Prime Minister Narendra Modi defeats the vote of No Confidence: Some Implications for 2019

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

 There was never a moment of doubt that the Central Government headed by Narendra Modi would defeat the No Confidence Motion put forward by the Telugu Desam Party and supported by the Indian National Congress. Sonia Gandhis unexpected announcement that she had the numbers brought back memories of 1999 when she made a similar claim and the Prime Minister drew pointed attention to that. Was there a need to introduce a Vote of No Confidence? The Economy is chugging along at a steady clip of around 7.5 to 8%. Unemployment though high there has been a steady growth in the job market. Industrial production is rising and Foreign Direct Investment is also heading northwards. So all in all there is no great urgency to push forward an agenda of "regime change". However, with the Indian National Congress and other dynasty obsessed political factions logic and national interest take a second place to impulsive politically short sighted and, as it is clear from this particular instance, a suicidal race to political disaster, perhaps even extinction. Vote of No Confidence in a Parliamentary Democracy is a serious business and is a weapon that must be deployed only in the gravest of situations.

Rahul Gandhi's speech for nearly an hour was full of sound and fury and it signified nothing except that he exposed his political immaturity before the entire Nation. He made a serious allegation of political corruption against Narendra Modi with regard to the Rafael deal which was refuted by the French Government spokesman  even as the debate raged in the House. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Government is shying away from disclosing the price of the aircraft as it wants to hide the price escalation. The fact is that the UPA Government itself has signed a no disclosure Agreement and so the Defense Minister was able to prove the falsity of Rahul Gandhis attack.He further made allegations raising questions over the demonetization drive and the surgical strike against terrorist training camps located across the Line of Control in Pakistan held part of Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi used a particularly offensive term. "Jumla".

In the vernacular language the word Jumla is used as sarcastic way of trivializing an accomplishment done with great difficulty and earnestness. Jumla is always associated with a task seriously performed and earnestly executed. Use of the word to denote the heroic efforts of the Indian Army to combat terrorism will not go well with the electorate. After his rambling dis oriented speech, Rahul walked over to the Prime Minister's seat and hugged him, a clear breach of Parliamentary protocol. And after resuming his seat Rahul Gandhi started winking at the Prime Minister another major violation of protocol and parliamentary decorum. The whole nation watched aghast at this awful display of dynastic arrogance and a concerted calculated effort to humiliate the Prime Minister on the floor of the House. In fact, the behavior of Rahul Gandhi will cost the Congress party and its allies votes in the 2019 General Elections.

After the vapid performance of Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister spoke and he completely ripped apart the false charges made by the insensitive and immature Rahul Gandhi. As usual, the Prime Minister lit into the dynastic scion by flagging the obvious fact that he is holding his office by virtue of his service to the people and not by birth. Calling himself a Kaamdaar not a Naamdaar, Modi mocked the Ganddhis by saying that he dare not see the Gandhis in the eye and he drew attention to the numerous instances when the Congress Party humiliated the Prime Ministers by offering support and then withdrawing it at the last moment: Charan Singh, Deve Gowda and I K Gujral were all victims of the power lust of the Congress party. The stellar performance of the Prime Minster resulted in the No Confidence vote being rejected.

The implications of the Lok Sabha vote need to be examined. 325 votes were cast in favor of the NDA Government and this is 11 vote more than the combined strength of the NDA in the Lok Sabha. I think that the tempo will now pick up for the next elections. Having won the vote of confidence, Narendra Modi may go in for an early elections and I predict that the BJP will get around 305 seats on its own.

Donald Trump and Vladmir Putin Summit at Helsinki, Finland

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books


An extraordinary event happened in Helsinki two days back and the American Media seems to have been caught completely off guard.  The world's two most powerful men met in the Finnish capital Helsinki in order to iron out the differences between them, From Newspaper reports it appears that all the hot spots around the world, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine were all discussed and Isreal and its security was also discussed. No official communique was issued at the end of the talks so we have to depend only on information from the two sides. The American press and its Academic leaders even went to the extent of terming this meeting and the conclusions that followed as "treason". The establishment Republicans like Jon Mccain and Democrats were quick to denounce the Press Meet that followed as :disgraceful" "cowardly" and Hussein Obama was full of invective against the attempt to bring Russia back into the world system.

The fact is that the Intelligence Community--CIA, NSA --have all been extremely hostile to Donal Trump and have at times even tried to undermine him and his foreign policy. Such acts certainly lead to the suspicion that the Deep State in the US is operating through the Intelligence Media nexus. Trump has sought to lessen the tensions between USA and Russia and there is nothing wrong in this objective. Ukraine where a fascist regime has been propped up by the West is the cause for all the strain. And Crimea was integrated into the Russia state after following internationally accepted norms of self determination. The American Media and its liberal establishment cannot decide the future of world relations and Trump was certainly within his right to set the foreign policy agenda as he is the constitutionally mandated authority, Where does the charge of treason come? And intelligence agencies in no Democracy are allowed to set foreign policy goals. American Media trotted out the so called betrayal of the Intelligence Community. Since when did the Intelligence Agencies get the authority to conduct foreign policy.

The American Intelligence Agencies did not cover themselves with glory as they were responsible for cooking up a false case against Iraq on the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the whole of the Middle East is in a state of crisis following the collapse of the Baath regime in Iraq. I would even say that by concocting a false narrative the American agencies have shown that they are complicit with the Deep State. Second, the 9/11 attacks in September 2001 were carried out by Sunni extremists trained and financed by Saudi Arabia. USA has now sold 100 billion dollars worth of military equipment to the Saudis which is being used to kill people in Yemen. Trump is trying to make peace and the Deep State in the uSA is trying to thwart that effort.

In his Inauguration Address Trump spoke of the American Carnage. The Deep State and its minions were deeply offended by the speech for this explicit reference.  When Hussein Obama was the President the drone warfare and bombings were at the rate of one bomb every four minutes. And Trump for all his less than sensible public statments has not repeated the American Carnage though he has not been able to stop it fully.

I think there is no reason to suggest Trumps desire for some kind of rapprochement with Russia as treason. The American media is doing great disservice to its own people by misinforming them about what is happening on the world stage. THe President's remarks about the hacking of the elections came as a response to an impertinent question from an American reporter about the Hacking of the elctions. Is American democracy so fragile that it can be hijacked by 12 hackers sitting in Russia. Trup rightly said that the FBI has not been able to recover the DNC servers or the 33,000 emails which were deleted from Hilary Clinton's account. Where is the treason in placing facts before the public. The US media has become so partisan that it does not want to face facts.

Recent Political Controversies in India

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Indian political controversies have a flavour of its own. Issues flare up like shooting stars across the evening sky and burn up as attention is focused on them. However,some serious issues have been flagged in the recent past.

First, the involvement of the Missionaries of Charity in child trafficking has led to a huge public outcry. More than 450 babies, born perhaps to unwed mothers in the Jharkand state have gone missing. It is suggested that several of them were "sold" to couples but the Missionaries of Charity has no explanation to offer about the missing children. Due to its iconic status in India public outrage has been muted. What the sister of the Missionaries of Charity did, and in particular, Sister Concelia, is beyond doubt reprehensible. Added to this is the scandal that has now enveloped the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Kerala. A bishop has been accused of raping, yes, a nun and the entire hierarchy seems to have comedown in defense of the priest. In addition, there are crimes of passion including murder that several priests belonging to the Roman Catholic order face. A Jesuit priest allegedly killed another priest over a dispute.

Sashi Tharoor who is now on bail for the murder of his third wife Sunanda Pushkar  made a statement that India is becoming a "Hindu Pakistan". At the face of it, this statement is absurd but the intent behind the statement is clear:the dynastic fascists are seeking to polarize the electorate by consolidating Moslem vote bank while simultaneously making inroads in the BJP support base by encouraging caste based voting. This strategy is dangerous as it would either give the dynastic fascists a huge electoral victory or push the NDA to an unassailable  victory. Such statements have been made by Congress leaders in the past. During the time of Hafiz Syed inspired attack on Mumbai in 2008, the Congress leaders started a campaign that it was a "saffron terror" attack.In other words they tried to deflect the responsibility to the BJP and its allies. This campaign was further bolstered by the deliberate misrepresentation of the Israt Jehan Encounter as a planned murder done at the behest of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. The fact that was suppressed is that the LeT terrorist David Colemen Headley had clearly indicated to his interlocutors that Israt Jehan was trained as a suicide bomber who had been tasked take out the Chief Minister of Gujarat then. Using identity politics and creating a false narrative around Moslem fears led to the Partition of the country and the dynastic fascists still seem to be innocent of its implications.

Mohammad Ansari, the Vice President nominee of the Congress and its allies has made a statement in which he supported the "triple talaq" and Halala rape indulged by sections of the Moslem society residing in India. The later refers to the practice of women spending a night in the company of a moulvi before she rejoins her husband after a triple talaq. The BJP led Government wants to bring in legislation that would outlaw such practices and Ansari instead of supporting these progressive policies decided to oppose them. Moslem identity politics generally takes the form and shape of a consolidated Moslem population vs an Indian Polulation. In fact, educated Moslems have long given up these practices and even in Muslim counties like Pakistan, such customs have long disappeared. The Muslim community in India is kept in a dark ghetto by its political backers who want only its vote in order to defeat the BJP. Playing on the fears, usually misplaced fears and pandering to the most reactionary and fundamentalist opinion has become the mainstay of Congress electoral strategy.

Will such identity based polarization work.

The Vice President, Hon'ble Venkaiah Naidu in Pondicherry University

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The Vice President of India, Hon ble Shri Venkaiah Naidu who is also the Chancellor of Pondicherry University visited the University and it was a memorable occasion. The Vice President has earned a place in Indian public life which is unique. With his vast erudition and scintillating wit he kept the audience consisting of the Faculty and Students of the University spell bound for nearly an hour. An excellent orator with a penchant for alliterative expressions the Vice President drove home the message of hard work, honesty and dedicated service to the Motherland with passion as the mantra for success in life. His own life from Nellore exemplifies the path of democracy. It shows that India, in spite of its inherent weakness for dynastic fascism provides the space for grass root politicians like Shri Venkaiah Naidu to reach the second highest constitutional position in India. Humorously the Vice President stated that apart from hard work the factor that helped was his commitment to a single party.

Add captionShri Venkaiah Naidu in the Executive Council Hall

Before the programme began, the Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Gurmeet Singh made a presentation the the Vice President who is also the Chancellor of the University about the progress made by the University. The brief but well prepared presentation highlighted all the important aspects of the University and it is hope that the University will be recognized as an Institution of Eminence. 

The Vice President addressed a packed JN Auditorium which was crammed with students. What was so striking about this eminent personality is his utter simplicity. He made everyone feel at home and he addressed the students in a manner which pleasant and admirable. He urged the students to work had and stressed the demographic dividend due to the fact that more the 50% of the population of India is less than 35 years of age. This young population has opportunities provided it had the skills. He drew attention to the various schemes of the BPJ Government which emphasizes Skill Development and he also mentioned the flagship initiative of Start Up India, Stand Up India. Shri Venkaiah Naidu stressed the importance of education in the Mother tongue.

The University which was the venue of the meeting with Hon ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu worked with clockwork precision. The arrangement were all made in a meticulous manner. The Vice President who has a good sense of humor was reminded  that July 1st was his birthday and he said that he had forgotten about it until the Prime Minister's tweet wishing him went viral. The horrible issue of "rapes and violence against women" was referred to by the Vice President and he drew pointed attention to the Nirbhaya Tragedy. He said that such crimes not only bring a bad name to India and is against the very ethos of Indian culture but was also against the tradition of India which always respected women; Durga for Defence, Lakshmi for finance and Saraswathi for education.

I was deeply impressed with the Vice President. He carried himself with poise and elan. There is a distinct radiance about him which attests to the fact that he lives the ideals that he stands for and advocates.

The Scrapping of the University Grants Commission: A Welcome Move

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The NDA Government at the Center has taken a major decision: the scrapping of the University Grants" Commission. For over 60 years this large unwieldy body was running the Higher Education scene in India and the chaos in Indian  Universities is largely the consequence of the UGC pursing policies that ultimately proved self defeating. Set in 1956, the UGC was mandated to act as a funding agency for Indian Universities.Its original purpose was to ensure that Universities  received funds as per their allocated budget. At the time the UGC was established there were less than 50 Universities in India and the task of fund distribution was relatively simple. A fixed sum of money was apportioned to Universities and College and the bulk of the spending was on the six Central Universities which came directly under the Central Government. When Professor Nurul Hassan the Communist turned Congressman became the Minister for Education, the UGC began to acquire a stranglehold over the University and Higher Education Institutions all over India. By the simple expedient of tying financial assistance to policy initiative, the UGC became over the decades the sole arbiter of Indian education. It conducted the National Eligibility Test (NET), it granted Major and MInor Research Projects, it prescribed the Curriculum to Indian Universities in the form of its Model Curriculum, it set personnel policies for those employed in Universities and Colleges by prescribing norms and criteria for promotion. It was the UGC which came up with the horrendous system of API on the basis of the recommendation of the S P Tyagarajan Committee. In the name of encouraging Reseach, the UGC decided to introduce the Academic Performance Indicators (API) which in turn was pegged tom promotions. Teachers were made to perform like circus animals in order to acquire the required score. In the process, teaching suffered and research which was done was, at best of indifferent quality.

The proliferation of the ON line Journals which were on the approved list of the UGC spawned an industry of predatory journals and thanks to the wrong policies of the UGC India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of predatory journals in the world.

All this will change under the new legislation which separates the role of funding and finance from that of the regulator. The new body which will be formed will look after the regulatory aspects of Higher Education and funding will be directly monitored by the MHRD. This will make the policy implementation simpler and there will be less scope for corruption. One of the lesser known aspects of Indian higher education is that it is one of the most corrupt in the world. Major Reseach Projects submitted for projects that run into crores are little more than recycled M Phil and Ph D theses. Same project is resubmitted several times and funding is generated. O f course, now the Turn-it In anti plagiarism test is being encouraged.

The UGC was averse to the participation of foreign universities in the higher education market. This will also change. Another important change is the growing importance that is being given to NIRF ranking. The NIRF ranking is now essential for funding and NAAC accreditation. These changes have improved the quality of Indian education. Though we have long ways to go.