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.

Meritocracy is myth

Merit is simply a good quality or feature that deserves to be praised. Merit and justice play a crucial role in ethical theory and political philosophy. Some view justice as allocation according to merit. Others view justice as based on criteria of its own, and take merit and justice as two independent values. Merit and justice are strongly linked in the human perception of social order. Spoils system, also called patronage system, is a practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and by other favors. A change in party control of government necessarily brings new officials to high positions carrying political responsibility, but the spoils system extends personnel turnover down to routine or subordinate governmental positions. Although spoils system is an American political term, it is common in many other countries as well.

• The merit of all things lies in their difficulty. Everyone agrees that justice must be in accordance with some kind of merit.
• Meritocracy has been presented as a means of breaking down established hierarchies of privilege.
• Merit systems is an uniform and impersonal employment and advancement policy based on evaluation of abilities and achievements, instead of on favoritism or politics.
• It is not hard to see why people find the idea of meritocracy appealing. It carries with it the idea of moving beyond where you start in life, of creative flourishing and fairness. But all the evidence shows it is a smokescreen for inequality. 
• The fact is, meritocracy is a myth. Social systems that reward through wealth, and which increase inequality, don’t aid social mobility, and people pass on their privilege to their children.
• Meritocracy contradicts the principle of equality, no less than any other oligarchy. Meritocracy is the great delusion that ingrains inequality.
• Our leaders sell meritocracy as a utopian system of fairness, but merit has been manipulated to privilege the wealthy. Merit is a malleable and easily manipulated term. 
• Meritocracy was a term of abuse, describing a ludicrously unequal state that surely no one would want to live in. Why would you want to give more prizes to the already prodigiously gifted? Instead we should think about how to give those doing difficult or unattractive jobs more leisure time, and share out wealth more equitably so that we all have a better quality of life and a happier society. 

It is better to be an eminent person than to be a prominent person.

Unequal growth is a threat to democracy. Meritocracy that promotes unequal growth and is also in conflict with the 'Preamble to the Constitution of India' which confers and guarantees equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all. The sooner we disband this myth called 'meritocracy' and replace with widely acceptable, efficient and equitable criterion for distribution of scarce resources and facilities, it is better.

Religion - Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda was religious, but never a superstitious person. 

• All religion is to be based upon morality, and personal purity is superior.
• All religious superstitions are vain imaginations. 
• Beliefs, doctrines, sermons do not make religion.
• Believe in the doctrine, and you are safe.
• Circumstances can never be good or bad. Only the individual man can be good or bad. What is meant by the world being good or bad? Misery and happiness can only belong to the sensuous individual man.
• Despondency is not religion.
• Experience is the best source of knowledge. 
• First bread and then religion.
• Great is the tenacity with which man clings to the senses.
• In religion lies the vitality  of India.
• Intellectual assent and intellectual dissent are not religion.
• It is an insult to a starving people to offer them religion.
• Mere believing in certain theories and doctrines will not help you much. 
• No destruction of religion is necessary to improve the Hindu society.
• One religion cannot suit all.
• Religion is the greatest and healthiest exercise for the human mind.
• Religion requires hard and constant practice.
• Religion is a necessary thing to very few, and to the vast mass of mankind it is a luxury.
• Religion is the retaliation of Spirit as Spirit; not Spirit as matter. Religion is a growth. Each one must experience it himself. 
• Religion has no business to formulate social laws.
• Religion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation;
  it is being and becoming, it is realization.
• Religion is manifestation of the Divinity already in man.
• So long as even a single dog in my country is without food,
  my whole religion will be to feed it.
• Talking is not religion.
• The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
• The goal of all religions is the same, but the language of the teachers differs.
• The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. 
• The ideal of all religions is attaining of liberty and cessation of misery.
• The man who is frightened into religion has no religion at all.
• The proof of one religion depends on the proof of all the rest.
• The very rich can understand truth much less than the poorer people. The rich man has no time to think of anything beyond his wealth and power, his comforts and indulgences. The rich rarely become religious. Why? Because they think, if they become religious, they will have no more fun in life.
• True religion is entirely transcendental.
• Try to be pure and unselfish— that is the whole of religion.
• We must not only tolerate each others, but positively embrace them, and that truth is the basis of all religions.
• We must not judge of higher things from a low standpoint.
  Everything must be judged by its own standard. 
• You are what you make yourselves. 
• You are religious from the day you begin to see God in men and women.

Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking of ourselves first. The unselfish man says, 'I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if by doing so I can help my brothers.' This unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this unselfishness is more spiritual and nearer to Shiva.

मातृदेबो भब पितृदेबो भब, दरिद्रतृदेबो भब, मूर्खतृदेबो भब

The poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted -- let these be your God. 

Know that services to these alone is the highest religion ... Swami Vivekananda

India's first newspaper 1780 - Hicky's Bengal Gazette

• Hicky’s Bengal Gazette, was the Indian subcontinent’s first English language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the capital of British India and was started by Irishman James Augustus Hicky on 29th January 1780. 
• The Gazette was a weekly publication, typically running at a length of four pages, with three columns of text. 
• The Gazette newspaper was published once a week on Saturday, and retailed for Re 1. Its circulation was estimated to be around 400 copies per week. The newspaper became famous not only among the British soldiers posted in India at that time but also inspired Indians to write newspapers of their own.
• The Gazette was almost solely the product of J.A. Hicky’s labor, with Hicky acting as writer, editor, and publisher. Hicky's first editing policy was neutral and his slogan was "Open to all Parties, but Influenced by None."
• The paper was a mixture between tabloid and satire, rather unlike the more serious tone of newspapers in Britain at the time, which had just won the right to report on Parliamentary proceedings. 
• Though Hicky’s Bengal Gazette was ostensibly concerned with political developments within the East India Company, Hicky primarily focused his coverage on the mockery of his personal enemies.
• His male writers opined that women should be chaste, faithful, and submissive. Their role was to satisfy and please their husbands. Their value was in how many children they could produce, and their responsibility was to preserve society’s moral values. 
• One of his correspondents wrote: "A good wife is one who ever mindful of the solemn contract which she has entered into, is strictly and conscientiously virtuous, constant, and faithful to her husband; also chaste, pure and unblemished in every thought, word and deed. She ought to be humble and modest from reason and conviction, submissive from choice, and obedient from inclination. She must make it her constant study to appear truly amiable in the eyes of her husband, being conscious that every thing which promotes his happiness, must in the end contribute to her own."
• Hicky argued in his columns that women should be subservient, reflecting thoughts of those times but chiefly on the profligacy of our women, and women should remain modest, virtuous and be educated only for the pleasure of men. They should be taught only subjects like dancing, music and French. He spread the idea that education made women less sexually attractive, that it stripped them of their femininity, and that women’s biology made them intellectually inferior and unable to participate in serious male-only conversation.
• Hicky reprinted sections from a 1772 book 'Fatal Consequences of Adultery' which argued that it should be illegal for someone to marry the person they committed adultery with. The book's hope was to reduce adultery by reducing the incentive to commit it. The burden fell hardest on women, who unlike men, would have to live with society’s judgment of their actions.
• Hicky  realized that a person’s religion did not matter, nor their education or social class. Anyone from any background, man or woman, could be good and righteous. In conclusion Hicky let people draw was that goodness did not come from class, education, or modernity. Goodness was innate. Indian women were not inferior to their European counterparts.
• His success meant that others saw a good business opportunity. And, an event was about to come that would make it easier for any competitor with the right connections to challenge him.
• Despite the paper’s satirical tone, it was widely read by members of colonial society at the time. Hicky’s criticism of Governor General Warren Hastings, and his particularly malicious ridicule of Hasting’s wife, landed him in jail repeatedly. 
• He was finally suppressed when Hastings instituted fresh law suits against him. Hicky's Bengal Gazette ceased publication on 23 March 1782 when its types were seized by an order of the Supreme Court.

Profanity paradox

Profanity is simply blasphemous or obscene language that is offensive or disrespectful. 

• As children we’re taught that cursing, even when we’re in pain, is inappropriate, betrays a limited vocabulary or is somehow low class. But profanity serves a physiological, emotional and social purpose and it is effective only because it is inappropriate.
• Profanity is a cultural construct that perpetuates itself through time.
• Profane words have a direct line to our emotions. They are a spontaneous reflection of strong emotional states, like anger, fear or passion. They are also unequaled in their capacity to inflict emotional pain and incite violent disagreement. 
• Swearing and cursing are often used interchangeably, but there’s a subtle difference in their origins. A curse implies damning or punishing someone, while a swear word suggests blasphemy. Both words are defined as profanity: vulgar, socially unacceptable language not used in polite conversation.
• Profane words that provoke the most repressive regulatory reactions from the state in the form of censorship and legislation. Bad words are powerful -- emotionally, physiologically, psychologically and socially. The paradox is that profane words are powerful because we make them powerful. 
• Profanity is learned differently. It’s articulated differently. It changes differently over time. Every generation has its own slang, including profanity.
• Cable television and the Internet have created a wild west for words, where the true will of the people has its way. And if social media are any indication, the people want to be able to swear. And to hear swearing. And to read swearing. As the public has become more accustomed to profanity, taboo words have started to make their way more prominently into mainstream science.
• To capitalize on profanity to learn about language, not just as the rational product of deliberate reflection, but as part of the impulsive, emotional, hot cognition that is pervasively human. Cursing is coping, or venting, and it helps deal with stress. Profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level. People who use profanity are more honest. Liars have to use more brain power, require more thinking, remember lies to avoid telling the truth. Truth tellers, on the other hand, get to the point faster, which might mean speaking impulsively and without a filter.
• When profanity targets demographic groups, it can foster prejudices. These words don’t have any intrinsic, mystical power that confers superhuman strength and endurance. It is simply the act of speaking a taboo word that makes it cathartic.

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice 

so mean and low that every person of sense and character 

detests and despises it ... George Washington

Profanity generally indicates the weakness of the person and lack of vocabulary skills. Whatever is said in conjunction with profanity gets lost in the noise and people of character will distance themselves. When profane words are used in forums, the person will get castigated and compelled to withdraw those words and apologize unconditionally. If you want people to think that you are telling the truth, then swearing might be helpful. Profanity is unnecessary and should be censored. If the foul-mouthed among us want to preserve the benefits of cursing, we need these detractors to ensure that profanity stays profane.

Nehru is the greatest PM India

The modern history of India cannot be analysed without understanding the decisive roles played by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. These two leaders were the founders of modern India. Among the two, the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru has been so significant that it will have an impact on generations to come. Nehru pulled India out of the economic crisis after Independence. As a result, India is almost at par with other industrialized countries of the world.

• At the time of independence, India is saddled with poverty, illiteracy and distressed farmers. Hence Nehru prioritized development. His policies always kept the poorest sections of society in mind. He allocated the nation’s wealth without ignoring the poor.
• India was never a poor country. Its wealth was drained after 200 years of colonial rule. 
• After Independence, Nehru wanted the direct involvement of poor people in the process of development. This way their lost self-esteem and pride could be restored. He had a conflict of interest with other party leaders regarding the establishment of parliamentary democracy in India. There was a point where he stood against his father Motilal Nehru’s Swaraj Party.
• India today is just a glimpse of Jawaharlal Nehru’s foresight.
• Some critics hold Nehru responsible for the Kashmir issue. But they forget that Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state. It was Maharaja Hari Singh of Riyat who expressed his desire to join India when Pakistan invaded the princely state.
• It was the education system created by Nehru that enabled students from ordinary families to reach extraordinary heights. Nehru also strengthened the health services like the AIIMS. But today we have destroyed Nehru’s legacy by turning educational institutions as well as hospitals to mere money-making machines.
• Nehru ultimately passed away one and a half years after China’s betrayal in 1962, shaken to the core.
• Indira Gandhi also faced severe economic crisis after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. But she tackled it by devaluing the currency for the first time. Indira Gandhi showed that the Partition of Pakistan in 1971 was a political ploy in the name of religion. 
• V.P. Singh who took Indians one step backward as a civilisation by dividing them on the basis of their caste, creed and ethnicity. The country’s economy had already been eroded to a great extent by the policies of V.P. Singh and Chandrashekhar. 
• Notwithstanding the contributions of PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh in saving India going bankrupt in 1992 with liberalization, Rao has been the weakest and most inefficient prime minister of this country by far. He opened the markets to foreign investors which in turn robbed the hard-earned wealth of Indians. Narasimha Rao nervously opened the Indian market to foreign companies and agreed to put off foreign exchange payoff. Narasimha Rao completely destroyed the secular heritage by letting Babri Masjid get demolished in front of his own eyes. This has led to communal tensions in the country. 
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government ruled for six years. In spite of this, it could not reduce financial scams in the country. He formed a new disinvestment ministry to sell off government assets. Vajpayee used humour to further parliamentary democracy. Yet to a great extent, he has kept the spirit of Nehru alive in his policy decisions.
• Charan Singh, Deve Gowda, IK Gujral and Manmohan Singh had been ‘accidental’ Prime Ministers. It is not known why Morarji Desai was honoured with Pakistan’s biggest national honour of “Nishan-e-Pakistan”. 

Read the source article by Ashwini Kumar Chopra, Resident editor,

Punjab Kesari and a BJP MP. (Translated by Gaurav Kumar)

Today, I find many people who criticize Gandhi, Nehru, Indira Gandhi etc as the cause for what ever problems we face today but I have no doubt to categorize them as ignorant, blind and mad. It is not our culture to criticize our great grand father's for what they have done or haven't done. It won't be easy to imagine the situations or dilemmas they might be facing at that time given the paucity of knowledge, talent & resources.

Economy worsened since 2016 ... RBI survey

Pre-poll surveys might still be leaning towards Modi, but the recent highly rated RBI's Consumer Confidence Survey tells another tale. The survey was conducted in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, has showed that 48% of the citizens believe that the Indian economy has deteriorated in 2018 from the previous round. On general economic situation, income, spending, employment and price level about 48% felt the general economic situation in May 2018 was worse than a year ago and 32% perceived an improvement.

• Households in general were pessimistic about the employment situation, with 44% of them feeling that it has actually worsened. An aggregate of 51% have said that do not expect any change or expect employment prospects to deteriorate in the coming year.
• Over 88% felt that the general price level has increased and over 83% said they expected it will keep increasing in the coming year too.
• The proportion of households expecting their spending will increase in the next one year remained almost unchanged at over 83%.
• Modi government is facing a flak on the price situation as continuously increasing petrol and diesel prices have led to a spike in the rates of almost all essential commodities and transportation.
• GDP grew at 7.7% in the Q4 FY18, the fastest pace in seven quarters, aided primarily by sustained government spending. While private investments are struggling to recover, slowing of private consumption (54.6% against 59.3% in the previous quarter) the main growth engine, is also a cause for concern. 
• Even though the government has been patting its back on bringing down inflation, 79% of respondents felt that it has actually gone up. Many respondents felt that the prices have increased and will continue to increase going ahead. About 83.8% expects food prices to rise in the next three months as against just 77.2% a year back. 
• Retail inflation, measured by the year-on-year change in the CPI, rose from 4.9 % in May to 5% in June, driven by an uptick in inflation in fuel and in items other than food and fuel. RBI Governor Urjit Patel says RBI needs to maintain inflation at the legislated target of 4%.
• One of the major pointers towards a slowdown is the fact that people's incomes have remained stagnant. 48.9% households said that their incomes have remained same, it has gone up for 27% and gone down for 23%.
• And even though incomes have declined, spending has shot up. People are spending more on essential items. For 85% spending on essential items has gone up,  while for 52% it has gone up on non-essential items.

Earlier in June 2018, Piyush Goyal, finance minister in-charge, dismissed the RBI's consumer confidence survey findings. "I think the facts speak for themselves, with 7.7% growth. Some people with blinkers on seem to have come out with a report that does not gel with reality then I have no answer to them, but there will always be some naysayers in this world,” he said. 

Modi's fake data wont work anymore. He must stop spreading false data and 

take action or should say BJP do not have good finance knowledge and 

hire experts where ever they are available ... A citizen

The BJP will not enjoy the tail winds it enjoyed in 2014 in the next elections. However, a lack of hope that the economic situation will improve significantly in the next one year. Economic mismanagement is an important opposition charge. Still the electorate has not placed its bet on an anti-Modi campaign, like it did in an anti UPA campaign in 2012. A status quo in these trends suggests it may still be advantage BJP in 2019 at a time when the opposition is banding together. It is good that institutions are coming out of Modi's evil influence in spreading fake data. Needless to say that present situation is as bad as it was in 2013-14, the last year of UPA's 10 year regime. Majority people not expecting any improvement in economy indicates their loss of confidence Modi's capabilities and could spell doom, in 2019 elections, for Modi & BJP.