MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE

NEW DELHI: Every government, whether state or centre has its own programme of expansion of ministries or changing of portfolios or elevating, demoting or even outright dumping is the done thing. Hence, there need be no surprise or unwanted reactions when the present NDA outfit decided to have this exercise.

Biggest change has been that of shifting of HRD minister Smriti Irani to an innocuous Textile Ministry. The new face at HRD, which will also oversee the higher education scene of the country, is Prakash Javadekar (PJ). At least PJ is a B.Com, unlike his predecessor a mere XII pass. Of course, more than her educational qualification, it is the ministership that went into her head that cost her ministry. There are lots of people, who become arrogant on acquiring some power, of course, given by someone else. But if there is a background of achievement, either by way of educational qualification or any other accomplishment, arrogance may escape scrutiny. But, Smriti didn’t have any to boast about except a TV serial and was arrogant of the new power that Prime Minister gave her. A certain amount of humility would have saved her, which the present incumbent has in good measure. PJ is a conciliatory personality.

Despite being only degree holder, his ability to deal with issues and people and taking them along would pass the muster, as the HRD minister, dealing with higher academia. Of course the rest of changes or addition etc., are of only academic interest. Hope PJ delivers.

For quite sometime now, this Muslim televangelist Zakir Naik has been in the news. Lot of Indians were unhappy with his talk. After the terrorist attack in Dhaka in Bangladesh focus has significantly shifted on this Muslim preacher.

While he kept saying, like most people who agree with him, that Islam is a peaceful religion, he has advocated violence as a form of ‘retribution’, and he made no-bones about it. Besides he was clearly insulting other faiths in his talk. In a country like India, with its multi-religious citizenry, kind of talk by this Naik hurting the religious sentiments of non-Islamic population is an absolute no-no. He and his Peace TV Channel should be stopped before he does more mischief.

Of course there are supporters from some section of Muslim Society. Prominent among this group is Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala based political party, who were partners with Congress in the last state government.

Right now, the central government is seized of the issue and therefore hopefully a last word might emerge on the issue, since Zakir Naik is already banned in the U.K, Canada, Malaysia and now in our eastern neighbourhood Bangladesh. But, BJP being the dominant part of the Central govt., media and opposition is likely to have its own take to interpret action by New Delhi. Hope politics is not mixed with terrorism and national security.

For quite sometime, we have been reading on issues involving marriages of Indian women to Indian men living abroad. Non Resident Indians or NRIs were in demand in early days. But in recent times the attraction has come down, mainly because a chameleon dimension of these men settled abroad, especially in the U.S. There were men who harassed their wives for dowry and more dowry, then you had those who are already married in the U.S and get married to an Indian woman concealing the already married status. Another kind is, after getting married and taking the Indian wife to the U.S, get married again to another.

One important common dimension of those men is, they are all professionally well qualified and well placed, fully aware of their actions backed by their mean intentions. So what kind of a crooked mind they have? Generally they are from better off background. So what drives them to commit such completely avoidable crime of causing lifelong trauma to another individual, a female at that, whose only fault is the trust that the lady and her parents reposed in the NRI man?

Of course, all time consuming, long drawn out legal options follows leading to divorce, settlement etc. However, there was no specific law dealing with such bizarre situations. And comes this report “Ray of Hope for distressed women in NRI marriages”. Reportedly a law enacted in 1969 seems to offer hope to these wronged women, so says the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in its communication to the Parliamentary Panel on Petitions. There are no details available of the said law, and members of the panel too expressed their surprise at the existence of such a law. Hope, these errant NRIs are warned by this law not to indulge in their nefarious designs on innocent Indian women.

Various Central government employees are threatening to go on strike. The reason, the minimum salary proposed by the 7th Pay Commission is not enough. The Commission had recommended Rs. 18000/- as the minimum pay, from the present four digit salary of Rs. 7000/-. That by itself represents more than doubling of the minimum. By any stretch of imagination minimum starting pay for a lowest staff is pretty high, if one compares with the pay offered by other sectors of the economy, be it banking, insurance or even I.T sector.

But the demand from the trade unions representing central government employees, is to peg it at Rs. 26,000/-, almost 50% more than what the Pay Commission proposed, that is almost 4 times the existing pay. As such the proposal of 7th Pay Commission would need over a lakh crore of rupees and the demand from unions will push it close to 2 lakh crore, which the present state of the economy can ill afford.

However there is one aspect of the issue which neither these Unions propose nor government thinks, should be done, is to cut down the useless unproductive labour force within central government agencies and departments. Every Pay Commission, while recommending pay rise, had also recommended that, staff number has to be pruned. But no government took the decision to save itself from possible blues. But it is a well known fact that over 50% of the government staff are a waste, unproductive burden on the exchequer. Government has got to be tough with these unions while negotiating the pay rise. After all it is not the government's money, it is the people’s money that government pays to their staff. What kind of effect, the huge pay out going to be on the economy, is another question that is still to be looked into.

There was this good piece of news coming from the HRD ministry of central government for students suffering the diktats of coaching classes. In an unprecedented initiative Prime Minister will be launching on 15th Aug. online coaching to engineering aspirants through four DTH channels.

Professors of six IITs have been already, reportedly, lined-up to create study materials. The video lectures are to be compiled by top professors of IITs of Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Guwahati. Reportedly the Department of Space will be allocating two transponders on a GSAT series satellite to telecast the lectures across the channels. Professors are expected to cover the entire syllabus of joint entrance examination (JEE).

It is likely to be free of cost through Doordarshan’s DTH platforms with only cost of set-top box to view these channels, being on students.

This initiative, as and when becomes operational, shall greatly reduce the dependency on coaching classes besides, it can greatly help students from rural areas and small towns who can’t afford high fees for crash courses.

Reportedly, all arrangements have been already made by the HRD ministry with IIT Delhi being the nodal link to the entire exercise, so also there will be a link to YouTube too.

Surely this path breaking initiative will bring broad smile on the face of student community in general and rural students in particular.

                     

UTTAR PRADESH: It is becoming usual that UP is slowly emerging as a state in continuous news for all wrong reasons.

A female child of mere 7 years, was not only physically assaulted by a 14 years old boy, fearing the medical examination of the tender child for the heinous crime, the family of the boy has reportedly killed this student of II standard.

Not only the family exonerated their criminal teenage son, but compounded it by eliminating the tender victim of the atrocity.

According to the report, it appears that, the girl was to be medical examined after a few days of the incident. In the meanwhile the boy was arrested and sent to remand home. Fearing the worst, the family of the accused reportedly snatched the girl away and brutally murdered her at a farm some kilometers away.

It’s still not clear if those killers of the traumatized/ brutalized child have been arrested despite public protest. Rape is an adult crime this 14 year old committed, with the full knowledge of the consequences, and hence the boy should be treated as adult criminal and not under Juvenile Justice Act, and his killer parents and relatives should be given life imprisonment. Only then the message, that others' life too matters, can go down for, hopefully, a better tomorrow.   

WEST BENGAL: Mamata Bannerji of West Bengal, is a mercurial leader by her own right. Like Narendra Modi, she too is personally clean, and no visible distraction of men and money.

Of course, as politicians and leaders in public space, their personalities otherwise differ widely, as it has been on public display.

However, when it comes to commitment to her people, she may be even better than Modi. That she has won for the second time with increased seats only confirms this.

Despite there being many scams involving chit funds she held her fort and displayed her hold on the electorate. Like in Tamil Nadu, so is in West Bengal, corruption as a vote plank did not work. Probably most Indians have accepted corruption as a necessary evil, or as one of those things, that doesn’t really affect their lives. You take some pro-people measures and distribute some freebies, your vote is assured. It is true that unlike Jayalalitha, Mamata has not enriched herself and her simplicity is stark and that too has won people to her side.

The recent statements of U.S Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon has only enhanced her stature as a person with clear vision. He is reported to have remarked “I was very impressed by the Chief Minister. She is a strong leader and she has got a very clear vision about what she wants to accomplish.” He appeared to be very profuse in his admiration of Ms. Bannerjee. He even invited her to Washington to scout for investment.

Media and civil society, should always be upfront in recognizing the leadership of even those with whom you may not break bread. That’s public decency. Period.     

We had heard of the spat between cricketers of yester years Saurav Ganguli and Ravi Shastri regarding the coach selection to the Indian Senior team.

The disappointment that Shastri experienced is certainly huge. He was out and out an establishment man, always politically correct on the side of the Chairman. He was not a physically fit person, if his bulge is any indication. But as luck would have it, he managed. And he could have managed it, until, Anil Kumble, the dark horse, entered the scene. To be coach, all that is needed is the experience on & off the cricket field. Anil had it in abundance, besides his own personal equation with all players. There is something very pleasant about Anil Kumble and all had the impression that the selection committee, all his juniors, but rounded cricketers all the same, had no hesitation in plumping for the lanky from Bangalore. His credentials were impeccable, so what he was never a coach! All have to begin somewhere.

Notwithstanding the repartee of Ganguli against Shastri’s outbursts Shastri must accept, Kumble is a better choice. For him it was an honour of recognition, but for Shastri it was only a money spinner. That is the outlook he had.

In that respect Rahul Dravid, should be model to all. He was offered the position, even before this contest. But he politely declined, despite bigger money, bigger name and fame, and bigger challenge, wanting to continue with 19 year olds as their coach.

Temperamentally both Dravid & Kumble (D&K) are definitely better placed than many of their contemporaries. Indian Cricket is now in capable hands of D&K combine. They are sure to take Indian Cricket to greater heights of commitment to the English man’s game.     

    

RAJASTHAN: Rajasthan generally do not make news in the national perspective. But a recent report about some members of the state Women’s Commission did make some relevant news, although for wrong reasons.

Saumya Gurjar, obviously a qualified and influential lady, a member of the Rajasthan State Commission for Women, has reportedly resigned. She tried to bask in the short lived ‘glory’, or at least that’s what she probably thought. Wanting to be in a bit of sun-shine, she reportedly had selfie clicked with a rape victim, but for her bad luck the media present on the occasion uploaded her action on to the WhatsApp. And naturally it went viral.

Fortunately, to save the situation, the CMO in Jaipur asked her to quit and Ms. Gurjar had to oblige.

Reportedly, Ms. Gurjar along with her Chairperson Suman Sharma, after the completion of a rape victim’s hearing in the Mahila Police Station in Jaipur, appeared in a cheerful mood, which otherwise had to be sombre, and Ms. Gurjar nonchalantly clicked the selfie, which clearly became her undoing.

Rajasthan government should be commended for not advancing any alibi and took the action impromptu to send the message “Behave properly in sensitive cases or pay the price”. Two cheers for Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s timely action.

This news is nothing to do with the state, but, an event where cine actor Irfan Khan got embroiled happened to be in Jaipur. Among all Khans in the Hindi film world, this one is clearly a no-nonsense type. He has always carried himself with abundant dignity. His roles also displayed his seriousness with which he probably looks at life. Thus, when he walked into an uncharted sea of his own religious moorings, it did surprise. But what he said, not withstanding his critics in the Islamic Seminary, appears to be loaded with logic.

Of course, it is purely an internal matter within the co-religionists and hence, we better not usurp the role of interlocutor. But, the spirit of inquiry, or spirit of questioning is inherent in Islam, as the word IJTIHAD suggests. The question is why clerics or those who lord over the theological interpretation do not like being questioned. All homosapians should recognize and accept the fact that these religions which we all practice & profess are all manmade and therefore imperfect. They were created at a time thousands of years ago. They could be relevant then. But over a period man has evolved so are women and therefore these religious beliefs and practices too should evolve. That is all Irfan is asking. Why does the clergy think, he should mind his own business of acting? And where is media and civil society in support of him?  

   

GUJARAT: Television visuals of five youth, reportedly belonging to Dalit section of the Ahmadabad Society, being beaten black and blue depicted the most inhuman part of our Meraa Bharath Mahaan. They were tied to a vehicle. Beating reportedly went on for some half an hour. Their crime was they were in possession of some meat, allegedly cow meat.

Reportedly they were cutting a dead cattle. But these barbarians called cow protectors just wanted to punish them and reportedly dragged & handed them over to police. Strangely these protectors of law did not question these barbarian cow protectors as to how these boys are bleeding in their backs and who beat them up? It was only after a crowd gathered outside the police station and blocked national highway that police registered an FIR against those six barbarians and sent those dalit victims to the hospital for treatment. This is intolerance of worst kind. Beating those poor men for a crime they have not committed is a worst kind of social behaviour, especially when these criminals have the support of both police and the political establishment.

We claim ourselves as a peace loving nation, but for a large part we are an unfair society, heavily loaded against poor and the powerless. After 69 years of political freedom this is an unmitigated tragedy.

Oh poor Mother India..   

MADHYA PRADESH: Narendra Modi as Prime Minister has been around over two years at the centre. There are millions who do not like him, for varieties of reasons, but many among them suffer from unmitigated bias. That every Prime Minister and his government shall do some good and fail to do some, is nobody’s case. It is an universal truth. Thus is the case with Modi and his government. His best ‘bhakt’ (devotee) will not honestly give him 100% marks, similarly those who have this pathological dislike of the man can honestly dump Modi and his govt. as 100% failure. Therefore we all must be civil to accept those which are good, positive, progressive etc. They have to be accordingly hailed.

Among his many initiatives some of them have been path breaking and pioneering. His undeclared dumping from ministerial or action packed roles of those TIRED BUT NOT RETIRED politicians beyond 75 years appears to be having cascading effect.

A report coming from Bhopal informs that two senior ministers who crossed 75 years of age have been quietly dropped without too much noise. This is a very positive development and shall hopefully be replicated in all BJP ruled states, if not in states where BJP is not the ruling party. Similarly when it comes to serious corruption charges BJP government both in centre and states are beginning to have Modi’s ‘eyes and ears’. That’s how, the most powerful minister in Maharashtra Eknath Khadse was asked to put in his papers. Yes, it’s happening. Give Modi, the marks where it is rightly due, don’t grudge. Amen.          

MAHARASHTRA: After all who is Salman Khan? A mere cinema actor! Yet, in a world, where money is the power, he is clearly showing it off. Or else what could be the reason for his refusal to say even ‘sorry’ for that stupid remark on women?

He had reportedly remarked that the grueling workout for the film had left him feeling like a “raped woman”. How, in the right sense, he could make this callous remark. He has condemned the entire womanhood by this extremely poor and outlandish statement. He has to tender an unconditional apology. Instead his lawyer replies to the notice of National Commission for Woman (NCW) probably giving some cock-n-bull explanation.

The entire nation is witness to the history of wrong doing by Salman Khan, which stood exposed despite the battery of costliest lawyers running around to protect him from the law of the land. Whether it is the Rajasthan Black Buck case, or his officious remark on 26/11 Pak inspired attack in Mumbai or the Hit-n-Run case of 28/9/2002 which is now in Supreme Court, there are any numbers of instances of his brush with the law enforcing authorities. NCW must take a tough legally sustainable stand and make this arrogant Khan to let him know his place among all law abiding citizens of this country.

HYDERABAD: Live burning of 3 puppies just two months old, and pushing them back into the fire when they attempted to escape the burning and keeping them pressed under fire, is probably the most sickening & blood curdling sight of any human doing it. That boys are aged between 5 & 10 makes it all the more macabre. What kind of a parentage or the society they come from? If there is any sense of proportion, the section of society these boys come from, has a huge moral responsibility. What can happen when they grow-up, if this is the level of their cruelty?

How is the juvenile home going to correct them? Do we have any monitoring agencies to vouch for the efficacy of these juvenile homes? The questions are far too many, making round for appropriate answers. In some of the social dimensions, are we lost as an evolving society?!        

KARNATAKA: There was this report about Social Welfare Minister not suspending a lady officer in Social Welfare department in Kalaburgi, in North East Karnataka, despite instruction from CMO.  

Regional Commissioner in Kalaburgi had reportedly apprised the Chief Minister about the alleged misuse of office by the lady officer concerned and had also ordered for an FIR to be filed. CM Siddaramaiah in turn had reportedly directed the minister to suspend her.

Report is titled “Anjaneya flouts CM’s order,” informing that the minister, instead of suspending the lady officer, defended her accusing the Regional Commissioner (RC), a senior IAS officer, of not doing his home work properly. 

According to the minister, RC should have first served a notice to the officer concerned and asked the department to look into the matter; therefore the action by RC is arbitrary.

Now there is this sensational news “Minister flouts Chief Minister’s order”. Naturally it is just not done! What CM says, goes! A senior IAS officer, as is the norm, is not likely to jump the gun of reporting the matter to the Chief Minister without doing his preliminary investigation. Report is not clear what is the status.

Besides, a junior officer in far away Kalaburgi cannot have a direct access to the minister, unless she is connected to some higher ups in Bengalooru.

The media has sold the news on sensation quotient, but what is the truth? Who is right and who is in the dock, is not clear. Shouldn’t, the reader and therefore the citizen, know the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?!

But in our India, in our Mera Bhaarath Mahaan, with connections of permutations and combinations and media with its own idea of what constitutes ‘news’, the reader and by extension citizen is left with only night (read darkness) with day light having been usurped by the powers that be. This is Yeh Mera India. 

“Civil Code: BJP’s motives suspect” (Deccan Herald 5th July) has let the cat out on the motives of the editor. Of course, for most part of the media BJP is a bad boy. But all political parties have this baggage of convenient grand standing.

UCC is an original intention of Constitution makers. Constitution is in force since 1950. So it’s over 65 years and we are still talking about it without any sense of direction. All think that UCC is desirable, especially in the context of women’s rights in a male dominated world. It’s indeed very sad that it’s the pettiness of the man which is at the core of the issue. Media need to address this aspect without the spurious mix of outdated religious practices. As editor rightly pointed out “They militate against the very essence of democracy and basic human rights.” Clearly it is nothing to do with the religion. A system which cannot protect the weak and vulnerable has no right to be called civilized.

Therefore it is incumbent upon the responsible media members like Deccan Herald to have issues based approach rather than highlighting convoluted political angles.

TAMIL NADU: One may have many right and wrong reasons to portray Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu negatively, but this one was a brilliant move to be commended positively.

For a mere Rs. 1 crore plus Jayalalitha gave 250 high-tech bicycles, and 100 high-tech motor cycles with helmets to the Tamil Nadu policemen and policewomen.

Reportedly the bicycles were fitted with powerful LED lights and siren. TN government also introduced hand held machines to fine traffic violators on the spot, the report informed.

All these initiatives were not only inexpensive, but also imaginative. They are going to improve the quality of life, for both the citizens and police personnel. Hope other Chief Ministers will take a leaf out of this brilliant initiative. Two cheers to Ms. J. Jayalalitha and her government in Chennai. Media and civic society must compliment where it is honestly due.

It is sad that Tamil Nadu made news for an eminently wrong reason. Nothing to do with the Jayalalitha government. But, believe it or not, of all the people, 2 medical students were arrested for throwing a dog from the terrace of a 3 storey building. Can this be called height of mental sickness? Not only one of them lifted the animal and flung it down but his friend video graphed it, ostensibly to record how the falling dog would cry. It could be at least 50ft high building.

It’s a miracle that the dog survived with broken hips. However what was most disturbing was the grant of bail to those two maniacs. They not only did the most inhuman act of throwing the dog, they uploaded the video on to the Face Book.

However by giving the bail to these two mentally sick criminals, in half an hour of their being arrested, is a reflection of a sorry state of judiciary to appreciate the cruelty of their action. Mercifully the college acted immediately to suspend both these lunatics from their medical college. Hope some sense will dawn on their thick head, what it means to attempting to kill animals which cannot hit back.

WORLD: News coming from Jerusalem about the visit of Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Foreign Minister to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has really warmed the global peaceniks.

On its own initiative, for Egypt to kick start the stalled peace process is a commendable move. The issue of Palestine has been a thorn of contention between Islamic world and the West in its attempt to always stand by Israel, right or wrong. The issue of Israel having been forced into Palestine territory has been around since India’s independence. Completely encircled by unfriendly and hostile Arab countries, for Israel to survive for so long, has been a story of sheer guts and valour. However, having usurped a part of Palestine with the help of international community of the West, Israel has not been fair with Palestine to give their legitimate agreed and accepted dues. PM Benjamin Netanyahu in particular has been rather very hard on issues of Palestinians.

In such a situation for Egypt to act upfront, “in continuation of Egypt’s long standing sense of responsibility towards peace in the region” as Foreign Minister puts it, is indeed very praise worthy. Reportedly such visit by Egypt is the first in 9 years. Hope international community in the west, and Arab nation around Palestine, support Egypt’s initiative for the cause of peace in the region.

Ramzan or no Ramzan, holy month or no holy month, the issue of Sunni & Shia has been an explosive one since bygone era. They both are Muslims, with some differences on Prophet Mohammed. But how killing of each other can provide an answer to the difference between them has never been debated in the Muslim world.

Iraq has been an epicenter of such attacks. Iraq is a Shia majority country, but was ruled by Sunni Saddam Hussain. The general public did not have many such problems. However ever since Saddam has been dethroned, may be wrongly, by the U.S, there is this change in the regime. There is a government headed by majority Shias, and Sunnis are unhappy with it. This ISIS, is Sunni inspired and therefore, they want this Shia government out.

In the first week of the July during the holy month of Ramadan, reportedly some 119 people were killed in two bombings including 86 people and injuring some 170 in a central shopping district, after the iftar.

Claiming responsibility, the ISSI had posted, an online statement, reportedly saying that they had deliberately targetet Shiite Muslims. Can their Allah forgive them?

Taslima Nasrin had told in the past and she repeated that the growth of homegrown terrorism in Bangladesh has been going on since some years and that successive government in Dhaka have failed to take it seriously. And right enough it struck on Friday night, killing some 20, mostly foreigners.

Holey Artisan Bakery, is an up market cafe in the diplomatic zone. Expectedly there were many foreigners. Homegrown Islamists, probably supported by the Pakistani ISI, had a clear plan to kill only non-Muslims, who couldn’t recite verses from Koran. They succeeded in their plan and kill their 20 hostages by slitting their throat. It must have been a ghastly sight. Rapid Action Battalion of Bangladesh, who acted instantly on receiving the information reached the cafe and killed all six terrorists. In the crossfire 2 policemen too died. Thus it was 28 deaths due to the inspired madness of some lunatics.

This was the first time that an attack of this nature and scale took place in Bangladesh. Sheik Hasina, the PM, has promised tough stand on this emerging serious threat. With opposition in cohort with divisive forces, it is premature to say, how successful she will be. Of course Pakistani ISI is the eternal villain in the sub continent. They need to be nailed.

Reportedly India has offered help in sharing intelligence for an effective handling of such situations. Hope some kind of a permanent arrangement is put in place so that both government can prevent any future terror attacks by these blood thirsty barbarians.

We are living in a strange world.  You help somebody, and that somebody pays it back by being an attacker on your persona. Is this the height of ingratitude? How would the helper, the one who helps, shall help again to another in need of help?!

The report datelined Berlin, informs “Germany toughens rape law”. The German parliament recently passed a landmark “no means no” rape law broadening the definition of sex crimes and making it easier to deport migrants and refugees who commit them.

Following a rash of sexual assault in crowd on New Year’s Eve in the western city of Cologne, which was largely blamed on Arab and North African men, the legislation apparently became inevitable.

The current legislation takes a tougher view of different dimension of physical trespass to enable the law enforcement authorities to deport migrants and refugees, who commit this trespass, more easily, than it was previously possible. Hope German women would breathe more easily. So also, immigrants would be more law abiding and more respectful of women of the host country.

J.Shriyan