A Thought

COOPERATIVE ECONOMY IS THE KEY!

2007-05-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

Indian Retail Sector is going through a great revolution with the entry of big companies like Reliance and Wal-Mart in the Indian market. The coming up of large superstores is changing the way the nation has been shopping. Specially in the basic grocery category,(FMCG) these superstores are providing international quality products at very affordable prices. Whether it be Vishal Megamart in my small city, Dhanbad, or the Big Bazaar or Subhiksha( or Reliance Fresh, the newest entrant) in Delhi, they are giving the kirana shops a run for their money. By giving healthy and attractive services and offers to the Indian consumers, these retail chains have changed the way the nation shops.

There is a rising discontent among the sabjiwalas, the hawkers, and the kirana shop owners, even the garment shopkeepers, as their sales are rapidly dwindling down as buyers find it more lucrative to buy things from the megamarts, that provide a much better range and almost the same price(at some instances, at even lesser prices).

As a large population of the country is employed in the disorganized retail sector, it becomes immensely important that the competitivity of this group of people increases so that they can pounce back strongly into the competition.

The Communists, in my view must have found a solution to the problem. Ban all these big companies( Specially Wal-Mart) from entering into India. Wipe out any competition, even when these companies have greatly improved the quality of retail sector.

The problem with the communists is that, they only find or else create problems, but don’t have the solution. The know only to erase other’s lines, rather than drawing their own. They will never talk about increasing competitivity of the sabjiwalas and hawkers! They will only talk about removing the competition.

The basic difference between Capitalism and Communism is, Capitalism talks about enhancing competition, while Communism talks about removing it. Capitalism believes in taking challenges, while Communism believes in escaping them. That’s the reason Capitalism finds support from the winners, while Communism is an ideology of a bunch of losers.

The previous solution was the solution of a looser, while now let me give a winning solution. A positive solution, that talks about increasing the competitivity, of the disorganized retail sector.

The solution is simple. Cooperatively Organize. Get bigger. The basic idea is “United We Stand, Divided we fall.”

The first step towards Cooperative Organization is, Get together. All the sabjiwalas, the kirana shop owners, hawkers, garment sellers of a specific locality should get together. Sit together and plan out.

The first step is to stop competing from one another and get together and cooperate.
The Big Bazaars and Vishal megamarts are a common and a serious threat and the small shops and sellers need to come together to compete against the enemy.
Form an organization of their own, say Dhanbad SuperShop, or AapkaKirana, or TheVegetableMarket(Specialized vegetable shop)
The bigger the Better. The more local the better too. So need to strike a balance between Big and local.

The second step is to do business together.

It is the need of the hour that the organization, places orders together. This will give the organization a stand in the market, and the organization will get a better bargaining power, thus getting garments, vegetables, fruits at a much lower price.
If possible make large alliances between such cooperative organization, and in some cases even with the retail chains, specifically so that products can be bought directly from the producers
The lesser the brokers the better. That’s at least my idea of a more efficient economy. I personally hate brokers.
Insist the government to help in formation of such organizations, through investments, and providing proper channels for doing business.
Formation of a separate Ministry for the Disorganized Sector for management of this sector.
The basic idea is that every company needs a CEO. The more resourceful the leadership the better. Companies like Reliance have a strong national leadership due to which they can get the best deals any where.
The government can provide such a form of national leadership to the cooperative organizations and bring them equal to the super retail chains. Else form super organizations through organizations alliances between a large number of local organizations, with one leader, and supported by a group of properly qualified managers. Or else though the market forces there will be the coming up of companies that will provide management facilities to the organizations.

The basic mantra of distribution of income is: “ income in proportion to the investment”

The investment is made monthly, or quarterly, by the different sellers in accordance to their capabilities and ownership and their preferred area of investment is defined.
Products are bought with the total money collected for the specific areas by the management after talks with the different sellers.
The income of the organization is distributed amongst the different members in accordance to their investment in the specific area.
Any member has the right to leave the organization after the end of one business cycle( one month, one quarter)
Enhancement of the shopping experience also is a part of the budget of the organization. So Air Conditioning of shops, or availability of refrigeration facilities, or weekly days of discounts, or attractive offers to buyers and most important publicity, all are a part of the budget.

In my view the coming up of the big super stores is a great boon in disguise for the disorganized sector. If people cooperatively do business then not just the disorganized retail sector, but in fact the entire disorganized sector can be organized and revolutionized. This may just be the beginning. Once the idea of cooperative economy trickles down to the farmers, cooperative farming will change the way the villages do business. It will change the fortunes of Indian farmers. If this invasion, the invasion of globalization is taken positively then this may change the way the whole of Indian does business.

Cooperative economy is the key for Indian economy. It is the way for swadeshi jaagaran.

Stopping Piracy in India

2007-05-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

A blog post "My Worst Nightmare" by The Queen of Pop, Madonna on her blog, encouraged me to make a sort of working model that helps in fighting piracy
This comic strip featured in her post.

REDUCE PRICE

Sell songs individually along with albums.
Keep price of songs, less than Rs 10.
Have music shops that electronically transfer legal music. (A sort of a more physical version of iTunes.)
Use dynamic pricing to decide the price of songs. Older unpopular songs to have lower price.
Indian and international prices need to be different as the purchasing power of Indians is lesser. (1$ and Rs 50 don't really mean the same.)
Have legal music certificates that are issued when any legal music is purchased.
Legalize customized music compilation.
Increasing awareness about piracy.

SOCIOCAPITALISM- Model for Public Sector

2007-05-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

Tests are conducted in the country and those selected are given partnership in the enterprises in the form of loans which they have to pay in due course of time
The government opens new enterprises with profit being the main motive.

The different units of a company:

Government
Selected entrepreneurs
Private Enterprises
Employees
Public

Those with more than 5% shares are the members of the board.
Employees and public have representation.
The company is led and headed by the selected entrepreneurs
Shares are floated in the market.
Bi-yearly selection of company heads by editorial process.
All schools colleges, hospitals and other government service providers to run on the same structure.
Promotion of competition - If no private competition then two socio-capitalist organizations are made to compete in the same field.

The Small Economy

2007-05-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

This article has been copied from www.smalleconomy.com. It gives a great description of a self sustained village(small) economy.

"A small-town sized whole economy based on cooperation, sharing and recycling can meet and exceed the technological standards of the global competitive economy, and provide a better life. In a small whole economy, people cycle and recycle material resources through the matrix of their industry and agriculture. The matrix is nearly a closed loop with the market as an adjunct. Such an economy can be organized as a federation of small groups. The groups number a few hundred people, and the whole economy is a few thousand.

Industry is a group effort. Each group manufactures a specific set of parts and materials, and together the groups form a pool of industrial resources. They draw from this pool and each assembles its own domestic machinery. Small teams build the groups' cars, TV's and computers. They assemble items in the round, from the ground up, not on assembly lines. They build in small runs of tens and hundreds. A single small run might supply a decades need for autos.

The economy attempts to feed itself by a varied use of land and crops. They avoid the extensive monoculture demanded by the market. Genetic variety is promoted. Farming and food processing are both individual and group efforts. Like food, energy is homegrown as much as possible.

The economy practices the professional arts of medicine, education, science and engineering. It has the breadth and depth of a university. It does not require outside support for research. It has a range of materials and fabricating abilities beyond any market corporation. Knowledge is shared freely with fellow economies and the world. It trains doctors, and makes their medicines and tools. It educates children. Older people are at their ease to work or rest.

The economy can place any of its wide ranging goods and services for sale in the marketplace. It needs only a small exchange with the market to provide itself and its people with sufficient cash. People and groups are free to determine their need for money and apply themselves accordingly.

Relations with economies around the world will provide ties for trade, travel and cultural exchange. An intranet will link all small economies. Real time technical assistance, education, entertainment and personal communication can fill these links. Closely cooperating non-aggressive economies in all lands can be the foundation of peace.

Small economies will not be without problems and compromises. However, they will alleviate many of the social problems complained of today. Work will not be wage slavery as it is for millions now. Alienation from each other and the systems which provide for us will be replaced by membership in small understandable empowering communities. Our technological inheritance will be in our hands and under our responsibility. Low pollution levels from closed loop recycling industry will preserve the environment. Money will not rule, but lubricate the edges. Working and sharing with calm and reason, we can make a living together. "

SOCIOCAPITALISM

2006-05-08T10:08:00.001-07:00

Economy is the pulse of a country. We talk about equal emphasis to factors like society, culture and military. In fact for a culturally developed nation like India, economic development can alone do away with social and cultural evils. In this article we have talked about a new type of economic structure “Socio-capitalist economy”.

The need of SOCIO- CAPITALIST ECONOMY

A capitalist economy may provide flexibility and personal initiative and thus rapid growth. It may also provide good living standards to people but equality is not a characteristic of capitalism. In fact the economy is ruled by few economic monarchies and the entire business empire is haired by someone of the business house.

For an average citizen, controlling the resources, in not an easy task. In a developed democratic society economic monarchy should not be allowed till the time it has been built on the grounds of ability. There is a need of a society which is ability based and not capital based

It is the duty of the government to provide an opportunity for every one to control and own the resources as per their ability.

Prosperity and Equality are two dimensions of a society. Capitalism has proved that it provides faster economic growth while socialism provides equality in living standards. So it should be the aim of any government to provide a right blend of both.

The factor which drives capitalist economy growth is private incentive of the owners while the reason it hinders equality is ownership in the hands of few.

"A socio-capitalist enterprise is one which is privately owned by a large group of people providing private incentive as well as equal distribution of income."

FEATURES

A socio-capitalist economy is a holistic concept which gives an enterprise flexibility, equality and personal initiative- three ingredients of a just and progressive society.
It involves participation of government as a facilitator of capital and in return provides sure revenue to it.
The large capital amount is invested by a group of entrepreneurs instead of a single individual.
The entrepreneurs jointly manage the company.
The capital is provided to the entrepreneurs by the government and other interested agencies in the form of loan.
The agency providing the loan becomes a permanent partner of the enterprise and gets a share of revenues of the organization even when the debt has been cleared.
The government conducts tests and interviews for selecting people with good entrepreneur skills.
The selected individuals are rigorously trained for few years and a reexamination is held.
As per the performance of the individuals in the examination they are provided with loans by the government.

Changes in economic policies

Expansion of share market

A maximum of 51% shares owned by a group in an enterprise.
Right of the owner to allocate as many shares as desired to any buyer.
Removal of all sorts of limits on FDI.
Disinvestment and not privatization of public sector.

Public sector reforms

A minimum of 49% shares floated.
33% of remaining shares to the company employees
50% of remaining shares to the trained entrepreneurs from exam
17% of remaining shares to private companies.
All members holding more than 3% shares form board including the Chairman and the directors.
Government does not participate in day to day management of the company.

vision 2020

2006-05-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

‘Gar Firdaus barroo-e-zameen ast Hameenast-o- hameenast-o Hameenast’ in India

‘If there is heaven it is here here and here’ in India

A garden is just a piece of land. It is its flowers, which make it beautiful. Just like a garden, a country is just a piece of land. It is its people who make it a nation. There is no garden without flowers and likewise there is no India without Indians. If India is poor it means the Indians are poor not only in terms of money but also in terms of intellect, patriotism, morality, nationalism, honesty and sense of pride and responsibility.

A developed India can never be achieved till the time Indians are morally, socially, intellectually, politically and economically developed. For the development of all natural and man made resources, the development of human resource is a must. This can be achieved by development of infrastructure and a planned and practical solution of Indian problems.

Poverty, unemployment and price rise are undoubtedly the greatest problem in the country but these would be easily solved if the root causes of these problems were dealt strictly and sincerely.

· POPULATION RISE- We can imagine India to be a heaven only when each and every individual is properly developed. In a country like India where population exceeds even one billion, it is necessary to stabilize the population. If we have a large population, which can be properly developed then it would be indeed a boon for the country in a long run. Here a few steps which can be taken to stabilize and reduce the population in India.
· Strict implementation of Two Child norm in the country, which means “Any couple is not allowed to give birth to more than two children. If any couple already has more than two children before the implementation of the norm then they are not allowed to give birth to more children. Any person defying this norm is subjected to strict actions such as deprivation of the person from government facilities and services and/or imprisonment of one to ten years and/or fine up to Rs 50,000.”
· Extension of family planning program to each and every city and village so that each citizen is aware of the benefits of family planning.
· Strict laws against people who follow gender discrimination. Defying of this law should lead to imprisonment of more than 1 year. A program to denounce gender discrimination should be incorporated.
· The human resource development department should be replanned and be given more functions and responsibilities
· Government should invest hugely for the development of rural dispersed dispensaries and urban sophisticated hospitals in such a way that an individual is in easy access to both.

· ILLITERACY AND POOR EDUCATION- India is a vast country with enormous number of people. Indian problems are as vast as its size and population, but each problem can be solved by proper education. People need to make rapid changes in the Indian education system if they want to blossom like flowers. Here are a few steps which can be taken to improve education and increase literacy in India:
· All the government schools should come under the center and there should be huge investment in order to increase the number of central schools and night schools where elementary and secondary education is imparted.
· Education should be brought under the union list so that there can be uniform laws and policies in the country.
· In central schools free education should be imparted to children of poor people up to secondary level so that there is an increase in the enrolment in number of students. More over if finances permit free meal should also be provided to them.
· Education should be compulsory for all up to fourteen years of age. There should be strict punishment for the violation of this law with imprisonment to the guardian up to 2 years and/or fine up to Rs 10,000.
· All the different education boards for secondary should be unified into National Board of Secondary Education, which is endowed with the qualities of each board. This would ensure easy mobility of the students from one part of the country to another and a uniform education.
· English, Hindi and the regional language or Sanskrit or Urdu should be imparted to all the students. Hindi should be given weightage.
· It should be made compulsory for every adult to get elementary education. When free education is within reach of all citizens, it should be made compulsory for a voter to have elementary education. This would provide strength to democracy in India.
· Emphasis should be given on practical side of a subject and co-curricular activities, which make education easy and fun.
· Education should be made job oriented and vocational training should be imparted to the students.
· Self-employment should be encouraged as it can solve problem of unemployment.
· The national literacy program should be expanded and implemented sincerely.

· CORRUPTION AND LOW WORK EFFICIENCY- India is endowed with resources but there is no proper utilization of them. This is because of low working efficiency of the people and wide spread corruption. Taking the following steps can do this problem away:
· Promotions should be done on the basis of ability and working efficiency of the person. This would compel the workers to work efficiently and increase the economic growth of the country.
· Laws against corruption should be made strict and severe so that the employees do not dare to give or take bribe.
· Schemes should be incorporated so that people themselves come forward to report about a corrupt officer taking bribe and working inefficiently.
· There should be reappointment of officials in government offices where inefficient officers should be denoted and efficient officials should be promoted. This would help in better management of officials. The inefficient officers would be compelled to work harder and efficient officers would be encouraged.
· In order to increase interactions between leaders and people, there should be arranged TV and radio shows in which people can directly raise questions to their leaders from all round the country.
· Working hours should be fixed and each and every employee of an organization should be present in the office for work. If an employee is absent or late without any prior leave, he should complete his pending work by doing overtime. If an employee is doing extra work by doing overtime then he should be provided with extra money or privileges. Taking this step would reduce absence and would encourage advanced work.
· The Members of Parliament and the Members of Legislative Assembly and Council should be given proper training on computers, resource management etc.
· There should be a book of promises in which all the promises given by the M.P. and the M.L.A during the election campaign should be recorded. In case of denial of the promise there should be a proper investigation looking at the causes of denial.
· The Members of Parliament and the Member of Legislative Assembly should submit a monthly report of the work done, to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister respectively. This report should be made public.

· IMPROPER PLANNING OF VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES- Today many of the resources of the country are not utilized by the country because of improper planning. Land is an important resource but is being misused because of improper planning of villages, towns and cities. For having planned and proper development it is necessary to link the villages, towns and cities and each administrative unit should have proper transport, communication, sanitation, housing, business, administrative, civic and maintenance facilities.
· Planning Of An Agrigarian Village

Village is the most important unit of India. A village is still the pulse of India as a huge population lives there. There is a need for making a village a self-sustaining economy. So proper developing of a village simply means development of people in India. A village needs to be connected in four different ways of transport, communication, knowledge and technology. A well-planned village should have two parts:
· Agricultural area: The villagers should jointly own this area. There should be drip and sprinklers at appropriate positions and a proper garage for keeping of machines and other goods. A proper processing area for storing and processing the produce should also be there.
· Housing area: There should be properly made, well-placed houses surrounded by trees. In the central part of the area there should be the administrative region comprising of gram panchayat, public dispensary, primary and secondary school, community hall, public telephone booth and a proper market. The villagers should have easy access the Internet with resourceful and easy to use Internet sites and software.

· Cooperative farming should be made compulsory in all villages. This would increase productivity of the land and increase the farmer’s income.
· Extension of rural electrification program and program for availability of pure drinking water. Each and every administrative unit of the country should be interconnected through the Internet.
· Each and every town of the country should have rail facility (if feasible), inland water transport (if possible) and road transport.
· Methane produced in biogas plants can be used as a fuel in mini power plants in villages. It thus can help produce electricity, provide manure and also provide an effective means for garbage disposal.
· Undertaking of huge afforestation program to increase greenery in the village, town and city and in its outskirts.
· Broadening of roads and removal of illegal constructions.
· Encouragement of skyscrapers (more than 20 levels) for housing and business purposes. This saves land, which can be used for other purposes.
· Development of metro railway system in the metropolitan cities.
· Development of alternative sources of energy for production of electricity.
· Development of recycling plants so that reusable wastes are not wasted.
· Formation of Sanitation and Maintenance squad and laws. The laws of Sanitation and Maintenance should be:
· The garbage should be disposed in special dustbins, which should be placed after every 50 metres. Violation of this law would lead to a fine of Rs 500 to Rs 10000 and/or jail up to 5 years.
· Littering is a punishable offence and things should be thrown in the dustbin only. Violation of this law would lead to a fine of Rs 100 to Rs 5000 and/or jail up to 3 years.
· An individual is responsible for keeping the area around his residence and his any other immovable property clean. Violation of this law would lead to a fine of Rs 100 to Rs 5000 and/or jail up to 3 years.
Functions of sanitation and maintenance squad should be:
· Regular cleaning of dustbins and collection of garbage and sending it to recycling centers.
· Regular cleaning and maintenance of roads and public places.
· Checking for cleaning and maintenance of private property. Ordering the owner of the property for its proper cleaning and maintenance.
· Monitoring of constructions going on in the city and checking of their standard and giving penalty to the contractors and builders if the constructions made by them do not match to the squad’s standards.
· Daily tour of roads, electric and telephone lines, streetlights and railway lines (done by railway sanitation and maintenance squad) and quick repair of any fault.
· Regular maintenance and cleaning of public places.

· CRIME AND TERRORISM: Crime and terrorism hamper the growth of a country. By solving the problems mentioned above crimes can considerably decreased. But some more important steps should be taken:
· The laws against a crime should be made stricter. The punishments for any crime in India are considerably lenient as compared to other countries.
· The police force should be better trained (as good as the defence forces) and provided with better ammunitions.
· Mobile police should be increased which tours a specific region of the city throughout the day.
· The CBI and CID should be provided with better technology for better investigation.
· Separation of police force from politics.
· Judgement should be made faster and accurate by having a wide scale use of high-end technology.
· Making it mandatory to give justice to people in 1 year of time through legislation, as “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
· A special force should be made specially to tackle terrorism.

· PROBLEM OF RESERVATION- Today the Indian politics has become not a path for people’s welfare but for corruption and misuse of power. Moreover today social discrimination has already been wiped out but its palace has been taken by electoral discrimination. The problem of providing reservation to the backward castes and tribes is making Indian politics caste based.
It is undoubtedly necessary to provide privileges to the unprivileged. But is it correct to provide privileges to the people on the basis of caste? Wouldn’t it be better if privileges were provided on the basis of economic condition? Let’s try to understand this problem with an example.

Example: Let there be two boys, one who is a Brahmin and the other who is a Scheduled caste. The Brahmin is too poor to afford for a proper study whereas the scheduled caste is rich. Both of them sit in an entrance examination of a university in which there are 100 seats. The poor Brahmin boy gets a rank of 105 whereas the rich scheduled caste gets a rank of 250. But due to Indian reservation system the rich scheduled caste gets entrance whereas the poor Brahmin boy doesn’t.
It is quite understandable that the poor boy was a better candidate for selection but instead of him an undeserving candidate got selected.

Thus there is a dire need to change the criteria for reservation from caste to economic status as many high caste people are underprivileged where as many low caste people are over privileged. Moreover reservation on the basis of caste gives rise to casteism. So reservation should be based on the basis of economic status.

All the problems mentioned above are the unwanted bushes in the garden named India. The solutions provided above are the weedicides, which can do away with these bushes. If these bushes can be removed then flowers would surely blossom in the garden named India. Politicians need to think above their vote banks. They need to think about India. They need to come together and get flexible to induce reforms. If the weeds of this great garden are removed then a shining developed India can be achieved even before 2020. If we today take a pledge to make do whatever we can for our country then a happy and a prosperous India is very near to us. So lets pledge
“BUILD TOWRES OF HARDWORK TO LIVE LIKE FLOWERS ON EARTH”