Why is Shiv Sena opposing the Note Ban Orders of Govt of India ?

Some one asked me in Quora as to why is Shiv Sena opposing the Note Ban Orders of Govt of India.

An added point was whether Uddhav has any accounts in swiss banks forcing him oppose Modi/ BJP.

My response is one need not necessarily hold an illegal bank account abroad to oppose Modi or BJP.

Any politician, who is not associated with BJP, and does not believe in its policies, shall oppose, sometimes one may be right, reasonable, and logical, and at times, it may be simply opposition for sake of opposing and even when one is not sure of one’s own stand.

Here the situation is piquant since Shiv Sena and BJP are allies, share power, and also have almost similar policies and political agenda. Hence, it is strange to often see them quarreling with each other. Mostly, it is not even an open fight but only pin pricks, and mostly one sided attacks launched by Shiv Sena (and even MNS) against BJP, and few of its actions / policies. Despite the open squabbles, their alliance has been working well.

Basically, it may be seen that Shiv Sena is struggling to preserve its own existence and the oft repeated attacks arise due to their fear of being ousted by BJP from their strongholds, of being ignored, and completely forgotten by the people. They are scared of the voters shifting loyalty to BJP in near future, and it is their way to stay alive in peoples’ memory.

This is not to say that Shiv Sena is not an independent party. It is just that they are in awe of BJP, and particularly, in view of Mr Modi emerging as a popular leader of masses. This forces Shiv Sena to keep signalling its own existence, its right to differ, and to oppose.

If we look back at the background of Shiv Sena, including its estranged sibling MNS, we see that the party was initially concentrated only in Island City of Mumbai, and did not have much impact on the mainland Maharashtra. Its initial objective was to protect the local Marathi speaking people from being dominated by the influx of migrants, who have regularly been flocking to Mumbai from all over the country, and have gradually taken away the job opportunities that would have otherwise probably gone to the local people.

Shiv Sena and BJP came together for the first time in 1989, with the unspoken but strong efforts of RSS which is also based at Nagpur in Maharashtra. RSS has been founded by Marathi speaking leaders and its current leadership is also dominated by Marathi people.

In forging an alliance with BJP, Shiv Sena saw an opportunity to benefit from the strong network of RSS cadres who used to work tirelessly for BJP in elections. Their alliance had formed the first Non Congress Govt of Maharashtra in 1995. To its credit, BJP gracefully accepted a subordinate role and never fought for the spoils of power, However, lack of mutual trust and constructive cooperation, had kept these two parties away from power.

It may be added here that often BJP has played a similar subordinate role in almost all its alliances at state level. It is seen in an alliance it has with Akalis in Punjab, in an alliance it had with JDU of Bihar till Nitish Kumar walked away, and in alliance with PDP in J&K.

Strangely, in Uttar Pradesh, BJP had even supported its rivals Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati to become CM (a number of times) till they reneged on their parts of bargain.

This strategy has helped BJP to grow in stature in public opinion, and its rise in Haryana is the latest example of people rewarding it for its patience. Almost all the regional parties supported by BJP have betrayed it at once or more, but the people can see the difference.

However, the current leadership of BJP, with Mr Modi and his confidant Amit Shah, being in command, is not willing to yield too much to the regional parties and to local satraps. Shiv Sena has already tasted it during the last assembly elections. Shiv Sena had driven a hard bargain for distribution of seats, leading to break up of the alliance. Shiv Sena was forced to re-join the alliance, after BJP emerged as the bigger winner and Shiv Sena lost the chance of having its own CM. Next time, it will have to accept whatever crumbs BJP offers.

In view of the aforesaid, the opposition to currency note ban by Shiv Sena and even MNS, may be seen as an expression of their independent existence, and as the ploy comes after seeing long queues of people at banks and ATMs, there may be a popularity angle as well.

And then the note ban orders have come along with the local body elections, in which BJP and Shiv Sena and MNS have been fiercely competing against each other at several places.

Now a word for BJP too. As its Chief Minister has been facing opposition even from within the party itself, and also from several other fronts, it has to keep a tight leash or else, the advantage it has for now might diminish and the local parties like Shiv Sena, MNS, and NCP - Congress alliance might grow strong by the end of the term of its present regime.

I hope Shiv Sena, and its estranged sibling MNS, will not become strident opponents of Modi and BJP like AAP, TMC, and assorted Communists and Communal parties.

Also, there is another interesting angle to the BJP Shiv Sena squabbles. It keeps both the parties in media focus and others like Congress and NCP go in to the blind zone. And like in films, in politics too, it is better to remain in news, good or bad, rather than being ignored and forgotten. After all, like films, Shiv Sena too hails from Mumbai.

Incidentally, have you ever seen BJP leaders responding strongly to the barbs by AAP. The answer is No. BJP defends itself and laughs at AAP but never condemns it strongly. This is because AAP attacks keep them in news and it keeps Congress in dark zone.

Lastly, about note bandi kanoon, while I am a strong supporter of the policy, and evidence of it is strewn around on Quora and also on my write ups in Blogshree, but somehow the acute misery being caused to the poor people does call for urgent remedial measures, and Govt of India, PM, FM, RBI, Finance Ministry, Banks, BJP, NDA, can not get away from the anger that may eventually unleash if and when the peoples’ patience runs out. One hopes the situation would improve well before any such thing happens. Please Beware.

Pains and Gains from the British Rule

We all know that British gave us a lot of pain when they were here and their parting gift was the partition and riots and a permanent headache named Pakistan. 

Also, the British rule gifted us with the slave mentality (to white man and the fair looking skin).

However, the British also did a few good things in various ways. Everyone knows about the education system (though there are a lots of its critics too) but it is true that Gandhi, Nehru, and most of our freedom fighters caught the germ of liberty and SWARAJ from the same education system that was taught in British universities and was later replicated in English schools in India.

Also, being very visible, the vast network of railways is not hidden from anyone, and it is a wonderful thing to see that they took the rail lines to high hills of Simla and Darjeeling. There is a rail line going from Lumding in Assam to Silchar in Barak valley - Lower Assam, and beyond - this line is an example of engineering marvel created by British more than a century earlier. The engineers of Railways had a tough time recently in converting the line to Broad gauge - which is now complete and line now extended up to Agartala in Tripura.

SURVEY is one major thing that is known to only few people and almost no one talks of it. British carried out survey of the entire land mass of India, including Roads and Bridges, Hills and Forests, Rivers and Lakes, Farms and Deserts, everything was surveyed by the British and the learned people know and aver that it is a great legacy for modern India. Today, it is easy to record a whole lot of data with the help of computers but they did it more than a century earlier, without aid of modern machines, and the record is perfect.

The work done in the field of posts and telegraph, search of petroleum oil in Assam, and cultivation of cash crops like tea, coffee, sugarcane, and such things are examples of good work done by the British. Their contribution to agriculture through better irrigation facilities using dams and canals is also praiseworthy. The maze of canals carrying Ganga water to every nook and corner of Western Uttar Pradesh was created by the British.

Like wise, the much talked about Mullaperiyar Dam and its canal system are a unique creation of the British. Enlightened readers may go to wiki page on Mullaperiyar Dam and it is wonderful to see that the waters of the Periyar river, which flows westwards of Kerala towards Arabian Sea, was diverted eastwards (against the slope) to flow towards the South Tamilnau with a view to provide water to the arid region of Madurai and nearby areas, that was in dire need of water, in addition to what was available from the small Vaigai River.

Mullaperiyar Dam created the Periyar Thekkady Reservoir, from which water is diverted eastwards via a tunnel to augment the small flow of the Vaigai River. A dam was built on Vaigai River to provide a source for irrigating large tracts of land around Madurai.

Also, modern day monuments like Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, India gate, the modern market at Connaught Place, and the well planned green city known as Lutyens’ Delhi are also a gift of the British colonial era.

However, I think the creation of the most disciplined and modern regimented army is the greatest gift of the British rule to the independent India.

The journey of Johny Lever : Your skin tone may change with your circumstances

One day, I happened to watch an adorable performance of Johny Lever. It was a you tube video of a live non film show, and since I was already on the net, I started searching more about him. 

Here it goes. Johny Lever was born as John Rao in a poor family hailing from Andhra Pradesh, and financial conditions forced him to follow his father as a labour in Hindustan Lever at Mumbai.

It is said that in one function in his factory, John Rao was caught mimicking two of his senior officers and he was so good at it that the two senior officers also praised him, and gave him his new name Johny Lever. Thereafter, his mimicry act in such gatherings became a routine. 

Later, Johny Lever left his job in 1981 and started looking for work in movies. At the same time, Tabassum, well known for her TV show "Phool Khile Hain Gushan Gulshan" was planning to launch her son Hoshang Govil in films. Her husband Vijay Govil is brother of Arun Govil (who played Ram in tv serial Ramayana). Johny Lever got a chance to work in her film, “Tum Par Hum Qurban”, but the film got delayed and it was released in 1985.

Meanwhile, Johny made his debut in 1981, in a minor role in a multi starer, “Yeh Rishta Na Tootey”. The rest, as they say, is ‘history’. Interestingly, while I was reading about him, I noticed that in his photographs, posted along side the write ups, the skin tone and complexion too kept changing. I decided to collect the photographs in sequence and please watch here how Johny Lever has grown over the years - from a dark skinned young man of 1980s to a much fairer looking 59 years old senior gentleman in 2016.

Also, please watch the video at the end - Johny Lever in The Kapil Sharma Show on Sony TV.

Johny Lever is a good example of how a poor dark skinned man may change over the years because of better work conditions, and with improved financial status. This is also applicable to stalwarts like Irfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and it reflects on their faces. If we compare Irfan Khan of tv serial Shrikant (1987) or Nawazuddin of Sarfarosh with their latest films, the difference is clear.

A move from factory floors to film studios, from dark slums to luxurious homes, from poverty to prosperity, can definitely change the skin tone. I may add that talent and hard work are and would always remain the basic requirements for success. Yes, luck matters but it is also true that God favours the brave (talent + hard work = good luck + success).

Planning to get married or just an autumn trip to hills

Well, someone asked me the best place to go to where he may perform his marriage ceremony.

I joked that perhaps he does not want to see the faces of all his neighbours during his marriage and hence, wants to go away from his home town. He did not deny it entirely but somehow mentioned that he wants it to be a memorable time and not the routine big tent marriage that he had been seeing all along. He also asked me of my views about marriage ceremony. Having been married in the office of District Collector, I advised him accordingly. I see the expenditure as total waste and avoidable.
 

However, if you wish to have a ceremonial wedding, be it opulent or frugal, I would suggest a visit to the serene environment of Uttaranchal - along the sacred Ganges.

Choose your pick from Haridwar, Rishikesh, Laxman Jhula, Shivpuri, Dev Prayag, Rudraprayag, or beyond. Alternately, you may go to Mussoorie, Chakrata, in hills.

The other side of Uttaranchal, Kumaun Region, also has wonderful options like Nainital, Almora, Ranikhet, Binsar, Kausani, or wilds of renowned Corbett Park.

Visit uttarakhandtourism.gov.in and choose your favourite destination.

Besides, you have two more professional and reliable options. You may call up the officials of GMVNL and KMVN. They would offer and provide you all the support. You

may also visit GMVNL (Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd.) and GMVN Garhwal Tourism Uttarakhand Uttaranchal India and www.kmvn.gov.in

How badly will AAP defeat BJP in 2019 ?

How badly will AAP defeat BJP in 2019 ?

After reading the question, it may be said reasonably and rightfully that it is not a question but what may be called a pet ‘fantasy’ of few staunch supporters of AAP.

Before we come back to AAP, one would hope that the leadership of BJP and NDA will be aware of the reality and would work hard to ensure a victory in 2019, as the anti Congress sloganeering which helped in 2014 will not be of much help in 2019.

The basic reason for my apprehension is the fact that in 2014 people just wanted to ensure that Congress is removed from power and voters across the country found BJP and NDA, under leadership of Mr Modi, as the best alternative of Congress and UPA and also, the absence of unity in other opposition parties helped greatly.

Biggest advantage was that Communists (mainly CPM) were passing through a rough phase and were not in a position to forge an alliance of the smaller parties. Also, after Delhi fiasco, AAP was completely out of favour at the time of 2014 LS elections.

This is not the case now. BJP / NDA will not be able to gain the same numbers that it had gained in large states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Even in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, 

Congress is not likely to face complete wash out again in 2019.

Essentially, 2014 votes were against the existing (bad) regime and to some degree, based on hopes and expectations of a better future. This time, the voters will respond to the actual work done by BJP / NDA while it is in power. Besides, it is a well known fact that perception of an average voter is ‘fickle’, can be influenced easily and hence, voter behavour is not easily fathomable.

Also, as may be seen from results in Bihar, a few things may hurt BJP / NDA despite its comparatively much honest governance and lot of good work it has been doing.

First, a united opposition is the biggest threat to BJP / NDA. Still, BJP may rely on the fact that complete unity of opposition, like it was in Bihar, is not so easy to achieve. Particularly, creating a nation wide alliance is difficult. The crux of the matter is that in Bihar, Nitish ji, perceived to be a competent leader himself, has meekly surrendered to RJD of Laloo ji.

Secondly, Congress will not remain deep in dumps forever and gradually, it might gain some sympathy and might improve its tally in 2019. One may expect that the leaders of both the parties / groups, BJP / NDA and Congress / UPA will keep working hard to ensure better results in 2019. And this will lead to a good fight.

Third point is that in a several states, there is hardly any presence of BJP and except for Karnataka, the possibility of BJP gaining more seats in such states seems poor. However, one expects BJP / NDA leadership to keep working hard consistently and persistently and also to spread its wings wider to ensure better results in 2019.

For now, 2019 is far off, and let us wait for the results of MCD elections in next year. Then, there are several big states going to polls in the coming years before LS 2019.

Despite there being some apprehension of BJP and NDA not doing so well in 2019, it is clear that AAP is not going to win against BJP in any election in the near future.

AAP as yet has no presence in much of India, except Delhi and a few seats it had won in Punjab are of no use since most of these MPs have been expelled or left AAP and party stands divided. Given the facts, even winning the assembly elections in Punjab may be hard for AAP. Like wise, AAP has no chance in Goa and Gujarat, despite its brave talk. At least in Gujarat, people are most likely to give such a bad drubbing to AAP that the party and its’ leadership will be forced to reassess their own political worth. Right now, they seem to be riding on high horse of arrogance and self praise.

BJP, which is a new version of Jansangh formed soon after independence, took 40-50 years to gain power at the Centre. What is interesting that despite Delhi being its cradle, BJP has faced defeat in the last five assembly elections. So much so that between AAP 1 of 2013 and AAP 2 of 2015, BJP had a static vote percentage of around 34%. The party must try to find out as to why all the pro Congress voters went en mass to AAP in 2015 and not even a few more of them voted for BJP.

Several old and well established parties, with strong voter base, like SP, BSP, JDU, JDS, RJD, and even the Communists have tried but they have not done well beyond their specific area of influence. 

Well, AAP is still a baby in diapers. However, being a political party with lofty ambition, AAP must keep trying to expand its presence all around. May be someday, they will grow up and start behaving in a better manner.

As of now, BJP looks well entrenched but surprises do happen. In any case, 2019 is not going to be a cake walk for BJP / NDA as the opposition parties are likely to give it a collective fight. Please recall Bihar, where all parties had ganged up against it.

Gujarat : Developed State or Media Hype ?

There is question about Gujarat whether it is really developed state or not. Then why so much hype? 

 The important part is at the end which says or rather asks whether it is all hype. 

Somewhere along the way, the debate degenerates and it turns in to a comparison between Gujarat and Maharashtra - its immediate neighbour state. Both the states were carved out of one bigger state.

 

Someone praised and extolled the state of Maharashtra in comparison to Gujarat - to which I wrote a comment, and obviously this friend did not like to read about the shortcoming of his home state and all my attempts to make him see the truth failed to impress him.

My moot point is that the charts and figures or statistics put out by various agencies and departments of the Govts of States and also by the various agencies and bodies of the Govt of India, actually do not represent the facts - as these rely mostly on figures culled out from the level of revenues coming in from different geographical locations - mostly from big cities. The fact is that often the actual production takes place elsewhere.

In case of Maharashtra state, since the state capital Mumbai is also the financial capital of India, its’ presence within this state, is a kind of huge distorting factor.

Take for example, the fact that Reliance has its HQs in Mumbai and it pays its taxes in Mumbai and accordingly, all the income of Reliance gets added to the GDP of Maharashtra. Now look at the fact - Reliance has its biggest manufacturing facility at Jamnagar in Gujarat. It has large investments in Maharashtra as well but bulk of its business income comes from Gujarat but it does not get added to GDP of Gujarat.

Likewise the Govt owned oil and gas companies like ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil, GAIL, etc., have their production coming in from far off areas but since their HQs are in big cities, their entire income is added to the cities having their respective HQs.

The same goes for the Tata Group which has its HQs in Mumbai but its factories are spread all over the country - for example it has most of its tea gardens in Assam. In fact, all big tea companies have HQs in Kolkata whereas most of the tea gardens are located in Assam. Now the fact is that taxes are paid by tea companies at their HQs in Kolkata and it gets added to GDP of Bengal. Thus, Assam is deprived of its fair share of revenues despite all the tea gardens being located within its geographical area, and GDP of Bengal gets distorted hugely. (Tea gardens in Bengal are almost like dead).

Another notable example is NSE and BSE which deposit huge amounts of taxes daily, earned from investors and traders in stock markets - spread all over the country. However since taxes are paid in to the Govt Account within Mumbai - within the geographical area of Maharashtra, and thus the GDP of Maharashtra is hugely distorted. There can not be a better example of fact being distorted hugely and being entirely suppressed by figures. Other than few jobs, NSE & BSE do not give much to Mumbai and Maharashtra. In fact, these two bodies produce almost nothing.

This explains as to why despite huge GDP, much of Maharashtra remains poor and underdeveloped. Leave aside, Mumbai and few regions near Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, and some parts of Konkan, the state has large areas which may be compared to any poor place in Bihar and Odisha. This reliance upon false notion of being so highly developed state might be the reason for acute poverty in districts like Beed, Jalna, Latur and Naxal infested Garhchiroli. It is high time the politicians and civil servants take notice of the reality and start working upon developing these areas. And not only in far off places, but even in cities, more than half of the people live in abject poverty. and this applies not only to Maharashtra but all the big and so called advance states.

Interestingly, in GDP figures, Uttar Pradesh comes among top three, along with Tamilnadu and Maharashtra - thanks to farmers, but it does not make Uttar Pradesh a developed or ideal state. In fact, Uttar Pradesh still continues to be a poor state.

I hope this will suffice to build up a strong case against taking figures as facts.

Now about Gujarat. To seek an answer to this question, let us first see how we are going to judge the development itself. To me, the quality of life of citizens comes first.

Now if we look at the tables and charts available in public domain, smaller states like Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, and even my home state Uttarakhand are invariably shown much above the larger states. Having been to Kerala, I was impressed since there is hardly any difference in the quality of life in urban and rural areas in Kerala. The same goes for Goa. I have not seen Sikkim but it is said that its rural areas are as clean and are having good facilities as may be available in its capital city Gangtok.

Thus, it may be derived that despite having huge GDP figures and high per capita incomes, citizens of big states are not necessarily having a better quality of life.

In case of Gujarat, there is hardly any Mumbai type big city and its overall GDP is almost realistic and a true median of the income arising from urban and rural areas.

Now to look at it from a different angle. Gujarat being largely an arid region - has low water availability but the way Gujarat has gone about distributing the water from Narmada to its far flung areas is nothing but amazing and highly commendable.

Also, while the BRTS experiment failed miserably in Delhi ( and in Bangalore too) then why is it that Ahmedabad made a success of BRTS and proudly displays it.

Why is it that several states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc., having high focus on agriculture, thanks to plenty of water from rivers originating in Himalayas, have not done so well in Dairy as has been the case in Gujarat (and even Rajasthan). If one goes on NH 8 from Mumbai to Delhi, via Ahmedabad, Ajmer, and Jaipur, one may see scores of milk vans going to Delhi from the areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

My last hope about Gujarat arises from the fact that it has realised the importance of agriculture in the economy, and the immense need of developing the villages. Thus, focus of Gujarat is on farming and to improve the irrigation facilities. Please read about SAUNI and you will realise that this experiment needs to be replicated all over.

Thus, even if you feel that the Gujarat saga is all hype, the portents indicate a far better future for the natives of Gujarat - specially for farmers of Saurashtra region.

In the end, let me add that despite huge population, India stands united solely because it is presently able to grow enough to feed its people. I firmly believe that if we continue to ignore our farmers, and allow the farm output to go down, then probably infighting and a rebellion might take place - for food and water.

And if that happens, no amount of GDP, FDI, or nuclear arms will be of any use.

So, give more water to farmer and he will give you more food to eat.

AAP says it is not being allowed to work : AAP is not the first to rule the NCT of Delhi

India has 29 states, and 7 Union Territories. Of the 7 UTs, 5 are small and have minimal scale local administration. Of these, 2 UTs are island groups (Andaman Nicobar islands in Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep islands in Arabian Sea), 2 UTs are small territories surrounded by Gujarat (Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli).

Chandigarh is a beautiful city and it has the distinction of being capital of not only of its own region but also that of 2 other full fledged states of Punjab and Haryana.

Out of the 7 UTs, Puducherry (Pondicherry) came under effective control of India in 1962 only and it has an elected assembly and also the post of CM from 1963 onward.

Out of the 7 UTs, status of Delhi is unique since it is a metropolitan or cosmopolitan city with population of over 16 million (1.6 crore) people and also has the honour of housing the highest offices of the nation like President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Ministries of Govt of India, and also the diplomatic missions of other countries, etc.

Earlier, Delhi used to have only a Metropolitan Council (1966–1990) with Chairman, Dy Chairman, and Chief Executive Councillor, other Executive Councilors, etc..

However, with a view to fulfill the democratic aspirations of its substantially large populace of over 160 lakh and also to meet the development needs of the region, a new law was enacted by the Govt of India, duly passed by the parliament in 1991 and 1993, specifically to devise a mechanism for administration of NCT of Delhi.

From 1993 onward, constitutional status of NCT of Delhi is such that though it still remains a Union Territory but like Pudducherry, now Delhi too has its own elected assembly, post of CM and Council of Ministers. LG representing the Govt of India, is designated as the Administrator of the Union Territory - NCT Delhi.

However, the act enacted in 1993 too has retained Police and Land under control of the Govt of India. This is the bone of contention between AK led AAP Govt and Govt of India since. AK and AAP want to have full control over these matters just like all the 29 states who have complete control of land and police. However, since this not permitted in the NCTD Act, the wishes of AAP are immaterial. this position may change only and only if the parliament decides to amend the act.

As I see it, the issue here is non - observance of the section 22 to 26 of the act which begins like this : Special provisions as to financial Bills : (1) A Bill or amendment shall not be introduced into, or moved in the Legislative Assembly except on the recommendation of the Lieutenant, Governor, if such Bill or amendment makes provision for any of the following matters, namely :- (for further details, please see this link : http://delhiassembly.nic.in/ncta...).

Hence, the law desires that every motion proposed to be passed by Delhi Assembly must be approved first by LG - in effect by Home Ministry of the Govt of India.

On the face, so much precaution seems a bit over the top since no other state assembly is required to get the prior approval of the State Governor or the Govt of India before piloting any legislation. 

However, since the NCT Delhi Act was duly considered, debated and enacted by parliament over a period of 3 years (1991–93), there has to be a good reason for laying down such stringent conditions in this act. Perhaps, the unique character of Delhi being the national capital required to have such control of the Parliament over its Govt / Assembly.

Under this NCTD Act, Madan Lal Khurana was first CM of Delhi followed by Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj. All along, there were non BJP Govts at the Centre and there was no conflict between Govt of Delhi and Govt of India.

Later Shiela Dixit was CM of Delhi and her first term coincided with BJP / NDA Govt led by Mr Bajpayee, and still there was never any conflict between Govt of Delhi and Govt of India. For her next 2 terms, Congress led UPA was at the helm at Centre. Shiela Govt seems to have bypassed this provision but the Centre was not bothered and overlooked the lapse and granted President’s assent to all bills.

As the things stand today, as given in the NCTD Act, AK led AAP Govt has no reason to disregard the law as it exists presently - passed by the parliament - and it has to be and must be followed in letter and spirit - it does not matter if AK and his AAP agree or disagree with the written word.

In any eventuality, Govt at Centre can not behave unreasonably since its actions are open to scrutiny by both the houses of parliament and also Govt of Delhi can move the courts, if need be.

The Delhi High Court has already observed that the actions of AK led AAP Govt are not in keeping with the process laid down in law and hence all its decisions were rejected. Supreme Court too does not seem much impressed by AAP Govt.

As requested, one might refrain from calling AK a drama queen but this is also true that his stubborn behaviour and his perpetual confrontational stance has pushed back the prospects of full statehood demand for Delhi.

BJP, at least its local unit, used to be the biggest champion of full statehood for Delhi and has contributed immensely to the development of Delhi over the last 5 decades. However, in view of the current imbroglio between the AAP Govt of NCT of Delhi and the Govt of India, the central leadership of BJP and even that of Congress will think twice before granting full statehood status to NCT of Delhi.

The issue is almost dead. Who knows even AK and his AAP might dither in granting full statehood to Delhi, if and when, if at all, they manage to come to power at Centre.

Demonetisation of Rs 1000 and rs 500 currency notes

Well, the Modi Govt has taken a wise and bold decision to demonetise the old high value currency notes. It affects, more or less, each and every person and household.

And here we do not refer to black money hoarders, drug peddlers, arms dealers, kidnappers, dacoits, naxals, terrorists, foreign spies, or crooks.

God can only tell what the crooks will do with their stacks of currency notes since deposit of the same in bank accounts would be of no use in view of the recent clarification given by authorities. (applicable tax, penalty, etc). Already there are reports of burning of such currency, being dumped in garbage, and throwing of such notes in the Ganges.

One need not go far to look for and to search for the affected people. All the affected people are standing in long queues at all the banks and ATMs. TV channels are full of stories of the hardship being faced by sick persons, or those who are traveling or the families who have to arrange marriages, or others who may have other urgent needs.

Almost everyone is affected by the high value currency demonetisation plan of the Modi Govt, but people are still happy as they agree with the essence of the policy and are ready to face these small inconveniences.

In every household, there will be some or more such (now banned) currency notes and the people shall have to deposit all such notes in banks but the long queues at the banks are a hassle. At some homes, the banned currency might be in large amounts, though perfectly white and clean, but it might be causing some or more anxiety to the people.

Please note that despite the oft repeated assurances, people fear all kinds of tax departments. Their anxiety is like, “who knows if some day in future, any corrupt govt official may decide to harass us”, and we all know that such minor issues are often a big worry for common folks.

Actually, rich and mighty, who often have more black money than white, would hardly care for any small time official but a poor man is always terrified, since most people are unable to get rid of the fears inculcated during childhood. Remember the mother telling, “doodh pee le nahin to police wala aa jayega” (drink your milk or else, the police may come…).

I am myself felt the pinch - we can not order food from a nearby take away, we can not even buy any vegetables or minor refreshments, because the small currency is almost absent. We had to break open the gullak - piggy bank - for meeting minor day to day expenses. Any visit to market for purchase of groceries stands postponed till the normalcy returns at banks and ATMs. Even the few currency notes we have would be deposited in bank only after the queues become short or vanish entirely.

However, one thing is evident that despite this being a good and much appreciable policy decision, the execution and implementation by the Govt Machinery on one hand and by RBI, and Banks on the other hand has been far below expectations.

Here, I am not saying that bank employees are not working - actually, they are doing a great job but the fault lies in poor response by the banks’ higher offices. Fixing the ATMs - primarily upgradation of software - should not have taken so many days. (By the way, let me disclose that I know how banks function : I am a former banker).

Yet another issue is paucity of alternate mediums of disbursal of small denomination currency notes. Take for example, the Power Utilities, Transport Services like Buses, Railways, Metro Rail, too should have been provided with enough stocks of small denomination currencies. This non availability or underutilisation or completely not using the alternatives, is putting pressure on banks, and public is facing hardship.

If someone has time to read it, I would suggest that the urgent need of the time is just to make available the small currencies - notes of Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20, and Rs. 10.

I was hurt when Metro Rail forced me to recharge for full 500 rupees, since they did not have any 100 rupee notes to give in return. Actually, I expected him to return a few Rs 100 notes so that I may use it for rickshaw fare and to buy a cup of tea, etc. Still, I could accept the situation since it was a Metro Smart Card and I got full value for the money but imagine if I had to buy a ticket of Rs 20 only then should I forget the balance amount of Rs 480. One can not say if such things are ‘not’ happening.

The response of Metro Rail was irresponsible ( no fault of the young man at the counter but the whole Metro Rail ). This is unpardonable and must be rectified. The Finance Ministry and RBI may take note of it, please.

Most of the people standing outside the banks and at ATMs are the ones who have no cash to buy daily rations, vegetables, small items of daily use and the Govt needs to realise that some people might be going without food in extremely poor households.

Please consider as to why should the disbursal of small notes be restricted to banks.

Govt has railways, bus depots, power utilities, public phone companies, ration shops, and hosts of such outlets that may be used to disburse small denomination notes.

Let the Govt and RBI provide enough small currency notes to all such bodies and they may be allowed to disburse small amounts up to say Rs 1000 (One Thousand). At least, they should not be using the full Rs 500 for purchase of anything that is worth Rs 250 only. This will help to end the queues at banks and ATMs.

Kindly note that big gatherings of ( somewhat distressed and unhappy ) people might be exploited by mischief makers and all out effort must be made to see the end of all the queues from banks.

A fresk look at US Presidential election

I read this piece somewhere and liked it so much that I decided to post it on my blog. 

The people are unable to understand how and why Donald Trump could win in view of the whole lot of negative aura surrounding him (He feels it is a false aura created by self appointed liberals).

This friend of our feels that if you (we, the readers) still don’t understand why Donald Trump won, then you have a serious arrogance and ignorance problem.

In his view, we, the readers of this post, live in urban areas. He assumes that we are educated, and assume ourselves to be liberal thinkers and a typical left-wingers.

He adds that we, the readers, work in air-conditioned offices, go to gym after work, watch news on tv, jog on the treadmills. Then eat our dinner out somewhere with friends, probably not cooking at home, and sometimes you fly between cities for office work or business. 

When you look down from the plane window and see those endless farmlands and mountains in the countrysides, in the hinterland, you are thinking “I can’t imagine living a life down there.”

When you saw Trump won, you were shocked. Holy shit! There’s not a single person around me who supports Trump, how could he win? That’s where the problem lies. You are living in a completely different world than those Trump supporters.

When you refuel your car, have you ever wondered where the gas comes from, if not imported? Who drilled the oil for you?

When you charge your phone, have you ever wondered where the electricity comes from? Who dug the coal to power the plant?

When you shop in the supermarket, have you ever wondered where the fresh vegetables and fruits come from? Who drove the truck all the way from farms to your city, to deliver those goods?

Those are the people who support Donald Trump. Have you ever talked to any one of them?

Without you, they can still feed themselves, but without them, you will be starved to death. You don’t know how to grow crops, and you dare not to kill a chicken. So now how could you despise them as “uneducated racists”?

When they watch the news, even when watching local tv channels, the camera is always on the big cities far away from them. They are ignored, as if they don’t exist in this country. No one pays attention to them, and no one speaks for them, until Donald Trump came and embraced them.

They could drive a truck for paltry salary. This was the case some 20 years ago and remains the same till now. They work all days of the week, but now the illegal immigrants are taking away their jobs.

They could work in a factory for paltry salaries, but now their jobs have gone to China and Mexico when the workers there can still earn a decent salary but the US citizens have lost their jobs.

You can’t urge a middle aged man with a high school diploma having a family to raise to go to college again and learn programming or investment banking. He can’t and he can’t afford.

You also can’t say in 10 years robots are doing the job for them and they should just vanish because their minds and skills don’t follow the era.

They are human beings. They are also lovely nice people. They don’t hate you. They work hard so you can live a comfortable life. Why do you hate them? Why do you label them as racist deplorables and xenophobic bigots without even knowing how hard their lives are ?

When they are losing jobs and falling into poverty, they don’t know what to do. They stay at home and turn on the TV and see Obama and Hillary speaking on ABC News: “The biggest problem our society now facing is climate change.”

They may have voted for the current regime in the last election and hoped that the govt will bring change to their lives, but they could only sigh when they see this. So they switch to news and see Donald Trump speaking on his rally and declaring, “We need to rebuild our inner cities, we need to bring jobs back.” They follow him and say: “YES! Let’s make America great again!”

When they saw their president visiting big cities in East Coast after hurricane in recent past, but noticed that the same president was playing golf when the devastating floods hit their lands and destroyed thousands of homes this summer, they knew they were forgotten.

However, when they saw Trump visiting their area after the flood, they knew here is someone who actually cared for them. If you are them, who will you vote for?

They are the silent majorities. They live in your flyover states. They don’t care about LGBT or like. They are not racist or homophobic. They just want jobs to feed their families.

Please give up your arrogance and start to care about those people. They are Americans too. In fact, they might be more American than you are, since many of your clients and customers are foreign.

They have no methods to let you hear them. All the medias don’t speak for them, all the celebrities don’t pay attention to them. All the career politicians don’t represent them. The only weapon they have are their ballots. They vote to knock you out of your utopia. That’s the power of democracy. That’s why democracy is great. It never ignores anyone.

If you believe your value is progressive and right, you need to help them getting out of their trouble first. You can’t blame and mock them. It will only push them away from you even more.

Trump has been a democrat longer than republican in his life. He has married 3 times, agrees with progressive income tax, has been pro-choice in most of his life and pro-LGBT all the time. The only hardcore conservative thing I can think of him is anti-alcohol. However, he could still defeat 16 truly conservative republican candidates and won more votes in the primaries than anyone else in the history. This has already proven that the silent majorities are much more tolerant now on social issues. They just want someone to fix the economy for them.

Now it’s your chance to work with them, help them under the 4 years of Trump’s presidency. Stop protesting and introspect yourself. Isn’t your arrogance and ignorance that brought Trump to the White House?

Folks, these are not my views but I read it somewhere and decided to post it on my blog. The reason being the crux, the sole of the post being true and I feel that it applies to India as well.

Here also we find a lot of commotion in the media, on our tv channels, where the self appointed thinkers, liberals, socialists, and celebs, try to preach their ideas and views all the time, without giving a damn to the real issues facing the mostly illiterate or semi literate peasants, small town folks, daily wage earners, and poor and destitute persons living in their own backyards.  

I find similiarities in the American perspective being applicable at home as well. Perhaps this is why the poor people standing in queues to get a few notes exchanged, who are deeply distressed and somewhat tense, but they are still saying that the demonetisation plan is good for us all.To the secularists, socialists, liberals, and media celebs, this should be an eye opener. Perhaps, this explains the astounding popularity of PM Modi among the  masses in the hinterlands of India.

Donald Trump is the New President of USA

Democracy is a unique system of governance.

Actually, I don’t like Mr Donald Trump so much, but started looking at him after the media and the celebrities started calling him names. I understand the common people’s preference for such candidates who are slammed by media. Masses don’t like media’s guidance. These unknown unsung (and often silent) people are eager to show that they too have a free mind of their own.

Despite the media and celebs talking against him regularly, and even when some of his own party leaders spoke openly against him, it is great that Donald Trump has won the election and would soon be sworn as the next president of United States.

In my view, though I must admit that I have very very limited knowledge of USA and its politics, but as a layperson who has been watching the news on tv and has been following the media reports and analysis, the reasons for his victory appear to be essentially very simple and we need not wreck our heads to unearth them.

First, it appears to be an exact US replay of the recent Brexit in UK, where the people from the hinterland (leaving aside the capital city of London and few big cities), had voted strongly against continuing as a member of EU. The smart factor was that they avoided openly challenging their highbrow urban elitist countrymen and silently went about gathering support for their view point, keeping away from media glare.

The same strategy was adopted by supporters of Donald Trump as they went about their task silently but assiduously and never made a hue and cry about it. If one were to believe some stray comments in media, it appears that they kept telling the pollsters (those who carry out pre poll surveys) by telling them they are going to vote for Ms Clinton, and thus misled (fooled) their opponents.

As may be seen from the blue and red portions of the maps and voting patterns, the coastal states, both in north east and in west, voted for democrats but it was the inner parts, the central zone, mountains, deserts, and southern states, that have overwhelmingly voted for republicans.

As an Indian, to me it looks like a repeat of the division between India (the rich urban elite) and Bharat (the low income rural masses).

Secondly, the persona of Trump is of a non conformist. He is not a regular politician but a brash rich man who is accused of so many things but is still standing tall, shows no intention to be apologetic, and this might have endeared the masses in contrast with the image of an average politician who appears to be too eager to please all.

Thirdly, the biggest disadvantage of Ms Clinton was that she has been around for a long long time. Elections are essentially about image. I am not suggesting that she is guilty of anything but then there have accusations of all kinds and this might have dented her image. It is said in cinema that despite having a pretty and photogenic face, it is difficult for cine stars to hide the blemishes when in close focus. In essence, her being a well known face, often seen as an asset, actually worked against her.

In fact, the people who might have kept a close watch on this election process, it would have been visible during the primaries itself, when she was seen faltering against her main rival. Democrats must ruminate over the issue as to why did they push her candidature despite the chinks in her armour being so clearly visible.

Besides, the second term of President Obama has been going through a lean phase, and provided hardly any support to the democrat candidate. In fact, I had observed that President Obama too would have lost his second term but salvaged the situation by taking out Osama Bin Laden (thanks to Pakistan). Hence, there was not much going in favour of Ms Clinton.

I have observed the campaign of Ms Clinton and there were clear signs in primaries itself that she is a weak candidate. Democrats seem to have erred in preferring her over Mr Sanders. As I have said, being a known face worked against Ms Clinton.

At home, my wife expected her to win and feels sad that US citizens (Americans) are not yet ready to elect a woman as their president.

Lastly, there are so many mundane reasons - that have been debated all over the media and one need not repeat them here all over again. Further, I also believe in the anti incumbency theory followed by Prof Allan Litchman.

By the way, as an Indian, I may add that our own PM Mr Modi was clearly not a favourite to begin with but he shocked everyone by obtaining a massive mandate.

It looks like the people have become smart all around from India to UK to USA.

Next time, one hopes, the pollsters would do their work a little more carefully.

Incidentally, this election too has gone with the historical trend of the incumbent party (this time a democrat occupied the white house) loosing to the opposition party after every eight years’ cycle. Again, US Presidents usually win their second terms easily but President Jimmy Carter (1980), and President George H W Bush (1992) were the exceptions in recent elections.

Let us now hope that President Elect Donald Trump lives up to the expectations and manages to win the second term.

One thing I may add here is that, in my view, the US democracy is strong enough and that even a rabid racist person shall have to ‘behave’. Also, a President is bound by ‘oath of office’, duly ‘ring-fenced by constitution’.

Donald Trump may be seen as racist maniac, but I have faith that the people and democratic ethos of USA will not let him turn in to a Dictator.