by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
By Mohd Asim Khan,
New Delhi : There has been a rise of vigilantism in the country and if “gau rakshaks” (cow vigilantes) are not listening to even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then it is a matter of concern, says former Vice President Hamid Ansari.
“Modi is a strong leader. He is the unquestioned leader of his party. If his words are not being listened to, that’s a matter of serious concern. No need to say that there are people in his party who are defying him. I am not drawing that conclusion,” Ansari said in an interview with IANS ahead of the release of his latest book “Dare I Question”.
This book is a compilation of speeches that Ansari made on different occasions on different themes. He said he has explored various issues in the book such as what is it to be an Indian, what is Indian nationalism or why do we call ourselves plural, secular, democratic.
The former Vice President created a flutter recently when he said in the foreword to the book that the remarks of Modi at the farewell function for Ansari last year that his views were conditioned by his long career as a diplomat in Muslim countries and as a person who has dealt with minoities (as a member of the National Minorities Commission) were a deviation from tradition on such occasions.
While asserting that intolerance is indeed rising in society, he underlined that it cannot be said that the communal divide emerged only after the Modi government came to power as it has been there for very long.
“Intolerance has been there in our society for a long, long period. But I think if the level of water rises you don’t notice it at first and it begins to rise higher and higher. Then you notice it. That’s what is happening,” he said.
“Yes, there has been a rise of vigilantism. It has been written (about) nationally as well as internationally. International newspapers have reported that there has been a rise in it. I can’t put a precise date (as to when it was noticed first)… different occasions, different places. It has been going on for many, many years,” he told IANS.
There have been incidents of attacks and lynchings of people belonging to the minority community suspected of cow smuggling or in the name of eating beef in some states.
Has it risen after Modi government came to power?
“No, no. Every government has been guilty of failures. Every time there has been a communal riot anywhere, it is a manifestation firstly of intolerance and secondly of failure of administration.
“You see two people can always have a disagreement. Two bicycles can collide on the road and there will be exchange of hot words. But what takes a small disagreement into a communal riot requires thinking and planning. And wherever there is such planning, there is failure of law and order,” Ansari said.
Asked if he is particularly indicting the state governments headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for rising vigilantism, the former Vice President said: “Look, I am indicting the government of the day wherever it is. Whether it happens in Assam, Kerala or Punjab. It doesn’t matter. I am not targeting political parties, I am targeting administrations.”
Commenting on critics and trolls on social media tagging him as an “ungrateful Muslim” post his remarks in a TV interview just a day before his demitting office that there has been a rising sense of insecurity among the Muslims, Ansari pointed out that it was not for the first time that he had said as much.
“Ungrateful to whom? This is my land. I am an equal citizen of this country. I am an equal stakeholder of this country and I have been so for centuries. Where is the question of ungratefulness? Gratefulness or ungratefulness comes only if you are giving me something and I am receiving something. It is my right. I have my rights, I have my duties,” Ansari said.
Asked if the incident of Hindutva goons barging into Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) when he was there to attend a function on May 2 happened with the local administration’s connivance, Ansari said he would desist from drawing such conclusions but stressed that the Jinnah portrait there was just an excuse to create disruption.
“I don’t draw that kind of conclusions. But I do know I was invited there, and there was disruption. The function could not take place. The senior police officer in the district next day admitted that there was a failure of arrangements and that he is going to inquire into it.
“I am not drawing a conclusion that there was a connivance of the local administration with the miscreants. But I see it as straightforward fact of failure. Now why that failure took place, let the inquiry find out.
“But yes, the Jinnah portrait was just an excuse. It’s been there for a long time. The gentleman who objected to the portrait was a member of the AMU Court for three years. What did you do about it?” Ansari asked.
On the demand by rightwing politicians to end the minority status of the AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia, Ansari said that as the matter is being heard in the Supreme Court, he, and others, should not comment on it.
“Let the court’s opinion come, we will see after that. The Acts of Parliament are there which created these institutions, the debates in Parliament are there as to what was the intention behind setting up these institutions. All this will be discussed threadbare in the Supreme Court and the court will decide,” he said.
As the next Lok Sabha elections are nearing, it is pertinent to examine the present government’s achievements and failures. While Prime Minister Modi used to bitterly attack the Manmohan Singh government over an “absence” of a tough policy on Pakistan, has the present government evolved a consistent policy on Pakistan after four years in office?
Ansari, who was a career diplomat, replied: “We have zig-zagged on Pakistan to the best of my knowledge. We have gone like a pendulum from one extreme to the other. If that is policy, then there is a policy. What can you do about it?”
He added that while India’s traditional policy of non-alignment adopted under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was “fine” and earned the country respect in the world, India’s neighbourhood policy has deteriorated in recent years.
“Our neighbourhood policy at the moment seems to be under some stress. People who are knowledgeable about it have written about it,” he said.
Is India doing enough to counter China’s growing influence?
“Successive governments have been very conscious about it. China is a big neighbour. And we have relations with China, different kinds of relations — political, cultural and even military relations. Both countries understand that we have problems also, we have positive relations as well,” Ansari said.
(Asim Khan can be reached on mohd.a@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, News, Politics
Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh
By Sujeet Kumar,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh says there is no anti-incumbency against his government despite being in power for over 14 years and that the ruling BJP is poised for a fourth successive victory in Assembly polls later this year.
“The BJP is in power since December 2003 and there is still no anti-incumbency. I have travelled widely to urban pockets and rural belts this year during various public interaction programmes and clearly saw in people’s eyes that they wish to see the BJP regime to continue,” Raman Singh, the longest-serving BJP Chief Minister, told IANS in an interview.
“Everyone, even the opposition Congress, knows in the state that anti-incumbency is nonexistent. People had some grievances in certain areas against local officials, not against the state government. The government has reached out to these people through public interaction drives such as Lok Suraj Abhiyan, Gram Suraj Abhiyan and Vikas Yatra.
“It’s people’s desire in Chhattisgarh that the BJP deserves a fourth successive term. It speaks volumes about the development works and the kind of governance I have delivered in the state,” the ayurvedic doctor-turned-politician said.
Raman Singh predicted 65-plus seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 90-member Assembly in the upcoming polls in the mineral-rich state.
“The state has witnessed a sea change during the BJP regime. You will find a network of quality roads in all 27 districts. Schools and hospitals have been opened even in forested areas,” the 66-year-old politician said.
He revealed that his government would be launching the world’s largest free mobile smart phones distribution scheme in a month to women and college going students under Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY).
Chhattisgarh has a history of bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress. In the last Assembly polls held in 2013, the BJP won 49 seats while the Congress bagged 39. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and an independent got one seat each.
But the vote percentage difference between the BJP and the Congress was less than one per cent and the overall vote difference was just 92,000 in the entire state.
Chhattisgarh is now set to witness triangular contests this year as the state’s first Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has deserted the Congress and floated his own outfit to nurture his dream of becoming the H.D. Kumaraswamy of Chhattisgarh if there is a hung verdict.
Raman Singh acknowledged that there would a three-way fight in the state on certain seats in 2018 and the third player’s entry into the electoral fray could spice up poll battle.
Political analysts say that the wheelchair-bound Jogi has developed some closeness with the BJP in recent months as he has a pathological hatred for Chhattisgarh Congress President and potential Congress Chief Ministerial candidate Bhupesh Baghel.
The Jogi-led Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) is said to have the capability to walk away with considerable percentage of traditional Congress votes in at least 20-22 Assembly segments.
Some analysts say he could away with 5 to 6 per cent of all votes, primarily that of the Congress. Knowing his abilities, BSP leader Mayawati has opened talks with him. But the BSP is also being wooed by the Congress which is desperate to end the BJP innings.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan
By Bhavana Akella,
Bengaluru : With new technologies disrupting businesses and changing the rules of engagement, India faces a daunting task to reskill its huge workforce for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan says.
“India has a major challenge of transitioning its young workforce to the fourth industrial revolution called AI after the eras of agriculture, manufacturing and services,” Gopalakrishnan told IANS in an interview here.
Gopalakrishnan, 63, well-known as ‘Kris’, is one of the seven co-founders of the iconic IT firm, who became its chief executive after fellow co-founder Nandan Nilekani quit in mid-2009 to set up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for issuing Aadhaar cards to over a billion citizens.
“As the large workforce is engaged in diverse occupations such as agriculture, manufacturing and white-collar jobs in the services sector, it needs to be re-skilled to sustain the jobs, as AI will replace traditional jobs,” said Gopalakrishnan.
Originating in the mid-1950s as an academic discipline, AI involves machines emulating human intelligence. Many experts like American aerospace firm SpaceX founder Elon Musk and renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, however, feared that AI would spell doom by replacing humans as thinking machines.
As a geek, Gopalakrishnan allayed unknown fears of AI, terming it as a transition none can avoid but adopt in due course.
“AI is a transition that is bound to happen, whether we like it or not. We should rather think of preparing the workforce for it by reskilling it. We have to brace for skilled jobs, as many conventional jobs will be lost though many more will be created in allied areas,” he pointed out.
Golalakrishnan, however, refused to answer any questions on Infosys’ developments in the field of AI, even as the software giant has been working on the technology through its platforms like Nia over the past few years.
Though use of robots in the automobile industry led to the loss of painting jobs in assembly lines of car plants, Gopalakrishnan said on the flip side, they saved the blue-collar workforce from the harmful exposure to chemical paints.
Hawking (1942-2018), had termed the emergence of AI as the worst event in the history of civilisation and urged its propounders to find ways to control its development.
Participating in a web summit technology conference at Lisbon in Portugal on November 6, 2017, Hawking said computers could, in theory, exceed human intelligence (HI).
“Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilisation. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy,” Hawking asserted.
Echoing Hawking, Telsa co-founder Musk charged that AI was more dangerous than nuclear warheads and called for a regulatory authority to oversee its development as super intelligence.
“The biggest issue I see with so-called AI experts is they think they know more than they do, and they think they are smarter than they actually are,” said Musk at a tech conference at Austin in Texas on March 12, as reported in the US media.
Countering the likes of Hawking and Musk, Gopalakrishnan said there was no simple solution with disruptive technologies but to adopt them to sustain and thrive.
“If we don’t prepare as a country to re-skill our people for an AI-led future, there will be social unrest because their jobs will become redundant,” he reiterated.
Unfazed by partial opposition to AI, Gopalakrishnan was passionate about AI for the immense benefits he saw in it.
“As in every technology, risks are inherent even in AI, though I see a bright future in its adoption. Through AI in key areas like healthcare, we can reduce the cost of technology to improve the quality of life,” he affirmed.
Key sectors such as health, education and transportation will be impacted by AI, with machine intelligence reducing labour and redundant activities.
“AI is reaching the critical stage of consumerisation, becoming a technology for our daily use. It can create opportunities to spur growth,” Gopalakrishnan claimed.
In this context, Gopalakrishnan, chairman of India Inc apex body CII’s innovation cell, clarified that the industry, academia and the government have to share the responsibility of getting the workforce prepared for AI-led jobs.
“The preparedness should begin with training undergraduate students on AI by including it in their courses,” he added.
In a technology-driven world, Gopalakrishnan said India’s policies have to strike a balance between protecting an individual’s privacy and promoting the tech medium.
(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
BSE Chief Ashishkumar Chauhan
By Rohit Vaid,
Mumbai : Despite the global equity market volatility, along with banking sector woes, the macro-economic scenario is extremely positive in India, says the top executive of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
“Banks’ books are getting cleaned up and NPAs (non-performing assets) are also being recognised in a transparent manner. With growing GDP, legislative reforms such as GST and IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), India will hit double-digit growth rates soon,” Ashishkumar Chauhan, Chief Executive Office and Managing Director of BSE, told IANS in an interview over the phone.
According to Chauhan, the ongoing strength of the Indian economy and growth was evident in GDP numbers, which were recently released. “India’s economy expanded at its fastest pace since December 2016 as government spending continues to drive economic growth,” he said.
“Under the newly-enacted IBC, the fear of losing control over their companies has prompted defaulting promoters to settle their dues of around Rs 83,000 crore before action was initiated,” he said.
Regarding IPO supply being affected because of low market buoyancy due to high interest and oil costs, Chauhan replied: “Globally, Indian exchanges recorded the highest IPO activity, with 90 IPO launches that raised $3.9 billion in the first half of 2018.”
He said that even at the BSE SME platform, there were 254 listed companies having a market capitalisation of Rs 21,000 crore. “Nearly 46 companies have filed for listing, of which 20 SMEs have received approvals and we hope to hit 300 SMEs listings by the end of the year. So, at BSE, we are very bullish about the IPO markets going ahead,” he added.
On the growth prospects of BSE, Chauhan pointed out that more than the traditional products, BSE was now focusing on growth of next-gen products that cater to “emerging India”.
“Through innovative business models and solutions, we are efficiently scaling up our outreach to the financially excluded population of India,” he said.
“BSE is betting big on facilitating investments in equities, mutual funds and insurance,” he added.
He said BSE now planned to also provide insurance distribution through its nationwide distribution system available in more than 3,000 cities having more than 200,000 people.
Recently, BSE tied up with Ebix Inc. for distribution of insurance in an exchange model, and has applied to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India for approval.
The stock exchange major has emerged as the largest market for bond distribution, IPOs, Offer to Buy, Offer to Sale and other instruments related to equities.
Last year, BSE raised Rs 1.7 lakh crore on its bond distribution platform and listed total additional debt securities worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore.
“BSE has now truly become a catalyst for capital formation in the country instead of acting solely as a platform for speculative activities,” Chauhan added.
(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Manisha Kelkar
By Tridib Baparnash,
Coimbatore : Who said Indian women have a long way to go to catch up with their male counterparts in a sport like motor racing? Meet these young ladies from various walks of life who have become the cynosure of all eyes during the opening round of the 21st JK Tyre National racing championship here.
Founded and conceptualised by former national champion Sarosh Hataria, the Ahura Racing team — an all-girl team of six participants — scripted history when they drove the Formula LGB cars at the Kari Motor Speedway over the weekend.
Led by popular Marathi and Bollywood actor Manisha Kelkar and dentist Ritika Oberoi, the Ahura team came into existence after Hataria handpicked 12 women out of 190 who sent in their entries to an online post a fortnight ago.
On Saturday, six of the 12 realised their dream of racing in a professional circuit while the other six have been kept on standby and could get to race during the four-round JK Tyre national championship.
Manisha, the daughter of veteran Bollywood screenwriter Ram Kelkar, was one of those six lucky ladies who had their dream come true on Saturday.
The 32-year-old, a self-proclaimed adventure junkie, was elated to be a part of the historic moment but went on to explain that her motive was mainly to inspire young girls who dream of a career in racing but unfortunately can’t afford the expensive sport.
“I am an adventure junkie and love any kind of speed and adventure. I always wanted to sit in a Formula car but never ever dreamt of participating and qualifying for Nationals, so that way it’s a dream-come-true moment for me,” Manisha told IANS here.
On being asked about her experience, Manisha has no hesitation to call herself the rookiest of all racers, but explained how she chased her dreams in the matter of a fortnight and even taking a short break from her busy acting career.
“I can’t express my experience in words, being the rookiest of the racers, I am proud of my performance on debut. My mentors Saroj and Rohit Khanna taught us really well as we didn’t have much time.”
“Sixty girls were selected from all over India and trained for two days, and then six girls with the best lap time were selected,” she explained.
Manisha, however went on to explain that her main intention was to inspire young girls to battle all odds and take up the sport.
“We have a huge potential in our country, but where we lack is channelising that talent. Lack of sponsors is also another reason but companies like JK Tyre have been phenomenal in their support.
“These kinds of talent hunts help in unraveling the raw talent,” she said.
Dentist Ritika also had a similar story. She became confident after taking part in the Desert Storm last year.
“It was after the Desert Storm my navigator motivated me to take up racing professionally. Being a passionate driver, having done all the forms including off-roading and rally, this was something which I was waiting for a long time,” Ritika told IANS.
The team also includes two mothers Diana Pundole and Natasha Shah, and Phoebe Nongrum, an aspiring IAS officer from Shillong, who are stand-bys and awaiting their chance of racing in the next three rounds.
While the first round got off successfully, with Hataria just about managing the hefty season fees of nearly Rs 80 lakh, the team owner is keeping his fingers crossed on the future as he dreams of having an all-girls team a routine affair.
(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)
—IANS
