Bumper money - How long does it last?

   ET carried an articled on "Contrasting fortunes of farmers selling land in cities" a few days back. This article captured the current state of people who had sold their land a few years ago and made a  few crores.

While a few had invested the money prudently in some money making assets, many of them had blown of the entire cash. Extravagant living, alcohol addiction and over confidence due to sudden inflow of cash , have led many into complete bankruptcy.Many who lost their money are now jobless and see no future at all.

"Getting the money you want" is just the first step. Preserving it prudently for the rest of life is another ball game all together. Money, either earned through hard work or through a lottery need to be treated with respect. It doesn't mean complete abstinence from luxury but use of some wisdom  in the way money is dealt with.

" Sustaining what you get" is the next big step after the first big step of " Getting what you want". ( a.k.a "Yogam" and "Kshemam" as quoted on our ancient language)

So, money management skills come handy even after you earn what you want.

crores, crorepathi, how to earn a crore, crorepathi to bikari, crores, karodpathi

Chanakya's New Manifesto - Book review

To start with ~This book (Chanakya's new manifesto to resolve the crisis within India) is not a novel. It is an answer to the question,"What would Chanakya do if confronted with the various crisis that beset contemporary India ?" - " Of course, from the author's point of view".

Pavan.K. Varma, the author who is an ex Indian foreign service officer, picks up five main areas that are to be addressed to resolve India's modern day problems. The author talks about governance, democracy, corruption, security and building an inclusive society. Chanakya's new manifesto, as laid down by the author is classified into the five topics stated above. It is a proposed blue print for change. The underlined assumption is that " we cannot continue as we are and must gather the resolve to bring in effective governance, a true democracy, a corruption free state, a security conscious nation and an inclusive society. If we fail, India may never succeed. Our future is at stake. "

The author starts each chapter with a quote from the Artha Shastra, walks through the history and current state of India ( related to the topic under discussion) and then provides "what should be done now", in very clearly jotted down bullet points.

If you ask me to pick one best suggestion that is stated in the book, I would pick up the following without any doubt.

 

"Point 2.8 under Democracy - The current practice which allows parties not to identify donors contributing less than Rs 20000 must be scrapped. This is the principal (but not only) channel for parties to collect vast amounts of undeclared funds. Every paisa given as a donation to political parties must be accounted for and transacted through auditable and transparent bank transactions"

When suggesting things on governance, the author feels that each coalition like UPA or NDA must publicly announce a common governance agenda, with indicative time frame for specific deliverables. Pavan . K. Varma's book Chanakya’ new manifesto also prescribes setting up a five member Governance Appraisal Panel (GAP) which will independently evaluate the performance of the government and submit annual report to the President of India.

The author has boldly expressed his views in all of the chapters either be expressing views on the need to support the Jan Lokpal bill or condemning the dynasty rule in the country, the author is pretty straightforward.

This book is more for a serious read and not one of those kinds with which you plan to pass time. Even if atleast 50 % of the prescribed actions in the book are attempted to be implemented, then it would take India a long way in the path of development.

So, if you read this book, it is not enough to treat the content lightly but we need to try to convert some of the ideas into action. It is possible only if all the citizens (atleast the educated ones), act in cohesion, unison and wisdom to bring about the much needed change that India needs.

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It's black, it's white

"2 bhk flat " available for sale , this was the board I saw this morning, on a new building in a prominent location in my city. Thought of enquiring the builder about it and gave him a call.

Me: I saw your building and  the ad. on it........need details please.

Other person :  Yes sir , only one 2 bhk available ,that too on the third floor ( top most floor).

Me: Area .?

Other person: 1400 sqft , sir.

Me: Price .?

Other person: we offer an all inclusive price of 14,000 per / sqft and only 80 Lakhs would be accepted in "white".Rest of 1.1 crores need to be paid in cash ( unaccounted).

Me: Thank you so much. ( call ends).


Just two questions came to my mind  after the enquiry.

1. Would any person earning legitimate money and paying taxes honestly be able to afford this deal..?
2. Why is our  IT department missing out such low hanging fruits and 'milking' the salaried class to the maximum?

There are no  answers to these "black and white " questions:-)

Whats all about RGESS?- Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme:.

Of late, there has been a lot of fuss about RGESS. All fund houses have jumped into launching RGESS schemes. This tax saving investment tool is applicable only to a class of investors as of now. ( Budget 2013 may  change something regarding this ~if we have to go by our FM's statement of  the need to increase " equity culture". Lets have our fingers crossed to see if there are any changes to RGESS.).

Following is a snapshot of the RGESS: ( courtesy Business Standard)

Please check the link for the full story.

RGESS FAQ  Doubts on taxation what is RGESS

Book Review: RIP by Mukul Deva

Looking at the cover (Syringe and a bullet) and the word "RIP" (which in normal parlance is "Rest in peace") you tend to think that there is going to be someone who's going to be killed and rested in peace.

It turns out to be true in one sense that it is about the Resurgent Indian Patriots, who put to rest the endless scams and scandals that seem to rock the entire nation.

The novel is fast paced and it starts bang on with action as a few ex-military members join hands (The K-Team_) to literally "Kill" corruption in the country.  As the K-team gets a heads up in their mission, they send in their demands anonymously (calling themselves as Resurgent Indian Patriots) which is aimed at getting a corruption free government.

The K- team threatens to kill some possible targets within a short span of time, if their demands are not met. To figure out RIP and get the nation back to normalcy, the home minister gets into action. He issues orders to get hold of RIP through two routes viz a viz the CBI route and he also establishes a rogue force to get rid of the RIP in his own interests. The race between K-team, the CBI and the rogue force form the rest of the story.

The way each of them proceeds with their goals unfolds interestingly and one of them finally evolves as the winner of this race.

There is also a subtle romance track that runs along the "bloody" story line. The author ensures that romance track doesn’t take away the reader's attention from the main theme. In unfolding the story line, the author brings about his military background very lucidly. This turns out to be the USP of the author.

(The author is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military academy. He has served the army for fifteen years- including a decade of combat operations in India and abroad)

This novel is a riveting read and a page turner if you do the reading akin watching a masala bollywood movie or reading a Robin Hood story. (But if you get into discussion as to whether RIP is morally right or wrong, then you may get different answers.)

One thing that is a bit filmy about the novel is that the RIP team gets lucky and successful most of the time , whereas the rivals including the cops are shown as less luckier and  " lesser intelligent". Leaving that as the creative right of the author, there is one more thing that irked me.  Throughout the read, I didn’t feel that I was reading a work of fiction as there is an uncanny resemblance of the real life characters to the characters in the novel. (The author apart from providing a "Disclaimer" also begins the author note stating that the book is a complete work of fiction- But still this feeling got over me multiple times during the read)

Overall a good read. Since this is the first novel of the author for me, it creates an interest to look into his previous books.

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