Emergency: the black history

The proposal to usher in a specific chapter on emergency in the curriculum at the school level by Minister of State for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Nakhvi is extremely welcome and must be propelled by those having staunch faith in our constitutional and democratic system. While honouring democratic fighters at the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the ill-famed emergency in the country, Nakhvi articulated that the 19 months long clamouring narration of emergency that, pitilessly, almost eclipsed the democracy should be prefaced to our successors as 75 percent of our generation still unacquainted about the grounds and formidable circumstances before and during the emergency. The students must be cognizant about disreputed history of independent India as there are about revolutionary movements and freedom fighters before the independence.

After the Illegitimisation of the stellar victory of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from Gandhian's bastion Raebareli in 1971 by Allahbad high court in 1975 observing the forgery in the election, India snowballed into the massive tyranny. Indira Gandhi junked the entire constitution and democratic system in order to straddle the power and battered the country whimsically with internal emergency. And, it enabled her to, Imperiously, infuse the cells with her critics and political opponents, bringing cruel laws and, indeed, inexorably, pursue the whole country through a tyranny. When people would get the winds of disservice that excruciatingly inflicted by emergency to our ultimate constitution and the pristine pillars of the democracy, they'll, then, recognise the ingraining importance of Nakhvi's proposal. The tyrannical emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi almost trampled upon the parliament, judiciary, executive and even media. In a move to recount the current contemporaries the actual significance of intolerance, they must be cognizant about the brutal distortion of Indian constitution and  how the Institutions were grievously imperilled.

Scaling down the constitutionally-supreme parliament into a pint-sized rubber-stamp, that passed the amendments, which left even alternative judiciary hamstrung, and deterring judiciary to take up pleas against the Prime Minister that reflected by 39th constitutional amendment. Dramatically, it was not the end of vicious authoritarianism, but the beginning. Now, Indira Gandhi introduced the 41st constitutional amendment, aiming to project the Prime Minister the super citizen of the country, and that will elevate the PM above the law. The law stated, the Prime Minister would not be subjected to any criminal proceedings for any of his/her work before or after assuming the office. Then, the country saw the 42nd amendment of Indian constitution, that included most of the implacable provisions based on Indira Gandhi's whimsical fancies. The most-usual perception is, the then President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed played as rubber stamp, indeed, he, without any objection, signed the notification apropos to imposing emergency. It defies comprehension that President Ali Ahmed didn't consider to even asking Indira Gandhi once that,  what led her to take up such a crucial motion without the mutual consent of her cabinet. Significantly, if he did so, Mrs Gandhi would have taken the parliamentary route for the motion.


The way, Indian Parliament and President, itself, were turned into a puppet of Indira Gandhi's hand and, simultaneously, judiciary and the media were genuflected, the school students must be taught about. The whole exercise led most of the judges to kowtow to the pressure inflicted to the judiciary. The distinguished Shivkant Shukla vs SDM, Jabalpur case would be a worthwhile example, wherein five judge bench of Supreme Court accepted the argument that, any Indian citizen would be devoid of the right to challenge against his/her house arrest or to file a Habeas Corpus plea, by Indira Gandhi government, concurrently, it was argued also by then Attorney General that any citizen would be deprived of any legal relief from the court until the end of emergency, even if a citizen is shot dead by a policeman.


Justice H.R. Khanna, the only judge out five judge bench, strenuously, expressed his dissent, though Justice Khanna was in the reckoning to be the Chief Justice but, Imperiously, detached from the reckoning by Indira Gandhi. Unlikely, rest all judges wrote down the verdict to do away the citizens of their fundamental rights, and elevated as Chief Justice, thereafter. The awareness of the preternatural judges like Justice Khanna, that stood stoutly for citizen's fundamental rights, though, sacrificing their career, must be spread among the youngsters, today, simultaneously, about those journalists, writers and artists who bulldozed the democracy back into the existence, even after being subjected to the cruel tyranny while putting up a fight against it, and that will, significantly, inspire the students to struggle, now, for their own independence.

A good move for farmers

Amid the fear of being branded as anti-farmer, the NDA govt has seamlessly embarked to reap its vote-share among the country’s farmers who played significant role in its overwhelming victory in 2014 general election, by subsequently rolling out schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Fasal Bima Yojna, among others. The NDA's softball came close on the heels of the government cutting down the prices of major fertilisers including DAP and NPK in the impending Monsoon season, and most significantly, that too, with immediate effect.


Certainly, the decisive step, taken under "Jameen Bachao- Kisan Bachao" campaign, points to an instantaneous profit to the farmers splendidly worth 4500 crore but wavering the fact if the agriculture could appear lucrative, given to the sharp decrease in prices of fertilisers. Furthermore, The govt is also mulling over loan waiver to sugarcane farmers. The schemes and plans, though, would, potentially, benefit the farmers, but despite the menacing facet, that the agricultural wage has severely deprived farmers of a better livelihood, the government must also ferret out if its plans are working out to salvage them through that stinking untidy modus vivendi.


Low-interest crop loans carry their own significance, but the agriculture could not be lucrative to farmers until they are necessitated to bear burdensome baggage of loans even to sow seeds. With a prodigious section of farmers today, absurdly, bound to bulldoze its livelihood in farms, and forlornly,  gazing for other options, the policymakers must chew over profoundly to recognize and weed out the ingraining causes with view to make them self-dependent.


The prevailing political interests and vote-bank politics,  perhaps, have prevented government, hitherto, to bring out farmers of that minacious vessel of dependence, given the fact that even the farmers from the advanced harvesting states are, though reluctantly (because of dearth enough money) habituated to the free electricity and water. Accompanying the waivers and formulation of plans, government must also ensure the self-dependence of farmers by modernizing the harvesting and ridding the farmers of those traditional tools for agriculture with a view to expand agricultural growth and leveraging the farmers to their self-dependence. 

The great wall of "Resistance"

Time to act for India to uproot Chinese hurdlesome wall from India's growth Itinerary


India returned from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) annual plenary session embarked in Seoul, with nothing in its hand and it's bid to join NSG group unsurprisingly Scuttled by the China's brazen hindrances. With the antecedent balky activities, China has appeared to be a hurdlesome baggage of India's elevating growth that this country unwarrantedly bearing. The questions, though, were put up subsequently by other countries like Austria, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and Turkey, astonishingly, over the process being followed to induct India to NSG group, as an MEA spokesperson excused, "it is self- evident that process issues would not arise if these countries were actually opposed to our participation." By apparently disallowing India's bid to be even hashed out in the first halve, China demonstrated a subaltern strategy of obstructing India's move.

China's hard-line agenda, Nonetheless, reflected in to the President Xi Jinping christening China and Pakistan "Iron Brothers." In order to circumvent Chinese logjam, President Pranab Mukherjee's eschew to Xi Jinping for his personal intercession on the NSG issue, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar's visit to Beijing and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal appeal to Chinese President at Tashkent either failed to dull the sharp edges of the great wall of resistance raised by China.


 By simply tantalizing India's hope, Beijing is just playing delatory maneuver while being persuaded. In such case, India must grope for other options to find a way out by unraveling Chinese unkempt net. Its the time to act for India to uproot chinese hurdlesome wall from India's growth Itinerary. It must relook on its Chinese strategy and reformulate the roadmap in which it should deal with Beijing.

To start with, By just mulling over the forums like WTO and climate change where both are simultaneously embarking as unison, secondly, it may take a terse stance on South China Sea dispute, third, by beefing up its relationship with Taiwan as it itself a Chinese business hub, fourth and most substantially, by reconsidering its business ties with China as being the biggest trade partner of India with bilateral trade worth $70 billion, It may necessitate China to rethink before taking a hurdlesome stance in India' growth. Because as the trade scale tending towards China Exorbitantly, India has nothing to lose in its hand.