My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Top Controversies under Modi Government By  Deepak Parvatiyar    June 23, 2015 5.00 / 5  (100.00%)  1 vote Published in elections.com (http://www.elections.in/blog/top-controversies-under-modi-government/) The latest controversy involving ‘fugitive’ business tycoon Lalit Modi, who lives in exile in Britain, and the ‘undue favour’ to him by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the chief minister of BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, is being considered as the first big credibility test of the one-year-old Narendra Modi government at the Centre. But this is not a first. Controversies have dogged the Modi government right from day one, when he announced his team of ministers. At least 13 of his cabinet ministers had faced various charges of corruption! One of the ministers, Nihalchand Meghwal, was a rape accused and was named in an FIR lodged by a 24-year-old married woman from Jaipur in 2011! Modi Government’s Decisions That ...

The Lalit Modi Controversy By  Deepak Parvatiyar June 18, 2015 5.00 / 5  (100.00%)  2 votes Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/the-lalit-modi-controversy/) There is no relationship whatsoever between Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi except for the common surname. They don’t even belong to the same caste. Yet, in popular parlance, it has taken a Modi to take on a Modi!  If at all Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces his first ever credibility test, it is because of the man who shares his surname and in fact made it famous much before Narendra came into centre stage of public glare. Today, Lalit Modi is not just a business honcho-turned controversial cricket administrator, but he is also wanted in 16 Enforcement Directorate cases in India. He ran away to Britain in 2010 as he faced probe into alleged foreign exchange regulation violations in the Indian Premier League tournament that he had organized in South Africa in 2009. S...

Role of Government in Education in India By  Deepak Parvatiyar June 16, 2015 Rate this post Published in www.elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/role-of-government-in-education-in-india/) There has been a raging ongoing debate over alleged attempts to ‘saffronise’ education by the Hindu right wing Bharatiya Janata Party government.  BJP’s ideological guru – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – has been at the forefront of a complete overhaul of the education system. Now, at a time when the Union Government has hinted at a need for a new education policy, the RSS has upped the ante to force its demand on the union government. At a recent conference of Hindu Education Board, an RSS-affiliate, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Krishna Gopal, in the presence of Union Human Resources Development minister Smriti Irani, called for a “complete overhaul” of Indian education system and argued that “only assimilation of Hindu thoughts...

my interview of waterman in Sun Star Hindi Daily on 16th June 2015 http://dailysunstar.com/epaper/images/1606dP5.jpg

Indian Army’s Operation in Myanmar and Its Political Impact By  Deepak Parvatiyar June 13, 2015 5.00 / 5  (100.00%)  1 vote (Published in elections .in - http://www.elections.in/blog/indian-armys-operation-myanmar-political-impact/) In a covert operation, the Para Commandos (special forces) of Indian Army along with Assam Rifles crossed into neighbouring Myanmar and attacked two militant camps early on 9 June. Media reports suggest that 83 rebels of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland – Khaplang ((NSCN-K) and allied insurgent groups were killed in the army raid in Myanmar. Soon after, the operation was hailed as a “bold strategy to eliminate any terrorist threats”. Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had his own interpretation of the action – “ A simple action against insurgents has changed the mindset of the security scenario of the country”. India’s Military Operations in Myanmar No doubt about it. However, to b...

Is AAP government fighting for the people By  Deepak Parvatiyar June 11, 2015 Rate this post Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/is-aap-government-fighting-for-the-people/) Towards the end of May, at a time when the clash between Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party government snowballed into a major controversy, Manish Sisodia – the deputy chief minister of Delhi, tried to give the whole issue a certain dimension by saying that his government was actually fighting for the people. “We are not fighting for personal gains, but for the people’s rights, their benefit, and against corruption,” Sisodia said at the much publicised ‘Janta ki Cabinet, Janta ke Beech’  organized at the Central Park in Connaught Place to mark the completion of 100 days of AAP government in Delhi on 25th May . Obviously Sisodia’s attempt was to put the entire blame of the government’s inadequacies on the Lieutenant Governor largely...