NEW YEAR WISHES

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

My Wishes and Hopes for a Happy New Year

1. Wish there are no natural or man made disasters in 2009.
2. Wish people realize that life is short and they make the best of it in the time available.
3. Wish people learn to love and respect other people whatever be their caste, creed, race, religion or color.
4. Wish people do not try to force their ideologies on others either through economic arm twisting or through direct violence.
5. Hope India votes with both her head and her heart to put in place a Government which will perform, deliver and be accountable to the people – (a bit difficult, I know) – but these are my wishes.
6. Hope the Indian economy does not falter and the stock market recovers during the year.
7. Wish the global economy lead by the USA does not go into recession – because if it does then the scenario would be too bleak to contemplate – that would defeat my wishes, so here’s wishing Obama all the best with managing the US economy.
8. Wish the Indian security forces a very peaceful though alert period all through the year.
9. Wish the police force and the coast guard, get the equipment they desire along with the autonomy to operate efficiently without fear or favor.
10. Wish the Government – whether at the State or at the Center – have the wisdom, courage, confidence, integrity and belief to catch all economic offenders, hawala operators, smugglers, etc and bring them to book no matter how high and mighty they are.
11. Wish the younger generation gathers the mass, muscle and intelligence to stay away from the history of corruption that this great Nation has seen so that we can hope for a cleaner, more efficient and productive tomorrow which will enable India to take its rightful place in the top bracket of the league of nations in this world.
12. Wish the environment stays healthy, green and clean and does not deteriorate further in order that climate change does not affect nations around the world adversely through earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, cyclones, desert storms, floods etc.

Mayawati's Politics, Taxes and Dalit Interests

It has been widely reported that Mayawati has been paying large amounts of advance tax on gifts received from her supporters on her birthday. Last financial year she had reportedly paid Rs. 15 cr as advance tax implying an income of Rs. 60 cr approximately. She has also gone on record that the gifts from her poor Dalit supporters range from Rs. 10 to Rs. 10000. Assuming people on an average gifted her Rs. 1000 each we are talking in excess of 600,000 donors and well wishers. When the income tax investigated her gifts, it has been reported that the addresses provided of the donors were all fake. It is also pertinent to discuss as to apart from Mayawati who else are the beneficiaries of this money game. What is the loss and gain of Dalits in this game of exchange of money? The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal dismissed the case against her as gifts could be an accepted form of income for a politician. I smell a rat in that decision. Can you imagine an individual, not in politics, putting ill gotten money in such huge quantums into their bank account and the Income Tax Authorities not harrassing them. The trouble is, in India, everything is saleable and purchaseable for a price including seats for Parliament. So it is not surprising that such murky deals get a complete white wash - thus converting black money to white money.

It is a matter of great surprise and anguish to go through the arguments being put forward by Mayawati and her followers to justify her burgeoning wealth. It will be better to judge Mayawati by the ideals and norms laid down by Dr. Ambedkar, which she often claims to follow. During a conversation with some journalist Dr.Ambedkar had remarked that," my opponents have been levying all sorts of allegations against me. But none could dare to levy a single allegation on me regarding my integrity and character." Hence it will be proper to judge Mayawati on these parameters.

As regards character, it is of no use to discuss character of any of the present politicians. The recent exposures of many politicians on this front have left no scope for discussion and evaluation. The less said the better. The present politicians play many underhand games of which the public has almost stopped taking notice of and discussing it. This "news" is no longer "news" in the true sense, as it has become a daily boring routine. It is "news" only if some brave bureaucrat decides to resist the corrupt practices.

As regards integrity it has become a victim of every kind of dishonesty both moral and material. Mayawati is no exception to it. Now let us judge Mayawati on her score on integrity. It is quite bold of Mayawati that she makes no secret of her hunger for power and wealth. She takes money during her birthday celebrations as gifts from her followers and well wishers. She takes it during elections by selling tickets to the highest bidder. There have been allegations of money being taken by her in various projects and schemes. Transfers and postings are also said to be an important source of corruption for the persons in power. CBI has already prepared a charge sheet against her in a case of ill-gotten assets worth Rs.30 crores. The Taj Corridor Scam is still hanging fire. Ganga Express Highway Project has already raised a lot of dust.

We have a Dalit leader who is not at all interested in the upliftment of the poor Dalits - their lot still remains probably the poorest in the country. As regards the need for raising money through corrupt means to run a political party it will be apt to refer to what Dr. Ambedkar had to say on this point. In his famous speech on "Future of Parliamentary Democracy" he had remarked, "If moneyed people try to influence the elections by contributing to the election fund of any political party, what will be the result. If the party to which they supported financially comes into power they will naturally try to extract concessions for themselves either by modifying the present legislation or by influencing the party in power to legislate in such manner as would be beneficial to their interests." Now we can just think of the persons paying lacs and crores to buy Assembly and Parliamentary seats. Will not they do their best to earn back the money they have invested in elections? Resultantly Dalits and other poor people will be robbed of their due. The all prevailing corruption in almost all the welfare schemes and development works is the direct consequence of this political corruption in U.P. The Dalits and all other poor men are the resultant losers.

Regarding integrity and character of leaders Dr. Ambedkar in his famous address titled "Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah" had remarked,"... Observe carefully what qualities count for most in public life. Is character becoming of greater or less important? Are men who obtain the highest posts in the nation men of whom, in private life irrespective of party, competent judges speak with genuine respect? Are they of sincere convictions, consistent lives and indisputable integrity? It is by observing this current that you can best cast the horoscope of a nation." I think it applies in the case of Mayawati and other Dalit leaders as well.

"Hero worship" is another mental attribute which has infected the Dalit followers of Mayawati. Here I would like to quote Dr. Ambedkar on hero worship which many supporters of Mayawati take pride in. Dr. Ambedkar in the above address had further remarked that,"Hero worship in the sense of expressing our unbound admiration is one thing. To obey the hero is a different kind of heroworship.There is nothing wrong in the former while the latter is no doubt a most pernicious thing. The former is only man's respect for everything which is noble and of which great man is only an embodiment. The latter is the villain's fealty to his lord. The former is consistent with respect, but the latter is a sign of debasement. The former does take away one's intelligence to think and independence to act. The later makes one a perfect fool. The former involves no disaster to the State. The latter is the source of positive danger to it." I think that each one of us should take this warning very seriously.

My first look at Adventure Sports – Paragliding

I have been thinking of writing on my first solo paragliding experience for quite some time now. My first brush with paragliding was in Manali – but it was so commercial and you had to double ride with the pilot. This was like just sitting and floating through the air. This is when I thought that it would be great if one could do it independently. As luck would have it Times of India which writes a weekly article on unique groups, wrote about Templepilots and how they teach people to fly at Lonavla. This being a couple of hours from Mumbai, I got in touch with them and signed up for the course after convincing my daughter to come with me. My younger daughter and wife agreed to accompany us for the three day weekend brush with flight. Remember Didarus and Icarus – well I was thinking of them when I left for the course. Off we left for Kamshet for our first brush with adventure sports!!

On Friday, 9th May – we assembled at Rangoli restaurant at Kamshet, filled in the registration forms and around 3.30pm left for Pawna lake – the training location. The training site is beautiful and even with the mid day sun beating down, the weather was pleasantly cool with a light breeze blowing.

We were told how to wear the harness and attach the para glider to the harness. Then, began the hard work – trying to get the glider up by running into the wind. At the outset I was told that my daughter would fare better than me as the ground handling involves finesse and technique rather than strength!! After quite a few failures and persistence on the part of Pankaj sir and Avi sir, my daughter managed to get the glider up and started controlling it towards the end of the day. She successfully managed to do the hops and was cleared for her first solo at the de-briefing session. I was not very confident and said that I needed to do a little bit of ground handling before going for my solo.

The next day, early morning we were back at the site. The breeze took some time in coming and we had to wait for about forty five minutes before Lord Varun smiled on us and gave us ideal wind conditions. My daughter told TJ that she would also like to do some more ground handling along with me, before going for our first solo. After about 45 minutes of ground handling TJ told us that we are cleared for our first solo. There was a lump in my stomach as we were driven to the take off site atop a hill about 500 to 600 feet high. I was made to go before my daughter. Before going to the top of the hill, Avi sir had drilled into us that we should just listen to his instructions which would come over the two way radio. I took off without a hitch and was just concentrating on the radio, thereby ignoring the beauty of the surroundings. I did not get to admire the scenic beauty, but did manage to do the turns – left, right and a figure of eight, before being cleared for landing into the wind. I did a perfect landing into the wind and killed the glider by turning around immediately on landing and pulling the brakes. What this does is that the glider just deflates and lands flat on the ground. This was the most amazing and exhilarating experience of my life. My subsequent two flights just kept getting better and with confidence being gained with each flight, I found time out during the flight to admire the scenic beauty. In flight you could admire the calm expanse of Pawna lake and the surrounding hills, in the far distance you get a glimpse of Pawna dam. You get to fly over some lovely bungalows which dot the hillside. All in all an amazing experience.

I would like to say that our batch was a lovely crowd of great people and the trainers were friendly, helpful and always at hand to guide and correct. It may be an adventure sport – but with the experience I got it must be the safest adventure sport around. It is definitely far safer than hang gliding and the equipment is also not too bulky. The para glider when folded fits into a haversack which you can carry on your back.

I for one am definitely going back with my daughter for the P2 course and thereafter for the advanced course. Am looking forward to getting my pilots license and then my own paraglider. Can’t wait for the day when I will be able to take to the skys on my own glider!!

PITFALLS IN STARTING PRACTICE FOR FRESH CA’s

INTRODUCTION

I started out in practice with a very idealistic view of the profession. My articleship was done from a small firm wherein the major experience was in accounting and internal audit. There was no income tax experience whatsoever. Post qualification, I joined M/s A.F. Fergusons and gained tremendous exposure in audits of large companies. My performance as an audit manager, was noticed and I was sent on deputation to KPMG Peat Marwick in Malawi, Africa. I gained greater exposure and experience in how a scientific audit is carried out plus the degree of professionalism necessary to carry out independent audits. After I came back, I realised that starting my own practice would be a challenge which I would love to face even though this did not give me the exposure for tax practice, more of that later. The desire to be independent and the ability to think on one’s feet is a pre-requisite for setting up a successful practice.
It is very important at the outset to assess your strengths and weaknesses before embarking on an independent practice. Make a list of your weaknesses, and work on them to increase your own confidence and ability to interact with both your clients and the various statutory authorities. Make another list with all your strengths – it is very important, over a period of time, to convert your weaknesses into strengths. You need to decide the focus area of your practice and work on the same. Fresh CA’s in reality do not have much of a choice, as they have to project / have an overall competency in the various fields of practice. Clients come to you with the expectation that you will handle their entire financial affairs – sales tax, excise, income tax, accounts, audit – amongst them. You cannot afford to say I do not do sales tax or income tax as you run the risk of losing a client.
One must bear in mind that the raw material for any professional practice is one’s time and intelligence and the end product is money in one form or another. You have to make a proper billing system based on your time cost. Also bear in mind that any mistake or error you make affects your clients’ pocket. This is because your decisions and advice have a direct bearing on your clients’ finances. Any mistake could lead to the client paying either additional taxes or penalties, which could lead to further litigation and costs. Thus you should ensure that the advice you give is after due deliberation and study of the various provisions of law. This will ensure that you enter into minimum litigation, and gain the confidence of your client. The spin-off benefits could be more clients through referrals from satisfied customers.

ATTITUDE AND APPROACH

Honesty and integrity is very important for staying in the profession. This may sound like a paradox – but it is true. This approach pays in the long run. In the early years of practice, one will come across situations exposing both the client and yourself to situations of vulnerability. This is especially true at the time of Income Tax / Sales tax /Excise scrutiny or appellate hearings. One should rise above temptations to take short cuts demeaning the profession as well as the efforts you have taken to pass a rigorous professional course. It is always difficult to take the road less traveled because it is fraught with difficulty, but believe me the fruits of success and the feeling of satisfaction it gives is worth the effort. After all, a good nights sleep at the end of a trying day is always worth it.
My initial years of practice were very difficult because clients always expected their cases to be “settled” – I always found it jarred with my sense of integrity and my knowledge. It is one thing to fight a tax case based on records and returns filed and something else all together to make an unethical compromise. I have handled complex cases successfully, but in the end it always boils down to “settlement”. This is something nobody teaches you to handle or exposes you to managing while you are undergoing training. The clients’ attitude is – “always ‘settle’ as ‘goodwill’ and forget it”. Remember another thumb rule – client’s will ALWAYS make adjustments with the officer and not your legitimate fees. This led to another unfortunate practice wherein the consultants started including their ‘cut’ in the sum to be given as “settlement dues”. In my opinion this is in extremely poor taste and makes our noble profession into nothing more than a brokerage or ‘dalali’. The question then arises – “How does one do ethical tax practice?”
The answer to the above question lies in your approach to the profession. At the outset, when negotiating with a new client you should clearly lay down the guidelines for a working relationship. Get an engagement letter from the client wherein your services are clearly described and fees specified. Explain to your clients the benefits of declaring the correct income, paying honest taxes and sleeping peacefully at night! Explain the various deductions which can legitimately be claimed by proper tax planning and have the client pay the advance tax in time – these two simple steps will lessen your burden considerably. I have found a simple solution for dealing with tax officers and clients. I attend the scrutiny proceedings and present whatever records are called for professionally, agreeing to reasonable disallowances if warranted and after that bringing the client into the picture. After explaining to the client the salient parts of the expected assessment order and getting his concurrence to the same, the client and the officer, after discussions agree on the final assessment order. I do not mean to sound sanctimonious – but that is the manner in which I have been able to live with my integrity intact. I am not saying this is the correct way or the only way – but each person will need to find his own feet and his own methodology in fighting this cancer of corruption pervading our society.
Today my approach has led to success both - for myself and my clients. All my clients pay reasonably honest taxes declaring correct incomes – this makes our job much easier. Any income tax scrutiny can be handled with confidence because you are sure that your clients’ books are clean. This straightforward approach has led to a lot of referrals leading to an increase in clients and work. This has happened after a long struggle for the first twelve years of my practice. The enduring thing to remember is that every pitfall one faces can be treated as a fresh challenge to be converted into an opportunity. This was my formula to a successful career – not monetary success initially but enduring, professionally satisfying success – that’s what’s important.

CONCLUSION

It is of paramount importance to chalk out your key practice areas, adopt a practical and realistic - though honest approach, and be true to your principles and follow the Code of Conduct laid down by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in letter and spirit. This will, with the passage of time prove to be your recipe for success and will also contribute to cleansing the system of wrong practices over a period of time.

CAPITAL GAINS /SPECULATION AND FILING OF TAX RETURNS

This article was published by Moneylife magazine on 18th March, 2007.

With the easy availability of online trading facilities provided by various trading platforms such as ICICIDirect, Indiabulls, Kotak Mahindra, etc. the number of people joining the online trading bandwagon has gone up by leaps and bounds. Among those playing the markets online is a fair chunk of salaried employees. Many of these individuals have been introduced to futures and options. The retail trading volumes indicate that a lot of people are trying out this avenue to make money. This is all fine till it comes to generating the records one needs to provide the accountant to file the individual tax return. In my experience, I have always been unpleasantly surprised by the lack of awareness which individuals show when it comes to the income which needs to be disclosed and records maintained from short – long term capital gains and from speculation activities such as futures and options and intra-day trades.

Most of the individuals feel that if they have earned or lost money while playing the markets they do not need to show it to the tax authorities. I have always made it a point to explain to them that such transactions are all tracked by means of the individual PAN and data is submitted to the statutory authorities by means of the Annual Information Report (AIR). The advice to all such individuals is to declare these transactions at the time of filing their tax returns and request their accountant to compute the capital / speculation gain / loss and pay the taxes prior to filing of their tax returns. To successfully achieve this objective such individuals need to maintain proper records of transactions undertaken during the course of the financial year.

The deadline for filing tax returns for salaried individuals and non audit businesses is 31st July every year. It is advisable for individuals who have a large volume of trades in a financial year to submit details to their accountant every quarter for compiling the data and computing the capital gain or loss. This will also help the individual for advance tax calculations and payments.

Each online trading portal has a records section from which the contracts, bills and statement of account and de-materialised stock holding statement (from the depository portal) can be downloaded. Depending on the volume of trade it is advisable to take either monthly or quarterly downloads and have them saved. Printouts of all these statements can be taken and submitted to the accountant for doing the necessary calculation. Some individuals will have an issue with the quantum of fees charged by the accountant – and if the person has suffered a loss – he definitely is not inclined to pay the accountant any fees to tell him that he has made a loss!!

Individuals not inclined to pay their accountants heavy fees can maintain their own records in spreadsheet format by recording the following columns for long term, short term, intra-day gains and for futures and option:

For Long Term and Short Term Gains

Scrip Name; Contract Number; Transaction Buy/Sell; Date Buy/Sell; Quantity; Net Buy/Sell Amount; STCG; LTCG

For intra-day trades which qualify as speculation you could have a suitably modified table prepared. For futures and options it will be more or less similar to the above with a slight change in nomenclature. You will have only a speculation gain/loss column as opposed to two columns for short term and long term capital gains.

In case of regular and heavy trading on the stock markets, the income tax authorities ask the assessees to file a capital account and balance sheet along with their return of income. Almost all my clients file a capital account and balance sheet as it is a requirement which is sure to come in the coming years. The current discussions of modifying the Saral form to include a cash flow and miniature statement of affairs is the trend return filing is going to take. Electronic filing which will be mandatory in the near future will definitely include details such as capital account and balance sheet for all assessees. In case of such an eventuality it is better to start now and have all the data ready so as to be prepared for the same.

The Role of a Modern CFO

I had written this article earlier and it had been published by caalley.com. Thought of sharing it through my blog.

Through the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990’s the role of the CFO – nomenclature then was Finance Controller - was more in the nature of arranging bank finance at reasonable costs for business growth, due to scarcity of growth capital due to tight liquidity conditions. It was more in the nature of a tactical, bean counting job. The CFO was primarily responsible for tedious budgeting and various accounting and internal reporting functions. The other expectation in those days was to have decent treasury management skills which helped in raising debt or equity capital and basic cash management. The CFO then was more of a workhorse than a show horse.

The nineties was the decade of economic liberalization with the primary markets becoming an easy source of money for businesses as the regulatory environment was still in the formative stage. At this point in time the role of the CFO was that of a wheeler-dealer who tossed aside traditional notions of balance sheet integrity so as to concoct fascinating numbers to nudge gullible investors to put their hard earned savings into initial public offerings. There were lakhs of investors who burnt large holes in their pockets by investing in these initial public offerings. The Harshad Mehta scam and later the Ketan Parekh scam literally shook the government out of its lethargy to create a decent regulatory environment to protect investors. Through this turbulent period the CFO was just a number cruncher who sought money from banks and institutions for business and managed the cash flow using traditional methods of cash flow management. Some of the unscrupulous people helped in milking the investors of their hard earned money through the public offerings and then disappearing with the money. Companies like Sparkle Foods and Aurriferous Aqua come to mind. These are two of the Companies mentioned in the large “Vanishing Companies” listing on the Ministry of Company Affairs web-site with investigations launched and criminal cases filed against the promoters.

The global financial scams beginning with the Enron meltdown and high profile failures at Global Crossing and Tyco International, companies have started re-visiting what they want from their CFO’s. Nobody wants to be the next Enron, which means that companies are now looking for CFO’s with a renewed emphasis on ethics and hardcore accounting, financial reporting and risk management skills. The environment today is more liberal than earlier and the CFO today is expected to raise capital aggressively, meet their forecasts and make their case to the analysts. At the same time the CFO is expected to keep a vigilant eye and a transparent cover on the books – implying that the job is just getting tougher and more all-encompassing than before.

The financial markets today have become more transactional and exploded on to the global stage with lots of partnerships, strategic joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions leading to consolidation of businesses world wide. Today the role is more strategic with the CFO expected to have a knowledge of complex financial products like mortgage backed securities, derivatives, currency management skills plus having to target companies for M & As and thereby helping the CEO in shaping the direction the company should take.
With capital markets booming and huge fund houses with humungous volumes of money at their disposal for investments in emerging markets are defining the way the CFO should go in the future. The CFO now is expected to and in the foreseeable future will be expected to be a financial superman. The earlier role used to be that of a finance controller which has now evolved into that of dealmaker or a pitch maker for the stock markets. He has started wearing another hat – that of a business expert and forecaster as pressure from analysts increases with tougher and tougher questions being posed. The CFO now has to delve into every aspect of the business, analyze the respective business plans and value them all. With diversification of businesses and with a large geographical spread the job has become a much more difficult task.

As the community of equity research analysts such as the Salomans, Smith Barneys, and Merryl Lynches of the world have over hyped companies they covered in the past leading to investors burning their fingers, they are now compelled to ask tougher and tougher questions to satisfy their investors. In future they will be asking tough questions beyond the financial statements such as how much actual value the company is creating. This will result into more and more companies switching over to value based management techniques such as Enterprise Value Added and the Balanced Scorecard

Now and in the future the business-strategizing aspect is going to be a critical part of the CFOs job. In the past few years, companies got burnt by decisions to enter new markets without bringing the CFO into the loop. Lots of manufacturing companies tried to diversify their product portfolios unsuccessfully without proper studies and inputs from their finance people and have got burnt in the bargain. All such decisions in the past were taken in conjunction with the business development and marketing people without consulting the CFO. The CFOs also used to avoid getting into the loop as they considered that such decisions were outside their domain. Now they are sounding boards for new ideas on growth strategies and whether these make financial sense. Today and in the future the CFO will have to diverse skills to manage complex financial products, leveraging funds to help in business growth plus accounting virtuosity and strategic prowess.

To conclude, the role of the CFO has evolved from that of a finance controller to a sounding board for the CEO/management for taking strategic decisions towards the growth of the busincess.

War Hysteria across the border

For the last couple of days the visual and written media has been talking a lot of potential for war - that too during Christmas when one is supposed to pray and rejoice in the birth of Christ. We have seen politicians across the border change their tune rapidly the moment General Kayani started showing his true colors. Pakistan has a "functioning democracy" only in name - the true power has always been and always will be in the hands of the Military. Politicians in Pakistan are chameleons changing their color at all times to save their skin.

This war mongering is akin to kids shouting from the rooftop their innocence when they have been caught doing an indiscretion. We have the Pakistani media obfuscating history by stating that they have never been agressors and always repelled attacks by a "Hindu" India! They forget that we have a larger Muslim population than Pakistan just as they conveniently forget that their arse has been whipped everytime they have tried mischief, the latest being Kargil. Their media would have you believe that if USA had not intervened they would have been ruling Delhi during the Kargil conflict!

The Pakistani Taliban has also announced that they will fight with the Pakistani military if it comes to war with India - blowing off the cover of the worst kept secret that the ISI and the Taliban are hand in glove - only the USA with its blinkered and selfish tunnelled "terror" vision cannot see it. Hopefully they will now see it as it is out in the open - freely visible to the world. Hopefully they will also stop funding Pakistan - as the funds never reach the masses for alleviation of poverty or for fighting terrorists - as that would not enrich the people in power. The biggest terror state in the world is Pakistan and the sooner the world realises it the better!

If you see historically also, including in the present, there has always been conflict between countries whose neighbours are Muslim. I am sorry to make a statement like this, I have a lot of Muslim friends in India and abroad who are professionals and gentlemen to the core. A vast majority of Muslims are peace loving and good human beings - but unfortunately they are painted with the same brush because they remain a silent majority - though after 26/11 at least in India, they have stood up to condemn the violence. There is disturbance in North Africa - Nigeria/Niger/Libya/Somalia/Egypt/, Israel has been defending itself for long, Turkey faces unrest, Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan have been a hotbed of violence for decades, Malaysia and Indonesia see conflict once in a while. The only peace loving country - with a bellicose Pakistan on the West and a devious Bangladesh on the East - which historically has not invaded anyone for centuries, but has always been invaded - is India - with probably the largest muslim population in the world. The various invasions have still not managed to damage the spirituality of the people, but has only enhanced it by assimilation of different religions and cultures to make it the wonderful nation that it is - peace loving but not a pushover if it comes to war.

The spirit of Giving and the Joy of Charity

All through my childhood I have seen my parents giving a helping hand to all those who came to us for help. That philosophy is probably now ingrained in my psyche. One should always remember that the good you do in life is always rewarded in this life itself - it's called cause and effect. Whatever you do - good or bad - the after effects are always enjoyed or suffered in this life here on earth, either by you or by your offspring. It is extremely important to live life honestly and simply - "do good always" should be your motto. God has not made all men equal economically - but all that depends on the individuals past "karma" and each individual has the opportunity to do good and improve to have a better future now and in the hereafter.

Every person is born with two things - a body and a soul. At the time of passing away a person leaves behind the body and takes the soul. But the body is not the only thing he leaves behind - he also leaves behind memories for his near and dear ones and also all his worldly possessions. It is important to leave behind only good memories and that can only be done if you live a life of joy for yourself and for all those who come in touch with you. It is a very simple philosophy. The day you decide to accept with equanimity and a smile all your joys and sorrows - without being overjoyed or stooped in sorrow - you will be at peace with yourself as well as with the world. There is a Qawali which you must listen to if you want to understand what life is - "Chadta Sooraj Dhire Dhire....". It is really profound and you will recall real life instances which you may have personally experienced once you listen to it!

This brings me to the Joy of Charity. To me - it has always been a philosophy of giving to the underprivileged or in helping established Charities who do good work by way of monetory contribution. In todays busy world, you may not always be able to actually spare your personal time to physically help the underprivileged - hence the need and desire to identify Charities who do good work and help them monetorily.

I feel really sad for people who when approached for Charity contributions end up saying they cannot contribute or are in need of Charity themselves. These are all good, educated people with jobs who do not have financial insecurities. Surprising that they cannot spare even ten percent of their monthly salary!! For these people I pray that their situation in life always remains stable and good, because God forbid if things turn bad and when they need help they may not find a helping hand close by. This happens because of the rule of cause and effect which I have earlier mentioned.

Politics and administration of the worst kind

In the last couple of days our Parliament and the Congress party has been faced with the Antulay problem of which I have already written. It is sad to see Mr. Antulay getting support from other marginal political parties. This is the worst kind of religion based politics one can indulge in. The smile on Mr. Antulay's face says it all - he thinks he has set the cat amongst the pegions. Instead of uniting as a Nation to face a common enemy, we have our brain dead politicians indulging in parochial politics for short term gains.

Historically, when we had various kingdoms across the length and breadth of the country, we had kings stabbing other kings in the back for short term territorial gains, which was subsequently exploited by the Mughals and then the British to establish rule over us. We have still not changed - instead of learning from history we just keep repeating the follies ad infintum ad nauseum.

We have been after Pakistan to send us our ten most wanted. Lets just talk about two of them Maulana Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim. The Congress is now saying that even if Pakistan hands over Maulana Masood Azhar, India will be satisfied? Why is that? Is it with an eye on the forthcoming elections? Is it because the BJP had released Maulana Masood Azhar during the Kandahar hijacking episode and the Congress wants to get him back to score brownie points during the elections? How petty and small minded can we get? Just makes one puke at the attitude and approach of the oldest political party in the country.

Why are we not so keen on getting Dawood Ibrahim back? Is it because he has got political godfathers? We have not been able to stop his business dealings in India. We know he has got a person handling the docks in Mumbai and other people across the country. We have also acquired proof that the D-Company network was used for logistical support for the 26/11 operations. But are we doing anything about it? Nope, not on your life! We know that Rs 120 cr was transferred to Dawood through the hawala route - did we stop it? Nope. If we have the intel, we should use it and if that means burning a few political careers at the stake - so be it. We should get the resolve to cleanse our entire system of this cancerous breed of people so that our future generations in both countries live in peace and harmony.

Ostrich like Pakistan and Blinkered USA

Our friendly neighbour Pakistan has started to play the same old games. First say yes, then no and then completely obfuscate issues. We have had the USA financing a bankrupt - politically as well as financially - Pakistan for the past several years under the guise of "Fight against Terror". The question, unfortunately from the US perspective has always been "my terror" and "your's is something less than the real thing"! So unless there is a direct attack on the US or it's citizens any kind of terrorist activity anywhere in the world has not got the kind of attention and support in tackling it that it would otherwise deserve. On 26/11 some US citizens were also killed along with some other nationalities, hence their interest in finding out who is behind these attacks.

In spite of sufficient proof, we have the US politicians playing cuckoo over whether the perpetrators were from Pakistan or not. What kind of double standards does the US follow! The Pakistanis are now saying that these guys are not their citizens at all, that too after the world and Pakistani press has gone to Kasab's village and his father has confirmed to the world media that the person involved is his son. Now it is reported that the entire village has been taken over by secret service people, and that Kasab's family does not exist. I think this game of obfuscation of facts has gone on for too long, with unwarranted support from the US. Are these guys really waiting for the next attack to happen in some other country before they come to their senses? Is it not time to take action against a completely failed state and rein in the ISI, which is a law unto itself with no Government or public oversight?
Probably the Pakistan Government has no control over the ISI as it is financially independent, running a global drug smuggling,extortion and terror racket using Dawood Ibrahim, who has been probably given shelter on the pre-condition that he can stay under Pakistan's protection as long as he keeps financing ISI's global black operations!

The United Nations in tandem with the US should put pressure on Pakistan to stop their ostrich like behaviour and accept the fact that rogue elements in ISI are running the terror training camps and ensure that the same are dismantled. If within a given time frame the above objective is not achieved then it should be made amply clear that funding under the guise of economic development would stop completely. Once, the free lunch to which Pakistan has now got accustomed, that too by holding out the threat that their nuclear assets could fall into rogue hands if they don't get money, then maybe the sane elements in Pakistan could come round to doing the right thing. Believe me, no one wants an unstable neighbour. If your neighbour is sane and rational, then it is good for business, and for taking the South Asian economy forward. In the event the Pakistanis do not want to correct their dangerous situation, then one should act like the Israelis - just neutralise the Pakistani nuclear assets, with the help of Israel if need be. I think it is high time the US stopped their blinkered approach to the ostrich like Pakistan.

Footpaths - are they for pedestrians or for various other purposes

Invariably in Mumbai you will find that footpaths are not used by pedestrians at all. The reason for this is that almost all footpaths - apart from the South Mumbai area, are used either by hawkers or have been captured by the land mafia who have sold off this land to migrants which now house hutment dwellers. In many areas the power companies have given power connections so that these people do not steal power. The hawkers refuse to go to designated hawking zones as they have the support of wrong thinking politicians. We need to gather the will power to take decisions which are right for the public at large and not for a small group of people.

The other day a friend and I were driving down Vakola area in Santcruz East, when the left rear view mirror of the car touched a lady who was walking on the road. She stopped the car and ranted in hindi, something to the effect that - "there is no place to walk on the road, and you are driving a car!!" In this area not only are the footpaths full of hawkers but even two lanes of the roads have been illegally occupied. No wonder accidents happen - and when they do happen it is always the fault of the vehicle driver.

Tulsipipe Road was cleared of hutments last year and nice clean footpaths have been built. The pedestrians in this area are so used to walking on the roads, that in spite of there being pretty decent footpaths you find people walking on the roads, impeding traffic and posing a risk for themselves and for vehicle drivers. I am sure we can have a law for jay-walking and fine people caught indulging in this practice, and frequent defaulters could be put behind bars.

We also have cases where people sleep at night - not only on footpaths, but also on roads and road dividers. Once whilst on the way to the airport I had a close shave! I almost ran over a human leg which had slipped from the road divider where this individual was sleeping. The street lighting in certain areas is non existent or poor with visibility coming from the headlight of the car. At that point the visibility was bad and only a last minute swerve ensured that I did not run over this person's leg. From that day on, if I have to travel at night, I never drive close to the road divider!!

Mr. Salman Khan is still fighting a case of driving over pedestrians sleeping on the footpath. I hold no brief for Mr. Khan - but the question is should people be sleeping on the roads, footpaths, road dividers? In legal parlance is there not something called contributory negligence wherein the affected party has to bear the blame for contributing to the event by behaving in a rash and negligent manner?

"Deshmurkh and Pakuntalay"

For the last two days I was not able to write as I was a bit pre-occupied. A couple of public comments in the last couple of days by Mr. Deshmukh (whose case I shall take first) and by Mr. Antulay on whom I will comment after the first one.

After Mr. Ratan Tata went public with the statement that there was no actionable intelligence which they received from the State Government other than general alerts, Mr. Deshmukh went and contradicted Mr. Tata by saying that they had given specific inputs to the Taj group of hotels. Now, I wonder, how in hell did that happen! This same person was crying from the rooftops that the Central Intelligence agencies had not provided the State Government with actionable intelligence other than general alerts!! Now, if this was the case before Mr. Tata went on record (he has more integrity and thus is more believable than any politician!)then Mr. Deshmukh is lying through his face to save his backside by claiming that he had given the Taj group specific information. Makes me wonder if he had not got actionable intelligence from the Central Agencies, then how come he gave "specific information to the Tata's?? "Deshmukh" in the Marathi language means "voice of the nation" - I would prefer renaming him as "Deshmurkh" which means "fool of the nation"!! All these guys need to be operated for "foot in the mouth disease", is what I think.

Coming to "Pakuntalay" - I call him that because willy nilly he has become the voice of Pakistan - he is actually parroting their line. Given Mr. Antulay's background as a confirmed scamster(remember the cement scam) and person who keeps the company of people with doubtful integrity, I really would not be surprised if he has been paid off by people across the border to say that Mr. Karkare was killed in a conspiracy because he was making headway in the Malegaon investigations. This is in spite of the fact that events which transpired on 26/11 have been recorded and corroborated by different agencies in full view of the press and public. So, how come Mr. Antulay comes up with his conspiracy theory unless there is something which more than meets the eye!! In one fell stroke he has called the press and the public liars, when his own integrity is cloaked only in shades of grey!! This is the worst kind of politics - getting religion into the picture when the nation has been violated from people across the border. We as a secular nation do not require such mentally challenged people to be Ministers or anywhere in public life. The leaders of the Muslim community have castigated him - for which they must be lauded.

It is high time we start rising above such petty mindedness and stop trying to score brownie points with elections at the back of our minds - because if we don't then the nations enemies will take advantage of our internal disunity to wreak more havoc in the future. It is now time for change, and change we must, by ensuring that poiticians/bureaucrats or whoever has this major foot in the mouth disease should be operated and put out to pasture sooner rather than later. The forthcoming elections give us the chance to do so - I hope we have learnt our lessons and we vote for the person who has the right credentials to govern rather than coming from "the right political party"!

Money Laundering related to agricultural land reforms

Do you know which is India's biggest laundry converting humungous amounts of black money into white? It is Agricultural Income!! which in India remains tax free. I have always been a proponent of taxing agricultural land holders by putting a reasonable ceiling on land holding to exclude the poor farmers from the tax burden - say landholders owning less than ten to fifteen acres of land. When India was ruled by Kings, what was the revenue for the kingdom? - nothing but land revenue paid in cash or kind (produce from the land based on land holding. Unfortunately, in modern India, this source of revenue for the Government is a strict no - no. Why? because most politicians are land owners and "farmers" at least on paper! and they can convert ill gotten gains into tax free income by showing it as agricultural income. Nowadays this is not restricted to politicians only! You will find a whole host of industrialists who suddenly become farmers once they realise that the tax on income is heavy!

Unfortunately in India, everything can be bought for a price - hence even though by law, you cannot own agricultural land unless you and your forefathers have been agriculturists, it is very easy to obtain the agriculturist certificate from the "Talati's" office and become a land owner. You will find that non-cultivable land bought cheaply suddenly starts producing farm produce for these new land owners. The next step is to siphon business profits by showing fictitious expenses, convert these into cash, and then deposit in your bank account as agricultural income! You can get farm produce sale cash receipts at any local mandi. Abracadabra - suddenly you have tax free income!!

The day we start taxing agricultural income or charging land revenue(beyond a threshold) for large holdings, we could see a decline in this laundry business. One also needs to stop the practice of alloting agriculturist certificates to non-eligible purchasers of agricultural land. For this we require political will, which hopefully, I may get to see in my lifetime.

Corruption in Public Life

It has been widely reported in the press that one Mohammad Ali, a lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim (India's most wanted), runs the Mumbai docks like his personal fiefdom and not a leaf moves without his knowledge. Government sources have been cited in the press as having reported a hawala transfer of Rs. 120 crores from Mohammad Ali to Dawood - it is pertinent to note that Government sources are aware of such huge transfers but they do not/cannot block such transfers. If criminal transfer of funds of such huge denominations are noted and nothing is done by the authorities, is it wrong to conclude that the politician-bureaucrat-police-criminal nexus is alive and thriving?!!? What should be done to break this nexus - as the stakes involved are huge and the money mind boggling.

Elections require huge funds - and these funds are raised by politicians through businessmen by generating black money. The best way to bypass this rot would be to have a transparent fund raising system for political parties. Our tax laws should be amended so as to give a tax deduction for donations made to registered, recognised Political Parties. A ceiling should be laid for the amount to be spent on elections - and the ceiling should be practical and sufficiently large to ensure transparency. Once the political need for black money is extinguished, the business community will not have the pressure to perpetuate this practice.

The economic laws should be given teeth so that quick and summary justice is meted out to economic offenders - howsoever mighty they are. The justice should not only be done - but it should be seen to be done - adequate publicity should be given and the offenders shamed in public so that an example is set and others are warned. So, even if a person is a well known industrialist, politician, bureaucrat or public servant, if convicted, should be shamed and sent behind bars for a long time.

Political shenanigans

We have just been witness to some of the worst kind of maneuvering for power in Maharashtra after the resignations of R.R. Patil and Vilasrao Deshmukh (VD). Not even a week has gone by after the terrorist attacks before we get a sense of deja vu with the political drama which took place to grab the seat of power in Maharashtra. The fact that VD survived for so long just goes to prove the TINA (there is no alternative) factor and also the fact that he is the Congress party's biggest fund collector. For a change the Congress decided to put public opinion ahead of party funds and asked VD to go! Then what happens - the political circus starts, VD flies to Delhi and back almost everyday at public cost to try and get his proxy in as Chief Minister! We have Ashok Chavan, guardian minister of Nanded, who is appointed as Chief Minister - a person with no track record and no controversy to go with his name - a complete political lightweight!! So we will now have VD running Maharashtra through his proxy - aka Rabri Devi for Laloo in Bihar - these guys are so adept at making a complete mockery of public opinion that it is a shame we take this lying down.

The other drama was the appointment of Chagan Bhujbal as deputy CM by Sharad Pawar - a promise which Sharad Pawar kept! But why now? and why Bhujbal? do our political parties not have any person qualified to do the job, that we have to go back to scam tainted corrupt politicians like Bhujbal (Telgi scam - though acquitted legally - a morally bankrupt person).

We also have the cry baby - Narayan Rane - spouting venom against all and sundry for not getting his lollypop! His son running riot because daddy dear did not get his lollypop! Such guys should be stoned in public like they do in Saudi Arabia, then and only then will they learn a lesson which they are not likely to forget.

This begs the question - Do these guys actually need security? Why should the taxpayers money be spent on giving these hooligans Z+ security, it would be nice to see them moving around without flashing lights and large motor cavalcades thereby not inconveniencing the public.

Last but not the least - would Chidambaram be a good Home Minister? Would it not have been better to have a retired general from the army or an honest upright policeman with an impeccable track record in fighting insurgency such as Julio Rebeiro as the Home Minister?

Section 49-O - correction in info on earlier post

My post on Section 49-O was slightly ill-informed. On being told by a friend that the information is not accurate and after a little bit of research - I would like to apologise for putting up the earlier post.
Our Constitution consists of Articles and not Sections - hence when one refers to the 1969 Act, what one is actually referring to is "Conduct of Election Rules, 1961" which has a Section 49-O which is being reproduced below:
49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

The question is if such an option exists, but is only for statistical purposes, then I feel that we should have an amendment in our election rules, whereby if the electorate by a wide margin decides against voting for any candidate and if the blank votes polled are equal to or exceed the votes polled for a candidate then the voting should be annulled as the electorate did not prefer any of the candidates put up. These candidates should not be allowed to stand for elections again - this would instill fear into the Political Parties and force them to choose candidates with the correct attributes to stand for elections.
What we see today are all kinds of opportunists standing for elections. We have a lot of MLA's/MP's whose net wealth increases many fold in the five years after their election.
We should aim for candidates who defeat the age old adage "Politics is the last refuge of scoundrels". The day we manage to do that we will be progressing towards a better future for our citizens.

Police Reforms

To allow the police force to be honest and live a life of dignity it is necessary to increase their salaries and perquisites to a level where it is not necessary for them to show moral turpitude and indulge in taking bribes, fixing cases etc. Currently the salaries are so low - it has been widely reported that getting a job in the police force requires fixing with the political masters, wherein money is borrowed at high interest rates to pay the bribe to get a police posting. Once these guys get into that kind of a trap, they have no choice but to accept bribes to pay off their debt, as the low salary is barely sufficient to look after one person let alone a family.
Mr. R.R. Patil had stopped the practice of exchange of money for postings to lucrative police posts. He could have also looked into the matter of corruption at the time of recruitment - it would have done a world of good. If this practice can be stopped and the salaries and perquisites increased to a decent level, I am confident that at least the new crop of people who join will be honest and dedicated to their uniform and country.

Electoral Reforms

1. A friend, Kaushik Sampat had proposed the following for electoral reforms - and after discussions we refined it as follows:
   Compulsory voting by all eligible voters. Device ways and means to implement this. We are a software superpower, I am confident we can implement this by the time of the next general elections (not the forthcoming) .
   At the time of elections we have the 1st past the post system and not proportionate system...so what have we got to improve? A candidate will have to poll at least 40 % of the votes in the forthcoming elections and in the next 2 elections we can increase it to 45 % and 50 % respectively.The whole idea is to make the reps pay more attention by cultivating their constituency, work towards effective interaction & communication system with their constituents, WORK HARD FOR THEIR VOTES and play by the rules which are reasonable towards the people whom they represent. Right now they are skewed..in exchange compulsory voting will also raise the responsibility of the people. We need to close the gap of cynicism too. In addition to hard numbers which we accountants are used to dealing with...softer issues like attitudes towards elections and their consequences need to be factored too. What an irony that South Bombay records probably the lowest turnout in India and yet they are the ones who interact with Govt offiicials the maximum in the day to day dealings. I was always thinking about the largest democracies and their maturity phases and delivering economic success by creating a broad bulge of middle class by (ie distribution of national wealth by creating opportunities)... ....and the answer is UK more than 500 years after Magna Carta...US after approx 150 years after independence...French also approx 150 years after independence...another strong characteristic of all the above....a decent system of governance (streamlines conflict of interest, security takes precedence over politics etc) and perception of justice system which delivers within reasonable time (criminal and civil justice system...corruption, deprivation of huge mass of people in all spheres of life etc) . There might be many, many factors...but these are the crux of our democracy...My belief is that democracy is not a magic wand which works in 10 years...every country requires at least 40/50 years to get their model right. That is what we want to do above...by balancing the MP/MLA responsibilities vs peoples participation.
2. A choice in the ballot "for none of the candidates" which is allowed under section 49-O of the Constitution. The public needs to be made aware of this choice. Please read the earlier post on Section 49-O.
3. Administrative Reforms
   The PM's office should look at having a Mayor-CEO (a professional with integrity and established credentials) for Mumbai and all metropolitan cities under whom the entire administration would function under one umbrella.

The Petition

The Petition

Posted using ShareThis

Section 49-O of the Indian Constitution

Did you know that there is a system in our Constitution, as per the 1969 Act, in Section " 49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he/she doesn't want to vote for anyone! Yes! such a feature is available, but obviously past as well as present leaders have never disclosed it.
This is called "49-O".
Why should You go and say "I VOTE FOR NOBODY". Because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received more than 123 "49-O" votes, then the result of that poll will be cancelled and the same will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-poll, since the people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into all political parties and hence they would be forced to look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system functions. It is really surprising why the Election Commission has not revealed such a powerful feature to the public.

Please spread this news to as many as You know.

Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt political parties in India. Show Your Power, expressing Your desire not to vote for anybody is even more powerful than voting. So don't miss Your chance. So either vote, or vote decide not to vote depending on your perception of the qualities and qualification of your candidate (vote 49-O) and pass this information to all.

Use your voting right for a better INDIA. Share this with as many as You can. Because sharing is caring. It is caring about our dear Mother India.

CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE, APATHY AND TERROR

Innumerable number of times have I had discussions with friends on the manner in which our politicians approach the problem of terror. We have always come to the conclusion that we are the ones to blame as we are the people who put them in a position wherein they rule over us. The problem is that our political class as a whole is corrupt and selfish to the core – whether it is the Congress, the BJP or the hotchpotch who rule us at any given time. Everybody is only bothered about what gain they can make for their own and their future generations without thinking about the “aam junta” whom they are supposed to rule. You only have to look at the number of our MP’s who have criminal cases filed against them and you will see my point. They come to power to milk the system and stash ill gotten gains in Swiss banks. If money budgeted for security upgrades had been well spent, then November 26 would never have come to pass.

Call it intelligence failure or criminal negligence in deciphering and acting on actionable intelligence – the failure was too expensive to stomach. We have the Minister of Home for State – Mr. R.R. Patil having the gall to state that “they had come to kill 5000 people but only 200 died – such small incidents happen in big cities”. If he had any sense of responsibility he would not have made such a crass statement – but what can you expect from an insensitive jackass who can only go after soft targets like bar girls and couples seeking a private moment in gardens and beaches. You see social policing is more important than actual policing as social policing garners money for the politicians in the form of bribes from the bar owners. The real police work involves “WORK” you see, which they are not accustomed to. All you have to do is remove the ‘Z’ category security for all these political nincompoops and re-assign the NSG commandos for real work. Let these morons go around without security and the feeling of importance which they like for themselves at the expense of the tax payer – you have cavalcades of cars with sirens blowing, blocking peak hour traffic, inconveniencing the public any number of times in a month. This should stop forthwith – let these guys go like ordinary people. We have people like Raj Thackeray asking for “Z” category security – why?? Such guys do not deserve any security – they have their goons to take care of them – these people are cowards who hide behind mobs – they do not have the guts to stand alone and state their case. The money saved on removal of VIP (Very Impotent Person) security could be well spent on upgrading the national homeland security apparatus.

The starting point for upgrading the national homeland security apparatus would be raising the salary and perquisites of the police force to such an extent that they can hold their heads high without the need for accepting bribes – as in my view – a low salary will only lead to corruption given the cost of living in the modern world. The police force should be under the direct control of an independent police tribunal which will be responsible for strategy, promotions, directions, etc- The POLITICAL CRASS ..oops, CLASS should have no say in the operational part of the force. The police force should forthwith scrap the World War II vintage 303 rifles and be armed with modern weaponry and protection gear. Why do our police not have Kevlar jackets? – too expensive we are told – but our Chief Minister has enough public funds to buy a private aircraft for his personal transport. That money could be better spent on modern equipment. We have lost precious lives of officers with unimpeachable integrity to the apathy of our politicians. How I wish the politicians were in the line of fire – I can well imagine a RR Patil or a Vilasrao Deshmukh facing the bullets. But no – you have a Vilasrao making a further mockery of his position by taking a filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and his actor son to the Taj in a public display of asinine, vulgar publicity.

The exemption from prosecution given to public servants should be denied to the political class – we should make impeachment by peers an integral part of our politico-legal system. This would bring some sense of responsibility to our rulers. Corruption the bane of our existence would be hard put to survive if we could put in place an impeachment committee having persons of impeccable integrity to preside over it. The kind of negligence and apathy displayed by the people in power should be treated as a war crime and tried as such – as the situation was no less than undeclared war – an invasion by a small foreign force coming in by sea with our security forces having no clue. I shudder to think if this was war time and you had the enemy just sailing into land on your shores and open fire. Where was the maritime security force? - the Navy, Coast Guard and the maritime police force set up after the RDX landings in the 1993 bomb blasts??

We should now begin to question the political class when they come for votes as to what they plan to do regarding such attacks. We have been historically a weak and faction driven country prone to invasion – but I never thought we would be invaded like this in today’s world. Just imagine - we have Bombay High, BARC and a whole lot of economic and strategic assets close to the sea – and after this incident I doubt whether these also have the requisite protection. We have not yet hanged Afzal Guru, prosecuted and convicted by the Supreme Court – this just gives the signal that we are too soft. Just hang the damned person and be done with it. Learn something from the US and Israel – but that would be asking for too much – it would require our politicians to become HONEST and WORK which is anathema to their basic nature!! But one can definitely goad them and shame them into action, which should be our duty as citizens.

I would like to conclude by paying homage to those innocent people who unnecessarily lost their lives to this mindless act of terror. I would like to salute the brave police officers who proceeded to confront the terrorists with antiquated equipment knowing full well that they had no choice, but they had to do their duty with whatever equipment they had and of course my salute to the two commandos who lost their lives in the action at the Taj. I sincerely thank the armed forces for their professionalism in rescuing the guests and killing the terrorists. My heart goes out to the employees of the Taj and the Trident and I am confident that they will be back in business sooner rather than later. The Taj – a landmark of Mumbai, a heritage structure, will be up and running soon and my prayers and good wishes are with the House of Tatas to make this happen. God Bless all those who lost their lives and my sympathies and condolences to those who have to bear the loss of their near and dear ones. God Bless once again.

Girish Borkar
December 1, 2008