Saturday, October 26, 2024
Home Blog Page 802

Govt of India is to come up with a reality show to promote entrepreneurship

Nimisha Gupta
-
0
Govt of India is to come up with a reality show to promote entrepreneurship

Shark Tank: A Tank Full of Sharks?

Shark Tank is a trending TV show from the US. It initiated back in 2009 and now has successfully reached its 8th season. It had derived inspiration from a Japanese show Dragon’s Den, which started back in 2001.

This Danger Tank or Den, dwells with the idea to provide a transparent platform to young entrepreneurs to propagate their visionary ideas in front of venture capitalists. These Sharks or Dragons in disguise have the explicit power to decide the fate of funding for such applicants.

Sharks in Disguise Intrigued Indian Government

The Government’s Start-up India is practically going a long way, by leaving no stone unturned. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has laid the foundation for the introduction for an Indianised adaptation of Shark Tank reality show for Indian entrepreneurs.

Some key highlights of this Indian version of Shark Tank are:

In-Principle Approvals
The proposal is now waiting for the in-principle approval from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It will be entirely government oriented. A panel to overlook the entire functioning includes representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, NITI Aayog, HRD Ministry, Department of Biotechnology, Yes Bank and Axis Bank.

The Show’s Structure
There will be three rounds of vigor grilling by the sharks before they offer funding in lieu of an equity stake. Firstly, around 2000 applications will be shortlisted from all over India received from both online or offline modes. Out of which a handful will be selected as regional winners.

Lastly, the lucky few will get a golden opportunity to pitch their exclusive business plans to lure the attention of the mighty fund stockists.

Reach Out
The reality show will be aired on the government channel Doordarshan, a private entertainment channel, radio channels and various digital platforms. The operations and the initial management of finalizing the latent talent and the sharks in disguise panelist of venture capital will be vested with partners like FICCI, TIE, ISBA, NASSCOM, CII etc.

Crack the tank: The right way

Funding is just like fuel, which is essential yet not a milestone. You have to be very vigilant while navigating through the danger tank to persuade the sharks.

On this reality show, you will have an encounter with your biggest click, you ever dreamt of. You will get a chance to meet the panelist who can act as a facilitator or call it a game changer.

Follow the Cheats:

Don’t Fret: There’s Always A First Time!
You will be finally meeting your dream investors for the first time who might change your world forever. Don’t fret, be calm and confident. It is immaterial if u are a B-school graduate or an undergraduate. What validates your standing in the arena is an authentic crazy idea. The onus to convince them that you, your idea, your intuition are worth investing, lies on your shoulders.

Avoid Last Minute Screw-ups!
On such an important day, you would never want your nightmare to haunt you. Be well equipped to dodge such situations. It is okay to carry dual laptops, hard disks, backups of your presentation in any manner. If something goes wrong or the infrastructure available is not compatible, you can still save yourself. Long story short, what matters is to deliver your pitch, even in the worst scenarios.

Keep It Short, Crisp and Precise!
The idea of this platform is to express your ideas and not to teach a concept. Make sure you follow a simple math of 90 seconds per slide. With ten of them, you can easily put across your pitch in precisely 15 minutes. Not just slides, you can be innovative. Try new experiments, but don’t lose the essence of the basic math of touching the hearts more with less.

Don’t Treat Investors To Be Dumb
You need not Fabricate or use fancy tactics, rather keeping the profile simple and to point works wonders. Communication is an art, don’t waste it in arguments. Mostly you are expected to outline the very basics, including You, Your product, Past-present–future profits and vision. Don’t you try to play any head games or portray to be a liar. In case you don’t know certain facts, you have to be blunt and promise them to get back at the earliest.

Just Don’t Lose Hope!
Try to follow up with the interested investors, in case of any ambiguity. Don’t bug them to the core. It’s okay if you couldn’t make it, in your first attempt. Success takes time. Don’t abandon your dream for that matter. You would one-day cross paths with the like-minded investors who would see the real potential, which kept you so strong headed all this while.

How Indian politics has ruined the country for the last seven decades

devon
-
0
How Indian politics has ruined the country for the last seven decades

A country marred by confusion between who’s who and what’s where, an idea of political think tank that could lead the country into some constructive direction is a far cry, and in the recent years, it has become a luxury that cannot be afforded by nation impoverished of statesmanship sentiments.

India stands on a difficult juncture where she must match her aspirations of pursuing her goals of prosperity and achieving an uphill task of instilling a feeling of harmony among her inhabitants, currently standing directly on the fault lines drawn on the basis of region, religion, language, caste, sects, etc.

Believe it or not, the blame for the shortcomings can directly be attributed to current prevalent political activism, inherited and being perpetuated since last 7 decades. We have to win over the conditions, is a common rhetoric promulgated by the politicians all across the country.

But, their rhetoric has seldom been focused on a narrative that could mean promoting national interests. A common hinge they have resorted to is secularism, but is secularism really a narrative that needs to be taught in a pluralistic society?

Comparing even with the failed neighboring state, Indian political set-up is a minnow when it comes to forming a credible policy to counter the problems this country is facing now in form of foreign threats.

In most of the last 7 decades, India has always lived on the fringe and Indians just by chance. It is just because of the politicians who did not have any know-how as to how to form a policy to run the government since the reins of the political parties has remained in the hands of those who know how to form coalitions to form the government and enjoy the privileges.

When it comes to fighting elections on a narrative of bringing around a change in the condition in the country, and swearing against certain class of parties; calling them names; and labeling them corrupt on certain grounds, and later forming government with the same parties in name of saving the tenets of democracy from crashing down.

They, in the name of democracy, are saved, but the dreams of common Indians, lost in the humdrum of daily consumptions, come crashing down. Slowly and soundly we have become a nation of losers. Giving in to dubious people, in name of political set-up, on certain non-essential sops and fascinating, only dreamt about, but non-existent intangible benefits.

The jargon commonly used for misleading now so otherwise simpleton Indians is the tenets of what we term as a modern definition of plurality and co-existence. Surprisingly enough, a majority of Indians are gullible enough to accept those, only for winning election slogans, as essential and tend to forget the real critical issues that should have been on a top priority for us.

Looking around in the neighborhood, Indians have become used to eyeing failure and losing out to rivals even after staring well. CPEC in Pakistan is a good example of this lost ground, where India let the opportunity slip out of its hand. Pakistan is using Indian territory – disputed internationally too – for its own purpose. Indians could have scored a diplomatic victory over their arch rivals, but the former government let the opportunity slip out of its hands deliberately.

Today, we are all well aware that this project is running and in fact kicking well, and it has attracted a lot of attention internationally, with even the staunch allies of India, like Russia expressing their willingness to participate in this initiative, Pakistan has scored not only a winner, but also ensured that if Indian forces attack this territory they would be drawing a flak from international community, especially powerful military rebuttal from the Chinese.

Would now India dare to make a move? No, we lack think tank to draw deep conclusions because we have more critical issues on our minds; who would rule for next five years and how much bounty we would get from the pre-poll sops.

Teesta water treaty: How experience with Pakistan can help us

Dr Sudip Kar Purkayastha
-
0
Teesta water treaty: How experience with Pakistan can help us

Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina’s impending visit to India from April 7-10 is significant for a variety of reasons. River water sharing has been an important part of Indo-Bangladesh conversation. According to media it would retain its primacy this time too and include both Teesta and Ganges. Emanating from Teesta-Kangse glacier in the Sikkim Himalaya the mighty Teesta traverses through Sikkim, West Bengal, and Bangladesh where it joins Jamuna (name of Brahmaputra in Bangladesh). Any decision on Teesta water has to contend with strong counter-veiling demand of West Bengal. Discerning political observers are keeping watch over New Delhi, Dhaka as well as Kolkata to see how this issue is resolved.

India began to build a multipurpose barrage on Teesta in Gajoldoba, in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal in 1975-76 to cater to people of six northern districts of West Bengal pursuing agriculture. Bangladesh started another barrage on the downstream at Duani-Dalia, Lalmonirhat district in 1979. This barrage caters to the irrigation needs of seven districts in greater Rangpur, Dinajpur and Bogra region. However Bangladeshi project, being on the downstream, faces twin difficulties viz., reduced water flow and supply fluctuation.

Bangladesh wants a treaty that guarantees higher share of water and removal of fluctuation. West Bengal is against releasing more water till adequate provisions are made for storage so that adequate irrigation water remains available to its own farmers.

Two countries have been talking about Teesta for the past four decades without tangible results. It is widely believed then PM Manmohan Singh had carried a satisfactory offer for Bangladesh during his visit to Dhaka in 2011. But West Bengal had put its foot down. Manmohan returned to New Delhi with the closed envelope. Host Bangladesh was irked. Modi visited Dhaka in June 2015, but there was no progress on Teesta.

Water-sharing with India has always been a deeply political issue in Bangladesh. With federal election in that country scheduled in less than two years’ time, politicking about Teesta water has been rising. So far three important projects have come up in India in Farakka (on Ganges), Gajoldoba (on Teesta) and Tipaimukh (on Barak). Each case has been made politically sensitive by the opposition with media, academics and intellectuals also joining the issue.

In India there is near-consensus view that Hasina and her Awami League party are India-friendly. Hasina’s rival Begum Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party on the other hand are perceived to be Pakistan-friendly and amenable to Islamic fundamentalism. A strong thought current therefore suggests that Bangladeshi demand on Teesta water be considered favourably as it would help Hasina get re-elected.

This assumption needs to be examined with open mind. Sheikh Hasina’s government can be credited with putting up a friendly diplomatic face vis-à-vis India but it has been simultaneously imposing socio-political costs. While large scale infiltration from Bangladesh through eastern and north eastern provinces has been encouraging vote bank politics and social disharmony, her government managed to avoid scrutiny on periodical attacks on religious minorities that continue in Bangladesh. In terms of real politics, her government, in June 2015 managed to walk away with 111 border enclaves in exchange of 51.  True, in economic terms, India has a trade surplus but it is modest compared to its total foreign trade. On the whole under her leadership Bangladesh has been benefiting at India’s expense.

On the specific issue of sharing river water too a question may legitimately arise- whether attempt to conciliate political establishment in a neighbouring country by sacrificing one’s own vital interests can guarantee a lasting friendship? India’s experience as an upper riparian vis-à-vis its neighbours strongly contradicts such assumptions.

In 1960 Nehru and Ayub made Indus Water Treaty by which India, as the upper riparian country, agreed to make over four-fifth of the total water of Indus water system to Pakistan retaining only one-fifth for itself. That offer, placed severe constraints in undertaking various water-based developmental projects. The interest of J&K state, which ought to have been a major beneficiary of the Indus water system turned to be the worst victim.

Some historians say it was a magnanimous offer by Nehru to buy peace and friendship with the neighbour. But what India got in return? Three wars in 1965, 1971, and 2001, attack on Parliament in 2001 and endless terrorist attacks in J&K aided and abetted by Pakistan – the sole beneficiary of the Indus Water Treaty.

India’s experience has not been encouraging with Bangladesh either. Experts say India had in the 1970s given the best deal an upper riparian country could, to Bangladesh on the Ganges water. The 1996 treaty between the two countries was also heavily loaded in favour of Bangladesh. But as a matter of fact, till 2009 Bangladesh allowed anti-Indian activities in its soil by giving shelter to a number of leaders of terror organisations operating in Assam and other north eastern states. The thaw in relations in recent years owed, as per political analysts, in no small measure to the common threat perceived by both countries from Islamic fundamentalists sponsored by Pakistan.

Factually, India, despite being generous on water sharing, failed to impress Bangladesh –whether the opposition or the ruling regime! Further no one can be absolutely certain that Hasina would win the election or her government would for ever stay friendly to India when bilateral decision between two countries depends on myriad of factors, which are often in a flux.

What can rather be said with more certainty is that any unreasonably ‘big allocation’ made in this case would set a harmful precedent. With as many as 54 rivers streaming through the geographies of both the countries and India’s plan of country-wide river-linking, this can act counter to India’s long-term interests. Discretion, caution, and far sight should be guiding criteria in the place of extravagant sympathy.

Readers may remember that West Bengal is the third actor to the Teesta issue. The inability of successive governments of the state to resolve several land acquisition disputes has delayed the full implementation of Gajoldoba but that has not deterred them to put road blocks on any accord with Bangladesh citing potential woes of farmers.  Besides, the issue has also got mired in political complexities there. Political analysts see growing shadow of Bangladeshi power struggle in this Indian province caused by infiltration on one hand and the rise of anti-Hasina groups on the other.

Incidents like Khagragarh bombs explosion (2014), detection of JMB hands in several cases of bomb making, opposing a conference on Pakistani atrocities on Baluch people in Kolkata (2017), and recently ultimatum issued by All Bengal Minority Youth Federation to remove the bust of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur from Baker Hostel in Kolkata suggest growing clout of anti-Hasina groups in West Bengal. Though the local media has been keeping silent on these disturbing trends, allegations that the ruling regime has been busy in ‘minority appeasement’ and vote bank politics’ has begun to enter into the discourse of national media and exert pressure on the ruling party.  Whether or not they can come out of it may depend to some extent on how the centre proceeds on Teesta issue.

It is difficult to predict the ramifications of such an important treaty on individual political parties, whether in the centre or the state. It therefore follows that long-term national interest rather than short-term political expediency should guide India on Teesta issue. Strategic perspective should outweigh tactical consideration. Water is a very critical natural asset. According to an IDSA study, a huge demand-supply mismatch with regard to water would render India ‘water stressed’ by 2025 and force it to be a ‘water scarce country’ by 2050. India had a per capita water availability of 5000 m2 in 1951 which has declined to only 1342 m2 in 2000. The fact that population in India would become a staggering 1.4 billion by 2050 hints unprecedented rise on the demand side. It goes without saying that the country has to conserve every drop of water as it can. Just because at present Gajoldoba barrage is not functioning to its intended capacity should not be reason to agree to permanent sacrifice.

Having said the above, there are many areas concerning ‘rivers’ and ‘river- water’ where India can explore cooperation with Bangladesh for mutual benefit in terms of economy and ecology. Both countries face several common problems such as silting, salinity, pollution, erosion of river banks, flood, rickety inland waterways system and so on. The Joint River Commission envisaged in the Treaty of 1972 could have done a lot to build up mutual confidence and work creatively and constructively. But that typical bureaucracy-driven mechanism fell far short of expectations.

The present government can do things differently. India can profitably combine its expertise in the conventional domain of engineering and construction with its achievements in space technology, satellites, information technology to infuse a new life into the entire river network system of both countries. This would prove that the qualitative handling of river water is of equal importance as the quantitative quota.

Help us to help you: A doctor’s plea

juhieye
-
0
Help us to help you: A doctor’s plea

Ever seen a real doctor say “unko dava ki nahi dua ki zarurat hai”? Why do u think it’s like that? Because a real doctor keeps trying.

Imagine such a scenario, it’s even hard to fathom the possible consequences following that. As a doctor working at a govt. establishment, people like me face numerous hurdles. The insane working hours, the lack of infrastructure, the stereotyping, sometimes pressure from seniors, inadequate salary, and mental harassment.

Clearly it wasn’t enough, so the angle of verbal and physical abuse has been added recently, may be because the doctors are (?were) compared to God, so they can withstand any kind of torment that they face. What’s disheartening is the fact that certain people try and justify these incidences ‘the doctor must be at fault’!

When did the society change its perception of doctors to such an extent? The tall claims made for political benefits aren’t helping. Political leaders take pride in declaring that all the facilities and drugs are provided free here (in govt hospitals), when they aren’t even aware of the condition inside and the infrastructure in function. And we become the scapegoats, as a result.

Whatever may be the situation whatever may be the reason, physical assault to a doctor on duty can never be justified. What have we become as a society? Are we goons? Let this madness end. We have taken the Hippocratic oath, we want to help you. Do let us help you. We just expect a bit of patience from the society. The doctor you assault is also someone’s dear one.
-@juhieye

How India can end the beef standoff

fsaberi
-
0
How India can end the beef standoff

My country India has a phenomenal diversity of religious beliefs and food habits among her citizens. And some of these evoke strong passions and emotions leading to ugly standoffs.

One such acrimonious case is that of beef consumption. Sizeable members of the Hindu religion worship the Cow and feel hurt, outrage at it being slaughtered for meat and want to see an end to cow slaughter. On the other hand there are many communities that consume beef (includes buffalo, cow and bull/ox meat). Among these communities are Muslims, Christians and also sizeable sections of the Hindu population itself. Apart from food products for consumption, there is a sizeable population involved whose livelihood is at stake as they work in the business of meat processing, leather industry or industries that use animal byproducts from the beef Industry.

I call this issue a standoff as each party asserts its rights in a way that is mutually exclusive. Mired in politics and swinging like a pendulum between constitutional rights of an individual’s choice of food to constitutional directive principle’s that seeks to strengthen cow protection, today it stands degenerated into a “Might is right” and “free for all” solution. Vigilante violence and state complicity has lead to many headlines and I find the lingering standoff eroding away our national character, sapping away our collective strength which we need to take us forward, biting away our resources that are critical to matters of nation building.

It’s way past overdue that we bury this conflict and find a solution that each stake holder would be happy to take and walk away from the negotiation table.

With that in mind, I have the following proposal:
1: Declare Desi Cow and her progeny (genetic versions unique to Indian sub-continent only) as a protected animal along the lines of the national animal (like Tiger) with similar punishment for harm/ harassment. Tax incentives to private organizations that work towards maintaining, propagating indigenous cows and her progeny.

2: Remove restrictions/ bans that prevent use of non-desi cows/ ox (e.g Holstein Friesian or Jersey cows), buffaloes for meat and leather industry. This industry too can be incentivized to invest in non India cow breeds that are more optimized to meat Industry.

3: Hybrid varieties of cows are still debatable, but we should be open to suggestions on this front and each side should have a large heart to let this go either way (banned or permitted).

For those that are well versed with the intricacies of this conflict know that it is only the Indian (Desi breed varieties) of Cows that Hindu’s revere. It would only be fair that only this variety is offered state protection under appropriate laws and state should also protect, regulate, nurture and promote legitimate businesses related to beef from other animals. Also, if on a first pass, this solution has not rung a bell with the readers on secondary implications; here’s an example of why this solution breaks deadlock on previously uncharted territories.

The current government finds its hands tied behind its back in states that have a strong presence of beef consumers e.g. Goa, Kerala, Bengal and several North Eastern states leading to non uniform laws related to cow slaughter thus aiding further conflict. This solution I hope can be implemented pan India and these states too can be convinced to go along which is a huge plus for those seeking ban on cow slaughter and for the rest of the folks, this would hopefully put an end to the fear, violence and loss of livelihood and food source that accompanies eating or trading in beef across India.

Has Chinese law rejected Trump’s ‘Trump Trademark appeal’?

Nimisha Gupta
-
0
Has Chinese law rejected Trump’s ‘Trump Trademark appeal’?

Thank Heaven! The president’s legendary jingle “YOU’RE FIRED” is no more owned by him exclusively. Had it been granted, Trump would have poker played against the world Fir-ing anything and everything.

Did this rejection make him, any humble?

‘Appealing’ is the new catchword associated with Trump. He has been appealing in Chinese Trademark Court for one more than a decade. He is appealing to the trademark rights to his name ‘TRUMP’.

A decade old matter coming to life now?

It all got hyped when in 2016, Trump applied to trademark his name in Construction Business. However, ended up tasting the dust. Chinese Court rejected his humble appeal on the grounds that another Chinese Businessman had applied for the Trademark name Trump before, in the construction round.

Even China’s Great Firewall could not prevent Trump’s Obsession. A Chinese businessman owns the trademark to the Trump’s name! How did that happen? In China, Trump is applied to everything and anything. Trademark Laws in China are not as transparent as it seems. They are applied with Chinese characteristics. There are ‘n’ number of ill faith trademarks recorded in the books.

iPhone, the first thing which strikes the psyche is Apple. However, unlike the world, for China it is a Leather Bag. A Leather Goods Manufacturer, Intong Tiandi, in 2007 got the name, iPhone trademarked for being used on its leather goods produced. Apple lost its stand on the grounds that, until 2009, the smartphone was not officially sold in China.

In China, there is a First to File System. It propagates that you own a Trademark if you are the first to complete the legal paperwork.

If you ever travel to China from U.S., you will never end up missing your President. There are around 225 Trademarks with the name “TRUMP”, including Trump Toilets, Trump Condoms, Trump Pacemaker and even “Trump International Hotel”.

There are over 40 businesses who have used the Chinese characters in Trump in company registrations. Guess What? All of them owned by other people, and it has nothing to do with the real TRUMP.

It is disheartening for the Trump Organisation. Their business model is to engrave the name ‘Trump’ on things from Building to the magazine to chocolates or vodka. It has a wide scope of coverage to manage a brand image across the globe. They allegedly lodged suits in China to recover all 225 of them.

Trump did Triumph

This February, China gave in easy. Trademark office accepted Trump’s appeal to trademark ‘Trump” for Construction Business in China. Also, 35 Trump trademarks received preliminary approvals. These businesses ranged from Mining to Hotels to Golf Courses to Insurance to Bodyguard to Escort Services. Yes, you heard it right, Escort services!

P.S.: This picture has no actual ties with Donald Trump

In order to prevent someone else from setting up such business with his name, they pre-emptively registered the same. The Chinese government also provided protection to Trump name, in English along with two famous Chinese translations of his name. With such victories, Trump Organisations are on the front foot to battle Trump knockoffs. ‘Controversy’ is another name associated with Trump.

How can this news not qualify for the Controversy check:

Chinese Trademark Courts are mostly controlled by Chinese Communist Parties, so the ruling decision had to come from the higher authorities. Some news channels did fret that the victory was a development of a telephonic conversation between the bureaucrats.

Imagine, the president calling up China and saying we can share a bright future together if you return my name back! Duh!

Donald Trump publically announced to vest his assets into a TRUST and relinquish all ties with his business to his Two Adult Sons, to avoid any further controversies, regarding violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S Constitution. Trump can practically have no influence over it until he vacates his office. Practically it did take a decade in the making!

Even if the China looks at it as a Tit for Tat Treaty. You never know if Trump instead of feeling obligated feels the world has finally learnt to respect his strong leadership. Moreover, the real credit goes to the Trademark Reforms initiating in China. In January, the Supreme People’s Court released regulations to restrict the use of names of public figures from politics or culture.

Time will tell if it was a real Eye to Eye Trade-off or mere Modesty.

केजरीवाल और जेठमलानी पर उठते सवाल

RAJEEV GUPTA
-
0
केजरीवाल और जेठमलानी पर उठते सवाल

देश के नामी वकील राम जेठमलानी केजरीवाल की तरफदारी करते हुए उनका मानहानि का मुकदमा लड़ रहे हैं. यह बात पूरा देश जानता है कि केजरीवाल अपनी घटिया दर्जे की ओछी राजनीति को चमकाने के लिए सभी ईमानदार लोगों को बेईमान बता बताकर उन पर बेबुनियाद आरोप लगाते रहते हैं और जब वह व्यक्ति उन पर मानहानि का दावा ठोंकते हुए अदालत का दरवाज़ा खटखटाता है तो केजरीवाल अपनी जान बचाने के लिए जेठमलानी जैसे वकीलों की शरण में पहुँच जाते हैं.

यहां तक तो बात सही है कि हर व्यक्ति को अदालत में अपना मुकदमा लड़ने के लिए वकील नियुक्त करने का पूरा अधिकार है लेकिन जब अदालत में मुकदमा केजरीवाल पर चल रहा हो और उसके वकील की भारी भरकम फीस का बिल दिल्ली सरकार से भरने के लिए कहा जाए तो सवालों का खड़ा होना लाज़मी है और उन सवालों के जबाब देने की जिम्मेदारी सिर्फ केजरीवाल की ही नहीं, उनके वकील जेठमलानी की भी बनती है.

अब समय आ गया है कि केजरीवाल और जेठमलानी दोनों मिलकर देश की जनता द्वारा पूछे जा रहे इन सवालों का जबाब दें. सवाल इस तरह से हैं:

१. जेटली मानहानि मामले में केजरीवाल का अदालतों में बचाव करने के लिए जेठमलानी ने उन्हें ३.२४ करोड़ रुपये का बिल भेजा है. केजरीवाल ने यह वकील की फीस का बिल भुगतान करने के लिए दिल्ली सरकार को भेज दिया है और मामला अभी दिल्ली के उप राज्यपाल के पास लंबित है. सवाल यह है कि जेटली ने तो तो मानहानि का मामला दिल्ली सरकार पर नहीं, केजरीवाल के खिलाफ दर्ज किया था. फिर उस मुक़दमे को लड़ने के लिए वकील की फीस का भुगतान केजरीवाल को अपनी जेब से करना चाहिए या फिर दिल्ली सरकार को उसका भुगतान दिल्ली की जनता के खून पसीने की कमाई में से कर देना चाहिए?

२. जेठमलानी जी देश के नामी वकील हैं. क्या उन्हें यह बात केजरीवाल को नहीं बतानी चाहिए कि अपने व्यक्तिगत खर्चों का भुगतान दिल्ली सरकार से करवाना सीधा सीधा भ्रष्टाचार है?

३. मामले ने जब मीडिया में तूल पकड़ ली तो जेठमलानी ने केजरीवाल के बचाव में आते हुए यह बयान भी दिया है कि अगर केजरीवाल बिल का भुगतान नहीं कर सके तो वह उनका मुकदमा मुफ्त में लड़ेंगे. किसी भी मुकदमा लड़ने से पहले ही वकील अपने क्लाइंट के साथ फीस की बात साफ़ साफ़ तय कर लेता है. क्या जेठमलानी ने केजरीवाल से फीस की बात पहले से तय नहीं की थी?

४. क्या केजरीवाल ने अपने व्यक्तिगत मुक़दमे की फीस का बिल दिल्ली सरकार को भुगतान करने के लिए जेठमलानी की सलाह पर ही भेजा है?

५. दिल्ली सरकार के खजाने से अपने व्यक्तिगत खर्चों के भुगतान का यह पहला मामला है या फिर इस तरह से दिल्ली के जनता के खून पसीने की कमाई की लूट पहले भी होती रही है और पहली बार यह मामला उप राज्यपाल के संज्ञान में आया है?

केंद्र सरकार को तुरंत इस संगीन मामले का संज्ञान लेते हुए इस सारे घोटाले की उच्च स्तरीय जांच करानी चाहिए ताकि दिल्ली की जनता से टैक्स के रूप में वसूले गए धन के इस तरह से दुरूपयोग की निष्पक्ष जांच हो सके और दोषियों को कड़ा दंड दिया जा सके

How Indian politics is evolving beyond Blame-Game

Umang
-
0
How Indian politics is evolving beyond Blame-Game

All that evolves shall survive and all that survives must evolve. Evolution is mandatory for survival. The dictum holds well not only for organic beings but also for processes, phenomenon, and games. Cricket survives today because it evolved from a 5 days marathon to a 3 hours sprint game. Football too underwent some colorful changes and thus manages to survive as the most popular sport globally. However, the game that I am going to talk about today is neither cricket nor football. In fact, it isn’t a sport either. But it does qualify as a game because it is guided by certain precepts of conventional games. I am talking about the modern Indian political Game of Blame. A game which seems to be guiding politics in our country today!

The trend of blaming others to cover self-inefficiency has existed in almost all societies and is perhaps also the reason why we invented God. The trend made its way into politics as well and has been instrumental in keeping alive the careers of incompetent and inefficient politicians. Ever since the dawn of politics, the politicians & the world leaders have been blaming random factors and opposition leaders in order to keep their scams covered, to evade repercussions of self-inefficiency and most importantly to survive as potent politicians.

The trend is not unique to the Indian political system, everywhere in the world and every political system is bugged by the blame game. However, what is unique in the Indian system is that here the bug has started to evolve into a parasite. Blaming which up till now was a mere trend has now evolved into a full-fledged game and this game poses serious threats to the much needed social & economic development. It isn’t paranoia which claims the stated evolution. My deduction is based on a close observation of the following two incidents.

Post November 8 demonetisation, the Government of India announced its plan to move towards a cashless economy. The opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi, was quick to react and they questioned India’s ability as a state to bear the transition. Questions were also raised over the security of cashless and web based transactions. What happened next not only shook the citizens, as it was new, but it also gave a factual base to the opposition’s claims.

The highly protected twitter account of Rahul Gandhi was allegedly hacked. After the incident, government’s move and push for a digital economy was heavily criticised and questioned. Hacking of a VVIP Twitter account was a first in our country. All the more shocking about the hack were the facts that a. It was timed perfectly and was in sync with the opposition’s opposition of digitisation b. the hacker who dared to hack into the account of a national politician did not cause any major harm to either the politician’s or to his political party’s image & c. The hacker has yet not been caught.

The second incident is the opposition’s claims of tampering with the EVM post declaration of the results of assembly elections of 5 Indian states. The results showed a landslide victory for the party ruling in the centre in 2 out of the 5 states while coming second in two other states. The victory did not go well down the throats of those politicians who were expecting major gains in the elections. The loss was all the more sour for Arvind Kejriwal, A local leader, who has plans to become a national leader.

Initially Arvind Kejriwal attacked the central government for having tampered with the voting machines but his allegations were waived off as baseless by almost all individuals and institutions, except obviously by his own party men and blind followers. But what followed next was no longer new.

Few days after the allegations, there was news that during a routine demonstration of the EVMs it was found that the EVM used for demonstration was actually faulty and was favouring the centrally ruling Bhartiya janta Party. The news gave a base to the soo far baseless allegations of the Aam Aadmi Party and of Arvind kejriwal. The PM was questioned and criticised and demands were made to use ballot papers instead of the EVM. The news of a tampered EVM is first in our country and is actually quite shocking. However, the following facts are all the more shocking. a. the timing of a goofed up demonstration i.e. soon after the opposition’s questions over the efficiency of EVMs – déjà vu. b. the call for ballot papers which are all the more vulnerable to tampering & c. why would an agency or a party which has resources to hack into the highly protected EVMs, not make provisions to cover their act by at least making sure that the tampered EVMs are not used for demonstrations.

What has happened in the last six months is that the allegations have been supplemented by well-aimed and well directed incidents. These incidents have helped the opposition parties to orchestrate their allegations to a whole new level. People who were being mocked for being cynical and sour losers have managed to justify their cynicism and to evade the criticism of a disgraceful loss. The blame game which had for long been limited to making verbal allegations has now grown to involve ‘directed acts’ as well.

I am a supporter of the present government but my support is neither founded on religion nor because I love the saffron color. I support the govt because this is the first government in a decade to have taken development seriously and also because the opposition is led by hopeless and corrupt men. All issues, be it the inefficiency of the nation to shift to digital economy or the possibility of tampering with the Voting machines must be raised but to supplement allegations with directed acts is the lowest a politician can go. These acts are unhealthy tools to fool people and to sway their allegiance. I stand against such gross evolution of the blame game and I intend to expose it.

How Indian steel industry facing a decline and still being optimistic

kapila
-
0
How Indian steel industry facing a decline and still being optimistic

I think every industry in India went through trauma for some time. Except for the automobile industry, name one section which is not under stress. This holds specially true for the steel industry in India- one of the fastest growing industries which has found itself, in a miserable plight. Steel has extended the entire manufacturing sector.

The sluggish growth of the steel industry itself showcases the pathetic condition of the industry. I think the China syndrome is overplayed by most of the steel players, whereas, the major concern in India is the consumption which is not growing.

Preface

The most important product of the modern world is steel. India’s steel industry has a history. Historically, During the industrialization phase a strong steel industry supported the nations.

India holds the fourth position in producing and the third position in consuming steel. However, the problems associated with the steel industry are more complex than in other industries, the reason being its high capital intensity, high dependence on bulk raw material, perpetual over capacity and low profitability. Moreover, it requires government and social interventions for sustainable growth.

After liberalization the structure of industry has changed significantly. Now the government should switch its role as a regulator to a facilitator to remove the bottlenecks and to make the sector more competitive.

Segmentation of the Indian steel industry

From domestic appliances, electrical equipment to consumer products, steel finds a wide variety of applications.

Competitive Landscape

Even having big steel producers in the global steel industry, Indian steel industry considered as the most potential global steel hub. The Indian steel market is set by the existence of giants such as SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Essar Steel.

Growth Over the Year

Before liberalization, the Indian steel industry was integrated with the public sector only. Now, Tata Steel and SAIL are the only big players in the Indian steel market. Liberalization in Indian economy opened up the way for many in the steel industry, as a result an increase in production capacity was witnessed.

The Indian steel industry has seen tremendous but steady growth. During the period, since 2008 and running into 2014, Indian steel market grew unwaveringly while the global steel market faced depression due to excess capacity in crude steel making. The world witnessed a volatility in steel prices. This left a keen effect on the steel industry globally.

But in the past two years, the steady growth of Indian steel demand and production has lost the pace. The last two years have been awful for the Indian steel industry.

Indian industry can not affored to be isolated with what is going on in the world. The global economic crises has pushed the steel industry into recession and, trade in steel has declined significantly.

Government Initiatives

The Indian steel industry is currently passing through a declining phase. Even the government is admitting that the Indian steel industry is going through a severe downturn. Globally, low demand and over capacity result in dumping and adopting predatory prices. This is evident from the fact that the major steel producing countries like China, Japan and Korea are dumping their products at lower than their cost of production. Consequently, domestic produces reduce their prices and crumble their profit margin. Trouble for the domestic producers and losses which occured, forced the government to take some necessary steps to bail out the domestic players.

Government initiatives in steel industry sector are:

  • Imposing anti-dumping duty.
  • Safeguard duty on imported steel products.
  • Policy on MIP (Minimum Import Price).
  • ‘MSTC Metal Mandi’ an e-platform launched under the ‘Digital India’ initiative where finished and semi-finished steel products are selling.
  • To make the domestic industry more competitive, CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) announces zero export duty on iron ore.
  • Steel research and technology facility provided by the Ministry of Steel.

In spite of these initiatives by the government, the Indian steel industry is yet to come out of the woods due to weak demand and cheap imports.

Steel Industry Future Forecast

There are many studies which point towards an increased demand. We can say that the scenarios are on the optimistic side for the future of the steel industry even after examining the assumptions.

The steel industry plays a decisive role in infrastructure development.  The more the increase in the number of infrastructure projects, the more demand for steel and steel products. So, there is extensive sphere for growth in steel industry as a rise in consumption is foreseen due to increased infrastructure construction.

Domestic availability of cheap labour and iron ore, are the primary factors for the development of Indian steel industry. During the forecast period, till 2020, the bloom extrimity of iron ore will demand the steel manufacturing.

All in all, it’s not the end of the steel industry, just a hard time which will pass away soon with the joint efforts of government and domestic producers. I hope India’s expectation of moving up from third place to the second largest producer of crude steel may indeed come true in the coming decade.

Locke’s Legacy: Neo-Liberalism versus Pop-Liberalism

Siddhartha Kar
-
0
Locke’s Legacy: Neo-Liberalism versus Pop-Liberalism

The other day, I came across the following on Twitter. I do not recall the exact tweet but, it said something to the following effect:

“Liberals are more conservative in their Liberalism than Conservatives in their Conservatism!”

One of the pressing realities of our times is the steady change in geopolitics. It is growing into a global phenomena. The phenomenon appeared on the global stage with PM Modi’s ascension to Indian premiership back in 2014. It was followed by Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2015 and then very recently, the realization dawned with President Trump’s electoral success in the US. These developments were followed by the keenly watched Dutch elections in which the left wing Labour Party was brutally uprooted dropping from 38 to 9 seats. La Pen in France is already in global headlines irrespective of whether she does do a ‘Trump’ in France and Merkel has precariously dipping approvals in Germany.

On the Eastern Frontiers of our world, China is displaying increasing militancy in respecting legitimacy of nations in the East and South China seas and unapologetically advancing her civilizational worldview which extends way past 1949, the birth year of Mao’s China. Japanese, with a progressive realization of the American paralysis to influence affairs in its neighbourhood, is desperately trying to shrug off its American shackles and has been increasingly trying to secure self-reliance on defense.

In the middle of all of this, the one factor that has exploded inorganically to dominate the global political scenario has been the Arab World. The conservative Arab Islamic approach had already manifested in minority suppression and propagation of extreme religious narratives. However, of late the rise of ISIS and consequential catastrophic annihilation of every other religious denomination in the middle east – Yazidis, Christians, Shias, Kurds and all others alike has triggered dangerous global currents. The brutal Sudanese Arab genocide of the non-Arabs in Darfur is yet another instance of the same.

The myopic Western interference in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan towards very selfish ends, especially under Bush Jr and Obama, has devastated the global equilibrium. With the irreversible demographic alterations their actions have triggered (coupled with European depopulation), the world will never be the same again. The consequences are likely to follow and it appears is only to be a matter of time.

Net net – the challenges of the new world order is progressively leading to an assertion of national and civilizational identities globally. This has not necessarily implied inter-civilizational hostilities across the spectrum but, has definitely triggered a rise in ‘Civilizational Self-Respect and Assertion’.

Like it or not – Huntington’s Civilizational World Model has indeed proven itself to be the closest in its formulation of the global political map. Huntington’s thesis was that the world will increasingly be divided into civilization-centric blocks, each block led by a lead-country. The primary civilizational blocks with the potential to influence the course of the human species as a whole are the Western, Islamic and the Sinic (Chinese). There are of course others – but, the likelihood of their having significant global impacts is meager. Though India by the standards of all these three actors is a minor player, nevertheless, the relatively small Hindu population in the global context also did make an assertion of their survival and continuity.

In this uncannily accurate world view, the one additional factor that has surfaced over the last couple of decades has been the split of the Liberal thought stream. This fork has become more tangible recently and the ostentatious torch bearers of liberalism have increasingly come under scrutiny.

Modern day Liberalism is a noble and courageous pursuit. Yes, it was a pursuit– difficult to earn and uphold. But with time, conventional liberalism has grown crass, and hypocritical. It has operated at low risk margins and hence shied away from standing up for real but, ugly challenges. This was evident when on the International Women’s Day in 1979, a million Iranian women poured into streets in Tehran to protest the imposition of Hijab and extreme Islamic Laws but, feminists and liberals worldwide chose to conveniently look the other way – because it was difficult to stand in solidarity with the victims.

This was again evident when minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Arab world were cleansed but, liberals chose to stand with the Rohingya Muslims and not Pakistani Ahmediyas, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians; they stood with Palestinian Muslims and not Yemeni or Saudi Jews; Linda Sarsour but, not Tarek Fatah; and MF Hussain not Taslima Nasreen. While Trump is subjected to abusive scrutiny, liberals permitted Obama to take off scot free after having caused one of the worst ever humanitarian crises of our times. And so on and on .. and on.

For those amongst the liberals and even the left, who were more discerning and courageous, this phenomenon was hard to miss. The specifics of these scenarios varied in their respective local contexts– undoubtedly– but, liberalism as is practiced today had been extrapolated to such absurdities, that a number of such people were pushed over to the Right side of discourse. People known to have been influenced by the left, including Marx initially, were left utterly disillusioned with the absurd liberal suicidal mentality. And thus, arose the new brand of liberals – that may be called the Neo Liberals.

While the Neo-Liberals moved ahead with issues that the ‘other’-liberals feared taking a stand on or even discuss in the open, since they feared being labelled fundamentalists, racists, rightists, fascists and so on. The fact of the matter however, has been that this group of people were liberals in the true Locke sense and exhibited courage to take unpopular positions.

The more traditional liberals on the other hand, continued with tokenisms and took intellectual stands that were convenient. The choice of the ‘convenient liberal approach’ is almost always accompanied by anti-tolerant majority sentiment. Stronger the sentiment, the more liberal you tend to sound. This tendency is essentially an extension of an inherent trait of any reformation movement– that of self-criticism. But, this stream of liberalism fails to realize that self-rebuke is not the only measure of reformation– and that the world today has much larger challenges to resolve. In any case, this branch of liberals has gone on to display their embracing of the convenient and popular (yet) liberalism. These could be aptly called pop-liberalism.

These pop-liberals continue to dominate the mainsteam discourse today, India and elsewhere. In India they are manifested in many media channels, intellectuals, artists, and even well meaning ordinary citizens who are still knowledge-and-view handicapped – their outlook having been largely shaped by the MSM, unbeknownst to even themselves.

This tussle between the pop and neo-liberals is now being reconfigured. While the Neo-Liberals struggled to find space in MSM, Social Media however, changed the landscape over the last few years and has compelled vested interests to deal with this alternate narrative, which today as is being repeatedly proven in every electoral contest in India, capturing India’s imagination. An India– that you would not have believed existed had it not been for Social Media and the Neo Liberals!

The Neo-Liberals often find overlap with the Right Wing thought process, though they probably do not ideally see themselves as such. Even so, time has only gone on to suggest that the Neo-Liberals or (even the Neo-Right Wingers) are actually the worthy inheritors of Locke’s Liberalism. They are the ones who have exhibited courage at the cost of being called names, hurled abuses and treated as intellectual parochial pariahs.

Liberalism lays down some very valid concerns. Any well meaning intellect should respect them. However, post the failure of the Left economies globally, the left has now switched their onslaught on the political front. In India, this has happened in West Bengal across over three decades, it is happening in Kerala today, and JNU has emerged as a microcosm of this convenient discourse. For those of us, who have seen the Left in action easily see through flawed nature of this pop-liberal discourse. For those that haven’t seen the machinations of the left, the Neo-Liberals bear the daunting task of putting forth the same before the country so that people are enabled to rekindle Locke, not Stalin, in their intellectual lives.

1...801802803...890Page 802 of 890

Contact: [email protected]

About us

User generated chapter of OpIndia. Selected articles submitted here are published at main English or Hindi websites of OpIndia.

ऑपइंडिया

OpIndia

© OpIndia.com