How Modi’s demonetization move is a drama!

By Vinod Varshney

The Modi government is causing so much hardship to common people, farmers and retail businessmen across the country as prime minister Modi unwittingly demonetized the currency which is now of low denomination in value terms and is used by common people in day-to-day transactions. People go to buy even fruits and vegetable carrying a 500 rupee note and street-venders do accept them routinely.

One needs to look at the cost inflation index which is 1125 today on the basis of its value ‘100’ in 1980-81. Its value was probably 80 in 1978. Thus, the value of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 today is only Rs 36 and Rs 72 in terms of the value of Indian rupee in 1978 when Desai government had undertaken demonetization exercise so successfully. 

When prime minister Morarji Desai had demonetized 500, 1,000 and 10,000 rupee notes in 1978, he was truly eliminating high value notes and thus conducting a true surgical strike against black money hoarders. I had been a sub-editor then with Hindustan, a national Hindi newspaper published from New Delhi. I like other common people had seen the Rs 1,000 note probably only once or twice. But never got to see a 10,000 rupee note!

Because of the demonetization of the high value notes, the Desai government had hurt only the black money hoarders, not the common man. That was the reason, there were no deaths like this time of old people standing in queues for long hours to get their notes converted and no deaths of children for not being able to get treatments owing to old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes not being acceptable to private medical service providers.

Prime minister Modi has rightly been accused for his arrogance as he fails to realize that his move is hurting common people across the board, in some cases even more than the black money hoarders who are using touts to get their notes changed with the new ones for a price.

Had Modi government really been sincere to hit the black money hoarders in India, it would have demonetized the Kisan Vikas Patra which were discontinued by the Manmohan Singh government as an action against black money hoarding but were relaunched audaciously by the Modi government to facilitate black money owners.

The current demonetization exercise looks more like a sadistic drama, and to say mildly, a face saver amidst countrywide criticism of prime minister Narendra Modi who failed to bring back the black money stashed abroad that was promised to be done within 100 days of forming his government during election rallies in 2014.  

Impressions of an Indian Diaspora

By MR Dua

These are the changing faces of India seen through the eyes of a person of Indian origin. He rushes into wrong first impressions, but soon corrects—yes, India has changed, is changing though through  messy, trial and error methods…. Who could say where it was headed…..

Impressed, perhaps deeply influenced by the post-1991 economic boom, many a highly educated and successful Indian youth in the United States of America and other western countries, have returned to their motherland after long absence.

  They thought ‘India was booming, with seductive options and possibilities’, but on closer view, they found that even though it had made fantastic  transformations in every field, its innate environment still needed to go much forward. The so-called economic revolution had effected no significant modification of the ancient Indian society.

  This is the gist of what Akash Kapur relates in this readable volume. Born to an Indian father and American mother, Kapur spent his ‘formative years and early adulthood in the US’. Consumed by a desire to understand the true India and witness its multitudinous faces, he settles down in Auroville, a small salubrious hamlet, near Pudducherry, with his American wife and two young sons.

He chose a spot not far from Chennai where he had been earlier, to be able to move around, make new friends and speak with villagers. And then he started noting the changes that had occurred while he was away. He found that India was definitely shedding the asceticism and austerity that had marked it for far too long, and becoming an acquisitive society.

  But despite the 1991 barrage of radical reforms, Kapur finds pervasive poverty side by side affluence, everywhere. To learn more about the paradox in the social milieu he travels to interior villages and digs into personal lives of some individuals. He meets his boyhood friend, R Sathyanarayanan, or Sathy, who lives in the village Molasur where he owns thousands of acres of land. Sathy’s wife Banushree Reddy, an MBA prefers city life, and stays in Bengaluru with their two children. Kapur learns that dalits are no longer a suppressed section of society.

  The author meets a young IT worker Hari, whose ‘gay’ life in the conservative Indian society flummoxes him. He then runs into a young IT-trained workaholic girl Selvi, who believes that ‘if you rest, you rust.’  Her parents are uneasy about her contacts with boys who might harm her. But she is confident of protecting herself--she will stay ‘faithful to her parents.’

  Kapur also met a highly educated divorcee, Veena, who had gone through an unhappy married life. She was co-habiting with a boyfriend, Arvind. In interaction with the author, she expressed her resolve to stay single, but he (the author) convinced her of the desirability of marrying Arvind whom she liked so much. He accepted his advice but after marriage she became a victim of cancer.    Luckily she was nursed back to health. Once she became a mother, she gave up her highly-paid job to lead a happy married life. 
After his kaleidoscopic experience around Chennai and later in Bangalore, Kapur shifted to Mumbai where he felt that development was being unkind to the city. He was dismayed by the sights of congested neighbourhoods and acute poverty all around in the metropolis.

  He also describes the woeful environment of the world famous Auroville where his own family suffered badly on account of callous dumping of waste in the neighbourhood. ‘India is burning, eroding, melting, drying, silting up and suffocating. Across the country, rivers, lakes and glaciers are disappearing, underground aquifers getting  depleted, air quality declining and beaches being swept away’, he moans.

  On the problem of garbage, Kapur says that a wholesale transformation is required. The way the government worked needs to be changed and education must instill a sense of civic consciousness in children. It was a wonder to him that ‘a population capable of maintaining ritualistic levels of hygiene at home’ dumps ‘its garbage on the streets without any compunction.’

  Finally, love of the country overwhelms him as he concludes: ‘I had returned from America full of enthusiasm. I celebrated what I saw as the rejuvenation of my home. Later, the enthusiasm started eroding; the rejuvenation appeared to be an illusion. My optimism turned to skepticism, occasionally bordering on despair’.  He acknowledged that he had perhaps rushed to judgment. India did not lend itself to easy judgments…modern India was changing…the nation was on a journey, going through the contradictions of a rapid, and inevitably messy, transformation. Who could say where the journey was headed!

( The book review was first published in the monthly magazine of political affairs the ' Lokayat' (April, 2013 issue) 

Save our girls from rapists !

By Vinod Varshney
Rape cases are mounting at an alarming rate. Everybody is rightly concerned about it. Since there is hardly any unanimity about the root causes of this distressing crime hence no consensus on solutions. When feminists protest carrying placards and scream ‘this is our body, we have full rights over it’, they just limit the notion about the magnificent womanhood to their body. This is a mistake: they see and want to be seen themselves only as a body--a sex object--not as someone with a personality, exclusive individuality, dignity, opinion and above all, intelligence. It is sad, even ironic that women activists themselves spread this totally wrong notion.

It is common knowledge that people with a criminal bent of mind, who think they can get anything done by use of force, and easily escape from the clutches of the law, are the ones who indulge in rapes. So, only all-out measures will end rapes. But will it? Odds are great indeed.

In some advanced countries rape is punishable by chemical castration, which is which is nothing but forced medication to control the excess formation of testosterone,the male sex hormone that increases the libido. But feminists in India are against the measure. Rape being a crime of pervert mind and excessive sexual desire, controlling it should start with the mindset. There is a well-known aphorism that sex does not exist between the legs, but in the mind. That means young minds should be helped to develop a balanced mind about sex. However, even a cultured mind can get corrupted by pornography and vulgar novels. These generate an irrepressible obsession about hidden female parts. But there is a strong lobby favouring them.

PIL demanding ban on viewing porn in India 

There is the instance of an advocate who filed a Public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court to ban internet pornography, especially child pornography. But lo, here appeared a spate of articles in the social media against the ban saying that porn is a good thing! A few said it helped sex education. Others thought it released pent up energy which in the case of those who masturbated was probably correct.

Over 20 crore porn videos or clippings are freely available in the net. Two alleged rapists of a 5-year-old child in Delhi admitted that they saw a porn clip before committing the crime.

Few parents are aware of the deleterious effects of porn on their wards. Even if they knew what could they do? The ubiquitous mobile has made it impossible to have any control on porn-viewing, because schoolchildren are routinely provided with mobile phones (or tablets) for the convenience of parents. They do not have time even to check how their children make use of the gadget.

One expected that at least women activists would support the demand for banning pornography, but no; many of them have campaigned against banning it because it curbs the freedom of expression enshrined in the constitution! They say porn is banned nowhere except in Saudi Arabia and China. Some European countries and Iceland have just started debating the pros and cons of banning it. It may be outrageous to make viewing porn a cognizable offence, but at least its availability, especially child porn, on the net should be banned.



 





Note: The article was first published in the monthly magazine 'Lokayat' (May, 2013 issue).

Ominous Footfalls of a Horrific Crime

By Vinod Varshney

Who can oppose the harshest of punishment for a rapist? But making an inhuman law and not having safeguards against its misuse defeat its purpose. The task to eliminate the root causes of crimes against women is as difficult as they are varied. So the lawmakers chose the easy path: to enact a stringent law, more so because it was perceived as vote catching too. All parties barring a few jumped at it. BJP leaders appeared more feminist than feminists themselves in their game of one-upmanship.

Many felt the law was enacted in a hurry, without requite, wider debate. Even when it was debated in the Lok Sabha general apathy was palpably visible in the skimpy attendance and indifferent participation. Many women for whose safety the law was enacted said it was lopsided and discriminatory.

A good law ought to ensure punishment of the guilty and make safeguards against harassment of the innocent. Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan showed the sense to say in parliament that the anti-rape Bill was anti-male and its provisions made men vulnerable to its misuse. Sumitra Mahajan of the BJP also cautioned against its widespread misuse. Sharad Yadav feared that the law could be misused if a love affair ended on the rocks. Women activist Madhu Kishwar pointed out that it was gruesome to make a law according to which having sex meant either marriage or jail for the next 10 to 20 years.

Even consensual sex has been vitiated by gender-bias. After indulging in consensual sex, if a girl changes her mind and does not want to marry, she can just walk away. But the boy, he can be booked as a rapist. If a married couple breaks up, the matter ends in divorce, rather than sending the husband to jail on rape charge; but this cannot be done if a breach occurs during the live-in relationship, or courting.

In short, the law as passed can only create an environment of hostility and suspicion between man and woman. It destroys the mutual attraction between the two sexes—the universal, beautiful gift of nature-- on which the succession of all species depends.

Alas! Many NGOs who not only seek funds from abroad, but also import damaging habit, behaviour and ideas give women only broken marriages, spinsterhood and everlasting bitterness. Today in France many men and women (their number is increasing) do not want to marry: they prefer unromantic live-in relationship to wedded bliss. Even if they marry, two out of three couples end up in divorce.

The situation in the US is worse. There the institution of marriage which normally signifies the union between man and woman has been reduced to a prosaic business contract. They make and break them any number of times. People await with interest the US apex court verdict --likely to come in June-- on same sex marriage. Nine out of 50 states in the US have already recognised same sex marriage. Surprisingly 58 percent of people support it. If we continue to ape the west, the same trend may come to India as well. But where will children come from?

The brutal rape case of December 16 last is indeed pregnant with surprises. One has already come from Mysore University: it has allowed reservation in admissions to rape-victims! Such mindless indulgence can pervert society and induce a woman to declare herself a victim of abuse for the sake of claiming a university seat!! What next is the question.....



Note: The article was first published in the April, 2013 issue
of 'Lokayat' magazine.

When the economist PM fails…

VINOD VARSHNEY

Indian PM Manmohan Singh

Among major economies of the world India has clocked the highest price rise in recent years. This has stark implications to various sections of our people. It means 221 million odd households had to shell out Rs 5.8 lakh crores more to meet their needs during the last 3 years. In effect this is a covert tax mainly on the poor and the middle class. 

The above figure has not been trotted out by communists to justify their relentless war on capitalism. It is the outcome of a research done by the global rating and consultancy firm Crisil, which works for national and global companies that  top the  profit makers’ list with turnover running into billions. They are touted as shining examples of successful capitalism, not socialism.

The price rise has been steady during the last three years and, though  it showed  some decline for a few months, there is no sign of a relief any time  soon. While raising the prices of petroleum products much was made out by the spin doctors of the government that it  spent more than 20 percent of  revenue income  from all sources on oil, food, fertiliser and interest subsidies. But Crisil’s research notes that total  Central  subsidy is less  than what people  spend extra due to price rise.

The revelation may embitter, even enrage, the common man. But will it prick the conscience of our economist prime minister who seems worried more about the growth index than the common man’s plight?  He does not care if the high growth curve has been achieved by punishing the common man.  

Every year during the preceding days of  national budget presentation  it is  common  for  white collar employees  in various offices  to speculate and pray  for  some relief in personal income tax. If the finance minister grants even a tiny relief, it makes   banner headlines in newspapers. Whereas the indirect taxation through price rise on common man during the last three years have turned out to be 35 percent, higher than any rich person including Mukesh Ambani has to pay on his income as income tax.

According to the research cited above, if prices increase by just three percent, say from five to eight, the outgo from the common man’s pocket in a year comes to Rs 1.6 lakh crores. This is a huge burden – in fact, invisible, indirect taxation. Common people feel the squeeze, the poorer they are, the more they are crushed. Sadly, they can do little about it except to think about a change in the system.

My dream is the prime minister ensures that prices never rise higher than 5 percent per annum.

(The article was published in the July, 2011 issue of Lokayat)

Next woman Prime Minister of India ?

By Vinod Varshney

The election results have finally put the stamp of reality of woman power in India. Mamata Banerjee and J. Jayalalithaa have just joined the elite ranks of chief ministers, demonstrating the might of women in our politics. Mayawati already rules U.P. unchallenged for the fourth term and Sheila Dixit in Delhi. These four deviyan are not the only paradigms of female power in Indian politics: Sushma Swaraj is a woman of rare political calibre, probably the best female candidate for the PM’s post. Sonia Gandhi is another powerful woman who, as Chairperson of the UPA wields more power than the PM in the current dispensation.

Sucheta Kriplani and Nandini Satpathy were Chief Ministers decades ago; more recently   Vasundhara Raje, Mehbooba Mufti and Uma Bharti occupied the top elected post in their respective states. Indisputably they became chief ministers on their own steam, though like Indira Gandhi who had the Nehruvian legacy to push her initially, Jayalalithaa and Mehbooba Mufti too had inherited some political seed capital to start with. 

Others earned it through sheer hard work among the people.  Mayawati’s ascent to power is singularly anecdotal: she had to transcend the traditional biases of the caste  Hindus  towards her. Even today many of her achievements are ignored by the media and conservative politicians.

One notable aspect is that most of these women leaders made it to the top without any reservation props indicating that Indian voters had no gender bias as in many Western countries.  Women here can rise in politics to any heights if they try real hard.

With the woman power on the ascendant, one is tempted to ask if any woman stands the chance of becoming the Prime Minister of India when the next opportunity comes around in 2014. My dream is that it is about to happen.  I can still feel the reverberations during the last LS elections when the media speculated that Maya-Mamata-Jayalalithaa trio would decide who would  be the next PM. But the Indian voter turned as unpredictable as the south-west monsoon. So the woman who got the king-making opportunity once again was Sonia Gandhi.

Mayawati effervesced in 2009 at the discomfiture of Manmohan Singh, who somehow saved his government amidst fierce opposition from all quarters on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal and declared that only she would be the candidate for the PM in case the proposed opposition alliance wins. Voters, however, decided that it was too early for her to be India’s PM.

             
But 2014 is not too far off. If she repeats her electoral feat in UP in 2012 and wins the CM’s mantle for the fifth time, surely she would be a potential candidate for PM, not to be out-shadowed by Sushma Swaraj. Unluckily, Sonia is ruled out as PM and there is no other woman of similar stature in the Congress who could claim this top political office.  Mamata and Jayalalithaa might also entertain prime ministerial ambitions, but they may not be ready yet in 2014.   
(The article was published in the June, 2011 issue of 'Lokayat') 

                       

Who after Manmohan Singh ?

Vinod Varshney

Election is the reigning flavour of the month. Some may disagree and say—no, the malodour from the numerous fresh skeletons that tumble out of the government’s cupboard one after another is the stifling ‘flavour’ of the season. Yet others who may constitute the largest segment may claim that the true flavour of today is cricket mania. Actually the three flavours represent the three facets of India.

Why should elections in just four States and one Union Territory be such a pervasive affair? The ouster of despots and usurpers in north Africa and gulf countries by agitating crowds makes us see the true worth of free and fair elections. Our people seek to dethrone unwanted elements who occupy the seat of power simply by the exercise of popular will--zealous participation in elections-- as happens now in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Assam and Puducherry. There are enough indications that history will be created in West Bengal if Mamta is able to trounce the CPI(M) at the hustings, after 34 years. People will also wait with bated breath for the poll outcome in other States, especially Tamilnadu, to see whether they can dump some of the worst scam-tainted politicians and their henchmen.

Democracy’s many over-riding merits over authoritarian, feudalistic and theocratic systems notwithstanding, we cannot be oblivious of the fact that in India it is being misused and subverted by vested interests and power-brokers with impunity while the common man looks helpless in stopping them. Peaceful and fair elections conducted at regular intervals are, of course, the powerful instrument at the disposal of the people to rein in such public enemies, but they alone cannot provide good democratic governance for the welfare of the people. To ensure that a lot need to be done by people themselves.

And this is my dreamy assumption that people of India will realize their solemn duty to the country and do their utmost to cleanse the system, not just once but incessantly year after year. The opportunity comes their way almost every year by way of elections. For instance, after the current poll, in 2012 we will have elections in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat among others. The following year 9 states will go to the poll. Then it will be turn of Lok Sabha elections which will definitely throw up the question—who after Manmohan Singh.

In fact this grave matter is already the most active subject of whisper in the corridors of power. But my dreamy desire is that people ask ‘what’ after Manmohan Singh, rather than ‘who’ after him, because nobody likes the same canker of corruption continuously carving at the vitals of the nation. Fictitious surveys are being touted as genuine to ‘establish’ the supremacy of one leader and his coterie over others. But people must understand the ramifications of this insidious campaign -- do not be carried away by the pejorative probing..

‘What’ has bigger implications. It implies urgent need for systemic improvements, as for instance, in preventing generation of black money, main cause of the ubiquitous corruption. Total transparency in decision making through better application of technology seems to offer some hope. But my hunch is that without better social and political culture based on strong ethics, any technology would work only as servant of the corrupt.

So far as the question ‘who after ………’ is concerned, there cannot be any ambiguity. People of this great country definitely want a leader who has proper control over the governing apparatus and who has the cerebral ability to know if and where the machine is spluttering and fix it immediately. And they want a ‘leader’, not just a bureaucrat, who can ‘lead’ not just in politics but in all matters-- economic, social and cultural.

The difficulty is we have to choose from the available lot only. That is to say, our choice will have to be confined to Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram (if the Congress is voted back to power at head of an alliance) or Lal Krishna Advani and Sushma Swaraj ( if the lot falls to the BJP). Alas, only these! Or would there be a dark horse to lead? This dark horse can be only from among the second rung leaders like Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Digvijaya Singh, and so on. Some of these gentlemen are best kept out of any democratic government.

The problem is we cannot design and create a leader of our choice either digitally or genetically. If it were feasible, the people of India would have created one by mixing the attributes of Jyoti Basu, Sushma Swaraj and Anna Hazare. May the hopeful inculcate the political acumen of Basu, grace and audacity of Ms Swaraj and honesty of Anna Hazare to provide a leader the great India deserves.

(The article was first published in the April, 2011 issue of Lokayat)

Cyber Threat To India

Gear up to fight cyber war

ASHOK B SHARMA

India is gearing up to face cyber threats to its national security. The Indian Defence Minister AK Antony has called upon the Armed Forces to be vigilant against emerging cyber threats.  Addressing the centenary celebrations of the Corps of Signals here on Thursday he called upon the Armed Forces to keep abreast of latest technologies.  Terming the Corps of Signals as the “21^st Century Arm of Our Forces”, Antony said it has a major role in promoting inter-service synergy and joint operations.

“The Corps is at the forefront of transforming the Indian Army to a network-centric force.  It must continuously enhance its ability to absorb latest technologies in collaboration with the Industry and R&D establishment. The Corps has done commendable work, be it in fielding futuristic strategic defence communication networks, or development of state-of-the-art tactical communication systems.” 

Speaking on the occasion the Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju said that besides being vital to the Armed Forces, telecommunication and cyber infrastructure is a national and strategic asset as various other key sectors such as the Railways, Airlines, Banks and Industry depend on it. He said that ICT will be a key factor in reshaping the methodology of war fighting in the future.  

“Any serious disruption can jeopardize our functioning including our responses to the war being raised by our adversaries. The ramification of cyber attacks launched by an unknown adversary or individual has necessitated a relook at the planning and security of Command and Control infrastructure at the highest levels of national governance,” Raju said.

 Underlining that the modern warfare has undergone a paradigm shift, the Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh said that the Corps of Signals has emerged as the proverbial “nervous system” of the Armed Forces in contemporary times.  

“In all future wars, information superiority will be one of the key battle winning factors and future battlefield milieu would require communication system that are secure, responsive and reliable,”  said General Singh. 

American Library Launches Hindi Books Initiative

Shashi Shekhar viewing Hindi Books

American Library To Wait
for Hindi e-Books 

 Vinod Varshney

In English-crazy India American Library has started Hindi Books’ initiative. Though the initiative is a micro drop in the ocean of English books as the first tranche is just fifty books, but as the collection would increase, this year itself it is expected to go up to one thousand, it would definitely have an impact on better understanding of American life, politics and economy by Indians.

Kala Anjan Datta has big plans

Currently Hindi books will not be available as e-books which is going to be a new trend as they have not been made available in digital form by the publishers. Whenever this happens, US library would also be able to extend e-books facility for Hindi also, tells Kala Anjan Datta, the Director of the Library. Currently some fifty thousand English titles are available as e-books in the American Library.

Datta also tells that Hindi is the first of the Indian languages initiative; the American Library would also start Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati initiatives in respective zones. There are four branches of the library at four places Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Lydia learns Hindi on a daily basis

The initiative was inaugurated Friday by Shashi Shekhar, the Chief Editor of Hindustan. Excerpts of two books were read out by two Americans who had learnt Hindi only recently. I had an opportunity to have heard Hindi spoken by Japanese, Russian, Italians and Spaniards in the past and I found pronunciation of these two jolly Americans much better, but not sure if they had rehearsed the text several times.

Lydia Berassa of Texas read out portions of President Barrack Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope”. Hearing the audition for some ten minutes I could feel that perhaps Obama has been able to pour his heart and soul in his book. His prose is poetic and now I plan to read the book before Obama comes to India in November this year.

Lydia looked immensely cheerful having learnt Hindi. She is still practicing and learning on a daily basis and may be after two three years her accent would be as natural as of any Indian from Lucknow or Bhopal.
John Fer read out a portion of Hillary Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village”. Hillary’s prose is not that poetic but it is revealing of real America, a country of biggest GDP in the world currently living with some 9 percent plus rate of unemployment.

John learnt Hindi in 6 months

General perception of America in India is shaped by its awesome GDP and very high per capita income. But many Indians do not know that America also has its own share of poor people, which Hillary has candidly discussed in her book. This gives a picture of how programmes evolve and become a national policy in the US.

John Fer as cheerful as Lydia told me about how he learned Hindi within six months. He had already learned Nepali before this for eight months. For quick learning of Hindi he gave credit to his teacher C.K. Arora, a Voice of America journalist.

John finds TV of great help in learning Hindi. He views BBC Hindi and NDTV for getting to know Hindi’s natural flavour.