ELECTION SISPAL VIHAR AWHO SOCIETY

All postal votes have been sent and now all candidates are awaiting  response from out station voters. I sincerely hope that the response matches the enthusiasm of the candidates.  We all crib about non performance by the MPs/ MLAs/ Local Body Councilors / RWA Members, but when the time comes for voting we always have some excuse as to why we cannot vote and feel what difference can one vote make.  Please do remember that in a small establishment like a RWA One vote can make all the difference.  Please do send your postal vote.

Each vote sent will ensure that the Society will get a Management Committee it deserves.  Remember our's is a new Society and needs Members who will ensure that they lay down a strong  foundation for a  RWA which becomes self sustaining in times to come. 

ELECTIONS SISPAL VIHAR

      Please remember the election date is 25 September 2011. The polling booth will be established in the Sispal Vihar Club in the  second floor. The voting is from 1000 hours  to 1500 hours. The counting of votes will be completed the same day and results announced by 26 September 2011.

    All Members located in the NCR Region must come and vote for the  management Committee you want. Do not waste your vote either by NOT VOTING or by voting for a candidate you know nothing about. Do remember that in a small voter base as our society one vote CAN make a difference.  Do vote.

Election Politics

As usual the election politics has affected the Sispal Vihar elections also. We have dummy candidates et el who in the same breath are talking about ethics. How can officers stoop so low as to copy the  politicians, the  irony is  that the  gentleman in question told me a few  days back that he visited the Anna Hazare's gathering at Ramlila Maidan and was greatly affected by the great man.

Why do people think that others are so naive and just  by talking big one can impress others? Life has changed  and with the exposure to the media, interaction with friends, access to the net ,people have become smart  and make very informed choices.

I sincerely hope that the Members vote for a good team which can do justice to the job at hand.

VOTING FOR SISPAL VIHAR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The voting date is coming near. six members and one joint secretary have been elected un opposed. Time has now  come for voting for the main office bearers i.e. President, Vice President, Secretary and the Treasurer.

Please remember that these are very important functionaries  of the Society or the main " KARTA DHARTA" , and believe me if you are no able to distinguish the chaff from the grain, the Society will have a tough two years period ahead.  Please use your experience and vote for the right candidate, check up his past record, if he has been part of the RWA or how do the residents perceive him if you are a Member Not staying in Sispal Vihar. This is most important, send a mail, talk on telephone, but you must find out the detailed back ground of the candidate from your friend staying in the Society before you make up your mind to vote. Do remember that Maturity and Experience cannot be faked, either one has it or does not have it. Do vote for candidates who are mature, hard working and have adequate experience and lastly HAS TIME for the RWA work.

I very sincerely hope and believe that all Members will use their experience and "VIVEK" when voting. DO MAKE IT A POINT TO VOTE. Do not depend on some one else to elect a Management Committee you would like to be in charge of the Society.

Best of luck and hoping for an active participation from all members.

POINTS REMEMBER WHEN YOU VOTE

     

      Voting for the right candidate can be tricky. They all want your vote so they all make the best promises they can think of. Which one should you pick? How should you choose?


SO DO REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING WHEN YOU VOTE:




 1.      VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO IS MATURE , CREDIBLE AND HAS EXPERIENCE.


2.       DO NOT VOTE JUST BECAUSE THE CANDIDATE IS FROM YOUR SCHOOL, REGIMENT, CASTE OR IS KNOWN TO YOU. VOTE ONLY IF YOU THINK HE IS QUALIFIED FOR THAT JOB.


3.       VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS TIME TO ATTEND RWA MEETINGS AND CAN CONTRIBUTE POSITIVELY FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE SOCIETY.


4.    DO REMEMER IN THE LAST RWA  A NUMBER OF MEMBERS RESIGNED AND SOME DID NOT ATTEND RWA MEETINGS REGULARLY.


5.    VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO BELIEVES IN TRANSPARENCY OF THINGS.


6.    VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO IS LIKELY TO BE AVAILALE 24/7 TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS.


7.     VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO IS AN EFFECTIVE LEADER.


8.      VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO HAS A VISION AND A ROAD MAP IN PLACE.


9.      VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO IS HARD WORKING.


10     VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO IS RESIDING IN THE SOCIETY ONLY.

CREDIT RATING AGENCIES

 Many of us have either bought shares at some time or the other. We generally go by what the Credit Rating Agencies like CRISIL, S&P, CARE or MOODYS, or FITCH. But how many of us are really aware as how do these agencies work. Do you know for example that the client pays for the ratings? That many a times there is a conflict of interest between the rating agencies, the client and the common investor. Generally an investor normally bases his decision for investment in the financial market on the reviews of Credit Rating Agencies. But do they really do their job in an unbiased and open manner. The answer is NO.

The Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) insist that they have a strong incentive to maintain the highest quality of rating, since issuers will approach a CRA for ratings only if its opinions carry credibility with investors whom they are trying to access. Nevertheless, there are questions about whether all CRAs adopt uniformly high governance and process standards. But unfortunately this is not true. The SATYAM scam and the role of  Water Price Cooper is well known for me to give details here. Then the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parikh Stock Market Scam is again well known. In both the cases the CRA's did nothing to warn the investors. Do you know that the Credit ratings of  most of the top banks of the US which were involved in the financial scam in 2004 - 2008 had their Credit ratings as A or A+ (meaning high degree of safety) one week before some of them just collapsed. This could not have happened without their connivance or the Rating System is rigged by Big Corporates and banks. Did you know that in in 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government quietly borrow billions, people familiar with the transaction said. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means. 


Do you know that the famous Insurance Firm AIG has been fined millions of dollars each year from 2003 to 2006. Similarly CitiBank was also fined millions of dollars between 2002 and 2005.  Check this out for details.


So what does the common investor do?? Avoid over reliance on ratings by these CRAs and use common sense. Remember any deal which seems to be too lucrative is really too good to be true. Avoid it.

The everpresent BABUDOM in our RWA

Babudom . This is a noun used informally in South Asia. It means  bureaucracy as allegedly created and perpetuated by babus. Also called babucracy. I used to think this term and such specimen are only present in government organisations and other civil agencies. How wrong I was.I have been encountering them daily in the RWA meetings. The purpose of a bureaucracy is to successfully implement the actions of an organization of any size, but unfortunately in our Society we have turned it into a fine art on how to ensure that a thing is not done in time. The Committee meetings remind me of the following sayings:

" A committee is a thing which takes a week to do what one good man can do in an hour.  ~Elbert Hubbard"   

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.  ~John Kenneth Galbraith.

 The RWA has certainly turned this into a fine art on how to ensure things are not done in time. 

Will things change???????? May be not in the immediate future, people are too stuck in the 19th Century Grove, where computer is an alien thing, consulting others is not heard off and taking suggestions from others below dignity. All things must be done by hand, cannot depend on the computer are still the moto. 

Am I being too pessimistic ?? May be, but this is one time I sincerely hope I am proved wrong..................

 

I had been very busy with my job as the Secretary.  Nearly one year has passed and one can now look back and access the year that has gone by.

There are a number of issues which need to be addressed in a new Society. We had no office, staff or operating procedures or other admin staff we could bank on. To add to our woes,some of the RWA  Members resigned within three months for various reasons, some valid and some not so valid .

It took some three months just to get the office going. Hiring of staff was a long drawn process, we had to change some three clerks before we got the staff we feel we want. Then came the process of writing the Bye Laws and getting them approved and getting the Society Registered. Taking over of the Society and having a running battle with AWHO was an on going process. We did succeed in places and in some AWHO did not respond to our satisfaction. We are still in the process of taking on the AWHO head on, and I sincerely hope we succeed in our endeavour to tame the "BEAST".

The one aspect which consumed all my energy and time , apart from taking over, was the shortlisting of vendors for House keeping and Security. The RWA Members had divergent views on this, it used to be difficult to come to a conclusion. sadly these discussions were long drawn and I feel not too constructive. Never thee less now we have reached a stage where the internal office  organisation is more or less stablised. We now have to concentrate on running the Society, some thing for which we did not get the time we wanted , because of our pre occupation with AWHO and other such issues.

One thing which became clear with time is that AWHO had really short changed us by providing a poorly planned society where even the basic amenities like water, back up electricity and lifts not meeting the minimum standards. Little did I realise that this is what was going to consume my time, energy and mental peace. More on this later on.

I thought Army does not take part in active politics, but how wrong I was. I think in fact I am sure that politics has become the active ingredient of all Societies now. Sad but true.

More on the aims, objectives which I had set for my self and how far have I been able to achieve them.

Take care.

Deepak