Asali Kisan cannot be Free to Participate in Dharna

December and January is the terribly busy and hectic season for the farmers. A Kisan cannot afford to be away from his/her farms for weeks together to participate in any Morcha for a long period of time. This is the time to irrigate their crops and look after them. This is also the season of the sugarcane crushing. All genuine farmers are busy in supplying the sugar canes to sugar mills for it is the main cash crop, which helps to make purchases of necessary items for round the year.

Therefore, one is amazed as to how a few thousand farmers can keep themselves away from their farms to join in a dharna and demonstration on the Delhi- Haryana border. Obviously, most of them are fake farmers and nothing to do with farming and have been brought on payment by the wealthy agents, who have been desperate to get the new Farm laws repealed. Is it not surprising that farmers are not worried about their crops for the sake of abrogation of three farm laws? These laws, in all fairness, should have been brought at least four decades ago. Small and medium farmers have their own set of daily problems, it is less than only two per cent big farmers, who are worried about new laws because it is they, who have been getting benefits or pocketing the profits of the Minimum Support Prices and the Mandi Samitis.

There are some people who try to become innocents and ask ridiculous questions that when farmers did not demand the new laws, then why should the government have enacted these laws? Can there be any more idiotic questions than this? Need it to be told to these perverts that the government is elected by the people and it is the bounden duty of the government to think of the betterment of the people of the country. There is no need that e demands should be made by the people before laws are enacted. These people are either naive or knaves. They cannot be so naive, so, they are clearly the knaves of the worst orders.

Even otherwise also the demand for the new farm laws has been coming for very long. It is because of the defective policies that hundreds of Kisans have been committing suicides. The system had kept them tied in the endless trap of debts, leaving no choice but to end their lives. Any sensible government cannot allow such a flawed system to go on and hence the decision of this government to enact these three new laws are to be appreciated.

Records say that Uttar Pradesh is the biggest producer of the wheat but it sells less wheat than Punjab because the coterie of the agents purchases it at a cheaper price to sell them in Punjab by manoeuvering Mandis at the MSP thereby they pocket the unlawful profits. Therefore, any government worth name would refuse to buckle under the pressure of a few thousand farmers and sacrifice the interests of the crores of others. The government will do well to ensure that a few thousands, who are funded from vested interests and who have their own axes to grind, do not take the people of the country to ransom.

 Farcical agitation is bound to fizzle out on its own

The so-called farmers’ movement that is going at Singhu border of Delhi is a total farce. It has neither farmers nor any element of agitation. It looks like a picnic organised by some wealthy and rich forces, which are out to make a hay while the sun shines. The other day while watching a TV channel, whose anchor is a rabid anti- Modi, one is amazed to find that the agitation is nothing but a big hoax. The anchor was trying to show that farmers would not move from the site till all three farm laws were abrogated, although he was unwittingly exposing the puppet farmers and their handlers. He interviewed some of them, who claimed to be farmers. Some of them were old, some were young but most of them were labourers, who were brought from various districts of Punjab.  

    During his reporting, he asked some of them to show how much preparation has been done by them to sustain the protest. Then the anchor asked his cameraman to pan the Gym, where the elaborate arrangements for foot massages have been made. Physiotherapy facility is available at the place of the protest. Doctors are in attendance. There is no dearth of bottled water in the campsite. There are two or three stores have been set up, where plenty of warmers are available, anybody could come and take anything of his or her choice. There is one gentleman on the other corner of the place of dharna who is tattooing mainly to the youngsters.  Comfortable beds and heaters under the carpeted tents have been installed to make the winter enjoyable.  These conveniences are available absolutely free of cost. 

    Modern and automatic roti-making machines have been put up in the kitchen. A lot of vegetables, gas cylinders are lying in the corner. Those willing to have the taste of chats and golegappas can get them as much as their palate needs. Some people are engaged in working in the kitchen. It is being said that there is a one- or two-kilometres long line of tractors with trolleys, which are laden with all essentials like flours, vegetable, mustard oil, ghee and spices etc. Last month when they were marching towards Delhi, their Godfathers were claiming that they were prepared for a long haul to sit on dharna, which is no less than a picnic for the participants. There are many of them who are very candidly saying that they have been getting support from NRIs, this speaks of the interests of supporters of the agitation in creating trouble for the government.

    There is not even an iota of doubt that the so-called protest to Fam laws is manipulated and orchestrated one.  Some frustrated people and politicians in Delhi and elsewhere are extending their support to this counterfeit agitation because of their impotence and effeteness as they know that cannot start any agitation of their own.  So, they think that it is better to hide behind this fake agitation.

    The so-called Kisan leaders have not been able to convince anybody with the drawbacks, demerits, or shortcomings of the Farm laws. Whenever it is asked why the Farm laws should be repealed, they will speak like a tutored parrot that these laws are against the interests of farmers but how and in what way- then they have no reply.  It will be irony and a big joke for the parliamentary form of the government if the laws, which have been enacted by the Parliament after threadbare consideration by the various committees are repealed.  This will not only send a bad message to people but also be a big joke with them. 

   It is also clear from the various reports in the newspaper and visuals of the Television channels that 95 per cent of the crowd assembled at the protest the site has nothing to do with this spurious agitation. This is all being managed by the agents, middlemen and intermediaries.  Therefore, they should be dealt with an iron hand for the larger benefit of the public and the peasantry.  

 

Government's  Ambivalent Population Policy is Disappointing

By Parmanand Pandey

 

   The affidavit filed by the Union Government in the Supreme- Court in response to a petition filed by an Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay that it cannot adopt the policy of coercion in family planning by implementing two-child norm has been disappointing, to say the least. The logic of the government is that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is declining, and any coercion will be counterproductive is fallacious logic. It is difficult to understand how the two-child norm policy will amount to coercion?

    The burgeoning population of the country has created innumerable problems for the country. The land-area is fast shrinking because houses, factories, offices, hospitals, schools, colleges, institutes, roads, and other infrastructures need to be built to meet the requirements. The population, on the other hand, is not stabilising. It is increasing with every passing year. 

There are many people, who consider it their duty to defy the population control policy. They say that if God has given us one stomach, then 'He' has given two hands, two legs and other organs to work and feed the family. So, they do not believe in family planning. There is an apocryphal story that when Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan, a journalist asked about her views on population control, which she vigorously supported. But when asked whether she ever used contraceptives, she put her fingers on the mouth and told the lady journalist that if she replied in affirmative, Mullas would bay for her blood. Here in India also most of the Islamists consider it as an insult to their religion if they adopt the two-child norm policy. However, to be fair, the educated section of the Muslim community has realised the importance of the two-child norm.

 National Population Policy was adopted some twenty years ago but it is still a voluntary programme. The government appears to be living in the constant fear of the emergency days forgetting the fact it was because of the family programme of the emergency that the population of India is still 135 crores otherwise; by now it would have been at least one and half times more than China, which is at least two times bigger in area than India.

    The Government’s affidavit has also forgotten what the Prime Minister said in his Independence Day speech last year that ‘those who choose to have small families contribute to the development of the nation and that it was a form of patriotism’. If it is an act of patriotism, why no population policy is framed to keep it under check?

India is one of the first few countries of the world which adopted the family planning programme, but it has never been given the force of the law. There is, no doubt, that there is a serious shortcoming in the two-child norm policy in a patriarchal society like India, where the desire for sons is so overpowering that people hardly have any regret in going for female foeticide. But this social problem must be handled by social awakening as well by strict implementation of laws.

I was appalled to find some people, who claimed to be very God-fearing and cannot even think of even killing a rat, but they took recourse to female foeticides many times over in their insatiable desire of getting a son. Strangely, they never regretted their criminal acts.

Therefore, a two-pronged strategy has to be adopted (a) persuasion along with (b) legal persecution for effectively controlling the population of the country.  

 Not Farmers but Middlemen are Fidgety with Farm laws

 Parmanand Pandey

There is no limit of perversion among Dalals and intermediaries, who have been misleading a section of farmers from Punjab to continue their siege of the Singhu border at Delhi-Haryana border in this biting cold despite the assurances from the government to discuss all issues of the farmers.  The problem is not with farmers as they have not joined the so-called agitation, it is being orchestrated by the forces, which have nothing to do with farmers but they want to keep the issue simmering for their own interests.  They have no sympathy for the farmers either otherwise; they would have educated them about the deleterious effects of paddy stubble burning, overuse of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and for changing patterns of crops to save the depleting water table.

  These three farm laws are revolutionary by any stretch of consideration. Only brokers and self-styled Kisan leaders are opposed to it because they have nothing to do with agriculture. They are the exploiters of farmers. As a matter fact, Mandis should have been dispensed with long back in the interests of farmers but they continued to remain as the tools of exploitation mainly due to rogue politicians.

  The government is also shirking its responsibility, otherwise, it should have swung into action by now to politely ask them to clear the roads by using the bare minimum force. No government worth its name could afford to allow the Shaheen Baugh model of protests in any part of the country causing huge inconveniences to a large section of society for days and weeks together. Selfish politicians and intermediaries claiming themselves as the Kisan leaders should have been sternly dealt with for the sake of real farmers and the general public.  

  These fork-tongued leaders have not been able to point out even one demerit in these farm laws, which should have been brought in half a century ago and then by now, the agriculture would have been free from the unbearable burden that it has on itself and it would be more remunerative as well.

  In fact, if the government wants the peasants and other farmers to make them strong and self-reliant it will have to do away also with MSP. Why should others be given the responsibility of deciding the prices of our (farmers) products? Nobody wants that the prices of the products of a detergent company, a biscuit company, a textile company or a furniture company should be decided by any outsiders, then why the prices of the farmers' products should be asked to fix them by any outside agency? The crux of MS Swaminathan’s Committee report is that the farmers must get the value of their products, at least one and half times more than their inputs but that is not possible without open competition.

  At present, the farmers do not have much retention capacity, they sell their products at throwaway prices when there is a glut of their products. This retention capacity can be increased only by making them strong by devising the crop insurance and freeing them from the trap of Mandis and MSPs. It is good that the Prime Minister himself has made it clear the Mandis and MSPs will be retained but they will have to be competitive because the farmers will then be free to sell their products to anyone, who offers more prices to their products. This is yet another reason for their being fidgety.   

Hemant Tiwari's Description Brought Memories Alive

 

   My good friend Hemant Tiwari, a senior journalist, a well-versed communicator and a convincing debater on many TV channels, has written a brief but a very touching post on his Facebook about his recent a whirlwind visit to his Nanihal (maternal home), near Singramau in Jaunpur district. His Nanihal is situated on the banks of river Gomti, so is my own Nanihal, which incidentally is also situated on the banks of river  Gomti in Pratapgarh district.  Most of us have been inculcated with faith that all perennial rivers are pious and they are like the Ganges and that is the reason that they are revered and worshipped. A famous pilgrimage ‘Dhopap’ is also situated on the banks of Gomti and when I visited this place in my childhood on my way to Nanihal, I was told that 'whosoever has bathed even once in Dhopap his/her all sins are washed away'. As they say that ‘faith can move mountains’, people throng to wash their sins in the sacred river of Gomati at Dhopap. It is an altogether different matter that it has become a highly contaminated river at Lucknow because of the callousness of the people and the administration. 

  However, what I wanted to say is that only three-paragraph word-sketch by Hemant Tiwari has been so powerful that it has made many like us to be nostalgic about our childhood. I would like to associate with him on the issue of rice-eating (bhaat as we say colloquially). One of my two sisters was married to an area, which is known for rice production and the eldest sister was married to a place which was situated on the riverbank, where rice was considered to be a luxury. My both sisters were eldest among all our siblings. Things have now completely changed as the rice and the wheat is produced in equal measures, thanks to the new varieties of wheat, paddy and the new technology.

  Increased production of wheat and paddy has, however, driven away the coarse grains like Sanwa, Kodon and Bajra (all are roughly translated as millets of different types). My mother herself preferred to eat Bhaat of Makka (maize or corn) to rice. I also love to eat these coarse grains in many ways. The crops of these grains have fast disappeared because their yield is much less than those of wheat and paddy. Now, these are sown in a very limited area as they are necessary for certain purposes. Even barley is not sown in our area because of the low yield and lesser remuneration.

  Hemant is bang on the head in his description of the scene of Bidai from Nanihal. Every Bhanja, Bhanji, Nati or Natin was entitled to get something from Nani or Mami. It could be from a few Annas to a few rupees some four or five decades ago but they were no less than treasures. A Bhanja or Nati was invariably excused for his mischiefs in Nanihal because nobody could punish him. It was generally believed that 'anybody who beats or slaps his Nati or Bhanja will suffer at the old age as his hands will tremble or shiver. This was one of the reasons that boys were not allowed to live for longer periods in Nanihal because chances of their being undisciplined were more as compared to their father’s house.

  This is equally true that most boys used to learn many good lessons from their Nana, Nani, Mama and Mami. These lessons helped to grow in life. Guardians in Nanihal were more concerned about the future and well being of their wards. I have seen umpteen number of people who have done much better in their lives as they lived for more time in their Nanihals.

  Technology and the mode of communication and transportation has completely changed life everywhere, be it rural or urban areas. The intensity of relations has also vanished. However, it is always soothing and sweet to remember the old memories. I have requested Hemant to write a regional (aanchlik) novelette on this theme. It may not be very relevant for today, but that will certainly help others to revive the memories and the new generation can learn a lot about the situation that was prevailing some half a century ago particularly in eastern Uttar Pradesh. 

Repealing of Farm Laws means dumping of peasants

 

   Any government worth name will be failing in its duty if it concedes to highly irrational and unjustified demands of some motivated persons masquerading as farmers for repealing of the farm laws. A so-called Kisan leader is seen to be speaking on some TV news channels that ‘why the government has gifted us something which we never demanded?’  Will anybody tell him that any government is mandated to take make such laws are in the interests of the people?

   Does a government which have been elected by the overwhelming majority by the people can afford to ignore them and listen only to those who are out to create anarchy by sheer dint of the resources that they have? The government is expected to work for the vast peasantry of the country while enacting the farm laws, which has been left ignored by the successive governments after independence. As a result of it, the condition of small farmers has not improved. Even farmers with good land holdings have got reduced to penury and have been cursed to live in the debt trap because of the faulty farm policies.

   Anybody having any concerns for the peasants will not lose sight of the facts that there have been regular demands for introducing fresh farm laws. If the old laws were so good, then how and why did hundreds of farmers commit suicides every year? The increasing number of suicides bear testimony that the interests of farmers were never seriously considered by the powers that be.

    Mandis must go lock, stock and barrel because they hardly serve any purpose of the farmers, only the brokers and intermediaries are benefitted by them (Mandis). These aarhatiyas and brokers do not think of the society otherwise, they would never have abdicated their responsibility of educating and convincing the Punjab farmers for not burning the paddy stubbles in their fields. These farmers also need to be told to switch over to some other crops to save the deteriorating health of the soil and preserve the fast-depleting water tables.

   Those who are doing politics in the name of farmers are their real enemies. Their strings are being pulled from somewhere else.  There is no need to pay any heed to the eternally frustrated intellectuals and selfish journalists because they will damn you, when you do something but will also damn when you do not do anything. Therefore, they should best be ignored.

There is no doubt that disputes must be resolved through talks and negotiations, but the question is talking with whom? Those who are assembled at Singhu border of Haryana and Delhi are neither kisans nor their representatives. They are motivated to the brim and no amount of negotiations will convince them. Even in a factory or a company, there are some Union representatives with whom the managements negotiate but here there is no representative who can convince others. Hence, the government will have to handle the issue in the as best manner as possible as it has the authority and the confidence of the people.

 

 

Only New Farm Laws can help Remove the Farmers’ Distress, Brokers must be Dealt with Iron Hands

 

Not many years ago, it was almost an uphill task to take even as little as 30 to 40 kilogrammes of grains from one district to other. If somebody having agricultural land at two places was straddling between two districts, the only choice for him/her was to dispose of the produce of one place and purchase the same, as per one's needs, at another place. The laws against carrying the grains from one place to other were so stringent that one had to grease the palms of police and other officials. Now under the new farm laws, one cannot only carry the agricultural produce but is totally free to sell or purchase at the place of one’s choice depending upon the prices he/ she gets.

Farmers all over the country are happy with new farm laws because it provides them freedom, ensures good prices and necessary insurance cover to their crops.  Mobility is the sine qua non for competitiveness and better pricing of any products.  Mandis are beyond the reach of ordinary farmers because the Mandis are the cesspools of corruption and this is the reason that only rich farmers can take advantages with the help of their fellows-in -corruption officials and intermediaries.

The government would do well to retain these eminently sensible farm laws which will transform the agriculture sector.  Farmers should be told in no uncertain terms that for the benefits of some brokers, vested interests, and kulaks the interests of crores of marginal and small farmers cannot be sacrificed.

Later or sooner, the MSP must also be dispensed with because this also helps only those farmers, who can pull the strings to brokers and sell their low-quality rice and wheat at the high prices. Most of the marketing of the no so good quality cereals is forced to be done by the governments at the rate of MSP. The government later sends them to the FCI, which is acutely short of the storage facility. The sub-standard grains are then sold to poultry farms or at other outlets at abysmally low costs. After all, this is the public money that goes to fill the coffers of rich kulaks, corrupt officials and intermediaries. So long this vicious circle is not broken the real Kisan will remain deprived of the profits. Agriculture can be modernised and made profitable only by contract farming. The fear of losing the landholdings are unfounded because the contract is to be provided only for renting the land and not for transferring the land to somebody else.

Agriculture like any other business needs money, which is possible only when the resourceful persons get attracted to it. Moreover, there is no point in keeping the burden increased on agriculture. Therefore, those who are opposing the reformative farm laws are neither the friends of farmers nor agriculture. They must be exposed. Agriculture has been in deep trouble or crisis for quite long. Farmers’ distress must be addressed otherwise; hundreds of farmers will continue to commit suicide and those who are engineering the protests have never had any sympathy with poor farmers. Those who are asking to repeal them must be dealt with iron hands to save agriculture and farmers from the trap of debts and the vagaries of nature.

Purposeless agitation of Disguising farmers

   Parmanand Pandey

  The ongoing agitation of some farmers of Punjab from November 26 in Delhi is being presented by a section of media and the fissiparous forces as if there are two fighting camps arrayed against each other. The fact is that no government can afford to work against the interests of the farmers and that is what has been taken care of in these farm laws. These farm laws have been long overdue, and they should have been enacted some fifty years ago.

  Think of neem coating of Urea bags, this simple step to stop the black marketing was not taken due to the pressure of the vested interests, who wanted to perpetuate it. The subsidy and loan-waiver based farmers' policies may make some leaders popular but ultimately, they do not help the farmers to stand on their own feet. The so-called Kisan-movement of some kulaks, aarhatiyas and selfish politicians must be exposed as it is against the interests of more than 99 per cent farmers of the country, most of them happen to be small and marginal farmers. It is an open secret that only this section of farmers, which is behind this artificial agitation has been cornering all the benefits in the name of farmers. It is also crystal clear that those who have nothing to do with farmings and yet are lending their support to it are insincere, disingenuous people and they are so filled with the hatred for the present dispensation that they refuse to see the factual position. Hence, they need to be cured of chronic jaundice they suffer from.

   MSP, frankly speaking, is also a deception. It has not helped the poor farmers anywhere except in Punjab. Go to villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and see that wheat, paddy or maize is never purchased on MSPs. Even for the sugarcane prices, small farmers have to run from pillar to post. For obtaining the selling slips of their canes, they have to cajole and grease the palms of dalals and petty officials. They do not get the arrears of their canes for months and sometimes even for years. This simple fact cannot be understood by the romanticised revolutionaries and the parasitic NGO managers, who are funded and paid to work for their masters sitting outside the country.

   These were the same people, who were wailing and discussing on the television channels that the disease COVID might not kill the poor people, but the starvation will, without doubt, kill them. A bearded and fraud television channel owner, who has duped hundreds of crores and who also claims to be an economist, must have held discussions with some pseudo economists for nearly ten days in the wake of the lockdown and the crux of his discussion was that thousands would die because of hunger. But when more than eighty crore people started getting free ration every month for longer than eight months along with Rs 500/ in cash across the board, these spurious economists did not show even the minimum courtesy and basic moral courage to welcome this novel measure of helping the people.

  It is well-nigh impossible to establish Ramrajya but sincere efforts made in that direction should be encouraged.  Therefore, these farm laws, if honestly implemented are bound to ameliorate a lot of the small farmers. The need is to go for sustainable development and the pressure from the agriculture is to be unburdened and this is not going to be solved by retaining the APMS and MSPs. They can only be short term measures. 

  The government will do well to convince the tiny and misguided section of farmers, who have laid siege of some of the Delhi roads, that they must give up their adamant attitude and go back to their farming. But they will not do that because their handlers will not agree to it. Those who are sleeping can be awakened but those who feign to be sleeping they must be handled differently. This is for the government with enormous resources to think as to how to deal with these rich kulaks and motivated farmers.

Crime and Corruption were Inherent to MS Yadav’s Socialism

The day before yesterday i.e. on 22nd of November Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party leader completed 81 years of his life. We wish him a happy and long life. Some journalists, who had been benefitted by the largesse’s and the neck-deep corruption prevailing at the time of Mr Yadav, hailed him as one of the towering leaders and the messiah of the poor, which is quite understandable but laughable. Most of the journalists in Lucknow and other places in Uttar Pradesh were regularly and extensively given crumbs by Shri Yadav in cash and kind to sing his paeans.

Posterity will remember him if at all he is remembered, for his rank opportunism, stinking corruption, brazen nepotism, shameless casteism and naked hooliganism with no vision for the future or understanding of the statecraft. It has been the misfortune of the State that practically an illiterate muscleman ruled the state for many terms as the Chief Minister of the largest state of the country. It was largely because of him that an equally, if not more corrupt, uncouth and eccentric woman like Mayawati, whose only qualification was of her being born in a Dalit family, also became the Chief Minister of the state many times.

Nobody has been more shameless in amassing money and perpetuating and favouring his family dominance in Uttar Pradesh than Shri Yadav. All developmental activities had literally come to a nought during his tenure. The education system was systematically destroyed by him. He used to openly make fun of education and wanted the copying to be freely used in the examination halls. Can there be anything more ludicrous than to say that if you cannot provide jobs to students then why not allow them to have degrees? Yes, these Aristotelian wise words were of Shri Yadav.

The biggest damage was done by him to the Hindi as he promoted and got saddled such persons in the important positions, who had neither Will nor talent to work for the service of Mother Hindi. Important constitutional positions were offered to those who were thoroughly undeserving to the posts they held.

Instead of solving the problems of Ayodhya and Uttarakhand, he started dealing with them like an arrogant and lunatic politician. He got killed dozens of karsevaks and innocent agitators at Ayodhya and Rampur. He had the cheek to say that he would not have hesitated in killing hundreds to get the support of a particular religion and was happy with the honorific of Mulla. How can a politician like him be fit to be at the helm?

He had, of course, excelled the art of keeping media persons bribed. The way the government houses were allotted to pick and choose persons, plots were distributed, advertisements were poured to select media houses was unparallel and unheard of in other dispensation. There were many journalists who used to get extensive cash and kind benefits from him and his administration and therefore there is no surprise if they owe allegiance to him.

Socialism was converted into a grammar of anarchy and lawlessness by Shri Yadav and, that too, without and any qualms and compunctions.

Justice Ramana l’affaire Must be Inquired for the sake of Judiciary

This is for the first time that constitutional authority,  no less than the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy  has levelled direct allegations against another very high constitutional authority  NV Ramana, who is the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court of India. Mr Reddy has not minced words and said that Justice Ramana has been acting against him and his government. Some judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court are not only in cahoots with Justice Ramana, but they are working at his instance to often put the government in a spot. As a result of it, the developmental works of his government are getting hampered. This is no longer an issue between two individuals but it is now a matter between the two rather all three  pillars of democracy.

   Mr Jagan Reddy’s letter to the Chief Justice of India Justice AS Bobde against Justice Ramana, who is in the line to become the next Chief Justice of India, should not be consigned to the dustbin by dismissing as frivolous and baseless. It should be taken with all seriousness that it demands because it is the question of the integrity and majesty of the Judiciary. Mr Reddy has not written any anonymous letter in a surreptitious manner. He has said it publicly and the former Chief Secretary of the State, who is now an advisor to the Chief Minister has circulated it to the media and that is the reason that his letter has come into the public domain has assumed significance.

  One wishes that what Mr Reddy has said is found to be wrong, but can this matter be allowed to rest at that? Only a proper enquiry by some top judges and the at least two chief justices of the High-Courts should be formed to probe into the matter as that will restore the solid faith of the people in the judiciary.

  In fact, Justice Ramana should himself volunteer for an independent enquiry to come clean of all allegations. If the high-powered independent enquiry finds that allegations are wrong and motivated then the contempt of court proceedings must be initiated against Mr Reddy and the harshest punishment should be meted out to him and he should be declared unworthy of holding any post, be it elective or nominated. That will serve as a deterrent for others from making any allegations against any judge of the High Court or the Supreme Court.

   Trust and impartiality are the sine qua non of the judiciary and it should be saved and protected steadfastly by everyone but more so, by the judges themselves. It must begin right from the time of the selection and appointment of the judges. NJAC was a step forward in that direction for instilling confidence among the people about the impartial appointment of judges but that was spiked by the constitution bench of the Supreme Court.

  One fails to understand as to why many Bar Associations are bending backwards to trenchantly criticise Jagan Mohan Reddy. It defies all logic why anybody should be condemned without confronting him/her in an impartial enquiry.   The one-sided view is anathema to the judicial system and yet some Bar Associations are passing the judgments. It is unfair, to say the least. Therefore, in all fairness, Justice Ramana should himself keep away from judicial works and ask for the constitution of the independent enquiry committee, which should be asked to conduct and submit its report in a time frame.

This will go a long way in enhancing the prestige of the judiciary. Ethical values play an especially important role in the glory of a person and the profession. Justice bereft of morality is like a body without the soul, which should be burnt or buried. 

 

 

 

Fudging of Circulation by Newspapers and TRP by TV Channels is an Open Secret

 

  Fudging and fraud in showing the inflated figures of circulation of newspapers and Television Rating Points (TRP) is not a new phenomenon. It has been going on for decades. However, a new trend in journalism of naming and shaming of one media house by the other or by one journalist by other has been emerging extremely fast and I personally welcome it. Keeping the malpractices under practice promotes corruption and the media industry badly inflicted with it. Some media houses have been building empires, some journalists have been making money, getting coveted posts and many more facilities by sheer dint of their connections with the powers that be. The principle of ‘dog does not bite dog’ has been saving corrupt journalists and blackmailers.

    The credit for it certainly goes to some trend setting journalists, who have exposed the nexus and complicity of the journalists, media houses with those of the political parties, foreign-funded establishments, and ruling dispensations. It is said that the attrition generates electricity which enlightens and ensures transparency.  Mumbai police have started investigations against certain channels for fudging the TRPs. There is no doubt that the Mumbai police is doing it at the instance of the political masters, out of vendetta and vindictiveness against one TV channel but the result is certainly going to be good as it  will help expose the rampant corruption in the media.

    We often hear the rags to riches story of some journalists and their organisations because of largescale corruption and cronyism. There have been 73000 newspapers in the country according to 1915 records of the RNI. Every newspaper including the big ones has been submitting increased figures of circulation to the government for obtaining advertisements at high rates. There have been newspapers which have been publishing only the file copies and yet they used to claim exceedingly high circulations. Big newspapers like the Times of India, Hindustan Times, the Hindu, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Nav Bharat Times, Hindustan, and India Today etc, have been giving incentives to swell their circulation.

   The reasons are not far to seek when most of the newspapers were up in arms when the Government of India introduced six parameters to release DAVP advertisements. Some of the conditions were like giving the GST receipt on the newsprints used by them, the name of the Printing Press and the number of employees and the PF being paid to them. It was found that the name of a small printing press was being used by thirty to forty daily, weekly, and fortnightly newspapers, and the total circulation of them was no less than twenty to twenty-five lakhs, which was far beyond the capacity of the printing press, which did not have more than four of five employees. No PF was deducted for them. Thus, everyone from the printing press to owners of newspapers chartered accountants, and the minions of DAVP was found to be neck-deep in fraud and the mess. When the attempts were made to stop it, most of them raised the banner of revolt terming it as the onslaught on the freedom of the press. Fly by night media associations sprung up all over the country and orchestrated in one voice that the government was out to stifle and strangulate the small and medium newspapers.  

It is an open secret that almost all TV channels have been managing and manipulating the TRPs but it is undoubtedly a matter of great satisfaction that the investigations will go a long way in exposing and cleansing the fraud and forgery of the channels. It is bound to a blessing in disguise for the people of the country, so, we must welcome it. The Government must also wake up to the occasion to ensure that malaise from  media is removed.

 

 

 

New Farm Acts: Better Late than Never

 

 Politics in the name of farmers is a flourishing and beneficial trade for the politicians and dalalas. Otherwise, there is no reason why no drastic changes have been brought in the agricultural policy of India for decades. The number of small and marginal farmers is rising with every passing year and the load on the agriculture sector is increasing day by day. The need, therefore, is not only to modernise agriculture but also to offload it as much as possible. There should not be any doubt left in anybody's mind that the opposition to three new Farm Bills recently passed by both houses of Parliament is specious and it is being orchestrated and motivated, not by genuine farmers, but by those intermediaries whose interests are getting hurt.   These politicians and middlemen have been reaping earning huge profits by fleecing the farmers and consumers. That was why there have been no takers for their protest marches and demonstrations organised on 25th September.  

  The three Bills,  which have been attracting the attentions are:  Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Protection and Facilitation Bill, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement and  Price Assurance and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill but only two points which are being thrown by the opponents are the MSP( Minimum Support Price) and APMCs  (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees), which opponents say will wither away by these Bills, which have since become Acts. These Acts will facilitate and permit the farmers to sell theirs produces outside the Mandis (wholesale markets) regulated by Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees constituted by different state legislations. Many states have passed their own laws to mandate 'agricultural trade' through APMCs. Although the purpose of the APMCs was to ensure fair prices to be paid to the products of the farmers yet they have not only miserably failed in their objectives but have practically become the centres of corruption and the exploitation of the farmers. 

 Here are two examples, which I can cite with my own personal knowledge that how deep the corruption has gone down in in the APMC.  There is one small wholesale grain market,(Mandi) in Kharkhoda in Panipat district of Haryana and another one that I am talking about is of the Azadpur vegetable and fruit  Mandi of Delhi, which is considered to be one of the biggest   Mandis of Northern India.  Any person having even the elementary information about the functioning of these Mandis will vouchsafe that it is middlemen and profiteers with the help of the corrupt minions of Samiti, who rule the roost. Hundreds of trucks make a beeline every day particularly at Azadpur mandi to unload their produces but those who go through the intermediaries or by greasing the palms of the shenanigans of mandi they get priority, but others suffer and lose heavily. Moreover, if anyone wants immediate payment of the produces, he/ she has to cough up at least five per cent of the total amount to the rogues. But the new Act provides for the immediate payment.  One can easily understand about those persons, who are standing against the new Acts. Farmers and consumers have been the ultimate losers till now which the new Acts will ensure that they are no longer exploited. 

These Acts permit the electronic trading of their produces. With heavy teledensity, the farmers are now well connected, and they can sell theirs produces online, which was well-nigh impossible in the APMCs. However, the government has not completely done away with APMCs, they will continue to co-exist along with new arrangements.  Minimum Support Price will not be the part of the Acts, as it exists even today, but that will continue to be announced by the government for different crops from time to time. Thus, we find that APMCs will not have suffocating dominance, which they have in the present circumstances. Therefore, it is abundantly clear that the bogey of the MSP and APMCs, is being created more by non-farmers than by farmers but that too is unfounded. The new laws unshackle the farmers and give them the freedom to sell their products anywhere in India.

  Farming, to say the least, is not an attractive occupation. Nearly fifty per cent of farmers want to move out of it because it is becoming non-remunerative. Farm sizes are getting smaller day by day. The number marginal farmers have gone up in the last few decades and their condition is getting pathetic and is no better than those of the farm labourers. Tiny farms are the big hindrances in the modernization of agriculture. So, the contract farming will provide the good impetus for the modernization of the agriculture and the new Acts seek to encourage them but that will not be binding for the farmers as they will have the freedom to opt into or out of it. Recently Simranjit Kaur Badal wife of Akali leader Sukhvinder Singh Badal resigned from the Union cabinet of ministers opposing the new farm laws. Shri Badal has written an article in a newspaper, where he has simply expressed his fear that it will lead to corporatization. The farmers will get a good price to their yields for a few years and thereafter they will be exploited by the corporates. He has, however, given no reason or logic in favour of his contentions. He has forgotten the fact that the establishments of E-chaupals and E-procurement centres will go a long way in removing the roles of middlemen. 

  The Essential Commodities Act was enacted decades ago to stop hoardings, but it has essentially hurt the farmers. They were not protected if the prices of potatoes or onions fell because they were prevented from taking them to other places for obtaining higher prices. Warehousing is so essential for the storage of the produces but that cannot be built by the farmers of small landholdings, so again the need for the contract farming hardly needs to be emphasized.

 Be that as it may, these new farms acts, therefore, must be welcomed with open arms as they will remove the dominant roles of middlemen who have been holding the farmers to ransom without any qualms and compunction.

 

 

Dear Harivansh, Never Deviate from the Principled Stand

 

For the last few days, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Shri Harivansh is under flak from some people. I can only say that they are less than fair to him. Harivansh Narayan Singh, which he possibly shortened at the advice of his political mentor Chandrasekhar ji, is a man of high principles. Harivansh and I have been together in the Banaras Hindu University for five years. Hardly a day had passed during our stay in the hostel, when we had not gossiped, discussed, debated, and argued, sometimes even hotly on almost every subject we could think of under the sun.

He has been the admirer of Jai Prakash Narayan from his university days and had told us many unknown stories about him. JP‘s education in America by doing even menial works and his absconding from Hazaribagh jail by jumping the walls of a prison is known to the whole world. However, the stories of JP’s visits and meetings with the villagers in Doab of the holy rivers Ganga and Ghaghara, inspiring them for pursuing education, working relentlessly for the eradication of casteism and poverty were always a pleasure to hear from Harivansh. It will not suffice to say that Harivansh was awfully in the influence of JP as he was like a demigod for him. We used to joke among ourselves that the easiest way to anger Harivansh was to criticize JP. He never brooked even the slightest criticism of JP.

Harivansh used to be a voracious reader of the books, periodicals and newspapers during his university days. He used to read more such books as were not prescribed in the course curriculum. I am sure he must still be continuing with his good old habits. He must have changed and mellowed like all others during the last more than forty years but the elan' of a person seldom change. I have last met him when he was the media advisor to the then Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. Once or twice he sent his car to fetch me to his office in the South Block and he used to come with me up to Bengali Market to glance over and purchase new books.

When he became a Member of Parliament, I sent my greetings but never met or even intended to meet him personally. When he became the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, I felt happy that an honest, abstemious and well-read person will get the opportunity to preside over the upper house, which is considered to be the house of the mature and experienced Parliamentarians. However, when I saw the unruly, ugly, and uncouth behaviour of some of our Parliamentarians in the video clippings of the news channels, my heart sunk in deep despair.

A sensitive person like Harivansh must have been deeply hurt by the conduct of some of our MPs, who threw all parliamentary norms and decorum to the wind but I am sure that it will strengthen his resolve to follow the right path.

Dear Harivansh, you come from Ballia, the soil of rebellions, which does not know to be subdued or bowed down by any onslaughts. Therefore, I have the benign hope that you will go by the inner voice of your conscience, which I believe, is serene and will always be conforming to the high traditions of Parliamentary democracy in the larger interests of the country.

Ms Bachchan’s Speech Exemplifies her Reprobate Nature

Ms Jaya Bachchan’s speech yesterday i.e on 14th of September 2020 on the floor of the Rajya Sabha was laughable, highly disappointing, thoroughly illogical, and supportive of the corruption that is prevailing in the film industry. It has been an open secret that Bollywood, which outwardly gleams, is rotten inside and stinks to the high heaven. It is controlled by Mafia dons, is a den of smugglers, tax evaders, drug addicts and criminals of different types. It does not mean that all those who are in the industry can be tarred with the same brush but the influential section of it certainly suffers from the vices of nepotism, drug addiction and casting couches.

Ms Bachchan did not name anybody in her speech but her innuendo was unmistakably towards Kangna Ranaut, who has shown the extraordinary courage to speak about the gutter that has been flowing in the filmdom. This rot has, of late, overpowered most of the activities of the industry. The influence of ‘ Dongri to Dubai’ is visible in all walks of the Bollywood. As the saying goes that not a leaf moves without the permission of the Lords of Crimes. Conjure up any illegal and unlawful activity and that is there in plenty in Mumbai.

There are some people, that includes almost the entire film industry consisting of Jaya Bachchan and her husband Amitabh Bachchan, who is objecting to Kangana Ranaut’s comparison of Mumbai with PoK . These people possibly unaware of the expression like Hitlershahi or Ravanraj is used even in India to describe the tyranny of those who are at the helm of affairs. When anti-social elements have the field day on the roads of Mumbai and a famous female actress like Kangna is not allowed to speak her mind, then how could her description of Mumbai, as if it were in PoK, be outrageous and wrong?

The self-styled civilized people want her to address the Chief Minister not as ‘tu’ at a time when her house was dismantled at a notice of fewer than 24 hours, that too when she was not in the house to receive the notice. A person in pain, anguish, and anger over the forcible breaking of her house cannot be expected to be the personification of civility. If she had been all smiles and presented herself to be the embodiment of civility by using sweat words, then it would have been an act of fakery, not having any remote connection with reality.

Now coming again on Madam Jaya Bachchan’s speech in Parliament where she said that ‘those who have made name and fame and earned money from the film industry do not have any right to speak badly about the industry’. It is like allowing the rot to remain wrapped under the carpet. Does it mean that who earn their livelihood by legal practice have no right to raise voice over the prevailing corruption in the profession? She wants to deprive a journalist, a businessperson, or a politician of speaking against the malpractices that have crept up in journalism, politics, and business.

This is not only the reflection of her absurdity, but it also speaks volumes of the triviality, frivolousness and the reprobate behaviour of the lady Bachchan. It is also a sad reflection of the party, which has sent her to the Rajya Sabha, who has not done any service or work for the people and society.

Kesavanad Bharti Judgement Needs to be Set aside

     

Kesavanand Bharti vs the State of Kerala, more known as the Fundamental Rights case, as decided by the Supreme Court of India, way back in 1973, has again come into focus, due to the death of Swami ji. I pay my respectful tribute to Swami ji. This case, without doubt, brought a paradigm change in judicial history. It is the longest judgement by the largest bench till date.  However, with the greatest of deference, it must be said that it is totally erroneous judgment and therefore, needs to be revisited and reconsidered. Firstly, this case was not decided by all 13 judges of the bench as it was signed only nine judges. Four judges outrightly refused to sign on the judgement.

   Thus, the wafer-thin majority of 7:6 in this judgement was obtained by dubious means. Chief Justice S M Sikri wrote a summary on behalf of the judges to assert the principle of the basic structure, which was dealt at length by Justice H R Khanna. There is no concept of writing the summary of the judgement and hence the ratio decidendi is missing. Every judge is supposed to write his/ her own judgement or concur with the judgement authored by a fellow judge. But how can one judge write the summary of the judgement?

  Out of nine judges, who signed on the judgement, two had categorically spoken about the supremacy of the Parliament, which had unfettered powers to amend the constitution. Since Chief Justice Sikri was to retire in a day so the judges could not get time to write their own independent judgement. It was the reason that four of the judges did not at all append their signatures on the judgement.  So, how can it be treated to be a bench of 13 judges?  Even otherwise also, it is the Will of the people that are represented through Parliament, which is supreme and that cannot be shackled. Courts cannot usurp or appropriate the powers of Parliament from legislating any law which reflects the people's Will. Unfortunately, this tendency has more grown in the courts after the Kesavanand Bharti case.

  The concept of ‘basic structure’ is very vague and ambiguous. We find that it has been increasing like the ‘Saari of Draupadi’ depending on the caprices of the judges. Here is a hypothetical question if some people say that Westminster form of democracy is unfit for this country and they seek the vote of the public of the country on this plank itself. Suppose for a moment that the overwhelming majority positively responds to in favour of discarding the Westminster form of democracy. Then can anybody stop them from changing the so-called basic structure of the constitution?

This theory of 'basic structure' is hogwash and fallacious theory. The constitution is a living organism and it has to constantly evolve itself as per the changing social, economic and political needs of the people. The scientific and technological developments must provide the push to the constitution, which cannot remain tethered to the rigidity. Hence, the basic structure does not fall in the domain of the Courts, it is the sole prerogative of the Parliament. What we have seen in the NJAC case is nothing but the negation of the Will of the people. The Parliament will have to take a call to ensure that the freedom obtained after a long struggle and sacrifices of countless heroes remains well preserved. It cannot be left to be the subject matter of the skullduggery of the judges and the obfuscation created by the luxury-loving advocates.