What Modi will do now?

Narendra Modi's spectacular win in the general elections 2019, and returning to power by an astonishing margin -- defying expectations, leaving the political opposition gutted and securing nearly two-thirds of the Lok Sabha. This election has proved how wildly popular Modi really is. The big question is: What is he going to do with that? He will probably continue along the same path.

• But there is a sizable chunk of India that voted against Modi, and many members of this anti-Modi crowd are deeply worried about his having a stronger hand.
• They see India as increasingly divided along caste and religious fault lines and an emboldened  Modi will send India farther down the path of becoming a religious Hindu state, which could be dangerous for minorities.
• Hindu extremists did very well in the election. Though Modi has not publicly used their same language, he has also done nothing yet to separate himself from them.
• Modi is not a soft liner. Modi’s deepening reliance on Amit Shah is a sign of the agenda ahead. Amit Shah is the man who recently referred to illegal Muslim immigrants as termites.
• Modi will come under pressure from within BJP to deliver on contentious planks of the party including building Ram temple over the ruins of a destroyed mosque in Ayodhya, abrogate Article 370 for Kashmir and removing special protections that allow India’s minority Muslim community to follow its own system of family law.
• Modi has no reason to deviate from the core agenda, because he received an unprecedented mandate despite the poor economic record and social disharmony.
• India’s path forward during Modi’s second term hinges on just who the real Modi might be.
• Those who studied Modi (68) say he is a complicated man: isolated, ascetic, trusting few, close to even fewer; a blend of populist, nationalist and a self-made success story. He is passionate about his Hindu beliefs and committed to economic development.
• After 5 years, the economy is not doing well and Modi is aware of how economy could define both his legacy and his future political fortunes.
• Modi has demonstrated desire to take his place on the global stage as the leader of world economic super power.
• In Kashmir, Modi might try to tighten control. So far India’s attempts to stamp out dissent have bred only growing resistance. Any further pressure put on Kashmir could mean more tension with Pakistan. Part of Modi’s election surge came from his appearing tough on Pakistan, trading military strikes across the border. The brinkmanship caused anxiety around the world, and Modi may well decide to continue that stance.
• Given the electoral victory he just won, he is unlikely to see any reason to change what has worked for him.
• At the top of his priorities is the urgency to create more jobs, and that is likely to require new laws to grant the government the power of eminent domain to seize land for companies to use to build factories.

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India is at the whim of one man

This election has produced the strongest government India has had. Even Jawaharlal Nehru did not have as much control over his party as Modi does. There was something surreal about this election. The fact that we've reached a point where truth does not seem to matter and that is a dangerous point for a democracy because democracy survives on the fragmentation of power. When people trust each other and distrust their leaders, you get democracy. When people distrust each other and completely trust their leaders, you get dictatorship. We are at the second moment right now. Armed with full majority, non existent opposition and tamed institutions -- Modi will continue with renewed vigor his hate filled destructive and disruptive policies. Only empty coffers, economic, agriculture and unemployment  problems will control him to certain extent.

Morality in a free market

Are the markets moral? Should we expect them to be? Moral according to whom? 
If they’re not moral, are they immoral? Amoral? Or value-neutral?

• Morality describes the codes of conduct put forward by a society. It can refer to a system of conduct to which all rational persons, regardless of culture, would subscribe. Morality deals with our sense of fairness and our sense of responsibility to others. Implicit in morality is the idea that there are right ways and wrong ways to act.
• A market is any structure under which commerce takes place: the purchase of land, stocks, airline tickets, vegetables, sporting events, whatever it may be. These structures begin as neither moral nor immoral. They are indifferent as water. Markets are meant simply to be vehicles for finding the most efficient way to balance supply and demand. The freer the market, the less encumbered by regulation, and the more efficient it should be. 
• From a social standpoint, unfettered markets can lead to situations most of us would consider immoral: vast populations of have-nots, a ruined environment, plutocracies and other dystopian scenarios.
• How can we influence markets so that they can help us build the kind of world we believe we should have?The misalignment between markets and morality -- public good versus individual rights. How markets should be governed is a discussion about capitalism itself. Capitalism has brought so much to so many in so short a time. Is it perfect? No. 
• Even as our free-market system has raised living standards to levels once unimaginable, the backlash against the markets has gotten louder. The Occupy Wall Street movement is the most visible example. Most of the protesters say they aren’t against the markets. They’re against injustice and inequality and that the system is rigged against them. They say it’s criminal for a CEO to make several hundred times the earnings of an average employee. 
• It’s disgusting for a company to shut down a plant, throw workers out on the street, and, destroy a town’s economy for no reason other than that a cheaper source of production has been found elsewhere. Only government can make the markets work in the public interest and not in their own interest.
• Something in our society is out of whack. The stock market is up but people don’t have jobs. The gap between the rich and everyone else is growing. There’s an international super-class traveling the world in private jets, living in a series of penthouse apartments, while the rest of us can only shake our heads, grow embittered, and soothe ourselves with reality programs that exploit some of society’s most pathetic individuals so that we can feel superior to somebody, thereby mitigating our doubts about our own positions in the socio-economic hierarchy. 
• All systems tend to perpetuate themselves, to act in their own self-interest until curbed by some other force. John Ruskin believed that honesty wasn’t just the best policy; it was the only policy that would allow an economy to steer clear of chaos. Many corporations have learned that corporate social responsibility isn’t just charity. It fosters long-term value. Business is the most powerful force in the world, and when approached in a certain way, it promotes both economic and social good.
• Honesty fosters trust, and trust allows markets to function. When trust fails and when no bank would lend money because it didn’t trust the credit-worthiness of any potential counterparty -- markets crash.
• Those with great power and wealth have a responsibility to use it for good. Having accumulated more wealth than several men could use in several lifetimes, Mr. Bill Gates has devoted his fortune to initiatives aimed at eradicating disease and poverty in some of the world’s most backward geographies. 
• In the liberal democracies of the West, the free-enterprise system is not designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many. And the markets, in the purest sense, aren’t listening. They tend to follow mathematics, not morals.You can be as ambitious as you want; you can achieve as much as your abilities allow; but you have to play by the rules. And the rules make the markets more open, more transparent and more fair.
• In the context of larger issues: the individual versus the group; equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome; and the difference between legal and moral, which ones do we place at the top? Ayn Rand would tell that the individual is all. By contrast, a honeybee would tell you that group welfare trumps everything.
• We’re individuals, but we’re part of and we have the ability to affect the group. We do it at the ballot box and we can do it in the markets. In investing we can choose to restrict our investments to companies that exhibit behavior consistent with our own morality.
• Rule breaking is an example of personal wrongdoing, not evidence of a corrupt institution. Can we blame markets for thieves like Bernie Madoff? Do markets create greed, along with motivation?
• Look at Madoff’s sixty-billion-dollar swindle. He caused tremendous damage. He bankrupted successful businesses and charitable organizations. He reduced families to penury. His own son committed suicide. But anyone who considers Madoff a representative money manager is mistaken. He is simply a criminal.
• There are situations in which entire industries have acted immorally.The sub-prime lending crisis of 2007-08. Banks pushed people to borrow more than they needed, more than could really afford, because the banks made the most money that way. Some of the biggest culprits were deemed “too big to fail,” and were granted immunity for their mistakes. 
• A moral society seeks the best opportunity for all its members. It protects the weak while allowing ambition to express itself fully. A corporation seeks to maximize its profits while staying within the law and doing right by its customers, workers and the community in which it undertakes its activities. Some corporations take it as a point of pride to create excellent working conditions, encourage social commitment, and to act as a moral society in miniature.
• Whether markets seek to be moral or not is irrelevant, because they have proved an effective tool for improving lives. As Deng Xiaoping once put it, “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice.”
• The idea that everything in life can be reduced to supply and demand may not be the most valid way to look at all human interaction. At what point does that premise begin to corrupt the social fabric?
• In New York, Washington DC etc a cottage industry of line-standers has now grown up and you can hire people to stand in line for you in case you have more money than time. It creates a positive good for two people -- the line-stander and the playgoer.
• In Washington DC -- line-standing companies employ homeless people to stand in line for clients who want the limited seats available for Congressional committee hearings and Supreme Court sessions open to the public. Lobbyists and others are often happy to pay for access. From a market standpoint: supply and demand. Socially? It kind of doesn’t smell right.
• At Disney World, people in wheelchairs and their families don’t have to wait in long lines for rides. They’re placed at the front of the queue. That seems morally correct. So some people of means have paid disabled strangers to pose as their family members. This is immoral and dishonest.

As long as we would prefer to pay more for a good that is produced in accordance with our values than pay a lower price for an article that is made by taking advantage of those without the means to redress unfair conditions, we will be moving the markets towards a more just, more moral position. The fact is we aren’t always willing to do that. Regulation can fix some of the problem, but personal responsibility -- knowing what you are investing in and buying -- can play a bigger role.

Principles aren’t principles until they cost you money.

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Caste consciousness

Caste system is a phenomenon related to Hinduism in particular. On the basis of caste, it is fixed at the time of a person’s birth that whether she/he would have higher or lower status in social hierarchy. Castes were first classified according to their occupation. But due to access to wealth, power, and privilege, Brahmins and Kshatriyas started to use religious sanctions to monopolize their position. 

Caste system in India is so rigidly deep-rooted in its socio-cultural and religious life. But in reality it is no God-send virtue to be followed by the people. It has had several exploitative and discriminatory effects on our social order throughout the ages. As a by-product, caste system has given several other social ills to the society such as untouchability.

A Brahmin’s caste pride comes with humiliation for other castes is both the base and superstructure of Indian society. Blindness to caste does not take away the social, political and economical privileges one gets because of one’s accident of birth in a particular upper caste. Anyone belonging to a hierarchically privileged caste is bound to get the advantages of his caste location, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously.

To be born in a privileged caste is not anyone’s fault but to refuse to even acknowledge unearned benefits’ accruing due to one’s caste and thereby claiming that the very mechanism that enforces them is absent in one’s life is not right. For the people belonging to the marginalized lower strata of this system, caste is about humiliation, deprivation, oppression and imposed identity.

To be oblivious to caste and indifferent to the caste associations of friends, employees and associates, is no longer enough in today’s caste-conscious India. Caste blindness is an affectation available only to the privileged; the lower castes cannot afford to be indifferent to caste.

Caste discrimination affects millions people and involves massive violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Caste systems divide people into unequal and hierarchical social groups. Those at the bottom are considered ‘lesser human beings’, ‘impure’ and ‘polluting’ to other caste groups and subjected to untouchability practices. Untouchables, known as Dalits are often forcibly assigned the most dirty, menial and hazardous jobs, and many are subjected to forced and bonded labor. Due to exclusion, they have limited access to resources, services and development, keeping most of them in severe poverty.

Caste consciousness is not so rigid in Indian diaspora as in India. They have caste feeling but not use it in day to day practices but use it flexibly without causing any harm or ill treatment. Caste identity has been central to the ways in which Indians overseas organised their society. They still look to marry within caste and endorse caste system. People change their names and surnames to get away from low-caste identity. Caste is something that is embedded in the psyche of a person. So, as long as a person's cultural roots are present in a society with caste system embedded in it, this practice is bound to continue. Thus, a second generation emigrant is to have lesser belief in the caste system and so on. Thus caste consciousness is very much present in much of the Indian diaspora.

Although India has a more rigid mechanism of caste system, the struggle of BR Ambedkar was able to grant the lower castes with the incentive of reservation, which is mostly absent in other countries. In Oct 2018, Kerala government has appointed 54 non-Brahmin priests including 7 dalits to the Cochin Devaswom Board. Earlier, 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, were appointed to the Travancore Devaswom Board.

The Constitution mandates that no citizen shall, on grounds only of caste or race, be subjected to any disability and restriction. Nehru had hoped caste would disappear from India’s consciousness. Law can only provide protection from exploitation but it cannot bring attitudinal change in so-called upper castes. The young and modern generation is perhaps the only hope in bringing about the real meaning of social justice in our country.

Wherever a Hindu goes he takes his caste along with him .. Dr Ambedkar 

Mockery of Exit Polls

Almost all exit polls predicted a landslide victory for the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some pollsters such as News24-Today’s Chanakya and Aaj Tak-AxisMyIndia predicted the BJP’s win to be bigger than even the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Only ABP-Nielsen has predicted the BJP to fall short of majority.

Stock market operators are paying TV channels to produce exit polls that will move the market in the days between the exit polls and the actual results and then move the market rapidly in a different direction once results are out. So whatever the exit polls say take them with a pinch of salt - people have advised.

Within 60 seconds, Rs 3.2 lakh crore were added to investor kitty as exit polls see NDA win. The highly exaggerated Exit Polls have become another tool to make money and the rich are getting richer at the expense of the gullible small investors.

ABP giving 56 seats to MGB in UP, India today giving 65 seats to BJP in UP. This is the conclusion of Exit polls!

The BJP-JDU alliance is set to sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar winning minimum 38 out of the 40 seats, according to the India Today-My Axis India Exit Poll. The RJD-Congress led 'Mahagathbandhan' may only bag maximum 2 seats, as per the exit polls. Is it believable?

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made a stunning allegation against TV channels’ who broadcast their exit poll predictions on Sunday evening. She said that predictions favouring the BJP was a part of a larger ‘game plan’ to ‘manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip.’

Telegu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu dismissed the predictions of the exit polls, pointing out that past experience show such analysis usually turn out wrong. "Time and again exit polls have failed to catch the people's pulse. Exit polls have provIndia ed to be incorrect and far from ground reality in many instances..." Mr Naidu tweeted.

Last week, Arnab Goswami had slammed his rival TV channels particularly India Today for ‘leaking’ their exit poll data that gave the NDA only 177 seats, a loss of 177 seats compared to 2014, they claimed. Faced with widespread condemnation, India Today had later clarified that numbers flashed on its channel were part of the channel’s dummy data.

"I believe the exit polls are all wrong. In Australia last weekend, 56 different exit polls proved wrong. In India many people don't tell pollsters the truth fearing they might be from the Government. Will wait till 23rd for the real results," tweeted the Congress parliamentarian Mr Shashi Tharoor. He was referring to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison winning what was seen as an unwinnable election, cementing his authority over the Liberal Party and giving him the muscle to end a decade of instability that has seen a revolving door of prime ministers.

National Conference chief Omar Abdullah tweeted "Every single exit poll can’t be wrong! Time to switch off the TV, log out of social media & wait to see if the world is still spinning on its axis on the 23rd". His tweet that did not outright cast doubts on the exit polls that is likely to be seen as a harbinger of the actual results.

Basis Exit Polls, shares of Adani Group companies have shot through the roof:
    Adani Green Energy: 17%
    Adani Gas: 16%  
    Adani Power: 14%
    Adani Transmission: 9% 
    Adani Ports & SEZ: 8%
    Adani Enterprises: 15%

There is no advantage of conducting Exit Polls!  It creates unwanted anxiety to people and politicians. Only TV channels make money.


Many political analysts see opinion polls as an evil in democracy. Opinion polls have bandwagon effect on the fair election process. Opinion polls project what voters are thinking and what their mandate will be. It doesn't direct the voters to go for the majority view or to neglect the minority. Opinion polls are accused of being manipulated and sometimes being wrong. Opinion polls can be manipulated by arranging favorable questions. It is not the duty of the media to keep the moral of the party cadres high. Media is accountable to the people not to the political parties. Indian citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression and ban on the opinion polls will curtail this right. So argument against opinion polls holds no moral ground. In a country like ours, opinion polls and exit polls are much needed to enrich our healthy democracy. But yesterday's exit polls seems to have been manipulated by ruling BJP in order to keep UPA and allies in disarray so that in case of any marginal opportunity they could knock away the chance to form government with the help of President Kovind.

Modi's failures

Modi term 2014-19 is coming to an end shortly. While his government's claimed successes are debatable, his failures are true, glaring, hurting and devastating. Excepting few of his cronies, some ruthless businessmen and corrupt bureaucrats, no one seems to be happy.
 

DEMONETIZATION

The most audacious, hare brained and secretly hatched economic reform which not only destroyed Indian economy but devastated rural and informal economy. GDP slowed by two points, millions of jobs were lost instantly and at least 100 deaths reported standing in bank queues for exchange. Demonetization achieved nothing but nation saddled with unintended consequences. Even after two years unintended consequences are still surfacing incessantly hurting poor people. Demonetization is not an economic reform but a war on people of India.

GST  FAILED 

As the country just a few months away from the Lok Sabha polls, reforms like demonetisation and GST are headed to look like bigger failures than they actually are due to the flow of black money and tax evasion. The unrest in the economy (lack of jobs, credit crunch etc) and the emergence of more black money makes the reforms demonetisation and GST look like a bigger failure. The tax burden has gone up after the implementation of the GST. Besides increased cost, delays in input tax credit to exporters and scarcity of credit pushed people to delay or avoid taxes by dealing more in cash. GST was implemented to widen the tax net, decrease tax evasion and reduce red tape in the tax collection. The ambiguous GST norms and processes have not only failed to bring in the promised efficiency but encouraged the creation of black money, increased tax burden and decreased business productivity. Less productivity is the key reason for lesser job creation. Any tax reform is as good as it is implemented. 

  AADHAAR IS AN ATTEMPT TO DENY RIGHT TO PRIVACY

For months this government argued in the Supreme Court against citizens having a fundamental right to privacy. It argued for surveillance and labelled privacy an ‘elitist concern’. In parallel it struggled to explain why it ordered the mandatory linking of Aadhaar to all possible services from railway tickets to school admissions. The Supreme Court ultimately had to step in and severely curtail the domineering designs of the project.

BANK'S RISING NPA'S

The Indian banking sector has become fragile and marginal with the rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and decreasing credit base. Currently gross NPAs @24% are in excess of  Rs.11,00,000 crores. An ideal banking system is one that enjoys depositors' trust and investors' reliance. To evolve into such a system requires improving conditions around weak corporate governance, poor assets quality, insider abuses, weak capital base, unprofitable operations and overdependence on public funds. A long way to recovery for PSU banks. Although several NPA loans were granted during earlier UPA2 regime these loans turned NPAs during Modi regime and Modi is guilty of not taking timely steps and preferred to go on blaming predecessor government.

GDP DATA FUDGED

Economic statistics are vital to public debate and policy making. Modi government is guilty of suppression of key statistics to revision of GDP numbers and fiddling with budget numbers, the Central government's data management has come under sharp attacks of economists and social scientists in recent times. In 2015, the base year for the GDP calculation was changed from 2004-05 to 2011-12 significantly raising the GDP growth rate from the earlier estimates. Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices...showing growth of 5.1% during 2012-13, and 6.9% during 2013-14 - the corresponding figure in the old 2004-05 series was 4.7% and 4.5% - and took India's growth rate higher than China. Strangely, no back series data was released by the CSO then as it led to an upward revision in growth for the UPA years. Then, on Jan 31, 2019 the CSO released fresh data, revising GDP growth upward: From 7.1% to 8.2% in 2016-17 ( the year of demonetisation) - the highest in the decade! and from 6.7% to 7.2% for 2017-18 (the year of GST and post-demonetisation). Many eye brows have been raised as these revised estimates were surprising and did not square with related macro-aggregates.

BETRAYAL OF FARMERS

Farmer suicides rose sharply during the Modi government’s tenure. Modi government imported wheat and pulses without thought – leading to the prices of domestic produce crashing. Farmers have resorted to at least three large scale agitations thrice this year. Not a single representative from the BJP Government deigned to meet the agitating farmers near Parliament in New Delhi.

JOBS & UNEMPLOYMENT

For the last one year, India has seen "the dreadful phenomenon" of falling labour participation rates and rising unemployment rates. At 7.2%, India's unemployment rate in Feb'2019 is worst in 29 months. The continued y-o-y fall in the labour participation rate in 2018 and 2019 indicates a deeper or a more sustained problem ailing India's labour markets. The total number of employed persons in February 2019 is estimated at 400 million against 406 million in the year-ago period and 407.5 million employed in February 2017. All this is pretty bad news for the Modi government ahead of the general elections 2019.

RAFAEL DEAL QUESTIONED

Modi and his cohorts changed the terms of a deal to acquire fewer jets for three times the price without following the stipulated procurement procedure. When cornered with questions, the government chose to attack the opposition and cite rules of secrecy which were contradicted by the French president. The Rafale controversy attracts questions because of the selection of a private party (read Anil Ambani), without any qualifications and experience except for an obvious proximity to the Modi, as an offset partner, displacing experienced HAL, a PSU.

MEDIA ENSLAVED

There has been an enslavement of certain sections of the media which simply choke on any criticism no matter how innocuous of the prime minister and the BJP president. If a channel is less than pliant, it is blacked out, its premises raided, or the offending journalists removed outright.

PARLIAMENT IGNORED

The parliament is an inconvenience to Modi government which prefers to rule by fiat and ordinances. PM Modi rarely attends parliament, and when he does he gives electoral speeches than to answer questions raised on the floor of the House.

LOKPAL APPOINTMENT FORGOTTEN

The promised Lokpal is deliberately forgotten by Modi, that an irate Supreme Court has to direct action. Lokpal was appointed after 4 years and 10 months of assuming office and few days before election schedule 2019 was announced.

CBI'S CREDIBILITY CRISIS

A high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shunted out CBI director Alok Verma, three weeks before his retirement. Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked the government ahead of the crucial meeting and said Modi was in a "tearing hurry" to "sack" Verma because of the Rafale deal.

COW VIGILANTISM & HATE CULTIVATION

No incidents of hate crime were reported in 2010 and 2011, but over the eight years since 2012, 29 persons have been killed in cow-related hate violence, 25 of whom were Muslims. Only one-third of the cases –  the police filed cases against the victims under cow-protection laws. Attacks based on race, religion, caste or ethnicity in India often occur when the attackers believe that they have political cover and will not be prosecuted and punished. It is crucial for the state to respond immediately and establish the rule of law, otherwise people lose faith in the justice system, and there is risk of a cycle of revenge and violence. Political patronage of criminals destroys institutions, causes a breakdown in human rights protections. Modi has more than once condemned the thuggish violence of the cow terrorists, not swiftly enough. His rebukes have been too gentle for his partisans are just ignoring him. Unless Modi shows he means business, the support of BJP leaders will only continue to embolden the Muslim-hating mobs.

KASHMIR MISHANDLED

Kashmir remains the biggest Modi’s failures. Kashmir valley's population is over 9 million of which 96% are Muslims. 60% of the Valley’s population is below the age of 30 with shrinking job avenues. Kashmir remains the most militarized zone in the world.Half of Indian army ~7 lakhs personnel are there in Jammu and Kashmir. There were only 150 militants in the state last year. Do we need 7 lakh soldiers to fight 150 militants? The BJP is interested in the continuation of the communal polarization situation in Kashmir to aid its larger political agenda. No political accountability, no responsibility for the mess it has created. The Srinagar by poll turnout was just 7.13% in contrast to 26% in 2014 general elections. The deteriorating conditions in the Kashmir valley is reflected by the killings of civilians by armed forces. Over 300 civilians have died in the last three years. Stone pelting on army personnel by girl students and housewives indicates breakdown of familial bonds. The Modi government is simply not interested in starting a political dialogue it promised four years ago.

EROSION OF INDIA'S INFLUENCE IN ASIA

India's relations with Nepal had deteriorated over the preceding years despite India having been the prime responder in the reconstruction of Nepal following the catastrophic earthquake of 2015. On the other hand, China’s influence in Nepal has been steadily rising with its recent initiatives to expand influence in South Asia. Chinese fuel supplies to Nepal helped alleviate the fuel shortage, accompanied by the commencement of infrastructure projects to help in the post-earthquake reconstruction of the country. Nepal runs the risk of being overwhelmed by Chinese investments and falling into a debt trap after allowing massive Chinese investments. Prevailing open border between India and Nepal offers potential for the smuggling-in of cheap Chinese consumer goods as they flood Nepal. India has to recalibrate relations with Nepal in the backdrop of massive Chinese FDI in Nepal, which constitutes over 60% of the total investment in Nepal in 2017-18. With a little over 30%, India lags a distant second and has to emerge with fresh strategies to counter expanding Chinese influence in Nepal.

HIGH-VALUE BANK DEFAULTERS FLED THE COUNTRY

Banks are custodians of public money. Some 31 Indians have fled abroad to avoid prosecution and these include Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi. Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Jatin Mehta etc. India is struggling to extradite these businessmen who have fled the country after defaulting on billions of dollars of bank loans. The government has compiled a list of 91 people it is considering barring from leaving India because of their involvement with companies that have defaulted. A willful defaulter is one who has defaulted in meeting its repayment obligations to the lender even when it has the capacity to pay. Some 400 Indian companies have been classified as willful defaulters. It is logical that someone accused of an offence is not allowed to leave the country because extradition requires proof of criminal offence and it is difficult to establish this beyond doubt.

Just now exit polls were announced which unanimously predicted NDA getting 300+ and UPA ~130  etc. I see many abnormalities and suspect exit polls were tweaked favoring  NDA. I guess NDA and UPA will get ~200 each (+/- 25) and regional parties get 150 seats. UPA with the support of regional parties will form government. If Congress gets ~150 then Rahul Gandhi will become PM and otherwise a consensus candidate from South or East will become PM.

A hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay

Right now, too many people are working long days for less pay than they deserve. That’s partly because of failure to update overtime regulations for years and an exemption meant for highly paid, white collar employees now leaves out workers making as little as poverty wages, no matter how many hours they work.

• A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. That’s at the heart of what it means to be middle class in America. In 2015 President Obama announced new rule that would raise the salary threshold of workers covered by overtime to $50,400, from $23,660. The beneficiaries would be people like a restaurant manager who frequently worked 60 hours a week but didn’t get overtime because she earned $36,000.
• That’s good for workers who want fair pay, and it’s good for business owners who are already paying their employees what they deserve since those who are doing right by their employees are undercut by competitors who aren’t.
• A manager at a car wash when asked for his thoughts on the new rule has said: "It would get the people be paid the way they should be paid-and stop letting these companies use your labor for free."
• Obama further said - he believes in middle-class economics, when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. It’s at the heart of the fundamental choice our country faces today.
• Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do exceptionally well? Or will we push for an economy where every one who works hard can contribute to and benefit from our success?
• Will we invest in programs that would help educate our children, maintain our roads and bridges, and train our workers for the high-paying jobs of the future? Or will we cut these programs, and decide to give more to the wealthiest persons instead?
• The answer is clear. Let’s invest and commit to an economy that rewards hard work, generates rising incomes, and allows everyone to share in the prosperity of a growing economy. Let’s make the critical investments we need to grow our economy and strengthen the middle class.

The workman gives as much, the capitalist gives as little, 

as the nature of the bargain will admit ... Frederick Engels

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Fake news

Fake news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or social media. Digital news has brought back and increased the usage of fake news, or yellow journalism. The news is then often reverberated as misinformation in social media but occasionally finds its way to the mainstream media as well.

• Fake news was not a term many people used four years ago, but it is now seen as one of the greatest threats to democracy and free debate. Fake news is not a new phenomenon. Misinformation has been used by governments for ages to control public opinions for generations.
• The rampant misuse of social media platforms to spread fake news has been a global cause for concern for misinformation shared through WhatsApp messages influences the voters.
• Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google are also under intense pressure to do everything they can to prevent their platforms being misused and manipulated, and to stop the spread of fake news.
• Fake news does not make a person change his beliefs. Fake news only reinforces the existing political ideas and beliefs and brings out the worst impulses within us.
• Fake news is only a catalyst, the demon is within ourselves. 
• People tend to assume new technologies will make it harder to manipulate the truth. In reality, new technologies — from photography to the Internet — open up new avenues for faking.
• In India three major factors drive political behavior: security, public goods and economic patronage. Security issues is not just threats of violence against your family or caste, but also about your civil rights, access to police and legal institutions. The lack of people from lower castes in courtrooms and police station has always been a barrier for dalits to get justice.
• There are lot of poor, upper caste people who are not getting any govt benefits. They feel aggrieved and that is where the fake news comes in. Political parties like the BJP are using this predisposed belief of being 'left out' to get people to vote for them.
• BJP is pushing extremely violent messages in their WhatsApp groups, because those things work in getting their voters to the polling booth. They are targeting people who are going to vote for BJP anyway. On the other hand Congress and other parties, which are trying to stitch together much larger coalitions, have a much harder job. 
• With increased accessibility to smartphones and internet, the dissemination of fake messages has become more decentralised and harder to monitor. The government is freaking out because they can no longer control it.
• At present the BJP has the first mover's advantage. BJP is more organised and can influence people -- at least motivate their own voter to go to the polls by sharing something racist or bigoted. Every political party is trying to do the same thing. Once they catch up, the influence of fake news will wear out. 
• Pushing fake news for power & profit, promising to tickle the soured and stale addictions many have developed to deflection, deception and denial is the domain of disreputable organizations. 
• Purveyors of deflection, deception and denial play on people's weaknesses, their cultivated thirst for contentious reporting, their inability to apply critical thinking and practice the proven ability to evaluate their sources of media before positions are assumed and actions are taken. All of this dysfunction, based on faulty information provided/collected.
• Nations have been compromised and wars, some of them world wars, are started when propaganda is permitted to advance, unchecked. Lying for a profit is right up there with prostitution, drug running and gun trafficking in terms of profitability and this harmful practice has been around just as long.