Modi's suprise visit to Pakistan

Modi 's unannounced visit to Pakistan, must have taken the world by surprise. It is a well marked deviation from the formal schedules. Now can any one accuse us of running away from peace process with Pakistan? I can say that this Modi's outreach to Pakistan is an act of statesmanship because he has taken a calculated risk as past attempts in Normalising relations have been sabotaged by Pakistani military establishment and ISI. Any provocative act from Pakistan's non-state players would weaken Modi 's popularity and image. But certainly this brief stopover in Lahore on his way back to India from Kabul on the invitation from Nawaz Shariff must have given a flip to Indo- Pak dialogue. This brand of diplomacy was hailed by everyone, which may help in infusing positive atmosphere to move forward and to sort out outstanding issues.

      In this connection much significance is attached to this visit, which comes just after a friendly meeting between two PM's, India & Pakistan in Paris, a breakthrough meeting between, NSAs of India & Pakistan in Bankok and FMs of the said countries and even the Pakistan's military too must come round now because of the prevailing situation in Pakistan. The fact of the matter is Modi's out- of - the-box diplomacy may not give dividends immediately but may pave way for a comprehensive dialogue in due course of time.
        Here again, I have to call spade a spade with regards to Congress 's opposition to the visit and what it shouldn't do is to undermine the efforts of Mr Modi. Now I will not be going into the details on this aspect as this itself is a big topic in its own way.
But it is also true that though, UN, US, China etc have supported the move, it is not free from objective criticism and I will be failing in my obligation if don't put it before you for better appreciation and understanding as I have the habit of thinking from the other  man's point of view. Some intellectuals are of the opinion that the visit has only sent out confusing signals about how the Govt wants to direct the bilateral relations with a country that has till now refused to address our deep concerns over ISI aided acts of terror in India. Some individuals have said, that there is a lack of consistency which is the hallmark of Modi's highly personalised style of functioning, while keeping aside the institutionalised foreign policy making process. They even went to the extent of saying that the theatrics and showmanship do make good headlines, but are not substitutes for initiating structured diplomatic moves. Whether it is Mumbai serial blast prime accused Dawood, being sheltered and protected in Pakistan or Lakhvi of 26/11 mastermind, Pakistan's response has been least encouraging. These two examples have been quoted them,
Since strong and weak points are there on both sides of argument, our media should stop making a song and dance, about the whole event, It must be a just normal planned visit and the drama must have been an after thought. But whatever it is one hopes that only the incidents to follow will be able to prove the validity of the visit.

Rise of a strong leader

KCR's recent astounding victory in recent by-election must have emboldened him to reprimand the opposition more strongly now. 

 Despite was even after facing serious opposition campaign which accused him of back- tracking on its election promises and the anti- incumbency factors.  I don't hesitate to say that this entire credit goes to only KCR as it is proved beyond doubt that he is the man of masses while the opposition has miserably failed to get even deposits. 

    The sad part is , the opposition has  meekly surrendered in MLC elections and conceded its 4 seats in the local bodies quota. While congress has no takers for MLCs in Adilabad, Warangal, and Karimnagar, surprisingly its candidates even defected to TRS on the penultimate day of nominations and the same was the case with TDP., whose candidates withdrew in 4 North Telangana districts, making the way for a unanimous election in 6 seats

       Now KCR's agenda must be to capture , GHMC, the fifth largest metropolitan city in the country and in the process he could very well encash the already demoralised Congress and TDP cadres and also we have seen , how he could grab, the opposition MLAs into his fold under OPERATION AKARSH. And a report says that some more are in the pipeline, latest entrants being Sayanna MLA of TDP and MS Prabhakar MLC of Congress. Earlier T Srinivas Yadav, Teegela KrishnaReddy, Manchireddy Kishan reddy, and M Krishna Rai have already joined. It has been reported that KCR went to former Director CBI and staunch TDP man Vijaya Rama Rao to persuade him to join TRS and accordingly he had already resigned from TDP. While Danam Nagendar, of Congress would have joined but for the efforts of Congress High Commond.
        It looks like KCR has a remarkable quality of taking the setbacks as a challenge and this is evident that in last 12 years of his struggle for separate state. Many times he had experienced serious setbacks and he was written- off as a failed politician. But still with his perseverance he achieved the goal, and people started believing only KCR and none else. Even after coming back to power many senior politicians doubted his political and administrative abilities. He has fulfill all the promises made by him.
     I feel that there is a lot of change in his style of functioning after Warangal by- poll. He must be silently working on a political strategy of eliminating the opposition slowly. While aggressively persuing developmental and welfare agenda of construction of double bedroom houses for weaker sections, filling of teacher vacancies, implementation of Kalyana Laxmi, and shadimubarak schemes, bringing Godavari water to Hyderabad etc. And simultaneously he has changed the strategy in dealing with centre, maintaining cardinal relations to avoid confrontation .
PV Narasimha Rao once said, that governance of dynamics require flexibility and purposiveness. In politics winning election is only the criteria while the governance is a different ball game and the history would judge one only on the basis of quality of governance not political  victories, and I'm sure KCR is very much aware of this.

The Chinar Leaves -- a peek into murky polictics of Congress

I have finished reading the book "The Chinar Leaves" yesterday. Author of this book M L Fotedar, a Kashmiri Brahmin, was a political secretary to the Indira Gandhi and to Rajiv Gandhi. It was regularly reported back then that he advised them on various matters of political and administrative importance at the national level. As per his version, he played a major role in ensuring that Rajiv succeeded his mother after her assassination. He also writes how he was able to persuade Sonia into active politics and thereafter getting her installed as Congress President.
    After their recent electoral setbacks, many senior politicians of the Congress party now seem to have a lot of spare time at their disposal.  Some of them wrote books as their memoirs.   We may refer to his memoir as insider account of the Gandhis that is Indira, Rajiv and Sonia. To me though, it appears to be unabashedly biased. To put it in proper perspective, the memoirs of Jairam Ramesh and Sanjay Baru were quite dispassionate in comparison in their respective books "To The Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story and "The Acciental Prime Minister".
    "The Chinar Leaves" paints a portrait of M.L. Fotedar’s six- decade long political career. A career that began in Kashmir and reached the inner corridors of power during the Gandhi heydays.  The memoir gives us a peep into the murky goings on that made up the national politics back then. In it there are stories galore of many careers made and unmade within the Congress Party. Among these are P. V. Narasimha Rao's efforts to stay in power, Amitab Bachan's falling out with Mrs Gandhi's family, Zail Singh's rift with Rajiv Gandhi etc. Also described in detail are the complex web of politics, deceit and conflict that took place in the immediate aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
The book also deals with the way the Indian National Congress, the political party of our national movement, was turned into “Indira Congress" first then into “Sonia Congress”. Somewhere in between there was also a period of “Tiwari Congress”.  Fotedar lays claim to these and many more machinations that were planned and executed by such party luminaries as G.K. Moopanar, Sharad Pawar etc. He also narrates how Mrs Gandhi stoically withstood the grief of Sanjay's death and groomed Rajiv to take charge. In this way she ensured that Rajiv, and not R. Venkat Raman, PV or Pranab, succeeded her. According to Fotedar, it was during the time that he was being nudged out of the family coterie, that Rajiv gradually lost his grip on power. A significant portion of the book also tells us the finesse with which he (Fotedar) had facilitated Sonia's rise. This came after PV was installed at the helm, that was against the wishes of Pawar, all the while handling and checking the ambition of  Sitaram Kesri etc. But then again, when Sonia formed a new coterie of her own, he was left out.

While narrating such stories with ample "Mirch Masala" , Fotedar doesn't reveal all. He does not say why Indira warned Rajiv not to have Amitabh and Madhav Rao Scindia in his cabinet. He doesn't say whom Amitabh recommend for the Chairperson of women's wing of Rajasthan Congress. We find many such incomplete stories, and I would say, it hides as much as it reveals. Moreover it is totally biased against Narasimha Rao. Mr Fotedar assertion that Anjaiah, the CM of AP, was removed at the behest of Narasimha Rao, is hard to take. From whatever little I know, Narasimha Rao and Anjaiah never had any differences. He might have had something against Chenna Reddy or Vengala Rao or even Mr Shivashankar, but not with Anjaiah. In fact it was reported that when Rajiv Gandhi, as General secretary of Congress visited AP, some differences had led to the removal of Anjaiah. Either Fotedar knows only half the truth or perhaps he wants to blame PV?
Regarding the division of AP, he says, that none of them were interested in the division and blames the party high Command. Sitting in New Delhi, he would have had very little perception of a problem that that simmering down south for sixty years. Congress lost because it delayed the matter for years. And then again there was no real leader with mass appeal after the demise of YSR. In erstwhile AP elections of 2004 and 2009, YSR had taken the individual responsibility and won. Now there is no such leader. Take any state for that matter, Congress is losing because it lacks leaders with charisma. The allotment of tickets, among others, is also to blame. Without clearly spelling out the reasons, Fotedar blames Mr. Narsimha Rao for losing big states such as UP and Bihar.  In my humble opinion this does not seem to be right.
       While commenting on this book Sanjay Baru says,  Fotedar  made Narasimha Rao a villain and Priyanka Vadra a heroine. The decline of Congress is placed solely on Narsimha Rao’s shoulders. From the defeat of Congress in  AP in 1982 to its decision to align with AIDMK (as against the  DMK), all the political failures of Congress are laid at Narasimha Rao’s door. In truth Fotedar siding with Arjun Singh and D Tiwari, had actively sought to unseat PV. Writing about Priyanka he says Mrs Indira Gandhi wanted her (Priyanka) to be her successor and lead the party. To this Rajiv too was in agreement. Fotedar sees no hope for Congress under Rahul. Sonia is a non Indian and Rahul is no Rajiv while Priyanka could be Indira redux.
   Coming from a man who wielded immense influence behind the scenes, this is a shocking view of Indian politics. The book falls very short as it is a mix of half-truths with scant regard for objectivity. Finally, it is no match to Jairam Ramesh 's or Mr SanjayBaru's memoirs.

Is Nehru being scoffed at..

We all saw the Nehru Jayanthi, was over the other day with out any fanfare ,but whereas if it was GANDHI Jayanthi or his Vardhanthi, there would have been lot of VVIP visits to Rajghat, paying floral tributes, while the bars and liquor shops will be shut,etc.Infact I could remember this,when our Union Home Minister casually made a statement on it,but for this it would have gone unnoticed .Iam rather pained to note and find that now a days Mr Nehru's patriotism is scanner ,and he is being branded as anti hindu,accused of creating Kashmir problem etc , but whereas exclusive credit is being given to Sardar Patel,for liberation of Junagadh.and Hyderabad,and also for the unification of India by forcing all the former rulers to sign the instrument of accession.
But what I fail to understand ,is, that if Patel could succeed in avoiding or defying Nehru,in all other princely states, why he couldn't do so in Kashmir is the mute question that comes to my mind?.The iron man , I don't think would have surrendered to the wishes of Nehru, without any reason whatsoever .
Here I must tell you one thing,that during my PG studies, in Nagpur university, we had one professor by name VS Murthy,who was an authority on Nehru,and his writings.I was told by him, which I still remember even after 44 years that, Mr Nehru was very analytical about caste system,importance of temples,etc which he described in his " Glimpses of world History,& " Discovery of India" If iam right, by deed , Mr Nehru might not have been religious as conceived by hard core, but he was never a blasphemer or an agnostic.Infact I was told that Nehru used to have always, one small book of Bhagavat Gita in his pocket,and on the day of his death it was removed from his pocket,If one reads history, on 24/7/1963 Nehru laid the foundation for Srisailam Hydro Electric project,After the ceremony he visited the Temple, and enjoyed the beauty of nature .
Here again one or two very important incidents , which , I had been told, I would like to put forth before you for better appreciation of things.In parliament GV Mavlankar was the speaker, Nehru ,the PM, while the opposition was represented by, great stalwarts and orators like prof, HeerenMukharjee, AshokMehta,SADange,Shyamaprasad MUKHARJEE Rammanohar
Lohia etc.When LokSabha was in session one independent Member and Asrtro- physicist,who was best known for the development of Saha foundation Mr Meghnath Desai ,raised to provide Rs 4crores, for it for which Nehru retorted saying that the country that gained freedom through non - violence will not tolerate such" foolish ideas" and when the next item in the agenda Nehru read letter from UNO, requesting the deputation of Mr Saha to lead the delegation for the preparation of world Pachangam,, When speaker asked for the Member, it was noticed that the Member walked out,But Nehru was magnanimous , and requested the Speaker to grant half an hour time to fetch Mr Saha,to get his presence and his consent for it.Within minutes Nehru and Saha entered the hall and Saha said that it is unbecoming if a " fool" represents this great country in UNO,,for which cooled down Nehru said that he didn't call him a fool, but the ideas were foolish,and he further said that incase ,out emotion if a fool like him had uttered such words,is it fair on the part of a great personality like Saha to take it so seriously .? Immediately speaker Mavalankar,said " this is a request of the chair" A climbed down Saha said" obediently follow your order"
Will we be able to see such episodes in the history of present day parliament?Mr Nehru had utmost respect for parliament .iam told he never used to miss a single in parliament ,used to sit through out the proceedings,listened to every one,and react promptly.Can we expect the same now?
On one more occasion , in OOTy, when he was late by one and half hour, the officer concerned had locked office after the time was over, and went away.Can we expect that situation now, PM coming and the officer would lock and go? They were all true democrats , and egos, .Nehru was known for his quick temper, and when the office was found locked ,in fit of anger , he broke the glass panes , In front of Chowkidar,while the collector summoned the officer.The repentant Nehru asked the officer" what will be the cost of the glasses for replacement " and the unrepentant officer replied that he was not a carpenter,but Mr Nehru gave a cheque for Rs 5000/ and urged the officer to excuse him - a self inflicted punishment .Sensing the mood of the officer, he didn't ask to open the office, and went to address the public meeting and there he publicly apologised while narrating the whole episode and announced that he is not fit to be the PM and wanted to resign ,but the spontaneous reaction was ,big No,No, by public,He never defended his mistake,while sought the mandate of people,that was the political wisdom.
These above are few incidents which make me feel sad when such a great personality is being looked down upon, by the present day dispensation.

Need For More Accountable and Transparent Judiciary

National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body with the authority to appoint and transfer higher judiciary in India. But Supreme Court on October 16th struck down NJAC as an unconsititutional. And SC also upheld the Collegium system of appoinment of Judges (the system where judges are appointed on the basis of its own judgement cases called three judges cases). Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a Sr. Advocate,of Supreme Court and national spokesperson of Congress while expressing his personal views on the recent judgement of Supreme Court, on NJAC,in his article , in TOI date 19/10/2015 mentioned thus:"if an over thousand pages,collection of five judgements,,diligently researched , painstakingly written,bonafide believed in,assiduously dealing with every point urged written after comprehensive and detailed arguments forsaking court vacations, by five of our  truly  outstanding apex court judges,can still be legally and constitutionally,erroneous -- indeed,  grievously wrong n its majority verdict--the NJAC verdict, is the best example"

  In this connection at the out set, let me honestly admit that I'm,neither an advocate by profession, nor any legal expert, nor an affected person directly, but as student of political science and Public administration I'm trying express my views on it. Infact during 70s, during my PG we have been taught,"separation of powers between Legislature, Executive ,and Judiciary,in addition to Supreme Court,and High courts and in the annual exams, we used to get questions on these subjects, as such we were required to have an indepth knowledge to critically examine each issue. And this judgement and many articles being published in News papers, TV discussions, coupled with little indirect interest in the matter, prompted me to concentrate a bit on the issue.
     Many of us know that the Supreme Court has struck down, the NJAC Act amendment bill passed by parliament and required number of state Legislatures which has resulted in clash of interest in Legislature and Judiciary. But every one, including the SC knows that the existing system of Collegium is not only faulty, but also bogged down by inefficiency, favouritism and nepotism  and other vested interests. Infact I have little  personal knowledge of High court of Hyderabad, even during United AP, the functioning of Collegium, we all are aware, how the entire panel recommended by the collegium had been scrapped by the SC, during the CM Kiran Kumar Reddy period, the Govt and HC, had to hang their heads in shame as several allegations had been levelled against many candidates .I'm also aware that a retired Supreme Court judge, brought pressure on one of the Collegium members, to have his nephew 's name included, ofcourse as I said the total panel was scrapped .
       Till 1993 the judges were appointed by the Executive in consultation with Judiciary. In good times the consultation with Judiciary went beyond seeking opinion to attempt a consensus. However the judicial voice was neither dominant nor decisive. In bad times however, Govts, made,calls for " Committed Judiciary" and lot of times indulged in rank favouritism. This reminds me of Ramjeth Malani's famous remark "there are only two types of judges,those who know the law and those who know the Law Minister". It is in this backdrop in 1993 during Narasimha Rao's minority Govt, mandal, mandir with economic liberalisation, simultaneously boiling, that quiet a declaration of judicial independence occurred . In 1998 during Vajpayee Govt, on a Presidential reference, the Court defined the Collegium thus" In the opinion of CJ , of SC,of India. Has to be formed in consultation with collegium of judges.". Presently and for a long time, that collegium consists of two senior most judges of SC, the principal objective of the collegium is to ensure that the best available talent is brought to SC bench. The Judgement went on to increase the strength to 4 in the collegium while a separate collegium of 3 senior most judges were provided for High Courts
    India is the only country in the world, where judges appoint judges.The whole country has been a witness to the collegium selecting some thoroughly discredited persons for the post of Supreme Court / High court judges. No other democracy will accept this farce, a set of judges producing a list of appointees selected through a non- participative, unscientific, utterly opaque and secretive process, and directing the President of India, to sign on the dotted lines. Contrary to what the supporters of this collegium system,claim, it is a non- system. The legendary VR Krishna Iyer, spoke in no uncertain terms, against this travesty. Justice is too serious matter to be left to only legal fraternity alone. Is it not a time to think of making the judicial process less legalistic and more justice oriented?
          Let us be very clear that one of the principles of Natural Justice is that, no one shall be judge in his own cause. Is this principle not violated when this recent judgement was given on the constitutional validity of the NJAC as they were deciding on an issue in which they were an affected party? Similar is the case when parliamentarians decide on issues relating to their own salaries and allowances. Some checks and balances are required in a democratic system and no one should have unbridled powers to decide on issues relating to themselves .
         With SC striking down the NJAC a fierce showdown between SC and Govt is imminent but the question to be asked is why there is an objection to Judges being appointed by the judiciary when politicians raise their own salaries .But when we analyse, some times, the issue in totality, it could hardly be a coincidence. In past six months, the major initiatives, MODI Sarkar seem to led into a gridlock by Team Modi. The virtual derailment of Land Acquisition Bill, Goods and Sevices Tax bill, the Aadhar based cash benefits program and NJAC Act, reflects a perplexing approach -- in instance the out come was predictive and even predictable.
           Lastly I would not hesitate to say that the present collegium system in High Courts as I know it is totally defective, while making selections from the Bar or the Dist, courts as the merit and seniority is given last priority over many other extraneous considerations.It was however heartening that the apex court  admitted gracefully that even the collegium system is faulty and invited suggestions for bettering the system .The Supreme Court being the custodian of the Fundamental Rights of the citizens, needs to be given complete independence .However as suggested there is a need to refine the collegium system making it more transparent and accountable

LAKSHA PUSHPARCHANA IN MY HOUSE ON 18th October 2015

On 15/10/2015 my brother who is an advocate by profession, Mr Srinivas Rao Harkara,and his wife Vijaya performed CHANDI HOMAMU,MAHA LINGARCHANA,etc and top Pundits from Vijayawada, came over here to do the archanas and homams. It was really a great event happened in our family, and we all felt blessed. Many great scholars like Sri Subramanya Shastry GHANAPATI, and other few great upasakas also visited to bless us,which I felt it was a memorable event. Sri

Subramanya Shastry ,while giving the blessings narrated the importance of this homam being done during the NAVRATRI s, and iam delighted to know that he was honoured by the GOVT as one of the best VEDA PUNDITS and surprised to know from Mr ArvindaRao IPS , a Retd, Director General of Police,that this gentleman is only one among the few (hardly 2/3)are only available in both AP&TS put together ,who can give BHASHYAM on Vedas, in a traditional way.He was telling me that there may be some people in Tirupati, VedaPathashala, but they can only teach with reference to syllabus, in the texts, but where as, Mr Sashtry, does it in a traditional way. Here again, Mr ArvindaRao is great scholar in Sanskrit and who can give beautiful commentary on Upanishads. Luckily, he gave me a book which he has written on BhagavatGita.

In line with this, my wife Rama wanted to perform PUSHPARCHANA. On 18th October , two days later we also, performed LAKSHA PUSHPARCHANA ,with jasmine flowers,in our house,10 pundits Brahmins,had come and 10 times VishnuSahasranamarchana, along with LalithaSahasra namam, with Kunkumarchana was done, and we called only very few people mainly our family members and very close relatives,because of the space constraints .iam attaching few photographs of the Archana for better appreciation of my FB friends.

DEVELOPMENT Vs. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN INDIA

The recent lynching of 50 year old Muslim , in Dadri, of Greater Noida, in UP, by a Hindu mob, allegedly for killing  a " calf" and eating it's meat,was a deeply disturbing incident. Apparently a mob of about,200 people reached the house of Mr Akhlaque on the night of September 28th,and beat him to death, while seriously injuring his son,battling for life, whose fate is not known as of now.I felt very much disappointed to note and find that the Union Home Minister ,Mr Rajnath Singh,was content to call it " unfortunate" and urged people not to give a communal colour , instead of ordering to bring the culprits to book.The same logic had been echoed by Union Tourism Minister, who is also MP from the area .One thing I fail to understand ,that in the event  if cow is slaughtered, should the slaughterer be killed as a punishment? Can the life of an animal be placed above human life?

        Infact I have the highest regard for the present Govts, as whole of India , seeing Mr Modi, voted him to power with absolute majority, expecting that he would make and unmake things, and listening to his speeches ,we could come to the conclusion that he wouldn't tolerate any such indecent things nor corruption issues,and expected that he would condemn. But I am sorry to say that, no such thing happened,after such heinous crime; nor the corruption issues that came to the fore in MP ( VYAPAM ) , which is not only disappointing but disgusting also.

        Ofcourse , after so many days of silence, our PM  chose to comment on the incident at an election rally,in Bihar,and I personally feel, he must have been hoping to take advantage of both time- lapse,and the distance,as he didn't say any thing substantial . Infact,the sad part is, on the same day , an independent MLA from J&k, was thrashed by the BJP MLAs in the precincts of Assembly itself,for having served " beef" in the party being organised by him and don't think, that the party MLAs have been reprimanded , no..not at all.PM never bothered to say a word on this, but instead,he preferred to meekly relay , our President of India Mr Pranab da,'s statement .I do not know why our PM is tolerating the unparliamentary language being used by the leaders of his party, consisting of statements that are  bound to affect if not restrained, his ambitious program of Development .

              Yesterday in India Today TV, at 10 pm, during the discussion, it was mentioned that 25 litterateurs had submitted resignations,.The spate of resignations, from the positions in Sahitya Akademi,and return of awards by eminent people would no doubt ,send wrong signals to the society. Following Nayana Tara Sehgal, Ashok Vajpayee , a leading feminist writer, from Kerala, SaraJoseph,returned their awards.Their decision is attributed to the fact that they are highly critical of Akademi's silence on the murder of its member Mr Kalburgi etc,and the communal atmosphere in the backdrop of Dadri killing.In this connection ,we should know that a writer speaks out when his / her conscience is numbed beyond pain.Yes, the Akademi is an autonomous body,but one is refrained from speaking out.Its silence is silence of the state .Even the once formidable Media Adviser to our Former Prime Minister Mr Atalbihari Vajpayee , Mr Sudhindra Kulkarni , had ink thrown on his face for taking a stand , a former Pakistan ForeignMinister,Mr Kasuri's book launch event,which was opposed vehemently by BJP's ally Shivsena . As per Prime minister Modi,who leads BJP, a party that has promised itself,as extending its hand to the common man,words have to match the deeds.

          Consuming vegetarian or non- vegetarian food is a matter of ones personal choice. These incidents are happening at a time when we are trying to showcase INDIA as an advanced power and asserting our bid for a permanent membership in UNSC.Are not there other pressing concerns,like poverty, climate change and corruption,that need to be addressed before INDIA can claim its legitimate place as global power? Unless people belong to all religions feel safe, we can not grow into an advancd country.

                   Our Prime Minister therefore,should act,tough,in terms of law enforcement. And issue strictures to his party's leaders to stop making such divisive rhetoric.He must immediately stop to combat these or else,every talk of Develment,every effort to make INDIA Digital,and every exercise to bring in FDIs" will be futile, according to me.The PM may be an RSS man,but if he wants INDIA to develop as he says,he is supposed to create an atmosphere conducive for every culture to flourish .

SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI-- A LEGENDARY SAINT

    Few days ago I received a message from Swami Paripurnananda Saraswati,of Sreepeetham Kakinada, ,inviting me to attend "SPOORTHI SABHA" being organised in honour of SWAMI DAYANANDA SARASWATHI,a legendary Saint, who went to heavenly Abode in the month of September,2015 ,in "Jaladrushyam" .I was supposed to attend the meeting but to my misfortune ,the meeting was held at 6/30pm and since it would go beyond 10/30pm,I didn't venture to go. However important it may be, and despite strong urge , night driving to such far off places is problem because of advancement in age(above 65 years) .Thanks to electronic media, the Bharat TV,had telecasted,the whole proceedings and Swamijis like Chinna Jiyyar,Head AhobilMutt, Head Ramakrishna Mutt, were there on the Dias .All Swamijis spoke about Dayananda ji and his contribution to the nation at large.The meeting went up to 10pm and swami Paripurnananda ji ,being main architect of the program,was the speaker,who dwelt at length on personal experiences he had with Swami Dayananda Saraswati,during his 26 years of " SISHYARIKA ".As a boy when he went to Swami Dayananda ji, he neither knew English ,nor Hindi ,nor Sanskrit ,but still utmost affection was shown, and was groomed there , where he learnt not only languages, like English, Sanskrit ,but also taught Vedas, Upanishads ,and became an expert in oratorial skills, with the blessings of Swamiji, Dayananda.One has to listen to the experiences,of Swami Paripurnananda ,it was really an excellent narration ,which Infact ,one can not afford to miss, if one is lover of such discourses.Since the same must have been made available in YouTube ,those who missed it can as well make use of it.

The demise of Swami Dayananda Saraswati ,has deprived the nation of a great exponent of "BhagavatGita, Upanishads, and Brahmasutra". An unparalleled champion of Hinduism ,having left for heavenly abode,is an irreparable loss to our nation as such.I have heard that he never missed an opportunity to condemn, mass conversions and also he described proselytisation as subtle form of violence against the innocent.

                Swami Dayananda Saraswati was a pillar of Hinduism and was international ly acclaimed as spiritual GURU.He established many institutions to promote Hindu culture,all over the world and as such I feel,the Hinduism will be poor without him.

Swamiji,Dayananda ,-- a master exponent of inclusive Hindu philosophy who declared ,there was not " one God" but " only God" . A teacher of Vedas  who created hundreds of teachers to continue the ancient Indian tradition ,a great organiser, who founded the " Hindu Dharmacharya Sabha" as representative body of unrecognised Hindu religious traditions.He was patriot Saint who like Mahrshi,Aurbindo,and Swami Vivekanda did,and was the latest incarnation in the tradition of nationalist saints of India.

             One of his big moves was,to bring together elders of all indegenous faiths-- whether from South America , North America ,Africa , or Europe - at DELHI ,wherein he declared that all faiths are sacred,and valid,and no faith can be allowed to claim,to be superior, to other faiths.He articulated religious diversity which is the strongest point of Hinduism with most acceptable rationale,and logical manner ,while challenging the claim that some faiths are only true and others are false,which he argued, is the cause of  this widespread hate and violence of the day.In his demise ,the Hindu Philosophy lost its greatest exponent of recent times, is what I could understand from the yesterday's conclave 

A 'revolutionary' change needed in rural India!

We have been hearing a lot about, Digital India,Smart Citites and Swatch Bharat etc, statistics indicate that 60 percent of all the houses in rural India are without toilets. Despite rising incomes and living standards, from India's two decade old economic boom, still has an estimated 626 million people who live in houses without toilets, which means that nearly half of India's population practice " Open Defecation".

     In 1990 , in Latur an earth quake affected area Govt built all the new houses having separate 'Lavatories' unlike the attached ones in urban agglomeration. But it is ironic that all Lavatories' have been converted as store rooms, while people as usual resorted to open defecation. This clearly shows The Govt at that time had pumped Rs 450 crores for the construction of toilets and out of which only about 40 percent toilets have been used for other purposes. 

In India urination and spitting in open places is also very common, besides open defecation and if it is to be changed, it requires the change in the mindset and it also requires some sort of awareness in rural areas. Keeping all this at the back of his mind, perhaps, Mr Modi , introduced " SwatchaBhatat Abhiyan" as this is not only limited to toilets, it covers entire gamut related to cleanliness.
     Cases of " Dengue" are on rise in Delhi, due to mosquito menace and all the Govt hospitals are flooded with Dengue cases. All the Govt hospitals are very dirty with shabby maintainence. These waterborne diseases are caused due to lack of safe drinking water and proper sanitation. This clearly shows how successful is  Swatcha Bharat Abhiyan in our capital city like New Delhi. Another report states that only 58.82 percent of schools have separate toilets for girls and some schools have only one toilet, which is more often very dirty and unclean. A tragic incident in " Dunka" in Jharkhand, where a teenaged girl ended her life by hanging herself because, her parents refused to build an indoor toilet only amplifies the gravity of the situation. 

   The entire Govt, machinery has to take part, right from Grampanchayat level to Central Govt ,in providing facilities and educating them to make to make use of those facilities. In this type of revolution, the parties are public/people and the Govts, have to religiously follow to achieve the targets. Our civic authorities are very callous and lethargic, which is the main reason for this mosquito menace.The resources crunch, also may be one of the reasons, for failure of authorities, but the negligence on the part of the staff concerned, is unpardonable.
    Swatcha Bharat Abhiyan" started in the year 2014 but it looks that it has some inherent problems.Critics suggest that, the installation of toilets is done without consulting the users ,and that is the recipe for the unused toilets and that is because the human software - psychology is main important, than the hardware, when it comes to, persuading people to change a habit.
     The importance of having toilets was highlighted in Prime Minister's first Independence Day speech. He said that the Govt would ensure to provide toilets to all within 4 years," we are in the 21 century and yet there is no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate and they have to wait for the darkness, to relieve themselves. Modi in his speech said development and progress as such is nothing if you can not ensure the dignity and respect of the millions of people especially women in India.
      In this connection it is relevant to mention here, that providing toilets to one and but making the rural masses to use them is another big affair. We are seeing Railways provide toilets but we all know how shabbily, they are being used by our own people. The same is the case with toilets near bus stations and other public places. Infact for all this people are also responsible for its proper use, which shows our culture and it is required to fight for it seriously. 

Long term remedies to stop farmer suicides

Reading about the farmers suicides and deaths has become norm of the day. These farmer deaths are prevelant in Telangana, AP, Karnataka and Maharastra too. At the commencement of Telangana assembly the KCR very cleverly to pre-empt opposition onslaught has announced Rs. 6 lakh (which is slightly more than AP CM's compensation)  exgratia to the affected families.
   A Telugu daily carried a heart wrenching story of lady while committing suicide,by consuming some pesticide left a small two line note. A note was addressed to her mother asking her mother not to misunderstand her and requested her to pay the debts by selling the produce which is available in their house and to give their two kids on adoption to some needy or else handover them in a destitute' s house. and her husband being small agricultural labourer having a debt of 51/2 lacs of rupees, she was unable to bear the burden she committed suicide. What is noteworthy is her commitment to pay the debt. Even if 1 out of 100 our leaders, bureaucrats and Govts have that honesty or sincerity, so many farmers would not have committed suicides.

      The Govt are shamelessly disputing about the figures deaths and pass the buck by saying that the previous governments are resposnsible for their plight. The villages are now turning into burial grounds with so many deaths happening everyday. No doubt it is the responsibility of the Govts to come to the rescue of the destitute families by distributing compensation but this itself is not a permanent solution. Unless the root cause is addressed, the spate of suicides will never stop. Both the State and Central Govts are paying compensation without addressing the he core problem.
MS Swaminathan, Jayati Ghosh and many other experts gave many recommendations to address the problem and successive Govts have never paid any heed to such reports which are lying idle in the cup- boards of the Govts.
                We all know two thirds of our agriculture is rainfed, the irrational monsoon, due to climatic changes is one of the important reasons for this heavy toll .The average size of land holding is shrinking while the political corruption failed the cooperative movement,estimates of World Bank and Planning Commission reveal that the yields of several crops in  India are much lower by any global standards . For instance, the average yield of rice per hectare in India is around 2.2 Tonnes while in Austrlia it is 6.2 tonnes, in USA it is 6 tonnes, while in China 4.6 tonnes.
            Greedy traders in collusion with corrupt Babus squeeze the farmers in markets and the administration fails to act firmly. As per Jayati Ghosh committee, on formers suicides, appointed by the then United AP Govt, whose recommendations still hold relevant. The committee has recommended setting up of  Price Stabilization Fund to protect the farmers from the volatlity of the markets. It proposed expansionof crop insurance to ensure income security to farmers when crops fail. It also recommended effective disaster management to be implemented and also Govt's policies to address the agrarian crisis.

            While paying good compensation to the families of farmers committing suicides is a short term remedy. I feel implementing suggestions given by experts may provide benefit farmers. To prevent these deaths State and Central governments should continuously extend all the required help to them and should continously appeal them not to resort to extreme step.

PM Modi US Visit

The Indian Prime Minster's present visit to US has raised many hopes in the minds of public in general, and in the process we come across many articles in the Indian media on the subject. It is assumed that the visit is seen as an attempt to attract foreign direct investments but to me it is only one sided. In fact it all started with his positive initiative, of inviting US President, Barack Obama, as the Chief Guest for this year's Republic Day and the  President's acceptance at a short notice, signalled that India and US were seeking to take relationship to a different level that had never been attempted earlier and therefore this trip of Mr Modi is being regarded as continuity.
   On home front Modi had indeed failed the test as on date, on pushing through GST and the revised Land Acquisition law, to suit domestic and foreign business interest and will need to put the matters straight whenever he interacts with the business community in US.
    Modiji organised G4 summit in New York and as expected discussed the reforms in UNSC and put forth India's views very unambiguously .
   But as contemplated India can never hope to grow only through FDIs,however the efforts made in attracting investment is equally  important because of the employment opportunities that come with it for our large labour force. Naturally the burden of labour on agriculture could be reduced if the investments create jobs in the manufacturing sector.
         Therefore while the Govt is right to pursue FDIs and information Technology but it also gives the impression that it is not giving equal importance to the other areas. He would find farmers suicides in general in both AP & TS . Bihar to which state he has promised an out of turn special assistance of Rs 1.25 lakh crores, where majority of the rural house holds do not have access to proper sanitation. In Delhi he would find a doctor of All India Institute,( AIIMS) announce on TV that Dengue is " endemic" to its population, a grave diagnosis indeed. In Rajasthan,a state run by his own party, he would find that a senior civil servant ran an extortion racket yielding four crores,rupees, thus taking the meaning of "ease of doing business " to an altogether a new level. So alighting from the flight, he is likely to be struck by the thought that while " digital India" is a worthwhile project per se, it could only be the partial answer to what needs to done, in this vast and yet the underdeveloped country .
             Whatever it is worth, Modi would top the list of most travelled Prime Ministers and has more or less, become a Non-resident PM. Hence people have some apprehensions which may be valid to some extent. Both his international trips and on domestic front the announcement of schemes are either Utopian or election centric with little relevance, to the realities on ground. Merely copying the west,or providing largesse to the states to garner votes are not going to help our country to achieve the growth the PM desires, is my view .
            It is also a fact that the challenges to India's growth and development are internal, but the focus should be on finding indigenous solutions. Weak governance, corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy, judiciary and police is the biggest impediment that is holding India back.

DISCONTINUANCE OF POSTAL STAMPS OF FORMER PMS

Few days ago I saw an editorial on the issue of withdrawal of stamps of both Rajiv& INDIRA ,followed by few news items, in different news papers and I also saw a scrolling in one of the Telugu channels on the same subject,which prompted me to share few of my thoughts on  this issue,

    We all are aware that in past few years,the Indian postal service is really failing to compete with the private courier services,in India,any amount push being exerted by Govt ,to activate it is yet to yield tangible results and  at the same time , it seems the Govt of India has decided to discontinue the stamps of both Rajiv,& INDIRA , the former PMs.,which would upset minds of some in general and congress in particular .


    Having agreed that congress is on the decline, but what I fail to understand is, why despite the upswing in political fortunes the NDA consistently stoops so low to try and erase the impression that the "FAMILY" has made on the public mind? Infact, I also read in some news papers that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry also is contemplating to rename several Airports in the country, including IndiraGandhi International Airport in this capital.In a way,renaming streets or landmarks,has now been,the BJP's back lash against the congress which named almost everything after Nehru and Gandhis.

     History could be conveniently rewritten but fact remains eternal. Assuming that Congress did some disservice by refusing to recognise any one beyond the "family" , the concerted effort by NDA2 to push its own pets, betrays a massive inferiority complex.It must be true that the congress neglected some of the national heroes during its rule.Does BJP stand to gain anything by following the wrong practices followed by its rival?The BJP can not appropriate SardarPatel,who was a congressman to the core,and was also an important Member of the first cabinet of Independent India .Whether Congress has belittled him or not,he is very widely known and respected even today.

    Therefore what I personally feel, the BJP Govt must be large hearted and open minded instead of stooping down to do the very things of which it accuses congress and the discontinuation, in my opinion, is petty minded. Infact, In democratic  country like India,who knows that The BJP will be in power,always and if some other parties come to power they may also resort to the same gimmick, which would be looked down upon.

NETAJI SUBHASH BOSE---FILES DECLASSIFICATION

The mystery about the death of the supreme commander of the Indian National Army(INA) seems to be a never ending one.I had been hearing many stories on this subject since my childhood.Now the decision of Mamata Benerjee, the CM of West Bengal,to declassify 64 files pertaining to Netaji ,has resurrected,the seven decade old controversy.An announcement by Japanese news agency,dt 24th Aug 1945 stated that " Mr Bose, the Head of the provincial Govt,of Azad Hind " left Singapore on Aug16th by Air, for talks with Japanese Govt,. He was seriously injured when his plane crashed at Taihoku Airfield,at2pm on August 18th.He was given treatment in hospital in Japan,where he died at midnight. Col.HabiburRahman,a Bose's associate had also given his personal statement about the said Air crash and Netaji's hospitalisation and demise and all of us must have heard many anecdotes over time.Some have said that he was sighted in Russia,while for others he returned to India,as SADHU,etc.and like this many such rumors are in vogue without any compelling evidence.In fact we have heard even conspiracy theories also.Recently I have read in the press,that Netaji's grand nephew wrote in his book, that even during Mr Nehru's life time"some rumour mongers hinted at foul play by Nehru himself"which acquires political undercurrents.It is a fact that even today we have been hearing that their families have been snooped even after independence and here some saw Nehru's " fear" of  their family and I feel,it may not be wise to pass judgments,unless and until,the remaining files also are declassified by Govt of India.Sometime ago I happened to read that there has been a belief,that Bose was " wronged"by Mahatma Gandhi and his supporters in 1939 and when Ganghiji refused to work with Bose as congress president citing ideological differences,the latter had to resign and fact remains that Nehru did try to broker peace between GANDHI ji and Bose.

        It is a fact that history will record that Mr Bose was a man of an indescribable mystique--- a nationalist who sought absolute freedom from British,who first uttered inspirational words " JaiHind",a liberal who wanted women to empowered and yet supported the naked racism of Hitler's Germany,and expansionism of inspirational Japan,a freedom fighter who waged war against,his own country,in his attempt,to get rid of its occupier,a congress loyalist,who fought with Mahatmaji,for unqualified " Swaraj" and a characteristic leader who built Azad Movement.

         The news that he was leading the life of a mystique in the last days had been prevalent even before his final mysterious disappearance.This Infact gives credence to the theory that Netaji was alive even after 1945 and therefore ,few questions also arose as to why he didn't come out,from underground after independence ? Did such a dare devil become so timid,as to roam incognito,and die unsung and unhonoured?Now it appears that earlier enough was not done to trace him.But if one recalls,the ForwardBloc,founded by Netaji,was also a partner in the Govts more than once.Why did it too fail to impress upon,the Govts to declassify the papers/ files.? Anyhow now Miss MamtaBenerjee has shown the way as Netaji' was a Bengali icon,the same way that SardarPatel--who the NDA dispensation is trying to use to displace Nehru,- was a Gujarati icon.It is now everybody's right to know about the last days of Bose,whose memories we hold in high esteem and therefore, to this extent  what Mamtaji did , is good,whether or not she did it for political motives. The hint by central ministers that the issue involves" our relations with other countries" makes it more serious and all the more essential to let the cat out of the bag, sooner than later,as suppression of facts shall not be among our words of display,and it is not too late for others to grab a portion of credit.The master stroke of Mamtaji has put the BJP under pressure and may therefore try to emulate her before the state goes to polls in 2016

To the brink and back – India’s 1991 Story

Fortnight ago my brother Venugopal, who is into active politics, presently an AICC member and General Secretary and chairman Protocal APCC,when he went to Delhi Jai Ram Ramesh gave him a book  written by him called 'To The Brink and Back- India's 1991 story'  which hit stands on 30/8/15. I was eager to read it as before its release some of its excerpts were released to the press, which piqued my curiosity.
   Jai Ram Ramesh, 60, hails from Chikmaglur of Karnataka, is an MP Rajya Sabha from AP. He is considered an intellectual and knows nitty gritties of Congress and it's first family. He academic qualifications include IITian from Mumbai, MS from Carnegie Mellon University, a graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former union minister.  He is an Economist par excellence, now a politician and senior leader in Congress,having joined World Bank and inducted into Planning Commission by Manmohan Singh, along with other bureaucrats Rakesh Mohan and Anil Virmani. And also these three joined PMO when P.V.Narasimha Rao took over the reigns.
    At the out set, I would recommend everyone to read it once to know the inside account of the story and first 100 days of PV as PM of India. The language, is very lucid and makes the reader inquistive. It had created a buzz for many reasons. In one of the interviews Jai Ram Ramesh, having said that many eyebrows would be raised since he praised PV in this book. He said that three main reasons for releasing this book now is because one, we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the economic reforms of 1991, which is an occasion to look back, secondly full and insider pespection of how the economic reforms process unraveled as there was no inside account. Thirdly after 2014, Lok Sabha defeat Jai Ram had lot of time at his disposal to be intellectually busy. He further clarified that there is nothing oral in this book, everything is based on written evidence. 
      Jai Ram seems to be a principled guy, who does not speak on behalf of Congress unless he is authorised to do so. Therefore he says in the interview, he is not reflecting the party's views. But once to put the records straight so that  P. V could be portrayed in a new light and unearths hidden aspects of his personality. The manner in which he ran the government during these crucial days etc. 
   Jai Ram says PV is a master tactician for a "fox" who was "magnificent" in crisis management. In the first 100 days of 1991, when India was starting at balance of payments crisis- led economic disaster he was compared to india's Den Xiaoping, a Chinese communist leader who initiated reforms in China. It is said in the book that over June, July, August 1991 Rao demonstrated that he wasn't unlike the general perception about him at all indeciesiveness. 
 "To borrow an anology from Isaiah, Berlin, if Manmohan Singh was the hedgehog who knows only one big thing and that is economic reforms, which Rao was the "fox" who knows many things. It is the "fox-hedgehog combine that rescued India in perhaps it's darkest moment. " 

   It is said that PV used to say- doing a u-turn without it seeming to be a u-turn, is an art, and narrated a small incident, " Political packaging was essential in getting industrial reforms through. The cabinet rejected it, yet four days later, the cabinet approved it- what was different was, the political and historical contexts. The policy text into the cabinet note was same, but we added a preamble on how previous policies were leading to this. The last words were " These reforms are continuity with change." The author of this preamble was none other than Jai Ram himself.

   As we all know PV confronted huge challenges and was simply magnificent. Manmohan Singh said repeatedly that he would have achieved nothing without Rao's backing and this aspect has been very clearly described in this book. He deserved a high place in economic history for challenging IMF approval, a painful austerity and focusing instead in a few key challenges that produced fast growth with minimum pain. 20 years after the start of Indian economic miracle, let us remember India's most undeterred prime minister- Narasimha Rao. 
  Here again, I totally appreciate KCR and his government for recommending his name for Bharat Ratna which he richly deserves. Let us him best and hope that Modi and his government would certainly consider it favourably. 

AGITATION FOR RESERVATIONS IN GUJARAT

     The agitation by Patel's community of Gujarat demanding OBCS status and quotas in jobs and educational institutions is yet another instance of how the whole business of affirmative actions has become counter productive. And police action has caused extensive violence claiming many lives. BJP leaders of Patel community were specially targeted by mobs. Patel's control the state, BJP and CM too is from this group. If you recall, when Solanki was CM, 27 percent reservations were introduced for OBCs in the year 1985 and it was same Patel's who unleashed a fierce anti reservation stir and shifted their loyalities from Congress to BJP, leading the party's ascent in the state. It now looks like the wheel has come full circle.
  Infact it is debatable whether Hardik Patel's massive rally was spontaneous or orchestrated. However he has done a yeoman service by rekindling the reservation issue. Though Patel's in urban Gujrat are known to be well off, but one cannot say the same about their rural counter parts. India is struggling as country to shed the backward tag and join the ranks of developed nations. When our citizens under garb of reservations would like to join these ranks to obtain coveted Govt posts, that give them access to power and influence.The preference for casts and sub casts for employment in public sector paved the way for demands for certain communities. The entitlements to jobs based on caste don't create an egalitarian society while it is utopian to expect the quota system to end. It is a moot point whether the protests will bear fruit or spiral out of control.
    As per Prabhu Chawla 's recent article, it is evident that Hardik Patel with the help of rich and powerful Patel community, has shot himself into limelight using the reservation gun. Many politicians continue to use the caste route to further their personal agenda rather than national development.
      As all of us know the reservations were envisaged as a social justice mechanism to mitigate the age old caste based discrimination and oppression. But the agitation being spearheaded by 22 year old Hardik Patel has reduced the idea of affirmative action to a farce. This group dominates the diamond and textile industry and milk cooperatives. Reservations would normally entail excluding Brahmins and other sections of traditional upper castes from getting benefitted by caste based reservations for educational and employment opportunities .The system would be hard pressed to include the Patel's or Patidars into OBCs category so that they may qualify  for state support. Doing so would make mockery of the very purpose of affirmative action in the frame work of Indian Reservation system.
     Now a days reservation has become main agenda for any community irrespective of its economic standing. Infact the policy should only be for those who really deserve it. In recent past, it has become common to find the majority even economically and politically powerful sections demanding reservations
    The need of the hour therefore, is for total annihilation of caste based reservations and it should be solely on economic basis. In general regressive policy reservations should be slowly extinguished as it mars the quality and merit. But can we expect our political leaders to do this?

AP and TS suicides

It is sad to note that even after seven decades of India's independence the poverty is only rising at a jet speed. And it's decline seems to be not in sight in near future. Infact we have to hang our heads in shame if we look at the recent  notification from Indian Institute of Statistics on suicides in India vis a vis AP& TS. Absolutely there is no correlation between what our great so called top leaders who shout from the roof tops about the progress or development vis a vis the ground reality on many important issues concerning general public. It feels sad that 70 years of freedom has not empowered the food providing farmers. 

    As per the statistics we see 15 suicides in an hour everyday all over India. Is this what we dreamed for independent India? I feel very depressed for the pathetic state of affairs of the day and the Governance. It is not out of place to mention that over the period of time, the whole administration and the governance has  gone into the hands of totally corrupt politicians, bureaucracy and sometimes even judiciary. It is also a fact that the suicides are generally committed by poor and downtrodden those who are unable to make their both ends meet.  While politicians, corrupt babus are amassing lots of black money to keep it in Swiss banks.
        Some of the poverty alleviation programs like Food For Work were introduced with lot of fanfare have become the food for our so called leaders? When our leaders are unable to provide food and shelter to the needy it would be too much to expect healthcare and education? Diminishing income levels and spiraling costs are making it difficult for the downtrodden to survive and leading to mass suicide. 

          In AP 4451 such deaths have occurred and in Telangana number stands at 6882 and these two states stand at number 10 in the suicides compared to other states. Where is the  development which our great leaders speak?

            With regards to complete family suicides, AP is in 4th place while MP, UP and Karnataka take first three places. I am at a loss to understand as what is that we have achieved right from Nehru to Modi? With high suicidal rate we can easily imagine our country's developmental plight . Our political leaders have to put their heads to shame. Only god can save our country.