Hemant Kumar

My morning routine

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 07:31:00 +0000

Everyone has a morning routine of some sort — whether by design or by default. Mine isn’t always early, but it’s intentional. No matter when I wake up, I try to begin with a few quiet moments of guided meditation and affirmation. I recite a mantra and then remind myself of some of the teachings of Guru Gopal Das and Dandapani that have resonated with me. I’m far from mastering their teachings, but returning to them each morning helps me focus on what truly matters.

Be the best version of yourself

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves - Thomas Edison

We are here for a limited amount of time, think about the future version of yourself, whether it’ll be able to look back and say That was well worth it, I wouldn’t have changed it for anything? You might not always end up where you expected, but did you get somewhere better and did you give it your best shot with absolutely everything that you had?

Know yourself, know your goals, hold yourself accountable and strive to grow every day. The more we know about ourselves, the more power we have to be better.
Small daily habits are powerful reminders of where you want to go. Positive affirmations, clear visualisations, and staying focused on your goals keep you energised. Sure, some tasks are dull, but they’re stepping stones toward something bigger. It’s all about training your mind to make those habits a part of who you are - eventually, they become second nature and shape your future.
You are one of your kind, your perspective, shaped by your experiences, is unlike anyone else’s, and that gives you a special edge in solving problems. The world needs your ideas and creativity, so don’t let limiting beliefs hold you back. You have something special to offer, and it’s worth pushing beyond any boundaries to unlock it.

Increase your standard of living

Life is finite, decide on what and with whom you want to spend it.

Zero in on what truly counts—your life and connections. Cut out the noise, and draw a clear line between instant and delayed rewards, between what drives you from the outside and what pulls you from within, between fleeting pleasure and enduring joy. Pleasure, often rooted in the senses, is transitory and somewhat restricted, while joy stems from aligning with your true self and has a more lasting impact.
Starting new things is exciting and fun but finishing what you have started can be a long drawn out process. It is very easy to lose interest and move on to something else. Keeping your goals in mind, eliminate distractions, refine your focus and learn to stay with a problem long enough to solve it. Keep your awareness on one thing for an extended amount of time, persevere and finish what you start.
Have a plan. Planning for now and later, set up a schedule, and stick to it. It’s like giving yourself the power to design your life the way you want. At the end of each day, if you’ve stuck to your plan, you’re a bit closer to your valued goals.

Go with the flow

Adapt and adjust to obstacles coming your way. Instead of saying ‘I can’t do that’ ask ‘How can I do that?’ or instead of ‘That’s just the way I am’ ask ‘How can I be different?’ A statement closes the mind but a question opens up the mind. Persevere, be flexible, be like the river ganga that finds its way to its destination in spite of all the hurdles that come its way.
Rather than worrying about things outside your control, focus on the things you control and strive for excellence within your circle of influence. The positive energy we exert will cause our circle of influence to expand.
See challenges as opportunities - Situations and circumstances are out of your control but how you respond to those situations is completely in your hands.

Don’t live the life of “I”

Pursuing personal well-being is a worthwhile goal, however it can have an even greater effect if it is done with the goal of helping someone else.

Instead of trying to get something from the world, consider what you can offer. When you approach life with a mindset of offering rather than taking, people are more likely to connect with and appreciate you.
Notice the good. It sounds cliché, but taking a moment to recognise what’s going well — even if it’s something small, helps you stay positive. Instead of starting the day thinking of what you lack, focus on what you have. It’s probably a lot.

Find real peace

Learn to be comfortable while being uncomfortable, like a lotus rising unstained from muddy waters, embodying purity and resilience.

In stressful situations, notice when your instinctive mind takes over, driving emotional reactions of anger or fear. Silence can be powerful when your ideas are challenged - pause and reflect before responding.
Detach from the issue at hand; you are not defined by it. Distance allows you to think clearly and separate emotions from your true self.
Zoom out and learn to let things go. Remember, at the end of the day all you are striving for is to be free (mukt) of sorrow, anxiety and fear - to be in a tranquil state of well being, so before getting into an argument or fighting over a position think whether it will lead you towards freedom (mukti).

Now, these might seem like lofty practices that don’t feel natural and are well beyond your immediate reach but the key is to aim high, change the way you talk to yourself, and persist in your daily routine to make things happen. The practices that I have shared didn’t come naturally to me, but with belief and consistency, you can reprogram your subconscious mind. It’s important to remember, though, that knowing something and fully embodying it are two different things. The reality you’ve lived for years won’t change overnight. Progress can feel slow, and at times you may doubt if you’re moving forward. But true transformation takes patience. Be kind to your present self—it’s the only thing that can take you to your future self.

Demonetisation: Surgical strike or carpet bomb

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 10:46:00 +0000

At 8pm on the 8th of November prime minister Narendra Modi announced that from midnight all 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee notes would cease to be legal tender. This deliberate shock demonetisation policy was announced with the following 3 main objectives:

Removal of counterfeit currency
Stamping out black money
Move towards a cashless economy

This was a bold move as a surprise of this nature is meant to disrupt an economy in which 90% of all transactions are conducted in cash and the two cancelled notes account for 86% of all the currency in circulation. This was both economically and politically a risky move . The prime minister even had to make an emotional plea to the nation to back him and stick with the hardships caused by demonetisation for 50 days. In the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of anguish and distress amongst the general public with hours of queues outside banks and even deaths being reported.

The media has called this a surgical strike on black money and corruption. Is this really a game changer that will get rid of the black money and corruption in India or are we paying too high a price for a supposedly elusive benefit? Let’s begin by looking closely at the three objectives individually.

Removal of counterfeit currency

Benefit: Funding for terror and other subversive activities in counterfeit currency will be removed.

Does demonetisation achieve removal of counterfeit currency? Yes! Was this the only way of going about doing this? No! A phased out release of new currency would have achieved the same objective without starting a panic that we are seeing today in the financial system. A lot of countries do this all the time in a managed way, by introducing redesigned bills to improve security of the currency. A shock to the system or the so called surgical strike does mean less time for the counterfeiters to move their money around but it also means giving less time to genuine traders and small time businesses to get on with their daily trade. That is why we are seeing a lot of disruption in the unorganised economy.

Stamping out of black money

Benefit: Approximately $14 to $44 billion of back money will be extinguished.

According to the Ministry of Finance 2012 report, roughly 6 percent of the total black money is held in cash. Large proportions of black money is invested in real estate or gold and most of all moved abroad. Only a fraction of the funds received from illicit tax evading activities is kept in cash. Therefore the amount recovered due to demonetisation is a very small proportion. Even the 6 percent might not be completely coming back into the banks as people who hold that cash could and are laundering their black money by paying anywhere between 10 to 30%. Although the shock therapy prevents hoarders from diverting their money quickly but the target is too small to fetch or remove the entire $14 to $44 billion.

Move towards a cashless economy

Benefit: Higher traceability of transactions, more businesses come under the tax net, higher revenues for government.

Did you imagine a chaiwala or a newspaper vendor getting paid via paytm? It is happening now, not because of choice but out of necessity. The shock therapy has definitely made people come up with innovative ideas to support their businesses as their livelihoods are at stake. This would not only widen tax collection as more transactions come under the tax net but prevent inaccurate invoicing by companies, under reporting of sales values and reporting non-existent transactions. However, this will take long and there will be a lot of pain in the interim especially in the rural economy until the new notes come into wider circulation. The two cancelled notes account for 86% of all the currency in circulation; over 90% of all transactions are conducted in cash, and over 85% of workers get their incomes in cash.

What happens next?

So is all the pain worth going through? The honest answer is we don’t know yet. A lot will depend on the follow up. There is little doubt about the sincerity of the move but the lack of planning and shoddy execution without thinking through the consequences has meant major disruption of the market economy. This has had an adverse impact on the unorganised sector which accounts for 40% of GDP and 80% of all employment, causing severe hardships especially for the casual daily wagers and farmers who depend solely on cash. Given the government wanted to go ahead with demonetisation, it could have in advance, infused a far greater number of 100-rupee notes into the economy and printed a greater quantity of 500-rupee and 2000-rupee notes to avoid some of this disruption and pain.

To think that a single surgical strike will end corruption and expunge all black money would be naive. In order to to remove the roots of corruption, what is needed is structural and fundamental reforms in the areas of major sources of corruption i.e, tax, real estate and political funding. Demonetisation is barely scratching the surface, if the follow up to it is a carpet bomb of reforms we may have a chance against corruption, otherwise precious time will continue to be wasted in debating the worth of this move while notebank politics continues.