"An Epoch-- a milky way after a black hole"
Happy Tweeting, happy facebooking , happy Linkedining, happy whatsapp, chatting & blb blb… now this new article in the recent culture of Webzining. There are pretty handful blogs in net nowadays & all of us are members in some groups . Degree of involvement may differ. I am an ACA of May 1990 & naturally associated with Taxguru & ICAI blots. But what is the concern there is the paucity of articles on matters other than of pure professional interest . I am too much entangled in my day to day routine as Accounts Payable head in a large corporate . But, yes, economics & politics & briefly socio-eco-politics of India & our world. Several times , I have thought of sending treatises to diff journals & newspapers, but a) not too many stalwarts have invited me, & b) even despite offers from smaller magazines, I did not get enough time to concentrate on writing on crucial issues. But at the end of the day, all of us are little economists , starting from all bloggers , all writers , all novelists , all artists , all poets & all direct bread earners n homemakers , either in a macro way or in a micro way. But Economics , to many of us , is not a funny / interesting subject to play with , but a subject of econometrics, tooth breaking theories , graphs, curves & topics best left either to Dalal Street & ET / BW type papers n journals , in hands of people working day in & day out with stock markets / treasury mgt / portfolios , or , the other scholastic paradigm-- the Political & Economic weekly . Felt, there should be a common forum for common men to write & discuss on matters affecting our daily lives.
Eg, The Theory of Senonomics . I admit not to understand the theory in very great details. But I have a habit of reading & collecting essays, news pieces etc. My writing shall enclose such great pieces & this is not a commercial writing, nor to be commercially published. Why I am citing all these is the fact that over a period of 1 year or more , I am collecting some good articles from TOI, Deccan Herald, NYT & so many other sources . In many of them , the author’s name may be absent. But my submissions , supported by such essays shall set the mood of the readers & create a fond for such boring topics.
What makes a nation wealthy?
The true wealth of a society is measured by how it treats the helpless young, the slowing aged, and the disabled - and how society seeds in them a feeling of hope and encouragement. All this while also strengthening the true contributors of the longevity of any civilisation: its contribution to the Arts - music, dance, drama, literature, art, sculpture, and architecture.
“UPA’s biggest failure is that its leadership doesn’t talk to the people”
Don Quixote: An audio editorial by Tehelka Editor Tarun J Tejpal
I shall start with an excellent analysis in Tehelka magazine , which I produce below---
[Sabita Orang, 54, a tea garden labourer from Lahoal in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, had been an ardent Congress supporter for the past three decades. But this time, she voted for the BJP. “We voted Congress every time, but the lives of the tea tribes (Migrant Adivasis working in Assam’s tea gardens) have remained as dismal as ever,” says Orang. “We are yet to get Scheduled Tribe status and our wages are pathetic. I thought now is the time for change.”
Since the first General Election in 1952, the Congress had lost the Dibrugarh seat only once. That was in 2004 when the BJP state chief Sarbananda Sonowal, who was then with the Asom Gana Parishad, won the prestigious seat in upper Assam. This time, former Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar of the Congress, a four-time MP from the constituency, faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of a young BJP candidate from the tea tribes, Rameshwar Teli. Teli defeated Ghatowar by a mammoth margin of over 1.85 lakh votes.
In the neighbouring Jorhat constituency, another Congress fortress and the home district of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, BJP candidate and tea tribe leader Kamakhya Prasad Tasa defeated six-time Congress MP and former Union minister Bijoy Krishna Handique by more than 1.15 lakh votes.
The Congress’ once impregnable fortress of upper Assam has fallen to the BJP. The tea tribes, the Bangla-speaking Hindus and the Assamese-speaking population, including even a section of Muslims, voted for the BJP, helping Narendra Modi break the saffron party’s jinx in Assam.
The BJP won seven of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, restricting the Congress to just three seats. It is a big loss for the grand old party, which has been ruling the state since 2001. In the 2009 General Election, the Congress had won seven seats, and the BJP four. And in the Assembly polls held two years later, Gogoi had been voted to power for the third time in a row, winning 76 of the 126 seats. No wonder, all opinion polls had predicted that Gogoi’s party will be able to buck the nationwide anti-Congress mood. But the BJP’s election campaign, with massive rallies by Modi, managed to galvanise support away from the Congress and put paid to Gogoi’s hopes of a decent performance. The only silver lining for the Assam CM was that his son Gaurav made his political debut by winning from Kaliabor, considered a family seat of the Gogois.
One factor that partly explains the Congress’ debacle is that its Muslim vote bank in lower Assam got fragmented even as the BJP consolidated the Hindu votes in the Brahmaputra Valley. A huge section of Muslims were swayed by the minority-dominated All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by perfume baron and cleric Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. The AIUDF, which is the main Opposition party in the state with 18 Assembly seats, won three Lok Sabha seats, equalling the tally of the Congress.
Ajmal retained the Dhubri seat, which he had wrested from the Congress in 2009. His younger brother, Sirajuddin, won the minority-dominated Barpeta seat, which had always been with the Congress. And in southern Assam, the AIUDF candidate Radheshyam Biswas snatched the Karimganj seat, reserved for the Scheduled Castes, from the Congress. Biswas had deserted the Congress to join the AIUDF.
“Developmental works in the state had taken a backseat during Gogoi’s third term,” says AIUDF organising secretary Animul Islam. “There was a lot of dissidence against the CM and he did not try to douse it. This must have cost the Congress dear and helped its rivals to strengthen their position. Our party did well because we could capitalise on the organisational loopholes in the Congress-dominated areas. Hundreds of Congress supporters joined us before the polls.”
The AIUDF was floated about 10 years ago and burst into Assam’s political scene during the 2006 Assembly polls. Since its inception, it has been eating into the Congress’ Bengali Muslim vote bank. The Congress has been accused of appeasing the illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and treating them as a vote bank. But in the past few years, a large section of Bangla-speaking Muslims seems to have shifted allegiance towards Ajmal’s party, perhaps because the perfume baron is also a key leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e- Hind. A hardcore stand on the Bangladeshi migrant issue might have created ripples among the Bangla-speaking Muslims and made them prefer the AIUDF over the Congress.
Another prominent loss for the Congress was the Lakhimpur seat, where former Union minister Ranee Narah was defeated by BJP state president Sonowal.
BJP leaders from the state attribute the party’s success to the Modi wave and anti-incumbency against the ruling Congress. “The Modi wave did not leave Assam untouched,” explains BJP National Executive member Pradyut Bora. “If you analyse the results, the BJP was No. 1 in nearly 70 of the 126 Assembly segments. This shows that there was widespread anti-incumbency in Assam because of the misrule and corruption under the Congress government. But Modi’s rallies in the state were definitely the tipping point.”
But Gogoi had a different take on the Modi effect in Assam. He blamed Modi’s rhetoric targeting illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh for fomenting communal polarization and consolidating the Hindu votes in favor of the BJP.
Whatever be the Assam CM’s rationalization of his party’s defeat, the BJP’s campaign was clearly successful in swaying the sentiments of a majority of the electorate to its advantage. The vote share of the BJP in Assam has gone up from 16.21 percent in the 2009 polls to 36.6 percent this year — an incredible political turnaround, considering that it had hitherto been seen as a party of the Hindi-speaking heartland.
The results have sent the Assam Congress into a tizzy. The party’s vote share went down from 34.89 percent in the previous election to 29 percent this time. Even Gogoi had to admit that his party failed to grasp the pulse of the people and offered to resign, taking moral responsibility for the defeat.
Ever since the 2011 Assembly polls, the ruling party has been witnessing dissidence and the voices against Gogoi have been gathering momentum, led by his one-time loyalist, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Combined with the Modi wave, this became a recipe for disaster for the Congress.
The dissident camp within the Congress has been busy weighing various permutations and combinations since the results came out. At least 50 MLAs, including some prominent ministers, are against Gogoi. “We will ask the high command to remove Gogoi,” reveals a young Congress MLA on the condition of anonymity. “If he calls for a legislative party meeting, we will say we no longer have confidence in him and demand a new CM. The majority is against Gogoi and if the high command does not listen to us, we may consider forming a new party. All of us will resign.”
A major political drama will unfold in Assam in the week ahead, and like always, Gogoi will expect party chief Sonia Gandhi to bail him out. So will Sonia support Gogoi at the risk of more instability in the party, or leave him to fight his own battle? Maybe she still has an ace up her sleeve that can save her party in Assam.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
(Published in Tehelka Magazine, Volume 11 Issue 22, Dated 31 May 2014)
To start with, many on date in India & globally feel that Senonomics has fallen. I am perturbed by shallow views of many of my colleagues & friends. I started my corporate career at the time of VP Singh’s caste chronicles & LK Advani’s Rama mandir movement. In St Xavier’s the friends were equally divided among left & right , also in Scottish Church CP was a surprise entrant in the arena -- a party that was a bonhomie of drunkards & opium/ LSD lovers , suddenly started getting patronage of scholars… so much so that to us –the left leaning students, it came as a whirlwind of surprise , but CP won so many college SU elections in the aftermath of a sympathy wave , a sympathy wave that saw Indiraji as a martyr & engulfed the slogan-- MAAYER RAKTER PRATISHODH, CONGRESSKE SAB VOTE. In fact, that was a turnaround for Bengal politics. Bengalees accustomed to live under Left regime that took away land from middle classes. Can such middle classes be called bourgeoisie? Don’t know. But to become classless was a fad for my friends. I took Sandipandaa as my guru, & gradually realized that electoral politics has made the old guards of Maoism very helpless Even if the GS / President of the SA union did not want to stand up for students failed owing to lack of studies, they had to gherao the chamber of Mr Kalyan, the principal, & throw paper weights to him, intimidate & make him sign a paper issuing admit cards to students for HS exam , whom no sensible person would not want to sit for . Results naturally went pathetic. During my 7 days’ classes at Presidency, I found the stark diff with St Xavier’s where I was studying in the mornings. I saw that absence of politics calls for a discipline of sorts . Anyway, coming to the times, the scenario is St Xavier’s was not too good anyway. Students used to throw chalks & abuses to lecturers, & lecturers used to reply back stopping short of just calling students Bustards ( that citation earned Prof Shantanu , a gold medallist in Eco ) a very harsh award / reward . And, in 80s , when Bharatiya Janasangh was trying to gain the airs of Janta dal that was the immediate replica of Congress in Bengal & had Prafulla Sen , Vijay Singh Nahar & other stalwarts , there was clear fading of the Hindu attire , like the age old Load-shedding of Kolkata & Bengal , which became morbid earlier than most other metros, thanks to the stoppage of most of our Industries sans power plants. At that time, when I could take revenge of punishment from Mr Neogi, a maths lecturer, owing to my proximity to both SA & DSO, despite not being directly associated either. At that point of time , all debates used to circle around dialectic materialism or theory of evolution & involution. Des Capital, Communist Manifesto , Tolstoy, Anton Chekov, Nicolai Gogol, Fydor Dostovosky … & there were so many cheap Bengali versions of very great essays of Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Engels , Cruschev. But we also used to debate on Dr Zivago & Somerset Mom , on Keats , Ulysis & Sukanta. We loved Sushash Mukhujye, Shaktida,Sunilda, Nirenda , Sankhadaa equally, & we were fascinated by both Mao & Mark Twain. At that point, strong left ideologues were active , & the leaders that were out after a long battle of mastless defeat were divided in too many groups , & after SUCI created DSO, probably ultra lefts came out with IPF . But nowhere there was BJP in a big way , nor Hindu Mahasava. Politics was not discussed too much , in common rooms of Xavier’s as was a ritual in Scottish / Presidency canteens, but in debates & tea breaks what we could gather was that in most of colleges , other than the jumping brigade of SFI, who were trying to bounce back , was CP. How? We did not infer any violence with our mothers & sisters, nor the majority of fellow students . Yaa, there were a few of them , but they were mostly with SA / ABSA/ DSA. Shila of high repute in music , was with DSA, our batch-mate & do not know, why SFI & SA/DSA had the worst of rivalries –be it Scottish , or Presidency / JU. CP was either non-existent, or surprisingly, when CP won elections in most of medical colleges & to our surprise, doctor fraternity embraced CP as a better refuge compared to ultra left, SA shook hands with CP, to oust SFI from colleges. ( SA / DSA were college based, not organised like SFI) . In those days, our Marwari friends still did not join CPIM , CPIM’s inroads thru Jyoti Basu’s appeasement of Todis & Thapars & Neotias were slow ; our friends , who considered that Bengalees won’t get clerks’ jobs unless they shower that bounty & mercy on them , were with CP / Congress, & it took me long to assess the atrocities inflicted on our elders by a regime of mousers --- the slaughters of 350—400 in deads of just 2—3 nights by Runu-Manu combine .
It may sound awkward, but I pose this question to the podium --- we censor the Gujrat carnage . We seculars n liberals definitely censor the karseva & the madness of Dec 2002. I was an ACA by then & what I discovered during my CA study days & Lovelock / Pricewater days in the aftermath of qualifying, is that so many of my Bengalee friends & my Tamil friends & a handful of Kannarh n Malayalee friends that were, have all bathed in Hinduism by then. BJP was a party not of just Marhwaris as we flocks used to think, living in n around Barabazar & parts of Kankurgachhi n parts of Saltlake that went to them thru backdoors, but Kolkata was up for Punjabis, Marhwaris , & South Indians across big stretches of posh areas beyond Alipur , to New Alipur, to Jodhpur Park, to Lake gardens, to Golf Greens , & among the middle class Aiyars n Aiyengars that have been residing with our relatives for decades , at rents decided long before Rent Control Act, BJP happened as a reality. For students that started ranking in CA Inter & Final and pasing out in lone chances CA, ICWA , ICSI at a stretch , were not from Marhwari community alone , & the spread was so devoted to professions that very average numbers ( for many of them) in graduation did not mean anything for them, & this was a class 100% with BJP. The Bengalee ( & Kolkatan non-Bengalee) friends who were backbones of TISCO & TELCO-- in audit, in accts, in Indl Engrg , in R&D , in shops as GETs / DETs were all with BJP by then , & for them, Ram Mandir was a symbol for upsurge of Hindus suppressed & oppressed for centuries , for them Muslim rule was no way with lesser malice than British rule. In Patna, BJP was a consolidation of above Yadavs, a combine for people other than MY-dalit – Kurmi ,-- pandeys, Bhumihars , Rajputs, daily warring with each other & socially alienated to the brim were unified, when it came to BJP. Laluji had a solid brain & he had special affection for Babusahabs & a babusahab lady , he gave 3 top party slots to a Pandeyji, a Bhumihar, a Rajput & a Muslim. But if the people I am talking about, hailing from 1/more lala companies of Patna , as also local C&F / branch of MNC & Indian capital giants, looked down upon Yadavs . BJP made inroads into Yadav base by giving a top slot to mama of 1 my close friends.
I was not lucky yo be a part of Coffee House debates at regular intervals , but I was at North Kolkata Basant Cabin & we had good meeting points around Park Street , Loreto—Middleton , ICAI –Russel St & Sri Shikshayatan—Lord Sinha Rd. In some of the addas I asked some of friends, both male n female, how they can patronize any carnage ( luckily Godhra happened a decade later, when I was far away from Kol addas) & one of them , a Santoshpur slum resident , a friend from CIT Bldg Beliaghata & a friend from Sinthee Morh Baranagar / Banhooghly had one opinion in common,--- they were sufferers of Congress massacres of 1970-74. They had lost some member or other in family during emergency. They personally do not support ultra left, but they have been told by their elders how some talents were carn aged at gun-points, similar to the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh --the Muktisenas’ slaughters in the hands of Urdu imperialism. And, they believe, whatever the magnitude , Ram mandir carnage was even lower than the castist carnage broken open by Mr VP Singh. Could not gather their opinion, post Gujarat carnage, but believe they are much more liberal than the fanatic Hindus , who believe inside their hearts that a)Muslims deserved a befitting reply & that b) if they have to live in India & do not leave for Pak, they have to live as 2nd grade citizens like Srilankan Tamils . No, my said friends were not at that altitude , but when I studied extensively & discussed with several stalwarts in social polity as to the reason for depletion of Congress in Bengal , found, a mass remains in colonies of 60s & barracks / CIT buildings, slums & shanties, who have lost either 1/more sons, 1/more daughters, the bread earner fathers , or the respect as a lady that rulers protected for Leftist political opponents till Bidhan Roy, Ajay Mukherjee , Prafulla Ghosh or Prafulla Sen . Despite all of movements incl Food movement of 1959, ladies were protected . Yaa, there were not a handful that used to go out on jobs , but there were women on jobs in industry belts & Kolkata, but they did not feel unsafe . A lot many no of people could not ever pardon Congress for that. In Bihar & UP, the Congress bastions that did not infer direct upsurge of such left hatred & retaliation by mouser brigade, it got gradually clear that many of the riots had linkages to the ruling Congress regime. And, the dharmantar in the hands of the OBC leaders -- the upsurge of naia thakurs over landlord thakurs & gradual growth of MCC & PWG in Bihar dealt a blow strong, stronger & strongest to Congress , benefiting the socialist Lohiabadis & JP badis in between .
After Gujarat carnage happened, & Nandita made an excellent film on that , I asked to myself , which event would be regarded as worst by history & the world? Definitely, you’ll say, what a sily question! How can there even be a comparison? I don’t know , how I can make u feel what I feel. Religion, to me & my wife, is a drug. Without her oration from Chandi , 1 puja committee does not start Durgotsav . Her oration of Gita is equally excellent . But both of us can count days we have gone to temples,. And that too, just to enjoy the sculptures & artefact. If u see the no of movies made by Ray, Sen & Ghatak & some others to portray the period & 1084’s mother by Govinddaa, you can feel the pain inflicted by Congress to destroy a lingua group, & the crab group had no dearth of Manu-Runu - disciples . Left gave land minikits to landless & they enjoyed the pride of land ownership in late 70s itself, but in cities , they destroyed the work culture & the good schools became mediocre, English went off from syllabus , premium colleges relegated to common ones, not calibre but proximity to Alimuddin became the mantra to stay put as a teacher in a premier instn ; many Bengalees could not pardon that. Mamta came as a whirlwind in Bengal, as an event, & masses that did not know of JP CU episode , soon took her as one so very close to their slum life , & she did not have the baggage that Congress bore –the wrath & anger . And, why to talk about this one issue alone? There are several at hand & the issues vary among states. It was surprisingly pro-Congress in Assam, where , at the time I used to stay, between 2000 & 2005 , we found a drastic change in law & order as soon as Congress took over. The Sulfas , so very close to AGP, used to rule the rout in AGP govt & massacres by ULFA were very high. North East is a territory , where you do not deal with just 1 outfit as in Chhattisgarh / Odissa( CPI Maoist) , you have to deal with groups of Hmars, Bodos, Karbis, Dimasas, Nagas, Kukis , Khasis … & last but not least ULFA. ULFA gives official money receipts duly printed ,& then the natural gift people have in this region is extreme graft , be it I Tax, Sales tax, excise & so many others; here if a demand notice is issued to attach your bank a/c, asst commissioner takes trouble to visit your office in ghy all the way from Kohima / Imphal / Itanagar, to make hard bargains; here openly cess is collected from each invoice by Ulfa & others & their reps regularly visit your factories & depots ; here every 5 minutes a bus/ truck / car travels , there is a security check & sometimes ladies are also searched & unlike Delhi , where you pay 1 parchi to police , you get permit to cross all gates violating law , you have to pay to cross each barrier; it is an area , where army rules supreme , as if like a younger brother of J&K, diff being ltd to the fact that here army’s opening of fire is not so rampant as people do not call them Indian dogs. Whosoever calls UP / Bihar lawless & corrupt, may come once to NE , where many hardly existent assesses get Excise, sales tax , I Tax exemptions & there happen to be cases of the whole range office getting burnt out; this is an area, where so-called big cos grounded locally / their promoters can even change MD of Indl Dev Corpn of the state or Director of Industries , who do not toe their lines of siphoning / packing off all subsidies & tax incentives to their families . It is an area , where political parties to assessing officers , with minister bypassing Commissioner to team up with Supdtt, earn in millions & crores ( and I was surprised as I could not imagine such a hefty sum in Bihar assessments) . It is an area that has seen enough bloodbath & any new corporate / individual entrant is greeted with salute letter that claims 30% of your salary . This area has seen the least of development in hands of real mainland industrialists. It had been used as heavens for Tobacco, gutkha , mosquito repellents , pan masalla etc, & any notification denotifying an item from exempted list called a death nail for so many staff members. It is an area, where NEDFI has failed to bring in any real investment till now , over & above short sighted money spinning units by locales ; it is a big area, where population of influx daily goes up as lingua majority directly patronized by Ulfa & other millitia. People who cannot speak out a word of Assameese / Nagameese / Bishnupriya Manipuri, are census-ed at the behest of Ulfa & Congress alike as Locals . It is an area, where genuine people suffer daily , & the bloodbath - theatred ouster of Bihari rickshaw pullers make the holes & grounds for fresh influx of masons & labor & unskilled from Bangladesh , so much so that the whole economy of towns run on these infiltrators, who come in full buses at the call of the dawn; earn whole day, buy clothes , food , jewellery & white goods, visit nursing homes & hospitals , and go back across the border by the advent of the dusk . Here you do not know when a state ends & another state begins, & in places like Hilli & 3 Bigha, you find hutments & pucca houses with kitchen in 1 country & bathroom in another . Goods cross borders on paper to attract transport subsidy , only to come back & sell in mfg state’s market . It is an area, where your power meter does not run but prodn goes on; the SEB officer dares not come to office in fear of militia pouncing on the 30% flesh of pay package. It is an area, where OPC of 10MT is just mixed with red/ yellow clay 6Mt ,to churn out 16MT of PSC , which goes out with excise invoice only to be rejected & come back , to be repacked somehow better & sent as 10MT again & you claim transport subsidy on the whole 26mt. It is an area where 1 co myosis into 2 cos very easily , when , to your surprise , both the cos enjoy all tax exemptions , while the capacity of the 1st assessee , post expansion , goes down to half, as its prodn is shown in the 2nd one thru job work / any other route.
People have gone fed up . The situation is so bad that today all India masons’ conspicuous part is fed by Bangladesh , & in case there is no Malda / Barpeta / Karimganj labor , so many industries incl refineries stop operations.
Question is , are these phenomena typical of only Congress ruled states? Definitely not. Unlike his mom, an arrogant youth leader in Rahul Gandhi created a blackberry team that had no ears to grounds, & in an era where the best of Trinamul machinery loses a precious Asansol seat to BJP simply owing to in-fights, Team Rahul gifted so many seats to BJP simply by revolting against official party line & lineage of matured , time –tested leaders. Congress lost owing to the mast less ship that an alien mother succumbed helplessly & haplessly to her son—a son, who lived in his own world, having inherited the power –empire, taking everything for a ride, & ridiculing the vacuum unfilled up at all grassroots with just a team of mgt backroom , which may augur well for a corporate , but certainly not a strategy to win hearts & mandates of people. Cambridge had to come to the rescue of its prized resource Mr Manmohan Singh, who was relegated to a joker by this team , openly challenging the wrong doings of its own govt, on which the PM had no control & no authority; the authority lay with the duo who were not responsible to deliver. And PC incited the wrath of so many & so many curses, having juggled the balls of current a/c deficit , inflation , the white house demands & the Senonomics- driven socialist excesses of the lady in the green room, who was to be accredited with all good deliveries of the regime. The election advts that ran over India did not have any conspicuous mention of Companies Act amendments, CSR compulsion thrust upon corporates & other fine prints of path-breaking changes. And, the direct subsidy scheme, the RTI , the RTE, the MNREGA had all their voices buried under tentacles of corruptions & political ill wills . As nobody was allowed to surge as a leader to lead from the front , being deep-rooted in the ground politics, people feared UPA3 as another merry go round, with spunk in the hands of an invisible , unapproachable arrogant ‘s hands & Tiatanic run by the chaotic pandemonium warring at the field to lead in same side goal. Congress must have learnt a very big lesson from the defeat in Rajasthan , that a very efficient Ashok Ghelot govt was relegated to a nullity after stupendous achievements , only because of 2 mutually exclusive sets ruling the roost , working in favour of the opponent arena. The team Blackberry , with all white collars not having the ABCD training on realpolity , managed the dynastic seat of Malda in WB , but the team’s Bengal face Mousum Noor could not go any farlong beyond in extending party proliferation in hinterlands of Bengal. The APL & BPL people that really benefited from UPA schemes drawn from the pages of Senonomics were miffed by the most rampant corruption & a faceless PM , who either did not have the political will / compulsion to go to his electorate & explain n convey the achievements , or he was not allowed to do so , as the credits were to flow to Shehjada heirloom all the way , even at the cost of downgrading own rate sheet . They worked like Kauravas that had all best brains & resources, may be much better than the counterpart, but could not consolidate on pin pointing the agenda , the targets , the target audience & the strategy of feed for the audience. Did team Blackberry take people all at just face value? A bunch of claps ticks & mosahebs ?
After hard bargains & dramas by TMC chief, which indecisive voters feared a repetition, lastly UPA woke up to professionalise Rlys, but , again, the Bansal story came forward. The DMK style paved the way for Neerja Radia ‘s Luytens to loot at the very opportunity of making money & engrossing power. Jayantee tax , as Namo familiarly called in every odd meeting, stalled all major projects. For years together there have been hardly any growth for cement & steel industry. Stalling of ongoing highway projects has created a major n crucial dent on infrastructure alias the whole of economy, while India had all possibilities of sustaining a steady growth , especially with bursting of Chineese debt securitisation, the way bubble burst in US & the steel sector of China is under the severest crisis, India has lost the golden opportunity to cash on the impetus to grow.
The poorest labour , who used to go to Bihar from Garwah of Jharkhand , or to Maharshtra from arid areas of Telengana are now getting jobs at villages. Then , why did not they vote ? Probably because a) the MNREGA started selling off to the benefit of political hierarchy , not reaching out the benefits to masses, and the political vacuum has allowed state rulers in many cases to snatch the benefits from UPA. The benefits of nutrition, sanitation , health , income guarantee whatever has happened , has submerged over Inflation that has dent an extraordinarily heavy blow . Dr Rajan was brought in to arrest eco declines & deprivation / obliteration . But that was too late. Economy had , by the, bled enough & shed enough of scarce foreign resources. Dr Rajan , a economist with IMF , did his best to arrest the fall of Rupee , but FII & FDI do not come in seeing a RBI Governor. “Retrospective effect ” malice had dent a cavity on the investors’ confidence. And, how can that come? You want to reign by instilling fear psychosis among honest officers. You stop all genuine refunds. You debar all CCEs from passing genuine favourable orders for assesses. Every Commissioner / DC / AC / Supdtt / inspector fears of risking a CBI enquiry & prefers not to work / pass order or judgement favourable to an assessee / clear a file of investment. Why? Thou thyself is corrupt & you cannot protect your honest bureaucrats. And, when you cannot do that, how can you protect your citizens?
Rahul Gandhi had a fad of night staying in Dalit homes & joining the movements against land acquisition to Niyamagiri hills . No doubt, the rights of marginals have to be protected. No doubt, BPL tribes must get a share of the minerals that lie beneath the land they have been living for thousands of years. But , is it a soln to just stop a project, or is it appropriate to start all projects & spend the whole or major chunk of royalty for the upheaval of the oppressed? The lady who kissed Rahul got killed ; what did Congress do to protect her? Nothing. Rahul earned media bonhomie & limelight by night spending at Dalit shanties, but what did they get in return? Not 1% attention at their crucial hours of distress. This election has been an outburst of the wrath against the mis governance & policy paralysis in the century crossed party that was a guineapig in the hands of this novice , apprentice Shehjada.
So many times , all of us , none of whom can ever deny of having benefited from this regime, have tried to forget this regime as a malicious scar on our skins , which we did never want to grow into permanent moles. But, see, how many times the genuine demands of 3 debt-ridden states were put before center? At no point has that been addressed . GOI has been so beset with CBI & CAG & shameless politicisation of sacred insttns .
But was this all that explains a landslide in favor of BJP?
No, certainly not. First, was there a Tsunami in favor of Namo? No. There was not everywhere. Most artefacts & artisans mould their idols over a defined planning for months. Namo’s political brains , with addl engagement of IITians & IIMians , created that metaphor of an event viz Namo. Extremely well. BJP knew its weaknesses. Its Karnataka regime was rife with same malice as saddling as UPA 2. Still, it went with the Lingayat sympathy factor & quashed anti BJP wave of KJP that wrested seats to Cong in North K’taka. So, this time Cong was restrained in its South K’taka belt. And, Bellary-- the fortress & pseudonym of corruption again went back to Mr Sriramulu, close aide of Mr Janardan Reddy . Had BSY not been taken back to BJP fold on corruption untouchability meter, BJP would have drawn a blot in K’taka. In South , where poverty varies from 15% to 25%-- much above national average of 33-36%, BJP is still a nil in Kerala. In TN success has gone Amma way , --riding on money , development & muscle cocktails . Cong has paid the price of betrayal to Telegus who have always stood by this party thru thick n thin. TDP was sure to come back, but had Rahul’s mantle not been there, like BJP re-kindling BSY event, Cong could have taken back YSR cong to its fold & both Jagan n Cong would have gained. Cong was incompetent to wrest seats in Telengana – the state which owes its birth to Cong. Probably history has in store this award n reward only for its betraying sons n daughters.
Modi’s failures may not seem too obvious , but in Odissa , ridiculing of a CM who reads Odissa thru English letters has not gone down well with the electorate. Till date Nitish model was upheld as the best governance & development model. Suddenly today all are finding fault. Fact remains, -- Bihar, Jharkhand & Odissa are worst states in achieving MNREGA targets & spending. K’taka is also a poor implementer, but being a rich state the requirement is low. But maybe, it shall remain a paradox in Odissa to explain that people do not want to go up from poverty. It was rural poverty in Tribal hinterland that brought TMC into power in that area . It is also clear that state govts could project the fundamental rights to edn, food security, employment & health as their achievements owing to a vacuum created by GOI in publishing its successes. And, whatever BJP may say, MP, Gujarat, Rajas than & Gujarat have all benefited from this scheme implementation . But how can there be a landslide favouring BJD—a pro-growth hero, who has neglected such basic schemes?
In Bengal , the political vacuum created thru exodus of left lumpen & cadres to TMC has definitely helped BJP , but excessive appeasement of minorities by TMC & people’s displeasure on that could not turn court in BJP’s favour , because there was no Amit Shah in WB & there was an opponent ,now entrenched into cadre raj & a solid orgn that CPIM took pride in for over 3.5 decades . Incessant humiliation of local lingua regime always does not pay. In WB many growth areas are seriously lacking, but TMC is just 3 years old & they need to be given a longer rope. And, they inherited a legacy of bankruptcy from Left , which has been politically shown most callous & unresponsive care by UPA. Even within that, be it glorification of our Kolkata to emulate London dreams , or bringing up tribals to a level much higher than of last 35 years , or politically rich land saving movements that rest of India won’t understand (since in AP/ TN/ Ktaka average land holding is 10 acres ph, against our 0.05 –0.1 acre ph) , or cultural bonhomie , or academic excellence search, or even resurgence of good road n water networks -- Bengal may not go the Hindi Hindu Hindustan way at least for now. TMC is politically more matured now not to be played haplessly in hands of opposition n media. Over & above an initiative to develop, Mamtadi shows a resolve to take along minorities & SCs alike , & STs are far better placed, so she does not have that Cong tag of horrors & MISAs & blackouts , which could bother her for now. Only worrying factors are a) Bihari migrants, whose dominance in transport sector has got curbed , giving way to unemployed Bengalee youth’s entry therein , so they are agsint TMC quite to a great extent; b) Marwaris -- unbridled lordship over of Kolkata, Howrah & likes was a gift of CPIM to the community . Gujratis have always been with BJP , they found a substitute in CPIM for an intermittent period, now BJP is their natural heritage. But Marhwaris have gradually started understanding that Buddhadev comeback is impossible, especially Singur type & militant type image of didi have started throwing up more members of the community to a better natural choice over CPIM in the aftermath of a Modi wave.
Could Modi win so greatly, had AAP factor not been there? Had Congress been able to foresee the Galliath & forge an alliance with AAP, what would have been the result? Impassionate & unbiased look at all the BJP ruled states would depict that performance of govt has been average , but mismgt in Cong has gifted many of the seats to this party’s grand Hindutva resurgence.
Even in North East, where much of anger has sprung from the fact that more & more of NE people,-- the Ahoms , the Nagas, the Mizos, Arunachalis , Khasis & Manipuris have started shedding off the age old vanity of not doing laborious jobs & started venturing into other states in very great nos . Unlike in Kerala that has got over 90 % literacy & enough scopes for their youth to study within that state, Mizos , with equivalent literacy rates , are deprived of sufficient higher education & till date JU was a forte for them , with a hostel almost allotted to Mizo girls , but now they are very fond of venturing into Mumbai, Blore, Hyd & Delhi & myriads of other towns n cities. Many of them are in odd jobs as well, & unlike in Ghy, in typical Hindi belt their attire, their Mongoloid composition n complexion have fallen them soft targets & preys of miscreants & locales of the North, without any cognisable punishment to the mainlanders . The isolation sustains. They want a change, an end to all atrocities & alienations, to stand equally as their Aryan brothers n sisters.
But more than all of above , minority factor has been the greatest crusader for Cong, who, till date, played with their emotions. AIUDF , the Agar money spinners of Hojai & the demography of the state divided into around 40% each of Assameese & Bengalee Muslims have blown to Congress the conch in Assam that AAP blew in Hindi belt. It is known that success embraced TMC in Bengal riding on Muslims’ rejection of left.
And, in UP & Bihar, had Modi’s caste not been made an issue, could dalit votes gone to BJP in this magnitude? Definitely not.
Project clearances---
Gujarat & even MP , Rajathan & CG—the sole 3 BJP ruled states do not portray the best of shining India glory . We come to statistical comparisons in a later issue, but Gujarat is no 1 only wrt land approvals & environmental clearances. That way, Raj & Punjab are no 1 wrt Single window clearances, Raj is also joint no 1 wrt environment clearances. AP is no 1 wrt land approvals & infra nods. Maha is no 1 wrt labour laws along with Raj & wrt infra nods they share berth with AP. K’taka & WB share top slot wrt Info & comprehensive VAT. So, what is the so glorious Modi model? Yaa, the state was lacking 10 years back. But, that way, since our Didi stopped emulating Rahul –like premature shortcuts wrt project appraisals , WB has started looking up & there has been conspicuous growth in last 3 years .
Conclusion---
Per se, it was interesting for us to watch UPA adopt Senonomics in ardent desire to emulate socialism ,where Sonia preferred to play it safe following her mom-in –law to reach a welfare state status . Surprise was its packaging & branding in Dr Singh’s regime , when Dr Singh’s fondness for laissez faire was very well –known. It was too interesting in UPA1 regime to see the pronouncements directed all towards welfare eco-- inclusive growth & capacity building & propelling of growth thru emancipation & development of BPL masses , & all these under the umbrella of the God of eco liberation –Dr Singh. BJP’s eco policies are directed & dictated till now by the reputed duo proclaimer of laissez faire --- Mr Arvind Pangharia & Mr Chandrasekhar Bhagawati. They shall start from the point Dr Singh left the reins of his dominance over eco discipline in UPA2 , when Soniaji misunderstood the success of UPA1 as her own credit instead of that of Dr Singh’s policies . So, policy paralysis shall not be there, but there has to be conflict. Their theories run in strict contrast with Dr Sen, but can BJP stop MNREGA 100% ? Then , what shall those BPLs get to live & feed? Now , at least 30% of the exp reach their hands . Ok, BJP shall give them value added jobs , but how? Is there a blue print? Shall RTE stop? Smriti has declared to raise edn spending by 100% . How shall that be financed? Shall that not be a valueless inflationary exp? Shall Adhar project’s abrupt stop create a vacuum & pandemonium ?
Probably , BJP shall have to take a midway between growth & development , which Gujarat did not well experimented so far. We’ll be eager to see spread of grameen banks & people’s coops in power distribution n rural infra the Dr Yusuf way. Rural schools, hospitals , roads, ---all shall need Keynsian welfare spending & how stagfaltion shall be avoided taking care of all such macro moons promised? (Whatever way they follow, edn spending of 6% of GDP as pronounced by Smriti Irani only emboldens the fact that BJP does have faith in welfare eco / Senonomics) .
BJP’s plans on Health for all & Housing for all appear to be very novel business game plan by combining PPP model with socialism to achieve goals. Simple benefits to local & FDIs can ensure that most of our populace are given Obamacare & cheap shelters. Again, an upholding of Senonomics.
Is BJP relying on the Rs 64 lac crore stashed away in Swiss Banks, --an issue that alienated Cong from masses too badly? This election has been pro-establishment except for incompetent cong.
What Moditva comes with , is a baggage of risk of neo rightism, and ultra rightism the dictator way. The leftist Indira was a dictator & growth master of 1970s , but Emergency curse ruined the career of hers & her son Sanjoy. Modi is alone & India is not Gujrat. People want a decisive leader, fine. China has gone forward with a decisive leader , fine. But he has to balance himself ; he cannot walk the tightrope Dr Singh walked. The leader with just 31% mandate would not be able to rule, by his own admission , had not the mandate been clear. So he is a loner --- within the party , & outside as well. His bunch of followers , his pet industrialists, whom unscrupulous Rahul has angered going AAP way , are too close to him now. And this is one of the very first times, a govt without tacit support of White House is in power, whom they now have to adore. He shall raise the heads of Hindu national capitalism, if not, Hindu Imperialism. He is without support of Minorities . And his party has not still wretched support of all the linguas of India . But, as morning shows the day, the start has been excellent; his no nonsense standing by babus shall lead competent babus deliver, & the bureaucracy shall live up to excellence & expectation. All ministers are his hand –picked, voices of dissent won’t be there. But shall CAG go boot polish way? Say, no. Shall files be cleared too fast ? If yes, shall not Satyams creep up more? Already Big 4 audits are in scanner in a no of cases & CA profession ‘s reputation is dwindling. And, there is SC & its CJ. Shall mines be opened up? The Iron ore mines of Odissa , & of K’taka? Shall Bengal get its Iron ore & coal share for its biggest investment project in Salboni, which prev regime shabbily denied? And, the Niyamgiri & other Bauxite sources? Can Posco & Arcellor Mittal do business in India? Undeterred by NGOs’ usurping in people’s land movements ? Shall he curb genuine land movements ? If yes, how? So many questions. And, India is not Gujarat. All Indians unfortunately do not welcome capital the way Gujarat does & Sanghai does, Hongkong does, lying in cages , moving in trucks, months after months, living on coupons. India is different. Hope, Modi shall bring in prosperity respecting this pinch of distinction & difference, without trying to shatter it with caterpillars .
Let us welcome BJP in establishing India as a superpower in South Asia. On very 1st day of existence Modi has initiated a debate with Pak what UPA did not do in a decade . And he has set the agenda. Cannot India become a China by 2025? India can rope in fullest potential of trade with Sout & SE Asian partners , usurping in 8—10% growth in near future, thru deficit financing & a transparent but liberal tax regime devoid of oppressions .
Now , may pls go thru a host of articles recently published in papers recently.
Now , may pls go thru a host of articles recently published in papers recently.
APPENDIX 1.
An article in TOI by Mr CL Manoj---
The ruthless dumping of the incumbent president Sitaram Kesri had taught her the ground rule in the Congress: just three things keep the Congress establishment on the drive — votes, victory and power. It revers only a mascot that can lead them to conquer. So, her presidential
concern for a party in trouble can't be second to her maternal worries for her son! This is the progress card Rahul Gandhi has brought home after the Congress was placed under his de facto leadership. Why blame Rahul alone? Didn't Team Manmohan create such a mess that
the Congress' electoral burial was inevitable? True. The UPA-II ran on a death wish right from the word go, and committed serial hara-kiri. But when a government goes off the track, as UPA-II did, normally, the party steps in with course correction. But Rahul Gandhi's fanciful experiments had crippled the Congress establishment. Since he alone could be the party's future PM, Gandhi's unwillingness to join the government also meant no one else could replace the defunct Manmohan Singh to give the government a new momentum. Rahul's experiments left telling effects. The Youth Congress (YC), the agitational and often physical wing of the party, got gentrified, and never once
hit the street to defend the UPA. An old Alsatian was "reformed" into a poodle. In Tamil Nadu, Team Rahul's biggest success in YC drive, Congress polled a pitiable 4.3% votes! Having let off realpolitik steam in his outings in UP, Niyamgiri Hills and Mumbai local trains, till about 2012, Rahul chose to be his own man. While preaching "how to defeat Modi with love", he waged a war against the Congress establishment. His "temper" became well-shown, he and his corporate-style office were mostly inaccessible to even senior leaders. He also had no atience with those who pitched for critical prepoll alliances in UP, Bengal and TN. He let his apolitical backroom team — draftsmen, technocrats, fortune seekers and social climbers — "help him win elections" through laptops/data collection, and appointed ma ..He imposed ex-socialists, Sanghis and unproductive professors in AICC to mess up time-tested political/organisational/election management systems. Rahul could do all this only because of his surname. He put on a fake "angry-youngman" act, only to be rejected by the youth. After the disaster, the ones trying to distance themselves from Team Rahul are the same people who had promoted themselves on their "Rahul tag": the Milind Deoras and Jairam Rameshes, like the Arun Singhs and Arun ..Rahul's real failure was his refusal to learn his mother's real strength. Sonia Gandhi understood her limitations and the reality of her position. When the Congress brass brought her in ceremonial splendour to anoint her as Congress chief, she never made the mistake of taking them for her palanquin bearers. She understood these Congress leaders, product of Indira-Sanjay era, are entrenched warlords and equal stakeholders. Only those with skills of Indira Gandhi or Sanjay could set terms of leadership. Sonia Gandhi was to play a harmonising unifier so that the army could march ahead and she can be the face of victory. She played that role perfectly. But Rahul chose to follow his father. The "nice guy" Rajiv Gandhi took the post-Indira assassination massive victory as his licence to demolish the Congress establishment, called them "power brokers", snubbed his CMs and propped up his own apolitical team. But as V P Singh, a Sanjay Gandhi chela, unleashed Bofors on Rajiv, the battle-hardened Congress brass whom Rajiv humiliated just lay back and watched the fun. Politics can't be one-way street. A crippling defeat can make Rahul respond in two ways: either show off that he is least affected and shall carry on with "the mission", or wise up and discover his party's core truths. Rajiv Gandhi had opted for the latter course while sincerely working on a second coming
APPENDIX 2.
Highlights Of UPA Achievements In 10 Years
By IndiaTimes | January 3, 2014, 1:16 pm IST
Highlights of the record of the UPA government, titled "10 years of progress and growth", cited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address to the media on Friday and which was released by the Prime Minister's Office ahead of the press conference:
* Education - India has achieved "near universal education" at the primary school level due to Right to Education and the dropout rates have also decreased. The outlay for education has been constantly increased. Central universities increased from 17 to 44 during 2004-13.
*Farmer welfare - Minimum support prices (MSP) for wheat and paddy has been doubled since 2004, while MSP for other grains have increased three fold. More than 650 lakh farmers were financed by the banking system during 2012-13. The new Land Acquisition Act will provide livelihood rehabilitation and financial benefits for the affected people.
*Food security- There has been a three-fold increase in food subsidy during UPA tenure. The Food Security Act will entitles 35 kg of food-grains per month and other families for 5 kg per person at subsidised rates.
*Rural employment- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the largest welfare scheme of its kind in the world started in 2006. Wages given under the scheme per day have almost doubled from Rs.65 to Rs. 128 since the launch of the scheme. In 2012-13, the scheme provided employment to over 4.98 crore households, generating more than 213 crore person-days of employment.
*Healthcare- Consistent investment in public healthcare showed reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates, while life expectancy has improved. Absence of new endemic polio case for the last three years.
*Social security for special sections - There has been ten-fold increase in the expenditure on minorities since 2004-04.
*Economic growth - Per capita income in India has grown three fold since UPA came to power. The average GDP growth during the period of UPA government has been 7.7 percent despite two global slowdowns.
*Infrastructure - More than 2 lakh km of new roads have been added to the rural road network. Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has increased by 88 percent in the 12 th Five Year Plan.
*Poverty reduction - Average decline in poverty was two percent per annum.
*Direct benefit transfer and Aadhaar card- The UID has issued more than 51 crore Aadhaar cards giving people access to direct benefit transfer in 184 districts.
*Development of Northeast : Internal security has improved and the growth rate in north-eastern region is now higher than national average. Northeast growth rate is 9.9 percent compared to national average 7.4 percent.
*Governance and transparency - Right to information, second administrative reforms commission, and e-governance ensured transparency. Among the anti-corruption measures, the government was able to bring the Lokpal Act, as also the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, Grievance Redressal Bill, and Amendment to Prevention of Corruption Act.
*Security of women and children - The law has been amended to provide stringent punishment for sexual offences against women and children. The government has also passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. TheWomen Reservation bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
Now Please have a look at the following treatise ----
IndiaToday.in New Delhi, May 15, 2014 | UPDATED 20:03 IST
Here we bring you the highs and lows of Manmohan Singh government, as listed by IANS:
1. Nuclear Deal: Manmohan pushed through the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and determinedly garnered all the support it needed.
2. Rural employment: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a scheme to provide 100 days of employment to a member of every poor rural family a year, was said to have won his government a second term with 200 plus seats.
3. Poverty reduction: India reduced its number of the poor from 407 million to 269 million, a fall of 138 million in seven years between 2004-05 and 2011-12.
4. Rights-based empowering legislation: The passage of the Right to Information Act, the Right to Education Act and the Food Security Act empowered the poor and the powerless.
5. Polio eradication: Pushing through with India's polio vaccination drive made the country polio-free.
6. Biometric identification: Launching the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) scheme in 2009 provided every person residing in India with an Aadhar identity card.
7. DBT: Rolling out the direct benefit cash transfer scheme, in what was termed a game-changer for UPA II, ensured that cash benefits directly reached the poor and underprivileged.
8. Foreign policy: Made friends with an adversarial China, by pushing trade to high levels and also inking a border defence pact for peace and tranquillity on the border. Made India's voice heard in global forums with greater respect, forged a strategic partnership with the US and elevated ties with Japan.
9. Infrastructure: The government has pushed for major infrastructure projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai infrastructure corridor. More than 17,000 km highways developed; greater reach of rural electrification, railways, telecom widened; infrastructure in the northeast boosted. Foodgrain production reaches record heights. Power capacity more than doubled to 243,000 MW in 2013-14 from 113,000 MW in 2003-04.
Minuses
1. Corruption: Biggest factor that has proved the undoing of the UPA government. Manmohan Singh, though himself impeccably honest, has been accused of turning a Nelson's eye to political and bureaucratic corruption and wrongdoings by several ministerial colleagues. The government was rocked by several scams, among them the coal mine allocation controversy, the telecom spectrum allocation controversy, 2010 Commonwealth Games controversy, alleged bribery in purchase of VVIP helicopters, cash for vote scam of 2008; and Adarsh housing society scam.
2. Policy paralysis: The government was seen as hesitating to take major economic decisions like introducing FDI in retail to revive flagging economy, largely due to pressure from allies and even resistance from his own party. He could not take his own ministers along on several decisions while many reformist measures failed to get parliamentary support.
3. Foreign Policy: UPA failed to sign the Teesta water accord with Bangladesh because of a state government's recalcitrance. Manmohan Singh government was criticised for mishandling relations with smaller neighbours, especially the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Manmohan failed to make much headway with Pakistan and got little time from his domestic problems to attend to other important regions, particularly Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
4. Economy: India's slowing economic growth and persistent high inflation, coupled with a huge populace of youth with aspirations remaining to be fulfilled, have added to the growing dissatisfaction with the government as it misjudged the implications of the global slowdown on the economy and failed to act in time.
5. Communication failure: The government's inability - and the prime minister's personal reluctance - to communicate effectively to the people, challenge the propaganda of its critics and project even the good work it was doing, was one of its biggest undoings and showed how it it lacked a key element of modern governance.
APPENDIX 3.
The Congress
For the sake of the health, quality and effectiveness of India’s democracy, the Congress party needs to recoup and regenerate. This will be difficult without cutting the umbilical cord with the Gandhi family. The sycophants are already circling the Rahul wagon. The dramatic collapse of vote (by one-third to under 20 percent) and seats (by four-fifths to less than half its previous worst tally of 114) reflected poorly on the collective leadership of the party, insist the flatterers, it cannot possibly be the fault of a mere party vice-president who held no Cabinet post in the defeated government. In this, the party is repeating the errors of its post-2009 victory. In retrospect, the people had liked and respected Manmohan Singh. In voting him back to power with an increased majority, they gave him the mandate to push further on his reformist vision, agenda and programmes.
The Sonia coterie took this amiss. They believed their populist measures were responsible for the improved performance and Manmohan Singh was even more enfettered, being denied the freedom to form his own Cabinet or drive his own policy agenda. Manmohan was serially rebuffed and humiliated. The most notorious instance was when at a press conference, while Manmohan was in the US and about to meet President Barack Obama, Rahul literally tore up an ordinance, to which the party and Cabinet had agreed, to allow convicted MPs to continue in Parliament. Instead of resigning and preserving the last vestige of self-respect, Manmohan elevated loyalty to the Gandhi family above the public insult to his dignity, the damage to the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the national interest in defending the institutional integrity of India’s system of governance. India’s voters retain their affection for Manmohan as a fundamentally decent person but lost respect for him as a political leader and have delivered a comeuppance to those who mistreated him so.
Aam Aadmi Party
Over the past two-three years, India’s urban young in particular have come into the streets in massive numbers, proclaiming they have had enough and are not going to take it any more. Congress ministers confirmed how tone-deaf, disconnected from average citizens, and arrogant inside their own bubbles they really were in ignoring and misreading the political significance of the anti-corruption and good governance mass rallies and protests. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was formed last year to tap into the growing rebellion with a mass base. AAP generated political excitement and turned the Delhi Assembly election last December into a three-cornered contest with the BJP and Congress. Rather unexpectedly, the neophyte party ended up forming the government but proved a one-trick pony with no political or administrative capacity to harness the one-item agenda of fighting corruption into a broader programme of general governance.
Given the opportunity to show what it could do as government, AAP self-destructed on the crossroads of anarchy, vigilantism and racism. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal seemed more interested in conducting street protests against the Central government and the other parties than in managing the affairs of the government. Law minister Somnath Bharti conducted a vigilante raid against African women that was clearly racist and also an example of vulgar sexism. The police refused his orders, citing the need for proper legal procedures — a notion that proved alien to the minister! AAP defended his actions instead of firing him, confirming it had no idea of the need to limit and not flaunt abuse of power by those in positions of authority.
AAP also went in for populist policies. It had been brought to power by a confluence of two political constituencies: the aspirational class that wanted good governance from the State so they could get on with their work and lives; and the poor who have a sense of entitlement and want State handouts. Water and electricity pricing and distribution policies and the decision to reverse the opening of the retail sector to foreign private enterprise played to the populist gallery. But only at the cost of hard economic logic, including cheaper goods for the consumer, job creation for the poor, foreign investment for economic growth and modernisation of the management of the antiquated retail sector. The combination of vigilante antics, street demonstrations by the Cabinet and anti-market policies thoroughly alienated the aspirational base.
Most importantly, AAP failed the test of political accommodation and negotiation in order to achieve doable deals. Any party and government must be able to prioritise its core interests and values on which there can be no compromise; distinguish these from items on the policy menu that are desirable but not critically essential; and learn to deal on the second set while holding fast to the first. Instead, AAP operated as though all their policies were utterly non-negotiable. When their government collapsed as a result, the public concluded they had behaved in a juvenile fashion unbefitting a party with a serious claim to government; and had indeed run away from the challenge of government. Had AAP shown itself capable of good governance in Delhi, it would have done exceptionally well across the country in the General Election. Instead, its bubble had burst and the voters punished its self-indulgent tantrums. But it has a base and can build on it, provided it eschews histrionics and avoids policy flip-flops.
Beyond these three political forces, while regional parties remain strong and vibrant in most states, other notable features of the election are the sidelining of the purely caste-based parties (Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD in Bihar, Mayawati’s BSP in UP), the decline and irrelevance of the Left Front of communist parties of various shades and hues, and the decline of family inheritor MPs. Unfortunately, however, one-third of the new MPs still come tainted with criminal charges.
The BJP’s Winning Coalition
The 2014 General Election may mark a turning point in the way the fast-growing aspirational class came into its own as a potent political force. This is not the group that has already climbed into middle-class status but the one below: the poor who have ambitions to make it into middle-class ranks. They want and demand the opportunity to improve their lot by dint of their own efforts so they can aspire to a decent job, affordable education and health for their family, and a retired life of basic dignity where pensions and savings hold their real value. The political, economic and social importance of this aspirational class will almost certainly grow in the coming years and decades. If so, 2014 will mark the year when dynastic democracy went into decline and there were even tentative hints of a breach in the handout State. Rather, they want the State to give them the necessary hand up the ladder of success through the provision of public goods like education, health, law and order and infrastructure.
Modi openly mocked two of the family dynasties opposing him. He attacked the ma-beta sarkar in the national capital, New Delhi, and the baap-beta sarkar in the Uttar Pradesh capital, Lucknow. Even Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra came across as an arrogant, petulant, rich and entitled kid, refusing to acknowledge there is a case to be answered about the miracle pace of damaad shri’s assets accumulation. Not to mention the fact that her appearances underlined Rahul’s lacklustre political skills. Modi pointedly emphasised how he had no one before or after him: he had inherited no political dynasty and had no family on whom to bequeath his political fiefdom.
Besides the policy advantages, and the political baggage of criminality and corruption that dogged the Congress party, Modi and the BJP were streets ahead in their organisational and campaign skills and strategy. Modi clocked up more than 300,000 km and addressed almost 450 rallies; the BJP mounted a massive outreach exercise directly to voters; and Modi’s extensive roadshows were buttressed by the intensive use of hologram technology whereby his apparition would appear and disappear like the gods to enthral audiences all over the country.
The Modi Agenda
Modi’s catchy and effective slogan was “MG2”: minimum government, maximum governance. India’s three great institutions of democracy, federalism and secularism have ensured its survival essentially unchanged from the constitutional system established in 1950. An assault on any one of these three would destroy India and imperil its unity and territorial integrity. To that end, Modi must reject efforts by his hardline support base to introduce the Hindutva agenda or otherwise tamper with the basic structure of India’s Constitution, reach out to Muslims, and make the states partners in his development journey. Modi has been voted to power on his promises of development and good governance. If he should pursue a sectarian Hindutva agenda, Modi will rapidly lose the goodwill of the people and run up against mounting institutional points of resistance. His campaign performance suggests that regardless of what his own inner core convictions might be, he knows that the Hindutva agenda is socially divisive and does not enjoy majority Hindu support.
Modi does have space to redefine the social purpose of the State. Political discourse has been corrupted to the point where someone who promises to treat all Indians equally without discrimination and distinction on grounds of caste and religion can be called a vicious bigot, while those who insist on framing public policy based on caste and religious identity are the self-proclaimed standard bearers of progressive secularism. Indians today are more conscious of caste identity than they were at Independence. It would be good if the process could be reversed and public policy be returned to treating all Indians equally, ensuring equality of opportunity and pivoting back from enforcing equality of outcome. In the 2014 General Election, while his opponents tried to divide Indians along caste and religious lines, Modi united people behind his vision of a prosperous, strong and self-confident new India.
India’s weak economic institutions — stifling regulatory norms, barriers to starting and closing businesses, tardy and costly enforcement of property rights, complex and time-consuming dispute resolution procedures — are matched by poor quality of governance in the legal and political institutions and bureaucratic and police structures. The new government’s policy agenda should focus on more market opening reforms (disinvestment of public sector firms, liberalisation of foreign investment rules, financial and banking sector reforms, cutbacks in subsidies); more integration with the international economy (tariff reductions and import liberalisation); and innovations in farming. Reforming the financial sector in particular may be a precondition for other critical reforms. In the process, however, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, India must avoid going from the inherent virtue of socialism as the equal sharing of miseries (the old licence permit raj) to the inherent vice of capitalism as the unequal sharing of blessings (the French economist Thomas Piketty thesis of the returns on capital generally exceeding the productivity gains in the economy to underpin widening inequality: to those who have much already, much more shall be given).
Modi should focus on a five-part agenda in his five-year term: water and sanitation, infrastructure, education (especially for girls), corruption, and administrative reform. The public sector is bloated, parasitical and inefficient. India’s elite civil servants are individually brilliant but the civil services collectively are dysfunctional. The system needs a complete overhaul. India will need at least $500 billion infrastructure investment over five years to fix critically neglected road, rail, air and sea transportation networks, and power grids.
Only a tiny fraction of India’s people is served by safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities. India has the worst health statistics of any country in the world by some margin, with the majority of diseases being water-borne or water-related. Modi’s campaign commitment to build more toilets than temples is strongly backed by internationally compiled statistics. I had earlier written how more than half the world’s population practising open defecation lives in India (almost 600 million). A follow-up report by UNICEF and the WHO, published recently, notes that India has been a laggard in reducing this disease-spreading practice, while Bangladesh and Vietnam have been among the highest reducing countries since 1990. The practice of open defecation correlates very highly with deaths of children under five, under-nutrition, poverty and income inequality. In addition, lack of safe private toilets heightens the vulnerability of girls and women to violence and is an impediment to girls’ education.
Corruption (bribery — paying off an official to do something illegal, and extortion — having to pay an officer to obtain a service that is rightfully due) distorts markets and encourages inefficiency. The biggest cost is political. It would be difficult to exaggerate the revulsion of ordinary people to the ubiquitous and institutionalised venality of public life. Petty corruption is especially endemic at the lower, clerical levels of administration — precisely the point at which the ordinary citizen comes into daily contact with officialdom. It is first and foremost a governance issue — a failure of institutions and stewardship of public life, a lack of capacity to manage social, economic and political affairs by the rules of the game that privilege the public good over private gain, and with the help of effective checks and balances.
Observing the world of higher education from my unique vantage point at the United Nations University for almost a decade, I became increasingly concerned at India’s neglect of what may well be the most precious asset for survival and advancement in a borderless knowledge society. China will pull rapidly ahead on science and technology. There is something rotten in the state of higher education and research when overseas Indians can hold several thousand patents for every one held by an Indian. While China is closing the education gap with the West, India is falling farther behind. China had recognised the crucial importance of creating and retaining a critical mass of high-quality scholars and research institutions, adequately funded and resourced to be able to compete with the world’s best. Indian secondary school students were second from bottom among 73 countries tested in maths, science and English. India’s higher education and research sector is over-regulated, under-funded, and micromanaged by politicians and bureaucrats. Although there are still a few pockets of excellence, the average quality of India’s higher education has been falling steadily behind the world average. In global rankings, India struggles to keep even one university in the world’s top 500, compared to more than 20 of China’s.
Moreover, India lags not just on global but also on Asian benchmarks. In the new 2014 QS University Rankings, no Asian university has managed to break into the global top 20 as yet. The educathree highest-ranked Asian universities this year are the National University of Singapore at 24th, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology at 25th, and the University of Hong Kong at 26th. Only two Indian universities make it into Asia’s top 50: IIT-Delhi at 38th, and IIT-Bombay at 41st. Only one non-IIT — Delhi University — makes it into Asia’s top 100. Even in comparison to the five BRICS, every other country has at least one institution ranked higher than the top-ranked Indian IIT; there is no Indian institution in the top 10, although five IITs make it into the top 20; and Delhi and Calcutta Universities fall just outside the top 50. World champions in all fields at making excuses, Indian institutions hide behind the “explanation” that international ranking metrics and indicators are not suited to India.
Conclusion
The number of serious challenges confronting the country do not diminish: financial crisis, terrorism, Maoist insurgency, an outdated educational system, debilitating poverty, choking infrastructure, climate change, food and water insecurity, and fragile States in the neighbourhood. India will be much better equipped to deal with these challenges with a strong, stable and decisive government pursuing cohesive, market-friendly and socially inclusive policies without any aggressive foreign policy agenda. Surveying the wreckage of nation and democracy-building efforts in countries around it, India still stands out as an oasis of regime stability, democratic legitimacy and economic progress. If Modi can show substantial progress on the above five-point agenda, he will have consolidated and deepened these positive attributes and earned re-election with a solid majority in 2019.
The scale of the triumph of Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party exceeded even what the opinion polls could dare to predict. Otherwise, the rest of the predictions concerning the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls have come true, even the comic drama of the mother and the son resigning together from their respective positions as president and vice-president of the Congress owning responsibility for the rout and their immediate change of mind following sobbing appeals from their henchmen. It was high entertainment, but there was one element in it which evoked both abhorrence and pity, abhorrence because the dynasty did not have the grace to spare the last ignominy for Manmohan Singh; he was made to move the resolution at the party meeting imploring noble madam and her equally noble offspring not to quit, they had not an iota of responsibility for the inglorious party performance, it was his abject failure as prime minister and of the government he presided over; pity, because even now Manmohan Singh continues to be so shamelessly obsequious to the family.
Anyway, that chapter is finally over and all speculation at the moment centres on how the BJP handles its super performance. It would be good if its leaders take account of the fact that even though it has won close to 55 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats, barely one-third of the electorate is with it. Even so, those who do the manoeuvrings in the stock markets are dizzy with Modi’s dream win; this is what they wanted and had worked for.
The Sensex, however, is not the real economy. The persistence, in recent years, of recessioning conditions in the developed countries, particularly the United States, has severely affected India’s exports; the hope of an early revival of export-based growth is dependent on whether the American economy would be back on course and refloat Indian exports. The current buoyancy in the stock exchanges, though, has led to a gush of speculative capital from overseas, leading to a boost in the country’s foreign-exchange holdings. It has, however, also caused an appreciation in the external value of the rupee, which is likely to further retard exports. The hard, harsh truth will continue to stare policy-makers in the face: a country with such a huge load of population as ours can hardly expect sustained economic growth merely on the prop of exports; even China, with its far superior technological base and its workers’ innate skill owes to export earnings at most a quarter or thereabouts of its aggregate GDP growth. As long as thoroughgoing redistribution of income and assets does not take place, adequate employment opportunities are not provided to the mass of the people, and a buoyant domestic market for goods and services does not emerge in the country, the economic crisis is most unlikely to resolve itself. True, this is a long-range issue.
Modi is unlikely to avoid experiencing the contradictory pressures that are bound to arise immediately. The top strata who have gained enormously from the economic liberalization process will demand faster advance towards full-scale liberalization, including freer entry of foreign capital. They had voted and carried out a campaign blitz for Modi precisely because they had this expectation in mind. To follow their prescriptions would however mean creation of even greater income inequalities, further shrinkage of employment opportunities, and negating all prospects of developing a vibrant domestic market. It will be interesting to watch how the new prime minister deals with this dilemma, which, in turn, will depend on the quality of ministers and advisers he gathers round him.
An equally greater worry would be with regard to the manner Modi tackles the wild Hindutva fringe in the party. If this berserk crowd take it for granted that since their kingdom has come, they could now go on the rampage, the country would have no peace from the very beginning: their aggression would be met with counter-aggression in many parts of the country, terrorists of diverse hues would activate themselves, Kashmir would possibly witness another round of uprising, several of the country’s next door neighbours would chalk out new strategies vis-à-vis India, and, who knows, the Taliban, already entrenched in Pakistan, might attempt to infiltrate across the border. Apart from the other consequences, the emergence of such a situation would rudely disturb the process of economic growth too. Perhaps the corporate sector, which had gone all out to ensure Modi’s installation as prime minister, might, in its own interest intercede with him. Again, much will depend on the group of close advisers, Modi chooses to lean on. Invitation to the heads of government of all the neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is an excellent gesture and one would like to add, a good omen.
In any event, the BJP must remember, with all its faults and deficiencies, India is still a functioning democracy. Countrymen, who had reached the end of their tether because of the unprecedented and unchecked price rise, massive growth of unemployment and unashamed acts of corruption at high places during the UPA-Congress regime, have decided that the BJP was going to be their saviour. They are much too innocent to be able to comprehend that the BJP has basically the same class base as the Congress. Nonetheless, Modi, if only for tactical reasons, needs to offer the common people some relief in some directions. Otherwise, the herd instinct might once again take over, the ayes could turn into nays with extraordinary rapidity.
There is adequate reason for assuming a possibility of this nature. The Modi storm, helped by the quirk of the first-past-the-post principle of declaring the winner, has made mincemeat of the regional and caste-based parties everywhere except in Odisha, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, while Kerala too has not been disturbed from its traditional United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front duality. Even so, perhaps with the exception of the DMK in Tamil Nadu, which seems to have been almost completely swallowed by the other regional entity presided over by Madam Jayalalithaa, elsewhere the local parties have by no stretch sung their swan song. Despite the erosion caused by the Modi-BJP onslaught, regional parties, for instance, those guided by Mayavati, Mulayam Singh Yadav or Lalu Prasad, have not lost the basic core of their support. There is always a next time. A couple of gross errors on the part of the BJP, and they would spring back to action.
It is worthwhile to spare a few paragraphs on the poll outcome in West Bengal. The Left Front there has met with total disaster; sorry to say it, never was such a disaster more richly deserved. The Front leaders initially attributed the poll results to large-scale terrorization and electoral malpractices in a number of constituencies by Trinamul Congress which the Election Commission failed to prevent. Even if the commission were a little less passive, it would frankly not have made much of a difference to the overall poll outcome, it was the general failure of the Front, particularly its main constituent, the CPI(M) to mobilize enough support which is at the root of its abysmal failure. Otherwise, how does one explain the complete wash-out of the Left in terms of seats won from the entire stretch of southern Bengal, considered even till a few years ago the impenetrable stronghold of the CPI(M)?
Obviously, the CPI(M) has steadily lost touch with its once formidable mass base. Errors and misjudgements on the part of the Front regime, supplemented by an odd kind of hauteur on the part of its leaders and ministers, during its final tenure led to a deep dislike of certain key persons who, in public vision, were mainly responsible for the Front government’s waywardness, their removal from positions of authority and decision-making was widely desired by large sections of the Left rank and file as well as mass supporters. The warning bell was sounded in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls; total votes cast for the Front declined by 6 per cent compared to what it had obtained in the assembly elections in 2006. The party leadership did not take heed, the faces the party’s erstwhile committed adherents wanted to wish away remained very much where they were. The inevitable followed. While the Front vote slumped from 49 per cent of total votes cast to 43 per cent in 2009, it dropped further to 41 per cent in the state assembly poll in 2011, leading to the seizure of power by Mamata Banerjee. The CPI(M) top brass refused to budge notwithstanding the greatest possible warning. This year’s Lok Sabha elections have shrunk its share of total votes cast to only 29 per cent, a stunning drop by as much as 12 per cent in the course of barely three years.
Not only have those whom the party’s lower strata and the broader range of sympathisers wanted to be evicted from leadership have continued in their positions, an ambivalence in policy articulation, too, has affected the CPI(M) most adversely. Its formal documents swear by equal dislike of the Congress and the BJP. Many of its prominent leaders in West Bengal, the speculation is widespread, are somewhat less inimical towards the Congress, a few of them were rumoured even to cherish the dream that the Congress would actively help them to oust Mamata Banerjee and get the Left Front back to power in the state. In the circumstances, when the poll campaign was at its height this year, one of these leaders — a member of the party’s politburo who also headed the Front government in its last, calamitous term — issued a statement to the effect that, should the necessity arise, the CPI(M) would help the Congress to form the new government in New Delhi following the outcome of the polls. Quite candidly, that did it. The people in the state, while generally secular-minded, have by and large no direct experience of BJP menace. On the other hand, they have been at the receiving end of the relentless attack by the Congress and the UPA on their lives and living over the years. A substantial number of them were outraged by the CPI(M) leader’s utterance. Many — in the past, staunch Left supporters — decided to cross over and vote for the BJP itself rather than those who were prepared to sell themselves to the wretched Congress. Some of them, who detested Mamata Banerjee’s antics and authoritarian ways, also opted for the BJP in the firm belief that not the nincompoop CPI(M) but Narendra Modi would be the most suitable person to extricate them from the clutches of Mamata. Ironically, even members of the minority community have mostly considered either the Congress or the CPI(M) a safer bet compared to the Left.
The CPI(M) leadership in the state, even at this stage, either do not know or do not intend to abdicate. They are, let me kindly suggest, merely ensuring the party’s total exit from West Bengal’s political picture in not an altogether distant future. Instead of admitting their own faults and deviations that have led to the party moving away from the masses, whom they should have taken the initiative to mobilize against entrenched class enemies. After a thoroughgoing cleansing process at the very top, they continue to quote party rules and procedures to justify their difficulty to effect crucial changes. What is farcical, those within the party who vocally speak for immediate reform and restructuring of the state leadership are being thrown out of the party: some of those who themselves deserve to be excluded from the party and its leadership sit in judgement, expelling those who want to save the party, its ideals and its traditions to mobilize the oppressed people against the exploiting classes.
This is the saddest part of the chronicle. Since Bengal was for long the main bastion of strength for the Left in the country, its disappearance in the state could not but mean that, in the country as a whole, it would be reduced to a nonentity. The country’s under-privileged, persecuted, immeserized millions would, at least for a while, have none to defend them against the aggression of immensely reinvigorated economic liberalization policies jointly sponsored by the country’s two principal political parties.
APPENDIX 4.
.
Lotus has bloomed, now it’s the turn of rural job scheme
Jharkhand among bottom three in spending for flagship MGNREGS, finds out new Gopinath Munde ministry
BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY
New Delhi, May 28: Jharkhand’s blooming lotus has a not-so-hidden thorny challenge.
The state, which has rewarded the BJP and the Narendra Modi government with 12 MPs, has also thrown the new Gopinath Munde-headed rural development minister a MGNREGS zinger.
Along with Odisha and Bihar, Jharkhand is at the bottom of the bucket list of states as far as the actual expenditure of funds under the national job guarantee scheme goes.
In each of these three states, more than 50 per cent of households live in dire poverty, which is much higher than the national average according to the Suresh Tendulkar Committee report (see box).
According to the data of Union ministry of rural development, these three states account for just 11 per cent of the total expenditure of about Rs 30,000 crore under MGNREGS in 2013-14.
And, this was an improvement. The previous year, the spending in the three states was just nine per cent.
It is an irony that hasn’t been missed.
Social worker and former National Advisory Council (NAC) member N.C. Saxena said that the spending in the three eastern states should have ideally been higher than other states going by their rural poverty parameters.
The MGNREGA — the Act that guides the scheme — seeks to provide up to 100 days of unskilled employment to every rural household in one year to ensure cash flow to the very poor and check distress migration.
“Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand constitute a major chunk of poor people. Ideally, these states need the job scheme more acutely. But since spending on this scheme is so low, it is clear benefits don’t percolating down,” Saxena said.
He added Panchayati Raj institutions and respective district administrations responsible for planning and implementation weren’t doing their jobs.
Each panchayat has the power to plan projects under MGNREGS. Panchayat officials assess demand for work and prepare estimates, projecting labour budget for the year. Funds are released on the basis of the statewide labour budget. Wages are paid only after junior engineers measure the work to ensure the number of workers used is justified.
“There aren’t enough junior engineers. Measurement of work is delayed, payments are held up for months. Workers are disappointed,” Saxena said.
Social worker Shekhar Singh added another angle. “A feudal system prevails in rural areas of Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar where landlords don’t want MGNREGS. They prefer cheap labour for their farmlands instead,” he said.
“Though Panchayati Raj system seeks to decentralise power, panchayats are controlled by influential people” he added.
Munde stressed on restructuring the MGNREGS with focus on asset creation to ensure that jobs and development went hand in hand.
"The scheme failed because without proper preparations, the finance ministry forced us to cover the entire country. There was little coordination with banks and the generation of Aadhaar numbers. We hope the new government will give us a chance to explain the implementation issues," the official said.
Most junior bureaucrats are busy dissecting Modi's speech at Parliament's Central hall, where the BJP Parliamentary board elected him as its leader.
"We have to re-align our plans and schemes accordingly. It must reflect 'Antyodaya' as mentioned in his speech that his government is for the poor and deprived," a senior PLANIG COMMISSION official said.
"Modi has a strong mandate from the people and his allies to lead an effective government. But he can't be everywhere, so the bureaucrats will have to keep up or ship out," said a senior government official.
In the midst of this LOK SHABHA campaign, while explaining how the present environment didn't encourage decisionmaking, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth shared a succinct definition of the kind of leadership that India needs to meet the aspirations and demands of its 1.2 billion people.
"Leadership", he told senior economic secretaries, "is about focus, a sense of urgency and having specific targets, apart from being inspirational." It could not be ascertained if Seth had a premonition about the UPA rout at the hands of a PM candidate that is expected to bring these very leadership skills to the table.
But his words reflected the pain felt by many bureaucrats over the past decade under an indecisive regime that bent the so-called iron frame of babudom beyond recognition.
Hounded out of retirement by the CBI; castigated for playing along, often at gunpoint, to ministerial excesses; summarily shunted out of top jobs when they stood up to protect the national interest in the face of mantris' corrupt designs, the decade of the UPA rule has been a nightmare for many in the civil services as the traditional centres of power like the PM's office and cabinet secretariat weakened.
As scams from the UPA-I tumbled out and ensnared many top secretaries in investigative-judiciary dragnets, the bureaucracy responded by a stoic resolve to stall, leading to the coinage of the term 'policy paralysis' that dogged all of UPA-II.
Seth had another message for secretaries at the meeting where he laid out his definition of leadership. "Bureaucracy provides continuity and institutional memory and acts as the glue when any significant change could lead to instability.
We need civil servants to be enthused to deliver on the implementation side," the cabinet secretary said, expressing hope that babus rise to the challenge and the demands of the times. That time has come.
MUMBAI: Swiss bank account holders who have been quietly celebrating the exit of P Chidambaram now have another reason to rejoice. Almost three-fourths of the 600 or so named in the list of clients of HSBC Geneva are beneficiaries of " discretionary trusts ".
These individuals are confident that a Supreme Court ruling this week on offshore trusts will get the taxman off their back. TAX Officials have been pursuing offshore accounts held by Indians, especially those on the HSBC list that originated with an employee of the bank.
The apex court has ruled that Indian resident beneficiaries shall not be taxed on the income of an offshore discretionary trust as long as the trustees do not distribute income to the beneficiaries.
Contrary to popular perception, very few in the HSBC list have direct numbered accounts. Most of them are members of trusts that have accounts with HSBC Geneva. A discretionary trust is one that gives a beneficiary no right to any part of the income of the trust property, but vests in the trustees the discretionary power to pay the person what they deem fit.
"The HSBC accounts were used to hold undisclosed wealth parked abroad. The beneficiaries were careful enough not to receive any money in India from the trusts as that would have come via banking channels and would have been easily traced," a senior tax practitioner who advises several offshore account holders told ET.
"Instead, the arrangement with the trustees was that some trust earnings were paid to beneficiaries when the latter went abroad on business or holiday trip. Also, in many cases, there were instructions to the trustees to release funds for education expenses for family members enrolled in foreign universities."
The SC case relates to tax claims made on beneficiaries of two private trusts set up in the early 1960s in the UK by Maharaja Vikramsinhji, the former ruler of Gondal, a princely state in the Bombay Presidency. The SC ruling not only ends the dispute that has been going on for years between the tax department and members of the Gondal royal family but has come at a time when the HSBC account holders were trying to determine how the next government would pursue the matter.
A senior tax department official said beneficiaries may not be able to escape the tax net if there is evidence of spending during overseas visits. "The trustees will have records of payment to the beneficiaries," said the person. In fact, the Delhi income-tax office has asked some HSBC Geneva account holders to give an undertaking that they have not spent money received from trusts or trustees on foreign trips.
However, it could be extremely difficult for the Indian tax office — having built their case so far on stolen data and yet to receive any clinching evidence from the Swiss authorities -— to access such book-keeping records of offshore trusts in tax havens. Pointing out that "the income has been retained and not disbursed to the beneficiaries", the SC said merely because the trust's settler, the former Maharaja, and after his death, his son, did not exercise their power to appoint "discretion exercisers", the character of the subject trusts don't get altered. Thus the UK trusts, according to the court, continued to be "discretionary" trusts for the assessment years.
"The HSBC case is unlikely to be among the top priorities for the new government. Resident Indians with undisclosed overseas accounts or investments in foreign shares before RBI's liberalised remittance scheme was announced possibly hoping the government will consider an amnesty or a quasi-amnesty scheme to bring back money from tax havens," said a chartered accountant with a leading firm.
NEW DELHI: Low-cost housing, which found several mentions in BJP's 2014 election
manifesto, is likely to get infrastructure status, making it easier for
real-estate developers to get finance from banks and for longer tenures, and
eventually increasing the supply of houses. While developers are in favour of an
infrastructure tag to the housing
sector as a whole, the government is likely to grant it only to the low-cost
segment, said a senior government official, who did not wish to b ..
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/35649892.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
NEW DELHI: The new Union health minister, Harsh Vardhan who assumed office on Tuesday afternoon, promised that the government would work to provide 'health insurance coverage for all' through a national insurance policy for health. "The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana of the ministry of labour is working fine in some states but its reach is limited to BPL (below poverty line) families. I plan to rope in all economic groups and make the health ministry a sort of regulatory body for oversight on existing microhealth insurance programme in the villages and cities of India," said Vardhan, adding that the new government can learn a lot from micro-health insurance instruments developed by NGOs, selfhelp groups and small private entities.
The contours of the new health policy for all would be drawn after broad consultation with national and international experts. According to an estimate of consultancy firm PwC, less than 15% of the Indian population is covered under some form of health insurance, including government-supported schemes. Only about 2.2% of the population is covered under private health insurance, of which rural health insurance penetration is less than 10%. Although insurance is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% till 2015, at the current rate of growth, only half the country's population would have health insurance coverage by 2033.
"I am not in favour of taxpayer's money being used to push a one-size fits all health policy. From this morning itself, I have started contacting public health practitioners on the roadmap to ensure that available resources will be utilized more optimally," he said. Immediately after assuming office, Vardhan took an hour-long meeting with senior officials at the ministry to get a status report from them. The health minister said focus would be on operating the health ministry with full transparency, and to do that, he would move fast to put in place e-governgovernance systems in all government-to-citizens and government-to-business interfaces under the ministry at all its offices throughout the country.
"Accountability standards will be fixed at the highest level and corruption will be checked at source with transparent systems." He expressed concern at the way government-run programmes such as Reproductive and Child health Project, National TB Control Programme and National Disease Control Programme are under funded. "The result is that despite reducing its maternal mortality rate, India is way short of achieving its millennium development goal at 103 per 1, 00,000 live births. Even Bangladesh is doing better than India" he said, adding that the new government would devise ways to revitalize these programmes.
Vardhan said that prime minister Narendra Modi believes that 'health should be better than wealth', and the country should expect good, clean hospitals, zero-corruption and bold initiatives in the health sector from the new government. Despite former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 2012 promise of a free drug distribution scheme on the occasion of independence day and 'high powered' panels on making 'universal healthcare' a reality in India, UPA's 'health for all' plan was a complete nonstarter. Out-of-pocket expenditure on health in India, at over 70%, is one of the highest globally and is responsible for pushing hundreds of millions into poverty every year.
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