12 MEDIA WATCH
AsianVoiceNews
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23 - 29 November 2019
SCRUTATOR’S At its most absurdly comic, the BJP-Shiv Sena clamorous bid for power in Maharashtra brought to mind A Mad Tea-party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. More seriously, it reveals much of the moral bankruptcy of Indian politics, the aphrodisiac that drives, almost without exception, is simply a bid for power with minimum service. However, to target India as the exclusive member of this infamous club would be more than a tad unfair to other, more adept practitioners of the black arts.
shared his vision. If India was to become a developed country, top class science, life sciences, engineering were the indispensable keys to this fulfilment The advances made in these fields are proof that successive regimes in Delhi whatever be their political differences, were wedded to Nehru’s vision (Statesman November 14). Economy: Mixed signals Declining September factory output has led foreign and domestic rating agencies to making gloom-laden forecasts for Indian growth in the current fiscal, and perhaps beyond. It would, however, be premature to accept these as given, remembering that Moody’s and Standard Poor gave the American economy star rating prior to the financial collapse of 2008. Stars shine
Maharashtra BJP leader Fadnavis, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray in good times!
BJP-Shiv Sena gridlock The BJP won the largest number of seats in the State Assembly elections , 105 to Shiv Sena’s 56, in a legislature of 282 seats. The BJP and Shiv Sena had been partners in government, even if uneasy partners. They fell out over the loaves fishes of office. For 19 tedious days the two sides bargained and hustled. The Sena held backroom talks with Congress and Shard Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party NCP), to no avail. The State Governor blew his whistle and called Time, declaring the Assembly to be in a state of suspended animation, with the imposition of President’s Rule, that is direct rule from Delhi for a stipulated period before another election is held. The Shiv Sena, miffed that the Governor had refused its appeal for three more days to form a government, has now lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court questioning the propriety of the Governor’s decision. (Hindu, Times of India November 11, 12 13). Disqualification upheld by court India’s Supreme Court has upheld the disqualification of 17 dissident members of the Congress party and one from the Janata Dal by the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. However, they were not barred from contesting the forthcoming State by-elections. (Hindu, Times of India November 14). Remembering T.N. Seshan India is hugely in debt to T.N Seshan, the country’s first Chief Election Commissioner, whose iron integrity, vision and dedication two T.N. Seshan
decades ago put in place an institution that became the saving of Indian democracy. Through the 1970s and 80s general and state assembly elections had been reduced to alarming depths of corruption and violence, spearheaded by hired goons in fief to corrupt politicians. Census lists were falsified to favour party vote banks. Appointed Chief Commissioner in 1992, the virtuous knight in shining armour came to the rescue of a beleaguered system. The bogus electoral lists were corrected by trained teams under close expert supervision. There was no going back thereafter. The Election Commission was cast in stone, its chiefs deeply respected and obeyed. Under their watch , seven general elections have been held since 1992 and many more State Assembly elections. This, surely, is the greatest tribute to the memory to the remarkable T N Seshan, long India’s pride and blessing. (Times of India, Economic Times, Hindu, Statesman November 12). Nehru’s contribution to Indian science November 14 was Jawaharlal Nehru’s 130 th birth anniversary. He was chosen by Mahatma Gandhi – a shrewd judge of men – as best fitted to lead India in the aftermath of the blood and gore of Partition, help heal wounds and take India forward on a democratic path consistent with the rule of law. It was clearly a Herculean task which would take many lifetimes to fulfil. In his lifetime Nehru set the ball rolling. Among his foremost legacies in the making of the New India was Nehru’s close engagement with outstanding Indian scientists such as Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai and others of that genre, who
Five heavyweights have contributed to around half the gains in the Nifty rally since September 20 – when the corporate tax rate cut was announced - to record highs. The benchmark index gained 11 per cent since then, with Reliance Industries, Housing Development Finance Corporation, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and ITC contributing the bulk of these gains. Their ascent is set to continue ( Economic Times November 12) Auto sector in profit The struggling automobile sector was given a Diwali boost, with retail sales of passenger vehicles growing 14 per cent in October, as did two-wheeler sales up by 9 per cent. Chinese inject life into auto market Half a dozen Chinese companies are to invest $5 billion into India’s auto sector along with their vendor participants. The Chinese motor companies are as follows: Great Wall Motors, Changan Geely, Chery, Weichal. These companies have set up liaison offices, with deep manufacturing facilities and dedicated vendor base; they are also exploring possible acquisitions of running plants or greenfield facility The total revenue size of the Indian passenger car market is around $38 billion and growing at a compounded annual rate of 8.7 per cent between 2008 to 2018. Developments in India’s sector overall over the next quarters will be pointers to what lies ahead for the industry (Economic Times November 14). Mergers & Acquisitions bonanza for 2019 India is set to earn $52 billion in mergers and acquisitions among companies in 2019- 20, according to a report by Baker & McKenzie. Indian deal-making activity is expected to revert to the normal level in 2019, through the next few years, with private investments reviving (Economic Times November 10).
PM Modi with Russian President Putin at BRICS summit in Brasilia, Brazil. See Page 3
Software to take IT forward Software expenditure is set to take IT services earnings to $94 billion in 2020, according to monitoring agency, Gartner (Economic Times November 12). First woman Naval attaché The Indian Navy has selected its first woman attaché, Lt Commander Karabi Gogoi. Her first posting is to Moscow, for which she will be shortly completing her course learning Russian. This comes a month after the appointment Wing Commander Anjali Singh by the Indian Air Force as Deputy Air Attache, also with a Moscow posting. Lt Commander Gogoi is a naval engineer currently in service at the Karwar base (Times of India November 13). India as defence innovator Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a statement in Delhi, said he was confident that India would become an innovator in defence technology, and hence also an exporter. His ministry will encourage start-ups in defence equipment. ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of $5 trillion economy by 2024. Looking at the talent India possesses, I am pretty sure we can become a $10 trillion economy in 10 to 15 years,’ he said (Hindu November 12). Reddy in robust English fight back Andhra Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has taken on his opposition critics over his government plan to make English the medium of education in government schools, with full safeguards for Telugu and Urdu as compulsory subjects. The system will kick in at the start of the 2020 academic year. Opponents to the scheme include Telugu Desam leader Chandrababu Naidu and India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Chief Minister Reddy pointedly asked them where their children and grandchildren had studied and were currently studying. The answer: English medium schools. Their hypocrisy was exposed (Times of India November 13). Postscript: West Bengal’s Left Front regime (1976-2011) abolished English in
the primary and early secondary stages of school education. Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and well heeled senior colleagues sent their offspring to expensive private English medium institutions. Clearly, all men were equal but some were more equal than others! The Left Front was swept out of office in an electoral tsunami. Rafale appeal thrown out India’s Supreme Court dismissed the appeal for a review of the French Rafale aircraft deal between India and France, which entailed the purchase 36 of these warplanes for the Indian Air Force. The judgment passed by the bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, was unanimous. The bench rebuked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his intemperate language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Gandhi issued an apology. The recently retired Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa expressed his
Rafale
satisfaction with the outcome. He was air chief when the contract with Dassault, the French company that designed and serviced Rafale, was signed. The IAF had stipulated specific weapons’ requirements that needed to be integrated with the plane’s capabilities. Dassault complied with request. The political storm thereafter was designed for party political purpose (Times of India, Hindu November 15). Indian anti-cancer kit in US breakthrough The US Food and Drug Administration’s Centre for Devices and Radiological Health has designated a medical invention by a Bangaluru-based scientist as a ‘breakthrough’ in the treatment of liver, pancreatic and breast cancers. Cytotron, developed by Rajah Vijay Kumar aids in tissue engineering of cancer cells, altering how specific proteins are regulated to stop these cells multiplying (Times of India November 12).k