Happy Independence Day ! - Address to the Nation

My dear brothers and sisters,

It fills me with great pride to stand before you and present my hearty congratulations on our Independence Day. It is now 67 years since our founding fathers unfurled the tricolor from the ramparts of this historic edifice that has been a silent witness to many an empire. Until the 15^th August, 1947, never had the people of these lands the right to determine their destiny by themselves. The Maurya, the Gupta, the Tughlaq, the Mogul, even the British have all laid claim to this right…but never the Indian. Until 15^th August, 1947 and democracy was established.

Every Independence Day is not a day to relax, but a day to reflect. On what has been and what could have been accomplished. There comes a day to step back from the monotony of daily work and imagine the endless possibilities that we, as children of the same nation, can achieve if only we work together. That day is today.

Trials and failure are the ingredients in nation-building. Every country has her share of nay-sayers, critics and confounders. We too have fundamental differences and shortcomings. Despite worshipping the female form, we continue to record abhorrent atrocities against women. This is unacceptable. Discrimination in the form of caste, creed and religion continues to blot our glorious record of a civilization that has always embraced the persecuted and the defenseless. Corruption has been and shall always remain India’s No.1 enemy. The grim battle against it continues, and at this Kurukshetra the judiciary, the executive and the aspirations of our people are aligned with the legislature. We shall prevail although success will not be quick.

To brood over the dark spots of the year gone by is an easy recipe for cynicism and a delight for the obstructionist forces in our path. Over the last year we have continued our march to progress. I am pleased to report that our investments in Science and Technology have continued unabated. Your government unveiled new centers of higher learning and focused on delivering skills to young India. Your government has unveiled a roadmap for delivering food security to the urban and rural poor, which is the largest of its kind in the world. Tribal affairs continue to be a core theme in the societal targets of your government. “The people are the prize”- this core tenet continues to guide us in the darkness of the forests of Dandakaranya. While we continue with our efforts to enforce the rule of law in these areas, we must remember to face up to the aspirations of our tribal brothers and sisters and pursue industrial development bearing in mind key environmental considerations. Other nations in the world have trodden this path successfully, and India shall too.

We continue to face global headwinds in the form of muted growth and the implications of easy monetary policies by international governments. Coupled with the cost of domestic development programs, the Indian rupee has been impacted and fallen in value during the last year. We continue to believe that a situation of benign inflation is the best possible foundation for private and public enterprises to pursue growth. Accordingly, while the long-term focus on a healthy ratio between consumption and investment remains, your government has taken the prudent step of a higher interest rate regime to beat back inflationary trends. We remain committed to ensuring that food prices are within reach of the common man. Indian industry has been supported through aggressive de-bottlenecking of investment regulations and simplifying approval procedures which we are sure, will provide the necessary confidence in the security of capital investments. We remain open to a constructive dialogue on further reform measures with all stakeholders.

Your government has taken a key step towards promoting Indian industry with the unveiling of INS Vikrant, which has been designed and manufactured in India. This approach has yielded considerable cost savings and thousands of jobs to our domestic work force. This government is committed to increasing indigenization, while ensuring our brave jawans have the necessary infrastructural support and quality equipment to perform their vital service to the nation.

Let this Independence Day be one of personal reflection – how can you, as a member of this vast family, contribute to a better India? This government believes that when each Indian is given the ability to achieve his/her aspirations in full is the true meaning of freedom achieved. India is a shining beacon of democracy to Asia, nay the entire world. This has been achieved only when the masses that make India have held their elected representatives to account.

Shortly, our great nation will commence the process of deciding her political future. It remains my wish that all Indians take the time to consider the future of our children above petty considerations of ideology or monetary gain and vote for their chosen representatives. This is a cherished right for which our freedom fighters have shed blood. Let this great power not go to waste, and may Indians never lose faith in our perhaps flawed but peerless democratic set-up.

With these few words, I thank you all for your time today, and again congratulate all Indians settled around the globe a very happy Independence Day.

Jai Hind! Jai Hind! Jai Hind!

Pride and Prejudice

My love lies deep inside me,
and my hatred is deeper still.
I am a lake, placid and cool
fed by streams of turbulence.

My people span the sea,
that an ancient Lord once bridged.
On one side lies tears and martyrs,
the other holds wails and quislings.

Wait,was it this side or that?
Who has strayed from the noble ideals,
enshrined in lore, epics and sung
in the sweet hymns of saints ?

A great war has come and gone,
but victor and vanquished,
on their day of reckoning
will be welcomed alike
by this holy soil.

The fire of a wronged woman,
burned down a proud city.
Let the pyres that still burn,
burnish the Tamil soul
and teach an eternal truth to her people.

People at war with themselves,
need no enemies to do them in.

Martyrs and quislings,

like conjoined twins.

Each needs the other,

a single heart beats within.

So I patiently wait,

for the people of sweet Tamil

to forgive,never forget,

serenity within.

A Psalm Of Life

                                                              Copyright- Mr. Raghu Rai

To all those who spend time these days bickering about the good/evil wrought by one man on their cherished world-view, H.W.Longfellow had perhaps the best riposte :

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife! 
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead! 

The state of affairs (or the affairs of state)

What is more pitiable - having a man of straw for a Prime Minister or having men of reed clamoring to replace him?

How many seats does the BJP want in 2014?

Politics is the art of the impossible. Shri Pranab Mukherjee proved yet again why he is amongst India’s canniest politics through the presentation of yet another Teflon budget. In an economy that is clearly demonstrating signs of a slowdown, amongst rising input costs and harried consumers, managing to present a brief on the government budget while neither admitting nor denying constraints requires tremendous chutzpah and Shri Mukherjee has managed this.

This article is not interested in the winners and losers nor the how’s and what’s of this budget. The scope is purely to examine the why and the where from here.

The UPA administration has seen the expansion of government into every aspect of Indian life. However, this has not been combined with a strategic outlook for public policy. Whereas governments expand with lofty ideals, the lack of pragmatic spending soon turns dreams to nightmares and benign surpluses to runaway deficits,. This pretty much sums up the Indian experience in the last decade. The body blows of the Great Depression has only served to accentuate this effect.

The result has been the inevitable loss of purchasing power. Industries are starved of timely inputs and swaddled with endless red tape. Farmers are reduced to begging for a fair remuneration for their produce. The mercantile class remains a favorite whipping boy with policy flip-flops on FDI in retail and GST unsettling any expansion plans, while the householder is unable to balance budgets.

It seems a long time ago that India stood at the path of robust growth coupled with overall welfare for the masses. The NDA government under Shri A.B. Vajpayee has been amongst the most forward thinking administrations in Modern India. The Golden Quadrilateral project remains a piece of visionary thinking that has been unmatched in the last ten years, not withstanding grand promises to make Mumbai like Shanghai.

It seems that even the UPA administration understands this state of affairs, although a strenuous effort is being made to demonstrate control over statecraft. In the aftermath of a string of disastrous state results, the opportunity lay in the hands of Shri Mukherjee to stem the rote. An admission of failure would have been necessary but the situation could still have been salvaged by pruning governmental expenditure and stimulating growth through careful advancement of Indian industry. Such an approach had the effect of little short term benefits but lasting economic welfare, a la Manmohan Singh circa 1991. In not doing so, the Congress has signaled its exhaustion with power. The lack of a powerful leader in its midst, either by design or incompetence has led the Congress to throw in the towel for 2014.

So where does India go from here? This is where the current opposition has to play a constructive role. By commencing political re-alignments in right earnest, regional parties have the best change of climbing onto the development bandwagon to which only the BJP can lay true claim. A robust re-alignment is the need of the hour, so that the Indian public can provide the NDA combine with the mandate necessary to propel India ahead.

The BJP too for its part has many crucial areas to focus on. Organization will be key to the success of the 2014 campaign, and here the Sangh Parivar can provide the necessary strategic vision and “boots on the ground” to ensure that local issues are highlighted properly. The BJP needs to close ranks and project a powerful team who can articulate the concerns of the various voter segments and Indian Industry. Leadership and discipline is the need of the hour and it is up to the BJP to provide this. Social media needs to be engaged immediately to spread the message of progressive thinking amongst Indian youth.

In short, events are already in motion to provide the NDA with the absolute majority last seen 30 years ago in the hands of late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. In military terms, the terrain and weather are favorable, the current regime is tottering and whole sections of the civilian population are rebellious and clamoring for change. The only real answer to the title of this article now lies within the BJP and shall be reflected in their actions from now to 2014.

India watches with bated breath.