My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

By-Election Results : Is the Modi Magic Vanishing ? By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 28, 2014 The reversal of fortune for the BJP in the Assembly by-elections in four states – Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab – is a shocker to the party after its splendid show in these states in the last Lok Sabha elections. How can one explain the fact that the BJP and its allies could win only eight of the 18 seats in these states within three months of their conquest of New Delhi? Or rather, shouldn’t these defeats be perceptibly disturbing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular for more than one reason? Is the Modi Magic Vanishing ? Already doomsday sayers have started attributing these defeats to the waning Modi magic – that the prime minister has seemingly lost his Midas touch as ‘achchhe din’ remain elusive! We remember the way the Modi tsunami had swept away the Opposition including the Congress at the Centre and regional parties such as the Samajwa...

Planning Commission of India and its functions : Is there a need for replacement By Deepak Parvatiyar (A shortened version of this blog was published in www.elections.in on 27th August 2014) It was in the budget session of the parliament in 1950 that President Dr Rajendra Prasad, in his Presidential Address announced the Planning Commission would be set up. The Commission was the brain child of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who accepted planning to be a tool of economic rebuilding of the country and planned development as a means of raising the country's standard of living. The Idea behind the Planning Commission The immediate reasons for a Planning body then were multi-dimensional – inflationary pressures inherited from the World War, balance of payment problems, partition and the resulting influx of millions of people to the country causing deficiencies in the food supply on one hand and dislocation supplies of certain essential raw mater...

Modi’s Participatory Policies: Motives and Methods By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 26, 2014 How should one evaluate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to involve public in decision-making?  Modi has linked it to his concept of better governance or ‘Surajya’ – “Surajya is not possible until each and every citizen will be an equal and integral part of the decision-making process.” In his election rallies, Modi had promised to ensure people’s participation in government decision-making. After assuming the mantle of the PM post-election, he launched a portal –MyGov.nic.in – to offer a platform to the citizens in the matters of governance. Inviting People’s Participation in Public Policies The portal is meant for the people to share their ideas on selected themes – Clean Ganga, Girl Child Education, Clean India, Skilled India, Digital India and Job Creation. (Many more themes are still to be added here). It also invites public participation in under...

No Leader of Opposition: Good for Democracy? By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 25, 2014 In a parliamentary democracy, can we undermine the role of the Leader of Opposition (LoP)? By no means. Particularly in recent times, the LoP has evolved into a position of undisputed significance. Yet the absence of a LoP in the 16th Lok Sabha has rather brought into focus certain grey areas concerning the basic fundamentals behind the concept of the post. This revolves around the question on whether LoP is an absolute necessity or not in a parliamentary system. No LoPs till 1969 It is a fact that more often than not, our Lok Sabha has worked without any LoP.  For the first time that the Lok Sabha had a LoP was in 1969 – full 22 years after we attained Independence – when Ram Subhag Singh of Indian National Congress (O) became the LoP for a period of one year when the Congress split and 60 of its MPs moved to the opposition benches. What is even more peculiar is that...

Modi’s Swachh Bharat Campaign - Need for Common Man’s Participation By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 23, 2014 In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an earnest call for a clean India and urged the corporate sector to include sanitation and toilet construction for girls and women, as part of their corporate social responsibility. Obviously, the prime minister’s call has grabbed attention of the people towards the basic problems of sanitation and accumulating garbage all around us. The corporate sector has responded positively and there are projections of a Rs 1.62-2.2 lakh crore stimulus to the economy over five years as a result of the PM’s call to build toilets. Sanitation Stressed Time and Again Yet this is not the first time that our political leadership has exhorted us to be a  swachh  society. Mahatma Gandhi had gone to the extent of saying...

BJP-HJC : Will they Fight Haryana Polls 2014 Together? By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 22, 2014 Kuldeep Bishnoi is no stranger to the vagaries of opportunistic politics. Being son of the irrepressible late Bhajan Lal – whose name became synonymous with the Aaya Ram Gaya Ram politics in the country, he is well groomed in the tradition of expedient politics. The father-son duo had left the Congress to form their own political outfit – the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) in 2007. In 2009, they had a dose of their own medicine when five of the six newly elected legislators of the HJC dumped the party and joined the ruling Congress. The Uneasy BJP – HJC Association Three years ago, the HJC had inked a pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that in a state election, both the parties would contest 45 of the 90 seats each and that Bishnoi would be the Chief Minister if the coalition is able to form the government. But the HJC even failed to open its account in the state...

Future of India Pakistan Relationship By  Deepak Parvatiyar August 21, 2014 The relations between India and Pakistan have received a setback with the recent meeting between the Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and the Hurriyat leaders. What could be the agenda of their talks at a time when the political situation in Pakistan is fluid? This question assumes significance in the wake of a recent statement made by Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley during his visit to the forward posts — “Pakistan and powers within that country do not want Indo-Pak ties to be normal.” Pakistan’s Kashmir Fixation Whenever there has been political uncertainty in Pakistan, it rakes up the Kashmir issue as a diversionary tactic. The country’s Kashmir obsession is only well known. It has fought and lost wars over Kashmir. Only recently, on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day celebration, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reiterated what Pakistan has all along been sayi...