Vox Populi Issue 275

                                                            VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 275                      Date: 01.04.2019

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:       

1. Modi The Narcissist Should Be Pulled Up By The Election Commission: ASAT 

    Announcement & The Election Code of Conduct 

2. Ashwin 'Mankading' Buttler

3. Chartered Accountants Should Stick To Their Business

     

         Modi The Narcissist Should Be Pulled Up By The Election Commission: 

                   ASAT Announcement & The Election Code of Conduct 

If Narendra Modi is pulled up by the Election Commission for having violated the Election Code Of Conduct by going on national radio and television to announce India's newly acquired capability to take down enemy satellites, then he will have his acolyte and captive advocate Arun Jaitley spring up to his defence and bring up a jurisdictional issue that the Code Of Conduct is not applicable in outer space and thus our eminent PM will again go scot free. Modi is a complete narcissist and cannot avoid the media or the opportunity to have his photo put out since it has come out that Railway tickets and Air India boarding cards were being issued with his photos. This offence has reached the Election Commission and though the boarding cards have been scuffed clean of the PM's pics, we are not yet aware of the action taken by the Railways. It is said that the biopic on Narendra Modi scheduled for a release on 12 April 2019 has been preponed for 5 April 2019 considering the first date of polling for the Lok Sabha polls is 11 April 2019. All this seems to be orchestrated even down to the shooting down of a satellite in outer space just to give Narendra Modi an opportunity to cock a snook at the system and show his thumb to his critics. The capability that India has acquired to shoot down a satellite in outer space is a great achievement by our defence and space scientists and is more a device to be used when we are at war and could have been announced by a departmental press release and there was no need for the PM to appear on national radio and television. Being the head of government the least that Narendra Modi can do is to follow the Election Code Of Conduct and set an example for others to emulate him. 

In the context of the ASAT - the anti-satellite technology that India has achieved with its own resources, it is disappointing to hear Arun Jaitley once again trying to collect brownie points for this BJP government by claiming that the earlier government had pushed back the development of this technology and it was their government that revived the development. While this is commendable, one needs to ask whether there is any particular development or initiative that this BJP government has taken up on their own and which it can claim credit for except for the misguided Demonetisation and implementation of GST programs and the shabby execution of both. For almost each and every program the BJP has been critical of previous governments without coming out with any novel programs of their own while it has with alacrity adopted some of the flagship programs of the past like MNREGA, Aadhaar etc. There has also not been a single program that has been put through by the present government without confusion and causing pain and trauma to citizens. As for the ASAT while it is a signal achievement for our scientific community, one needs to de-emphasise its necessity even now as also a decade ago since there are more pressing and urgent priorities for the country. Even now its announcement by the PM with its associated drama on World Theater Day was essentially to divert the attention of the people from more pressing issues affecting their lives. It was thus an abject attempt to sway the people’s votes. Also it was a clear violation of the Election Code of Conduct since it is not the process or mechanism by which the announcement was made that is in question but the spirit of trying to influence the voters. For this infarction Narendra Modi deserves to be banned from the present Lok Sabha elections. 

                                              Ashwin 'Mankading' Buttler

Ashwin was well within his rights to run out or 'Mankad' Buttler. Cricket particularly the IPL has become a very competitive game with high stakes and everyone has to play by the rules. There is nothing like the spirit of the game anymore and at worst could apply for the 5-day Tests and definitely not for the T-20 format. As for Buttler he seems to be making a habit of getting Mankaded and the present incident is a timely lesson for him. Postscript: One wonders if any batsman from India, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh or Pakistan had been run out in the same manner whether there would be such outrage? The MCC after first supporting Ashwin in the incident is understood to be reconsidering its position. There is another thing that we need to address regarding such runouts and that is to stop using the term - Mankaded. The term only recalls the name of the great Vinoo Mankad in a denigrating form and which should stop. Maybe we could call it - creased out - to distinguish it from runouts. 

                              Chartered Accountants Should Stick To Their Business 

Recently the Chartered Accountants Association Of India took up cudgels with economists after a group of some 100 economists pointed out that the integrity and  faithfulness of India's economic figures should be protected and not subjected to random interference by the incumbent government. This is a completely out-of-turn position of the Chartered Accountants Association who one thinks should stick to their own business and not poke their noses in matters that are relatively a little away from their domain of expertise. Accountants as per their role are required to deal with figures in real time of individuals and businesses in the economy. In some of their work they have to take the help of government published figures of economic indices but one thinks that they really do not understand and appreciate how some of these figures are collated and compiled. Therefore it is unfair for them to comment on the methodology of compiling GDP and other economic figures since these figures relate to a wider domain than what normal chartered accountants are used to and generally being longer term in nature require special expertise in the interpretation and acceptance of raw data while in the process of computation. One is not saying that chartered accountants cannot do this since as individuals many of them have risen beyond their domain and headed many multinational corporations. But as an Association they need to be careful while taking a stand beyond their spheres of competence. Postscript: The new CEA - Chief Economic Advisor has recently come out with a statement that GDP figures are difficult to fudge because there are too many touch points meaning the data has to come from multiple independent sources and it would be difficult to manage all of them to give the wrong figures or in the eyes of the government 'rosy' figures. He does not seem to have realised that in the present government it is the top-down approach that works and it is not the bottom-up that is based on data collation.  The 'chaiwallah' will decide on the figure and everyone will then have to bend over backwards to justify it. He also claims 2018-19 GDP would be in the region of 7.5% when everyone else including multilateral agencies are posting it below 7%. He sees growth in the economy which many of us have missed and it must be all 'jobless' growth. Talk of performing true to character or having rosy tinted honeymoons!

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Vox Populi Issue 274

                                                            VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 274                      Date: 25.03.2019

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:       

1. Campaign Strategies & The Win Numbers

2. Pakistan Should Be Banned From All International Sport

3. Jet Airways Should Not Be Given A Bailout

                                             Campaign Strategies & The Win Numbers 

In the context of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the campaigns and focusing on the principal Opposition party, the Congress, which has more of a national presence than any of the other parties in the Opposition. So with Rahul Gandhi leading the Congress snapping at the heels of the Narendra Modi led BJP-NDA combine one can give them an A in doggedness and tenacity, in quality of issues raised it is a B and for creating a pervasive atmosphere of a contest it is a C. Rahul Gandhi has shed his earlier diffidence and seems to be more confident but he needs to focus on more content when he speaks rather than concentrate on sound bytes. The last statement about the PM 'being a joke' sounds very schoolboyish and downright immature. In old conventional naval warfare, while bombarding enemy ships the most effective positioning is to get broadside or parallel to the enemy ship. Then given the large distances involved in sea the positioning of the guns becomes important like its elevation. You let off a volley and see where the shells splash in the water. If it is short then the guns are raised so that you can have the shells go behind the target ship. This also tells you that you have been able to effectively get the target in the range of your guns. And then the gunners are allowed to do their math for gun elevation and you aim for a direct hit. If you get one then you are entitled to celebrate. The lesson in this is that within your competence if you are able to zone in your target then there is a greater possibility of a direct hit. By the same analogy, if you analyse the Congress campaign you will find their shells landing far short of the target and at most the Modi led BJP-NDA combine are getting themselves splashed with water and there is no damage at all to them. Thus the Congress has to elevate their guns to do more damage. However, in contrast the BJP has been hurting the Congress at times grievously to which the Congress have rarely any rejoinders and are caught out fumbling and making pithy responses. One can say that the Congress with a long innings in the seat of government are carrying a legacy which the BJP can plunder to target them. In a sense the BJP have almost outplayed the Congress and are not so much bothered about the Opposition in their race to capture the reins of government once again. The only debacle that one can see about the BJP is what is called 'unforced errors' in tennis. It is goofing upon your play with no pressure from the opponent. And the BJP has committed many  'unforced errors' but you have to give it to them that they have recovered. However, overall with the BJP in their effort to capture the public imagination like in the 'chowkidar' machination one gets the feeling that there is a dumbing down of the political discourse.  There is also a sense of alienation where people are beginning to feel that their attention is being diverted of more pressing issues like the economy, joblessness and the hurt that was caused by the gross irresponsibility of the measures of demonetisation and the GST implementation. So all in all if the BJP does not get a majority come 23 May they will have no one else to blame but themselves. But even then my tally for the BJP is still 245 and with the NDA allies ending tantalisingly close to the halfway mark. It is thus going to be a case of so near but yet so far. 

                     Pakistan Should Be Banned From All International Sport

Pakistan had taken objection to our cricket team wearing the combat CRPF caps in the recently concluded India - Australia ODI series. This is rather sad since we are at the receiving end of terror from Pakistan and then we get lectured by them on propriety. The Indian team by showing the gesture of solidarity with our armed forces did the right thing and there is nothing wrong with it. In fact it is Pakistan who should be banned from all forms of international sport since they are not able to provide a safe environment for foreign players and teams in their country. Talking about cricket there was no need for Pakistan to be allowed to have their host matches in the UAE. If they are not able to host the matches in their country or give the confidence to international teams to play in their country then they should have been banned from the sport. Giving them the crutch of playing in another country has given Pakistan the misplaced zeal to lecture others on the whys and wherefores in the administration of the sport. The other thing is that if the de-facto host location for Pakistan is the UAE then it gives them no motivation to correct the situation in their own country and it will be only the international sport associations which will be responsible for allowing this situation to persist. So the best thing is to ban Pakistan from all international sport until they are able to correct the security situation in their own country. 
                                 Jet Airways Should Not Be Given A Bailout

In the Jet Airways crisis SBI seems to be getting over anxious in trying to keep the airline afloat. It has been making noises lately that the airline cannot be allowed to sink because the creditors have too much at stake. Though the process suggested by SBI can be termed to be technically correct since they have said that the objective is to save the airline after jettisoning Naresh Goyal. This after Goyal and Etihad being unable to bring in from their side the funding amounting to Rs. 750 crores as their share in the bailout exercise. In fact Etihad has made a comment that they want nothing to do with Jet Airways. The latest figures being put out on the funds needed by Jet Airways to come out of the crisis is Rs. 10,000 crores. This figure is in the same region of what Kingfisher Airlines was in debt for. Kingfisher Airlines even at the time it was folding up had gone to the government and had pleaded for a bailout. But then it was not given any support claiming that they needed to fend for themselves after having got themselves into a crisis. Therefore it is not understood why Jet Airways should be given a crutch bythe government and its majority owned financial institutions. On the operational side only some 40 odd planes of Jet Airways are still flying out of 119 that they own. Therefore if Jet Airways folds up, it is not going to make a great difference in the airline industry within the country since the other airlines can more than make up for the slack once the Boeing Max issues are resolved. Therefore if Jet Airways are not able to continue operations we should let them go into bankruptcy and have other airlines which are being run better to take over the business and expand in the spirit of the more efficient being given more opportunities in a truly competitive environment. The other thing is that SBI is run with public funds and cannot be allowed to spend good money on clearly bad areas. Not only that even if Jet Airways are bailed out by government owned financial institutions what guarantee do you have that in a few years down the road it will not meet the same fate as AirIndia which is a perennial sink hole for funds. That is why it is best that Jet Airways die, a consequence that they have brought upon by themselves. 

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Hi

Vox Populi Issue 273

                                                            VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 273                      Date: 18.03.2019

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:       

1.  The Rafael Case At The Supreme Court 

2.  The Mahagathbandhan Is Getting Unstuck

3.  Indo-Pak Talks At The Time Of Elections? 

4.  Who Will Get The Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow?

                                 The Rafael Case At The Supreme Court 

In the Rafael case at the Supreme Court the arguments by the Advocate General Venugopal are getting more and more hilarious. After his claim that the Rafael papers were 'stolen' from the Defence Ministry, he retracted the next day saying he used the word wrongly and what he meant was that the papers were photo-copied and presented to the court in an unauthorised manner. Subsequently he has raised the bogey of national security and also put forward the government position that the Rafael aircraft was bought at a very low price compared to what was supplied to other nations and that continuing with the case would compromise our position and strengthen our enemy's hands. These are typical of beating around the bush scenarios which the AG and the government should desist from using in their defence. Plainly put they are just stalling so as to refuse providing the information. Consider the plea of national security, everything about the Rafael deal is in the public domain, the question only is whether due process was followed in reducing the requirements from 126 to 36 and was the unit price for the 36 higher than that of the 126 and if so, by how much. If the price was higher for the 36 then was due process again followed for approving the escalation. No one is asking the details of the armaments loaded onto the aircraft or any other strategic details which will compromise national security. Then again if the Rafael price is the lowest for India compared to other nations then we should declare it proudly as an achievement. The party that should be worried with the low price exposure is Dassault, the manufacturers of the Rafael. The other thing is about the 'offset partner' for Dassault on the Rafael deal. Granted for the time being that it was Dassault and that our PM had nothing to do with it, in selecting the Anil Ambani Co. as the 'offset partner'. But the least that the government could have done in this matter is placed on record their objections for Dassault to have chosen a novice or 'wet behind the ears' operator. The way the government has been projecting the great import of the Rafael acquisition to our defence forces, the least they could have done is ensured that we have a competent and well equipped partner for the offset deal. Concluding, there seems to be something wrong with the way the Rafael deal was amended and right now it is smelling to high heaven mostly because of the government's intransigence in declaring the facts correctly. One can also maybe say that the stonewalling stems from a somewhat puckish and childish attitude which plays out that if you persistently ask for the information, I will refuse to give it. Maybe the government would have published a White Paper on the Rafael deal if the Opposition had not gone hammer and tongs at it. This statement is made in the spirit of cricket, where the benefit of doubt  goes to the batsman. 

                               The Mahagathbandhan Is Getting Unstuck

It is unfortunate that the strategy to consolidate the anti-BJP vote has started crumbling already. The seeds of this debacle was sown at the time when the Congress did well in MP, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan in the last Assembly elections and was able to form the government. But no sooner did this happen that particularly in MP Mayawati came with the accusation that the BSP had been slighted. An affront is a big deal for a person like Mayawati who carried it to UP and convinced the SP to keep the Congress out of the poll equations, not that Akhilesh was unwilling. Mayawati has twisted the knife  deeper into the Alliance with theCongress by stating that expel should not read too much into the Congress statement that it has left 7 seats in UP for the BSP & the SP. She has clarified that there is no alliance and that the BSP wants no truck with the Congress. Thus with the Congress in the wilderness in UP, Rahul Gandhi decided to play his wild card by asking sister, Priyanka to take the plunge. She was more than willing what with the enforcement agencies breathing down her husband, Robert Vadra's neck. The political foray could buy her some insulation from the law enforcement agencies though not so much for her husband, though Vadra himself has made a comment lately that he may not be unwilling to join politics. Thus with Priyanka claiming that she is not in the electoral fray, it may not be surprising that we see Vadra's name in the last Congress list of candidates and Priyanka in time opting to enter the Rajya Sabha. As for the Mahagathbandhan in spite of the show at the rallies called by the TMC in Kolkata and Delhi it was seen getting unstuck, one thought only in the States where there were Prime ministerial aspirants like Mamta Banerjee and Mayawati. But it is coming apart almost everywhere except maybe Karnataka. The Congress' alliance with the CPM has fizzled out after a deal had been brokered at the highest level of both parties for West Bengal. This happened because the State unit of the Congress wanted to go it alone which was the story again with Delhi where Sheila Dixit refused anything to do with the AAP and decided to fight all 7 seats on the Congress' own steam. So all the talk and bravado aside, the Mahagathbandhan seems to be fizzling out as a firework at a wet Diwali. But without the gathbandhan it will be difficult to consolidate the anti-BJP vote and the Opposition is kind of ceding the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to the BJP and the NDA combine which will ride the decisive nationalism wave created by the Pulwama and Balakot incidents. 

                                 Indo-Pak Talks At The Time Of Elections? 

Pakistan's position after the Pulwama attack has become very nebulous since terror is one thing on which most nations particularly those of the West are unified and Pakistan has been left only with the support of China. Thus on the one hand Pakistan has to assuage the sentiments of the West and on the other hand steer its economy through difficult waters  what with the country being on IMF aid and with the chance of economic collapse if the aid is suddenly withdrawn. Though the Muslim countries particularly Saudi Arabia are staunch friends Pakistan needs to appear to be on the right side with most Western countries. Moreover, with Imran Khan being in his first term of office as Prime Minister he would not want any untoward issues impacting the country and in that context we need to see his overture for talks with us after the Pulwama attack, but more on this latter aspect later. Therefore we need not read too much into Pakistan's actions like taking over the JuD's HQ, putting some of the senior cadre of the JuD under house arrest etc. These are cosmetic measures at which Pakistan are past masters having played around with the US since the Taliban emerged in Afghanistan. They continue to do that with the US in a hate-hate-love-love relationship even now in the context of pulling out the US troops out of Afghanistan. So we should not assume that all the noises being made by the US are what they mean since they can retract their position any time and particularly with Donald Trump whose foreign policy is more here and now but gone the next moment. As for Imran Khan's offer for talks one thinks we should take it and not insist too much on verifiable action against terror agents within Pakistan. Talks in the time of terror is a good thing since Imran Khan as said earlier being in his first term needs to show to his nation some achievements and India could play along for what it is worth. This is called the nouveau approach just like when Narendra Modi dropped in for a 'chai pe charcha' with the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif though nothing came out of it, we could see how serious Imran is. But his outreach is negated somewhat by the contradictions that post-Pulwama has brought though Imran was talking peace, the shelling across the LoC was continuing if not intensified with many civilian deaths resulting. But you have to give it to Imran for releasing the captured Indian pilot Abhinandan very quickly and as promised. There was no vacillating in Imran's decision and his offer was direct and carried through expeditiously. There was no need for Imran to release Abhinandan so quickly whether by the Geneva Convention or the bilateral treaty since PoW's are released at the cessation of hostilities. One could say that Imran was not interested in escalating the conflict but for the botched air strike and maybe with no major escalation of hostilities planned was the reason that prompted Imran to release Abhinandan. It definitely got him brownie points not only in India but across the world. India has done well in the context of the Pulwama attack to mobilise international opinion and support but true to India's time honoured approach to beat around the bush and complain to everyone in the community and get cold fingers when it comes to directly talk to the opposite party, is something that needs to be changed. India recognises that the Kashmir problem cannot be solved militarily and it also refuses mediation. So it is only through negotiation that any attempt can be made to find a solution then what is wrong with going back to talks with Pakistan. Granted that in the past many efforts have been made which have regularly been exploited by Pakistan to continue fomenting terror within India and sponsor terror attacks but one thinks that Imran Khan's initiative should be taken up and talks started. But the major impediment to  talks could be whether you can have talks in the time of elections since post May 23, 2019 things could change or remain the same. So we will have to see what happens as the Indian summer runs out.

                   Who Will Get The Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow?

The election schedules have been announced and May 23, 2019 is the D-day or Democracy Day which will determine whether Narendra Modi will get his craving satisfied of obtaining a 2nd term as the Prime Minister of India. As things go the writing on the wall earlier to Pulwama was a bit dicey with the BJP & NDA unlikely to get a majority but now with the nationalism issue being whipped up in the wake of the terror attack the  BJP/NDA combine may just about tip the scales. But nonetheless the BJP/NDA seat count in the Lok Sabha may still not cross 245. We will see the campaign trail becoming shriller and shriller as the summer starts settling in across India. Already the ad campaigns in the newspapers have been seen which are tall on claims but short on credibility. The lie to this was explained by the senior leaders of the BJP like Amit Shah who had said that at election times they say things which they rarely mean and Nitin Gadkari recently said that the BJP had not expected to win the 2014 elections and that is why Narendra Modi had promised to transfer Rs. 15 Lakhs into each citizen's bank account after bringing back black money that was stashed abroad. The main issues a stuttering economy, creation of jobs and farmers problems are tended to be avoided and in fact hidden so that no one brings it up. But with these issues hurting the people, they will not be forgotten come voting time. One cannot disagree that this government fights shy of taking decisions. Like in the instance of the air strikes against Pakistan post the Pulwama blast. It has created a political uproar in India which had happened even earlier after the army's surgical strike. The reasons for this are obvious. The first thing is that it is a new toy in the hands of the incumbent government and they are thrilled with it. The second thing is that such political will in military action was not shown earlier since 1971 when Indira Gandhi asked the army to move into erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. But this bravado may be misplaced and that of the uneducated, the ill informed and those who cannot anticipate the repercussions of their actions. We have seen this in the case of the Demonetisation and GST implementation exercises and also in the mission to push card use in place of cash without having the infrastructure for it. These have led to massive dislocation in people's lives across the nation which people may not forget easily. Then there is the tendency to hide information that is inconvenient to them like the recent jobs report indicating joblessness to be at a four decade high. The job issue is what affects people directly and it is foolish to hide it. The people will perceive it as if they are being mocked. This is not the first time and we have seen this in the past with the economic indices and then the GDP figures where there has been a tendency to manage the figures to show the present government in a good light. This overeagerness to hide the truth may be another reason for the people shying away from the present dispensation. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and in fact the entire BJP top leadership are being considered as inveterate liars and to consume anything that they say with a large pinch of salt. Then there are the relatively lesser issues of browbeating the people and the restriction of freedom of speech and other aspects of life which may not be as much election issues. But all in all the next 70 days until May 23, 2019 promises to be a rollicking time for the people of India and to see who gets the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and to feed from it for the next 5 years.

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Vox Populi Issue 272

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 272                      Date: 11.03.2019                     Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com   Contents:        1. Rafael Deal Papers 'Stolen' From MoD: New Highs or Lows Of The Incumbent      BJP Government 2. NGO Report Based Upon RTI On Women's Security Calls The Bluff On BJP      Government Claim 3. Outrageous Adspends & Distorted Priorities 4. Strikes Against Terror Should Be SOP - Standard Operating Procedure                                                                                           Rafael Deal Papers 'Stolen' From MoD: New Highs or Lows                                  Of The Incumbent BJP Government One cannot understand whether to call the incumbent BJP government's Attorney General's performance before the Supreme Court in the Rafael case as a high or a low when he claimed that the papers related to the aircraft deal were 'stolen' from the Ministry of Defence! One would assume that he is presenting the official line of the government. Then he needs to explain how a Top Secret file on a deal which the  government has all along been invoking national security to release even the smallest of details within the country has been 'stolen'. Is this just a ploy to again extricate the government from an embarrassing position and to browbeat the newspaper taking the lead to expose the matter and the other litigants? This kind of thing was done in the recent past again in the Rafael case by word play when a procedure outlined of the deal going to the PAC and the CAG was shown in such a way that the Supreme Court believed that the process was gone through for the Rafael deal and the SC quoted this in their judgment. The government though was nimble footed enough to point out the error and apologise for it lest they be accused of using sleight of hand tactics in the case. At this instance of sensitive documents getting stolen and that too from the Ministry of Defence it may not be erroneous to assume that the entire Rafael deal papers at this very moment may be with our enemy states like Pakistan and China while the government is taking the holy position of national security for releasing to people within the country. This present government has this avoidance issue of not addressing the core matter. Like here the basic thing is how did the papers get 'stolen' from the MoD and not how the papers are being used thereafter. Similarly the AG in his arguments in the SC is invoking that the case before it has the capacity to destabilise the present government and threaten the security of the State which is nothing but an attempt to magnify the likely impact and also to browbeat the SC. This is also yet another stratagem to draw a veil over their misdeeds and stop the real truth about the Rafael deal to come out. One is sure that the SC will see through this design of the government. We have another turnaround by the AG, the very next day of claiming that the MoD papers were stolen, he has come up with the blasé explanation that his choice of words was more strong than intended and he meant that the papers were only photocopied.  With the AG, the problems related to mismatch between intent and English composition, text and grammar, is getting to be once too often and considering his age and the necessity of upholding the high standards of this august office, one thinks Mr Venugopal should call it a day and resign from his position.                    NGO Report Based Upon RTI On Women's Security Calls The Bluff                                              On BJP Government Claim The Times Of India, Mumbai in its 6th March 2019 edition on its first page carried the headline - Rape and molestation cases almost double in Mumbai city in 5 yrs: Report, while on P21 you had a full page ad with the PM's picture on it claiming - Safety of Women: One Resolve Many Initiatives. The report prepared by a NGO and based upon RTI's filed with the appropriate authorities gives the lie to the PM's claim of providing improved safety and security for women. So can one say that this government's efforts on women's security have not worked?                               Outrageous Adspends & Distorted Priorities There should be a limit set on advertising by the government to blow its own trumpet or promote any of its functionaries like in the present instance of plugging for Narendra Modi in the ad campaign whose theme is  - Namumkin Ab Mumkin Hai. The outlay for these campaigns along with other adspends of this government are close to some      Rs. 2500-3000 crores. This kind of money is outrageously high and a complete waste. If the intention is to inform then the campaigns can be scaled down or other methods used to carry the message to the people. Like the BJP has been touting a door to door campaign thus it can have its functionaries across the country visit people's houses and inform them about these matters. Also in a country where malnutrition is rampant among children, where we have destitute and orphaned children spending amounts of the order as above is clearly callous. Again we have lately this excessive love professed towards the bovines and the cow in particular with a National Committee formed to suggest measures with an outlay of some Rs. 750 crores allocated to it. As outlined above when children need care should we not concentrate on taking care of humankind first before we descend to the cow and the animal kingdom. Clearly a case of distorted priorities! Postscript: As we come closer to the Ides of March, 15th that is, we are seeing a splurge of full page ads that spell out the achievements of the present government with a pic of Narendra Modi. The national newspapers are carrying 6-8 such ads every day and we will probably see more of them as we come closer to the announcement of election dates after which the election code will apply and no more ads can be released. For those familiar with ad campaigns such ads across all national newspapers cost a massive amount of money running into thousands of crores. At the same time in the Times of India, Mumbai edition of today, 8.3.2019, you will find a news item that says - TIFR, one of the premium research labs in the country has paid only 50% of the salary for Feb 2019 to its staffers and post-doctoral research scholars numbering a total of some 3000 persons. The reason is paucity of funds. This is the position with Narendra Modi and his government. All bluff and bluster, half baked truths, incompetent management, petty tendencies to settle scores and creation of a raid raj to silence critics. Update: On the TIFR Issue when news of the short payment of salaries went viral, the government got into firefighting mode sending in the funds blaming the problem on a technical glitch in the accounting system. Other not so well known institutions may not be so lucky.             Strikes Against Terror Should Be SOP - Standard Operating Procedure Sanity in the national discourse seems to be presently at a premium. The levels to which this is descending is alarming to say the least. Post-Pulwama the fact that we launched a strike in Pakistan at Balakot is more important than counting the number of dead. A death count of 40 against 250 or 300 or 350 is no equity since lives lost are far more important to each side. That we served on Pakistan a clear declaration of intent was the motive message. That our IAF conducted an operation flying the Mirage 2000 called the 'widow makers' and the MIG21 also known as the 'flying coffins' successfully carried  out a sortie deep inside Pakistan territory is great credit to our flying men. That Abhinandan in his aged MIG21 brought down a F16 reminiscent of our Gnats taking down the then famed F84 Sabre jets during the 1965 conflict shows the skill of our pilots and that it has not waned over time. The important lesson in all this is the message to Pakistan that they cannot get away with murder any longer on the pretext of state, non-state actors and a faux liberation movement and that India will act. It was an exercise in setting expectations. With the earlier ground surgical strike and now the air strike the cementing of the message is complete. It was long known that India would never retaliate but the two strikes has now changed all that. In fact we need to sustain this line of action and make it our SOP - Standard Operating Procedure, now. Terrorism is like a hedge or weeds in your garden it needs trimming  and extraction once too often. Thus military action across the border and inside Pakistani territory should be done regularly and carried out with great precision. In fact in this we need to take out a page from Israel's book which with deliberation and confirmed intent takes out any threat in its vicinity hemmed in as it is by all enemy nations whenever it sees a threat to its people and/or assets. It is rare that any great diplomatic uproar is caused against Israel when it acts against terror targets in its vicinity. So when you see a good thing going, we should with all grace compliment the present government. It is also natural that  the BJP and its allies will crow about it.                                                 ****************************

Vox Populi Issue 271

VOX POPULI                                               by                                          S Kamat                                                 as                                          Aam Admi                            Issue: 271          Date: 04.03.2019         Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com Contents:        1. Imran Khan Speaks With Forked Tongue 2. Bailing Out IL& FS And Jet Airways 3. Pulwama Attack Response Handled Badly                Imran Khan Speaks With Forked Tongue Imran Khan, the Pakistani Prime Minister immediately after the Pulwama terror attack and seeing the reaction within India, both of the government as well as the public had called for restraint. A dose of this medicine he should have taken before Pulwama by restraining the Jaish e Mohammed who are operating under his watch and whose past nefarious activities he is surely aware of. That is, of course, if Imran was interested in peace. He is again not practising what he preaches by conducting an air attack on India yesterday, 27th Feb 2019 within just a couple of days after he called for restraint. Is sending warplanes to attack Indian military targets a sign of Pakistani restraint? By simultaneously seeking talks to end the present conflagration one cannot say there is any seriousness to the offer since it seems a just a ploy to buy time so that the Pakistani armed forces are able to plan out the next steps to attack India. One can safely tell Imran that you speak with a forked tongue and that the time for talks is over and that Pakistan needs to give up its terror agenda once and for all. Postscript: Since the time of writing this Pakistan has returned the pilot they had captured after his MIG-21 fighter jet had crashed after a dogfight near the LoC. There are signs of de-escalation of the conflict which are good signs since no one wants a war which means needless loss of lives. But Pakistan continues to use its artillery to shell across the LoC resulting in civilian deaths which is definitely not 'restraint' on Pakistan's part. Thus Imran should translate his words into action first before taking the mantle of advising India.                              Bailing Out IL& FS And Jet Airways Bailing out IL& FS out of their financial crisis with public money and the same thing being planned for Jet Airways where some Rs. 500 crores of public money will be given to them with or without Naresh Goyal being at the helm of affairs there or not, is completely out of turn and irresponsible to say the least. The IL& FS group of Cos. has some Rs. 85-90,000 crores of liability to the banks and the public and has been categorised as 'too big to fail' which has led the big lenders and investors like SBI and LIC to come forward to fund the group and this without going to the NCLT which would have been the proper procedure. One does not understand why banks and financial institutions continue to fund these companies until the liabilities hit the roof leading to instability and then the companies topple over. While all this was going on these companies continued to pay their directors and top management fat salaries which is the case with IL& FS. The question to be asked is what were our regulators like SEBI, RBI and others doing? There does not seem to be any EWS - Early Warning System in the regulation mechanism to control indiscriminate lending. In the last few years we have seen Mallya, Nirav Modi, Choksi and many lesser culprits take unfair advantage of the prevailing leaky financial system. It is time that we put a stop to this. The Jet Airways case is somewhat similar and bears a striking resemblance to the plight of Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines of a brand that was leading in its field and set the pace in the industry, which upon facing competition from me-too upstarts started to overstretch itself in new directions like overseas operations  and found itself in difficult operational and financial straits. Now Jet Airways is a private operation and was full well aware of their business environment and its likely pitfalls. So where is the question of public money being given to them? A similar question had come  up when Mallya had lobbied for a bail-out for Kingfisher Airlines citing the spurt in cost of aviation fuel and prevailing adverse conditions in the airline industry then, but he had been negatived - so why should Jet Airways be given a governmental  or public crutch. While on the subject of funding of losses one should look at the fact that bank losses, both PSB and private, because of the NPA's are being borne by the public through taxation in case of PSB's and for private banks through the stock markets which impact is again on the public shareholders, so there needs to be a fair measure of accountability that these operations should have to the public. Thus the government could well consider legislation to have a certain number of directors on the boards of these banks from their account holders and/or citizens from the public which will at least make the public aware of the bank operations and also get advance information of any adverse operations or wrongdoings by the management of the banks.                                  Pulwama Attack Response Handled Badly India has yet again played into Pakistan's hands over the Pulwama attack by taking a jingoistic position of 'faux' aggression boxing itself thus into a corner and allowing Pakistan to control the narrative by saying that it would retaliate if India were to attack. By its pugnacious response Pakistan has assumed the position of the victim with India being the aggressor. Though one must admit that the mobilising of international support by our government against Pakistan on the plank of terrorism has been effectively organised forcing it to act against Jaish e Mohammed and its related arms. However, the initial sabre rattling within India has again isolated the Kashmiris making them the recipient of attacks across the country particularly the community of students who for pursuing their education are spread out across the northern part of the country. Where we claim that we want to integrate Kashmir with the country, we have involuntarily added yet another wound in the alienation agenda. In the face of terror attacks we need to be more deliberate and circumspect about out our response. Being obtuse only precludes our options for seeking retribution for the Pulwama and similar other attacks. What needed to have been done was to acknowledge the Pulwama attack and the JeM claim for the attack and commenced the exercise of international diplomacy like we have done. On retaliation it was best to keep mum and play the victim card to its fullest extent while parallely exploring options for a counter-offensive against terror camps in both PoK and Pakistan. Lulling Pakistan and the terrorists into thinking that as usual India would not attack back, we should have examined which are the most easy and convenient terrorist camps to strike and launched a surprise attack catching the enemy in a less prepared position. What we have done now with the blood-boil dialogues and threats of retaliation is that Pakistan has pulled back its terror apparatus and is getting battle-ready to defend itself in the eventuality of an India attack. The Pulwama attack has also been used by the Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh of the BJP i.e. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley in no particular order, to ratchet up the nationalism agenda as a poll plank for the upcoming elections. Notice that the Devi in the equation, Nirmala Sitaraman, though being Defence Minister has been unusually quiet with nary a squeak nor a tweet (not the social media kind) from her. The BJP diktat is probably that once the Holy Trio have exhausted the topic then the others can speak on it. Like in a classroom - speak when you are spoken to or speak when you are asked to speak. Yet again the crocodile tears scenario is being enacted. For all his words of being sad about the attack and the loss of lives of the jawans therein, the Prime Minister went about his routine with a business as usual approach as is reported on the day of the attack in the Corbett Park and inaugurating the next day the Vande Bharat Express train from Delhi to Varanasi. As a mark of respect to the dead Narendra Modi could have avoided participating in these events.                                                         **********************