by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the Modi government had for years lied about the fate of 39 Indians killed in Iraq and was now diverting public attention from it by alleging that his party had links with a firm accused of misusing personal data of Facebook users.
“Problem: 39 Indians dead; Government on the mat, caught lying. Solution: Invent story on Congress and data theft. Result: Media networks bite bait; 39 Indians vanish from radar. Problem solved,” Gandhi said in a tweet.
Gandhi’s remarks came a day after Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress of compromising national security by roping in political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to run its 2019 election campaign.
The Minister alleged that the firm had been found involved in data manipulation and warned that any attempt to misuse social media to influence India’s electoral process would not be tolerated.
Congress Communications Incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala also attacked the government, accusing it of deceiving the families of those dead in Iraq and the nation.
“Another lie, another spin exposed as truth unravels. All 39 Indians had died years ago as the evidence and witnesses suggested and corroborated now by Martyrs Foundation. Yet Modi government lied, duped and deceived the families and the Nation,” Surjewala tweeted.
He accused the government of not paying compensation to the families of those killed.
“Families ask questions – 1. Why did Modi government and Sushmaji mislead them for 4 years? 2. Why does the government not reveal the date of death? 3. What evidence did the EAM have of them being alive for all these years? 4. Why is government not agreeable to compensating the families?” he asked.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday launched a direct attack against the Modi government, alleging that freedom of the people was “under systematic and sustained assault” as provocative statements from the ruling establishment were neither random nor accidental but “part of a dangerous design”.
Delivering the keynote address at the India Today Conclave 2018 here, the former Congress President all that was being done by attempts to rewrite history, falsifying facts and attacking nation builders.
“Our society, our freedom all are now under systematic and sustained assault. Make no mistake about it. This is a well sort out project long in the making to refashion the very idea of India,” Gandhi said.
“The freedom to think for oneself and differ and degree and to meet or marry according to ones wishes all this and more are under attack.
“Provocative statements from the ruling establishment are not random or accidental. They are part of a dangerous design,” she said and added that vigilante mobs and private armies have been let loose with state patronage.
She said callous remarks were being made about changing the Constitution of the country that “point to a deliberate attempt to subvert the very essence of India”.
“Parliamentary majority is being interpreted as a licence to stifle debate. Our freedoms are under attack. Our people are increasingly impatient,” Gandhi said.
She asserted that it was not in her nature to be a “voice of gloom and doom but we need to see things the way they are”.
“The evidence of this new and deeply troubling direction is there for every one to see. Fear and intimidation are the order of the day, alternative voices are being silenced. In far too many cases through violence and even murder.”
She spoke about the violence against Dalits and minorities saying there was “shocking insensitivity to atrocities on Dalits”.
“Society has been polarised with an eye for winning elections. Religious tensions are being fueled.”
Gandhi also took a dig at Modi for his frequent coining of acronyms in the name schemes and government programmes.
“We need to move fast, but fast, F.A.S.T., cannot stand for First Act, Second Think. Acronymising can be contagious,” she said to a laughter from the audience.
“India is a great country, a wonderful country, let us protect it, cherish it,” Gandhi said, ending her speech to a loud applause.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Manik Sarkar (file photo)
By Sujit Chakraborty,
Agartala : Manik Sarkar, who has been Chief Minister of Tripura for the past 20 years and is attempting a fifth term, has accused the Modi government of being in cahoots with the separatist tribal party, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), and declares that the people of the northeastern state will fight “tooth and nail” to prevent its division.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is using the terror collaborator IPFT as hunting cocks and plotting multi-faceted conspiracies against the Left Front government in Tripura,” Sarkar told IANS in an interview ahead of the February 18 assembly polls.
Sarkar, 69, has accused the BJP-led central government of putting up an economic blockade against the Left Front government in Tripura, and of all the top leaders of the saffron party and central ministers, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “pouncing on the state like eagles” in order to oust the Left from power.
“As part of their conspiracy, a series of meetings was held between the IPFT leaders and government officials, Minister in the PMO Jitendra Singh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and finally with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi — but everything was kept secret and nothing was shared about these meetings with the state government,” said Sarkar, who has been in power since 1998.
On the IPFT’s demand for a separate state, the Chief Minister said that “the people of Tripura will fight tooth and nail to thwart the division of Tripura”.
He said that Tripura’s post-independence history has been “marked by ethnic peace and amity and even though fissiparous forces tried to disturb peace for a brief while, Tripura maintained perfect ethnic harmony”.
“When terrorist outfits realised that their demand of ‘Sovereign Tripura’ would never be accomplished, then the IPFT raised the separate state demand to drive a wedge between tribals and non-tribals,” said Sarkar.
Sarkar, who has termed the poll tie-up between the BJP and IPFT an “unholy alliance”, said it was aimed at dividing Tripura. “But we will not let this happen.”
“Despite being a national party, the BJP has no policy — or it would not forge an alliance with IPFT,” said the Chief Minister, adding that the tribal party was “destroying the future of the tribals”.
“The IPFT, with support from BJP, is trying to remove Tripura’s name from history. So long as Left parties are in the state this detrimental plan would not be allowed to happen,” he stated.
Since 2009, the IPFT has been agitating for upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) into a separate tribal state. Most major political parties, including the CPI-M, Congress, BJP and other tribal-based parties, have rejected the demand, saying it is not practical to divide the small state which has a population of around four million.
Attacking the Modi government, Sarkar said: “Every month four to five central ministers would be visiting Tripura. After holding meetings with us and state officials, and voicing appreciation at the state government’s achievements, these central ministers would go to the BJP office here or address party meetings where they would make slanderous speeches against my government. When our officials write to the Centre telling them about the reality, it just keeps mum.”
Taking on the Prime Minister, he said that Modi during his election campaign accused the Tripura government of not having spent central funds. “But the central government itself has either reduced or stopped funding to the state under many schemes and projects, including MGNREGA,” Sarkar said.
Sarkar, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Politburo member, claimed that the Centre has “not been providing the Rs 1,700 crore-Rs 2,000 crore” due to the state every year. “They have also been ignoring our appeals and letters in this regard,” he added.
Among India’s Left leaders Sarkar is one of the main faces and key political figures. Tripura has been ruled by the Left Front since 1978 with a five-year break between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress and its tribal party ally Tripura Upajati Juba Samity were in power.
The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Modi and the BJP should first implement their 2014 poll pledges, and then raise fingers against the Left Front government, which he said has drawn the attention of the entire country for its good governance and also won many national awards.
“The BJP leadership, after having failed to create anarchy, tried to promulgate President’s Rule in Tripura. It motivated the IPFT to blockade the state’s vital National Highway and lone railway line, like in Manipur, and it also directed officials not to release the due central funds. All this is besides the continued malicious campaign against the Left leadership,” he added.
“The Narendra Modi government’s policies and the activities of the BJP workers have created a deep crisis for the entire country, and led to panic among the minorities and others,” Sarkar said.
Sarkar said his government had made school education free and students get their text books free of cost on the day the results of their annual exams are declared. “In terms of education we have moved far ahead, and Tripura is a leading state not only in education but in all indexes of human development.”
The Manik Sarkar government — in a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country — has launched more than 30 social pensions and schemes from its own funds to benefit over 400,000 people belonging to all sections.
Sarkar, who has been in the election fray since 1981, has been elected to the state assembly six times — in 1981 (by-polls), 1983, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013. He is seeking re-election in the February 18 polls from the Dhanpur (western Tripura) assembly constituency for the fifth consecutive time.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Investing, News, Politics
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : Overriding concern for safety, improvement in passenger amenities and big investment in infrastructure are slated to be the focus for the railways with the Modi government expecting to loosen the purse strings in its last full budget ahead of the 2019 general elections.
There is unlikely to be any fare hike or announcement of new trains. The consolidation of all major initiatives in the last three years will be reflected in the Budget 2018-19 to be rolled out on February 1.
The operating ratio (OR) is slated to be 95 per cent for the next fiscal as against the 96 per cent in the current financial year.
The financial health of the railways is determined by its OR, which indicates how much the railways spend to earn a rupee. An OR of 90 per cent means 90 paisa is being spent to earn 100 paisa.
There will be provisions for manufacturing of electric locomotives at Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) at Varanasi and Diesel Component Works (DCW) at Patiala to cater to the growing demand of electric locos in the coming years.
Since the railways has decided on electrification of the entire rail route and phasing out of diesel locos in a gradual manner, there is a need for manufacturing of electric locos in large numbers.
The railways have registered a growth of 1.4 per cent on passenger bookings and 6.9 per cent in goods loadings till December 2017 as against the previous year.
In a major thrust to modernisation, the budget is likely to earmark Rs 95,000 crore for overall upgradation in the rail infrastructure including signalling automation, replacement of age-old tracks and other assets.
Amid the rising global crude oil prices and dipping of the GST collections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to do a tightrope walk while presenting the Budget.
Though there are widespread expectations of the middle class for lightening of the tax burdens, the government is likely stick to its fiscal consolidation measures to curb fiscal deficit.
It is learnt that Jaitley will not spell out the every detail of the allocation for the railways but read out only operating parts that focus on major expenditure on various heads, revenue earnings and projected growth in goods and passenger sectors.
The budget is likely to witness an increase in the plan allocation from Rs 1.31 lakh crorre to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore, while the gross budgetary support (GBS) is also expected to be around Rs 65,000 crore against Rs 55,000 crore in 2017-18.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said time and again not to depend upon the GBS and emphasised the need to generate enough funds from internal resources and the market.
Monetisation of transmission assets, commercial exploitation of surplus land and creation of new avenues for ad revenue are some of the measures being undertaken to maximise earnings.
While borrowing was pegged at Rs 40,000 cr in the last budget, this time it will go up further to fund capacity enhancement plans of the railways.
The railways will make a provision of around Rs 3,000 crore in its budget for 2018-19 to install CCTV systems in all 11,000 trains — including premier and suburban services — and all the 8,500 stations in the Indian rail network.
Though the cross-subsidy for passenger service is more than Rs 30,000 crore a year now, the state-run transporter will still include many initiatives to upgrade amenities at rail premises, including Wi-Fi at all stations, SMS alerts for all trains and revamping of the ticketing website, among others.
Aiming to provide better amenities, there will make a provision for installing about 3,000 escalators and 1,000 lifts at all major urban and suburban stations across the country.
With safety getting top billing, complete automation of the entire signalling system is likely to get the nod among other safety related measures in the forthcoming budget.
The construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doublings besides massive electrification will continue to be part of the infrastructure development plan.
There is also expected to be adequate provision for capacity enhancement of the railways to step up the growth momentum as investment in the sector is crucial to continue the country’s growth trajectory.
With the volatile market at hand and the agri sector requiring special attention, Jaitley’s budget will be closely watched on Thursday.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Amit Kapoor,
Unlike most countries, the budget is usually an eventful affair in India and is a heated topic of national conversation around the time of its release. The underlying national interest behind it is mostly because the budget holds something for everyone — ranging from a small farmer to a big industrialist. However, from this year onwards, much of its sheen will be off by a bit.
The tinkering of indirect taxes, which was an aspect of the budget that affected everyone in all corners of the country, is not within the Centre’s domain anymore. Since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), all indirect taxes — except for customs duty — have to be decided upon by the GST Council instead of being annually altered based on short-term political interests. Therefore, the first budget after the GST reform will be a challenging one for the government.
The fact that this will be the last full budget before the 2019 elections and that the government has already spent all of its budgeted expenditure for this financial year will further complicate matters. The oncoming elections affects the budget in multiple ways.
First, if the Gujarat election results are to be taken as indicative of the national sentiment, the BJP government is more popular in urban areas than it is in the countryside. The recently released CSO growth estimates show why. The farm and allied sector grew at 2.1 per cent in the current fiscal as compared to 4.9 per cent in the preceding year. So, the ailing agricultural sector will receive much-needed redressal in the upcoming budget. In fact, the Finance Minister has already confirmed this. Reviving growth in the sector can also be a viable mechanism for job creation — another economic aspect that the government will be looking to address with the budget.
Second, with the elections around the corner, firming up economic growth will be foremost on the government’s agenda. Investments have declined from 34.3 per cent of the GDP in 2011-12 to 27 per cent in 2016-17. They still do not seem to have picked up. First advanced estimates show that this has further fallen to 26.4 per cent in 2017-18. Estimates of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) show that new investment proposals are likely to amount to around Rs 8 trillion ($126 billion) in 2017-18, which would be merely 60 per cent of the new proposals made in 2016-17. This would also be the lowest since 2004-05.
The subdued investment activity has been a result of the twin balance sheet problem that is now two budgets old. Clearly, it has been a difficult dragon to slay. Hopefully, a resolution should be in sight when the Rs 1.35 trillion-bank recapitalisation plan comes into force. The budget will bring about more clarity on the specifics of the plan and how it will affect government finances.
Third, the government will be in a tight conundrum to balance the budget between going populist in an election season and sticking to the fiscal deficit target. It is almost certain that the government will breach the fiscal deficit target this year after revenue collection in the new tax regime is mostly turning out to be lower than expected, forcing the government to borrow an additional Rs 500 billion. This puts the government’s net borrowing at the highest level since 2013-14. Moreover, it needs to be pointed out that this figure does not include the Rs 800 billion meant for bank recapitalisation this fiscal.
Therefore, managing finances for the next fiscal will be a challenge considering the current scenario. The fact that the economy is not growing at full throttle is not helping either. The government will have to take a call on curbing its spending to maintain the deficit and sacrificing growth partly or splurge and maintain a higher deficit next year as well, risking inflation in the process. The elections make it enticing to choose the populist route and breach the fiscal ceiling. A case can be made that growth should be prioritised over maintaining the fiscal target, but reneging on the commitment will diminish the government’s credibility — which is more harmful in the long run. Rewiring the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) law to make it counter-cyclical in nature would be a better route to adopt.
All factors considered, this budget presents the biggest challenge to the Modi government since coming into power. Low growth numbers, subdued investment sentiment and a widening deficit when elections are around the corner leave a Herculean task at hand. The balance between populism and fiscal restraint will be difficult to manage. In any case, the document that will be taking the centrestage on February 1 will define the course for a lot of things to come.
(Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness, India. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and tweets @kautiliya. Chirag Yadav, researcher at Institute for Competitiveness has contributed to the article)
—IANS
