The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of all the banks in the country amounted to Rs 8,40,958 crore in December, 2017, as per the data provided by the Government. India has been ranked fifth on the list of countries with highest NPAs, and is on top spot among the BRICS nations, a recent report by CARE Ratings revealed.
After the exposure of several banking scams recently, the problem of growing NPAs has come in the public domain. Before these banking scams came to light, general public was not aware of the term “NPA” which was considered a technical term known and discussed by experts of the finance and banking sectors. Now it has been revealed that the NPAs accumulated over the last many decades are the real cause of banking frauds as loans were distributed by the banks without obtaining adequate securities from the borrowers.
In his historical speech delivered on 7 February 2018 in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the problem of NPAs. He said, “I have proof of how the Congress looted and plundered India. You will pay for your sins. Time has come for you to be held accountable and answerable to the people of India. Loans were given without any scrutiny, they were distributed like sweets. Your bad decisions have directly been the reason for failures.”
A lot of discussion is going on in the media and in the banking sector about this problem, but it is a matter of concern and surprise that nothing concrete is being done to stop the further generation and accumulation of NPAs. Before we proceed further to discuss as to why nothing is being done to control the growing NPAs, let us understand, how these NPAs could have been controlled by the banks and the government.
1. There is a system of appointment of independent directors on the boards of the banks. Independent directors of the banks are supposed to see and ensure that the affairs of the bank are being run in the proper manner without causing any misappropriation of the public money. However, the system of appointment of these directors is not transparent at all and lot of people with political backgrounds are being appointed on the boards of the banks. As these directors are still being appointed in the arbitrary manner by the finance ministry, the very purpose of appointing the so called “Independent Directors” stands defeated.
2. There is also a system of appointment of internal, concurrent and statutory auditors of the banks. These auditors are supposed to be appointed in a transparent manner so that they can perform their duties independently. Despite giving suggestion to the government, finance ministry and the RBI by the concerned authorities that the bank auditors should be appointed by some independent agency like the RBI or ICAI, the appointment of all types of bank auditors is being done in arbitrary manner by the banks themselves. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is maintaining a panel of chartered accountants who are eligible to be appointed as bank auditors, but why the government is not willing the task of appointment of all types of auditors to ICAI is itself a mystery. Under the present system, the auditors are appointed by the bank itself. If the bank itself is the appointing authority then how anyone expects from the auditors that they will report the misdeeds of the bank? There are several instances when auditors reported misdeeds of the banks and they were never appointed again as a form of punishment. Appointment of bank auditors has now become a lobbying job and if you are getting the job due to lobbying efforts, it is highly unlikely that you will report the misdeeds of the bank due to fear that once you report the misdeeds, you may not be appointed next year. For the last 70 years this arbitrary system of appointment of auditors is going on with the result that the NPAs of the banks are growing with each passing day.
It is very strange that nothing is being done by the present government to improve the system of appointment of auditors and independent directors as these appointments are continued to be done in an arbitrary and non-transparent manner.
Ramachandra Guha and Harsh Mander began — and hopefully ended — “the minority space” series in Indian Express on Tuesday. On the Day of Judgment — for they would prefer such an option rather than the presence of Bhagwan Vishnu — the duo would be hard pressed to explain the deviousness of their heart; the venoms of their actions.
Over the last fortnight or so, Indian Express has almost daily pushed this “minority space” agenda on its edit pages. This stems from the fear of Left-Liberals that, God forbids, if Muslims — and Dalits — were able to recognize that BJP and Modi are their best friends, the last plank of their survival would sink and take them down too in the vast ocean of human junk and wastefulness.
The agenda of these two academic/activist charlatans is clear: Make Muslims fearfully conscious of their separateness from the Hindu majority so that they are further pushed into a seized mentality and a common ground with Hindus is never created. Create Hinduphobia so the Muslims are not able to see the deviousness of Congress, BSP, Left who have done practically nothing for the minority in the last 70 years. The idea is to deny Hindus and Muslims a common ground.
Guha and Mander would skillfully hide the fact that out of 125 Muslim-majority seats in Uttar Pradesh, 84 went to BJP in the last assembly elections. That BJP has 79 Dalit MPs, 549 Dalit MLAs and one Dalit president.
While they beat their breasts and bemoan Muslims being treated as second-class citizens in Hindu-majority India, you would never see them acknowledge that it was Muslims who plunged the dagger of partition into the heart of this nation. You would never find them question Asaduddin Owaisi as to when the latter swears by the sanctity of the Constitution, what problem he has with the protection it offers to cows; or when its core ethos ask for a Uniform Civil Code.
You would never see them encourage Muslims to let Hindus have their way with the Ram Janmabhoomi. After all, even in austere places like Saudi Arabia it is common to move Masjid out of the way, in case infrastructural or other such need arises. Why, just four years ago, there was even a proposal to move Prophet Muhammad’s tomb! After all, Quran ordains that Namaaz could be read anywhere, it doesn’t need a Masjid for the act. While Namaaz could thus be performed even on roads, there can only be one Ram Janmabhoomi. Guha and Mander would never ask Muslims to make this one small gesture and see the flood of goodwill which would emanate from the majority. Imagine how much strength and unity just one gesture could do to the idea of a unified and strong India.
Guha and Mander would never highlight the fact that the 1857 War of Independence was an act of revolt by the Hindus who nevertheless chose a Muslim—Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar—to be their leader in the struggle.
You would never see them making an appeal to Muslims to do meaningful reforms. After all, there is a great deal of truth that unlike Christianity went through a Reformation Age, and Hindus had the Bhakti Movement to cleanse the outdated practices, Muslims perhaps never quite clinically reevaluate if a few of Quran’s maxims needed a debate. You would never find Guha or Mander question the Muslim leadership on their lack of progressive agenda down the centuries to the present modern age.
Guha even bemoans that Hindus were once led by Nehru-Gandhi and now by Modi-Shah. He would never reflect if this change is because Hindus feel Nehru and Gandhi betrayed them and the nation during the Independence struggle by appeasing Muslims—which led to thousands of Hindus lives lost during the Khilafat movement and Direct Action Day– and causing the Partition.
Men like Guha and Mander would show a trishul as a sign of Hindu fundamentalism; they would never analyse why such a majority still treats three Khans as their superstars. Why an APJ Abdul Kalam is loved and respected by practically every educated Hindu.
Most tellingly, Guha and Mander are now marginalized voices because of their selective truths. Just look at the reactions Guha has managed on his twitter handle. By mid-day, it had barely touched 100 reactions. And most of them were scathing to his piece that has appeared in Indian Express on Tuesday.
A point about Indian Express too (and The Wire, predictably joined the chorus). While they pick up every major (Guha) and minor (Apporvanand) voice to create fear psychosis about “minority space”, why there is never an intellectual giant such as Subramaniam Swamy or Rajiv Malhotra being asked to present their viewpoints? Why stray incidents are picked and highlighted to paint the entire Hindu community in bad light?
Rallying INC workers for a tough fight ahead, you, Mr. Rahul Gandhi evoked Hindu epic Mahabharata and compared BJP/RSS to the Kauravas and Congress to Pandavas. Whilethe Congress eco-system is visibly happy with you finally delivering some coherent thoughts.
BJP supporters should be happy that they BJP is being compared with the Kauravas, far more inferior insults have been used by your party for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such a casual invoking of a complex epic like Mahabharata is laughable. Let’s however anyway analyze your claim for academic purposes.
From the INC website, this is the exact transcript of the relevant part of your speech:
“thousands of years ago, there was a great battle, a huge battle on the fields of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful, extremely well organized and arrogant. They had money and numbers on their side. They fought a small army led by Pandavs. The Kauravas were drunk with power and believed they were the greatest. The Pandavs were humble. They did not speak much. They spoke softly. They were five brothers who had recently lost everything but unlike the Kauravs, they fought for truth. Like the Kauravs, the BJP and RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavs, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth.”
First, let us see, according to you what were the qualities of two groups
Kauravas: Powerful, extremely well organized, arrogant, had money and numbers on their side, drunk with power and believed they were the greatest.
Pandavas: Had a small army, lost everything, fought for truth, were humble and didn’t speak much.
Now let us go through these traits one by one and see where you and your party fits.
First, on your side not being Kauravas:
Powerful: Well no harm in being powerful. A powerful organization will have a better chance of giving a stable government and take tough decisions. A weak leader can’t serve the nation.
Extremely well organized: This is actually a very good quality.
Arrogant: Okay, now we have some serious charge. From Oxford dictionary, arrogant is someone “having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities”.
Who is the one who said Congress is default Operating System of India, isn’t that exaggerated sense of one’s own importance? There are just so many examples of your arrogance. Your party leader Mani Shankar Ayer thought fit to dismiss BJP as not a credible threat to your party’s rule during the 2014 elections, promising that Modi would never be prime minister of India andcould sell tea in a congress meet-up. The epitome of arrogance is perhaps your father Rajiv Gandhi, who justified the murder of thousands of innocent civilians as a mere aftereffect of a big tree falling.
Money: I would not really trust any political parties on their balance sheets. Especially your party Congress, who has been in power for far greater period of independent India and definitely have lots of money at their disposal.
Number: Not sure which numbers you mean. Elections are not a fist fight so that the actual number of party workers would matter that much. In terms of the ability to convey messages to the voters, Congress and BJP might have almost same level of resources. In fact, given that most of old media houses favors Congress, you actually are in superior position here.
Drunk with power: This is almost same as being arrogant, discussed above.
Now coming to you being Pandavas:
Small army: As discussed above, you really don’t have a small army.
Lost everything: Yeah, you are in pretty poor condition if you see the states you are in power. But come to think of it, Pandavas lost mainly due to unfair treatment meted out to them. You lost because of your own doings.
Humble: Again, as above in arrogant. You are no humble Mr. Rahul Gandhi.
Didn’t speak much: That doesn’t seem to be true. Even if it were true, how is not speaking much a good quality? Dr. Manmohan Singh also didn’t speak much and let the country ruled by a proxy for 10 years. Perhaps you meant that they didn’t speak out of line and were thus highly disciplined. Discipline is hardly a quality of Congressmen. You tore a government ordinance, publicly shaming PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was on a state visit to US.
If you actually had any understanding of Mahabharata, you wouldn’t have invoked the binary of Kauravas and Pandavas to emphasize the dichotomy of good vs evil. Mahabharata is much more complex and neither side is pure good or pure evil.
Do you know that Pandavas also used unfair means as well to win the battle? Especially to take down all the major characters on the Kaurava side. Disarming Bhishma by propping Shikhandi, disarming Dronacharya using fake news of his son’s death, killing Karna while he was fixing his chariot and thus unarmed, and killing Duryodhna by hitting below the belt. Or do you Mr. Rahul Gandhi actually are advocating the use of unfair means to win elections. Is this why you are using Cambridge Analytica’s services?
I do not know about BJP, but you Mr. Rahul Gandhi are no Pandava.
Recently Times Group (that runs newspaper Times of India, TV channel Times Now, etc.) launched a program named “Fake Bole Kauwa Kate” that claims to be the India’s first digital fake or fact finding show of its type that is dedicated entirely only and only to bust fake news.
The show begins with a claim to bust and expose all fake news and as soon as we start developing our interest in the program, the host shatters our hope by telling us that Altnews is also involved in this program. Ironically the host is someone who is a troll himself and was earlier reprimanded by ABP News for sharing fake video.
Those who don’t know (or if you don’t watch NDTV) what is Altnews, it is a left leaning propaganda website (regularly promoted by Ravish Kumar and Co., and of course JNU types) that claims itself to be a fact finder and regularly busts any fake news knowingly/unknowingly distributed by BJP, RSS, Hindu Groups, Right ideologists, Republic TV or anybody that is not on “left” lane.
Fake news and propaganda of So-called liberals and pseudo-seculars is not a concern here. Even if news is not fake than they are champions of serving half-truth or fabricate/twist it to look like a fake one, I will explain this further in this article.
Coming back to Kauwa Show, in its first episode five fake news were exposed starting from a fake alien news to strip search of Paki PM. One news was regarding a split image in which a young boy with a saffron bandana on one side and with blue bandana on the other side. As claimed by media, this is the same person who was earlier part of protests by Karni Sena and later was present during the Bharat Bandh protests by Ambedkarite Groups. It is being said by some that this boy’s name is Abdul Jamal Khan.
Busting material in the show for above said news was picked from Altnews. Now the catch here is, if you read complete article on Altnews, initially it looks like they are saving poor Muslim Abdul Jamal Khan from clutches of saffron IT trolls by busting a right wing fake news, but at the end they nowhere conclude this picture being fake or real. At the end this becomes a perfect example of news twisting.
Altnews starts with this picture being taken from a parody account and starts analyzing it. They very comfortably makes readers believe that a parody account will obviously post a fake picture. Here objective should be to check the authenticity of images, not account itself.
They give a few examples of how media broadcasted this news and later deleted it. They say: This information was broadcasted by the Hindi news channel India TV, which has now deleted the story from the website.
Altnews also names Journalist Kanchan Gupta “Apart from India TV, this information was shared by many social media users as well. Among them was journalist Kanchan Gupta. Ironically he is a member of the Central Press Accreditation Committee and would have been involved with the issue of crackdown on fake news had the I&B ministry’s now withdrawn circular been put into effect. Gupta later deleted his tweet and apologised.”
Above examples will obviously makes us think that news is fake and Image is morphed as deleting a news and apologizing can only be done in case of a fake news broadcasted by media.
This again becomes a perfect example of fabrication or twisting of facts and serving half-truth as Altnews forgot to mention that Shri Kanchan Gupta did not apologies for tweet but only for not spotting @republicTv as a parody handle.
Apology about confusion with a parody handle, not facts.
Further, rather funnily, Altnews claims to have used some software to analyse the two photographs and finds subtle differences (forgot to mention what difference) and at same time claims that difference is not conclusive.
“As for the claim that the two photographs are of the same individual, Alt News juxtaposed the faces to try and ascertain if they are indeed one and the same person. Using the InVidsoftware for analysis, we magnified various facial features to aid visual comparison. The magnified version of the image does show subtle differences. However, this difference is not conclusive and we are unable to ascertain whether the two pictures are of the same person or not.”
“Although the resemblance is striking, Alt News is unable to verify if the two photographs are indeed of the same person. Notwithstanding the lack of conclusiveness over the identity of the said individual/individuals, the name ‘Abdul Jamal Khan’ is a pure figment of imagination.”
Kauwa show picks same story and gets in line with alt news, making no claim about photographs being morphed or fake. At same time, both Altnews and Kauwa show forgets to mention what made them feel that photograph is fake or doubtable. Going a step ahead Kauwa show also claims that Republic TV spreads fake news just like its parody account.
Now the facepalm moment is here. Parody account @republicTv clearly mentions that all tweets are fake and imaginary than what forced Altnews to expose an imaginary picture and why they could not bust a fake news from a parody account. And, if Altnews could not come up with a solid evidence of image being fake, what made them write a stupid article that reaches nowhere.
Or should it be concluded that this time a parody account posted a real picture and face being of a Muslim person, this was obligatory for Altnews to come up with an absurd article to confuse their loyal readers!
Altnews should ‘analyse’ this too
Calling something fake with a disclaimer of uncertainty is a very cheap tactic and Left liberals should stop this long played filthy game now. Right from Godhra massacre (where 59 Hindus were burnt alive) to recent attacks on Ramnavmi processions by Muslim fanatics, Left and secular lobby was always found either giving cover fire to Jihadies or blaming Hindus for celebrating their festivals. Your hate for Hindus is not taking you anywhere but taking me certainly more and more towards “Right” path.
Recently Lord Hanuman is in the news, thanks to the wonderful drawings of Karan Acharya. The images are very refreshing and much needed. The discourse being peddled is the influence of this image on some sort of militancy. I don’t know if those peddled this discourse themselves believe in that. The reason that image is resonant with so many people is that this image is so refreshing. He is not frowning or is angry, he is looking directly into your eyes, trying to make a conversation. Hanuman is not only a deity, he is a cultural icon as well. By trying to make an issue of things as innocuous as some people celebrating their culture, organizations as The Wire are exposing themselves and betraying their own larger goal of being an effective far-left media organization.
The questions should not be about any fictional militancy. Rather, it should be, why there is so little being done? Why there is only one image of Hanuman, why not more, why not images of other Hindu god and goddess? Why Hindu texts not being studied and analyzed in detail using modern scientific tools? There is just so much which needs to be done.
For some time, I have been interested in study about the weaponry used in Hindu mythology. I could not find any good and credible scientific or otherwise source which analyzes such weaponry. Here are my bits about the weapon used by Lord Hanuman, i.e. Gada. While many warriors have used Gada in Hindu texts, Hanuman is the most common warrior associated with it.
In its simplest form, Gada consist of a heavy spherical head mounted on a long shaft.
Gada is a melee weapon meant for crushing or in more technical terms it is a trauma weapon. It works by transferring its momentum to its victim during combat. Everyday life tools such as hammers or pestles are also based on similar principles. Momentum is the mass X velocity, or for layman understanding, weight X speed. So heavier the Gada, better it is and faster you can swing it, more effective it is. Those who might have studied elastic collision in school might remember the relevant physics. To swing such a heavy object faster, means you will need strong muscles. That is why Gada wearing warriors are typical shown as bigger men with strong body and muscles. And that is why, Hanuman is a natural deity for pehlwans (wrestlers). Thus Dara Singh playing Hanuman in Ramand Sagar’s Ramayana and film Bajrangi feels so natural.
While Gada was a very effective trauma weapon, it also had other advantages as well. Once molded, it needed little to no maintenance. While weaponssuch as swords could go blunt and would need regular sharpening, this wont be the case for Gada. It was circularly symmetric along its long axis. Thus you could be swung in any direction and with the same effect.
Thus, Gada was a very effective weapon for close combat. In Ramayana, humans were normally using bow/arrow and sword while vanars like Hanuman, Sugriv and others would use Gada. It could be as vanars in Ramayana were cave dwellers and must be dealing with stones, rocks etc. often, a Gada could double as a useful tool whenever needed.
Trauma weapons can be found in other cultures/mythologies as well. Outside Hinduism, Thor in Norse mythology uses a hammer named Mjölnir, which is also a trauma weapon. Other similar weapons are listed in Wikipedia.
The Constitution of the country does not call any state special, but in spite of this, many states enjoy “special status”. Many states often demand that they get this status. But what happens to the states “special status.”
There is no provision to give special status to any state in the constitution. But the status of each state is different on the development level, which led to the recommendation of “Special Category Status” in the year 1969, by the Fifth Finance Commission. Under this, the Central Government gives a large amount as a help to the special status granted to the state. The National Development Council (NDC), the allocation for these states, was made by the Planning Commission.
The first NDC on which the special status was given was, hilly areas, low population density, or the larger share of the population being of the Backward Castes or Tribes, areas of strategic importance like the area adjoining the international border, economic and basic backwardness, financial position of the state e.t.c. But now the Planning Commission has replaced the Planning Commission. And the Commission has no right to allocate financial resources.
According to the Central Government, the 14th Finance Commission effectively removed the concept of “special status” given to the states in its recommendations. On the issue of Andhra Pradesh, the central government said that the Center can give financial help by treating the state as a state in the special category. But the government will not give Andhra Pradesh a status of “special state”.
Prior to the policy commission, the Planning Commission allocated central assistance to the special status of the state. This help can be divided into three categories. This includes simple central assistance (Normal Central Assistance or NCA), additional central assistance (Additional Central Assistance or ACA) and special central assistance (Special Central Assistance or SCA).
The Center carries 90 percent of central policies in the special status state and 10 percent of the state. At the same time, the central government raises 60 percent of the expenditure in other states and the remaining 40 percent is paid by the state government.
NDC first gave this status to Jammu Kashmir, Assam and Nagaland in the year 1969. But for a few years, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura joined the list for a few years. Uttarakhand, who received “special status” in the year 2010, became the last state. Altogether 11 states have this status today.
Many states have been raising the demand for getting “special status”. The voices of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar are the most vocal in this. But till now these states have not been given this status.
Politics has started now in the gangrape case with a 16-year-old girl in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. After the death of the rape victim’s father in police custody, many political parties have targeted the BJP.
The victim had accused the local MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and others of gangrape. The police have arrested the MLA’s brother Atul Sengar on the charge of assaulting the victim. The post-mortem report of the victim’s father confirmed the assault. It has been said in the report that 14 pieces of injuries were found on the father’s body.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi digressed the state government saying, “Save the daughter, kill herself.” On this issue, former State Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that women are being terrorized instead of criminals in the state. However, the state’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath said this incident is quite tragic and unfortunate. So far 6 policemen have been suspended in this case. Also, the judicial inquiry orders have been issued. The State Government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the matter.
A 16-year-old girl had accused the BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and her companions of rape in June last year. But after the matter came to light, the girl suddenly disappeared, after which the families lodged a complaint with the police. Nine days after the complaint, the girl met in a village of Orenya district, after which she was brought to Unna.
The police presented him before the court and recorded his statement. The victim alleged to the police that she was not allowed to name the BJP legislator in her statement. Ten days later he was sent to the family members, but he continued to accuse the police constantly. The victim and her family came to Delhi but she sent her grievances to the Chief Minister from all the senior officials of the state so that she could register a case against BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar and her brother Atul Singh.
But when there was no hearing from anywhere, in February this year, the victim’s mother approached the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) to file an FIR in this case. On April 3, the court heard the appeal of the victim on the mother’s plea. Unnao returned with the family of the victim to participate in the hearing of the case. According to the family, that evening BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh, along with his colleagues, troubled the girl’s father. After this, the police arrested the girl’s father on charges of possessing illegal weapons.
Then on April 5, the victim’s father was sent to jail. The victim’s father accused the MLA’s brother of assault and attempt to implicate him. But no action was taken on their complaint. After this, the victim tried to commit suicide in front of Chief Minister’s residence in Lucknow. He also demanded an FIR be lodged against BJP legislator Kuldeep Sengar, after which the entire matter came up. On April 9, the girl’s father died in police custody.
Yogi Adityanath said this incident is quite tragic and unfortunate. So far 6 policemen have been suspended in this case. Also, the judicial inquiry orders have been issued. The State Government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the matter.
Facebook (FB) is facing the backlash from users and authorities all over the world for compromising user data and making profit without their knowledge thus breaking the trust of its billions of users. The charge is that data is harvested and used by the political powers to influence the people to vote for them during the elections. Facebook and its employees on the other hand admits that breach happened due to incompetency but without any malicious intent. Media has overhyped the incidence stating it threatens democracy and privacy.
The result is a mixed reaction many users responded by deleting their accounts from FB, but they are outnumbered by those who cannot ignore its presence in their lives and continue with it. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that people who are worried about the snoopy governments and malicious third parties are moving to closed online platforms, but then, bad actors can abuse networks that are too open and conspire on closed systems also. The New York Times reported this week that public has proved over and over again that they are fine with the trade off to give away personal information in exchange for the free content and ability to interact seamlessly with others in today’s digital age.
People in India know very well that FB, Twitter and other online platforms allow political groups to polarize and influence people to vote for a particular ideology. More and more conflicts and disagreements happen on daily basis between different political or civic interest groups on these platforms. Padmaavat controversy and now Dalit unrest with different viewpoints are very recent and current.
The fact of the matter is a large section of the society do not use/abuse these platforms either willfully or because they cannot afford this medium due to lack of resources. Further, winning of elections by satisfying digital expressions of the citizens is not the only thing, as even the opinions and moods of netizens fluctuates on daily basis and can swing anytime. Today, many important sections of government and society rely upon social platforms.
The Members of Parliament use the social media platform to be in direct touch with their constituency. Minister of External Affairs has helped so many Indian citizens stranded abroad in different situations. People facing troubles while traveling in trains can easily reach the Railway Minister and gets quick response and relief. One of the young and known politician of Rajasthan recently used social media smartly to win the Lok Sabha bye elections in Rajasthan. Above all through his twitter handle and online apps even the Prime Minister keeps updating the people of the country about the work done by the government.
Bureaucracy in India is also opening and interacting directly with the people handling the diversity and digitally mediated citizen opinions. Decentralization, which is the one of the major essence of Democracy is practically happening. Local Police and Nagar Nigam of various cities are quite responsive on social media. It requires re-imagination of our institutions in a way that would allow citizens to engage in active and public sphere of internet. The day is not far when each and every government official especially on sensitive jobs can be reached directly by the public without any gatekeepers demanding transparent, accountable and corruption free governance in true sense.
We also trust our judges to provide a fair system of justice in time. One of the Supreme Court judge has come out publicly on issues of appointment of judges in the SC. Before that also four judges targeted the internal differences within the institution and all this got immediate reaction on the social media forums. It can be taken as a positive sign that people at higher posts are able to express themselves. Time will only reveal that such incidences do not break the institutions but makes them more robust and transparent.
Finally Democracy provides free press which we all expect to report the news in a principled and neutral way. Social Media has not only replaced the traditional media but it has also brought out its vulnerabilities in open like partisanship, incomplete or even wrong reporting. It has empowered people in a manner that a strong, well-researched story questioning or appreciating the establishment gets more readership than what is routinely published in established traditional media.
In a way, these online platforms are a double-edged sword both for politicians and the citizens. Clearly, distribution of news and ideas have become more democratized. With something good one has to accept some bad too. The fake news is a big menace but then information nowadays transmits organically by word of mouth, which circulates in a two way manner. May be this requires a deep critical understanding of the issue before acting upon it. On a lighter note, we need to ponder upon how the news travelled in medieval and ancient period and is the online platform taking us back to those times or is fake news really a big stumble for going ahead.
It won’t be wrong to say that social media plays the role of a democratic institution. In the last decade social media gave the opportunity to the citizens to grow socially, politically, economically and intellectually. The collective experience of democratic societies all over the world has been more positive than negative with social media. In fact, if one thinks of instances like the social revolution in Egypt, social platforms have helped democracy sustain through tumultuous times. It is true that sometimes strong pillars of the democracy that people trust, are sometimes violated by some individuals. Therefore, we are going to continue to have to ask hard questions to change how social platforms work that will do more good to the people.
It is time that you wake up. It is time that you shake yourself up to come to the reality that the ‘Breaking India’ forces are now almost at your doorstep. No, you will not see them coming towards you because you have chosen to close your eyes while you sit in the comfort of your homes and offices.
You continue to do so because you ‘think’ that this nation is ‘secular’, and that it should follow all the mindless ‘isms’ that the outer world has made for her. It is time to go beyond the books, beyond the rhetoric that has been fed to you through institutions like your schools and colleges (of national importance, by the way), beyond being a slave to your own comfort and your own stupid utopian ideas.
It’s time to come back to reality; because, if you don’t do it now, you’ll have no time to come back. Do not trust those who are speaking of ‘Breaking India’ today because they are going to break you tomorrow. For them, you’re just the means of a larger goal that they have. You’re just an element of their well thought out matrix which thrives on celebrating mediocrity, compartmentalizing people and theories, and a stupid mindless vision of a utopian world build solely on their propaganda.
They are the people who talk of village development sitting from the comforts of their air-conditioned rooms. They are also those who promote equality without understanding an iota of what does it actually mean. They are those who compartmentalize the whole world and it’s people into identities supported by various ‘isms’, supported by the army of pseudo-intellectuals, because, it suits the agenda of their masters; the masters they don’t even know; the masters who thrives on spreading their vision of breaking India into pieces.
On 2nd April, 2018, I witnessed a firsthand encounter of what Breaking India forces can do to sell their propaganda and achieve their goals.
Let me first tell you who I am. I am someone working with children in the villages of Vrindavan, a town famous for Lord Krishna’s musings and temples. I am someone who is trying to build this nation further by indulging in constructive development instead of dividing it through the narrative of cynicism and destruction.
On the 29th of March, I had taken a train to Mumbai to attend a Change Agents Retreat, a collective effort to bring 60 individuals from across the country doing impactful work in nation-building. During one of our field visits (we stayed at a Ekal Vidhyalya in Palghar, a tribal belt in Maharashtra), we had gone to meet the children of a school for the blind and mentally different (read, retarded) in Jawahar, Maharashtra. We were welcomed by confident voices of kids who sang us a welcome song followed by “Ae Mere Vatan Ke Logon”, an old Hindi song sung by Lata Mangeshkar to inspire the collective consciousness of a nation to never forget the sacrifices made by thousands of its heroes. This gesture by the kids shook all of us from the inside.
As we tried to hug them, hold them in an attempt to just know them a little bit, something changed internally within all of us. We had suddenly become more empathetic, inclusive and compassionate. We realised that we needed to work for them as well and not let them wander away from our imaginations when we design our curriculums, policies and solutions. I, for one, was eagerly waiting to go back to my kids in Vrindavan and tell them this story which shook us all.
Coming back from the Change Agents retreat, however, my train was attacked by hundreds of the ‘weaker’ sections of the society at Gangapur (Rajasthan) station. The fact that these attacks were so systematically arranged across the country completely takes away any doubt in my mind that they were not done ‘only’ done to ‘raise’ the voice of the ‘voiceless.’ The objective was to instill fear within passengers and administration through organised violence, plausibly supported by the goon’s political masters, to remain relevant in the game of 2019 elections, which has now officially started.
I witnessed these goons coming towards our train, with arms and ammunition (as told by police officers later) to plunder, attack, and possibly slaughter two thousand travellers (including children and women). Why would they come towards the train otherwise is something I haven’t got an answer to, yet. If it was not for the police who just came at the right time and defeated their ‘weaknesses’, I don’t know how the story would look like for two thousand passengers who were traveling with me that day. We sat on the platform for more than 10 hours with fear in our hearts, with supplies of food and water running out later in the night.
Little children, women and senior citizens were made to go through such uncalled-for trauma must be slammed by all, without recourse to any form of ‘whatboutery’. No section of the society (read, no section, irrespective of how weak and strong they are) has the right or privilege to hold the lives of people in such a way to argue for whatever cause they are fighting. Later in the night, when the train finally moved and reached the next station, Hindaun (Rajasthan), we could see a significant portion of the station destroyed with men and women carrying their children finding ways to board a train which could possibly take them all away from this mess and web of ‘weakness’ and ‘violence’.
I’m sure that you wouldn’t have heard any of this in the media that you so passionately follow and believe in. I’m also sure that no influential politician would tell you the frightening reality about what we faced on that day – I’m telling you this because it’s important; because if it can happen us, it will also happen to you as well. Only question being, when?
I’m telling you today that we are at a moment in history of this nation when we need to shake ourselves up from accepting mediocrity; from letting ourselves influence our minds as per the matrix created by pseudo-intellectuals sitting right in front of you in colleges, schools and even homes. Rise up, because we can’t afford to celebrate the ‘weaknesses’ anymore. India cannot break. I will not let that happen. You shouldn’t too.
As far as my kids back home are concerned, I am back to tell them the stories of an India which is full of heroes who died not ‘Breaking’ her but ‘Building’ her.
With the advent of recent privacy breach by Cambridge Anaylatica which led to misuse of many Facebook users’ data either by tricking them to not taking their explicit consent & not disclosing the motive to data usage or data processing that was to be done by them. This opened the eyes of many.
Until Now reports says that breach could have actually 87 million people and not just 50 million along this its note worthy that this figure accounts for mostly US citizens data that may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. So their is still no conclusive evidence about how much the data of Indian Facebook users were involved.
Government have No clue & Perhaps Facebook India also didn’t take any responsibility of Answering us. Till now Government of India has not provided any substantial Answer that they may (if any) have got from any entity involved in it like Facebook India, or others. On March 28 it was widely reported that government taking cognisance of the data breach on Facebook by British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica, the Government of India has issued a notice asking for names of clients who may have misused the data of Indians from the social network. It was said that Centre has asked six specific questions that are to be answered by 31 March, failing which they could face legal action from the Ministry of Information Technology.
In present situation let’s us see what authorities can do to stop such misuse of data, in fact misuse of any data either offline or online is warranted. It is also important to mention that modus operandi of collecting such data could not be online alone their has to be some local survey agencies hired or NGOs to collect data from people who won’t surf online. Even in this case it was reported that Cambridge Analytica may have been using both mode of data collection. It is alleged that CA markets itself as unique and innovative in its field because they don’t simply predict users’ interests or future behaviours, but also does psychometric profiles. Although they later denied it.
The collected information is then used in creating, managing customized dynamic Marketing or PR campaigns so to influence their decision even for shorter run like say near elections this can be done by using all the means available for marketer or PR managers this can even include use option of using fake news on social media by creating many fake profile for that period or outsource such unethical activities. In case of fake news idea is to bombard users with so much fake or semi correct news or twisted news that in traps user mind & he/she is unable to see Truth behind them even if for short run say till a particular Time period will serve their purpose.
Using profiling to micro-target, manipulate, and persuade individuals, which is still considered as dangerous and a threat to democracy.
From a technical perspective, it doesn’t matter whether you predict gender, interests, political opinions or personality, the point is that you are using some data to learn additional, unknown information. (your sexual orientation, your interests etc.)
It is worth mentioning the profiling is not bad in itself, it is the purpose which will define its role as good or bad. As for example it is being used in other areas as well like making decisions that have far-reaching consequences, from credit to housing, welfare and employment. Intelligent CCTV software automatically flags “suspicious behavior”, to check potential customers that are worthy of Loans, Insurance Risks to calculate premiums, even some research claims to predicts future criminals.
EU GDPR
In my opinion answer to all the privacy related issues is a comprehensive privacy law Like European Union Privacy Law named General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This was adopted by EU in 27 April 2016. It sets Minimum standards for privacy & Data protection laws that has to be followed by any entity that use data of European Citizen.
GDPR is intended to create a framework or structure within which more detailed rules can be made or its scope can be extended by member states. It clearly define every entities, their role, or terms, it clearly defines Duties, rights of everyone in the scheme of things; like for larger companies its mandatory to have Data protection officer that will be responsible for handling of such data. Accountability of Top management Like setting up policy in place.
Its unique or focused approach is to imparts Transparency, Accountability, & Protect the rights of the users.
Now let us see first which Laws in India are considered to provide privacy or Data protection of some kind, currently Section 43A, Section 72A of Information Technology act 2000, Article 19 & Article 21 is quoted by many as laws for the purpose. Now let me point out briefly how EU GDPR is better or complete framework. Due to space limitation i am not presenting here my detailed analysis. Anyone if interested in More detailed analysis can be find it on my personal blog.
EU GDPR is way ahead in its scope following are some key points:-
Firstly it defines Personal Data, in its Article 4 states that ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
Interestingly this definition will incorporate all data or means of data collection which can be used to build identifiable profile of visitors or users like browsing patterns or using advance techniques like device fingerprinting or machine fingerprinting or browser fingerprinting which is a covert way of tracking user or visitors thereby interfering in user privacy as consents are mostly not taken.
Secondly, EU GDPR has strengthened the previous directive, allowing the right to be forgotten by the personal data owners and requesting the deletion of their data by organizations, including published data on the web. The EU GDPR states that “the controller shall have the obligation to erase personal data without undue delay, especially in relation to personal data which are collected when the data subject was a child, and the data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her without undue delay.”
This is different or i say much more broad or more powers to end Users. Example in Indian IT law it defined that user can recall consent or take back consent for any future dealings but EU GDPR force organisation to maintain a record of what has collected with consent & if user demands organisation has to delete all records taken by them within reasonable Time subject to Exceptions.
Thirdly EU GDPR includes Beyond the EU companies, the EU GDPR covers companies outside of the EU that offer goods or services to EU Data Subjects (“an identified or identifiable person to whom the ‘personal data’ relates”), even if for free, or that monitor the Data Subjects’ behaviour within the EU.
Whereas in contrast out IT Act law clearly wash their hands off from such provisions by stating that this is outside their jurisdiction. So, the organizations that need to be EU GDPR compliant are:
(i) Companies (controllers and processors) established in the EU, regardless of whether or not the processing takes place within the EU.
(ii) Companies (controllers and processors) not established in the EU offering goods or services within the EU or to EU individuals.
Fourthly, each entity evolved in this whole chain of system of collection, processing, transfer, managing, removing, etc. Are very well defined in the EU GDPR.
Fifth, Sensitive Data includes racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation. Interestingly all the Economic data comes under Personal Data. However Recital 10 of Regulation provides a margin of manoeuvrer for Member States to specify its rules, including for the processing of special categories of personal data (‘sensitive data’). But Eu Covers Financial Transaction of Data by other standards like PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), & others. Sensitive information can’t be put anywhere in public domain else it is not considered Sensitive or is an Exceptions defined.
Notably, recently Zuckerberg said that Facebook will voluntarily implement the European Union’s new privacy rules, known as the GDPR, which take effect in May 2018. “We’re going to make all the same controls and settings available everywhere, not just in Europe,” he said.
Clearly EU GDPR is more upto date modern Law for Data Protection & Privacy which better a just itself in modern time, to address all such issues arising out of modern use technology & globalised World.
And conclude here by saying that we in India needs to frame similar or more stringent comprehensive Data Protection Laws & Framework for all our future needs. This also include separate Data Protection Authorities, etc. Hope good sense prevails & as some reports suggest that this law is being drafted by experts and soon draft will appear in public or in parliament.
