Modi is lucky to get an “F” in managing India and its Economy

If there can be a grade below “F” in economy management and general administration Modi deserves to be awarded that grade for ruining Indian economy, general administration and above all peace and harmony among different sections of the society. Modi inherited the economy when it was on a upswing and oil prices were sliding down.  His predecessor PM Singh steered the economy through the difficult Great Recession that practically bankrupted the world economy in 2008.  Under him India made a commendable comeback averaging a GDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent (2004-014) despite steeply rising crude oil prices. Modi is still below this at 7.2 % average with few months left of his 5 years term. That too after changing the base year for GDP calculation to 2010-11 from 2004-05 -- the benchmark used under PM Singh. If previous bench mark is used for Modi than GDP growth rate will come down to below 5% and if Modi benchmark is used for Singh; than growth rate will be 10.4% under PM Singh!

India has become a laughing stock around the world because Modi is in perpetual election mode blurring rhetoric’s and no actions along with promoting Savarkar/Golwalkar’s understanding of religion to divide India. Truth, facts, reality, data, problems, challenges, genuine issues have become meaningless for Modi. Some of the world renowned economist has ranked his government probably the worst ever in governance standards for his mindless  demonetization to rob the poor, ill planned GST implementation with over 213 amendments in its first year, negligible to no recoveries by banks under NPA aka Bad Loans that has gone up to USD 135.6 Billion under Modi from USD 27 Billion in 2014, Aadhaar execution and foreign policy etc.  

Foreign portfolio investors have withdrawn over USD 7.1 Billion in the first quarter of 2018-19.  Under Modi Rupee that was 63.38 to a 1 USD in 2014 as of Oct 31, 2018 was trading at 74.02 to 1 USD; a whopping 16% devaluation. 52 per cent of India’s Foreign Exchange reserves are short-term foreign currency debt maturing this fiscal year which makes India highly vulnerable, especially when US Fed is raising interest rates to cool down the US economy from over heating and inflation.

Modi with his mismanagement of economy and administration has brought the biggest insult and miseries to Indians with India now ranking 103rd out of 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index 2018. In 2014 India used to rank 55th on GHI. India stood 103rd on the Global Hunger Index along with Nigeria and has been categorized as a country with ‘serious’ levels of hunger.

The World Bank released its first report on Human Capital Index (HCI) on Oct. 18, 2018, which placed India at the 115th position, lower than Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh.  The report ranked 157 economies on parameters like child mortality, health and education. Singapore topped the list after it was highly rated for its universal healthcare system, education exams results and life expectancy figures, followed by South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Finland. 

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Recent Oxfam survey showed that that the share of the wealth of the richest 1% persons had increased to 73% this year. According to the survey, India’s poorest saw their wealth rising by one percent during the same period. This monstrous income inequality has attained and even exceeded levels prevailing during the British Raj is the tragedy of an India under Billionaire Raj.     In 2014 when Modi came to power the share of the 1% richest persons was 49%.  A 25% gain for the wealthy in 4 years of Viceroy Modi of Billionaire’s Raj!

On the other hand under Singh, India lifted a miraculous 271 million out of poverty establishing irrevocably that “inclusive growth model”, is the most suitable option for India. Under Modi rule only his Crony Capitalist and Religious Gurus turned Crony Capitalist friends; their net worth  has grown from 100% to 200%. None of these industrialist or Religious Gurus have ever invented any thing; they have become rich by getting free access to PSU Banks aka public money, natural resources like oil, gas, minerals including land belonging to Indians and by exploiting or getting changed the trade & commerce policies to their advantage by bribing the politicians across the aisle.

 

According to a report by Centre for Sustainable Employment of the Azim Premji University; "The current  rate of unemployment is the highest seen in India in the last 20 years." This shortage of jobs is compounded by depressed wages, with 82% of men and 92% of women earning less than Rs 10,000 per month. The report also notes that the growth in GDP hasn't resulted in a commensurate increase in employment.

A 10% increase in GDP now results in less than 1% increase in employment," says the study. "Nationally, 67% of households reported monthly earnings of up to Rs 10,000 in 2015. In comparison, the minimum salary recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) is Rs 18,000 per month. This suggests that a large majority of Indians are not being paid what may be termed a living wage, and it explains the intense hunger for government jobs," the report observes. Worryingly, it adds that 90% of industries even in the organized manufacturing sector "pay wages below the CPC minimum. The situation is worse in the unorganized sector".

 According to  Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), there are currently nearly 31 million unemployed Indians looking for jobs. CMIE is a board that tracks business and economic data .. of the country. 

5 states with highest unemployment rates in descending order are; Tripura 39.1%, Chattisgarh 22.2%, Haryana 17.6%, Chandigarh 15%, Himachal 14% and all 5 are ruled by BJP.

5 states with lowest unemployment rates in ascending order are; Telangana 0.4%, Karnataka 0.8%, Tamilnadu 1.9%, Uttrakhand 2.4%, Puduchery 3.5%, except Uttrakhand that is ruled by BJP, rest 4 are ruled by opposition parties.

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According to mathematician Anand Kumar, founder of Super 30 educational programme for the underprivileged; "In India, there is a huge craving for education, but quality education is not accessible to all of them. There is no dearth of talent in India, but equal opportunities in terms of quality education and modern-day requirements often eluded a large number of students.” But for Modi with dubious educational record of his own, hardly educated ministers and the states ruled by his party BJP; “Education is not on their priority list.” Only Kerala ruled by left front and Delhi ruled by AAP in India had made “Education” a priority under their governance. Modi can spend almost a USD 1 Billion on 2 statues of Sardar Patel & Shivaji but not on Education!  

In the name of education he can grant $135 Million, subsidized land and “Institute of Eminence” status to yet to be born Jio Institute of his friend Mukesh Amabani a crony Capitalist that has grown from $19 billion to $43 Billion in net worth under Modi. Funniest part is Ambani group companies have no experience or expertise in the field of Education. Their experience is in how to get easy money/funding and natural wealth like oil wells, spectrum, land, mining rights etc. and defense contracts at terms favoring to them not to the owners the “Indian Public”. 

While inaugurating Sardar Patel' 182 met. high statue in Oct 2018 Modi claimed; he is the one who initiated this project of highest statue in the world as CM of Gujarat! There was a time in India the height of Bhakra Dam 226 met inaugurated by first PM Jawaharlal Nehru became the symbol of prosperity, progress and better future for Indians. Shame on Modi & other mentally deranged BJP leaders that thinks statues are the sign of prosperity, progress and better future for Indians that are majority poor.  

Patel’s statue has become a symbol of apathy and neglect towards the poor of India in the entire world because of Modi’s wrong priorities. A British MP made a statement if India has money for Statues than they should not be given any aid! ‘According to UK Mail, in the 56 months it took to build Patel’s statue, India received £1.17 Billion in financial aid for social programs from UK Taxpayers. Tory MP Peter Bone said: ‘To take £1.17 billion in aid from us and then at the same time spend £330million on a statue is a total nonsense and it is the sort of thing that drives people mad. ‘What it proves is that we should not be giving money to India. It is up to them how they spend their money but if they can afford this statue, then it is clearly a country we should not need to be giving aid to.’

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Team Modi is spreading lies and misinformation for last 41/2 years by using peoples money through ads in India’s morbid media: They have been shouting from the roof tops in India and the world arena that “India has superseded China as the world’s fastest growing economy. The fact is in 2017 India’s GDP was $2.59 Trillion and China’s $12.24 Trillion that is almost 5 times the Indian GDP. Per Capita GDP for China is $8,827.00 and for India it is $1,940.00 that is almost 1/5 of China. India’s Military spending was $63.9 billion and China spent $228 billion almost 4 times than India. For India to take over China’s per capita GDP, the Indian economy needs to grow more than 30 percent annually. At the present rate of 6.1% at which Indian economy is growing it will take more than 125 years for India to match China’s success story. (Ashok Swain  professor of Peace & Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden)  

India Under Modi is heading for the biggest humanitarian crisis: Modi’s moral police is more concerned with the length of a prominent celebrity women’s skirt or cleavage exposure or cows being transported or beef being consumed or love-Jihad or anti-Romeo squads than the lack of healthcare for the poor, modern education and employment opportunities for the youth or the unabated farmer suicides or rampant unemployment. The worst is cow transporters and beef eaters can be lynched to death by cow vigilantes with impunity from the government. The people’s courts dispensing instant justice without a trial and lynch mobs carry out the execution. Modi  was described by Katrina Lantos-Swett, vice-chair of the influential US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as the "poster child for India's failure to punish the violent".  Cow protection has taken higher precedence over the right to life of humans. More precious resources are being directed for unproductive cow sheds, money to feed them, hospitals and ambulances than for the basic health care facilities for poor human beings. They don’t even get transportation for their dead loved ones from the hospitals.

Earlier, India was compared with modernizing countries like China, but today India is being bracketed with regressive Islamic fundamentalist regimes. India’s international image on being democratic, secular and scientific has been seriously dented. Modi himself gave examples of Karan and Ganesh to support the claim that cosmetic surgery and genetic science existed in India thousands of years ago. The first head transplant that of Lord Ganesh was done in India! An analysis of 198 countries by the Pew Research Center finds India is the fourth-worst country in the world for religious intolerance and violence. Only three countries - Syria, Nigeria and Iraq - are before India in this name-and-shame list, and even Pakistan fares much better than India on this front, being in the tenth position.

According to a very prominent economist, former High Commissioner to UK, journalist, author, human rights activist  and former BJP Federal Minister Arun Shorie; current problems in India reflects “The Gujarat Model.” No Cabinet functions there and no cabinet functions here. The state legislature was reduced to impotence and irrelevance. The Parliament has been reduced to impotence and irrelevance. The judiciary was subordinated there and judiciary has been subordinated here. The Agencies and Police forces were made into Private Forces and Private Armies. That has been done here. It is exactly “The Gujarat Model.”

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He further added that Modi invoke God and says it is God who has willed in whatever he is doing citing “Higher Purpose”. If any body gets hurt, if any institution suffered upon or country is being torn apart; it is done for “Higher Purpose”. Modi has become the Agent of God!.

All the above points to that Indian’s have been let down again by its morbid media, economist, intellectuals, religious, business & political leaders across the aisle. Whatever little integrity was left of them under Congress; that has been reduced to Zero rather negative under Modi. Barring a few dozen journalist, intellectuals, economist, religious & political leaders; the millions from the privileged class that could have spoken against the Modi’s atrocious regime either have been bribed to keep quiet rather to praise Modi government and some have chosen to keep quite under the extreme fear created by Modi supporters that any criticism of Modi regime is anti-national.      

Modi regime is propagating, encouraging and protecting misguided Hindus to impose their personal Hindutva beliefs on other Hindus as well as on non-Hindus. Some of their beliefs are indefensibly hateful and  insulting, and do not concur with Hinduism.                                                     

It is a lesson for Indian voters as well as other voters around the world that  they can not vote for development only if it does not include tolerance,  human rights, healthy debates on important issues like education, healthcare, employment, inclusive economics and progressive politics. Unfortunately Indians voted for Modi for his exclusive promise of development in 2014 that even after his 41/2 years of rule is no where to be seen rather country is facing a grim reality of biggest humanitarian crisis in the near future because of extreme poverty, massive unemployment, lack of healthcare, intolerance, fewer economic & education opportunities for majority of the population.

Compiled by

Devendra Makkar

From the writing of eminent scholars, historians & journalist   

Hinduism & Other Religions are the Two Wings of the Same Bird Called India

I am a Hindu & living in America since 1996 and I always say I am proud to be an American first than Hindu. When I look at the statistics I find 72% of Americans are proud to be an American and in India only 18% are proud to be an Indian. In America people understand, respect and honor that America quote unquote is a Christian nation, but at the same time it is a Muslim Nation, a Jewish nation, a Hindu nation, a Buddhist nation, a Sikh nation, a Mormon nation and a nation of non-believers also.” 

No one including the state or federal government has forced me or other Americans to be proud of being an American than why after 70 years of Independence majority Indians are not nationalist and are not proud to be Indians? Why they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist etc.

Unfortunately India lacks an identity that supersedes caste, ethnicity, religion and region, which can unify all its citizens as equal members of a shared Nation with a shared destiny reached through common goals. The multi-fractured nature of Indian society goes beyond the healthy human disagreement and debate inherent to a healthy democracy, instead prompting the question whether India’s 1.33 billion citizens; Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian further sub-divided into more factions Punjabi, Gujratis, Maratha, Jat, Ahir, Shia, Suni, Tamil, Kannad, Bhapey, Lubhaney, Digambari, Shevetambari are actually want to be “Indians’.

Most pathetic are Hindu’s with 72% of the population; they are Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Kannad, Bihari, Maratha, Haryanvi, Himachali etc. Than they are Arya Samaji’s, Vaishnavs, Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Dravidians, Jats, Ahirs, Yadavs, Khasi, Dhogra, Kurmi, Dalits etc. None of them wants to stand on one platform or have one identity “Hindu” and prior to calling themselves Hindu’s that they are Indians first. Dalit Hindu’s that is almost 20% of the total Indian population do not want to be associated with upper caste Hindus or Hinduism as defined by them because for centuries Dalits have been treated inhumanly by upper caste Hindus. Even a great majority of the upper caste Hindus are not with the Hindus that wants to redefine Hinduism and its history.

If one combine Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikhs & Buddhist Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes together they are 25% of the India’s population. On the other hand upper cast Hindus that believes in Hindutva invented by the likes of Savarkar’s and Golwalkar’s are less than 30%. Their numerous religious organizations like RSS, VHP, Hindu Mahasabha, Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena etc. and political wings mainly BJP & Shiv Sena; all believe that they can tolerate Sikhs, Buddhist & Jains because India is the birth place of these religions. But they are not willing to accept followers of especially Islam and Christianity as Indians because these religions were born out side India. How these misguided less than 30% Hindus can dictate that India should be governed under their Hindutva when more than 70% Indians do not agree with them?

The largest minority “Muslims” with 18% of the population; are Shia, Sunni, Wahabi etc and none of them wants to stand on one platform or are Indian’s first. The worst is they believe in the interpretation of Islam as being done by Muslim feudal lords and dictators of Middle East & other Islamic countries. Than the Savarkar/Golvalkar types Hindus and their religious & political organizations have alienated them more by destroying a disputed Ram Bhumi Babri Masjid in 1992 and by killing Muslims in Gujarat under CM Modi in 2002. Now Modi is PM of India and has never shown any remorse for the organized killing of Muslims. The worst is those that did the organized killing were let go free or are on bail and have not been punished even 16 years after the reprehensible crime.

Christians the 2^nd minority with 6% population are also divided in different sects and hardly feels that they are Indians first. The reason being the believers of Hindutva not Hinduism  and their leaders keeps on reminding them that they don’t belong here, they are foreigners.

The 3^rd  minority; Sikhs with 2% population are constantly reminded by Hindutvawadi’s that they can tolerate them because Hindus and Sikhs share some common ancestry and for Sikhism being born in India. Despite caste system is forbidden in Sikh Holy Text “Sri Gurugranth Sahib Ji”, Sikhs are known as Sainis (Kshatriyas), Rajputs, Ramgarhiyas (artisans), Ahluwalias (formerly brewers), Kambojs (rural caste), Labana (merchants), Kumhars and the 2 Dalit castes; Majhabis (chuhras) and Ravidasias (chamars). Sikhs numbering about 27 million worldwide, approximately 83 percent live in India. Majority of the Sikhs living out side India and a substantial population living in India; do not consider themselves as Indians and wants their own country Khalistan to be carved out of India. The blame for this squarely lies with the preachers of Savarkar or Golwalkar’s Hindutva that instigated Sikh genocide in 1984 when Indian PM Indra Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards. Till to-date  even after 34 years the people responsible for this genocide has not been punished and Sikhs are still waiting for Justice.  

It is very unfortunate misguided, dishonest, corrupt, half or not educated at all Hindus,  Muslims, Christians and Sikhs that do not understand Hinduism or Islam or Christianity or Sikhism or humanity at all; have become top political & religious Leaders and pushing India towards a civil war in the name of religious supremacy.

The current ruling party BJP; the followers of Savarkar/Golvalkar should be aptly named ”Bharat Jalao Party” (Break India by inciting ethnic violence) for spreading misinformation, fabricating history, inciting hate for minorities including Dalit Hindus. The Hindutva they want to impose has nothing to do with Hindu religion. Its top leaders mostly uneducated are telling especially Hindu women what to eat, what to wear, how many children to produce, they can not marry a non-Hindu  and a marriage for them is a contract of slavery with her husband controlling her life. For vote politics they are inciting violence in the name of Cow in majority of the states of India; killing people or instigating mob lynching for suspected of eating or carrying beef. In north eastern states & Goa they are assuring the residents cheap and steady supply of beef! They are also denying the fact that to-day India is the number one beef exporter in the world and 95% of the slaughter houses for export are owned by upper caste Hindu’s.They are also insulting their own idol Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a great legend with an extraordinary aura that said, "If India is not secular, then India is not India at all." 

Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh leadership representing the largest, second largest, third & 4^th largest sections of the society; must understands that all the religions of India are the two wings of the same bird called “Indian Public” made up of practically every religion of the world. Why don’t they stop killing this bird in the name of Ram or Allah or Christ or Wahe Guru whatever they believe in? Why they want to impose ill-defined radical Hinduism or Islam or Christianity or Sikhism on India when majority of the Indians do not want that? None of them has ever thought about integrating all individuals of different religions, regions and factions of Indian origin on one Indian Platform as “Nationalist Indians”?

Indians can learn from America. It is an open and diverse society; all of its members are equal with the right to identify themselves with America’s “Founding Fathers and Freedom Fight Hero’s”. An African-American Barack Obama son of a Kenyan Muslim immigrant and native white American mother; can speak with pride of George Washington the father of the nation and Hero of the American Revolution War of Independence against the British Rulers. Obama a Democrat also has the right to speak with pride about Republican Abraham Lincoln who enacted the Emancipation of Declaration ending Slavery which later paved the way for Equal Rights for Blacks in America. The people of America elected Obama as its first African-American President by ignoring the race factor. This is the definition of a Democratic nation; multi cultural and multi racial here a person joins it by acquiring citizenship by birth or naturalization and from that moment on is the heir to all its cultural and social history. May be Indians can learn some thing from American experience. 

Every Indian Leader Religious, Political and Business and the intelligentsia must unite to put an end to the human sufferings of the millions of Indians rather than spreading hatred in the name of religion invented or misinterpreted by them. They must pay attention to the vast majority of Indians whose voice they are ignoring. In the Parliamentary Elections their voices are barely heard because all the Indian Politicians are promoting their 18^th- 19th century policies based on caste, religion, region  and backwardness not nationalism the “Indian Identity”. They are the sane and rational India with their hopes for better future, looking for progress, prosperity along with peace and harmony among all citizens.

The Pathetic & dangerous transformation of India to Crony Capitalism in last 70 years

India never had a good ruler since independence except for a very brief period Lal Bahadur Shastri and Morarji Desai. All of them including the current PM/Ruler Modi has proved to be the facilitators of crony capitalism. Modi has gone one step further by becoming the first & the last PM of India that put his hand in the mouth of poor to take out what they were eating and took away their professions and openly allowing mob lynching of people. They all have lived/living to the apprehensions of Mahatama Gandhi that he feared India will have English Rule without the Englishmen! India is in the top ten nations with the widest socio-economic gap. It is an economically, socially and politically failed state for majority of its 1.3 billion citizens; who can not solve its socio-economic, religious and political problems including its Land dispute with Pakistan since 1948 over Kashmir. 

India’s elite world famous Billionaires part of the 56 million filthy rich Indians are living side by side with almost a billion poor and treat them as sub humans who are burden for the country. It looks like Indian Leadership political, religious and business rather than being ashamed of this, are proud to have more than 800 million Indians living under extreme poverty & inhuman conditions. They have the insanity to say “India is shining”. A  former diplomat, politician, author and thinker Pavan Varma wrote in his book “Being Indian” that in the Indian elite “there is a remarkable tolerance for inequality, filth and human suffering”. He adds that “concern for the deprived and the suffering is not a prominent feature of the Indian personality. The rich in India have always lived a life quite oblivious to the ocean of poverty around them”. Less than 10-15 minutes from every slum in any major city of India there are very expansive heavily guarded residential areas with houses rather mini palaces costing few million dollars to $1 Billion Mukesh Ambani’s Palace. One city: two universes.

Out of the total budget, 74% is used to run the system/government and 38% in debt servicing after adding new borrowing. In real terms the cost to run the system is 115% and 60% in debt servicing. The non-plan expenditure i.e. just to run the “System” or the government that includes Police, Military, Judiciary, Postal Services, President, Vice President, Prime Minister, 30 Governors (political appointees of the ruling party), 53 Ministries with numerous departments, 1 Department of Atomic Energy, various Commissions/ Committees to accommodate failed politicians, friends & relatives, 543 MP’s, millions of government employees as well as so called Z category security services for rulers, their families & friends practically at all levels.  The new additions under Modi very soon will be Cow Ministry, Ministry to advise people what to eat, what to wear, whom they can marry & how many kids Hindu couples should produce and Ministry of Nationalism; what is national & what is anti national !

If Modi had even an iota of Nationalism/Patriotism towards India and love for the less fortunate Indians; he would have cut down the cost of governance of India. He could have announced some measures to at least re-structure the 53 Ministries to cut down their excessive numbers & massive size, Complete ban on Official Functions in 5 Star Hotels & Resorts, Abolish Pension for MP’s, Ban on allocation of properties for Political Party Offices, end to VVIP & VIP culture of providing security & subsidized housing, cap on telephone bills, air travel, foreign trips, rail travel of elected & appointed officials and un-necessary appointment of officials under Ministers and various departments, commissions and committees. Can Modi explain how come a law maker is entitled to Pension and princely perks after winning one election only even if he never get elected again; where as a government servant is entitled to a pension only after 20-25 years of service. Modi could have proposed a road map to cut down the non-plan expenditure from present 74% to at least 60% in next 4 years.

Modi in his political carrier as Gujarat CM has been a known destroyer of any opposition in his own party as well as leaders of other political parties. He is also known to have least respect for democratic norms and judiciary. Since 2014 Modi is ruling India with the same undemocratic philosophy and destroying all the democratic institutions, judiciary as well as any opposition all over India to make India, “Opposition Free”.

Congress also tried to destroy opposition parties  to make it one party rather one family rule in India and they succeeded to a certain extent only. Recently a writer Apoorvanand wrote about the reaction of Munshi Premchand  that “Elimination of Opposition is a Threat to Democracy.”

Premchand recorded this apprehension in a brief commentary titled ‘Germany Ka Bhavishya’ (The Future of Germany) right after the victory of the Nazi Party in Germany in 1933. “After the landslide victory of the Nazi Party in Germany, the question that arises is will Germany really turn into a fascist regime and will the Nazis be able to hold and consolidate power for at least five years? If it happens and the Nazis get an opportunity to establish themselves, they will suck the democratic life and vision out of Germany through its political and military strength in such a way that not a single opponent of the Nazi Party would be left in Germany for 25 years.”

It is not necessary to view Premchand’s observation in the context of the present times but the focus of his comment is the forced elimination of opposition before the victory of the Nazi Party. He does not censure the German opposition parties for their inability to protect themselves. He clearly states that the crime was Hitler’s who was phasing out the opposition through undemocratic means. The Nazis had a private army which none of the other political parties in Germany possessed. Premchand unequivocally states that the elimination of opposition should be a cause for worry and one who carries it out must be held responsible for it and must be questioned.

The process of selling India to Corporate houses started by Congress has been expedited under Modi aka BJP. Modi regime is ignoring the extreme poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and inequality due to the fact that 56 families own 75% of India! Modi was created and installed in a Rs 32,000 crore marketing scam by these very corrupt business houses of India and marketed by Washington based APCO that is PR company of practically all the dictators around the world including all the Muslim Dictators of Middle East. Modi is catering to the elite, establishment & his handlers only with no emotions and responsibility towards the general public especially the farmers and extreme poor of India. Modi is presiding over the half burnt Funeral Pyre of Indian Democracy started by Congress. BJP’s Modi is making sure that it is fully burnt and ashes are immersed in Holy Ganga by sacrificing the left over Democratic norms in this ongoing burning Funeral Pyre of Indian Democracy.  

Even being 3rd gen RSS/Jansangh/BJP supporter and victim of Indra’s emergency I can not support the present leaders like Modi, Jaitley, Shah, Samriti, Uma, Adityanath working as facilitators for the New East India Company owned by Adani, Ambani, Tata, Jindal, Ruia’s etc.

All these corporations unlike East India Company do not have their private army but soon will be making all kinds of war heads, missiles, helicopters, air planes, ammunition and other sophisticated military gadgets because Jaitley has increased the FDI limit to 49% from 26% for this Industry. Just few days before the 2015 budget Middleman/Lobbyist has been legalized in India for deals with the government including defense deals. Now there won’t be any shortage of Radia’s openly operating in the corridors of power to influence law makers for favors for their corporate clients.

Dave Makkar

davemakkar@yahoo.com

THE INDIAN PANORAMA NEWS, Friday August 18, 2017

Why Hinduwadi’s are Obsessed with Cow? 

Cow is not Sacred and Beef is not Forbidden to Hindus, according to Vedas

The current atmosphere  in India on the issue of cow defies all sane logics, Hindu religious Texts, thousands of years old sacred history, historians and scholars.  On one hand the current Modi government talks of making India the biggest economic power in the world surpassing America and China. On the other hand his own party and his Hindu affiliate’s members talk of what people can eat or can not eat, how many children the Hindu couples should produce, what the women should wear, adult girls can not be seen in the company of opposite sex friends, Hindu girl can not marry a non-Hindu and any criticism of government policies make you anti-national that includes refusing to say Bharat Mata ki Jai or Cow is our mother.

Modi himself and his team members are biggest hypocrites on the issue of cow or meat. As CM of Gujarat under Modi meat production 10,600 tons in 2001-2 went up to 35,286 tons in 2011-12. Still Modi accused UPA government for cow slaughter for their support to meat exporters “Pink Revolution” during the run up to the 2014 elections that brought him to power. Ironically under Modi’s watch bovine/cow meat export has gone up by 70% according to the Commerce Ministry website. Now India is number 1 exporter of bovine/cow meat in the world.

Modi’s confidante Amit Shah during the 2014  campaign made several speeches that cow slaughter will not be banned in north eastern states of India. As BJP’s party president on May 28, 2015 in Goa; Amit Shah ruled out a nation-wide beef-ban or cow slaughter.  Union Government and Goa Government both under BJP are jointly running a slaughterhouse in Goa.

Sangeet Som, the Hindutva poster boy & one of the main accused in 2013 Muzzafarnagar communal riots, UP Assembly Member and now Minister in Adityanath Yogi’s government; had been personally associated with two meat processing and export companies, Al-Dua and Al-Anam. Al-Dua is one of the India's leading halal meat export companies which exports meat to Arab countries.

BJP candidate Sreeprakash on April 2, 2017 in the run up to the Mallapuram Lok Sabha by election in Kerala said, “I will ensure quality beef and standard abattoirs in my constituency.”

Modi’s Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Aizwal on May 27, 2017 said that, “I eat beef, I’m from Arunachal Pradesh and can any body stop  me? So let us not be touchy about somebody’s practices. This is a Democratic country. Sometime some statements are made which are not palatable.” Kiren Rijiju also described as “unpalatable” his colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s remarks that those who eat beef should go to Pakistan, and questioned whether anyone could stop him from eating beef. The BJP leaders in Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland have been making statements to their constituents, sale of beef at subsidized rates is their commitment to them. After the new Cattle Trade Rules announced by the Modi government they went to the extent of saying “No Beef No Support to BJP”

BJP’s Karnataka spokesperson Vaman Acharya on May 28, 2017 while participating in a panel discussion on Suvarna News opposed the beef ban. He said that people from all communities including the Brahmin community, consumed beef. Before India became an agrarian nation, beef had been a staple diet. Even today, several people, including indigenous tribes in the North Eastern States consumed beef as a staple. Acharya had also said that as chairman of the Karnataka Pollution Control Board, he gave permission for the setting up of 16 abattoirs in the State.  Lastly, he had said that he didn’t subscribe to the religious sentimentality attached to the cattle. He retracted his statements on June 6, 2017 under party pressure.

Modi’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Aizwal on June 12, 2017, said that people are free to choose what they want to eat.  When asked about protests against the government’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter, Singh clarified that the Centre will not impose any restrictions on one’s choice of food. However, even as Singh spoke, scores of people in the Mizoram capital participated in a “beef ban bashing banquet” organized by a local organization. ( PTI) 

Kerala BJP and RSS have joined hands to start a co-operative society to sell meat which includes bovine meat as well as fish, a Malayalam daily Deshabhimani reported on July 5, 2017.

July 17, 2017 Goa’s BJP CM Manohar Parikar who also holds the animal husbandry portfolio in the assembly session replied to BJP assembly members concern over the poor quality of Beef imported from Congress ruled neighboring state Karnataka; "Approximately 2,000 kgs beef is produced per day at the state abattoir of the Goa Meat Complex Limited, while rest of beef is brought in from Karnataka. Parrikar said he would issue directions to the department concerned to carry proper inspection of beef imported from Karnataka. Parrikar further added that "The Goa Meat Complex Ltd has no problem in slaughtering more animals if they are brought there by traders,"

Modi’s New Cattle Trade Rules that has been stayed by the SC on July 12, 2017 violates Right of a Person to Freedom of Choice regarding Food as enshrined in Indian Constitution and it is also violating the rights of the farmers to trade. Under this law farmers cannot sell the cattle in the market for slaughter but slaughter houses can come to the farmer and buy cattle for slaughter. Then majority of the farmers are not educated how they can comply with filling out numerous forms about the origin & ownership of the animal in question? First the farmers/dairy operators will be exploited by the bureaucracy and than by Slaughterhouses that can make a cartel to give them less price for their cattle.

Modi aka BJP is paving the way for its handlers like Adani, Ambani, Tata and other foreign MNC’s to control the meat and animal hide trade that is worth Billions of Dollars. UP slaughterhouses alone employs 25 lacs people with a turnover of Rs. 15,000.00 crore is the highest producer of meat in India. The meat industry is likely to grow at a compound growth rate of 8.4% over the next five years. The processed meat industry is growing even much faster, at about 20%. The meat export from India is about $4.5 billion and raw hide to leather goods is another $5.5 billion. About 22 mil people are in the workforce and the meat export industry is expected to grow 50% in 5 years. Beside that 70% of Indians are non-vegetarians. Domestic per capita meat consumption in India is very low -- around 5 kg as compared to the world average of 47 kg. With rising incomes  between 2003 and 2012, their meat consumption rose by 6.3% a year. It is expected to rise by another 3.5% a year between 2013 and 2022. 

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Apart from 73.7 lakh tons of meat in 2016-17, India also produced 108 lakh tons of fisheries in 2015-16 ranking 2^nd after China. India is the number 1 and largest exporter of shrimp fish in the world. This industry is growing at a robust pace of 8% per annum. The business is valued at Rs. 1 Lakh Crores and employees about 150 lakh people. Andhra Pradesh occupying the first place, West Bengal 2^nd and Modi’s Gujarat at 3^rd place in fish production in India.                     

The demonetization was also done for these very influential people so that they can control food business worth billions that is traditionally run on cash basis by the informal sector. On top of that to pave the way for billions of dollars that can be made in transaction fees in the guise of digital money from the less fortunate and financially most vulnerable people of Indian society. Rich have credit cards they don’t pay any fees to use it rather they are rewarded with points and cash back for its use; it is the merchant that pays the fees for accepting it. The poor has to get a “Pre Paid Debit Card” for a fee with a monthly maintenance fee and fee for loading money; a biggest ponzy scheme ever invented by the American Financial Industry to loot the poor.

Coming to Team Modi & Hinduwadi’s understanding of Hinduism, its history, its writing on eating meat and views of various learned scholars; All of them are a very big disappointment. Team Modi should do some soul searching why Atal Bihari Bajpai avoided the trap of cow laid by the bogus Hindutva supporters that has no love for their own 50 crore (500 million) extremely poor Hindus living a miserable life.                                                                                                 

According to Sanskrit Scholar Rajani K Dixit, “there is no such thing as Holy Cow in the Vedas”. The Vedas consider bovines important for milk, beef, agriculture and transport but not divine or holy. The word ‘Aghnyaa’ applies only to a milch cow because it is not economical to kill it. A Vaisha cow is meant for beef, and especially reserved to an extent for Brahmins only. Atharva 12.4(13) tells us that in case a Brahmin begs for a cow from a non-Brahmin, “even if that person has a beef-dinner at his house, he has to select another cow to slaughter for his own dinner, than the one that is asked for”. The word ‘Aghnyaa’ (not to be killed) coined by Rigveda for young milch cows was the main cause of the Hindu misunderstanding that cows or bovines are not to be slaughtered. 

The Rigveda has never used the word ‘mother’ for a cow. There is no punishment recommended for a cow slaughterer even if some one kills a young milch cow. Beef-eating is also not taboo. Beef parties are not only allowed but highly appreciated, and a person who cooks beef for his guests is praised by the term ‘Atithi-gva’ ‘one who offers beef to guests’.           3

Ritual sacrifice of a bull is a must in worship to the God Indra. Beef parties also seem a regular affair in weddings (RV 10.85). Cows are not sacred and beef is not forbidden to Hindus. Here is a line from a verse ascribed to the god Savita, the presiding deity of the Gayatri Mantra, describing a dinner party he is hosting: “At night we are going to kill cows” (RV.10.85(19). RV 10.89 (14) mentions “cows for food, laying scattered on the grounds of a slaughter house”. Mark that the author does not use the word ‘animals’ but ‘cows’, showing that beef was the most popular item, and the cow the most slaughtered animal. RV 10.95(6) says that “old cows which do not give milk” are “only fit to be cooked”. It further states that “useless cows ….are taken to be cooked, but never milch cows”. It is clear that slaughter houses are not banned, beef is allowed and useless bovines are allowed to be slaughtered in Hinduism.

Aadi shankaraachaarya born in 788 CE in Kerala: in his commentary on Brahadaranyako Upanishad 6/4/18 says:’Odaan’ rice mixed with meat is called ‘maansodan’ on being asked whose meat it should be, he answers ‘Uksha’ is used for an ox, which is capable to produce semen. Currently 72 communities including some upper caste Hindus in Kerala prefer beef to the mutton and some prefer it because it is cheaper than mutton.

Hinduisms great propagator Swami Vivekaanand said: "You will be surprised to know that according to ancient Hindu rite and rituals, a man cannot be a good Hindu who does not eat beef ". (The complete works of Swami Vivekanand vol :3/5/36)                                                    

VD Savarkar the Hindutva Icon and Icon of Hindu religious & political parties including BJP; espoused his views in Vidnyan Nishta Nibandh, that the cow, like the peepal tree, should be cared for, as something useful to humans, which meant eating it as well if need be. He insisted that a superstitious mindset towards cows would ruin India's intellect and that cows should be protected for their economic use to man, and not because of their ‘divinity’. Attributing religious qualities to it gives it a godly status. Such a superstitious mindset destroys the nation’s intellect. “When humanitarian interests are not served and in fact harmed by the cow and when humanism is shamed, self-defeating extreme cow protection should be rejected.”              

Every now and then, an admirer of Savarkar raises the topic. “Can anyone imagine that the ‘Father of Hindutva’ advocated beef-eating (in special circumstances), rejected the divinity of the Vedas, denounced the sanctity of the caste system and launched a virulent attack on the hypocrisy of the priests?” wrote Ved Pratap Vaidik, a journalist close to several Hindutva figures. “Incidentally, Savarkar was a beef-eater,” wrote Varsha Bhonsle on Savarkar’s birth anniversary, February 26, in 1998. “For he was, above all else, a rationalist – a true Hindu – and eons ahead of contemporary Hindutvawadis.” (“Why is the Cow a Political Animal?” S. Joshi)

Mahatama Gandhi was approached for total ban on Cow Slaughter in India. His reply was, “I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus. The assumption of the Hindus that India now has become the land of the Hindus is erroneous. India belongs to all who live here. Earlier on 25^th July 1947 he also said that "The Hindu religion prohibited cow slaughter for the Hindus, not for the world. The religious prohibition came from within. Any imposition from without meant compulsion. Such compulsion was repugnant to religion."                                                                                                               4

A Brahmin’s Cow Tales by D. N. Jha a high cast Brahmin himself. The cow as a sacred animal, Jha believes, did not really gain currency until Dayanand Saraswati's cow protection movement in the 19th century". The cow became a tool of mass political mobilization with the organized cow-protection movement," the historian points out. "The killing of cows stopped gradually with the agrarian society and caste rigidity. The Brahmins found it convenient to say that those who ate beef were untouchable. But they themselves continued to consume it, recommending it for occasions such as shraadh. The beef-eating habits of Indians which existed in Rig Vedic times and continued till the 19th century and after, despite repeated Brahminical injunctions against cow-killing. That ancient Hindus, including Brahmins, were beef-eaters, willing to incur the minor penalty that an agrarian society began imposing on cow-killers, and that this fondness for cattle meat had nothing to do with Islam or Christianity.       

For those who blame Muslims for the practice of Cow slaughter in India: Babar’s first act after conquering Delhi was to forbid the killing of cows. They must read Babar’s Directives (Wasiyyat namd-i-majchfi) a secret testament to his son Humayun and his future generations. For the stability of the Empire, O my son!, “The realm of Hindustan is full of diverse creeds. Praise be to God, the Righteous, the Glorious, the Highest, that He hath granted unto thee the Empire of it. It is but proper that thou, with heart cleansed of all religious bigotry, should dispense justice according to the tenets of each community.’ “And in particular refrain from the sacrifice of cow, for that way lies the conquest of the hearts of the people of Hindustan; and the subjects of the realm will, through royal favour, be devoted to thee. And the temples and abodes of worship of every community under Imperial sway, you should not damage. Dispense justice so that the sovereign may be happy with the subjects and likewise the subjects with their sovereign. The progress of Islam is better by the sword of kindness, not by the sword of oppression.” (Abstracted from the 1936 book The Mughal Empire From Babar To Aurangzeb, by SM Jaffar of Peshawar. It mentions that “the original document is in Persian and is treasured in the Hamida Library at Bhopal as one of its heirlooms.”)                                    

                                   

The British Origin of Cow-Slaughter in India (published 2002) by Gandhian historian Dharampal. His book draws from official documents to show that the riots of 1880-1894 were not the obvious Hindu-Muslim conflagration they were made out to be. The book cites accounts of how “many prominent Muslims as well as the Parsis and Sikhs actively participated in the (cow protection) movement.” Dharampal wrote that large-scale cow slaughter was not the handiwork of Muslims who came to India from central and western Asia. “The question of the sacrifice of a cow did not arise as the land where Islam arose did not have many cows.”           

Mughals were habituated to the meat of goats and mutton, sacrificing camels on the occasion of festivals like Eid or for large feasts, the book says. Dharampal rues the lack of research on cow killing between 1200 and 1700, when a series of Muslim kings ruled over a large part of India. But he goes on to show that systematic slaughter of cattle began in India with the East India Company establishing itself. The British, unlike the central and west Asians, were habituated to beef.  The first slaughterhouse in India was built in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1760 by Robert Clive, then Governor of Bengal. It could kill 30,000 animals per day. Several more slaughterhouses were set up in various parts of the country by the Commissariat Wing of the three British armies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay Presidencies. A total of 350 slaughterhouses were constructed by 1910.

Nitya Sambamurti Ghotge, a veterinary surgeon who heads Anthra, a group in Pune that has worked with rural livestock rearers since 1992. Laws against cow slaughter and Trade Rules will only criminalize the livestock trade, not protect the animals, said Ghotge. Only the smugglers and the law enforcement officials will benefit from the ban on cow slaughter, not the poor farmers or the livestock. Like the agriculture scientist Ramanjaneyulu, Ghotge holds that the cow protection laws are unjust; it is about powerful urban people outsourcing the burden of cow protection on the rural poor, she said.

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As for the BJP’s claim that “cow is the only divine animal that exhales oxygen”, no living being other than plants exhale oxygen is also a myth. Animals, however, exhale unused oxygen, as lungs cannot process all the oxygen that is inhaled. According to the 2006 FAO report, the livestock sector accounts for 9 per cent of carbon dioxide derived from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases.                                

Team Modi is least concerned about the millions of Indians; Hindus as well as non-Hindus employed directly and indirectly in the cattle trade. The millions especially children and elderly that depend on bovine meat as the cheapest source of protein. In the name of misguided Hindutva they are imposing their personal believes on the cattle breeders, traders, farmers and bovine meat eaters without considering the economic realities. There was a time when the owner could get Rs 12,000.00 to Rs. 15,000.00 for the unproductive animal from a slaughterhouse, now that has been reduced to Zero by the Gou Rakshaks/cow vigilantes. Rs 2,500.00-3,000.0 per month is the cost just to keep the animal alive for 8-10 years after the end of its economic utility. If the 10 million or so cattle that possibly end up at the abattoir every year are not culled, farmers will simply stop caring for them and let them loose in towns and cities. It will cost upward of Rs 22,000 crore to take care of them. And since the 10 million-plus will keep adding each year, till they die in their natural course, these costs would only keep on mounting up every year.  Just in the 4^th year the cost could be more than Rs. 88,000.00 crore. In  BJP ruled state Rajasthan the state government is providing Rs 70.00/day for cow and Rs 35/day for calf and at the same time it is providing Rs. 25.63/person on welfare schemes in the state. Under Modi India has become an international joke that cow is more valuable than human beings!

Modi government has badly failed practically on all fronts; employment, economy, education, healthcare, international diplomacy and failed to contain insurgency in Kashmir and unrest in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Orrisa, Assam etc. because of rising poverty and inequality.             Rather Modi has become instrumental in breaking up the social brotherhood among the majority Hindus with Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians created in 70 years of independence. In 2019 Indians have to decide, “Do they want to vote again for Modi’s exclusive promise of development that has turned out to be another election rhetoric/Jumla? The reason being even after 3 years of Modi rule development is as elusive as Hinduwadi’s dream of Bharat Rashtra by putting the entire country on ethnic clashes fire.”

Compiled by

Devendra Makkar

From the writing of scholars, historians & journalist   

davemakkar@yahoo.com



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