Facebook Post: Apri 21, 2012
A former colleague, now an American citizen, today forwarded an interesting open leterr, a relastively long one and very well composed by Some Joshi, claiming to bea Bengali resident in Kolkata adressed to Mamata Banerjee. I thought I can now imagine this slightly differently. Let us assume Mamata has granted this person an appointment. How would their conversation go:
SJ: I am a politically independent person but I loved your winning in 2011, beating the corrupt, oppressive, inefficient, non- performing CPM hands down. I wanted you to clean up dolotantra, clean up the police and restore domcracy for the people. Didi, I never wanted to say anything against you. But sorry, I have to say things against you now.
Didi: So, say what you want to say against me . I am not going to cause you any harm . You appear to be a honest individual, unlike those sections of the media who are busy 24 hours criticising and abusing me with false information and suppressing fact.
SJ: Instead of changing the way in West Bengal, you are doing the same thing as the CPM did for 34 years. People are, as a result, suffering from the same things- dolotantra, police connivance to opress the common man and your detractors. In addition, you are making laughable comments on incidents like rape, beating up of journalists by your partymen, on making Kolkata as London. On top of that you are showing up yor fascists intolerance: your people beat up an innocent professor for forwarding an innocent cartoon on you to his friends and your police puts him in lock up for a night, your police picks up an internationally reputed Bengali scientist for being near the organisers of protests against your attempt to evict poor people occupying sone one elses land, you have banned the widely circulated newspapers and politically sponsored newspapers from being subscribed by State-funded public libraries, you say you are planning to decide to bancertain newsape from hoshold subscriptio and ban viewing of some channels projecting the Truth about your actions and performance.
Didi: I get your point. You have made a neat summarry of what the opposition and a section of the Press, representing certain vested interests whose illgimate ways of doing business has now been stopped with our actions. I understand that they would like to find one pretest or another to malign me. But tell me, how many library readers are now required to purchase AnandaBazar since libraries havestopped subscribing to them?
SJ: Say, 2500x20 readers or 50,000 readers. That would be equivalent 0.5% of voters. Yes, it is insignicant. But the question is one of the principle of minority right to subsidised newspaper reading of their choice. You have violated the JanaGanoTantrik Principle.
Didi: OK. Tell me how many internationally reputed scientist has been arrested so far?
SJ: One only. But you have threatened the entire class of scientists in Bengal. You have again violated the JanaGanaTantrik principle, besides causing a great damage to India's image internationally.
Didi: OK. How many Cartoonists have been arrested?
SJ: Madam, no cartoonist has been arrested. But a single specialist internet circulator of cartoons has been arranged because the cartoon depicts you in great humour. But the number is not important. It is the principle of janaganatrantik democracy that youhave violated, thereby threatening all creative persons and their followers in Bengal.
Didi. I understand. Dushter chaler obhab hoi na. Fine, but I have done so many other things as well. For example, peace in Darjeeling and Hill Areas, contained the Maoist violence, reprganised police administartion, shaken the govt. officers and employees to stop shirking and delays, taken so many projects for development of different areas of the State, ensured supply of subsidised ration to poor people, distributed so many krishak cards, and so on and so forth
SJ: Yes Didi, you have done all this. But these are just to get publicity for your self. The benefits to the others are purely incidental. You may have taken quick decisions, but your quickness looks like arbitrainess, impulsive and you are frequently changing decisions.
Didi: If I did any mistake, I must correct it as soon possible. What is wrong?
SJ: You are rushing and pushing people too much into work. That is a kind of oppression. Your policies are anti taxi and auto rickshaw drivers. You are creating chaos in city transport.
Didi: Ok. What other complaints do you have against me?
SJ: I am afraid: you may put me in jail for speaking against me?
Didi: OK I promise you I will not get you arrested just for speaking out to me. How many such arrests have you seen so far? 10 or 98 or 251 or 999 or seven thousand or three lakhs? Indian Constitution is protecting you. You have recourse to the Court for redressal if I arrest you. Don't get afraid because false propogands. Tell me. Speak up.
SJ: By effectively stopping the Government of India from undertaking reforms in Railway Passanger Tariff to save the Railways going the Air India way, stopping reforms in multi-branding retail where foreign investments would have increased India's conomic growh, and stopping the great water sharing agreement with neighbour Bangladesh and stopping Chidabaram from getting the National Internal Security strong enough. The Bengalis are becoming a luaghing stock among Indians as a result. God knows at this rate what you great harm ou would do to Bengal and India in the ext four years of your tenure. I thereforeb appeal to you to resign immediately. God shall bless you.'
Didi: . Why do you ask me to resign? Just remove me.
SJ: Of course, we cannot get you out of power unless there is an election, we cannot show how unpopular you are now and defeat you.
Didi. How do you gain by removing me?
SJ: Since you are not going to be able to deliver the change we desired, we want to allow the people to correct their mistakes and restore status quo ante: they will get back CPM.
Didi. Why you want CPM back, you critised them and said you were happy that I defeated them a year back? So, you prefer to be oppresed by CPM?
SJ: Yes, we prefer CPM oppression for three reasons. First, you are all in all - The Chief Minister, the Party Chairperson and there is no second popular person around you. Since this smacks of Hitler, we want you to go for better international relations for the Bengal intellegentsia; otherwise, the international intelligentsia will look down upon our intellegentsia. Our prestige is at stake. Second, a known, well-established devil is better than an unpredictable devil? No one is able to understand or forecast your behaviour. Third, despite your University Masters deegree in Islamic history, your paintings, recital of Tagore and Nazrul poetry, the Intelligentsia still does not consder you as presentable as the Bhadralok or Bhadra Mahila.
Didi: But you prefer the rule of a party that smacks of Stalinism? :
SJ: Yes, Stalinism is still accepted by the international Intelligentsia. We can do better by shifting to Maoism that made China a super power.
Didi: So, you fooled me in believing that you wanted a change and I fought for change to win the elections?
SJ: Not realy Didi. I am an apolitical person. The voters think that you have fooled them. The change you have brought is undersirable in many ways. We didn't mind your going Stalinism way or even combining Maoism with Stalinism. But you are adopting Hitlerism while talking about Nazrul, Vivekanada and Tagore at the same breadth. That is a shameful regressive idea. And, the Indian Yahoo has already awarded you as the top most unpopular political leader in the country. And, that award came just a day after you got the 98th rank in Times Magazine for being most Influential. We do not like you to get the New Yorkers influenced or you get influenced by them. You are a petty bourguoise leader that Bengalis hate.
Didi. Fine, why do you appeal to me to resign? You did not do so, when I was no where near and make similar appeal to CPM Chief Ministers?
SJ: Simple, they were Bharlok Dadas who are not considerate enough. You are lady - Mahila, though not being admitted by the exclusive club of Bhadra Mahilas: but you as a simple Janodarodi Mahila, have a great heart: you may as well agree to resign. Besides, being whimsical, you may resign afterwards being tired and disgusted with your partymen many of whom are permanent hooligan members of only Ruling parties.. So why not resign now.
Didi:. What if I do not resign now?
SJ: That would be a minor problem - the rival parties may find it difficult to get adequate hooligans to support the reformed and cleaned up new CPM in 2016. And, they do not know how the Courts will handle the Corpse (Kankal) Kando and other cases. But do not worry, they have already created lots of issues against you. This will allow them to launch Mamata Eviction campaign very strongly and they hope this will see them through in the Panchyat Elections. They will come back in 2013 and then the hooligans will also return to CPM fold once again. You will be routed in 2016.
Didi: Then why you want me to resign, if I am out in any case in 2016?
SJ: Just to save time, reduce the shouting, rallies affecting the common man. Why allow another Kurukhetra bloodshed. You may return to Congress after you resign.
Didi: So, all this what you are doing is a pre-arranged drama? I suspected so.
SJ: Everyone knows how much politics is all about Drama. You are in the Drama, so are The Press and the media now supporting your rival parties. Every one will desert you in the next three years. Maa, Maati, Manush will desert you. Given this prediction, it is better for you to resign immdiately and go and enjoy your MP pension of Rs20,000 per month from now. Even the MPs who deserted you will do the same after 2016 in any case.
Didi: Thank you for sparing time with me. I shall consider your appeal when appropriate. Now go away and disappear but tell others that you are still not being arrested because you got anticipatory bail. You will surely be invited to participate in the M-kusti Kata and M-bhooter Pindi Chatkano TV episodes for few evenings.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Rare Bengali Intellectual Sanity
Faceebook post on Apri 18, 2012
Rangon Chakraborty has written an excellent article in AnandaBazar Patrika on Tuesday April 17th. Insanity of emotionally charged intellecualism that leads to protests against on symptoms, allowing the cause of illness to fourish as usual is an inherent chracteristic of weak quality intellectualism that pervades Bengalis. Rangon makes three specific points. I agree with substance of his points. I state these points in my own way as follows. First, there should be no let up in protesting agaist abuse of power to stall democratic rights of individuals like arresting a person for alleged obscene cartoon forwards in the Internet, like beatiinfg up journalists, like refusal to record FIR against criminals and letting them go scotfree, etc. Two, the intellectuals must accept the reality that a Lady can become a more popular leader in a short while with insanity, ineptness and dictatorial attitude: rather, they should give up their highly egoistic of brow beating a lady into doing things that they consider right and democratic. Third, the so-called intellectual tirade against Mamata should shun abusive languages and gestures not expected of intellectuals even when they are trembling in rage: such behaviour, as has been observed in not only the Internet but in TV debates and public addresses, is neither democratic, nor in good taste and only lifts the intellectual veil. Third, such poor quality intellectualism does not by itself make the great majority of the common denizens realize the great substantive points being made by the intelligentsia: rather this maby simply perceived as intellectual ganging up against an honest, simple, accessible woman working hard to improve the conditions of the poor with direct communication with the weak and the poor. The masses know how polite was the behavoiur of a section of the intelligentsia when they had agitated to protect the oppressed just two years ago and the majority of the intellegentsia kept mum as they were being oppressed.
Current state on intellectual behaviour of being up in arms against a vastly popular leader may result in wastage of time and effort: it may help bare the pride and arrogance on intellectualism rather than being effective in uprooting the cause of the disease that inflicts the polity of Bengal. Each one of theincidents that intellectuals are protesting about has very little to do with violation of the sophistication (gaalbhora) -coated democratic rights, individual liberty and freedom, and human rights.. We know for sure that those who read Ananda Bazar, Telegraph and Ganasakti will continue to read them even if the libraries cannot be funded to purchase these newspapers by theState - this is remotely connected to freedom of the Press or censorship of news and views. If the intellectals cannot assess this: the poor and the weak will soon perceive the false crying wolf on the intellectuals. The same is true of gagging the Internet and Internet cartoons. If at all the Internet cartoons will explode and the State has no power to stop all this. Common people will soon find such cartoon books freely available everywhere - thus cutting the credibility of the intellectuals'/ intelligentsia's dramatisation.
The intellegentsia must recognize that all the incidents that have enraged them is caused by a single root cause: the hooligan raj in the daily life of citizens. It is only hooligans who beat up aprofessor, dominates the police personnel at the low end to harrass thecommon people, loot the small businessmen and traders through collection of ever increasing extortion fees. These hooligans have been ruling the common people, making money and purchasing the political leaders andthe policemen. Now that the earst-while hooligan/ goon dependent political party has lost power, it was ideal time to confront the hooligans directly, instead of indirectly blaming the police and the ruling government - such tactics yielded nothing in thelasttwo decades except that the goons and hooligans rose from strength to strength making thepolitical leaders and the police to make a win-win compromisewith them at the cost of the common citizens. Intelegentsia must challange this monster directly and continuously. The police and the political leaders must be rescued from the clutrches of hooligan raj or throw out the political leaders and policemen in deep bond with hooligans. No political party or Policechief would take up this job and even if oneor two try they would be annihilated. It is the Intellegentsia and the Press including TV that can pursue the hooligans as they oppress and extort commoners on a daily basis - not through protest march with candel lights but by direct communication with the police bosses and the political leaders. This may be an oneroys task. But who said that a superficial, lazy and intellectuall weak Intelligentsia and media can contribute to elimnation of a disease they allowed to grow over thel last three decades?
Rangon Chakraborty has written an excellent article in AnandaBazar Patrika on Tuesday April 17th. Insanity of emotionally charged intellecualism that leads to protests against on symptoms, allowing the cause of illness to fourish as usual is an inherent chracteristic of weak quality intellectualism that pervades Bengalis. Rangon makes three specific points. I agree with substance of his points. I state these points in my own way as follows. First, there should be no let up in protesting agaist abuse of power to stall democratic rights of individuals like arresting a person for alleged obscene cartoon forwards in the Internet, like beatiinfg up journalists, like refusal to record FIR against criminals and letting them go scotfree, etc. Two, the intellectuals must accept the reality that a Lady can become a more popular leader in a short while with insanity, ineptness and dictatorial attitude: rather, they should give up their highly egoistic of brow beating a lady into doing things that they consider right and democratic. Third, the so-called intellectual tirade against Mamata should shun abusive languages and gestures not expected of intellectuals even when they are trembling in rage: such behaviour, as has been observed in not only the Internet but in TV debates and public addresses, is neither democratic, nor in good taste and only lifts the intellectual veil. Third, such poor quality intellectualism does not by itself make the great majority of the common denizens realize the great substantive points being made by the intelligentsia: rather this maby simply perceived as intellectual ganging up against an honest, simple, accessible woman working hard to improve the conditions of the poor with direct communication with the weak and the poor. The masses know how polite was the behavoiur of a section of the intelligentsia when they had agitated to protect the oppressed just two years ago and the majority of the intellegentsia kept mum as they were being oppressed.
Current state on intellectual behaviour of being up in arms against a vastly popular leader may result in wastage of time and effort: it may help bare the pride and arrogance on intellectualism rather than being effective in uprooting the cause of the disease that inflicts the polity of Bengal. Each one of theincidents that intellectuals are protesting about has very little to do with violation of the sophistication (gaalbhora) -coated democratic rights, individual liberty and freedom, and human rights.. We know for sure that those who read Ananda Bazar, Telegraph and Ganasakti will continue to read them even if the libraries cannot be funded to purchase these newspapers by theState - this is remotely connected to freedom of the Press or censorship of news and views. If the intellectals cannot assess this: the poor and the weak will soon perceive the false crying wolf on the intellectuals. The same is true of gagging the Internet and Internet cartoons. If at all the Internet cartoons will explode and the State has no power to stop all this. Common people will soon find such cartoon books freely available everywhere - thus cutting the credibility of the intellectuals'/ intelligentsia's dramatisation.
The intellegentsia must recognize that all the incidents that have enraged them is caused by a single root cause: the hooligan raj in the daily life of citizens. It is only hooligans who beat up aprofessor, dominates the police personnel at the low end to harrass thecommon people, loot the small businessmen and traders through collection of ever increasing extortion fees. These hooligans have been ruling the common people, making money and purchasing the political leaders andthe policemen. Now that the earst-while hooligan/ goon dependent political party has lost power, it was ideal time to confront the hooligans directly, instead of indirectly blaming the police and the ruling government - such tactics yielded nothing in thelasttwo decades except that the goons and hooligans rose from strength to strength making thepolitical leaders and the police to make a win-win compromisewith them at the cost of the common citizens. Intelegentsia must challange this monster directly and continuously. The police and the political leaders must be rescued from the clutrches of hooligan raj or throw out the political leaders and policemen in deep bond with hooligans. No political party or Policechief would take up this job and even if oneor two try they would be annihilated. It is the Intellegentsia and the Press including TV that can pursue the hooligans as they oppress and extort commoners on a daily basis - not through protest march with candel lights but by direct communication with the police bosses and the political leaders. This may be an oneroys task. But who said that a superficial, lazy and intellectuall weak Intelligentsia and media can contribute to elimnation of a disease they allowed to grow over thel last three decades?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Parivartan Transition from Cartoon Democracy to Democratic Cartoon Republic in West Bengal Flagged off
Bengalis have long enjoyed cartoon democracy: now they are is a shift towards democratic cartoons. Many people have found their latent skill in political cartooning and in enjoying them. That is good. The quality of democracy has become less violent it seems. Those who were unable to ciontinue enjoying their muscle power democracy have found something at last to excel in - political cartooning for fun.
The quality of political cartooing of the Bengalis however is currently of very low due to inexperience: hope fully they will improve over time. The Bengali political cartoons circulating in the Fb and Internet is currently dependent mainly on a single character. They still smell jealosy induced frustrations rather than pure fun for all or sacasm originating in accepting an electoral defeat by some of the intenet using voters of among the 2 crore voters out of the total 4.3 crore voters in West Bengal.
I am sure new characters will soon be found out for political cartoons: some of the 2.3 crore voters out of the 4.3 crore voters have shown potential to be political cartoon characters by their response to the so-called political cartoons currently circulating. Some political heavy weight leaders have also joined the race for getting selected as characters: they are enthusiastically making pro-democratic comments on the carttons in circulation. Some policemen are also not willing to left behind: they are putting cartoon forwarding specialist university professor into lock-up to be released on bail of Rs500 ($10). Some specilist intellectuals have already shown their promise as potential cartoons: their views on the political cartoons in circulation and on the response of those who consider the carttons as maligning campaign, provides ample material for cartoonists.
Political cartoon will soon become a popular sport among Bengal citizenry. Parents will soon senmd the children to special study programs on political cartooing. There will be political cartoon competions and best political cartoon awards sponsored by consumer goods companies and mobile companies. Google anf Facebook groups of political cartoons will soon mushroom. Rallies, seminars and debates will be sponsored by media companies. Durga Puja Pandels and Fine art galleries will organise political cartoon exhibitions.
Political Cartoon books, with special emphasis on democracy as the subject will hit the stands and sold at bookfairs. The rediscovery of cartoon kautuk skills of Bengal will be soon recognized by awarding a special media-culture sponsored award. His bravery in becoming specialist fowardist of political cartoons will be appreciated by all Bengaliss irrespective of caste and creed at a special happiness function. Researchers will now look back at the lost 34 years for useful rawaterial for cartoon manufacturing. A political cartoon network channel may be in the offing. All this will create lot of new employment opportunities, contribute to the State Domestic Product, boost economic development as well as democracy as a way of cultural life, and usher in a new entertainment industry in West Bengal. A new era of democracy of the cartoons, for the cartoons and by the cartoons has just began.
The quality of political cartooing of the Bengalis however is currently of very low due to inexperience: hope fully they will improve over time. The Bengali political cartoons circulating in the Fb and Internet is currently dependent mainly on a single character. They still smell jealosy induced frustrations rather than pure fun for all or sacasm originating in accepting an electoral defeat by some of the intenet using voters of among the 2 crore voters out of the total 4.3 crore voters in West Bengal.
I am sure new characters will soon be found out for political cartoons: some of the 2.3 crore voters out of the 4.3 crore voters have shown potential to be political cartoon characters by their response to the so-called political cartoons currently circulating. Some political heavy weight leaders have also joined the race for getting selected as characters: they are enthusiastically making pro-democratic comments on the carttons in circulation. Some policemen are also not willing to left behind: they are putting cartoon forwarding specialist university professor into lock-up to be released on bail of Rs500 ($10). Some specilist intellectuals have already shown their promise as potential cartoons: their views on the political cartoons in circulation and on the response of those who consider the carttons as maligning campaign, provides ample material for cartoonists.
Political cartoon will soon become a popular sport among Bengal citizenry. Parents will soon senmd the children to special study programs on political cartooing. There will be political cartoon competions and best political cartoon awards sponsored by consumer goods companies and mobile companies. Google anf Facebook groups of political cartoons will soon mushroom. Rallies, seminars and debates will be sponsored by media companies. Durga Puja Pandels and Fine art galleries will organise political cartoon exhibitions.
Political Cartoon books, with special emphasis on democracy as the subject will hit the stands and sold at bookfairs. The rediscovery of cartoon kautuk skills of Bengal will be soon recognized by awarding a special media-culture sponsored award. His bravery in becoming specialist fowardist of political cartoons will be appreciated by all Bengaliss irrespective of caste and creed at a special happiness function. Researchers will now look back at the lost 34 years for useful rawaterial for cartoon manufacturing. A political cartoon network channel may be in the offing. All this will create lot of new employment opportunities, contribute to the State Domestic Product, boost economic development as well as democracy as a way of cultural life, and usher in a new entertainment industry in West Bengal. A new era of democracy of the cartoons, for the cartoons and by the cartoons has just began.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Identifying Identity of Violence
In today's Anandabazar Patrika (April 10), Anirban Chattopadhyay penned an article on 'Ashmita And Hinghsa'. He was inspired by Nobel luarette Amartya Sen's 2006 book on ' Identity and Violence' which I have not been fortunate to read. Anirban makes two points. One, he was a fool in retrospect in raising a hopie that the CPM-cultivated 34-year old communist identity-iduced violence (or, violence-iducedidentity?) would be replaced by something new ethos, new politics of non-violent identity of the Bengal citizenry, oncethe CPM had lost power to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool which secured 185 seats out of a total of 294 seats in WestBengal, with the CPM-led front of 14 political parties got only 61 seats. Second, he lament that the last one year, Mamata missed a great opportunity for effecting the long-desired transformation from identity-induced violence to non-violent plurality of identities, given the Mamata-centred Trinamool Party in power.
Journalists are known for their impatience and their art of breaking new grounds every hour/ every other day. It is not surprising that it took nearly a year to recognise that Anirban hoped for the impossible in foolish day dream. His thesis is that the CPM had cultivated for long to divide the people into 'We, thecommunists' and'they, the rest who do not support us/ criticise us'. As more and more of the citizens became part of 'We', the more the 'We' became intolerant of the 'they' and the process of increasing thesize of 'We' necessitated perpetuation of increasing violemce, with merging of Alimuddin Street (CPM's West Bengali head qrs.) and the Writers' Building (StateGovernment hqrs). He had hoped with CPM out of powe, this link is gone and hence thedesired transformation should be automatic. This kind of logic is onnly possible in tthe most popular vernacular daily in Bengal: because this provides pesudo-intellectaul entertainment: a round-about way of finding fault with Mamata Banerjee, something that at lead 2 out of 4.5 voters in the statewould like to read and enjoy.
Yes, it is even foolisg to feign one's foolishness. With CPM out of power, the identity-induced violence would vanish in thin air, as if CPM willlike to lose its identity and the strength of its power of violence? Where inhistory has this happened? Second, Gandhi as an opposition to State power had opted for non-violence; we are yet to know of Gandhis in State power adopting non-vilence as a weapon against violence, at least not after Emperor Ashoka when he had concentrated on spreading the message of Budhha. So, why did journalist Anirban expect CPM to shirk violence: just because it lost power? Why did he expect Trinamool not to engage in violence as a weapon to counter CPM's violence? This is clearly mischievious expectation with retropestive effect. Yes, Mamata had in the past said that she was favour of change and not in taking revenge for the past. It does not mean that CPM has agreed to follow suit? Why should then identity-induced violence cultivated for so long vanish suddenly in thin air?
A change of power is of course an opportunity to come to truce and shun identity-induced violence. Who has the responsibility to take this opportunity? Only Mamata because she is the new chief minister? What about the leadership of the Congress, the CPM and other parties - they have no responsibility to take this opportunity? Was it not an opportunity for the journalists to pave the way for public opinion on favour of shunning violence by all parties. The press has only been reporting such violence and blaming one or the other party.
The problem of violence - at least in the sense of using muscle power and arms for aborodh, dharmoghot, for winning identityelections and scaring away the common people, has nothing to do with dominance of one single identity of an individual / group over other many identities of the same individual/ group. Violence is a natural method deployed by human beings to win freedom from others' oppression or win power to subject others to oppression. But when the likelihood of winning through violence declines, people would be less inclined to adopt violent methods. How do we get WestBengal to reach a stagewhere violence does not become commercially attractive? That is a separate issue. Of course not an issue meant for journalists and columnists to deal with.
Journalists are known for their impatience and their art of breaking new grounds every hour/ every other day. It is not surprising that it took nearly a year to recognise that Anirban hoped for the impossible in foolish day dream. His thesis is that the CPM had cultivated for long to divide the people into 'We, thecommunists' and'they, the rest who do not support us/ criticise us'. As more and more of the citizens became part of 'We', the more the 'We' became intolerant of the 'they' and the process of increasing thesize of 'We' necessitated perpetuation of increasing violemce, with merging of Alimuddin Street (CPM's West Bengali head qrs.) and the Writers' Building (StateGovernment hqrs). He had hoped with CPM out of powe, this link is gone and hence thedesired transformation should be automatic. This kind of logic is onnly possible in tthe most popular vernacular daily in Bengal: because this provides pesudo-intellectaul entertainment: a round-about way of finding fault with Mamata Banerjee, something that at lead 2 out of 4.5 voters in the statewould like to read and enjoy.
Yes, it is even foolisg to feign one's foolishness. With CPM out of power, the identity-induced violence would vanish in thin air, as if CPM willlike to lose its identity and the strength of its power of violence? Where inhistory has this happened? Second, Gandhi as an opposition to State power had opted for non-violence; we are yet to know of Gandhis in State power adopting non-vilence as a weapon against violence, at least not after Emperor Ashoka when he had concentrated on spreading the message of Budhha. So, why did journalist Anirban expect CPM to shirk violence: just because it lost power? Why did he expect Trinamool not to engage in violence as a weapon to counter CPM's violence? This is clearly mischievious expectation with retropestive effect. Yes, Mamata had in the past said that she was favour of change and not in taking revenge for the past. It does not mean that CPM has agreed to follow suit? Why should then identity-induced violence cultivated for so long vanish suddenly in thin air?
A change of power is of course an opportunity to come to truce and shun identity-induced violence. Who has the responsibility to take this opportunity? Only Mamata because she is the new chief minister? What about the leadership of the Congress, the CPM and other parties - they have no responsibility to take this opportunity? Was it not an opportunity for the journalists to pave the way for public opinion on favour of shunning violence by all parties. The press has only been reporting such violence and blaming one or the other party.
The problem of violence - at least in the sense of using muscle power and arms for aborodh, dharmoghot, for winning identityelections and scaring away the common people, has nothing to do with dominance of one single identity of an individual / group over other many identities of the same individual/ group. Violence is a natural method deployed by human beings to win freedom from others' oppression or win power to subject others to oppression. But when the likelihood of winning through violence declines, people would be less inclined to adopt violent methods. How do we get WestBengal to reach a stagewhere violence does not become commercially attractive? That is a separate issue. Of course not an issue meant for journalists and columnists to deal with.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Long Live India's Communist Revolution: Bourgeoise Distortortions
India's Communist Revolution is over 90 years old and still young, promising and kicking. But for the continous Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist revolution, Indian capitalism and bourgeoisie class would have either completely sold the country to the Western capitaist countries and the exploited classes would have suffered complete immiserisation that would have left none with energy enough to sustain the revolution for long and experience the class-less socialism waiting to be established in infinite time.
Continuing Indian communist revolution has brought immense benefits to the Indian's. The movement reportedly made a strong supportive contribution to the process of the creation of Pakistan (and East Bengal's inclusion in it for the benefit of the Muslims to enjoy a majority status by going out of India. It was good for the Muslims to free themselves of the Hindu majority India. It helped the Indians to reduce the incidence of communal riots and wars within Indian terrotories. And, it helped the communist movement in India too: no need to invent a separate non-secular Islamic Ciommunist Revolutuion and yet keep the opportunity of building up of an anti-Hindu secular dimension to the Indian communist movement. This historiacal strategies would keep the communist movement relevant to the Indian exploited classes.
Earlier, the communists had identified Tagre as a bourgeoisie poet whose poems and songs could help shape the development of the communist songs for enthusing exploited people to join the communists struggle movement. For similar reasons, they averted a great diaster that would have befallen India if Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose aided by the Fascist, capitalist Germany and Japan to over run the British Army in India taking advantage of the initial World War II conditions breaking the backbone of the British. Fortunately, Stalin hoisted the Communist Flag in Berlin and the US caused the nuclear devastation in Japan to save the future of communist movement in India.
Communist Movement in India helped the flourishing business of trade union leaders. If the labor was exploited, they organised support to them and helped extract better pay and reduced hours of work so that capitalist exploitation reduces in both public and private sector industries. And, when the capitalists were still making money, communist movement successfully brought the factories down with militant trade unionism and ensured immeserisation of some factory workers time to time to generate small pilot demostrations of what Maex had dreamt about repeated crises of capitalism and immiserisation of the working class. At the same time, they had mostly glued themselves to Parliamentary democracy, participating in elections to keep the opportunity to become rulers to acquire the experience of governing before they are able to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat or, rather proletariat statehood in India. .
So the communist movement in India was from the very beginning so appropriately adapted to Indian conditions . Of course, as scientific Marxism demands, unlike any other scientific or non-scientific thing, differences in view about the the nature of Indian conditions and the intensity of their ripeness to launch the final revolution for transformation to proletariat dictatorship, the strategies to be pursued and the methods to be deployed. Debating in Parliament and elected bodies was good enough for the only Russia addicted CPI, fighting elections to capture power through the influence of militant trade unions on workers, organising poor peasants against the non-communist governments, organiinsg violent protests against increase in taport fares to put trams on fire and inciting police to kill protestors and organising rallies in support of Vietnameses struggle against the US forces have been the cornerstone of the increasinglly Chinese addicted CPM, violent peasant rovolt and killing of policemen and rural wealthy have been the strategies of the Naxalites and freeing relatively inaccessible areas near forests away from State administration and police as as also members/ supporters of political parties participating in democratice elections by organising gureilla warfare with smuggled arms and looting banks/ extorting the poor and the waelthy in different areas have been the methoid of the Maoists.
All factions of the communist movement have contributed greatly to the uplift of tpoor as well as keeping them under poverty to keep the dream of class less dictatorship of the proletariat happy. And, also they have successfully engaged the non-communist political parties in power to use tax money, borrowed money and savers money deposited in the banks to implement grand schemes of subsidies to the poor, middle class, workers and farmers to make the State drive itself to banruptcy to create ripe conditions for a proletarian takeover. And, the more the state spendings the higher is the leakage away from the intendended poor beneficiaries and encouragement to the corrupt. Corruption is bleeding India. With competitive efforts to arrest immiserisation and wastages through alarming spread and scale of corruption, all governments are rushing for employment guarantee, right to food, right to health care, right to education, right to shelter, the Indian economy is being driven to banruptcy so necessary to put capitalism to grave and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.This is the only way that the docile Indians can be ultimately forced to accept and join the final revolution to capture power for them instead of clinging to dacaying democracy powered by votes cast by elections all round the year.
What is the current stage of the communist revolution in India.? The communists have not been able to gather more than 8% of Indian votes, but had come to power in three States of West Bengal, the birthplace of Indian communism, Tripura, another Bengali laguage dominate State and Kerala. During 2004-2009 the CPM-led Left Front ruled the roost: called the shots supporting a Ciongress coalition at the Center, stopping all reforms that even the bulk of the congresmen disliked and then forcing a National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that will quicken the bankruptcy of the Indian Government unless other subsidies are drastically cut down in a short time. Then the CPM withdrew support to Congress coalition as the 123 Nuclear Deal was being signed by India with the US. In the Parliamentary Elections in 2009 the CPM got routed and became a small irrelevant minority in the Lok Sabha. In 2011 elections, the CPM failed to regain Kerala and even with 40% a share of votes lost power in West Bengal where the Trinamool secured 185 out of the 296 seats against CPM led Left Front tally of 60+ seats. All of a suddeen CPM slid from the height of arrogance to a pitiable conditions. Now the CPM is preparaing to fight back.
The efforts to revive the dream of 'proletariat dictatorship', earlier replaced by 'proletariat statehood' seemed to have failed in the current year's Party Congress session in Kerala. What is the Marxian prognosis and outlook. The conditions are turning favourable to the Communist movement. CPM sees that the capitalist economies are running from crises to crises as predicted by Marx: from the Financial crises that spread from the US to European capitalist states. Japan continues in dolddrum stagnancy. Russia regaining strength and China becoming the second largest economy of the World with a dominating presence in world trade. Capitalism is crumbling with financial crisis yeilding place to sovereign debt crisis and Europe in deep recession. As the debt crisis is being solved, seeds of new crises are being sown in capitalism. Globalisation has led to increased inequality in capitalistic states and common people are increasingly becoming communists even in the US. They are trying to capture the stock markets - the gambling den designed to ensure immiserisation of the working class to enthuse them to revolt against capitalism. Within India, the state and private capitalism is in doldrums: economy growth has slowed down and hardly any private sector investment taking place for the past two years. The oulook is grim: government of India has no economic or political solution toarress immiserisation of the Indian working class and small farmer dominated agricultural class. Prices have gone out of control and remains high. Weak coalition Government at the center is politically non-functioning, having to manage crisis after crisis with every now and then threat of withdrwal of support from regional party coalition partners black mailing the Congress Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh. Very ideal conditions to take the communist revolution a few steps ahead quickly.
Which path will CVPM pursue now? It had studied and analysed all models - the Russian, the Chinese, the North Korean, the Vietnamese and the Latin American. They have concluded that each of these models suffer from a few or more deficiencies. Obviously, they discard the deficiencies of the Chinese globalisation networking with the capitalist world, rise in inequality in the recent decades and expansionism with an eye on India's Arunachal Pradesh. They do not like the North Koreal Model of undemocratic dynastic communism: father communist president choosing his son as his successor. But these are the only two states ruled by poltical parties with communist title in the World that are the bold challangers of the US Imperialism. So, both China and North Korea remain socialist countries to draw emotional, psychological strength from. Vietnam's communisim has gone ashtray with trade relations with US and disputes with China. Cuba has turned dynastic communistsm. The socialism being structured in democratic structure in Venezuela and Bolivia, these countries cannot be accepted as socialist countries in communist dictionary because then India would be already close to communist socialism. Indian communists are to pick up only the strong points from various models and are now putting them together for evolving a model adapted to India's caste-based/ quota and reservation based socio-economic conditions.
What about 'inner party' democracy? Well democracy is not consistent with communist movement. There can be genuine differences of opinion. But the task of democratic centerism is to convince the people with opinions different from the central leadership (not high command, of course) and wean them away from dissent and make them as disciplined as most members are. This may dissatisfy the intellectuals wedded to the extreme ideals of proletariat dictatoship on the one hand and of democracy everywhere on the other hand. But intellectualism was largely left behind with the orinal CPI at thetime of division. CPM will continue to be led by articulate and sophisticated policymakers and strategists with support from a disciplined force of practical members with popularity and mass muscle power. And, all will remain united till such time American Imperialism and European Capitalism do not meet their natural demise in historical time.
For now, CPM will not commit the same mistakes that they did while in power indirectly by being supporter of UPA1 Congress Coalition government in delaying the withdrawal of support to Congress in a bid to usher in a third non-BJP, non-Congress coalition to power. It cannot do the same mistake now with a negligible presence in the Parliament and complete absence in most state-level legislative assemblies. CPM will not again commit the same mistake of interpreting two-third majority in a State assembly as equivalent to unlimited power to acquire land for industrialisation from farmers as had happenedin West Bengal during 2004-06: they cannot repeat the mistake as they are now out of power in West Bengal.
Over the next few years, CPM will strengthen the party and party's relationship with as many households as possible. The party will revove the current deficiency of non-Bengai dominated central leadership dependent on Bengal-dominated membership base. Thedependence on a just three states is imprudent. Hence for the first time CPM will endeavour to build up a mass membership base all over India including the Hindi-belt. There will be special membership drives to recruit new, young members and supporters dedicated to the ideas of Marxit communism. This will help them to organise popular protest rallies, increaetheir muscle power and other powers to infiltrate the millions of households not yet tapped. The objective is to increase their strength in the next Lok Sabha Elections in 2014 and then regain power in West Bengal in 2016. Maybe by then CPM would have enough Lok Sabha seats to be a dominant and active parter in a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition government. That would be the beginning of the proletariat participation in Government of India - the first baby steps on the way to proletariat staehood socialism. Long live communist revolution.
Continuing Indian communist revolution has brought immense benefits to the Indian's. The movement reportedly made a strong supportive contribution to the process of the creation of Pakistan (and East Bengal's inclusion in it for the benefit of the Muslims to enjoy a majority status by going out of India. It was good for the Muslims to free themselves of the Hindu majority India. It helped the Indians to reduce the incidence of communal riots and wars within Indian terrotories. And, it helped the communist movement in India too: no need to invent a separate non-secular Islamic Ciommunist Revolutuion and yet keep the opportunity of building up of an anti-Hindu secular dimension to the Indian communist movement. This historiacal strategies would keep the communist movement relevant to the Indian exploited classes.
Earlier, the communists had identified Tagre as a bourgeoisie poet whose poems and songs could help shape the development of the communist songs for enthusing exploited people to join the communists struggle movement. For similar reasons, they averted a great diaster that would have befallen India if Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose aided by the Fascist, capitalist Germany and Japan to over run the British Army in India taking advantage of the initial World War II conditions breaking the backbone of the British. Fortunately, Stalin hoisted the Communist Flag in Berlin and the US caused the nuclear devastation in Japan to save the future of communist movement in India.
Communist Movement in India helped the flourishing business of trade union leaders. If the labor was exploited, they organised support to them and helped extract better pay and reduced hours of work so that capitalist exploitation reduces in both public and private sector industries. And, when the capitalists were still making money, communist movement successfully brought the factories down with militant trade unionism and ensured immeserisation of some factory workers time to time to generate small pilot demostrations of what Maex had dreamt about repeated crises of capitalism and immiserisation of the working class. At the same time, they had mostly glued themselves to Parliamentary democracy, participating in elections to keep the opportunity to become rulers to acquire the experience of governing before they are able to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat or, rather proletariat statehood in India. .
So the communist movement in India was from the very beginning so appropriately adapted to Indian conditions . Of course, as scientific Marxism demands, unlike any other scientific or non-scientific thing, differences in view about the the nature of Indian conditions and the intensity of their ripeness to launch the final revolution for transformation to proletariat dictatorship, the strategies to be pursued and the methods to be deployed. Debating in Parliament and elected bodies was good enough for the only Russia addicted CPI, fighting elections to capture power through the influence of militant trade unions on workers, organising poor peasants against the non-communist governments, organiinsg violent protests against increase in taport fares to put trams on fire and inciting police to kill protestors and organising rallies in support of Vietnameses struggle against the US forces have been the cornerstone of the increasinglly Chinese addicted CPM, violent peasant rovolt and killing of policemen and rural wealthy have been the strategies of the Naxalites and freeing relatively inaccessible areas near forests away from State administration and police as as also members/ supporters of political parties participating in democratice elections by organising gureilla warfare with smuggled arms and looting banks/ extorting the poor and the waelthy in different areas have been the methoid of the Maoists.
All factions of the communist movement have contributed greatly to the uplift of tpoor as well as keeping them under poverty to keep the dream of class less dictatorship of the proletariat happy. And, also they have successfully engaged the non-communist political parties in power to use tax money, borrowed money and savers money deposited in the banks to implement grand schemes of subsidies to the poor, middle class, workers and farmers to make the State drive itself to banruptcy to create ripe conditions for a proletarian takeover. And, the more the state spendings the higher is the leakage away from the intendended poor beneficiaries and encouragement to the corrupt. Corruption is bleeding India. With competitive efforts to arrest immiserisation and wastages through alarming spread and scale of corruption, all governments are rushing for employment guarantee, right to food, right to health care, right to education, right to shelter, the Indian economy is being driven to banruptcy so necessary to put capitalism to grave and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.This is the only way that the docile Indians can be ultimately forced to accept and join the final revolution to capture power for them instead of clinging to dacaying democracy powered by votes cast by elections all round the year.
What is the current stage of the communist revolution in India.? The communists have not been able to gather more than 8% of Indian votes, but had come to power in three States of West Bengal, the birthplace of Indian communism, Tripura, another Bengali laguage dominate State and Kerala. During 2004-2009 the CPM-led Left Front ruled the roost: called the shots supporting a Ciongress coalition at the Center, stopping all reforms that even the bulk of the congresmen disliked and then forcing a National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that will quicken the bankruptcy of the Indian Government unless other subsidies are drastically cut down in a short time. Then the CPM withdrew support to Congress coalition as the 123 Nuclear Deal was being signed by India with the US. In the Parliamentary Elections in 2009 the CPM got routed and became a small irrelevant minority in the Lok Sabha. In 2011 elections, the CPM failed to regain Kerala and even with 40% a share of votes lost power in West Bengal where the Trinamool secured 185 out of the 296 seats against CPM led Left Front tally of 60+ seats. All of a suddeen CPM slid from the height of arrogance to a pitiable conditions. Now the CPM is preparaing to fight back.
The efforts to revive the dream of 'proletariat dictatorship', earlier replaced by 'proletariat statehood' seemed to have failed in the current year's Party Congress session in Kerala. What is the Marxian prognosis and outlook. The conditions are turning favourable to the Communist movement. CPM sees that the capitalist economies are running from crises to crises as predicted by Marx: from the Financial crises that spread from the US to European capitalist states. Japan continues in dolddrum stagnancy. Russia regaining strength and China becoming the second largest economy of the World with a dominating presence in world trade. Capitalism is crumbling with financial crisis yeilding place to sovereign debt crisis and Europe in deep recession. As the debt crisis is being solved, seeds of new crises are being sown in capitalism. Globalisation has led to increased inequality in capitalistic states and common people are increasingly becoming communists even in the US. They are trying to capture the stock markets - the gambling den designed to ensure immiserisation of the working class to enthuse them to revolt against capitalism. Within India, the state and private capitalism is in doldrums: economy growth has slowed down and hardly any private sector investment taking place for the past two years. The oulook is grim: government of India has no economic or political solution toarress immiserisation of the Indian working class and small farmer dominated agricultural class. Prices have gone out of control and remains high. Weak coalition Government at the center is politically non-functioning, having to manage crisis after crisis with every now and then threat of withdrwal of support from regional party coalition partners black mailing the Congress Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh. Very ideal conditions to take the communist revolution a few steps ahead quickly.
Which path will CVPM pursue now? It had studied and analysed all models - the Russian, the Chinese, the North Korean, the Vietnamese and the Latin American. They have concluded that each of these models suffer from a few or more deficiencies. Obviously, they discard the deficiencies of the Chinese globalisation networking with the capitalist world, rise in inequality in the recent decades and expansionism with an eye on India's Arunachal Pradesh. They do not like the North Koreal Model of undemocratic dynastic communism: father communist president choosing his son as his successor. But these are the only two states ruled by poltical parties with communist title in the World that are the bold challangers of the US Imperialism. So, both China and North Korea remain socialist countries to draw emotional, psychological strength from. Vietnam's communisim has gone ashtray with trade relations with US and disputes with China. Cuba has turned dynastic communistsm. The socialism being structured in democratic structure in Venezuela and Bolivia, these countries cannot be accepted as socialist countries in communist dictionary because then India would be already close to communist socialism. Indian communists are to pick up only the strong points from various models and are now putting them together for evolving a model adapted to India's caste-based/ quota and reservation based socio-economic conditions.
What about 'inner party' democracy? Well democracy is not consistent with communist movement. There can be genuine differences of opinion. But the task of democratic centerism is to convince the people with opinions different from the central leadership (not high command, of course) and wean them away from dissent and make them as disciplined as most members are. This may dissatisfy the intellectuals wedded to the extreme ideals of proletariat dictatoship on the one hand and of democracy everywhere on the other hand. But intellectualism was largely left behind with the orinal CPI at thetime of division. CPM will continue to be led by articulate and sophisticated policymakers and strategists with support from a disciplined force of practical members with popularity and mass muscle power. And, all will remain united till such time American Imperialism and European Capitalism do not meet their natural demise in historical time.
For now, CPM will not commit the same mistakes that they did while in power indirectly by being supporter of UPA1 Congress Coalition government in delaying the withdrawal of support to Congress in a bid to usher in a third non-BJP, non-Congress coalition to power. It cannot do the same mistake now with a negligible presence in the Parliament and complete absence in most state-level legislative assemblies. CPM will not again commit the same mistake of interpreting two-third majority in a State assembly as equivalent to unlimited power to acquire land for industrialisation from farmers as had happenedin West Bengal during 2004-06: they cannot repeat the mistake as they are now out of power in West Bengal.
Over the next few years, CPM will strengthen the party and party's relationship with as many households as possible. The party will revove the current deficiency of non-Bengai dominated central leadership dependent on Bengal-dominated membership base. Thedependence on a just three states is imprudent. Hence for the first time CPM will endeavour to build up a mass membership base all over India including the Hindi-belt. There will be special membership drives to recruit new, young members and supporters dedicated to the ideas of Marxit communism. This will help them to organise popular protest rallies, increaetheir muscle power and other powers to infiltrate the millions of households not yet tapped. The objective is to increase their strength in the next Lok Sabha Elections in 2014 and then regain power in West Bengal in 2016. Maybe by then CPM would have enough Lok Sabha seats to be a dominant and active parter in a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition government. That would be the beginning of the proletariat participation in Government of India - the first baby steps on the way to proletariat staehood socialism. Long live communist revolution.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
First Full Budget of Changers: Absence of Change in Presentation
March 24, 2012 Facebook posting
Trinamool scored over the Communists by huge margin in the presentation of theElection Manifesto in 2011. But the Budget Speech of Finance Minster hardly makes hardly any change in the Bengali presentation style.
Dr Amit Mitra presented the First Full-Fledged Budget of the New Government yesterday evening. The first change one had expected was in the archaic Model of presentation followed by his predecessor and so routine clerical work of his Finance Depoartment. The politicians may not be of high intellectual taste but these days they dabble in analysis of everything on earth. So, it was high time for a change in the analytical quality of the Budget Speech and associated documents. At least, the Financial Statement in the Fourth part of the speech hangs loose and needs to be replaced by a Budget at a glance that would give figures for three years in respect of major heads of recepits ; Tax Revenue State, Tax Share Transfer from Govt of India, Non-tax revenue internally raised, interest on loans given to others, Grants-in aid received from the Centre for revenue expenditure, Fresh loans and Debt raised, Grant -in aid received for capital expenditure from Central Govt., Net increase in Loans and Debts outstanding, average cost of outstanding debt and loans (%), Other capital Receipts, Revenue expenditure, of which revenue expenditure on Salaries, wages, pensions, interest expenditure, subsidies paid to public sector agencies, subsidies on food, education, health, etc directly given to citizens under various schemes, Capital expenditure on major heads, along with the difference between reevue expenditure and revenue receipts, capital expenditure and capital receipts, the revenue deficit percentage to State domestic product, the fiscal deficit percentage to SDP, the outstanding debt to SDP percentage.
Well everyone knows that many of these figures are difficult to project accurately: but the Fiinance Department personnel are paid to make efforts to increase their efficiency in making such estimates and in any case the past years figures should be available and easily estimated. The Budget at a Glance could be about 10 to 12 pages.
Such an upfront disclosure would not only be cosistent with proper governance but will reduce the wastage of time in unavoidable debates. Soon, the former Finance Minister will come out with analysis based on detailed budget document that would help raise question mark about the credibility of the Budget figures and put Mamata's Govt in bad light about further increase in debt level of the West Bwengal Govt.
Trinamool scored over the Communists by huge margin in the presentation of theElection Manifesto in 2011. But the Budget Speech of Finance Minster hardly makes hardly any change in the Bengali presentation style.
Dr Amit Mitra presented the First Full-Fledged Budget of the New Government yesterday evening. The first change one had expected was in the archaic Model of presentation followed by his predecessor and so routine clerical work of his Finance Depoartment. The politicians may not be of high intellectual taste but these days they dabble in analysis of everything on earth. So, it was high time for a change in the analytical quality of the Budget Speech and associated documents. At least, the Financial Statement in the Fourth part of the speech hangs loose and needs to be replaced by a Budget at a glance that would give figures for three years in respect of major heads of recepits ; Tax Revenue State, Tax Share Transfer from Govt of India, Non-tax revenue internally raised, interest on loans given to others, Grants-in aid received from the Centre for revenue expenditure, Fresh loans and Debt raised, Grant -in aid received for capital expenditure from Central Govt., Net increase in Loans and Debts outstanding, average cost of outstanding debt and loans (%), Other capital Receipts, Revenue expenditure, of which revenue expenditure on Salaries, wages, pensions, interest expenditure, subsidies paid to public sector agencies, subsidies on food, education, health, etc directly given to citizens under various schemes, Capital expenditure on major heads, along with the difference between reevue expenditure and revenue receipts, capital expenditure and capital receipts, the revenue deficit percentage to State domestic product, the fiscal deficit percentage to SDP, the outstanding debt to SDP percentage.
Well everyone knows that many of these figures are difficult to project accurately: but the Fiinance Department personnel are paid to make efforts to increase their efficiency in making such estimates and in any case the past years figures should be available and easily estimated. The Budget at a Glance could be about 10 to 12 pages.
Such an upfront disclosure would not only be cosistent with proper governance but will reduce the wastage of time in unavoidable debates. Soon, the former Finance Minister will come out with analysis based on detailed budget document that would help raise question mark about the credibility of the Budget figures and put Mamata's Govt in bad light about further increase in debt level of the West Bwengal Govt.
Amit Mitra's Budget: More Missing in Speech than Available Upfront
March 25, 2012 Fb posting
The art of effective public communication is to disclose upfront that convinces the people. Amit Mitra complained that the previous Govt. had left the Statec with an unsustainble debt burden in excess of Rs 20 million crores. That is correct. In the last ten months, he could not bring down the debt burden, it must have increased. Ten months is a short time to reverse a trend: given the past reluctance of the former Finance Minister to be upfront in disclosurers and build an air of sophistication around some clerical financial work, it would take a new minister to know the real health of the State's finances. No one expected him to turn the State around in a year or two. He would have do, 2011ne well by starting an upfront summarry disclosure on the lines suggested in an earlier Note posted here in my Fb page. Better late than never: he should circulate a disclosure sheet while giving his replies at the end of budget discussions that started on Saturday 24th March in the State Assembly of legislators. The Daily newspapers can publish that statement for wider public awareness of the facts than doubting the Budget figures based on opposition critics.
What do we still readily have from his Budget sppech with a Financial Statement hanging lose as part 4 of his speech as given the Finance Department's website?
The Revenue Receipts in the year closing on 31 March 2012 (a few days to go) have increased by Rs12,000 crore as against the increase of Rs10,000 crore in the previous year. But in the next year 2012-13, he budgets for a Rs17,000 increase. How only the Finance Department knows. Good to have a challenging budget for increasing revenues. Maybe his major reforms in tax administration will partly help. Maybe the incidence of tax evasion will also drop.
Mr. Dasgupta had raised Rs7,000 crore more debt in 2010-1i the debt raised he raised in 20009-10. In 2011-12 Mr Mitra mamaged with just Rs 3000 crore of debt than the maximum additional debt raised by Ashimj asgupta in a single year. Mr. Mitra proposes to reduce the fresh borrowingas by Rs 5000 crorers in 2012-13. But difficult to know how much debt he repaid to work out the net impact on the outstanding debt level. He clearly would have paid much less than the amount of fresh borrowings whose receipts are estimated at Rs 46,766 crore in 2011-12 and budgeted at Rs 41596 crore for 2012-13. If he succeeds in achieving these figures he would have made a small first step towards turning the debt situation from the worst to worse.
His revenue account deficit estimates are placed at about Rs17,000 crore in 2010-11 and 2011-12. That is good. No further increase in revenue deficit. He wants now to reduce the revenue account deficit by Rs10,000 crore to just Rs7,000 crore in 2012-23. That is a tall task but what is needed by the State to come out of the debt crisis. All revenue deficits mean a corresponding requirement of borrowing.
Revenue expenditure increased from Rs64,500 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 76,5000 crore in 2011-12. That is a large increase. We do not know yet where did Mr. Mitra find money to fund such a huge increase in revenue expenditure. The Mamata's expenditure spree is evident, but the matching revenue earning effort is not visible yet.
Mt Mitra managed also to nearly double the capital expenditure from Rs,2200 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 3,9000 crore in 2011-12 and budgets for a further doubling to Rs 8300 crore in 2012-13. That would be good job done.
His fresh tax revenue effort will yield him a mere Rs200 crore. Unlikely that he will be able to increase taxes in 2013 - the Panchyat elections are there. But he could count on reducing the subsidies on transport and other public sector undertakings and plug leakages in expenditure along with leakages in taxes.
The rest of his budget speech, about two-thirds of the text confirms that Governments are for spending money of others. However, he increased allocation much more in percentage growth terms to some of the low budget departments that have become critically important. His geographical spread of expenditure seens to be more balanced - reflecting Mamata's inclination to help all geogrphical areas/ regions. That's good.
I hope the 10 finance advisers he posts in 10 major departments are not to accomodoate promotions to some bureaucrats. I hope they serve the purpose of controlling wasteful expenditure, evaluate expemnditure decisions and help the Finance Department guys in enhancing the analytical quality of budget paper documentation.
Good job, could be better next year if hisrevenue forecasts are achieved.
The art of effective public communication is to disclose upfront that convinces the people. Amit Mitra complained that the previous Govt. had left the Statec with an unsustainble debt burden in excess of Rs 20 million crores. That is correct. In the last ten months, he could not bring down the debt burden, it must have increased. Ten months is a short time to reverse a trend: given the past reluctance of the former Finance Minister to be upfront in disclosurers and build an air of sophistication around some clerical financial work, it would take a new minister to know the real health of the State's finances. No one expected him to turn the State around in a year or two. He would have do, 2011ne well by starting an upfront summarry disclosure on the lines suggested in an earlier Note posted here in my Fb page. Better late than never: he should circulate a disclosure sheet while giving his replies at the end of budget discussions that started on Saturday 24th March in the State Assembly of legislators. The Daily newspapers can publish that statement for wider public awareness of the facts than doubting the Budget figures based on opposition critics.
What do we still readily have from his Budget sppech with a Financial Statement hanging lose as part 4 of his speech as given the Finance Department's website?
The Revenue Receipts in the year closing on 31 March 2012 (a few days to go) have increased by Rs12,000 crore as against the increase of Rs10,000 crore in the previous year. But in the next year 2012-13, he budgets for a Rs17,000 increase. How only the Finance Department knows. Good to have a challenging budget for increasing revenues. Maybe his major reforms in tax administration will partly help. Maybe the incidence of tax evasion will also drop.
Mr. Dasgupta had raised Rs7,000 crore more debt in 2010-1i the debt raised he raised in 20009-10. In 2011-12 Mr Mitra mamaged with just Rs 3000 crore of debt than the maximum additional debt raised by Ashimj asgupta in a single year. Mr. Mitra proposes to reduce the fresh borrowingas by Rs 5000 crorers in 2012-13. But difficult to know how much debt he repaid to work out the net impact on the outstanding debt level. He clearly would have paid much less than the amount of fresh borrowings whose receipts are estimated at Rs 46,766 crore in 2011-12 and budgeted at Rs 41596 crore for 2012-13. If he succeeds in achieving these figures he would have made a small first step towards turning the debt situation from the worst to worse.
His revenue account deficit estimates are placed at about Rs17,000 crore in 2010-11 and 2011-12. That is good. No further increase in revenue deficit. He wants now to reduce the revenue account deficit by Rs10,000 crore to just Rs7,000 crore in 2012-23. That is a tall task but what is needed by the State to come out of the debt crisis. All revenue deficits mean a corresponding requirement of borrowing.
Revenue expenditure increased from Rs64,500 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 76,5000 crore in 2011-12. That is a large increase. We do not know yet where did Mr. Mitra find money to fund such a huge increase in revenue expenditure. The Mamata's expenditure spree is evident, but the matching revenue earning effort is not visible yet.
Mt Mitra managed also to nearly double the capital expenditure from Rs,2200 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 3,9000 crore in 2011-12 and budgets for a further doubling to Rs 8300 crore in 2012-13. That would be good job done.
His fresh tax revenue effort will yield him a mere Rs200 crore. Unlikely that he will be able to increase taxes in 2013 - the Panchyat elections are there. But he could count on reducing the subsidies on transport and other public sector undertakings and plug leakages in expenditure along with leakages in taxes.
The rest of his budget speech, about two-thirds of the text confirms that Governments are for spending money of others. However, he increased allocation much more in percentage growth terms to some of the low budget departments that have become critically important. His geographical spread of expenditure seens to be more balanced - reflecting Mamata's inclination to help all geogrphical areas/ regions. That's good.
I hope the 10 finance advisers he posts in 10 major departments are not to accomodoate promotions to some bureaucrats. I hope they serve the purpose of controlling wasteful expenditure, evaluate expemnditure decisions and help the Finance Department guys in enhancing the analytical quality of budget paper documentation.
Good job, could be better next year if hisrevenue forecasts are achieved.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Down with Mamata Flu: Hyper Activity Syndrome
There is some dangerous flu virus in WestBengal according to newsgatherers and news analysits. They are reporting of various kinds of problems due to cintinuing Mamata Flu:
1. Crimes have increased in cities - police is unable toensure either law or order or both.
2. The farmers are thinking of not repaying loans raised through mortgage of property threatening a banking crisis.
3. Railways have increased freight rates by some 20% or more, leading to rise in prices of essential goods severely hurting the poor and the middle class.
4. The Maoists have been increasingly colluding with the police for dramatic surrender for getting medical treatment and rehabilitation assistance at State cost.
5. Alleged criminals favoured by one party are not being arrested or their cases not being pursued by police, while alleged criminals supported by other political parties are being hotly chased and harassed by the police, leading to a rapid erosion of democracy in the State.
6, Education has come to stand still with increase in the incidence of wrong question papers in examinations, principals repeatedly assulted/ gheraoed in colleges and student violence over elections in the collegepremises.
7. Ministers are being heckled and attacked for their patronizing one group of their supporters at the cost of another group of supporters: violent intra-part clashes and murders within Trinamool are out-numbering inter-party clashes and political murders - a sign of greater political chaos arising out of flocking other party infiltration in Trinamool party and threatening performance of ministers.
8. Users of Govt. funded libraries are not subscribing to the most popular newspapers and political party-sponsored newspapers leading to a great damage to the formation of public opinion in the State.
9. The freqent incidence of fires in hospitals, medical centers, markets, factories, commercial buildings, poor people's ressidential bastis, government undertaking record rooms storing files under audit is tiring the State into a highly inflamable condition of despair.
10. The non-passing of budgets by some District Self-Government Houses due to political fights is resulting in bottlenecks to the flow of benefits to the rural poor and compensation to employees: this together with transfer of financial powers to the District Magistrates and the BDOs are leading to the breakdown of the great Panchyati system, threatening the very foundation of democracy in the State.
11. Metro Rail stopped functioning for 3 hours at a stetch in peak hours in the evening pointing to the impending breakdown of the office commuters transport system.
12. Women folk are getting increasingly anguished over incidences ofrape on a regular basis including rapecospiracy hatched by spouses. and there is growing sense of insecurity.
13. Direction-less, ill-conceived Budget of Amit Mitra leading the State to even greater Debt-trap and uncertainly bleak future of West Bengal economy.
14. The Grkhas in Darjeeling havealready snatched away Great powers for Gorkha Hill Territory that may extend to Doars etc as a stepping stone to cut West Bengal to size in a few years from now.
15. The Mamata Govt. is spending huge sums on culture to revive cultural dimension of West Bengal threatening cuts on poverty allievation expenditure - a dangerous sign of government trying to indulge in fascist cultutral revolution.
Search for other symptoms of Mamata-flu afflected West Bengal that suddenly chose to chnage. Change of season diseases ar eall around, take care. Don't get hyper , just relax andenjoy thedrama.
1. Crimes have increased in cities - police is unable toensure either law or order or both.
2. The farmers are thinking of not repaying loans raised through mortgage of property threatening a banking crisis.
3. Railways have increased freight rates by some 20% or more, leading to rise in prices of essential goods severely hurting the poor and the middle class.
4. The Maoists have been increasingly colluding with the police for dramatic surrender for getting medical treatment and rehabilitation assistance at State cost.
5. Alleged criminals favoured by one party are not being arrested or their cases not being pursued by police, while alleged criminals supported by other political parties are being hotly chased and harassed by the police, leading to a rapid erosion of democracy in the State.
6, Education has come to stand still with increase in the incidence of wrong question papers in examinations, principals repeatedly assulted/ gheraoed in colleges and student violence over elections in the collegepremises.
7. Ministers are being heckled and attacked for their patronizing one group of their supporters at the cost of another group of supporters: violent intra-part clashes and murders within Trinamool are out-numbering inter-party clashes and political murders - a sign of greater political chaos arising out of flocking other party infiltration in Trinamool party and threatening performance of ministers.
8. Users of Govt. funded libraries are not subscribing to the most popular newspapers and political party-sponsored newspapers leading to a great damage to the formation of public opinion in the State.
9. The freqent incidence of fires in hospitals, medical centers, markets, factories, commercial buildings, poor people's ressidential bastis, government undertaking record rooms storing files under audit is tiring the State into a highly inflamable condition of despair.
10. The non-passing of budgets by some District Self-Government Houses due to political fights is resulting in bottlenecks to the flow of benefits to the rural poor and compensation to employees: this together with transfer of financial powers to the District Magistrates and the BDOs are leading to the breakdown of the great Panchyati system, threatening the very foundation of democracy in the State.
11. Metro Rail stopped functioning for 3 hours at a stetch in peak hours in the evening pointing to the impending breakdown of the office commuters transport system.
12. Women folk are getting increasingly anguished over incidences ofrape on a regular basis including rapecospiracy hatched by spouses. and there is growing sense of insecurity.
13. Direction-less, ill-conceived Budget of Amit Mitra leading the State to even greater Debt-trap and uncertainly bleak future of West Bengal economy.
14. The Grkhas in Darjeeling havealready snatched away Great powers for Gorkha Hill Territory that may extend to Doars etc as a stepping stone to cut West Bengal to size in a few years from now.
15. The Mamata Govt. is spending huge sums on culture to revive cultural dimension of West Bengal threatening cuts on poverty allievation expenditure - a dangerous sign of government trying to indulge in fascist cultutral revolution.
Search for other symptoms of Mamata-flu afflected West Bengal that suddenly chose to chnage. Change of season diseases ar eall around, take care. Don't get hyper , just relax andenjoy thedrama.
No Loyalty-based Poor-Poor Divide
In an interesting TV interview to Zee's 24 Ghanta News Channel, the first in the last 310 days sincehe conceeded defeat of Left Front to Mamata's Trinamool, Buddhadev Bhattacharya, former chief Minister of West Bengal has reportedly siad that it was incorrect for his party, CPM, to divide the poor into two groups: those who supported the CPMand those who did not or supported other parties/ opposition parties. This had resulted in many poor votes shifting away from his party while casting their votes. It seems that CPM should be making thiscorrection. But this lesson is more important for Mamata, the current Chief Minister. This is an important element of the desired Parivartan / Change. No more Poor-Poor divide based on political party alliegance to extend benefits/ assistance or harassment should be the rule that Bengali politicians must adopt immediately in the true spirit of democracy. All poor citizens irrespective of political incliniations or party affiliations should be treated equally without discrimination of any sort.
But why restrict such wonderful priciple for application to thepoor only. Why divide the middlec-class or the rich even? Why patronise/ favour only those ofthe middle-class ( teachers, professionals, students, doctors, artists, novelists, etc) and the rich industrialists or businessmen including promoters/ housing materials supply syndicates and rowdies, ruffians and rugues who support your party and discriminate against those who support other parties or are apolitical or politically independent/ neutral? Let political parties rise above discrimnation of individual/ groups of citizens based on thieir political inclinination/ affiliation or apolitical stance. This only will make way for the quality of democracy in the State to improve. All political murders/ violence and most of the socially burdensome chaos arises only from intolerance and envy/ jealousy of political parties. Let the political parties pump oot their bad blood of intolerance of citizens based on theor political alliegance.
Buddhadev Bhattacharry is reportedly even willing to tolerate Mamata's alleged madness for her full five year term instead of hurrying into destructive political action to disrupt the society. His party cadres may, as in the past, little heed to his gentlemanly civilized advice. But Trinamool Congress could benefit more by following his advice rather than following the past mistakes of CPM. Does it really matter much to the Trinamool what alleged lies and misrepresentation of facts are published by the Telegraph, Ananda Bazar and Bartaman or what 24 Ghanta channel or Star Annada Channel telecast to malign the Trinamool? Neither do current opposition party leaders will lose significantly if they choose not to participate in support of such Newspapers and TV channels perceived by the Trinamool as deliberate maligning campaigns to blackmail the current Government and theruling party? Why get involved into controversial association of commercial press/ media? Citizens can make out what isthe Truth and motivation of headlines, news analysis campaigns of newspapers and TV news channels. If they can vote for a change with 30 lakh more people in favour in a voting population of abot 4.5 crores, do political parties need to be seen close to one or the other newspaper or TV news channel? Commercial Newspapers/ TV channels may often become arrogant over their power over the readers/ viewers in the citizenry: the Turth is that they cannot sustain themselves with untruthful/ misleading campaigns that peoople do not enjoy, irrespective of whether they get subscriptions by the libraries or the givernment advertisement revenues.
But why restrict such wonderful priciple for application to thepoor only. Why divide the middlec-class or the rich even? Why patronise/ favour only those ofthe middle-class ( teachers, professionals, students, doctors, artists, novelists, etc) and the rich industrialists or businessmen including promoters/ housing materials supply syndicates and rowdies, ruffians and rugues who support your party and discriminate against those who support other parties or are apolitical or politically independent/ neutral? Let political parties rise above discrimnation of individual/ groups of citizens based on thieir political inclinination/ affiliation or apolitical stance. This only will make way for the quality of democracy in the State to improve. All political murders/ violence and most of the socially burdensome chaos arises only from intolerance and envy/ jealousy of political parties. Let the political parties pump oot their bad blood of intolerance of citizens based on theor political alliegance.
Buddhadev Bhattacharry is reportedly even willing to tolerate Mamata's alleged madness for her full five year term instead of hurrying into destructive political action to disrupt the society. His party cadres may, as in the past, little heed to his gentlemanly civilized advice. But Trinamool Congress could benefit more by following his advice rather than following the past mistakes of CPM. Does it really matter much to the Trinamool what alleged lies and misrepresentation of facts are published by the Telegraph, Ananda Bazar and Bartaman or what 24 Ghanta channel or Star Annada Channel telecast to malign the Trinamool? Neither do current opposition party leaders will lose significantly if they choose not to participate in support of such Newspapers and TV channels perceived by the Trinamool as deliberate maligning campaigns to blackmail the current Government and theruling party? Why get involved into controversial association of commercial press/ media? Citizens can make out what isthe Truth and motivation of headlines, news analysis campaigns of newspapers and TV news channels. If they can vote for a change with 30 lakh more people in favour in a voting population of abot 4.5 crores, do political parties need to be seen close to one or the other newspaper or TV news channel? Commercial Newspapers/ TV channels may often become arrogant over their power over the readers/ viewers in the citizenry: the Turth is that they cannot sustain themselves with untruthful/ misleading campaigns that peoople do not enjoy, irrespective of whether they get subscriptions by the libraries or the givernment advertisement revenues.
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