Punjab's slowing economy.

1. 
   

To know why Punjab's economy is in trouble I did extensive research and written article on it.

The article appeared in Business World. 

http://businessworld.in/article/Punjab-s-Slowing-Economy/03-02-2017-112433/


Jai Hind!!
Manoj Tripathi

Freedom of speech and it's boundary: JNU row.

Freedom of speech and it's boundary: JNU row.

 

JNU row has 9 episodes.

 

1. Protest & resentment program on execution of Afzal Guru.

2. Anti-India slogans.

3. Expectation of Boundary-less Freedom of speech.

4. Sedition charge on Kanhaiya (Without proof).

5. Manhandling of Kanhaiya by lawyers.

6. Brushing entire JNU as anti-national institute.

7. Visit of Rahul to JNU.

8. Making Kanhaiya hero by media.

9. Consolidation of votes by Political parties.

 

Whatever happened in JNU is unfortunate.

Under no circumstances anti-India slogans and protest of Supreme Court verdict against terrorist ( Afzal Guru) can be ignored by hiding under umbrella of freedom of speech.

 

Looking at intensity of debate people have divided themselves in two groups.

 

Those who wants boundary-less freedom of speech and those who want boundary of freedom of speech. The problem is who will define boundary. First group (supporters of boundary less freedom of speech) also believe that there should be some boundary but they fear that BJP/RSS will forcefully make tighter boundary hence let's fight for limitless freedom of speech. They don't want to lose their point to that extent that they haven't criticized anti-India slogans. They have clubbed first 3 points together hence things have become further complicated.

 

Those who are opposed to first 3 points supports next 3 points and those who support first 3 points do oppose next 3 points. ( Just check the points for better clarity)

 

Two wrongs can't make one right. Let there be consensus that initial both episodes are totally wrong.

 

Here freedom of speech is main weapon for those who are supporting JNU students who were involved in the act.

 

Do you know that entire rules and regulations are there to define your boundary? IPC,CrPC and Motor vehicle act do tell what you must not do i.e they are there defining rules & boundary that you can't breach. Therefore entire police and judiciary is there to curb your so called "freedom". This is done so that to others can enjoy freedom ( by the way you are also part of that other). Let me make you understand. If you don't like anybody, can you hurt him? Can you publish currency? Can you over speed and drive on right side of road? Can you evade tax? The answer of all the points are no. These points shows that you are not free to do whatever you want. These kind of curbs are there so that society/nation can exist. Law is nothing but list of restrictions. We must respect them as they are there for greater benefit.

There is saying that "Your freedom ceases where my nose begins".

 

Therefore freedom of speech or expression must have boundaries otherwise it will become "Bhasmasur".

 

I know with this kind of view, proponent of free speech will get hurt. Their biggest problem is that how and who will define boundary. Their argument will be that today in the name of nationalism something has been stopped and tomorrow in the name of religion or in the name of hurting sentiments there will be slew of restrictions on free speech. I also have the same unforeseen fear but that doesn't means that today what wrong is happening should be supported to fight tomorrow's unforeseen fear.

 

To make things simple let me try to figure out some similarity between Traffic signal and boundary of freedom of speech.

 

Is traffic signal is good or bad? Obviously it's for good then why most of time when you are getting late, curse the traffic signal (because you feel that it's stop you).Traffic signals ensures nobody collides, it lets pass car from 1 direction at a time. Same works well for conflicting ideologies, ideas where all ideas are welcome but with restriction on speed ( read intensity) and direction ( read subject).The reality is that traffic signal stops you for good.

 

Hence having boundary of freedom of speech looks bad but it's actually for good.

 

When it comes about nation, let not divide ourselves. We have already paid for this for more than 700 years.

 

Let condemn all 9 episodes so that people who love country should win.

 

"Jai Hind"

Manoj Tripathi

 

Are you doing enough for those who are banking on you?

(This was written in May'15)

Are we doing enough for those who are banking on you?

I am worried that on the occasion of Modi led Government’s first anniversary, there will be so much of noise that real issues and solutions will take back seat.

Lip service will be at best. BJP will try to prove that tons of schemes are going to bring result in comings times while congress led opposition will try to prove Government’s all-round failure. Media will invite so called experts and they will give mix opinion over Government’s 1 year of work. Media will be busy in TRP race. Amidst of total chaos, citizens will feel dejected and frustrated.

Now lot of us who want to be called intellectuals will blame reckless media, corrupt politicians, insensitive judiciary and crony capitalism for all our problems.

They say “Literature is mirror of society”. Similarly what media is showing is what entertains people. If people give more weightage to Bollywood gossips and cricket discussion over news of people welfare schemes then who should be blamed?

A country which is home of 1/6th of humans on planet, with GDP per capital income of meagre $1808 with 131st rank, needs economic growth at much faster pace than rest of world. For last 4 years, the growth has come down drastically because of lack of economic activity in country. Question is why economic activity is low.  The answer is that in order to curb inflation, RBI tightens the monetary policy i.e increased rate of interest. Higher Interest rate discouraged credit hence domestic investors refrained from new investment. Entire economic cycle slowed down. Now who is responsible for drop in GDP growth? Is it RBI or inflation or investors? The answer is Inflation.

What is primary reason of inflation? The inflation is because of higher demand and low supply. While RBI’s fiscal policy tackles with demand side but who is tackling supply side? Ideally Government is responsible for increasing supply. Have you heard anything about Government’s efforts for increasing supply? Except few cosmetic efforts nothing is visible on the ground. This is really scary situation. We are on mercy of God (“Bhagwan Bharose”). Currently inflation has come down to CPI 4.87% but that’s because of lowering of demand. This is sign of weakness.

My appeal to spokesperson of various political parties, experts, journalists that everything can wait but just think of 280 million fellow countrymen who cannot afford to spend just Rs 20 on their medicine. For them sitting in autorikshaw is luxury. For them rain, summer and cold are much close to national calamity because they don’t have roof to protect them.

Remember we all are visitor to this planet with max life span of 90-100 years. Don’t fall in love with materialistic things.

Read somewhere these beautiful lines “People were created to be loved, things were created to be used; the reason why the world is in chaos right now is because things are being loved, and people are being used.”

Let’s do “something” for the sake of humanity.

Manoj Tripathi

50 Reasons behind Sri Narendra Modi’s emphatic win in 2014 union election in India

50 Reasons behind Sri Narendra Modi’s emphatic win in 2014 union election in India:
( This was written in May'14)

Modi channelized anti-incumbency votes of UPA Government’s 10 years of rule. People were disappointed with

UPA Government. The reason of disappointment:

1. Inflation: Inflation is something which bothers the citizen most. The worst part is that maximum inflation

noticed in Food and vegetable (Onion prices reached Rs 100) which affects poor and lower middle class

most. There was total failure of central govt to curb inflation which agitated people and hence people

wanted to teach a lesson to congress led govt in center.

2. Corruption: Corruption in UPA part II was major issue. This time corruption charges were levied by

constitutional bodies like CAG hence credibility of charges were quite high. It was not only one scam that

surfaced but series of scam like 2G, CWG, Coal Gate, Augusta Westland etc. The scale of scam was 1.76

lakh crore plus which made people to think if country is in right hand or not.

3. Economy slow down: When world economy started showing recovery then India’s economy started slowing

down. In order to curb inflation, RBI tried to tighten fiscal policy by increasing rate of borrowing which led

to lower investment and slowing down of economy. Lot of intellectual started saying that it’s policy

paralysis of central govt which led to no decision on more than Rs 6 lakh crore worth of project. Slowdown

in economy was visible through unemployment also.

4. Weakening of Rupee: Rupee is associated with nation’s pride. The way Rupee devalued in Aug’13 and reach

to Rs 68 per dollar made citizen’s to feel that Central Govt is ineffective.

5. Remote controlled PM: When country was facing challenges like inflation, corruption, economy slowdown

then PM was silent. The silence made people to think if PM is capable or not. The rumor of PM’s inability to

act on his own and his loyalty towards Ms. Sonia Gandhi termed as Puppet PM in the hand of Sonia Gandhi.

6. Pakistan beheaded 4 soldiers: In J&K, 4 Indian Soldiers were beheaded by Pakistan Army. Indian defense

minister could not get courage to allege that it was Pakistan Army who did this. He said in Parliament that

“Few men in Pakistan Army uniform did this condemnable act”. This incident gave a message to citizen

that current Govt is weak to defend India’s interest.

7. Rahul Gandhi’s inconsistency in news: Congress supporters wanted to project Mr. Rahul Gandhi as PM

candidate but inconsistency in news made people to think if Rahul Gandhi is capable or not. Also people

could not get to know his views on corruption, inflation, economy etc.

8. Corruption charges against Robert Vadra: Corruption charges against Robert Vadhra was first indicated by

Mr.Ashok Khemka,IAS in which Mr.Khemka made suspicion that there is fishy land deal of Mr.Vadra with

DLF. Media highlighted the news that Mr.Vadra made 300 crore from investment of just 1 lakh. Such news

and revelation given impression that Gandhi family is also involved in corruption hence there was question

mark on credibility of Gandhi Family and Govt.

9. FDI in retail: Central Govt allowed 100% FDI in retail. Though this step was taken quite positively by

economists but small traders and businessmen were afraid of losing employment. Still in rural India there is

notion that foreign companies do come to India to exploit India’s capital hence any move by Govt to

promote foreign players is seen at anti national activity.

10. Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi: Shiela Dixit and Suhil Kumar Shinde was main target for the unfortunate

incidence. Congress was in power in Delhi as well as in center hence faced the ire of people. People

wanted to teach lesson to congress for not able to provide security to women.

11. Congress’s inability to tell their good work: Though in last 10 years lot of good works done by UPA like RTI,

RTE, MNREGA etc. but they could not amplify their work.

Modi and BJP’s strength and strategy:

12. Modi was only nominated PM candidate in 2014 Election. Congress had lost credibility of providing

efficient govt and there was no 3rd alternative hence Modi got an edge over others.

13. Modi took advantage of Gujrat’s growth story. Gujrat’s agricultural growth, Industrial growth, better

infrastructure and 24 hours electricity was praised by many renowned economists. Amitabh Bachchan was

roped in as Gurjat’s tourism ambassador but people took it as his Gurjat Govt endorsement.

14. Modi had experience of more than 12 years as Chief Minister. Country was going through tough times

hence there was need for experienced and seasoned prime minister.

15. Modi’s nationalist, Hindutvavadi, pro-development, strong and aggressive leader image made him perfect

choice for PM.

16. Modi called Mr.Rahul Gandhi as as “Shahjada” and Ms.Sonia Gandhi as “Madam Sonia”. Shahjada means

prince i.e someone who becomes king automatically. Madam is word associated with British ladies of

before independence i.e someone who is outsider and far from ground reality. Both these nomenclature

left deep impression in the mind of general public.

17. Modi is known as very hard working person. This was evident through his more than 400 rallies across

country.

18. BJP is known as party of elite class and middle class. To overcome this, BJP roped-in Dalit leaders like

Ramvilas Paswan and Udit raj. This attracted dalit voters towards BJP.

19. There are lot of migrant labourers from UP and Bihar who do work in Gujrat. Usually they belong to

backward cast which is not known as pro BJP. They were quite happy to see Gujrat’s progress and they

became brand ambassadors of Modi in their own village in UP/Bihar. Obviously villagers will believe their

fellow men who praised Modi as Chief Minister and this given confidence that Modi will work for

development. UP and Bihar is looking desperately for development hence this thing worked for Modi.

20. Media support to Modi was incredible. The unprecedented media support helped Modi Wave to turn into

Sunami.

21. AAP played crucial role to sensitize people that it’s time for change but just before election the failure of

AAP left no other alternative other than to vote for Modi.

22. Election commission and media tried their best to increase Vote %. Such campaign brought lot of middle

class voters to polling booth who were not so participative in electoral process. Middle class is known as

supporter of BJP hence Modi got advantage of EC and Media’s efforts.

23. Modi utilized Social media very well. Through social media he connected with youth and also given

message that he is new generation politician.

24. Youth associated with Modi in 2014 election. The reason was relatively younger age of Modi and Modi’s

image of aggressive and decisive leader.

25. There was full backing of RSS to Modi. RSS has got deep routes inside the rural India and RSS pracharak

becoming PM was big motivation for RSS members.

26. Modi didn’t remorse on the Gujrat riot. This made his image as man of strong determination. Lot of

fundamentalist voters especially in rural area liked this image.

27. Modi encashed image of tea seller very well. The poor and lower middle class started feeling connected

with him.

28. Modi belong to OBC. Though he was not very vocal about his cast but in last phase of election he used OBC

card and that worked for him in UP upto some extent.

29. Modi kept very good strategist with him. There was team of around 30 people who kept him informed

about the updates and made strategy for him like where to do rally and which issue to raise and when.

30. Modi spoke very relevant topics during his rallies like he raised issue of electricity in UP. Such burning

topics helped him to establish himself as leader from grass root who knows the common problem.

31. Modi’s decision of fighting election from Varanasi worked well. People of UP started connecting with him

also Varanasi is known as centre of Hindutva so without emphasizing much of Ayodhya temple issue he

was able to retain his hindutvadi image, also eastern UP is under developed hence people of eastern UP

got motivated to make him India’s PM for their better future.

32. Slogans like “Abki baar modi Sarkar”, “Acche din aane wale hain” and “Sabka saath sabka vikas” and

promotion of Statue of unity worked well.

33. Clean image of Modi helped him. No allegation of corruption on him.

34. Muzzafarnagar riot and transfer of Durga Shakti Nagpal labelled SP govt as anti-Hindu and over

interference of Mr.Azam Khan in UP’s law and order also made lot of hindu voters pro BJP.

35. Too much focus of opposition parties to attract minority vote did reverse polarization in favour of Modi.

36. Vajpayee’s infrastructural work especially Golden Quadrilateral has being received well among citizen.

Modi got benefit of NDA’s earlier stint work.

37. Opinion polls gave NDA an edge over others. People were fed-up with coalition govt hence they wanted to

have strong govt. once opinion polls projected BJP as single largest party then lot of local politicians

decided to support BJP so that they can enjoy the privilege of being part of ruling govt. Also fence seater

voters also decided to vote for BJP because they don’t want to waste their precious vote.

38. Anna and AAP movement had made ground for non-congress Govt. Lot of people who were not

participating in election process were inspired by the movement and realized the importance of their vote.

Most of such people ended up voting in favour of BJP.

39. The support from Kiran Bedi, Baba Ramdev, Retd Gen V.K Singh ,Ex-Mumbai commissioner Satyapal and

ex-home secretary Mr.R.K Sinha helped BJP to project as choice of intellectual.

40. Failure of regional parties i.e people were not happy with regional parties performance in their own state i.e

Samajvadi party lost ground, National conference failure in J&K. Actually people were fed-up with coalition

govt hence this they wanted clear majority. BJP was front runner hence got advantage of anit coalition

mood of nation.

41. BJP was backed by corporate world. Corporate world’s support was taken positively by urban youth.

42. Cable TV reach and mobile communication has increased in rural areas hence rural people were much

more informed about poor performance of central govt.

43. Supreme Court appointed SIT given clean chit to Modi just before the election and this left opposition

speechless and Modi supporters enchased this opportunity.

44. Minority i.e Muslim support slightly increased towards BJP , also this time vote consolidation of Muslim

vote didn’t happened so much which helped BJP.

45. BJP has got strong leadership in big states like MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh which is very popular.

46. Program like “Satyamev Jayate” anchored by Amir Khan exposed systemic failure of Govt. This added fuel

to anti-incumbency mood of people.

47. Ground level work by leaders like Amit Shah who focused on booth level to motivate his party members

and voters to bring change in country.

48. Modi did Politics of hope and politics of change which depressed people of this country wanted.

49. Young generation is coming out of cast based politics because they are now watching the world on bigger

canvas hence they are not limiting themselves to cast. This thing weakens the regional parties and BJP got

benefit out of this.

50. The last but not least, there is technically no family baggage of Mr.Modi hence there is general perception

that there will be no motive of him for doing corruption which is burning issue of nation.

Written by Manoj Tripathi

Manoj_273@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:

The views written in the article are individual. The purpose is not to hurt sentiment of any person/cast/religion.

No inference or conclusion to be drawn out of this article.