"Many men go fishing
all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
—Henry David Thoreau
(American, 1817-1862)
Word for the day
Cupidity (n)
Eager or excessive desire,
especially to possess something; greed; avarice.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Malice towards none
Rakhi Sawant: Ban ceiling
fans to stop suicides.
Rahul Gandhi: Congress is
fighting a war of ideology.
First random thought this morning
Increasingly, India is finding place in high opinion of global
decision makers. After a really long period, global decision makers are
enthusiastic about India.
Some may like to split the credit between PM Modi's unprecedented
& audacious marketing efforts, and TINA factor (given the poor conditions
in other larger emerging markets especially China); while the others believe,
it's just that the TIME of India has arrived. Rest everything is just a quirk
of fate.
You may chose your reason, but do believe that it may actually
happen this time.
Battlefield - UP
My colleagues travelled through the state of Uttar Pradesh during
past two weeks. They covered nine out of the eighteen divisions of the state,
covering mostly western and central parts of the state.
The objective of the trip was to assess the economic conditions of
the state and political mood of the people.
I would like to share some key points of their assessment with my
readers.
The State is fast getting into election mode. It appears that the
campaign for March 2017 elections will be hard, arduous and intense.
The ruling Samajwadi Party has taken a clear lead in the campaign.
The indications so far are that the incumbent Chief Minister is seeking
re-election on the basis of delivery on development agenda. The usual
secularism and caste based issues are presently being raised only by the
principal opposition party BSP and Congress which is a marginal force in the
state.
The primary contender, BJP appears confused about the issues.
Whereas the central leadership wishes to continue with the "hope and
fear" startegy of the Bihar election — hope of faster economic development
and fear of jungle raj — the local leadership is highly skeptical of these twin
issues. The local leadership is more excited about the communal polarization as
primary election strategy.
Unlike SP and BSP which have well defined state leadership , both
BJP and Congress are struggling with local leadership issues. It is common to
hear the names like Shiela Dixit and Uma Bharati as probable CM candidates.
The state administration is deeply divided on caste line in their
political support. But the ruling party could have marginal lead in this area.
Though a division on religious lines is visible across the state,
but it may reflect in terms of votes only in upper class Hindu voters. Any
polarization strategy therefore may not be materially effective.
We shall be conducting an extensive survey of the state later in
the year to assess the situation of various parties.
Insofar as the economic conditions are concerned, the following
observations are noteworthy.
(a) There is remarkable
acceleration in the execution of construction projects, especially roads and
public works. The incumbent chief minister seems to personally engaged in the
development endeavor and successfully exploiting the central assistance to the
state.
(b) The rural sector is
economically stressed due to consecutive poor monsoons. But surprisingly, they
are not annoyed with the state administration.
(c) The urbanization of
the state is gathering further pace, though devoid of any planning........to
continue tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment