MyVoice: Views of our readers 21st August 2022

Freebies diminish aesthetic value of democracy

The Dictionary defines 'Freebies'' as something given without charge. In political Circle it has a different interpretation denoting as a transaction between the Candidates-for-election and the Electorate, the former shower free gifts to lure the citizens for garnering votes and the latter obliging.

The (Late) Indira Gandhi, had pioneered the strategy of bribing the voters with irrational freebies which has become an enduring tradition.

The SC hearing a PIL opposing the practice of offering irrational freebies by candidates contesting election(s), observed that the Parliament may not be the right forum to discuss such a sensitive issue and suggested setting up a specialised body composed of persons who can "dispassionately" examine this phenomenon [Article: Freebies issue getting murkier" dt.20th].

In this holistic democracy bribing the voters with kind and cash diminishes the aesthetic value of the set up.

Government is meant to give a clean and green governance .This can be possible when the Law-makers are non-corrupt.

The parties to the election need to come out with an 'Agenda' of the government they expect to form but not resorting to freebies paving the way to a corrupt government.

The Election Commission of India under whose jurisdiction the subject matter falls shall apply its mind pragmatically towards making the country 'Swatch Bharath'.

Seetharam Basaani, Hanamkonda, Telangana

Deconstructing I-Day address

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waxed eloquent on Indian democracy. It prompted us to think that he should spare a thought to whether his party and his government are strengthening or weakening democracy. Haven't they made the institutions that should act as 'checks and balances' so pliant that they look like arms of the government? At no time in post-independent India 'opposition' and 'dissent' have been denounced as 'anti-national' as is being done now. The space denied for the Opposition to raise issues of public importance in the Parliament undermines our parliamentary democracy and renders the claim of India being the 'mother of democracy' hollow.

Prime Minister Modi made an impassioned call to combat the twin challenges of corruption and nepotism. But the fact remains that in the last 7 years Rs.10.7 lakh crore of outstanding loans were waived by banks to benefit corporate behemoths-cum-cronies. If it is not crony capitalism and nepotism, what is it? The biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds and political donations has been the BJP. The Prime Minister harped on freeing the country of misogyny. But then it must begin at home. He should first retract his words, 'Rs. 50 lakh girlfriend', 'jersey cow' and 'O! Didi, O! Didi' and set an example. Would he pass the Women's Reservation Bill; would he ensure adequate, if not proportional representation of women in power structures and decision-making bodies?

The Prime Minister described India's diversity as its greatest strength. The question to ask is, whether he did so out of conviction or compulsion. Can it be said that the implementation of the Hindutva agenda won't obliterate, but preserve India's pluralism and heterogeneity. Does Hindu Right accept India as a 'multi-source civilization'? Diversity cannot be celebrated without repudiation of 'uniformity'. The Prime Minister spoke against 'servitude' and 'mindset of slavery', but chose not to call for the 'annihilation of caste'.

He stressed that India needs no 'certificates' from other countries and must develop its own 'markers'. But then the government should manage the affairs of state in consonance with moral values and high ideals. Modi declared an all-out war against parivarvad or dynastic politics. But his party is not above it. More importantly, 'what' a leader represents matters more than his lineage. Can being remote-controlled from Nagpur be ignored? The Prime Minister laid out his vision for an amrit kaal or developed age by 2047. Understandably, he maintained a studied silence on his earlier promise of bringing in Acche din.

G David Milton Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Poised for paradigm change

A different scenario is emerging after the election of the new President and the vice-president. The country should bring about change in a planned way. Public - Private participation should be a key in the development field and all the productive projects lying in the cupboard should be opened up to give a face lift to our economy. RBI should be kept in confidence if NDA is willing to keep power and the Economic reforms should be taken care of without wasting time. Challenges for the Government dispensation are too many and how they come out with a purpose will be a real test in the next two years of the NDA regime. If done with a greater utility then the chances of NDA going for the third term will see the twilight of the Indian economy.

C.K. Shanthi Ramanathan, Ghaziabad, UP

'Talaq-e-Hasan not akin to triple talaq'

This refers to the Supreme Court's contention that the practice of Talaq-e-Hasan among followers of Islam is not akin to triple talaq as women have an option of 'khula'. This way a Muslim man can divorce his wife by saying the word 'talaq' once in a month, for three consecutive months. The redeeming factor, however in this new trend of talaq is, if the cohabitation resumes between the couple after the first or second utterance of talaq, it is assumed that reconciliation is made between them to view the previous utterances as invalid. However there is provision to grant divorce on the ground of breakdown under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court asserted. The genie of 'triple talaq' is yet to vanish from the society despite a ban on it; only to return, as a new mutation is simply baffling. The bench's forewarning the society not to make this an agenda is a subtle warning to the society at large, which cannot be missed.

S Lakshmi, Hyderabad

Opting for WFH pose challenge to HR, organisations

After the pandemic, almost 32% people in India choose and believe that their work can be done remotely. As the world is driven by Gen Z and Milliennials, 37% of Milliennials and 33% of Gen Z likely to shift to their new jobs or ready to ask for work hour reduction according to the PWC's India Workforce Hope and Fear Survey 2022. How will the HR's handle the major shift?. If the HR's are not able to handle how will an organisation cope up with this situation. HR's and Organisation should focus on innovation and knowledge keeping in mind the factor of flexibility, as 54% of employees agree that India will face a shortage of skillset. Recreating Culture and Retaining employees has been on a major shift.

Sree lakshmi Peri, Hyderabad

Pro-India policies: Indian origin rulers cannot be gamechangers

It is a common trend that Indian diaspora seek educational and employment opportunities abroad. But it is a rare opportunity that People of Indian Origin (PIO) rule other nations by occupying top posts in the governments of those nations. There are 10 such nations wherein the Indian origin people are holding political posts. The success stories of Kamala Harris as the Vice-President of the US and the British Prime Ministerial candidate, Rishi Sunak are a pointer in this direction. While Kamala Harris, the Indian origin woman, created history as the VP of a world's wealthiest nation of US, the fate of Rishi Sunak, an Indian origin who is in the race for the PM of England, is likely to be decided in the first week of September.

Following the resignation of Boris Johnson, it has become necessary to elect a new Prime Minister of England. The election of a new leader of the conservative party in England is rather a complicated democratic process. In the first phase, out of seven candidates in fray, two contestants were elected by the party MPs through participation in voting. These contestants include Rishi Sunak and Elizabeth Truss who were Ministers in the previous government . The Indians who were averse to the previously held elections, have now shown special interest to the current one due to involvement of Sunak who is a person of Indian origin. In this tough competition between the two finalists, although Rishi Sunak has the massive support of the conservative party MPs, he has been getting a lesser number of votes from the party workers.

According to the narratives of the media, Rishi Sunak's Indian roots, skin colour and religion are not agreeable to the people of England.

The people of Indian origin serving abroad have been more enthused after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister as special meetings are being convened in the interests of a large section of the Indian diaspora. Indians have settled as CEOs in multinational companies and lakhs of NRIs are employed in jobs at various levels and are contributing to the economic development of those nations.There are offspring of India working as leaders in both Democratic and Republican parties of America.Irrespective of the party in power, Indian offspring are absorbed in key posts which is an indication of their merit.

According to the latest estimates, in 25 countries Indian offspring numbering to more than 200 are seated in key posts having been elected by the local people and there are government rulers in 10 countries belonging to Indian origin. However, there is no denial of the fact that Indian origin rulers cannot be the gamechangers as regards to pro-India policies since the former may have to act as per the whims of the voters who elect them to power. Also, even if Rishi Sunak wins and becomes the next PM of Britain, it will be for the benefit of that nation despite him being of Indian origin. There is always an eagle's eye on Indian origin rulers whose pro-India stance is always disputable. During 1993-2008, Nuclear weapon co-operation for India with the US over the issue of Kashmir was supported by NRI groups present in the US. Thus a pro-India lobby was promoted by the Indians abroad. The economic growth indicators of the people of Indian origin in the US has been an advantage for Indian politics for turning America in favour of Indians. In spite of having settled abroad, India's political, religious and caste aspersions are not being abandoned by the Indians settled abroad. Further, there is no guarantee that Indian offspring occupying plum posts in the governments of other nations can help in benefitting the national interests as it only sets to affect as an emotional issue.

Bhadriraju Indusekhar, Tarnaka, Hyderabad

Apex bank revelations an eye-opener

The gap between the elite and the poor is widening the world over (High Food Prices Leading To Massive Global Crisis, Dt. 20th Aug) and sadly there are no takers.

The latest revelations of the apex bank on sky-rocketing prices and abject poverty should act as an eye-opener; highlights how badly the developed countries are treating their underpriveleged citizens.

Today many nations are absorbed in petty politics, rivalries and wars rather than trying to uproot penury, hunger and starvation from their own countries and the neighbouring states. The persisting and nagging pandemic is also continuously playing havoc with the global economy . It is high time that all of us strive hard to be friendly, sharing, caring, compassionate with one another and above all prudently tackle on priority basis the highly sensitive issues.

Dr Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana, Punjab

Remission of sentence of life convicts in Bilkis Bano is flawed

At the outset, the decision of Gujarat government to grant remission of sentence to eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for brutal gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the gory murder of seven of her family members during the riots in 2002 raises several shocking questions

First, the supreme court ruling that the state government must decide on the release of life convicts based on 1992 policy without going into the merits of the case and second, the state government blindly applying the rule to allowed remission for those who served 14 years of their life term knowing well that the criminals having committed a heinous crime do not deserve an iota of sympathy to be let off despite the fact that invoking the rule is in exceptional cases and not as a rule.

In short, when it is a matter of discretion, the state should have straightaway rejected their remission in the interest of justice. For that matter, considering the horrific nature of crime which shook the conscience of the society and the nation at large and also taking into account the Union Home Ministry's guidelines that life convicts and rapists should not be granted remission, it is crystal clear that action of Gujarat government granting remission to the eleven life convicts was a great blunder causing a big blow to natural justice even when they had chance to apply discretion and kept the convicts in jail.

While it comes as a pleasant surprise as to how the Prime Minister who talked about Nari Shakti and Women's Empowerment could not visualise the action of the Gujarat government in releasing the convicts for committing barbaric acts on helpless women, children and others thereby sending a message that the centre is biased towards a particular community, it is imperative that prime minister should speak out to clear the air otherwise such grave errors may continue to repeat in other cases that would prove detrimental to the interest of the nation.

All said and done, though a review of the decision of the government within the ambit of law to correct the mistake seems improbable and a remote possibility, nonetheless the case is certain to resonate for a long time to come as one where justice could not be fully delivered due to prejudice.

Srinivasan Ramaswamy, New Bhoiguda, Secunderabad

An egregious remission

The remission leading to the premature release of 11 Bilkis Bano case convicts from prison has come in for a lot of flak from people and rightly so. It was apparent that the Gujarat government facilitated remission for political reasons without sparing a thought to what Bilkis Bano underwent and empathising with her. The public have a right to know if the Centre gave its 'mandatory' concurrence to the decision.

The grant of remission sends the wrong message that even gang` rape and mass murder convicts become eligible for leniency at the hands of the state if they belong to the "right" religion and committed the felonies in "a certain context". We are far from convinced that religious identity was not brought in to favour the convicts with remission.

The gravity of the felonies of rape and murder during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom for which the convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment is incontestable. The horrible nature of the crimes - gang rape of a five-month pregnant woman and killing of her three year old daughter were among them - does not bear thinking about. The punishment ought to fit the crime. The convicts were not certified to have expressed remorse for their heinous crimes and become reformed characters. Rape is no ordinary crime, it is the worst of all crimes, to give the benefit of special remission to rapists.

The way the released lifers were feted was a telling comment on the present sorry state of affairs in India. It rendered Prime Minister Modi's pledge to uphold women's rights and dignity and free the country of misogyny in his Independence Day address to the nation hollow. It made a mockery of the profession of Nari Shakti and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Hinduphobia v/s Islamophobia

There was a debate in Al Jazeera alleging that Indian TV news channels and its anchors are doggedly engaged in berating the Muslim community, to be responsible for Islamophobia in the country. Similar views are expressed by political parties in the opposition to claim that such a tendency is not seen in the country before the onset of the BJP - to obliquely hint that all was well when the Congress was in power. The beheading madness the country has witnessed, in the aftermath of innocuous comments by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who was targeted for blasphemy by the muslim community when she commented on couple of true incidents pertaining to Prophet Mohammed that the community failed to digest, albeit they were true, well documented, and quoted by several sane and level-headed muslim scholars earlier too.

Nupur's comments pale before hard-hitting and vulgar comments routinely made by AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, time and again against Hindu gods; against whom there is no police action yet; and the High Court found nothing amiss in this regard. There are other such incidents in the country, when Bollywood actors showed no compunction in berating Hindu sentiments, depicting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in bad light that seemed undoubtedly intentional; perhaps on the assumption that Hindu deities are easy game; about which nobody complains as the majority community is divided and accommodating, to be silent always. One wonders why such creative experiments are not tried against their own community and Islam.

Post Nupur Sharma episode, the country has witnessed widespread and deliberate outbreak of wanton anarchy in some states, the NIA and police investigations came out with reports of extremely radicalised muslim groups and organisations like PFI, CFI and SDPI were behind such incidents of mayhem; and a shuddering revelation was made that these Islamist organisations are unabashedly supported by countries Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, with a view to turn India into a Islamic caliphate by 2047. The selective targeting of Hindu Pandit community in Kashmir by Islamist jihadi elements is continuing, about which either Mehbooba Mufti, Abdullah's local muslims do not care; and they blame the Centre for not giving protection to victims.

The fact of the matter is that Congress rule of India for the past sixty five odd years was focussed on pampering one community in particular, with no questions asked; they took full advantage of the situation in usurping all possible means that accrued to their lot in radicalising the society, promoting hate and venom in madrassa against the majority community, instead of regular education, aimed at empowering the community in a healthy way; and the muslms have played the victim card to elicit international sympathy. The true colour emerged when Article 370 and 35A were abrogated in J&K, and against other important issues like UCC, CAA and Agnipath army recruitment.

Some semblance of reversal in this trend is apparent after BJP came to power as decisive actions are initiated against the radical Islamist groups; and the illegal financial support that is being received by these organisations.

It is imperative that like other religious entries, the community must learn to be inclusive, participative; without entertaining any ulterior global agenda or unrealistic Islamist dreams; and the responsibility rests squarely on mullahs, muftis and imams, instilling sanity, goodwill and harmonious coexistence with others in the society.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad