Vox Populi Issue 260

                                                              VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 260                      Date: 10.12.2018

                    Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:     

1. A Lame Government Looking For Scapegoats

2. The HC Needs To Cut Through The Obfuscation On Parrikar's Ability Now To Run The Government

 3. Make Rasthrapati Bhawan Into Loktantra Bhawan

   

                                  A Lame Government Looking For Scapegoats

The submission that the Director and his deputy, Asthana were fighting like Kilkenny cats by the AG in the Supreme Court in the on-going CBI case about Director Verma's removal is to say the least very amusing. What were the Ministers in charge of the CBI doing? Why were they not able to get their own appointees to toe the line. Surely this is a failure of the present government. Again with the simmering feud between the two officers coming out in the media from July, one needs to surely ask - What was the government doing all along? Common management practice indicates that Asthana should have been removed since Verma's appointment was done by a Committee. But then since Asthana was brought into the CBI by this self-same government to skirmish with the Director and consequently undermine its working, they were caught in a bind. This is precisely what happens when you try to sabotage your own working. It is also reflective of the incompetence of this government and its tendency to govern by agendas rather than on principle and policy. We have seen lately how the present government has been blaming the past regimes for almost everything little realising that for the four years that it has been in power, it has to show at least some achievements. But all it has to show is the failed measures of Demonetisation, GST and the moving to a Cashless Economy. Modi & his team has to wake up since the day of reckoning is not too far off. 

                   The HC Needs To Cut Through The Obfuscation On Parrikar's Ability 

                                            Now To Run The Government

The tangential manner in which the Chief Secretary has responded in his affidavit to the High Court in the matter of the PIL related to the health of the CM and his consequential inability to attend office and in that manner run the government of Goa is, to say the least, very disturbing. This process also shows up the stonewalling approach of the administration while refusing to accept the fact that governance has been suffering since March 2018. It highlights the lack of responsibility on the part of Manohar Parrikar himself and the BJP to perform the onerous task of providing  a government in Goa after accepting the charge of it. Parrikar though claiming that he is not interested to remain Chief Minister has been using extraneous reasons like the BJP central leadership wanting him to retain the seat so that his own public image is not sullied. But he needs to recognise that - You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool all the people some of the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time. Look at the matter in another perspective. Parrikar's primary plank for governance was development. But if he is MIA - Missing In Action, for such a long time, the bus of development is obviously not able to move ahead with its driver missing! As far as the PIL is concerned, it is accepted that an individual medical's records are a private matter but a line needs to be drawn when these records pertain to a public figure particularly the head of government of a State. This is more so when the person does not attend office and participates in the normal activities of the office that he holds. This has been clear from the beginning when the fact that Parrikar was suffering from cancer was hidden from the public to the extent that a police case was filed against an individual for publishing the truth. Therefore such of the medical records that relate to the capability of the individual in the performance of his official duties should be disclosed so that the public satisfies itself whether the current status quo be allowed to continue or whether any alternatives are to be resorted to. Otherwise the court can ask that a medical panel of doctors be constituted to assess the health of Manohar Parrikar and report if he is fit to perform his official duties. This can be done in conjunction with a press report that had appeared in the papers recently that Parrikar's illness has been affecting his faculties. Thus the present PIL seen in the light of the above and in conjunction with the suo moto recognition of the above news report can form the basis for a more factual advice to the people of Goa on the health of their beloved Chief Minister. In any case, the present situation cannot be allowed to continue and the people of Goa deserve someone to be at the helm of affairs to run its government. 

                               Make Rasthrapati Bhawan Into Loktantra Bhawan

We have been a democracy for more than seven decades now. We also pride ourselves in being the world's largest democracy. But we continue with the ostentation and protocol of the office of the President, Vice-President and the Governors of our States. The pomp and pageantry that is associated with these offices is out of place in a democratic set-up and is a hangover from colonial times. Take the case of the President, one does not see why he needs to stay at Rasthrapati Bhawan? Is it because it is named as such? Then we should maybe appropriately change its name to its intended use. Like the Vice-President why cannot the President stay in a Lutyens bungalow? This will be more aligned to democratic thinking than him staying in a palace.   Additionally it will save on security expenses since a smaller area needs to be secured for the safety of the President rather than a huge palace. The Rasthrapati Bhawan like Hyderabad House can be used by the President and other dignitaries for official functions like receiving and sending off visiting heads of state and/or government as we are doing now as also for other purposes. The other parts of the building can be converted to a museum highlighting India's transition to a democracy and its achievements since that time. The public visits at particular seasonal times to the Mughal Gardens and also maybe to the stables to see the horses can be organised which can be called an Equine Museum. This will lead to better use of the building. We could in fact call it Loktantra Bhawan, as the primary edifice of the Indian democratic tradition. The problem is that we pay lip service to democracy but continue to carry hangovers of the colonial legacy of the past and try to emulate the European nations with their roots of evolution to democracy in royalty.

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Vox Populi Issue 259

                                                              VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 259                      Date: 03.12.2018

                    Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:     

1.  The Murder Of India's Economic Figures & Statistics

2.  Kutta Ya Prani Mukt Raste Aur Khuli Jagah - For The Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan 

      Program To Succeed

3.  Web Check-in & Other Travails With Airlines These Days

                          The Murder Of India's Economic Figures & Statistics

M/s Arun Jaitley & Narendra Modi do not seem to realise that when they try to show up anyone in a bad light, some of that bad light falls on them too. This is being said in the context of the revision of GDP figures in the decadal period from 2004 to 2014 where   the growth has been brought down by some 2%. This if the fiddlers of the figures feel show the present government's economic growth in a better light, they are sadly mistaken. These figures belong to the past and have no material significance today since they are done with and are over except that they will probably be touted around in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What matters is that the present government should concentrate in improving the current state of the economy rather than be overly concerned about the past. Any school going child knows that if you have a table of figures, you can always juggle the base year to suit your objective depending on whether you want to show the succeeding figures in a positive or negative light. Once this is done you only have to have a strong reason to justify your base year. This is precisely what has been done about the GDP figures and the justification being given is that this is more aligned to international norms and the Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) is an organisation independent of the government. In this the fiddlers of the figures seem to forget that the CSO was the organisation that wielded the hatchet in murdering the WPI & CPI figures in the past which has undermined its credibility substantially. No one believes the CSO figures any more except the instigators and the manipulators, in this case the government. More saddening is how professionals like the head of the CSO and reputed economists like Rajeev Kumar, Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog are acting like flunkeys of the government and mouthing their master's voices with no compunction at all. Like the erstwhile Planning Commission was disbanded and re-christened in its new avatar as the Niti Aayog, if this kind of a situation continues then it would make sense to close down the Niti Aayog also. Postscript: With news coming out that the current year's 2nd quarter GDP growth ending September was just 7.1%, it shows how timely the fudging of the GDP figures was so that the present regime do not look any more bad than they already were. Talk of portends and ominous occurrences Modi & his team have been quite successful at least at knowing what is coming at them but have not shown very much their ability at managing these disasters. So as we come closer to the end of Modi's term the 'acche din' remains as much of a mirage as it was in the early part of his Prime Ministership.

                            Kutta Ya Prani Mukt Raste Aur Khuli Jagah - 

                    For The Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan Program To Succeed

Unless there is a Kutta Ya Prani Mukt Raste Aur Khuli Jagah, there can be no Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan. This message has to be drilled into the minds of our political leaders on whose advice our administrative officials are running like a brainless herd helter skelter on the Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan program spending crores of rupees which are being literally thrown into the unclean drains. Considering we live in a semi-urban area in Goa, for us the dog and cattle menace is critical. The dogs with their urinating and shitting on the roads is a huge nuisance. On the morning walks where one seeks fresh air, the first thing that assails your nostrils is the smell of dog pooh. Then you have to be careful where you are stepping since one wrong step will have your feet dirtied with the dog shit that dots the roads and the pavements. A lesser nuisance is cattle where the cow dung is seen on the roads but in sheer numbers the dog shit is the more aggravating. The cattle on the roads is more of a traffic bother particularly in the nights with buffalos not able to be seen on our dimly lit roads and many an accident occurring because of this. Coming back to the Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan, the first thing is to decide on a policy level for the whole country on what to do with garbage since that is the burning question today in all living settlements be it from village to the metropolis level. In the absence of this we find the garbage piling up near roadsides or in open areas creating nuisance, stink and a health hazard for people across the country. This pile of garbage is where the stray animals be it dogs or cattle feed upon. The stray dogs thrive on this food and multiply. With their numbers swelling, you have them urinating and shitting on the roads generating the stench and the nuisance. With garbage minimised on the roads the dog numbers will fall and consequently the mess they create. Dogs maybe a common problem across the country but in specific places you may have other stray animals that contribute to similar nuisance like donkeys or mules or camels etc. Dogs also have to be taken off the roads for some more reasons like rabies arising from dog bites and because of the people attacks they resort to particularly against small children and aged persons which has resulted in a number of fatalities across the country. Thus if the Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan program has to become successful then get rid of stray animals like dogs off our roads and open spaces. 

                       Web Check-in & Other Travails With Airlines These Days

Web check-in at a price as announced by Indigo has created a furore among airline travellers on social media. But hidden away is the plight of our esteemed musicians who more often than not face damage to their valued instruments while travelling by air both on domestic as well as international flights. The musical instruments even after being marked as fragile and the airline staff told to handle it with care are carried with no responsibility by the airline. When queried about this the musicians are told that they can carry the instruments at a charge which does not guarantee no damage but only to create 'more space' for the instrument in the cargo hold. Thus you will see the airlines go all out to exploit the plight of the travellers in any which way to make money. Thus airline travel nowadays has become ridden with tension even when it is not the holiday season or subject to the vagaries of the weather as in the cusp of the New Year as a consequence of fog at Delhi. Airlines mostly the private ones forget that the reliability of flying from point A to point B is important on an announced schedule. Cancellations of flights nowadays are rampant and more so on the non- trunk sectors. The emphasis of the airlines is to make money as much as possible on one pretext or other. Earlier it was the flexi-pricing on which basis the airlines would charge exorbitantly and take advantage of even natural calamities to make money.  Nowadays this has somewhat levelled off after a certain amount of government intervention to cap the fares. Now the airlines focus is on other services. It could be food or beverages or choice of seats or excess baggage or web check-in. There is no end to the excuses that are given to make money off the hapless passenger. Take the case of baggage limits one cannot understand why it was reduced from 20kg. to 15 kg. except for the fact that it is to increase revenue. For business travellers this limit is irrelevant but for vacation travellers the 15kg. limit is a pain and more often than not is exceeded. The old Boeing 737 the workhorse of the past would carry about 120 passengers and today the A320 also seats the same number so it is not understood why the baggage limit is reduced from 20kg. The only explanation is that the flights are carrying more cargo at the cost of passenger amenities to drive up revenues. The other day we were flying from Kolkata to Goa via Surat by SpiceJet. The flight was delayed departure by about 3 hours from Kolkata making certain that we would miss our Surat to Goa connection. For this change we got a bland and innocent message from the airline saying that we had been booked by the next day's flight from Surat to Goa. Upon asking the airline counter whether they would give us a hotel at Surat for the night which was the custom earlier since the change was because of the airline, we were told that they would check by email, the slowest of today's communication options. For about an hour there was no response to the email as told us by the airline staff. Actually we were not sure whether the email was at all sent. However, finally we asked SpiceJet to cancel our tickets which they did and gave us a full refund. Thank God for that grace! We had to then book Indigo via Hyderabad to Goa and reached home around 12 hours from the time we left Kolkata! For re-booking by Indigo for the same day flight where we had to obviously pay more nobody compensated us like SpiceJet which should have re-routed us on either their flight or through another airline at their cost. Unfortunately this does not happen in India and the airlines exploit the anxiety of the traveller to reach his destination at the earliest. When we returned to Goa, the next day we had someone we know flying to Chandigarh by SpiceJet and the airline cancelled the flight telling them they had been booked the next day! So lessons from this experience:

1. Never fly SpiceJet. They always cancel at the last minute.
2. Do not book via Tier II destinations like Surat since airlines are likely to cancel if they do not have sufficient load factor. Always route via trunk destinations.

These are the travails an air traveller faces these days.

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Vox Populi Issue 258

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 258                       Date: 26.11.2018                     Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com Contents:       1. A Dog's Last Thoughts 2. Do We Need Governors? 3. Goa Has Politically Become The Stage For A 'Comedy of Errors' Or A Khell Tiatr  4. Save The CBI & The Other Edifices Of Our Democracy

                                             A Dog's Last Thoughts

There was unusual news last week that in the 'maximum city' Mumbai 4 drug addicts sexually assaulted a male dog. The dog died. A post-mortem was ordered and it was found that the dog had died of a heart attack. It is said that the last thoughts of the dog were - Man is supposed to be at the top of the order of living beings on this planet. And look to what levels of depravity he has sunk to. Even we among canines do not do anything like what these men have done to me. So there is no point in living anymore. God, I am coming to you but have mercy on all of humanity.

                                              Do We Need Governors?

Governor Satya Pal Malik's action to dissolve the J&K Assembly was completely out of hand. The action smacks of political overtones since the BJP was unable to continue in government with its PDP alliance that it will not allow any other government to be formed in the State without it being involved. Whatever said and done it is well known about the difficulties in holding the elections in J&K and with an existing elected Assembly  there was no need to force another election on the troubled State. The Governor should recognise his larger responsibility on keeping the facade of democracy going and the cost, both in money and human terms, of another election. The charge of MLA's being bought and sold made by Malik is an afterthought and made only to justify his action to dissolve the Assembly.

Somewhat similar to the J&K Governor's actions are those of Governor Mridula Sinha in Goa who firstly allowed the BJP to grab power in the State though the Congress was the largest party in terms of number of seats after the Assembly election. Then with the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar sick and unable to attend office now for the last 9 months and additionally 2 other Ministers seriously sick and another recuperating from illness leading to a complete collapse in governance, the Governor has not acceded to the demands of the Opposition and civil society to have a show of strength in the Assembly and have the present BJP-led alliance prove its majority. This has led to the continued flux in administration within the State of not having a government worth its name for close to a year now.

The above incidents show to what extent the office of the Governor has been politicised lately. Come to think of it the office of the Governor is a colonial legacy that the British left us with and it is time to dispense with it. The reasons for this are many like it has become the last resting place for out-of-use politicians, those holding office presently have no claim to any great stature or wisdom except to serve their political masters and lastly the trappings of the Governor office are again drawn from colonial times and unnecessarily add a large cost to the exchequer and consequentially to the common man. The Vice-President having nothing much to do except chair the Rajya Sabha when it is in session can as well look into constitutional matters of all the States when it is required which will bring a larger degree of uniformity and balance to decision making and also allow access for the Vice President to a more correct body of knowledge while taking constitutional decisions. 

     Goa Has Politically Become The Stage For A 'Comedy of Errors' Or A Khell Tiatr 

The Goa political scene as a consequence of Manohar Parrikar's illness has been going on now for close to 9 months as a 'comedy of errors' with various acts of the play unfolding day by day or like a khell tiatr going on and on with no end in sight. The latest is the announcement in the papers that after Dec 11 Parrikar will decide on the re-allocation of portfolios within the Cabinet. Have we not heard this sometime back? Close to 2 months ago the re-allocation of portfolios was to be done. But nothing happened even with the induction of the new ministers into the Cabinet. Parrikar nowadays has nothing much to do so could he not have decided on the issue of divesting his portfolios. Instead of  concentrating on doing the necessary things he is tending to do the unnecessary things which add to the nuisance and uncertainty of governance that has dogged the State. Like in the middle we had the issuance of a circular that was hastily withdrawn of making the  latest minister to have been sworn in as the 'first among equals in the Cabinet'. Would any of the existing ministers have accepted this? This situation indicated that maybe Parrikar's judgment is clouded and suspect because of his illness. In which case he should have resigned as demanded by a group of activists and citizens who went to the extent of marching to Parrikar's residence at Dona Paula where he is convalescing. Then we had some of the alliance ministers claiming that the bureaucracy is not listening to them and that they are unable to meet Parrikar and have to make do with meeting or taking instructions from the officials in the CMO as a consequence of which the administration is failing. One minister went to the extent of saying this problem is so acute that he has decided not to go to his office in the Secretariat! The MGP keen not to be left out in the drama with their main candidate Sudin Dhavlikar angling to become the CM going to the extent of filing a skirmish petition in the High Court to restrain the defecting MLA's like Shirodkar and Sopte from contesting  any further elections or holding any office of profit in the interim. While all these machinations are going on the people continue to suffer with no governance. There are also attempts to pass the governance buck to authorities outside of Goa to whom the people have no access as in Tendulkar indicating that Parrikar wanted to resign a 'long time back' but the Central leadership asked him to continue. Notice here that the Goan people are nowhere in the picture who  require or deserve governance but someone from Delhi decides what should be done in Goa. Additionally like we layer butter on a piece of toast these are attempts to layer sympathy on the public persona of Parrikar. Not only this the other day Tendulkar made another statement that Amit Shah does not want Parrikar to resign because 'his health is getting better' after coming to Goa from AIIMS, Delhi. Now is Amit Shah a MBBS or MRCP or a cancer specialist to make these pronouncements? While we wish that Parrikar gets better the BJP top leadership approach is to continue the uncertainty relating to governance in Goa. The matter relating to running the government in Goa is required to be decided by Goan people and Goan politicians. The flux in governance in Goa has exposed the real intentions of the BJP as a political party which is to grab power and cling to it while concentrating on winning elections, governance be damned.

                      Save The CBI & The Other Edifices Of Our Democracy

The CBI has been honoured with many an avian epithet like a 'caged parrot' et al in recent times, but lately with news coming out of the Verma-Asthana stand-off with its related offshoots, it is more like a can of worms is what the CBI parrot has been feeding upon all this while. We all knew that everything was not right with the CBI, the premier investigating agency of the country for all these years but it seems that the rot has been accelerated and is much deeper since 2014 when the present dispensation led by Narendra Modi came to power. With the Verma-Asthana spat being played out in the media for the last many months one cannot believe that either Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister or Narendra Modi was not aware of the problem that was seriously eroding the reputation of the CBI. Neither lifted a finger to put a stop to the nuisance. Not only that Narendra Modi is known to have famously said on corruption - Na Khaunga, Na Khane Doonga. But from news coming out of the CBI the motto seems to be the opposite - Jitna Khana Hai Kha Lo, Kab Kya Hoga, Kya Pata. Everywhere you look the institutions of the country seem to be stuffed with Gujarat cadre officers be it the IAS or IPS or those who had served their master, Modi faithfully when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. There is nothing wrong with that since Gujarat for the last 4 decades has to give credit to its bureaucrats and technocrats like V Kurien of Amul fame who propelled the economic development in the State. The politicians were mainly spectators taking credit for the work of these dedicated professionals who came from mainly the south of India mostly Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But the quality of this kind of bunch of committed officials seems to have deteriorated over the years and today we have the kind of 'yes-men' who fall over their own feet trying to please their masters. That is why when important institutions in the country like the CBI are staffed with such officials the emphasis is on one-upmanship and internecine strife as we are seeing now. One by one the institutional framework of the country is being undermined under the present regime and it is being eaten away from the insides like a white ant attack leaving them hollow, weak and crumbling. It is time therefore that the people of this country take notice of this and raise their voice against the destruction of the edifices of our democracy. 

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Vox Populi Issue 257

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 257                        Date: 19.11.2018                     Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com   Contents:       1. The Latest Obsession : Bingeing On Heights Of Statues  2. Arun Jaitley Picking Up On His Math Re GST & Demonetisation  3. Goa's Price & Quality Syndrome For Food Items That Is Being Challenged 4. Goa In A Complete State of Flux in Governance & Political Terms

                      The Latest Obsession : Bingeing On Heights Of Statues 

The current tendency to outdo each other on the height of statues is carrying things a bit too far. First it was the Chatrapati Shivaji's statue that was to come up on an island off the Mumbai coast. Then it was Vallabhai Patel's statue that was inaugurated recently by the PM in Gujarat. Lord Rama was not to be left behind and Jogi Adityanath announced a massive statue of the god in Ayodhya. Then it was the turn of the Karnataka government to announce a huge statue of the River Cauvery in the form of a goddess at Krishna Raja Sagar or the Brindavan Gardens near Mysuru. Statues apart from serving the needs of politics serve no other useful purpose. Building them is a sheer waste of money. The Vallabhai Patel and the Chatrapati Shivaji statues along with the complexes on which they are erected are reported to cost in the region of Rs. 3000 crores each. While the government has money for these statues it does not have the funding to support child immunisation programs like polio. Currently the polio vaccine is in short supply and India is dependent on the MNC, Sanofi to supply the medicine and who taking advantage of the worldwide scarcity have raised prices including to India. India though one of the largest users of the polio vaccine gave up in 1990 to put up a plant here for the local manufacture of the vaccine. We are currently running out of supplies which is likely to affect the child immunisation program for next year and the year after that unless Rs. 300 crores is found immediately to be assured of supplies from Sanofi. This situation shows up the lopsided funding and distorted thinking of this government where statues get a higher priority than polio vaccine. However, voices within this government make the right noises like Arun Jaitley saying the other day that high economic growth is essential for poverty alleviation. But in actual practice we are seeing the plans for growth of statues across the country, both in number and following the motto of higher, higher and even higher while ignoring the immediate needs of child immunisation programs like for polio and forgetting the need for poverty alleviation which in any case is too far out in the future. 

                  Arun Jaitley Picking Up On His Math Re GST & Demonetisation 

Arun Jaitley being an advocate by training can be forgiven for not getting his maths right when saying that GST affected the economy's growth 'only' for 2 quarters, which is 6 months and that's half a year. This in economic growth is a 'huge' period as Donald Trump would have said. So half a year gone on the back of an economic slump caused by the Demonetisation exercise is all the more grievous. At least Jaitley has come around to admitting that GST did affect economic growth. He has not got up to the impact of  Demonetisation on the economy since that is a higher order math beyond Jaitley's present comprehensive ability. But one is sure that he will get up to it once he works up to his post-graduation in maths.

              Goa's Price & Quality Syndrome For Food Items That Is Being Challenged

We need to understand the basic issues underlying the contamination of food and other items that come into Goa. It is like the majority of the items that you get on railway platforms and which applies largely to food items that are on sale. This comment is more valid now than it was in the past. Nobody cares about the quality and hygiene of the food items because they know that rarely does the same passenger comes back to complain. That is why anything goes, meaning anything is sold. This principle applies a little differently in Goa where everything is oriented towards the tourist, be it Indian or foreign. Since the tourist is on holiday he does not mind paying a 'little' extra for any services that he uses or items that he buys or food that he consumes. Thus the prices of everything is inflated. Larceny is a way of life in Goa and many a shopkeeper or store makes a virtue out of it. They take advantage of the fact that demand far outstrips supply justifying their penchant to make the extra rupee. It is explained away by saying - Nobody minds.  Now Goa does not produce enough of any items that it consumes like take fish, milk or for that matter any commodity. Everything to a large part has to come from outside the State. Now the suppliers from the neighbouring States are no fools. They have the pulse on Goa's markets. They know very well the 'tourist syndrome'. With this they are confident that anything that they send to Goa will sell. Not only that they will get a good price for the item. So when it comes to trading with Goa in normal circumstances they may supply good stuff but when scarcity reigns and local demand is better, they will send the worst quality stuff to Goa. Given no choice the Goan market has to accept it. The local shopkeepers who have become used to the 'tourist syndrome' apply it with little or no compunction to their local customers also. The products to be bought are offered saying there is no alternative. What does the local Goan do, he either walks away or grudgingly buys whatever is available. In another context, you could say that the scarcity times that used to prevail during Portuguese rule where luxury goods were available in plenty but essential items were scarce has come back to haunt Goa in a new 'avatar'. So having been used to make do with scarcity through generations the local Goan rarely complains and takes a stand. That is precisely what has happened to fish where the suppliers knew that in Goa anything goes, they started to supply fish laced with formalin. We must in fact thank and compliment the FDA for the first raid when the formalin issue was exposed. Since obviously we were eating formalin laced fish all along. The blame cannot be exclusively ascribed to suppliers from outside the State since the wholesale trade in Goa was complicit and to a smaller extent the local fish suppliers also. When word gets around the entire supply chain would be keen to increase the shelf life of the perishable by using formalin to make that extra buck or not lose money. Business has its own logic and morals. That is why it is correct to take a firm stand and have testing labs so that Goans are assured of contamination free fish. In fact the present office bearers of the fish wholesaler's association should be put behind bars on the count of deliberately and knowingly endangering public health in Goa if charges of manslaughter arising out of the use of dangerous chemicals in edible items cannot be brought against them. That is the only lesson that they will remember and as a consequence reform their ways. Whether it be fish or whether it be fruits and vegetables or even milk, the same principle as enumerated above applies. There is a demand in Goa and the market is not insistent on quality and also willing to pay more so send gas ripened fruits or vegetables laced with pesticides that they would not feed their cattle in the home State or supply milk that remains unrefrigerated in transit as well as after it reaches here through the night and until it is supplied to consumers in the morning. The consciousness raised since the fish in formalin Issue is good but we need to remember that the neighbouring States could start squeezing supplies which may lead to scarcity and consequently rise in prices. Therefore unless Goa starts having a large part of its consumption of food items available locally it may lead to a major problem. The maxim to be followed is - Proceed with caution. Proceed with care.

                    Goa In A Complete State of Flux in Governance & Political Terms

Goa is in a complete state of flux in political terms. With no political leadership for the last 9 months or so since Manohar Parrikar fell sick, there has been literally no governance in the State. Every issue drags on interminably until it dies its inevitable death in the public mind after a short while only be replaced by another issue of similar importance. Thus one would feel that the present political leadership that is in charge of the State is completely irresponsible to allow things in Goa to drag on like this. With Manohar Parrikar being unwell, we are all sympathetic for him but should he not be sympathetic for Goa. Instead of establishing a new leadership he has been allowing the situation to not only drag but exhibited tendencies to remain in power at any cost. The fact that the BJP-led government's majority is on a knife edge was not anybody's fault but more akin to acts of God where one after another the ministers fell sick and that too of major debilitating diseases. Recognising this early the BJP should have gone for a mid-term poll by dissolving the present government. Campaigning on a sympathetic plank of health the BJP could as well have come back to power with a better majority. Then there would have been no need to take in the dissenters from other parties like the Congress and create problems within its own cadres as we are now seeing. As for Shirodkar and Sopte jumping ship of the Congress to the BJP there does not seem anything wrong since the Congress apart from their fighting amongst themselves is showing no great resolve or political will to come back to power. Even the call that these turncoats should be defeated in the bye-elections does not have much appeal since ideology based politics at least at the State level is out and does not sell with the electorate who will elect those that they believe will work for them. Thus Goa seems to be deemed to be in a state of stupor for some more time to come. 

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Vox Populi Issue 256

                                                              VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 256                        Date: 12.11.2018

                    Visit: skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:      

1. The MSME Sector Loan Measure Of Rs. 1 Crore in 59 Mins. Is Yet Another Gimmick 

2. Goa's New Casino Policy Will Be The State's Road To Perdition

3. The 'Living Dead' From Demonetisation and GST

4. Maneka Gandhi Should Mind Her Own Business

    The MSME Sector Loan Measure Of Rs. 1 Crore in 59 Mins. Is Yet Another Gimmick 

The MSME sector has been reeling as a consequence of the cash crunch arising from the two measures - Demonetisation and GST - but lately was again in the news with the PM announcing a credit facility of Rs. 1 crore to them that would be sanctioned within 59 minutes! This is again a mirage-like initiative with no meaning since you see it but yet you see it not because it is not there. This scheme just gives you a principle clearance in the form of a letter by a private agency who have no accountability and you still have to go through the process of clearance of loan through the Bank which will take close to 6 weeks. Moreover the MSME sector accounts for more than 16% of Bank NPA's as of now and none of the Banks are overly keen to add to this debt for fear of it becoming unpayable. So this measure is another pataka from Narendra Modi that fizzles out with no bang for the buck. Maybe it will be still proved to work, for which numbers are needed to justify, with crony BJP MSME's who will borrow knowing full well that they will not be called to repay the loans. We have seen this kind of thing earlier with the initiative of mobile payments where the use of cash was intended to be limited. It did not work either with the Indian people showing that they prefer to deal with cash. Currently with State elections coming up there is a tremendous demand for cash being sought from the Banks which they are finding it difficult to deal with. And where is this extra cash demand likely to go to? If the recent seizure of hawala cash of Rs. 7.5 crores in Hyderabad is any indicator, then it will be to fund elections. 

                   Goa's New Casino Policy Will Be The State's Road To Perdition

The news emerging that there could be land based casinos without them having to be located in 5-star hotels and with a plan to have many such in an enclave either at Mopa or near Panjim under the new casino policy is disturbing news. Casinos per se is bad news for any society and then this proposal to deliberately convert Goa into a Sin City is shocking. With Manohar Parrikar having come onto the streets against casinos in the early days and then justifying later that the earnings from the casinos would be be used to fund Provedaria assistance, it seems the whole of Goa will be made equivalent of Provedaria inmates. Thereafter sometime back  when questioned about the casinos, their location and their numbers increasing over time on the river, he mumbled something about how times change and how ministers earlier were happy with Ambassador cars but nowadays ask for SUV's, which comment no one understood and it went clear over everyone's head. With the new policy likely to recommend casino enclaves as the central plank for the State's economic policy we will be seeing the end of Goa as we know it now. Another dagger among many others would have been planted straight into the heart of Goa's ethos and way of life, killing it altogether. Vivek Menezes in one of his recent columns has succinctly summarised how if Goa follows the road taken by Las Vegas and lately Macau then the destination is nothing but perdition where gambling, drugs, prostitution and money laundering will rule the roost. 

                             The 'Living Dead' From Demonetisation and GST

Emperor Ashoka it is said when walking through the dead at the end of the Kalinga battle and upon seeing the carnage had forsaken war and taken to religion, propagating the teachings of Lord Buddha. Our latter day leaders like Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi, minnows when compared to Ashoka, have been walking through the 'living dead' in India that have been created in the wake of Demonetisation and the GST fiascos and continue to congratulate themselves on these measures ignoring or little realising the havoc that they had unleashed on the people of India which impact continues to this day. 

                             Maneka Gandhi Should Mind Her Own Business

Maneka Gandhi is going completely overboard on the killing of the T1 tigress Avni in Maharashtra recently. The facts are that this tigress killed 13 human beings and was categorised as a maneater. Maneaters have to be put down is what every tiger manual says. Thus the issue being made on the killing the tigress is a bit too much. Gandhi needs to understand that humans come first and then animals, even if they be tigers. Instead of getting obsessed and seeking an enquiry into the killing of the tigress Maneka Gandhi could well be advised to set u a high level panel to go into the issue of child rape in the country. That way she would be doing a service to the girl child and aligning herself with the Ministry that she holds in this government at the Centre. Maneka Gandhi she should keep her animal love as a hobby and not get overly involved in it. She needs all her attention for the Ministry of Women & Child Welfare that she handles. When she has called for the resignation of the Maharashtra Forest Minister over the tigress killing, he has responded that with women & children dying of malnutrition in India, will Maneka Gandhi also resign? In the Thane belt in Maharashtra among tribals malnutrition is endemic with the area and known for starvation deaths also. So it is best that she puts her nose down and gets to work within her Ministry. 

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Vox Populi Issue 255

VOX POPULI                                              by                             S Kamat as Aam Admi              Issue: 255            Date: 05.11.2018       skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com                       WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY DEEPAVALI Contents: 1. Oh Kolkata!  2. Critiquing the Supreme Court & Some Of Its Judgments 3. After The Attack On RBI The Best Thing That Arun Jaitley Could       Do Is To Quit                                                       Oh Kolkata!  I am taking the liberty of making some some off-the-cuff comments after our recent visit to Calcutta, no Kolkata! The first thing that strikes you is the city is alive. It lives.  Not only does it live but it also moves. The mass of humanity that we saw on the city roads because of the Puja crowds actually moves and in a disciplined manner under the able guidance and stewardship of the Kolkata Police. The same is true for the crowds that we saw at Howrah Station. The traffic though quite unruly now compared to earlier days when the mini-buses set off the F-1 race challenge in the early 1980's has become  de rigeur now and every kind of vehicle comes at you as if it wants to run you over. The days when Kolkata was famous for the 'pedestrian being the king of the road' is over and the humble man on the street today is at the mercy of traffic and insane drivers just like in Delhi or even Mumbai or even for that matter any existing or up and coming metropolis in the country.  The Durga Puja atmosphere has not changed and is still the same with the people showing the same enthusiasm as before to visit the pandals and see the deities. The only change has been the dominance of what are called theme Pujas which are sponsored by corporate entities and tend to take up a theme of social or other relevance and lavishly decorate the pandal and the environs thus showing the caliber of the Bengal craftsmen. The deity in this approach is not diminished in any sense and the same lavishness and care is given to the design and the presentation of the idols. However, the theme Pujas seem to take away the religious feeling that one associates with the Pujas replaced by a brassiness brought out by the commercial emphasis dictated by the sponsors. One of our friends mentioned that some of the Committees of the theme Pujas are not from the locality where the Puja is done leading to a lack in ownership of the neighbourhood in the Puja as in the past. This leads to many feelings of discomfort of the residents of the neighbourhood related to the way of life of local residents being disturbed during the Pujas,  The pada Pujo or the baraori Pujas are fast moving towards extinction though there are vestiges of people trying to retain these like niche Pujas e.g. organised exclusively by women etc. and the Pujas being done in the stilt parking of multi-storied complexes by the residents.  The greatest thing was that you could talk in Bengali everywhere. Kolkata was always strong in its consciousness to use Bengali but this time even the Bihari veggie vendor in Lake Market preferred to talk in Bengali, so also the Yellow and the Uber cab drivers.  Not not that even in Saheb-pada we ordered breakfast in Flury's one day and lunch another day at New Kenilworth Hotel in chaste Bengali. Earlier one recalls English was the go-to language on Park Street and its environs. The all pervasive use of Bengali is the best thing that could have happened to Kolkata. But the major disappointment in Kolkata was that its pavements have been hijacked. This is true not only in the residential and business areas but also in the true blue corporate areas like near the Jeevan Deep building and Tata Centre on Chowringhee which have shacks serving food just below them. Earlier they used to be on the corner of Russel Street but mostly chai shops.  The pavements need be cleared since they belong to the citizens. The pavements cannot be hijacked to make Kolkata one huge, contiguous hawker centre and food court. The pavements in its present form are an invitation to disaster and random instances of fire across the city will be the order of the day. Or you will hear of a bus ploughing into the pavement with multiple fatalities. Those hawkers and food stalls have a problem. They do this for their livelihood  because there are no jobs. They will refuse to go away from the pavements per se but they may consider if they are given jobs. But then there are no jobs for the government to give particularly to this category of people who are unskilled and relatively less educated. Therefore the government has to find a solution to this problem by thinking out of the box. These people now running shops and food joints on the pavements should not be deprived of their livelihood and the government also should not be called on to give these people jobs. But then the government should be prepared to invest and maybe ask these people to share in it to create a sense of value for their ownership. So the government can take it upon themselves to build as appropriate in each area a single building not exceeding 6 floors a Hawker Centre and Food Court with slotted ownership facility for each of the hawkers and food dispensers who occupy a particular stretch of street. The existing people running their businesses on the streets will have to move into these HC&FC utilities clearing the pavements. In each of these areas the government will easily find space or old buildings to acquire and build the new HC&FC's. This will not only give back the pavements to the citizens but also give a face-lift to Kolkata which it richly deserves. The only thing is that the government should strictly enforce that the next generation of hawkers and food dispensers should not come and occupy the pavements in the hope that they will also be given a bail-out in the future.   Otherwise Kolkata over these last Pujas was a great trip filled with nostalgia, old friends, good food and outings and the realisation that Kolkata still has still a warm heart that beats for all who come near it. Thank you, Kolkata.               Critiquing the Supreme Court & Some Of Its Judgments                        SC judgments lately are an overreach with the Sabarimalai temple likely to be closed over the entry of women and now the CBI emasculated so to speak over the judgment in the Director Verma midnight sacking Issue. Also the NRC fiasco in Assam that has resulted in so much pain and trauma to some families with the exclusion of some of their near and dear ones from the NRC and consequently maybe facing deportation. In each of these cases, the SC should have recused themselves from taking on the cases.  In the Sabarimalai temple case it is related to a matter of faith and cannot be therefore put to the hard test of legality. By just applying constitutional rights to the issue the SC is looking at it through a narrow lens and pandering to the divisive whims and fancies of a misguided set of people who come to the SC knowing that it will be prey to their machinations and deliver a judgment. Now last month when the temple opened for a short while there were law and order problems at the temple site when some women tried to access the precincts with the assistance of the police of the Communist regime in power. It was reported then that the priests of the temple had declared that they would shut the temple if the women were allowed to set foot near it. Thus if one were to take an overall view was this the intention of the SC to be a party, indirect one may say, to close the temple and not let even the legitimate and true devotees who outnumber by a vast majority the disgruntled lot, to have a sight of the Lord. Other than that the temple entry issue is being expanded and taking on the face of a major law and order problem in the State with the Communists, this time with the support of the government, and the BJP-RSS confronting each other in the shades of the RSS-Marxist war that had dogged in the past the Malabar region for years. This war will now be fought across Kerala. With the temple opening from the middle of November 2018 the State is tense to see how things shape up. And everybody's teeth are on edge. Surely these are not the signs of wisdom that he looks forward to in a judgment. Up north at Ayodhya there is further trouble brewing with the Sangh Parivar making statements that like in 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished, they may have to take matters into their hands. We need to remember that we live in current times where akin to a tinderbox, mob fury is generated with the minimum of provocation and then the situation goes out of the hands of the saner elements in our society. Additionally like in the demolishment of the Babri Masjid, there is nothing that can be done when the deed is done and only regrets and recriminations can follow. The politicians as we have seen in the past remain silent spectators allowing the horrifying scenarios to be enacted if not actively supporting and inciting the perpetrators. In such kind of prevailing circumstances there is a need for men of erudition and wisdom to guide our society through safer and calmer waters eschewing confrontational situations. That is what one would expect the SC to do. In a similar vein the CBI judgment puts in limbo the premier investigating agency of the country even for a limited span of close to 3 weeks until the CVC is able to conclude the report into allegations of corruption against Director Verma. In times like this to freeze work at the CBI is a matter of great import but the saving grace one could say is that the agency is so compromised that even if it is put in suspended animation for some time nothing much would be affected and it could be in fact beneficial for the country. All said and done as said earlier the SC should have recused from this matter since it is a matter arising out of an adminstrative action of the government and hence the Central Administrative Tribunal or some such body should decide the matter. Alternately since the appointment of the CBI Director is made consisting of the PM, CJI and the Leader of the Opposition, the SC should have allowed these august personages to be seized of the matter and arrive at a decision. As far as the NRC is concerned in Assam which has become an extremely sensitive issue the SC is absolutely right in its premises and the logic on which basis the NRC is to be created but what is lacking in the plan is sensitivity. Border states particularly adjoining Bangladesh have seen migrant influxes since 1947 and more so just preceding 1971 when Bangladesh got its independence and even to this day at times of distress in the neighbouring country. The migrants have been mainly Hindus but also Muslims  have crossed the borders running away from strife or looking for a better life. India has faced the brunt of these compulsory migrations more so Assam and Bengal which two States are considered transit points for these refugees to then enlarge across India. Thus some of these refugees have been there for a long period of time and have been assimilated into the Indian way of life and into the electoral process, the latter more so by the design by crafty politicians who want to or have converted them into vote banks. In the majority of cases there is no problem of the refugees staying in India and sharing in economic activity. But in some areas of Assam where strife is endemic between tribals and the government and where there is less work even for the locals or there is a religion imbalance, violence rears its head time and again. That is where a solution is required and that has to be political. Hard logic cannot be the basis for identification of outsiders since with so many years having passed, these people have nowhere to go. Dealing with this is also an issue of humanity and India, the country of Mahatma Gandhi and in possession of a large heart should find a way for these people to remain in the country as long as they agree to abide strictly by our laws. The SC by getting involved in the NRC matter is only attracting a bad name for itself. Thus the matter should be left to the governments of the day be it at the State or the Centre who should decide on it or even by the Election Commission. Even now look at the latest SC stricture on limiting fireworks and the the suggestion to use 'green' fireworks which do not exist. Considering pollution both environmental and noise and the fact that most fireworks are made by child labour the restrictions are desirable but they should be made implementable. At this rate of the number of unimplementable and impractical judgments coming out, you will find the weight and sanctity of SC judgments with the people losing import. It should not be that the SC judgments become irrelevant and slowly the SC too. That will be the sad conclusion to this story which is not desirable and it is only the SC who can find a solution or put a stop to it. On general matters, the SC a few weeks back took to task the Chief Secretaries of two States, Goa and Nagaland, for appearing in court 'improperly' dressed. The SC bench expected them to be dressed formally in the British tradition and in sober colours. Now we have thrown out the British for more than 70 years but we are continuing with their dress codes in institutions like the SC which s sad thing. In apparel the SC needs to think local and national and throw out the dress codes laid down by the British. These are cobwebs of history that should be removed forthwith. In these matters we need to examine the US judiciary which has tuned itself in the national ethos not only in dress but in the practice of law and its relevance to their society. One hopes that the SC looks at this missive in a constructive fashion and as a positive feedback.               After The Attack On RBI The Best Thing That Arun Jaitley                                          Could Do Is To Quit One of the worst Finance Ministers that India has seen, Arun Jaitley is throwing his weight around and enacting the scenario defined in the Hindi metaphor - Nach Na Jane Angan Teda. After finding that nothing is going right with the Indian economy and with it going consistently downhill since 2014, his latest attack has been against the RBI blaming them for not regulating the 'profligate' lending seen in the last decade by the Banks. Where Jaitley should have hauled up the Bank top officials for indiscriminate lending he is going after the regulator! With the present BJP government this has been the tendency where incompetent people rule the roost and who flail around when things do not go right and then look for scapegoats to blame. Classic among such people who are square pegs fitted into round holes is Arun Jaitley. His penchant for pontificating on matters that he least understands underlines another Hindi metaphor - Jiski Lathi Uski Bhains. He believes that just because he is named as the Finance Minister people need to listen to him on economic matters. Reluctant to cede his position of authority was highlighted during his leave of absence for health reasons when he made sure the Finance Ministry website continued with his name being mentioned as Finance Minister and he continued blogging on financial and economic matters undermining the position of the temporary incumbent. Even on the major Demonetisation Exercise though he was not taken into confidence he realised that unless he plays ball Narendra Modi may get another bee in his bonnet and look for another Finance Minister. Given the task of implementing the GST, Arun Jaitley made a merry mess of it by not heeding the GST Council recommendations to firstly, delay implementation by just a couple of months until everyone was ready, secondly have multiple tariff levels like the old Sales Tax regime, thirdly not having the back-end of computerisation ready to take on the full load of tax payees. All this has resulted in tax revenues not rising to the levels expected and people now trying to beat the system. So Arun Jaitley should get real and recognising his limitations quit as Finance Minister in which case he would be doing a big favour to the nation.                                     **************************