Category Archives: Politics

Is Modi ruling the President way?

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Today’s newspapers have carried out a news that Modi’s Prime Minister Office (PMO) has taken over the process of  deciding on appointments and transfers of senior officers in the government. By doing so, the PMO has reduced Home Minister Shri Rajnath to a rubber stamp in selection process of bureaucrats. The selection of senior babus happens through Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) and Home Minister has a primary role to play in this. However, now Mr. Modi will decide on appointments and as Home Minister Mr. Rajnath will simply sign at the dotted line.

It seems Mr. Modi continues to concentrate power in his hands. let us remember that we have in India what we call Westminster Parliamentary system and not the Presidential system of governance.  If Mr. Modi thinks that he can run government by Presidential system by proxy, then it would not be a healthy trend for our country.

In a parliamentary system followed in our country, the prime Minister has enormous power and privileges, but the PM must ensure that his or her several of the departments continue to be relevant.

It may be noted that I am not opposed to Presidential system of governance, though. But let us not run systems by proxy. It would tantamount to subversion of constitution also.

Here is a link to the news that appeared in newspapers.

 

ISIS is killing humanity

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500 Yazidis- belonging to a minority or non-Islamic religion in Iraq- have been killed by the militant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Several of them were buried alive, including women and children. Thousands of them have fled their places.

The Iraq government -itself under seize by the ISIS- has confirmed these fatalities. The Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mr. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that the government has evidence that the Islamists had thrown the Yazidis alive into a mass grave. 

Reason: The fundamentalist Islamists wanted the Yazidis to convert to Islam or face the death! The Sunni insurgents of ISIS viw Yazidis as ‘devil worshipers’.

The whole humanity is crying today, but the lunatics and fanatics are roaming around freely. Meanwhile, the U.S. has started airstrikes at ISIS. As you may recall, President Obama had initially refused to get drawn into ISIS issue, citing that Iraq deal with its own problem. But from at least the angle of the genocide that is ISIS is hell bent upon carrying out, the U.S. intervention is good.

Black Markets thrive in India

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How much money lies in white in India (and abroad, by Indians) and how much money lies in black?

What is BLACK money? In today’s technology-driven era, monetary or financial transactions happen 24×7. The transactions where a portion of the money should go to the government, but does not happen is a black money. For example: If sales tax is not paid, income tax is not paid or where dues or fees are not paid but go to the intermediary hands (bribery, greasing palm), they constitute black money. Who suffers if black market thrives? The treasury (sarkaari kosh/khazaana) suffers and in the process, and consequently we all suffer because development work (civic amenities like roads, bridges, schools and other govt related works) does not happen as expected.

An article published today in The Hindu says that as per latest estimates, 75 % of Indian economy could be in form of BLACK money.

It is difficult to reliably estimate how much treasure lies in black markets!  To get some idea, the UPA government led by Mr. Man Mohan Singh had commissioned the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) to undertake this task. The report was submitted to the then Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram, but as the news reveals, he never brought it out. The file now lies with Mr. Arun Jaitely, the current Finance Minister.

The 3 sectors contributing most to black economy are: Capitation fee for higher education sector, Real estate deals, and Mining industry. For example, last year capitation fee collected in clandestine manner by private colleges was to the tune of approx. 6000 Crores. 

If the law of land is strong, if it is easy for people to do businesses in more transparent way, when financial laws are not complex and where government makes it easy for its citizens to do businesses through technology (e-governance), black markets will find it difficult to grow. But if politicians and businesses join hands to foster a mutually rewarding relationship, the interests of the the public are often ignored under such circumstances. This is called crony-capitalism.

Q: Can govt control black markets?
A: Yes, a strong government can. I mean you do not have to be physically strong. The intent to curb corruption is enough to make a headway in this direction.
Q: Do we have a strong govt at the Center?
A: Suna to yahi hai! But, does the current BJP party – even though with clear majority in the Parliament- has a clear financial integrity as its goal and objective? If its house is not in order, how can it bring semblance to the financial order of the country? 

To read the details , click to view the article here. 

Ill effects of Not having a Chief Minister!

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Delhi state has no Lokayukta (Ombudsman) at present. The vacancy has been lying vacant since the retirement of Justice Sarin several months back. Delhi has no elected government and hence the vacancy has not been filled up.  The Lieutenant Governor (LG)- since Delhi is under President rule- has no direct constitutional means to fill the vacancy.  In absence of a Lokayukta, a window of grievance redressal  and anti-corruption activism has been shut off for the citizens. It is apparent that common man continues to suffer in absence of a Lokayukta. A news paper has reported that the office of Lokayukta located near ITO has been languishing in absence of the a head.

Delhi state needs an elected government at the earliest. When Mr. Arvind Kejriwal left as Delhi Chief Minister in February, 2014, he had recommended dissolution of the legislative assembly so as to pave the way for fresh elections. However, the Lieutenant Governor did not accede to his advice and has kept the assembly in suspended animation. An assembly kept is suspended animation gives enough ammunition to play foul. The whole country has been witness to the vigorous and frenetic efforts made by BJP in last several months to try to cobble up a majority by enticing the sitting MLAs of the Congress party. In other words, horsetrading is an art that BJP has excelled in. So far, thanks to an activist player like Aam Aadmi party (AAP) that has upset BJP’s apple cart by exposing its misdeed to the public.

AAP on its part has intensified the efforts to demand elections as soon as possible. At the same time, it is asking a pertinent question: “Why is BJP running away from elections?” AAP is mobilizing public opinion on these issues. As a part of this movement, the party has planned a massive public rally at Jantar Mantar on coming Sunday,ie, August 3.

Lokayukta can play an important role in bringing transparency and accountability in the governmental departments , but, alas, the important constitutional office has been lost in the details of finding an elected government. The ill-effects of not having a Lokayukta adds another pound of burden on  the common man who is looking for respite!

It may be noted that Aam Aadmi Party believes that the existing channel of Lokayukta is not meaningful enough to curb corruption and has demanded  a more potent law called “Janlokpal Bill”.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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!

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”. 

 

Has not the BJP Government gone one step too far?

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The theory of separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary is one of the backbones of our constitution. And yet, you can easily point out to multiple cases where the two organs of the constitution have overlapped and encroached into each other’s territory. The latest unfortunate incident to join this list is Gopal Subramanian’s self withdrawal of his Supreme Court judgeship candidature.

What is intriguing about this case is the media attention that it has managed to garner considering that the process of selection and recommendation of names for the post of Supreme Court judge is kept classified. One of the reasons of this selection cycle coming into the attention was that out of the four names recommended to the Centre by the Supreme Court collegium, two were senior advocates. While the other three names to be recommended to the Centre, Arun Mishra, Rohinton  Nariman and Adarsh Kumar Goel, were given the final nod, the candidature of Gopal Subramanian was halted on the basis of a negative report given by the CBI and IB.

While the newly appointed Government has maintained that the basis of this negative report is the fact that his ‘name’ was discussed in the Radia leak tapes, it remains an open secret that Subramanian has been an eye sore to the BJP ever since he appeared as the amicus in the Sohrabuddin, Tulsiram Prajapati and Kauser Bi case involving the senior BJP leader, Amit Shah. One of the most startling facts that weaken the Government’s argument is that Subramanian’s name was mentioned in the taped conversations as an ‘upright’ officer who wouldn’t bend. In a recent interview to a private news channel, Subramanian said “Some higher ups in the government did indicate to me, that some people had a problem with my role as the amicus curie in the Sohrabuddin case.”

Another factor that makes this case interesting is the timing of these events. The Supreme Court is on a six week annual summer holiday which started in the second week of May. It is learnt that the Chief Justice was not on duty when the file having the proposed names was sent back by the Government. These co-incidents are enough to raise anyone’s eye-brow.

Subramanian has been a part of several key cases in the past as the Solicitor General in the UPA Government, including the 2G case where he played a critical role in the prosecution of A Raja. He was one of the Solicitor Generals of India to resign citing the growing interference of the government during the UPA regime. People close to him have always maintained that he boasts of an uncompromising work ethic and impeccable integrity. He was also quoted saying “Though I bear no personal animus against Mr Shah, I’ve never said anything personal against him; I am not at all apologetic about my role as the Amicus Curie in that case. If I am paying the price for the manner in which I pursued the case, I don’t not regret it all, and I am willing to pay the price 150 times.”

After the unprecedented public support gained by the BJP in these general elections, the party would do well to rise above the ghosts of the past and lead the country in a manner that the

common man expects.

Iraq and ISIS Crisis

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The turmoil in the Middle-East doesn’t seem to have an end in the close sight. What started as a minor intrusion into the territory of Iraq has turned into one of the biggest crisis in the world at present. According to the latest official reports from the Iraq Government, most parts of the country’s biggest Oil Refinery, Baiji, have been overtaken by the ISIS militants. In addition to that, most parts of the country’s second largest city, Mosul, are under ISIS control. Accepting helplessness, the Iraqi Government in the beginning itself formally requested the US to launch airstrikes against the ISIS insurgents. From Indian point of view, the abduction of 40 Indian migrant workers from the affected areas has put the Indian Government into the spot with the families of the victims demanding a swift response.

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – also called ‘Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’- is a self-proclaimed independent state covering areas of Iraq and Syria. It has also been given the name ‘Al-Qaeda 2.0’ due to the initial support it had from the feared terrorist outfit. Formed in 2013, it aims at putting in place a Caliphate in the areas of Iraq having Sunni majority. It must be noted that Al-Qaeda snapped its relations with ISIS within one year of its formation. ISIS is known for its brutality which far surpasses the exploits of Al-Qaeda. Their leader, Abu Dua or Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, was detained by the US Army from 2005 to 2009.

There have been a number of violent videos released by the militants in the past 2 weeks including a video showing execution of 1700 Iraqi soldiers. Although the Iraqi Government denies the massacre on such a large scale, it is not ruling out the death of its soldiers in significant numbers. Citing the criticality of the situation, Iran has offered Iraq ‘Everything it needs to fight ISIS’. At that point, the US officials also hinted at working together with Iran to save Iraq from getting completely overrun by the militants. However, the American response to the issue has not been very consistent. President Obama in a press conference on June 19 categorically stated that USA would not send combat troops, but will provide expert assistance. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry is currently on a visit to the Middle East, including Iraq. He has admitted that the Iraq failed to see the rising tides of ISIS militancy and the country was taken by surprise as ISIS opened its frontal attack. Kerry also said that the areas captured by ISIS are likely to stay with the latter, admitting the capability of the militant organization. However, the adjacent Kurdish area sources claim that they had forewarned the US and British authorities about the increasing military strengthening of the ISIS.

Meanwhile, amid the rising pressure on the Indian Government to take some action for its citizens’ safety in Iraq, the Prime Minister Nardendra Modi has directed the External Affairs Ministry to put up its best efforts to rescue the 40 Indian workers kidnapped by the ISIS militants. The biggest problem in front of the Indian Government is that they don’t have any second party to negotiate for the safety for their citizens. Mosul, from where the Indian workers were kidnapped, is out of bounds of the Iraqi Government. The Prime Minister has sent a former envoy, Suresh Reddy, to the Oil rich town of Mosul to expedite the process of bringing back the Indians. The issue has been further complicated due to the fact that no specific group among the ISIS has taken the responsibility of the Indian workers’ kidnapping.

With ISIS crisis likely to linger on, the International community must put a hand forward to help Iraq before the issue causes further blood-shed.