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The nature of the State is best found in the nature of those it seeks to silence. To understand the Narendra Modi-led government in the centre, one must, therefore, parse the kind of men, women and others the Union wants to say shush to, the ones it wishes away by incarcerating them in the absurdest of manners.

When state fails in protecting life, liberty, and property of a citizen, which are under constitutional guarantee of protection, it must compensate for the loss. Additionally, if the government willingly violates its own guarantee given to the citizen, it is culpable, for which the official guilty of violation must be punished. The statements of the Ministry of the Home Affairs, in the Parliament of India regarding migrant workers’ plight during the lockdown, of Ministry of Health relating to medical facilities made available, and denying compensation by the Ministry of labour for loss of lives of migrant workers are thus against all the basic principles of law and civilization.

The oldest, primary and simplest duty of a government is to protect its citizens. But it is a national shame that Modi and his government have committed the worst crime of not performing the bare minimum constitutional obligation and task of protecting crores of pandemic hit daily wage workers. The shocking reply of the government admitting its failure on the floor of the Parliament was most deplorable. Without an iota of humiliation the government confessed; “no data about the death of the migrant labourers was available with them”. This reply coming from the cabinet minister not only shames the government but it also critically exposes its insensitive attitude and approach towards he poor of the country.

Ever since the three ordinances concerning agriculture and marketing were promulgated in June, kisan organisations and farmers have been protesting against the serious assault on their rights. On the eve of the parliament session, there have been big protests in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.

With GDP going down to little more than minus 23 percent, the economy in the country is almost at the bottom level, and needs fiscal stimulus. Few months back, prime minister had announced a Rs 20 lakh crore Economic Stimulus Package which soon turned out to be a myth, the details of which came out with budget. PM’s announcement came on May 12, and a day after, on May 13, finance minister offered the details layer by layer. People left with acute deprivation belonged to the same lower depths as always. They were the food givers from the agrarian sector, the farmers, then the industrial workers, and also those who had left in search of respite, and instead got disillusioned, came back. They were the migrants, managing to survive with minimum.

While analysing the Union Budget and the Demand For Grants (DFG) as presented by ministries for a Member of Parliament earlier this year, one startling revelation stood out. The Ministry for Law and Justice had a rather barebones demand placed for approval before Parliament, vis a vis other ministries whose presentation for grants ran into multiple pages. A particular allocation within the DFG specifically caught my attention, mainly because it was allocated a negligible amount. Besides, the allocations were decreasing every year. Believe it or not, it pertained to the resources allocated to the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA).

It is your parting comment that you wrote your judgements on the basis of the dictates of your conscience that prompts me to write this letter.

Although dates for polling in 27 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh are yet to be announced, both Congress and BJP have launched campaign with full fury. M.P. Congress chief Kamal Nath and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the company of Jyotiraditya Scindia are visiting the constituencies where by-elections will be held. They are addressing public meetings flouting all the corona norms. People attending public meetings are not seen wearing masks and maintaining distance. In the course of their speeches, they are using unparliamentarily language. For example Kamal Nath described Scindia as traitor and in retort Scindia says the real traitor is Kamal Nath who did not implement promises given in the Congress “Vachan Patra”.

Chinese President-for-life Xi Jinping is smarting and his smooth-faced PLA generals, tough as nails, are feeling the heat in the freezing Himalayan cold. Battle-hardened Indian Army jawans have given to the battle-hungry PLA troops a tough time climbing to heights they are generally not used to.

The reported remarks by a key Toyota executive in India about how the company looks at its business in the country in view of the high levies on the passenger car segment typically signifies the lack of consistency in the Modi government’s much-trumpeted policy of making India more investment-friendly.