चुनावों में हार जीत तो लगी रहती है लेकिन अगर किसी एक ख़ास पार्टी की जीत से दुश्मन देश में खुशी की लहर दौड़ जाए तो यह चिंता का विषय हो सकता है. तीन राज्यों में हालिया कांग्रेस की जीत पर पाकिस्तान में न सिर्फ जश्न मनाया गया है बल्कि भारतीय प्रधान मंत्री की शव यात्रा भी निकाली गयी है, जिसका वीडियो सोशल मीडिया पर आसानी से उपलब्ध है.
पर इसमें पाकिस्तान का तो कोई भी दोष नहीं है और देखा जाए तो कांग्रेस पार्टी का भी क्या दोष है. इस पार्टी के नेता तो बार-बार पाकिस्तान से यह फ़रियाद करते ही आये हैं कि मोदी को हारने में पाकिस्तान कांग्रेस पार्टी की मदद करे और जब पाकिस्तान की मदद से या उसकी मदद के बिना कांग्रेस की चुनावों में जीत हो रही है तो पाकिस्तान में जश्न मनाया जाना और मोदी की शव यात्रा को निकाला जाना एक स्वाभाविक सी बात ही लगती है. पाकिस्तान में ऐसा पहली बार नहीं हुआ है. दिल्ली चुनावों में केजरीवाल की जीत के बाद भी पाकिस्तान में जमकर जश्न मनाया गया था.
पाकिस्तान मोदी सरकार से क्यों खफा है, उसके कारण जग जाहिर हैं -सीमा पार से सभी तरह के आतंकवादियों की घुसपैठ पर लगाम लगने के साथ-साथ नकली नोटों का धंधा चौपट होने से पाकिस्तान बौखलाया हुआ है और किसी भी कीमत पर मोदी सरकार को उखाड़ फेंकना चाहता है. इसके लिए अगर भारत की कोई राजनीतिक पार्टी उससे मदद मांगती है तो वह उसकी मदद करने में भला क्यों परहेज़ करेगा ?
इस सारे मामले में सोचने वाली बात उन लोगों के लिए है तो सब कुछ जानते बूझते हुए भी उन पार्टियों को अपना वोट देते हैं, जिनकी जीत पर पाकिस्तान जैसे दुश्मन देश फूले नहीं समाते हैं. कांग्रेस सिर्फ अल्पसंख्यक वोटों के बल पर तो जीत नहीं सकती है-इसका साफ़ मतलब है कि देश में अभी भी ऐसे हिन्दू मौजूद हैं जो कांग्रेस जैसी पार्टियों को सिर्फ इसलिए वोट देते हैं ताकि दुश्मन देश पाकिस्तान के नापाक मंसूबे कामयाब होते रहें और वह मोदी की शव यात्रा निकालकर अपनी खुशी का इज़हार करता रहे. कांग्रेस को वोट देने वाले लोग अपनी झेंप मिटाने के लिए अपने आप को “सेक्युलर” बताते हैं. लेकिन यह कैसा “सेक्युलरिज्म” है जिससे दुश्मन देशों को ही खुशी मिलती है ? हज़ारों साल गुलामी को झेलने वाले लोगों को शायद यह आज़ादी रास नहीं आ रही है और “सेक्युलरिज्म” के जाल में फंसकर वे एक बार फिर अपने आप को किसी दुश्मन देश की गुलामी करने के लिए बेचैन नज़र आ रहे हैं.
Admist the political clutter let’s get to business and understand what has happened and why it is happening.
REAL HISTORY OF THE DEAL IS NOT FROM 2001 BUT FROM MUCH BEFORE
The current Rafale mess is a result of long vision less and rudderless control of aerospace and defense industry of this country and it’s leadership. This mess has it’s roots in long 4 decades tenure from 1960s to 2000.
Will go in form of a timeline:
1955–1965
1958: First batch of GNAT aircrafts are inducted.
1961: India buys first batch of Mig-21 from USSR which went as high as 1200.
1961: First super-sonic jet of Asia, Indigenously developed HAL HF-24 takes first flight.
1962: Indo-China war. Indian economy in shackles after war.
1966–1977
1971: HF-24 Inducted and takes part in ’71 War. Zero Casualties. Flawless performance.
1977:First HAL modified GNAT called Ajeet inducted.
1978–1988
1978: JAGUAR BOMBER SELECTED.
1981: FURTHER RESEARCH ON HF-24 TERMINATED ONCE AND FOR ALL IN FAVOUR OF JAGUARS.
1982: Mig’s closes retirement age, IAF wants replacement. First Mirage-2000 order placed of 2 Squadrons.
1984: ADA(Aeronautical Developement Agency) is formed and preliminary study of Indigenous fighter was started, meanwhile HAL not roped in despite having technical know how.Next Blunder.
1985: Orders for 50 Mig-29
1989–2001:
1993: First full funding for LCA is released [after 10 years]
1998: SU-30 deal sealed
1999: Nuclear test embargo placed all research on LCA going on in US stopped and researchers were deported. Estimated delay was 4–5 years. Next Set back.
2001: First LCA test flight. Meanwhile Mig’s have crossed their age, undergoing life extension. First MMRCA deal conceived.
Henceforth ,rest is known.
So what’s wrong here?
Too many eggs in one basket: 1200 Mig-21 alone from USSR in name of friendship.
No balance between research for aerospace and aircraft purchase Mig-21 and HF-24 shared common timeline had there been a fewer number of Migs been purchased and rest money spent on HF-24 and Ajeet’s research, entire scenario would have been different.
Blatantly terminating the entire HF-24 programme despite scientists and engineers being confident of doing it in matter of months. HF-24 was established platform a war hero and a mature one it was killed and murdered brutally hence thereby we lost entire ecosystem in a single blow.
Not involving HAL in preliminary stages of LCA and setting up entirely new ADA thereby reducing HAL into a license manufacturer and making ADA a newbie in aircraft developement created a hotch potch. Hence a golden decade is lost due to poor decision making and planning. HAL got castrated in these years from a sword to a mere knife.
Somebody has to be blamed, somebody has to take up the responsiblity for this mess? Pick up your names.
What is happening in name of Rafale is not an event, it’s the consequences of events that took in past, this is just the result.
Further what are the issues in the deal?
Rafale is overpriced, UPA deal was cheaper than NDA deal.
Why was HAL Rejected?
Why was Anil Ambani’s company selected?
There is no Technology Transfer.
Price of Rafale Aircraft
INC’s Deal never happened, so they technically don’t have any right to ask for costs nor are they citing their sources, but general public may compare our deal to other customers via a simple google search.
Here we find that:
Rafale has 3 Customers:
India
Qatar
Egypt
Each Country has bought
36 Pcs
36 Pcs
24 Pcs
Deal for each country was sealed in (Bn Euros)
7.87
7.4
5.2
Cost per piece for each country( million euros)
218.61
205.5
216
So considering the fact that each country has different requirement hence different customisations therefore fully furnished aircrafts final cost may vary BUT from which angle does it looks that there has been a huge difference between us and other customer’s deal . There is only a mere difference of 6.3% on cost per piece at the two polar ends.
This effectively and brutally demolishes RaGa’s and INC’s hullabaloo claim of the deal being over priced. It’s a complete lie.
This comparison demolishes all the false claims of the opposition
But merely dividing the total cost of deal by total number of aircrafts Further now to real facts:
The figure of Rs.525 crore or €79 million per A/C, which the INC has been citing, is based on Dassault’s 2007 RFP response at the then exchange rate (€I = Rs.66) and that too for only the 18 Rafales that were to be delivered off-the-shelf .
The 2007 price for each of the 18 Rafales would have cost in 2015 to €100.85 million (INR 765.4 crore at 2015 exchange rate of €1 = Rs 75.90).
In comparison, the average price of each of the 36 Rafales bought in 2016 is €91.7 million (Rs.670 crore at the 2015 exchange rate), lower than both the earlier 2007 Rafale and Eurofighter EF-2000 RFP responses.
Also this is evident from a Rajyasabha reply on 19 March 2018, when the basic price of aircrafts was tabled albeit no media house covered it.
To understand the offsets crystal clear we need to get the one fact clear
“DASSAULT ALONE DOESNOT MAKE ENTIRE AIRCRAFT”
The major companies invloved are:
Dassault = Aero-structure and Final Assembly
MBDA= Weapons
Rheinmetall= Weapons
Snecma = Engines
Thales = Radar and Avionics
Now when it comes to offsets in India
Dassault has tied up with Reliance.
Snecma has tied up with DRDO.
MBDA has tied up with L&T.
Thales already has several tie ups in India with BEL(DPSU) being one of the major partners.
Rheinmetall is a black listed company so no JV can be formed with it as of now.
So if somebody says Dassault and Reliance looted us, sorry to say that neither even Dassault nor Reliance won’t gets to eat the complete pie it has to be distributed accordingly with other biggies and then with thousands of MSMEs involved on Indian sides.
The Customer specific modifications of India are as follows:
RAFAEL- LITENING target acquisition/designation pod
Spice-1000 standoff PGM
MBDA- Meteor BVRAAM and ALARM anti-radiation missile
RAFAEL- X-Guard towed-decoy
SPECTRA EW
TARGO-2 HMDS supplied by Elbit Systems
THALES- traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS)
THALES- standby radar altimeter
Optimisation of the M88 turbofan’s jet-fuel starter for operating in sub-zero temperatures at altitudes above 9,000 feet ASL
Increase in the capacity of the on-board OBOGS
Inclusion of weather-mapping mode of operation in the THALES-supplied RBE-2 AESA-MMR
Development of quad-pack ejectors for the DRDO-engineered and Spice-250 PGM-derived SAAW EMP-generating standoff PGM
JV in flight-qualification of DRDO-developed 450kg laser-guided HSLD bomb and integration of the bomb’s FOG-based inertial navigation system with the Rafale’s on-board Sigma-95N RLG-INS through a MIL-STD-1553B interface
Modification of the Sigma-95N RLG-INS’ coupled GPS transceiver in order to receive MIL-STD PY-code coordinates from India’s NAVIC/IRNSS constellation of GPS satellites.
GE’s CEO once said regarding aero engines tech that: One need to go back atleast 25 years ago and make an investment of 2 Bn$ and after 20 years or so he MAY be successful, still doubtful.( Summary of what he said).
A little bit history about the kaveri engine:
The GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri is a turbofan project developed by the (GTRE), a lab under the DRDO
The Kaveri was originally intended to power production models of the Tejas LCA fighter.
This was approx 202 mn $ project which after many revisions and delays went on to become 640mn $ .
Later on the project was divided into two category: K9 and K 10
K9: Will be completely indigenous with only foreign consultation and certification.
K10: Will be a joint venture with a foreign partner, probably rolls-royce.
Problems that occured:
Kaveri engine in its present form uses directionally solidified blade technology which is rather an old tech and it couldn’t tolerate the high temperature in its combustion chamber called “Kabini”. The solution was “single crystal blades”
The thrust generated was nearly 65 to 70% of what was needed.
Performance decay at high altitude.
A peculiar noise when in after burning mode.
Here comes the Rafale deal which many think was a corrupt decision by the current leadership as it just bought 36 rafales. But if we look closely to the offset, it was boon to us as under the offset:
Snecma which manufacture the Rafales M-88 core agreed to help and certify the engine in 18 months.
DRDO has been given a virtual blank check to channelise offsets from the Indian Rafale deal to resurrect the Kaveri.Snecma, a partner in the Rafale programme, builds the Rafale’s twin M88 turbofan engines. Under the terms of the partnership , Snecma is working to modify, certify and integrate the Kaveri on a Light Combat Aircraft airframe before 2020.
The Off-set worth to DRDO alone is 9000 Crs INR. That lefts only 21000 Crs of the alleged 3000 Crs INR given to Ambani as being cried by RaGa.
A later phase in the partnership will involve modifications on the Kaveri for a twin configuration on India’s AMCA fifth generation fighter concept and an altered non-reheat version for the Ghatak UCAV.
According to DRDO chief the kaveri engine will be ready by next aero india 2019.
Another good news is that altitude test and flying test bed trials have been completed. Official statement of MoD in Parliament” In a written reply to the Lok Sabha in December 2016, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre had called the effort of the GTRE in developing the engine as “an attempt to mastering one of the most complex technologies”. The minister said the altitude test and flying test bed trials for the engine had been completed and other developmental problems were being addressed to make the engine flight-worthy through in-house efforts as well with assistance from abroad”.
The engine will be first used on Tejas PV-1.Other uses will be
Ghatak UCAV(Dry variant or w/o afterburner)
AMCA
Tejas Mk2
Also, Rolls royce has collaborated with DRDO on developing the K10 engine. This engine’s first prototype is to be expected in 12 month. The news was broken out in Aero-india 2017 in february.
This is where the biggest ToT will take place and as Air Marshal B.S Dhanoa said the ToT is now to DRDO instead of HAL but it comes to “Indians”.
WHY NOT HAL?
DRDO has been quite honest with R&D despite hiccups but when it comes to manufacture en mass which is supposed to be done by HAL, there work ethos has been questioned for many years both by Air force and the government audit agencies and committees.
Let’s have a look on some of the recent events:
15 December 2018: Now Kharge is a key member of INC. Yes the same INC whose president shows sympathy to HAL in rallies while his key minister scre*s them in Parliament.
You want to see more proofs why Dassault was hesitant to go with HAL?
These are some vital excerpts from the said reports. These go on to reinstate two things:
Neither HAL is a victim, it’s history would make any foreign company think twice before collaborating, otherwise they may permanently loose market as big as India like Denel did . No body wants that.
Nor Congress is a Saviour. It has roasted HAL while in tenure today Kharge roasted whilst in opposition. So RaGa’s HAL visit is a mere farce nothing else.
Further several more questions arises here and ought to be asked to congress and it’s highly knowledgeable supporters
In 2010 INC signed a $4.1 Bn deal for C-17 Globemaster with US, what stopped them from going for offset programme and include HAL as beneficiary if they were so concerned about it?
In 2011 C-130 Hercules were inducted in IAF, but the off set was given to TATA, why was HAL kept out?
During the Rafale’s offset why was Mukesh ambani’s company allowed to be offset partner, what experience did he have, however the pact expired dassault finally collaborated with Anil Ambani RDEL to form RADA which was 49:51 sharing between Dassault and Reliance hence Ambani don’t owns the entire company. Therefore even if “Modi ji puts 30000 Crore in Ambani’s pocket” Ambani still actually gets 14700 Crs but that’s not possible as said DRDO, BEL, THALES etc wanna have their share too, How do you justify his 30000 Cr jibe? BS again!
What was the total value of deals given to HAL during UPA tenure?Don’t know.
But here are some hard and cold facts regarding the same during Modi’s regime:
LCA MK-1A: 123 (Biggest Order book)
LCH: (65 + 114)Pcs (IOC granted, first batch of 15 purchased for user assisted trials[UAT])
ALH Dhruv: 33Pcs
DO-228 for Civil use under UDAAN scheme.
HTT-40 : 100 Pcs (DAC cleared, but order only when project completed on time else opt for Pilatus trainer further.)
Drones for CRPF in Naxal regions.
Formed a collaboration with Boeing and Mahindra for taking part in Naval MRCBF tender for 57 fighters.
Modi regime re-started the NAL-HAL Saras aircraft programme after 9 years whose potential order will go upto 70, if HAL and NAL completes the project on time.
That’s a failrly well order book as well as prospect for a company . How many solid orders did congress give?
5. INS Vikramaditya, we bought earlier negotiated 800Mn$ carrier for navy from Russia finally in 2.5Bn$, Why?
6. FGFA(5 th generation aircraft),T-90 deals were very faulty:
we are the co-developer of FGFA we paid for it’s R&D we got nothing but only the disappointment, our pilots and engineers are not even allowed to get near to it.Project started in 2007(Congress), we were almost 40% financing the project, but our workshare was below 15% of this project.
T-90: Deal was signed in 2007, Transfer of Technology was agreed upon, but never happened, all this has to be replaced by modifying technologies developed from our very own Arjun Tank. T-90 never had a crew cabin cooling system(curse in desert area), Night vision, thermal vision, all are modified tech from Arjun and produced by BEL. T-90 even lost against Arjun Mk-1 in comparative trials which eas later re-iterated by CAG but but but again second batch was ordered of the same loosing T-90 sidelining arjun for reasons of being “Heavy” when it has a ground pressure lower than T-90, when it is not night blind and when IT HAS WON IN A FACE TO FACE TRIALS. WHY?
ANIL AMBANI’S FIRM INEXPERIENCED IN DEFENSE BUSINESS
That’s the most immature allegation one can make.
You see this big boys here? Guess who is it?
United States Navy 7th fleet [USS 7th fleet]
It’s based in Japan and it’s sole purpose is to maintain power balance in Indo-Pacific region along with other allies including India against any Chinese domination in International waters. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with 60 to 70 ships, 300 aircraft and 40,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
Now it’s certain these ships requires lot of maintainance and it can’t be done by some Joker, guess who is the maintainance contractor?
Perhaps this alone is sufficient to settle down the fact that “AMBANI HAS NO EXPERIENCE IN DEFENSE BUSINESS”.
Now let’s come to said deal
It remains a no brainer to say Ambani has no experience or even background of Defense sector or knowledge about it, that’s a utter crappy logic let’s take an solid example:
Ever heard of Lockheed Martin?
Yes the one which has churned legends like F-22, SR-71. It’s the biggest arms manufacturer on this planet
Who is it’s CEO?
Marillyn Adams Hewson
You know her education?
It’s nowhere closely related to the field concerned neither engineering nor applied science.
She is a BBA and a Master of Arts in Economics.
Anil Ambani is a BSC and MBA.
Education wise their is not much difference albeit Anil Ambani does have a STEM background.
Now he is not going to have to go to the factory personally and personally make those products, he has the finacial resources with which he can hire appropriate people who can get his job done same stands with him buying out Pipavav Yard same applies to him joining hands with Dassault albeit this time Dassault shall provide the technical know how and Know-what and Reliance will be the Indian host to Dassault to enter Indian Markets as DPP only allows foreign company for 100% FDI only under automatic route which is not the case here.
Here several points are to be remembered:
Rafale will be bought off the shelf from France and all of it will be completely manufactured by France and In France.
Reliance doesnot have any job to do regarding Rafale.
Reliance will not alone be benefited by offset clause, it is JV of Dassault and Reliance called DRAL in Nagpur that will cadre to the offset clause.
DRAL will manufacture composite nose cones for Dassault’s Falcon passenger jet, which has lucrative market in India keeping in mind the UDAAN scheme that requires smaller chartered flights.
The nose cones are a composite material made of various kinds of composite.. These materials are fiberglass, quartz, honeycomb and foam cores; as well as various chemical resins. All comes under various types of Composites.
Further divided into A-Sandwich and C-Sandwich, Sandwich radomes tend to offer better performance over narrow frequency bands, making them the preferred option for military and scientific applications. A-Sandwich radomes are comprised of low-dielectric foam or a honeycomb core between two slender laminates.
A C-sandwich radome is made up of three skin layers and two foam layers. The solidity of each foam layer can be tuned for ideal RF performance, allowing for many probable constructions that offer high-quality RF performance and mechanical strength. C-sandwich also provides better performance than A-sandwich radomes.
Now since same RDEL is related to ship business for a long while here comes the next part how even ship building has composites manufacturing and application playing vital part.
Composite materials have been used in the marine industry for a number of years. The more traditional applications for composites include gratings, ducts, shafts, piping, hull shells, etc for several decades. Wood and ferrocement are some of the other composites techniques that are still being used for marine applications.
So if RADA is making composites part for aerospace they are not completely new to it ,they have been in composites application, Defense Business, but in marine defense application here they just stepped in aerospace composites application. Hence they are new to aerospace but neither to defense nor to composites technology.
WHY SPECIFICALLY RELIANCE AND NOT SOME OTHER FIRM?
Whenever we think of some of the biggest Indian companies invloved in infrastructure, Automobile etc TATA, Mahindra, L&T, Punj-Lloyd, Bharat forge, Ashok Leyland are the major names that come to mind.
As I have shown in the documents earlier related to HAL, it is clearly mentioned that private firms can’t be kept out from defense business. When deal was negotiated most of the companies expect Reliance had tie ups with major foreign defense firms to take part in various defense deals.
For eg:
TATA already had tie up with Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, Boeing of USA to make parts of helicopter, C-130 Super Hercules aircraft and now Apache helicopters.
Mahindra had tie up with BAE systems to jointly manufacture M-777 Howitzer for Indian army.
L&T had tie up with Samsung Techwin of South Korea to manufacture K-9 Vajra SPH for Indian Army.
Bharat Forge itself is a well known and new Indian company in Artillery system business. It also had tie up with Israeli company to make Bharat-52 Artilley system.
Ashok Leyland had tie up with French firm Nexter to take part in Indian Army’s Mounted Gun System artillery program me , which is yet to take place.
That lefts only one company to make a possible tie up with Reliance.
And if a company can handle a nuclear power construction project we can surely trust it with making just a nose cone for a passenger jet!
WHY ONLY 36?
Rafale was made in emergency purchase, hence a IGA route was taken. Most air force aircrafts under IGA are always bought not more than 2–3 squadrons under usual circumstances and without any tender and this is not the first time. Other deals include:
P-8I Poseidon: USA, 8 in 2009 then 4 in 2010.
2. C-17 Globemaster: 10 C-17s in 2010.
3. C-130J: First batch in 2011.
4. SU-30 MKI: 272 fighters
5. Mirage-2000: 3 Sqaudrons in 1982
6. Mig-23 BM
7. Mig-29: 3 Squadrons in 1980
8. S-400 Missile defense System: There was no tender for this as well?
9. Also India uses Mi series helicopters from Russia, infact most of our millitary helicopter especially trasport are of Russian origin, all were bought under G to G deal and no tenders.
DISSECTING THE COURT JUDGEMENT
The Para 25 despite it’s grammatical error, clearly states two points:
CAG has been given the pricing details.
Only a part of that pricing detail will be given to PAC and Public domain. in form of final CAG report.
Now here comes the kicker which no pseudo liberal is talking about:
The last line of Para 25 clearly says: “Despite this reluctance, the material has still been placed before the Court to satisfy its conscience.”
That clearly tells that SC has gone into pricing deatils of the basic a/c as further made clear in Para 26.
The court was given the details as asked in a “CLOSED ENVELOPE” which is given to CAG and will be presented to PAC henceforth. Hence it is and won’t be made public except court and as been given in excerpt from judgement given by SC and only part of it will come to PAC and CAG as well.
Atlast all I can remember is a quote from Legendary Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw:
That’s the condition of most People on side of Congress including RaGa who just utters whatever comes to their mouth and same is the reason why BJP is not able to put a proper defense to it. Meanwhile the so called intellectuals be it on social media who comes to spread even more of Mis-information.
Picture Credits: Respective Owners
Literature References : Trishul Blog, Google Search, Rajyasabha and Loksabha reports and replies.
When I was younger, my grandfather went through an eye surgery. He was asked to refrain from reading anything that would force too much pressure on his eyes. So, I used to read the newspaper to him. I used to read aloud the headlines on every page and my Dadaji would then ask me to go through selected articles of his choice after having filtered them by their headlines. It was a happy time for both of us.
Now think. In the present times can we judge an article only by its headline? The state of media has changed from being the 4th pillar of democracy to a bunch of prestitutes serving their masters. Be it extreme left leaning NDTV, India Today, The Print or The Scroll or the right wingers like Zee News, India TV and ABP News, each one of them carries propaganda more than simple unbiased news. In an ideal case, both the wings would enjoy healthy criticism of each other’s policies and work. However, the media today is embarrassingly biased and sets record lower level of unethical reporting every day. Be it the electronic or print media, unless you are watching DD News, you are probably being served shit in the form of political propaganda, so beware what you see and how you form an opinion. I acknowledge the fact that simple advertisements and funding may not be enough to run a news platform independently, so support from political parties might be needed. But, by indulging into prestitution and serving as mouthpieces for political parties, is the step justified?
Reuters’ ‘survey’ (of 43 women) that concluded India being the most unsafe country
A few months ago, a poll by Thomas Reuters caught my attention. The survey ranked India the most dangerous nation in the world and even Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Arabs and Somalia scored better. After reading the article, I found that Thomas Reuters asked just 548 unnamed experts out of which only 43 were from India to conclude that India is the worst country for women. The bias in this study is obvious as this is not how you would form an opinion of a complex country like India.
Care to read the entire article?
A friend of mine shared this article based only on the headlines and felt bad for not really reading it when I confronted her.
You will come across 100s of articles every day that fool people into forming an opinion just based on the headlines. It is your responsibility as an aware and responsible citizen of this country to check out the content before believing it.
So, what to do the next time you read an intriguing headline? Open the article and look for Names, Numbers and Sources to decode the message in the article.
The representational picture of a Hindu godman while the accused names Asif Noori!
Read this tweet, it says a Godman probably a Hindu Guru as obvious from the image indulged into unnatural sex crime. You probably have declared it the act of another criminal Baba but wait. Open the article and look for names and you will find it is a Muslim man! Picture of a Swamy just reveals the underlying propaganda.
The Wire- expert at propagating lies or half truth
Similarly look at this article by The Wire that says Students and Opposition oppose the idea of ‘Surgical Strike Day’. Dig deeper and look for names – you will find that it is the Congress party, its Student wing, Kapil Sibbal, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia that have that opposed the idea. So can you say that all students oppose the idea of ‘surgical strike day’? No! The heading tries to fool you into thinking that Centre’s step has not gone down well with the students of the country, but the article mentions only the opposition and universities that have been in the limelight for wrong reasons.
Do let me know if these simple methods help you separate the crap from the real news. Read, explore and educate!
That is all from my side. Thank you for your time.
The recent resignation of the Governor of the RBI, Urjit Patel due to “personal reasons”, as expected, has generated lot of discussion. The RBI was in the news recently for its apparent tussle with the government of India (GOI) on several issues including deployment of the central bank’s reserves. The media had a field day speculating on the reasons for his departure. Even the opposition parties cried foul. Whether Patel resigned because he felt stifled, or had other reasons, will only be known if and when he chooses to publish his side of the story in his memoir.
Reactions to the departure of the governor have been on expected lines. Many predicted the decimation of the stock markets and loss of confidence in the strength and resilience of the Indian economy. The stock market did fall during that time; however, it is unclear if the markets fell because of the exit polls on elections to key states indicating political instability or due to the departure of the governor. Beyond that, the banking and financial system in India remains on course. As regards confidence in the overall resilience of the Indian economy, there are no reports to suggests otherwise.
Is it true, as many in the media claim, that the RBI governor felt stifled by the government’s attempt to grab the bank’s turf? Or did he pick the wrong battles with the government? Should Patel have exercised discretion as the better part of valor and lived to fight another day? It would be interesting to look at some available pointers that may shed some light.
In this context, the recent judgement in the Mallaya extradition case, fought in a UK court, is instructive. While delivering her judgement in the case, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot had some harsh words for Indian banks. She wrote “if the criteria for lending to KFA (King Fisher Airlines) had been applied, if the background checks had been carried out, the loans should not have been granted. If the end-use certificates and all the other post sanction conditions applied, the loans would not have been misapplied in the way they were.”
The judge’s remarks are an indictment of the banking system in India, and obliquely the RBI itself. Many high value loans that eventually ended up as non-performing assets (NPAs) have been sanctioned in complete and willful violation of existing guidelines issued by the RBI. Going by the judgement of Ms. Emma Arbuthnot, it appears that there was no intent to repay these loans right from the very start. The inference here is that the RBI was aware of such potential bad loans even as they were being sanctioned.
The active involvement of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and executives of lending banks in bypassing established norms in consortium/multibank lending should have raised red flags at the regulator. The fact is that this has happened too often for comfort while approving large loans in Indian banks.
In fact, the real battle for the RBI with the GOI should have been the pursuit of unfettered autonomy in punishing these willful violators of its guidelines in the credit approval process. As a regulator, this is its legitimate turf, and to pick a fight with the government or politicians is perfectly par for the course. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Urjit Patel as well as many of his predecessors, including Raghuram Rajan are guilty of not choosing to fight for legitimate autonomy vis-à-vis regulating banks. The consequence, over the years, is the huge pool of bad loans that is now hanging like an albatross around India’s neck.
The government of India needs to be complimented on the swift decision to appoint a new governor. This must signal the markets and the world at large that the government is conscious and recognizes the importance of the central bank.
The government certainly has access to a large talent pool in the public and private sector within India as well as abroad. One would have expected the government to choose an incumbent who is distinguished in public service, and who carries an enviable track record. However, it is uncertain if the choice of the current incumbent matches the expectations of the banking and financial system in India.
It must be mentioned here though, that the governor of the RBI need not be an economist, since it already has a large pool of eminent economists who can render the necessary expert advice. In the past, many administrators have occupied the high office and have requited themselves well.
From the country’s perspective, the need of the hour from the new governor is the delineation of an agile credit delivery structure that meets the demands of all sectors of the economy. The exigencies of a fast-growing nation keep changing and hence the goal posts are constantly redefined. There have been demands for augmenting greater credit flow towards the small and medium enterprises since they have been underserved by the extant credit delivery system. The demands are justified and the new governor has to address this swiftly.
Also, there is an urgent need to step up the digital banking capabilities and platforms of the overall banking ecosystem in India. This includes understanding and catalyzing a technology driven banking environment that will enhance the fraud-free banking experience of the common banking customer. It is true that India has made significant progress in this area, but a lot more needs to be done.
The challenges of a huge bad loan baggage among banks is something that cannot be brushed under the carpet. The new incumbent must resist efforts by vested interests to ignore RBI guidelines and blatantly divert credit to undeserving borrowers.
It can be expected, at a minimum, that the new stewardship at the RBI will stay away from open confrontation of the government.
From the speech of Periyar about MGR why MGR left DMK in late 1960’s, one can easily derive the interpretation that Periyar was somewhat cool and indifferent towards black money. In the speech, the legend Periyar clearly reveals that MGR had asked for account details of DMK during election way back in late 1960’s. MGR was the treasurer of the party then and was responsible to fix the party account. But the details of the money received for election expense, the party was not willing to share on the reason that many people had given money which may be unaccounted (black money) and hence revealing the details would amounts to disclosing of the identity of all those who had donated money for poll expense. Therefore the party had refused to reveal all such details to MGR, according to the speech of Periyar.
In the same speech, Periyar further wondered how the political party can limit the poll expenses laid down by the election commission which was too less. Every candidate needs to incur expenses more than the permitted limit by the election commission and the political party can meet such expense only through donations.
Periyar was the most influential, revolutionary leader of that time. Even an alphabet of Periyar was sufficient to influence the state politics during late 1960’s. If Periyar has told DMK not to receive any donations from those who wants to keep secrecy of such donations and mandated the DMK to keep the account straight and transparent, such gesture would have reformed and cleansed the politics not only in Tamil Nadu but in entire India as well. But Periyar does seem to justify the stand of DMK way back in late 1960’s than reforming the new political system that was just budding in the state.
Honesty, transparency, money and muscle centric politics etc., would not have dominated Indian politics if Periyar had intervened and told the party not to entertain secret funding even if it may go against the poll fortune. Such interference of Periyar would have reformed the state and today the state would have been the most incorrupt state in entire India.
Why people wanted Periyar to have transformed DMK is only due to his influence and the stature that he enjoyed in the country then. But Periyar had in fact discouraged MGR not to seek such details by justifying the secret poll donations. It appears such gesture had inadvertently paved way for corruption in the state. Further Periyar also sanctified the stand of the party by citing the existence of such practice in congress party as well.
If the above justification was offered by some other political leader, we can understand but not a leader of Periyar’s legendary stature. Periyar never aspired for power or position like Gandhi but worked for reforming people. A person of his stature and vision should have told the DMK to disclose entire poll expenses along with the sources to MGR or should have asked the party to return the money to the source who does not want to disclose their identity due to some reason. But instead Periyar admits in his speech that he discouraged MGR from asking all such funding details.
Somewhere it gives a feeling and impression that whether power politics slightly eroded the value systems and ideals and was Periyar unknowingly encouraged some corrupt practices?
Today what we witness in the state is not Dravidian politics as envisaged by Periyar but more of dynastic politics. If Periyar is alive today he would have been the first person to tell people to vote against Dravidian politics that is being practiced today.
History will always remember Periyar as a great reformist leader and the same history also will remember that Periyar was somewhat cool and indifferent towards black money and corruption.
After waving farm loans of nearly INR 60,000 crore in three states Congress party chief, Mr. Gandhi Tweeted “It’s done! Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh have waived farm loans. We asked for 10 days. We did it in 2”. One side where Congress’ Chief, Mr. Gandhi is busy in celebrating his victory, Niti Aayog Chairman Raj Kumar slammed him by saying “Farm loan waiver is not a solution to farm sector distress. It is not a solution but is palliative”.
To get a clear picture about the statement given by Mr. Raj Kumar, we must investigate the details of agricultural loan waiver in India. First farm loan waiver was implemented nationwide in 1990 by Janata Party government led by the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh which costed the government INR 10,000 crores. Since then trend of agricultural loan waving commenced, farmers started agitating and political parties started cashing this opportunity to collect votes without acting upon real issues of agrarian crisis.
After 1990, another major blow to country’s economy was led by UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. For first four years, Congress Party did not take any substantial step to elevate farmer’s situation. Then in 2008, Mr. P. Chidambaram then Finance Minister announced a nationwide farm loan waiver package named Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relieve Scheme (ADWDRS) which included complete waiver of loan given to small and marginal farmers in India, costing Rs 650 billion equivalent to 1.3% of India’s GDP.
ADWDRS faced sharp criticism by opposition parties, bankers, agricultural expert, saying it as a populist trump card of UPA government to secure power in forthcoming elections. The loan waiver is “an electoral sop that involves a lot of statistical jugglery and very little of real hope for Indian farmers,” said Mr. Parshuram Ray, director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security.”It is unlikely to address any of the fundamental problems facing poor farmers. True to India’s electoral politics, this scheme has very little of substance and most of it is just symbolism designed to woo the poor and gullible voters,” added Mr. Ray.
Criticism aside, this step proved to be a major trump card for UPA and it came back in power in 2009, again for five years. But According to CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) sources, AWDRDS was a total failure of UPA government regarding its implementation, monitoring and outcomes. As Mr. P. Sainath slammed the scheme by saying that Congress loan waiver policy couldn’t reach to needy farmers. “Bulk of farm loan waivers which UPA announced in 2008 dealt with bank debt. But 90% of the debt owed by farmers is to private lenders,” Sainath said.
Since 2008 till March 2017, over the nine years of period both central and state government has waived nearly US$14 billion in farm loans. Again in 2017 only, governments of four states i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka have waived farm loans worth of US$13.6 to keep their poll promises. This populist card of loan waiver alone has costed US$49.1 billion to country’s economy in 2016-17. And According to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) report, farm loan waivers by states might hit Rs 2,57,000 crore i.e. 2% of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by 2019 general elections.
Everyone knows that farm loan waivers are not the long-term solution of agrarian crisis. This policy is dangerous for country’s economy and has been failed on front foot as farmers are still forced to claim their lives. What government must focus on is building infrastructures, better irrigation facilities, water conservation, enough storage system, transparency in business module, restricting middle men and implementing fair prices of crops.
The RBI has been continuously opposing these loan waivers. Ex-RBI Governor Urjit Patel stated this policy “undermines an honest credit culture, it impacts credit discipline, it blunts incentives for future borrowers to repay, in other words, waivers engender moral hazard.” These frequent loan waivers are pushing public sector banks towards crisis which are already in stress. As the amount of bad loan is increasing and it would affect other borrowings with hikes in interest rates.
But once again before 2019 general elections, UPA chief, Mr. Gandhi is playing the same populist card of 2008. Without looking into proper measures and outcomes, he has promised a nationwide loan waiver just to win the election.Totally ignorant about ground reality of crisis and country’s economical progress, UPA has become too desperate to come back in power.
Once again trillions are on stake, banks could go in debt, country’s economy could sink, even then farmers would keep on committing suicide and that’s why Mr. Gandhi, it’s absolutely not done!
New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar announced its seat searing on Sunday with BJP President Amit Shah announcing that BJP, JD(U) will contest 17 Lok Sabha seat each and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) gets rest of 6 seat.
NDA will send LJP chief and Cabinet Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to Rajya Sabha.
‘The Decisions are only regard with Bihar, Shah said in a respond to a question that LJP will get LOk Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Bhartiya Janta Party President Amit Shah asserted that NDA will win seat more than 2014 Lok Sabha seat it had 31 seat. The BJP chief also expressed confidence that BJP will come back in power in 2019. Politically and socially important Bihar state has 40 seat of Lok Sabha. Seat sharing was announcement in the presence of BJP President Amit Shah, JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Minister in Modi cabinet Ram Vilas Paswan and Chirag Paswan. Ram Vilas will be sent to the Rajya Sabha as earliest opportunity, Shah told reporters.
This deal finalised after two days marathon meeting between LJP and BJP top leaders, LJP had adopted a Aggressive stand over Seat sharing issue after Upendra Kushwaha left NDA few days ago who was Minister In Modi Cabinet.
on Ram Mandir issue, Bihar Chief Minister said, every political parties has its own Agenda, “We have been with BJP since 2009 and our stand is clear, it has to be resolved either by court or by mutual understanding” Kumar added.
JDU President Nitish Kumar also managed to get respectful seat for his party, Nitish Kumar also succeeded in to underline his Importance for Bhartiya Janta Party for Upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, now BJP is fighting lesser seat then 2014, party had won 22 seat. The BJP have to let go of at least its five winning seat in the state.
JDU had contested 2014 elections independently, and the LJP, which was BJP ally, had won two and six seat respectively.
Shah said all allies will soon decide on distribution of Lok Sabha Constituency for fielding their candidates in 2019 Elections.
Its very Important to understand that in 2014 elections Nitish Kumar’s JDU was not part of NDA, he decided to move away from the alliance after Narendra Modi was named for the PM post. in 2014 NDA had registered an impressive win with 31 seat with Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP and Ram Vilas Paswan. This time scenario has been changed now RLSP is no more part of NDA, but BJP managed to convenience Nitish Kumar for alliance with party after JDU decided to left Grand-Allince in Bihar after corruption allegation on his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav.
This election is not so easy for Bhartiya janta Party and its “Chanakya” Amit shah after the 3- state loss. Across the Country opposition parties are coming together to defeated PM Narendra Modi, So BJP and its Leaders must thing about Pro-People policy because congress moral is on high after election win in hindi heartland 3 states.
After Modi sworn in as PM of India, the fake propaganda by opposition has reached its peak! The sloganeering of Save Constitution, Threat for Democracy and Federal System is in danger have surfaced according to the proverb, “Bhagavad Gita in the mouth of Ghost”.
Award Wapsi, Intolerance were beginners and succeeded by Undeclared Emergency, Lynchisthan, Rafale etc and such a list of fake propaganda grows like tail of Lord Hanuman. AAP chief had made such fake accusations on Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari, who filed defamation cases against him and at last unbearable of heavy penalties he apologized. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji doesn’t file defamation that’s what they take advantage of!
When we scan these propagandas 1975 and 1984 dances before our memory, two tragic cum pathetic eras of India after Independence and after partition. Human Rights were torn apart via enforcement of Emergency and sustaining of Anti Sikh Riots. When we take up 1975, all freedoms including Freedom of Speech were caged. All opposition leaders were imprisoned and what else can be more disastrous to democracy that this?
It was in the same year the constitution of India was manipulated as if like a personal diary! Then it was the period around which judiciary was in danger as Justice A.N. Ray was appointed as CJI violating seniority principle as he superseded Justice J.M. Shelat, Justice A.N. Grover and Justice K.S. Hegde who were senior to him and hence it was termed blackest day in Indian Judiciary! And again in 1977 H.R. Khanna was superseded by M.H. Beg! However it was 1966-1984 when all threats affected collectively for Indian Democracy.
When we take up 1984 Anti Sikh Riots, there was a brutal massacre of about 3000 Sikhs and the then Prime Minister instead of condemning mass butchering had used Huge Tree analogy and indirectly sustained it! What else can we name the situation of Sikh killings else than Lynchisthan?
Then intolerance and scaremongering which is nothing but selective outrage. The same orators of scary atmosphere kept mum when certain people kicked Amar Jawan Jyoti and killed a policeman, they didn’t feel terrorist shouldn’t be positioned above human beings when they signed Mercy petition for Yakub Memon! If anybody question them about the silence during 1984 anti Sikh riots the argument will be absence of multimedia! But there were Print Media and certain vulture minded journalists who fed on Parliament Attack were working in print media and if they had confessed their fear with such journalist they might have printed it on newspapers, haven’t they?
It was crystal clear that Rafale was an desperate attempt to conceal Agustawestland & Bofors. Supreme Court made a Hamla on the Jumla of Rafale.
These won’t hesitate to set fire to nation for their selfish needs?! The propaganda that made India burn was Dalit Atrocities Act.Though it was the judiciary which had given judgement on this act, the government made honest effort to strengthen the act by filing petition in court the team turned the whole matter towards government and made India burn. #DontLetIndiaBurn
There are two more teams the one is Rs.15,00,000/- team and the other is Pakoda team.P.M. had said if black money is brought back the amount is equal to 15 lakhs*population of India, which they say Modi said he would credit 15 lakhs to everyone’s account which Modi never said.The team is #JustAsking where are 15 lakhs?
Then th the Pakoda, Modi had said Pakoda sellers should be respected as other employees are respected.Modi never said ”Hey unemployees sell Pakoda”. I say even if they sell Pakoda with determination making MTR and Maiyas as role models they’ll succeed.
These propaganda teammates say Modi didn’t generate 2 Crore employment avenues as promised.They should just look at beneficiaries of MUDRA, Standup India, Startup India, Skill India which aim at creation of entrepreneurs and job givers.
There is another team that’s the #AntiIndiaGang whose propaganda is unveiled recently.When the dignity of India improving at International stage, the head of this team went to BBC and made filthy remarks which are all lies. Prez of this team says Meat Shops have stopped, Leather shops stopped, People are lynched on streets, Hitler’s pics are printed as covers of text books etc., which were all lies.This situation might have exists in Pakistan not at all in India.I don’t know what right do they have to stay in India when they defame India in front of International Community.
These propagandas say economic growth of India is retarded due to GST and Demonetization they should look at the GDP growth and should hear the heads of IMF and IBRD say India is fastest developing economy in the world.
There are two more teams the one is Rs.15,00,000/- team and the other is Pakoda team.P.M. had said if black money is brought back the amount is equal to 15 lakhs* population of India, which they say Modi said he would credit 15 lakhs to everyone’s account which Modi never said.The team is where are 15 lakhs?
Then the Pakoda, Modi had said Pakoda sellers should be respected as other employees are respected. Modi never said “Hey unemployees sell Pakoda”. I say even if they sell Pakoda with determination making MTR and Maiyas as role models they’ll succeed.
The another irony is those who don’t trust RBI, CBI, IB, NIA, CVC, ED, EC, CAOS and Air Marshall are talking about their autonomy!
Another hypocrisy is those who talk of saving Democracy have objected the Rath Yatra by another party!
We are the Democratic nation and democracy is defined as by the people, for the people and of the people. But for some power hungry politicians only “By the people” is significant since it is the people who elect them. To make people vote them the follow certain hypnotizing tactics for good hearing we may use the word advertising tactics.The word propaganda comes under advertising criteria.
Now this advertising team got the name “Modi” without which they won’t finish their propaganda speech and now it’s the intellectual brigade which has also joined it’s hands.
These are some of the arrows in the store I’ve mentioned but arrows in the store of this propaganda team are recurring in nature as in “Akshaya” quiver of Arjuna in the epic The Mahabharata which he got as a boon. Yes, it’s the duty of opposition to keep government aware not to go in wrong route, but when government travels on right path it is also a undeclared duty of opposition to appreciate it. Otherwise will be a curse for Democracy.
So the score line read 3 – 0 in favour of Congress in the recently concluded Assembly elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Though the contests were close in MP and Rajasthan, BJP was comprehensively trounced in Chhattisgarh. Different political experts have diligently dwelt into the reasons that lay behind the defeat of BJP but to me, it was the unconscientious BJP politics that proved to be its nemesis. During the last four and half years of its rule at the Centre and in several states, the party has simply been not true to its conscience; its politics has been devoid of its very soul.
Development, welfare and subsidies are no doubt important vote catching policy prescriptions for any political party in a democracy but nothing appeals to the voters more than an ideology that establishes a connect with them. At a time when the forces of globalization, urbanisation and automation are threatening to rip the society apart and engendering social inequality, unemployment, environmental degradation and social turmoil due to issues like immigration and cultural pollution, individuals are feeling disempowered and hopeless; they yearn to return to their roots where they can find solace and emotional support.
The defining trait of BJP has been Hindutva; it has been the political unification of the Hindus despite immense diversity that has catapulted the party to power. Why are issues like Ram Temple, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code, not withstanding Government’s proactive interference in Triple Talaq, being held in abeyance? Why is the ruling party so averse to bringing Ram Temple legislation in the Parliament and waiting for the court verdict? If the government can bring in ordinance to nullify the changes brought in the SC/ST Act by the verdict of the apex court with alacrity, I see no reason it can’t do the same in case of Ram Temple?
The government must bring forth legislation in the Parliament to facilitate the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Even if it fails to muster enough numbers in the Rajya Sabha for the passage of this bill, at least, it will have the consolation of exposing the opposition leaders who did not support its move before the Hindu masses. What is preventing BJP from bringing in Uniform Civil Code? There may be hues and cries over this but don’t forget that even the Supreme Court has asked governments in India to go ahead over this as it is mentioned in Article 44 of the constitution. The same is the case with Article 370. Why is the BJP government dithering over all these issues that brought it into limelight in Indian polity?
JNU, Hyderabad University and Jadavpur University were citadels of left organised protests that shaped the narrative of an intolerant Manuwadi India under the BJP rule. National Anthem, National Flag, Rise of Fascism & Monochromatic Nationalism and Atrocities against Dalits screamed as headlines on national newspapers but rather than adopting a well oiled counter narrative, the party appeared defensive. The party should have taken up the gauntlet and gone for a constitutional amendment making Constitutional Duties under Article 51 legally enforceable just like Fundamental Rights. This would have compelled people into showing respect to National Anthem, National Flag and prevented Break India brigade from indulging in plebiscite demands in Kashmir as upholding the unity, sovereignty and integrity is a part and parcel of our Fundamental Duties.
BJP cried hoarse over secularism, cow and love jihad, it expressed fears at the changing demography in states like West Bengal, Assam and Kerala in favour of Muslims, it supported National Citizen Register in Assam but did it take any concrete step in allaying the Hindu fears of being subjugated in their own homelands and being reduced to a minority in certain states? No, it was just rhetoric that BJP felt would help it in getting votes. If the intentions would have been genuine, the government would have certainly legislated a two child norm for every family. This would have been a better step than indulging in exaggerated fears of a possible Muslim domination. If the BJP feels that Hindus are discriminated against in their country, it should have taken a bold step and gone for changes in the constitution.
Why should Muslims be treated as a minority community when they comprise 16 to 18 percent of the population and can influence electoral outcomes in around 100 Lok Sabha constituencies or Why not give the same rights to the majority community as the minorities are getting under Articles 25 to 30 of the constitution? Why are the majority Hindus not been given the rights to run their own temples and shrines without any government interference just like minorities? The Indian constitution has erred by treating Hindu religion in the same way as Abhramic religions like Islam and Christianity. It is the Dharma of the Indian state to preserve our rich culture, traditions and civilization and protect Hinduism from being wiped out.
Just imagine how Hinduism and Indic cultures evaporated from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and several other countries when faced with the onslaught of Islam. If the BJP was really interested in espousing the cause of Hindutva or Hinduism, it should have made the teaching of Vedas, Upanishads, Yoga and Gita as a compulsory part of school curriculum. But it seems BJP only wants to raise the decibel levels for petty vote bank politics. It just went for half baked measures, unconvinced and lacking the moral fibre to take the opposition head on.
The beauty of democracy is that it offers multiple options to the electorate to make its choice from a plethora of parties, ideologies and programmes/policies. Every party has its ideology, icons and core committed vote bank that stands with the party even during crisis moments. But look at what BJP did. As the party began to expand and increase its catchment areas, it forgot its ideology at the altar of vote bank politics. Hindutva was now not about conviction, it was not about the soul of the party but it had become a matter of political convenience. It forgot beef and cows when it ran elections in the North east. Since the party had very few icons of its own, it contemplated to appropriate numerous icons – Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Subash Chandra Bose and Lohia – forgetting that these very icons had drastically different ideologies from the Hindu Right and they belonged to parties with which BJP can’t even compromise.
Just look how shamelessly BJP is appropriating Ambedkar and thinking dalits will be impressed with its overture. Even a layman today understands that Ambedkar was a complete antithesis to Hindu Right. Hindutva with its ethos rooted in Hindu cultural nationalism will always be at odds with the autonomous independent Dalit identity of Ambedkar. Mandal drove a wedge into the efforts of Hindu Right by legitimising reservation and giving fillip to rabid caste politics. It has done much more harm to BJP by hindering the process of political unification of Hindus and yet I can see the spectacle of BJP leaders claiming to be the true inheritors of Lohia legacy.
Today BJP is mandalising itself and indulging in all sorts of caste politics that no one could have ever imagined the party with a difference would do. Whether it was Bose or Patel, both were quite never enamoured of Nehru but that does not mean they were fond of RSS or Hindu Mahasabha. BJP would do well to stay clear of these icons and their ideologies; it needs to counter an Ambedkar or a Lohia. It needs to develop its own narrative and try to forge Hindu unity. By assimilating Ambedkarism or Lohia-ism, it can only encourage caste politics and cultural centrifugality. Hindu right will always be susceptible to caste disruptions. Moreover, public is not naive and can understand the true intentions behind such symbolic acts.
Identity politics has penetrated so deep into our polity that you can always associate a caste/religion/language with a party. Yadavs will vote for RJD, Brahmins will vote for BJP, Dalits will vote for BSP and the list goes on with no ending. It is a sad reflection of the Indian polity. Every party thinks about its caste votes first before thinking about the nation. For long, the BJP rode its electoral fortunes on the overwhelming support of upper castes and the trader communities who were convinced that only BJP can only solve the reservation conundrum & take care of upper caste angst but what did the core BJP supporters get in return?
They saw the Modi Govt going all out to woo the dalit community by reversing the Supreme Court verdict in SC/ST act and frantically making efforts to give reservation in promotions to SC/ST communities. They were shocked. Similar was the case with the trading communities. They had to bear the brunt of Demonetization and GST. In trying to broaden its social base, the BJP ended up antagonising its core supporters. This holds an important lesson for any political player in Indian democracy —- enlarge your social base but not at the cost of your core social base otherwise your situation will be akin to a cat on a hot tin roof.
The strength of democracy lies in its institutions. These institutions safeguard public interests; any step that is seen to be aimed at weakening these institutions in public perception will always be troublesome for any government. The recent incidents related to the Supreme Court and the Reserve Bank of India was unfortunate. The attacks on Election Commission by sections of political leadership and media were simply uncalled for.
In a country where more than 50 percent of the population is below the age of 25 years, it is jobs and employment opportunities that can shore up the political trajectory of any party. You cannot simply have jobless growth or growth fueled by services sector; you need to put your stakes on manufacturing sector which despite Govt’s proactive “Make in India’ programme failed to take off. Government servants and middle class were neglected; they felt cheated because they felt their taxes were too high and the collected tax amounts were wasted by the government on subsidies and populist measures. Demonetization and GST broke the backbone of informal sector where more than 80 percent of the working people are employed. Govt needs to get its priorities right in the economy.
These assembly election outcomes can’t be termed as the indicator of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Lok Sabha elections are all together a different ball game. The opposition has a long way to go before it catches up with the BJP. It need not gloat over its victory in the recent Assembly elections.
In the times of cheap internet and touch screen mobile phones, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. It can also become a very powerful tool for us to share the soldiers’ stories of happiness, sorrows, valor, love and many more. Eventually, the social media has become the quintessential friend that has helped us in establishing an emotional bond with the civil society, in turn keeping the faith of people in Indian Armed Forces. Advances in technology and 24×7 accessibility to mobile devices connected to the world wide web together with Indian society’s acceptance of social media in general, have drastically altered how information is spread and how people, organizations, and government entities communicate.
There has been a sincere effort from the defence fraternity too, to engage with netizens and spread positivity of the forces amongst the general public. The social media has proven to be a boon for the unknown uniformed Brave hearts whose tales of sacrifices and valor came into limelight due to the general acceptance and spread of social media amongst the Indian Society. The Public Relations officer (Defence) Navy, Army and IAF of various commands and States, Centrally the Additional Director General Public Information (@ADGPI), Spokes Person Navy (Indian Navy) and Indian Air Force – (@IAF_MCC) are the wheels behind Indian Armed Forces’ social media presence.
The viral and immediate spread of various data and information pertaining to the Armed forces does give sneak pick into the functioning of Military Public Information department and their sharing pattern of information and material material including photographs and videos for public information with various entities like Defence Correspondents, Defence Enthusiasts and above all directly amongst general public.
But, there is a catch. The information that is shared with the defence correspondents by the ‘Defence sources’ is the key to the careers of those scribes and help them in earning their daily bread. In some cases, the journalists being wholly dependent upon source of information from within the forces are not able to bring factual information to the fore. Instead, they have to willingly or unwillingly become part of a vicious circle.
Propaganda Examples:
It is a known fact that Major General Satbir Singh’s One Rank One Pension protests and propaganda against the government had support from some people in high echelons from within the forces.
So are the half-truths regarding Non Functional Upgradation and the Rank restructuring debate are the result of social media activism of some of the high honchos in uniform.
AFSPA petition by more than 300 soldiers reached media and was debated on Television channels even before the matter came into knowledge of the Army top Brass. The petition is a clear attempt save a certain commanding officer. The soldiers involved, probably knew nothing about the petition but got themselves tangled in the legal battle after being coerced illegally by their superiors.
It was reported in media that the Army Chief was “annoyed” by the AFSPA petition was also quoted saying, “Serving personnel going out of the way sets a wrong precedent. There is a system for it, and the Army has always been with the soldiers on it,” The General Rawat was particularly scathing in his remarks on officers of the JAG branch. He said, “These lawyers had misled the officers and soldiers to make sure that they had cases to fight after their retirement and he did not approve of the way serving personnel approached the court in their Individual capacity.”
As per prevalent rules of the forces such activism against the government of the day amounts to mutiny against the state and warrant immediate and strict disciplinary actions against individuals involved. Still, no action is taken against those who have broken the line of discipline in the services. Instead, we are branding a poor Tej Bahadur Yadav demanding Daal and awarding summary court martial an dismissal from service to Jawans like Lance Naik Yagya Pratap and late Lance Naik Roy Mathew who dare to stood up against Rank Apartheid and inhuman practice of batman as, ‘Mutineers’!
This veteran has seen instances of special propagation of officers’ martyrdom and negligence of Jawans deaths in the line of their duties by omitting their names / photos / family photos from official / unofficial shares. (This aspect is too sad to be discussed in detail.)
Misuse of Social Media
Interactions over social media make up a major part of our daily online communication, so when Soldiers are killed or go missing in action, it can be hard to turn off the flow of information distributed through social media platforms. While it is difficult to prepare for tragedy, it is important to keep in mind that social media can play a role (good or bad) in the handling of a serious illness, injury or death. It is imperative that any commissioned officer should not become part of the problem by adding to the rumors and speculation when there is a report of an injury or death. Information about ‘Killed In Action’ individuals must not be released before the next of kin is officially notified.
An official message regarding last rites of Late Major Mukund Varadarajan, AC and Late Sepoy Vikram Singh, SC who had martyred in an operation in Kashmir on 25 April 2014 was spread in social media by officials of a military installation from Kashmir. The whatsapp message actually undermined Operational Security by revealing the names of martyred soldiers even before an official communication has been released by the Army and had reached to the family.
This year on 18th March 2018 at 09.30 AM, the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) of the Indian Army released a video on their twitter handle, alerting netizens about threat of Chinese hackers. The video was very informative as it provided the entire world a snick peek into whatsApp groups that ADGPI officers are members of.
The said video provides us with a fair assumption that the whatsapp shares and latest updates are also directly shared with the following:
• Group of individuals, popularly known as ‘Defence Enthusiasts’ who are very active in media and social media, also are closely connected with certain military honchos.
• As seen from the video; with various WhatsApp groups of defence enthusiasts, who run many popular propaganda pages on various social media platforms (sharing happens via WhatApp). Such as: 1A for CDS AFCAT, Know your Air Force, SSB Crack, SSB STRICT PRACT.., SSB GROUP DISCUS.. NDA ASPIRANTS, and Crack SSB as seen in the video.
The video also notifies existence of a number of whatsApp groups where senior officials such as, defence PROs are sharing pictures, videos and other information as part of the officers’ aggressive media and social media policy. The above online activism looks like a part of the officer corps stratagem to curb the flow of negativity that occasionally flows in media about some of their questionable actions.
Questions arise that whether, such social media activism of these officials whom the media sometimes quote as ‘sources’, is sanctioned from the Ministry of Defence or not? Because, in a democracy such as India civil supremacy is the key to keep our democratic values intact. And particularly for each of the uniformed officers, their every action is answerable to the elected representatives of people.
India is not Pakistan where Allah, Army and America run the show. The general public with their collective voting power are the rulers of this nation. Therefore, every action by the uniformed public servants should also be within the frame of rules laid down in the military manuals and law books of the country and also in the larger interest of the society. No individual who is on payroll of the Government of India can be allowed to propagate his own cause at the expenses of the Government and the common man of this country.
Apart from the Defence Correspondents who are responsible enough and are actually the flag bearers of the invaluable fourth pillar of democracy, whereabouts of most of the above beneficiaries blessed by the PROs with first hand social media access of defence matters are not known, neither to the Ministry of Defence nor to the general Public.
One can sincerely hope that our military honchos are not endangering the state’s security while trying to gain sympathy and praise for themselves by sharing videos, photographs from across three services with their friends and families, journalists and defence enthusiasts.
The good old times are long gone, when camera was not permitted inside military installations. At present the services have become so much, tech and media savvy for the want of publicity and image building that has become integral part of modern day cyber warfare that all the three services and Para-military forces have their presence in most of the social media platforms, where one finds an update every few hours.
In order to keep the defence reporters and defence enthusiasts to write positively about them, the military officials try really hard and go extra miles to keep the third parties satisfied in their unending quest for news and updates.
Does every Defence PRO and officials who share photographs and other information about the defence forces operations, activities, incidents and actions understand the gravity of the information that continuously flows through their smart phones? Has matters pertaining to national security become such a cheap commodity that can be compromised even by low ranking Defence – Public Relationship Officers and high ranking military officials posted in sensitive posts? Why, we still donot have a Central and Comprehensive National Cyber Security Policy for the Armed Forces?
Defence enthusiasts are knowingly or unknowingly leaking top secret information, Videos of troop operations and Photographs of Military Operations and installations gathered by themselves or from the above sources. They have also been bragging about their know-how of Militaryand posting the photos, videos and information online simply to drive traffic to their pages for popularity and money.
The officers of the forces the must be aware all the time that whenever they are logging in to a social media website or app, they still represent the Indian Armed Forces. The forces need to develop a social media code of conduct that implies equally on officers as well as Soldiers.
It’s difficult to build an open-source picture of foreign espionage operations against India, the authorities appear to keep the trials of such espionage cases, away from public and media glare to save themselves from embarrassment.
In the recent past, the Army chief has been very vocal about how the enemies of the country use social media for their own benefits. Earlier this year, he warned his forces about the misuse of social media by those with propaganda. Last year, he had stated that social media is being used to mislead the youth of the country.
Social media is in a true leveler. It doesn’t discriminate between two users, be it an officer (oppressor) or his sewadar (the oppressed). It feels good that the Army Chief has accepted that a ban on social media will not work, instead its usage should be brought under certain guidelines, Do’s and Don’ts to avoid imminent dangers from misuse, violations and release of any sensitive information.
We also have to develop thorough guidelines in order to protect classified and unclassified information from miscreants. Our adversaries constantly look forward to get access to critical information about India’s military operations, whether they are in the planning process, being carried out or already completed. Data is the king in modern world and one insignificant looking social media post can end-up compromising our operational security. And, it is not the uniformed personnel only who are at risk of leaking such information.
As the flow of data and social media has evolved into a giant, it is imperative to see if the forces really have an official social media policy? No! One is not talking about the social media restrictions that are applied very-very stringently upon the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen. This Veteran senior Sailor’s concern is rather huge. Factually speaking, the senior officers are the one who are privy to sensitive information.
Enemy spies are able to take advantage of the explosion of internet connectivity. The digital Indian state is now a very leaky place and the most of the reported National security leakage cases have an online component to them. The biggest National Security challenge for us is of ensuring that sensitive information does not leak onto public servers.
Often, news about latest military technology is first available on online forums. Leaked photographs of new technologies are generally assumed to have the tacit approval of defence officials. Now, it seems that our adversaries are taking advantage of our tendency to unofficially reveal military secrets online.
Hundreds of ‘Defence enthusiast’ forums, pages and groups are scattered all around the social media space many of which can be used to recruit spies and to acquire internal secrets. Some of the military enthusiasts who get pictures and videos of new technological and tactical updates via ‘whatsApp share’ from defence officials and post them online, may also have been doubling as foreign agents.
For the past several years, so-called military enthusiast websites and forums have been publishing details of new weapon systems. These forums frequently boast of our military advancements as part of the growing nationalist trend. In recent times, more and more Indians are worshiping the forces for their loyalty and selfless service to the nation. In India, this kind of military worship is almost as popular as IPL cricket. Exclusive news, photographs and videos connected to military operations, exercises and technology generate so much of online traffic and in turn let the individual earn handsome amount of money for online popularity and views of the content.
In modern times of content savvy journalism that is dependent and linked heavily on media and social media alarm bells are ringing on military security. The distribution of military information and photos, have pressed the limits of earlier sedated and heavily guarded walls of military establishments. Senior military officials seem happy to accept some leakage of military information in order to successfully direct so much national enthusiasm toward military worship rather than focusing on core National issues.
Compared to worries about sophisticated cyber-espionage, the spy chronicles from the so called defence enthusiasts as seem to this veteran senior sailor are positively quaint. Yet, it’s no laughing matter; it can pose “severe danger to national military security.” As we are seeking out serious social media control reforms, possibility of online spy chronicles may cause the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to rethink approach towards online military forums.
I would like to request citizens and officers to remove geographic and other sensitive information while taking photographs of Defence Airports, Naval Ships and IAF Aircrafts, as this information might be used by enemy spy agencies. It is always advisable for military to maintain certain decorum and also safe and respectable distance from the general public, be it in cyber space or in real life.”
