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Once there was a state in the Union of India named Jammu & Kashmir. It remained so after its accession in 1947 until August 5, 2019 when the state was abolished after a presidential order revoking Article 370 of the constitution of India, reducing it to mere a territory held by the Union, and a significant area carved out to make another territory named Ladakh. It was done by applying brute force in the state silencing the voice of its citizens and by the majority in the parliament without discussion on the matter. Opinions are divided. Some say the action and the manner in which it was done was immoral, unethical, unwise, and unjustified while majority of non-Kashmiri Indians hailed the action bold and historic. Kashmiris termed the fateful event as ‘black day’. We, both Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri Indians, will have to face the consequences whatever may come.

Boris Johnson’s pledge that the UK will fiercely pursue his Brexit policy and leave EU on 31 October, “no ifs or buts”, has not only put the British polity in a blind alley but has created a piquant political situation in the European Union. Apparently Brussels is not against the Brexit and allowing the UK to walk out of the Union, there is lurking fear that it would jeopardise Union’s interest at the global level.

The world could never imagine the aftermath that happened after atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945 respectively. The two cities were left with over 2 lakh people dead and several times more injured. The effects continued for long as a result of radiation leakage from these bombs which caused acute radiation sickness in the form of burns and bleeding from various organs of the body. The chronic effects of the radiations led to anomalies in the next generation born to the people who survived the catastrophe. Dr Marcel Junod, first foreigner from Red Cross to reach there moved around the blighted city, pieced together what had happened from various first-hand accounts:

The Director General Central Reserve Police Force vide their letter dt 23rd July 2019 addressed to one of their Sector commanders appears to be committing contempt of the court by giving an entire new interpretation to the order of Delhi High Court affirmed by the Supreme Court in the matter of grant of OGAS status and NFFU to the CPMF. They have introduced a totally new dimension to the meaning of “Organised Group ‘A’ Service” (OGAS) which doesn’t find mention either in the Delhi High Court Order or in the order of Supreme Court.

The attack on Article 370 — the most contentious and sensitive article of the Constitution of India — was complete when the Modi government on Monday, August 5, 2019 introduced in the Parliament a draft resolution recommending to the President its abrogation along with a bill to reorganize the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It did not give the MPs adequate time to study and critique the proposals.

August 5 is a historic day for the country as the Modi government had scrapped Article 370 and Article 35A pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir at one stroke. A complex issue, which many prime ministers had been grappling with unsuccessfully for the past 70 years, Prime Minister Modi has resolved it boldly within the first 100 days in his second term. As a bureaucrat friend remarked with half a page Presidential order and four hours of debate and discussion in the Rajya Saba, Jammu and Kashmir as a state disappeared and in its place emerged two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The political reason for clubbing Jammu and Kashmir might be to make the state a Hindu majority gradually.

The dream nurtured by the RSS-Jan Sangh for decades about scrapping Article 370 has finally been sought to be achieved by the BJP. Since dispensing with the Article, which confers a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will require judicial and parliamentary approval, it is yet to be seen whether the BJP will have the legal arguments or the numbers in parliament to push through the measure.

Last week’s sharp reduction in fixed deposit rates by the State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, appears to be more to please the government and the Reserve Bank (RBI) than in response to the market situation. The deposit rate cut is expected to translate in lower lending rates. The pro-business government has been pressing for lower lending rates which are linked with the banks’ cost of funds. The SBI decision will force other banks to lower lending rates. The SBI reduction in term deposit rates is in the range of 50-75 basis points (100 basis points = one percentage point). It has been attributed to the “falling interest rate scenario and surplus liquidity.” The SBI statement is somewhat confusing. Only two months ago, muted government spending and high election-related expenditure created a liquidity deficit of Rs 70,000 crore in the banking system, stymieing the RBI’s record liquidity infusion via bond purchases and the innovative dollar-rupee swap. However, SBI would know its liquidity position better.

Even after two years of roll out of GST, the tax administration and its mechanism in place is infested with serious faults on several counts resulting in public suffering and economic woes. Multiplicity of tax rates is yet to be completely eliminated. Single IT based interface for taxpayers and simplified tax compliance regime are yet to be fully achieved. System validated Input Tax Credit through “invoice matching” is not in place and nonintrusive e-tax system still remains elusive. No one has a clear picture even about the huge data generated mainly due to its inaccessibility. Even CAG could not access the data required for analysis and assessment.

NEW DELHI: The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India today strongly condemned the anti-democratic move of the RSS controlled BJP government to change the status quo of Jammu and Kashmir without taking people into confidence. To dismantle the state of Jammu and Kashmir into different Union Territories without proper discussion in Parliament when the parliament is in session is undermining the parliamentary practices, procedures and the precedence, the CPI secretariat said in a statement.