'Arvind Subramanian, the Chief Economic Adviser steps down before term'
screamed front page headlines a few days ago.  It is interesting to recall that though he was initially appointed as CEA in Oct 2014 for a period of3 years, his term was extended till  May 2019. It would be highly imprudent to either question or comment on his decision to quit.
In a period of 3 years, three excellent economists have left the country after serving in top positions. And all these resignations or exits do raise a question on the government even though they cited personal reasons for the departure publicly. Raghuramrajan , didn’t seek an extension, while Aravind Panagaria who was handpicked by PM to run NITIAYOG , sought a premature exit, and now Chief CEA, is cutting short the extension, resigned quoting some personal reasons. On the assumption of office, though the present government was able to attract the best of the available talent among the economists, mostly IMF variety,  it has not been able to retain them.
However one fails to see any rationale behind Arun Jaitley himself announcing the CEA’s departure in a blog post. Is it not questionable? Was it appropriate for him to accept the resignation of Subramanian, as he is understood to have acquired the status of a “Minister without portfolio", soon after proceeding on medical leave for kidney ailment? Should CEA not have submitted his papers to Mr. Piyush Goyal, who happens to be nation’s interim Finance Minister?

Just before Karnataka Assembly Elections, there was a major hyperbole about the Electrification of all the villages in India.  It was a carefully timed political gimmick. In our system, the masters are clearly politicians. One  state power Minister tweeted “we have electrified all the villages.” But  PM was more precise and careful and claimed: “ every single village in India now has access to electricity ". When I tried to gather information on this out of my own curiosity, I found, neither was correct.

Under the definition in place, since October 1997, if a village has a distribution transformer, and power lines in place, as well as electricity provided, to public places, like schools, panchayat offices, and dispensaries including Just 10% of its households, it is deemed to be electrified. But in states like Jharkhand, UP, and Assam, nearly 50% of the rural households have no power. So to consider such villages "electrified” could be far from the truth.

The fact that all of India’s nearly 600,000 villages are electrified, means, it’s no mean achievement, but celebrating over just a piece of statistics like the last inhabited village of India getting electrified is celebrating a bit too early. Afterall, don’t Indian citizens find it a bit weird that all inhabited villages in the country have been electrified, when a simpler and more basic need of potable drinking water in every village is still a far cry.?

In fact, it is even questionable whether they have “access to electricity, as such.” According to the Oxford dictionary, the appropriate meaning of the word Access is the”right or opportunity to use”. But do households which remain in the dark have either the right or opportunity? Only theoretically because whilst the necessary infrastructure is missing the truthful answer is: definitely not as yet and maybe not for a long time to come.

 TTD's dirty linen is being washed in the public which is covered by various media outlets. The Head priest Ramanna Deekshitulu has been eased out on attaining the age of superannuation (65). In all fairness the retirement is fixed only for regular Govt employees, enjoying the time-scale of pay, having fixed  TA &DA. Having leaves, and holidays of various kinds, with other perks, perquisites while in service, terminal benefits at the time retirement, pension after retirement, till his death, and family pension throughout the lifetime of the spouse, as far as my knowledge goes, as an HR professional. Therefore, TTD priests do not come under such category. But here not a day passes without arms and wings of Govt meddling with Hindu religious institutions. The abode of worships, centers of unity in diversity, are turned into hotbeds of controversies. Of all the places, the most revered one,  TTD, is always in the news, for the bad reasons. TTD board being an autonomous body, it can fix its own rules, but the norms must be applicable to all, including, Board Members and Chairman, alike, but it’s confinement only to selected priests smacks not only of arrogance, ill-motivation, but also it sounds irrational and ill-logical.

Ever since the new board has assumed office, it has been triggering unnecessary controversies, and the present retirement issue is entirely afresh. Any unpleasant decision should always be implemented in a smooth and dignified manner.  But in this case, the decision to ease them out was taken, after the chief priest, revealed, certain lapses in Administration, of the temple, sent the wrong signal, leading people to think that it is purely an act of vengeance. As per the present action, the axe may fall on all Archakas of all temples in AP.

The board is bound to give an explanation to the objections raised by none other than the Head priest. It has to instill the confidence in devotees, by clearing the doubts they have in their minds. The main contentions of Deekshitulu that they are not allowed, to follow AGAMA rules, in worshiping the God, missing many ornaments, presented by kings like Srikrishna Devaraya, and damaging old constructions, etc, should be clarified, with authentication.

A constant lingering question that arises in my mind is, why are Hindu temples involved in so many controversies? Govt even can not dare to think of intervening in the religious affairs of other communities. Questioning irregularities at one of the most sacred pilgrim centers for Hindus, can not invite summary removal from the from service itself, in the name of retirement. By this action, the TTD board raises suspicion that it has something to hide from the public.

It is alarming that WHO has ranked 14 Indian cities to be among the 20 most polluted ones globally. This is a serious issue as it does affect, countless lives, even though it may feel like an invisible phenomenon. I was aghast to note that the levels of Air Pollution in our cities have risen to an extent that breathing normal air is equal to smoking twenty-three cigarettes a day.
The occurrences of the heat wave, dust storms, and flash floods have been on the rise. Past week,  some people lost their lives, because of hail storms and thunderbolts in some places.  The root cause for all these natural calamities is nothing but mindless deforestation. Our cities are only concrete jungles. Deteriorating air quality in Hyderabad city is also alarming. The green cover has been fast receding and I see no proper plan on the part the governments to protect the environment. It’s high time the measures of damage control were put in place. The current practice like “planting one sapling and cutting one hundred trees” has to stop otherwise it will leave us in the lurch.
Now are living a life where we have to buy water and I feel if we continue neglecting our environment very soon we may end up needing to buy fresh air too.
Policies to fast-track the use of electric vehicles should become a priority, which KCR may be doing it if everything goes well, as per yesterday’s news report.
The state of our public transport such as buses is a separate story. The Auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers are equally harmful.
Both central and state governments, need to take concerted efforts, to address the serious problem, instead of concentrating on Bullet trains, this is the need of the hour.

Recently  NTV had a storyboard show on the judiciary, impeachment, and its implications.  What I understood from the program is that the proposal for the impeachment motion was ill-conceived. As far as I know, this is the first time, in the Indian history that there has been a move to impeach the CJI of SC. This impetus move was conceived by Congress, followed up few other parties, including Communists. However, this proposal has been turned down by Vice-President of India, Mr. VenkaiahNaidu with an observation that it lacked substantial merit.
The constitution, it seems, says, that a CJ could be impeached only on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. However as the political class attempted to debate on the differences in the top judiciary of the apex court , the top court must itself address the issues being seized by politicians, who insist that the CJ is not assigning sensitive cases to senior judges and allotting them to his hand-picked judges, in his capacity as master of roaster . I don’t know whether this comes under proven misbehaviour? When it contends and cites the public outburst of four senior judges of SC and their allegations of abuse by CJ. The CJ must have addressed these issues by convening a full court. Another issue which was raised and had had some dark ramifications including insinuations about the way he dealt with a petition by a medical college a case of suspected bribery etc.  But are the senior judges who question these acts of CJ entirely wrong? While putting in place the Collegium system for judicial appointments, the SC says “consultations with CJ” meant that the consultation with a plurality of judges.
Mr. Naidu rejecting the motion against the CJI, maybe a big setback to the opposition parties, but the image of the apex court is greatly tarnished in eyes of general public. Judiciary should regain the lost confidence which is the need of the hour. Given the simmering discontent within the judiciary, the issue certainly deserved closer scrutiny as it was also chance for the political class to engage itself in an enlightened debate on the wide range of issues affecting the higher judiciary. An impartial inquiry would have instilled confidence in the common man.
The serious action may be a resultant of  “LOYA’s CASE” Supreme court’s ruling.  This case may be a victory for Amit Shah, but it doesn’t explain why the Judge’s family said that he had been offered Rs100crores, and why there were  unexplained injuries on his body and why the entire data has been erased from his phone when the instrument was returned to his family, three days after his death? All these incidents cast aspersions on the justice delivery system and therefore it would be seen by some as reluctance to bring out the truth.

The other day in NTv there was big story on cash crunch while many other channels also reported it in different way about sufferings of the people in this city of Hyderabad for want of cash in ATMs .After Seeing all this I have a feeling that again now we are back to the days when Demonetisation of higher denomination of notes announced and implemented.As per the reports many ATMs in bothTelugu states and in Karnataka,which goes to polls soon, welcome users with “no cash “”notice.With this type of notices,displayed on the doors of many ATMs in city people are encountering scenarios like the ones they faced after Demonetisation.
Is it a happy situation that we are denied access to our own money when we require it? What we have here may not be a full blown financial emergency akin to the Demonetisation day’s, but it is certainly a crisis situation.Cashless ATMs are no great advertisement for the buoyancy of the economy.People have a feeling that the ghost of Demonetisation have come back to haunt people with cash crunch.States like TS andAP had written to Govt of India,RBI etc for making available the sufficient cash reserves but Iam sorry to say that the ATM have become “”all time mess”” .The roumers are afloat that the shortage was intentionally created as the GOI is hoarding the cash for the upcoming Karnataka Elections.
The public ,particularly in rural and non-metro areas ,is facing hardships due to cash crunch.The centre’s proposed financial resolution and deposit insurance bill,has launched a big scare among people as it purportedly allowsfailing banks to use depositors money to cut losses.Due to this ,perhaps,people are withdrawing money to invest in real estate,etc as people’s trust is eroding in public sector banks besides string of high-profilebank frauds which came to light recently.
Moreover the issuance of Rs 2000currency note in lieu of earlier Rs1000 was a move I’ll-thought of,.In what manner it re-monetises the economy faster, is a moot point.Moreover the principle that the next higher subsequent higher denomination should be Rs 2or2’5 higher is thrown away to winds .The damage that was done to the economy is irreparable as per top economists including Manmohansingh and Chidambaram,whose statements we have ignored, just for political reasons but ultimately that is the reality,which any sane man has to accept,.This situation has become a ready made heaven for hoarders but in the process you have made life of a common average consumer most miserable.

We are back from a refreshing short trip to Chennai and Pondicherry which we took along with my oldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids.  We also had the fortune of visiting Adiparashakti temple in Melmarvattor and also had darshan goddess Kamakshi. 

During this four day trip, I carried book titled “Wheels Behind The Veil written by Late PVRRK Prasad, IAS, Media Advisor to former PM PV Narasimha Rao.

Mr. Prasad, had the advantage of working with  PV Narasimha Rao, DR.M.Chenna Reddy, VengalaRao, N T Rama Rao, Dr. Manmohansingh very closely, and he tried to throw some light on many complex situations which he witnessed. This book contains several things that had happened behind the veil of political governance and had not been revealed earlier for various reasons, are revealed here without hesitation with a particular reference to the relationship between senior civil Servants and political bosses.

 We have a feeling that normally an IAS officer, will enjoy power and authority at the expense of tax payer’s money, sitting AC bungalows, a happy go lucky fellows.These officers are the wheels that turn Administration behind the veil of political governance. This concept is very well explained in this book, which people will enjoy with little interest in Administration and contemporary politics.

The approach was slightly different, perhaps the writer wanted to hold the mirror to the contemporary political and administrative scenario. But it is confirmed by the writer that nothing in this book was hearsay as every incident mentioned, he had some role to play or was a direct witness. So his account of various events appears authentic, especially on PV, his approach to burning issues then, his interactions with bureaucracy and political bosses etc.

The most interesting thing which I liked, in this book, is that as Media Advisor he tried to clear many misunderstandings people have about PV, on Ayodhya and Babri-Masjid demolitions, his connections with Tantrik Chandraswamy, Hawala racket, including film star Rajinikanth’s entry into Congress etc, being closely associated with many intricate issues, this bureaucrat had cleared the air. 

During the Babri-Majid demolition time, some important section in Congress also blamed him, but if you read this, you will be convinced that it is far from the truth. He has taken all precautions and written commitments. But was ditched by top BJP leadership (Of course not Vajpayee), the imposition of  President’s rule was suggested, which as a true democrat, a strong believer in value-based politics, he didn’t want to throw out a democratically elected government, without following due procedure. He made it clear to all important Congress leaders including Arjun Singh, who also nodded his head, but later spread false stories. As strong God believer, he made sincere efforts for the construction of Ram temple. The writer was actively involved when an apolitical Ram temple construction Trust was formed by associating Adwaita, Dwaita, Vishistadwaita pithadhipathis, and heads of other important mutts,  and got it registered. Bringing together all mathadhipatis was a very very difficult task. It is very easy to talk Sri Ravishankarji and ask him to negotiate, but it was very challenging to get pithadhipatis to show some interest in such matters. It represented all cross-sections of Hindu society and it had members acceptable to all political parties

The last chapter “When PV deemed power a curse”  highlights his personality. He was in Hyderabad one day, after having been exonerated by Supreme Court in cash-for- votes and other cases, he wanted Prasad to help him in selling his house, for making payments to his lawyers.As CM of AP, he handled large amounts of party funds, later he occupied many important positions in Delhi.Prasad writes that he couldn’t believe that a man of his stature had to sell his house to clear his Advocates dues. I was pained to read that party leaders including CMs who benefited from their acquaintance with PV didn’t bother about him once he lost power. I think some believed that PV was too good a man to mind their silence and some others deliberately kept aloof from lest they should fall foul of his successors. Finally, PV was left alone to fend for himself.