MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE
NEW DELHI: The high profile extradition from United Arab Emirates of Christian James Michel, the middle man involved in the Augusta Westland helicopter deal, did have its expected pyrotechs in the political arena.
Middle men in defence procurements in most countries is probably a fact of life. It has been a case in India too. In most socio-political landscape, middle men, who live on contacts, also known as cronyism, within the power centre in every country. They make their fortunes through public relations exercise, where means always justified the end.
In India we are aware of the Bofors bribery case of 1986 involving an Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrochchi, who passed away some years ago, keeping in dark forever the ultimate truth involving the payment of crores of rupees by the Swedish gun manufacturer as commission or kick-backs which he distributed among some of the Indian politicians of the time. He was never prosecuted or interrogated by Indian authorities, since he could not be brought back into India. Immediately after the investigation was ordered in July 1993 Quattrochchi had fled the country on the night of 29/30 July 1993. Clearly he had covert support from within the establishment.
After Bofors scam, this Augasta Westland helicopter bribery case became another high profile case, allegedly involving payments of around Rs.300/- crores. It had the potential of being a political landmine. With the extradition of Michel,the landmine has exploded
The Congress party has exposed itself when it sacked the young lawyer Aljo Joseph from its youth wing for having appeared as a lawyer for the extradited Christian Michel. It has gone to the town trying to expose BJP for its alleged double standards. Augusta Westland was blacklisted from participating in any Indian defence procurements in the future after the story of alleged pay-off broke out. But strangely NDA government led by Modi invited the same company to be a part of the Make-in-India program and allowed it to bid for 100 Naval Utility Helicopters. Was it a calculative move to embarrass Congress leadership ?
Now that Christian Michel is in Indian custody what will come out has to be : wait & see.
NEW DELHI: While it is believed that courts are meant for delivering justice, they more often than not end up giving judgement based on evidence available and the court's interpretation of both law and evidence. This dimension of the judicial system has left many affected individuals to wonder why judgements have often failed to carry the justice based on fairness. Instances of such apparent miscarriage of justice are many.
And comes this news from New Delhi " No immunity for army men in AFSPA area : Supreme Court " while rejecting the plea of 350 soldiers challenging the FIRs lodged against them in disturbed areas.
AFSPA or Armed Forces Special Powers Act was created by the parliament to handle abnormal situations in some parts of the country. The act has given some freedom to army in controlling the situation. Of course it will be untrue if anyone claim that in all cases army men have acted with responsibility and the accusation that army men have misused AFSPA at times is not misplaced. But it has also to be recognised that some of the acts of army were needed to control violent protests including terror.
Thus the record of the army has been at best mixed. Taking the possible human rights abuses there have been some 350 FIRs filed against army men for the alleged crimes on civilian population in those states where AFSPA was enforced. Reportedly these 350 army men challenged these FIRs filed against them and supreme court has rejected the plea of army men to provide immunity from prosecution.
Of course the central government which enacted the AFSPA had supported the army contending that FIRs had demoralised army men who are at the receiving end of terrorists and insurgents. The basic idea of AFSPA has been to strengthen the hands of army men in dealing with unlawful violent attacks on both life and property of civilian governments and even on army. Thus there has to be a way out how army men's morale is kept high and boosted to fight insurgency and terror and at the same time the law should not make army men trigger happy.
Therefore it's a combined call all three, the government, the supreme court and the army should take, where the interest of the country is always kept paramount.
NEW DELHI:In recent days we are talking about nationalism, patriotism and then Make-in-India concepts. But in what direction these movements are headed!
All are talking about declining car sales. We have many foreign brands in India doing quite well despite ups and downs in automotive industry. We also have our very own MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA (M&M) group doing fairly well in four wheeler market with some premium SUV products like ALTURAS G4 and others.
The above mentioned three concepts of NATIONALISM, PATRIOTISM & MAKE-IN-INDIA can be combined for the advantage of India and Indians.
Government of India must ask M&M, to design vehicles which can be used by our governments all over India, both Central and State. This is fairly a large segment.
If Chinese RED FLAG sedan can be used by the Chinese government officials from President to the lowest ranked official entitled to use office vehicle, why not India emulate this example!?
BE INDIAN BUY INDIAN should be the slogan at least for government officials.
This can greatly add to our NATIONAL PRIDE & M&M is quite competent to deliver with proven track record.
NEW DELHI:Unclaimed life insurance proceeds or claims, or deposit with banks of those who have died have always posed a question what do we do with these amounts lying with agencies, who do not own it, but enjoying the pecuniary benefits of these unclaimed amounts.
A recent report made public by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), there is Rs.15167 crores lying with Life Insurance Corporation of India and some over 20 private sector insurance companies, as unclaimed life insurance policy proceeds. Of this more than 2/3rd is with LIC and remaining is with private insurers, like ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Standard Life Insurance etc.
Over Rs.15000 crores is a huge money belonging to people who have probably died without leaving any nominees or nominees are unaware of any such policies, proceeds of which can be claimed by providing the proof of their antecedents.
According to the report, IRDAI has asked these insurance companies to identify the concerned policy holders or their heir, so that proceeds can be disbursed. But this process can lead to misuse by unscrupulous persons.
There are stories floating around that unscrupulous persons with knowledge of the deposits lying with banks have struck deal with bank managers to siphon off unclaimed deposits by filing false claims/affidavits. There is no mechanism to check these malpractices.
Government at the centre must take some active interest in claiming these unclaimed life insurance policy proceeds and deposits lying with banks, through some executive fiat.
The government should take all opposition members on board and enact law to acquire these funds and make them available for payment of pension for poor senior citizens.
This can be a good source of fund for some socially relevant causes like old age pension who are in need of succor.
UTTAR PRADESH: It is for the umpteenth time repeated that Yogi Adityanath should not be sent to other states to campaign for BJP. He will make BJP lose votes for the party. In fact, the very act of making him the chief minister of India’s biggest state was a mistake. After all managing a temple and managing a state like UP with all its inherent complexities and contradictions is an entirely different ball game. Somehow the wisdom within Sangh pariwar prevailed over saner elements therein to hoist this Mahant as CM. But here too the party leadership did not leave him free to manage the complex state, instead invited him to other states to share his ‘wisdom’ which in the final analysis is bound to be counterproductive.
And comes this latest from Madhya Pradesh. Reacting to the reported remark of Congress leaders that Congress workers must ensure 90% Muslim votes for Congress, this Yogi is reported to have remarked ‘Keep your Ali (to Congress) our Bajrang Dal is enough for us’. Clearly it was a ‘foot in the mouth’ syndrome. And reportedly, Muslims in BJP were hurt and they resigned from the primary membership of the party. All that this Mahant turned CM should have said, is ‘we are happy with the 10% Muslim you have left for us’.
Of course primarily it was rather bad for Congress to say about 90% Muslims for Congress. It was a clear attempt at vitiating the electoral scene. And Yogi only made it more murky and also created difficulty for his party by his smart alec yaap.
Hence, if BJP thinks that Yogi can help get more votes in other states, they are clearly mistaken. It is better to leave him to UP, where there are hundreds of issues to be resolved including the latest Bulandshahar hot heads killing a police inspector in the name of cow protection.
UTTAR PRADESH: In the recent past there were 3 reports in the print media which collectively made a very disturbing reading. One of the news mentioned about Mukesh Ambani being anointed as the richest man in India with a personal net worth of Rs.3,71,000 crores, and the another was, a caste Hindu had killed a Dalit couple for non-payment of a mere Rs.15/- and the 3rd one was a news published in the London based magazine The Lancet, where it mentioned India being ranked 158th in Human Capital Formation out of 195 countries worldwide.
Barclays India Rich List 2018 informs Mukesh Ambani at the top for 7th consecutive years. And the London based SP Hinduja is the distant 2nd with less than half of Ambani’s worth at Rs.159,000 crores. SP Hinduja mostly has his business outside India, whereas Mukesh Ambani has it mostly in India. Despite India ranking 158th in Human Capital Formation, reflecting poor investment in education and healthcare, and a situation where an upper caste hyena snuffed out two lives of poor Dalits for just Rs.15/- they owed him, how did Mukesh Ambani managed to amass such an astronomically vulgar wealth, being in the same country like these Dalits who lost their life for Rs.15/- and those millions of Indians who suffered due to lack of education and health care, because government of the day-for all its 70 years as a free country-did not have enough resources to spend on health and education!?
It was always argued for all the 70 years of post independent India that successive governments have always cried with the poor but sided with the rich, and their policies have helped create more rich people with greater riches and more poor people with reduced purchasing power.
Back in 1947, we started on a utopian concept of socialistic pattern of society and country hardly strengthened its muscles. It was in 1990s, after 4 decades of bullock cart growth P. V. Narasimha Rao government suddenly unleashed the economic potential of the country with rounded economic liberalization. Rest as the cliché goes, is history. Suddenly there was a burgeoning middle class- some 400 million of them. So the possibility of inherent potential has been proved. Yet looking back over the distance covered, our policies and practices have left more than half of the country’s 1.3 billion people struggling to find meaningful existence, clearly visible in the 158th rank Human Capital Formation. It is weird but true our Human Capital Formation is lower than even Sudan, at 157 and just better than Namibia at 159. When it comes to child malnutrition resulting in stunted growth we are worse than Sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2018, India is having 831 Indian’s with more than 1000 crores net worth, and a Dalit couple gets killed by a caste Hindu for a mere Rs.15/- so not even Rs.8 is worth that life. If this is not a tragedy what else can be called one!
UTTAR PRADESH: Cow is increasingly becoming a serious issue of concern with political overtones. Ever since BJP came to power at the centre, a section of Sangh Parivar has been vocal and violent on matters involving the death or killing of bovine, especially in the Hindi heartland.
The latest violence in Bulandshahar in UP saw the death of a police inspector who had come to pacify the crowd, clearly indicating that it was the work of mischief mongers and not gau rakshaks. This dimension alone should send alarm signals to Sangh Leadership. Sadly there is an apparent lack of seriousness in dealing with the issue.
Reportedly some carcasses were found in an agricultural field, which the crowd said were of cow and the violence broke out with some 400 agitators having gathered at site. Apparently police have taken it up seriously, but the killing of the police inspector itself has put a big question mark on the administration of the state.
According to information available in the media, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who was in Rajasthan campaigning for BJP at the time of Bulandshahar violence, travelled to the temple in Gorakhpur where he is still the Mahant, to attend a Sound & Light show on the life of a Hindu saint, and then again a kabaddi match, also in Gorakhpur. Reportedly on the prodding of the media Yogi announced some compensation to the family of the slain inspector.
Reportedly some four of the crowd were arrested for the violence in Bulandshahar and one of them was from the local unit of the Bajrang Dal. The violence led to the killing of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a bystander. As expected all political parties of the opposition went to the market to cry hoarse on the standard of governance by the Yogi Adityanath administration.
Clearly there is serious need for introspection for Sangh affiliates to ponder on the increasing violence from among its cadres.
The recent election leading to loss of power in Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh should force BJP and its extended family to rethink about the different yardsticks applied in dealing with violence. It has to be recognised that post 2014 when BJP on its own managed to win the majority in the LokSabha, Indians are increasingly in great hurry to see the results on the promises of good governance. While it is true that five years are too short for any government to deliver, expression of honest intent followed by some honest efforts can be read by people to express themselves at the hustings. This is where any new government anywhere should recognise that honesty pays at the end of it all.
MEGHALAYA: There was this unusual, may be even a bit startling piece of news in the print media. Datelined Shillong, the newspaper carried a story attributing to Justice SR Sen of Meghalaya High Court. “India should have been a Hindu Nation: HC Judge”, was the title.
Coming from a judge of a high court, it was little surprising. Reportedly, judge was disposing of a petition by one Amon Rana, who was denied domicile certificate by the Meghalaya government. Clearly he had his logic and cogent argument in favour of his observation.
The question was, ‘Is he right or was he wrong?’ Looking at the constitutional propriety he may not be right. But was he wrong?, perhaps not.
Many years ago, a Christian friend of mine came calling to tell me about one of his Hindu friend who had told him. “You can go to Vatican, Muslims can go to Mecca & Medina, where will the Hindu go?” His question was ‘was his friend right in saying so’? My response was typical. “May be he is not right, but is he wrong?” My Christian friend took a walk without responding to my observation.
And comes another related report in the same news paper “Experts slam court’s ‘Hindu Rashtra’ observation. This is clearly hype by the news paper. Report quotes two gentlemen, one a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and another, an advocate KV Dhananjay. Wonder, how does that become “Experts slam” when only one advocate had opined!
Coming to Kamal Farooqui of AIMPLB, he is basing his arguments on the constitution. He needs to realize that India is secular not because of the constitution, but because the vast majority of Hindus are secular by nature and therefore the secularism in India is safe. The proof, if needed, is the latest rejection of BJP governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As a proud Indian, I want to tell every Indian, who thinks secularism as a social practice is in danger in India, they should be rest assured that India will remain as the ‘OASIS OF SECULARISM’ in a highly polarized world, inspite of Justice SR Sen being there or not there. This will not be the case as Justice SR Sen reportedly stated in his 37 page order, ‘nobody should try to make India another Islamic country’. Should this development happen, surely Mr.Kamal Farooqui of AIMPLB will not be around to harp on secularism. That’s the bottom line my friends.
WEST BENGAL: As a society India appears to be slowly getting thick skinned, whether its the government, politics, society or even sports
Some weeks ago there was this incident in Kolkata which not many newspapers have reported. Most cricket following Indians are aware that this disgraced cricketer turned politician called Mohammed Azaruddin was black listed and banned for life from playing cricket for India for the proven charge of match- fixing. He was also simultaneously similarly banned by ICC, the International Cricket Council. For whatever reasons BCCI revoked the ban after some years. However ICC ban is still in place, which means this disgraced cricketer is still an accused in a corruption charge. Mohd.Azaruddin had sold the nation's honour for some money by match-fixing. So will it be wrong to call this Mohd Azaruddin an Anti-national?!
And our BCCI, CoA, the supreme court appointed Committee of Administrators and Cricket Association of Bengal chaired by Sourabh Ganguli, a former Indian cricket captain had invited this disgraced cricketer to ring the bell at Eden Gardens. Naturally like every proud Indian Gautam Gambhir was livid. " India may have won at Eden Gardens, but I am sorry @ bcci,CoA & CAB lost. Looks like' 'No Tolerance Policy' against corrupt takes a leave on Sundays ! ", Gambhir had tweeted when this disgrace to Indian cricket was allowed the honour of ringing the 5 minutes bell. This practice of ringing the bell before the match as a ritual was started at the Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, in 2007. Normally some reputed person is given that honour.
Reportedly, when media tapped Sourabh Ganguli for reaction to Gambhir's tweet he did not answer the call. Similar was the case with BCCI officials.
This development is not good for Indian cricket.
MAHARASHTRA: Union minister for Roads and Ports Nitin Gadkari was out in Mumbai giving some lessons in bank management including "Can't call Mallya wilful defaulter". First of all his open expression of 'wisdom', where his competence is questionable, was not needed. He was speaking at Times Networks India Economic Conclave in Mumbai.
Vijay Mallya left the country in broad daylight with clear intention to delay and if possible deny the money that he owed to Indian banks. He tried all tricks to delay the process of getting him extradited from England. Now that the extradition is more or less decided by the English court, Gadkari is out in open, which probably was the thinking of the government behind Mallya's planned escape from India. There was always this question in the public domain ' why did the government of the day in New Delhi let Vijay Mallya escape in style over an year ago with bag & baggage to relocate himself on British soil, thinking that his battery of English lawyers will save him. Minister Gadkari has reportedly remarked " If Mallya has failed as a businessman he should get another chance and should not be declared as willful defaulter ". This clearly is indicative of thoughts the central government had on Vijay Mallya and let him escape in the full glare of the media.
The rise and fall of Vijay Mallya is fairly well documented in the public domain with his vagabondish lifestyle and the charge of syphoning bank loan to his personal accounts abroad. Hence for minister Gadkari attempting to certify Mallya 'not as fraudster' is an unwarranted intervention in public space.
Court in England has clearly pulled up Indian banks for its unprofessional conduct in granting loans to Mallya in large sums without collateral, while ordering his extradition.Hence for union minister Gadkari to take a public stand of this nature is completely uncalled for. He must keep to his ministry affairs rather than dabble in issues where he has no role.
MAHARASHTRA: The quota increase in the reservation conundrum of the state of Maharashtra in favour of Marathas is clearly opportunistic to say the least. Marathas, a dominant group, who constitute 31% of Marathi Manoos have been identified as upper caste for all the independent India's 70 years. Now purely under pressure from the community the government of Devendra Fadanavis succumbed and got the bill passed by both the houses of legislature to provide 16% reservation to the community in government jobs and education. The pressure was similar to what Patels in Gujarat did, who too are a well off community.
It's a shame that Marathas are demanding reservation when like the Patels of Gujarat, Marathas are the controlling group in politics of the state. Surely whole of India heard of Maratha strong man Sharad Pawar and his extended family.
All Indians are aware that the supreme court has fixed the ceiling of reservation at 50% and therefore this additional 16% is clearly not legally tenable. But we are a legally brainy people. Retired Justice NG Gaikwad comes to the rescue of the government, how to circumvent the existing impasse. He suggested an independent category called Socially and Educationally Backward Class and included Marathas therein. Of course as usual this legislation too has been challenged and will have to wait and see the apex court ruling on the petition.
Now comes another news to add to the conundrum. Inspired by the Maratha reservation bill, All India Majlis-e-ittihad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) too has gone to the town demanding reservation in both education and government jobs quoting the parameters cited by the State Backwards Class Commission while granting reservation to Marathas. So it's going to be more murky.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the highest court of the land.
MAHARASHTRA: Children with special needs or students who are slow learners are a fact of educational scene everywhere. India is no different. But there have not been serious efforts to tackle this problem and these students somehow remained without realising their potential to grow to better levels of educational and professional attainments. Sub normal students always needed above normal approach
And comes this news from Ghatkopar in North West Mumbai. KVK Sarvajanik School has reportedly started using art therapy to help students with special needs. Initiated from the start of this academic year this art based therapy has reportedly helped many boys who needed counseling.
According to information available, teachers used candy sticks toys, games, puzzles and interactive activities to explain lessons which increased both physical and mental participation so also heightened level of attention from these slow learning students.
It has to be accepted that these methods have immense scope for innovation and creative methods in imparting knowledge if teachers are specially trained for these activities. Reportedly teachers of the KVKS school are also Masters in Psychology and have been patient and persevering with these special students. These students who were earlier unhappy and fearful of classes have improved a great deal in their cognitive abilities, who were otherwise far behind other normal students.
Happy with the development in the Ghatkopar school Maharashtra government is reportedly contemplating to declare the school as a Model School. This is a very positive development and need to be replicated all over the state and of course the country.
WORLD: There was this print media news in recent past, 'Comnent on Jesus: Hit wicket by Pak PM'. We all know that the latest Pakistani political sensation Imran Khan is rather an immature person and a political greenhorn, which also meant on sensitive religious issues he cannot apply his head appropriately.
A recent statement of Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan went wide off the mark and crossed the boundaries of religious tolerance. He is reported to have remarked at a conference to celebrate the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, that " there is no mention of Jesus Christ (Hadrat Issa) in any history books". In Islamic scripture Jesus Christ is referred to as ' Hadrat Issa'. Clearly it shows the ignorance of this cricketer turned politician and his non-acceptance of a harbinger of compassion the world over. In fact there are abundant mention of BC and AD while referring to period incidents of history. Here BC refers to Before Christ and AD refers to as After Death although it is Anno Domini in Latin which in Bible written as ' in the year of our lord '.
In a country which revels in minority bashing this utterance by Pak PM is blasphemous and Imran khan has clearly hurt the religious feelings of Christians the world over. Here it is important to remember that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, who was released by the Pakistani Supreme court after an international outcry, was barred by the Imran Khan government after a huge protest by Pakistani Islamic fundamentalists.
WORLD: There appears to be one less headache to India from the Maldivian front. Ever since Abdullah Yameen took power in Maldives, he had clearly tilted in favour of China and was opposing everything Indian. But the recent election held in the island nation that brought in the new government of President Ibrahim Soli has been different. The new government is not happy with the tilt towards China and is reportedly trying to revive its earlier policy of ' India First ','and the newly elected president is already planning his first foreign visit beginning with India. Reportedly three ministers team led by the Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid is in India as a precursor to the visit of President elect Ibrahim Soli.
This is a very positive development and Indian government should do everything possible to revive and upgrade its relationship with the island nation. It should auger well for the region in general and India in particular. It is well known that China, in its new found economic muscle is trying to expand its financial footprints all over the world, wherever possible. They start with all friendly noises without clarity on the debt creation for the receiving country of China's overtly stated development assistance. World has already seen it happening in Pakistan, in Sri Lanka and looks as if even Maldives too is feeling the heat of Chinese extra ordinary overtures. Reportedly, Maldives owes about 70% of its foreign debts to China and is looking for help in paying off the Chinese debts and other budgetary support from India.
India should seize this opportunity to play its role positively without interfering in the internal political dynamics of Maldives without any additional burden on Indians. Surely Indian financial managers and Prime Minister Modi can give a patient hearing to the visiting Maldivian President and his delegation on their demands when President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih comes calling on his first international visit.
Hope both countries help each other to upgrade the bilateral relations to a newer level for our mutual benefits.
WORLD: As the world is privy to the knowledge that Peoples Republic of China is a regimented society, it is no wonder that they wanted to control the lives of its people too, snooping for the personal details using highend technologies.
Dragonfly was a codenamed search engine project being developed by Google for Chinese owners. The project for obvious reasons, was being secretly developed, with majority of Google staff being in the dark.
But then, these things have an uncanny ways of coming into open. Having learnt about the project and its development, the staff at Google protested. In November last, they wrote an open letter to the company that ''their opposition to Dragonfly is not about China. We object to technogies that aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable, wherever they may be. Dragonfly in China would establish a dangerous precedent at a volatile political moment, one that would make it harder for Google to deny other countries similar concessions''.
And comes this news datelined San Francisco attributing to Agencies, 'Google shuts ‘censored’ Chinese Search Project’. Reportedly the management of Google under Sundar Pichai was forced to shut down the data analysis system crucial for the development of the censored Chinese Search Engine, Dragonfly, following internal protest over the project.
According to report in The Intercept, the move comes after hundreds of Google employees raised complaints, which forced Google CEO Sundar Pichai to report to the House Judiciary Committee that company had “No plans to launch a search product in China”.
This is a good development for the larger world, lest such project do not get developed within the Google stable.
J. Shriyan
Middle men in defence procurements in most countries is probably a fact of life. It has been a case in India too. In most socio-political landscape, middle men, who live on contacts, also known as cronyism, within the power centre in every country. They make their fortunes through public relations exercise, where means always justified the end.
In India we are aware of the Bofors bribery case of 1986 involving an Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrochchi, who passed away some years ago, keeping in dark forever the ultimate truth involving the payment of crores of rupees by the Swedish gun manufacturer as commission or kick-backs which he distributed among some of the Indian politicians of the time. He was never prosecuted or interrogated by Indian authorities, since he could not be brought back into India. Immediately after the investigation was ordered in July 1993 Quattrochchi had fled the country on the night of 29/30 July 1993. Clearly he had covert support from within the establishment.
After Bofors scam, this Augasta Westland helicopter bribery case became another high profile case, allegedly involving payments of around Rs.300/- crores. It had the potential of being a political landmine. With the extradition of Michel,the landmine has exploded
The Congress party has exposed itself when it sacked the young lawyer Aljo Joseph from its youth wing for having appeared as a lawyer for the extradited Christian Michel. It has gone to the town trying to expose BJP for its alleged double standards. Augusta Westland was blacklisted from participating in any Indian defence procurements in the future after the story of alleged pay-off broke out. But strangely NDA government led by Modi invited the same company to be a part of the Make-in-India program and allowed it to bid for 100 Naval Utility Helicopters. Was it a calculative move to embarrass Congress leadership ?
Now that Christian Michel is in Indian custody what will come out has to be : wait & see.
NEW DELHI: While it is believed that courts are meant for delivering justice, they more often than not end up giving judgement based on evidence available and the court's interpretation of both law and evidence. This dimension of the judicial system has left many affected individuals to wonder why judgements have often failed to carry the justice based on fairness. Instances of such apparent miscarriage of justice are many.
And comes this news from New Delhi " No immunity for army men in AFSPA area : Supreme Court " while rejecting the plea of 350 soldiers challenging the FIRs lodged against them in disturbed areas.
AFSPA or Armed Forces Special Powers Act was created by the parliament to handle abnormal situations in some parts of the country. The act has given some freedom to army in controlling the situation. Of course it will be untrue if anyone claim that in all cases army men have acted with responsibility and the accusation that army men have misused AFSPA at times is not misplaced. But it has also to be recognised that some of the acts of army were needed to control violent protests including terror.
Thus the record of the army has been at best mixed. Taking the possible human rights abuses there have been some 350 FIRs filed against army men for the alleged crimes on civilian population in those states where AFSPA was enforced. Reportedly these 350 army men challenged these FIRs filed against them and supreme court has rejected the plea of army men to provide immunity from prosecution.
Of course the central government which enacted the AFSPA had supported the army contending that FIRs had demoralised army men who are at the receiving end of terrorists and insurgents. The basic idea of AFSPA has been to strengthen the hands of army men in dealing with unlawful violent attacks on both life and property of civilian governments and even on army. Thus there has to be a way out how army men's morale is kept high and boosted to fight insurgency and terror and at the same time the law should not make army men trigger happy.
Therefore it's a combined call all three, the government, the supreme court and the army should take, where the interest of the country is always kept paramount.
NEW DELHI:In recent days we are talking about nationalism, patriotism and then Make-in-India concepts. But in what direction these movements are headed!
All are talking about declining car sales. We have many foreign brands in India doing quite well despite ups and downs in automotive industry. We also have our very own MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA (M&M) group doing fairly well in four wheeler market with some premium SUV products like ALTURAS G4 and others.
The above mentioned three concepts of NATIONALISM, PATRIOTISM & MAKE-IN-INDIA can be combined for the advantage of India and Indians.
Government of India must ask M&M, to design vehicles which can be used by our governments all over India, both Central and State. This is fairly a large segment.
If Chinese RED FLAG sedan can be used by the Chinese government officials from President to the lowest ranked official entitled to use office vehicle, why not India emulate this example!?
BE INDIAN BUY INDIAN should be the slogan at least for government officials.
This can greatly add to our NATIONAL PRIDE & M&M is quite competent to deliver with proven track record.
NEW DELHI:Unclaimed life insurance proceeds or claims, or deposit with banks of those who have died have always posed a question what do we do with these amounts lying with agencies, who do not own it, but enjoying the pecuniary benefits of these unclaimed amounts.
A recent report made public by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), there is Rs.15167 crores lying with Life Insurance Corporation of India and some over 20 private sector insurance companies, as unclaimed life insurance policy proceeds. Of this more than 2/3rd is with LIC and remaining is with private insurers, like ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Standard Life Insurance etc.
Over Rs.15000 crores is a huge money belonging to people who have probably died without leaving any nominees or nominees are unaware of any such policies, proceeds of which can be claimed by providing the proof of their antecedents.
According to the report, IRDAI has asked these insurance companies to identify the concerned policy holders or their heir, so that proceeds can be disbursed. But this process can lead to misuse by unscrupulous persons.
There are stories floating around that unscrupulous persons with knowledge of the deposits lying with banks have struck deal with bank managers to siphon off unclaimed deposits by filing false claims/affidavits. There is no mechanism to check these malpractices.
Government at the centre must take some active interest in claiming these unclaimed life insurance policy proceeds and deposits lying with banks, through some executive fiat.
The government should take all opposition members on board and enact law to acquire these funds and make them available for payment of pension for poor senior citizens.
This can be a good source of fund for some socially relevant causes like old age pension who are in need of succor.
UTTAR PRADESH: It is for the umpteenth time repeated that Yogi Adityanath should not be sent to other states to campaign for BJP. He will make BJP lose votes for the party. In fact, the very act of making him the chief minister of India’s biggest state was a mistake. After all managing a temple and managing a state like UP with all its inherent complexities and contradictions is an entirely different ball game. Somehow the wisdom within Sangh pariwar prevailed over saner elements therein to hoist this Mahant as CM. But here too the party leadership did not leave him free to manage the complex state, instead invited him to other states to share his ‘wisdom’ which in the final analysis is bound to be counterproductive.
And comes this latest from Madhya Pradesh. Reacting to the reported remark of Congress leaders that Congress workers must ensure 90% Muslim votes for Congress, this Yogi is reported to have remarked ‘Keep your Ali (to Congress) our Bajrang Dal is enough for us’. Clearly it was a ‘foot in the mouth’ syndrome. And reportedly, Muslims in BJP were hurt and they resigned from the primary membership of the party. All that this Mahant turned CM should have said, is ‘we are happy with the 10% Muslim you have left for us’.
Of course primarily it was rather bad for Congress to say about 90% Muslims for Congress. It was a clear attempt at vitiating the electoral scene. And Yogi only made it more murky and also created difficulty for his party by his smart alec yaap.
Hence, if BJP thinks that Yogi can help get more votes in other states, they are clearly mistaken. It is better to leave him to UP, where there are hundreds of issues to be resolved including the latest Bulandshahar hot heads killing a police inspector in the name of cow protection.
UTTAR PRADESH: In the recent past there were 3 reports in the print media which collectively made a very disturbing reading. One of the news mentioned about Mukesh Ambani being anointed as the richest man in India with a personal net worth of Rs.3,71,000 crores, and the another was, a caste Hindu had killed a Dalit couple for non-payment of a mere Rs.15/- and the 3rd one was a news published in the London based magazine The Lancet, where it mentioned India being ranked 158th in Human Capital Formation out of 195 countries worldwide.
Barclays India Rich List 2018 informs Mukesh Ambani at the top for 7th consecutive years. And the London based SP Hinduja is the distant 2nd with less than half of Ambani’s worth at Rs.159,000 crores. SP Hinduja mostly has his business outside India, whereas Mukesh Ambani has it mostly in India. Despite India ranking 158th in Human Capital Formation, reflecting poor investment in education and healthcare, and a situation where an upper caste hyena snuffed out two lives of poor Dalits for just Rs.15/- they owed him, how did Mukesh Ambani managed to amass such an astronomically vulgar wealth, being in the same country like these Dalits who lost their life for Rs.15/- and those millions of Indians who suffered due to lack of education and health care, because government of the day-for all its 70 years as a free country-did not have enough resources to spend on health and education!?
It was always argued for all the 70 years of post independent India that successive governments have always cried with the poor but sided with the rich, and their policies have helped create more rich people with greater riches and more poor people with reduced purchasing power.
Back in 1947, we started on a utopian concept of socialistic pattern of society and country hardly strengthened its muscles. It was in 1990s, after 4 decades of bullock cart growth P. V. Narasimha Rao government suddenly unleashed the economic potential of the country with rounded economic liberalization. Rest as the cliché goes, is history. Suddenly there was a burgeoning middle class- some 400 million of them. So the possibility of inherent potential has been proved. Yet looking back over the distance covered, our policies and practices have left more than half of the country’s 1.3 billion people struggling to find meaningful existence, clearly visible in the 158th rank Human Capital Formation. It is weird but true our Human Capital Formation is lower than even Sudan, at 157 and just better than Namibia at 159. When it comes to child malnutrition resulting in stunted growth we are worse than Sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2018, India is having 831 Indian’s with more than 1000 crores net worth, and a Dalit couple gets killed by a caste Hindu for a mere Rs.15/- so not even Rs.8 is worth that life. If this is not a tragedy what else can be called one!
UTTAR PRADESH: Cow is increasingly becoming a serious issue of concern with political overtones. Ever since BJP came to power at the centre, a section of Sangh Parivar has been vocal and violent on matters involving the death or killing of bovine, especially in the Hindi heartland.
The latest violence in Bulandshahar in UP saw the death of a police inspector who had come to pacify the crowd, clearly indicating that it was the work of mischief mongers and not gau rakshaks. This dimension alone should send alarm signals to Sangh Leadership. Sadly there is an apparent lack of seriousness in dealing with the issue.
Reportedly some carcasses were found in an agricultural field, which the crowd said were of cow and the violence broke out with some 400 agitators having gathered at site. Apparently police have taken it up seriously, but the killing of the police inspector itself has put a big question mark on the administration of the state.
According to information available in the media, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who was in Rajasthan campaigning for BJP at the time of Bulandshahar violence, travelled to the temple in Gorakhpur where he is still the Mahant, to attend a Sound & Light show on the life of a Hindu saint, and then again a kabaddi match, also in Gorakhpur. Reportedly on the prodding of the media Yogi announced some compensation to the family of the slain inspector.
Reportedly some four of the crowd were arrested for the violence in Bulandshahar and one of them was from the local unit of the Bajrang Dal. The violence led to the killing of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a bystander. As expected all political parties of the opposition went to the market to cry hoarse on the standard of governance by the Yogi Adityanath administration.
Clearly there is serious need for introspection for Sangh affiliates to ponder on the increasing violence from among its cadres.
The recent election leading to loss of power in Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh should force BJP and its extended family to rethink about the different yardsticks applied in dealing with violence. It has to be recognised that post 2014 when BJP on its own managed to win the majority in the LokSabha, Indians are increasingly in great hurry to see the results on the promises of good governance. While it is true that five years are too short for any government to deliver, expression of honest intent followed by some honest efforts can be read by people to express themselves at the hustings. This is where any new government anywhere should recognise that honesty pays at the end of it all.
MEGHALAYA: There was this unusual, may be even a bit startling piece of news in the print media. Datelined Shillong, the newspaper carried a story attributing to Justice SR Sen of Meghalaya High Court. “India should have been a Hindu Nation: HC Judge”, was the title.
Coming from a judge of a high court, it was little surprising. Reportedly, judge was disposing of a petition by one Amon Rana, who was denied domicile certificate by the Meghalaya government. Clearly he had his logic and cogent argument in favour of his observation.
The question was, ‘Is he right or was he wrong?’ Looking at the constitutional propriety he may not be right. But was he wrong?, perhaps not.
Many years ago, a Christian friend of mine came calling to tell me about one of his Hindu friend who had told him. “You can go to Vatican, Muslims can go to Mecca & Medina, where will the Hindu go?” His question was ‘was his friend right in saying so’? My response was typical. “May be he is not right, but is he wrong?” My Christian friend took a walk without responding to my observation.
And comes another related report in the same news paper “Experts slam court’s ‘Hindu Rashtra’ observation. This is clearly hype by the news paper. Report quotes two gentlemen, one a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and another, an advocate KV Dhananjay. Wonder, how does that become “Experts slam” when only one advocate had opined!
Coming to Kamal Farooqui of AIMPLB, he is basing his arguments on the constitution. He needs to realize that India is secular not because of the constitution, but because the vast majority of Hindus are secular by nature and therefore the secularism in India is safe. The proof, if needed, is the latest rejection of BJP governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As a proud Indian, I want to tell every Indian, who thinks secularism as a social practice is in danger in India, they should be rest assured that India will remain as the ‘OASIS OF SECULARISM’ in a highly polarized world, inspite of Justice SR Sen being there or not there. This will not be the case as Justice SR Sen reportedly stated in his 37 page order, ‘nobody should try to make India another Islamic country’. Should this development happen, surely Mr.Kamal Farooqui of AIMPLB will not be around to harp on secularism. That’s the bottom line my friends.
WEST BENGAL: As a society India appears to be slowly getting thick skinned, whether its the government, politics, society or even sports
Some weeks ago there was this incident in Kolkata which not many newspapers have reported. Most cricket following Indians are aware that this disgraced cricketer turned politician called Mohammed Azaruddin was black listed and banned for life from playing cricket for India for the proven charge of match- fixing. He was also simultaneously similarly banned by ICC, the International Cricket Council. For whatever reasons BCCI revoked the ban after some years. However ICC ban is still in place, which means this disgraced cricketer is still an accused in a corruption charge. Mohd.Azaruddin had sold the nation's honour for some money by match-fixing. So will it be wrong to call this Mohd Azaruddin an Anti-national?!
And our BCCI, CoA, the supreme court appointed Committee of Administrators and Cricket Association of Bengal chaired by Sourabh Ganguli, a former Indian cricket captain had invited this disgraced cricketer to ring the bell at Eden Gardens. Naturally like every proud Indian Gautam Gambhir was livid. " India may have won at Eden Gardens, but I am sorry @ bcci,CoA & CAB lost. Looks like' 'No Tolerance Policy' against corrupt takes a leave on Sundays ! ", Gambhir had tweeted when this disgrace to Indian cricket was allowed the honour of ringing the 5 minutes bell. This practice of ringing the bell before the match as a ritual was started at the Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, in 2007. Normally some reputed person is given that honour.
Reportedly, when media tapped Sourabh Ganguli for reaction to Gambhir's tweet he did not answer the call. Similar was the case with BCCI officials.
This development is not good for Indian cricket.
MAHARASHTRA: Union minister for Roads and Ports Nitin Gadkari was out in Mumbai giving some lessons in bank management including "Can't call Mallya wilful defaulter". First of all his open expression of 'wisdom', where his competence is questionable, was not needed. He was speaking at Times Networks India Economic Conclave in Mumbai.
Vijay Mallya left the country in broad daylight with clear intention to delay and if possible deny the money that he owed to Indian banks. He tried all tricks to delay the process of getting him extradited from England. Now that the extradition is more or less decided by the English court, Gadkari is out in open, which probably was the thinking of the government behind Mallya's planned escape from India. There was always this question in the public domain ' why did the government of the day in New Delhi let Vijay Mallya escape in style over an year ago with bag & baggage to relocate himself on British soil, thinking that his battery of English lawyers will save him. Minister Gadkari has reportedly remarked " If Mallya has failed as a businessman he should get another chance and should not be declared as willful defaulter ". This clearly is indicative of thoughts the central government had on Vijay Mallya and let him escape in the full glare of the media.
The rise and fall of Vijay Mallya is fairly well documented in the public domain with his vagabondish lifestyle and the charge of syphoning bank loan to his personal accounts abroad. Hence for minister Gadkari attempting to certify Mallya 'not as fraudster' is an unwarranted intervention in public space.
Court in England has clearly pulled up Indian banks for its unprofessional conduct in granting loans to Mallya in large sums without collateral, while ordering his extradition.Hence for union minister Gadkari to take a public stand of this nature is completely uncalled for. He must keep to his ministry affairs rather than dabble in issues where he has no role.
MAHARASHTRA: The quota increase in the reservation conundrum of the state of Maharashtra in favour of Marathas is clearly opportunistic to say the least. Marathas, a dominant group, who constitute 31% of Marathi Manoos have been identified as upper caste for all the independent India's 70 years. Now purely under pressure from the community the government of Devendra Fadanavis succumbed and got the bill passed by both the houses of legislature to provide 16% reservation to the community in government jobs and education. The pressure was similar to what Patels in Gujarat did, who too are a well off community.
It's a shame that Marathas are demanding reservation when like the Patels of Gujarat, Marathas are the controlling group in politics of the state. Surely whole of India heard of Maratha strong man Sharad Pawar and his extended family.
All Indians are aware that the supreme court has fixed the ceiling of reservation at 50% and therefore this additional 16% is clearly not legally tenable. But we are a legally brainy people. Retired Justice NG Gaikwad comes to the rescue of the government, how to circumvent the existing impasse. He suggested an independent category called Socially and Educationally Backward Class and included Marathas therein. Of course as usual this legislation too has been challenged and will have to wait and see the apex court ruling on the petition.
Now comes another news to add to the conundrum. Inspired by the Maratha reservation bill, All India Majlis-e-ittihad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) too has gone to the town demanding reservation in both education and government jobs quoting the parameters cited by the State Backwards Class Commission while granting reservation to Marathas. So it's going to be more murky.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the highest court of the land.
MAHARASHTRA: Children with special needs or students who are slow learners are a fact of educational scene everywhere. India is no different. But there have not been serious efforts to tackle this problem and these students somehow remained without realising their potential to grow to better levels of educational and professional attainments. Sub normal students always needed above normal approach
And comes this news from Ghatkopar in North West Mumbai. KVK Sarvajanik School has reportedly started using art therapy to help students with special needs. Initiated from the start of this academic year this art based therapy has reportedly helped many boys who needed counseling.
According to information available, teachers used candy sticks toys, games, puzzles and interactive activities to explain lessons which increased both physical and mental participation so also heightened level of attention from these slow learning students.
It has to be accepted that these methods have immense scope for innovation and creative methods in imparting knowledge if teachers are specially trained for these activities. Reportedly teachers of the KVKS school are also Masters in Psychology and have been patient and persevering with these special students. These students who were earlier unhappy and fearful of classes have improved a great deal in their cognitive abilities, who were otherwise far behind other normal students.
Happy with the development in the Ghatkopar school Maharashtra government is reportedly contemplating to declare the school as a Model School. This is a very positive development and need to be replicated all over the state and of course the country.
WORLD: There was this print media news in recent past, 'Comnent on Jesus: Hit wicket by Pak PM'. We all know that the latest Pakistani political sensation Imran Khan is rather an immature person and a political greenhorn, which also meant on sensitive religious issues he cannot apply his head appropriately.
A recent statement of Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan went wide off the mark and crossed the boundaries of religious tolerance. He is reported to have remarked at a conference to celebrate the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, that " there is no mention of Jesus Christ (Hadrat Issa) in any history books". In Islamic scripture Jesus Christ is referred to as ' Hadrat Issa'. Clearly it shows the ignorance of this cricketer turned politician and his non-acceptance of a harbinger of compassion the world over. In fact there are abundant mention of BC and AD while referring to period incidents of history. Here BC refers to Before Christ and AD refers to as After Death although it is Anno Domini in Latin which in Bible written as ' in the year of our lord '.
In a country which revels in minority bashing this utterance by Pak PM is blasphemous and Imran khan has clearly hurt the religious feelings of Christians the world over. Here it is important to remember that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, who was released by the Pakistani Supreme court after an international outcry, was barred by the Imran Khan government after a huge protest by Pakistani Islamic fundamentalists.
WORLD: There appears to be one less headache to India from the Maldivian front. Ever since Abdullah Yameen took power in Maldives, he had clearly tilted in favour of China and was opposing everything Indian. But the recent election held in the island nation that brought in the new government of President Ibrahim Soli has been different. The new government is not happy with the tilt towards China and is reportedly trying to revive its earlier policy of ' India First ','and the newly elected president is already planning his first foreign visit beginning with India. Reportedly three ministers team led by the Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid is in India as a precursor to the visit of President elect Ibrahim Soli.
This is a very positive development and Indian government should do everything possible to revive and upgrade its relationship with the island nation. It should auger well for the region in general and India in particular. It is well known that China, in its new found economic muscle is trying to expand its financial footprints all over the world, wherever possible. They start with all friendly noises without clarity on the debt creation for the receiving country of China's overtly stated development assistance. World has already seen it happening in Pakistan, in Sri Lanka and looks as if even Maldives too is feeling the heat of Chinese extra ordinary overtures. Reportedly, Maldives owes about 70% of its foreign debts to China and is looking for help in paying off the Chinese debts and other budgetary support from India.
India should seize this opportunity to play its role positively without interfering in the internal political dynamics of Maldives without any additional burden on Indians. Surely Indian financial managers and Prime Minister Modi can give a patient hearing to the visiting Maldivian President and his delegation on their demands when President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih comes calling on his first international visit.
Hope both countries help each other to upgrade the bilateral relations to a newer level for our mutual benefits.
WORLD: As the world is privy to the knowledge that Peoples Republic of China is a regimented society, it is no wonder that they wanted to control the lives of its people too, snooping for the personal details using highend technologies.
Dragonfly was a codenamed search engine project being developed by Google for Chinese owners. The project for obvious reasons, was being secretly developed, with majority of Google staff being in the dark.
But then, these things have an uncanny ways of coming into open. Having learnt about the project and its development, the staff at Google protested. In November last, they wrote an open letter to the company that ''their opposition to Dragonfly is not about China. We object to technogies that aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable, wherever they may be. Dragonfly in China would establish a dangerous precedent at a volatile political moment, one that would make it harder for Google to deny other countries similar concessions''.
And comes this news datelined San Francisco attributing to Agencies, 'Google shuts ‘censored’ Chinese Search Project’. Reportedly the management of Google under Sundar Pichai was forced to shut down the data analysis system crucial for the development of the censored Chinese Search Engine, Dragonfly, following internal protest over the project.
According to report in The Intercept, the move comes after hundreds of Google employees raised complaints, which forced Google CEO Sundar Pichai to report to the House Judiciary Committee that company had “No plans to launch a search product in China”.
This is a good development for the larger world, lest such project do not get developed within the Google stable.
J. Shriyan
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