A very messy operaion of demonetisation of the currencies due to logistic failiure and administartive lapses

The attempt of the BJP government to unearth black money through demonetization of the Rs 1000 and Ra 500 has created more  chaos and confusion and untold miseries to the law abiding honest middle and poor class Indians . The whole operation has become so messy due to administrative lapses and logistic failures. Doesn’t the  RBI aware of the quantum of money  that would be exchanged after the declaration ? Didn’t they expect poor and middle class who have no considerable bank balance and depend on their daily or monthly  income  for all types of their family expenses  become panicky and rush for exchanging the available old currency for the new ? They could have closed the ATMs one weeks before this emergency measure under some false pretext and used that time to change the soft ware to suit new currencies and filled up the ATMs with required money for smooth flow of currency . they should have printed new Rs 500 in large quantity and made efficient arrangement to distribute it to all the bank branches in India . Why should this government undertake this massive operation if thay could not make proper preparation before announcing the denonetisation of currencies. Why should I who have my own money in my account , stand for hours together in the queue and go back empty handed when the banks close down their shutters saying the cash s stock is over?. When all the corporates, politicians and other black money holders relax comfortably in AC comfort and watch the sufferings of middle and poor class persons as a big thamasha unfolding through the TV channels ? Does Modi thinks it is only few thousands which the middle class keep at home for emergency and expected big expenses for medical ,marriages. Funeral  and educational fees  is the balck money pralysing the economy?  The authorities had  also failed miserably in ensuring continuous supply of new currencies to the banks and post offices and thus put enormous pressure on the Post office and bank employees.   The net result is, loss  productive hours for those who stood in the Queue,  strain for the senior citizens who could not sign in  their life certificates and draw their pension ,loss of income to the daily wage earners who visited various ATMs , banks and post offices with desperate hope of exchanging meager money to feed their families. Once again this government has proved that this nation is not for the poor to live with dignity . What a  mess in administering this monetary measure to control black money ! It is highly irritating to listen to the BJPs spokes persons ,advising patience to the common people in the name of  nationalism. All of them should be made to run between post offices, ATMs and banks and made to stand for hours together to feel the pain of others, instead of made to sit AC  rooms with boot, suit and tie and give sermon for others. Mr. Jetley should be made to stand in the queue under the sun and in the road for three hours for making cosy and insensitive statements through the TV channels . his statements cause much irritation .An inefficient   government should not have undertaken this serious and major operation if they can not be in full form of preparedness .

The cruelty of nationalism test

We do not know whether India is a vibrant democracy or not. But we surely believe that , it is undoubtedly a functioning democracy in spite of several acts of intolerance exercised by the politically strong  parties and certain militant fringe groups attached to them and operating in different parts of India. In recent years  they have become emboldened to curtail the personal  freedom and fundamental rights of the citizens  in several matters ,  particularly  of the media, creative persons , the minorities and the poor . Some times they even challenge the judiciary , a very dangerous trend .What is worrying is their ability to  succeed  in achieving their agenda of intolerance and it is very difficult to understand the failure of the ruling central and state government to resort to the exercise of  the rule of law to control them effectively . Is not silence over these acts of intolerance understood as acceptance of their hooliganism? It is very sad that , people belonging to the minority groups  are threatened repeatedly   by these  fringe groups to declare their patriotism and nationalism tokenistic actions   .They are permanently under suspicion list. let the  government conduct a national level written  test for all the Indians on patriotism and issue  a  pass certificate on it   so  that,  they will not be subjected to the cruelty of proving their nationalism repeatedly .

Gender justice for Muslim women

The BJP government ruling India today came to power because, PM Modi could succeed in convincing the voters about his ability to bring in changes in the economic scenario prevailing just before election through a number of tall promises made during his  hectic election campaign. The youth were promised jobs, the corporates were assured of freedom from tax terrorism   and from bureaucratic delays, the foreign investors were guaranteed of ease of doing business in India and the citizens of India were made to believe in the BJP party’s ability to  remove corruption from this nation which reached its height during the last phase of the then ,Congress government. But after 30 months of rule, the people have realised that all the promises made in the most thundering voice were not anywhere near the promises made. Under -performance has made the opposition parties bolder in criticisms and the media is giving the  true picture of the economic scenario. The total effect of the disappointments to the voters will surely , reflect on the next General Election verdict. Hence, the BJP was in search of a tool to divert the people’s attention from its dismal economic performance and it found it in the threat to introduce Uniform Civil Code for India.

 We should not forget that, it is the RSS which sets the social and cultural agenda for the present government, the BJP party, its political agenda and the BJP government it’s economic agenda. We are very aware of the components of the social and the cultural agenda of the RSS. One such component is uniform civil code. When the nation is desperately waiting for economic reforms and getting disappointed with the government performance, the government has opted to divert the attention of the people by creation social tension in the country through attempts to introduce  the Uniform Civil Code, knowing very well the consequences .  

Even if, the government has the noble intention of gifting the Muslim women of India gender justice through reforms in the Muslim personal law, The BJP party  is not the suitable agency to do it. At the time of partition, the congress government in charge of the affairs of the nation had promised to the Muslims who opted to stay In India that, they would be allowed to practice their personal laws as per the shariyah rules. Now this promise is conveniently forgotten and under the pretext of gender justice. s Does the BJP government claim ,that ,  all the women in the other communities in India are enjoying gender justice? ? Are they under the impression that there is no polygamy and torture of divorce among non Muslims?  Are they ignorant about the facts  that way back, it was Islam, which gave right to Muslim women regarding consent for marriage, right to divorce, right to remarry, right to inherit properly , right   to seek knowledge and the right to practice professions? Other communities get these rights only from 20^th century through enactment of certain laws . Moreover how can the Prime minister talk of gender justice to Muslim women,when he has the history behind him of closing his eyes when ,so many Muslim women were widowed, Muslim girls made orphans and young Muslim women were specially targeted for rape ?

 One advice to the Muslim community. If we fail to keep our home in order , outsiders will peep in and interfere . How many years back the Sachaar Committee had reported about the utter backwardness of the Muslim women ? Any of the community political or religious leaders  bothered  about taking efforts to improve their status? The Muslim women had been complaining  about triple talaq for a long time . Any one cared to remove this injustice ? It is ve y funny that .in every media discussion and in religious gatherings.  the triple talaq is condemned as un Islamic practice since it is against shariya. But. The men    do not want any  law against it  and total removal of it from Muslims personal law practices. What is the reason the women of India wonder.  Similarly the arguments regarding polygamy  can not be trivialised by quoting the rules to be maintained by men when he takes more than one wife and  by arguing that it is the other communities which have more number of polygamy cases in reality . No woman with a rational mind and dignity will accept this  situation happily because, the religion has given the sanction to men in this matter.   How many of the religious practices men follow strictly for them to claim that, in polygamy matter they are only following shariyah rules ? Therefore, let us accept the fact  that, there  are certain imperfections in the personal law practices among Muslims, the  Hindus and Christians  . Where ever it is possible , without interfering with the shariyah  laws , reforms can be introduced  but, not unilaterally  by Muslim law board or some other boards. It should be done ,  after a wider and deeper discussion among the religious. Political, business leaders , Islamic scholars and academicians . These discussion forums should include knowledgeable  women representatives too  . Side by side , every women group which is gathering periodically to day in cities and towns in different areas to create awareness about  the meaning and interpretation of the quranic passages and the  hadhiths and shariyah  rules should also create awareness among them about the new problem  created by this government and educate them about the various aspects and components of the Muslim  personal law. Muslim women today are living in a blissful state of ignorance about many  matters regarding  their life and about changes that are taking place in India   today . Education them on these matters is the need of the hour .

The government is giving wider publicity about the questionnaire circulated to know the views of the people on common civil code and personal laws of the different communities  .How many Muslims particularly women who answer attempt to answer these questions ,know the minute religious rules guiding the personal laws  for them to answer correctly? What is going to be the sample size of this survey ? How authentic   is going to be the data collection?   What would be the degree of transparency regarding  the survey process? We  all know  that, in India statistics is collected carelessly and presented very carefully and manipulated as per the hidden agenda  of the surveys . Hence nobody is going to trust the outcome this survey .     Any effort to bring a UCC by the government would be i seen by minority groups  surely, with suspicion. Many fear that,  the UCC will reflect the norms of the majority community and destroy the multiplicity and diversity of smaller groups.

One advice to the government is, concentrate on fulfilling your election promises and leave the  matters regarding the personal laws to the respective communities. If your ambition is to become Asian leader beating China concentrate on it . Bring  back all the black money hidden outside India and distribute among the citizens as promised during the election campaign.   Any  imperfections in their personal laws of the different religious groups  can be  corrected by the respective communities after free and fair debates  . They themselves  ,can take efforts to render gender justice within the limits of their personal laws. Government interference in this matter is unwarranted and unnecessary. Let it spend its energy and resources on productive matters and leave the perfect implementation of the personal laws to the various communities in India.

My letter published in the Hindu

The authors of the article,  “ still seriously hungry and poor “published in the Hindu last week claim that , “ newer skills will hold the key for translating growth into jobs.” Are we not turning out millions of trained youth from the innumerable polytechnics , vocational training  centers ,engineering colleges , teacher training institutes, para medical training centers , agricultural engineering institutes ? These are the people on whom the educational and training  investments  have been made by the poor and middle class families with the hope of getting out their families from poverty and hunger. These youth are rotting due to the jobless growth of India gifted by the multinationals  and corporate giants of India. They suffer the indignity of poverty for years together , due to unemployment , underemployment and disguised employment. The solution to the problem of hunger and poverty lies in resurrection of  the labour intensive, small and medium industries which showed a huge job generation potential between seventies and  eighties . Turning the blind eye to all their fundamental needs and thereby closing the best  job avenues to  the skilled youth is the biggest mistake the government of India is committing .All the concessions and efforts towards ease business extended to Indian and  foreign corporate sector will only generate jobless growth.

Uniform civil code

If the government of India feels that, gender justice has been achieved in all the communities in India except  the Muslim community . The starting point to reach that goal would be to  give special privileges to Muslim girls like more scholarships, hostels , giving easy and concessional  bank credit when Muslim women entrepreneurs   approach the banks for starting or expanding their household enterprises .  The Sachaar committee  had reported about the economic , political and social backwardness of Muslims in general and Muslim women in particular long back , but no concrete efforts were taken by different governments to elevate their status. The present  government  can take various special steps to elevate their status. The imperfections in personal laws , if any, can be taken care by the respective communities, especially when some Muslim women have sought justice from the courts in certain matters .

Each religion has scholars and community leaders and they can address the grievances of women seeking justice and dignity and sort out the confusion regarding the religious codes on personal matters  within themselves . In a nation like India where, every community has specific  religious instructions regarding a personal matters  and violation of them is considered as sin, any attempt towards  uniform civil code will affect  communal harmony . It is an unnecessary task for the government . Instead it can put all it’s energy in controlling the growing violence against all the  Indian women  and their exploitation in different forms and take efforts to empower them politically, socially ,economically and legally  and thus achieve higher global rank for India in gender balance   instead, of wrongly projecting that,  only Muslim women do not enjoy equity and equality in their life.  let the reforms in personal laws come from within the communities . Pubic private partnership in this matter will not be beneficial .