The BJP talks so much of fighting corruption, claiming that they are not corrupt and that corruption has no place in their scheme of things that one gets tired of listening to them. Actually all this corruption talk is for show since what they do is exactly the opposite. Take the matter of the Silly Souls Bar & Restaurant case in Goa involving Smriti Irani, Central Minister and family relating to their ownership of the bar. Despite conclusive evidence that they were running the establishment in a video anchored by a celebrated TV food critic interviewing Smriti Irani's daughter on the premises. That the bar licence used by the restaurant was issued upon presentation of false documents and it was wrongly renewed after the licencee's death. That there existed a lease agreement giving the premises to a Co. run by Smriti Irani's husband and the GST registration of this Co. was at the address of the restaurant, Smriti Irani continues to deny any link with the establishment. The simplest thing that Smriti Irani could have done is that at the outset she could have admitted the link with the establishment and accepted that the bar licence matter was not verified. This happens in business dealings where people suppress information to seek pecuniary advantage. Thus the matter would have been closed. Instead of that Smriti Irani went out in an all-out denial of any links with the restaurant which prompted people to dig deeper. Thus more dirty dealings came out. This is what happens when uneducated people deal with common matters. The matter is now being further compounded with the Goa BJP government amending the excise rules to allow transfer of a bar licence. Whether this is with retrospective effect is a matter that needs to be checked. Whether Smriti Irani will travel to the heavens above to get the dead man's signature on the licence transfer is another interesting aspect of the matter. Now why the Goa government should amend its Excise rules to save a Central Minister is anybody’s guess? Is this what the BJP has been talking of what they mean is a Double Engine government? The Central Ministers will come and shit in your backyard and the local government will hurry to make the apologies and pick it up. Why Pramode Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa has to bend his back and be pliant is another question? Why could be not have been firm and told Smriti Irani that if she has made a mistake then to openly admit it and close the matter? She is after all a Minister with a minor portfolio because of her track record of past gaffes. The Goa government should have shown more spine in this matter and not allow themselves open to the charge of being an accomplice in the matter. Smriti Irani is also not likely to get out of this matter easily since the people out to expose her can go to court and have the amendment struck down and then she will be left holding the sack. Time to admit her fault and not protract the matter compounding clearly a blatant misuse of executive powers. Thus we see that the BJP is not as much holy as they project themselves to be.
Modi In Election Mode - 2 - Gujarat : 19 Oct 2022
Even as the CEC was announcing the schedule for the Himachal elections, Modi and his Sancho Panza, Amit Shah and the lesser minion, Nadda were huddling together in 7, Racecourse Road (now Lok Kalyan Marg) along with the Gujarat CM Patel and other senior State BJP leaders. What was the conspiracy about?
It was about the Gujarat Assembly elections. The first thing had been done. The CEC had been bent to defer the announcement of the Gujarat elections. This would help Modi and the BJP announce sops for the State. With Modi visiting the State for the DefExpo, it would be the proper time to come out with some sops. There was a need to also coordinate among other agencies to pitch in and make their own contributions to help win the Gujarat elections. After all the BJP had been in power in the State for the last 27 years and losing the elections would be a disaster and a tremendous loss of face to the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah respectively. Thus the Amul Cooperative is the first wicket that has fallen in this 'noble' mission. Though the price of Amul was raised recently by Rs. 2 per litre across the country, the hike has been kept in abeyance in Gujarat. The second wicket to fall, one cannot say that since it is in their own interest, was the Gujarat government who has pitched in and reduced the VAT by 10% on LPG & Piped gas as also increased the number of free LPG cylinders to 2 in a year to the poor. We have to wait and see what other direct benefits are given to the people of Gujarat before the MCC - Model Code of Conduct kicks in.
The question is not why give these since if the people benefit it is good, but the question is why NOW? Right at the time when the Assembly elections are around the corner. Are these not freebies, more directly given than any of the other parties promises? Is Modi not against giving freebies? Can he deny that he made a public plea to stop the freebie culture? So is he going back on what he said about freebies? How can we rely on this man who is obviously double faced?
The reason for announcing these freebies and another Rs.16,000 crores worth of projects in Gujarat when he visits the State now for the DefExpo, is that the BJP is jittery about anti-incumbency and is afraid that they may lose the State. The people in the street in Gujarat like taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers have been openly asking - What has the BJP done for us? Added to this is the strident campaign of AAP in the State with its offer for freebies that has made the BJP worried. Apart from multiple arrests of AAP functionaries in the State for minor offences, the head of the AAP State unit, Gopal Italia was also thrown into jail. This is nothing short of intimidation by the authorities against AAP. Added to that the AAP senior party members like the Delhi Dy CM Sisodia and others who are helming the election campaign in Gujarat have been kept busy by the CBI and ED on the pretext of interrogation for assumed offences. This is to clearly thwart their efforts towards electioneering in Gujarat. It is said that - All is fair in Love & War. Amended to also elections in the Indian context. But it is patently unfair to use Central enforcement agencies to lend the BJP and incumbent government in Gujarat a hand. This again shows that Modi and his team are clearly insecure and will stoop to any level to win the election in Gujarat as also other places.
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VOX POPULI
by
AAM ADMI
Issue No. : N 003
Issue Date: 24 Oct 2022
HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL YE WHO DOTH PASS THROUGH THIS BLOG. MAY THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS BRING YOU JOY, GOOD CHEER, HAPPINESS, GOOD HEALTH AND PROSPERITY TO YOU & YOUR FAMILIES.
Contents:
1. Dumb & Dumber: Teaching Medicine In Hindi
2. The Silly-ier Souls Bar & Restaurant Case in Goa : Starring Smriti Irani
3. Modi In Election Mode - 2 - Gujarat
Dumb & Dumber: Teaching Medicine In Hindi : 23 Oct 2022
Amit Shah commended Madhya Pradesh in trying to teach Medicine in Hindi. He termed it as a historic decision. It is indeed 'historic' since as time goes by we will have medical practitioners in Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Khasi, Bodo, Oriya, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Kannada and sundry other languages as specified in the Official Languages Act. Thus for people who are on All India transferable service like the Defence forces, banks and PSU's they will have to pick up the local language before they can visit a doctor when sick. Or carry a local person to act as translator. What treatment the patient will get maybe only Amit Shah can spell out. Thus this initiative though good in theory is just not practical. In terms of developing textbooks for teaching medicine and even engineering, it is extremely difficult to translate technical terms and we will end up with textbooks littered with Hinglish terms if the base language is Hindi. The same in other languages where attempts are made to teach professional courses. We do not have a single language that is spoken across the country and even Hindi is not accepted in many States. Even within Hindi there are many variations like Maithili, Bhojpuri etc. and when it was thought of making it a single official language, questions had been raised as to which Hindi to choose. That is why English was chosen by our language experts as the 'link' language that would be the language for business and higher education. There is also no truth in saying that those knowing English are of higher intellect than those who know only the regional languages. Even Narendra Modi has been saying this that people not knowing English are considered lowly. People like him holding the office of the Prime Minister should not say such things. He is trying to play on the sentiments of the masses to win support and enhance his image but at the same time insulting them. This should not be done since the myth that those knowing English are superior is fast fading in today’s times. Thus all higher education should use English as the medium of instruction so that we are able to access the best of textbooks to impart a good education to our students. Our present leadership within the BJP talk with warped logic. On the one hand they want our youth to proudly become world citizens but at the same time they want them to learn in regional languages. This approach will automatically put them at a disadvantage while competing with the best in the world. At least if they are taught in English there will be an equity of opportunity for them to compete on the world stage. The quality of doctors within the country has been rapidly falling with the disappearance of the good old GP which today is a extinct breed. The tendency of the doctors currently is towards specialisation and to depend for diagnosis more on tests than by symptoms. This situation has been further complicated by doctors who obtain admission to medical colleges through capitation fee and not necessarily by merit. This reflects in the way they treat patients where out of necessity they have to depend on automated processes of seeking test results. Thus overall the quality of medical care has fallen over the years. The situation will be compounded further by the language problem now if medicine will be taught in the regional language. Hindi is clearly a regional language only spoken in some areas of the north in India.
The Silly-ier Souls Bar & Restaurant Case in Goa : Starring Smriti Irani : 20 Oct 2022
The BJP talks so much of fighting corruption, claiming that they are not corrupt and that corruption has no place in their scheme of things that one gets tired of listening to them. Actually all this corruption talk is for show since what they do is exactly the opposite. Take the matter of the Silly Souls Bar & Restaurant case in Goa involving Smriti Irani, Central Minister and family relating to their ownership of the bar. Despite conclusive evidence that they were running the establishment in a video anchored by a celebrated TV food critic interviewing Smriti Irani's daughter on the premises. That the bar licence used by the restaurant was issued upon presentation of false documents and it was wrongly renewed after the licencee's death. That there existed a lease agreement giving the premises to a Co. run by Smriti Irani's husband and the GST registration of this Co. was at the address of the restaurant, Smriti Irani continues to deny any link with the establishment. The simplest thing that Smriti Irani could have done is that at the outset she could have admitted the link with the establishment and accepted that the bar licence matter was not verified. This happens in business dealings where people suppress information to seek pecuniary advantage. Thus the matter would have been closed. Instead of that Smriti Irani went out in an all-out denial of any links with the restaurant which prompted people to dig deeper. Thus more dirty dealings came out. This is what happens when uneducated people deal with common matters. The matter is now being further compounded with the Goa BJP government amending the excise rules to allow transfer of a bar licence. Whether this is with retrospective effect is a matter that needs to be checked. Whether Smriti Irani will travel to the heavens above to get the dead man's signature on the licence transfer is another interesting aspect of the matter. Now why the Goa government should amend its Excise rules to save a Central Minister is anybody’s guess? Is this what the BJP has been talking of what they mean is a Double Engine government? The Central Ministers will come and shit in your backyard and the local government will hurry to make the apologies and pick it up. Why Pramode Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa has to bend his back and be pliant is another question? Why could be not have been firm and told Smriti Irani that if she has made a mistake then to openly admit it and close the matter? She is after all a Minister with a minor portfolio because of her track record of past gaffes. The Goa government should have shown more spine in this matter and not allow themselves open to the charge of being an accomplice in the matter. Smriti Irani is also not likely to get out of this matter easily since the people out to expose her can go to court and have the amendment struck down and then she will be left holding the sack. Time to admit her fault and not protract the matter compounding clearly a blatant misuse of executive powers. Thus we see that the BJP is not as much holy as they project themselves to be.
Given below is a WA post by Aires Rodrigues, well-known advocate and activist, who has been pursuing the SillySouls case:
AND NOW A NOTIFICATION TO SHIELD SMRITI IRANI
By Aires Rodrigues
Goa Government has hurriedly amended the Goa Excise Rules, with a clear motive of helping “Silly Souls Café and Bar” in escaping from the clutches of the law, knowing that the illegally obtained liquor licence by the now controversial ‘Silly Souls Café and Bar’ in Assagao allegedly run by the family of Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani was clearly in the wrong.
This notification issued on 10th October permits an Excise licence to be assigned to any other person or a Partnership firm. The rules have been amended not in public interest but to malifiedly protect the blatant illegalities and fraud committed by Smriti Irani’s family.
The amended Rules are contrary to the Goa Excise Duty Act, 1964 and particularly Section 104(1) which mandates that a license granted is purely personal and not transferable. Once the Act bars such transfer, the Rules, which are subordinate Legislation, cannot override the parent Act nor run contrary thereto. These new rules being illegal cannot be acted upon, being still-born.
The Excise licence obtained by late Anthony Dgama in January 2021 was by fraud and suppression of facts. In 2022 it was renewed in a dead man’s name as Anthony Dgama had passed away on 17th May 2021.
The family of Anthony Dgama before the Excise Commissioner have denied that the property where Silly Souls Café & Bar is located was leased to Eightall Food and Beverages. But the lease agreement obtained from the Goa Food & Drugs Administration has revealed that the premises were infact leased with effect from 1st January 2021 for a period of 10 years at a monthly rent of Rs 50,000 to Eightall Food and Beverages which is operating in partnership with Ugraya Mercantile Pvt Limited of which Zubin Irani the husband of Smriti Irani is a Director.
The GST No 30AAIFE7039H1ZM used by Silly Souls Café & Bar is also in the name of Eightall Food and Beverages as well the Food & Drugs Licence too. This tailor made notification is to now legalise the illegality to the benefit of Smriti Irani’s family.
It is anguishing that whilst the Government claims to be waging an all-out war against illegal acts in the State and whilst the common man was suffering, the Government has dared to bend and crawl, just to save their political bosses from embarrassment.
Modi In Election Mode - 2 - Gujarat : 19 Oct 2022
Even as the CEC was announcing the schedule for the Himachal elections, Modi and his Sancho Panza, Amit Shah and the lesser minion, Nadda were huddling together in 7, Racecourse Road (now Lok Kalyan Marg) along with the Gujarat CM Patel and other senior State BJP leaders. What was the conspiracy about?
It was about the Gujarat Assembly elections. The first thing had been done. The CEC had been bent to defer the announcement of the Gujarat elections. This would help Modi and the BJP announce sops for the State. With Modi visiting the State for the DefExpo, it would be the proper time to come out with some sops. There was a need to also coordinate among other agencies to pitch in and make their own contributions to help win the Gujarat elections. After all the BJP had been in power in the State for the last 27 years and losing the elections would be a disaster and a tremendous loss of face to the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah respectively. Thus the Amul Cooperative is the first wicket that has fallen in this 'noble' mission. Though the price of Amul was raised recently by Rs. 2 per litre across the country, the hike has been kept in abeyance in Gujarat. The second wicket to fall, one cannot say that since it is in their own interest, was the Gujarat government who has pitched in and reduced the VAT by 10% on LPG & Piped gas as also increased the number of free LPG cylinders to 2 in a year to the poor. We have to wait and see what other direct benefits are given to the people of Gujarat before the MCC - Model Code of Conduct kicks in.
The question is not why give these since if the people benefit it is good, but the question is why NOW? Right at the time when the Assembly elections are around the corner. Are these not freebies, more directly given than any of the other parties promises? Is Modi not against giving freebies? Can he deny that he made a public plea to stop the freebie culture? So is he going back on what he said about freebies? How can we rely on this man who is obviously double faced?
The reason for announcing these freebies and another Rs.16,000 crores worth of projects in Gujarat when he visits the State now for the DefExpo, is that the BJP is jittery about anti-incumbency and is afraid that they may lose the State. The people in the street in Gujarat like taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers have been openly asking - What has the BJP done for us? Added to this is the strident campaign of AAP in the State with its offer for freebies that has made the BJP worried. Apart from multiple arrests of AAP functionaries in the State for minor offences, the head of the AAP State unit, Gopal Italia was also thrown into jail. This is nothing short of intimidation by the authorities against AAP. Added to that the AAP senior party members like the Delhi Dy CM Sisodia and others who are helming the election campaign in Gujarat have been kept busy by the CBI and ED on the pretext of interrogation for assumed offences. This is to clearly thwart their efforts towards electioneering in Gujarat. It is said that - All is fair in Love & War. Amended to also elections in the Indian context. But it is patently unfair to use Central enforcement agencies to lend the BJP and incumbent government in Gujarat a hand. This again shows that Modi and his team are clearly insecure and will stoop to any level to win the election in Gujarat as also other places.
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If you have any issues with this blog, revert to the author at contact details given below:
S Kamat
Mob: 0 7218698906
Email: kamatsrinivas@hotmail.com
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