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Dalit politics and real questions

logicallyyours
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Dalit politics and real questions

2 communities that are frequently used as commodities in Indian politics are Muslims and Dalits. They have been used fairly and squarely to get votes in elections. Unfortunately, both of them have been languishing at the bottom of Indian growth pyramid ever since the independence. The main culprit is indeed the Indian National Congress (because it ruled the country for most of the time). At the same time, these communities should blame themselves as well because it seems many of them have not opened their eyes yet. The recent killing of Dalit youths in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal reaffirms this hypothesis.

Trilochan Mahato, a young BJP Dalit activist gets killed in West Bengal. Mayawati, Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi keep mum. Derek O’Brien, without showing any remorse for the murders happening in his own Trinamool Congress-ruled state, takes pride in talking about the number of murders which happened under different regimes. Even Prakash Ambedkar (the grandson of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar), who likes to portray himself as a neutral politician and a person who has utmost care for Dalits, completely ignored the Trilochan murder case (in the same manner as his grandfather was ignored by the Congress).

Take a look at another example. When Rohit Vemula killed himself, so many politicians visited Hyderabad and harped on poor man’s death. Here are some of the reactions from political leaders.

Rahul Gandhi: While calling out Rohit Vemula’s suicide as murder, Rahul Gandhi’s compared Rohit to Mahatma Gandhi

Mayawati: she demanded the resignation of Smriti Irani.

Arvind Kejriwal: Using the cliche ‘murder of democracy’, he went on to blame (no prizes for guessing) PM Modi for the incident.

Derek O’ Brien: He echoed Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi’s sentiments and disregarded the loss of parliament session

Prakash Ambedkar: The grandson recently celebrated Rohit’s death anniversary as Shahadat diwas.

I want my Dalit friends to think for a minute. 2 incidents and 2 different reactions. Ask yourself just 2 questions:

  • Was Trilochan Mahato a lesser Dalit than Rohit Vemula?
  • Do dalits really matter to these politicians?

Politicians talk so much about Dalit, their betterment and upliftment. But in practice they just use poor people as pawns or in raw words, ‘use and throw’ articles. Why would some Dalits, who think of these political parties as their messiahs, themselves not question the double standard of these politicians? 

When Bhima-Koregaon incident happened, they rightfully questioned Maharashtra CM. But when Rohit Vemula or Trilochan Mahato or incidents like the rape of a poor Dalit woman happen, they don’t seem to question the respective state governments headed by Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress or Oommen Chandy of Indian National Congress. Our Constitution, which is a result of hard work put in by our founding fathers including Dr. Ambedkar, states that Policing is a state subject. So the State governments should be held responsible for such reprehensible acts. Then why our outrage is selective? Aren’t we demeaning Dr Ambedkar’s principles?  

I would like you to think and decide which footsteps you would like to follow. Notwithstanding all the differences Babasaheb Ambedkar and Nehru had, no one can imagine Babasaheb asking people to disrupt Nehru’s sabha by throwing chairs in the air. That’s exactly what a new Dalit leader, Jignesh Mewani, had asked everyone to do during Modi’s sabha. Is he really following Babasaheb’s footsteps? I’m sure even Babasaheb would have condemned such acts and therefore a question must be asked if you want your children to follow footsteps of such foul-mouthed people like Mewani?

Dalits and the nation as a whole must try to find answers to these questions if they really want to progress in the right direction. Otherwise there is no end to politicians’ hollow spiral talk.

Open letter to BJP President Amit Shah

Vijaya Dar
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Open letter to BJP President Amit Shah

Dear Shri Amit Shah:

The Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas infographic launched on the mygov.in the website under the sub-heading 48months.mygov.in is perhaps an object lesson to many corporates on how to present its performance record to its shareholders. It is a very professionally designed 4-yearly report that can be compared to the best annual reports of the most professionally managed business organizations in the corporate world. Yet, I would hesitate to call it a Balance Sheet, as what it lacks in its body is a statement of accounts that record the misses while it amply dwells upon the hits. As an admirer of the BJP’s style of governance, and even more of the Prime Minister and the President of the party, I think it is necessary to catalogue and add the misses that are as important as the hits. I will not repeat the hits that have been so graphically illustrated in the website and shall concentrate only on the misses that, if not attended to immediately, will have disastrous consequences for the party, the country, and the people.

The recent election results after Karnataka are indicative of the mood that appears to be building across the nation for the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Extrapolating the indications it seems more than likely that a repeat of 2014 will become difficult if a course-correction is not implemented right away.

1. Building coalitions: The BJP is losing partners rather too quickly. We know that the BJP is not a family enterprise like the Congress or almost all the other national or regional political parties, and it is extremely uncomfortable to build an alliance with a family that has no other agenda but to loot the nation and fills its own coffers. The alliance with the Akalis, the Shiv Sena, and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP is under severe strain because their leaders are finding it difficult to blindly loot their states and keep their cadres happy. The next general election will see them drifting away and aligning with the Congress or some other equally corrupt party. So how does the BJP handle this situation? Coalitions are a must for winning elections in a multi-party system, as also for providing stability. They survive only if the parties have a mutually agreed agenda – be it proper governance or just uninhibited loot. BJP has very little presence in the southern states (Karnataka excepted) and for it to go alone would be suicidal. It does not have the manpower or the cadre that could propel it to an electoral victory on its own. But with whom should it align? Having found JDS as repellent as the Congress in the recently concluded Karnataka elections, and with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu looking like a rudderless ship, there appears to be no party insight that one could beneficially align with.

In my opinion, the party should look at Nitish Kumar as a leader beyond the state of Bihar. The JDU is a party that is almost in the same mould as the BJP, is not family-controlled, and has a leader with a proven track record in governance. The BJP should encourage JDU to increase its footprint outside Bihar and expand its membership across the country, with special attention on the southern states, West Bengal, and those states that have a significant number of anti-BJP voters. Nitish Kumar could be included in the central cabinet as a Minister for Home or even Finance, now that Arun Jaitley is not fully fit. The JDU could become the lodestar for those who are not very comfortable with the BJP due to its RSS affiliation, but who wish this country well. People from other political parties who wish to change their affiliations would find it easier to join a JDU and still get the support of the BJP leadership.

Naveen Patnaik’s BJD could be another valuable partner who could be encouraged to go beyond the borders of Odisha and look for expansion in West Bengal, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. Again, Patnaik could be accommodated within the central cabinet and given an important ministry like Defence or Industry. I am sure Patnaik would be more comfortable in the centre as against a state.

However, the time for putting this strategy in place is NOW, not even a day later, so to speak!

2. Kashmir Policy: The decision of joining hands with Mehbooba Mufti has been one of the biggest misses in this balance sheet. The PDP is a communal organization and its leader is putty in the hands of the Islamists who themselves dance to the tune played by Pakistan’s Jihadi outfits. Supping with the devil can be extremely hazardous as there is no guarantee that the food has not been poisoned. I am at a loss to understand why the Jammu leadership of the party continues to sit at the same table, and the only explanation must be that their hands are not clean. That should be reason enough for dissolving this coalition and dismissing the Mufti government. The state should be brought under President’s rule with immediate effect. The Governor needs to be replaced by a younger, no-nonsense individual with a proven administrative track record. His team of advisers should come from the armed forces as well as from civil service, but no professional politicians, please!

Public opinion in Jammu and Ladakh should be galvanized towards a trifurcation of the state of Jammu & Kashmir into three separate states or Union Territories, as the demography of each part might warrant. This is the only permanent solution for a festering wound that Nehru’s ceasefire blunder of 1948 followed by the introduction of Art. 370 in the Constitution of India in 1950. The state constitution should be abrogated and Kashmir should be fully integrated with the Union of India.

3. West Bengal: The state of West Bengal, once the pride of British India, has degenerated into a region that has become worse than a sub-Saharan country in Africa. The atrocious rule for more than 30 years by the Communists has been surpassed by the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress. The state is economically bankrupt and socially a tinderbox. The antisocial elements that formed the bulk of the CPM cadre have seamlessly attached themselves to the party in power, leaving the common man worse off than he was under the rule of the Communists. Mamata has turned herself into an Islamist and given free rein to Jihadi elements, settling illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators. The brutality with which BJP cadres are being murdered sends shudders down one’s spine. The state police are complicit in these crimes and the centre appears to be powerless. Mamata’s government has destroyed the economy of the hill regions and Darjeeling that once produced the champagne of teas is today lying in ruins. The tea gardens are closed or abandoned and the poor workers, who are mostly Gurkhas, find themselves in dire straits.

West Bengal cries for President’s rule. The government of Mamata Bannerji should be dismissed and the assembly dissolved. Again, like Kashmir, a new Governor and council of advisers should be appointed with similar attributes.

The hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong may be detached from the state and either made into a Union Territory or incorporated within the state of Sikkim. It is a fact that the current party in power in Sikkim has done nothing much for its development, and here again, there is an opportunity for the JDU to expand its reach.

4. Finance Ministry: The appointment of Arun Jaitley as the Finance Minister is one of the gravest errors of the Modi Government. Jaitley is an articulate lawyer, but a very poor politician. He could not win his own election and came to a cropper against Capt. Amarinder Singh. He may be a brilliant lawyer but I wonder about his expertise in fiscal and revenue matters. Having lived the high life he has no idea about a common man’s daily woes and struggles to make ends meet. A Finance Minister who has himself struggled to make a livelihood would better appreciate the ways in which to alleviate the miseries of the have-nots. Jaitley has wasted four budget opportunities to seal the Modi Government’s continuance in 2019 and beyond. Each budget has been a huge let-down for the expectations that Modi’s utterances and track record build among the common people. The financial reforms that people expected after 2014 have remained only in the realm of fantasy while the Minister continues to make things more and more complicated for taxpayers. The bureaucratic set-up within the Ministry has hardly changed from the UPA times and it is the Babus who seem to be dictating terms to the Minister. The ease of doing business, the dismantling of the cumbersome reporting systems, all are only pipe dreams while the Babus continue to lord it over the poor subjects.

GST implementation is a huge roadblock that has alienated most business people. I understand that GST refunds to exporters to the tune of Rs. 65000 crores are stuck in the labyrinthine corridors of the Finance Ministry. Fortunately, Jaitley has had to take a sabbatical due to ill health, and Piyush Goyal has been given temporary charge of the portfolio. But for Goyal to succeed you need to dismantle the bureaucratic structure of the Ministry and give clear instructions to Goyal to undo the damage done by his predecessor.

The common man whole-heartedly supported the Government when it demonetised big-ticket currency notes of Rs. 1000 and 500, and the transition was more or less quite smooth. The UP election results amply demonstrated the success of this dramatic policy. But the implementation of the GST regime has brought untold misery to most small and large business people, who are most unlikely to vote your party back. Even the GST rates are extortionate. I just changed the tyres of my Hyundai I-20 car. It is not a luxury motorcar but a rather entry-level passenger vehicle. I was horrified to find that the GST charged on these tyres was 28%. Maybe a Jaitley will not balk at paying this rate but how many in India would find the rate reasonable? In my opinion any commodity or service that is taxed at more than 15% is nothing but daylight robbery. You must revise downwards the GST rates for all items, ensuring that nothing is taxed at more than 15%. Also the filing of returns must be further simplified and the process of refunds made automatic. These must be implemented immediately. And please do not reinstate Mr. Jaitley in the Finance Ministry once he gets well. The last budget of this government should be a path-breaking one and it should be people-friendly, never mind if the opposition calls it populist. I think the people deserve some relief for having displayed their steadfast support for your policies.

5. Judicial Reforms: From the time Modi took the oath of the Prime Minister I have been stressing that all his good intentions are going to founder on the rocks of Indian judiciary. It is the biggest roadblock on the path to clean governance and prosperity. The corrupt Congress ecosystem that nurtured the judicial bureaucracy is not going to be easy to dismantle. The 4 SC judges, under the tutelage of Shekhar Gupta, have amply demonstrated how the Congress could hijack the entire judicial system in order to ensure that committed, loyal judges adorn the benches in the higher judicial offices. In these four years you have seen how the higher judiciary has frustrated all attempts to bring the guilty UPA bosses to book. The brazen defiance of court orders by Karthi Chidambaram, the repeated permissions for him to travel abroad, the stay on arrest of such proven criminals like Teesta Setalvad, the midnight hearings by the SC to save terrorists from the gallows, or to give an opportunity to the Congress to cobble up a coalition in Karnataka – all are indications of how much influence the corrupt UPA leaders and the lawyers who represent them wield upon the higher judiciary.

It is imperative that the entire judicial system comes up for a complete review and an independent commission is constituted to suggest such reforms that would remove the discretionary powers of the judges and speed up the delivery of justice for the common man. The need of the hour is to increase the number of courts and judges, and to put a ceiling on the number of adjournments that a judge could grant. The government, being the largest litigant, could revisit its habit of approaching the courts for every decision. In many cases government officials do not wish to take a decision that would favour an individual or a corporate because they are afraid that they would be labeled as having taken money to give that decision. They find it expedient to refer it to a court, thereby absolving themselves of the responsibility. This not only puts unnecessary pressure on the judiciary, but also opens up newer avenues of corruption. If rules were clear and unambiguous, the officer would have no reason to approach the courts. The statistics for pending cases make for alarming reading. Pending cases in various courts are as under;

Supreme Court: 60,000+
24 High Courts: 4,00,000+
Lower Courts: 2,75,00,000+

So, with nearly 3 crore cases pending in courts, the colonial system of court holidays is not only retrograde and reprehensible, but by itself, criminal in nature.

6. Other Important Matters:

a) Management of the media, both print and visual, has been very poor. Most newspapers, journals and TV channels are hostile to the BJP because those who owe their business success to their proximity to the Congress and its bosses, own them. The Deep State in Pakistan also has supported their activities that must surely leave some financial tracks. The intelligence agencies are either compromised or completely inefficient to track these connections down. The party needs to evolve a robust media strategy to counter the false propaganda and outright lies that are being presented as news by these compromised media houses. Even the international press is largely hostile and controlled by those who are not friendly to a powerful Indian state. Social media, to a large extent, has been countering the vicious propaganda of these elements, but it is mostly voluntary and unorganised. A coherent media policy that puts sufficient deterrents on false and manufactured news, with adequate punishment for the perpetrators, is the need of the hour. The I&B Ministry must put together clear guidelines and provide exemplary punishment for infringement of these guidelines. There is no need for censorship, but there is need for responsible reporting and writing.

b) Mann ki Baat is fine but you also need to connect with your voters more frequently. Regular media briefings and TV appearances to counter the false propaganda of the opposition cabal creates awareness and trust among the people. You need much more contact than what you have had in the past 4 years.

c) There is a sense of disenchantment and betrayal among the core supporters of the party. The continued assault on Hindu beliefs, festivals, temples, and the government’s apparent apathy towards these acts is making the core Hindu voter rather disillusioned about its intentions. The inaction against perpetrators of murderous assaults on RSS and BJP workers in states like West Bengal, Kerala, and even in UP, has resulted in a sense of despondency and fatalism. The reason why NOTA has found so many supporters is this disillusionment with the BJP at the centre. The only places of worship that are under the control of the government are Hindu temples. The huge revenues earned by these temples are largely diverted to other religious institutions and only a fraction is spent on them. Hindus are resenting this step-motherly treatment and showing this resentment by either not turning up for voting or by pressing the NOTA button.

d) The RTE amendment to the Constitution is another retrograde act of the previous government that you have not yet repealed or made more evenly applicable. Here again the Hindu educational institutions have been singled out for coercive treatment while the minority institutions are exempted. This lack of courage to do away with this provision is seen as a policy of appeasement that, in any case, is not bringing minority votes to the BJP. Instead, it is alienating the core supporter.

e) Of course there will be other miscellaneous misses that I have omitted in this open letter, but I am sure you would be fully aware of them. I am another common citizen who sees hope for the future in the continuance of Mr. Modi and his government. But if we do not recognise the misses in governance and only continue to harp on the hits, we are likely to find ourselves back in 2004 – a most distressing thought!

So please, I implore you to read my letter and initiate the necessary corrective action at the earliest. It is possible that you may find my suggestions impractical or not implementable, but the signs are clear that something different needs to be done, and done quickly.

With kind regards

Yours truly,

Vijaya Kumar Dar

किसी भी यौन अपराध पीड़िता द्वारा लगाए आरोपों पर विश्वास क्यों करना चाहिए?

anonBrook
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किसी भी यौन अपराध पीड़िता द्वारा लगाए आरोपों पर विश्वास क्यों करना चाहिए?

काफी समय से मैं इस विषय पर एक लेख लिखने का विचार कर रहा था, और कुछ दिनों पहले मेरी शिल्पी तिवारी जी से इसी विषय पर एक बड़ी ही रोचक बहस भी हुई। तब मैंने इस लेख को लिखने का तो तय कर लिया था पर अपने विचार असरदार तरीके से नियोजित करने में एक यूट्यूब विडियो से मुझे अत्याधिक सहायता मिली और उस विडियो के रचनाकार की अनुमति से उनके मूल तर्क जोकि मेरे भी मूल तर्क हैं उनका हिन्दी संस्करण मैं इस लेख के माध्यम से प्रस्तुत करना चाहता था। वह विडियो भी मैं इस लेख के अंत में संलग्न कर रहा हूँ।

नारीवाद के समर्थकों की ओर से अकसर एक प्रस्तावना सुनने में आती है – “जब कोई महिला कहती है कि किसी पुरुष ने उसका यौन उत्पीड़न या बलात्कार किया गया है, तो सबसे पहले उस पर विश्वास करें और सुनिश्चित करें कि वे जानती हैं कि आप ऐसा करते हैं क्योंकि यौन हिंसा के बारे में आगे आना वाकई मुश्किल है और कई बार रेप पीड़िता पर लोग विश्वास नहीं करते हैं जिस कारण से वे सामने आने से डरतीं हैं।”

यहां मूल तर्क अनिवार्य रूप से किसी महिला द्वारा लगाए गए यौन उत्पीड़न के आरोपों को ‘सुनने और उनपर विश्वास करने’ के लिए है, जब वे ऐसे किसी अपराध या अन्यथा घृणित व्यवहार के शिकार होने का दावा करतीं हैं। हालांकि यदि आप उनकी इस बात पर ध्यान दें तो ऐसे किसी भी व्यक्ति के द्वारा, जो ‘सुनने और विश्वास करने’ के इस प्रस्ताव का समर्थन करने का दावा करता है, वास्तव में कोई तर्क नहीं दिया जाता है।

इस विचार के कुछ समर्थक प्रायः केवल अटकलें प्रदान करते हैं कि लोग महिलाओं पर विश्वास क्यों नहीं करते हैं जब वे यौन उत्पीड़न या बलात्कार का शिकार होने का दावा करती हैं। इन अटकलों को वे अपने इस प्रस्ताव के समर्थन में तर्क स्वरूप प्रस्तुत करते हैं।

लेकिन वास्तव में ऐसा करने के पक्ष में तर्क क्या है?

इससे पहले कि हम इस तर्क का सत्कार करें, हमें इस धारणा को विभिन्न संदर्भों में संबोधित करना पड़ेगा क्योंकि व्यक्तिगत संदर्भ में जब इसमें कोई व्यक्ति शामिल होता है जिसे आप जानते हैं और प्यार करते हैं, तो उन पर विश्वास करना तथा उनको संबल देना अनुचित नहीं है। प्रिय लोग अकसर आपसे ऐसी बात को लेकर गलत नहीं बोलते हैं और आपके सहयोग के पात्र होते हैं।

मीडिया के संदर्भ में, इन आरोपों को ‘सुनना’ अनुचित नहीं है। यदि कोई बात सार्वजनिक हित में है तो जनता को इसे में सुनना ही चाहिए। और ज़ाहिर है न्यायिक व्यवस्था के दृष्टिकोण से भी, इस प्रस्ताव का पहला भाग, यानि ‘सुनो’ भाग पूर्ण रूप से तर्कसंगत है। परंतु यह दूसरा भाग, ‘विश्वास करो’ भाग, है जो कि वास्तव में न्यायपूर्ति के संदर्भ में चिंताजनक है।

ऐसा क्यों है, ये समझने के लिए एक उदाहरण ले लीजिये:

कल्पना कीजिए कि आपके दो बच्चे हैं – एक बेटा और एक बेटी। एक दिन वे दोनों आपके पास दौड़ते हुए आते हैं और आपकी बेटी आपके बेटे की ओर इशारा करते हुए कहती है कि “उसने मेरे बाल खींचे” या जो भी हो। उसने आपके बेटे पर ‘क, ख, ग’ किसी भी कृत का आरोप लगाया। आपका बेटा भी जोर से चिल्ला कर से आपसे कहता है, “नहीं, ऐसा नहीं हुआ! वो झूठ बोल रही है!”

अब दो बातों में से एक सच है- या तो आपके बेटे ने झूठ बोला है या आपकी बेटी ने झूठ बोला है। आप माता-पिता के रूप में अपने बेटे पर विश्वास करना या अपनी बेटी पर विश्वास करना चुन सकते हैं। दुर्भाग्यवश यह साबित करने का कोई ठोस तरीका नहीं है कि सत्य कौन कह रहा है। इसका मतलब है कि कुल चार संभावित परिणाम हैं:

1. आपका बेटा दोषी है लेकिन आप उसे दंडित नहीं करते हैं।
2. आपका बेटा दोषी है और आप उसे दंडित करते हैं।
3. आपका बेटा निर्दोष है और आप उसे दंडित नहीं करते हैं।
4. आपका बेटा निर्दोष है और आप उसे गलत दंडित करते हैं।

यदि गणित पर विश्वास किया जाये, तो ५०% संभावना है कि आप एक अनुचित निर्णय लेंगे, जो आपको एक अभिभावक के रूप में बड़े ही कठिन स्थान पर ला छोड़ता है। न केवल ५०% संभावना है कि आप गलत निर्णय ले लेंगे, लेकिन आप यह निश्चित रूप से कभी भी नहीं जान पाएंगे कि आपने सही फैसला किया है या नहीं। अब आप इन बातों को ध्यान मे रखते हुए सोचिए कि क्या आपको अपनी बेटी पे मात्र इसलिए यकीन कर लेना चाहिए कि वह लड़की है? नहीं न?

इसी प्रकार कई लोग सवाल उठाते हैं कि झूठे आरोपों का क्या? यदि भारत के लिहाज से देखें तो लगभग ५०% यौन उत्पीड़न के आरोप गलत साबित होते हैं। पर इस कथन के समर्थक, हो सकता है कि आपके सामने कुछ सांख्यिकी प्रस्तुत कर यह कहें कि असल में सभी आरोपों का एक बेहद ही छोटा भाग झूठा होता है और मीडिया में प्रचलित ५०% का आंकड़ा गलत है। फिर भी एक बात नहीं बदलती है कि दोष सबूतों पर आधारित होता है न कि दोषी होने कि सांख्यिकीय संभावना पर। कहने का तात्पर्य यह है कि किसी के द्वारा लगाए गए आरोप की वैधता मौजूद प्रमाणों व तथ्यों के आधार पर तय होती है, उसके सच होने या न होने सांख्यिकीय संभावना पूरी तरह से अप्रासंगिक है।

यह प्रस्ताव कि किसी महिला द्वारा लगाए गए आरोप को ‘सुनो और विश्वास करो’ बेहद ही गैरजिम्मेदाराना प्रस्ताव है क्योंकि यदि आप इसका अनुसरण करेंगे तो आपके लिए किन्हीं साक्ष्य व सबूतों की आवश्यकता नहीं रह जाती है और कोई भी झूठा आरोप आपको सहज ही मूर्ख बनाने में सफल हो जाएगा। और यदि समाज किसी भी आरोप पर सहज ही विश्वास करने लगे तो निरपराध, निर्दोष व्यक्तियों के जीवन बर्बाद होने लगेंगे।

उदाहरण स्वरूप हाल ही कि एक घटना में एक बॉलीवुड अभिनेत्री द्वारा लगाए गए झूठे और बहुत ही गैर जिम्मेदाराना आरोप की वजह से एक सम्मानित व्यक्ति को पोक्सो कानून के अंतर्गत जेल जाना पड़ा और उनकी सामाजिक छवि पर लांछन लग गया। हरयाणा का कुख्यात रोहतक बहनों के कांड में भी आरोप गलत थे और बेचारे आरोपियों का भविष्य बर्बाद हो गए, बावजूद इसके कि उन्हे न्यायालय से दोषमुक्ति मिल गयी।

इस संकथन का बेतुकापन दर्शाने के लिए मैं यह प्रश्न आपके सामने रखता हूँ, “क्यों ना हर उस पुरुष पर विश्वास कर लिया जाए जो किसी महिला पर झूठा इल्जाम लगाने का आरोप लगाता है?” यह सशब्द बिलकुल वही प्रस्ताव है, बस अंतर इतना है कि आरोप रेप की जगह झूठा इल्जाम लगाने का है और आरोप लगाने वाले का लिंग महिला की जगह पुरुष है!

प्रायः किसी व्यक्ति या कथन पर विश्वास न करने को उस व्यक्ति या कथन को झूठा समझना मान लिया जाता है, परंतु इस द्विचर से परे एक तीसरा विकल्प भी है – अज्ञेय रहना अथवा संशय।

अंततः सारी बात का सारांश यह है कि जब कोई भी चाहे वह महिला हो या पुरुष या तीसरे लिंग का व्यक्ति हो, किसी पर भी कुछ भी आरोप लगाता है तो हमें उनके आरोपों को अनिवार्य रूप से सुनना चाहिए और उन्हें गंभीरता से लेना चाहिए पर आरोप का पूरा सच साबित होने तक न तो आरोपी पर और ना ही आरोप लगाने वाले पर विश्वास करना चाहिए।

The rise and decline of BJP and Congress in the last 5 years

HARISHANKAR NAGARAJAN
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The rise and decline of BJP and Congress in the last 5 years

As usual liberal hotheads have woken up at the last year of general election and started throwing up all calculations and confusions in the minds of each and every voter of India. They forget the saying “Hindu Rate of Growth”  which was given to the International media by the same Congress people in 1992 when the question was raised about low economic growth in India.

Remember even in European countries when the economic growth was very low during the start of previous century never ever anyone blamed the culture which was followed by citizens of the country. But Congress went a step ahead and to please the NGOs used the so-called Indian economist Raj Krishna to coin the term “Hindu Rate of Growth” and directly blamed the culture followed by Indian People.

So instead of falling into their trap let us take a step back and do the analysis of seats based on party’s strength. As like how Western media does the analysis, let us segregate the seats of two major parties based on the past outcomes and present strength.

There are two forms of segregation one is ‘Lean’ and other is ‘Strong’ seats. Strong seats are those if the party puts a little bit of effort they can win it easily while Lean are those where the party really need a wave to win it.

So based on the above chart, the following are the conclusions we can derive from each party

Congress:

First time in the history of Independent India, Congress strongholds are hovering over only 100 Seats.

Congress has completely eradicated itself from the 2 most important states of Hindi belts i.e Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and North Eastern States

If the trend continues it may be a matter of time that Congress would have the infrastructure(booth level workers, Seva Dal members) to become a ruling party only in less than 10 states. Now onwards people can see strange coalitions from Congress as like Karnataka where ruling party willingly wants to enter alliance even though securing more number of seats. Obviously, it will lead to Bihar like a situation where RJD was unable to digest itself in the alliance by not occupying the CM post which eventually led to breaking up of JDU.

Congress has won only 2 assembly elections(Punjab, Pondicherry) after 2014. Rahul Gandhi after taking over as president not even thought of strengthening the party in ground level. It is going to cost congress way beyond any body’s imagination.

So finally if the Congress without any wave kind of situation if it goes to the polls they can maximize themselves up to 120.

There are heavy chances in 2019 Congress will fight itself around 300 seats to financially stay relevant for the 2024 general elections.

BJP:

Modi wave started around June 2013 at the time he was announced as Campaign committee head of BJP. From that time onwards BJP has never lost a State. They have lost 7 assembly seats in Goa and 13 seats in Gujrat. (Without including by polls)

Lean seats of BJP increased from 230 in 2014 to around 330 Seats in 2019. It means BJP has increased its presence exponentially in 100 seats.

BJP is now either ruling or in Ruling party alliance in 21 states. They themselves are in opposition party (Vote share wise, Number of assembly seats) in 4 states i.e Karnataka, Delhi, WB, Odisha (Emerging Opposition). These 2 statistics tell the real story. If at any point of time election happens BJP has booth level infrastructure to fight in 25 states. In Kerala too they have around 15% of vote share.

Only states they have a negligible presence is AP, Telangana, TN, Punjab, Puducherry and 2 NE States(Sikkim and Meghalaya).

If PM Strategically fights in Puri the temple town of Odisha, the seat combination in the Eastern part of India will tilt towards BJP.

Even without having any wave kind of situation if BJP goes to the polls they can win 240 seats. With little nudge by carefully working on seats, they can touch the figure of 270 which is remarkable considering the general anti-incumbency trend flowing against the ruling party.

As Bill Gates always says if you want to win there are 3 things needs to be done.

1.Need to have Clear Goal

2.Have a comprehensive plan to execute

3. Need to have precise measurements so that it helps to learn, adapt and execute things as things progress.

It seems BJP clearly follows it so for the first time in Independent India there is a party which is fighting strongly in more than twice the number of seats than Congress.

Recent By poll Results:

With respect to recent by-polls in UP as it was very evident that around 75-77% of Hindus unitedly voted for BJP. Which is very remarkable and also along with PM Modi in Campaigning, the deficit of 5% between BJP and United Opposition can be recovered and the fight is still very much open.

With respect to Maharashtra, it seems Shiv Sena has to send feelers to BJP to start the NDA talks or else it will be only a matter of time Shiv Sena might become a party for Mumbai region alone.

In Jharkhand, NDA needs to be intact to take on the united opposition of JMM-Congress.

So it is safe to call 2014 to 2019 as Era of Hope in which Indians with hope directly confronted Mighty Nehru-Indira Dynasty.

Only time can tell whether this Era of Hope will continue for next five years. But there is a strong possibility it can continue.

Our willingness to address the plastic problem

chocka
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Our willingness to address the plastic problem

On the eve of World Environment Day, everyone is geared up for action to deal with the menace of plastic. While plastic is a very useful material it’s indiscriminate use has resulted in an environmental calamity of large proportions.

World’s Oceans are infested with Plastic waste

Many articles have been written about the problems so rather than delving into the problems, let us look at why action to bring about change has to be addressed at multiple levels in order for it to be a sustainable change, rather than a one-day activistic rally.

Our focus on impactful change has to be on ‘Single Use Plastics’, that is consumer driven and can be easily addressed with willful actions  – single-use plastic such as carry bags, plastic water and soda bottles, straws, cups are immediate targets.

Plastic waste by country

Convenience, Cost and Short term vision

The unwillingness to change is at three levels:

  • People don’t want to give up daily convenience for saving the environment for the future
  • Corporations don’t want to bear higher costs for alternatives to single-use plastics
  • Governments don’t want long-term social policies at the cost of politics of staying in power allowing status quo – so their focus is on next 3-4 years instead of the next 15-20

This is the current paradigm facing us. So in order to really affect a change we have to address this at all 3 levels.

People have to be shown alternatives that they can use in their daily lives – Personal water bottles instead of plastic bottled water, Natural material bags instead of plastic carry bags when shopping etc. They also need to associate choosing the alternative is the cool choice and they are not being a freak in doing so – this requires celebrities and their role models to first imbibe this culture

Bottled water consumption by country
Bottled water consumption by country

 

Bottling companies discarded glass bottles for plastic bottles to save 12-15 cents per bottle. It also saves them from the headache of recycling and re-using the bottles or establishing the entire system of collection wherever they have a market presence. If an environmental tax of 30 cents or more is levied per plastic bottle as an environmental tax then they will surely come up with creative alternatives. Also if there are some means of incentivizing environmental friendly corporate action such as plastic retrieval and recycle, it may spawn entirely new industries of profit that are centered around waste management which in turn creates a pollution free world.

Governments are controlled by lobby money from various industries and so will be reluctant to antagonize the oil and plastic industries in order to effect environmentally responsible laws. However, if they know they can fill up their coffers with the taxation of everyday goods and there is public support for such action then they would be willing to do so. If they realize their ministry of environment can be a profitable venture that creates new jobs by spawning new industries in natural ingredients based heavy industrial tools that produce everyday consumer product alternatives, then they would be enthused to enact laws that subsidize environmentally friendly industries and tax corporations that are not eco-friendly.

Where do we start?

The first step is creating a climate of awareness at all 3 levels. Once people in sizable numbers are willing to let go of their convenience and comfort to demand the right eco-friendly things, action would ensue from the government and then the corporations.

If we as people support policies that incentives R&D of eco-friendly alternatives, and willingly sign-up for taxation of everyday products that hits at the core of corporate profits of existing industries, we will allow the dawn of a new era of social responsibility by all for all.

Call to Action:

  1. Change of lifestyle by choosing social responsibility (refusing to use single-use plastics) rather than individual comfort and convenience
  2. Help create awareness of the environmental impact amongst others, corporates, NGOs and Governmental agencies
  3. Preparedness to fiscally support alternative products that may cost more but are eco-friendly – use of social media and personal clout to promote such products also helps

  4. New Plastics Economy

    Support initiatives such as “New Plastics Economy” that promotes new paradigms of the circular economy (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle)

  5. Partake in petitions that clearly inform your government and political parties of your readiness to pay taxes on single-use plastics, so they can enact legislation with longer-term vision rather than short-term political gains.

The question is – how willing are we to take this on?

The fuel price conundrum

Ashish
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The fuel price conundrum

Recently we have witnessed huge criticism of the NDA Government over the Fuel price increases on petrol & diesel with the price of petrol at almost Rs 85 and diesel at Rs.72.76 in Mumbai under the dynamic pricing scheme. The new fuel pricing policy was adopted by the NDA government in 2014 when pump station prices moved up and down depending on international crude prices in a dollar every day.

Dollar Brent crude price has risen from $44.0 in June 2017 to $78.34 in May 2018. Correspondingly the price of petrol at the pump station has gone up from Rs.68.82 (Avg. Delhi+Mumbai) on 17th July 2017 to Rs 81.38(Avg. Delhi+Mumbai) on 24th May 2018. While Media has highlighted the price increases corresponding to the increase in Crude Oil, the  Opposition parties have outraged and claimed that the Narendra Modi Government is “looting the poor” while filling up the coffers thru taxes. The point though is why have the prices of petrol and diesel not come down in India since 2014 although the prices of Crude reduced from a high of $115.67/- in Jun 2014 to below $30/- in Jan 2016.

To find answers to this, one has to go deeper and unravel the economics and politics behind the Fuel Pricing Policy followed by the NDA Government under Narendra Modi v/s the UPA Government under Manmohan Singh.

This article attempts to untangle and explain, “The Fuel Price Conundrum” and help the average person to understand – why it is better to keep up fuel (Petrol and Diesel) prices in line with the prices of crude globally and not tinker with taxes.

The Chart below gives the comparison of the prices of Petrol at the Point of sale between August 2013 and May 2018 (Average Price of Delhi and Mumbai). (some assumptions made for ease of comparison)

Petrol Price Comparison – May 2018 v/s Aug 2013
Crude $/Barrel Crude Rs./Barrel Crude Price Rs/Ltr Additions to Basic Price INR/Litr Price of Petrol Rs/Ltr Approxm. Excise+VAT Fuel Subsidy Rs Crores
28 Aug-13 116.30 8005.19 50.35 22.83 73.18 15.5 250000
23 May-18 79.71 5454.56 34.31 46.77 81.08 36.7 50000
a b c d e

1 Barrel = 169 Ltr

(Fuel Subsidy Includes Under Recovery by Oil Companies like Indian Oil And ONGC)

a-  See Graph above

b- crude in $ terms converted Aug 2013  @ Rs 68.83 per $

c- crude in $ terms converted May 2018  @ Rs 68.43 per $

d- The Previous price of petrol in its peak in 2018.

e- Oil Squeeze.

The Cascading Effect of Subsidy

Current Account Deficit % Consumer Inflation % Food Inflation % Real Interest %
2012-13 4.7 10.9 14.2 2012 – 2.47      2013 – 3.87
2017-18 Oct-Dec 2017- 2.0 3.0 3.0 2016 – 5.9
1 2 3 4

1- Current account deficit widens to 2% of GDP on higher oil import bill

2- India’s BoP position improves dramatically

3- Historic inflation India (CPI)

4- India food inflation

5- India- real interest rate

The price of Petrol of Rs.81.08 in May 2018 is higher than the price in Aug 2013 although the $ price is far less in 2013. Hence, the outrage seems justified as most of the price difference is because of Taxes (Excise+Vat) in 2018 v/s 2013, Rs.36.7 v/s Rs.15.5. This contradiction is explained by the Policy of subsidy given by 2 different Governments in 2018 v/s 2013. The low price in 2013 has been heavily subsidized by the then UPA Government and the cost to the country of this policy was a whopping Rs. 2.5 lakh crores.

Let’s go through the chart in some detail :

  • Additions include Oil Manufacturing & Marketing Co. costs and margin / Transportation costs /Dealer Margins etc / Excise + Vat
  • The Government – Centre+States get all the added Costs (Excise +Vat) paid by Consumers
  • The Centre for Transfers to States from Excise gets a Lesser Share -30% of the total Excise + Vat
  • For any Meaningful Price Reduction, both the Centre & States have to Reduce Excise & Vat
  • Other facts Diesel makes up almost 45-50% of Fuel consumption and Petrol 10-12%.
  • 2/3 wheelers account for 64% & Cars 36% of total consumption of Petrol.
  • Cars+2 Wheelers account for 30% & Trucks & Buses etc. 40% of total consumption of Diesel.
  • Petrol Price Hike affects Owners of-Cars+2 Wheelers both in Petrol & Diesel
  • Diesel Price Hike affects Public Transport & Agriculture although a lot of Vehicles are now moving to CNG.

The Impact:-

  • Every dollar per barrel change in crude oil prices impacts the import bill by Rs 823 crore (USD 0.13 billion) & India annually Imports more than around 200+million metric tonnes of crude.
  • Every dollar per barrel change in crude oil prices the currency exchange rate fluctuates by Re 1 per US dollar.
  • This huge subsidy led to very high inflation & rocketing food inflation affecting the daily purchasing power of the common man
  • The Real Interest Earned on Bank Savings by middle class went down (Real Interest is Bank Interest minus Inflation).
  • Diesel Subsidy was cornered by diesel cars & UAVs – leading to higher sales of diesel cars as diesel was cheaper. This benefited only the rich, not the common man.
  • This also led to massive corruption in LPG cylinders & kerosene sale as fake LPG & kerosene users were registered.
  • The OIL Manufacturing & Marketing Companies like ONGC & Indian Oil suffered massively as they had to bear their share of the Subsidy (45% of total Subsidy+ Under Recovery)in the form of lower prices to dealers.
  • This resulted into losses & paucity of Finance for Capital Investment and Expansion.
  • Indian Oil Corp. had-Operating Profit-4% & Net Profit Ratio-1% in 2012-14.
  • The impact of this profligacy on the common man and the economy was disastrous and ruined the country’s economy and finances and affected the UPA in the 2014 elections.

The Reversal:-

  • The New NDA Government under Narendra Modi Changed the Policy in 2014.
  • Diesel & Petrol were put on Market determined Rates & Subsidies were discarded. Currently, there are Subsidies Only on LPG & Kerosene.
  • It was felt that this policy reversal will hurt the middle class and common man as the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump station would rise, transport costs would go up beside affecting farmers who use diesel.
  • The results, however, showed a different picture and over 4 years 2014-17- Subsidy has come down to around Rs.50000 Crores a massive reduction since 2013.
  • CAD has come down to 2.0% of GDP from a high of 4.7% in 2012-13.
  • For the middle class and the common man on the street Inflation 3.0% -2017-18.
  • Added to this Real Interest improved to 5.9%.
  • Oil Companies recovered as their under-recoveries reduced and Profits improved – Indian Oil recorded – Operating Profit -7% & Net Profit Ratio-3% in 2015-17.
  • The economy recovered and politically too, the Narendra Modi government won most of the state elections since 2014.

What do the experts opine? Most Economists have this to say –

“This is an unpopular decision, but full credit needs to be given to the NDA regime for sticking to this decision and believing in the economic benefits. It is good economics to keep the prices of petrol and diesel higher, especially when the country is reforming the energy usage pattern and is dependent on the imports of oil to sufficient demand.”

“It is much wiser to pay tax upfront.”

“The second argument, which supports high taxation on petrol and diesel during the low crude oil prices is that it allows controlling the demand for these products.”

Subsidised LPG & kerosene is now paid to the most deserved of consumers thru Direct Credit of Subsidy into their Jan Dhan Account. Direct transfer of LPG subsidy resulted in Rs 15000 crores saving.

Next the question was what is the Government using these Funds for –

While taking care of CAD/ Inflation & Real Interest for the Middle Class & Poor the monies collected thru taxes are being spent in creating Capital Assets.

Infrastructure spending has increased exponentially

“Budget 2018: With a whopping 50% increase from the last Budgetary allocation and a 20% hike from the revised estimate, the infrastructure sector continued to stay one of the thrust areas for the Narendra Modi government in the Union Budget 2018 as well – Capital outlay towards the infrastructure sector up to Rs. 5.97 lakh crore from 3.96 lakh crore budgeted last year, which was later revised to Rs 4.94 lakh crore.”

“Construction of national highways hit an all-time high of about 10,000 km in 2017-18, which translates to 28 km a day. The previous record was 8,231 km, achieved in 2016-17.”

This is already providing a massive boost to the economy & creating jobs at the same time.

However, given the Public sentiment and the need to give relief the Government is looking at ways to give relief and a long-term solution to Fuel Prices.

An open letter to Mamta Banerjee

rohith95
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An open letter to Mamta Banerjee

Dear Didi,

I have been a fan of yours. You are a role model for all the women. You have single-handedly dismantled the citadel of communists, after years of hard work. But whatever is happening in Bengal, is unthinkable, saddening and devastating.

Bengal, the land of great thought leaders and revolutionaries who inspired Indians to fight against the British. The land of Netaji, Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Shri Aurobindo. I am sure they will be crying in the heaven looking at the present state of Bengal.
Right to vote is the basic tenets of democracy. Right to vote is the basis of our constitution as elaborated by Baba Saheb.

But your goons:

  • Thrashed the candidates
  • Burnt the ballots
  • Killed the workers
  • Mutilated the officers
  • Raped the women
  • Paraded the voters

How many more Trilochan Mahatos, Dulal Kumars would be hanged to death by your Gundas?

Still, you are the most discussed 2019 PM face for The ‘Avial’ or The ‘Bhel Puri’ alliance! Is that why the entire national media cried out the death of democracy when Yeddyurappa tried to stay Kumara Swamy becoming CM but did not even condemn when you won 32% of seats during panchayat polls in Bengal without opposition?

You can outrightly appease certain sections, you can give shelter to illegal migrants, you can make new allies for gains, you can talk about saving democracy without looking at your home, you can be alleged in chit fund scams and turn a blind eye towards your nephew for the scams. All this can be ignored, but not allowing a person to vote is the worst form of genocide of the democracy and the constitution.

I got to respect you for single-handedly bringing down the communist rule in Bengal. But now all for staying in power your show of atrocities are way ahead of them, you have nearly completed the task of ruining Bengal that the Left Front left you with. Yet u did manage to win the recent panchayat election. Opposition dared to give their nominations, much similar to what happens in some ‘communist villages’ of Kannur Kerala, where the opposition parties including Congress will give their nomination for the namesake, but don’t even dare to stick their posters on Walls!
Political killings of Kannur are now famous Nationwide. Now that the communists are a minority in the country they are loud enough in using words like Democratic values, Freedom Of Expression, Liberalism etc. The Irony is that communism in their theory itself advocates Dictatorship. If we take examples from the communist leaders of the world, from Joseph Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro etc to the popular communists of modern times Xi Jinping & Kim Jong-un are all Dictators.

The Article 2 of the party constitution of CPIM states that,

“The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the revolutionary vanguard of the working class of India. Its aim is socialism and communism through the establishment of the state of *dictatorship* of the proletariat. In all its activities the Party is guided by the philosophy and principles of Marxism-Leninism which shows to the toiling masses the correct way to the ending of exploitation of man by man, their complete emancipation.”

So Dictatorship is their established agenda, and it is for a decorative purpose that they say their Dictatorship is in the name of Proletariat – A Dictatorship for the working class. Here we should remember that all Dictators rule in the name of people and the masses. The most popular Dictator, Adolf Hitler had its Party name as Nationalist ‘Socialist ‘ party aka Nazi Party. China is called as the People’s republic of China, do people have any role in there,? Do they enjoy the freedom of expression, like the commies shout here in India? Same is the case with North Korea.

All that I was trying to explain is that honestly there is no space for proper democracy in communism, what you are doing now is something that communists often do everywhere, thus for Bengal Communism isn’t an alternative against you. I hope Bengal wouldn’t have forgotten the Nandigram Incident.

Bengal has a history of violence to tell from the reign of Babur to the British, Bengal is one of the prime victims of Partition too, and the story of violence continues till day. Why don’t you be the change maker and mark your place in the history? I wish you could restore the peace in Bengal and bring back the glory. Let that be your expiration for whatever you have done to your people and your Legacy will be remembered for generations.

Warm Regards.

Decolonization of Science: what is it that is to be done

rohitsharma17
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Decolonization of Science: what is it that is to be done
Decolonization is a word that has been in trend lately. Many different people have different ideas about decolonization and I too have an idea of what a completely decolonized India would look like. People associate decolonization with repealing colonial institutions that have long stopped working for the people but rather only work against them, a linguistic reform which would enable a pan Indian identity and a cultural narrative for India which would give it a firm footing to fight the universalization of western values sometimes even by force. (For ex: Syria and South Korea).
The one aspect of knowledge system and perhaps the most fundamental and important i.e. science is where people don’t expect nor do they even comprehend that any kind of decolonization is needed. People not only in India but around the world accept that science developed in the west because of obvious reasons like the government propaganda and the not so obvious reason: school/University texts and experts. The experts who write our textbooks really do not cross-check the facts and publish as they are published in the UK and in US etc.
This has been a ploy used by the British in India at least since 1857 (soon after the mutiny) to curb the masses. I would suggest a read of Macaulay’s infamous speech in the British parliament about the role of the British govt. to educate the poor. Our textbooks have not only inaccurate but complete falsehoods embedded in them which the students are asked to learn ( of course by rote) and then those students unknowingly further these lies. Most of scientific history was written by living and dead white men, who claim that much of it, if not all science came from the west. This claim cannot be taken at face value because these ‘historians’ who wrote this were racists and it is very much possible that there is a bias in their work. This can also lead to factual inaccuracies in some cases but as Prof. CK Raju points out, most of the time these factual inaccuracies are deliberate falsehoods. These falsehoods are pompously taunted as a stamp of superiority and used to suppress any attempt at critical analysis and criticism. What’s more the whole hierarchy of experts won’t even agree to have a public debate on these issues.
The fact that we were taught that Romans were using Additive numerals (commonly called Roman numerals) and also, on the other hand, we are taught that a Roman wrote the astronomical book ‘Almagest’ which involves precise decimal place calculations amongst other things (Roman numerals cannot express fractions) is as perplexing as it is laughable. The myth about Euclid and Pythagoras have been drilled into children’s head have had a devastating effect on the psyche of the children wanting to learn mathematics. Prof Raju further says that Macaulay’s suggestion was adopted by the British govt, they still had Church education as their school curricula unlike India. The church curricula also brought in Church dogmas about science and it’s deliberately induced falsehoods into its own theology masquerading as science which makes the subject unnecessarily difficult.Let us take the example of calculus- Calculus as is now an established fact developed in India over a 1000 year period starting from Aryabhata right up to the mathematicians in Kerala and Jaipur in the 16th and the 17th century. Calculus was a Pan Indian development to which creative contributions were made by the Arabs (optics and astronomy) also. The calculus and other scientific texts were transported to the Arabs who acknowledged their Indian sources and used them for further development and application of the sciences.

Europe was struggling financially and had always wanted extensive trade with India. The crusades had largely failed for the Muslims were far superior in military might and so the Church decided to use its own version of Aql-i-Kalam to persuade the Muslims. As part of their plans for trade with India the Church sent out many missions to India to learn the  techniques of navigation and jyotishya (timekeeping and not astrology). Navigation was the only way that efficient trade was possible with India for that one needs a good calendar.  These scientific challenges had been addressed by the Indians and so India was the place to be.

The Europeans set up colleges in Kochin and secretly sent back information about the navigation and timekeeping techniques of the Indians back to Rome. Anyone who receives new knowledge does fully appreciate it’s technical aspect immediately and the same happened with the Jesuits. They misunderstood the Indian calculus for they were caught up in their own dogmatic beliefs, beliefs which were falsely induced into theology by the Church for its own political benefit which led to a bad understanding of Indian calculus and all the sciences imported from the non-west at large. The Jesuits and the subsequent people did acknowledge their Indian sources for the fear of the inquisition. This was used by colonial day historians to use history to their advantage and claim superiority.

Through colonialism and western imperialism today this European experience of imported Knowledge (a bad understanding of calculus and science) is being replayed in a fast-forward mode in Indian schools and colleges and this needs to be discussed and spoken about for until we do not challenge their authority over knowledge we won’t be able to be creative, free and educated human beings.

PS: A more detailed account of the history of math and science can be found in Prof. Raju’s book ‘CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS’ and the corresponding writing regarding this topic are available on his website CKRaju.net.
THE ABOVE MENTIONED HISTORY OF CALCULUS THOUGH BRIEF IS NOT MY ORIGINAL WORK BUT IS TAKEN FROM THE WORKS OF PROF. CHANDRAKANT RAJU.

Post demonetization: growth of a fintech ecosystem in India

devsenamishra
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Post demonetization: growth of a fintech ecosystem in India

Post Demonetization analyses have missed an important development, the growth of a ‘fintech ecosystem’ in India, in which the banks, government, financial organizations, and fintech startups, all have the equally viable opportunities for growth. This development has created a new environment in the country. The systems that were not even imagined before demonetization are now a part of the routine life of a majority of people living in the urban and rural India. The Unified Payment Interface, a single window mobile payment system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the leading player of this change. For the successful acceptance of a digital financial product/service, gaining the trust and confidence of the end user is a crucial factor, and UPI has worked well on this aspect.

In the month of November 2017, after one year of the Demonetization drive, at the Singapore Fintech Festival, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had said that one of the most important aspects of the Demonetization is that “it has brought the issue of digitization of the economy to the centre-stage and the consequence of this has been that in the last one year, the number of digital transactions has almost multiplied by 100%, and new kinds of technologies, applications, instruments have been emerging, the banks and government and other financial/fintech companies have all been innovating and creating new payment gateways, and the mode by which India now spends its money substantially has begun to alter.”  The agility, at which the government entities have worked to make this change happen, we have not seen such pace even in the corporate setup before.

While the private sector fintech players were busy in discussing the blockchain/cryptocurrencies, were planning the branding strategies to target the most profitable segments and affluent class customers, and were involved in some over-hyped marketing strategies, NPCI was working on the broader vision of financial inclusion and has developed not just an app but an app ecosystem called BHIM UPI, and today every UPI app (bank or non bank) is now called BHIM UPI App.

The NPCI envisaged that India, with more than 650 million mobile phones and over 300 million smartphone users is a fertile ground for the mobile banking ecosystem and it has decided to develop a platform which can cover the billions of Indian customers irrespective of their current financial status because when you are dealing with a billion numbers the size of amount is not so relevant. Which we have seen in the case of Jan-Dhan accounts, in which as of April 2018, the unbanked and underbanked people of India have deposited ₹80,000 crore, an amount which no one estimated before. The Global Findex 2017 Report released by the World Bank has recognized India’s financial inclusion efforts too. The report has cited the success of Jan-Dhan Yojana and mentioned that during 2014-2017, there are about 51.4 crore bank accounts opened globally in which the accounts from India form almost 55% of the part.

In the FY 2017-18, digital payments through BHIM UPI received a spectacular growth of 915.23 million, up from 17.87 million in 2016-17. After leveraging the consumer market successfully now NPCI is going to launch UPI 2.0 (the first version of UPI was launched in August 2016), to provide enhanced services to the merchants. The UPI 2.0 will allow the traders to send GST invoice or bill to their customers and it will integrate some advanced features such as signed intent QR, UPI mandate, and P2C (Production to Consumer) payment option too.

According to some official stats, as of Jan 2018, there are 91 payment system operators in India and Mobile wallet transactions have grown 590.30% year-on-year. Digital Financial Transactions i.e. payments through credit/debit cards, UPI, prepaid payments instruments, internet banking and USSD,  touched a new peak in terms of volume as they crossed 1.11 billion in January 2018 up from 1.06 billion in December 2017. As per the RBI data, since inception, UPI-based transactions have seen a massive increase of 7000% in terms of volume.

India’s fintech revolution is moving by the Public Sector entities which are otherwise known for their bureaucratic culture and risk-averse portfolio. This can be an interesting case study that how a trend which is broadly associated with the innovative startups around the world, has gained momentum in India, through a public sector ‘not for profit entity’ called National Payments Corporation of India, which has launched 24x7x365 mobile platforms to send and receive payments. NPCI has launched a series of revolutionary payment systems like UPI, USSD, BHIM App, Bharat Bill Pay, BharatQR, RuPay Card and several other AEPS (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System). NPCI is working on a fast track mode to make India a ‘less-cash’ society. In a recent interview CEO of NPCI, Dilip Asbe has said: “Consumer choice is the main principle on the basis of which we have designed the UPI platform.” This customer-centric approach has helped NPCI to lead the Indian fintech market.

During the last four years, NPCI has rolled out a number of customer-centric innovative platforms and services. In August 2014, ‘*99#’ service was launched to make the banking easily accessible for every common man across the country. Banking customers need to simply dial ‘*99#’ code from their mobile and then they can perform general banking transactions through an interactive menu displayed on their mobile screen, similar to that of a mobile recharge and balance check services. Prior to the launch of UPI, this service had the limited reach as only MTNL and BSNL were offering this facility. On 28th August 2014, PM Modi dedicated ‘*99#’ to the nation as a part of PMJDY. With the help of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel, it is now offered by 41 leading banks and all GSM service providers. For the users of basic feature mobile phones, the ‘*99#’ service, which is available in 13 different Indian languages, is a great support.

Launched in April 2016, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a leading force in the trajectory of government’s financial inclusion drive. The UPI facilitates fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform instantly. It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience. Each Bank provides its own UPI App for Android, Windows and iOS mobile platform. After 3 months of its launch, in August 2016 Bharat Bill Pay was introduced. Bharat Bill Pay is a one-stop payment system that offers “Anytime Anywhere” bill payment service across the country. Its multiple payment modes facilities and instant confirmation of Bill payment via SMS feature make it easy to trust and adopt.

In December 2016, NPCI has solved one of the most serious problems of the country by streamlining the toll collection process. The National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system (under implementation) will reduce the congestion at the highway drastically. The NETC utilizes FASTAG, a passive RFID tag attached to the vehicle, which will get scanned every time the vehicle enters the toll gate, and the toll gets deducted automatically from the vehicle owner’s account. NHAI has mandated the implementation of NETC for all national highways and according to the latest directive all new vehicles from March 2018, needs to be fitted with FASTAG. Last year, NHAI launched two mobile Apps – MyFASTag and FASTag Partner to facilitate the FASTAG system.

On 30th December 2016 PM Modi has launched a mobile app called BHIM (Bharat Interface for Mobile) based on UPI, which allows simple and fast payment transactions using an only mobile number or UPI ID. The Aadhaar based payment and thump impression authentication kind of features are integrated into this app to make small merchants and their customers (particularly from rural/remote areas) to participate in the ‘less cash’ economy.

NPCI is continuously working to build more and more effective use cases for BHIM UPI to streamline the whole payment system of the country. In March 2017, it has launched Bharat QR, the world’s first interoperable payment acceptance solution. Some of the major payment networks such as Master Card, American Express, and Visa have collaborated with NPCI to promote Bharat QR payment method and a number of merchants are being on-boarded on Bharat QR. The Confederation of all India Traders (CAIT) is promoting Bharat QR among the traders’ community to support government’s 30 billion digital transactions target in FY 2018-19 as for the Indian traders the BharatQR is the best alternative among all digital payment solutions. From this year, the NPCI has made BharatQR code mandatory for all UPI bank apps.

The vision 2018 of RBI, aims to build a less cash India through responsive regulation, robust infra, effective supervision and customer-centric approach. In India’s government-backed Fintech Ecosystem, there is a room for everyone, from small rural merchants to growing startups to big financial organizations. There is no doubt that Demonetization is a quantum leap toward India’s ‘less-cash’ economy.

जन सुविधाओं को बढ़ावा, एक सशक्त और सुदृण विकास पद्धति – मोदी सरकार

Anurag Tiwari
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जन सुविधाओं को बढ़ावा, एक सशक्त और सुदृण विकास पद्धति – मोदी सरकार

एक लंबे अरसे के बाद जब 2014 में केंद्र में नरेंद्र मोदी (BJP) की सरकार आई देश में खुशी की लहर सी फैल गई| लेकिन यह लहर कुछ लोगों को काफी भ्रष्ट नेताओं को नागवार गुजरी|

नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार आने का असर कुछ यूं था

एक और जहां सभ्य समाज और ईमानदार व्यक्ति खुशी मना रहा था वहीं दूसरी ओर घोटालेबाज और भ्रष्ट नेताओं की खाट खड़ी होने लगी| हर एक भ्रष्ट नेता की जान के लाले पड़े हुए हैं और इसका अच्छे परिणाम जनता को मिल रहे हैं|

जनता क्यों है खुश

जो व्यक्ति धन से संपन्न होता है उसे सरकार कैसी है यानी कि ईमानदार है भी या नहीं पद से कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता, लेकिन आर्थिक रूप से कमजोर परिवारों को सरकार से काफी उम्मीदें रहती है इन्हीं उम्मीदों पर खरी उतर रही मोदी सरकार के आने के बाद कुछ ऐसे परिवर्तन हुए जो सबके दिलो दिमाग पर छाए हुए हैं|

आज से कुछ पांच साल पहले जब किसी साधारण व्यक्ति को सरकारी दफ्तर से किसी काम को कराना होता था तो उसके लिए यह एक सबसे बड़ी चुनौती होती थी सबसे पहले तो उसे सरकारी दफ्तर के प्रमुख अफसर या कर्मचारी से संपर्क रखने वाले किसी दलाल से संपर्क बनाना होता था और तब शायद कहीं महीने 2 महीने के चक्कर के बाद उसका काम हो पाता था| इसी बीच वह दलाल कार्य कराने की एवज में उसे साधारण और एक रुप से कमजोर व्यक्ति से अच्छी खासी कीमत वसूल कर लेता था|

दलालों और बिचौलियों का काम खत्म

नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार आने के बाद नरेंद्र मोदी ने सबसे बड़ा काम किया, उन्होंने सरकारी दफ्तरों से दलालों का काम खत्म कर दिया ताकि आम, गरीब और साधारण से साधारण व्यक्ति को भी किसी दलाल की जेब में पैसे ना भरने पड़े| इसके लिए नरेंद्र मोदी ने डिजिटल इंडिया को बढ़ावा दिया| इस मुहिम का प्रत्यक्ष फल आज आप देख सकते हैं| अब किसी कार्य को कराने के लिए आपको केवल किसी जनसेवा केंद्र तक जाने की आवश्यकता है किसी बिचौलिए या दलाल के पास जाने कि नहीं, अब किसी सरकारी दफ्तर से जुड़े कार्य को कराने के लिए आपका अतिरिक्त समय ना बर्बाद होता है और ना पैसा बर्बाद होता है|

ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में सुविधाएं

सबसे ज्यादा ध्यान गरीबों को अच्छी सुविधाएं प्राप्त कराने के लिए दिया गया| मोदी सरकार के आने के पहले ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों की व्यवस्था कुछ ऐसी थी कि सरकार द्वारा निकाली गई किसी भी सेवा का लाभ प्राप्त करने के लिए गांव के साधारण मजदूर और किसान वर्ग के लोगों को ग्राम प्रधान की चाकरी करनी पड़ती थी अन्यथा ग्राम प्रधान क्योंकि आर्थिक रूप से शिथिल लोगों को कोई भी सुविधा नहीं देते थे, सरकारी पैसे का उपयोग अपनी भलाई के लिए करते थे और गांव के मजदूर वर्ग के लोगों को उनकी सुविधाओं से वंचित रखते थे|

लेकिन नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार के आने के बाद यह सब कुछ बदल गया अब हर व्यक्ति को उसका हक मिल पा रहा|

नरेंद्र मोदी ने शौचालय बनाने की योजना चलाई हर एक व्यक्ति के अकाउंट में ₹12000 भेजे गए ताकि हर एक घर में इज्जत घर बन सके| महिलाएं खुले में शौच जाने से बचें और नरेंद्र मोदी की कोशिश कामयाब हुई| नरेंद्र मोदी ने इसमें बीच के दलाल का सिस्टम नहीं रहने दिया सरकार की तरफ से पैसे सीधे लाभार्थी के अकाउंट में भेजे गए|

गरीबों को आवास

गरीबों को आवास देने के लिए नरेंद्र मोदी ने प्रधानमंत्री आवास योजना चलाई| नरेंद्र मोदी की इस योजना के अंतर्गत आर्थिक रुप से कमजोर परिवारों को 112000 रुपए का अनुदान दिया गया उन्हें अच्छा आवास प्रदान कराया गया| सबसे अच्छी बात यह थी कि नरेंद्र मोदी की कोई भी योजना ना तो जाति पर आधारित थी किसी विशेष समुदाय पर आधारित नरेंद्र मोदी की सारी योजनाओं का लाभ हर एक जाति हर एक वर्ग और हर एक धर्म से जुड़े परिवार के लिए था|

चूल्हे की कैद से महिला आजाद

मोदी की सरकार की सबसे अच्छी और बड़ी योजना उज्ज्वला योजना थी इसके अंतर्गत नरेंद्र मोदी सरकार ने देश भर की हर महिला को चूल्हे से मुक्त कराया आप समझ सकते हैं चूल्हे के आगे रोजाना सुबह शाम बैठकर काम करने वाली महिला को कितनी तकलीफ होती होगी| नरेंद्र मोदी ने देश की हर महिला को उज्ज्वला योजना के अंतर्गत सिलेंडर दिलाने का कार्य किया|

पिछली सरकार में हम लोगों ने देखा था और काफी अच्छे से महसूस भी किया कि कांग्रेस सरकार किस प्रकार उद्योगपतियों की मदद कर रही थी और गरीबों के पास से गैस सिलेंडर छीन रही थी| आप को शायद पता होगा सरकार ने सिलेंडर 12 से घटाकर 8 कर दिए थे| जबकि हम सब जानते हैं रसोई में सिलेंडर कितना जरूरी होता है जिन घरों में अन्य किसी धन की व्यवस्था नहीं होती थी या फिर जो परिवार किसी दिक्कत की वजह से चूल्हे में भोजन नहीं बना सकते थे उन लोगों के बुरे दिन आ चुके थे| साथ ही आप यह तो जानते ही हैं कि चूल्हे के आगे बैठकर भोजन बनाने से महिलाओं की आंखों को काफी नुकसान पहुंचता है| नरेंद्र मोदी ने महिलाओं की तकलीफ दूर करने के लिए, महिलाओं को सशक्त बनाया और उन्हें गैस सिलेंडर दिलाएं|

शिक्षा में सुधार

इसके साथ-साथ नरेंद्र मोदी ने शिक्षा जगत में काफी बदलाव किए, छात्र-छात्राओं को सही भविष्य प्रदान करने के लिए नरेंद्र मोदी ने नकल मुक्त पद्धति विकसित की| सरकारी स्कूलों की व्यवस्था सुधारने का बहुत ही कठिन प्रयास किया| जिससे कम खर्चे में गरीब से गरीब परिवार का छात्रा-छात्रा उच्च कोटि की शिक्षा प्राप्त कर सकें|

परीक्षा संस्थानों की घोटालेबाजी और छात्रों पर हो रहे अत्याचार पर नजर रखने के लिए नरेंद्र मोदी सरकार ने सीसीटीवी लगाना अनिवार्य कर दिया|

मोदी की सरकार के आने के बाद हर एक छात्र को छात्रवृत्ति मिल रही है, ऐसा पहली बार हो रहा है कि सबको समान रूप से देखते हुए छात्रवृत्ति दी जा रही है नहीं तो हम हमेशा से यही देखते आएंगे की पुरानी जितनी भी सरकारी आई थी सब किसी न किसी जाति या समुदाय के एजेंडे पर कार्य करती थी|

देश दुनिया में भारत का नाम

नरेंद्र मोदी ने विदेश नीति को बढ़ावा देकर भारत की छवि काफी अच्छी बना दी है| अब देश दुनिया में भारत का बोलबाला है अपने देश से अब कोई भी व्यक्ति अगर विदेश में कुछ करना चाहता है तो उसे काफी सपोर्ट मिलता है|

साथ ही दुनिया के शक्तिशाली देश भी अब भारत की शक्ति को सम्मान दे रहे हैं और भारत को एक बड़े शक्तिशाली देश के रूप में परिभाषित भी करते हैं|

देश को नरेंद्र मोदी जैसे नेता की जरूरत है जो देश को सुंदर और शक्तिशाली बनाए रखें और देश के कमजोर से कमजोर व्यक्ति को समर्थन दें, साधारण से साधारण व्यक्ति को मजबूत बनने के लिए शक्ति प्रदान करें|

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