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पैसा और आप- भाग 1

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8 October 2019

भारत में फाइनेंसियल प्लानिंग के बारे में न तो ज्यादा बात की जाती है न ही इसके बारे में किसी विद्यालय में प्रारंभिक शिक्षा दी जाती है। पैसा हर चीज के लिए आवश्यक है और जीविकोपार्जन के लिए हर व्यक्ति कुछ न कुछ करता है। लेकिन इस पैसे के बारे में जानकारी या यूँ कहें की समझ बहुत कम लोगों को है, या अगर है भी तो केवल उस तबके को जो पहले से ही पैसे से लबरेज़ है।

प्रारंभिक शिक्षा में हमें कई ऐसी चीजें बताई जाती हैं जिसका वास्तविक जीवन में कोई महत्तव नहीं है, लेकिन फिर भी हमें उन चीजों को पढ़ाया जाता है और उनकी परीक्षा भी ली जाती है। कॉलेज में एडमिशन ले चुके हुए बच्चों को भी ये जानकारी नहीं होती की उनको जीवन में आगे क्या करना है। एक बहुत बड़ा तबका ऐसा है जो केवल भेड़ चाल के कारन ऐसी डिग्रीयां हांसिल कर लेता है जिसमें उसकी कोई दिलचस्पी नहीं होती, हाँ कुछ लोग जरूर हैं जो सामाजिक बेड़ियों को तोड़ कर आगे निकल जाते हैं। बहरहाल आप कुछ भी कर रहें हो अपनी ज़िन्दगी जीने के लिए, पैसा उसके जड़ में जरूर होगा ।

एक बेहतर जीवन जीने की इच्छा हर किसी की रहती है या फिर यूँ कहें की अपने भविष्य को अपने वर्तमान से बेहतर बनाने की मंशा हर किसी के अंदर रहती है। आपके बेहतर भविष्य के लिए, आपके बेहतर रिटायरमेंट के लिए, अपने बच्चों की शादी के लिए या फिर कार, घर खरीदने के लिए हर चीज के लिए आपको पैसे की आवस्यकता पड़ेगी और ज्यों-ज्यों समय बीतता जायेगा त्यों-त्यों और अधिक पैसे की जरुरत पड़ेगी क्यूंकि महंगाई भी समय के साथ साथ काफी तीव्र गति से बढ़ती जाती है और यही महंगाई आपके सिथिल परे पैसे की सबसे बड़ी दुशमन है।

आपके जीवन में जो भी छोटे बड़े लक्ष्य हों हर चीज की योजना बनाई जा सकती है और उस योजना के तहत ही आगे भी बढ़ना चाहिए, लेकिन तब क्या हो जब आपको केवल एक ही तरीका पता हो की केवल बचत के द्वारा ही किसी भी पैसे से जुड़े लक्ष्य तक पहुँचा जा सकता है। ये सत्य है की भारतियों में बचत करने की फितरत बचपन से ही रहती है लेकिन बचत से ज्यादा अगर महंगाई हो जाये तो फिर ऐसा बचत किसी काम का नहीं रह जाता। पैसा हमेशा समय के साथ बढ़ना चाहिए और इसकी वृद्धि दर महंगाई के दर से अधिक होनी चाहिए। भारत की लगभग लगभग हर एक बैंक ४% या उससे कम प्रतिशत का ही ब्याज दे रही है अगर आप केवल अपने बचत खाते में पैसा रखते हैं तो। जिन बैंकों के द्वारा ६% या उससे अधिक ब्याज देने की बात कही जाती है उनमें कम से कम आपको लाख रूपए से ऊपर अपने खाते में रखने होंगे। आज की युवा पीढ़ी जो क्रेडिट कार्ड पर ही आपने सारे खर्चे चलाती है और सैलरी का इस्तेमाल केवल उस क्रेडिट कार्ड के बिल भरने के लिए करती है उनके बचत खाते में लाख रूपए से ऊपर रहना विरले है। अगर आप युवा हैं और आपके खाते में ये धन राशि है तो आपको बहुत बहुत बधाई।

[किसी भी व्यक्ति को अपने फाइनेंसियल प्लानिंग के लिए जो सबसे पहला कार्य करना चाहिए वो है आपातकाल के स्थिति की पहले से तैयारी, डरिये मत मैं कांग्रेस के समय के आपातकाल की बात नहीं कर रहा हूँ। ये वो आपातकालीन स्थिति है जो आपके जीवन में नौकरी छूट जाने या आपकी दुर्घटना हो जाने या फिर नौकरी से निकाल दिए जाने की स्थिति में पैदा हो सकता है। आपको ३ या ६ महीने की धन राशी कम से कम ऐसे जगह पर रखनी चाहिए जिसको आप ऐसी आपात स्थिति में इस्तेमाल कर सकते हैं, ध्यान रखने वाली बात ये है की इस पैसे का इस्तेमाल तब ही करें जब ऐसी जरुरत आन परे नहीं तो जिस तरह का धैर्य आज की युवा पीढ़ी में देखने को मिलता है इसकी बहुत संभावना है की इस पैसे का उपयोग न हो कर उपभोग हो जाए। कई लोग जिनकी सैलरी एक सामाजिक मानक के अनुसार बेहतर है वो भी इस आपातकालीन स्थिति के लिए तैयार नहीं रहते और ऐसी किसी भी घटना के हो जाने के बाद परेशानियों से जूझते हैं। इस आपात्कालीन बचत को आप किसी बैंक के FD में निवेश कर सकते हैं या फिर किसी ऐसी जगह जहाँ से इसे ऐसी किसी स्थिति में आसानी से निकला जा सके। यह पैसा त्वरित स्थिति में रहना चाहिए ताकि वक्त आने पर आसानी से निकाला जा सके।

अगर आप इस आपातकालीन बचत को सफलता पूर्वक बना लेते हैं तो ये पहला कदम भी एक बहुत बड़ा कदम होगा। इस कदम के बाद MEDICAL INSURANCE और TERM INSURANCE की बारी आती है इनके बारे में चर्चा कभी और करेंगे।

Less known facts to PMC Bank depositors and long term debt investors

Reports

chhatres

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8 October 2019

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Less known facts to PMC Bank depositors and long term debt investors

In the interest of depositors’ community I feel I can contribute a little by providing insight on:

Insight of DICGC deposit cover (appended below & forms part of this post)
Long Term Deposits (actually bonds/debentures) issued by cooperative banks including PMC Bank
Suggestions to provide relief to depositors and make the impact of these bank failures less severe/harsh to depositors and related.

These days Punjab Maharashtra Co-operative Bank is in news for bad reasons. One would broadly be aware as to how a co-operative bank ranking number four in the Cooperative Banking Sector became almost bankrupt, overnight.

At this stage issue of accountability of Bank’s concurrent and Annual/Balance Sheet Auditors, RBI annual inspection (AFI) would be discussed (for many months to come) with some action at a later date. I felt no one till now in public domain has touched certain aspects which are important for the depositors and public to know.

Public awareness will generate debate will compel the Govt and regulators to take proper action.

As you may know, even after the decision to liquidate Madhavpura Mercantile Bank taken by Govt and bank was de-licensed by RBI on 4 June 2012 till date many depositors whose outstanding are above one lac are not yet finally settled by DICGC. Under current circumstances, till RBI takes a final call on the PMC bank very small depositors would face financial hardship and uncertainty for years to come just to know their final fate, for no mistake of theirs.

No doubt most of the bank depositors aware that their deposits with any licensed bank are covered under deposit insurance to the extent of Rs 100000. This is at least from the safety angle. Whether this insurance protection is adequate and keeping revision pending even after a lapse of 8 years from Damodaran committee recommendations to RBI/Govt in the year 2011 is a different matter.

Notwithstanding the fact, settlement of claims under DICGC commences only after the bank is subjected to liquidation there are some other aspects which one can consider while depositing/investing money in bank deposits, so as to maximize the available insurance coverage.

Detailed inputs on DICGC will provide a legitimate/authentic way how to get maximum Deposit Insurance (DICGC) Cover from deposits with a single bank using well-documented example mentioned by DICGC deposits held in a different capacity and different right’. Less known Inputs DICGC needs to be properly understood so as to get best out of it.

I have also given a corollary as how one could apply this to existing deposit/s with any bank. Due to space constraint, I feel Newspapers will not like to publish such elaborate details hence better and quick way to communicate is WhatsApp.

Readers may kindly read carefully information especially related to DICGC cover (may not miss it) as it would help them for the future. Inputs on ‘LTD’ would certainly raise eyebrows.

How Depositors can maximize Deposit Insurance Cover

How to get maximum Deposit Insurance (DICGC) Cover from deposits with a single bank Or How one may enhance DICGC cover for existing deposits over Rs.1 lac with ‘the Bank’

If a set of family members wish to keep money in smaller banks (including licensed but non-scheduled cooperative bank and Scheduled Cooperative Bank), licensed small finance banks (including one yet to receive scheduled status) for a higher rate of interest yet wished it to be secured / safe, such people may consider following.

Using legitimate trick below you may invest in weak PSU bank or in a co-op bank ” or “Small Finance Bank” that may be offering higher interest returns. I have purposefully not mentioned the name of payment banks as currently one cannot invest more than 1 lac in ‘CASA’ deposit with such banks and one cannot deposit money with them in Fixed Deposit.

Please peruse page 8-9 (official reply of DICGC with an example, to a query No: 11) from DICGC booklet (extract given below). Only a few depositors (even members from bankers community) know this aspect.

Quote:

Q 11: What is the meaning of ‘deposits held in the same capacity and same right’; and ‘deposits held in a different capacity and different right’?

If an individual opens more than one deposit account in one or more branches of a bank, e.g. Shri S.K. Pandit opens one or more savings/current account and one or more fixed/ recurring deposit accounts etc., all these are considered as accounts held in the same capacity and in the same right. Therefore, the balances in all these accounts are aggregated and the maximum insurance cover is available up to rupees one lakh.

If Shri S.K. Pandit holds other deposit accounts in his capacity as a partner of a firm or guardian of a minor or director of a company or trustee of a trust or a joint account, say with his wife Smt. S. K. Pandit, in one or more branches of the bank then such accounts are considered as held in a different capacity and different right. Accordingly, such deposits accounts will also enjoy the insurance cover up to rupees one lakh separately.

It is further clarified that the deposit held in the name of the proprietary concern where a depositor is a sole proprietor and the deposit held in his individual capacity are aggregated and insurance cover is available up to rupees one lakh in maximum.

However, if individuals open more than one joint accounts in which their names are not in the same order, for example, A, B and C; C, B and A; C, A and B; A, C and B; or group of persons are different say A, B and C and A, B and D etc. then, the deposits held in these joint accounts are considered as held in the different capacity and different right. Accordingly, insurance cover will be available separately up to rupees one lakh to every such joint account where the names appear in different order or names are different

Unquote:

All such money will be insured with DICGC (100% subsidiary of RBI) if you deposits of money based on the reply to the FAQ: 11 (above) in mind.

To elaborate further:

Say, a senior citizen (‘A’) has the following deposits in the name of self and his family two other members :

‘A’ singly (Rs) 100000,

A &B jointly (Rs) 100000,

A&B&C jointly (Rs) 100000,

A&C&B jointly (Rs) 100000.

In this case A’s deposit (single) as well as 3 deposits of ‘A’ jointly with others (he being the first depositor) each Rs.10000, will entitle an sr citizen rate of interest, Also all deposits held in the names of A+ A&B, A&B&C, A&C&B will be treated as deposits held in different capacity and different right (and DICGC cover of Rs 100000 will be available to each of the above combinations). Thus a person will get DICGC cover for Rs.4 lacs and sr citizen interest rate

Further, if there are many deposits placed with the same bank between A, B and C (combinations of some or all such persons, even if such deposits are held in different/reverse order also) will be treated as deposits held in different capacity and different right and will qualify for separate DICGC cover of Rs 1 lac each, per such combination.

There will be genuine doubt: How one could apply this to existing depositors with any bank.

One can be sure that till the time there are directions from RBI (like in case of PMC bank) or while the bank is under PCA one can legitimately apply to the bank to ‘add’ name of another depositor as the joint depositor. e.g ‘A’ has two deposits say Rs 1 lac and Rs 1.5 lacs respectively.

While ‘A’ may continue to hold any of the deposits (in this case) on his single name, may advise the bank to add the name of ‘B’ as 2^nd joint depositor and also make it payable to ‘former or survivor’.

Thus the Interest /Tax status of the deposit will not undergo a change but the 2^nd deposit that was hitherto not covered for DICGC will qualify for DICGC cover-up to limit of Rs 1 lac (separate from A as sole holder), due to application of rule deposits held in a different capacity and different right’. This cannot be challenged denied as it fits in DICGC norm and perfect as per deposit policy of each bank which is based on model deposit policy of IBA. It is also consistent with RBI’s manual on deposits and old RBI’s master circulars on deposits.

A step further, even if a bank is under direction this ‘addition’ / ‘deletion’ of the name cannot be stopped as it is a permissible activity (falling outside the scope of the directions under Sec 35A). The Bank is subject continues to be a licensed bank and is acting on the legitimate instructions of the depositor. Similarly, where two deposits are held in the names of A and B, the joint depositors may approach the bank to delete the name of 1^st or 2^nd depositor and make it singly held. This addition and deletion of names are perfectly legal so long as the event of liquidation is unknown to both insurer and the bank concerned.

The addition or deletion can also be as a result of the operation of law (settlement of death claim under nomination or survivorship) or otherwise. Applicability of this norm to a split of large deposit of individual/s followed by addition or deletion of name to the deposit/s, post-split, maybe point of specific judgment but legitimacy of earlier two cases cannot be questioned and DICGC cover cannot be denied to the above two cases of deposits modified, provided tenure, amount does not undergo a change.

Note:

As a matter of fact, like a time limit set for insolvency and Bankruptcy code there should upper time limit of say 3 years given to cooperative bank under directions like PMC bank (the case should not get dragged for years like Madavpura Mercantile Bank where depositors above Rs 1 lac are yet to be made final settlement. Prolonged settlement of DICGC beyond reasonable time is unjust and does not in any manner reduce the hardship of gullible depositors. RBI needs to decide as a rule maximum time limit to be given to ailing banks (for the banks) to come out of the crises or face insolvency and let the DICGC do the rest. One must remember that bank under PCA or under directions like PMC bank (who may eventually get liquidated or merged) has to pay DICGC premium for all insurable liabilities for years till the bank’s fate is finally decided by Regulator/Govt and if such period happens to be 5-10 years (like Madhavpura Mercantile Bank Ltd) the DICGC premium eats the money of depositors who are on the verge of losing-out substantial portion.

Tier-II bond-like instruments (LTD) issued by many Coop Banks including (PMC) to gullible customers

It is mostly unknown to many that PMC bank has issued high risk ‘LTD’ product. Investors in LTD should forget getting money back. RBI’s directions to cooperative bank on issue of specific unrated loan/debt product to qualify for tier-II capital of such bank [mis-tiltled by RBI as Long Term Deposit (LTD)] are ‘pathetic’. It is a debt procurement instrument with several severe conditions about repayment attached to it. It is surrogate of bond/debenture by whatever name RBI may call it to be.

Considering the associated risk to investors/depositors (LTD product) I first took the matter RBI’s Legal and Coop Bank Regulation departments of RBI and after seeing no response (to my dozens of communications), I took the public interest matter with High Court of Bombay. After the reference of the honourable high court of Bombay to RBI based on my initiative, RBI hurriedly changed its directions*** issued in the year 2008 and issued an amendment to directions in the year 2015. However even RBI’s modified ‘LTD’ guidelines to a major extent are very defective even now. Around that time I also made a clear reference (text can be shared) to SEBI but both RBI and SEBI tossed the matter to each other. After some time I stopped following up the matter. But in case of instances like PMC bank (above) and another co-op bank) mainly senior citizen category depositors/investors do suffer.

I think someone may write on the fate of LTD (Tier-II bond) holders of PMC bank (other banks like TJSB /Sarawat Coop Bank, who also issued them and marketed them vehemently, as it helped to augment tier-II capital), wherein main investments came from pensioners (these are actually retail bonds) or (debentures you may call like issued by corporate without SEBI’s approval).For various reasons one may clearly say that this LTD product is totally unregulated. The whole bond / ‘LTD’ issue, even today, is going on without following established law of the land (stamp Act, lack of existing route, nature of the instrument, listing, nomination rules, to name a few). In 2015-16 I perused ‘LTD’ documentation of PMC and found it just horrible. I had then taken up public interest matter with RBI, with the vague response from PMC bank.

You may notice observe that ‘LTD’ is a high-risk debt capital instrument issued by co-op banks. Several retired personnel are existing investors / called depositors (funds raised in future are going to be huge). It is not a deposit per se.

Probably, RBI is not still aware that it had entered the domain of SEBI and is actually permitting “private placement of a public issue” (a terminology not prevalent anywhere in the finance world) to the general public to whom it can be easily ‘mis-sold’. On the guise of simple investment avenue probably (inadvertently) promoting an illegitimate product. SEBI has banned retailing of tier-ii debenture/bonds by banks issuing offer document

It is a risky product as a popular Money market Product CBLO (which after my years of a long battle with RBI) that was withdrawn by RBI, silently. Both SEBI and RBI seem to now revisit this matter. Extract of my communication to SEBI & reply I received from SEBI can be shared.

***RBI issued DCB. BPD. MC 10/09.18.201 /2015-16 dt: 01-07-2015 modifying its original circular UBD.PCB.Cir No.4/09.18.201/-8-09 dt: 15-07-2008 (I have with me internal RBI correspondence, which I got under RTI)

Lastly,

In future to aggressively address PMC like problems RBI & Govt may consider following:

Increase size withdrawal per depositor customer to Rs 10,000 or to Rs 25,000 (not Rs 1000 as in most of the cases). This will reduce their hardship to some extent.
PSU/New Pvt Banks should also be subjected to this / similar stringent action (PSU Banks may not be excluded) instead of PCA
Other standalone options such as a change in Management/ key personnel etc to be explored first, wherever possible
Enhancing Insurance Cover: Presently eligible deposits to the tune of Rs1,00,000/- are covered under the DICGC cover. With the rise in general income levels resulting in an increase in the size of individual bank deposits, this ceiling of Rs 1,00,000/- was considered insufficient by RBI had appointed Damodaran Committee (who submitted its final report way back in the year 2011). It recommended RBI & Govt that this cover should be raised to at least Rs 5,00,000/- so as to encourage individuals to keep all their deposits in a bank convenient for them. Now we are in 2019 it paltry cover of Rs 100000. In the USA it is USD 100000.

Further, a strict ‘time limit’ should be stipulated to settle the DICGC insurance claims once the bank is de-licensed.

Till the time the cover is enhanced depositors/public should be well informed on matter How to get maximum Deposit Insurance (DICGC) Cover using different channels.

RBI may not give blanket approval for raising Tier-II bonds (in the form of ‘LTD’) as in case of PMC Bank. It may ensure clear directions about adding an important clause in offer document (altogether missing in case of PMC Bank, please refer annexure), advise banks correctly on the matter of nomination, direct banks on payment of proper stamp duty to this debt product (in due consultation with the stamp authority, missing in PMC bank’s case), and provide clarity on listing of these bonds issued as LTD, following norms on retailing of debt instruments (unless privately placed).

RBI should lay-down strict criteria to cap raising LTD/tier-II bonds which currently termed by RBI as ‘LTD’.

RBI may revisit LTD its directions issued on DCB. BPD. MC 10/09.18.201 /2015-16 dt: 01-07-2015 by amending its directions UBD.PCB.Cir No.4/ 09.18.201/-8-09 dt: 15-07-2008, consequential to my approaching HC of Bombay and it’s communication to RBI.

Step up off-site and on-site inspection of large coop banks and reduce the periodicity and strict follow-up on compliance. RBI may set-up department for Coop banks inspection like DBS.
Depending on the time likely to taken by a regulated entity to address the regulatory concern, set appropriate period for restrictions 3 or 6 months and extend in 3-6 months period instead of 6 months each time.
Speedily consider exceptional cases of release of funds to depositors having serious medical problems based on merits of the case (within existing DICGC limits) based on restrictive criteria pre-fixed to be set off against the DICGC claim amount in case of the bank in subject to be liquidated.
It would be ideal if broad reasons for stringent directions are communicated to the public at large appropriately, so that rumour mills will be less active. RBI may also examine other options rather than ‘knee jerk’ action like this.

With more and more banks going to be set up after ‘on TAP’ licensing to small Finance, Payment banks etc there should be a proper mechanism to monitor these type of stringent actions.

I wish there is a need to highlight these matters to public at large, that would put public pressure on banking regulator and government and force them to have a debate before the customers of another bank face similar problem.

(Shivaprasad Laxman Chhatre)

Bavdhan,Pune 400021, Maharashtra Land: 020 22947152 Cell: 981938011

Navadurga – The embodiment of woman power

Opinions

Pragnya Patnaik

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8 October 2019

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Navadurga – The embodiment of woman power

Come the holy month of Ashwin and the earth prepares to welcome Devi Durga yet again. The nine day period post Mahalaya is celebrated as Navratri, literally meaning the nine nights and dedicated to the nine manifestations of the goddess or Navadurga. Though Navratri is observed four times a year, the one during Durga Puja or Sharad Navratri is the most celebrated one, when people observe fast and worship the goddess. The nine forms of the goddess that are worshipped during the nine nights in order are Shailaputri, Bramhacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmandaa, Skandamata, Katyayini, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri.

Shailaputri , also known as Vrisharudha, Hemavati or Parvati, holds a trishul on the right hand and a lotus on the left. After rigorous penance of some thousand years she convinced Shiva to marry her thus becoming the consort of Shiva and the mother of Kartikeya and Ganesha. In her previous birth she was Sati, who had gone against her father’s wishes and married Shiva. Unable to bear the disrespect shown by her father, Daksh towards Shiva she had immolated herself in the yajna fire before wishing to be born again as the daughter of a father she could respect. As Sati therefore she rejected a father she was unable to respect while as Shailaputri she shows the determination to marry the man of her choice.

Bramhacharini is the pious, austere and celibate form of the Goddess, holdinga ‘jap-mala’ on the right hand and ‘kamandula’ on the left. This form encompasses the goddess doing penance in both her Sati and Parvati manifestations. The penance of Parvati took thousands of years to complete. For the initial one thousand years Bramhacharini was on a diet of only fruits and flowers. For the next hundred years she fed only on leafy vegetables. For the next several thousand years she lived only on bilva leaves or ‘bel patta’. But after that she completely renounced food and thus came to be known as Aparna, meaning leafless or the one who lives without eating even leaves. Bramhacharini displays a strong determination while enduring difficult conditions during tapasya to achieve her desired goal. People pray her to develop the determination of keeping the fast for the nine days of Navaratri.

Chandraghanta gets her name from the crescent shaped mark on her forehead, inverted in the form of a bell (‘Chandra’ means moon and ‘Ghanta’ means bell). Of her ten hands, eight are seen holding weapons or objects like the bow, arrow, sword, trident, mace, lotus, a water pot and japamala. The remaining two are in abhaymudra (to bless) and gyanamudra(to meditate). When Shiva came in his baraat in a ferocious form, the goddess countered her in an equally ferocious form, and took up her usual form only when Shiva took the form of a normal bridegroom on her insistence. Though benevolent Chandraghanta assumes a fierce form and is known as Chamunda or Ranachandi when provoked. Chandraghanta portrays the real power of a woman. A woman can be calm and docile, but when provoked can assume a fierce form.

Kushmandaa‘s name is derived from the words ‘Ku + ushma’ meaning little warmth or energy and ‘anda’ meaning the cosmic egg. The goddess from her divine smile created the universe as a cosmic egg. Her eight hands hold the gada, dhanu, shara, chakra, padma, kamandula, japmala and a jar of amrit. She is seen riding a tiger. Initially there was a void and darkness all over and it was Devi Kushmandaa who created and illuminated the universe out of nothingness. She is therefore also called Adishakti. She is believed to be residing inside the sun and is the ultimate source of light and warmth. Maa Kushmanda is also the creator of Tridev (Bramha, Vishnu and Maheswara) and Tridevi(Mahalakshmi, Mahakali and Saraswati). As she is the creator of the universe, the provider of light and warmth that are the entities necessary for the sustenance of the universe and the creator of the creator Bramha himself, she is the ultimate creator. She depicts the power of creation that a woman has and also attests that it was a woman who created the universe.

Skandamata derives her name from Skanda which is another name for Kartikeya. Her one hand is posed to bless while she holds baby Skanda with the other and is so called Skandamata. She rides a lion. Her devotees get the benefits of praying Lord Kartikeya as well. Skandamata is the mother who not only creates her child but gives him the strength and courage to emerge victorious against all evils.

Katyayini is also referred to as Shakti, Chandika, Bhadrakali and Durga. She rides a lion and has four hands. She holds a sword and a lotus in two of her hands while the other two hands are in abhaymudra and varadamudra (to grant boons). There was a saint in the ancient times called Katya who was a great devotee of the goddess Adishakti. He wished that the goddess be born as his daughter. Pleased with his prayers, Adishakti was born as his daughter and came to be known as Katyayini ( Katya’s daughter). Katyayini is also said to be born out of the combined energies of the gods who equipped her with several arms to kill the demon Mahisasura. As Katyayini, while she agrees to be born to a father who desires to have her as his daughter, she also kills Mahisasura and saves the universe from destruction.

Kaalaratri has the complexion of the darkest night, has disheveled hair and four hands. Two of her hands are in abhaymudra and varadamudra while the remaining two hold a vajra(a weapon producing lightning) and a scimitar. She has a necklace of lighting around her neck and rides a donkey. Her eyes emanate fire. As Kaalaratri the goddess is worshipped as a dark complexioned goddess who is the epitome of good luck (therefore also known as Shubhankari), thereby busting the age-old social misconception that unwhite is inauspicious.

Mahagauri gets her name from her extreme white complexion (Maha – great ; Gauri – White). She wears a white saree and rides a white bull. Of her four hands, two are in Abhaymudra and Varadamudra while the other two hold the Trishul and the Damaru. Mahagauri is the epitome of purity and frees her devotees from every suffering in life. She is thus a healer.

Siddhidatri sits on a bloomed lotus and maintains a serene look. ‘Siddhi’ means achievement or enlightenment and ‘Datri’ means ‘giver’. She has four hands holding the mace, discus, conch and lotus. By praying Siddhidatri, lord Shiva got all the eight supernatural powers and also his Ardhanarishwar form (half Shiva and half Shakti). While she provides enlightenment on one hand, by granting Shiva his Ardhanaarsihwar or half-man half-woman form, she legitimizes the existence of the third gender; a community vastly looked down upon by the society even in the twenty first century.

One can take away a lot from the lives of the Navadurga as they portray the real power and strength that a woman possesses. Our goddess is invincible, she is unconquerable. She is aggressive, she is peaceful. She is merciful, she is compassionate. She is the destroyer, she is the creator. In all her forms, her association with the flora and fauna viz. the lion, the bull, the lotus and the conch tells us a lot about the strong bond between humans and mother nature. Since these agents of nature are an inseparable part of our goddess, they must be revered, loved and cared for. She carries arms of all kinds viz. the trishul, the gada, the vajra, the chakra and the dhanu-shara letting the evil know that she is apt in using them if and when the time comes. Her armed form also gives an assurance to her devotees that she will protect them against all evils. Through postures of her hands Abhaymudra and Varadamudra, she blesses and grants boons to those who pray her. She is fierce, she is serene. She is whatever the situation demands.

On the auspicious occasion of Bijaya Dashami, as a society, let us recognize the true capabilities of our women and give them the respect that they truly deserve. Only then will the real essence of Durga Puja or worshipping Matrushakti, be realized.

Western Right is not Indian Right

Opinions

speedsound999

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7 October 2019

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Since the revocation of article 370, internet is abuzz with articles upon articles and Twitter army is in full-fledged war of accusations and rebuttals and every other flavour of debate and outright trolling.

Mostly Indian conservatives are trying their hard to disprove whatever liberals say about India and its current Govt and not putting their own narrative. This is a very bad strategy and is bound to fail for a simple fact that we are fighting on their terms.

In our quest to dispel the myths about India and disprove left claims in general, we use western far right intellectuals’ words as gospel. In my view this is counterproductive western far right (not conservative) are simply put very bad people and don’t care about India or Indians. I have not come around anyone putting India’s or Indians case forward. Their primary focus is re-establishing white superiority and only that.

You can go on internet and see Indian conservatives retweeting and lapping up words of people like Katie Hopkins and whoever says anything against liberals. They may seem supporting our cause only if our cause was going after western liberals and not defending idea of India. That’s what I mean when I say fighting on liberal terms, as we appear to support outright racists and bigots. We go after irrelevant people and only support western far right and they don’t support our cause in return if it is not strengthening their position i.e. anti-Muslim rhetoric.

This is a colonial hangover where we think if we nice to white conservatives they will be nice in return. You can gauge how much they support Indians, by researching how much white conservatives love Churchill and superiority of western civilisation and some have even suggested that Churchill was the saviour of India, ignoring the facts that he was responsible for death of millions of Indians. Almost all white conservative think we are primitive people and need western civilisation to save us. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, this Chanakya theory stands true in statecraft and very specific goals not in the exchange of ideas.

We must be indigenous in our thought and practice, need to talk and promote our ideas and within the context of India and not needlessly go after western liberals where we look like trying to seek validation from western right. Modi Govt is doing what you would expect from a world power ignoring Pakistan and making it irrelevant in our pursuit of progress and turning it into a mere nuisance rather than a formidable enemy. Govt can support or not support far right Presidents and Ministers in west or in middle east as this is in national interest and basic diplomacy; you will not find our Govt supporting racist and bigots who are irrelevant for our national interest.

Also as Indian right we love the idea of India and what it stand for “Strength in Diversity” this also means keeping our own Govt in check and talk about it whenever it oversteps, we should not be trying to justify whatever some politicians say no matter which party they belong to, and stand up for all Indians, if you think being Indian conservative mean going after any particular community, anyone not from your party and anyone saying anything about Indian problems, then sadly you are not Indian conservative but a party worker or even worse a bigot. Ask yourself if you must lie to support your opinion then you shouldn’t have that opinion.

Fact check liberal claims about Kashmir, lynching’s and economically bad policies of Govt, don’t abuse or make false claims. Put out your thought of how in the world full of Islamic Republics we are not trying to be a Hindu Republic but Hindu way of life society, same way western countries are secular but have Christian way of life. Make your adversaries irrelevant and expose them not make yourself look juvenile and a troll. You may think why I am writing this on a conservative news portal, because as a fellow conservative it is my duty to call out fault in us first before pointing fingers.

Next time I will write that how following and adopting western liberal template, Indian liberals are destroying and impeding our success and hurting the same people they are supposed to help.

9 reasons why India is famous worldwide

Opinions

ashish

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7 October 2019

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There is no easy way to say this, but India and Yoga are inseparable. The whole world either knows India for yoga or spicy curry flavors. But there’s so much more to the magnificent land which is also one of the emerging superpowers. Before we make this blog a shameless cesspit of stereotypes, some magical qualities about India must come to your attention. Thanks to the internet culture, many are becoming aware of the diversity of this country and making time to visit India. The holy land of Nirvana, meditation, and yoga is now the biggest institution for yoga teacher training for many westerners.

As the true ancient wisdom of yoga comes from India—a colorful land wrapped in several layers of spirituality—people are finding things here that they usually don’t find anywhere else. A country immersed in chaos is internally a center of peace if you pay enough attention to it. India is famous not for one but many reasons, courtesy of its vibrant culture and heartwarming hospitality. If you’re planning to make a trip to India, there’s a reason why you are here. Let’s help you find the best things that this Indian subcontinent contains.

Here are 9 things that will make you fall in love with India:

1. Ayurveda

Life science or Ayurveda is a combination of many virtues and practices put together to live a life where the mind, body, and soul are attuned together. Ancient medicinal care with herbs and body cleansing rituals are practiced along with a Sattvic diet to align the mind with the body. Ayurveda has proven benefits and many patrons return to India to help their bodies cleanse from stress and complicated lifestyles of the secular world they live in. Getting Ayurveda treatment in India is not a bad choice if you want to undo many bad choices in life.

2. The Land of Beauty

India happens to be a subcontinent that has mountains and seas, plateaus and valleys, waterfalls and deserts, and plenty of breathtaking views that promise to leave you spellbound. A land of diversity, India never fails to amuse you if you enter it with an open heart and eternal love for humankind. The places serve as great spiritual factor to several travelers who are on a quest to find their spirituality.

3. Monumental monuments

If you’re visiting India and don’t get a chance to hold the Taj Mahal by its tip while getting clicked, consider your trip half-made. People make a pilgrimage to the iconic monument in Agra, a marbled marvel that will astonish you as much as it enthralls your mind. Other iconic monuments include the tall and formidable Qutab Minar in Delhi, picturesque temples in the South and the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. If you’re big on sightseeing, India is the place to be. And it’s widely known for its monuments, too.

4. Spicy food

The place of chicken tikka and chicken tandoori, India also happens to serve great vegetarian food. Those of us who flock to the country to attain spiritual merit, chicken tikka is off the menu. As several disciplines of Yoga and Ayurveda don’t encourage eating anything that’s killed to serve the appetite of others. But India is also a great place to try spicy vegetarian food that will make you question your non-vegetarian food habits. A great place to change eating habits, India is no less than a food institution.

5. The Land of Tea

India is the nectar of oriental tea herbs. Nestled in northeastern hills, large tea estates produce exotic herbs such as Earl Grey, Classic Assam Tea, and much more to help you taste the flavor of India. The iconic Masala Chai is a must that will never fail you if you plan to visit India. Tea has made India a popular place for several global tea connoisseurs who simply like to explore the territory of exotic beverages.

6. Majestic Animal Kingdom

The land of Bengal tiger and spellbinding peacocks, India serves as a green home to several endangered species of animals. While many tigers roam the Western Ghats, several alligators hide in mangroves of Bengal. Find yourself in the company of many monkeys who like to visit the temples around the city. Feed them and they’ll leave you alone.

7. The Land of Yoga

Needless to say, the very best of yoga teacher training in India comes from India. Several teachers who have been lucky enough to learn the practice from great spiritual masters now teach how to do yoga gracefully to many people. Those who come to learn yoga in India take these teachings to several other parts of the world, making the globe a better place for everyone. Yoga has emerged as a great force that enables us to align our minds to our bodies, healing body energies that most modern medicines don’t. The world is waking up to the power of yoga and many are experiencing great results all over the world. India is undoubtedly the place to be if you want to make yoga a lifelong spiritual practice.

8. Meditation

Long before scientists all over the world claimed its benefits, several sages across India were already teaching the art of meditation to many. India has been a great source of meditation practice that also combines yoga. Drawing inspiration from ancient religious texts of Hindu & Buddhist origin, great spiritual masters of India shared their wisdom on how to train the mind with love and compassion. Come to India if you want to take a pilgrimage to your own mind which is the farthest place to reach for so many of us.

9. Kaleidoscope of Culture

India is home to several religions, but mainly Hinduism. It allows for multi-lingual diversities and people with a different cast, color, and creed live together, discovering an inclusive way of living every day. With the immense potential for hospitality, India continues to be the place that has to offer a lot of love and service to many who come from different parts of the world to find a place of their own.

If these reasons aren’t enough for you, just experience this country by yourself and you’ll definitely return back with a deep desire in your heart to come back once more.

Ayushman Bhavah Bharat! Modi Sarkar’s biggest game changer has turned one

Reports

Akhand

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7 October 2019

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Ayushman Bhavah Bharat! Modi Sarkar’s biggest game changer has turned one

As Modi Government’s flagship scheme Pradhanmantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) popularly known as Ayushman Bharat (AB) turns one this month, here is how this is massively different from any other healthcare scheme anywhere in the world.

Scale: As is the case with any other social welfare scheme of Modi Government, the scale of this scheme too is massive. In fact, massive would be an understatement. No other scheme has touched so many lives directly as Ayushman Bharat has. The scheme directly covers half billion lives from over 100 million families since day one. In comparison, most successful scheme of Modi 1.0, PMUY (Ujjawala Yojana) has covered over 80 million families in five years. Clearly, the impact of Ayushman Bharat is much more direct & far reaching.

Globally too, it’s largest ever health assurance scheme anywhere in the world. Medicaid in US of A covered 76 million lives in the year 2016.

2. Speed: Once the government was ready with the blueprint of the scheme, team Ayushman Bharat moved very quickly to ensure the roll out as soon as possible. Within the first year itself, agreement was signed with all states & union territories, except for states of Odisha, Telangana & Delhi. These states have their own political reasons for not allowing the scheme for their people.

Over 100 million e-cards were generated in the first year. More than 4.5 million beneficiaries were treated under the scheme. These numbers speak for themselves. Team Ayushman Bharat has been working tirelessly day & night to ensure scheme is rolled out state after state smoothly & quickly.

3. An entitlement based delivery: Meaning 100% targeted beneficiaries are covered from day one. They do not need to enroll themselves unlike erstwhile Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana- RSBY. In the previous scheme, beneficiary has to go the enrollment center to get themselves enrolled in the scheme. The enrollment window was open for first 3 months of every policy year. The average enrollment was 60–65% (except for some states like Kerala where enrollment ratio was higher). So, a) many beneficiaries got coverage of 9–10 months only b) large number of beneficiaries were not enrolled under the scheme. These were mainly migrant workers, working far from their home town/ state.

Also, beneficiary had to pay Rs 30 as enrollment cost. This too was a factor responsible for low enrollment figures. Compare this with Ayushman Bharat and you will know the difference in the approach of both schemes in delivering the scheme to all targeted beneficiaries.

Doing away of enrollment process was such a huge relief for all- beneficiaries, implementing agencies & government.

4. Cover: Every beneficiary family is entitled for a cover of Rs 5 lakh of hospitalization expenses per year on family floater basis. This is more than fifteen times higher than the UPA Government’s RSBY, which covered expenses up-to a meager Rs 30 thousands. That’s why the hospitalization cases were mostly for cataract, hysterectomy & maternity like smaller procedures. On the other hand, scheme AB will be covering all the major procedures and even critical ailments.

Lower coverage forced government to keep rates for hospitalization packages forcefully & artificially low. This was a reason why quality hospitals & big hospital chains kept away from the RSBY scheme. Ayushman Bharat has kept package rates realistic & close to market rates, while extracting benefit of volume. It also has provision of giving 10% incentive to the hospitals which are accredited by NABH.

5. Scheme covers all pre-existing ailments from day one: There is no restriction on entry age of beneficiary. So people of all ages & having pre-existing ailments get benefit from the scheme. There is no adverse or positive selection of beneficiaries encouraging quality hospitals to join the scheme.

6. Ayushman Mitra: Another unique feature of Ayushman Bharat is the appointment of Ayushman Mitra in each em-paneled hospital for smooth & hassle free functioning of the scheme. In rural areas where people face great difficulties in availing even normal services of government, this is a welcome change. Getting hospitalized for any ailment in itself is a traumatic experience for most of us. In that situation, Ayushman Mitras will help beneficiaries availing the benefits of the scheme without worrying for the operational processes. This will keep a check on ground level corruption too.

7. Government hospitals are being encouraged to join the scheme: Thus opening an entirely new revenue generation front for them. Using this extra income, public hospitals can upgrade their infrastructure & services. Over the next few years, if they can ensure smart investment of this fund, public hospitals can upgrade their facilities massively. This may help them divert beneficiaries from private hospitals in coming years, thereby increasing their revenue. Although this revenue is coming from government only, it does not take away the fact that they can utilize the funds for their own good.

8. 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers: Under the bigger umbrella of Ayushman Bharat, government will setup 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers. This will improve preventive health care delivery massively resulting in reduced hospitalization events & expenses.

While Ayushman Bharat is taking care of secondary & tertiary health care needs, health & wellness centers will take care of primary & preventive healthcare coupled with mission Indradhanush. Better immunization & primary healthcare will change overall health of Indians resulting in decreased hospitalization events for secondary & tertiary procedures.

9. Advanced IT platform: A state of the art IT system is backbone of the scheme. Beneficiary identification, hospital transaction software is improved massively from what we have seen during RSBY.

Frequent data losses due to poor connectivity and sub standard IT system resulted insurers and hospitals fighting each other over settlement of claims.

10. The PCP factor: Paperless, Cashless & Portable across India. Beneficiary does not need to submit any document in the hospital. All transactions between hospital & implementing agencies are shared electronically, no paper work is required. Beneficiary does not have to pay a single rupee for availing the services of the scheme. Diagnostic tests & post treatment medicines are also made available free of cost to beneficiary making it truly cashless scheme. Portability across India ensures that a beneficiary of Uttar Pradesh can be treated in best hospitals of India.

In coming years, Ayushman Bharat will have most positive impact on Indian people than any other social welfare scheme of any government- present or past. Modi 1.0 was accused for not doing enough for health & education. Modi 2.0 is ensuring that healthcare delivery ecosystem is ready in next 5 years. New medical colleges in over 100 districts, mass vaccination drives, increased sanitation through Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, improved primary & preventive healthcare through health & wellness centers coupled with Ayushman Bharat intervention is creating an entire ecosystem which is making India healthier than ever before.

We can only say, Ayushman Bhavah, Bharat!

Tamil Nadu is galloping towards Desh Bhakti from Deva (देव) Bhakti, Drawidianism is crumbling

Opinions

S Ranganathan

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5 October 2019

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Tamil Nadu is galloping towards Desh Bhakti from Deva (देव) Bhakti, Drawidianism is crumbling

Electorally if one wants to describe Tamil Nadu election for the last several decades, the outcome has always been a swing or wave in favour of either AIADMK or DMK. Among the two major parties in the state, at the organization level, DMK is quite strong but from the people’s preference per se, AIADMK ranks first. Except during Annadurais’ time, DMK has never won any election in the state due to its preference or acceptance but people have voted DMK because they want to vote out AIADMK. Always only the negative vote against AIADMK has helped DMK to come to power in the past and not due to any positive vote for DMK. On the contrary, AIADMK has always won elections purely due to its preference and acceptance of the fact that the AIADMK supremo would do lot of good to people, will be firm against terrorism and goon-ism, pro-people, caste and religion neutral, progressive party and would promote spirituality and divinity in the state.

In brief, AIADMK was always seen as a positive force whereas DMK is seen more as a party always brood over negativity, hate politics, anti-God, anti-Hindu, anti-Hindi, anti-Brahmin rhetoric. Further both DMK and its progenitor DK have caused enough and more confusion among people of Tamil Nadu over several decades on the very identity of Tamil people.

Today many people in Tamil Nadu wonder whether they are Tamils or Drawidian or Indian or Hindu. During post-independence, the Tamil Nadu has witnessed the crowning glory of Tamil Bhakti era, the philosophy of Tirugnana Sambandar, Andal, Tiruvalluvar etc. Since Tamil people are always God fearing and loving, they focused more on divinity, peace and spreading love and affection among others in the society. Tamil literature, Tamil Bhakti scholarliness and doctrines were ruing the people during post-independence.

That was the time, people with obviously non-Tamil identity entered the political scene, promoted hatred by dividing people under two imaginary races such as Dravidian and Aryan, scared people that Aryan would dominate, all those call themselves as Hindus and speak Hindi are Aryan, whatever the bhakthi scriptures written in Tamil were done under the influence of Aryan culture etc.

The non-Tamil people cleverly masked the Tamil identity with Dravidian tag, divided people from rest of India, promoted negativity against Hindu, Hindi, Sanskrit etc. To further the above cause, the Drawidian brigades attacked Brahmins as they sensed that Brahmins have to be isolated to break the backbone of Hinduism in Tamil Nadu. Successfully they promoted anti-Brahmin sentiments, divided the Brahmins as Aryan race and thereby they brutally assaulted the Bhakti tradition of Tamil Nadu.

But in the recent times, Tamil people have understood the nefarious political ploy of DMK and DK and as a result, are coming back to Bhakti tradition. Hindu rituals, religious practices, importance of temple worship, engaging in various auspicious activities etc., are gaining great importance in the state.

Drawidian preaching and ‘anti’ sloganeering are losing ground and DMK looks like a party that exist more due to cadre than due to the leadership. It looks like sun for DMK has started to move towards setting zone and only way the party can save itself is by submitting itself to God and promotes spiritual essence of Hinduism. The mascot of DMK once, Vaiko has recently advised DMK not to criticize and abuse Hindus who go to temple and worship God. DMK has a long legacy of greeting Christian and Islam for celebrating their religious events but not to Hindus.

People of TN are coming back to spirituality and religious events and are gathering in great numbers in temples for every Hindu festival. The Deva Bhakti (divine worship) has already turns to Desh Bhakti. Modi’s good, corruption free, nepotism free, development centric governance has really transformed the people of the state and will soon elect Modi to save the state from corrupt, dynastic forces. Considering the swing electoral culture of people, the day is not far away; people would write the epitaph of DMK and would elect Modi to save the state.

Travesty of the Indic faith

Opinions

sreekrsn

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4 October 2019

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Last year, on this very fateful day, the Supreme Court pronounced a verdict on the issue of women’s entry into Sabarimala, the abode of Lord Ayyappa, which violently woke up the Hindus from their nonchalant slumber. While the verdict enraged many of the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, most others belonging to the intellectual clout of the majority justices themselves were thrilled with the decision, as they felt that it reflected the departure, from what they called, the baggage of the savage past.

Exactly a year later, on the very same day, the Tripura High Court has banned the practice of Animal Sacrifice by all the temples in the state, noting that even animals had the fundamental right to life under Article 21. Interestingly, rejecting the contention from the state that the Muslim practice of sacrificing animals on Bakr-Eid was being ignored, the court said that the matter of Muslim sacrifice had already been settled by the Supreme Court in a previous case.

It is in this backdrop, that certain fundamental questions and queries need to be answered earnestly both by the state and its people. But before venturing into that very business, we need a quick recap on what had transpired in this land before we became conscious.

Down Memory Lane

From times immemorial, the Indian subcontinent was inhabited by people following and practicing the Sanatana Dharma. It was only after the Turkish invasions in the 12th century, that Islam was introduced to India. This introduction essentially involved barbaric snatching of authority and the seats of governance and control from the inhabitants and forceful conversions of the Indic people into Islam. It accompanied the deliberate and constant destruction of their indigenous heritage, architecture, temples, rituals, customs, festivals, arts and cultures for centuries.

This was followed by the onslaught of the Europeans in the 17th century, especially the British, who in their bid to snatch the authority and subjugate us (people of all faiths) with ease, introduced Christian missionaries and biased education to make us insecure and embarrassed about our past, its heritage and knowledge. This process was accelerated by promoting and exploiting the existing divisions in society.

Then, in the fateful year of 1947, there ultimately was a “transfer of power” from the British to the then politically active Indians whose “idea of India” was essentially borrowed from the colonialists themselves. These politically active Indians sat together to design a rule book that essentially dictates the way how Indians should conduct their public life.

Right from the day when India’s first Prime Minister JL Nehru rejected the idea of performing a Yajna in the Parliament and denied the idea of restoring the great temple of Somnath to its past glory in the name of Secularism; to today’s indifference of the state, the judiciary and the people towards the Supreme Court’s verdicts on Sabarimala and Tripurasundari in the name of constitutional morality and losing the baggage of the savage past, the victims have only been the members of the Indic faiths.

Today, years after the so called independence, when there is a popular democratic mandate to a dispensation that is perhaps believed to pay heed to the rights of the Indic people, there are exaggerated news reports of lynchings of people from the minority across all over India, there are op-eds on the tyranny of majoritarianism, there is a huge national outcry on atrocities on members of minority and a resilient mum on those on the majority. After all, as funny as it seems, the adopted idea of India and democracy is perhaps dictated by the constitutional experts on the basis of which dispensation is in power.

Now, it is proven beyond doubt that even after independence, the number of temples far outweigh the number of mosques or churches that are destroyed without consent in the name of development. The number of Vedic Schools and colleges, Buddhist and Jain schools of learning are not even numerically perceptible in comparison to the number of Madrassas in operation. A number of temples, and the revenue they generate, are completely under the control of the government which puts them to secular purposes and the people who worship in these temples do not have any right to elect the members to the temple administrative boards. In fact, the executive director of TTD board of Andhra Pradesh is a Christian. While no such anomaly exists for either Mosques or Churches. It is proven beyond doubt that the Indian state has been promoting religious conversions by sectarian public funding. And ironically, as is the case with many of its aspects, it is the “Cultural and Educational Rights” of the “minorities” that Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution promote and protect and not of those who are the actual victims.

Blinded by the shiny veneer of modernity, today’s youth has adopted an escape route from the problem of this forced coexistence by brushing off and distancing themselves from their heritage, culture and identity. They perhaps seem to perceive this to be the ultimate solution. But this would prove to be fruitful only when the people of all faiths are on the same boat i.e., when everyone is ready to leave their own cultural heritage, faith and religion behind and move on to form a different society devoid of divisions on such parameters. But any disturbance in such an equilibrium would be disastrous especially to the weak (people of the Indic faith).

While such an attempt has already started among the Hindus (an example of which is the recent debacle of a Bollywood star whose ignorance of a well known incident in the Ramayana went viral), there is no such visible attempt from the others. In fact, while the modern Indian society on the social media collectively praised and patronised Zaira Wasim for quitting her profession to improve her relationship with her religion, the ignorance of faith, culture and heritage of the Hindus and the attached disgrace and dishonour towards it is held tantamount to a badge of pride and modernity.

Moreover, the coexistence of people of many faiths in a nation-state cannot continue with the conspicuous absence of a shared sense of history. For instance, when one community treats a tyrannical, blood thirsty, bigoted and criminal ruler like Alamgir Aurangzeb or Sikander Butshikher who destroyed the temples, idols and heritage of the other community, force-converted their ancestors as a ‘Zinda Pir’ (a living saint) or as a hero or as someone to look up to, the co-existence of the two communities does not form a nation.

Feeding The Farce Of Constitutional Morality?

Add to these, the emergence of the notion of judiciary hijacking the executive and the legislature to set up a tyrannical rule of its own. An entity whose role is just to implement and enforce laws has started to interpret laws in such a way that all power and authority flows from it. Unelected power, unaccountable power and certainly not transparent power. The Constitution is violated in the name of the Constitution in order to protect the Constitution. Because, ‘Constitutional morality’. Period.

The age limit for us to take part in the ‘Dahi Handi’ celebrations is decided by the judiciary, our Jallikattu is gone, the amount of milk and curd one can offer to Mahakaleshwar of Ujjain is subject to judicial scrutiny, Lord Ayyappa’s vows of celibacy are interpreted by the justices who have never visited Sabarimala nor did they repose any faith in that particular sampradaya, who can enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple of Shani Singanapur is decided by the courts, the properties, management and the revenues of our institutions are sieged, our way of life is challenged.

Now, given that, in every aspect, it is the people of Indic faith who were the ultimate victims of “religious persecution” irrespective of who or which dynasty or dispensation held the seat of authority of the Indian society, how do we and the state justify the plight of Hindus especially from the realm of Secularism? How do we and state look at the demands of Hindus from the realm of Human Rights? How does the present condition of Hindus reflect on the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Justice that the constitutional experts so romantically portray? These are some fundamental questions we all need to ask ourselves.

It has been trending on social media that a Hindu Charter has organised a National Conference to stress on Equal rights for Hindus and highlight these inherent institutional bias. While such a conference and its live streaming on YouTube to generate awareness on the plight of our fundamental religious rights is a welcome move, the aspect of just demanding ‘equal’ rights is not satisfying. It is time we moved beyond just ‘equal’ rights. We ought to assert our rightful authority and take back our institutions of heritage and culture. It is illogical and wrong to blame the present day Muslim community for the ill doings of their ancestors. Nevertheless, unless and until there is a widespread acknowledgement among both the communities that the Islamic rulers of India were bigots, perpetrated inhuman crimes against the ancestors and destroyed the architectural heritage of their fellow country men, it is absolutely absurd to ask the two communities to erase the past and live in peace and display sympathy and tolerance towards each other.

It is indeed very sad to hear the news of undue judicial intervention in the customs and practices concerning Mata Tripurasundari on the day of Mahalaya. It is time we wake up to the stupidity and the gradual erosion of our heritage and culture in the name of secularism and stand upright and fight for our rightful authority. Let today act as the necessary nudge to birth an ‘Indic Renaissance 2.0’ that Sri Aurobindo had envisaged long ago, to resist the imposition of an alien morality on us.

Imran Khan explained precisely why Islamophobia is necessary in 21st century

Opinions

Anant Chetan

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4 October 2019

0

Imran Khan explained precisely why Islamophobia is necessary in 21st century

Although, Pakistan’s prime minister Mr. Imran Khan Niazi did not respect the UNGA guideline and spoke for three times more than the stipulated time, but he managed to raise a couple of very interesting questions during his speech at the UN General Assembly. “Why Islamophobia? and Why Radical Islam?” The irony was that he himself provided the audience with the best possible answer to these two questions.

It is a fact that evil minds and souls can be found anywhere irrespective of the religion, caste, creed or gender. No doubts about that. But then why target only Islam? He gave examples of LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tiger Elam) and Japanese suicide bombers. Barring a few congress leaders in India, the world does not question or point fingers at Hinduism or Christianity or any other religion or India or any other country. Why? This does not seem fair. Does it?

This singling out one religion would start looking absolutely fair as soon as you start looking at how other communities react to the evil actions of these evil souls in comparison to how Muslim community reacts to the evil actions of these evil souls. How did India and Hindus react to LTTE suicide bombers? If I remember the history correctly India lost one of its prime ministers trying to crush LTTE. Mr. Rajeev Gandhi was assassinated only because he sent IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Forces) to Sri Lanka to take care of LTTE. A civil war in Sri Lanka costed us our prime minister. India and Hindus openly raised their voices against LTTE bombings. Moreover, the LTTE bombings were strictly constrained to Tamil region plus Sri Lanka, rest of the India and the world never had to fear LTTE. They did not blow up trains, buses and cars in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or Pune. They did not blow up twin towers in the US just to prove a point. Mr. Imran Khan compared apples with oranges.

Hitler was an evil soul, massacred many but Germany is never called out. Why? Visit Germany and try to praise Hitler and you will know why.

Now, what happens when a Burhan Wani is killed or an Afzal Guru is hanged? Forget raising the voice against their evil actions, lakhs of Muslims march on streets in their support. If you support the evil, you are the evil too. If you remain mum at the wrong doings, you are a part of the evil. You have to raise your voices against the evil, no matter what the costs are. This is simple binary, 0 or 1; either you are against them or you are with them. That’s all! Unfortunately PM Khan sees binaries every where – rich vs poor, developed vs developing, Muslims vs non-Muslims but not this. This is the only reason why Muslim community is feared, the “peaceful majority” either believes in what these terrorists do and choose to remain quite or are still figuring out their stances.

We don’t even have to go far in the history, we could look at the very same speech. A person like Imran Khan, who comes from an affluent family, is a Pakistani elite from whichever standard you look, says he would have picked up a gun if he were in Kashmir. In addition to this, how can he be so confident about a blood bath in Kashmir as soon as Curfew is lifted or a Pulwama like incident? Do you see the problem here? There has to be something wrong with the way he and others like him were/are raised. Sane people don’t think this way. Do you think this way?

I am a little surprised as to why no body charged him with “aiding and abetting”. He spoke on the similar lines that fugitive Zakir Naik an Islamic Preacher who inspired terrorists by the means of his speeches. What more could a person at his designation say after saying “there would be reactions if you make fun of Prophet“? Do you now see what leads to Islamophobia?

Imran Khan’s Pakistan is trying to garner support and be a leader of Muslim Ummah by citing Islamophobia and radical Islam. Imran Khan tried to emotionally blackmail the other Muslim majority countries. But the fact is that Pakistan has killed more number of Muslims in the world than any other person, party or state; be it Millions killed in Bangladesh or millions in Afghanistan or a lot in Yemen or many in Kashmir. Pakistan is a bigger threat to the Muslims than anyone else.

Leaving aside a few out of the 56 Muslim majority countries none are called “Terroristan“, not even Bangladesh. The same Bangladesh who was Pakistan before 1971. Why? Fortunately, he himself gave the answer to this question as well.

He himself claimed that Pakistan Army trained Al Qaeda.

He put the entire blame at the United States of America. He very cleverly jumped from the late eighties to 9/11. He didn’t tell as to what Pakistan did with those trained Mujahidin after Americans left. Pakistan simply transported those battle hardened militants from the country’s North West border with Afghanistan to their Eastern border with India. Gave them a different name and dumped them in the buffer state i.e. Kashmir. Militancy in Kashmir reached its peak just after 1989, Kashmiri Hindu massacre happened right then.

Was it a one time thing? No, not by any chance! Pakistan still does the same thing. The only difference is that instead of Americans, it is Chinese this time. Why do you think China uses its vito to stop UN from declaring Masood Azher as a global terrorist? Simply because Masood Azher and his terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed is being used to provide security to the CPEC projects from the smaller terror outfits along with Baloch and Pashtun rebels. Exactly like good Taliban and bad Taliban.

Both the countries, India and Pakistan offer something or the other to the world. India offered IT enabled services in the past and still does. In fact during the UNGA meet PM Modi offered humongous(size matters here) tried and tested systems like Bio-metric system or healthcare system. Invited countries to benefit from the initiatives India took like International Solar Alliance or Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). Pakistan on the other hand does not have a lot to offer to the world other then terror. This has been an ugly and harsh reality of Pakistan for decades now. The country generates revenue by exporting terror. Different clients/countries transfer funds to get their dirty work done.

Imran Khan quoted LTTE and the joke is on him. LTTE was one of the 37 similar militant organizations but the only one that had a front office in Karachi and had deep ties with Harkat-al-mujahideen, a Pakistan based terror outfit having affiliations with Al Qaeda. Someone might ask, Sinhalese and Tamils were waging a war against each other in Sri Lanka, what had Pakistan to do with that? How did Pakistan get involved? There are many more instances. What did Pakistan had to do with Mizo rebellion or Naga crisis? Nothing! but still militants were getting their required training in Chittagong Hill Tracts in East Pakistan, which some how were shut down after Bangladesh came in existence in 1971. The generous Pakistan was sharing with the world what it had in abundance.

Imran Khan claimed that Pakistan has lost 70,000 lives to terrorism. I would like to ask him only one question: “If terrorism is your country’s business model, then who should pay for the collateral damage?” India would not pay for it any more. Revoking article 370 just made it difficult for Pakistan to get rid of its unemployed trained Mujahideen. That’s why the cry!

Nothing has changed and nothing is going to change. Twenty years down the line, there would be a similar Prime Minister claiming that Chinese funded us to train Mujahideen to protect the road, and one fine day they packed their bags and left, what do we do with the mujahideens we trained? Dump them in the buffer state of J&K? No not this time; Indian Army is ready this time and has got full authority to send them to “Dozakh” right away, no questions asked.

Thanks for Reading.

Beware of growing jealous and negativity of opposition parties in India

Opinions

S Ranganathan

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3 October 2019

0

Beware of growing jealous and negativity of opposition parties in India

It is often said that dishonesty and greed are the stem cells of all negativity in our life.

The saying is not just true for our life alone but it is equally true for the political parties in India as well. Most of the tukde tukde gangs are running hunky punkie these days because they have lost their job and earning huge wealth through ill-gotten means ever since PM Modi became Prime Minister of India.

The dishonesty, anger and greed of several political parties due to loss of job (political irrelevance) and the earning opportunity through corrupt means thanks to the good governance of PM Modi has really pushed all those dynastic parties and Khan market gangs to go eccentric, psychotic and paranoid. Most of those dynastic forces are developing nothing but unaccountable jealous over PM Modi due to his ever growing popularity and admiration among millions of Indians and all over the world. As a result of the above obvious medical problem, the opposition parties, the best example DMK in Tamil Nadu often engage in spreading negativity, lies, fear mongering, minority appeasement and hate Modi rhetoric. The un-teachable dynast of the Congress party has not changed even a bit after both his personal defeat in Amethi and the second humiliating defeat of his party against Godly Modi in 2019 election.

When the world salute Modi and pay standing ovation to his path-breaking governance and sab ka vikas, mission, Swachh bharath initiative etc., Modi has really captured the appreciation of the global community. Many countries have started to ask whether they have ever taken such initiatives in the past like that of Modi in India. Many of them may also admit the truth that they haven’t even thought about such great mission before and Modi is the real inspiration to them.

Modi has raised the dignity and leadership role of India in the global platform. Modi rightfully invoked the name of great freedom fighters, spiritual leaders such as Patel, Buddha etc., to tell the global community that India has always gifted peace, universal love and harmony to the world though gifting all such great leaders to the world.

Before Modi became Prime Minister of India, it was only one family – Nehru-Gandhi was credited for all the good that happens in India. Many great leaders who pledged their life and everything for the nation were wrapped under the carpet of Nehru and Nehru was credited and glorified for everything. Only now a genuine appreciation for Nehru has been given by BJP by presenting all the facts about how Nehru had handled Jammu and Kashmir issue and created such a great mess which Modi-Shah solved it completely.

The culture of dynastic politics and sycophancy has ruined our country. The dynastic politics has ensured in the past that several tukde tukde gangs can easily cobble up together and form government and mutually benefit from such arrangement, forget about India and its people. Again pump back a small portion of the money in the subsequent election earned through corrupt means and comeback to power again to continue the same brand politics of corruption and nepotism. DMK has perfected the above art in a very systematic and scientific manner and also has tasted success in the past the state of Tamil Nadu.

PM Modi has changed Indian politics from symbiotic relationship between several corrupt forces to corruption free, responsible, accountable, transparent, sab ka vikas centric politics. The opposition parties always try to derail people by asking how far Modi has fulfilled his promises. People see PM Modi as an avatar or embodiment of truth and honesty and simultaneously also see most of the opposition parties as bundle of liars, corrupt forces, committed to promote the culture of nepotism, dynasty and minority appeasement. Therefore even if some of the promises Modi has not completely fulfilled, but still people believe Modi because Modi is honest and will fulfill all the promises that he had made to India.

The recent legal action against P Chidambaram shows how determined is Modi to fight corruption and looting public money by those misusing power and authority. The 2G case also needs to be re-investigated to unearth the truth and to nail the corrupt.

Due to the growing popularity and admiration of Modi, the jealous is also growing among various opposition parties in equal proportion. Due to utterly helpless state, most of the opposition parties are abusing Modi, criticizing Modi and even gone to the extent of indirectly supporting our enemy country. Instead of keep criticizing and abusing Modi, the opposition parties must engage in constructive politics, must admire and appreciate Modi, must follow Modi.

Respect the PM Modi, support him to make India a great land, land free of corruption, dynastic politics, nepotism and negativity.