by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Saeed Akhtar Mirza
By Saket Suman,
New Delhi : He has been called an angry radical, an anarchist and a lot of other things but multiple award-winning director of films, documentaries and television serials, Saeed Akhtar Mirza is, in his own words, a leftist Sufi. His third book, billed as “a personal history of our times”, bears this out.
“Memory in the Age of Amnesia” (Westland/222 pages/Rs 499) opens with an essay titled “The Gujarat Legacy”, in which Mirza lashes out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi — without naming him — and sets out to remind his readers of the “scar” that, although permanent, seems to have been overlooked.
“A man has been installed as the Prime Minister of my country,” Mirza writes in the opening chapter of the 222-page book, “who represents a political and ideological mindset that I oppose and find deeply disturbing.”
“His contentious and questionable journey to the pinnacle of power has been documented thoroughly and no amount of wizardry of words and convoluted arguments by admiring political pundits and fans and his own, personal amnesia of what he did to arrive at where he is, can erase that history. The scar is permanent,” the 74-year-old notes.
Mirza, who divides his time between Mumbai and Goa, nonetheless recognises the fact that Modi “was democratically elected by the people of our country”.
But, Mirza reflects, he swept to power with “such a force that any semblance of a credible opposition has almost completely vanished”.
“His invincibility — backed by a money-and-media juggernaut — has since then been at times upstaged and has even faltered in some crucial elections,” he writes.
But this book is not just about Mirza’s observations on the current state of affairs; it is rather a recollection of memories that he has lived with and that have shaped his life.
“The painful conclusion that I draw from his victory was that for the people of India, at least to the 31 per cent who voted for him vehemently, his background didn’t matter. For them it was simple: What happened, happened (in Gujarat in 2002).
“The country had to move on and there was no future in looking over one’s shoulder at the past. For these people, it was a memory erased or overlooked,” Mirza writes.
He then goes on to express his shock over those who did not vote for “this demagogue” and asks why couldn’t they see the avalanche coming.
But four years have rolled by since Modi assumed office as the Prime Minister. What is it that Mirza is trying to get at?
In what he calls an attempt to “jog our collective memories”, Mirza travels down memory lane to the time when India became a Republic with a written constitution and our founding fathers defined the nation to the people of India and to the world.
From here, Mirza moves to “the slow dismantling of the institutions” that, according to him, began within 15 years of our Independence.
“What followed for the next 30 years were a series of manufactured riots and conflagrations that left the nation reeling,” he notes.
He then trains his guns at the Congress party, which was the dominant party in the initial years of independence when “the seeds of long-term disaster” were sown. Accusing the Congress of harnessing “quite a few right-wing warlords”, Mirza contends that it was their “greed for short-term gains” that has led the country to where it is now.
But is he just imagining these things, another conspiracy theory?
“I don’t think so. I believe we are living in a world where the present looms so disconcertingly large it leaves us little time for reflection. It seems our memory span is getting shorter and what fills our information matrices so often is meaningless trivia,” he asserts in the book.
(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) : Development is the only and best answer to every form of violence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Thursday as he inaugurated several projects for Chhattisgarh worth thousands of crores of rupees.
“The mention of Bastar used to invoke images of guns, bombs and violence. Today, this region is known for Jagdalpur airport. I believe that to every form of violence there is only one reply and it is development,” Modi said addressing a gathering after flagging off the first flight between Jagdalpur and Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.
He said in the region where the previous governments did not dare to build even roads, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments of the Centre and the state have built an airport.
Modi said an increasing number of youth from the Bastar region were shunning violence and coming to the mainstream.
“Now, the travel time between Raipur and Jagdalpur will be shortened to just 40 minutes from the earlier 6-7 hours. Thanks to the policies of our government, today more people are flying than those travelling in trains’ AC coaches,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the increased connectivity will attract industry, give a boost to employment and as a result will generate more employment.
Earlier, Modi also dedicated the modernised and expanded Bhilai Steel Plant to the nation and distributed laptops and cheques to beneficiaries.
He said peace, stability and law and order were the prerequisite for development and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh led by Chief Minister Raman Singh had provided that and embarked the state on the path of progress.
The Prime Minister said his government altered the laws to make sure a certain part of the income from the minerals extracted from Chhattisgarh is spent on the welfare of the people including the Adivasis.
Targetting the political rivals, Modi said the previous Congress-led UPA government did not approve the project of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bhilai as mooted by the Raman Singh government.
“Today, we have laid the foundation stone of an IIT campus in Bhilai,” Modi, who is on a day-long visit to the state, said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, News, Politics, Social Round-up
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said connectivity projects are India’s priority but such programmes should respect any country’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.
At the restricted session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao, Modi said connectivity not only meant physical contact but also people-to-people contact.
New Delhi opposes Beijing’s Belt and Road project, whose key artery cuts through the disputed Kashmir held by Pakistan and claimed by India.
“We have again reached a stage where physical and digital connectivity is changing the definition of geography. Therefore, connectivity with our neighbourhood and in the SCO region is our priority,” Modi said.
“We welcome any new connectivity project, which is inclusive, sustainable and transparent and respects country’s sovereignty and regional integrity.
“India’s active participation in the development of international North South Transport Corridor, Chabahar port shows our commitment,” the Prime Minister said.
He also raked up the issue of terrorism in Afghanistan and how the country is battling against it.
Modi said security was also a priority for India.
He also coined an acronym for the word SECURE: ‘S’ for security, ‘E’ for economic development, ‘C’ for connectivity in the region, ‘U’ for unity, ‘R’ for respect of sovereignty and integrity, and ‘E’ for environment protection.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Employment, Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Private Jobs, Startup Basics
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with thousands of youngsters who have made it big in the startup sector and said it is the youth who have turned out to be the “job creators” of the nation.
Describing India as a “youthful nation”, Modi said the government is committed to “harnessing of the demographic dividend”.
Video conferencing on the NaMo app, the Prime Minister underlined that adequate capital, courage and connecting with people are required for excelling in the startup sector.
“There was a time when startups meant only digital and tech innovation. Things are changing now. We are seeing startup entrepreneurs in different fields,” he said.
Modi said startups were no longer confined to big cities only.”Smaller towns and villages are emerging as vibrant startup centres,” he added.
He also said that India has distinguished itself in the global startup eco-system.
“We in the government understand that youngsters may face shortage of funds for their startups. That is why a ‘fund of funds’ has been started by the government to facilitate more youngsters to innovate and ideate,” Modi added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
(4th anniversay of Modi government)
By Vinod Behl,
The four years of the Narendra Modi government, marked by landmark reforms, have seen the complete transformation of the unorganised and opaque real estate sector into a regulated, transparent, affordable and consumer-friendly asset class.
Notwithstanding the global slowdown, Indian real estate’s troubles have been self-created. The sector has been bogged down largely due to lack of regulation and transparency and inflated pricing, owing to speculative operations. Over the years, the foul play by a large number of realtors played havoc with the sector. It is in this backdrop that the government put the focus on undertaking reforms to address these fundamental issues plaguing the sector.
The government’s reform and policy initiatives have been directed towards replacing the investor/speculator-driven model with consumer-centric model to ensure that residential property becomes affordable so that every Indian can have a shelter over his head. The results are there for everyone to see.
Property prices have dropped by 7-9 percent in the first quarter of the calendar year in key cities. The government’s flagship mission, ‘Housing for All’, focusing on affordable and mid-segment housing, providing 6.5 per cent interest subsidy (up to Rs 2.67 lakh) under PMAY has been responsible for enhancing affordability. GST has also provided price relief by dismantling multiple taxation and zero tax on ready-to-move homes. All these pro-consumer reforms contributed to bring homes within the reach of the common people.
For long, hundreds of thousands of home buyers across India have been facing hardships due to large-scale project delays. Especially, over 20,000 home buyers in Noida have been under great stress fearing non-delivery of homes due to the developer — Jaypee Infratech — facing insolvency.
The government came to the rescue of home buyers by issuing an ordinance to amend IBC, putting home buyers at par with lenders, thereby paving the way for refund of their money. A large number of housing projects across India are stalled due to shortage of funds, especially as bank funding has been difficult to come. But the reformed and regulated real estate has led to inflow of huge foreign investment of $114 billion between 2015 and 2017, registering a 40 per cent increase in FDI recorded between 2011 and 2014.
Together with FDI, another avenue of developer funding through NBFCs has come as a lifeline for stalled projects, giving new hope to home buyers.
The Real Estate Regulation & Development Act (RERA) has come as a big saviour for property consumers. With its stringent preventive and punitive provisions, RERA has put an end to their exploitation by unscrupulous developers by making transactions fair, transparent and secure.
The reform-oriented government gave top priority to infrastructure development by setting up the Rs 40,000 crore National Investment & Infrastructure Fund.The high priority to highways, with record construction of 25 km per day, has given real estate a connectivity boost.
All the reforms and enabling policies have contributed to the revival of real estate. The worst-hit residential realty has seen a growth of 13 percent in FY18. The commercial real estate has already seen turnaround, with a CBRE report pointing to an all-time high absorption of 11msf during the first quarter of the year, 25 percent up from last year.
The realty revival has also been possible due to turnaround in the economy, with growth bouncing back in the second half of FY18. In the last four years (FY15-18), overall growth rate in the economy showed a modest upstick to 7.3 percent compared to average growth of 7.2 percent in FY11-14.
Though the short-term adverse effects of interruption caused by reforms like demonetisation, RERA & GST have been largely contained and real estate is on the revival path, the government needs to tackle various reform challenges to fast track this process. Notwithstanding GST contributing to ease of business and marked improvement in global Ease of Doing Business Index, there is a need to put single window mechanism in place to speed up projects.
Bringing real estate under GST to derive its full benefits, bringing down transaction costs by rationalising stamp duty and collector rates, according industry status to real estate to access cheap bank funding and effective and speedy implementation of RERA, Housing for All and Smart Cities Mission are the other challenges on hand. Nevertheless, reforms have provided a much needed spring board to real estate to transform into an attractive asset class with sustained growth.
(Vinod Behl is editor, Realty Plus, a leading real estate monthly. He can be reached at vbehl2008@gmail.com )
—IANS
