Rajya Sabha

During last two weeks, I had a chance to watch the proceedings of Rajya Sabha on TV. I feel that time has now come to consider reforms for constitution of Rajya Sabha to make it a non-political/ non-elective body in the interests of the country, by offering life membership of the Rajya Sabha to the eminent persons of the society , like.

-Retired judges of the Supreme Court Of India.

-Retired Generals Of Army/Navy/Air Force.

-Retired chiefs of Statutory bodies i.e.  UPSC , C & AG, Election Commission, UGC   etc. etc

-Retired Chiefs of premier institutions such as IIM's, IIT's , AIIMS, RBI, Delhi School Of Economics, National Law College, ISRO, BARC  etc. etc..

-Noble Prize winners, Bharat Ratna awardees, Param Vir Chakra awardees...

With the above eminent persons as members , the Rajya Sabha will be in a better position to scrutinize the various Bills/Laws & functions of the Govt. of the day as it will have in-house experts from all walks of life. The country will benefit from the talent, knowledge & experience of these eminent persons which otherwise remains un-utilized after their retirement 

This will also help these eminent persons to lead decent retired life & will also motivate others to achieve perfection in their work/knowledge

PS.  Sh Harsh Wardhan Jog ji in his comments has questioned the necessity of Rajya Sabha.  I am not in favor of abolishing  of the Rajya Sabha ( upper house) , as the same was created to check & balance the populist  policies of the govt. of the day . 

Though the constitution has given powers to Supreme Court Of India to review the laws framed by the legislature, but the reviewing powers of SCI are restricted to the extent, to ensure that the same (law) does not infringe the basic framework of the Constitution Of India. Whereas the Rajya Sabha looks into the suitability and necessity of the concerned law on ongoing basis besides monitoring the functioning  of the government.

My idea is to make Rajya Sabha a non-political and  non-elective body to serve better, the purpose for which it was created, and at the same time utilize the talent, experience & knowledge of eminent persons available in the society which otherwise remains un-utilized.

Why Subsidizing Higher Education

 When we are short of funding for providing universal education at primary & secondary level, what is the logic of subsidizing higher education in IIT's, IIM's, Medical colleges, NIT's etc...?

After completion of studies a good no of  engineers ,MBA's  and doctors go abroad to serve in other countries. Medical services in many countries  round the globe will collapse if doctors from India are withdrawn. Whereas primary health care in India is in shambles. I do agree that Centers of Excellence in higher studies are also required for the development of the country.

 I do not mind this subsidized higher education , if after completion of the studies,  these persons do work and remain in India, so that fruits of their education is enjoyed by the fellow citizens of India , who have directly or indirectly, paid for the cost of their higher education.

  Under the present circumstances, I am firmly of the view  that till we are able to provide universal education at primary & secondary level ,fees and charges in all the higher educational  institutions (IIT's , IIM's ,medical colleges etc..) should be on user charges  basis. Govt may provide scholarships and / or interest free loans for pursuing the  higher studies. These scholarships  or interest free loans can be tied up with govt. service  and or for working in  India for certain period of time after completion of studies.

In addition to IITs , IIMs ,medical colleges,etc., fees and charges in all graduation & post graduation colleges should also be charged on user charges basis. This measure  alone will improve the higher  education system in many ways & save the substantial funds for primary and secondary education . As colleges / institutions ,for their expenses , will now have to depend upon fees charged to student and/or on donations from the public , which will create pressure on colleges / institutions to improve the standard of education/performance . Indirectly this will kick - start the social audit of the performance of the particular college/institution. In case a particular institution fails to improve the performance , it will attract lower donations and fewer students. This is particularly the situation of some of the private engineering and management colleges , as many of them are not able to attract sufficient no of students.

Unit Scheme US-64 of erstwhile Unit Trust Of India

Thanks to the rampant mis-management (mainly due the appointment of the political nominee as chairman of UTI ) in the erstwhile Unit Trust of India, the NAV of its flagship scheme US-64 dropped to app Rs.5.50 per unit against its administered price of Rs 14.00 per unit as on 30.06.2002 ( UTI was established under the act of Parliament & was not obliged to follow the guidelines / regulations framed by SEBI , resultantly there was no transparency in the working of  UTI  ).

At that time, to mitigate the sufferings of lacs of small investors, Govt. Of India intervened and created The Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI) , with the mandate to pay off the investors of US-64 @ Rs.12.00 per unit up-to 5000 units per folio and holdings above 5000 units per folio were paid @ Rs.10.00 per unit.The underlying assets (securities bonds etc) of US-64 scheme were transferred to SUUTI.

The sensex ( BSE- INDEX) at that time was about 2800. At present the BSE- INDEX is around 28000. Thus SUUTI is now sitting on huge surplus. My humble submission to GOI is to distribute the surplus available with SUUTI to the erstwhile lacs of small investors of US-64.

From the budget speech (2015) , I gather that GOI is eyeing to utilize the assets of SUUTI to reduce the fiscal deficit during 2015-16. If this happens, it will be quite unfair and injustice to lacs of small investors , who had invested in the units of  the savings organisation (UTI), which was  created  through the Act of Parliament. Most of the investors had put in their most of the life's savings considering it as a safe organisation being the Govt. body.

To be fair to all these small investors, the surplus available with SUUTI ( present value of  assets of SUUTI (- ) minus the present value of amount paid by SUUTI  to small investors in 2003.) may be distributed to the erstwhile unit holders.

12th Nov.2017,

Presently the  Sensex (BSE-INDEX) is more than 33000, which means that the value of underlying assets of SUUTI would have risen by eleven times by now, even if we ignore the yearly dividends, which could have been utilized for the administration of SUUTI, and the asset value per unit can be safely presumed to be Rs 60.00 per unit.(5,50 * 11) Against this the present value of investment of the Govt. in 2003 per unit will be about Rs.43.70 ( Rs, 12.00 per unit paid in 2003with interest @9.00% compounding annually). As such SUUTI is presently sitting on the net surplus of about Rs.16.30 per unit.
                                                                                                                                                             Thus with all fairness to the small investors , who reposed their faith in the Govt. institution throughout from 1964 up-to 2002 & deposited their lifetime savings with UTI, the surplus available with SUUTI  be distributed to the  erstwhile unit holders.