The farce that is democracy

Casually surfing channels on a tuesday evening, i came across two news reports. One, which represents an attempt to manipulate the electoral process for ensuring success in elections and the second, the story of a common citizen being manipulated by the supposed pillars of democracy the police, the state government and the judiciary.

A proposal by Mr. Narendra "Godhra" Modi, who clearly believes (rightfully) he can get away with murder, wherein he wants voting to be made compulsory and mandatory. Its simply amazing how the political leaders of this country believe that they can behave like dictators on the backing of electoral successes. One guesses that this latest brainwave stems from an underlying fear of his votebank shrinking/not turning up to vote. Mr. Modi is in urgent need of two things : a copy of the Indian constitution (preferably a Gujarati version as he might just demand) and lots of common sense as he fails to realise the practicality of the proposal. Rather than spending the additional crores on tracking who has not voted and enforcing his "visionary"
proposal, the money will be well spent in the development of this country. Possibly introducing "none of the above" option in the voting lists would attract more voters to the booths than a law mandating the same. And just to make matters more complex, how do they intend to penalise people who dont vote? Possibly Mr. Modi's followers vote on his/her behalf?!!!

The second news report, was of a 16 year old girl committing suicide 2 years after she filed a complaint against a senior police officer for molestation. Ironically, a court sentenced the police officer for a 6 month term. And the usual story of the connivance between the politicans and police system. It is time we had a good look at our judiciary system on the whole and specifically laws dealing with sexual harrasment/molestation. We might as well be un-democratic when it comes to dealing with such offences rather than end up under punishing such ghastly crimes. A person molesting a young boy/girl deserves no less than being shot in public. Such punishments would essentially give such #$%*@#$! what they exactly a deserve, somebody putting them out of their misery.

And despite all this, our politicians are still thumping their chests about the world's largest democracy.......no wonder people dont turn up to vote.....

Attitudes

One of the advantages of being in the profession i am is getting to meet new people from different places all the time. Of different age groups, different origins, different skills. One of these guys is a guy from Allahabad who was recently transferred from the Naini plant (near Allahabad) of his employer. He was offered a choice between Baroda and Kolkata and based on the fact that Kol was a metro, it was an obvious choice. 2 months down the line over a cup of tea, he is generally frustrated. "Kolkata is a place where things dont move. People are content with how things are and dont allow any changes even if its better for the Company and would simply put roadblocks. The attitude in Allahabad is way better. For starters people are receptive to changes". These exact words of his still ring in my ears. And if you see this has been the story of our state. A state of stagnation, content which has been driving people out of this state. History and legacy are very good words for the library but when we use those words too frequently in one's day to day life one stagnates and lives in the past. And more often than not people who talk of their history dont have too much to talk about the present and future. And thats what exactly is the story of Kolkata and West Bengal. And no signs of change as well. A strike called by a trade union even if highly unsuccessful would result in half the working class stay back at home. A taxi driver assesses whether he wants to take a customer to his destination for 4 full minutes before eventually refusing. Judging by the present state God has a pretty difficult task of saving this state.
Yours historically
Ajit

Companies Bill 2009

Couple of my friends have indicated that my attempts at blogging were the closest to blogging disasters which they had ever seen.....and that my blogs were typically an accountant's blog....dreary....(thank god they did not mean fudged!!! )....so with great hesitation i post this one as even by my elated standards of drearyness...this is the dreariest of them all......The following is a compilation of various articles which i have come across on the Companies Bill 2009 arranged in an apparently orderly fashion. The bill presently has been placed before the Lok Sabha and has been referred to a standing committee of the parliament:

• NEW CONCEPTS INTRODUCED BY THE COMPANIES BILL 2009
  ‘One-Person’ Company
  The present Act has the concept of a private limited and a public limited company, and a private limited company needs to have at least 2 members. For the first time, the concept of a “one-person company”, or OPC, has been introduced in the Bill, and the intent in apparently to permit entrepreneurship of a single individual to obtain the benefit of a corporate form of organization. This will especially benefit individual professionals who wish to function individually as professionals and yet want the benefit of limited liability. Some other features on the Bill on this aspect are:
  
  · Requirement to mention in memorandum the name of the person who shall become member of the Company in the event of the subscriber’s death, disablement, or otherwise.
  
  · Duty of the member of a OPC to intimate the Registrar of Companies of a change in the name of the member of the Company.
  · Indicators in the bill that the regulatory regime for OPCs shall be less stringent as compared to other companies
  
  Registered Valuers
  The concept of registered valuers has been introduced and used in the Bill in the context of a preferential allotment of shares and in case of a merger or demerger valuation, as indeed in relation to certain aspects of sick companies.
  
  Mergers and demergers
  Under the Companies Act, 1956 the provisions that deal with the compromises and arrangements (primarily refers to mergers and demergers but may also mean internal reconstruction) require high court approvals consequently leading to delays specifically in cases where the companies under merger are located in different states. The Bill has introduced a concept of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) whose objectives include regulation of merger and demerger schemes. NCLT being a specialized body dealing with company law issues may result in reduction in the time lag presently involved in disposal of company law issues. Possibility of delays as a result of objections from small shareholders/creditors has been reduced. A threshold for raising objections has been introduced at 10% for shareholders and 5% for creditors. Although this may appear to be against the interest of the minority shareholders , it will prevent frivolous objections and needless delays.
  
  Small Companies
  Based on recommendations of the JJ Irani Committee Report (JJICR), the concept of small companies has been introduced in the Bill and has been defined as a company other than a public company:
  
  (i) Whose paid up capital does not exceed a prescribed limit (not exceeding Rs. 5 crores)
  (ii) Whose turnover does not exceed a prescribed amount (not exceeding Rs. 20 crores)
  Specific reference in the Bill to small companies has been made in the section dealing with mergers and demergers where small companies have been exempted from approaching the NCLT for approvals. The scheme only needs to be approved in the general meeting and notices are required to be issued to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and official liquidator. If the ROC or official liquidator has any objection, they may file an application to the NCLT and seek its approval.
  
  Governance provisions
  The Bill specifically provides that the directors’ participation in a board meeting may be through video conferencing or such other electronic means as may be prescribed, except that certain matters cannot be dealt with through such means.
  The Bill also provides for voting by shareholders through electronic means. Although electronic means has not been defined in the Act, Information Technology Act, 2000 seems to indicate e mail voting is possible. The detail of the methods of voting through electronic means is awaited and is expected to be introduced through rules to be specifically issued in this regard.
  
  Penal Provisions
  Stringent penal provisions for non compliance by auditors have been introduced. Presently, penal amounts on auditors prescribed in the Companies Act, 1956 are minimal viz. two years imprisonment or Rs. 50,000 fine or both. The Bill incorporates penal provisions which require an auditor to be subject to conviction, refund of remuneration to the Company or to be liable to pay damages to the Company or any other person on losses arising out of incorrect or misleading statements of particulars made in the audit report. The Bill provides for a fine of Rs. 25 lakhs plus a prison term of 3 years and additionally the Bill has deemed such offences as non compoundable
  In case of companies fraudulently luring persons in IPOs, under the existing act, the fine is Rs. 1 lakhs and the offence is compoundable. The Bill provides for three years of imprisonment plus a fine ranging between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 50 lakhs. Further, the offence has been deemed as non compoundable.
  For repeat offenders, the amount of fine leviable will be twice the amount of fine levied at the time of first offence and in case of fraudulent activities/actions, provisions for recovery and disgorgement have been included.
  It may be relevant to note that there is a definition of officer in default which provides adequate protection to independent directors.
  
  Delegated Legislation
  Delegated legislation (also referred to as secondary legislation or subordinate legislation) is law made by an executive authority under powers given to them by primary legislation in order to implement and administer the requirements of that primary legislation. It is law made by a person or body other than the legislature but with the legislature's authority. There are approximately 275 provisions providing for delegated legislations ; 35 of these are relatively substantive approvals, such as the ability to prescribe the financial format of financial statements, model articles for the company, rules for issuing “sweat equity” shares, rules for buy back of securities, depreciation rates etc. While such delegated legislations indicate the inherent flexibility in the Act, it could also result in government tinkering with substantive approvals.
  
  
  POSSIBLE ISSUES ARISING OUT OF THE BILL IN ITS PRESENT FORM
  · Section demanding the registration of valuers results in all the partners of a partnership firm of valuers to be registered. This may not be practically possible to implement.
  · Disqualification of corporate entities from being eligible to do valuations may result in entities which have the necessary expertise such as investment banks from being eligible to complete the valuations
  · The Bill proposes a cap on the fees for valuation assignments. This represents a potential issue as a very restrictive cap may result in the warding away good quality valuers
  · The Bill does not appear to make a distinction between preferential allotment by listed entities and unlisted companies. This may result in regulatory overlapping since the listed entities are required to value the preferential allotments as per the guidelines issued by SEBI in this regard
  · In the context of mergers and demergers, the Bill refers to a valuation report to be sent along with the notice of a meeting of auditors and shareholders proposed to be called in pursuance of an order by NCLT. Clarification in this regard is required since circulation of a full scale valuation report to entire world may not be advisable
  · Replication of concepts from Clause 49 of the listing agreement is not the same
  · Complete prohibition of trading in equity shares of the Company by key managerial personnel impractical in view of shares being held by such persons by virtue of ESOPs being issued to such persons or by virtue of such persons being part of the promoter group
  · Use of securities premium for writing off of expenses in relation to issue of debentures and shares as presently permitted by Companies Act, 1956 not yet addressed
  · Failure to prevent courts (NCLT in the bill) prescribing manner of accounting in case of scheme of arrangements
  · Although the bill permits Indian companies to merge with foreign companies, the foreign company in question is required by the Bill to have a place of business in India

Lyrics - at its intense best

At the very outset, apologies for calling this a blog....had to take this route since Facebook permits only 420 characters and i used up way way more than that!!!! Well....one of the most intense pieces of poetry which one could possibly come across in contemporary commercial Hindi cinema music :
"Bajai pyar ke shabnam mere gulistan mein,
Baraste rahte hain har sind maut ke saaye,
Syaaheoon se ulajh padti hai meri aankhen,
Koi nahi koi bhi nahi jo batlaaye main kitni der ujaale ki raah dekhunga,
Koi nahi koi bhi nahi na paas na door,
Ek yaar hai dil ki dhadkan,
Apni chaahat ka jo elaan kiye jaati hai,
Zindagi hai jo jiye jaati hai,
Khoon ke ghunt piye jaati hai,
Khwab kaanton se siye jaati hai"

Music Review - 3 Idiots

When i started off with the music album, i must admit my expectations from this album were not great given Rajkumar Hirani's history with music. The music album standalone of his movies have never greatly fascinated me (Parineeta was probably close to being an exception), songs were always more suited to an audio visual environment, rather than purely an audio environ. album has 5 tracks (without of course the usual remixes) -

1 . Aal Izz Well - The typical college song of the movie probably with the use of spoons and glasses in the background. Is probably the freshest song of the album with lyrics which are your run of the mill. Sonu Nigam sounds good.
2. Give me some sunshine - My favourite from the album with great guitar and 10 seconds of piano which sounds divine. Thought behind the song is one which i guess would appeal to all. Dialogues by Sharman Joshi intertwined with the singing and the instruments all add up to a very good song and probably the best of the album.
3. Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh - The very beginning of the song brings up memories of Naam Ada Likhna from Yahaan by the same music director. An average song which could have been worse if Shaan was not the singer. Seems to be in memory of a lost friend.
4. Jaane Nahin Denge - Very good rendition by Sonu Nigam. The problem with this song (as was with the previous one) is that it seems heavily inspired from Mr. Santanu Moitra's (music director) previous composition (Parineeta in this case). Feels good to listen to Sonu Nigam again though.
5. Zoobi Doobi - The lyrics stand out. Other than that less said about the song the better.

Overall, this album as for all other music of Raj Kumar Hirani movies, the album might just do well after the movie. The album stands out for the liberal use of Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Shreya Ghosal and nice and different lyrics. To sum it up, i started off listening to the album half asleep in the hope that the album would either wake me up or put me off to sleep. At the end of it all, i did not fall asleep halfway through but sure i fell asleep immediately after the album!!.

West Bengal - In need of common sense

The ticker on CNN IBN reads...Metro Station Shootout.....shootout at Kavi Nazrul station.....one switches the channel to get rid of it.........got to Times Now......which has the railway minister who is more interested in becoming the chief minister of West Bengal branding the current chief minister as a Maoist....couple of weeks back...the entire city brought to standstill...as the Chief Minister got arrested the people who were demanding his arrest!!!! Being born and brought up in the "City of Joy" does not prevent me from wondering what is it which prevents the corporates (who are based out of Kol) from shifting base....what is in it for them to stay.....unless some common sense prevails amongst the politicians of the state.....all the hard work done to attract investments over the past few years is going to go down the Hooghly....somebody has to take the situation by the scruff of the neck...and set some basic rules for the election....otherwise things can go horribly horribly wrong......even after elections......the situation could just continue to be tense and touch and go....just hope that the events of the past year are not the trailer for the movie that the assembly elections are going to be.....

Indian Democracy - Evolving by the second

Cutting across the boundaries of age, sex, caste and other regular criteria for seggregating between the people one comes across, the most common opinion which possibly could be found is a strikingly similar dissatisfaction with the entire political system (or in some cases limited knowledge as well)..........but surely something has to be right with this...someone somewhere has to be doing something right for the economy to grow at the rate it does.......for our country to achieve the stature it has in the international community......One thing which i am not prepared to accept is all the success our country has had is despite the politics and the politicians....it requires the politicians to contribute as well...........Agreed that there might be shortcomings.....agreed we have lots to achieve.....but there are examples of how strongwilled politicians in the government can drive things.....one prime example of it would be the nuclear treaty driven by one of the most qualified, knowledgeable and possibly the most effective prime minister of all times......the way the government handled Satyam is possibly the best way it could have been handled....timely intervention and a perfect exit.....A logical consequence (a difficult one at that one must admit) of induction of a certain Nandan Nilekani into the Unique Identification Number project would be more active involvement of the members of the private sector....Look forward to the day when selection of ministers is done cutting across party lines.....the person most suited to a ministry should get the job irrespective of which party he belongs to.....

In Need of Austerity

Till somedays back, the news channels were feasting on the austerity measures introduced by the Congress Party.....the most publicized being the public admonition of Shashi Tharoor and S.M. Krishna for putting up at a five star hotel (at their own expense mind you) till their official accomodations were set right....Bang after it came the public debate with members of parliament flying cattle...oops....sorry....economy class...another measure which was not given as much coverage as the above was the decision of the Congress MPs to take a cut in their remuneration....all media channels jumped at the ruling party saying all the measures were just symbolic and were done keeping in mind forthcoming elections.....While there may be some truth to what they were saying, the thought which came immediately to the mind was ..whats wrong if one does it for a purpose...as long as they do it....In fact, in a country like ours, dont think we need droughts to roll out austerity measures...With so much poverty around.....the priveleged few who have had access to education should build in a mechanism of giving back to the society...and even if the Congress Party does it for the sake of elections ...thumbs up to them..........since they might pull other parties and respective supporters to match their efforts...

Looking beyond cricket

To read that the India - Pakistan match at the Champions Trophy failed to attract the eyeballs it usually did gets one thinking. Is it really the decline of only one day cricket or the general decline of interest in cricket? Probably the latter. There may be viewpoints but think the tremendous success of IPL was probably the beginning of the end of the cricket's dominance in India. The BCCI just killed the goose which laid golden eggs for around 25 years. From the crazy TRPs which cricket matches in India generated, they are now moving to more sane levels comparable to other cricket playing nations. And this represents a tremendous opportunity for the Vijender Singhs and Somdev Barmans of this world. The Commonwealth Games along with the first Formula One race is hitting the country at probably the most opportune moment when cricket is struggling with an identity crisis. And last but not the least. Indian cricket would never be the same after Sachin Tendulkar and golden quartet of Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Kumble and one fathoms MSD and Yuvi may just be the last of the glamorous cricketers who hog all the headlines.............Looking forward to the new breed of sporting superstars..............