Enough is enough. This is India, not some jihadi banana state with blasphemy laws and murders of infidels. It is with deep dismay that the good people of India have been watching the horrorscope of lynching – reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan in America’s south – by mobs seemingly out of control. These acts of savagery have occurred overwhelmingly across the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana and Rajasthan – the Hindi-speaking BJP belt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his ID greetings to India’s Muslim community, in which he referred to India’s diversity, with mo word of comfort to the parents of a Muslim youth, 16 year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death as a ‘cow-eater’on a railway train in Haryana. The Prime Minister is a formidable communicator; he has his finger on the nation’s pulse, hence has won national and State elections with not a rival is sight – not yet, anyway.
Silent majority stirring
India’s liberal silent majority – no run-of-the-mill Modi baiters – are stirring, and their voices are resonating across the land. ‘Not in Our Name’ placards were held aloft in a demonstration of people’s power on Facebook. There have been mass demonstrations in Delhi and Mumbai, led by prominent public figures, at attacks targeting Muslims and Dalits. The movement was started by filmmaker Saba Dewan and Rahul Roy, and their message challenges the individual and collective conscience of the nation.. Beef, it would appear, has become the touchstone of Indian patriotism. Next on the list could be a dress code for women, then for men, what thoughts are permissible in the public space and what thoughts are not. What books and papers can be safely read and those that cannot. A kangaroo court system could then regulate this unacceptable way of life.
Unbridled fanaticism
The check list of approved sanctities is lengthening by the day. Common decency is fast becoming a scarce commodity. A Khasi lady from Meghalaya in community dress was thrown out of a Delhi club with her local host and hostess because a club official thought their guest was a house maid. What if she were? The abominable Vishwa Hindu Parishad has accused Christians of committing an ‘atrocity’ against Hindus because the community is represented in the government’s Minority Commission. Jains and Sikhs, minorities both, passed muster as genuine Indians, with no mention of the identity of the notorious anti-Sikh rioters in Delhi in 1984. There were no Christians in the mob that horrendous week in November. In the wake of the America’s first Iraq war in 1991, Muslim hoodlums attacked Christians on the street of a well-known Kolkata locality with effigies of Christ garlanded with shoes. The Left Front government, fearful of losing its Muslim vote banks, remained silent. It’s a seamless narrative of intolerance.
Power brings responsibility. Or it should. The BJP leadership must rein in the lunatic fringe of the Sangh Parivar. Their game is India’s shame. (Times of India, Telegraph Hindu, TV channels)
Law takes its course
IT Minister Rudi Prasad moved into top gear by denouncing the killers of Junaid Khan and the lynch law applied to suspect beef-eaters. He was followed by Venkiaih Naidu The rule of law as defined in India’s Constitution finally made its presence felt when police arrested the four suspects in the Junaid case, among them two Delhi government employees for the death of Junaid Khan. ‘The case stands solved and we are taking measures to ensure that the other accused are arrested at the earliest,’ said Haryana DGP B.S.Sandest. CCTV footage at Asoti railway station had helped identify the suspects. The hunt is on for the man responsible for the stabbing of young Khan. (Times of India, Telegraph June 29)
Air India: Biting the bullet at last
It’s goodbye to Air India, the insanely expensive national airline, which for years was inefficiently run, was indecently corrupt with the public purse, yet kept steadfastly kept in the public sector fold. At the merest whisper of its sale, patriotism boiled and bubbled, BJP, sleazy Communist left et al went hoarse screaming abuse at the seeming outrage as the financial losses mounted year-on-year. Having gone through multiple roofs from billions of rupees into trillions and rising.
Embellished credentials
Finally, the blessed day of liberation arrived as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley disclosed that blighted Air India would be privatized, and to that end procedures were being worked out. The decision embellishes the government’s reformist reputation, while easing fiscal pressures and reduces the country’s debt burden. The one hopeful feature is Air India’s rage of assets, from fleets of modern aircraft, infrastructure and the availability of its extensive foreign and domestic routes. (Times of India, Hindu, Business Line, Telegraph, Mint, June 29),
India, US trade, Investment talks
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s acclaimed visit to Washington and his fruitful talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Indian and American negotiators are getting down to business with talks on trade and investment and best means to boost bilateral economic ties. Indo-US trade turnover is worth $115 billion, with $30 billion surplus to India. The potential to raise this figure is huge, equally so is the inflow of American investment into India. Mr Modi had a most successful meeting with US business leaders (Mint, June 29)
India, Russia defence deal confirmed
Defence Minister (concurrently Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley’s top level talks in Moscow resulted in confirmed defence deals estimated to be worth $10 billion or more. These include the Russia’s advanced S-400 air defence system, 200 Kamov (to be produced in India) Helicopters, two state-of-the art frigates and the lease of a second Russian nuclear submarine plus other items (Economic Times, June 16)
Amazon bets big
Amazon online retail giant, with $5 billion invested in India is not lowering its sights, instead it is raising them to new heights. So said company founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in New Delhi. He said Amazon would ‘keep investing and growing in India.’After his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, he tweeted: ‘Terrific meeting … always impressed and energized by optimism and optimism in India. Excited to keep investing and growing.’ (Business Line June 27)
US investors betting long-term
The US-India Business Council President Mukesh Aghi told the Indian media that ‘there is a growing sense of optimism for investors about India from where it was three years ago for multiple reasons. This government has taken up strong structural reforms such as bankruptcy code, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and opening up foreign direct investment. So US companies plan to invest more in India as the market and its growth story of over 7 per cent will remain the fastest growing in the world. US companies won’t want to miss out on that.’ US companies have $2.5 trillion abroad and they see Indian growth at its present rate lasting 20 years. (Hindu June 25)
Second airport for Delhi coming up
A second airport in New Delhi, sanctioned by the government, is expected to be built in five to six years from now. Its precise location will be Noida, a commercial hub in the suburbs covering an area of 3000 hectares, with the first phase taking 1000 hectares and planned handle around 20-25 million to passengers. Noida International Airport will be constructed on a public/private partnership model GMR-led Delhi International Airport Authority Limited, which operates the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Minister of State for Aviation Jayant Sinha said the new airport at Jewar will be ‘like an aerotropolis with an airport at the centre and a whole host of economic activities clustered around it. It will become a hub for the pharmaceutical industry, the educational sector, tourism, and also for the electronics manufacturing. Samsung and others are already building their manufacturing facilities close to the area. This airport will provide a massive boost to economic activity in the Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh area,’ said the minister(Hindu, June 25)
ISRO’s 31 satellites in space
India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) put 31 satellites into space orbits, 29 of which were foreign. The PSLV rocket – tried and tested over decades – accomplished yet another success in a string of notable successes. The launch was conducted from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota on India’s east coast. The PSLV flight – 40 th – carried communications Cartosat-2 satellite with a payload of 712 kg, and another satellite weighing a mere 68 grammes, was built by students from the Noorul Islam University in Tamil Nadu. India’s budding scientists are making their mark early in life (Hindu, June 24)
Novel cancer treatment
Researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Science Education Research have developed a novel cancer drug delivery system using grapheme oxide nano particles. A team led by Dr Sudipta Basu and Dr Nirmalaya Bhallav from the Department of Chemistry discovered that a FDA anti-cancer drug cisplatin added to the graphene oxide sheets self-assembled into spherical nano particles enclosing the drug within.
‘We think the drug is reacting with grapheme oxide and transforming grapheme sheet into a ball-like structure, a kind of molecular structure,’ said Dr Basu (Hindu June 25).
