PM Modi's remark expunged in Rajya Sabha

PM Narendra Modi's comments about BK Hariprasad, a Congress candidate in the August 9, 2018 Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson election, have been expunged from the records. PM Modi's comments were delivered after Hariprasad lost the election to the NDA's Harivansh Narayan Singh. This is the first time a prime minister's statement in Parliament has been removed from the records.

• In a lighter vein, Mr. Modi, referring to the JD(U) candidate and Opposition nominee, Congress MP B.K. Hariprasad, said the election was between two “Haris”, He then went on to take a swipe at Mr. Hariprasad, playing on his initials, which left the House in splits.
• RJD MP Manoj Jha, flagging the PM’s comments, said they were derogatory in direction and intent. He requested that they be expunged. The remarks were expunged by M. Venkaiah Naidu, Rajya Sabha chairman. 
• The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has confirmed that the part of the prime minister's speech that involved a wordplay on BK Hariprasad's name has been expunged from the House's records.
• The Congress leader was miffed by PM Modi's jibe. "The Prime Minister belittled the dignity of the chair and brought down the dignity of the House," Hariprasad said.
• Earlier on May 13, 2018, ex-PM Manmohan Singh etc has written to President Ram Nath Kovind, asking him to advise PM Modi against using "unwarranted, threatening and intimidating" language. The letter stated that the PM's words as unacceptable and termed them as “menacing” and “intimidating” with the “intent to insult” and “provoke breach of the peace.” On May 6, in Hubli public meeting, PM Modi said, "Congress ke neta kaan khol ke sun lijeye, agar seemayo ko paar kaorogi, toh yeh Modi hai, lene ke dene pad jayenge (Congress leaders should listen to me with open ears, if you cross your limits, this is Modi, you will have to pay)." That had led to a Parliament stalemate with the Congress demanding that PM Modi apologise on the floor of the house. The issue was finally resolved after FM Arun Jaitley tendered a half-apology. 
• “I think it becomes a massive shame for this country when the PM uses unparliamentary expressions in any House of Parliament,” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said. 

Modi's comments are perversion of rhetoric. These unprovoked remarks reflects the true nature of the person and his attitudes towards other people in general and opposition leaders in particular. It is a national shame to have such a irresponsible fellow as our prime minister who neither tender apology nor expresses remorse for the offensive, derogatory and unparliamentary remarks on the floor of the house without any context or provocation. The least people of India could do is to defeat this type of people in forthcoming elections.

BJP in AP - dilemma is suicidal

1. During the course of AP Reorganization Bill, BJP cooperated with Congress totally, ignoring the assurance given by LK Advani that unjust act will not be allowed to go through.
2. Subsequently it was BJP's Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley who coined "Special Category Status" for AP for a period of 10 years which Congress had reduced to 5 years as promise outside the bill & Act.
3. BJP admitted TDP into its NDA fold during 2014 elections (keeping aside the  personal animosity of Modi against Chandrababu Naidu during the period of Gujarat Riots 2002 etc.) with the sole objective of grabbing power and absolute majority for BJP was highly uncertain.
4. Modi during election campaign has made umpteen promises to residual AP many more beyond the AP Reorganization Act which are still reverberating in the ears of AP people.
5. BJP's Hari Babu could win Visakhapatnam LS seat with Vizag Railway Zone as his top most item during campaign.
6. Modi as PM has completely ignored not only his promises but also center's obligations to assist AP for its development, Polavaram project, new capital construction and so on and released minuscule amounts during the past 4 years. At this rate fulfilling promises and obligations would take 50-100 years.
7. So many things were said during the past 4 years, but people of AP feel totally let down by BJP, much worse than by Congress during 2014. Modi came out in his true colors and people of AP has lost faith in him and BJP whatsoever and if polls were held today BJP may not get even 1% votes, worse than Congress would get. Having cooperated with BJP for Jagan to come out of his CBI & ED corruption cases, YSRCP's vote base has deteriorated significantly. Pawan Kalyan with his confusing stances since an year and suddenly taking U-turn and started cooperating with BJP for undisclosed reasons too has lost his charm & credibility.
8. Today's opinion poll results in social media, even though not very authentic, but does reflect reality. TDP's popular support, with NOTA excluded, is about 60% with its only rival YSRCP at less than 20%, Pawan Kalyan's Janasena at 15% and Congress, BJP & others at 5%.
   
   
9. In real polls next year with large rural population included, popular support to TDP may very well exceed 65%. 

BJP committed suicide in AP with Modi's arrogance at its peak. With North & West uncertain, South and East in the hands of popular regional parties, BJP/NDA's 2019 tally may not exceed 100/150, with most allies already exited NDA. Modi saddled with negatives like economic destruction, agrarian distress, unemployment and so on, has no achievements to present to people and blaming Congress etc even after 5 years of being in power will not yield any benefit to him. Most BJP-Modi fans are openly talking that Congress was better with all its corruption and scams. While Central Government has never ever revealed complete truths to nation in the past, but it has also refrained from blatant lies. But Modi's administration has crossed all limits of decency and hurls at blatant lies at the fall of hat bringing down its own credibility. Today, Modi has more enemies inside BJP than outside. BJP leaders in AP are scared of meeting public and are confining themselves to press meets now and then. Their briefings are limited to reproduction of what BJP says in Delhi. Even a BJP MP and an Ex BJP Minister who are reluctant to carry the burden of BJP and being friends of Chandrababu Naidu are likely to join TDP before 2019 elections. 

Ever since 1977, non-congress parties has been proving time and again that they are worthy to sit in opposition benches only and squandered away every opportunity given to them with their shortsightedness, strongheadedness, insufficient vision to rule a diverse nation like India.

Reticent Urjit Patel turn eloquent

RBI Governor Urjit Patel's silence on demonetization made him an easy target for critics. Almost all public statements on demonetization were made by economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das giving rise to the impression that government had sidelined RBI and usurped its policy role, confining it to mere execution. But the Nirav Modi-PNB scam has forced Patel to shun reticence and speak out on several contentious issues without mincing words. 

• Patel rejected accusations that the regulator’s laxity was to blame for the Rs.13,000-crore fraud at state-owned Punjab National Bank, suggesting that laws need to be changed to ensure punitive action can be taken in time and effectively putting the onus on the government. 
• He made a pitch for withdrawal of legal immunity from RBI regulations that PSB's enjoy, saying it had led to considerable emaciation of RBI powers over corporate governance. 
• Patel made an indirect case for privatisation or reducing the role of state-owned lenders. He said the government should decide what to do with public sector banks if it wanted to optimise the use of taxpayer money.
• He asserted that Banking Regulatory Powers in India are NOT Ownership Neutral. He then went on to read out chapter and verse, the list of clauses and sub-clauses from the legal landscape to underline the helplessness of RBI when it came to regulating public sector banks, which account for nearly 70% of Indian banking.
• Making this worse is the persistence of delays, of criminal investigation and judicial process. The Governor points out that “RBI data on banking frauds suggests that only a handful of cases over the past five years have had closure, and cases of substantive economic significance remain open. As a result, the overall enforcement mechanism is not perceived to be a major deterrent to frauds relative to economic gains from fraud.”
• Nearly nine months later – after two rounds of selection meetings – the Deputy Governor’s post is yet vacant.
• RBI is faced with constraints. It cannot act to remove directors or the management of public sector banks. But does it need the ultimate power to prevent malfeasance? The RBI is empowered to give directions where it is in the public interest. How often has that been deployed? Has the power of inspection been utilised? A call for more power is not a credible demand when existing provisions have not been leveraged.
• RBI said: “The risks arising from the potential malicious use of the SWIFT infrastructure” has been a risk factor and it had “confidentially cautioned and alerted banks” on three occasions since August 2016 and added, “Banks have, however, been at varying levels in implementation of such measures.” But RBI never cautioned savers about these risks in the banking systems.
• He said, “If we need to face the brickbats and be the Neelakantha consuming this poison, we will do so as our duty. We will persist with our endeavours and get better with each trial and tribulation along the way." He went on to saying that promoters and banks should seek to be on the side of the devas (the gods) rather than asuras (the demons) in this amrit manthan. 

Despite his image of a reticent, submissive man, Patel withstood pressures from various sides after demonetisation, stuck to a low-inflation regime, didn't lap up the proposal to create a bad bank and opposed farm debt waivers, calling them moral hazards posing inflation risk and undermining an honest credit culture. With his robust defence of the central bank and castigation of public sector banks, Patel has buried the image of a central banker of few words. And with his mythological references, he has shown he can find eloquence when required. 

The full text of RBI Governor's speech

Responsibility shared by two persons is not 50% each. It is 10% each.

While Bank's proper management rests with the owners (MoF in case PSB's), Urjit Patel, RBI Governor can't resort to offensive in the blame game initiated by Arun Jaitley by invoking mythological comparisons and absolve of its regulatory failures.

Had Urjit Patel shown same courage in 2016, the harebrained demonetization wouldn't have happened and nation would have been spared of its consequences borne mostly by lower class people. These discussions, reasons and advises will be engaging our time and leads to nowhere. While the loot may never get recovered, what is important is elimination of recurrence of such events in future. Urjit Patel must know his responsibility as institutional head never to allow government interference beyond a point and preserve institution's independence and integrity at all costs. Government as owner of PSB's is solely responsible for their proper functioning and the regulatory rules governing PSB's and private banks must be same. RBI's regulatory role in preserving depositors & lenders interests and integrity of banking system can not be compromised.

Modi at Davos and Budget

WILL THE REAL MODI PLEASE STAND UP?

• Depending upon the audience Modi takes different avatars.
• In Davos last month, Modi defended globalization and warned against protectionism but his last week's budget did not suggest pro business statesman, but a protectionist strongman familiar in poor countries.
• The last budget before 2019 elections squelches any hope that Modi would push long pending market friendly reforms.
• But the budget confirms his re-election plans i.e. grand pro-poor gestures avoiding any pro-rich plans. 
• Modicare plan for 50 crore poor people, even though with initial allocation of a pittance of Rs.2,000 crores, devastated Bombay Stock Exchange wiping out investor health by more than Rs.5 lakh crores on a single day.
• Faced with failure of 'Make in India' to boost employment, government hiked import tariffs to coerce companies to build mobile phones, auto parts, toys etc in India.
• These protectionist policies, which failed in the past, will only ensure Indians pay high prices for shoddy goods and firms getting more interested in manipulating duties than satisfying customers.
• FM Arun Jaitley's initial promise for lowering corporate taxes by 2021 appears unrealistic with economy growing at mere 6.5%.
• In the last 4 years, Modi failed to privatize a single public sector enterprise even though Air India privatisation is in process.
• ONGC buying out HPCL is only Government exiting business falls short of privatization. 
• No Indian politician can bolster his 'pro-poor' credentials without also sticking to the rich.
• According to the law passed in 2003, central government is committed to limit the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP by 2009 whereas budget 2018 indicates fiscal deficit at 3.3%.
• Some analysts argue that budget could have been even worse.
• It is too soon to say whether government will stick to its budget estimates or open its populism gates even wider as elections approach. 
• But one thing is certain: Davos version of Modi bears little resemblance to his domestic avatar.

Modi doesn't do what he talks and doesn't talk what he does

Politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, 
learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness 
will destroy human race ...  Anthony de Mello

For every politician winning election, at any price, is foremost. Anything else secondary. Therefore Modi will do anything including destruction of economy or arousing communal passions or declaring war on Pakistan or anything for winning 2019 general elections. But one thing is certain. He will give nothing really to the poor. He rather believes in fascist Mussolini type spectacular announcements  followed up by relentless media campaign and propaganda. Lacking humility, honesty, integrity and morality, he is dangerous for Indians and its democratic polity.

Tax terrorism in India

Tax Terrorism is a term coined by Arun Jaitley, who was then Vodafone's advocate. It means putting illegal and extra legal pressure on the taxpayer to extract more tax from a honest taxpayer. Reasons that encourage tax terrorism are that Indian tax laws are oriented towards maximum collection, retrospective tax laws, and imposition of tax targets on tax inspectors. Tax terrorism effects the growth rate of a nation, ease of doing business ranking, FDI & FII investment will decrease.

The term ‘tax terrorism’ was extensively used by Modi to describe the adversarial approach adopted by tax authorities under the UPA. “The tax terrorism prevailing in the country is dangerous. One can’t run the government by thinking that everyone is a thief,” he said, addressing members of FICCI. Subramaniam Swamy said as much as ₹31 per litre out of petrol prices of ₹75 at the bunk flowed into the government’s coffers as taxes. But Indian taxmen lost a case with Vodafone in Jan 2012 (capital gains tax on an offshore transaction) in the supreme court and they amended tax laws with retrospective effect, making Vodafone liable for a tax on a past transaction.

If the government of the day is short of cash, it can delay your refunds, open up your old returns for scrutiny or extract in myriad other ways. Dealing with tax authorities, if they do decide to ‘terrorise’ you, isn’t easy. You will need to hire an expert and to convince the assessing officer of your arguments. You can also get into trouble if you delay payments or forget to pay your taxes on time. While the taxman may take his time with your refunds for many reasons, if you delay paying your annual taxes, you not only have to pay interest at 1 per cent per month on the tax due, you can also be asked to cough up a penalty of another 1 per cent per month totaling up to 24 per cent per year.

If you’re in India, evading taxes is downright foolish. But paying them is no guarantee that you will certainly sleep well at nights.

On Jul 1, 2017, while rolling out GST, PM Modi described GST as the 'good and simple tax', a radical step towards the country's transformation into a common market, which would help businesspersons putting an end to tax terrorism and inspector raj. However, President Pranab Mukherjee cautioned that "GST is a disruptive change. When a change of this magnitude is undertaken, however positive it may be, there are bound to be some teething troubles and difficulties in the initial stages. We will have to solve these with understanding and speed to ensure that it does not impact the growth momentum of the economy," Mukherjee added.

On Nov 7, 2017, former prime minister Manmohan Singh alleged that demonetisation and roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have sown a "deep-rooted fear of tax terrorism" among the business community. At a time when the economy has slowed down considerably, despite favourable global macroeconomic conditions, the fear of tax terrorism has eroded the confidence of businesses to invest. 

Veda Vyasa said in the Mahabharata that a king should collect taxes 

like a bee collects nectar from flowers, painlessly

Today, we see taxmen are raiding black money hoarders and tax evaders ruthlessly every day. Needless to say that raids will only end up in increased political and bureaucratic corruption and not increased revenues to government. Enforcing tax compliance was not the real reason for this tax terrorism. It is the failure of Modi & Jaitley's schemes like IDS, Demonetisation, GST Roll out etc resulting in severe cash crunch faced by Government. Revengeful Modi resorting to tax terrorism wants to demonstrate to the world that he means business and all his schemes are in fact paying off with delay. But what he is failing to gauge is that sentiment getting destroyed, informal sector decimated, agrarian distress, construction paralyzed, empty coffers, joblessness, dwindling exports, uncontrolled imports and rising oil prices will have its telling effect on economy sooner or later. How long consumption driven economy will survive on a single service sector? Ask any economist, he will tell you that the only way to boost economy is by increasing government spending on infrastructure thus creating large scale construction jobs funding it by widening fiscal space even if it requires increasing fiscal deficit. Modi is just not doing that and result in near future is anybody's guess.

Rising fuel prices indicates economy in mess?

• Govt of India is the biggest cheater of nation and Prime Minister and his gang (read Cabinet) are worst cheats. 
• During the past three years, crude oil prices in international markets have fallen to 1/3rd and more than 80% of it was knocked off by GOI in the form of increased excise duty.
• Every fortnight Oil Companies adjust their tariff matching international prices in Shastri Bhavan and North Block announces increased excise duty within an hour.
• Since few months fuel pricing was shifted from fortnightly to daily and consumers were to benefit from falling crude prices without any delay is what Arun Jaitley surreptitiously indicated to people of India. 
• But what happened is opposite and reduction in excise duty was conspicuously never mentioned as if it is irrelevant item. It becomes relevant only to lay hands on people's money and not otherwise. Today fuel prices in India are one of the highest in the world. Worse than Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Higher fuel prices resulted in higher commodities prices and cost of living is almost doubled, especially to workers and wage earners, during past three years of Modi regime while it was static throughout the world. Are these 'Achche din'?
• For all these non sense activities of driving economy into mess, Modi & Jaitley neither has people's approval nor sanction of Parliament and this issue was never in the agenda of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Gross misuse of Executive powers by PM & Ministers. Why can't they stick to sanctioned budget and follow standard expenditure procedures?
• What Modi and Co talk of 'bold fiscal reforms' and raising taxes any time they wish are contradictory to each other and none in world will believe our government. Our credibility is lost and who will come to our country with bags of dollars for investing?
• With these bunch of rogues and cheaters at the helm, there is no way we can progress as a nation.

In a democracy, winning election doesn't confer on winner

autocratic powers to do nonsense things. He must confine to 'rule of law'

Government must confine its expenses with in the legislature approved  budget, in letter and spirit. Only emergency expenses could be met with executive orders. Ditto for modifying tax rates. Today Budget and Parliament are just formalities. Govt does what ever it wants to do, albeit whimsically, without following any procedure or laws and answers none. No rule of law for governments. It is only for the people. Once in a while, courts strikes down some actions of governments giving resemblance of existence of democracy. Our FM Jaitley has announced several times before GST roll out that its revenue model is neutral meaning some prices may go up and most prices will come down and overall government doesn't get more or less. Then why all commodities prices have gone up including food and essential items? Any answer?

Privacy is a fundamental right

• A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on August 24 unanimously ruled that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty” and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution. SC overruled previous judgments on the privacy issue that ruled that privacy is not a fundamental right.
• Justice Chandrachud in his judgment for himself, Chief Justice Khehar, R.K. Agrawal and S. Abdul Nazeer said that privacy is a concomitant of the right of the individual to exercise control over his or her personality. Natural rights like privacy are inalienable because they are inseparable from the human personality. To live is to live with dignity. Privacy with its attendant values assures dignity to the individual and it is only when life can be enjoyed with dignity can liberty be of true substance. Privacy ensures the fulfillment of dignity.
• The judgement also stated that - Like other rights which form part of the fundamental freedoms protected by Part III, including the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, privacy is not an absolute right. A law which encroaches upon privacy will have to withstand the touchstone of permissible restrictions on fundamental rights. In the context of Article 21 an invasion of privacy must be justified on the basis of a law which stipulates a procedure which is fair, just and reasonable. 
• The Union government had argued that privacy is a common law right. The government argued that right to privacy is not expressly included in the Constitution as the founding fathers rejected or jettisoned the idea of inclusion of privacy as a fundamental right. The centre had termed privacy as a "vague and amorphous" right which cannot be granted primacy to deprive poor people of their rights to life, food and shelter.
• The earlier Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi rejected suggestions that Indians could refuse to provide their iris scans or fingerprints to the government, telling a court "the concept of absolute right over one's body was a myth".
• The judgment will have a crucial bearing on the government’s Aadhaar scheme that collects personal details, biometrics to identify beneficiaries for accessing social benefits and government welfare scheme.
• A bunch of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court in 2015 challenging Aadhaar as a breach of privacy, informational self-determination and bodily integrity. The petitioners argued that Aadhaar enrolment was the means to a “Totalitarian State” and an open invitation for personal data leakage. 
• The government claimed Aadhaar was a panacea to end corruption in public distribution, money laundering and terror funding.
• Attorney general K K Venugopal had argued that right to privacy cannot be a fundamental right has now welcomed the SC decision. He said that whatever the 9-judge bench says is the correct law.
• Three days ago, PM Modi hailed the SC judgement on triple talak as "historic" and said it grants equality to Muslim women. Today on Privacy rights judgement of SC, he maintained stoic silence so far. He is yet to respond. Why?
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the apex court has accepted the government’s argument that privacy is a fundamental right, but it’s not an absolute right but will be subjected to restrictions which will be fair, just and reasonable. He blamed that the privacy matter went to the Supreme Court because the UPA government brought about Aadhaar without a law. It is too late to contend that privacy will not be a fundamental right.
• Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made a somersault by welcoming the judgement but said should have "reasonable" restrictions. 
• Mukul Rohatgi said that the government should not have diluted their stand in court because the inclusion or exclusion of fundamental rights is only the proviso of Parliament. It is a very unsatisfactory resolution of the dispute. His view is that the framers of the constitution did not intend to make privacy a fundamental right. He said “The fact is, we haven’t won this case. The eight-judge bench of 1954 has been overruled and the Aadhaar issue has been left unresolved. So where is the question of winning?” Had he still been in office as Attorney General, he would have admitted that the government had lost the case.

Today's verdict is a major setback for the government, which had argued that the constitution does not guarantee individual privacy as an inalienable fundamental right. The verdict however does not comment on whether the government's demand for Aadhaar to be linked to all financial transactions amounts to an infringement of privacy. There are fears that the data could be misused by a government that argued Indians have no right to privacy.

Aadhaar has its uses, but it is also an instrument of control and manipulation. It must be only optional, not mandatory. Aadhaar had already violated the privacy rights with the vast majority of the population already enrolled, their information held in insecure databases, and linked to public and private services. Ambedkar's fears of abuse of constitution without amending it are coming true in Modi's India. In a democracy, ruled by majority, it is the duty of majority to uphold the rights & dignity of minorities. Ambedkar also remarked that democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic. Unfortunately Modi & co believes that minorities must toe line with majoritarian wishes with no individual rights etc.

Read the exhaustive article on the judgement

Hindustan or Lynchistan?

• They were no soldiers executed in war, civilians butchered by deadly terror groups, or rebels crushed by state power. They were the people of the world's largest democracy, who were hunted, beaten and tortured to death by vengeful, bloodthirsty crowds. Bodies desecrated, they died in extreme fear and pain, pleading innocence and begging for mercy. All for a word the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not even recognise: 'lynching'.
• Heart-wrenching horror have gripped the nation, as Indians kill Indians in some of the most grotesque mob violence, in total disregard for the law. Horrific reports of people being tortured or dying terrible deaths are surfacing every week. Yet our leaders remain silent. Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi do anything to stop this madness?
• At Aligarh, railway police stopped a woman in burqa and were surprised to see Nazmul Hasan, a man emerging from under the veil. Hasan confessed to using the garb as a ruse "I thought no one would target a woman." The lynching of a Muslim boy on a train had put the fear of lynching in his heart. 
• Lynching, as a legal term, does not exist in India, but it's seen as the extrajudicial punishment and murder of someone by a mob.
• The slaughter of cows is banned, consumption of beef restricted, in most Indian states, though millions of Muslims and Dalits depend on the meat and leather industries. Vigilante groups seizes cows from people they accuse of illegally transporting them, or sending for slaughter, have become active across the country. Most of the lynchings are being committed by them in the name of the cow. 
• Lynchings is a "new phenomenon" and what makes these incidents different is its extreme violence and brutality.
• Thirty-two people have been killed in 20 cases in the past three years. Almost all victims were Muslim or Dalit; 70% were suspected of killing or smuggling cows. The accused in almost every case of killing were linked to 'gau rakshak' or cow vigilante groups. Even in cases triggered by rumours of rape or child-lifting, the victims were Muslims or Dalits.
• Law enforcers witnessed the lynchings but did not do anything (at times they collaborated); No politician visited the families of the victims or made immediate public statements; in most cases, the charges against the accused were flimsy charges and given bail. The victims (even if dead) were charged of cattle smuggling and trading.
• On June 29, 2017, PM Modi made an appeal at Ahmedabad. It came after thousands of citizens protested decrying the government's inability to protect citizens from lynchings in social media. Within hours of PM Modi's condemnation, mob India reacted by unleashing a new spate of lynchings in Jharkhand. In the week that followed, at least three more people were lynched.
• With the new issue of beef and cattle trade, lynching is becoming ubiquitous. It can happen anywhere, anytime.
• It's strange how normal people turn beasts when part of a crowd. A raging crowd can affect an individual's behaviour. It's is contagious now. A mob also provides cover for the release of deep-seated emotions: anger, fear, suspicion, resentment, frustration, prejudice, malice. Lynchings and riots do not necessarily rely on criminals.
• The ordinary citizen seems to be in the throes of an epidemic of anger: with their incomes, their quality of life, their relationships, their political leaders, the lack of jobs, healthcare, decent education and opportunities. With all the grave uncertainties of life, rage spills over into collective violence. People take the law into their own hands when 'fear' takes huge proportions, making it an issue that they feel must be dealt with instantly.
• Cow vigilante groups are a huge network of young people, who are enrolled as members, given ID cards, responsibilities, mentors to take instructions from and even work in shifts. They also get informed by ex-cow smugglers. If caught, vigilante justice usually involves some hard slaps, punches and kicks, nothing more. For the unlucky it can cost a life.
• Social media have made mobbing and lynching easier. A WhatsApp message, with pictures of dead children, had been circulating for a month.
• Two people died in the first lynching at Jadugora. Mohd Naeem, blood-soaked and pleading to villagers with folded hands to spare his life. He was a good son to his ageing parents and a good father to his children, said his family members, refusing to accept the compensation of Rs. 2 lakh offered by the district administration.
• There have been almost no convictions or punishments, even in high-profile cases, and perpetrators seem unconcerned about the consequences of their actions. Our laws are quite adequate to deal with lynchings. Murder in any form falls under Section 302 of the IPC. But there are loopholes that needs to be plugged.
• What makes this moment unique is the silence of the political leadership. PM Modi has spoken against lynchings only after about 20 mob lynchings this year. That silence has become the hallmark of almost all top NDA leaders and chief ministers of BJP states. That silence has also generated a growing belief that our leaders have no answers for the problems that face us.
• The silence from the top is juxtaposed by inflammatory speeches from below. The frenzy of hate speeches was leashed somewhat with finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley saying "their statements (were) not appreciated by the party at all".
• The Union government issued a circular, banning sale of cattle for slaughter in cattle markets. The circular was first stayed by the Madras High Court and later by the Supreme Court. 
• Violence has always been an undercurrent in our society. There is a great degree of social connivance, otherwise lynchings won't happen. People are always violence-prone, selfish, looking out for their own interests. What keeps them in check is the fear of the law. The lynchings happening today are in many ways a continuation of our inability to impress the rule of law upon people. So what leaders say, and how, is very critical. The silence of leaders over lynchings gives encouragement. The more you find impartiality in law enforcement, the better are the chances of curbing violence. 

It is not mere intolerance. It is the emergence and establishment of an oppressive regime that wants to do way with the minorities of India and proclaim Hindu Rashtra as conceived by the founders of RSS.

Secular and democratic forces should unite under a banner to counter this cultural intimidation. If a state fails to have power over such fundamental forces that asphyxiate the rights of the disadvantaged, it is very much a failing state.

In UP, as against 41 rapes last year, there were 179 this year. Murders went up from 101 to 240 and cases of dacoity rose from three to 20. All these are not communal crimes or ones engineered by Hindutva outfits. But it is the unleashing of Hindutva outfits that has contributed to building up this climate of fear.

My View:

As RSS pracharak, Modi propagated its cosmic theory wherein every Muslim is a traitor and a potential terrorist. Modi in his unreleased book, describes scavengers assigned role in the caste order as a job bestowed upon them by Gods. Modi, a hardcore RSS pracharak has no respect for constitution, institutions, judiciary or legislatures and possesses fascist tendencies. He has no great qualities or accomplishments of any kind but yet he was able to mesmerize people with his speeches and relentless publicity. The manner in which he collaborated 2002 Gujarat riots resulting in 2,000 Muslim deaths, large scale destruction of Muslim properties & livelihoods and displacement of lakhs of Muslims is a telling example of his hatred of Muslims. By unleashing order, that was stayed by Madras HC and SC later, banning cow slaughter, cattle trade and beef consumption, he has overnight destroyed livelihoods of millions of Muslims and Dalits throughout the country. With the senseless demonetization, Modi has destroyed livelihoods of millions of people in informal sector and agriculture. Yet he shows the whole world and make them believe that he is savior of India. During his three year rule of nation there is no area which has shown improvement and there is no accomplishment worth advertising. The deteriorating Kashmir situation and tensions with neighboring Pakistan and China are the pinnacle of his failures and maladministration. Job-less growth and growth-less jobs are the highlights of our economy today. The results of his hurried roll out of mangled GST, will surface after few months. Needless to mention that he (as Gujarat CM) was singularly responsible for stalling GST six years ago during UPA regime.

Rs.10 lakh compensation to human shield in Kashmir

 Farooq Ahmad Dar, the 26-year-old shawl artisan from Kashmir, tied to a jeep as a human shield

• The use of human shields is considered a war crime by nations that are parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
•  "The court of inquiry regarding the April 9 incident is under finalisation. While awarding the officer, all factors, including notable performance of the officer and overall emerging indicators of the court of inquiry, have been well-considered" when the army chief honoured Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi. Gen. Bipin Rawat, the army chief, handed the commendation card to the major in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The announcement of the commendation suggests the government and the military are viewing the officer's treatment of the alleged stone-thrower as an exemplary gesture that helped defuse an explosive situation.
• Dar, an embroidery artisan, had this question for the person who rewarded the major: "If his son faces a similar treatment at the hands of the officer, I would see whether he will still reward him."
• Dar has challenged those who had claimed he was a stone-thrower to prove that he ever picked a stone and he iterates that he was among the few people who voted that day in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election.
• H.S. Panag, a retired lieutenant general, said: "Whatever be the circumstances, the incident was contrary to army rules and regulations. The circumstances under which the award has been given to Major Gogoi is not clear. It is a wrong message being sent."

My View:

People in public positions must realize that country is not their fiefdom, to behave or act as they like to please their political masters. Their actions will be scrutinized by higher authorities, adjudicating authorities and courts. Human shields were used by Israeli's in Gaza and West bank and they were accused of huge violations of human rights. There are laws that prohibit this kind of treatment even for convicts. There was no just reason for parading the human shield for four hours but is aimed at terrorising stone pelters who are unfortunately our own citizens. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley backed the decision of the army men saying that the army was interested in saving lives and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh writing in a column that Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi should be given a distinguished services’ medal, is a matter of shame. The greatness of great nations lies in holding their institutions to the highest possible standards of law, humanity and constitutional propriety. In fighting armed militancy or any form of internal conflict, the state cannot abdicate its responsibility to uphold the fundamental rights of its citizens by holding its army accountable. I don't think this is the only option for army to protect its soldiers. Rather it is their feeling they are in war with Kashmiri Muslims and they are its enemies. The compensation should have been at least Rs.50 lakhs and also subjecting erring Major for court marshaling for exceeding his brief.

Arun Jaitley declines granting Special Category status to AP

On providing more funds to the state, the minister said that the central 

government also had limited resources, and it is doing its best

IANS  |  New Delhi   July 29, 2016 Last Updated at 17:44 IST

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the central government will handhold Andhra Pradesh till it recovers to a level from where it can progress on its own, but his assurance did not satisfy the opposition Congress which staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha.

The minister was replying to a short duration discussion in the upper house on implementing the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which led to creation of Telangana. "Andhra Pradesh has lost revenue, even though in long run it is bound to recover. For some time it will need handholding. Undivided Andhra was a revenue surplus state. But the division created a situation where the more lucrative part has gone to Telangana," Jaitley said, adding he was confident that Andhra will get back on track of development.

"As far as our commitment to honour each one of these commitments is concerned it is absolute, there are no ifs and buts," he said. On providing more funds to the state, the minister said that the central government also had limited resources, and it is doing its best.

As he finished, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said his party was not satisfied with the reply, and its members staged a walkout from the house.

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Being an articulate Supreme Court advocate by profession, Arun Jaitley didn't answer the question of granting Special Category Status to AP as promised by the then Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha while passing AP Re-organisation Bill 2014, as a precondition set by Venkaiah Naidu and himself, BJP leaders in RS. While BJP demanded 10 year status, Manmohan Singh announced status for 5 years only.

The following were promises & commitments made in AP Re-organisation Bill 2014.

1. AP Budget revenue deficit estimated for 1st year i.e. 2014-15 is Rs.16,000 crores for five years will be in the vicinity of Rs.40,000 crores.
2. Capital city construction .. conservative estimate shows at least Rs.1,00,000 crores.
3. Polavaram Project declared as national project will cost about Rs.25,000 crores.
4. Railway Zone with HQ in AP.
5. 20+ Central institutions like IIT, IIM, AIMS, NIT, IIIT, IISER, Central University, Tribal University, Petroleum University, Agriculture University, National Disaster Management Institute, etc will cost about Rs.20,000 crores.
6. Dugarajupatnam port development will cost about Rs.10,000 crores.
7. Steel plant at Kadapa will cost about Rs.15,000 crores.
8. Refinery & Petrochemical complex will cost about Rs.10,000 crores.
9. Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor.
10. Metros for Vijayawada & Visakhapatnam will cost about Rs.20,000 crores
11. ORR for Vijayawada will cost about Rs. 18,000 crores.
12. Urban development will cost about Rs. 20,000 crores.
13. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada & Tirupati International Airports development might cost about Rs.10,000.

The total funds committed by Center in the Act would be over Rs.3,00,000 crores in 10 year time frame. Even if evenly spread out over 15 years budget should provide Rs.20,000+ crore every year.  In the last two budgets provision made was NIL and funds released so far was just Rs.2,000 crores.

Special category status, for 10 years, is all the more important to attract new industries setting up quickly, thus accelerating industrial growth, job opportunities and increasing state revenues.

Arun Jaitley & Narendra Modi are fundamentally anti-south. Jaitley immediately after taking over as FM remarked that there is no mechanism for transferring of central funds to state indicating that in his priorities extending assistance to AP is last. No provision made in his two budgets confirms this. Modi conveniently forgot all his election utterances while campaigning in AP. He promised sky and showed moon in his palm. Now he maintains stoic silence in AP matters. Chandrababu Naidu's 29 trips to Delhi is nothing but waste of time and petrol. 

Arun Jaitley stating that centre is facing deficit of 5-6% and hence could not extend liberal help to AP is untenable. Union Budget for the last 50-60 years was never surplus. In the absence of funds availability why UPA Govt in collusion with BJP resorted to AP Bifurcation in 2014 when the bill (without financial statement) was rejected by AP Assembly and Seemandhra people agitated against bifurcation, invoking Article 3. Why budget implication was not studied properly while preparing the bill in detail? Any bill which usually have an annexure of financial details was missing in this AP Re-organisation Bill 2014, which was never prepared by Union Home Ministry.

Venkaiah Naidu is another useless fellow. He cares for nobody. Not even family or friends. He cares for his minister position at any cost. Why he is licking boots of Modi & Jaitley when his motherland is being raped by them? Shameless fellow, tells AP people that centre has already given over a lakh of crores while CM is stating that the receipts from centre so far are about Rs.2,800 crores only. He is like a pet dog of then Vajpayee & Advani and now Modi wagging tail and licking boots. Last two years he talks, talks and never did any good to AP. Incapable to get anything for AP. Waste fellow. Fit only for cracking some jokes in Telugu like a joker. Comedian entertaining Modi & Co. Ignore him.

BJP's rule is worse than Congress. The only thing helping Modi is that crude oil prices at its lowest for two long years with no signs of increase for another one year had already resulted in FE outflow saving of about Rs.500,000 crores. Only 10-15% benefit of low prices was passed on to end users and remaining 85-90% was retained by centre and that helped economic parameters lookup. 

AP's budget deficit of Rs.16,000 crores pa translates to to Rs.1,333 crores every month. If centre reimburses this money after 3-4 years, how will AP Govt survive to pay its bills, salaries &  pensions, fund welfare apart from huge development expenditure, month on month?

Thus, Undavalli Arun Kumar ex-MP's remark - that while Congress attempted to rape AP in 2014, BJP actually raped AP in 2016 - very much true it is.

While Parliament is supreme, all other institutions namely National Development Council, Finance Commission, Planning Commission, Niti Aayog etc are subordinate bodies of Govt of India i.e. Council of Ministers headed by PM. When Manmohan Singh's Union Cabinet has already approved granting Special Category Status to AP in 2014, how can Modi & Co claim that Special status can't be accorded due to conflict of rules of Finance commission and Niti Aayog? Ridiculous excuse by Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu. Modi remains tight lipped.

Finally, it is very clear that BJP at Centre won't do anything to AP except lip service. These days people in high places are afraid of only lung power. Chandrababu Naidu should realize that. Requests and begging leads him to nowhere. The only way is to develop ourselves within our own means slowly and steadily rather than waiting and looking at sky for windfall to arrive. In the meantime enforce austerity, eliminate wastage and corruption and money thus saved, apart from money mobilized for overseas lending agencies, could be used for development step by step. Devoid of funding sources, no point in being hurry.

In Delhi, nobody works nobody. Everybody works for self for profit.