November 2017
MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE
NEW DELHI: Some weeks ago, a first of a kind had happened at the Claridges Hotel New Delhi. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was having a tete-e-tete with ambassadors and diplomats of some 50 countries, who have their chancery in India. By any stretch of imagination it was a unique initiative from RSS. Reportedly it was the brain child of India Foundation, probably a Sangh affiliate.
In an environment of distrust, with a Sangh political party in power, this initiative was certainly overdue to dispel any misgivings or thoughts lurking in the wider socio-political canvas. That there are any number of issues, real or bogie, was never in doubt. With the arrival of BJP on the national scene as never before and its foot-soldiers, at least a small vocal section of it, being too radical and violent, this interaction can be a good beginning.
It is always possible for ‘conversation without confrontation’ in any given socio political atmosphere for the larger socio political objective of any society anywhere in the world. More so for a country like India with its myriad faiths and dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects with an exasperating diversity!
Surely there must have been active and participative interlocution between official representatives of those 50 countries and the RSS chief. In the interest of the world in general and India in particular, such interactive sessions should continue at regular intervals for the peace in the sub-continent and for the elimination of recurring misunderstanding prevailing in the sub-continent.
Domestic worker is a phenomenon found more in third world countries with its excess population available than the opportunities for other useful employment avenues. Hence exploitation is the bye-word. Working long hours, low wages, inhuman treatment and in some cases even physical violence on their persona including abuse of their bodies of female domestic workers.
Middle Eastern countries, especially Arab countries are notorious for such extreme forms of exploitation. Stories of female domestic workers getting stranded despite exploitation for long periods are far too many to be quoted.
Unfortunately, most governments in the region have not taken up the welfare of this unfortunate section of the society.
And comes this news, “Govt. thinks of minimum wages and other benefits for domestic workers”.
Certainly this piece of legislation was long overdue in India. India has all kinds of population, employing these domestic helpers for all kinds of jobs at all kinds of compensation. Some employ them for an hour or two every day, and the domestic works in 3-4 houses on similar basis. Somebody provides her breakfast, somebody lunch, and somebody evening tea and may be even dinner. These are smart types, make better terms. Of course, no sick leave or any other benefits. Then there are monthly- day- workers and then there are live- in types. Again live in types have their own problems which forces them sometimes to compromise on payments and other benefits. Then there are employers who do take care of all their need, including children’s education, if any, medical, weekly off, year-end benefits like leave and ex-gratia etc. But then the % of the last category is far less and therefore the need for a regulatory mechanism supported by a law is very necessary.
This last initiative should hopefully fill the yawning gap prevailing with the domestic workers employment. The policy being considered is expected to include minimum wages, maximum number of hours of work, weekly breaks, annual leave and of medical and other pecuniary benefits. An institutional mechanism to address recurring problems of domestic workers as and when it recurs is an always needed initiative. Hope the policy does take care of that too.
NEW DELHI: The opposition, media and all those who do not like BJP, Modi and of course party man Amit Shah, are having a field day with the report on the alleged riches acquired by the son of BJP party Supremo Amit Shah.
Reportedly a company, Temple Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, owned by the wife and son duo of Amit Shah has earned some 16000 times within one year of BJP coming to power at the centre. According to the report, between 2005 & 2014 the company made a profit of less than Rs. 19 lakhs. However it rocket zoomed to over Rs. 80 crores, apparently some 16000 times
Surely it needs explanation, especially because all BJP functionaries are supposed to declare their financial statements every year. Thus, the explanation should have come on its own, since Amit Shah is the head of the party, which, right or wrong, prides itself as non-corrupt and transparent. But in the absence of any explanation coming from father or son, has certainly bucked up all those who are looking for a pound of BJP flesh!
Strangely, there is no news either, that Prime Minister Modi has pulled up the party chief, or asked him to explain his position vis-a-vis his son’s newly acquired riches. Or is he biding his time to show Amit Shah his place, if he does not come clean on these alleged riches of Temple Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. belonging to his wife and son, Jay Shah!
Hope something soon happens with Shah duo, so that Vadra, the high profile son-in-law of opposition leader Sonia Gandhi is made accountable for all the acts of commission and omission in acquiring huge personal wealth at the cost of the state.
NEW DELHI:The commotion ignited by the now famous article by Former Finance Minister Yashwanth Sinha is completely uncalled far. And the churlish reaction by the present Finance Minister Arun Jaitley “job applicant at 80” only added to the media hype on the ‘economic slowdown’ as argued by many.
Among the issues raised by the Former IAS turned Finance Minister in the Vajpayee Government, was the NPA. We all know, as of now the NPA of Public Sector Banks is over Rs.8 lacs crores. It is true that every government for all successive years have contributed to this mess. With all the noises of Modi led NDA II it could have made these public sector banks accountable, to whatever extent possible. But that did not happen. It went from bad to worse.
Another point he makes is the low investment by private sector. Private sector does not take risk when profit making is uncertain with global markets being sluggish. They want all kinds of incentives. But with oil prices being what it is, government could have invested more on the infrastructure, with the money saved from the low crude oil prices. Any investment, as is known, has a multiplier effect. That did not happen.
His writing “Demonetization has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster. A badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with business and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market”.
Surely the language of the article has the pungency of a man deeply hurt. Indeed, demonetization, although had higher intentions, it did not deliver as expected. But some positives did take place. It was certainly not ‘an unmitigated economic disaster’. Yes GST too did cause problems to traders. But GST had to come, may be not as rushed as it was. Just getting out of demonetization shock, GST could have been delayed by some 6 months at least. Yes, right now some rationalization is being worked out, which hopefully shall make life a bit better. But the haste could have been avoided. Of course the jobs were generally difficult to come by. But to say ‘countless millions have lost their jobs’ was an uncalled for overreaction.
As we all are aware, there has been plethora of write-ups in the media on the economic slowdown, due to multiple factors. Every government has its ups and downs in the public perception. The government spokesmen manage some issues upfront and some they play by the ears. Like you have managed other media interlocutors, even Yashwanth Sinha too could have been managed better. But Jaitley thought, he is a lawyer and hence can argue his case better. In the event, ‘job applicant’ missile he fired blew up on his face.
NEW DELHI:There was this small but front page news report in a Mumbai based English daily “80% wanted LK as President: Shatru”.
Reportedly, actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha was speaking to NDTV where he blurted or rather according to him shared a secret that “80% of my party wanted LK Advani as President”.
It is true that there is no love lost between Shotgun Sinha and his party bigwigs, especially PM Modi and party man Amith Shah. So also the channel NDTV too is known to be a bit of cross with the NDA boss Narendra Modi and BJP in general.
So, if both are carrying a kind of unhappiness campaign, if not downright Anti- Modi talk, there is also a veiled perception that ‘indeed a lot of BJP cardholders were unhappy about not having given a chance to LK Advani, the former Deputy P.M under Vajpayee, for the Presidentship of India.
As a political figure, except Babri Masjid demolition issue, he had a fairly clean record. Late Khushwanth Singh, a well known journalist had described LKA as “really one of the most able, cool headed, courteous and clean politician left to day”. According to him he was “Pretty certain that he (LKA) will never be unfair to Muslims”.
Description by Khushwanth Singh is generally fair. Although LKA is a bit of Hindutva hardliner he has no adversaries among opposition leaders. He is a good communicator. Hence LKA was a good choice for presidentship and he would have been a good source of honest and meaningful advice. Modi had referred to Pranab Mukherjee as a father figure etc. By any stretch of comparison LKA would have been certainly no less, if not better than Pranab Mukherjee. In fact, when it comes to integrity LKA is far taller than Pranab Mukherjee, a quality needed to be the No: 1citizen of the country. Modi was patently unfair to LKA, only because, he wanted to prove his numero uno status in his party that, he will do what he desires to do. Even the choice of Vice President too is questionable. Surely both these appointments have disappointed scores of BJP members and other too. This will certainly affect his popularity among Sangh outfits. Shotgun Sinha was only echoing the deeper rumblings within Sangh parivar.
UTTAR PRADESH: Prince Khurram, who later got the title of Shah Jehan had married Mumtaj Mahal in 1612. Sadly beautiful Mumtaj died young within less than 20years as Begam of Shah Jehan in 1631.
In memory of his late wife Shah Jehan starts building a tomb in 1632 on the banks of river Yamuna in Agra. It took 21 long years to complete the mausoleum and was completed in 1653. It was named Taj Mahal, as a ‘monument of love’ of an emperor for his empress. It took some 20000 artisans over 2 decades to create, which according to UNESCO “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired master piece”: In 1983, the Taj Mahal was designated “UNESCO World Heritage site”. Poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal as “the tear-drop on the cheek of time”. Taj Mahal is a symbol of India’s rich composite history. Although it was included since a long time in the list of global wonders, in 2007 it was declared WINNER OF THE NEW 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD (2000-2007) INITIATIVE. Reportedly, this beautiful architectural wonder in white marble, Taj Mahal, attracts 7 to 8 million tourists every year from across the world. It is a global tourist attraction.
And come 2017, Yogi Adityanath arrives on the scene, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, where Agra is a part of the state. Not even six months into his office, he tries to rewrite the history. New Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet named “Boundless Possibilities”, replaces the old booklet. Wonder of Wonders, Taj Mahal is missing from the tourism booklet of U.P; only because it was built by a Mughal and therefore this Yogi Adityanath thinks “did not represent Indian culture”! A news paper called it ‘utterly shocking’. Ever since this Yogi was made CM of the biggest state of India, he has been showing unmistakable signs of being biased in both the theory and practice of Statecraft. In India of composite culture he is not a right person to head any state let alone U.P. With people like him ‘Idea of India’ cannot be sustained. Somebody, within his own political hierarchy need to pull this man roundly, for the cause of ‘India of all of us’ not for ‘just of this Yogi and his ilk’.
UTTAR PRADESH: Among all kinds of news from the state is a surprising one from the U.P. Shia Central Waqf Board.
U.P government under Yogi Adityanath had decided to erect a statue of Lord Rama on the banks of Saryu River as a tourist attraction. Given the kind of person that Yogi Adityanath is, this kind of public expenditure may be expected. While it is true that purely from a governance stand point, it may not be appropriate for an elected government to spend money on things like a statue for a deity. But in Ayodhya, Lord Rama will be the presiding deity. With Ayodhya temple being still an issue to be resolved, either legally or by mutual consent of all parties involved, this erection of statue of Lord Rama is a dicey issue.
AIMPLB along with MP Asaduddin Owaisi have taken a strident stand opposing the statue move. But UP Shia Central Waqf Board has offered 10 silver arrows ‘as a token of admiration and esteem in which the Shias hold Lord Rama’.
Clearly these are opposing stands. Why Shia Board has taken this stand is apparently inexplicable! But certainly has a larger purpose of reaching out to the majority community in an atmosphere of growing distance between stake holders.
Purely from that angle, it will send warm signals for those who welcome it. It has the potential to introduce a bit of thaw in a frigid moribund atmosphere of growing distance within the Indian polity. This may also help in the larger purpose of developing bonhomie between people to people which is truly the difference that a vibrant society brings about, the co-habitation of accommodative living together. Hope this message percolates deeper.
MAHARASHTRA: BCCI is always in the news in recent times, mostly for wrong reasons. This time round, it was the birthday greetings to the former India Chief Coach Anil Kumble.
Probably BCCI greets all its past and present players of some eminence on their birthday. So somebody in-charge of this function tweeted “Here is wishing former Team India bowler Anil Kumble a very happy birthday”.
Of course, he was the Team India bowler, nothing wrong with the detail. But he was also the India’s captain, he was also the one and the only 10 wicket record holder, that too against Pakistan, and was with ICC/IPL and the latest being that of Indian Chief Coach, which he had to leave with lot of pain, despite giving his best for the team for the whole of 2016/17 cricket season. And the team enjoyed great success during the whole year, under his guidance, except the World Cup final in England. India lost to arch rival Pakistan in the World Cup, despite having beaten Pakistan in the league match! And India lost rather badly! There was no inquiry, why we lost so badly? Anil Kumble comes back from England and resigns. His exit was most unceremonious and the tweet by BCCI on his birthday is only a reflection of BCCI attitude towards Anil Kumble. It is another matter that they changed the tweet quickly after a furor in the social media from his countless admirers. This is BCCI, the Big Cash Cow of India.
MAHARASHTRA:This is the story of one Shahrukh from Mumbai’s western suburb Kandivali. He is an imitation jewellary shop owner. He has a friend Raees Ansari, a garment trader, also from Kandivali. Both are married and families of both are on friendly terms. There is this English saying “Too much familiarity breeds contempt’. Sometime late last week of September, Raees Ansari, reportedly left his home at 11.am for his work but strangely did not return. The next day his body was found on the Aksa beach in the neighbouring Malad. His throat was slit and body had some six wounds as per report. Malad police could not find his identity initially, when the body was found on the beach. But later learnt about a missing complaint in the Kandivali police station and his identity was established. They managed to study the call data records of the mobile phone and found that Raees Ansari had spoken many times to the wife of Shahrukh. Police picked up Shahrukh for interrogation and Shahrukh reportedly confessed to his vicious crime. But what happened suddenly to this intimate family relationship and friendship that one could even murder the other?! They zeroed on to Raees Ansari’s wife. What she stated to the police is bizarre to say the least. According to Raees Ansari’s wife, Shahrukh wanted their wives to be mutually swapped. Shahrukh wanted Ansari’s wife in exchange for his wife, which Ansari had refused. It was very sad that Ansari had to pay with his life for being a gentleman to his lady. We had heard of such stories only, but this was for real, said the report.
MAHARASHTRA:Some years ago, reacting to a humorous limerick making its round poking fun at government in Bengalooru, the so called progressive writer Devanur Mahadeva had reportedly remarked “Does this mean that the poor should not be given any basic facilities like food and shelter?” While complaining that rich are having no shortage of food and are enjoying foreign liquor and enjoying life? Thus, it was clear that, it is alright for the poor to become dependent on state largesse and maybe they should also get supplies of liquor if possible.
Now as a progressive writer, if anything, he should bat for empowerment of poor people by education and skill development. His writing must exhort these poor people how to come out of the dependency syndrome. Instead he wants the state to provide everything free. How will the poor ever experience emancipation? And the media called him progressive!
And comes this NDA Minister Ramdas Athawale who is reported to have stated while speaking to the press, “The army provides good food and liquor. Instead of consuming country liquor while being unemployed, Dalit youth must join the armed forces – army, navy and air force – where they can get rum”.
That this statement of the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, has led to a huge controversy, he do seem to think like the progressive writer, that its ok to get everything free from the government including free rum. Joining army need not be to serve the country but to have good food and quality liquor free. With these kinds of leaders and writers, our poorer brothers and sisters will continue to remain dependent without the mental freedom which is paramount for anybody to grow economically and socially. Wonder how BabaSaheb Ambedkar would have reacted in the astral world or where ever his soul is wandering. Oh poor mother India!
KARNATAKA: In recent days the state is in the news, not necessarily for right reasons. Vidhana Soudha, the state legislative mansion, completed 60 years. It has a unique construction history and hence needed a unique function to celebrate the milestone. In his enthusiasm, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced a grand fete. Reportedly some 27 crores of rupees were outlayed for the event, which included distribution of gold biscuits to Legislative members. Expectedly there was a furor and a better sense prevailed on the administration. The latest report informs that the fete has been scaled down to effect reduction in spending, to Rs.10 crores only. We are told ‘no gold biscuits’.
Another news from Bengalooru is the abrupt transfer of an IAS officer: Ajay Nagabhushan. This Commissioner of Collegiate Education had reportedly red flaged an out-of-turn release of Rs. 107 crores by the minister concerned for the newly started Babasaheb Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE). The release of the fund was without any protocol. As an administrative head of the Collegiate Education activity, the officer was well within his power to stop the payment. But minister used to unbridled power did not take the veto by the commissioner kindly. Result, abrupt transfer, no reason need be given. The story of officers’ transfers is an ongoing issue in our Mera Bharath Mahan, where political bosses are unhappy with their managers.
The news from Janata Dal (secular) camp, the private property of Deve Gowda’s family, shows some positive development.
Reportedly, Deve Gowda’s elder son Kumaraswami, who calls the shot in JD(S) has vetoed giving ticket to his wife Anitha and his brother’s son Prajwal. Reportedly both were keen to continue the dynasty. Hope this development would give some chance to others too, who would want to try their hands at ‘serving the state or the country’.
KARNATAKA: Police making money on the sly is not unknown. It is an open secret. For varieties of services and favours of dos and donts, they rake money. Sometime, real good! There is also the allegation that this is institutionalized. Everybody from bottom to top gets paid from the common pool of collection and hence everybody protects everybody else and therefore those who do not want to be part of it, either do not indulge, or try to improve things. Some people get sick of happenings in their department and revolt.
D.Roopa, DIG of Prisons is one such, who took on her boss DGP (Prisons) HNS Rao, straight.
Parappana Agrahara had two very high profile prisoners, the infamous Abdul Karim Telgi of fake stamp paper scandal and Sasikala, the disgraced AIADMK general secretary. Both can afford to pay huge sums for their comforts. And they paid. In this case D. Roopa alleged in her report that DGP (Prisons) received Rs. 2 crores from Sasikala to spare her the usual discomfort of prison. Clearly law and jail manual do not provide for such flagrant concessions. There was a minor earthquake in Parappana Agrahara after the report by D.Roopa. All those who provided information were physically tortured. After all, it exposed the entire jail administration. The matter was suo-moto taken up by the State HRC and they confirmed that prisoners were indeed badly brutalized for revealing details of comforts to Sasikala and other high profile politically influential prisoners. Reportedly these prisoners who were beaten up were moved out to other prisons, the day after SHRC submission, about the irregularities is the prison. The extent of barbarism by the police on these hapless prisoners was such that they had to be shifted on wheel chairs due to the injury suffered by beating. Reportedly it was Krishna Kumar, the jail superintendent at Parappana Agrahara who is the villain, who took the exposure of VIP treatment personally and tried to settle score with jail inmates.
As such in jail, inmates live with lot of mental torture, but these evil policemen torture them even physically. People like Krishna Kumar should be criminally prosecuted and jailed, for them to know the experience of an inmate personally. Only then some semblance of humanity will creep into police force.
KARNATAKA: There is an English saying “Carrying Coal to New Castle”, which implies you are taking a wagon load of something which is already available in abundance, meaning wasted effort and wasted resources.
A Bangalooru date lined news report informs that the Department of Technical Education (DTE) of Karnataka government has proposed starting of 17 new government engineering colleges. Of the 17 proposed, 10 colleges are for North Karnataka districts, like Kalaburgi Bagalkot and Bidar. The proposals for new engineering colleges have come from MLAs from the districts.
However the question is do we need these colleges in the state, when there are 227 colleges in the state with 11 of them being government managed and the balance being privately managed and owned?
According to the figures available in the public domain, there are some 78000 seats, excluding management quota, available in Engineering Colleges across the state. Of these, 29000 seats have remained vacant for this academic year. So clearly there are seats available in the general quota far in excess of the current demand.
Reacting to the DTE proposal, former Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University Dr. NR Shetty has stated that “Nearly 800 colleges all over India have applied for closure, (for their inability to get available seats filled due to dwindling demand so also due to more engineering colleges opened without proper market research on the demand and supply position of engineering seats). Under such circumstances, it is clearly unwise and not the right time to open new colleges”.
Of course, the problem is the MLAs’ over anxiety to ‘serve his constituency’, whether the college is needed or not is not their concern. This shows the misplaced priority of the government led by such people’s representatives. What the government should be doing with the resources available, is to strengthen the primary and secondary school education with competent teachers. But then barking up the wrong tree is our national malaise!
KARNATAKA: Since some years, naxals or maoists and leftist insurgents have been surrendering to return to the main stream after an offer of rehabilitation package by Karnataka government. Some of these naxals have surrendered to the police and were allowed to live a normal life. Reportedly however, none of those who laid down arms have taken any package of rehabilitation from the government.
Here comes a case of Parashuram and Rizwana, a couple with two daughters, who surrendered under the rehabilitation package, is little unique. Here apparently Parashuram is a Hindu and Rizwana is Muslim, it is a very refreshing combination in a country of religious bigotry. They have maintained their individual identity with neither of them having changed their names to signify change in religious status. Of course for all you know they could be a couple with ‘no religion’ tag, which is again a positive approach in a country where both Hindus and Muslims, at least a section of them, suffer from fixated syndrome. The couple with their two daughters deserves all help and support. The report informs about the hardship the couple is facing with too frequent hearing of the cases to be attended in faraway places like Raichur Sringeri and Chikamagalooru. These cases are involving travel/stay, lawyers fee etc, is eating into their meager earning, Parashuram as driver and Rizwana as a home based tailor. Now they are looking for help from the government for rehabilitation package.
It appears to be an honest attempt at reform and therefore they deserve all help, especially in an atmosphere of suspicion, they are a model couple in plural India.
Besides, the cases pending with police should be withdrawn as agreed as per Maoists’ surrendering scheme and free these reforming former naxals from the police. There appears to be no logic for the continuation of these cases after surrendering. Hope government in Bengalooru acts on the package as well as cases are withdrawn.
KERALA: The present dispensation at the centre headed by BJP has less presence in southern states. That’s a fact. BJP is around since 1980s. As late as 1984/85, they had only 2 seats. But post rath yatra by L.K Advani, saw its fortune changing for better, and it kept improving. But improved only in the West and the North. East and South remained with non-BJP parties. However a breakthrough came in Karnataka. It has maintained a strong presence in Karnataka for quite sometimes now. However, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala remained difficult to penetrate. But some working relationship got developed between Andhra regional parties so also in Tamil Nadu. But Kerala remained impregnable. With best of efforts, they could manage just one seat in Kerala assembly. However this time round, the party man Amit Shah over- confident with U.P victory, tried his best to penetrate Kerala with all kinds of tricks. He did some unthinkable, like getting Yogi Adityanath, so also M.P Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. What was the great idea, only Amit Shah would know, since, he appears to be a one man strategist. Both these BJP leaders are Hindi speakers, hence very unlikely to make any impact. It gave an impression of desperation. Besides, Shah exposed Yogi to ridicule by Kerala CM Vijayan. Yogi had reportedly remarked about the alleged poor condition of Kerala hospitals, forgetting the disasters in UP hospitals with children dying by the dozens at regular intervals.
Unlike any state in India, Kerala is a highly politically aware state. Most of its population is fully aware of the things happening in the state and are fairly abreast of national affairs, due to their daily news paper reading habit.
Besides, most Keralites would not have forgotten or forgiven PM Modi for comparing Kerala with Somalia. That was most insensitive for PM Modi to have made such a statement, especially when the Human Development Indices in Kerala are far better than in Gujarath, where PM Modi was the Chief Minister for 3 terms.
Hence in fitness of things, BJP should not rush to improve its figures in Kerala. At the moment the priority for PM Modi should be to deliver at New Delhi. You perform well in centre, rest will slowly come to you based purely on performance and certainly not by Chanakya’s school of Social Engineering. Do you hearken Mr. Amit Shah!
KERALA: Thiruvananthapuram or Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerala. Kerala is supposedly the best state in India after Goa in Human Development Index (HDI), as per United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Better population ratio, better gender ratio, better health indices and above all 100% literacy. Of course this 100% include even these who could write their name only. But that’s not the point. The fact is Kerala is the most literate state in India. But ironically it too has its share of idiots and stupids.
Or else, how can anyone in his or her right senses think of tying a three years old child in a reclining position on a designer peepal leaf ( Ashwatha) dressed as Lord Krishna and fix it on a tableau in a procession on the occasion of the recent Shree Krishna Janmashtami, for over two hours!
One Srikanth of Payyannur had reportedly photographed the visuals and uploaded on the social media. Suddenly Child Rights Panel of the state wakes up and files a suo moto complaint with the police. Reportedly the organizers- Vivekananda Seva Samithi- has threatened this Srikanth with abuses on the phone.
For sure, if Swamy Vivekananda was around, he would have taken, these Samithi office bearers to the Kovalam beach and in all probability would have immersed them in the Arabian Sea, never wanting to see their shameless faces that were the very antithetic of what Vivekananda stood for.
WORLD: A Karachi date lined print media report informed that Pakistan’s Election Commission (PEC) has rejected the registration application of a political party called Milli Muslim League (MML). This MML is the political wing of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) belonging to the group led by Mumbai terror attack master mind Hafiz Saeed, who earlier operated under Lashkar-e- Toiba. Here it is to be noted that both LeT and JuD have been banned by the U.N. It’s only natural that the next step was a political entry. And hence came this MML.
Prior to this rejection by PEC, the Federal Government in Islamabad had already recommended to PEC that it would not give any security clearance for MML. It was way back in 2008 (26/11), that Mumbai was attacked by terrorists from Pakistan, which led to the capture of Ajmal Kasab from Faridkot. For all those years, when the case was going on in Indian court Pakistan refused to accept Ajmal Kasab as Pakistani, and that Pakistan had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack. They even refused to take his body after he was hanged in Tihar jail. On persistent follow up by India, Pakistan while changing their stance refused to accept the involvement of Hafiz Saeed and his outfit. However, terrorism can come home to bite the hand that nursed it. And slowly Pakistan started realizing that, after all Hafiz Saeed is not an ordinary Pakistani, he is a trouble maker and therefore should be under house arrest. As he continued to be under house arrest, Hafiz Saeed felt he has room at the top and had vision of a political entry. For far too long the Pak government with the active help from its spy agency ISI had nursed the growth of this terror master mind, only to hurt India. But when it became difficult to foray into India at will, he had to keep his flock engaged in other activities, which started hurting Pakistani interest and society. Perforce they had to act against Hafiz Saeed. Entering the politics was the last resort for Hafiz Saeed to assert himself. Realizing that any entry by terror master mind will be detrimental to the body politic of Pakistan, the government in Islamabad had to act. And acted decisively, to bar this apparent ‘migraine’, from playing political roles. Some sense of purpose!
WORLD: That Pakistan is unreliable is never in doubt. Recently Pakistan had floated the ‘Proposal’ that allegedly NIA had made, regarding some swapping of Kulbhushan Jadhav of India with that of a Pakistani terrorist in captivity in Afghanistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs had roundly condemned it, terming it as ‘another lie in a series of lies’.
Another news from Islamabad has informed about the appointment a Former Chief Justice of Pakistan to represent Pakistan in the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
While we are about it, the matter of concern is the safety and where-about of Kulbhushan Jadhav. We are aware that ever since the kidnapping of Jadhav from Iran and bringing him to Pakistan and imprisoning him as a terrorist, Pakistani authorities have steadfastly refused to give Jadhav consular access. None of our diplomatic staff has been allowed to see him despite innumerable requests by the government of India. Pakistan even refused visa to Jadhav’s old mother to visit him in Pakistani custody. Anywhere in the world, a request by an old and infirm mother would have been allowed under all condition. An old mother of an alleged ‘convict’ cannot be a threat to anybody. Yes, Pakistan who talk about Indo-Pak shared values, just did not allow her the visit. This indicates, a worry-some angle to the whole episode. Is Kulbhushan Jadhav alive? Could it be that somewhere in Pakistan, somebody has bumped him off! Kulbhushan Jadhav, may not be alive, to see his old and infirm mother! Or else there can be absolutely no reason why his ageing mother was not given visa to visit him in Pakistan’s custody. Besides, it baffles that persistent attempt by Indian MEA to allow consular access to Jadhav has been denied. Something could be seriously wrong. India must file an application at ICJ for the personal presentation of Jadhav. Hope Kulbhushan Jadhav is alive!
WORLD: How can an Indian origin, IT professional, married to a qualified nurse do this, is beyond comprehension.
Reportedly, a Houston datelined media update informs that a 3 year old girl child was found in a gutter culvert dead in suburban Dallas.
On 7th October, according to the father of child Sherin Mathews, he (Wesley Mathews) left the child alone under a tree at 3.00 am, as a punishment, since she was refusing to drink milk. But she was not found thereafter, Wesley Mathews, complained to the police in the city of Richardson in the state of Texas. Thus according to Mathews child Sherin went missing. And there was no breakthrough in the matter for over 2 weeks. However on 22nd October the body of the child Sherin was found by the police in a culvert under a road nearly a km from her home.
Earlier father Wesley Mathews was arrested for violence against child but released later. After the body of the child was found, he was rearrested and presently under custody of Dallas police. On intense interrogation, Mathews confessed to what had ‘happened’. Reportedly he tried to force feed the milk to the child Sherin and she choked. He has told the police that his daughter choked to death after he “physically assisted” her in drinking milk.
Here a few things needs elucidation, first, he makes her drink milk at an unearthly hour of around 3.00 in the morning. How do you expect a child which probably could have been sleeping at that time and to wake her up and make her drink milk? Nobody like to be force fed against their free will, certainly not a 3 years old child. So what was his intention? May be he was not happy with the child and wanted to see her end!? So he “physically assisted” the child in getting the larger quantity of milk so that she chokes and struggles to breath and collapses. That is probably what happened. And he knitted a story of leaving the child at 3.am under a tree outside their home. But truth has its own autonomous dynamics to come back to hunt you, not just to haunt you.
This Mr. Wesley Mathews is reportedly charged with first degree felony with a bond of 1 million$ and a possibility of life term in prison.
Its over 3 weeks and our friends in Face Book, dealing with mean politics had no time to pray for the departed soul of child Sherin Mathews. Reportedly she was a foster child. All that Wesley could have done was to return the child to its biological parents, if he was unhappy with the child.
Instead he snuffs out the life of a blooming flower. Oh God may her tender soul rest in everlasting peace. Amen.
J. Shriyan
NEW DELHI: Some weeks ago, a first of a kind had happened at the Claridges Hotel New Delhi. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was having a tete-e-tete with ambassadors and diplomats of some 50 countries, who have their chancery in India. By any stretch of imagination it was a unique initiative from RSS. Reportedly it was the brain child of India Foundation, probably a Sangh affiliate.
In an environment of distrust, with a Sangh political party in power, this initiative was certainly overdue to dispel any misgivings or thoughts lurking in the wider socio-political canvas. That there are any number of issues, real or bogie, was never in doubt. With the arrival of BJP on the national scene as never before and its foot-soldiers, at least a small vocal section of it, being too radical and violent, this interaction can be a good beginning.
It is always possible for ‘conversation without confrontation’ in any given socio political atmosphere for the larger socio political objective of any society anywhere in the world. More so for a country like India with its myriad faiths and dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects with an exasperating diversity!
Surely there must have been active and participative interlocution between official representatives of those 50 countries and the RSS chief. In the interest of the world in general and India in particular, such interactive sessions should continue at regular intervals for the peace in the sub-continent and for the elimination of recurring misunderstanding prevailing in the sub-continent.
Domestic worker is a phenomenon found more in third world countries with its excess population available than the opportunities for other useful employment avenues. Hence exploitation is the bye-word. Working long hours, low wages, inhuman treatment and in some cases even physical violence on their persona including abuse of their bodies of female domestic workers.
Middle Eastern countries, especially Arab countries are notorious for such extreme forms of exploitation. Stories of female domestic workers getting stranded despite exploitation for long periods are far too many to be quoted.
Unfortunately, most governments in the region have not taken up the welfare of this unfortunate section of the society.
And comes this news, “Govt. thinks of minimum wages and other benefits for domestic workers”.
Certainly this piece of legislation was long overdue in India. India has all kinds of population, employing these domestic helpers for all kinds of jobs at all kinds of compensation. Some employ them for an hour or two every day, and the domestic works in 3-4 houses on similar basis. Somebody provides her breakfast, somebody lunch, and somebody evening tea and may be even dinner. These are smart types, make better terms. Of course, no sick leave or any other benefits. Then there are monthly- day- workers and then there are live- in types. Again live in types have their own problems which forces them sometimes to compromise on payments and other benefits. Then there are employers who do take care of all their need, including children’s education, if any, medical, weekly off, year-end benefits like leave and ex-gratia etc. But then the % of the last category is far less and therefore the need for a regulatory mechanism supported by a law is very necessary.
This last initiative should hopefully fill the yawning gap prevailing with the domestic workers employment. The policy being considered is expected to include minimum wages, maximum number of hours of work, weekly breaks, annual leave and of medical and other pecuniary benefits. An institutional mechanism to address recurring problems of domestic workers as and when it recurs is an always needed initiative. Hope the policy does take care of that too.
NEW DELHI: The opposition, media and all those who do not like BJP, Modi and of course party man Amit Shah, are having a field day with the report on the alleged riches acquired by the son of BJP party Supremo Amit Shah.
Reportedly a company, Temple Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, owned by the wife and son duo of Amit Shah has earned some 16000 times within one year of BJP coming to power at the centre. According to the report, between 2005 & 2014 the company made a profit of less than Rs. 19 lakhs. However it rocket zoomed to over Rs. 80 crores, apparently some 16000 times
Surely it needs explanation, especially because all BJP functionaries are supposed to declare their financial statements every year. Thus, the explanation should have come on its own, since Amit Shah is the head of the party, which, right or wrong, prides itself as non-corrupt and transparent. But in the absence of any explanation coming from father or son, has certainly bucked up all those who are looking for a pound of BJP flesh!
Strangely, there is no news either, that Prime Minister Modi has pulled up the party chief, or asked him to explain his position vis-a-vis his son’s newly acquired riches. Or is he biding his time to show Amit Shah his place, if he does not come clean on these alleged riches of Temple Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. belonging to his wife and son, Jay Shah!
Hope something soon happens with Shah duo, so that Vadra, the high profile son-in-law of opposition leader Sonia Gandhi is made accountable for all the acts of commission and omission in acquiring huge personal wealth at the cost of the state.
NEW DELHI:The commotion ignited by the now famous article by Former Finance Minister Yashwanth Sinha is completely uncalled far. And the churlish reaction by the present Finance Minister Arun Jaitley “job applicant at 80” only added to the media hype on the ‘economic slowdown’ as argued by many.
Among the issues raised by the Former IAS turned Finance Minister in the Vajpayee Government, was the NPA. We all know, as of now the NPA of Public Sector Banks is over Rs.8 lacs crores. It is true that every government for all successive years have contributed to this mess. With all the noises of Modi led NDA II it could have made these public sector banks accountable, to whatever extent possible. But that did not happen. It went from bad to worse.
Another point he makes is the low investment by private sector. Private sector does not take risk when profit making is uncertain with global markets being sluggish. They want all kinds of incentives. But with oil prices being what it is, government could have invested more on the infrastructure, with the money saved from the low crude oil prices. Any investment, as is known, has a multiplier effect. That did not happen.
His writing “Demonetization has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster. A badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with business and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market”.
Surely the language of the article has the pungency of a man deeply hurt. Indeed, demonetization, although had higher intentions, it did not deliver as expected. But some positives did take place. It was certainly not ‘an unmitigated economic disaster’. Yes GST too did cause problems to traders. But GST had to come, may be not as rushed as it was. Just getting out of demonetization shock, GST could have been delayed by some 6 months at least. Yes, right now some rationalization is being worked out, which hopefully shall make life a bit better. But the haste could have been avoided. Of course the jobs were generally difficult to come by. But to say ‘countless millions have lost their jobs’ was an uncalled for overreaction.
As we all are aware, there has been plethora of write-ups in the media on the economic slowdown, due to multiple factors. Every government has its ups and downs in the public perception. The government spokesmen manage some issues upfront and some they play by the ears. Like you have managed other media interlocutors, even Yashwanth Sinha too could have been managed better. But Jaitley thought, he is a lawyer and hence can argue his case better. In the event, ‘job applicant’ missile he fired blew up on his face.
NEW DELHI:There was this small but front page news report in a Mumbai based English daily “80% wanted LK as President: Shatru”.
Reportedly, actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha was speaking to NDTV where he blurted or rather according to him shared a secret that “80% of my party wanted LK Advani as President”.
It is true that there is no love lost between Shotgun Sinha and his party bigwigs, especially PM Modi and party man Amith Shah. So also the channel NDTV too is known to be a bit of cross with the NDA boss Narendra Modi and BJP in general.
So, if both are carrying a kind of unhappiness campaign, if not downright Anti- Modi talk, there is also a veiled perception that ‘indeed a lot of BJP cardholders were unhappy about not having given a chance to LK Advani, the former Deputy P.M under Vajpayee, for the Presidentship of India.
As a political figure, except Babri Masjid demolition issue, he had a fairly clean record. Late Khushwanth Singh, a well known journalist had described LKA as “really one of the most able, cool headed, courteous and clean politician left to day”. According to him he was “Pretty certain that he (LKA) will never be unfair to Muslims”.
Description by Khushwanth Singh is generally fair. Although LKA is a bit of Hindutva hardliner he has no adversaries among opposition leaders. He is a good communicator. Hence LKA was a good choice for presidentship and he would have been a good source of honest and meaningful advice. Modi had referred to Pranab Mukherjee as a father figure etc. By any stretch of comparison LKA would have been certainly no less, if not better than Pranab Mukherjee. In fact, when it comes to integrity LKA is far taller than Pranab Mukherjee, a quality needed to be the No: 1citizen of the country. Modi was patently unfair to LKA, only because, he wanted to prove his numero uno status in his party that, he will do what he desires to do. Even the choice of Vice President too is questionable. Surely both these appointments have disappointed scores of BJP members and other too. This will certainly affect his popularity among Sangh outfits. Shotgun Sinha was only echoing the deeper rumblings within Sangh parivar.
UTTAR PRADESH: Prince Khurram, who later got the title of Shah Jehan had married Mumtaj Mahal in 1612. Sadly beautiful Mumtaj died young within less than 20years as Begam of Shah Jehan in 1631.
In memory of his late wife Shah Jehan starts building a tomb in 1632 on the banks of river Yamuna in Agra. It took 21 long years to complete the mausoleum and was completed in 1653. It was named Taj Mahal, as a ‘monument of love’ of an emperor for his empress. It took some 20000 artisans over 2 decades to create, which according to UNESCO “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired master piece”: In 1983, the Taj Mahal was designated “UNESCO World Heritage site”. Poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal as “the tear-drop on the cheek of time”. Taj Mahal is a symbol of India’s rich composite history. Although it was included since a long time in the list of global wonders, in 2007 it was declared WINNER OF THE NEW 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD (2000-2007) INITIATIVE. Reportedly, this beautiful architectural wonder in white marble, Taj Mahal, attracts 7 to 8 million tourists every year from across the world. It is a global tourist attraction.
And come 2017, Yogi Adityanath arrives on the scene, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, where Agra is a part of the state. Not even six months into his office, he tries to rewrite the history. New Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet named “Boundless Possibilities”, replaces the old booklet. Wonder of Wonders, Taj Mahal is missing from the tourism booklet of U.P; only because it was built by a Mughal and therefore this Yogi Adityanath thinks “did not represent Indian culture”! A news paper called it ‘utterly shocking’. Ever since this Yogi was made CM of the biggest state of India, he has been showing unmistakable signs of being biased in both the theory and practice of Statecraft. In India of composite culture he is not a right person to head any state let alone U.P. With people like him ‘Idea of India’ cannot be sustained. Somebody, within his own political hierarchy need to pull this man roundly, for the cause of ‘India of all of us’ not for ‘just of this Yogi and his ilk’.
UTTAR PRADESH: Among all kinds of news from the state is a surprising one from the U.P. Shia Central Waqf Board.
U.P government under Yogi Adityanath had decided to erect a statue of Lord Rama on the banks of Saryu River as a tourist attraction. Given the kind of person that Yogi Adityanath is, this kind of public expenditure may be expected. While it is true that purely from a governance stand point, it may not be appropriate for an elected government to spend money on things like a statue for a deity. But in Ayodhya, Lord Rama will be the presiding deity. With Ayodhya temple being still an issue to be resolved, either legally or by mutual consent of all parties involved, this erection of statue of Lord Rama is a dicey issue.
AIMPLB along with MP Asaduddin Owaisi have taken a strident stand opposing the statue move. But UP Shia Central Waqf Board has offered 10 silver arrows ‘as a token of admiration and esteem in which the Shias hold Lord Rama’.
Clearly these are opposing stands. Why Shia Board has taken this stand is apparently inexplicable! But certainly has a larger purpose of reaching out to the majority community in an atmosphere of growing distance between stake holders.
Purely from that angle, it will send warm signals for those who welcome it. It has the potential to introduce a bit of thaw in a frigid moribund atmosphere of growing distance within the Indian polity. This may also help in the larger purpose of developing bonhomie between people to people which is truly the difference that a vibrant society brings about, the co-habitation of accommodative living together. Hope this message percolates deeper.
MAHARASHTRA: BCCI is always in the news in recent times, mostly for wrong reasons. This time round, it was the birthday greetings to the former India Chief Coach Anil Kumble.
Probably BCCI greets all its past and present players of some eminence on their birthday. So somebody in-charge of this function tweeted “Here is wishing former Team India bowler Anil Kumble a very happy birthday”.
Of course, he was the Team India bowler, nothing wrong with the detail. But he was also the India’s captain, he was also the one and the only 10 wicket record holder, that too against Pakistan, and was with ICC/IPL and the latest being that of Indian Chief Coach, which he had to leave with lot of pain, despite giving his best for the team for the whole of 2016/17 cricket season. And the team enjoyed great success during the whole year, under his guidance, except the World Cup final in England. India lost to arch rival Pakistan in the World Cup, despite having beaten Pakistan in the league match! And India lost rather badly! There was no inquiry, why we lost so badly? Anil Kumble comes back from England and resigns. His exit was most unceremonious and the tweet by BCCI on his birthday is only a reflection of BCCI attitude towards Anil Kumble. It is another matter that they changed the tweet quickly after a furor in the social media from his countless admirers. This is BCCI, the Big Cash Cow of India.
MAHARASHTRA:This is the story of one Shahrukh from Mumbai’s western suburb Kandivali. He is an imitation jewellary shop owner. He has a friend Raees Ansari, a garment trader, also from Kandivali. Both are married and families of both are on friendly terms. There is this English saying “Too much familiarity breeds contempt’. Sometime late last week of September, Raees Ansari, reportedly left his home at 11.am for his work but strangely did not return. The next day his body was found on the Aksa beach in the neighbouring Malad. His throat was slit and body had some six wounds as per report. Malad police could not find his identity initially, when the body was found on the beach. But later learnt about a missing complaint in the Kandivali police station and his identity was established. They managed to study the call data records of the mobile phone and found that Raees Ansari had spoken many times to the wife of Shahrukh. Police picked up Shahrukh for interrogation and Shahrukh reportedly confessed to his vicious crime. But what happened suddenly to this intimate family relationship and friendship that one could even murder the other?! They zeroed on to Raees Ansari’s wife. What she stated to the police is bizarre to say the least. According to Raees Ansari’s wife, Shahrukh wanted their wives to be mutually swapped. Shahrukh wanted Ansari’s wife in exchange for his wife, which Ansari had refused. It was very sad that Ansari had to pay with his life for being a gentleman to his lady. We had heard of such stories only, but this was for real, said the report.
MAHARASHTRA:Some years ago, reacting to a humorous limerick making its round poking fun at government in Bengalooru, the so called progressive writer Devanur Mahadeva had reportedly remarked “Does this mean that the poor should not be given any basic facilities like food and shelter?” While complaining that rich are having no shortage of food and are enjoying foreign liquor and enjoying life? Thus, it was clear that, it is alright for the poor to become dependent on state largesse and maybe they should also get supplies of liquor if possible.
Now as a progressive writer, if anything, he should bat for empowerment of poor people by education and skill development. His writing must exhort these poor people how to come out of the dependency syndrome. Instead he wants the state to provide everything free. How will the poor ever experience emancipation? And the media called him progressive!
And comes this NDA Minister Ramdas Athawale who is reported to have stated while speaking to the press, “The army provides good food and liquor. Instead of consuming country liquor while being unemployed, Dalit youth must join the armed forces – army, navy and air force – where they can get rum”.
That this statement of the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, has led to a huge controversy, he do seem to think like the progressive writer, that its ok to get everything free from the government including free rum. Joining army need not be to serve the country but to have good food and quality liquor free. With these kinds of leaders and writers, our poorer brothers and sisters will continue to remain dependent without the mental freedom which is paramount for anybody to grow economically and socially. Wonder how BabaSaheb Ambedkar would have reacted in the astral world or where ever his soul is wandering. Oh poor mother India!
KARNATAKA: In recent days the state is in the news, not necessarily for right reasons. Vidhana Soudha, the state legislative mansion, completed 60 years. It has a unique construction history and hence needed a unique function to celebrate the milestone. In his enthusiasm, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced a grand fete. Reportedly some 27 crores of rupees were outlayed for the event, which included distribution of gold biscuits to Legislative members. Expectedly there was a furor and a better sense prevailed on the administration. The latest report informs that the fete has been scaled down to effect reduction in spending, to Rs.10 crores only. We are told ‘no gold biscuits’.
Another news from Bengalooru is the abrupt transfer of an IAS officer: Ajay Nagabhushan. This Commissioner of Collegiate Education had reportedly red flaged an out-of-turn release of Rs. 107 crores by the minister concerned for the newly started Babasaheb Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE). The release of the fund was without any protocol. As an administrative head of the Collegiate Education activity, the officer was well within his power to stop the payment. But minister used to unbridled power did not take the veto by the commissioner kindly. Result, abrupt transfer, no reason need be given. The story of officers’ transfers is an ongoing issue in our Mera Bharath Mahan, where political bosses are unhappy with their managers.
The news from Janata Dal (secular) camp, the private property of Deve Gowda’s family, shows some positive development.
Reportedly, Deve Gowda’s elder son Kumaraswami, who calls the shot in JD(S) has vetoed giving ticket to his wife Anitha and his brother’s son Prajwal. Reportedly both were keen to continue the dynasty. Hope this development would give some chance to others too, who would want to try their hands at ‘serving the state or the country’.
KARNATAKA: Police making money on the sly is not unknown. It is an open secret. For varieties of services and favours of dos and donts, they rake money. Sometime, real good! There is also the allegation that this is institutionalized. Everybody from bottom to top gets paid from the common pool of collection and hence everybody protects everybody else and therefore those who do not want to be part of it, either do not indulge, or try to improve things. Some people get sick of happenings in their department and revolt.
D.Roopa, DIG of Prisons is one such, who took on her boss DGP (Prisons) HNS Rao, straight.
Parappana Agrahara had two very high profile prisoners, the infamous Abdul Karim Telgi of fake stamp paper scandal and Sasikala, the disgraced AIADMK general secretary. Both can afford to pay huge sums for their comforts. And they paid. In this case D. Roopa alleged in her report that DGP (Prisons) received Rs. 2 crores from Sasikala to spare her the usual discomfort of prison. Clearly law and jail manual do not provide for such flagrant concessions. There was a minor earthquake in Parappana Agrahara after the report by D.Roopa. All those who provided information were physically tortured. After all, it exposed the entire jail administration. The matter was suo-moto taken up by the State HRC and they confirmed that prisoners were indeed badly brutalized for revealing details of comforts to Sasikala and other high profile politically influential prisoners. Reportedly these prisoners who were beaten up were moved out to other prisons, the day after SHRC submission, about the irregularities is the prison. The extent of barbarism by the police on these hapless prisoners was such that they had to be shifted on wheel chairs due to the injury suffered by beating. Reportedly it was Krishna Kumar, the jail superintendent at Parappana Agrahara who is the villain, who took the exposure of VIP treatment personally and tried to settle score with jail inmates.
As such in jail, inmates live with lot of mental torture, but these evil policemen torture them even physically. People like Krishna Kumar should be criminally prosecuted and jailed, for them to know the experience of an inmate personally. Only then some semblance of humanity will creep into police force.
KARNATAKA: There is an English saying “Carrying Coal to New Castle”, which implies you are taking a wagon load of something which is already available in abundance, meaning wasted effort and wasted resources.
A Bangalooru date lined news report informs that the Department of Technical Education (DTE) of Karnataka government has proposed starting of 17 new government engineering colleges. Of the 17 proposed, 10 colleges are for North Karnataka districts, like Kalaburgi Bagalkot and Bidar. The proposals for new engineering colleges have come from MLAs from the districts.
However the question is do we need these colleges in the state, when there are 227 colleges in the state with 11 of them being government managed and the balance being privately managed and owned?
According to the figures available in the public domain, there are some 78000 seats, excluding management quota, available in Engineering Colleges across the state. Of these, 29000 seats have remained vacant for this academic year. So clearly there are seats available in the general quota far in excess of the current demand.
Reacting to the DTE proposal, former Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University Dr. NR Shetty has stated that “Nearly 800 colleges all over India have applied for closure, (for their inability to get available seats filled due to dwindling demand so also due to more engineering colleges opened without proper market research on the demand and supply position of engineering seats). Under such circumstances, it is clearly unwise and not the right time to open new colleges”.
Of course, the problem is the MLAs’ over anxiety to ‘serve his constituency’, whether the college is needed or not is not their concern. This shows the misplaced priority of the government led by such people’s representatives. What the government should be doing with the resources available, is to strengthen the primary and secondary school education with competent teachers. But then barking up the wrong tree is our national malaise!
KARNATAKA: Since some years, naxals or maoists and leftist insurgents have been surrendering to return to the main stream after an offer of rehabilitation package by Karnataka government. Some of these naxals have surrendered to the police and were allowed to live a normal life. Reportedly however, none of those who laid down arms have taken any package of rehabilitation from the government.
Here comes a case of Parashuram and Rizwana, a couple with two daughters, who surrendered under the rehabilitation package, is little unique. Here apparently Parashuram is a Hindu and Rizwana is Muslim, it is a very refreshing combination in a country of religious bigotry. They have maintained their individual identity with neither of them having changed their names to signify change in religious status. Of course for all you know they could be a couple with ‘no religion’ tag, which is again a positive approach in a country where both Hindus and Muslims, at least a section of them, suffer from fixated syndrome. The couple with their two daughters deserves all help and support. The report informs about the hardship the couple is facing with too frequent hearing of the cases to be attended in faraway places like Raichur Sringeri and Chikamagalooru. These cases are involving travel/stay, lawyers fee etc, is eating into their meager earning, Parashuram as driver and Rizwana as a home based tailor. Now they are looking for help from the government for rehabilitation package.
It appears to be an honest attempt at reform and therefore they deserve all help, especially in an atmosphere of suspicion, they are a model couple in plural India.
Besides, the cases pending with police should be withdrawn as agreed as per Maoists’ surrendering scheme and free these reforming former naxals from the police. There appears to be no logic for the continuation of these cases after surrendering. Hope government in Bengalooru acts on the package as well as cases are withdrawn.
KERALA: The present dispensation at the centre headed by BJP has less presence in southern states. That’s a fact. BJP is around since 1980s. As late as 1984/85, they had only 2 seats. But post rath yatra by L.K Advani, saw its fortune changing for better, and it kept improving. But improved only in the West and the North. East and South remained with non-BJP parties. However a breakthrough came in Karnataka. It has maintained a strong presence in Karnataka for quite sometimes now. However, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala remained difficult to penetrate. But some working relationship got developed between Andhra regional parties so also in Tamil Nadu. But Kerala remained impregnable. With best of efforts, they could manage just one seat in Kerala assembly. However this time round, the party man Amit Shah over- confident with U.P victory, tried his best to penetrate Kerala with all kinds of tricks. He did some unthinkable, like getting Yogi Adityanath, so also M.P Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. What was the great idea, only Amit Shah would know, since, he appears to be a one man strategist. Both these BJP leaders are Hindi speakers, hence very unlikely to make any impact. It gave an impression of desperation. Besides, Shah exposed Yogi to ridicule by Kerala CM Vijayan. Yogi had reportedly remarked about the alleged poor condition of Kerala hospitals, forgetting the disasters in UP hospitals with children dying by the dozens at regular intervals.
Unlike any state in India, Kerala is a highly politically aware state. Most of its population is fully aware of the things happening in the state and are fairly abreast of national affairs, due to their daily news paper reading habit.
Besides, most Keralites would not have forgotten or forgiven PM Modi for comparing Kerala with Somalia. That was most insensitive for PM Modi to have made such a statement, especially when the Human Development Indices in Kerala are far better than in Gujarath, where PM Modi was the Chief Minister for 3 terms.
Hence in fitness of things, BJP should not rush to improve its figures in Kerala. At the moment the priority for PM Modi should be to deliver at New Delhi. You perform well in centre, rest will slowly come to you based purely on performance and certainly not by Chanakya’s school of Social Engineering. Do you hearken Mr. Amit Shah!
KERALA: Thiruvananthapuram or Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerala. Kerala is supposedly the best state in India after Goa in Human Development Index (HDI), as per United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Better population ratio, better gender ratio, better health indices and above all 100% literacy. Of course this 100% include even these who could write their name only. But that’s not the point. The fact is Kerala is the most literate state in India. But ironically it too has its share of idiots and stupids.
Or else, how can anyone in his or her right senses think of tying a three years old child in a reclining position on a designer peepal leaf ( Ashwatha) dressed as Lord Krishna and fix it on a tableau in a procession on the occasion of the recent Shree Krishna Janmashtami, for over two hours!
One Srikanth of Payyannur had reportedly photographed the visuals and uploaded on the social media. Suddenly Child Rights Panel of the state wakes up and files a suo moto complaint with the police. Reportedly the organizers- Vivekananda Seva Samithi- has threatened this Srikanth with abuses on the phone.
For sure, if Swamy Vivekananda was around, he would have taken, these Samithi office bearers to the Kovalam beach and in all probability would have immersed them in the Arabian Sea, never wanting to see their shameless faces that were the very antithetic of what Vivekananda stood for.
WORLD: A Karachi date lined print media report informed that Pakistan’s Election Commission (PEC) has rejected the registration application of a political party called Milli Muslim League (MML). This MML is the political wing of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) belonging to the group led by Mumbai terror attack master mind Hafiz Saeed, who earlier operated under Lashkar-e- Toiba. Here it is to be noted that both LeT and JuD have been banned by the U.N. It’s only natural that the next step was a political entry. And hence came this MML.
Prior to this rejection by PEC, the Federal Government in Islamabad had already recommended to PEC that it would not give any security clearance for MML. It was way back in 2008 (26/11), that Mumbai was attacked by terrorists from Pakistan, which led to the capture of Ajmal Kasab from Faridkot. For all those years, when the case was going on in Indian court Pakistan refused to accept Ajmal Kasab as Pakistani, and that Pakistan had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack. They even refused to take his body after he was hanged in Tihar jail. On persistent follow up by India, Pakistan while changing their stance refused to accept the involvement of Hafiz Saeed and his outfit. However, terrorism can come home to bite the hand that nursed it. And slowly Pakistan started realizing that, after all Hafiz Saeed is not an ordinary Pakistani, he is a trouble maker and therefore should be under house arrest. As he continued to be under house arrest, Hafiz Saeed felt he has room at the top and had vision of a political entry. For far too long the Pak government with the active help from its spy agency ISI had nursed the growth of this terror master mind, only to hurt India. But when it became difficult to foray into India at will, he had to keep his flock engaged in other activities, which started hurting Pakistani interest and society. Perforce they had to act against Hafiz Saeed. Entering the politics was the last resort for Hafiz Saeed to assert himself. Realizing that any entry by terror master mind will be detrimental to the body politic of Pakistan, the government in Islamabad had to act. And acted decisively, to bar this apparent ‘migraine’, from playing political roles. Some sense of purpose!
WORLD: That Pakistan is unreliable is never in doubt. Recently Pakistan had floated the ‘Proposal’ that allegedly NIA had made, regarding some swapping of Kulbhushan Jadhav of India with that of a Pakistani terrorist in captivity in Afghanistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs had roundly condemned it, terming it as ‘another lie in a series of lies’.
Another news from Islamabad has informed about the appointment a Former Chief Justice of Pakistan to represent Pakistan in the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
While we are about it, the matter of concern is the safety and where-about of Kulbhushan Jadhav. We are aware that ever since the kidnapping of Jadhav from Iran and bringing him to Pakistan and imprisoning him as a terrorist, Pakistani authorities have steadfastly refused to give Jadhav consular access. None of our diplomatic staff has been allowed to see him despite innumerable requests by the government of India. Pakistan even refused visa to Jadhav’s old mother to visit him in Pakistani custody. Anywhere in the world, a request by an old and infirm mother would have been allowed under all condition. An old mother of an alleged ‘convict’ cannot be a threat to anybody. Yes, Pakistan who talk about Indo-Pak shared values, just did not allow her the visit. This indicates, a worry-some angle to the whole episode. Is Kulbhushan Jadhav alive? Could it be that somewhere in Pakistan, somebody has bumped him off! Kulbhushan Jadhav, may not be alive, to see his old and infirm mother! Or else there can be absolutely no reason why his ageing mother was not given visa to visit him in Pakistan’s custody. Besides, it baffles that persistent attempt by Indian MEA to allow consular access to Jadhav has been denied. Something could be seriously wrong. India must file an application at ICJ for the personal presentation of Jadhav. Hope Kulbhushan Jadhav is alive!
WORLD: How can an Indian origin, IT professional, married to a qualified nurse do this, is beyond comprehension.
Reportedly, a Houston datelined media update informs that a 3 year old girl child was found in a gutter culvert dead in suburban Dallas.
On 7th October, according to the father of child Sherin Mathews, he (Wesley Mathews) left the child alone under a tree at 3.00 am, as a punishment, since she was refusing to drink milk. But she was not found thereafter, Wesley Mathews, complained to the police in the city of Richardson in the state of Texas. Thus according to Mathews child Sherin went missing. And there was no breakthrough in the matter for over 2 weeks. However on 22nd October the body of the child Sherin was found by the police in a culvert under a road nearly a km from her home.
Earlier father Wesley Mathews was arrested for violence against child but released later. After the body of the child was found, he was rearrested and presently under custody of Dallas police. On intense interrogation, Mathews confessed to what had ‘happened’. Reportedly he tried to force feed the milk to the child Sherin and she choked. He has told the police that his daughter choked to death after he “physically assisted” her in drinking milk.
Here a few things needs elucidation, first, he makes her drink milk at an unearthly hour of around 3.00 in the morning. How do you expect a child which probably could have been sleeping at that time and to wake her up and make her drink milk? Nobody like to be force fed against their free will, certainly not a 3 years old child. So what was his intention? May be he was not happy with the child and wanted to see her end!? So he “physically assisted” the child in getting the larger quantity of milk so that she chokes and struggles to breath and collapses. That is probably what happened. And he knitted a story of leaving the child at 3.am under a tree outside their home. But truth has its own autonomous dynamics to come back to hunt you, not just to haunt you.
This Mr. Wesley Mathews is reportedly charged with first degree felony with a bond of 1 million$ and a possibility of life term in prison.
Its over 3 weeks and our friends in Face Book, dealing with mean politics had no time to pray for the departed soul of child Sherin Mathews. Reportedly she was a foster child. All that Wesley could have done was to return the child to its biological parents, if he was unhappy with the child.
Instead he snuffs out the life of a blooming flower. Oh God may her tender soul rest in everlasting peace. Amen.
J. Shriyan
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