My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

AAP : Reasons behind Skipping Maharashtra Polls By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 29, 2014 After its decision against contesting elections in Haryana, the Aam Aadmi Party has now decided against contesting state elections in Maharashtra too! While the party completely withdrew from contesting the state elections in Haryana, in Maharashtra – the home state of its estranged ideologue Anna Hazare – it has been a ‘return of the native’! The AAP seems to be back to its roots to do what it does the best – to hold demonstrations. It plans meetings and street plays so as to “expose” corrupt candidates and to take to the streets to protest against the “menace” of black money, alcohol and other bribes to buy votes in the state. Why should a political party shun elections? Doesn’t it sound strange for a political party to decide against contesting in elections – the most sacred ritual of democracy? How can one explain this rather unique phenomenon? You may also like ...

Narendra Modi’s Speech at the UN General Assembly By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 28, 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched upon almost all major issues confronting the world in his maiden about 35-minute speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday. On hindsight, it did appear to be multi-focussed, but in totality succeeded in conveying one strong message – the arrival of an assertive India at the centre-stage of world politics! Consider these points that he made in the course of his speech: “I am … mindful of the expectations of the world from 1.25 billion people. “India is part of the developing world, but we are prepared to share our modest resources with those countries that need this assistance as much as we do. “India is a country that constitutes one-sixth of humanity; a nation experiencing economic and social transformation on a scale rarely seen in history. “Every nation’s world view is shaped by its civilization and philosophical trad...

The big Jaya Verdict and the after effects By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 28, 2014 In contemporary Indian politics, only few match Jayaram Jayalalithaa’s charisma, yet none matches her guile! In her over three-decade-long political career, often marred by charges of corruption against her and her close associates, the feisty lady faced many legal battles and emerged unscathed. This time again, the political career of the enigmatic chief minister of Tamil Nadu is now at stake following her conviction in an 18-year-old disproportionate asset case by a special court. The court held her guilty of acquiring assets worth Rs 66.65 crore through dishonest means during her first tenure as chief minister between 1991 and 1996 and sentenced her to four-year imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore. The co-accused in the case – Jayalalithaa’s former friend V K Sasikala, Sasikala’s nephew V N Sudhakaran and sister-in-law J Illavarasi – too have been sentenced to ...

Maharashtra Assembly Polls 2014 : Implications of the End of Alliances By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 27, 2014 The time-tested political alliances — Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Indian National Congress-Nationalist Congress Party — collapsed like a pack of cards within a matter of hours in Maharashtra on Thursday, the 26th September. On the surface, the reasons seem common for both the break ups – each one of the alliance partners wanted to have a larger share of the pie and wanted to contest more seats than the other in the ensuing state assembly elections. Performances of Allies in 2009 Maharashtra Assembly Polls In the last assembly elections in 2009, the Congress had emerged as the largest party in the 272-member Maharashtra House by winning 82 of the 169 seats that it had contested. Its coalition partner, the NCP, had then won 62 of the 114 seats it had contested then then. You may also like to read Who will be the next Chief Mi...

Mega Food Parks : How will it benefit the Indian Economy By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 26, 2014 On 24th September this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a mega food park in Tumkur, Karnataka and said such facilities would spur farmers’ economic empowerment. “Better infrastructure and better facilities is the need of the hour,” Modi said and stressed on the need to sell Indian packed food in markets across the world. What are Mega Food Parks? Mega Food Parks scheme is considered to be an inclusive concept aimed at establishing “direct linkages from the farm to processing and on to the consumer markets”, through a vast network of collection centres and Primary Processing Centres. The purpose is to achieve a target of processing of perishables from the present six per cent to twenty per cent, and to increase the country’s share in global food trade to at least three per cent by 2015. You may also like to read Does India have the potent...

Subtleties involving Narendra Modi’s USA trip By Deepak Parvatiyar From being a pariah blacklisted and banned from entering the USA for almost a decade, to being a state guest – ironies have many twists! Nothing could be more spectacular than Modi brandishing designer outfits to impress his suitors – a virtual who’s who of the US high societies -- who now jostle with each others to have a tete-a-tete with the new Indian prime minister with a perceptible business friendly image.  Modi leaves for the US on September 25-26 for nearly seven days following an invitation by the US President Barrack Obama to visit the country. During his visit he will also address the UN General Assembly in New York on September 27. There are many subtleties involved in Modi’s visit to the land of Uncle Sam – which had since 2005 denied him a Visa, holding him accountable for the deaths of about  ‘1200’ muslims (the USA estimate) in the Gujarat riots of 2001. ...