Author Archives: Munish Raizada

About Munish Raizada

Dr Munish Raizada is a Board-certified Neonatologist practicing in Chicago. Is a socio-political activist.

Aadhaar Card has some real Aadhaar (basis)!

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The issue of Aadhaar Card is back in news. There is a report in the newspapers that Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), recently met the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitely and stressed upon the need to continue with the implementation of Aadhaar Card. As we know, the concept of Aadhaar cards was initiated by the UPA government and for that purpose; the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Mr. Nilekani was appointed as the first Chairperson of UIDAI. BJP had in its election campaigning opposed the UIDAI project. Per reports, the Prime Minister Mr. Modi has now shown inclination to continue with this project.

The system of allocating an Aadhaar Number (Card) has an immense value. Let every Indian be identified and allotted a number. Link it to financial account and Driving License and/or State-issued ID of the person. Then gradually scrap other means of IDs like ration card, PAN number and voter card. At the end, we shall be (in a few years, say) left with: 1. Aadhar Number and 2. A State -issued photo-identification card (eg: Driving License or Simply a Photo-ID). This would remove redundancy and bring uniformity in identifying a citizen.

USA has pretty much the same system (Social Security Number/SSN AND a state-issued DL/ID Card). A Social Security Number is a 9 digit number allotted to a person and carries until death. The concept of issuing a SSN was started in 1930s and has worked well for USA. The duo of SSN and a DL/State ID is a powerful tool to identify a person when it comes to financial accounts and dealings, admission to schools or colleges, employment (read taxes) and obviously background check (hence criminal background too). Thus, one may live in the costliest downtown of Manhattan (New York City) or the extreme border village in Alaska state ( literally touching the borders of Russia) or a remote village in the mountains of Montana state, everyone (who chooses to apply for) would have a SSN, and thus identifiable by the government.

In fact, Aadhaar Number is based upon the same concept of SSN. You get a number issued by the government and you keep it until the physical existence on earth!

Some activists have raised issues about the privacy rights and are opposing Aadhaar cards. I would say that their apprehensions are misplaced. No one should be forced to apply for an Aadhaar card and one is free to live in a vacuum.

The Aadhaar card system will work fine for us. Let us shed our doubts and take a firm path towards attaining a uniform system of identifying the citizens of the country.

They don’t pay back loan and live life Kingsize !

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According to a report published in the Times of India on July 17,2014, the top 50 Non Performing assets (NPAs) in India owe over Rs. 53,000 Crores mainly to Public Sector Banks (PSBs). Some of these defaulters have been declared “willful defaulters”. If loan amounts are recovered from them, it can help PSBs in meeting their capital requirement and avoid selling their stake in joint ventures. Mr. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines tops the chart of such defaulters. For years our government has been claiming that efforts are being made to recover the bad debts . It is time that Modi-led Federal Govt. takes some hard measures to get this money back into the system for nation’s development. Let us remember that due to soft-peddling of the government, the defaulters continue to dump their own failures on taxpayers’ shoulders. No business should be considered too big to fail, but if the government considers to bail out a failing company, then it must do so with a clear cut contractual obligation on the part of the company to return the money.

The readers might be thinking as to how much Kingfisher Airlines still owe to the banks? Well, it is a loan amount of 4,000 Crores that Kingfisher still has to repay to the banks. Is it okay to live life like Kingfisher even if you have defaulted on your monetary promise?

For the details of the news, please click here. 

A train to Pakistan, but this time from China!

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“The enemy of your foe can be your best friend.” Nothing but this describes China’s long standing plans of getting cozy with Pakistan. Struck between two nations, each of which wants a piece of its territory, India has been trying hard to settle the issues amicably. The latest headache for the Indian Government is China’s plans of building a rail link to Pakistan which will pass through the disputed PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) territory.

Adding to India’s concerns is the fact that China is taking it as a swift project with pre-feasibility stage of the link already completed. Pakistan, on its part, sees huge value in the project with its ambassador to China making a remark “This new link will enhance the economic ties between China and Pakistan as well as create a new link between East and South Asia.” The proposed route of the rail link would pass through the Xinjiang region in China, which was a part of the ancient Silk Route. It will join the railway network of Pakistan via Khunjerab pass, which lies in the PoK. China justifies the entire project by saying that it would help them easily receive import material from the countries of West Asia.

What is interesting to note here is that while China is offering a deaf ear to the concerns of the Indian Government regarding the disputed PoK territory, the Chinese government, itself, is much against any third-party involvement in its own disputed territories in the South China Sea. Case in point would be China’s vehement opposition to the exploration projects undertaken by the ONGC Videsh in the South China Sea territory. Although the Chinese officials have maintained their anonymity regarding the PoK dispute and cite ‘ease of imports’ as the lone reason behind the rail link, it is extremely hard not to think about China’s bigger objective of disrupting the Indo-Pak equation.

What further raises the eyebrow is China’s enhancing interest in other projects related to the PoK apart from the rail link. China has taken up the work for renovating the Karakoram Highway which connects the Pakistan mainland to the PoK. The Chinese Government has also pledged a $500 million loan to Pakistan to help complete their side of the project. One of the other reasons given by China for its enhanced interest in the road and rail link to PoK is the ease of importing adequate material for its newly planned Special Economic Zone in Kashgar. One of the western most cities of China, Kashgar has seen relatively low development over the past decades. The planned SEZ seems to be China’s latest attempt to raise this area to the level of other developed Chinese cities.

The recent (June, 2014) visits from Hamid Ansari, Indian Vice President and Sujatha Singh, Foreign Secretary, have initiated a much needed discussion on the rail link issue. While the Chinese Government tries its best to avoid discussion on such issues and instead, releases copy paste joint statements, the Indian Government must place issues like these at the top of its list to ensure a speedy resolution.

India must remember, the Dragon won’t go away if you just close your eyes and assume it’s gone. It is wiser to open the eyes and tame the dragon before it starts laying its eggs!

Reliance is NOT reliable!

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July 14,2014: The BJP’s Narendra Modi-led Central Government has decided to penalize Reliance Industries for producing less than targeted natural gas from KG-D6 block. The Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that Reliance India Limited (RIL) has been slapped with a new fine of  Rs.3,500 crore  ( USD 579 million). Interestingly, if you calculate such penalties in last 4 years for RIL, it stands at a towering amount of  Rs.14,300 crore (USD 2.376 billion). This has prompted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to urge the government to simply shunt Reliance out. AAP’s argument is that RIL has committed so many defaults that there is a strong basis for the government to now scrap the contract. 

However, on the contrary, is not Modi government shielding Reliance?

In June of this year, Anti-Corruption Branch of Delhi issued notice asking if any penalty had been imposed for underproduction of gas. This question becomes much more relevant since a hearing in Delhi high court is due on 1st August on the basis of FIR lodged by AAP Government (in Delhi) in February,2014 against Reliance Industries.

The penalty that has been imposed today may  just be a PLOY of Modi Government to withdraw the FIR against Reliance Industries. It is time that the Modi acts tough against erring companies and sends a signal that his government means business. Acting soft on such matters gives an impression that Mr. Modi is not able to crush crony-capitalists. 

The press statement of Aam Aadmi Party in this regard can be accessed via this link.

 

Murder of an 81 years old in GK and AAP connection

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The news of murder of an 81-years Mrs. Rekha Duggal – a resident of Greater Kailash in Delhi- drew widespread attention for the brazenness and inhumane behavior of the domestic help who killed her. The alleged killer – Neerak Saki- has also admitted to raping her before killing her. Just heart-wrenching news that makes you feel absolutely sick!  She was murdered on Monday, July 7, 2014. Here is a link to the news-item.

However, such anguish becomes much more intolerable when you come to know a personal connection to the person. Same day, July 7, she attended a Mohalla Sabha organized by our Aam Aadmi Party in the area in the daytime. Mr. Saurabh Bhardwaj- our MLA from Greater Kailash- told me that he vividly remembered an old lady (who he did not know personally) not only attending the meet, but she got up and drew attention to a civic issue in her neighborhood. She also gave a couple of good suggestions, said one of our volunteers. Mrs Duggal signed the sheet of the attendees also and one of the volunteers of the party ruefully showed me the diary. And after a few hours, such a gentle loving soul was taken away by a psychopath and barbaric man!

These days, I am attending to the party work in a few assembly areas, including Greater Kailash. When my attention was drawn to this news, it just made our hearts heavier.  And think about the family that is bearing the loss of the deceased. As someone said: These kind of brutal incidences are an indicator as to how low we have touched as a society!

 

 

Courts: Why not operate like Hospitals!

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There is a news today that the Chief Justice of India RM Lodha has stated that Indian courts are over-burdened and he apparently does not see a way out of this under the current operating system.

As hospitals work round the year to bring succor to those suffering, so should courts work round the year to bring justice to those suffering. Is this something too much of an expectation? Chief Justice RM Lodha had submitted a proposal wherein the courts would function throughout the year, without increasing workload and overtime for judges, but bar bodies and Bar Council of India were not keen on this, saying they could not work those many days. I think, time has come that justice system emulates hospital systems and function FULL TIME on all working days of a year. After all, it is about alleviating pain of a sufferer without the use of scalpel and blade!

India has an extreme  over burden of pendency of court cases, resulting in ineffective justices for many. We need speedy justice and that is only possible by having adequate courts and justices. At the same time, strengthen criminal justice system at the local level so that affected parties do not have to necessarily escalate their grievances to the upper courts. I agree to a large extent with Justice RM Lodha’s observation that in the current system, Supreme Court has become more of a court of appeals, rather than discharging its duty as a primary constitutional court.

Needless to say, in the criminal justice system, good value-systems, stringent and effective laws, modern professional policing, social dispute redressal (Lok Adalats) also play a great role so that disputes are settled before even reaching the courts. Or, shall I say, lesser disputes arise if there is a more tranquility and harmony in the society.

White Money in Indian politics: When shall We see that?

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Only 10 % of the total donations for all the major political parties in India are from known sources. In other words, 90 % donations are from unaccounted sources which means it is a  black money for the recipient. As you may know,a political party can choose NOT to disclose the name of the donor for a donation value of less than Rupees 20, 000. The political parties have been misusing this loophole to their advantage. A major exception is Aam Aadmi Party which documents a donation of even Rs one. This way, AAP voluntarily reveals 100 percent of its monetary donations and the names of donors.

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) – an NGO- while analyzing the funding of political parties for the year 2012-13, noted that one of the most common source of income for the political parties is by selling “coupons”.  Well,  selling coupon is an easier way: Sell as many as you can under the value of Rupees 20,000 and no need to take pains to identify the buyer!! You may read further details in the news item by clicking here.

For the sake of records, Indian National Congress raised a bounty of Rupees 425 Crores during the fiscal year 2012, while BJP netted 324 Cr Rupees. I was surprised to see that Communist Party Marxist (CPM) was able to garner monetary donations to the tune of Rupees 126 Crores. Who would  donate for an outdated left ideology which Churchill rightly said “is a  philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery”. 

 

Discoms playing flirt

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The Government companies make/generate electricity. In Delhi, the distribution or supply of electricity (power) was privatized long back. Such companies are called Discoms (Distributing Companies) and they distribute electricity to consumers and charge tariff for that. Ambanis-owned company BSES is one such example operating in Delhi.

Right in the beginning of its coming, Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party raised the issue of high price of electricity in Delhi.  For Assembly elections (held in December of 2013), AAP made it an electoral plank and promised that if voted to power, it would reduce the electricity prices by 50 %. One of the ways to reduce the prices, said AAP, would be to audit the Discoms because in AAP’s view, the latter were a den of corruption and crony-capitalism. So if that leakage is contained, it would automatically help reduce prices, argued AAP.

AAP came into power , Arvid Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi in December 2013. Kejriwal ordered auditing of Discoms in a matter of days after becoming Chief Minister. Unfortunately, AAP decided to quit the government on the moral issue of Jan Lokpal Bill after a mere 49 days duration.

The auditing of Discoms however continued but the latest reports show that the move is not taking us anywhere. As this news indicates,  the Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) Mr Shashi Kant Sharma in a scathing attack on Discoms said that the companies were not cooperating with the CAG to hand over the data and information.  He has written to LG Mr. Najeeb Jung (Delhi is under President’s Rule and LG runs the administration in such a situation) informing him that the 3 Discoms in Delhi were hampering the progress of auditing by not providing complete data and has requested the LG to intervene.

This is a sorry state of affairs. The Discoms are not above government, yet are less than willing to cooperate because of the nexus between politicians and corporate houses where they complement each others, often ignoring the interests of the public. In other words, crony-capitalism often benefits those sitting in the power-corridors and the private corporations. The LG must intervene at the earliest and direct the Discoms to fully cooperate with the powerful constitutional body of CAG. CAG must also exert pressure to bring the defaulting companies to the task. The people in Delhi deserve the quality supply of electricity at reduced prices.