Trumping around Trump

The NDA government’s export-import policies relating to agricultural commodities in the past have criticism from experts and commoners alike. Last week, addressing a farmer protest march in the capital, senior CPI leader Atul Anjan took a jibe at what he described as “anti-farmer” policies of the Modi government.

“I do not know what has come out of Modi’s overrated Stand-Up and Make-In campaigns, but one thing is clear. When Donald Trump said ‘Sit down, India’, the government has happily done that,” he said. Trade policies that have allowed other countries to sell their commodities in India at cheaper rates have broken the backbone of India’s farm economy, Anjan said.

But would we really ‘sit down’ when Trump tells us to? The final word is not yet out on whether we would stop importing oil from Iran against which the US recently slapped a new set of sanctions.

Health is wealth

Start-ups and non-profit IT research groups are miffed at not being given a level-playing field to participate in India’s most ambitious health scheme, Ayushman Bharat, that assures cashless insurance services of ₹5 lakh to ₹10 crore to poor families. While TCS has been nominated to build an IT platform for the scheme, a non-profit group which works with start-ups said that it had not been allowed an audience with the NITI Aayog, for which it had been putting in requests since months.

TCS will make close to ₹10 crore as a one-time fee for setting up the platform, which the non-profit group said it could do for free. The group is funded by big corporate players.

Surprisingly, while they were not given an audience by NITI Aayog, this non-profit works with the Union Health Ministry and various other State governments to design and implement algorithms in health, agriculture, and other sectors for seamless Direct Benefit Transfers to the poor.

Jhumla strike?

CA Institute staff in the capital are back to work, but without a smile. Why? They had been compelled by the top brass to withdraw their strike on the promise that their demands (of implementing the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations) will be considered. So all eyes are now on the August Council meeting of the CA Institute to see if things would turn better for the staff. Or will this turn out to be a ‘Jhumla Strike’. Only time will tell.

New Brahmastra

Thanks to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Indians are going to deploy a new Brahmastra to get their way out of difficult situations. Those with inflated egos and 56-inch chests better watch out, you could get crushed by a “hug” from someone from unexpected quarters.

After all, it is “ Bachkani Harkat ” (childish pranks) that throws you off guard in some real life situations, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself found to his utter dismay.

Lessons on RTI

Lately, there has been strong buzz about a move by the government to dilute or curtail the Right To Information. A group of RTI activists representing ‘Right to Information Activists Social Welfare Society’ met with Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space.

While allaying fears and apprehensions on any such move expressed during the meeting, Singh said, on the contrary, the government had, in the last four years, worked on the principle of increasing citizen participation in governance, with more accountability and transparency.

But what about frivolous RTIs, questioned Singh. To which, the RTI activists acknowledged his concern and suggested to the minister that some kind of a check mechanism could be evolved, like, for example, imposing a fine on a frivolous RTI or making it mandatory for the RTI applicant to disclose Aadhaar number in order to check the possibility of a fake RTI.

Our Delhi Bureau

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