Barackface: Rahul Gandhi

Showing posts with label Rahul Gandhi. Show all posts

Friday, July 10, 2015

How Nitish Lost Momentum

The Next Chief Minister Of Bihar?
Sushil Modi
Janakpur Patna Kolkata Industrial Corridor
Sushil Modi In Janakpurdham
Advantage Sushil Modi
सुशील मोदी क्या कह रहे हैं?
बिहार के उभरते चेहरे
Bihar Is Now 55-45

English: Bihar Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Upto coining the phrase Bihar@2025, he had it. Laloo had just come around. And his momentum was reflected in the in-fighting that had started in the BJP camp.

But then. Nitish has made no effort to elaborate on Bihar@2025. What is it? What is the roadmap? What is the vision? Just one word will not do. He might have organized a conclave, called in top minds in Bihar to pontificate. वैसे ही announce कर के छोड़ दिया। पुल का उदघाटन कर दिया, पुल बनाया नहीं।

Also, Laloo has gone to his old ways by haggling on what seats he should get. He wants to get most of the Yadav-Muslim seats. Whereas a good point to start would have been to let Nitish have 100 of the 112 seats he already has in his dicky.

Right now it is advantage BJP: 55-45.

The biggest mistake Nitish made was he took Advani's bait. When Advani warned of a possible "emergency," Nitish plunged head in and took a bite. That act is not Bihar@2025. A Bihar@2025 vision statement is one that makes peace with Narendra Modi being at the helm in Delhi, not because he is the better candidate, that is irrelevant, but because he is the choice of the people of Bihar. लोकतंत्र का मैंडेट है। जनता जनार्दन होती है। अगर आज नरेन्द्र मोदी दिल्ली में बैठे हैं तो बिहारियों का सबसे बड़ा योगदान है। उत्तर प्रदेश was a low hanging fruit, Bihar was the real battle in 2014.

It is like this. Laloo was doing excellent as Railway Minister but he had very few MPs. That is when he started saying how he wants to be PM and all. And Rahul Gandhi got rid of him. You don't become PM with 10 MPs, or 20. You have to self-assess, or Rahul is going to do it for you.

अभी नीतिश opposition लीडर बनने के रास्ते पर चल रहे हैं। सुमो का पलड़ा भारी पड़ गया है।

Grand coalition in Bihar has failed, says BJP

He said that JD(U) leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s slogan, “Barta Bihar, fir ayenge Nitish”, will now turn into “Darta bihar, ab nahin Nitish”.

Janata Parivar a Damp Squib: Amit Shah After BJP's Win in Bihar Legislative Council Elections

Mr Shah said, "The countdown to BJP's victory in Bihar has started today. The BJP-led NDA has won 13 out of 24 seats while it earlier held only five seats. There was a lot of hype around Janata Parivar in Bihar but people have proved that it is a damp squib."

BJP Deals Blow to Nitish-Lalu in Legislative Council Elections Months Ahead of Bihar Polls

As the BJP celebrated, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "This was not an election where the common people vote. It was a council election. If the BJP wants to be so happy about it, let them be. They anyway like to live in this fantasy world." ..... "This is not a semi-final to the assembly elections," said a spokesperson of his Janata Dal United. ..... Elected members of the assembly and local bodies like panchayats vote in the legislative council elections. ...... The JDU, which has won five of the alliance's 10 seats, reportedly assesses that Lalu Yadav, who has won four, has not been successful in transferring his votes to the alliance. That will be nagging worry as the assembly elections approach.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Land Acquisition And Labor Mobility

Acquisition icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

भारत के प्रगति के रास्ते में पाकिस्तान या चीन नहीं है ----- खुद भारत है। इस बातका एहसास होता है जब देखते हैं कि भारत के अर्थतंत्र में Land Acquisition और Labor Mobility का क्या बुरा हाल है।

Entrepreneur को hiring और firing की पुरी छुट अगर ना हो तो, पहली बात, वो शायद human rights violation है। अपने private company में उसको freedom of movement तो होना ही चाहिए।

Friday, May 29, 2015

पहली बार अखिलेश ने मेरे को Impress किया

If you want to know for sure if Narendra Modi has political skills, you look at something like the border swap with Bangladesh. The issue had been festering for decades, and Modi sorted it out. That is skill. If you want to know if Barack Obama has political skills, you look at his health care reform. Presidents had struggled with it for 50 years. Same with Cuba. Obama made the move, and suddenly America finds itself seeking help from Cuba on cancer research. Go figure. Who would have thought!

Similarly, Akhilesh Yadav has impressed me with his land acquisition for the Agra-Lucknow expressway. He did it. Now he is competing. No longer is he facing a definite rout in 2017. There is only one way you can compete with Modi: development. You have to out-development him. That is it.

वैसे भी उत्तर प्रदेश बहुत बड़ा राज्य है। इसको एक बार फिर से bifurcate करना जरुरी है।

Know how land was acquired for Agra-Lucknow expressway

When farmers were protesting across India against the NDA government's land acquisition bill, over 30, 000 farmers in Uttar Pradesh willingly gave their fertile lands to the Samajwadi Party-led government to build its six-lane Agra-Lucknow expressway project. The government's flagship 302-km expressway greenfield project is the longest in the country till date.

Agra-Lucknow Expressway to be operational by Oct 2016

The state has planned to develop agricultural 'mandis' along the expressway to spur the economy by providing faster transport to agricultural produce, handicrafts, small industries etc. This region is known for high dairy, potato, fruits and food grain production.

UP mulls air strip on Lucknow-Agra expressway
Lucknow-Agra e-way to have 8 lanes all along the stretch
Chinese show interest in Lucknow-Ballia expressway

Friday, May 15, 2015

Indian Farmers And The Land Bill

English: Daytime scene showing the pre-monsoon air over India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If Modi were to ditch the land bill, that would not have any impact on an unfriendly monsoon, that would not have any impact on the unfavorable global conditions. The land bill impacts less than 1% of the land owned by Indian farmers, maybe 0.1%. But Modi's land bill is bearing the brunt of what is happening to all the land held by all Indian farmers. Farmers are 60% of India, and India is a democracy. The Chinese Communist Party never had to pass any land bill. They took what they needed, as they needed them.

The Indian farmers' concerns need to be addressed, even though they are largely independent of the land bill. They are legitimate voters with legitimate concerns. There is very little to do on the monsoon front in the immediate term, but major irrigation projects must be in the offing for the long term, there is not much that can be done to bring the global markets in favor. So what to do?

Communication is key. They have to feel the empathy. This is where leadership comes into play. Modi's megaphone comes handy here. So far the attempt has been to say the land bill is not anti-farmer. Well, what is the opposition to the land bill is only a symptom. The real issue is the farmers do have genuine concerns. Modi could do well to talk about the monsoon and the global markets.

Even on the land bill, the talk has been about infrastructure and industry. Irrigation has to be talked about in the same breath. Indian farmers understand irrigation even more than they understand rural infrastructure. Irrigation also speaks to the monsoon woes.

When Gandhi asked the Indian people to come forward, he did not offer lollipops. He asked for sacrifice. Modi can also ask people for sacrifice. If you want a better future for your children, this land bill needs to be passed. The next generation can not be as dependent on agriculture as this one. Usi mein bhalai hai. People will understand.

But talking about the next generation is not enough. Farmers are not going away any time soon. They have concerns just like the industrialists and anyone else. They are also voters. They are also consumers. The government in Delhi has to make its very best attempts to do right by them. In the immediate term. There is no skipping that part. They voted for you with expectations. Those expectations have to be met.

Indian Farmers Going Through A Downturn

The land bill, even if passed, will impact a very small part of land held by the farmers in India. But a bad monsoon or an unfavorable global market, neither of which are the doings of the government, can drag the government down, because India is a democracy, and one of the ways voters vent their anger is by voting one way or the other. The farmers of India are going through a downturn right now, and the land bill has become the punchbag for it.

For Modi's year-old government, storm brewing in rural India

From the start of the crop season last October through March, India's farm exports have fallen more than 11 percent to $15 billion, as the impact of the global commodities glut has been sharpened by events like Iran's nuclear talks and a currency dip in Brazil......... The fall in exports has depressed domestic farmgate prices just as unseasonal rain damaged winter crops such as wheat, potato, chickpea and rapeseed. Farmers have little money now to buy seeds for the summer sowing, and meteorologists have predicted the annual June-October monsoon will be below par, which means the next crop may also fail. ..... some of the events that have led to the crisis are beyond the government's control....... Until last year, for example, Iran paid a premium for Indian sugar, soymeal, barley and basmati rice. Now, with the easing of some Western sanctions, Iran is looking to buy elsewhere........ Cotton exports have been hit by China's decision to abandon a stockpiling plan, while non-basmati rice shipments face headwinds after Thailand decided to run down its stockpiles....... On the other side of the world, a decline in the Brazilian real following a scandal at oil giant Petrobras last year has weighed on sugar prices, making Indian exports uncompetitive......... Meanwhile, the fall in global crude oil prices has depressed prices of grains and oilseeds used for biofuels. It also trimmed freight rates, making imports of commodities such as corn and soymeal from South America cheaper for Asian buyers........ A strong rupee - despite a fall last week - has further made India's farm exports uncompetitive and imports cheaper......... A major commodities trader has said the decline in agricultural exports could be as much as $5 billion, or nearly 20 percent, for the crop year to September, which would be the steepest on record....... In the villages, farmers struggle to understand why they are earning less. "How come prices of all crops are going down?" asked Anil Sathe, a farmer in Kamargaon who said he has had to start working as a part-time labourer to make ends meet........

Farming accounts for only 15 percent of India's $2 trillion economy but provides a livelihood to 60 percent of its 1.25 billion people. A crisis in the countryside would have severe political impact.

India's powerful farming lobby turns on Modi

Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government's push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he won't be backing the premier again. .... "The rain gods don't hear us and Modi has also turned deaf to our cries.".... "We thought Modi's government would address our problems, that is why we voted for him. But look what he is doing. We will not back him again," said the 70-year-old as he smoked a hookah pipe.

Rahul Gandhi asks ‘visiting’ PM to meet farmers

"Our PM is on a tour of India right now. He has come here for some days. ..... The insinuation that Modi was jet-setting around the globe while farmers were committing suicides forms part of Rahul's now-familiar attacks at the PM in his post-sabbatical avatar.

Land bill: I live for the poor, says PM Modi

Talking in the context of the government's affordable housing scheme and that land acquired under the new law would benefit the poor, Modi asked, "Who is going to live in them? Are industrialists going to stay there... will Mukesh Ambani live there?" ...... "the US President (Barack Obama) as also the head of the World Bank and IMF all accept that India is the fastest growing economy of the world".

Monday, May 11, 2015

Modi's Blind Spot: Smriti Irani?

I like Smriti Irani, but she is perhaps not the best choice for the, what is it called, the Human Resources Ministry. And I thought she was Education Minister.

When Modi was Gujrat Chief Minister, and Nitish was Bihar Chief Minister, they both had stellar economic growth rates, but Modi was seen better at courting the private sector, Nitish was seen doing better work in education and health.

Education has to be top priority. And traditional ways will not work. The traditional way is where you count how many school buildings you erect. That is too slow. That is not scalable enough. Education should be in the air. Education should be lifelong. High school should be available to all illiterate adults. The goal should be 100% high school graduates, and 50% college graduates.

Use FM technology. Illiterate adults too proud to show up at school should be able to tune in to their classes. You should be able to do 12 years of schooling by tuning in. Cheap tablets with the Wikipedia downloaded and preloaded should be handed out to top performing high school students across the country. I believe the Wikipedia is available in several Indian languages. Get it done in all major languages. Getting broadband to every citizen is more important than taking roads to every citizen, although roads are also important. Jahan broadband pahunch gaya samjho wahan university pahunch gaya. Khan Academy ke videos dekh ke log education hasil kar sakte hain.

Some of those criticizing her are being sexist. And there are plenty of those inside the BJP. The RSS is plain wrong in trying to saffronize education. What do you want? Hindu madarsas? She is giving the impression of being a woman who does not know her place. How can she act bossy towards people she is a boss of?

The babus are upset, the RSS is seething ..... She has been accused of rubbing colleagues in the BJP up the wrong way, failing to understand the RSS's demands when it comes to the education sector and being unable to retain key administrative officials in the ministry. .... her educational qualifications, the decision to celebrate 'good governance day' instead of Christmas day in CBSE schools, respected nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar threatening to quit from the board of IIT-B directors and dropping German as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas. ..... none of these seem to have tempered the manner in which she deals with her ministry ...... wary and distrustful of bureaucrats, Irani has reportedly been known to humiliate and put them down in ways that have resulted in more than one of them seeking transfers. ...... while a vice chancellor of a central university is quoted as saying those trying to suggest ideas to Irani could be told "this is not your classroom, this is my ministry", a senior ministry official speaks about how she flung a file at additional secretary-rank official only to apologise later, and promise to 'restore his honour'. ....... Irani had once told a top official that although she had less education, she had more brains than him, accused another of selling the sovereignty of the nation and told an official at a meeting of an academic body 'I am the council'. ........ the official who reportedly had a file thrown at him reportedly preferred to opt for a transfer rather than have his honour restored, and other bureaucrats have been cited as wanting to be repatriated rather than continue to have to deal with her. ........ despite bragging of long standing third generation ties with the RSS, the organisation reportedly has no love lost for her ....... the RSS is not very happy with the manner in which Kakodkar was treated and believe she's "rude, oppressive and bossy". ....... Senior leaders are unhappy with the manner in which she has been treating senior leadership, including not standing to greet Rajnath Singh, not responding to requests for appointments and making people who do meet her feel "uncomfortable". ....... when Irani was the subject of a sexist barb from JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav ..... she does not seem to like most of us

But even after taking all that into account, the job has been tough on her, and the stress has been showing. She should be kept in the cabinet, but at another ministry. Perhaps.

But Modi has a big incentive to stick by Irani. He wants Irani to snatch Rahul's constituency away from him. That is a tall task, but he wants to keep trying. Unko abhi bhi nahin lag raha hai ki Bharat Congress mukt ho gaya.

Smriti Zubin Irani. Inke middle name aur last name se to lagta hai she might be Muslim. Is that what the RSS people are unhappy about?

Smriti, A Fading Memory?

On May 26, after the grand swearing-in ceremony of the Narendra Modi government, the most beaming face in the BJP was that of Smriti Irani. At 38, she had been made a cabinet minister and was being projected as the new woman face of the party. With her trademark sindoor and flashing eyes, the actress-politician accepted congratulations as if it was her due. Commentators on TV debates waxed eloquent about how this bright young woman, who had fought a gritty battle against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, now represented the future of the BJP. She epitomised Indian womanhood, it was said. She smiled and accepted many congratulations before the cameras. ...... There have been remarks about Smriti imagining she is the “Jhansi ki Rani about to lop off four heads with her sword”. ...... Instead of charming people who come to meet her, she makes them uncomfortable. ..... She has developed a persona of being aloof and indifferent. ..... “Smriti has also been the butt of sexist barbs and comments in Parliament and under normal circumstances we should all have been rallying around her. But the problem is that she does not seem to like most of us ...... Still, to Smriti’s credit, she has endured those controversies involving sexist remarks well, eventually giving it back in a dignified manner. For instance, when Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress called her a ‘thumkewali’, she just took him to court. ......... in 2006 that Smriti very consciously worked to get herself into the good books of the most powerful chief minister in the BJP, a man who seemed poised for bigger things. ..... Women in politics often run the risk of being objectified, particularly if they are not part of the bahu-beti brigade, that is women who are token representatives of men or come from a political dynasty. Smriti has made it to the top of the party on her own steam. As a former actress, she would inevitably have had to face pretty crude sexism from those who would resent the rise of a powerful woman. ..... And there’s no doubt that women can at times be as bad as men in spreading gossip, innuendo and resenting the rise of a rival. It’s human nature really, and the BJP has always been a party of great rivalries and competing ambition. ....... Smriti has been a star act in the BJP. She has also turned out to be much smarter and quicker on the uptake than other star acts in the BJP, most notably the beautiful and charming Hema Malini, who really does not contribute much beyond her presence. As a politician, Smriti is undoubtedly of a different calibre: she thrives in the cut and thrust of debate, in taking on challengers in the electoral battlefield, in giving smart replies to pesky reporters. She may not have degrees but it’s hard to doubt that she is a smart and savvy woman.

No Jottings, The Babu Has Left The Building
‘I Wouldn’t Trust Her With Jam And Pickle Ministry’
A Matter Of Orientation
The Better Bindi Diplomat