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

Modi Carpet Bomb 80% Indians to Recover 3-5% Black Money

Modi Carpet Bomb 80% Indians to Recover 

3-5% Black Money

"Modi will not do a “Surgical Strike on Black Money”  involving the premier corporate houses and the willful defaulters because these very people spent Rs 32,000.00 crore on Modi’s campaign lasting 2 years to install him as Prime Minister of India in 2014. Neither he is going to touch any political parties including his own or religious leaders to stay politically correct."

It is very surprising why Team Modi ignored the very basic fact that the richest 1% of Indians own 53% of the country’s wealth.  Further the richest 5% own 68.6% of the country’s wealth, while the top 10% have 76.3%. At the other end of the pyramid, 53.7%  of the population (or 650 million) poor owns princely 4.1% of the nation’s wealth.  I wish Modi should have done a “Surgical Strike” to recover black money by raiding all the business premises and residences all over India of the 5,275 “willful defaulters”—together, they owe India’s banks Rs 56,521 crore.  And all the big business houses like Ambani, Adani, Tata, Birla, Sun Pharma, Jindal etc. etc. should have also been raided by the enforcement directorate. To be politically incorrect Modi should have raided every political parties premises and every politician’s homes, businesses, offices and vacation homes along with the homes of top bureaucrats, judges, law enforcement officials and religious leaders. It is an open secret that the 67% of income of the 6 National Parties is from unknown sources, could be from foreign lobbyist and intelligence agencies also. 

  

India’s corporate house owes the PSU Banks Rs 5 Lakh crore out of this about Rs 1.4 Lakh crore are owed by just 5 companies only.  Gautam Adani the mentor or big supporter of Modi, his group alone owe Rs 72,000.00 crore. In last 2-3 years Adani Group’s net worth has gone up by a whopping 85%! Incidentally the entire crop loan owes by all the farmers of India is also Rs 72,000.00 crore.  All these corporate houses are cooking books and people controlling them are living a very lavish life styles that includes most expansive real estates, private islands, big fat weddings, luxury Jets, yachts and big fleets of exotic cars besides tons of gold and diamond jewelry as well as a single dress/sari costing Rs. 2-3 crores . The investigators could have found numerous “Shell Companies” stashed with black money in India & abroad; used for bribing politicians, bureaucrats, judges, law enforcement and for personal luxuries including maintaining numerous comfort women in luxurious houses in different parts of India and abroad.

Already Cyrus Mistry the ousted Chairman of Tata Sons is spilling beans how the Indian corporate houses are used as personal ATM’s by their founders. Ratan Tata along with Niira Radia the famous foreign citizen lobbyist was using Tata’s corporate jets for their personal work, how Ratan Tata increased the cost of PR for the company from Rs 40 crore to Rs 60 crore by hiring Arun Nanda's Redefuusion. Mistry has accused Ratan Tata of making questionable investment decisions to invest in his friends companies to cause massive losses to Tata sons, using Tata Sons to bear the entire cost  of the Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata’s office. This figure was about Rs 30 crore in 2015. Mistry also accused Ratan Tata for allowing directors to draw additional parallel commission from group companies.

Modi will not do a “Surgical Strike on Black Money”  involving the premier corporate houses and the willful defaulters because these very people spent Rs 32,000.00 crore on Modi’s campaign lasting 2 years to install him as Prime Minister of India in 2014. Neither he is going to touch any political parties including his own or religious leaders to stay politically correct.

This is very disturbing how could the Team Modi ignored some of the  other very important facts before embarking on “Carpet Bombing” as the Supreme Court of India has said about the so called “Surgical Strike on Black Money”?

Out of the total cash in circulation, 86% are in large denomination like Rs 500 & Rs 1000 notes because with Rs 100 note practically you can not buy any thing in India. Some economists have questioned the decision to introduce the Rs 2,000 note. They say if the policy is designed to force people into the banking system why issue a higher denomination note - presumably an even more convenient vehicle for black money transactions? May be Team Modi wanted to make life easier for their campaign donors by introducing the higher denomination notes. The weight of Rs 1 crore in Rs 1000 notes is 12 Kg and with the introduction of Rs 2000 notes; it will be 6 Kg only that is practically very inconvenience for an adult to carry even on his body!

Less than 35% people have access to Banks and post offices in India. If one takes into account the Income Tax raids data for last 2 years  the cash component is only 6% that also include Jewelry. Majority those who have black money, it is invested in real estate, benami bank accounts , gold, silver and diamond. Those who are well educated and are at the upper end of the wealth spectrum; besides all the above they have invested their black money in most expansive furniture, furnishing, marble, granite, fine arts, paintings, rare scotch whiskey and wines also.

The informal sector in India accounts for about 45 per cent of the GDP and employs nearly 80 percent of the population. In other words about 80 percent of the people in the country have already been deprived of their livelihoods for more than a week and there are no signs that the normalcy can return even in next 2-3 weeks.

Practically entire rural economy is cash especially commodity business of production and distribution for variety of reason including lack of  education, lack of faith in banking and very limited access to banking.  After Team Modi failed to push their Land Acquisition Act for the benefit of Indian and foreign corporate houses; they allowed FDI in food distribution in 2016 budget to pave the way for the big corporations to control Food Production and Supply Business. First of all allowing FDI in food business was an assault on the rural economy and sovereignty of India. India has already given up the control on communication to foreigners and with FDI in food distribution it will put the entire nation at the mercy of foreign companies. Team Modi’s land acquisition act to control the rural economy failed may be this latest “Carpet Bombing  in the name of Black Money” is to paralyze the rural economy to pave the way for FDI/Foreign corporations to control the rural economy and food distribution of India.

Already Modi has created a special place for himself in Indian history that he will be known as the first Prime Minister that put his hand in people's mouth to take out the food they were eating and took away their profession of skinning dead animals. His anti-poor acts in the name of Cow and Hinduism is an assault on the poor of India that includes more Hindus than other minorities.

Team Modi has failed miserably in last 21/2 years on their promises of free speech, jobs, equal rights, education for all, universal healthcare, infrastructure and freedom to practice religion of one’s choice. By demonetizing  Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes aka doing “Carpet Bombing in the name of recovering Black Money” on the 80% of the population, Team Modi is depriving them of their livelihood. They are in violation of Article 21 that guarantees  as Fundamental Right, “Right to life and personal liberty”.   Even the SC, in its landmark judgement in 1985 in the matters of Olga Tellis and others Vs the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, said: "no person can live without the means of living, that is the means of livelihood. If, the right to livelihood is not treated as a part of constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of his livelihood to the point of abrogation." According to the interpretation of SC ruling, Team Modi is depriving a large section of the society their Right to Life by depriving them of their livelihood. Already more than 47 deaths have been reported all over India because of Team Modi’s ill-conceived demonetization.

Lastly, Team Modi completely forgot about the NRI”s that supported them big time during 2014 elections and for bringing hired crowd for Modi’s rally’s in New York, London and other foreign cities. There is no provision for them to go to PSU Bank’s foreign branch to convert old currency notes into new. Especially the NRI’s who do not travel much to India and got Indian currency after paying in with their hard earned foreign currency, they have no recourse to get back their money. May be these NRI’s can use the old currency notes to make garlands for the central ministers and PM Modi’s future visits to their countries.

Dave Makkar

davemakkar@yahoo.com

973 760 6006 cell

USA