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Textile Industry and Policy in India

Ayush Agrawal
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Textile Industry and Policy in India

The textile industry in India is surely a huge part of our economy and it provides employment to a large section of people of the country, making it the second-largest employment generating division after the agricultural sector. India depends heavily on this industry as it contributes 14 percent to industrial production and 4 percent to our GDP. Presently, India is the largest producer of jute globally and is second in silk and cotton production. Apart from these encouraging statistics that tells us that the textile industry is a major contributor to our economic growth, it is important to note that the textile industry of India has its own history and culture. People from the older civilizations like the Harappan civilization or those from the Vedic Age would weave and spin regularly, according to historical data available.

There is also evidence that India used to export textiles to countries like China and Egypt. The modern textile industry was introduced to India in the early 1800s when our first textile mill was established at Fort Gloster near Calcutta. India’s textiles are mostly cotton and the first cotton mill of India was established in Bombay in 1854. Later, the first cotton mill in Ahmedabad grew to become the main competitor of the mill in Bombay. Soon, there were 178 mills in India and soon the textile industry was flourishing. Even today, the industry works by a lot of traditional methods of manufacturing, with it being a highly self-sufficient sector. However, the industry is now being threatened by newer methods of production and automation being introduced. India needs to consider several factors before allowing technology to take over a sector that it poses a major risk to.

With the textile industry gradually adopting automation, it will be a serious loss to the economy, as this will greatly reduce the number of jobs that the industry currently creates, leading to large-scale unemployment in a short span of time. Even though using new technology will increase the efficiency of production, the aspect of loss of people’s jobs needs to be considered before India makes the shift. It has been reported that the spinning, auto-coners and auto-splicers have replaced the job of 20 workers by 2 workers. This is a massive reduction in employment and India is not exactly at a point where we can afford to make such big changes. What we need at the moment is a national textile policy that will protect this precious industry. You may wonder why the textile industry needs to be given this much importance and here are a handful of reasons. The textile industry, as mentioned earlier, is an enormous contributor to employment and it has even been predicted that the employment can be doubled in the next seven years.

The textile industry also preserves our tradition and culture, considering the fact that this heritage has been surviving for centuries in the country. The last policy regarding the textile industry was brought out by the ministry of textiles in 1985. But this was highly criticized for not bringing about the desired results. The Multi Fibre Agreement, which was introduced in 1974, favours the protection of the textile industries in the United States of America and Europe. Though the conditions of MFA were over in 1994, they were still continued by the World Trade Organisation that later ended the agreement in 2005. This led to the loss of several jobs in the USA but for India, ending the MFA was supposed to be excellent. With the quotas of the MFA no longer functioning, India’s profits were expected to increase and our global exports were also to be benefited. Instead, India’s total share of global exports dropped to half of what it was in 1996.

India’s textile industry mainly focuses on cotton (organic cotton, genetically modified cotton, etc) production even though we have other fibres that can be produced with equal importance, like jute, polyester and viscose. Cotton is present in 70 percent of the garments in India as yarn and fabric, with only 30 percent from synthetic fibres. This is indeed unusual, as the global scenario is exactly the opposite, with 70 percent usage of man-made fibres and 30 percent natural fibre. This reflects the global demands of fashion and it also shows that India is giving the world precisely the reverse of what it wants. China had been hoarding cotton yarn in recent times and India used to export raw cotton to China. It can also be noted that bringing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) into effect has surely influenced the taxation system. With GST being brought into the picture, indirect taxation has been introduced into a sector where the cotton production was free from it. The dual GST structure, with 18 percent on upstream and 5 percent on downstream, causes an upturned tax arrangement. This has led to a lot of chaos, shown by strikes in major places for the industry, like Surat and Coimbatore.

An aspect that has been disturbing the economy is that the Chinese textile industry has a surplus capacity, as compared to the Indian fibre and yarn sector. This leads to the reduction of prices of Indian textiles and the danger of excess imports. Nevertheless, due to the increasing earnings of China, the labour-intensive sector is probably being given a rest, which will lead to better opportunities for production in India. But it is an efficient and consistent national textile policy document that can help us grab such prospects, before they are seized by other developing countries that are flourishing in the textile field.

The significance of the textile industry in India cannot be overlooked or dismissed as it is a sector that has an immense employment prospective that provides jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers. As a country, we need to look at issues like the various demands of the trends of the times, the requirement of high-tech machinery and automation, export incentives, tax policies that are fibre-neutral and numerous other factors. But it is certain that with a valuable and resourceful national policy that is appropriately executed and implemented, the textile industry cannot be stopped.

From Shehzada to Jahan Panah of INC, after losing Panipat

Rajat
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From Shehzada to Jahan Panah of INC, after losing Panipat

The much talked coronation of now congress President Rahul Gandhi is a hilarious scenario where you have been promoted to the top job after multiple failures and zero credibility. Every time it was propelled by some  cheerleaders in the media that a brand new and transformed Rahul Gandhi is launched by the R&D department of INC right from tearing up the ordinance before 2014 general elections to the latest Avataar in social media, the acceptance of product in the market was never there and the product has always been a total fiasco.

When genius Mani Shankar Aiyyer said that only a prince sits on the throne after the king and mentioned Aurangzeb and few other tyrants of the Mughal dynasty, he failed to mention or we can say he ignored the very fact that more or less every prince who ruled as a king for a significant time had proved his mettle. Aurangzeb defeated his brothers and Akbar won innumerable battles with battle of Panipat being the very inception. But here, although the prince was thrashed in the battle of Panipat in 2014 and battle after battle thereafter across the length and breadth in this country, the prince has been coronated with no feather on the cap. The timing is also important because the date was chosen before the battle of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh because the results were anticipated.

Before 2014 elections the Shehzada was an angry young man and just before the Gujarat elections he became a Hindu-Brahmin and a Shiva Bhakt, different flavours of a product but outcome always the same. At some point in the future a machine might be invented by a scientist in the world that can transform potatoes into gold but no machine can transform an indolent man to an influential leader.

Gandhi exit strategy- A speculative analysis

bluenine
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Gandhi exit strategy- A speculative analysis

Rahul Gandhi’s “election” to the President of the Congress Party came as a surprise to many. The surprise was not that he became the president of the Congress Party, that was expected, but the timing of the announcement. The announcement was made in the thick of a hard-fought election, in which neither Congress nor Rahul Gandhi tried to hide who was in charge of the election campaign. This was rather surprising because in the past, Congress has not exposed Rahul Gandhi without a safety net. In this election there was none, and if Congress loses these elections, the substantial blame would fall on Rahul Gandhi. Congress did try to divert some attention from Rahul Gandhi after the first phase, in the form of some really retarded comments from some of it’s senior leaders. However, that was pretty much it.

There were a few other interesting developments. Rahul Gandhi’s and Congress’ seeming endorsement of so-called “soft Hindutva”. In the past Congress has resolutely tried to avoid such an endorsement. Rahul Gandhi’s declaration of being a Hindu and offhand endorsement of some “Hindu” “causes” made by some of Congress’ leaders meant that they were again taking a huge risk of alienating the Muslim voters who in the past have generally voted for Congress. This indicated that Congress might have something else to offer it’s offended voters. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to quit politics just before the election results meant that Rahul Gandhi would face the full force of the fallback of the results (if Congress didn’t do so well in these elections, and it didn’t).

The question that should have been asked is why Congress took such huge risks? Generally, the Gandhis have been very risk averse- be it refusing to take any public office, or actively find scapegoats for defeats. It could be as media tells us that this is a new confident, grown-up Rahul finally leading Congress or it could also be an exit strategy for the Gandhis.

When Shehzad Poonawalla resigned from Congress, many people thought of it as a drama to divert attention from a possible election defeat. The usual Congress strategy…  like the Akhilesh-Mulayam fight before the UP elections. Ideally, Poonawalla should have apologized by now, and gone back into the fold. But that has not happened, Poonawalla seems to have been quite vocal in his opposition to Rahul Gandhi and the “dynasty”. He has made it clear that he wants to be the next President of Congress Party and wants to bring major changes to the Congress Party.

If the past few elections (excluding recent Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, as their results were declared after Rahul Gandhi became the president of his party), are any indication, all familiar Congress ploys failed. Congress is largely viewed as a corrupt directionless party. Dynasties survive on loyalty of powerful satraps. It appears that the first level satraps are still very loyal to the dynasty, but they are ineffective elderly folks with no mass appeal.

However, they are very familiar with the system and can still conspire away from the public eye. So, what Congress needs is a mass leader. Rahul Gandhi is not that man, any advertising man could tell you, that selling Rahul Gandhi from his current position is next to impossible. And Congress probably has many such advertising analysts working for them. Rahul, once he quits politics will probably become the most popular man in India, and could exert considerable influence through his network. However, he seems to have failed as a mass leader.

It appears to me that these were the last elections that Rahul Gandhi fought and so exposed himself. Congress lost, and he may graciously offer to resign and probably resign. This would be the biggest news since Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Balidan”. After a few days, a new leader could be chosen and Shehzad Poonawalla fits the bill. He has already shown himself to be an independent headstrong leader, taking on the Congress leadership and in the process making many enemies with Congress and making new friends elsewhere. If Shehzad is “elected” the leader of the Congress Party, Congress’s recent “Hindutva” transgressions will be forgiven and Congress may ultimately embrace some sort of soft Hindutva front. There are many advantages to this approach.

Politically, this will be a huge win for Congress. First, it will generate a sympathy for Congress Party, a real “Balidan” and a big one. Second, Congress gets a fresh face, untainted by past associations. If Congress does elect Shehzad as its next president, the familiar elitist faces associated will disappear and a “brand new” Congress will be born. These familiar patriarchs would still be around but relegated to background, and that would be good, as the only thing that they have been good in the “new” India has been to alienate voters.Third, Shehzad will be an acceptable candidate for all the other parties and so called Third Front parties will flock to Congress and UPA-III will become a very realistic possibility. Fourth, Congress will be able to break free from the election practices of the past, and will most likely adopt an agile Modi-Shah type of election politics. Fifth, Congress will become palatable to many undecided voters and even some BJP supporters. Sixth, lest anyone forget, Poonawalla is a Gandhi loyalist and through him, the Gandhis will want to continue to influence policy and protect their interests. Whether, he becomes the Congress President and a remote control one at that is something that we will need to wait and see.

This scenario is the best of all the options that Congress has – this provides a face saving exit for Gandhis and a Gandhi loyalist in their place. An acceptable political leader who could unite the opposition and unsullied by past sins of the party. The last couple of weeks could very interesting if this happens and BJP will need to adjust rapidly if this happens.

राहुल की शिवभक्ति क्यों है फ़र्ज़ी!

pradeepyadav
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राहुल की शिवभक्ति क्यों है फ़र्ज़ी!

अभी हाल में हुए गुजरात चुनाव में कांग्रेस के रवैये में आये अचानक बदलाव लगभग सभी को चकित कर दिया, राहुल गांधी ने पूरे चुनाव के दौरान लगभग 28 मंदिरों के दर्शन किये उन्हें देखकर यह लग रहा था जैसे उन्होंने गुजरात के एक भी मंदिर को न छोड़ने का मन बना लिया हो।

यही नहीं उन्होंने खुद को व अपने परिवार को शिवभक्त बताया व कांग्रेस ने उनकी जनेऊ के साथ फोटो दिखाकर उन्हें जनेऊधारी साबित करने की कोशिश की, लेकिन आज इस बात का विश्लेषण करना जरूरी है कि क्या राहुल की शिवभक्ति असली है या ये सिर्फ ये ढोंग है।

आज कुछ प्रश्न उठाना चाहूंगा राहुल गांधी की इस शिव भक्ति पर,

१:- आखिर राहुल तब कहाँ थे जब देश व विदेश में हिंदुओं को आतंकवादी साबित करने की कोशिश की जा रही थी?
(बल्कि राहुल ने खुद अमेरिकन राजदूत से कहा था कि भारत को इस्लामिक आतंकवाद से ज्यादा खतरा हिन्दू आतंकवाद से है)

२:- राहुल का हिंदुत्व तब क्यों नही जागा जब मनमोहन सिंह ने कहा था कि देश के संसाधनो पर पहला हक़ मुसलमानों का है

3:- आखिर राहुल की पार्टी ने कभी हिंदुहित में समान नागरिक संहिता को लाने के बारे क्यों नही सोचा

4:- क्या राहुल बता सकते हैं कि वे गुजरात चुनाव से पहले आखरी बार मंदिर कब गए थे

5:- अभी हाल में ही अमरनाथ गुफा में मंत्रों के उच्चारण पर लगाई गई रोक पर राहुल क्यो चुप थे

उपरोक्त प्रश्नों पर मनन करने के बाद समझ में यही आता है कि राहुल की शिवभक्ति सिर्फ चुनावी है इनका हिन्दू व हिंदुत्व से कोई लेना देना नही है अपितु कांग्रेस एक हिन्दू विरोधी पार्टी है।

“कांग्रेस मुक्त भारत” बनाने की तरफ मोदी का एक और कदम

RAJEEV GUPTA
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“कांग्रेस मुक्त भारत” बनाने की तरफ मोदी का एक और कदम

आज से लगभग ९ महीने पहले मार्च २०१७ में मैंने इसी मंच पर एक लेख लिखा था- “दिल्ली ,हिमाचल और गुजरात में भाजपा की जीत लगभग तय“. दिल्ली में उस समय नगर निगम के चुनाव होने थे जिनमे भाजपा को जीत मिली थी. हाल में ही  हुए चुनावों के बाद गुजरात और हिमाचल में भी भाजपा ने अभूतपूर्व जीत दर्ज़ करके देश को कांग्रेस मुक्त बनाने की तरफ दो और कदम आगे बढ़ा दिए हैं.

यहां देखने वाली बात यह है कि भाजपा ने गुजरात में लगातार २२ साल सरकार में रहते हुए लगातार छठवीं बार यह जीत दर्ज़ की है. ऐसा नहीं है कि कांग्रेस और उसके समर्थक मीडिया ने मोदी और भाजपा को हराने के लिए अपने षड्यंत्रों को रचने  में कोई कसर उठा रखी थी. कांग्रेस ने जाति गत आरक्षण से लेकर साम्प्रदायिकता और देशद्रोह के जहर को भी इन चुनावों में बड़ी बेशर्मी के साथ घोलने की नाकाम कोशिश की थी जिसे गुजरात और हिमाचल की जनता ने पूरी तरह से नकार दिया है.

पहले तो कांग्रेस ने विकास के मुद्दे पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने की बजाये विकास को पागल घोषित कर दिया और गुजरातियों को जात-पात के आधार पर बांटने के लिए कुछ ऐसे लोगों से जाति गत आधार पर गठबंधन कर लिया जिन्हे राजनेता की बजाय “ठग” कहना ज्यादा उपयुक्त होगा. इससे भी जब कांग्रेस को जब बात बनती नहीं दिखी तो राहुल गाँधी ने गुजरात में जितने भी हिन्दू देवी देवताओं के मंदिर थे, उन सबके दर्शन करने का ढोंग किया. यह नाटकीयता इस हद तक बढ़ गयी कि उन्होंने एक तरफ तो अपने आप को “जनेऊ धारी हिन्दू” घोषित कर दिया और वहीं दूसरी तरफ सोमनाथ मंदिर में “गैर-हिन्दू” वाले रजिस्टर में भी अपना नाम लिखवा दिया. देश और गुजरात की जनता इस नौटंकी को बहुत ध्यान से देख रही थी.

इस नौटंकी के चलते चलते ही कांग्रेस के नेताओं को लगा कि अभी भी बात कुछ बन नहीं रही है. लिहाज़ा कांग्रेस के शीर्ष नेताओं ने कपिल सिब्बल और मणि शंकर अय्यर के कन्धों पर यह जिम्मेदारी डाल दी कि आगे का काम यह लोग करें. यह दोनों ही नेता अपनी जिम्मेदारी को बखूबी समझते हैं. लिहाज़ा कपिल सिब्बल ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट में राम मंदिर की सुनवाई को २०१९ के बाद किये जाने की मांग रख दी. मणि शंकर अय्यर जी भी कहाँ पीछे रहने वाले थे. उन्होंने अपनी पार्टी के “मन की बात” जनता के सामने रखते हुए पी एम् मोदी को “नीच आदमी” की पदवी से नवाज़ दिया. वे यहीं नहीं रुके, उन्होंने अपने घर पर एक डिनर मीटिंग रखी जिसमे पूर्व प्रधान मंत्री मनमोहन सिंह, पूर्व उप राष्ट्रपति हामिद अंसारी और पकिस्तान के कुछ नेता और पूर्व राजनयिक शामिल थे. इस मीटिंग पर शायद किसी को भी कोई ऐतराज़ नहीं होता. लेकिन कांग्रेस पार्टी ने जिस तरह से इस मीटिंग को छुपाने का काम किया और बड़ी मुश्किल से यह कबूल किया कि हाँ यह मीटिंग हुयी थी, उसके चलते जनता ने इस पार्टी का रहा सहा बैंड भी बजा दिया और नतीजा सबके सामने है.

अगर देखा जाए तो भाजपा जहां एक तरफ प्रदेश में पिछले २२ साल के अपने काम और विकास के मुद्दे पर फोकस करना चाह रही थी, कांग्रेस लगातार इन मुद्दों से हटकर अन्य मुद्दों की तरफ भटक रही थी. अगर भाजपा ने पिछले २२ सालों में काम या विकास नहीं किया था, तो कांग्रेस को यह चाहिए था कि वह भाजपा को उस मुद्दे पर घेरे. लेकिन अगर कांग्रेस ने भाजपा को घेरा भी तो  जी एस टी और नोट बंदी जैसे मुद्दों पर घेरा. इन मुद्दों पर पी एम् मोदी देश वासियों को पहले ही कई बार सफाई दे चुके हैं कि यह दोनों ही फैसले देश हित में लिए गए मुश्किल फैसले हैं जिनसे कुछ लोगों को शुरू शुरू में परेशानी भी हुयी लेकिन जिसे सरकार लगातार सुधारने का काम भी करती रही है. मोदी जी ने तो यहां तक बयान दिया है कि अगर देश हित में लिए गए मुश्किल फैसलों की वजह से अगर उन्हें सत्ता भी छोड़नी पड़े तो उन्हें उसमे कोई परहेज़ नहीं है और वह देश हित में इस तरह के फैसले आगे भी लेते रहेंगे.

कांग्रेस और उसके सहयोगी जिस तरह से अपनी संभावित हार से डर कर EVM के ख़राब होने की बात कर रहे थे, उस मूर्खतापूर्ण दलील के चलते जनता के मन में यह सवाल भी घूम रहा था कि इस तरह की मूर्खतापूर्ण मानसिकता वाले लोगों के हाथ गुजरात की सत्ता कैसे सौंपी जा सकती है. आज की तारीख में अगर कोई भी नेता EVM ख़राब होने की बात करता है तो उसे “मूर्खता” के अलावा और कुछ नहीं कहा जाएगा क्योंकि इन्ही EVM मशीनों से कई गैर-भाजपाई सरकारें भी चुनी जा चुकी हैं जिन पर किसी ने सवाल नहीं उठाया है. उलटे चुनाव आयोग ने सभी नेताओं और पार्टियों को ओपन चेलेंज देकर EVM में किसी भी तरह की गड़बड़ी साबित करने का मौका दिया था लेकिन उस समय कोई भी नेता या पार्टी अपने इस मूर्खतापूर्ण आरोप को साबित नहीं कर पाए थे.

आज देश के १९ राज्यों में भाजपा की सरकारें हैं और कांग्रेस और उसके सहयोगी जिस तरह की नकारात्मक राजनीति जारी रखें हुए हैं. उसे देखकर सिर्फ यही कहा जा सकता है कि देश को कांग्रेस मुक्त बनाने की दिशा में भाजपा ने एक नहीं, दो और कदम आगे बढ़ा दिए है.

अपने पिछले सभी लेखों में मैं यह कई बार लिख चुका हूँ कि कांग्रेस और उसके सहयोगी जब तक देशद्रोह, साम्प्रदायिकता, जात-पात और नकारात्मकता की अपनी नीतियों का त्याग नहीं करेंगे, भाजपा का विजय रथ इसी तरह से निर्बाध रूप से चलता रहेगा और मोदी जी का “कांग्रेस मुक्त भारत” का सपना जल्द ही पूरा हो जाएगा. अगर कांग्रेस या किसी और गैर भाजपाई राजनीतिक दल को आज के बाद कोई चुनाव जीतना है तो उन्हें सबसे पहले अपने पिछले ६० साल के कुशासन, भ्रष्टाचार, देशद्रोह और साम्प्रदायिकता के लिए देश की जनता से माफी मांगनी चाहिए. जब तक ऐसा नहीं होगा, भाजपा का विजय रथ इसी तरह आगे बढ़ता रहेगा.

The changes that Narendra Modi brought after becoming the Prime Minister

sanjeev
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The changes that Narendra Modi brought after becoming the Prime Minister

The topic is big and interesting in its own, but I am trying to share my view about.

We in India after 2014 have seen a major political change, Narendra Modi became a PM, people voted him for a hope and gave him full majority. People had got tired hearing daily scams. India saw more than 10 Million crore of scams in 10 years.

In 2014 India got a PM who listens his people, talks to them and share his thoughts with them on various digital platforms, which was very much required to create a positive aura in the country. If common people can get in touch with PM and gets a reply from him, or solution as expected; people would want such PM to rule the country, forever. PM should have connect to the people which Modi has filled the gap. India requires more and more improvement on every aspect. So yes, hopes are higher.

He is working tirelessly to fulfill people’s hopes as much as he can (without any personal leave). He took some decisions which were too much required and was getting delayed from years and years. #OROP (one Rank 1 pension) is one such example. His cabinet approved #OROP as soon as they can, as was a demand from our armed forces as there was difference in pension who got retired earlier on same rank. They were getting less so veterans have demanded to implement #OROP. It was pending from years which he approved with a priority. My father was also an army personnel who got his pension with arrier. Such decision making power was required which he has.

He has a lot of critics from opposition and media but he doesn’t justify or give reply to anyone. He is busy with work, taking decisions for Public.

#Demonetisation was his second major decision to block the way of black money and to give a shock to scamsters. common people have faced issues but they are with PM, because they know for what he has taken this decision. As a common man I also have faced issues standing in line but our problem is nothing. This Decision was required for our economy and system.

“During the days of Demonetisation 8 Nov 2016, My father was admitted in Hospital (AIIMS) and was suffering from esophagus carcinoma. We also faced issues because cash was the main transaction method. Friends and society helped and it was solved easily.”

Many villages faced more problems because of few issues in implementation and corrupt mindset of a few bank officials. But people kept faith and it was all done. After that, banks got surplus money and homeloan interest got cheaper and subsidy is announced. Talking about schemes launched by the Modi govt., list is long. But below are a few.

  • Make in India
  • OROP
  • Pradhan mantri Krishi Sinchai and Fasal Bima Yojna
  • DDU Gram Jyoti Yojna
  • APY
  • NPS
  • Pradhanmantri Man Ki Baat
  • Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
  • Income Declaration scheme
  • Skill Development scheme
  • PM Ujjwala scheme
  • Digital India Scheme
  • Sankalp Se Siddhi
  • PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna+ Suraksha Bima scheme
  • PM Mudra scheme
  • PM Jandhan scheme
  • PAHAL

List is long.

Most important thing is the implementation and monitoring of these schemes. That has got changed. Now, politics has changed and opposition parties are trying to attack, defame and demean incumbent government’s schemes. For this, they are going on personal level. That has got changed.

Before him no other PM had this type of people connect. If any PM earlier had, that was AB Bajpayee. But he couldn’t be as efficient as Narendra Modi since that era was not digital. We have seen two PM in Digital Era, and Modi has a good connect with people. Its well known he is taking decision for people not for the political mileage.

Now the major change is mindset of people. They have faith to be developed. He is creating a positive aura and making India proud again on every aspect.

These are the few changes we feel after 2014 in India.

Please have look on my blog for more.
Twitter- @Sanjeev_om

53,000 people lose pension for not being able to get Aadhaar

abhinav
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53,000 people lose pension for not being able to get Aadhaar

Uttarakhand, 5,424 people have not got a single rupee since October 2016.

30-year-old, Raj Kumar, born with 60% disability that has rendered his limbs immobile. He can’t speak or move. His mother has to feed him. Rajawala village is 20kms. from Dehradun city.

“We were entirely dependent on the monthly disability pension of Rs 1,000 that my son was getting from the government. He’s not getting it now from last year October as he does not have an Aadhaar card. We tried to get it done several times but it could not be done as the machine could not take his fingerprints and iris scan”, says Neroo Devi the 62-year-old mother of Raj Kumar.

She further showed the copy of a letter from the social welfare department which mentioned Kumar and his pension had been stopped since his Aadhaar number had not been submitted. She further added that it’s very difficult to take her son time and again to an Aadhar centre in this position.

Further to mention that pensions of over 53,000 disabled, elderly and widows in Uttrakhand had been stopped since October 2016 as they had not submitted Aadhaar details. Out of 59,081 people who draw the disability pension in Uttarakhand, 5,424 have not got it since October 2016.

Officials said they were helpless and couldn’t do anything though a proposal was circulated to visit severely disabled and old people at their home to collect their biometrics, officials are yet to receive the machines for the exercise from the government.

Demonetization: A bone or a bane?

siddcool0108
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Demonetization: A bone or a bane?

8th of November will always be remembered as a historic day when a sudden shock is given to the nation by our prime minister of India by announcing the ban on Rs.500 and Rs.1000 note. The objective of demonetization was to curb the black money circulating in the economic system. Around 86% of the total currency circulating in the economy comprises 500 and 1000 rupees note.

There were many other objective linked to that bold move such as strike on terror funding, fake currency that is circulating in our economy. The black money is mainly found in gold, properties and bonds but no one can deny it that the circulation of black money simply starts from illegal cash transaction. However, According to the RBI reports 99% of the black money returns to the banks. So the question arises where has the black money gone? Has the government failed to remove the black money from the system?

Saying the move was fail is not good. As the black money which was earlier not known to us has now came to mainstream economy. Digital transaction has shown a sudden jump after demonetization. Tax and revenue collection has also gone up to a far extent after demonetization. But to increase the digital transaction and tax collection, was demonetization really required?

saying completely yes is just like the move was like “Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”. it can be one of the objectives of the move but not absolute. However,there is also a drop in stone pelting in Kashmir as per the intelligence agency reports.

The move is successful in various aspect but saying it was complete successful is not true. But the move was bold and no one can deny from that as it shows the government intention to strike on the corruption and black money.

Adopting a new political criterion

vinaypujari
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Adopting a new political criterion

Lot of us crib about the performance of the our elected political representatives, but do we actually ponder the core issues? How many of us are aware about the processes which make a party worker our political representative? How many of us ask this question- why I am not eligible for a political process to get nominated as a party candidate and contest an election? How many of us even dare to build a political party?

Answer to all the above questions is- Very few, even less than .00001 % of our total population. Isn’t this a disappointing fact? Now let’s discuss about few of these .00001 % people who built, executed and monitored these political processes.

Lets discuss on political parties apart from BJP and Congress. Most of the founders of these political parties have very modest background. Starting with SP’s Mulayam Singh Yadav who was a teacher, BSP’s Mayawati again a teacher and IAS aspirant, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee was from lower middle class, Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray was a cartoonist, AIADMK’s Jayalalitha was an actress, JDU’s Nitish Kumar was an employee of Bihar Electricity Board and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal was an IRS officer.

Now the question arises that with such leadership arising within us, why don’t we have results which resonates the aspirations of the common people? I will outline three main reasons for this gap:

  • One Man/ Woman Party
  • Selection of a Party Candidate
  • Disinterest among the qualified young generation

Most of the political parties which emerged out of a great cause and hard work either forgot their respective causes, or got converted into political parties which just wanted to win elections at any cost. There was nothing wrong in winning any election, but targeting to win the elections within short span of time was a problem. This haste for winning elections by the new parties led to acceptance of party workers who didn’t even share the same vision with the party. Election winning capability became the only criteria and already tried templates of political scenarios were copied. As a result, these political parties remain confined to a single person/family image, who were founders, without building any true political leaders.

In short these political parties didn’t bring anything innovative to the existing political platter!

To make the scenario even worse, educated young generation considered too risky to challenge the status quo and even became more disinterested due to uncertainty attached to the political system.

To come out of this vicious circle, responsibility lies with the political parties, specially national political parties to develop new election processes where there is some significant weightage to educational qualification. New election processes needs to be setup urgently where education is part of criteria for candidate selection to contest state assembly elections or general elections.

Once we have this new criterion for candidate selection which is driven by political parties, we will have better representatives who will represent our voices in the sacred house of the democracy. This single criterion will definitely attract more educated youths to be part of policy making by getting elected.

Other criteria like sycophancy will hold less ground then!

It was ‘KHAMP’ vs. Gujarati in Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017

vinaypujari
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0
It was ‘KHAMP’ vs. Gujarati in Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017

Gujarat assembly election 2017 results were decided by around 4 crores and 33 lakhs electors. But these electors were not just voters, they are more than that! They were Patels, Kshatriyas (OBCs), Harijans, Upper castes, Muslims and many more.

Other than caste, electors are also segmented in other metrics like their financial status, geographic location (city, town and village), age, gender and occupation. The simplest way is segmenting them as per their respective caste, because historical voting patterns suggest the same.

Also, it is easier to consolidate electors as per their caste in our country due to the reasons like same caste electors have very similar behavioral and emotional characteristics which play a major role in their consolidation.

As a result, almost all the political parties give more weightage to caste consolidation during candidate selection. The aspiring party candidate who belongs to an assembly constituency where his caste has majority of electors, will definitely be preferred as a party candidate.

Gujarat assembly election 2017 was also impacted and overwhelmed with this phenomenon. Congress tried very hard to return to power in Gujarat after two decades and they used their tried and tested strategy of ‘KHAM’ with an additional ‘P’, which was ‘KHAMP’.

In ‘KHAMP’ which was a rainbow caste consolidation, K stands for Kshatriyas (OBCs), HA- Harijans (SCs), M- Muslims and P for Patels (Patidars). KHAM with P was by far the best consolidation a political party could have aspired in the state like Gujarat, where KHAMP combined population of around 65 to 70 %.

Had the Congress been successful in pursuing 70% of KHAMP electors to vote for their candidates, Congress could’ve easily got 48-50% of total votes which would have been decisive to form the majority in Gujarat Assembly. KHAM was the election winning caste consolidation and made Congress to form the government during 1980s. But every caste consolidation has its repercussions. KHAM made Patels to completely abandon Congress in 1980s and resulted in Patels inclination towards BJP. This led to the split of KHAM as well due to the influence of Patels, as it is said in Gujarat that each Patel has 3 votes, 1 his own and 2 non Patel votes of his influence. This assembly election KHAM plus P, with Patels (Patidars) comprising around 12% of Gujarat population, could have really be the best bet for the Congress. To pursue this strategy Congress relied heavily upon three community leaders- Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani to construct this rainbow caste consolidation.

But it became evident on the 18th December, the election result day, that Gujarat has always been more than the ‘KHAMP’, and it is the feeling of proud ‘Gujarati’ community who has shown to this country the way of doing business and the path to the development. This feeling of Gujarati has been realized and enhanced mostly during the government of Mr Narendra Modi.

The recent results prove that Mr. Narendra Modi is still by far the tallest leader in our Country and instills the felling of a proud Gujarati among electors of Gujarat. There is no doubt that Gujarat has excelled in comparison to other states in terms of overall social and economic development, but the fear was there that the anti-incumbency of two decades could dilute all the development work.

The fact that more than 50% of Gujarat electors are less than 40 years of age played a major role in the dilution of ‘KHAMP’ caste consolidation, provided this set of young electors cast their vote with substantial voting percentage. The young electors play a crucial role specially in rural constituencies (considering Gujarat has 98 rural assembly constituencies out of total 182) to dilute the ‘KHAMP’ caste consolidation and cast their vote as united ‘Gujarati’ for the development of their state, and BJP formed the majority one more time in Gujarat assembly.

But this seems to have happened only with two pronged strategy from BJP: Firstly to convince the young voters to vote for the development of their state without being influenced by their caste, and secondly to retain their trust in BJP that only this party can bring further economic development in the state.

Only December 18, 2017 has made it clear to the entire nation that Mr Narendra Modi pursued the electors one more time to vote as a proud ‘Gujarati’ instead of getting split into their respective castes and voted as ‘KHAMP’.

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