The Indian budget every year has always been an eagerly awaited event. For many decades, the best minds in economics, finance, tax, business and industry throng the media house to analyze the provisions shared by the Financial Minister.
Sometimes major events completely disconnected may be data points for the plans of the different powers around the world. The challenge is to discern what purpose they serve? More critically, what are we moving towards?
When the US Ambassador threatened India's "Strategic Autonomy" policy over India's friendship with Russia - much more than meets the eye was at stake. Let us unpack how the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the US and the world. And why are we here anyway?
February 26 is an important day in India for two reasons.
One, the Supreme Court is going to have the hearing to challenge Article 35A. It is the article which provides of the Constitution empowers the J&K legislature to define the state’s ‘permanent residents’ and their special rights and privileges. It was added to the Constitution via a Presidential order in 1954 with the concurrence of the then J&K government.
The article is discriminatory in nature and can allow a Pakistani to settle in Kashmir, but not a non-Kashmiri India. In fact, a Kashmiri woman who marries a non-Kashmiri Indian also loses the right.
Here is Sushil Pandit explaining the context, history and the facts of Article 35A.
This is coming up on February 26 and the hearing will be until February 28. This is already causing a lot of issues for those who have back Pakistan all these years. Mehbooba Mufti gave an open threat to India and Indians. She is warning Indians to not fiddle with an act which is inherently discriminatory. And look at her chutzpah and brazen-ness. If not for anything else, for just this, India should go ahead and finish off the article. No one should ever be allowed to threaten the entire nation in such a brazen way ever.
This is what is at stake this morning in India.
As the five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer hears the challenge, one hopes that they remember that they will be making history. It is imperative that they make the right decision!
The other important case is that of Ram Janmabhoomi. We will discuss that in the next post.
The Indian budget every year has always been an eagerly awaited event. For many decades, the best minds in economics, finance, tax, business and industry throng the media house to analyze the provisions shared by the Financial Minister.
When the US Ambassador threatened India's "Strategic Autonomy" policy over India's friendship with Russia - much more than meets the eye was at stake. Let us unpack how the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the US and the world. And why are we here anyway?
This visit of India left me with many questions. Many observations and inputs from different people and sections. Food for thought that I have tried to contemplate on and make sense of. Sharing all that with you.
When you analyze the last 60 years of the economic miracles of Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia versus the continued impoverished Indian economy, you get very interesting lessons. Can Indians have the wherewithal in them to do in one generation so that the coming generations may rise?
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