The Great Indian Political Drama - 1 (Oct 2017 - Mar 2018)

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Suraj
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Suraj » Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:53 pm

Letter of credit and bank guarantee are not the same thing, but similar.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Sachin » Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:08 pm

About the Kerala origin people now running the show of Congress in Karnataka
Will The ‘Kerala Mafia’ Cost Siddaramaiah The State?
Siddaramaiah himself actually is from Janata Dal, but like a typical IT-Vity chap just jumped "company" at the right time ;).

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by la.khan » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:19 pm

So, yet another political party is born in Madurai, courtesy Thiru Kamal Haasan :roll: Of all the people, KH found Crazywal to be on the dias with him :facepalm:

MGR/NTR/JJ's single biggest disservice to the country was their ability to win elections. Ever since these worthies got elected, South Indian film stars delude themselves as the next big thing in their respective political arenas. Today's launch of MNM reminded me of Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam. :roll:

Fortunately for AP &TS people, Chiranjeevi's maiden political (ad)venture flopped miserably, so much that Chiranjeevi wound up his outfit in under 5 years :shock: With Chiranjeevi's political gamble in tatters, not one Telugu film star talks of politics. Sure, there may be individuals who contest as an MLA/MP, but no more delusions of starting a political party and sweeping elections (like what NTR pulled off in 1984). Chiranjeevi's brother PK has a political party but is no where near his elder brother's charisma, let alone NTR's.

For the last 30-40 years, TN was helmed by film stars (MK, MGR, JJ). Is it not time TN people wake up and elect somebody down to earth? It will be quite a day in TN politics to be NOT ruled by filmi people :geek:

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Karthik » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:40 pm

TN is play ground for ALL BIFs, and most indic group is not much mentally evolved to understand this play. They can be easily fooled by waving language flag.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by vishvak » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:27 pm

For back of hand calculations, any rough estimate of Nirav Modi's assets outside India?
link
I don't think though that this is a raid on an Indian company that pays part of taxes and shares profits in India. Don't forget to consider yearly profits, turnover et al.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Rudradev » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:25 pm

The Nirav Modi episode is a crisis beyond anything that has happened so far for the NaMo GOI. Combined with NDA2's utter failure to prosecute anyone for any of the myriad scams that took place under UPA, it will seriously tarnish NaMo's image as an anti-corruption warrior, which was definitely a key propellant of the "NaMo Wave" in 2014.

If this is not resolved through any and all necessary means, if Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi do not end up in jail within the year, if the loot is not recovered from them, my projection is the following:

10% chance of BJP getting an LS majority on its own in the next GE.

35% chance of NDA getting an LS majority in the next GE, with BJP reliant on allies who are relatively stable and go along with the program, keeping the GOI in power until 2024. This will however be a worse situation for NaMo than the current dispensation, because the BIFs and their organs in the media, bureaucracy, judiciary etc. will be heavily emboldened to stall, stymie, and sabotage the GOI's continuing efforts at reform.

45% chance of NDA getting an LS majority in the next GE, with BJP reliant on allies who are unstable, creating a possibility of bringing down the government before 2024.

10% chance of NDA failing to achieve a majority in the LS and some sort of Mahathugbandhan forming the next government of India.

No chance at all of BJP getting 2/3 majority on its own. Less than 5% chance of a 2/3 majority for NDA in the LS.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by SSundar » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:27 am

Karthik wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:40 pm
TN is play ground for ALL BIFs, and most indic group is not much mentally evolved to understand this play. They can be easily fooled by waving language flag.
The flag is interesting. KH's own description of the flag is not very convincing:
The flag, which now serves as the logo and symbol of Kamal's newly launched Makkal Needhi Maiam party, depicts six hands holding onto one other. Three of the hands are in red and the other three in white. At the centre of the flag is a six pointed star in black, forming a white core.

Speaking at the unveiling of his party at the Othakadai Grounds in Madurai, Kamal said in Tamil, “If you look closely, you will find the new map of south India. The six hands stand for the six states. The six pointed star represents you and people's justice.”(sic)

It is widely speculated that the actor is including the union territory of Puducherry to the list of five southern states- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Dr. Gaurav Pradhan on Twitter had a much more plausible explanation for that flag :D. Every member of BIF is adequately represented.

Image

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by fanne » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:37 am

After GST the momentum has turned negative for BJP (Demo was very positive for BJP). This NIRAV incidence only accelerates that process.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by chetak » Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:08 am

From Masuka to Communal Violence Bill, the dangers of UPA 3 can be unimaginable


From Masuka to Communal Violence Bill, the dangers of UPA 3 can be unimaginable

By Hariprasad N, February 21, 2018.

In the build-up to the 2019 elections, discussions have taken off on social media on the various possibilities that may arise next year. While the confidence among supporters of BJP and specifically PM Modi is quite high, it is also a fact that the Congress seems to be approaching 2019 with much more focus than what has been seen in the past few years. The role of certain ‘Data Analytics’ companies is being touted as the reason for the increased focus of the Congress top-leadership.

Lord Walrus has an excellent post on the various scenarios that are likely to emerge based on the results of the elections — from an RW point of view. The first of the possibilities he considers — that of an NDA loss — is without a doubt the most damaging result from an RW/Hindu-cause point of view. Lord Walrus also summarizes the effect of such a result very well.

“Not only will they have an ideological opponent in power, but the opponent will consider their [RW] existence as a thorn in the flesh. The ideological opponents will likely use everything at their disposal to hunt and smother the fledgeling RW… Moreover, bringing back UPA3 will certainly bring back sectarian lawmaking with a vengeance… UPA3 will definitely set back the Hindu revival by at least 2 decades, if not more. I am personally afraid that UPA3 will sow the seeds for another partition”

The above conclusions on what is likely to happen got me to wonder if this is just a fear the author has — or perhaps fear mongering to rally Hindu Nationalists? Or is there some genuine basis for such thoughts? What proof exists that justifies the claim that UPA 3 will bring back sectarian lawmaking with a vengeance? How are we so sure Hindu revival will be set back?

I did a little bit of research looking for any “proof” from the past that confirms these fears. And sure enough, I found many. We know a number of laws and policies that UPA1 and UPA2 made, such as the RTE, NCMEI, the creation of the minority affairs ministry, the Sachar Committee, the takeover of more and more temples and so on — that have deepened the communal divide in this country. But what we have perhaps forgotten is the amount of preparatory work done by the same “Idea of India” folks for “UPA3”. If and when UPA3 comes back, many of these work-in-progress items are definitely going to see the light of the day — albeit in some modified or restructured form. And the possibilities that these would-be actions are likely to cause fully justify the fears of a “setback of Hindu revival”.

Converting Education into a Battlefield

Lots have been written about the sectarian #Core1 laws that UPA1 and UPA2 have made. The creation of the NCMEI, the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, the RTE Act, are all ensuring massive damage to the foundation of the Education sector in this country. While the RW folks were/are still in the process of truly understanding the long-term impact of these moves, UPA had already moved on to the next stage — facilitating the conversion of the field of Education into a legal battlefield.

The fact that Education is one of the biggest domains of litigation in this country is actually a severe indictment of the failure of our Education policy since Independence. However, instead of focusing on removing the thorns in this sector that lead to such high litigation, UPA moved towards formal recognition of this unfortunate fact and introduced the “Educational Tribunal Bill” in 2010. The bill, passed in Lok Sabha, has now thankfully lapsed. However, it is extremely likely that the same will be reintroduced in some form or the other.

The bill proposes setting up of National and State level Tribunals that will handle all forms of disputes and litigation in the domain of education. The stated “goal” is the speedy resolution of disputes in the field. However, as we have seen with the National Green Tribunal, such dedicated bodies tend to encourage litigation, especially of the false variety.

The Educational Tribunals will have a mix of Judicial, ‘Expert’ and ‘Administrative’ members — the latter two being drawn from the domain of education. It will be free from the clutches of the “Code of Civil Procedure” and will resort to “Principles of Natural Justice” — in other words — the decisions it will give will purely depend upon the leanings of the Tribunal members. The non-compliance of the orders of this Tribunal will invite a prison sentence of 3 years and fines of lakhs of rupees.

The Act also has its signature “Idea of India” elements — craftily worded sections to exempt minority institutions from its ambit. Section 51 says the following

“Nothing contained in this Act or the rules made thereunder shall apply to any minority institution to the extent to which they are inconsistent with the functions and powers vested upon the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions”

A quick look at the NCMEI Act shows that it actually has powers to decide pretty much everything that relates to minority educational institutions.

“Functions of Commission. — Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Commission shall — ….

…. enquire, suo moto, or on a petition presented to it by any Minority Educational Institution, or any person on its behalf into complaints regarding deprivation or violation of rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice…..

…. decide all questions relating to the status of any institution as a Minority Educational Institution and declare its status as such”

Therefore, the above section is in effect a blanket exemption to minority institutions.

Formalise Sectarian Funding

A very genuine concern of the #Core team has been the policies of appeasement being practised by all Governments since Independence. Doling out scholarships, loans, infrastructure funding and financial aid based solely on religious considerations is truly anti-#Core but fully ‘Idea of India’ compliant. Along with ideological reasons why this is wrong, the fact remains that such funding is purely unconstitutional.

However, groundwork has already been done to overcome the objections to these policies. In accordance with the “recommendations” of the Sachar Committee, the UPA1 Government had set up a committee to make recommendations for setting up an “Equal Opportunity Commission” in 2007. This committee came out with a report, and a draft law, that sets up such a Commission.

The stated goals of this Commission are to accord formal recognition to “substantive equality” and eliminate (even) “indirect discrimination”. In real terms, this translates to sanction for sectarian purses. Once “substantive equality” is formally recognized, almost all sectarian purse spending can easily be justified by suitable definitions of “substantive equality”. By its very definition, there cannot be a standard explanation for “substantive” equality. And one can always look for facts/examples to justify a certain sectarian policy.

A ‘Violence Bill’ that’s Communal in Nature

Another favourite area where UPA1 and UPA2 did a lot of preparatory work has been the area of “communal violence”. In 2005, UPA1 introduced a communal violence bill. In 2011, under the guidance of the NAC, UPA2 introduced a revised draft of the same. Although the bill had to be dropped in 2014, grounds for its withdrawal were primarily due to the concerns about overlap with powers of the State government. However, the truly worrying parts of the bill are not related to who exercises control — but the starkly communal and draconian provisions it had.

In the 2005 version of the bill, any “group” that has become a victim of communal attacks could seek redressal. However, in 2011, a new definition of the “group” which is protected, was introduced.

“group means a religious or linguistic minority, in any State in the Union of India, or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes within the meaning of clauses (24) and (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution of India”

Thus only minorities and SCs/STs could be “victims” and the perpetrators of communal violence would always be the majority, which is Hindus.

The definition of “offences” itself was so wide — any sort of crime could be brought under the ambit of this Act.

“Continuous unlawful activity of a widespread or systematic nature knowingly directed against a group or part thereof’ means the course of conduct involving the multiple or mass commission of acts referred to in this section, whether spontaneously or planned, whether over a short or prolonged period or in one place or a number of places simultaneously or otherwise, against any group or part thereof”

About 35 offences under the IPC were brought under dual ambit — by making it also relevant to this Communal Violence Bill. The only additional criterion being it has to be committed multiple (read — more than once) times against a minority.

The Act turned many judicial concepts upside down. It mandates that every accused be first assumed guilty — with the onus of proving otherwise on the accused.

“Whenever an offence of organized communal and targeted violence is committed and it is shown that a hostile environment against a group exists or the offence of hate propaganda under section 8 was committed against a group, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that the said offence was knowingly directed against persons belonging to the group by virtue of their membership of the group”

The Act allows for the property of the accused to be attached even during the pendency of the trial!

“Where the charge has been framed in relation to an offence under this Act, the Designated Judge may direct that the property of the accused person be attached during the pendency of the trial and until conviction or acquittal, as the case may be”

In other words, the punishment for an accused starts even before he/she is convicted of any offence!

The body created to supervise the implementation of this Act — the National and State ‘Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation” — will always have a majority of members belonging to the “group” (as described above). In other words, an organisation consisting of a majority of members of the victim group will oversee the trial and punishment of the group of accused who belong to a different community.

The list of such blatantly sectarian provisions in this Act goes on. The few listed above should give a very good idea about the potential damage it can cause.

Superstition — a curse that affects only Hindus!

The Karnataka Government recently passed an “anti-superstition” bill. A cursory look at the “Schedule” in the bill that lists offences punishable under the Act make it clear that only Hindu practices are under the radar.

Made snana and walking over coals have already come under the reigns of this Act. It goes without saying that the list of such “superstitious” practices covered in the Act will only increase in the days to come.

A national level law that acts as the parent law for each State to emulate is most likely to happen if UPA3 comes back. Given the continuous activism being performed by sympathetic lawyers and NGOs in the various courts in the past few years — to take out many Hindu rituals and customs — from Jallikattu to dahi handi to deepavali crackers — the possibility of a central law to ban all of them — the exact opposite of #Core5 — is more than certain. And it is not like they have stopped trying even when they are out of power. Most of the cases that targeted Hindu customs recently had wily lawyers from the Congress party fighting it. And these are not just any lawyers, but senior most lawyers who are also Congress leaders. Now, if they can create such damage when out of power, one wonders the extent to which they would go to if they do return to power.

Masuka — leeway in disguise?

While there have most certainly been incidents of violence by many people in the garb of protecting cattle and apprehending cattle thieves — the issue of rampant theft of cattle in itself is a clear and present problem in India today. However, the ‘Idea of India’ brigade has paid unfair and disproportionate attention to the violence caused by the mindless few and ignored the genuine problems of the cattle loving majority. At the height of the artificially pumped up noise about “lynching” in the country, #IOI warriors came up with draft legislation that punishes such crimes. By casting a wide net to cover offences under such Acts, including defining victims as those who have suffered even ‘mental and psychological harm’ (things that are next to impossible to disprove) the goal is to make it extremely tough to even protect oneself from actual crimes in these scenarios.

Read this excellent critique to understand why such laws are anti-pattern and will have the reverse effect of what it actually claims to help prevent.

Conclusion

The concerns of increased sectarian lawmaking and thereby fuelling of communal differences are real. While we may be stuck in a swamp right now — with no easy way to get ourselves out of it — Hindu RW need to realise the effect of a UPA return in 2019.

“apni pair pe khulaadi maarna” – would be the best way to describe it.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by SSundar » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:08 am

fanne wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:37 am
After GST the momentum has turned negative for BJP (Demo was very positive for BJP). This NIRAV incidence only accelerates that process.
GST was ok. Budget 2018 was a clear disappointment and then Nirav totally messed it up for them.

Jaitley should have saved some tax break optics for the middle class for 2018. He could still save the day by throwing some major middle class sop by mid-2018. Hopefully, GST collections pick up steam in the next 4-5 months and enable them to do something.

Congress and ecosystem are reaping the benefits of repeating the Ambani-Adani message everywhere. See the number of Ambani-Adani-(Nirav)-Modi familial connections memes multiplying in number across the country.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by SSundar » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:19 am

In short, Jaitley holds the key to Modi's re-election in 2019.

Does he really have an incentive to ensure that Modi gets re-elected? Aren't his incentives more stacked in favor of BJP failing to make a majority by itself thereby alliance partners proposing him as a compromise candidate for PM?

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by chetak » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:33 am

fanne wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:47 pm
If LOU = LC (letter of credit), then I can pontificate -
In US (and yes I deal with these so I know what I am talking about) - LC is like a bank guarantee, mainly for businesses that are done between new players or oversees or there are some risks (Since settlement takes few days/months, the other party wants some guarantee against default/fraud). A LC vs a syndicated loan (loan to commercial parties, like IBM, reliance etc.), can be done without collateral. If IBM goes today to Citibank and asks $10 billion loan, Citi may give it without collateral, then pool various banks (break the loan into tranches) and give this money to IBM. These loans then are traded in secondary market, same as shares.
Coming back to LC - Banks give LC. From small players, where they do not have much of history or earning proof, they may ask collateral for the LC, from big player, they seldom ask (as risk is perceived less). LC may or may not get executed. A LC can be of say $100 million for 3 months. The bank earns a handsome fees/interest on that (if LC is executed, it becomes a loan). What happens is, Nirav Modi got this LC (LOU) for 100 carore to buy gems, he buys it and then few things can happen 1)He pays for that 100 carore from his pocket (LC does not get executed, PNB earns a fee for free, Nirav Modi gets his diamond, which the other player may not give him without a bank guarantee) 2)Nirav Modi wants 6 month time to pay, he buys diamonds worth 100 carores, turns them into jwelllery of 1000 carore and sells enough of them in 6 months to generate the profit of 100 carore to pay back PNB. In this case LC was executed by the counterparty, Nirav Modi pays fees/interest on the LC and when LC turns into loan, he makes interest and payment on the loan and settles the account in 6 months (to x years). He has to be in the good book of PNB to get the next LOU(LC)
3) Nirav Modi buys diamonds, cannot pay. LC gets executed, turns into loan, Nirav is not in position to pay, his business is doing bad (by all accounts he was doing fine, this case may not be applicable at all). He gets another LOU down the line to pay for the first one. LC/LoU are also (could be) revolving in nature, so if you do not use LOU of 100 carore in the next three months, it is available for another 6 months. If you used only 30 carore, 70 carore is available for the next 3 months (some newspaper/media is alleging this)
4) Nirav Modi took all these LoU, never paid, and since there was no reconciliation, he has 11,000 carore worth of PNB money stolen (Major narrative in the media, I doubt he never paid, that much difference would have shown in the bank ledger. PNB does not grow money on trees.
Conclusion -
I think what happened is combo of 1,2,3 (and not 4). Many LC/Loan for big player may not require collateral (their reputation is their collateral, or they have explicit property that you may go after) while small players (farmers)s it is needed (as practiced in USA). Prasunn Vajpayee is playing this angle. Nirav as he himself is pointing out the loan is worth 280 carores. So out of LOU of 11,000 carores, many may have been not executed, partially executed or rolled over and the net outstanding right now is 280 carores. Why PNB is doing this? Is higher management involved. A rogh guess is that in this total of Lou PNB itself may have made 100 carores in fee/interest. Lucrative for them. In my opinion no fraud.
An LOU =/= LC.

An LC is internationally accepted but an LOU is an RBI dreamt up instrument that operates only with Indian banks and their foreign branches.

It has limited applicability.

And, there in lies the scam.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by chetak » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:47 am

SSundar wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:19 am
In short, Jaitley holds the key to Modi's re-election in 2019.

Does he really have an incentive to ensure that Modi gets re-elected? Aren't his incentives more stacked in favor of BJP failing to make a majority by itself thereby alliance partners proposing him as a compromise candidate for PM?
Every initiative of Modi, be it demon, GST whatever has been badly executed by the finmin guys and now the PNB scam.

Even if one tried really really hard to genuinely bugger up the system, one could not have done better job of undermining the PM personally.posting.php?mode=edit&f=22&p=8235

This is not an accident or mere happenstance. The malicious congi and the lootyens cockroaches of deep state are active and becoming even more entrenched by the day as the 2019 deadline approaches.

Why no house cleaning has been done so far and how the baboo(n) power centers of the previous regime has been allowed, not only to survive but also to prosper and spread their evil tentacles even further to undercut the NDA's programs. Just look at how the farmers loan waiver scheme was sabotaged in maharashtra to undermine the BJP.

Either people in charge are indifferent or are actively aiding and abetting the enemy.

A sensitive ministry like this needs to be handled by a scary shark like Swamy and not by guys so very clearly out of their depth.
Last edited by chetak on Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Raju » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:49 am

Look at our system, a media person filed an RTI with RBI to reveal name of defaulters esp large ones and RBI rebuffed him cleverly in a reply wherein they stated that the *fiduciary and constitutional right of the defaulters is inviolable* .. and what about when the banks go about attaching putting ads in newspapers on some default by a teacher or small time trader or pasting notices outside their premises to shame them in their neighbourhood. Don't these common folk have any fiduciary rights ?? What about their constitutional rights which these banks break violate without a care.

Why these double standards by RBI ? So obviously there are two different standards for different classes of people.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by chetak » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:52 am

Raju wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:49 am
Look at our system, a media person filed an RTI with RBI to reveal name of defaulters esp large ones and RBI rebuffed him cleverly in a reply wherein they stated that the *fiduciary and constitutional right of the defaulters is inviolable* .. and what about when the banks go about attaching putting ads in newspapers on some default by a teacher or small time trader or pasting notices outside their premises to shame them in their neighbourhood. Don't these common folk have any fiduciary rights ?? What about their constitutional rights which these banks break violate without a care.

Why these double standards by RBI ? So obviously there are two different standards for different classes of people.
It was not double standards by the RBI but by one single, specific 'person" whose motive in doing this remains unclear even today, and that too, right in the face of opposition from the CIC, high court and the SC itself.

Clearly, a man who considered his "judgement" to be unquestionable by authorities like those mentioned above. Loans taken by companies have to be disclosed to the authorities and there is nothing secret about them. Shareholders need to know what risks they are dealing with when investing in such companies.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Deans » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:39 am

SSundar wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:08 am

GST was ok. Budget 2018 was a clear disappointment and then Nirav totally messed it up for them.

Jaitley should have saved some tax break optics for the middle class for 2018. He could still save the day by throwing some major middle class sop by mid-2018. Hopefully, GST collections pick up steam in the next 4-5 months and enable them to do something.
The 25 million taxpayers in India pay tax at the lowest rate among G20 countries (with the exception of Saudi).
A much bigger vote catcher is another 20,000 cr for MGNREGA (which is desperately needed to ease rural distress) which can be done
by increasing the min rate of tax by just 1%. (from 5 to 6%). 55,000 crore has been budgeted against 75,000 needed to expand the scheme,
increase the duration in drought hit districts and pay back-wages.

FM has budgeted almost nothing from tax collections through penalising high value depositors in DeMo. FM estimates (correctly) that the value of unexplained and high value (above 80 lac) deposits is over 400,000 crore. Most of that should be paid as tax. Only about 20,000 cr (5%) has been estimated. This is a back of envelope calculation by taking estimates of tax and deducting what would have been collected from a natural exansion of the economy. Another 25,000 cr collected here can reduce the tax on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 /litre which will significantly impact inflation.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by SSundar » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:57 am

chetak wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:47 am
A sensitive ministry like this needs to be handled by a scary shark like Swamy and not by guys so very clearly out of their depth.
Now might be a good opportunity to bring in someone like Swamy to crack the whip. It will energize the core voter base as well. Jaitley can be given a face-saver such as stepping down due to poor health or even kicked to Governor or Ambassador. Then, a high profile cleaning up of FinMin babudom can be done and Modi can apologize to the nation for sub par implementation of GST and DeMo due to these babus. There is a strong chance that all will be forgiven.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by SRoy » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:32 am

Point about rogue finmim officials sabotaging PM's initiatives are well understood. It is visible to even lay persons that the legislative and executive are not in sync.

But then, one selling point of Mr. Modi has been that he is a very capable administrator. Wasn't he supposed to get these rogues under control?

The finmin is a disaster. It is not just the botched up GST implementation, people would recall the EPFO fiasco as well which was rolled back after protests. Even the results of demonetization are questionable.

Rightly said, Jaitley can still do some damage control.

If BJP has their ears to the ground.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Indrad » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:58 am

SSundar wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:57 am
Now might be a good opportunity to bring in someone like Swamy to crack the whip. It will energize the core voter base as well. Jaitley can be given a face-saver such as stepping down due to poor health or even kicked to Governor or Ambassador. Then, a high profile cleaning up of FinMin babudom can be done and Modi can apologize to the nation for sub par implementation of GST and DeMo due to these babus. There is a strong chance that all will be forgiven.
Namo still considers Jetli indispensable for finmin cos he needs access to Lutyens to run Delhi & beyond. Jetli is the only person with reach & penetration into media, jholawalas, is sauve, can take out Kejriwal types, can exercise influence on congis (GST in RS). Take Jetli out and some of baboons working for Modi team will drop out as well cos they consider Modi an unwashed abdul. Jetli is important enough to be given Amritsar which he lost in spite of Modi wave. Jetli is in core of Modi;s team. He is not going any where.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by chetak » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:01 am

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India's trucks often carry words of earthy wisdom, cheeky humour, philosophical poetry and political commentary. This one speaks volumes!

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Vikas
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Vikas » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:09 am

Indrad wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:58 am
SSundar wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:57 am
... There is a strong chance that all will be forgiven.
Namo still considers Jetli indispensable for finmin cos he needs access to Lutyens to run Delhi & beyond. Jetli is the only person with reach & penetration into media, jholawalas, is sauve, can take out Kejriwal types, can exercise influence on congis (GST in RS). Take Jetli out and some of baboons working for Modi team will drop out as well cos they consider Modi an unwashed abdul. Jetli is important enough to be given Amritsar which he lost in spite of Modi wave. Jetli is in core of Modi;s team. He is not going any where.
Sorry I disagree. Aj is not the only game in town and he can be fit into some other ministry like I&B or HR.
Not a single soul thinks that AJ brings any value to the finmin table yet NM clings onto him. First it was some personal favor, now access to Lutyens, next something else..
Does it ever occur to us that AJ is doing what NM tells him to do and Aj is just a puppet. You don't assume NM to be so naïve to let AJ sabotage his govt. NM govt full focus is on Farmers and Poor and all this chatter of Middle class being ignored is because middle class is not in the scheme of things of NM for 2019.
NM for no fault of his is supposed to be a superman who will cure Bharat of all its ills with a magic wand. It is not going to happen even after 2nd term to NaMo. Our fault lines and way of corrupt/incompetent working is too deeply entrenched.

Deans
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Deans » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:13 am

Its not just a problem of Jaitley or the Babu's (most of whom have been handpicked by Modi ji). The Govt as a whole has just not got a grip on governance, as far as finance is concerned. While the intent is good and the ideas that flow from it sound (DeMo, GST, Benami) the implementation has been terrible. For e.g.
1. DeMo - There is no follow up on high value deposits with no IT returns. The limited resources of the IT dept (which should have been strengthened) are still used in following up on small claims, harassing small taxpayers etc instead of the just 1.8 lac people with unexplained high value deposits. There is 0 info on how many summons are issued or value of demands made (I've tried all routes to get info).
2. GST - The portal is repeatedly failing ,which is why e-way bills cannot be implemented. It is not Infosys's fault as much as the Fin-Min changing their requirements on a daily basis. Many of the amendments made could have been done on day 1.
3. Known tax shelters like bonus stripping and city folks showing crores of agricultural income are allowed to continue. It required two paras in the budget to plug this.
4. No will to implement the benami Act ( I thought it was a bigger masterstroke than DeMo, when Modiji passed it after 27 years of inaction). The number of cases identified to date, is laughable.
5. Barring Mallaya, not a single wilful defaulter (which is a subset of NPA's) has been prosecuted. Not a single bank official has been arrested. Not a single linkage between sanctioning that loan and political pressure has been identified - let alone proved. This is a low hanging fruit. What is to stop ED arresting some retired bank officials and getting them to squeal ?

Chandragupta
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Chandragupta » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:11 am

Exactly. Blaming Jetli or babus is irrelevant. Fact is Modi put Jetli there. He is the top man. The buck stops with Modi, that's what he told us in 2014. I see people here abusing Jetli but please understand the Government is the extension of PM in this case. The diktats flow from Modi. He is not a political lightweight puppet like MMS. All 282 seats were won in his name. He is the captain of the team. There can't be any excuses about Jetli this and that and Rajnath this and that. If Modi is not satisfied with them, he will take over the ministry via PMO and get thing done. But if he is not doing anything it only means two things - he is satisfied or he doesn't give jackshit.

Sachin
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Sachin » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:42 am

Chandragupta wrote:
Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:11 am
But if he is not doing anything it only means two things - he is satisfied or he doesn't give jackshit.
Correct. Considering that Na.Mo has ruled over a state, and won multiple elections from there; certainly he is not naive. My gut feeling is that Amit Shah & Co are actively working in the back ground, on the election strategy for year 2019. They may be on the process of knowing, which strata of people, which state, and which issues they need to focus on. One thing I have noticed is that Amit & Na.Mo plays this game as a "businessman" (and not as a Mogul tyrant, or communist dictators). "Give & take" is always a strategy of a businessman.

The media and opposition at present is bringing up some issue or other, and then ask Modi to come up with an explanation. What is new here? This tactic has been used right from 2014. FTII Director appointment, Dadri lynching case, man-missing case of "progressive writers" :roll:; the opposition (and Siva Sena) have been asking Modi to give explanations for all of them. He did not do that, and opposition also moved on with life. But to be frank, many of us here have slowly started feeling that "Modi should answer this.." (which was not there in 2014).

For many of us, it is the media which sets the agenda for us (for dhoti shiver, whining, thumping our chests etc.). Shah & Modi may have got much better "informers" on the ground.

Supratik
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - Oct 2017

Post by Supratik » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:01 pm

I am not sure why we should blame Modi and Jaitely for a fraud that happened in a branch of a bank. Tomorrow you will blame Modi for your maids smelly fart. I think this is to spread FUD to do a equal-equal with Congress corruption. The task before Modi and Shah is to prevent the engineered negative perception to spread before 2019 elections. I don't expect the political ecosystem of Cong-Left to not try every trick in the book before 2019 as the performance of the Modi govt has been good and corruption free at the top level.

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