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PART – I
ABOUT OUR PARTY
Q1 How and when was the Professionals Party of India (PPI) conceived?
The Professionals Party of India is the product of years of multi dimensional research on how to improve the Indian quality of life. Eight dimensions that most impact life have been analyzed and are contained in the Party Manifesto.
Research reveals that the single biggest cause of our abject poverty and consequent physical and economic squalor is the steady and progressive degeneration in the quality of India’s political managers. This research further reveals that the majority of our problems have now become systemic.
If you factor in everything, the only strategic solution that emerges is :
A new political party that will tickle the consciousness of Indians, inevitably targeting the middle class first (which is defined in the answer to Q4 below), to motivate them to get involved in the democratic political process and ensure that professional patriotic Indians get elected to our Parliament and solve systemic problems top down.
This is how PPI was conceived.
PPI was formally launched on the 7th September 2007 in Pune, and received the registration with the National Election Commission of India in February 2008. Today PPI is a national movement.
Q2 How will you ensure PPI’s elected members are not corrupt?
You have to believe India still has thousands of highly qualified, professional, honest Indians who are patriotic and nationalistic. You have to believe that you can surely identify 100 such Indians initially, who have very high moral and ethical standards. Identifying 500 such Indians is our eventual objective.
Besides, every elected member’s performance will be monitored with the help of effective and modern appraisal systems.
At any rate, you have to believe that any professional Indian will be far far less corrupt – whether it is intellectual corruption or physical.
Q3 How do you plan to fund party activities?
Party activities will be funded through membership fees and through contributions by individuals and corporates, who believe in the cause and need for change.
Q 4 One factor PPI should not forget is that middle class and urban
population even in today’s India is but a fraction. How would the Party take these ideas to the poor people within the country? Why would a person living in rural India support PPI?
Studies of NCAER indicate that India has a middle class of about 250 to 300 million people. The total number of voters in the middle class will be around 150 million (about half of today’s India was born after 1983 and a child becomes a voter on turning 18). Over 80% of these middle class voters live in urban centres. India has a total of 714 million registered voters.
You have to accept that India’s problems can be resolved only through an altogether new political paradigm; one that brings progressive, enlightened and professional Indians – of which there are plenty - into positions of political governance. To be the vehicle of that change, to bring India’s vast pool of qualified managers and professionals into the political arena, and into the Parliament, is PPI’s raison d’etre.
To make that happen, PPI has to reach the voters, communicate with them, persuade them to believe that change is possible (many of them are cynical and believe it is too late for India to become a developed, prosperous nation) and make them accept PPI is their hope.
Reaching urban voters and communicating with them is easier compared to rural voters. That is why PPI wants to access the urban voter first. PPI has identified the 4 metros, 24 state capitals, 20 A class cities and 12 B class cities as the first priority (list available on request). These urban centres have 80% of the 150 million urban voters. This identified geography comprises 110 parliamentary constituencies. Therefore PPI’s initial foray targets only 110 parliamentary constituencies.
What reinforces this plan of PPI is that as per Election Commission data, almost 75% of the middle class does not vote for one reason or another! So if PPI is able to obtain the support of even half of the middle class, success is possible. Do not forget, today winning candidates get only between 16 and 22 % of the total votes in their constituency! A figure easily overtaken by about 50% of the middle class votes!
So initially, only the urban middle class voter is in the PPI scheme of things. The rural voter shall be accessed only later when we have the visibility, the brand equity and a degree of parliamentary presence.
Q5 Will you target only the middle class and exclude other segments?
On the contrary, we are targeting every Indian who is awake to the need for change, who aspires for a better national quality of life and who can be accessed cost effectively.
For clarity, Indians who respond to this profile have to be broadly defined.
For want of a better collective description, we call them the middle class. They are our first target. That does not mean anyone is excluded. We beseech everyone to support PPI’s laudable cause.
Q6 How will PPI succeed when many other parties have failed?
PPI will succeed because PPI’s strategy is completely different. PPI’s strategy is different in three critical respects :
A PPI is not a personality driven endeavor. It is driven by progressive professionals and is devoid of sycophancy.
B PPI initially targets that section of Indians who are conscious to the need for change. PPI is therefore very focused.
C PPI is determined to bring systemic change top down, not bottom up.
Q7 How does one become a member and get involved in party activities?
Please register yourself at the website or just email us at coregroup@ppi.net.in
Membership application forms will be made available to you after evaluation.
You can get involved by undertaking any of the many exciting assignments on offer.
You are cordially invited to join in.
Q 8 Why is the party called ‘Professionals’ Party of India? Are only professionals allowed to join the party?
Not at all. Everyone is invited to join the Party. Change to good governance in a large country like ours can happen only collectively, when everyone joins in.
Now, why Professionals Party of India. The reasons for choosing the name are :
1 Despite all our strengths and wealth, India is still a dirty, poor, badly governed third world country where almost 400 million people languish in sub human conditions, without education, electricity, flowing water or sanitation. And the rest of us are subjected to the humiliation of the third world tag without our actually deserving it. If properly governed, India can be a beautiful first world nation in five years.
Some body has to be responsible for this pathetic state of affairs.
Do an analysis yourself. You will find many sections of governance responsible, yes. But analyze deeper, and you will find that the largest share of the blame for the current state of affairs rests with the politicians at the centre.
Now analyze the politician. And you will find he lacks the professional competence needed to run such a large country, (and indeed the moral fibre required for the job). Don’t be impressed by their “spin” that so and so is from that university and so and so is a great economist etc. All hog wash. Because if that were really so, we would not have been in this squalid mess after 60 years of self governance. We would not have had a “Planning Commission”, which could not even plan to prevent a crippling shortage of electricity, which a class nine student could have foreseen and planned for.
Anyway, so what is the solution?
Indians with proven professional competence and expertise and moral fibre must be in positions of governance. There are plenty of such Indians, many in India and some who have fled to foreign lands.
If such professional competence can be brought into government at the highest level, the quality of governance will dramatically change. Such professionals can then implement the progressive PPI Manifesto and bring relief to the 400 million Indians first and that will be the beginning of the process that will improve the quality of life of every Indian.
This need to bring India’s vast pool of highly qualified professionals into the main stream politics of India is one reason why our Party is called the Professionals Party of India.
2 Over the years a number of political parties have been formed in India and all of them meant well. Despite this, none of them made an impact on the electorate. It is perhaps because they were all set up on conventional wisdom, rather than researched strategy.
PPI researched the subject for years and then decided on a thoroughly vetted strategy. Part of the strategy is that the name of the Party should generate a picture of what we stand for. Hence this name. This name instantly stands out, as is evident from the exposure our Party has already received, compared to all the others most of whom are much older than ours.
3 India is a young country where the average national age is below thirty. You have to have a name that impresses them as modern and progressive, and resonating with the forward looking world. A name they can relate with and trust. Hence PPI.
4 A new, progressive forward looking political Party with cutting edge strategy must have a name that stands out. Many names were considered but discarded because of their blandness. A name that intends to please everyone will evoke no emotion and will not differentiate a powerful movement that has set out national goals for itself. Differentiation is very crucial. Look at our majestic tricolor for example. Would you have liked a white flag instead? Very doubtful. Happily for us, every segment of our nation’s people that we have come in contact with has commented on our identity in glowing terms. Professionals Party of India is an emerging brand that grabs attention immediately.
5 Finally, what is in a name after all. Look at the purpose and objective of this noble movement and join in.
PART – II
ABOUT OUR MANIFESTO
Q 1 No taxes?
There is a misunderstanding. The PPI Manifesto talks about abolition of PERSONAL INCOME TAX not of all taxes!
Here is the logic. A little over one percent of the entire nation pays personal income tax. This one percent is clearly the most productive of Indians.
A tax which takes from only one odd percent of the population is considered by many to be a penalty on them for being productive! In most countries (we hate to compare but because you live in a foreign country, we will make an exception here!) where personal IT is collected, the percentage of those who pay exceeds 50% of their people.
The cost of collecting this tax is also believed to be disproportionate to the cost of collecting other taxes, say Excise. Besides, the reduction in revenue as a consequence of this change can be easily compensated by a fractional increase in central excise, revenue from which also goes to the same central kitty!
Now imagine, if this PERSONAL INCOME TAX was abolished, how it will motivate the most productive people in the population! Remember the average Indian is only in the region of 27 years of age. They will be encouraged to be even more productive. They will have greater disposable incomes, something which spurs the economy. Besides, as personal IT is mostly from corporates, the Income Tax thus not deducted at source will still go to the banking system, which is under the RBI’s control anyway!
Until the national economy grows to the extent that at least 30% to 40% of the population falls in the personal income tax bracket, there is no case in India to continue with PERSONAL INCOME TAX, unless it serves the purpose of harassing the people at will.
(Note : Even other political parties who have educated office bearers are seized of this logic but lack the courage to act. So they do the next best thing : clamour for substantial reduction in personal IT rates! While on the subject, PPI Manifesto also recommends scrapping of imbecilic taxes like Octroi and Fringe Benefit Tax. The latter has been scrapped this year and Octroi will also go in time.)
Q 2 Priority on urban beautification – please! Get real!
Urban centres have several times higher population density than other parts of the country. That is part of the reason for the filth and squalor in our cities, other than gross ignorance and incompetence of city fathers.
Urban centres are gateways to the nation and are universally viewed as standard bearers of the quality of life in a country. Beautification intrinsically involves better housekeeping and consequently better hygiene. Unless you have cities which look clean and inviting, the rest of the country has no example to emulate. In India, you have to start cleaning up somewhere. We really cannot continue to live like this for ever. Starting in the urban centres will have the greatest positive impact on the national quality of life.
Ask your friends this question : Have you seen anyone spitting in a five star hotel lobby? The answer will be no. Then ask “And have you seen anyone spitting outside the fiver star hotel?” My guess is they will say yes.
This is the impact environment has on us. If you are in a clean environment, you respond by being clean and dignified. It is in the same vein that we drive so badly in India. The overall chaos on our streets impacts our thought process and makes us behave chaotically too (there is a PPI research paper available on this subject).
By the way, try this experiment. Take a photograph of one of our busy city streets. Any city. You will see lots of hoardings in the picture. Now digitally remove the hoardings from this photograph. And look how clean and beautiful the same city instantly looks in the picture!
Also remember that a large proportion of the national wealth is generated in cities. City residents now live in filth, squalor and pollution. It is not fair. They deserve a better deal for the taxes they pay.
(Note : Development of a country requires scores of things to happen simultaneously as each act impacts the other. Don’t rush into believing your first socialistic instinct is right! Do you know, there are no hoardings in that ridiculous “VIP” area of Delhi?
By the way, stay cautioned that soon you will hear objections to the reference in the PPI Manifesto to developing Golf Courses. You should be aware that it creates employment, reduces pollution, beautifies a city, brings prestige, improves the ambience, brings in top end tourists and gives a section of society a healthy pastime. And as though to vindicate the PPI Manifesto, 16 golf courses have sprung up in the Delhi region alone. How many?
Also stay cautioned that confusing progressive ideas with elitism is popular and widespread. Don’t fall for it.
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