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Posted on 04 April, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
The late Ramnath Goenka was perhaps the most legendary amongst the media owners in the country. He fought the British and refused to succumb to the censorship in the Quit India Movement. He temporarily closed down his newspaper. During Emergency he rest everything at stake and was in the forefront for the battle for restoration of democracy. His defence of independent media is an example of the kind of assertion the media must have.
Ramnath Goenka was also a member of the Constituent Assembly. He made a legendary speech when the Fundamental Rights were being debated and the issue of Freedom of Expression and the restrictions to be imposed thereupon came up, he intervened. He envisaged a time where free media would be curtailed by pinching the pockets of the proprietors. A financially fragile media will always be weak.
Indiraji’s passionate dislike for free media was well-known. She used to refer to India’s leading newspapers as the ‘monopoly press’ or the ‘jute press.’ The Congress in the 1960’s and 1970’s experimented various misadventures. They wanted to link the cost of newspaper to the number of pages, restrict the size of the newspaper as also restricting the quantum of advertisements to be published. These restrictions were challenged and in the legendary cases of Sakal Newapaper, Indian Express Newspaper and finally in the 1974 historical judgement in the Bennett Coleman case the court delivering pro-press verdicts. The court upheld the argument that unlike other Fundamental Rights on which reasonable restrictions can be imposed, Freedom of Speech and Expression was a preferred right on which only such restrictions could be imposed which had nexus to restrictions mentioned in Article 19(2). Such restrictive measures, as mentioned above, were not permissible as they did not fall in the ambit of Article 19(2).
The other important mindset with which the Nehru-Indira era was that ‘large is evil’ and ‘small is better’. This led to restrictive legislations like the MRTP and the licencing requirements under the IDRA. With liberalisation, the Vajpayee Government demolished the former and the Narasimha Rao Government had significantly changed the latter.
The media and the Congress Manifesto
It must be borne in mind that Indiraji, during the Emergency, had revoked the Press Council Act and abolished the Press Council by an Ordinance. Today, the Congress wants to strengthen it and allow it to form a Code of Conduct on coverage of event of national interest. The issue is redundant since guidelines already exist. Initially where there were some stray cases of breach of those guidelines where the media organisations were given an advisory or a caution. Recently, on most occasions, the media organisations have borne the national interest in mind. Why regulate if the problem does not seriously exist?
It may be mentioned that the gentleman who drafted the manifesto is the same who had drafted the ill-fated Defamation Bill, 1988. That Bill provided for enhanced punishment for defamation, which was upto two years for the first offence and five years for subsequent offences. Today, while in Opposition, he wants to decriminalise defamation.
The more dangerous provision is contained in paragraphs 33(4) and 33(5) of the Manifesto. The first promises a legislation to curb monopolies and the other to bar cross media holdings of the different segments of the media. The ownership of media by group doing other business is sought to be restricted. These cases will be referred to the Competition Commission of India. Ramnath Goenka’s prophecy is coming true – Legislate and empower yourself to pinch the pocket of the media organisations. This is also the culmination of both the anti-media and the ‘large is evil’ conventional ideology of the Congress. A convergence of both left and dictatorial attitudes.
The manifesto is liberal towards terrorists, criminals and insurgents. But it demolishes otherwise the current structure of independent media in India. India has the privilege of having multiplicity of print, television, radio and now the digital media. As a political activist, I hold the view that if some media organisations are opposed to my Party’s viewpoint, they may constitute a miniscule share in the ocean of media news available. This applies to every other party. Ultimately, the enormity of the size of Indian media balances things out. Why is then a parliamentary legislation required? Such a parliamentary legislation is ill advised because:
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No restriction in Article 19(2) of the Constitution bears any nexus to the restriction now sought to be imposed. Just as the similar legislations of the decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s were struck down, the same will be vulnerable to any constitutional challenge.
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The concept of cross media holdings was relevant in the United States where within a geographical zone where the number of newspapers available in a city were either one or two. There was not even multiplicity of channels. With the advent of satellite, every citizen in India has access to hundreds of channels, multiple newspapers and digital mediums. Cross holding concept is an obsolete idea in India. There is no ‘real and imminent’ danger of a monopoly.
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With the advent of technology, the concept of cross media holdings stands demolished. NDTV runs a channel and it has a powerful website which serves the purpose of a newspaper. Many newspapers across the country, both national and regional, run news channels, digital websites, and even newspapers. How is public interest advanced that if you run one, medium, you should be barred from running another? Is there a ‘real and imminent danger’ of monopolies being created? Individual citizen like me also write a blog on the Facebook and the Twitter and also release in an audio/ video form. Technology has enabled this. The whole concept of cross holding that if you own one segment of media, you should be barred from having the other is technologically obsolete.
History has witnessed, both in the case of fake news and paid news, as also resistance to political and Governmental pressures professionally managed large organisation are less vulnerable. They have a muscle to resist. Why does the Congress want to unscramble a scrambled egg? This move will meet the fate of the 1988 Defamation Bill.
The dangerous idea in the media chapter
The dangerous chapter in the media paragraphs is contained in para 33(5). It promises a law to maintain the freedom of internet and not arbitrarily shut it down.
This power is generally exercised only when operations against terrorism and insurgency are in progress. They have to be exercised instantaneously. Restricting such power during anti-insurgency operations or where caste or communal violence is on, will hinder national interest. In some situations of either insurgent violence or massive social tensions, frenzies can be created on the social media. The mischief makers want to achieve that. The Congress wants the power of the security forces in this regard to be regulated.
The media chapter contains suggestions each one of which will regulate and restrict free journalism and otherwise multiplicity of Indian media. It is anachronic. It is not in tune with the times. However, even while drafting this chapter, a new facility is sought to be provided to the terrorists and the insurgents.
Posted on 03 April, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
How do parties and politicians fund themselves? Indian political parties were traditionally funded with cash i.e. black money. Many have now tried to get tax paid money due to the legislative changes and have started accepting donations either by cheque or through electoral bonds.
That, however, still does not fully answer the question. How many politicians lead a comfortable life without having any apparent and declared source of income? The Nehru-Gandhi family has been described by its supporters as India’s first family. It, therefore, should be a role model. Pt. Motilal Nehru gave up his law practice 98 years ago. Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru was a tall political leader who was never a practicing lawyer nor was Indiraji ever involved in any professional or business activity. The late Shri Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian Airlines pilot for a brief period and, thereafter, he was in full time politics. On the basis of the available information, neither Smt. Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi have ever worked for a living.
For generations the family did not earn from any commercial ventures. They were in public service. Most people in public life sacrifice their commercial careers and lead a frugal life. Most members of the Nehru-Gandhi family studied outside the country for the last four generations. Not many of them excelled in scholarship, with Panditji as an exception. All have led more than a comfortable life. They enjoyed vacations at multiple domestic and international locations.
The expose
An expose by media organisations revealed that the family owned a farm house in South Delhi which is now owned by the brother and sister of current generation of the family. Periodically tenancies are created in favour of persons many of whom needed help when UPA was in power. A capital creation programme was launched. Rentals are paid by obliging tenants in advance. It is unlikely that the tenants ever needed to live in Delhi because they have had no business operation in Delhi. Not only did they pay large quantum of rentals as advance through make believe tenancies, they also apparently paid for a large number of employees who managed the estate. The amount collected from these tenants through advance rentals and subsequently, the tenancies enabled the creation of the capital. Several crores of this capital thus created was invested with the real estate company under cloud and which, like the tenants, entered into a ‘sweetheart deal’ that from the moment the proposed buyer paid the advance towards the real estate to be purchased, one was paid back annually under an ‘assured income programme’. He thus got back a large part of his investment and the real estate.
Amongst the names of the tenants, the critical person is Jignesh Shah of FTIL and the real estate developer is M/s. Unitech builder through Sanjay Chandra. Who else would enter into such a ‘sweetheart deals’ except the ‘fly-by-night’ operators who needed State patronage?
Compromise of public interest through such questionable deals
Besides the reasonable apprehensions of the tenancies being an investment of ‘political equity’ by those entering into the ‘sweetheart deals’, what happened to Jignesh Shah? He had two companies – one with large quantum of assets and the other which had ostensibly duped lakhs of investors. The investors were insisting that the Central Government amalgamate two companies and thus out of the amalgamated assets, the duped investors be paid. Till 2014, the UPA Government did not take any action. The investment of political equity have brought returns. It is only when the NDA Government under Shri Narendra Modi was formed that the Department of Company Affairs passed the amalgamation order which has been upheld by the Mumbai High Court and is now pending challenge in appeal before the Supreme Court. If the Government succeeds, the duped investors will get their investment back. You needed a ‘Chowkidar’ to catch a ‘Chor. ’With regard to Unitech, the less said the better. Besides the 2G involvement at the time the favours were shown, many flat buyers had been duped, their monies siphoned off and the banks were not paid back. The promoters, including one with whom Rahul Gandhi signed the arrangement, is still in prison. Under the ‘sweetheart deal’ out of the instalments paid, most have been repaid back under the ‘assured income scheme.’ Capital creation through ‘sweetheart deals’ is exactly what Rahul’s brother-in-law did.
Here is a man who makes reckless allegations without any basis. It was no rocket science for him to know who were conferring him with largesse. He aspires to be a Prime Minister. Such aspirants like Caesar’s wife must be beyond suspicion. They must be unsuspectable. With tainted hands, he must at least remember that ‘people in glass houses do not throw stones.’ The ‘Chowkidar’ has finally caught a ‘Chor.’
Posted on 02 April, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
Sitting in Opposition from 2004-14, I used to listen to the tall promises in the Congress Budgets. An early lesson that I gave to myself was “Don’t go by what is said, the devil is always in the details”. In the little time available, I have read the 53 pages of the Congress Manifesto. My worst fears have come true.
The tukde-tukde Manifesto
At point No.30, at page 35, otherwise an innocuous entry which deals with review of laws, rules and regulations. It repeals Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code which defines and then punishes an accused in sedition. Even for terrorists and hardcore criminals, it underlines the principles “bail is the rule and jail is the exception.” It seeks to dilute the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) . After having been spurned on various occasions to have a dialogue with the separatists, who want to settle for nothing other than cessation from India, it promised to have a continuous dialogue with them. It promises to dilute the presence of the Armed Forces in the Valley.
The Congress is the principal creator of the Jammu and Kashmir problem. It created a special status; it unconstitutionally brought in Article 35A. It rigged the 1957, 1962, 1967 as also the 1988 Assembly elections. This eroded the confidence of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and now its Manifesto only brings smiles on the faces of the separatists and the terrorists. A reference to “Kashmiri Pandits’ and their ethnic cleansing from the Valley is conspicuously absent in the Manifesto.
The Congress has always been soft on terror. Late Shri Rajiv
Gandhi introduced TADA. Later the Congress revoked it. It revoked POTA. Now it wants to go further soft on separatism and terrorism.
There is only a lip sympathy in the assault required on Maoists violence, which Dr. Manmohan Singh had described as the greatest threat to India. In the recent elections, as also in the case of JNU and urban Maoists, Congress and Congressmen have always flirted with the Maoists as fellow travellers.
Nyay bluff
Most economists have already rubbished the Congress Party’s Nyay. Between the Centre and the States, we are already giving to the poorest 20 per cent much more than what Nyay promises. As the economy expands to depleting poverty, further amounts can also be increased. To my initial query whether it will be reworking of the existing schemes or over and above the existing, the Congress Spokesman boasted that it will be over and above. I went through the detailed paragraphs in point No.9 at page 19-20. It contains the following statements:
- Fiscal prudence will be maintained.
- There will be pilots and testing phases.
- It will be implemented in phases.
- On how it will be funded, the Congress says that it will be funded from the future expansion of the economy.
Nyay, in the Manifesto, has now become a joint scheme of Central and the State Governments thereby diluting the initial announcement. The State Governments may well suggest that these existing subsidies are more than what Congress promises? To the vexed question of what happens to the existing subsidies, the manifesto says that ‘only merit based subsidies will continue’. So the Centre will retain the power to say that some subsides can be subsumed, diluted or abolished since they are non-merit based while in others the number of beneficiaries reduced since with every passing year many people are moving out of poverty.
Farm loan waivers
The Congress does not commit to the loan waiver but says that it has done so in several States. If you look at the track record of Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, a miniscule effort has not even been put. Even the PM-KISAN is on hold in Congress States.
Public Health
It is extremely desirable that public health institutions be strengthened. The Congress is only giving slogans on healthcare. Shri Narendra Modi has implemented the Ayushman Bharat where 50 crore people get hospital treatment free.
Women’s reservation in legislatures
In 2010, as the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House, I was instrumental in having the Constitution Amendment Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha where the Congress brought it. In the next four years, it did not press for it in the Lok Sabha. How can its track record be believed?
The GST
The Manifesto repeats that the Congress will try for Single Rate GST. Today most food items are taxed at zero. Aam Aadmi items are taxed at 5 per cent. The 28 per cent slab is almost over. In the next round, the two standard rates of 12% and 18% will be merged into a mid rate. Thus you will have, besides the non-merit goods, goods and services, taxed at zero, 5% and at about 15%. The Congress says irrespective of the product and the category of consumers using it, there will be one single rate. This effectively means that electronic goods, air-conditioners, television sets, washing machines should be taxed at the same rate as food items, chappals and coarse cloth. Rahul Gandhi got this wisdom from Singapore which does not have poverty. Both rice and Mercedes car in Singapore are taxed at 7 per cent.
The Manifesto compromises national security and has sham and bluff promises with little detailed understanding of the subjects involved. It is an irresponsible document which has never to be implemented since Congress looks a certain loser.
Posted on 01 April, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
The two mainstream parties in the Kashmir are increasingly losing their identity. The separatists and the terrorists want a part of the State to segregate from India. India will never accept this. It has already given a loud and clear message both to the separatists/ terrorists and Pakistan that Azadi is not a distant possibility. It is an impossibility.
Statements of the two parties that the constitutional link between the State and the country is based on solemn assurance of Article 35A. If there is no Article 35A, it will break the link. Some have even gone further and argued that two constitutional provisions constitute the revocable link which has to be maintained.
The argument is completely unacceptable. Article 35A was not there in 1947 when the Instrument of Accession was signed in the month of October. In 1950, when the Constitution came into force, it was not there. It was only surreptitiously inserted in 1954. How can it be the essential Constitutional link? The challenge is being heard by the Supreme Court. Why intimidate the Court which is hearing the matter. History is never reversed by Court judgements. The argument of revocability is as absurd as a suggestion that if the Indian Independence Act was revoked by the British Parliament, we will lose our Independence.
The National Conference President’s statement today that we will demand the revival of the post of Wazir-e-Azam and Sadar-e-Riyasat is only intended to create a separatists psyche. Little do these demandeurs realise how much they are hurting the country as also their own people. The new India will never allow any Government to commit such blunders.
Posted on 30 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
On 28th March, 2019, an unprecedented protest took place in Bengaluru. Holding party flags, JDS and Congress leaders assembled outside the Income Tax Office to protest against income tax searches with a political motivation. They alleged that Ministers had been searched. The best evidence they could provide for was that the “Nephew” of a Minister was searched. In an unprecedented move the Chief Minister and Ministers of the State decided to join the protest.
What actually happened?
The tax authorities in Bengaluru had issued a press statement. The statement categorically said no MP, MLA, Minister was searched.
The search was not against any politician or even political workers. The search was only against Contractors and Engineers of the PWD Department of the State. This has categorically appeared in the media. If no Politician has been searched, no Minister has been searched, then why the protest?
The needle of suspicion
The disproportionality of the reaction of the Congress and the JDS raises a needle of suspicion. Why the Chief Minister and the Ministers be seen raising slogans on the streets when corrupt Contractors and Engineers are being searched? Was the Minister’s Nephew a PWD Contractor to whom largesses have been given – a case of nepotism? There is a lurking suspicion due to the disproportionality of the reaction that the protestors were more concerned with regard to the “substance” of the search. Did they have a vicarious pecuniary interest in the substance? Is it a case where the PWD Department pays the Contractors, the Engineers being the collecting agents and the principals of the agents turn protestors? These questions have to be answered by the Chief Minister and all the Cabinet Ministers who joined the protest.
Is the States’ attitude a threat to federalism?
Federalism is not merely the Rights of the States. Indian federalism entails India as a “Union of States”. The Rights of the Union are equally important. Security of India, sovereignty, dealing with terrorism, managing the borders, Custom Check Points, Income Tax enforcement are all amongst the several Constitutional powers of the Union. If the States stand in way of any of them it is guilty of breaching federal norms. Can a State barge its Police into the Customs area and direct the Customs as to what is to be done? This would be a threat to federalism. Many States have stopped giving Police security to Income Tax authorities when they conduct their operations. Alternatively when State Police is asked for, the information is leaked out to the political Government and it reaches the targets of the operations. Tax authorities increasingly have to rely on Central Forces. In the Kashmir Valley recently, searches have conducted under the Governor’s Rule after 17 years. These taxes are meant for the welfare of the poor in India.
The above illustrates a text book method of the UPA on 2 fronts: use Government money, round trip it through Contractors and beneficiaries and enrich themselves.
The second is lip sympathy for federalism and destroy it whenever the opportunity arises.
This is a very transparent self goal.
Posted on 29 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
Over the last several months, India was exhausted with the talk of a ‘Mahagathbandhan’. The rationale was that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the BJP were very strong and could not be challenged by individual party. The socio-economic profile of India has changed. Indians judge politicians by their merit and capacity and no longer by any traditional loyalty. We were promised a ‘coalition of rivals’ because India had to be saved. We were promised a common minimum agenda. Each leader amongst the aspirant Prime Ministers wanted to become a ‘sutradhar’ of the alliance. He/ she would periodically organise shows in his/ her State and invite the entire bandwagon.
Presently when nominations for the first two phases are over and those for the third phase are about to happen, let us review the situation.
The above states account for almost half of the total parliamentary constituencies. In the other half, stretching from Maharashtra to Punjab, which includes Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the political winds are not exactly friendly to the Congress.
The leadership tussle
Already multiple candidates have made their desire clear to take over the mantle of the leadership. Each one of them is interested to see the strength of the other party’s contender depleting. Each one of them has high hopes in a chaotic and highly hung Parliament. He/ she believes that only in a chaotic situation he/ she has a chance.
The past track record of such governments in terms of policy, longevity and growth has to be borne in mind. Their track record of corruption is equally well-known.
Federalism and coalitions
Federalism requires that regional aspirations and representations find place in governance. But a larger national interest requires that India must have a national party with an electoral and legislative base which can become nucleus of such a coalition. The coalition under Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was held by both the personality of the leader and the 183 MPs of the BJP. Similarly, the BJP had an absolute majority in the last Lok Sabha but it still formed a coalition. It is only because of the size of the BJP and clarity on leadership in the last coalition that a successful government was run under Prime Minister Modi.
Today you have no ‘gathbandhan’ let alone ‘mahagathbandhan’. It is a ‘non-bandhan’. You have no leader, no programme, no meeting of minds. Stability, which is paramount, is a major casualty. The only thing in common is negative agenda ‘’remove one man’. It is a recipe for chaos.
Posted on 28 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
The seven decade history of the State of Jammu & Kashmir confronts changing India with several questions. Was the Nehruvian course, which the State had embarked, a historical blunder or was it the correct course to follow? Most Indians today believe that it is the former. Does our policy today have to be guided by that erroneous vision or an out of box thinking which is in consonance with ground reality?
The Article 35A misadventure
Article 35A was surreptitiously included by a Presidential Notification in the Constitution in 1954. It was neither a part of the original Constitution framed by the Constituent Assembly, nor did it come as a Constitutional Amendment under Article 368 of the Constitution which requires an approval by two-third majority of both Houses of Parliament. It came as a Presidential Notification and is a surreptitious executive insertion in the Constitution.
It gives the right to the State Government to discriminate between two State citizens living in the State on the basis of declaring some as permanent residents while leaving out the others. It also discriminates between permanent residents of the State and all other Indian citizens living elsewhere. Lakhs of Indian citizens in J&K vote in Lok Sabha elections but not in Assembly, municipal or Panchayat polls. Their children cannot get government jobs. They cannot own property and their children cannot get admitted to governmental institutions. The same applies to those who live elsewhere in the country. The heirs of ladies marrying outside the State are disinherited from owing or inheriting property.
How Article 35A hurt the people of Jammu & Kashmir?
The State does not have adequate financial resources. Its ability to raise more has been crippled by Article 35A. No investor is willing to set up an industry, hotel, private educational institutions or private hospitals since he can neither buy land or property nor can his executives do so. Their ward cannot get government jobs or admission to colleges. Today, there are no major national or international chains which have set up hotel in a tourism centric State. This prevents enrichment, resource generation and job creation. Students have to travel all over, including Nepal and Bangladesh, to get college admissions. Engineering colleges and hospitals, including super-speciality facility set up by Central Government in Jammu are lying under-utilized or unutilized since Professors and Doctors from outside are unwilling to go there. Article 35A has prevented investment and dismantled the State’s economy.
Article 35A, which is constitutionally vulnerable, is used as a political shield by many but it hurt the common citizen of the State the most. It denied them a booming economy, economic activity and jobs.
Our faith in the mainstream parties of the Valley and the disappointment with them
Governments at the Centre have always desired that despite political differences we must allow more space to the mainstream parties in the Valley so that the separatist space is shrunk. Three families, since 1947, dominated that mainstream space. Two of them are based out of Srinagar and one in New Delhi. Regrettably, they let down the people of the State. The two major mainstream parties, even when they condemned terrorism, it was always with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. It is only their absolute distancing from separatism, violence and terrorism that can create an alternative space. Being soft in criticizing separatism does no good. It is for this reason that their own space has shrunk. This is the country’s disappointment with them.
The present situation
Why should the rule of law that applies to the rest of the country not apply to the State? Should violence, separatism, mass stone throwing, vicious ideological indoctrination be allowed on the plea that if we check it, it will have a negative effect. It is this misconceived policy that has proved to be counter-productive. Today, the present government has decided that the rule of law in the interest of the people of Kashmir Valley and the larger interest of India, must equally apply to the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, in the last several years, has indulged in ideological indoctrination which provided the manpower resource for separatism. It transformed the Valley from the liberal land of ‘Sufism’ to hardcore ‘Wahhabism’. It has been banned. Hundreds of its activists have been arrested. Its offices have been sealed. Its activities have been significantly curtailed. The Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which was working over-ground, has also been banned. Several of its people have been arrested. Separatists and Hurriyat leaders, as also several undeserving cases numbering in hundreds, have had their security withdrawn. You cannot advocate a break away from India and expect India to secure you.
The NIA has cracked down on terrorist funding. The Income-tax Department has swung into action after seventeen years and discovered several sources of anti-national funding. The CBI is looking into 80,000 gun licences given in recent years.
All this has witnessed insignificant protest, no mass stone throwing incidents, reduction in domestic recruitment to terrorist organisation. The past few months have witnessed the neutralisation of the largest number of militants.
The developmental activities
Today, the Government offices are opening and working regularly. Attendance has gone up. Several corrupt officials have been booked and are in prison. Nepotism in appointment has been done away with. There are no interviews conducted. They have been abolished. Multiple legislations have been passed and several legislative measures taken by the Central Government for SC/ST and weaker sections, have been extended to the State. 42,000 new posts have been created in the last six months.
Infrastructure projects, including the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation for both the cities of Jammu & Kashmir, the Ring Road for the two cities, AIIMS in both the regions, an IIT and an IIM in Srinagar and Jammu respectively are projects which have been resolved in the last few months and are progressing further. The State has become ‘open defecation free’ with hundred per cent sanitation. Every house has already been electrified. Several long pending projects in three regions have been cleared. Fifty new colleges in the State have been sanctioned and 232 schools upgraded. A lot of decentralisation of finances has taken place.
More power has been given to Ladakh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils. A Ladakh Division has been created. A new university has been established at Ladakh.
The separatists and the terrorists have been badly hit. The two mainstream parties are only giving television bytes and their activities are confined to social media. The people of the State are welcoming the steps taken. They wanted peace and freedom from violence and terror. The rule of law is being enforced in the Valley and is ensuring people a safe and peaceful life.
Posted on 25 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
No political party has betrayed India for more than seven decades other than the Congress Party. It gave to the people of India many slogans and very little resources to implement them.
The Nehruvian era pushed India to the 3.5% rate of growth. When the world was moving fast and opening up, we decided to regulate our economy. Indiraji understood slogans better than economics. Inflation, unemployment, corruption and erroneous policies hindered India. A large part of economic reforms unleashed in 1991, was to undo what she did. In 1971, she gave her legendary slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’. Her economics was not about increasing production and generating wealth, but only about redistribution of poverty. She supplemented her 1971 slogan while promising in election after election, the welfare of the largest number. Shri Rajiv Gandhi had a historic opportunity to remove poverty. Initially, he showed a desire to do so. But his Government got caught in unsavoury controversies preventing any significant and major changes.
In 1971, ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan was given by Indiraji. For two-third of the last 48 years her party has been in power. Yet, they left behind a legacy of poverty.
The UPA Government, between 2004-2014, conferred a large number of ‘rights’ without resources to implement them. The legendary bank loan waiver was announced at Rs.70,000 crore – a one time measure. Of this only Rs.52,000 crore was actually allocated, a significant part of which went to the businessmen of New Delhi (Ref. CAG Report). The MNREGA was a rural scheme where Rs.40,000 crore used to be promised every year and the actual spent was in the nature of Rs.28,000 to Rs.30,000 crore.
Today, the Congress President has announced that those whose income is below Rs.12,000/- per month, would be given a subsidy to ‘attain’ that income subject to Rs.6,000/- per month. This announcement is an admission of the fact that neither Indiraji nor her son and certainly not the UPA Government controlled by her descendants, was able to remove poverty. The Congress in general and the Gandhi family in particular, since ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan was given, has ruled India for more than two-third of that period. If it has failed to even address poverty during this period, why should India believe it? Even though the details of the scheme are now know, it was said that the payment will be by DBT. The Congress Party’s internal economist has said that there will be no additional burden on the fiscal deficit.
The loan waiver bluff
The Congress Party in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka promised a loan waiver. In most places, the promise remains unfulfilled. The party, thus, has long legacy of slogans with no resources. It has a history of bluff announcements. Karnataka so far has spent only Rs.2600 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs.3000 crore and Punjab Rs.5500 crore. The farmers are still waiting.
The income support
The landless and poor, amongst the villagers, get a MNREGA payment. Minimum wages for the labour have been raised by 42%. Today even most industrial workers get more than Rs.12,000/- a month. The minimum starting salary in Government after the Seventh Pay Commission is Rs.18,000 a month. A small and marginal farmer, besides home, road, toilet, electricity, cooking gas subsidies, crop insurance, MSP payment, will also get an income support.
The Opposition’s sabotage of the pro-poor initiatives
If the Congress Party and its friends have so much concern for the poor in India, why is it that its States are going slow in certifying the list of small and marginal farmers who are entitled to receiving the instalment of PM KISAN? Why are some of the States such as West Bengal, Odisha and Delhi, amongst others, not implementing the Ayushman Bharat? What is the fault of their poor farmers that they want to make them pay?
How the Narendra Modi Government supports the poor?
In the last five years, the Government headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi introduced the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through the banking system. Besides subsidies for food, fertilizer, kerosene, 55 Ministries handed over subsidies to the poor through the DBT which was enabled by AADHAAR. The Congress opposed AADHAAR in Parliament and challenged it before the Supreme Court. Ironically, they now want to use the same mechanism. How much is today being given to the poor through AADHAAR, DBT or otherwise? If all other payments are also made through DBT, what will the total amount to?
| Total payment from 55 Ministries to bank accounts under different schemes | Rs.1.8 lakh crore |
| Add food subsidies | Rs.1.84 lakh crore |
| Add fertilizers subsidy | Rs.75,000 crore |
| Add PM KISAN payment for income support | Rs.75,000/ crore |
| Add Ayushman Bharat subsidy hospitalisation for 50 crore people | Rs.20,000 crore |
| Total | Rs.5.34 lakh crore |
The simple arithmetic is if multiple bank transfers to the five crore poor families, the existing payment to which is mostly being done. The above averages Rs.1,06,800 annually as against Rs.72,000 which is the Congress now seeks to promise through the DBT mechanism.
Note: In addition to the above, Rs.5.34 lakh crore, there are several other schemes which provide several thousands of crores more to the poor. What is given towards Awas, cooking gas, electricity, sanitation and many other Government’s social schemes is additional. If the Congress Party’s announcement is tested on simple arithmetic, Rs.72,000 for five crore families works out to be Rs.3.6 lakh crore, which is less than 2/3rd of what is being given – A bluff announcement.
Posted on 24 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
I have consistently held the view that dynasties owning political parties is an unfortunate phenomenon which has accelerated in the last three decades. The Congress was original creator of this concept. Dynasties demolish organisational structures. They are unable to attract leaders of talent or mass following. Since the democratic structure of a dynastic party gets diminished, they become a crowd around a family. Chaudhary Charan Singh had very appropriately said that world over parties elect leaders. In India, leaders create parties. Wherever the leader goes, the party travels with him.
Dynastic parties have one major drawback. If the current generation of the party is competent, charismatic and enjoys popular confidence, the dynast can pull-off major victories. There is an incentive in the party to rally behind him. However, if the current generation dynast is lacking in charisma, understanding and popular confidence, the crowd around the family gets increasingly frustrated. Is the Congress Party witnessing that?
The state of the Congress
The Congress Party has been out of power for five years. Its leaders and workers are accustomed to existing with the frills of office. They stare at another possible defeat. They have to live with their leader not relying on political advisors but on some from ‘non-conventional’ ones who are out of sync with the Congress leaders. Since the last word on any issue belongs to the leader, there is an element of unpredictability.
For those familiar with the Congress leaders, some generic statements are frequently heard. A few illustrative ones are mentioned here:
- “What can I do? He just doesn’t listen.”
- “Wait for the 24th of May, our politics will begin thereafter.”
- “I feel like quitting”
- “Our campaign planning is lagging behind. I am told Uncle Sam has come to take care of it.”
- “Let’s prepare 2024”
The above reflects what one generation of dynasty can do to a dynastic party. There are three prominent non-dynastic parties in India. The BJP has elected, over the last few decades, leaders of the calibre of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri L.K. Advani, and Shri Narendra Modi as its front rank leaders. When the new generation of the Left took over, their dominant faces were men like Shri Prakash Karat and Shri Sitaram Yechury. Despite the limited impact of the Left, they had decades of experience and ideological clarity. After a series of splits and mergers, the Janata Dal (United), another non-dynastic party, elected Shri Nitish Kumar, who will shortly be completing his third term in his office as Chief Minister. It goes to his credit that he changed the governance culture of Bihar.
When leaders wrongly assess their own capacity
Dynasties impose leaders. These leaders don’t become great – greatness is thrust on them. Some suffer from what psychologists now regard as the ‘Dunning-Kruger effect.’ Social psychologists Dr. David Dunning and Justin Kruger have given an apt description. They believe that those who suffer from this effect have a bias of illusory superiority which comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognise their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of their limitations, such low ability people cannot objectively evaluate their own competence or incompetence. This leads to their miscalculation in their assessment of the calibre of highly incompetent ones. They suggest that poor performers are not in a position to recognise their shortcomings and consequently are insecure and biased against the more competent ones. There is little place for men of high calibre in dynastic parties. An insecure leader is scared of the shadow of more talented people.
Is this the reason for the current mood within the Congress Party? Or is it also the reason which persuades the Congress President to cross the line of decency and dignity when he refers to the Prime Minister.
This should suffice as a lesson for the dynastic parties. They succeed on the strength of some generations of the dynasty. They sink with the others.
Posted on 23 March, 2019, No Comments Comments admin
From truth to rumours
Conventional print media followed conservative norms. Every ‘news’ that a reporter brought was checked and verified. Due care and caution was taken. Documents were perused, alternative versions were taken and then a ‘news’ which cast aspersions against individuals, was published. Television liberalised this conventional view. The race for TRPs has led to every news becoming a ‘Breaking News.’ There is today a complete breakdown of ‘Breaking News.’ The social media has discarded these norms altogether. For many in social media, this rule has been abandoned. They believe that the norms have become anachronic. Defamation is a right and the ‘targets’ reputation is irrelevant. If the right to publish is a part of free speech, equally the right to live with honour and reputation is an essential ingredient of the Right to Life. Both are Fundamental Rights. One cannot override the other.
Experiments with falsehood
An experiment with falsehood was attempted in the Godhra train burning case. A ‘fire from within’ theory was created. In the Ishrat Jahan case, a successful operation against Lashkar-e-Taiba module mastermind by the intelligence and security agencies was passed on as a political operation. These were the precedents that ‘caravans’ of modern day falsehood seek to follow. They now get ample support from ‘falsehood perpetrators’ from the ‘Liars on the Wires’ and the digital. Their bread and butter depends on falsehood. The campaign in the Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi cases, Rafale and the non-existent loan waivers are prime examples of this in recent days. I was personally saddened when a media organisation which had come out with distinction in Bofors investigations, became a perpetrator of the Rafale falsehood.
From falsehood to forgery
It is evident from media reports that politicians, amongst others, who stocked and distributed unauthorised cash have also been targeted in the campaign against black money. Media had reported that it was a search on a Congress leader which has found detailed notings in his diary. The diary, amongst others, entails the payments made to members of the preferred family of the Congress Party. A search on another Congress leader at multiple places made significant revelations. Media reports indicate that his informal accounts dealing with cash were discovered. During the search, as per CBDT statement, photocopies of loose sheets were provided by the Congress leader claiming this to be BSY’s diary. The authorities, as per the statement of the CBDT, go to the root of the matter. BSY played it fair and straight. He offered his handwriting and signatures to the authorities for verification. The Congress leader started distancing himself from the documents. He would not authenticate nor confirm its veracity and not part with the original. The documents appear to be a self-serving forgery of the Congress Party and its leader. Faced with odds on a daily basis, the Congress Party needed to distract from the self-goal created by Sam Pitroda. He had questioned the Air Force’s targeted attack at Balakot. The ‘caravan’ of falsehood was ready for a ‘Rahul Bailout’.
The forged and fabricated photocopies manufactured and provided by the Congress Party were passed off as BSY’s diary. A channel which claims to have earned the ‘trust with viewers’ endorsed the falsehood. The newspaper which earned credibility with Bofors and lost it with Rafale, headlined the forgeries. Earlier it had sliced and half printed a Rafale document.
Falsehood and forgeries can never influence a poll. Just as voters are wiser than politicians, they are also wiser than those who ride on the ‘caravan’ of falsehood and forgeries.