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Priyanka Gandhi ‘Vadra’ took a wrong step

G Indira
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Priyanka Gandhi ‘Vadra’ took a wrong step

Priyanka was ill-advised.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her husband Robert Vadra to the Enforcement Directorate Office for questioning in a money laundering case. To the extent of accompanying her husband to the place of destination as a wife none questions as long as she remained (only) as a wife to her husband. Now she is the General Secretary of the Congress party and that was her first day in office. Some bigwigs in the Congress might have advised her- by this accompanying with her husband- she would appear as a loyal devoted Indian wife (a Pativrata kind) who follows her hubby through thick and thin. This act would impress the Uttar Pradesh traditional Hindu woman better, they (the party advisors) might have felt.

However, the Liberal media has another version: they say that she was sending a signal to the ruling BJP that she would not care for their moves and she is out to defend her “innocent” husband who is unnecessarily victimised in the vendetta politics of the ruling. Priyanka also once said the same that her husband was being a victim of political vendetta (in 2014 elections) and again now.

In 2014, ‘Daamad ji’ (son-in-law of great lineage) amassing wealth was a political issue though the Congress defended him being a private person then. Before the election results of 2014, the hush-ups and manipulations to hide the deals might have taken place since Haryana and Rajasthan were in the Congress’ hand. Politicians of the Congress party would not mind stooping to any level to shield the “first family” as their survival in politics depends solely on that family.

Priyanka not only accompanied her husband to ED office but also stated, “He is my husband, he is my family…I stand by him. I stand by my family.” This is atrocious. She should clarify what is meant by “stand by him” in the first place. Stand by the taint he brought to the family or stand by the charges leveled on him or whatever scandals he does in business. Priyanka cannot think people are so naive like they were in her grandmother’s time.

Priyanka should question her conscience in good faith how her husband’s wealth has swollen after getting married to her. She should also question her conscience whether her husband used the privilege of being the son-in-law of the powerful political family and used his influence to progress in his business. Priyanka also should know that people who have access to power are looked at cynically by the public and perceive their excessive riches as ill-gotten. However much in the forth coming campaign she wails before the people the charges against her husband are out of vendetta politics, no body buys her theory, for, Robert Vadra is no saint in the minds people. There is a strong probability and possibility of him misusing the power.

Proof or no proof, his image is a maligned one. By association with him, she and her husband, both appear thieves hand in hand. The goody-goody pativrata talk of Priyanka with a western outfit would not appeal to her traditional eastern Uttar Pradesh voters. Once the same Priyanka Vadra (in her western thinking) found fault (in 2017 campaign) with the prime minister Modi’s views on women: treating them like a ‘sister, daughter or a mother’ not as an individual. In the culture of Bharat, prime minister Modi’s way of relationships are correct. Now, what happened to Priyanka’s individuality suddenly? According to law wife and husband are treated as two individuals. If the husband is corrupt he is punished not the wife and vice versa. So, where is the question of standing by one’s husband?

Finally, her brother Rahul Gandhi dawned Desi outfits and Hinduised to please Hindi heartland people during the assembly elections, what would Priyanka do, is to be watched. However, ‘standing by’ a (perceptibly) strongly corrupt husband may not go down well with the people of UP, for, in the minds of public ‘perception’ is the reality.

Is it time for a change in Bengal?

yashrawat28
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Is it time for a change in Bengal?

It has been ten long years since I had been to the land of Tagore. I was mesmerized the last time when I resided for a week there at my relative’s house. Rooms were small and the streets were crowded like a daily Sunday market of UP suburbs still there was a sense of certain peace and sanctity.

The latest News I heard from the Land of Charm was rather uncharming after the White clad Police had a major conflict outside the residence of Kolkata Police Commissioner with some CBI Officials, who allegedly were on a “Secret Mission”. This whole situation is being portrayed as an another Centre-State friction, which is quite common in Didi Raj.

The Centre-State juggle seemed to up the ante of rare and unseen flicks in Indian politics that has been established since 2014.

I am just fed up of TMC aristocrats making a mockery of Bengal! – The statement is of a friend of mine who lives over there and apparently he suggested that Bengalis have a deep resentment in their hearts against Didi Ji which surely explains the enormous numbers in the rally held by the Prime Minister!

The men born from this soil which comprised of Neta Ji (not the UP one), Rash Beharee Bose and many countless others who had a great contribution in the National freedom struggle. There was a time when this beautiful place was recognised for the Knowledge it possessed and was always an epicenter for cultural revolution. But nowadays it really makes me tormented when I read in newspapers only things like Bengal’s communal riots, politically inspired violence and so called intellectuals (idiots) making things worse.

Painting Hindu goddesses nude is depicted as a freedom of expression. CM of another state who is definitely an Indian isn’t allowed to enter Bengal while illegal immigrants are catered warmly. CBI isn’t allowed to investigate important issues and more importantly this centre-state friction has only cost to the people of Bengal who are untouched by various progressive schemes such as Ayushmaan Bharat.

I feel sorry to say this but Didi Ji has just become like the Leftists, whom she once strived against in Bengal.

Is it not truly the time for a change in West Bengal?

Karunanidhi divided Hindu and Christian Nadar to defeat Kamaraj in 1969

S Ranganathan
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Karunanidhi divided Hindu and Christian Nadar to defeat Kamaraj in 1969

The by-election in Nagarkoil constituency in 1969 was a do or die political battle for Kamaraj.  M Karunanidhi (MK) the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at any cost wants to defeat Kamaraj to write his political obituary. That was the time Kanyakumari was about to be annexed with Tamil Nadu state. Kanyakumari was dominated by Christian population.

Sensing the opportunity to divide Hindu and Christian community for political advantage, MK made Dr Mathias to contest as DMK candidate against Kamaraj in Nagarkoil in 1969 and MK cleverly crafted and invoked caste and religion based politics to bring division between Hindu nadar and Christian nadar in Nagarkoil constituency in 1969. It was just two years since DMK had formed its first government in Tamil Nadu MK stooped to such politics of caste and religious division.

Further, MK even went to an extent of stating that Kamaraj was from Virudanagar and not from Naragkoil to portray Kamaraj as alien in Nagarkoil and asked the people of Nagarkoil to elect Mathias, the son of the soil and not Kamaraj. The third rate politics played by MK no political leader in the history of India would have stooped down so low for the political advantage. MK was then the chief minister of the state.

To galvanize support to Mathias under Christian tag, MK even did ask the Bishop of Catholic Church to influence the Christian people and may be due to the possible help and support from MK government for various activities of Christian missionaries including running schools, the Church and its Bishop agreed to indirectly campaign for DMK candidate Mathias.

But despite all efforts of MK, Kamaraj won with huge margin which MK had reduced through his statement that the by-election of 1969 in Nagarkoil was an election of “Nadar Mandra therdal” and not “Nadala mandra therdal” (election of Nadar community and not election of assembly). Instead of accepting the victory of Kamaraj gracefully and learn a lifelong lesson from the defeat that he would never indulge in caste hatred for election victory in future, he reduced the election to be a mere mockery by calling it as Nadar Mandra Therdal.

Although MK could not defeat Kamaraj but he could defeat the harmony between Christian and Hindus in down south and also could divide Hindu nadar and Christian nadar unity to a great extent.

As a reward to Mathias, MK made sure that the Kodumudiar dam was built without affecting the land and estate of Mathias. MK reduced the stature of the dam to the level of temple tank. The same MK when proposed to build Vaigai dam, evacuated villagers, acquired the land but while building Kodumudiar, more than the interest of Radhapuran farmers and other adjoining areas, gave utmost importance to protect the interest of Mathias.

Just for the political gain, how MK has infused religious disharmony, invoked the Virudhanagar identity of Kamaraj to portray Kamaraj as foreigner/ alien in Nagarkoil, compromised the Kodumudiar dam for the sake of Mathias, people of the present generation should learn.

Hate politics and politics of negativism against Hindus, God, Hindu culture, Brahmins were the foundations of Dravidian politics. Finally the Dravidian politics has reduced the state to dynastic rule and family politics.

People of Tamil Nadu, especially the first time voters must remember that this is their first and the best chance for them to save Tamil Nadu from the degenerating, dynastic politics of DMK. Tamil Nadu has been totally ruined by Dravidian brand politics and the vision of Amma and MGR along with the continuous guidance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone can save the state. Tamil Nadu must invite the politics of development and sab ka vikas initiatives of PM Modi. Similarly the state must be freed from dynastic rule, rule of corruption and nepotism.

Analyzing Union Interim Budget from agricultural point of view

shubham19
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Analyzing Union Interim Budget from agricultural point of view

Agriculture has been one of the most crucial sectors for national prosperity. The latest budget is rightly being hailed as farmer’s budget. The Interim budget 2019-2020 presented by interim Finance minister Piyush Goyal is a logical successor to previous four budgets presented by Arun Jaitely as far as the thrust on agriculture is concerned. Therefore, this budget must be seen in the context established by the last four NDA budgets. Last four years have seen an altogether different agricultural policy evolving gradually in an incremental manner targeting to increase the farmer’s income rather than the agricultural output.

The policy shift

Agriculture supports nearly 47% of country’s population in its various trades like fisheries, animal husbandry and obviously the crop-cultivation. Thus it provides employment, seasonal or perennial, direct or indirect, to a lion’s share of approximately half of the population. But, contributing only a mere 15% of the total GDP. This mismatch of employment to GDP ratio has been a big disturbing fact for the policy makers and economic experts since the independence. The Nehruvian socialist policies were largely focused on ‘pulling’ the people out of farming to be diverted to manufacturing sector. Agriculture was seen as a hopeless case. Post-Green revolution, once food self-sufficiency was achieved there was no need to focus singularly on increasing the production. But, unfortunately, all the policy reforms in this sector were primarily targeted at increasing the agricultural output.

A poor understanding of economics gave birth to the axiom that increased output would automatically result in increased income of the farmer. This understanding has been justifiably buried now. NDA identifies farmer’s income as its target. It became clear in 2014 itself when the ‘Agriculture Ministry’ was rechristened as ‘Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare ministry’ and ‘Food Processing ministry’ was separated from it to be taken care by another minister of Cabinet rank. Given the untapped potential of food-processing sector in producing employment, this move by PM Narendra Modi was a pleasant one.  Amid the ‘political chattering’ of yet to be proven ‘agricultural unrest’, today, the government is appearing to be ticking the right boxes for achieving the goal of a 100% increase in the farmer’s income by year 2022.

The major thrust of this budget on agriculture appeared most explicitly in the launching of “Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi”(PMKSN) , which got an allocation of rupees 75,000 crores to help farmers with small land holdings. This scheme provides 6,000 rupees to farmers having cultivable landholdings less than 2 hectares, which is more than  85% of the farmers. In a way, PMKSN covers for the basic input cost of agriculture. Bypassing the bureaucratic delays and corruption, this would be done by direct cash transfer in three installments of Rs. 2000 each. It would be better if the installments are transferred before the sowing seasons so that timely arrangement of seeds, fertilizers and labour is done. If this happens then it can prove out to be a very crucial step for saving the small farmers from falling into the debt trap.

PMKSN versus Karzmafi

PMKSN must be seen in contrast to the much romanticized ‘Karzmafi’ or the magic band of loan waivers. ‘Karzmafi’, howsoever good it is, as a political move but it is undoubtedly a bad move economy-wise, most of the times. It not only burdens the taxpayers and drain resources, it too eventually damages the agriculture in the long run by eliminating the chances of the use of the finances on development of agricultural infrastructure. While a loan waiver is a one time relief to those large and medium farmers who already have access to institutional loans, PMKSN is for farmers with smaller landholdings who have rarer chances of availing loans from banks.  From the point of view of an average agriculturist, PMKSN will prove out to be far more effective in uplifting the life standard and the income of the farmers than waiving off their loan debts.

Building on the foundations of previous steps

The previous NDA budgets had laid out certain important policy measures which have brought positive structural changes in creating a background for a scheme like PMKSN. Firstly, the introduction of ‘neem-coated’ urea not just increased the effectiveness of the major fertilizer it also dented the black-marketers of urea who were earlier illegally diverting the government- sponsored urea for farmers to urea-based industries . Then, the focus on digging of water-bodies in the rural areas under MNREGA has marginally helped in improving the availability of irrigation water. Though, it still requires a more impactful push, but it has shown great results in the drought-stricken areas of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) has regularly received healthy allocations in previous budgets. The construction of the link  roads connecting the villages to the nearest markets have increased the transportation facilities in the rural India. Need not to say that this has facilitated the farmer’s ability to sell his crops. More importantly, a direct exposure to sell market will help in development of commercial attitude in the farmers. The digital platform called ‘National Agricultural Market’ connecting major mandis of agricultural products have helped farmers in finding the highest price for their products.

The problem of mending loopholes in the minimum support pricing system is still needed to be corrected. There is a need to bring some more cereal crops and some cash crops in the minimum support pricing system. The MSP should be open to  revision  and flexibly increased in some specific regions depending on the success of crops in that region. The perennial problem of middleman taking away with all the profits has to be sought with a proper checking mechanism guarded by strict laws. Soil health cards generation have been a milestone in sustaining and checking the productivity and fertility of soil. Soil testing labs would require soil scientists thus would   generate employment countrywide.

Interim budget 2019-20 is a landmark budget for the vision of Mahatma Gandhi who considered cow as ‘ mother’ and ‘sacred’. This budget has hugely taken care of Directive Principles of State Policy wordings about cows. In that venture ‘Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog’ and ‘Rashtriya Gokul  Mission’ with a budget allocation of Rs.750 crores have been pioneered for protection and upgradation of indigenous breeds of cows. Also, the budget announced a 2% interest subvention to farmers pursuing animal husbandry and fisheries. Promotion of mixed farming suggests that the government intends to encourage the farmers to look for extra income through means other than conventional farm cultivation.

The way ahead

Mechanisms are being installed to make the farmer know about the health of his cultivable land and proper application of fertilizers. Government should focus more on informal education of farmers via extention workers and Krishi Vigyan Kendra scientists. Farmers should be trained to works on land improvement and in irrigation techniques e.g drip irrigation and use of sprinklers to minimize the water consumption for realizing the goal of ‘per drop, more crop’. More budget should be allocated in these ventures with the aim of creating mechanisms accessible to small farmers. Other conventional budgetary tools of directly helping farmers such as cash transfer benefits, interest rate subvention, Minimum Support Price regulations, waiving off loan debts are already in practice.

Now it is the high time to emphasize with dedication on some indirect intervention techniques like informal education of farmers, integrated nutrient management system, integrated pest management system. Value addition industries are also needed to be pampered and raised in order to process the farm products from agriculture sector. Government should look towards Food-Processing medium and small scale industries to help boosting our agriculture sector and sustaining it for longer period. The labour intensive nature of Food-processing industry can amply provide employment to rural youth and especially to women.

The interim budget 2109-2020 has provided various tools for curtailing farmer’s problems. It depends on their execution to see how much help they would do in addressing the problems of farmer suicides and support farmers to live with dignity and self respect throughout the year even during off season or bad production. ‘RASTRIYA KAMDHENU YOJANA’ and ‘RASTRIYA GOKUL MISSION’ will help cow regain her dignity who was called as ‘AGANYA’ which means sacred in Vedas. Thus, building on the foundations of previous budgets, this budget is the most farmer-friendly budget till date.

[Writer is a graduate of agricultural sciences from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences (Prayagraj, UP) estb. in 1906] [He can be reached at [email protected]]

Rise of EV Ramasamy Naicker and the fall of Tamil Nadu

S Ranganathan
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Rise of EV Ramasamy Naicker and the fall of Tamil Nadu

EV Ramasamy Naicker (EVR) is portrayed as ‘above God’ image by his so called disciples and the splinter political party that has established Dravidian dynasty and family rule in Tamil Nadu. But how true was EVR towards Dalit and for the cause of uplifting the downtrodden people is a billion dollar question.

The Book written by M. Venkatesan entitled “EV Ramasamy Naickarin Marupakkam” shows the true viscera and anatomy of EVR’s nefarious politics and politics of hatred and barbarian-ism. EVR is often called as the saviour and messiah of downtrodden people but M Venkatesan, the author of the book, himself was born in a Dalit family and was living in slum area – Hanumanthapuram in Triplicane testifies certain facts to prove how cruel and indifferent was EVR towards Dalit.

The book reveals the true character sketch of EVR. When congress party started temple entry movement to abolish untouchability, EVR cautioned the effort in the following lines:

“the attempt to promote ‘temple entry’ and ‘abolition of untouchability’ by the Congress leaders should not result in the tragedy of people belonging to the backward classes getting reduced to the level of scheduled castes. Instead of attempting to raise the status of Scheduled Castes (Parayans), an attempt should not be made to reduce the status of backward Class (Sudrans) by relegating them to the levels of Scheduled Castes. On no account should the existing status of Sudrans be reduced to the level of Parayans”.

Venkatesan has further unravelled the other dimensions of EVR to show his hatred for Dalit in his book, i.e., according to EVR, increase in the prices of clothes and textiles were due to:

“’One of the main reasons why there is an upward trend in the prices of clothes and textiles is that women belonging to the Scheduled Castes (Parachies) have started wearing blouses these days. The reason for growing unemployment in society is on account of increasing number of people belonging to Scheduled Castes (Parayans) taking to school education and higher education”.

Can we take the above statements of EVR were meant to uplift the cause of Dalit and downtrodden people or as vivid expressions of caste prejudice and oppressive intent towards Dalit?

Venkatesan further shows how true EVR was towards Tamil language and Tamil literature.  The book reveals that once EVR said

“For more than 40 years, I have been describing Tamil as a barbarous language (Kattumirandi Mozhi) used only by barbarians. When Brahmins and the Brahmin-dominated government wanted to make Hindi a State language, I started, to a very limited extent, advocating the promotion of Tamil language only to oppose the imposition of Hindi language.

The only language that ought to replace Tamil is English.
What is not there in English which can be found in Tamil Language?”

According to EVR, opposing Brahmins was equal to oppose Hindus and vice versa. He believed that Brahmins should be opposed, isolated, excommunicated and persecuted to destroy Hinduism so he has started to divide the people with such venomous thoughts and ideas may be to facilitate Christian conversion and Christian missionaries, who knows.

He abused Hindu Gods, rituals, belief system, social institution, the institution of marriage, moral prudence of the society etc.

Like Justice Party how it used the depressed category of people to come to power and then ignored and neglected them and established upper caste non-Brahmin rule, EVR also used Brahmin and Hindu hatred to catapult his social relevance and importance. If his intentions were true, way back in 1967 when DMK came to power, EVR should have demanded the DMK government in 1967 to classify and notify all Tamil people to be one caste and henceforth the reservation would be purely based on economic status. But neither EVR nor DMK were true and sincere. Instead, DMK used the caste formula to win elections and divided different communities.

MGR and Amma were the true reformers of the state, next to Kamaraj. Both MGR and Amma put lid to the hate politics and politics of anti-Hindu, anti-God, anti-Brahmin sentiments. Both MGR and Amma neutralized the caste hatred and Amma gave equal importance and dignity to all communities although she too used caste formula to win election.  But Amma did not play divisive caste formula to win election like DMK.

If Tamil Nadu has to prosper and develop, the state must defeat hate politics of DMK and must invite the politics of development and sab ka vikas of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is engaged in positive politics; oppose corruption, nepotism and dynastic, family rule.  Future of Tamil Nadu lies in the hands of all those first time voters, people who want New Tamil Nadu, a Tamil Nadu that is part and parcel of One India ethos and also in the hands of God believers.

Desperate strategies of Rahul Gandhi which backfires his party everytime

G Indira
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Desperate strategies of Rahul Gandhi which backfires his party everytime

There is nothing wrong for any political party to have an aspiration to win elections and come to power. Here, the means are as important as the ends (that is to come to power). The means are nothing but strategies (by way of policy declaration) that each political party adopts. Let’s take the age-old Congress party for instance: the Congress president Shri Rahul Gandhi does not seem to have any one consistent strategy/policy to take to people to impress them to vote for his party. He has no slogan or a one-liner like Shri Modi ji has now and had earlier in 2014 : ‘sab ka sath sab ka vikas’ to enthuse voters. Of course, Rahul Gandhi has tried his best to invent one. His eureka-slogan: ‘chowkidar chor hai’ have no buyers as prime minister has a spartan image which never seems to dent. So, the Congress president’s rantings are hollow.

Coming to mahagatbhandhan, it is a loosely held group of parties and the leaders in it are preoccupied in their own states on strategizing how to win the maximum members of parliament to stake a claim (probably for prime minister post) later at the Centre. Though held loosely they have a strong lofty desire to replace PM-Modi. As Shekhar Gupta, reputed journalist, pointed out: the mahagatbhandhan is like ‘Shiv ji ki Baraat’ (i.e. bhoot, preytaganas dancing) with no leader (like Shiv ji to control). The mahagatbhandhan has no spokesperson on their behalf to counter the opponent or to project holistically their view. It seems to be a bunch of wobbler-politicians who have no sound principles.

Hence, in the present scenario, the stymied Congress is filling the place of the opposition to the government. The party has got a new lease of life after winning the three Hindi heartland states. Mamata Banerjee’s recent adamant stand and protest/Dharna on CBI questioning the West Bengal Police Commissioner was a damp squib revealing her greed to occupy the PM’s seat after elections than to score a browny point for the Gatbhandhan. She should know India is not West Bengal to have a maverick leader at the helm.

The recent tweet of Rahul Gandhi to Nitin Gadkari (on 4th Feb) is noteworthy. The background of the tweet was Nitin Gadkari advising his Karyakartas to take care of their home first before managing issues pertaining to the country. There’s an old adage in the Indian households that- ‘those managing the home-affairs well, can manage outside affairs equally good’.

The media twisted Gadkari’s advise to the cadre to suit their (media persons’) whims of targeting the prime minister or so. Rahul Gandhi, going by the convoluted view dished out by the media, tweeted to Nitin Gadkari, “Gadkari ji, compliments! You are the only one in the BJP with some guts. Please also comment on : 1. The #RafaleScam & Anil Ambani 2. Farmers’s Distress 3. Destruction of Institutions’, to which Nitin Gadkari gave a fitting rebuttal-tweet saying that he did not need a certificate on his courage and he also found fault with the Congress president for going with media analogy.

It goes without saying that Rahul Gandhi’s advisers are pretty bad in strategizing. The number-1 of Rahul Gandhi’s tweet: The #RafaleScam & Anil Ambani- would only bounce back and fall flat on the Congress president’s face. The word : “scam” brings back the memories of UPA-II which the voters of late are forgetting. Does he want to remind people Congresses’’ scam-tainted rule? That way, is he scaring people? Many Ambani-types have been propped up only in Congresses’ rule paving the way for crony- capitalism in India. Not the other way round. The Congress never tried to bring in Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code as the BJP did.

The universal basic income is again an ill-advised measure and a hasty-step. The party would like to offer minimum of Rs. 10,000/- to the poor citizen to fill the gap of haves and have-nots, if the party came to power. As an implementation procedure, the party says, in case, if a person is earning the wage of Rs 4,000/-, they would top him up with Rs 6,000/-. Similarly, for other wage-earners who are below Rs. 10,000/-. If that would be the idea, people whose wages are below ten thousand rupees would more willingly sit at home and get the bulk rather than the petty top-up. From where does the party get this money? By taxing the rich businessmen? As Nitin Pai, Director of the Takshashila Institute tweeted: “Taxing the rich heavily in the 1970s did nothing for the poor, but impoverished India”. When someone pointed out that Rahul Gandhi was following the French economist Thomas Piketty’s ideas, Pai said again in his tweet: “India is not Europe. We need massive economic growth, massive employment creation. Clever ways to redistribute income must come after clever ways to create more income”.

Sonia Gandhi went by the western Leftist-Socialist concepts in UPA-II policymaking. Rahul Gandhi, assumes like any other European that India is in an utter state of poverty and that poverty has to be addressed by distribution of money is demeaning the poor of the nation who are willing to toil to get an honourable wage. Here, he is acting in the same way as his mother once did. The Centre’s last ‘please all’ budget caters to different sections in the society to give a helping hand. This last budget of the government seemed to have been done after a thorough research and planning.

Air India- A tale of horror in the skies

vanamali
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Air India- A tale of horror in the skies

There was once a passionate Industrialist in India who was regarded as the bellwether of India’s Private Sector. Of all the businesses under his conglomerate, he took a particular liking to his Airline business. The private airline business (then called Tata Airlines) was snatched away from this Industrialist so that Airplanes in India can wait on the tarmac for a long time while Minister-Saheb and his relatives arrived. Courtesy -  In a hurry to achieve its dream of a controlled society, the first government of independent India only found it logical to nationalize the industry as a whole, so that the fate of the nation’s economy can comfortably rest in the hands of a select few in New Delhi.

Fast forward 66 years, the same airline today carries a total debt of USD 7.75 bn (₹ 55,000 Cr) and accumulated losses to the tune of another ~$7.5 bn (₹ 53,000 Cr). If the numbers don’t make any sense, then consider this.

The airline’s overall accumulated losses are approximately 1/2 the size of the world’s third largest domestic civil aviation market (India). Without bombarding the post with more numbers, I decided to take my signature dig at the decision. The nationalization of all the Airline companies in 1953 never gave any thrust to the domestic aviation market. Air India + Indian Airlines neither encouraged passengers to travel (what can we expect from a monopoly) nor provided quality services. All they managed to do is thrive on this Monopolistic pleasure prior to 1994 when the aviation market was opened for private carriers (thanks to reforms). Even today, Air India holds few key international routes and certain key landing slots while private carriers have to go through a few ridiculous rules like 5/20 rule (5 years of operational experience and a fleet size of 20) to even fly global.

Traditionally Airline Industry has been famous for its sensitivity across the globe. Many Airline companies shut their shops over the last few decades mainly due to rising crude prices, dynamism in business model, High leverage and cut throat competition. The whole idea of a monopoly in a democracy has been a mis-fit and the epitome of this anomaly has been and will remain Air India. The Airline also turned into an epicenter for VIP culture, with flights commonly delayed for important people, with no due respect for ordinary passengers who paid thousands (INR). Adding to the insult, VIPs and their families got to travel for free just because it’s a National carrier (who cares).

The Result?

The airline saw the rise of another Sarkari (wollow in self-pity) work force headed by bureaucrats. Like every other State run enterprise, the Airline can’t hire and fire, as performance is in no way a benchmark and is the last criteria. Business-sense is alien to it like every other Public Sick Unit. While the global average for airline companies is 121 employees per Aircraft, the now combined entity of Indian Airlines and Air India has been maintaining 256 employees per aircraft.

Common business sense dictates that when the Net Worth of a company gets eroded, there should be a complete divestment of non-core assets or closure of divisions dragging the business down. But NO. Air India received complete tax payer support and the entity itself was run at the mercy of few Netas. No one likes to book a loss on their investment, even an ideal socialist doesn’t like to donate to a cause that yields no positive result. Having said that, common tax payers must delve into what they have been funding and why they have been funding? The answer for this lies with the successive governments which ran the white elephant just so that votes are secured and the government can carry further its socialist tag (stigmatized capitalism). UPA-1 even shelved the idea of privatization (proposed by the then NDA government) of both the entities (AI and IA) and went on a fleet modernization spree so that it can keep the LEFT wing from leaving the ruling coalition.

Adding to the woes, the company has been left at the mercy of Civil Servants with no prior experience to run an airline (even prior experience of running a simple business). Decisions like spending USD 6Bn in late 2000’s to buy a new fleet of 111 A320’s (knowing very well that further Capex will only drive the airline into the ground) and merger of Air India and Indian Airlines only projects the business acumen of these “Babus of India”.

Cash-burn:

Air India started bleeding profusely since 2006 and to top it all, in 2012 the UPA-2 government cleared a bailout package of approximately ~USD 4.2bn (₹ 30,000 cr) over a period of 10 years. As part of this package, the current government continues to spill another round of USD 211 Mn (₹1500 cr) in the coming week out of its USD 340 Mn (₹2,300 Cr) of supplementary grant.

Reason? Lack of political will to divest the enterprise as the cascading effect of any attempt to privatize the airline may influence the poll results directly.

Previous attempts:

The current NDA government made a failed attempt to divest the airline with little thought on how to market the whole deal. They had multiple rounds of discussions with major domestic carriers during early 2018 like Jet Airways (ya right!), Indigo and Tata Group as well. The reasons quoted for declinature by these companies are no-brainers. The government expected these airlines to take substantial amount of debt while Jet and Indigo were only keen on the International routes and the low cost Air India express. But that would mean government swallowed a large chunk of debt with little or no cash churning operations to avoid further bailout.

India’s domestic carriers themselves have been suffering due to fluctuating crude prices and there is an imminent danger of a Private Airline as large as Jet Airways crashing into Bankruptcy courts. In this scenario, there is no resolution in sight and government would also not want to be tagged another UPA in making.

First Positive Step?:

The current government very recently started taking baby steps towards structuring the deal and making it more investor friendly. As a start, the government transferred $4.2 bn debt into a Special Purpose Vehicle which will also have non core assets like The ground handling services, AI Express, the Real Estate assets etc. If this SPV gets sold at a fair price, Air India can expect to wipe-out some amount of debt in its main entity. But would that be enough? Who can dare to touch Air India’s core operations without burning their hands? The answer is foreign airline companies with deep pockets. But we still have a very protective and uncertain regulatory environment that endangers the sector as a whole.

There are quite a few steps that the current government can take in the remaining 3 months of its tenure:

a. Increase FDI in civil aviation to 74% under automatic route,

b. Abolition of few stringent rules like 5/25, so new foreign airline companies can enter India and take up international routes immediately,

c. Sell few prime international routes to hungry domestic airlines which have starved themselves just so that government could keep Air India alive,

d. Sell the profitable (plus few non profitable businesses) of the group, non core assets and real estate assets at a fair value by hiring professional investment bankers (in-order to negotiate and offload as much debt as possible along with healthy assets),

e. Stomach the remaining debt as the government and take a one-time hit,

Government might have survived the Jet fiasco (thanks to Etihad) but the scenario is unlikely to change in the future, but Air India remains a ticking time bomb ready to unleash horror in the skies.

Why “Politics of Hate” will (not) define 2019

vanamali
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Why “Politics of Hate” will (not) define 2019

I never wanted to write anything on domestic politics. But the amount of lava Mt. Social Media has been spilling in the recent past made me rethink. Notwithstanding my ideology, I decided to be as fair as possible (I don’t want to run the risk of being branded a BHAKT by the blinded Left Wing).

To begin with, I have had my own set of challenges and complications regarding who I support and why I support. I have always supported the NDA (not RSS or its affiliates), but realized that if one supports NDA, the Parent comes as part of the combo package so that one can get branded a BHAKT by Leftists. It’s very easy to stick to the standard median on politics (like All politicians are the same, makes no difference to my life, Sab mile hue hai etc.). But then I remember one of my professors during my Engineering days discourage me from being a fence-sitter as he believed that fence-sitters are more dangerous than people propagating violence.

Simply put, I have always been a big fan of Economic reforms, reduced tax terrorism, and subdued churn and burn of tax money on end-less populism. Having observed 10 years of UPA rule, I have learnt that it is the complete opposite that keeps Indian politics afloat (was too young during the first NDA rule). Then came the Modi-wave who was some-what Capitalist and carried a successful track-record of governance. That was/is the only alternative to the perennial populism, policy paralysis and the loot of tax payer money. I celebrated 2014 like no one did. The same year exposed the entire scale from LEFT to RIGHT in full public view which was otherwise foggy till then. A big divide of our society lay in front of me, which ran into rural areas this time. So much so that people started openly wishing death upon others, purely on the back of differences in ideologies (refer few Left Wing twitter and Facebook accounts). The scale of this blind hatred towards someone is ever increasing and social media made the rupture more visible.

The NDA rule between 2014-2019 has been a mixed bag if we go by expectations (but far better than UPA 1 & 2), as the UPA only helped a common man like me understand the number of zeroes that a One-Lakh crore ($14Bn) carries. But in reality, the NDA has done a fair amount of work in setting up on-ground Infrastructure in promoting Financial Literacy and banking reach, attracting FDI investments (more due to the perceived optimism than real reforms), more or less normalizing the Tax regime, Electrification, Road and Railway network enhancement, promoting air connectivity, Universal Health Insurance (will check the cost to exchequer) etc. But Alas! A united opposition stands the risk of running out of money and understands the fact that NDA will definitely need money to win 2019 and they haven’t heard of a single large scam. So there’s gotta be a scam, look carefully. Here comes a major defense deal and this has be the one, because all defense deals are potential scams (Of course! who knows it better than the opposition).

While a majority of the media houses and Lutyens-elite have been against the NDA rule since Day 1, the blind-hatred is what baffled most of us supporting NDA (not the Parent again). This was more visible since Rafale deal had come into picture. The amount of scrutiny and the Media trial that Rafale deal (a perceived scam that was struck down by the Supreme court itself) had gone through is far greater than what proven scams like 2G, Coal Scams (we don’t discuss anything below one-lakh crores ($14Bn) from UPA 1 & 2 in this post).

Somehow, the deal size happens to be the scam size as stressed again and again by eminent intellectuals running political parties and sometimes Media houses as well. The recent article in “The Hindu” by another eminent intellectual had few important facts (including the mix-up of F3 and F3R standards in a hurry to expose the establishment) in it for those of us who didn’t dig deeper due to a busy run for Rozy-Roti. But the justification provided to prove the government wrong including “that all the rules and conventions were over-ridden” (just to ensure they stick to the convention of being a LEFTIST newspaper) never made any sense. The issue highlighted was essentially discretionary powers used by the Govt on the grounds of Strategic and Security reasons. This was unacceptable to many of “them” as for years they are used to a Prime Minister without discretionary powers.

I had spoken to many of my pro and anti-BJP friends who are working professionals with curiosity to understand their opinion. Most of them agree that, Demonetization was a BIG FAILURE and the government is answerable for that. GST implementation could have been smoother. Issues with RBI could have been managed a little more tact-fully instead of feeding an already famished Lutyens media trying to re-instate their old ally.

What I had observed in the recent past is how things have taken an ugly turn. A small section of Extreme Left started questioning and abusing even the civilized section of Anti-BJP. The mockery of bed-ridden politicians and call for their deaths and all-day abuse services taken up by these extreme left have almost dwarfed the already-sick troll army that BJP had deployed. For a change, the society around politics have fallen farther than the politics itself. Everyone of us agree that The Left Wing carries a certain aggression, good vocabulary, admirable knowledge, patience whereas (as one of my friends from Mumbai mentioned) the RW lacks patience and knowledge and straight away begins an un-intellectual debate online and off-line (which is their biggest undoing).

2019 Election according to few of the economists and analysts I spoke to, will not be a cake-walk for anyone (including the Mahagathbandhan). The ground reality remains that the decision makers as always will remain the majority Rural voters and not the mud-slinging urban dwellers.

A common man like me can only hope/wish for three things. Dismantling of anti-national institutions that plague our country’s economy today, subdued tax terrorism and lesser influence from the Holding company (wink-wink). As a big supporter of BJP (Political wing), I believe reforms are only possible under the current regime. BJP has to build a concrete strategy to be able to win polls this time around.

The trust survey for 2019 election of Firstpost CNN-News18 reveals the voting output too: Here’s how

sudip47
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The trust survey for 2019 election of Firstpost CNN-News18 reveals the voting output too: Here’s how

Firstpost CNN-News18: The National Trust Survey, in the first of its kind TRUST survey conducted across 23 states and published on JAN 26, 2019. analyses the following: Which party do we trust to handle India’s issues? Who is the popular choice for PM? What are the approval ratings for PM Modi’s initiatives?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the preferred choice as Prime Minister in 2019 across India, especially in the northern states. Modi was preferred as next PM by 53% while Congress President Rahul Gandhi scored a distant 26.9%.

However, the response was in favour of the latter in three southern states- Andhra Pradesh (41% for Modi, 64% for Rahul Gandhi), Kerala (37% for Modi, 63% for Rahul Gandhi) and Tamil Nadu (25% for Modi and 60% for Rahul Gandhi). In Karnataka and Telangana, however, 60% had more trust in Modi than Rahul Gandhi (49% and 43% respectively).

On which party is trusted to better handle India’s issues, 40% support BJP on rough average and 20% support Congress. On PM Modi’s initiatives, 70% approve and 30% disapprove. But on the Ram Mandir Ordinance issue, 75% say they would support an ordinance.

Now this is a trust survey and not an opinion poll. It measures the trust level and not the voting inclination. Yet it can perhaps give some indication as to which way the wind blows.

Narendra Modi as preferred choice for premiership definitely gives NDA some edge. Also, support for the Modi initiatives and the ordinance adds to this. At the same time, preference for Rahul Gandhi in the three southern states works against BJP.

Times Now pre-election opinion poll has given much lower-252 seats to NDA mainly due to their 46-seat loss in UP where according to them, SP-BSP alliance will be the clinching factor. And this assumes that the common candidate gets all the votes of the alliance partners But, there is this raging issue about transferring of votes or poaching into each other’s vote bases. On its part, the NDA can and will showcase its performance of good governance, numerous policies and schemes to lure its core voters. In addition to this, the NDA has the brand of Modi, which still enjoys paramount goodwill among large sections of the population.

In the neighbouring state of Bihar, the situation should be in favour of the NDA, which comprises the Janata Dal United, BJP and the Lok Janshakti Party. This coalition scored a vote percentage of around 52 per cent in the last general election. Thanks to Nitish’s sushasan, his acceptability as a development-oriented leader has gone up several notches in mass consciousness during the last decade. UP and Bihar have 120 seats between them.

I think the parties outside any alliance like BJD, AIADMK, TRS and YSR will win among themselves about 75 seats. Even if NDA tally is around 252 as forecast above, any one or more of them can join/extend support to NDA to enable an NDA government

But the fact remains that despite recent Congress victory in the three states, in parliamentary election they are not likely to fare any better because of their negative image in central government vis a vis all positive image of NDA, which is further enhanced by Budget 2019 pronouncements of financial benefits to middle class, labourer in unorganized sector and small farmers.

the NDA has brought pro-poor, pro-Dalit and minorities policies which have transformed their socio-economic conditions. It has been truly successful in all indicators of good governance. It has also ensured a terror free regime. The general election will be contested between the narrow-minded, visionless politics of the Mahagathbandhan/UPA and a futuristic politics of the NDA with a 10 years vision for all round development

Therefore, my assessment is that NDA will achieve absolute majority by winning more than 300 seats and continue with good governance for the next 2 terms.

The writer is a long-standing commentator on contemporary issues

Injustice of Justice Party to depressed class and further troll of Tamil Nadu by Dravidian dynasty

S Ranganathan
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Injustice of Justice Party to depressed class and further troll of Tamil Nadu by Dravidian dynasty

It was C Sankaran Nair who was the first to make noise and slogans against Brahmins in Tamil Nadu way back in 1903. The anger was justifiable because Brahmins were the dominant community then in administration and in power. Subsequent to the cry of C Sankaran Nair, Natesa Mudaliar in 1912 formed an association called ‘Non Brahmin Dravidian Association and brought out two books – Dravidian worthiness and Non Brahmin letters. However such effort settled down immediately like a little storm in tea cup.

Later South Indian Liberal Federation was started and in 1916, TM Nair and Theagaraya Chettiyar started three newspapers namely Justice in English, Dravidian in Tamil and Andhra Prakasik in Telugu.

The Justice Party was formed and the main aim of the Justice party was to neutralize the Home Rule. A non-Brahmin manifesto was issued by the then member of the legislative council P Kesava Pillai. In 1917, August 19, TA Ramalinga Chetty organized the conference of Justice Party in Coimbatore. In the conference, Justice Party adopted to co-operate and work with British. Prior to that, the Depressed Classes Society held a conference to highlight their problems and state of affairs that was the stage where depressed class had agreed to work with non-Brahmin movement of Justice Party with the assurance that Justice Party would end inequality and oppression against the depressed class.

With support of the depressed class, Justice Party got elected unopposed in the year 1920 and came to power. Justice Party passed Hindu Religious Endowment Act. However Justice Party put all the promises in dust bin in had made to the depressed class. The depressed class really felt cheated for the fact that the upper caste non Brahmins used the depressed class as a tool to mobilise their political clout to come to power and did nothing to the depressed class and their status remains the same despite Justice Party came to power.

Justice Party abolished Labour Department and the prominent leader and the architect of Justice Party Theagaraya Chettyar refused to support “Anti-Untouchability Law in 1922”.

The above stand thoroughly exposed the Justice Party that the depressed class was exploited and used as a mean by ‘Chetty, Naidu, Reddy and Pillai’ to come to power and to remove Brahmins, only to occupy the same space to continue to discriminate, discredit and suppress the depressed class.  This had led to the no-confidence motion that was being brought by the depressed class in 1923 but it was defeated by the dominant upper caste non-Brahmin lobby.

Justice Party did nothing to bring housing scheme for the depressed class, providing economic help and free education scheme or land distribution. The Justice Party rulers not even visited the villages of the depressed class to understand the real pitiable conditions of their life. Although Simon Commission rejected separate electorate for the depressed class, agreed to nominate BM Ambedkar and R Srinivasan to represent the depressed class.

Justice Party actually lead to the division of different communities such as “High Caste Non-Brahmins”, “Backward Non-Brahmins” and “Untouchables”. This obvious caste ploy of Justice Party caused the erosion of its credibility and it had lost its identity. During the active phase of Justice Party in 1919, EV Ramasamy Naicker was a member of Indian National Congress and he left the party in 1925 and became the Head of Justice Party in 1939. In 1944 EVR changed its name as Dravidar Kazhagam which gave birth to DMK in 1949.

By the time it appears, the DNA of Justice Party as it stands more for upper caste non-Brahmins and backward non-Brahmins than for untouchables got modified to carry the tag- Dravidian identity, may be to mask the identity of non-Tamil people as they were in power those days, at the expense of Tamil people. Further, the Telugu speaking people may want their non-Tamil identity not to be questioned. The only way such situation can be stopped was to rename the Tamil identity with Dravidian so that the alien Dravidian tag would distract the Tamil people from differentiating all those foxes in goat skin.

From hate politics, Justice Party came to power and did justice mostly to itself than to the depressed class as it promised. But smartly the Justice Party used the depressed class to conquer power and which then gave birth to another Dravidian party to transform Tamil Nadu politics into politics of dynasty and family rule.

If Tamil Nadu has to march towards development and sab ka vikas, Dravidian brand politics of hatred, negativity, anti-Hindu, anti-Hindi, anti-God must end and the sacred rule of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi must come. The vision of MGR and Amma with the guidance and support of PM Modi alone can transform Tamil Nadu and not the dynastic rule.

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