by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Zakia Jafri
Ahmedabad : The Gujarat High Court on Thursday rejected the plea of Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain former MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging a clean chit by the Special Investigation Team to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The court rejected Zakia Jafri’s plea on allegations of “a larger conspiracy” behind the riots.
Ehsan Jafri, a Congress leader, was one of the 69 people killed when a large mob attacked Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Sharad Pawar
Mumbai : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that public sentiment has gone against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre due to “all-round failures” like rising unemployment and factories shutting down and also attacked decisions like demonetisation and the GST.
“Unemployment is increasing all over the country, agriculture sector is distressed and farmers are killing themselves, there is high inflation, the financial sector has failed and the poor sections are very upset. The public mood is against the government and we must prepare for elections,” Pawar told media persons.
He said that with 67 textile companies shutting down rendering 17,600 people jobless, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys and Suzlon terminating thousands of services, Mahindra & Mahindra removing 17,000 employees, the coming days are going to be difficult for the country.
Besides, there are no fresh investments coming to the country. Slogans like ‘Make In India’ sounded very attractive initially, but have now proved to be hollow, Pawar pointed out.
He blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the current situation saying economic decisions like demonetization and GST taken by him without adequate preparations have taken a heavy toll on the economy.
Targetting Modi’s pet project of the Bullet Train, the NCP chief said instead of reducing the sufferings of the Mumbai commuters, the (Bullet Train) project is being brought here “which will help Japan come out of the economic recession it is facing”.
Though it is the fastest train in Japan it does not have a market there and the project will help reduce that country’s ongoing economic crisis, he said.
He showed a video clip of Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister, in which he had said that the Bullet Train would be a showpiece project and nobody would travel by it.
“There are only four stations of Bullet Train in Maharashtra and a 35-minute long journey. Then why should the state provide half the funds for the project?” Pawar demanded, adding it should have been implemented on other sectors instead of Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
On last week’s stampede which killed 23 commuters on a narrow railway foot overbridge connecting Elphinstone Road-Parel, Pawar cited the example of the then Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who resigned after a railway disaster, “but that is unlikely to happen now.”
Giving a call to the party to prepare for elections, Pawar predicted that wherever the BJP is in power, it will hold simultaneous state assembly and Lok Sabha elections, and “the NCP must prepare accordingly”.
The people vent their frustrations through social media and the government is “retaliating” by sending them (police) notices – “What you sowed through social media, now you are reaping”, said Pawar.
“In a democracy, every citizen has a right to express himself. The government should not try to threaten the people by sending them notices and attempt to curb individual liberties,” Pawar said.
Attacking the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, he said the government had promised a complete waiver of farm loans, then why are the farmers being asked to fill up different types of forms to establish the eligibility criteria.
Pawar announced a convention of all farmers organisations at Aurangabad on November 5 to be followed by a non-cooperation movement if the government does not give the farm loans waiver by Diwali, an anti-inflation agitation across the state followed by a farmers’ agitation with support of like-minded parties, which he would lead.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
SDPI national president A. Sayeed
By Pervez Bari,
Bhopal : The Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), has expressed deep concern over the declining economy of the country which appears to be in a mess. If one’s own party member is criticising his own boss for the current economic crisis, then one can imagine how ineffective Prime Minister and Finance Minister are.
SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement has said that what former BJP’s Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has written in an article is correct and similar observations have been repeatedly made by many reputed Economists. It is a “Mirror in the Face” article. If the government closes its eyes, the scars in the face will not disappear. It is a blunt factual account. If we still choose to pass it off as political baiting, we are in for far bigger trouble as a nation. If the Govt continues to stay in denial mode then common man will all have to face the consequences.
Sayeed said the candid churning done by Mr. Yashwant Sinha is an awakening call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ways of running the country. Unfortunately, a kitchen cabinet headed by Mr. Modi runs the government without any wider consultation. It is another form of oligarchy. An oligarchic form of governance, bordering on “we are holier than others” attitude, is not the right way to address the issues facing the country. Taking the Opposition into confidence, listening to other views, and focusing on development are far more important than rhetorical speeches and pursuit of power by all means. Collective wisdom is the need of the hour.
Sayeed questioned why blame Finance Minister Arun Jaitley alone. Everyone knows he (Jaitley) also knows who the main actor is. Is it due to fear Yashwant has not mentioned his (Modi’s) name? Demonetisation was PM’s decision. Even FM was kept in the dark. There was pressure on FM to implement GST. All important decisions are taken by PM on economy, defence, foreign policy etc. The entire cabinet are mute spectators.
He lamented that it is so shameful to know that the government changed the GDP formula (method) just to show higher numbers and it is not a surprise that according to the UPA era GDP calculation the present growth rate is just 3.7! Only talking with no investment, no industry, no jobs and no employment is bad for the country. These are the known facts, maximum sectors are in distress because of Demo and followed by GST, but where are the visible corrective actions and experts to do that from ruling govt. Or will there be only shouting and criticism. Now, people have realized the fake Model of Modi. Opposition seems to be playing wait and watch game.
Sayeed said that only the hate campaign, vigilantism violence, goon culture by BJP, RSS and Shah. No investment, no industry, no jobs and no employment. On the flip side if the economy fails even worse, we call all become Gau Rakshaks – The only sector / industry that will continue to see growth. In a nutshell the ruling party is just fooling the people. BJP president Amit Shah and Modi together are trying for votes by money power and hate campaign.
The statement stated that there is a positive correlation between GDP and job creation. Jobs tend to increase with every point rise in GDP. The reverse is also true. The CRISIL, a global analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory services, report pegs 13 million job aspirants per year and 5 million jobs annually created in both organised and unorganised sectors, leaving a gap of 8 million each year. Computed cumulatively over 5 years, are we staring at something more expansive? With GDP coming down this gap would only increase. No wonder, both demand and supply sides suffer in this “educated Vs job availability” equation getting skewed by the day. The reality of no jobs dawns on the young aspirants after money and time; both gone, making them drift to any possible employment opportunities. Plight of dropouts finding a job in the unorganised sector is just untenable. It may be nice to camouflage the failures of our economies and employment markets and blame all ills on intangibles, if it brings a smile to the hapless populace. Rhetoric apart, time we called spade a spade.
The statement said: “The entire world is looking at India and we keep making flimsy excuses for our under-performing government, inventing ingenious alibis for the political and economic inertia; feigning that all is well – hubris has become a national malady. We have indulged this government and allowed the political rhetoric and grandstanding to become a substitute for actual governance”. Yashwant Sinha has only said what other economists have been saying all this while. Will the Govt. listen to at least their own party veteran and ex-Finance Minister?
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Amulya Ganguli,
It has taken more than three years for Narendra Modi to realise that a presidential style of governance is not suitable for a country of India’s size and complexity.
The Prime Minister may have found it easy to preside over Gujarat’s destiny with his personalised style of politics where he was a cut above the others in the government and party. But India is different.
Hence his decision to set up an Economic Advisory Council to assist him in the framing of policy instead of pursuing an agenda in accordance with his own instincts and with inputs from the Finance Minister and the Chief Economic Adviser.
If anything substantiates the dire prognosis of former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the economy, it is the roping in of experts from outside Modi’s charmed circle.
What it also shows is the non-fulfilment — at least for the present — of the expectation of “vikas” which was Modi’s trump card in 2014. Ironically, one of the reasons for the hopes turning sour is another of Modi’s purported trump cards — demonetisation — which, along with the clumsy rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), is now being held largely responsible for the current economic woes.
It is obvious that if the government had a team of experts earlier who were not overawed by the Prime Minister, then there would not have been any demonetisation if only because it was a step guided more by politics than economics.
The objective of the hugely disruptive step was to show Modi’s resolve to tackle the problem of black money in view of the government’s inability to deposit the promised Rs 15 lakh in every bank account by busting the parallel economy.
As a political initiative, demonetisation was a success in the weeks immediately after its announcement since the Prime Minister is generally widely trusted and large sections believed that the hoarders of illegal funds were running for cover.
But it was a short-term gain, for the economic downturn has shown that there’s more to governance than political showmanship.
As a result, the one-step-forward of the demonetisation has been followed by the two-steps-backward of a tacit admission that it takes more than one person to run a government, no matter how energetic he may be or how impressive an orator.
However, the pitfalls of an individualistic style have been evident earlier too. For instance, Modi realised within a year of assuming power that a pro-capitalist image does not sell well among the ordinary people for whom businessmen are associated more with profit than popular welfare.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Prime Minister’s recent endeavours have been to project himself as pro-poor in the aftermath of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s jibes about the government being a “suit-boot ki sarkar”.
Modi also decided to drop his plans to amend the land acquisition law enacted by the previous government because it was felt that he was tilting too much in favour of big business.
This habit of adopting new outlooks has been seen in the demonetisation episode as well, which is now being presented as an exercise in digitalising the country’s financial transactions and not a drive against black money.
However, all these twists and turns might not have led to the formation of the Economic Advisory Council if the sinking growth rate had not made the government jittery.
Besides, several other problems have cropped up to exacerbate the sense of unease in the government and the BJP.
The caution sounded by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) about the murmurs of disquiet among the people must have also enhanced the feeling of anxiety in the saffron camp.
Among the main causes of worry is the absence of jobs, coupled with the State Bank of India’s view that the economic slowdown may not be a “transient” phenomenon and is certainly not a “technical” glitch, as BJP president Amit Shah has said.
The phenomenon of jobless growth has changed, therefore, into one of few jobs and hardly any growth.
However, as even a pro-BJP economist pointed out, an economic council will be unable to suggest the possibility of an immediate turnaround since its panaceas will all have long gestation periods.
The so-called Big Bang reforms to introduce buoyancy in the economy and boost public confidence are also out because the government has never tried it before and is unlikely to do so when the general elections are less than two years away and several crucial state assembly polls are due next year.
Besides, Jaitley’s proposed Rs 50,000 crore ($7.6 billion) stimulus may undermine the target for curbing fiscal deficit. The scene is not unlike what happened towards the end of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure when he spoke of reviving the “animal spirits” but to no avail.
The economy is not the government’s only cause of concern. It was an unfortunate coincidence for the BJP that students went on the warpath in Banaras Hindu University just when the party was holding its National Executive meeting and Modi was in attendance in the city.
The unrest drew attention to the fact that the BJP’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has lost several student union elections recently in a demonstration of how the youth was getting disillusioned with the party.
For the BJP, 2014 has never been farther away.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
Yashwant Sinha
Mumbai : The Shiv Sena challenged its ally Bharatiya Janata Party to “prove Yashwant Sinha wrong” for his stinging comments on the state of the Indian economy on Wednesday which has erupted into a major political storm, here on Thursday.
When economists like (former PM) Manmohan Singh and (ex-Finance Minister) P. Chidambaram were saying this, they were sought to be dismissed as “crazy”, and when the Sena and others questioned the government policies, they were dubbed as “traitors”, the party said in scathing edits in “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana”.
“Their false notions have been demolished by none other than a highly experienced former BJP Finance Minister, (Yashwant) Sinha. He has made many statements, now you give evidences and prove him wrong,” the edit said, throwing a gauntlet at the BJP.
It pointed out how, during the regime of the Russian dictator Joseph Stalin, dissidents speaking out against his government disappeared overnight or were shunted to concentration camps.
“Sinha has spoken the truth. He has thrown light on many issues which have wreaked havoc, including demonetisation, the current economic crises, etc. We have to see what punishment will be meted out to him” the Sena said.
The former NDA Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had made Sinha the country’s FM and his views cannot be easily obliterated merely by the army of paid propagandists on social media networks, the edit warned.
These days, many high-profile schemes of the BJP government are in doldrums, the “Modi Fests” like Make in India and several others are flopping despite spending huge sums on them, but they are being touted as asuccessful by beating drums of advertising’, the edit said.
“In Gujarat, it is said ‘Vikas gaando thyo chhe’ (Development has gone crazy/haywire). Sinha has exposed the government claims by saying that contrary to the official figures that GDP rate is 5.7 per cent, it is actually 3.7 per cent. When the Congress’s Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram said the same, they were labeled ‘mad’ by the BJP,” the Sena noted.
It drew attention to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s recent statements, stating how some people bragged so much about ‘vikas’ that it (‘vikas’) has now ended up as ‘crazy’, but, some people are still under the impression that if they win elections by manipulating EVMs, then it is ‘development’…!
The Sena dwelt on Singh’s various observations on the economy questioning the government’s tall claims on various fronts, how demonetisation fuelled the economic downslide, drop in production, runaway inflation, zooming prices of gas, diesel and petrol, loss of jobs, steep fall in investments, precarious condition of the banking sector, etc.
“We had said all this over a year ago and branded as ‘traitors’ by the BJP. Now it is Yashwant Sinha’s turn..!” the edict concluded.
—IANS
