A P J ABDUL KALAM: A TRUE INDIAN

Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam will go down in the history of modern India as a man who defined to the world Indianness and secularism. Born in a Muslim family and a believer of Islam he was also a devotee of Bhagwan Sri Krishna. Being a scientist he imbibed in him all the merit of a philosopher. The former President of India who passed away in Shillong yesterday was equally well versed in Koran and Bhagvat Gita. He set example for all Indians to learn a thing or two from his life. For Kalam it was to give, to teach and to spread compassion for a better India. 

 When he became the 11th President of India in 2002 he never let the aura of Rashtrapati Bhavan overtake his humble persona. He was simple in attitude and met all kind of people with a smile. Though he was past 70 years when he entered Rashtrapati Bhawan yet, he became darling of youth. He was more popular among children than Pandit Jawahar Lal.

Dr Kalam was never shy of his humble origin that he was born to a poor parents who were not able to support his schooling. It was a fellow student who told his parents – a Hindu that in his class there was a brilliant student who was not able to pay his school fee. The parents of that boy immediately came forward and supported Kalam to pursue his studies in school.

Soon after getting elected as the 11th President of the Indian Republic, Dr Kalam first expressed his gratitude  to the ‘almighty’, to his parents, to his colleagues with whom he worked and to all those who supported him to reach the height from a boy who once was a hawker delivering newspapers in Tamil Nadu to become the first citizen of India.

I salute and the nation salute Dr Kalam for his contribution to the country as a scientist who gave a vision 2020 that would make India stronger. I remember his words when he said that ‘India has to be strong militarily and economically then only the world will recognize us”. 

Another significant observation Dr Kalam made was to develop our education system where those graduating from Universities should not be job seekers but job givers.

......R K SINHA , MP

Litters on Tracks

Railway tracks are free space to litter and dump garbage. It is a sad commentary that we are not fully implementing the Swachha Barat Abhiyan launched by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The National Green Tribunal has asked the Railways to take a particular area as case study to dissuade people from throwing garbage on the tracks. I write some of the observations of the NGT which, according to me, are eye opener and needs to be propagated, hence this blog.

The members of the Tribunal observed that Indian Railways is part of our heritage and yet, it was creating “havoc in society”. “What will the people who come to the national capital think about the state of affairs in the country? At least you all do some work honestly”. The members appealed. The Tribunal was hearing complaint against Indian Railways on throwing garbage and littering on tracks.

 “Just travel five minutes from New Delhi Railway Station towards Sadar Bazar and Sabji Mandi area and you will find huge heaps of garbage thrown on next to railway tracks”, the Tribunal observed. There is a provision of law that prohibits people from littering around stations and tracks. The Railway authorities say that they have imposed fines on people found littering around tracks but many people are poor and incapable of paying fines. True, poor people are ignorant. They need to be educated and told that it is for their hygiene and health to keep the tracks clean.

In cleanness resides God. ‘Swachhta Mein Bhagwan hain’, it is old saying. I would appeal to all my fellow Members of Parliament of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha to take special care to look after the pilgrims and places of worship to maintain cleanness. I request Hema Maliniji, a Member of Parliament elected from Mathura to take up the cleanliness drive for the street leading to the shrine of Banke Behari, the presiding deity of Lord Sri Krishna in Vrindaban.

....R K Sinha   

Justice Ganguly Alleges Conspiracy

The controversy surrounding former Supreme Court Judge Justice A K Ganguly, doubts were raised over the timing of the allegations by a law intern of sexual harassment has taken a new turn following Justice Ganguly latest letter to the Chief Justice of India. The judge has said, “I have never harassed nor did I make any unwelcome advances to any law intern. The very suggestion of it, to say the least, is out of tune with my personal conduct.”

Justice Ganguly says, “There is a concerted move to tarnish my image as I had the unfortunate duty of rendering certain judgments against powerful interests. I may point out that despite odds I judged the issues without fear or favour and if that triggers a collateral attack on me then it poses threat to the independence of the judiciary.”

It widely believed that the UPA government was terribly annoyed over the 2G judgment delivered by a two judge bench of which Justice Ganguly was on judge. The manner in which some Union Ministers of the Manmohan Singh Government mounted attack on justice Ganguly raised doubts about the motive behind the allegations of sexual harassament.

Without prejudging the matter, it is surprising why an intern should write as blog almost a year after in the alleged incident that took place in a five star hotel of Delhi on eve of Christmas. It is possible that the intern might have shared her experience with her friends and may with some lawyers. It is possible that “powerful interests” that Justice Ganguly mentions in his letter to the Chief Justice of India got into act and decided to fix the judge in question.

The vocal demands to punish Justice Ganguly has come not only from some Central Ministers but also from senior law officers of the Government of India besides some lawyers who represented the case of private telecommunication operators who wield considerable influence over the government of the day.

The demand is made of Presidential reference to the charge against Justice Ganguly. The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee have written letters to and even met the President Pranab Mukherjee against Justice Ganguly. The Trinamool Congress leaders want Justice Ganguly to resign from the post of the State Human Rights Commission of West Bengal.

There is pressure on the complainant (law intern) to lodge a formal complaint to the Police regarding her accusations of sexual harassment by Justice Ganguly since the alleged incident took place almost a year ago.

Justice Ganguly has also questioned the role of the Additional Solicitor General Indira Jai Singh in releasing the affidavit she presented before the three member inquiry committee of the Supreme Court. Now it is said that the law intern has come out with a statement that it was she who had authorized Indira Jaisingh to release the affidavit to the Press. Some people are overactive in pursuing the charge against the retired judge since the law is heavily loaded against the complainant or for that matter any victim of sexually harassment and rape.

~R. K. Sinha

Too Much Tendulkar

Minutes after the news broke that Sachin Tendulkar has decided to hang his boots after his yet to be played 200^th Test match, all hell broke loose on news channels; as if a disaster, a catastrophe has struck India. “Oh my God; the God of cricket is going to retire”- this refrain was not from a lover of the game of cricket but it came from all and sundry cricket pundits, commentators and the experts who carry self acquired Ph.D. in cricket.

I do watch cricket but not like a maniac. I am quite sure that many cricket fans are not as much upset as our cricket commentators and sports journalists are. Nobody is indispensable in this world. Cricket in India will not become an orphan after Sachin Tendulkar retires from first class match. There have been many great cricketers in India and in other countries who have left inedible mark after they retired from the game. May be cricketers like Poly Umrigar, Chandu Borde, Veenu Mankad, Lala Amarnath, M L Jasimha, Farooqe Engineer , Nari J Contractor, Vijay Majrekar, Ajit Wadekar and Pataudi did not make huge records of runs or matches, but all of them were great players who played cricket with style and grace. 

The hype created by the media on Thursday around retirement decision of Tendulkar left wondering if our journalist friends were writing an obituary of the cricketer who is still alive. Sachin, no doubt is a great cricketer who earned the applause of international audience and world cricketers. Even some world class bowlers like Shane Warne and others have praised Tendulkar. I don’t undermine his place in cricket book of records. But does it mean that nothing was happening in the world on October 10, 2013. Tendulkar, Tendulkar and Tendulkar; the news was full of it so was today’s newspapers who carried banner headlines. “God Bye… screamed one headline while there was ‘VOID” in another daily.

Too much cricket, too much Tendular.

~R. K. Sinha

Rising Prices: Food and Vegetables Beyond Aam Admi Reach

The initial euphoria generated by the new Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has evaporated in less than a month. Though falling rupee has been checked and there has been appreciation of Indian rupee against the US dollar from Rs. 68 to Rs. 62 a dollar, the common man has no respite from the spiraling prices of essential commodities particularly food items, vegetables and fruits. The WPI (Wholesale Price Index) is at 6.10 % where as vegetable prices are up by 78% and onion is selling at Rs.70-80 a kilogram. The monetary policy remains choppy and Raghuram’s task ahead is to ensure stability in exchange rate and contain inflation.

Lucky are those who manage two square meals a day for the prices have hit the roof. For majority of people with small income, surviving is a challenge. The UPA Government and the Congress Party still swears that it has  done and is doing a lot for the ‘aam admi’. From the ground reports it appears that the government policies are directed to benefit only a handful of corporate and business houses who are in the good books of the ruling clique.

The immediate reason of rising prices of food articles, vegetables and fruits are attributed to increase in transportation cost. The diesel prices have increased and there is growing demand to further effect a hike of Rs. 10/- a litre for diesel to bring down the losses of public sector oil companies along with giving opportunity to private players in the oil sector to make more money.

In India, more than 70 % of goods transportation is carried by road. Perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables are transported by trucks. Due to poor maintenance of the highways more fuel is burnt than required. Besides, the truck drivers have to pay fixed amount to multiple inter-state check posts and to the police before they reach destination to deliver the consignment. The transport companies charge this bribe money from the customers.

The Dedicated Freight Corridors of the Indian Railways that was first announced some twenty years ago is yet to take off. There have been few earth works on the tracks that would run across the country from East to North and from North to West. The budget estimate has increased in thousands of crores of rupees and the government has no enough funds to speed up the project that might save some fuel and bring down the transportation costs of not only food and vegetables but also of raw materials for the industry.

After Golden Quadrilateral Project launched by Atal Behari Vajpayee Government, the UPA rulers have not been able to speed up and complete the unfinished works of the project since 2004 let alone add any significant length of National Highways. The Delhi-Jaipur Road is still incomplete and there have been protests over toll charges since the stretch is still under construction.

 As I have already pointed it out in my earlier comments on the government fiscal policy, it goes without saying that the economic situation is likely to worsen in the coming days. The government is totally directionless. It is drifting in the sea of confusion like a ship without radar.

~R. K. Sinha

  

Economic Crisis Looms Large: Petrol Rationing on Cards

With economic crisis looming large on the Indian horizon, the UPA Government has set alarm bells. Rationing of petrol and diesel appears to be first step to reduce the rising import bills. The Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has sounded the alarm by telling that petrol pumps should operate only for 12 hours in a day- from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Any move to ration petrol would send wrong signals to the industry which has already gone into negative zone in terms of growth during the first quarter – April to June of the current financial year. It will further discourage investments. Not only that it will send negative vibes to the global players who have already withdrawn their hands from investing in India.

The government attempt to ration petrol directly contradicts Prime Minister Mamohan Singh and his Finance Minister P Chidambaram who have expressed confidence in the Indian economy by declaring that it will improve soon and the declining trend would be reversed. The statements were made on the floor of Parliament last week.

If the government is so confident of reversing the trend then why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the Petroleum Minister to take steps to reduce the oil import bills by 25 billion US $. Moily is desperate to deliver results on the dictated line of Prime Minister. Just by reducing the hours of availability of petrol and diesel at the retail outlets would not necessarily reduce consumption of the product. It will, on the contrary, lead to hoarding and black marketing of petrol and diesel. Car owners who normally buy say 10-20 liters in a day would tend to get their fuel tank full and maintain the meter constantly at half the capacity of the tank.

If the government is sincere and serious about the crisis then, Prime Minister should come once again to Parliament which still is in session for another couple of days and tell the nation that the country is in financial crisis. The government should appeal to the people to minimize consumption of not only petrol and diesel but also restrict consumption and use of imported goods.

I recall the appeal of the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who had asked us to skip one meal in a week. People responded enthusiastically and overwhelmingly to Shastriji’s appeal and saved food grains in million of tones. Alas, Manmohan Singh is not Lal Bahadur Shatri. Still, he as the Prime Minister of India and can admit before the nation and appeal to the people to make small sacrifice to arrest the falling rupee and rising Current Accounts Deficit. Our import bill on imports of crude oil alone is more than Rs. 8,500 crores a year.

Moil has also suggested that India should increase the import of crude oil from Iran substantially and save 57,000 crores of rupees since Iran oil is cheap and payment is made in Indian currency; not in US dollars. But the catch is the UN sanction on Iran. Can the present government afford to antognise Washington by defying the UN sanctions against Iran and go for large scale import of crude oil to reduce the current accounts deficit which stands at staggering 80 billion US dollars? It is unlikely.

~R. K. SINHA

Hint of Change in President’s Speech

PRANAB MUKHARJEE, PRESIDENT OF INDIA

The President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has thrown hints for change of government albeit through a vague reference when he told the people to “…to elect a stable government which will ensure security and development” in his address to the nation on eve of 67^th Independence Day.

The President’s speech was loaded with important message if one reads between the lines of the text of his address. For instance, he mentioned about, “Widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the governance and functioning of institutions”.

It is sort of disapproval of the UPA Government for absence of governance and for undermining the institutions.  Mr Mukherjee’s ‘serious concern’ over the functioning of Parliament and Legislatures is yet another note of reprimand to the elected representatives. The President has also expressed concern over corruption. He said,” Corruption is a major challenge”.

Even a cursory look at the major scams like Common Wealth Games, 2G Spectrum, Coal etc. involving lakhs of crores of rupees is a clear indictment of the UPA Government under which all these scams took place.

For the BJP here is an opportunity to campaign for getting voted to power at the Centre. The Central leadership of the Party and the Central Campaign Committee headed by Narendra Modi should tell the people to vote for the BJP which promises to provide a stable government and promises to end the ‘corruption raj’ in the country.

It was rare occasion for the President of India who gave his mind unlike some of his predecessors who spoke about only hyped achievements of the government of the day. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee also told the people to do and work according to their conscience. Taking a leaf out of Bhagwat Gita, the President said, “Even as you choose so you do. I do not wish to impose my view on the people. I have presented to you what I think is right. Now it is for your conscience, your judgement, for your mind to decide what is right”.

The Independence Day also saw for the first time an Opposition leader getting equal prominence in the media at par with the Prime Minister while addressing the people. Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech at Bhuj received equal attention or better to say a little more than that of Manmohan Singh on the Independence Day. It was subject of debate as people and commentators compared the speech of the two leaders.

In the troubles state of Jammu & Kashmir, the chief minister Omar Abdullah sounded like a jilted lover when he said that the people of J & K were looked at differently or better say with disdain by the rest of people of the country and the government at the Centre. At a time when the chief minister should have attempted to cement the gap between the Centre and the State, Omar chose to drive a wedge that would only alienate the people in the valley from mainstream.

~R. K. Sinha