VOX POPULI
by
AAM ADMI
Issue No. : N 016
Issue Date: 23 Jan 2023
Contents:
1. True Democracy vs. India's Managed Democracy
2. The Modi Agenda
3. DGCA Fines Air India But No Compensation For The Victim
4. Lessons From The Joshimath Disaster & Others
True Democracy vs. India's Managed Democracy
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is fined for not wearing a seatbelt while in a car. He obediently pays up after tendering an apology, advising the nation that it is important to wear seatbelts and that it was a lapse on his part. In contrast, Tejaswini Surya, the Karnataka BJP MP attempts to open the Emergency Door in flight and there is endless dialogue on whether it was the Cockpit Door or the Emergency Door, whether he did tender an apology to Minister Scindia or to the in-flight crew, whether the plane was taxiing or in flight. There is also no remorse from Surya for his action which could have endangered other passengers on the flight and in any case delayed the flight by a couple of hours thereby causing disruption and inconvenience to the co-passengers. That is the difference, my friend, there is true democracy in the UK while in India we manage democracy.
The Modi Agenda
Narendra Modi has been talking that the Amrit Kaal for India has come. There is nothing special in that since the march of time is inexorable and it is but natural for India to reach the milestone of 75 years. However, even in this for a civilisation that is one of the oldest in the world to partition it for the sake of some trivial intent from an event of colonial import like the independence from the British yoke in 1947 talks of limited minds that insult the greatness of our civilisation. The occupation of the British of India for some 200 years was an aberration and has little significance in the context of our country’s 5000 years or more history and therefore we should erase it from our consciousness. We need to take it into our stride and move on ignoring it. As for the Amrit Kaal, hyperbole is easily mouthed but the situation on the ground as far as the country is concerned is not very good which Modi should realise and there are many improvements in the quality of life of infants, children, women and the poor that needs to be achieved. Come election time and with 8 States scheduled for polls in 2023, as usual we need to give Modi some leeway for big lies since all of us are still waiting for the Rs. 12-15 Lakhs to come to our bank accounts since 2014.
Modi has also been talking about thinking big and that we were talking in the past about India’s poverty and the need for aid. It is always easy to be loquacious when you never intend to deliver what you are speaking about. Reality cannot be ignored is the policy that our founding fathers and previous governments followed. India had been looted by the British and a fledgling democracy had been left to fend for itself. You could not talk without exposing our poverty and the need for aid was crucial to grow. And because our past leaders did that we are today in the position that Modi can stand up and blow his own trumpet. Without that aid like the PL480 and others there would have been no Green Revolution, no setting up of the infrastructure of industrialisation, the fruits of which our present generation are enjoying like bumper harvests and overflowing granaries with food grains being stored in the open, we are also able to feed rats. Because the foundations of an industrial State were laid, we are talked about today as having one of the largest technical pool of people in the world. By denying this Modi is making the cardinal mistake of not recognising the efforts of millions of Indians who strived hard to put India on the map of the world so that future generations like Modi can live and enjoy a modicum of comfort and hold their heads high with self respect. These are the people that Modi is insulting. It is said that if you deny history you are rootless and will soon become a drifter. Modi suffers from that danger and if he does not correct his ways, he will go down that road and there will be no one to remember him. Thus give credit where it is due, criticise when it is necessary, encourage when required and most importantly stay rooted. These are the characteristics of great leaders which Modi has to learn though it may be a little late now. However, poverty has not gone from India of which Modi needs to be reminded. His government touts very loudly that India now feeds 800 Million and gives them free food grains. But this is given to those who are below the poverty line. Thus there are definitely 800 Million poor in the country out of a population of 1400 million. Thus more than 50% of the country is poor and deserving aid but Modi prefers to ignore it, not talk about it.
In the first few years after 2014 when Modi got elected, he was never seen in India flitting in air planes around the world that it was said that once at that time when he made that rare visit to the Lok Sabha, he was looking for seat belts to clip on and armrests to lean upon. But over the last 6 months or so, you see Modi everywhere at Chief Ministers conferences, Chief Secretary conclaves, DGP meetings with physical as well as virtual presence and flying across the country mostly inaugurating new trains and announcing many projects, many of which may not see the light of day. He is also talking about employment this year when it was not heard earlier from him ever since 2014. And mind you he was the person directly responsible for the closing down of lakhs of industries in the MSME sector and the loss of jobs and livelihood on a larger scale in the unorganised sector and among daily wagers consequent upon Demonetisation which led to disruption in money supply leading to uncertainties in the business environment. The Demonetisation exercise was the largest pogrom in human history after Hitler's attempts to wipe out the Jews in Nazi Germany where the number of dead cannot be exactly established but in terms of unleashing misery and depriving people of livelihood, millions of people were affected by Demonetisation and even today remain affected though so many years have passed. What is the reason for this present hyper activity by Modi? The answer is plain and simple. It is elections that triggers Modi's hyper mode and there are 8 State elections during 2023. On the heels of that are the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. All these are crucial for Modi and the BJP if they are to lay the foundations of a 50 year rule of the BJP at the Centre in India as Modi has often prophesied.
Like they say there is always something that will disrupt the well laid plans of mice and men and in the context of Modi has been the airing recently in the UK of the BBC report on the Gujarat riots of 2002. Truth and water leakage will come out at some time or the other since it always finds a way out. That is the nature of the BBC documentary. We in India know what the truth is despite the courts giving Modi and his henchmen a clean chit but are helpless to do anything. But putting the past behind us, we move on. But the voice of the world cannot be stopped. If there was no truth in the BBC documentary then there was no need to ban it in India. By the very act of banning it Modi and his government are giving credence to it. In normal circumstances it could have been dispensed off as old history. Like they say the truth hurts somewhere or the other. However, the timing of airing of the BBC documentary is curious. Why now? Why in a year when there are 8 States going for elections. The BBC as an organisation has no agenda but then who is behind this?
DGCA Fines Air India But No Compensation For The Victim
The DGCA has fined Air India Rs. 30 Lakhs for the Shankar Mishra flight peeing incident along with fines on the AI In-Flight Operations Chief of Rs. 3 Lakhs as also de-rostered the pilot for 3 months. In all this the disappointing thing is that nothing has been done for the poor lady who was the victim and pee'd upon. Has she been given any compensation by AI? This is rather sad for someone who has had to suffer a disgusting experience and thereafter deal with it for no fault of hers and thus wasting her precious time. Our systems for dealing with issues is completely wrong, we do not go to the crux of the issue but remain on the periphery and indulge in action to garner headlines. Should our aviation authorities and AI not have considered this and compensated the victim, a senior citizen and a lady to boot? In fact the DGCA from the fine it receives from Air India should give a substantial amount to the victim. The same time that the above news came out we are told that AI has upped the ban on Shankar Mishra to 4 months. In fact the ban should be for life and on all airlines and not just limited to the airlines of the Air India group.
Lessons From The Joshimath Disaster & Others
The Joshimath disaster should be an eye-opener for the government to not pursue an indiscriminate agenda of development involving construction of hydro-electric projects in the hills of the lower Himalayan region. In the Chamoli district where Joshimath is located, two other towns that of Karnaprayag and Gopeshwar have reported similar cracks and subsidence which supports the argument that the damage to the environments is not limited to just Joshimath. A few years ago with heavy rainfall during the monsoon we had seen massive floods and landslides in the hilly regions of Kerala and Coorg where rampant felling of forests had resulted in weak topsoil and consequent landslides. The hillsides had been cleared of trees and vegetation and damaged to make way for commercial development mostly tourism like resorts and for building individual dwellings. People move in like it is a gold rush whenever business opportunities like tourism and plantations are seen in any area resulting in an undue stress on the land and the environment. The government and authorities have to assess how much of these new activities that the land can bear and only allow establishments to be set up in the area in a limited way. If we do not do this then we have seen how the consequential costs are far higher than the marginal monetary benefits that people obtain by such random and rash development. The Joshimath-like situation is believed to have been created by the building of many hydro-electric projects in the region under the ostensible reason that they are much more nature-friendly than alternate means of power generation like with coal etc. This is not necessarily true if you look at these projects on an overall or total cost basis. Thus a holistic approach needs to be followed for planned development which takes into account almost all aspects of perceived benefits and disadvantages so that the future is more assured for our future generations that will follow.
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