Vijaita Singh, a journalist with The Hindu, tried to mock OpIndia today by saying that one can’t really expect OpIndia to read and analyse documents. Saying that the portal is a hit job factory, she accused that OpIndia can’t read. But the allegations made by her are completely wrong, and The Hindu itself had committed that same ‘crime’ she was accusing OpIndia of committing. She was responding to former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who had accused that news agency IANS published a report on him without seeking his response.
You really expect Opindia types to read and analyse documents. Remember ‘reading’ and Opindia are antithesis. It’s a hit job factory. https://t.co/P9VlYIOza0
Kannan Gopinathan had recently resigned from his job protesting against the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, and recently it was revealed that he was facing disciplinary action for misconduct. He was issued a show-cause notice by the government, which was reported by OpIndia on September 1, and IANS had reported the same on 12th September.
Replying to a tweet by IANS on the issue, Kannan had said that IANS didn’t seek his response like OpIndia, and therefore he was replying what he had replied to OpIndia earlier. In this particular tweet, the former IAS officer was primarily criticising IANS for publishing a story on him without talking to him, and mentioned OpIndia that also did the same earlier.
Hi.. since @ians_india has decided to do an OpIndia by not seeking my response on an article on my resignation, I have no other option than to reply here with what I replied to OpIndia I guess. But one would have expected better from a news service. Sorry! https://t.co/vBayOwiuQB
But the Hindu journalist chose to pick only mention of OpIndia in his tweet, and totally failed to mention IANS, which was the primary target of Kannan. But the interesting fact is that, The Hindu, where Vijaita Singh is a journalist, itself had carried the story quoting news agencies, and without getting any response from Kannan Gopinathan. But later they updated the report with responses from him.
In fact the original headline of the Hindu article was “IAS officer Kannan was issued showcause for ‘misconduct’ before he quit, but after adding his responses, the headline was changed.
Although OpIndia didn’t talk to Kannan before publishing the report on him, the report did mention his responses to the show cause notice issued by the government. Apart from a summary of his replies, the entire PDF document of his response was embedded in the report. He is using the screenshots of the same document as his response to the report on Twitter. Therefore, even if OpIndia didn’t talk to him, all his responses were already included in the report. The 11-page response submitted by him contains detailed replies to each of the charges made against him.
While Vijaita Singh accuses OpIndia of being unable to read documents, the fact is that the OpIndia report on Kannan was based on two documents, the show cause notice issued to him, and his reply to the notice. Both the documents were included in the report, and the content of the documents were briefly explained in the report. The allegations made against him were listed, and his replies were also mentioned, it was not a one-sided report as alleged.
The authenticity of none of the documents used in the report has been questioned by Kannan Gopinathan or anyone else, in fact he is posting pages from his reply on Twitter, thus confirming that the documents are authentic.
Therefore, the claim that OpIndia report didn’t contain Gopinathan’s response is not correct. Although the responses were not directly obtained from him, it was obtained from his official reply to the show cause notice issued to him.
It’s established and might I add a successful formula which the ‘woke-folk’ apply every time they are caught opining something they have absolutely no clue about, they throw accusations at you. The theatrics start almost as soon as you make an attempt to reason with them.
Since last month the usual suspects have been busy feeding social and international media with their customary rants about how the valley has been turned into a hellhole by the ‘Fascist’ Indian Government. The stories range from a brutal attack by the Indian Army, purposeful stalling of medical assistance for the sick, shutting down telephone line means a war on Kashmiris, to the sensational expose’ by that ultimate JNU student about Indian Army deploying a mic while torturing Kashmiris to perpetuate fear among the locals.
Abrogation of Article 370 has unleashed the bleeding hearts both on social media and TV channels. From self-styled Feminists to Lawyers to Students to closeted Congress/Communist party supporters have been screaming blue murder for the Indian Government finally equalizing the rights of the people of the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of the country.
Since the ‘clampdown’ of the valley is a juicier topic the bleeding hearts have given lynching stories a break for the time being however there is a twist this time around. Guess who is the villain now?
As ridiculous as it sounds, the Kashmiri Pandits who were brutally driven out of their homeland 30 years ago are being termed vicious & vindictive while the hunter is now the hunted.
One needs to read Rahul Pandita’s “Our Moon Has Blood Clots” a personal and a touching tale of the abyss his family [and community] lived through and whose wounds are still raw to realize how shameful we as a nation need to be for betraying our own. But nay, it is the Pandit community who betrayed the mythical Kashmiriat. Why? Because they dared to support the abrogation.
Author and Journalist Rahul Pandita has been continuously lynched on twitter by these ‘enlightened’ souls who nonchalantly labelled him ‘Closeted Sanghi’ only for sharing reportage which did not match their favourite line- ‘Indian Government/Army Atrocities in the Kashmir Valley’.
A Kashmiri Congress party leader termed Rahul’s tweet as ‘disingenuous, condescending and disgusting’!
That’s not all, the bearded prince charming from the self-proclaimed ‘unbiased’ channel (currently trying to salvage their reputation amidst investigation for serious economic crimes) went on to accuse Rahul of a shilling (playing stooge) for the government. Why? Because Rahul tweeted a factual statement on Yasin Malliks’ cardiologist. The bleeding-heart prince charming was quick to term it ‘dangerous slander of medical ethics’
As soon as you call them apologists [for Yasin Mallik and other separatists] you are labelled Sanghi, Stooge, Vicious. Yeah! who cares any longer?
The Kashmiri Pandit community quietly rebuilt their lives and perhaps the only way they protested is by writing and sharing their stories to those who were interested. Yet the separatists have an army of supporters both on social and mainstream media maybe that’s why one can count the number of stories reported on the suffering of KPs on one’s fingers. No one cared for them, least of all our holier than thou MSM, lets not even talk about the previous dispensation. But hey you are the Sanghis!
My prediction is the ‘woke-folk’ will continue to accuse KPs of the next 30 days or so or till there is another biggish incident which involves a different set of Hindus.
As per reports, Khan and some of his associates were booked by Rampur Police.
Day after day the Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is bringing in more and more embarrassment for his party. It was first land-grabbing, then lion statues, followed by books and valuable manuscripts, then buffaloes and electricity and now he has been booked for ‘stealing goats’.
Almost a week back the Rampur MP had been booked for electricity theft. The power supply to Azam Khan’s resort ‘Humsafar’ in Uttar Pradesh was cut after raids were conducted in the resort by the Uttar Pradesh electricity department.
The SP leader, who is already in neck-deep trouble as almost 80 cases are pending in his name is now facing fresh predicaments as Rampur police books him for ‘stealing goats’.
Interestingly, the Uttar Pradesh Police has also registered an FIR against the wife of senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan, Tajeen Fatima. Azam Khan’s wife has been accused of electricity theft.
Earlier, Khan’s Mohammad Ali Jauhar University was raided by Rampur police following a complaint by the principal of Madrasa Aliya, wherein he stated that 9000 books and rare manuscripts from the Madrasa have been stolen.
Azam Khan was then booked for the alleged theft of these books and valuable manuscripts. Khan had applied for anticipatory bail before the court in the case related to the theft of books and ancient Islamic manuscripts from the Aaliya Madarsa, which was rejected.
Azam Khan’s bail application in as many as 34 cases has already been rejected which mostly includes land grabbing cases and also the case registered against him for his sexist jibe against BJP leader Jaya Prada.
Recently, Samajwadi Party leader and ‘land mafia’ Azam Khan was booked for ‘dacoity’ and stealing buffalo. Two people have filed an FIR against him in Rampur for allegedly stealing buffalo for which his anticipatory bail plea was also rejected.
A day before, the Samajwadi Party MP’ name had appeared in the FIR for a dacoity case. In this fresh case, it was alleged that he and his allies forcefully acquired land from a farmer for a school he had built.
Samajwadi Party senior leader Azam Khan is embroiled in over 80 criminal cases slapped on him under various offences.
Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry’s spokesperson, Mohammad Faisal, said in a statement Thursday that Pakistan will not allow India second consular access to the former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court.
Dr Mohammad Faisal, Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan: There would be no second consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/zthz4Zewfh
Pakistan had on September 2 granted the first consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav in line with the “Vienna Convention and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict” first time ever since his arrest in 2016. An Indian diplomat, Gaurav Ahluwalia had met Kulbhushan Jadhav at a sub-jail for an hour.
Hours after the first consular access, the Indian government has said that Kulbhushan Jadhav appears to be “under extreme pressure” to parrot a false narrative and had furthered that only after receiving a detailed report will India decide on the future course of action.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands had directed Pakistan to stay Jadhav’s execution and allow him consular access. Based on ICJ’s verdict in a 15-1 decision on July 17, Pakistan had on July 30 sent its first proposal to India but with 2 riders attached. One that Pakistani security personnel will be present during the meeting and second there will be CCTV cameras present in the room.
India had rejected Pakistan’s first offer with riders and had demanded unimpeded access. According to article 36 of the Vienna Convention, “Consular officer shall be free to communicate with nationals of the sending State and to have access to them.” The first rider by Pakistan was in clear violation of the Vienna Convention.
Jadhav is an Indian national and a retired navy officer, who was arbitrarily arrested by Pakistan in 2016 for being an ‘Indian spy’. The Indian government had approached the ICJ over the arbitrary death sentence handed down to Jadhav after an ad hoc hearing in Pakistan.
A Pakistani military court had sentenced him to death in April 2017 on charges of espionage and terrorism. However, the ICJ in The Hague had asked Pakistan to hold off the execution till it reached the final verdict in the case.
The ICJ had conducted a public hearing of the case in February this year. India has sought annulment of Jadhav’s death sentence and his immediate release stating that Pakistani army court verdict had failed to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process. Senior advocate Harish Salve had presented India’s case at the ICJ.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is currently in Tihar jail in connection with INX Media case, will be served the same food as everyone.
Reportedly, the Delhi High Court which was hearing a regular bail petition filed by the former Finance Minister Chidambaram said that the accused will be getting the same treatment as any other jail inmates.
“Same food is available for everyone,” said Justice Suresh Kumar Kait after Chidambaram’s counsel Kapil Sibal requested the court that home-cooked food be allowed to his client in jail.
Responding to the court’s remark, senior Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Sibal said, “My Lords, he is 74 years old.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta then responded to Sibal statements, “Even Chautala(INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala) is old and is a political prisoner. As a state, we cannot distinguish anyone.”
During the course of hearing, P Chidambaram’s counsel Kapil Sibal argued that the offences against his client have only seven years of imprisonment. He further argued that the charges of section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) cannot even be made out as he has no role.
Refuting Sibal’s claims, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “We are at the pre-chargesheet stage. Petitioner was arrested on August 21, the offences were committed in 2007. Chidambaram was involved in corrupt practices.”
Enquiring about the delay, the court asked Sibal why did he not approach the court when Chidambaram was sent to judicial custody on September 5. However, Sibal stated that there were holidays in between.
“When you can approach the Supreme Court, the same day, then why are you coming so late?” the judge added.
After the arguments, the court reportedly issued a notice to the CBI seeking its response to the plea and scheduled the next hearing on September 23.
In the bail plea, apart from his age, Chidambaram’s counsel had also mentioned 9 different physical ailments he is reportedly suffering from. The ailments include Dyslipidemia, Coronary ArteryDiseasee, Hypertension, Glycemia, Prostatomegaly, and Crohn’s disease.
Apart from mentioning his old age of 74, #PChidambaram, in his bail plea before the #Delhi High Court, has cited 9 diseases he suffers from.
His two petitions, one on bail and another to quash the judicial remand proceedings, will be heard by Justice Suresh Kait tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/GFdeBm0wVw
The Congress-era Finance Minister P Chidambaram is currently lodged in Tihar jail after the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody in the INX Media case. As soon as he was locked up in the jail, his lawyers had filed an application in the Delhi court in which they had demanded certain facilities for Chidambaram. The long list of ‘VVIP’ demands had included a western toilet as Chidambaram cannot sit on the ground, according to his lawyers.
In a desperate bid to save P Chidambaram from going to Tihar jail, his counsel had moved an application in Court stating that P Chidambaram wants to surrender in Enforcement Directorate case. However, former Union Minister P Chidambaram was sent to judicial custody at Tihar Jail till September 19, 2019.
Chidambaram was arrested on August 21 by the CBI after a prolonged drama where he had gone into hiding for over 24 hours after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court.
Speaking on the National Register of Citizens(NRC) of India conducted in Assam to determine the number of foreigners staying in the north-eastern state, the general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Mahmood Madani went ahead and proclaimed that the NRC should be implemented across India to know how many intruders and foreigners are staying in the country.
M Madani on’what if govt decides to implement NRC in entire country?’:Mera jee ye chahta hai ki main demand karoon ki saare mulk mein karlo, pata chal jayega ki ghuspetiye kitne hain. Jo asli hain unke upar bhi daag lagaya jata hai toh pata chal jaega, mujhe koi dikkat nahi hai https://t.co/YQ8BYcgkGYpic.twitter.com/gPLyrQs29p
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind also passed a resolution declaring Kashmir as an integral part of India and slamming Pakistan as an “enemy country” trying to spread a fake narrative of Muslims being unhappy in India. The resolution that was adopted in the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s general council meeting in Delhi reiterated that Kashmir is an integral part of the country and all Kashmiris are our compatriots. It also said that any separatist movement is harmful, not just for the country but for the Kashmiris as well.
Mahmood Madani, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind: Pakistan is trying to project on the international forum that India muslims are against India, we condemn this act of Pakistan. https://t.co/YQ8BYcgkGY
“Our enemy(Pakistan) is trying to send a wrong message that Muslims in India are unhappy. This is not true. We are citizens of this country and we are very happy here. We resolutely stand behind the government on Kashmir issue,” Madani said.
Madani added, “Kashmir was, is and will be ours and ours alone. We are always with India”. It is notable here that Madani had met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat last week in the Sangh’s office at Delhi’s Keshav Ganj. The meeting was organised by former BJP general secretary and senior RSS leader Ram Lal. RSS had said that the meeting was held between two of the largest non-political social organisations and its aim was to discuss harmony between the two communities.
Ever since Article 370 has been abrogated from Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan seems to have been on a ranting overdrive. It has been trying to stoke public outrage against the Indian government by citing imaginary atrocities meted out to Kashmiris and Muslims in particular, in order to pressurise the Indian government to roll back the abrogation of Article 370. However, there have not been many takers for Pakistan’s propaganda as a large number of countries including the middle-eastern nations have refused to acknowledge Pakistan’s rants against India.
A 600-year-old Nataraja idol worth Rs 30 crore which was stolen 37 years ago from a temple at Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli district, Chennai, Tamil Nadu is being brought back to India. The two and a half feet 16th-century idol which was kept in the gallery in Adelaide, Australia for 17 years was traced a year ago.
As a result of the Idol Wing special officer and retired Inspector-General of Police A.G. Ponn Manickavel’s persistent effort to bring the Indian heritage back to the country, the Australian authorities formally handed over the idol to officers of the wing in New Delhi on September 11 (Wednesday). The idol is being brought by Manickavel and his team from New Delhi by train and will reach Chennai on Friday morning.
Manickavel revealed that after locating and convincing the Australian authorities and Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) by producing the records substantiating that the temple is the original owner of the idol with photographs taken before the theft of the idol, that the idol belonged to India, they agreed to return the idol. However, the Tamil Nadu State government refused funds to bring back the idol for the last 330 days.
600-year-old Nataraja Idol stolen 37 years ago from a temple at Kallidaikurichi, Tamil Nadu. Courtesy: The Hindu
“The Tamil Nadu government had been dodging for 330 days to bear the cost of bringing back the idol to the State by air. The registrar of Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Jane Robinson, at the request of the special investigation team, spent their own money to bring back the idol and handed it over to us,” he added.
Meanwhile, the idol will be handed to the temple authorities after the necessary formalities are done and orders are obtained from the special court for idol wing cases at Kumbakonam.
According to sources, the 600-year-old idol, weighing around 100 kg, was stolen after the doors of the sanctum sanctorum were broken open on July 5, 1982. Along with it, a 2.5-foot tall panchaloka idol of Sivakami, 1.5-foot tall Manickavasagar idol and 1-foot tall Sribali idol were also stolen.
A complaint was filed by the then trustee of the temple, following which the Kallidaikurichi police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) on July 6, 1982. However, two years later the Kallidaikurichi police closed the case concluding that the idol was untraceable.
However, a few years ago, the case was handed over to the court-appointed Idol Wing special team, led by Manickavel. After investigation, the case was reopened and taken up for investigation by the wing’s Additional SP Rajaram.
Recently, Tamil Nadu police’s Idol Wing led by A.G. Ponn Manickavel busted a gang that had been illegally exporting stolen antiques, idols and artefacts worth crores for several years from Puducherry to France through the Colombo port and recovered the artefacts.
Last year, Tamil Nadi government were in talks with the National Gallery of Australia to get back 7 stolen ancient idols. The state government has claimed a 1,300-year-old standing Sambandar bronze idol, another rare bronze, a 1000-year-old dancing Sambandar, stolen from the Naganathaswamy temple at Manambadi village in the Tiruvidaimaruthur taluk of Nagapattinam district which was sold for Rs 4.59 crores.
The state has claimed many idols, a 1000-year-old of Arumugan from Manambadi, an 1100-year-old Nandi idol, Bhadrakali idol of the Kailasanathar temple at Kollumangudi, in Mayiladudurai taluk, and two stone Dwarapalakar idols from Udayar Sivan temple in Atthanallur, Tirunelveli. These idols were smuggled out of the country by various antique dealers at various points in time.
Ponn Manickavel, after taking charge, reopened investigations and booked fresh cases.
Recently, two 1000-year-old bronze idols of Rajaraja Chola and his wife, Lokamadevi, were returned to Tamil Nadu after they were stolen from Brihadeeshwarar temple at Thanjavur over 50 years ago.
Three years ago, Australia had returned three artefacts, including an idol of goddess Pratyangira, stolen from a Shiva temple in Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. In 2014, then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had returned two statues of Nataraja and Ardhanariswarar stolen from temples in the state.
About 1200 ancient idols are believed to have been stolen from Tamil Nadu between 1992 and 2017 out of which 350 have been declared untraceable and only 18 had been retrieved until last year. Owing to the lax behaviour of the authorities the Tamil Nadu government had last year at the beginning of August informed the Madras High Court that it had decided to transfer all the idol theft cases to the CBI.
The recent release of quarterly data on GDP growth rate has created panic among citizens of India and that too for the right reasons. The GDP growth rate plumed to 5% for Q2-2019, which is lowest since 2013-14, an era infamous for policy paralysis and corrupt practices of UPA II government led by former Prime Minister (PM) Dr Manmohan Singh. The news of 5% GDP growth rate initiated the debate on likely reasons and that debate has refused to die down. Among all the chaos, opposition comprising Congress, Left, Liberals, and Pseudo Intellectuals were seen rejoicing over this tragic economic news which clearly indicates the Vulture nature of these groups who are eagerly waiting for the blood of PM even at the cost of dying Indian Economy. The observed decrease in GDP is termed as Recession in Indian Economy without any conclusive evidence, whereas the data suggest a mere slow down in the growth rate.
The slowing down of economy is not being contested as it is conclusive from the data released. The growth rate has declined from a peak of 8.2% in 2015 to 5% in the latest quarter of 2019. However, this decline is the start of a recessionary period, is not conclusive by the trend observed in the various parameters of the economy. For example, the consumption of petroleum products, an input to the majority of economic activities, is marginally higher in Q2-19 (54,940 TMT) when compared to Q2-18 (54,366 TMT). Similarly, cement production has increased by more than 10% in Q2-19 when compared to Q2-18. These are just a few examples, but important ones as it tracks economic activities in the core sector. Therefore, the current decline may be mere cyclical in nature, where the economy has slowed down due to various reasons.
India GDP growth (annual) (source)Comparative quarterly growth and forecast
Lack of Demand vs. Shift in Demand
Now, let us analyze the trending reasons propagated by vulture group talked about earlier in this article. For them, it is the slow-down in Auto Sector which is the most important indicator of the start of economic recession. Let me ask them how auto sector demand represents the demand function of millions of Indian who are barely making their daily end meets. Car owning population is not more than 15% of India’s population (it was 5% as 2011 Census data) and therefore, the decline in a number of vehicles sold domestically is not an indication of the start of the recession. In fact, the highest-selling model in India are not low price cars, but hatchbacks and sedan models which costs a minimum of 6 lakh rupees on-road price. On top of that, the roads in urban space are already over-crowded and vehicle pollution is at a historic peak. In this case, the weakening of demand in auto sectors is a welcome change and government priority should have been in rapidly expanding public transport rather than providing stimulus to the auto sector. Auto sector economic loss could be compensated by overall social profit observed due to three factors i.e. reduction in loss of working hours due to traffic jams; reduction in vehicle pollution level; and net trade balance gain due to a reduction in oil demand.
Second most important argument quoted by these vulture groups is a reduction in Parley G Biscuit demand. This is complete nonsense to quote half baked data in order to suit the political propaganda of economic recession. As per the Nielson report, bigger packet biscuit and premium cookies sale has been growing in Q2-19. This probably indicates a shift in demand due to improved purchasing power and changing food preference with the rise in income. The theory of lack of demand is again busted with highest ever growth recorded in sales of smartphones in Q2-19. Smartphones are penetrating rural areas and costs between Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 15,000 for most selling models in India. This growth story itself conclusive evidence of demand being intact and therefore, the recent decline is most likely a slow-down rather than start of the recessionary period.
Potential Reasons for Slow-Down
Since there is a slow-down, there must be a reason for that. Economic slow-down is not resultant of any single factor, but the accumulation of multiple factors such as policy decisions, external factors, economic sentiments, political and economic stability. Again, the vulture group attributes this slow-down to barely twin policy decision of Demonetization and GST Implementation. Demonetization impact on the formal economy was minimal as the liquidity was always available in the form of non-cash methods. It impacted the informal economy surviving out of cash transactions. However, the impact got minimized in a quarter when the economy was re-monetized with new notes of Rs. 2000 and 500. Digital payment network expansion also helped in minimizing this impact. GST implementation had also been streamlined and especially for small traders. The informal economy is still outside the purview of GST implementation and therefore, it has not impacted the informal economy significantly.
However, a parallel economy running out of black money earned through corrupt means had a severe impact and has not been able to revive its fortune. This led to a reduction in demand from these population strata which were thriving on this parallel economy. For example, the real estate sector was infamous for investment and generation of black money through corrupt practices. This resulted in skyrocketing of prices, even though the demand by the genuine buyer was hardly increasing. Surplus black money parked into housing units resulted in an oversupply of housing units and that is clearly evident from the current prices which have not declined significantly despite oversupply maintained for almost last five years. Therefore, the slump in real estate sector is mainly due to choking of black economy which resulted in reduced construction activities and therefore, cascaded the slump to other major ancillary sectors such as iron and steel, cement, sand, brick and kiln, home furnishing, paint, and other associated industries.
If the reduction in parallel and black economy is the real reason for the slow-down of the Indian economy, it is completely justified. Rooting out the black economy is beneficial in the long run and this is a major step towards achieving a sustained growth rate for converting Indian developing economy into a developed one. No developed economy runs a parallel black economy as large as India and that is why this surgery on the black economy was long needed. The current slow-down of the Indian economy is similar to weakness observed in a cancer patient while going through the treatment. However, the treatment is necessary to prevent death and once completed, the health improves to its best. If the treatment is necessary, is it sufficient? The answer is no and therefore, additional steps should be taken to improve the health of the economy post-black money cancer treatment.
Potential Solutions
Since there is slow-down, there must be an attempt to rescue the economy from this situation. The most important step in this direction would be to increase the saving and investment rate in the Indian economy. Domestic private saving is the key to achieve this goal. The government should incentivize increasing the saving rate and investing that saving into capital formation. Expenditure into capital formation would create long term employment, enhance the competitiveness of Indian industries, increase the output and employment, and reduce the prices. Increased employment and reduced prices will result in an increase in purchasing power of individuals and therefore, boost the demand. On the external side, increased competitiveness of Indian industries will result in increased exports and thus, will reduce the current account deficit. Reduced current account deficit will help the government to continue to spend on essential infrastructures such as transportation, health, and education.
On the monetary side of the government policy, merger of banks will help in reducing the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) through better management, capital infusion, and improved recoveries. Government has to remove the fear of prosecution from minds of honest bank officials as well as honest businessmen. There is always a genuine risk with business opportunities taken and therefore, a failure in business of banking by honest individuals should be separated from wilful defaulters and corrupt practices and should be saved from harassment by prosecuting agencies such as ED, CBI, Vigilance, etc.
Conclusion
Overall, it is clear that the economy has slowed down and is not at its full potential growth path. However, it is wrong to conclude that it is the start of a recession which will take a long time to recede. On the contrary, the situation is conducive to start a new phase of growth in the Indian economy which is more formalized and more digital. The most important task for the government is to increase the saving and investment rate in the Indian economy and improve the business sentiment by removing the fear of prosecution from honest bankers and businessmen. These two steps itself will lead to achieving higher and sustained growth rate in the medium and long term.
After demonising RSS for almost 70 years for offering an alternative brand of politics to the country, the Congress party seems inclined to take a leaf out of RSS’ book in enacting structural reforms. Drawing inspiration from the RSS, Sonia Gandhi-led Congress is mulling over adopting RSS-like “Preraks” for turning around the fortunes of the party.
According to reports, Congress is set to appoint ‘Preraks’ or ‘messengers’ at the district level across the country to give a fillip to its mass contact programme. The state units of Congress have been instructed to identify local leaders from the party who will be imparted training for several days. The report said that these selected Preraks will be assigned to work on the party agenda and look after party work similarly like Pracharaks in the RSS.
Sonia Gandhi also added that it was not enough to be aggressive only on social media as democracy is in peril and mandate was misused by the incumbent government. “Democracy is in peril and the government is misusing the mandate provided to it. Freedom fighters and leaders like Gandhi, Patel, Ambedkar are being appropriated by the BJP with the singular purpose of misinterpreting their true messages to further their evil agenda. Merely being active on social media is not enough, the party should have agitational agenda to counter the government,” Sonia Gandhi said.
It is noteworthy to mention that Sonia Gandhi’s comments come a day after the Congress Twitter account drew flak for its juvenile social media campaign against the Finance Minister N Sitharaman’s statement regarding the slowdown in the auto sector.
This is for the first time that Congress party is identifying local leaders and entrusting them with such responsibilities. The party has placed stress on the training program of the party cadre to challenge government agenda and also bring about a policy change of party to invest greater power in grass-root level leaders after it fared disastrously in a string of elections.
With the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi just days away, the Congress is preparing to organise a nationwide padyatras across the country, wearing Gandhi topis and holding seminars. Chairing a meeting with senior Congress members such as Dr Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the interim president of the party-Sonia Gandhi possibly discussed about Gandhi Jayanti preparations, membership drive and party worker training.
Sukhdeep Kaur, a journalist with Hindustan Times, has claimed that she was transferred to Delhi by the media outlet in the middle of her children’s academic session after Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab, complained to the chairperson of the company against her.
I am forced to speak out in larger interest of media freedom and how governments are arm-twisting journalists. I was transferred to Delhi by HT from Punjab bureau in middle of my kids’ academic session. I was told @capt_amarinder has complained to the chairperson of the company.
Kaur further claimed that her salary for the month of August was withheld after she refused to accept the transfer and her contract, which was due for renewal in September, hasn’t been renewed.
This was done at a time my contract was coming up for renewal in Sept. My August salary was withheld and on my refusing to accept the transfer, my contract has not been renewed. Should we choose to be silent and let those in positions of power ambush us?
One of her reports from August speaks of an amendment to a bill that would have made the Punjab state government bear the tax liability for the perks enjoyed by Captain Amarinder Singh. The original bill passed by the Congress government earlier mandated that ministers in the state cabinet pay taxes on their own for the same.
While Hindustan Times is yet to issue a statement on the matter, it is a widely known fact that the nexus of Congress politicians and media houses run deep. While bigwigs in the media often accuse the BJP of undermining the media’s ability to report facts, Congress has long been known for gagging voices and using various tactics to create a compliant ecosystem.
