Online Public Grievance

Department of Public Grievance (PG)

Government of India has a Online Grievance Forum at http://pgportal.gov.in
You can use this portal to file grievance against any department of the Central Government or State Government. The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they face while dealing with Government officials or Departments like Police, Passport Office, Electricity boards, BSNL, MTNL, Railways etc.

Here is the link for lodging your grievances online: Online Public Grievance Lodging and Monitoring System
First step is an option to choose whether your grievance is related to Pension or Public. In the next step is a detailed form whose first option is to choose whether it is related to Central Government or some State Government and subsequently it lists various ministries and departments.

Delhi Government

Delhi Government's Grievance Portal: http://www.pgms.delhi.gov.in
For complaints related to departments of Delhi Government

To write to any Delhi Government minister include Chief Minister directly use email addresses of each of them provided on their website:
Cabinet Ministers

Don't get Cheated

Don't get cheated by Emails / SMSs / Calls / Fake Credit Cards / Lottery wins promising you MONEY

They are fake, howsoever “official” or attractive they may appear.
No Bank, Public body or RBI sends such Emails / SMSes / Makes call to members of public.

• DO NOT send any money to anyone in the hope of getting huge sum of money in return.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not keep any money for any individual / entity / trusts ; nor does it maintain any such accounts.
• Never give the user id / password of your bank account / PIN of your credit / debit card to anyone.
• Do not allow anyone to use your bank account or credit / debit card.
• Immediately inform Police / Cyber Crime authorities upon receiving such email / phone call.
• No one can help you get your money back from fraudsters.

Please visit the official RBI website (www.rbi.org.in) for more details.

Remember... No one gives anyone money for free.

Newspaper offers in Delhi

Here is a list of Newspaper Offers in Delhi and NCR. Most of the local newspaper vendors will NOT give you information about these offers as it is cumbersome for them to claim their delivery money. These offers have existed for years but none of the local vendors tell about these to customers. If you subscribe to these offers then the newspaper company will give you coupons for each month which you hand over to the local vendor each month. This in turn helps them claim their distribution commission from newspaper company. The local vendors prefer cash over these coupons so they will never tell you about these offers. These offers are very good and help you save a lot of money, nearly 70% per year. In case you are already taking your preferred newspaper from the newspaper vendor then you might have to change or stop it for a few days to avail the offer. This offer is basically for new customers.

Cost of newspaper if you pay in Cash:
A typical newspaper cost of Rs.5/- per day (Rs. 7/- or 8/- on Saturday / Sunday) makes your Monthly bill equal Rs.150-170/-, which totals nearly Rs.2,000/- a year.

With these offers you save nearly 65% to 70% on your monthly newspaper billing. Average cost of monthly newspaper bill will be about Rs.55/- to Rs.60/- per month if you subscribe to any of the below offers on TOI, HT, ET etc. Tell your friends, neighbours and relatives about them. Call the numbers below for each vendor or email them if you want to subscribe.

Pranayam - for a healthy life

Practicing Yoga regularly can be a solution to all your health problems. Do Pranayam (regulated breathing) every day, even if its for 5-10 minutes, 20-30 minutes or more would be good. If possible twice a day. You can do them in the evening in case you can't manage the time in the morning. A lot of people who do it regularly have had tremendous gain, including the author. Even if there are some doubts about method, don't worry, start doing it.

There are five main Pranayams including Kapalbhati & Anulom-Vilom. Even if you do these two, it might be enough to change your life. Its important that you do them regularly, even if its for a very short duration like 10 minutes. First relax, sit in a comfortable position like Sukhasana or Padmasana and then do them. If you have issues with sitting cross legged etc then you can sit in a chair or even your bed. Just make sure your back is straight, i.e. the spine. If you can't sit for long without a support then you can lean on a wall, back rest or pillow,. You should be empty stomach. It is essential that you haven't eaten for at least 2-3 hours or more before Pranayam and an empty bowel is helpful (but not essential).

Eat Good Food to lead a balanced life

If you want to lead a good life it is essential that you eat good food all through. Eating regularly helps the stomach know what to expect when. Avoid eating junk food, especially between the meals. You would have heard of the adage "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper". Some of the essentials which you should follow are given below.

Eat a heavy breakfast

Eating a heavy breakfast keeps you high on the energy for the whole day even if any other meal gets delayed or even skipped. Eat good foodstuff like:

• Corn flakes, Muesli, Porridge (Daliya), Oats, Brown or Multi-grain bread (variants like Daliya bread), Indian Roti or Paratha or Tortia. Avoid white bread at all costs.
• Take hot or cold milk, flavour it with strawberry, chocolate or any other flavour you like. It is better to have milk rather than tea or coffee.
• Have juice, in case you have some issues with consuming milk. Make sure the juice has no added sugar and preservatives. If its just a habit, then you would do well to inculcate a habit of drinking milk. If adding some flavour helps you develop that habit, flavour it. Do not have any other carbonated beverages, especially black ones in the morning.

Look in the Mirror (Look at Yourself, Look Within)

The prime purpose of life in addition to the higher purposes is to be a socially adjusted human being. If we can live in this world without hurting anybody, living a happy life, supporting our family, friends and community and most of all contributing to the welfare of the society then we have done our duty. An important thing for all to understand is that living for oneself is something all living beings do. What differentiates us from animals, birds, fish is the ability to live for others, contribute for the upliftment of the society and help the underprivileged. Its not too difficult to live for oneself. The important thing is living a life which helps others and gives a positive contribution to the society.

To be a socially adjusted and normal person its very important that we are honest to ourselves. We accept our weaknesses, understand and use our strengths to overcome our weaknesses and give our best to the world. Nobody is perfect, even if you do your work well, spend time with family, friends and community, support, contribute to their welfare and be present when they need you in times of need. In fact it might not be possible to have a definition of "perfect". After doing your best, you can still keep asking yourself, am I doing enough. Can I optimize further. Can I use my time much better. Can I use my assets, including money to further help the society. Till there is scope for improvement, you cannot be perfect. So its ok if you strive to be perfect but even if you are not. The other most important reason for you to introspect and reach near perfection is that you are happy. On a selfish note, its important that we are all happy so that we give our best to the world.

Lead an Earth friendly life

Some tips to be environment friendly

• Save Water, Paper, Petrol / Gas, Electricity & Food. Our future depends on it. And our children's too.
• Use minimal resources and Generate minimal waste. Our children will thank us for leaving a livable planet for them.
• Plant a tree and nurture it till it can stand on its own.
• Do NOT buy highly packaged stuff.
• Take a bag to the market when you go for shopping or grocery &  other purchases.

At Home

Save Water

• Keep the water used for washing clothes. Use that water in toilet.
• Use the water from your filters (Reverse Osmosis or others) or washing machines in the toilet. Don't let it drain away.
• Read more ... Add new comment

Basic Tax Saving & Financial Planning

If you are young and started earning money then its time to start doing some basic financial planning and start saving money. Here are some tips on basic and simple financial planning in India which will help you build wealth and be financially secure.

Invest in Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) - Mutual Funds

Find out which ELSS mutual funds are giving good returns and invest money that you have in them. This is a better option that PPF account given below as the returns are much better (at least 10-15%), withdrawal is possible earlier than PPF and they are all tax free. Money is locked in for a minimum of three years. Here are some sample funds and the returns they have been giving over last few years. Check these two articles to get a better perspective: Equity Linked Savings Schemes and Performance Tracker - ELSS

Ingredients for Multi Grain Flour (Atta)

For healthy living you should eat Chapatis or Rotis (Tortilla / Pancake) made out of multi-grain Flour (Atta). Pure flour which includes roughage (or fiber) is better than the refined flour without any roughage (used by many hotels and restaurants) for making chapatis. Flour without roughage is like Maida (White flour) which is not at all good for healthy living (we have mentioned this in other articles like - Eat Good Food to lead a balanced life). For example, people suffering from piles are advised by doctors not to eat maida based products and white bread. Multi grain flour which can be made at most of your neighbourhood flour mills (chakki) is much better than pure flour, and even whole wheat flour so go for it. We have given some suggestions below on how to make it, what all ingredients are good in what season and the ratio of these ingredients. Feel free to change them and experiment with them in case other combination of these suit you or your family.

Higher Education for Free

With widespread proliferation of internet across the world, education is now available on the Internet. Thanks to some of the worlds prestigious universities and enterpreneurs working in them, higher education is now availble on the internet. In fact, a few websites are offering higher education for free now. People looking for University education for free have something to cheer about as they can get high quality world-class education directly from some of these universities or faculty from these universities for free. The icing on the cake is that they give out certificates when a student completes a course. These certificates are akin to actual certificates which you get when you do any full time course from any university and are valuable assets for any student. Its not that this education is easy, it involves the usual rigours of a classroom course. There are assignments, tough ones in addition to the easy ones and regular tests.

Here are two websites which we found to be good. They offer courses in Computer Science and other areas like Humanities, Medicine, Biology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Business etc.
http://www.udacity.com
http://www.coursera.org

Contact AAP MLAs and Ministers

To contact your local MLA you can either meet them or call on the Vidhan Sabha numbers. To meet Delhi MLAs check their schedule and office location*:
AAP Delhi MLAs Schedule

To contact Delhi Cabinet Ministers including Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia see Delhi Government portal specified below:

List of all Ministers including Chief Minister with their Office, Residence addressese and phone numbers:
http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit/Delhi+Govt/Delhi+Home/Departments/Executives/Ministers+Contact+Details

List of all Cabinet Ministers and their portfolios with some Contact information including Official Email Ids:
http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DoIT/delhi+govt/delhi+home/departments/executives/ministers

If you want to meet the Chief Minister of Delhi, he holds a Janta Darbar on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday every week at his residence
6, Flagstaff Road, Civil Lines, Delhi from 9.30-11 AM*. Here are some more details provided by our friend who went to meet the CM to help you prepare yourself better.

Broadband Plans & Providers in Delhi

Many companies are offering high speed broadband (internet) in Delhi now a days. Most of these Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide fibre optic connections to homes in specific areas only. Call and check if they provide service in your area. We also think totally Unlimited plans are better than plans with Fair Use Policy (FUP) limits. If you consider that then Excitel seems to be the best bet but their quality of service is not known yet. We believe Excitel has some restrictions (SMTP ports are blocked) on sending out emails. ACT,  Nextra and Airtel are costly service providers but ACT & Nextra have reduced their tariffs recently. The only additional advantage with Airtel plans is that you get a landline number and unlimited free calls but you actually pay for that as their plans are costly. All these connections are shared so be aware that 10 Mbps speed doesn't mean you will get 10 Mbps all the time and that its dedicated 10 Mbps for you. This 10 Mbps is usually shared between a few users. There are lot of local cable service providers in many areas of Delhi who give cheaper plans but their services are mostly unreliable.

Here is a comparison which will help you choose.