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Will the secrets of the Pakistani establishment ever be revealed?

Rinu Suthar
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Will the secrets of the Pakistani establishment ever be revealed?

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has urged the Supreme Court to set up a commission to investigate the allegations made by Imran Khan regarding the attack on him. Imran Khan has supported his request. Contradictions of Pakistani power are coming to the fore. But the big question is about the role of the army. How will it be checked? Another question is related to the appointment of a new army chief. This appointment is to be done this month.

Will there ever be answers to all the complex questions of Pakistani army, society and politics? What is the power behind Imran Khan? A section of the public or the military? It was the army that raised Imran, so why did it turn against him? Why does the army, which has become synonymous with the system, now want to distance itself from politics?

Apart from the three organs of governance in Pakistan, there are two more important organs – the army and the US. Army Mane Establishment. Is it possible to investigate how Imran came to power? In the last 75 years, the army has been occupying power time and again and the Supreme Court has never outlawed this work. What guarantees that there will never be military rule again?

Not much light has fallen on the US aspect either. Imran is insisting on opening both these secrets. Do they have any information that will turn them around? But it is clear that they are taking a big risk and they are getting public support.

Long March will start again

The Long March, which stopped at Wazirabad after the attack, would leave again in the next day or two from the same place where the bullet was fired. Imran has been discharged from the hospital, but he will not attend the march, but will get his wounds treated in Lahore. During this, he will continue to address the people involved in the march through video conference. It is expected that March will reach Rawalpindi in the next 10 to 14 days.

The most powerful instrument of the Pakistani regime is the army there. Three times the power in the country has gone to the hands of the army. Out of the last 75, 33 years were under the rule of the army, apart from the remaining years also the army played some form or the other in the operation of the Pakistani system.

Democratic Confusion

Like India, a Constituent Assembly was formed in Pakistan, which, on 12 March 1949, passed the resolution of the objectives and goals of the constitution, but the constitution could not be made. After nine years of exercise, in 1956, Pakistan was able to make its own constitution.

Iskandar Mirza was made the President on 23 March 1956. He was elected democratically, but on 7 October 1958 he dismissed his democratic government and imposed martial law. In his opinion, democracy is not suitable for Pakistan.

The political parties of the country are engaged in pulling each other’s skin. His interest is only in taking the name of democracy. It is also true that corruption prevailed there in the name of democracy, but there was also a well-planned conspiracy to defame democracy. No one has the courage to mention the corruption of the army.

PPP’s ‘Memo-gate’

The Pakistani army considers itself to be the most important part of the system, on the other, gives it an important status till the Pakistani society and constitution. It is also a great economic power. In a sense, the country’s largest business company is also the army. The 2008 election is an important milestone in the current politics of the country. After the formation of the government of the Pakistan People’s Party in that election, conflicts over rights started between the army and the government. One of the important issues was that of ‘Memo-gate’.

On 17 November 2011, the American website ‘Foreign Policy’, quoting Pakistani businessman Manzoor Ijaz, published information that Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, wanted to deliver a paper to former US Joint Chief of Staff Michael Mullen, in which he prayed. It was that the Obama government should help in preventing Pakistan from being handed over to the army again.

The knowledge of this spare part without signature caused an earthquake in the Pakistani system. Ambassador Haqqani had to withdraw immediately and the matter reached the Supreme Court. During its hearing in the Supreme Court, the Pakistan Army presented its stand in front of the court without the approval of the government.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani tried to protect the rights of the civilian government at that time. He sacked his Defense Secretary Lieutenant General (Retd) Khalid Naeem Lodhi and handed over his charge to Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi. The army publicly condemned the Prime Minister on this matter. In this case, the court also supported the army. Due to these controversies finally Yusuf Geelani had to leave the chair.

Project Imran

Pakistani sources tell that the army’s project to make Imran Khan a future puppet Prime Minister was formed around 2010 itself. The conflict continued even after Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister in 2013 and in 2015 attempts to start talks with India backfired. Although many generals played a role in raising Imran, but finally in 2018, when Qamar Javed Bajwa was the army chief, Imran Khan won the elections with the help of the army.

General Bajwa first made his junior Major General Faiz the head of the ISI Directorate (C). He started digging the roots of Nawaz Sharif’s then government and made Imran win the 2018 election. The army not only helped Imran Khan in the election, but also arranged for MPs when he was in minority. General Faiz became Imran Khan’s friend because of this.

Imran started a program to put his rivals in jail, which the country’s army accepted as cleanliness. In the eyes of some experts, his government was actually a ‘hybrid’ government of the military and politicians.

A former ISI chief Lt. people. Asad Durrani recently told an Indian journalist that not only Imran, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were also helped by the army to become the Prime Minister and both of them had messed with the army. Now Imran has also adopted an anti-military and anti-American stance, but it also seems that he has maintained back-channel contact with the military.

The question is why then the relationship between the army and Imran deteriorated? And why is the army saying today that we will not interfere in politics? We do not have the answers to these questions. Will have to wait for this.

ISI’s role

Army has been interfering in Pakistan’s politics through ISI. ISI was established in 1948. Legally this organization is accountable to the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister, but in practice it is subordinate to the Chief of Army Staff. It has nominal accountability to the civil government.

Both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif tried to control it and failed. The tussle between Imran Khan and Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa escalated last year over the appointment of the ISI chief.

Soon after the formation of the first constitutional government in the country, military rule came into force. In 1958, ISI reporting came to him during the tenure of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He prepared the political role of this institution. Today the Directorate (C) of ISI does the same thing, whose chief Imran is accusing of attempt to murder.

In addition to the three-star lieutenant general in the ISI, there are six two-star major generals, who look after the work of different branches of the ISI. In terms of organization, it is a bigger organization than an army corps. The position of Corps Commanders in Pakistan is very big.

Army Under Pressure

The army also appears to be under pressure. No other Prime Minister had criticized him so openly before this. Is Imran Khan taking a risk or is there a force behind him? Recently, the DG of ISPR along with the DG of ISI appeared before the press to explain the mysterious death of a Pakistani journalist in Kenya.

This has never happened before in the country. The Pakistani people have been committing violence in all public places, but stay away from military installations. This time there was a protest, a crowd of thousands surrounded the residence of the Corps Commander of Peshawar. The crowd was shouting-‘This is the terror, behind it is the uniform!’

Sharif government

Is the army with the government of Shahbaz Sharif? This cannot be said with certainty, but it certainly seems that even the army is not in favor of holding elections immediately. The army wants that there should be some kind of stability in the country. Last year, it was said by the army many times that economic security is the biggest security.

The economic condition of the country is bad. To fix it, the help of the International Monetary Fund and the support of America are needed, but Imran turned his cannons towards America. The army feels that the new administration will act wisely. Recently it got rid of the ‘Grey List’ of FATF. The balance of payments is also improving.

Why Indians should boycott Qatar World Cup 2022

oldfashioneddeshbhakt
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Why Indians should boycott Qatar World Cup 2022

Kolkata which I call home is filled with some of the most passionate football fans in India. The sport is practically a religion in this oversized urban ghetto. If you’re at a bar or high-end restaurant here, you’re more likely to be treated to an EPL game because football is way more popular than cricket.

There are currently 22 first-division teams competing in the local Calcutta Football League (CFL), arguably the oldest in the country. The city proudly played host to famous football legends such as Pele, Maradona and Messi on the occasions when they visited India. One of our local legends, Chuni Goswami captained India to a gold medal victory at the Asian Games in 1962. That was the time India used to be quite successful at this sport.

With the onset of World Cup season in Qatar, it should be fun and natural to tune in. This year the hype and excitement are huge not just in Kolkata but many other urban parts of India. There is a lot of demand for the quadrennial international event in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, and Chandigarh.

Besides it is not every time Asia plays host to a FIFA World Cup tournament (the only time it happened before was during Japan-Korea 2002). Qatar’s Hamad International Airport in Doha is just a short flight away from anywhere in India. The country provides Indian passport-holders with a 30 day on-arrival visa. That is why a lot of Indian fans have made elaborate plans for an actual stadium visit. A football game only consumes around ninety minutes of your time: some sightseeing and mall-hopping in Doha could easily fit in with loyal support for your favorite team.

There is a woman from Kerala who made a solo road trip from her home state all the way to Qatar (I was wondering how that would be even possible without crisscrossing Pakistan). We are witnessing an unprecedented demand for private jets by Indian High net-worth individuals (presumably, Bollywood celebrities among them) as many of them are going to make the most of the tournament season. Reportedly these chartered planes cost north of INR 50 lakhs. And some people say India is poor!

If you can’t travel to Qatar, as a football-loving Indian you still might catch the FIFA 2022 action unfold on your television screen. What could go wrong with a sporting event, after all? India does enjoy robust albeit a bit strained diplomatic relations with Qatar (they are an important trading partner). Still not everything is what it appears to be. As a fan of football, I have to get this off my chest: something about Qatar 2022 does not feel right. I cannot muster enough enthusiasm to cheer for the upcoming debacle. I sincerely hope and pray that this entire tournament turns out a no-show; at least most Indians should stay away from this.

With former FIFA President Sepp Blatter admitting that awarding the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake, and a French satirical newspaper mocking the organizers with stirring accusations (borne of some truthful facts, at least), I feel emboldened to discuss why as Indians, participating and cheering for Qatar 2022 is against the interests of our country. Therefore, we should not only not watch this event but also vociferously support the trend #boycottqatar2022.

I am sure many other proud football-loving Indians are having these exact thoughts. To them I say, you’re not wrong in your beliefs. As a nation we should come out in full force and boycott this hateful spectacle. There are three big reasons why I believe this should be our unofficial stand.

1. Pakistani and Turkish security guards at FIFA 2022

Do you like the idea of Pakistani ex-military personnel checking your pockets and scanning your personal belongings? For me, this is the single biggest reason to boycott this year’s tournament. As an Indian, I simply don’t want anything to do with Pakistanis (my sincere apologies to the Aman ka Tamasha brigade but your utopian imaginings about Pakistan are far removed from reality).

An entire Pakistani army contingent has just left for Qatar 2022, comprising not just their veterans but also active-duty military personnel. These are the men Indian army are fighting with on a regular basis at our borders. While I understand these Pakistani military units are just mercenaries on hire by an oil-rich kingdom, I don’t feel very comfortable with the whole idea of encountering an enemy nation’s soldiers while trying to enjoy a vacation in Qatar.

Anyone who’s visited Dubai, Muscat or Doha knows that Pakistani ex-soldiers on hire are seen almost everywhere. They routinely work as mall security, embassy guards, and even bar bouncers (it’s quite the irony that Pakistanis will hate anyone who consumes alcohol but they still want the power trip to evict you from a booze joint). Anyway, it doesn’t matter what the Pakistanis choose not to drink. My problem is that voracious Indians fans trying to have a good time in Qatar will be routinely subjected to their authoritarian judgment.

You have to understand this clearly. Pakistanis are not our friends. With their active support of terrorist outfits, and calls for repeated interference in Kashmir, a sovereign matter of India, that nation is technically in a state of war with us although we don’t call it that way. How many Indians have forgotten and forgiven the Pakistanis for what happened on 26/11? I am someone who feels the joint Wagah border ceremony should be scrapped for good. There was a year we didn’t even exchange sweets with the Pakistanis (why can’t it happen all the time?)

As an Indian, I strongly feel that allowing myself or my belongings to be touched by a Pakistani soldier is akin to accepting their juvenile demands for recognition of the Kashmir problem as a bilateral dispute. They don’t have our best interests at heart. They hate the Hindus of India much more than we hate them in return. Who can forget Shahid Afridi’s asinine juvenile attempt at humor mocking the Indian custom of aarti. Now that is not a minority viewpoint in Pakistan. Many people in that country think exactly the way Shahid Afridi depicted himself in that video. They have a visceral hatred of Indians for who we are.

As a consultant, I sometimes come across Pakistani freelancers and other personnel. I actively choose not to cooperate with them. My experiences with these people have been mostly negative. While outwardly they appear polite and even friendly to Indians, the contempt they have for us because of our core beliefs as Indians is simply unmatched by anyone else in the world. For the sake of brevity, I don’t want to share my additional personal experiences here (I have encountered many Pakistanis when living in Europe long ago). But you have to believe me when I say that I could write a whole book on why Indians should never deal with Pakistanis abroad.

There is a strong Turkish military contingent in Qatar. Apparently, they are traveling without any active written agreements with the host country. Now I don’t know much about the Turks, but I do know they are close allies of Pakistan. And their country isn’t very well-known for human rights. The European Union has finally decided to never let them in their powerful bloc. I am pretty sure these Turks are going to take a lot of pride in harassing Indian visitors – next only to the Pakistanis.

India has a $3.4 trillion economy, and we send spaceships to Moon and Mars. We don’t need the Pakistanis at all. Therefore, we should refuse to travel to any country where we have to deal with Pakistanis on their terms.

2. Human Rights Violation in Qatar

So you won’t be travelling to Qatar but would catch the football action on the big screen? Here is why you shouldn’t do that either. Qatar has an abysmal record when it comes to human rights. Although many of us may feel that India is no paradise either, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

Qatar is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But their shoddy record in human rights is a topic no one wants to discuss (when money talks!) While searching for old OpIndia news articles, I came across this masterpiece. It says that 29 unclean dogs were brutally gunned down by Qatari armed men (can we say, presumably a few Pakistanis?) As someone who works for dog shelters, this news shook me to my core. Dogs are loyal companions to you. No sane person would approve of this brutal manner in which the Qataris took care of their dog problem. Some first-world country, huh?

If you don’t care that much for our canine friends, at least you should for the human beings who have built the football stadiums in Qatar. Mostly people from the Indian subcontinent – Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis (see I don’t hate the Pakistanis wanting to make a living abroad. I just don’t want to deal with them. There is a difference.) The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh was one of the first to raise concern about the slavery-like conditions in Qatar under which many Indian workers toiled day and night to build those magnificent buildings. Thousands of workers have reportedly died while working in 50 degrees centigrade heat. The stadiums have been effectively built on the corpses of these workers. It feels absolutely awkward for me to cheer for an event when I know that a lot of people died trying to make it happen.

Now workers die in construction projects all the time (which is tragic). But what I absolutely hate about Qatar and some other countries in the Middle East is their exploitative Kafala system of hiring workers. It’s a kind of modern-day indentured service. The employers and their agents basically seize the passport of their employees which is simply unacceptable in today’s world. My problem with the Gulf Sheikhs is that they never get called out for their disregard for human rights violations. Even the Indian government does not bat an eye although we should make it our stated position that any exploitation of Indian workers in the Gulf will not be tolerated.

Boycotting Qatar 2022 will send a strong message to Qatar and other Middle East countries’ despotic monarchs that their Kafala system is unacceptable to us Indians. They think the Western countries are “arrogant and racist” for calling them out for this blatant disregard of worker welfare. I hope they have something else to say to us Indians. Oh wait, they do!

3. Qatar’s Proxy Support for Terrorist Elements Abroad

Since no one calls out Qatar for their human rights violations and they have a lot of money to burn, this sneaky country gets the pass for their proxy support of radical Islamic terrorist groups. While countries like Pakistan frequently get into the FATF grey list (I hope they make it to the blacklist next time), Qatar simply absolves itself of any responsibility it has with respect to terror financing. Do they really think that having a US military airbase on their territory gives them the pass?

This country actually “flirts with terrorists on a daily basis.” They have organizations inside the country that pump millions of dollars to spread the ideology of Wahhabi supremacism abroad. Some of their citizens support terror modules in poor and deprived regions of India. There are organizations in Qatar that are quite close to outfits like Al-Qaeda and PFI (but they will deny it, of course).

To what extent are these terror modules impacting India remains a big question mark. That is for our intelligence agencies to gather. As long as Qatar does not dissociate itself actively from these groups, it is not a country worth trusting by any Indian.

The irony is that these Qataris were at the forefront of defaming India over the Nupur Sharma fiasco. I need not support whatever Nupur Sharma said (and based on what I saw in the television debate, it seems she was coaxed and pressurized to say those thing that snowballed into such a controversy).

What I don’t support is any citizen of India having to watch his mouth or hold back on their views just because some oil-rich despots in the Gulf don’t like it. They may have the money, but this is our country, and we can democratically discuss whatever we want within our borders. Qatar or any other country in the Middle East does not have the right to dictate to even a single Indian what our views should be.

Summary

Whether or not you wish to watch or attend the Qatar World Cup spectacle, as an Indian I support your right to do as you please. But considering the horrible background of this country and this inauspicious tournament that will take center-stage soon, I would make a humble appeal to every football-loving Indian (the good thing is we are a very tiny minority for the nation as a whole) to boycott the celebrations.

Do not purchase any FIFA 2022 regalia including T-shirts, and do not give the advertisers any revenue by the minutes you spend in watching this tournament.

I love football. Once this Qatar fiasco is over, I’ll get back to watching my favorite games with even greater enthusiasm.

What went wrong with Twitter India? Firsthand account from Parliament

Nimish Kumar
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What went wrong with Twitter India? Firsthand account from Parliament

‘Very soon we will cover the rotten Twitter India, it’s the last nail in its coffin’ I said to my fellow journalist while walking from Indian Parliament secretariat to parliament house a few years back. The parliament session was going on, and an unusual thing happened that forced me to make such a statement. It was pre-Covid days.

‘Why you think so?’ my friend asked, and I had the answer as it was very rare that a parliamentary committee called a meeting during the parliamentary session, because as per the international parliamentary practice, meetings of parliamentary committees are usually not called during the sessions to avoid any kind of distraction for member MPs.

We knew that in India, the media is barred from covering parliamentary standing committees, neither the chairman of any parliamentary committee is supposed to talk to media regarding any matter taken-up by the committee, nor any member can revealed the agenda or minutes of parliamentary standing committee, but for the public good, media tried hard to get the issues trialed by the parliamentary standing committees as these all known as ‘the mini parliaments’ due to their compositions which fairly represent all regions of the country and all the major political parties.

The said parliamentary committee was headed by a women MP and all the members were from the same gender, so it was sure that the issue is of serious nature and must be related to women & children. We were right as the parliamentary committee summoned all social media platform companies to investigate the steps taken by them to ensure safety of their Indian women & children users.  

We were shocked when we saw junior officials of the public policy & communication department of leading social media platform companies’ Indian subsidiaries were sent to represent their respective companies before the Indian parliamentary committee. It was against the parliamentary protocol as the head of the summoned company only can appear before any parliamentary committee.

Remember, when in the USA, the congressional committee summoned Google & Facebook; Sunder Pechai, then Google CEO of Google; now he is the CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google & its subsidiaries; appeared before the congressional committee and faced tough questions from the member senators. We know how Mark Zuckerberg the Facebook founder was uncomfortable when the congressional committee members started grilling him over the privacy issues and the commercial interest of his company.

We came to know that the Indian parliamentary standing committee summoned the global CEOs of these companies, but the Indian subsidiaries of these companies outrightly declined saying their global CEOs can’t appear before any such Indian parliamentary committee. It seems that these social media platforms companies’ global management take it as demining just because they still consider India as a third world nation.

Forget about the global CEOs, even their Indian subsidiaries’ heads, their Indian operation MDs or CEOs do not bother to give a thought to Indian parliamentary committee’s summons. The news was broken and it went hard which later resulted in issuing a stringent diktat from the committee to social media platform companies. One company fired its communication chief for such negligence; others pulled up their India teams, but the damage was done, apologies followed which failed to wipe out the deep scare between social media platform companies and the Indian government relation, and now, after years, a week back we saw the Indian government came up with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a notification amending the IT rules, saying that the Government has decided to set-up 3 members Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs) to ensure the rights of Indian users on such social media platforms. These GACs are empowered to hear cases of negligence from the social media platform companies and take appropriate actions against the companies.  

Recently we saw Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, firing companies top officials, including Indian origin global CEO Parag Agrawal, Global public policy & legal Vijaya Gadde with others. News is coming that Twitter India’s entire marketing and communication team is fired, most of the engineering team members have shown the door.

Gadde, known as the most influential voice in decision making at Twitter HQ, had been on target for her role in many controversial cases, intestinally irk right wing lobby by favoring left wing over many issues, not to forget action against RSS chief twitter account, unofficial supporting anti-Modi twitter accounts like Alt news Mohammad Zubair, meeting Barkha Dutt & others while Jack Dorcy holding a placard with caste related slogan.        

Now the questions arise, why India is so important for social media platforms companies including Twitter, and what went wrong with the Indian management of these companies. First let’s go through with the brisk business these social media platform companies are doing. About 58.7% people around the world are on social media platforms, one or many, which is counted into about 4.65 billion, and resulted into an estimated $ 221.29 billion business in the year 2022.

Remember this ‘big data’ is much bigger than the GDP or economy of the maximum number of the countries around the world, more than half of the Indian union budget. Facebook itself does $ 86 billion business whereas youtube does $28.8 billion, Instagram has $24 billion so the TikTok does $11billion, follow by $ 5 billion by Twitter & Whatsapp. Notably, all these companies mint money or say billions of dollars because of the ‘big numbers’ of their Indian users.

We must not forget the foreign investors invest in companies with ‘Big Numbers’, and Indian market provides them as the Facebook has 330 million Indian users, so the You Tube has 467 million and the Instagram has 230 million, it means the Facebook got as big as number of users equaling to US population.

The entire Europe’s population is about 750 million, a number these social media platform companies can get from India; still these social media companies were ignorant or say not willing to comply with Indian government’s sentiments, say because of personal ego or liking- disliking of someone from the global top management team, it at last it has hit hard to hundreds of employees, here in India or worldwide. I remember a saying, common in the global corporate world,’ when you do business, just do business.’

(Author, a Delhi School of Economics scholar, is a journalist covering international affairs & global economy)

Digital Rupee: RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

Rahul Dogra
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Digital Rupee: RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a digital version of a country’s fiat currency that is regulated by the respective central bank. In recent years, there has been an increase in global interest in CBDCs as a means of payment and settlement. The Bank for International Settlements defines a CBDC as “a central bank liability that provides the public with electronic access to central bank money.”

There are two types of CBDCs: wholesale and retail.

Wholesale CBDCs are intended for use by financial institutions and other market participants for settlements between themselves.

Retail CBDCs, on the other hand, are designed for use by the general public for everyday transactions.

The benefits of CBDC include increased efficiency and transparency in payments and settlements, as well as improved access to financial services.

Digital Rupee :

The Central Bank Digital Currency of the Reserve Bank of India can be referred to as the electronic form of the rupee i.e The Digital Rupee, and is exchangeable one-to-one at par with the fiat currency. It will be similar to other CBDCs that are being developed by central banks around the world, such as the “Sand Dollar” in the Bahamas and the “e-krona” in Sweden.

The Sand Dollar was issued by the Central Bank of the Bahamas in October 2020 and was the first nationwide CBDC in the world while China was the world’s first major economy to pilot a digital currency in April 2020. 105 countries, representing over 95 percent of global GDP, are exploring a CBDC and 10 countries have fully launched a digital currency whereas 19 of the G20 countries are exploring a CBDC, with 16 already in the development or pilot stage and have made significant progress lately.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 7, 2022 released a concept note on India’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). RBI will soon begin the pilot launch of the digital rupee for specific use cases. The concept note explains the objectives, choices, benefits, and risks of issuing a CBDC in India. The aim is to have a more efficient way of conducting monetary policy and to reduce the cost of printing and circulating physical currency.

How is Digital Rupee different from Cryptocurrency:

A cryptocurrency is a type of decentralized digital asset and a medium of exchange based on a blockchain. However, it has mostly been controversial because of its decentralized nature, which means that transactions are handled by either party without the help of financial institutions such as banks, governments, or corporations.

As a result, cryptocurrency is not subject to government or business manipulation. The digital rupee however will be a legal tender issued by the Reserve Bank of India and will, therefore, be backed by the government. CBDC provides customers with a secure digital currency that will provide them legitimate benefits while avoiding the threats related to dealing in private cryptocurrencies. According to the Reserve Bank of India, a CBDC will be a centralized digital currency issued by the central bank. It will not be a cryptocurrency as it will have all the characteristics of fiat money.

Benefits of CBDC:

CBDC has the potential to revolutionize the way we use money and make transactions. RBI has continuously reported money laundering, terror financing, tax evasion, and many more problems with private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, etc. CBDC is regarded as a secure alternative to private virtual currencies.

It will make transactions faster and more efficient and will help reduce costs associated with traditional banking methods. CBDC could help expand financial inclusion by giving everyone access to banking services. CBDC will help increase transparency and reduce corruption in the banking system and it will also increase competition between banks and may improve the services they offer.

Concerns around CBDC:

While CBDCs have been in development for several years, they have yet to be fully implemented anywhere in the world.

CBDCs could offer a number of benefits over traditional fiat currencies, including improved speed and efficiency of financial transactions, increased security, and greater inclusion of underserved populations in the financial system. However, CBDCs also come with a number of risks and challenges, which need to be carefully considered before any decision is made to launch a national CBDC.

Some of the key concerns around CBDCs include their potential impact on monetary policy, financial stability, and privacy. CBDC could lead to even more cyber threats and privacy concerns. Lack of digital literacy is also a concern, as the majority of the population is not digitally literate and they will find it difficult to protect themselves from cybercrime. Additionally, there are significant technical challenges associated with designing and implementing a CBDC, which need to be addressed before any launch can take place.

Wayforward :

Obviously, there are inherent risks, but overall these risks must be weighed against the desired benefits. The banking information in the centralized database is high-risk, and robust security precautions will be required to stop it from being found by cybercriminals. The financial services collected by the government in digital currency transactions will be sensitive in nature, and it will be necessary to carefully think about the regulatory structure for optimal design.

This will require close interaction between the banking and data protection regulators. The Reserve Bank of India would endeavor to uphold its leadership status in payment systems, as we intend to move toward the implementation of our banking reforms.

Conclusion :  The RBI’s enthusiasm for blockchain technology is well-founded and RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a good idea in theory, but there are many practical problems that need to be addressed before it can be implemented. The most important of these is the issue of scalability; the RBI will need to find a way to ensure that the CBDC can handle large volumes of transactions without becoming bogged down.

Additionally, the RBI will need to develop a clear policy on how the CBDC will interact with other existing digital currencies, such as Bitcoin. Until these and other issues are addressed, the CBDC remains nothing more than an interesting concept.

India’s chronic disease burden requires the behavioural science approach

Abhishek Pandey
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India’s chronic disease burden requires the behavioural science approach

Technology is shaping the future of healthcare, providing massive breakthroughs in precision medicines, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare delivery. But despite these innovations, one in every five Indians below 45 years of age is exposed to at least one morbid condition. According to the first Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) released by the Union Ministry of Family and Health Welfare in 2020, the percentage of people without morbidity consistently declined with age.

Most of the chronic illnesses in India attributes to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, bone/joint diseases, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung diseases and psychiatric conditions. Behavioural patterns such as behavioural excesses and deficits significantly contribute to these chronic health conditions. Hence, behavioural interventions are the most effective approach to countering the rising chronic illness in India.

Behavioural deficits are those behaviours that are under-performed, such as physical activity, healthcare-seeking behaviours, and adherence to prescribed medical regimes. In contrast, behavioural excesses are behaviours performed too often, such as eating unhealthy diets, smoking, and substance use. Behavioural science, which merges psychological theories with economics, can resolve the paradox of irrational choices adopted by humans.

However, the very challenge in making behavioural interventions work is information asymmetry. Individuals choosing unhealthy over healthy options often do so because of the high immediate satisfaction compared to more probabilistic benefits after an uncertain delay. For instance, opting to eat unhealthy junk foods for immediate gratification compared to eating healthy foods whose benefits can be realised in an uncertain future.

Such skewed and irrational decision-making occurs due to exogenous variables such as motivation, quality, urgency, personal tastes and preferences, lifestyle, etc. One way to overcome these behavioural barriers is health literacy.

Health literacy refers to the level of literacy that individuals possess to understand and translate health information to protect, maintain and improve one’s health by making the right choices. Indeed many studies have shown an improvement in health behaviour in chronic illness due to health literacy resulting in desirable health outcomes.

The behavioural intervention framework is one such potential and cost-effective approach to augment health literacy among the growing population of India. The intervention involves constructing health messages and communication strategies tailored to match personal characteristics and delivered by trusted authorities. Though there are several practices for achieving this, using the COM-B model of behaviour is the most robust behavioural framework.

The COM-B model proposes that a specific behaviour occurs due to the interaction between Capability, Opportunity and Motivation. Thus, each of these individual components drives behaviour and targets altogether to promote the desired behaviour.

Capability in COM-B Model

Capability refers to the individual’s knowledge and skills to promote behaviour. It aims to reduce information asymmetry by comprehensively providing appropriate information to avoid misinterpretation. Health messages should be simple, lucid and engaging because individuals are less likely to engage with complex information.

The messages should provide information on possible risks and benefits of health behaviours. It is essential to gauge the existing literacy levels, socio-cultural factors, dissemination platforms, and local practices to achieve this. For instance, motivating individuals to follow a healthy diet and regular exercise requires organising a training session to inform the learning of that behaviour that may augment their capabilities.

Opportunity in COM-B Model

Opportunity refers to all the external factors that facilitate a behaviour. It includes physical opportunity, social opportunity and opportunity within the environment. Just focusing on providing information alone may not achieve the desired behaviour. There could be social norms or physical resources that could hinder the practice of desired behaviour. For instance, an individual may be aware of the benefits of regular exercise. Still, monetary issues or lack of companionship, i.e. social opportunity, could be a barrier to their participation. In such cases, free exercise classes can encourage people to attend, overriding these barriers.

Motivation in COM-B Model

Motivation refers to all the internal factors that drive behaviour. If capability and opportunity exist to influence one’s behaviour, their motivation to adopt the desired behaviour increases. Motivation could be either reflective or automatic. Reflective motivation involves making plans and evaluating the outcomes, whereas automatic motivation depends on desires, wants and impulses. For instance, to instil the behaviour of adopting a healthy diet, the health message can use reflective motivation to highlight the benefits of performing that behaviour.

Behaviour in COM-B Model

If all the above individual components are successfully implemented, the individual’s behaviour will change to the desired behaviour. Thus, the COM-B model shows how a robust behavioural science framework can link knowledge, attitude and practices into a new behaviour of healthy lifestyle practices. It will reduce the chronic illness burden among Indians, and they may experience a range of health and social benefits.

Health behaviour is an ongoing problem and will not be resolved in the short run. It is not wise to rely only on technology to reduce the chronic disease burden. Instead, we all need to acknowledge the significant role of health literacy in the coming years and work to counter irrational health behaviours at every level, from individual to societal. It will not be an overnight task but would require collaboration and investments among stakeholders to achieve the desired behaviour in the long run.

Snatching from ‘deserved’ and gifting to ‘reserved’

PRIYASH PRABHU DESAI
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Snatching from ‘deserved’ and gifting to ‘reserved’

The Reservation Policy was meant for reserving some seats in education and jobs for the backward section and to bring in socio-economic equality in Indian society. It is that topic which the Politicians always gave the cold shoulder to. But I believe that this policy is slowly and steadily hollowing out our system. Isn’t it time for it to be redefined ? How long will it continue?

Reservation was coined before the independence by the Maharajas of the princely states, intellectuals in order to reduce  the discriminatory practices carried out by the upper class. Post Independence Dr. B.R . Ambedkar drafted this policy in the constitution. It was initially introduced only for 10 years in order to uplift the socially and educationally backward classes. But for the vote bank the then ruling party extended it in the name of elevating the backward classes and lowering the discrimination.

The article 15(4),16(4) provides reservation of seats to socially and educationally backward in the Government Jobs. Article 15(5) provides reservation of seats in the education sector and article 334 provides reservation in legislature. The total reservation quota comprises 60% with SC,ST, OBC, EWS Section holding 15%,7.5%, 27%,10 % share respectively. This type of affirmative action is also present in foreign nations like the US, Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka etc. 

In India according to Article 15 the Caste System is abolished but the irony of the story is that the same caste system is used as a criterion for the reservation policy in India. 

Injustice to merit is natural, this is what reservation means. A person with 45% is chosen for the seat in IIT keeping out the 85% candidate just because of his/her caste . The disadvantage of this system is some people or considerably teens/ youths are just relying on reservation to get the seat in education or job, they are not focusing on merit which is in turn making them indolent. Also it created an enmity between the reserved and unreserved category.

In this system, opulent people from the backward section also take the privileges, depriving the more deserving candidate of his or her rights.Earlier, due to this policy, a person from the general category was not able to get a seat or job , even if he/she was more poor and deserving than a rich and underserved person from the reserved category.But now with the introduction of Economical Weaker Section in the reservation system in 2021, there is some relief.

The conclusion of the whole narrative can be that reservation shall not be ended but it should be redesigned , revised. Like Bill Clinton once said “Mend it, don’t end it.” The redesigning can be like these: Change the whole caste based reservation to income based reservation so that each and every person regardless of caste but with lower financial ability can avail reservation. The Family Income can be the parameter. Another parameter can be the region the person belongs to.

A person from a more backward region should get more privileges. Moreover the government should set a time period for these affirmative action. I believe that 70 Years were more than enough to uplift any section of society. Reservation shall also not be provided perpetually to generation after generation, because it takes the right of the more deserving candidate of the same section. Moreover, the government should also focus on the infrastructure and should also provide the educational resources needed for the backward section, which can be one way to uplift the lower section of the society.

I believe that all the ruling parties in the last 75 years just used reservation as a gimmick to gratify the backward section in order to gain votes.  Now it’s time for the current ruling party to redefine, revise the decades old Reservation System. A new Reservation System for new India. 

Just a Bhakt’s Dream!

vigoe
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Just a Bhakt’s Dream!

Narendra Modi is a megalomaniac and a facist!

If you have not been living under the rock for last 8 years, you would have heard this almost every other minute on a daily basis. The leftist-Islamist ecosystem has been trying its best to convince Modi supporters and voters that Modi is a megalomaniac so much so that they have been calling every one Bhakt who does not hate him.

A bhakt is someone who believes in the divinity and believes that the deity/person is capable of performing miracles which is beyond the capability of an ordinary man. Narendra Modi has already shown us many such miracles, be it ardent Iftaar-waadis chanting “Chandi Path”, or opposers of Ram Mandir offering free darshan to all through taxpayers’ money, or those who divided India geographically/linguistically/intellectually are taking out marches to unite the nation. Many such miracles have made many people behave as Bhakt for such feats were unthinkable for an average Hindu before 2014. So, as a Bhakt I want to request for one more miracle which I believe only he can make come true.

The Dream!

The 2023 50-over cricket world cup is going to be held in India at around October-November. Pakistan has already threatened India that if India decides to not to travel to Pakistan for Asia cup to be held before the world cup then they would consider boycotting the world cup. Irrespective of Pakistan’s decision, what India should do is to deny Pakistan team the entry in India and shift all their matches to a neighbouring country, let’s say, Sri Lanka. If they want to participate in the world cup then they would have to play all their matches in Sri Lanka, otherwise dont participate in the mega event at all.

There it is. Since I am not from the Leftist-Islamist ilk, I would not talk about something for the sake of it but would like to propose the means to achieve it. This is a difference between a Bhakt and a ‘ist’ person which I would like to maintain. So lets talk about how can this dream be achieved.

Take the first step!

Its almost a year before the mega event so its the right time to take the first step especially given the wind of cricket flowing in the country due to T20 world cup. A small party should raise the demand that they will not allow the Pakistan to visit India during 2023 world cup. Issue threats of disrupting the matches, raise the Nationalist tempers, etc etc. Shiv Sena, now Shinde Sena, or MNS would be the perfect candidate to take this issue up due to their history with the subject. Uddhav Sena can also take the lead if they want to revive their old Hindutava image. Given the Nationalist fervour going on for last few years, nobody would openly oppose this demand specially considering the 2024 general elections. In fact, it can become a very big poll plank for the BJP and other Hindutava parties. Once the temperatures are raised, ask few of your state governments like Maharashtra, UP, Gujarat, Assam, etc to declare publicly that they dont want BCCI to schedule any Pakistan matches in their state. This would really make it a big national issue.

Get BCCI onboard

Although BCCI politics is slowly tilting towards BJP, there are many state associations and power centres which are inimical to them so they would need to make sure entire BCCI get behind on this plan after all they would be the foot soldiers to achieve this diplomatic blow. Most of the inimical power centres would refrain from coming out openly but would use ex-cricketers to peddle the age-old narrative of not mixing sports and politics.

This argument can be easily countered by arguing that Pakistan has already breached this red line when Mohammad Rizwan read Namaz on the field after beating the Indian team; when Waqar Younis claimed it to be a beautiful sight; when they talked about breaking of ‘Kufr’ after they beat India for the first time in the world cup; when almost all their ex-cricketers have claimed that they tried converting Indian and other Nationality cricketers to Islam; when their ex-cricketers talk about Kashmir fairly regularly. Social Media is already in uproar against these things.

They will tear apart any one who would try to take a principle stand of not mixing politics, cricket and religion. If those power centres inimical to BJP try to raise other obstacles, they can be sorted out using the carrot-and-stick approach of offering incentives like more matches, or more revenues, or by threatening to reduce the matches, etc.

How to get ICC onboard

The major step would be to get ICC and cricket board members on your side. This is going to be difficult but can be done. First, the ICC chairmanship is going to change soon and its almost given that a BCCI choice will get the position. Most of the member boards would be easy to convince specially the associate and small members like Netherlands, Scotland, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, etc by promising their players more exposure to IPL or by promising more matches with the Indian team (this can easily be promised as India can field 3 teams of International standard at the same time so why not send teams to multiple countries at the same time). India will have to convince 3 big boards – England, Australia and South Africa.

South Africa would be easy given the relations between the two boards, the economic situation they are in and their new T20 league, which they are looking as their saviour, being almost completely owned by Indian companies. Australia would be a little tricky but given the good relations between the two governments, CA can be arm twisted to agree to this plan. Toughest cookie to crack would be England. A little help from Rishi Sunak can seal the deal which India can get by leveraging FTA deal between the two countries.

A lot of politics and power game will have to played but Mota bhai would have no problem with that. He can also take this as a teaching moment for the junior! ICC, on its part, cannot imagine holding a world cup without India given almost 90% of the revenue is because of the Indian team. They cannot threaten to take away the world cup from India. India can offer a middle path by calling this world cup as India, Sri Lanka joint event and asking Pakistan to play all its matches in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka would happily support the idea because of the amount of revenue it would bring. This would seem a reasonable compromise for the ICC specially coming from the country that generates 90% of its revenue.

Pakistan and PCB

Pakistan would definitely not keep quiet amid all this. Not just because of the loss of reputation but also because Cricket is one of last remaining prides for the common Pakistani citizens. All other institutions have been decimated be it their hockey team, Army, judiciary, education, etc. It would not be an overstatement if this could prove to be the last nail in the coffin before Pakistan explodes internally. So Pakistan would fight tooth and nail to thwart any such attempt by the Indian side. So how would India manage the noise raised by the Pakistan which they are very good at.

First, PCB cannot do much. They have zero power in the ICC. Its chief, Rameez Raza, is on record to say that PCB essentially runs by the money generated by the Indian team through ICC. Pakistan team does not have any mega star like yesteryears and nobody is going to miss seeing Babar Azam or Shaheen Afridi, no matter how much Pakistanis try to compare them with Kohli or Bumrah. So PCB is not a threat.

Second, the Pakistan govt or rather the Pakistan establishment would get involved directly. They would plead to their western masters about Democracy, world order, sportsmanship, morality, etc etc; basically about everything under the sun to shake their conscience. Their biggest target would be US and UK. Indian diplomacy headed by Dr. Jaishankar should be able to counter any such plan by the Pakistan govt. Nobody would be interested in upsetting India over cricket given the economic situation in most of these countries. But India can do more!

India should engage with Imran Khan and his party (although he would not need any reason to take up this issue) to raise the political temperature in Pakistan using this issue. Given Imran Khan’s popularity and his background of cricket, he would see this as an issue which can topple the existing government and get him back to power.

So he would be chuffed about Pakistan government not being able to stop this proposal from coming to fruition. But if there is an iota of doubt in his mind, India should step in to seal the deal. Imran Khan is akin to Arvind Kejriwal who would not think twice before selling his country if it means that he can get back to power. So it would not be difficult to bring him onboard. He can make sure that Pakistan does not boycott the world cup despite being humiliated so much.

Manage Local Politics

Although there would be no major backlash against the government’s decision to play politics on this topic but there would be plenty of noise from the perpetual ‘Andolanjeevis’ or by the ‘Aman ki Asha’ gang or by Islamists. All these cannot do much politically but just be noise makers at best. It would not be difficult to counter them politically. BJP can go a step ahead by openly choosing a person for the ICC chairmanship who would be onboard with such a proposal.

Given the open batting by Mamata Banerjee for Sourav Ganguly for the post, BJP can make it a big issue in Bengal as well and lend a big blow to Mamata Banerjee as she would neither be able to oppose such a proposal because of the fear of backlash by the Nationalists (which are in plenty in Bengal) nor could she support it because of the fear of loosing the Islamists vote bank.

Conclusion

Though its a far fetched dream but I do hope it comes true. This issue can become a major poll plank for BJP. It can help Narendra Modi roar back to power with even a bigger majority than 2019. So, Narendra Damordas Modi, if you are a megalomaniac as leftists-Islamists accuse you of, please give us Bhakts to enjoy this spectacle, watch this miracle unfold and taste the sweetness of victory.

Only you can!

India of Mughal, Brit and Nehru

Dr Jadabeswar Bhattacharjee
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India of Mughal, Brit and Nehru

The Mughal dynasty ruled India for 235 years from AD 1526 to AD 1761. The British East India Company and Britain ruled India for 190 years from AD 1757 to AD 1947. Both were invaders. While Mughals stayed back in India after their defeat in the hands of Marathas and then British East India Company, Brits went back to their Home following the independence of India in AD 1947.

In the case of Mughals, it was not any special love for India to remain here. They left their Home, in Ferghana of Eastern Uzbekistan, permanently when they got settled in their new kingdom of India. So, they had no Home to go back to. The period from AD 1526 to AD 1947 covers the late medieval and early modern periods of Indian histories. This total period of 421 years just preceded the formation of the present independent country of India and has a special significance to all Indians of today.

The narrative in independent India about Mughals and Brits is, by and large, good. Sometimes, the narrative even becomes acclamation. Is such development in the narrative due to the effect of Stockholm Syndrome or not, is a contentious issue. Both the Mughals and Brits were rulers of India who came from outside. And they ruled India for serving their interests. Both had exploited India. But such exploitations were subtle and over the decades and centuries.

In 16th century, during the beginning of the Mughal era, India’s GDP was about 25 percent of the world’s economy. But it dropped to 2 percent, when India got independence in 1947. Proper scientific estimation of drainage of India’s resources in Mughal time was not done. But, as per research-estimation, it is found that Britishers, during 190 years of their rule, drained about 45 trillion of Dollars from India in today’s valuation.

The most impressive element of the Mughal prowess was its innovation inthe use of gunpowder weapons. Their portable cannons could move across battlefields easily; their explosives could destroy city walls, and the elite Mughal infantry units could use their effective small arms to defend and expand the empire in India.

After about 1700 years of Mauryan Empire, the Mughals empire almost brought the entire Indian subcontinent under one domain, drawing the subcontinent’s regions together through enhanced overland and coastal administrative, trading and political networks. Besides military and political engagements, the Mughals had built their empire by making good use of India’s resources, developing its production capacity, and supporting a very rich Muslim-dominated trade system within the empire and in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.

Developments in educational, economic, infrastructure and technological fields were insignificant in the Mughal era. Promotion of Islamic education got the utmost importance and foreign languages like Farsi and Arbi were liberally patronised. Tens of thousands of Mosques were constructed in every nook and corner of the Mughal empire. Persecution of Hindus, their conversion and destruction of Hindu temples were commonplace in Mughal period. Mughals also streamlined the land revenue system to extract a higher rate of taxes from the poor people.

A critical look shows that Mughals drained out huge amounts of India’s wealth in form of gift, presentation, allegiance-money and donation to Islamic Caliphates outside India and to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on a regular basis. During the Mughal era, on an average, 15,000 pilgrims from the empire visited Mecca to perform Hajj every year.

According to a Mughal official, these pilgrims went on Hajj “at great public expense, with gold and goods and rich presents”. Mughal emperors sponsored the pilgrimage to “stand out as defenders of Islam”. This religious sponsorship began after Akbar conquered Gujarat in 1573 and the Mughal Empire got access to the port of Surat. An imperial edict proclaimed that “the traveling expenses of anybody who might intend to perform Hajj should be paid”.

Mughals are now more known for their grandly constructed forts, burial tombs, mosques and gardens in different parts of the empire, which were made important landmarks and tourist spots in independent India. Mughals are also credited for promoting the Islam centric Ganga Jamuni Tehzib during the second half of eighteenth century. It was a major attempt to romanticize and whitewash the cruel Islamization of India in the Mughal rule.

In comparison, Brits gave India numerous good things in the form of Western education, effective administrative structure, judiciary, formal revenue system, railway, postal service, telegraph, bridge and road, tea industry, school, college, university, medical and engineering college, job opportunity and modern democracy etc.

But, all such positive contributions of Brits had no intention of developing India. Those were done to increase their business interest in India and to create a class of Indians, who would be helping the British needs in India and enable them to continue exploitation of the country too. The benefits Indians got from above-mentioned developments were collateral. Besides, British rule also introduced Christian Missionaries for conversion activities which are still going on in the country. Brits were notorious for killing, torturing and imprisoning thousands of Indian freedom fighters.

Moreover, when Brits left India in 1947, they ensured the division of the country before transferring power. They left the present independent India a poor, illiterate and sharply divided society on the basis of caste, class and religion. Those social fault-lines were enhanced and used by the Brits to their fullest advantage during their rule. They also handed over the power, on 15 August 1947, to their Brown Indian counterparts to run independent India with a colonial mind-set.

This colonial mind-set, over the past seven decades, has led to the formation of Panch Makkar in India. This term was coined by The Jaipur Dialogues. The five constituents of Panch Makkar include: Mulla, Missionary, Marxist, Macaulay’s children and Media.

It is an informal conglomeration of five disruptive and anti-national groups of Indians. Its intent is to destabilize India from behind the façade of Secular Democracy. The gang of Panch Makkar wants to make India its conforming Client state. It also wants India to outsource its autonomy to the gang.

Communal disharmony between Hindus and Muslims of independent India was given a new utopian dimension by the ruling Congress Party led by Nehru by aligning with the Muslims. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, was extra-sensitive about Indian Muslims. He believed and said that it was the majority community of Hindus of India, who was to support the Islamic interests of Indian minority Muslims.

But it is not understood why Nehru accepted partition and creation of Islamic Pakistan through one of the worst bold baths of history? He (and Gandhi) could have handed over the political power of undivided India to Muslim League. That would have served the causes of minority Muslims best.

Even after the partition of British India in 1947, what was the fun in Nehru’s becoming the first Prime Minister of independent India with so much worry about minority Muslims? Maulana Azad or any other Muslim Congress leader could have been given that post. The Indian constitution could have reserved the posts of Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Home Minister for Muslims only. That way, Indian National Congress of Nehru could be spared of its perpetual anxiety about Indian Muslims.

The present Congress MP Sri Shashi Tharoor, who is neglected by Sonia Gandhi these days, says that he is an intellectual and not anti-Modi or anti-India. But Sri Tharoor remains a proponent of unreasonable Nehruvian leaning towards Indian Muslims. On the other hand, the newly elected Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other leading Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and P Chidambaram are grossly pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu.

Taking the cue from the Congress, all the so-called Regional Secular(?) political parties of India like AAP, SP, BSP, RJD, JDU, NCP, TRS, YSR Congress and TMC have started crying for Muslim causes and interests to serve the vote bank politics. Majority community of Indian Hindus is thus clueless, why did they get independence? 

But India has started turning around from AD 2014 to shake-off the impact of 488 years (AD 1526 to AD 2014) of exploitations and subjugations by Mughals, Brits and Indian Brown Sahibs, as well as, Islamic dominance in India. Gradually, but in a determined manner, present India is trying to reclaim its indigenous glory and heritage of benign Indic Civilization which is at least five thousand years old.

T20 World Cup Final! An outstanding treat for the audience

Anant Chetan
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T20 World Cup Final! An outstanding treat for the audience

Pakistan lost to England in the T20 World Cup final, but this was a match worth watching. No, this is not a satire or in sarcasm, I really mean it. I don’t understand why Indians are so happy at England’s victory or Pakistan’s loss in this final. I do think we should give credit where it is due. And the fact is that even though Pakistan lost the game, but their game much better than the English game. It was tough luck for Pakistan today! There was nothing worth noting in the first innings of the game. It was a pretty normal game.

Also read: This is why Rohit Sharma is different!

England won the toss and chose to bowl first. Pakistan with an average batting line up, managed to score a mere total of 137 in twenty overs. It was not that English bowlers were outstanding, it was Pakistan’s batting was like India’s batting, lacking both technique and consistency. Pakistani Batsmen kept giving away their wickets simply trying to slog the ball out of the stadium. Mohammad Rizwan (15 off 14) was the first one to go back to pavilion. He swung the bat to hit a delivery going a feet outside the off stump and got an inside edge and bowled.

Mohammad Haris (8 off 12 ) after a few hard hits; look the ball and hit the ball kind was next in line to return to the pavilion. Caught on mid-on while trying to slog Rashid Ali for a maximum. Rashid Ali also got Babar Azam (32 off 28) caught and bold, this indeed was a brilliant googly bowled, which Babar Azam failed to read. This was the only wicket, that was a result of a wicket taking ball. All others were batsmen making mistakes as if playing club cricket.

Ben Stokes then got rid of Iftikhar Ahmed caught behind on a straight delivery which did not move an inch in or out. But the batsman nicked the ball and keeper didn’t make a mistake. A Golden Duck!!

Shaan Masood (38 off 28) and Shadab Khan (20 off 14) tried building something that might have looked like a partnership but Shaan ended up giving an easy catch on deep mid wicket to initiate a collapse of the Pakistan’s flawed batting line up. Shaan then Shadab then Mohammad Nawaz (5 off 7) then Mohammad Wasim (4 off 8) all returned to pavilion in a few minutes in the similar fashion. Catching Practice for English fielder! It was not the bowling that was doing the trick it was the batsman who had no clue what was happening.

At this point, it looked like it was a one sided match.

However, Pakistan’s bowlers showed an outstanding class. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say Pakistan has the best bowling attack in this tournament.

In the very first over, on the fifth delivery, Alex Hales (1 off 2) was clean bowled by a brilliant in-swinger by Shaheen Shah Afridi. It was a serious wicket taking delivery. It was treat to look at! Left arm over the wicket good length ball pitched in line of the middle stump and swung inwards, hitting the pads and clean bowled. Loved it!! Would have been very difficult for any batsmen to play that one.

Naseem Shah struggled a bit in the beginning. I didn’t know he along with Haris Rauf could bowl 145kph consistently. Haris Rauf got rid of Phil Salt (10 off 9). A slightly short pitched quick delivery (146 kmph) nothing fancy, batsman trying to pull over the mid wicket but mistimed and got caught instead. Pace can do wonders but when it comes to Indians I don’t know why no body wants pacers in the team. “Oh pacers give away runs” is what I hear. Had it been a 130 Kmph, the very same line and length would have been sent to boundary simply because the batsman would have had more time to play the shot.

One of the biggest reasons, why India chokes in big tournament, it has always been, it is and it will continue to do so is that it never invests in fast bowlers. Even this time the after match analysis is flawed “Indian players should play more overseas“. This is just a diversion. Pakistan had almost defended 138, India failed to defend 170 and would have failed to defend 200 as England scored 170 in just 16 overs, they would have reached 220 had they played complete 20 overs. India played with no leg spinner, and no pacer who had any abilities to bowl aggressive; aggressive with the ball not with the mouth.

Also read: Everything is not fine with Team India

Anyways coming back to the final. Later Haris Rauf got Jos Buttler (26 off 17) caught behind on another quicker one with some outswing just enough to get an edge. This was a good delivery. English batsmen were struggling playing these bowlers. Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah were bowling lethal delivers, quick and swinging. Naseem was effortlessly bowling dots like it was a child’s play. The batsmen absolutely were getting beaten up on each and every delivery.

Later Shadab got Harry Brook (20 off 23) caught on covers by Afridi where Afridi hurt his knee. And here is where I think Pakistan started losing. Shaheen Shah Afridi had bowled only two overs so far and wasn’t able to bowl his two left overs. This was sad. The captain Babar Azam had to find a bowler who could fill in, but there wasn’t one. Iftikhar bowled five balls and got 13 runs and the team lost all the momentum. Never came back from there! I think the thought “how are they going to make up for Afridi’s two overs” killed the entire confidence. The team lost the game right then, as Afridi walked out of the ground.

Moin Ali (19 off 13 )was clean bowled by Wasim, but Ben stokes finished the game in style. Winning and losing is a part of game, but Pakistan’s bowling was world class and was worth watching.

Pakistan’s bowling figures look like this:

I was getting disappointed about the quality of cricket going on, especially the way Indian Cricket team has been performing. I am not at all talking about if they won or lost, I am talking about the quality of bowling, batting, fielding and captaincy. Indian Cricket team is a mess on all the fronts. And that’s why the games look like gamble; if its our day we win or else we surrender. Indian Cricket team and staff should take a look at how Pakistan is honing their fast bowlers. I hope humiliating defeats like the one against England in Semi-finals would shake the management off its deep sleep.

Also read: Unpredictable Cricket

Thanks for reading!

Free electricity in Delhi: Just another bluff?

Kaveri Madhak
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Free electricity in Delhi: Just another bluff?

It is to be noted that a government whose campaign strategies are based on feeble grounds like “free” electricity, food etc. can never have a long-term vision. Is electricity all that we need? Or are there some serious issues to be taken into consideration before choosing our leader? Well, according to Arvind Kejriwal, electricity is the sole weapon to fight the elections.

In a recent rally in Gujarat, a video of his speech showed that he promised 300 units of free electricity from March 2023. But before falling for these freebies it should be noted that Arvind Kejriwal has failed miserably in delivering his promises in Delhi.

According to an RTI filed dated July 28, 2022, Electricity bill charges of Delhi Chief Minister’s residence is Rs. 29840/- for the month of June 2022. The one who boasts of giving 300 free units of electricity to people, is himself consuming 878 units of electricity which is Rs. 33.99/- per unit! This is his so-called Delhi Model! Where leaders have a gala time using public’s money.

With these fake-freebie promises, Arvind Kejriwal is not only trying to buy the crowd but also making a clown out of himself. The public today is expecting more serious and important issues to be dealt with instead of drooling over free electricity! Arvind Kejriwal is trying to fool the people of that state which never went out of electricity and has electricity in abundance. This video will crack you up and also make you realise at the same time that people of Gujarat are in no need of “free electricity”.

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