VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 206
Date: 19.06.2017
Contents:
1. BJP's Farcical Handling of Farmer's Unrest in
MP
2.
Cow Troubles
3.
Champions Trophy
Semi-Final Line-up Indicative of Cricket's Contemporary Status
4. Virat Kohli Just Gifted The Champion's Trophy Final To
Pakistan
5.
With Brexit, Is England
More Vulnerable To Terror?
BJP's Farcical Handling of Farmer's Unrest in
MP
And true to the character (if any exists!) of
our politicians Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the CM of MP instead of resolving the
Mandsaur crisis and the farmer's agitation, went on a hunger strike for the
farmers! This is a classic case of abdication of responsibility where instead
of working at his job this guy claims fasting and will feigning ill-health to
avoid taking a decision! This is India, my friends! This was the same guy who
during last year's monsoons in MP while out visiting flood stricken areas
dressed in his spotless whites was hoisted by his security men, one on each
side over a stretch of muddy ground because of his refusal to step into
the mud. This picture was splashed all over the national dailies. But then
these politicians are shameless and like the fasting instance do more for
headlines than any actual work. What can you therefore expect from such people?
Further Shivraj Singh Chauhan's fast for the cause of farmers was clearly
a farce what with a huge tent constructed on a public ground with some large
number of air coolers installed. The BJP needs probably a 5-star atmosphere to
be created so that their leaders can get into the mood to go on a fast in
comfort! The BJP top leadership realising just that asked him to call it
off and get on with the job that he is supposed to do and that is to negotiate
with the farmers.
The other spin that the BJP are trying to give
to the farmers agitations across India is that it is because of their party
policies which has stimulated growth in agriculture in excess of 4%. This
excess production has resulted in depressed prices for which reason the farmers
are firstly, upset and secondly, unable to pay their loans. This unashamedly
absurd claim by the BJP to garner credit for increased agriculture production
which has happened because of the good monsoon last year is completely
irresponsible. Tomorrow, in the BJP attempt to project Narendra Modi as a great
leader they will probably say that because of him the Sun rises in the
East! With the increased output of produce because of good rains, where is
the cold chain infrastructure that the BJP promised in 2014 when a similar
situation had prevailed with vegetables and fruits rotting in the fields and
farmers coming onto the highways and dumping their produce there in protest?
The cold chains is something that the BJP has conveniently forgotten just as
their election promise of remunerative prices to farmers.
Another attempt by the BJP to divert attention
from the farmer's unrest in MP and give brownie points to Shivraj Singh Chauhan
is to say that though national growth in agriculture is 4%, there are certain
pockets across the country like MP because of very good monsoon last year and
the policies of the CM the agriculture growth has been 14-18%. This bountiful
harvest is the reason where as said earlier with larger production, prices have
dropped. Now this claim seems plausible but given the BJP's track record of massaging
figures like GDP, IIP, WPI, CPI etc. to their advantage you need to take this
argument with a large pinch of salt.
In the light of farmer’s agitations in
Maharasthra and the loan waiver announced by CM Phadnavis. Arun Jaitley has
said that the Centre will not fund these loan waivers and the States involved
need to find their own resources for this scheme. But in the same breath, he
also said that he will try and expedite the NPA issue with Banks and have
discussions with RBI to expedite the matter. So you decide who is championing
whose cause, the poor or the rich. Moreover it is not only the RBI, but also
the banks particularly and to some extent the media are giving a negative slant
to the loan waivers for farmers which is a fait accompli now. RBI has been
saying it is bad policy to waive farmer's loans. The banks have been saying
that some farmers have been intentionally defaulting on their loans so that
they qualify for waival. So what's new, it is what some in the industry have
been doing for the last 50 years by running their factories to the ground so
that they become sick which qualifies them for concessions and progressively
waival of their loans. Thus we should not try to pull down just the farmers
since they are doing what every other Indian has been doing. We also need to
remember that for loan waival the farmers are the most deserving since they put
food on your plate and if they do not work maybe you will have to go
starving.
As for recovery of NPA's from defaulting
industry parallel to the exercise of recovery and/or write-off just like Vijay
Mallya is being made an example of being a prime defaulter, why is a similar
example not being made from the banking industry who gave the loans which are
today's NPA's. Like for Vijay Mallya's the principle creditor is SBI,
so why is then then Chairman who was responsible for sanctioning these loans
and/or other senior SBI officials not hauled up for criminal proceedings
of conspiracy and larceny. Charges of mishandling of public money is in order like
in the NDTV case? So will Arun Jaitley deign to unleash the CBI on SBI to get
the real truth out? Otherwise the banks will continue to write-off each year
these NPA's from their books leading to public money being quietly being
washed down the drain.
Cow Troubles
The newspapers carried reports the other day of some 6 cows
having died in Pali, Goa because of having ingested plastic. It is a common
sight not only in Goa but across India to see cattle on our roads and open
spaces. They survive by eating from the garbage dumps and with plastic bags
being commonly used to throw out garbage, it automatically follows that the
cattle eat plastic. There have been earlier pictures of cows with swollen
bellies because of the ingestion of plastic and randomly you hear that a cow
when dissected had some 15 Kgs. of plastic in its stomach. We are a very
contradictory society. On one side we say the cow is sacred to us but at the
same time we let it loose on the roads to forage for itself. These cattle on
the roads are also a menace to traffic particularly during the rainy season and
at night times. There has been many a death across India of people whose
scooters or motorcycles have hit the cattle lying on the road. If the cattle
are kept safely in their farms and/or sheds then many human lives
would be saved. These inputs are being given since they are in line
to the special bond that people claim to have with cows
so should they not take care of them. There have been also reports that
where people have put up gaushalas,
they are unable to operate because of lack of funds and have no
alternative but to starve the animals that are housed in the shelter. When this
is the actual status on the ground in relation to the cow, why glorify its
status to Hindu society and attack people who are involved in the cattle trade
and its byproducts including the consumption of beef. It seems the attacks are
pre-planned and with other motives and the cow is being used just as an
excuse to legitimise such action. There is some Hindu convention being
held at Ramnathi which one is told will debate upon the protection of the cow
and one hopes that it will look into the above matters first before looking at
taking vengeance against their fellow human beings.
Champions Trophy Semi-Final Line-up Indicative of Cricket's
Contemporary Status
The semi-final line-up of the Champions trophy being held
currently in England and Wales and completing with today's (Sun, 18th June
2017) final, reflected the past and present of international cricket. England's
presence in the last 4 was related to the game of cricket having started there
while its evolution to the present day is shown by the 3 teams completing the
line-up being from South Asia - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka
another South Asia country almost made it to the semi-finals. This is
indicative that the game of cricket both in terms of public popularity and
revenue is now resident in South Asia. Bangladesh's presence was a
surprise but a welcome one nonetheless since after being accorded Test status
they have really improved their game making them a team that could on its best
day upset any of the other cricket playing nations in the top bracket. The
ICC therefore has been doing a commendable job in carrying the game of cricket
around the world and encouraging the smaller cricket playing nations by giving
them all the opportunity they need.
Virat Kohli
Just Gifted The Champion's Trophy Final To Pakistan
Virat
Kohli has just got out in the Champion's Trophy Final at The Oval. This shows
the outcome of the match which in most likelihood will be a victory for
Pakistan. If this happens then it will be because Virat Kohli gifted the final
to Pakistan on a platter. When you win a toss in a final, you bat. This is
simply to put the opposing team under pressure and not take the pressure on
yourself if they come good as it happened with Pakistan this time. Saying that
we like to chase is immature. Virat Kohli simply underestimated his opponent
this time and in the bravado stemming from overconfidence, he put in Pakistan
to bat. Our bowlers are good but track records will show that the Pakistan's
pace bowlers are better in England. So clearly asking Pakistan to bat in the
final was a bad decision and for that reason one would believe that Virat Kohli
should resign from the captaincy. Given his current spat with coach, Anil
Kumble, it should be that Kumble should stay. One is hoping for a miracle to
happen now with Shikhar Dhawan & Yuvraj Singh batting with the likes of
Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Jadeja and Jadhav to follow but the asking run rate is
too steep. After an excellent run-up to the final but for the Sri Lanka game,
India under Virat Kohli has squandered a final and in consequence the
Champion's Trophy.
With Brexit, Is England More Vulnerable To Terror?
There seems to be some relationship between
the spate of varied terror attacks that England has been seeing in the last few
months and the Brexit plan. With
the sun having set a long time back on the British Empire and with the Union
Jack no longer ruling the oceans, in the moving away from the EU, England one
suspects is being seen by the perpetrators of terror like the IS as fair game
considering its likely individual status in a short while. The ability to detect and respond to terrorist action by
English law enforcement is maybe believed by the terrorists to be suspect
without the assistance of the EU sharing of intelligence and
logistics support. Otherwise there is no logic for the spate of terror
incidents at prominent locations and with different methodology mostly in
London at this time. There also seems to be a jihadi element
in the attacks where the terrorists seek maximum visibility and are prepared to
give up their lives in the attack. This could be one of the negatives of the
Brexit move making England more vulnerable to terror.
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