Advantages of women in Indian politics.

By K P PASWAN.

Women in Indian politics always played active and impressive roles. Indian political system started with the formation of Congress Party in the last decade of 19^th century. At that time India was under colonial rule. There was lack of education among women. Except large cities like Kolkata and Mumbai there was no facility of education for women. Foreign missionaries played important role in spreading education among women.

When movement for an independent India started by Mahatma Gandhi and a few prominent leaders like Tilak and Gokhale we do not find mention of any leading women as political leader and freedom fighter.

ADVANTAGE. Having women politicians in power is good for society. It means empowerment of women, encouraging women to have education. Atrocities against women is supposed to come down, but this is not happening. Despite of these shortcomings women in many countries are the first choice for heading the government. Most of women politicians are free from serious corrupt practices. In course of time cruelity against may come down.

Post independent India witnessed emergence of women politicians like Vijayalakshmi Pundit Padmaja Naidu, her daughter Sarojini Naidu Sucheta Kripalani , There were few elected members of parliament and except Rajkumari Amrit Kaur no other women politicians gained prominence in public life.  VijayluxmiPundit and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur heralded new era for women in politics. Amrit Kaur founded modern All India Institute of medical science in New Delhi. As health minister she was much respected woman was her social works impressed the first prime minister of India.

Vijayalakshmi Pundit was the younger sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and was highly educated. She played important role in independent India movement, after independence she represented India in the United Nations Generally and elected president of the UN general assembly. As politician she devoted her time in empowering women by spreading education. Her tenure as governor of a state is remembered as glorious period. She is known as an excellent orator of English. After death of her brother Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, she dissociated herself from active politics, retired to Dehradun and died it here.

 Indira Gandhi was the only daughter of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. She was an astute politician and a practical statesman of contemporary India. Without her, description of politics in post Independent India cannot be carried out. She was chosen to head the government in 1966 after demise of LalBahadur Shastri There was a group of disgruntled politicians known as Syndicate which was bent upon creating political and social problems Morarji Desai was her strong rival but against all odds she headed the politics of India during difficult period. Pakistan was threatening India while separatists in Punjab was indulged in violence to achieve their end.

India has only one woman political figure who needs impartial assessment, For a long period Indira Gandhi guided India on right directions. Disgruntled and power-hungry politicians of that time had one political aim” Remove Indira Gandhi from power”

EVALUATION of Indira Gandhi as a women politician is a difficult task. She is being criticized for imposing emergency in 1975 for personal gain, but hard truth is that she loved for India and sacrificed her life for India while her predecessor and successors knowingly or unknowingly indulged in political activities which proved detrimental to national security of India

 Indira Gandhi was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first PM of India he groomed Indira Gandhi for future role in Indian politics but he never anticipated, Indira as the future PM of India. Pt Nehru died in 1964 and for a brief period LalBahadur Shstri headed the parliamentary democracy, India clashed with Pakistan in which Pakistan was humiliated but the popular PM Shastri died in Tashkent, Once again power struggle followed, Morarji Desai tried his luck but Indira Gandhi was elected as PM of India,

The country followed a mixed system of economy which was not succeeding and India needed new vibrant economic policy. The country was still following five years plans for development but it was also not succeeding. Unless economy is opened there was little hope of an emerging economy. Constant political agitation against her rule was gaining momentum but the opposition had no  idea how to improve economy. Against all these odds, Indira Gandhi gave the slogan “Remove Poverty and introduced 20 point formula. She laid stress on agriculture, however these measures were difficult to implement as there was no coperations from oppositions and the PM herself never approached for dialogue

 

 Some of the Public Sectors established during the period of Jawaharlal Nehru were becoming sick and in absence of foreign collaborations it was impossible to found new industries, Rules of import were difficult and in the name of exports only minerals, tea and garments were noticed  The world was gradually moving to  computerized technology, colors TVs were luxurious item in India. There was no foreign brands of motor vehicles and importation of vehicle attracted higher amount of import duty. Credit goes to Indira Gandhi for maintaining a fragile political stability. There was improvement in agriculture products. Even on limited scale new system of harvest had good result. Punjab led the way in agriculture. 

The nation faced bloody war with Pakistan which was helped by US, Uk. China and almost all the western countries. India was helped only by Russia. 1970 Indo Pakistan war witnessed the emergence of Bangladesh as a new sovereign nation . In the next general election the High court declared her election as null and void. It was a very precarious position, she has few friends left to support, most of them defected and joined the opposition, there was demand for a separate nation for Sikhs and there was violent agitations and several leading personalities were brutally murdered. Indira Gandhi ordered the army to flush out the supporters of Khalistan from a leading temple of Punjab. Her actions were opposed by opposition for a while she was out of power but bounced back with thumping majority in parliament.

 By than her life line started breaking and she was assassinated at her residence. Indira Gandhi’s imposition of emergency needs impartial evolution. Emergency was necessary for averting social and political anarchy. Violations of fundamental had no meaning when common people were craving for foods and medicines and they were getting in time. After her departure India was different. She was assassinated in 1984 and by 1990 Indian economy was opened to the world. Indira will remembered for keeping the unity of the country intact.

After Indira Gandhi no woman politicians are able to impress general public. There were  women Chief Ministers like Mayawati, Ms Jailalita and presently a learned woman as CM of West Bengal, but their contributions cannot be appreciated. There was a woman presiden of India which is a ceremonial post.There are several women politicians who are elected to Parliament and they are known for their excellent speeche.

 

.

 

COALITION POLITICS AND INDIAN ECONOMY.

 By K P PASWAN.

 

India is the largest democracy of the world. The country is following the parliamentary system of democracy. President is ceremonial head of state and also the Commander in Chief of Indian army.Prime Minister belongs to the political party which commands majority in the lower house known as LokSabha. From 2014 on-wards there is only one political party, the ruling party (BJP)  commands majority in the lower house but for certain bills which are to be also passed by the upper chamber known as Rajyasabha. The ruling party does not enjoy majority in the upper chamber and has to depend upon others like minded parties for support.

After assassination of Indira Gandhi. India witnessed the emergence of coalition government. Political leaders of these small and regional parties were disgruntled politicians, they knew nothing about emerging economy. All the public sectors were falling sick and these coalition government made situation worse by funding these sick units, the result was Reserve Bank had to print more money and inflation crossed double figures. Credit goes to bureaucracy and the strong management of banking sectors that the country was saved from economic doom. Before 1999 there was talk of globalization of economy but common man was not concerned about opening of economy, they cared for their livelihood. In absence of large private sectors there was growing problems of unemployment among qualified technocrats. Growing population  was already causing concern and lack of basic health related infrastructures, led to malnutrition and starvation death.

With opening of Indian economy situation began to change, new groups of leaders were aware of extraordinary progress made by Japan, China and a few countries of Latin America. But MNCs were cautious enough to invest money unless they were convinced of political stability. Coalition Govt had no alternatives but to accept the new reality. 

Having said so we examine the economics  of the country. Unfortunately, in the past when coalition government was formed, Indian economy declined. During the period of a particular PM who was nominated by different coalitions parties India had to mogadge its reserved to  end the chaos in economy.One particular PM who is a leading economist and former Governor Of Reserve Bank Of India, mismanaged Indian economy as he had to sacrifice certain  economic principles as these were not liked by leftist partners. Coalition politics led to widespread scams, certain banks were used to launder money by vested interests and owing to conflicting opinions no penal actions were initiated at an early stage. The money launderers and Scoutmasters fled to foreign countries. India is fighting for their extradition.  

Despite of such hurdles under his guidance further economic reforms like de investment of sick manufacturing units were initiated. Under him Banking sectors witnessed extraordinary reforms but taking advantage of reforms in Banking sectors certain groups indulged indulged in banking frauds from which the country is yet to be recovered.

 India is a land of poor, agriculture is the mainstay of life and harvest depends upon good or bad Monsoon. Even when there was coalition government modern technology was imported to boost agriculture products. The result is that India has achieved self sufficiency in food grains.However after 2000 the world  witnessed growing disparity of economic growth between West and the rest of the world. There was coalition government at the centre and India fought with Pakistan known as Kargil war. But Indian economy was opened and foreign investment was seen in sectors like IT, Textiles Fertilizers and automobiles It was not coalition politics but economic compulsion that every constituent party supported economic reform

Economic growth under coalition politics increased purchasing power of common man and inflation was not allowed to cross double digits.  Introduction of MNREGA resulted in increased rural employment.The period also witnessed migration of unskilled labors from less developed areas to more advanced states. After 2015 there is a strong one party government at the centre but several states are under coalition or being ruled by a different government.  Maharashtra, Karnataka, two Telugu speaking states Tamilnadu Kerala are being ruled by different parties while  Hindi speaking states Chatisgarh Jharkhand and Rajsthan are being ruled by Congress with other political parties. But there is no apathy for economic reforms. States are fighting with centers on the basis of social justice, caste based discrimination.

Economic growth in the coalition also witnessed the modernization of Indian defense system New Jet fighters were purchased. An ultramodern aircraft career was purchased from Russia. 

KOVID and ECONOMY. For India it was a race against time before the outbreak of Kovid 19 Indian economy along with economy of a few nations like Japan. Brazil and Argentina were emerging as strong as Chinese economy. Indian economy started taking regular shape in coalition government and reached its zenith under the period of NarendraModi, who enjoys absolute majority in parliament. But pandemic has crippled the economy of entire world.

FINAL THOUGHT. Overall economic growth was  slowed down but did not face the economic doom in the era of coalition politics.

DEMOCRACY WITHOUT DEMOCRATIC IDEAS.

 BY K P PASWAN.

Largest democracy in the world has also largest number of political parties. They fight election based on universal franchise with courage and passion for power. There is nothing like common political ideology as the political parties fight  in the name of caste creed and languages.

 Indian politics is caste oriented. Since no caste on its own expect to win an election so they make unethical alliance with other caste leaders. National interest  always comes next to interest of particular castes. In the same way language plays vital role in the politics of South India. Tamil, Telugu and Kenned and Malayalam are spoken by the people of four states. Tamils claim their language as the most beautiful and oldest among all other languages of India. A few of them are under impression that Hindi which is widely spoken is being imposed upon them. But it is a is a myth being  created by certain disgruntled politicians and also by some educated persons who are   presenting unproven figures and statistics which they call scientific little knowing no scientific theory is perfect unless it can be falsified. It is so because every scientific theory may be better then previous theory. Nevertheless, election in southern states are too some extent is influenced by their eagerness to save their language. Surprisingly despite of tall claims there is no love lost among these four starts, some are fighting for water while some are fighting for cultural superiority

Recently elections were held in five states. Among these states Utter Pradesh  and Punjab witnessed strange political ideology and combination of personal whims, Punjab is among the most prosperous state and drug addiction is the  social problems. Young girls and boys belonging to well to do family are drug addicted. Punjabi are mostly Sikhs by religion but they are not different from Hindus as marriage between  Hindus and  Sikhs are very common, Hindus visit Sikhs Gurudwara to perform certain rituals and barring exceptions there exist brotherhood. A large number of Punjabi migrate to different countries but especially in Canada. Divorce rate among these immigrants are increasing.

 Election in five states were fought on a simple ideology and that was “Remove Modi” because Modi sold India but the name of the purchaser was not disclosed, and people don’t know what was sold. Thee is a particular leader whose one point political agenda is “ You give me your votes and we will give you free electricity and water” Needless to say these catchy slogan worked and the farmers of Punjab voted  to this party. After swearing ceremony was over the Chief Minister of Punjab demanded one Rs lakh Crores from centre. It is not known from where the government of India will manage such huge amount of money?

In Utter Pradesh election was fought for better laws and order and employment. Yogi Aditya Nath is a Thakur by caste but the saffron clad upper caste Hindu did not  care for the castes of hardened criminals and these criminals were neutralized. Surprisingly his opponents known for committing atrocities against Dalits but favouring minorities also increased their voting percentage but fortunately the leader of the opposition party   is not known beyond his own state even though he is appearing as a spokesman of minorities, his political activities are likely to ignite communal tension in future.

 Election in Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa were fought by abusing the prime minister of India. Uttarakhand has been strong hold of BJP which known for pro Hindu and won the election. In Goa attempts were made to divide the society on the basis of religion by every political party but BJP won the election it is certainly miraculous. Manipur has strategic importance as it has long border with Myanmar and there is chronic problems of insurgence. Anti BJP tried every trick to win the voters but is again miraculous that BJP won the election by comfortable margin. The Grand Old Party Congress suffered in all the states even though at national level this party has maximum number of legislatures after BJP but in the coming general election the Congress party is unlikely to increase its tally as the election may be fought for grabbing the post of PM.

 FUTURE. Democratic India is fast turning into another European Community. The days of insurgency in Nagaland and Manipur may see a declining trend. J&K may see further bifurcation. Jammu is likely to be separated from Kashmir valley. The separatists in Kashmir valley enjoy the support of a large number of self-proclaimed intellectuals whose adherence to human rights is nothing but enjoying certain fundamental rights not enjoyed by ordinary people. Than we find a large number of NGO indulged in money laundering in the name of social service. Almost every such organization is facing the scrutiny of investigation agency.

 Election in South India may not pose a serious problem except Kerala where Communists are in power but their achievements are being exaggerated beyond all proportion. After Kashmir Valley Kerala is going to be second minority dominated state, This state is famous for exporting terrorists to fight in Afghanistan and other Central Asian country, so situation in this state may be watched closely by investigation agency. In Tamilnadu people may elect few non DMK members to parliament while voting for DMK to rule the state. While Dravidian nationalism has lost its importance with spread of education but there are old timers still dreaming of a separate country.  Corruption has overtaken all types of social evils and Southern states are not exceptions.

Development activities in four Southern states have attracted unskilled workers from Hindi belt, but language problems persist there. Hindi belt needs aggressive development, it is unfortunate that a state like Bihar which is producing maximum number of civil servants has no small or big manufacturing units. For the last seventeen years there is a stable government which is famous for pioneering three social evils. Bootlegging, Kidnapping and Extortions, and political leaders are enjoying comforts beyond their known source of incomes.

 Bihar needs governor rules for twenty years or a Chief Minister like Yogi of Utter Pradesh.

COMEDIANS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS.

By K P PASWAN.

 Serious politicians always suffer from some forms of acute or chronic diseases. Best health system exists for senior politicians who are in power. Only Coronavirus did not  favor politicians or common voter. These days Comedians are entering into politics but they are behaving more like comedians than politicians,

 In India a leading comedian who once was a very good bats man and played many crickets and won applause for his style of batting, suddenly joined a leading political party but failed to become a minister. He became a turncoat and joined a political party which promised him a berth in the cabinet of the most prosperous state of India, he declared himself, indirectly the potential candidate of chief minister and started political campaign by exhibiting his skills as a comedian. Unfortunately his party was routed and he concluded the  election result as the wish of  an unproven almighty. 

 There is also a famous comedian who is not interested in politics but is famous for making comments about politics and politicians.

 In international politics, very little is known about Nikita Khrushchev, the powerful leader of USSR. He was a comedian in the court of Stalin and his duty was to create humorous scenes for Stalin. He rose to become the most powerful man of contemporary world. USSR gained extraordinary military strength which frightened even America and predicted USSR might rule the planet, Khrushchev was the first comedian who behaved like an astute and overambitious politicians. In 1962 he tried to browbeat America by deploying deadly missiles and killing machines in a small country like Cuba which under Fidel Castro was  a communist country.

Finding an excuse Khrushchev challenged the supremacy of America and declared that the West would be buried deep in a grave but young president J F Kennedy was not a comedian, he was the most powerful president of a powerful nation. Kennedy forced former comedian to remove all weapons from Cuba. It was the most humiliating retreat for a powerful politician.

 In  1962 China launched Operation Land GRAB  by declaring a low level war with India being headed by a peace loving PM, the legendary Jawaharlal Nehru who believed in policy of Non Alignment. Pt Nehru sought help from Khrushchev He told Pt Nehru " You are my friend but China is my brother". Pt Nehru was both baffled and surprised. He looked  at Kennedy who started warning after warning to China. A ceasefire declared but the friend of  India ,Khrushchev suffered emotionally from which he never recovered. Pt Nehru died in 1964 but the Comedian of USSR also could not survive the wrath of real politicians and Khrushchev was thrown out of power.

Gorbachev, a hardcore Communist realized the difficulty in implementing the Communist ideology and acknowledged the contribution of democratic ideas in the development of a country like USSR. Japan has emerged as second economy and China  with indirect help from US was trying to hijack Japanese technology. Japan has displaced Philips of Netherlands Grundig of Germany and in consumer,er goods.

Gorbachev was followed by Yeltsin who by his own admission did know much about Communist philosophy. He was followed by a brilliant KGB agent named Vladimir Putin who is neither a comedian or an astute politician. He needed western technology for overall development of Russia. Putin imported various technology from Germany, France and other countries and succeeded in improving domestic economics, Sovereignty of Russia was in danger when a former republic Ukraine tried to join NATO.  Those politicians in power in Ukraine who opposed Ukraine's bids to join NATO like  Victor Yanuvovich was forced to resign. Yanukovich was a corrupt politician. Ukraine was the ware house of Russian made nukes reactors and deadly weapons. Export of these weapons  different countries shifted balance of power in favor of opponents of Russia. 

Now we enter Zelensky, the present president of Ukraine. He is a famous as Comedian but, he is still behaving as Comedian He is an ambitious man oppose to Russia and India. NATO was dead and its revival was seen if Ukraine joins NATO. US was in a position to deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine to frighten Russia. But NATO is dead and in absence of support rendered by all members US was unable to send troops in Ukraine. Advancing Russians have practically taken back all the deadly weapons and is awaiting the response of the Comedian who is hiding somewhere in Poland.

FINAL THOUGHT. Complex diplomacy needs final words from experienced politicians. Last words of complex diplomacy have not yet been spoken. If Putin is Devil than the world wants to know who is the Angel?