Rising Petrol Prices - What has changed from UPA to NDA

Like Rahul Gandhi, I too wanted minimum 12 subsidized LPG cylinders during UPA regime, but I happily gave up entire subsidy when Modiji made a call for it. It may look strange to many but there were more than one crore people like me who voluntarily gave up this subsidy.

Why? Because people could see sincerity and commitment in the PM Modi's appeal and had faith that the subsidy that they surrendered will actually be utilised for the benefit for the masses.

Honestly speaking, I was also one of those who would demand reduction in tax on petroleum products not only because I wanted less burden on my pocket but also because I believed that the prices of petroleum products had a spiralling effect on prices of all commodities and services causing inflation.

Have the principles of economics changed that I have not made a single post during the current rise in prices of petroleum products  demanding reduction in taxes? No. The principles do not change but the circumstances have changed.

No economy can run without taxes. A country is managed by its Govt by the taxes collected from its citizens.

But taxes pinch when we see them being pocketed by a few in the system.

You feel proud to pay taxes when you find them being used for the benefit of the overall good of the country.

During UPA misrule, which has gone into history as a corrupt regime wherein public money was looted by the rulers themselves through scams in almost every field, public was sure that while they were being taxed heavily, the money collected from them was not put to the use it was meant for.

Modi came in 2014 and the same society which wanted more subsidies and not to pay taxes started behaving differently for the simple reason that people had faith in Modi. The good thing is that he has not disappointed them.

But what about the spiralling effect on inflation?

Petroleum price is not the only factor behind inflation though it does impact adversely when inflation is otherwise there in the economy. Thanks to demonetisation and better fiscal control, inflation has been under control during NDA regime and we find it under control despite ever increasing petroleum prices due to falling rupee and increasing cost of procurement. Speaking in common man's language, due to lower prices of everyday needs, one does not actually feel pained by higher petroleum prices compared with the UPA regime when petrol prices were rising along with the prices of all essential commodities. Hence, it is not a cause of concern for the economy though the middle class does feel its impact on its monthly budget, the impact being precipitated by the low prices the market had seen during the initial years of Modi's regime.

It is politically not prudent for BJP not to take steps to contain the prices of petroleum products in view of the coming elections.

But, perhaps, BJP values the success of its social welfare programs more than votes of the middle class. Despite huge success of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana –“Saubhagya” and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) etc. it is yet to be seen if this success can be converted into votes while BJP is likely to see some of its base in the middle class being eroded for this single factor.

But, the long term success of these schemes needs NDA to come back. It is in the interest of social welfare that the Govt takes some steps to get the consumer prices of petroleum lowered by reducing taxes on them.

It will be interesting to see if and when the GST Council brings petroleum products under the regime of GST thus reducing tax on them.

From Darkness to Light – the Fifth Estate

I always wished to write on the role Indian media has been playing, but I must admit that I am doing it today, as a reaction to about an hour long program by Ravish Kumar of NDTV on his channel. If I too had resources like him, I would have liked to make a full fledged feature film, but am forced to content with this write-up.

From Falshood to Truth

NDTV took its viewers to dark to bring home what it doubted he could do in light. I could not understand the logic. Our Upanishad says,

“asato ma sadgamaya

tamaso ma jyotirgamaya

mrtyorma amrtam gamaya

om shanti shanti shanti.”

Meaning:

Lead me from the falsehood to the truth.

Lead me from darkness to light.

Lead me from death to immortality.

Om Peace Peace Peace.

Let us try to move from darkness to light… from falsehood to truth.

I appreciate Ravish Kumar for admitting that TV is suffering from a disease. He called it TB. I would not like to agree with the nomenclature but TV certainly is suffering from a serious disease and unfortunately this disease is communicable. TV has engulfed entire India who watch news-channels into an endless worry, giving them avoidable stress though “maro-kato” is an extreme, Ravish rants about for reasons best known to him.

There may be a section of people threatening media-persons for the partisan side they take. But to blame the viewers in general for that is something anybody with a head at the right place would have avoided.

But that exactly is the issue. Is the head of most of the media-persons at the right place? Let us discuss that.

My credentials to be eligible to do that? I have no intention to match Ravish Kumar, but this may be justified to ask this question. I am a qualified journalist, having done my post-graduation in Journalism more than 30 years ago. I met the then President of India in Rashtrapati Bhavan as a part of young journalists. You might not have seen me on any TV channel or newspaper but I have been connected with the field by virtue of being a reader of print media and a viewer of TVs all these years. I, as such, believe that I have a long experience of journalism!

Fourth Estate

Media is supposedly the fourth estate of a democratic set up. Remember - fourth estate - after Legislative (Law making), Executive (Policy execution) and Judiciary (reviewing the law). Press gets the respect of the four estate for reporting the system honestly. It loses the honour if it is not honest. 

It also does not have any constitutional validity. The fourth pillar does not even find a specific mention in the Constitution of India. Press just derives its strength from Article 19 which guarantees freedom of expression to all the citizens including press. Thus, press people are just among we commoners. Press got respect as fourth estate as it did make bridges between the people and the State. The moment press fails in doing so, it loses its credibility and regard.

Being a student of journalism, I know that the following are the cardinal principles governing media and all media persons:

• Ensuring the objective presentation of news and fair and unbiased comment
• Promoting the advancement of education and culture    
• Raising and maintaining high standards of decency and decorum in all programmes 
• Providing programmes for the young which, by variety and content, will inculcate the principles of good citizenship
• Promoting communal harmony, religious tolerance and international understanding
• Treating controversial public issues in an impartial and dispassionate manner
• Respecting  human rights and dignity

Is our present day media adhering to these cardinal principles honestly? Little said about it the better. It is the fourth estate that has failed this country more than all the three other estates put together. Volumes after volumes can be written to prove this failure, but the size of this write up does not permit me to do that. I would just use Ravish Kumar’s own admission in his program that he called dark.

Presstitute

Ravish Kumar asked a very pertinent question in a very concerned fashion but tried to call the word presstitute as an abuse. He may have objection to the use of this word for the reason that it was first used in Indian context by Gen. VK Singh, a central Minister in Modi Govt. But this word was coined long ago by Gerald Celente and is used for biased and predetermined views by media persons. This word was coined by merging press and prostitute. 

What objection does Ravish Kumar has to the use of this word when he himself admits in his dark program that there are several journalists whose conduct is not above board? Is it wrong to call spade a spade? This word is reserved for those who deserve it. Why is Ravish Kumar bothered? What is he afraid of?

Media Trial

Ravish Kumar and his clan are crying over the media trial of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and likes. Here is where the hypocrisy of one of the senior-most but hopeless journalists is evident at its worst. Yes media trial is not good. Trial is reserved for judiciary and not for media. Media is, of course, supposed to bring forth the facts of a matter whichever side they support. What we see, however, is that media, particularly the electronic media, not only does media trial but even passes judgment before its own trial begins. We viewers have been witnessing it since long and I bet, I can tell you with 100% surety what judgment to be given by which channel in which case without even knowing anything about the case. So is the bias of mainstream media, evident to its viewers.

Even in the present context, while the likes of Ravish Kumar shed crocodile tears for the bearded innocent kids of JNU and thus supporting their anti-India tirade and denounce the so-called media trial by a couple or more of channels, they are simultaneously leaving no stone unturned to prove lawyers of Patiala House court culprits! They reject videos of anti-India slogans but accept the videos of lawyer-media scuffle terming it as goonism of lawyers. As if the goonism is a right reserved for media persons! Hypocrisy incarnated would get ashamed to see this diabolical character!

Doctored Evidence

This is true that with the misuse of technology audio, pictures and videos can be and are doctored these days. This is unfortunate and can be done by either side in a case. But are our law-enforcing agencies not competent to get them checked for truthfulness? Should an evidence be rejected by calling it doctored? Let all evidence be taken due cognizance of, got checked and used for reaching a conclusion by our judicial system. Who is the fourth estate to accept or reject an evidence?

Press Council of India

Time, it seems, has come to give teeth to this toothless tiger. Not only the people, but even journalists like Ravish Kumar have started complaining against the bias of media. The highly paid anchors sit before cameras like judges with limitless powers to judge and reprimand anybody according to their own conveniences or viewpoints. This is against the basic spirit of journalism and must be checked. Unless there is a check on them, it does not seem likely. Press Council of India, ‘formed with people from the other three estates’ and not from media, should be given some teeth to make these media-persons a little responsible.

Fifth Estate - Let us move to Light

Constitutionally speaking, there is no difference between the fourth estate and fifth estate. Both have equal constitutional status. Social media has emerged as a powerful vehicle in enabling people raising their voices. But social media too is no less biased and cannot be relied upon for its news sharing and views. Measures must be evolved and taken for better and authentic dissemination of information to social media for better understanding news and see through the evil designs of a part of the mainstream media.

Emergency... Any Lessons Learnt?

 

It is past midnight. The calendar on my laptop shows 26th June, the date on which, forty years ago, newspapers across the country carried news of the proclamation of Emergency in India. They say it was actually proclaimed on 25th June, 1975. Who knows the actual time the then President of India signed the order? Who knows at what time Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan was arrested for asking for total revolution? Who knows at what time Atal Behari Vajpayee was put behind bars for being an opposition leader?  

There was a statement by Prime Minister Modi during the day today, calling Emergency the blackest phase of Indian democracy. That is all. No hullabaloo by the press which had lost its voice on this day, with a single signature of the then President. 

President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declares emergency in India after finding the security of India threatened following Allahabad High Court judgment declaring Indira Gandhi's election as MP null and void

I find it hard to sleep. Till late night the youngsters in the family were asking me questions about Emergency. They wanted to know the truth about Emergency, about my personal experiences. They have gone to bed now. But I am still lost in the reminiscences of the days when I was studying the definitions of Democracy in college and experiencing it differently in real life.

I give credit for people’s renewed interest in the blackest chapter of free India to Lal Krishna Advani’s recent statement, “… I don't have the confidence that Emergency cannot happen again," adding "I do not see any sign in our polity that assures me..." Advani talked about ‘polity’ but people interpreted it the way it suited them. Media saw it as another source of TRPs, without stepping out of their luxurious air-conditioned cabins! Political parties other than the BJP interpreted it as a barb against Modi. Kejriwal jumped so much with joy that he went to the extent of seeking an appointment with Advani with a hope to encash the statement in his favour. But Advani clarified that he had spoken "precisely about the Emergency in the interview, and there is absolutely no reason to interpret it in the present day context, as there is no reference to it. I have spoken only about Emergency."

I am glad that the young generation is interested in knowing about the Emergency.

They kept asking and I kept sharing. I re-lived all the moments yet again.

I had attained adulthood. I got up in the morning to be greeted by a newspaper with the headline that all prominent political leaders of opposition like Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, had been arrested during the early hours of the day. It was shocking!

National Herald dated 26th June, 1975

The Hindu dated 26th June, 1975

This was done under the draconian MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act).

It was also reported that a state of Emergency had been proclaimed in India by the then President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, on the advice of the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Emergency was declared in India earlier too - in 1962 during the Indo-China war and again in 1971 during the Indo-Pakistan war. But it was different this time. There was no external aggression in sight. It had been proclaimed because Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha from Rai Bareilly constituency had been declared ‘null and void’ by the Allahabad High Court on the charges of misuse of Government machinery for her election campaign and Indira Gandhi was not ready to honour the High Court judgment and step down. While the judicial jugglery was on, Jayaprakash Narayan, in a huge rally in Delhi on 25th June 1975, called for a civil disobedience campaign to force the resignation of the Prime Minister. In response, Emergency was imposed to tackle the civil disobedience campaign before it could ever take off!

 

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's official letter to the President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

recommending that Emergency be declared in India - the President gladly accepts.

“Dictatorship has been declared in India”, the word spread like wildfire. Time proved that this was, indeed, dictatorship.

You do not understand the true meaning of things like democracy and civil liberties as long as you enjoy them.  We realize their worth and value only when they are taken away from us. Emergency was proclaimed under Article 352 of the Constitution which supposedly was beyond the purview of the judiciary to question or inquire into.

Arrest of prominent leaders was just the beginning. It was followed by arrest of more than 50,000 people, or if the unconfirmed sources are to be believed, lakhs of people all over India.

India practically turned into a Unitary state from Federal, as enshrined in our constitution, with all powers usurped by the Central Government. All the seven freedoms granted by Article 19 of the Indian constitution to individuals - namely the Freedom of Speech and Expression, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Movement, Freedom of Residence and Settlement, Freedom of Property and Freedom of Profession, Occupation, Trade or Business - were suspended.

Many groups and parties including the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), that could possibly help the JP movement, were banned.

The rights of the Fourth Estate i.e. the Press and Media, were curbed and it was practically censored with several guidelines being issued both formally and informally. The Press was unambiguously advised to suppress news and assist the Chief Press Advisor of the Government.

The Indian Express leaves its editorial blank as a mark of protest against press censorship.
Later, press succumbed to the pressure by the executive and cooperates with it

Initially, some newspapers resisted and left parts of their pages blank, originally carrying the news/views censored by the government as a mark of protest against censorship. However, later they too succumbed to the pressure.

Terror and suffocation prevailed. One feared to utter a single word against the government or even representatives of the government. Every policeman represented a dictator. There were rumours that the Government had appointed more policemen in plainclothes and everybody was under strict supervision. Anybody could be an agent of the Government. They could charge you of treason if you uttered a single word against the then Government.

Most of it was rumour. Spread by people out of ignorance and fear, and perhaps deliberately encouraged by the Government as it helped the environment of fear spread and engulf every individual, much to the liking of the then Government.

But this information is accessible on the internet to everybody who wants to know. The youngsters wished to know my ‘personal experiences’.

Having just attained adulthood and written the Part I exam of graduation, I was a nobody. What personal experiences worth sharing could I have?

But they kept insisting and I had to delve deep into my memories, and found that despite being a nobody, I too had some stories to tell.

Within a few days after the Emergency was proclaimed and the RSS was banned, thousands of its workers and leaders were detained and everybody who had been associated with this nationalist organisation was waiting for his or her turn with a spirit of “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Me Hai” (The desire for revolution is in our hearts) as stated by the freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil.

I was a regular swayamsevak (volunteer) of RSS up to standard IX. Even as a boy, I looked after its five evening Shakhas (branches). They promote you quite early in the RSS. Thereafter, I severed my links with the local leaders of RSS due to some personal differences. I had not been in touch with the RSS leadership for more than four years, which was quite a long period for the adolescent that I was.  

But I came to know through some friends that the police was making enquiries about me, and that my name was there in the list they had prepared for the next round of arrests in the area. I had no source to confirm the veracity of these reports. But my family was worried. For them I was a kid, and they could not bear the thought of a kid in their family to be arrested for service to the nation.

There were reports that several leaders including Jayaprakash Narayan and Vajpayee lost their health during the period they were jailed. There were several stories of third degree torture to several people who dared to go against the Government.  These reports of tortures by our own Government were no less disturbing than the stories of atrocities on freedom fighters by the British rulers.

I went ‘underground’. I feel amused to think of those days now. Today, I doubt that my name was even there on that list. But I did go underground for about a week as nobody in my family could reject this unconfirmed report, and they wanted to see me safe.

When I came back home, after about a week, my young mind had resolved that I would fight the Government against this draconian proclamation and against the atrocities on people. I got in touch with RSS activists I had known when I used to be active and shared my resolve with them. We started meeting under lamp posts and in the market-places. But it was fraught with risks. We could not meet for long and often had to disburse before completing the stories we were sharing as we suspected someone watching us. And what kind of stories did we share? Stories of our freedom fighters, of how fearless they were and how they gave away their lives for the sake of their Motherland.

I thought of a novel way. I formed a library in our locality. It was opened at the residence of an unsuspecting friend of ours whose father was a local Congress leader. We named the library “Veer Shivaji Smarak Bal Pustakalay” (Veer Shivaji Memorial Children’s Library). We ran this library with complete dedication. Most of the collection was contributed from our homes. They were mostly books on martyrs and their stories. We started meeting there regularly at different hours so that nobody came to know about our activities.

But we realised that even after weeks, we had not any practical steps. In fact, we could not think of anything we could practically do. We were just trying to keep one another motivated. We needed to broaden our base and take some action to change the state of affairs.

Months after months were spent repeating the same things over and over again, until we came across a senior who, impressed with our dedication and commitment, invited us to a meeting at a bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi.  When we reached there, it turned out to be the residence of Gulzarilal Nanda, ex-PM. Deserted by the leadership and forlorn, Mr. Nanda was running a trust called Manav Dharm Mission. He was later awarded the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for his outstanding contribution to the nation. We started going there every week. We were addressed by him on two occasions about the principles of austerity and temperance that the trust was promoting. It was good hearing him. But our priority was to help our country getting rid of the Emergency. Principles like austerity  were boring for us youngsters at that point in time. Several RSS workers from various parts of the city had already joined the trust. After attending the meetings of the trust, we would re-assemble in the sprawling lawns of the bungalow, pretending to be chitchatting and resting, where we used to discuss Emergency, politics and also got some news that was not published in the press due to censorship.

All the news we got there proved true later. We later realised that this was how news spread those days, through word of mouth. Some of us even used to print the news we got there on small pieces of paper on letterpress and circulate those papers, though nobody would admitted doing that. Sometimes, we used to smile when the latest news revealed in that meeting and shared by us to others would come back to us through other sources within hours!

Some of us were very excited with the role we were playing. But I was not. I wished to do something worthwhile. Something tangible. I wished to do something practical and be the author of the end of the black chapter of Emergency.

But before I could get an opportunity to do anything, I got busy with my final year exams. In March 1977, the Emergency was withdrawn, thanks to some misleading reports by intelligence agencies that Indira Gandhi could easily win elections if held at that time.

What happened after that is another sad chapter in the history of independent India. Parties which fought for ‘Total Revolution’ under the leadership of Jayarakash Narayan won the election, and appointed a commission of inquiry into the excesses committed during the Emergency, headed by Justice J.C. Shah, a former Chief Justice of India, which, in its 525-page long report found that the provisions of MISA and Defence of India Rules were abused during the Emergency in order to damage the political opponents of the Congress. The Parliament passed an act under which two special courts were set up in May 1979 to ensure speedy trial as per the report. But the Janata Party Government fell in 1979 following internal skirmishes owing to petty egos and Indira Gandhi came back to power in 1980. After this, the Supreme Court of India found that the special courts were not constituted legally, on which pretext no trial was ever conducted. All those indicted by the Shah Commission lived a happy and successful life thereafter. The Shah Commission report was lost and forgotten.

Were there any gains of Emergency? To quote veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, the imposition of Emergency exposed the timidity of Indian people, moral hypocrisy of society, and fallibility of the press, public servants and judiciary.

Advani speaks only about Indian polity. But what has changed since then?

My young friends in the family do not ask me and nor do I tell them that there were certain things I admired during the Emergency. Trains were neat and punctual. Discipline and honesty were something you would not miss even in government departments. Corruption had gone down at least at lower ranks. Delhi was clean and orderly.

Do we need an Emergency once again to get a good governance?

I look outside my window and find the Sun rising. It is dawn. When will India, my nation, witness its dawn?

   

Budget 2015 - Consolidation for Cooperative Federalism

The supporters of BJP would have liked any kind of budget Jaitely presented. The supporters of opposition parties too are duty-bound to find faults with it even if they are convinced that this is a good budget.

I too may have my own biases. Please feel free to check me wherever you find me biased.

I started listening to FM Jaitely reading out his budget 2015 with a lot of expectations generated out of the hype created by electronic media. Raising of income-tax exemption limit, raising of limits under section 80-C etc. were but some of the things I was expecting while listening to the Finance Minister attentively.

I must admit that I was disappointed. And I cannot blame it on media alone for this disappointment. FM Jaitely himself had stated, while presenting his maiden budget last year, that he wished to give more exemption which he could not, that being his first budget.

When the FM finished his speech, I realised the compulsions that did not allow him to be liberal like last year.

I realised that the FM had forgotten to mention the much-publicised key project of PM Modi i.e. Smart Cities. I realised that no budgetary allocation was announced for it. It was futile then, to expect any further tax exemption for repayment of home loans or interest payment thereon which experts in media was kind of guaranteeing to us!

I then linked it with an interview of former FM Yashwant Sinha, wherein he expressed the state of Indian economy as not promising for various reasons like 

a). The Govt. is committed to the fiscal discipline that does not allow making funds available through fiscal deficit;

b). Despite all efforts by the Modi Govt. so far, Make in India is not getting too many buyers so far resulting in not too much of FDI coming in; Jaitely too mentioned that PPP model for different projects is not picking up;

c). Domestic saving that used to be at 37% level during Vajpayee regime has come down to around 30%; 

And I realised there was one more reason not mentioned by Mr. Sinha but it did tie FM Jaitely’s hands. That is

d). Sharing 42% of centre’s revenue with states against 32% shared so far.

Courtesy: The Telegraph

I also realised that despite all these limitations FM Jaitely has done well.

He had to kind of shelve the Smart Cities project and some other ambitious projects. He could also not give more money to consumers for consumption so as to boost the economy through demand.

But he sent positive signals to the Corporate world without actually compromising on the revenue from Corporate Sector.

He also did a lot for the rural India and the poor. Some of these initiatives are Atal Pension Yojna, Insurance of upto Rs.2 lakh against a premium of Re.1/- per month. 

He also did not compromise on various long term infra projects like housing, ultra mega power projects, and upgradation of schools etc.

And all this, despite transfer of about 1.78 lakh crore of centre’s share to states. 

Hats off to the co-operative federalism!