Vox Populi Issue N023

 

VOX POPULI  
by 
AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 023
Issue Date: 13th March 2023

Contents:

1. Modi's Deliverances 

2. Modi In The Emperor's New Clothes 

3. Jaishankar Must Clarify The China Issue & Eschew Scare Mongering

Modi's Deliverances 

With Narendra Modi all the time the narratives keep changing, the goalposts keep shifting and promises remain unkept. Supporting Conrad Sangma whom Narendra Modi himself had called corrupt is now bleached white by Tinopal making him eligible for the BJP to tie up with him and his party while the BJP still profess an anti-corruption stance.  Though this position has been somewhat busted lately with the recovery of some Rs. 6 crore cash at the BJP MLA son's house in Karnataka. Similarly, we have been waiting for Aacche Din but we are told that it is over and now it is Amrit Kaal. But nobody is told why Aacche Din never came. A promise of Rs. 15 Lakhs into each bank account remains undelivered from 2014. Maybe it will be given now or in the future with interest! Never in the history of independent India has a Prime Minister promised so much and delivered so little.

Cricket diplomacy was achieved by Narendra Modi at the Narendra Modi Stadium watching the India - Australia Test cricket match with the Australian PM Albanese on the Narendra Modi Marg (?) in Narendra Nagri (the likely new name of Ahmedabad)!

Modi In The Emperor's New Clothes 

Narendra Modi has this tendency to lie, misquote and exploit issues whether there are any elections or not like in UP recently, Modi said - Today Uttar Pradesh is known for good governance, peace, law and order, and stability. This was when rape cases abound in the State and lately there has been the case of a mother and daughter immolating themselves during a demolition of their supposedly illegal dwelling using bulldozers. There were 7 rape cases between 15 Jan and 12 Feb 2023 mostly of minors with the youngest being 8 years raped by a 60 year old man. You only need to Google this and you can see the list for yourself. Why are bulldozers  not being used to raze the houses of rapists? If they can be used for rioters surely they can be used for rapists. The overall law and order situation in UP is none too good either but despite this Modi  continues to laud it. Just the other day we have had 2 encounter killings by the police admittedly of accused in murder cases, but the police should not take justice in their hands but have law take its course. The newspapers report an encounter killing in UP every 10-12 days. In another event, Narendra Modi said that the poor and middle classes of India have shown to the world that with their potential they were capable of attaining new heights with adequate support in the provision of basic necessities like bank accounts, toilets, tap water, free medical treatment and creation of a social security net. Many of these are only on paper and have not reached even half the population and others have been misused like bank accounts of the poor to launder the money of the rich. There are taps but no water in them even for a couple of hours a day let alone on 24/7 basis. This whole thing is insulting the poor and middle classes and making fun of them after having rained untold miseries on them with crass insensitivity and then you extoll their patience and resilience to withstand challenges! 3 widows of the CRPF martyrs of Pulwama are threatening to commit suicide because they have not been given the financial assistance that the government had promised. On one hand you call them martyrs but on the other hand you do not give them the assistance promised! Thus one wonders on how many lies will Modi's India be built?  

Modi also tends to distort issues and indicates a deliberate lesser awareness of common Indian customs and practices for scoring some petty brownie points. Like questioning why Rahul and Priyanka do not use the Nehru surname. When their father's surname is Gandhi, why should they use the Nehru surname? It must be common practice in the BJP that people with the faintest relationship link with famous names like Mohandas Gandhi or Vallabhai Patel take on their surnames for political mileage! 

Modi has also said in open Parliament that he alone is enough for the entire Opposition. This is insulting not only the Opposition members but also to the people of the country who voted and sent the Opposition members to Parliament. Should the Prime Minister deliberately insult his own people? 

The sycophancy towards Modi and the fear that he commands in the ranks of the Saffron Brigade is known to all. That is why you see them tripping head over heels in singing his praise at every opportunity. Thus as it is common knowledge that Modi changes his dress 4-5 times in a day. If by any unfortunate circumstance one day he comes out without any clothes on, his BJP sycophants will in the manner of the Emperor's new clothes fable compliment him on his 'new clothes'!

Jaishankar Must Clarify The China Issue & Eschew Scare Mongering

EAM Jaishankar while speaking on the current China issue on our northern and northeastern borders, to continue with his grouse against the Congress party and the Nehru-Gandhi family is raising matters relating to the 1962 conflict with China and claiming that a bridge in our territory was taken over then which remains even today in their custody. The issue is not of just the bridge but the infringement of China in our northern and north-eastern borders ranging from Ladakh to Tawang where it is said that thousands of Km. of our territory is under the control of the Chinese. In the context of China, Jaishankar has also said it is too big for us to fight. This contradicts the stated position of the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and our generals in the Army who talk of giving a bloody nose to any aggressors. Will the BJP get its act together and have a unified stand on the issue and speak in one voice? Jaishankar has also claimed that being the longest serving Ambassador in Beijing he should know more than anyone else on China. While knowledge is important what you do with it is more important. Again present knowledge is critical particularly if you have to deal with a country like China. Thus it is not important as to who knows more about China but what is being done about it now. Given the contradictory statements that the BJP government has been making on the Chinese aggression on our northern and northeastern borders, it is best that the government comes out with a White Paper and presents it to Parliament and also to the people of this country, so that the truth be known. The need for this is highlighted in the Galwan incident where we lost some 20 soldiers. The government position on Galwan is that the Chinese did not come into our territory and neither did we cross into theirs, then how did our soldiers die? Is this not a matter that needs to be clarified? 

Jaishankar is also coming more and more in his public speaking as a parrot repeating the words of his master or a His Master's Voice. This is being said in the context of his statement on the timing of why BBC was airing the documentary on the Gujarat riots and the Hindenburg report which came quickly after one another and just before some of the Assembly elections. The scaremonger syndrome Is very visible in raising the 'foreign hand' issue. Countries that are sure of their position and confident about their strength do not raise such fears. It is only weak nations like the 'banana republics' and devious ones like Pakistan who raise these bogeys. It is expressing weakness which Jaishankar should eschew.

                                                    ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat
Mob: 07218698906
Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue N022

 



VOX POPULI  

by 
AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 022
Issue Date: 6th March 2023

Contents:

1. The Lost Decade : 2014-2023, Under Narendra Modi

2. India's Presidency of the G-20 Being Turned Into A Tamasha

3. EAM Jaishankar's Balance In Speech And Action Has Been Disturbed

4. Modi's Hollow Claims

The Lost Decade : 2014-2023, Under Narendra Modi

Modi has talked recently of the last 6 decades having been wasted but his decade from 2014-23 will be remembered by history as the lost decade just like Covid has imposed a lost 3 years for our students in education. Modi needs to remember that if we disregard history and do not give value to the contributions of those who have passed by, then we negate our present position and there is no meaning in our present existence. There is also the issue of gratitude to our predecessors which if we do not express, we are shameless. 

As for the 2014-24 decade history will record as the beginning of sectarian killings extraordinary in their brutality that has not been seen earlier in our timeless Hindu culture, the attempt to stifle student voices in our temples of learning, the use of central enforcement agencies to serve narrow political ends, the sucking out of cash from the economy in the name of Demonetisation thus wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of the people mostly the poor, the daily wagers and the migrant workers. The biggest success of Demonetisation if you can call it that was that as the poor and needy got hit and lakhs of businesses in the MSME sector closed down the rich got richer and multiplied their wealth many times over. What followed thereafter was the withdrawal of 'special status' for Jammu & Kashmir on the specious reason that it had gone on long enough and it was time enough for exercising control by the Centre in the affairs of the State to reduce terrorism by making it a Union Territory. This was done perforce peacefully but under threat of a massive mobilisation of paramilitary forces in the State which effectively cowed down any opposition to the measure. And thus the 'normalisation of Jammu & Kashmir' was achieved without a murmur. However, now it is proving that nothing was achieved. The terror has started again specifically targeted at that and the Pandits almost forcefully resettled there are wanting to leave Kashmir which the administration is desperately trying to stop. Apart from not agreeing to the Pandits request for transfer to Jammu, the government recently broke the 310 day old agitation on this issue by stopping the payment of salaries. The Pandits with no financial means to continue the strike had to call it off. We then had the farmers agitation who were looking for remunerative prices for their crops and even with the avowed promise of doubling farmers income the government refused to meet them for discussions for a long time under one pretext or other calling them separatists and traitors. Finally after more than a year of agitation with the farmers camping on the outskirts of Delhi through the seasons of heat, rain and cold, meetings were held to discuss the farmers issues and most of their demands were accepted. But the unfortunate part is that even today on the agreements accepted, the government has not implemented them. The issues still remain pending and in the balance with the farmers getting more and more upset by the day. Instead the government gives a pittance of Rs. 6000 per year as if the farmers are beggars and publicises this dole to the skies as yet another achievement of the government.

If this was not enough another divisive step was initiated in the CAA that led to public protests in Delhi and Assam notably, that later culminated in riots in Delhi. Deliberate creation of laws that take exception against any particular community is wrong as the CAA proposed to give citizenship to religious minorities coming from neighbouring countries. Thus the CAA not putting the Muslims on the same pedestal as others on the plea of religious persecution cannot be tolerated by well-meaning people. In Assam the NRC and the CAA was launched as twinned weapons to 'weed out' illegal immigrants but the process went awry and those who had stayed in the State for 40-50 years but lacked proper documents were declared illegal and moved to detention centres with the further threat of deportation. This created major turmoil since families were being broken up and the majority of such cases were Muslims. The same issues as in Assam affected some parts of North Bengal and with the TMC in Kolkata and the BJP at the Centre being at loggerheads, Mamata Banerjee stood firm saying no NRC or CAA would be implemented in Bengal. In Delhi where some localities who were likely to be hit by CAA resorted to agitations blockading public parks and some roads and were abused in the same manner as the farmers and were called separatists and anti-nationals with BJP politicians giving open threats that the demonstrators would be put to the sword. Matters flared up after this and riots ensued with police remaining mute spectators and politicians fanning the flames making inflammatory speeches condemning the protestors. 

And after all this the dreaded COVID virus appeared on the horizon. Life for people around the world was turned upside down in a matter of weeks with no known antidote for the virus. Countries started shutting down entry of visitors and even within the country localities, towns and cities were shut down in the hope that the transmission of the virus could be broken if the chain of person to person infection was cut. However progressively solutions emerged with different countries announcing their work on the antidote and India also had 2 versions of the antidote made by 2 different Cos. Whereas foreign Cos. in their own countries were supported by their governments with financial help sufficiently in advance to expedite the availability of the antidote or vaccine India dawdled but finally relented by releasing funds and the vaccines arrived. If the vaccines had been made available earlier by at least 6 months maybe many more lives would have been saved. Here the problem was with the Indian psyche where people are filled with their own importance and power and fail to grasp ground realities and will act only when compelled by circumstance or people/countries. Modi's government was no different and waited until the last minute to give funding for the vaccine program when no other avenue was left. The vaccination program started apace and the virus was brought under some semblance of control with a combination of the vaccine and lockdowns in areas where it was surging ahead. The lockdowns created a massive dislocation of people's lives which was unavoidable but it hit the hardest the daily wage and migrant workers. The migrant workers with no avenues of work during the lockdown and fearing for their lives started moving back to the rural areas so that they could be with their families. That is how the virus travelled to India's smaller towns and villages where medical facilities were scarce. When it seemed there was some semblance of control over the spread of the virus Assembly elections were announced to be held in April 2021. It had been advised not to hold public rallies before the elections and if held, to take take adequate precautions against the virus but the BJP with Modi in the lead threw caution to the winds because 'Bengal had to be won.' The virus showing trends of the 2nd wave at this time was fuelled by this indiscretion and ramped out in a much more virulent form. Cases exceeded 1 lakh per day across the country overloading medical facilities and hospitals and since the infection affected the respiratory organs the demand for medical oxygen shot up with demand overstripping supply resulting in shortages and deaths increased dramatically. Where the Modi government should have been closely monitoring the virus and forecasting its trends, the priorities were given to winning elections an obsession with Modi and his cohorts which increased the infections manifold. As a slap in the face for Modi and his cohorts, the BJP lost Bengal with the TMC winning by a massive margin. A closer review would have predicted the likelihood of a shortage in medical oxygen and the country would have been better prepared and many lives saved. The total deaths arising from the COVID virus according to official figures was close to 5 Lakhs. However independent estimates put the deaths closer to 6 or even 8 times this figure which is 30-40 Lakhs. There is an undercounting of the fatalities as far as the official figures are concerned since many deaths were not counted or not attributed to the virus. Apart from this untold misery was unleashed on the common people like on the migrant workers who desperately sought to return to their village homes some even walking hundreds of Km. and many died because of this. The exodus of migrant workers was triggered by the lockdowns which were unavoidable but because of that they were unable to buy daily necessities if they had money and then with establishments shut there was no way for them to earn money. Thus the safest option in their minds was return to their villages. Just like in the aftermath of the Demonetisation in 2018 the COVID virus started to affect the economy with businesses mostly small and medium shutting down, people losing their jobs, daily wage workers being left with lesser avenues for work, there was thus less money in the hands of the people. There was no bail-out for this from the government except for free food-grains being given to families as the  government has touted for 800 Million people. But this was too little and too late. Those who got this needing to buy other things tended to sell the food-grains into the free market with petty traders making windfall gains. However with time the virus abated and things returned to some sort of normalcy as we see it today. On the COVID virus the approach of the government is the ‘alls well that ends well' scenario but they have failed to realise that more action in time and more caution before the 2nd wave spiralled, could have saved at least half a million lives. This tragedy and its magnitude is beyond the understanding of the present leadership of the BJP who with their bumbling actions only know how to inflict hardship, misery and loss of life on the common people. The problem with Modi is that he refuses to see and recognise reality and believes that bluff and bluster will bail him out of embarrassing situations. 

Thus Modi and his government are living in denial when faced with facts. World rating agencies put India at the bottom half of most indices. The right way is to engage with them and show what is the correct position not just take potshots at the agencies saying you are wrong or your procedure is wrong. India stands to lose credibility by not participating and discussing the issues. Actually India's data for the last 8-9 years is a shambles having been first negated, then contested about procedure, with no new procedure set up the data collection has been suspended on most parameters. The government and the RBI are thus shooting in the dark and hoping against hope that they do not get caught out. Representative of this is that the Oct-Dec 2022 the GDP figures saw a drop to 4.4% but GST collections have remained buoyant at just over Rs. 1.4 Lakh crores in the same period which is a tad bit contradictory. But then even the self-styled BJP economy pundits are saying in tongue-in-cheek fashion that the GDP figures could be wrong! 

This essentially is the story of the lost decade since 2014.

India's Presidency of the G-20 Being Turned Into A Tamasha

Much is being made out of India's Presidency of the G-20 and in the cult of event management in which Modi excels through which the events are being played out to drum up a larger than life image of Modi. Little do people realise that such multilateral government groups achieve little or nothing at all. Not only that India in the past has hosted the NAM summits, the CHOGM meetings and was the first name in the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) for many years. So it is nothing that people look up to India in the world. It has been a common enough practice. But it is not like with Modi who wanting himself to be seen as a world leader goes around hugging other nation's dignitaries to their visible grimaces as seen on TV and goes on a weekend retreat with the Chinese Premier and within a year of that China attack us at multiple places on our northern borders spread out over a year of that. Was this an artful exercise to exert an influence over your most difficult neighbour? The G-20 summits held elsewhere in the world are held at one location with a retreat thrown in at another place. There was no need to take the current summit across India at great cost, inconvenience and nuisance to the public in terms of traffic dislocations etc. This is only being done with the added public relations exercise thrown in to build the Modi image before the upcoming Assembly elections leading up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The money being wasted could have been well spent on public welfare measures which we desperately need.

EAM Jaishankar's Balance In Speech And Action Has Been Disturbed

Jaishankar's axe to grind against the Congress and the Gandhi family is now out in the open with him coming out saying that Indira Gandhi had transferred his father, K Subrahmanyam out of the post of Secretary of Defence Production and then later Rajv Gandhi promoted a junior officer above him. Modi's grouse against the Nehru-Gandhi clan is well-known which everyone in the BJP hierarchy is echoing in the manner of bit players in an orchestra where they follow the conductor or leader. That Jaishankar is also doing this is disappointing since a person who served in the higher echelon of our bureaucracy is expected to have a balance in speech and action and that too coming from the Indian Foreign Service. On second thought Jaishankar's comments lately follow a pattern of injudiciousness since in the description of Sushma Swaraj by Secy of State Pompeo, he had not given a proper reply to the then US Secretary of State. The latter had described in his book - Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, of Sushma Swaraj, our then Foreign Minister of being a a goofball and a heartland political hack and ascribed it to Jaishankar. The article in Deccan Herald, Bengaluru - Has BJP’s ‘Macaulayputra’ been exposed by Pompeo? - by Bharat Bhushan on 31 Jan 2023 covers this reproducing excerpts from the book. Jaishankar presented a strong rebuttal of this when this came out recently and has claimed of having defended the respected Sushma Swaraj. These come across as any road rage incident where one normally takes the offensive to cow down the other party. In any case, he has to say that to defend himself from the damaging excerpts in the book to save his reputation. One must say that he did not acquit himself honourably in this matter. Lately, he has been extolling Modi which is not out of place in the BJP since each fall over each other to praise the Supreme Leader but it sounds a bit incongruous since Jaishankar's illustrious father, K Subrahmanyam, had called out Modi as Chief Minister in Gujarat during 2002 by saying 'dharma had been killed' during the riots at that time. Times change, people change but it is a bit unusual for a professional diplomat to become an avid sycophant.

Modi's Hollow Claims

During his reply to the President's address in Parliament Narendra Modi came across as if he was speaking at an election meeting. Instead of replying to issues raised he indulged in reciting the supposed measures that his government has done for the welfare of the people. Claiming that he has the support and confidence of 140 crore Indians which is clearly hyperbole since in the last Lok Sabha polls the BJP got just 23 crore votes. So Modi's magnification is 6 times which can be applied to anything that he says. Thus by applying it, take only one-sixth and that too after further verification. He also said that India is the 5th largest economy in GDP terms in the world. In this he is not wrong but the correct measure for a Prime Minister to look at is the per capita where India ranks 145th and on per capita in purchasing power terms the country's ranking is a little better at 128th. The rich are getting richer in India with 1% owning 21% of the national income and 10% owning in excess of 50% while the bottom 50% contribute only 10%. In wealth accumulation since the 1990's the top 1% accounted for more than 38% of the new wealth with the acceleration mostly from 2020, coinciding with the start of the COVID pandemic, which trend reflects worldwide where the rich got richer during Covid. Thus there is an urgent need for the redistribution of wealth in India to make it more equitable.

                                                     ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat

Mob: 07218698906

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue N 021









VOX POPULI  
by 
AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 021
Issue Date: 27th Feb 2023

Contents:

1. Putin's Misadventure In Ukraine Turning Costly 

2. Gujarat Government Seeks Death Penalty For Godhra Convicts While Releasing      Bilkis Bano's Rapists

3. India's Defence Strategy 

Putin's Misadventure In Ukraine Turning Costly 

With the continuing Ukraine war Putin is weakening Russia. He is exposing the  vulnerabilities of the Russian military apparatus. This will be costly for him and his country in the long run. With the anniversary of the war behind him and no tangible signs of victory being seen, Putin is indirectly building another power centre within the countries that can be seen to be under the influence of Russia. With the West led by the US arming Ukraine, the country will emerge as a rallying point for those countries that are inimical to Russia in their region. With glasnost having dismantled the old USSR the Ukraine war may be the next turning point for the demise of Russia as a world power. Biden's sudden visit to Ukraine last week is also a slap in the face for Russian intelligence and to its leadership. Cosmetic gestures like pulling out of the nuclear treaties by Russia are only seen as petulant and have no real meaning. In the eyes of the world Putin should realise that Russia has lost the Ukraine war, the faster he understands that it is good for him and the world.

Gujarat Government Seeks Death Penalty For Godhra Convicts While Releasing Bilkis Bano's Rapists

The Gujarat government has asked for the death penalty to be restored on 11 Godhra convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment for setting the coach of the Sabarmati Express on fire killing the passengers in 2002 which set off the Gujarat riots. This is completely irresponsible considering that the case was closed after sentencing and there is no need of the Gujarat government, technically the prosecuting authority, to ask for a change in the sentence. In contrast the same Gujarat government sometime back released the rapists, coincidentally again 11 in number, in the rape case of Bilkis Bano of the same time in 2002 on counts of good behaviour before completing their life sentence. In fact these rapists were garlanded upon release from prison and were feted by the local BJP leadership. This kind of biased communal action by the government will lead to serious doubts about the intentions of the present dispensation to support certain communities by design and condone their heinous criminal actions leading to anarchy in the country.

Postscript: In Oct 2022 the police in a village in Gujarat's Kheda district publicly flogged some persons who were disturbing a Garba function while the public cheered. The police has now in court claimed that this was done to maintain peace and communal harmony in the area and some of the policemen involved have said that they were only doing their duty. This is shameful where police go beyond the law and then defend their actions. Not only that the higher police officials have also supported this action. This kind of atrocity is nothing short like they have in Shariat law which is condemned around the world and which we ourselves call barbaric. We should not descend to this kind of action and remember human rights and protect it in our society.

India's Defence Strategy 

Rajnath Singh, our Defence Minister, has been talking of scaling up defence production. This has been echoed by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who has gone a little beyond and set an ambitious target for the exports of defence equipment.  The emphasis on defence production for our national needs and strategic self-sufficiency is acceptable but we should not export any arms and armaments. As it is we are one among the Top 5 buyers of armaments in the world which is not a good thing and we should not compound this further by exporting arms to encourage and sustain wars abroad. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, and we should protect and nurture his philosophy of Vasudeiva Kutumbakam and propagate it around the world. As for the threats that we face from our neighbours it is only China and Pakistan in that order. The other countries - Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan - have all their own problems to contend with except for Bhutan, a peaceful country with which India has had excellent relations. Between China and Pakistan the latter is a spent-force beset with economic travails and an unstable political scenario. One wonders if Pakistan will dare a conventional war since it may not be able to sustain it for more than a few days. The only option it has are its nuclear weapons which given its ramifications of use, it may not invoke. Thus the principal threat in the short-term is China where we have been seeing incidents across our north and north-eastern borders. With China if there is a war India cannot win and therefore we have to prop up our defensive positions. It is only to that extent that we need to reinforce our arms infrastructure and additionally to keep a vigil on our extensive maritime boundary and the outlying islands of our territory like the Andamans and Lakshadweep. 

                                                     ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat

Mob: 07218698906

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue N020

 

VOX POPULI  

by 

AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 020
Issue Date: 20th Feb 2023

Contents:

1. EAM Jaishankar should note that in thought, word and deed India under the BJP is aping the West

2. The BBC Raids Are An Exercise To Show How To Throw Mud On Your Own Face To Make The Lotus Bloom More Luxuriantly! 

3. BJP Needs Tipu To Be Woken Up For Karnataka Elections

EAM Jaishankar should note that in thought, word and deed India under the BJP is aping the West

EAM Jaishankar has said lately that Westernisation is not an index of modernisation and progress  any more in India. This is clearly a contradictory statement considering the ground situation across the country. We seem to be following the Western development model of building highways, expressways, launching Vande Bharat trains and getting ready to welcome Bullet trains which a High Court judge recently has said that it is a pride for the nation while dismissing a petition against the land acquisition for the project. These projects have disrupted the normal lives of common people creating nuisance by way of congestion and in some cases splitting villages. In urban and semi-urban areas it is difficult for pedestrians specially senior citizens to cross a road thus making them lead a truncated life or taking the choice of the longer way around spending more energy, time and money. Rarely are working pedestrian lights seen at our crossings in our towns and cities. We have these new Vande Bharat trains being launched with metronomic regularity across the length and breadth of India to catch one would assume the Assembly election schedules in some of the States. But these trains come with tickets that are higher priced which our common travellingpublic can ill afford. Therefore in some sectors these trains are running almost empty. What would have been better is that the existing train network both for rolling stock and services should have been improved to be timely, more comfortable, clean and with proper hygienic food. This would have benefited the larger travelling population rather than cater to the aspirational segment which thinks it wants air travel comfort on trains. We also have Malls selling all kinds of things as in Western countries. These sell everything under one roof with most of these sales being on lowest price strategies for goods which are close to expiry dates or beyond. Such Malls have rung the death-knell for small neighbourhood grocery stores which have gone out of business or are fast going to shut shop. Thus the social fabric of the Indian way of life has been distorted beyond imagination by these projects that ape the West. We are told that this is progress and development. If that is so then it is best that we avoid it. We need to do things the Indian way and not blindly follow the West calling it modernisation and progress. EAM Jaishankar is either blind or saying things just for the sake of saying them to salve his nationalistic conscience that is very much in demand these days. We should not project the wrong thing which is becoming a habit with the BJP. They seem to be following the Goebbel's doctrine in most things ranging from history and other matters where he had postulated that a lie repeated a thousand times will become truth. The BJP in any case is increasing its emphasis on Hindu religion on the lines that fascist Germany did with the Nazi philosophy. Just like Nazi Germany tyrannised the Jews the BJP is laying the groundwork for its attacks on Muslims. Thus EAM Jaishankar should note that in thought, word and deed India under the BJP is aping the West.

The BBC Raids Are An Exercise To Show How To Throw Mud On Your Own Face To Make The Lotus Bloom More Luxuriantly! 

The BBC issue relating to the IT raids on its offices in India is a clear sign of retaliation by Modi's government for broadcasting the 2-part documentary covering the Gujarat riots in 2002. It was the culmination of bad handling of the matter. If the defence of Modi was that the courts including the Supreme Court has given him a clean chit on this matter then why succumb to the 'colonial mindset'? It was Modi who showed that he had the colonial mindset by trying to take protective action when the white man raises a finger at you. One must admit that the BBC raised more than a finger at Modi. If you had the armour that the Indian courts had given you then should you not have brushed off the allegations as a figment of the BBC's imagination and moved on? But this could not be done because everyone including Modi knew that there was more than a grain of truth in the documentary. Then true to a person with no formal education but with vast power that the elections had bestowed upon him the Modi machinery went into action. They banned the documentary resulting in a furore across the country ranging from Opposition parties, activists and even students. Some of these people got hold of the documentary and tried to show it but then the police got involved the clashes happened, Sec 144 was imposed near some Delhi college and a minority university. So many people got involved with inflamed passions which was a sheer waste of time for everybody on essentially a non-issue or a dead issue. Indirectly the extra importance given to the issue revived it. This should have been avoided. If the matter had been ignored calling it a 20 year old matter and we are past that then it would been a sign of sagacity and wisdom. But when the leader is insecure you have total mishandling of any matter. Coming back to the IT raids the department cannot give a clean chit to the BBC, they are compelled 'to find something or anything'. This is the dilemma that the IT department finds itself in. The interim press release from them on the raids does not go into any specifics of any offences that have been found. Obtusely one can think that possibly this was done to show the BJP muscle that we can take on even a world renowned broadcaster like BBC before the State Assembly election drums start rolling. But how stupid can you get! 

BJP Needs Tipu To Be Woken Up For Karnataka Elections

Amit Shah started the Tipu rant that those that follow him like the Congress and the JD(S) cannot do any good for the State. This is now echoed by the Karnataka BJP President Kateel at an election meeting saying that Tipu followers will be banished to the forests. In one sense you can say that the latter's statements are very contextual since Kateel was speaking at a place where Hanuman was believed to have been born and a monkey even he is revered as God belongs to the forest and that is all that he knows. It is also good that he welcomes people of other beliefs and faiths to his abode which none of the present brood of BJP leaders would dare do. In any case, coming back to Tipu, firstly one cannot understand why the poor fellow who has died almost two centuries ago in tragic circumstances while fighting the British, needs to be woken up in his grave just to give the pleasure to the BJP rabble now to make him an election issue. Secondly, why elections are to be made communal jousting grounds is incomprehensible but one guesses that with the BJP around, there is not much choice on that. Thirdly, Tipu Sultan and his father, Hyder Ali are integral parts of Indian history and no one can deny their position therein. They secured this place because of their exploits on the battlefield including against the British and their beneficial rule over their kingdoms. Tipu and Hyder Ali protected and nurtured the Mysore kingdom and its very existence would have been in danger but for them. This they did initially on behalf of the Hindu Wodeyar dynasty for whom they fought. Thus those who by speeches and words alone today want to get a place in history and with no substantive action or deeds to their credit have no right to speak against Tipu. The first resistance to British rule in the then India was by Tipu who was being seen as a threat to the expansion of the British into South India. After inflicting heavy defeats on the British, it was because of treachery from within his ranks that he lost and was captured by the British, valiantly fighting until his last breath. The British dreaded him which with the present BJP you cannot say since they were the opposite with their then leaders during the last stages of British rule whom the present lot revere, supplicating themselves and giving mercy petitions. In fact the BJP did nothing to get the British out of India which they will now claim that they were not in existence then. But even then they talk today with misplaced sentiments of national pride and invoke nationalism at every step which is completely hypocritical and false as also insult and slander people and organisations which fought for India's freedom. You will notice that all these communal agendas come out mostly at the time of elections while at other times these issues are not at the top of their agenda. Thus the people should discount the BJP rantings with a large pinch of salt and concentrate on issues that are local and/or critical to them while casting their vote. 

Postscript: See the malicious and self-seeking interest of the BJP in this issue. For whippping up communal frenzy and with the purpose of winning the elections they will use Tipu, a Muslim, but at other times they will look the other way as far as this community is concerned.

                                                     ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat

Mob: 07218698906

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue No. : N 019

 

VOX POPULI  
by 
AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 019
Issue Date: 13th Feb 2023

Contents:

1. Chinese Balloons Floating Irresponsibly Over The Rest Of The World

2. Talking of Colonial Mindsets

3. The Aussie Mind Games 

       Chinese Balloons Floating Irresponsibly Over The Rest Of The World

The Chinese balloon floating free over sovereign nations underlines risks that are unknown. The first obvious risk is it is spying and attempting to map the nations over which it would have passed, in this case the US. With relations between the two countries none too good it was obvious that the US would not sit quietly and watch the balloon float by. That a Chinese balloon was overhead would lead to fears as to what it would contain. After the Covid pandemic there is less of trust with China who refused to take responsibility that the virus emerged from its wet markets in Wuhan and later caused havoc around the world. Thus with a Chinese balloon in the sky there would be fears that it could be spraying unknown things which could lead to disease and pestilence. The US therefore has every right to shoot it down. Even then the US was hesitant as to what could happen in the process of shooting it down whether it would let off another explosive, conventional or atomic, resulting in greater disaster and more pollution. If China were responsible they could have informed the countries in the likely path of the balloon about the object so that people would be aware and there would not be unnecessary scare. This China does not do and then takes objections after the US had shot down the balloon. This is not taking proper responsibility. The US are well within their rights to refuse China to give back the balloon debris since they took the trouble of shooting it down and the object was in US skies. There is another Chinese balloon that the US claim that they shot over Alaska with another one reported earlier as  floating in the skies over Latin America and we have to see what happens to that. As for India, we have to be told by the US that similar Chinese balloons were floating across India and only then will we look up at the skies! It is like those times when the Pakistani terrorists launched a drone attack on an army camp on Jammu and we did not shoot it down because these items were not part of the SOP!

                                           Talking of Colonial Mindsets

There was talk of a colonial mindset still persisting in the UK when the BBC documentary on Narendra Modi's involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots  was aired, in trying to arrive at a rebuttal of the content shown. However, now we ourselves are showing the same colonial mindset in the context of the Hindenberg report that has come out on the Adani Group Cos. As a consequence of the report the Adani stock started going downhill at an alarming rate wiping out half the Group valuation in a matter of days. Now this was a report done by the 'whites' and why should we have bothered if the Adanis were doing things the right way and there was no wrongdoing. That the stocks fell show that we as Indians still take cognizance of what the foreigners say which goes to prove that we also carry the 'colonial mindset'. Otherwise why should we have bothered about the report. We would have brushed it off and carried on as if nothing had happened. Thus we have to remember that when we point fingers at others, there are four other fingers that still point back at us.

                                              The Aussie Mind Games 

On the cricket field, India needs to be wary of the mind games that the Australiam team and its management are playing. Appearing as if they are scared of India's spin attack led by Ravichandran Ashwin is only to lull India into thinking that they have the Australian team on the backfoot even before a single ball has been bowled. This is not true since the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner, Labuschagne, Khwaja and the free hitting Travis Head are all strong in the mind and are capable of taking the Indian bowlers including the spinners to the cleaners. However, they are not resting alone on mind games but making sure that their batting practice covers what they are likely to see in the Tests by getting a bowler who has a similar action like Ashwin to bowl at them in the nets. Thus the Indian cricket team should not take it easy in their preparations for the upcoming series otherwise they will see themselves lose badly.

                                                     ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat

Mob: 07218698906

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue No. : N 018

VOX POPULI  

by 

AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 018
Issue Date: 6th Feb 2023

Contents:

1. The Adani Mess-up with Postscript: The Finance Minister & The Finance

     Secretary Needs To Pull Up Their Socks

2. Changing Perspectives & Manufacturing Benefits

3. Re Problems With Indian Medications Abroad: Are We Safe In India?

The Adani Mess-up with Postscript: The Finance Minister & The Finance

 Secretary Needs To Pull Up Their Socks

The Adani stocks continue to take a beating as a consequence of the Hindenberg report on its operations. It is reported that the losses in the falling stock are near US$ 120 billion wiping out half the value of the Adani Group Cos. The surprising part of this story is that despite this massive impact our Secretary, Min of Finance has described this whitewash as a 'storm in a tea cup' and that it will subside in a few days. On what basis he is saying this is not understandable and which crystal ball he is looking into to make his prediction. Maybe he is saying this because in a short time Adani will have nothing more to lose! However, the lack of concern from the Finance Secy is stunning since government entities like LIC & SBI are exposed to the extent of Rs. 56,000 crores in the Adani Group Cos. The government and IRDAI have put out statements that the exposure of LIC & SBI are within the norms and are only to the extent of some 0.2%  of their total loan portfolios. The issue is not that but the risk of the government losing this money which is a substantial amount of public funds. We have seen how from Mallya to Choksi to Nirav Modi the government has failed to recover their investments since the pledged assets never compensate fully to the extent of loans taken and the process of recovery is cumbersome and time consuming. The RBI has again called for the banks to inform it of their exposure to the Adani Group Cos. This is a good step. Thus it is best that all banks and government investment entities have a mechanism of regularly monitoring their exposure to loanees with checks and balances on their operations and the quality of assets along with red light markers that will trigger a more exhaustive review. We have seen too many of financial failures lately and this is no time to sit idly by and watch things change for the worse like a spectator. 

Postscript:

The Finance Minister & The Finance Secretary Needs To Pull Up Their Socks

With the exposure of the State Financial Institutions like State Bank of India and LIC in the Adani Group of Cos. in the region of Rs. 57,000 crores, this is not the time for the above august personages to be blithe about the entire matter. The Finance Minister can say that India is too big to fail from the Adani collapse and that the two prime financial Institutions of the country are not overexposed in their loan portfolio to the Adanis, but the Rs. 57,000 crores is nothing to be ignored. At the same time the Finance Secretary can abstain from making vacuous and immature statements that the Adani meltdown is a storm in the tea cup. For the public it is important that the Adani exposure is secured and therefore the Finance Minister and the Finance Secretary should make concerted efforts to recover the money since it is the public that elected Nirmala Sitharaman to Parliament so that she could become the Finance Minister and the Finance Secretary's salary is being paid by the public which he needs to justify and do his job rather than indulge in innocuous statements.

Changing Perspectives & Manufacturing Benefits

The semantics involved in the presentation of the Annual Economic Survey and the Union Budget are rather amusing. There was a time when GDP growth expectations would be in double digit levels and one would be talking of 10-12% growth in a matter of fact manner. Thereafter we slipped and growth of 8-9% became the norm which qualified as normal. However, this year we see that 6-6.8% predicted for 2023-24 is described as robust growth. While just earlier during the Covid times we were fighting to maintain a growth rate of 7% and taking umbrage when the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral agencies were projecting an India growth below 7% against. But we are now taking the 6-6.8% growth as 'robust'! But in one sense it is good that our government is recognising the worldwide recessionary trends currently prevailing and settling for a reasonable growth rate. 

It was also said that the Budget presented for 2023-24 has nothing for the poor and the SME sector. As this information we have the redoubtable FM wading into the action and a headline in the papers saying that she will have a session with the BJP MP's to educate them on how the Budget benefits the poor and the SME sector. Another 'jumla' on the way! 

The other thing was that Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget in Parliament when she came to the phasing out of old, polluting vehicles stumbled with a slip of the tongue and said that she will 'replace old political ......' for '.....old polluting...'. Sometimes the truth has a tendency of slipping out!

Re Problems With Indian Medications Abroad: Are We Safe In India?

We have been lately having problems with our medications being found to be below par and not up to medical standards around the world. In Uganda & Kazakhstan there were reports of deaths amongst children after taking cough syrup made in India. The medication was being made by pharma Cos. near Delhi. The operations of these Cos. were then sealed pending investigation. There are now problems being reported from the US about eye drops from a Chennai Co. that have bacterial contamination as a result of which a number of people have lost vision and there has been one death. The contamination seems to be across different batch nos. of the medicine and after testing by the CDC on bottles that had been opened by users. Apart from the loss of face that India encounters, there is a greater concern as to whether whether the same medicines were being sold in India and whether Indian lives were put at risk particularly of children as in the case of the cough syrup incident. There is a saving grace that the eye drops are not sold in India. As much as the pharma Cos. involved and the government take these matters seriously when foreign countries report these issues, one is not sure if Indian instances are taken with the same import since the attitude taken is that the complaints are spurious and in any case Indian lives are cheap. This is being said since in the media one has not heard of anything about any cases from the cough syrup that happened quite some time back abroad. The Drugs Controlller needs to be seized of these matters and conduct enquiries against these pharma Cos.to make sure that Indian patients are safe.

                                                     ********************

If you have any issues with this blog, you can revert to :

S Kamat

Mob: 07218698906

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com

VOX POPULI Issue N017

VOX POPULI  

by 

AAM ADMI 

Issue No. : N 017

Issue Date: 30 Jan 2023

Contents:

1. Indian Industry & The Adani Conundrum

2. India Going On Top In White Ball Cricket 

3. More On The Shankar Mishra In-flight Peeing Incident

4. With The BJP Government Everything Is Chargeable!

Indian Industry & The Adani Conundrum

It seems Indian private industry is rotten to the core except for some names like the Tatas, the TVS Group and maybe Birlas, with scandals dotting its growth over the years ranging from scams, falsification of accounts, avoidance of taxes and duties, selling of quotas during the licensing regime which all maybe in a large part has led to the generation and growth of black money or the second economy as it is called. Lately after the liberalisation of the economy in the 1990's there was a more permissive attitude and industry scandals did not create headlines too much until starting from Mallya the muck started hitting the roof. After that we had many others with bigger amounts that were scammed than Mallya like Choksi, Nirav Modi and others and now finally we have Adani. The Reliance shenanigans of Dhirubhai Ambani with his financial wizardry are well known but the mantle that was put across the elder son, Mukesh, to carry on the Ambani tradition has been well worn by him and the Reliance group has today legitimised most of its vastly diversified operations though the younger son, Anil, finds himself in rough waters for his forays into industry. People like Adani fail to realise that when they want to grow big, they will have to come into the limelight where arc-lights are focused on you. It is then difficult to hide anything, even a wrinkle in your operations will be visible. Chanda Kochhar and her husband made the same mistake at ICICI which being listed on the New York Stock Exchange had to submit regulatory reports from which the loans to the Videocon entities came up to the surface. These were pointed out by the US auditors and then the whole thing unravelled which we saw being played out with Kochhar and her husband arrested and subsequently released on bail. Similarly, Adani can preen as the 4th richest person in the world but he has to keep his books clear. Like it is said that Caesar's wife should not only be above suspicion but also appear to be above suspicion. The problem is people in India do not realise this and believe also that abroad you can get away with tactics they use here. That is first intimidate and throw your weight around, second flaunt your connections and third, buy your way out. Adani has also been threatening to sue Hindenberg which if he does in the US, he will be stripped naked and he will not even have the proverbial fig leaf to cover his privates. So Adani has to work out his retaliation plan giving a lot of thought to it but first he has to put his own house in order as far as his Cos. are concerned. A few months ago even in India a report had come out that the Adani Cos. are highly over-leveraged. There is one thing in all this that defies explanation and that is why did Hindenberg release the expose just before Adani was going to the public to raise funds of some Rs. 20,000 crores. That issue is in a mess now. If Adani solves this puzzle then he will know who his real enemies are. 

India Going On Top In White Ball Cricket 

The new crop of young cricketers are doing exceedingly well with Surya Kumar Yadav (SKY) named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year in the T20I format and Mohammed Siraj whose name is included in the ICC Team of the Year in the ODI format. In addition Siraj is currently topping the bowling rankings in the same ODI format. White ball cricket has changed the way cricket is played and these youngsters have made it their own. This augurs well for Indian cricket in times to come. 

More On The Shankar Mishra In-flight Peeing Incident

On the Shankar Mishra in-flight peeing incident, we see in the newspapers first the Air India Association responding to the de-rostering of the crew and the pilot as announced by the DGCA by objecting to the action. In its rejoinder the Association is trying to defend the crew and the pilot involved but they do not at all mention about the victim. This is rather sad. Further Air India has also got into the act and advised the DGCA that the action by the aviation body is excessive and that they will assist the pilot in his plea against the punishment. Here again there is absolutely no mention of the plight of the victim, who being an Air India customer is left in the lurch while at other times the management jargon mouthed is that - Customer is King (or Queen, in this instance). In addition, Air India has been fined another Rs. 10 Lakhs for not reporting the other in-flight peeing incident in Dec 2022 on their Paris - Delhi flight. Thus we see that the principle followed as above is every man or woman for himself or herself, and God save the victim or let them stand up for themselves. In all this the victim, a senior citizen, that too a lady, is left wondering what happened to the Tatas who has allowed her to be bounced around between the perpetrator, Shankar Mishra, the police and the courts and seriously consider keeping quiet accepting that it is common practice on Air India that passengers can pee on each other in flight. Overall, Tatas have completely mishandled the situation. Chandrasekharan when he made the public statement that Tatas could have done better in the matter should have put his words into action. Unfortunately nothing like that was done. Tatas are losing face in this matter and maybe it is time that Ratan Tata stepped in to recover the situation.

With The BJP Government Everything Is Chargeable!

I have been going to Delhi since 1970 off and on for business and stayed there for 3 years from 1988-91. From that time I have known that the Republic Day Parade is a time for joy and celebration and that the parade was free. It was only that if you reached late then you had to stand for the entire duration of the parade since all the chairs for the general public would be taken. Therefore I was shocked to see that for the current parade they sell tickets. Though the rates are nominal it is not correct to charge the public for attending this event. The celebration that India is a republic should be free for its common citizens. Not only that there was a new item in the papers that the number of common people that would be allowed for the parade this year would be limited to 25,000. We talk of a revamped Kartavya Path (the earlier Rajpath) which is bigger and better as we are told and we still limit the number of those who want to come and see the parade? Isn’t this contradictory? 

The other thing was that among students a painting competition was organised mostly for the Kendriya Vidyalayas on the theme of Pariksha pe Charcha which radio broadcast by the PM will be aired on 27th Jan. However the students have been asked to contribute money for their participation for the competition to offset the cost of paper and painting materials. Many of the students could not pay the entry fee and finally the schools decided to take out the cost from the Building Development Fund to which the students contribute through their fees every month. Why the government cannot fund even such things is not understood? 

Both these matters are a shame for the country where you are asked to pay for everything. Things which were free earlier and the others for which the government incurs a nominal cost and are towards a good cause are being made chargeable.

                                                      ****************

If you have any issues with the contents of this blog, you can respond to: 

S Kamat

Mob: 0 7218698906  

Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com