Friday, November 15, 2019

Can Dec 12 change the trend in world politics?

It was BREXIT which gave a rightward shift to the world politics. Consequent to BREXIT, Donald Trump is elected as US president, protectionism prevailed in his approaches. There is rise of right in Europe though refugee crisis is a major reason but BREXIT provided the impulse. There is rise of far right leaders like Erdogen in Turkey, Strengthening of Rajapakshe in  srilanka, and in many countries including the recent elections in Spain where rightist party doubled its elected representatives. The rise of rightist policies across the world like RKUHP in Indonesia, US withdrawal from Paris climate deal,etc.. Didn't right reach its saturation yet? 

The victory of Jeremy Corbyn over Boris Johnson can reverse this trend. This Christmas election of UK is at a point of time when the right is at its peak. If Jeremy Corbyn can swap with Tories, it could be the game changer for the world politics. Jeremy Corbyn with his views over Israel Palestinian problem, NATO-Russia problem,.. have out of box thinking which is not sweet to US.  We should wait to see if can push the right to its saturation and reverse the political cycle away from right. 

Monday, April 8, 2019

Debates are manipulating your vote

This is the time when every party tries to manipulate the public opinion towards them. Public are repeatedly fed with one thought so that they simply become slaves to that thought. It is very hard for a person to think on his own as he is continuously fed with the propaganda from different sources around him like television, news papers, and people surrounding him. Through this propaganda public opinion is constructed using debates which happens in our house, college, any other public place, television, any social media like whatsapp, facebook,twitter or in any conferences and meetings. Nothing is exception to this during election time.

The debates in the society during elections construct the opinion for the people to cast their vote in the coming general elections. There are two things. First parties try to construct debates which favour them. Second parties try to construct these debates in their favour. These are most important for voter in deciding one's vote.  Because these debates construct the thinking of the voter.

Before voting will the people think about the decisions taken by the government in the last 5 years which affected them directly? In order for the people not to think on this, the ruling party is shying away from the debate on development. It is not debating on how the govt improved the lives of the people during the last 5 years.

In our surroundings the debates generally are on unemployment, poverty, national security, nationalism, development, corruption and scams, religion, local candidates , etc. Debates on unemployment poverty development take stand against government and are anti incumbent in nature. While debates on nationalism national security and religion generate pro government sentiment so these are pro incumbent debates.
Opposition Indian national congress party has strengthened its debates on poverty, unemployment by proposing schemes such as NYAY , a follow up of successful MGNREGA.

The ruling bharatiya Janata Party that is national democratic Alliance trying to build debate on national security by using various incidents such as pulmava, the air strikes following that and by raising debates on articles 370 and 35A.The issue of Ram Mandir is also made to debated a lot. If people are debating on these issues then it means that they are doing so instead of debating on their political, economical, social and cultural development 

NDA initiated the debate on nationalism, if UPA joins the bandwagon extending the debate then it results in a benefit to the government because the people would have debated on poverty unemployment and others that will generally benefit opposition .

The ruling party is banking on nationalism. You can observe this from the speeches of narendra Modi , most union ministers and other leaders who are supporting bjp. BJP is making national security a bigger issue than poverty, unemployment and development. Party representatives smartly ask you to attend the conferences where your thought process is gradually altered forcing you to forget existential issues  which are important for your development.

All southern and north eastren states are completing their election by third phase. In these parts ram mandir cannot be a bigger issue and ruling party is solely using national security as its main issue. Most of the nothern India goes for election in the last four phases. BJP will try to bring Ram mandir to the forefront in addition national security after 23rd april when the third phase completes. For the party to come in power last four phases are very important for BJP and it will leave no stone unturned. It all depends how the opposition projects itself and takes the debate away from ram mandir and national security and bring unemployment, poverty and development into the forefront.

So know that you are being pulled into a debate and your thoughts are manipulated by your communication. Know what you really want and what is truly important for you before voting.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Mountain power structure: difficult to climb higher echelons

The world today runs on fight for power. Power has become an asset and people are going to do anything for want of power. In democracies power is held by elected government. In modern times nation has become the strongest power holder.

In a perfect democracy or in a perfect Communist state power is not concentrated but distributed. But it is not the practice followed by the power holders currently. Because the more it is distributed, more will be inequality and instability. Should the power be distributed or concentrated?

Historical perspective
When Humans use to live in groups as depicted in cave paintings around the world, the power is in the group. With time the size of the group increased and the power started to concentrate with cheifs of group or a tribe. With the rise of kingdoms, kings wielded power. Till that time the power power shifted away from individual. Lot of inequalities are developed at a result of stratification of society.

Magna carta is the first move in reversal of this power shift. Magna carta recognised the the equality for the first time since primitive times. Concentrated power started towards distribution from this instance.

Treaty of Westphilia locked the power with nation states with the emergence of sovereignty. The world is run by this concept of concentration of power by the nation state.

Power shifted to drift in two directions after the nodal point of Westphilian treaty. With the emergence of concept of rights, power shifted towards towards individuals. With the rise in domination of trade, concept of globalisation emerged, which led to shift of power towards supra nationality.

Pretty is like a 🗻 mountain. It is not evenly distributed between individual, local, regional, national, international holders. The nation state is welding the peak point of the mountain. With the existence of federal structure in some countries regional governments are holding similar power to that of national government. Rest all ( individual, local, and international ) institutions are on the slopes of the mountain.

Unless the distribution of power is flat, it is very difficult for common man to raise to the higher echelons of power. Unequal distribution of power is the main reason of inequality in the world. The distribution of power should start with decentralization. The local governments across the globe must be constitutionally recognised by their respective constitutions. The local governments must be provided with enough funds, functions and functionaries.
Let us make the world equal for everyone to live.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

This is a man's world

This is a dialogue on women empowerment

Kiran: This is a man's world

Rajani: Is it?

Kiran: Yes it is

Rajani: Can't it change?

Kiran: yes it can

Rajani: How?

Kiran: women can change this. This world is dominated by man because of women.

Rajani: how?

Kiran: it is women who are subordinating themselves. We(women) must know what they are capable of. We have to think independently.

Rajani: How does thinking matter?

Kiran: it matters everything because our thoughts become our words, our words become our actions, our actions form our habits, our habits define our character and our character form our destiny.

Rajani: Is thought a panacea?

Kiran: Thought is everything. Women must feel that they are secondary to none politically, economically, socially, culturally, and personally.

Rajani: Don't women already have this thought?

Kiran: No, barring few women, women themselves are torchbearers of patriarchy.

Rajani: I don't believe this..

Kiran: Woman (Mother in who ) uses her authority on her daughter in law because of her son, woman (husband's sister) uses her authority on her brother's wife. Even you see daughter is controlled more by her mother on the other hand the same mother gives more freedom to her son

Rajani: That is because of the male dominant society. Mother cautions her daughter.

Kiran: Now you got the point. Mother, a woman is feeling the society is male dominant. If she continuous to feel so, she makes her daughter like her and the male dominism continues. She must initiate the change.

Rajani: What must be done?

Kiran: A thought must be planted in the minds of every women that they are equal in all respects to man and the world cannot survive without them

Rajani: Yes it would be nothing without a woman or a girl

Friday, December 1, 2017

Women should redefine the society


Women in India have the most comfort zone. They are brought up carefully by their parents and at the time of acquiring an independent thought they are married to man and he owns her according to our customs. Before marriage they are under the umbrella of their parents and After marriage they are under Shadow of husband. The society does not demand women of social stature, financial independence, political leadership, societal dominance and personal achievement. This is the comfort zone created for women.

This comfort zone is created by men. Women staying in this comfort zone will help men establish themselves superior. But now women are getting empowered and they are proving equivalent to men in many fields. But they continue to stay in the comfort zone. Women can use this comfort zone to achieve but once they achieve they should come out of this comfort zone of this society. This society is made for the men by the men and to the men. Women should try to achieve social stature, financial independence, political leadership, societal dominance and personal achievement.

Women are trapped in cultural ethics defined by men. Cultural ethics which say what is right and what is wrong are fully biased towards men. These cultural ethics act as impediment for women empowerment. This culture gives comfort to women but not independence. These cultural ethics are like golden chains tied to a corner in the jail called patriarchy. It's time for women to break these chains.

The women's fight for equality in the male dominated world where all the laws of the state, customs of the society and patterns of relationship defined by men or in the perspective of men is useless. Women should instead fight for independence from this society and develop their own society. A society in which customs of the society, traditions of religions, patterns of relationship and laws of state defined by women.

Redefinition of all the ideas is needed in women's perspectives. Ideas include laws, culture, traditions, customs and relationship. Go out of the comfort zone but use the comfort zone whenever needed as this is a patriarchal society. Break the chains of the society. Prove that women are superior to men. Create a rational society. 

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Demonetization is a pain with no benefits

As Narendra modi's boldest move failed to nail out corruption and black money in any manner, now the move is seeming as an intention to help elite business men of the nation who give crores as party fund to BJP.
Economists like Amartya sen, RBI ex governor YV Reddy, Arun Kumar etc,right from the first day criticized the move. Now demonetization failed in all aspects
1. corruption : we saw many bribery cases with new notes. The sources of corruption are not effected.
2. black money : we saw almost all black money is converted white. Black money in the form of gold, assets, foreign investment, crypto currency emerged.
3. terror financing : we saw some terrorists in kashmir have new notes with them days after demonetisation.
4. fake currency : After all american dollar had highest fake currency, fake currency of new notes will emerge soon as the sources of fake currency are not caught. RBI too didn't have any data.
5. people lost jobs ; In medium and small sector 35% of people lost jobs ,and revenue is down by atleast 50%. small compsanies are unable to recover even now as only 24000 per week is now enough for a small company to survive.1 2 3 4
6. labour effected : All cash dependent labour lost jobs for atleast 2 months.
7. Hawala transctions: They lost their business only for a month and started doing business with new currency. You already saw crores of rupees with many people.
8. Banks lost reputation : bankers are brought into corruption
9. RBI failure: RBI failed to address the concerns and troubled common man only and no big politician is caught in the process.
10. Rupee lost reputation: along with India, Indian rupee is used highly in Nepal and Bhutan. Now Nepal altogether banned rupee, Rupee transactions stopped in Bhutan also. Now chinese yuan is emerging as secondary currency in Nepal, although it cannot completely replace rupee it hugely effects Indian prospects.
11. tourism sector: Both domestic and international tourism fell to zero.
12. deaths: many people died not just for lack of money but for losing jobs, self-employment losses, lack of daily wages.,,
13. Growth rate effected: India's GDP growth rate fell by atleast one percent than the projected
14. FDI outflow: All the good news of growing FDI in last few years is lost
15. GST delayed: GST is apparently delayed due to this
16. Agriculture: farmers are hugely hit as they are unable to sow crops in time as their money is struck mostly in co-operative banks
The list of disadvantages is not ending and I did not find any advantage of the move. They say it helped rise of cashless economy. Is the economy cash less now? We already saw the disadvantages of existing cashless economy like paytm- SBI- HDFC dispute, freecharge dispute, hanging of apps like paytm, BHIM,others,. India lacks infrastructure for cashless economy now, India is already moving cashless and preple are using paytm, netbanking from years on this move only made those applications hang. After an year when small banks, payments banks and Postal payment bank becomes operational we can see rise in cashless economy. Demonetization bringing cashless economy is a myth.
Narendra Modi with the help of newspapers like Eenadu which became his pamphlet in recent times bluffed you. The reality is different. Demonetization is a move to help BigBazaar, Reliance Jio, Paytm etc., who generally give thousands of crores of rupees to BJP as election funding.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Death of traditional retail entrepreneurship with Demonetization

          The most important effect of demonetization is the change in spending habits of people. The biggest benefactors are Future Group's Big Bazaar and Reliance JIO. On January 16, 2017 Future Group”s founder and CEO kishore Biyani said their sales are up by 20%, Where does this additional market come to it? It is not new market.
With a push to cashless economy people need internet on all times in their mobile.As Reliance JIO is only offering free data for limited period it became the only destination. What is the conspiracy for doing demonetization in just a couple of months after JIO is launched?
           As these groups have more quaternary and quinary resources, better infrastructural resources, they adapted the change and attracted the existing consumers to them. Small Retail entrepreneurs lost their customers. 
           For the benefit of two giant capitalists lakhs of small entrepreneurs are affected. People employed in those small shops lost their employment. These giant groups on expansion will give employment, it is of no doubt. But entrepreneurs are becoming employees. Self- dependent people are becoming job dependent. The employment which will rise in these companies is much smaller than the lost employment due to demonetization as they are highly digitalized.
This impulsive move rang death bells in traditional retail entrepreneurship by changing the spending habits of people. This can be seen as permanent effect as once the customer tasted the ease in accessing these giants and their ability to offer goods at a subsidized rates because of their mass procurement of goods, common infrastructural facilities, availability of quaternary and quinary resources.

Demonetization is an out and out failed move of the government. It failed to root out black money, corruption. The cashless economy which Govt dreamed is not achieved as it cannot be achieved. Demonetization not just ruined the small industry nut also ruined country's macro economic parameters like Growth Rate, Rupee value, FDI,....

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Boldest move ever: But large Black money holders are not affected


          Indian government’s decision to demonetize 500 and 1000 rupees notes, the two highest valued papers on land is the boldest move ever a government taken to curb the menace of corruption. Black money accounts for 20 percent of the GDP of nation which is 133.5 Lakh crore according to Ambit Capital Research. Many other sources say that black money is much more than that.

Large black money holders are saved 

          Most big players who have i)acquired assets with the black money, ii)converted into white, iii)acquired assets overseas, iv) Invested back in India as FDI in dollars through tax heavens like Mauritius v) Valuable metals like gold and silver will not be affected by this move. So Politicians and Business men have insulated themselves from this shock. They have converted their black money into dollars. Small proportion of their black money (might be less than 5 percent) which is in cash may be affected which is much less than the 45 percent tax they need to pay. It is blow to only those players who keep black money with them without investing anywhere. 

           It is a surgical strike on Hawala operators who generally transfer money from overseas and hold large big notes with them. Collapse of hawala transactions will be big boost to GDP of the nation and banking sector. 
          Government employees pay tax for the amount then earn legally. It is only those corrupt officers who have not invested their money are drowned. 
          Small and medium business units who runs economy of unaccounted transactions are the worst affected. These people avoid paying tax even though their incomes fall much in the tax net. Unorganized sector employees who are paid their salaries in cash will also face problems in exchanging the currency they had. 
          Non bank account holders will be affected for sure but their proportion is reduced with Jandhan. Especially in north eastern and hilly terrain areas where banking has not penetrated will be affected 
          As a whole this policy is a target on small and medium black money holders only. Even some of them also converted black money into assets to the possible extent. 

Good future prospects

          Most Black money is an outcome of corruption, this is a surgical strike against corrupt. Decrease in corruption levels will boost the nation in all terms. 
         The proportion of small and medium black money holders is very high in the nation. They are the future large black money holders. So curbing them is a wisest move as a large potential of future black money is stalled. 
         Net amount of black economy will be minimized and it will give government to implement its schemes and activities for the benefit of the people. 
         Encouragement of Virtual money(e- banking, credit and debit card) increases transparency in the nation.
         As all the people will bring their money to banks, transactions of money increases and in turn raise GDP of nation. 

Immediate state of economy

        As the nation highly runs on unorganized sector the immediate condition of economy will be in a degrading. A parallel economy which is running on black money collapses to a major extent and leads to unemployment. Small and medium business units which sustains on tax evasion will crumble to large chain and multi-national companies. Small units do not have professional management and skill workers like MNCs and chain linked companies. This is a great chance for Ambanis, Adanis, Birlas, and other business man to expand their empire which may in turn result in collapse of small industry. Accountability of economy will surely increase but diversity in economy may vanish.India as a country should not become a puppet of a few businessmen rather it needs to give space for maximum businessmen for the future growth of the nation. 

         As banks will not be open for 2 days, the economy of nation will be crippled these two days. People face extreme situation these two days. Even after that people have to get ready for large queues which they use to buy first day movie tickets of star hero and much forgotten now with introduction of digital cinema. As Indian economy is cash run economy the 100 rupee notes which are in circulation will not be enough for transactions. If transactions decrease economy decreases. It takes atleast a week in urban and a month in rural areas to pump enough currency to rejuvenate the economy. The readiness of RBI with new notes is an important factor in determining the time by which enough currency is back with the people. Excess black money holders will soon start selling their notes for lesser value. A 500 rupee note may be sold for 400 now but its value falls to zero as the deadline of December 30 comes. Digital banking units like Paytm, freecharge, DBS, are the immediate beneficiaries in technology penetrated areas. 

Welcome move

        Any step which helps the growth of the nation is laudable and welcome. It will be a bigger achievement if government works faster to pump enough cash and bring back the economy in the quickest possible manner. The liberalization of Indian economy in 1991 has surely helped the nation, but in its immediate following many Indians lost their jobs and many local companies collapsed unable to bear the international competition. Now government must ensure that small entrepreneur do not lose out to big entrepreneurs like Adanis, Ambanis, Birlas,. 

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Let Democracy prevail

            In Indian democracy people elect government and so the governments have the legitimacy of people. The elected governments have the power to make laws and take administrative decisions which come under its ambit according to the constitution. From the very definition of democracy elected governments draw the authority to ‘administer the people’ from the people itself. So this concludes that the elected governments gain defacto (real or original) power in the subjects it is entitled to. The real power is attained from the feature “democracy” itself. So stripping a government of defacto powers of popularly elected government by higher government who enjoys dejure (nominal and legal) powers is against democracy.

           In Delhi people elected government so that they will be ruled by it. If the government of Delhi do not have the defacto powers in its sphere then what is the use of electing it by people. As it is elected by people Delhi government draws the authority from the people who have elected it and not by the debate whether it is union territory or state.

           Constitution i) allows minimal coordination in the whole nation, ii) specifies who has the power to make decision in a society, iii) limits the power of government, iv)fulfill the aspirations of society and v) expresses the fundamental identity of people(Indian). Constitution of India draws its legitimacy from people as they consensually accept it.

             Delhi High court has pronounced a verdict that Delhi being union territory the final authority rests with lieutenant governor. This interpretation is reflection of constitution specifying who has the power to make decisions but not reflecting the people’s legitimacy on it. This is an interpretation of constitution rather than the aspirations of people from whom the constitution draws it’s authority from. People of Delhi wanted to be ruled by a government of their choice(in the subjects it is entitled to do). People of delhi have elected a government to rule them for 5 years. Constitution says they are to be ruled by some other (LG) whom the people of Delhi have never endorsed. Here constitution is against the wishes of people. As lieutenant governor is taking over defacto power in every decision of government it reflects that he is against the wishes of the people. This results in decrease of legitimacy of constitution by the people. It is not good for the nation to take the authority on the people by saying constitution has granted me to rule over you. This is belittling constitution. Let democracy prevail.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Simultaneous elections bringing good governance is an illusion

             Central government is mulling over conducting simultaneous elections to Loksabha and State Legislative Assembly. In the wake of strong pitch for simultaneous elections by prime minister and his colleagues, this article discusses the menace of such changes.

Regional party dominance will continue

         We have seen the foraying of regional parties in Loksabha and continuous formation of coalition governments in centre from 1989 onwards expect on this occasion. The state government has garnered an increase in interest and acceptance right after 1975 emergency and various surveys like that of centre for study of developing societies(CSDS) shows us these trends. CSDS shows a rise of interest in state government from 18.9 percent to 25.6 percent from 1971 to 1999. This is even higer now. If simultaneous elections are conducted the regional parties will have a greater dominance over the national parties as people receive benefits from welfare schemes of state government directly in most states like Tamilnadu, AP, Telangana, etc,. Dominance of regional parties in other states is inevitable.Except hindi speaking states almost all other states are dominated by regional parties. This trend cannot be reversed.

Digging it's own grave    

      There is a greater chance of increasing complexity of coalition politics at centre as cross-voting during simultaneous elections is negligible even in urban areas. The stability of central government will be in jeopardy and thus become a threat to governance. From where can this good governance come with unstable governments?  It may save money and resources for conducting elections but leads to uncertainty of existence of central government. Apart from this we will have technical problems like if central government loses majority should the state governments be dissolved and if a state fails to form a government or loses majority then who rules the state legitimately for the residual term.

Central Government pondering of simultaneous election is like cutting the bark of the tree on which it is sitting.
               As the nation is moving towards decentralization simultaneous election is more a threat to relevance of union government rather than federalism. As dominance of regional parties increases, decentralization speeds up and central government may remain as a puppet of state governments. This limits centre to a mere transactor rather than a transformator. Governance will be replaced by transactions with state governments. Bringing good governance will be a myth.

Save central government

       If any change have to be made simultaneous elections must be avoided completely. No election to state assembly must be simultaneous to Loksabha elections and Elections to state assemblies must not occur before or within nine months of Loksabha elections. State assemblies to which elections take place simultaneously with Loksabha must be rescheduled accordingly. If centre tries to dominate states it's nothing but digging it's own grave.