View Articles

Yakub Memon was hanged at the early hours 30th July 2015, after being convicted for his role in the 2003 Mumbai bomb attacks that killed hundreds of innocent people. His conviction strongly rested on his ‘confession’ to the police, that used to be admissible under TADA, an infamous black law that was widely denounced for being in violation of basic human rights and protection from false framing. This hanging in Maharashtra was preceded by live-telecast hectic activity in Lutyens’ Delhi. Let's leave aside for now those who were for or against Yakub's hanging. The amount of self-congratulation and nation-congratulation among the 'unaffiliated' must have made the 68-year-old Bharat mata blush. Her eyes must have widened with excitement and moistened with pride as she saw Attorney General and others doing their duty far past the midnight hour. 'Grandmother, what big eyes you have!' cried today’s child who still believes that grandmothers are necessarily loving creatures. We know how that one ends.

When the savvy Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley unveiled the gold monetization scheme in the 2015-16 budget many eyebrows were raised as to the practical benefits such a scheme could deliver to its users. This has been mainly due to the abject performance of the former Gold Deposit Scheme 1999 which let individuals/trusts monetize their stock of gold, jewels or gold coins by depositing them with a bank and earning returns in grammage. While reviewing the scheme’s fiasco and tepid outcome, the KUB Rao Committee conceded that there was limited success on account of high melting costs, a high ticket size (a minimum deposit of 500 gm of gold in gross weight) and the predilection of individuals for return of the original jewellery pledged. Without proposing any mechanism to root out the shortcomings, the Committee merely suggested a Modified Gold Deposit scheme where there is to be no restriction on the weight of gold that may be deposited.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One step forward, two steps backward. That seems to be the result of the efforts made by the BJP in Kerala which seemed to have taken a decisive step towards realization of its long-standing dream of forging a third front in the state a few weeks back.

The monsoon session of Parliament got washed away. And, with it, the prospect of getting such important executive policy moves through Land Bill and GST introduction got further clouded. The BJP-led NDA government is already about 15-month old, spending 25 per cent of its normal tenure before the next Lok Sabha election. If any group is really upset with the poor legislative function of the country, it is the foreign direct investors who banked big on India after BJP acquired the controlling party position in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The Scot novelist and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson had once said: “We all know what Parliament is, and we are also ashamed of it.” His satirical comment needs to be read in the context of the Indian Parliament’s functioning which has not been able to transact any important legislative business in last about five years. For its this ‘noble task’ (!) the people should be ‘grateful’ to our quarreling MPs whom they had elected to enact laws for efficient governance and for solving their problems. Both the former Congress-led UPA-II government and the incumbent BJP-led NDA government are responsible for their inexcusable non-performance.

For the average voter, the choice between the two major national parties, the BJP and the Congress, is an unattractive one since their biodata, if their history can be so called, have far too many flaws.

BHOPAL: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seems to have launched all out war against Divijay Singh, General Secretary, All India Congress Committee and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. A few days back, almost two-decade0old case of suicide was dug up. Relations of Congress leader Sarla Mishra who died in mysterious circumstance met the Chief Minister touched his feel and demanded CBI enquiry to unravel the mystery of the death. Sarla Mishra alleged died due to burn injuries.

CHENNAI: Unperturbed over the long drawn-out disruptions in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-hour visit to Chennai, ostensibly to launch the National Handloom Day on August 7, was turned to political advantage, his seeking AIADMK Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's support for GST and other reforms while the latter pushing Tamil Nadu concerns to the forefront.

What is estimated loss to the exchequer if an entire Lok Sabha session is washed out? It is staggering 81 crore rupees. Per hour cost of running Lok Sabha come to Rs. 1.5 crores. The largest numbers of MP – 63 – were suspended on March 3, 1989 followed by 16 on February 2, 2014. Now, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has suspended 25 Congress MPs for “persistently, willfully obstructing the house”.

Modi government’s intention to resolve the insurgency problem in the northeastern part of the country is laudable. Efforts are on and initial results have begun coming in. An historic accord has been signed with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah group) for permanent peace, ending the practice of routine renewal of ceasefire agreements. The accord has been historic in the sense that a framework agreement has been reached keeping aside all the contentious issues, including longstanding demand for Nagalim or Greater Nagaland.