THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS: DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT

VARANASI VIBES: IN GOD’S OWN CITY

DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT 

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS

INDIA’S OLDEST LIVING CITY – INDIA’S HERITAGE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL – AND THE WORLD’S SPIRITUAL CAPITAL THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

©SantoshChaubey

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS: DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT

VARANASI VIBES: IN GOD’S OWN CITY

DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT 

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS

INDIA’S OLDEST LIVING CITY – INDIA’S HERITAGE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL – AND THE WORLD’S SPIRITUAL CAPITAL THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

©SantoshChaubey

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS: DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT

VARANASI VIBES: IN GOD’S OWN CITY

DASHASHWAMEDH GHAT 

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS

INDIA’S OLDEST LIVING CITY – INDIA’S HERITAGE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL – AND THE WORLD’S SPIRITUAL CAPITAL THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

©SantoshChaubey

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS: MANIKARNIKA GHAT

VARANASI VIBES: IN GOD’S OWN CITY

MANIKARNIKA GHAT 

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS

INDIA’S OLDEST LIVING CITY – INDIA’S HERITAGE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL – AND THE WORLD’S SPIRITUAL CAPITAL THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

©SantoshChaubey

#THETRUMPDUMP: IRONICALLY, INDIANS BECAME THE FIRST CASUALTY

There were many in India who felt like celebrating Diwali on Donald Trump’s shock win the US polls, a win that has sent shockwaves across the world. Some even went ahead, from the class of political herds with borrowed mentality, to perform hawans on Trump’s victory.

Even if the Trump’s victory bitterly divided America, Indians those who liked to see things from a ‘Trumpian’ mirror, saw their liberator, their saviour in Donald Trump, who has very real chances to emerge as the most inept US president so far.

For them, the irony could never be stark, could never be darker than its contours.

An Indian has become the target of hate crime that threatens the American social weaving. A Hyderabad engineer, working in the US, has been shot and killed in a mad rush increasing Trumpism in the US society. His friend, a Hyderabadi Indian, got seriously injured. Someone killed him because he didn’t like outsiders on the US soil.

And these ‘someones’ are in multitudes, voting for Trump, fuelled by his lethal speeches that show his hatred for immigrants, racial minority and Muslims.

After his travel ban plan was halted by the courts, Trump is now talking of ‘military disciplined’ deportation of immigrants that include some 300,000 Indians.

©SantoshChaubey

FIVE POINTS THAT INDICATE CONGRESS IS ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR BABRI-RAMJANMABHOOMI MESS

1. JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU: RAM LALLA IDOL WAS PLACE INSIDE BABRI MASJID ON THE INTERVENING NIGHT OF DEC 22-23, 1949. HE IS PRIMARILY BLAMED FOR NOT REALIZING THE POTENTIAL THREAT THAT THE ISSUE WOULD BECOME, THUS ADOPTING A SOFT APPROACH. IT IS SAID THAT NEHRU COULD NEVER FIND TIME TO VISIT AYODHYA FOR THE ISSUE THAT SHOWS HE COULD NEVER FIND IT POTENT ENOUGH TO MAKE A PRIORITY. 

2. INDIRA GANDHI: IT IS SAID THAT SHE TOOK THE DECISION TO OPEN THE BABRI MASJID LOCKS. MANY INCLUDE AG NOORANI SAY THAT. THE ANALYSTS OPINE THAT IT WAS A CONSIOUS STRATEGY OF HER HINDU CARD POLITICS. PV NARASIMHA RAO, IN HIS BOOK 'AYODHYA: 6 DEC 1992' WRITES THAT ‘INDIRA GANDHI HAD ASKED TO PREPARE VARIOUS PLANS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AYODHYA’. ALSO IT IS DURING INDIRA GANDHI’S TENURE THAT THE BABRI-RAM JAMNABHOOMI ISSUE TOOK POLITICAL CONTOURS FROM BEING A LARGELY RELIGIOUS ISSUE. 

3. RAJIV GANDHI: OPENED THE LOCKS ON FEB 1, 1986. POLITICAL COMPULSIONS FORCED HIM TO PLAY THE HINDU CARD. HE OPENED THE PADLOCK AMID THE GLEAMING CAMERA LENSES TO SEND OUT THE MESSAGE. THOUGH HE WAS ARMED WITH A DISTRICT MEGISTRATE ORDER, HIS GOVERNMENT NEVER THOUGHT TO APPEAL AGAINST IT. 

4. RAJIV GANDHI: ALLOWED THE RAM TEMPLE SHILANYAS BY THE VISHWA HINDU PARISHAD TO HAPPEN ON NOV 9, 1989, AGAIN A CONSCIOUS PLOY OF HINDU CARD POLITICS. HE WAS PRIME MINISTER TILL DECEMBER 2 BUT COULDN’T FIND LEGAL WAYS TO DERAIL OR STOP THE LIKES OF THE VHP. 

5. PV NARASIMHA RAO: HE IS BLAMED FOR FAILING TO PREVENT BABRI DEMOLITION ON DEC 6, 1992. RAO IS BLAMED FOR CONSCIOUSLY IGNORING THE SIGNALS THAT A DEMOLITION WAS CERTAIN. HE DECIDED TO GO BY THE WORDS OF KALYAN SINGH WHO HAD TAKEN A VOW TO THE BUILD THE RAM TEMPLE IN AYODHYA THAN PEOPLE LIKE JYOTI BASU, ARJUN SINGH AND HIS OWN UNION HOME SECRETARY. FORMER PM VP SINGH BLAMED HIM FOR CRIMINAL NEGLIGENE. ANOTHER FORMER PM CHANDRA SHEKHAR BLAMED HIM FOR 'DELIBERATE DERELICTION OF DUTY'.

DETAILED RESEARCH BASED ARTICLE TO FOLLOW. 

©SantoshChaubey

FINAL WORD IS OUT: BJP IS SHIV SENA'S BIG BROTHER IN MAHARASHTRA POLITICS

The article originallyappeared on India Today.

Here it is bit modified and extended.

First the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, then the 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls and now the Maharashtra civic polls, they are point to this - that the 'who is the big brother in Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharastra' story that began with the Maharashtra assembly polls in October 2014, has seen its climax in place now and we can say the BJP is going to be the ultimate big brother in a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra, if indeed the alliance continues.

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has ruled India's richest civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the last 20 years but both parties were contesting these Maharashtra civic polls separately. Their electoral rivalry saw both parties placing bitter allegations and using choices of words to paint each other in a negative light.

But in the end, the BJP has emerged as the clear winner, not only in the BMC where it is neck to neck with Shiv Sena in the final tally but in the overall tally of the Maharashtra civic polls. The BJP has won 471 seats in all 10 municipal corporations where polls were held, gaining majority in 8 out of 10. It is over two fold jump from BJP's tally of 205 in 2012 Maharashtra civic polls.

And it is stellar in the BMC, from 31 in 2012 to 82 in 2017.

As per the information available so far as the counting is still on in some places, while Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are the biggest losers, crashing down from 529 seats in 2012 from 207 seats in 2012, Shiv Sena, too, has been given a rough treatment by the voters. The party had got 227 seats in the 2012 Maharashtra civic polls which stands at 215 now. And though it has claimed that the BJP has not gone up in the BMC at Shiv Sena's expense, its marginal rise, from 75 seats in 2012 to 84 in 2017, is certainly not a consolation when seen in the context of the huge gains made by the BJP. Now, if the Shiv Sena has to continue with its run in the BMC, it will have to go with the BJP, who claims support of four independents, to cross the majority mark of 114 in 227 members strong BMC. And it will certainly be on BJP's terms now.

But the Shiv Sena setback story had begun much before.

THE 2014 SCRIPT REPEATED

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance for the Maharashtra civic polls got the same fate, in the same manner, as it had happened before the 2014 assembly polls. Based on its performance in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Maharashtra, the BJP was demanding 114 seats to contest out of BMC's 227 seats and was not ready to go down below 105 seats. The Shiv Sena, citing 2012 BMC results, when the Shiv Sena had won 75 seats, contesting on 135 seats, more than double of the BJP's score of 31 wins, refused to compromise. The BJP then had contested on 63 seats. The Shiv Sena didn't accept the BJP's demand and instead chose to split the alliance that was in place since 1997.

THE 2014 FIASCO

2014 saw the Shiv Sena splitting its decades old alliance with the BJP to save its 'big brother' status and then rejoining the BJP in a humiliating setback. Out of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena, the biggest setback went to Shiv Sena. It was the biggest loser in spite of registering growth, in seats and in vote share.

For just 5 seats, the Shiv Sena lost the ‘big brother’ or senior ally tag in Maharashtra, and that too, by a huge margin. Though it was the second largest party in Maharashtra assembly, their 63 seats were nowhere near to the BJP’s 122 seats, given the fact that the BJP had been the junior partner of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and was ready to compromise even during the last assembly polls in October 2014, agreeing to contest on lesser number of seats than the Shiv Sena in the failed seat-sharing talks. The BJP, with 15 assembly constituencies, had won more seats even in Mumbai than the Shiv Sena's 14 seats.

The BJP had performed exceedingly well in the Lok Sabha elections cornering maximum number of Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra that sends 48 members to the parliament and therefore its demand didn't seem misplaced. In 2014 the LS polls, the BJP had won 23 seats with 27% vote share while the Shiv Sena had 18 seats with 21% vote share. It was a considerable improvement for both. The BJP had taken up its tally from 9 LS seats and 19% vote share in 2009 to 23 seats in 2014. The Shiv Sena also did very well taking up its tally from 10 seats to 18 seats with 17% vote share in 2009.

But the Shiv Sena’s performance was not at par with its junior ally of the past, when seen in comparison with the BJP’s rising graph in the state. Even in the perceived citadel of the Shiv Sena, in Mumbai, the BJP, with 15 assembly constituencies, won more seats that the Shiv Sena's 14 in the 2014 assembly polls. In 2009 assembly polls, the junior partner of the alliance had won two seats more (46) than the Shiv Sena’s 44 seats. And when it simply outperformed everyone in the Lok Sabha polls registering 8% increase in vote share and over 150% increase in seats, it was right to expect for more.

The BJP had a symbolic edge over the Shiv Sena with 2009 assembly election results but the 2014 LS polls outcome placed it much ahead of all others, including the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena had to realize it and should have appreciated when the BJP didn’t ask for sky-high price for its electoral edge. But alleging the BJP of the ‘big brother’ attitude, the Shiv Sena refused to budge and the seat-sharing talks and thus the alliance collapsed.

THE HUMILIATING RETURN

The BJP went on to form the government in Maharashtra in 2014, even if it was 23 seats short of the majority mark in the 288-member strong Maharashtra assembly. The NCP offer of unconditional outside support had taken whatever sheen the Shiv Sena was left with in a post-election scenario of the hung assembly.

In the 2014 assembly polls, the BJP won more than what the Shiv Sena was offering, 119 seats. Had it been in the alliance, even if with 5 more seats, BJP would not have been able to win so many seats. What BJP was demanding was modest. What Shiv Sena’s refusal gave it was grand. And what Shiv Sena lost was grander, costing it the ‘senior alliance partner’ position, and the leverage in the national politics.

So much so, that in order to remain relevant in Maharashtra politics, the Shiv Sena had to compromise and join the Devendra Fadnavis government in December 2014. But the political flow since then shows their hearts could never meet. Even if it rejoined the alliance, the Shiv Sena always acted like a squabbling partner, always sparring in public with its pet line that 'the BJP should not take the Shiv Sena's support for granted' and its ministers in the alliance government were always ready to submit their resignations. It shows the Shiv Sena could never make itself comfortable with the fact that it is now the BJP that will dictate the terms. Even today, a day that proved the meteoric rise of the BJP in Maharashtra politics, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray went on to claim that not just the next Mumbai mayor but even the next Maharashtra chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena.  

©SantoshChaubey

NOW, THIS PUN IS ON SHOBHAA DE

Now this boomeranged. Shobhaa De, who defines herself as a 'journalist, columnist, social commentator, opinion-shaper and author of 18 books' as per her Twitter bio, tried to shape an opinion here, even if it intended to begin a series light-hearted conversation or a 'pun-intended corollary' or a simple 'absent-minded' attempt to draw a humorous marker. 

But it didn't go down well. The pun was on her and it was so direct and open, unlike 'her intended pun', that she was forced to backtrack and had to come forward to issue clarification that she 'didn't intend to offend anyone'. But then, in the style of 'old habits don't go', she ended up giving advice to the Madhya Pradesh Police to 'consult a dietician if indeed the image of the overweight policeman was authentic'. 

Shobhaa De ‏@DeShobhaa

Mumbai/Maharashtra Police, pranaam. No offence intended. M.P. police, consult a dietician,if it's an asli ,undoctored image doing the rounds

11:39 AM - 22 Feb 2017

We all saw what the Mumbai Police response did here. Let's see how the Madhya Pradesh Police responds, if at all it goes to respond. 

It was began yesterday. Mumbaikars were voting for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls and as happens, the security apparatus of the city was geared up to meet the occasion with heavy police deployment. The election process went on smoothly and the day thankfully passed without any incident. 

But Shobhaa De, the famed but controversial socialite of Mumbai social circles, known for especially her controversial tweets these days, thought to take a different take on this heavy police deployment. She tweeted 'heavy police bandobast in Mumbai today!' with an old photograph of an overweight policeman thrust somehow in a plastic chair. The photograph is a Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp favourite and has done rounds and rounds of social media circulation.

Shobhaa De ‏@DeShobhaa

Heavy police bandobast in Mumbai today!

7:02 PM - 21 Feb 2017

Now it was for Shobaa De only to clarify what was her intention behind tweeting her mind with photograph but the Mumbai Police certainly did not like it, 'even if there was an intended pun in Shobhaa De's tweet'

The Mumbai Police tweeted to express its displeasure, tagging Shobhaa De and her tweet, and pinned it as well. It said it too loved jokes but certainly not the ones in bad taste, like this one by Shobhaa De. And it certainly expected a better corollary from a responsible citizen like Shobhaa De.

Mumbai Police ‏@MumbaiPolice

We love puns too Ms De but this one is totally misplaced. Uniform/official not ours. We expect better from responsible citizens like you.

9:53 PM - 21 Feb 2017

After this Mumbai Police tweet, now the joke was on Shobhaa De. Twitterati soon began slamming Shobhaa De and it is still continued unabated. 

And we can say the Janata consensus can be summed in comedian Suresh Menon's response. Responding to the Mumbai Police tweet, he wrote, "well said Mumbai Police, but please forgive Shobha aunty. It's called attempted humour cum hallucinations as age sets in."

Suresh Menon @sureshnmenon

@MumbaiPolice well said but please forgive Shobha aunty ....its called attempted humour cum hallucinations as age sets in 😊

9:57 PM - 21 Feb 2017

Right or wrong, Shobhaa De has been in multiple controversies with her tweets.  She was slammed for Rio selfie tweet where she mocked the Indian contingent at Rio Olympics last August, "Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity."

She had objection on prime minister Narendra Modi being called a rockstar for his speech to the Indian Diaspora at Dubai Cricket Stadium for which she was widely panned, "Can we please stop referring to India's Prime Minister as a 'Rockstar'!!!! Hello!Dubai. He isn't from Bollywood!"

Or for instance, her 'beef and compulsory Marathi films screening' tweet targeting Devendra Fadnavis, "Devendra 'Diktatwala' Fadnavis is at it again!!!From beef to movies. This is not the Maharashtra we all love! Nako!Nako! Yeh sab roko!" for which she got privilege notice from the Maharashtra Legislature.

©SantoshChaubey

PAK ARMY CHIEF VISITS LOC, SPEWS VENOM AGAINST INDIA

The article originally appeared on India Today. 

The Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa today visited the Line of Control (LoC). Like has been the tradition, he used the occasion to spew venom against India. He termed India terror sponsor of the region and said that the Pakistan Army is fully geared up to protect Pakistan. Seeing a pattern in the alleged cease fire violations (CFVs) by India, he repeated Pakistan's favourite Kashmir rant vowing to save people of Kashmir, that Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir and that is in illegal occupation of Pakistan, from the Indian aggression and assured Pakistan's continued solidarity with people of Jammu and Kashmir, the remaining bigger part of the state that is an integral part of India.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tweeted a video of Gen Bajwa's LoC visit.

Maj Gen Asif GhafoorVerified account

‏@OfficialDGISPR

#COAS visited LOC.Aware of Indian design, her sp to terrorism in Pak/region. #Kulbhushan an evidence. His case ll be taken to logical concl.

6:41 PM - 21 Feb 2017

Pakistan is blamed for perpetrating terror in Pak-occupied-Kashmir and running it through a puppet government and pushing terrorists and promoting terrorism and unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. The world recognizes its propaganda and no major power stands with Pakistan when it comes to its absurd claims on Kashmir.

In fact, there has been a growing global consensus that Pakistan is the new terror backyard of the world, harbouring and sheltering terrorists who threaten the global peace, be it Taliban and its factions or Al Qaeda or the Haqqani Network or LeT or JeM or countless others. The recent move to ban Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) front Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its chief Hafiz Saeed is most probably a drama that tells the world community how shameless Pakistan has become on this front. People say the sham crackdown on Hafiz Saeed is under the US pressure but we should not forget that the US bounty of $10 million on Saeed is in place since 2012. And then, Osama bin Laden was also hunted down and killed in Pakistan.

But continuing the tradition of Pak doublespeak on Kashmir, Gen Bajwa blamed CFVs by India as 'efforts to divert the world attention from the so-called Indian atrocities against the Kashmiris'.

India and Pakistan consistently blame each-other for CFVs and summon each other's High Commissions officials regularly to lodge their official protests. Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) says India committed at least 178 CFVs last year in which 19 civilians lost their lives. Hansraj Ahir, MoS Home, India stated in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that Pakistan violated cease fire some 450 times last year, with around 300 of them after India's successful surgical strike in Pak-occupied-Kashmir in September 2016 to eliminate terror camps. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 28 people including 13 security forces personnel in Jammu and Kashmir lost their lives in CFVs by Pakistan in 2016.

Another part of Gen Bajwa's rhetoric today was about Kulbhushan Yadav, the alleged Indian spy in Pakistan's custody. He said that Kulbhushan Yadav is the 'evidence of Indian designs to support terror in Pakistan and the region'. But ever since Yadav's arrest in March 2016, that Indian intelligence agencies say was an act of abduction, Pakistan's has denied every Indian request to provide consular access to him. Instead, Pakistan has been using every sort of propaganda, including Yadav's coerced confessional video statement, to shed crocodile tears that it is a victim of Indian sponsored terror in Pakistan.

India has very clearly said that Kulbhushan Yadav was indeed an Indian Navy officer but after his retirement, the Indian government had no connection with him but Pakistan is hell-bent on proving him a serving Indian Navy officer. But in spite of all its grandstanding before the world, no one in the world community has bought the Pakistani claims. Pakistan's propaganda in this case becomes clear from the fact that even its own Foreign Affairs Advisor, Sartaj Aziz, has accepted that there is no enough proof to convict Yadav and additional evidence needs to be collected. 

©SantoshChaubey

PAKISTAN ARMY SAYS CHIEF DID NOT ASK OFFICERS TO LEARN FROM INDIAN DEMOCRACY

The article originallyappeared on India Today.

Here it is bit modified and extended.

The Pakistani army has denied that its chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had asked his officers to emulate the values of Indian democracy. In a tweet, Major Gen Asif Ghafoor, spokesman of the Pakistan armed forces, have said that the 'news/comments quoting COAS (chief of the army staff)' address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is a disinformation'.

Gen Bajwa's photograph is tagged with the tweet which further clarifies its context with an incomplete caption that reads 'army officers should learn from Indian democracy, says Pakistan army chief Qamar J...' - essentially a poor damage control act after Gen Bajwa's vision for the Pakistani army was widely reported in the Indian media.

Maj Gen Asif GhafoorVerified account

‏@OfficialDGISPR

News / comments quoting COAS'address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is adisinformation.

8:08 PM - 19 Feb 2017

On February 13, Pakistan's newspaper The Nation had published a piece on its new army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa's vision for the Pakistan's army as told by him during his first official address to his colleagues in December 2016.

Titled 'Coordination, not competition, with civilians: The Army Chief’s Glasnost', among many other things, the article had quoted the Pak army chief saying something that was so unlike Pak army that it caught immediate international attention. Gen Bajwa, in no unequivocal terms, as The Nation piece puts it, conveyed to his colleagues that the Pak army must remain within the constitutional role defined for it and must not meddle in affairs of the civilian government.

Saying a civilian Vs military dichotomy is always 'counter-productive for a country and the army should have no 'business in running the government', he advised his colleagues to read "Army and Nation", a book written by Yale University professor Steven I Wilkinson, a well received book that details how India has emerged as a successful democracy with civilian supremacy over its military establishment.

Gen Asif Ghafoor's tweet, that is the first official denial from the Pak army on the issue, looks like a shabby, reluctant attempt to damage control. It might have been driven by this afterthought that the Pak army has always been in control in Pakistan and such views by its army chief may be seen undermining its supremacy in the society. Coming five days later of The Nation piece, the tweet clarification conveys a half-hearted attempt at best that sounds too little, too late. Had it been so alarming, we would have seen a denial the same day the article appeared, like it happened with India's surgical strike inside Pak-occupied-Kashmir. Within hours, the Pak army had forced its political establishment to toe its line to deny any Indian surgical strike, a lame attempt to save face.

©SantoshChaubey

WHEN KEJRIWAL, SISODIA, NADDA AND OTHERS FAILED AN 80-YEAR OLD DISABLED, HELPLESS WOMAN

A lady, around 80 years, wheelchair bound, in an old-age home, with no one to take care of her in desperate medical emergencies - should the state ignore such cases - especially when they are tagged and tweeted multiple times about it - especially when they tweet and retweet multiple times a day - showing their social media alertness and connect to the world?

If that happens so - it tells how insensitive our political class has become - and in this case, it exactly came out like this!

And the 'very aam aadmi-esque Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the claimed harbinger of change in Indian politics, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) are to share the blame here.

The grandma in question here is 80 year old Mrs. Phool Mehta, an old-age home resident from Delhi's Mayur Vihar Phase 1. She lost her husband some years back and has no son or daughters or any other immediate family. She has no regular source of income apart from some savings, barely enough to sustain her life in the old-age home. She finds it hard to meet her routine medical needs, that are many, so managing finances for medical emergencies, that require huge sum, is out of question. Anyway, somehow, it has been managed so far somehow, like it is going to be this time.

She has multiple health issues. She is diabetic. She takes blood-pressure pills. She met an accident some years ago that has left her wheelchair bound. She has plates and rods in her thighs and hands, one of which she cannot use properly. She has ulcer and continuous internal bleeding leads to periodic Haemoglobin reduction. Her Hb at the moment is 5.2. Her both legs and left hand are swollen and it is spreading to other parts of the body. Yesterday, we took her to a nearby hospital but it refused to take her referring her to some higher centre for specialized care. They said her heart was enlarged, had oedema and they could not take the risk of blood transfusion in this case. We spoke to some Delhi government hospitals, including LBS and GB Pant but they, too, refused, saying they did not deal with such cases.

Doctors told us that the window of time that she had was very limited and so we very trying hard to get her hospitalized in some big hospital yesterday only but no headway was coming in. She was in imminent danger of a renal failure. Out of desperation, I tried to use social media to reach out to the Delhi government and Union Health Minister JP Nadda. Though I did not have much hopes, because I know politicians use social media selectively, going by the content that furthers their agenda, I did try. And I tried multiple times.

Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (@arvindkejriwal), Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) and Union Health Minister JP Nadda (@jpnadda) were tagged in all ten tweets that I shot yesterday, hoping they or someone from their team would respond to at least one of them. I also tagged @pmoindia, @sushmaswaraj, @atishimarlena, @raghav_chadha and @drkumarvishwas. But all of them, who are quite active of Twitter, couldn't find time to look even once at my tweets. A friend even tagged Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain (@satyendarjain).

In an ideal situation, based on the founding principles of these parties, or the values they claim to live and die for, they would rushed to help. But I had expected, the help did not come. It reminded me of another 'social media savvy' Union Minister who never responds to uncomfortable or critical tweets - Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu.

Here are those tweets that I shot for Mrs. Mehta, the tweets that could find an alert from anyone in the Delhi Government or the Central Government. I do not want to go into a running commentary on moral obligations and ethical behaviour of our politicians because the episode is self-explanatory.

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@msisodia : a 80 yr old old-age home lady in desperate need of medical help in Mayur Vihar Ph 1. Can some1 help?

12:29 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda : a 80 yr old old-age home lady in desperate need of medical help in Mayur Vihar Ph 1. Can some1 help?

12:59 PM - 18 Feb 2017

@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda 80 yr old oldage hom lady in desprate need of medical help in Mayur Vihar Ph1. Can some1 help? 3rd tweet.

2:44 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda 80 yr old oldage hom lady in desprate need of medical help in Mayur Vihar Ph1. Can some1 help? 4th tweet.

3:27 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@PMOIndia  @ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda 80yr oldage hom grandma in desprate need of medical help in MY. Can some1 help? 6th tweet.

4:35 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda @SushmaSwaraj  80yr oldage hom grandma in desprate need of medical help in MY. Can some1 help? 7th tweet.

6:11 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda @DrKumarVishwas 80yr oldage hom grandma in desprate need f medical help in MY. Can some1 help? 8th tweet.

9:25 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda @AtishiMarlena 80yr oldage hom grandma in desprate need f medical help in MY. Can some1 help? 9th tweet.

9:49 PM - 18 Feb 2017

‏@SantoshChaubeyy

@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @JPNadda @raghav_chadha 80yr oldage home grandma in desprate need f medical help in MY. Can some1 help? 10th tweet.

9:49 PM - 18 Feb 2017

So it was all for us to try - and we had no option here to fail.

Thankfully, I was also trying my alternate network - of social workers and volunteers. And it was finally this network that came to our rescue - with timely intervention and help from Sai Padma, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Sailesh Mishra, Abha Khetarpal, Rajeshwar Devarakonda, Dr. AB Dey of AIIMS and many others. With the coordinated help of these dots, the guiding lights here, from different parts of India, Mrs. Mehta was finally admitted to the Geriatric Ward of AIIMS this afternoon.

The doctors have put her on Oxygen. They will treat her for oedema next and then will go for her blood transfusion, some three units minimum that she needs to come to a sustainable level of Hb in her blood. Then she needs some time to stabilize. Hope all will go well now. 

©SantoshChaubey

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS: A LIFE KALEIDOSCOPIC

VARANASI VIBES: IN GOD’S OWN CITY

A LIFE KALEIDOSCOPIC

THE GHAT LIFE AS THE GANGA FLOWS

INDIA’S OLDEST LIVING CITY – INDIA’S HERITAGE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL – AND THE WORLD’S SPIRITUAL CAPITAL THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

©SantoshChaubey

THINK ABOUT IT..

Think about it passionately

Life is in this moment

Beckoning you from restless altars

Sing along with it

Why can’t you write a new piece?

Go by your inner call  

This crap was never meant for you

Okay, what was there has flown

Now is the time

Think about it

Write your mind, write your moments

Speak your life, jive with your soul

Let your senses prevail

Let your call be heard

Go by what you are for

Think passionately, act joyfully

Life’s romance was always here

In this moment only

Get along with it

It was always there, waiting for you 

©SantoshChaubey

JAMES MATTIS, TRUMP’S DEFENSE SECRETARTY, THREATENS NATO: PAY UP OR THE US IS GONE

The article originally appeared on India Today.

Here it is bit modified.

Though describing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as the ‘bedrock of the US’s defense policy’, US Defense Secretary James Mattis had some tough words for his allies in the world’s most powerful military alliance.

James Mattis is on his first Europe visit after becoming the US Defence Secretary. Mattis was speaking during a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday when he sent this stern message to other members of the grouping that include 28 countries including Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK.

According to Washington Post, Mattis said, “I owe it to you all to give you clarity on the political reality in the United States and to state the fair demand from my country’s people in concrete terms. America will meet its responsibilities, but if your nations do not want to see America moderate its commitment to the alliance, each of your capitals needs to show its support for our common defense.”

Mattis is following what his boss has always said that the US would no longer be the big daddy if other member countries don’t fulfil the financial obligations expected from them. While speaking at the US Central Command headquarters on February 6, Trump had reiterated his line from the campaign days, giving clear indications that it indeed was going to be the US policy on NATO. He assured the continued US role in NATO affairs but added the rider that other countries must scale up their spending and share the burden first. Trump has said that the US may not rush to defend the Baltic countries in case of a Russian attack if they don’t meet the financial obligations.

Mattis, a former US Marine Corps General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Transformation, who has been picked by Donald Trump to head the US defense establishment, put before the NATO leaders the US demand in unequivocal terms.

And Trump’s demand is not part of any rhetoric here. NATO expects its member countries to spend 2% of their GDPs on defense but only five of 28 member countries meet this basic criteria, a CNN report says.

Trump feels that NATO has many problems and foremost of them is that it has become obsolete. During his London visit last month, before his inaugural on January 20, Trump had said in an interview that NATO had become obsolete because it was designed a long time ago and it was being unfair to the US as most other countries were not paying what they were supposed to pay.

Taking a cue from Trump’s demands, especially after his victory in the US presidential polls on November 8, 2016, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had made a strong pitch for increased defense expenditure by the member countries while delivering keynote address at the NATO-Industry Forum on November 9, 2016. Since then he has been on it. A CNBC report published yesterday quotes him, “In my two phone calls with President Trump defense spending has been a main topic and he has strongly expressed his strong commitment to NATO, to the transatlantic bond but at the same time President Trump has in both the phone calls also underlined the importance of a fairer burden sharing. And I agree with him.”

Bulk of the NATO spending comes from the US and NATO admits that it is over-reliant on the US, another CNN report says. There has always been a gap between the US and other countries’ contribution owing to the huge US defense budget, that stood at $650 billion last year. It widened significantly after the 2001 terror attacks on the US. But Donald Trump wants to end that. No more largesse. Instead, he wants every member country to shoulder the financial burden in a revamped NATO with no appendages from past. The CNN report says that the combined GDP of other 27 NATO members is more than the US GDP, still the US defense spending is more than double of them.

So, the message is loud and clear. NATO will remain the bedrock of the US and the transatlantic community’s defense strategy if it mends its ways. Otherwise, Trump has already declared it obsolete.

©SantoshChaubey

TIMES REPORT: TRUMP HITS BACK AT 'RUSSIAN CONNECTION NON-SENSE'

US President Donald Trump has hit back on reports of his alleged Russia connection after the New York Times published an investigative report yesterday that claimed that Trump's associates including his campaign officials were in constant touch with the Russian intelligence officials, something that the Trump team denies vehemently. In a series of Tweets, Trump has lashed out at his usual suspects, fake news media, Hillary Clinton and the US intelligence community, while praising those who sound plausible to his ears.

‏@realDonaldTrump 

The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!

5:10 PM - 15 Feb 2017

‏@realDonaldTrump

This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.

5:38 PM - 15 Feb 2017

@realDonaldTrump

Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia

5:49 PM - 15 Feb 2017

‏@realDonaldTrump

Thank you to Eli Lake of The Bloomberg View - "The NSA & FBI...should not interfere in our politics...and is" Very serious situation for USA

5:58 PM - 15 Feb 2017

‏@realDonaldTrump

Crimea was TAKEN by Russia during the Obama Administration. Was Obama too soft on Russia?

6:12 PM - 15 Feb 2017

Everything that puts him in a negative hue is utter non-sense, a part of conspiracy theories to promote blind hatred. The real issue, according to Trump, is how the 'classified information' is being revealed by the intelligence community, that he terms illegal.

‏@realDonaldTrump

The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!

6:43 PM - 15 Feb 2017

Donald Trump's former campaign  manager Paul Manafort, who worked for pro Russian leaders in Ukraine, too has termed the Times report as absurd. Russia, too, as expected has denied the claims made in the Times report.

The Times report is based on versions for former and serving US officials and refutes the Trump team claims that there were no direct contact between the Donald Trump camp and the Russian intelligence officials. The American intelligence has submitted reports that Russian indeed tried to help the Donald Trump campaign in the US Presidential polls but no one was named and no evidence of Trump's complicity was found.  

Ever since the report got out, it has created a furore. Brian Fallon, press secretary of Hillary Clinton's campaign, has termed it a 'colossal scandal'. Her campaign manager Robby Mook has tweeted to ask 'why the FBI sent a letter about Clinton but not about this?' Renowned CBS news anchor Dan Rather has gone a step ahead and said that Trump's Russian connection may be a bigger scandal than Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal.

©SantoshChaubey

NOW CHINESE STATE MEDIA FINDS INDIA DISSATISFIED AND JEALOUS TOWARDS CHINA

It seems, after successful ICBM and other military hardware test launches, it's now India's economic progress that has left the Chinese power elite uncomfortable. After targeting the Indian government's demonetization move, equating it with terms like 'gamble with money' and 'failure', it is now about Indian stand on the global credit rating agencies.

While presenting India's annual Economic Survey on January 31, the Chief Economic Adviser (CEC) Arvind Subramanian had slammed the rating agencies. A PTI report quotes him, "How did the rating agencies behave? They despite all these risky developments they did not downgrade China and our rating was maintained six notches below China. This is a reflection on how these institutions work. You should question them."

Global Times, China's official mouthpieces, now has responded to it. An opinion piece by a senior economist writes in Global Times that 'it is noticeable that S&P has not adjusted India's rating since 2011, Fitch hasn't done so since 2006 and Moody's hasn't changed since 2004. With its rating left at such a low level for over 10 years, India's dissatisfaction and jealousy toward China seems understandable'.

Mark the words 'dissatisfaction and jealousy toward China' here. They tell the prevailing Chinese mindset. This opinion piece written by an economist has economic jargons and technical details to prove its point that 'instead of being obsessed with the sovereign credit ratings themselves, India should take a more macro view so as to fundamentally find out the underlying problems and solve them'. Indian economists, too, have successfully used economic parameters and jargons to explain the bias of the rating agencies.

While presenting India's annual Economic Survey, CEC Subramanian, had come down heavily on the credit rating agencies, accusing them of having a China bias. Questioning rating agencies' 'poor methods and inconsistent standards', Subramanian had said that the sovereign rating agencies had consistently ignored India's economic reform measures like GST, Aadhaar integration, monetary policy framework agreement and eased FDI regime, coupled with its commendable fiscal discipline and strong growth trajectory.

Subramanian had further said that the rating agencies failed to see that India's economy was growing at a faster pace while China's was slowing down, from an average of 10 percent to 6.5 percent now. China's sovereign ratings, fixed years ago, remained same even if its economy came down. The rating agencies have done the same with India. The contention is the approach here. S&P raised China to AA from A+ in 2010 and it is still at the same level in spite of clear growth pangs in the Chinese economy. It scaled down India from BBB+ to BBB- in 2012 and remains stuck there despite clear signs of growth in the Indian economy that has made it the world's fastest growing economy.

So, it is not about jealousy and dissatisfaction. It's about a dignified, rightful treatment.

Unlike other emerging economies, India has an unique position. While others are struggling, fundamentals of India's economy remain sound. And it is too big to fail or to be taken lightly. India is the world's third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and the only bright spot, by all assessments, to drive the world's growth in coming years, especially after China is slowing down. So there has to be this inevitable comparison. When it was so in heydays of the Chinese economy, then why not the same yardstick for India. India or Indian media didn't rush to ridicule or mock or criticise China when the whole world was looking at its miraculous growth.

India's economic adviser gave expression to some valid concerns, slamming the credit rating agencies with his 'come back to assess us after half a century' jibe. India has been raising questions on the rating mechanisms used by the credit rating agencies for quite some time. After Subramanian's dig at S&P, in another move, questioning the criteria used by the rating agencies, Indian government has now asked Fitch to explain its rating methodology.

©SantoshChaubey

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S MOST FORMIDABLE POLITICAL FOE DARES HIM AGIN

The article appeared on DailyO.

Here it is bit modified.

Alexei Navalny, who has emerged as Russian President Vladimir Putin's most formidable political foe, has challenged Vladimir Putin again, in spite of the Putin's ruthless drive to crush political dissent in the country. In an interview published in the Financial Times, Navalny has said that he is determined to contest in the Russian presidential polls due early next year, in spite of being convicted in a fraud case.

Navalny dared Putin after a court in Russia on February 9 revived an old sentence convicting him for embezzlement. The court, though sentenced him with a suspended prison term of five years, dealt a legal blow to his chances for running for the president as Russian law doesn't allow a person convicted under criminal charges to run for any elected office. The court verdict was seen as a motivated step taken under the Kremlin pressure to remove the only credible name from the Russian Presidential race who could challenge Putin, and as expected, was widely panned by the international community.

Alexei Navalny is probably the most widely known Russian politician globally after Vladimir Putin. He has established himself as the rival pole of the Russian politics in an atmosphere where political dissent is not allowed and the existing political and electoral systems are there only to act as dummies.

Navalny has denied all the charges and even the European Court of Human Rights had found the earlier trial in the case unfair. Navalny plans to build pressure that can force the Kremlin to allow him for the Russian presidential polls. The Financial Times report says quoting him, "We will try to grow support in society until the Kremlin understands that it is necessary to admit me to the elections and the consequences of not admitting me will be even worse.”

It is a strategy that Navalny had adopted during the Moscow mayoral polls in July 2013. Then a guilty conviction for embezzlement had banned him from the mayoral polls. By then, Navalny had emerged as the foremost anti-Putin voice in Russia with an image of a political reformer and anti-corruption crusader and millions were hooked to his blog posts. He led the Russian protests in the aftermath of the Arab Spring mobilizing masses for 'Russia without Putin' protest rallies. Protests were organized in many parts of Russia against the continued rule of Putin in the country since 1999 but Putin effectively crushed every dissent after his won the Kremlin again in March 2012.

After protests in Navalny's support, the court allowed him to run for the polls pending his appeal. It was then seen as done under the Kremlin's pressure to gauge the public's mood. Though Putin's man won the polls, Navalny got over 27% votes. In Russia's electoral history of rigged polls, it was a jolt for Putin as Navalny had no access to media outlets and he had no funding.

Navalny once again wants to mobilize the public sentiment to build pressure on the Kremlin to the extent that it forces Putin to allow him to run in the presidential polls, even if in the name of giving the electoral process some legitimacy. Navalny is going to open his offices in all big Russian cities within some months. He already has thousands of volunteers to work for his campaign and he is expecting a mass-level mobilization soon and its subsequent repercussion, “By the time we open our 10th campaign office, the level of pushback [from the authorities] will become clear,” he says as the Financial Times report.

But what happened with the Moscow mayoral polls in 2013 will make Putin and the Kremlin to take a tough approach on Navalny's demands. It was a small bet then. Putin would not like to take that risk when it comes his Presidential bid that would give him Russia again for another six years, completing a silver jubilee for his unbridled rule, from 1999 to 2024. 

©SantoshChaubey