Demonetisation Debate: 'No Hero' of the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha

##Apparently, there was 'no hero' of the zero hour in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Or the opposition members gave it a miss deliberately?

Speaker #SumitraMahajan on November 30 made an unprecedented offer to the members urging them to end 
the deadlock and commence the debate on the high-voltage demonetisation scheme at the earliest.

"Shunya se hum brahmand tak ja saktey haen (We can start from zero and reach up to the entire universe)," she said referring to the Zero Hour proceedings - a time which is under her discretionary disposal.

Playing Universal game with 'zero' !

Obit Fidel Castro: Revolutionary icon who shaped healthy India-Cuba bond

In terms of assessing Fidel Castro’s role as a revolutionary figure, Fidel often insisted that "revolutionary justice is not based on legal precepts, but on moral conviction".

He also gave famous quotes to cherish and perhaps also ponder and debate about: "Men do not shape destiny, destiny produces the man for the hour".

Castro was truly a man who shaped destiny, and someone who completely changed the way human beings look at the western world of capitalism.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz --- known to millions of admirers as Comrade Castro or Commandante Castro - born on 13 August 1926 will be best remembered for bringing the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere and for surviving at least 10 American presidents. 

The revolutionary icon to millions of people and political class around the developing world in leading his fight against the Batista regime in 1959, Castro is actually credited for scripting a new anthem of defiance against the American hegemony. 

No doubt, in his memorable words Castro had defined revolution as a 'dictatorship' of the exploited against the exploiters.

Senior Indian Marxist leader Prakash Karat is right when he says Castro was not only a leader of Cuba, he was truly a world leader for the developing nations in 1970s and 1980s.

He was also one of the world’s best-known controversial leaders allegedly  survived countless US assassination attempts and - as they say - several premature obituary notes. 

In his death truly, the developing world has lost a soldier-politician and a champion of socialism and Non Aligned Movement (NAM) but was ironically also flayed by his detractors for brutally suppressing opposition and pursuing policies that crippled the Cuban economy. 

A trained lawyer, Fidel was born as ‘illegitimate son’ of a wealthy farmer, Angel María Bautista Castro Argiz, who had emigrated to Cuba from Spain. His mother, Lina Ruz González was a farm servant.

In the context of India-Cuban relations over the decades, Castro’s role was iconic. To the Indian government in 1970s and also to the foreign policy experts, Castro was “the star at the NAM summit” in 1983. Importantly, the famous 'Castro hug' of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and him has now almost become one of the most memorable photographs of the global polity of 1970s. 

The strong Cuba-India relations survived and actually thrived even after this period.

India was in fact among the first countries to recognize Cuba after the 1959 Revolution. Both the countries have maintained close contacts with each other in various international fora, such as the UN,   NAM, and WTO. While India has supported resolutions in the UN General Assembly calling for lifting of US sanctions against Cuba, for its part Cuba also backed India’s entry as a permanent member in the restructured UN Security Council. 

           Castro believed : Revolution is a 'dictatorship' of the exploited against the exploiters

India provided Cuba with 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of rice in 1992 when Cuba was undergoing hardship. Fidel Castro termed the donation as the “Bread of India”, because it was sufficient for one loaf of bread for each one of the then Cuban population of eleven million people. In 2008 yet again, Government of India wrote off the principal and interest of US$62 million,   equivalent to Rs. 1.28 billion debt owed to India. The donation was a measure of   solidarity towards the friendly people of Cuba. 

Old timers in Kolkata would fondly recall that in September 1973 Jyoti Basu, not yet the Chief Minister of West Bengal, received 'revolutionary' President Fidel Castro in 'Calcutta'. Basu ironically had to wait for four more years to become the Chief Minister of the state that he ruled for next 23 years.

"The picture of that encounter has now become very famous and it was part of a very relevant photo exhibition, organised on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Fidel’s visit to Calcutta, which highlighted the spontaneous outburst of sympathy towards the Cuban leader that flooded the Dum Dum airport," wrote Miguel Angel Ramfrez, Cuban Ambassador to India, in his tribute for Basu in Frontline, Feb. 2010.

He also thanked Basu with "great appreciation" for Jyoti Basu’s personal contribution to Cuba in Cuban years of hardships in the 1990s, when, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the socialist countries in Europe. 

Basu with the likes of Harkishan Singh] Surjeet embarked upon the task of helping Cuba and carried out a campaign in 1992 to send a ship to Cuba with rice and wheat. The Rao government in Delhi obliged and the offer was later described by none other than Fidel as the “bread from India”.

Cuba released an official postage stamp in 2010 with Fidel Castro and Nehru on it, to celebrate 50 years of friendship with India

Surgical Strikes against ‘Parallel economy’ : North East Militants, others "left high and dry"

(Guest Column)

This blog piece is from Swati Deb on the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unprecedented currency ban and fight against black money and terror funding

Indians by nature find it distasteful to admit that anything has gone wrong. Thus drastic changes to the status quo as a phenomenon are anti-thesis to basic Indianness. This applies to the people of north east also – where either life so far has been preferred to be ‘Lahe Lahe (take it easy)’ in Assam or indifference – with the local maxim (“Na jaane ho – How do I know”) as in Nagaland.

So in this land of status- quoists – it was taken for granted that corruption and black money are part of life. But courage is perhaps not the mere absence of fear. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again displayed the mastery over it. It’s a true gamble.

As a hardliner ‘Hindutva’ leader and successful Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi has been always known for his “decisiveness”.  He also has a knack of making most of his decisions powerful weaponry by mixing the same with good timing and unconventional style. But besides ‘decisiveness’, despite that time and again he has been a loner, Modi has displayed some ‘courage’. This synthesis of “courage and decisiveness” often leads to a few drastic outcomes – good, bad and somewhat grey.

Of all his major decisions so far as Indian Prime Minister, the decision to outlaw currency notes worth Rs1000 and Rs 500 with immediate effect from Nov 8-9 (2016) mid-night by Modi would be regarded as the most significant game-changer.

“These notes will not be acceptable for transactions from midnight onwards. The five hundred and thousand rupee notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements will become just worthless pieces of paper,” Modi said in his rare and hurriedly convened television address to the nation on Tuesday evening.

His admirers have called it “surgical strikes” against Black money. He said the move was to “break the grip of corruption and black money”. All these actually linked to the fake currency and terror funding. In effect, in the wilds of north east – where too besides ‘corruption’ – cash dealings are way of life – the Modi Sarkar has dealt the severest blow to the numerous insurgent groups those who survive and thrive with the ‘extortion’ industry.  

'Guest writer' 

According to French scholar and columnist Christophe Jaffrelot,  

as Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi was perhaps “less a politician than a manager”. 

In the context of Modi’s latest moves to fight black money menace, thus it can be safely said that his government has acted against the prevailing intellectual consensus and middle class indifference. Prime Minister has acted more like a super-CEO. True, the courageous moves have always fascinated Modi. Even unlike his one-time mentor LK Advani, in the past too Modi did not pretend to be a ‘secular’. 

In fact, he has never been shy of his hardcore Hindutva background. This has fetched him dividends.

Now what lies ahead both in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh or states like Manipur remains to be seen. But the impact of ‘surgical strikes’ against fake currency and black money would certainly hit the north east militant groups rather adversely.

There are ample reasons for this. Firstly, banking system came to some of these ethnic tribal communities only as a post-Independence phenomenon. Originally, the tribal groups like Nagas believed in barter system. 

Old timers still recall the hill native tribes used to come down to valleys and exchanged chicken, raw meat, vegetables and fruits with salt and some money and rice with the plains dwellers in Assam. 

But when the hard cash or money came in to the system, it virtually came with a vengeance into the political system. Thus the electoral politics was slowly polluted. Wealth and Wine became two major weaknesses of the locals and the same has been well exploited by Indian system and intelligence sleuths.Moreover, use of swipe machines and debit or credit cards are still not popular enough in the north east. 

The menace of greed for money – precisely the easy cash flow - passed onto other areas of tribal life including the insurgents quite swiftly. In states like Tripura, the fascination for money even sought to legitimize ‘kidnapping’ of senior government officials and traders by militant groups. Extortions slowly became an order of the day in Manipur, Assam and Nagaland.

But as the Biblical belief goes, the ill-gotten money – thanks to the pro-Hindutva leader - has been now rendered “worthless piece of papers”.

Often we get to hear that for simpleton tribals and others in the region, the issues of corruption or greed revolve around the traditional ‘chicken and egg’ theory – on what came first. Many locals often also relate corruption in northeast as ‘a menace imported from India’. But can people be trapped into a gimmick of easy money, if they do not want to be?

In fact, the ‘love or greed’ for money have led to metamorphosis among some militant groups. Not long ago in hubs like Dimapur, from profit oriented EXTORTIONS, a few militant groups also wanted to have a monopoly control on business of most saleable items like chicken and mushroom. For them, Modi’s demonetizing decisions are nothing less than ‘surgical strikes’. For them, the decision could not have come as a most effective method of leaving some people high and dry.

(ends)

Prime Minister’s address to the Nation: Surgical Strikes against Black Money

Text of Prime Minister’s address to the Nation (after 8pm, Nov 8, 2016)

Announcing the ban of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes

My dear citizens, I hope you ended the festive season of Diwali with joy and new hope. Today, I will be speaking to you about some critical issues and important decisions. Today I want to make a special request to all of you. You may recall the economic situation in May 2014 when you entrusted us with an onerous responsibility. In the context of BRICS, it was being said that the “I” in BRICS was shaky. Since then, we had two years of severe drought. 

Yet, in the last two and a half years with the support of 125 crore Indians, India has become the “bright spot” in the global economy. It is not just we who are saying this; it is being stated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  In this effort for development, our motto has been ‘Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas’: We are with all citizens and for development of all citizens. This Government is dedicated to the poor. It will remain dedicated to them. In our fight against poverty, our main thrust has been to empower the poor, and make them active participants in the benefits of economic progress. 

Importantly: Prez Pranab endorses ban on Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, 
the Jan Suraksha Yojana, 
the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana for small enterprises, 
the Stand-up India programme for Dalits, Adivasis and Women, 
the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme for gas connections in the homes of the poor, 
the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana to protect the income of farmers, 
the Soil Health Card Scheme to ensure the best possible yield from farmers’ fields, 
and the e-NAM National Market Place scheme to ensure farmers get the right price for their produce 
—these are all reflections of this approach. 

In the past decades, the spectre of corruption and black money has grown. It has weakened the effort to remove poverty. On the one hand, we are now No. 1 in the rate of economic growth. But on the other hand, we were ranked close to one hundred in the global corruption perceptions ranking two years back. In spite of many steps taken, we have only been able to reach a ranking of seventy-six now. Of course, there is improvement. This shows the extent to which corruption and black money have spread their tentacles. 

More Than Modi: Its Moditva that Impresses

The evil of corruption has been spread by certain sections of society for their selfish interest. They have ignored the poor and cornered benefits. Some people have misused their office for personal gain. On the other hand, honest people have fought against this evil. Crores of common men and women have lived lives of integrity. We hear about poor auto-rickshaw drivers returning gold ornaments left in the vehicles to their rightful owners. We hear about taxi drivers who take pains to locate the owners of cell phones left behind. We hear of vegetable vendors who return excess money given by customers. 
There comes a time in the history of a country’s development when a need is felt for a strong and decisive step. For years, this country has felt that corruption, black money and terrorism are festering sores, holding us back in the race towards development. Terrorism is a frightening threat. So many have lost their lives because of it. But have you ever thought about how these terrorists get their money? Enemies from across the border run their operations using fake currency notes. This has been going on for years. Many times, those using fake five hundred and thousand rupee notes have been caught and many such notes have been seized. 

Brothers and sisters, On the one hand is the problem of terrorism; on the other is the challenge posed by corruption and black money. We began our battle against corruption by setting up an SIT headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, immediately upon taking office. Since then • a law was passed in 2015 for disclosure of foreign black money; • agreements with many countries, including the USA, have been made to add provisions for sharing banking information; • a strict law has come into force from August 2016 to curb benami transactions, which are used to deploy black money earned through corruption; • a scheme was introduced for declaring black money after paying a stiff penalty;                                                

My dear countrymen, 

Through all these efforts, in the last two and a half years, we have brought into the open nearly 1 lakh 25 thousand crore rupees of black money belonging to the corrupt. Honest citizens want this fight against corruption, black money, benami property, terrorism and counterfeiting to continue. Which honest citizen would not be pained by reports of crores worth of currency notes stashed under the beds of government officers? Or by reports of cash found in gunny bags? 
The magnitude of cash in circulation is directly linked to the level of corruption. Inflation becomes worse through the deployment of cash earned in corrupt ways. The poor have to bear the brunt of this. It has a direct effect on the purchasing power of the poor and the middle class. You may yourself have experienced when buying land or a house, that apart from the amount paid by cheque, a large amount is demanded in cash. This creates problems for an honest person in buying property. The misuse of cash has led to artificial increase in the cost of goods and services like houses, land, higher education, health care and so on. 

High circulation of cash also strengthens the hawala trade which is directly connected to black money and illegal trade in weapons. Debate on the role of black money in elections has been going on for years. 
Brothers and sisters, 

To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016. 

This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transactions from midnight onwards. 

The five hundred and thousand rupee notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements will become just worthless pieces of paper. The rights and the interests of honest, hard-working people will be fully protected. Let me assure you that notes of one hundred, fifty, twenty, ten, five, two and one rupee and all coins will remain legal tender and will not be affected. This step will strengthen the hands of the common man in the fight against corruption, black money and fake currency. To minimise the difficulties of citizens in the coming days, several steps are being taken. 
1. Persons holding old notes of five hundred or one thousand rupees can deposit these notes in their bank or post office accounts from 10th November till close of banking hours on 30th December 2016 without any limit.
2. Thus you will have 50 days to deposit your notes and there is no need for panic. 3. Your money will remain yours. You need have no worry on this point. 
4. After depositing your money in your account, you can draw it when you need it. 
5. Keeping in mind the supply of new notes, in the first few days, there will be a limit of ten thousand rupees per day and twenty thousand rupees per week. This limit will be increased in the coming days. 
6. Apart from depositing your notes in your bank account, another facility will also be there. 
7. For your immediate needs, you can go to any bank, head post office or sub post office, show your identity proof like Aadhaar card, voter card, ration card, passport, PAN card or other approved proofs, and exchange your old five hundred or thousand rupee notes for new notes. 8. From 10th November till 24th November the limit for such exchange will be four thousand rupees. From 25th November till 30th December, the limit will be increased. 
9. There may be some who, for some reason, are not able to deposit their old five hundred or thousand rupee notes by 30th December 2016. 
10. They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to 31st March 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form. 
11. On 9th November and in some places on 10th November also, ATMs will not work. In the first few days, there will be a limit of two thousand rupees per day per card. 
12. This will be raised to four thousand rupees later. 
13. Five hundred and thousand rupee notes will not be legal tender from midnight. However for humanitarian reasons, to reduce hardship to citizens, some special arrangements have been made for the first 72 hours, that is till midnight on 11th November. 
14. During this period, government hospitals will continue to accept five hundred and thousand rupee notes for payment. 
15. This is for the benefit of those families whose members may be unwell. 
16. Pharmacies in government hospitals will also accept these notes for buying medicines with doctors’ prescription. 
17. For 72 hours, till midnight on 11th November, railway ticket booking counters, ticket counters of government buses and airline ticket counters at airports will accept the old notes for purchase of tickets. This is for the benefit of those who may be travelling at this time. 
18. For 72 hours, five hundred and thousand rupee notes will be accepted also at
• Petrol, diesel and CNG gas stations authorised by public sector oil companies
• Consumer co-operative stores authorised by State or Central Government
• Milk booths authorised by State governments
• Crematoria and burial grounds. 

Making a difference

These outlets will have to keep proper records of stock and collections. 
19. Arrangements will be made at international airports for arriving and departing passengers who have five hundred or thousand rupee notes of not more than five thousand rupees, to exchange them for new notes or other legal tender. 
20. Foreign tourists will be able to exchange foreign currency or old notes of not more than Rs 5000 into legal tender. 
21. One more thing I would like to mention, I want to stress that in this entire exercise, there is no restriction of any kind on non-cash payments by cheques, demand drafts, debit or credit cards and electronic fund transfer. 

Brothers and sisters, 
In spite of all these efforts there may be temporary hardships to be faced by honest citizens. Experience tells us that ordinary citizens are always ready to make sacrifices and face difficulties for the benefit of the nation. I see that spirit when a poor widow gives up her LPG subsidy, when a retired school teacher contributes his pension to the Swacch Bharat mission, when a poor Adivasi mother sells her goats to build a toilet, when a soldier contributes 57 thousand rupees to make his village clean. I have seen that the ordinary citizen has the determination to do anything, if it will lead to the country’s progress. 

So, in this fight against corruption, black money, fake notes and terrorism, in this movement for purifying our country, will our people not put up with difficulties for some days? I have full confidence that every citizen will stand up and participate in this ‘mahayagna’. My dear countrymen, after the festivity of Diwali, now join the nation and extend your hand in this Imandaari ka Utsav, this Pramanikta ka Parv, this celebration of integrity, this festival of credibility. 

I am sure that all political parties, all governments, social services organizations, the media and indeed all sections of the society will take part in this with enthusiasm and make it a success. 
My dear countrymen, 

Secrecy was essential for this action. It is only now, as I speak to you, that various agencies like banks, post offices, railways, hospitals and others are being informed. The Reserve Bank, banks and post offices have to make many arrangements at very short notice. Obviously, time will be needed. Therefore all banks will be closed to the public on 9th November. This may cause some hardship to you. I have full faith that banks and post offices will successfully carry out this great task of national importance. However, I appeal to all of you to help the banks and post offices to meet this challenge with poise and determination. 

Opposition: Rendered Clueless

My dear citizens, 

From time to time, based on currency needs, the Reserve Bank with the approval of the Central Government brings out new notes of higher value. In 2014, the Reserve Bank sent a recommendation for issue of five thousand and ten thousand rupee notes. After careful consideration, this was not accepted. Now as part of this exercise, RBI’s recommendation to issue two thousand rupee notes has been accepted. New notes of five hundred rupees and two thousand rupees, with completely new design will be introduced. Based on past experience, the Reserve Bank will hereafter make arrangements to limit the share of high denomination notes in the total currency in circulation. 
In a country’s history, there come moments when every person feels he too should be part of that moment, that he too should make his contribution to the country’s progress. Such moments come but rarely. Now, we again have an opportunity where every citizen can join this mahayajna against the ills of corruption, black money and fake notes. The more help you give in this campaign, the more successful it will be. It has been a matter of concern for all of us that corruption and black money tend to be accepted as part of life. This type of thinking has afflicted our politics, our administration and our society like an infestation of termites. None of our public institutions is free from these termites. 
Time and again, I have seen that when the average citizen has to choose between accepting dishonesty and bearing inconvenience, they always choose to put up with inconvenience. They will not support dishonesty. 

Once again, let me invite you to make your contribution to this grand sacrifice for cleansing our country, just as you cleaned up your surroundings during Diwali. 

Let us ignore the temporary hardship 

Bengal's mercurial Mamata: Forced to react angrily

Let us join this festival of integrity and credibility 
Let us enable coming generations to live their lives with dignity 
Let us fight corruption and black money
Let us ensure that the nation’s wealth benefits the poor  Let us enable law-abiding citizens to get their due share. I am confident in the 125 crore people of India and I am sure country will get success. 
Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. 
Namaskar. 
Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

(ends) 

India debates: Uniform Civil Code not a brainchild of Modi regime

A seething debate is underway in "Hindu-majority" India once again as the Modi government plans to replace religion-based personal law with a uniform code.

India, known to be a 'secular nation', has successfully practiced parliamentary democracy for the past six decades. Undoubtedly, India has allowed its people of varied religions to follow their own faith-based codes governing marriage, divorce and inheritance. Some took it as rights, others labeled these as "minority appeasement".
Perhaps the whole politics is about this.

The Indian Constitution, which declared the country a secular nation in 1950, accepted various religion-based personal codes when it was promulgated, but had originally intended to introduce a common code in the country.

Contrary to popular opinion, the need for Uniform Civil Code in India – that has been successfully practicing parliamentary democracy for last six decades – is not strictly an invention of the “Hindu chauvinistic” Narendra Modi government. From time to time the ‘Hindu majority’ country with an estimated 18 per cent Muslims and 2-3 per cent Christians has witnessed intense debate surrounding the Uniform Civil Code.

In 2003, the Supreme Court had given a ruling stating in its order: "A common civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing the contradictions based on ideologies”. In fact, the terse observation from the Supreme Court of India came taking in cognizance of a petition filed a Christian priest relating to property rights.

Under the Indian law, Christians are forbidden from donating inherited property for charitable purposes. The court had said there is already a legal provision for a uniform civil code in India and that it was "a matter of regret" that it has not been enacted.

The debate has surfaced once again in circa 2016 with the Law Commission of India circulating a set of questionnaire recently seeking opinion of citizens, various religious groups and other stake holders on what they felt about the very idea of ‘uniform civil code’. There is a political hyperbole in it as India’s ruling party the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), has long been pushing for such a law in the face of “opposition” from political detractors. The opponents of Uniform Civil Code have always linked it to the BJP’s pro-Hindu slant. The refrain being, can Hindutva be linked to Bharatityata (Indianness).

The Muslim organizations have also predictably opposed the uniform civil code idea. As of now Christians are simply gauging the national mood even as individually Christians are not opposed to the uniform civil code per se. For the majority Hindus especially upper echelons, there is a “perceived Muslim appeasement” in opposing the uniform civil code indulged by the political class including the communists, the Congress party led by an Italy-born ‘Hindu widow’ Sonia Gandhi and the socialists.   

“These appeasements of Muslims by Congress and communists without working genuinely for Muslims uplift are only bound to increase hate-Muslims approach among Hindus. Hence there is a bigger political relation to the uniform civil code debate,” says Yogi Adityanath, a BJP lawmaker.

Many Christians like a Naga politician in Christian-dominated Nagaland state – T. Ngullie – says, “Unlike what is made out to be, Muslim women stand to benefit from the uniform civil code. There is a male chauvinism among Muslim leadership that is leading to oppose the same.”

Such claims cannot be dismissed outright. Several Muslim organizations including All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Muslim Majlise- Mushawarat, Milli Council, Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees along with other schools of thought like Deoband, Barelvi, Ahle Hadith – known for their pro-male slant - have rejected the questionnaire prepared by the Law Commission. In fact, Hyderabad-based Jamait Ulama has said that the uniform civil code debate is actually only an “interference” into the affairs of Muslims as “Muslims are completely satisfied with the existing laws”.

However, there are a few Muslim organizations like All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), which has translated Law Commission questionare in Urdu and favoured the debate at the mass level.

As regard the ruling BJP and the federal government of the day, both find uniform civil code a “progressive” step. The Modi government has clearly come out in support of abolishing medieval practices such as triple talaq, polygamy and nikah. 

Triple Talaq allows the Muslim husband to divorce his wife by uttering (or even writing) the word ‘talaq’ three times to his wife. The provision is often allegedly abused as the system leaves the Muslim wife “divorced and without means of livelihood”. Moreover, unlike other communities in India, the Islamic practice of polygamy permits a Muslim male to be married to four wives at a time. 

These are seen as discriminatory and even pro-men social practice among Muslim society.