Indrani Mukerjea- media baron, murderer and money maker

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August 26, 2019

Peter and Indrani Mukerjea are currently in prison in connection with murder of Indrani’s daughter Sheena. Indrani is wife of media tycoon Peter Mukerjea. She is charged with the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora (from her first marriage) with her 2nd husband’s help. She claims she was angry at her daughter for being in a relationship with her 3rd husband’s (Peter Mukerjea) son, Rahul Mukerjea. A 2nd wife of her 3rd husband is charged along with her 2nd husband for killing her daughter from her 1st husband who was having an affair with her 3rd husband’s son from his 1st wife.

This article is for those who daily see this in the newspaper and social media but understand nothing out of it. But officials believe it was because of some money that Sheena had in her name, which she had refused to give to her mother when she asked for it.

Peter and Indrani Mukerjea have co-founded INX Media in 2007. Both directors had been charged with entering into a criminal conspiracy with P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram to get foreign investment. In March 2018, Indrani Mukerjea told CBI under Section 164 of CrPC that a deal of $ 1 million was struck between Karti Chidambaram and Mukerjea to secure approval from FIPB in favour of INX Media. In January 2008, the financial intelligence unit of the finance ministry found an anomaly in money flow from three Mauritius-based firms into a media venture called INX Media. As it involved foreign fund, the Income Tax department in Mumbai forwarded the case to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which began probing the flow of fund to see if money was laundered. The ED investigation pointed towards corruption involving powerful people. The ED then referred the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which registered an FIR in INX Media case in May 2017. Besides this, the ED lodged a separate case of money laundering later. The case is related to divesting of shares of INX Media to fund news channels and a 2007 decision by the finance ministry, then under P Chidambaram, who was considered the most powerful minister in the Manmohan Singh government. To many observers, Chidambaram wielded more influence in the Manmohan Singh cabinet than Pranab Mukherjee who became the President in 2012. In March 2007, INX Media had approached the finance ministry for issuing 14.98 lakh equity shares and 31.22 lakh convertible non-cumulative redeemable preference shares. Each share was to be priced at Rs 10 a piece and was to be owned by three non-resident investors under the FDI route.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the finance ministry approved the request in May the same year. This meant that INX Media was allowed to receive foreign fund of Rs 4.62 crore. The FIPB, however, had rejected another request by INX Media for downstream investment of foreign fund in its subsidiary, INX News Pvt. Ltd. The company went on to receive foreign fund to the tune of Rs 305 crore from the three Mauritius-based firms – a violation of the FIPB order. It [INX Media] also invested money in INX News, another violation of the FIPB order. The CBI says the investment was manipulated as the foreign firms bought each share for Rs 862.31 i.e. at a price which was more than 86 times of their face value. After financial intelligence unit, the Income Tax department and the ED flagged the matter in early 2008, the FIPB sought clarification from INX Media about overpriced sale of shares and receiving foreign funds in violation of its conditions. In response, INX Media engaged Chess Management Service Pvt. Ltd. to settle the matter “amicably” with the finance ministry. Karti Chidambaram, son of P Chidambaram, is the founder director of Chess Management Services. The CBI says Karti used his influences in his father’s ministry in 2008 to favour INX Media, and P Chidambaram was party to the overall scheme. The CBI alleges that instead of ordering investigation into the case, the FIPB – under P Chidambaram – suggested INX Media to apply for fresh approval for the foreign fund for downstream investment already received.

The CBI backed its case with a statement from Indrani Mukerjea, who has turned approver in this matter. Indrani Mukerjea has said that INX Media got a favourable deal after she had a meeting with P Chidambaram seeking FIPB clearance in 2008. The Chidambarams are also facing charges in another case of controversial FIPB clearance. It is related to Aircel-Maxis deal. The CBI is probing a case of corruption against Chidambaram senior for FIPB approval of Rs 3,500 crore Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006. The CBI says only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs could have given such an approval but P Chidambaram okayed it in his capacity as finance minister in a quid pro quo deal. The ED is also probing money-laundering angle in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The master mind in murder of own daughter, serial offender and several times married woman became approver to save her soul from slaughter case of her daughter, ironically CBI too trusted her. Let’s wait for truth to prevail. Meanwhile, Indrani got breather and makeover for going against Chidambaram.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

INX media: Supreme Court dismisses Chidambaram’s plea

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Rajesh Choudhary

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August 26, 2019

In a setback for Congress leader P Chidambaram, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain his petition challenging the dismissal of anticipatory bail in a corruption case lodged by the CBI in the INX media scam.

At the outset, a bench comprising justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna said since Chidambaram has already been arrested and is in the custody of the CBI, his appeal in the case has become infructuous. However, the bench said Chidambaram is at a liberty to seek remedy in accordance with the law.

Chidambaram, whose CBI custody is ending today, will be produced before a trial court where the agency can further seek his custody.However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi said in their arguments that the CBI ensured that Chidambaram’s plea become infructuous by arresting him when he was seeking protection from arrest.

They said that immediately after the high court had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea in both CBI and ED cases on May 20, the senior Congress leader had moved the apex court in the post lunch session and his matter was listed for hearing on August 21. While attempts were being made to get his petition listed for hearing on Wednesday, an order was passed that the matter will be heard on August 23. Chidambaram was arrested on late evening of August 21.

Sibal narrated the sequence of events from August 20 to August 21, and said “the whole purpose of the CBI was to defeat the fundamental rights of my client, (Chidambaram) and his liberty guaranteed under the Constitution. He should have been heard but the matter was listed for hearing on Friday and not even Thursday”.

However, the bench said on that ground Chidambaram’s plea against the high court decision cannot be entertained. “So far as the CBI case is concerned, we are not inclined to hear it. We dismiss the special leave petition (of Chidambaram) in CBI case,” the bench said.

It said the senior Congress leader can challenge the dismissal of his anticipatory bail in the CBI case on different grounds. At present the apex court bench is hearing issues relating to the money laundering case lodged by the ED in connection with the INX media scam in which Chidambaram was granted protection from arrest till today.

Letters to the Editor: 26 August, 2019

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Web Team

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August 26, 2019

2019 is not a good year for the BJP

2019 does not seem to be a good year for the BJP as they have lost their 4th and most- trusted leader, Arun Jaitley. The other three are Manohar Parrikar, Ananth Kumar and Sushma Swaraj. Arun Jaitley was like the Man of the match for the BJP and will always be remembered as an astute Parliamentrian in the hearts of the people. As the Finance Minister, he did his job well and the people loved him. May he find peace with God in heaven.

Jubel D’Cruz

Help by Govinda mandals to flood affected areas

August 24, 2019, was celebrated as Gopalkala all across Maharashtra and other states. Different mandals celebrated this festival by collecting money from public to incur the expenses for Dahi Handi programme. A very high humanity guesture was shown by many mandals in this year. These mandals did not celebrated Dahi Handi festival but sent this collected money to needy people in flood affected areas of Maharashtra. We here by appreciate these people who has helped flood affected people in a righteous way and we pray to Lord Krishna who has imparted this thought amongs mandals. Let’s start helping from I to we and to us.

Nitin Duvedi

Much-more required to boost economy than announced by Union Finance Minister

It refers to high-level press-conference held on 23.08.2019 by Union Finance Minister (FM) with all the secretary-level officers joining her to reply to questions by media-persons. FM announced many measures in a bid to remove fear-psychology developed amongst tax-payers by withdrawing criminal action for normal tax-related violations.

But too much attention was given to auto-industry by reducing interest on car-loans, doubling depreciation to 30-percent and announcing large-scale purchase of new cars for government departments and ministries to replace old ones. Huge purchase of new cars by government will heavily burden public-exchequers leading to tax-burden or deficit-economy both of which will result in price-increase. Even if new cars are to be purchased for governments, rule should be that these must be economy cars with maximum ex-showroom price of say Rs 10 lakh.

But boost in economy can only be there if drastic steps are taken to boost real-estate being third biggest sector in Indian economy with 13.5-per cent share and textile placed at tenth place with 4-per cent share but having maximum work-force involved. Notably auto-industry given extra-ordinary boost is not placed amongst first ten sectors contributing to Indian economy. Capital-gain on properties should be reduced to ten-percent and registration-fees uniformly in all states at just two-percent for boosting real-estate. Such drastic reduction will tend to reduce element of black money in real-estate though ultimately resulting in extra revenue-earning.

Much-awaited Elephant-Bonds for a permanent Voluntary Disclosure Scheme together with compulsory deposit of all 2000-rupee notes in banks can provide huge flow of blocked unaccounted money in circulation without least affecting common persons.

Both real-estate and textiles can be exempted from GST like before on experimental basis. Adopting two tier system of ten and thirty percent GST replacing multiple rates of 0, 3, 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent together with abolishing corruption-generating Input-Tax-Credit ITC system from manufacturing and service sector can provide much more revenue through GST in simplified and user-friendly manner. Cess may be replaced by additional slabs in multiples of 50-percent.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Slew of measures and more to follow

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C K Subramaniam

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August 26, 2019

A slew of measures have been announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman came at the right time. While the steps taken by policymakers to make amends for their previous policy errors are obviously welcome, they should not deflect attention from the larger and persistent issue of overreach by the government against investors. In a world of globalised capital markets, where many nimble emerging markets compete to attract capital from the developed world, India cannot afford to be seen as flip-flopping on its commitments.

In order to encourage investment in the capital market, it has been decided to withdraw the enhanced surcharge levied by the Finance Act (No 2) Act 2019 on long and short term capital gains arising from the transfer of equity shares and in other words, the enhanced surcharge on FPIs goes and the pre-Budget position is restored as of now. Simply infusing liquidity into the system repeatedly is not going to work. The structural issues have to be worked upon. Even if the financial sector has surplus credit, which it already has, it will not lend it because of large uncertainties in the market and breakdown of trust. The Govt. should remember that its role is that of a facilitator alone and should not be spoon-feeding the sector like in the per-liberalization era.

In a bid to address slowdown in the auto sector, the government announced a slew of measures including lifting ban on purchase of vehicles by government departments, and allowing additional 15 per cent depreciation on vehicles acquired from now till March 2020. Also, BS-IV vehicles purchased up to March 2020 will remain operational for the entire period of registration. In addition, allowing higher depreciation on vehicles bought before end of this financial year and boosting liquidity for purchase of vehicles were some of the measures announced by the Finance Minister as part of a three-part reform process out to be laid out over the next two weeks. The auto industry welcome the firm measures announced by the government. The host of positive measures announced has given the much required boost to the auto sector and also sets a clear road map. Auto industry is confident that these measures once implemented, will support growth and drive demand for the auto sector. These measures will provide the immediate relief that the industry was seeking. The promptness of this government’s response is reassuring for not just industry, but for the common man as well because it’s putting liquidity into the market and easing the squeeze on the small and medium sector.

Slew measures will work wonders only if GST rates are simultaneously cut. Not everyone purchases homes and can avail of credit facilities. Unless GST rates are cut very significantly where’s the scope fir improvement? This money is hardly sufficient to meet the needs of even 1 crore small business owners. This is insufficient. But certainly a very good beginning. The government also decided to front-load the Rs 70,000 crore of capital infusion in public sector banks that was announced in the Budget, a move aimed at increasing private investment by facilitating greater credit disbursal by the banks. According to the government, this Rs70,000 crore will lead to about Rs 5 lakh crore of fresh liquidity that can be loaned out. Centre responds to downturn with steps to boost growth. Slew of measures now announced and more to follow will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Arun Jaitley – My heartfelt condolences

By

Vaidehi Taman

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August 25, 2019

I hereby pay my last respects to the leader who will always remain in the nation’s psyche for long time to come. Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister and BJP veteran who died and cremated with state honours in Delhi. When news came in media that he is critical, people started assuming that he passed away. He lived almost 66 years of life and then the health hazards, we might love him as our leader but as sufferer he needed salvation from pains that he was going through. He had been admitted for two weeks. Jaitley was an erudite and sophisticated gentleman who was an excellent orator and Parliamentarian. A true Indian, who led the country during tough times and brought people together. His many accomplishments and inspirational moments will live well into the future. In his passing away, we have lost an eminent lawyer-politician and BJP’s loss is much more as there are very few individuals like late Arun Jaitley who could articulate the party’s policy.

He was undoubtedly one of the most influential leaders this generation has seen. Close on the heels of the saddening demise of Sushma Swaraj, Jaitley’s death has given a body blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the party will find difficult to fill.

From being scrutinised for being chosen as the finance minister despite not being an economist to dealing with ill health and a kidney transplant to being one of the first few ministers to support LGBT rights to filing a defamation lawsuit against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Jaitley has had it all.

Arun Jaitley, who was once upon a time a spokesperson, was an intellectual and articulate speaker whose work in the party has played a key role in propelling the party to great heights. Right from the time when BJP was a no-force to the time when BJP is the force to reckon with, he stood thick and thin through hard times the party has faced while ousting the Gandhi regime which Congress symbolised for decades and which continues to exist. May the departed soul receive deliverance amid the purist souls of hundreds whose memories of patriotism.

Arun Jaitley was born on December 28, 1952 in Delhi. His father Maharaj Kishen Jaitley was a lawyer and mother Ratan Prabha Jaitley a housewife. He studied at St. Xavier’s School, Delhi and graduated with the honours degree in commerce, B.Com. He passed his LLB degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, in 1977. Jaitley was the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader at the Delhi University Campus in the seventies and rose to be the President of the Students Union of Delhi University in 1974. During the period of proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975–77) when fundamental rights were suspended, he was under preventive detention for a period of 19 months. He was a prominent leader of a movement against corruption, launched in the year 1973 by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan. He was the convener of the National Committee for Students and Youth organisation appointed by Jayaprakash Narayan. He was also active in civil rights movement and helped found PUCL Bulletin along with Satish Jha and Smitu Kothari. After being released from jail, he joined the Jan Sangh. In 1977, being the convener of the Loktantrik Yuva Morcha at a time when the Congress suffered defeat, Jaitley was appointed the President of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP. He was then made the president of the youth wing of the BJP and the secretary of the Delhi unit in 1980, a short time after joining the party. On October 13, 1999, after the Vajpayee Government of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance came to power, he was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. In addition to this, he was appointed Minister of State for Disinvestment (Independent Charge). The disinvestment ministry was created for the first time in accordance with the policy of disinvestment under the World Trade Organisation regime. On July 23, 2000, following the resignation of Ram Jethmalani as the Union Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice, and Company Affairs, he took over his ministry as an additional charge. On May 29, 2019, in a letter to PM Modi, Arun Jaitley cited his health as a reason for not taking an active role in the formation of the new government, effectively declining a role as a minister in the second term of Prime Minister Modi.

Arun Jaitley married Sangeeta, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Girdhari Lal Dogra, on May 24, 1982. They have two children, Rohan and Sonali; the latter married Jaiyesh Bakhshi. His both children are lawyers. In January 2019, Jaitley was diagnosed with a rare form of soft-tissue sarcoma and sought treatment in New York. Jaitley died at the AIIMS in New Delhi. Arun Jaitley was cremated with state honours in Delhi this afternoon. Cutting across party lines, a number of political leaders paid their respects to him and attended the funeral.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Five BJP backbones who departed in last one year

By

Rajesh Choudhary

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August 25, 2019

The ruling BJP won landslide victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and returned to power for second consecutive term at the Centre. But the party lost five tall leaders in past one year which is irreparable loss. These five great leaders were Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manohar Parrikar, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The BJP and the entire country will always remember their contributions to the nation.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He died on August 16, 2018, in New Delhi. He served as the prime minister of India thrice.

Vajpayee was first elected to parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) which was forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister in the Janata government, Vajpayee earned a reputation for improving relations with Pakistan and China. In 1980, following a split in the Janata Party, Vajpayee helped the BJS to reorganise itself as the BJP. In 1992 he was one of the few Hindu leaders to speak out against the destruction of the historic mosque at Ayodhya.

Vajpayee was sworn in as prime minister in May 1996 but was in office only 13 days, after failing to attract support from other parties. In early 1998 he again became prime minister, in elections in which the BJP won a record number of seats, but he was forced to make a shaky alliance with regional parties. In 1999 the BJP increased its seats in parliament and came back to power.

Manohar Parrikar

Former Defence Minister and the four times Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar passed away on March 17, 2019, at the age of 63. He was born on December 13, 1955. He was the Chief Minister of Goa since 14 March 2017. Parrikar was battling prolonged illness. He was diagnosed with a pancreatic cancer. A graduate in metallurgical engineering from IIT-Bombay in 1978, he was the first IITian to serve as the legislator of a state.

Parrikar proposed the name of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate before 2013 BJP parliamentary elections convention in Goa. He served in the National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Defence Minister of India from 2014 to 2017. He was a former member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. Parrikar was the Defence Minister in 2016 when India conducted a surgical strike on terror launch pads across the LoC, days after the terror attack in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Ananth Kumar

Ananth Kumar was Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was born in 1959 in Bangalore. Ananth Kumar was influenced by the RSS from his childhood and joined the ABVP, the BJP’s student wing. During the Emergency, he was imprisoned. He was later elected ABVP’s State Secretary and then its National Secretary in 1985. He joined the BJP and was nominated state president of the BJP Yuva Morcha. He was then made BJP National Secretary in 1996.

In 1996, he was elected from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency and has been elected from the same seat six consecutive times. In 1998 he was inducted into the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Minister for Civil Aviation. In 1999, he became a Cabinet minister in the NDA government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.

He became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003 and led the BJP to become the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly and won the highest number of the Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in 2004. In 2004, he was appointed as the National General Secretary of the BJP.

Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj, a veteran leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former Minister of External Affairs in the Narendra Modi government in its first term, died on August 6, 2019, following a heart attack. She was 67. She breathed her last in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

She was also the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs from May 26, 2014, to January 7, 2016. She represented Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. She had joined the BJS after the Emergency of 1975. Swaraj had won her first election at the age of 25 in 1977 from the Ambala Cantonment Assembly constituency. In July 1977, she had become a Cabinet Minister in the Janata Party Government under Chief Minister Devi Lal. She taken got the position of the state president of Janata Party (Haryana) in 1979. Swaraj was also the Education Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party–Lok Dal coalition government in Haryana during 1987-1990.

A Cabinet minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Swaraj had held the portfolios of Health and Family Welfare, Information and Broadcasting at different junctures. She was the Chief Minister of Delhi from October 13, 1998 to December 3, 1998. In November 2018, Sushma Swaraj had announced that she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 due to health reasons.

Arun Jaitley

Arun Jaitley was born on 28 December 1952 in Delhi. Until 2014, Jaitley had never contested any direct elections. That year, he was BJP candidate in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency, but lost to Amarinder Singh of Congress. Jaitley was selected by newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be Minister of Finance, Minister for Corporate Affairs and Minister of Defence in his cabinet. With Jaitley as FM, the Modi government was able to take several key economic decisions like demonetisation and GST. In Jaitley’s stewardship, the Modi government merged the railway budget with the general Budget. Moreover, the decision to advance the date of the general budget to February 1 was also taken with Jaitley as FM. GST went under several tax-slab revisions and Jaitley maneuvered them efficiently. He also introduced Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to resolve the issues with companies that were turning insolvent.

BJP lost its fourth tall leader- Arun Jaitley

By

Afternoon Voice

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August 25, 2019

Manohar Parrikar, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and now Arun Jaitley, BJP lost its fourth tallest leader and this era ends here. Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister and the chief troubleshooter of the BJP, has died at Delhi’s AIIMS hospital, two weeks after he was admitted following complaints of breathlessness. He was 66. Leaders across party lines visited Arun Jaitley’s home to pay tributes to the leader. He was cremated on Sunday. Arun Jaitley, a lawyer by profession, had been an important part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in the BJP government’s first term. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government. During his tenure as finance minister, Jaitley led the enactment of a bankruptcy code and the Goods and Services Tax or GST. Arun Jaitley was known to be part of senior BJP leader LK Advani’s core team. But it was his bond with PM Modi, cemented by his role as a bridge between Gujarat and New Delhi, which fuelled his rapid rise. President Ram Nath Kovind and hundreds of leaders paid tributes to the BJP veteran last evening at his south Delhi home.

Visitors continued to pour in this morning. Senior Congress leader Motilal Vohra, NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, RLD leader Ajit Singh and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu visited his home.

BJP workers and mourners queued up outside the BJP office where Jaitley’s casket, wrapped in the national flag, was placed. Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah was among those who paid floral tributes at the party headquarters. Jaitley ji survived by wife Sangeeta, daughter Sonali and son Rohan.

Arun Jaitley will always be remembered as an astute Parliamentarian

By

Vinod Dixit

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August 25, 2019

The demise of former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader & BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley leaves a huge void in our public life and in BJP. India has lost a tall leader and his absence in Indian politics cannot be compensated. .It is disturbing not only for Modi-Government but for whole India to lose a bright, clean and bold veteran politician like Arun Jaitley. He was quite distinct in the way he conducted himself from everyone else. He was completely self-made man and had rose through the ranks to become a dominant power player in the corridors of New Delhi. He served the country and the party for a great number of years and had made great contributions towards shifting the entire political dimensions of the country.

Arun Jaitley was a lawyer by profession and had been a key member of PM Narendra Modi’s Cabinet in the BJP government’s first term. He started his political career in 1974 when he won the election to become the president of Delhi University Students’ Union. A prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Jaitley was the finance minister from 2014 to 2019. Our PM Modi said has rightly said that “With the demise of Arun Jaitley, I have lost a valued friend, whom I have had the honour of knowing for decades. His insight on issues and nuanced understanding of matters had very few parallels,” He valued education for all and made it his goal to ensure that there is a high school within three miles of every child and that education should be improved in terms of quality and learning. He was suave, eloquent, measured, charming, but above all, he was Loyal. During the Narendra Modi government’s first term in office, Arun Jaitley was seen as the prime minister’s ‘go-to’ man. Jaitley was the one to take on the responsibilities of temporarily handling ministries other than his primary portfolio of finance. He was among the leaders who were jailed by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency. He was a student leader at the time. After being released from jail, Arun Jaitley joined active politics as a member of the Jan Sangh and rose through the ranks of the organisation, which later became the BJP. He was among the sharpest legal and political brains with great sense of humour

A stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley during his long political career held many portfolios including that of Finance, Defence, Corporate Affairs, Commerce and Industry, and Law and Justice. Under the Vajpayee government, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Disinvestment, a ministry created for the first time by the Indian government to give effect to disinvestments under the World Trade Organization. He established himself in the legal field and played an important role in the Bofors case in 1987As a result of this, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, after becoming the Prime Minister, appointed Jaitley as the Additional Solicitor General of India – he was an achiever. He was also vice-president of BCCI but resigned later. As the General Secretary, he managed eight assembly elections, which proved victorious for the BJP. He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2012 for his third term. He was recognized as the Leader of Opposition (2009-2012) and had put in constant efforts to bring about positive change. He played a vital role during the talks of the Women Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and also supported Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal Bill.

As Leader of Opposition he was without match. Although his life was cut short too soon by the disease, his achievements during his political career will be remembered for a long time to come. His contributions and remarkable legacy remain exemplary for generations to come. His death is an irreparable loss to the nation. He will always be remembered for his sharp, analytical mind and as a soft-spoken, erudite and warm hearted person.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 25 August, 2019

By

Web Team

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August 25, 2019

Special attention to top three sectors contributing to Indian economy

Retail-wholesale trade, agriculture and real-estate are the three top-most sectors contributing to Indian economy with respectively 23, 15.7 and 13.5 per cent shares. Union Finance Ministry should concentrate to develop these sectors plugging loopholes of misuse of development.

On-line sale has swallowed retail and wholesale trade creating large unemployment and loss of trade and taxes. Experiment should be made on banning on-line trade or imposing strict restrictions so that consumers may find it advantageous to go to markets rather than on-line purchases.

Data on agriculture is heavily polluted where contribution by agriculture to Indian economy is based on false figures because of large-scale misuse of provision of totally tax-free agricultural-income by ultra-rich persons including also from politics, film-industry and sports. Income-tax cases for last eight years of all those who have declared more than say rupees five or ten lakh as agricultural-income should be scrutinized to nail the culprits who did so to whiten their black money. Since normal farmers do not earn more than rupees five lakh from agriculture (otherwise also non-taxable), provision of tax-free agricultural income should be withdrawn.

Real-estate activities can be encouraged by reducing capital-gain to ten-percent and registration-fees to two-percent abolishing GST which will not only encourage investment in real-estate but also tend to eliminate role of black-money in property-deals thus giving even increased revenue.

Madhu Agrawal

Political pilgrimage of pseudo-secularists not allowed in Kashmir valley

It refers to Administration of Jammu and Kashmir rightly sending back from Srinagar airport back to Delhi a group of pseudo-secularist politicians of some political parties led by former President of largest opposition party in Parliament without allowing to enter the valley. Their political pilgrimage would have been justified in case some similar trip would have been planned by them in the valley in the year 1990 when Kashmiri Pandits had to leave the valley after mass-killing of many Kashmiri Pandits.

However, state-Governor also committed a mistake when, though in good gesture, invited Rahul Gandhi to visit the valley to take stock of the situation himself. Only sensible people deserve such types of goodwill gestures sent with a noble intention.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

Jaitley’s demise is a shock to the nation

Former Union Minister Arun Jaitley’s demise is a shock to the nation. Arun Jaitley was a genius as a lawyer as well as a financial advisor. 2019 is a sad year for us as we have lost great leaders like Manohar Parrikar, Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, and now Arun Jaitley. May his soul rest in peace!

Jubel D’Cruz

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Aryan and Laxmi: Mumbai’s trans man and trans woman couple all set to marry

By

Afternoon Voice

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August 23, 2019

Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is a transgender rights activist from Mumbai. Laxmi is a hijra. She is the first transgender person to represent Asia Pacific in the UN in 2008. At the assembly, she spoke of the plight of sexual minorities.
Aryan Pasha the Delhi resident became the first Indian transgender man to win a prize at a bodybuilding. He is a lawyer and body builder. Both have earned fame in their respective field.

Aryan Pasha, who was born biologically female and Laxmi, who was born biologically male, have both undergone sex reassignment surgeries. Laxmi recently performed Jalsa, the event after 40 days complete isolation following the act of castration. Laxmi, transformed herself from man to woman and Aryan Pasha transformed himself from girl to boy. And thus began a love story that will soon culminate in wedding between a trans man and a trans woman.

Recalling the beginning of their relationship, Aryan says, “We used to talk over phone in the initial days. Slowly, the frequency and the duration of the calls increased. Later, we realised that our way of thinking is the same about many things. After a while, I proposed to her and now we both are engaged.”

Aryan, who was working as a lawyer in Delhi, gave up his profession to build his career as body builder. He said, “I was always a man in my mind. It was not possible for me to marry as I had the thoughts of a man with the body of a woman. Finally, I took the decision to do what I needed the most – the surgery. Now I am as happy as any man who is about to get married.” I love Laxmi and her nature; feel privileged to be her companion.

Laxmi’s story is not typical of the experience of people from the transgender community. Though she has been subjected to embarrassing questions and curious stares, she has dealt with it with confidence. Not only that but beating all odds, she reached global platform for her community and their rights.

Laxmi says, “I am happy to have very supporting family, my mother taught me to be so and I followed it. Whenever, someone stared at me or asked me if I’m a man or a woman, I would smile. I would talk to them and convince them. However rudely someone behaves with you, a smile can change it. I have undergone many bitter experiences but now I know how to handle them.” Laxmi loves the fact that Aryan understands her and he can meet her expectations.

When asked about her love story with Aryan, Laxmi said, “I was married to a straight man, but I was abused physically and mentally harrassed by him, I went to brutal domestic violence.” ” Those days Aryan was my close friend , it was Aryan who helped me overcome the pain and mental trauma and stood by me in my bad phase. The chemistry between us grew and we fell for each other. He has given me solace and strength to come out of bad marriage”.

“Yes, I agree that our wedding is uncommon and unique but this is not the first time that is happening in India. But the transgender community needs much more support from others,” says Aryan.

Aryan and Laxmi’s family knew that the wedding was on the cards. And both the families while heartedly supported their decision. Both of them are planning to have a special wedding. The wedding is expected to take place soon. Afternoon Voice wishes them happy life ahead.