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Budget 2020: What should the Government do?Tuesday,January 21,2020 at 01:39PMOver 50,000 of you participated in the budget consultation exercises related to citizen asks and business asks via the different circles. Below, please find the report on what common citizens want from Budget 2020. The same has been shared with the Finance Ministry officials. If these recommendations are implemented, it will help citizens and even boost consumer spending. It is strongly suggested that you share the link below with your social media contacts.If you have additional inputs, please share them as well. What people want from Budget 2020
National Register of Citizens and CAA: Inputs SoughtTuesday,January 07,2020 at 10:10AMThe Citizenship Amendment Bill has been approved by the Parliament in early December turning it into an act and paving the way for creating a National Register of Citizens. The same has met with opposition from many who feel it may negatively impact them or their family or because it differentiates between people based on their religion. With this post, we seek inputs on all your concerns regarding the act, the register or its implementation. The idea here it to understand the issue, the risks and then via a separate posts identify mitigations and see if there are certain aspects that must be escalated to the Government for consideration.We look forward to your inputs!
Boosting Consumer Spending via Budget 2020: Inputs SoughtTuesday,December 31,2019 at 10:01AMIt is clear by now that a consumer spending boost is critical for India to come out of the economic slowdownOne of the ways, the Government can enable this is by providing a personal tax reduction and if any individual spends the extra saving during the year, they get a set deduction on education or tourism/travel in the following year. As LocalCircles takes the top asks from citizens and small businesses to the Finance Minister, we seek your inputs on any creative ideas which will help boost consumer spending and in turn the economy. We look forward to your inputs!
Solution for Cross Border Imports via eCommerce channelTuesday,December 31,2019 at 10:00AMMany of you are familiar with how LocalCircles in last 12 months has worked with various departments of the Government to stop misuse of India's postal and courier gift channel by Chinese ecommerce apps thereby evading customs duty and IGST. A gift ban was implemented by customs at various ports and the same has also been included in the ecommerce policy on the recommendation of LocalCircles and yesterday it has been brought into policy thereby making compliance mandatory even at ports that are still manual. This will reduce corruption and also ensure India based businesses have an even playing field to the sellers in ChinaNow, LocalCircles is working with CBIC to identify a solution where customs duty and IGST is charged to the consumer on a prepaid basis at the order placement junction and the shipments can flow seamlessly at the customs port. If you have inputs on how such a solution can be implemented between ecommerce portals/apps, payment gateways and customs, kindly share them. We look forward to your inputs!
Making Social Media Platforms safe and accountable: Action NeededTuesday,December 31,2019 at 10:00AMMany of you are familiar as to how LocalCircles since 2016 has been working on the cause of Making Social Media free from abuse, harassment and trolling. It is finally now that the parliament has taken up this issue. We are now working with Women Empowerment standing committee of the parliament to raise your demand of having all social media platforms implement 4 things:1.Have minimum age for social media account to be 13 years.2.Implement an age verification mechanism including adult consent for a minor's account. 3.Make real identities mandatory on social media.4.Proactively remove offensive, abusive and hate content within a few seconds of posting. Below are some of the reports shared with them and some media reports of the same. We have also requested them to meet with all social media platforms used by children.Defining Minimum Age for Social Media AccessMaking Social Media Accountable Media Report - Economic TimesMedia Report - MintMedia Report - Hindustan Times If you have any additional inputs on what should be done to make Social Media safe and accountable, do share. Also, do share the attached graphic on your social media as well as with law makers if you are connected to themThis is just too important for our next generations!
VIP Culture continues to prevail: Inputs Sought to address itTuesday,December 31,2019 at 10:00AM'Yesterday multiple members in different circles shared a video of an MP who recently was involved in delaying a flight by sitting on a protest because she didn\u2019t get a first class seat. These and many others like this are among the hundreds of examples we come across every year in India. Many of the members in this circle who were there in 2016-17 may remember how some of you raised the issue of eliminating red and blue beacons from vehicles which was taken up by LocalCircles (attached survey from Mar 2017). Subsequently in May, 2017, the Government announced the removal of beacons from vehicles of all lawmakers, bureaucrats and judiciary. Below are some of your past inputs on what other actions are needed to reduce VIP culture in India. Please review them and share specific inputs on what other areas suffer from VIP culture and the needed action. We look forward to your inputs! Further actions needed to eliminate VIP culture: 1) Removal of the word VIP from tens of thousands entrances, doors, lounges and entry gates 2) No VIP darshans at temples across India 3) Removal or Drastic Reduction of VIP\/EQ quota in Railways from current 80,000 seats per day. 4) Delay in aircraft or train departures due to VIP to have hefty penalties 5) Travel for families of VIP to be ticketed like common citizens 6) Any car with sticker VIP to be challaned by Traffic Police and spot removal of sticker 7) Only the top most 50 individuals at national level and 5 individuals at state level to get VIP security 8) All VIP passes for various events to be abolished.'
LocalCircles Impact: Government removes MDR charges for large merchantsTuesday,December 31,2019 at 09:59AMWe are pleased to share with you that the announcement made by the Government in Budget July 2019 to make it mandatory for businesses with turn over above 50 crores to accept UPI and Rupay modes of digital payments. Also, the MDR charges for both these digital payments have been brought to zero so the merchant cannot refuse digital payments from consumers nor can they pass on the processing charges to them. the link below has the additional information: No MDR on UPI and Rupay For those of you have been in the circle for long, know that since Nov 2016 i.e.demonetisation, LocalCircles has been actively taking up the cost of excessive transaction charges for card transactions and been pushing the Government to get the MDR fee eliminated so the merchants don't push consumers to get cash for their purchase/services. Also, we hope that in the near future the Government will also include businesses above annual turn over of INR 1 Crore to accept UPI and Rupay digital payments. You are welcome to share your inputs and experiences!
What has been your experience with State and Local corruption in 2019?Tuesday,November 26,2019 at 12:47PMState and Local governance in India is ridden with various forms of corruption ranging from petty bribes, to family/friends of those in power profiting from public schemes to acquiring Government assets at throwaway prices. It is also quite common for politicians and Government officials to award contracts to related parties and get benefits in return. As LocalCircles gets ready to release its India Corruption Survey 2019, we would like to seek your inputs on what has been your corruption experience in 2019. Do share as much detail as possible. Awareness is the first step to change!.
How can Electoral Funding be fixed?Monday,November 25,2019 at 10:58AMMLAs being transported to 5 star resorts and staying there for days as we are observing currently in Maharashtra or large number of people being paid to give up their daily wages and instead attend a rally. Is the public funding all of this indirectly? Are politicians making this money back by taking cuts from contracts awarded or their lands sold at premium prices?We seek your inputs on how electoral funding can be made transparent in India?What changes should be made to the Electoral Bonds or the INR 2000 donation rule?The subject is important and has direct relevance to corruption in India so do share your inputs!
What should the Government do to improve GST collection?Wednesday,November 20,2019 at 09:08AM As you may be familiar, the GST collection in September was at a 19 month low of 92,000 crores. The Government is looking at various options including increasing GST rates on some products, as well as putting limitations such that input tax credit cannot be availed fully if the supplier has not deposited GST. With this post, we seek your specific inputs on what the Government should do to minimise GST evasion and maximise GST collections while ensuring that the genuine tax paying businesses do not face difficulties. We look forward to your inputs!
Solutions to stop stubble burning and the deadly air in Delhi NCR and North IndiaTuesday,November 19,2019 at 08:57AMDelhi NCR and many parts of Northern India have continued to breathe the deadly air with little respite. On a few days the AQI levels even touched the very dangerous 1000+ markPoint solutions like Odd-Even cars in Delhi are only playing a limited role with the biggest issue being stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana, UP with Punjab clearly at the forefront. Residents of North India are struggling and that includes young children, many of who will have irreversible damage caused to their health for no fault of theirs. Who will be accountable? There is an urgent need for the Government's to collectively work together in mission mode and resolve this problem.With this post, we would like to seek your very specific inputs on what should be done to address the stubble burning issue so we do not see a repeat of this next year.Below are some of your previous inputs on actions needed to address stubble burning and pollution. We would like to share collective inputs with the Central Government soon and request them to take this up mission mode. We look forward to your inputs! Immediate Measures needed to stop Stubble Burning and Deadly Air 1.State Government(s) must remove their paddy sowing notification and ensure farmers have enough water to sow paddy in early June2.Stop free power to farmers and instead provide power subsidy if they harvest non-paddy crops 3.To ensure enough water is available for farmers, Central and State Governments must work together and transport water if necessary4. Community pools of seeders must be created at panchayat level so just in case the cycles are disrupted, seeders are used to sow the next crop5. Government must also create a stubble pick up service in partnership with industry or directly6.Central Government must issue orders to State Governments to ensure water availability for farmers so sowing and harvesting cycles allow for natural stubble decomposition.7.Heavy penalty for burning stubble must be introduced and created awareness about and should require either a payment of INR 100,000 per acre or seizure of land for up to 3 years.
Content of Online Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc- Inputs SoughtMonday,November 18,2019 at 08:33AM Recently some members raised the issue of lots of objectionable content and language being used in movies and more so in video series run by sites/apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc.With this post we would like to seek your inputs on what have been your experience with these platforms, what kind of risks do you see and how should certification of such content in India take place which is currently not under censor board. Kindly share any additional specific inputs you have that will help in this regard esp now that children have access to home devices where these subscription based services run. We will then take this subject up with Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Govt of India and other associated departments.We look forward to your inputs!
Need for Hotel Services Standards in India - Addl InputsMonday,November 18,2019 at 08:32AMLast year, many of you participated in the consultation of issues regarding the Hotel industry in India Below are the key issues, root causes and solutions for the state of hotel industry in India. Keeping them in mind, we would now like you to give inputs so Service Standards for Hotels can be set in India. We will then work with Bureau of India Standards and Ministry of Tourism to see how best the same can be achieved. We look forward to your inputs! Hotels in India - Solutions Proposed1.A regulatory authority should be set up to regulate the tariff and operations of the hotels in India2.Government should come up with a structured plan to bridge the demand-supply gap3.Government should set a high season charge for the hotels area wise4.Hotels should be strictly instructed not to charge beyond the high season surcharge on top of their regular fares5.Hotel should be liable to pay a financial penalty to the customer if they do not deliver the facilities promised at the time of booking6.The government should prescribe some basic standards of hygiene which the hotels should be strictly asked to follow7.A phone/email helpline or a circle type concept should be created to make it easy for tourists to report issues against hotels 8.Customer reviews on social media sites should be considered while renewing the licenses of the hotels 9.If an instance of a hidden camera in a hotel is found, the license of that hotel should be immediately suspended and criminal enquiry should be initiated against them 10.A major drive should be started to catch hotels running without proper licenses 11.Hotel staff should mandatorily give customer service lessons to their staff once every year 12.Government officials should be penalized for giving approval and certification to establishments that do not meet the necessary requirements13.Government should make a policy on star ratings specifying minimum requirement for each category and then have an independent authority certifying it.State of Hotels in India - Root Causes1.There is a lack of an authority to regulate the operations/working of the hotels in India2.Hotel rates are not determined by the kind of services they provide3.There is no reference available through which the hotels are supposed to decide their room rates4.They intentionally keep their rack rates very high 5.Most hotels play hand in glove with the local authorities and grease their palms to ride over the rules and regulations 6.Most of the times hotels caught even in serious customer complaints, easily get away with them 7.Hotels try to make the most from the helpless tourists 8.Hotel rates are high because demand outstrips supply9.Political patronage is a big root cause of irresponsibility and mismanagement of most of the hotels in our country10.Many hotels are set up to convert the black money to white11.Most hotels in India dont believe in creating hospitality experiences. Hotels in India - Key Issues 1. Hotels charge whatever rates which are very high 2. They fleece customers in need 3. Rack rates are always abnormally high 4. Many hotels do not maintain even the basic standard of hygiene 5. Reports of hidden cameras in hotels is quite common 6. Many online hotels bookings have hidden charges 7. Hotels display pictures on their websites which mislead the customers 8. Many small hotels do not imply with the health and safety policy 9. Many hotels run without complete licenses 10. Hotels increase their room rates multi folds during the peak season 11. The general hotel refund policy on cancellations is very strict 12. Hotel staff is rude with the customers 13. Some hotels display a fake star rating. 14. Safety and customer service is a big concern in homestays/hotels provided by e-marketplaces
Sensitizing Inspectors and Officers to facilitate EODB: Inputs SoughtMonday,November 11,2019 at 10:09AMMany of you have been raising the issue of continued inspector raj despite some of the good governance initiatives being rolled out by the Central Government that minimise human interfaces. Below are the key Issues and Root Causes related to Inspector Raj in India as identified by you. Kindly review them and help identify highly specific solutions that must be implemented at policy and enforcement levels. This includes sensitizing inspectors and field officers and holding them accountable to Government policies and rules. From a business standpoint, this is where rubber meets the road and addressing this will have a direct impact on ease/cost of doing business, FDI, economic growth, jobs creation and prosperity of India We look forward to your inputs! Inspector Raj in India - Root Causes 1.The inspectors have a lot of power vested in them 2.Inspectors think that there is no one above them 3.They like to be shown importance in whatever they do 4.They put in unnecessary road blocks so that they could ask for bribes 5.Inspectors think that it is their right to take bribes 6.Inspectors collude with businessmen and get a monthly amount so that they do not interfere in their business 7.If bribes are not paid, then the businesses will have to run from pillar to post for the licenses 8.In many departments, there are no processes defined for inspections 9.There are no time limits defined for the inspectors to work on a particular kind of a case 10.A corrupt officer/inspector is rarely convicted in our country 11.The guidelines issued by these departments are tough to interpret for the common citizen/business, which gives an upper hand to the inspectors 12.Decades old laws & bye-laws have not been updated to suit the current business scenario 13.Business men prefer to bribe inspectors & officers or keep them on monthly/yearly payroll to avoid complications 14.Inspectors' reports are accepted without verification of correctness15.Businesses become preys of the inspectors out of greed to earn more profit in illegal ways 16.There is a good bit of political pressure on the inspectors and many times they are collection agents for a long chain of corrupt officials and politicians 17.Many businessmen, entrepreneurs are not aware of multiplicity of various complex forms18.Not much action can be taken against any inspector by complaints and it only causes bottlenecks/delays in projects/approvals for a business.19. The Central or State Government makes policies and rules but no training, awareness, dissemination of the same happens at the inspector level Inspector Raj in India – Key Issues 1.When businesses apply for licenses or permissions, they are at the mercy of the inspectors to complete the paperwork 2.They unnecessarily come up with objections while issuing certificates 3.Businessmen are harassed and bribes are demanded 4.Inspectors for fire, labour, pollution, quality, excise, weights & measures almost always engage in bribes 5.Inspectors specific to different industries like drug inspector, transport inspector etc have fixed rates per month or per transaction 6.The inspections done by the inspectors are arbitrary and based on the whims and fancy of the officials 7.Reports are never transparent 8.They work on cases at their own pace and don’t care about the suffering of the general public 9.Inspectors manhandle the detainees at the police station 10.Inspector don’t let honest people do their work honestly 11.Police and Municipal inspectors put pressure on individuals to stop construction till their palms are greased 12.In many cases, inspectors facilitate corruption for a chain of officials in the hierarchy and act as collection agents.
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