience amount to nothing? Should these factors not be considered in 2014 when we think of India? Or is it not about India anymore, but only about AAP?

Let us citizens also place India’s progress over any political party’s progress. The keys of the nation should be given to people who are not only honest, but can also take India to the next level.