Some food for thought
"Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and
vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise,
government will of itself decay.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (English Poet, 1792-1822)
Word for the day
Stolid (adj)
Not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; impassive.
First thought this morning
Abrogation of Article 370, a temporary and transient provision
of the constitution to grant special status to the state of J&K;
implementation of a uniform civil code (UCC) as mandated under directive
principles of state policy outlined under Article 44 of the Constitution; and
construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya have been three long standing promises
of BJP (earlier Jan Sangh). These three promises have in fact been the major
agenda items that distinguished it from other non-communist political parties
in India.
Freshly strengthened BJP led NDA government has made significant
progress in delivering on these promises;
A decisive action on the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been
taken by abrogating operative clauses of Article 370 and introducing bill for
reorganize the state of J&K.
By enacting a law to make instant triple talaq illegal, a
significant step has been taken towards implementation of UCC.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear all litigation in respect
of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on day to day basis. Hopefully a decision that is
acceptable to all shall come within next few months.
After the BJP complete the performance on its core agenda, we
should accept some performance on the ancillary promise of faster and
sustainable economic development. Amen!
Chart of the day
Face the bitter truth
It is a common practice for most schools and teachers to assign
tasks to small children, which they could not be reasonably expected to perform
on their own. In most cases teachers are fully conscious that the parents will
be completing such assignments. The parents are usually bothered, but somehow
choose not to register their protest to teachers; rather they choose to
complete the assignments themselves. The children get their first lesson in non-compliance
and jugaad in their preschool tenure itself.
For three decades, so called mainstream Kashmiri political
leadership never raised a voice for the rights of persecuted and exiled
Kashmiri Pandits. To the contrary they have been supporting the people
indulging in anti national and violent activities.
They certainly have lost their credential to be constitutional
representatives of the people and land of J&K. Outside the valley they
evoke no popular support even amongst the Muslims. Although a tiny section of
media and liberal thinkers does talk about the plight of the residents of
Kashmir in general, no one specifically shows sympathy towards the mostly
dynastic Kashmiri political leadership or groups challenging the status of
J&K as integral part of the Indian Union.
Now applying these analogies to the Indian businesses and
financial markets, we get the following:
(a) It is undisputed
and inarguable that a section of Indian businesses have been violating the law
of land and rules of compliance with impunity since long.
Have we witnessed industry associations like CII, Assochem,
PHDCCI etc strongly reprimanding its constituents or issuing a mandatory
advisory to all its constituents and members not to indulge in such practices
and ensure full compliance of law & rules, especially tax laws?
(b) There have been
numerous instances of professionals like CA, CS, Advocates, Doctors etc
violating the code of conduct prescribed for them and indulging in unethical
and unlawful practices.
Have we seen self regulatory bodies of these professions taking
adequate punitive actions against their delinquent members?
(c) Entire nation
knows how the staff members and officers of banks conducted themselves during
the Demonetization period.
How many these bank employees have been punished even with a
reprimand? How many of the citizens who bribed these bank employees to get
their currency notes converted out of turn are ashamed of their act of
non-compliance.
(d) How many local
communities and assemblies (popularly known as Samaj, Biradari, Khap, Panchayat
etc) have issued advisory to their members to fully comply with laws of the
land, especially taxation laws?
(e) How many
investors and traders are aware of the malpractices of their respective
brokers?
I am not aware of any one complaining about this unless and
until he or she becomes victim of such malpractices. Are you?
(f) How many of us
are aware of misuse (or non compliance) of CSR allocation? Dis any self
regulatory industry body thought of issuing a advisory to companies to fully
comply with the CSR rules and not indulge in money laundering misusing these
rules?
What is the credential and bona fide of the people
(industrialist, bankers, professionals, experts, traders, community leaders,
politicians etc) who chose to criticize the enforcement agencies, taxation
authorities etc for strictly dealing with suspected violators.
I do not want to go into appropriateness or otherwise of the
conduct of enforcement agencies and tax authorities. But I am sure total
failure of "self regulation" on part of citizens is worrisome and
needs to be managed at the primary education level.
Also worrisome is the tendency of businesses and professionals
to indulge in finding loopholes in a legal provision even before such
provisions becomes enforceable, rather than reasoning with the government about
the appropriateness or otherwise of such provisions.
The argument that government is unresponsive and arrogant is
more of a platitude, since most of the people and organizations wanting to engage
with the government would fail in proving their credential for such engagement.
