The results of the Jharkhand Assembly polls are a serious setback to BJP. One of the main reasons the party could bag only 25 seats must have been its reluctance to go in for alliances. It all started with TDP which deserted it within 2 years of coming to power in AP because TDP felt it got let down in respect of Special Status for AP, then we have seen Shivsena, which was with BJP for more than 30 years in Maharashtra but left. And also it was the same case with Jharkhand too. BJP contested alone.
BJP’s footprint in the country has shrunk a lot as of now it has only 35% of the population under its fold as against over 76% during its peak in 2017, when it was straddling the entire Hindi heartland. It has lost power in 5 states in a year. This could be because of state leadership relying on Central achievements. This result proved that people’s priorities differ when it comes to Parliament and Assembly. In a way, this setback is also a refreshing sign of the resilience of Indian Democracy that keeps correcting the course of political narrative reinforcing hope for the pluralistic polity.
Congress, on the other hand, is well advised to maintain the momentum and further improve its national presence by making pragmatic regional coalitions.
For BJP coming close on the heels of below-par performance in Haryana and Maharashtra, the result in Jharkhand must have stunned its leadership, as it has failed to keep its own house in order. No doubt this shows that the BJP’s attempts to polarise voters on religious lines have limits and can not always guarantee electoral successes.
If you see the recent history, loosing financially significant Maharashtra, reinforced the contagious perception that BJP is incapable of retaining its states. Despite many wins in the past 6 years, it has also been undone in Rajasthan,& Chattisgarh. It hardly made impressive gains in TS and AP. It seized power in Karnataka using floor crosser’s help. It formed Govt in Haryana with post-poll allies. Victory in Bihar, Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu where elections are coming up seems to be in doubt.
BJP must realise that divisive politics will no longer serve its purpose. In every sector people are facing problems-youth are jobless, the economy is in ICU (See today’s Interview of Arvind Subramanium to NDTV) minorities are being deprived of their rights. As such it would be better if it focuses on these issues rather than CAA, NRC, etc.

    The Jharkhand poll outcome should serve as a wake up call,to BJP’s leadership,to reset its priorities and focus on more pressing public issues,instead of harping on the agenda ,widely perceived as divisive.After,Haryana and Maharashtra,it’s a big jolt to it in the tribal dominated Jharkhand.BJP’s poll campaign,more focused on issues of national interest ,Ayodhya,Art370 abrogations in J&K,CAA,NRC etc But it couldn’t find traction among voters. If you see the pattern of voting, it fared very poorly in tribal dominated areas and even in urban segments also its performance was far below the expectations.It must be noted that only six months,before, for LokSabha elections,the same people gave resounding mandate,but when it comes to state assembly,local issues must have been prevailed
This was first election after Ayodhya verdict by SC,and parliament passed contentious CAA, and PM,HM extensively used these two, in all public meetings,but avoided mentioning major issues,like Unemployment,Economic situation,and anything pertaining to development issues, etc If you remember,even in Haryana,and Maharashtra also they extensively mentioned about scrapping of Art 370 in J&K to drum up strident nationalism,to boost up its votes.After successful run that saw BJP forming governments in majority states,the final leg of Amit shah’s tenure as Chief ,has seen the party slide in one state election after another, .In 2018,BJP lost Rajasthan,MP,and Chhattisgarh,to Congress,and this year it has already lost power in Maharashtra.Although it has hung on to power in Haryana,thanks to postpoll tieup with Dushyant Chowthala, it’s performance didn’t measure up to the expectations.
Given the large number of lynchings incidents ,the divisive plank also must have misfired for BJP particularly when it sought to divide Cristian’s and non-Christians tribals.The urban vote which had tilted towards it last time,has drifted away proving that people are not buying into Jumlabazi .
While BJP needs to be rational,the opposition shouldn’t be exulting either because all its successes are coming from a default systematic setting rather than any active effort.But the major challenge for the new government will be on handing out doles,which never seem practical for implementation.

Unrest, agitations, and protests are spreading to all parts of the country over the CAA act. Karnataka, UP, Kerala, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Northeastern states are some of the places where the agitations are happening at a large scale. It is sad to notice that 2 people died in Mangaluru and 1 in UP one and several injured in police firing. In several places, internet services and SMS services have been clamped down to dampen the protesters' efforts.
Instead of addressing the concerns and helping soothe their insecurities the Centre has taken an apathetic stance of setting the deadline for the construction of sky-high Ram Temple in Ayodhya, within the next 4 months, while being silent on the police brutalities, on the students of JMI.
A very harsh crackdown by police has provoked a reaction from everywhere in the country, including cities and small towns even. And the Govt is hugely mistaken if it thinks that can contain such protests with strong-arm measures like police firings, curfews, and cutting off communication facilities, etc. Citizens have the right to protest, but it must be ensured that they are peaceful.
 At a time when twin projects CAA and NRC have put lakhs Of people in trouble, should India be worrying about finishing Ram temple so hastily? What people want is peace, and dousing the fire will be a difficult task now, for the government.
 CAA, NRC people think that its a Hindu-Muslim problem, but it’s not that, for the last 7 decades, besides Hindus, all the other minorities have been living peacefully, without any problem, but with the passage of CAA the divisions are clear now. Where was the urgency to bring in such legislation’s which was not even remotely connected to the development of the country, thereby diverting the attention from real burning issues the country is facing —like Unemployment, Economic crisis, Agrarian crisis, etc to name a few?
The secular fabric of the country is in grave danger of being torn apart and the decisive forces must be trying to drive a wedge among communities.
Fighting against the country’s youth is not good for any democracy because they are citizens of tomorrow and future custodians of the constitution. Unleashing atrocities against them will leave an indelible black mark on the ruling dispensation. At the same time, youth also should be within their limits and are not supposed to destroy public property
Had the government ensured a healthy debate, and come to a consensus with the political parties and the opposition, which is the part of the democratic process, on CAA and accepted the opposition’s suggestion to refer the Bill to a select committee, the confusion, violence, and destruction, could have been avoided. It is now up to the government to ensure peace and dialogue, with stakeholders. 

The Citizenship Amendment Act seems to have brought in more troubles to the country than the cheers.  It was a measure for consolidating or boosting BJP's image.  The North-East has been turned into a war zone, as conflicts between people and the police are going on with the widespread loss of properties and casualties are reported. What started as a peaceful protest by Jamia Mallika Islamia students against the Act on Sunday turned into arson, rioting, and violence, the scale of which Delhi has not witnessed in a long time. Buses were burnt, public property vandalised, and there was a large scale stone-throwing. Media reports say, police entered the campus forcefully and unleashed terror inside. It is alleged that the police entered the library, hostels and even went inside the washrooms to beat students and staff. It was horrifying to read about the violent protests in Delhi, against the CAA. While protesting is a citizen ‘s right, it must be done peacefully. But the reaction of police at the campus must be condemned. Throwing tear gas shells especially after the students said their protests were peaceful, was not right.

 When political parties achieve unexpected electoral victories they often become delusional about their powers. Something of this type seems to have happened to that party after its success in 2019 Parliament Elections. It develops fascistic tendencies in deciding what is right for our nation. The partisan interest of the party has become one with the good of the country, and the party’s manifesto has become the constitution. This is clear from the HM statement “It (CAB) has the endorsement of 130 crore citizens as it was the part of BJP’s manifesto in 2014 as well as in 2019.” The intent of the statement is clear since it has won parliamentary elections in2019, anything that’s in its party manifesto must have the backing of all India’s citizens. No one has the right to disagree. Anyone opposing the party is an anti-national. But all these assumptions have backfired. Consequently, India’s neighborhood policy has been damaged. Besides, this country’s International framework which underlines equality and humanism, which brought laurels is now seen as severely compromised, and many countries including US, UK France, Canada have issued travel advisories for their citizens asking them to” exercise caution” while traveling to NE region. On the one side, NE is playing with fire with people hitting the streets for the protection of the constitution, on the other hand, India’s image among the world community is diminishing and sending signals that country is deviating from its known paths of secularism and democracy.

It will be a real tragedy if foreign governments, as well as foreign investors, think twice before pegging India as a stable and functional democracy. The government needs to ask itself if pushing CAA is worth it.

My views on the “Citizenship Amendment Bill” were concurred by few and opposed by few. And even though I do not agree with some of their opinions but still, I respect their views as well. As everyone is entitled to their own opinions and views on different issues.
Yesterday on HM made a statement on the floor of the house proclaiming that Congress has divided the nation based on religion in 1947 and this bill was kind of a corrective measure to rectify that mistake.
I feel that the statement is twisted and misleads the public. The idea of religious identity is the basis of partition that has less to do with Congress and more to do with the ardent advocates of communal notion of nation building-VD Savarkar of Hindu Mahasabha and Jinnah of Muslim League. The ML had a firm grasp on the political value of such an idea. Jinnah outmaneuvered political opponents on his way towards establishing Pakistan and by 1940 the germ of the idea propounded initially in 1923 by Savarkar had seized Jinnah’s imagination and was fuelled by events on the ground. From the beginning, both MK Gandhi &Nehru rejected the idea. British PM Churchill predisposed to managing situations through divisions saw innate merit in supporting Jinnah rather than giving into Congress’s demands. Soon after Jinnah articulated the idea of Pakistan in Lahore resolution of 1940 the British endorsed the essence of it thereby pushing the idea further into the realm of reality. It is also a fact that Congress failed in persuading either Jinnah to give up his separatist dream or in convincing the British to not to help Jinnah take that path. Various rifts came to surface in the riots of West Bengal after political fall out between Nehru and Jinnah.
Jinnah called for “direct action” to realise the idea of Pakistan. Thousands died as the riots that began in1946. Trouble spread to Naokhali, in WB, and Bihar. This was probably the turning point when congress leaders saw no further point fighting the idea that Jinna had presented, the idea that the British had assiduously foisted and aggressively worked out. The short answer to HM’s postulation is that it was not Congress that caused the division along religious lines.
It is not that they don’t know the history, but it only a blame game that the people of India could easily decipher. The HM glosses over history to present RSS-BJP as a so-called keeper of “Hindu” interests everywhere. But is there a “Hindu” interest that is separate from India’s interests in India which is the common home of people of many faiths.
North-Eastern India was in flames on Tuesday, resembling Kashmir before the military crackdown, last August,-only hours after Union HM had pushed through the hotly contested bill in Lok Sabha. On Wednesday, even the army was called out In Tripura, although the Internet had to be shut down, to prevent the protests from spreading. This part of the country has not seen such comprehensive people’s protests since the Assam agitation of the 80s.
Hours after Lok Sabha passed CAB, in the US the House Foreign Affairs Committee -an influential bipartisan subset, of the US Congress —has regretted that India is proposing to use “religious” test in awarding citizenship. If the measure becomes law its likely to recommend to the US government to sanction HM and other high officials. And that scenario may not be advantageous to India and in turn can be a huge letdown.

India is known all over the world for its centuries-old ethos, of assimilation; a culture of compassion, humanitarian values, and providing shelter to refugees from far off lands without any discrimination. It is this CORE VALUE that is under threat now with the present ruling dispensation adopting an exclusionist approach towards refugees fleeing from their homelands due to persecution. Opposition to the Bill,(now passed by both Houses of Parliament), stems from the fact that it proposes to grant Indian Citizenship to fleeing Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Cristian’s, and Parsis, who are residents of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, while it excludes persecuted Muslim sects, Shiyas and Ahamadiyas. In other words, non-Muslim immigrants wouldn’t face deportation and Muslims would. It also proposes to reduce the mandated 11 years residence in India for citizenship eligibility to 6 years. Ostensibly BJP wants to neutralise the Muslim infiltration in border states encouraged by vote bank politics, with a Hindu influx and effect a demographic change. But this idea is preposterous, simply because there are not enough Hindus left in those countries who would want to return to their roots. The population of Hindus in Bangladesh, at the time partition, was 30%, now it’s less than 5%, while in Pakistan during partition time 23%, now it’s about 1%, in Afghanistan, only 220 families are left. As of 2017 only a few thousands of Hindus and Sikhs were left in Afghanistan, and the less said, the better, about other minorities. Therefore, the illegal Muslim infiltration from Bangladesh, is only the main concern, because of porous borders and needs to be monitored. Bill must have been envisioned with Bangladesh as it’s the focus. Now that Assam, Arunachal, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, have been kept out of the bill’s purview, it’s clear that the party’s target is undoing Muslim immigration into Bengal. It has now stepped back from the northeast because it has invested too much in the region in developing new vote bank and strengthening its footprint. Of course massive protests, bandhs have already taken place and it already started burning.
By implementing a law that treats one religion as a disqualifier for citizenship, India runs the risk of sending a wrong signal not only to the world at large but also to the Muslim community within the country. It is only because of political expediency that tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, and other northeastern states, have been exempted from the legislation and there are genuine fears that the legislation might repeat the bitterness of the partition era as it violates the basic idea of India.
Further in keeping with RSS-BJP political theology if there is no CAB there can be no compilation of NRC, CAB is therefore meant to give legal cover to illegal Hindus in Assam. The recent disastrous exercise of compiling NRC for Assam showed there were more Hindu illegals than Muslims. The state BJP rejected the exercise, thus added emphasis by the center on fresh NRC but only after CAB is in place.
Whatever it’s worth, it violates the right to equality, and other rights, including secularism which is the basic structure of our constitution, and parties that have supported the bill should seriously consider what it means for the very soul of this country.

It looks like the Central government still nurses a belief that the economic slowdown is simply a cyclical phenomenon that is deliberately being hyped to suit vested interests.  And some people believe that a small stimulus package will be enough for economic redemption. 
I wonder how forced mergers of public sector Banks, done to tackle Non-performing Assets; the loud reintroduction of an existing export incentive scheme; funding of window for housing sector can help reverse the current meltdown.
Manmohan Singh’s attribution of the slump in the economy to the Modi Government’s “all-round mismanagement” has logic. When core sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, real-estate construction, auto, and services have taken such a strong hit, while consumption and investment are almost at an all-time low, the economic revival needs more than tokenism. Band-aids simply won’t do. The quick fix measures unveiled by the government do not suffice to undo the damage caused by demonetisation and hastily implemented GST.
Coming to Disinvestment of PSEs, the Power sector was of major interest to me personally and tried to find out more initiatives being taken by the government.
The government has decided to privatise three large PSEs, which included Bharath Petroleum, Shipping Corporation, and Concor, where the Centre holds majority shares, and the management is in the hands of the government officials. The proposal is to sell the majority shares in these corporations, to a “strategic buyer” whereafter the government’s interference will end. And this is a welcome measure as we all know the personal gains of the government officials may not be in sync with the growth of these PSE's.
Along with these PSEs government also proposes to disinvest its majority holdings in NEEPCO and THDCIL, but the proposal is to sell the majority holdings to NTPC, which is owned by the government. Therefore, the shares of NEEPCO and THDCIL will henceforth be with the government indirectly, through NTPC. Only the “CAP” gets changed and in the process, the government will obtain Rs16000 crores from NTPC as payment for these PSEs.
It may appear as if the government has no vested interested in these after disinvestment but that will not be the case. The money flow is controlled by NTPC, but the government can still exert its force or say on these companies as the company (NTPC) which is controlling these divested companies is owned by the government. The main problem of these PSUs will remain unattended because the control of these PSEs by government officials will remain intact. Previously the Ministry Of Power appointed CMDs directly, but now it may direct NTPC to appoint CMDs of these PSEs.
Further, the money obtained from Disinvestment will be used to fund the government in paying salaries and pensions, etc. The government is behaving like a person who sells his inherited property to go on a foreign pleasure trip.
The efforts of the government to hand over the management of Bharath Petroleum, Shipping Corporation, Concor to strategic buyers are welcome but efforts to sell the loss-making NEPCO and THDCIL under the guise of Disinvestment to NTPC is deceptive.

The brutal rape and murder of Disha is, by all means, a macabre and most heinous crime. There have been tremendous emotional outbursts of anger and anguish among people not only in just Hyderabad but also in the whole country and everyone demanded instant justice. This is due to the deplorable working of our judicial system. Instead of working to address this fundamental aspect of our democracy our MPs were seized by bloodlust and urged people to take the law into their own hands after this gruesome incident in Hyderabad. Jaya Bachan’s statement in Rajyasabha suggesting to go for lynching the perpetrators is a pointer in this regard.
The prayers of those seeking instant justice were swiftly answered.Around 3 am, on Friday Hyderabad police seem to have shot dead, the four accused in cold blood. The police action seems to have been motivated by a desire to play to the gallery. What were they investigating at the spot of the crime at 3 am? Or even for the reconstruction of the scene of offensive why it should be done around, 3 am? The guilt of any accused has to be subject to judicial scrutiny. As a layman, what I know, the culprits behind gruesome rape incident deserve stringent punishment, but it’s the judicial trial that establishes the guilt of the accused not that the police would bump them off in the dark of night. Crime and its punishment have been one such choice that we have had to make through civilisations from” eye for an eye” medievalism to a civil justice system. The first is instantaneous, the second protracted, the first will douse our raging emotions, the second gives the satisfaction that we are not just as bad as the killers.
Here the encounter story is unlikely to withstand scrutiny, however, the demonstrations in Hyderabad showed people were very angry after the gang rape-murder. The people have largely approved the “cold-blooded” encounter, and they even showered flower petals on police and KCR. If the police turn into terrorists and are entrusted with hand-delivering speedy justice no one may be safe. Instead of improving and reforming the courts, we may as well wind up the legal system. This is how the Taliban rendered justice, who have dispensed with the idea of due process.
The major problem with the knee-jerk reaction is that we are absolving the police of its failures to do its job. The CrPC says that the trial in rape cases should be completed in 60days but it doesn’t happen normally, it gets prolonged to few months. A traumatised rape survivor hardly dares to go through such travesty and gives up midway. How many of us have been tracking the Nirbhaya case over the last 7 years, as it had faded from the public memory.? Also, the law has been classist about convicting rapists who are politicians. While the shoot at sight approach is easy to use against truck drivers/cleaners, let us not forget that the rape accused like Kuldeep Senegar and Swamy Chinmayanand are privileged by the politics they practice and had been roaming free before they were put in custody. Many serving MPs are in the dark zone, and very recently there was a report in the press that the majority of MPs, MLAs have got serious criminal charges of rape and murder are from one single national party.
In a constitutional democracy, we investigate, try and punish the accused in a courtroom, also giving them a chance to defend themselves. The ends don’t always justify means and such “encounter killings” are a blot on our justice system.

Ever since BJP gave Sadhvi  Pragya Singh Thakur, the Lok Sabha ticket from Bhopal, Sadhivi has been managing to embarrass BJP. By fielding her, their party hoped to generate the Hindutva ripple effect to give the party a lift across the country but it was an utter miscalculation. She could be a street fighter but is not cut out for politics, is as clear as daylight. Sadhus and sadhvis in the present-day Indian politics, particularly in BJP, have nothing to prove; nor is there anyone in their flock who can claim a contribution to the freedom struggle. Their sole aim appears to be causing fissures in society to remain politically relevant, and divert the nation from pressing problems like Economic slowdown, unemployment, etc.

What Thakur has done is to repeatedly cross the redline by eulogising Mahatma’s assassin Godse. The mascot of Hindutva has done it again, this time on the floor of the house called Godse Deshbhakth. She was forced to tender apology a furor with the stinging counter-attack on Rahul for calling her a terrorist. It’s not enough to condemn her remarks or bar her from meetings of their parliamentary party or drop her from the consultative committee of the Defence Ministry. The only way to deal with the serial offender is to EXPEL HER from the party if it’s really serious and concerned. The ruling party must walk the talk, on its avowed commitment to the Gandhian values by showing her the door.

Our Honourable PM had gone on record that he would never be able to forgive her. I feel it’s a big mistake by the party to give her the ticket from Bhopal, considering her background, as it was reported that she was associated with radical Hindu outfit Abhinav Bharat, and Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of VHP. By allotting party ticket the party is guilty of mainstreaming fringe elements. Many may feel, that she must be having the blessings of her bosses, otherwise, why she is so brazen? How could BJP which claims to be a party with a difference and bats for "purity in politics” justify making her MP when she faces grave charges? I feel the present action against her is only an eyewash. Had the party taken exemplary action in the first instance, she would perhaps have learnt “Laxmanna Rekha” of free speech.

The only way for the saffron party to redeem itself from the mess is to remove her from the party. Such course correction will be a fitting tribute to Mahatma as the country marks his 150th birth anniversary.

On a day that was celebrated as “constitution Day”, the murky power politics in Maharashtra reminded the nation of serious challenges, to the core constitutional values and independence of the sacred institutions. However, the day also brought hope as SC stepped in to order floor test through an open ballot. Had the apex court not fixed the floor test and allowed the same to be conducted on 30th November, as fixed by the Governor, BJP in Maharashtra could have mobilised the support leisurely by all types of unfair means and won the trust vote. But on the 70th anniversary of the constitution, Maharashtra muddle-marked by an unabashed mockery of the constitution provides an occasion for introspection and assessment of the actions of constitutional heads and how they have consistently toed the line of the ruling establishment at the cost of fairness and democracy.
Is the Maharashtra Mahabharata another circus of convenience, an act that has been played out in many states in the past? But there was a deliberate difference. Earlier outfits would split, MLAs would resign, to join the ruling -all in the public eye while following the established procedures of going through motions. In Maharashtra the Governor held midnight meetings to decide its fate, accepted the letter from leader, and not his party, and completed all formal ties before the sun rose, while in Delhi, President, PM, HM, Principal Secretary to PM, Secretary to President, Home Secretary, and scores of senior officials were up in the middle of the night to sign the dotted document required to make Fadnavis the CM and Pawar DyCM. In this case, we saw all provisions and expectations of the constitution flouted and trampled on, by all constitutional authorities. Governor of Maharashtra willingly allowed himself to be lied to and accepted signatures of newly elected NCP MLAs, on sheets of paper attached to Pawar’s support letter. Common sense would have told Governor that while some support to Pawar was possible, all was impossible. Our Honourable PM used a rarely used provision to be used during war or Financial Emergency to facilitate the daybreak coup.
What we have witnessed in these past weeks in Maharashtra is a complete collapse of the notion of politics being about a vision for a better future and what is best for the people. Instead, we saw a sordid drama played out in five-star hotels in Bombay, with money replacing vision and ideas, on the day of the constitution.
It’s not out of place to mention that there have been innumerable cases of misuse of constitutional machinery even earlier also but they must have resorted to that not immediately after a term, over 55 years they must have done, but now just after 5 years in power, they are resorting to this type cheap gimmicks.
The constitution is not just a manual for the government, but also represents the soul of India. Therefore there is a need for sweeping reforms to clean up the mess in our electoral system. The SC must give clear guidelines on government formation in case of fractured verdicts, given the frequency of disputes in this regard. That would restrain Rajbhavans from using undue discretion and political parties from bending rules with the help of pliable institutions.

The curious case of Maharastra's political circus has enticed the entire nation at this point.
AJIT’S PRICE FOR BACKING BJP: Rs 70,000 crores probe dropped, screamed the headline of a newspaper yesterday.
The Maharashtra fiasco has ended, as Fadnavis, had put in his papers ending a coup of sorts. As the surreptitious manner in which Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Pawar, were sworn in as CM and Dy Cm respectively on Saturday early in the morning. We have all seen BJP which has made anti-corruption the credo of its Congress Mukt-Bharath has not only bought over the tainted Ajit Pawar but decided to hide his black-book. Reports indicated that investigation in 9 cases, related to Rs 70000/ crore Maharashtra Irrigation scam was closed on Monday, two days after he was sworn in. What a travesty considering the first thing that Fadnavis did when he became CM in 2014, was to register these cases.  BJP has made brazenness the new normal not bothered about perceptions.
 This is not a first overnight coup planned and executed by BJP. Stealth and speed was the calling card in operation Bihar if some of you remember. The timeline of the past event goes like this:-- On July 26th Nitish Kumar resigned and called off the JDU alliance with RJD-Congress, around 6:30 pm, the reason was the refusal of Tejaswi Yadav to quit despite corruption charges. By 7:30 pm Modi ji, had congratulated Nitish for his stand against corruption. At 9:30 pm BJP hinted at backing JDU and by 10:30 pm Sushil Modi presented a letter of support to JDU, at 1 am Nitish was invited to form the government and was sworn in as CM by 10 am. This is all Therefore a different ball game, as the party is still Bharatiya Janata party as it was during Vajpayee and Advani era, but the design and architecture of its politics have been reconfigured and are drawn from experiential years of Gujarat. Unlike its previous avatar, BJP 2.0 is no shrinking violet.
It has internalised the maxim that politics is the art of possible and conviction is a matter of electoral convenience. It must rail about dynastic politics but that doesn’t preclude alliances with Akalidal, the LJP, PDP or even Shiv Sena for that matter. Neither did it prevent the nomination of dynasts on party tickets. The induction of individuals, be it Sukh Ram, Rane, and crafting of alliances, the one with Chautala is determined by macro objectives.
And adding spice to the happenings on the ground are the TV channels. Depending on their affiliations some predicted the downfall of Fadnavi's government. Some took pleasure in the decimation of Congress, some called it "murder of democracy"  and some others called in a "black day." But none of them had the guts to call spade a spade and pinpoint the wrongdoers.
Unfortunately, principles and ideologies are things of the past. In today's day and age, it's all about opportunism (Power and Money decide the push and pull of the political parties).  

Talking about the ongoing protests against the JNU fee hike, I fee it could be reasonably negotiated but using force on students means undoing what we teach them to do. Student movements have had transformative and revolutionary power in world history, from 13th century Paris to the climate activism of Greta Thunberg. Many Of my friends didn’t support the agitation saying that it’s an unjust agitation as the fee being very low, and the students are all left-oriented, having vices like drugs, drinking, and enjoying at the cost of taxpayers money and some of them even suggested closing down the premier institute. But after carefully trying to understand the situation, of the JNU campus, my views are slightly different. For a long JNU has come to be recognised as one of the most liberal institutions which provide quality education at affordable rates. It has provided succour to the poorest of the poor who couldn’t afford a respectable education for their children due to the hefty fee charged by other eminent institutions. Its fee structure was nothing when compared to its counterparts. It is true that today’s polarised times, we have to pay through the nose, for subsidising comforts and facilities enjoyed by our leaders/politicians. Even the poor have to share this burden in the form of indirect taxes. But in return can’t we expect some subsidy in education for our children?
It was unfortunate that Delhi police used brutal force against number Of students from JNU who participated in the protest march to parliament, the other day, demanding total rollback, as the students are of the view that two in five boarders can not afford this 300 percent hike at a stretch and it would hamper the aspirations of the young. This will further make education a commodity only for the rich and for the higher middle class. While it must be accepted that a reasonable fee hike is needed, it must also be ensured that the once highly reputed institution is not divested of its original purpose.
JNU is renowned internationally for its quality knowledge product and its research. It has produced this years' Nobel  Prize Winner too. But, ironically, even he was jailed for protesting back in the day.
 Our country's cabinet secretary, Foreign secretary, and chiefs of the internal&external intelligence agencies were all former JNU students. The present Finance Minister and Foreign Minister also went to JNU.
Besides nurturing personal and intellectual freedoms by teachers and students, and even heard that universities library overflows with knowledge seekers even after midnight.
Looking back even in 2014 there was an attempt by the government to malign JNU. This time the Government has overlooked the practicality of raising fees and used it as rues to suppress what it wants, takeover and crush a seat of Left-leaning liberalism and that it’s proponents dismiss as despicable clan called “JNU” type. Particularly malign a University that bears the name of India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Now that a committee has been formed by the Centre to look into the impasse over fee hike, a noble way should be found to address the concerns of those students who are financially not able to pay their fees.

Last week saw the unfolding of political drama in the state of Karnataka. 17 Congress and JD MLA's were disqualified by the Supreme Court, which led to the fall of the state government.  But along with the disqualification Supreme Court also squashed the Speakers' orders to disqualify them for rest the term till 2023. 

I feel the spirit of the law got defeated with that Supreme Court decision as it allowed these disqualified MLAs to contest again. These power-hungry MLAs not only betrayed their party but also the people of their respective constituencies. Even though BJP denied its hand in the resignation of these MLAs but it went ahead very blatantly announced that these MLAs will join BJP.  They all MLAs not only joined BJP but also got tickets to contest in the bye-elections from the same constituency. 

 With this, the cat is out of the bag as the “operation lotus” is proved beyond doubt, but I see people still saying that it is the most principled party and its bosses are all “swatch pearls”. BJPs holier-than-thou attitude stands exposed and this will take plenty of time for taint to wear away.

Coming the SC’s judgment, I think,10th schedule needs to be amended as the court pointed out that the speaker’s decision to disqualify a legislator on the ground of defection is not subject to judicial review.  But the same law does not give the power to lay down the period of disqualification or to prevent the disqualified MLA from seeking re-election. The law should stipulate, that upon reentering the House, the disqualified member shouldn’t be made a Minister. All these incidents clearly show that the 10th schedule has few loopholes, which need to be amended so that the governments must not try to exploit it. If it as any principles it should immediately amend it, but I have my reservations on this.

With this judgment, the defections are becoming easier, and attractive to boot, provided the party to which the MLA defects can throw in enough incentives to induce defection, even at the cost of incurring disqualification. The “taint” of defection is thus rendered meaningless. The SC’s verdict is apt to attract the emulation of Karnataka defectors by unscrupulous elements in other states and also in parliament.

If the NDA alliance politics stand at a crossroad today in Maharashtra,it’s just an indicator of the times to come.The ruling BJP won only 105seats while it claims to have the support of some 15Independent MLAs, Its “blow hot blow cold ally” Shivsena is reduced to 56seats only ?In fact the results of Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections prove that people are loosing faith slowly in BJP.They must be realising their folly in giving a massive mandate to saffron party in the last parliamentary elections.The people also  have seen through its strategy of using religious polarisation and hyper nationalism to divert citizens attention from important issues such as dwindling economy ,unprecedented unemployment etc .But if you see the reality,I get a doubt whether these elections are held in the interests of the public or political parties? What we see today,is,the landslide victories result in parties exhibiting dictatorship,while hung lead to weak or no governance,and coalitions prompt political blackmailing.

So in the case Maharashtra BJP and Shivsena fought elections having pre-poll alliance and even won comfortably,if not landslide.But the rule book is secondary to perceptions now.With BJP weakened by lessor number of seats on its own,SS too tired of being relegated to the second spot on home ground,is insisting on rotational Chief ministership.So what should have been a consensus,is now an open war.BJP  which has  delivered stable governance and managed local issues with non-Maratha CM Fadnavis,May have a credible performance to bank on.

SS and BJP are strange bedfellows in fact.SS takes great pleasure in lashing out at BJP every other day is all what we have seen all these years.So what happens if SS doesn’t secure 50:50 demand?It has many options ahead of it.It can ditch BJPand seek to join hands with NCP-Congress for the sake of power,as SS shouldn’t have any problem with these parties as its base -Maratha&Kunbi -were after all part of congress base.The NCP leadership too is chip of old block.So why does not it simply do it?For a party that once dumped its ordinal slogan “”sons of the soil”” realising it’s redundant nature within 5years of its formation,in favour of “Hindutva nationalism “plank.It shouldn’t be worrisome factor to say goodbye to BJP.But SS must make it clear to the people whether it’s now working only to make Jr Thackeray CM ? If that’s the only goal ,well it should join with NCP-Congress or it could even force a President ‘s rule ,if it feels BJP should be taught a lesson for not yielding to its demands.Can it afford to do so? But now both are blackmailing each other,at the cost of governance.BJP must be looking at chinks in Sena’s armour,and is testing its patience.Similarly the other way Sena presumes it can bend BJP through its street politics and by spreading unrest in case BJP opts for a breakup.Nether PM nor HM  is in a hurry to have their government in place under uncertainty.IGNORING GOVERNANCE AND PEOPLE ‘S PROBLEMS IS NEW NORM NOW A DAYS

After the declaration of the results of the Assembly polls of Maharashtra and Haryana, it's a clear message to the ruling party, that giving prominence to national issues and marginalising local issues will have a negative impact, on voters. This must be taken in the right perspective and the party has to adopt a suitable strategy. The Assembly election results show that Congress can not be erased that easily. It has done well in Haryana, in spite of many disadvantages: no full-time president, many Congressmen left the party in both states just before elections, while top leaders didn’t evince interest in canvassing, but even then both states gave it a new lease of life. the other opposition parties will also welcome this situation, as the results have broken the myth of BJP’s invincibility. The resurgence of Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Maharashtra, in the face of large scale defections after the Lok Sabha election debacle, is a clear indication that Pawar is very much relevant there even to this day. His vilification by BJP as Pakistan‘s supporter didn’t cut ice with the people.

These results also put to rest all talk of ‘one nation one party, ‘and concerns over the possible emergence of ‘unipolar polity’. The inflated claim that the Modi-Shah juggernaut is formidable, has turned out to be untrue. BJP went to elections with all signs of assertiveness, especially the opposition was in tatters-it’s the party, having galaxy of star leaders, superior resources, and our great defense will publicise surgical strikes, invariably one day before the voting, every time, perceived diplomatic success, all came in handy, but even then results show that the party can no longer camouflage the harsh reality of bad economics behind the narrative of national sentiments.

I feel the results could be comparable to recently held elections in Rajasthan, and MP because the mood of the voters looks to be the same. Voters of all these states were clear about their choices. Modi’s campaign was no different from what it had been in the past. He attempted to strike the same chord and raised the same concerns and achievements, mainly Art. 370 everywhere, but voters it seems, we’re sure they are not voting for Modi now. The economic slowdown, job losses, and rural Agricultural distress may have begun to hurt the BJP

There seems to be an undercurrent against local BJP, going by how the opposition has performed better than what Exit polls were willing to grant it. Meanwhile, the opposition will have to work harder to negate the BJP’s advantage in terms of resources and visibility.

Recently Union Minister Mr. Piyush Goel made a statement, that the Nobel laureate and Economist Mr. Abhijit Banerjee has “left leanings” and that there was no need to accept what he thinks, was in bad taste according to many people. His political opinions shouldn’t undermine his capabilities. His advice to the Congress during last parliamentary elections doesn’t negate his work to alleviate poverty.  I have read that the Nobel laureate’s method of tackling global poverty by breaking it down into questions at the smaller levels is indeed a path-breaking approach, I am told. This recognition will underline the effectiveness of their research. Its a matter of pride for the entire country.
I feel very sad to read some petty comments saying that Abhijit got the award for marrying a foreigner and not for his Economics. I know, at least this is what a section of BJP feels, going by some of the comments. But here we have to accept one thing that Abhijit has all the required qualities/qualifications to be branded as an anti-national-he is as such, a quintessential Bengali babu, with left leanings, an alumnus of JNU and he is certainly, a liberal.
A recently released global hunger index of 2019 has placed India at the 102nd position among 117countries, even behind Nepal, North Korea, and Pakistan. No doubt ours is the fastest growing economy, yet a considerable section of people are still living below the poverty line. Abhijit with his wife wrote the book “Poor Economics”, which according to newspapers, gives insights and relationships between culture and poverty. Hungry stomachs seek food, not culture. As such, malnutrition is very high in this country and hyper-nationalism and culture alone would not benefit the children dying of the reason. Several areas are quite challenging. for example, recently our PM declared the country as ODF, but we have also seen how two kids were thrashed to death in MP, for the crime of defecating in the open. Whenever these anomalies are pointed out, our BJP friends immediately lash out at the critics. Let us understand that healthy democracies thrive on criticism.  It is the oxygen for democracy. Just because one has a majority one shouldn’t spurn away differing views and view points.
Therefore, I think, we should get out of the tunnel view and try to take everyone along, to bring consensus on all important burning issues and the country should emulate Mr. NarasimhaRao Ji in this regard.

India's Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman recently made a scathing remark in New York about the performances of public sector banks under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh and Raghuram Rajan. Former PM Manmohan Singh, the fellow architect of a liberalised Indian Economy along with former PM  Late Narasimha Rao Ji, is probably the only Indian politician who has the moral wherewithal to criticise Modi Government’s bad show on the economic front. The current NDA government has shown a marked proclivity towards laying the blame for the sliding economy at the doorsteps of the UPA government. Dr. Singh whose credentials as an economist remain above-board has rightly tossed the ball back into Centre’s court. How much longer can the government keep on blaming its predecessors for these people’s follies?Instead, the Minister should clarify why the position of public banks further worsened in the last five years under this government ‘s tenure? We have all seen Manmohan Singh successfully piloted the country out of debt and paved the way towards economic liberalisation with the unstinted support of the then PM, PV Ji. The current government should either acquire professionalism or seek the advice of intellectuals to resolve festering issues such as economic slowdown, growing unemployment, and bad loans, etc instead of indulging in mudslinging against its political opponents. What is most urgently required is to lift the economy from the present crisis. The situation only deteriorated in the Modidom. In the whole blame game between the ruling and opposition, it’s the people who are at the receiving end. Mr. MMS is right in exclaiming that the Modi government must stop playing the blame game for every economic crisis, as six years are enough to come out with solutions. The Modi dispensation would do well to take up the challenge of reining in the economic slowdown on its own instead of pointing an accusing finger at others. The present government needs to rise above petty politics and seek advice from Dr. MMS to nurse our ailing economy back to life.

It is a matter of pride to see a person of Indian-origin Abhijit Banerjee bagging the most prestigious Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
My FB friend Mr. Dhananjay Masoorkar informative blog piqued my interest in this topic and prompted me to delve into further.
Mr. Banjerjee received this prize along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating poverty.    Mr. Banerjee has been highly critical of India’s economic policies which he terms as merely political and not practical. He suggested that the rich should be taxed more for the country’s growth. The have-nots in the country to be given a lift. We see despite investing huge amounts in poverty alleviation, right from Mrs. Gandhi’s “Garibi Hatao” to the policies of the present government, India continues to remain underdeveloped. The failure to alleviate poverty shows a wide gap in the formulation of policies and implementation.
Mr. Banerjee, a professor in Economics at MIT, 1961born, in Mumbai, studied in Calcutta, JNU, and has a Ph.D. from Harvard. In 2003 he along with his wife established Abdul Lateef Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a global research center that focuses on reducing poverty.
I was astonished to note that 4 years ago only, he warned of a great crisis in the Indian Economy. Specifically, it seems, he talked about India’s “broken” banking and financial sector. And the frightening scale of bankruptcy in its corporate sector, particularly in infrastructure and power, I believe. It was also mentioned that during his student protest days, in JNU, Abhijit had to spend about 10 days in Tihar jail, fortunately, he did so in a climate unlike today’s, in which student agitators are dubbed as “anti-nationals” or being dubbed as "tukde-tukede" gang members. His Nobel prize validates dissent and the questioning of authority as markers of intellectual curiosity.
Both husband and wife, Esther and Abhijit, were of opinion that Demonetisation will have catastrophic consequences for the Indian Economy. Back in 2016, a month after the government ‘s great folly. It seems, Esther told an interviewer that she feared we would never know the full damage of Demonetisation because India lacked an effective mechanism to measure GDP creation in the Economy. It is also reported that Abhijit has continued to emphasise that our current slowdown has been exacerbated by Demonetisation as well as the sloppily implemented GST. According to him, India is now in crisis: investment has collapsed, Exports are not growing, public borrowing is at nearly 10% of GDP. He, therefore, advocated increasing in demand. Let us see if the government listens, and the same had been pointed out by P Prabhakar, the other day, and is getting trolled, in Telugu for pointing out the serious economic situation in the country.

Impartial journalism is going down the drain these days. The recent (in the month of September) circular /the advertisement by Jharkhand government seeking applications from TV and Print media journalists to register with the government for a scheme which will endow a grant up to Rs 15000/to cover the government’s welfare schemes and other initiatives is something which should make journalists sit up and give a serious thought if they want really to protect the values of journalism. It is alarming that the state government wants tailor-made reports in the wake of ensuing elections towards the end of this year. Political parties have of late have become notorious for showing 3D cinema and try to win over the people, by projecting that they are the only ones to have done what no one else could in the past. This attitude is more among regional parties particularly in the last 5years or so.
It looks like, the national parties are now trying to emulate such formulae, perhaps because they feel that all is well in love and war. Till a couple of decades ago, the focus of media used to be on developmental journalism but now it has transformed into sensationalism and political journalism. Over the last couple of decades, new methods are being deployed, more so by ruling parties to keep the media in their pockets.
Any attempt to impose a fascist or totalitarian system of government begins with the regime’s firm control on the country’s media. Its the recent case of a blackout in Kashmir but even in the rest of the country an attempt to subjugate media is being actively carried out by the ruling dispensation and its supporters. Have we not seen a newspaper like The Hindu being abused on social media for its Rafale revelations? The ruling party never condemned such acts. At the end of the day more than the publishers being denied the right to publish, it is the readers who are deprived of their right to know the facts.
Both the willingness of major sections of Indian media to toe the line of the establishment and government ‘s arm-twisting in the form of threats to ban advertisements have been completely exposed. In their scramble to promote the government’s misadventures, new outlets have acted as cheerleaders on various issues -be it Demonetisation or Abrogation of Kashmir’s special status. Instead Of holding the mirror to the establishment, the fourth estate has been trying to press the point that leadership that attempts the “unimaginable, and “unthinkable “is always right.
No wonder some of the veteran journalists lament that journalists are being made to act as “clerical coolies”.  With decreasing standards of journalism it is very difficult for common man to know the truth. 

In the name of development and modernisation man has continued to spread his dominance by cutting trees, polluting the land, air, and water through all possible means for convenience. And Plastic one such material invented by for his convenience but extremely harmful to mother earth.
On World Environment Day, 2018, UNEP brought out an informative publication along with other partners where it said: "our planet is drowning in plastic pollution." It also stated that while plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use or disposable plastic despite severe environmental consequences. For instance, around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while up to five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year.
Recently PM Modi Ji gave a clarion call urging citizens to eliminate the use of single-use plastics from 2nd October 2019. The reason: India Inc, is one of the key users of SUP—ranging from pet bottles, tetra packs, multi-layered plastics to milk pouches, etc.
But opinion is divided on PM’s war on waste. Some say it’s all optics, lacking serious government legislation, and punitive action. But senior government officials say they are planning to crack down on items such as plastic straws, cutlery, cigarette butts, pet bottles below 200ml and also plastic bags below 50 microns.
When we first synthesised plastic polymers from crude oil residues, mankind hardly knew how dominant a part they would become of modern life. Think of it this way-its very cheap today, for us to manufacture plastic cutlery than handout wooden spoons. From the cars, we drive, and the planes we fly, to almost every product that every single human being comes in contact with, there is a bit of plastic somewhere. The reason for the widespread usage of plastic is because it is extremely durable, immune to most types of corrosion and weather conditions. Most beverages, for example, are not sold in glass bottles, but in the breakage -free plastic containers.
Now plastic has engulfed the world and has become an existential threat to most life forms. Even our oceans are full of plastic. While the problem is global, the war against plastic has to be fought locally and also at an individual level.
However, UNO and all nations must unite to prepare a “zero plastic" usage and production. Its implementation is required on a war footing by the world. Trillions of accumulated plastic waste are killing and poisoning the life cycle of flora and fauna on land and in water.
Statistics say all countries are contributing to the same. Of the 260 million tons of plastic, the world produces each year, about 10% ends up in the ocean. The top five polluters are China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Top soft drink bottles polluters are HongKong, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Philippines, South Korea, India, and Bangladesh.
According to global citizen, plastic production has more than tripled since the 90s, we can all do our part to prevent further damage to our environment and our waterways from plastics. "Zero waste and Zero plastic waste” movements are springing up around the world to tackle this issue. If we each do our part now we can help stop the world’s preventable plastic problems from getting worse.

India, a land known for its mystic sadhus, yogis, and sages. In ancient times these were the people a common man used to look up to for spiritual guidance.  But in today's world the same sadhu's, yogis and baba's have become dreaded criminals.
The case in point is here is recent sexual harassment allegations against UP BJP leader and former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand is a reminder of Yogi Adityanath‘s Government’s propensity to shield prominent politicians from the consequences of their crime. The arrest of Chinmaynand, almost a month after allegations of sexual harassment of a PG Law student surfaced against him indicating how the Law&Order machinery works differently for the people in powerful positions. The push to take action came from SC, but the height of the problem is, the so-called SIT finally questioned the accused and took action against his victim, in the cross FIR filed by Chinmayanand claiming attempts to extort Rs 5 crores. A sword of Damocles is hanging over her head now. After SC heard her out, gave her full protection, ordered to constitute SIT, the spunky girl shared as many as 45 tapes she had recorded on a spy camera with the SIT. But sensing SIT was dragging its feet she threatened to commit self-immolation, which was when Chinmayanand was eventually arrested.
Chinmayanand is the second BJP leader to have been arrested in UP for sexual assault, the first being Kuldeep Singh Sengar, an MLA from UNNAO. If there is a thing more disgusting than the crime itself, it’s bad to shield the perpetrators. A state government siding with rapists or rape accused sounds like the stuff of medieval ages. This is no fiction borne out of sinister imagination, it’s the reality of Yogi Ji’s government.
From Asaram of Rajasthan to Nityananda to Rampal of Haryana or Ganeshananda Teerthapada of Kerala, sexual oppression forms the matrix of these Godmen’s spirituality.
The Godmen from the only top slice of an elaborate and multi-tiered system in which Yogis, maulvis, fakirs, gurus, swamis, pastors, and priests who make mystical claims and hold devotees in awe-operate as sexual predators.
In the case of Chinmayanand instead of clarity in the case and clear cut legal action, the public had heard the attempts to deflect the wave of protests that erupted against him by claiming that a conspiracy was being hatched against him. What allegedly happened to the law student is just a continuation of the rising graph of crimes against women being reported from UP. To compare national crime figures with figures from the state’s, it becomes evident that UP has the dubious distinction of twice the national average in terms of reported cases of rape. We have also seen many cases of child rapes end with the murder of the victim
therefore it’s for the governments to put an end to sexual abuse by the so-called godmen.

On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi fondly called), it is time to recall the principles and ideologies he stood for. He was such a profound personality that even after 70 years after his death we continue to learn from every aspect of his life. Be it his non-violent means to solve any problem(between people or between nations), his propagation of simple living and self-reliance, his vision of progression for the nation. All these need to make a come back in a big way.
On the lifestyle front, our PM has taken up a very good initiative to reduce single-use plastic in this country.  A result of blindly emulating the developed nations which are responsible for the mounting waste of various kinds based on the growing demand for material goods and products(I'm studying/collecting material on plastic usage and come back to you separately soon).
On the world peace front, it appears that the global community including the UN has been generally ineffective in curbing violence in several regions of the world. The war in Yemen continues to kill innocent human beings including children. The conflict in Syria, despite the involvement of some big powers, has not led to any movement towards peace even as ceasefire after ceasefire is violated. In our neighbourhood, the Taliban continues to attack innocent individuals in Afghanistan, clearly encouraged and funded by the army of another country in the same neighbourhood.
Overall Gandhian principles and beliefs are required to be spread worldwide not only to eliminate conflicts within the narrow prism of one community or one nation imposing violence against another.
Being the birth nation of Gandhiji, India needs to be the torchbearer of his principals and ideologies for a more peaceful world and also to come up with simple nature-centric solutions to various problems we as a world face.

Yesterday we saw pictures of nature's fury in states of Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, and Maharastra. Devastating scenes of floods destroying houses, roads and houses flooded with water, no food, power, deaths from snake bites, etc. Hundreds have lost their lives. Last month it was southern parts of the country Bangalore, Chennai, and Trivandrum.

All the state governments make lofty statements that they could handle any worst situation as their disaster management plan is in place. But when the situation arises nothing happens and people have to suffer as usual. 70 years after freedom we are yet to learn mechanisms to cope with disaster management.

It's time to listen to nature, it wants to us sit up and take notice of what human greed for 'development' has led us to. Nature is showing its wrath after bearing with us human insensitivity for long. If you recall, from the Himalayas to places like Shimla, even desert destinations like Pushkar in Rajasthan, the floods became a threat. Landslides buried humans under muddy debris, from Uttarakhand to Kerala, hundreds died not only in Kerala but also in Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, and Bihar, etc.

I feel nature's wrath will continue as we have disturbed the balance of nature. In all urban agglomerations, the paddy fields are turning into housing colonies. Rock formations are disappearing under the relentless onslaught of quarry mafia. In cities, we notice, construction mafias, brick makers mafias, including the flourishing granite mafia. What chance has nature against these powerful entities each of which flourishes under some political patronage? From my childhood, around Ramgundam, a place from which I hail, we used to have big hills, now all of them vanished because of quarry mafias. The place was known for “Kundas(round earth formation which contains waters)” built by Rama, during the vanavas and temple, only that part is now still intact (thankfully). The area of few hundreds of acres of land is now occupied by housing colonies, including a big residential area of Singareni.

So, what’s happening? As we destroy nature, is nature destroying us? Nature's anger will be a phenomenon, none of our human mafias will be able to counter. Perhaps our sages anticipated this, hence the Vedic reference to “maha pralaya” that would trigger at the end of Kaliyuga. It refers to cataclysmic events that wipe out an entire life on the planet. Living in harmony with nature is the only option we humans have if not we have to be ready to face the consequences.

With a heavy heart, I want to reminiscence the memory and some incidents related to one of my father's friend and a very senior bureaucrat BN Yugandhar Ex-IAS 1962 batch.  He left for heavenly abode day before yesterday and today the cremation must be taking place, after the arrival of his now-famous son Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft, from the US. I remember my father saying that Mr. Yugandhar had always stood for values and principles, a very upright officer. As I understood, he was a man with left -orientation, energetic, generous and very impatient with red-tapism and at the same time, a critic of left-criminalisation. He was with United AP CM, NTR also worked with P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1990s. I had genuine doubt, regarding his “surname”. He was popularly called as B N Yugandhar, but originally it was only “Nadella” which his son retains. I'm told that they got migrated from Guntur District (Nadella) to a place known as Bukkapuram, in Anantpur District, about 4/5/decades back, and he used to retain  Bukkapurm also with original Nadella. I had the opportunity to see him once when he was Secretary of Rural Development. He had been picked up by Narasimha Rao because his attitude to always work for helping poor, lead a life with dignity. 

At this point, I would like to share an unusual incident narrated by a friend of my father, bureaucrat Mr. K R Venugopal. 

Venugopal and Yugandhar are of the same batch. When Yugandhar ‘s son Satya engagement ceremony to Venugopal's daughter was underway, Narasimha Rao (PM at the time) got to know of the same and he wanted to surprise them with an impromptu visit. So he took Ramu Damodaran, his PS; he took only an ambassador and a police jeep and no one knew PM moving in an Ambassador. He had bitter experience of traffic snarls, but finally, when he reached the venue the joy of both Yugandhar and Venugopal knew no bounds.

The socialist in Yugandhar found a mention in the latest Vinay Sitapati’s book “Half Lion”. How Narasimha Rao transformed India. Describing the role of bureaucrats around him, played, in informing welfare policies during Narasimha Rao's tenure. Sitapati said "when Rao was a Minister in AP in the 1960s he too believed in the obligation of the state to transform India’s ills. That Rao had morphed into a pragmatist when it came to Economy.  But when it came welfare schemes his choice of stubborn socialists as point men indicated which mode he had in mind” 

It’s reported that Mr. Yugandhar passed away having suffered from Asthama, and other breath related health problems. My deepest condolences to his family and near and dear. May his soul rest in peace.

The discovery of Lander Vikram on the lunar South Pole has come as music to the ears of ISRO and countless others in the country, who followed keenly the progress of the mission. Chandrayan 2 was launched successfully on July 22nd, and it was to land on the moon, on 7th September. Since the launch other plans went off as planned, the whole nation waited to see the Vikram land smoothly on the unexplored South Pole, of the moon. But then when it was 2km away the ISRO lost the contact with the lander. Though subsequently the lander was sighted, ISRO is yet to establish contact with the lander. Let us understand that the success in space programs is fraught with great risks, and failures are part and parcel of scientific research. The entire nation stood by ISRO and was overwhelmed by the brilliant efforts made by its scientists behind the mission Chandrayaan 2. It's overwhelming to know that ISRO has garnered high support and wishes across various sections of society including the science community, Bollywood, sports community and political leadership. Now they are waiting with bated breath to reestablish communication with the lander. If it happens it will be certainly a proud moment for the nation as a whole. The efforts of the scientists were not a setback but steppingstones to success. Here Let us appreciate our PM, who hugged and consoled, when Dr.Shivan started weeping, which appeared on front pages of all newspapers, and TVs, which lifted ISRO’s spirits and converted a scientific setback into a national celebration of space power. A marginal failure was hailed as a massive victory. Soon after PM concluded his remark with “Bharat Mata ki Jai” not only India but the entire world hailed ISRO’s mojo and not its partial failure. Modi’s hug went viral and was seen by over 100 million people world over. Never before have digital media outfits smiled, virtually communication networks choked with pictures, texts, and memes. PM’s gesture towards ISRO Chief over the failure demonstrates leadership and spirit of fairness. Here my personal feeling is, that such emotional outbursts should be avoided in public domain and instead the team should put up a brave face to the entire world and accept the failure in the right spirit of the game.

However, hope and despair of a nation were vividly depicted in those moments when a journey of the scientific pride went awry in the last lap. Having accomplished so much ISRO could be undertaking necessary corrections to launch the mission once again, as the whole country has faith in its capabilities.

Ram Jethmalani-one of the foremost and most controversial criminal law doyens of the legal fraternity -passed away at the age of 95 at his official residence in New Delhi. I understand he stopped appearing in courts regularly, but he continued to be active as a lawmaker and also an active participant in Rajya Sabha. Born in Sindh province of Karachi Pakistan, kicked off his career for about 70 years ago, having obtained Law Degree at the age of 17 years, I believe. Being a refugee from Pakistan, after 1948 partition, he moved to Bombay and started his practice.
He would rise to the fame 11 years later as one of the prosecutors in KM Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra in which the Naval commander was tried for the murder of his wife’s lover. It was a very sensational case in those days. Normally he was appearing for the accused in high profile cases, including the assassination case of Indira Gandhi former PM, Rajiv Gandhi, Asaram Bapu, sexual assault case, Jessica Lal murder case, Arvind Kejriwal Vs Arun Jaitely defamation case, Sohrabuddin Sh ah encounter case, and Jayalalitha ‘s disproportionate assets case, etc.
His political career was as interesting as his law career--he reached parliament from Janata Party, BJP, RJD, served under Vajpayee, and later contested against him, was expelled from BJP, and sued the party for that and at the age 64 in 1987, he announced his candidacy for the post of President of India. Jethmalani defended Amit Shah when he was facing probe in Sohrabuddin encounter of Gujarat in which he was discharged. While critics described him as “maverick”, rebel, and bold person, they were all unanimous that he was one of the best legal brains in the country.
Mr. KK Venugopal, AG recalled that “his boldness set him apart as the finest lawyers that the country has had and his passing away is also a loss to the parliament and the country as a whole”
Our heartfelt condolences to the departed soul. 

Politics apart, it was agonising to read the news that PC was sent Tihar Jail and I know many people would enjoy the vicarious pleasure, on hearing this. One wonders whether BJP empowered by the massive mandate it has looks to be, to hound political opponents. Now the arrest of DK Shivkumara by ED, on the heels of the arrest of Chidambaram, doesn’t behoove a country where the rule of law is meant to be respected. Of course, I agree this is not a plea to ignore the allegations of wrong doing by influential persons but it’s a lament that laws applied towards these cases show of partisan political considerations. Neither Shivkumara nor Chidambaram would run away from the law, at the most they would have ceased their passports, or they could be kept with courts. Now it has become quite clear that the government is not averse to misusing the agencies to take revenge on political opponents and the charge that they are tools in the hands of government to go after political adversaries is not without any substance. On the other hand, the cases against members of ruling or supporters, are never pursued with the same vigour.
If targeting Shivkumara is to weaken the Congress in Karnataka, it’s most unfortunate. It is interesting that BS Yediyurappa who was arrested in land grabbing case in 2011, is the current CM of the state. For a layman like me, politics is indeed confusing dramas of power and vendetta.
It has been reported that a very senior man from the BJP is reported to have told that though the party is a formidable force, in Karnataka, there are some unfinished tasks for it to sustain power. What he had in his sight was the vast Vokkaliga dominated old Mysore region where Shivkumar held the sway. The message was more than clear that Shivkumara should either be in its fold or be demonised politically. The top BJP leaders did try to get Shivkumara into its fold knowing his ability to maneuver his party out of any difficult situation, but he must be having his own ideas, or goals. When BJP realised that getting him into the party was next to impossible, they resorted to the only possible tactic-target his financial deals and soon the ED was on his tail ensuring his arrest. Experience suggests that it’s very difficult to reform the police and wean it from its brutal ways and its standard operating procedures of seeking to please their political bosses. But it would be too early to predict what the future holds for Shivkumara -- will he rise to shatter BJP’s hopes or crumble before the might of saffron machinery?
While government goes after the opponents with vengeance, nothing is heard of  Madhya Pradesh’s infamous  Vyapam scandal under earlier BJP run government. Suspicions needing investigations against some of BJP’s most powerful names also seem to have been conveniently buried. The law must take its course and not the one paved by political machetes.

I'm surprised to read that India ranks third, after the US and China, in having the highest number of overweight people. It is mentioned that 41 million people are obese. We all are now aware that this obesity is the main cause for many health problems of an individual, but if you differentiate between overweight and obesity, which is usually done by Body mass index ratio. Obese people normally have very less physical activity while their intake is excess. Diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, are the main serious problems obese people face. It is reported that the studies have proved that the smartphone technology has led to a sedentary lifestyle, as the mobility of an individual gets drastically reduced because a lot of time is spent on it while confining to chair or bed. Like TV addicts, the users of the smartphone may get relaxed with alcohol, sweets, and snacks. It was further reported that the number of hours spent on smartphones will be detrimental. More than five hours of continuous use for six months cause unwanted changes I believe. As I could notice, the dangers of smartphones are no less than the perils of Television as Smartphone are portable, have a lot of comfort, range, information and entertainment, it’s more injurious. Every innovation has its attendant risks. Let's be very careful in using smartphones.

It has been reported that the Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University has taken a malodorous decision and Great, eminent historian,87 years, professor Emeritus Romila Thapar was asked to submit her CV to see if she could continue as professor Emerita at the history faculty where she is revered as a teacher, scholar of amazing intellectual prowess. Several other distinguished academicians like Molecular biologist Asis Datta and theoretical physicist R.Rajaraman, etc have been asked to submit their CVS so that the committee could evaluate their works and decide whether they could continue. They have been appointed for a lifetime, and reviewing is not only preposterous but also suspicious. These professors are scholars of international stature and they are reputed public intellectuals-an endangered species in India. It is not clear what JNU is hoping to achieve? Is it possible that JNU would strip them off? Such an action would bring JNU disrepute among academics the world over. In Romila Thapar’s case, it must be a political vendetta as she is an acerbic critic of present government ‘s stand on history, which it wants it to be rewritten.
 It’s the mindset that is to be blamed for such pinpricks, and for example, an FIR was filed against a TV journalist who taped visuals of a substandard mid-day meal of rotis and salt served in a school in UP. Is this not a clear case of shooting the messenger when the government ‘s response should have been to get to the root, to fix it? Vindictiveness will only boomerang.
It’s also reported that some of the 11 professors including Thapar have already complied with the request to send their CVs. It looks like JNU’s letter created a storm as they were seen as part of ruling dispensation to purge the institution for the reasons best known. But it’s again against what our PM said the other day. He said, people, can have different shades of views and do not need to agree on everything. In a zeal to clean up academia of left-liberal scholars, what perhaps is lost sight of the nurturing of ideas of various streams, that our PM spoke so eloquently about.

Recently central government brought an amendment to the traffic rules and is going to levy heavy penalties, for the lapses. KCR being a clever CM, he is not going to implement this immediately, as he must have understood the pulse of people. I agree, penalties for misconducts are good as heavy penalties will certainly act as a deterrent, but Govt’s have to be reasonable, and responsible. On the one hand, they don’t develop infrastructure, like good roads, alternate modes of transportation, and mobility, they won’t regulate heavy traffic congestion’s, etc, but they want to levy heavy fines, how far is it reasonable, it’s for the people to take a judicious view.

Hyderabad as such, with the onset of monsoon, the condition of roads have worsened and they are worsening further with each passing day. Many tall promises were made like they will turn Hyderabad into Dallas, and Warangal to London, etc. But now it reflects the country poorly. Seven decades after Independence with so much technology in place, we are struggling with the quality of our roads. We have made a lot of advancements in technology and progress in all walks of life. Ironically, these are the days we are trying to go to the moon and mars. It is a fact that most of the segments of our population are beneficiaries of government largesse irrespective of the party in power? It is our misfortune that majorly our roads seem to be untouched with any advancement in technology. While middle-class tax-payers are not enjoying the government largesse or any welfare schemes.

It’s our earnest appeal to our rulers to give us atleast good motorable roads otherwise, it’s just futile to have great cars and other infrastructure if we have the roads with filth and big potholes. Good roads would benefit all irrespective of social, and economic status, caste, religion and in the process votes also get increased. It is suggested that the government should form a body of senior citizens, journalists, engineering people to monitor the quality of roads which will only have big potholes, immediately after it rains. In Hyderabad, for  GHMC, managing roads is more difficult rocket science or so it appears like it.

He was considered one of the key architects of an electorally dominant BJP, Former Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley lost a long battle with cancer yesterday, leaving admirers in disbelief and political foes saddened. In 2009, we view both Sushma Swaraj and Jaitley as BJP’s Gen Next, leaders. At one point, he was also perceived as a Prime Ministerial candidate. Both of them were brought to the center stage by the party’s patriarch Advani. But in a twist of fate both of them departed just 18 days apart leaving behind their firm imprints. Arun Jaitley was considered a man Friday who brought Modi Ji to the national scene, will be missed, as he was his chief troubleshooter since his days in Gujarat politics. Except for good health, he had all that he could attain. His greatest accomplishment is GST implementation by absorbing entire shock on both Demonetisation & GST. Probably His indispensability may be the cause of envy among his several peers. I feel he was akin to Pranab Mukherjee in Congress, a formidable strategist, draftsman, Parliamentarian, with a commendable skill in debating with the astute legal mind. He suffered and fought a hard battle with multiple ailments. May his soul rest in peace.

A few days ago I came across a disturbing article titled “Food Democracy.” It was about a customer who cancelled his order for food and has forgone his refund also, for the reason that the person who was assigned to deliver his order was a non-Hindu. Later he even took pride in the fact that he had cancelled the order while forgoing the refund as well.
We know discrimination on the grounds of caste and religion exists in our society, and more so, in rural India where Dalits and tribals struggle even today for social acceptance. However Indian cities are finer examples of secular harmony, where people of all religions, castes, and creeds coexist and mingle freely with hardly a thought to ancient customs based on caste or religious prejudices.
But these days it has become a fashion to misuse social media forum to create needless controversy to create divisions on religious lines. How can such deeply embedded prejudices be given expression to, in this day and age in a cosmopolitan city in the 21st century India is baffling. This supercilious attitude might have been common 100 years ago.
This episode reflects highly polarised times that we are living in. However this is not the first time, earlier also it was reported that one customer had refused to ride a cab since the driver happened to be from a particular community. Imagine what would have happened if people from other communities started following the same? The extreme prejudice of one man has helped put the focus on what is still wrong with our society and how far we must go to erase the lines that divide us. It is also reported that MP police filed a case against the customer but harsh measures should be taken to prevent such religious prejudices.

I finally finished reading a book called "The Insider" written by Late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Before I go into the book and its content, I want to thank Mr. V Rajeshwar Rao for getting me a copy of this book. And another candid revelation I would like to make here is that this book was lying in my bookcase unread largely influenced by someone’s opinion that it’s neither an autobiography nor memoir. Not even a real fiction or non-fiction. But it’s a novel that runs into 835 pages in a semi-autobiographical form that reflects contemporary India. Its a kind of a political novel that moves from Bhagat Singh to the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi.
The novel portrays the character of one Mr. Anand who is an alter ego of PV Ji himself. There are many similarities in PVji’s and Anand’s life and character. The novel projects a historical reality in contemporary India and it throws light on socio-political conditions that were prevailing at that time. After reading it, it’s not difficult to understand that Anand is an alter ego of PV Ji.
Amazing to note and find that he didn’t hesitate to criticise the contemporary politicians who work for their selfish ends forgetting about the common good for the country’s development. The part where the protagonist Anand feels that there has not been a good leader in India after Nehru completely resonated with me. The topics discussed in this book in detail are incidents such as Chinese Aggression, War with Pakistan, the problem of Bangladesh refugees in addition to major domestic issues like the states Reorganisation on linguistic basis, Kashmir issue, anti-Hindi Movement Of Madras, Nationalisation Of Banks and Land Reforms. He also condoned bad practices in various sectors like politics and journalism where he felt that reporting was replaced by sensationalism.
While Hyderabad is called Afrozabad, Anand is portrayed as a politician with ideals. The Insider depicts a man’s rise through the ranks of Indian politics mirroring the events of PVs own life, I believe.

Reports of crisis in the auto industry have been rampant past 2 or 3 days.  It is reported that the Auto sector is reeling under an unprecedented meltdown, triggering massive job losses. The numbers are simply frightening. Passenger vehicles sales down by 31% in July, a record 9th-month straight dip, over 3.5 lakh people rendered jobless, and 286 dealerships withdrawn in the last 18 months.
Though the slowdown in the auto sector reflects a general slowdown in the overall economy, that started with Demonetisation, and flawed implementation of GST, the major concern is the loss of a major chunk of jobs, with a further loss of over 10 lakh jobs hovering over the horizon. Last month’s sales were only 2 lakh cars -the worst performance for automakers in the last 15 years, I believe. Even the launch of new models such as Mahindra XUV300, or the Hyundai “Venue” has not succeeded, in reversing the slide. The reports say, that the most worrying aspect is, falling sales of two-wheelers, and commercial vehicles, which are not usually impacted by recessionary trends.
While a combination of factors including external environment must have led to the present situation, one of the major reasons, reported, was, the crisis that has enveloped the non-banking Financial companies (NBFCs) which have been the traditional source of funding auto sector. They are not in a position to finance PVs. Earlier over 30% of cars and 65% of two-wheelers used to be funded by NBFCs. Our Finance Minister could look into giving a push to revive lending to NBFCs that help in creating demand in different sectors. They provide a significant portion of the personal loans to prospective buyers as the banks are still in the process of cleaning up their books. Incidentally one of the reasons for the plummeting of sales is that the industry is not offering attractive variants. This is because of game-changing emission control standards that will come into effect by next year.
Therefore, the solution is a more holistic one; that recharging the economy with more central investment, to create more jobs and higher demand. Till then, I think automakers will probably, have to continue their bumpy ride