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Created on Saturday, 26 May 2018 14:36
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(Edited Image from Calligaraphic Edition of Indian Constitution)
The storm over formation of Karnataka Government has turned the torchlight on constitutional blunder of giving discretionary powers to governors. They are the nominees and agents of the Central Government in State capitals. Officially, they also serve as Constitutional heads of States.
In realty, several of them work as agents of the ruling party at the Centre. No wonder then that both BJP and Congress, when in power at the Centre, don’t implement relevant recommendations of four Commissions made over five decades. Even coalition regimes of other parties behave like Congress & BJP.
Gauge the enormity of Union Government’s indifference by factoring in the Opposition’s repeated calls in Parliament for reforming Governor’s role.
Status quo on functioning of governors constitutes unprecedented policy paralysis. It owes its origin to ethics resistant, turncoat DNA of Indian politicians. The status quo has thus persisted due to the ruling party’s fatal temptation to utilize Governors’ as instruments for expansion of political power & aggrandizement. The Governor’s post and its discretionary powers are like apsaras for any party that comes to the power at the Centre.
Read more: End Governors’ Discretion Raj By Undoing Constitutional Blunder
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Created on Thursday, 12 April 2018 19:26
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(Image Courtesy: taxindiaonline.com)
Caste arithmetic and not Vikas would decide 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Available indications suggest Modi Government is holding caste cards up its sleeves that would cruise its return to power.
Before discussing the Government’s trump cards, we need to put the caste politics in perspective by recapitulating four trends.
First trend is Modi Government’s sound and fury over an October 2017 news report, attributed to sources, stating that Congress President Rahul Gandhi would use Cambridge Analytica (CA) as Brahmastra against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The rulers’ theatrics over CA bordered on hysteria as news emerged that this UK-based firm had used stolen Facebook data to influence voters in the US and other countries. News stories stated that it had also worked for Indian political parties in different elections. The most crucial disclosure by CA whistle-blower, Christopher Wylie, was that its parent company’s (SCL’s) Indian subsidiary SCL India conducted a caste census in UP in 2012 for an unnamed national party to identify the “party’s core voters as well as likely swing voters”.
In a tweeted slide, Mr. Wylie explained the significance of caste research and analysis to influence voters. As put in the slide, “caste research includes information on the demographics of the population of each area. From this, the campaign team can clearly understand how caste influences votes and shape messing around the findings. A better understanding of the influence of caste on Indian politics will open up research avenues and allow the campaign team to target the population in the most effective and efficient way”.
Read more: Can BJP Return to Power with Secret Caste Data & OBCs Churn?
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Created on Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:27
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(Image Courtesy: PIB)
Electoral bonds (EBs) “substantially seek to cleanse” the system of political funding, exuded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Presenting EB scheme to Lok Sabha on 2nd January 2018, Mr. Jaitley stated: “Now, the element of transparency is that the donors buy these bonds. Obviously, their balance sheets will reflect that they have bought a certain amount of bonds. Political parties will file their returns and collectively also say that this is the extent of electoral bonds that they have received. And, therefore, this will be the cleaner money coming from the donor, cleaner money coming into the hands of a political party who would have cleansed substantially the whole process”.
He added: “There would be a significant amount of transparency. Today, there is nil transparency. When the cash is given, the source of the money, the donor and where it is spent is not known. Therefore, at least now it will be known. The donor will be having an account of how many bonds he has purchased. The political party will be filing returns to the Election Commission, thereby indicating the total bonds it has received and which donor gave to which political party”.
This transparency logic is flawed as is evident from the gazette notification on EBs issued on 2nd January 2018. It says: “The information furnished by the buyer shall be treated confidential by the authorised bank and shall not be disclosed to any authority for any purposes, except when demanded by a competent court or upon registration of criminal case by any law enforcement agency”.
Read more: Electoral Bonds can Prove to Perfect fig leaf for Political Corruption
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Created on Thursday, 14 December 2017 03:41
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(PM & Gujarat CM at Dwarkadhish Temple Image Courtesy: PIB)
Enact Code for Political Discourse & Drama
The muck-raking electioneering for Gujarat State Assembly has turned Indian democracy and governance on its head. The conduct of campaigners must be judged from all angles to frame a statutory code for political discourse and display.
The focus, of course, has to be on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He should be judged through the prism of Kautilya’s governance treatise Arthashastra, Indian Constitution, Parliament’s unanimous 1997 Agenda for India (AFI) and Election Commission’s Mode Code of Conduct for Elections (MCCE) .
In Chapter Xth titled ‘Ascertaining by Temptations Purity or Impurity in the Character of Ministers’, Kautilya specified four purity tests. These are: religious allurement; monetary allurement; love allurement and allurement under fear.
Kautilya, also revered as Chanakya, stated: “those whose character has been tested under all kinds of allurements shall be employed as prime ministers (mantrinah)” by the King.
Watching Gujarat poll campaigns from Heaven, Kautilya would perhaps broaden his four purity tests in the age of democracy. He would thus find Modi failing on touchstone of religious allurement and allurement under fear. PM played these two impurities to the hilt to woo voters.
Read more: Mr. PM, Assess your Gujarat Campaign on four Touchstones
