देशभक्ति की आड़ में चलता फायदे-खोरी का धंधा

कल रवीश कुमार जी का प्राइम टाइम देखे बिना मैं सो गया. सो गया क्योंकि बहुत थका हुआ था, थका हुआ था क्योंकि पिछले 3 दिन से ठीक से नहीं सोया था, नींद इसलिए नहीं आती थी क्योंकि मेरे अपने दोस्त, कुछ परिवार वाले, और देश भक्त भेड़ियों की भीड़ मुझे रोज देश द्रोही गद्दार और आतंकवादियों का समर्थक बोलती है. मेरी गलती महज़ इतनी है कि मैंने जेएनयू से पढ़ाई की है.
जेएनयू वाले क्यों लड़ रहे हैं किस चीज के लिए लड़ रहे हैं, किससे लड़ रहे हैं- भीड़ को अभी तक यह बात समझ में नहीं आई है. दुर्भाग्य इस बात का है कि अगर समझाओ तो भी ये समझने को तैयार नहीं होते. जिन्हें राष्ट्र का मतलब पता नहीं है वह हमें राष्ट्र विरोधी बताते हैं. इनमें ज्यादातर वह है जो हिंदू राष्ट्र के निर्माण की बात करते हैं और उनके हिसाब से राष्ट्र की परिभाषा वो और उनके "हिंदू-राष्ट्रवादी" प्रधानमंत्री ही तय करेंगे. जो इसे नहीं मानेगा वह राष्ट्रद्रोही है. चलिए ठीक है मैं राष्ट्रद्रोही हूं लेकिन देशद्रोही नहीं.
जिन 10 लोगों ने भारत की बर्बादी के नारे लगाएं मैं उन से बिल्कुल सहमत नहीं हूं, वह 10 लोग जिंहोने मुंह छुपा कर भारत की बर्बादी के नारे लगाए हैं वो जेएनयू नहीं है. जेएनयू के शिक्षक और सारे के सारे छात्र संगठन एक स्वर में इसका विरोध कर चुके हैं. लेकिन यह बात "देशभक्तों" के समझ नहीं आती. उनका दिमाग अब तक इस बात को समझ ही नहीं पाया है कि जेएनयू में विरोध किस चीज के लिए हो रहा है. मैं हैरान हूं ऐसे राष्ट्र से जो उन दस देश विरोधी नारों से हिल गया. मैं हैरान हूं ऐसे राजनेताओं से जिन्होंने हनुमंतप्पा के शहादत को भी अपने राजनैतिक स्वार्थों का शिकार बनाया. यह वही राजनेता है जिन्होंने One Rank One Pension के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे पूर्व सैनिकों की एक नहीं सुनी. उनके कपड़े फाड़ कर उनकी मांग को नंगा घोषित कर दिया. लेकिन भीड़ के पास इतना दिमाग कहा कि वह ऐसी चीजों पर चिंतन कर सके.
मैं ऊब चुका हूं खुद को साबित करते-करते. अर्णब गोस्वामी, सुधीर चौधरी, दीपक चौरसिया जैसे पीत पत्रकारिता के दलालों ने इस भीड़ को यह बताया कि कंहैया नारे लगा रहा था, उन्होंने भीड़ को यह जताया कि उमर खालिद ( जो नाम से मुसलमान प्रतीत होता है) एक आतंकवादी है. उन्होंने यह नहीं बताया कि वह एक नास्तिक है, उन्होंने मनगढ़ंत IB की रिपोर्ट बनाई और कहा कि इसके संबंध "जैश-ए-मोहम्मद" नामक आतंकवादी संगठन से है और भीड़ बौखला गई. कुछ लोगों ने तो इसे सरगना वरगना जैसे अंट-शंट शब्दों से कलंकित किया और मुझे पता है की वे शर्मिंदा नहीं है. अब जब यह सारी बातें और वीडियो झूठ साबित हो चुकी हैं तो भी इनकी इनकी फैलाई हुई गंध हवा में अभी मिलि हुई है. जिन लोगों ने भारत विरोधी नारे लगाए उन्हें पकड़ने में पुलिस की असमर्थता इस बात का सबूत है कि सरकार उंहें पकड़ना नहीं चाहती बल्कि कुछ और करना चाहती है. और मैं अभी इस मूड में नहीं हूं कि आप को समझाऊँ सरकार क्या करना चाहती है. आप बस इतना समझ लीजिए की सरकार जो करना चाहती है उसी के खिलाफ मेरा जेएनयू आज खड़ा है.
जिन राष्ट्र प्रेमियों के मन को दुख पहुंचा है उन से अनुरोध है कि व्यर्थ मुझे गालियां ना दें. थोड़ी पढ़ाई लिखाई करें, चिंतन मनन करें, फिर हम से बात करें.

हां मैं यह कहना चाह रहा था कि आज जब रवीश कुमार के प्राइम टाइम का एपिसोड देखा जिसमें वह मुझे अंधेरे में ले गए, तो उस अंधेरे में दो चीजें बहुत साफ नजर आई. कुछ अज्ञानी देशभक्त, और देशभक्ति की आड़ में चलता एक बहुत बड़ा और गंदा फायदे-खोरी का धंधा. लगा जैसे अब देश बिक चुका है. दिल को बहुत दुख पहुंचा, इसी बीच जेएनयू छात्र संघ के पूर्व अध्यक्ष अकबर चौधरी जी का whatsapp मैसेज मेरे पास आया जिसमें उन्होंने जेएनयू में हो रहे आज के संघर्षों की जानकारी दी. और मैं अपनी आंखों को रोक न सका. लगा जैसे जिस जेएनयू ने मुझे सोचने समझने की शक्ति और चेतना दी है उस के दमन के खिलाफ कुछ करने में मैं असमर्थ हूं. रविश जी की आवाज़, अकबर चौधरी जी का मैसेज, और मेरे बहते हुए आंसू इस देश के बहुत सारे लोगों को अभी समझ में नहीं आए लेकिन आने वाले कुछ दिनों में शायद समझ में आ जाएंगे. मैं आशा करता हूं कि मोदी का हिंदुस्तान हिटलर का जर्मनी नहीं बनेगा.

Saffronization of the Laboratory of Democracy..!

"Heroism at command, senseless violence.. and all the pestilent nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, How I hate them..!" - Albert Einstein

I have got tired proving myself a patriot after the incident of February 9, 2016 in JNU. My only fault being an alumnus of JNU!

Herds of nationalists are hounding the sleep out of my nights. Every Johnny is calling me anti-nationalist on FB, twitter and other SNS. Thanks to the yellow journalism of the "nation" that has achieved a new height. The institution that was known for its academic excellence, unique debate culture, freedom of expression and social inclusivity for decades has been branded as a factory of terrorists and anti national elements within hours.

With the strongest possible words I would condemn the anti-state sloganeering by a few unidentified students during the event of February 9, and so did all the responsible students and their political organizations along with the teachers association of JNU. However the fashion of media trial and the videos that showed some unidentified students raising such slogans were enough to boil the blood in the tributaries of nationalism flowing through the brainless skeleton of "Hindu Rashtra" having their confluence at Jhandewalan.

The constitutional dictators seized the opportunity and with the same modus operandi of 2002 riots they used all possible tools of suppression like Police, judiciary, media and the notion of pseudo nationalism to suppress the progressive voices and mislead the citizens. Kanahiya Kumar, the JNUSU president is arrested randomly and slapped with fake charges of sedition despite of the fact that he was not involved in any such activities. There is no video that shows him calling such slogans. I am sure Kanahiya would be released soon but who will be accountable for the loss of his dignity, time and energy? Who will restore his state of mental, physical and psychological well being? The government, in its move to suppress the progressive student politics saffronize every institution and seemed to be waiting for the turn of JNU after FTII, IIT Madras, HCU. Within hours the campus turned into a fortress and hostels were raided. As if it nurtures terroroists. The credit goes to the VC-Sangh connection or the sheer inability of the new VC who seem to be unaware of the culture of JNU. This was something like undeclared emergency.

By the virtue of this tireless effort of the sangh giroh, today the media houses like Zee news and Times now are considered to be as two versions of Ramayana and the anchors like Sudheer Chaudhary and Arnab Goswami are Maharshi Valmiki and Tulsi respectively. They gave rise to a new debate on tax. To my amazement every deshbhakt started worrying about the subsidies that is being given to JNUites from the tax they pay. Everything in the country is running by the taxes we pay. The salaries of those legislatures who watch porn in the parliament is also given by the taxes we pay. The subsidized parliament canteen also runs by the taxes we pay. The hefty loan of thousands of crores that the cash-cows like Ambani is exempted from repaying also comes from the taxes we pay. The plot of land that has been given to the "honorable" CM of Gujrat has been maintained so far by the taxes we pay. The natural resources allocated to these cash-cows are our share of pie and we pay for their maintenance.

Common “Education is not privilege it is our right”. When highly capitalized country like Germany has made its higher education free of cost despite several criticism from the agents of free market then why can’t India give free education to its citizens? Germany claims that tuition fee is something "Socially unjust". Learn something. Amidst all the new low of BJP came when the Home minister reacted on the fake twitter handle of Hafiz Saeed and alleged that JNU protests were backed by Saeed.

JNU has been a laboratory of democracy and democratic ideas. An institution that has a tremendous contribution towards nation- building and has produced top class bureaucrats, thinkers, intellectuals, professors, academicians, scientists, political leaders, diplomats and what not. The concrete framework of bureaucracy of Modi government is constituted by JNU alumni. The chief of CBI and foreign secretary of India and the top diplomats who design the framework of diplomatic relations of India with the world are all the products of JNU. The level of intellect that these scholars’ possess and the politically aware citizens that JNU produces is just because of the open debate culture and the socially just ecosystem of JNU.

Who the government is targeting? Why the government has become so impatient? Can the slogans of those 10 students destroy the country? Why the government does not want to talk about its alliance with PDP in J&K that considers hanging of Afzal Guru a travesty of justice? What are the issues of Kashmiris? Why does the same slogan is normal in Kashmir and seditious in Delhi? The crackdown on JNU raises some serious questions on the double standard of the government?  This is an attack on democracy and JNU will give them a fitting reply.

Is it a smart selection of cities?

The Indian government has selected 20 cities for its smart cities mission on January 28^th. There has been much hue and cry regarding the selections of these cities out of the total 98 cities contesting for it. 

Smart cities are nothing but cities with good public transportation, better connectivity, good sanitation and proper waste management, inclusion of IT services for some solutions, better utilities and civic amenities. The ultra smart cities will see the inclusion of IoT (Internet of things) which is likely to revolutionize the world in near future just like the Internet did in late 1990s and early Y2K. This would enhance the urban mobility and congestion free transport, energy saving methodologies and factors related to healthcare.

The government claims to develop these cities at par European standards. For your information Barcelona, New York, London, Nice and Singapore were the 5 smartest cities of the world in 2015.

Well, Rome was not built in a day and thus the mission of building smart cities at par European standard would not be easy for the government to achieve for years to come. The fund of $7.5 billion is likely to run short for the 100 cities planned to be developed as smart cities. However in order to cope up with the shortage of funds the government plans to raise funds through public private partnership and the funding would also be done by both central and state governments. 20 out of these 100 cities will be getting the funds in the first round. 40 and 38 cities would be included over the course of next 2 years respectively.

One of the common factors among these 20 cities is that around 30% of the cities are either port cities or close to port cities and all the cities are among the already well developed cities of India in terms of education, IT services and manufacturing industries.

This initiative is closely connected to PM Modi’s Make in India campaign and it can prove to be a driving force for make in India and startup India campaign. India was ranked 54 in LPI (logistics performance index) according to the World Bank while Germany topped the list in 2014. India has lowest performance in terms of infrastructure and custom clearance among other criteria for deciding the LPI rankings. The logistics performance of India needs proper nurturing for a better growth of economy and more investments. This performance can be fueled up by smart cities project only if it gets to run smoothly.

Looking at the current economic situation of India where export is racing downwards and INR is sinking, it becomes important for the government to take some quick and smart steps in order to attract investments in short run.

Had the government chosen other less developed cities then it would have certainly required much more time to develop the basic infrastructure of those cities and then make them able to attract investments. It would be a time taking process which could lead the economy to sink further. Thus, the choice of government to build major trading cities as smart cities in the first round seems to be a wise decision.

However, if we analyze the scenario utterly by political point of view, we would find that more than 50% of the cities belong to states where the ruling party is either led by BJP/ NDA or it has good relation with BJP but on the other hand BJP ruled states like Jharkhand and Goa could not compete in the first round.

Let us have a quick look at the features of some of the cities from this list.

Bhubaneswar: It was declared the best city to do business in India by the World Bank in 2014. It has good road, rail and air connectivity, good education facilities and IT hub having rich content of natural resources and quite close to a port city.

Surat: A well connected city of Gujarat. It is sometimes called as diamond city of the world and textile city of India.

Jabalpur: A city of MP rich in natural resources like bauxite, iron ore limestone etc. and quite famous for marble. It is an important manufacturing hub for many products including arms and ammunition for military and paramilitary forces.

Vishakhapatnam: Port city located in Andhra Pradesh, a key economic zone and a home to many IT/ ITES and manufacturing industries. It is famous for steel plants, education and tourism and trade through water.

Other cities too have their own specialties and are leaders in one or another field. The cities according to their ranks are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Corporation, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.

Modi targeting a flock of birds by one stone- "Startup India"

"Startup India", the so called brain child of our PM Narendra Modi seems to be welcome step apparently. I would appreciate if it really happens to fulfill the needs of the would-be entrepreneurs of India. Unlike other programs initiated by Mr. Modi the startup-India campaign is definitely going to gain excellent momentum initially, looking at the huge population of Indians which happen to possess a “business plan”, however it is quite difficult for a common man to guess what is likely to be the direction of the momentum of this program in future.

Apparently it seems to be an effort to attract heavy investments and create jobs but there are striking phenomena that can be noted when you keenly examine the anatomy of the program. 
This is a program that has been hastily projected at a time of economic slowdown, wherein the Indian economy has landed up into serious troubles of falling down of net export and sinking INR which seems fatal for the already proposed plans like Make-in-India. There has been no substantial development in the logistic infrastructure of country other than efforts to pour hopes by speech. So there is absolutely no question of "huge" fresh investments to be made in India in near future. Small investments has kept on flowing in India since 2006 and will keep coming in since India is a rapidly growing market of 1.32 billion people. The slow growth of make-in-India campaign has led Modi and team to attract investment by softening up of taxation rules and labor law for the startups for 3 years. When the make in India campaign was started we failed to ask ourselves the question that “why” someone will come all the way to make in India when there are highly competitive countries like China and others with cutting edge technology and equally cheap labor. The answer lies in weak labor laws, less environment protective laws etc. PM Modi has cleared all. Well I had sensed it long back.

Modi has very sharply targeted a flock of birds by one stone. It would never have been so easy for Modi government to bring such modifications in labor law and taxation rules under the banner of Make in India.

Anyways, the implications of this program can be good to terrible. The government believes that it may bring both national and international money into the market. It will certainly do that. It will lessen down the burden of registering a company and our youngsters may find it relatively less difficult to register their startups. However it would be premature to comment on this section as the government has not disclosed complete details yet. The initial tax free period and the support of government towards the cost of filing patents trademarks and designs will ensure better chances of survival of the startups which in turn would be good for the economy in long run.

However, the worst aspect of this program is the exemption from the labor law that the startups will enjoy. This challenges the very spirit of social justice in every way. This is all set to pave a way to welcome the century old serfdom wrapped in a very new form. I may refer it as “Neo-serfdom”. The employees, (just like in the so called “silicon valley of India- Bengaluru”) would be exploited to the fullest. In the name of development they will have to sacrifice their work-life balance and will be subject to various kinds of exploitation like working for overtime without any payment and zero job-security. This is a fatal blow to the existing labor law of the country at a time when the western world including the European Union is trying their best to strengthen their labor laws and protect the interest of employees.

Other dark side of the campaign may be the deliberately planned registries in order to escape the taxes. Many big companies may register a startup and escape taxes for 3 years and exploit the labors for maximizing their profit and no one will care for such things. Does the government claim to have such mechanisms which could ensure a check to such questionable entries of already existing honchos when at one side the government is giving inspection free period of 3 years?

The budget of 10,000 crores of rupees (approx USD 1.5 billion) that the government has allocated for a time period of 4 years also seems to be very incomprehensible. There will be a question of whom to fund and how much to fund. It requires a great deal of transparency. Will the genuine Indian startups be benefitted? Will the foreign investors be given more weight and attention when it comes to funding? Whether there will be corporate-government nexus for the funding and the deliberately planned startups be funded?

Another big loophole of the proposed program is the easy exit. It would become very easy for the companies to enter, be funded and eventually show themselves bankrupt and fly away with the government money.
Anyways, not to be too straight forward, I hope for the best.

Is it a smart selection of cities?

The Indian government has selected 20 cities for its smart cities mission on January 28^th. There has been much hue and cry regarding the selections of these cities out of the total 98 cities contesting for it. 

Smart cities are nothing but cities with good public transportation, better connectivity, good sanitation and proper waste management, inclusion of IT services for some solutions, better utilities and civic amenities. The ultra smart cities will see the inclusion of IoT (Internet of things) which is likely to revolutionize the world in near future just like the Internet did in late 1990s and early Y2K. This would enhance the urban mobility and congestion free transport, energy saving methodologies and factors related to healthcare.

The government claims to develop these cities at par European standards. For your information Barcelona, New York, London, Nice and Singapore were the 5 smartest cities of the world in 2015.

Well, Rome was not built in a day and thus the mission of building smart cities at par European standard would not be easy for the government to achieve for years to come. The fund of $7.5 billion is likely to run short for the 100 cities planned to be developed as smart cities. The funding would be done by both central and state government and the funds would be raised by public private partnership. Well I guess the journey of these plans from paper to ground would be too difficult be to be successful. 20 out of these 100 cities will be getting the funds in the first round. 40 and 38 cities would be included over the course of next 2 years respectively.

One of the common factors among these 20 cities is that around 30% of the cities are either port cities or close to port cities and all the cities are among the well developed cities of India in terms of education and IT services and manufacturing industries.

This initiative is closely connected to Modi’s Make in India campaign and it can prove to be a driving force for make in India and startup India campaign. India was ranked 54 in LPI (logistics performance index) according to the World Bank while Germany topped the list in 2014. India has lowest performance in terms of infrastructure and custom clearance among other criteria for deciding the LPI rankings. The logistics performance of India needs proper nurturing for a better growth and more investments. This performance can be fuelled up by smart cities project only if it gets to run smoothly.

Looking at the current economic situation of India where export is racing downwards and INR is sinking, it becomes important for the government to take some quick and smart steps in order to attract investments in short run.

Had the government chosen other less developed cities then it would have certainly required much more time to develop the basic infrastructure and then make them able to attract investments. It would be a time taking process which could lead the economy to sink further. Thus the choice of government to build major trading cities as smart cities in the first round seems to be a wise decision.

However, if we analyze the scenario utterly by political point of view, we would find that more than 50% of the cities belong to states where the ruling party is either led by BJP/ NDA or it has good relation with BJP but on the other hand BJP ruled states like Jharkhand and Goa could not compete in the first round.

Let us have a quick look at the features of some of the cities from this list.

Bhubaneswar: It was declared the best city to do business in India by the World Bank in 2014. It has good road, rail and air connectivity, good education facilities and IT hub having rich content of natural resources and quite close to a port city.

Surat: A well connected city of Gujarat. It is sometimes called as diamond city of the world and textile city of India.

Jabalpur: A city of MP rich in natural resources like bauxite, iron ore limestone etc. and quite famous for marble. It is an important manufacturing hub for many products including arms and ammunitions for military and paramilitary forces.

Vishakhapatnam: Port city located in Andhra Pradesh, a key economic zone and a home to many IT/ ITES and manufacturing industries. It is famous for steel plants, education and tourism and trade through water.

Other cities too have their own specialties and are leaders in one or another field. The cities according to their ranks are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Corporation, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.