VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 207          Date: 26.06.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1.      Develop Solar Power & Other Eco-Friendly Means For Electrical Power Generation In Place Of Nuclear

2.      BCCI Should Have Sacked Virat Kohli From The Captaincy After The Champions Trophy Final

3.      Ram Nath Kovind's Candidature For President

4.      Cow Sanctuaries A Bad Idea

Develop Solar Power & Other Eco-Friendly Means For Electrical Power Generation In Place Of Nuclear

Solar power prices have dropped to Rs. 2.44 per unit which is almost 40% lower than the equivalent lowest unit prices for electrical power generated from coal. For a sunshine rich country with vast areas of barren land like India, solar power is the answer to generating cheap power. This method also happens to be eco-friendly. In fact the downward trend of solar prices are likely to continue. This may not be at the rate at which it has happened in the last 5 years. This was the period when prices of solar panels had fallen dramatically because of technology changes and economies of scale. Over the next few years the emphasis of manufacturers of solar power systems is to try and reduce costs of the Rest of System (RoS). RoS relates to the other components of the system apart from the solar panels. Thus the further drop in prices for solar power may be more gradual. When this is the situation with one of the most eco-friendly sources of power, India is unfortunately pursuing the nuclear route. 

Lately the government has announced that it will implement 10 nuclear power plants with indigenous technology at various locations across India each of 700MW capacity. The reliance on our own technology is good since one can say it is proven considering the long history that we have in nuclear power generation with technology having evolved from BARC. But there is an issue here and that is while world-over reactors are being made currently to deliver power in excess of 1000MW, typically 1200-1400MW, we are limiting ourselves to 700MW. This has an impact on cost per unit of electrical power being generated. Though Indian energy costs from indigenous nuclear power plants is the envy world over with comparable plants around the world, there is still the element of economies of scale which give dramatic reduction in costs once plant capacities cross 1000MW. Not only that nuclear energy because of its linkage with national security in India has always had a curtain drawn across its operations and therefore the costs of operation and from that the derived costs of tariff are very suspect. Apart from this the nuclear power reactors that are currently in operation and the ones newly proposed will need expensive imported uranium fuel. This fuel is also difficult to obtain and therefore the continued running of our nuclear power plants will be suspect. The bottleneck in getting access to regular supplies of uranium fuel from around the world has been the entry of India into the NSG. China has been consistently stonewalling this membership including at the latest meeting last week in Berne, Europe.  Russia continues to be the only reliable supplier of uranium fuel because of the good relations that India enjoys with Russia and the Indo-Soviet treaty. The support to India’s nuclear program by Russia is also considering their interests in the Kayamkulam nuclear complex expansion. It is to be noted here that the existing Russian plants at Kayamkulam are all above 700MW and even the new ones likely to come are in excess of 1000MW. So if Russia is doing things right, then India is either obviously doing something wrong or it has a technological limitation to go beyond 700MW. This latter limitation needs to be addressed. The approach of the nuclear establishment in India has earlier always been - We know what is good for this country and if we say it is good enough for us, then it is good enough for us. Such kind of bullheadedness will not work anymore and we need to be more open in the working of our civilian nuclear programs.

As raised earlier the continued foreign dependence of uranium fuel has to be broken for reasons stated above. We have the largest deposits of thorium in the world from which plutonium can be made. Why our reactors cannot use thorium or products derived from it like Plutonium or Uranium is something that needs to be answered? Additionally we have been working on fast breeder reactors which uses plutonium as fuel and therefore one is unable to understand why we are not pushing through with this technology breakthrough since then with the above two options we become independent of our sourcing issues for nuclear fuel and consequent linkage with the constraints imposed by the NSG, NPT etc. etc. 

At the time when India was announcing its plans to construct another 10 x 700 MW reactors of its own technology the world was moving in the opposite direction. India's commitment to go ahead with this large scale expansion was the first initiative anywhere in the world in the area of nuclear energy since the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Countries like Germany, Italy and others have been eschewing the use of nuclear clear technology. At this moment India is the only country which is jumping on the bandwagon of nuclear power in a big way. Projects in the US and Finland have all been running behind schedule with major cost overruns relating to the reactors of Toshiba- Westinghouse and the French co., Areva. In fact Westinghouse with difficulties on its US based projects in its deep South has filed for bankruptcy proceedings. These Cos. were supposed to be major players in the expansion of India's nuclear power portfolio with their plants. However the triangulation issues related to the NSG, NPT and the non-activation of the Indo-US nuclear deal has put the spanner in the works in these foreign power plants coming to India.

Therefore given this uncertain scenario would it not be wiser for us in the interim to concentrate on solar power considering that they have a shorter gestation period than nuclear power plants and where the costs per unit of electrical power are also lower. Moreover they are safer and we will avoid the risks of nuclear disasters which may prove to be very harmful to the high concentrations of population that we have living near the sites of the proposed nuclear plants. 

BCCI Should Have Sacked Virat Kohli From The Captaincy After The Champions Trophy Final

BCCI is continuing with the personality cult culture in supporting Virat Kohli over Anil Kumble in the should-we-say celebrated spat but 'no spat' between the two considering they have not been on speaking terms for the last 6 months as reported in the media. Just for blowing the match against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final Virat should have been sacked from the captaincy. He could according to his choice have been part of the team and looking at his age he would have capitulated to the BCCI decision. Ashwin is up to the captaincy and could have easily taken over the reins with Rahane as vice-captain. Alternately if there was even an iota of professionalism in Virat he should have himself resigned for losing the final. Aggression is fine but refusing to understand the aspect of a big occasion and looking at what the team needs does not speak of a mature head on the young man's shoulders. In contrast in the Champions Trophy final Virat put every one in the team both batsmen and bowlers andhimself to needless pressure. This comment is  without taking anything away from Pakistan's excellent all-round performance. By letting Virat off the hook the BCCI is allowing the one player albeit the captain to dictate terms.This is not likely to do any good to Indian cricket and will only lead to more such issues with Virat himself and/or the other players as time goes by.  As for Kumble he is well-regarded in the cricketing fraternity and apart from a rigorous commitment to discipline and work-ethic, you cannot fault him. His contribution to cricket is remembered and so will his stint as the Indian coach. 

Ram Nath Kovind's Candidature For President

Ram Nath Kovind's nomination as the NDA candidate for President has less to do with his qualifications and stature for the post except for the fact that he is a Dalit. The NDA is reducing the appointment of the President to just deriving political mileage out of it. The fact that upon nomination Kovind decided to call on Narendra Modi at Delhi also indicates that he is indeed obligated to the Prime Minister for having been nominated for the post. One may say that this is nothing new since we have had heavily politically obligated Presidents in V V Giri and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. But Kovind one feels should have stayed away from the Prime Minister since if elected as President in India's democratic pecking order, his position will be higher than that of Modi. Like they say at that level it is all about subtle signs and the atmospherics. 

Cow Sanctuaries A Bad Idea

It was reported in the newspapers that a Central Minister ostensibly related to Animal Husbandry has said that the government will put up cow sanctuaries on the lines of tiger sanctuaries across India. The minister has probably no earthly idea why tigers need sanctuaries or where tigers stand in relation to the jungle food chain. An interesting dichotomy will emerge if the tiger sanctuaries are contiguous to cow sanctuaries and if the tigers stray across and eat some cows because they are 'easy meat'. Then our present dispensation would probably kill the tiger and with one cow at least already dead, should we not have just killed the cow after its useful life. This would have had at least saved the tiger. This concept of saving the cow and the methods being mooted are absolutely illogical. We should be practical in these matters. The cow is a domesticated animal and is best protected in a closed environment like a gaushala or better still as part of a dairy. So the minister should try and establish a co-operative movement or fit it in with the existing dairy industry like call in the management of Amul, the largest and most successful of the co-operative dairies in India, and have them institute an integrated complex where cows apart from giving milk for distribution are also looked after once their useful life is over with the profits that they have generated in the past. If the scheme of mooting cow sanctuaries is to make money like Lalu did with fodder in Bihar and the same thing was repeated in Maharashtra lately when the amounts given for feeding cattle in camps during famine was siphoned off by the officials and politicians, then there is nothing much to say.

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

VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 206         Date: 19.06.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1.      BJP's Farcical Handling of Farmer's Unrest in MP

2.      Cow Troubles

3.      Champions Trophy Semi-Final Line-up Indicative of Cricket's Contemporary Status

4.      Virat Kohli Just Gifted The Champion's Trophy Final To Pakistan

5.      With Brexit, Is England More Vulnerable To Terror?

BJP's Farcical Handling of Farmer's Unrest in MP

And true to the character (if any exists!) of our politicians Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the CM of MP instead of resolving the Mandsaur crisis and the farmer's agitation, went on a hunger strike for the farmers! This is a classic case of abdication of responsibility where instead of working at his job this guy claims fasting and will feigning ill-health to avoid taking a decision! This is India, my friends! This was the same guy who during last year's monsoons in MP while out visiting flood stricken areas dressed in his spotless whites was hoisted by his security men, one on each side over a stretch of muddy ground because of his refusal to step into the mud. This picture was splashed all over the national dailies. But then these politicians are shameless and like the fasting instance do more for headlines than any actual work. What can you therefore expect from such people? Further Shivraj Singh Chauhan's fast for the cause of farmers was clearly a farce what with a huge tent constructed on a public ground with some large number of air coolers installed. The BJP needs probably a 5-star atmosphere to be created so that their leaders can get into the mood to go on a fast in comfort!  The BJP top leadership realising just that asked him to call it off and get on with the job that he is supposed to do and that is to negotiate with the farmers. 

The other spin that the BJP are trying to give to the farmers agitations across India is that it is because of their party policies which has stimulated growth in agriculture in excess of 4%. This excess production has resulted in depressed prices for which reason the farmers are firstly, upset and secondly, unable to pay their loans. This unashamedly absurd claim by the BJP to garner credit for increased agriculture production which has happened because of the good monsoon last year is completely irresponsible. Tomorrow, in the BJP attempt to project Narendra Modi as a great leader they will probably say that because of him the Sun rises in the East! With the increased output of produce because of good rains, where is the cold chain infrastructure that the BJP promised in 2014 when a similar situation had prevailed with vegetables and fruits rotting in the fields and farmers coming onto the highways and dumping their produce there in protest? The cold chains is something that the BJP has conveniently forgotten just as their election promise of remunerative prices to farmers. 

Another attempt by the BJP to divert attention from the farmer's unrest in MP and give brownie points to Shivraj Singh Chauhan is to say that though national growth in agriculture is 4%, there are certain pockets across the country like MP because of very good monsoon last year and the policies of the CM the agriculture growth has been 14-18%. This bountiful harvest is the reason where as said earlier with larger production, prices have dropped. Now this claim seems plausible but given the BJP's track record of massaging figures like GDP, IIP, WPI, CPI etc. to their advantage you need to take this argument with a large pinch of salt.

In the light of farmer’s agitations in Maharasthra and the loan waiver announced by CM Phadnavis. Arun Jaitley has said that the Centre will not fund these loan waivers and the States involved need to find their own resources for this scheme. But in the same breath, he also said that he will try and expedite the NPA issue with Banks and have discussions with RBI to expedite the matter. So you decide who is championing whose cause, the poor or the rich. Moreover it is not only the RBI, but also the banks particularly and to some extent the media are giving a negative slant to the loan waivers for farmers which is a fait accompli now. RBI has been saying it is bad policy to waive farmer's loans. The banks have been saying that some farmers have been intentionally defaulting on their loans so that they qualify for waival. So what's new, it is what some in the industry have been doing for the last 50 years by running their factories to the ground so that they become sick which qualifies them for concessions and progressively waival of their loans. Thus we should not try to pull down just the farmers since they are doing what every other Indian has been doing. We also need to remember that for loan waival the farmers are the most deserving since they put food on your plate and if they do not work maybe you will have to go starving. 

As for recovery of NPA's from defaulting industry parallel to the exercise of recovery and/or write-off just like Vijay Mallya is being made an example of being a prime defaulter, why is a similar example not being made from the banking industry who gave the loans which are today's NPA's. Like for Vijay Mallya's the principle creditor is SBI, so why is then then Chairman who was responsible for sanctioning these loans and/or other senior SBI officials not hauled up for criminal proceedings of conspiracy and larceny. Charges of mishandling of public money is in order like in the NDTV case? So will Arun Jaitley deign to unleash the CBI on SBI to get the real truth out? Otherwise the banks will continue to write-off each year these NPA's from their books leading to public money being quietly being washed down the drain. 

Cow Troubles

The newspapers carried reports the other day of some 6 cows having died in Pali, Goa because of having ingested plastic. It is a common sight not only in Goa but across India to see cattle on our roads and open spaces. They survive by eating from the garbage dumps and with plastic bags being commonly used to throw out garbage, it automatically follows that the cattle eat plastic. There have been earlier pictures of cows with swollen bellies because of the ingestion of plastic and randomly you hear that a cow when dissected had some 15 Kgs. of plastic in its stomach. We are a very contradictory society. On one side we say the cow is sacred to us but at the same time we let it loose on the roads to forage for itself. These cattle on the roads are also a menace to traffic particularly during the rainy season and at night times. There has been many a death across India of people whose scooters or motorcycles have hit the cattle lying on the road. If the cattle are kept safely in their farms and/or sheds then many human lives  would be saved.  These inputs are being given since they are in line to the special bond that people claim to have with cows so should they not take care of them. There have been also reports that where people have put up gaushalas, they are unable to operate because of lack of funds  and have no alternative but to starve the animals that are housed in the shelter. When this is the actual status on the ground in relation to the cow, why glorify its status to Hindu society and attack people who are involved in the cattle trade and its byproducts including the consumption of beef. It seems the attacks are pre-planned and with other motives and the cow is being used just as an excuse to legitimise such action. There is some Hindu convention being held at Ramnathi which one is told will debate upon the protection of the cow and one hopes that it will look into the above matters first before looking at taking vengeance against their fellow human beings. 

Champions Trophy Semi-Final Line-up Indicative of Cricket's Contemporary Status

The semi-final line-up of the Champions trophy being held currently in England and Wales and completing with today's (Sun, 18th June 2017) final,  reflected the past and present of international cricket. England's presence in the last 4 was related to the game of cricket having started there while its evolution to the present day is shown by the 3 teams completing the line-up being from South Asia - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka another South Asia country almost made it to the semi-finals. This is indicative that the game of cricket both in terms of public popularity and revenue is now resident in South Asia. Bangladesh's presence was a surprise but a welcome one nonetheless since after being accorded Test status they have really improved their game making them a team that could on its best day upset any of the other cricket playing nations in the top bracket. The ICC therefore has been doing a commendable job in carrying the game of cricket around the world and encouraging the smaller cricket playing nations by giving them all the opportunity they need.

Virat Kohli Just Gifted The Champion's Trophy Final To Pakistan

Virat Kohli has just got out in the Champion's Trophy Final at The Oval. This shows the outcome of the match which in most likelihood will be a victory for Pakistan. If this happens then it will be because Virat Kohli gifted the final to Pakistan on a platter. When you win a toss in a final, you bat. This is simply to put the opposing team under pressure and not take the pressure on yourself if they come good as it happened with Pakistan this time. Saying that we like to chase is immature. Virat Kohli simply underestimated his opponent this time and in the bravado stemming from overconfidence, he put in Pakistan to bat. Our bowlers are good but track records will show that the Pakistan's pace bowlers are better in England. So clearly asking Pakistan to bat in the final was a bad decision and for that reason one would believe that Virat Kohli should resign from the captaincy. Given his current spat with coach, Anil Kumble, it should be that Kumble should stay. One is hoping for a miracle to happen now with Shikhar Dhawan & Yuvraj Singh batting with the likes of Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Jadeja and Jadhav to follow but the asking run rate is too steep. After an excellent run-up to the final but for the Sri Lanka game, India under Virat Kohli has squandered a final and in consequence the Champion's Trophy.

With Brexit, Is England More Vulnerable To Terror?

There seems to be some relationship between the spate of varied terror attacks that England has been seeing in the last few months and the Brexit plan. With the sun having set a long time back on the British Empire and with the Union Jack no longer ruling the oceans, in the moving away from the EU, England one suspects is being seen by the perpetrators of terror like the IS as fair game considering its likely individual status in a short while. The ability to detect and respond to terrorist action by English law enforcement is maybe believed by the terrorists to be suspect without the assistance of the EU sharing of intelligence and logistics support. Otherwise there is no logic for the spate of terror incidents at prominent locations and with different methodology mostly in London at this time. There also seems to be a jihadi element in the attacks where the terrorists seek maximum visibility and are prepared to give up their lives in the attack. This could be one of the negatives of the Brexit move making England more vulnerable to terror. 

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 205                       Date: 12.06.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1.       Amit Shah's Calling Gandhi A ‘Chatur Baniya’ Is Uncalled For

2.       Computerisation Be All & End All Approach of Modi Govt.

3.       The Ban On Cow Slaughter Etc.

4.       Modi Government Not Pro-Poor

Amit Shah's Calling Gandhi A ‘Chatur Baniya’ Is Uncalled For

Amit Shah calling Mahatma Gandhi a ' chatur baniya' is uncalled for since clearly it is being used in the pejorative sense. Apart from the cow that gives us milk, we have some other 'holy cows' in contemporary Indian society and one of them is Gandhi. Criticise him by all means for his views and policies but please do not slight him. His contribution to India's freedom is immeasurable. Comparing Amit Shah and his fellow-in-arms, Narendra Modi's stature to Gandhi's is like comparing minnows to a blue whale. By the way the BJP as a party was not even existent during India's freedom struggle and the icons that the BJP lays claim to nowadays and their contribution to make India free is debatable if not controversial. Amit Shah's comments about Gandhi are an attempt to garner brownie points among the Sangh Parivar followers. But little does he realise that by belittling others you do not become great. You have to claim greatness by your own performance and achievements. The BJP ever since they came to power in 2014 has been trying to dismantle the pillars that Indian society stands upon claiming that this is a Congress legacy of brainwashing. This attempt is dangerous and has serious implications since the cracks being created can result in a collapse of the value systems and principles on which Indian society stands. This is more so with the youth of this country since without being anchored by these principles they will become rudderless and be susceptible to getting swayed by different thought streams that are flowing through the world these days mostly fundamentalism. The earlier Amit Shah understands this it is better otherwise by calling Gandhi names he is only undermining his credibility and that of the BJP. Moreover Gandhi was a Gujarati and Amit Shah slandering another person from his State without due cause is shameful.

Computerisation Be All & End All Approach of Modi Govt.

The Narendra Modi government is also easily swayed by technology and rarely looks at the ramifications of the implementation of any scheme. In the demonetisation exercise we saw the pain that people had to go through in queuing before bank counters and ATM's while the babus in government said that there was no problem. These babus and policy makers are far removed from reality. Like we saw in the craze to move to cashless society and the latest was this insistence of computerisation for which pharmacies all over the country on 30th May 2017 went on an All-India strike. The issue was that all prescriptions were to be uploaded to a central database which the pharmacies refused. The policy makers are probably not aware of the state of pharmacies across the country and the facilities they have and the crowds that some of them handle. It is in no way feasible to scan each and every prescription given the operational scenario they face. Moreover OTC (Over The Counter) drugs are sold without prescription. All this makes for wastage of time of time that can be better served in service to customers than uploading prescription which one wonders if anyone will at all monitor. The Narendra Modi government should realise that computerisation was conceived to facilitate human effort and not replace it. The human involved is important and not the computer and once the policy babus have an understanding of this then most of the government's plans will fall into place. 

Similarly we have this stupid idea of daily change in petrol & diesel prices which will result in cheating of customers at pumps. Whenever there is a price drop some of the pumps will not share it with customers and continue with the existing higher prices until the next price increase. The daily change in prices can only be implemented if it is done by on-line remote process from central computers from which all pumps across the country can at one time be re-calibrated with the new prices. It was only Just about 6 months back that oil Cos. were resisting frequent change in prices of petrol and diesel in line with international price fluctuations since they wanted to massage the prices to their advantage. What has changed so suddenly to have daily variation of prices? We go from one extreme to another at the opposite end. Change should be progressive like instead of the present fortnightly cycle of change it could have been done weekly and then if there is really any merit, then do it daily after some time.

The same thing was done with cashless transactions where again after a peak when cash was scarce, the level of transactions has tapered off despite the incentives offered by government. This is for simple logistical reasons where either the number of reliable PoS terminals are not available or the banks are not willing to reduce their margins. Not only that the App based Bhim for cashless operation is not easily accepted by a diversely educated and widely scattered population that we have across the country where reliable mobile connectivity is available. The same thing applies for reliable and high speed Internet connectivity across the country to support as a backbone cashless transactions using credit, debit cards etc. It is like the old proverb - You can jump onto a donkey's back but you cannot make it run. It will run only when it wants to irrespective of the flogging you give it. The moral of this story in technical terms is that you can leapfrog technology but as long as your target population is willing and able to run with you. We are shortly moving into the GST regime which will end up in a similar mess since first the enrolment rate of trader establishments is low, the rates finalised are too many and many of the States like Bengal want the commencement postponed from July 1st 2017 to a later date when people are more willing to accept it. 

The Ban On Cow Slaughter Etc.

There have been many law and order incidents over the last 2 years across the country involving the slaughter of cows and allegations over the possession of beef which have in intensity ranged from merciless beatings up to lynching. Such incidents have been on the increase over the last few months. Inspite of the severity of the incidents, their increasing frequency and the span of coverage across the country, the ruling BJP dispensation has not come out with any statement on this issue let alone a warning to the attackers not to take the law into their hands. Only one senior BJP minister, Nitin Gadkari has touched upon the topic while speaking to the press claiming that the  BJP and the Sangh Parivar had nothing to do with the attacks. It is one thing to say that their party people are not involved but with the government at the Centre that of the BJP is it not necessary for them in the governing mode to issue a notice that such incidents should not recur or ever happen again. With the cow being the MFA - Most Favoured Animal - of the Sangha Parivar the suspicion will be laid at their door only. Even the Prime Minister has not found it necessary to come out with an admonition to the perpetrators of such attacks. In the absence of any official line on the issue the people who are behind the attacks will only get emboldened and the number of such incidents will only increase as we have seen happening. The manner of handling this issue has essentially been a failure of the BJP government at the Centre. Instead of deflating the issue in fact the Centre compounded it by putting a ban on cow slaughter across the country. In the light of this ban, one is not very wrong if a deduction is made that the BJP and the Sangha Parivar had a hand in the attacks. The ban by itself is bad in law because cow slaughter is a State subject and the Centre has no business to interfere in this. Many of the States where beef is consumed like Kerala, the North East States and West Bengal have been up in arms against the ban and a number of BJP MLA's in the North East States have resigned on the issue. Not only that the notice of the ban was probably pushed through in a hurry since the definition of cattle was not limited to the cow but included buffalo also. The Centre has admitted this lapse and said that they would correct it. These kind of lapses have led to a beef shortage in the country particularly in States like Goa where it has gone off the shelves. Not only that faced with the uproar from the above named States against the ban on cow slaughter, the Centre is backtracking and has said that they are open to discuss the issue of the ban. This smacks of governance by the strategy of - Two Steps Forward, One Step Back. This kind of vacillation we have seen very often with this present BJP government showing their amateurish approach to governance that highlights their lack of experience. 

Modi Government Not Pro-Poor

The Narendra Modi government is high on decibel and headline grabbing exercises but low on performance and achievements. In its strategy to make the highest amount of noise is the inherent desire to drown out all voices that are inimical to their policies. Intolerant of criticism and fond of engendering just the one and given viewpoint has been their forte. There is a concept of white noise in electrical communication which is defined as the level above which only any signal can be detected and then heard. The present government's approach is to raise the level of white noise in public discourse to such a level so as to erase any other signals (voices) so that theirs is the only voice which is above the white noise level that will be heard. In this approach if the government finds continuous absence of conformity to its views, it is not beyond the use of its law enforcement agencies and sets themloose on such entities. The latest in such instances being the CBI raids on NDTV which is clearly an attempt to cow down this media Co. and get it to conform with the official line. Such tactics the BJP had consistently decried while being in the Opposition for the last few decades but it is pursuing the same tactics when it is chairing the government. Must be the fault of the chair and not the BJP!

Apart from this the Narendra Modi government has been desperately trying to wear the tag of being the champion of the poor and the down-trodden. This hype is absolutely untrue. If you see the farmer agitations and distress we have been seeing in the last 3 years including the latest one in Maharasthra and MP, you will understand where the truth lies. In both States there have been skirmishes with the police including some deaths of farmers in MP. One cannot understand when in Kashmir you use stink bombs, rubber bullets, why is it that in Mandsaur live bullets were used? The farmers agitation has not died down in both these States even though in Maharasthra, CM Phadnavis has approved the write-off loans of some Rs. 30,000 crores, figures are varying and some say the latest is Rs. 60,000 crores which process will be completed by Oct 2017. Even then the farmers have not called off their agitation with some sections and regions in Maharasthra continuing the strike since the terms of the loan waiver have not been spelt out  and separately MSP's for produce with 50% margin over cost of production have not been accepted. The MSP issue remains the bane of contention in MP also. With these 2 States in turmoil farmers from other States like Tamil Nadu West Bengal etc.  who have been restive will in a matter of time launch their own agitation. Some pundits are saying that the farmers unrest is a delayed reaction to demonetisation which with no cash in the mandis since Nov 2016 resulted in depressed produce prices and then the cashless operation kicked in at the APMC mandis which maintained the low prices since farmers preferred cash. In MP the CM took the decision to part payment of 50% in cash at the APMC's which did not improve matters and therefore the current agitation. 

And true to the character (if any exists!) of our politicians Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the CM of MP instead of resolving the Mandsaur crisis and the farmer's agitation, went on a hunger strike for the farmers! This is a classic case of abdication of responsibility where instead of working at his job this guy claims fasting and ill-health to avoid taking a decision! This is India, my friends! This was the same guy who during last year's monsoons in MP while out visiting flood stricken areas dressed in his spotless whites was hoisted by his security men, one on each side over a stretch of muddy ground because of his refusal to step into the mud. What can you expect from such people? Further Shivraj Singh Chauhan's fast for the cause of farmers was clearly a farce what with a huge tent constructed on a public ground with some large number of air coolers installed. The BJP needs probably a 5-star atmosphere to be created so that their leaders can go on a fast in comfort!  The BJP top leadership realising just that asked him to call it off and get on with the job that he is supposed to do and that is to negotiate with the farmers. The other spin that the BJP are trying to give to the farmers agitations across India is that it is because of their party policies that has stimulated growth in agriculture in excess of 4%. This excess production has depressed prices for which reason the farmers are firstly, upset and secondly, unable to pay their loans. This unashamedly absurd claim by the BJP to garner credit for increased agriculture production which has happened because of the good monsoon last year is completely irresponsible. Tomorrow, in the BJP attempt to project Narendra Modi as a great leader they will probably say that because of him the Sun rises in the East! With the increased output of produce because of good rains, where is the cold chain infrastructure that the BJP promised in 2014 when a similar situation had prevailed with vegetables and fruits rotting in the fields and farmers coming onto the highways and dumping their produce there in protest? The cold chains is something that the BJP has conveniently forgotten just as their election promise of remunerative prices to farmers. Another attempt by the BJP to divert attention from the farmer's unrest in MP and give brownie points to Shivraj Singh Chauhan is to say that though national growth in agriculture is 4%, there are certain pockets across the country like MP because of very good monsoon last year and the policies of the CM the agriculture growth has been 14-18%. This bountiful harvest is the reason where as said earlier with larger production, prices have dropped. Now this claim seems plausible but given the BJP's track record of massaging figures like GDP, IIP, WPI, CPI etc. to their advantage you need to take this argument with a large pinch of salt. 

Where farmers have to take to the streets before the government even accords them the courtesy to look at their problems of bad loans, the industrialists have things made easy for them since they get their bad loans resolved by the government while they sit in their centrally air conditioned offices and cozy homes. The government also goes out of their way to issue an Ordinance to bail out the magnates and the concerned bank officials who sanctioned these loans. And these loans run into thousands of crores while the bad loans of farmers are more in the region of lakhs of rupees. Take the case of Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher House in Mumbai which the banks have been trying to auction with no buyers forthcoming at the base prices set, where just last week a 5th attempt was made. Real estate prices have not dropped so much as to have the banks find no buyers so the other logical conclusion is that the property prices were inflated when loans were given against the building as collateral. With a clear case like this why is  the government not proceeding to haul up the concerned bank officials at SBI for this fiasco. If the government takes action in such cases then it will send a message out to all concerned and those involved in similar transactions to be wary and follow due process. It is precisely this cosy bureaucrat-banker-industrialist nexus that has led up to the massive NPA's with banks necessitating the Ordinance referred above since bankers have washed their hands off these dues and the industrialists are with their feet up on their desks tapping their fingers on the arm supports of their cushioned chairs waiting for the write-off of their loans completely confident that they will not be liable to any civil or criminal action. Their confidence stems from the fact that whatever profits they have had to extract from these projects, they have already pocketed and they are least interested in what settlement is arrived at by the banks and the government on their loans. The blackmail that the industrialists employ is to hold future capital investment leading to less employment generation so that the government is brought to the negotiating table to settle. Even the RBI for all its wisdom has come out against the write-off of farmers loans while saying that it will expedite the process of write-offs of NPA's at banks running to lakhs of crores. Strange situation, this! The machinery in this country seems to be oriented to help and support the big thieves while showing off how many little thieves they have been able to net. With this you will see that this government of Narendra Modi on the one hand kills farmers but plays footsie with the industrialists. In the light of farmer’s agitations in Maharasthra and the loan waiver announced by CM Phadnavis. Arun Jaitley has said that the Centre will not fund these loan waivers and the States involved need to find their own resources for this scheme. But in the same breath, he also said that he will try and expedite the NPA issue with Banks and have discussions with RBI to expedite the matter. So you decide who is championing whose cause, the poor or the rich.

In the same way the demonetisation exercise never looked at the impact of the measure on the unorganised and the micro-enterprises which operate on cash. In the first 3 months after Nov 8, 2016, lakhs of daily wage workers in the unorganised sectors and otherwise, small enterprises went out of business because their suppliers demanded cash for raw material and they had to pay wages in cash but then these were not the focus for Modi since these people have no voice. No one would take up their cause. Because they are the silent crores that comprise India's teeming poor and underprivileged. This is the segment of the population that Modi is browbeating and manipulating at the time of elections. Such kind of people live on the margins of our society and because of their desperation they clutch at even straws when anyone offers them hope to better their lot. The politicians have been exploiting the lot of such people and the latest in this exercise is Modi and the BJP. Moreover their minds can be easily diverted as said earlier by swinging in front of their eyes, dreams of a cashless society among other things. This would have no meaning for them but the lure of a single button money transfer on a catchy ‘Bhim’ sways thoughts and aspirations. But the truth remained that the poor were hit and hit badly by demonetisation and nobody cared. 

Similarly on this cow slaughter and beef ban issue, who gets hit? It is the poor who get beaten up, lynched, murdered. If cows are not slaughtered then the leather industry will be badly affected which is in the unorganized sector and lakhs of jobs will be lost. The problem with the Narendra Modi government is that they rush to action with no thought and with no back-up plans like alternate employment or whatever. They move on looking for the next headline in the newspapers leaving a trail of the crying and miserable poor in their wake. The massive bungling that the BJP does on each and every major policy issue and even the minor ones shows their ineptness and lack of ability to govern.

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 204          Date: 05.06.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1. Playing The National Anthem

2. Demonetisation Did Indeed Affect GDP!

3. The Kashmir Situation

4. 80/20 Rule Thrown In the Dustbin & Unimaginative Working By Public Service Providers

Playing The National Anthem

We have this practice now of playing the National Anthem in cinemas before the start of the show. While saying that the practice is not bad, we have to ask oneself whether it is necessary. Do we really have to wear our nationalism on our sleeve? Is it necessary to flaunt it. Are nationalism and patriotism, maybe two sides of the same coin, not deeply held beliefs of every citizen of the country? Do we really have to make a public exhibition of it so that others know that we are also a patriot? This is being stated since in some cases across the country people who for some reason did not stand up during the  playing of the National Anthem were accosted and beaten up. Blatant exhibitionism seems to be the order of the day in recent times. Opinions vary but some may hold that these are all signs of an immature society. It also assumes that the spirit of nationalism and patriotism needs to be drilled into people since they lack the education and intelligence to arrive at these beliefs on their own. This is an insulting assumption of the government when it comes to educated and intelligent people. By overt physical actions one cannot be certified a patriot. It is a belief that should rest in your heart and be called up when there is a need to show it, like if the country goes to war and to support the war effort in whatever small way one can. In times of terror when one could be catapulted into roles where you may have to contribute to the national effort, whether it is to provide shelter to the victims or provide them assistance however insignificant it may be. Even at times of natural and man-made disasters. But what is our record in such instances. The newspapers are full of accident victims bleeding to death on the roads while the public prefer to take videos of the scene with their mobiles rather than provide any help to the victims of calling the police, medical assistance etc. During the unusual floods in Mumbai during 1996 people were unable to reach their homes since all transport had come to a halt, people stranded far from their homes found people unwilling to provide them shelter let alone give them food and water. The Indian trait whenever there is a public commotion or a catastrophe is to shutter themselves in and look after their own and play innocent and unaware of the problem that is raging outside. So of what meaning is this practice  of standing up while playing the National Anthem at cinemas. Does this gesture make you a patriot? It is  clearly an empty gesture bereft of any deeper meaning. It was done in the past mostly in the 1960's & 1970's since we had the wars with China in 1962 and then with Pakistan in 1965 & 1971 in close succession and where there was a need to stimulate the national spirit. We were also then a young nation. We are now a nation old in age at 70 but our grey hair does not seem to have given us any wisdom since we continue to believe that empty gestures will shore up this great nation. There are already guidelines of playing the national anthem just follow them. Just because the Supreme Court has ruled on it does not mean that we should follow it blindly. The judges are also human beings and are prone to make mistakes. It is possible that they have also missed some aspects of the matter.  Like one feels that the national anthem needs to be played in our legislative houses and political rallies at the beginning and end of each session so that the representatives of the people are reminded of their noble duty and reflect that in their actions. The national anthem needs to be played in schools and colleges along with the morning assembly and for college students attendance to this event should be made compulsory and those that do not attend should be barred from exams equivalent to the rule related to attending classes. Similarly for any student functions like their festivals or inter-school or college competitions, it should be made mandatory that the national anthem be played both at the start and end of the function and likewise on each day if the events are scheduled for multiple number of days. Once legislators set the example of respecting the national flag and have the benefit of the nation in their minds and students are inculcated the national spirit there will be no dearth of patriots in this great country. As for the quality of cinema that is shown in cinema halls these days to have the national anthem played at these bawdy houses, one thinks is an insult to the national anthem and to the country and in no way inculcates the nationalistic spirit and breeds patriotism.

 Demonetisation Did Indeed Affect GDP!

We have Arun Jaitley yet again trying to bluff his way out of trouble in the context of the Q4 GDP showing a drop and the annual 2016-17 figures being nudged just a tad above 7% in line with the previous projections to shore up some credibility. This is like the proverbial fig leaf to save the government from shame. The Narendra Modi government's standard norm has been to tell lies when it gets cornered on non-performance since untruths is its basic mantra. This as one has seen happens on almost every single issue. The latest official GDP figures which came out this week show the growth to be 6.1% for Q4 of 2016-17, which is negative compared to the previous year and has pulled down the GDP to 7.1% for 2016-17. In fact the Gross Value Added - GVA, which is the GDP without the indirect taxes is much lower compared to the last year for both the Q4 as well as the 2016-17 annual figures. Achieving above 7% growth for 2016-17 was in any case suspect without the base year jugglery which the CSO implemented. This data in fact confirms that Demonetisation did affect the GDP irrespective of Jaitley's rejection of the premise. The unorganised sector was the hardest hit but with the above it is clear that contrary to government claims the organised sector was not left unscathed by the withdrawal of the Rs. 500 & the Rs. 1000 denomination notes. The funny thing is that the Rs. 2000 continues to be unpopular with the people and there have been many demands to bring back the Rs. 1000 note. The Rs. 2000 note in contrast that was brought in to eliminate black money has only facilitated the ease of acquiring it since storing black money needs now littler space! Thus the situation with the Rs. 2000 note is clearly a comedy of errors! This also shows up the inability of the BJP government to read the minds of the people while implementing important measures. This was the only decisive government action that the Narendra Modi government took in the last 3 years and even that was a great mess-up, unless Jaitley wants to talk about the other 'decisive' action that Narendra Modi took in dropping in for a cup of tea with Nawaz Sharif after which we have had 'amicable and peaceful' relations with Pakistan! As for Jaitley's rebuttal that the 3 years of this government's handling of the economy has been to show jobless growth because the unorganised sector has not been surveyed, one could ask why has this government  has not done this survey. Is it for fear that their worst nightmares about unemployment in this sector would be confirmed? The only thing that Narendra Modi has been good at is in winning elections and the handling by him and his team of the economy leaves a lot to be desired. The saving grace in Arun Jaitley's recent press statements is that finally he has come around to admitting that Demonetisation did affect the economy and the GDP but it was not the only factor, he claims!

The Kashmir Situation

On the Kashmir situation which is distressing to say the least there have been comments made by some unnamed BJP leaders and our Army Chief, Gen. Rawat that requires to be addressed. The unnamed BJP leader as reported in the media is supposed to have said that the protesters in Kashmir, he wished were not just throwing stones but if they had carried guns then they could have been dealt with differently. This leader one would tend to believe is speaking for the party since there is no mention that this is his personal opinion, should desist from such veiled threats and realise that the Kashmiris are citizens of this nation as much as he is. Because they are citizens, they have stones in their hands and not guns, which are in the hands of the terrorists. The saving grace in this comment is that the leader has at least the power of perception and is able to recognise that dealing with those that are carrying stones and those that have guns should be different. 

Gen. Rawat on his part was reported to have said that the army would adopt innovative methods to tackle the problem in Kashmir. With due respect to the Army Chief and given the background of the attacks that terrorists have mounted on the army, what he needs to concentrate in the first place is to protect his own men and their bases/encampments. He also needs to improve the morale of our soldiers and combat-readiness. The latter he could possibly do by having more frequent changes of shifts of soldiers in disturbed zones like on the border with Pakistan and maybe the North East where insurgency is a factor. Other than he should go back to basics first and protect our borders more aggressively in Kashmir and stop infiltration completely by way of rigorous patrolling. Once he has done all this then he can look to earn brownie points and write his name on the pages of history in golden letters by his innovative tactics. 

Postscript: What needs to be done in Kashmir is that the governments, both State and Centre, should reach out to the people and show serious intent in having peace in the State. This can only be done by repealing the AFSPA which is an unnecessary regulation behind which our military and para-military forces are hiding to get away with their not so regular tactics. Other than that the separatists under one pretext or other should be either thrown into jail or put under close house arrest so that their initiatives to foment trouble are curtailed. At the same time the Indian Army and the para-military forces should pull out of the civilian areas like villages, towns and cities and reduce their visible presence. The Kashmir State police should be made responsible for local law and order. The focus of the armed forces should be to unequivocally seal the LoC and the border with Pakistan so that the infiltration of terrorists is stopped. In this context, the bus that plies to Muzaffarabad should be curtailed. The message that should go out from these measures is that India wants to pursue the velvet glove in the steel hand approach. The velvet glove is for the Kashmiris who are our own people and should be treated like any other Indian. But even they should know that the steel hand which is being imposed on the terrorists and Pakistan, could as well turn against them. The current approach is one of ambivalence in the gaps of which everyone including the Kashmiris are finding opportunities to create trouble. An example of this recently was our eminent Home Minister, Rajnath Singh saying that the Army would be advised not to count their bullets when it comes to retaliating against Pakistan in Kashmir. Does this mean that up until now our armed forces were counting bullets during military action? Progressively our foreign policy with Pakistan in relation to Kashmir should be projected to the world so that a DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) would replace the present LoC and the entire border with Pakistan. This would be a suitable stretch on both sides of the border extending upto maybe a kilometer where no military activity would be allowed and both India and Pakistan would be authorized to take whatever action they deem fit to keep that status intact.

80/20 Rule Thrown In the Dustbin & Unimaginative Working By Public Service Providers

We are back to requests from the telecom Cos. and the banks asking us to validate our existing connections/accounts for KYC and to make them Aadhaar certified/enabled. One does not understand why these requests are coming. The plea of the Telecom Cos. is at least to comply with the Supreme Court guidelines to weed out bogus connections and those being used for nefarious and terrorist activities. But there needs to be some common sense and/or logic applied to these matters since with not even 1% of the population involved in terror and criminal activities, why should 99% of the people be put to this process? Senior citizens particularly find it distressing and go through needless inconvenience by these measures. It was only a few years ago that Telecom Cos. were on considerations of market share and business, competing with each other to show off the minimum time in which they could set up a mobile connection and dole out SIM's. The DGP in Goa recently in a joint meeting of his officials with Telecom Cos. had commented that the latter had been giving out SIM's as if they were selling potatoes or onions. Thus the telecom Cos. who are responsible for creating the problem should be made accountable to resolve the issue and not put each subscriber into difficulty. There are many ways that this can be done since the Telecom Cos. already know about suspicious connections from their records and pattern of calls.   The Telecom Cos. thus should be assigned targets by the SC to weed out bogus & non-KYC compliant connections over a specific period like maybe 1 year and monitored strictly every quarter for proportionate progress with associated fines for not meeting these targets. 

In the same manner banks who about 2 months ago had sent out sms' to account holders to do a fresh KYC for their accounts and then advised that this was not necessary, have again sent out sms' to do the same again. With the banks there is no SC judgment but one suspects pressure from the Income Tax authorities. Firstly, why is a fresh KYC with photos and all required? Secondly, what has happened in these interim 2 months to ask for KYC again? Has anything changed? If so, the banks should tell us, keep us informed so that we understand the necessity. The banks cannot at their whims and pleasure keep saying do this, do that since for some people particularly elderly people it is a pain. And why photos again? People rarely change their appearance over a period of a decade or so unless there have been special circumstances like an illness, disfigurement by way of accidents etc. or unless it is a deliberate makeover. This fact is more true for senior citizens who will rarely change in their facial appearance. Sometimes senior citizens do not have readily available photos and it is not easy for them to run around and get them at short notice or to the bank's deadlines. At the banks like with the Telecom Cos. because there are some crooks around who do not comply with our income tax rules and other financial regulations and to weed them out the larger public is being put to needless difficulty. Such kind of people may at the outside limit be about 20% of the people who have bank accounts. Here again the banks can sort out these accounts very easily by looking at their transactions and the kind of people involved. But sometimes banks just like the Telecom Cos. having aggressively built up these accounts find it difficult to impose strict measures on them for fear of compromising themselves. This is a method of shirking their primary responsibility. So what do they do, move these verifications to a general level so that they can take the plea that everyone is being dealt with in the same manner. Thus you see for just maybe 20-30% of bad eggs all the account holders are being put to nuisance and difficulty. There are related issues here like computerisation at banks was done for automation and to reduce the use of paper but in their zeal for repeat KYC, there will be more use of paper and the need for storing papers thus negating one of the more important aspects of computerisation.

If the Telecom Cos. and banks sort out the cases which absolutely require verification and additional documents, then they can deal with less people making their job that much easier on this issue. This will also let off the larger population from unnecessary hassle. One has to also ask in this context whether the banks, Telecom Cos. and also LPG distribution Cos., which is another service provider who asks for repeat documentation, in their customer database software have the provision of seeing that the customer's Aadhaar card details are available with them since sometimes the connection is given or account opened with the Aadhaar card as the seeding document for both identity and address proof. If so then why should these Cos. keep bothering such customers all over again. We will now come to the Aadhaar card issue and its use as a primary authentication document.  The Aadhaar card itself is a suspect document since as reported in the papers, there are spurious cards and lately the 3 Pakistanis staying in Bengaluru illegally reportedly had Aadhaar cards issued on the basis of other false documents. Then Osama bin Laden has a Aadhaar card and surprise of surprises a goat has a Aadhaar card! Thus getting people to register their Aadhaar cards as primary identity document may not entirely be a foolproof system. 

Concluding one must say that in management a golden rule that was practiced earlier was the 80/20 rule which proposed that if 80% of those going to be impacted by any rule or measure are benefited then we can ignore the 20% of those who are not in favour. But the way the present BJP government is operating, it goes in reverse that is the 20/80 rule which means that if it works for 20% of the people then go ahead with the implementation thus letting the 80% of the people go to hell. This premise applies for the above as also the famous (or should one say infamous) Demonetisation exercise that was inflicted on the Indian people on  8th Nov 2016. To supposedly catch 20% of the population that is corrupt, 30% of the population having black money (it is assumed that the 20% is a sub-set of the 30%, considering that those with black money are also corrupt or support corruption) , Narendra Modi wiped out 86% of the currency in circulation comprising the Rs. 500 & Rs. 1000 notes which affected 100% of the country's population drastically for the first 2 months with millions having their livelihood snatched away and lakhs thrown out of jobs. This one must say that Narendra Modi and his government have turned common principles like the 80/20 rule upside down or turned it on its head. 

Postscript: As indicated above, this BJP government is allowing a minority, sometimes very minuscule to drive the agenda of the nation taking away attention from more serious and urgent issues of development. Where the government should focus on these minorities like terrorists, corrupt people, black marketers and hoarders and those possessing black money, we are seeing the government and its institutions using this as an excuse to draw the entire population into the net and asked to comply with multifarious regulations. There seems to be no method in this madness. Like in a family do you regulate and discipline only the wayward children or do you put restrictions on all your children?

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