RajeshA wrote:Breaking: Former BJP President Bangaru Laxman dies in Hyderabad.
Pity! He should have seen BJP in power!
The record of missteps, miscalculations and resulting economic mismanagement covers the entire decade of UPA governments.
The problems began right from the Congress ‘victory’ by a whisker in 2004 and continued unabated.
Whether by design or serendipity, the National Democratic Alliance government had infrastructure as its strategy cornerstone. General B C Khanduri in surface transport, Mr Nitish Kumar in railways, Dr Arun Shourie in telecommunications and Mr Suresh Prabhu in power achieved breakthroughs between 1999 and 2004.
None of these was a technical expert in his fields but they were simply people dedicated to their jobs. They led to increases in commerce with very significant spread and multiplier effects, resulting in accelerated growth.
The Congress believed the BJP's India Shining line was wrong and caused the upset loss. Ever since, it has striven hard to corroborate this article of its faith. Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council believed that since India was not Shining, the first order of business was to vastly increase the system of entitlements regardless of consequences. The government did not even demur.
Infrastructure was an inconvenient word best put aside. Railways became fiefdoms of populist allies who bled the ageing giant white even while burdening it beyond limits, proffering ever greater subsidies. Telecommunications and coal mining became mired into unimaginable cesspools of corruption.
Yet the government took the earlier growth for granted. Tax buoyancy convinced it that it had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, enough to pay for ever-expanding populist schemes.
The pilot Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of 2006 was ambitiously enlarged by 2008. Food and fertiliser subsidies continued to grow apace. Oil companies groaned under the rising burden of under-recoveries of the fuel they sold, but Big Government dipped into its non-existent deep pockets to assuage them, without fearing the day of reckoning.
India had already reached the slippery slope in UPA I under the same wise leadership that has continued to guide it until now.
The government responded to the deep-rooted structural problems of agriculture by offering a palliative of a one-time debt-waiver of Rs 60,000 crore to 40 million farm families. It also committed simultaneously to spending Rs 20,000 crore annually on 5.5 million families of government employees and retirees.
States had to follow suit, staring at bankruptcy, but overdrafts from the central government could come to their rescue! While one hand of the government tightened money to control inflation, the other opened the floodgates.
Two fortuitous (but unintended) results ensued. One, the bumper crop of 2008 temporarily paused food inflation. Food prices continued their upward march the very next year, not checked till date.
Between 2007 and 2011, food inflation was 80 per cent, and fruit and vegetables doubled in prices. That trend continues to exacerbate, as is evident from onion prices literally causing tears all through 2013.
A worse disaster followed the Mumbai terror attacks. Mr Chidambaram moved to the home ministry and Mr Pranab Mukherjee strode into North Block. His four Budgets from 2009 to 2012 paid mere lip service to sound macro-economic concerns, but were text-book examples of flouting them in practice.
By 2012, slowdown in all economic activity was evident. Business leaders entreated the government to end the policy paralysis, but the top Congress leadership maintained a posture that would have done the Sphinx proud.
When Mr Mukherjee was kicked upstairs, the prime minister moved Mr Chidambaram just over a year ago back into his old seat, amidst huge expectations. He declared fiscal consolidation to be his first priority.
In September last, a series of ‘reforms’ were unveiled -- higher foreign direct investment in retail, partial decontrol of fuel prices, a cabinet committee for coordinating project clearances and monitoring, among other things.
Many noises and announcements later, the current situation is that the growth rate has sunk to below five per cent, the lowest in 10 years. Food inflation continues to devour consumer confidence. Investments and industrial production are moribund.
Hilarious article on this in UnrealtimesSingha wrote:even if he made a mistake...this is truly pathetic sikular clutching at straws....let raul gandhi sit for a exam and we will see how much he scores on indian history!
—History—
Sagarika: Who is my favourite freedom fighter?
Modi: WTF yaar? How am I supposed to know? Nehru?
Sagarika: Wrong! I adore him, but that’s not the answer. You would know if you gave a damn about the Indian freedom struggle, Mr.Modi.
Modi: How is that even related?
Sagarika: It is totally related. If you read about the freedom struggle, you would have thought of me when you read about ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ Lakshmibai. We are so similar. *takes up an imaginary Lakshmibai pose*
Modi: FML
–
Sagarika: Rahul Baba, which Indian freedom fighter gave us the slogan “Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it”. Lokmanya Tilak or Dr.Manmohan Singh?
Rahul: Hehe. Good one. Should be that Tilak guy. Although, to be true, Dr.Manmohan Singh also shouted that slogan at a party meeting recently and everybody laughed.
Sagarika: Tilak is the correct answer, Rahul Baba. Only a true patriot understands the struggle for freedom. *Gives Modi a condescending look*
left side says "bharata gellissi (rali)" - meaning 'make india win' (rally). Right i just the location - Hubli.M Joshi wrote:Apologies for the large inline image:
Notice the map. Can anyone translate the Kannada?
Rahul Mehta wrote:Only 4 minutes. Must watch. NaMo slams FDI in general and FDI in retail. But that was long back , I guess over a year ago.
Now all of a sudden we see a M-turn, and NaMo supports FDI !!! I wonder why didnt NaMo made pro-FDI speech one year ago. And why did he change now? Is it that MNC-owners using "threat to support AAP in media" forced NaMo to accept FDI? Or any other reasons you guys can give?
Instead of shooting messenger of bad news, pls spend time in asking Q to man who is going to become PM. And I dont look at newspaper headlines, rather I look at ABSENCE of newspaper headlines. eg I dug out BJP-leaders' support=silence on Sonia's decision to suppress census-2011 religion numbers NOT from newspaper headline but absence of newspaper headline. And this is NOT first time I am reporting silence. Since 2000, I have been telling all that in politics, silence speaks more than words.
Care to explain why NaMo opposed FDI 12 months back and now he is supporting it? Pls focus on question, after you are done throwing mud on me.
Too much Takleef, fanne? Kuch lete kyon nahee? Now care to explain why NaMo opposed FDI 12 months back and now he is supporting it? Pls focus on question, after you are done throwing mud on me.
Rahul Mehta shows a typical Hindu trait that is currently in fashion: No Hindu politician is acceptable till he is total 100 percent gold, otherwise these dudes will run to vote for politicians hostile to Hindus. This I have seen in so many people I have lost count. The way they hem and haw, inspect a staunch Hindu politician from every angle, weigh him up and down .. it is amazing. But no such inspections for rabidly anti-Hindu politicians or parties, whom they will vote for enthusiastically. Basically, this is a manifestation of inferiority complex in one's own identity.panduranghari wrote:Yah. Whatever. Dude. But TINA to Modi.
Sam-daam-daand-bhedh...to attain power to clean the gutters of Indian politics.
Changing tune on FDI to get undecided voters to vote for NDA. The battle right now is for the undecided voters. I don't know what they are undecided about? But every little helps.
Right now I will trust Modi even if does 180 degree turn. I just feel his heart is in the right place. And considering the left leaning elite hate him, more a reason to like Modi. Enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that.
+108 to that. Although Rahul ji is a well meaning guy, but actually you summed up a general tendency among Indians pretty well.SanjayC wrote:Rahul Mehta shows a typical Hindu trait that is currently in fashion: No Hindu politician is acceptable till he is total 100 percent gold, otherwise these dudes will run to vote for politicians hostile to Hindus. This I have seen in so many people I have lost count. The way they hem and haw, inspect a staunch Hindu politician from every angle, weigh him up and down .. it is amazing. But no such inspections for rabidly anti-Hindu politicians or parties, whom they will vote for enthusiastically. Basically, this is a manifestation of inferiority complex in one's own identity.panduranghari wrote:Yah. Whatever. Dude. But TINA to Modi.
Sam-daam-daand-bhedh...to attain power to clean the gutters of Indian politics.
Changing tune on FDI to get undecided voters to vote for NDA. The battle right now is for the undecided voters. I don't know what they are undecided about? But every little helps.
Right now I will trust Modi even if does 180 degree turn. I just feel his heart is in the right place. And considering the left leaning elite hate him, more a reason to like Modi. Enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that.
Yes. But "Bhagatsingh -> AN" saved NaMo from M-turn on FDI issue. IOW, ToI didnt write about M-turn on FDI issue which could have done huge damage to NaMo, but wrote about Bhagatsingh -> AN issue which does very low damage to NaMo. And why would ToI do that? Or let me tell you a principal in journalism --- write a lot about something else to cover silence on something. or divert the attemtion on some other issue. ToI is pro-FDI. And ToI wanted audience to ignore NaMo's M-turn on FDI. And so ToI went full throttle on "Bhagat -> AN" issue.kapilrdave wrote:Clearly Sukhdev, Rajguru, Bhagatsing and also Gandhiji were just examples. He is talking about the need of a cleaner country which has been given to us by paying very high cost by the freedom fighters. That includes freedom fighters of Andaman-Nicobar. In any case, it is only laughable to even think that NM doesn't know Bhagatsign didn't went to A&N.
TINA is good for individual or party, but bad for nation.panduranghari wrote: Yah. Whatever. Dude. But TINA to Modi.
Yeah, I watched. The man is very competent. His clarity of thought is exceptional. My respect has grown manifold.vivek.rao wrote:Looks like Amit shah on India tv aap ki adalat! Any one watched? Twitter is saying it was explosive and great
Is there a link?chaanakya wrote:Yeah, I watched. The man is very competent. His clarity of thought is exceptional. My respect has grown manifold.vivek.rao wrote:Looks like Amit shah on India tv aap ki adalat! Any one watched? Twitter is saying it was explosive and great
I watched. He got very good response from public in the hall. If this is the indicative of NM support then we are in for a great election result.vivek.rao wrote:Looks like Amit shah on India tv aap ki adalat! Any one watched? Twitter is saying it was explosive and great
This time the choice increasingly appears to be between the past and the future, between an old idea of India and a new one. Those selling the old idea, in their different ways, are the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the ‘secular socialists’ who banded together last week as a third front.
What is the old idea of India? It is the one bequeathed us by Nehruvian socialism whereby we have created India as she is today. A land in which a vast infrastructure of politicians, officials, clerks and peons govern badly an angry and restless populace that no longer understands why basic needs are so hard to meet. A land in which young people demand to know why the sons of officials and politicians live like billionaires while they hunt desperately for jobs in a market that in the past 10 years has dried up. So crony capitalism is a favourite catchphrase with the AAP lot, without them noticing that this is always a creation of the state. In the eyes of AAP, it is corporate India that is to blame.
What is most depressing is that if you talk to leaders of the parties in the old India club, the solutions they offer are no different to the ones we have already tried. In their campaign speeches, they talk of secularism and socialism, poverty alleviation schemes and empowering women. On corruption, the Lokpal is a ‘new’ idea that has been around for 40 years. They know that they offer nothing new, so they throw in dark references to the man they most fear and loathe. Narendra Modi.
After making it clear that he believed that India’s strengths were “democracy, demography and demand” and its weaknesses were serious deficits of governance, trust, morality and hope, Modi made the case for what he thinks can be done. He said nothing could improve without “good governance”. He did not say in so many words that by this he meant massive administrative reforms, but used anecdotes from Gujarat to make this point.
Then he talked of needing to improve “the quality of life” for the average Indian. It was vital to make India a country in which young people could live with hope and dignity, he said, and for this they needed jobs and the amenities that remain mostly unavailable to rural Indians. Electricity, clean water and a standard of living that could be described as a standard of living. He said, “We need in rural India to keep the soul of the villages but provide people with the utilities and services available in urban centres.” He reiterated that he saw urbanisation not as a problem but as an opportunity.
What touched my own cynical soul to its core was his suggestion, when talking of healthcare, that we pledge to make India clean and sanitary by the 150th anniversary of Gandhiji’s birthday. This was the best tribute that could be paid Gandhiji, Modi said, because he had worked so hard to convince Indians of the importance of sanitation and hygiene. In modern terms, Modi emphasised, the benefit would be a huge reduction in India’s healthcare bills, because it would shift the emphasis to prevention from cure.
He offers hope in a time of deep despair and he offers a dream of prosperity at the end of a decade when the Indian economy has sunk to its lowest ebb in recent memory. The old India club offers only ‘poverty alleviation’ to people sick to death of poverty.
Neither the Yuvraj nor Kejriwal, who claim to speak for the poor, have ever experienced the poverty or hard menial labour that is the lot of the poor in India. NaMo has experienced it first-hand.Not chai, but fafda
Mani Shankar Aiyar tried to score points by dismissing Narendra Modi as a former chaiwallah. The BJP seized upon his job description to its advantage, starting Modi chai pe charcha stalls all over the country as part of its campaign strategy. But those who knew Modi in the good old days say the chaiwallah description is inaccurate. When Modi returned to Gujarat after his Himalayan sojourn, instead of going back to Vadnagar, his birthplace, he went to Ahmedabad, where his uncle sold fafda (a Gujarati savoury), not tea, at the Geeta Mandir bus stop. While studying, Modi helped his uncle as a part-time dishwasher. RSS leader Lakshmanrao Inamdar, known as ‘Vakil saheb’, took an interest in the young dishwasher, who was fond of reading. He invited Modi to Hedgewar Bhavan in Ahmedabad during the Navnirman movement. There, Modi’s duties included cooking, washing clothes and mopping floors.
here will be many stories within and around the 2014 general elections. A principal occurrence will be the earthquake that swallows the socialists. Its epicenter will be Bihar, but the perimeter of devastation will extend across Uttar Pradesh.
The last three heirs of Lohia, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav surely know in their hearts what their minds might refuse to admit. The party’s over. Ever since they first sipped power at the fountain of coalitions in 1967, one fact has been transparently clear. Indian socialists have always been far better at politics than government. Such talent should not be underestimated in a democracy. It is difficult enough to win elections even after delivering on the promise of incremental prosperity. To do so through sheer emotional arithmetic is genius.
the Chief Minister’s loyal castes were rewarded with a stake in power, allies were kept onside with marginal benefits, and the vital Muslim vote was patched on with a debilitating concoction of illusion and fear. Muslims got prayer and tokenism; jobs went to others. Religion became the opium of the people.
Nitish Kumar’s brief encounter with glory had little to do with the quality of governance. He was the much-needed relief vessel after the Lalu shipwreck. His years in power were primarily consumed by a relentless search of sub-castes to knead into a political dividend. It was vote bank politics, but with rural banks, a low capital base and insufficient transactions. As a long-term business model, it offered little chance of success. Now that Nitish Kumar has run out of time and ideas, the alibi game has begun
Today’s voter is sick to the stomach of deceptive jargon. Politics, unfortunately, has become a malevolent word. Indians want jobs, security and empowerment through economic growth. They are equally tired of the misuse of secularism to justify corruption, dynasty and piteously weak administration. In any case, when the opening sentence of a book on Narendra Modi’s views states that secularism is the equality of all faiths before the law, when he avers in his speeches that the only religion of a politician is the Constitution of India,
For four decades, Indian socialists have denied BJP primacy in the crucial Ganga-Jamuna belt. BJP was successful in displacing socialists in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (Lohia’s home province), but could never quite get their act together in UP and Bihar. The party touched nadir when two years ago Mulayam Singh Yadav won UP by unprecedented margins, and Nitish Kumar chose this psychological moment to distance himself from BJP, and start a flirtation with Congress
Criminal prosecution has nothing to do with model code of conduct. Let no media person tell you that "criminal prosecution of entities related to political persons" have to be halted because of "model code of conduct".nageshks wrote:Folks,
If the Model Code of Conduct comes into place, will it be impossible for Vasundhara+Kirit Somaiya to go after the Mafia Queen's family? Vadra's deals were being investigated by the BJP government, and I would imagine they will begin by filing some FIRs against the companies involved with Vadra.
By the way, has NaMo specifically targeted the Mafia Queen or the Dynasty in corruption? Has he said anything about the AugustaWestland scam?
Kumarn, good riddance! She was never a "close" friend and neither a good person to begin with. What kind of friend does not respect her own friend's contrarian views and engage in contrasting ideas?kumarn wrote:one close friend from college (muslim gal) unfriended and blocked me on FB after what I thought was a civilized debate on water management in gujarat! This election is like none in the past!
Must read. I will try to post snippets.rohitv wrote:Narendra Modi has given interview to Dainik Jagaran - prior to his Lucknow Rally.
E-Paper Link:
http://epaper.jagran.com/ePaperArticle/ ... 484-4.html
http://epaper.jagran.com/ePaperArticle/ ... 496-4.html
This was with regard to the third front and federal front. He said that these parties are indirectly helping Congress and warned people about this "experiment"disha wrote: Headline: In this crucial momentous turn, costly will be an experiment (Disha: Whatever that means)
