The Karnataka government is facing a challenge with finalising the names of Congress candidates to be included in the expansion of the newly formed coalition.
Siddaramaiah has said the party will take a decision of inclusion of candidates and expansion on Thursday, already waves of dissent has started hitting them, making them more cautious in their entire operation. Kumaraswamy has been invited to attend the meeting.
In a significant political development on Tuesday a powerful Congress leader from the Belagavi and MLA Satish Jarkiholi who turned a rebel to the Congress leadership has openly said that many MLAs in the party are unhappy and party leadership is trying to convince them. This has sent shock waves and the Congress and JD(S) leaders which include Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, powerful lobbyist and Congress strongman DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in consultation with JD(S) supremo HD Devegowda have been trying to douse the fire.
“Some of them are not happy. They may not be 25 to 30 in numbers but there are 6 to 7 of them. MLAs are unhappy and our leadership is convincing them,” Jarkiholi said.
“The opposition party is trying since the beginning to form the government by the support of Congress legislators by horse-trading the MLAs, but as of now, there are only 6-7 MLAs who are unhappy and we will convince them.” He added.
Jarkiholi also said that he, however, is not leaving the party and claimed to be more powerful than many ministers.
“I had a word with our president Dinesh Gundu Rao on this issue. The high command is active and our State leadership is working on it,” he said. “They are not going anywhere and especially I am not going to any party or anywhere else. I am much powerful than some ministers but I have asked for one more ministerial post for Belgaum district. Let us wait and see, everything will be cleared soon,” he added.
Meanwhile BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa has got into a rejuvenating centre in Kerala for his pain in the hand amidst all these developments. Even if BJP poaches 7 to 8 MLAs can destabilise the present coalition government ahead of 2019 elections.
In May this year, the election result for 222 out of 224 assembly constituencies of Karnataka had resulted in a fractured mandate, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats, only nine seats short of the simple majority mark of 113. However, the Congress party with 78 seats and JD(S) with 37 seats, along with two independent candidates, stitched up a post-poll alliance with a total of 117 MLAs.
In another related political development an audio-clip containing an alleged conversation between a confidant of a former Bellary BJP MP B Sriramulu and a Dubai-based businessman has triggered allegations of attempts being made by the BJP to topple the Congress-JD(S) coalition Government in Karnataka. However Sriramulu strongly refuted the charges and blamed the Congress hatching a conspiracy to defame the BJP.
In the audio, which has gone viral, the confidant is allegedly saying at least 10 to 11 lawmakers from the Congress and JD(S) were ready to switch sides with specific names being mentioned.
“They have been offered Rs 20 crore to Rs 25 crore and ministership. By the second week it has to happen,” the confidant is allegedly saying in the audio.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and the convener of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee Siddaramaiah hit out at the BJP for its alleged attempts to dislodge the Government.
Slamming the BJP, Siddaramaiah said, “Where will they get the money if they are saying that they will pay Rs 25 crore (to each MLA)? Whose money it is? It is corrupt money. Aren’t they ashamed for trying to topple the Government? This Government will continue despite their attempts.”
BJP general secretary N Ravi Kumar termed the audio “bogus” and said the Congress and JD(S) have been depending upon creating such “fictitious audios” for their survival.
Writer: Kestur Vasuki
Courtesy: The Pioneer
A cross-border conspiracy to subvert the proposed Container Trans Shipment Terminal was unearthed following the detention of two journalists based in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The journalists revealed that they had assisted two French citizens, who also happened to be journalists.
Pon Radhakrishnan, while speaking to The Pioneer told that he suspects of some kind of subversion with regard to the International Trans Shipment Container Terminal in the district. “There are many forces working against this project. I was told by media persons in Kanyakumari about the visit of the French citizens and their activities which has aroused suspicions in their minds,” said the Minister who expressed his shock over the participation of activists who were opposed to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the Kanyakumari meeting.
“The French citizens who were accompanied by the local journalists visited Kanyakumari and surrounding areas and videographed pictures of various locations including the proposed site for the international port. Later they held a secret meeting at the residence of a retired Government servant who is actively campaigning against any kind of development works in Kanyakumari,” said Sundar, who is in charge of the Kanyakumari office of Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan.
Sundar said the meeting held at the residence of the retired Government official on November 24, was attended among others by eight to ten Catholic Church priests and the French citizens. “I do not know what happened in the meeting and it is the responsibility of the intelligence wing of the police to find the same. But the whole operation of the French citizens was enmeshed in mystery,” said Sundar.
He pointed out that the French citizens checked into the hotel at Kanyakumari under the guise of Indian journalists. “What is the need for them to check-in under fake names if it is for honest work?. There is something which misses the ordinary eyes,” said Pon Radhakrishnan. He said there are some forces in Kanyakumari district which opposed any kind of developmental activities under the pretext of environmental destruction. “We have already announced that the port project in no way would affect the ecology and environment in the district. But the activists have some hidden agenda,” he said.
An organisation by name Alliance For Media Freedom has questioned the logic behind the police detaining the Tamil Nadu journalists M Sriram and D Ananthakumar who had accompanied the French citizens. “The French citizens had come to Kanyakumari to study the impact of beach sand mining and also about the threats to the safety of the journalists,” said the proprietor of a daily published from Chennai. But no explanation was forthcoming about the trips made by the French citizens to the port site as well as Indian Rare Earths, which come under the protected areas list.
Writer: Kumar Chellappan
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The demolition of the architecture at the India International Trade Fair venue at Pragati Maidan, besides being a huge mistake, only reveals our shameful attitude.
To kill the goose that lays the golden eggs is what the nodal agency of the India Trade Promotion Organisation, working under the administrative control of the Commerce Ministry, has successfully done, when it decided to dismantle the India International Trade Fair (IIFT) venue at Pragati Maidan.
The mindless demolition followed by reconstruction has not only destroyed an iconic platform by reducing its size to one-fourth but robbed one of the melting pots of Delhi, where all the major Indian States once showcased their produce beside their social and cultural heritage, including some interesting facets not usually known to the common public.
It was a little India of sorts, be it the dangling masks made of colourful materials in front of the Kerala pavilion, the canvas of beautiful women picking tea leaves of Assam, the iconic Taj Mahal prototype in front of the hall representing Uttar Pradesh and so on. Much before the digital revolution, each state was panned through graphic charts. Even we saw locals and tribals reaching out to the audience with their craftsmanship.
The visitors would queue up in front of the stalls for trying out the delicacies of each State at an affordable price. Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag in Punjab, south Indian idli, dosa, the mouth-watering Rajasthani cuisine, among others, were crowd-pullers. I clearly remember how the families kept visiting the fair repeatedly just for the food. Many a time the artisans would sell their material at a much cheaper rate than the open market price. People would wait for Nehru’s birth anniversary on November 14 to mark the opening of the fair. All this was possible because each State was given enough space to spread out its wares and ethos. There were benches to lounge around in an open neighbourhood style and enough clean water to drink.
The biggest casualty was the iconic structure, the Hall of Nations, which was a very big attraction for tourists. It was widely publicised that in building that pavilion, thousands of tonnes of steel bars were used. The architect was highly praised and honoured by the national media. There was news about several letters and appeals from the public, architects and several Indian and international institutions against razing the iconic structure to the ground.
Despite this widespread condemnation, somehow nothing could be changed. Given the area for the fair has been halved, basic facilities like safe drinking water are also lacking. States who were earning huge profits are suffering losses; their sales have dipped substantially. A big population has been robbed of their regular earnings, which used to be an annual feature for them. Neither the public, nor the participating States are happy with the present squeezed layout. The number of tourists, both domestic and some foreigners, has dipped with high disappointment. The variety of artefacts, specific to different States, was once main attractions. These are now a thing of the past.
Demolition and reconstruction of such a gigantic magnitude have come as a double whammy amid the rising levels of pollution. Construction debris lying all over and dust mixed with air are causing particulate matter to rise, fuelling one of the major health hazards in the city.
It has been widely acclaimed that the scale of construction activity taking place in Delhi and NCR is now becoming the biggest source of pollution in the area. Some stringent laws should be enforced to check the mindless demolition and construction activities. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) should be empowered to study and evaluate the pros and cons before allowing any such project to take off.
Writer: Manjula Pal
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The credibility of our country’s premier investigating agency is at stake with no end to its problem of political interference.
If the landmark Vineet Narain judgment of the Supreme Court in the 1997 Jain hawala case is anything to go by, then it built enough jurisprudence to insulate the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) from political interference and even made it impossible for politicians in the government to remove the CBI director for two years, ensuring he had freedom to carry out time-bound investigations. What happened on the ground after this judgment was that the CBI, which had worked under the Home Ministry earlier, was brought under the direct control of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The agency now works under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which reports directly to the PMO. In that sense, this esteemed office is quite aware of the CBI’s functioning and could access information if it wanted to. This was evident during the coal scam investigations when PMO officials were caught vetting sealed CBI reports meant for the Supreme Court, which forced the judges to describe the apex agency as a “caged parrot.” From my 11-year experience as a journalist and having followed CBI’s involvement in the 2G scam, I must say Prime Minister Narendra Modi couldn’t exert overarching control over it or stem the tide of misuse.
When Modi came to power in May 2014, the then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had the most tainted record but was in the saddle serving out his term. He was appointed on the recommendation of the then RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. Such was his reputation that the Patna High Court even disqualified him from the fodder scam probe in the mid-1990s.
Frankly, till his retirement in December 2014, Modi took no action against Ranjit Sinha, who even appointed an IRS officer as DIG in the CBI’s anti-corruption wing in Delhi during the power transition in May 2014. This officer was caught for torturing a civil servant working in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for taking a bribe and forcing him and his entire family to commit suicide. The concerned IRS officer, Sanjiv Gautam, was then a private Secretary to a powerful UPA Minister and it is a million dollar question how Sinha took him as DIG in the CBI just days before Modi became the Prime Minister. But then the Indian bureaucracy is known to play smart with appointments during power transitions, keeping them absolutely legitimate and within rules.
Sinha was even called out by Supreme Court’s 2G and coal scam benches for meeting many of the accused, including corporates, at his home and was under the scanner of a court-dictated probe. This was a golden chance for Modi to act, cleanse the country’s top probe agency once and for all and get a transparent process going. But the Prime Minister remained silent, one which unfortunately amounted to being a safe passage for Sinha. Why? None has an answer.
The next CBI Director was selected in December 2014, as per the Lokpal Act, by a high-powered committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister selected Ranjit Sinha’s protégé Anil Sinha as per existing seniority norms, a decision agreed to by the other members on the panel. Till December 2016, Anil Sinha dragged his feet on major corruption scandals like Aircel-Maxis, AgustaWestland, Robert Vadra’s land acquisitions and the National Herald-related cases, which were major campaign planks of the BJP when it was in the Opposition.
His tenure was marked by controversial raids at two sitting Chief Ministers’ offices, namely Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. In both instances, the Prime Minister was not in Delhi, travelling abroad during one and addressing naval officers on a warship in the high seas during the other. Had the CBI Director got clearance from the Prime Minister to conduct the raid in sitting Chief Ministers’ offices? Or did someone in the Cabinet direct him to do so once the Prime Minister was out of reach?
Anil Sinha even shunted a CBI Joint Director Ashok Tewari for summoning former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in December 2014 with regard to the Aircel-Maxis scam. How can an officer be shunted out for doing his duty? Have we then become the mythical “deep state?” That is the only answer.
In fact, proof that Modi was aware of the CBI’s wrongdoings lies in the fact that he himself brought Gujarat cadre IPS officers, namely Rakesh Asthana, YC Modi and AK Sharma.
Even Enforcement Directorate’s young officer Rajeshwar Singh was hounded by the system for raiding Chidambaram’s home in December 2015 and exposing his family’s assets in 14 countries and 21 foreign bank accounts. One would have expected Ashok Tewari and Rajeshwar Singh to be heroes in the Modi regime for taking bold action against his political rival Chidambaram. But the underbelly of Lutyens’ Delhi is difficult to grasp.
I must bring out two incidents of CBI’s sheer lethargy and tardiness for political “give and take.” The first concerns a trial court judge overseeing the coal scam cases, Bharat Prashar, who summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding him responsible for allocation of coal mines. The Congress even conducted a protest march against this. Meanwhile, Singh approached a non-relevant Supreme Court Bench and obtained a stay on the summons when he should have ideally sought redress in the Coal Scam Bench. It was CBI’s duty to tell the court about this anomaly.
However, it kept quiet and the trial court convicted poor Harish Chandra Gupta, then Coal Secretary, who was also not inclined to reveal the truth and became an approver. The endgame? Both the IAS lobby and politicians shed crocodile tears for a while, leading to recasting of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI was rendered toothless. Again. The second case that emasculated the CBI further was the Delhi High Court staying the prosecution of Sonia Gandhi’s former private secretary Vincent George in January 2015. Till date, the CBI has not challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, though the Delhi High Court has terminated the magistrate son of the concerned High Court judge, who was caught for possessing unaccounted cash.
Now let us come to the current controversy. After the exit of Anil Sinha, Modi used his might, bypassed the next senior candidate RK Dutta and appointed trusted lieutenant Rakesh Asthana as CBI’s Acting Director in December 2016. Asthana was too junior to hold the post of CBI chief and later, the
Prime Minister himself selected non-controversial Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma as the new Director in January 2017. He had selected him as Delhi Police Commissioner, too, in 2015.
However, post the appointments Modi perhaps could not sense the duel that had started between his trusted officers in the CBI. Rakesh Asthana, YC Modi and AK Sharma had already started bickering with each other and PMO officials reportedly took sides in this mud-slinging instead of sorting out issues. Meanwhile YC Modi was shunted out to the National Investigative Agency (NIA).
The tussle continued as Asthana was not at all in a mood to obey the new CBI Director, who decided to take on Asthana by fixing the latter’s culpability in the Sterling Diary bribes. This time, Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary looked the other way. And the PMO, in an unprecedented manner, issued a midnight order approving the promotion of Rakesh Asthana as Special Director in October 2017. This was the real breaking point between the CBI Director and his real superior, the Prime Minister. Now that the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, let us wait for its verdict.
Will the Supreme Court deliver the judgment before the retirement of Alok Verma on February 2? If justice is delayed, then it would give credence to what is generally assumed, that bigwigs protect each other and no matter what the regime, the bureaucracy’s shenanigans can always hold a system hostage to its priorities and ego. There is a famous Latin judicial term, “Fiat justitia ruat caelum, which means “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
Writer: J. Gopikrishnan
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Continuing her attack on the BJP-led government, Mamata Banerjee accused it for failing miserably on different fronts.
Picking up from where she left at Jhargram on Monday, the Chief Minister told an audience in Purulia how the saffron outfit’s tall claims of acche din (good days) had ended up in a “big cipher.”
Mamata who on Monday attacked the BJP for selling Rama for electoral gains, on Tuesday said how “they (BJP) have failed to tackle Maoist problem in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand whereas we have been able to eradicate the problem completely from Jangalmahal areas of Bengal which was once a hotbed of Maoists.”
Wondering what brought the saffron workers to Purulia and other Jangalmahal areas in the time of peace Mamata said “there was a time when the whole area was scared of Maoists as there was bloodshed everywhere. At that time none had the courage to come to this area. Only I came to these areas repeatedly. But now they (BJP) are trying to create disturbance by bringing in people from Jharkhand.”
Attacking the Centre for ruining Indian economy by imposing demonetisation and GST Mamata said “Notebandi has literally ruined the Indian businessmen. The whole industry has fallen flat on its face” adding GST only added salt to injury by “sucking out whatever was left within the moribund economy.”
This Government does no work save intimidating the people Mamata said. “This is a Government which has no work except intimidating the businessmen who do not fall in line with them. Today you raise a question and tomorrow they will send Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax to your house. Today the entire industry is afraid of them,” she said.
The Chief Minister who was touring south Bengal districts to take stock of the developmental works said how the Centre only made false slogans of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao “but in reality they do nothing,” whereas her Government with limited means had been implemented schemes for women, girl children and poor that had been hailed all over the world.
Speaking to people in an area bordering Jharkhand Mamata said the neighbouring State had everything that a rich State should possess “but due to the lack of intellect and planning of their leaders they have failed to raise the level of their economy.”
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development the opposition Left and the Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Bengal Assembly after their demand for a no-trust motion was turned down by Speaker Biman Banerjee.
Writer: Saugar Sengupta
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Three terrorists and a soldier were killed on Tuesday in the south Kashmir terrorist encounters.
Police said that a joint search operation was launched by a joint team of Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and counter-insurgency police in Redwani village of Kulgam district in the wee hours on Tuesday following input on the presence of terrorists.
While the security personnel zeroed in on a suspected house, the hiding terrorists opened fire triggering an encounter.
During the exchange of fire, two local cadre of banned Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) outfit were killed. They were identified as Ajaz Ahmad Makroo and Waris Ahmad Malik, both local residents.
Police said Makroo as had a long history of crime records since 2017. “He (Makroo) was a close associate of terrorist commanders including Naveed Jatt and Azad Dada. Several cases were registered against him,” police said.
Police said that an Army soldier, identified as Prakash Yadav and two CRPF personnel identified— sub-inspector Amit Kumar and Constable Avnish– sustained injuries. Yadav succumbed to his injuries in hospital later. This is second fatal casualty on army’s side since last three days.
On Monday, Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a former counterinsurgent turned army soldier, who was twice awarded Sena Medal for his role in fighting terrorism in Kashmir, was killed in an encounter in Batagund village of Shopian district.
In another encounter in Hafoo Reshipora area of Tral sub-district in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, a terrorist identified as Shakir Hassan Dar was killed. He was close aide of Zakir Musa, the self-proclaimed leader of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
Police said a search operation was launched jointly by police and security forces in the wee hours following the inputs about the presence of terrorists in the village.
“As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the gunmen. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight. In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was killed,” police said.
“Shakir was part of Zakir Musa group and had a long history of crime records since 2015,” police said adding that huge quantity of arms and ammunition including rifles was recovered from the encounter sites.
Writer: Khursheed Wani
Courtesy: The Pioneer
India’s Act East policy calls for an an enabling ecosystem for it to come to fruition.
The Act East Policy, with a focus on extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region, has been a cornerstone for India’s diplomacy in the current decade. While it was originally conceived as an economic initiative, in recent years, it has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions, including the establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation. India has upgraded its relations to strategic partnership with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, Singapore and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and has, thus, forged close ties with all countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Further, apart from Asean, East Asia Summit (EAS) and Asean Regional Forum (ARF), India has also been actively engaged in regional fora, such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and Indian-Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Act East Policy has laid emphasis on India-Asean cooperation for our domestic agenda on infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities, Make in India and other initiatives. Connectivity projects, cooperation in space and people-to-people exchanges can become a springboard for regional integration and prosperity.
The objective of Act East Policy is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of north-eastern region, including Arunachal Pradesh, with other countries in the neighbourhood. The North-East has been given a priority in our Act East Policy. Various plans at bilateral and regional levels include steady efforts to develop and strengthen connectivity of the
North-East with the Asean region through trade, culture, people-to-people contacts and physical infrastructure (road, airport, telecommunication, power, et al). Some of the major projects include Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project, Rhi-Tiddim Road Project and India-Bangladesh Border Haats among others.
As one can see, countries in the Asia Pacific region, the targets of our Act East Policy, are at various stages of development. On the one hand, it cooperates with technologically-developed countries like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. On the other, there is something that India can offer to the developing countries. With limited Government role in the present world, it is business-to-business (BB) or people-to-people (PP) relationship that will determine whether Act East policy can be a reality. Apart from paying lip-service to augment transport connectivity with the Asia-Pacific region, the Government has been slow in creating an enabling ecosystem for the Act East policy. Let me elaborate on the missing links where pro-active action is required.
At the outset, PP connectivity is extremely important for the growth of BB connectivity. Cross-country education of students is an excellent channel for vibrant growth of PP connectivity. However, most Indian students go to the West and not to the East for higher education. Western degrees are generally highly-valued in Government and private circles. The same is not true for degrees earned from universities in the Asia-Pacific region. Moreover, we do not have an agreement of mutual recognition of degrees with many of the universities in the Asian countries.
Weak educational links are the primary reason why an Indian researcher mostly collaborates with research partners in the Western countries. Since patent filing in many cases is an outcome for collaborative research, it is not surprising that most co-partners in joint works with Indian researchers reside in Western countries. When BB linkage emerges from the commercial application of the filed patents, no doubt, the likely partnership would be between the Indian and Western partners. These hurdles need to be crossed before we can effectively gain from the Act East policy.
The relevance of ethnic network for vibrant inter-region trade and investment growth cannot be overlooked if one examines the role played by the Chinese for fuelling FDI-led growth in China. Again, ethic Indians abound mostly in Western countries due to colonial/other linkages. Our Eastern countries score low on this front too. Hence, even if we Act East, we may have to be patient to reap real gains from our policy decisions. However, in the short term, this policy can be a game-changer for the North-East by creating a market space for their products and reducing the transportation barriers.
Writer: Sanjib Pohit
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Apart from development, religious sentiments continue to play a major role in BJP’s voter base.
Six months ahead of the General Election, three black swans reared their head, putting the first Government to have won with a majority in 30 years on the defensive. What is unprecedented is the timing of these serial optics wherein the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues need resolution and the Ram Mandir row needs closure. The first black swan event was the macabre feuding among senior officials of the CBI, revealing the dark underbelly of the premier investigation agency at war with itself. Casting a shadow on the institutional integrity of the CBI diminishes the credibility of an independent entity whose reports are crucial on multiple scams, which have political ramifications in the run-up to the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.
The second precursor for a Government at unease with its institutions was of the RBI at war with the Union Government. Both events have embarrassed the GOI by sending distressing signals of eroding Central authority.
Subsequently came the third dark swan, an even bigger fait accompli: The procrastination of the Supreme Court hearing on Ayodhya, relegating its priority to a civil suit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature style has been his assertive and decisive modus of governance. What the Modi dispensation now confronts is navigating through three independent institutions — the CBI, RBI and the judiciary — where any Government writ runs scant as these institutions are mandated to function on objective and evidence-based facts in the public interest.
The Modi Government, now in an election- mode, needs to retrieve its primacy by not pushing inconvenient decisions under the carpet. Yet, it must be seen upholding the autonomous functioning of independent institutions, like the judiciary, Election Commission, Central Vigilance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, CBI and the Central Bank, which are vital to the functionality of vibrant democracies, allowing for an impartial executive to function with prudence. However, it is in the Supreme Court’s deferment of the crucial Ayodhya hearing that the biggest silver lining lies for the Prime Minister to turn critical momentum back in the BJP’s favour. Fulfilment of the Ayodhya promise is as vital to Modi’s core ideological constituency as is the promise of development.
Conflict between Mint Street and North Block on policy matters was fraught with disagreements even during UPA years, with the apex bank remaining conservative on growth versus inflation. Such dissensions are equally prevalent in the US between the Trump Administration and the Federal Reserve Bank. At the heart of the unease between the Government and the RBI was the hint at invocation of Article 7 of the RBI Act of 1934 that was never been enforced in 83 years, which empowers the Government to instruct the RBI Governor to act on issues the GOI considers in the public interest. Fortunately, this move was averted after the recent RBI meet on November 19. The Central bank’s decisions will now be board-driven by 13 directors who are more sensitive to eco-political concerns of the Government.
The Government believes the RBI is sitting on higher reserves than needed as a buffer for contingencies. Central banks globally provision around 14 per cent of their assets as reserves, compared to RBI’s 27 per cent. So as the RBI has been over-stringent in its risk-reserve assessment beyond global norms, the Finance Ministry rightly claims for transferring the extra capital that can be put to productive use to stimulate the economy with more public spending. It can also increase credit flow to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector that accounts for millions of jobs. Spurring growth is all the more crucial in an election year and public interest rightly remains the absolute prerogative of the sovereign, ranging from addressing the need to boost liquidity for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) or MSMEs, to provisioning for adequate capital requirements for weak banks.
While the CBI and RBI are systemic issues, it is the third issue at the forefront that has enormous emotive ramifications: The Supreme Court’s decision to defer hearings on the 2010 Allahabad High Court order on the title suit that divided the disputed land trilaterally, with one-third assigned to the Sunni Wakf Board, and two-thirds apportioned to the Nirmohi Akhara and the deity. Religious polarisation is now expected to play out for the fourth time in the electoral history as a major theme in the 2019 election. The BJP has the Ram temple on its political manifesto and hence it must explore every constitutional option to break the impasse. The consensus through back-channel negotiations for an amicable resolution has clearly failed.
There is a popular mood of indignation against the apex court’s perceived indifference to the majority community’s sentiments. The vox populi is aggrieved that the court had all the time to give verdicts within a month on the film Padmavati, Diwali crackers, entry of women into Sabarimala temple and even prioritising the PIL on Rafale by asking the Government to submit the pricing and strategic details of the deal within 10 days. But it did not take up an emotive issue. The judiciary has often been accused of overreach. But it is in the selective prioritisation of the apex court of deferring the hearing on Ram Mandir that strikes at the heart of Indian sentiments, which is clearly a case of judicial underreach.
If the Government could pursue the SC/ST Act, Triple Talaq and LGBT Act through Ordinance, what stops a majority Government with 282 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 100 in the Rajya Sabha, from “rewriting the Constitution on Indic values?” The problem of short-circuiting the judicial process through the Ordinance route is that it has legal ramifications. The matter is sub-judice, and to justify the Ordinance route by subscribing to ‘faith above law’, overrides the Constitution.
The reason ascribed to deferring the case, even attempting to push it beyond the General Election, is that the court fears a severe backlash from either of the communities if the judgement is delivered in anyone’s favour, especially before the poll. A verdict adverse to the building of the mandir, if delivered early next year, could make it the BJP’s ‘Shah Bano moment’ if it opts to overturn an adverse Supreme Court judgement.
To turn the tide in its favour, the BJP must allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its foot soldiers to gauge the public mood in order to rebuild momentum for the Ram Mandir before the poll. Of course, the legal advice to the Government would be against promulgation of an Ordinance. So, only a law can be enacted in Parliament through a joint sitting of both Houses, given the National Democratic Alliance’s poor numbers in the Rajya Sabha. This does not preclude that the same will not be subject to appeal, even though Parliament is the ultimate in law-making, while the court is supreme in law interpretation. It is a foregone conclusion that neither ‘Shiv bhakt’ Rahul Gandhi nor secular parties at ideological divergence will accede to a consensus for a legislation.
However, the decisive option would be considering the viability of a referendum within the next two months on the Ayodhya issue. And the poser for the referendum is: “Should the Ram Mandir be built/ or should a Masjid be built/ or should we wait for the judicial pronouncement?” Because in a democracy, the people’s’ will is supreme, and all other institutions must respect that, as status quoism is not the solution.
The majority community knows all too well that if this feat of building the Ram Mandir is not achieved during this regime, the case will languish in the courts ad infinitum. While the Modi Sarkar will be primarily judged on development and economic issues, religious sentiments, especially in the Hindi heartland, continue to hold weightage in the decision-making process of the BJP’s core ideological voter base.
Writer: Bindu Dalmia
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Biking an Opposition Alliance, the Mamta-Naidu meet is a step that promotes engaging with Congress.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s nearly two-hour meeting with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday is significant not only because the Trinamool Congress chief’s original interlocutor in aid of a ‘federal front’ from South India, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, is busy campaigning for the Assembly election in that State and not currently in the thick of Opposition confabulations nationally, but also because it is an attempt by regional leaders to ensure that regardless of immediate priorities in their respective States, there are enough strong regional leaders wedded to the idea of a forming a mahagathbandhan (grand Opposition alliance) to unseat the BJP from power. But while the focus is, naturally, on trying to ensure one-on-one contests against the BJP in upwards of 350 Lok Sabha seats for the 2019 General Election first mooted by Mamata-KCR at their meeting earlier this year, there is also, now that we are approaching the business end of the election cycle, an effort to shore up the alliance between all powerful regional parties so they can negotiate as a single entity the terms on which this grouping will join forces with the only pan-India political party in the Opposition’s ranks, the Congress. That the Congress will have to play a major role in a putative mahagathbandhan is not seriously questioned by any regional player, whatever the public posturing. But, parties like the Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Aam Aadmi Party and the like do have genuine concerns about Congress ambitions in their respective States.
The reason for this are not far too seek. Unlike, say, in States such as Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where the DMK, Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are the dominant players in the Opposition space and the Congress seems to have accepted that its renewal will have to be a long-term project, to put it politely, with its immediate concern being limited to ensuring that a handful of their frontline leaders contesting the Lok Sabha poll from these States are assured support by the regional behemoths, in States such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi, for example, it believes that its support base is still large enough for it not to have to concede an overwhelming number of seats to the anti-BJP regional parties dominant there. West Bengal, though, with Mamata’s ascendency seemingly unstoppable, seems to have slipped from latter to the former category of States for the Congress. Where the regional parties and the Congress are in concord, however, is on the need to sharpen their line of attack on the ruling dispensation which is trying to paint them as political opportunists out to oust Narendra Modi at any cost. To that end, the Mamata-Naidu meet highlighting the BJP’s alleged undermining of institutions and promotion of the politics of division is likely to be the combined Opposition’s campaign template.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Maratha community is rejoicing but reservations are not the only panacea.
In announcing his Government’s decision to accept the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission recommendation to grant reservations to the Maratha community in jobs and education, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has opened a Pandora’s Box. While political exigencies may have led to the decision to grant privileges to this traditionally dominant community in the countryside, much like the Jats in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan and the Patidars (or Patels) in Gujarat, the domino effect of conceding the demand bears thinking about by all responsible politicians. While it is true that these communities nurse a genuine sense of grievance given the decline in farm incomes over the past few decades compounded by a lack of access to quality education and job opportunities, which has led to a concomitant loss of social status for the current generation, this is by no means a phenomenon exclusive to these communities but a structural issue that impacts all citizens of India in more or less equal measure. Unlike Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who have suffered well-documented social ostracisation and violent repression, these culturally dominant agrarian communities do not suffer from a comparable disadvantage. Of course, the argument from the pro-quota lot is that comparisons are more apt with the Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities which have been given quotas (albeit with a creamy layer proviso) post the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations but that in itself is a highly contentious and controversial discussion.
Of more immediate concern to the BJP Government in Maharashtra is how it will implement Maratha reservations given past judicial pronouncements on the issue of quotas over and above the 50 per cent limit. Its predecessor Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition in Maharashtra had also announced reservations for Marathas and Muslims just before the last Assembly election which were struck down in court. The way out being spoken of in Mantralaya, Mumbai, is to introduce a Bill in the forthcoming Winter Session of the State Assembly to create a new, State-specific Backward Classes category in which Marathas will be included for possibly a 16 per cent quota. This will be over and above the current SC/ST and OBC reservation in the State which is already at 52 per cent. Therefore the idea is to add the law, once passed, to the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution as any law in it is non-justiciable. The Supreme Court, however, has held that even laws included in the Ninth Schedule will be open to judicial review to the extent that they must conform to the basic structure of the Constitution. In fine-tuning its strategy to implement quotas to win political support from the Maratha community, however, the BJP has shown it is no different from the Congress when it comes to avoiding the root causes of the sense of diminished status prevalent in these communities clamouring for reservations.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
Sanjay Kandasamy was once a boy who had to undergo a liver transplant when he was 18 months old. Today, he is a successful doctor who hopes to be an organ donor one day.
Now 21, Sanjay Kandasamy was just 18 months old when his father had to donate a part of his liver to him in November 1998.
In doing so, Sanjay and his doctors created history in the annals of Indian medicine as the country’s first successful liver transplant surgery, Indraprastha Apollo hospitals said in statement.
Not only has Sanjay done exceedingly well, without having any other complications since the transplant, he is now training to be a doctor himself.
Since it has been more than 20 years that the transplant took place, he explained how the difficulty level of such surgeries have changed.
He said, “At that time, my father donated his organ otherwise it wouldn’t have been that easy.” Being a medical student himself, he added, “Today, the situation has changed due to a better availability of reCourtesys, technology, doctors and even donors, which have risen in numbers. The information has spread much easily today.”
On the 20th anniversary of the operation that changed the face of medical sciences in India, the hospital showcased the evolution that liver transplants have gone through over the last two decades.
Dr Preetha Reddy, vice chairperson of the Apollo Hospitals Group, said liver disease is a major cause for concern in the country with as many as two lakh people dying from it every year. While around 1,800 liver transplants are done annually, as many as 20,000 people need a liver transplant at any given point.
“The fact is around 10 lakh people are diagnosed with liver disease every year, making it the 10th most-common cause of death in India as per the WHO. While India has come a long way since the first operation, there is still a huge gap to be filled,” Dr Reddy said.
Ace Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, a long-time proponent of organ donation was also present on the occasion.
“Every three minutes a person gets added to the list who need a transplant. Today, over two lakh Indians are on the list while less than 10 percent get a transplant. We have to work as a nation to increase our organ donation rate. I have pledged my organs in 2011 and encourage the youth to raise awareness on organ donation and become donors themselves. This needs to become a national movement,” he said.
Apollo Hospitals’ Group medical director and senior pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr Anupam Sibal, said that over the last 20 years the Apollo Institutes of Transplant has performed more than 3,200 liver transplants in patients from over 50 countries of which 302 have been children.
“While there is still lack in infrastructure for life-saving organ donations and transplants, the numbers in the country are showing some improvement in the country. Out of 301 hospitals equipped to handle the process, 250 have registered with National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), showing that in order to conduct an organ transplant, there exists one fully equipped hospital for around 43 lakh people,” Dr Sibal said.
Sanjay, who is currently pursuing his medical studies at the Srilakshmi Narayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, has been on immunosuppressant medication for 15 to 16 years. He aspires to be a blood donor himself. However, his suppressants medication wouldn’t allow him to donate. “I want to be a donor, but unfortunately I can’t donate,” said Sanjay.
(With inputs from agency)
Writer: The pioneer
Courtesy: The pioneer
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