International
Exchange Program
We
have all heard about these programs under which , ( for example ) students from
India would go to USA , spend a few weeks with American families and even
attend local universities
In
turn , American students would spend similar period in India ( may be , with
the parents of those Indian students who went to USA ) and attend Indian
Colleges
In
the process , both groups learn the customs / traditions / life-styles of their
host Societies
I
suppose , they also learn quite a lot about the Education Systems of host
countries
Which
would include , academic pursuit and teaching methods
But , above all , they would learn how the students behave
in the class rooms and how the teachers maintain discipline
I
believe , it must be a " Shocking " experience for those Indian
students to find that professors in USA wield unimaginable power ,
unfettered by the Dean or Chancellor of those colleges
Eg
:
*
A professor's is the final word in the evaluation of any student ( no court of
higher appeal )
*
Quite a lot of that evaluation is based on the number and the quality of
questions asked by the students
*
" Shot-gun " exams are a teacher's way of judging the progress
of the students
*
If any student absents from class room without a satisfactory reason ( ie
satisfactory to the subject teacher ),
the teacher can simply tell him to stop attending the classes ! Heavy rains or
snow storm does not count !
And
the Dean cannot question the professor's decision
*
Teachers don't prescribe any text books , but they may suggest a dozen books to
refer to
*
Many teachers just " refuse to teach " ! They insist that the
students come to class , having " self taught " the
subject and the class room is only for the purpose of "solving
difficulties" faced by students while self-teaching !
*
Emphasis is not on a student remembering the exact mathematical equation but on
knowing which equation to
use !
Hence , most professors will allow a student to look up any book during an
exam !
*
Even arriving at the exact / precise " answer " is not considered
important . It is your " approach " to solving a
problem that counts more .
Were
you able to suggest a non-traditional and distinctly innovative " approach
" ?
MORAL OF THE STORY :
How
about Shri Narendra Modiji ( himself , a champion of " Out of Box " thinking ) , signing an
" Exchange Agreement " with
President Obama , under which , a batch of 40
Indian Legislators ( to begin with , opposition members of Rajya Sabha ) , are
deputed to USA for 6 months ( or till GST Bill gets passed ? ) to attend
the sessions of US Congress / Senate , to learn /
imbibe their ways of conducting official business ?
Of
course , our deputed legislators must be paid a " Copycat-ing Allowance
" of $ 100 per day while in USA !
After
all , cafeteria in American Congress building does not provide
"dosas" @ Rs 2 per piece !
While
readily agreeing to the Indian request , it is quite possible that President
Obama may politely decline to send the American Legislators to attend our Lok
Sabha / Rajya Sabha's budget session ! Entirely understandable !
Dear Shri Venkaiah-ji :
You
may get much more cooperation from all parties after 6 months !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23
Feb 2016
Warm Regards,
Hemen Parekh
(M)=91 – 98,67,55,08,08
A Laughing Matter ?
Last
evening, TV channels showed the traditional " Halwa Ceremony " in the Finance Ministry building
With
this , the process of preparing / printing of the Union
Budget starts
The
people involved will stay " imprisoned / incommunicado " till FM
completes his budget speech on 29th Feb , to ensure that the budget provisions
do not leak out
That
does not stop the experts ( - and some non-experts like me ) , to make predictions such as :
*
Revising limits for personal Income Tax
slabs
*
Reducing rates for TDS
*
Rationalizing procedures ( assessment
scrutiny / tax refunds / tax litigations etc )
*
Launching new Schemes / Funds for
savings and investments
*
Increase / decrease of Excise rates on
products ( watch out smokers and drinkers ! )
*
Increase / decrease of Import Duties on
products to protect local industries / stop dumping from China
*
Recapitalization of Banks ( to write-off
Rs 7 lakh*crore of NPA with tax payers money )
*
Write-off DISCOM debts of Rs 4
lakh*crores by passing the buck to State Governments ( tax payer burden ? )
*
Write off loans to farmers - what with
elections looming in 5 States ( but I support this )
News
papers report that the Government have received budget suggestions from some
7,000 persons and that , this time around , Prime Minister himself is
closely involved in the budget making exercise
Now
, with all this obsession / seriousness / paranoia , surely this secrecy
surrounding the budget document , cannot be a laughing
matter !
Unless
you ask ,
*
some foreign software geeks ( eg: Sundar Pichai / Satya Nadela / Vivek Ranadive
/ Ray Kurzweil etc )
*
some Indian BIG DATA ANALYTICS
geeks ( Mukund / Krishnan / Sanjay / Srikant / Raj / Anurag etc )
Because
, if you do , they will laugh and tell you :
"
Just give us the actual budget documents of the
past 60 years ( including the accompanying budget speeches ) and we will
process these documents using Big Data
Analytics software and predict what will be the provisions in the
forthcoming budget ( with a probability of 99.7 % - ie ; plus or minus six
standard deviation )
And then , we will process those past budget speeches with a PARAPHRASING software ( ala Kurzweilai.net )
and give you an advance print-out of
Shri Arun Jaitleyji's speech on 29th Feb
"
But
of course , Shri Jaitleyji could cheat the PREDICTIVE
ANALYTICS , by announcing following unpredictable
:
*
Total Abolition of Personal Income Tax ( or at
least , reducing incremental tax rates in each higher slab )
*
Decreasing Incremental Corporate Tax Rates , linked
with each higher slab of " Permanent Employee Number "
*
Perpetual Amnesty Scheme for all CASH deposits made
in Jan Dhan Accounts , if invested in tax-free Infra SPVs
*
Transfer of 1.8% of GST (from 18%) into buyers' PPF
a/c , to ensure all citizens get PPF a/c for tax-free savings
This amount to be used for paying
premium for COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH INSURANCE to cover all illnesses
*
Introduction of plastic Currency Notes of Rs 500/1000,
embedded with micro RFID sensors ( stop Black Money )
Surest way to ensure that almost all
payments are made thru official channels !
*
Introduction of BTT ( Bank Transaction Tax ) @ 2%
to yield Rs 15 lakh*crore of revenue ( against revenue loss
of Rs 2.5 lakh*crores caused by
abolishing Personal Income Tax )
Now
such announcements , besides being " Unpredictable
" , would meet Shri Narendra Modiji's following announcement at Make in
India week on 13th Feb :
" There is no time for
incremental changes . We want a quantum jump "
Any other budget provision /
announcement , would be a laughing matter
!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Feb 2016
Warm Regards,
Hemen Parekh
(M)=91 – 98,67,55,08,08
