| Need For Retirement Home Guidelines for Maharashtra & Sessions in May |
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| Dear Moneylifers, |
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 Greetings! The people of India have voted the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) back for another five years with a huge majority. From our perspective, we are happy that Mr Hardeep Singh Puri retains the important portfolio of Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs along with his hugely expanded responsibilities in Civil Aviation as well as Commerce and Industry. It was Mr Puri's empathy and initiative that ensured the release of a set of guidelines for regulation of Retirement Homes in India just before the general elections were announced. |
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| Since realty is a state subject, it is now up to us to push every state government to adopt the guidelines. Here is a link to the guidelines released by the government. The need for safe and secure retirement homes is important for India's future as our population ages. I urge each and every Moneylifer to take a look at it and write to the Chief Minister/Chief Secretary of your state to adopt the guidelines. Moneylife Foundation will always be there to help you explain the details and the necessity for protecting elders who opt to move to the security and serenity of Retirement Homes or Townships. Remember, these are elders who are financially self-sufficient, have paid their dues to society and government and are not asking for doles, but only security, governance and rule of law. |
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| To this end, Yogesh Sapkale, our Director-Projects made a beginning by presenting the guidelines to Mr Rajkumar Badole, Minister for Social Justice & Special Assistance and Secretary, Mr Dinesh Waghmare, on 4 June 2019 at a meeting on senior citizens issues. |
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| Responding our request, Mr Badole suggested Mr Waghmare to send a note to the state Urban Development department for releasing similar guidelines for Maharashtra as well. Since the Hon. Chief Minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis, holds the portfolio of Urban Development in Maharashtra, we hope to have an equally positive response and that he will ensure that Maharashtra is the first state in the country to issue Model Guidelines for Retirement Homes. If you agree, do send a tweet to the CM with a request. Here is a model tweet you can use with a link to the guidelines: | |
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| ".@Dev_Fadnavis Please consider issuing Model Guidelines for Retirement Homes in Maharashtra as those issued by @HardeepSPuri https://www.scribd.com/document/412546477/MoHUA-Retirement-Homes-Model-Guidelines-Book using @MoneylifeF Retirement Homes Report http://foundation.moneylife.in/memorandums/#" |
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| With summer in full flow, we have had several important seminars and discussions. But let me first alert you on the forthcoming ones: |
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| Planned Programmes: |
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| 7th June 2019: "Urban Infrastructure Challenges in Mumbai" - Alpa Sheth, MD VMS Consultants Pvt. Ltd. |
 Recent problems with unsafe bridges highlight the lack of attention to Mumbai's crumbling infrastructure and the absence of sensible, low cost repair and maintenance solutions. Ms Alpa Sheth, a highly qualified and respected structural engineer will speak about the urgent challenges that Mumbai faces. |
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| Time & Location: 5-7pm at Moneylife Foundation's Knowledge Centre |
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| 8th June 2019: "How to File Banking Complaints Correctly" - DG Kale, former CGM at RBI |
 The Banking Ombudsman's report says that many complaints are rejected as they are not in the right format. Mr Kale will be sharing his knowledge on the basics of filing complaints with the banking ombudsman. Register Here |
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| Time & Location: 4-6pm at Moneylife Foundation's Knowledge Centre |
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| 12th June 2019: "Tips & Tricks for the Lazy RTI User" - Krishnaraj Rao, RTI Activist |
 Filing RTIs can be a time consuming process and often you might become frustrated with the process. Come and learn from activist Krishnaraj Rao some tips and tricks to help you overcome these problems and become an efficient RTI user. Register Here |
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| Time & Location: 5-7pm at Moneylife Foundation's Knowledge Centre |
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| 14h June 2019: "Fire Safety & Prevention" - Shivajirao Bagat, Deputy Controller of Civil Defence |
 Fire safety has never been a more important subject than it is now, with a considerable rise in the number of fire accidents in Mumbai and other cities around India. We have once again invited, Mr Bagat from Civil Defence to talk about Fire Safety and tips to prevent fire accidents. Register Here |
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| Time & Location: 4-6pm at Moneylife Foundation's Knowledge Centre |
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| Programmes this month: |
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| Self-Redevelopment is an exciting prospect for homeowners, but it can also be a harrowing and challenging proposition. Our members have long been asking us for a session on Self-Redevelopment and we reached out to our expert on such matters, Sulaiman Bhimani to deliver a comprehensive talk. Along with Advocate Devang Mehta, partner at Solicis Lex and Mr Prashant Khandelwal, COO at Agami Realty, Mr Bhimani covered all aspects of self-redevelopment - the entire process, challenges expected and drawbacks of going through such a process. The session was very well attended and if you missed out this time around, you can still watch a video recording of the session on our YouTube Channel. Please send us a mail at [email protected] if you would like us to organise another such session. |
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| We also had DG Kale, retd. CGM, RBI talk about maximising rewards and cashbacks from smartphone apps. It is testament to Mr Kale's vast knowledge that his talks always cover the topic from all aspects. We are organising another session with him on Saturday 8 June, where he will explain the proper way of filing complaints with your bank. The topic is of great importance to us all as a recent report from RBI indicates that most complaints to the Banking Ombudsman are rejected because they are in the wrong format. |
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 As always we conduct these sessions free of cost and can only do so because of your donations. If you have benefited from such talks or from guidance received from our counselors, and would like to support our effort, we request you to do so by making a small donation. |
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| RTI Centre |
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| On the RTI front, we had activist Anand Bhandare and one of his volunteering students give an inspirational talk on how RTI applications can be used to evaluate local municipal corporators. Although this past year, he has only been able to conduct evaluations on 17 corporators, with the help of more volunteers and concerned citizens, he is expecting to cover a large range this time around. If you are concerned about your local corporator and are interested in conducting such an evaluation yourself, then please contact Mr Bhandare at [email protected]. |
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| Veteran RTI activist Anil Galgali conducted the other valuable RTI session, talking about his most successful RTI applications and lessons that can be learned from his experiences. Mr Gagali often files RTIs on civic issues and has been instrumental in bringing to light several important issues in and around Mumbai. If you could not attend this important session, you can still view a video recording published on our YouTube Channel here. |
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| We are also open to conducting such RTI workshops at your organisation at no cost to you. All we would require is access to your meeting hall or an auditorium for a seating for more than 100 people with your suggestions or requests. |
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| As always, if you are not a Mumbaikar, you can catch our events on Facebook live or watch them on our YouTube Channel. |
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| Moneylife TV |
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| The Moneylife TV has reached over 28.70 lakh views with almost 27,426 active subscribers. You can watch our videos from almost any part of the globe and enrich yourself. If you do not want to miss out on any of our videos then do subscribe to the Moneylife channel on YouTube here. |
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| Even better, become a Member of Moneylife Foundation and join 1,06,881+ others so that you receive updates to our events, their coverage as well as access to our extremely valuable Credit Helpline and Legal Resource Centre absolutely free. To join now, click here |
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| Helplines |
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| Legal Resource Centre: We have handled 1,945 queries since inception, thanks to the generous help and guidance by senior activists. |
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| Every Monday, Mumbai-based "Free Press Journal" is publishing a column "Your Housing Problems & Solutions" based on queries answered by our Experts at the LRC. So far, we have provided answers to more than 185 queries from readers of the newspaper. |
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| Our FREE Credit Helpline has answered over 3,785 cases. Spread the word, so that those with a low score can get help from us. |
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| Remember, you can benefit from our work from all over the globe through our videos and helplines (Credit Helpline and Legal Resource Centre). They are all offered free of charge, but please do reciprocate by introducing our work to at least 10 people and getting them to become members. Also, if you have benefited from our work and would like to show your support, you can donate |
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| Thank you for your support and look forward to your good wishes always. |
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| Best regards, |
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| Sucheta Dalal |
| Founder-Trustee, Moneylife Foundation |
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| Trustees: TS Krishnamurthy, Dr KC Chakrabarty, Walter Vieira, Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu and Dr Anupam Saraph. Special Invitee: Adv Jamshed Mistry | | | | Moneylife Foundation is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Mumbai, is an Affiliate member of OECD's International Network on Financial Education, is a Supporter Member of Consumers International, Development Partner of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), and is a winner of the 10th MR Pai Memorial Award. | | |  | | | | Donations are eligible for tax benefits under Sec 80G of the Income Tax 1961 (50% tax exemption) and MLF is registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. 80(G) Reg No: DIT(E)/MC/80G/685/2010-11 dated 7.2.11 effective 8.+9.2010 | FCRA Registration No: 083781387   | | | |
