Kashmir And Peace

The Disputed Territory : Shown in green is Kashmiri region under Pakistani control. The orange-brown region represents Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir while the Aksai Chin is under Chinese occupation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have no desire to tow the Indian government official line on Kashmir. Heck, I don't even know what that is. I have an idea, but I have not done my homework.

But peace is everyone's desire. Palestine is thought of as the number one flashpoint in the world. I think it is Kashmir. Modi and Nawaz should work towards a permanent peace and get a shared Nobel Prize.

Of course Kashmir can be talked about. Everything can be talked about. The two sides just have to come up with the right framework.

There has to be some out of the box thinking. The two foreign ministries are in a rut. They play the same tug of war over and over again.

The larger framework is the deal Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India signed last year. The four have agreed on an economic union within 10 years. Pakistan should start talks on the same. Pakistan eventually being part of that economic union solves the Kashmir problem, I believe. Because if the people in Pakistan and India can freely work in either country, then the question as to which country Kashmir belongs in becomes less urgent.

I think the eventual right solution is to respect the current Line Of Control and then make it pretty much meaningless through a Pakistan India economic union. There are also two Punjabs, one in Pakistan, another in India. It's the same people who live in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Madhesh in Nepal. You have West Bengal and Bangladesh. Kashmir is not an exception, more a rule.

Demilitarize Kashmir on both sides. That's the eventual goal. But the path to there might be tortuous. In the short term the right strategy perhaps is to stay engaged and keep the expectations low. Two full fledged democracies would have quite easily solved the problem. But in Pakistan the army and the ISI act as parallel power centers to the Prime Minister. That makes it complicated.

नेपालको बाबुराम भट्टराई र भारतका नक्सल हरु (२)
नेपालको बाबुराम भट्टराई र भारतका नक्सल हरु

केजरीवाल, मोदी और दिल्ली

केजरीवाल जब पहली बार दिल्ली का मुख्य मंत्री बने उससे पहले मेरे राडार पर वो नहीं थे। लेकिन जब वो आए, I have to admit, it was a breath of fresh air. ये जो दुसरी बार जिते हैं, तो क्लियर मैंडेट है। स्मार्ट हैं, मेहनती हैं, साधारण पृष्ठभूमि के हैं, एक क्लीन इमेज है। दिल्ली के लिए एजेंडा भी अच्छा है।

लेकिन वो बार बार शिकायत करते आए हैं कि मैंने चुनाव जिता लेकिन मोदी काम नहीं करने दे रहे हैं। तो I have taken that with a grain of salt. मोदी के rear view mirror में केजरीवाल दिखते होंगे ऐसा नहीं लगता। एक बात होता है कि बड़ा आदमी से लफड़ा लो और अपना कद बढ़ाओ। Which is cheap.

तथ्य आखिर है क्या? मोदी तंग कर रहे हैं। ये बात मेरे को मानने को मन नहीं कर रहा था। या तो मोदी का मेरा जो इमेज है गलत है या वो केजरी को तंग नहीं कर रहे। तो बात क्या है आखिर?

तो आज मेरे को जवाब मिल गया। नया साल मुबारक। मोदी को भी केजरी को भी।

The power struggle between Delhi and central government - The Economic Times https://t.co/lmENqiNX7Q

— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) January 1, 2016

मेरे समझ में यहाँ क्या हो रहा है कि मोदी केजरी को तंग नहीं कर रहे। हो ये रहा है कि केजरी ये नहीं समझ रहे कि दिल्ली के पास statehood नहीं है। दिल्ली तो केंद्र शासित क्षेत्र है। तो केंद्र सरकार का मैंडेट तो मोदी को मिला हुवा है। पटना में नीतिश जो हैं या लखनऊ में अखिलेश दिल्ली में केजरी वो नहीं हैं।

दिल्ली को राज्य का दर्जा मिलना चाहिए कि नहीं? मिलना चाहिए तो रोडमैप क्या है?  वो तो बाद की बात है। या तो केजरी को एक रोडमैप प्रस्तुत करना होगा। कि मैं मानता हुँ दिल्ली को राज्य का दर्जा मिलना चाहिए और उसका नेतृत्व मैं करूँगा। तो वो एक रास्ता हुवा। दिल्ली के राज्य के दर्जा के बारे में मेरे को मालुम नहीं। मैंने अध्ययन नहीं किया है।  तो मैं मुद्दे पर न्यूट्रल भी हुँ और अगर केजरी ये बीड़ा उठाना चाहें तो रोडमैप क्या हो सकता है उस पर मैं आर्यभट का शुन्य हुँ। I don't know.

लेकिन अभी तक जो हल्ला करते आए हैं केजरी ये मोदी के प्रति unfair है और केजरी को अपरिपक्व दिखाता है। मोदी का केजरी के साथ न कोई पर्सनालिटी क्लैश है न कोई प्रतिस्प्रधा है। And it would be out of character for Modi to harass Kejri. मेरे समझ में हो क्या रहा है कि केजरी ये नहीं समझ रहे हैं कि दिल्ली केजरी शासित क्षेत्र नहीं है, संविधान जैसा बतला रहा है। दिल्ली केंद्र शासित क्षेत्र है। तो अपना jurisdiction समझने का प्रयास करें। मोदी ट्विटर पर जा के रोना धोना करें कि देखो इतना बड़ा मैंडेट ले के आया मैं लेकिन सी जिनपिंग मेरे को चिनिया सेना का बागडोर सम्हालने नहीं दे रहा है तो कैसा लगेगा? अरे यार चीन आप का jurisdiction नहीं।

कुछ होता है ग्रे जोन। ये केजरी के क्षेत्राधिकार में है कि केंद्र के स्पष्ट नहीं होता। तो वहाँ दोनों प्रतिस्प्रधा करेंगे कि मेरा है मेरा है, वो तो स्वाभाविक है।

केजरी को एक प्रॉपर चीफ मिनिस्टर बनना है तो जाओ पंजाब जाओ। सुनते हैं वहां भी आप का अच्छा है। या दिल्ली को राज्य का दर्जा दिलाने का रोडमैप लाओ और जनता के पास जाओ। बीजेपी ने तो स्पष्ट कह ही दिया नहीं। कि हम नहीं चाहते दिल्ली अलग राज्य हो।

सबसे प्रमुख बात है मोदी पर बार बार जो घटिया और बहुत ही पर्सनल किस्म के अटैक जो हो रहे हैं उससे भारत के छवि पर असर पर रहा है। मैंने हाल ही में वाशिंगटन पोस्ट में एक आर्टिकल पढ़ा जिसमें केजरी को क्वोट किया गया है, कि मोदी psychopath हैं। ये तो लोकतंत्र की भाषा नहीं। भारत के छवि पर असर पड़ता है। और वैसे भी मोदी की कोई गलती मैं देख नहीं रहा। CBI ने खुद एक्शन लिया। गलत लिया तो वकील हायर करो। राजनीतिक मुद्दा है तो राजनीतिक भाषा बोलो।

Kejriwal is promising, but he should not punch above his weight, especially in unfair ways. और वैसे भी economic growth के मुद्दे पर केजरी कुछ नहीं मोदी के सामने। न विज़न देख रहा हुँ न एक्शन।

ये क्या हो रहा है? American Style Gridlock?

ऐसे देश १०% तरफ नहीं जाएगी। जिस देशमें इनकम टैक्स ठोस नहीं है वहाँ सरलीकृत सेल्स टैक्स का होना बहुत जरुरी है। Informal sector को भी समेट लेती है।



Indian Politics Thwart Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Tax-Reform Plans For the second time this year, India concludes its Parliament session without legislating a nationwide sales tax

Partisan bickering in India’s Parliament has stalled an important piece of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic agenda: a constitutional amendment that would create a simplified nationwide tax system to replace a commerce-stifling patchwork of state levies. .... The winter session of India’s legislature ended Wednesday without a vote on the measure in the upper house, where Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is in the minority, after lawmakers spent weeks trading jabs over graft allegations involving top politicians. .....

“The economy suffers while politics overrides everything.”

..... Facing opposition protests and fearing a rural backlash ahead of the Bihar vote, Mr. Modi in August retreated from legislative efforts to ease India’s strict land-acquisition law and make it easier for the government to get land for industry and infrastructure. ..... The gridlock is the result, in part, of a tit-for-tat strategy by the main opposition Congress party, whose final years in power were marred by protests led by the BJP.

When Congress was in government, the BJP blocked tax legislation similar to what it is now trying to pass.

..... With major plans stymied in Parliament, Mr. Modi has sought to breathe life into the economy through executive actions and other moves, including a plan to revive heavily-indebted power-distribution companies and ease foreign-investment limits in some industries. .... Congress accused Mr. Modi of a political vendetta after the party’s president, Sonia Gandhi, and her son, Rahul, were summoned before a magistrate to answer a complaint alleging cheating and criminal breach of trust. ..... Emerging from court Saturday, Mr. Gandhi said Mr. Modi had encouraged “false allegations” to frighten political rivals. The government said it wasn’t involved in the case. The complaint was filed by politician Subramanian Swamy in 2012. He later joined the BJP. .....

‘Parliament has become a forum less for debate and more to settle political scores.’

—M.R. Madhavan, president of think tank PRS Legislative Research ...... A post on Mr. Kejriwal’s official Twitter account called Mr. Modi a “coward and a psychopath.” The episode spiraled to include corruption allegations by Mr. Kejriwal against BJP Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who in turn filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kejriwal. ......

These much publicized spats narrowed the space for a political compromise needed to break the logjam on economic policy-making.

..... On the tax amendment, Congress has said it doesn’t support some key provisions. It argues the tax rate should be capped at 18%—and that number must be included explicitly in the constitution—to prevent a creeping increase by future governments...... It also wants to do away with a proposed 1% additional levy designed to help manufacturing states....... Mr. Jaitley said the government is willing to find ways to address Congress’s second demand, but won’t legislate the tax rate so future governments have flexibility.

Five Things to Know About India’s Proposed Goods and Services Tax

India’s government is attempting to reform its messy web of sales taxes to make doing business across the country easier. ........ This complicated web snarls companies in red tape and slows down the transit of goods around the country because of border checks and other official inspections. ...... replace the patchwork of taxes with a single, nationwide sales levy, known as the goods-and-services tax, or GST.

Economists call the move an epochal lowering of commercial barriers.

..... a broad GST would deliver an immediate boost to output of 1% to 2% and lasting gains to productivity. .....

The bill needs the consent of two-thirds of Parliament and half of India’s 29 states.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wants the new system up and running by April 2016, saying it will “play a transformative role in the way our economy functions.” .......

States with large manufacturing bases have been wary of the GST: Receipts from the new tax would go to states where goods and services are consumed, not where they are produced.

........ The Modi government in December agreed to compensate states for lost revenue during the levy’s first five years, and to let them continue taxing alcohol and petroleum separately. Some experts say these and other possible exemptions would curb the GST’s effectiveness, however. ...... Jaitley told lawmakers on Wednesday that the standardized national rate for GST would be “much more diluted” than the 27% estimated

Kejriwal And Modi: Not On The Same Plank

I was unhappy when Kejriwal tweeted his attack on Modi calling him names. It was not only not the language of a mature democracy, it also sounded inaccurate. He made it sound like Modi had personally directed the raid. I have not read up on the raid, it's not worth my time. If you feel the CBI has wronged you, go get a lawyer. Manmohan Singh did after he got out of office and was subjected to some kind of inquiry. He asked the court to dismiss it, and the court did. Not that Kejriwal is Manmohan Singh.

Such a comment mars India's image that Modi has worked so hard to cultivate ever since he got into office. He had a purpose. India has beat both China and the United States on FDI this year. Is that something, or is that something? Itna bejod kaam ho raha hai. Thos kaam ho raha hai. 

Kejriwal likes to imagine there is some kind of a personality clash going on between Modi and him: not true. There is no evidence. Yaar, size to dekho. Delhi ka size kya hai?

Kejriwal has a mandate. The mandate is to govern. To govern karo. Kaam karo. Apna political height badhane ke prayas mein desh ke PM ko gaali mat bolo.

Agar Modi mein rajnitik sujhbujh hai to wo aisa raid nahin karvayenge. That is yet another reason to believe he was not personally behind it. Because, it doesn't make any political sense. Bahut ghaate ki baat hai. 

Within minutes of the CBI raid on the Delhi secretariat on 15 December, top government functionaries — those sitting in North Block and South Block — spoke with one another to find out whether the raid had the prior approval of any of them. None of them had any inkling....... Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed ignorance while Home Minister Rajnath Singh was not in the loop either. The Ministry of Home Affairs asked CBI director Anil Sinha and he justified the raids on procedural and legal grounds.......The collateral damage from the raids was colossal in political terms........ The carefully cultivated image of Modi as a leader who believes in the consensual approach lay shattered as the Opposition attacked his government for being “vindictive” against rivals. As expected, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used this opportunity to launch one of the worst vituperative attacks on the prime minister and subsequently on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

DDCA row: Narendra Modi gets furious when he hears my name, says Arvind Kejriwal
During the session, Kejriwal accused the PM of “unleashing” the CBI on the government and said the recent raid on his principal secretary’s office was an “attack on the federal structure of democracy”.

The PM ordered this raid to protect Jaitley,” alleged Kejriwal ..... Questioning the independence of the CBI as an investigative body, Kejriwal said, “The day CBI becomes independent, it will send a notice to Shivraj Chouhan. It will send a notice to Modi to ask him about the money he got for his coat. Sushma and Vasundhara Raje will get notices, not Rajendra Kumar…” ...... Defending Kumar, Kejriwal said, “Hamare afsar ke locker khali mile aur 12 daaru ki bottles mili. Is world ki sabse badi democracy ke PM raid karwaye aur 12 bottles liquor mile to sharm ki baat hai…(The head of the world’s biggest democracy ordered a raid and only found 12 liquor bottles. This is shameful).” ..... Kejriwal also took a dig at the PM’s foreign trips. “He has nothing to do with the country. He has a big plane with all facilities and stays in five-star hotels… Everything runs smoothly when he is out of the country. The day he returns, the CBI is unleashed on the opposition…,” he said. ..... He also welcomed the defamation case filed by Jaitley against him and his partymen. “We will go to Patiala House on February 5… We will give our explanation and the trial will begin. Jaitley will stand in the witness box and our advocate will cross-examine him. This will go on for a year. They have harmed themselves,” said Kejriwal. ..... The DDCA… deals with sports which is under us,” said Kejriwal.

Target 2019: Kejriwal’s anti-Modi moves are rooted in his ambition

the Delhi chief minister has realised that the space for an anti-establishment leader has started growing again in India. And he is making fast and furious moves to occupy the slot before anyone else becomes the pivot of the anti-BJP politics that could become a rewarding pursuit by 2019. ..... The economy has come to a standstill. Growth forecasts have become sobre and sombre: the latest estimate has been revised downwards to 7-7.5 percent from the previous 8.1-8.5 percent. Reforms are stuck, legislative bills are caught in politics of hostility, jobs are not rising, prices — not the ones reflected on indices of data crunchers but on grocery lists of real people — are going through the roof. There is a general atmosphere of hostility and distrust. Promises of achche din have become a painful memory ..... within a year, unless something dramatic happens, a string of electoral results could change the mood on the ground dramatically. .... The party never had a realistic chance in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where elections are due next .... In Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance is facing stiff challenge after ten years of incumbency. ....... the ruling alliance is staring at a drubbing in Punjab that could be more severe than the beating in Delhi. ..... Where is the party winning next? Perhaps Assam, but every other state election appears a tough challenge. ..... For the past few days, Kejriwal has been relentlessly attacking the PM and his finance minister with the hope of becoming the leading anti-Modi voice in the country. By punching well above his weight, just like Modi did as chief minister of Gujarat, he is hoping to become the symbol of anti-establishment by the time the next election is around. ...... Kejriwal can progress in politics only if he wins Punjab, or at least puts up a strong show. It doesn't look easy. ..... In Punjab, Kejriwal is facing the challenge of warding off the might of former chief minister and Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh. The mood on the ground suggests voters are torn between AAP and a resurgent Congress under Singh. Both have equal chances of replacing the SAD-BJP government. ..... Aware of the challenge and the opportunity, Kejriwal is planning to camp in Punjab for almost six months before the elections, leaving Delhi to his deputy Manish Sisodia. If he wins Punjab, demolishes the Badals and pins down Singh, Kejriwal will immediately fancy himself as a challenger to Modi...... Kejriwal's rise, if it happens, won't be a tragic development for the BJP. It will immediately bring his ambition into conflict with that of Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh,

Nitish Kumar — the current frontrunner —

and other regional aspirants, immediately putting under strain the current index of opposition unity, the biggest threat to Modi after anti-incumbency......

Does this explain the BJP's current eagerness to provoke Kejriwal?

Whenever My Name Is Taken, PM Modi's Blood Boils: Arvind Kejriwal

Speaking at the Delhi assembly as his battle with the Centre reaches a new low, Mr Kejriwal added, "BJP leaders have told me in private, whenever my name is taken, (PM Narendra) Modi's blood boils." ..... Calling the raids a "flop", Mr Kejriwal today said the CBI questioned his principal secretary Rajender Kumar for over 50 hours after 14-hour long raids. "But they have found nothing... The raid was aimed only at helping Arun Jaitley," he said. "What the PM did is quite shameful," he said. ..... Taking the charges head-on, Mr Kejriwal said, "What remains to be seen is that whether the inquiry commission will be annulled by the L-G, who Jaitley says is 'our man'... I appeal to Jaitleyji to cooperate with the inquiry commission."

Barak River

Indians were so moved Barack Obama visited them for their Republic Day, they named a river after him. And Modi took a lot of political heat in India for the expensive suit he wore to make Obama feel at home.

Barak River


Elders pass Bill to declare Barak river as National Waterway

to develop the Barak river stretch as country’s sixth National Waterway would particularly benefit Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh by facilitating cargo movement there.