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?
Congress is playing its games in the coming elections in Madhya Pradesh. It is accusing Election Commission of having errors in the electoral rolls. The Election Commission did not take it lying down and has told the Supreme Court that Congress is providing it fake documents.
Now, when the Congress data was challenged, they wanted Election Commission to share their version – which is the correct and updated version – which Election Commission has obviously refused to do. And for good measure. It can be mined!
“They are trying to prejudice the court with wrong documents and get relief,” Singh charged. Singh also refused to hand over the entire electoral rolls in MP to the party leaders, saying that it cannot “hand over data which can be mined”. (Source: Economic Times)
The thing is that EC had already provided the list in pdf format. But the Congress was not happy. They wanted in the word format, which will be easier to mine. So only Congress party has been going around trying to get the Electoral Rolls in word format, as for them pdf format would not do. Their argument? That, there are 60 lakh duplicate or fake names in the rolls, which the Election Commission denies.
The question is why is only Congress party running after the Electoral rolls so pervasively in all the states? The answer lies in whom it has tied up with – Cambridge Analytica (read: How Congress-Cambridge Analytica alliance jeopardizes India’s National Security). The same organization which helped Trump target fake news at the voters via social media and Facebook.
You see not only has the Indian Government warned Facebook of repercussions if their data is used by Cambridge Analytica or other such firms. Also the government is already planning action against the India heads of social media platforms in case of fake news distribution. In the recent floods in Kerala, fake news in social media was used to create further chaos and hate.
As the government doubles down on fake news and use of social media data – which may anyways not be of much use in Indian rural areas, Congress is going after the Golden Egg – the Electoral Rolls from the Election Commission. And, that too in a format that can be easily mined because it is structured data.
It is time the Supreme Court stops acting as the lap dog of Congress and the Supreme Court judges do the bidding of Congress lawyers as if they pay their salaries. Because they don’t. Or….. do they?
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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