Vox Populi Issue 242

                                                           VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 242                      Date: 30.07.2018

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:

1. Issues of Mis-Governance by Present BJP Government

2. Parrikar's Fishy Governance

3. The Sabarimalai Temple Judgment Does Not Take Into Account Matters Of

     Faith

4. The Rising Cost of PM Narendra Modi to India

5. Stray Dogs Need To Be Caught & Put In Enclosures for A Swaccha Bharat

6. Banning Import of Fish Without Corresponding Assurance of Supply is 

     Meaningless

7. The Modus Operandi Of Lynching

                        Issues of Mis-Governance by Present BJP Government

Piyush Goyal, acting FM seems to know more about Swiss banks than what they themselves know while contesting the fact that the Indian deposits have gone up in the last year! He brought some report very intricate and complicated from another source to show that the deposits have actually gone 'down'. The very manner in which this was done created a very serious credibility issue with Goyal's claim. Such tactics are those of bullies who not wanting to know anything adverse about themselves try to muscle their opinions on others to prove that they are right. The BJP have been consistently doing this through the pendency of this government. 

Like in the case of lynchings where the victims have been mostly Muslims and Dalits and happening in BJP governed States, the BJP are bringing the charge of being communal against the Opposition parties mostly the Congress instead of getting their cadres or those perpetrating such incidents to stop or catching such people and bringing them to justice. 

Also the waiving of GST on sanitary napkins and making it Nil has resulted in local manufacturers not being able to avail input credit. This again shows that this government does not think through its measures. It will take another couple of months to solve the input credit issue and until that time the government touted  price reduction for sanitary napkins will not happen because manufacturers are unable to reduce prices or can cut it down just marginally by 1-1.5%. The local manufacturers fear that by reducing the GST to zero and not giving input credit to them, the market will be flooded by imported sanitary napkins driving them out of business. This brings back to mind the days of Demonetisation and GST implementation where the measures were good in concept but being put through badly resulted in untold miseries for the common people. 

The PM Research Fellowship (PMRF) program earlier limited to premier educational institutions like IIT's has now been expanded to all universities in the country. The fact that it was limited to some institutions had created a heartburn and had attracted charges of discrimination. The other reason for heartburn is that the amounts of stipend for the PMRF program is much higher than the similar fellowships run by the UGC & other Departments like Science & Technology which will now come to the fore since it is pretty apparent that the stipends need to be rationalised across different fellowship schemes. All this is happening within one year of the launch of the PMRF program. It is felt therefore that the program could have been launched with greater attention and its ramifications on other similar schemes of the government.

                                        Parrikar's Fishy Governance

Manohar Parrikar seems to have lost his touch for governance. You can see this in the ham-handed manner he has been handling the formalin-in-fish issue. Being the Chief Minister of Goa instead of his interest lying in the well-being of Goans, he made a statement in the Assembly about his concern that the tourists are not ordering fish in the hotels. Have we come to the stage that we need to sacrifice our interests for the benefit of tourists? Or is it only for the benefit of tourists will things get done in Goa and not for its local people? The other thing is about the fish mafia operating in the Margao wholesale market. Having been Chief Minister many times, is this the first time that he is becoming aware of the mafia? Also it is insulting to Goans to make out that one man, Ibrahim or whatever his name is, controls the fish trade in Goa? This is what even Parrikar's statements have made us believe where he has said that some politicians are linked to the mafia. Lastly, allowing fish trucks to come to Goa from other States except for consumption is leaving the door slightly open for fish wholesalers to earn more than a premium at this time of shortage since this fish will finally end up only in the markets. If you have a ban then you should have a complete ban and stop all fish coming into Goa. If Goans are suffering by not having fish in their daily diet, the fish processors need also to suffer and forego their business in the interests of Goa for the duration of the ban.   

The Sabarimalai Temple Judgment Does Not Take Into Account Matters Of Faith 

The Sabarimalai Temple judgment is indicative of the very limited scope that the Supreme Court judges have taken and that is the equity of men and women. Shri Parasaran, counsel for the Nair Soceity appearing in the case before the Supreme Court  has argued eloquently and brought out almost all aspects to negate the judgment that has not taken into account the matters of faith. It is faith that last Mon, 23rd July on the occasion of Ashadi Ekadasi the Lord Vittal temple in Pandharpur attracted anywhere between 8-10 Lakh pilgrims to pay their respects to the deity, some who may have walked from near Alandi near Pune to Pandharpur, a distance of close to 300 Km. over a span of 15 days. These devotees get the physical strength to undergo the journey by the power of their faith in the Lord. Nobody gives them transportation, the devotees come on their own unlike political rallies were people are herded into buses or other means of transport but even then they are no match for the crowds that throng temples for religious events. The Rathayatra at around the same time in Puri draws similar crowds of devotees.  The Kumbh mela at Allahabad is another example where large crowds are drawn by their faith in the event. There are other lesser pilgrimages of similar nature in North & Eastern India where it is pure faith that inspires the devotees to go beyond the boundaries of their physical self. Even at Sabarimalai it is again faith that draws the pilgrims to the temple in the middle of the forest in huge numbers. It is now that roads have been built and access to the temple has been made easier but even now there are the die-hards who prefer to trek through the jungle, camping in the open for at least 5-6 days facing the risk of being attacked by wild animals, crossing the river Pamba and then reaching the temple the first day it opens for the Makara Vilakku festival. Such things cannot be explained or rationalised in the limited framework of black and white paperwork. Allowing women of the ages of 10-50 to the Sabarimalai Temple will shatter the faith of the countless multitudes of pilgrims that visit it during the two limited spans that it is open during the year. Lately the Supreme Court has been a touch over-enthusiastic in taking up matters which may not necessarily be in their domain taking advantage of which there are petitioners who file cases in the hope of getting a judgment which makes the matter beyond the reach of any other argument. The Supreme Court needs to be wary of such tendencies. A case in point of equivalence that can be cited is that the Mumbai High Court lately has been asking why so many abortion cases of advanced foetus formation are coming to it since maybe it was more than generous with its judgments in earlier cases. 

                              The Rising Cost of PM Narendra Modi to India

Modi's cost for the Jaipur rally held on 7th July 2018 was about Rs. 7.5 crores mainly to transport some 2,50,000 attendees. In addition t9 this there was the cost of food that was given to those who were brought for the rally. This entire cost was to be borne by State and Central agencies and not by the party. No wonder the fiscal deficit is spiralling beyond control. To recover all this the government will again pick the common man's pockets by increasing some levies and taxes. The PM is expected to address 50 such rallies in Rajasthan alone before the Assembly elections there and you can well imagine the cost that we, the public will have to bear. The PM has again gone off on an African tour touching South Africa among other countries. If you take statistics since 2014 when Narendra Modi became PM you will find that he is the most widely travelled head of State in the world. The embarrassed government has been at its wit's end to find ways of refusing RTI enquiries on the cost of the PM's visits abroad which it has in any case been successful in stalling. 

        Stray Dogs Need To Be Caught & Put In Enclosures for A Swaccha Bharat

Rabies inoculation for stray dogs being done in Goa in association with a NGO should have been expanded in its scope. In any case the dogs need to be caught to be inoculated for rabies at which time they could have been put in pens so that they do not roam free. Dogs are a major source of dirtying our surroundings with their pooh (shit) & their habit of urinating anywhere and everywhere. These stray dogs are also a source of danger for small children and older people whom they attack sometimes with fatal consequences as we have seen across the country. Therefore it is important that they are not allowed to be let loose.  The success of the Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan  will depend to a large extent how we are able to stop the dirtying of Bharat by stray dogs.  

Banning Import of Fish Without Corresponding Assurance of Supply is Meaningless

On the formalin in fish issue we are still going in circles with the Goan people continuing to be deprived of fish. The latest statement of CM Parrikar that he would extend the ban on imported fish if the people want to feel safer should have been backed up by the undertaking that once the fishing season starts next week, Goan trawlers would be asked to deliver their fish to local markets only. It is going to be close to one month now that the controversy has erupted and with not only the Goan people deprived of fish but the trade also suffering for lack of a proper decision in the matter. In contrast in neighbouring Maharashtra when there was the suspicion of formalin in fish in some markets from fish brought from outside the State last week CM Phadnavis immediately had the fish tested and after ensuring it was clear allowed the sale of fish and also set up a testing procedure across all major markets of seafood. There was no bickering about this, that and the other like we are seeing in Goa. The simple thing that could have been done in Goa was to immediately have all outside fish come to the Margao wholesale market where the FDA could have set up a temporary laboratory to test the fish for formalin and other adulterants and only with their clearance the fish would be allowed to be unloaded  and sold. As days passed this temporary lab could become a permanent facility. Also outstation suppliers would become wary knowing Goa's testing procedure and supply only good fish. What we are seeing is just a tamasha of banning without considering the needs of the people and the depriving of income of the trade particularly those for whom the daily earnings are important. Mr Parrikar, Clearly this is not a government that works! 

                                The Modus Operandi Of Lynching

The way the model for lynching works is that it is instigated by the BJP top leadership but since it happens in the States they can wash their hands of it since law and order is a State subject. Thus they have a deniability on the matter. This is the devious manner in which the lynching wave is being carried across India but unfortunately the majority of the incidents are happening in BJP ruled states which is coming back as a slap on the party's face. All this is part of a plan to orchestrate communal riots just prior to the General Elections. The BJP does this to boost their macho image which they believe makes them win elections in the Hindi heartland. You can see indicators of this with Ministers at the Centre accusing Congress and other Opposition parties of being communal and one Minister going to the extent of saying that more the lynchings, more the popularity of the PM! 

 

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Vox Populi Issue 241

                                                           VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 241                      Date: 23.07.2018                 
       Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1. Supreme Court Is Wrong In Allowing Women Between The Age Of 10-50 Years Into 

    The Sabarimalai Temple

2. Who's Communal - BJP or Congress?

3. Winning The No-Confidence Motion By The Opposition

4. Do Not Keep Adding People In Government 

5. Modi's Acche Din In Dreams Only

6. Investigate Formalin Issue Thoroughly To Make Fish Edible In Goa

7. Parrikar's Dilemma

8. Is There A Deal Within A Deal For Mallya, Nirav Modi & Choksi?

Supreme Court Is Wrong In Allowing Women Between The Age Of 10-50 Years Into The 

                                                   Sabarimalai Temple

The recent decision by the Supreme Court in allowing women of all ages on the basis of an equity with men into the Sabarimalai Temple is wrong. In matters of faith jurisprudence has no place and the courts and the judges should not interfere. This is being stated with no intention to be disrespectful to the judges including that of the Supreme Court who delivered the above judgment. The courts decide on matters put before them on the basis of the arguments put forward by opposing counsel and on the basis of their knowledge and existing precedents. In matters relating to faith in places of worship, this process is deficient since there is a broader aspect than what is presented by the various persons involved. The knowledge of the judges may also not cover the aspects that are brought out by the particular issue. In the matter at hand it was brought to the knowledge of the courts that the particular deity at the Sabarimalai Temple, Lord Ayyappan is a bachelor and to respect that status women between the ages of 10 - 50 be barred from entry. Also women who are menstruating are considered impure to participate in any Hindu religious ritual. It is not that they are excluded but they actually abstain from the religious ritual for the greater good of their families. Once their menstrual cycle is over they can participate in the rituals and then there is no discrimination. For the Sabarimalai Temple, there is also a purification period of 41 days that needs to be undergone by the visiting devotees which has been followed for generations and there is no necessity of this to be questioned since it is a matter of faith and is voluntary. It is not that this period has been made out to specifically exclude women from visiting the temple as it was made out in the Supreme Court judgment. Any of the arguments that we make to defend excluding women in the age group of 10 - 50 from entering the temple may be deficient because of our own limitations and could have been also related to the remote location of the temple and access to it in olden times may have been difficult or it could have been for the protection of women not to be caught in the multitudes of menfolk who throng the temple for the limited period it is kept open. It is also possible that those who formulated this regulation may have had greater knowledge about the matter and who unfortunately are not there to defend the matter. It is a known fact that as we are progressing through time as we see around us wisdom is depleting which could be another of the limitations that we have to defend the regulation. Thus as said earlier when it comes to matters of faith the courts should not interfere. Just to give an example and this is not to bring an inter-religious dimension to this issue but based on pure and simple logic. In the Christian faith the ordaining of saints is dependent on a certain number of miracles that the particular saint should have performed in the person's lifetime or after their death. These miracles are greatly suspect and will not stand the test that rationalists will put them to or those who are against superstition. So will the Supreme Court entertain a case if some lay person brings a case against naming a particular saint? Obviously not since it is a matter of religious faith for the particular community and supported by their internal institutionalised ordainment procedure. Another aspect related to this matter is that nowadays there are people who seek publicity for no reason except to satisfy their bloated egos. Thus in the matter of this judgment it can be said that the Supreme Court is pandering to these misguided and deviant elements within our society who take pleasure in bringing down established practices. The Supreme Court should have therefore recused themselves from this particular matter and referred it, if it so wished, to a panel of Hindu seers who would be better placed and be more competent to decide on the matter. Lately the Supreme Court has been a touch over-enthusiastic in taking up matters which may not necessarily be in their domain taking advantage of which there are petitioners who file cases in the hope of getting a judgment which makes the matter beyond the reach of any argument. The Supreme Court needs to be wary of such tendencies. A case in point of equivalence that can be cited is that the Mumbai High Court lately has been asking why so many abortion cases are coming to it since maybe i5 was more generous with its judgments in earlier cases. 

                                           Who's Communal - BJP or Congress?

Recently 2 Cabinet Ministers from the BJP have called the Congress party communal. This is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. One of the Ministers has gone further and said that leading up to the 2019 General Elections the Congress party will play the communal card. It should not be that the BJP playing the game by using the aggressive posture of calling others what it actually is, deal out the first strike card by inciting communal riots. If you track the riots from near the turn of this century, there were the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and then 18 years later we had the 2002 Gujarat riots, so going by that chronology 2020 should be our date for the next major communal conflagration. It can be assumed that here is no harm if in the interest of the General Elections this event is preponed by a year or two to serve the agenda of either political party.

                               Winning The No-Confidence Motion By The Opposition

The way for the joint Opposition to win the the No-Confidence Motion that Parliament will be seized with tomorrow, Friday, 20th July 2018 is to get the disgruntled BJP MP's to abstain in the vote. At various times during the last couple of months it has been said that 50% of the sitting BJP MP's are not likely to get nominations in the upcoming General Elections and out of that some 50-60 from U.P alone. What the Congress and other Opposition parties supporting the No-Confidence Motion have to do is to persuade these MP's to go against the Whip that BJP will Issue and either stay away from Parliament tomorrow on some pretext or other or simply abstain at the t8me of voting. Voice vote or voting by show of hands should be avoided and electronic voting should be used. Postscript: On the night of 20th July 2018 what had to happen, happened in the Indian Parliament and the Opposition lost the vote-of-confidence by 325 - 126 to the BJP-led NDA Government. 

                             Do Not Keep Adding People In Government 

The issue of employment in government keeps coming back all the time in Goa. On the one hand it is clear that the government in Goa is overstaffed. Sometime back when the papers had done a survey it was found that one out of every 15-20 Goans works in the government or putting it another way almost every single family in Goa has at least one person working in government. So why does the government keep on recruiting people?  The CM himself has said that some 1000-1200 government jobs will be advertised in Aug - Sept 2018. Is this required? Why do they not re-deploy the surplus they have in overstaffed departments to others where people are needed? At the clerical level such re-deployment should be possible since specialised skills like for technical jobs are not required. Thus the new jobs could be held back to see if existing employees can be moved around. This is particular true in the context of the DDSSY scheme where the government proposes to run it & the newspapers indicated that there may be some hiring of people necessary for that. Not only that for any work that we see it is said that it has been given to consultants. Like for instance the survey of solid waste being generated across Goa to decide upon a plan for disposal of this. Do we need a consultant  for this? Can the Solid Waste Corporation personnel in association with the PWD not handle this? The approach should not be to have government employees idling and all work passed on to outside consultants. It is important as we go along that the size of the government should be reduced which in turn will result in reduced costs. This should be the approach of the government rather than keep burdening the exchequer. 

                                            Modi's Acche Din In Dreams Only

The much touted MSP hike for agriculture produce announced recently falls far short of the guaranteed 50% margin over costs that Modi had promised or that which the M S Swaminathan Committee had recommended. In fact the farmer’s margin has only increased by little. Will Modi explain why has he suddenly thought about farmers at the fag end of his term in office? He is as much responsible for neglecting farmer's interests as the Congress or the other Opposition parties. What was he doing all along since 2014 when he came into office? Maharashtra the Death State for farmers and a BJP run State has reported 695 farmer suicides, the maximum among all other States, in the first quarter of 2017.  Similarly there is a health insurance scheme launched by the Central government that quotes big numbers on coverage but if you look at the budgets provided for the scheme on claim payouts, it amounts to only Rs. 20 per person. This is the chicanery that this government is playing on its people. All bluff and bluster, hardly any truth in any of the schemes. The excuse is that this is an election year and we have to tolerate this! 

                 Investigate Formalin Issue Thoroughly To Make Fish Edible In Goa

The formalin in fish coming into Goa controversy refuses to die down and is taking many different turns by the day. At the end of it all we will be told that there was no formalin in the fish at all, the FDA will give a clean chit to the fish coming in from other States and as if by magic all the fish would have been cleansed off formalin. But that is not the truth of the matter.

It is not only Goa but other major fish eating States like Bengal, Assam and Orissa have found formalin in the fish consignments that they have been receiving from other States at this same time, the principal culprit in all likelihood being Andhra Pradesh. The ministers who are waxing eloquent on the matter may also tell us that given the fact that we have been eating formalin with our fish for at least the last 10 years, the formalin concentration in our body is saturated for the level to get cancer. Therefore if we eat fish containing formalin now, it really does not matter!

Ten years is being stated since China has been doing this for ages and close to five years ago they were banned from selling seafood into the US for following unhygienic and hazardous practices including use of formalin. With the age of instant communication that we have seen since like with the Net and mobile usage, the idea of using formalin for preserving fish would have come to India particularly where long distance transportation is involved. Across the country it is known that Hilsa from Gujarat would be shipped to Bengal involving at least 5-7 days in road transit and therefore preservation would be an issue. That is where formalin is coming into the picture. In places like Goa where in the monsoon months fishing is banned, the fish comes from distant States like Orissa and Andhra Pradesh involving 4-5 days of roadtransit. Even at other times of the year to meet excess demand fish is brought in from the adjoining and above named States. So here again formalin came into the picture. Andhra Pradesh has been named principal offender by the Bengal FDA authorities from where annually almost 1 lakh tonnes of fish is brought into Bengal. So finding formalin in fish in Goa is not unusual since we also get our fish from the same sources. Once the fish coming from outside States is known to the trade here as containing formalin, will our people be it the wholesalers or retailers lag behind in using it. No, they will use it at times of excess supply or to streamline irregularities of supply and for holding buffer stocks. And by now it has become regular practice. So all of us have been eating formalin laced fish all along.

Therefore the FDA when they raided the Margao market did Goans a great service by bringing out the formalin issue into the open. At least now it will be tackled. The concerned official in FDA who exposed the matter to the media should be complimented and not criticised for acting in the public good. The only thing about the FDA is that they should do these raids on a regular basis and not necessarily on fish alone but all food items. Then they would be acting according to their charter of operations.

All those Ministers who tried to influence the FDA to change their report about the formalin content in the fish should be publicly castigated. Public health should be first and not the wholesale and retail trade in fish and their profits. As for the head of the wholesale fish trading body an enquiry should be launched to find out if he was aware that formalin was being used by his suppliers from other States to preserve the fish and whether the wholesalers are complicit themselves in using formalin. If so they should be  proceeded to be charged on a criminal basis for manslaughter. Why the CM has to get involved in this matter defies comprehension since by saying that he is personally looking into the matter, will the formalin in the fish disappear? He should have left the matter to be dealt by the concerned Minister. Interestingly there has not been a beep from the Fisheries Minister Palyekar on the matter with everybody including the Opposition parties giving opinions, a dime a dozen. Does Palyekar's silence mean that he was all along aware that formalin was being used to preserve the fish? This was the man who had said that he would ensure that fish becomes affordable to Goans which has not happened and there is his ministry official saying that their job is to take care of the interest of fishermen and once the fish reaches the jetties their job is over and from then on where the fish goes or is sold at what price, is none of their business!  This one would say is the height of irresponsibility. 

                                                     Parrikar's Dilemma

It is said that anything that is conceived in an irregular manner will not have anything good come out of it. It will get its due or meet its final proper destiny sooner or later. So is the fate of this coalition government led by the BJP in Goa. Having snatched the opportunity to form the government away from the Congress which was the largest single party after the election results had come out, it is now close to meeting its end, what with almost every single minister of its Cabinet falling sick with serious and debilitating health issues. One could say it  is a 'sick' Cabinet. First it was Manohar Parrikar who was diagnosed with a serious ailment that required him to go to the US for treatment and it is learnt that he will have to travel again to that country for further treatment. Then it was Pandurang Madkaikar who was felled by a brain stroke at Mumbai and has not recovered fully to be able to resume his official duties. It was then the turn of Sudin Dhavlikar having to undergo an angioplasty again at Mumbai and was last reported to be in the ICU. Even before that it was Vishnu Wagh, the Dy. Speaker who again had a stroke and is unlikely to recover from it as per last reports. Thus it is best that Manohar Parrikar  recognises that he should call off this bad deal since in any case he will have to name someone else as Chief Minister. Upon doing that with internal bickering this government will surely fall. So the best is to read the writing on the wall and call the Congress' bluff and hold mid-term elections either immediately or along with the 2019 General Elections and be the first to join the One Nation - One Poll proposition of Narendra Modi. The other day in the papers it was debated why Parrikar can or cannot allocate the portfolios of the sick Ministers to others or even name some new ministers to the Cabinet. At the present moment the ministries under these sick Ministers are being handled by the Chief Minister himself, some 26 with the Monsoon Assembly session looming on the horizon. Parrikar needs to know better and should not overstrain himself considering the state of his health. At the same time he cannot name others as ministers to replace the sick ones since the supporters of the sick Ministers will ask Parrikar, why he has not named an alternate Chief Minister? In chess, this called Check & Mate. 

              Is There A Deal Within A Deal For Mallya, Nirav Modi & Choksi?

In the high profile scam cases like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi etc. the modus operandi of the investigating authorities and the government is to feed media with whatever action that they are taking to show that they are doing something. But if you assess the news about seizures made and the value thereof, you will find compared to the scale of the scam and its consequent liability, the value of property seized be it movable or immovable is peanuts. Thus it is best that the authorities have a SOP of giving reports on such cases to the media on a regular timeline basis unless there is something sensational that needs to be publicised. The recent offer by Vijay Mallya, to pay back his debts from his property valued at Rs. 13,000 crores is yet another scam since firstly, the valuation is suspect since none of his properties that went up for auction fetched anywhere near his declared value or even their market value and secondly, if you read between the lines in this report where mention of his letters to the PM & the FM are mentioned, there seems to be a quiet deal in the offing which is natural considering that the 2019 elections are around the corner and the BJP needs money to fight the elections. So it would not be surprising if starting with Mallya, the first offender or poster boy of scams, as he himself put it, may be completely absolved followed by Nirav Modi & then Choksi, with the aam admi holding the bucket for the losses of the PSB's. 

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Vox Populi Issue 240

                                                          VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 240                      Date: 16.07.2018

                    Visit: aamadmi.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

 

Contents:

1. Supreme Court In Anger Suggesting Demolish Taj Mahal

2. Deal Within A Deal For Mallya, Nirav Modi & Choksi

3. Be Selective But Respond With Rationale On Adverse International Reports

4. Kashmir Is On The Boil Again

5. Jayant Sinha Should Resign, Failing Which Should Be Sacked By Modi

                         Supreme Court In Anger Suggesting Demolish Taj Mahal

The papers carried news y/day, 12th July 2018 that a 2 Bench Supreme Court had in anger told the government that if they cannot maintain the Taj Mahal properly, they can consider demolishing it. The judges may have said this out of frustration but they should factor in the immaturity of this present government and the rightist agenda that they outspokenly practise since they may take the Court's advice literally and go ahead and demolish the Taj Mahal. In the last fortnight or so there have been reports that some politicians from the BJP have been demanding that the Taj Mahal should be renamed as Shiva or Ram Mandir or some such, and it may not be impossible to believe that they may take the Supreme Court's advice literally. The Supreme Court judges one thinks should also in speech and judgment maintain a decorum that does not give ideas to the general public sections of which may interpret it according to their agendas unless the judges themselves have deliberately signalled this action to be taken.

                                  Deal Within A Deal For Mallya, Nirav Modi & Choksi

In the high profile scam cases like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi etc. the modus operandi of the investigating authorities and the government is to feed media with whatever action that they are taking to show that they are doing something. But if you assess the news about seizures made and the value thereof, you will find compared to the scale of the scam and its consequent liability, the value of property seized be it movable or immovable is peanuts. Thus it is best that the authorities have a SOP of giving reports on such cases to the media on a regular timeline basis unless there is something sensational that needs to be publicised. The recent offer by Vijay Mallya, to pay back his debts from his property valued at Rs. 13,000 crores is yet another scam since firstly, the valuation is maybe suspect since none of his properties that went up for auction fetched anywhere near his declared value or even their market value and secondly, if you read between the lines in this report where mention of his letters to the PM & the FM are mentioned, there seems to be a quiet deal in the offing which is natural considering that the 2019 elections are around the corner and the BJP needs money to fight the elections. So it would not be surprising if starting with Mallya the first offender or poster boy of scams, as he himself put it, may be completely absolved followed by Nirav Modi & then Choksi, with the aam admi holding the bucket for the losses of the PSB's. 

           Be Selective But Respond With Rationale On Adverse International Reports

The government remains in denial about international reports which are not convenient to them like on the issue that for women the most dangerous place in the world is India and then that human rights atrocities are happening in Kashmir. The response from us has been without any basis or data of the rejection of the reports. Even our representative in the UN while participating in a debate on the issue spoke on the UN body which prepared the reports not sticking to its mandate of reporting on international war zones but did not contest the report on India as such.  It is understood that the UN Secretary General is backing the UN Humans Rights Commissioner on this matter and seeking a probe based on the report. One can see here that being obtuse and beating around the bush does not help. You should rebut but at the same time take cognizance of the reports and try for rectification or improvement. When there are reports from abroad praising India like another recent one on ease of doing business with India having moved up the scale the BJP and government are quick to jump on it and blow their trumpets but any negative reports they refuse to accept. This is rather strange. 

                                                   Kashmir Is On The Boil Again

Kashmir is on the boil again. The day after Ghulam Nabi Azad made the statement about the increasing number of civilian deaths in Army operations in the troubled State, the headlines in the papers the very next day carried news of a civilian death in a terrorist encounter where 2 terrorists were killed and one surrendered. Again while conducting an area control operation the Army faced a stone pelting crowd and killed 3 civilians including a 16 year old girl on Sat, 7th July 2018. Thus there is nothing wrong in what Azad said. More and more civilians are being killed in police, para-military and Army operations in Kashmir. These are being covered up as collateral damage or the civilians branded collaborators of the terrorists. The attempt is to justify the killing. This has been the pattern even in the North East where the AFSPA was in force though thankfully now with decreasing insurgent activity and peace returning to some of the States there the AFSPA has been withdrawn. The Army acts in such irresponsible manner while called in to play a role in civilian matters like in disturbed areas like Kashmir because of the impunity they are accorded under the AFSPA. We have seen in the recent past how a Kashmiri man was tied to the front of an Army patrol jeep and paraded through villages with announcements that this would be the fate of those indulging in stone pelting. The Army major who used this Kashmiri man as a human shield was given the Area Commander's commendation! If this is is not a violation of human rights then we have to get a definition of what constitutes a human rights violation. Maybe the Army has a logic there that the man is not beaten up or put to other physical harm or even killed! And then we claim that a recent UN Agency report stating major human rights violations in Kashmir to be wrong! The way to go in Kashmir is to use the velvet glove over an iron hand strategy. The situation is already out of hand since we have to understand that once children get involved including as we have seen girls in the agitation who are taking to stone pelting, how deep the pain is. It will take a long time to assuage these hurt feelings and restore normalcy. The way forward is to keep a strict vigil on the leaders of the separatist movement, restrict their movements without actually putting them under house arrest, since if you put them under house arrest they will garner public sympathy and inflame the public. At the same time the government through its administrators should reach out to the common man conveying the message that they sincerely want to help the Kashmiri people and extend the olive branch. As far as control of terrorists is concerned a serious attempt is to be made to seal our borders with Pakistan so that external influence is minimised which will make it better to manage the internal animosity and dissent. The way the government is going about In Kashmir now under Governor's rule is being an election year in the rest of the country and maybe even Kashmir, is to play the macho image a la the surgical strikes and use force. This strategy will boomerang in the government and the BJP's face, who is the principal architect of this strategy, and make the ground situation more difficult to manage in Kashmir.

                  Jayant Sinha Should Resign, Failing Which Should Be Sacked By Modi

Jayant Sinha is understood to have now apologised for garlanding some of the accused in the Jharkhand cow lynching case and gave them sweets at his residence! These people had just got bail from the High Court. This is the conduct of a Minister in the Central Cabinet. This is the BJP of today. Sinha in defence of his action had said earlier in trying to give a spin to his actions that he was honouring the decision of the High Court! Being Yeshwant Sinha's son  and with his education and legacy it was expected a certain amount of political sagacity, a sense of morality  and cultural sensibility would be seen from him. In any case Jayant Sinha cannot remain in his post as Minister and needs to resign failing which Narendra Modi will have to sack him. This is yet another example of how educated people embroiled in politics tend to forget their background and bend over backwards to pamper to their home constituency agenda. 

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Vox Populi Issue 239

                                                           VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 239                       Date: 09.07.2018

                    Visit: aamadmi.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1. Do Not Politicise Surgical Strikes

2. India On Its Way To Lynchistan 

3. Why Is Konkani Dying? 

4. Modi Unmasked

                                      Do Not Politicise Surgical Strikes

Surgical strikes is not an end in itself but a means. It is just a military operation to be used in cases of need like Israel uses it, there is nothing to crow about it. Too much is being made out of the single publicised surgical strike we made against Pakistan. With mediocre minds, a big deal is being made out of the surgical strikes to try and impress the illiterate electorate but intelligent minds will assess this news differently. Take it on a factual basis, what does our army do in peacetime, nothing, unless it is used by the government to fight insurgency and terrorism in some of the border States. Surgical strikes are part of their SOP to protect us from the enemy. It does require political sanction which once it has been given, the surgical strikes should be used as and when required. We cannot sit idle waiting for terrorists to infiltrate into J&K to create chaos like the other day in the papers it said that 150 terrorists were waiting at the LoC to cross over. So essentially there is no need for publicity to be given to surgical strikes nor  politicise them. As long as  they are kept under wraps they remain an effective military tool but not like it is being done now with even the Army Chief joining in to project it as a larger than life effort for the Indian Army. However, if this was the first and last surgical strike that we are or were capable of politicise it by all means and ring in the death of the image of the Indian fighting force. 

                                                     India On Its Way To Lynchistan 

The spate of lynchings that have dotted the entire country from Tripura to the latest in Maharashtra are nothing but the Gujarat model of riots that is being implemented. Just like the Gujarat model of development that was being tom-tomed as something that has to be replicated in all States, the new agenda seems to be to replicate the 2002 Gujarat riots across the country. The reasons for the lynchings can be as diverse as related to the sacred cow, kidnapping, to child lifting for harvesting of organs etc. etc. The lynchings continue to happen because the government in the first cases failed to act quickly and in time to punish the offenders. With mob psychology coming to the fore  since with the initial offenders not being punished, others got emboldened to pursue their own  personal and criminal agendas. Knowing full well that the government would not act against them such troublemakers continue to make mayhem with impunity. Not only that there are cases where the BJP MLA's & MP's support these miscreants with the Jharkhand BJP leader leading the pack claIming that he would meet all legal costs of those arrested in a lynching case. This is exactly what happened in Gujarat in 2002 as the rioters ran amok not a word was uttered to stop them from their communal frenzy nor any administrative action taken to put an end to the destruction of life and property. At that time for 3 days the rioters ran amok which got Vajpayee to remind Narendra Modi to follow Rajdharma. Strangely then Modi seemed to have lost his tongue which affliction continues with him to this day. Whenever there is any major law and order eruption in the country Modi seems stunned and refuses to make any comment. Just like the writer's block Modi seems to suffer from an orator's block where he seems to be at an utter loss for words. Even when rape cases were escalating it required persistent prodding for Modi to come out with a statement that women should be respected in our society. What can you expect from such kind of people who either preside over riots or are accused in murder and/or encounter cases. It is no wonder that the country is going to the dogs. The situation is like you have goondas in a locality where their goons run amok knowing full well that their bosses will not pull them up. These goons then try to outdo each other and compete to see who can do the most atrocious nuisance to catch the bosses eye and garner compliments. This is the state to which Modi and this BJP government has brought India in just 4 years. Give them another term then we will surely end up like Pakistan or be on the road to any country in Middle Africa. Postscript: Jayant Sinha, Yeshwant Sinha's son (this is being mentioned since one would have thought with his education and legacy it was expected a certain amount of political sagacity, a sense of morality  and cultural sensibility would be seen from him) and a Minister in the Central Cabinet garlanded some of the accused in the Jharkhand cow lynching case and gave them sweets at his residence! These people had just got bail from the High Court. This is the BJP today. 

                                                   Why Is Konkani Dying? 

The upcoming Konkani Sammelan to be held on 8th July 2018 will be seized with the issue of the drop in population of those that specify Konkani as their mother tongue. No doubt there can be a lacunae in the figures put out arising from the Census 2011 but the fact remains that all Konkani speaking people know that the language is under threat not only from English but also from Hindi. In these times the important thing to do is to safeguard the interest of the language in the broadest possible manner. However, what is being done by the Konkani protagonists particularly those that are resident in Goa is that they remain rigid, parochial and obstinate in their outlook towards the language. This particularly as regards to the script which is specified as Devanagari in the Official Languages Act. What these people conveniently forget is that some among the self-same Konkani protagonists from Goa recommended this stipulation which the Central authorities without having any great knowledge in the matter put in. Now these protagonists claim that because the Act says it is Devanagari script for Konkani it cannot be changed! Even if the Act says so, these protagonists can show a broad minded attitude for nurturing the language and ensuring its growth. This can be done by  promoting all the scripts in which Konkani is written mainly Romi, Kannada and Malayalam. However, they refuse to do so and pompously talk of the preponderance of the Devanagari script. The resultant effect has been that the growth of the Konkani language has been stifled. Even the process of giving awards in the Konkani language requires that if material is written in any other script, it needs to be put in the Devanagari script before it can be considered for the award. Such convoluted processes of which there are many only end up complicating the growth of the language and lead to a lack of interest among Konkani speaking people to use it. The few awards that are given by following these complex processes are cited by the diehard Konkani protagonists from Goa as proof that the system works! Little do they realise that if all scripts are accepted the number of Konkani works coming in for awards will become a flood proving that the language is alive and kicking. Even at the Konkani Sammelan you will find that these rigid Konkani protagonists supporting the Devanagari script and the exclusion of others will use the Census figures as a diversionary issue to take attention away from the script. Any language for its unhindered and free growth should be encouraged to prosper in a manner the people want it to be, keeping in mind their history, their evolution and the constraints they face. That is why the many scripts have evolved for Konkani more as a compulsion of historical necessity. However, if the pundits of the language want to negate all this and support a rigid framework of a one script policy it is sad state of affairs. History will not pardon these people who throttled the Konkani language and accelerated its untimely death. 

                                                              Modi Unmasked

Narendra Modi has all the time in the world to talk inanities in his attempt to impress gullible minds with convoluted logic and high sounding figures but he has no time to talk about the mushrooming number of rape cases that dot the geography across India and the epidemic of lynching that is spreading like wildfire through the Indian landscape. 

On the inanities first. These quotes are all over the last week from our eminent PM. Modi claimed that some 4 Million senior citizens gave up the concessions on rail fare that they were entitled to. These figures are irrelevant since one does not know if any of these people ever travel by train and even if they do, how often do they travel to make any material difference on the Railways bottom line. One cannot understand why Modi has to concentrate on savings from concessions to senior citizens which is peanuts compared to the huge amounts of so much money that is being wasted on other projects and  schemes. Is there great guts and glory in pinching the pockets of senior citizens any further? Similar credit was desired to be sought in the case of LPG subsidy some years back when it was found that quoted figures of those stated to have given up the subsidy were largely inflated by the Oil PSU's and wrongly accounted, which Modi was blithely quoting to earn brownie points. Unfortunately the brown points turned black scarring Modi's face.

Then Modi quoted that Karnataka and Bengal have claimed that they have created a massive number of jobs while the Centre is blamed for the condition of the economy that is not creating enough jobs for our youth. So his question was is the Centre creating joblessness if the charge of not creating jobs is put at their doorstep. Here again Modi, the master of hyperbole, should know that just like during election times Modi says whatever he likes without assessing the impact of his statements, so also the same liberty and licence need be given to Karnataka. In an election year they can claim anything and no one will hold them accountable unless it is people like Modi who find in it something to make use of. The same goes for Bengal where Mamata Banerjee and the TMC live by hyperbole and violence and the figures that they quote on job creation should be taken with a pinch of salt. The fact that youth are leaving Bengal in droves for job opportunities in the rest of the country and abroad is an open secret which would not have happened if there were jobs in Bengal, which a Bengali hates to leave. Modi being aware of the state of the economy to which sorry state he has brought it to, should know the extent of jobs created by him. If one is not wrong Modi had promised in 2014 that 1 crore jobs would be created. Let him now declare against that promise how many jobs his government created.  On this issue Modi has said that there is a lacunae in the process of assessing job creation. Which means what? He can declare a figure but since the results are not measurable, he cannot be held accountable. This is the duplicity of the man. If Modi was serious in job creation then what was he doing for the last 4 years and why did he not put in place a system for measuring the number of jobs that were created. 

The other strategy that Modi has been adopting lately is to carry the war into the enemy's camp. This is what he did by raising the issue of the Emergency which is history and something which happened some 42 years ago. Similar is the approach when he blames the Congress for undermining public institutions which are the pillars of our democracy. Actually the situation is the opposite. The extent to which public institutions have been undermined since 2014 has not happened since 1947 in free India. The list is long in hierarchical order starting with the RBI, the Election Commission, the Supreme Court which has lately found its voice, one is actually not sure about this,  and reiterating its position as one of the very important pillars of our democracy. Why the Opposition and particularly the Congress does not call Modi's bluff at these times is not understood. By sustained rebuttal of Modi's accusations it will be easy to discredit him. Actually Rahul Gandhi instead of obliquely trying to combat Modi through tweets should have a concerted campaign against Modi and the BJP for having failed in its commitments to the nation  and creating a de-facto Emergency like situation in the country and in addition making it a Rapistan and Lynchistan. By these actions the position of India in the free world has been devalued many times over as we are seeing in multiple reports emanating from different agencies which say that freedom of speech has been severely curtailed, it is the most dangerous place in the world for women etc. etc. 

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Vox Populi Issue 238

                                                   VOX POPULI
                                                              by
                                                        S Kamat
                                                              as
                                                        Aam Admi
                               Issue: 238                       Date: 02.07.2018
               Visit: aamadmi.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1. Modi In His Transit Of Time to The Emergency Has to Stopover At 2002 Gujarat   

    Riots.

2. Giving Dole To Our Youth Is A Bad Idea

3. Demonetisation: Biggest Scam Unleashed By The BJP On Free India

   Modi In His Transit Of Time to The Emergency Has to Stopover At 2002 Gujarat Riots

Why does Narendra Modi and the BJP have to go back four decades to the Emergency? Would it not be easier for him to go back less than two decades earlier to 2002 to the Gujarat riots? Riots close to a pogrom that one saw then was much worse than what the Emergency was all about. Mind you I am not in support of the Emergency since at that time I was in Delhi and have seen from close quarters the atmosphere prevailing at that time and the trenchant work that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had done in standing up to the excesses that were being imposed across the country. As for freedom of speech and civil liberties the progressive curtailment of these fundamental rights since 2014 is there for all to see which has demoted India in the eyes of the world in reports that have been published by foreign agencies. The latest in such reports said India is the most dangerous place in the world for women. What more can you expect with rapes that dot the landscape across India of women ranging from infants of 6 months to old ladies above 70 years. As for law and order today fundamentalist gangs roam the countryside and if you are not aligned to their views you are exposed to violence ranging from thrashing to lynching. One cloth suits all is the slogan of Narendra Modi but not with his monogrammed initials on it and uniformity of public opinion is sought and dissent is derided and ridiculed. We are fast reaching the stage of the fabled Emperor's New Clothes since none in the BJP has the guts to stand up to Modi, so they blow the horn that is official Issue making the same cacophonous noise in praise of the Emperor. Returning to the Emergency theme, it is the classic Modi touch of drawing a red herring across the political firmament to divert public debate. Come on, Modi, get real!

                                        Giving Dole To Our Youth Is A Bad Idea

The Goa Congress' idea for a dole or unemployment allowance for our unemployed youth is like an investment which in fact all government schemes are. The politicians support such schemes for the amount of kickback that they will get. Imagine in a constituency if the MLA is able to get the allowance of Rs. 1000 at the minimum for a 1000 youth or even 500 then if 10% is shovelled back to the MLA then that is a cool Rs. 1 Lakh or Rs. 50,000 a month revenue stream flowing in. Who can look away from that kind of money coming in without lifting a finger? But the basic thing is that a dole or unemployment allowance will make our youth all the more lazy and they will not at all look for a job. Moreover they will look for avenues to earn easy money. It is like the old adage- Give a man a fish and he will come back to you tomorrow. But teach him fishing then you would have helped him forever. Like that let our government train our youth in job skills and make them employable. Today it is a vicious circle, the youth are not skilled for which reason the industry cannot employ them and the youth make no attempt to pick up job skills because they are all waiting for a government job. Actually the malaise relating to employment is deeper particularly in Goa. Why do people keep waiting for a government job? Because of the salaries and the major perk that it offers, you do not have to work and sometimes you do not even have to come to the office to work. Only pick up your monthly salaries and go home. The salaries are also high compared to the work that is put in and over the years the salaries will up go up which is a certainty. So who wants to look for another job? Here again the politician comes in who has a hidden agenda in paying government employees more since it is a vote bank and again while hiring people the concerned officials can make money which in most cases, the share of which goes right up to the minister. Thus higher the salary a very comfortable and pliable body of government employees and higher the money to be paid for getting a government job to the powers-that-be. Thus ends the fairy tale with a happy ending like they say - They all then lived happily ever after. But God help the common man who goes to the government for work. Either he will not find the official in his seat or under some pretext or other he will be made to run around or told flatly that his work cannot be done unless a bribe is paid. This is India, this is Goa. Amen. 

                Demonetisation: Biggest Scam Unleashed By The BJP On Free India

In the aftermath of Demonetisation the seizures that were made from various individuals and entities seems to be only to bring in money to the BJP party coffers. A RTI enquiry by a Mumbai activist got a response from the Finance Ministry that in 2017-18, the amount seized on account of post-Demonetisation unaccounted deposits under Operation Clean Money was Rs. 997.19 crores from 11,120 raids  that were conducted. This out of 1.33 million accounts that were under scrutiny involving Rs. 2.89 Lakh Crores as declared by the Finance Ministry's press release. Again against the seizures made of Rs. 997.19 crores no FIR's were registered and neither were any arrests made by the IT Dept. (For details see The Asian Age, Mumbai edition P2 of 25.6.2018) Again if you assess the 11,120 raids made in 2017-18 it is only around 1% of the 1.33 million accounts under review, so it is logical to assume that the IT Dept. will take a 100 years to complete scrutiny of the cases if they continue at the present pace! Normally the pattern for such activity is that in the year of launch things happen at a frenetic pace and then over the years taper off. While here even though the cases are clearly identified the pace to bring these offenders to book is slow from the beginning and not serious enough. Therefore one suspects there is a different agenda at work. This could be that the remaining suspect account holders would be called and a deal struck so that the IT Dept. Is happy and the BJP party is also made happy. Even a 1% on Rs. 2.88 Lakh Crores is not an amount to turn up your nose at, what with elections around the corner. The latest info as seen in the media is that Swiss banks recorded 50% increase in deposits from Indians over the last year, the total money now held by Indians in Swiss banks is Rs. 7000 crores. BJP coffers also saw the maximum rise among all political parties in the last year. So to add to the above statistics on Operation Clean Money, it is logical to assume that after the BJP share was paid, they could remit the remaining money to Swiss banks or wherever under the scheme that Chidambaran cleared of foreign remittances up to $250,000 do not require special clearance r in whichever manner. And then as is now when the Swiss banks deposit information comes out the government as if it was all ready and prepped up blame Chidambaran for the rise. Come on Jaitley, you know that Chidambaran is history now and if it was so, what were you doing since 2014. You could as well closed the leaking tap by repealing Chidambaran's scheme. Again if you were at all serious about blocking and eradicating black money, the first thing was that you should have done is stopped this scheme. What were you doing, sleeping on the job? And when caught out, go looking for a scapegoat! Jaitley's claim also that the rise in deposits in Swiss banks may be 'white' money which is legitimate is somewhat suspect since generally deposits will track economic growth and with our GDP growing at less than 7% in recent years, how can deposits grow at 50% in a single year and that too in Swiss banks. This is again the black money mafia sneering at the government in its efforts to catch them. At the time of Demonetisation they ran rings around the government by getting dummies to exchange notes and used the Janata accounts to deposit money and now they continue with their unashamed rise in Swiss Bank deposits. Concluding, it is evident that the  Demonetisation was the biggest scam enacted in free India to convert black money into 'white' and to fill the coffers of the ruling BJP party.

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