Modi govt cites residual issues, rejects RTI plea on "abolishing" Group of Ministers

By Our Representative
The Narendra Modi government has refused to part with copy of the order to abolish Group of Ministers (GoM) and Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoMs) citing "residual issues". The refusal comes in reply to a right to information (RTI) plea by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) activist Venkatesh Nayak. The activist had sought a copy of the cabinet order ratifying the Prime Minister's decision to abolish GoMs and EGoMs.
Rejecting the application to give the cabinet secretariat note ratifying the PM’s decision, the official concerned invoked Section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, saying that the decisions of Councils of Ministers and their reasons can be made public only after “the matter is complete, or over.”
Wondering whether the reply means that a final decision hasn’t yet been taken to abolish GoMs and EGoMs, Nayak asks: “What happened to the initial decision of the NDA government not to use the GoMs mechanism for carrying out any official work? If the decision was indeed taken by the Prime Minister and ratified by the Union Cabinet, what is so problematic with disclosing a copy of the order?”
Nayak further asks, “If the decision has been taken and ratified, why are there 'residual issues'? What are these 'residual issues'? Or was the decision itself taken and ratified in reckless disregard for its impact on the working of Government departments on pending issues?”
These questions, Nayak emphasizes, become even more relevant in the light of the latest news that a GoM has looked into amendments proposed in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. He wonders whether there was a decision to establish GoMs afresh in 2015 after deciding to abolish the entire mechanism in 2014.
One of the first decisions the Modi government took during the first week of its assumption of power in May 2014 was to abolish GoMs and EGoMs, calling them a legacy of the previous Congress-led UPA government. The abolition was interpreted as a move to overcome delays in decision making. There were more than a 100 GoMs and EGoMs established by the UPA.
The decision to seek the order abolishing GoMs and EGoMs came following an incomplete reply to an earlier RTI plea by Nayak to the PM office seeking information about it. In a reply, the PMO said that the actual number of GoMs abolished was 21 as on June 30, 2014 and of EGoMs abolished it was nine as on June 18, 2015.
As the PIO did not give a copy of the order of abolishing GoMs and EGoMs, Nayak decided to seek the order through a second RTI application in September 2014, thinking that the PMO might be ready to supply it, as the matter had gone cold. Instead of providing a copy of the decision, it transferred the matter to the cabinet secretariat, which cited “residual issues” for not providing the information.
Nayak comments, “The PMO needs to come clean on this needless controversy. As a duly elected government the NDA has every right to choose its mechanisms for taking decisions within the four corners of the constitution and the laws of the land. Nobody questions that right.”
However, he underlines, “The government also must live up to its promise of transparent and accountable governance by making information about such routine matters. Or else the Quest for Transparency mentioned on the PMO website will remain only a 'Quest' with Little Transparency.”

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Girl child education: 20 major states 'score' better than Gujarat, says GoI report

By Rajiv Shah
A Government of India report, released last month, has suggested that “model” Gujarat has failed to make any progress vis-à-vis other states in ensuring that girls continue to remain enrolled after they leave primary schools. The report finds that, in the age group 14-17, Gujarat’s 71% girls are enrolled at the secondary and higher secondary level, which is worse than 20 out of 22 major states for which data have been made available.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad "declared support" to two-nation theory in 1937, followed by Jinnah three years later

By Our Representative
One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Congress 'promises' cancellation of Adani power project: Jharkhand elections

Counterview Desk
Pointing out that people's issues take a backseat in Jharkhand's 2019 assembly elections, the state's civil rights organization, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of activists and people’s organisations, has said that political parties have largely ignored in their electoral manifestos the need to implement the fifth schedule of the Constitution in a predominantly tribal district.

Hindutva founders 'borrowed' Nazi, fascist idea of one flag, one leader, one ideology

By Shamsul Islam*
With the unleashing of the reign of terror by the RSS/BJP rulers against working-class, peasant organizations, women organizations, student movements, intellectuals, writers, poets and progressive social/political activists, India also witnessed a series of resistance programmes organized by the pro-people cultural organizations in different parts of the country. My address in some of these programmes is reproduced here...
*** Before sharing my views on the tasks of artists-writers-intellectuals in the times of fascism, let me briefly define fascism and how it is different from totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is political concept, a dictatorship of an individual, family or group which prohibits opposition in any form, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is also described as authoritarianism.
Whereas fascism, while retaining all these repressive characteristics, also believes in god-ordained superiority of race, cultur…

Ex-World Bank chief economist doubts spurt in India's ease of doing business rank

By Rajiv Shah
This is in continuation of my previous blog where I had quoted from a commentary which top economist Prof Kaushik Basu had written in the New York Times (NYT) a little less than a month ago, on November 6, to be exact. He recalled this article through a tweet on November 29, soon after it was made known that India's growth rate had slumped (officially!) to 4.5%.

With RSS around, does India need foreign enemy to undo its democratic-secular fabric?

By Shamsul Islam*
Many well-meaning liberal and secular political analysts are highly perturbed by sectarian policy decisions of RSS/BJP rulers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially after starting his second inning. They are vocal in red-flagging lynching incidents, policies of the Modi government on Kashmir, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the demand for 'Bharat Ratna' to Savarkar who submitted 6-7 mercy petitions to the British masters (getting remission of 40 years out of 50 years' sentence), and the murder of constitutional norms in Goa, Karnataka and now in Maharashtra.

Post-Balakot, danger that events might spiral out of control is 'greater, not less'

By Tapan Bose*
The fear of war in South Asia is increasing. Tensions are escalating between India and Pakistan after the Indian defence minister's announcement in August this year that India may revoke its current commitment to only use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear attack, known as ‘no first use’. According to some experts who are watching the situation the risk of a conflict between the two countries has never been greater since they both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

Hindutva founders, not Congress, were actual 'proponents' of two-nation theory

By Shamsul Islam*
No other organization, in the present world, can beat Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in double-speak. In fact, what George Orwell termed as "doublespeak" would be an understatement in the case of RSS. The latest proof of this nasty case was provided by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, de facto Prime Minister and senior RSS leader in the Lok Sabha (akin to the House of Commons in England) on December 9, 2019.

Ships recycling Bill 'allows' India to be turned into a landfill for foreign hazardous waste

Counterview Desk
In a letter to M Venkaiah Naidu, chairman, Rajya Sabha, senior activist Gopal Krishna of the Toxics Watch Alliance has said that the Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019 should be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change to "safeguard country’s maritime environment from harmful and hazardous wastes and materials".

Worrying signs in BJP: Modi, Shah begin 'cold-shouldering' Gujarat CM, party chief

By RK Misra*
The political developments in neighbouring Maharashtra where a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government assumed office has had a trickle down effect in Gujarat with both the ruling BJP and the Congress opposition going into revamp mode.

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