4 ms·

Thanks a lot for sharing detailed answer, and I appreciate you for even including few points that you don't like about the Indian Government. If you allow, I w

Thanks a lot for sharing detailed answer, and I appreciate you for even including few points that you don't like about the Indian Government. If you allow, I would also like to share my opinion (and some facts backed with references) on the points that you shared. 1. Abrogation of Article 370: Honestly I like that government made a strong decision and completed a long pending issue but I don't see how it can improve peace in the region or how it can stop the attacks or how it impacts life of any common citizen. 2. Implementing GST (Goods and Service Tax): Again I like that government made a strong decision and completed a long pending issue. However, I see the GST has also caused tax rate to be increased a lot on most of the items. There are many different tax rates and businesses has to file a lot more reports on monthly/yearly basis. For example VAT on software products used to be 5% but now GST on software products is 18%. Similarly now people have to pay GST on many essentials and food items. [1] 3. Citizenship Amendment Act: The way I see it, it's done only to act against muslims of India. They excluded only muslims from the list and included all other religions. There are conflicting statements from the ministers of Indian Government where Home Minister of India even seems to be indirectly threatening Muslims [2] [3] 4. Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act: I think this is also done only to act against muslims of India. I absolutely do not support Triple Talaq and I like that they ended it but I don't think the intension is to protect women rights. Even current PM Modi has left his own wife without giving her a divorce. [4] 5. Economy flourished: Agree with you that India's GDP and Ease of doing business is growing. But I don't know what are real changes that people started noticing on the ground. Highways are being built at record pace but they are charging Toll for most of the highways and those highways are built and operated by private companies. 6. Settling the Ayodhya Dispute: Is it done by Supreme Court or Government? Are you implying that Supreme Court is not independent and Government has a hand in Supreme Court decisions? 7. Unified Payments Interface: Agree, this is a very good initiative and I heard good things about it. 8. Reducing/eliminating big scale corruption on National/Federal/Central level: I think there is still a big time corruption, but now government controls the narrative and mainstream media and probably judiciary too (See my comment on previous point). Just a high level list of potential scam happened under BJP/Modi government. Whenever opposition raises these issues, mainstream media actually blames opposition parties instead of calling for investigation into the allegation: 8.1 Rafale Scam: The supreme court of India headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi gave clean chit to government without requiring any investigation. Government recommended the same judge for Rajya Sabha right after his retirement from the court. I cant say how its morally/ethically right for a judge to accept post-retirement benefit from government and how you can guarantee that the decisions from that judge were unbiased. [6] [7] 8.2 PM CARES Fund: The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on 27 March 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The total amount of funds donated and the names of donors have not been publicly disclosed, and the fund is privately audited. The Government of India had initially claimed that the fund is a private fund, and denied that the PM CARES Fund is a public fund for the purposes of transparency laws such as the Right to Information Act 2005, even though the Fund uses government infrastructure and the national emblem of the Government of India. In December 2020, the Government of India reversed its stance and admitted that the PM CARES Fund was a public fund, but still refused to disclose information regarding it under the Right to Information Act 2005. [8] [9] 8.3 Electoral bonds and FCRA amendments: While the common man has to declare every cent of their income, political parties are allowed to take huge sum of money without disclosing any details. The Delhi high court had in 2014 indicted both Congress and BJP for receiving foreign funds in violation of the existing FCRA Act, and the RPA Act that specifically prohibits parties from accepting contributions from a foreign source. The court asked the government and EC to act against the two political parties. In response, the BJP government has amended the FCRA Act itself, and exempted from scrutiny all foreign funding to parties retrospectively from 1976! Furthermore, the amended Companies Act now allows any foreign company registered in India to make contributions through bonds to political parties, overruling legitimate doubts about who or where its real owners are, or what its source of funding is. [10] [1] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/the-new-revised-gst-rates-make-these-essential-food-items-costlier/photostory/92984648.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/the... [2] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/no-question-of-linking-caa-to-nrc-union-minister-ravi-shankar-prasad-1629020-2019-12-17 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/no-question-of-linking... [3] https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/1197163315148910593 https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/1197163315148910593 [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashodaben_Modi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashodaben_Modi [5] https://statisticstimes.com/economy/india-vs-pakistan-economy.php https://statisticstimes.com/economy/india-vs-pakistan-econom... [6] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rafale-deal-probe-judicial-probe-in-france-7388018/ https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rafale-deal-probe-ju... [7] https://indianexpress.com/about/ranjan-gogoi/ https://indianexpress.com/about/ranjan-gogoi/ [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PM_CARES_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PM_CARES_Fund [9] https://www.dw.com/en/covid-how-is-an-emergency-fund-stirring-controversy-in-india/a-59413826 https://www.dw.com/en/covid-how-is-an-emergency-fund-stirrin... [10] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/view-electoral-bonds-and-fcra-amendments-pave-the-way-for-unaccounted-political-funding/articleshow/63553978.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio...

SanjayMehta 4y ago
The CAA does not affect any Indian citizens: it only applies to minorities of neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
- throwaway384629 4y ago
  Seems like you have omitted some information: >> The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, and arrived in India before the end of December 2014. [1] Government of India amended a bill to allow Indian citizenship. They added a list of religions but somehow excluded only Muslims from that list. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2...
  - KrishnaShripad 4y ago
    > Government of India amended a bill to allow Indian citizenship. They added a list of religions but somehow excluded only Muslims from that list. Because Muslims obviously are not traveling to India fearing religious persecution in ISLAMIC countries. That is... a big oxymoron. The fast-tracking of Citizenship was for "persecuted religious minorities". Muslims are welcome to come through Regular routes just like every other Citizen of the World (which also includes Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians from other countries not part of the 3 countries mentioned in the Act for instance). There are many Hindus who fled Sri Lanka and taken refugee status in India but haven't been brought under CAA as their status is still unclear (i.e. if they want to go back to Sri Lanka or not as the persecution was not of religious nature). The CAA was enacted specifically for minority religious persecution. How can you link that with regular Immigration which continues unabated? These refugees are languishing without Citizenship for 40+ years. Have some sympathy for them. It is exactly the same as Jews fleeing persecution. Did US not fast-track citizenship for such Jews? Precedent has already been set by the United States. Now will you condemn USA for the same? [1] Let me quote from the Lautenberg Amendment and the discussion prior to that: "C. Special Category Aliens Since 1989, legislators have pushed the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for increased admissions of specific religious and ethnic groups, in particular Soviet Jews and Evangelicals, Czechs, and Poles. In doing so, they have created special preference categories for specific aliens. 34 In May of 1989, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (DNJ) proposed that Congress create a "rebuttable presumption of refugee status for Soviet Jews, Evangelical Christians and certain Southeast Asian nationals." `The Lautenberg Amendment required the Executive branch to establish: one or more categories of aliens who are or were nationals and residents of the Soviet Union and who share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution in the Soviet Union on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion .... [One such category shall include] aliens who are ... nationals ... of the Soviet Union and who are Jews or Evangelical Christians.` `President Bush signed the Lautenberg Amendment on November 21, 1989.41 The Amendment allows for a reduced admission standard for the particular groups and requires the eligible aliens to assert a fear of persecution and show a "credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution. 42` [1]: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&context=jleg https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1...

SanjayMehta 4y ago

The CAA does not affect any Indian citizens: it only applies to minorities of neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

throwaway384629 4y ago
Seems like you have omitted some information: >> The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, and arrived in India before the end of December 2014. [1] Government of India amended a bill to allow Indian citizenship. They added a list of religions but somehow excluded only Muslims from that list. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_(Amendment)_Act,_2...
- KrishnaShripad 4y ago
  > Government of India amended a bill to allow Indian citizenship. They added a list of religions but somehow excluded only Muslims from that list. Because Muslims obviously are not traveling to India fearing religious persecution in ISLAMIC countries. That is... a big oxymoron. The fast-tracking of Citizenship was for "persecuted religious minorities". Muslims are welcome to come through Regular routes just like every other Citizen of the World (which also includes Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians from other countries not part of the 3 countries mentioned in the Act for instance). There are many Hindus who fled Sri Lanka and taken refugee status in India but haven't been brought under CAA as their status is still unclear (i.e. if they want to go back to Sri Lanka or not as the persecution was not of religious nature). The CAA was enacted specifically for minority religious persecution. How can you link that with regular Immigration which continues unabated? These refugees are languishing without Citizenship for 40+ years. Have some sympathy for them. It is exactly the same as Jews fleeing persecution. Did US not fast-track citizenship for such Jews? Precedent has already been set by the United States. Now will you condemn USA for the same? [1] Let me quote from the Lautenberg Amendment and the discussion prior to that: "C. Special Category Aliens Since 1989, legislators have pushed the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for increased admissions of specific religious and ethnic groups, in particular Soviet Jews and Evangelicals, Czechs, and Poles. In doing so, they have created special preference categories for specific aliens. 34 In May of 1989, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (DNJ) proposed that Congress create a "rebuttable presumption of refugee status for Soviet Jews, Evangelical Christians and certain Southeast Asian nationals." `The Lautenberg Amendment required the Executive branch to establish: one or more categories of aliens who are or were nationals and residents of the Soviet Union and who share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution in the Soviet Union on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion .... [One such category shall include] aliens who are ... nationals ... of the Soviet Union and who are Jews or Evangelical Christians.` `President Bush signed the Lautenberg Amendment on November 21, 1989.41 The Amendment allows for a reduced admission standard for the particular groups and requires the eligible aliens to assert a fear of persecution and show a "credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution. 42` [1]: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&context=jleg https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1...