Blog | Page 879 of 890

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28 January 2016

Presstitutes at The Hindu have done it again. The scheming jackals have proved once more to what extent they can go to fan their visceral hatred for Modi and Hindus. Their hit jobs were exposed a zillion times, but the propagandists will not rest. Such is the stink from this Chennai-based Communist National Newspaper that even yellow journals look better.

Wonder why this outrage? Read on and you might say I’m being stingy with criticism.

The whole story is here and is about how a `cruel joke’ exposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to international ridicule, only to end in an `anti-climax.’

The report raises some very serious questions – answers to which will make us comprehend what is wrong with journalism and journalists today.

The report tells us that though The Hindu photographer Akhilesh Kumar clicked a series of photographs, he chose to release only this particular one.

And he wants the world to believe that he thought it was “comical.’’

Really? Misleading people with a deceptive photograph is fun? Exposing somebody, let alone a Prime Minister, to utter ridicule for no fault of his by suppressing facts is funny? People who were waiting for an opportunity to deride Modi called him all sorts of names after the photo was carried. They even went to the extent of doubting his sexual priorities. We never knew you were having fun while all this was happening. How funny! Facts be damned is what they teach at The Hindu these days? You can be funny, but you had to do it responsibly – by backing up the snap with a disclaimer that the image is not what it conveys, that it was part of a series of pictures Or maybe ask one of your reporters to carry a story explaining the scene to the readers? No, you will not do that because that won’t serve your nauseating agenda.

But if that was not all, we had Adam Taylor, a `learned’ journalist from the Washington Post (which leaves no opportunity to scoff at Modi and India) coming out with even more ridiculous stuff. What makes his act, even more, serious is that the dolt had access to the video of the event (as is evident in his report ) but he still chose to go along with an absolutely derogatory headline and report. And his sources – some `jobless’ fools on twitter. Pity such retards survive in newsrooms of `prestigious’ newspapers.

There can only be one way to explain the behavior of these anti-Modi and anti-Hindu cabal. Unfortunately for this, we will have to borrow the words of another Modi-baiter Tunku Varadarajan who in an article criticising Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma wrote “Even if it were a slip of the tongue, let’s not forget that a man’s tongue often slips in a direction where a man’s mind has gone already.’’

For the sake of a debate, let’s assume for a moment that Modi was hugging Hollande. What is wrong with it? Should the west decide our etiquette now? Why should we see everything through the American prism, according to which two men even holding hands in public is homosexual behavior? Isn’t this a case of the jaundiced eye? Part of the colonial fixation to see indigenous cultures and mannerisms as regressive? One can understand the ignorance of the WP writer who is trained in western milieus. But what about the desi dimwit’s who shared it in wild abandon? Believe me, if there was a custom in the west of kicking the guest’s ass as a mark of respect, our `more English than the English’ brethren would have done even that.

Anyway, condolences to all those who were salivating over the snap for the last two days. Sorry to say you have been busted again. And congrats to The Hindu for proving that it will keep up the supply of presstitutes.

And Mr. Kumar, the next time you want to tickle the readers’ funny bones, why not a snap of N Ram perched on Malini Parthasarathy’s shoulder?

Much Ado About Shani

Opinions

luffy22

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28 January 2016

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I was browsing through my twitter timeline and popular news blogs when I came across this article: Right to Worship. I have seen various other debates on news channels and am well aware that the issue is related to Women’s Entry and whether it is valid or invalid in present times.

My point though is why is there a fixation to worship a black idol that is supposedly of planet Saturn. Saturn is a planet which is located some 746 Million Miles away from Earth. For the record I have been to the Shani Shingnapur Temple and have offered prayers to that black stone out of fear and superstition. But as time passed I became more mature and more importantly started asking tough questions about my beliefs and my faith. At present I run a small website related to Astrology for close to 3 years now. When I started the website I thought it would be easy money and only wanted some extra bucks. But as time passed I realized the rot in Astrology was deep and I would be doing a great disservice to great sages like Maharishi Bhrigu, Maharishi Parashar, Maharishi Varamihir and other notable personalities like B. V Raman if I kept following the traditional school of thought in Astrology which was and is based on superstition and fear mongering. For an Astrologer there are a few golden words namely: Shani/Saturn, Mangal/Mars, Vivah/Marriage, Naukri/Jobs and Kaal Sarpa Dosha which can be used to milk money from gullible clients.

Shani is the one planet which scares the living daylights out of believers of Astrology. So it is given that Astrologers and Priests use it to milk money. I tried a few articles like: Shani and Superstition as well as Shani: Teacher or Tormentor to undo the fear. But I guess people are more interested in easy shortcut of offering Oil to the Black Idol instead of working their way out of troubles. While I cannot change the opinion of majority I just hope a few rational souls do the important soul searching part after reading this article.

Popular belief is Shani or Saturn is Judge appointed by Lord Shiva to look over the karma of individuals. It is the duty of the judge to punish the wrong doers. Most normal people wouldn’t dare think of bribing their way out of troubles. But these same set of people have no hesitation in offering Oil to the Black Idol as a sort of bribe so that Grandpa Shani would go easy on them. Well most of them fail and I guess they are as much at fault as the Astrologers and Priest who suggest such remedies to them.

The actual importance of Oil for Shani is Scientific and not related to Superstition. Shani according to Astrology increases diseases related to Vayu Tatva. In simpler terms diseases like Indigestion, Flatulence, Severe Headache and Pains in Knee Caps could be a result due to bad Shani in a horoscope. Oil or more importantly Castor Oil is a home remedy to cure diseases of the stomach. Also applying castor oil on head and knee caps keeps headache and knee pain in check. This oil is meant to be consumed by person with weak Shani in horoscope and not to be poured on black idols and wasted unnecessarily. Similarly Oil is not meant to be poured on Lord Hanuman either. Lord Hanuman never poured Oil on himself. It was Ravana who poured Oil on Lord Hanuman’s tail according to Sunderkand. What happened to Lanka afterwards can be read in next Chapter of Sunderkand.

This whole debate around Shani Singnapur is along wrong subject to begin with. Instead of asking why Women are not allowed to visit Shani Temple it should be more along the lines of: Why is anyone allowed to visit Shani Singnapur Temple when all it does is promote superstitious beliefs.

I understand a lot of people could be offended by this article. I apologize to them and ascertain them that I have no intention of mocking their beliefs. All I wish is for Hindus to stop fearing a noble planet like Shani. The only point of this article is to raise awareness about the right issue on hand. Instead of pouring oil on the black idol it would be better if that oil is given to the poor and needy. This is perhaps the debate about reform which should be happening instead of the fake outrage that is currently presiding over Shani Temple.

Charminar’s Qutub Minar moment

Politics

Naresh Kandala

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27 January 2016

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Image Credit: historicaltimeofindia.blogspot.com

The final result may not be so, but the contest is certainly down to the wire. The litmus test for the Telangana Chief Minister’s long cherished dream of ruling the city corporation is just around the corner. This time he seems to have played his best cards for the battle of the Hyderabad. It certainly may not be a photo finish but until the EVMs are unlocked on Feb 5^th the drama will continue.

In the peak of the Telangana movement amidst a pro-statehood wave the party managed to just win 1 of the 15 seats in the core part of the city while the NDA alliance was victorious in 7 and the MIM held onto its 7 seats. While in the Rangareddy district, which forms part of the GHMC limits the NDA alliance won 8, TRS 4 and Congress 2 seats respectively. TRS dominated other parts of the city that fall into the greater limits such as Medak, Patancheru etc.

In the 2009 elections the TRS chose not to contest the elections and the contest was mainly between the Congress, MIM and the Telugu Desam. The other parties such as BJP, Lok Satta, Left, Prajarajyam and MBT were the others in the fray. The then ruling Congress party won 52 seats, while TDP won 45 and MIM 43 respectively.

As part of the post electoral alliance the Congress and the MIM stitched an agreement for sharing power and ruled the city for the full term with minor hiccups. (MIM withdrew its support to Congress during Kiran Reddy’s rule).

GHMC 2016 election is a completely different game and the winner will be decided by a certain looser the Congress Party. The congress which enjoyed the power from 2009 through 2015 is on a shaky wicket this time and the election reminds us of the Delhi election of 2013 & 2015.

In the Delhi election of 2013, the Congress party with a vote share of 24.7% managed to win just 8 seats and AAP with a better conversion ratio manage to win 28 seats with 29.7% votes. The BJP with 33.3% vote and 31 seats just fell short of the majority. Delhi’s Mango Man Kejriwal rose from the 2014 LS debacle of 7-0 wipe out to a stunning 67 out of 70 seats victory. While the BJP voter nearly retained its voter base but a massive 15% vote swing away from the Congress to the AAP stunned the nation.

Similarly in 2016 GHMC elections the winner will be decided by the Congress party’s performance combined with a host of other critical factors.

Here are the top 5 things that will decide the fate of the election in 2016.

Congress Voter: The traditional congress vote bank has already witnessed a great decline in the 2014 election. If the trend holds on and continues the congress voter is more likely to gravitate towards TRS than any other party as the average congress voter looks at TRS as the new congress party same as the AAP in Delhi. If the traditional congress voter including the minority vote consolidate under the TRS and desert the congress it will be advantage TRS in this election. The Congress party with neither a credible face nor an agenda is in no shape to stop the voter from deserting its ship. Credible local candidates at select places are the only face savers for the party which otherwise looks weak at the moment.

TRS & MIM tacit understanding: TRS understands that it cannot win the city without both the overt and the covert support of the MIM. TRS will strategically and tactically use the MIM support at places to ensure the NDA candidates are at bay. The success of this understanding will decide the magnitude of the victory and even if the NDA puts up a decent show and there is a hung verdict as in 2009, both TRS and MIM are already willing to work with each other. The chemistry is also at test in this election.

BJP + TDP: If the MLC election is any indicator of the educated voter’s preference the combine will continue to dominate the hearts of the middle and upper middle class voter. Unfortunately the BJP and TDP vote bank are nearly the same and the combination can only at best avoid a vote split in their target vote bank, this will be negated by the infighting that is bound to surface with the seat allocation and the candidate selection. The saving grace for the combine is the strong backing of the migrant Seemandhra voter. If the post 2014 Telangana voters of the alliance look to jump the fence the alliance calculations can go for a toss. Both the parties are trying to put up a brave face to display unity but this will be at test.

Wards reshuffling & Reservations: KCR has invested great time and energy in studying each and every ward and has strategically undertaken the division of wards and reservations. He has ensured that the areas of strength of the NDA are identified and nullified by either re-drawing the wards or through reservations. Great analysis and detail has gone into each ward to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates, winnability and voter composition. Each ward has been touched upon by either reservation or shuffling to ensure the ruling party has the upper hand.

Other Sundries:

The voter rolls deletion caused a huge furore with the opposition parties crying foul. If the allegations are even reasonably true the impact of this would be heavily against the NDA. Also the traditional NDA voter is lethargic and the NDA will stand a chance only when the voting percentage crosses 50%. Voting under the 40% will be a huge advantage for the TRS.
TRS has been on a spree of poaching the strong leaders from the opposition camp to gain inorganic strength. Their efficacy will be at test and a critical factor.
A weakened Loksatta, non-existent Left and the absence of YSRCP will have nearly no impact.
While the student suicide may not likely be an issue at the time of voting but cannot be written off as it may cause minor consolidation on either sides.
Anti incumbency is almost a non issue as the voters are nearly pre decided based on other factors and it is unlikely that the TRS government or the MIM with a comitted vote bank would have lost any vote since 2014.

Few local surveys are predicting a strong TRS performance, the election results are prestigious for both the NDA which wants to re affirm its strength in the city and the TRS which at any cost wants to make a break through.

On Feb 5^th while the NDA and the TRS will be busy analyzing their performances, the Congress party will be busy preparing a report to the high command a “Charminar” version of the Delhi debacle.

Simplifying the Personal Income Tax Structure in India

Opinions

hemenvarma

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27 January 2016

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These changes are suggested in the Income Tax Act with a view to greatly simplifying the Taxation and Tax Computation Structure.

There is no recommendation here to reduce the Income Tax rate.

Apart from the simplification it will result in, it will also mean a tremendous saving for the Employers’ (Govt & Private Sector) and the IT Department in the administrative costs of computing and determining Income Tax as well as Salary Slip printing & stationery costs

My basic recommendation is this : Scrap all Tax Free allowances and compensate for the same by due adjustment of “initial tax exemption amount” and “Tax Slab Adjustment”

The major Allowances that currently qualify for Tax Exemptions (under various conditions and particularly for the salaried class) are :

Sl No	Type of Allowance	Normal Amounts for which Tax Exemption Claimed Annually	Guesstimated Weighted Average of Exemption Claimed (Annually)
1.	House Rent Allowance	Rs. 60 K to Rs. 720K	Rs. 300 K
2.	Medical Allowance	Rs. 15 K	Rs. 15 K
3.	Leave Travel Allowance	Rs. 15 K to Rs. 100 K	Rs. 40 K
4.	Conveyance Allowance	Rs. 9.6 K (Rs. 800 p.m.)	Rs. 9.6 K
5.	Food / Meal Allowance	Rs. 10.5K (Rs. 875 p.m.)	Rs. 10.5 K
6.	Educ Allowance	Rs. 2.4K (for 2 children)	Rs. 2.4 K
		TOTAL WEIGHTED AVERAGE of EXEMPTION CLAIMED ANNUALLY	Rs. 377.5 K

Hence the recommendation is that if these allowances are withdrawn and cancelled for claiming tax exemption, the tax payer must be compensated by a like amount, which can be done by raising the present Tax Exemption Limit from Rs. 200 K to Rs. 577.5 K.

Assuming that the guesstimated figure of Rs. 377.5 K being claimed as exempt from Income Tax is correct, the fact remains that this is essentially applicable for Salaried Persons. Thus, raising the Tax Exemption limit to the full extent of the above “estimated Tax Exemption Loss” will bestow an unintended tax reduction benefit on all those who are not salaried persons.

Keeping the above in mind, the following is recommended.

Complete Withdrawal of Tax Exemptions under the above 6 heads.
Compensate for the corresponding tax increase on the taxpayers as follows :

a) Raise Minimum Tax Exemption Limit for all tax payers from the current 250 K to Rs. 400 K (in case of Senior Citizens, raise it from Rs. 250 K to Rs. 450 K and in case of Senior Citizens above 80 years, raise it from Rs. 500 K to Rs. 600 K)

b) Introduce Standard Deduction for all salaried persons subject to a maximum of Rs. 100K

c) Raise the Income Slabs for 10 % and 20 % Income tax Rates as under :

Change 10 % IT Rate Slab from the current Rs. 201 K – Rs. 500 K to the revised Rs. 201 K – Rs. 800 K
Change 20 % IT Rate Slab from the current Rs. 501 K – Rs. 1000 K to the revised 801K – Rs. 1500K

The rationale behind the above recommendations is as under :

Compensate the tax payer for the withdrawal of various tax free allowances by raising the minimum tax exemption limit ; in doing so, it is true that some people who are not salaried persons will get a “bonanza’ because of the raising of this tax limit.
To restrict such ‘bonanza” the minimum tax exemption limit raise has been restricted to Rs. 100 K only.
However, to compensate the salaried tax payers who were availing this tax exemptions, they are compensated by giving them a tax relief through the “standard deduction route” which is applicable only to salaried employees.
Finally, the higher bracket salaried persons who are not fully compensated in the tax exemptions they used to enjoy under various allowances (which are proposed to be withdrawn now), the Slabs for 10 % and 20 % IT rates are proposed to be widened so that they get compensatory relief there.

The above is intended to be a purely as a revenue – neutral but Income Tax Structure simplification measure, which will have the following concomitant benefits :

Tax Computation and Tax determination will become far simpler and easier.

Tax Structure of various organisations (government and private) can be drastically simplified by reducing the number of heads of payment, which were primarily introduced to take advantage of the various tax exemptions so far allowable under the Income Tax Act ; thus every salary structure can now have as much as 6 fewer “heads of payment” , HRA, Medical, LTA, Conveyance Allowance, Food Allowance and Education Allowance, since having these heads will no longer reap any tax benefits.

This also means that people will not have to fudge and manufacture documents for claiming tax benefits, particularly for the heads related to HRA, LTA and Medical. To that extent, the IT department does not have to spend time & energy in “verifying” that such claims are genuine or not, which will mean a tremendous saving in administrative time spent and costs incurred for such work in the IT Dept.

The figures mentioned above are purely based on the undersigned’s best estimates and are certainly not claimed to be accurate. It is recommended that, based on the information available with the IT department and the government, these figures may be fine-tuned and the various figures adjusted to result in a revenue – neutral, re-alignment of the Income Tax Structure.

Thereafter, if the government wishes to give some tax relief to the tax payer, it may do so in addition to what is recommended above.

This is also in consonance with the spirit of the Direct Tax Code (DTC), that is built on the very sensible premise of scrapping all exemptions and compensating for the resultant “increased tax liability” by a suitable tweaking of tax rates, tax slabs and minimum tax exemption limits.

PROPOSALS RELATED TO INCREASING DEPOSIT LIMITS IN SEC 80C AVENUES LIKE PPF TO BENEFIT INDIVIDUAL TAX PAYERS AND AT THE SAME TIME GIVE CHEAPER FUNDS TO GOVERNMENT FOR DEVELOPMENTAL WORK

The basic Recommendation is : Raise the present exemption limit of Sec 80C deposits from the current Rs. 1.50 lakhs to Rs. 25 lakhs as under :

1.50 lakhs can be deposited in any of the currently available avenues like PF, PPF, LIC,FDs of 5 years tenure and longer etc. (i.e. no change proposed)
Deposits beyond Rs.1.50 lakhs upto Rs. 25 lakhs can only be made in PPF under the following provisions :
For deposits from Rs.1,50,001 upto Rs. 5,00,000/- the interest rate paid in PPF deposits will be 2 percentage points less than the declared PPF rate for that year (which is applicable to the deposit of the first Rs.1.50 lakhs)
For deposits from Rs.5,00,001 upto Rs. 10,00,000/- the interest rate paid in PPF deposits will be 5 percentage points less than the declared PPF rate for that year (which is applicable to the deposit of first Rs.1.50 lakhs)
For deposits from Rs.10,00,001 upto Rs. 25,00,000/- the interest rate paid in PPF deposits will be NIL.

As can be easily understood, the government will get a huge cache of cheap and almost NIL cost funds for the price of foregoing some taxable income (a fair part of which it was losing anyway because people may have been avoiding declaring the same to avoid / evade paying income tax).

Even more important, the deposit of so much money in government coffers means that development works can be tremendously speeded up without the government running up huge deficits because these funds are coming at substantially lower costs.

Finally, the mopping of so much money from individuals will have a salutary effect on inflation that is fuelled by excess of money supply in individual hands.

The need to stand up to religious demographic change

Opinions

intolerantindian

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25 January 2016

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Most people hesitate sharing posts or contents on Facebook or other social media platforms that talk of the religious aspects of politics. Words like ‘Hindu’, ‘Muslim’, and ‘Christian’ make them feel uncomfortable. They feel that talking about religion in the political sense will make them look ‘uncool’, ‘communal’ and ‘aggressive’. In order to look ‘good’ and ‘decent’ among their social circle, they hesitate from sharing such content.

However, religion has been widely and openly used as a political tool since many centuries, both, in India as well as at International level, and this is not a thing of just the past. Check out how changes in the religious demographics of countries like Yugoslavia and Syria destroyed them.

In countries with aggressive and proactive foreign policies, the people in foreign policy departments are taught to study various religions, castes, and tribes around world. They study their history, issues, and pain points. They use this research in their foreign policy to exploit a country’s religious issues for their own political benefits. Take the example of how the ‘caste system’ in the Hindu religion was meticulously studied, distorted, and used to divide the Hindus by the British and now by other powers. On the other hand, in our country we are told not to even talk about religion in the political sense and are fooled by stupid statements like “All religions are the same” and “God is one”.

In India, see how the demography of the country is being systematically changed. North East India, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & many tribal & rural areas are falling to massive, systematic, and organised Christian conversations supported by fake NGOs and evangelical missionaries’ networks. States like Kashmir, West Bengal, Bihar, UP, and many other parts of India are radically Islamized. Also, it is ensured that such a massive change in the religious demographics of the country is never apparent to the national consciousness, failing which people would panic and take a firm stand against it. Even the census is manipulated to suppress the impact of this drastic change in the religious demographics.

This is further supported by complete silence from our ‘secular’ media and ‘secular’ political ecosystem. All this is happening right in front of our eyes. Most of us know this and even experience this in our day-to-day life but we don’t even want to talk about it publically as it will make us look ‘bad’ . So, while religion is used openly for politics, YOU are disarmed from even mentioning it by making you feel guilty of talking about it. The ‘secular’ media sees to it that you continue to feel guilty about talking freely regarding this by giving lectures on secularism and intolerance while they turn a blind eye to such events.

Also “Nothing will happen to me” and “It seems to be a distant possibility” are some of the common justifications for not speaking up. This false sense of security ensures that you don’t do anything to solve the issue. The problem is that NO ONE WANTS TO COME OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE. Once even Kashmiri Pandits might have thought so, and today they are refugees in their own country.

Also, many do care but they expect that SOMEONE will come and save the day for them or that others will do the needful while they will just sit and cheer. Please understand, NO ONE came to save the Kashmiri Pandits or the lacs who were killed around the Indian sub continent in the last 70 years. Similarly, no one is going to come to save you or your family. Each one of you needs to stand up and speak up.

Also, many who care are busy in their day-to-day life, their job, business, social life, kids, and other responsibilities and daily issues and don’t have the time to do anything for this cause. But what they don’t understand is that many of today’s routine problems are the result of the silence of their previous generations. The previous generations didn’t speak up then, so we are facing issues today. For example, ever wondered: if the previous generations would have stood up then, then today, you would not have to face unfair & mindless reservations in education and jobs !! If you don’t speak up today, your children will face more issues tomorrow. Previous generations didn’t have any platform to voice their views. But today, you at least have the internet and social media. No one is expecting you to leave your responsibilities and take to the streets. But at least you can spare few minutes a day to spread the awareness.

So now what is the solution? The first step for solving any problem is to first of all accept that there is one!! Throw away political correctness into the garbage and start calling a spade a spade. Speak up against the way religion is used around for propelling political ideologies.

They don’t have any strength of their own; your inactivity and lack of awareness are their strength. They know that for you, patriotism is just watching patriotic movies and feeling proud on 26th Jan and 15th Aug and that hardly any one of you would be going out of their comfort zone to actually do something about the issue. Also, they are rest assured that for most of us religion is limited to just sharing and liking pictures and quotes of their Swamis, gurus and gods on on Facebook; visiting temples and performing rituals and formalities or religious events rather than leaving our comfort zone and standing up for the religion. No one is telling you to speak against any religion or demean them, but at least stand up for yours’ before it is too late.

Its better to look ‘bad’ than be a sitting duck and make a fool out of yourself. A race that can’t even stand up & speak up for itself, doesn’t have the right to complain later.

Vajpayee and Modi: A Comparison

Politics

samirkr007

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25 January 2016

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Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi both belonged to the Bhartiya Janata Party and came from the same ideological background of RSS. There are many similarities amongst them yet many differences. Although, I feel that this question is a bit unfair to Modi as comparing him to a political great like Vajpayee Ji means that he has no chances of winning from the beginning itself.

Both Modi and Vajpayee have been powerful orators. Their oratory has the capacity to bind the audience. But Vajpayee Ji spoke to your heart whereas Modi speaks to your brain. Vajpayee could make you weep with his speeches, Modi would not. Modi’s would make you think. Vajpayee was a poet, he could say a lot with so few words.

Vajpayee ran a coalition government whereas Modi runs a Government with an absolute majority. Both won the mandates in their names. People calling Modi lucky for running a majority Government obviously have forgotten the most punishing and disciplined campaign he ran for his election. Modi addressed 437 rallies, travelled more than 300000 km in a period of 8 months for getting that number. Forget the many Chai pe Charchas, 3D rallies and the interviews he gave. So, he is not lucky. He worked for that number and he got that number. Fair and square. Get over it.

Vajpayee Ji used to share power with people. He was first amongst the equals in his Government, Advani enjoyed almost equal say on almost all policy matters. All his cabinet colleagues were in awe of him yet could freely speak their minds. He was a man of few words. He would give you a patient hearing and yet speak nothing. Modi, on the contrary, does not share, not easily at least. Its said that he heads a Government where Rank 1 to 10 in his Cabinet are all occupied by him. He holds absolute authority over his cabinet and his stamp on his Government is final. He runs a much younger Government and his authority is unchallenged. His colleagues almost fear him.

vajpayee and modi

Vajpayee did not enjoy the luxury of running a majority Government, he had to please many regional satraps, accommodate them. But he was a master at that. He could bring people from different parties together and managed to keep them together. Let me share an anecdote. Once, the hot headed railway minister Mamata Banerjee had stormed off from a cabinet meeting and TMC was threatening to pull out of the Government. During one of his foreign visits, he was accompanied by Ms Banerjee. She was waiting for him as part of the protocol in front of the aircraft. She out of habit touched Vajpayee Ji’s feet. But Vajpayee Ji stopped her midway and hugged her affectionately. The tension evaporated instantaneously. A Modi would not do that.

Vajpayee in his Prime Ministership did not run the Government, he just managed the politics and the coalition. The Government was literally run by his close confidante, National Security Advisor and Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra whereas in Modi’s tenure its run by him. All important policy decisions were taken by him with the Prime Minister being kept in loop. Vajpayee Ji preferred to work from 7 Race Course Road and was briefed in the evening by his NSA and PS about the proceedings of the day. There was a clear understanding between them. Modi’s style is different. He authorises complete hold over the party, the Government and his Chief Ministers as well. He is to be briefed on anything and everything that concerns his Government. He keeps the bureaucracy on its toes and expects them to perform.

Vajpayee’s PMO was like a happy family whereas people worked together in complete trust of the Prime Minister. Modi’s PMO is like Corporate Headquarters where the emphasis is on delivery, performance and deadlines. Modi’s bureaucrats know who the boss is, whom they are accountable to. The chances of fumbles are minimal. Nothing is going to remain unnoticed. Vajpayee was magnanimous in his dealings. He could be forgiving, benevolent and accommodative. Modi is a hard task master, he knows how to make use of the system and use it to his advantage.

Modi’s mandate is bigger and thus his targets are bigger. His focus is on delivery. Modi in his first year has broken many records of performance. Highest electricity production, highest coal production, highest highway construction in a year, the mammoth number of accounts opened under Jan Dhan and he is just getting started. Vajpayee’s successes include the Golden Quadrilateral, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the nuclear tests. Modi has introduced PM Fasal Bima Yojana, PM Krishi Sinchayi Yoajana amongst many others. Vajpayee Ji was sometimes accused of neglecting the rural sector, whereas many of Modi’s schemes are focussed solely on rural populace. Be it the RURBAN Mission, Kaushal Vikas or Digital India. The rural landscape is getting transformed at a much greater pace. Vajpayee despite efforts could not transform railways, Modi has come up with a comprehensive vision for that.

The BJP as a party has grown at a much faster pace under Modi than compared to Vajpayee. Modi has nearly threatened the existence of his opponents as well as his allies and that is one of the main reasons for hostility towards him. BJP is leading the Government in Maarashtra and Haryana and a partner in J&K Government. All because of Modi. Vajpayee Ji made a 35 seat party Nitish CM when BJP has 65 of its own in Bihar. Modi would never do that. Modi managed to get a deputy CM in J&K but did not make one from Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. He has a vision for his country ,his Government and his party. He bargains hard, he is not in politics for niceties. Modi could never possibly enjoy the luxury of being large hearted, too many people are praying for his failure just as so many are praying for his success.

Modi can never be the statesman Vajpayee Ji was. But I don’t think he is chasing that legacy. He wants to leave behind his own legacy, he himself is his competition. On the Government front, be it domestic policies or the foreign policy, he is carrying forward and building upon the the legacy left behind by Vajpayee Ji. Modi understands the complex intricacies of being a statesman and a shrewd politician. One will help grow your stature, the other will keep you relevant in politics. His speeches from the Parliament or the ramparts of Red Fort have been all statesman like but he won’t shy away from raising those occasional controversial topics in election rallies.

It is too early in his term and I am sure that after a decade or so, we could make a more objective and fair comparison between the two. Modi would love to be compared with his political guru but on objective data. He neither is capable of nor aspires to take his place. Modi, in my opinion, would love to be seen in the light of Vajpayee and how much he could do to achieve what Vajpayee Ji could not but wanted to.

Malicious reporting against Akshay Kumar to derail his movie Airlift?

Reports

aveek

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21 January 2016

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On 14th January, Catch News (which has Shoma Chaudhary, ex-collegaue of rape accused Tarun Tejpal and who is often accused of shielding Tejpal, as Editor in Chief) did a hit-job on the Akshay Kumar starrer Airlift. The news showed Akshay Kumar’s photo with Neeraj Pandey. Neeraj Pandey is not associated with the movie Airlift, still they showed a pic which had both Neeraj and Akshay. Are there no pics of Neeraj by himself?

The story said that Neeraj Pandey, director of Baby & Special 26 was asked to leave a theatre for not standing up during the national anthem. This is even more absurd as we know that Neeraj Pandey’s movies are usually patriotic and one does not expect such behaviour from him.

But the person actually involved in this incident was a different person. This Neeraj Pandey is a screenwriter, and in no way connected to Director Neeraj Pandey and obviously not connected with Akshay Kumar. This fact was in public domain as Scroll had the correct facts a day earlier. Also stand-up comic Varun Grover had tweeted the same.

scroll

The article was removed the very next day but the Facebook post & tweet is still floating around. Additionally no corrigendum or apology was issued. And we all know few people read the news, most of us only share the headlines.

catch news 1 — Screenshot of Article before it was deleted

To recap, a writer called Neeraj Pandey is in trouble for not standing up during the National Anthem. CatchNews “confuses” him with Director Neeraj Pandey and further, to report this, uses his picture with Akshay Kumar. Even if this was a case of simple “confusion” between two people having the same name, Akshay Kumar should have never figured in this. But for some reason Akshay Kumar was dragged too, by using his picture.

Akshay Kumar is one of the few Bollywood superstars who has stood strongly against the Intolerance brigade. Unlike Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar clearly said India is a tolerant country. And Shahrukh’s latest movie Dilwale bore the brunt of his “anti-India” comments. So was CatchNews.com trying to link Akshay Kumar to some “anti-national” news so that his film too suffers?

Further CatchNews.com never apologized for the error and even worse, kept the erroneous tweets and facebook status as it is even after deleting the story. Why? If they know the story is wrong, which is why they deleted the main story, why let the false tweets float around?

Ink Attack: Arvind Kejriwal please stop your theatrics

Opinions

Sjd45

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20 January 2016

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“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

-GEORGE WASHINGTON

This quote is so very much applicable to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. He became the CM of Delhi in 2015 with a landslide victory because people in Delhi, just like anywhere in India, were disgusted with the current politics, and wanted a new kind, with honest leaders who are dedicated to solving the people’s problems. Kejriwal had promised the “15 million citizens of Delhi” that he and his party would try to usher in “alternative politics”, and run a genuine “government of the people”. However it is sad to see that today Kejriwal has stooped so low. The recent ink attack controversy just brought out the hypocrisy of Kejriwal. On one hand he repeatedly said he doesn’t need police protection and that police should be employed for the people and now he is crying foul and saying Delhi police hadn’t provided enough protection to him. This attack was carried out by an ex-AAP member, who is currently a member of Aam Admi Sena but within seconds of the attack Aam Admi Party blamed it on BJP.

If AAP is to be believed this is how BJP general board meeting must be like:

Amit Shah: “Kejriwal is getting to much popularity, something needs to be done. Please give me some ideas”.

Member1: “Lets expose his hypocrisy”

Member2: “Lets remind people of his empty promises”.

Member3: “Lets throw ink on him”

AS: “Great Idea! Lets throw some ink on him. It will surely get us a chunk of people’s votes.”

Does this make sense? Of course it doesn’t.

Now let’s move on to AAP’s general body meeting.

AK: “Guys election are coming up in Punjab we have to win it. What strategy should we follow”.

Member1: “Sir wahi purana, thappad ya ink?

AK: “Thappad nahi, last time bahut bahut jor se maara tha. Ink waala idea he sahi hai. Ek baaju publicity milegi Aur ek baaju public sympathy. Aur attack ka blame BJP aur Delhi police pe daal denge”.

The second scenario clearly makes sense. The only person who gets benefit out of this drama is Kejirwal. Give me one benefit that the BJP will get by throwing ink on him. If you see the “ink attack” video carefully you can observe that the people saw the girl approaching towards Kejriwal. Nobody stops her. The journalists were busy recording the event and AAP volunteers, despite seeing her, didn’t stop her. Even Kejriwal sees her approaching towards him but he doesn’t move from his place! If this doesn’t provide a hint nothing will. What’s more funny is that AAP supporters said that there could be a controversy to “kill” Kejriwal and that “BJP couldn’t stand the success of the ‘great’ Odd-Even plan”. The plan was “surely great”, never thought of by anyone, and it has completely solved Delhi’s pollution problems if AAP is to be believed.

Ink attacks are common in Indian politics but never has any party responded in this manner. The attacks are mainly due to dissent of the people but it’s really sad to see AAP saying it could be a controversy of killing Kejriwal and to see MSM fools providing publicity to Kejriwal. It seems Kejriwal has no solutions to people’s problems so in order to grab headlines he just resorts to stunts and gimmicks. MSM has completely ignored the reason stated by the girl. The girl said that the odd-even rule was positive, but behind it was a big CNG Scam, of which she had a sting and that is why she wanted to meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Transport Minister Gopal Rai, but they didn’t agree to meet her. She stated that in the scam, CNG stickers were issued on bike numbers. “They have done scam in CNG and I have evidence to support it,” she claimed. It seems the 526 crores have worked and MSM has completely ignored her allegations and it has given Kejriwal much needed publicity. Also interestingly it has been reported that Kejriwal had asked cops to stay away from the stage. If this doesn’t convince you nothing will. Mr Kejriwal you cannot fool all the people all the time. I sincerely hope that Kejriwal refrains from such dramatics and petty politics in the near future.

The curious case of Delhi, its fanaticism with the west and the Media

Opinions

Prithvi Pratap Singh

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20 January 2016

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Change the name of Defence Colony to “Raksha-Sewak” Colony and it immediately looses it’s charm, it’s perceived “High class” value and suddenly it becomes too “eww” for most Delhiites. You’d be on the verge of committing blasphemy , if you even thought of changing the name of malls such as “Promenade”,”Emporio”,”Ambience” etc. Try thinking of calling “Vasant Vihar” to let’s say “Vishnu Vihar” and see the “eww”-ness developing into most heads of south Delhi. Do wonder why GK is such a coveted colony rather than the adjoining Kalkaji, regardless of the amenities available in the colony. A counter argument of Sarojini Nagar, Chanakyapuri etc can be given, but factor in that those areas have already cemented their place in the psyche due to their association with “South Delhi” and already belonging to the perceived elite club.

St Stephens is perceived to be a better college than Deen Dayal Upadhyaya college, even before the discussion begins. Xavier’s college sounds almost always better than Shri Ram Lal Anand College, doesn’t it? “Ram Lal, you said? eww” is the general reaction.
(These are examples based on the perception power/ hypnotic effect of names alone, and do not include facts such as results, placements etc as this is not a discussion on which college is better in terms of education).

Let’s sample a few apartment names in Gurgaon & Delhi
“Beverly park”
“Ridge wood Estate”
“Belmonte”
“Royalton”
“The Aralias”
“DLF *Insert XYZ name here*”
“King’s Court”
“Queen’s court”

Change any of the above to some Hindi Name and you will find that the whole perceived prestige attached to it looses its charm all too quickly. I am not advocating a case for the names to be changed to something more local, as that would amount to blasphemy , but I wish to point out towards the inherent subtle perception that anything western is automatically good.

The term “intellectual” in layman’s language is associated with amount of English one can speak, and the more lucid the vocabulary, more is the “intellect” level , and depending on where you are placed on this spectrum, respect is accorded to you, regardless of whether there is any substance or notable content in the person’s argument, or his/her general understanding of what is happening in the country.

Recently a close friend remarked how she would love to have a christian wedding, instead of the usual bullshit “Pheras” around a stupid fire. I asked her to elucidate more. So she explained on the lines of “The dresses, the bridesmaids, the kiss, the champagne, its all too wonderful, neat and nice, compared to our standard Indian fare.” And in my usual nonchalant manner, I patted her on the back.

No where in the world, you will find people who talk with as much disdain about themselves as “we Indians are just like xyz or do xyz ,(with implied negativity)”. Yes, that is the expression. Notice how in most cases, we berate ourselves with when we talk with foreigners or even our own, trying to convince them “hey look at how much of an inferiority complex I have at my own identity and how I will bend down just to be just like you or fit into what is your definition of “good”, please notice me, pretty please?”

Stand up comedians such as All India Bakchod, Aditi Mittal, Vir Das, and the countless hundreds that exist now have made a fortune just making fun of us & our ways. I challenge anyone to find one Indian custom these people will approve of. An endless alumni base of my own Sanskriti School in addition to Shriram School, Modern BK/VV, DPS, Vasant Valley etc are just that, hordes of western wannabes. Westerners with Indian names and who know how to speak Hindi very well. Consider the obsession with shows such as games of thrones, the big bang theory, or the recent celebration of the launch of NetFlix in India. Again, I reiterate, watching these shows is not the point, the inherent subtle superiority complex and wannabe-ism is. ( I myself enjoy Supernatural, Saturday night live, songs by the lonely Island & the show Homeland).

Anyone who has ever studied in America is automatically subconsciously given a thumbs up by most of us, regardless of the place of study ,or maybe the person is a total imbecile in real life. But hey, he/studied in America, he/she has to be great.

And this is where the trouble really starts brewing. Any time New York Times or the BBC says anything about Indians, we consider it as the Gospel Truth, and revere it as the second coming of Christ, not once thinking may be they can be incorrect too.I have intentionally not referred to the second coming of RamaKrishna Paramhansa, since that is too downmarket and oh not so modern. (NOTE – RamaKrishna does not refer to Rama & Krishna, and if you are still wondering about this, oh well). See how much better Xerxes, Hermes, Poseidon sounds than Chandi, Bhuvneshwari, Bhairava etc.

Or look at Journalists such as Ms Ghose, Ms Singh (ET), Mr Sardesai etc or any of the South Delhi lot. Or consider most of our academia, the “intellectuals”, or the media honchos who rule the narrative of this country. Quite a lot of time they are referred to as Paid journalists etc, which may be true in part but do factor in the ideology elucidated above, and these people epitomize such Western Wannabe-ism. So how will they ever support anything that is in favour of the nation, especially when it doesn’t appeal to their subconscious modulation of comprehension abilities since the time they started school? Its not about being paid or unpaid, this is an ideological war with the western wannabes hypocritical elites of Delhi, who happen to be sitting on the zeniths of journalism, and it ruffles their feathers that the middle class from other lowly towns get to have say in national matters.

Passionate BJP supporters, most of the time, do not realize what they are even battling with & their constant shouts are of no use. The corridors of Lutyen’s Delhi, the India International Center, GymKhana Club, St Stephens College are too powerful for anyone to step in and even suggest a change in their ways. For them anything in hindi or Sanskrit is subconsciously so inferior to their sensibility , rubbish terms such as “Hindu, Vishwa, Parishad, rashtriya, Swayama etc”, *wait a second*, that was too much Hindi, See?

The very top of the food chain in the narrative building & media ruling class is just these children, who grew up into their respective jobs, with pseudo intellects, phoney english accents, and if they could, they would, shed off their brown skin in an instant, wear a white one and give themselves a western name. Destroy their evil pagan roots, which they are anyways hell bent on destroying, because the white man told them too.

We were ruled for over 800 years by the Mughals, and faced tyranny worse than what ISIS is capable of, yet, when we even think of renaming just a road named after on one of the most fanatic & barbaric rulers( a man worse than ISIS), the doors of hell are open wide & loose. Why? Because the 200 years English rule post the Mughals, has dented the psyche of “Indians”. Vladimir Putin commented and very rightly so “Indians lack a sense of identity, and are confused people”. Regardless of the authenticity & context of the comment, I consider this to be true, nonetheless.

Therefore, we are in a churning period, or at least the narrative governing the country is, since established corridors of power which were never questioned for the last 60 years have been challenged are. Consider what happens when the father of Nandita Das is served with a notice to evict his fabled Lutyen’s bungalow, Ms Das instantly starts singing the holy song of intolerance, and the western wannabe herd follows, not once does it deter to stop and check that maybe its being led off a cliff , against the very cause it wants to fight for by lighting candles and changing display pictures.

The trouble with the upper middle class Indian, that no matter how many times you may share that video of the bald guy telling all of us that we are proud people, we are subconsciously ashamed of ourselves, and this very class sits on the top. The higher class ruling elite anyways spend much time abroad for them to be of any significance to the discussion. And guess who the lower middle class looks upon as inspiration, in turn having a perpetual cervical? The upper middle class, the western wannabes.

The day people stop according respect to anything just because it is in English or just because it is related to the west, & the day people accord the same respect to YajnaValkya, Panini, Parashar, Ved Vyasa ,Bhaskara etc as they do to Newton, Copernicus, Socrates etc this country will truly start to wake up. The very same things that were said millennia ago in Sanskrit, are being handed back to us in sophisticated English & some in the name of science, and we are crying tears of joy over it.(that does not imply everything new is to be discarded). An American psychologist remarked in the 60s, that we thought we were the first ones to explore certain levels of the human psyche, and then he reached India, only to find out that in this country they already had detailed maps to explore such terrain of the human psyche.

In conclusion then, is it correct to be an extreme fanatic about hindi, and the desi stuff etc just to be not ashamed of your own corporate drone self? Or be vehemently opposed to the west, or any contribution the westerners have made to the civilization, in order to protect one’s own ”Indian” identity? Short answer is Nope. This writing itself is in English isn’t it?

Why Talks with the notorious neighbor are futile

Opinions

mihirgujjewar

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19 January 2016

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Dealing with Pakistan has been a sensitive issue ever since we got separated. Successive Indian governments have acquiesced for peace with Pak but it’s all been otiose.

It has been quite a while since the PM’s brief sojourn on Pakistan soil on the occasion of counterpart Nawaz Sharif’s birthday finished and a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. The visit was followed by the ferocious Attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, in which seven of our Valiant security personnel faced casualties along with five terrorists. This attack has again compelled us to rethink our strategy towards the neighbouring nation of Pakistan, which has been infamous for harbouring terrorists for its strategic purposes.

First of all, I want to pour my heart out for the gallant act of our security personnel from various troops including the DSCs, The NSG commandos and those from Punjab Police who faced the terrorists first hand. Whatever the editorials of the top Newspapers blabber from the cozy comfort of their Air Conditioned Offices, It doesn’t matter to an average and crude Indian like me. Who matter to me are those, who let their lives for their countrymen without thinking the least about themselves, their families. I understand pretty well that combat operations like these are not fought keeping in mind what would be the headlines of the editorials. Those who are finding ‘Stupidities’ in the operation must be allowed to take firsthand experience of such operations. It is true that there were some sort of lacunae in communication part from the govt, which grossly led to mishandling of the situation, but its blame cannot be put on our Army men.

India has shown its willingness for peace multiple times. Atal Bihari Bajpayee ji started a bus service to Lahore in the past, to recent generous gesture of PM Narendra Modi by calling Nawaz Sharif at his oath taking ceremony and the PM’s stopover at Lahore on Nawaz’s birthday. But Pakistan’s response has been very lackadaisical, rather belligerent. We were welcomed with Kargil after Atal ji’s effort and Pathankot and Mazar-e-Shariff incidents after Modi’s stopover. PM Modi’s bonhomie with Nawaz Sharif was welcomed and praised world over and Nawaz Sharif too has shown ostensibly genuine interest for the peace process. Both countries share common history, culture, languages. Then what squelchs bringing peace between both the countries? The answer sadly lays with the most powerful entity and stakeholder of Pakistan i.e. its Army and its dogsbodies.

The Army controls most of the affairs related to its defence, foreign policy and has a monopoly on strategy toward India. The Pak Army’s leadership is abundant with anti-India, Jihadi extremist elements that do not want a peace process to flourish. Earlier they tried to fight India in a conventional warfare and faced humungous humiliation in 1965, 1971 and 1999 wars. When they tried a conventional war they were left red faced with embarrassment, so they changed their strategy and adopted a strategy of penetrating in India with proxies in the form of brainwashed terrorists. We have seen a series of such attacks in the past few years.

My basic contention is if the Army, which actually controls most of the matters significant to India in Pakistan, is completely disinterested in peace, why should we be talking to the civilian govt which is quite irrelevant in India related matters? Truth to be told, the constitutional institutions in Pakistan are rapidly collapsing and people with sanity are becoming rare. Jihadi elements are mushrooming in the name of Kashmir’s freedom (Which is a hoax created by Pakistan’s establishment to demonize India) and otherwise. Extremist Mullahs like Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar not only roam freely there but are also facilitated with security and monetary support to spew venom against India. Indian Agencies have also traced ISI’s direct involvement in terrorist attacks and insurgencies across the border.

In a recent interview to Business Standard, C. Christine Fair, an authoritative voice on Indo-Pak affairs and author of multiple books on Pakistan Army, said “If the attack is seen as an attempt to derail the nascent peace process between the two countries, it might be a misreading of the way in which Pakistan employs its jihadi assets to secure its strategic interests in the region. The attack on the air base is not a spontaneous response to recent development. It is simply the latest manifestation of the Pakistani national security strategy to pursue its revisionist agenda against India.”

Her words clearly explain the current situation. We have been backstabbed umpteen times in the past and there seems no legitimate reason to engage with Pak anymore.

The uncanny behavior of the Pak leadership after the attacks mystifies us more. The dispensation of fake media reports regarding the ‘arrest’ which was later dubbed to ‘preventive detention’ and finally taking the generic alibi of ‘we don’t have information blah blah’ was nothing but a figment created to lure the ‘Indian opinion of the twiterrati’ which later turned out to be outrageous and agonizing even more. This usual chicanery has been continued by Pakistan in all attacks that were perpetrated from its soil. This sly behavior does not distress me as much as quixotism of the current Indian govt does. We know Mr. Modi as a sagacious and cogent man who has outperformed many of his predecessors in foreign policy and we have faith in whatever he puts upon us. But if his govt obstinates for confabulation with Pakistan despite its obnoxious behavior, he may face opprobrium and trim his support base in India. I am well sure he is thinking of it more than I am.

So what are the options left with us, dealing with Pakistan?

The only option we have ironically is, no dealing with Pakistan at all. Yes, you heard that right. We need to ignore Pakistan, to reduce the media coverage and social media furore about the Jihadi nation. We need to cut economic, social, cultural ties with Pak and sever it on international fronts. Not to forget the befitting replies on border with gunshots matching with squaring the number of bullets being fired from their side. Simultaneously, we need to transform our armed prowess, which is in Christine Fair’s words, ‘Defensive competence instead of Offensive superiority’. This strategy may be a tough game keeping in mind the international pressure but is the only way forward.

A ‘cruel joke’ – the photo hit-job on Modi by The Hindu