Saturday, December 27, 2025

Modi magic works in MCD, AAP stares at a meltdown

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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Aap Party by vijay pandey (5)

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategy of putting up Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as the poster boy for the Delhi Municipal Corporations elections has paid off well for the party in power. The party reinvented itself in Delhi by using none other than the Prime Minister as a benchmark. It is perhaps for the first time that MCD elections have been fought seeking votes in the name of the Prime Minister.

Except for few reverses in the Delhi, Bihar and Punjab assembly elections, the Prime Minister has been a successful vote catcher in practically all other polls notwithstanding discordant voices against demonetization, the narrow parochialism and resultant jingoism. It is said that Sensex or the sensitive index is barometer of country’s economy and well being and for the first time in history it breached 30,000 mark as the benchmark climbed 190 points to close at 30,133. It is clear now that the Aam Aadmi Party which came into existence with much hope and as a sort of moment is finding the ground slipping.

Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, finds that the same people who supported AAP and made it win 67 of 70 seats are deserting the party. The AAP should have seen the writing on the wall after it got trounced in Punjab and Goa Assembly elections thanks to its internal rift and questions over its performance or lack of performance in Delhi. Bhagwant Mann, MP from Punjab had blamed the Delhi coterie for the below-par showing in Punjab. Kejriwal’s daily rifts with the Lt. Governor was also blamed for the mess called Delhi streets. However, after winning a thumping majority in the 2015 Assembly elections the party could manage just 48 out of 270 wards.

The AAP had alleged that rising cases of dengue and malaria, stinking sewerage system that Delhi was facing were all because of the ruling BJP’s lethargy. However, voters could see through the design and negative campaign and voted overwhelmingly for the BJP.

Indeed AAP had risen like a meteor and immediately after the MCD poll results began pouring in Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare questioned Arvind Kejriwal’s leadership saying the party has lost credibility. He said there was a difference between AAP’s “words and actions” which led to their defeat. “Unki kathni aur karni mein bahut antar hai,” Hazare told reporters in Ralegan Siddhi, adding that Kejriwal had promised not to take official residence but availed every benefit from the government. Kejriwal’s former Jan Lokpal movement colleagues—Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan too blamed the party leadership for failing to live up to expectations and losing mandate within a short period of time. Swaraj India co-founders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan took to Twitter tarnishing AAP’s allegations of EVM tampering. “No point blaming EVM for MCD rout. AAP must realize that this is because they betrayed the promise of clean, transparent and accountable politics.”

The social activist further said that AAP should have focused on governance in Delhi after people gave a huge mandate to the party. “Instead of focusing on governance in Delhi, Kejriwal and his colleagues became over ambitious and started focusing on Punjab, Goa and Gujarat. Finally, the voters of Delhi taught them a lesson.”
There is some consolation for the grand old party Congress as in MCD though it has slid further into oblivion with the three-term CM Sheila Dikshit locking horns with Ajay Maken, the campaign leader, yet BJP’s dream of “Congress mukt Bharat” is still elusive. The party’s vote share jumped from nine per cent in the 2015 assembly poll to 22 per cent in MCD elections.However, the party continues its losing streak and has been placed at third slot in Delhi MCD polls.
The poor performance of Congress, particularly in Delhi, cwas in successive elections beginning Delhi Assembly elections in 2013, Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and Assembly elections in 2015 and in Muncipal Corporations elections. Such a fate for the grand old party that ruled Delhi for 15 years consectively is hard to belive. Little doubt that soon after the MCD election results, Congress President for Delhi, Ajay Maken offered to resign owning responsibility for poor showing.

That Congress is a divided house in Delhi like elsewhere can be seen from the fact that senior leader Sheila Dikshit burst after the poll results that “the party was not able to reach out to voters the way, we should have. The leadership needs to introspect” adding that Maken failed to involve senior leaders including her (Sheila Dikshit) in campaigning for MCD polls. Few Congress leaders leaving just on the eve of MCD poll also led to Congress debackle because former Delhi President of Congress Arvinder Singh Lovely quit Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party.

All said and done for AAP which was trying to be an alternative to BJP, the message is clear that Arvind Kejriwal’s quest for more power has proved to be his undoing and he and his party are fast losing credibility. For BJP it is the best news because despite AAP blaming it for all the problems in Delhi, the party has been able to steer clear of anti-incumbency. The party’s vote share has jacked upto 36 per cent, up 3.7 per cent than what it clinched in the 2015 assembly polls.

Replacing all sitting councillors in Delhi and the appointment of Bhojpuri singer-actor Manoj Tiwari as the state BJP president proved to be a masterstroke for the party. In comparison, the vote share of the Aam Aadmi Party has been reduced by half to 27 per cent in just two years.

Rise and fall of AAP is akin to the famous fall of legendary character — from mythology- Icarus, the overambitious son of Daedauls who had made feathers joined by wax to fly. However, he had warned his son to not fly close to sun for that would melt the wax. Unfortunately, Icarus ignores the warning and flies close to the sun. The intense heat melts his wings and he plummets into the deep sea and drowns.

letters@tehelka.com

Names do matter, and surely on social media

By
tehelka
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QuiztNames, it was believed, don’t really matter. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, Shakespeare once wrote. But things have drastically been changing, particularly after the advent of social media. Cricketer Zaheer Khan, for example, recently announced his engagement to actor Sagarika Ghatge. And congratulatory messages started pouring on the wall of journalist Sagarika Ghose instead. Interestingly, Indian coach Anil Kumble and Khan’s current IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils were leading the pack on Twitter before they realized and deleted the posts.

The Snapchat-Snapdeal chaos is a glaring illustration of confusion, rather ignorance, prevailing across the social media. After Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel was accused of saying that he didn’t want to expand to ‘poor nations’ like India and Spain, social media users started down-rating Snapdeal instead of the chatting app.

The case involving Singer Sonu Nigam, who stirred up a storm when he tweeted his displeasure over being woken up by the morning Azaan, is yet another example of mistaken identity. His remarks on “forced religiousness” sparked a lot of anger and debate. All thanks to the hashtag #BoycottSonu, Twitterati got confused between Sonu Nigam and Sonu Sood, and many started trolling the ‘Happy New Year’ actor instead.

The case of mistaken identity had almost ruined the Indian Premier League (IPL) dreams of a promising young cricketer, Harpreet Singh. The social media news updates had mixed up the names of Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh and in-form Madhya Pradesh batsman, Harpreet Singh. This had resulted in Harpreet not being chosen by any of the IPL franchises in February this year. During the IPL auction, several news portals had misreported Harpreet Singh as the cricketer who broke the law as he drove a car into the Andheri station. But it was, in fact, Harmeet Singh, who allegedly drove a car into the Andheri station. Though the names in the news updates were corrected later but it was too late. Royal Challengers Bangalore has finally signed up the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder.

Thus, more people are getting worried and cautious about their names as it may make or mar their career. A few of them are doing it offline and for entirely different reasons. The new Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s name plate outside his residence was changed around half a dozen times in less than a fortnight of taking charge of the state. It was changed thrice from Yogi Adityanath to Aditya Nath Yogi to the latest Yogi Aditya Nath just before he made an official entry into his 5 Kalidas Marg home on the first day of Navratra – the nine day period considered auspicious by Hindus.

Amending names is too common among celebrities and politicians in India. But think about the level of confusion among public if there were two prominent people from the same field with exactly same names. During a city council election in Japan early this year, two independent candidates had identical names. Both men were known as Shigeru Aoki. There could be many ways to write a name in Japanese with the same pronunciation. But in this case both — the older incumbent and the younger newcomer —used the same Chinese characters.

Votes were cast by writing the candidate’s name on a ballot paper. Two avoid confusion, election officials asked voters to add their preferred candidate’s age, or the words “incumbent” or “challenger” to their ballots to clarify their choice. Later on, ballots with unclear distinctions or none were split between the two Aokis in proportion to their clearly identifiable vote totals.

Just wondering what would have been the case if a similar situation had arisen in India. Imagination is simply running wild, particularly when one visualizes their social media pages.

The wave of loan waivers

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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10-11 coverstoryIndia produces over 265 million tonnes of food grains per year that can suffice to feed all its people and make farmers a happy lot! Yet, we see many go hungry and farmers are driven to commit suicide. The recent protests by farmers at Jantar Mantar grabbed national attention due to their novel, and often shocking, forms of agitation. The farmers held protest cross-dressing as women, staged street plays carrying skulls, ran naked near Prime Minister’s Office, held mouse in their mouth, conducted mock funerals, snake meat, and drank urine. The agitating farmers agreed to suspend their agitation till May 25 after getting assurance from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami. During the course of their protest, the farmers met political leaders including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, finance minister Arun Jaitley but the Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not meet them.

The fact is that agriculture in India has been facing many issues from fragmented land holding to depleting water-table levels, deteriorating soil quality, rising input costs to low productivity. Nearly 80 per cent of the 140 million farming families hold less than two acres of land and as land holdings are small more farmers are forced with the obsolete technology resulting in low farm incomes. Most of the farming in India is monsoon dependent and irrigation consumes more than 80 per cent of the total water use in the country. Most of the farmers are dependent on seeds sold but the spurious seeds hitting the market, farmers do not get adequate yields. Harried farmers are forced to use high amounts of fertilisers and pesticides. To add to it, the heavy dependence on traditional crops like rice and wheat points to the lack of a proper national plan on agriculture.

Eroding credit discipline

Farmers are often forced to borrow to manage expenses. Also, many small farmers not eligible for bank credit borrow at exorbitant interest rates from private sources. Farm sector indebtedness is a key reason for the many farmer suicides in the country. In such a situation, loan waivers provide some relief to farmers. However, critics of loan waivers and subsidies point out that farm-loan waivers are at best a temporary solution to ward off the issue for some time because such measures can erode credit discipline and may make banks wary of lending to farmers in the future. It also makes a sharp dent in the finances of the government that finances the write-off. However, the hard fact is that pesantary decides the fortunes of political parties, and politicians are wary of displeasing this section. For record, the gross non-performing loans in agriculture and its allied sectors surged to Rs 588 billion at the end of the December quarter, from Rs 97.4 billion in the 2007-08 fiscal year, as per the RBI data.

Indeed when Modi had announced during his poll campaign that the Centre would bear the cost of the farm loan waiver in Uttar Pradesh, it paid rich dividends to the party at the hustings. It also aroused hopes of a nationwide loan write-off but as expected it invited a backlash and lead to heart-burns in left-out states, particularly Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. These are the agrarian States where a significant number of farmers have been forced to commit suicide. Capt Amarinder Singh in Punjab too made a similar promise and under the “Karza-kurki khatam, fasal di poori rakam” campaign the Congress roped in some 32 lakh farmers and made them fill forms for obtaining debt relief. The Captain went beyond loans taken from banks and cooperative societies to cover those owed to arhtiyas and other commission agents.

Naturally, the question is that if big business tycoons such as Vijaya Mallya can dodge banks and industrial slowdown or recession can be a ground for writing off large industrial loans, can the persisting crisis in agriculture be overlooked? While a handful of big borrowers have created a mountain of bad loans for banks, many farmers are killing themselves over ridiculously small amounts. However, there is another question if loan waivers can be the answer for sustainable growth, which requires higher agricultural spending and productivity.

It is in such a scenario that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has put other states in a piquant situation after he fulfilled BJP’s pre-election promise of a farm loan waiver providing debt relief to 21.5 million farmers. Taking their cue from Uttar Pradesh, more state governments could waive loans to farmers, to woo rural voters before further polls in the run-up to a general election in 2019. Uttar Pradesh will cover the cost of the waivers by issuing bonds.

What next?

Maharashtra and Punjab are expected to announce similar loan waivers soon. In Maharashtra, ruled by the BJP, farmers are clamouring for a bailout after two years of drought and falling commodity prices. In Punjab, known as India‘s grain bowl, the opposition Congress party won last month’s election partly on the promise of a farm loan waiver. Farmers from Tamil Nadu recently protested in New Delhi, to press their demand for drought relief and loan write-offs.

A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decided to waive off farm loans worth Rs.36,359-crore, farmer leaders in Punjab were unimpressed with the decision as they said that it will hardly be any use if the Captain Amarinder Singh government would go for similar loan waiver in the state. The UP government scheme will benefit all small and marginalised farmers who took crop loans of up to Rs.1 lakh until March 31, 2016, farmer leaders said most farmers will remain outside the purview if similar scheme is brought out by the Congress government in Punjab.

The UP government scheme covers loans taken up to 31 March 2016, but farmers have taken loans twice. So what’s the use of this loan-waiver,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal observed. ‘We will wait for the Punjab government to waive off all farmer loans by June or we will launch an agitation for the same,” Rajewal said. “The Punjab government should waive off all type of farmer loans including the ones taken from money lenders,” he added.

_MG_1816
Debt trap: A group of around 150 farmers from Tamil Nadu protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar

The Punjab Congress manifesto had pledged waiver of debt of farmers and farm labourers. In its first meeting on March 18, the state Cabinet led by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh decided that a group of experts would assess the agricultural debt and propose ways to end the debt in a time-bound manner. Punjab’s precarious financial position could be gauged from the fact that the State spends close to 70 per cent of its revenue generation on salaries, pensions and subsidies.

Despite financial constraints, the Punjab Government has constituted an expert group to assess the quantum of agricultural debt on farmers in Punjab and suggest way and means for its waiver. Dr T Haque, former chairman, commission for agricultural costs and prices, has been appointed chairman of the group, which has been asked to submit its report within 60 days. The two other members of the group are Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi, director (South Asia), International Food Policy Research Institute; and Dr BS Dhillon, vice-chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The expert group would be assisted by the officers of the state government, including additional chief secretary-cum-financial commissioner (development) and principal secretary finance.

Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, commissioner and director, agriculture, Punjab, will be the nodal officer for the group as convener. In his capacity as convener, he will convene the meetings of the recently formed group, calling officers from the banking sector, including chief general manager, NABARD, Chandigarh and convener, State Level Bankers’ Committee, Punjab, Chandigarh. Besides assessing the total amount of credit, both institutional and non-institutional, availed by different categories of farmers, the group will work out the quantum of bad loans or debt and suggest the methodology for remission of debt. The notification points out that the group would suggest ways and means to raise resources for the debt waiver.

Punjab has a debt of Rs 1. 50 lakh crore and its population as per 2011 census was about 2.95 crores, meaning thereby that each resident of Punjab is under a debt burden of about Rs 50,000. Then close to one fifth of Punjab’s revenue is now going towards repaying the debt by way of interest and servicing. With the loan taken by farmers estimated to be between about Rs 80,000 crore, the Punjab government would have to face a bigger burden if it wants to waive off this loans. Sources said whereas loans of around Rs.9,500 crore availed by farmers from cooperative banks could be taken over by the state government, the real challenge would be dealing with loans taken from nationalized banks. Loans from national banks form 86 per cent of the total farm loans which are estimated to be close to Rs.80,000 crore in Punjab. The Chief Minister has already met the Prime Minister demanding a ‘onetime loan waiver’. But it is like Shakespearean “to be or not to be” as Centre has already rejected a similar request from Maharashtra.

letters@tehelka.com

Modi throws red light on beacons of VIP culture

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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red beacons

When William Shakespeare, whose 400th death anniversary just concluded, penned in the sixteen century in his poetic play Julius Caesar that “ When beggars die there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princess”, he was invariably referring to a privileged culture existing even then. In our country too for centuries, a red beacon atop an official vehicle has remained a symbol of authority that separates a privileged person from a commoner. Its removal may be a beginning to end the cultivated culture of privilege or the “Raj mentality”. The Union Cabinet’s bold decision to bar the use of beacons is a welcome move to change the mindsets of rulers to make them public servants. It was not long ago that the UPA -2 Government had defended the use of red beacons for its officials and politicians arguing that “certain dignitaries and category of officials constitute a class by themselves”. The UPA Government perhaps believed that red lights were “essential for the effective discharge of their duties”. The court reacted by terming red beacons a “menace”. “Red lights definitely symbolise power and a stark differentiation between those who are allowed to use it and those who are not. A large number of those using vehicles with red lights have no respect for the laws of the country and they treat the ordinary citizens with contempt. The use of red lights on the vehicles of public representatives and civil servants has no parallel in the world democracies,” the court observed. The Court recorded in the order the submissions of its amicus curiae and senior advocate Harish Salve, who said the “widespread use of red lights on government vehicles in the country is reflective of the mentality of those who served the British government in India and treated the natives as slaves”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now shaken up India’s privileged VIP culture, most notably symbolised by flashing red beacon lights on top of vehicles, by scrapping a rule that allowed the Central and State governments to nominate dignitaries who could use such lights. Effective May 1, only emergency services vehicles such as ambulances, fire engine trucks, and police vehicles will be allowed to use blue lights. The government made the decision to carry out far-reaching amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989. With

The UPA Government perhaps believed that red lights were “essential for the effective discharge of their duties”. The court reacted by terming red beacons a “menace”. “Red lights definitely symbolise power and a stark differentiation between those who are allowed to use it and those who are not. A large number of those using vehicles with red lights have no respect for the laws of the country and they treat the ordinary citizens with contempt. The use of red lights on the vehicles of public representatives and civil servants has no parallel in the world democracies,” the court observed. The Court recorded in the order the submissions of its amicus curiae and senior advocate Harish Salve, who said the “widespread use of red lights on government vehicles in the country is reflective of the mentality of those who served the British government in India and treated the natives as slaves”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now shaken up India’s privileged VIP culture, most notably symbolised by flashing red beacon lights on top of vehicles, by scrapping a rule that allowed the Central and State governments to nominate dignitaries who could use such lights. Effective May 1, only emergency services vehicles such as ambulances, fire engine trucks, and police vehicles will be allowed to use blue lights. The government made the decision to carry out far-reaching amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989. With

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now shaken up India’s privileged VIP culture, most notably symbolised by flashing red beacon lights on top of vehicles, by scrapping a rule that allowed the Central and State governments to nominate dignitaries who could use such lights. Effective May 1, only emergency services vehicles such as ambulances, fire engine trucks, and police vehicles will be allowed to use blue lights. The government made the decision to carry out far-reaching amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989. With this a specific clause in Rule 108 of the 1989 regulations, which empowers the Centre and the States to designate some dignitaries as entitled to red lights on top of their vehicles has been abolished. Indeed it is a welcome step to do away with a pseudo symbol of authority that separates a VIP from a lesser mortal and last nail in the “Raj mentality”.

Turning violent in the name of peaceful cow

By
tehelka
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cow-illustrationCow, I guess, was the third word taught to us after Apple and Boy when we were learning English alphabets in our childhood. The first essay we wrote in our life was on this lovely and chaste animal. For ages, the phrase Allah Miyan ki gaaye (God’s cow) has regularly been used among north Indian Muslims to refer to any simple and humble human being. I was born in a district of Uttar Pradesh. When I was three, my parents moved to Delhi. Since then, I have been living in various Muslim localities of the Indian capital. I never saw or ate cow meat. Same is the case with my children, close relatives and friends. Muslims, in general, consider cow slaughtering a taboo as it hurts the feelings of the majority community in the country.

Almost all the leading Islamic seminaries in India, including Darul Uloom Deoband, have always remained opposed to cow-slaughtering as a mark of respect towards the sentiments of the fellow countrymen. The community is specifically reminded to avoid any such act during Eid Al Adha, also known as the “Sacrifice Feast”. This has been the practice for decades, much before the present NDA government came to power at the Centre, or Yogi Adityanath took charge of Uttar Pradesh.Interestingly, Emperor Babur, who laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty in the Indian subcontinent, had advised his son and successor Humayun in his wasiyat-nama (will) to ban cow-slaughter, steer clear of any kind of religious prejudice and, keep in mind the religious sentiments and customs of the people, and be just to all without exception. This practice, in general, remained in place until the deposition of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who banned the butchery of cows, forbade the eating of beef and authorised for anyone found killing a cow the terrible punishment of being blown from a canon.

Beef, as per the historical records, was a popular food for the Britishers living in India. The first slaughter house in India was built in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1760 by Robert Clive, the then Governor of Bengal. It could slaughter 30,000 animals per day. There were 350 slaughter houses in the country by 1910.

All these historical facts are there in black and white. But self-appointed cow protectors are openly threatening, attacking and killing people left and right in the name of saving the animal. The so-called campaign, which garnered fresh limelight with the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh after being accused of keeping beef in his house, is rapidly gaining high pitch. Violence against the alleged cow smugglers and killers is on the rise. The death of Pehlu Khan, who was recently dragged out of his vehicle and lynched on the Alwar highway in Rajasthan, is just one of several incidents taking place across the country.

The first Gaurakshini Sabha, or Cow Protection Society, was established in Punjab in 1882. The movement spread rapidly all over North India and to Bengal, Bombay, Madras and other central provinces. Interestingly, the job of the organisation was to rescue wandering cows and reclaim them to groom them in places called gaushalas. Charitable networks, developed all over North India, used to collect rice from individuals, pool the contributions, and re-sell them to fund the gaushalas. The modern gau rakshaks rarely focus on improving the situation of the cows that are seen wandering the streets or eating plastic. Killing cows, which are considered sacred by a large section of the Indian society, is definitely awful. But what about lynching fellow human beings in the name of cow protection? The goat and the lion, according to Hindu mythology, used to drink water side by side at the same pond during Ram Rajya. Making fellow human beings feel safer will go a long way in achieving the goal.

ECI needs to dispel doubts over integrity of EVMs to restore faith

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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AS India ElectionsWhen the former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to “proactively and aggressively” counter doubts raised by leaders of various political parties over integrity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), he raised a very pertinent point. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others have questioned the EVMs after massive losses in the just-concluded Assembly polls in five States. India is the only country that has experimented with the EVMs at such a massive scale. Many countries have used EVMs either only partially or have reverted to the paper ballot. No doubt that the fear about the EVMs’ integrity at a time when the most crucial security and financial systems around the world have been hacked, does not seem unfounded.

However, the ECI’s explanation that there is nothing wrong with the EVMs falls short of dispelling doubts. It is important that every voter must have full faith in the ECI and the democracy. Following repeated allegations, suspicion has arisen in many minds and it is the time the commission must do everything to restore voter’s confidence. It is a fact that on many occasions ECI demonstrations to establish flawless working of the EVMs have gone wrong.

To add to it, there are allegations that Trojan Horse or secret programmes can be built into the software to transfer all votes to a favourite party. Apparently, this seems impossible because machines of a different vintage are used in an election. For instance, in the five State elections, machines manufactured between 2006 and 2012, were in use, with those of 2007, 2008 and 2009 vintage accounting for over 75 per cent of the EVMs. The ECI would do itself credit by seeking external audit of its working and that of EVMs. Instead of asking parties to introspect the reasons for their electoral loss, the ECI may want to introspect on the loss of faith in its own credibility.

The ECI explanation in the form of a detailed press note reiterating that EVMs are standalone machines and are not networked either by wire or by wireless to any other machine or system is not a sufficient. The ECI undertaking given before the apex court that the 2019 poll would be held using the VVPAT machines (India would need two million such machines), seems to be a step in the right direction! William Shakespeare aptly said that “out doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often win, by fearing to attempt” because the fear of failure keeps us below our potential. The ECI should do all to dispel doubts about its fairness and credibility!

letters@tehelka.com

Polls apart, obsession for EVMs is here to stay

By
tehelka
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INDIA ELECTIONSEvery Vote for Modi’ seems to have become the new full form of the acronym EVM, which had turned into an ‘Electronic Victory Machine’ for the BJP during the recent Assembly elections, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. The saffron party is claiming that ‘Even Voters were Muslims’ (pun intended). On the other hand, Opposition and secular forces are alleging that ‘Every Vote was Manipulated’.

They are also pointing out this is the ‘Establishment’s Veiled Message’ that Modi-led Centre is capable of doing anything and everything to grab or stay in power. ‘Endlessly Vilifying Muslims’ is just one of them. This is more than evident from its ‘Ease in Voicing Malice’ against the community during and before the elections.

Going against the ‘Electoral Verdict in Manipur’, where BJP ranked second in terms of vote garnering behind Congress, is yet another instance, highlighting the party’s keenness to ‘Ensure all Visible Methods’ to get the power. Nongthombam Biren  Singh has been chosen to head the state as BJP is working to ‘Engineer Valid Majority’ to form its first government in Manipur. Again in Goa, where the saffron party scored less than the Congress, it has been ‘Exploring Various Methods’ to prove its majority on the floor of the House as Manohar Parrikar has already sworn in as chief Minister of the state.

Opposition has alleged that ‘Excess Volume of Money’ is being used for horse-trading. The power game is not new. Congress too had ‘Executed Violence and Money’ to win polls and form governments in the past. The only difference is that the BJP is doing it a bit loudly, openly and boldly.

Coming back to EVMs, they have been rejected by quite a few countries, particularly European nations. Netherlands banned them for lack of transparency. Ireland too, after three years of research worth 51 million pounds, decided to junk EVMs. While Germany has declared these machines unconstitutional and banned it, Italy too stopped e-voting. In the US, California and many other states banned EVMs if they did not have a paper trail. Venezuela, Macedonia and Ukraine stopped using EVMs after discovering massive rigging. England and France have never used EVMs. ‘Each Vote Matters’. Thus, one can’t risk losing any of it to these fraud and ‘Error-prone Voting Machines’.

‘Ever-Visionary Mayawati’ has called for re-election using ballot papers, which now seems to be more ‘Error-free Voting Method’. Even Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, at one point of time, had said that the EVMs could be easily tampered with and their results manipulated. ‘Evaluating Views on the Matter’ and making decision accordingly is the right thing to do.

‘Engaging Various sections of the Masses’ on the issue and improving the present EVM system or going back to the paper ballots is the only way forward to protect the democratic nature of the election process. The fate of EVMs, which can make or break an election,  must be decided jointly. After all, ‘Each Voice Matters’.

Saffron storm sweeps heartland, BJP now targets 'New India'

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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BJP rally flags

The Uttar Pradesh poll verdict painting the country’s biggest state in saffron hue along with Uttarkhand and installation of BJP governments in Manipur and Goa is akin to John Milton’s ‘Paradise Regained’ after his epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’. The BJP and its leadership (read Modi and Amit Shah), fully deserve their moment of glory in the sun. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, looking beyond the 2019 elections, has pitched for building a “new India” by 2022. He tweeted, “India is emerging, which is being powered by the strength & skills of 125 crore Indians. This India stands for development.” In a statement on his website Narendramodi.in he said, “India is transforming, powered by the strength of each and every citizen of India. An India that is driven by innovation, hard work and creativity; an India characterised by peace, unity and brotherhood; and an India free from corruption, terrorism, black money and dirt.” The BJP chief Amit Shah said people had expressed faith in Modi’s leadership. “The win in the state Assembly elections is bigger than our victory in 2014 Lok Sabha poll. We will get a bigger mandate in 2019,” he said. Even in this hour of victory when others were busy celebrating, Modi and Amit Shah were looking forward to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, their next targets, which go to the polls later this year.

From a party visible only in select urban pockets, the BJP has come a long way to have strong presence in 14 states decimating the grand old party — Congress and major regional outfits like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The BJP’s rise has been as swift as the fall of Congress. In fact, after setbacks in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP leadership had resorted to strong measures to divert attention and build Modi brand. Seldom before an Army action against terrorists (surgical strikes) had been used to boost a political party’s chances in an election. The Modi government demonetised 86 per cent of the country’s currency suddenly creating a storm but the party was able to swing it in its favour. The successive municipal and panchayat elections created a favourable environment for the BJP.

Except perhaps Punjab, the BJP strategy and Modi-Shah magic has worked well. After Assam, the BJP entry into the North-East stands consolidated with Manipur. The party has captured Uttarakhand and managed a government in Goa. The BJP will be more confident of having its way in Parliament as it will raise its strength in the Rajya Sabha in next round of polls as well as the upcoming Presidential election. The only solace for Rahul Gandhi has been Congress party’s landslide win from Punjab.

letters@tehelka.com

Sadly, not all can make their children learned and healthy

By
tehelka
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school

Parents, in general, don’t need tips on child caring. They, most of the times, stay well aware about their action plan for the betterment of their kids. Children’s health and education always remains on top of their minds. The sad part is that not everyone is able to afford the best in the market for his or her youngsters. There are many, in fact majority, who lack enough financial strength to fulfill even the basic requirements of their children. A few others, besides being poor, lack awareness due to less or no education.

The country, according to the Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report for 2016, has the highest number of deaths among children in the world due to these illnesses with nearly three lakh children dying last year alone. Five percent of patients suffering from different types of cancer, as per the latest Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) statistics, are below the age of 18 years. Every year, there are 45,000 new cases of cancer patients who are under teen age. Measles, which affects an estimated 2.5 million children every year in the country, claimed 49 000 of them in 2015.

Different patterns of raising children will further deepen socio-economic divisions

One thing remained common in most of the victims. They belonged to poor families. Though the governments, on their part, have been taking a few initiatives, the gap between the class differences in child rearing seems to be widening. Ruled by calendars and stopwatches, children from well-off families get enroled in extra-curricular activities, sports and after-school programs. Additionally, their parents spend a lot of time in making sure that they do well in schools and colleges.

In a poor family, and even lower middle class one, children tend to spend their time alone at home or with extended family. Generally, they are on their own most of the day as both their parents go to work. Growing up in neighborhoods, many of them become victim of inferiority complex or wrong company. Their parents worry about them getting involved in improper, indecent and illegal activities. When underprivileged families don’t have enough to make two ends meet, how would they think of or afford better health and education for their kids. Boosting extra skills of their kids remain a secondary thing for these parents.

Different patterns of raising children, according to experts, will further deepen socioeconomic divisions. After all, education is directly linked to future income. While one set of children grow up learning the skills to succeed in their socioeconomic stratum, others fail to do so due to resource crunch. And this vicious cycle continues. The underprivileged children grow up and get married. Like their parents, they too have less time and fewer resources to invest in the next generation of their families. On the other hand, children from well-to-do families grow up well and take care of their kids accordingly.

There is no ultimate parenting style. Everyone does the best to raise his or her children. Besides general public, government authorities and NGOs need to come forward and find ways to fill this gap. Addressing disparities in the earliest years is likely to reduce inequality in the next generation. Upgrading the services at public hospitals and enhancing the quality of education at government schools may go a long a way in achieving a comparatively egalitarian society, which is crucial for a balanced growth of a country.

Intolerance thy name is ABVP

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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When the 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur tweeted, “I am not afraid of ABVP”, it was clear that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has begun wearing its peculiar brand of nationalism up on its sleeves. She went on “to anyone questioning my courage and bravery. I’ve shown more than enough”. Her tweets following violence at Delhi University’s Ramjas College went viral and received massive support from students across various universities.

Though subsequently, she withdrew from the campaign but she had made a point that intolerance and jingoism had crept in our system. “I’m withdrawing from the campaign. I request to be left alone. I said what I had to say…”. “I have been through a lot and this is all my 20 years self could take,” the student of Delhi’s Lady Sri Ram College said. Kaur, daughter of a Kargil martyr, had kicked off a social media campaign against the ABVP after Ramjas College witnessed large-scale violence.

The DU incident is line with the ABVP’s provocative attitude that was earlier witnessed in JNU(Jawaharlal Nehru University), Hyderabad University, IIT-Chennai, and other institutions of academic repute. There is a question mark whether it was a spontaneous reaction of ABVP or there was a method in the madness. The pattern shows that it was not the act of a group of youngsters with a brazen sense of nationalism better said as jingoism. The journey from JNU to DU showed a pattern with law enforcing agencies remaining a mute spectator, falling short of abetting.

In Ramjas incident, there is a question mark whether it was spontaneous reaction of ABVP or there was method in madness

The act was at a sniffing distance from gagging the free speech by the on the campus. It is apparent that the way police allowed an event to be disrupted at Ramjas College and the subsequent violence amounted to complete failure of the law enforcing force. As Delhi Police comes directly under the Union Home Ministry, the government cannot disown its responsibility.

The DU mayhem was just over an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on ‘Culture of Protests’. Umar Khalid had to speak in a session on “Unveiling the state: Regions in conflict, the war in Adivasi areas”, based on his research on Bastar belt. It was part of a programme cleared by the Delhi University college authorities. Khalid was invited by the college’s Literary Society to speak in the afternoon on a subject related to his PhD, which he is doing from JNU. Ironically, the college management later withdrew the seminar in the aftermath of opposition by the ABVP.

The whole saga would have perhaps remained under wraps but for the courageous girl student who posted a video on Facebook with placards, one of them saying: “I am a student of Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me.” She then allegedly received rape and life threats on the social media by some who called her “anti-national”. To make hay, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called on Lt. Governor Anil Baijal to demand action against the ABVP and those who issued rape threats to the Delhi University student. “Threatening our daughters and sisters with rape; is this patriotism? Shame on these people,” Kejriwal said.

3Resorting to violence to stop a seminar is a grave crime and this takes a more sinister dimension when it is perpetuated on the campus and assaults the young minds. It is not only an attack on an educational temple but on our fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

It was not mere objecting to the presence of a couple of invitees at the seminar but an attempt to silence those not falling in line with its ideology. The genesis of the whole issue is that both Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid had worked in tandem with Kanhaiya Kumar early last year against attempts to criminalise dissent at the JNU. The JNU student leaders were booked by the Delhi Police.

The police cases of sedition filed last year in an ideological stand-off between the establishment and the left-leaning JNU fell like pins, the hysteria generated by the ABVP has remained. The scars of the incident have remained with the students. Educational institutions enjoy a mandate to promote public discourse, political parties and other outfits have not taken kindly to the debates, seminars and free flowing ideas that emanate from educational institutions over the years.Repeat incidents at the JNU, Hyderabad University, IIT-Chennai, and other institutions of academic repute are pointers to this growing intolerance.

Inaction on the part of law enforcing authorities would cause worry amongst student communities across campuses. There would always be a question mark over why the police dealt with the guilty with kid gloves? Was not it exactly on the lines as it had allowed activists to go on the rampage outside the Patiala House courts when Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced for a hearing? The failure of Delhi University to take a stand in favour of its students would always hurt the psyche of students. There is a need for the authorities to ensure that Universities must remain sanctuaries where young minds can develop and be nurtured in an atmosphere that is free from violence and intimidation.

Universities are arenas for intellectual discussion where students learn the argumentative skills to defend and oppose. The father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi had aptly foreseen the present day scenario when he said that “anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding”. It is the time all stake holders imbibe what Gandhi said and allow free and fair discussion and not attempt to gag free speech and expression.

letters@tehelka.com

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