Vox Populi : Issue 153

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 153       Date: 30.05.2016      

1.       The Need For The Celebrations of Modi Govt.'s 2nd Anniversary?

2.       Rishi Kapoor Sets The Cat Among The Pigeons

3.       The Enigma That Is Narendra Modi

4.       The AAP In Transition

             The Need For The Celebrations of Modi Govt.'s 2nd Anniversary?

One cannot really see the necessity of the BJP-led NDA government celebrating the completion of being two years in office. What are Narendra Modi and the BJP celebrating? Is it the commendable achievement of theirs to having remained in office for 2 years which is beyond their wildest dreams! Otherwise one does not see any significance of celebrating the 2nd anniversary and that too on such a scale. All this when farmers continue to take their lives because of drought, when there are no indications of prices of commodities and food items cooling off in the market place, when industrial growth is slowing down, when agricultural growth is negative, when your exports are falling, when job growth is negative, when all PSB's along with some of the major private banks have shown a drastic fall of profits coupled with a massive rise in NPA’s and when drawal of credit is the slowest for the last many years by industry. In fact the money spent on these celebrations across the country and on the newspaper advertisements should have been better used to spend on relief measures to the needy in our midst like drought affected people.  To get into the celebratory mood that the BJP seems to be in we should be given special glasses to look around and see everything rosy like they seem to be seeing. The situation is akin to someone who cannot see Narendra Modi's 'new clothes' even though everyone seems to be complimenting him for them in blatant sycophancy.  Postscript: When you write something like this, one is immediately branded as being part of the opposing party or a political motive is introduced in the equation, while actually the reality is hiding somewhere there in between the two which our leaders fail to see. It is almost as if the subject is taboo and one should not raise it. This happens when we are ruled by mediocre minds which are more used to understanding duality than the reality of things.

                             Rishi Kapoor Sets The Cat Among The Pigeons

Rishi Kapoor has been absolutely correct while raising the point as to why everything starting from street names to government schemes should be named from someone in the Gandhi family and why we do not even think of naming such things with the names of eminent local people who have made their mark and/or contributed in public life. To this valid point the Congress party seems to have taken umbrage and it is said that in Mumbai the party workers have named a public toilet in Rishi Kapoor's name. The celebrated actor has taken this fact sportingly and in good humour. In other places Congress workers have been burning the actor's effigies in public. Is it to actually show outrage or is it to try to catch the eye of the High Command and get into their good books? If it is the former then the Congress is behaving exactly like the BJP was doing on the beef or the nationalism issue, when the Congress had branded the BJP as intolerant. In the present context is the Congress not able to stomach Rishi Kapoor's criticism? Carrying this point further the BJP is presently in the process of launching many a scheme and re-naming some of the existing schemes in the names of their leaders. So the BJP is no different. As for the common citizen if  the schemes are simply named after their purpose then it would be easier for them to comprehend if they can avail it or not rather than scroll down the leader's names which are common for many a scheme. 

                  The Enigma That Is Narendra Modi

Maybe at this time when the BJP government led by Narendra Modi is celebrating two years in office we should analyse the enigma that is Narendra Modi to properly understand his personality and his response mechanisms. This particularly so when he is faced with unusual and maybe perplexing situations that he finds himself being catapulted into at times, by virtue of his pre-eminent position as Prime Minister of India. From a person who stood up to the old guard within the BJP, who successfully wooed the RSS top brass and chose to show his thumb to the other contenders and thus secured the nomination to be Prime Minister has been an exhilarating journey for the 'chaiwallah' by his own admission. From then on to the hectic electioneering to obtain the massive mandate of the absolute majority in the Lok Sabha was another commendable step. The position that this put Modi in would surely have convinced him into thinking that he could do no wrong. Embarking with this mind-set to govern India, the first shuddering brake to that joyous momentum was when Arvind Kejriwal won that unprecedented majority in the Delhi elections almost wiping out the presence of all parties including the BJP in the Delhi legislature. Thus this was to be seen that the capital city which had welcomed Modi to become the Prime Minister of India had thrown him out when it came to governing it. The next unnerving thing were the Bihar elections where the JD(U) and the RJD cobbled a hurried alliance and relegated the BJP to the opposition. In the meanwhile there were minor setbacks in one or the other by-elections to the State Assemblies where the BJP again faltered. The latest Assembly election results are nothing much to crow about since statistics show that other parties won more seats than the BJP in these elections, the BJP lost 4 out of 5 States and the only gain in Assam was because of the three term incumbency of the Congress where the BJP got the anti-incumbency vote and also the emotive vote about the illegal immigration from Bangladesh into the State.

Prime Minister Modi had in the initial euphoria charted out a foreign policy program to woo the world and bring home to them the new BJP establishment holding office in India. Like the honeymoon is most often tinged with rosy hues Modi's charm brought him kudos from almost every single foreign capital that he touched more so from the Indian diaspora in these countries. And he did touch a few capitals around the world and some multiple times in these last two years! But then he found that he did have to come back home and show that he was capable to govern the country. In that responsibility he has been an infrequent visitor even to Parliament and the butt of many a joke from his co-MP’s among which is that the MP’s found him reaching for his seat-belt when settling down in his place in the Lok Sabha!

One finds Modi in contrasting almost contradicting styles like he is an excellent orator given a lectern but completely tongue-tied like his predecessor in the Prime Minister’s office when having to confront any public issue that is seizing the minds of the people. He continued to remain silent on the beef debate, the intolerance wave that emerged from that while his BJP compatriots and some of them ministers indulged in their foot in the mouth exercises while commenting on these sensitive matters. This continued with Modi again strangely silent when issues of nationalism, sedition came up and people were being judged on their patriotism by whether they were willing to say – Bharat Mata ki Jai! We needed a hands-on Prime Minister to steer the country from the rot that had set in during the earlier UPA regime where we find Modi sorely lacking. One sees him as a person prone to being bombastic, with a penchant for populist slogans and with an addiction to rename all schemes to the NDA signature. The result is that the Indian public is confused about the various schemes which are rolled out in event management style and no one is sure if any of them are being implemented. Since otherwise why should farmers continue to take their lives during the current drought for fear of being unable to pay their loans when a crop insurance scheme is stated to exist? The same way the much touted – Make In India – is nothing new since the emphasis on indigenous production has been in existence since the first Five Year Plan which has created the existing industrial base in the country and the 3^rd largest technical manpower pool in the world. What was required was jobs for this youth manpower which the Modi government has sadly been unable to provide in any large measure during these last two years in office.  

Concluding one must say that Narendra Modi should show more application and resolve to perform as Prime Minister of India, improve the policy measures of his government which are today mostly shallow and without meaning and show an ability to effectively handle the economy to contain inflation and to provide more jobs to our people to create sustained earning power. There are still another three years to go before the General Elections come around which is time enough to show that Narendra Modi can lead India to a meaningful and sustainable growth path and not constantly look back to point faults of the preceding regime and seek shelter in comparisons but strike out to new frontiers of his own. 

                The AAP In Transition

The AAP led by the feisty Arvind Kejriwal is bringing in a new edge to politics in India. Their style is strident and is staged on brinkmanship. Being a new party, these tactics are essential for them to be noticed and considered seriously. However in their stridency the AAP sometimes comes across as brash, intrusive, immature and insulting which they have to be careful about particularly when they seek to branch out to other States. They have also used the victim position vis a vis the BJP government at the Centre to their full advantage and have thus reinforced their image in the minds of the Delhi voter. At the same time the AAP party has taken initiatives which may be populist but which are firmly embedded in today's politics to entrench themselves in the image of a citizen friendly party. The BJP one must say read the message of the massive mandate given by Delhi to the AAP party wrongly and instead of letting them run the government and commit mistakes and then take advantage of it, the BJP has got into a confrontation mode with AAP. This has therefore allowed the AAP leadership to wrest the initiative from the BJP and portray themselves as someone with good intentions but not being allowed to perform by the Big Brother at the Centre. This has also enabled the AAP to keep the agenda of full Statehood of Delhi in the forefront and show that the BJP is the party that is thwarting the best interests of Delhi. Both the BJP and the Congress being used to the laid-back style of politics involving policies like - 'You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.' - are unable to read the AAP strategies correctly and thus flounder miserably in the manner of their reacting to issues raised by AAP. This was evident when the AAP sometime back went for Arun Jaitley's gullet on the DDCA issue where both the implicated person, the Finance Minister, and the BJP did not know what to do in the light of the escalating crescendo of Arun Jaitley's alleged wrongdoing in DDCA affairs. The same was also true to the recent noise generated by AAP on Modi’s educational degrees.  If it was the Congress then the BJP would remain comfortable in the fact that after a few headline grabbing pronouncements the matters would be allowed to simmer down. Not so with AAP where more often than not the matter ends up in the courts. Thus in overall terms AAP tends to operate as a disruptor in Indian politics. Whether it is a good thing or something purely transitory with the AAP fading away only time will tell. If recent indicators are any guideline, AAP like other political parties at times of their evolution, showed the door to some of its senior leaders who were not aligned to the views of the super honcho, Arvind Kejriwal. You could call this cleansing or consolidation which allows the leadership to wield authority with the least ambiguity. Other than that over the last few months we have seen a spate of advertisements in national mainline newspapers on the achievements of the AAP government in Delhi projecting Arvind Kejriwal prominently. These are again conventional methods of political parties to build an image in the minds of voters. With AAP falling prey to these tactics, one could ask where now is AAP, the party with a difference as they had promised? These ads have also been at a phenomenal cost exceeding some Rs. 100 crores which would it not have been better to spend on development or measures that directly benefit citizens. Thus one would be compelled to say that you had a new babe on the block, the AAP that is, which promised to be different but as days are passing by, it is resorting to the same tricks of the trade that the entrenched political parties play. Maybe like the old adage says - As much as you bring about change, things tend to remain the same. This must be true here also. It is also felt that the AAP needs to put in a special effort still to consolidate and show that they can run a government effectively before considering pan – India expansion. It is acceptable for them in the north like Punjab but they have also plans to come to Goa and in a public rally last week here in Panaji, Arvind Kejriwal raised local hackles by calling Goa a haven for - Sex, Drugs and Gambling. There is merit in this statement but in comparative terms all these problems are much less than in Delhi or other metropolitan cities in India. So should you not clean up your own dirty stables before pointing fingers at Goa, which remains the No. 1 family holiday destination in India.

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

VOX POPULI : Issue 152

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 152                                    Date:  23.05.2016

Contents:

1.       There Is Nothing For The BJP To Gloat About The Recent Assembly Elections

2.       Subramaniam Swamy's Criticism Of RBI Governor Unwarranted

3.       Sri Sri Ravishankar's Scant Respect For The Law

4.       Stop Surge Pricing & Regulate Rates In All Transportation Sectors

        There Is Nothing For The BJP To Gloat About The Recent Assembly Elections

The broad perspective of the results of the Assembly elections in the 5 States is that the BJP lost 4 States out of the 5. And apart from Assam in the other States they were not able to move beyond the low single digit numbers.  Even in Assam the anti-incumbency factor of the 3-term Congress government led by Tarun Gogoi was the reason for the BJP victory and not due to any great electoral platform that the party formulated. What the BJP has to take from these elections is the fact that the regional parties are increasingly consolidating their position across India. Earlier it was J&K, Delhi, Bihar and Telangana which went the regional way and now both Mamata Banerji and Jayalalithaa have got a second term largely because of their governance measures. Where the BJP adopted a strident campaign in West Bengal, they had just 3 seats to show for it, indicating that against Mamata Banerjee & the TMC it is difficult to make headway.  As for the increase in the BJP vote percentages across the 5 states for which results were announced, it has to be accepted that some people will cast a vote for the party at the Centre expecting a larger amount of sympathy and support for the State problems. What the BJP needs to do from here on is to concentrate on governance and avoid getting into needless controversial non-issues where precious time is lost from dealing with urgent and pressing matters and also loss of face with the electorate. The major lesson from the recent Assembly elections results is for the Congress which is struggling to maintain its positions as a relevant national party. In fact the death knell for the Congress has tolled across India and it’s a matter of time before it is cast on the sidelines of the political map of India. 

       Subramaniam Swamy's Criticism Of RBI Governor Unwarranted

The criticism expressed by Subramaniam Swamy about the RBI Governor, Raghuram Rajan is unwarranted. The RBI Governor has been doing his job satisfactorily given the prevailing circumstances and has been plainly speaking his mind on economic issues. Some of his utterances may have rubbed the government the wrong way. But one cannot find much fault with the way he has been going about his job in emphasising that containing inflation is more important than other matters affecting the Indian economy. If  Subramaniam Swamy has to find fault then it should be with Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister whose lacklustre performance and inability to grasp economic issues has stifled the launch of reforms essential for steady growth. 

        Sri Sri Ravishankar's Scant Respect For The Law

We have Sri Sri Ravishankar getting needlessly into issues which are more akin to public-relations disasters which clearly shows his lack of perspective on worldly matters as well as the lack of control that he has on his followers.  The latest has been the trolling in social media by his followers of Twinkle Khanna who was critical of what the self-styled religious leader had said about Malala’s Nobel Prize and about her being chosen by the Nobel Prize foundation for the award. A case of sour grapes, one would say for common people but not surely fitting the persona of Sri Sri Ravishankar when he makes such comments. Again in the recent post when the Art of Living (AoL) organization was celebrating its anniversary on the banks of the Yamuna river, controversy had erupted on the damage to the environment. The NGT had upon assessing the matter levied a Rs. 5 crore fine on the AoL. Sri Sri Ravishankar first refused to pay the fine, then with better sense prevailing agreed to pay a reduced amount of Rs. 25 Lakhs as an installment before holding of the event. He also disputed calling the amount a fine. Once the event was over we find him proposing to the NGT that the balance of the fine amounting to Rs. 5 crores would be paid in the form of a Bank Guarantee. Here again  is Sri Sri Ravishankar not behaving more like a businessman akin to a Subrata Roy or a Vijay Mallya by negotiating  on payment of the balance once his function is over? This precisely is what Subrata Roy of Sahara did and consequent of that he has found himself in jail for the last two years now, lately out on conditional bail to attend his mother’s funeral. One would therefore presume there is no difference between Sri Sri Ravishankar and Subrata Roy for all the former's saintly posturing. Where people like him should set examples to society on respecting the law and following its strictures in the event they are imposed, he is showing no respect for them. It is time that Sri Sri Ravishankar introspects on these matters and revises his approach to worldly things.

     Stop Surge Pricing & Regulate Rates In All Transportation Sectors

Surge pricing came to the fore again during the second phase of the odd-even traffic rule recently completed at Delhi when taxicab operators like Ola & Uber came under the AAP government’s microscope for charging exorbitantly at peak times and taking advantage of customers who had no option of alternate means of transportation. Airline and bus pricing to holiday destinations across the country like Goa during vacation times has for long been a pain for travelers with common means. The issue of surge or dynamic pricing of airline tickets hit the headlines recently during the Jat quota agitation with the fare between Delhi and Chandigarh touching record levels of nearly Rs. 1 Lakh from the normal Rs. 3000. Taking advantage of passengers at the drop of a hat during peak travel times and particularly during public agitations in which passengers have no role speaks of the irresponsibility of the airlines and their tendency to exploit the travelling public. Is there no need to regulate this? On the plea of economics of running their transportation services, the airlines and other transport operators are fleecing the travelling public in a calculated manner. In earlier times we had a pejorative term for this and it was called simply – black-marketing. It was also considered illegal and attracted penal provisions of the law. Nowadays times have changed and it is considered ‘smart’ to be able to do surge pricing. The operators have various kinds of logic, which reasonable people cannot fathom, like surge pricing brings more taxis into operation thus increasing availability. As for airlines under the guise of offering cut rates for a small percentage of their tickets, they insist that surge pricing is critical for their profitability. It is time therefore that pricing is bench-marked to the distance traveled so that some modicum of rationalization of fares is established. While there is no harm in charging passengers extra for facilities provided by the air carriers like business or first class travel, food and drinks on board and extra baggage, the basic economy class fare should remain fixed. This can of course change on an annual basis or take into account sudden surges in fuel prices. This methodology sets an expectation of the cost of air travel between destinations and helps passengers to better plan for their travel. The current pricing mechanism suffers from the malaise that most people feel being cheated since the value for money criteria is completely given the go-by. The luxury buses plying particularly to Goa follow the same practices and charge fares during peak season just below the airfares to destinations like Bombay though providing for sleeper berths at this rate. The Indian Railways is also reported to be toying with dynamic pricing for fares and has introduced this already for the tickets booked under the ‘tatkal’ category. This is actually against the charter to provide for safe and economic travel across the country to Indian citizens for which the Railways was established. To curb the dynamic or surge pricing, two State governments, that of Delhi and Karnataka, have taken the initiative. This has to be lauded.  For taxi cabs while Delhi banned surge pricing at peak hours, Karnataka set a rate per km. which the taxi operators cannot exceed.  These initiatives have to be lauded and these practices implemented on a pan-India basis across all transportation sectors.     

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

VOX POPULI : Issue 151

VOX POPULI

by

 Aam Admi

Issue: 151                Date:  16.05.2016

Contents:

1.       BJP Should Concentrate On Governance

2.       Enact Stiffer Punishment To Handle Road Accidents

3.       The Danger To Civilians From Army Artillery Testing Ranges

4.       The US Plays Hot & Cold With Pakistan

5.       No Hike In Legislator Salaries Instead Enact Right To Water

BJP Should Concentrate On Governance

The land that is India has a history of being a 5000 year old civilisation which has given humanity four of its greatest religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This land has from the days of antiquity been honoured and regarded as a place where intellectual activities thrive and culture is perennially alive. For that reason it has attracted many visitors from the days of yore, some of whom chose to stay back as conquerors. Apart from the spice trade it was the Indian philosophical thought as recorded in the Vedas and other religious texts, the study of Sanskrit and the message of the Bhagavadagita that this land exported to different parts of the civilised world spawning the study of Indian thought in many countries like Germany, with Max Muller being at the forefront, and England, our colonial rulers.

From this high pedestal of eminence over the last two years our political discourse has dragged India down to banality, short-sightedness and to put it plainly, cussedness. First it was the meat eating practices of a large section of the population that was criticised by the ruling establishment. Then lately we have had this issue of nationalism and patriotism that has been raised from some incidents that happened in student campuses which broad minded people and those who have the ability to look farsightedly would have ignored. The ruling establishment in hamhandedly trying to deal with the situation tended to make heroes out of young individuals who are still wet behind the ears. These individuals reveling in this new found attention that they got not only from the ruling establishment, media and other political parties, orchestrated sporadic outbursts in other campuses across the country.

The surprising thing was that the talk of nationalism has been generated primarily by the BJP and the Left parties which history would have recorded as having no or few freedom fighters for Indian independence and even if they had people who raised their voices against the British were seen to be in their later life to be siding with them or behaving as collaborators. And these are the people who are today trying to appropriate the mantle of nationalism! The interpretation of nationalism and patriotism as vocalised by the BJP is so shallow that one doubts the innate intelligence of the leaders who are speaking on the matter. Their claim that a group of students in a campus meeting can shake the belief of the Indian people in their country is to say the least very much far-fetched. The feelings of nationalism run deep in the hearts of Indians and the expression of this tends to be spontaneous. Therefore it is not necessary to have a 100 meter pole with the Indian flag atop it at all our universities to show our patriotism or to say - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - by our schoolchildren every day at assembly. The feeling and expression of patriotism should be heart-felt and that is when you know it is real. The shallowness of the minds of our BJP leaders is also seen in the manner that they catapulted the student leaders on our university campuses to media stars and then maybe recognising their mistake some of the senior leaders tried to pull them down. In the process they are making a bigger mess is what they again fail to understand. 

The BJP it seems suffers from the inability to believe that they are in the seat of the government. Even after two years have passed the honeymoon period or hangover, call it what you will, of their euphoric victory in the elections does not seem to have passed from their minds. Therefore they are still continuing in the mode of the opposition party wherein they have to oppose everything and rebut every statement made against them. Governance involves getting on with things and taking matters in your stride armed with the confidence that you are doing what is required for the good of the country. Governance requires the ruling party to remain in the here and now rather than try to defend any criticism of their actions by recounting what the other parties while ruling had done in the past. Governance is not a debating match to decide who won since at the end of it the ruling party will be judged by what they did and not what they spoke. While in contrast the opposition parties are judged by how often and what they spoke. Since if the ruling party falls in the trap of the opposition to mire themselves in controversies then governance suffers. This is what precisely is happening to the BJP now. Two years have passed with no achievements to speak of and if they continue in this manner the remaining three years of their term will pass in the same manner. 

There is also a nagging feeling that in this BJP government no one seems to be in charge. The reason for this comment is that while the BJP project the fact that the Prime Minister is in charge we find that at crucial junctures he strangely lapses into long periods of silence. One feels a sense of deja vu being reminded of the previous incumbent, Manmohan Singh who was also known for his unusual silences. There is a need for a head of government to orchestrate governance and pull his party together at times when major controversies erupt. Like at the height of the beef eating controversy almost every single leader of the BJP was making controversial statements akin to putting their feet into their mouth and there was no initiative from the PM or the BJP top brass to control these people. In the end what happened was that the BJP got bad press and the country a bad name of being called intolerant. Again the beef eating issue hit a raw nerve and when public emotion gets surcharged you end up getting incidents like people getting killed on suspicion of possessing or eating beef which though more than 6 - 8 months have passed continue to surface from time to time with Aligarh Muslim University being accused of serving beef in their canteen and some cattle transporters lynched in Jharkhand. With the continued happenings of events on this issue one will have to regretfully conclude that the BJP as a political party has failed to control its rank and file.

Similarly in the Kanhaiyya incident at JNU the poor boy was thrown into jail without any verification whether he was responsible for the accusations made against him. While his bail trial took more than 10 days to happen, those who assaulted him in the presence of media cameras were not even arrested for a few days and in fact just summons was sent to them to appear at the police station at their convenience. When you have blatant videographic evidence of these people assaulting Kanhaiyya, should they not have been summarily arrested? Again the bail for these people was given in a few hours. Thus it is clear that the BJP government is adopting double standards with the administration of justice and favouring those who are on their side or belong to their party. On the Kanhaiyya incident at JNU as well as the Rohit Vemula issue at HCU which are essentially student affairs the BJP and this government is making a big mistake by trying to put their foot down and dictate on how student campuses should conduct themselves. It is one thing for Smriti Irani to gesticulate in Parliament and browbeat the likes of Mayawati but unfortunately none of the students would listen to her since simply put, when have students ever accepted an irate teacher. In fact Smriti Irani has made a mess of student campuses across the country starting from FTII, IIT's, IIM's, HCU, BHU, AMU and finally JNU maybe because of her lack of proper education to understand and appreciate the issues involved and seek a way forward. It is best therefore that she makes way for someone else who has the wisdom and acumen to handle the HRD Ministry with more aplomb and efficiency. 

Concluding one can only give the BJP and this government the advice is to keep its mouth shut except on policy issues and get on with the business of governance since otherwise they may find themselves back again in the wilderness having surrendered the wonderful opportunity that they got for no one's fault but their own.

Enact Stiffer Punishments To Handle Road Accidents

Recently there has been much coverage both in the print and visual media on the number of fatalities from road accidents all over the country. A day does not pass without one seeing in the newspapers that at least two or three have died from accidents on the road in their State or region. The solution being proposed runs from increasing awareness of road users  about safety, regulation of speed, wider roads and having riders wear helmets while driving 2-wheelers. None of these measures are new and have been thrashed about ever since a road and a vehicle to ride on it came into existence. Though one must admit that road safety programs conducted in schools have had some success in catching drivers when they are young and also the spin-off effect of children exhorting their parents to drive safely. However, one thinks that the above measures are more a thing to talk about and will not have much impact on reducing the number of fatalities from road accidents in the long run. In the alternate, what can be done is that our laws can be changed to categorise the causing of fatalities in the process of driving a vehicle as equivalent to manslaughter if not murder. In the present law the offence is treated as something that happens by accident, that is without deliberate intent and therefore the penalties are rather less stringent or puerile, which is a more apt word. The logic for this premise is that if you are driving a vehicle ranging in weight from 50 - 150 Kg. in case of 2-wheelers and 500 - 1500Kg. for cars and higher for LCV & HCV's at even 60 Kmph. and cause an accident or hit an individual, then is it not equivalent to taking a knife or a club and bludgeoning another individual to death or serious injury. Changing the offence to manslaughter or murder depending on how grievous the accident was will enjoin drivers as soon as they get behind the driving wheel of their vehicle to be careful and give more respect to other road users be it a pedestrian or another vehicle. In India, we have to take these measures since we prefer to be dealt in a paternalistic manner than in a consultative style. Otherwise, even after 69 years of Independence, we do not have a graded system of withdrawing the driving licence of a person if he is a habitual offender. Stringent punishment will also hopefully stop doting parents give their expensive cars from time to time to their minor children whom we have seen kill innocent people on the roads. It is time that we have more responsible drivers on our roads who respect other road users as much they respect themselves. 

             The Danger To Civilians From Army Artillery Testing Ranges

There was an article - Meadows In Kashmir Bearing The Brunt of Army's Artillery Drills - recently in one of the local papers here in Goa highlighting a problem that needs to be tackled. The Indian Army has been conducting its artillery drills at the Tosa Maidan in Kashmir since curtailed based on a stricture from NGT but likely to be moved to another equally scenic meadow Bajpathri that is also surrounded by habited villages. Kashmir, the beautiful State is truly - Heaven on Earth - as the Mughal Emperor Shahjehan had described it and has had its share of problems being at the centre of the dispute between India and Pakistan. Consequent of which it has been riven with violence, terror and discord . The Indian Army need not add to this with their irresponsible actions related to using the beautiful vistas of Kashmir for their artillery field trials leaving unexploded shells in these places which risk life and limb of local inhabitants particularly children. As highlighted in the article small children have died from accidentally playing with these shells not knowing the deadly consequences. This should no longer happen. India is a signatory to the treaty where mines are banned from use in theaters of war or violence. Unexploded shells are equivalent to mines and should  also be banned from being tested in civilian areas. Why the Indian Army cannot have a centralised place for testing of their artillery near where these guns are assembled or made like Jabalpur or Kirkee or any other deserted and uninhabited  location is not understood? The training to the Army personnel on this artillery can also be imparted at these centralised testing grounds rather than disperse the drills across the country and create danger to the local people. Just like in Kashmir, many a time accidents have happened at Bangalore, Pune in houses adjoining testing ranges from which the Indian Army does not seem to have learnt a lesson. So please spare Kashmir since they have enough problems of their own and those caused by Pakistan without the Indian Army adding to it any further.

                                             

                The US Plays Hot & Cold With Pakistan

The foreign policy of India relating to Pakistan is slowly but surely coming unstuck. Not only is the investigation into the Pathankot terror attack with the active cooperation of Pakistan been derailed but the US approach towards Pakistan is not matching in action to the verbal platitudes about them that the US has been serving up to India. On the back of clearance of the F-16 fighters and the attack helicopters to Pakistan, the US has also lately cleared the supply of sophisticated thermal systems used for targeting weapons. One does not need to be a strategic defence expert to grasp against whom these weapons will be used despite the US assurances that these are being given to fight terror. F-16 fighter aircraft are rarely used to fight terror. The supply of these state-of-the art weapons to Pakistan could be a supposedly oblique suggestion to India by the US in the manner of living up to their Ugly American reputation to consider buying the latest version of fighters from them which are very much more advanced to the F-16's. The US Defense Secretary was in India sometime back and such ham-handed and obtuse initiatives were seen to be high up on his agenda. For India it is time enough to review its policy towards Pakistan and deal with them with a firm and no-nonsense manner while making it clear to the US that they should stop their policy of duality amounting to running with the hares and chasing with the hounds which will boomerang in their faces in the not too distant future. This has happened in the past in relation to Afghanistan but like they say the US never learns from history. Thankfully with the lobbying by our Foreign Ministry and some sympathetic voices in the US Senate & Congress the US has asked Pakistan to pay some US$ 700 Million for the F-16’s which that country will find it difficult to scrounge. With that the supply of the F-16’s to Pakistan are held up which is to India’s advantage.

               No Hike In Legislator Salaries Instead Enact Right To Water

The phenomenal rise of salaries and perquisites for MLA's was started by the AAP in Delhi which hat is being passed around the country with Telengana announcing a massive hike in their MLA remuneration. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are likely to follow suit. Bihar has just the other day set a trend that their MLA's being poor, they are entitled to gifts like Microwave Ovens and other consumer durables. There are also rumblings among the MP's claiming that they should be paid more than the MLA's. One would say that logic is irrefutable. But if you consider the basic premise the remuneration of our legislators including salaries, facilities and perquisites is already very high and nowhere in line with the work that these people do. For any work that they do it is a known fact that they tend to earn more. No work in their constituencies or under the portfolio of ministers can get done without a share being passed on to the legislator. Thus it is best that the legislators adopt a resolution that they will accept a freeze in their remuneration for the next five years or the remaining period of their terms. It is also rather disconcerting to see legislators seeking hikes in salaries when farmers around the country particularly in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra and Karnataka have been reeling under drought. Many farmers have taken their lives because of this situation and with no avenue to pay off their loans. Even in Marathwada water is being supplied twice a week through tankers to meet the villager's needs. But if you see the quality of the water just by colour none of us would even touch it with a barge pole. It is dirty and polluted. Children in these villages are said to be falling sick upon consumption of this water. Therefore our legislators should instead of asking for hike in their salaries, voluntarily give it up towards passing legislation that guarantees potable water across India. Just like we have Right to Education we should have a Right to Water in this country.

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

VOX POPULI 

 by 

Aam Admi 

 Issue: 150                                                                Date: 09.05.2016 

 Contents: 

 1. Vox Populi Is Back 

 2. Price Rise & The Aam Admi 

 3.  In Defence Of Vijay Mallya 

4. Implement Crop Insurance & Save Farmer’s Lives 

5. More Competent Person Required To Head Film Censor Board 

 6. LPG Scary In The Hands Of BPL Families 

 7. BCCI Trying To Take IPL Out Of India?

Hi,

 I am mailing you the latest issue of Vox Populi to stimulate and encourage discussion and comment on current affairs. If you are interested in responding to any of the issues mentioned in this newsletter you could mail me or alternately post your comment at my blog - kamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com. The comment if posted on my blogs will have the advantage of other people who peruse Vox Populi to see your comment and respond to it, if need be. On the kamatblog.blogspot.com blog you can see the back issues of Vox Populi also.

 IN CASE YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN RECEIVING VOX POPULI, YOU CAN MAIL ME BACK PUTTING - UNSUBSCRIBE VOX POPULI - IN THE SUBJECT LINE AND YOUR NAME WILL BE TAKEN OFF THE DISTRIBUTION LIST IMMEDIATELY.

 There is no catch in this and no payment of any kind is involved, now or into the future. This is being sent, as said earlier, to encourage your comment and involvement in current affairs.

 Thanking you for your patience in reading through this. HAPPY READING VOX POPULI.

 Yours truly

 S Kamat, S-1, Sanohitra Apartments, Dr Rego Bagh, Alto St. Cruz, Bambolim Complex, Goa 403202. Ph: (0832) 2458220 Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com


                                                      Vox Populi Is Back 

 Issue 149 of the Vox Populi I had put out on 26 Jan 2013 more than 3 years ago. I had decided not to write any more on public affairs after the Nirbhaya rape case which stunned me to realize how brutal and callous some of the people in our society are. One felt that there was no point writing any more. Some may say that there was all the more need to write. But then mine was a personal decision. The timing of the stoppage was also at the cusp of history, shall we say for want of a better phrase, when the General Elections were imminent. In the wake of insipid, lackadaisical governance of the Congress and the UPA rocked as it were by corruption and scams the Modi juggernaut steamrolled the elections winning an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. One would have thought that this would signify a change for the country, a move towards the better since for the BJP it was a God-sent opportunity to prove their worth and shut the door on the Congress forever. But 2 years on the Modi juggernaut has lost steam and is puttering along directionless and without purpose, the promises made have hardly been kept. So maybe there is a need to write, express opinions in the belief that one may be heard and we would be able to steer our way back to an even track which this country and its people greatly deserve.


                                             Price Rise & The Aam Admi


When the government is claiming that price rise has been negative successively for the last two quarters and that inflation is under control, let us look at the reality of the platter of food that the aam admi has to necessarily imbibe every day to put body and soul together. Dal - Roti or Dal - Chaval is the staple for the common man but with dal in recent times touching a high of Rs. 200 per Kg. when it vanished from the aam admi's plate, it has thankfully eased off but is again showing signs of escalating now. For this reason the government has released lately an advice that the price of dal should be capped at Rs. 120 per Kg. Look at the dark humor in this decision since sometime back the price of dal at Rs. 100 per Kg. was considered the barrier beyond which it should not climb but once having been managed to rise by hoarders to Rs. 200 per Kg. the government accepts the fact and itself puts out a circular to cap the price at Rs. 120! The idea being that once the old barriers are managed to be surmounted the sanctity of the old barrier is no longer relevant. Roti is mercifully reasonable since wheat at Rs. 35 per Kg. has not shown any dramatic changes in prices lately. Though both wheat and rice are quite expensive now compared to the rates prevailing 2 - 3 years earlier showing escalation of close to 50% for the more affordable quality. Thus with employment not being regular and wages also not going up as much, the aam admi finds it difficult to continue his do waqt ki do roti or mootthi bar chaval with dal on a daily basis. Thus he is forced to cut back on his food with the bill for it going far beyond the money in his pocket. As for subzi, the staple for the aam admi used to be be potatoes and onions. Both have over the last couple of years shown dramatic swings in prices with both touching Rs. 80 per Kg and sometimes even the perceived price barrier of Rs. 100. Though lately potatoes are at Rs. 25 per Kg. and of onions there is a bumper harvest it is understood which should bring about a rationalisation of prices now hovering at Rs. 15 per Kg. As for vegetables and fruit it has vanished from the diet of the aam admi and his family except in season for any particular type of vegetable when the prices drop to reasonable levels. The surprising thing about vegetables is that we are told in the summer season the prices will rise because of lesser availability and in the monsoon we are told that prices will rise because of spoilage in the rains and flooding of roads making it difficult to reach the produce to the markets! Thus the pattern for food items has been that with the prices rising for one or the other reason for 6 months of the year they do not go down for the remaining period of the year except when there is a bumper harvest of one or the other item which is also quite rare these days. For fruits with their known seasonality the prices continue to show an upward trend except for some fruits due to bumper crops in a season the prices become affordable. However, the sum and substance is that vegetables and fruits are an infrequent part of the aam admi's diet. There is also a pattern here of price control operated by the wholesalers and retailers involved in the produce and commodity trade who knowing that consumers do accept higher price levels, maintain these as much as possible during times of over-supply and pass on reductions either delayed or not to the full extent but only marginally thus earning windfall profits. It also becomes difficult to believe this government and its actions since it deliberately fudges the CPI & WPI indices to show that inflation is under control. Lately Finance Minister Jaitley has also quoted only 4 crore members of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) while the actual number is 16 crores, four times that mentioned by Jaitley. Such gaffes and their scale surely bring down the credibility of this government a couple of notches. Again another report said that foodgrains running to millions of tonnes in FCI godowns continue to rot with which it would have been possible to feed 8,00,000 persons for a full year. In the present times when the government can set up temporary enclosures, with air-conditioning to boot, in a matter of days for their functions, exhibitions and expos, is it not possible to set up such enclosures to store the foodgrains that FCI allows to rot. Or better still can they not be moved to the marketplace before rotting so that prices can be brought down or by doing that will vested interests in the trade be adversely affected? As time goes by the fate of the aam admi is going from bad to worse and you will see more of his kind being pushed below the BPL.



                                                In Defence Of Vijay Mallya


 Everyone is bent upon painting Vijay Mallya as the blackest villain of the loan outstandings scenario from our financial institutions at the present moment. Every agency of the government ranging from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the CBI to the police are hounding him for one or the other reason. Even the media takes Vijay Mallya's name in very derogatory terms calling him defaulter, absconder and fugitive. The alacrity with which this cacophonous orchestra is being played out lends one to believe that these banks, financial institutions and government agencies have something to hide. The strategy in this seems to be that if they keep the spotlight on Mallya then they can hide their own offences and failings while dealing with him. It is also felt that the media could be a little more responsible and generous to Mallya since in the 'good times' it was he who gave them the headlines and for a large part filled up their Page 3. This is all being stated since Vijay Mallya while running the UB empire employed thousands of people, paid a large amount of State and Central taxes, supported sport ranging from cricket to F-1 racing and entertainment events to keep the flag of his catchy slogan of being the - 'King of the Good Times' - flying, in line with his variegated interests. One cannot forget this overnight and denigrate him now in the vilest manner. If you look at the NPA profile that is said to be close to Rs. 120,000 crores owed to our banks, Mallya's exposure is just below 7%. Even ICICI Bank, the largest among the private sector banks has shown a drop of 76% in its profits due to reasons of provisioning a larger amount of NPA's. So is there a general weakening of the economy and in the scenario of difficult business, is it correct to pick on Vijay Mallya. Then there was a report in the newspapers that a large part of the NPA's have emerged over the last three years. Is there a reason for that and is it related to the new dispensation at the Centre which encouraged fraudulent borrowers to get on the bandwagon and defraud the Banks. It is also to Vijay Mallya's credit that even sitting in the UK he has offered to settle the loans taken by him and even raised the amounts that he is willing to pay once the exact amount is arrived at considering the bank's penchant to charge interest on interest by which process by the time the settlement date arrives, the dues may well cross Rs. 9000 crores. Not only that on the request of the Supreme Court he has filed a list of his personal assets and that of his family around the world which unfortunately the Supreme Court has shared with the banking system, though this list was filed in a sealed cover. Thus Vijay Mallya has made all reasonable efforts to arrive at resolving the problems with the banks who have not resp[onded in equal measure and have said that the offers for repayment are not acceptable to them. Is this because they want to drag the matter further and reach a situation where the debt reaches unpayable proportions. In the problems faced by Vijay Mallya if you analyse the various sections of people that benefited from him during his 'good times' and who are today chary of being linked with him, the banks are at the forefront. Bank officials who used to fall head over heels in their anxiety to prostrate in front of him, throwing the rule book out of the window to give loans to the UB group are today afraid that if Mallya opens his mouth their remaining years of service and pensions may be at stake and they may face jail terms. This is being stated since loans in our banking system cannot be given to an already overextended borrower and the manner in which loans were given by some of our public sector banks (PSB) to the ailing Kingfisher Airlines surely deserve scrutiny. As far as bank dues are concerned Mallya is liable only to the extent of the personal sureties and his own assets that he pledged for the loans. Nothing beyond that as anyone dealing with the Indian banking system knows. Similarly the babus in government and politicians who were close to him are also apprehensive of being linked to Vijay Mallya at this time since like they say, he has become a 'hot potato'. One is not wanting to say here that Mallya was correct in all his dealings particularly the manner he left the staff of Kingfisher Airlines in the lurch with unpaid salaries and other dues. This he should not have done and settled with them in a satisfactory manner. Not only that there are charges against him under FEMA related to money laundering which he needs to clarify. As for his leaving the country and going to the UK if you consider the manner of crucifixion that the Indian banking system and the government investigation agencies are seeking Vijay Mallya has been correct in saying that he does not expect the authorities to be fair if he returns to India and finds it better to deal with them from his position in the UK. Here again he is vilified for running away from his creditors but that is what any smart person would do. All in all the Indian environment's, be it the banking system, society, the media and what have you, the behaviour towards Vijay Mallya smacks of jealousy because of his flamboyant lifestyle and take pleasure in tearing into him when he is having adverse times when they have observed some cracks in his facade of exclusivity that the super-rich employ in the pursuit of their life of pleasure.



                      Implement Crop Insurance &  Save Farmer’s Lives


With the prevailing drought around the country particularly in interior Maharasthra and Telengana, there were headlines in the papers that in the last 10 weeks 65 farmers have taken their lives. The reasons for these suicides was stated to have been their inability to bear the burdens of the loans that they had taken which would be difficult to repay after the failure of the crop. At the same time on TV we have seen these ads that are going on and on about the Crop Insuramce schemes that the PM has launched. If there are schemes like this then surely these farmers would not have taken their lives. Or are these schemes again lost in government red tape. It is time therefore that the government gets down to action and starts doling out the insurance to the farmers for their failed crops which will ease their burden somewhat and also banish the thought of taking their own lives.


                      More Competent Person Required To Head Film Censor Board


Shyam Benegal's suggestion to do away with censorship of films and replace it with a grading system stems from his being a stalwart of Indian cinema and having lived for the last 50 years of his life in the metro-cities. However, it is felt that the grading system will not work and will be only paying lip service to restrict underage persons from seeing adult films. The reason for this is that in India the way these things work is that adult films generally attract the film-goers, in the majority male. Those responsible at the entry points of our theaters in the cities may be able up to a point to regulate the viewers but in the rural areas it will just not be possible since entry here is dependent on how friendly you are with the gate-keeper or usher or how much money you can pay these guys for the short-duration titillation. We all have seen that as we were passing through school into college how some of our friends who had not yet grown some facial fuzz or were not tall enough would be stopped by the ushers for A-rated films and we would smuggle them in by putting them in the middle of a our group and the guy giving the tickets to the usher diverting his attention. Mr Benegal, would also have done that and therefore until there is more parity of our societies in urban and rural areas it is best that we continue with the system of censorship that is prevailing. The problem, not many realise, was not with the system but with those heading the Censor Board lately who either to make their presence felt or in their mistaken beliefs generated controversies. So for just a wrong choice of an individual heading the Censor Board we should not discard the existing system. To get a more enlightened and broad-minded person to head the Censor Board is where the solution lies.



                                      LPG Scary In The Hands Of BPL Families


The initiative to provide BPL households with LPG and budgeting Rs. 8000 crores for it in the current year is a good initiative but it should be implemented with care and caution. In our zeal to meet the COP21 evironment benchmarks we should not sacrifice our people. This is being stated because the safety aspect of using of gas bt the BPL families need be considered. With ordinary wood-fires or even kerosene stoves that these families use now there is lesser risk of fire and to life, but with LPG the risk multiplies and the user has to be more careful and more familiar with the equipment. When educated people find the elementary safety aspects of using a proper regulator and keeping the gas rubber tubing safe from rat bites and thus giving rise to accidents, one must assess how much we can expect the BPL families to handle the LPG facility safely given the surroundings that they stay in. Moreover most such families in urban centres live in slums and a single accident is enough to set off a chain of explosions through the slum leading to massive conflagrations. Thus this program of providing LPG to BPL households should be implemented with proper training to be imparted to the users and the oil Cos. taking additional responsibility of frequently monitoring of these connections in the initial stages.



                                    BCCI Trying To Take IPL Out Of India?


BCCI and the IPL Governing Body even thinking of taking the IPL out of India smacks of desertion and running away from problems rather than facing them fair and square. In fact given the penchant of our present government, the BCCI should be hauled up for being anti-national and booked for sedition! BCCI should realise that they are an India body and needs to face up to whatever problems that arise out of their operations in India. It is not as if they will happily take the huge revenues that they earn out of the Indian cricket lovers obsession with the game and expect a bed of roses. Life as they surely understand includes the thorns with the roses. Once before they had to shift the IPL out of India because of the general elections but thinking of moving the tournament because of being the target of court cases etc. is puerile to say the least. The huge advertisement revenues that the BCCI and the IPL earns is because of the massive interest in the game in India, both from television viewership and spectators who come to the stadia. Considering this home grown source of its revenue the BCCI should have a long time ago invested by way of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) into initiatives for the Indian society at large. This would have softened the stridency of the protests against the IPL. Indian society is highly polarised and has a large section of the population that faces deprivation of many essential inputs like potable water for instance which the more affluent class of society of which the BCCI forms a part, take for granted. Therefore it is important that the more affluent should share their resources to improve the lot of the deprived and those on the margins of our society in howsoever small way it can. This approach would have enabled people to see the BCCI in a friendlier light and considered them part of the Indian family. However, in contrast the BCCI is showing their aloofness from Indian society by complaining of being targeted because they have the money. Thus would it not have been better for BCCI to share voluntarily rather than being forced to do it or see a spanner thrown into their operations. The BCCI could take out a page from the Tata group of industries which with its public relations manages to show that it is friendly to Indian society. The cost of this initiative is rather small is what BCCI should understand. If the BCCI pursues the taking of the IPL to foreign shores, then the government should take away the accreditation of the Indian cricket team playing under their umbrella and think of forming a governmental body to run Indian cricket. As it is the BCCI has been under criticism of being a coterie and run by a cosy bunch of administrators who cannot even hold a cricket bat straight and failing in being transparent with its financial facts and figures and any irresponsible action by it now like moving the IPL away should be the last straw on the camel's back for their operations in India.


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