Advancing good governance!

Congrats on your Anniversary Special issue ! It's a Collectors' Item ! Keep it up ! You have rightly defined 'good governance' as fostering development of all citizens in the country. Through various articles in your Anniversary issue, you have focused and stressed that ours is a democracy expected to foster good governance. This Anniversary issue of Power Politics is a clarion call to governments at the Centre and in the States to learn from these articles and advance our governance in the desired direction, a promise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National

L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi Democratic Alliance made at the time of his inauguration as the Prime Minister of India.
It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Modi has diverted from his vision of India as the 'Promised Land' he projected during his election campaigns. In fact,the Bharatiya Janata Party under Modi is straining hard to turn India into an autarchy, a political-economic system governed by a single individual.He has been causing much disaffection within the BJP. He is using the party for self-perpetuation by actions and policies that are contrary to our culture and letter and spirit of our Constitution.

Narendra Modi His bureaucrats today are working overtime to impede India's transformation from elective democracy to a participatory democratic republic.

Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Deplorably, Modi has reduced the tallest BJP leaders, Advani, Joshi et al, to shrivelling pygmies. He is reducing his own party to a mere election machine. The BJP is no longer a bridge between the government and the people. It has become a closed system. The Jan Sangh under Deen Dayal Upadhyay and the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee had an ideology. Modi's BJP has none.
The BJP today is bribing stealing, kidnapping leaders from other parties. Modi has also brought back the politics of money,muscle,and mafia. The Nation must think and act to correct the current course of our governance.

Professor JITENDRA KUMAR SHARMA,
Director Marshall McLuhan Centre,
Kundli , Sonipat, Haryana.

Wide gap between promise and delivery

In the new Union Budget our Central government has made a lot of promises. Can we be optimistic ? The pattern is not promising . There has always been a huge gap between what the government promises and what it delivers. Experts say budgetary allocation to agriculture has come down from 2.38 per cent to 2.36 per cent over the last one year. There is little clarity on the maximum support price hike in agriculture. Paddy, millet growers may not benefit.
The new health plan in the Budget is about opening health centres for diagnostics, care and distribution of essential drugs. It has a cover of up to ₹ 5 lakh each for 10 crore poor for hospitalisation.
There is, however, no implementation roadmap.
Our latest Economic Survey projects that our growth rate to accelerate to 7.75 per cent in 2018-19 from 6.75 per cent in the current fiscal. But our growth in the industrial, agricultural and employment sectors are down today. The government has failed to deliver on education, employment and agriculture. The survey is based on the hope that the world economy maintains its growth momentum and oil prices do not persist at current levels. The survey is also relying on private sector investments and exports to rescue our economy.

Cauvery Krishnan
Bengaluru

Deviation from tradition

Tushar Mehta The other day Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta reportedly stated in the Supreme Court : "We do not want India to become the refugee capital of the world." He feared that if the Rohingya were given refuge, "people from every other country will flood our country." He concluded, "This is not a matter in which we can show any leniency."
It seems our government is deviating from our rich tradition in the matter . It is well documented that India has been a home to whoever has sought refuge in this land since time immemorial . In ancient times Jews came to this country. India under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sheltered over seven million Pakistani refugees in the immediate post- Independence landscape .
In 1959 the Nehru government sheltered Tibetans. Today there are about 150,000 Tibetans living in about 45 settlements across the country . During the Bangladesh independence struggle, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave shelter to an estimated 10 million men, women and children fleeing then East Pakistan . This tradition has continued on. We have accommodated Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka . We have sheltered Afghan refugees . We have sheltered Baloch political dissidents . And so on and so forth.

K Rahman
Aligarh

Helping the elderly

The Union Budget 2018 has proposed for our senior citizens who are aged 60 and above a number of tax benefits. These include a five-fold increase in the exemption limit on interest income from savings, fixed and recurring deposits held with banks and post offices to ₹ 50,000. The Budget does away with the requirement for tax to be deducted at source on such income. The Budget proposes to raise the annual income tax deduction limit for health insurance premium and/or medical reimbursement to ₹ 50,000 for all seniors. It proposes to set the ceiling for deduction in lieu of expenses incurred on certain critical

illnesses to ₹ 1 lakh, irrespective of the age of the senior citizen. One, however, is not sure if it would benefit much the elderly. According to a study , more than 70% of the 104 million elderly are living in our rural hinterland. We must have adequate budgetary support for social welfare spending to improve the lot of such senior citizens. The Government's outlay for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's assistance to voluntary organisations for programmes relating to the 'aged' is just ₹ 60 crore.

K Krishanmoorthy
Mumbai



		EDITOR'S MAIL FROM THE EDITOR PARLIAMENT LOGJAM CHANGING EQUATIONS CHANGING EQUATIONS FRANKLY SPEAKING DATELINE KARNATAKA EMPOWERING STUDENTS EMPOWERING STUDENTS FARMERS' PLIGHT INTERVIEW SIGNS OF THE TIMES KASHMIR WATCH REALPOLITIK ELECTORAL FAULTLINES SIGNALS FROM WEST BENGAL CHANDIGARH DIARY STRONGMAN POLITICS INDO-CANADIAN TIES HITS & MISSES BOOK BAZAAR BOOK BAZAAR MAKING OF A NOVELIST YOGA IN DAILY LIFE THE ROAD AHEAD Issue:Apr' 2018 Subscribe Now	EDITOR’S MAIL Advancing good governance! Congrats on your Anniversary Special issue ! It's a Collectors' Item ! Keep it up ! You have rightly defined 'good governance' as fostering development of all citizens in the country. Through various articles in your Anniversary issue, you have focused and stressed that ours is a democracy expected to foster good governance. This Anniversary issue of Power Politics is a clarion call to governments at the Centre and in the States to learn from these articles and advance our governance in the desired direction, a promise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi Democratic Alliance made at the time of his inauguration as the Prime Minister of India. It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Modi has diverted from his vision of India as the 'Promised Land' he projected during his election campaigns. In fact,the Bharatiya Janata Party under Modi is straining hard to turn India into an autarchy, a political-economic system governed by a single individual.He has been causing much disaffection within the BJP. He is using the party for self-perpetuation by actions and policies that are contrary to our culture and letter and spirit of our Constitution. Narendra Modi His bureaucrats today are working overtime to impede India's transformation from elective democracy to a participatory democratic republic. Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Deplorably, Modi has reduced the tallest BJP leaders, Advani, Joshi et al, to shrivelling pygmies. He is reducing his own party to a mere election machine. The BJP is no longer a bridge between the government and the people. It has become a closed system. The Jan Sangh under Deen Dayal Upadhyay and the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee had an ideology. Modi's BJP has none. The BJP today is bribing stealing, kidnapping leaders from other parties. Modi has also brought back the politics of money,muscle,and mafia. The Nation must think and act to correct the current course of our governance. Professor JITENDRA KUMAR SHARMA, Director Marshall McLuhan Centre, Kundli , Sonipat, Haryana. Wide gap between promise and delivery In the new Union Budget our Central government has made a lot of promises. Can we be optimistic ? The pattern is not promising . There has always been a huge gap between what the government promises and what it delivers. Experts say budgetary allocation to agriculture has come down from 2.38 per cent to 2.36 per cent over the last one year. There is little clarity on the maximum support price hike in agriculture. Paddy, millet growers may not benefit. The new health plan in the Budget is about opening health centres for diagnostics, care and distribution of essential drugs. It has a cover of up to ₹ 5 lakh each for 10 crore poor for hospitalisation. There is, however, no implementation roadmap. Our latest Economic Survey projects that our growth rate to accelerate to 7.75 per cent in 2018-19 from 6.75 per cent in the current fiscal. But our growth in the industrial, agricultural and employment sectors are down today. The government has failed to deliver on education, employment and agriculture. The survey is based on the hope that the world economy maintains its growth momentum and oil prices do not persist at current levels. The survey is also relying on private sector investments and exports to rescue our economy. Cauvery Krishnan Bengaluru Deviation from tradition Tushar Mehta The other day Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta reportedly stated in the Supreme Court : "We do not want India to become the refugee capital of the world." He feared that if the Rohingya were given refuge, "people from every other country will flood our country." He concluded, "This is not a matter in which we can show any leniency." It seems our government is deviating from our rich tradition in the matter . It is well documented that India has been a home to whoever has sought refuge in this land since time immemorial . In ancient times Jews came to this country. India under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sheltered over seven million Pakistani refugees in the immediate post- Independence landscape . In 1959 the Nehru government sheltered Tibetans. Today there are about 150,000 Tibetans living in about 45 settlements across the country . During the Bangladesh independence struggle, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave shelter to an estimated 10 million men, women and children fleeing then East Pakistan . This tradition has continued on. We have accommodated Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka . We have sheltered Afghan refugees . We have sheltered Baloch political dissidents . And so on and so forth. K Rahman Aligarh Helping the elderly The Union Budget 2018 has proposed for our senior citizens who are aged 60 and above a number of tax benefits. These include a five-fold increase in the exemption limit on interest income from savings, fixed and recurring deposits held with banks and post offices to ₹ 50,000. The Budget does away with the requirement for tax to be deducted at source on such income. The Budget proposes to raise the annual income tax deduction limit for health insurance premium and/or medical reimbursement to ₹ 50,000 for all seniors. It proposes to set the ceiling for deduction in lieu of expenses incurred on certain critical illnesses to ₹ 1 lakh, irrespective of the age of the senior citizen. One, however, is not sure if it would benefit much the elderly. According to a study , more than 70% of the 104 million elderly are living in our rural hinterland. We must have adequate budgetary support for social welfare spending to improve the lot of such senior citizens. The Government's outlay for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's assistance to voluntary organisations for programmes relating to the 'aged' is just ₹ 60 crore. K Krishanmoorthy Mumbai