Friday, January 16, 2009

Letter.No.2
ELECTORAL ROLLS AND ELECTIONS

1. In a democratic set up elections are essential
2. For conduct of any election whether for center or .state or local bodies and for that matter for any
institution or organisation whose affairs are managed by an elected body, a correct and updated
electoral role is essential.
3. At present the updating of electoral rolls, addition deletion etc., etc., work related to electoral rolls
are not satisfactory and it is amply proved with the muddle of issue of photo identity cards and
complaints of large scale missing of names of voters from the electoral rolls. This unsatisfactory
condition is because the electoral rolls work is entrusted to the revenue department and collectorate
staff who does not seem to be paying that amount of attention that this work requires. - mostly
carried out with the help of the elementary school teachers of the local municipality or local body.

The following suggestions are made with the hope that when implemented may remove most of the irregularities.
1.Electoral roll revision should be a perennial function with separate staff. Staff
strength may be increased to cope up with extra work during actual elections.
2. Application for inclusion and exclusion of names and issue of transfer certificates
should be entertained all through the year and necessary forms provided to apply for
such change
3.Every citizens name should always be there in one place or other and if one prefers in a
permanent place it can be entertained and residential qualification in that place
need not be insisted upon.
4. 4 Photo identity cards should be issued on the spot just as is done for driving license.
Issue of photo identity cards should not be a one time affair and the card should be
revised and reissued once in 5 years or at ages 18, 25,30,35.40, 50,60, 7
5.Any time if any person wants a certificate, it should be issued certifying about the
presence of his Name in the electoral rolls with details of serial number ward taluk
district and state and the date on which such entry was made in the electoral rolls.
6.Eectoral rolls and family cards work can be combined and one should be a check
on the other and entries tallied. Birth and death registers (particularly for deaths) can also be taken
into account for any verification required. Where required certificates from the employers in
respect of employees and income tax officers in case of assessees can also be obtained but need
not be mandatory. Census records also can help
7.Election officers of a state should entirely be the staff under the control of the
Election Commission and of the Election Commission, and not of the state. The state Should give
all assisstance and additional staff as and when required, but under the Control of the Eelection
Commission during the conduct of an election

A thorough house to house check and verification be made just before every election
and the services of retired person in the age group of 60 to 70 years may be taken ­irrespective of any walk of life - provided they are in fair and good health and willing to serve

A correct electoral only will ensure fair elections

K.S.Narayanaswamy

Saturday, January 3, 2009

On S B interest and Usage of cheques instead of D.D.s

1.Cheque Transactions
. In the present setup of anytime anywhere Banking A T M s Credit and debit cards etc it is nothing but governmental red tapism that most government institutions demand either cash or D.D. or Bankers cheque for payments to be made to such institutions instead of cheques.
Acceptance of cheques must be mandatory for all transactions with government by the public, and also for institutions - educational etc. etc. and at par – any where in India
D.D s against cheques must be done away with and restricted to cash exchange only
All cheques must be at par.In place of D.D s, at par cheques may be drawn on the payee (and if required endorsed by the bank for reserving the amount on the back of the cheque and free of any charge)

2.Interest on Savings Bank accounts
Interest on savings bank accounts must be free of tax. Most or major part of the savings bank accounts are held by government employees, pensioners and family pensioners, and of those with monthly payment of interest by annuity funds, insurance, M.I.S. of post offices etc. etc., other monthly paid employees, by small institutions, other senior citizens - i.e. by the upper middle class, middle class and lower middle class persons in general. Moreover the present trend is to pay salaries and other payments to their employees by companies and now of late by government also through S .B. accounts in banks by E C S. The small amount of interest paid to S.B. Account holders is from out of the profits made by the banks by utilizing the amounts in such accounts. The government and the banks are benefited with deposits at low interest when compared to the interest they have to pay for other deposit as fixed deposits, recurring deposits or loan amounts. The present gesture of the Hon.ble Finance Minister to exempt interest on deposits of five years and above (but within the allowed deduction limit) should be extended to savings bank account interest also in total and not included in the allowed deductions as for fixed deposits interests i. e it should be over and above the limit of the deduction allowed.
3. Income tax.
With the introduction and collection of service tax starting with 5% raised to 10% and now 12% and with additional surcharge of 2% which started with a few items at first and gradually expanded to more that 50 items and with good amount that is and is likely to be collected and realized, it is to be thought of whether a reduction in income tax could be granted and in three slabs - 10% on incomes upto 5 lakhs and 15% for income from 5 lakhs to 15 lakhs and at 20% for income over 15 lakhs for individual incomes. Companies and business incomes may be charged income tax as at present

K.S.Narayanaswamy

Friday, January 2, 2009

Electoral Reforms

ELECTORAL REFORMS.

1. Formation of coalitions between parties should be done away with. It only helps the Major parties to get more seats than what they would get but for the coalition.
These small parties who at the maximum will be able to get not more than five percent Seats if they contested alone only help to tilt the balance. In T amilnadu in the last 35 years it is amply proved that either the D.M.K. or the AD.M.K. capture power with their coalition with the Congress then and now the T,:M.C. If and when a coalition is formed then such parties should also form part of the government and not be simple outside supporters.
2. Parties which stand alone should contest for atleast 30 percent of the seats and win atleast 10 percent of the seats of the Assembly or the states quota of parliament seats. If the party is not able to win 10 percent of the seats the members of that party will not have any voting powers, but can participate in the proceedings. This will ensure that these small ( 1 ) member parties will not be able to disturb the balance in the house leading to resignation of a government.
3. No person shall be permitted to contest in more than one seat. If permitted (and that too in not more than two seats) then such person or the party to which he belongs should give an undertaking to bear the cost of a bye-election that will be necessary in case that person wins in both seats and subsequently resigns from one seat. This principle should also apply when a person who is already an _M..L. A or M .P. stands for election as an M.P. or _M.L.A and has necessarily to resign one post there by causing a bye-election.
4. No M.L.A or M.P. will switchover loyalties to a party during the tenure of a term either singly or in groups, even if that group is one third of the strength of the party in the house. Such defection will be treated as automatic resignation and such person or persons will face a re-election :from the same constituency but on the ticket of the party to which he/she or they wish to defect/s and the cost of such bye-election will have to be met by him/her or them or by the party on whose ticket he/she or they contest the re-elr\ection
5.The strength of any ministry shall not exceed ten percent of the strength of the house, and in states which are bicameral the strength of both houses shall be taken together. The ministry can be a single tier or a two tier one but not a three tiered one
6.Members elected to the Rajyasabha or upper house should be non political persons of standing and experts in their fields. The function of the upper house or Rajyasabha should by only recommendatorv and not mandatory. The functioning should be on the lines of the House of Lords of England. The position now is not what was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution – to be disruptive or dissipatory as is now..
7. No person shall be elected to the Rajyasabha for more than two terms either one
following the other or with a gap between one term and the next

K.S.Narayanaswamy.
Letter.No.2
ELECTORAL ROLLS AND ELECTIONS

Assessment of date of delivery of a baby

Probable date of delivery of a foetus and birth of a baby

In a woman’s life the period from puberty to menopause is child bearing stage

Women have menstruation normally at regular periodical intervals of about 25 days to 30 days.

During this period the uterus gets ready to bear a foetus and if impregnation has taken place then a baby is delivered after about nine months +.

This period is known as gestation period and is on the average 280 days

When impregnation does not take place the uterus gets ready for another cycle and sheds the lining etc. prepared to receive the fertilized egg in the form of mucous which while separating from uterus wall causes raw surface and bleeding. This will be there from 3 to 5 days and is called periods or menses
The entire process is termed as a menstrual period.

Once impregnation has taken place the uterus starts to nurture it to grow into a baby and after a full term is over expels it and the last stages are termed as labour and delivery.

How to assess when that expulsion will take place?

One commonly adopted method is to fix the date of delivery as follows

From the month and date of first day of last menstruation go back 3 months as follows

Month of last menstruation / three months back

Jan / Oct Feb/Nov March/Dec April/ Jan May/Feb June/March
July/April Aug/May Sept/June Oct/July Nov/Aug Dec/Sept.

Add or subtract 7days to the date of first day of menstruation This is an average of 15 days and delivery may take place at any time

Another is approximation of the date by the attending gynaecologist by actual examination and follow up

The following calculation is made from out of my observation and study and tested during the years 1965 to 1978 when I was in service in Tamilnadu Medical service as a Head Nurse and Nursing Superintendent. And in the last about 30 years of my retired life This is not mentioned in any standard book on O and G .to my knowledge

The period of menstrual cycle and the likely day of ovulation and becoming pregnant is fixed for every women and varies between woman

Ten months of the woman’s menstrual cycle months is the gestation period for that particular woman (Roughly ten lunar months.)

To arrive at the gestation period arrive at the number of days and hours that elapse between onset of two successive menstruation dates

Multiply this by 10. Multiplied hours are converted into days at 24 hours per day

Add this number of days to the first day of onset of the last menstruation date and arrive at the date of expected date of delivery. The delivery will take place on the date arrived at or one day earlier or late. This calculation is for a prime or first semester..

For subsequent deliveries calculate the number of days between onset of first day of last menstruation and the actual date of delivery of the first baby.

This is the gestation period of that woman for subsequent pregnancies

Just add this number of days to the date of first day of last menstruation to arrive at the date of delivery in case of second para and further pregnancies

In these days of one baby norm that most couples adopt and thanks to family planning methods there may not be any necessity to do this calculation

Serious sickness irregularity of periods due to hormonal and other causes leading to non assessibility of the individual gestation period may cause variation

Fertile period is arrived at as from 10 to 15 days from the 1str day of onset of menstruation. The actual conception day can be arrived at to within 3 days by adding 7 days to the day on which menstrual flow stops - i.e the day arrived at the day before and the day after but never after 15 days from the date of start of periods.

If the discharge stops on the 4th day then 4 plus 7 is equal to 11. Conception may take place on the 10th 11th 0r 12th day

Since as a Doctor you are in the field it is for you to observe this phenomena and come to your own decisions

K.S.Narayanaswamy
Retd. Nursing Superintendent