MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE
PUNJAB: Punjab Chief Minister Captn. Amarinder Singh is a person with head properly above his shoulder. He always responds with measured response in a matured way. If he has been elected without much help from the high command it is because, he commands respect from his people.
Recently while talking to the press on completion of 2 years of government in Chandigarh he had clarity of thought on issues raised by the press. We are all aware that recently Pakistan opened Kartarpur corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrimage. Prima facie, it is a good gesture. The place is just across the border. While drawing the border, this could have been safely, without any rancor, included in India. But British being, what they are, they left it inside Pakistan, so that it can keep festering between two countries. This particular initiative has come after 71 years, with the new Prime Minister taking the call. However, is it as clean a gesture as it is made out to be! Captn. Amarinder Singh does not think so. He suspects larger design with Khalistani dimension. Reportedly Khalistani elements in Pakistan are attempting ‘Referendum 2020’ and this gesture is to please these Khalistani elements. By hind sight Captn. Amarinder Singh may not be wrong after all. He accuses Pakistan of fomenting trouble to divide and destabilise India and refuse to believe in the good neighborly good intention claimed by Pakistan. Probably Captn. Singh has his ears to the ground! In another issue, responding to media query whether BJP would benefit from the Pulwama attack and counter attack? His response was statesman like. He said “Even Congress, had it been in power, would have retaliated to the dastardly terror attack”, while adding “government did its job, just as the Congress governments had done earlier”. That was rather being apolitical, taking nothing away from the credit the incumbent government deserved under the circumstances.
This is decency in politics. Hope there are more like Captn. Amarinder Singh in Indian politics, who do not politicize issues.
NEW DELHI: Writing on the debacle India suffered in England some months ago, on the cricket field, an editorial of an English daily had commented ‘how dependence on one person leads to shoddy results’. It was generally commenting on the overall performance of Indian cricketers. The paper said “Even as the team’s collective performance fell short, Captain Virat Kohli became the 7th Indian to be ranked at the top of ICC Test ranking while scoring almost half of Indian team’s runs. The captain’s performance drew comparison to the last Indian at the top of the test batting rankings: Sachin Tendulkar. In the first half of his career Tendulkar was a standout performer on tough overseas tours but the team often ended on the losing side”, the paper had concluded, while adding how the emergence of Rahul Dravid and Virendra Sehwag had helped winning matches in overseas encounters. They were pointing out how collective dependence instead of dependence on one individual, had led to the reversal of fortunes in matches outside or inside India. And we have witnessed in recent past how collective performance had resulted in India performing better.
Can this analogy be extended to other areas of our public life like say politics, where it is one leader or one dynasty that decide things or call the shot. Union cabinet in the present dispensation for example, is dependent largely on PMO and bureaucrats, rather than a team of competent and capable ministers or could it be the reluctance of the leader to delegate powers to vertically downwards so that responsibility to deliver is shared where the opportunity to perform is also shared. Similar is the case of opposition parties like Congress, JD(S) or others where dynasty calls the shot with less and less scope for outside talent to play the role of leadership at different levels for better performance in public space, a sad dimension of Indian politics.
NEW DELHI:The belated initiative of the apex court to resolve the Ayodhya imbroglio through mediation is a welcome development, although such proposals were there and were even tried in the past informally. Now there is a legal sanction with 3 gentlemen of social/legal standing being the party to go into the nitty-gritty of mediation.
Retired justice FMI Kalifulla of Supreme Court being the head and spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar along with eminent lawyer Sriram Panchu being its other members, the team has been given 8 weeks to resolve the tangle.
Every mediation effort is based on the premise of give and take. But who will first blink is a big question. In a mediation effort all parties to the dispute are expected to be reasonable. But what is being reasonable?
However before being reasonable, the truth of the case may have to be established. So the question arises what is the truth?
Prior to this decision to go for mediation, it was only the ownership of the disputed land that had to be established. So what are the terms of reference for this mediation? What is the starting point?
What are the facts of the case? As per Supreme Court wisdom, the issue also involves matters of faith not just land and therefore involvement of all parties is required. While, mediation could be an option under the circumstances, intransigencies of claimants make it difficult to come to a settlement. Nirmohi Akhara, one of the litigants is against mediation and not likely to take part. Thus prima facie, the issue is complicated. Only way is one of the party gives up its claim for something else. To give up one in exchange of another is one of the possibilities.
However gentlemen involved have different background. How they can influence the outcome is difficult to predict. One of the mediators has already tried it and has failed. So he may be having same or similar approach. Was it right to include him?
In any case, it’s a matter of 8 weeks from March 15. So sometime towards the end of May, the result may be there for all to see. Hope the good intention of Supreme Court prevails for the resolution of a 70 years old dispute amicably and peacefully. Hope it does.
NEW DELHI:While Pulwama attack is an extremely unfortunate incident, political slugfest between ruling party and opposition is making a mockery of the level of maturity of our political leadership.
While it is true that there have been retaliatory attack on the Pakistani terror camp, the utterances of ministers and political party functionaries leaves lot to be desired. It is very unfortunate and entirely amateurish.
If one minister has claimed no casualties, the other, a more senior one, said it to be ‘over 350 terrorists including their commanders and trainers’. BJP Party Chief too jumped in with his own figure of 250. This is clearly pedestrian to say the least. Then you have a party satrap from south Yediyurappa, going to town that the whole action & reaction shall bring more seats to it in the Lok Sabha election, which made him look like a buffoon with another party leader privately commenting that this Yediyurappa has become senile.
That there were casualties in the counter attack by India on Balakot terror camp is undeniable, but to come up with specific figures soon thereafter is clearly to jump the gun where there wasn’t any gun. Party leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi should pull these characters openly so that at least there is an element of sanity prevailing in the political discourse in the country. Of course opposition is there only to pounce on the ruling party rightly or wrongly. Especially during election time, it can be no-holds barred. Having seen some blood, they want to see that the ruling party bleeds to death, losing in the process all sense of proportion. But the blame lies entirely at the door of ruling combine, take it or leave it.
NEW DELHI:‘The Festival of Democracy’ is on, so said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The seven phase election starting from April 11 and completing on May 19, has been declared by the Chief Election Commissioner. Some 900 million Indians are going to exercise their franchise to elect a government to manage the affairs of the country for the next 5 years.
India, the world’s largest democracy is not an easy country to manage, with its myriad differences in its precepts and practices with some 26 official languages being spoken in some 29 states and 7 union territories. With these complexities, election of 543 Members of Parliament is likely to be a massive exercise. However this is not the first time that such an election is being held. There have been such exercises in the past, which have been conducted peacefully. Hence the present exercise too is expected to be as peaceful.
However, there is something special this time round. Criminals taking part in the election as candidates are not banned unless already convicted but there is a newer dimension in the Election Commission (EC) approach to the issue. The EC has made it compulsory for candidates contesting polls to advertise their criminal antecedents on TV and newspapers at least three times during the electioneering.
Reportedly this particular direction was issued in October 2018; the rule will be invoked for the first time during this Loksabha election. According to the directions, political parties too will have to give publicity to the criminal records of candidates fielded by them.
This is certainly a positive development needed from beginning since criminals entering the electoral scene and making the election murky with their money and muscle power has always been there. At least it will give the real time picture of the candidates for the information of electorates and enable them to decide on their votes.
Of course, used to electing likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav, despite all kinds of accusations and acts of commission & omission, how much such direction and exposure in the print and electronic media can really influence, on the ground, is difficult to predict. But, it is sure to make all concerned aware why people with no-criminal record need to be elected. Hope, the well intentioned direction will have its desired long term effect.
NEW DELHI:A Mumbai based English daily had this headline in one of its edition a few days ago, “Arvind Kejriwal is losing his charm”.
Is it a surprise that Arvind Akela Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal is losing his charm! It is a law of nature what goes up fast comes down equally fast. He came as a breath of fresh air in an otherwise sickening political atmosphere. It almost happened, when post Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement led to the launching of Aam Admi Party (AAP). Unfortunately it remained ‘almost’ and at some time it remained stationery and now it has stopped growing.
AAP when it got launched, there was a huge groundswell of support from across the national spectrum, especially the educated urbanities, who were fed-up with the conventional political parties, all got stuck-power hungry and very corrupt to somewhat corrupt, but more often failed to deliver.
So, fresh from the anti corruption movement demanding Lokpal with octogenarian Hazare in the forefront, Arvind Kejriwal’s entry into politics, was like dream run. He had likes of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan. With these gentlemen of eminence, the stock of AAP was high and growing. And one day AAP under Kejriwal’s leadership wins 67 of 70 Delhi seats. Starting the political innings from Delhi was a smart move. It is small area, with the largest footfalls and big revenue. So, reaching out was easier and AAP reaped the bonanza. But that victory destroyed the sense of proportion of Kejriwal. It did drive him a bit Krejiwal. He sacked two of his best men in the party-Yadav and Bhushan, as if he is a dictator. He said he does not need them anymore. Every day, he will come up with some reason to fight with Prime Minister Modi and ask for statehood for the union territory, although constitutionally it is not possible. He tried all his tricks to grab media attention. Slowly and steadily, men who mattered started leaving the party, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh and many others have left AAP. He tried his luck in Goa, another small state, came to naught. In Punjab, made some foray but he is slowly loosing the grip. Much of the goodwill of 5 years ago is slowly ebbing. As of now, AAP is not likely to go beyond Delhi. It can grow if he gives up the party convener post and keep only CM’s post. But he won’t. He wants the cake and eat it too. This is possible only in the short run, not in the long run. But he seems to have learnt no lesson.
MADHYA PRADESH:The infamous Jhabua Nuns Rape Case that took place in September 1998 had brought bad name to the country, primarily due to the agenda driven media. Reportedly on March 4th 2019, after more than 20 years, the prime accused in the gang rape, Kalu Limji, a tribal was arrested from Aamba Village of the Jhabua district.
In September 1998, the accused, mostly tribals, had entered the Priti Sharan Mission at Naupara village in the predominantly tribal district of Jhabua and had physically assaulted nuns residing therein.
Here it is relevant to quote George Fernandes. While being in Mangalooru, as the Defence Minister of the country, way back in 1999, he was sharing his thoughts, “Jhabua nuns’ rape case attracted global attention thanks to our cockeyed media, but it was perpetrated by Christian tribals themselves. Ask the Kerala team of MLAs who travelled to Jhabua and learnt the truth firsthand after visiting the Priti Sharan Mission and interacting with nuns there. But why did the press, the Congress party and the Leftist turned the ‘Nelson eye’ and hushed up the matter. And where are their Amesty International Friends?”, he had asked then.
When it happened in 1998, the central government was that of NDA with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister. And media was full of stories accusing RSS and Sangh outfits.
Now that the prime accused has been arrested, hopefully the record can be set right for the information of posterity. Hope it does.
MAHARASHTRA:There were two news reports some weeks ago datelined Mumbai. “Death penalty is savage sentence, convicts tell HC”, was one, “Communal Hatred being spread since last 4 years: Ex-HC Judge”, was the other. Both are related to judiciary, law and its interpretation, but one had a political overtone.
The report referred to HC Judge was related to a former High Court Judge Abhay Thipsay, who is a retired Judge of Bombay High Court. As soon as he retired with no other assignment, he joined the Congress Party. When a judge joins a political party, his views are those of his party as well. Since last 4+ years, there is BJP led government in the centre hence his views need not be independent. In fact it can be said to be biased. While it is true that, whenever BJP comes to power, there are fringe elements in the party who have created problems in the society. But to say that “Hatred is being spread” by the party in power is rather far from truth, despite likes of Aamir Khan & Nasiruddin Shah. But then, what can one expect from a gentleman who as a High Court Judge bailed out Salman Khan in matter of hours, when the Hindi film actor was awarded a jail sentence of 5 years in a case of culpable homicide, after 13 long years of lumbering Hit & Run court case, with whole system helping the accused. Then Justice Abhay Thipsay had no pangs of conscience to come to the cause of victims of this powerful accused- the poor, moneyless and powerless labourers, who were sleeping on the pavement outside American Express Bakery in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. That was way back in May 2015, now close to 4 years, the case continues to lumber in the apex court. So its 17 long years! The justice is not merely delayed but denied as well.
The other report is on the conviction of 3 men in the infamous Shakti Mills Gang Rape case. Bombay Session court had awarded death sentence to three of the five accused in one of the faster conviction in a rape case. The incident had happened in August 2013 and the court decided the case in about 8 months, in April 2014. As usual the accused went to High Court aggrieved with the plea that “the death sentence awarded to them was wrong in law since there existed enormous difference between the harm caused by them and the punishment meted out to them”. Indeed, ‘it pains you when you are subjected to pain, but you don’t realize the same pain could have been suffered by your victims, whom you attacked with equal savagery’. And they were the repeat offenders of the same crime. The idea of death sentence is certainly the last resort. But then how do you stop the bestiality or animal instinct of a rapist? Death sentence is a deterrence. Will it work? It is awarded with a clear intent that the fear of death may, after all, bring the end of such crimes. Hope High Court takes the call as it deems it right.
KARNATAKA:Politics of option in the Indian cricket dressing room is an interesting dimension which cricket crazy Indians must come to terms with.
In recent past we have seen too much cricket. But only those players, who are the blue eyed boys of mighty Virat Kohli, make it to the crease.
India is a fortunate country with abundant talents in cricket. It is also fortunate to have selfless coaches like Rahul Dravid, being the coach of juniors playing for India.
There were these three reports in a section of the English press some months ago, “Virat close to becoming a legend: MSD”, was one, “Kohli template that all batsmen are keen to copy”, was the other. “Selectors have more options now”, was the 3rd one. If the first was datelined Mumbai, the 2nd one was London datelined. Bengalooru took the credit for the 3rd report.
“Indian cricket is replete with stories of young talents losing the plot during transition from under 19 to the senior national team”, was the punch line for the story from Bengalooru. So true, it is.
There are ‘N’ numbers of young cricketers in late teens and early 20s waiting in the wings interminably for a break into the Indian dressing room. Because, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) says “Virat wants to become a legend”, and therefore other youngsters have to wait. In the past, it was Sachin Tendulkar, who went on and on, because he had friends in right place with likes of Sharad Pawar calling the shot, to have his two hundred matches and 100 centuries, and our talented youth got wasted waiting forever. It was only IPL that truly ushered the abundant talent available within India. Then there are those seniors who want to emulate Kohli, and therefore youngsters have to wait.
Cricket playing for India has become less for the love of the game but more for the moolah it gets to all. It is a well known truth that playing for Indian cricket team brings real big money.
Ask Ravi Shastri, he wants to remain the coach for the kind of big money it gets him. He supports both MSD and VK, for his own survival, and keeps saying MSD the former captain is needed in the team to guide VK, the incumbent captain. Here it is pertinent to note what Rahul Dravid had to say, “Winning and losing is just a part at this level and not the be all and end all. Our job is to give opportunities to young talent”. Unfortunately not many in the corridors of BCCI think on these lines. That is the sad reality.
KARNATAKA: Can you imagine that a school can stop students from appearing for their public exam for X merely to get 100% result!
School is there for children to learn, to acquire knowledge and understand what is right and wrong. In short, the school is supposed to make a child a better human being after he completes his school.
No, that’s not how some school thinks. They want to acquire name and fame as a school that produces brilliant children and that school always got 100% result in their SSLC or X public exam. In the process you damn or dump children. So be it. These schools are not worried about how these students are evolving as humans or if they become vagabonds graduating as anti-social elements. These schools do not give them a damn.
Of all the places, a school in Mangalooru, famous as Educational Centre, has reportedly detained 4 students from appearing for the X public exam and reportedly convinced their parents that these children can appear next year with better preparation. They have lost a year. ‘So what, we can get 100% result for our school’! And the school, the report informs, is St. Johns High School, Allipade near Bantwal. How can the school play with the future lives of children in the name of 100% result? If the 4 children were not good, it is because the teaching and the teachers were probably not good enough. By appropriate methods, it is possible to improve the children’s ability to comprehend and therefore to understand which will help them perform better at the exams. Their argument that these students were detained for their own good, hold no water. It does not make any sense. Because of this denial, these 4 students may lose interest in studies and the person who decided to force these 4 students will be entirely responsible for their future failure.
However, we at I&C wish these 4 students all the very best in their attempt to clear the 10th public exam and may be even support their efforts.
In the mean while, the school should be publicly reprimanded for their closed mind approach.
TAMIL NADU: Something that should have happened decades ago, has happened at last. In a first for the country, a 35 year old woman advocate Sneha, hailing from Tiruppattur in Vellore district was issued with a formal certificate that she does not belong to any caste or religion.
Among so many educated individuals who tried to preach and practice that they do not want to be known as belonging to any caste or religion, this Sneha has succeeded in breaking the system that resisted the change.
Sneha who is a lawyer, hails from a family of lawyers. Her parents and both elder and younger sisters are lawyers. So the law and its interpretation runs through the family. They are fully aware of the legal and social implication or the futility or the utility of this age old practice of using the information of caste and religion especially in a country like India.
We all recognize the world over that religions have only created walls and did not build bridges. In India it was more diabolic with caste thrown in. This caste conundrum is a worst kind of divide the Hindu society is facing. There have been innumerable instances of violence in different parts of India in the name of caste, especially from those who claimed to belong to higher caste against those of lower caste. History of contemporary India, despite political freedom of 70+ years, in full of atrocity of higher caste against men, women and children of lower caste. It will not be out of place to write that “casteism is not only a crime against humanity it is also a curse against humanity”.
Under the circumstances, this issue of a formal certificate by the government in Tamil Nadu is a hugely positive development in the evolution of India as a country looking for equity in its social intercourse. Hope this single step lead to a long and purposeful march towards India : a fair society.
KERALA:The unending ordeal faced by five nuns of St. Francis Mission Home, Kuravilangad is very distressing and disturbing to say the least. They are marked by the church authorities for giving statement against the lecherous former Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jallandar diocese. Instead of Franco Mulakkal suffering the jail life, these nuns, who stood by the victim, are made to suffer, while this lecherous Bishop having been wrongly granted bail is out and free.
For some strange and political reasons, the government of Pinarayi Vijayan is going slow on the complaint of these nuns and hence these five nuns have requested the Kottayam DC to expedite the completion of charge sheet against Franco Mulakkal and submit to the court.
Due to this delay and tactics of procrastination by the Kottayam police, probably under instruction from the government, these nuns are being increasingly harassed by church authorities at Kuravilangad and Kochi.
This is sad and bad especially in a scenario where Pope Francis is increasingly being tough on characters like Franco Mulakkal and his ilk. Our Christian brothers and sisters have a responsibility to come to the help and support of these five nuns who are at the receiving end of pressures from vested interest within the portals of Church, especially the likes of Sr. Anna Joseph who is the Superior General at Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC). Sr. Anna Joseph has been known to be playing very difficult with Sr. Lucy Vadakkal, one of the key witnesses in the case against this disrobed and disgraced former Bishop of Jallandar.
The mysterious death of Fr. Kuriakose Kattuthara is another very serious point, not being investigated seriously. Thus Kerala government must necessarily do as quickly as possible to complete the procedure to prosecute this wayward former Bishop so that the lives of these nuns are no more made difficult. Hope police does its job diligently to fix the guy.
WORLD: Imran Khan, the newest Pakistani Prime Minister, despite some amateurish utterances at times, is proving to be different.
The most of the world is aware that Pakistan is not a minority friendly country. In 1947, minorities constituted 30% of Pakistani population, but today it is not even 3%. What happened to them is never answered satisfactorily. Some have fled the country, some have become Muslims and some have been even killed after subjecting them to different forms of violence including the controversial blasphemy law of the land.
This was the condition prevailing before Imran Khan took over as the Prime Minister. He has been making conciliatory noises on minority matters. However true to his stated position, in a recent incident he stood by his word. An Islamabad datelined report informs “Pak Minister sacked over anti-Hindu remarks”. Reportedly, Fayazul Hassan Chohan, the Information & Culture Minister of Pak’s Punjab Province, during a press conference had referred to Hindus as “Cow-Urine drinking People”. He belonged to Imran Khan’s ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Reportedly, he profusely apologized to Chief Minister of Punjab for having made the statement. And Punjab Chief Minister had reportedly forgiven him after the minister publicly apologized. But reportedly, Imran Khan, the Prime Minister, asked the Punjab Chief Minister to sack the minister immediately to send the message loud & clear, and Chohan was sent packing. This is perhaps for the first time such drastic step was taken under similar circumstances. All reasonable human beings must applaud Prime Minister Imran Khan for his no-nonsense approach when it comes to dealing with tasteless utterances from government functionaries humiliating any community.
Clearly, there is lesson too our own leaders, including our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and others. In public life it is important that leaders walk the talk, not just keep talking to the gallery. Two cheers to Imran Khan.
WORLD: In a clear recognition of the rising level to bilateral relation between India and UAE, Abu Dhabhi, the ruling seat of UAE has conferred a status of official court language to India’s national language Hindi.
That’s great news for all Indians. Dubai has a population of 2.6 million Indians, which according to the report coming from Dubai, constitute over 30% of the entire UAE population. It is indeed an honour to India. We all recognize that among Indians in the UAE, as percentage of Indians of different linguistic background, Malayalees constitute the largest. Yet Hindi has been given the precedence, only because, Hindi is the national language of India. So, in effect, it is the India which has been recognized for this honour. I am sure all Indians, including Malaylees will take pride in this recognition.
This facility of the third language after Arabic & English is to facilitate better judicial processes within the portals of justice dispensation like courts and tribunals. This means, that even judicial and legal forms/documents needed to be filled and filed, the department of justice in UAE will have Hindi also besides existing two languages of Arabic & English. Hither to English was the only language available for foreigners. From now on Hindi will also be available within the corridors of UAE courts to help litigants. Two cheers to the leaders of UAE, for this path breaking development.
WORLD: Post Pulwama attack United Nations Organization once again took up the case of Masood Azar to be declared a terrorist, especially after J-e-M claimed responsibility to the attack.
Of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) 14 responded positively to the call to declare this Pakistan sheltered Azar as terrorist. They backed the move to outlaw the man and his group Jeish-e-Mohammad leaving only China as a sore thumb. They conclusively proved that China does not mind being branded as partners with Pakistan in terrorism.
The usual charade of ‘technical hold’ was once again expressed as the reason for not backing the resolution.
Indian response to the Pulwama attack was unprecedented and reportedly did surprise global power centres. But they were all positive in their approbation of the Indian military response.
The UN resolution on terrorist Masood Azar, lobbied by India and supported by the entire UNSC is a reflection of India’s tireless and articulated diplomacy within the corridors of United Nations head quarters. It has also exposed the duplicity of China, who for their own economic and strategic interest are not seen to be supporting anything against Pakistan. Of course, the global opinion will one day force the hands of Peoples Republic of China to see the writings on the wall. Hope sooner it recognizes its role as a global leader and the responsibility that goes with it, the better for the world.
Recently while talking to the press on completion of 2 years of government in Chandigarh he had clarity of thought on issues raised by the press. We are all aware that recently Pakistan opened Kartarpur corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrimage. Prima facie, it is a good gesture. The place is just across the border. While drawing the border, this could have been safely, without any rancor, included in India. But British being, what they are, they left it inside Pakistan, so that it can keep festering between two countries. This particular initiative has come after 71 years, with the new Prime Minister taking the call. However, is it as clean a gesture as it is made out to be! Captn. Amarinder Singh does not think so. He suspects larger design with Khalistani dimension. Reportedly Khalistani elements in Pakistan are attempting ‘Referendum 2020’ and this gesture is to please these Khalistani elements. By hind sight Captn. Amarinder Singh may not be wrong after all. He accuses Pakistan of fomenting trouble to divide and destabilise India and refuse to believe in the good neighborly good intention claimed by Pakistan. Probably Captn. Singh has his ears to the ground! In another issue, responding to media query whether BJP would benefit from the Pulwama attack and counter attack? His response was statesman like. He said “Even Congress, had it been in power, would have retaliated to the dastardly terror attack”, while adding “government did its job, just as the Congress governments had done earlier”. That was rather being apolitical, taking nothing away from the credit the incumbent government deserved under the circumstances.
This is decency in politics. Hope there are more like Captn. Amarinder Singh in Indian politics, who do not politicize issues.
NEW DELHI: Writing on the debacle India suffered in England some months ago, on the cricket field, an editorial of an English daily had commented ‘how dependence on one person leads to shoddy results’. It was generally commenting on the overall performance of Indian cricketers. The paper said “Even as the team’s collective performance fell short, Captain Virat Kohli became the 7th Indian to be ranked at the top of ICC Test ranking while scoring almost half of Indian team’s runs. The captain’s performance drew comparison to the last Indian at the top of the test batting rankings: Sachin Tendulkar. In the first half of his career Tendulkar was a standout performer on tough overseas tours but the team often ended on the losing side”, the paper had concluded, while adding how the emergence of Rahul Dravid and Virendra Sehwag had helped winning matches in overseas encounters. They were pointing out how collective dependence instead of dependence on one individual, had led to the reversal of fortunes in matches outside or inside India. And we have witnessed in recent past how collective performance had resulted in India performing better.
Can this analogy be extended to other areas of our public life like say politics, where it is one leader or one dynasty that decide things or call the shot. Union cabinet in the present dispensation for example, is dependent largely on PMO and bureaucrats, rather than a team of competent and capable ministers or could it be the reluctance of the leader to delegate powers to vertically downwards so that responsibility to deliver is shared where the opportunity to perform is also shared. Similar is the case of opposition parties like Congress, JD(S) or others where dynasty calls the shot with less and less scope for outside talent to play the role of leadership at different levels for better performance in public space, a sad dimension of Indian politics.
NEW DELHI:The belated initiative of the apex court to resolve the Ayodhya imbroglio through mediation is a welcome development, although such proposals were there and were even tried in the past informally. Now there is a legal sanction with 3 gentlemen of social/legal standing being the party to go into the nitty-gritty of mediation.
Retired justice FMI Kalifulla of Supreme Court being the head and spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar along with eminent lawyer Sriram Panchu being its other members, the team has been given 8 weeks to resolve the tangle.
Every mediation effort is based on the premise of give and take. But who will first blink is a big question. In a mediation effort all parties to the dispute are expected to be reasonable. But what is being reasonable?
However before being reasonable, the truth of the case may have to be established. So the question arises what is the truth?
Prior to this decision to go for mediation, it was only the ownership of the disputed land that had to be established. So what are the terms of reference for this mediation? What is the starting point?
What are the facts of the case? As per Supreme Court wisdom, the issue also involves matters of faith not just land and therefore involvement of all parties is required. While, mediation could be an option under the circumstances, intransigencies of claimants make it difficult to come to a settlement. Nirmohi Akhara, one of the litigants is against mediation and not likely to take part. Thus prima facie, the issue is complicated. Only way is one of the party gives up its claim for something else. To give up one in exchange of another is one of the possibilities.
However gentlemen involved have different background. How they can influence the outcome is difficult to predict. One of the mediators has already tried it and has failed. So he may be having same or similar approach. Was it right to include him?
In any case, it’s a matter of 8 weeks from March 15. So sometime towards the end of May, the result may be there for all to see. Hope the good intention of Supreme Court prevails for the resolution of a 70 years old dispute amicably and peacefully. Hope it does.
NEW DELHI:While Pulwama attack is an extremely unfortunate incident, political slugfest between ruling party and opposition is making a mockery of the level of maturity of our political leadership.
While it is true that there have been retaliatory attack on the Pakistani terror camp, the utterances of ministers and political party functionaries leaves lot to be desired. It is very unfortunate and entirely amateurish.
If one minister has claimed no casualties, the other, a more senior one, said it to be ‘over 350 terrorists including their commanders and trainers’. BJP Party Chief too jumped in with his own figure of 250. This is clearly pedestrian to say the least. Then you have a party satrap from south Yediyurappa, going to town that the whole action & reaction shall bring more seats to it in the Lok Sabha election, which made him look like a buffoon with another party leader privately commenting that this Yediyurappa has become senile.
That there were casualties in the counter attack by India on Balakot terror camp is undeniable, but to come up with specific figures soon thereafter is clearly to jump the gun where there wasn’t any gun. Party leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi should pull these characters openly so that at least there is an element of sanity prevailing in the political discourse in the country. Of course opposition is there only to pounce on the ruling party rightly or wrongly. Especially during election time, it can be no-holds barred. Having seen some blood, they want to see that the ruling party bleeds to death, losing in the process all sense of proportion. But the blame lies entirely at the door of ruling combine, take it or leave it.
NEW DELHI:‘The Festival of Democracy’ is on, so said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The seven phase election starting from April 11 and completing on May 19, has been declared by the Chief Election Commissioner. Some 900 million Indians are going to exercise their franchise to elect a government to manage the affairs of the country for the next 5 years.
India, the world’s largest democracy is not an easy country to manage, with its myriad differences in its precepts and practices with some 26 official languages being spoken in some 29 states and 7 union territories. With these complexities, election of 543 Members of Parliament is likely to be a massive exercise. However this is not the first time that such an election is being held. There have been such exercises in the past, which have been conducted peacefully. Hence the present exercise too is expected to be as peaceful.
However, there is something special this time round. Criminals taking part in the election as candidates are not banned unless already convicted but there is a newer dimension in the Election Commission (EC) approach to the issue. The EC has made it compulsory for candidates contesting polls to advertise their criminal antecedents on TV and newspapers at least three times during the electioneering.
Reportedly this particular direction was issued in October 2018; the rule will be invoked for the first time during this Loksabha election. According to the directions, political parties too will have to give publicity to the criminal records of candidates fielded by them.
This is certainly a positive development needed from beginning since criminals entering the electoral scene and making the election murky with their money and muscle power has always been there. At least it will give the real time picture of the candidates for the information of electorates and enable them to decide on their votes.
Of course, used to electing likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav, despite all kinds of accusations and acts of commission & omission, how much such direction and exposure in the print and electronic media can really influence, on the ground, is difficult to predict. But, it is sure to make all concerned aware why people with no-criminal record need to be elected. Hope, the well intentioned direction will have its desired long term effect.
NEW DELHI:A Mumbai based English daily had this headline in one of its edition a few days ago, “Arvind Kejriwal is losing his charm”.
Is it a surprise that Arvind Akela Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal is losing his charm! It is a law of nature what goes up fast comes down equally fast. He came as a breath of fresh air in an otherwise sickening political atmosphere. It almost happened, when post Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement led to the launching of Aam Admi Party (AAP). Unfortunately it remained ‘almost’ and at some time it remained stationery and now it has stopped growing.
AAP when it got launched, there was a huge groundswell of support from across the national spectrum, especially the educated urbanities, who were fed-up with the conventional political parties, all got stuck-power hungry and very corrupt to somewhat corrupt, but more often failed to deliver.
So, fresh from the anti corruption movement demanding Lokpal with octogenarian Hazare in the forefront, Arvind Kejriwal’s entry into politics, was like dream run. He had likes of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan. With these gentlemen of eminence, the stock of AAP was high and growing. And one day AAP under Kejriwal’s leadership wins 67 of 70 Delhi seats. Starting the political innings from Delhi was a smart move. It is small area, with the largest footfalls and big revenue. So, reaching out was easier and AAP reaped the bonanza. But that victory destroyed the sense of proportion of Kejriwal. It did drive him a bit Krejiwal. He sacked two of his best men in the party-Yadav and Bhushan, as if he is a dictator. He said he does not need them anymore. Every day, he will come up with some reason to fight with Prime Minister Modi and ask for statehood for the union territory, although constitutionally it is not possible. He tried all his tricks to grab media attention. Slowly and steadily, men who mattered started leaving the party, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh and many others have left AAP. He tried his luck in Goa, another small state, came to naught. In Punjab, made some foray but he is slowly loosing the grip. Much of the goodwill of 5 years ago is slowly ebbing. As of now, AAP is not likely to go beyond Delhi. It can grow if he gives up the party convener post and keep only CM’s post. But he won’t. He wants the cake and eat it too. This is possible only in the short run, not in the long run. But he seems to have learnt no lesson.
MADHYA PRADESH:The infamous Jhabua Nuns Rape Case that took place in September 1998 had brought bad name to the country, primarily due to the agenda driven media. Reportedly on March 4th 2019, after more than 20 years, the prime accused in the gang rape, Kalu Limji, a tribal was arrested from Aamba Village of the Jhabua district.
In September 1998, the accused, mostly tribals, had entered the Priti Sharan Mission at Naupara village in the predominantly tribal district of Jhabua and had physically assaulted nuns residing therein.
Here it is relevant to quote George Fernandes. While being in Mangalooru, as the Defence Minister of the country, way back in 1999, he was sharing his thoughts, “Jhabua nuns’ rape case attracted global attention thanks to our cockeyed media, but it was perpetrated by Christian tribals themselves. Ask the Kerala team of MLAs who travelled to Jhabua and learnt the truth firsthand after visiting the Priti Sharan Mission and interacting with nuns there. But why did the press, the Congress party and the Leftist turned the ‘Nelson eye’ and hushed up the matter. And where are their Amesty International Friends?”, he had asked then.
When it happened in 1998, the central government was that of NDA with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister. And media was full of stories accusing RSS and Sangh outfits.
Now that the prime accused has been arrested, hopefully the record can be set right for the information of posterity. Hope it does.
MAHARASHTRA:There were two news reports some weeks ago datelined Mumbai. “Death penalty is savage sentence, convicts tell HC”, was one, “Communal Hatred being spread since last 4 years: Ex-HC Judge”, was the other. Both are related to judiciary, law and its interpretation, but one had a political overtone.
The report referred to HC Judge was related to a former High Court Judge Abhay Thipsay, who is a retired Judge of Bombay High Court. As soon as he retired with no other assignment, he joined the Congress Party. When a judge joins a political party, his views are those of his party as well. Since last 4+ years, there is BJP led government in the centre hence his views need not be independent. In fact it can be said to be biased. While it is true that, whenever BJP comes to power, there are fringe elements in the party who have created problems in the society. But to say that “Hatred is being spread” by the party in power is rather far from truth, despite likes of Aamir Khan & Nasiruddin Shah. But then, what can one expect from a gentleman who as a High Court Judge bailed out Salman Khan in matter of hours, when the Hindi film actor was awarded a jail sentence of 5 years in a case of culpable homicide, after 13 long years of lumbering Hit & Run court case, with whole system helping the accused. Then Justice Abhay Thipsay had no pangs of conscience to come to the cause of victims of this powerful accused- the poor, moneyless and powerless labourers, who were sleeping on the pavement outside American Express Bakery in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. That was way back in May 2015, now close to 4 years, the case continues to lumber in the apex court. So its 17 long years! The justice is not merely delayed but denied as well.
The other report is on the conviction of 3 men in the infamous Shakti Mills Gang Rape case. Bombay Session court had awarded death sentence to three of the five accused in one of the faster conviction in a rape case. The incident had happened in August 2013 and the court decided the case in about 8 months, in April 2014. As usual the accused went to High Court aggrieved with the plea that “the death sentence awarded to them was wrong in law since there existed enormous difference between the harm caused by them and the punishment meted out to them”. Indeed, ‘it pains you when you are subjected to pain, but you don’t realize the same pain could have been suffered by your victims, whom you attacked with equal savagery’. And they were the repeat offenders of the same crime. The idea of death sentence is certainly the last resort. But then how do you stop the bestiality or animal instinct of a rapist? Death sentence is a deterrence. Will it work? It is awarded with a clear intent that the fear of death may, after all, bring the end of such crimes. Hope High Court takes the call as it deems it right.
KARNATAKA:Politics of option in the Indian cricket dressing room is an interesting dimension which cricket crazy Indians must come to terms with.
In recent past we have seen too much cricket. But only those players, who are the blue eyed boys of mighty Virat Kohli, make it to the crease.
India is a fortunate country with abundant talents in cricket. It is also fortunate to have selfless coaches like Rahul Dravid, being the coach of juniors playing for India.
There were these three reports in a section of the English press some months ago, “Virat close to becoming a legend: MSD”, was one, “Kohli template that all batsmen are keen to copy”, was the other. “Selectors have more options now”, was the 3rd one. If the first was datelined Mumbai, the 2nd one was London datelined. Bengalooru took the credit for the 3rd report.
“Indian cricket is replete with stories of young talents losing the plot during transition from under 19 to the senior national team”, was the punch line for the story from Bengalooru. So true, it is.
There are ‘N’ numbers of young cricketers in late teens and early 20s waiting in the wings interminably for a break into the Indian dressing room. Because, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) says “Virat wants to become a legend”, and therefore other youngsters have to wait. In the past, it was Sachin Tendulkar, who went on and on, because he had friends in right place with likes of Sharad Pawar calling the shot, to have his two hundred matches and 100 centuries, and our talented youth got wasted waiting forever. It was only IPL that truly ushered the abundant talent available within India. Then there are those seniors who want to emulate Kohli, and therefore youngsters have to wait.
Cricket playing for India has become less for the love of the game but more for the moolah it gets to all. It is a well known truth that playing for Indian cricket team brings real big money.
Ask Ravi Shastri, he wants to remain the coach for the kind of big money it gets him. He supports both MSD and VK, for his own survival, and keeps saying MSD the former captain is needed in the team to guide VK, the incumbent captain. Here it is pertinent to note what Rahul Dravid had to say, “Winning and losing is just a part at this level and not the be all and end all. Our job is to give opportunities to young talent”. Unfortunately not many in the corridors of BCCI think on these lines. That is the sad reality.
KARNATAKA: Can you imagine that a school can stop students from appearing for their public exam for X merely to get 100% result!
School is there for children to learn, to acquire knowledge and understand what is right and wrong. In short, the school is supposed to make a child a better human being after he completes his school.
No, that’s not how some school thinks. They want to acquire name and fame as a school that produces brilliant children and that school always got 100% result in their SSLC or X public exam. In the process you damn or dump children. So be it. These schools are not worried about how these students are evolving as humans or if they become vagabonds graduating as anti-social elements. These schools do not give them a damn.
Of all the places, a school in Mangalooru, famous as Educational Centre, has reportedly detained 4 students from appearing for the X public exam and reportedly convinced their parents that these children can appear next year with better preparation. They have lost a year. ‘So what, we can get 100% result for our school’! And the school, the report informs, is St. Johns High School, Allipade near Bantwal. How can the school play with the future lives of children in the name of 100% result? If the 4 children were not good, it is because the teaching and the teachers were probably not good enough. By appropriate methods, it is possible to improve the children’s ability to comprehend and therefore to understand which will help them perform better at the exams. Their argument that these students were detained for their own good, hold no water. It does not make any sense. Because of this denial, these 4 students may lose interest in studies and the person who decided to force these 4 students will be entirely responsible for their future failure.
However, we at I&C wish these 4 students all the very best in their attempt to clear the 10th public exam and may be even support their efforts.
In the mean while, the school should be publicly reprimanded for their closed mind approach.
TAMIL NADU: Something that should have happened decades ago, has happened at last. In a first for the country, a 35 year old woman advocate Sneha, hailing from Tiruppattur in Vellore district was issued with a formal certificate that she does not belong to any caste or religion.
Among so many educated individuals who tried to preach and practice that they do not want to be known as belonging to any caste or religion, this Sneha has succeeded in breaking the system that resisted the change.
Sneha who is a lawyer, hails from a family of lawyers. Her parents and both elder and younger sisters are lawyers. So the law and its interpretation runs through the family. They are fully aware of the legal and social implication or the futility or the utility of this age old practice of using the information of caste and religion especially in a country like India.
We all recognize the world over that religions have only created walls and did not build bridges. In India it was more diabolic with caste thrown in. This caste conundrum is a worst kind of divide the Hindu society is facing. There have been innumerable instances of violence in different parts of India in the name of caste, especially from those who claimed to belong to higher caste against those of lower caste. History of contemporary India, despite political freedom of 70+ years, in full of atrocity of higher caste against men, women and children of lower caste. It will not be out of place to write that “casteism is not only a crime against humanity it is also a curse against humanity”.
Under the circumstances, this issue of a formal certificate by the government in Tamil Nadu is a hugely positive development in the evolution of India as a country looking for equity in its social intercourse. Hope this single step lead to a long and purposeful march towards India : a fair society.
KERALA:The unending ordeal faced by five nuns of St. Francis Mission Home, Kuravilangad is very distressing and disturbing to say the least. They are marked by the church authorities for giving statement against the lecherous former Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jallandar diocese. Instead of Franco Mulakkal suffering the jail life, these nuns, who stood by the victim, are made to suffer, while this lecherous Bishop having been wrongly granted bail is out and free.
For some strange and political reasons, the government of Pinarayi Vijayan is going slow on the complaint of these nuns and hence these five nuns have requested the Kottayam DC to expedite the completion of charge sheet against Franco Mulakkal and submit to the court.
Due to this delay and tactics of procrastination by the Kottayam police, probably under instruction from the government, these nuns are being increasingly harassed by church authorities at Kuravilangad and Kochi.
This is sad and bad especially in a scenario where Pope Francis is increasingly being tough on characters like Franco Mulakkal and his ilk. Our Christian brothers and sisters have a responsibility to come to the help and support of these five nuns who are at the receiving end of pressures from vested interest within the portals of Church, especially the likes of Sr. Anna Joseph who is the Superior General at Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC). Sr. Anna Joseph has been known to be playing very difficult with Sr. Lucy Vadakkal, one of the key witnesses in the case against this disrobed and disgraced former Bishop of Jallandar.
The mysterious death of Fr. Kuriakose Kattuthara is another very serious point, not being investigated seriously. Thus Kerala government must necessarily do as quickly as possible to complete the procedure to prosecute this wayward former Bishop so that the lives of these nuns are no more made difficult. Hope police does its job diligently to fix the guy.
WORLD: Imran Khan, the newest Pakistani Prime Minister, despite some amateurish utterances at times, is proving to be different.
The most of the world is aware that Pakistan is not a minority friendly country. In 1947, minorities constituted 30% of Pakistani population, but today it is not even 3%. What happened to them is never answered satisfactorily. Some have fled the country, some have become Muslims and some have been even killed after subjecting them to different forms of violence including the controversial blasphemy law of the land.
This was the condition prevailing before Imran Khan took over as the Prime Minister. He has been making conciliatory noises on minority matters. However true to his stated position, in a recent incident he stood by his word. An Islamabad datelined report informs “Pak Minister sacked over anti-Hindu remarks”. Reportedly, Fayazul Hassan Chohan, the Information & Culture Minister of Pak’s Punjab Province, during a press conference had referred to Hindus as “Cow-Urine drinking People”. He belonged to Imran Khan’s ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Reportedly, he profusely apologized to Chief Minister of Punjab for having made the statement. And Punjab Chief Minister had reportedly forgiven him after the minister publicly apologized. But reportedly, Imran Khan, the Prime Minister, asked the Punjab Chief Minister to sack the minister immediately to send the message loud & clear, and Chohan was sent packing. This is perhaps for the first time such drastic step was taken under similar circumstances. All reasonable human beings must applaud Prime Minister Imran Khan for his no-nonsense approach when it comes to dealing with tasteless utterances from government functionaries humiliating any community.
Clearly, there is lesson too our own leaders, including our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and others. In public life it is important that leaders walk the talk, not just keep talking to the gallery. Two cheers to Imran Khan.
WORLD: In a clear recognition of the rising level to bilateral relation between India and UAE, Abu Dhabhi, the ruling seat of UAE has conferred a status of official court language to India’s national language Hindi.
That’s great news for all Indians. Dubai has a population of 2.6 million Indians, which according to the report coming from Dubai, constitute over 30% of the entire UAE population. It is indeed an honour to India. We all recognize that among Indians in the UAE, as percentage of Indians of different linguistic background, Malayalees constitute the largest. Yet Hindi has been given the precedence, only because, Hindi is the national language of India. So, in effect, it is the India which has been recognized for this honour. I am sure all Indians, including Malaylees will take pride in this recognition.
This facility of the third language after Arabic & English is to facilitate better judicial processes within the portals of justice dispensation like courts and tribunals. This means, that even judicial and legal forms/documents needed to be filled and filed, the department of justice in UAE will have Hindi also besides existing two languages of Arabic & English. Hither to English was the only language available for foreigners. From now on Hindi will also be available within the corridors of UAE courts to help litigants. Two cheers to the leaders of UAE, for this path breaking development.
WORLD: Post Pulwama attack United Nations Organization once again took up the case of Masood Azar to be declared a terrorist, especially after J-e-M claimed responsibility to the attack.
Of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) 14 responded positively to the call to declare this Pakistan sheltered Azar as terrorist. They backed the move to outlaw the man and his group Jeish-e-Mohammad leaving only China as a sore thumb. They conclusively proved that China does not mind being branded as partners with Pakistan in terrorism.
The usual charade of ‘technical hold’ was once again expressed as the reason for not backing the resolution.
Indian response to the Pulwama attack was unprecedented and reportedly did surprise global power centres. But they were all positive in their approbation of the Indian military response.
The UN resolution on terrorist Masood Azar, lobbied by India and supported by the entire UNSC is a reflection of India’s tireless and articulated diplomacy within the corridors of United Nations head quarters. It has also exposed the duplicity of China, who for their own economic and strategic interest are not seen to be supporting anything against Pakistan. Of course, the global opinion will one day force the hands of Peoples Republic of China to see the writings on the wall. Hope sooner it recognizes its role as a global leader and the responsibility that goes with it, the better for the world.
Comments