Thursday 7 July 2016

Economy On Track

                                          Critics often scream about the illusionary stalled state of economy without facts, try to tarnish government's reputation about nonexistent (so far) scams that its futile to debate but here i am writing about the decisions and there implementation to augment economy and their repercussion. As P.M always reiterate his sacred mantra of "minimal government maximum governance" incumbent gov't is brilliantly acting as facilitator for stalled and new projects to provide thrust to economy.

 Energy :-  After anointed as PM candidate, Modi emphasized about the need to increase electricity generation and providing it to the remotest parts of country "untouched virgin" territories till now. There was a near-crisis situation in coal supply when NDA took charge. The government quickly passed an ordinance (later replaced by an Act) and auctioned coal blocks to alleviate the shortages while garnering Rs 3.44 lakh crore of revenues over the lifetime of the blocks thus turning around the beleaguered and maligned mining industry reeling under coal scam by infusing new lease of life. 
                                Coal production since then has acquired momentum with the output rising by 32 million tonnes in 2014-15 against the increase of 31 million tonnes in the previous four years taken together. Growth during 2015-16 is reported to be nine per cent. Underground coal gasification projects are on anvil too.
                                Solar power generation is another primary focus area of government with 32 solar parks of 20 Gw capacity approved in 20 states. The government initiative to emphasize more on renewable power to reduce carbon emission is applauded by investors and and states and addition of 1.5 Gw in 2015 -16 testifies it.
                                PM has announced his intention to electrify 12,000 villages by May 1, 2018 and electrification of 6,816 villages has been achieved in last two years and work to connect rest of villages is currently underway. 

 Railways :-  There's 66% increase in the average rate of expansion of tracks since the NDA government took center stage. Investment in railways has  doubled during 2015-16 then the average during the preceding five years with special focus on northeastern states who have been neglected for last 65 years. The stress on modernizing 400 major railway stations has started bearing fruit.
                            Government initiative of electrification of tracks and CNG trains are other commendable steps. The construction of dedicated eastern and western freight corridors of 1,305 km and 1,499 Kms, respectively, and laying down of 1,875 Kms of new railway lines augers well for railway modernization and reach.

  Roads :-  It is another sector where incumbent government achieved breakthrough by pushing towards execution of the stalled projects of previous government while actively initiating new projects. Acceleration of road construction can be gauged from the stats which are road construction has risen from 8.5 Km a day during the last two years of the previous government to 11.9 Kms in 2014-15 and 16.5 Kms in 2015-16. The construction of national highway projects awarded has risen from 3,500 Kms in 2013-14 to 8,000 Kms in 2014-15 and 10,000 Kms in 2015-16.
                                 Besides these, 3 year tax holiday for Startup ventures to promote entrepreneurship among disadvantaged communities and government's flagship program "Make In India" to focus on manufacturing are some other important and worthwhile initiatives that needs to be pondered upon before criticizing the efficacy of government.

Saturday 2 July 2016

Bombathalon On Ramadan

                                       Congratulations to sane Muslim brethren and non-Muslims for surviving death and destruction on holy month of Ramadan at the hands of lunatics.Terrorism is evil and those who fail to speak up are cowards.The indifference of silent majority only emboldens these Islamic lunatics .From Turkey to Bangladesh unending massacre of civilians and security personal in the month of Ramadan  is continuing unabated . With ambition of uniting the whole Muslim world under one caliphate and then subjugating the world to convert or perish is the ulterior motive of bigots. The brutal murders of atheists bloggers or Hindu priests in Bangladesh or Coptic Christians in Egypt and Libya testifies the ugly truth. Ironically largest victims of Islamic terror violence are coreligionists who don't believe in their ideology.
                                    Spike in terror unleashed by terror mongers during Muslim month is harrowing. It seems Ramadan has almost become an excuse for perpetuating violence often with tacit understanding of religious leaders who choose to remain ignorant. Ramadan death toll till now stands at an eye popping 8307 till now. Ghastly tales of abduction , rapes ,conversion, beheadings are pouring in from Nigeria to Afghanistan with no end in sight. Destructive and polluted ideology is the breeding ground for terrorists and root causes of disharmony.
  Year                             Death Count                         Relative to Previous Year              
  2015                                  6437                                        23.8%  (D)
  2014                                  8450                                        27.5%  (U)
  2013                                  6625                                        94.7%  (U)
  2012                                  3402                                        66.6%  (U)
  2011                                  2042                                         52.5%  (U)
                                  A  counterrevolution should be initiated to challenge the menace of terrorism head-on. The ostrich kind approach isn't working and has caused more harm. The piling of corpses has only increased and terror reached newer territories. Terrorist ideology shouldn't be tolerated and  fiercely condemned politically, militarily and ideologically . So far war on terror has yielded limited success as the governments have shied away from addressing the root cause of terror i.e the twisted ideology of Islam propagated and funded by few states. Intolerance towards other religions is growing alarmingly among Muslim communities Its about time that the "politically correct" lies propagated by politicians and individuals is abandoned.
                               The lurking danger to life and property gets enhanced due to opportunist politicians and armchair liberals who try to defend the ignominious acts of Islamic terror, bruised aside as simple law and order problem. Lone voices opposing to terrorists is silenced and is branded  Islamophobic. There had been instances where these groups have combined their strength to hogwash serious ideological debates and tried to portray terrorists as victims often illiterates and thus gullible. Apart from terrorists this motley group of self righteous individuals lead to irreparable damage by blunting the fight against terror.

                                   While social media has given extremists a global megaphone to spread their message, its over exploitation on holy Muslim months is startling. Terror clerics have openly asked followers of Islam to " embark and hasten toward jihad thus make Ramadan a month of disasters for the infidels." Violence and venomous speeches will continue as long as government world over doesn't understand the gravity of situation and concerted efforts aren't taken to end the ugly monster of Islamic terror. Muslim societies must ponder the increasing tendencies of their youngsters toward violence in a multicultural world. Introspection by Muslim societies alone has the wherewithal to wean away youngsters from falling prey to bigots. The venomous ideology of hate has to be openly confronted and the shriller voices should come from within Muslim community.

                                    

Friday 1 July 2016

"Udta - ISRO"

                                 Another feather in the burgeoning cap of accomplishments of ISRO is the triumphant launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1G on April 28,2016.The first satellite IRNSS-1A was launched in July 2013, the second IRNSS-1B in April 2014, the third on October 2014, the fourth in March 2015, and the fifth, sixth and seventh on January 20, March 10, and April 28 2016 thus concluding and operationalizing the system . After successfully establishing their mettle globally through Chandrayaan-1 (making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon) and Mangalyaan (fourth space agency to reach Mars and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt) the navigational satellite setup is truly an incredible masterpiece . With the successful seven-satellite constellation IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) , India joins a league of elite nations having their own navigation systems in place.
                            The navigational structure of seven satellites is given a new name by PM Modi as NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation). NAVIC is unique as its regional in nature thus have just seven satellites while other countries have placed more satellites as their system is global in outreach. Even SAARC countries can avail the benefit of NAVIC as it is designed to provide accurate position information to users within the country and 1500km around the Indian mainland thus has foreign policy relevance.
                        NAVIC would offer services like terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking, fleet management, navigation aide for hikers and travellers, and visual and voice navigation for drivers. NAVIC  will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) to all users, and Restricted Services (RS) to only authorised users. The system has multiple navigation application for defense purposes ranging from autonomous navigational capability to Indian soldiers, sailors and airmen to GPS tipped bombs and missiles.
                     The magnificent achievement of ISRO made India self reliant and catapulted country's image and wherewithal as second to none.

O Poet!

        O Poet!
           I write the first line, and strike it off!
           Fearing the King and his soldiers.                 
                      
          I write the second line and strike it off!
          Fearing guerrilla revolutionaries.

          Fearing for dear life, thus have I struck off thousands of my own lines!
          The souls of these perished lines hover around me and ask me,

      O Poet!
        Are you a poet or a murderer?
        Often have I heard, that lawmakers throttle justice,

        That religion is butchered by protectors of the faith,
         In our times,in fear, poets murder their poetry.

        This I hadn’t heard,And now I have.
      
                                                                               *Source- Unknown