Decoding how Modi Hacks EVMs, Part 5: Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections

Decoding how PM Modi hacks EVMs, Part 4: How his govt improved lives of women – rural and urban – at home, school and work

 

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference: 

Many big economies globally have maternity leave policy of a minimum of 3 months only. So, when my colleagues and friends in global organisations come to know that India has a mandatory 6-month maternity leave policy, they are still pleasantly surprised. As important as this reform is for women in the organised sector (bought of course by the Modi government), there was another scheme by the Modi government that caught my attention – the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. 

The unorganised sector, such as agriculture, for example, has lakhs of women in rural and urban India where they have to work right up to the last days of pregnancy and resume working very soon after childbirth. They typically don’t have the luxury of a 6-month paid leave. The nature of the work also takes a toll both on their health and that of the baby. 

Through the Matru Vandana Yojana, the Modi government started a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme under which “cash benefits are provided to pregnant women in their bank account directly to meet enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensate for wage loss”. Coupled with the POSHAN Abhiyaan (that emphasises the nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children from 0-6 years of age), a holistic support system has been developed for pregnant women & lactating mothers, in the unorganised sector! 

While nutrition efforts were done earlier too, the direct cash transfer to also compensate for wage loss will bring in mental peace that cannot be quantified. Efforts such as these have improved the Maternal Mortality Rate from 132 per 1 lakh births to 97 per 1 lakh births. Now, you just have to ask yourselves why these women wouldn’t press the lotus button on the EVM

While we are on the topic of pregnancy, the upper limit for termination of pregnancy has been increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. This is important because certain abnormalities can only be detected after 20 weeks, and therefore gives a medical option to terminate if necessary. While we continue on the topic of pregnancy, did you know that India did not have any law governing Surrogacy? Modi government is the first government to enact a law that lays down rules for both Surrogacy and Assisted Reproduction. This may not fetch votes yet but lawmaking is the first step to help prevent the exploitation of women (especially for Surrogacy). 

In the unorganised sector, the participation of women in the workforce is much higher than in the organised sector. Women constitute nearly 57% of the popular MNREGA program (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). An International Labour Organisation study has pointed out how India improved the gender pay gap in MNREGA itself, over the last 8 years. We have already discussed how the Modi government revolutionised MNREGA with excellent high funding. So, in summary, more women participate in MNREGA; they earn more money now than before; they earn equivalent to men unlike how it was before. Now, you just have to ask yourselves why these women wouldn’t press the lotus button on the EVM! 

In the unorganised sector, the participation of women in entrepreneurial ventures is also higher than in the organised sector. Nearly 10 crore rural women are part of nearly 1 crore Self Help Groups. However, with Prime Minister Modi, it’s never about maintaining the status quo. From the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2023, he has announced the aim of creating 2 crore lakhpati didis from these groups. While announcing these, the Prime Minister has also spoken about skilling them even in the latest technologies such as drone repairing, and LED bulb making so that they aren’t far off from technology. The concept of the scheme is simple – make these women lakhpatis!

An endearing conversation with one such lakhpati didi gives a great glimpse of why these women feel so comfortable talking to the Prime Minister of India. The rural women have bought into the concept of thinking big and achieving big, and are now fully in tandem with the Prime Minister’s vision. Another conversation with women diary entrepreneurs of  Varanasi is another proof of how big a hit he is. Now, you have to ask yourselves why these women wouldn’t press the lotus button on the EVM! 

With so much money coming in, where would the women keep all this money? Gone are the days of hiding money at home, away from the prying eyes of others. The amazing success of the Jan Dhan Scheme means that all these women have their own bank accounts (Out of the total 51.80 crore accounts, 28.75 crore accounts are owned by women!) and therefore access to their own money in the safest manner possible. 

Rural women are also now able to spend more time working (either as entrepreneurs or employees) because they now have to spend less time worrying about one basic necessity in their house – drinking water. We all have read about and also seen how women have to endure scorching conditions and walk long distances to get drinking water for their home, or we have witnessed the fights that break out at the water tanker that comes to your village. The Jal Jeevan Mission (the slogan is catchy – Har Ghar Nal se Jal) now ensures every house must have a tap and 55 litres of water supply every day. Nearly 12 crore households out of eligible 19 crore households have already been provided this connection. Now, you just have to ask why these women wouldn’t press the lotus button on the EVM!

Speaking of their homes; Swach Bharat has ensured toilets have been built, thus making it safer for women in rural areas; electricity availability is not a problem; electricity bills are also reduced through LED bulbs in the Ujala Scheme; cooking is through gas cylinders and not through inhaling dangerous smoke from wood (10 crore connections so far, through Ujjwala Scheme!) – I mean, I can go on and on, but do you see how holistic the focus on improving the lives of women, at home and at work, has been?

Through Beti Bachao, Beti Padao, our sex ratio at birth has improved from 918 in 2014-2015 to 933 in 2022 (meaning more girl children are born now or lesser girl children are being aborted now, as compared to before). Not only are more girl children studying now, but even the last barriers to their education have now been removed (Did you know that Sainik Schools didn’t allow admissions to girls? That rule was removed in 2021 by the Modi government). 

The legal age for girls to get married was 18. It has now been changed to 21, on par with men. Can you imagine the possibilities this opens up for the girls to pursue education and careers of their choice? Where will they get the money, you ask? The answer lies in the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme – a parent opens an account for the girl child and can deposit up to 1.5 lakhs every year until she is 21 years of age. The account gets ~8% interest every year; the girl can withdraw 50% of the amount when she reaches 18, for higher education purposes. After she reaches 21, the entire money is hers. And already 3 crore accounts are opened and have deposited 1,62,000 crores of money into this scheme! And then there are the small things that matter big – for example, including victims of Acid attacks into the divyang category so that they get benefits meted out to the physically handicapped. 

Not too long ago, we used to discuss the multi-fold problems that girls and women face in our country. There is perhaps no other government that has had such a holistic approach to improving the lives of women – at home, at school, and at work. And with the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament, we will now have 33% of women participation in law-making too. Now, ask yourselves again why crores of women wouldn’t press the lotus button on the EVM! 

This is the 4th article in the series Decoding How PM Modi hacks EVMs (an allegation the opposition often throws at him). Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health. 

Shameless whitewashing of Sheikh Shahjahan and the plight of Sandeshkhali women by The Hindu: How they chose to protect Mamata Banerjee

 

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

Every Saturday, the English newspaper The Hindu publishes a full-page story titled “Ground Zero”. On February 24th, 2024, they decided to finally honor us with their version of the horrors of Sandeshkhali, in West Bengal. 

The headline is not the only thing that will throw you off. But let’s quickly discuss the disgusting nature of the headline. In the English language, Fire and smoke are terms often used to justify page-3-type gossip and political rumors. Not to justify serious criminal complaints of rape, gang rape, violence and harassment. The dreaded editors of The Hindu have no qualms though in resorting to such cheap headlines. Like I said at the beginning of this paragraph, the headline is not the only thing that will throw you off. 

At the center of all the serious criminal complaints of rape, gang rape, violence, and harassment is the dreaded criminal Sheikh Shahjahan. According to The Hindu, who is Sheikh Shahjahan? Let’s take a look at the image below (which is a snippet from the article).

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

When do you use phrases such as “humble beginnings” and “rose to prominence”? These are phrases that have a positive connotation and are used when describing inspiring stories of heroes in our society. However, in our country, we have these brain-dead editors in the English media who possess this petulant penchant for romanticizing the lives of dreaded criminals and terrorists. After everything that we have heard about this hard-core criminal, can you imagine that The Hindu actually wants us to be in awe of how Sheikh Shahjahan “rose to political prominence”. Shahjahan is so awesome that “Mamata Banerjee had once described him as “popular”. 

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

It took an ED raid for the world to unearth the dreaded empire of this criminal, Shahjahan. “Little known” Shahjahan was so awesome that when ED raided him, bringing him into the limelight, he ensured that his mob attacked and injured the officers. And the brave man that he is, he ran away!

You may argue that The Hindu has graciously given space to a full page for this story and I am nitpicking on a small paragraph. I will make it a little easier for you to understand how The Hindu story is structured. If it was not for social media (especially OpIndia), I would have easily thought that this whole ruckus about Shahjahan is just about land grabbing from poor people. Because everything that I have marked in the pink shade in the article (image below) talks about land grabbing “allegations” by villagers against Shahjahan.

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

The elaborate introductory paragraphs describe how a woman bravely recorded her statement before the magistrate, and only towards the end of this section (the small patch of red I highlighted), we are told as a matter of fact that the allegations were about how she was raped, 5 months ago. 

Everything that I have marked in the red shade is actually instances when the article refers to the multiple horror stories of rape that the women of Sandeshkhali have poured out. You can easily notice how The Hindu has taken elaborate pains to make this issue more about land grabbing and less about rape and violence. 

After elaborately explaining to us the land grabbing and violent stories that the villagers are “alleging”, The Hindu begins a section titled “The political flashpoint” (the 2nd patch of the red box I highlighted in the above image)

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

We were told that the “floodgates opened” only after “a woman from Sandeshkhali told…”. Please notice the absence of any adjectives to describe the bravery of this woman and every woman who spoke after this. The section very quickly transitions to how the police have dutifully informed the press that no rape complaints were ever filed before February 15th and hence they didn’t know about this. And then how various political leaders are trying to make a beeline to this area. 

And then the article amazingly moves back to the stories of land grabbing and arrests. You would think many culprits have been arrested, but according to this story – more than 10 BJP workers, 1 television journalist (The Hindu doesn’t even want to say Republic TV!), and a former MLA come CPI have been arrested, in addition to just 2 Trinamool leaders. The article ends with how the woman who recorded her statement before the magistrate continues to live in fear.

It’s not as if they can’t use better adjectives or writing skills to accurately describe the pain and the courage that is currently on display by the residents of Sandeshkhali. It’s just that they chose to save the incumbent TMC government from any bad imaging. It’s just that the editors chose to tell the world that they have no conscience. 

The Uncanny TDP-JSP-BJP is back in Andhra. But Which Way Will the Cookie Crumble?

 

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

After a lot of discussions and news leaks, the BJP-TDP-Jana Sena alliance in Andhra Pradesh was finally formally announced on March 9th, 2024. This was perhaps one of the coldest announcements of an alliance, in recent times! Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan were in Delhi for 3 days, had just two meetings with J.P. Nadda and Amit Shah and then all three parties released press statements praising each other. A huge public meeting is scheduled for March 17th.

Both the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) campaigned hard against Modi in the 2019 elections. In fact, the JSP is one of the first parties to have falsely highlighted The Wire’s filthy report on the North-South divide back in 2017. The abuses that the TDP leadership and cadre heaped on Modi are still too fresh in the memory of many people. Chandrababu Naidu even used the Assembly sessions to heap his abuses on Modi.

After the 2019 debacle in AP for both the TDP and JSP, JSP was the first party to come back to the NDA fold. Pawan Kalyan realised his folly of going alone in the 2019 elections, with no agenda. He himself lost the election from 2 seats. As time progressed, Pawan Kalyan became more aggressive in his speeches against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. Pawan Kalyan was the first one to propose that the only way to beat Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2024 is to not allow a split in the opposition vote. He recently explained to his cadre how difficult it was for him to convince the BJP to take TDP back into the NDA fold.

Chandrababu Naidu faced his worst ever defeat in 2019. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a sudden plan to build three capitals instead of one. Chandrababu’s media suddenly changed track and started publishing articles that the capital Amaravati is in fact ready and nothing else needs to be built. Before the 2019 elections, this same media was constantly attacking Modi that he gave nothing to the capital. I think this was the turning point for the TDP also to make amends for their mistakes from 2019. Chandrababu Naidu started making attempts to warm up to the BJP again. The desperate attempts were also a result of the cadre’s unrest that has been out of power (both at the state and the centre). It was finally Chandrababu’s arrest by Jagan Mohan Reddy that started turning the tide in favour of the TDP.

The 52-day arrest created sympathy towards Chandrababu Naidu, perhaps even more than the assassination attempt on him by the Naxals created back in 2003. It was during this period that Pawan Kalyan announced that he will ally with TDP for the 2024 elections and will try to convince the BJP too. He finally succeeded!

Out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in AP, the BJP will contest in 6, the JSP in 2 and the TDP in 17. The BJP has compromised on the MLA seats (will contest only 10 out of the 175). Pawan Kalyan had a very tough time convincing his cadre that the 24 seats he got as part of the alliance (down to 21 now) are justified for the strength he has. Chandrababu Naidu is also continuously stressing in his public meetings how the vote transfer between JSP and TDP must happen at the booth level, otherwise all efforts will be futile. There is still some doubt left in the minds of both Chandrababu and Pawan Kalyan that the cadre may not resort to vote transfer.

There is a definite anger against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, especially amongst the youth. This is also evident from the fact that Jagan lost the MLC elections for the graduate constituency. But there is also significant support for Jagan from the women beneficiaries of his welfare programs. Recently, Jagan released a full page ad giving details of what his government has done exclusively for Chandrababu’s constituency, Kuppam. The veracity of the statistic aside, there is a very interesting aspect of that ad. Jagan tells us that his government gave 1400 crores through DBT, and 489 crores through non-DBT. 489 crores in non-DBT just for one constituency. Can you imagine the scale of money distributed throughout the state, in these 5 years in the non-DBT mode? Can you predict what impact it will have on the elections in 2024? The story of the 2024 elections will perhaps lie in this non-DBT transfer.

English and Hindi TV channels have been publishing surveys recently. Two of the surveys indicate that despite all this consolidation, the YSRCP will romp home with 22 out of the 25 seats. Two surveys though indicated that the TDP+ will win about 10 out of the 25 seats. With the alliance now formalised, time will tell how these numbers will change.

How Modi Hacks EVMs, Part 3: From exceeding target and destroying 1,60,000 kgs of drugs in 60 days to AYUSH, COVID vaccines and more

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

In the run-up to the celebrations of 75^th year of Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a unique target for the Home Ministry – destroy 75,000 kgs of drugs in 60 days! As with many aspects of this government, the ministry exceeded this target and burnt 1,60,000 kgs of drugs in that 60-day window!

Speaking on this topic in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah laid out in detail the policy of the Modi government in dealing with the drug menace and provided statistics on how 62,60,000 kgs of drugs were destroyed in the 2014-2022 period (2023 saw another 10,00,000 kgs of drugs destroyed). Now, can you imagine all the serious health problems that have been prevented because of this seizure and destruction of the drugs? The drugs are valued at nearly 1 lakh crore rupees, so can you imagine the scale of the burden that was never put on the youth of this country because of this nearly 200% increase in seizure (compared to the UPA)?

While we are on the topic of prevention, I recollect the jabs the elite crowd used to make (or still make) on the Ayurvedic way of life that the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) ministry propagates, again often forgetting that it is very difficult to quantify what is prevented because of following this lifestyle. When Yoga is picked up by the entire world, it is not because it is a fashion to do so, but Yoga prevents many a health problem (physical and mental) that cannot be quantified!

We cannot speak of prevention and not bring up the topic of vaccines, especially the COVID vaccines. Developing and deploying our own COVID vaccines, especially Covishield and Covaxin, is perhaps one of our biggest success stories in history. India conducted the world’s largest and fastest vaccination drive (200 crore doses in 18 months) and more importantly, everything was digital! The development and deployment of the CoWIN app that was sought after by other countries too. We had discussed in detail, back then, how India mastered this process despite one of the most uncooperative opposition parties and the media.

This ofcourse doesn’t mean people will not get sick. Often, people living in towns and villages or even in tier-2 cities had to travel very far to get treatment for their health problems. The proximity to a good health care facility gets resolved if we have more medical colleges (and therefore hospitals) and more qualified doctors graduate every year. Up until the year 2014, we had only 387 medical colleges in the entire country. Today, that number is at 706 – out of which 157 of them are government colleges/hospitals. The medical seats under MBBS increased from a mere 50,000 in 2014 to more than 1 lakh in 2023! This basically means that crores of people now can go to a good hospital closer to their home than spending a lot of time and money to travel to larger cities.

The Madhya Pradesh government even started to impart MBBS in Hindi. I am sure that very soon MBBS will be imparted in many regional languages too. Controversial editor Shekhar Gupta published an article in The Print in which the author thundered on and on about how the medical education must remain elitist and be imparted in English only. This one article is enough to tell you how the elite are worried about losing out their bastions, one by one! Anyways, we digress.

While visiting these hospitals, crores of people in our country do not have to spend money if they are eligible for the Ayushman Bharat health cards. So far, nearly 30 crore people have been given the Ayushman Bharat cards which make them eligible to get free treatment for upto 5 lakhs rupees. So far, Ayushman Bharat has successfully catered to 6.2 crore hospital admissions worth more than Rs. 79,157crores! Let the number sink in – 6.2 crore hospital admissions worth nearly 80,000 crores!

Even the medication you will have to take post this hospitalization has been made really affordable through the generic Jan Aushadi stores. Though these stores existed before 2014 too, their number was too small and the probability is very high that you did not even know these existed. Today, we have a whopping 10,000 such stores across India.

Through the program Heal in India, India even increased focus on what is termed as Medical Tourism – inviting foreigners to come to India to make best use of the very affordable medical facilities in India, as compared to many western countries. This has already brought in billions of dollars of revenue to lakhs of people reliant on the medical industry in India.

Now, think about everything we just wrote. The equal focus on prevention (drug busts, AYUSH ministry, Yoga, Vaccines, POSHAN abhiyans) and on cure (more than 100% increase in number of medical colleges and doctors; more AIIMS across the country; free treatment upto 5 lakh rupees; affordable medicines closer to your home) has benefitted crores of families in our country. Which bring us to our core argument - many of these beneficiaries will willing go to the polling booth and press on the Lotus button on the EVM, come election day. While the opposition will be busy screaming that the EVM was hacked, the Prime Minister skilfully shows us how he hacks them!

In the first two articles of the series “Decoding how PM Modi Hacks EVMs” we were speaking about how he was creating wealth through entrepreneurship and employment. In this third article of the series, we discussed about how he created wealth through health, and therefore found another way to hack EVMs!

Murder, betrayal, religion, and politics – The real shady palace intrigue of Andhra Pradesh’s YSR family that will put any fictional series to shame!

 

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

According to Dr. Sanjaya Baru, media advisor to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once wrote that whenever the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy  visited Delhi, Manmohan Singh always used the same welcome line – “Welcome Dr. Reddy, we are here because you are there”. Manmohan Singh was referring to the massive victory that Congress scored in the combined Andhra Pradesh under YSR’s guidance (34/42 seats in 2004 and 33/42 in 2009). While he was still the CM, YSR died in an helicopter accident in September 2009.

His son Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy assumed that he will be made the Chief Minister. Sonia Gandhi was not in favour of doing so. Jagan split the party and left Congress. CBI then arrested Jagan for indulging in corruption when YSR was Chief Minister. Jagan became leader of opposition in 2014 and the Chief Minister in 2019.

Up until now, I haven’t told you anything that hasn’t been widely known (outside of AP, I mean). The lesser-known aspect, outside of the state, is the amazing palace intrigue of the YSR family that will put any TV series to shame! This article intends to bring out recent happenings in this family that covers murder, betrayal, religion, and ofcourse politics!

YSR’s own brother – Y.S.Vivekananda Reddy

Y.S.Vivekananda Reddy was murdered in March 2019. On April 16, 2022 - the CBI arrested Y.S.Viveka's cousin brother - Y.S.Bhaskar Reddy as the main conspirator behind this murder! Bhaskar Reddy's son, Avinash Reddy is the current YSRCP MP from the Kadapa constituency. Kadapa constituency has been the traditional stronghold of the YSR family – YSR represented it from 1989 to 1999. Y.S.Viveka represented it from 1999 to 2009. Y.S.Jagan represented it from 2009 to 2014. For the first time, someone outside of the direct bloodline of YSR, was announced as a candidate and he won both in 2014 and 2019 from YSRCP party.

That MP, Y.S.Avinash Reddy, is also named by the CBI as the co-conspirator in the murder of YSR’s own brother. How come someone outside the direct bloodline of YSR was made to represent Kadapa in 2014 (and in 2019)? Enter Y.S.Jagan’s wife – Y.S.Bharati.  Y.S.Bharati’s mother and Y.S.Avinash Reddy’s father are siblings!

What is the CBI case? That Mr. Y.S.Bhaskar Reddy conspired along with his son, and hired goons to hack Y.S.Vivekananda to death. Bhaskar Reddy and his son worked towards defeating Viveka in 2017 MLC elections. And that Y.S.Avinash Reddy was amongst the first at the scene and declare to the press that this was a death by heart attack!

Currently, the case still isn’t solved. Jagan, who was in opposition when the murder happened, demanded a CBI enquiry. After becoming CM, he strongly opposed it. Y.S. Viveka's daughter had to approach the High Court to get a CBI enquiry done. She submitted a damning petition to the Court, on Jagan. All these years, Jagan routinely did an emotional drama in the Assembly with some filmy dialogues. With the damning CBI chargesheet out, it reflected very poorly on Jagan that he continues to shelter the very family that killed his own uncle. Will it have electoral impact? Time will tell!

YSR’s daughter – Y.S.Sharmila

After Y.S.Jagan quit the Congress, he continued his yatra across the state. The yatra was titled Odarpu Yatra (Condolence Visits) – he claimed to be visiting the homes of the people who died unable to bear the news of YSR’s death! Jagan was arrested by the CBI in corruption cases, and that’s when his sister Y.S.Sharmila entered the fray! She continued to walk in this yatra (walked ~3000 kms over 10 months in 2012-13) and deliver political speeches for the entire duration that Jagan was in jail. Though she campaigned in both, she didn’t contest the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Suddenly in early 2021, Sharmila announced that she has had huge differences with Jagan and is not on talking terms with him anymore. In leaked reports and in a detailed interview, we got to know some details of the unsavoury arguments that happened between Jagan and Sharmila. She announced the setting up of a new party in Telangana – the YSRTP. She yet again walked 3000 kms in Telangana but her party remained a dud. She eventually merged it with the Congress party, and is now appointed as the President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress.

As soon as she was appointed, the loyal soldiers of Y.S.Jagan started attacking her with fierce language on social media. This led to a furious Sharmila spilling more beans about their feud – which further led to Jagan’s portrayal in a very bad light. She also claimed that she has 50% share in the family newspaper and channel – Sakshi. All along, people assumed that this was fully owned by Jagan himself. Though Sharmila’s appointment will not revive a dead Congress in the state, her utterances in response to the attack from Jagan’s party are bound to help the opposition TDP-Jana Sena combine. Jagan’s image of being a caring human has already taken a beating with the CBI case on the murder of his uncle. With his sister now revealing hitherto unheard titbits, the elections just heated up more!

YSR’s wife – Y.S.Vijayamma

Though not a politician, she was the one who contested the Pulivendula MLA seat that YSR represented. Along with her daughter, Sharmila, she was instrumental in the YSRCP winning 15 out of 18 bypoll seats in June 2012, when Jagan was in jail. Jagan made her the Honorary President of YSRCP. However, when the feud between her son and daughter happened, she took the side of her daughter Sharmila. She resigned from the post of Honorary President of YSRCP and moved her base to stay close with her daughter Y.S.Sharmila. She resigned at a public meeting of the YSRCP cadre and the cold vibes with which Jagan handled the entire situation was there for everyone to see. The entire family recently met for the engagement of Sharmila’s son and the cold vibes at the group picture became the talk of the media for a full day!

Where does all of this leave Y.S.Jagan?

For the Sankranthi festival, Y.S.Jagan spent nearly 1.5 crores worth of public money to build a temple set in his house. He had to do this because his wife, Y.S.Bharati, does not go to temples (In case you folks didn’t know – the entire family are practicing staunch Christians). This led to a political slugfest on how he is splurging money for erecting sets at his home just to accommodate his wife’s wishes. Y.S.Bharati is also his business partner in almost all of his businesses (Bharati Cements is named after her. Jagati publications, that runs the family newspaper & channel, is a word combination of Jagan and Bharati…and so on!)

In 2019 elections, YSRCP had continuously campaigned that Chandrababu Naidu had backstabbed his own father-in-law, NTR. In contrast, Y.S.Jagan was portrayed as this loving son, doting brother and all that. That image lies shattered now. Jagan is just 52 years of age, so he will continue to play a prominent role in the politics of AP atleast for 2 more decades. The family intrigue only promises to become more intriguing!

How the Modi government corrected and strategically implemented Sonia’s shoddily drafted Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014

 

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 has not only resulted in the splitting of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh into two states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but has also been the cause of two historical events in the country’s polity.

The infamous pepper spray incident in the Lok Sabha occurred when this bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha in February 2014. Desperate to not have it passed, a Congress MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal, pulled out a pepper spray from his pocket and unleashed it on hapless members of the 15^th Lok Sabha. Sonia Gandhi had to suspend her own members from the Lok Sabha to enable the passage of her own government’s bill.

Everyone remembers the now famous line by Modi in 2018, while replying to the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against his government – “I wish the opposition all the best in bringing the same motion in 2023 too”! The misgivings surrounding the implementation of the AP Reorg Act was the primary reason that led to this no-confidence motion!

The drafting of the act was so careless and shoddy that the Modi government had to redraw the boundaries of the two states, in its very first cabinet meeting in May 2014. The urgency was to ensure that there are no issues for the official bifurcation to happen on June 2^nd, 2014. Over the next 10 years, it became the responsibility of the Narendra Modi government to clean up many shoddy aspects of this mess, and meet the 10 year deadline that UPA put on multiple projects.

The Thirteenth Schedule of this Act promises 13 different educational institutions – 11 in Andhra Pradesh and 2 in Telangana. This was done to make up for the lack of good institutes outside of the Hyderabad region. As we can see in the table below, the Narendra Modi government has either approved or established all these institutes in these 10 years.

All institutes started imparting classes within a year of getting approvals. The last approval came for the Tribal University in Telangana in October 2023. Unfriendly media tried to make a mountain out of molehill for certain aspects of these approvals, just to make Chandrababu Naidu look good, but you can see from the table that most institutes were functioning in the first term of NDA itself (though they had 10 years of time to just approve!).

The second aspect of the Thirteenth Schedule is a shining example of how carelessly Sonia Gandhi’s government prepared the Act and left it to Modi to clean it up. The Act promised three infrastructure projects as mentioned in the table below:

A vague definition that NHAI will improve road connectivity in interior areas of Telangana was promised in the Act. Little would Sonia Gandhi have realised that Narendra Modi will simply transform the road infrastructure in entire India, leave alone Telangana. A whopping INR 1,00,000/- crores was spent on just roads for Telangana (out of which NHAI spent 75,000 crores!). The next promise is for a 4000 MW NTPC plant. Modi government approved this in 2016 and Phase-1 (with 1600MW) is already operational.

We now come to the promise that was not fulfilled – “The Government of India shall develop a new major port in Duggirajapatnam, Andhra Pradesh”. In the year 2012, Congress’s own Chief Minister recommended that a port cannot be built in Duggirajapatnam. In the year 2013, UPA government’s own technical committee concluded that a port is not viable here because of environmental issues and more importantly will be a hassle for ISRO’s launch center in Sriharikota. Yet, Sonia Gandhi decides to promise development of a port at this very town.

NITI Aayog gives another attempt – and concludes that in addition to clearance issues, it just doesn’t make sense to have a major port so close to the Chennai (80 kms), Ennore (80 kms) and Krishnapatnam (40 kms)! The project therefore had to be shelved. The state government tried to establish another port at a town called Ramayapatnam but isn’t pursuing it any further. It’s really sad how Sonia Gandhi, knowingly promised something that she knew wasn’t recommended by anyone.

The shoddy job doesn’t end here. The Thirteenth schedule promises a lot of “feasibility studies” for multiple infrastructure projects, as listed out in the table below.

 

Yet another vague promise of “improving rail and road connectivity between Vijayawada and Hyderabad” was made. Today, we have excellent road connectivity not just between these two cities, but across the entire two states. The investments in railways also ensured better connectivity not just between these two cities, but in the entire two states. Little did Sonia Gandhi realise at that time, that Modi will transform connectivity in India like never before!

A promise was made to merely do a “feasibility study” of expanding existing 3 airports and making them international too (while one was already International!). Modi went multiple steps further – expanded 2 of the other airports to international; gave approvals to 3 new greenfield airports; added 1 new airport to UDAN and approved the expansion of another new airport! Little did Sonia Gandhi realise Modi will transform our transport sector like this in India, leave alone Telangana!

Feasibility studies were promised, within 6 months, for 4 projects - steel plants at Khammam in Telangana and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh; for greenfield refinery; and for rail coach factory. All feasibility reports have concluded that none of these projects are viable in nature! Sonia Gandhi’s chicanery in portraying a mere promise of “feasibility study” as a promise of actual implementation is simply unparalleled. So technically while the Modi government fulfilled the promise of conducting feasibility studies for all projects, he has faced a lot of (unfair) flak for actually not establishing unviable projects! Even then, the Modi government wanted to work with the state governments for alternate sites for these projects, but the state governments showed no interest.

The vagueness does not extend to just Educational Institutes and Infrastructure projects. Section 94 of the Act gives a vague promise of fiscal incentives “as necessary”. This can literally mean anything under the sun! The Modi government has made a meaningful implementation of this vague promise by funding backward districts in both states and providing other incentives, as listed out in the table below.

There was a vague promise of financial support for the capital city – the Modi government released INR 1500 crores for this too (the High Court, Secretariat and Assembly were built with these funds, in addition to drainage systems too). In addition to what was promised, the Modi government established institutes and projects that were not promised in the act too.

 

If you are not from Andhra Pradesh, you would now be wondering what exactly is the problem when Modi government fulfilled all promises and more! The core issue was the promised Special Status to Andhra Pradesh on the floor of the Rajya Sabha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (but not included in the Act). He assured the special status for 5 years (2014 to 2019).

Venkaiah Naidu from the BJP told the house that when BJP comes to power, they will extend this to 10 years. Special Status for 10 years was sold as the panacea for all ills that will befall AP when the split happens. This was sold by the BJP, TDP and Jana Sena parties in the run-up to 2014 elections. After the elections, because of recommendations from the 14^th Finance Commission, the Modi government did not give the promised special status but instead gave a special package.

This did not go well with the people of Andhra Pradesh who were already emotionally charged up. No amount of factual discourse helped create a sense of confidence amongst the people. It was a promise broken – no two ways about it, but the remedial measures were good. It was a double failure not to communicate them properly.

However, this broken promise should not be an excuse to forget the shoddy and perhaps dangerous way in which the state was split. We should never forget how Congress MPs had to form a ring around the country’s Home Minister in the Lok Sabha, to prevent an attack from other Congress MPs; how violence was employed by Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha; how Congress Cabinet ministers did not have access to the Act before it came to the Cabinet; how the Home Minister of India stood up and said that though he is supposed to own the Bill, he will relegate that responsibility to another minister Jairam Ramesh because he drafted the bill; and how the live telecast of Lok Sabha was cut off when the bill was put to vote! Sonia Gandhi’s lack of respect for process and norms resulted in one of the most badly prepared split of a state.

The Act is so badly drafted that even now there are unresolved issues between the Telangana and AP state governments (For example, Jairam Ramesh failed to list 12 institutions whose assets have to be distributed between the states and now they are fighting for them!). Let’s hope that India never has such careless people at it’s helm again. 

 

BJP Keeps Rumour Mills Buzzing About Alliance in Andhra Pradesh

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

The ABN Andhrajyothy media group in the Telugu states has strange loyalties. Their MD, Vemuri Radhakrishna (popularly known as RK) is a die hard TDP fan in Andhra Pradesh. He is now a Revanth Reddy fan in Telangana. He knows Revanth Reddy from his TDP days and with even TDP cadre celebrating Revanth’s ascent to the post of Chief Minister from the Congress party, it is infact no surprise that RK provides a great platform for elevating Revanth Reddy. The only common factor between both the states for RK is that he is virulently anti-Modi. His channel even conducted a show asking if AP should break away from India, just because Venkaiah Naidu was not made the President of India!

It is election season now. RK has become restless on who BJP will ally with, in the Telugu states. The TDP is desperate for an alliance with the BJP. But RK has published articles saying that it is the BJP that is calling the TDP back into NDA. Andhra Pradesh presents a strange conundrum for alliances. Film Star Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP) allied with the BJP after the 2019 elections. When Chandrababu Naidu was arrested in 2023, JSP announced that it will ally with the TDP for 2024 elections because now there is only aim – defeat Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP. JSP announced this while being in alliance with the BJP!

Pawan Kalyan has publicly mentioned many times that he will try to convince the BJP to join the alliance. Chandrababu Naidu made many moves to get closer to the BJP once again. Amidst all this, ABN group’s RK thinks that is TDP’s divine right to get back into the NDA; that is the BJP’s responsibility to get TDP back into the NDA; that any kind of support to Jagan amounts to being a monster!

The people of Andhra Pradesh voted for Jagan, overwhelmingly in 2019 (151/175 seats were won by him!). It is well known that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will work closely with any elected Chief Minister of any state. ABN group’s RK had many problems even with that aspect – he went on to say that Modi is protecting Jagan at the cost of Andhra Pradesh!

On Sunday, February 18^th, RK published a Telugu article on the front page of his newspaper, in Andhra Pradesh. He claimed that while BJP asked TDP for an alliance; the YSRCP is desperate for an alliance with the BJP! He claims that Jagan rushed to Delhi to meet the PM, after the Home Minister met Chandrababu Naidu. RK claims that if BJP is on Jagan’s side, then the Election Commission of India will also be on Jagan’s side! They will allow him to manipulate voter list and also allow him to distribute money! These kinds of blasphemous comments are not new to RK anyway, but it’s still shocking how he makes such statements.

RK is upset that BJP is playing a waiting game on alliances and not yet declaring their alliance with the TDP. He is more restless than TDP themselves perhaps. Or maybe he is portraying TDP’s restlessness through his articles. Either way, it’s strange how he wants the BJP-TDP alliance to happen and continues to badmouth BJP!

While this has been his argument for the Andhra Pradesh edition of the newspaper, he wrote a different tune for the Telangana edition! He claims that the BRS is desperate for an alliance with the BJP. He claims that Revanth Reddy is gaining good marks for his governance (it’s been just 2 months!) and this is unsettling both the BRS and BJP. They don’t want Revanth to be the CM for 5 years, so if they ensure Congress gets minimal seats in the Lok Sabha from Telangana, then the government may fall. RK says that the BJP-BRS-MIM combine has 54 seats in the assembly and only need 6 people more to support them!

This mindless analysis is hilarious. Firstly, why would the BJP ally with MIM? Secondly, why would Revanth Reddy keep quiet if attempts are made to destabilise his government by BRS? Is it outside of the realm of possibility that MIM will actually end up supporting Congress and get more things done for their community? RK is clearly attempting to play a mind game that will favour Revanth Reddy. This rumour that the BJP and BRS have an understanding, damaged the prospects of BJP during the 2023 Assembly elections. They want to play the same mind game again, so that Revanth Reddy wins a large number of seats in Telangana for the Lok Sabha. BJP’s state president and Union Minister Kishan Reddy has already quashed these rumours. There is really no way a BJP-BRS alliance can happen in Telangana. It will be more damaging than it even sounds!

As of now, the BJP hasn’t revealed whom it will ally with in Andhra Pradesh. Many rumours indicate that they will ally with TDP+JSP in Andhra Pradesh. Categorical statements have been made by leadership that there will be no alliance in Telangana. RK has played a pivotal role in the spreading of rumours against the BJP, in favour of the TDP and the Congress. He continues to do so. One day, some strong leader from these two states must chide him strongly for his irresponsible journalism.

‘The Hindu’ talks about “many lows” of 17th Lok Sabha, here is why the 17th Lok Sabha was only about many highs, not lows

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

The Hindu published an article today (February 14^th, 2024) pompously titled “The many lows of the 17^th Lok Sabha”. They frequently used the terms “a new low”, “all time low”, “the lowest” to quantify certain data points that suits this false narrative. For even non-serious students of policy, law, politics and legislation, it is as evident as daylight that the 17^th Lok Sabha is the most historic Lok Sabha that transformed an archaic Indian law into a modern, relevant and long lasting one.

Did you know that in the year 2019, for the first time ever in our independent history, the Modi government in the 17^th Lok Sabha enacted a law that gives special protection to Transgenders? The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 prohibits unfair treatment to transgenders and makes them equal in law to the other two genders. Normally, you would have seen the woke crowd celebrating this Act but instead they would rather want to call this a “new low”.

Did you know that India did not have any law against doping in sports? Until the 17^th Lok Sabha passed the National Doping Act?  While ofcourse the act lists out punishments for doping (I still can’t believe we didn’t have a law before 2021!) and establishes an agency that will oversee this, this act also ensures that we do not have to depend on foreign agencies for doping related results/actions. Surely, an act that establishes punishment for getting “high” cannot be a “new low” for the 17^th Lok Sabha!

Male and Female infertility is on the rise. And therefore, medical institutes offering various solutions to this problem are also on the rise. Did you know that India did not have a law that governs both Surrogacy and Assisted Reproduction? Until the 17^th Lok Sabha passed the Surrogacy Regulation Act, 2020 and Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Act, 2020. It is fairly common knowledge to understand how women can be taken advantage of and how this will impact their health. Yet, it took a Modi government to bring in laws to regulate unethical practices and provide a legal backing to women. An “all time low”, eh?

Until the 17^th Lok Sabha stepped up to achieve a “new low”, the law in India was that you can only enroll as a voter if you complete 18 years on or before January 1^st. Meaning, if you complete 18 years on Jan 2, 2020 - you will be eligible to vote only in 2021 and not in the entire 2020! That silly law has now been changed, again by the 17^th Lok Sabha!

The 17^th Lok Sabha strengthened the rights and lives of both employers and employees, by enacting Code for Social Security 2020, Code of Wages 2019, Industrial Relations code 2020, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020. You may wonder how these laws will impact lives of normal people? While stooping to an “all time low”, the 17^th Lok Sabha has ensured that minimum wage has been generalized to all sectors now; overtime pay is mandatory; more money saved for your future; there is clarity on fixed-term employment & trade union rules; there is gratuity eligibility for short periods; eases rules for lay-offs; allows for more flexibility in eligibility for leaves; special provisions for certain worker types; and increased focus on health of workers!

The English media never focussed on such game changing laws that were enacted by the 17^th Lok Sabha. You may have noticed that I haven’t even touched about the much bigger and much larger generational transforming laws that the 17^th Lok Sabha witnessed and enacted. Who can ever forget that the impeccable manner in which the dreaded Article 370 was abolished in August 2019, during the 17^th Lok Sabha? The transformation that is bought to the lives of people in J&K and Ladakh, and more importantly the transformation it bought to the psyche of our country can never be quantified, much less classify it as a “new low”!

The 17^th Lok Sabha increased the age of marriage from 18 to 21. Surely, a “new low”.  The 17^th Lok Sabha enacted the modern Telecommunications Act 2023, and the Digital Data Protection Act – something that is very relevant to this century atleast. The 17^th Lok Sabha enacted the much awaited, much delayed Women’s Reservation Bill. Post the next delimitation exercise we will have 1/3^rd of seats reserved for women and therefore see an increased participation of women in law making. How can anything that increases participation get classified into a “new low”?

The 17^th Lok Sabha rewrote our entire Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act – and enacted the brand new, fully relevant and modern criminal laws Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023. The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023, equally transformational in nature, has been referred to a standing committee for now. In a couple of years, all these three pivotal laws will be implemented and used for generations to come. How is it possible to reduce the passing of such transformational acts to a mere statistic?

And the largest of all reforms – India’s Parliament moved into a much bigger, spacious and better building. The pride with which the nation watched the Prime Minister of India take the Sengol and install it on the Lok Sabha Speaker’s podium can never be quantified into mere statistics. It is very evident that the “new lows” that The Hindu wanted to paint pale in comparison to the “multiple highs” that the 17^th Lok Sabha has achieved. No one anticipated that the 17^th Lok Sabha will transform not just the 5 years of its term, but will rewrite laws that will transform generations. The Hindu’s article though, can easily be classified as a “new low” even by the low standards of The Hindu!