Sunday, August 31, 2014
Did Macaulay harm India in promoting English?
Many a time a person may have one thing in mind when taking a particular action but the action has many repercussions beyond the comprehension of the perpetrator of the action.
Lord Macaulay have had the subjugation of the Indians in mind when he planned the propagation of English in India.
However, it seems. Indians have taken to English as ducks take to water.
It seems the Indians have beaten the English at their own game and now more people speak English than in Britain and Indians are leading the world in whatever business activity that requires English.
As Cassius said the Brutus in Julius Caesar"The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Why blame Lord Macaulay when its is our generations of leaders after independence that are responsible.
After Independence, Nehru had the chance to give a new direction to Indian politics, free of corruption and sleaze. His affair with Lady Mountbatten and his compromise with corruption started the rot.
There was a slight respite when Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister but thereafter during the reign of Indira Gandhi corruption returned with a vengeance and thereafter with each successive government at the centre and state, it has increased by leaps and bounds.
When the four new states of Uttarkhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were born, the new states had a golden opportunity to breakaway from the rot. But the states were made so that there were more loaves to distribute, hence they went the same way.
Now, the newest state, Telengana has been born.
K Chandrasekhar Rao has a golden opportunity to break away from the mold and give his state a corruption free government.
Will he or will it also go the same way?
Time will tell.
At the centre, Modi too has a golden opportunity to give India a corruption free government.
Will he?
The way he has chosen corrupt people like Yeyurappa, Nitin Gadkari, Nihal Chand shows that he too has lost the opportunity to give India a new direction.
He will continue with large spending, in the name of development, to give his party men and crony capitalist opportunity to mint money.
Another five years wasted.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Supreme Court remarks on CORRUPT Cabinet Ministers - How should the PM act
Disqualification of Union & State Cabinet Ministers is constitutional responsibility of PM, CMs: Supreme Court of India
An ADR and NEW analysis reveals 44 (23%) out of 194 State Cabinet Ministers from 13 Assemblies (where elections were conducted in the last two years) and 12 (27%) out of 45 Union Ministers have self-declared criminal cases against themselves. (Detailed report is attached)
In a landmark judgement on Aug. 27, a five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court observed that it is not the prerogative of the Apex court to disqualify ministers facing criminal charges. Putting the ball in Prime Minister’s court, the SC held that it is the collective responsibility of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministersto keep those people against whom charges have been framed in criminal and corruption cases, out of their Cabinet.
Ideal tenets of polity observed in the judgement
- Disqualification of Minsters is not Court’s prerogative: Interpreting Article 75(1), the Supreme Court said that disqualification of Ministers cannot be added to the responsibility of Court as it is the constitutional prerogative of those functionaries who are called upon to preserve, protect, defend the organization. Thus the court cannot issue any direction to PM and CMs as to the manner in which they should exercise their power while selecting their colleagues in the Council of Ministers.
- Court’s duty is to remind PM, CMs about their role in working of constitution: The judgement said it is the bounden duty of the Court to remind the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of the State of their duty to act in accordance with the constitutional aspirations.
- Scope and purpose of Articles 74, 75 and 164: Constitutional trust, constitutional morality and good governance are the three fundamental ingredients of Article 74, 75 and 164 and the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers are regarded as the repository of these three fundamental aspects. Thus the office of the Prime Minister is expected to carry the burden of constitutional trust.
- Whether any restriction can be placed on the operation of Article 75 (1): The Article 75(1) clearly states that the PM shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the PM. Therefore as a result, such a “restriction” would amount to laying down of boundaries on the advice of PM. In instant judgement, the Apex court has respected the doctrine of “Separation of Powers.”
- PM is expected to act with constitutional responsibility: PM is expected that he should act in the interest of national polity of a nation state. He has to bear in mind that “unwarranted elements or persons” who are facing charges in certain category of offences should be prohibited from entering into our constitutional structure.
- Constitutional advice on appointment of ministers: The advice given by the Prime Minister is the constitutional advice. Prime Ministerial advice under Article 75 (1) conveys formation of his opinion and trust of people is reposed in him under the constitution. This reposing of faith in the PM by the entire nation has the expectations of good governance which is carried out by Ministers of his choice.
- Advice should be considerate, deliberate and informed one: The advice given by the PM to the President in the context of Article 75 (1) has to be considerate, deliberate and informed one. Keeping in view the sanctity of oath, he takes, the PM would consider not choosing a person with criminal antecedents against whom charges have been framed for heinous or serious criminal offences or charges of corruption.
- Presumption of innocence needs to be treated differently under electoral polity: Presumption of innocence should not be considered for being chosen as a Minister in a stage of “framing of charges.” The reason behind this is that framing of charges is a judicial act by an experienced judicial mind.
Current status of criminalization of politics in India
State Cabinets
· Ministers with declared criminal cases: 44 (23%) Ministers out of 194 analyzed have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.
Ministers with serious declared criminal cases: 26 (13%) Ministers have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
States with high percentage of Ministers with criminal cases: Among the states analysed, Telangana (90%) has the highest percentage of Ministers with criminal cases followed by Andhra Pradesh (56%), Karnataka (34%) and Odisha (27%).
States with 0% Ministers with criminal cases: None of the Ministers from the states of Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim have declared criminal cases.
States with high percentage of Ministers with serious criminal cases: Telangana (80%) has the highest percentage of Ministers with serious criminal cases followed by Rajasthan (25%) and Andhra Pradesh (22%).
Chief Ministers with declared criminal cases: K.Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana and N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Union Cabinet
Union Council of Ministers with declared criminal cases: 12 (27%) out of 45 Ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Union Council of Ministers with declared serious criminal cases: 7 out of 45 Ministers have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
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We can't expect the BJP or Congress to
take any action for although Modi blabbed away before the elections on taking
action on Corruption and Rape of women, he has failed on both counts. His
silence on Nihal Chand and the way his finance minister has trivialized the
Delhi rape just shows how serious they are. Further, we are seeing the CAG
report on Gujarat and the scams emanating from MP, so the criminal
ministers can rest assured that they can continue their loot.
Only person who could take action is
the President of India but he too has compromised his position by hankering for
his son becoming a MP with a Congress , even after becoming the
President.
The Court has refused to take action.
The electorate continues to choose
criminal candidates from these run of the mill parties in spite of the AAP
giving them an opportunity to select honest candidates as an alternative.
SO WHO IS GOING TO SAVE INDIA?
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Richest Cabinet Ministers In India 2014
By SiliconIndia | Wednesday, 27 August 2014, 05:03 Hrs
BANGALORE: The Indian cabinet this year has a new high with 40 out of the 44 ministers in Modi’s cabinet being crorepatis. The richest of them all is the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley who has an assets value of 113 crores. Should this be considered as a surprise?
Well unlikely since many of the ministers and MP’s in India are incredibly rich with no clue of how or where they accumulate their wealth from. So here is a list of some of the richest cabinet ministers in PM Modi’s circle listed by beyond Headlines.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal: The minister for Food Processing in India, Harsimrat Kaur is also the wife of deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
She is the MP Representative from Bathinda, Punjab who has assets valued at over 108 crores, which she declared this year for her re election process. These assets include the assets of her husband as well.
Badal’s immovable and moveable assets are valued at over 46 and 61 crores respectively. She has jewelry worth over 5 crores as the latest reports when she declared her assets this year. Hailing from the University of Delhi, Harsimrat is now one of the prominent members of PM modi’s youthful team of ministers to change the country.
Arun Jaitley: The biggest supporter of Narendra Modi, and also the Minister of Finance and Defense, which are two major departments in the Indian Cabinet.
He had presented the Budget for India this year after the Modi Government was formed, in hopes changing the stance of the Indian Economy.
However it is to be noted that he is the richest Minister in the Modi Cabinet with assets worth well over 113 crores. His asset includes a fleet of luxury cars, plots, residential houses in Delhi, in suburbs and in Gujurat and also the amassed wealth in Jewelry. He completed his studies as a lawyer and since has been working at the highest level in the government.
Krishna Pal Gurjar: The minister who won in Haryana has declared assets worth over 29 crores, from assets worth 1 crore in 2005. His asset shot up rapidly and is also an integral part of the Modi led government.
He is a lawyer with a degree from the Meerut University. His assets include jewelry, cars and plots. He is a minister of state part of the Modi government.
Sushma Swaraj: The only second lady minister to hold the post of an External Minister of the country, Sushma is also the youngest cabinet minister from Haryana. She finished her education as a lawyer from the University of Punjab, and according to the declarations made this year has a total asset of 17 crores.
Her assets are divided across bonds, investments and houses. She does not have any assets from hording of Jewelry. She is one of the trusted members of Modi’s cabinet and is helping his government extend relationships with other nations around the world.
Smriti Irani: The Minister for Human Resource and Development of India, Smriti is said to be the least educated of the inner circle of Modi.
She has declared asset value of over 4 crores during her election campaign back in April. Her assets are divided across hording of jewelry, agricultural land of 7 acres, and housing.
She contested against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, attacking him saying that his own party did not believe in him to name him the PM candidate. Whatever her qualification may be she is charged with a huge responsibility and the outcome of her efficiency will only be seen in time. Hopefully she will rise from the eyes of skeptics and change the nation.
Sadananda Gowda: The ex-Chief Minister of Karnataka and the present Railway Minister, Sadananda Gowda is already changing the face of the Indian Railways. He has declared his assets which are worth over 9 crores.
His assets are divided over residential houses, Cars, jewelry and plots. He has no criminal records and is also modernizing Railways with starting apps and online bookings that ease passenger’s ways of booking tickets.
Maneka Gandhi: The Women and Child Welfare Minister was also an Animal-Rights Activist and BJP MP.
She has become an integral part of Modi’s Cabinet and is subjected to making sure the welfare of women and children is up the mark. She has declared assets worth over 40 Crores, which are divided across commercial and residential property, jewelry and also in investments in banks.
She possesses a rifle and has many criminal charges against her. Hopeful the trusted minister for women and Children will come clean somehow erase her records, so that the minorities of the society can look up to her to change their conditions for them.
Ravi Shankar Prasad: The Minister of Communication and Information Technology and also of Law and Justice is a lawyer who graduated from the University of Patna. This is not the first time he is holding the post as he was trusted this post back when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
He is also a Member of Parliament representing the state of Bihar. He used to be a high level advocate in the Supreme Court. He has assets worth 13 crores spread across agricultural lands, non agricultural lands, jewelry and vehicles. He recently unveiled the Dot Bharat initiation.
Harsha Vardhan: The Health Minister of India ran for election from Delhi and was a contester for the Post of CM back in 2013, which he lost.
He is a surgeon by profession and also a politician, who has a Master’s degree in Otorhinolaryngology from the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Kanpur.
He declared assets worth over 2 crores when he ran for election at the start of this year. Unfortunately the reveled leader has a huge criminal charge sheet against him but is slowly cleaning his slate. His assets are spread across clinics, jewelry, cars and residential houses.
G.M.Siddeshwara: Not ranked among the prominent members of the cabinet but does have relevance in the Modi’s government, G.M Siddeshwara has assets worth more than 23 crores. His assets spread across Agricultural and non agricultural lands, commercial and residential buildings, jewelry and cars.
He never studied past SSLC, which come as no surprise, but is amassing wealth in all directions. He is part of Modi’s State Ministers which is a new branch launched by the PM to have a closer view of the State affairs.
An Open Letter to Yogi Adityanath
A Yogi is supposed to be a holy person, one who practises Yoga. You would expect the same of Adityanath, a Yogi. However, the statements being made by him seem to give and idea that he is just continuing the work of Amit Shah, an accused criminal, who has been made president of the BJP. Gives you an idea of the party that is the BJP.
The following open letter has been written by Mohd. Asim, a Senior News Editor of NDTV.
Yogi ji, Namaskar
I write to you as a concerned citizen of this multi-religious, multi-cultural, secular democracy called Bharat. As I gather from an undated video of yours that has surfaced in the last couple of days, and then an interview on NDTV, you are very agitated about the alleged coerced conversions of Hindu girls by Muslim men. If what you say is true, I am equally concerned and disturbed.
As you are an honourable MP, you must be aware that our constitution does not allow any form of coercion in religious matters. So whoever indulges in any such acts of forcing a citizen of this country into converting to some other faith -- Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism etc -- has to face the full force of law. And Yogi ji, we have seen in two recent cases in Meerut and Ranchi (and I believe you are particularly agitated about these two cases), the law does catch up with the accused. In both cases, the wrong-doers, or the 'Love Jihadists" as you would arguably like to call them, have been arrested, and the law will deal with them accordingly. But the law also doesn't stop anyone from voluntarily accepting or rejecting a faith.
Yogi ji, I would respectfully submit that you exhorting people to convert 100 Muslim girls for every 1 Hindu girl who has been converted to Islam, is, to put it mildly, majoritarian venom. You were propagating mob justice in the undated video that has surfaced online (you say it appears to be a cut-and-paste job of a rally you held in Azamgarh in 2007). You said on Wednesday in an NDTV interview that you were only urging people to accept 100s who come to your fold voluntarily. So I heard your speech again. Sorry, it doesn't sound like you mean "voluntary ghar wapasi". It's a plain threat and in as many words. And you did not stop there, Yogi ji. 'If they kill 1 Hindu, we will kill..." you declared to the supporters' chorus of "100".
Imagine a Muslim leader making such a speech. Would you have accepted any explanation for that? Not that there can be an acceptable one for those sort of remarks by anyone. So to my mind, the speech defines your ideology, personality and your nefarious designs to sow seeds of discord among communities and reap a political harvest. And it's not just a coincidence that you will be a star campaigner for the BJP in the upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
Now, let's come to your pet peeve: "Love Jihad". You said in the NDTV interview that it's a grand, global conspiracy of Muslims to convert Hindu girls to Islam through love. "ISI is running packages for love jihad in Western UP" you declared in that interview. My first instinct is to just laugh it off. But you and your ilk have been raising this bogey for at least a decade.
You would remember Yogi ji, Rahul Gandhi had made a similar outlandish statement last year in his election speech that ISI is recruiting young Muslim men whose families were affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots. Your party rightly demanded answers and proof from the Congress Vice President. Now, may I also ask you, what proof do you have of the "ISI package" and in general about this phenomenon called "Love Jihad"?
I would like to take you back to Karnataka in 2009. Your party was in power and many from your extended 'parivaar' had raised the same bogey of "Love Jihad" that you are today raising in UP. The BJP state government asked the CID to probe this "grand conspiracy" against Hindu women. That CID enquiry concluded that there was no evidence of any "Love Jihad" being waged by Muslims. There were some instances of inter-faith affairs and marriages, which is perfectly understandable in a multi-religious society like ours. Now, that was the finding of a police inquiry under a BJP government, so Yogi ji, just think twice before dismissing it.
I have a proposal. Why don't you ask the central government and Home Minister to appoint a commission to probe your "fears" (I would say propaganda, but never mind). Home Minister Rajnath Singh is a former UP Chief Minister and I am sure he will share your concerns about Hindu women facing this "threat". After all, if some organisation or individuals are upto something as nasty as you allege, we as a country must join hands to fight their evil designs. Otherwise, we deserve to carry on with our normal lives and occasional inter-faith love affairs and marriages.
But Yogi ji, you don't seem interested in putting a lid on the issue. You just want to keep the myth of "Love Jihad" to sustain itself so that you can resurrect it as it when it suits your and your party's electoral ends. And I don't think that it even strikes you that with this "100 for 1" war-cry, you are reducing women of this country -- both Hindu and Muslim -- to mere trophies to be won.
In the end, Yogi ji do use your weight in your party and government to get a time-bound, independent probe instituted into this issue. Till then, please don't debase the Constitution, the law of the land and your seat in the temple of democracy.
This country deserves better than communal xenophobia of all shades and kind.
With Love
Mohd Asim
Senior News Editor, NDTV 24X7
The following open letter has been written by Mohd. Asim, a Senior News Editor of NDTV.
Yogi ji, Namaskar
I write to you as a concerned citizen of this multi-religious, multi-cultural, secular democracy called Bharat. As I gather from an undated video of yours that has surfaced in the last couple of days, and then an interview on NDTV, you are very agitated about the alleged coerced conversions of Hindu girls by Muslim men. If what you say is true, I am equally concerned and disturbed.
As you are an honourable MP, you must be aware that our constitution does not allow any form of coercion in religious matters. So whoever indulges in any such acts of forcing a citizen of this country into converting to some other faith -- Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism etc -- has to face the full force of law. And Yogi ji, we have seen in two recent cases in Meerut and Ranchi (and I believe you are particularly agitated about these two cases), the law does catch up with the accused. In both cases, the wrong-doers, or the 'Love Jihadists" as you would arguably like to call them, have been arrested, and the law will deal with them accordingly. But the law also doesn't stop anyone from voluntarily accepting or rejecting a faith.
Yogi ji, I would respectfully submit that you exhorting people to convert 100 Muslim girls for every 1 Hindu girl who has been converted to Islam, is, to put it mildly, majoritarian venom. You were propagating mob justice in the undated video that has surfaced online (you say it appears to be a cut-and-paste job of a rally you held in Azamgarh in 2007). You said on Wednesday in an NDTV interview that you were only urging people to accept 100s who come to your fold voluntarily. So I heard your speech again. Sorry, it doesn't sound like you mean "voluntary ghar wapasi". It's a plain threat and in as many words. And you did not stop there, Yogi ji. 'If they kill 1 Hindu, we will kill..." you declared to the supporters' chorus of "100".
Imagine a Muslim leader making such a speech. Would you have accepted any explanation for that? Not that there can be an acceptable one for those sort of remarks by anyone. So to my mind, the speech defines your ideology, personality and your nefarious designs to sow seeds of discord among communities and reap a political harvest. And it's not just a coincidence that you will be a star campaigner for the BJP in the upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
Now, let's come to your pet peeve: "Love Jihad". You said in the NDTV interview that it's a grand, global conspiracy of Muslims to convert Hindu girls to Islam through love. "ISI is running packages for love jihad in Western UP" you declared in that interview. My first instinct is to just laugh it off. But you and your ilk have been raising this bogey for at least a decade.
You would remember Yogi ji, Rahul Gandhi had made a similar outlandish statement last year in his election speech that ISI is recruiting young Muslim men whose families were affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots. Your party rightly demanded answers and proof from the Congress Vice President. Now, may I also ask you, what proof do you have of the "ISI package" and in general about this phenomenon called "Love Jihad"?
I would like to take you back to Karnataka in 2009. Your party was in power and many from your extended 'parivaar' had raised the same bogey of "Love Jihad" that you are today raising in UP. The BJP state government asked the CID to probe this "grand conspiracy" against Hindu women. That CID enquiry concluded that there was no evidence of any "Love Jihad" being waged by Muslims. There were some instances of inter-faith affairs and marriages, which is perfectly understandable in a multi-religious society like ours. Now, that was the finding of a police inquiry under a BJP government, so Yogi ji, just think twice before dismissing it.
I have a proposal. Why don't you ask the central government and Home Minister to appoint a commission to probe your "fears" (I would say propaganda, but never mind). Home Minister Rajnath Singh is a former UP Chief Minister and I am sure he will share your concerns about Hindu women facing this "threat". After all, if some organisation or individuals are upto something as nasty as you allege, we as a country must join hands to fight their evil designs. Otherwise, we deserve to carry on with our normal lives and occasional inter-faith love affairs and marriages.
But Yogi ji, you don't seem interested in putting a lid on the issue. You just want to keep the myth of "Love Jihad" to sustain itself so that you can resurrect it as it when it suits your and your party's electoral ends. And I don't think that it even strikes you that with this "100 for 1" war-cry, you are reducing women of this country -- both Hindu and Muslim -- to mere trophies to be won.
In the end, Yogi ji do use your weight in your party and government to get a time-bound, independent probe instituted into this issue. Till then, please don't debase the Constitution, the law of the land and your seat in the temple of democracy.
This country deserves better than communal xenophobia of all shades and kind.
With Love
Mohd Asim
Senior News Editor, NDTV 24X7
Minimum Governance Appears To Mean Maximum PMO
Written by Brinda Karat for NDTV.
Brinda Karat is a Politburo member of the CPI(M) and a former Member of the Rajya Sabha.)
100 days of a government, though still early days, is certainly long enough to point to the direction it intends to take. This is more so when it commands an imposing majority, as does the present government. The current NDA partners are a shadow of their former selves. In the last year of the then-NDA Government under Vajpayee ji, Sushma Swaraj had moved the Women's Reservation Bill for passage and adoption. Within a day, she had to concede defeat and withdraw her efforts in the face of the opposition within her own party, which used the shoulders of their then-ally Sharad Yadav to shoot it down. Vajpayee ji was a helpless spectator.
There are no such impediments for the present Prime Minister. If the government had wanted, it could have listed and passed the Women's Bill in the first session itself. Instead it prioritized a slew of Bills framed by the previous Government and linked to corporate interests such as the introduction of FDI in insurance, the privatization of banks and of course the notorious effort to enslave workers in the name of labour reform.
This in addition to a budget which seemed made by Chidambaram and which granted further concessions to corporates with taxes foregone to the tune of over 5 lakh crore rupees.
So whose interests have been advanced in the first 100 days?
Not those of ordinary folk who had voted to get relief from relentless price rise. The issue of price rise has been so downgraded that it did not merit even a mention in the Red Fort speech. This at a time when food inflation continues its relentless upward climb driven by huge increases in the prices of vegetables, pulses, sugar and edible oil. The drastic cuts in fuel subsidy have a cascading impact on prices. The big hike of 14.5 per cent in railway fares and also freight charges only adds to this.
Whose interests have been advanced so far? Not those of the unemployed. No one expects jobs to be provided in 100 days. But a government that promises jobs should at least not take away jobs. The only employment guarantee programme in rural India, the MGNREGA, has been sharply cut and attempts are being made to convert a legal universal right of 100 days of work into a targeted scheme limited to selected districts.
Not those of the workers. The Make in India slogan is attractive to corporates but how will it translate for the Made in India workers? The changes being proposed in labour laws will exclude over half of India's labour force from any protection.
Not those of the Kisans. Amendments are being suggested to the Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act to drastically dilute the need for farmer consent for land acquisition, even in Fifth Schedule areas, and to reduce the present levels of compensation.
100 days have also revealed a change in the style of Government. It seems the slogan of minimum Governance is accompanied by a maximum PMO. Centralization of authority seems to be the mantra. There are any number of examples: here is a Prime Minister who, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, announces the scrapping of the Planning Commission, a 40-year-old institution bypassing any discussion in Parliament which was in session till a day earlier, and then asks for alternative suggestions through tweets ! Here is a Prime Minister who trumps the Congress in subverting the autonomy of institutions. His Government vetoed the appointment as Supreme Court judge of a most senior and respected member of the Bar because as amicus curiae in the Gujarat false encounter case, he had argued that there was ample evidence to include Amit Shah, the current President of the BJP, as an accused. Surely to be decisive does not mean to sacrifice democratic methods by autocratic ones.
So who is happy? Corporate India seems to be, going by the confidence vote in the stock exchanges, though this is a world which is never satisfied. Perhaps those who are happiest are the swayam sevaks who under this Government are having a field day manufacturing new ways to communalize love between consenting adults, rewriting history through the most outrageous assertions of Hindutva -- (Hindustan belongs to all Hindustanis, Mr Bhagwat) -- and so on, while the Prime Minister maintains a deafening silence.
So in the first 100 days, there have been achhe din, but only for the select few while the rest have been fed bitter pills.
I do not normally support the views of Brinda Karat but in the above, I cannot fault her arguments. As Modi said, the first four years have been allocated to the Ambanis and Adanis. In the 5th year only he will think of the aam aadmi.
Rajnath Singh must be already regretting having chosen Narendra Modi to lead the BJP.
Brinda Karat is a Politburo member of the CPI(M) and a former Member of the Rajya Sabha.)
100 days of a government, though still early days, is certainly long enough to point to the direction it intends to take. This is more so when it commands an imposing majority, as does the present government. The current NDA partners are a shadow of their former selves. In the last year of the then-NDA Government under Vajpayee ji, Sushma Swaraj had moved the Women's Reservation Bill for passage and adoption. Within a day, she had to concede defeat and withdraw her efforts in the face of the opposition within her own party, which used the shoulders of their then-ally Sharad Yadav to shoot it down. Vajpayee ji was a helpless spectator.
There are no such impediments for the present Prime Minister. If the government had wanted, it could have listed and passed the Women's Bill in the first session itself. Instead it prioritized a slew of Bills framed by the previous Government and linked to corporate interests such as the introduction of FDI in insurance, the privatization of banks and of course the notorious effort to enslave workers in the name of labour reform.
This in addition to a budget which seemed made by Chidambaram and which granted further concessions to corporates with taxes foregone to the tune of over 5 lakh crore rupees.
So whose interests have been advanced in the first 100 days?
Not those of ordinary folk who had voted to get relief from relentless price rise. The issue of price rise has been so downgraded that it did not merit even a mention in the Red Fort speech. This at a time when food inflation continues its relentless upward climb driven by huge increases in the prices of vegetables, pulses, sugar and edible oil. The drastic cuts in fuel subsidy have a cascading impact on prices. The big hike of 14.5 per cent in railway fares and also freight charges only adds to this.
Whose interests have been advanced so far? Not those of the unemployed. No one expects jobs to be provided in 100 days. But a government that promises jobs should at least not take away jobs. The only employment guarantee programme in rural India, the MGNREGA, has been sharply cut and attempts are being made to convert a legal universal right of 100 days of work into a targeted scheme limited to selected districts.
Not those of the workers. The Make in India slogan is attractive to corporates but how will it translate for the Made in India workers? The changes being proposed in labour laws will exclude over half of India's labour force from any protection.
Not those of the Kisans. Amendments are being suggested to the Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act to drastically dilute the need for farmer consent for land acquisition, even in Fifth Schedule areas, and to reduce the present levels of compensation.
100 days have also revealed a change in the style of Government. It seems the slogan of minimum Governance is accompanied by a maximum PMO. Centralization of authority seems to be the mantra. There are any number of examples: here is a Prime Minister who, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, announces the scrapping of the Planning Commission, a 40-year-old institution bypassing any discussion in Parliament which was in session till a day earlier, and then asks for alternative suggestions through tweets ! Here is a Prime Minister who trumps the Congress in subverting the autonomy of institutions. His Government vetoed the appointment as Supreme Court judge of a most senior and respected member of the Bar because as amicus curiae in the Gujarat false encounter case, he had argued that there was ample evidence to include Amit Shah, the current President of the BJP, as an accused. Surely to be decisive does not mean to sacrifice democratic methods by autocratic ones.
So who is happy? Corporate India seems to be, going by the confidence vote in the stock exchanges, though this is a world which is never satisfied. Perhaps those who are happiest are the swayam sevaks who under this Government are having a field day manufacturing new ways to communalize love between consenting adults, rewriting history through the most outrageous assertions of Hindutva -- (Hindustan belongs to all Hindustanis, Mr Bhagwat) -- and so on, while the Prime Minister maintains a deafening silence.
So in the first 100 days, there have been achhe din, but only for the select few while the rest have been fed bitter pills.
I do not normally support the views of Brinda Karat but in the above, I cannot fault her arguments. As Modi said, the first four years have been allocated to the Ambanis and Adanis. In the 5th year only he will think of the aam aadmi.
Rajnath Singh must be already regretting having chosen Narendra Modi to lead the BJP.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
SP leader appeals to PM Modi to stop giving security to tainted ministers
New Delhi, Aug 27 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Rajesh Dixit said here on Wednesday that after listening to the Supreme Court's verdict on tainted ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government should keep such ministers away from politics rather than giving them security.
"We respect the Supreme Court verdict. The SP government and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has always made sure that such ministers should be kept away from the government and their procedure, both before as well as after the elections. But after the verdict which the SC has given, PM Modi's government must keep tainted ministers away from politics rather than giving them security," said Dixit.
Earlier today, a five-bench judge panel, headed by Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, delivered the verdict on a PIL on whether ministers with criminal cases against them can continue to be a part of the government.
The Supreme Court decided not to disqualify ministers with criminal backgrounds and said that it was the prerogative of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to do so.
Adding to it, the apex court also said that it reposed immense trust in the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers not to appoint anyone who is being tried in the courts for some serious criminal charge.
According to certain estimates, more than thirty percent of the ministers in the present government have a criminal background. (ANI)
Look who is talking?
The SP is the worst party as far as giving tickets to criminals is concered
BJP says SC decision on tainted minister according to idea propounded by PM Modi
Bangalore, Aug 27 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday appeared to pat itself over the Supreme Court's verdict that people against whom criminal and corruption charges have been framed be not inducted as ministers.
He said that the apex court was taking an idea put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to the media, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi had indicated the same earlier, the Supreme Court's verdict is according to the same lines. After conviction, no one has the right to stay in power. If there are charges slapped on someone, then people start talking about that. Therefore, the Prime Minister had earlier voiced his opinion for winding up such cases."
"There is a law also that a convicted person cannot become a minister let alone becoming a lawmaker . ....The cases should be solved speedily for those who are facing charges against them so that they get justice and there is no confusion about that lawmaker in the society," he added.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it is not correct to include those tainted in the government.
"We have been telling it long ago that it is not correct to include anyone tainted (in the government) and we have been following it," he said.
The apex court, which pronounced the verdict, was hearing a plea on whether ministers with criminal cases against them can continue to be a part of the government.
A five bench judge headed by Chief Justice of India R. M. Lodha delivered the verdict, saying that it was the prerogative of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to do so.
The Prime Minister had earlier during his speech in the Rajya Sabha in June reportedly appealed for a Parliament that needed to be made free of tainted members and added that decisions in all cases against parliamentarians should come within one year. (ANI)
Before the BJP starts patting itself on the back, shouldn't it ask itself what Nihal Chand and Yedyurappa are doing there? And why has it clipped the powers of the Anti-Corruption bureau in Delhi?
Why are the Jews Powerful and the Muslims so weak
UNBELIEVABLE AND WRITTEN BY A MUSLIM.
The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, a think tank established in 2007, and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. It sure makes interesting reading... Particularly coming from a Pakistani official.
By: Dr Farrukh Saleem
Why are Jews so powerful
There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas , five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa.
For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims.
Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together.
Ever wondered why?
Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish.
Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine's 'Person of the Century', was a Jew.
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew.
So were Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman.
Here are a few other Jews whose intellectual output has enriched the whole humanity:
Benjamin Rubin gave humanity the vaccinating needle.
Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
Albert Sabin developed the improved live polio vaccine.
Gertrude Elion gave us a leukaemia fighting drug.
Baruch Blumberg developed the vaccination for Hepatitis B.
Paul Ehrlich discovered a treatment for syphilis.
Elie Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize in infectious diseases.
Bernard Katz won a Nobel Prize in neuromuscular transmission.
Andrew Schally won a Nobel in endocrinology.
Aaron Beck founded Cognitive Therapy.
Gregory Pincus developed the first oral contraceptive pill.
George Wald won a Nobel for our understanding of the human eye.
Stanley Cohen won a Nobel in embryology.
Willem Kolff came up with the kidney dialysis machine.
Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion Muslims (other than Peace Prizes).
Why are Jews so powerful?
Stanley Mezor invented the first micro-processing chip.
Leo Szilard developed the first nuclear chain reactor;
Peter Schultz, optical fibre cable;
Charles Adler, traffic lights;
Benno Strauss, Stainless steel;
Isador Kisee, sound movies;
Emile Berliner, telephone microphone;
Charles Ginsburg, videotape recorder.
Famous financiers in the business world who belong to Jewish faith include
Ralph Lauren (Polo),
Levis Strauss (Levi's Jeans),
Howard Schultz (Starbuck's) ,
Sergey Brin (Google),
Michael Dell (Dell Computers),
Larry Ellison (Oracle),
Donna Karan (DKNY),
Irv Robbins (Baskins & Robbins) and
Bill Rosenberg (Dunkin Donuts).
Richard Levin, President of Yale University, is a Jew. So are Henry Kissinger (American secretary of state), Alan Greenspan (Fed chairman under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush), Joseph Lieberman (US Senator), Madeleine Albright (American secretary of state), Casper Weinberger (American secretary of defense), Maxim Litvinov ( USSR foreign Minister), David Marshal ( Singapore 's first chief minister), Issac Isaacs (governor-general of Australia ), Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman and author), Yevgeny Primakov (Russian PM), Barry Goldwater (US Senator), Jorge Sampaio (president of Portugal ), John Deutsch (CIA director), Herb Gray (Canadian deputy PM), Pierre Mendes (French PM), Michael Howard (British Home Secretary), Bruno Kreisky (chancellor of Austria ) and Robert Rubin (American secretary of treasury).
In the media, famous Jews include Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Barbara Walters (ABC News), Eugene Meyer
(Washington Post), Henry Grunwald (editor-in-chief Time), Katherine Graham (publisher of The Washington Post), Joseph Lelyveld (Executive editor, The New York Times), and Max Frankel (New York Times).
The most beneficent philanthropist in the history of the world is George Soros, a Jew, who has so far donated a colossal $4 billion most of which has gone as aid to scientists and universities around the world.
Second to George Soros is Walter Annenberg, another Jew, who has built a hundred libraries by donating an estimated $2 billion.
At the Olympics, Mark Spitz set a record of sorts by winning seven gold medals; Lenny Krayzelburg is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Spitz, Krayzelburg and Boris Becker (Tennis) are all Jewish.
Did you know that Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy Crystal,
Woody Allen, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley (Sir Ben was born in Yorkshire on New Year's Eve in 1943, the son of a Gujarati doctor and a mother with Russian Jewish blood.)
), Kirk Douglas,
Goldie Hawn, William Shatner, Jerry Lewis and Peter Falk are / were all Jewish?
As a matter of fact, Hollywood itself was founded by a Jew. Among directors and producers, Steven Spielberg,
Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone, Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Andrew Vaina
(Rambo 1/2/3), Michael Man (Starsky and Hutch), Milos Forman (One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest),
Douglas Fairbanks (The Thief of Baghdad ) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) are all Jewish.
So, why are Jews so powerful?
Answer : EDUCATION
Why are Muslims so powerless?
There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being is a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred Muslims.
Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless?
Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407.
In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities’ , and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500.
As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states have a literacy rate of 100 per cent.
A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state with a literacy rate of 100 per cent.
Some 98 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.
Around 40 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.
Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims.
The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million.
In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs. (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million).
Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP.
Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge!
Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society.
In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK , the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20.
Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.
Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan 's export of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands at one per cent.
The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent; Kuwait, Morocco, and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent, while Singapore is at 58 per cent.
Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.
Why are Muslims powerless?
.....Because we aren't producing knowledge,
....Because we aren't diffusing knowledge.,
.....Because we aren't applying knowledge.
And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.
Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion.
America, just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion;
China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).
Oil rich Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion;
Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion,
Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion.
..... (Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining).
So, why are Muslims so powerless?
Answer: Lack of education.
All we do is shout to Allah the whole day and blame everyone else for our multiple failures!
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