My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Is the confidence of Muslims increasing in the BJP? By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 23, 2014 http://www.elections.in/blog/is-the-confidence-of-muslims-increasing-in-the-bjp/ When Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah, one of the best known Muslim faces of BJP, talked about the confidence of the Muslims increasing in the BJP, she attributed her claims to the “development-for-all” agenda of the party that seems to have replaced the “vote-bank politics” syndrome. BJP’s Communal Tag in the Past It was always the political agenda of the BJP to shun vote bank politics and Muslim appeasement. But all these years, the Muslims considered the party as a pariah largely because of its moorings in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s ideology of Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism. The demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 and the ensuing communal riots in the country contributed to widening of the gulf between the two. Moreover, the BJP has been seen as an eternal constitu...

http://www.elections.in/blog/is-this-the-right-time-to-mock-the-acche-din-concept/ Is this the right time to mock the “Acche Din” concept? By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 21, 2014 Elections are won by selling dreams. This is one mantra that Narendra Modi learnt much early in his political career – it was the dream of a still elusive Ram temple at Ayodhya that consolidated Hindu votes and catapulted the BJP to the position of a major political force. The economic development was the other big dream that he showed to the youth and the dominant business community of the state to win successive state assembly elections in Gujarat. Experts still debate over the merits and demerits of the Gujarat model of development. But Modi’s journey as a dream merchant continues to cast a spell on many. This time he has sold the dream of ‘achhe din aane wale hain (Better times are about to come)’ to the masses! A Utopian dream? Sigmund Freud defined dreams as manifestations of our dee...

Significance and Achievements of BRICS Summit 2014 By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 19, 2014 Before we discuss the Brazil summit, let us first begin with the strides made by the BRICS nations Brazil, Russia, India, and China, over the years since the concept of BRIC was floated by Jim O’Neill, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs.  South Africa, with a much smaller economy entered the group in 2011. Genesis and Growth of BRICS Countries : O’Neill had conceived that developing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China could emerge as the new engine of growth. He wrote a paper entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”, to advise his clients to invest their money in these new emerging economies. He was right in his analysis. The following decade was a remarkable period of growth for the BRICS countries. As of 2013, with a combined nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$16.039 trillion, they rose to together account for an estimated US$4 trilli...

http://www.elections.in/blog/will-bjp-form-government-delhi/ Will BJP form the government in Delhi ? By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 18, 2014 Of late, the capital is abuzz with the speculations over whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can form the government in Delhi or not? Whether it does or not, the issue yet again brings into focus the limitations of the Anti-Defection Act and the prevalence of poaching in the corridors of power. It also reflects on the compulsion of political parties to oscillate between moral posturing and Machiavellian methods to cling to power by hook or by crook. The issue has yet again focussed on the important role of Governor, and reflects on why the ruling dispensation would want a friendlier governor. As the Delhi political drama unfolds, the role of the governor comes under further scrutiny. What set rumour mills on fire? The speculations of the BJP eyeing Delhi were triggered off after the new state BJP president, Satish Upadhya...

Does the Union Budget 2014 lack focus on the poor By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 17, 2014 Any government’s budget that misses focus on the poor cannot be termed as progressive. The thrust for a developing economy needs to be on programmes for poverty alleviation. This requires a holistic approach enshrined in the fundamentals of the welfare state and not ad-hocism and populist measures. A mix of growth and increase in social spending to ensure basic means for the poorest of the poor has to be the pre-requisite of budget. It is in this light that the very first budget of the Narendra Modi government should be analysed. Confusion persists on poverty figures Yet, any pro-poor budget needs to first have a well-accepted definition of poor in place. During the UPA regime, the image of the Planning Commission was sullied with its controversial definition of poverty line. It repeatedly erred on fixing the poverty line by following a controversial method. In July last year, it...

Decoding Ved Pratap Vaidik – Saeed Meeting By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 16, 2014 Before I analyse, I must acknowledge Ved Pratap Vaidik’s seniority as a journalist. He has held all those coveted positions that a budding journalist aspires for. Decades ago when he joined the profession, journalism for many was more of a mission than a profession – a mission to spread awareness, educate, and be a fierce arbiter of probity in public life …till things changed and market considerations took over that space. Vaidik himself vouches for press freedom and declares himself to be a ‘free’ person. Over the years he has cultivated a good readership for his writings. But he stirred a controversy after he tweeted from Pakistan the photograph of his meeting with Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the dreaded head of Jama’at-ud-Da’wah – banned as a terrorist organisation by India, the United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The United Nations has placed s...

Causes of Corruption in Indian Bureaucracy By  Deepak Parvatiyar July 15, 2014 During my college days, quite a few of my friends wanted to crack the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for a bizarre reason – an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer would fetch more dowry than anybody else! A politician friend of mine, upon becoming a first time minister after winning the elections, compared his babus with Aladdin’s jinn who were more than eager to fill the coffers of their political master, including their own A professor of financial management at a top ranking institute of the country, after holding a workshop for some senior bureaucrats, was visibly annoyed by a participating bureaucrat who wanted him to teach ways of managing unaccounted money worth crores. An upright Indian Police Service (IPS) officer said he could not stop his juniors from indulging into corrupt practice because he could not risk them deserting him in a riot-like situation. A newl...

published in http://www.elections.in/blog/why-does-india-have-a-separate-railway-budget/ Why does India have a separate Railway Budget By  Deepak  Parvatiyar July 14, 2014 The Economist described it as a “bizarre system introduced by the British colonial government” that makes India the only country to have a separate budget for its railways. But political expediency requires a separate railway budget, every year. What are the compelling reasons? Let’s find out. On June 20, when the Narendra Modi government announced hike in the passenger as well as freight fare with effect from June 25, it did not wait for the railway budget that was due to be introduced in Parliament in less than twenty days’ time. The Indian Railways Act, 1989, empowers the Central government to fix fares, freight rates and other charges and also empowers zonal railway administrations to quote special rates and contractual freight rates. Similarly, trains can be introduced or extended by ...

http://www.indiablooms.com/FeatureDetailsPage/2014/featureDetails150314a.php West Bengal : Changing Colours By Deepak Parvatiyar West Bengal : Changing Colours Changing Challenges By Sitaram Sharma. Publisher: Rupa Publications Price: Rs 295 Sitaram Sharma’s “West Bengal: Changing Colours Changing Challenges” offers a ringside view of the changing political scene in West Bengal – one of the last bastions of the Communists in the country – in the last half century. It reflects on the prevailing complexities of the socio-economic and political environment in the state and attempts to explore the factors that lay behind the success of the Left in 1977 and their return to power in election after election till 2011, and identifies the influx of refugees from East Pakistan as an important factor for Red ruling the state for so long. The book suggests that the government’s failure to rehabilitate the refugees, whose numbers kept increasing and by the 1960s cross...