Dangers to Indian republic: left and right

Ram Guha, continuing on his sins of Indian communism, tells about the dangers that the Indian republic faces from the political groups to the extreme left and right of centre:

For the past decade and more, the Republic of India has faced a strong threat from right-wing extremism. The destruction of the mosque in Ayodhya and the pogrom of the Muslims in Gujarat were but the most visible signs of a focused and determined effort to make India a “Hindu Rashtra”.

…the Republic of India also faces a strong threat from left-wing extremism now.

And, as usual, there is some good news and some bad news:

The battle against Hindutva is not yet won, while the battle against Naxalism has barely begun.

Finally, Guha has a few suggestions to make things better:

First, the government must work more honestly to honour the Constitution, by bringing the fruits of development to those sections — principally, the Dalits and adivasis — who have benefited least (and, in the case of adivasis, lost most) from the recent surge in economic growth. Second, the media must go beyond the consuming classes to write about and speak for those Indians who do not own cars or refrigerators. Third, intellectuals must be more vigilant in detecting and exposing threats to the democratic way of life, even (or especially) if these threats travel under the guise of ideologies that profess to be emancipatory but whom history has shown, in practice, to be as violent and intolerant as the reactionary ideologies of the Right.

While I agree with most of what Ram Guha has to say, I think he misses one point in his article. While he correctly identifies the reason for the intellectuals going soft on the left wing extremists,

The reason intellectuals are often less than even-handed in their treatment of the two kinds of extremism is that the left-wing kind presumes to speak for the poor;

he forgets to mention that the middle class support to Hindutva forces stem from similar sources, namely, guilt and the perception that Hindus are soft and hence are taken advantage of.

 

India to be part of a trilateral security arrangement in Asia

That India is an emerging power has never been as evident as it is now! The powers that be are eager to invite India to be part of a new security arrangement.
Quoting from the Australian

The Japanese Government and US Vice-President Dick Cheney are keen to include the growing economic and military power of India in the already enhanced “trilateral” security arrangements, locking together the three most powerful democracies of the Asia-Pacific region.

The common enemy? China ofcourse:

India’s military power, economic growth and geographic position would significantly offset China’s emerging power, which is of concern to many in the Bush administration.

Apparently, the US and Japan are really pushing for this new alignment. And now that a historic security declaration between Japan and Australia has been signed, security, intelligence and military relations are at the highest level they have been since World War II! But still, this is not enough for the world powers. They want India.

But if nations are eager to gang up against China, it’s China’s own fault. Speaking from India point of view…well, India knows she has to join this gang, and quickly. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if India herself has been quietly working to persuade the US to push for this. So what is China doing that is a cause for worry for India?

Remember that visit of Chinese premier in April 2005? Then, and more recently in late 2006, China said that it did not accept Arunachal Pradesh as Indian Territory. You can also read what the Wiki has to say about this issue.
Also, China does not support India’s claims on Kashmir and nor on Sikkim.
China continues to supply missiles to Pakistan. China ofcourse denies this vehemently but the Americans say that they have the proof.
Pakistan is not the only country China is cosying up to. It has defence agreements with
Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh as well.

Oh, and China is helping Pakistan with Gwadar port as a base for its navy, although now there seem to be some disagreements over the finances. China is doing something similar in Sri Lanka as well! It has concluded an initial agreement worth US$360 million for the construction of the Hambantota harbour in southern Sri Lanka.

Then there are also those who firmly believe that China clandestinely supports secessionist movements in the north-east of India, although no hard proof has been found.

Is it any wonder then that China has increased it’s defence budget this year by 18 percent? It needs plenty of moolah to support all these activities. Activities which are a threat to India. Its staring at us in the face. China has already surrounded India.

The Chinese are doing what they feel is best for their country. They want to be supreme in Asia and India is a strong contender to the position. Besides this, there are other little pinpricks. China hates it that India is giving refuge to the Dalai Lama and therefore to Tibet.

The United States is as worried about China as India is. No, much more. China is getting powerful, not just militarily but also economically. Goldman Sachs has predicted that China will overtake the United States economically by 2039. A pretty scary prospect for the US huh? And for us too. We are surrounded on three sides by hostile countries. Pakistan, China and Bangladesh. We need friends – friends like Australia and Japan.

(Photo sourced from the bbc)

 

Cauvery Award: what is at stake?

Ramaswamy R Iyer, in a rather detailed article at EPW (pdf), traces the problem that lies at the heart of the conflict to be the excessive demand by all the four states during distress years; and hence the key to the solution of the problem might as well be in reaching an understanding for water sharing during such distress years. In the process of reaching this conclusion, Prof. Iyer also summarises the history of the conflict in a rather nice manner. Take a look!

 

An MP who was born twice

I confess I had not heard of Moni Kumar Subba, a Congress MP  from Tezpur, Assam, before this story broke. CNN IBN has been probing into his past and has found that this MP was born more than once, that too in different places in different years. They have the proof in the form of documents which they have published here.

The news report says:

An investigation team probing his roots has dug up evidence to show that…in Lok Sabha records, Subba is perhaps the only MP to have two different places of birth. The Subba dossier in the 12th Lok Sabha records his place of birth as Tezpur, Assam, his date of birth being March 16, 1951. But his dossier for the current (14th) Lok Sabha shows his place of birth as Dabgram (Darjeeling) in West Bengal, and the date of birth as March 16, 1958

This isn’t all. When the Investigation team talked to Karma Kanu, Subba’s third wife (1978-1991) she said that she had never heard of Dabgram, where her husband was allegedly born. She makes a valid point when she points out:

If he belongs to Dabgram, there has to be someone there who is related to him

Our Assam MP hasn’t just fudged his age. Apparently the school he went to does not exist…or at least it didn’t during the years he claimed to have studied there. As it says here:

As per his academic records, Subba…studied at Gandhi Vidyalaya, Bordubi, in Assam’s Tinsukia district. His Lok Sabha nomination papers of 2004 show he completed his Class VIII from Gandhi Vidyalaya in 1972, a claim duly recorded on the official Lok Sabha website as well. But Karma Kanu, who married Subba in 1978 as his third wife, says Subba has no records to show that he ever attended a school in Assam. “He hasn’t studied. So who gave him the certificate? You guys go and find out from his school,” she says. CNN-IBN’s Special Investigation went to Tinsukia for a cross-check…and discovered that Subba could have never been a student in the school..Bordubi’s Gandhi Vidyala primary school and the medium school were established in 1973 and the high school in 1999. But Subba claims to have passed Class VIII from Gandhi Vidyalaya in 1972!

Wait, worse is to come! There is a case in the Supreme Court against Subba, challenging his nationality! In fact there are even reports that the MP is a murder convict who escaped to India and then after he came here he set up successful illegal businesses and slowly started to wipe out his past. He has got himself elected to Parliament twice. Ofcourse Subba denies everything and in fact is incensed that his nationality has been challenged as he feels that proving the nationality of a MP is not necessary. He has said:

Do you have brains? You doubt the citizenship of an MP? Are you a citizen yourself? You’re a common citizen, but we are supreme. I have been an MLA from Assam twice and then an MP, and you are talking of citizenship. Where have you come from? Do you have brains? This is how Subba reacted when he was asked to comment on the allegations about his nationality.

In fact the same news report suggests that documents from Nepal could prove that Subba is criminal called Moni Raj Limbo who escaped after being imprisioned for the murder of his sister.

A shocking story, and quite a bizarre one. If you want you can hear Subba talk on hidden camera.

Ofcourse this story has given ammunition to the BJP and they are planning to stoke a big fire in parliament. Well, nothing wrong with that as this Subba story is quite crazy…but I think that the BJP should also find ways to verify the antedecents of its own MP’s. The situation now is such that MP’s from any party can get any number of forged affadavits stating (or fudging) almost anything about themselves. And no one bothers to check. This is proved by the careless way in which Subba has covered up his past. Why is police verification (preferably by the CBI) not done for each and every affadavit submitted? After all these are the people who are supposed to be governing us!

 

Budget 07-08: No bunch of roses to offer

We had a very encouraging Railway Budget from our Railway Minister and it was indeed very popular one. But, Mr. Chidambaram hasn’t pleased all with his budget. Many whom he tried to please aren’t happy with the budget.

I wouldn’t rate this budget as good, as the one by our Railway minister, but what I shall say is that although Mr. P Chidambaram, has tried to fight a few issues like inflation, education, tax woes, many believe that he could have offered more.

With the proposed cuts in customs for Edible Oils, Food processing machinery, Cement and steel it is a clear indication that the Budget was aimed at cutting prices, to control inflation. New Tax exemptions slabs are in place as, The exemption limit has been raised by Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,10,000, For women its Rs 1,45,000and for Senior citizens the limit is Rs 1,95,000. The exemption limit on bank cash transaction tax has been increased to Rs 50,000.

While the FM, encourages saving he has also levied a 1% increase in educational cess, on all taxes.

So How’s the budget actually affected you? Things like Television sets, Cell Phones, refrigerators, coffee, medical equipment, footwear have become cheaper, while goods like motorcycles, tea, cars, softwares, cigarettes, pulses and grains have become costlier. Although these small things do matter a lot for the average middle class family, many have given a thumbs down to the budget.

One of the prominent critics of the budget – The Left, has said that the budget isn’t keen on taming inflation. In a IBNlive.com report,

Coming down heavily on the budget, CPI-M said that the Government has failed to deliver resources to warrant its rhetoric that the budget serves the cause of the crisis-ridden peasantry, the working people and the poor.

The party also said that

Finance Minister P Chidambaram failed to seriously address the problems of unemployment and inflation and did not exploit the many opportunities for additional resource mobilisation, especially by taxing the rich whose income shares have increased.

The Left has also raised an important issue that the budget fails to address the woes of farmers committing suicides and fails to allocate resources to the affected.

And the opposition couldn’t be silent. In their view the budget lacks zing and has failed to address inflation.As quoted in an IBNlive.com report,

It’s a budget that lacks zing, lacks concrete steps, fails to address the problem of inflation and does not takes into account any measures either for the industry or the agriculture

The UPA government was going tom-tom about its special packages to the rural sector. But at the ground level, the budget failed to bring any hope for the distressed rural sector.

The left is skeptical about the promises actually reaching out to the aam admi, because such financial promises often do not translate into action—as was the case with the prime ministers much hyped package for farmers in Vidarbha.

The opposition has only welcomed the additional 1% educational cess, which shall be used to fund secondary education.

Another major highlight was the hike in the defense budget allocation to Rs. 96000 Crore.

Chidambaram said that the allocation of Rs 96,000 crore would include a whopping Rs 41,922 crore for capital expenditure or acquisition of new hardware, signaling that the armed forces would go ahead with some big ticket weapons deals.

I believe this is a just move, since we move in to many deals with other nations for fighter jets, and other combat equipment. What I would like to say here is that rather than just spending upon acquiring new machine, more emphasis should be laid on easing the lives of the jawans on the border front. The life they live on the border at sub zero temperatures it torturing. May be some day we realize that spending money on buying combat equipment is a waste and use the same in preparing human resources to help during natural calamities. I mean, someday we find a war-less world.

How did the PM react to this?

The PM, soon after the budget said that it was ‘Anti – inflationary’ and added that the prime focus of the budget was education and health care. As in an IBNlive.com report,

Singh said that the budget put a lot of emphasis on improving access to social services and social safety net. Also, adequate measures have been taken to tackle the rising inflation in this budget:

The Prime Minister, an economist by profession, pointed out that the whole system of reduction of custom and excise duties would also strengthen the anti-inflationary bias of the Budget.

In another report, the PM asked back, on what more do you want from the budget, and said that the exemptions provided were just and adequate.

“What more can we give, my friend?” was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s riposte when he was asked if the government had not dashed the hopes of taxpayers who were aspiring for exemption limit to go up to Rs 1,50,000.

But there’s more for the Tax payer,

…the Budget does have something new for the tax-payer as it proposes to deduct interest paid on loans taken for education of children or spouse from the taxable income. The amendment in Section 80E of the Income Tax Act, as proposed in the Budget, would expand the scope of those availing of this benefit.

Frankly speaking, expecting tax exemptions to increase every year isn’t a good thing from the Indian Voting community. Although I do not earn now, I can say that the FM, has a better idea of the amount of taxes he’s collecting and thus he know hown much money would be required by the government to fund the development process. However every one does have the right to ask if he misuses it, or spends unnecessarily.

My Take on the Budget:

Well, I would rate it 7/10.

That’s because there was lots expected from the budget, which remained unsatisfied. May be since the budget is not yet passed in the parliament as yet, he can amend the changes, and do what’s required. Although he has taken steps to address inflation, I still feel more can be done in this regard. And I’m not expecting a tax exemption, A reason being that if youm escape tax here there shall be some in direct means through which you shall be taxed, so better not to expect and keep the process of basic commodities at an affordable range, if not dirty cheap.

Access the Budget text here from IBNlive.com site.

 

MPs waste Rs 20,000 in 1 Minute

This report by IBN Live :How MPs waste Rs 20,000 in 60 sec, tells us how inefficient the people that we elect can get. 20K is something close to what I get paid a month and simply put they just blow it up in a minute.

…Parliament disruptions cost the taxpayers Rs 20,000 a minute.

To run Rajya Sabha, it costs the government Rs 100 crore per year. The average no.of days that Rajya Sabha sits is 85, so it’s Rs one crore a day,….

According to the article industrialist-politician Rahul Bajaj has had enough that

he has written to the Rajya Sabha Chairman seeking exemplary monetary punishment for the ones who initiate and instigate adjournments.

We really need people who know the value of money. Most of the ministers these days will only be bothered if they lose something in crores at a time. A lost 20k wont never ever bother them. There goes a saying which I happened to hear from a movie, “For the want of a Nail, the Shoe was lost; For the want of a Shoe, the Steed was lost; For the want of a Steed, the Message was lost; For the want of an undelivered Message, the War was lost”.

There should be some kind of rule to be an MP or a minister. I wont suggest 10th pass. Since India is all set to take-on any superpower, the ministers require minimum education of Pre-Degree. That will make them more refined in their thoughts. Its a pity that we elect people who doesnt know the value of a rupee.

 

On the sins of Indian communism

Ramachandra Guha, in a piece in the Telegraph, analyses a betrayal that Indian communists committed during the early days of Indian independence:

Indian communists are often chastized for not supporting the Quit India movement of 1942. But a far greater crime of which they were guilty is little talked about nowadays. This took place six years later, when the Communist Party of India fomented an insurrection to strangle the infant Indian state at birth.

Guha finds not just the communists but also the Indian intellectuals guilty:

In recounting these events, Indian intellectuals in general, and Indian historians in particular, are notoriously one-sided. When speaking of the RSS threat, they mince no words — as indeed they should not. But when speaking of the failed communist insurrection, they choose to focus instead on the “massive state repression”. But what was the Indian state supposed to do when faced with this armed challenge to its authority? Sit back and allow Ranadive and his men to move into power in New Delhi? The state reacted the only way it could. And its actions were legitimate; behind them was the support of the broad masses of the people. As it happened, the legitimacy of the state was tested and confirmed in the general elections of 1952, won resoundingly by Nehru’s Congress, and in which the now-reconciled Communist Party of India was also a contestant.

And, what is more, the ending of Guha’s piece is ominous:

The purpose of recounting these events from our first years of freedom is not simply to set the record straight. In fact, they have a strong contemporary resonance, which shall be the subject of my next column.

What is the contemporary resonance that he is talking about? I just can’t wait a fortnight to find out the answer.

 

Are we really a free country?

25 days ago the Cauvery verdict was announced and it has been 25 days since all the prominent Tamil channels have been banned in Karnataka. What’s the connection one may ask?Apparently one section of the society states that the cable operators association is supporting the government’s decision in opposing the decision of the tribunal, while others feel that the cable operators fear the wrath of the Kannada activists. Yet another group rationalizes that viewers may get influenced or agitated, as the case might be, seeing the reactions in Tamil nadu. But nobody, not even the cable operators seem to know how this ban came into effect and nor are they aware when the situation is going to be reversed.

Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental of all rights yet our government feels the need to regulate it. So what can we next expect after banning channels, websites & blogs? What kind of a freedom do we enjoy if we need to be spoon-fed predigested news, either on TV or in mainstream print? And what in the name of the good lord are consumer rights?

Except a few disgruntled voices here and there nobody seems to care enough to even muster a protest. And to think that some pompous bureaucrat sitting in his office & passing such blanket regulations, with no explanations whatsoever, is totally unjustified and irks me no end.

Now that the Karnataka government has rejected the decision of the Central tribunal and are seeking legal review, when do we get our channels back please?

Cross posted here

 

Who played smart with Smart City?

The Smart City project had included the following agreements with the previous UDF government led by Umman Chandy:

• Handing over the successfully running Info Park to TECOM
• Cheap land price (“The consideration for the lease shall be Rupee One (Re 1) per acre per annum, payable annually in advance”)
• Only 25% of the total land for IT, rest for Real Estate business of TECOM (read this along with the land price they were asking for)

TECOM had also played some business games. They spread out the word that they are going to step back from the project and the mainstream media and the pseudo-intellectuals started to cry over it in the name of ‘development’. But then after a while, seeing that their tricks are not going to work, TECOM came back to the talks and agreed to some of the LDF led government demands. This was painted as a sacrifice of DIC (Dubai Internet City) by most of the media, but I really do not find any reason for that. I don’t know if the TECOM CEO Abdul Lateel Al Mulla or any other company officials have any ancestral origin of Kerala or any other emotional contacts as such to make this ‘sacrifice’ for Kerala.

Anyways, the result of the hard stands of the Achuthanandan government has helped to achieve the following:

According to the new proposal, Infopark will not be handed over and Kerala would lease around 210 acres of land to DIC for around Rs.800 million ($17.2 million) and no free land will be given to it. Also there is an increase in the State’s holding to 26 per cent from 9 per cent.

At the same time it is a failure of the government and the media here in Kerala that they had not explained about the controversial demands of TECOM that helps only the company, not the state.

Like all other ‘development hungry Keralites’, I was also keen on seeing Smart City project in action and hadn’t really thought about the TECOM demands. Even my vote went to Chandy’s candidate in the last elections. But the recent developments leaves a question as to why the Umman Chandy government had not considered even some negotiations with TECOM and why was he too keen on agreeing to the demands of TECOM which I mentioned above?

 

Filth Unity

My post on ChristianAggression.org created a lot of noise. There were some relevant voices but most were from people who were looking for an opportunity to vent their long bottled up sense of insecurity.

As my set deadline of March 1, approaches, I thought it would be a good idea to make a concluding note on the topic. I hope this will put aside the false filth and threats that have been targeted against me.

For a start, I have communicated my concern and complaint to my MP, who is taking up the matter with the concerned ministry. I will make sure whatever happens will be done without any additional publicity for the concerned hate website.

A few of the commentators on that post questioned my patriotism and loyalty to the nation. I frankly don’t care. I don’t think there is any reason to prove anything to these insecure individuals and organisations.

This experience has however taught me Hinduism is under threat. Not only by ‘god women’ who treat our national flag like a floor mat. But from organisations like Hinduunity.org who seems to more concerned about what Islam, Christianity and Rahul Gandhi are doing than HinduUnity itself.

HinduUnity.org is a disgrace to Hinduism. What does spreading filth about Rahul Gandhi raping a woman got to do with Hinduism or Hindu unity? Aren’t these people tarnishing they image of six millennium old religion?

Here is their tagline, “If the love for my country Bharat is considered Hindu Militancy, then so be it !! “

This is sad.

Oh, HinduUnity.org is based in the US run by Americans too. Ironic, isn’t it?