JOURNEY

It was a jolly good feeling

It was some happy mingling

Days were fully expressed

Words were fully dressed

The distance looked inviting

In full gear, like dancing

Some journeys tell stories

With new discoveries

Which keep you on the go

Penetrating you like a fresco

All those years in between

It was an experience so keen

Sometimes, it was dark

At times, it was so stark

Like always with its spark

Here it was our common arch

That we had had for so long

Yes, it's where we belong

Life may send us adrift

But they were there to lift

It's not how often we met

It's not it was always so great

But, yes, we felt for each of us

That finally got us to meet thus

©SantoshChaubey

#THETRUMPDUMP: HIS DAUGHTER IS NOW HIS ADVISER, OFFICIALLY!

It is the businessman Donald Trump's White House.

It is the millionaire Donald Trump's White House.

It is the playboyish Donald Trump's White House.

It is the White House of a US president who is termed outright liar by many.

It is the White House of a president who was controversial even before his White House days, who began his White House stay with controversies, and who is getting neck deep in controversies -  all of his own making.

It is the White House of a president which doesn't care for norms, even if it is about belying the centuries old established ethical standards of the US polity - like promoting family interests, nepotism and scoring business goals.

It is the White House of a president who believes in taking along his coterie. They may be businesspersons or his friends. Qualification and expertise to hold the office is not necessary. Even if it about advising the United States President, unarguably the most powerful (and hence the most responsible, we suppose) person on earth. But Donald Trump, so far by his acts, indicates us that he is going to disappoint us.

The latest controversial move by him is to appoint his daughter as his official adviser. The official announcement was done today. Before that, she already had an office in the White House.  

She is adviser to the President Donald Trump.

Her husband is senior adviser to the President Donald Trump.

They both are unpaid advisers.

But even Donald Trump has said that he will not take his salary he is entitled to. He has said that he will work round the clock, without offs. He has said he will reach to the last person in the US, bringing jobs and welfare unlike any of his predecessors. He invented a term #MAGA (Make America Great Again).

#MAGA was his pet line during the pre-election campaign and even then when his government was inaugurated on January 20, 2017 with historically low approval ratings, just two months after his stunning victory on November 8, 2016.

It is sounding a hollow phase now. Trump's continued trips to his mansion Mar-a-Lago on officials trips, costing taxpayers millions or his golf course timeouts are self-explanatory.

And like many of Donald Trump ministers, her daughter and son-in-law has no experience of public life and political office.

So the reason is fiascos like Trump's both versions of travel bans which failed miserably or failed grand promise of repealing and replacing Obamacare (by Trumpcare) or adopting an eerie silence on the Mexican wall or withdrawing the US from the global leadership or cutting down on programmes of social welfare while increasing the defense budget. Trump has completed just two months in the White House but his list of controversies and failures is getting so long that not even the US, but the whole world may have to regret later. 

©SantoshChaubey

RETROSPECTION

That strange thought came suddenly  

Crying out silently in the wilderness

Where leaves had stopped speaking

And the dew had a unseasonal dryness

And asked if I was ready for that

But what was that it didn't tell

Was it something I was just thinking

Or an impression from days in past

The oddity of the thought pushed me

To revisit that me who was once here

Speaking in tones that so enthused

Like it was one of those thrills

That you spend your lifetime to have

There were lanes bright and closed

And the corridors of ringing bliss

It was a life that bathed me daily

That freshness initiated my days

With a clarity the morning dew spoke

And it would remain there

But I cannot say what happened

On a day when it didn't speak

And lived a strange silence afterwards

I knew a retrospection was not there

But my introspection told me to do so

I was hurt, and so that person in me

But we both understood each other

Life had some plans and it went on

I don't know if that part of me had his

But as years faded away from us

We learnt to get along to the extent

That we didn't discuss about that

But this strange thought is pushing me

To introspect again for a retrospection

I don't know if I would go for it

But at the moment, I am stuck with it

©SantoshChaubey

RECKONING

What it is in life that you so care for

Wasn't it the day's reckoning

To make amends with your conscience

Something refined, something sublime

It was a moment to go thoughtless

But why couldn't you go beyond

There is a sky which has its own limits

And it was eager to get along with you

Sharing its pious abode of togetherness

It was an invitation that cared for you

It is that you still don't want to go out

But how long will you remain like this

Absorbed in your moments as you go

You had to come here and speak up

What did you think about the black line

That you saw between you and beyond

You need to answer yourself

You don't believed in the day of reckoning

But why can't you go with the day's reckoning?

©SantoshChaubey

US AT WAR WITH RUSSIA? DEMOCRATS FEEL SO

2008 US presidential nominee from the Republican Party and influential US senator John McCain had, in December 2016, termed the Russian interference though cyber attacks in the 2016 US presidential election an act of war. Then it did not echo much. Also, John McCain, who is chairman of US Senate Armed Services Committee, has had a long running feud with Donald Trump.

But after the recent hearing of the House Intelligence Committee where the FBI Director James Comey testified that the FBI was indeed investigating the Russian meddling in the US polls and if some members of the Trump campaign team were having Russian connections, many Democratic senators, have started voicing their opinions against the Russian belligerence. And they think the Russian interference was an 'act of war'.

It was the first public admission by the FBI into the ongoing probe that the FBI director termed ‘unusual’, as the FBI doesn’t confirm or deny that it is investigating a matter unless it is highly ‘unusual’. Here the FBI believed the situation was so serious and in public interest was at stake, as Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee.

After Comey’s admission, the issue has become central to the Democratic Party’s narrative to target US President Donald Trump. “I think this attack that we’ve experienced is a form of war, a form of war on our fundamental democratic principles”, charged Bonnie Watson Coleman, Democrat from New Jersey, during a recent security committee hearing.

Her words were echoed by Democratic Party senator from California Jackie Speier who said during the same hearing where Comey was testifying that ‘he actually thought that their (Russian) engagement was an act of war, an act of hybrid warfare and he thought that's why the American people should be concerned about it’.

Another Democratic senator for California, Eric Swalwell, who had launched a separate section on his official website to detail Donald Trump’s officials connection with Russia, said, “I see this as an opportunity for everyone on this committee, Republicans and Democrats, to not look in the rearview window but to look forward and do everything we can to make sure that our country never again allows a foreign adversary to attack us”, as quoted by The Hill, a newspaper and website with wide following. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is currently probing Russian meddling matter and Swalwell is one of its members.

In January, the US democrats had written a letter to the US Congress to demand an independent, bipartisan commission, with equal representation of Democrats and Republicans, to probe the allegations but the House Speaker Paul Ryan rejected such calls.

US intelligence agencies believe that Vladimir Putin did order the Kremlin to interfere in the US presidential polls and the charge that it was done in order to hurt the prospects of the US Democrats and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, gained momentum after thousands of Hillary Clinton emails were leaked by Russian hackers, a revelation confirmed by the CIA. The fact that Donald Trump has always been soft on Russia and Vladimir Putin and he would often talks of new alignments with Russia during his campaign days, further bolstered the feeling.

Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security advisor, had to resign after it was found that he had lied on his Russian connection. Trump's attorney general Jeff Sessions, who had a controversial ascent to head the Trump administration's legal team, had to recuse himself from the investigations into the Russian meddling after it was revealed that he was also in touch with the Russian Ambassador in the US during Trump's campaign days.

After the humiliating setback in the US presidential polls, the US Democrats have got multiple opportunities to target Trump. Trump entered the White House with historically low approval ratings. His controversial travel ban targeting some Muslim majority nations has seen strong disapproval even from some Republicans and has been stayed by the US courts. Most recently, his favourite campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, fizzled out this week when his party could not arrange numbers in a house dominated by the Republicans.

Add to it are the controversies like his official weekend visits to his private mansion Mar-a-Lago that cost US taxpayers millions or his over a dozen visits to Golf Courses when he had promised that he would not take off days. Wrapping it with a grand narrative of its conventional rival Russia, attacking the US, with unconventional tools like cyber wars, that hurt the sovereign interests of the country but benefit the Trump camp, serves the purpose of showing Trump and Republicans in a questionable light. These all together create a perfect recipe for the Democratic Party to bounce back from its low confidence levels some months back.

©SantoshChaubey

CHINA EYEING INDIAN TALENT?

That might be the case if we go by the increasing number of such assessments in the official Chinese media like this one, an assessment published in China's Global Times, one of the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. Published in Global Times' opinion section 'Insider Eye', the article argues that like the western countries have successfully done, it is now time for China to leverage huge Indian talent pool to fuel its global competitiveness and presents point by point support to base its narrative.

The article is written by S. Ramakrishna Velamuri, a professor at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. CEIBS is one of the Ivy League B schools globally. This assessment by an Indian origin professor who did his MBA from Spain and PhD from America is important because it is not the first article on the subject in the official Chinese media and because it is published in one of the main official newspapers of China where nothing can go on pages without approval from the higher ups in the Chinese government.

The article says even if China produces largest number of engineers and science graduates in the world, its forte traditionally has been in hardware. Making it complimentary to the huge pool of software professionals in India will give the Chinese economy the edge it needs to succeed in the times when we are heading to Industry 4.0, an era of smart factories that work on seamless integration of hardware with software. The industrial future is automation, driven by the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems.

The article argues that with superior English language skills, "Indian software engineers are more accustomed to developing solutions for global markets, whereas Chinese engineers have been more focused on their domestic market".

Also, Indian population is youngest in the world. The median age in India is 10 years lower than China. The article argues that as knowledge-intensive industries hire fresh graduates and groom them further, tapping into the Indian talent pool will provide a sustained supply base in the foreseeable future. That will be a boon for a rapidly aging China which is projected to have maximum number of over 65 people in the world.

And to cap it all is India's cost competitiveness, as the article writes that 'Indian talent is significantly cheaper than the Chinese talent'.

The article says China is rapidly becoming an innovation-driven economy from being the global manufacturing base and was ranked 25th on the Global Innovation Index 2016. In upper middle income countries, the country was ranked first. India has emerged as the R&D hub for multinational companies. The articles says India has around 1200 R&D centres including 42% of the top 500 R&D spenders in the world which employ over 3,00,000 professionals and the count is only going up. So, India has what China needs.

Last month too, an article in Global Times had written that by not attracting Indian talent, China had made a mistake. Written by a Global Times reporter of Chinese origin, that assessment was more direct in accepting that "talent pool in China was not large and flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability'. The article wrote, "China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors and attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability".

©SantoshChaubey

QUESTIONS..QUESTIONS..

Questions that life so habitually throws

That sometimes they get that overdose

To the extent that it becomes so gloomy

Instead of a simple row with life

Questions, sometimes, embrace thorns

When it had to be a rose, even if verbose

Questions, sometimes, lose their repose,

And, at times, repulse to a listless state

Questions, sometimes, lose their weaving

Any why! Only in order to get apposed

Questions, sometimes, bring us together

But at times, they also send us afar

Questions, sometimes, push us to the altar

When we seem to be lost in a war within

Questions, sometimes, they leave their scars

Visible even in a future where past sucks

Questions, sometimes, split you

Ready with a scimitar, to mutilate you

Questions, sometimes, bring some thoughts

That you find you are totally at odds with

Questions, sometimes, create complexes

To simply get you confused in their maze

Questions, sometimes, ask like a fanatic

As to, why don’t you follow this zealot

Questions, sometimes, behave like an abbot

Who is ready to wait till infinity for his godot

Questions, sometimes, question their space

But a void is all that covers their face

©SantoshChaubey

DOES GOD PLAY DICE?

One of the greatest scientists, nature’s laws and human civilization have ever seen, Albert Einstein, had once said that ‘God does not play dice’. Einstein was not a religious person and his observation was about the laws of nature. 

One of the best minds of our times, Stephen Hawking, wrote an elaborate piece titled ‘Does God Play Dice?’ on similar lines. 

Both of them were opining about scientific determinism, about how laws of nature play out in the universe, and how chaos is a certain part of it. 

Mathematician Ian Stewart wrote a book ‘Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos’ that was published in 1989. The book is about chaos theory, about a pattern in randomness that no one sees or senses, that science cannot explain. But simple to complex, events happen. What seems unrelated may very well effect a change where it was never expected. Things are governed by chaos and chaos is governed by quantum mechanics. But what quantum mechanics is governed by? 

By uncertainty? By scientific determinism of chaos? By a pattern in uncertainty and chaos that no one can see?

Or in the words of Stephen Hawking, who writes in his ageless classic, that “God doesn't intervene, to break the laws of Science”.

That is about the philosophy of science. But even the philosophy of life, or your existence here, follows a similar path. 

That “God doesn't intervene, to break the laws of life”.

‘Does God play dice’ is a question that we all come across in our lives. When we ask such questions and when we look for answers, we tend to move to the philosophical realms, questioning our existence, questioning the way life has been, and sometimes questioning even God. 

The philosophy of life which every life develops to deal with chaos in his or her life!

Here I am not talking about philosophy as a discourse or discipline but it has more to do with the philosophical underpinnings of existence and identity where philosophy becomes an ironical necessity, a necessity as we interpret and we become so habituated with it - to the extent that it becomes an inherent part of us - motivating us, or propelling us, or forcing us to move ahead or along with life.  

If we turn to the ‘philosophy of Puritanism, the ‘dicing’ proposition loses its relevance. If we turn to the philosophy incarnation of the day as preached by the so-called intellectuals and self-made God-reincarnations or even by the academicians, it becomes misleading enough to veer us to the brink of a conscience crisis. 

When we are asked to ‘accept everything as it comes’ and ‘whatever that happens is for good’ and when we start believing in such propositions, not debating what good it brings to us and if there was any good at all in whatever that happened, we start losing our individuality, slipping into the conscience crisis. We don’t realize it or we are forced not to realize it - in the name of being practical. Chaos starts dismantling us. 

We all follow some values in life which we justify anyhow and we are right in doing so but to go beyond, we need to turn to pragmatism of conscience and that only can lead us to a fine blend of ‘the ways we go across to deal with the 'prompts and hurdles' of life’ and the ‘optimized scale of conscience, the philosophical element’, so as to fix the ‘dice’ in a poise on the scale of thinking in a way that can achieve a swing state tending to get back to the root of one’s existence whenever it gets disturbed. 

And this balance, this ‘philosophy of necessity’ cannot be defined, cannot be measured, and cannot be practiced uniformly. It is subjective and can only be attained and attuned by individual life preferences and circumstances, if one tends to balance the moments in the line of practical and philosophical inputs and practical outcomes. 

If philosophy is essentially a way to look back at and understand life gone so far, the ‘philosophy of necessity’ leads us to question us and take decisions that not only support the material-self of our present day lives, our daily lives, destabilized by chaos, but also gives us the much needed spiritual base. Chaos tries to set a pattern in our lives and tries to make us accustomed to that. 

We all have this spiritual base, to deal with chaos, but we lack the practicality of getting along with it, limiting us to mostly rituals and temples and shrine visits, and so excluding it out of our daily lives. If spirituality is akin to exploring the deeper of ‘you’, connecting you to your ‘self’ and hence to the ‘light’, it has to be a part of your everyday moments. 

We need to realize the ‘necessity of philosophy’ to base our decisions on pragmatism and conscience. And no one can teach it. We are the teachers and we are the learners and so either we make it or we don’t. We are in life's playground. We are in chaos' playground. Balancing ‘philosophy’ and ‘necessity’ is a difficult proposition. But it does happen. 

And how? No one knows. Laws of life play along. Laws of science play along. Where Gods don't need to play dice. 

©SantoshChaubey

TRUMPCARE VS OBAMACARE: D-DAY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AS NEW HEALTHCARE BILL FACES CONGRESS TEST

The article originally appeared on India Today.

Here it is bit modified.

Previous US President Barack Obama had signed the Affordable Healthcare Act or Obamacare on March 23, 2010. Then it was termed as the most important healthcare legislation in the US since Medicare, the national health insurance plan of the US for senior citizens, was launched in 1965.

Down the line seven years, his predecessor, the current US President Donald Trump is trying all to get Obamacare repealed and replaced with his American Healthcare Act or Trumpcare. It was one of his major campaign promises. The house vote on Trumpcare is likely to be held on March 23, 2017.

But even many Republican senators feel Trumpcare is not comprehensive enough to meet those campaign promises and amendments are needed. Intense parleys are taking place but so far a consensus has not emerged. Estimates say Trumpcare is expected to leave 24 million Americans without insurance by 2016. Obamacare would have these Americans covered. But it may be even worse. A New York Times report says, quoting an analysis, the number of uninsured may be as high as 32 million more Americans by 2026.

The US media is replete with reports on pros and cons of Obamacare, like tax burdens, deductibles, coverage, freedom to choose insures and so on and how and if a Trumpcare can take care of it because as it is an issue that is going to define the Trump presidency as it had defined Obama’s.

Though the Republican Party, along with Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, is presenting Trumpcare as a panacea that will take care of every American’s healthcare needs and Obamacare as a vestige of law that is detrimental enough to be replaced as soon as possible, its own house is not in order. 

The house vote on Trumpcare is expected on Thursday, but going by a latest CNN report, the Republicans still have no clear numbers to get Obamacare repealed and Trumpcare passed even if less than 24 hours are left for Trumpcare to go to vote. If Trumpcare fails to pass through a Republican majority house, it will be serious setback for Trump and will further complicate his days ahead. He is already facing serious charges on his Russia connections and the probe has reached to the White House. Then there are other controversial issues like his wiretap claims without evidence or his controversial travel ban, issues for which he is being slammed everywhere.

Trumpcare which the expert have been doubting about from the beginning may end up like another Trump rhetoric which does nothing except stirring up society and market with his uncontrolled flow of tweets. Once the dust settles down, it only gives more energy to anti-Trump voices or in this case to the US pharmaceutical and insurance companies that, after going down because of a hostile Trump tweet, bounce back and even rally on stock exchanges, a CNN Money report says.

Trump, during the campaign phase of the US presidential polls, and even after his election, had raised hopes of a healthcare act to replace Obamacare that would guarantee ‘universal healthcare’. In an interview before his government’s inaugural on January 20, 2017, he said ‘we are going to have insurance for everybody’, a Washington Post copy says.

Going by that scale, anything less would be like betraying those hopes. But a universal healthcare was always an impossible concept because it would be so unwieldy, so expansive and so therefore so expensive, that it was not never in the Republican Party’s plans for a healthcare act to replace Obamacare. The Washington Post op-ed, headlined ‘Donald Trump may have just destroyed the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare’ wrote, “Donald Trump emphatically promised universal health coverage. That’s an absolutely gigantic promise, and it’s one that Republicans have no intention of keeping”. 

©SantoshChaubey

EXPECTATIONS

Sometimes, you feel empty from within

Sometimes, you need to feel lost

Sometimes, it is a journey to nowhere

Sometimes, words just don’t add up

Sometimes, you just need it to be like this

When you fail to speak to even your soul

Life has been brutalized by expectations

‘What was there yesterday’ is not over

Yet ‘what will be there tomorrow’ begins

Life has become a maze of equations

Of burdening relations, of forced lies

You don’t know when you stopped caring

For a life that you had begun together

You could not realize when it slipped out

Like a borrowed identity, like a fake living

That life became a stranger in your chores

You got habituated to what you despised

Words used to be your friends in a past

But they sound like quirky existences now

Sometimes, they flow, like a yesterday

But their friction hounds every other day

Asking questions you don’t want to answer

But the truth is you need to answer them

It is not that you don’t realize this

But swept over by expectations of a life

That you never thought would be yours

You find those spaces of sanity choked

You meet your estranged life and soul

And fail to read your past and present

In a mad rush to meet expectations

When you can’t connect with words

Where you can’t correlated with journey

When your identity looks like a stranger

Where your life stops making any sense

In moments, when pain becomes unbearable

You cry for an honest introspection

You long for a clean slate, again, from within

And you madly try to make sense of words

On a journey that you did not choose

In moments like these, you try to feel lost

In a desperate effort to speak to your soul

To make sense of where it all began

To see if you can still heal your existence

©SantoshChaubey

AFTER US, UK, TOO, BANS LARGE ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN FLIGHTS

After the US, the UK, too, has announced a ban on large electronic devises in cabin baggage on some flights. A BBC report said that the UK action was in coordination with the measures taken by the US. As per the BBC report, the ban is for commercial flights originating from Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon and will affect six UK and eight foreign carriers including British Airways, Thomas Cook, Turkish Airlines, Saudia and Egyptair. Like the US ban, the UK, too, has banned electronic devices larger than a smartphone, like laptops, tablets, DVD players and even phone larger than a specified size from cabin baggage.

Earlier, a report in the The Telegraph said that the UK, too, had come across same intelligence inputs as the US that terrorists could use electronic devices like laptops to conceal explosives. The intelligence inputs say terrorists are planning 'innovative methods to bring down planes' as the report in The Telegraph says.

Earlier in the day, the US ban came into force, putting stiff conditions on foreign airlines from the eight Middle-East and African countries. The US ban will affect 10 airports that serve as last point of departure to the US.

According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the 10 airports affected are Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, Cairo International Airport, Ataturk International Airport in Turkey, King Abdul-Aziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia, King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait International Airport, Mohammed V Airport in Morocco, Hamad International Airport in Qatar, Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The Department of Homeland Security says that these airports were selected on current threat inputs and their analysis and more airports can be added in future if security assessment demands so. These new measures will remain in place as long as the threat persists.

As per the US ban, electronic devices other than mobile phones will not be allowed in cabin baggage on flights originating from these 10 airports. Devices larger than a mobile phone or a smartphone, like laptops, tablets, cameras, e-readers, travel printers and scanners, portable DVD players and even electronic games which are larger than a smartphone must be put in the checked-in luggage. And this list is not exhaustive. The US ban is not limited to just these electronic devices but applies to any electronic device larger than a smartphone.

In support of its ban, the Department of Homeland Security cites terrorist propaganda on how an Egyptian plane was brought down by a soda can stuffed with explosives killing 224 onboard in 2015 or how a laptop bomb was used to carry out explosion in an aircraft at a Somali airport in February 2016. According to the Department of Homeland Security, terrorists have used in past methods like concealing explosives in shoes and printers, suicide devices in underwear and using liquid explosives. 

©SantoshChaubey

US SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON VISITS BEIJING AHEAD OF TRUMP-JINPING SUMMIT

The article originally appeared on India Today. 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is in China, met the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday after which both held a joint press conference. There are reports in the US and Chinese media that US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit on April 6-7 at his mansion Mar-a-Lago in Florida which Trump is using as his winter retreat. Tillerson's China visit is being seen as intended to lay groundwork for the upcoming summit.

According to Global Times, the sister publication of People's Daily, Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, Tillerson's visit to China has 'served to reduce anxiety over US-China' ties. Global Times writes quoting Wang Yi that "the phone call between the two countries' leaders has served as guidance for both sides" to work out further details.

After Donald Trump assumed the US presidency, the US-China ties have been under cloud with Trump indicating that he may take a different approach to the issues that China finds vital to its interests.

Though Trump put his faith in the One China policy during his first phone call with Jinping last month, his acts in the past have indicated otherwise. Breaking the three decade old US protocol of not speaking to Taiwan, Trump spoke to Taiwan president in November after his victory. Further, Trump said that the 'One China' policy was not sacrosanct and was open to new realignments, like with new trade deals. China ferociously follows the 'One China' policy and believes Taiwan is a rouge province that will sooner or later come to its fold.

WHAT CAN FIGURE PROMINENTLY IN TRUMP-JINPING TALKS?

The issue is expected to figure prominently in Trump-Jinping talks. And if we go by a report published in The Independent today that says the Trump Administration is preparing to sell Taiwan arms it needs in case of a Chinese attack, there are bound to be hard negotiations as Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, said after the Trump-Jinping call last month that 'Trump always gets something in return in negotiations'. The new arms sales package to Taiwan, at a time when both countries are preparing for a summit between their leaders, tells that Trump is not satisfied with what assurance he got from Jinping during his phone call and he intends for more.

Though there were no discussions on Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) issue, it is another issue that Tillerson and Wang Yi would be hoping to work on set the contours of the talks when Jinping-Trump meet next month. China has come down heavily on South Korea for deploying the US missile defense system against North Korea after North Korea tested ballistic missiles this month. China is opposed to THAAD's deployment in the region saying it disturbs power balance and is inimical to its interest in the South China Sea, another disputed region where China is pitted against the US and other world powers after a UN panel rejected Chinese claims on the South China Sea.

Tillerson's China visit, it seems, is aimed at finding common grounds for bottleneck issues to prepare conducive atmosphere for Trump-Jinping summit, something that China also realises. Global Times, quoting Wang Yi, writes, "It is normal for China and the US to have their differences, and that open communication is essential."

©SantoshChaubey

MANIPUR BLOCKADE LIFTED: IT IS AS MODI HAD PROMISED

A new BJP government is in place in Manipur. And even before it can prove its majority in the Manipur assembly slated for tomorrow, it has added a feather in its cap, by convincing the United Naga Council (UNC), the body representing the Naga tribal population of Manipur, to lift the economic blockade from midnight that has badly hit the state with supply of essential commodities choked.

During the campaign phase, prime minister Narendra Modi had promised that a BJP government in Manipur will end the blockade within 48 hours of assuming the office. Blaming the state’s Congress government for blockade and governance deficit, Modi had promised to develop the state in 15 months, something that he said the Congress could not do even in 15 years of its rule since 2002.

After taking oath, state’s new chief minister, it seems, took the matter on a priority basis. After a successful tripartite meeting, involving the Government of India, Manipur government and the UNC, the UNC has agreed to lift the economic blockade of national highways in Manipur that it had imposed on November 1, 2016 protesting the then Congress led Manipur government’s decision to create two new districts of Sadar Hills and Jiribam. The UNC demanded a rollback arguing that creation of new districts would affect the interests of the Naga people of the state.

The five months old blockade of the state’s two main highways has restricted its access to Nagaland, Assam and Myanmar and has crippled the delivery of essential items to the north-eastern state. Though a restricted number of supply trucks were allowed to pass every week, these were never enough.

NEW POLITICAL ALIGNMENTS

BJP leader N Biren Singh, along with eight other cabinet ministers, took oath on March 15. He is heading a coalition government of Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), National People’s Party (NPP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). His government is also supported by an independent MLA, the lone TMC MLA in the house and a Congress MLA who has defected and has been made minister.

A ruling coalition involving Naga parties may have helped in convincing the UNC in taking a swift decision to remove the blockade. The NPF, ruling party of Nagaland and an NDA alliance partner, is now the BJP’s ruling partner in Manipur. Besides NPP, the party that won four seats and has got four ministerial berths in Biren Singh’s cabinet including the post of the deputy chief minister, had also got the UNC support.

Biren Singh’s BJP led coalition government is scheduled to face the trust vote tomorrow. In the 60-member strong Manipur legislative assembly, the ruling Congress party won 28 seats while the BJP got 21 seats in the recently concluded elections. A simple house majority needs support of 31 MLAs. The BJP could garner the required numbers and staked claim to form the government while the Congress’ claims were rejected as it could support them with documentary evidence. The BJP is claiming to have 33 MLAs in its fold now, including 4 each from NPF and NPP, one from LJP and TMC, one independent and one defected from the Congress.

©SantoshChaubey

DELHI DIVE

INDIA’S MOST POPULOUS AND CAPITAL CITY THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

DELHI DIVE

©SantoshChaubey

DELHI DIVE

INDIA’S MOST POPULOUS AND CAPITAL CITY THROUGH RANDOM CLICKS

DELHI DIVE

©SantoshChaubey

WHEN WE MET AGAIN..

That night was just the beginning

And the day was its metaphor

Life was brewing something

And living was singing in choir

There were differences still

But harmony was all pervasive

The unknown had its obvious thrill

The known was all so intensive

We met and decided to sit

We spoke and decided to stay

The dark all around was so discreet

That, words easily found their way

The sunshine was so reassuring

That silence found a common point

All those years seemed so enduring

That the souls had a similar viewpoint

Yes, it was indeed a new beginning

With all those charming metaphors

Life, again, was on that curve

And living was ready to ride the verve

©SantoshChaubey

#THETRUMPDUMP: JUDICIAL OVERREACH OR TRUMP'S OVERREACH - AMISTAD LESSONS

US President Donald Trump thinks the US Judiciary is like that of the third world countries, a term that is derogatory and its use is not recommended. By doing so Donald Trump tries to stereotype a large section of the world as well as his own Judiciary, a marvel of humanity that is appreciated across the world.

Steven Spielberg's 1997 film Amistad, based on the plight of African slaves on board ship Amistad in 1839, who were subject to intense court proceedings and social debate on slavery in America after they had mutinied and killed their captors, has two very moving scenes about independence and fine jurisprudence of the US Judicial system.

First, the then US President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), under the pressure of pro-slavery southern US states and Spain, gets the judge of the US lower court replaced sensing that the presiding judge would rule against the slave traders and the US government, as the evidence demanded. Buren's administration replaces him with a young judge expecting a favourable decision from him as the young judge would have his whole career before him and he would not go against the state. But, on the contrary, judicial wisdom and human conscience decides what the young judge would do - the just thing - and he rules against the slave traders and the US government - even if he knows that it will hurt his future career opportunities.

In the final scene of the film, we come across a fine closing argument in the case of the Amistad Africans in the US Supreme Court by John Quincy Adams, former US President (1825-1829) and the senior attorney here. Incidentally, under the pressure of the Southern states and Spain, the US government moves to the US Supreme Court. Though Adams never openly admitted that he was an abolitionist, he, in fact, was and agreed to defend the cause of the Amistad Africans in the US Supreme Court. As the film's script goes, in support of his arguments, Adams reminds the judges of the US Supreme Court that the Queen of Spain, in official communication with the US, again and again, refers to the incompetent US Courts, comparing with the courts in her country that do what the state demands, something that Adams terms 'as she plays with her own courts' in a magical kingdom called Spain. Seven of the nine US Supreme Court judges were themselves southern slave owners. Adams invoked the US Declaration of Independence, freedom and equality of man and the previous US Presidents who fought for these values in his speech. The case was weak technically, apart from the ill-intent of the US administration. Add to it the impeccable defense mounted by John Quincy Adams. But a fear was lingering in everyone's mind - that majority of the judges were slave masters - a fact that could have easily overturned the decision of the lower court in favour of the US administration and Spain. But like the lower court, the spirit of the US Judicial wisdom prevailed. With just one dissent, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Amistad Africans.

That was 1840s. The film is more or less a true account of one of the most important episodes in the history that propelled the anti-slavery movement in the US to its final fight that resulted in Abraham Lincoln's Thirteenth Amendment (April 8, 1864) that made slavery illegal thought the US, including the southern states.

Now if someone like a US President feels that the level of that judiciary, that showed a true judicial independence based on the rule of law some 200 years ago, is like of those countries where the judicial independence and integrity are easily compromised, then we can easily assume that the person saying such absurd things has other designs.

This Amistad spirit is alive and kicking in the US Judiciary is evident from the fact that  both versions of Trump's controversial travel ban, that target Muslims and immigrants, were turned down by the US Courts. Donald Trump was always livid over the US Judiciary. And the fact that he drew this the third world' corollary during his campaign phase, before becoming the US President, tells us that he has designs against the US Judiciary. He would have been advised by his inner circle to pre-empt his moves and to take on the US Judiciary as the Judiciary was expected to play spoilsport in his bizarre policy moves like this travel ban travesty.

Though Donald Trump has said of moving to the US Supreme Court against the ban on his 'travel ban', hoping that the 5-4 conservative majority in the top US Court would help him with his Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch confirmed, the US Judicial history tells us otherwise, as evident from the Amistad example where six of the slave owing judges ruled against slavery. Neil Gorsuch and a conservative majority over the liberal judges may not work for Trump. Martin Van Buren says in Amistad, replying to the representative of Spain's queen, that it is the it is the 'independence of the US courts that keeps the people of the US free'. 

©SantoshChaubey

BJP'S 70% VS CONGRESS' 11%

Even if we go by the Congress' claim that it won three states, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, in the recently concluded assembly polls, it still adds nothing significant to the spread of its influence - geographically as well as in terms of the human headcount. The Congress party has effectively lost the electoral space to act as a national alternative to the BJP.

Assembly elections were held in five states, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur these results of which were announced on March 11. The BJP had swept Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while its alliance with the SAD had seen a crushing defeat in Punjab where it was in the ruling coalition since 2007. The Congress had emerged as the largest party in Goa and Manipur but the BJP stitched the numbers fast to form coalition governments in both of these states.  

The BJP and its allies were already ruling over 60% of India's geographical area with 43% of its population before the March 11 verdict, and the sweep this time has taken it to around 70% of the landmass and 58% of the population.

With Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur in BJP's stable, the BJP and its allies are now the ruling party/coalition in 17 Indian states while the Congress, that has ruled India for almost 55 years in its 70 years of independent, sovereign history, has shrunk to just six states with Karnataka and Punjab as the only electorally significant states in its fold. The party has ruling presence in another big state - in Bihar - but it is the junior-most alliance partner in the ruling coalition there.

In terms of geographical spread, the Congress has shrunk to just 13% of Indian territory with only 11% of the country's population residing in areas ruled by it. Even if, for a moment, we consider that the BJP fails to prove majority in Goa and Manipur and the Congress finally forms the governments, it cannot help the Congress much, apart from giving consolation, as Goa and Manipur represent only 0.8% of India's area and 0.34% of its population.

The BJP along with its allies, is now in all corners of the country with its 17 state governments, in north India, in central India, in south India, in West India, in east India and in north-east India, the footprint the Congress enjoyed earlier while the Congress has reduced to only few pockets.

India has 29 states and seven Union territories. Polls are held in these 29 states and two of the Union Territories, i.e., Delhi and Puducherry. The states where the BJP and its allies have their governments now are - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh (NDA partner TDP), Jammu & Kashmir (NDA partner PDP), Nagaland (NDA partner NPF) and Sikkim (NDA partner SDF). The party is number two in Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The BJP is also number 2 in Bihar if we see it as the grand alliance of JDU, RJD and Congress Vs the BJP.

Other big states barring Karnataka and Punjab, are all with the regional parties who have chosen not to ally with the Congress - Tamil Nadu (AIADMK), Telangana (TRS), West Bengal (AITC), Odisha (BJD) and Kerala (Left Front).

The Congress has ruling presence in only two electorally significant states, Karnataka and Punjab. But in Karnataka where elections are due early next year, its prospects don't look good and there are very real chances that the huge anti-incumbency against the Congress led government will allow the BJP to easily win the state. The other parties in the Congress fold are all smaller states, i.e., Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Puducherry.

©SantoshChaubey

COMPLACENCY COSTS CONGRESS TWO MORE STATES

Now even the Supreme Court's seal is on it that the Congress got complacent and took matters lightly in Goa and Manipur, the two states where it had emerged as the largest party but missed the bus to stake claims. The obvious consequence to it is that a BJP chief minister has taken oath in Goa and the party's government will be formed in Manipur with the swearing-in scheduled for tomorrow.

While hearing a Congress petition against the oath-taking ceremony of Manohar Parrikar in Goa, a special Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar took the Congress to task for reacting late and refused to stay Parrikar's swearing-in. The top court observed that a 'simple floor test' can take care of issues raised in the petition. As directed by the Supreme Court, Manohar Parrikar led BJP government will have to prove its majority in the House on March 16.

On the counting day, after the BJP's massive victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and impressive show in Uttarakhand, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had some words of advice for the BJP leadership. He tweeted that the BJP was in power in two of the five states where elections were held and it lost both and therefore the party ‘shouldn’t be too complacent for 2019’ when the next parliamentary polls will be held.

But it seems, the Congress leadership got complacent with the poll results as it failed to move before the BJP in staking claims to form governments even if Amit Shah, the BJP president, had announced after the results came in that the BJP was going to form government in four states, i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

GOA

Even though Digvijay Singh, Goa in-charge of the Congress party, has been camping in Goa, the party failed to make its move and arrange numbers to stake claim. While the Congress was still contemplating its moves, the BJP met Goa Governor Mridula Sinha with a list 21 MLAs to stake its claim to form the government in the state with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar as its chief minister. Now he is back as CM and the BJP is claiming to have support of 23 MLAs. This is a point where the Congress clearly failed, a fact highlighted by the Supreme Court, which said the Congress didn't approach the Governor or the Supreme Court with its list and affidavits of the supporting MLAs.

Parrikar had resigned from the CM position in November 2014 to join Narendra Modi's union cabinet. This will be his fourth term as Goa’s chief minister. His first two terms were from 2000 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2005.

The BJP, the incumbents in the state, won 13 assembly seats this time, four less than Congress' 17. To prove majority in the 40-member Goa House, support of 21 members was needed. Congress needed four MLAs to scale the gap while the BJP needed eight. And the BJP arranged its eight before the Congress could garner support of four MLAs.

The BJP claims to have support of three MLAs each of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Goa Forward Party (GFP), two independents and lone NCP MLA. Then there are reports that some Congress MLAs are ready to defect to join the BJP. That the Congress has resigned to its fate becomes clear from its Goa in-charge Digvijay Singh's reaction, who was earlier claiming to form the government, was quoted saying that the Congress was ready to sit in Opposition if the BJP had the numbers. Today, in an interview with a channel, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath accepted that the Congress was slow to act in Goa and Manipur and better chalked-out plans were needed.

The Congress' hara-kiri is evident from the fact that some of the newly elected Congress MLAs have blamed the senior Congress leaders of 'indecisiveness' even if it had the mandate to stake claim first, an unacceptable delay that gave the BJP enough time to play its cards. Congress Valopi MLA Vishwajit Rane, who is son of the former CM Pratapsingh Rane, felt so letdown that he left the party saying he was 'disillusioned' with the party after its 'shameful handling of the mandate'.

MANIPUR

Manipur is the second state that is a missed opportunity for the Congress. Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla has invited the BJP leader N Biren Singh to form the government and his oath-taking ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow.

The Congress has been in power in the state since 2002 and even this time it emerged as the largest party winning 28 seats in the 60-member house. But the BJP's performance is stunning here. The party that had not been able to open its account in the last polls in 2012, has emerged as the second largest party in this polls, winning 21 seats. But what is more remarkable is the fact that its vote share at 36.3% is more than Congress' 35.1%, something that gives it the largest representation in the state. From 2.12% in 2012 to 36.3% in 2017, this is huge.

And thanks to the indecisiveness shown by the Congress here as well, the swift moves made by the BJP gave it the necessary edge and Imphal is going to have a BJP government next.

Both the BJP and the Congress are making claims and counterclaims. But certainly, the BJP has outsmarted the Congress in making first moves, be it parading the supporting MLAs before the Governor or holding joint presser with the National People’s Party (NPP). The Congress also claimed to have the NPP support but it was refuted by NPP chief Conrad Sangma.

In the 60-member strong Manipur legislative assembly, a simple house majority needs support of 31 MLAs. In a quick move, on March 12, the BJP approached the Governor with a delegation of MLAs including four NPP MLAs, lone MLA of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), lone TMC MLA and a Congress MLA who had defected. The BJP delegation also handed over a letter of support from the Naga People's Front (NPF), an NDA alliance partner.

After it, Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, like waking from a slumber, rushed to the Governor House to stake claim. He showed a letter on a plain paper with names of four NPP legislators in Congress’ support which was later junked by the NPP. Also, it is believed that the Governor asked Ibobi Singh to parade the four NPP MLAs to validate his claims. Then there are reports that around a dozen Congress MLAs are ready to defect to the BJP fold.

Sources say the Governor wanted to meet the four NPF MLAs personally before taking any decision. Today, NPF MLAs met the Governor and reiterated their party's support for the BJP. That validated the count of 32 MLAs in BJP's support. After it, the Governor invited the BJP to form the government.  

DESPERATE LAST DITCH EFFORTS

In its last ditch effort, the Congress had moved to the Supreme Court challenging the invitation to Manohar Parrikar to form the government. But if we go by the Constitution's interpretation of experts, inviting the largest party is more of a convention and the Governor is not bound to follow it if another political formation convinces him of having the required numbers.

It is left to the Governor's discretion and wisdom to ensure that a stable government is formed, be it by the single largest party or a coalition of other parties, a fact reiterated by the Supreme Court during today's hearing. The top court said that though it has become a Constitutional convention to invite the single largest party, the preference goes to them who show stable numbers.

Rapidly changing political developments have proved Shashi Tharoor wrong. It is not the BJP, but the Congress that has lost two states, i.e., Manipur and Uttarakhand. And unlike the BJP which lost one in Punjab, to gain four states in its fold, it could gain just one, i.e., Punjab. With these developments, the BJP and its allies now have governments in 17 states while the Congress and its allies have shrunk to just seven states.  

©SantoshChaubey